On the whole, Cromwell's policy in Church-matters was merely continued.

(2) _Relations with Foreign Powers_.

In this matter the rule of the new Government was a very simple one.

It was to withdraw, as speedily as possible, from all foreign entanglements.
No longer now could Charles Gustavus of Sweden calculate on help from England.

Montague's Fleet, indeed, was still in the Baltic; Meadows was re-commissioned as envoy-in-ordinary to the Kings of Denmark and Sweden; envoys from Sweden had audiences in London; and at length, early in July, the importance of the Baltic business was fully recognised by the despatch of Algernon Sidney and Sir Robert Honeywood, two of the members of the Council of State, and Mr.Boone, a member of the House, to act as plenipotentiaries with Montague for the settlement of the differences between Sweden and Denmark and between Sweden and the Dutch.