Chapter XXIII: Part II (6)

[444] The whole conference that took place at Whitehall, between Cromwell and the committee of parliament on this subject, was published by authority, and may be read in the _Somers Tracts_, vi. 349. It is very interesting. The lawyers did not hesitate to support the proposition, on the ground of the more definite and legal character of a king's authority. "The king's prerogative," says Glyn, "is known by law; he (King Charles) did expatiate beyond the duty; that's the evil of the man: but in Westminster Hall the king's prerogative was under the courts of justice, and is bounded as well as any acre of land, or anything a man hath, as much as any controversy between party and party: and therefore the office being lawful in its nature, known to the nation, certain in itself, and confined and regulated by the law, and the other office not being so, that was a great ground of the reason why the parliament did so much insist upon this office and title, not as circumstantial, but as essential."--P. 359. See also what Lenthall says (p. 356) against the indefiniteness of the protector's authority.

Those passages were evidently implied censures of the late course of government. Cromwell's indistinct and evasive style in his share of this debate betrays the secret inclinations of his heart. He kept his ultimate intentions, however, very secret; for Thurloe's professes his ignorance of them, even in writing to Henry Cromwell. Vol. vi. p. 219 _et post_. This correspondence shows that the prudent secretary was uneasy at the posture of affairs, and the manifest dissatisfaction of Fleetwood and Desborough, which had a dangerous influence on others less bound to the present family; yet he had set his heart on this mode of settlement, and was much disappointed at his master's ultimate refusal.

[445] Clarendon's _Hist._ vii. 194. It appears by Clarendon's private letters that he had expected to see Cromwell assume the title of king from the year 1654. Vol. iii. pp. 201, 223, 224. If we may trust what is here called an intercepted letter (p. 328), Mazarin had told Cromwell that France would enter into a strict league with him, if he could settle himself in the throne, and make it hereditary; to which he answered, that he designed shortly to take the crown, restore the two houses, and govern by the ancient laws. But this may be apocryphal.

[446] Clar. vii. 203.

[447] Ludlow, p. 581. The major-generals, or at least many of them, joined the opposition to Cromwell's royalty. _Id._ p. 586; _Clar. State Papers_, 332.

[448] This appears from the following passage in a curious letter of Mr. Vincent Gookin to Henry Cromwell, 27th Jan. 1657. "To-morrow the bill for decimating the cavaliers comes again into debate. It is debated with much heat by the major-generals, and as hotly almost by the anti-decimators. I believe the bill will be thrown out of the house. In my opinion those that speak against the bill have much to say in point of moral justice and prudence; but that which makes me fear the passing of the bill is, that thereby his highness's government will be more founded in force, and more removed from that natural foundation which the people in parliament are desirous to give him; supposing that he will become more theirs than now he is, and will in time find the safety and peace of the nation to be as well maintained by the laws of the land as by the sword. And truly, sir, if any others have pretensions to succeed him by their interest in the army, the more of force upholds his highness living, the greater when he is dead will be the hopes and advantages for such a one to effect his aim, who desires to succeed him. Lambert is much for decimations." Thurloe, vi. 20. He writes again, "I am confident it is judged by some that the interest of the godly cannot be preserved but by the dissolution of this, if not all, parliaments; and their endeavours in it have been plainly discovered to the party most concerned to know them; which will, I believe, suddenly occasion a reducing of the government to kingship, to which his highness is not averse. Pierpoint and St. John have been often, but secretly, at Whitehall, I know, to advise thereof."--P. 37. Thurloe again to the same Henry Cromwell, on February 3, that the decimation bill was thrown out by a majority of forty: "Some gentlemen do think themselves much trampled upon by this vote, and are extremely sensible thereof; and the truth is, it hath wrought such a heat in the house, that I fear little will be done for the future." _Id._ p. 38. No such bill appears, _eo nomine_, in the journals. But a bill for regulating the militia forces was thrown out, Jan. 29, by 124 to 88, Col. Cromwell (Oliver's cousin) being a teller for the majority. Probably there was some clause in this renewing the decimation of the royalists.

[449] Whitelock, who was consulted by Cromwell on this business, and took an active part as one of the committee of conference appointed by the House of Commons, intimates that the project was not really laid aside. "He was satisfied in his private judgment that it was fit for him to take upon him the title of king, and matters were prepared in order thereunto; but afterwards, by solicitation of the commonwealth's men, and fearing a mutiny and defection of a great part of the army, in case he should assume that title and office, his mind changed, and many of the officers of the army gave out great threatenings against him in case he should do it; he therefore thought it best to attend some better season and opportunity in this business, and refused it at this time with great seeming earnestness."--P. 656. The chief advisers with Cromwell on this occasion, besides Whitelock, were Lord Broghill, Pierrepont, Thurloe, and Sir Charles Wolseley. Many passages in Thurloe (vol. vii.) show that Cromwell preserved to the last his views on royalty.

[450] Whitelock, 657. It had been agreed, in discussing the petition and advice in parliament, to postpone the first article requesting the protector to assume the title of king, till the rest of the _charter_ (to use a modern but not inapplicable word) had been gone through. One of the subsequent articles, fixing the revenue at £1,300,000 per annum, provides that no part thereof should be raised by a land-tax, "and this not to be altered without the consent of the _three estates in parliament_." A division took place, in consequence, no doubt, of this insidious expression, which was preserved by 97 to 50. Journals, 13th March. The first article was carried, after much debate on March 24, by 123 to 62. It stood thus: "Resolved, That your highness will be pleased to assume the name, style, dignity, and office of king of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and the respective dominions and territories thereunto belonging; and to exercise the same according to the laws of these nations." On Cromwell's first demurring to the proposal, it was resolved to adhere to the petition and advice by the small majority of 78 to 65. This was perhaps a sufficient warning that he should not proceed.

[451] Journals, 21st June. This oath, which effectually declared the parliament to be the protector's subjects, was only carried by 63 to 55. Lambert refused it, and was dismissed the army in consequence, with a pension of £2000 per annum, instead of his pay, £10 a day. So well did they cater for themselves. Ludlow, 593. Broderick wrote to Hyde, June 30, 1657, that there was a general tranquillity in England, all parties seeming satisfied with the compromise; Fleetwood and Desborough more absolutely Cromwell's friends than before, and Lambert very silent. _Clar. State Papers_, 349.

[452] Thurloe, vi. 310.

[453] Compare Journals, 11th March with 24th June.

[454] Whitelock, 665. They were to have a judicial power, much like that of the real House of Lords. Journals, March.

[455] Whitelock; _Parl. Hist._ The former says this was done against his advice. These debates about the other house are to be traced in the Journals, and are mentioned by Thurloe, vi. 107, etc.; and Ludlow, 597. Not one of the true peers, except Lord Eure, took his seat in this house; and Haslerig, who had been nominated merely to weaken his influence, chose to retain his place in the Commons. The list of these pretended lords in Thurloe, vi. 668, is not quite the same as that in Whitelock.

[456] This junto of nine debated how they might be secure against the cavaliers. One scheme was an oath of abjuration; but this it was thought they would all take: another was to lay a heavy tax on them: "a moiety of their estates was spoken of; but this, I suppose, will not down with all the nine, and least of all will it be swallowed by the parliament, who will not be persuaded to punish both nocent and innocent without distinction." 22nd June, Thurloe, vol. vii. p. 198. And again, p. 269: "I believe we are out of danger of our junto, and I think also of ever having such another. As I take it, the report was made to his highness upon Thursday. After much consideration, the major part voted that succession in the government was indifferent whether it were by election or hereditary; but afterwards some would needs add that it was desirable to have it continued elective; that is, that the chief magistrate should always name his successor; and that of hereditary avoided; and I fear the word 'desirable' will be made 'necessary,' if ever it come upon the trial. His highness finding he can have no advice from those he most expected it from, saith he will take his own resolutions, and that he can no longer satisfy himself to sit still, and make himself guilty of the loss of all the honest party and of the nation itself."

[457] Harris, p. 348, has collected some curious instances of the servility of crowned heads to Cromwell.

[458] See Clarendon, vii. 297. He saved Nismes from military execution on account of a riot, wherein the Huguenots seem to have been much to blame. In the treaty between England and France, 1654, the French, in agreeing to the secret article about the exclusion of the royalists, endeavoured to make it reciprocal, that the commissioners of rebels in France should not be admitted in England. This did not seem very outrageous--but Cromwell objected that the French protestants would be thus excluded from imploring the assistance of England, if they were persecuted; protesting, however, that he was very far from having any thought to draw them from their obedience, as had been imputed to him, and that he would arm against them, if they should offer frivolously and without a cause to disturb the peace of France. Thurloe, iii. 6. In fact, the French protestants were in the habit of writing to Thurloe, as this collection testifies, whenever they thought themselves injured, which happened frequently enough. Cromwell's noble zeal in behalf of the Vaudois is well known. See this volume of Thurloe, p. 412, etc. Mazarin and the catholic powers in general endeavoured to lye down that massacre; but the usurper had too much protestant spirit to believe them. _Id._ 536.

[459] Ludlow, 607; Thurloe, i. and ii. _passim_.

[460] Mrs. Macauley, who had nothing of compromise or conciliation in her temper, and breathed the entire spirit of Vane and Ludlow, makes some vigorous and just animadversions on the favour shown to Cromwell by some professors of a regard for liberty. The dissenting writers, such as Neal, and in some measure Harris, were particularly open to this reproach. He long continued (perhaps the present tense is more appropriate) to be revered by the independents. One who well knew the manners he paints, has described the secret idolatry of that sect to their hero-saint. See Crabbe's _Tale of the Frank Courtship_.

Slingsly Bethell, an exception perhaps to the general politics of this sect, published in 1667 a tract, entitled "The World's Mistake in Oliver Cromwell," with the purpose of decrying his policy and depreciating his genius. Harleian Miscellany, i. 280. But he who goes about to prove the world mistaken in its estimate of a public character has always a difficult cause to maintain. Bethell, like Mrs. Macauley and others, labours to set up the Rump parliament against the soldier who kicked them; and asserts that Cromwell, having found £500,000 in ready money, with the value of £700,000 in stores, and the army in advance of their pay (subject, however, to a debt of near £500,000); the customs and excise bringing in nearly a million annually, left a debt which, in Richard's parliament, was given in at £1,900,000, though he believes this to have been purposely exaggerated in order to procure supplies. I cannot say how far these sums are correct; but it is to be kept in mind, that one great resource of the parliament, confiscation, sequestration, composition, could not be repeated for ever. Neither of these governments, it will be found on inquiry, were economical, especially in respect to the emoluments of those concerned in them.

[461] Whitelock, 674; Ludlow, 611, 624. Lord Fauconberg writes in cipher to Henry Cromwell, on Aug. 30, that "Thurloe has seemed resolved to press him in his intervals to such a nomination (of a successor); but whether out of apprehensions to displease him if recovering, or others hereafter, if it should not succeed, he has not yet done it, nor do I believe will." Thurloe, however, announces on Sept. 4, that "his highness was pleased before his death to declare my Lord Richard successor. He did it on Monday; and the Lord hath so ordered it, that the council and army hath received him with all manner of affection. He is this day proclaimed, and hitherto there seems great face of peace; the Lord continue it." _Thurloe State Papers_, vii. 365, 372. Lord Fauconberg afterwards confirms the fact of Richard's nomination. P. 375; and see 415.

[462] "Many sober men that called his father no better than a traitorous hypocrite, did begin to think that they owed him [R. C.] subjection," etc. Baxter, 100.

[463] Hutchinson, 343. She does not name Pierrepont, but I have little doubt that he is meant.

[464] Richard's conduct is more than once commended in the correspondence of Thurloe, pp. 491, 497; and in fact he did nothing amiss during his short administration.

[465] Thurloe, vii. 320 _et post_, _passim_, in letters both from himself and Lord Fauconberg. Thus, immediately on Richard's accession, the former writes to Henry Cromwell, "It hath pleased God hitherto to give his highness your brother a very easy and peaceable entrance upon his government. There is not a dog that wags his tongue, so great a calm we are in.... But I must needs acquaint your excellency that there are some secret murmurings in the army, as if his highness were not general of the army as his father was," etc. P. 374. Here was the secret: the officers did not like to fall back under the civil power, by obeying one who was not a soldier. This soon displayed itself openly; and Lord Fauconberg thought the game was over as early as Sept. 28. P. 413. It is to be observed that Fauconberg was secretly a royalist, and might hope to bring over his brother-in-law.

[466] _Id._ 573.

[467] Lord Fauconberg says, "the commonwealth men in the parliament were very numerous, and beyond measure bold, but more than doubly overbalanced by the sober party; so that, though this make their results slow, we see no great cause as yet to fear."--P. 612. And Dr. Barwick, a correspondent of Lord Clarendon, tells him the republicans were the minority, but all speakers, zealous and diligent--it was likely to end in a titular protector without militia or negative voice. P. 615.

According to a letter from Allen Broderick to Hyde (_Clar. St. Pap._ iii. 443) there were 47 republicans, from 100 to 140 neuters or moderates (including many royalists), and 170 court lawyers, or officers.

[468] Ludlow tells us, that he contrived to sit in the house without taking the oath, and that some others did the same. P. 619.

[469] Whitelock, _Parl. Hist._ 1530, 1541.

[470] The numbers are differently, but, I suppose, erroneously stated in Thurloe, vii. 640. It is said, in a pamphlet of the time, that this clause was introduced to please the cavaliers, who acted with the court; _Somers Tracts_, vi. 482. Ludlow seems also to think that these parties were united in this parliament (p. 629); but this seems not very probable, and is contrary to some things we know. Clarendon had advised that the royalists should try to get into parliament, and there to oppose all raising of money, and everything else that might tend to settle the government. _Clar. State Papers_, 411. This of course was their true game.

It is said that, Richard pressing the Earl of Northumberland to sit in the other house, he declined, urging that when the government was such as his predecessors had served under, he would serve him with his life and fortune. _Id._ 433.

[471] _Parl. Hist._; Journals, 27 Jan., 14, 18 Feb., 1, 8, 21, 23, 28 March. The names of the tellers in these divisions show the connections of leading individuals: we find indifferently presbyterian and republican names for the minority, as Fairfax, Lambert, Nevil, Haslerig, Townshend, Booth.

[472] There seems reason to believe that Richard would have met with more support both in the house and among the nation, if he had not been oppressed by the odium of some of his father's counsellors. A general indignation was felt at those who had condemned men to death in illegal tribunals, whom the republicans and cavaliers were impatient to bring to justice. He was forced also to employ and to screen from vengeance his wise and experienced secretary Thurloe, master of all the secret springs that had moved his father's government, but obnoxious from the share he had taken in illegal and arbitrary measures. Petitions were presented to the house from several who had been committed to the Tower upon short written orders, without any formal warrant, or expressed cause of commitment. In the case of one of these, Mr. Portman, the house resolved that his apprehension, imprisonment, and detention in the Tower was illegal and unjust. Journals, 26 Feb. A still more flagrant tyranny was that frequently practised by Cromwell of sending persons disaffected to him as slaves to the West Indies. One Mr. Thomas petitioned the House of Commons, complaining that he had been thus sold as a slave. A member of the court side justified it on the score of his being a malignant. Major-General Browne, a secret royalist, replied that he was nevertheless an Englishman and free-born. Thurloe had the presumption to say that he had not thought to live to see the day, when such a thing as this, so justly and legally done by lawful authority, should be brought before parliament. Vane replied that he did not think to have seen the day, when free-born Englishmen should be sold for slaves by such an arbitrary government. There were, it seems, not less than fifty gentlemen, sold for slaves at Barbadoes. _Clarendon State Papers_, p. 447. The royalists had planned to attack Thurloe for some of these unjustifiable proceedings, which would have greatly embarrassed the government. _Ibid_, 423, 428. They hoped that Richard would be better disposed towards the king, if his three advisers, St. John, Thurloe, and Pierrepont, all implacable to their cause, could be removed. But they were not strong enough in the house. If Richard, however, had continued in power, he must probably have sacrificed Thurloe to public opinion; and the consciousness of this may have led this minister to advise the dissolution of the parliament, and perhaps to betray his master, from the suspicion of which he is not free.

It ought to be remarked what an outrageous proof of Cromwell's tyranny is exhibited in this note. Many writers glide favourably over his administration, or content themselves with treating it as an usurpation, which can furnish no precedent, and consequently does not merit particular notice; but the effect of this generality is, that the world forms an imperfect notion of the degree of arbitrary power which he exerted; and I believe there are many who take Charles the First, and even Charles the Second, for greater violators of the laws than the protector. Neal and Harris are full of this dishonest bigotry. Since this note was first printed, the publication of Burton's _Diary_ has confirmed its truth, which had rashly been called in question by a passionate and prejudiced reviewer. See Vol. iv. p. 253, etc.

[473] Richard advised with Broghill, Fiennes, Thurloe, and others of his council, all of whom, except Whitelock, who informs us of this, were in favour of the dissolution. This caused, he says, much trouble to honest men; the cavaliers and republicans rejoiced at it; many of Richard's council were his enemies. P. 177. The army at first intended to raise money by their own authority; but this was deemed impossible, and it was resolved to recall the Long Parliament. Lambert and Haslerig accordingly met Lenthall, who was persuaded to act again as speaker; though, if Ludlow is right, against his will, being now connected with the court, and in the pretended House of Lords. The parliament now consisted of 91 members. _Parl. Hist._ 1547. Harris quotes a manuscript journal of Montagu, afterwards Earl of Sandwich, wherein it is said that Richard's great error was to dissolve the parliament, and that he might have over-ruled the army, if he would have employed himself, Ingoldsby, Lord Fauconberg, and others, who were suspected to be for the king. _Life of Charles II._ 194. He afterwards (p. 203) quotes Calamy's _Life of Howe_ for the assertion that Richard stood out against his council, with Thurloe alone, that the parliament should not be dissolved. This is very unlikely.

[474] This was carried against the previous question by 163 to 87. Journals Abr. III. Some of the protector's friends were alarmed at so high a vote against the army, which did in fact bring the matter to a crisis. Thurloe, vii. 659 _et post_.

[475] The army according to Ludlow, had not made up their minds how to act after the dissolution of the parliament, and some were inclined to go on with Richard; but the republican party, who had coalesced with that faction of officers who took their denomination from Wallingford House, their place of meeting, insisted on the restoration of the old parliament; though they agreed to make some provision for Richard. _Memoirs_, pp. 635-646. Accordingly it was voted to give him an income of £10,000 per annum. Journals, July 16.

[476] Journals, Sept. 23 _et post_; Whitelock, 683; _Parl. Hist._ 1562; Thurloe, vii. 703 _et post_. Ludlow's account of this period is the most interesting part of his _Memoirs_. The chief officers, it appears from his narrative, were soon disgusted with their republican allies, and "behaved with all imaginable perverseness and insolence" in the council of state, whenever they came there, which was but seldom, scrupling the oath to be true to the commonwealth against Charles Stuart or any other person. P. 657. He censures, however, the violence of Haslerig, "a man of a disobliging temper, sour and morose of temper, liable to be transported with passion, and in whom liberality seemed to be a vice. Yet to do him justice, I must acknowledge that I am under no manner of doubt concerning the rectitude and sincerity of his intentions."--P. 718. Ludlow gave some offence to the hot-headed republicans by his half compliance with the army; and much disapproved the proceedings they adopted after their second restoration in December 1659, against Vane and others. P. 800. Yet, though nominated on the committee of safety, on the expulsion of the parliament in October, he never sat on it, as Vane and Whitelock did.

[477] Journals, and other authorities above cited.

[478] The Rota Club, as it was called, was composed, chiefly at least, of these dealers in new constitutions, which were debated in due form. Harrington was one of the most conspicuous.

[479] Thurloe, vi. 579; _Clarendon State Papers_, 391, 395.

[480] Carte's _Letters_, ii. 118. In a letter of Ormond to Hyde about this time, he seems to have seen into the king's character, and speaks of him severely: "I fear his immoderate delight in empty, effeminate, and vulgar conversations, is become an irresistible part of his nature," etc. _Clarendon State Papers_, iii. 387.

[481] _Clarendon Papers_, 391, 418, 460 _et post_. Townshend, a young man who seems to have been much looked up to, was not, in fact, a presbyterian, but is reckoned among them as not being a cavalier, having come of age since the wars, and his family neutral.

[482] This curious fact appears for the first time, I believe, in the _Clarendon State Papers_, unless it is anywhere intimated in Carte's collection of the Ormond letters. In the former collection we find several allusions to it; the first is in a letter from Rumbold, a royalist emissary, to Hyde, dated Dec. 2, 1658, p. 421; from which I collect Lord Fauconberg's share in this intrigue; which is also confirmed by a letter of Mordaunt to the king, in p. 423. "The Lord Falconbridge protests that Cromwell is so remiss a person that he cannot play his own game, much less another man's, and is thereby discouraged from acting in business, having also many enemies who oppose his gaining either power or interest in the army or civil government, because they conceive his principles contrary to theirs. He says, Thurloe governs Cromwell, and St. John and Pierrepont govern Thurloe; and therefore is not likely he will think himself in danger till these tell him so, nor seek a diversion of it but by their councils." Feb. 10, 1659. These ill-grounded hopes of Richard's accession to their cause appear in several other letters, and even Hyde seems to have given in to them. 434, 454, etc. Broderick, another active emissary of the royalists, fancied that the three above-mentioned would restore the king if they dared (477); but this is quite unlikely.

[483] P. 469. This was carried on through Colonel Henry Cromwell, his cousin. It is said that Richard had not courage to sign the letters to Monk and his other friends, which he afterwards repented. 491. The intrigues still went on with him for a little longer. This was in May 1659.

[484] _Clarendon State Papers_, 434, 500 _et post_; Thurloe, vi. 686. See also an enigmatical letter to Henry Cromwell, 629, which certainly hints at his union with the king; and Carte's _Letters_, ii. 293.

[485] _Clarendon State Papers_, 552, 556, etc.

[486] Clarendon confesses (_Life_, p. 20) that the cavaliers disliked this whole intrigue with the presbyterians, which was planned by Mordaunt, the most active and intelligent agent that the king possessed in England. The former, doubtless, perceived that by extending the basis of the coalition, they should lose all chance of indemnity for their own sufferings: besides which, their timidity and irresolution are manifest in all the Clarendon correspondence at this period. See particularly 491, 520.

[487] Willis had done all in his power to obstruct the rising. Clarendon was very slow in believing this treachery, of which he had at length conclusive proofs. 552, 562.

[488] _Id._ 514, 530, 536, 543.

[489] _Clarendon Papers_, 425, 427, 458, 462, 475, 526, 579. It is evident that the catholics had greater hopes from the duke than from the king, and considered the former as already their own. A remarkable letter of Morley to Hyde, April 24, 1659, p. 458, shows the suspicions already entertained of him by the writer in point of religion; and Hyde is plainly not free from apprehension that he might favour the scheme of supplanting his brother. The intrigue might have gone a great way, though we may now think it probable that their alarm magnified the danger. "Let me tell you," says Sir Antony Ashley Cooper in a letter to Hyde, "that Wildman is as much an enemy now to the king as he was before a seeming friend; yet not upon the account of a commonwealth, for his ambition meets with every day repulses and affronts from that party; but upon a finer spun design of setting up the interest of the Duke of York against the king; in which design I fear you will find confederated the Duke of Bucks, who perhaps may draw away with him Lord Fairfax, the presbyterians, levellers, and many catholics. I am apt to think these things are not transacted without the privity of the queen; and I pray God that they have not an ill influence upon your affairs in France."--475. Buckingham was surmised to have been formally reconciled to the church of Rome. 427. Some supposed that he, with his friend Wildman, were for a republic. But such men are for nothing but the intrigue of the moment. These projects of Buckingham to set up the Duke of York are hinted at in a pamphlet by Shaftesbury or one of his party, written about 1680. _Somers Tracts_, viii. 342.

[490] Hyde writes to the Duke of Ormond: "I pray inform the king that Fleetwood makes great professions of being converted, and of a resolution to serve the king upon the first opportunity." Oct. 11, 1659. Carte's _Letters_, ii. 231. See _Clarendon State Papers_, 551 (Sept. 2) and 577. But it is said afterwards, that he had "not courage enough to follow the honest thoughts which some time possess him" (592, Oct. 31), and that Manchester, Popham, and others, tried what they could do with Fleetwood; but "though they left him with good resolutions, they were so weak as not to continue longer than the next temptation."--635 (Dec. 27).

[491] _Id._ 588; Carte's _Letters_, ii. 225.

[492] Lord Hatton, an old royalist, suggested this humiliating proposition in terms scarcely less so to the heir of Cerdic and Fergus. "The race is a _very good gentleman's family_, and kings have condescended to marry subjects. The lady is pretty, of an extraordinary sweetness of disposition, and very virtuously and ingenuously disposed; the father is a person, set aside of his unhappy engagement, of very great parts and noble inclinations."--_Clarendon State Papers_, 592. Yet, after all, Miss Lambert was hardly more a mis-alliance than Hortense Mancini, whom Charles had asked for in vain.

[493] _Biogr. Brit._ art. Monk. The royalists continued to entertain hopes of him, especially after Oliver's death. _Clarendon Papers_, iii. 393, 395, 396. In a sensible letter of Colepepper to Hyde, Sept. 20, 1658, he points out Monk as able alone to restore the king, and not absolutely averse to it, either in his principles or affections; kept hitherto by the vanity of adhering to his professions, and by his affection to Cromwell, the latter whereof is dissolved both by the jealousies he entertained of him, and by his death, etc. _Id._ 412.

[494] Thurloe, vii. 387. Monk wrote about the same time against the Earl of Argyle, as not a friend to the government. 584. Two years afterwards he took away his life as being too much so.

[495] If the account of his chaplain, Dr. Price, republished in Maseres' _Tracts_, vol. ii., be worthy of trust, Monk gave so much encouragement to his brother, a clergyman, secretly despatched to Scotland by Sir John Grenvil, his relation, in June 1659, as to have approved Sir George Booth's insurrection, and to have been on the point of publishing a declaration in favour of it. P. 718. But this is flatly in contradiction of what Clarendon asserts, that the general not only sent away his brother with no hopes, but threatened to hang him if he came again on such an errand. And, in fact, if anything so favourable as what Price tells us had occurred, the king could not fail to have known it. See _Clarendon State Papers_, iii. 543. This throws some suspicion on Price's subsequent narrative (so far as it professes to relate the general's intentions); so that I rely far less on it than on Monk's own behaviour, which seems irreconcilable with his professions of republican principles. It is, however, an obscure point of history, which will easily admit of different opinions.

The story told by Locke, on Lord Shaftesbury's authority, that Monk had agreed with the French ambassador to take on himself the government, wherein he was to have the support of Mazarin, and that his wife, having overheard what was going forward, sent notice to Shaftesbury, who was thus enabled to frustrate the intrigue (Locke's Works, iii. 456), seems to have been confirmed lately by Mr. D'Israeli, in an extract from the manuscript memoirs of Sir Thomas Browne (_Curiosities of Literature_, N. S. vol. ii.), but in terms so nearly resembling those of Locke, that it seems to be an echo. It is certain, as we find by Phillips's continuation of Baker's _Chronicle_ (said to be assisted, in this part, by Sir Thomas Clarges, Monk's brother-in-law), that Bourdeaux, the French ambassador, did make such overtures to the general, who absolutely refused to enter upon them; but, as the writer admits, received a visit from the ambassador on condition that he should propose nothing in relation to public matters. I quote from Kennet's _Register_, 85. But, according to my present impression, this is more likely to have been the foundation of Shaftesbury's story, who might have heard from Mrs. Monk the circumstance of the visit, and conceived suspicions upon it, which he afterwards turned into proofs. It was evidently not in Monk's power to have usurped the government, after he had let the royalist inclinations of the people show themselves; and he was by no means of a rash character. He must have taken his resolution when the secluded members were restored to the house (Feb. 21); and this alleged intrigue with Mazarin could hardly have been so early.

It may be added that in one of the pamphlets about the time of the exclusion bill, written by Shaftesbury himself or one of his party (_Somers Tracts_, viii. 338), he is hinted to have principally brought about the restoration; "without whose courage and dexterity some men, the most highly rewarded, had done otherwise than they did." But this still depends on his veracity.

[496] Whitelock, 690.

[497] The engagement was repeated March 13. This was of itself tantamount to a declaration in favour of the king; though perhaps the previous order of March 5, that the solemn league and covenant should be read in churches, was still more so. Prynne was the first who had the boldness to speak for the king, declaring his opinion that the parliament was dissolved by the death of Charles the First; he was supported by one or two more. _Clar. Papers_, 696; Thurloe, vii. 854; Carte's _Letters_, ii. 312. Prynne wrote a pamphlet advising the peers to meet and issue writs for a new parliament, according to the provisions of the triennial act; which in fact was no bad expedient. _Somers Tracts_, vi. 534.

A speech of Sir Harbottle Grimston before the close of the parliament, March 1660, is more explicit for the king's restoration than anything which I have seen elsewhere; and as I do not know that it has been printed, I will give an extract from the Harleian MS. 1576.

He urges it as necessary to be done by them, and not left for the next parliament, who all men believed would restore him. "This is so true and so well understood, that we all believe that whatsoever our thoughts are, this will be the opinion of the succeeding parliament, whose concerns as well as affections will make them active for his introduction. And I appeal then to your own judgments whether it is likely that those persons, as to their particular interest more unconcerned, and probably less knowing in the affairs of the nation, can or would obtain for any those terms or articles as we are yet in a capacity to procure both for them and us. I must confess sincerely that it would be as strange to me as a miracle, did I not know that God infatuates whom he designs to destroy, that we can see the king's return so unavoidable, and yet be no more studious of serving him, or at least ourselves, in the managing of his recall.

"The general, that noble personage to whom under God we do and must owe all the advantages of our past and future changes, will be as far from opposing us in the design, as the design is removed from the disadvantage of the nation. He himself is, I am confident, of the same opinion; and if he has not yet given notice of it to the house, it is not that he does not look upon it as the best expedient; but he only forbears to oppose it, that he might not seem to necessitate us, and by an over early discovery of his own judgment be thought to take from us the freedom of ours."

In another place he says, "That the recalling of our king is this only way (for composure of affairs), is already grown almost as visible as true; and, were it but confessed of all of whom it is believed, I should quickly hear from the greatest part of this house what now it hears alone from me. Had we as little reason to fear as we have too much, that, if we bring not in the king, he either already is, or shortly may be, in a capacity of coming in unsent for; methinks the very knowledge of this right were enough to keep just persons, such as we would be conceived to be, from being accessary to his longer absence. We are already, and but justly, reported to have been the occasion of our prince's banishment; we may then, with reason and equal truth, for ought I know, be thought to have been the contrivers of it; unless we endeavour the contrary, by not suffering the mischief to continue longer which is in our power to remove."

Such passages as these, and the general tenor of public speeches, sermons, and pamphlets in the spring of 1660, show how little Monk can be justly said to have restored Charles II.; except so far that he did not persist in preventing it so long as he might have done.

[498] _Clarendon State Papers_, 711.

[499] _Id._ 696.

[500] _Id._ 678 _et post_. He wrote a letter (Jan. 21) to the gentry of Devon, who had petitioned the speaker for the re-admission of the secluded members, objecting to that measure as likely to bring in monarchy, very judicious, and with an air of sincerity that might deceive any one; and after the restoration of these secluded members, he made a speech to them (Feb. 21), strongly against monarchy; and that so ingenuously, upon such good reasons, so much without invective or fanaticism, that the professional hypocrites, who were used to their own tone of imposture, were deceived by his. Cromwell was a mere bungler to him. See these in Harris's _Charles II._ 296, or _Somers Tracts_, vi. 551. It cannot be wondered at that the royalists were exasperated at Monk's behaviour. They published abusive pamphlets against him in February, from which Kennet, in his _Register_, p. 53, gives quotations. "Whereas he was the common hopes of all men, he is now the common hatred of all men, as a traitor more detestable than Oliver himself, who, though he manacled the citizens' hands, yet never took away the doors of the city," and so forth. It appears by the letters of Mordaunt and Broderick to Hyde, and by those of Hyde himself in the _Clarendon Papers_, that they had no sort of confidence in Monk till near the end of March; though Barwick, another of his correspondents, seems to have had more insight into the general's designs (Thurloe, 852, 860, 870), who had expressed himself to a friend of the writer, probably Clobery, fully in favour of the king, before March 19.

[501] Clar. 699, 705; Thurloe, vii. 860, 870.

[502] A correspondent of Ormond writes, March 16: "This night the fatal long parliament hath dissolved itself. All this appears well; but I believe we shall not be settled upon our ancient foundations without a war, for which all prepare vigorously and openly."--Carte's _Letters_, ii. 513. It appears also from a letter of Massey to Hyde, that a rising in different counties was intended. Thurloe, 854.

[503] After giving the substance of Monk's speech to the house, recommending a new parliament, but insisting on commonwealth principles, Clarendon goes on; "There was no dissimulation in this, in order to cover and conceal his good intentions to the king; for without doubt he had not to this hour entertained any purpose or thought to serve him, but was really of the opinion he expressed in his paper, that it was a work impossible; and desired nothing but that he might see a commonwealth established on such a model as Holland was, where he had been bred, and that himself might enjoy the authority and place which the Prince of Orange possessed in that government."

[504] The _Clarendon_ and _Thurloe Papers_ are full of more proofs of this than can be quoted, and are very amusing to read, as a perpetually shifting picture of hopes and fears, and conjectures right or wrong. Pepys's _Diary_ also, in these two months, strikingly shows the prevailing uncertainty as to Monk's intentions, as well as the general desire of having the king brought in. It seems plain that, if he had delayed a very little longer, he would have lost the whole credit of the restoration. All parties began to crowd in with addresses to the king in the first part of April, before Monk was known to have declared himself. Thurloe, among others, was full of his offers, though evidently anxious to find out whether the king had an interest with Monk. P. 898. The royalists had long entertained hopes, from time to time, of this deep politician; but it is certain he never wished well to their cause, and with St. John and Pierrepont, had been most zealous, to the last moment that it seemed practicable, against the restoration. There had been, so late as February 1660, or even afterwards, a strange plan of setting up again Richard Cromwell, wherein not only these three, but Montagu, Jones, and others were thought to be concerned, erroneously no doubt as to Montagu. _Clarendon State Papers_, 693; Carte's _Letters_, ii. 310, 330. "One of the greatest reasons they alledged was, that the king's party, consisting altogether of indigent men, will become powerful by little and little to force the king, whatever be his own disposition, to break any engagement he can now make; and, since the nation is bent on a single person, none will combine all interests so well as Richard." This made Monk, it is said, jealous of St. John, and he was chosen at Cambridge to exclude him. In a letter of Thurloe to Downing at the Hague, April 6, he says, "that many of the presbyterians are alarmed at the prospect, and thinking how to keep the king out without joining the sectaries."--vii. 887. This could hardly be achieved but by setting up Richard. Yet that, as is truly said in one of the letters quoted, was ridiculous. None were so conspicuous and intrepid on the king's side as the presbyterian ministers. Reynolds preached before the lord mayor, Feb. 28, with manifest allusion to the restoration; Gauden (who may be reckoned on that side, as conforming to it), on the same day much more explicitly. Kennet's _Register_, 69. Sharp says, in a letter to a correspondent in Scotland, that he, Ash, and Calamy had a long conversation with Monk, March 11, "and convinced him a commonwealth was impracticable, and to our sense sent him off that sense he hath hitherto maintained, and came from him as being satisfied of the necessity of dissolving this house, and calling a new parliament."--_Id._ p. 81. Baxter thinks the presbyterian ministers, together with Clarges and Morrice, turned Monk's resolution, and induced him to declare for the king. _Life_, p. 2. This is a very plausible conjecture, though I incline to think Monk more disposed that way by his own judgment or his wife's. But she was influenced by the presbyterian clergy. They evidently deserved of Charles what they did not meet with.

[505] The royalists began too soon with threatening speeches, which well nigh frustrated their object. _Id._ 721, 722, 727; Carte's _Letters_, 318; Thurloe, 887. One Dr. Griffith published a little book vindicating the late king in his war against the parliament, for which the ruling party were by no means ripe; and, having justified it before the council, was committed to the Gate-house early in April. _Id. ibid._ These imprudences occasioned the king's declaration from Breda. _Somers Tracts_, vi. 562. Another also was published, April 25, 1660, signed by several peers, knights, divines, etc., of the royalist party, disclaiming all private passions and resentments. Kennet's _Register_, 120; Clar. vii. 471. But these public professions were weak disguises, when belied by their current language. See Baxter, 217. Marchmont Needham, in a tract entitled, "Interest will not lye" (written in answer to an artful pamphlet ascribed to Fell, afterwards Bishop of Oxford, and reprinted in Maseres's _Tracts_, "The Interest of England stated"), endeavoured to alarm all other parties, especially the presbyterians, with representations of the violence they had to expect from that of the king. See Harris's _Charles II._ 268.

[506] Proofs of the disposition among this party to revive the treaty of the Isle of Wight occur perpetually in the Thurloe and Clarendon Papers, and in those published by Carte. The king's agents in England evidently expected nothing better; and were, generally speaking, much for his accepting the propositions. "The presbyterian lords," says Sir Allen Broderic to Hyde, "with many of whom I have spoken, pretend that, should the king come in upon any such insurrection, abetted by those of his own party, he would be more absolute than his father was in the height of his prerogative. Stay therefore, say they, till we are ready; our numbers so added will abundantly recompense the delay, rendering what is now extremely doubtful morally certain, and establishing his throne upon the true basis, liberty and property." July 16, 1659. _Clar. State Papers_, 527.

[507] Clarendon, _Hist. of Rebellion_, vii. 440; _State Papers_, 705, 729. "There is so insolent a spirit among some of the nobility," says Clarendon, about the middle of February, "that I really fear it will turn to an aristocracy; Monk inclining that way too. My opinion is clear, that the king ought not to part with the church, crown, or friends' lands, lest he make my lord of Northumberland his equal, nay, perhaps his superior."--P. 680.

[508] Downing, the minister at the Hague, was one of these. His overtures to the king were as early as Monk's, at the beginning of April; he declared his wish to see his majesty restored on good terms, though many were desirous to make him a doge of Venice. Carte's _Letters_, ii. 320. See also a remarkable letter of the king to Monk (dated May 21; but I suspect he used the new style, therefore read May 11), intimating what a service it would be to prevent the imposition of any terms. Clar. 745. And another from him to Morrice of the same tenor, May 20 (N. S.), 1660, and hinting that his majesty's friends in the house had complied with the general in all things, according to the king's directions, departing from their own sense, and restraining themselves from pursuing what they thought most for his service. Thurloe, vii. 912. This perhaps referred to the indemnity and other provisions then pending in the Commons, or rather to the delay of a few days before the delivery of Sir John Grenvil's message.

[509] "Monk came this day (about the first week of April) to the council, and assured them that, notwithstanding all the appearance of a general desire of kingly government, yet it was in nowise his sense, and that he would spend the last drop of his blood to maintain the contrary."--Extract of a letter from Thurloe to Downing. Carte's _Letters_, ii. 322. "The council of state are utterly ignorant of Monk's treating with the king; and surely, as the present temper of the council of state is now, and may possibly be also of the parliament, by reason of the presbyterian influence upon both, I should think the first chapman will not be the worst, who perhaps will not offer so good a rate in conjunction with the company, as may give to engross the commodity." Clar. 722, April 6. This sentence is a clue to all the intrigue. It is said soon afterwards (p. 726, April 11) that the presbyterians were much troubled at the course of the elections, which made some of the council of state again address themselves to Monk for his consent to propositions they would send to the king; but he absolutely refused, and said he would leave all to a free parliament, as he had promised the nation. Yet, though the elections went as well as the royalists could reasonably expect, Hyde was dissatisfied that the king was not restored without the intervention of the new parliament; and this may have been one reason of his spleen against Monk. Pp. 726, 731.

[510] A proposed resolution, that those who had been on the king's side, _or their sons_, should be disabled from voting at elections, was lost by 93 to 56, the last effort of the expiring Rump. Journals, 13 March. The electors did not think themselves bound by this arbitrary exclusion of the cavaliers from parliament; several of whom (though not perhaps a great number within the terms of the resolution) were returned. Massey, however, having gone down to stand for Glocester, was put under arrest by order of the council of state. Thurloe, 887. Clarendon, who was himself not insensible to that kind of superstition, had fancied that anything done at Glocester by Massey for the king's service would make a powerful impression on the people.

[511] It is a curious proof of the state of public sentiment that, though Monk himself wrote a letter to the electors of Bridgenorth, recommending Thurloe, the cavalier party was so powerful, that his friends did not even produce the letter, lest it should be treated with neglect. Thurloe, vii. 895.

[512] "To the king's coming in without conditions may be well imputed all the errors of his reign." Thus says Burnet. The great political error, if so it should be termed, of his reign, was a conspiracy with the king of France, and some wicked advisers at home, to subvert the religion and liberty of his subjects; and it is difficult to perceive by what conditions this secret intrigue could have been prevented.

[513] _Clarendon Papers_, p. 729. They resolved to send the articles of that treaty to the king, leaving out the preface. This was about the middle of April.

[514] _Life of Clarendon_, p. 10.

[515] "This," says Burnet somewhat invidiously, "was the great service that Monk did; for as to the restoration itself, the tide ran so strong, that he only went into it dexterously enough to get much praise and great rewards."--P. 123.

[516] Grimston was proposed by Pierrepont, and conducted to the chair by him, Monk, and Hollis. Journals; _Parl. Hist._ The cavaliers complained that this was done before they came into the house, and that he was partial. Mordaunt to Hyde, April 27. _Clarendon State Papers_, 734.

[517] These were the Earls of Manchester, Northumberland, Lincoln, Denbigh, and Suffolk; Lords Say, Wharton, Hunsdon, Grey, Maynard. Lords' Journals, April 25.

[518] _Id._ Lords' Journals.