1659] Lambert's coup d'état 545 the people without their consent in Parliament. Next day, discovering that signatures to the petition were still being collected, it cashiered Lambert and eight others, and vested the government of the army in seven Commissioners. The seven were Fleetwood, Ludlow, Monck, Heselrige, Morley, Walton, and Overton, but only three of them were in London; and, while Fleetwood openly took part with the mutineers, neither Heselrige nor Morley had any influence with the soldiers. On October 13 Lambert beset Westminster with soldiers, kept the members from entering the House, and turned back Speaker Lenthall on his way thither. Morley with a couple of regiments endeavoured to defend the House; but their ranks were thinned by desertions, and at night they abandoned their posts without a blow. The officers set a guard on the doors of the House, and issued a letter informing the country that they had been "necessitated to obstruct the sitting of Parliament for a time," and would for the present take over the government themselves. Ten days later a Committee of Safety nominated by the Council of Officers superseded the parliamentary Council of State (October 23). "Illegal, scandalous, barbarous," cried Milton, "or rather scarce to be exampled amongst any barbarians, that a paid army should, for no other cause, thus subdue the supreme power that set them up"; but resistance seemed impossible. London was apathetic and indifferent. On the 13th, "in all the hurly-burly the streets were full, everyone going about his business as not concerned," and when Parliament sent for help to the City, the City answered that "it would not meddle in the dispute." It had become customary for the minority in the army to follow the majority, whatever cause it adopted, and the forces in and about London had long determined the action of the whole body. The Irish army remained passive, or rather seemed to favour Lambert; and its commander, Ludlow, hastened to London to mediate between army and Parliament. The only sign of opposition came from Scotland. As soon as General Monck heard of Lambert's coup d'état he wrote to the Speaker announcing his resolve "to stand by and assert the liberty and authority of Parliament." Monck had no sympathy with the political ambitions of the officers in England. He had been bred, as he said, in Holland," a commonwealth where soldiers received and observed commands, but gave none"; and he had escaped the epidemic of democracy which broke out in 1647 because he was fighting in Ireland at the time. Obedience to authority was his guiding principle; he had been faithful to Cromwell, had acquiesced with reluctance in the removal of Richard, and having accepted the government of the Long Parliament had never wavered in his fidelity to it. During Booth's rising he had refused. even to listen to the overtures made to him from the King, and had exacted from the leading Scottish Royalists an engagement not "to act or contrive anything in behalf of Charles Stuart." Though Monck was sore at the removal of some of his favourite officers by Parliament, he promised C. M. H. IV. 35 546 Monck opposes the army [1659 it his support when he saw the crisis approaching, and that promise was one of the causes which led the House to act with such precipitate vigour. As he conceived it, the struggle was not a question between monarchy and a republic, or between a parliamentary and a constitutional republic, but whether England was to be governed by law or the sword. "I am engaged," he wrote, "in conscience and honour to see my country freed from that intolerable slavery of a sword government, and I know England cannot, nay will not, endure it." Confidently, yet warily, Monck set to work. Fortunately he had in his treasury some £70,000, and he was an economical administrator. The force at his disposal was ten regiments of foot, two of horse and one of dragoons, less than ten thousand men in all; with whom he had to hold Scotland as well as to beat Lambert. His first business was to reorganise his army, and get rid of all officers he could not trust; his next to come to some agreement with the Scots, so that he might reduce the garrison he left to the lowest possible point and secure the peace of the country during his absence in England. For these purposes he needed six or eight weeks, and to gain that time entered into negotiations with the agents of Lambert, and talked about compromises and reluctance to shed blood. A treaty was signed on November 15. In England the army leaders, anticipating no serious struggle, had fallen to their old game of constitution making. On November 1 the Committee of Safety appointed a sub-committee of 14 persons "to consider and prepare a form of government," in whose deliberations Vane, Ludlow, and other members of the expelled Long Parliament condescended to take part. A senate of 70 to be called the Great Council was the favourite plan; but there was much dispute whether the new constitution should receive its sanction from Parliament or from the Council of the Army. Finally they resolved that it should be submitted to a representative Council, consisting of two officers from each regiment in the three nations and of ten persons elected by the navy, which was to meet on December 6. Civilian wits were as busy as military with political theory. Harrington and his disciples founded the Rota Club, and met every night at Miles' Coffee-House in Palace Yard to discuss and ballot about the principles on which States should be organised. "Their discourses in this kind," says Aubrey, "were the most ingenious and smart that ever I heard or expect to hear, . . . ; the arguments in the Parliament House were but flat to it." Meanwhile England was beginning to move. the rule of the sword found echoes everywhere. apathy. Nearly half the commissioners of the favour of Monck, and much the wealthier half too. The Committee of Safety found it impossible to raise a loan from the London merchants. The apprentices got up a petition for the restoration of the Parliament, defied the orders of the Committee against it, and mobbed the Monck's protest against 1659] The movement against the army 547 soldiers who published their proclamation. On December 5 there was a riot in which some citizens and apprentices were killed by the soldiers. The Corporation demanded a free Parliament, control of their own militia, and the removal of all soldiers out of the City. The members of the deposed Council of State were active too. On November 24 they sent Monck a commission to command all the forces in England and Scotland. Three of them, Walton, Morley, and Heselrige, persuaded Nathaniel Whetham, the Governor of Portsmouth, to admit them into that stronghold, declared for the restoration of the Parliament, and began to gather troops to effect it (Dec. 3). The regiments sent to besiege them revolted, and went over to Heselrige. Another member, Scot, after failing in a plot for the seizure of the Tower, fled to the fleet in the Downs, and persuaded Vice-Admiral Lawson and his captains to declare against the arbitrary proceedings of the army (December 13). The next news which reached the Committee of Safety was that Ireland was lost. Ludlow had left Colonel John Jones and Sir Hardress Waller to command the army there in his absence, and they had taken the side of the English army. On December 13 Dublin Castle was surprised by Colonels Bridges and Theophilus Jones; Athlone, Limerick, Drogheda, and other garrisons were seized in the same way. Sir Charles Coote and Lord Broghill joined the movement, declared for the restoration of the Parliament, and entered into communication with Monck. By this time Monck was ready to march into England. He had disavowed the treaty of November 15 on the ground that his agents had gone beyond their instructions. He had come to an understanding with representatives of the Scottish shires and burghs, by which they were to endeavour to maintain the peace of their districts during his absence, and, though allowing them to raise a small police force, had successfully evaded their demand for arms. He had obtained from them also a few horses for his cavalry and baggage, a little money, and some recruits for his infantry. On December 8 he established his headquarters at Coldstream, where he brought together about 6000 foot and 1800 horse. Lambert, whose headquarters were at Newcastle, had some 4000 foot and 3500 horse, and his superiority in cavalry made Monck's advance into England dangerous. But Lambert's men had no heart in their cause. They felt that it was not their quarrel. As they marched north some said boldly that they would not fight, but would make a ring for their officers to fight in; and when the scouts of the two armies met, they fired their pistols into the ground instead of at each other's heads, and indulged in a friendly gossip. While Monck and Lambert faced each other on the border, the Government which the army had set up in England was putting the finishing touches to its new constitution. The general Council of Officers fixed for December 6 met on the appointed date, though without the proposed representation of the regiments in Scotland and Ireland. It discussed for five or six 548 Collapse of the rule of the army [1659-60 days the form of government which the nominees of the Committee of Safety had drawn up, agreed upon seven principles as "unalterable fundamentals," and elected twenty-one "Conservators of Liberty" to see that they were maintained. Finally, in accordance with the vote of the Council, the Committee of Safety on December 14 issued a proclamation summoning a new Parliament to meet on January 24. Next day came the news that the fleet had declared for the restoration of the old Parliament, followed in rapid succession by the tidings of the desertion of the troops sent to besiege Portsmouth, and the sudden revolution in Ireland. The rule of the army collapsed like a house of cards. On December 24 the soldiers about London assembled in Lincoln's Inn Fields, declared for the Parliament, and marching to Chancery Lane owned Speaker Lenthall as their general. Fleetwood sent the keys of the House to Lenthall, withdrew the guards he had set upon its doors, and declared his submission to the mercy of the Parliament. Two days later those members who were in London resumed their places at Westminster. As soon as Monck received this news he marched into England. Newcastle opened its gates to his vanguard on January 3; while Lord Fairfax, who had headed a rising in Yorkshire, occupied York for the Parliament. Lambert's army melted away with the advance of Monck, who at the invitation of Parliament continued his march to London, cashiering officers and reorganising regiments on his way. When the Long Parliament met again on December 26 only 36 members were present, and the House never numbered at its highest more than 53, but its belief in its right to govern England was undiminished. Heselrige, "very jocund and high" at its triumph, was the recognised leader of the House. Scot, the regicide, became Secretary of State, and a new Council, of the purest republicanism, was appointed. The first step taken was to reassert the control of the civil power over the army. Lambert and eight other leading officers were cashiered, and ordered to live remote from London. Once more the army list was purged; and every man who had supported Lambert and Fleetwood was replaced by an officer of sounder principles. It was said that scarce one in ten of the officers of the army retained his commission. Next came the turn of the members of Parliament who had acted with the army during its usurpation. Vane and Sydenham were expelled, Salwey suspended, Whitelock frightened away from the House, and Ludlow threatened with impeachment for his attempt to mediate. Simultaneously the settlement of the constitution was taken in hand. A Bill was passed obliging all members of the Council of State to take an oath abjuring the line of Stewart. Another was brought in imposing the same test upon all members who sat or should sit in Parliament, but met with unexpected opposition. Fifteen members divided against the first reading, and though the Bill was read twice no attempt was made to 1659-60] The position of the Rump 549 push it further. Moreover half the new Council of State refused to sit rather than take the oath required. Oaths it was said were useless, and had but "multiplied the sins of the nation by perjuries"; the truth was that few cared to pledge themselves against the possibilities of the future. The question of the test was comparatively unimportant, and it was on the composition of the Parliament that the fate of the Commonwealth depended. On December 27 Prynne, with twenty-one of the secluded members, came to demand readmission. Once more they were kept out by force and the votes against them confirmed. Instead of admitting them the House, returning to the abortive scheme of 1653, resolved to recruit its numbers by the election of new members, so as to bring the total up to 400. Meanwhile for the general satisfaction it published a declaration promising the speedy settlement of the Government and the reformation of all grievances in the Commonwealth. "They declare," wrote Pepys, "for law and gospel, and for the tithes; but I do not find people apt to believe them." Not merely incredulity, but contempt and hatred were the dominant feelings in the public mind towards the little gang of Republicans who clung with such avidity to power. In the debates of Richard Cromwell's time, Major-General Browne, one of the Presbyterian leaders, had incidentally styled the fag-end of the Long Parliament "The Rump," and this nickname was now in everybody's mouth. Every day some. new derisive ballad about it was sold and sung in the streets of London. "The Re-Resurrection of the Rump," "A New Year's Gift for the Rump," "The Rump Carbonadoed," "The Rump Roughly but Righteously Handled," and the like. In the country the rising spirit of revolt took a more serious form. County after county sent up petitions demanding the readmission of the secluded members, as the first step to the convocation of a full and free Parliament. Devonshire led the way; Berkshire and others followed the example. The House sent the gentlemen who presented the Berkshire petition to the Tower, and threatened to treat others in the same fashion, but its threats were met by defiance. Recognising that Monck and the force he commanded were the real arbiters of England's fate, the petitioners turned to him, and, as he marched through the Midlands, he was met by similar petitions from the adjacent counties. Monck remained inscrutable. In a letter to the Devonshire gentlemen he declared strongly against monarchy, argued against the readmission of the secluded members, and urged submission to the existing Parliament. Other petitioners he received coldly, and answered with studied brevity and vagueness. Many were left with the impression that he would stand by the Rump through thick and thin; but some were still confident that he would finally declare in favour of their demands. For the moment the Royalist agents abandoned all hope that he would do anything to forward the King's cause. "The most sober judgment," |