The officers, having thus resumed the power they had given, resolved not to part with it for the future upon easy terms. They elected a committee of twentythree persons, of whom seven were officers; these they called a committee of safety, and pretended to invest them with sovereign authority. Fleetwood, a weak zealot, was made commander-in-chief; Lambert, an artful ambitious man, major-general; Desborough, lieutenant-general; and Monk, who had been invested by Cromwell with the government of Scotland, was appointed major-general of the foot. A military government was now established, which gave the nation the melancholy prospect of endless servitude, and tyranny without redress; but a succour came to relieve the nation from a quarter where it was the least expected.

During these transactions, general Monk was at the head of eight thousand veterans in Scotland, and beheld the distraction of his native country with slender hopes of relieving it. This personage, to whom the nation owes such signal obligations, was at first a soldier of fortune. After some time spent abroad, he was intrusted with a regiment in the service of king Charles, and was usually called by the soldiery, for his good-nature, honest George Monk. He was taken prisoner at the siege of Nantwich, by Fairfax, and soon after sent to the Tower. He did not recover his liberty till after the total overthrow of the royal party, when Cromwell took him into favour and protection, and sent him to oppose the Irish rebels, against whom he performed signal services. Upon the reduction of that kingdom he was sent over into Scotland, and there intrusted with the supreme command, in which station he was not less esteemed by the Scots than loved and adored by his own army.

This general, upon hearing that the officers had, by their own authority, dissolved the parliament, protested

against the measure, and resolved to defend their invaded privileges. But deeper designs, either in the king's favour or his own, were suspected to be the motive of his actions from the beginning. Whatever might have been his designs, it was impossible to cover them with greater secrecy than he did. As soon as he put his army into motion to inquire into the causes of the disturbances in the capital, his countenance was eagerly sought by all the contending parties. His bro ther, a clergyman, who was a zealous royalist, came to him with a message from sir John Granville, in the name of the king. The general asked him if he had communicated the contents of his commission to any

other person.

His brother replied, to none, except to Mr. Price, the general's own chaplain, a man of probity, and in the royal interests. The general, altering his countenance, at once changed the discourse, and would enter into no farther conference with him. The same deep reserve was held through all his subsequent proceedings.

Hearing that the officers were preparing an army to oppose him, and that general Lambert was actually advancing northward to meet him, Monk sent three commissioners to London, with very earnest professions of an accommodation, by which means he relaxed their preparations. His commissioners even proceeded so far as to sign a treaty, which he refused to ratify. Still, however, he made proposals for fresh negotiations; and the committee of officers again accepted his fallacious offers.

In the mean time, the people, perceiving that they were not entirely defenceless, began to gather spirit, and to exclaim loudly against the tyranny of the army. Haselrig and Morley, while Lambert was absent, took possession of Portsmouth, and declared for the parliament. The city-apprentices rose in a tumult, and de

manded a free parliament; admiral Lawson came into the river with his squadron and declared for the parliament; and even the regiments that had been left in London, being solicited by their old officers, who had been cashiered, revolted again to the parliament. The Rump, thus being invited on all hands, again ventured to resume their seats, and to thunder their votes in turn against the officers, and that part of the army by which they had been ejected. Without taking any notice of Lambert, they sent orders to the troops he conducted, immediately to repair to the garrisons they appointed for them. The soldiers were not slow in obeying the parliamentary orders; and Lambert at last found himself deserted by his whole army. He was soon after committed to the Tower; several of his brother officers were cashiered; and the parliament seemed now to stand on a firmer basis than before.

A. D.

But they were far from being so secure as they 1660. imagined. Monk, though he had heard of their restitution, and therefore might be supposed to have nothing more to do, still continued to march his army towards the capital; all the world equally in doubt as to his motives, and astonished at his reserve. The gentry, on his march, flocked around him with entreaties and addresses, expressing their desire of a new parliament Fairfax brought him a body of troops, with which he offered to assist in the work of restoration; but Monk continued his inflexible taciturnity. When he had reached St. Alban's, he sent the parliament a message, desiring them to remove such forces as remained in London to country quarters. With this some of the regiments refused to comply: but Monk was resolved to be obeyed; he entered London the next day, turned the soldiers out, and with his army, took up his quarters in Westminster. He then waited upon the house, which

was ready enough to vote him sincere thanks for the services he had done his country. But he, in a blunt manner, assured them, that his only merit was a desire to restore peace to the community; and, therefore, he entreated them that they would permit a free parliament to be called, as the only balm that could heal the wounds of the constitution. He observed also, that many, oaths of admission upon this occasion were unnecessary; and the fewer the obligations of this kind, the clearer would their consciences be.

The hope of being insolent with security soon inspired the citizens to refuse submission to the present government. They resolved to pay no taxes, until the members, formerly excluded by colonel Pride, should be replaced. But the parliament found their general willing to give them the most ready instances of his obedience; he entered the city with his troops, arrested eleven of the most obnoxious of the common-council, and began to destroy the gates. Then he wrote a letter to the parliament, telling them what he had done, and begging they would moderate the severity of their orders. But being urged by the house to proceed, he, with all possible circumstances of contempt, broke the gates and portcullises; and, having exposed the city to the scorn and derision of all who hated it, he returned in triumph to his quarters in Westminster. But the next day he began to think he had proceeded too vigorously in this act of obedience; he therefore marched into the city again, and desired the mayor to call a common-council, where he made many apologies for his conduct the day before. He assured them of his perseverance in the cause of freedom; and that his army would, for the future, co-operate only in such schemes as they should approve.

This union of the city and the army caused no small

alarm in the house of commons. They knew that a free and general parliament was desired by the whole nation; and, in such a case, they were convinced that their own power must have an end. But their fears of punishment were still greater than their uneasiness at dismission; they had been instrumental in bringing their king to the block, in loading the nation with various taxes, and some of them had grown rich by the common plunder; they resolved, therefore, to try every method to gain over the general from his new alliance; even some of them, desperate with guilt and fanaticism, promised to invest him with the dignity of supreme magistrate, and to support his usurpation. But Monk was too just, or too wise, to hearken to such wild proposals; he resolved to restore the secluded members, and by their means to bring about a new election, which was what he desired.

There was no other method to effect this, but by force of arms; wherefore, having previously secured the consent of his officers, and exacted a promise from the excluded members, that they would call a full and free parliament, he accompanied them to Whitehall. Thence, with a numerous guard, he conducted them to the house of commons, the other members of which were then sitting. They were surprised to see a large body of men entering the place; but soon recollected them for their ancient brethren, who had been formerly tumultuously expelled, and were now as tumultuously restored. The number of the new comers so far exceeded that of the Rump, that the chiefs of this last party now, in their turn, thought proper to withdraw.

The restored members began by repealing those orders by which they had been excluded. They renewed and enlarged the general's commission; they fixed a