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 mission of the excluded members or the restoration of monarchy would be contrary to the interests of the nation. But to the demands of some of his officers that he should solemnly engage his army to be 'obedient to the parliament in all things, except the bringing of Charles Stuart,' he answered that they must not seem to dictate to parliament, or they would fall into the same error as the English army (ib. p. 754:, p. 32). And though publicly discountenancing the demands of the city he gave private encouragement to its leaders through his chaplain Gumble (, pp. 209-20; Clarendon State Papers, iii. 649). The ambiguity of his utterances and the contradiction between his words and his actions puzzled the shrewdest observers. Neither Hyde nor the royalist agents in England could guess whether he meant to serve the king or to maintain the Rump in power.

Parliament had been profusely grateful to Monck for Lambert's overthrow. On 2 Jan. they elected him one of the council of state, on the 12th they ordered a bill to be brought in to justify and approve all his actions, on the 16th they voted him 1,000/. a year, and on 2 Feb. appointed him ranger of St. James's Park. The commission as commander-in-chief, granted him by the old council of state, had been confirmed on 26 Jan. Nevertheless, the parliamentary leaders regarded him with suspicion.

Monck entered London on 3 Feb., and on 6 Feb. was solemnly thanked by Speaker Lenthall on behalf of parliament. In reply he summarised his answers to the addresses he had received, and set forth the policy he desired parliament to follow. They were to reconcile the 'sober gentry' to the government and to protect the l sober interest,' allowing neither cavaliers nor fanatics any share of power. Two points in his speech were more alarming. He plainly hinted that he had pledged himself that the parliament should be filled up, and its sittings speedily determined. At the same time he warned them against the proposed imposition of an oath abjuring the house of Stuart, and it was known that he himself, on taking his place in the council of state, had refused to take the oath (, p. 229).

Immediately after Monck's arrival the quarrel between the parliament and the city came to a head, and the latter refused to pay taxes. On the morning of 9 Feb. Monck marched into the city with orders to arrest eleven leading citizens, take away the posts and chains in the streets, and make the gates indefensible. Having carried out the greater part of his task, he wrote to the house that he had forborne taking down the gates and portcullises in order not to exasperate the city, and begged that tenderness might be used towards it. But the parliamentary leaders were too exalted by his obedience to listen to his remonstrances. 'All is our own,' said Heselrige, 'he will be honest;' or, according to another story, 'Now, George, we have thee, body and soul' (, ii. 825). They commanded him to execute his orders to the letter, and on the following day he completed his task (Old Parliamentary History, xxii. 93). The result of the two days' work was to change the temper of Monck's soldiers, and rouse their indignation against the parliament. No doubt Monck foresaw this result, and counted on it. When Price soon after asked him how he was engaged to undertake this detestable piece of service, he answered : 'This was a trick you knew not of, and I assure you that I could not have done my business so soon without it, and possibly not at all' (, p. 763). He now drew up a letter to parliament peremptorily demanding the issue of writs for a new parliament within the next week, and the fixing of a date for the dissolution of the present assembly (Old Parliamentary History, xxii. 98). The letter was presented to the house on the morning of 11 Feb., and on the afternoon of the same day Monck met the corporation in the Guildhall, told them what he had done, and apologised for his late ungrateful duty. His declaration was received with general joy, and celebrated by bonfires, in which the Rump was burnt in effigy all over London. The parliament received Monck's letter with feigned thanks, but showed its real distrust by vesting the control of the army in five commissioners, of whom Monck was one, while three were of their own faction (, ii. 830). The council of state humbly pressed him to return to Whitehall, but Monck turned a deaf ear to their appeals. He was now bent on procuring the readmission of the members expelled in 1648, and with that object obtained a conference between the ' secluded ' and the sitting members. But the conference led to no result, and he solved the difficulty by ordering the guards to admit the secluded members to the house (21 Feb.) Before they took their seats he pledged them to settle the government of the army, call a new parliament for 20 April, dissolve the present one within a month, and appoint a new council of state to govern in the interval (, p. 710; Old Parliamentary History, xxii. 140). They kept their word, elected a new council with Monck at the head of the list (21 Feb.), appointed him general-in-chief of all the land