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 port of the attempt to suspend the enforcement of the Act of Uniformity (, Continuation, 335-8 ;, Diary, 3 Sept. 1662).

In the settlement of Scotland Monck's advice naturally had considerable weight. He appears, however, to have been opposed to the withdrawal of the English garrisons and to the destruction of the forts erected there during the English conquest (, Church History, ed. R. Burns, 1827, i. 44). But he had promised the Scots nobility before going into England that 'he would befriend them in all their just liberties,' and this was one of the points they had most at heart. To the Scottish clergy, with whose leaders he had been in communication through James Sharpe, he was pledged for the maintenance of presbyterianism, and therefore opposed the immediate introduction of episcopacy (, Continuation, 105). He had recommended Sharpe to Hyde and to the king as likely to prove useful in the settlement of church matters (Clarendon State Papers, iii. 741). Clarendon also attributes Glencairne's employment to Monck's recommendation (Continuation, §95). The part which Monck took in procuring Argyll's condemnation has been much controverted. One of the charges against Argyll was his active support of the English government of Scotland against the Scottish royalists, and when there was a difficulty about proving it Monck forwarded a selection from Argyll's letters to himself and other English governors. This fact, asserted by Baillie and Burnet, but denied by later writers, is now conclusively proved (, i. 225 ;, ed. Laing, iii. 465 ; Hist. MSS. Comm. 6th Rep. p. 617 ; for the controversy, see , Monk, ed. Wortley, p. 293). Burnet terms this an act of 'inexcusable baseness;' on the other hand, the letters were not of the private nature which he asserts, but a part of the official correspondence of the English government in Scotland which had, according to custom, remained in Monck's possession (Own Time, i. 225).

At the Restoration Monck had been appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland, but was unwilling either to quit England or to resign his post. His Irish estate, according to Clarendon, amounted to 4,000l. a year, 'which he thought he could best preserve in the supreme government, though he was willing to have it believed in the city and the army that he retained it only for the good of the adventurers, and that the soldiers might be justly dealt with for their arrears' (Continuation, §124). In the Act of Settlement provisos were inserted in favour of Monck's rights, and his influence was undoubtedly used on behalf of the English colony. At first the king appointed Lord Roberts to act as Monck's deputy, but as that arrangement proved unsatisfactory three lords justices were appointed instead (December 1660). The death of one of these caused a new difficulty, which Monck solved by resigning his commission and begging the king to make Ormonde lord-lieutenant (November 1661; ib. §§ 198, 234).

Monck's part in the foreign policy pursued during the early years of the reign is obscure. Burnet, on the doubtful authority of Sir Robert Southwell, attributes to him the suggestion of the Portuguese match. It is clear that Monck was a strong supporter of the scheme, if not actually its originator (Own. Time, i. 300;, Register, p. 394; , Ormonde, iv. 102). Burnet represents him as the chief adviser of the sale of Dunkirk, but, according to the letters of d'Estrades, Clarendon told him that Monck was one of its chief opponents. Nevertheless, his position as lord-general naturally led to his appointment as one of the commissioners to arrange the details of the sale (Own Time, i. 312 ; Clarendon State Papers, iii. Appendix, p. xxv ;, Works, 1732, i. 459). Public opinion regarded Monck as one of the instigators of the Dutch war. 'Some,' says Gumble, 'did report him the chief councillor, but they are mistaken, for he scarce declared himself in it till the parliament had voted to adhere with their lives and fortunes' (p. 410). Foreign observers, however, shared the popular view, and the Dutch ambassador reported to his masters a conversation in which Monck announced that at any cost England must have her proper share in the trade of the world (, Jean de Witt, i. 325;, Life of Shaftesbury, i. 278). Throughout the war, whether Monck was at home or at sea, the burden of its management rested largely on his shoulders. When the Duke of York took command of the fleet he deputed his authority as lord high admiral to Monck instead of entrusting it to commissioners (22 March 1665 : Memoirs of Naval Affairs, 1729, p. 124). 'It is a thing that do cheer my heart,' wrote Pepys ; 'for the other would have vexed us with attendance, and never done the business ' (Diary, 17 March 1665). All through the plague-year Monck remained in London, executing the duties of his office, maintaining order in the city, and, with the assistance of William Craven, earl of Craven (1606-1697) [q. v.], superintending the measures taken to check the plague. His example and his presence were of the greatest value (, Con-