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 of the fleet ordered to the Sound to arrange, or, if necessary, to enforce, a peace between Sweden and Denmark [see ]. On the fall of Richard Cromwell [q. v.], Mountagu felt no obligation to the new and unsettled government, which showed its want of confidence in him by depriving him of the command of his regiment of horse, and by associating with him in his mission three colleagues whom he looked on rather as spies or supervisors, and who in fact had secret instructions to depose him from the command and send him home under arrest if they had reason to mistrust his intentions (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1 July 1659;, Hist. xvi. 157). In this state of difficulty and discontent Mountagu was not unwilling to listen to overtures from the king. His young cousin, Edward Montagu, son of the first Lord Montagu of Boughton [q. v.], and an active agent of Charles, had embarked with him in,it was said, the special object of soundingthe admiral, and now succeeded in representing to him the king's wish that he should take the fleet back to England so as to be ready to co-operate with Sir George Booth (1622-1684) [q. v.], already in command of a royalist army in Cheshire. Mountagu, discontented, discouraged, possibly foreseeing the coming anarchy, and honestly considering the restoration of the monarchy the best solution of the difficulty, but certainly judging that it might be most to his own interest (cf., 15 May 1660), assented to his cousin's proposals, and was from this time actually engaged in the king's interest (Clarendon State Papers, iii. 493, 565,580). Taking advantage of the absence of diplomatic colleagues at Copenhagen, Mountagu summoned a council of war, which resolved that, as their present stay was useless and their provisions were running short, it was expedient to sail for England at once. This resolution Mountagu carried into effect, leaving the other plenipotentiaries behind him. On his return Mountagu reported what had been done to the council of state and the parliament (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 10, 16 Sept. 1659), but as the premature attempt in favour of the king had been overthrown, and Booth was a prisoner in the Tower, he judged it prudent to resign the command of the fleet, which for the next few months was held by Lawson, though only with the rank of vice-admiral [see ]. During the autumn and winter Mountagu lived in retirement, apparently at Hinchinbroke, his country seat near Huntingdon ; but on 23 Feb. 1659-60 he was reappointed general of the fleet, jointly with George Monck, afterwards Duke of Albemarle [q. v.], and with the sanction of the king, with whom he had been in frequent correspondence (, Hist. xvi. 152 ;, 3 May 1660). The mutual jealousies between Monck and Mountagu seem to have been at this time the principal barrier to the Restoration, while the king felt quite sure of neither. When Mountagu took command of the fleet he found that there was a practical unanimity as to the necessity of bringing in the king, although there might be some who would have wished it otherwise (cf., 29 March, 11, 17 April 1660), and on 3 May he called a council of war, and read the king's letter of 4 April to the officers assembled. Mountagu's resolution in favour of the king was agreed to without dissent ; after which, going on deck with the others, he read the king's letter and the resolution of the council of war to the ship's ! company, who cried out 'God bless King Charles' 'with the greatest joy imaginable' (ib. 3 May; the text of the king's letter to the generals and the fleet is in, History, xvi. 199, 200). Pepys, Mountagu's secretary, afterwards went to all the ships in the fleet, and read the king's letter and the resolution of the council of war to their several crews with like result. 'My Lord was much pleased,' he wrote, 'to hear how all the fleet took it in a transport of joy, showed me a private letter of the king's to him, and another from the Duke of York, in such familiar style as to their common friend with all kindness imaginable. ... In the evening the general began to fire his guns which he did all that he had in the ship, and so did all the rest of the commanders ? (Diary, 3 May). After this there was no disguise ; preparations for going to Holland were openly made ; official persons came on board for a passage ; young Edward Montagu was sent in advance to acquaint the king with the progress of affairs (ib. 4 May ;, History, xvi. 227 ; , Life of Clarendon, iii. 404). The general appeared, wrote Pepys, to be 'willing to do all the honour in the world to Monck, and to let him have all the honour of doing the business, though he will many times express his thoughts of him to be but a thick-sculled fool.' On 8 May the king was proclaimed, and on the 10th Mountagu received an order from the parliament 'to set sail presently for the king' (, 10 May; cf., History, xvi. 237) ; on the llth, likewise in obedience to the order of parliament, the state's arms were taken down and painters brought from Dover to set up the king's arms ; and on the 12th the fleet sailed from the Downs. On the 14th it anchored at Scheveling ; on the