ed a right to give his advice; and their counsels, from fear, inexperience, and misinformation, became fluctuating and contradictory. After much hesitation, they Aug. 16. resolved to proceed to Namptwich and defend the passage of the Weever; but so rapid had been the march of the enemy, who sent forward part of the infantry on horseback, that the advance was already arrived in the neighbourhood; and, while the royalists lay unsuspicious of Aug. 18. danger in the town, Lambert forced the passage of the river at Winnington. In haste, they filed out of Namptwich Aug. 19. into the nearest fields; but here they found that their ammunition was still at Chester; and, on the suggestion that the position was unfavourable, hastened to take possession of a neighbouring eminence. Colonel Morgan, with his troop, attempted to keep the enemy in check: he fell with thirty men; and the rest of the insurgents, at the approach of their adversaries, turned their backs and fled. Three hundred were made prisoners in the pursuit, and few of the leaders had the good fortune to escape. The earl of Derby, who had raised men in Lancashire to Aug. 21. join the royalists, was taken in the disguise of a servant. Booth, dressed as a female, and riding on a pillion, took the direct road for London, but betrayed himself at Newton Pagnell by his awkwardness in alighting from the horse. Middleton, who was eighty years old, fled to Chirk castle; and, after a defence of a few days, capitulated on Aug. 24. condition that he should have two months to make his peace with the parliament.

The news of this disaster reached the duke of York at

'Clar. Hist. iii. 672–675. Clar. Pap. iii. 673. 4. Ludlow, ii. 223. Whitelock, 683. Carte's Letters, 194. 202. Lambert's Letter, printed for Thomas Neucomb, 1659.

the late dissension.

Boulogne, fortunately on the very evening on which he was to have embarked with his men. Charles received it at Rochelle, whither he had been compelled to proceed in search of a vessel to convey him to Wales. Abandoning the hopeless project, he instantly continued his journey to the congress at Fuentarabia, with the expectation that, on the conclusion of peace between the two crowns, he should obtain a supply of money, perhaps still more substantial aid, from a personal interview with the ministers, cardinal Mazarin and don Louis de Haro. Montague, who had but recently become a proselyte to the royal cause, was drawn by his zeal into the most imminent danger. As soon as he heard of the insurrection, he brought back the fleet from the Sound in defiance of his brother commissioners, with the intention of blockading the mouth of the Thames, and of facilitating the transportation of troops. On his arrival, he learned the failure of his hopes; but boldly faced the danger, appeared before the council, and assigned the want of provisions as the cause of his return. They heard him with distrust; but it was deemed prudent to dissemble, and he received permission to withdraw. '

Renewal of To reward Lambert for this complete, though almost bloodless, victory, the parliament voted him the sum of 1000l., which he immediately distributed among his officers. But, while they recompensed his services, they Aug. 22. were not the less jealous of his ambition. They remembered how instrumental he had been in raising Cromwell to the protectorate; they knew his influence in the army; and they feared his control over the timid wavering mind

'Journals, Sep. 16. Clar. Pap. iii. 551. Carte's Letters, ii. 210. 236. Pepys, Memoirs, i. 157.

of Fleetwood, whom he appeared to govern in the same manner as Cromwell had governed Fairfax. It had been hoped that his absence on the late expedition would afford them leisure to gain the officers remaining in the capital; but the unexpected rapidity of his success had defeated their policy; and, in a short time, the intrigue which had been interrupted by the insurrection, was resumed. While Lambert hastened back to the capital, his army followed by slow marches; and at Derby the officers Sep. 14. subscribed a petition which had been clandestinely forwarded to them from Wallingford-house. In it they complained that adequate rewards were not conferred on the deserving; and demanded that the office of commander-in-chief should be given to Fleetwood without limitation of time, and the rank of major-general to their victorious leader; that no officer should be deprived of his commission without the judgment of a court martial; and that the government should be settled in a house of representatives and a permanent senate. Hazlerig, a man Sep. 22. of stern republican principles, and of a temper hasty, morose, and ungovernable, obtained a sight of this paper, denounced it as an attempt to subvert the parliament, and moved that Lambert, its author, should be sent to the Tower but his violence was checked by the declaration of Fleetwood, that Lambert knew nothing of its origin; and the house contented itself with ordering all copies of the obnoxious petition to be delivered up; and with resolving that, « to augment the number of general offi<<< cers was needless, chargeable, and dangerous. ' » From that moment a breach was inevitable. The house, to

:

Journals, Aug. 23. Sep. 22, 23. Ludlow, ii. 225. 7. 233. 244.

gratify the soldiers, had advanced their daily pay; and, with a view of discharging their arrears, had raised the monthly assessment from 35,000l. to 100,000l. '. But the military leaders were not to be diverted from their purpose. Meetings were daily and nightly held at WalOct. 5. lingford-house; and another petition with two hundred and thirty signatures was presented by Desborough, accompanied by all the field officers in the metropolis. In most points it was similar to the former; but it contained a demand that, whoever should afterwards «< groundlessly << and causelessly inform the house against their servants, « thereby creating jealousies, and casting scandalous im« putations upon them, should be brought to exami« nation, justice, and condign punishment. » This was a sufficient intimation to Hazlerig and his party to provide for their own safety. Three regiments, through the medium of their officers, had already made the tender of their services for the protection of the house; Monk, from Scotland, and Ludlow, from Ireland, wrote that their respective armies were animated with similar sentiments; and a vote was passed and ordered to be published, declaring it to be treason to levy money on the people without the previous consent of parliament; a measure which, as all the existing taxes were to expire on the 1st. day of the ensuing year, made the military dependent for their future subsistence on the pleasure of the party. Hazlerig, thus fortified, deemed himself a Oct. 12. match for his adversaries: the next morning he boldly threw down the gauntlet; by one vote, Lambert, Desborough, and seven other colonels were deprived of their

Oct. 11.

commissions for having sent a copy of the petition to colonel Okey; and, by a second, Fleetwood was dismissed from his office of commander-in-chief, and made president of a board of seven members established for the government of the army. Aware, however, that he might expect resistance, the republican chieftain called his friends around him during the night; and, at the dawn of day, it was discovered that King-street and the Palace- Oct. 13. yard were in the possession of two regiments of foot and four troops of horse, loudly protesting that they would live and die with the parliament. '

of the par

Lambert mustered about three thousand men. His first Expulsion care was to intercept the access of members to the house, liament. and to prevent the egress of the militia from the city. He then marched to Westminster. Meeting the speaker, who was attended by his guard, he ordered the officer on duty to dismount, gave the command to major Creed, one of his own adherents, and scornfully directed him to conduct the «<lord-general » to Whitehall, whence he was permitted to return to his own house. In Westminster, the two parties faced each other; but the ardour of the privates did not correspond with that of the leaders; and, having so often fought in the same ranks, they showed no disposition to imbrue their hands in each others' blood. In the mean time the council of state assembled: on the one side Lambert and Desborough, on the other, Hazlerig and Morley, appeared to support their pre

'Journals, Sep. 28; Oct. 5. 10, 11, 12. Ludlow, ii. 229. 247. Carte's Letters, ii. 246. Thurloe, vii. 755. Declaration of General Council of Officers, 9-16. True Narrative of the Proceedings in Parliament, Council of State, etc. published by special Order 1659. Printed by John Redmayne.