1659. May 17.]

officers, wrote to the speaker, congratulating him and his colleagues on
their restoration to power, and hypocritically thanking them for their
condescension in taking up so heavy a burthen; but, at the same time,
reminding them of the services of Oliver Cromwell, and of the debt of
gratitude which the nation owed to his family.[1] 2. Lockhart hastened to
tender the services of the regiments in Flanders, and received in return a
renewal of his credentials as ambassador, with a commission to attend the
conferences between the ministers of France and Spain at Fuentarabia. 3.
Montague followed with a letter from the fleet; but his professions of
attachment were received with distrust. To balance his influence with the
seamen, Lawson received the command of a squadron destined to cruise in the
Channel; and, to watch his conduct in the Baltic, three commissioners, with
Algernon Sydney at their head, were joined with him in his mission to the
two northern courts.[2] 4. There still remained the army in Ireland. From
Henry Cromwell, a soldier possessing the affections of the military, and
believed to inherit the abilities of his father, an obstinate, and perhaps
successful, resistance was anticipated. But he wanted decision. Three
parties had presented themselves to his choice; to earn, by the promptitude
of his acquiescence, the gratitude of the new government; or to maintain by
arms the right of his deposed brother; or to declare, as he was strongly
solicited to declare, in favour of Charles Stuart. Much time was lost in
consultation; at length the thirst of resentment, with the lure of reward,
determined him

[Footnote 1: Whitelock, 678.]

[Footnote 2: Thurloe, 669, 670. Ludlow, ii. 199. Journals, May 7, 9, 18,
26, 31.]

to unfurl the royal standard;[1] then the arrival of letters from England
threw him back into his former state of irresolution; and, while he thus
wavered from project to project, some of his officers ventured to
profess their attachment to the commonwealth, the privates betrayed a
disinclination to separate their cause from that of their comrades in
England, and Sir Hardress Waller, in the interest of the parliament,
surprised the castle of Dublin.[a] The last stroke reduced Henry at once to
the condition of a suppliant; he signified his submission by a letter
to the speaker, obeyed the commands of the house to appear before the
council,[b] and, having explained to them the state of Irela