oid the declaration of the military, to
weed out men of doubtful fidelity, and to render the others dependent
for their situations on the pleasure of the house. Fleetwood, with his
adherents, resolved never to submit to the degradation, while the privates
amused themselves with ridiculing the age and infirmities of him whom they
called their new lord-general, the speaker Lenthall; but Hazlerig prevailed
on Colonel Hacker, with his officers, to conform; their example gradually
drew others; and, at length, the most discontented, though with shame
and reluctance, condescended to go through this humbling ceremony. The
republicans congratulated each other on their victory; they had only
accelerated their defeat.[1]

Ever since the death of Oliver, the exiled king had watched with intense
interest the course of events in England; and each day added a new stimulus
to his hopes of a favourable issue. The unsettled state of the nation,
the dissensions among his enemies, the flattering representations of his
friends, and the offers of co-operation from men who had hitherto opposed
his claims, persuaded him that the day of his restoration was at hand.
That the opportunity might not be forfeited by his own backwardness, he
announced[a] to the leaders of the royalists his intention of coming to
England, and of hazarding his life in the company of his faithful subjects.
There was scarcely a county in which the majority of the nobility and
gentry did not engage to rally round his standard; the first day of August
was fixed for the general rising; and it was determined[b] in the council
at Brussels that Charles should repair in disguise to the coast of
Bretagne, where he might procure a passage into Wales or Cornwall; that the
duke of York, with six hundred veterans furnished by the prince of Conde,
should attempt to land from Boulogne on the coast of Kent; and that the
duke of Gloucester should follow

[Footnote 1: Journals, passim. Ludlow, ii. 197. Declaration of Officers, 6.
Thurloe, 679. Clarend. Hist. iii. 665.]

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1659. June 4.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1659. July.]

from Ostend with the royal army of four thousand men under the Marshal
Marsin. Unfortunately his concerns in England had been hitherto conducted
by a council called "the Knot," at the head of which was Sir Richard
Willis. Willis, the reader is aware, was a traitor; but it was only of late
that the eyes of Charles had been opened to his perfidy by Morland,