ombe, 1659.]

[Footnote 2: Both promised to aid him secretly, but not in such manner as
to give offence to the ruling party in England.--Clar. Pap. iii. 642.]

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1659. August.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1659. August 24.]

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.[1]

To reward Lambert for this complete, though almost bloodless, victory,
the parliament[a] voted him the sum of one thousand pounds, which he
immediately distributed among his officers. But while they recompensed his
services, they 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 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 subscribed[b]
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

[Footnote 1: Journals, Sept. 16. Clar. Pap. iii. 551. Carte's Letters, ii.
210, 236. Pepys' Memoirs, i. 157.]

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1659. August 22.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1659. Sept. 14.]

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 per