left with the supreme command; and by
the equality and justice of his administration, he was able to give
contentment to that restless people, now reduced to subjection by a
nation whom they hated. No less acceptable was his authority to the
officers and soldiers; and foreseeing that the good will of the army
under his command might some time be of great service to him, he had
with much care and success cultivated their friendship.
The connections which he had formed with Cromwell, his benefactor,
preserved him faithful to Richard, who had been enjoined by his father
to follow in every thing the directions of General Monk. When the long
parliament was restored, Monk, who was not prepared for opposition,
acknowledged their authority, and was continued in his command, from
which it would not have been safe to attempt dislodging him. After the
army had expelled the parliament, he protested against the violence, and
resolved, as he pretended, to vindicate their invaded privileges. Deeper
designs, either in the king's favor or his own, were from the beginning
suspected to be the motive of his actions.
A rivalship had long subsisted between him and Lambert; and every body
saw the reason why he opposed the elevation of that ambitious general,
by whose success his own authority, he knew, would soon be subverted.
But little friendship had ever subsisted between him and the
parliamentary leaders; and it seemed nowise probable that he intended
to employ his industry, and spend his blood, for the advancement of ene
enemy above another. How early he entertained designs for the king's
restoration, we know not with certainty: it is likely that, as soon
as Richard was deposed, he foresaw that, without such an expedient, it
would be impossible ever to bring the nation to a regular settlement.
His elder and younger brothers were devoted to the royal cause: the
Granvilles, his near relations, and all the rest of his kindred, were
in the same interests: he himself was intoxicated with no fumes of
enthusiasm, and had maintained no connections with any of the fanatical
tribe. His early engagements had been with the king; and he had left
that service without receiving any disgust from the royal family. Since
he had enlisted himself with the opposite party, he had been guilty
of no violence or rigor which might render him obnoxious. His return,
therefore, to loyalty, was easy and open; and nothing could be supposed
to counterbalance his na
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