inferior officers,
coiled away among the regiments.[1]

[Footnote 1: Thurloe, VII. 447-449, 454-455, and 498; Phillips, 639;
Guizot, I. 13-19, with Letters of M. de Bordeaux appended to the
volume.]

More than questions of home-administration was involved in this
division of parties. It involved also the future foreign policy of
the Protectorate. The desire of Richard himself and of the Court
Party was to prosecute the foreign policy which Oliver had so
strenuously begun. Now, the great bequests from the late Protectorate
in the matter of foreign policy had been two: (1)_The War with
Spain, in alliance with France._ The Treaty Offensive and
Defensive with France against Spain, originally formed by Cromwell
March 23, 1656-7, and renewed March 28, 1658, was to expire on March
28, 1659. Was it to be then again renewed? If not, how was the war
with Spain to be farther conducted, and what was to become of
Dunkirk, Mardike, and other English conquests and interests in
Flanders? Mazarin was really anxious on this topic. The alliance
with England had been immensely advantageous for France; and could it
not be continued? In frequent letters, since Cromwell's death, to M.
de Bordeaux, the French Ambassador in London, Mazarin had pressed for
information on this point. The substance of the Ambassador's replies
had been that the new Protector and his Council, especially Mr.
Secretary Thurloe, were too much engrossed with home-difficulties to
be very explicit with him, but that he had reason to believe a loan
from France of L50,000 would aid the natural inclinations of the
Court-party to continue the alliance. This was more than Mazarin
would risk on the chance, though he was willing to act on the
suggestion of the ambassador that a present of Barbary horses should
be sent to Lord Falconbridge, or a jewel to Lady Falconbridge, to
keep _them_ in good-humour. There can be no doubt that
Falconbridge, Thurloe, Lockhart, and the Court Party generally, did
hope to preserve the close friendship with France and the hold
acquired by England on Flanders. Lockhart particularly had at heart
the hard, half-starved condition of his poor Dunkirk garrison and
the other forces in Flanders. On the other hand, there were signs
that public feeling might desert the Court Party in their desire to
carry on Oliver's joint-enterprise with France against the Spaniards.
Dunkirk and Mardike were precious possessions; but might it not be
better for trade to