ing his embassy to England in 1655-6, and who had
consequently been invited by the Swedish King to enter his service,
bringing with him as many English officers and seamen as he could.
This volunteer expedition of Ayscough Richard and his Council did at
once countenance. Nay, when news came (Nov. 8) of a great defeat of
Opdam's Dutch fleet by the Swedish Admiral Wrangel, the disposition
to help the Swede became stronger. On the 13th of that month a
special envoy from the Swedish King, who had been in London for some
weeks, took his departure with some satisfaction; and within a few
days Vice-Admiral Lawson and his fleet of some twenty or twenty-one
ships in the Downs had orders to sail for the Sound, for mediation at
least, but for the support of Charles Gustavus if necessary. The
fleet did put to sea, but with hesitations to the last and the report
that it was "wind-bound."[2]

[Footnote 1: Letters between Mazarin and M. de Bordeaux in Guizot, I.
231-286, and II. 441-450; Thurloe, VII. 466-467.]

[Footnote 2: Letters between Mazarin and M. de Bordeaux last cited,
with. Guizot, I. 23-26; Thurloe, VII. 412, 509, 529; Whitlocke for
Sept., Oct., Nov., and Dec. 1658, also for Aug. 1656; Phillips,
638.]

"Wind-bound" was the exact description of the state of Richard's
Government itself. All depended on what should blow from the
Parliament that had been called. In the writs for the elections to
the Commons there had been a very remarkable retrogression from the
practice of Oliver for his two Parliaments. For those two Parliaments
there had been adopted the reformed electoral system agreed upon by
the Long Parliament, reducing the total number of members for England
and Wales to about 400, instead of the 500 or more of the ancient
system, and allocating the 400 among constituencies rearranged so as
to give a vast proportion of the representation to the counties,
while reducing that of the burghs generally and disfranchising many
small old burghs altogether. The _Petition and Advice_ having
left this matter of the number of seats and their distribution open
for farther consideration, Richard and his Council had been advised
by the lawyers that it would be more "according to law" and therefore
more safe and more agreeable to the spirit and letter of the
_Petition and Advice_, to abandon the late temporary method,
though sanctioned by the Long Parliament, and revert to the ancient
use and wont. Writs had been issued, therefor