undered. The Rump, having him and his Army at hand, had
become more firm in their determination to proceed in their own way.
On the 4th of February, the day after Monk's arrival, they resolved
that the present House should be filled up to the number of 400
members in all for England and Wales, and that the returning
constituencies should be as in 1653; and, having referred certain
details to a Committee, they proceeded on subsequent days to settle
some of the qualifications for voting or eligibility. The Londoners,
tumultuous already, were enraged beyond bounds by these new signs of
the Rump's obstinacy. It was again debated in the Common Council
"whether the City should pay the taxes ordered by the Government";
influential citizens urged the Lord Mayor to put himself at the head
of a resistance to the Rump at all hazards; there were riots in the
streets and skirmishes between the militia and the apprentices.
Thus, instead of having time to deliberate, Monk found himself in the
midst of such a clash between the House and the City that instant
decision for the one or the other was imperative.--On the night of
the 8th, two days after his speech in Parliament, he received orders
from the Council of State to go into the City with his regiments and
reduce it to obedience. He was to take away the posts and chains in
the streets, unhinge the City gates, and wedge the portcullises; he
was to use any force necessary for the purpose; and he was to arrest
eleven citizens named, and others at his discretion. The orders,
though addressed nominally to all the four Army-Commissioners, were
really intended for Monk; and there was the utmost anxiety among the
leaders of the Rump to see whether he would execute them. To the
surprise of all, to the surprise of his own soldiers even, he did
execute them. On the 9th the House had three sittings; and in the
second of these it was announced that Monk had marched his regiments
that morning into the City, that he was then at Guildhall, that he
had nine of the eleven citizens already in custody, and that he had
removed the posts and chains. All being now quiet, and the Lord Mayor
and Aldermen having undertaken to hold a meeting of the Common
Council and give the Parliament every satisfaction, he had thought it
best not to incense the City by the extreme insult of unhinging the
gates and wedging the portcullises. The Rumpers were in ecstasies.
Monk had committed himself, and was irredeemably their