[Sidenote a:  A.D. 1660.  May 23.] [Sidenote b:  A.D. 1660.  May 25.] [Sidenote c:  A.D. 1660.  May 29.]

of horse, and two troops of noblemen and gentlemen.  At Whitehall Charles dismissed the lord mayor, and received in succession the two houses, whose speakers addressed him in strains of the most impassioned loyalty, and were answered by him with protestations of attachment to the interests and liberties of his subjects.  It was late in the evening before the ceremonies of this important day were concluded; when Charles observed to some of his confidants “It must sorely have been my fault that I did not come before; for I have met with no one to-day who did not protest that he always wished for my restoration."[1]

That the re-establishment of royalty was a blessing to the country will hardly be denied.  It presented the best, perhaps the only, means of restoring public tranquillity amidst the confusion and distrust, the animosities and hatreds, the parties and interests, which had been generated by the events of the civil war, and by a rapid succession of opposite and ephemeral governments.  To Monk belongs the merit of having, by his foresight and caution, effected this desirable object without bloodshed or violence; but to his dispraise it must also be recorded, that he effected it without any previous stipulation on the part of the exiled monarch.  Never had so fair an opportunity been offered of establishing a compact between the sovereign and the people, of determining, by mutual consent, the legal rights of the crown, and of securing from future encroachment the freedom of the people.  That Charles would have consented to such conditions,

[Footnote 1:  Whitelock, 702.  Kennet’s Reg. 163.  Clarendon’s Hist. iii. 772.  Clarendon’s Life by Himself, Continuation, p. 7, 8.  Evelyn’s Diary, ii. 148.]

we have sufficient evidence; but, when the measure was proposed, the lord-general declared himself its most determined opponent.  It may have been, that his cautious mind figured to itself danger in delay; it is more probable that he sought to give additional value to his services in the eyes of the new sovereign.  But, whatever were the motives of his conduct, the result was, that the king ascended the throne unfettered with conditions, and thence inferred that he was entitled to all the powers claimed by his father at the commencement of the civil war.  In a few years the consequence became manifest.  It was found that, by the negligence or perfidy of Monk, a door had been left open to the recurrence of dissension between the crown and the people; and that very circumstance which Charles had hailed as the consummation of his good fortune, served only to prepare the way for a second revolution, which ended in the permanent exclusion of his family from the government of these kingdoms.

* * * * *

APPENDIX.