an English division, under the command of Ayscue, sailed to the assistance of the Swedish monarch.  The severity of the winter forced Ayscue to return; but as soon as the navigation of the Sound was open, two powerful fleets were despatched to the Baltic, one by the protector, the other by the States; and to Montague, the English admiral, was intrusted the delicate and difficult commission, not only of watching the proceedings of the Dutch, but also of compelling them to observe peace towards the Swedes, without giving them occasion to commence hostilities against himself.  In this he was successful; but no offer of mediation could reconcile the contending

[Sidenote a:  A.D. 1658.  August.]

monarchs; and we shall find Montague still cruising in the Baltic at the time when Richard, from whom he derived his commission, will be forced to abdicate the protectorial dignity.[1]

In a few days after the funeral of his father, to the surprise of the public, the protector summoned[a] a parliament.  How, it was asked, could Richard hope to control such an assembly, when the genius and authority of Oliver had proved unequal to the attempt?  The difficulty was acknowledged; but the arrears of the army, the exhaustion of the treasury, and the necessity of seeking support against the designs of the officers, compelled him to hazard the experiment, and he flattered himself with the hope of success, by avoiding the rock on which, in the opinion of his advisers, the policy of his father had split.  Oliver had adopted the plan of representation prepared by the long parliament before its dissolution, a plan which, by disfranchising the lesser boroughs, and multiplying the members of the counties, had rendered the elections more independent of the government:  Richard, under the pretence of a boon to the nation, reverted to the ancient system; and, if we may credit the calculation of his opponents, no fewer than one hundred and sixty members were returned from the boroughs by the interest of the court and its supporters.  But to adopt the same plan in the conquered countries of Scotland and Ireland would have been dangerous; thirty representatives were therefore summoned from each; and, as the elections were conducted under the eyes of the

[Footnote 1:  Burton’s Diary, iii. 576.  Thurloe, vol. vii. passim.  Carte’s Letters, ii. 157-182, Londorp, viii. 635, 708.  Dumont, vi. 244, 252, 260.]

[Sidenote a:  A.D. 1658.  Nov. 30.]

commanders of the forces, the members, with one solitary exception, proved themselves the obsequious servants of government.[1]