of a general council of officers,[a] which was followed by the adoption of “the humble representation and petition,” an instrument composed in language too moderate to give reasonable cause of offence, but intended to suggest much more than it was thought prudent to express.  It made no allusion to the disputed claim of the protector, or the subjects of strife between the two houses; but it complained bitterly of the contempt into which the good old cause had sunk, of the threats held out, and the prosecutions instituted, against the patriots who had distinguished themselves in its support, and of the privations to which the military were reduced

[Footnote 1:  Viscount Howard, of Morpeth, July 20, 1657, afterwards created Baron Dacre, Viscount Howard of Morpeth and earl of Carlisle, by Charles II., 30 April, 1661.]

[Sidenote a:  A.D. 1659.  April 6.]

by a system that kept their pay so many months in arrear.  In conclusion, it prayed for the redress of these grievances, and stated the attachment of the subscribers to the cause for which they had bled, and their readiness to stand by the protector and parliament in its defence.[1] This paper, with six hundred signatures, was presented to Richard, who received it with an air of cheerfulness, and forwarded it to the lower house.  There it was read, laid on the table, and scornfully neglected.  But the military leaders treated the house with equal scorn; having obtained the consent of the protector, they established a permanent council of general officers; and then, instead of fulfilling the expectations with which they had lulled his jealousy, successively voted, that the common cause was in danger, that the command of the army ought to be vested in a person possessing its confidence, and that every officer should be called upon to testify his approbation of the death of Charles I., and of the subsequent proceedings of the military; a measure levelled against the meeting at Whitehall, of which the members were charged with a secret leaning to the cause of royalty.[2] This was sufficiently alarming; but, in addition, the officers of the trained bands signified their adhesion to the “representation” of the army; and more than six hundred privates of the regiment formerly commanded by Colonel Pride published their determination to stand by their officers in the maintenance “of the old cause."[3] The

[Footnote 1:  “The Humble Representation and Petition, printed by H. Hills, 1659.”—­Thurloe, 659.]

[Footnote 2:  Thurloe, 662.  Ludlow, ii. 174.]

[Footnote 3:  The Humble Representation and Petition of Field Officers, &c. of the Trained Bands.  London, 1659.  Burton’s Diary, iv. 388, note.]