The news of this disaster reached the duke of York at Boulogne, fortunately on the very evening on which he was to have embarked with his men.  Charles received it at Rochelle, whither he had been compelled to proceed in search of a vessel to convey him to Wales.  Abandoning the hopeless project, he instantly continued his journey to the congress at Fuentarabia, with the delusive expectation that, on the conclusion of peace between the two crowns, he should obtain a supply of money, and perhaps still more substantial aid, from a personal interview with the ministers, Cardinal Mazarin and Don Louis de Haro.[2] Montague, who had but recently become a proselyte to the royal cause,

[Footnote 1:  Clar.  Hist. iii. 672-675.  Clar.  Pap. iii. 673, 674.  Ludlow, ii. 223.  Whitelock, 683.  Carte’s Letters, 194, 202.  Lambert’s Letter, printed for Thomas Neucombe, 1659.]

[Footnote 2:  Both promised to aid him secretly, but not in such manner as to give offence to the ruling party in England.—­Clar.  Pap. iii. 642.]

[Sidenote a:  A.D. 1659.  August.] [Sidenote b:  A.D. 1659.  August 24.]

was drawn by his zeal into the most imminent danger.  As soon as he heard of the insurrection, he brought back the fleet from the Sound, in defiance of his brother commissioners, with the intention of blockading the mouth of the Thames, and of facilitating the transportation of troops.  On his arrival he learned the failure of his hopes; but boldly faced the danger, appeared before the council, and assigned the want of provisions as the cause of his return.  They heard him with distrust; but it was deemed prudent to dissemble, and he received permission to withdraw.[1]

To reward Lambert for this complete, though almost bloodless, victory, the parliament[a] voted him the sum of one thousand pounds, which he immediately distributed among his officers.  But while they recompensed his services, they were not the less jealous of his ambition.  They remembered how instrumental he had been in raising Cromwell to the protectorate; they knew his influence in the army; and they feared his control over the timid, wavering mind of Fleetwood, whom he appeared to govern in the same manner as Cromwell had governed Fairfax.  It had been hoped that his absence on the late expedition would afford them leisure to gain the officers remaining in the capital; but the unexpected rapidity of his success had defeated their policy; and, in a short time, the intrigue which had been interrupted by the insurrection was resumed.  While Lambert hastened back to the capital, his army followed by slow marches; and at Derby the officers subscribed[b] a petition, which had been clandestinely forwarded to them from Wallingford House.  In it they complained that adequate rewards were not conferred on the deserving; and

[Footnote 1:  Journals, Sept. 16.  Clar.  Pap. iii. 551.  Carte’s Letters, ii. 210, 236.  Pepys’ Memoirs, i. 157.]