[Footnote 1:  Thurloe, VII. 447-449, 454-455, and 498; Phillips, 639; Guizot, I. 13-19, with Letters of M. de Bordeaux appended to the volume.]

More than questions of home-administration was involved in this division of parties.  It involved also the future foreign policy of the Protectorate.  The desire of Richard himself and of the Court Party was to prosecute the foreign policy which Oliver had so strenuously begun.  Now, the great bequests from the late Protectorate in the matter of foreign policy had been two:  (1)_The War with Spain, in alliance with France._ The Treaty Offensive and Defensive with France against Spain, originally formed by Cromwell March 23, 1656-7, and renewed March 28, 1658, was to expire on March 28, 1659.  Was it to be then again renewed?  If not, how was the war with Spain to be farther conducted, and what was to become of Dunkirk, Mardike, and other English conquests and interests in Flanders?  Mazarin was really anxious on this topic.  The alliance with England had been immensely advantageous for France; and could it not be continued?  In frequent letters, since Cromwell’s death, to M. de Bordeaux, the French Ambassador in London, Mazarin had pressed for information on this point.  The substance of the Ambassador’s replies had been that the new Protector and his Council, especially Mr. Secretary Thurloe, were too much engrossed with home-difficulties to be very explicit with him, but that he had reason to believe a loan from France of L50,000 would aid the natural inclinations of the Court-party to continue the alliance.  This was more than Mazarin would risk on the chance, though he was willing to act on the suggestion of the ambassador that a present of Barbary horses should be sent to Lord Falconbridge, or a jewel to Lady Falconbridge, to keep them in good-humour.  There can be no doubt that Falconbridge, Thurloe, Lockhart, and the Court Party generally, did hope to preserve the close friendship with France and the hold acquired by England on Flanders.  Lockhart particularly had at heart the hard, half-starved condition of his poor Dunkirk garrison and the other forces in Flanders.  On the other hand, there were signs that public feeling might desert the Court Party in their desire to carry on Oliver’s joint-enterprise with France against the Spaniards.  Dunkirk and Mardike were precious possessions; but might it not be better for trade to make peace with Spain, even if Jamaica should have to be given back and there should have to be other sacrifices?  This idea had diffused itself, it appears, pretty widely among the pure Commonwealth’s men, and was in favour with some of the Wallingford-House party.  Why be always at war with Spain?  True, she was Roman Catholic, and the more the pity; but what did that concern England?  Was there not enough to do at home?[1] (2) Assistance to the King of Sweden.  A great surprise to all Europe just before Cromwell’s death had been, as we know, the sudden rupture of the Peace of Roeskilde