WEBVTT 1 00:00:13.599 --> 00:00:17.559 This is Stuart England The Civil Wars episode two point one hundred and four. 2 00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:24.000 The Rump Resurrected the story of Richard Cromwell's Parliament, or the Third Protectorate Parliament 3 00:00:24.039 --> 00:00:27.280 as it's often called, is an awkward one to shape into a coherent narrative. 4 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:31.039 At least I'm finding that to be the case. The problem lies in 5 00:00:31.079 --> 00:00:35.479 the multiple overlapping factions battling each other. So I thought I'd set up some 6 00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:40.719 simplified, perhaps oversimplified categories at the outset. This episode is going to center 7 00:00:40.759 --> 00:00:44.840 around three groups. First, the old Civilian faction, which by this point 8 00:00:44.840 --> 00:00:48.759 you can also think of as supporters of Richard Cromwell as Lord Protector. Second, 9 00:00:48.799 --> 00:00:52.359 the Old Army faction, nominally led by Charles Fleetwood, but he was 10 00:00:52.399 --> 00:00:56.359 in an increasingly precarious position, holding less and less influence with the officers who 11 00:00:56.399 --> 00:01:00.719 made up the army. And finally, the Republicans or Rumpers, men like 12 00:01:00.840 --> 00:01:03.480 Arthur Hesselrigg, who dreamed of restoring the Rump, the last true expression of 13 00:01:03.560 --> 00:01:08.799 untrammeled parliamentary sovereignty. The determining factor in this three way battle was the loyalty 14 00:01:08.840 --> 00:01:14.239 of the army officers. Richard Cromwell and his chief spokesman in Parliament, John 15 00:01:14.239 --> 00:01:18.719 Thurlow, had an uneasy relationship with army leaders like Fleetwood. Although the army 16 00:01:18.719 --> 00:01:21.959 and civilian factions had been divided on the future of the Protectorate for more than 17 00:01:21.959 --> 00:01:26.840 a year, the whole system faced an existential crisis. Some kind of reconciliation 18 00:01:26.920 --> 00:01:30.200 had to be achieved if the Protectorate was to survive. The only question was 19 00:01:30.200 --> 00:01:34.319 whether that would mean a largely civilian government with a reduced role for Army grandees, 20 00:01:34.760 --> 00:01:38.200 or a kind of figure head protectorate with Fleetwood and the Army acting as 21 00:01:38.200 --> 00:01:44.079 the real power behind Richard Cromwell. This factional battle was complicated by the work 22 00:01:44.079 --> 00:01:47.760 of the Republicans, who ate away at Fleetwood's influence in the army. The 23 00:01:47.879 --> 00:01:51.319 junior officers of the army, who had never really warmed to Fleetwood, were 24 00:01:51.359 --> 00:01:56.040 targeted by a barrage of pamphlets and back room visits warning that the army grandees 25 00:01:56.079 --> 00:02:00.319 were poor custodians of the Good Old Cause. The loose definition of the good 26 00:02:00.319 --> 00:02:04.959 Old Cause worked to Republican advantage. Here. Army grandees could be variously accused 27 00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:08.240 of abandoning their godly mission, exposing soldiers to lawsuits for their actions over the 28 00:02:08.280 --> 00:02:14.080 past few years, or betraying past sacrifices by restoring the monarchy and placing a 29 00:02:14.120 --> 00:02:17.639 crown on Richard Cromwell's head. The dynamic created a kind of dilemma for Fleetwood. 30 00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:22.080 If he made a deal with the low protector to ensure army leaders like 31 00:02:22.159 --> 00:02:25.439 himself retained power in England, he risked alienating the junior officers in the army 32 00:02:25.560 --> 00:02:29.879 that gave him political influence. Really, it was the same tension that had 33 00:02:29.879 --> 00:02:34.479 always marked all of A Cromwell's career, how to reconcile pragmatic power politics with 34 00:02:34.599 --> 00:02:38.240 the principled red wreck that inspired the troops. As events would demonstrate, Fleetwood 35 00:02:38.280 --> 00:02:42.120 had none of the political skill that his late brother in law had displayed. 36 00:02:42.479 --> 00:02:44.879 Though, to be fair, in the spring of sixteen fifty nine, the 37 00:02:44.919 --> 00:02:49.080 English political world was a treacherous place that would have challenged even the most talented 38 00:02:49.080 --> 00:02:53.360 of statesmen. We'll start the action on the twenty eighth of March sixteen fifty 39 00:02:53.400 --> 00:02:55.919 nine. The same day the House of Commons finally voted to recognize the Other 40 00:02:55.919 --> 00:03:00.039 House as an official partner in Parliament. While on the surface that appeared to 41 00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:05.879 be some welcome progress towards well anything at Westminster, the glacial piece of action 42 00:03:05.879 --> 00:03:09.759 in Parliament was already being overtaken by action elsewhere. That same day, Edmund 43 00:03:09.840 --> 00:03:14.919 Ludlow visited Wallingford House, Charles Fleetwood's headquarters, just day ten minute walk from 44 00:03:14.919 --> 00:03:19.120 Westminster. Since the opening of the Parliament, if not before, Fleetwood had 45 00:03:19.120 --> 00:03:22.560 been hosting regular meetings at Wallingford House, where he and his allies worked out 46 00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:28.039 strategy and conferred with delegates from other combinations or factions. Edmund Ludlow's visit was 47 00:03:28.039 --> 00:03:30.919 a turning point. We know Ludlow as the Republican rumper who was a major 48 00:03:30.960 --> 00:03:35.879 player in Irish politics between the death of Henry Ireton and the arrival of Henry 49 00:03:35.879 --> 00:03:39.159 Cromwell in Dublin. Since then, Ludlow, like other rumpers like Arthur Hussig, 50 00:03:39.400 --> 00:03:45.599 had been marginalized ejected from Ireland for distributing anti Protectorate propaganda. He was 51 00:03:45.639 --> 00:03:50.879 imprisoned upon arrival in England. After repeated fruitless attempts to get Ludlow to recognize 52 00:03:50.919 --> 00:03:54.599 the legitimacy of the Protectorate, Oliver Cromwell eventually gave up and sentenced the troublesome 53 00:03:54.639 --> 00:03:59.520 Republican to a kind of house arrest. With his relations in Essex. There 54 00:03:59.639 --> 00:04:02.879 Ludlow stewed until the opportunity provided by the new Parliament in sixteen fifty nine. 55 00:04:03.439 --> 00:04:06.759 With all the Cromwell out of the way and the Protectorate government in disarray, 56 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:12.159 Ludlow won a seat in his native Wiltshire and joined Arthur Hessereagan, Thomas Scott, 57 00:04:12.199 --> 00:04:16.439 among others, as rumpers returning to Westminster. Ludlow's invitation to Wallingford House 58 00:04:16.600 --> 00:04:21.199 was a result of growing anxiety within Fleetwood circle. Richard Cromwell was proving more 59 00:04:21.199 --> 00:04:26.759 difficult to intimidate or out maneuver than Fleetwood had anticipated. Though the General gave 60 00:04:26.800 --> 00:04:30.399 most of the credit to John Thurlow and the other civilian advisors who surrounded the 61 00:04:30.399 --> 00:04:34.279 Lord Protector. This Cromwell was no Oliver. The problem was the longer the 62 00:04:34.319 --> 00:04:40.000 battle dragged on, the weaker Fleetwood became. The junior officers who provided the 63 00:04:40.079 --> 00:04:44.079 Army grandees with their power, were growing more and more disillusioned with the Protectorate 64 00:04:44.079 --> 00:04:46.720 as a whole, not just the civilian faction that currently held sway with Cromwell. 65 00:04:47.360 --> 00:04:51.240 Fleetwood needed a way to shore up his support in the army. Ludlow 66 00:04:51.319 --> 00:04:56.279 provided the answer. After all, it was Ludlow and his Republican friends who 67 00:04:56.279 --> 00:05:00.279 were eroding fleetwood influence in the army. Their attacks on the Protectorates state, 68 00:05:00.480 --> 00:05:04.439 as fundamentally incompatible with the nebulous good old Cause, were making Fleetwood's work impossible. 69 00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:09.519 As he was himself tied to the Protectorate regime from its beginnings, the 70 00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:13.439 taint of betrayal fell on him just as much as Richard Cromwell and his civilian 71 00:05:13.439 --> 00:05:18.560 advisers. Fleetwood decided to begin coordinating with the Republicans. Their common immediate goal 72 00:05:18.879 --> 00:05:24.079 up ending the status quo was enough to justify a partnership. The details of 73 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:28.000 what came next could be saved for tomorrow. Armed with a vague sense of 74 00:05:28.040 --> 00:05:30.680 security on his army flank, Fleetwood moved quickly to put pressure on the Lord 75 00:05:30.720 --> 00:05:35.319 Protector. Just days after opening talks with the Republicans, Fleetwood and John desbro 76 00:05:35.480 --> 00:05:41.160 placed new demands before Richard Cromwell in order to ensure the army's interests were protected 77 00:05:41.160 --> 00:05:45.360 in the current chaotic political environment. The Lord Protector had to call a meeting 78 00:05:45.360 --> 00:05:48.720 of the General council of officers. Such army councils had been crucial in sixteen 79 00:05:48.759 --> 00:05:53.839 forty seven and sixteen forty eight producing the framework of what would become the Commonwealth. 80 00:05:54.319 --> 00:05:57.800 Oliver Cromwell had also used a council of army officers to run the country 81 00:05:57.839 --> 00:06:00.920 after the forced dissolution of the Rump, until a more formal system could be 82 00:06:00.920 --> 00:06:04.519 developed. Of course, behind this appeal to precedent lurked Fleetwood's true purpose. 83 00:06:05.079 --> 00:06:10.399 An army council would provide him with an independent source of power outside of Parliament 84 00:06:10.519 --> 00:06:15.519 or the Lord Protector's inner circle of advisors. How exactly Fleetwood intended to use 85 00:06:15.560 --> 00:06:19.040 that power is not entirely clear. The most likely interpretation is that he hoped 86 00:06:19.040 --> 00:06:24.199 to intimidate the Lord Protector for months. Fleetwood's goal had been to drive the 87 00:06:24.199 --> 00:06:28.959 civilian faction from power and replace advisors like John Thurlow with himself and like minded 88 00:06:28.959 --> 00:06:31.959 allies. In other words, this was an old fashioned court power play that 89 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:35.199 wouldn't have been out of place in James's day. Think of the Earl of 90 00:06:35.199 --> 00:06:39.600 Southampton trying to leverage his way into power at the expense of the Howards in 91 00:06:39.639 --> 00:06:43.680 the sixteen tens. Or in the sixteen twenties, the Earl of Pembrokes attempt 92 00:06:43.680 --> 00:06:46.639 to use his influence in Parliament to supplant the Duke of Buckingham at court. 93 00:06:46.600 --> 00:06:51.639 The message Fleetwood delivered west straightforward, appease or frustrated soldiers by giving them a 94 00:06:51.720 --> 00:06:56.120 voice in government, or risk losing the one thing that had always held the 95 00:06:56.160 --> 00:07:00.120 regime up, the army. But there was a problem. The example provided 96 00:07:00.160 --> 00:07:03.800 by the Earl of Pembroke is instructive. As you may recall, Pembroke and 97 00:07:03.839 --> 00:07:08.199 his allies in the House of Commons helped engineer the impeachment of the Duke of 98 00:07:08.199 --> 00:07:12.319 Buckingham in sixteen twenty six. But while Pembroke likely saw this as a bit 99 00:07:12.360 --> 00:07:15.759 of power politics, a threat that would force the King to meet his political 100 00:07:15.759 --> 00:07:19.399 demands, the influential Earl didn't exercise complete control over the House of Commons. 101 00:07:20.040 --> 00:07:25.199 Buckingham's impeachment was driven by real grievances. They were more like a wave that 102 00:07:25.279 --> 00:07:29.519 Pembroke was riding on, rather than an instrument he could manipulate. The impeachment 103 00:07:29.560 --> 00:07:32.800 proceedings developed a momentum of their own, leaving Pembroke's plans for a limited cabinet 104 00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:38.519 shuffle in Ruins. Fleetwood was playing a similar game now in the spring of 105 00:07:38.560 --> 00:07:43.040 sixteen fifty nine. In effect, he was warning Cromwell that his administration was 106 00:07:43.079 --> 00:07:46.519 losing the support of the army and that the only men capable of keeping the 107 00:07:46.560 --> 00:07:50.079 officers in line were grandees like himself or John Desbroo. But that was only 108 00:07:50.160 --> 00:07:55.319 half true. Once the Council of Officers was summoned and gave an official sanction 109 00:07:55.399 --> 00:07:58.839 by the Lord Protector, there was no guarantee that Fleetwood would be able to 110 00:07:58.839 --> 00:08:03.800 control its actions. In fact, Fleetwood was introducing an unpredictable new element into 111 00:08:03.800 --> 00:08:07.279 an already unstable situation. Cromwell, seeing he had little choice if he wanted 112 00:08:07.319 --> 00:08:11.160 to maintain the support of the army, acquiesced. On the second of April, 113 00:08:11.199 --> 00:08:18.000 the General Council of Officers convened. Perhaps unsurprisingly considering the ongoing political crisis, 114 00:08:18.079 --> 00:08:20.879 the London area was packed with army men. Some five hundred attended the 115 00:08:20.920 --> 00:08:26.600 first meeting of the Council. Almost immediately it became clear that Fleetwood and Desboro 116 00:08:26.680 --> 00:08:31.199 had miscalculated. When the Council created a committee to draw up a petition outlining 117 00:08:31.240 --> 00:08:35.759 the Army's grievances. Neither of the two grandees were invited to join. There 118 00:08:35.759 --> 00:08:39.240 were the usual complaints about back pay they was out, but the political demands 119 00:08:39.240 --> 00:08:43.840 were provocative. The officers accused the current regime of repeatedly insulting the good Old 120 00:08:43.840 --> 00:08:48.440 Cause, the very principles they had led for. As usual in such petitions, 121 00:08:48.480 --> 00:08:52.679 the Lord Protector himself wasn't blamed. The fault lay with the ever present 122 00:08:52.679 --> 00:08:56.799 evil councilors who surrounded him. The officers pledged to assist Cromwell in plucking the 123 00:08:56.840 --> 00:09:01.480 wicket out of their places. On the surface, this appeared to serve Fleetwood's 124 00:09:01.480 --> 00:09:05.639 purposes. Here was a call to remove his civilian faction rivals from the corridors 125 00:09:05.639 --> 00:09:09.879 of power, exactly what he had assembled the Council of Officers to do. 126 00:09:09.639 --> 00:09:13.279 But the whole idea had been to replace those men with Army grandees like himself. 127 00:09:13.720 --> 00:09:18.519 Considering how quickly Fleetwood and his allies had been marginalized within the council, 128 00:09:18.720 --> 00:09:22.240 how credible could he be as a broker reconciling the army to the government. 129 00:09:22.720 --> 00:09:26.960 There was little evidence that the frustrated officers would entrust Fleetwood to restore the good 130 00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:31.519 old cause. Four days after convening, the officers presented their petition to the 131 00:09:31.519 --> 00:09:35.679 Lord Protector. Two days after that it was read out in Parliament. There 132 00:09:35.720 --> 00:09:37.759 was an eerie sense of deja vous about the whole thing. Once again, 133 00:09:37.840 --> 00:09:41.840 the army was making demands of a parliament. But what authority did the officers 134 00:09:41.879 --> 00:09:46.960 have. The Lord Protector had authorized the gathering of the Officers Council, but 135 00:09:46.039 --> 00:09:50.559 that body had no formal position within the Protectorate Constitution. On the other hand, 136 00:09:50.600 --> 00:09:56.240 the Protectorate Constitution was itself uncertain. Technically, the Humble Petition and Advice 137 00:09:56.279 --> 00:09:58.840 had superseded the Instrument of Government as the law of the land, but neither 138 00:10:00.039 --> 00:10:03.480 document had ever been wholeheartedly confirmed by a Parliament. The closest such measure came 139 00:10:03.519 --> 00:10:07.879 earlier in the current session, when the Humble Petition and Advice was given a 140 00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:11.320 deliberately qualified seal of approval. Faced with the looming threat of the army, 141 00:10:11.399 --> 00:10:16.559 the Parliament acted as its predecessor had back in sixteen forty eight. It ignored 142 00:10:16.600 --> 00:10:20.639 the officers. A formal response to the petition was put off for ten days 143 00:10:20.759 --> 00:10:24.840 while Westminster focused on more pressing matters, and in case that response was too 144 00:10:24.919 --> 00:10:28.759 subtle for the officers to interpret. Those pressing matters were almost uniformly decided against 145 00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:33.320 the interests of the army. Part of this had to do with the makeup 146 00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:35.720 of the Parliament as we saw earlier. As many as half of the members 147 00:10:35.759 --> 00:10:39.440 at Westminster were first time MP's. There was little in the way of factional 148 00:10:39.559 --> 00:10:45.519 organization or coherence. There were voices calling for strict republicanism, a return to 149 00:10:45.559 --> 00:10:50.039 a rump style, absolute parliamentary sovereignty. Some agreed with the army officers that 150 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:54.240 their priority had to be salvaging the good old cause. Others focused on shoring 151 00:10:54.320 --> 00:10:58.679 up the current regime as the only path towards stability. But thieves were relatively 152 00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:03.279 isolated minorities. Many had come to Westminster with much less narrowly focused goals. 153 00:11:03.879 --> 00:11:07.240 Memories of the rule of the major generals still lingered, fueling a sense that 154 00:11:07.360 --> 00:11:11.639 military government was both expensive and intrusive. As a result, In the days 155 00:11:11.679 --> 00:11:15.759 after the officers presented their petition, discussion turned to the most tangible aspect of 156 00:11:15.759 --> 00:11:18.519 military rule, the taxes that paid for the army. In a span of 157 00:11:18.519 --> 00:11:22.080 ten days, Parliament held up the release of funds from the Excise Office to 158 00:11:22.120 --> 00:11:26.320 investigate collections, refused to raise the value of the assessment, and opened an 159 00:11:26.360 --> 00:11:30.919 investigation into the seizure of property from tax refusers. During the rule of the 160 00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:35.360 Major Generals, far from passing an amnesty for army officers, which the military 161 00:11:35.360 --> 00:11:39.519 had long lobbied for, there was talk of impeachments. The crisis reached its 162 00:11:39.559 --> 00:11:43.639 climax when Parliament turned its attention to William Butler, who had been Major General 163 00:11:43.639 --> 00:11:48.399 of Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire, the countryside north of London. We've met 164 00:11:48.399 --> 00:11:52.399 Butler briefly. He was the major general who violently suppressed a mass Quaker meeting, 165 00:11:52.960 --> 00:11:56.919 which was typical of his tenure as major General. Bahler was notorious for 166 00:11:56.000 --> 00:12:01.120 being aggressive in the persecution of religious radicals like Quakers, and of Catholics too, 167 00:12:01.639 --> 00:12:03.840 which is impressive when you think about it. Among major generals, a 168 00:12:03.919 --> 00:12:09.759 group defined by its puritan anti Catholic fervor, Butler stood out for his aggression 169 00:12:09.759 --> 00:12:13.200 and violence. Bahler was perhaps the most authoritarian of the major generals and was 170 00:12:13.240 --> 00:12:18.559 frequently criticized for his high handed treatment of local elites. He was even criticized 171 00:12:18.600 --> 00:12:20.840 by the Council of state when he arrested the Earl of Northampton on the charge 172 00:12:20.840 --> 00:12:26.080 of failing to pay the decimation tax. Northampton, who was a leading figure 173 00:12:26.120 --> 00:12:28.000 in the Sealed Knot, was hardly a friend of the regime, but the 174 00:12:28.039 --> 00:12:33.399 central government worried about the legality of Butler's actions and reprimanded the Major General. 175 00:12:33.159 --> 00:12:37.879 It was perhaps no surprise then that Butler drew the attention of those in Parliament 176 00:12:37.919 --> 00:12:41.679 who wanted to make sure the major generals never returned as instruments of administration. 177 00:12:41.279 --> 00:12:46.240 He was accused of numerous illegal seizures of property during his tenure as Major General, 178 00:12:46.600 --> 00:12:50.000 and Parliament voted to strip him of his current office as Magistrate. This 179 00:12:50.080 --> 00:12:54.679 was the final straw for the army officers, who feared the precedent Parliament was 180 00:12:54.720 --> 00:12:58.399 setting. If Boler could be removed from his civil office, and perhaps even 181 00:12:58.480 --> 00:13:01.080 drummed out of the army via impeach, then the whole Army's future was in 182 00:13:01.120 --> 00:13:05.039 doubt. How much of this was a product of the rivalry between the civilian 183 00:13:05.039 --> 00:13:09.919 and army factions at the Protectorate wasn't entirely clear, though unsurprisingly, many army 184 00:13:09.960 --> 00:13:15.600 officers read these developments as a direct assault in all likelihood. However, Cromwellians 185 00:13:15.600 --> 00:13:20.080 like John Thurlow were exercising about as much control over Parliament as Fleetwood was over 186 00:13:20.120 --> 00:13:24.159 the Officers Council. Circumstantial evidence for the lack of control the government was exercising 187 00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:28.679 over Parliament came in the form of a series of panicked meetings at Whitehall. 188 00:13:28.720 --> 00:13:33.120 While all this was going on, Richard Cromwell consulted with John Thurlow, Roger 189 00:13:33.159 --> 00:13:35.200 Boyle and bus Rode Whitelock, trying to find a way to de escalate the 190 00:13:35.200 --> 00:13:39.039 crisis before it reached a point of no return. One option was to arrest 191 00:13:39.039 --> 00:13:43.480 Fleetwood circle at Wallingford House, but it was unclear if that would achieve anything 192 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:46.559 other than inflame the officers. As much as Thurlough, Boil and the others 193 00:13:46.600 --> 00:13:50.240 saw Fleetwood as the enemy, he was hardly the mastermind behind the current crisis. 194 00:13:50.799 --> 00:13:54.240 In fact, removing him might just strengthen the power of the junior officers 195 00:13:54.240 --> 00:14:00.120 and their radical agenda. The other option was to dissolve the Officers Council or 196 00:14:00.159 --> 00:14:03.840 their conflict with Parliament turned violent. This too had the potential to be inflammatory, 197 00:14:03.960 --> 00:14:07.879 but Cromwell hope that Fleetwood and his allies might exercise a calming influence on 198 00:14:07.919 --> 00:14:11.840 the army. If the Lord Protector could guarantee the safety of the Army Grandees 199 00:14:11.879 --> 00:14:16.600 from any retribution against them in Parliament, they might agree to dismantle the Officers 200 00:14:16.600 --> 00:14:20.320 Council. By this point it was clear that Fleetwood and Desbroo had got themselves 201 00:14:20.360 --> 00:14:24.399 into a precarious position. They faced a hostile Parliament and an increasingly unruly officer 202 00:14:24.440 --> 00:14:28.120 corps. They might jump at the chance to climb down from their vulnerable position. 203 00:14:30.159 --> 00:14:33.679 On the eighteenth of April, the Lord Protector announced that the Officers Council 204 00:14:33.679 --> 00:14:37.200 had come to an end. All officers were to return to their units, 205 00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:41.360 many of which were stationed fire from London. The announcement had little effect. 206 00:14:41.840 --> 00:14:45.159 Many officers who had no official Army business in London remained in the city. 207 00:14:45.600 --> 00:14:50.639 The Army's influence over the increasingly unstable political situation would not be neutralized so easily. 208 00:14:50.720 --> 00:14:54.080 That afternoon, the House of Commons locked itself in its chamber for an 209 00:14:54.120 --> 00:14:58.159 emergency debate. By the evening, they produced some declarations of their own. 210 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:03.480 All meetings of Army officers were banned unless given specific authorization by Parliament and the 211 00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:09.200 Lord Protector The Commons also called on all army officers to make a solemn pledge 212 00:15:09.360 --> 00:15:15.200 not to interrupt Parliament's work. Those who refused must immediately resign. The next 213 00:15:15.240 --> 00:15:18.559 scheduled meeting of the Officers Council went ahead anyway. Two days later, on 214 00:15:18.600 --> 00:15:22.480 the twentieth of April, fleetwoods attempts to exert some kind of control over the 215 00:15:22.519 --> 00:15:26.919 body were fruitless. In fact, the General was more or less ignored dismissed 216 00:15:26.919 --> 00:15:30.960 from the movement he had helped encourage. That night, Fleetwood and Desborough met 217 00:15:30.960 --> 00:15:35.000 with Richard Cromwell. The Lord Protector assured them that he would defend them from 218 00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:39.279 any attempt by Parliament to his act retribution on their persons or property, But 219 00:15:39.360 --> 00:15:43.240 it wasn't clear that Cromwell had any more influence over Parliament than the Grandees had 220 00:15:43.240 --> 00:15:46.399 over the Officers Council. Fleetwood and Desboro begged the Lord Protector to dissolve the 221 00:15:46.399 --> 00:15:50.840 session at Westminster before history repeated itself and Parliament went to war with the army. 222 00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:56.480 In fact, in London, battle lines were already being drawn. The 223 00:15:56.639 --> 00:16:00.639 mayor sided with Parliament, whereas most of the city militia appeared ready to line 224 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:03.720 up behind the Army. The next day, Cromwell assembled the leading members of 225 00:16:03.759 --> 00:16:07.759 the Civilian Party to advise him. Roger Boyle, Bulstrode, Whitelocke and John 226 00:16:07.799 --> 00:16:12.519 Thurlow were all in agreement. The situation had become untenable. Parliament and the 227 00:16:12.639 --> 00:16:17.399 Army were on a collision course. The only solution was to de escalate by 228 00:16:17.440 --> 00:16:21.799 dissolving Parliament and enforcing the dispersal of the Army Council. As if to prove 229 00:16:21.840 --> 00:16:25.639 that assessment right, that day, Parliament stepped up its attacks on the Army. 230 00:16:26.200 --> 00:16:29.960 The House debated putting the entire Army under the direct control of Parliament and 231 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:34.200 the Lord Protector, eliminating any pretense that officers controlled their own destiny. This 232 00:16:34.279 --> 00:16:37.960 is one of those moments when events moved far too quickly for individual players to 233 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:42.159 control them. Late on the twenty first of April, hours after Parliament debated 234 00:16:42.200 --> 00:16:47.200 its control over the Army and Cromwell had been advised to dissolve Parliament, Charles 235 00:16:47.200 --> 00:16:51.480 Fleetwood and his allies gathered at Wallingford House to assess their options. Clearly, 236 00:16:51.480 --> 00:16:56.320 the Lord Protector was unwilling or unable to fulfill his promise of protection. Rumors 237 00:16:56.320 --> 00:17:00.320 were also circulating that this was all a manufactured crisis to neuter the y and 238 00:17:00.320 --> 00:17:04.119 paved the way for a Cromwellian monarchy. Torn between a Lord Protector they couldn't 239 00:17:04.160 --> 00:17:08.519 trust and a wave of army resentment they couldn't control, Fleetwood and his allies 240 00:17:08.640 --> 00:17:12.359 decided to gamble on the army. The important thing was to survive the next 241 00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:17.200 few days. They could worry about the nation's future. Later, late in 242 00:17:17.200 --> 00:17:19.640 the evening, Fleetwood sent it word from Wallingford House. The army was to 243 00:17:19.640 --> 00:17:23.960 gather at Saint James's Palace the following morning. England needed them one last time 244 00:17:25.079 --> 00:17:29.440 to prevent the betrayal of the good old cause. Meanwhile, Lord Protector Cromwell 245 00:17:29.480 --> 00:17:33.599 called on his civilian faction allies to mobilize their forces too. As you know, 246 00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:37.279 despite the label, several of the civilian faction leaders were army men themselves. 247 00:17:37.880 --> 00:17:40.640 But when the sun came up it was clear that the army had rallied 248 00:17:40.680 --> 00:17:44.960 to Fleetwood, not the Lord Protector. The force Cromwell managed to scramble together 249 00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:48.759 at Whitehall consisted of a poultry, two troops of horse, and three companies 250 00:17:48.759 --> 00:17:53.000 of infantry. A message soon arrived from John desbro at Saint James's Palace dissolved 251 00:17:53.079 --> 00:17:57.039 Parliament. He demanded of Cromwell and the army would protect him, a somewhat 252 00:17:57.039 --> 00:18:02.599 sarcastic reversal of the promise the Lord Detector had made two days before. Seeing 253 00:18:02.599 --> 00:18:06.880 no other option, Cromwell agreed to dissolve Parliament later that day. The men 254 00:18:06.920 --> 00:18:10.440 of the Commons refused the summons to hear the Lord Protector's formal address, but 255 00:18:10.559 --> 00:18:15.640 their protest was effectively meaningless. Once again, men with guns trumped parliamentary procedure. 256 00:18:15.200 --> 00:18:18.400 The third Protectorate Parliament had come to a close, like the first two, 257 00:18:18.559 --> 00:18:23.240 dissolved amid acrimony and resentment. On paper, the Wallingford house men had 258 00:18:23.240 --> 00:18:26.359 won a victory. They were in the same position Oliver Cromwell had been in 259 00:18:26.440 --> 00:18:30.799 when he dissolved the Rump in the spring of sixteen fifty three or the nominated 260 00:18:30.799 --> 00:18:34.759 Assembly later that year. But appearances can be deceiving. Where in those cases 261 00:18:34.799 --> 00:18:38.359 Cromwell had been in a strong position to shape what came next. Fleetwood and 262 00:18:38.400 --> 00:18:42.599 desbro had only a precarious grip on the situation. Their goal wasn't really to 263 00:18:42.640 --> 00:18:47.960 overthrow the Protectorate regime, but to replace the Civilian Faction as the dominant players 264 00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:52.079 surrounding the Lord Protector. However, the junior officers who had fueled their coup 265 00:18:52.279 --> 00:18:56.599 had very different objectives. They wanted to defend and restore the good old cause, 266 00:18:56.799 --> 00:18:59.960 and the past few weeks had cast serious doubt and whether the Lord protect 267 00:19:00.440 --> 00:19:03.400 or the Protectorate system as a whole was willing or able to do that. 268 00:19:03.200 --> 00:19:08.000 Almost immediately, two political movements started traveling along separate, even divergent tracks. 269 00:19:08.599 --> 00:19:14.319 Fleetwood and his allies quickly consolidated their power at Whitehall. The Civilian Faction men 270 00:19:14.400 --> 00:19:18.480 who had been Cromwell's closest advisors over the past few weeks were purged from office. 271 00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:22.519 Meanwhile, several men who had been forced into unwilling retirement were restored, 272 00:19:22.839 --> 00:19:26.559 most notably John Lambert. You may recall Oliver Cromwell had removed Lambert from both 273 00:19:26.599 --> 00:19:30.400 political office and the army when he refused to endorse the Humble Petition and Advice. 274 00:19:32.319 --> 00:19:36.920 This process of consolidation was completed with the appointment of Charles Fleetwood as Commander 275 00:19:36.920 --> 00:19:41.160 in Chief, where previously Richard Cromwell had refused to divide that office from that 276 00:19:41.240 --> 00:19:45.680 of Lord Protector. He was now powerless to resist. To all appearances, 277 00:19:45.680 --> 00:19:49.599 the Protectorate State looked poised to undergo yet another bout of constitutional change, though 278 00:19:49.640 --> 00:19:53.079 in a sense it was more a winding back of the clock to sixteen fifty 279 00:19:53.079 --> 00:19:57.119 five. All the decisions that had made since then seemed destined to be reversed. 280 00:19:57.400 --> 00:20:02.599 The major general system and Lambert's original instrument of government were both back on 281 00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:06.640 the table. In effect, the army men had successfully reversed the defeats they 282 00:20:06.640 --> 00:20:11.640 had suffered in the second Protectorate Parliament. But these machinations at Whitehall only told 283 00:20:11.680 --> 00:20:15.079 half the story. While Fleetwood and the Grandees consolidated their power around the Lord 284 00:20:15.119 --> 00:20:19.119 Protector, the junior officers who had made those victories possible drew up their own 285 00:20:19.119 --> 00:20:23.799 plans. The victories on the twenty second of April, the dissolution of Parliament 286 00:20:23.799 --> 00:20:27.920 and the purges of Cromwell's allies from Whitehall truly belonged to the officers as a 287 00:20:27.920 --> 00:20:33.279 whole, not the new Commander in Chief Charles Fleetwood. The Army Grandees were 288 00:20:33.279 --> 00:20:36.720 presenting themselves as friends of the good old Cause because they had no other choice. 289 00:20:37.240 --> 00:20:40.119 While the deals were worked out at Whitehall, the majority of the army 290 00:20:40.119 --> 00:20:44.839 men looked on suspiciously from Saint James's Palace. There they worked out their own 291 00:20:44.880 --> 00:20:48.240 definition of the Good Old Cause that Fleetwood and the others would be judged by. 292 00:20:48.839 --> 00:20:52.160 In this they were heavily influenced by the Republicans and old Rumpers of the 293 00:20:52.240 --> 00:20:56.880 recently dissolved Parliament. As you recall, it had been this radical Republican influence 294 00:20:56.880 --> 00:21:00.240 that the Army grandees had tried to forestall or co opt in the opening days 295 00:21:00.240 --> 00:21:03.960 of the Parliament. Those attempts had quite obviously failed. In a series of 296 00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:07.480 meetings at the end of April and the beginning of May, junior officers conferred 297 00:21:07.480 --> 00:21:11.160 with a host of old rumpers, most prominent among them Arthur Husselerigg, Edmund 298 00:21:11.200 --> 00:21:15.279 Ludlow and Henry Vane. The key demand that emerged from these meetings was the 299 00:21:15.359 --> 00:21:21.000 rebirth of the Rump. Ever since Alvar Cromwell had forcibly and illegally shut down 300 00:21:21.039 --> 00:21:23.200 the Rump Parliament, the principles they had all fought for in the Civil War 301 00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:27.920 had been repeatedly betrayed. Not everyone agreed on what the Good Old Cause was, 302 00:21:29.200 --> 00:21:32.480 but they had a pretty clear sense of what it wasn't the conservative drift 303 00:21:32.519 --> 00:21:37.079 of protectorate politics, the persecution of certain independent sects, and the elevation of 304 00:21:37.119 --> 00:21:40.640 the Cromwells into a kind of royalty. Each of these were betrayals of their 305 00:21:40.680 --> 00:21:44.039 comrades, who had died in the sixteen forties. It had all started with 306 00:21:44.079 --> 00:21:48.839 a shuddering of the rump. Constitutionally speaking, the argument was pretty straightforward. 307 00:21:48.359 --> 00:21:52.799 Cromwell and his goons had never had the legal authority to dissolve the Rump. 308 00:21:52.200 --> 00:21:56.759 Therefore, it had never been dissolved. The Long Parliament, which had been 309 00:21:56.759 --> 00:22:00.519 created in the fall of sixteen forty, was still alive, the only legitimate 310 00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:03.839 political institution in England. By the first week of May, the fault lines 311 00:22:03.880 --> 00:22:07.200 in the new political order were apparent. On the one hand were the Army 312 00:22:07.240 --> 00:22:11.880 grandees, who dominated the last remnants of the protector at state apparatus, personified 313 00:22:11.920 --> 00:22:15.920 in Lord Protector Richard Cromwell, produced to a mere figurehead. On the other 314 00:22:15.920 --> 00:22:19.680 side were the Rump Republicans, some of whom had waited six years to reverse 315 00:22:19.720 --> 00:22:25.319 Aliver Cromwell's coup. Nominally, the army leaders held the power. Fleetwood was 316 00:22:25.319 --> 00:22:29.000 Commander in chief and his allies controlled the Lord Protector as their personal puppet, 317 00:22:29.519 --> 00:22:33.440 but that power was illusory with the prestige of the Protectorate in Tatter's real power 318 00:22:33.599 --> 00:22:37.960 lay with the army. If push came to shove, who would the soldier's 319 00:22:37.000 --> 00:22:41.240 side. With the generals, they were growing increasingly suspicious of or the rump 320 00:22:41.240 --> 00:22:47.279 politicians, who promised fulfillment of the good old cause. Neither side was entirely 321 00:22:47.279 --> 00:22:52.079 confident. A compromise solution was therefore attractive. Over four days, from the 322 00:22:52.160 --> 00:22:55.839 second of May to the fifth, Henry Vane hosted a prolonged conference at his 323 00:22:55.920 --> 00:23:00.279 London residence. He was joined by his fellow rumpers Hesselrigg and Ludlow. Representing 324 00:23:00.319 --> 00:23:04.480 the Army Grandees was a delegation led by John Lambert, the sharpest political mind 325 00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:08.160 among the generals and a man who could sympathize with the long exile from power 326 00:23:08.200 --> 00:23:11.559 the rumpers had suffered through. It quickly became apparent, however, that the 327 00:23:11.640 --> 00:23:15.359 rumpers held all the cards. It was their demands that set the agenda for 328 00:23:15.359 --> 00:23:19.160 the conference, namely the restoration of the rump, which would embody the absolute 329 00:23:19.160 --> 00:23:23.319 sovereignty of Parliament. In other words, the complete dismantling of the protectorate state 330 00:23:23.480 --> 00:23:27.960 that the army men currently controlled. Initially Lambert at his best, who preserved 331 00:23:29.000 --> 00:23:32.720 the system he had helped create. Perhaps Richard Cromwell could be retained as a 332 00:23:32.720 --> 00:23:36.960 figurehead, a face saving gesture to retain some continuity with post rump governance, 333 00:23:37.480 --> 00:23:40.559 or maybe the creation of a Senate to share rule with the House of Commons, 334 00:23:40.720 --> 00:23:44.519 a body populated by senior officers to ensure army leadership had a voice in 335 00:23:44.519 --> 00:23:48.599 the new order. But neither Hasselrig nor Vaine had waited this long just to 336 00:23:48.640 --> 00:23:52.640 compromise on the principle of parliamentary sovereignty. They even rejected Lambert's proposal that army 337 00:23:52.680 --> 00:23:57.079 officers enjoy an amnesty against retribution for their role in the protectorate state. The 338 00:23:57.160 --> 00:24:00.279 most they were willing to offer was their work that the army men would get 339 00:24:00.279 --> 00:24:06.039 a sympathetic hearing in the revitalized Parliament. In the end, Lambert, Fleetwood, 340 00:24:06.119 --> 00:24:10.359 desbro and the others took that relatively scant offer. They had no confidence 341 00:24:10.359 --> 00:24:12.200 that the army would follow them in resisting the return of the rump. In 342 00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:15.960 a sense, they were now looking to the rumpers to protect them from their 343 00:24:15.960 --> 00:24:18.480 own subordinates. On the fifth of May, the deal was struck, and 344 00:24:18.559 --> 00:24:22.440 the following morning, forty two members of the old Rump Parliament retook their seats, 345 00:24:22.640 --> 00:24:26.920 just over six years after they had been removed by Oliver Cromwell's soldiers. 346 00:24:26.680 --> 00:24:30.039 More would come in the following days, bringing the total up to seventy eight, 347 00:24:30.319 --> 00:24:34.240 less than one seventh the total population of the full long Parliament. In 348 00:24:34.279 --> 00:24:38.000 a neat bit of continuity. The first issue the reformed Rump took up was 349 00:24:38.079 --> 00:24:41.720 the same one they had been debating when Cromwell shut them down. New elections. 350 00:24:42.319 --> 00:24:47.119 The Parliament set the date for the seventh of May sixteen sixty one year 351 00:24:47.119 --> 00:24:49.920 in the future, but that still left the same problem that Oliver Cromwell had 352 00:24:49.920 --> 00:24:53.880 never managed to solve, how to hold elections that honored the principle of representative 353 00:24:53.920 --> 00:24:59.559 politics but didn't toss out the existing regime. John Lambert, ever, the 354 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:03.200 institutional tinker, proposed a solution to the problem, a Senate of godly statesman 355 00:25:03.240 --> 00:25:07.720 who would ensure Parliament as a whole remained true to the principles of the sixteen 356 00:25:07.799 --> 00:25:11.160 forties. This drew the interest of Henry Vane, who saw godly Senate as 357 00:25:11.200 --> 00:25:17.119 a kind of constitutional guarantee of religious freedom, but for idelogs like Arthur Hasseligg, 358 00:25:17.240 --> 00:25:19.039 this was an intolerable limit on the power of the House of Commons. 359 00:25:19.720 --> 00:25:25.319 The issue lay unresolved through the time being. A more immediate concern was the 360 00:25:25.400 --> 00:25:29.000 day to day governance of the nation. Technically, Richard Cromwell was still the 361 00:25:29.079 --> 00:25:32.720 Lord Protector, though the developments of the past few days had effectively stripped him 362 00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:36.640 of all power. But if the Lord Protector didn't exercise executive power, then 363 00:25:36.680 --> 00:25:40.599 who did. A new Council of State was formed, composed of twenty one 364 00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:45.000 members of Parliament, including Hasselrig, Vane and Ludlow, and ten non members, 365 00:25:45.240 --> 00:25:48.000 mostly army officers, chief among them John Lambert, John desbro and James 366 00:25:48.039 --> 00:25:52.319 Barry, who had been Major General in charge of Wales and the Western Borderlands. 367 00:25:52.880 --> 00:25:56.319 Thomas Fairfax was invited to join the Council as well, a gesture and 368 00:25:56.359 --> 00:25:59.720 tended to legitimize the new government in the eyes of the public. But fair 369 00:26:00.160 --> 00:26:03.359 had always been a cautious politician and he wasn't about to break his long held 370 00:26:03.400 --> 00:26:07.240 policy of remaining aloof from politics for the sake of an infant regime of dubious 371 00:26:07.319 --> 00:26:11.160 legitimacy. But with or without the respected General, the new administration was determined 372 00:26:11.160 --> 00:26:15.519 to move forward. That meant disposing of the embarrassing Richard Cromwell. In an 373 00:26:15.519 --> 00:26:19.039 effort to save his regime, Cromwell had spent the past few weeks reaching out 374 00:26:19.079 --> 00:26:23.039 two possible allies outside of London. After all, the city no longer enjoyed 375 00:26:23.079 --> 00:26:26.720 a monopoly on power in the British Isles. George Monk led an army in 376 00:26:26.759 --> 00:26:33.079 Scotland that operated virtually independently from London or Westminster. Richard's brother Henry led his 377 00:26:33.119 --> 00:26:36.599 own national government in Dublin, and Edward Montagu, who had always been a 378 00:26:36.640 --> 00:26:41.920 diehard Cromwell loyalist, commanded England's navy. All three men were potential allies with 379 00:26:41.000 --> 00:26:47.200 the military power to contest the recent coup, but Richard's please went unanswered. 380 00:26:47.839 --> 00:26:51.200 Monk claimed that he was powerless to act. If he ordered his army to 381 00:26:51.200 --> 00:26:55.000 restore Cromwell to power, he would face a mutiny. Whether that was true 382 00:26:55.079 --> 00:26:56.960 or not, it is difficult to say. Monk had always been a difficult 383 00:26:56.960 --> 00:27:00.519 figure to pin down politically. In way, he was perhaps more like Oliver 384 00:27:00.559 --> 00:27:04.680 Cromwell than any of his contemporaries. Whatever his reasons, Monk felt it prudent 385 00:27:04.720 --> 00:27:10.559 to hang back and see what course events took at Westminster. Henry Cromwell's protests 386 00:27:10.559 --> 00:27:12.920 of helplessness are a bit more believable. This was his brother, after all. 387 00:27:14.480 --> 00:27:17.759 Even setting aside any personal loyalty, Henry may have felt, if Richard 388 00:27:17.799 --> 00:27:21.799 Cromwell was deposed it was unlikely the regime that replaced him would have much trust 389 00:27:21.799 --> 00:27:25.799 in that other Cromwell in Ireland. But the younger Cromwell was forced to admit 390 00:27:25.839 --> 00:27:29.680 that he was powerless. His conflicts with the army in Ireland had never really 391 00:27:29.680 --> 00:27:33.000 been resolved. He had wrestled them to a draw in Dublin to the point 392 00:27:33.039 --> 00:27:36.880 that he could exercise independent action in government, but the Irish Army was more 393 00:27:36.920 --> 00:27:40.200 likely to fight for the new regime than ride to the Lord Protector's rescue. 394 00:27:40.720 --> 00:27:44.279 Henry Cromwell announced that if his brother decided to surrender his authority to the new 395 00:27:44.319 --> 00:27:47.920 regime, he would accept it. Two In fact, when Richard was deposed 396 00:27:47.960 --> 00:27:52.640 soon after, Henry resigned his position in Irish government. His replacement turned out 397 00:27:52.640 --> 00:27:56.359 to be his old rival, Edmund Ludlow. Finally, Edward Montagu was perhaps 398 00:27:56.359 --> 00:28:00.720 the one man willing and able to fight for the Cromwellian at it. Unfortunately, 399 00:28:00.720 --> 00:28:03.759 he couldn't be reached in time. In events will be covering. Soon 400 00:28:04.079 --> 00:28:08.480 Montagu was commanding the Protectorate navy off the coast of Denmark. The Northern theater 401 00:28:08.559 --> 00:28:14.000 had once again turned explosive. On the twenty fifth of May, Richard Cromwell 402 00:28:14.039 --> 00:28:18.400 accepted reality and agreed to give up his power as Lord Protector. In exchange, 403 00:28:18.440 --> 00:28:21.799 the new regime agreed to forgive his personal debts and pay him attention. 404 00:28:22.400 --> 00:28:25.400 However, it didn't take long for Cromwell to doubt the good will of his 405 00:28:25.480 --> 00:28:30.000 usurpers, and he fled into French exile. The Protectorate was officially over. 406 00:28:30.680 --> 00:28:34.000 Although it had achieved impressive results on the international stage, the Protectorate state had 407 00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:38.440 never truly established itself at home. Although in theory parliament had always been a 408 00:28:38.480 --> 00:28:42.680 central feature of the system, all attempts to incorporate one into Protectorate governance had 409 00:28:42.680 --> 00:28:47.839 failed. In a sense. Aliver Cromwell had never worked out a permanent solution 410 00:28:47.880 --> 00:28:51.319 to the constitutional problem you found when he shut down the rump. It was 411 00:28:51.359 --> 00:28:53.920 now time to see if the current regime could fare any better. Could they 412 00:28:53.920 --> 00:28:57.079 figure out a way to legally dissolve the rump and call a new session that 413 00:28:57.160 --> 00:29:00.720 was both freely elected and upheld the Prince suppose they had fought for. The 414 00:29:00.839 --> 00:29:04.480 signs were not good. Throughout the summer of sixteen fifty nine. The new 415 00:29:04.559 --> 00:29:08.279 Rump was marred by the same factionalism that had undermined every other parliament before it. 416 00:29:10.039 --> 00:29:14.200 This time the source of the controversy was John Lambert's constitutional program. His 417 00:29:14.359 --> 00:29:18.839 Godly Senate was the only way to restrain the conservative or even royalist tendencies of 418 00:29:18.839 --> 00:29:22.640 a freely elected House of Commons, but Hasselrigg refused to countenance any weakening of 419 00:29:22.640 --> 00:29:26.880 the supremacy of the Commons. The die hard Rumper was caught in an ideological 420 00:29:26.880 --> 00:29:32.960 dilemma. His principles dictated that the only legitimate power was a parliament that represented 421 00:29:32.960 --> 00:29:37.400 the people, but in practice those principles would be abandoned if the people were 422 00:29:37.400 --> 00:29:41.960 allowed a free choice to select their representatives. Paralyzed by this conundrum, Hasselrigg 423 00:29:41.000 --> 00:29:45.319 could provide no suggestions for how to move forward, only opposition to Lambert's program. 424 00:29:47.000 --> 00:29:48.960 The result was a kind of deja vous for anyone who lived through the 425 00:29:49.039 --> 00:29:52.720 dying days of the First Rump. In the spring of sixteen fifty three, 426 00:29:52.359 --> 00:29:56.599 despite the deadline for elections, the Rump was making no progress towards its dissolution 427 00:29:56.960 --> 00:30:03.160 or crafting a workable constitution. A minority of MPs, led by Henry Vane, 428 00:30:03.279 --> 00:30:07.519 argued for Lambert's model, but Arthur Hasselik commanded a majority who opposed it 429 00:30:07.559 --> 00:30:11.960 on principle. The problem was that majority was unable to propose any alternative. 430 00:30:11.640 --> 00:30:15.359 Pretty soon Parliament moved on from the fruitless debate on the future of England and 431 00:30:15.440 --> 00:30:21.839 bickered over more mundane issues. Mundane but not unimportant, and alarmingly for the 432 00:30:21.920 --> 00:30:23.519 army, they always seemed to be getting the short end of the stick. 433 00:30:25.119 --> 00:30:27.759 The Rump moved at a glacial pace when it came to releasing funds for army 434 00:30:27.799 --> 00:30:33.039 pay. Westminster also hollowed out the Commander in Chief title Fleetwood had secured from 435 00:30:33.079 --> 00:30:37.359 Richard Cromwell. The office was ruled temporary, said to expire when the current 436 00:30:37.400 --> 00:30:41.119 session of Parliament ended. This was necessary to prevent Fleetwood from wielding political power 437 00:30:41.279 --> 00:30:45.160 in between the Rump's dissolution and the formation of a new Parliament. But the 438 00:30:45.319 --> 00:30:49.119 army men were less than reassured, especially when the Rump took over much of 439 00:30:49.119 --> 00:30:53.079 the authority that ought to belong to a commander in chief. New officer appointments 440 00:30:53.119 --> 00:30:57.519 were made by a Parliamentary committee, not Fleetwood, and all existing officers were 441 00:30:57.599 --> 00:31:00.920 ordered to turn in their old commissions and received new ones issued by Parliament. 442 00:31:02.480 --> 00:31:06.960 The ostensible goal was to eliminate Cromwellian loyalists from within the officer corps, but 443 00:31:07.079 --> 00:31:10.160 no one missed that it was Parliament, not the Commander in Chief, those 444 00:31:10.200 --> 00:31:15.119 testing the loyalty of the officers. The most heated debate involved the general amnesty 445 00:31:15.160 --> 00:31:18.400 that army officers had been pushing for since the major general system fell apart. 446 00:31:18.960 --> 00:31:22.200 If the army wasn't to enjoy power, at the very least, they needed 447 00:31:22.240 --> 00:31:26.079 guarantees against prosecution or lawsuits. But after seven weeks of argument, the Rump 448 00:31:26.119 --> 00:31:30.640 produced an amnesty bill that was both weak and vague. When John Lambert complained, 449 00:31:30.720 --> 00:31:34.119 Hasselrig replied, you are only at the mercy of the Parliament. Who 450 00:31:34.200 --> 00:31:40.000 are your good friends? Hardly reassuring words. It didn't help that next on 451 00:31:40.119 --> 00:31:44.119 Parliament's docket was a comprehensive Militia Bill, which many army leaders saw as a 452 00:31:44.160 --> 00:31:48.599 ploy to make the army redundant or at the very least entirely subservient to Westminster. 453 00:31:48.440 --> 00:31:52.119 In August, just when the new regime seemed to be at its breaking 454 00:31:52.160 --> 00:31:56.119 point, rumors of a Royalist uprising began swirling around England. Unfortunately, these 455 00:31:56.160 --> 00:32:00.559 states best s Bymaster John Thurlow had been purged with the other Cromwellians. In 456 00:32:00.640 --> 00:32:05.319 the absence of his impressive network, the new regime had no solid information on 457 00:32:05.359 --> 00:32:07.920 the danger they faced. Next time, we'll follow them as they faced their 458 00:32:07.920 --> 00:32:12.640 first external challenge before their many internal challenges had been overcome.