ABSTRACT
Foreign Powers recognised the Government without any scruples; and though the French ambassador made some secret offers of help to Richard, he speedily transferred his support to the Republic. The restoration of the monarchy was the inevitable consequence of the rupture between the civil and military sections of the Republican Party which occurred in October, 1659, and of the division between the two which dated from April, 1653. A hasty negotiation between the leaders of the Long Parliament and the heads of the army followed, in which only the vaguest understanding was arrived at between the two parties. Parliament’s open distrust of the soldiers was made more galling by its neglect of their material interests. The soldiers demanded “an effectual and full Act of Oblivion” to protect them from the legal consequences of acts done during the Protectorate. Parliament was very reluctant to discuss the constitutional problem. Parliament showed its resentment by seeking to limit Monck’s military power.
