ABSTRACT
The government which was set up in England on the execution of Charles I was essentially a stop-gap. The army, which had by military force placed a small section of the House of Commons in the possession of supreme power, had no intention of permanently maintaining its sovereignty. As soon as possible the Long Parliament was to be dissolved, and a new assembly, elected by a wider suffrage and by more equal constituencies, was to take its place. Lord Grey of Groby, who was one of the most thorough-going supporters of the republic, sat also in the second, fourth, and fifth Councils. It is evident that a few of the nobility were willing enough to accept a republican form of government. During the four years which the Commonwealth lasted the peerage was never without its representatives both in the Parliament and the Council of State.
