ABSTRACT
At the end of February, 1660, it was certain that the old constitution would be restored, but just as it was a question whether some restrictions would not be imposed upon the King, so it seemed probable that the House of Lords would not be unconditionally re-established. The readmission of the members of the House of Commons expelled by the army in 1648 seemed logically to imply the readmission of the peers sitting in the House of Lords at that date, and the restitution of that assembly to the exercise of its rights. By this step the return to the constitutional position existing in 1648 would have been completed. It would not have tolerated the restoration of the House of Lords, and as Monck had not yet brought it under complete control, he was obliged to temporise a little longer, and to reiterate his pledges to maintain a commonwealth without King or House of Lords.
