CHAP. VI - Anti-republican movement. Monk in the City

Summary

Thus much had been gained, that there was once more in England a civil power independent of the army. This however satisfied no one. It was commonly said that Lambert and his party had first of all oppressed the Parliament, and that now the Parliament was uppermost and was persecuting its oppressors, and that the change was no great improvement after all. But the struggle between the two parties gave breathing time to those who hated both of them impartially. The dislike so recently entertained for the army was now directed against Parliament itself. It owed the general support which it had received, not so much to its declaration that all levying of taxes without its sanction was illegal, as to its admission that such levying required the consent of the nation as expressed in an Act of Parliament. But it had scarcely foreseen the consequences of such an admission. It was palpable that the surviving fragments of the old Parliament were very far from representing the feeling of the nation. Associations had already begun to be formed for protecting the privileges of Parliament against the army, but even these now became aware that if Parliament was to have the power of imposing taxes, it must, on its own showing, be entirely reconstituted. It was at least incumbent upon it to receive back the excluded members; or failing this it would be necessary to elect a free Parliament.