362 things, and not his owne iudgement, begun to meete often with him, and to consult what to doe in these difficulties, out of which their prudence and honesty had found a way to extricate themselves, but that the period of our prosperity was come; hasten'd on partly by the mad, rash violence of some that, without strength, oppos'd the tide of the discontented tumultuous people, partly by the detestable treachery of those who had sold themselves to doe mischiefe; out· chiefely by the generall streame of the people, who were as eager for their owne destruction as the Israelites of old for their quailes.' One observation of the collonell I cannot omitt, that the secluded members whom Monke brought in were, many of them, so brought over to a commonwealth that, if Sr. Ar. Heslerigg and his party had not forsaken their places because they would not sitt \vith them, they had made the stronger party in the house, which by reason of their going off were after in all things outvoted.' t A frank acknowledgment that the independent parliament, however good the intentions of many of them might be, had become unpopular: but with the generaU mass of mankind the escape ftom any present evil is paramount to all future considerations. Perhaps this reflux of the public mind was the most effectual cause of the counter revolution_, without which Monk might have plotted in vain.-And thus perhaps in this, as in so many other instances, ·Mrs. Hutchinson's natural and rational way of tracing and unfolding the causes of great events will be found to bring tls much nearer the truth than all the subtleties employed by others! 11 \Ve do not know this circumstance to have been noticed by any other historian; but it appears much more probable than that the secluded members should have been unanimous, and that in measures of such transcendent import as were now to be decided upon. For this secession Whitelock blames and Ludlow commends Sir Arthur Haselrigge and his friends: their t~tal ruin, which ensued, decides the ques~ tion. In support of the opinions and statements contained in this and the two next follow~ ing pages, are adduced the following out of many extracts that might be made from the third volume of Clarendon's State Papers. Page 687, Broderick to Hyde, Dec. 30, 1659, ridicules the idea of its being possible to establish the Rump;-says Vane, Salway, and Whitelock sit without blush or excuse ;-Has1erig must ruin them OF be
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