These proceedings, however, did not prevent Fiennes,
the head commissioner, from dissolving the parliament; and the important
intelligence was communicated to the three nations by proclamation in the
same afternoon.[1]
Whether the consequences of this measure, so fatal to the interests of
Richard, were foreseen by his advisers, may be doubted. It appears that
Thurloe had for several days been negotiating both with the republican and
the military leaders. He had tempted some of the former with the offer
of place and emolument, to strengthen the party of the protector; to the
latter he had proposed that Richard, in imitation of his father on one
occasion, should raise money for the payment of the army by the power of
the sword, and without the aid of parliament.[2] But these intrigues were
now at an end; by the dissolution Richard had signed his own deposition;
though he continued to reside at Whitehall, the government fell into
abeyance; even the officers, who had hitherto frequented
[Footnote 1: Whitelock, 677. England's Confusion, 9. Clarendon Papers, 451,
456. Ludlow, ii. 174. Merc. Pol. 564.]
[Footnote 2: Thurloe, 659, 661.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1659. April 22.]
his court, abandoned him, some to appease, by their attendance at
Wallingford House, the resentment of their adversaries, the others, to
provide, by their absence, for their own safety.
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