They
undertook to remodel the constitution of the army. The office
of lord-general was abolished; no intermediate rank between the
lieutenant-general and the colonels was admitted; Fleetwood was named
lieutenant-general, with the chief command in England and Scotland, but
limited in its duration to a short period, revocable at pleasure, and
deprived of several of those powers which had hitherto been annexed to
it. All military commissions were revoked, and an order was made that a
committee of nine members should recommend the persons to be officers in
each regiment; that their respective merits should be canvassed in the
house; and that those who had passed this ordeal should receive their
commissions at the table from the hand of the speaker. The object of this
arrangement was plain: to make void the declaration of the military, to
weed out men of doubtful fidelity, and to render the others dependent
for their situations on the pleasure of the house. Fleetwood, with his
adherents, resolved never to submit to the degradation, while the privates
amused themselves with ridiculing the age and infirmities of him whom they
called their new lord-general, the speaker Lenthall; but Hazlerig prevailed
on Colonel Hacker, with his officers, to conform; their example gradually
drew others; and, at length, the most discontented, though with shame
and reluctance, condescended to go through this humbling ceremony.
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