Not only had there been addresses from the inhabitants or authorities of the towns he passed through; but there had been letters to him at Morpeth from the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council, of the City of London, followed by an address presented to him on the borders of Northamptonshire by a deputation of three commissioners from the City, two of them Aldermen.

Now, almost all the addresses had been in one strain.

Thanking Monk for what he had already done, they prayed him to earn the farther gratitude of his countrymen either by (1) securing that the present House should be converted into a real Parliament by the restoration of the secluded members of 1642-1648 to their seats and the filling up of other vacancies, or (2) securing that a full and free new Parliament should be called at once.

Both these methods implied the restoration of Charles, though mention of that consequence, and by some even the thought of it, was most studiously avoided.

A full and free new Parliament meant, in the present mood of the country, a recall of Charles rapidly and unhesitatingly.