Milton cannot have liked that rejection by the General of one of the tests on which he had himself placed so much reliance.

But, further, what meant Monk's very ambiguous utterance respecting the three immediate courses one of which must be chosen?
He had distinctly mentioned in the House that the drift of public opinion, as he could ascertain it from the addresses made to him along his march, was towards either _an enlargement of the present House by the re-admission of the Secluded Members_ or _a full and free Parliament by a new general election_; and, though he had seemed to acquiesce in that third course which was proposed by the House itself, viz.

_the enlargement of the House by a competent number of new writs issued by itself under a careful scheme of qualification for electing or being eligible_, he had left a very vague impression as to his real preference.

Now to Milton, as to all other ardent Commonwealth's men, the vital question was which of these three courses was to be taken.
To adopt either of the two first was to subvert the Commonwealth.

To re-admit the secluded members into the present House was to convert it into a House with an overwhelming Presbyterian majority, and to bring back the days of Presbyterian ascendancy, with the prospect of a restoration of Royalty on merely Presbyterian terms.