Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Conventions and abbreviations
- Map: Representation in the General Convention
- 1 A kind of colony
- 2 Commissioners and submissioners: May to June
- 3 The rule of the rump: July to October
- 4 The threefold cord: October to December
- 5 Setting up for themselves: January to February
- 6 The election returns
- 7 The General Convention of Ireland: March to April
- 8 Without expectation of resurrection: May to June
- Appendix: Members of the General Convention
- Select bibliography
- Index
3 - The rule of the rump: July to October
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 July 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Conventions and abbreviations
- Map: Representation in the General Convention
- 1 A kind of colony
- 2 Commissioners and submissioners: May to June
- 3 The rule of the rump: July to October
- 4 The threefold cord: October to December
- 5 Setting up for themselves: January to February
- 6 The election returns
- 7 The General Convention of Ireland: March to April
- 8 Without expectation of resurrection: May to June
- Appendix: Members of the General Convention
- Select bibliography
- Index
Summary
The initial task of the restored parliament was to consolidate its position. At first, that was a matter of securing the support of all of the armed forces–in England, Scotland, Ireland, Dunkirk and the navy. Once that had been done, it was a matter of ensuring that parliament was master in its own house. There were some members who thought otherwise, and who argued that parliament and army should work in partnership to achieve their common purposes, but the council of state appointed on 19 May contained a majority whose determination to relegate the army and its leaders to an appropriate subordination to the parliament set the immediate priorities of the regime. The issue of principle was given practical expression in decisions to withhold from the new commander in chief the right to commission and promote officers and to refuse the demand that officers should be cashiered only after court martial. A commission of seven, including Fleetwood, systematically reviewed the officers and those who passed muster were recommissioned by the speaker in a formula which required them to obey parliament and the council of state before their superior officers. Just as the commissioners were particularly concerned to be rid of those who had been too close to the Cromwells, as well as those judged morally deficient, so they paid special attention to reinstating those who had lost their positions through opposition to the protectorate.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Prelude to Restoration in IrelandThe End of the Commonwealth, 1659–1660, pp. 56 - 91Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1999