been one of the Long Parliament members, excluded in 1648, was chosen
Speaker. There was no long doubt as to the spirit of the new House. The
memory and the deeds of Cromwell were condemned with no uncertain voice.
They waited only for the oracle to speak before they resolved to take the
final step, and vote the restoration of the King. Not till May 1st did
Monk think fit to disclose his intention. He then announced that Sir John
Grenville was present with letters to himself and to Parliament. With
almost unnecessary parade of ceremony he stated that both were sealed and
that he would read his own only by their direction. With due gravity the
pretence was carried out, and the letters and Declaration produced a joy,
which arose not so much from their terms as from the fact that their
delivery by the General opened the door for the free flow of pent-up
loyalty. It was no moment for weighing details, or for balancing
conditions. The nation was sick to death of the heavy burden that had
crushed their life for twenty years. The voice of the constitutionalist
was silenced as effectually as the murmurs of the fanatic and the growls
of the defeated republican. The Presbyterians spoke in vain of the
Covenant; the more moderate found themselves little heeded when they spoke
of taking securities before the King was restored. "The warmer zeal of the
House threw away all those formalities and affectations." They were not
"to offend the King with colder expressions of their duty." The letter
that was sent left nothing to be desired in the lavishness of its loyalty.
Sir John Grenville was complimented, and before he was despatched with
their reply to the King's letter, he was presented with £500, "to buy a
jewel to wear, as an honour for being the messenger of so gracious a
message." "So great a change was this," says Hyde. Three months before
Grenville might have suffered a shameful death if he had been known to
have interviewed the King; he was now rewarded for bringing a message from
him.