ted
Colonels. Possibly also the distribution of the regiments between
England and Scotland, or between Great Britain and Ireland, may not
be absolutely correct. Perhaps that is hardly possible; for there
were shiftings of regiments between England and Ireland within the
few months under notice, and shiftings of regiments, or of parts of
regiments, between England and Scotland. I have put Overton among
the Colonels in England, because he was made Governor of Hull; but
the larger part of the regiment to which he was appointed was with
Monk in Scotland, and Overton's former military experience in high
command had been chiefly in Scotland.]

The energetic little Rump and its Council were in the midst of all
this re-organizing and re-officering of the Forces of the
Commonwealth when a demand suddenly burst upon them for the actual
service of a portion of those forces, such as they were.

After a long period of judicious quiet, Hyde and the other
Councillors of Charles abroad, in advice with the Royalists at home,
had resolved on testing the King's improved chances by a general
insurrection. The arrangements had been made chiefly by Mr. John
Mordaunt (see ante p. 337), Sir John Greenville, Sir Thomas Peyton,
Mr. Arthur Annesley, and Mr. William Legge. These five had been the
authorized commissioners for the King in England since March last in
place of the former secret commissioners of the Sealed Knot; and
Mordaunt had been in Brussels to consult with Charles. In idea at
least the arrangements had been most formidable. The conspiracy had
its network through all England and Wales, and included not only the
old Royalists, but also the more numerous Presbyterians and other
baulked Cromwellians, now known collectively as "new Royalists."
Mordaunt himself, with other friends, had undertaken Surrey; Sir
George Booth was to lead in Lancashire and Cheshire, where his
influence with the Presbyterians was boundless; old Sir Thomas
Middleton was to head the rising in Shrepshire and Flintshire; the
Earl of Stamford that in Leicestershire; Lord Willoughby of Parham
that in Suffolk; Colonel Egerton that in Staffordshire; Colonel
Rossiter that in Lincolnshire; Lord Herbert and Major-General Massey
were to rouse Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, and the Welsh border;
and there were commissions from Charles to known persons in other
counties, with blank commissions besides. The Duke of Buckingham, the
Earls of Manchester, Derby, Northampton