And now for the last time in his life Monk knew what it was to be out of employment. His brother, Colonel Thomas Monk, the zealous Cavalier, had recently been killed by a fall from his horse, and George seems to have used his leisure to go down to Potheridge and take possession of the family estates, which fell to him as heir-in-tail. It was probably at this time that he became fully impressed with the abilities of his kinsman Mr. Morice, who was afterwards to influence his career so profoundly. This remarkable man, scholar, historian, recluse, and man of business, had been managing the Grenville property with great skill ever since Monk's uncle, Sir Bevil, had been killed at the battle of Lansdowne, and the colonel found he could not do better than commit his own property to the same stewardship.
But that it was not only in this manner that he enjoyed his repose and consoled himself for the way the Government had treated him is only too clear. For it was in this year that the frail Mrs. Ratsford was separated from her husband.
[CHAPTER VI]
CROMWELL'S NEW LIEUTENANT
Monk had hardly time to weary of his inactivity before a new storm burst in the north. Scotland had taken to herself a covenanted King, and an invasion was resolved upon by the English Parliament. Cromwell was recalled from Ireland, and in June, 1650, to the confusion of the Presbyterian opposition, he was voted to the command of the army. He at once sent for Monk to assist him in the organisation of his forces, and promised him a regiment.
The significance of this it is hard to exaggerate. When we remember how fastidious Cromwell was about the private character of the men he worked with, it cannot but impress us with the extraordinary sense he must have had of his obligations to Monk. The highest military abilities would never have induced him to employ a man who was living in open contempt of the seventh commandment. It was an offence of such gravity at that time that it had been recently made capital. Yet Cromwell was determined his trusty friend should have his reward, and that in spite of the difficulty of finding him a regiment. The command of Bright's, which lay at Alnwick, was vacant, but a dangerous spirit of democracy and autonomy was growing in the army. Bright's had been one of the victorious regiments at Nantwich. They had to be asked if they would accept Monk for colonel, and they refused. "We took him prisoner," they cried, "at Nantwich not long since, and he will betray us," and ominously enough Lambert, with whom the last great struggle was to be, was chosen in his stead. From that moment the two most celebrated of Cromwell's lieutenants were doomed to an incessant rivalry.
But Cromwell was not to be thwarted. As there was no regiment for his friend, he made one. At Newcastle lay Sir Arthur Haslerig's renowned Blue-Coats, and at Berwick was Colonel Fenwick with his newly raised Northumberland regiment. The field-force which had been voted for Cromwell was complete, but in his masterful way he drew five companies from each of these regiments and made up a new one for Monk. Then he laconically informed the House what he had done, and coolly requested that the new regiment should be taken on the establishment and the two weakened garrisons recruited. Like lambs the Government consented, and so in lawless birth, a reward for service that none dared name, began the famous Coldstream Guards.
The staff-appointment which Monk held was that of acting lieutenant-general of the Ordnance. Cromwell would doubtless have preferred to see him sergeant-major-general—an appointment which in those days of amateur soldiering it was usually thought necessary to fill with a soldier of fortune—that as chief of the staff he might supply the technical shortcomings of the commander-in-chief. It was, however, already occupied by Lambert, whose training as a lawyer can hardly have qualified him for the proper discharge of its complex duties. Indeed more than once, in cases of extreme difficulty, we shall see that Monk had to take over his work, and thus intensify the antipathy which marked their relations from the first.
It is impossible here to repeat the oft-told tale of the Dunbar campaign; which is the more to be regretted as Monk's share in it has never been done justice to. Cromwell had excellent reasons for not saying too much about him in despatches; and Hodgson, the other best known authority, being in Lambert's regiment, studiously keeps in the background the rival of his idolised colonel. Yet it is certain that no voice had so much weight with Cromwell as Monk's, and he was consulted at every point. Up to Dunbar, too, the lion's share of the active operations fell upon him. The artillery duels by which it was sought to goad Leslie into an engagement were under his direction, and it was he who took the castles of Colinton and Redhall during Cromwell's attempt to turn the Scotch position before Edinburgh.