The Scotts army being now entred into England, and bending their course towards those parts where wee know you have a good interest, wee conceive your presence there may bee of use for the service of the Commonwealth; wee therefore desire you forthwith to repaire into the Countie of Salop, and there, with the rest of your fellow Commissioners, doe your best endeavour, and put out your interest there for the raiseing of what force of horse and foot you can, for the service of the Commonwealth in this present exigency of affaires.
Signed in the name and by order of the Councell of State, appointed by authority of Parliament, JO: BRADSHAWE, PRSIDT.”
Most probably by this time General Mytton had grown tired with the hard toils of intestine warfare, and become disgusted with the faithlessness of the men whom he had so ardently and faithfully served; for we do not find that he complied with Bradshawe’s letter, or took any further part in public affairs. He died in the metropolis in the year 1656, and his body was taken down to Shrewsbury, and interred in St. Chad’s Church there.
It is unnecessary here to do more than merely advert to the unhappy close of Charles I.’s reign, the triumphs of Cromwell, and the bold and manly efforts made by Charles II. to obtain the Crown which had been so violently wrested from his father. Although Cromwell had made himself Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland, yet he reposed not on a bed of roses. “Every party in the kingdom soon became disgusted with Cromwell’s dominion. The royalists were indignant to see the ancient monarchy usurped by an upstart who had no hereditary claim upon their allegiance; the republicans were mortified to see all their blood and efforts, which had been spent for the setting-up of the Commonwealth, lavished only for the support of a government which, in everything but the name, was a most despotic monarchy; the Presbyterians were chagrined at the favour of their rivals, the Independents, and at a general toleration of every religious denomination (except the Church of England).” Conspiracies and plots were hatched in many parts of the land; and the Protector was kept on the alert by daily intelligence that the exiled king would challenge the usurper, and claim the British throne as soon as a favourable opportunity presented itself for so bold an enterprise. Cromwell, however, after various struggles with the royalist forces, was summoned to “the house appointed for all men living.” He was succeeded, for a brief period, by his son Richard, who speedily retired from public life. General Monk, who had been an intrepid commander both of the royalist and the parliamentary forces, and who possessed powerful influence in the country, on the death of the Protector Cromwell wisely threw the weight of that influence into the royalist scale, and adopted measures at once to bring back Charles II. from France to England. Upon that joyful event all ranks hastened to return to their allegiance, and on the 29th of May, 1660, Charles II. set his foot again upon British soil, and immediately assumed the functions of sovereignty.