In the parliamentary debates on the Instrument of Govern ment (5654), Lambert's proposal that the office of protector should be made hereditary was defeated. Lord Lambert, as he was now styled, represented the West Riding in the parliaments of 1654 and 1656. In August 1655 he organized the militia who were to keep order in the ten districts of England, and was one of the major-generals appointed to a command. Gardiner con jectures that the instructions to the major-generals were the origin of the divergence of opinion between Lambert and Crom well. In February 1657 Lambert, who had previously urged Cromwell to take the title of king, opposed this proposal when it was made by parliament, and with Fleetwood headed a deputation of officers to persuade Cromwell to stop the proceedings. Their complete estrangement followed, and Lambert refused to take the oath of allegiance. He was deprived of his commission, but received a pension of £2,000 a year, with which he retired to Wimbledon. Cromwell sought a reconciliation before his death.
When Richard Cromwell was proclaimed protector his chief difficulty lay with the army, over which he exercised no effective control. It was very generally believed that Lambert, who was popular with the army, though holding no military commission, would install himself in Oliver's seat of power. Richard's ad herents tried to conciliate him, and the royalist leaders made over tures to him, even proposing that Charles II. should marry Lam bert's daughter. Lambert at first gave a lukewarm support to Richard Cromwell. He was a member of the parliament which met in January 1659, and after its dissolution was restored to his commands. He headed the deputation to Lenthall in May inviting the return of the Rump, which led to the retirement of Richard Cromwell into obscurity ; and he was appointed a member of the committee of safety and the council of state. Lambert was one
of the council of seven charged by the parliament with the duty of nominating officers. Parliament's distrust of the soldiers caused discontent in the army, and the royalists were encouraged to make overt attempts to restore Charles II., the most serious of which, under Sir George Booth and the earl of Derby, was crushed by Lambert near Chester on Aug. 19. The republican party in the House took offence at a petition from Lambert's army that Fleet wood might be made lord-general and himself major-general. The Commons (Oct. 22, 1659) cashiered Lambert and other offi cers, and retained Fleetwood as chief of a military council under the authority of the Speaker. On the next day Lambert kept the members out of the House. On the 26th a "committee of safety" was appointed, of which he was a member. He was also appointed major-general, and Fleetwood general, of the forces in England and Scotland. Lambert was sent with a large force to meet Monk, who was in command of the English forces in Scotland, either to negotiate with him or force him to terms, but his army fell away before Monk's southern advance, and Monk marched to London unopposed. The "excluded" Presbyterian members were recalled. Lambert was sent to the Tower (March 3, 166o). He escaped a month later, and tried to rekindle the civil war, but was recap tured on April 24. On the Restoration he was exempted from danger of life by an address of both Houses to the king, but the next parliament (1662) charged him with high treason. He was first kept in custody in Guernsey, but was later removed to St. Nicholas's Island, Plymouth Sound, where he died in 1683.