Monk at once complied, and reported to the Council of State recommending a lenient course. They replied brutally that they had dissolved the Common Council, and that he was not only to take down the gates but to break them in pieces. Again he obeyed. "Now, George," cried Haslerig when he heard of it, "we have thee for ever, body and soul." On the morrow, with growing anger, the troops recommenced the hateful work. They fraternised with the people, and together they railed at the Rump. Morley, who held the Tower, came and offered to declare against the men of Westminster if Monk would only give the word. His warmest friends went to reason with him, but the general sat in his quarters at the Three Tuns, near Guildhall, grimly chewing his tobacco, and no one dare speak to him. So extraordinary was his conduct that his officers began to believe he had some deep design. The orders were carried out to the last letter; guards were set at all the important points, and in the afternoon the rest of the army marched back to its quarters about Westminster. Haslerig and his friends had won an incalculable victory. On Monk hung the hopes of the country, and they had deliberately struck him a fatal blow where they knew his spotless sense of honour exposed him without defence to their attack. His position was indeed desperate, and no sooner was he alone at Whitehall than Clarges came in to point out the extremity of his danger. The wanton insult he had put upon the liberties of the great municipal corporation must turn against him not only every town in the kingdom, but the whole influence of finance and commerce. It was the deliberate intention of the Council that it should. Nothing could now save him but to return immediately to the city and declare for a free Parliament. Monk would not listen. Clarges in desperation began to urge the folly of being true to men who did not keep their side of the engagement. He showed the general how through the whole affair he had been treated with contempt. Ever since his entry into London the Government had habitually called him "Commissioner" Monk. They had denied him the very rank they themselves had conferred upon him, and violated the commission on which he based his obedience. The general began to waver. He felt the injustice keenly, and confessed at last that something must be done to regain the country's esteem. With that he dismissed his kinsman, saying that he would take till Tuesday to consider what course he should adopt.