After the forcible dissolution of the Rump Parliament by Oliver Cromwell, the Grandees of the Army Council of Officers were reluctant to authorise free elections because they were aware that the traditional constituency would return Presbyterians and Royalists as well as their own sympathisers.
The arrest of Feake and Powell was sufficient for a time to dampen their ardour, but many of the delegates to Barebone's Parliament were from congregations with Fifth Monarchist sympathies.