THE LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
Sir Henry \kiie 
 the Ybun^r.' 
 
 [Frontispiece}. 
 
THE LIFE OF 
 
 SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 THE YOUNGER 
 
 WITH A HISTORY OF THE EVENTS OF HIS TIME 
 
 BY WILLIAM W. IRELAND 
 
 LONDON 
 EVELEIGH NASH 
 EDINBURGH : OLIVER & BOYD 
 1905 
 
viii 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 In composing this biography I soon saw that 
 it was necessary to give an account of the great 
 events in which the life of the statesman was merged, 
 many of which have been discoloured or shown in 
 false proportions, through the prejudices and petulance 
 of some writers, and the indolent acquiescence of 
 others. 
 
 It is not to the credit of England that she has 
 done so little honour to Sir Henry Vane compared 
 with the appreciation of the historians of the United 
 States. The people of the Great Republic have 
 not forgotten the help Vane gave in the foundation 
 of the colonies of New England. Yet the claims 
 of justice have increasing strength in the present 
 age, and the memory of Sir Henry Vane has claims 
 which will yet be more fully recognised. 
 
 2nd October 1905. 
 
 William W. Ireland. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 PAGB 
 
 The growth of Freedom in England. Rise of the Towns. Decay 
 of the Nobility. Great power of the Crown under the Tudors. 
 James. Charles I. His Character. He dissolves his First 
 Parliament. First attempts at Arbitrary Rule. State of the 
 English Navy. The Expedition to Cadiz. Charles's Second 
 Parliament. Impeachment of Buckingham. Third Parlia- 
 ment. Petition of Rights. Murder of Buckingham. Charles's 
 inglorious Foreign Policy. Second session of Third Parlia- 
 ment. The King dissolves it, and governs without a 
 Parliament ....... i 
 
 CHAPTER n 
 
 Condition of England. The Puritans and the Cavaliers. 
 Insecurity of Commerce. The British Coast infested by 
 Pirates. The Dutch attack a Spanish Fleet in the Downs . 24 
 
 CHAPTER HI 
 
 The Vane Family. Sir Henry Vane the elder. Education of 
 young Henry Vane. He awakes to a religious life. His 
 travels in Germany and the Netherlands. Returns to 
 England. Desires to serve the Crown. Consorts with the 
 Puritans ........ 33 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 Interview of young Vane with Bishop Laud. Character and Aims 
 of Laud. Vane resolves to leave his country for the New 
 World. His Letter to his Father . . . .49 
 
 ix 
 
X 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 Vane in New England. Reception at Boston The Puritan 
 Colonists. Vane chosen Governor of Massachusetts. 
 Difficulties of his Position. War with the Pequot Indians. 
 Ann Hutchinson. Religious Controversy. Vane not re-elected. 
 His Controversy with John Winthrop. Vane returns to 
 England. Fate of Ann Hutchinson. Vane ever a Friend to 
 New England ....... 57 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 State of England. Hampden's Protest against Ship-Money. 
 Persecution of the Puritans. Leighton, Pyrnne, Barton, 
 Bastwick, and Lilburne. Rise of new Sects . . 99 
 
 CHAPTER Vn 
 
 Sir Thomas Wentworth. A Leader of the Country Party. 
 Passes over to the Court. Made Lord Deputy of Ireland. 
 His Scheme of "Thorough." His Administration of Ireland. 
 His wholesale Confiscations. His Treatment of Lord 
 Mountnorris and Lord Loftus . . . .108 
 
 CHAPTER Vni 
 
 The Reformation in Scotland. Presbyterianism. Laud's Service 
 Book arrives in Edinburgh. The Solemn League and 
 Covenant. Its Successful Resistance. Sir Henry Vane 
 made Treasurer of the Navy, and Member of Parliament for 
 Hull. The Short Parliament. Second War with Scotland. 
 Sympathy of the Puritans with the Scots. Their Success. 
 Meeting of the Long Parliament . . . .126 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 Pym impeaches Strafford. His Trial. Evidence of the Vanes 
 against him. His Defence and Condemnation. Abandoned 
 by Charles I. His Execution . . . . .139 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 xi 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 PAOK 
 
 Vigorous Reforms of the Long Parliament. Petitions against 
 Episcopal Government. Speech of Sir Henry Vane on the 
 Bill. Defence of Episcopacy by Lord Falkland. The King 
 goes to Scotland. Begins to Collect his Adherents. Rebellion 
 in Ireland. Dismisses Sir Henry Vane, the elder, from his 
 post of Secretary of State, and the younger Vane from being 
 Joint-Treasurer of the Navy. Bill to deprive the Bishops of 
 their Seats in the House of Lords. The King's Attempt to 
 arrest the five Members. His Failure and Flight from 
 London . . . . . . . .157 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 Charles attempts to seize Kingston-upon-Hull. Collects his 
 Adherents at York. The Fleet sides with the Parliament. 
 Vane's Work in Organising the Navy. The Strength of the 
 Parliamentary Party. The Cavaliers. England not prepared 
 for War. Essex made Commander of the Forces of the 
 Parliament ....... 171 
 
 CHAPTER XH 
 
 The Battle of Edgehill. The King's Attempt to surprise London. 
 The King retires to Oxford. Waller's Plot. Successes of the 
 Cavaliers in the West. Sir Henry Vane sent as Ambassador 
 to Scotland. Concludes a Treaty with the Scots. The 
 Assembly of Divines in Westminster. The Confession of 
 Faith. The Siege of Gloucester. City relieved by Essex. 
 Death of Pym. The Scottish Army enters England . 185 
 
 CHAPTER Xni 
 
 Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell. The Battle of Marston 
 
 Moor ........ 220 
 
xii 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 Defeat of Essex's Army in Cornwall. Gallant Diversion of Blake. 
 The Second Battle of Newbury, Cromwell's Complaint against 
 Manchester. The Presbyterians and the Independents. 
 Vane favours Toleration for all Religions. State of the War. 
 The Treaty of Uxbridge. Successes of Montrose. The Trial 
 and Execution of Laud. The Self-denying Ordinance. The 
 New Model Army. Fairfax Commander-in-Chief . . 236 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 The New Model Army takes the Field. Cromwell's Exploits. 
 The Battle of Naseby. The King's Cabinet of Letters. New 
 Elections. Farther Victories of Fairfax. The Glamorgan 
 Treaty. Overtures to Vane. Leslie defeats Montrose. 
 Charles surrenders to the Scots. The Marquess of Argyll. 261 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 Discord between the Presbyterians and the Independents. Growth 
 of Republican Ideas. Vane on a Change of Government. 
 Charles's Intrigues. Discontent in the Army. The King 
 removed by Joyce. Views of Fairfax, Ireton, and Cromwell. 
 The King escapes from Hampton Court. The New Civil War. 
 Risings in England. Mutiny in the Fleet. Hamilton's 
 Invasion of England. Cromwell's visit to Edinburgh. The 
 Treaty of the Isle of Wight. Great Debate between the 
 Monarchists and Republicans. Vane's Speech. The Vote. 
 Pride's Purge. The King's Trial .... 276 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 Vane disapproves of the Execution of Charles, The new Common- 
 wealth. Sensation throughout Europe, Milton and Salmasius. 
 The Foundation altered as well as the Superstructure. Abolition 
 of Episcopacy. Varieties of Religious Sects. Serious Tone 
 of the Nation ....... 297 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 xiii 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 PAOK 
 
 Cromwell's Campaign in Ireland. Affairs in Scotland. Charles 
 Stuart takes the Covenant. English Invasion of Scotland. 
 Leslie's Generalship. Battle of Dunbar. Battle of Worcester. 
 Vane's Visit to Paris. Goes as Commissioner to Scotland. 
 Negotiations for the Union ..... 308 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 Mutiny in the Fleet. The Exploits of Blake. Vane's Administra- 
 tion of the Navy. The War with Holland. Vane presses a 
 Bill for a new Election. Cromwell dissolves the Long Parlia- 
 ment. His Accusations against the Parliament . . 323 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 The Republicans in Suspense. Further Sea Fights. Peace with 
 Holland. The Barebones Parliament. State of Parties. 
 Attempts to reform the Law. Cromwell's Second Parliament. 
 His Domestic Policy. His Foreign Policy. His Government 
 of Scotland and of Ireland ..... 354 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 "A Retired Man's Meditations." The Healing Question. Vane 
 imprisoned and persecuted. Cromwell's Third Parliament. 
 His Anxieties and Nervous Troubles. His Death. Choice 
 of a Successor 373 
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 Richard Cromwell Protector. His Parliament. Vane's Speeches. 
 On the Protector's Office. On Captives sent to Barbadoes. 
 Military Cabals. Richard dissolves his Parliament. He 
 resigns his Office. Restoration of the Long Parliament . 392 
 
xiv 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 PAOE 
 
 Government of the Long Parliament. Harrington's Oceana. 
 Changes in the Army. Booth's Insurrection. Lambert's 
 Ambition. The Parliament again expelled. A Split in the 
 Republican Party. Monk marches Southward. His Char- 
 acter. Royalist Reaction. The Convention Parliament. 
 The Restoration. Fate of the Regicides . . . 407 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 Vane's Theological Views and Writings .... 436 
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 Trial and Execution of Argyll. Vane in Prison. Letter to his 
 Lady. His Trial and Defence. Can he be Honestly put out 
 of the Way? 450 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 Sentence of Death. His Serenity of Mind. Wonderful Composure 
 on the Scaffold. His last Words. Remarks on his Life and 
 
 Genius 
 
 . 482 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 Extracts from Vane's Writings] . . . .499 
 
 Index . .505 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Sir Henry Vane, the Younger . . . Frontispiece 
 
 Sir Henry Vane, the Elder . . . To face page 33 
 
 Lady Frances Vane .... ,,45 
 
 Facsimiles of Handwriting ... „ 386 
 
 Sir H. Vane's House at Hampstead (Bishop 
 Butler, the author of the Analogy, also lived 
 
 in this house) . • . • • j? 45^ 
 
 nr 
 
LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 The growth of Freedom in England. Rise of the Towns. Decay of the 
 Nobility. Great power of the Crown under the Tudors. James. 
 Charles I. His Character. He dissolves his First Parliament. 
 First attempts at Arbitrary Rule. State of the English Navy. 
 The Expedition to Cadiz. Charles's Second Parliament. Impeach- 
 ment of Buckingham. Third Parliament. Petition of Rights. 
 Murder of Buckingham. Charles's inglorious Foreign Policy. 
 Second session of Third Parliament. The King dissolves it, and 
 governs without a Parliament. 
 
 It would be too long to trace the slow growth of 
 freedom in England after the Norman Conquest,— 
 how the barons helped the people to loosen the yoke 
 of the kings, and how the kings helped them to get 
 rid of the feudal powers of the barons. Let us but 
 take note that the large towns in the hard times 
 succeeding the Conquest gave a refuge to the 
 oppressed villeins, and, continually growing in popula- 
 tion, freed themselves from the authority of the 
 barons, till at last, governed by their own laws and 
 the laws of the Empire, they gained for England 
 those free institutions of which she is so justly 
 proud, and which she has communicated to Scotland 
 and Ireland, and taught to the whole of Europe. 
 It was the habit of self-government gained within 
 
2 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 the walls of these towns which enabled the country 
 to escape both from aristocratic and regal oppression. 
 From the earliest times we trace this broad distinction 
 between the town and the country. The towns are 
 free from or struggling against, the country is sub- 
 jected to, the tyranny of great landed proprietors. 
 It is perfectly true that the rise of a free peasantry 
 and the bold and manly spirit of the yeomanry were 
 of much avail in the battle for freedom : still, without 
 the towns the struggle would have been carried on 
 and ended in a different manner. 
 
 As the baron expected his serfs and tenants to 
 assist him in battle, he was naturally anxious that 
 they should be well fed, robust, well armed, and 
 attached to his person; and though the English 
 peasantry undoubtedly suffered cruel wrongs from 
 their arrogant and haughty masters, and were more 
 than once goaded into rebellion, it is clear that the 
 powers of the feudal lords were not often pushed to 
 their extreme length, and that they let slip privileges 
 which the more commercial tyranny of modern land- 
 lords would have vigilantly insisted upon. There is 
 no doubt that a very large portion of the English 
 peasantry passed from villeinage, in which condition 
 they were incapable of holding any property (or at 
 least could be deprived of it at the pleasure of their 
 lord), and that they so passed without any express 
 manumission or decree of liberation. A great number 
 of these serfs had become tenants or free labourers 
 before the middle of the fourteenth century, and at 
 the close of the sixteenth century there were scarcely 
 any left in England. 
 
 Mr Rogers questions the correctness of the in- 
 
EMANCIPATION OF THE SERFS 
 
 3 
 
 Terence of Hallam, who was disposed to believe 
 that the gradual emancipation of the villeins was 
 due to the scorn which the nobility might have 
 felt in insisting upon all the paltry cesses due by 
 their dependents. "There is certainly," he remarks, 
 "no warranty for such a view. A very cursory ex- 
 amination into such accounts as have contributed the 
 material for these pages is conclusive to the contrary, 
 and shows that no source of income, however small, was 
 neglected or unappropriated by the feudal superior."^ 
 But though the registers and accounts which he has 
 consulted of course record the rights to petty taxes 
 on which the feudal lords insisted, they do not explain 
 how those rights were through time allowed to slip, 
 and there is the undeniable fact that they were 
 allowed to slip. Mr Rogers traces the liberation of 
 the villeins and the growth and prosperity of a free 
 tenantry to such great economical causes as the 
 black death, which created a keen demand for free 
 labour, and rendered the villeins ready to flee away 
 and difficult to be held to their lands under the old 
 hard conditions. This rendered the cultivation of 
 estates by bailiffs difficult and unremunerative, and 
 made it the interest of the feudal lords to be in- 
 dulgent to the cultivators. The feudal lands were 
 at the same time gradually alienated in small parcels, 
 and passed into the hands of small proprietors. The 
 towns still kept increasing in importance. The in- 
 fluence of the citizens of London, though perhaps 
 not so great as Froissart represents, was no doubt 
 felt in a marked manner in the dethronement of 
 
 > History of Agriculture and Prices in England, by James E. T. 
 Rogers, London, 1866, vol. i., p. 64. 
 
4 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 Richard II., and liberty gained ground under the first 
 two princes of the House of Lancaster. Towards the 
 close of the feeble reign of Henry VI. great efforts 
 were made to control the votes of the yeomanry, for 
 the authority of parliament, so often called to judge 
 on highly important matters, was getting stronger. 
 It has been often pointed out that there was a great 
 slaughter of the Norman barons during the Wars 
 of the Roses. This assisted a natural process, for 
 it has been observed since the dawn of history that 
 families reared in luxury and having all the means 
 of self-indulgence, decay, diminish in number, and 
 pass away. The English nobility were thus con- 
 tinually getting exhausted. Under the firm rule of 
 the House of Tudor the kingly authority superseded 
 the feudal powers of the barons, and the statute of 
 alienation or of fines, originally enacted in the reign 
 of Richard II., enabled them to sell their land, while 
 another law of Henry VII. caused their numerous 
 retainers to be dispersed. Instead of taking their 
 revenue in kind, and spending the best part of it in 
 feeding their retainers and in indiscriminate hospi- 
 tality, they began to take their rents in money, 
 which they spent upon themselves, dealing princi- 
 pally with merchants and artificers, who were in 
 no way dependent upon the goodwill of one however 
 wealthy. 
 
 Thus, while the power of the nobility decayed, 
 that of the crown increased. The same process 
 took place all over Europe from the need of a central 
 authority, which a more complex civilisation both 
 required and facilitated. 
 
 In poring through these centuries of tyranny and 
 
TYRANNY OF HENRY VIII 
 
 5 
 
 misrule it is hardly a consolation to discern the slow 
 dawning of a better light. How many generations 
 came and went with the sense of wrong and op- 
 pression or with outbursts of futile rage recoiling upon 
 themselves ! 
 
 Under the yoke of Henry VHI, the spirit of 
 freedom seemed extinct as a practical force. That 
 monarch had no difficulty in making the old safe- 
 guards of liberty the instruments of a tyranny and 
 misrule as coarse as it was cruel. He did such 
 violence to the possessions, the consciences, and the 
 religious convictions of his subjects as no contemporary 
 monarch could have dared to do ; England in his reign 
 had less freedom than any of the great kingdoms of 
 Europe. " Ho ! man, will they not suffer my bill to 
 pass ? " said the obese tyrant, setting his hand on the 
 head of an influential member of the Lower House. 
 " Get my bill passed, or else by to-morrow this head 
 of yours will be off ; " and so a subsidy was granted, 
 larger than ever had been levied in England before. 
 Obedient judges and juries sent the best men of 
 England to the scaffold. Insurrections were raised 
 but to dwindle away without crossing swords with the 
 troops sent against them. He plucked down the pope, 
 the idol of a thousand years, and put his own bloated 
 image in his place. 
 
 Henry let loose and held back at his will the rising 
 Reformation, and rode rough-shod over the Catholics 
 and Reformers alike. The peers, who had often com- 
 bined to check the powers of the Plantagenets, were 
 eager for the notice of their dread sovereign, and 
 scrambled to share in the spoils of the monasteries 
 and religious houses. During the short reign of his 
 
6 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 son the forces of Protestantism triumphed, but the 
 power of the crown was so great that the accession of 
 a Catholic princess was sufficient to turn back the tide 
 of the Reformation. England passed from Protes- 
 tantism to Catholicism under Mary, and back under 
 Elizabeth. This politic princess used the reforming- 
 movement to support her claim to the throne, yet held 
 it within bounds, and organised a church which has 
 ever since occupied a middle position between the old 
 faith and the new. Elizabeth had sense enough to 
 steer with the drift of events, which made her popular, 
 but she possessed the love of rule, and kept her prero- 
 gative high. The great gathering of the north called 
 the "Pilgrimage of Grace," in 1569 gave way under 
 the mere prestige and terror of royalty without any 
 fighting. 
 
 The queen treated the House of Commons with 
 much haughtiness, resented any advice about her 
 government, and raised money by illegal monopolies 
 which, however, towards the close of her reign she was 
 constrained to give up. Any opposition to the royal 
 demands was done with servile protestations of loyal 
 devotion and with real trembling. The crown had so 
 many ways of crushing opponents, and they had so 
 few of defence, that those who made themselves ob- 
 noxious only injured themselves. The people might 
 applaud those who resisted an illegal tax or denounced 
 a vexatious monopoly, but they could not protect them. 
 The right to impose or refuse taxation was the only 
 one the parliament really possessed, and this was often 
 evaded by the crown selling the monopoly of particular 
 articles to private traders, who charged high prices for 
 bad wares. The foreign policy was beyond their reach. 
 
THE SUBJECT MAKES THE KING GREAT 
 
 When involved in a war they might indeed refuse sub- 
 sidies ; but they were constrained to defend the 
 national honour and the national safety. It is difficult 
 for the most powerful intellect to rise above the ideas 
 of his age. The people of England had little reason 
 to be grateful to their kings, who had extracted from 
 them as much of their substance as they could, and 
 bled them in many wars sought out for their own greed 
 of power. But the church had for ages taught the 
 people that it was the will of God that they should 
 submit to those in the seat of power, and her lessons 
 were re-echoed by the voices of self-interest. Thus 
 the many were deeply imbued with the belief that 
 their kings were born heirs to their obedience and had 
 a right to exact sacrifices from them. They were 
 pleased to raise a man to a high place and bow down 
 before him. In their poverty they would make him 
 rich ; in their helplessness they would make him strong. 
 In their ignorance they trusted their destinies to his 
 guidance. They were proud of the greatness which 
 weighed upon their own necks. In their abasement 
 they were eager not only to surrender their liberty, but 
 to force others to do the same. Thus, while they de- 
 lighted to crawl, they hated to see any one walk up- 
 right. Nevertheless, during the reign of Elizabeth 
 there was one of those mighty increases of mental 
 power which bore along both the people and their 
 rulers in its irresistible momentum. Causes were at 
 work, some of them apparent, others beyond human 
 ken, sapping the divine right of kings as well as of 
 popes, and producing effects which in their turn be- 
 came causes. It was impossible that the intellectual 
 strength of a nation should grow as it did in the days 
 
8 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 of the Tudor queen, without a heightened feeling of 
 the dignity of man ; and towards the end of her reign 
 there was a spirit of resistance in the House of 
 Commons which made her modify her measures, if it 
 did not get her to abate the haughtiness of her 
 language. The same process of exhaustion which 
 had thinned the ranks of the higher nobility also 
 affected the royal family of England. In default of 
 male heirs, two females reigned one after the other ; and 
 on the death of Queen Elizabeth the line of English 
 sovereigns became extinct. Self-interest might prompt 
 the courtiers round the new king to profess the 
 highest loyalty ; but the English people could hardly 
 forget that the new king was the descendant of thost 
 Scottish princes who for three hundred years had 
 sustained war on their northern frontier and been the 
 allies of France. On the other hand, James might 
 have counted on his Scottish subjects to support him 
 on the English throne. 
 
 It was a misfortune for England that no arrange- 
 ment was made on the accession of the Scottish prince 
 so far to define and modify the royal prerogative as to 
 satisfy those popular demands which Elizabeth had 
 such difficulty in resisting, and to secure which the 
 nation had to go through a bloody civil war and two 
 revolutions. James wanted the faculty of dignified 
 self-assertion. Both bodily and mentally there was 
 an awkwardness about him. Though selfish and 
 sensual, he was not cruel, nor does it appear that his 
 love of peace proceeded from timidity alone. His 
 ostentatious claims to absolute power were made in 
 long speeches, not in hard words or deeds. Some 
 of his sayings show much shrewdness, and he would 
 
CHARACTER OF CHARLES I 
 
 9 
 
 never have made the mistakes of his son. Neverthe- 
 less he made enough of his own. 
 
 During the twenty-four years of James's English 
 reign there was no revolt, though the spirit of inde- 
 pendence gained ground. He weakened his own power 
 by his inglorious foreign policy, his persecutions of 
 the Puritans, his unworthy favouritism, and the shame- 
 less devices by which he sought money to squander 
 away. He lowered the estimation of the nobility by 
 selling titles and peerages, and diminished his own 
 influence by selling the household estates of the crown. 
 By his English subjects he was little respected, and 
 not lamented on his death. 
 
 The accession of the new king brought hope to 
 many who had a longing for better things. Unlike 
 his father, Charles was decorous in his manners, and 
 pure in his private life. Delicate and backward in 
 childhood, late in learning to walk and to speak, he 
 gained sufficient docility of mind to take in and retain 
 what he was taught. As he grew up his health be- 
 came more robust. He was a good rider and fond 
 of the chase. He showed a fine taste for the arts, 
 and though not learned like his father, he was fond 
 of literature and poetry. His portraits have come 
 down to us from great masters in the arts of painting 
 and of writing, who did not fail to make the most of the 
 picturesque in his appearance. Slow of speech, of a cold 
 and self-satisfied disposition, with a solemn air, Charles 
 sustained a majestic carriage which imposed on the 
 many who judge by appearances, and inspired a 
 devotion little justified by his real character. To those 
 around him, he was sometimes hard and ungracious, 
 though he rarely offended good taste on public 
 
10 
 
 I>IFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 occasions. His understanding, though clear, was 
 narrow in its scope. He was attached to the Church 
 of England, the ceremonial parts of which gratified 
 his finical sense of propriety, and he thoroughly 
 believed it his duty to God to uphold the bishops, the 
 guardians and soothers of his conscience. The crafty 
 lessons of his father had imbued him with a fixed 
 belief in the divine right of kings.^ Nothing was 
 more certain than that God had destined him, Charles 
 Stuart, to rule over everyone else in the three king- 
 doms. He was convinced that a share in the govern- 
 ment of their own affairs was a thing nothing 
 pertaining to the people. The rights of Englishmen 
 of which the parliament made so much talk were but 
 indulgences granted in moods of impolitic acquiescence, 
 or forced from his predecessors by undutiful subjects 
 taking advantage of the exigences of their princes, 
 concessions which might be resumed at the will of the 
 sovereign. It was his majesty's duty, as well as his 
 pleasure, to uphold his prerogative, to define its extent, 
 
 1 Angelo Correr, Venetian Ambassador to England from January 
 1634 to November 1637, tracing with a few graphic touches the character 
 of Charles I., observes : " He is extreme in nothing except that he persists 
 in what he inclines to ; and one whom he has once hated is sure of never 
 gaining his favour. He is erudite in letters without pedantry, and does 
 not fail in what is becoming to a king. From his father he has inherited 
 two things — a love of the chase and a hatred of the people, which is well- 
 known to be the pole star of his movements, the cause which keeps him 
 pacific, and the touchstone which decides if he do well or ill. Having 
 left off governing through parliament as his predecessors did, it now re- 
 mains to be seen, if he will so continue, and if he will be able to do with the 
 royal authority what former kings did with the authority of the kingdom, 
 a difficult business, and all the more dangerous if it be true that states are 
 discontented by two great causes, religion and curtailment of the liberty 
 of the people, for he has disturbed both, so that it will be very fortunate if 
 the state fall not into great disorders." — Relazioni dei Stati europei 
 letti al Senato degli Ambasciatori Veneziani nel Secolo decimoseftimo 
 racc-da Barozzi e Berchet. Venice, 1856-1878, vol. Inghilterra, p. 323. 
 
EARLY LESSONS IN KINGCRAFT 
 
 11 
 
 and to hand it down undiminished to his successors. 
 These early lessons in kingcraft petrified his whole 
 nature, and fostered a selfishness which prevented his 
 affections passing beyond the circle of his family and 
 princely relations. 
 
 In the means which he pursued towards absolute 
 power he was vacillating and uncertain, petulant 
 rather than politic ; but in the belief of his own 
 kingly rights he had a persistence which resembled 
 instinct. He broke promise after promise ; but he 
 probably thought that it was worse keeping such 
 promises than breaking them. If the opponents of 
 the prerogative or of the church had to be imprisoned, 
 tortured, or ruined, it was the retribution which they 
 had brought upon themselves. He was unfeeling 
 rather than cruel ; if his friends suffered in his cause, 
 it was their duty to sacrifice themselves for their king, 
 nor was he unwilling to grant them a modicum of 
 gratitude, and some little regret. 
 
 At Charles's accession a parliament was at once 
 convoked, and assembled on the i8th of June 1625. 
 The Commons soon showed that they were resolved 
 not to grant the expected supplies till grievances were 
 redressed. They complained of the failure of the 
 royal navy to protect commerce on the seas, and they 
 pointed out that the king's chaplain had preached in 
 favour of Romish doctrines and passive obedience, 
 and urged that the penal laws against the Catholics 
 should be rigidly enforced. In the meantime they 
 would only accord a small subsidy and the tonnage 
 and poundage for one year. As these customs had 
 heretofore been granted for the king's whole reign, 
 the Lords refused their consent. Charles, angry at 
 
12 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 the distrust of the Lower House, which, however, was 
 based on past experiences, abruptly dissolved the 
 parliament after it had only sat eight weeks. Yet 
 he needed money sadly, for he had now entered on 
 a war with Spain. Before doing so he should have 
 known something about the condition of his ships 
 and seamen. 
 
 It was in the reign of Henry VIII. that the 
 English navy became powerful. The improvement 
 in the size and armament of the ships was owing to 
 the impulse of a stirring age, encouraged by the 
 personal interest of the monarch. Though this was 
 relaxed during the short reigns of Edward and 
 Mary Tudor, at her accession Queen Elizabeth had 
 a fleet of thirty-two vessels of various kinds ; twenty- 
 nine were added during her reign. The times were 
 favourable for England gaining the supremacy of 
 the sea. France was distracted by the religious 
 wars, and the Hollanders were eager for help in their 
 life and death struggle with Spain. Much of the 
 glory of Elizabeth's reign was derived from naval 
 victories. The spirit of adventure, which in former 
 times had led men to the heart of France, was now 
 directed to explore the vast shores of the new world 
 and to snatch from the Spaniard his ill-gotten gains. 
 With Elizabeth, war on the sea should be something 
 which yielded up a rich return for her private purse. 
 In consideration of sharing in the plunder, the Tudor 
 queen condoned with naval enterprises which the 
 despoiled Spaniards denounced as piracy, and who- 
 ever gained, she took care that her share should be 
 the largest. Fitted out for longer voyages, the ships 
 were now of larger build ; the distinction between 
 
PARSIMONY OF ELIZABETH 
 
 13 
 
 the merchantmen and the man-of-war was not 
 clearly drawn. Half trader, half privateer, these 
 ships could be readily turned into a fighting fleet. 
 In the Armada which Philip of Spain sent against 
 England, only twenty-five ships belonged to the 
 crown ; the rest were merchantmen seized or hired 
 for the expedition. On the other side was a fleet 
 mainly furnished by the spontaneous impulse of a 
 sea-faring nation to meet a great danger. During 
 the fighting in the Channel there were thirty-four 
 queen's ships, and 163 armed merchantmen. The 
 change of the weather, the help of the Dutch 
 fleet, the skill of the sea-captains, and the brave 
 spirit of the crews, gained a victory for which 
 Elizabeth herself deserved little credit. Her vacil- 
 lating policy, and worst of all, her parsimony, kept 
 the depots in such a state of exhaustion that ammuni- 
 tion and supplies well-nigh failed, and had the contest 
 gone on for a day or two longer, the English fleet 
 would have been obliged to fall back for lack of 
 powder and shot. After the victory the queen 
 gave solemn thanks to God, struck a medal, and 
 left her sailors to starve.^ 
 
 Under the first Stuart king the old abuses be- 
 came worse and new ones sprang up. There was 
 much jobbery and embezzlement. Places in the 
 dockyards, and the commands of warships, were sold 
 or bestowed on unworthy favourites. King James 
 took some interest in the navy, and could discern 
 abuses better than he could check them : his speech 
 was like the wind ; the culprits had but to bend their 
 
 ^ A History of the Administration of the Royal Navy, by M. 
 Oppenheim, London, 1896, vol. i., p. 143. 
 
u 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HI:NRY VANE 
 
 heads and raise them again. After the peace with 
 Spain privateering was no longer a school for sea- 
 manship, and piracy passed over to the Dunkirkers 
 and Algerine rovers, while the Dutch bore off much 
 of the fishing and carrying trade. 
 
 In default of the subsidies expected from parlia- 
 ment, Charles tried to raise money by forced loans 
 never intended to be repaid. What he could raise 
 was spent upon fitting out an expedition against 
 Cadiz, in the hopes of the spoils of the shipping in 
 the harbour. Though a whole summer had been 
 passed in preparations, it was October before they 
 were ready to sail, and never did a fleet leave an 
 English port in a sorrier condition. Leaky vessels, 
 old sails, rotten cordage newly tarred over, sailors 
 impressed, unpaid, ready to desert, "fed on food that 
 a dog would not eat," the men dying daily, the 
 survivors mutinous. The officers, most of whom 
 had gained their places through bribes or court 
 favour, found the ships rolled too much for their 
 comfort in rough weather and knew not how to 
 handle their vessels in any sea. The fleet sailed 
 with no orderly plan, the ships colliding with one 
 another, or chasing one another in mistake for 
 Spaniards. In such state the armament managed to 
 get to Cadiz after twenty-one days, where, owing to 
 the unprepared state of the enemy, they might have 
 taken the town and shipping had the incapacity of the 
 officers on land not been as deplorable as those on 
 the sea. The wretched fleet straggled ignominiously 
 back in mid-winter to the western ports of England 
 and Ireland, a danger to the country which sent them 
 forth, for infection went and came with the crews. 
 
SAILORS LEFT TO STARVE 
 
 15 
 
 " It almost seemed," writes Oppenheim,^ " as though 
 the naval service was disintegrating, and that such 
 organisation as it had attained was to be broken up, 
 since the shipwrights and labourers at the dock- 
 yards were also unpaid, although they did not find 
 it so difficult to obtain credit. Pennington was now 
 almost despairing, and said that, having kept the 
 men together by promises as long as he could, 
 only immediate payment would prevent them desert- 
 ing en masse, and it would grieve any man's heart 
 to hear their lamentations, to see their wants and 
 nakedness, and not to be able to help them." 
 
 "There is a curious resemblance between these 
 words and those used nearly forty years before by 
 Nottingham in describing the condition of the men 
 who had saved England from the Armada, and who 
 were likewise left to starve and die, their work being 
 done. But any comparison is, within certain limits, 
 in favour of Charles and Buckingham. Elizabeth 
 had money, but all through her life held that men 
 were cheaper than gold." 
 
 The English people at first threw the blame of this 
 failure upon the Duke of Buckingham, who engrossed 
 most of the high offices of the realm. A new parlia- 
 ment had to be summoned (February 1626). The same 
 members were returned, who at once impeached the 
 favourite, although the king was threatening in his 
 behalf 
 
 Charles now offended the House of Lords, from 
 whom he might have hoped for farther support by 
 refusing a writ to the Earl of Bristol, the adversary of 
 Buckingham, who took his seat in defiance of the 
 
 ' op. cit., p. 225. 
 
16 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 prohibition, and by imprisoning the Earl of Arundel 
 for a private offence, without a trial. 
 
 He also imprisoned Sir John Eliot for some free 
 speeches which the popular leader had made when on 
 a committee to confer with the peers about the impeach- 
 ment of the favourite. The Commons demanded the 
 release of Eliot, and the Lords that of Arundel, and 
 the king had to yield. 
 
 Hearing that the Commons were preparing a re- 
 monstrance against the illegalities of his reign, Charles 
 abruptly dissolved his second parliament. He then 
 tried by threats and compulsion to extract the sub- 
 sidies which the Commons had promised, but not 
 granted. War was declared against France, and a 
 fleet and army were sent to relieve Rochelle, the last 
 stronghold of the French Protestants. Had this 
 been accomplished it would have gone far to gain the 
 favour of the people ; but entrusted to Buckingham, it 
 ended in a disgraceful defeat. 
 
 The increasing resistance of the people to the 
 forced loans and monopolies constrained the king to 
 call a third parliament. Notwithstanding the full 
 influence of the court unscrupulously exerted, all these 
 men imprisoned for refusing the loan who presented 
 themselves for election were returned ; few royal 
 candidates got in save from pocket boroughs. 
 
 On the 17th of March 1628 a parliament assembled 
 more determined than ever in its opposition to the 
 unconstitutional methods of the Stuart king. Charles 
 on his side thought he would help the matter by 
 threatening that he would use other means if they 
 would not do their duty in contributing what the state 
 needed. The Commons, though retaining the usual 
 
THE PETITION OF RIGHTS 
 
 17 
 
 subservient language, were determined not to yield 
 subsidies without an express admission from the king 
 of the liberties which they claimed and which he had 
 denied. The king declared that they ought to be 
 content with his royal word given in his own terms, to 
 which he might attach his own interpretation. He 
 was willing to confirm the Magna Charta and the old 
 statutes. Pymsaid that they had his coronation oath, 
 which was surely as good as his word. The Commons 
 drew up the famous Petition of Rights, which in un- 
 mistakable terms defined the liberties of parliament 
 and condemned recent infringements. The peers tried 
 to help the king by proposing an amendment, that the 
 bill should be adopted with due regard to leave entire 
 the sovereign power wherewith his majesty was en- 
 trusted for the protection, safety, and happiness of the 
 people. The Commons would not hear of this. Al- 
 ford asked what sovereign power was ? Bodin had said 
 that it was a power free from any conditions. Were 
 they to acknowledge a regal as well as a legal power ? 
 For his own part he was for giving the king what the 
 law gave him, and no more. 
 
 Pym followed : " All our petition is for the laws of 
 England, and this power seems to be another power 
 distinct from the power of the law. I know how to 
 add sovereign to the king's person, but not to his 
 power, for he was never possessed of it." "If we 
 admit of this addition," said Sir Thomas Wentworth, 
 " we shall leave the subject worse than we found him, 
 and we shall have little thanks for our labour when we 
 reach our homes. Let us leave all power to his 
 majesty to punish malefactors. These laws are not 
 acquainted with sovereign power. We desire no new 
 
 B 
 
18 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 thing. We do not offer to trench on his majesty's 
 prerogative. From this our petition, we may not 
 recede, either in part or in whole." 
 
 Selden gave the authority of his learning to the 
 debate : in all the great statutes which he had pored 
 over he found none which had yielded liberties to the 
 subject and saved their operation. 
 
 A few days after, Wentworth was gained over 
 by the court and supported the amendment which 
 he had opposed, introduced in another form, a 
 device which was promptly exposed by Sir John 
 Eliot. 
 
 On the 28th May the bill was presented to the 
 king. After five days he returned an unmeaning 
 answer. The Commons, justly suspicious, prepared 
 a general remonstrance, refusing in the meantime to 
 grant any subsidies. The Duke of Buckingham was 
 inveighed against as the evil counsellor of his majesty 
 by those who still shrank from blaming the king 
 directly. After sharp messages and conferences 
 Charles yielded and gave his consent to the Petition 
 of Rights, which the Commons hailed as a solemn 
 acknowledgment of the liberties of the people of 
 England, and it was resolved that the Petition should 
 be printed with the king's formal consent and circu- 
 lated all over the kingdom. The news of the king's 
 concession was received with joy ; but the Commons, 
 not content with getting it defined what the law was, 
 went on to exercise their privileges ; they remonstrated 
 against Buckingham, and refused to sanction Charles's 
 claim to the tonnage and poundage which the king 
 regarded as an unalienable right. Finding that his 
 insincere concessions did not improve his position, 
 
BUCKINGHAM ASSASSINATED 
 
 19 
 
 Charles hurriedly prorogued the parliament (June 
 26th). 
 
 Incapable of learning through experience, the king 
 now got a new armament prepared to relieve 
 Rochelle under the same command. Before it could 
 sail the duke was stabbed to death by Felton, a 
 moody and discontented lieutenant whose mind had 
 been inflamed by reading a manuscript copy of the 
 parliament's remonstrance, and who traced all the 
 miseries of the kingdom to Buckingham. The people 
 openly expressed their joy at the death of the 
 favourite, and gave their pity to the assassin. The 
 expedition sailed under the command of the Earl of 
 Lindsay, but failed to relieve Rochelle. Both in 
 arms and in policy Charles had made himself con- 
 temptible on the continent. The removal of 
 Buckingham did not affect any change in the 
 king's courses. The friends of arbitrary power, con- 
 demned by name in the parliament, were promoted 
 to higher dignities. The Petition of Rights was 
 violated in all directions. Illegal taxes were vigorously 
 levied. The Star Chamber continued to disregard 
 the law, fine, imprison, and mutilate offenders, and 
 to overawe the judges. 
 
 The king called together the parliament again 
 in the hopes of gaining farther subsidies. They met 
 on 20th of January 1629. Their first proceeding was 
 to inquire about the publication of the Petition of 
 Rights. The king's printers, being called, acknow- 
 ledged that the day before prorogation they had 
 struck off 1500 copies with the king's consent in 
 the terms which he had finally used. The day after 
 the session was ended the king had sent peremptory 
 
20 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 orders to destroy these copies, and to print the 
 Petition with the evasive answer which had not 
 been accepted by the Commons, and the speech 
 which he had made in proroguing parliament. The 
 Commons shrunk from making a declaration, which, 
 however worded, was as good as saying that the 
 king was not an honourable man, so the fraud was 
 passed over in silence. 
 
 Charles used threats, persuasions, and promises 
 to gain the grant of the tonnage and poundage. He 
 was willing to acknowledge that they could not be 
 levied without the consent of parliament, if they 
 would only grant them for the rest of his reign. 
 The Commons were inflexible, and went on denounc- 
 ing the old abuses and illegalities. Sir John Eliot 
 (March 2nd) prepared a declaration which the 
 Speaker, Finch, who had got private orders from 
 the king, refused to have read. As the House per- 
 sisted, he wished to leave the chair; but was held 
 down by Denzil Holies and Benjamin Valentyne. 
 The friends of the court were pushed back ; re- 
 monstrances, reproaches, and threats were employed 
 to make him keep his seat. The king's messenger 
 knocked in vain at the doors, which were kept locked. 
 The voice of Eliot rose above the tumult as he 
 rapidly went over a declaration, pronouncing that no 
 tax whatever should be raised without the consent 
 of parliament, that whosoever should advise or aid 
 in levying of the subsidies of tonnage and poundage, 
 not being granted by parliament, should be reputed 
 a capital enemy to the kingdom and commonwealth, 
 and that anyone who should voluntarily pay the 
 said subsidies should be reputed a betrayer of the 
 
STORMY SCENE IN THE HOUSE 
 
 21 
 
 liberty of England. The king, who was in the 
 House of Lords, was greatly enraged. He desired 
 the captain of the guard to break open the doors ; but 
 before this could be done the Commons had finished 
 their proceedings and the assembly rushed out. 
 Through these stormy scenes the Commons showed 
 the extreme respect which the English have ever 
 kept for forms. The proceedings were regular as 
 long as the Speaker could be held down in the 
 chair, and the mace was lying on the table. While 
 they carried resolutions known to be most unpleasing 
 to the king, it was their love and trust in his 
 majesty, for his preservation and his honour, that 
 they voted. Those who desired to gratify the 
 king's wishes were traitors and enemies to his 
 majesty. Charles did not take this view. He at 
 once suspended the sittings of the assembly, and on 
 the loth March went to the House of Lords, and 
 formally dissolved the parliament. " The disobedient 
 carriage of the Lower House," he said, "had alone 
 caused this dissolution." He did not lay the fault 
 equally upon all, it was " only some vipers amongst 
 them that have cast this mist of difterence before 
 their eyes." " Those evil affected persons must 
 look for their reward, so you that are here of the 
 Higher House, may justly claim from me that pro- 
 tection and favour that a good king oweth to his 
 loyal and faithful nobility." 
 
 Immediately after the dissolution he issued a 
 proclamation setting forth: "That whereas, for 
 several ill ends, the calling again of a parliament is 
 divulged, howsoever his majesty hath showed by 
 his frequent meeting with his people his love to the 
 
22 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 use of parliaments ; yet the late abuse having, for 
 the present, driven his majesty unwillingly out of 
 that course, it will be considered presumption for 
 any one to prescribe to him any time for the calling 
 of that assembly." 
 
 And for the next eleven years there was no 
 parliament. 
 
 Once dissolved, the individual members were 
 helpless against the king, who possessed the means 
 of overawing or dismissing the judges and the 
 power of breaking through the laws. The leaders 
 of the Commons, Eliot, Holies, Selden, Hobart, 
 Valentyne, Coryton, Hayman, Long, and Strode, 
 were brought before the privy council. Questions 
 were privately addressed to the judges, whether 
 these members could be held to have committed 
 any offence against the law. The judges gave 
 doubtful and temporising answers, which encouraged 
 the court to proceed. Eliot refused to make any 
 answer to what he had done in a public capacity. 
 The others pleaded the privilege of parliament with 
 more or less firmness. Charles himself directed the 
 proceedings against Eliot. H6 was fined a sum 
 which he was quite unable to pay, and remained in 
 prison for well-nigh four years, refusing to the last 
 to acknowledge that he had done wrong. He died 
 on the 27th November 1632. The king refused 
 the petition of Sir John Eliot's son to allow the 
 body of his victim to be laid in the sepulchre of his 
 ancestors. He was buried in the Tower, where he 
 died. 
 
 Holies, refusing to make submission or to pay a 
 fine, was imprisoned for about a year, when he made his 
 
AN UXORIOUS PRINCE 
 
 23 
 
 escape. He lived a banished man for seven years 
 and was glad at last to pay his fine.^ The other 
 offenders were visited with penalties, more or less 
 severe in proportion to their steadfastness or sub- 
 mission. Charles was now seriously committed to 
 the undertaking of over-riding the law and raising a 
 revenue by unconstitutional methods. By making 
 peace with France and Spain he got rid of an in- 
 glorious war and of an army and navy which, though 
 ill provided for and wretchedly paid, still cost money. 
 Had he fallen in with popular tastes, or had he even 
 possessed the skill and vigour to maintain an equable 
 and economical administration, his way would have 
 been easier. Charles was attentive to details, but in- 
 capable of grand designs, or of giving a proper direc- 
 tion to the whole machinery of government. He 
 never knew the relative importance of things. He 
 would spend his time correcting the style of a public 
 document without having brought to maturity within 
 his mind its scope and purpose. He used to say that 
 he found it better to be a cobbler than a shoemaker. 
 He was induced to do imprudent things to please his 
 wife, Henrietta Maria, a lively and beautiful but 
 frivolous woman, who expected him to keep up a 
 splendid court and to have his will carried out in 
 everything, like her brother the King of France, and 
 who offended the public sentiment by harbouring 
 Jesuits and sheltering priests. 
 
 ' See Studies and Illustrations of the Great Rebellion, by J. L, 
 Sanford. London, 1858, p. 159. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 Condition of England. The Puritans and the Cavaliers. Insecurity of 
 Commerce. The British Coast infested by Pirates. The Dutch 
 attack a Spanish Fleet in the Downs. 
 
 In seeking to gather all the nation into one church, 
 the Tudor rulers were influenced both by religious 
 and political considerations. They saw that if Protes- 
 tant dissent split into a number of rival sects, it would 
 be difficult to make head against the united front of 
 Romanism. The division of ranks in the episcopal 
 hierarchy was agreeable to their own notions of 
 political inequality. From the beginning the more 
 energetic amongst the Protestants wished to push on 
 the work of the Reformation ; the more conservative 
 wished to hold back and preserve much of the old 
 ritual and church government. The Reformers pro- 
 claimed that the bible was the religion of Protestants. 
 They circulated translations of the scriptures, which 
 they declared to be infallibly inspired, and thus put it 
 in the power of every thinking man to form his own 
 creed. Naturally, some thought for the rest, and 
 framed creeds which they presented as true, absolute 
 and final, with as much assurance as the pope and 
 councils had done. King James, escaping from the 
 austere control of the Scottish Presbyterian clergy, was 
 pleased to find the bishops willing to admit his pre- 
 
 OA *■ 
 
THE CAVALIERS AND PURITANS 25 
 
 tensions to unlimited power. He took a zest in 
 prompting the people to disregard the sabbatical 
 observation of the Sunday, and offended many serious 
 people by ordering the ministers to read his proclama- 
 tion of the book of sports, in which it was declared that 
 people might lawfully amuse themselves after service 
 on Sunday afternoons. The opposition was strong 
 enough to deter James ; but his son, less cautious and 
 more wilful, pushed through the order in 1634. In 
 opposition, the keeping of the Lord's day with a strict- 
 ness approaching to the Jewish Sabbath became dis- 
 tinctive of the English Puritan and Scottish Presby- 
 terian. The Puritan affected a solemn deportment, 
 and regarded life as too serious for frivolous amuse- 
 ments. The most extreme kept their hair short, 
 dressed plainly, and spoke with a nasal twang. The 
 courtiers and Cavaliers were distinguished by their 
 long hair and jaunty air, swearing, drinking, and 
 fighting. In the present age men have a less 
 dismal faith, take their pleasures, but take them more 
 quietly. They no longer affect the sanctimoniousness 
 of the Puritan, or the coarseness of the Cavalier. They 
 keep their hair short, and dress with uniform plainness ; 
 swearing and drinking are no longer used by those who 
 affect gentility, and duelling is a mere tradition. 
 
 Historians on the Cavalier side have asserted 
 that the condition of England during the reign of 
 Charles I. was one of great prosperity and commercial 
 wealth, which was destroyed by the civil wars. No 
 doubt the long peace following the union of England 
 and Scotland under King James was favourable to 
 the greater accumulation of wealth. To one who 
 had witnessed the desolation of Germany during the 
 
26 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 Thirty Years' War and the exhaustion of Spain, 
 England in the midst of her cornfields and meadows 
 must have appeared a happy land ; yet there were 
 many evils which a good government might have 
 prevented or alleviated. Following upon the increase 
 of the population there was a movement towards 
 the towns, which the government vainly tried to 
 check by turning the people back. Manufactures were 
 started in the midland counties ; the commercial towns 
 kept on increasing, and old sanitary arrangements were 
 insufficient. New ones were not attempted : disease 
 became rife, plague and fevers were common. Even 
 the wealthy lived in London at great danger to 
 their health. 
 
 What prosperity was in the country came through 
 circumstances which Charles did his best to hinder. 
 The country suffered from both the king's action 
 and from his inaction, and many people were aware 
 of it. Abroad, Charles was looked upon as a weak 
 and untrustworthy prince. At home, his sole aim 
 was not to give justice to his people or to defend 
 their interests, but to satisfy his taste for arbitrary 
 power and petty regulations. All his efforts tended 
 to repress the spirit of the people, to stem the tide 
 of the Reformation, and to stifle every noble aspira- 
 tion. The rapid rise and falls in the money value 
 of the cereals and other necessary articles must 
 have caused the people swiftly to pass from plenty 
 to famine. Within a few years the price of wheat 
 and other grains had risen threefold.^ The price 
 
 1 Sir Simonds D'Ewes i^Life^ vol. i., p. i8o), notes that in 162 1 the best 
 wheat was sold for 2s. 8d. and 2s. 6d. the bushel, the ordinary sort at 
 2s., barley and rye at is. 4d. and is. 3d. the bushel, and the worser of 
 
SEASONS OF PI-ENTY AND WANT 
 
 27 
 
 of corn differed much in various markets, so that 
 in a season of plenty farmers did not reap the gain, 
 nor could the scarcity in one county be readily 
 relieved by supplies from another, where there was 
 a better harvest. This was owing to the difficulty 
 from bad roads and imperfect means of conveying 
 goods from one market to another, a hindrance 
 which has in our own days been the cause of dread- 
 ful famines in various parts of India. 
 
 In Sussex the poorer classes bought chiefly 
 barley. In some places the reduction of that grain 
 into malt was forbidden. In Lincolnshire and the 
 West Riding oatmeal was principally eaten. In 
 some markets grain was sold to the poor at under 
 prices ; fines taken as penalties for small offences 
 went for this purpose. The sea transit was so in- 
 secure that commerce was carried on with enormous 
 risks, which prevented supplies from other countries 
 where corn was cheaper, and much enhanced the 
 price of all foreign commodities. The numerous 
 monopolies granted by the king to greedy con- 
 
 those grains at a meaner rate, and malt also after that proportion. Nor 
 were horse-corns, as oats and peas, at any higher price. All farmers 
 of land generally murmured at this plenty and cheapness, and the 
 poorer sorts that would have been glad but a few years before of the 
 coarse ryebread, did now usually traverse the markets to find out the finer 
 wheats, as if nothing else would serve their use, or please their palates. 
 Which unthankfulness and daintiness was soon after punished by the 
 high prices and dearness of all sorts of grain everywhere, which never 
 since much abated of that rate, though at some times it were cheaper 
 than at others, so as in the year 1630, wheat was above 8s. the bushel, 
 rye at 4s. 6d., and malt and barley about that rate ; and this present year 
 (1637) malt and barley are now sold at 5s. the bushel, though wheat 
 be under that price, and rye at 4s. the bushel. There are many notes of 
 the prices of grain in various counties in the documents preserved in the 
 Public Record Office. Corn was sometimes dearer than in our own days. 
 Many other commodities cost more while wages were much lower. 
 
28 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 tractors, who purchased the exclusive right of supply- 
 ing articles of common use, brought much loss to 
 the people with small gain to the crown. As the 
 commodities supplied were always dear and generally 
 bad in quality, the monopolies brought irritation 
 into every household, whether Episcopalian, Puritan, 
 or Catholic ; families who kept their minds easy 
 about Laud's vestments and posturings fretted against 
 his holiness's monopoly of bad soap. Culpepper, 
 addressing the Long Parliament in 1641, called the 
 monopolies "a swarm of vermin which have overcropt 
 the law. Like the frogs of Egypt, they have gotten 
 possession in our dwellings ; they dip in our cup ; 
 they dip in our dish ; they sit on our fire ; we find 
 them in our dye-fat, wash-bowl, and powdering-tub ; 
 they share with the butler in his box ; they have 
 marked and sealed us from head to foot ; we may 
 not buy our cloth without their brokerages."^ 
 
 Other methods of extorting money were used, 
 irritating and oppressive. Tonnage and poundage 
 were raised against the course of law, and large 
 sums were exacted for default of knighthood under 
 the shadow of an obsolete statute. The ingenuity 
 of lawyers was stretched to revive obsolete claims 
 and lapsed exactions or to invent new ones. Servile 
 courts were called to sustain them. To awe the 
 judges who might be unwilling to comply with the 
 
 ' Guizot gives the following as a list, though not warranted complete, 
 of the wares made monopolies of : salt, soap, coals, iron, wine, leather, 
 starch, feathers, cardsand, dice, beaver, lace, tobacco, barrels, beer, 
 distilled liquors, the weighing of hay and straw in London and West- 
 minster, red herrings, butter, potash, linen, cloth, paper, rags, hops, 
 buttons, catgut, spectacles, combs, saltpetre, gunpowder, etc. — History of 
 the English Revolution, translation, London, 1845, p. 46. 
 
RAPACIOUS FINES 
 
 29 
 
 king's pleasure, the clause quamdiu se bene gesserint 
 was left out of their patents, and a new clause 
 durante bene placito was inserted/ Should any 
 difficulties remain, the Star Chamber and the council 
 of the north could always be counted upon to uphold 
 the iniquities of the crown. In 1634 courts began 
 to be held to revive old claims about the royal forests. 
 The bounds of the forest of Rockingham were en- 
 larged from six to sixty miles in circuit, and alleged 
 encroachments of the neighbouring proprietors upon 
 the woodlands were punished by enormous fines. In 
 1637 the Earl of Salisbury was called upon to pay 
 ^20,000; the Earl of Westmorland, ^19,000; Sir 
 Christopher Hatton, 2,000; Sir Lewis Watson, 
 ;^4000 ; Lord Newport, ;^3000, fines too large to be 
 paid in whole. 
 
 The king's courts were ever on the alert by 
 levying fines for made-up offences to raise a revenue 
 for the crown. Richard Chambers, a Puritan 
 merchant, was haled before the Star Chamber for 
 refusing to pay tonnage and poundage. In the 
 course of his hearing he said that merchants in 
 England were worse off than in Turkey. On which 
 account he was fined ^2000. The judges refused his 
 habeas corpus, and he died in want after lying in 
 prison for twelve years. 
 
 Edward Hyde related in parliament^ the story of 
 a citizen who refused to pay an excessive fare to a 
 waterman. The man showed his badge, which was a 
 swan, the crest of an earl. The citizen told the fellow 
 
 1 The History of the Parliament of England which began November 
 3, 1640, by Thomas May, Oxford, 1854, p. 17. 
 
 The Life of the Earl of Clarendon, Dublin, 1760, vol. i., p. 72. 
 
30 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 to begone with his goose. For thus dishonouring a 
 nobleman's crest the citizen was haled before the 
 marshal's court, an illegal creation, fined and im- 
 prisoned till he was ruined. 
 
 A tailor getting into a gentleman's chamber im- 
 portuned him for a debt which he was owing for 
 clothes. The gentleman pushed him out with scorn- 
 ful words, on which the tailor said that he was as good 
 a man as the other, for which blasphemy he was 
 compelled to release the debt in lieu of damages. 
 
 Sometimes fines by the Star Chamber were passed 
 on to a needy courtier to get cashed like a cheque made 
 payable to bearer. 
 
 After Buckingham's death no successor was ap- 
 pointed to the command of the navy till April 1638, 
 when the Earl of Northumberland was made Lord 
 High Admiral. 
 
 Throughout the reign of Charles the seas around 
 Britain were infested by pirates. One wonders how 
 commerce was carried on at all. Not content with 
 taking prizes in the narrow seas, the Algerine rovers 
 landed on the coast. They even reached the remote 
 shores of Iceland, and bore away captives from the 
 descendants of the once piratical Northmen. Sub- 
 scriptions were raised both in England and Scotland 
 to ransom our countrymen from slavery in Barbary. 
 
 In 1637 a squadron was sent under William 
 Rainsborow, who for five months kept up a pretty 
 effective blockade of the port of Sallee till the Sultan 
 of Morocco, embroiled by a rising of his own people, 
 gave up 271 captives. For a whole summer the seas 
 were free from these pirates. This was the solitary 
 success of Charles's reign. They soon found their way 
 
TURKS AND DUTCH IN THE CHANNEL 
 
 31 
 
 back ; in 1640, just before the fleet passed into the 
 vigorous hands of the Long Parliament, the mayor of 
 Exeter wrote ^ that sixty sail of Turks were cruising on 
 the coasts, and that they had landed near Penzance and 
 carried away men, women, and children into captivity. 
 
 The Dutch took serious measures to deal with 
 the Dunkirkers, who preyed on the merchant ships of 
 England and Holland alike. The Stuart king, who 
 claimed monopoly of the sale of gunpowder, sent his 
 fleet, raised upon the ship-money, to convoy two vessels 
 laden with powder through the Dutch fleet blockading 
 Dunkirk. Rather than call a parliament who would 
 question his right to misgovern and oppress, Charles 
 would flounder on with what sums he could raise by 
 illegal taxation and arbitrary fines. 
 
 In the autumn of 1639 a Spanish fleet convoying 
 troops to Flanders was intercepted by the Dutch in 
 the Channel. The Spaniards took refuge in the Downs, 
 when a diplomatic contest was carried on at London 
 between the ambassadors of Spain, France, and the 
 United Provinces. The greedy Charles was willing 
 to give the Spaniards an opportunity for escape, if 
 they would pay his price (^150,000) or to leave them 
 to the Netherlanders, if Richelieu would get the king's 
 nephew, Charles Lewis, made commander of the allied 
 army in Alsace to succeed the great Duke Bernhard 
 of Weimar ; so little did he understand the situation. 
 In the meantime the King of England took advantage 
 of the situation to sell 500 barrels of gunpowder at exor- 
 bitant prices to the Spaniards. Ere the powder was 
 out of the boats, Tromp, the Dutch admiral, set upon 
 
 ' Oppenheim, p. 278. State Papers, Charles I. (Dom.) CCCCLIX., 
 8, 60. 
 
32 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 the Spanish fleet, sunk some, took others, and drove 
 twenty ships ashore, so that but a few of them got 
 into Dunkirk. Northumberland, perplexed by contra- 
 dictory orders, anxious to uphold the honour of the 
 English flag, but favourable to the Hollanders, ordered 
 some shots to be fired at them during the action, which 
 did them no harm, and to which Tromp did not reply. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 The Vane Family. Sir Henry Vane the elder. Education of young 
 Henry Vane. He awakes to a religious life. His travels in 
 Germany and the Netherlands. Returns to England. Desires to 
 serve the Crown. Consorts with the Puritans. 
 
 Sir Henry Vane came of an old family of country 
 gentlemen ; his descent could be traced back for sixteen 
 generations to Howell ap Vane in Monmouthshire, 
 whose son, Griffith ap Howell Vane, married the 
 daughter of Blodwin ap Kenwyn, Lord of Powis. 
 One of his ancestors was knighted on the field for 
 gallantry at the battle of Poitiers ; some of them 
 spelt the name Vane ; others Fane ; a descendant of 
 the latter branch founded the noble family of West- 
 morland. John Vane, grandfather of Sir Henry Vane 
 the elder, was involved in Wyatt's insurrection, but 
 pardoned on account of his youth. He sat in two of 
 Elizabeth's parliaments. 
 
 Henry Vane, the elder, was born in 1589. He 
 began life with the estates of Hadlow and Shipburne 
 in Kent, worth no more than £460 a year. He was 
 knighted by James I., an honour which could be had 
 by purchase, and which is still a source of profit to 
 officials about court. He married Frances, daughter 
 of Thomas Darcy of Tollhurst-Darcy in Essex, and 
 with the help of his wife's portion he bought, or gained 
 
34 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 by favour, one place after another about court. James 
 made him cofferer to Prince Charles, which post Sir 
 Henry retained after he became king. Sir Philip War- 
 wick tells us that he was "the first of any great officer 
 who was admitted to have his wife within the inner 
 circle of the court, having a good diet as comptroller of 
 the household and a tenuity of fortune." It is likely 
 that Lady Vane was useful in keeping up his credit 
 with Queen Henrietta, who favoured the comptroller 
 and disliked Wentworth. Clarendon, who bore Vane 
 no good will, acknowledges that he well discharged the 
 duties of the royal household, though he was not fit 
 to be Secretary of State, being of very ordinary parts 
 by nature which he had not cultivated by art, for he 
 was illiterate, meaning probably that he displayed little 
 knowledge of Greek and Latin. Vane was, however, 
 well acquainted with modern languages, having 
 travelled three years on the continent. Clarendon 
 adds that he was very industrious, stirring, bold, and 
 boisterous ; the last quality is difficult to reconcile 
 with his success as a courtier and diplomatist. As a 
 member of the privy council, Vane's signature appears 
 in many oppressive sentences of the Star Chamber. 
 During the Thirty Years' War he was sent upon 
 embassies to Christian, King of Denmark, and to 
 Gustavus and some of the Protestant princes of 
 Germany, to further Charles's shifty overtures to get 
 back the Palatinate for the elector. The mind of the 
 Stuart king was scarcely large enough to care for the 
 Protestant cause in Germany ; but for his brother's 
 sake he would have turned against the United Provinces, 
 had Austria or Spain been willing to restore the 
 Palatinate. Vane's mission to Gustavus gained nothing 
 
THE ELDER VANE 
 
 35 
 
 for the dispossessed elector ; but Charles seemed 
 pleased with the conduct of his ambassador. Sir 
 Henry Vane sat in the parliaments of 1 6 14- 1620 and 
 1625, for Carlisle. He was afterwards elected for 
 Hertford and Wilton, and for the county of Kent, 
 remaining a member of parliament till his death. To- 
 wards the close of his career Wentworth showed a 
 great scorn and hatred for Vane, though the official 
 letters which passed between them are full of 
 professions of regard. Vane's are shorter than 
 Wentworth's, and relate much to foreign affairs. 
 Altogether, the elder Vane was a man well fitted to 
 make his way in the world, though he had neither 
 the unswerving rectitude nor the great abilities of his 
 gifted son. 
 
 With the money which he gained from his offices 
 at court and the sale of Hadlow, Sir Henry Vane 
 made some advantageous purchases : Fairlawn in Kent 
 from the city of London for ;^4ooo, the seignories 
 of Raby and Barnard Castle for ^18,000, and 
 Long Newton in the county of Durham. These 
 he estimated (8th January 1649) as bringing in 
 a rental of ;^3000 a year, but on the expiry of 
 leases to rise to near ;!^5ooo. His eldest son, 
 Sir Henry Vane, was born at Hadlow, in Kent, in 
 161 2. He had six other sons and four daughters. 
 His second son. Sir George Vane, was knighted in 
 1640, and seated himself in retirement in Long Melton, 
 in the county of Durham, while Charles distinguished 
 himself as a diplomatist under the Commonwealth, 
 when envoy to Lisbon. One of his daughters married 
 Sir Thomas Moneywood of Essex, a man of learning 
 and a good soldier ; another, Sir Francis Vincent of 
 
36 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 Surrey ; a third married Sir Thomas Liddel of 
 Ravensworth ; while the eldest became the wife of 
 Sir Thomas Pelham, the ancestor of those families 
 who are now represented by the Duke of Newcastle 
 and Lord Yarborough. Here we may repeat the 
 weighty words of his friend and biographer George 
 Sikes : ^ — 
 
 " His life was not like other men, or his ministry. 
 His wages were of another fashion, as the reason 
 therefore have I write his life after another fashion 
 than men's lifes used to be written, treating mostly 
 of principles and course of his hidden life amongst 
 the sons of God, that the sons of men may the 
 better know and consider what manner of man it was 
 they have betrayed, persecuted, and slain." 
 
 Henry Vane was educated at Westminster School. 
 Amongsthis fellows were Arthur Hesilrige and Thomas 
 Scot, both destined to play leading parts in the 
 great game of war and politics. In a review of 
 his life Vane said, " I was born a gentleman, had 
 the education, temper, and spirit, of a gentleman as 
 well as others, being in my youthful days inclined 
 to the vanities of this world, and to that which 
 they call good fellowship, judging it to be the only 
 way of accomplishing a gentleman ; but about the four- 
 teenth or fifteenth year of my age, which was about 
 
 1 Lz/e and Death of Sir Henry Vane, Knight, or a Short Narration 
 of his Pilgrimage, to which is added his last Exhortation to his Children 
 the day before his Death. Printed in the year 1662. The author of this 
 singular biography was George Sikes, a Bachelor in Divinity and Fellow 
 of Magdalen College, Oxford, an enthusiastic admirer of Henry Vane. 
 He was so deeply inlaid with Vane's mystical style, that it is difficult 
 always to distinguish their writings. Unfortunately, Sikes occupies 
 most of his pages with an account of Vane's theological doctrines, giving 
 only rare glimpses of his political career. 
 
fefiLlGtOUS AWAKENING 
 
 thirty-four or five years since, God was gracious to 
 lay the foundation or ground-work of a repentance 
 for me in the bringing of me home to Himself, by 
 His wonderful rich and free grace, revealing His 
 Son in me, that by the knowledge of the only true 
 God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent, I might, 
 even while here in the body, be made partaker of 
 eternal life in the first fruits of it." 
 
 His friend and biographer says of him : "He 
 was a chosen vessel of Christ, separated (as Paul) 
 from his mother's womb, though not actually called 
 till fourteen or fifteen years' standing in the world 
 ('twas longer ere Paul was called), during which 
 time such was the complexion and constitution of 
 his spirit, through ignorance of God and his ways 
 as to recommend him acceptable company to those 
 they call good fellows (yet at his worst, restrained 
 from that lewdness intemperance sometimes leads 
 into, which he has oft been heard to thank God 
 for), and so long he found tolerable quarter amongst 
 men. Then God did by some signal expressions 
 and an awakening dispensation startle him into the 
 danger of his condition. On this he and his former 
 jolly company came presently to a parting blow." 
 
 This kind of retrospective depreciation was in 
 those times common with men of a deeply religious 
 tone, and it is clear from the qualifications made 
 by his friend and biographer that Vane's youthful 
 indiscretions were of no serious character. 
 
 There was in him an early maturity of intellect 
 and sedateness of deportment that rendered distaste- 
 ful the usual follies of youth, and led him to deeper 
 thoughts and serious occupations. 
 
S8 LIFE OF Sm HFNrY VANE 
 
 This change of views, with its open profession, 
 was very unpleasing to his father, then bent upon 
 rising in the court of Charles I. At about sixteen 
 years of age, says Anthony Wood, "Vane became 
 a gentleman commoner of Magdalen Hall, Oxford, 
 as his great creature Henry Stubbe hath several 
 times informed me : but when he was to be matricu- 
 lated as a member of the university, and so conse- 
 quently take the oath of allegiance and supremacy, 
 he quitted his Athene gown, put on a cloak, and 
 studied notwithstanding in the same hall."^ 
 
 After this young Vane visited the continent, 
 where he must have passed some time when he 
 learned to be fluent in the French language. In 
 a memorandum still extant his father wrote : "I 
 have bred my eldest son and six others beyond seas, 
 which has been very chargeable to me."^ A letter- 
 writer of this time said that Vane studied at Leyden ; 
 Clarendon that he spent some time in France and 
 more in Geneva.^ If he visited Geneva, he could 
 scarcely have stayed long there. 
 
 1 Athena Oxonienses, vol. ii., p. 291, London, 1721. 
 
 2 Printed in the History of the Wrays of Glentworth, 1 523-1852, 
 including memoirs of the principal families with which they were con- 
 nected, by Charles Dalton, in two volumes, London, 1880. The second 
 volume was printed privately at Aberdeen in 1881. See vol. ii., 
 p. 112. 
 
 3 Clarendon says that "after his return into England young Vane 
 contracted a full prejudice and bitterness against the church, both 
 against the form of the government and the Liturgy, which was 
 generally in great reverence, even with many of those who were not 
 friends to the other." 
 
 In the page before, writing of Nathaniel Fiennes, the same historian 
 tells us that, after some years in Oxford, " he spent his time abroad in 
 Geneva, and amongst the cantons of Switzerland, where he improved his 
 disinclination to the church with which milk he had been nursed." 
 Clarendon was evidently disposed to attribute Vane's dislike to the 
 
OF AN UNUSUAL ASPECT 
 
 39 
 
 Clarendon tells us in his graphic style that " Sir 
 Harry Vane was a man of great natural parts and of very 
 profound dissimulation, of a quick conception, and 
 very ready, sharp, and weighty expression. He had 
 an unusual aspect, which though it might naturally 
 proceed both from his father and mother, neither of 
 which were beautiful persons, yet made men think 
 there was something in him of extraordinary, and his 
 whole life made good that imagination." ^ 
 
 Any way, we know that Harry Vane was at Vienna 
 in the summer of 1631, for some letters of his are still 
 
 Stuart government and to the Episcopal church to what he had learned 
 in the republican and Calvinistic city. It is, however, clear that this 
 dislike existed before he left England, and I know of no evidence 
 beyond the statement of Clarendon that the younger Vane was ever in 
 Geneva at all. He did not study there, for M. Dufour-Vernes, the 
 archivist of Geneva, has had the kindness to go over the rolls of the 
 students of that time, and the name of Vane is not amongst them. A 
 learned correspondent, Dr Naegeli Akerblom of Geneva, has sought 
 through the whole archives of Geneva, but can find no mention of 
 Henry Vane. 
 
 ^ In the dining-hall of Hutton-in-the-Forest, the seat of Sir Henry R. 
 Vane, there are three pictures which enable us to judge of the observations 
 of the royalist historian : a life-like portrait of Sir Henry Vane, the elder, by 
 Vandyck, one of Lady Vane by a Dutch artist, and a likeness of their 
 illustrious son by Sir Peter Lely. We at once recognise that the younger 
 Vane bears little resemblance either to his father or to his mother. Secretary 
 Vane is a good-looking man, handsomely dressed, holding a wand in his 
 hand. He has the smiling debonnaire carriage of a courtier. In another 
 apartment there is a portrait of him by Mireweldt, reproducing the same 
 features and air. Lady Vane is a dark-haired comely woman about forty, 
 with a kindly and sensible expression. 
 
 Young Vane is in a sitting posture ; the view is from the left side. A 
 loose cloak is wrapped round the shoulders, the dress is plain. Masses 
 of thick brown hair descend to the shoulders, and cover the ears. The 
 eyebrows are darker ; no appearance of beard save a slight imperial. 
 The expression is deep and earnest, that of a man occupied with high 
 thoughts, a face which would attract regard amongst thousands and which 
 one could never forget. The pose and half-bent fingers show a tempera- 
 ment nervous and energetic. 
 
LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 preserved at the Public Record Office/ They are 
 in French and partly in cipher. That a youth of 
 nineteen should have been entrusted with important 
 State secrets showed the confidence in which he was 
 held, not only by his father, but also by Sir Robert 
 Anstruther, who was then the ambassador at Vienna. 
 The first of these letters is dated Vienna, 23rd July 
 (new style) 1631 ; it is addressed "a Hon Monsieur 
 Vane a la court." Much of it is in cipher with notes 
 above the words by some one who had read it 
 (apparently the handwriting of the elder Vane). 
 From these frequent explanations the key to the 
 cipher may be had, with some application. These 
 passages refer to overtures and traffickings between 
 Charles and the courts of Austria and Spain for the 
 restoration of the Palatinate which ended in nothing. 
 Vane is of opinion the Emperor Ferdinand wished to 
 gain time, thinking that he had still the advantage in 
 the war. Indeed he might, for with the Catholics it 
 was a time of hope and exaltation, and for every true 
 Protestant a time of despondency and dread. 
 Never since the battle of Muhlberg (1547) had the 
 Protestant cause appeared in such distress and danger. 
 
 Ignatius Loyola had founded a new order in 
 whose members devotion, enthusiasm, and discipline 
 were blended with worldly craft — eager to check the tide 
 of Protestantism and to spread the Catholic faith to 
 the countries of the East and West, while the reformers 
 were divided by doctrinal disputes and political 
 jealousies. The beginnings of dissent from the super- 
 stitions of Rome had been stamped out in Spain and 
 Italy ; the French Protestants had lost their last 
 
 ^ S.p. Germany (Empire), 163 1- 1632, No. 8. 
 
t)ANG£llS OP PROTESTANTISM 41 
 
 Stronghold at Rochelle, and were in the power of a 
 cardinal of the church ; the reformers had been chased 
 out of Bohemia ; Frederick had lost the Palatinate, 
 and the priest-ridden emperor, Ferdinand, terrorised 
 Northern Germany with a large and well-trained army- 
 commanded by a victorious general. The Danish 
 king, Christian, had enough of the struggle ; Spain 
 was ready to renew her attack upon Holland, and in 
 England the bishops through ceremonials and disguises 
 were seeking to lead men back to the Romish Church, 
 while those who were zealous to carry on the work of the 
 Reformation met with discouragement, rebuke, and 
 persecution. 
 
 Ten weeks before this letter of Vane's, Tilly had 
 filled all Germany with horror by the pitiless sack and 
 massacre of Magdeburg. He was then ravaging 
 Saxony and issuing insolent commands to the Protes- 
 tant princes of Northern Germany. 
 
 All eyes were now turned to the King of Sweden 
 who had already checked the overweening Wallen- 
 stein at Stralsund. Volunteers from Scotland and 
 England too were speeding to aid him in the great 
 struggle. In a letter to Sir Henry, dated Vienna 
 20/10/163 1, the young man expresses deep regret that 
 he cannot gratify his father's wishes in some matter 
 not explained.^ Here follows protestations of affection 
 and the misery he felt at not being able to follow his 
 father's counsels given for his good. 
 
 It was a year since the expected deliverer had 
 
 * Je pouray vous declarer comment je me trouve incline k present et 
 les raisons pourquoi je suis si empechant or si peu penchant au fait de la 
 guerre, et espere que vous ne trouveres point mauvais que je puis pas dis- 
 poser mon naturel et affections a une affaire que vous sembles tant 
 approuver. 
 
42 
 
 LIFE OF Sm HENRY VANE 
 
 landed on the German shore of the Baltic. He had 
 to make his ground sure in Pomerania and to arrange 
 a basis of action with the Protestant princes of Northern 
 Germany. At last Sir Robert Anstruther could add 
 in his own handwriting a postscript to a dispatch : 
 "Tyllie is fallen into Saxonie, brunt, spoyld and kept 
 divers plaices, the King of Sweden, Saxonie, and 
 Brandenburg are joyned et jam agitur de religione et 
 libertate GermanicB — nec non de monarchia . . . jam tua 
 res agitur, sed hie me jubet plus tacere,'' and soon came 
 to the imperial city the awe-striking news that on the 
 7th of September, in a bloody battle fought near 
 Leipsic, the Lutheran army had routed the Imperialists, 
 and that Tilly was flying with a few hundreds before 
 Gustavus, leaving thousands of the cut-throats of 
 Madgeburg dead on the plain of Breitenfeld. The 
 tidings of this great victory gave joy to every 
 Protestant breast. It was not even unpleasing 
 to the Stuart king. No use now to instruct his 
 envoys to wait upon Viennese courtiers and Spanish 
 priests to coax the obstinate Ferdinand to give back 
 the Palatinate to the husband of Charles's sister. The 
 victorious Swede is marching on the Rhine, and might 
 soon have the Palatinate in his grasp, so Comptroller 
 Vane is at once sent to seek the hero in his camp, and 
 arrange the affair by the help of promises which the 
 fortune of war had now turned to the Protestant 
 side. Young Vane has word that he should leave 
 Vienna to meet his father. In a letter dated 8/18 
 September he writes that he is preparing to leave 
 Vienna, and he seems to have been detained by illness. 
 In a letter from Nuremberg dated 17/27 November 
 1 63 1, sent by Coles and received by his father at Wurz- 
 
JOUfeNEY TO NUREMBERG 
 
 burg three days after, the young diplomatist mentions 
 that he was taking medicine for a malady which had 
 already lasted three weeks. In the journey to Nurem- 
 berg his coach had been overturned in the middle of 
 a water, his clothes spoiled, books and papers damaged. 
 Coles had the dispatches safe. He gives a brief 
 account of the thousand dollars which he had received. 
 On leaving Vienna he had but 350 left and he spent 
 220 on the journey to Nuremberg, so he had but 130 
 dollars left. He needs a new coat, but will not buy one 
 till he learns ''voire volont^y He promises to be care- 
 ful, but distinguished people call upon him. Amongst 
 others, two days after his arrival, there came Dr 
 Kemnitius, the commissioner of the King of Sweden, 
 also Dr Fetzer, the ambassador of Nuremberg to 
 Vienna, whom he had met there. The Count of 
 Solmes had sent his equerry with compliments to 
 the young gentleman, who returned the call. 
 
 The ambassador of the English king had even a 
 scanty supply of promises to take with him. Charles 
 would give a subsidy of ;^io,ooo a month, if 
 Gustavus would engage to reinstate the dispossessed 
 Frederick in the Palatinate and put him in possession 
 of what towns he could lay his hands upon. Gustavus 
 saw the narrow selfishness of the Stuart king. There 
 were many English and Scottish volunteers in his 
 army who could tell him that Charles was a cold friend 
 to the Protestant faith, that like a broker he carried 
 his solicitations and promises from Madrid, Brussels, 
 and Vienna to the Lutheran camp, and that it was 
 doubtful if the king could raise even one month's 
 subsidy, unless he called a parliament, which he would 
 not do. 
 
U LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 The Swedish king demanded that Charles should 
 ally himself out and out with the Protestant cause in 
 Germany, should send him a contingent of 10,000 
 soldiers, and promise the support of the English 
 navy should Sweden be attacked by Spain or France. 
 Charles, weak, cold, and vacillating, would not con- 
 sent to these proposals which his council advised him 
 to adopt, and which would have been warmly received 
 in both his kingdoms. Vane followed Gustavus from 
 Wiirtzburg to Nuremberg ; but though hard pressed 
 by Wallenstein, the Swedish king did not think the 
 alliance of Charles worth having, and so Vane re- 
 turned to England, and Sir Robert Anstruther was 
 recalled from Vienna, neither of them having effected 
 the one object which the English court had at heart, 
 to get back the hereditary Electorate for the brother- 
 in-law of his most gracious majesty. 
 
 Charles was gracious enough to attach no blame 
 to his envoy for the failure of his overtures, though 
 he showed his spleen by transmitting a broad hint 
 to the Marquis of Hamilton to quit the service of 
 Gustavus.^ 
 
 It is to be supposed that young Henry joined 
 his father soon after writing the letter quoted above. 
 He was sent to England about two months after 
 
 1 In the Manuscripts of Pelham R. Papillon there is a holograph 
 letter from Charles dated 1632, September 24 (old style), to the elder 
 Vane, beginning " Harrie " " it was nether the falte of my instructions 
 nor of your negotiating that broke it "... " this being only to approve 
 your proceedings in all this treatie, and to assure you that I am so 
 far from laing anie falte to your charge that I esteme you more for this 
 then if ye had concluded a treatie with little difficulty." Charles adds 
 in a postscript : " Deliver this to Hamilton, and tell him that he has 
 beene long anufe at scoole under a curst scoolemaister " {i.e., Gustavus). 
 — Historical Manuscripts in Various Collections, vol. iii., London, 1904, 
 p. 257. 
 
Lady Frances Vane. 
 
 By a Dutch ArtUt. 
 
 [To face page 45. 
 
A PERILOUS PASSAGE 
 
 45 
 
 bearing messages and dispatches. He left Rotterdam 
 in the beginning of February 1632. Lady 
 Lewistone," he writes to his father, "was pleased 
 notwithstanding the small size of the pink to let 
 me pass over with her. Our passage was both 
 tedious and extremely perilous. The former was 
 caused by the inconstancy of the weather ; the latter 
 by the ignorance of the pilot, both which together 
 kept us from discovering land for three days and 
 nights. Monday at six o'clock of night we landed 
 at Margate, and Tuesday morning presently after 
 ten I rendered myself safe (thanks to God) at my 
 mother's lodgings, from whence I went immediately 
 to my Lord Dorchester and delivered him the 
 packet, who after his perusal of it wished me to 
 get in readiness what I had to discharge myself of 
 with the speediest. I did accordingly, and the 
 next morning I had couched in writing the two 
 dispatches and carried them along with me by my 
 Lord Dorchester's command, to present them to the 
 king that his majesty might peruse them himself, or 
 command me to read them to his majesty, and this 
 latter I did. His majesty was pleased to give a 
 gracious and attentive audience, and when I had 
 discharged your Lordship's whole commission, told 
 me that I had acquitted myself well, and so left me." 
 
 Vane then went back to the Lord Treasurer, who 
 was displeased that he was not furnished with a 
 copy ; his words were : "Mr Vane, I used to have 
 a copy first." Young Vane sent the day after a 
 copy of the articles of the peace betwixt the French 
 and the Swedish king. He had an interview with 
 the Lord Treasurer Weston and his son Wake, 
 
46 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 from whom he (Vane) got none of the plausible 
 entertainment. " Being much interested how the 
 treaty affected the King of Bavaria, and therefore they 
 long to hear what operation Coles and Gifford's last 
 dispatch could make in the troublesome conjunctures 
 with the King of Sweden. I carried my business so 
 that I did discharge myself both to my Lord 
 Treasurer and Dorchester almost at a time and have 
 found this last's acceptance of me more externally 
 gracious than the former." Dorchester died suddenly 
 a few days after this interview. In another letter, 
 dated Whitehall, 27th February 1632, Vane expressed 
 his uneasiness that Coles had not yet brought his 
 dispatches. He was willing to return to Germany, 
 " knowing that some observation of mine will not be 
 unfit for your notice." The Lord Treasurer had 
 ordered some money to be paid to Heburne, a 
 courier, but Lake his secretary only said " he would 
 do Mr Comptroller what service he can, and this is 
 not unusual to me, for in your lordship's absence I find 
 very few of those your lordship is pleased to put 
 confidence in to be in better humour." In a prior 
 letter he had written : " Divers great men have 
 been inquiring of Mr Priwood of all your lordship's 
 actions and spare you little in their censures." 
 
 Young Vane, at his father's command, applied 
 himself to Mr Murray, and found him very noble 
 and courteous. Vane writes : "He told me there 
 was a place two or three voyd at the privy chamber, 
 and that he would speak to the king that I might 
 come in one of them that I might be somewhat neare 
 his majesty's person. 
 
 " I desired him likewise to let me understand 
 
A FIT MAN FOR HONOURS 
 
 47 
 
 as a friend what he could heare that I had mis- 
 behaved myself in that this first time of my being 
 employed might at least be so advantageous to me 
 as to serve for a lesson how to govern myself another 
 time ; he promised me he would very faithfully, but 
 neither at court nor at his own lodgings could I find 
 for this four or five days any convenience to speak 
 to him." 
 
 Vane further wrote : " Mr Murray came to-night 
 to my mother and told her that at Newmarket the 
 king would revise all of the privy chamber, and that 
 he would make me one of the ordinary." He advised 
 them to go to Newmarket to be at hand, which they 
 accordingly did. 
 
 About this time Sir Tobie Mathews wrote to 
 Sir Henry Vane, still on the continent : London, 
 25th March 1632. Your lordship's family is in very 
 good health, except the indisposition of your son. 
 I find h im extremely improved and very worthy of 
 his father. His French is excellently good, and 
 his discourse discreet and his fashion comely and 
 fair, and I dare venture to foretell that he will grow 
 a very fit man for any such honour as his father's 
 merits shall bespeak and the king's goodness impart 
 to him." 
 
 It is common enough for fathers to wish to make 
 their sons like themselves, especially when they have 
 been successful ; but to make young Henry Vane a 
 courtier, and to Charles I. ! For such a career he 
 needed a sportive temperament, a mind occupied by 
 small things, or a disposition to be subservient to 
 those above that he might be domineering to those 
 below him. Though of higher ability than any of 
 
48 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 them, Henry Vane could not have played the parts of 
 Buckingham, Laud, or Wentworth. 
 
 At this time the third parliament of Charles I. 
 had been dissolved for three years. The foes of 
 liberty were jubilant ; the friends of liberty discouraged, 
 prescribed, and pursued : Sir John Eliot was languish- 
 ing in the Tower in the last stage of consumption, 
 denied the privilege of breathing the fresh air. The 
 elder Vane, now a great man at court, was naturally 
 anxious that his gifted son should follow the same 
 path to fortune as himself, and the desire of entering 
 the service of the government was a great temptation. 
 But when he had a little time to watch what was going 
 on in England, young Henry Vane sought the ministra- 
 tions of the persecuted Puritans with whose religious 
 views he was already in sympathy, and gave his heart 
 to the popular cause. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 Interview of young Vane with Bishop Laud. Character and Aims of 
 Laud. Vane resolves to leave his country for the New World. 
 His Letter to his Father. 
 
 Although young Vane was not without caution and 
 powers of reserve, his views were too decided and 
 his piety too deep to escape the inquisition of the 
 high church party, and there were rival courtiers 
 ready to point out that the comptroller's eldest son 
 was grown into a dislike of the discipline and 
 ceremonies of the church, and that his favourite 
 associates belonged to the popular party. According 
 to Clarendon, his father still appeared highly conform- 
 able and exceedingly sharp against those who were 
 not. There is a story that the elder Vane, thinking 
 that his son could not resist the personal influence of 
 the king, arranged to leave him in the royal presence- 
 chamber. Hearing the king approach, the young 
 man, wishing to escape, hid himself behind the tapestry. 
 Charles, noticing a motion in the hangings, poked at 
 the place with his stick when Vane came out in con- 
 fusion. 
 
 At any rate it was arranged that Laud, then 
 Bishop of London, should see the young man and try 
 to persuade him to abandon the Puritan notions with 
 
50 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 which he had so inopportunely become infected ; and 
 thus met these two men, each destined to play a con- 
 spicuous, though very different part, in the great 
 struggle between royal prerogative and parliamentary 
 government. 
 
 William Laud, the son of a clothier at Reading, 
 was educated in St John's College, Oxford. He was 
 ordained in 1601. Being docile, with a good memory 
 and attentive to details, he gained honours, as such 
 men do at Universities, was made Proctor, Doctor, 
 and at last President (161 1), a Httle sour-looking, red- 
 faced man with pinched features and peering eyes, 
 sharp of speech, bitter against non-conformists and 
 picking quarrels with the lecturers and public readers. 
 St John's College was then poorly endowed, and he 
 lived on a narrow income for twenty years till his use 
 as a tool for arbitrary power was recognised. 
 Naturally subservient, to differ from the king and the 
 bishops, especially when they were agreed, seemed to 
 Dr Laud a wicked presumption which he longed to 
 have the pleasure of chastising. His highest desire 
 was to enforce conformity to the pattern of church 
 discipline, the gowns, tippets, hoods, and postures 
 approved by the dressy Elizabeth, with a longing, 
 backward glance upon the abandoned ceremonies of 
 the Romish Church and the discipline and drill of its 
 hierarchy. He was favourable to the celibacy of the 
 clergy, and upheld the views of Arminius against 
 those of Calvin. His mind was kept dwelling on 
 omens, presages, and coincidences. He was learned 
 in the lore which makes men no wiser, read the 
 Fathers and the theologians, and recorded his promo- 
 tions and his dreams, the misfortunes of his opponents, 
 
LAUD'S CHARACTER 
 
 51 
 
 and^ the tortures' inflicted on his victims in good 
 Latin : ambition, malice, and superstition were the 
 three leading features of his character. He was fond 
 of collecting books and manuscripts, and knew enough 
 of history to make far-fetched references. He was 
 given to preach unity in things apparent, for he had 
 no idea of a deeper unity. His religion was a thing 
 of details and ceremonies without the fervent piety of 
 the heart. King James took Laud with him to 
 Scotland in 1617, where the Anglican gave offence by 
 wearing his surplice at a funeral. He was recom- 
 mended by Bishop Williams, the Lord Keeper, for the 
 see of St David's ; but the old king distrusted him. 
 Dr Laud, he said, was "a resdess spirit to be kept 
 back from all places of authority, for he cannot see 
 when matters are well, but loves to toss and change 
 and bring things to a reformation floating in his own 
 brain." Laud, he added, had in spite of rebuffs 
 
 1 Besides his Diary published by Prynne to bring Laud into con- 
 tempt, and since edited in a more complete form, we have seven of his 
 sermons, all of them of a political character (see History of the Troubles 
 and Trials of Archbishop Laud. Oxford, 1853). 
 
 In a court chaplain we might expect to hear a good deal about the 
 kmg, perhaps not so much about God, and a polished, if not a lofty style • 
 but the language of these sermons is without elegance and without 
 vigour. Solecisms are not infrequent, and he has many shabby plays 
 upon words ; altogether the composition of a man who never got to the 
 pith of anything. The only feature that could have made these produc- 
 tions pleasing to King Charles was the fulsome flattery he uses. 
 
 Imagine Charles's third parliament to whom Laud was set up to 
 preach being influenced by such an argument as this : "Well provide for 
 the keeping of unity, and what then .? Why then, God bless you with the 
 success of this day. For this day, the 17th of March, Julius Caesar over- 
 threw Sextus Cneius Pompeyus, and that victory was in Spain and 
 Spam, which had long been troublesome, settled and came quietly on by 
 that one action, and this very day too, Frederick II. entered Jerusalem 
 and recovered whatsoever Saladin had taken from the Christians But I 
 must tell you these emperors and their forces were great keepers of 
 
52 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 pressed him "with an ill-formed platform to make 
 the stubborn Kirk of Scotland stoop more to the 
 English pattern. He knows not the stomach of that 
 people," which James knew by experience and which 
 Laud was yet to know also. Importuned by Williams, 
 supported by Prince Charles and Buckingham, the 
 old king exclaimed at last : " Take him to you, but on 
 my saul yell repent it." 
 
 James, who was selfish, cautious, and cunning, 
 favoured the bishops because they were his creatures 
 and preached submission to kings while his son believed 
 it his born right to uphold the Episcopal Church. On 
 Charles's accession Laud was rapidly advanced to the 
 highest posts in church and state for which his zeal 
 rather than his abilities recommended him. He was 
 made Bishop of Bath and Wells, then of London 
 (1628). He was put into the great committee of trade 
 in 1635, and on the death of the Earl of Portland 
 became one of the Commissioners of the Treasury ; and 
 on the demise of Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 who had often vainly warned the king against him, 
 Laud was promptly installed at Lambeth and became 
 Chancellor of the Universities of Oxford and Dublin. 
 
 Hungry for preferment, eager for rank, meanly 
 jealous of his rivals amongst the courtiers, impatient 
 of contradiction even at the council table, persistent 
 in his spites, gloating over the meanest details of cruelty, 
 incapable of thinking that any one who differed from 
 him could be right, persecution was to Laud both a 
 duty and a luxury. He had a host of informers and 
 pursuivants who were kept on the look-out for non- 
 conformists and "finable" delinquents to summon 
 before the Star Chamber or the High Commission 
 
LAUD LEFT HIS MARK 
 
 53 
 
 where the archbishop sat ever ready to concur with 
 the severest sentence. Laud was suspected both by 
 Protestants and Catholics of a deep design to restore 
 the doctrines as well as the ritual of the Romish Church, 
 and the Pope offered to make him a cardinal ; but he 
 was not disposed to have the Bishop of Rome over him, 
 rather would he be the patriarch of England. What 
 principles Laud had were shallow and narrow, but he 
 stuck stiffly to them. He pursued his schemes for the 
 elevation of the church and the royal prerogative with 
 a singleness of purpose untainted by corruption and 
 venality. He was warm in his friendships with those 
 who agreed with him, who were his only friends, and 
 he had no private vices unusual in a clergyman. Al- 
 together no man in English history ever reaped so 
 much contempt embittered with so much hatred, 
 though he is still admired by some of the high 
 churchmen as the greatest of the Carolean bishops.' 
 It has been observed that the ceremonies of the Church 
 of England approved of by Laud are those still 
 practised by the high church party in England. Un- 
 fortunately we have no description of the interview 
 
 1 We suppose that Viscount Halifax may be allowed to speak for the 
 ritualists : writing in the Nineieenth Century, April 1903, on the " Crisis 
 m the Church," he says : " What Archbishop of Canterbury in later times 
 appeals to the heart and imagination of churchmen like Archbishop 
 Laud? Who has so deep a place in their veneration? What Arch- 
 bishop has so unmistakably left his mark on the Church of England on 
 the whole Anglican communion ? Did he meet with no opposition ? Was 
 there no anticlerical feeling excited in his case ? The scaffold and the 
 block on Tower Hill may be left to answer these questions • but 
 though he died, his work lives on. The seed he sowed grows and shows 
 no sign of decay. He may have been mistaken in his political aspirations 
 m his methods of repression by the civil power ; but is there one who 
 cares for the Church of England who would have had him less keen to 
 assert the Cathohc faith, one who would have had him shrink from the 
 oppositiop he encountered ? 
 
54 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 between Laud and Vane ; but we can imagine the 
 conceited little bishop arrayed in his episcopal 
 finery addressing the comptroller's son like some 
 young collegian caught in a frolic, and how his lord- 
 ship was ruffled at finding that his oracular twaddle 
 had no more effect than a culverin loaded with chaff 
 upon a bird on the wing. Here was a young man in- 
 toxicated with an overdose of Protestantism, who 
 could see no beauty of holiness in vestments and 
 posturings and altars decently railed, and who even 
 presumed to answer a bishop of London on Catholic 
 theology. 
 
 No doubt each departed as firmly assured of the 
 truth of his opinions as he came. Laud felt that 
 he had met with a form of perversity different from 
 the ordinary sort, and Vane saw that the pretentious 
 old priest and vicious inquisitor was but a poor 
 creature unhappily entrusted by a superstitious king 
 with powers which he could only abuse ; so we may 
 well believe that the Bishop of London seemed to 
 handle him gently in the conference, but concluded 
 harshly enough against him in the close. 
 
 The Rev. George Garrard, who sent news-letters 
 to Thomas, Viscount Wentworth, once a champion 
 for freedom, now gone over to the court, and Lord 
 Deputy of Ireland, thus writes : " ist September 
 1635.^ Mr Comptroller Sir Henry Vane's son had 
 left his father, his mother, his country, and that 
 fortune which his father would have left him here, 
 and is, for conscience' sake, gone into New England, 
 there to lead the rest of his days, being about 
 
 1 The Earl of Strafforde's Letters and Dispatches, with an Essay 
 towards his Life, by Sir George RadcUfTe, Dublin 1740, vol. i., p. 463. 
 
A FAREWELL LETTER 
 
 55 
 
 twenty years of age. He had abstained two years 
 from taking the sacrament in England because he 
 could get nobody to administer it to him standing. 
 He was brought up at Leyden, and I hear that 
 Sir Nathaniel Rich and Mr Prynne have done him 
 much hurt in their persuasions this way, God for- 
 give them for it, if they be guilty." In another 
 letter Garrard writes : ^ "No persuasions of our 
 bishop or of his parents could prevail with him. 
 Let him go. He has more sons, but these also 
 bred up at Leyden." There is still preserved a letter 
 from young Henry Vane written to his father on 
 the eve of his departure from his native land.^ It 
 is dated "Charing Crosse, this 7 of July 1635." The 
 letter begins : " May it please you I am but newly 
 come back from speaking with Mr Craddock. The 
 notice being late because the ships look every day 
 to be gone, yet he hopes by the interest to gain 
 me so some dayes to prepare myself, and farther 
 hath offered me such accommodation when I come 
 there as I should desire ; so what I cannot now, 
 through the shortness of the time, provide myself 
 with, I may take such order with him that it may 
 come after me." He intreats his father "to dispatch 
 a pass from his majesty and to vouchsafe by this 
 bearer an assurance from yourself that you have 
 really resolved this place for me to go to." 
 
 In a handwriting tremulous in some places, as 
 under deep emotion, the young man thus winds up : — 
 
 "And, Sir, believe this from one that hath the 
 
 1 This is a letter from the same Rev. gossip to Viscount Conway, 
 dated i8th September, in the Public Record Office, Charles I. Dom., vol, 
 ccxviii. 
 
 2 Public Record Office, Charles I, Dom., vol. ccxciii. 
 
56 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 honour to be your sonne (though as the case stands 
 adjudged a most unworthy one), that howsomever 
 you may be jealous of circumventions and plots that 
 I entertaine and practise, yet that I will never do 
 anything (by God's good grace) which both with 
 honour and a good conscience I may not justify or 
 bee content most willingly to suffer for. And were it 
 not that I am very confident that as surely as 
 there is truth in God so surely shall my innocency 
 and integrity be cleared to you before you dye. I 
 protest to you ingenously that the jealousy you 
 have of mee would breake my heart. But as I 
 submitt all other things to the disposal of my good 
 God, so do I my honesty amongst the rest ; and 
 though I must confesse I am compassed about with 
 many infirmitys, and am but too great a blemish to 
 the religion I do professe, yett the bent and intention 
 of my heart I am sure is sincere, and from hence 
 flows the sweete peace I enjoy with my God amidst 
 these many and heavy trialls which now fall upon 
 me and attend me : this is my only support in my 
 losses of all other things : and this I doubt not of 
 but that I have an all-sufficient God able to protect 
 me, and who in His due time will doe it, and that in 
 the eyes of all my friends. — Your most truely humble 
 and obedient sonne, H. Vane." 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 Vane in New England. Reception at Boston. The Puritan Colonists. 
 Vane chosen Governor of Massachusetts. Difficulties of his 
 Position. War with the Pequot Indians. Ann Hutchinson. 
 Religious Controversy. Vane not re-elected. His Controversy with 
 John Winthrop. Vane returns to England. Fate of Ann 
 Hutchinson. Vane ever a Friend to New England. 
 
 In the same ship which brought Henry Vane there 
 came John Winthrop the younger, the future 
 Governor of Connecticut, and Hugh Peters, the future 
 chaplain of OHver Cromwell. They held a joint 
 commission from Lord Saye and Sele, and Lord 
 Brook, about claims on the Connecticut founded 
 upon a grant which Lord Saye had gained from the 
 king of 40 miles at the mouth of that river, along the 
 sea coast from the Narrganset river to the south-west. 
 Three townships had already been settled by the 
 Plymouth men on land which might come under the 
 grant. To assert a claim without taking possession 
 seemed a vain formality. The agents, not being 
 willing to disturb the places already taken up, 
 contented themselves with the possession of the 
 mouth of the Connecticut river. Many of the 
 parliamentary party, beginning to lose heart, were 
 casting their eyes upon the Puritan colony across the 
 ocean as a place of refuge should the battle of 
 freedom be lost in the Old World, 
 
 51 
 
58 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 Lord Saye and Lord Brook, who had made great 
 disbursements for the colony, were desirous to betake 
 themselves to New England and at the same time 
 anxious to retain their rank as peers. They wrote 
 proposing that a hereditary nobility should be 
 recognised who should form the governing class ; but 
 this did not meet with assent amongst the 
 founders of the State from the beginning imbued with 
 republican sentiments.^ Vane landed at Boston on 
 October 6, 1635. 
 
 Let us here cast a backward glance upon the 
 Puritan colony now planted along the shores of 
 Massachusetts Bay. A hundred and fourteen years 
 after the continent of North America had been 
 discovered by Cabot a settlement had been made in 
 Virginia in 1607. After many hardships, sufferings, 
 and dangers owing to the lack of experience of the first 
 settlers and the disorderly behaviour of some of them, 
 the colony in three years had taken root on the banks 
 of the James river. 
 
 About the same time some congregations of Non- 
 conformists seeking relief from the persecution 
 enforced by Archbishop Bancroft had left the eastern 
 counties of England to dwell in Holland, where their 
 sober industry procured them the means of 
 subsistence. They were still anxious to retain their 
 nationality, which their descendants would in time 
 lose. How they gained a charter from King James 
 conveying some rights of self-government is not clear ; 
 but they did so, and with it they sailed away to seek 
 
 ^ Winthrop, vol. i., p. 170. The History of the Colony of Massa- 
 chusetts Bay, by Mr Hutchinson, Lieutenant - Governor of the 
 Massachusetts Province, London, 1765, p. 64, and appendix, 
 
THE PURITAN EMIGRANTS 
 
 59 
 
 on the shore of the Western Ocean a country where 
 they could in peace worship God after a fashion 
 approved of by their conscience. At the close of 
 autumn of 1620 about one hundred of these Puritan 
 emigrants landed in Massachusetts Bay and founded 
 the town of Plymouth. They were mostly men of 
 small means, the infant colony was poorly provided 
 with supplies for tiding over the hard winter, and 
 one half of them died of cold and exposure ere the 
 spring. The coast had been cleared of its native 
 inhabitants by a desolating plague, so they had not to 
 contend against the wild Indians. They peaceably 
 occupied the lands by the shore and built their cabins, 
 cleared their little farms, and extended their fisheries 
 till their settlement gained a firm footing on the 
 shore of the American continent. The sufferings 
 which these settlers had endured did not deter some 
 of the persecuted Non-conformists in England from 
 following them. Word was passed to the harassed 
 congregations and silenced preachers in England that 
 across the wide ocean, so long thought to bound the 
 habitable world, there was a land where they might 
 practise in peace the reformed faith they regarded as 
 the warrant of eternal life, free from the vain 
 posturings of the ritual and the equivocations of the 
 book of common prayer. 
 
 England was in those days far from over-peopled, 
 and it was not in the hopes of earning a better 
 livelihood that these pious men had left her shores 
 to seek a plank hut in the strange land of the west 
 on the verge of an unexplored wilderness. The 
 climate was severe for new settlers ; the winter was 
 colder, the summer hotter than in England. The 
 
60 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 soil of the new plantation was not fertile, and the 
 value of the land when cleared made poor wages for 
 the labour of clearing it ; but it was a freehold on 
 which men could live and bring up their children, 
 and there were wood, and pasture, and fishing, and 
 game, and some trade with the Indians for furs. 
 The little settlement of Plymouth had a slow growth ; 
 but the scheme of a new colony on a larger scale 
 received much favour amongst the Non-conformists, 
 and the opponents of the arbitrary royal prerogative, 
 many of whom had begun to despair of the liberties 
 of England. A company was formed, consisting of 
 some wealthy friends of the Puritan cause ; merchants 
 subscribed sums of money. Charles I. and his High 
 Commission and Star Chamber could not have been 
 aware of what they were doing in granting a charter 
 to this new company to occupy the land from the 
 Atlantic to the Western Ocean from a line running 
 three miles north of the Merrimac river to a line 
 three miles south of the Charles river. Perhaps 
 they thought that they were getting rid of some 
 intractable adversaries who, still recognising the king's 
 authority in the New World, might be followed and 
 coerced when the malcontents at home had been 
 successfully dealt with. 
 
 In the middle of April 1629, licence was obtained 
 from the Lord Treasurer for the sailing of three 
 hundred men, eighty women and maids with twenty- 
 six children, provided with victuals, tools, arms, 
 cattle and goats, so that they might gain a firm 
 footing on the new continent. Eleven ships from 
 different ports of England, arrived in Massachusetts 
 before the end of July of the same year; six more 
 
MASSACHUSETTS IN 1632 
 
 61 
 
 vessels came before the winter, bringing in all about 
 a thousand colonists. Since the day 2440 years 
 before, when the Phoceans of Ionia, fleeing the 
 yoke of the Persian Cyrus, sailed away to found 
 the city of Massilia, now the greatest port of the 
 Mediterranean, no colony ever had a more memorable 
 origin, a more vigorous growth, and a more illustri- 
 ous history than Massachusetts. 
 
 Captain Wiggin, who had visited the English 
 plantations, thus writes of Massachusetts in 1632 •} 
 "The English, numbering about 2000, and generally 
 most industrious, have done more in three years 
 than others in seven times that space, and at a 
 tenth of the expense. They are loved and respected 
 by the Indians, who repair to the governor for justice. 
 He is a discreet and sober man, wearing plain apparel, 
 assisting in any ordinary labour, and ruling with 
 much mildness," This was John Winthrop, who had 
 been appointed governor in England, and sailed from 
 Yarmouth in 1630. He was a gentleman of good 
 estate in Suffolk, of strict religious principles, 
 naturally calm, self-possessed and persistent, of grave 
 deportment, and well trained in the law. He had 
 now reached the age of forty-two years. He gave 
 his whole mind and fortune to the work of building 
 the new commonwealth. 
 
 The founders were careful from the beginning 
 to make bounteous provision of godly ministers. 
 Houses were built for them and salaries assigned. 
 They were all clergymen of thorough Protestant 
 opinions, some of them men of learning and great 
 
 1 Captain Wiggin to Secretary Coke, November 19, 1632, Calendar 
 of State Papers, Colonial Series, London, i860, page 156. 
 
62 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 powers of preaching, who had in England suffered 
 much from Laud and the High Commission. As 
 all were of one mind, on landing on the shores of 
 New England they got rid of prelacy and the book 
 of common prayer, and would not suffer public practice 
 of the episcopal forms of worship, partly because 
 they regarded it as a survival of popery, and partly 
 because they feared that such a congregation would 
 stir ill-will at the court and bring bishops from 
 England. 
 
 From the outset there was a difference in character 
 between the Puritan States of New England and 
 the State of Virginia, which persisted until the great 
 struggle that well-nigh led to the separation of the 
 north and south of the American confederation. 
 
 Between four and five thousand English settlers 
 had built their wooden houses along the winding 
 shores between Cape Ann and Cape Cod for about 
 thirty miles. They were distributed in sixteen little 
 townships, as they had to hold together for protection 
 against the Indians who were beginning to cause 
 alarm. They were raising crops of maize, wheat, 
 and rye, were building corn mills, and were cutting 
 roads through the forests. They had herds of cattle 
 and flocks of sheep and numerous swine, and had 
 begun a trade in beavers' skins, cured fish, and 
 lumber. 
 
 The favourable situation on a peninsula with a 
 fine and capacious harbour had already gained for 
 Boston the dignity of the chief town. The slope 
 towards the sea was dotted by some hundred cabins 
 with their little enclosures, and the church with mud 
 walls and thatched roof. On the northern hill stood a 
 
EARLY JEALOUSIES 
 
 63 
 
 windmill, while on the broad top of the southern 
 eminence a wooden fort guarded the narrow approach 
 to the harbour within the still bay. 
 
 The area then available was less than a thousand 
 acres. Connected with the mainland by a narrow 
 neck, it had neither wood nor meadow land around it ; 
 but the sea which scattered spray on its shores 
 secured the peninsula from the attacks of the Indians 
 and the prowlings of wild beasts. One of the fairest 
 of the American cities, with a population of 450,000, 
 the lofty buildings of Boston dwarf the hills that 
 once gave their naked outlines to the setting sun, 
 and stately squares and streets now cover the salt 
 marches of the shore. 
 
 The governor and his assistants, who had been 
 nominated in England, were men of condition who 
 had contributed largely to the making of the colony. 
 With the assent of the other settlers they filled 
 vacancies in their number, made laws and administered 
 justice. This independent power lasted no longer 
 than three years, for a house of deputies appeared in 
 1634, who arranged that the governor and his 
 assistants should be elected every year by the freemen, 
 and that by ballot. No one could vote as a freeman 
 who had not been admitted a member of the church. 
 John Winthrop was succeeded by Thomas Dudley. 
 The struggle between the wealthy class who wished 
 to keep power in their own hands and the inferior sort 
 of settlers had already begun. The latter were jealous 
 of the way the lands were being distributed, while 
 Winthrop wished some tracts to be kept for common 
 ground or reserved for new-comers. When Henry 
 Vane arrived in the new community, the early struggles 
 
64 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 and hardships that had followed landing on the wild 
 shore had been surmounted. The colonists found 
 many new duties to occupy their attention. They 
 had begun to regard the new country as their 
 home and their heritage, and the word brought by 
 new-comers of the doings in England helped to banish 
 all desire to return. 
 
 If their daily life was hard to these Puritans of 
 the West, it was simple and natural, a manly fight 
 with rugged nature. They felt that they had escaped 
 from the petty tyranny of the prelates, and they did 
 not feel the rigid creed which was stiffening around 
 them, because it fitted them at the time. Society of 
 an intellectual though grave and formal caste was not 
 wanting. In these rude cabins there were men who 
 had gained renown for their learning and eloquence in 
 England and in Holland, and who might have been 
 still sitting in honoured places in the old country had 
 their conscience given them quiet. There were 
 gentlemen of good estate who had left a country 
 whose liberties seemed to have gone ; there were 
 captains who in the war with the Pequot Indians 
 showed the skill which they had gained in the Thirty 
 Years' War : all united in a deep hatred of the affecta- 
 tions and compromises introduced into the Church of 
 Enofland to turn aside the Reformation. Men like 
 these were not easy to govern : they were jealous of 
 their liberty, and though stubborn in maintaining their 
 own views against persecution, they were little dis- 
 posed to allow others to dissent from them. And yet 
 a full accordance of opinion was impossible ; each 
 man claimed, at least in theory, the right to 
 shape his own opinions and conduct by what he 
 
SERIOUSNESS OF THEIR LIVES 
 
 65 
 
 read in or out of the books of the Old and New 
 Testament. 
 
 The extreme seriousness of their lives, the gravity 
 of demeanour, the habitual dwelling upon the life 
 beyond the grave darkened by a gloomy creed, 
 the bareness and poverty of their abodes, the 
 absence or disdain of all the lighter amusements, 
 the very dead level of concord in religious dogmas 
 induced a dismal tone of mind. The letters and 
 sermons of these old Puritans are full of prodigies, 
 strange sights, guns fired in the air, warning 
 voices, and apparitions. The superstitious lore 
 which had followed them from England took vivid and 
 terrible shapes against the dark background of the 
 unknown limitless wilderness : around their clearings 
 was the pathless forest whence during the night came 
 the bowlings of wolves and other wild beasts, and some- 
 times the yells of savage men. These exiles seemed 
 ever on the watch for judgments and tokens of 
 the presence of God or the spiteful tricks of the 
 devil : every calamity, every strange disease which 
 happened to their adversaries, was a sign of the 
 divine wrath : every misfortune to themselves was 
 a trial and a chastening. Winthrop records in his 
 Diary that a man who had sold milk on board a 
 ship crossing the Atlantic for twopence a quart 
 became distracted after he landed, which was traced 
 to his selfishly taking advantage of the scarcity 
 of cows on board. The sagacious governor, how- 
 ever, had doubts whether, under the circumstances, 
 twopence was too high a price for the milk. The 
 company of the ship Charles having disturbed Mr 
 Peter preaching by hooting or hallooing, in their 
 
 e; 
 
66 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 return they were set upon by the Turks and divers of 
 them killed.^ 
 
 As the magistrates, urged on by the clergy, were 
 disposed to be severe with malefactors and to punish 
 many immoralities and indulgences, it was natural that 
 there should be a call for a written law specifying the 
 offences for which men might be condemned. The 
 charter, however, scarcely allowed them to make laws 
 different from those of England, and in the new colony 
 people were punished for doing things which Laud 
 and the High Commission were anxious to promote 
 and encourage. Winthrop sagaciously observed that 
 they should not try to frame a code, but let customs 
 set into precedents and then harden into law. Though 
 much led by their ministers, the settlers in Massa- 
 chusetts from the beginning treated marriage as a 
 civil contract to be performed by laymen, probably in 
 opposition to the Catholics, who regarded marriage as 
 a sacrament. In the days of Elizabeth the Brownists 
 had objected to the use of the ring in marriage. 
 
 In the administration of justice the magistrates 
 were guided by the Mosaic Code designed for the 
 Israelites three thousand years before. When the 
 Levite copied in the edict, "Thou shalt not suffer a 
 witch to live," he never dreamed that hundreds of 
 thousands of innocent men and women should through 
 this line suffer a death made even crueller than that of 
 the Mosaic Code. Indeed, these stern men did nothing 
 to soften the harshness of the Israelitish law. Forni- 
 cation was not thought to be treated with sufficient 
 severity by Moses ; whipping and loss of franchise 
 were added. Adultery was punished with death both 
 ' History of New England^ vol. ii., pp. 20 and 22. 
 
PURITANICAL RIGOUR 
 
 67 
 
 to the man and the woman. ^ A child who cursed his 
 father and mother, and was stubborn and rebellious, 
 was to suffer death according to Deuteronomy xxi. 20, 
 and Hutchinson records that there have been several 
 trials upon this law. Denial of any of the books of the 
 Old and New Testament to be the written and infallible 
 word of God, was punishable either by banishment or 
 death for the second offence at the discretion of the 
 court, even if the offence were made on the high seas. 
 Winthrop got a law passed prohibiting the drinking 
 of healths, and Endicot, his successor as governor, 
 joining with the other magistrates, formed an associa- 
 tion to declare their dislike and detestation against 
 long hair. In a letter Vane is praised for getting his 
 hair shortened ; but it appears that he did not always 
 keep his locks short enough. Some of these rules had 
 not yet passed into statute law while Vane was in the 
 colony. The prosecutions for witchcraft began eleven 
 years after he had left. 
 
 Henry Vane evidently took kindly to the colony. 
 John Winthrop thus writes of him in his Diary:'' 
 " There came also Mr Henry Vane, son and heir to 
 Sir Henry Vane, comptroller of the king's house, 
 who, being a young gentleman of excellent parts, and 
 had been employed by his father [when he was 
 ambassador] in foreign affairs; yet being called to 
 the obedience of the gospel, forsook the honours and 
 preferments of court to enjoy the ordinances of 
 Christ in their purity here. His father being very 
 averse to this way [as no way savouring the power 
 
 1 See Hutchinson's History, pp. 440-443 and 152. 
 
 2 A History of New England from 1630-1648, by John Winthrop, 
 edited by James Savage, Boston, 1825, p. 170, 
 
68 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 of religion], would hardly have consented to his 
 coming hither, but that acquainting the king with 
 his son's disposition and desire, he commanded him 
 to send him hither and gave him licence for three 
 years stay here."^ It is also recorded in the same 
 diary that, on November i, Mr Vane was admitted 
 a member of the church of Boston. 
 
 An extraordinary proof of the ready confidence 
 gained by young Vane is furnished by the following 
 entry in the Town Records of Boston : November 30, 
 1635 " [at which time Vane had been in Boston less 
 than two months]. " At a general meeting upon public 
 notice, it is agreed . . . that none of the members 
 of this congregation or inhabitants amongst us shall 
 sue one another at the law before that Mr Henry 
 Vane and the two elders, Mr Thomas Oliver and 
 Thomas Leverett, have had the hearing and deciding 
 of the cause, if they can." 
 
 Vane had crossed the ocean to escape from per- 
 secution and to enter into a haven of peace. He soon 
 saw that there were factions and jealousies in the 
 promised land, and he fancied that he could allay 
 or arrest them. He had been no longer than three 
 months in the colony when with Hugh Peters he 
 got the principal men together, John Haynes, the 
 governor, Winthrop and Dudley, former governors 
 not unwilling to be governors again, who had each 
 their partisans, and Mr Wilson and Mr Cotton, the 
 two ministers of Boston. Mr Vane desired all 
 present to take up a resolution to deal freely and 
 openly with the parties, and they with each other, 
 
 ^ History of New England^ by John Gorham Palfrey, vol. i., Boston, 
 1858, p. 439. 
 
A FRIENDLY CONFERENCE 
 
 69 
 
 that nothing might be left in their breasts which 
 might break to any jar or difference hereafter.^ 
 "Winthrop desired Mr Vane to acquaint him of 
 what he had observed of the disposition of men's 
 minds, which was very strange to him, professing 
 solemnly that he knew not of any breach between his 
 brother Dudley and himself, since they were reconciled 
 long ago ; Dudley was equally conciliatory. There 
 had been formerly some differences and breaches 
 between his brother Winthrop and himself, yet they 
 had been healed, and for his part he was not willing 
 to renew them, and so he left it to others to utter 
 their own complaints." Mr Haynes the governor 
 hoped that Mr Winthrop would take it in good part, 
 if he did deal openly and freely, as his manner 
 always was. Then he spake of one or two passages 
 wherein he conceived that Winthrop had dealt too 
 remissly in point of justice. Winthrop professed 
 that it was his judgment that, in the infancy of the 
 plantation, justice should be administered with more 
 lenity than in a settled state, because then people 
 were more apt to transgress, partly of ignorance of 
 new laws and orders, partly through oppression of 
 business and other straits ; but if it were made clear 
 to him that he was in error, he was willing to take 
 a stricter course. It does not appear what these 
 cases were. It is significant that this question in 
 polity was left for the ministers to decide, who gave 
 their judgment for greater severity. Whereupon 
 Winthrop acknowledged that he had failed in over- 
 much lenity and remissness, and promised to take 
 a stricter course hereafter.^ 
 
 * Winthrop, vol. i., pp. 177-179. 
 
70 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 Henry Vane was elected governor after having 
 been little more than seven months in the colony, and 
 when he was no older than twenty-four years. No 
 doubt it stood much in his favour that he came from 
 an old and wealthy family, and that he was the son of 
 the king's comptroller, who might do them a good 
 service at the royal council. At this time the charter 
 on which they had gone to found a new colony had 
 been declared null and void, and had not Charles and 
 his ministers found enough to contend against within 
 the shores of Great Britain, an armament would have 
 been sent to dispossess the settlers of the land which 
 they had reclaimed with so much toil and through 
 so many hardships and dangers. 
 
 There was no lack of men in Massachusetts fit for 
 the office of governor. Haynes left for Connecticut, 
 and Winthrop seems not yet to have recovered his 
 popularity. He was, however, made deputy, and with 
 Dudley elected a councillor for life. Roger Harla- 
 kenden, a young gentleman of property who had come 
 in the same ship with Vane, was added to the number 
 of assistants. The ships in the port greeted the 
 accession of the young governor with volleys of shot, 
 and great respect was shown to him everywhere. He 
 took more state upon him than any governor had ever 
 done before. When he went either to court or to 
 church, four servants walked before him with their 
 halberds. ^ Accustomed to the retinue of a wealthy 
 nobleman and not a stranger to the pageants of the 
 
 1 Hutchinson adds in a note : " A small house which he lived in, at the 
 side of the hill above Queen Street, he gave to Mr Cotton, who made an 
 addition to it after Mr Vane went away, and lived and died there." 
 Palfrey, writing in 1858, tells us that the house was still standing thirty years 
 before, 
 
A DIFFICULT SITUATION 
 
 71 
 
 Stuart court, the small wooden house that sheltered 
 him must have appeared humble compared with the 
 lordly towers of Raby Castle, where his father had 
 twice entertained King Charles. 
 
 About this time there were fifteen large vessels in 
 Boston harbour, and there was danger of collisions be- 
 tween the wild seamen and the Puritan population on 
 the shore. Inviting the masters of the ships to dinner, 
 he got them to agree that vessels coming in to Boston 
 should anchor below the castle and wait for the 
 governor's pass before coming up to the town, that 
 before discharging their cargoes their invoices should 
 be submitted to the inspection of the magistrates, and 
 that the sailors should not be allowed to stay on shore 
 after sunset except upon necessary business. 
 
 As the head of a rising colony small in numbers 
 but great in moral vigour. Vane's situation was a 
 difficult one and his duties wide, minute, and multi- 
 farious. The position of affairs called for the abilities 
 of a ruler, a law-giver, and a diplomatist. In the ab- 
 sence of statute law, the magistrates had wide powers 
 for regulating properties and contracts, proving wills, 
 making roads and ferries, voting taxes and imposing 
 fines, and adjudging on the many questions which 
 arose in a new state of affairs. Then their proceedings 
 were jealously looked upon by the freemen, andcriticised 
 by the stiffest preachers of the stiffest sect of 
 Protestants. 
 
 It was not long before the young governor found 
 the difficulty of dealing with the over-strained scruples 
 of the colonists. John Endicot, a leading magistrate, 
 had in the town of Salem of his own authority blotted 
 out the figure of the red cross from the king's flag, 
 
72 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 because it had been assigned to the King of England 
 by the Pope, as an ensign of victory, and so was a 
 superstitious thing and a rehc of antichrist. The 
 assistant magistrates met at the governor's to advise 
 about this, a thing they were loth to take up and 
 afraid to let alone, and so the question was deferred. 
 In the meantime all the ensigns were laid aside. At 
 the next meeting of the general court John Haynes 
 had succeeded Thomas Dudley as governor, and 
 Endicot's conduct was again considered. While 
 condemning the zealot for acting inadvisably, the court 
 could not conceal their sympathy with his senti- 
 ments. They ordered him to be disabled for one year 
 from bearing any public office, declining any heavier 
 sentence, because they were persuaded he did it out 
 of tenderness of conscience, not of any evil intent. 
 Nevertheless it was too great a strain on the Puritan 
 conscience to restore the red cross. The minister 
 promised to take pains about it and write to England 
 to have the judgment of the most wise and godly there. 
 In the meantime the military commissioner appointed 
 colours for every company of the militia who left out the 
 cross in all of them, though they appointed the king's 
 arms to be shown at the island where they could be seen 
 by the shipping. 
 
 Not long after, a vessel belonging to Lord Went- 
 worth, deputy for Ireland, entered the port, when a 
 dispute took place with the master of the ship about 
 striking his flag to the fort. He defended himself by 
 observing that the fort showed no colours. A week 
 had not passed after Vane was appointed governor 
 when the question of the flag again arose. The mate 
 of a ship lying at anchor in Boston harbour calling 
 
DISPLAYS THE ROYAL FLAG 
 
 73 
 
 attention that the king's colours were not displayed at 
 the fort, in the presence of many of the townsmen then 
 visiting the ship, loudly declared that they were all 
 traitors and rebels. This causing irritation at Boston, 
 the mate after some ado was brought before the 
 governor and induced to make an apology. It was easy 
 to see that the matter might be reported in England 
 so as to cause farther exasperation against the Non- 
 conformist colony. 
 
 The governor now called together the masters of 
 the ships in the harbour, and requested them to say 
 freely what they thought. They replied that they 
 might be questioned about the matter when they 
 returned to England, and advised that the king's flag 
 should be displayed at the castle. It seemed an 
 escape to reply that they had none of the king's 
 colours to hoist. The masters of the ships took away 
 this excuse by offering to furnish them with a set of 
 colours of the royal ensigns. And so the question of 
 compliance or refusal came before a court of 
 magistrates. The ministers were also consulted. 
 Winthrop opposed the request of the shipmasters, 
 backed by Endicot, whose period of exclusion had run 
 out. Some of the magistrates would take no part in 
 the matter ; others were willing to connive ; but a 
 majority were against yielding. Very great stress was 
 laid in those times on saluting and giving homage to 
 the flag, and it was clear that this refusal to hoist the 
 king's colours upon a fort which they admitted to 
 belong to him might be severely called in question in 
 England, and even raise international difficulties, so 
 Vane, supported by Dudley, ordered the royal flag to 
 be displayed, Winthrop, of course, knew that in case 
 
74 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 of complaint at court the first blame would fall upon 
 the governor. Vane now transferred the difficulty to 
 his opponents, who would have put themselves in a 
 perilous position by attempting a vote of censure after 
 the king's colours had waved on the fort. 
 
 Vane's next proceeding was to make an official 
 visit to the little townships along the bay. 
 
 The following passage in a letter to his father, the 
 comptroller, shows the anxieties of the young 
 governor: "The present state of things (in New 
 England) is very tumultuous. The French con- 
 tinually encroach and arm the natives for civil war, 
 who kill and steal when they can. A report that the 
 patent is damned has caused great discouragement to 
 the plantation," ^ 
 
 The Dutch on the Connecticut river and the 
 French in Acadia were making settlements claiming 
 territory, and disputing the possession of land in the 
 neighbourhood, and the Indian tribes around were 
 beginning to show hostilities to the masterful 
 strangers who were extending their plantation along 
 the sea board, where a few years before they had 
 roamed unhindered in their fishing and hunting 
 expeditions. To meet this danger it was necessary to 
 organise a militia. The men capable of bearing arms 
 were formed into three district regiments under the 
 command of Winthrop, Haynes, and Endicot as 
 colonels, and Dudley, Harlakenden, and the younger 
 Winthrop as lieutenant-colonels. The governor was 
 to be commander-in-chief. The lower officers were 
 chosen by the votes of the men. 
 
 1 Passage in a letter to Mr Comptroller about the estate of New 
 England, endorsed by Laud, October 3, 1636, in Calendar of State Papers^ 
 Colonial Series, 1634- 1660, London, 1860, p. 239, 
 
WAR WITH THE PEQUOTS 
 
 75 
 
 It was well for the colony that they were now 
 ready for war. The Plymouth men had cast their 
 
 I eyes upon the fruitful lands of the Connecticut river, 
 and in 1631 they established a factory. The growth 
 of this new colony, which now counted eight hundred 
 English, was looked upon with dislike by Sassacus, 
 the chief of the Pequot Indians, whose hunting 
 grounds lay between Plymouth and Massachusetts. 
 Raids became frequent ; about thirty of the English 
 settlers were murdered, some with savage cruelty. 
 Sassacus tried to stir the neighbouring tribes to 
 join in a combination against the new-comers. Up 
 to this time we are told that the Indians had no 
 cause of complaint. The colonists of Plymouth and 
 Massachusetts had found the shores upon which 
 they debarked almost denuded of inhabitants ; for 
 some of the lands which they had since occupied 
 they had made payment. It is likely that these 
 
 I were transactions which the wild Indians scarcely 
 
 i understood till they saw how things turned out. 
 Their chiefs had affixed their marks to treaties 
 which they could not read, and which, even at the 
 time, they did not think would be binding for all 
 future times. The relations between a spreading 
 agricultural population and wandering tribes of savage 
 hunters are not likely long to remain satisfactory. 
 New England was not yet strong enough to resist 
 a coalition of the native Indians, such as was made 
 thirty-eight years later in the war of King Philip. 
 
 j But the neighbouring tribes were not yet ready 
 to make common cause against the strangers. They 
 hated the Pequots as much as they feared them. 
 Roger Williams, a Non-conformist minister of marvel- 
 
76 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 lous energy, went, at the hazard of his life, to the 
 encampments of the Narragansetts. Knowing their 
 language and habits, he succeeded in dissuading 
 them from joining with the Pequots. On October 
 21, the Sachem of the Narragansetts came to 
 Boston with several other chiefs. They were enter- 
 tained with great courtesy by the governor, and 
 entered into a treaty of peace and friendship with 
 the English. They were accompanied to the bounds 
 of the town by a file of soldiers, who saluted them 
 on parting with a fire of musketry. Vane sent ninety 
 men in three small vessels to Block Island Sound 
 under Endicot of Salem. He killed and wounded 
 a few of the Pequots, burned their huts, staved their 
 canoes, and cut down their corn. This only em- 
 bittered their hatred. Massachusetts contributed 
 ^6000, and sent a hundred and sixty men to carry 
 on the war. Only twenty of this contingent were 
 in time to take part in Captain Mason's daring blow 
 at the Pequots (May 26, 1636). Descending the 
 Connecticut and landing near the entrance of 
 Narragansetts Bay, he marched under a bright 
 moon to the Indian encampment. The Englishmen, 
 seventy-seven in number, silently approached the 
 stockade, broke in, set the wigwams on fire, and killed 
 all they found. The arrows and hatchets of the 
 Pequots were of little avail against the more deadly 
 weapons of the white men. The Indian allies, 
 Mohegans, Narragansetts, and Nyantics had formed 
 a circuit round the fort trembling for the event of 
 the attack ; they slaughtered the fugitive Pequots 
 without mercy. Few escaped ; above four hundred 
 were killed, 
 
ANN HUTCHINSON 
 
 77 
 
 Sassacus gathered the rest of his tribe and fled 
 towards the Hudson ; he was overtaken near New- 
 haven, the latter end of June, by a force from 
 Massachusetts. Sassacus with about seventy men 
 broke through and escaped to the Mohawks. Ninety- 
 nine came out and surrendered ; the Hves of most of 
 them were spared, though many of the captives were 
 sent to Bermuda and sold for slaves. This was after 
 Vane left. The Pequot nation ceased to exist, and for 
 forty years no Indian tribe dared to attack the settle- 
 ments of New England. 
 
 In the meantime a theological dispute was raging 
 which exercised the minds of most of the colonists 
 more deeply than the Indian peril. About the 
 year before Vane's arrival, Mr William Hutchinson 
 had come to New England from Alford, near 
 Boston in Lincolnshire, where he had a good 
 estate. He was described by Winthrop "as a man 
 of very mild temper and weak parts, and wholly 
 guided by his wife." In the old country this lady 
 had attended the ministrations of the Rev. John 
 Cotton ; and Wheelwright, who was her brother-in- 
 law, a silenced minister, followed the Hutchinsons to 
 New England about two years after. During the 
 voyage, Mrs Hutchinson had aroused the hostil- 
 ity of Mr Symmes, who became minister of Charles- 
 town. His account of her vagaries had caused some 
 delay in the lady and her husband being admitted 
 members of the Boston congregation ; but by her 
 active charity, especially to women in time of sickness, 
 she soon made herself popular. It was the custom of 
 the men to hold weekly meetings, and Ann Hutchinson 
 began to gather together the matrons of Boston 
 
78 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 every Sunday and sometimes twice a week. At 
 these assemblies the sermons preached by the ministers 
 were reviewed with a critical spirit to which these 
 divines had been little accustomed, since their arrival 
 in the New World. Mrs Hutchinson took a leading 
 part, sitting in the chair and giving answers to 
 questions like a doctor of divinity, and showing great 
 knowledge of the scriptures and command of language. 
 During these colloquies she gave expression to some 
 views which appeared novel to the strict congregations 
 which up to this time had been all of one mind since 
 they landed in the new country. At the present time, 
 it is easier for us to understand the lady's character 
 than her theological doctrines. 
 
 She maintained that the indwelling of the real 
 spirit of the gospel in a man, even if he should have 
 all the good works and graces expected of one of 
 religious character, could not be inferred with 
 certainty from these outward displays. This could 
 scarcely be denied unless one held that there were no 
 such persons as hypocrites. 
 
 It was a mere paraphrase of the language of the 
 Apostle, who plainly intimated that a man may speak 
 with the tongues of angels, and have the gift of 
 prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all 
 knowledge, and have all faith so as to remove 
 mountains, and give his goods to feed the poor, 
 and give his body to be burned, and yet be nothing 
 in a religious and spiritual view. Mrs Hutchinson 
 also held that by the expression Holy Spirit is 
 meant such an actual communication of the spirit of 
 God as made the recipient the abode of all true 
 holiness. This was thought to reduce the Holy 
 
SANCTIFICATION AND JUSTIFICATION 79 
 
 Ghost to a divine influence. These general axioms 
 might have attracted little attention or passed with 
 little demur ; but Mrs Hutchinson, with all her 
 attainments in theology, was not exempt from the 
 feminine proclivity of reducing general propositions 
 to personal applications. One would have thought 
 that the thesis that sanctification was no proof of 
 justification would leave a general state of doubt 
 whether any one could be held to be justified or not ; 
 but Mrs Hutchinson had some means of knowing 
 who were under a covenant of works and who were 
 under a covenant of grace. Those who disagreed with 
 her were in the first category, and those who supported 
 her were in the second. Mr John Cotton and Mr 
 John Wheelwright were, she said, under the covenant 
 of grace ; the other ministers of the colony were 
 under the covenant of works. The latter preachers, 
 conceiving that by this classification they were 
 placed in an inferior category, freely exercised their 
 opportunities of denouncing these unpleasant novel- 
 ties. The whole plantation was aflame with the 
 dispute between the partisans of the covenant of 
 works and those of the covenant of grace. Husband 
 and wife engaged in heated controversy; friends 
 were estranged. When the Rev. Mr Wilson rose 
 to speak Mrs Hutchinson walked out of the church 
 followed by her adherents. The ministers were 
 called by such names as Baal's priests, scribes, 
 Pharisees, and opposers of Christ ; "such an officer is 
 an ignorant man and knows not Christ ; such a one 
 is under a covenant of works ; such a pastor is a 
 proud man." The young governor, who lived in the 
 same house with Mr Cotton, gave his support to Mrs 
 
80 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 Hutchinson, and all the members of the Boston 
 church took her side save five. Mr Winthrop was 
 in the opposition, and allied himself with the ministers 
 in the other townships. It was not likely that they 
 would be ready to approve of new religious views 
 preached by a woman when St Paul had forbidden 
 a woman to teach or to usurp authority over the man, 
 but to be in silence, nor could they relish that this 
 eloquent female apostle should lead into new paths 
 her own sex whom hitherto they had found their 
 most docile followers. 
 
 Vane's mind was deeply vexed by these bitter 
 controversies ; he had crossed the ocean to get quit of 
 Laud and his commissioners, and here were new in- 
 quisitors eager to suppress every opinion which did 
 not chime in with their own. They had brought with 
 them the root of all this intolerance, the conviction 
 that men could only be saved from everlasting tor- 
 ments by adopting certain dogmas. The controversy 
 was shifted from ceremonies to shadowy doctrines, the 
 covenant of grace and of works instead of the ritual 
 and the altar. Instead of the Pope being antichrist, it 
 was Ann Hutchinson who deserved that appellation. 
 
 After he had held office seven months (December 
 lo) Vane called a court of deputies and announced 
 that he had received letters from his friends in 
 England which necessarily required his presence there. 
 The court trying to dissuade him, he brake forth into 
 tears, and professed that, howsoever the causes pro- 
 pounded for his departure were such as did concern 
 the utter ruin of his outward estate, yet he would rather 
 have hazarded all than have gone from them at this 
 time, if something else had not pressed him more : viz., 
 
VANE WISHES TO DEPART 
 
 81 
 
 the inevitable danger of God's judgments to come 
 upon us for these differences and dissensions which He 
 saw amongst us, and the scandalous imputations 
 brought upon himself, as if he should be the cause of 
 all, and therefore he thought it best for him to give 
 place for a time.^ 
 
 The court represented that it would not be fit to 
 give way to his departure upon those grounds, where- 
 upon Vane said that the reasons concerning his own 
 estate were sufficient to demand his departure ; as for 
 the other passage it slipped him out of his passion and 
 not out of his judgment. Upon this the court con- 
 sented silently to his departure.^ 
 
 Before the court could reassemble to appoint a 
 successor, divers of the congregation of Boston met 
 together and urged him not to go away, whereupon 
 the governor expressed himself to be an obedient 
 child to the church ; and therefore, notwithstanding 
 the licence of the court, yet without the leave of the 
 church he durst not go away, whereupon a great part 
 of the court and country who understood hereof 
 declared their purpose to continue him still in his 
 place. 
 
 A meeting of the magistrates and elders was then 
 held to advise about discovering and pacifying the 
 differences of opinion among the churches when Vane 
 expressed his displeasure that the ministers had held 
 a meeting about this matter without his privity. Here, 
 
 ^ It may be here noted that in describing these transactions we have 
 to depend mostly upon Winthrop's account. There is no reason to 
 question his truthfulness, but he would naturally seek to favour his own 
 side, and in his Diary he recorded his impressions ere the beat of contrQ- 
 versy could have passed away. 
 
 2 Winthrop, vol. i., p. 208. 
 
82 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 Hugh Peters showed that bold spirit which at last 
 brought him to his death. He told the governor, with 
 all due reverence, *'how it had sadded the ministers' 
 spirits, that he should be jealous of their meetings, or 
 seem to restrain their liberty." Vane excused his speech 
 as having been hasty and upon a mistake. Mr Peters 
 told him that before he came, within less than two 
 years since, the churches were in peace. The governor 
 answered that " the light of the gospel brings a sword, 
 and the children of the bondswoman would persecute 
 those of the freewoman." 
 
 In the farther course of the dispute Mr Wilson 
 was called to account before the Boston church for a 
 bitter speech against the danger of these opinions. The 
 governor pressed it keenly against the minister, who 
 was, however, saved by the intercession of his colleague, 
 Mr Cotton. 
 
 The time of election of a governor now approached. 
 The great question was not so much whether Vane 
 should be re-elected, or Winthrop governor once 
 more, as whether a majority of the freemen believed 
 that sanctification was an evidence of justification 
 or not. Each party tried to secure advantage for 
 the struggle. The people of Boston were mostly 
 in favour of the governor ; the rest of the towns 
 with most of the ministers were in favour of the 
 deputy-governor. The ministers gave as their opinion 
 that in all such heresies or errors of any church 
 members as are manifest and dangerous to the state, 
 the court may proceed without tarrying for the 
 church. It was moved at the session court in 
 March that the election should be held in Newtown 
 (Cambridge) instead of Boston. The governor re- 
 
VANE NOT RE-ELECTED 83 
 
 fused to put the question ; but it was put by Endicot 
 and carried/ The court had been offended by a 
 petition from Boston protesting against their treat- 
 ment of Mr Wheelwright. The governor could not 
 prevent a censure being passed upon Stephen 
 Greensmith, who was fined ^40 and ordered to 
 make an apology for saying that all the ministers, 
 save Mr Cotton, Mr Wheelwright, and he, thought 
 Mr Hooker preached a covenant of works. 
 
 The meeting of freemen was held at Newtown on 
 May 17 in the open air. Vane, who presided, wished 
 a petition from the people of Boston to be read first, 
 no doubt under the impression that it would influence 
 the election. This was successfully opposed on the 
 plea that the first business of the assembly was to 
 elect the magistrates. Vane still refused to put the 
 question, when Mr Wilson climbed a tree and 
 addressed the assembly in a heated manner. Violent 
 words were used, and some began to lay hands 
 upon one another. 
 
 The election was proceeded with, and Vane and 
 all his party were thrown out. John Winthrop was 
 chosen governor, and his friends, deputies and assis- 
 tants. Next day Boston returned Vane, Codrington, 
 and Heugh as its deputies. The new court refused 
 to admit them on the pretext of some informality ; 
 but the same men were returned forthwith and had 
 to be admitted. It was said against Vane,' that 
 before he was governor he had been used to' sit at 
 public worship in the magistrates' seat, a distinction 
 yielded to his high birth. He now left it with 
 Codrington, and repelled the governor's invitation to 
 
 1 Hutchinson's History, p. 60. 2 p^ifrey, p. 
 
84 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 return, and declined, because his conscience withheld 
 him, to go to dinner with the young Lord Leigh, 
 the son of the Earl of Marlborough, who had come 
 to see the country. It may be inferred from 
 these trivial reproaches, that Vane's resentment did 
 not go far. The four sergeants who were accustomed 
 to attend Vane refused to do the same honour to 
 Winthrop, laid down their halberds, and went home. 
 The new governor took two of his own servants 
 to attend him ; he had to endure other slights from 
 the people of Boston. 
 
 Winthrop was not slow to take advantage of 
 his victory. To secure the Boston faction gaining 
 new reinforcements from abroad, he got a regulation 
 passed that no persons should receive in their houses 
 any stranger who came with intent to reside in the 
 colony, or should allow the use of any lot or habitation 
 above three weeks without liberty from one of the 
 standing council or two other assistants. The penalty 
 for transgressing this order was £40, and ;^20 for 
 every month the breach of it lasted. Any town 
 which gave or sold a lot to such a stranger was 
 subject to a penalty of /lOO ; but any inhabitant 
 who entered his dissent was to be excused his part 
 of the fine. This order was so disliked by the people 
 of Boston, that upon the governor's return from 
 court they all refused to go out to meet him or 
 show him any respect. Winthrop published an 
 elaborate defence of the order of the court, which 
 gave his young antagonist an opportunity for a 
 telling reply. 
 
 Winthrop defined a commonwealth as : "The con- 
 sent of a certain company of people to cohabit 
 
WHAT IS A COMMONWEALTH ? 85 
 
 together, under one government for their mutual 
 safety and welfare." 
 
 To this definition Vane objects that "at the 
 best it is but a description of a commonwealth at 
 large, and not of such a commonwealth as this (as 
 is said), which is not only Christian, but dependent 
 upon the grant also of our sovereign ; for so are 
 the express words of that order of court to which 
 the whole country was required to subscribe." 
 
 " Now, if you will define a Christian commonwealth, 
 there must be put in such a consent as is according 
 to Christ. And if you will define a corporation 
 incorporated by virtue of the grant of our sovereign, 
 it must be such a consent as the grant requires and 
 permits, and in that manner and form as it prescribes, 
 or else it will be defective. The commonwealth here 
 described may be a company of Turkish pirates, 
 as well as of Christian professors, unless the consent 
 and government be better limited than it is in this 
 definition ; for sure it is, all pagans and infidels, 
 even the Indians here amongst us, may come within 
 the compass. And is this such a body politic as 
 ours, as you say ? God forbid. Our commonwealth, 
 we fear, would be twice miserable, if Christ and 
 the king should be shut out so. Reasons taken 
 from the nature of a commonwealth and founded 
 upon Christ, nor by his majesty's charters, must 
 needs fall to the ground, and foil those that rely 
 upon them. Members of a commonwealth may not 
 seek out all means that may conduce to the welfare 
 of the body, but all lawful and due means, according 
 to the charter they hold by, either from God or 
 the king, or from both. Nor may they keep out 
 
86 
 
 Um OF SIR ilfiNtlY VANE 
 
 whatsoever may appear to tend to their damage 
 (for many things appear which are not), but such 
 as, upon right and evident grounds, do so appear, 
 and are so in truth." 
 
 Winthrop, in his Defence of the Order of Court, 
 thus argued : " The churches take liberty (as law- 
 fully they may), to receive or reject at their discretion ; 
 yea, particular towns make orders to such effect ; why, 
 then, should the commonwealth be denied the like 
 liberty, and the whole more restrained than any 
 part ? " 
 
 The following was Vane's reply : " Though the 
 question be here concluded, yet it is far from being 
 soundly proved ; yea, in truth we much wonder that 
 any member of a church should be ignorant of the 
 falseness of the groundwork upon which the conclusion 
 is built ; for, should churches have the power, as you 
 say they have, to receive or reject at their discretion, 
 they would quickly grow corrupt enough. Churches 
 have no liberty to receive or reject, at their discretions, 
 but at the discretion of Christ. Whatsoever is done 
 in word or deed, in church or commonwealth, must 
 be done in the name of the Lord Jesus (Col. iii. 17). 
 Neither hath church or commonwealth any other than 
 ministerial powers from Christ (Eph. v. 23), who is 
 the Head of the church and the Prince of the kings of 
 the earth (Rev. i. 5). After that Cornelius and his 
 company had received the Holy Ghost, whereby the 
 right which they had to the covenant was evidenced, 
 it is not now left to the discretion of the church, 
 whether they would admit them thereunto or not. 
 But can any man forbid the water? saith Peter. 
 He commanded them to be baptised (Acts x. 47, 
 
CONTROVERSY WITH WlNTHROP 87 
 
 48). There is the like reason of admission into 
 churches." 
 
 The following passage shows the toleration and 
 charity of the writer : " As for scribes and Pharisees, 
 we will not plead for them ; let them do it who walk 
 in their ways, nor for such as are confirmed in any way 
 of error, though all such are not to be denied cohabi- 
 tation, but are to be pitied and reformed (Jude 22, 
 23). Ishmael shall dwell in the presence of his 
 brethren (Gen. xvi. 12)." 
 
 Finally Vane condemns the magistrates' order : — 
 " I. Because this law doth leave these weighty matters 
 of the commonwealth of receiving or rejecting such as 
 come over, to the approbation of magistrates, and 
 suspends these things upon the judgment of man, 
 whereas the judgment is God's (Deut. i. 17). This is 
 made a groundwork of gross popery. Priests and 
 magistrates are to judge, but it must be according to 
 the law of God (Deut. xvii. 9, 10, 11). That law 
 which gives that, without limitation, to man, which is 
 proper to God, cannot be just. 
 
 " 2. Because here is liberty given by this law to expel 
 and reject those which are most eminent Christians, if 
 they suit not with the disposition of the magistrate ; 
 whereby it will come to pass that Christ and His 
 members will find much worse entertainment amongst 
 us, than the Israelites did amongst the Egyptians and 
 Babylonians, than Abram and Isaac did amongst the 
 Philistines, yea, even Lot among the Sodomites. 
 These all gave leave to Gods people to sit down 
 amongst them. Though they could not claim such 
 right as the king's subjects may. Now that law, the 
 execution whereof may make us more cruel and 
 
88 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 tyrannical over God's children than pagans, yea than 
 Sodomites, must needs be most wicked and sinful." 
 
 Some of the colonists were offended that Vane 
 called in the terms of the charter granted by the king, 
 for they were fearful of the interference of the crown, 
 which once aroused might go much beyond a check 
 upon this abuse of power on the part of a court of 
 magistrates. Charles I. was still recognised as the 
 sovereign of England, as well as of the colony, and to 
 refuse entry to any of his subjects because they held that 
 sanctification was no proof of justification, was usurping 
 a power which the prescribed could reasonably call in 
 question by appealing to Caesar. Winthrop could 
 only base his oppressive order upon the vote of a 
 majority of some hundred freemen who had elected 
 him and his friends. Palfrey and others have pointed 
 out the danger of dissent and the necessity of unity, 
 using the same arguments which had been used by the 
 Episcopalians against the Brownists in the time of 
 Queen Elizabeth. The Puritans had crossed the 
 ocean to find a land where they could worship God after 
 their own fashion, and they thought that they could 
 not live in peace with those who sought Him by a 
 different way. It has been well observed by Upham^ 
 that no heresy need be regarded as dangerous to the 
 state when the state does not meddle with it. The 
 ministers had converted Mrs Hutchinson's provoking 
 language into a charge of heresy. To call in question 
 her intemperate methods might have left her with 
 few defenders ; but to censure doctrines, and belief 
 
 ^ For an account of this whole controversy I am much indebted to the 
 Life of Sir Henry Vane by C. W. Upham in Spark's Library of American 
 Biography, vol. iv., Boston, 1835. 
 
SHOULD ERROR B£ TOLERAIl^ED > 89 
 
 assumed to be held by her brought to her aid not 
 only those who favoured these doctrines, but also 
 those who thought it too small a matter on which to 
 enter upon religious persecution. At that time men 
 were not satisfied by differing in silence : they must 
 speak out. The Puritan thought he was unjustly 
 persecuted by the High Commission because he con- 
 sidered his religious tenets to be the pure truth which 
 they were seeking to extinguish. This, of course, 
 was wrong ; but was it wrong to suppress error ? was 
 it even right to tolerate it ? The Puritan thought it 
 his duty to use force in putting down erroneous doc- 
 trines, and of the erroneousness of these doctrines he 
 considered himself a proper judge. Vane had already 
 arrived at the opinion which he upheld during his 
 career, that in constituting themselves judges to 
 condemn the religious doctrines of others, they were 
 assuming a function which belonged not to erring men. 
 To Christ as the judge of all they were responsible, and 
 to no other. Whenever priests or ministers have sway, to 
 differ from them is held to be the same as differing from 
 God. It is not clear how far Vane sympathised with 
 the peculiar opinions promulgated by Mrs Hutchinson, 
 and it is much to be regretted that he did not succeed 
 in inducing her to assume a less provoking style. 
 Some of the opposite party made severe reflections 
 upon his conduct. 
 
 Lord Saye and Sele,^ in a letter to Mr Cotton after 
 his return, says : " For the young man Mr Vane, whom 
 your love followeth, and it's well it does so, for he 
 may be recovered, I have not been wanting to do my 
 endeavour to show him the danger of his way, and 
 
 ^ Hutchinson's History^ p. 65. 
 
90 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 what hath been the sad issue thereof in others ; from 
 whence I think it cometh, and whither Satan's aim is 
 to drive it, as might have appeared to you by my letters, 
 written to him unto New England, when I first did 
 perceive his delusions, if he had shown my letters to 
 you. I shall be glad to do my best to that end still ; 
 but I have not that frequent converse with his family 
 now, as heretofore, whereof these are the most in 
 Holland, and the rest will shortly be there also." 
 
 From this it appears that William Fiennes, " Old 
 Sublety " as he was called, the only independent in 
 the House of Lords, took a deep interest in this 
 theological dispute. What he thought of Vane's 
 action as his agent for his lands on the Connecticut 
 is not apparent. 
 
 That Vane should now leave Massachusetts to 
 return to his English home was natural, even in- 
 evitable. It does not appear that he ever purposed 
 permanently settling in America. He must have 
 felt that his usefulness was gone, at least for the 
 time. His condition placed him above the usual 
 occupations of a new colony. He had no trade to 
 push ; no farm to till. Naught but a high position 
 would suit his rank and give employment to his 
 powerful and comprehensive mind. His voice as a 
 deputy from Boston would be of no avail against a 
 hostile majority victorious at the polls. He had left 
 England to escape persecution, only to meet it in 
 another form across the ocean. He now found that 
 he could not even protect his friends who held views 
 similar to his own. His powerful character and 
 wonderful abilities would have in time brought him 
 back to power ; but youth is impatient, and he felt 
 
tiE RETURNS TO ENGLAND 
 
 91 
 
 the yXvKvg 'Ifiepo'i TrarplSos, and compared the bareness 
 and narrowness of the daily routine of the plantation 
 with the stirring and diversified life of an English 
 nobleman. 
 
 And so Henry Vane went away to struggle on a 
 higher field. Had he remained in New England, his 
 enlightened mind and humane spirit would have held 
 the Puritans back from those executions of witches 
 and persecutions of quakers and other heretics which 
 have added a dark chapter to the early history of 
 the States. 
 
 Vane sailed from Boston to return to England on 
 August 3, 1637, with the young Lord Leigh. His 
 party accompanied him to the boat and many to the 
 ship. A salute of five pieces of ordnance was fired 
 from the shore and five more on passing the castle. 
 His sails filled ; the ship moved off ; the farewells of 
 his friends ceased in his ears ; the houses and the 
 fort and the hill of Boston faded away ; the islands of 
 the bay passed out of sight. No more did he see 
 land against the setting sun. In his sailing ship 
 rocking between the sea and sky, Vane had many 
 weeks to reflect upon the little Puritan community, 
 toiling unweariedly to change the face of nature, to 
 turn the forests and the swamps into corn lands, and 
 make the wide continent fit for the habitation of free 
 and civilised men. 
 
 Though everything was yet on a small scale, 
 rough and unfinished, there was nothing mean or 
 insignificant even in those early days. Vane had 
 handled high destinies, been at the founding of a 
 great state, had seen peace and war, had for a second 
 time to deplore the bitterness of zealots, and had read 
 
92 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HfiNHY VANE 
 
 the face of religious bigotry. Neither in England nor 
 in America was uniformity to be found. God had 
 not framed men's minds so that they could all think 
 alike. 
 
 And so young Henry Vane again hailed his 
 native land, saw the old gabled houses, the narrow 
 crowded streets, the green villages and the grey 
 churches with the tombstones around ; again he 
 entered the stately halls of his father's castle and 
 moved within the ruling circles of the three kingdoms. 
 Neither had his enemies forgotten him. The Rev. 
 Mr Garrard writes on October 9, to the watchful 
 enemy of England's liberties, the Viscount Wentworth, 
 Lord Deputy of Ireland : " Henry Vane, the comp- 
 troller's eldest son, who had been governor in New 
 England this last year, is come home ; whether he 
 hath left his former misgrounded opinions, for which 
 he left us, I know not."^ 
 
 We have little record of his doings for the next 
 two years. About this time he married Frances, 
 one of the six daughters of Sir Christopher Wray, 
 of Ashby in Lincolnshire. 
 
 After Vane left, the victorious party fell upon 
 the friends of Mrs Hutchinson. Mr Wheelwright, 
 who had made himself prominent, was banished. 
 Seventy-six of her supporters were disarmed ; two of 
 the sergeants of Boston were disfranchised and fined, 
 and eight others were disfranchised. Eleven others 
 were warned to leave the colony within a given 
 time. A court composed of ministers and magistrates 
 already pledged to the other side was held at 
 Newtown on August 30. Mr Winthrop presided, 
 
 1 Strafford's Letters and Dispatches, vol. ii., p. ii6. 
 
FATE OF THE HUTCHINSONS 
 
 93 
 
 and, as we are told, he showed wisdom and an 
 excellent spirit, silencing passionate and impertinent 
 speeches, and adjourning the assembly when he saw 
 heat and passion. Mrs Hutchinson was next called 
 before an ecclesiastical court. Exasperated by the 
 hostile character of the proceedings against her, which 
 had lasted two days, she declared that it had been 
 revealed to her that she should come into New 
 England, and there should be persecuted, and that 
 God would ruin her adversaries and their posterity. 
 This was eagerly seized upon to confirm the accusa- 
 tions of heresy, and for traducing the ministers and 
 their ministry in the country she was ordered to be 
 banished. As it was winter she was committed 
 to the charge of a magistrate in Roxbury, the brother 
 of a minister who was one of her principal opponents. 
 Here she was jealously watched. The elders managed 
 to engage her in disputes, out of which further heresies 
 were involved, one of which was that the soul is 
 not naturally immortal, and that the same body 
 does not rise at the resurrection. She was then 
 called before a court of ministers and admonished 
 when she made a retractation of nearly all her errors, 
 but irritated her opponents by declaring that some 
 of the doctrines attributed to her were such as she 
 had never maintained, which was treated as an 
 impudent persistence in untruth. The Rev. Mr 
 Wilson had the satisfaction of excommunicating her, 
 and she was now expelled from the colony. Her 
 husband had been previously removed from the list 
 of magistrates. Many documents upon this contro- 
 versy still remain. They show a cruel bitterness 
 of feeling. Mrs Hutchinson's friends were accused 
 
94 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 of antinomianism, as if they made no distinction 
 between virtue and vice ; but it is a common device 
 in controversy for men to deduce from the opinions 
 of their adversaries inferences which the latter neither 
 adopt nor act upon. It was afterwards remarked 
 that those thus accused of tenets leading to immorality 
 proved by their subsequent, as they had done by 
 their previous, conduct, exemplary in their lives and 
 conversations. 
 
 On being banished from Massachusetts, the 
 Hutchinsons sold their estate as best they could, 
 and removed to Rhode Island, where she got her 
 husband elected governor. The character of Ann 
 Hutchinson was pursued by calumnies too foul to 
 be repeated ; but wherever she went we find proofs 
 of her extraordinary personal influence.^ On the 
 death of her husband, pursued by the restless malice 
 
 * Winthrop records in his Diary that one, Mr Collins, a teacher in 
 a school at Hartford, though warned to beware of her, was also taken with 
 Mrs Hutchinson's heresies, and in great admiration of her, so as these, 
 and other the like before, when she dwelt at Boston, gave cause of 
 suspicion of witchcraft, for it was certainly known that Hawkins' wife 
 (who continued with her, and was her bosom friend) had much 
 familiarity with the devil in England, when she dwelt at St Ives 
 (vol. ii., p. 9). 
 
 Mr Collins espoused Mrs Hutchinson's daughter. In 1641, this 
 victim of the witchery of the mother or the daughter coming to Boston 
 with his brother-in-law, they were charged with writing a letter against 
 the churches and ministers, and punished with a fine assessed the higher 
 "because that family had put the country to so much charge in the 
 synod and other occasions to the value of ^500." After being imprisoned 
 for some time they gave their bonds for the fines and were dismissed. — 
 Winthrop's Diary ^ vol. ii., p. 40. 
 
 Mr Collins, along with his wife, perished in the massacre of the 
 Hutchinson family. One son could not have been there at the time, as 
 he is recorded to have distinguished himself in King Philip's war, 
 during which he was mortally wounded in an ambush. — Hutchinson's 
 History, p. 292. 
 
TOLERATION FIRST ADOPTED 
 
 of her enemies, she took refuge on Long Island in 
 a place which was disputed between the Dutch and 
 the natives. Here she and her whole family, sixteen 
 persons in all, were murdered by the Indians, one 
 daughter only surviving who was carried into 
 captivity. Instead of exciting commiseration, the 
 tragical fate of this gifted woman was hailed as a 
 new evidence of the abhorrence with which the 
 Almighty regarded her heresies. 
 
 It is noteworthy that as Henry Vane was the first 
 English statesman to advocate religious toleration, his 
 friend Roger Williams was the first to get it adopted 
 in the constitution of any Christian state.^ When the 
 general court of Massachusetts in 1657 applied to the 
 government of Rhode Island to extend their persecution 
 against Quakers they replied, " We have no law among 
 us whereby to punish any one for only declaring by 
 words, etc., their minds and understandings concerning 
 the things and ways of God as to salvation and 
 an eternal condition." ^ Lord Baltimore and his associ- 
 ates in the settlement of Maryland, though they extended 
 toleration only to Christians, passed a law protecting all 
 sects and dissentient persons, and forbidding them to 
 call each other heretics or infidels.^ 
 
 We should be loth to disturb the veneration with 
 which the memory of John Winthrop is regarded in 
 America. Amongst the strenuous and able men who had 
 a share in the beginning of the great Bay State, none 
 had a better right to be named as its founder. He 
 
 1 These principles Roger Williams defended in 1614, in his celebrated 
 Dialogue between Youth and Peace. 
 
 ^ This document is given in the appendix of Hutchinson's History^ 
 p. 526. 
 
 ^ Upham's Life of Vane, p. 157. 
 
96 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 spent all his wealth, all his strength, all his remaining 
 years in fostering its early growth. From the day 
 when the governor shared his last handful of meal 
 with a poor man, only ten years had elapsed till he pre- 
 sided at the foundation of Harvard University, which 
 now adds distinction to the beautiful city of Boston. 
 Pity it is that two such men ever came into collision. In 
 his opposition to Vane and his bitter persecution of 
 the adherents of Mrs Hutchinson, Winthrop showed 
 the least estimable traits of his character. It is, how- 
 ever, to be considered that after his electioneering 
 victory he had to satisfy the vindictive feelings of his 
 clerical allies, who encouraged him by their assurances 
 that his oppressive measures were called for by the in- 
 terests of true religion. " He was," says Hutchinson, " of 
 a more catholic spirit than some of his brethren before 
 he left England, but afterwards he grew more con- 
 tracted, and was disposed to lay too great stress upon 
 indifferent matters. Some writers say that on his 
 death-bed, when Mr Dudley pressed him to sign an 
 order of banishment of a heterodox person, he refused, 
 saying : ' He had done too much of that work already.' " 
 It is pleasing to know that these two noble 
 men in their ardour for a common cause rose above 
 personal rivalries, and that friendly messages and letters 
 were exchanged across the Atlantic.^ In 1645 when 
 
 ^ Hosmer has published a letter in facsimile from the Massachusetts 
 archives, which is in answer to one from John Winthrop, senior, delivered 
 to Sir Henry Vane by his son, who is about to return to New England, 
 It is dated June lo, 1645, a few days before the battle of Naseby. In 
 this letter Vane writes : "The exercise and troubles which God is pleased 
 to lay upon these kingdomes and' the inhabitants in them teaches us 
 patience and forbearance one with another in some measure, though 
 there be difference in our opinions which makes me hope that from the 
 experience heere it may also be derived to yourselves. LeastwhUea the 
 
A TRUE FRIEND TO NEW ENGLAND 
 
 97 
 
 some New England men got into a difficulty with the 
 Admiralty Courts in London and were required to give 
 bonds to the amount of ^400, Winthrop records with 
 admiration the friendly offices of Sir Henry Vane on 
 their behalf, "although he might have taken occasion 
 against us for some dishonour, which he apprehended to 
 have been unjustly put upon him, yet both now, and at 
 other times, he showed himself a true friend to New 
 England, and a man of noble and generous mind." ^ 
 
 Hutchinson also records that in the previous year 
 " attachment was made of the effects of Alderman 
 Berkly of London at the suit of Lady Latour, and 
 judgment given for ;^2000 sterling, and no appeal 
 admitted : heavy complaint was made against the 
 government of Massachusetts, and they were threatened 
 with the loss of their privileges. Sir Henry Vane stood 
 their friend, and by his great interest with the 
 parliament appeased their resentment and laid the 
 storm which was gathering and hung over them."^ 
 
 The name of Henry Vane is remembered as one 
 of the founders of the State of Rhode Island. To 
 use the eloquent words of Roger Williams : " It was 
 not price or money that could have purchased Rhode 
 Island, but it was obtained by love — that love and 
 favour which that honoured gentleman, Sir H. Vane, 
 and myself, had with the great Sachem, Miantonomo, 
 about the league which I procured between the 
 
 Congregationall way amongst you is in its freeddome and is backed with 
 power ; it teaches its oppungers heere to extirpate it and root it out from 
 its owne principles and practice." He ends : " Pray commende me kindely 
 to your wife, Mr Cotton and his wife, and the rest of my friends with you." 
 — The Life of Young Sir Henry Vane, by James K. Hosmer, Boston and 
 New York, 1889, p. 79. 
 
 ^ Winthrop, vol. ii., p. 248. 
 
 ^ MS. letter quoted by Hutchinson, History, p. 66. 
 
 G 
 
98 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 Massachusetts English and the Narragansetts in the 
 Pequot War. This I mention, as the truly noble Sir 
 H. Vane had been so good an instrument in the hand 
 of God for procuring this island from the barbarians, 
 as also for procuring and confirming the charter, that 
 it may be recorded with all thankfulness."^ 
 
 In 1653 Sir Henry Vane showed his continued 
 interest in the affairs of New England by a letter 
 which he wrote to Roger Williams, exhorting the 
 leaders of Rhode Island not to give way to a con- 
 tentious and intolerant spirit. An answer was drawn 
 up by Roger Williams and signed by the principal in- 
 habitants of Providence thanking him for his friendly 
 remonstrances, and expressing the hope that "when we 
 are gone and rotten, our posterity and children after us 
 shall read in our town records your pious and favour- 
 able letters, and loving-kindness to us." ^ 
 
 * Hutchinson's Historical Collections^ vol. x., p. 20, 
 ^ Upham, p. 160 ; and Historical Collections^ vol. ix., p. 194, Second 
 Series. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 State of England. Hampden's Protest against Ship-Money. Perse- 
 cution of the Puritans. Leighton, Prynne, Barton, Bastwick, and 
 Lilburne. Rise of new Sects. 
 
 While Henry Vane was away across the Atlantic 
 the doings of the court party and of the rituahsts in 
 England were getting ever more rapacious and 
 irritating. The king's methods of raising money 
 brought him m.uch reproach with little gain, for a 
 large share of the sums extorted remained in the 
 corrupt hands of his tax-gatherers. On the advice 
 of the Attorney-General Noy, and Chief-Justice 
 Finch, he began to levy a tax known as "Ship- 
 Money," at first upon the maritime towns and then 
 upon the whole country. As Charles had no standing 
 army to enforce swift obedience, the machinery of 
 government had still to be worked through the old 
 laws and customs of the realm, and the unwillingness 
 of magistrates, judges, and juries to comply with his 
 arbitrary commands opposed a retarding effect upon 
 their execution ; nor could the king banish from his 
 mind a fear of the forces against which in his wilful- 
 ness he was throwing himself The towns still elected 
 their civic rulers, had their train bands, and managed 
 their own internal affairs. Thus the old forms of the 
 Constitution still remained, and only awaited a new 
 
100 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 spirit of freedom to be used against the encroachment 
 of the prerogative. Hence the court wished to make 
 it believed that they were still acting under the old 
 laws. 
 
 John Hampden, a wealthy landholder of Bucking- 
 hamshire, consulting with Bulstrode Whitelocke and 
 Oliver St John, two able lawyers, determined to bring 
 the legality of ship-money to the test. For this 
 purpose he resisted a levy of 20s. When the question 
 was brought before the full bench of judges, it was 
 argued at great length from November 6 to Decem- 
 ber 18, 1636. St John gained great reputation for 
 his pleading against the prerogative. It was decided 
 in favour of the court by a majority of eight judges 
 against four. This decision gave great grief to all 
 moderate men, as it practically placed the property of 
 the subjects at the mercy of the crown. Hampden 
 in this contest showed great skill and tact, affording 
 no opportunity for his adversaries to find fault with 
 his conduct. 
 
 As if this was not enough to make the king un- 
 popular, Laud went on with his inquisition about the 
 placing of altars and his persecutions about drapery 
 and posturing. As early as 1628, Alexander Leighton, 
 a Scotsman, had framed a petition to parliament for 
 the extirpation of prelacy, to which he obtained five 
 hundred signatures, some of them from members of 
 parliament. He crossed to Holland to get the petition 
 printed ; there it was extended into a book entitled 
 Zions Plea against Prelacy, printed for the use of the 
 parliament. In this treatise some provoking language 
 was used against the prelates. Leighton was brought 
 before the Star Chamber in June 1630. The attorney- 
 
LEIGHTON AND PRYNNE 
 
 101 
 
 general offered him a full pardon if he would reveal 
 the names of those who had signed the petition, which 
 he indignantly refused. The dauntless Puritan 
 refused to take off his hat to the court, and declared 
 that they had no authority to touch him. He was 
 sentenced to be committed to the Fleet during life, 
 to pay a fine of 10,000, his clerical dress to be 
 stripped from his back, to be whipped at Westminster, 
 and afterwards to be set upon the pillory and one of 
 his ears cropped off, and his nose slit and to be branded 
 in the face with a double S. S. The day before that fixed 
 for his appearance in the pillory Leighton escaped ; 
 but was in a fortnight captured again. His courage 
 did not fail him. " All the arguments brought against 
 me," he said, "are prison, fines, brands, knife, and 
 whip." " This is Christ's yoke," he cried, as his 
 neck was thrust into the pillory ; and as the knife of 
 the executioner cut away his ear he exclaimed, 
 " Blessed be God, if I had a hundred, I would lose 
 them all for the cause." Other cruelties were to 
 be committed on him at Cheapside, but we are told 
 one ear was left uncropped, and the second scourging 
 was not inflicted. He was taken back to the Fleet, 
 where he was confined for ten years until set free by 
 the Long Parliament.^ 
 
 William Prynne, a barrister, had made himself 
 obnoxious by writing against Arminianism and the 
 jurisdiction of the bishops, which he followed up by 
 a big quarto entitled Histro- Matrix, inveighing against 
 the stage, masques, dancing, and other gaieties. Laud 
 
 ^ The trial of Leighton is given in Rushworth, vol. ii. Some additional 
 particulars are given in the Life and Letters of Robert Leighton, by the 
 Rev. D. Butler, London, 1903, p. 41. Alexander Leighton was the 
 father of Robert Leighton, the Restoration Bishop of Dunblane, 
 
102 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 set his creature Dr Heylin to pore through this 
 austere production, who naturally had recourse to the 
 index in which he found an unlucky entry, " women 
 actors, notorious whores." Though this referred to 
 the actresses of antiquity, it was pretended that the 
 author meant to asperse the queen, who had taken 
 part in a pastoral some weeks after the publication 
 of the volume, and so Prynne was haled before the 
 Star Chamber on February 7, 1634, and after a 
 full hearing was sentenced to have his book burned 
 by the hands of the hangmen, to be degraded from 
 his profession, to stand in the pillory at Westminster 
 and Cheapside, to lose both his ears, one in each 
 place, to pay a fine of ^^5000, and to suffer perpetual 
 imprisonment.^ 
 
 This cruel sentence struck men with horror and 
 indignation ; mutilation was rare in the English 
 criminal law, and the unshrinking courage and 
 patience of the sufferer excited admiration. Sir 
 Simonds d'Ewes went to Prynne awhile after in the 
 Fleet, and found in him the rare effect of an upright 
 heart and a good conscience by his serenity of spirit 
 and cheerful patience.^ 
 
 From his prison the unconquered Puritan found 
 means to get published some fresh pamphlets 
 offensive to the archbishop, and so in the spring 
 of 1637, Prynne was again brought before the Star 
 Chamber along with two others — the Rev. Mr Burton, 
 who had preached and published two sermons against 
 the innovations in worship, and Dr Bastwick, a 
 physician of Colchester, who had two years before 
 
 ' Whitlocke's Memoirs, p. r8. 
 
 2 The Autobiography and Correspondence, vol. ii., p. 105. 
 
SAVAGE PUNISHMENTS 
 
 103 
 
 been censured for a Latin book denying the 
 supremacy and the divine right of bishops. He 
 had been fined ^looo and forbidden to practise 
 medicine. Daring to defend his opinions in a second 
 pubhcation, he was now again before this vindictive 
 tribunal. The accused could get no counsel to sign 
 their answers. Indeed, Mr St John of Lincoln's Inn 
 had his study searched for implicating papers on the 
 suspicion that he had assisted Burton in his defence. 
 Their petition that under this default they should put 
 in answers under their own hands was also refused. 
 The council discharged their rancour in bitter abuse 
 of the unflinching Puritans, who boldly defended 
 their opinions and reproached the bishops with 
 allowing popish works to pass while they pursued 
 every attack upon the pretensions to divine right. 
 
 Prynne was sentenced to be fined ^5000, to 
 be put in the pillory, to have the small remainder 
 of his ears cut off, to be branded on both cheeks, 
 and to be imprisoned for life in Carnarvon Castle. 
 Burton was fined ^1000, to stand in the pillory, 
 have his ears cut off, and to be imprisoned in 
 Lancaster Castle, denied all access to his wife, and 
 the use of pen and ink and paper. 
 
 Bastwick was to be fined ^5000, to stand in 
 the pillory, to lose his ears, and to be imprisoned in 
 Lanceston Castle in Cornwall. 
 
 Garrard writes to Wentworth, now gone over 
 to the court and Lord Deputy of Ireland, that sixty 
 of Burton's parishioners signed a petition to the king 
 to pardon their pastor. " Two of them brought it 
 in who were committed for their pains." In a 
 subsequent letter Garrard thus writes : '* In the 
 
104 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 palace-yard two pillories were erected, and there the 
 sentence of Star Chamber against Burton, Bastwick, 
 and Prynne, was executed. They stood two hours 
 in the pillory, Burton by himself, being degraded in 
 the High Commission Court three days before ; the 
 place was full of people, who cried and howled 
 terribly, especially when Burton was cropt. Dr 
 Bastwick was very merry, his wife, Dr Poe's daughter, 
 got a stool, kissed him ; his ears being cut off, she 
 called for them, and put them in a clean handkerchief, 
 and carried them away with her." About two months 
 after this the archbishop writes to the Lord Deputy : 
 " But what say you to it, that Prynne and his 
 fellows should be allowed to talk what they pleased 
 while they stood in the pillory, and win acclamations 
 from the people, and have notes taken of what they 
 spake, and those notes spread in written copies 
 about the city?" etc. ^ Later still Garrard writes 
 that " there was not less than one hundred thousand 
 people gathered together to see Burton pass out of 
 London ; his wife went along in a coach, having much 
 money thrown to her as she passed along." It was 
 jealously noted that friends came to greet and comfort 
 Prynne by the way to Carnarvon, and some of them 
 were summoned before the York Commission and 
 severely dealt with therefor. Laud did not look 
 in vain to Wentworth for friendly sympathy. " Mr 
 Prynne's case," observes the stately Lord Deputy, 
 "is not the first wherein I have resented the humour 
 of the time to cry up and magnify such as the honour 
 
 ^ Strafford's Letters, vol. ii., pp. 57, 85, 99, 114, 119, and 136. The 
 petitions of Prynne, Burton, and Bastwick, to the Long Parhament, 
 are to be found in Rushworth's Historical Collections, vol. i., part iii. 
 
MORE MUTILATIONS 
 
 105 
 
 and justice of the king and state have marked out 
 and adjudged mutinous to the government, and 
 offensive to that belief and reverence the people 
 ought to have in the wisdom and integrity of the 
 magistrates." ^ 
 
 In another long epistle to the archbishop his 
 lordship deems it "strange indeed to see the frenzy 
 which possesseth the vulgar nowadays ; and that the 
 just displeasure and chastisement of a state should 
 produce greater estimation, nay reverence to persons 
 of no consideration either for life or learning, than the 
 greatest and highest trusts and employments shall be 
 able to procure for others of unspotted conversation, 
 of most eminent virtues and deepest knowledge." 
 How grievous that the Lord Deputy should not 
 obtain at once the glory of martyrdom and the wages 
 of apostasy ! 
 
 He judges that the cure will be effected rather by 
 corrosives than lenitives ; less than Thorough will not 
 overcome it ; there is a cancerous malignity in it which 
 must be cut forth. He thinks that Hampden and that 
 nation of people who oppose all civil and ecclesiastical 
 authority should be whipped home into their right 
 wits. Perhaps it was an exacerbation of the gout which 
 ma.de the quondam patriot so vicious. **It is worse," 
 he writes, " than it has ever been before. I see in- 
 firmities, with years grow upon me." Went worth was 
 then no older than forty-four. 
 
 A decree was made in the Star Chamber in July 
 1637 prohibiting the printing of any work without a 
 
 ' There is still extant an Order of Council, September 10, 1637, to 
 find out who resorted to Prynne and Henry Burton on their way to 
 imprisonment, and who gave them money, courtesy, or encouragement. 
 S/afe Papers, Charles I. Dom., vol. ccclxvii., p. 414. 
 
106 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 licence from the Archbishop of Canterbury or the 
 Bishop of London. It was noticed that they refused 
 to Hcense any books written against popery and 
 Arminianism, and even refused permission to reprint 
 Foxe's Book of Martyrs and Bishop Jewel's works. 
 
 John Warton and John Lilburne were brought 
 before the Star Chamber for printing contrary to this 
 decree. Refusing to answer, they were imprisoned 
 and sent to the pillory. Lilburne, then no older than 
 nineteen, especially provoked the court by his bold 
 demeanour, and was whipped at the cart from the Fleet 
 to Westminster. " On the way he uttered many bold 
 speeches against the tyranny of the bishops, and while 
 his head was in the hole of the pillory he took out of 
 his pockets sundry copies of pamphlets and tossed 
 them among the people, whereupon the Court of 
 Star Chamber (then sitting) being informed, im- 
 mediately ordered Lilburne to be gagged during the 
 residue of the time he was to stand in the pillory; 
 he now stamped with his feet, thereby intimating to the 
 beholders he would still speak were his mouth free."^ 
 The court immediately decreed that Lilburne should 
 be laid alone with irons on his hands and legs in the 
 wards of the Fleet. 
 
 The Non-conformist clergy turned out of their bene- 
 fices were sustained by the zeal of their flocks. Some 
 were kept as tutors or chaplains in wealthy Puritan 
 families ; others wandered about lecturing or preaching. 
 In the end many of them were chased away, silenced, 
 or imprisoned. This did not bring back the people to 
 the prelatic fold : some of the more fervid of the laity 
 
 1 Rushworth, vol. ii., p. 466. 
 
MAKING OF NEW SECTS 
 
 107 
 
 took to preaching and praying within families and larger 
 gatherings. With their constant studies of the bible 
 they evolved new views which soon led to great 
 diversities of opinion and the formation of new 
 sects. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 Sir Thomas Wentworth. A Leader of the Country Party. Passes over 
 to the Court. Made Lord Deputy of Ireland. His Scheme of 
 " Thorough." His Administration of Ireland. His wholesale Confis- 
 cations. His Treatment of Lord Mountnorris and Lord Loftus. 
 
 Thomas Wentworth, born on April 13, 1593, 
 came of an old family in Yorkshire. When he was 
 no older than eighteen he married the Lady Margaret, 
 eldest daughter of the Earl of Cumberland. Three 
 years after, by the death of his father, he came into 
 possession of the estate of Wentworth- Woodhouse, 
 which was worth ^6000 a year. His wife died 
 after eleven years wedlock, and eighteen months 
 after, Wentworth married Arabella Holies, younger 
 daughter of the Earl of Clare, and sister of Denzil 
 Holies, a bold opponent of the king in parliament. 
 She was "a lady exceedingly comely and beautiful, 
 and yet much more beautiful in the endowments 
 of her mind." She died in 1631, and the year after, 
 when he became the king's deputy for Ireland, 
 he was privately married to a lady of less exalted 
 rank. Eager for power, Wentworth had sought to 
 ingratiate himself with the Duke of Buckingham, who 
 would not suffer any one to gain favour with the king 
 save through himself. There is still extant a letter 
 from Wentworth to Lord Conway dated January 20, 
 
 810 
 
WENTWORTH AS PATRIOT 
 
 109 
 
 1625-26,^ in which he solicits Conway's good offices 
 with the favourite to be made president of the north. 
 Failing in this application, Wentworth now turned 
 against Buckingham. He sat in the parliament of 
 1625 as knight of the shire for Yorkshire. 
 
 Fearing his opposition in the parliament of 1626, 
 the court got him pricked as Sheriff of Yorkshire, so 
 that he might be incapacitated from holding a seat, 
 and he was summarily dismissed from his office of 
 custos rotulorum while seated on the bench at York. 
 In May 1627 he was, along with his friend. Sir George 
 Radcliffe, committed a prisoner to the Marshalsea for 
 refusing the royal loan. He was released after six 
 weeks, but was kept under arrest at Dartford till the 
 end of the year, when he again served in the third 
 parliament of Charles I. Wentworth now joined with 
 Eliot, Pym, and other opponents of the arbitrary 
 actions of the king, and his boldness and powers of 
 speaking soon made him formidable. 
 
 The assassination of the duke on August 23 of 
 that year removed his adverse influence. After using 
 his powerful eloquence to carry the Petition of Right, 
 Wentworth turned against his party in the last 
 debate. 
 
 Men like Wentworth are spirited to resist oppres- 
 sion directed against themselves ; but are ready to 
 employ it against others for their own aggrandise- 
 ment. Charles I. repeatedly showed himself anxious 
 to gain over the ablest of his opponents. He was 
 notably sucessful with Montrose, Falkland, and Hyde. 
 
 1 This letter was published for the first time in The Life of Thomas 
 Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, by Elizabeth Cooper, London, 1874, vol. i., p. 
 27. It had been already quoted in Forster's Life of Sir John Eliot, London, 
 1864, vol. ii., p. 219. 
 
110 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 Wentworth now listened to his overtures, and without 
 any explanation, turned against his political friends. 
 It was certainly not for past services to the crown 
 that he was made Baron, then Viscount Wentworth, 
 privy councillor and president of the north, the post 
 which he had in vain solicited from Buckingham. To 
 Charles Stuart he was willing to use the language of 
 fulsome flattery, for he realised that the king alone 
 could gratify his love of power ; as he put it, he was 
 willing to be the king's creature, but not to go much 
 less as to be the creature of any other man. As an 
 opponent of the crown he could only hope to gain 
 influence without power. Amongst the parliamentary 
 men he had able competitors ; he could scarcely hope 
 to lead, and was not content to follow. Though he 
 had most carefully cultivated his rhetorical talents, he 
 naturally preferred the exercise of direct power to fame 
 as an orator or popularity as a patriot. As president 
 of the northern council, Wentworth entered upon wide 
 power over the country from the H umber to the 
 Scottish frontier, which he extended and abused in 
 defiance of the law. In 1633, as Lord Deputy for 
 Ireland, he found a suitable field for his commanding 
 energy and great administrative capacity. From the 
 outset it was his avowed object to make the king 
 absolute, to raise a revenue which might assist him 
 in doing without a parliament on the other side, and 
 to give him counsels through which he might reduce 
 the remaining liberties of England to an empty 
 form. 
 
 There is no proof that Wentworth had any 
 speculative preference for despotic rule over limited 
 monarchy ; but, if Charles Stuart were to be sultan. 
 
WENTWORTH'S CHARACTER 
 
 111 
 
 Thomas Wentworth should be his Irish satrap and 
 the tyrant of the northern counties. The one was 
 not to go without the other. 
 
 Wentworth was a man of tall stature with a 
 forward stoop from the neck; he had dark hair, 
 with a cloudy countenance and habitual frown. His 
 imperious manner, rough speeches, and choleric temper, 
 made him many enemies. Queen Henrietta never 
 was his friend. Some requests made by her to 
 him when Lord Deputy are preserved amongst the 
 correspondence, which were met with polite refusals.^ 
 His friend. Sir George Radcliffe, tells us that he 
 was very temperate in his habits, yet he was much 
 subject to gout, and though he could be genial with 
 a few friends, smoking and jesting, he maintained 
 at Dublin unwonted sobriety and decorum on public 
 occasions. 
 
 Sir Thomas Roe, a veteran diplomatist of those 
 times, in a letter to Elizabeth, the Electrix- Palatine, 
 in 1634, thus traces the character of Wentworth, then 
 commencing his career as Lord Deputy for Ireland : 
 "He is severe abroad and in business, and sweet in 
 private conversation ; retired in his friendships but 
 very firm ; a terrible judge and a strong enemy ; a 
 servant violently zealous in his master's ends and 
 not negligent of his own ; one that will have what 
 he will, and though of great reason, he can make his 
 will greater when it may serve him ; affecting glory 
 by a seeming contempt ; one that cannot stay long 
 in the middle region of fortune, but entreprenant. 
 
 ^ The Earl of Strafford's Letters and Dispatches^ with an Essay 
 towards his Life by Sir George Radcliffe, from the originals in the 
 possession of his great grandson Thomas, Earl of Malton, Dublin, 171 1. 
 
112 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 He will either be the greatest man in England or 
 much less than he is." 
 
 The portrait of Wentworth by his rival in parlia- 
 ment, Sir John Eliot, made twelve years before his 
 fall, shows how truly Eliot discerned both the strong 
 and weak points of his character : " There was in 
 that gentleman, a good choice of parts, naturall and 
 acquisit, and not less opinion of them. A strong 
 eloquence he had, and a comprehension of much 
 reason. His arguments were weightie and acute, 
 and his descriptions exquisit." "His abilities were 
 great, both in judgment and persuasion ; and as great 
 a reputation did attend them. But those manie and 
 great virtues, as Livy sales of Hanniball, as great 
 vices parallel'd. Or rather, they were in him, as 
 Cicero notes in Catiline, signa virtutum, formes of 
 virtue onlie, not the matter; for they seldom were 
 directed to good ends, and when they had that colour 
 some other secret mov'd them. His covetousness 
 and ambition were both violent, as were his waies to 
 serve them." " And those affections raised him to 
 so much pride and choler, as anie opposition did 
 transport him. Which rendered him less powerful 
 to his adversaries, where the advantage was followed 
 and perceaved." ^ 
 
 One can scarcely believe that a man of Went- 
 worth's mental power could really have had the high 
 esteem he professed for Laud ; but at any rate he 
 considered the archbishop's support at the king's 
 council as of the greatest value. From the letters 
 which passed between them we know that both heartily 
 joined in the nefarious scheme of Thorough," making 
 » Forster's Life of Sir John Eliot, vol. i., p. 283. 
 
HAMPDEN SHOULD BE WHIPPED 113 
 
 the king above the law and independent of parliament. 
 It is noteworthy that the politic Lord Deputy never 
 advised the churchman to abate the teasing tyranny 
 which was uniting two kingdoms in a common passion 
 of detestation. They went on in their way of pro- 
 voking and enslaving their countrymen with no 
 appreciation of the vast momentum of the opposition 
 gathering against the royal prerogative which they 
 fancied they were strengthening. Though provoked 
 by the "censures of the Prynnes, Pims, and Bens, 
 with the rest of that generation of odd names and 
 natures," Wentworth writes to Laud " that to start aside 
 for such panic fears, phantastic apparitions, as a 
 Prynne or an Eliot shall set up, were the meanest 
 folly in the whole world." Yet he knew that he 
 had many enemies ; in Ireland he dreaded the dagger 
 of a Felton or a Ravaillac ; in England his principal 
 fear was losing the king's favour through adverse 
 reports. 
 
 Wentworth had suffered imprisonment for re- 
 fusing a loan in a season of much greater difficulty 
 than that in which Hampden had contested the 
 imposition of ship-money, yet he could write : " In 
 truth I still wish and take it also to be a very charit- 
 able one, Mr H[ampden] and others to his likeness 
 were well whipt into their right senses ; if that the rod 
 were so used as that it smarts not, I am the more 
 sorry." 
 
 Wentworth had more power in Ireland than 
 Charles in England. His impulse was felt in every 
 branch of government. Constantly at work himself, 
 he gave his subordinates little rest, though he liberally 
 rewarded those that pleased him : as he pointedly re- 
 
 H 
 
114 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 marked in a letter to the king : " Not one man of very- 
 many serve their masters for love, but for their own ends 
 and preferments ; and he is in the rank of the best 
 servants that can be content to serve his master 
 together with himself." Those who dared to cross 
 him soon found reason to regret it. 
 
 By well-laid schemes he gained a majority in the 
 Irish parliament, so that they granted him such sub- 
 sidies as he demanded. He strictly forbade any 
 private conferences of the members, so that they were 
 timid to oppose measures when assembled, not knowing 
 what support they might count on. The only difficulty 
 was whether the Irish people could bear all his taxes, 
 customs, and monopolies, so he took sagacious measures 
 for raising the national wealth, and was ready to de- 
 fend the poor against powerful oppressors. When he 
 came over, the Irish seas were infested by pirates, 
 Biscayans, Dunkirkers, Algerines, and others who 
 boarded and set on fire ships in sight of Dublin. 
 
 The Salee rovers, in their quest of prey, reached 
 the remote shores of Iceland. They plundered 
 villages on the Irish coast, and were actually allowed 
 to march their captives through France from Rochelle 
 to Marseilles. Owing to the success of Rainsborow's 
 expedition to Salee, and to some vessels armed by 
 Wentworth to protect the Irish seas, trade became 
 safer and more active, and the exports increased by a 
 third in value. Seeing that the Irish women were 
 bred to spinning, and the soil good for growing flax, 
 Wentworth procured better seed from Holland, and 
 got workmen to set up looms, and thus fostered an in- 
 dustry which is still flourishing ; though with a selfish- 
 ness too common in English dealings with Ireland, he 
 
STATE OF IRELAND 
 
 115 
 
 repressed her rising wool manufactures.^ In truth the 
 Lord Deputy did not profess to have any farther 
 benevolence to Ireland than a farm steward has for 
 the welfare of his master's live stock. The statements 
 repeated by careless writers about the increased 
 prosperity of the island under Strafford's government 
 are principally admissions of what he himself claimed. 
 His adversaries maintained at his trial ^ that the 
 country was in a flourishing state when he assumed the 
 government, and that it was oppressed and im- 
 poverished by him. 
 
 It was proved at his trial that the Lord Deputy 
 made arbitrary orders about the reeling of yarn and 
 thread, after a fashion in which the people were 
 
 * In the old Brehon laws the Irish farmers were ordered to practise 
 the cultivation of flax. Wentworth writes to Sir Christopher Wandesford 
 {Letters, vol. ii., p. 19) that "there was little or no manufacture amongst 
 them, but some small beginnings toward clothing trade, which I had and 
 so should still discourage all I could, unless otherwise directed by his 
 majesty and their lordships, in regard it would trench not only upon the 
 clothings of England, being our staple commodity, so as if they should 
 manufacture their own wools, which grew to very great quantities, we 
 should not only lose the profit we made now by indraping their wools, but 
 his majesty lose extreamely by his customs j and in conclusion it might be 
 feared, they would beat us out of the Trade itself by underselling us, which 
 they were well able to do. Besides in Reason of State, so long as they did 
 not indrape their own wools, they must of necessity fetch their clothing from 
 us, and consequently in a sort depend upon us for their livelihood, and 
 thereby become so dependent upon this crown, as they could not depart 
 from us without nakedness to themselves and children." In the same 
 vein Wentworth wrote to the king from Chester (July 16, 1633), "to serve 
 your majesty compleately well in Ireland we must not only endeavour to 
 enrich them, but make sure still to hold them dependent upon the crown 
 and not able to subsist without us ; which will be effected by wholly 
 laying aside the manufacture of wools into cloth or stuff there, and by 
 furnishing them from this kingdom, and then making your majesty 
 sole merchant of all salts on that side : for thus they shall not only have 
 their clothing, the improvement of all their native commodites (which are 
 principally preserved by salt), and their victual itself from hence." 
 
 2 See State Trials, London, 17 19, vol. i., p. 327, 2indi Historical Manu- 
 scripts Com?mssion, Tenth Report, Appendix, part vi., p. 139. 
 
116 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 unpractised. He actually issued a warrant that 
 such skeins as were not made up as prescribed 
 should be seized and forfeited. In Ulster many 
 people depended upon the sale of the yarn which 
 they made during the winter to pay their rents. 
 Afraid to expose their produce at the markets they 
 tried to make private sales, when the deputy's pur- 
 suivants waylaid the poor people, took away the 
 yarn from the merchants, and even entered private 
 houses, and tore the yarn from the hands of the 
 women. The products thus obtained were con- 
 fiscated for the Lord Deputy's behoof and taken to 
 the looms which he had set up. This was done on 
 so large a scale as to reduce many families to misery 
 and starvation. Sir John Clotworthy^ who wished 
 to protect the people and wrote to the Lord Deputy 
 showing how the business was abused, got a letter 
 from his secretary that it was very ill taken that 
 he interposed in anything wherein my lord was con- 
 cerned. When men are sent to do such work they 
 may be expected to abuse their commissions, so it 
 was not a sufficient excuse for Wentworth to throw 
 blame upon his tools. His agents were also accused 
 of making iniquitous gains upon the customs of 
 commodities such as hides and wool which they 
 valued above the real prices. The claim that under 
 Wentworth's rule the customs were increased four- 
 fold is rather a proof of the exactions of his 
 tax-gatherers than of the prosperity of the country, and 
 the statement that for every ton of shipping which 
 
 1 See The Tryal of Thomas^ Earl of Strafford, by John Rushfort, 
 London, 1680, p. 418 ; also, Baillie's Letters and Journals, Edinburgh, 
 1775, vol. i., letter 28, p. 277. 
 
UNJUST CONFISCATIONS 
 
 117 
 
 was in the nation when the Lord Deputy came there 
 were now a hundred may be put down as sheer 
 bounce/ 
 
 It would be impossible to give any adequate 
 notion of the overbearing rapacity, brimming-over 
 insolence, and merciless hatreds of this man, without 
 going into farther details than our plan allows. With 
 the one design to increase the king's revenue his 
 venal lawyers were sent through Ireland to find flaws 
 in the possession of estates long enjoyed. Any 
 pretext was good enough, defective titles, neglect to 
 pay old cesses, defaults of rents, failures of penalties 
 for rebellion of ancestors, forgotten or allowed to 
 lapse. He even courted resistance that his forfeitures 
 might be made more sweeping. Wentworth's claims 
 for his unworthy master comprised almost the whole 
 j province of Connaught save the county of Leitrim. 
 I They were brought before juries studiously packed 
 and tempted by covetousness and fear, who all granted 
 him what he demanded in Roscommon, Sligo, and 
 Mayo ; but in Galway the influence of Earl St Albans, 
 a great proprietor, was so far effective that a jury 
 found against the king, mainly on the plea that 
 Connaught had not been conquered by Henry II. 
 (460 years before), but had only submitted to him, and 
 so the king did not acquire the property of the lands 
 with the dominion. But they were quickly taught 
 that juries were intended not to judge what they 
 thought right, but to cover the injustice of the Lord 
 Deputy. The jurors were tried for attempting to 
 defraud the king, and fined ;^4000 each, to be 
 imprisoned till the fines were paid, and were com- 
 * See Carte's Life of the Earl of Ormonde, London, 1736, vol. i., p. 87. 
 
 \ 
 \ 
 I 
 
118 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 pelled upon their knees to acknowledge in court that 
 they were guilty in not finding the king's title 
 good. 
 
 A nephew of Lord St Albans was fined ;^500 
 because he pulled a brother juryman by the sleeve 
 while the Lord Deputy was speaking to him. Went- 
 worth got the fort of Galway repaired, brought a 
 regiment of infantry and a troop of horse into the 
 county, and wrote to the king to confirm his action, 
 and forbid Lord St Albans to leave England, and his 
 son to defend their property in Ireland. The king's 
 title to Connaught by conquest was declared good, 
 and the holders of estates were obliged to submit 
 when they received patents on paying large sums 
 into the exchequer. The king approved of the pro- 
 ceedings of his faithful proconsul. In Ulster large 
 sums were raised by fines upon grants for plantations 
 declared to be illegal or to have been forfeited for 
 some breach or neglect of covenant. The city of 
 London was summoned for non-performance of 
 certain articles in their covenant of the plantation of 
 Londonderry and Coleraine. The case was brought 
 before the Star Chamber ; the lands were declared 
 forfeited, and a fine of ^70,000 imposed. It was a 
 maxim of Wentworth's policy to oust the Catholics 
 and the native Irish for English proprietors, and the 
 sudden dispossession of so many families from estates 
 which they had held unchallenged through generations, 
 on grounds only understood as mere pretexts, with 
 the other acts of high-handed injustice of the Lord 
 Deputy, provoked a deep sentiment of wrong and 
 hatred which led to a bloody revenge. 
 
 Nevertheless the immediate results were pleasant 
 
VEXATION AND WEARINESS 
 
 119 
 
 to his master. He soon paid off the king's debts in 
 Ireland, and as early as December 1634, he was able 
 to write " the king is as absolute here as any prince in 
 the whole world may be, and may be still if it be not 
 spoiled on that side." In six years he was able to 
 transmit to his master a yearly subsidy of about 
 ^60,000, and maintained a standing army of 2000 
 foot and 1000 horse, carefully recruited, well armed, 
 and disciplined, besides ordnance, military stores, and 
 ships of war. 
 
 The Lord Deputy was put out of humour by 
 courtiers now and then appearing to realise lavish 
 grants from the king of estates in Ireland, or what was 
 worse, with orders to pay large sums out of the 
 treasury. Then there would qome over his haughty 
 head messages conferring appointments on unfit 
 persons, pardoning offenders with whom he wished to 
 deal severely, or remitting fines or awards after they 
 had been paid into the treasury or to the aggrieved 
 persons. Against these inconsiderate derangements 
 of his political machinery Wentworth would indite 
 telling remonstrances. Yet if the excellent king were 
 to be made absolute, why should he not do what he 
 desired ? or was his deputy's sense of what was 
 prudent to stand in the way any more than the mere 
 rights of his Irish subjects? Wentworth's knowledge 
 of history might have taught him that it is dangerous 
 to increase a monarch's power without increasing his 
 capacity, and that absolute power includes the right 
 to misgovern. Amidst the strenuous and unremitting 
 attention to all the details of government, the cries 
 of suffering and weariness escape from the over- 
 burdened Lord Deputy. He was tormented with 
 
120 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 gout, and paroxysms of pain, apparently from renal 
 calculus, which kept him in misery for days and nights 
 at a time. 
 
 He complains of an intermitting pulse and night 
 sweats and dimness of sight which scarcely allow him 
 to see what he wrote, and his only consolation was the 
 enjoyment of power and the progress of the work 
 of reducing Ireland to a tame subjection to the Stuart 
 king. His unquiet thoughts gave him no peace. 
 He knew that, save Laud, he had scarcely a friend at 
 court. In his letters and dispatches he keeps busy 
 defending himself against anticipated or real attacks, 
 "those shameless impudent untruths which have 
 ever as so many ghosts haunted me in every place 
 where I have lived." In reply to a prayer for an 
 audience to prevent his master's ear being abused by 
 malicious reports, Charles wrote that he gives little 
 welcome to accusers and a willing ear to his servants. 
 But Wentworth knew the king's character better than 
 he did himself : he knew the inconstancy of his 
 resolutions, the unequal frame of his mind, and justly 
 feared that devoted service might not always be a 
 shield against incessant attacks. 
 
 It was a main feature in Wentworth's policy to 
 terrify and humiliate all who opposed him. Arthur 
 Annesley had raised himself from a low rank by time 
 serving arts to become Lord Mountnorris and Vice- 
 Treasurer of Ireland. He was a permanent official who 
 had seen many deputy-lieutenants, and it was said 
 that after each had quitted Ireland he was sedu- 
 lous to record their mistake and injure their 
 reputation. On April 7, 1635, Wentworth had 
 written to Secretary Coke complaining that Mount- 
 
COURT-MARTIAL ON MOUNTNORRIS 121 
 
 norris was most impertinent and troublesome in the 
 debate of all businesses, and that he was a man of 
 scandalous life, and a tricky gamester, and proposing 
 that he should be deposed and his office given to Sir 
 Adam Loftus. The obnoxious treasurer had escaped 
 attack ; but he was captain of a company of Foot, 
 and Wentworth was both Lord Deputy of Ireland 
 and general of the little standing army of Ireland, so 
 Mountnorris was amenable to martial law, and martial 
 law is much what the general makes it. Wentworth 
 in his letters to Laud expresses his desire to get rid of 
 the common lawyers, for though the lawyer may not 
 be attached to justice he is always attached to forms, 
 and this made injustice slow. Tale-bearers reported 
 a saying of Lord Mountnorris through which he 
 might be brought before a court-martial. A report 
 not extant was transmitted to King Charles, who 
 declared it to be an offence much unbeseeming the 
 gravity of a privy councillor and the duty of a 
 captain to his general, and not to be suffered in any 
 well generalled army. The Lord Deputy now calls a 
 council of war and charges the said Mountnorris with 
 the offence which is thus stated in the report of the 
 court-martial: "That within three or four days, or 
 thereabouts, after the end of the parliament, it being 
 mentioned at the Lord Chancellor's table, that after 
 we the Lord Deputy had dissolved the parliament, 
 being sitting down in the presence chamber, one of 
 our servants, in moving a stool, happened to hurt our 
 foot, then indisposed through an accession of the gout ; 
 that one, then present at the Lord Chancellor's table, 
 then said to the Lord Mountnorris, being there 
 likewise, that it was Annesley his Lordship's kinsman, 
 
122 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 and one of the Lord Deputy and general's gentlemen 
 ushers, that had done it ; Whereupon the Lord 
 Mountnorris then publickly and in scornful, 
 contemptuous manner answered, * Perhaps it was done 
 in revenge of that publick affront which my Lord 
 Deputy had done him formerly, but he has a brother 
 that would not take such revenge.' " 
 
 Six months had elapsed between this saying and 
 the Lord Deputy's action upon it. Lord Mountnorris 
 at the council of war protested that he intended no 
 prejudice or hurt to the person of the deputy and 
 general, and that he meant only his " brother would 
 die before he would give the deputy occasion to give 
 him such a rebuke." 
 
 It was explained in the report of the trial that the 
 affront spoken of amounted to this, "that his said 
 kinsman, being one of the horse troop commanded 
 by the Lord Deputy, in the time of exercising the 
 said troop was out of order on horseback, to the dis- 
 turbance of the rest then in exercising ; for which we 
 the Lord Deputy, in a mild manner reproving him, we 
 observe him to laugh and jeer us for our just reproof 
 of him, which we, disliking, returned to him, and 
 laying a small cane which we then carried on his 
 shoulder, yet without any blow or stroke then given 
 him, therewith told him that if he did serve us so any 
 more, we would lay him over the pate." Mountnorris 
 was brought before a court-martial made up of sixteen 
 officers of rank. The Lord Deputy sat watching the 
 proceedings silent all the while, as he anxiously 
 explains. With one voice the council adjudged Lord 
 Mountnorris, for his said high and great offences, " to be 
 imprisoned, to stand from henceforth deprived of all 
 
SENTENCE OF DEATH 
 
 123 
 
 the places with the entertainment due thereto, which 
 he holds now in the army, to be disarmed, to be 
 banished from the army and disabled for ever bearing 
 office therein hereafter, and lastly to be shot to death, 
 or to lose his head at the pleasure of the general." 
 This was dated December 12, 1635. Hatred is a bad 
 counsellor, and the imperious Lord Deputy found 
 reason to suspect that they in their court-martial had 
 overshot the mark. Three days afterwards he wrote 
 to Mr Secretary Coke asking warrant from his 
 majesty to pardon the death sentence. In another 
 letter, eighteen days later, Wentworth writes that, 
 Howbeit I hold the sentence most just, yet were it 
 left me in my choice whether he must lose his head 
 or I my hand this should redeem that." In the same 
 letter the merciful Lord Deputy forwarded a copy of 
 the charge against his lordship of sundry corruptions 
 and misdemeanours in the execution of his office as 
 vice-treasurer which set the king on to direct that 
 four privy councillors should be sent to examine the 
 papers. Across the Irish Sea this affair began to be 
 noised about. The king, taking the part of his 
 deputy, hushed open censure at court ; but if Mount- 
 norris had few friends, Wentworth had many enemies, 
 and the utter disproportion of the sentence could not 
 fail to strike even the dullest. 
 
 The death sentence was soon remitted by the 
 king. There is still extant a touching letter from 
 Lady Mountnorris ^ to Wentworth on behalf of her 
 husband, who had "suffered in honour, health, and 
 imprisonment for a word misinterpreted, and already 
 
 1 State Papers collected by Edward, Earl of Clarendon, Oxford, 
 1777, vol. ii., p. 415, and vol. iii., p. 216. 
 
124 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 unto twenty thousand pounds lost in estate." In 
 answer to her petition his majesty was pleased to 
 grant (July i8, 1636) : " That upon such a submission 
 made by the Lord Mountnorris, as the Lord Deputy 
 shall approve of, he shall have his liberty to come into 
 England ; whereof the Lord Deputy is to take notice 
 and give order here accordingly. 
 
 "Frank Windebank." 
 
 But it did not suit Wentworth that his victim 
 should get out of his grasp. Writing from London a 
 week after this, he thus instructs Sir Christopher 
 Wandesford, who was doing duty for him in Ireland : 
 " Albeit you receive any direction from Secretary 
 Windebank for his lordship's coming over, yet 
 respite it in any case till you have advertised me." 
 
 Lord Mountnorris did not get away till the 
 middle of June 1637, eighteen months after the court- 
 martial. The exulting Lord Deputy writes : "At his 
 departure hence, he seemed wondrously humbled, so 
 I told him I never wished ill to his estate, nor person, 
 further than to remove him thence, where he was as 
 well a trouble as an offence unto me ; that being 
 done (howbeit through his own fault with more 
 prejudice to him than I intended), I could wish there 
 were no more debate betwixt us, told him that if 
 he desired it, I would spare my prosecution against 
 him in the Star Chamber there. He seemed thankful, 
 but to the intent he might recover my good opinion, 
 he desired to answer the bill, that so by his oath, 
 I might be satisfied how innocent he was of having 
 his hand in any such foul slander against me." This 
 practical Macchiavel little dreamed on what future 
 
ANOTHER VICTIM 
 
 125 
 
 occasion he should see the man upon whom he had 
 so wantonly trampled. 
 
 The Viscount Adam Loftus, Lord Chancellor of 
 Ireland, in his turn became the victim of the imperious 
 Lord Deputy, by refusing to obey a direct order 
 to make a settlement of his land on the occasion of 
 the marriage of his eldest son. He was thrown into 
 prison and forced to give up the great seal which 
 he had held for twenty years. The odium caused 
 by this arbitrary interference with private rights 
 was increased by the knowledge that it was pressed 
 by a petition from the daughter-in-law with whom 
 it was thought Went worth had an over great intimacy, 
 as was subsequently proved by letters found after 
 the lady's death.^ Loftus was magnanimous enough 
 not to press his wrongs against Wentworth when 
 in the grasp of his enemies, for which mercy the 
 humbled oppressor was fain to thank him.^ 
 
 1 See Clarendon, vol. i., p. 222 ; and Memoirs of the Reign of Charles /., 
 by Sir Philip Warwick, Edinburgh, 181 3, p. 126 ; State Ttyals, London^ 
 1719, vol. i., pp. 336-342 ; also, the History of Ireland, by Thomas Leland, 
 D.D., London, 1773, vol. ii., p. 40. 
 
 2 See his letter dated Tower of London, December 19, 1640, in 
 Carte's Life of Ormonde, vol. iii., p. 28. 
 
 In the Memoirs of the Verney Family during the Civil War, London, 
 1892, there arejletters never intended for publication, which show the 
 wide dislike with which the " sowre deputie " was regarded, see vol. i. 
 pp. 2or, 221, 222, 232. In 1636, Ralph Verney writes from England to' 
 Lord Dillon, who was then on Wentworth's suite : " If my Lorde Deputies 
 cominge into England may a cause to draw you hither, the sooner hee 
 comes, the welcomer hee shall bee to mee, though I confesse I know but 
 few that are fond of his presence." 
 
 When Strafford's rule in Ireland had come to an end. Sir John Leeke 
 a retired officer living in Ireland, wrote to Sir Edmund Verney in 
 December 1640: "I writ this purposely to give you to understand of 
 the petition and remonstrances our Lower House of Parliament submitted 
 to the new deputie (Wandesford), and that they might be suffered to go 
 into England, a selected committee to make good the grievances, for we 
 groan insufferedly under them." 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 The Reformation in Scotland. Presbyterianism. Laud's Service Book 
 arrives in Edinburgh. The Solemn League and Covenant. Its 
 Successful Resistance. Sir Henry Vane made Treasurer of the 
 Navy, and Member of Parliament for Hull. The Short Parliament. 
 Second War with Scotland. Sympathy of the Puritans with the 
 Scots. Their Success. Meeting of the Long Parhament. 
 
 The Reformation in Scotland had taken a different 
 course from what it did in England. Not imposed 
 upon the people from above it had been accepted by 
 every rank save in some parts of the north. The 
 model of church government brought by John Knox 
 from republican Geneva allowed the laity a participa- 
 tion in the government of the church which naturally 
 made the people take a deeper interest in its affairs. 
 The kirk-sessions, the presbyteries, and the provincial 
 synods were so many courts, each higher and wider, 
 in which ministers and lay elders sat judging of 
 matters of order, discipline, religion, and morals. 
 The supreme court was the General Assembly, of 
 which some of the highest nobility and many of the 
 gentry were members. In those days when religion 
 was so much mixed with politics it constituted a 
 substitute for a parliament. A portion of the large 
 lands and revenues of the old Romish Church had 
 been saved for the sustenance of the Presbyterian 
 ministers, and a share was also reserved for the 
 
 126 
 
THE SCOTTISH CHURCH 
 
 127 
 
 erection and up-keep of schools under the wing of the 
 church. The awakened intelligence of the Scottish 
 people was nursed in the study of the bible. From 
 the churches and the schools religious teaching passed 
 into every household. King James had managed 
 cautiously to introduce bishops as overseers into the 
 kirk. At first they were well chosen, and taken from 
 the ranks of the ministers, they were careful of what 
 they did. As they passed away their successors, 
 selected for their obsequiousness to those above them, 
 became more overbearing to those below them, and 
 increased the dislike in which the prelates were ever 
 held. 
 
 ** David," said James to Mr Fergusson, the oldest 
 minister in the church, "why may not I have 
 bishops in Scotland as well as they have in 
 England?" "Yea, sire," replied Fergusson, "ye 
 may have bishops here, but remember ye must make 
 us all bishops, else will ye never content us." 
 
 Within the kirk there was little variation or dissent 
 in doctrines. The theolog'ical system of Calvin was 
 branded in by hell-fire. To those whose minds were 
 strained by anxiety whether they were on the list of 
 the elect, the amusements of life had no attraction, and 
 indeed were looked upon as concealing the snares of 
 the devil, who in those days was a real person not a 
 phrase. The members of the church courts watched 
 over the ways of all around. Searchers were 
 employed to enter houses, and those found at home 
 during church service were summoned before the kirk- 
 sessions and fined. Once a day going to church was 
 not enough. Those who did not join in the psalmody 
 were also fined : if they could not sing at the worst 
 
128 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 they could bawl. Putting clothes out to dry, or 
 driving a cow out to grass on Sunday, were punishable 
 offences. Culprits were sentenced to stand in linen at 
 the church doors during service.^ The extreme 
 penalty was excommunication fraught with religious 
 terrors and entailing social ostracism and civil 
 disabilities. Accidents and diseases of all kinds were 
 attributed to witchcraft, and the number of wretched 
 women denounced for this imaginary crime and handed 
 over to the civil courts to be burned was atrociously 
 large. Thus the life of the Scottish people was grave, 
 austere, and gloomy, utterly dominated by a sombre 
 theology. 
 
 Eight years after his accession to the English 
 throne, Charles went to the land of his birth to be 
 crowned King of Scotland. There he offended the 
 nobles, who were still very powerful, by his haughty 
 and reserved demeanour ; what was worse, he brought 
 Bishop Laud with him. The meddling prelate 
 alarmed the ministers, who spread their fears and 
 dislike over the whole country. In 1637 Laud, now 
 archbishop, thought the time was come for extending 
 his ecclesiastical sway over the northern kingdom. In 
 1637 a service book, according to his innovating 
 views, was sent with an order that it should be used 
 by every minister in Scotland. The order came 
 before the books. The ministers took short time to 
 examine them, and warned the people of their contents. 
 An attempt to read the liturgy in the High Church of 
 Edinburgh ended in a riot in which the Bishop of 
 
 J I have verified these details from extracts from the records of the 
 Presbytery of Dalkeith and the Kirk-Session of Lasswade, made by my 
 friend, the late Mr Christopher Aitchison. 
 
SOLEMN LEAGUE AND COVENANT 129 
 
 Edinburgh was pelted with stones. This tumult 
 roused the whole country, and supplications were 
 sent to the king for the suppression of the service 
 book. When a new proclamation arrived enjoining 
 obedience to the obnoxious canons, a spirited 
 protest was delivered on February 20, 1638, to 
 the privy council in Stirling, and on March i 
 the declaration known as the Solemn League and 
 Covenant was signed by thousands of all conditions 
 in the Grayfriars Church of Edinburgh, This 
 document, sent through all Scotland for signature, 
 was at once a bond of union and a means of dis- 
 tinguishing the favourers of prelacy, who found them- 
 selves in a most uncomfortable position. The 
 Archbishop of St Andrews exclaimed in despair : 
 " Now all that we have been doing these thirty years 
 past is at once thrown down." 
 
 The king, thus baffled, was obliged to resort to 
 temporising measures. He sent the Marquis of 
 Hamilton as his commissioner in Scotland in the 
 hopes of being able to conciliate or cajole the 
 covenanters. The marquis felt constrained to convene 
 a general assembly, which met in Glasgow (Nov. 21, 
 1638). It consisted of 140 ministers, 98 elders, of 
 whom 17 were noblemen of the highest rank, 9 were 
 knights, 25 landed proprietors, and 47 burgesses. 
 Some of the noblemen and gentlemen brought their 
 armed retainers with them in case the marquis should 
 attempt to overawe the assembly. Hamilton pre- 
 sented them with a proclamation, in which the king 
 gave up the service book and subsequent orders to 
 enforce it ; but when they began to censure the 
 prelates he as commissioner declared the assembly 
 
 I 
 
130 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 to be dissolved in the king's name. The moderator 
 refused to discontinue the sittings. Supported by 
 Argyll and other powerful noblemen, the assembly 
 then declared null the "six unfree and unlawful 
 assemblies" held by James from 1606. They then 
 condemned the service book and the ecclesiastical 
 canons, unanimously voted the removal of prelacy, 
 and restored the Presbyterian government. They 
 then proceeded to the censure of the prelates. Two 
 archbishops and six bishops were excommunicated, 
 four deposed, and two suspended. These bold 
 proceedings touched the king, both in his pride of 
 prerogative and his conscience, as the defender of 
 episcopacy. Laud blamed the direction and execu- 
 tion of his project, blamed the Scottish bishops, 
 blamed the Lord Traquair, blamed everyone but him- 
 self, and got the court jester dismissed for making fun 
 of his discomfiture. Seeing that the king was not 
 ready for a hostile expedition, Wentworth advised 
 him to gain time and to let the Scots begin the war. 
 In the meantime he should drill the levies in the north 
 and raise loans and exact taxes. He himself sent 
 money from Ireland, promised assistance from his 
 little standing army, and gave counsels as to how the 
 struggle should be carried on. It was clear that the 
 Lord Deputy had much mistaken the character and 
 military skill of the northern people, and contemptu- 
 ously ignored the sympathy between the Scottish and 
 English Non-conformists, many of whom were readier 
 to join the northern rebels than to fight against them. 
 The king, however, seemed to have become awake to 
 the value of his services. Wentworth had often 
 solicited a higher rank and title which would add to 
 
ELDER VANE SECRETARY 
 
 131 
 
 his dignity and usefulness in Ireland ; heretofore they 
 had been coldly met ; now he was made Earl of 
 Strafford and Raby. The latter title was chosen 
 by him to mortify Sir Henry Vane, who was possessor 
 of Raby Castle, the old stronghold of the Neviles, 
 where Vane had recently entertained the king. 
 About this time the elder Vane was made secretary 
 in room of Sir Edward Coke, who was thought 
 unfit from his great age. Wentworth used to the 
 uttermost his power to get the Earl of Leicester 
 appointed instead of Vane, but the influence of the 
 queen was too great. The Earl of Northumber- 
 land, writing (July i6, 1640) to Leicester, whose 
 claims he had supported, gives this testimony to his 
 rival ^ : — 
 
 "By your letter of the loth I see you have some 
 jealousy of Sir Henry Vane being consenting to your 
 revocation, wherein I must crave leave to differ, having 
 had long experience, and never had cause to charge 
 him with unfaithfulness or greediness to get by any 
 mean or indecent cause." 
 
 With much difficulty a force was got together to 
 advance to the Scottish border, and the Marquis of 
 Hamilton was sent with a fleet and some land troops 
 to the Firth of Forth. The Scots were ready in 
 their defence. They had an army under the command 
 of General Leslie, a veteran of the Thirty Years' War, 
 on Dunse Law, who repelled an attack, and Hamilton 
 did not dare to land in the face of the forces prepared 
 to defend Leith. 
 
 Charles, now aware of his powerlessness, felt 
 
 1 See Third Report of the Historical Manuscripts Commission, pp 80 
 and 82. 
 
132 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 constrained to treat with the Scots. The king 
 encouraged their envoys to accept ambiguous terms 
 which he never intended to carry out, and they did 
 not rigidly examine what they were anxious to credit. 
 So there were soon disputes about the interpretation 
 of the treaty. The Scots were especially suspicious at 
 the surrender of the fortifications at Edinburgh and 
 Leith to the king's adherents. The difficulty to a 
 pacification felt all along was that Charles only made 
 promises in the hopes of retaining power to break 
 them at a future occasion. The king, having now 
 resolved to subdue the Scots, could see no other way 
 of gaining money to carry on the war, save to call a 
 parliament after eleven years' despotic rule. 
 
 In 1639 the younger Vane was appointed joint 
 treasurer in the navy with Sir William Russell, a 
 mere man of accounts who had been in the office for 
 several years. Through the recommendation of the 
 Earl of Northumberland, Lord High Admiral, and 
 from gratitude for a favour shown by Secretary Vane 
 in discharging a suit in exchequer against the town, 
 young Vane was, with full consent, chosen member for 
 Kingston-on-Hull.^ To this parliament, assembled 
 on April 3, 1640, Charles communicated a letter 
 which some Scottish nobles had prepared asking 
 assistance from the King of France. The Commons 
 
 1 See Letter of William Popple, Mayor of Hull, March 21, 1640, in 
 Public Record Office. Not having seen this letter, Mr Forster has 
 erroneously stated that this election appears to have given great alarm 
 at court both to his father and the king.— Zz/^ of Sir Henry Vane, 
 p. 48. Clarendon writes that by his father's credit with the Earl 
 of Northumberland young Vane was joined with Sir William Russell in 
 the office of treasurer of the navy. The elder Vane, however, writes : 
 " I did procure for him from the late king the office of treasurer of 
 the navy, he having refused to grant it to him at the suit of the Earl of 
 Northumberland, Lord Admiral."— Dalton, vol. ii., p. 112. 
 
THE SHORT PARLIAMENT 
 
 133 
 
 made little of this, and refused the subsidies asked till 
 their grievances were redressed. 
 
 The oppressions of the previous years were 
 recorded by Pym and others, though in language 
 studiously sparing the king. The temper of the House 
 was mostly conciliatory, and a motion was going to be 
 voted upon that subsidies would be granted without 
 fixing the amount, which was regarded as too high. 
 The secretary, Sir Henry Vane, here interposed, saying 
 that the king would not accept a vote of supply unless 
 it were in the proportion and manner proposed by 
 him in his message. This was confirmed by Herbert, 
 the solicitor-general, on which the House determined 
 to adjourn. Next morning Charles dissolved the 
 parliament which had only sat three weeks. 
 
 Meeting St John, a leader of the popular party, an 
 hour after the dissolution, Hyde observed "that his 
 usually cloudy countenance wore a cheerful look. Hyde 
 said that it troubled him that in such time of confu- 
 sion so wise a parliament was unseasonably dismissed." 
 St John answered: "All was well, for it must be 
 worse before it could be better. This parliament 
 could never have done what was necessary to be 
 done." 
 
 Hyde maliciously accuses the secretary of hurrying 
 the king to this imprudent step in order to gain 
 revenge upon Strafford. He also asserts that Charles 
 thought of recalling the parliament, which was judged 
 too late. The dissolution, however, was quite in 
 keeping with his usual maxims. As he wrote to 
 Strafford : " Parliaments are of the nature of cats ; 
 they ever grow curst with age. So that, if you will 
 have good of them, put them off handsomely when 
 
134 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 they come to any age, for young ones are ever most 
 tractable." Sir Henry Bellasis and Sir John Hotham 
 were now imprisoned. Mr Carew was sent to the 
 Tower for refusing to give up some petitions which, as 
 chairman of committee, he had received during the 
 session, and the house of Lord Brook was searched 
 for papers. All the old illegal and vexatious methods 
 of raising money were put in use. 
 
 It does not appear what part the younger Vane 
 took in the short parliament. His post of treasurer 
 of the navy could scarcely have been a pleasant one. 
 Charles, occupied with his difficulties with the parlia- 
 ment and the war with the Scots, could spare no 
 money to pay or feed the sailors. We have it 
 recorded that " Sir William Russell, the senior 
 treasurer of the navey, had been a long time out of 
 town, and the other. Sir Henry Vane (the younger), 
 seeing there is no money in the office, never comes 
 near us."^ He was knighted on June 23. About 
 this time we know that he consorted with Pym and 
 other parliamentary leaders, and it was no doubt 
 owing to his father's influence that he had not broken 
 with the court. 
 
 The newly-made earl, who had come over from 
 Ireland with large subsidies from his terrorised 
 parliament, urged on the king with promises of an 
 easy victory over the Scots. Straff"ord 's policy was 
 simple : it consisted in the application of force and in- 
 timidation. Those who refused the king's requisitions 
 were to be sent for and laid by the heels. Concilia- 
 tion was an art which he disdained to use. Of the 
 indignation aroused by his overbearing demeanour, by 
 
 ^ Oppenheim, p. 240. 
 
INFATUATION 
 
 135 
 
 the outraged sense of justice, and the hatred always 
 swelling against oppression and misrule, Strafford had 
 a delusively small estimate. 
 
 Undeterred by the check to his meddlesomeness 
 in Scotland, and unheeding the hatred of the London 
 mob who broke the windows of his palace, Laud still 
 held on his course like a sleep-walker who pursues 
 one single idea, unconscious of all around. With his 
 majesty's approval, the convocation of the clergy 
 continued to sit after the parliament had been dis- 
 solved, and accorded large contributions for "the 
 bishop's war." Seventeen canons were published for 
 the government of the church.^ Every clergyman 
 was ordered to read in his place of worship, four times 
 a year, that the most high and sacred order of kings 
 is of divine right. Inquisitorial measures were pre- 
 scribed against papists, socinians, brownists, and 
 other secretaries. Each clergyman was ordered to 
 swear that he would never consent to alter the 
 government of the church. So threatening an oppo- 
 sition did these ordinances stir up that the king, 
 struggling with difficulties at York, was fain to 
 order Secretary Vane to enjoin the reckless priest to 
 desist. 
 
 The tenth prince of the unfortunate Scottish line 
 of Stuart now led a southern army northwards against 
 the country which had given him birth, while the 
 friends of liberty in England trembled from the first 
 time at the prospect of a victory of their own country- 
 men over their hereditary enemies : for they hoped, 
 in the overthrow of the prince, to gain the freedom 
 
 ' These canons are given in Neal's History of the Puritans, London, 
 1794, vol. ii., chap. vi. 
 
136 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 of the people. While the English soldiers were 
 unwilling to serve, the Scots were eager, enthusiastic, 
 and well led. They crossed the border. A small 
 engagement at a ford sufficed to make the king's 
 troops fall back. The Scottish army occupied the 
 northern counties. Strafford weakened by illness, 
 his overbearing temper goaded to fury by fits of 
 gout, found all his hopes frustrated, all his predictions 
 belied. But his advocacy of violent measures re- 
 commended him to the king. Northumberland falling 
 ill, Strafford was given the command of the army, 
 although he never had any practice in war. Petitions 
 came from the city of London and other places 
 asking the king to treat with the Scots. Lord 
 Wharton and Lord Howard of Escrick, who under- 
 took to deliver some of them, were brought before a 
 council of war. Strafford pressed that these two 
 noblemen should be shot before the whole army. 
 Hamilton asked Strafford if he were sure of the 
 army. He seemed surprised at the question ; but 
 it soon appeared likely that a general mutiny 
 would have followed if such an execution had been 
 attempted.^ 
 
 The Scots sent commissioners to treat with the 
 king at Ripon. They would not withdraw their 
 army till a full peace was arranged. In the mean- 
 time they were invited to London, where they found 
 many friends. They stipulated that their troops 
 should be paid by the king, who had no money to 
 pay the army which he had himself raised. The 
 friends of liberty everywhere lifted their heads, and 
 soon saw how strong they were. The courtiers 
 
 ' Burnet's History oj his own Time, London, 1818, vol. i., p. 27. 
 
THE LONG PARLIAMENT 
 
 137 
 
 and the tools of oppression trembled at the word 
 of a parliament. But the king saw no other way- 
 out of his position : he felt constrained to yield for 
 a time in the hope that a returning tide might again 
 float his stranded vessel. 
 
 On November 3, the Long Parliament first met. 
 It was composed of men whose courage and ability 
 had been dearly proved in the hard struggle against 
 the king and his faction, and whose resentment had 
 been inflamed by the arbitrary punishments many 
 of them had suffered, as well as by the outraged 
 rights of the nation whom they represented. 
 Though elected under the stimulus of popular in- 
 dignation, none of them were returned with the 
 object of overthrowing the monarchy, and few of 
 them at that time were republicans. The younger 
 Vane, still treasurer of the navy, was returned as 
 member for Kingston-on-Hull ; his father for Wilton. 
 His father-in-law, Sir Christopher Wray, was member 
 for Great Grimsby. In opening parliament the king 
 sought to arouse the national pride against the Scots 
 whom he termed rebels ; but the parliament had other 
 aims in view, and regarded the Scots as useful allies. 
 Committees were at once appointed to inquire into 
 grievances, and petitions and complaints came pour- 
 ing in from all parts. The petitions of Leighton, 
 Prynne, Bastwick, and Burton, narrating the cruelties 
 which they suffered, drew tears from those who listened. 
 The House ordered their release. The Lord-keeper 
 Finch and Windebank, deeply implicated in acts of 
 tyranny, fled beyond seas. A list was made out of 
 the agents of the crown who had been concerned in 
 carrying out the measures condemned. These delin- 
 
138 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 quents knew that, at any time, they might be called 
 before the House to answer for what they had done. 
 The bishops called in their pursuivants and informers, 
 and the Non-conformist preachers boldly resumed 
 their ministrations. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 Pym impeaches Strafford. His Trial. Evidence of the Vanes against 
 him. His Defence and Condemnation. Abandoned by Charles I. 
 His Execution. 
 
 While still in the north, Strafford had represented to 
 his master that his presence at the coming parlia- 
 ment would only excite anger and hatred. The king 
 replied that he had need of his counsels, and that 
 parliament would not touch one hair of his head. 
 On November 6 Pym rose and moved that 
 a committee of the whole house be appointed to 
 inquire into the great oppressions complained of by 
 the king's subjects in Ireland. The earl's friends now 
 earnestly advised him either to remain with the army 
 in the north, or to retire to his government in Ireland, 
 even to go abroad till the approaching storm should 
 spend itself ; but confident in the protection of his 
 master, Strafford set out for London prepared to 
 accuse some of the parliamentary leaders of inciting 
 the Scots to invade England. He reached London 
 on November lo utterly exhausted with his 
 illness and the fatigue of his hurried journey. His 
 enemies were alert, ready to strike the first blow. 
 On the morning of the nth Pym began the debate 
 
 139 
 
140 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 on the grievances of the kingdom, calamities following 
 in the reign of a pious and virtuous king who loved 
 his people, and was a great lover of justice. We must 
 inquire, went on the adroit orator, who had been able 
 to abuse and pervert his majesty's excellent judgment, 
 to abuse his name, and wickedly apply his authority 
 to countenance and support his own corrupt designs. 
 In this there was one more signal than the rest, 
 being a man of great parts and contrivance and of 
 great industry to bring what he designed to pass ; 
 a man who, in the memory of many present, had sat 
 in that House an earnest vindicator of the laws, and a 
 most zealous champion for the liberties of the people ; 
 but that it was long since he turned apostate, and 
 was become the greatest enemy to the liberties of 
 his country, and the greatest promoter of tyranny 
 that any age had produced. Pym was followed by 
 Sir John Clotworthy, a gentleman of Ireland, and 
 others who gave instances of Strafford's arbitrary 
 actions both in Ireland and the north. Not a single 
 voice was raised in his favour. The parliament ordered 
 the doors to be locked. It was determined that a 
 committee of seven should be appointed to prepare 
 articles of impeachment against the earl, which were 
 soon got ready. Lord Falkland desired the House 
 to digest many of the particulars which had been 
 mentioned, before they sent up to the Lords to accuse 
 him, to which Pym frankly replied : " Such a delay 
 might put it out of their power with the king and 
 court : Strafford would undoubtedly procure that the 
 parliament should be dissolved rather than undergo 
 the justice of it, or he would take some other 
 desperate course to preserve himself, whereas, if they 
 
STRAFFORD ARRESTED 
 
 141 
 
 presently sent up to impeach him of high treason 
 before the House of Peers in the name of all the 
 Commons of England the Lords would be obliged in 
 justice to commit him into safe custody, and so 
 sequester him from resorting to the council or 
 having access to his majesty." To those who doubted 
 whether the particulars alleged would amount to high 
 treason, it was answered that the House of Commons 
 were not judges, but only accusers, and that the 
 Lords were the proper judges, whether such enormous 
 crimes in one person did not amount to the highest 
 offence the law took notice of. So it was voted that 
 they should forthwith send up to the Lords, and 
 accuse the Earl of Strafford of high treason. Mr 
 Pym was chosen to be the spokesman ; the doors then 
 were opened, and most of the members accompanied 
 their leader to the Upper House, which had been 
 kept sitting by some peers who knew what was 
 arranged. Most likely some one had warned the 
 earl, resting himself from the fatigues of his journey, 
 that a blow had been struck, for about three o'clock 
 in the afternoon he drove to the House. He calls 
 rudely at the door. The black rod opens, when his 
 lordship, with a proud, gloomy countenance, makes 
 towards his place at the board head.' Many voices 
 called on him to withdraw. He was made to retire 
 to an antechamber. After a while he was summoned 
 to appear before the Lords, and at the bar stood 
 John Pym with three hundred of the Commons at 
 his back. Strafford is commanded to kneel, and 
 
 1 Principal Baillie, who was a spectator of this scene, gives a graphic 
 account of Strafford's Trial, Letters, vol. i., p. 217, letter 19 et seq., which 
 furnishes details not preserved in Rushworth's folio of the trial. 
 
142 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 on his knees to hear the sentence, when he was 
 delivered to the keeper of the black rod till he was 
 cleared of the crimes the House of Commons had 
 charged him with. 
 
 In quest of his coach he was led through the 
 crowds, all gazing, no man capping him before whom 
 that morning the greatest of England would have 
 stood discovered. People cried, What is the matter ? 
 He said: "A small matter, I warrant you." Some 
 one replied: "Yes, indeed, high treason is a small 
 matter." He was committed to the Tower ; at first 
 many of his friends were allowed to come to see him, 
 but soon no one was allowed in, save with the per- 
 mission of parliament. 
 
 Pursuivants were sent to Ireland to open all the 
 ports, and to proclaim that all who had grievances 
 might come over. The parliament of Ireland, lately 
 so subservient, had already sent a remonstrance 
 against the Lord Deputy, before whom they no longer 
 trembled. His right hand man. Sir George Radcliffe, 
 was arrested. Sir Christopher Wandesforde, vice- 
 deputy in Dublin, hearing of the prosecution, swooned 
 away and died soon after. Strafford kept up his 
 courage by the belief that nothing could be urged 
 against him which should put his life in danger ; any 
 other hurt time would salve. 
 
 Parliament now ordered the release of Leighton, 
 Bastwick, Burton, and Prynne, who were recalled 
 from their distant dungeons, and entered London in 
 triumphal procession, followed by thousands on 
 horseback and foot. It was resolved that their 
 condemnation was illegal, and that they should have 
 reparations for their sufferings and damages. Large 
 
THE CHARGE AGAINST STRAFFORD 143 
 
 sums were voted for that purpose, though it does not 
 appear that they were ever paid. 
 
 A few weeks after Laud was sent to the Tower. 
 The first mouldings of the indictments against both 
 the lieutenant and the archbishop were given to 
 Principal Baillie, deputed from Scotland to arrange a 
 treaty. "Poor Canterbury," Baillie writes, "is so 
 contemptible that all cast him out of their thoughts as 
 a pendicle in the lieutenant's ear." His process, in 
 the meantime, 'was put in the hands of Prynne, who was 
 not likely to forget the loss of his ears. Against 
 Strafford there was no lack of accusations ; complaints 
 and denunciations poured in. The injured Lord 
 Mountnorris and Sir John Clotworthy assisted the 
 prosecutors. Malicious slanders against the private 
 character of the fallen viceroy showed how bitter 
 was the hatred which he had left behind amongst 
 the people whom he had overawed and bullied so 
 long. 
 
 On January 30, 1641, Strafford was conducted to 
 the House of Lords to hear the articles of impeach- 
 ment, twenty-eight in number, which fill fourteen 
 pages of the folio of Rushworth.^ He asked for a 
 month to prepare his answer. He was told that he 
 must do it on the 'following Monday, but when it 
 came he was so ill with gout that they had to grant a 
 fortnight's delay. 
 
 The gist of the charge against him had been 
 tersely summed up in the vote of the House of 
 Commons, that the Earl of Strafford had " endeavoured 
 to subvert the ancient and fundamental laws of the 
 
 ' The Tryal of Thomas^ Earl of Strafford^ collected by John 
 Rushworth, London, 1680. 
 
144 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 realm, and to introduce arbitrary and tyrannical 
 government," and of this we know that he was guilty. 
 But there was no statute against subversion of the 
 law, and Strafford had acted with the approval of the 
 king. The definition of what was high treason had 
 been many times stretched to include a variety of 
 offences by vindictive monarchs who never would have 
 consented to punishment provided for their own 
 excesses. On reading the articles of impeachment 
 Strafford again took comfort by the consideration 
 that, though he could neither push back nor avoid the 
 tide of his misdeeds, it would not reach above his 
 head. In the charge he wrote to his wife : "I 
 conceive there is nothing capital ; and for the rest I 
 know, at the worst, his majesty will pardon all without 
 hurting my fortune." 
 
 Besides the assumption of undue power and 
 tyrannical actions against individuals, Strafford was 
 accused of giving counsels to the king to subvert the 
 constitution and offering to bring the army in Ireland 
 to England for that purpose. He was also accused 
 of making illegal gains by a monopoly of the sale of 
 tobacco, pipe-staves, and other wares. 
 
 While the earl was preparing his answers the 
 Commons went on with the measures thought needful 
 for redressing past wrongs, and securing their new 
 power for the future. Peace was made with the 
 Scots. They were thanked for their friendly ser- 
 vices to the national cause, and a sum of ;i^300,ooo 
 voted for their expenses in the war. Strafford's 
 answers having been considered by the Commons, 
 a committee of eight was appointed to conduct 
 the impeachment before the peers, namely, Lord 
 
TRIAL OF STRAFFORD 
 
 145 
 
 Digby, Pym, Hampden, Oliver St John, Sir Walter 
 Earle, John Maynard, and John Glyn. On March 
 22 the great trial was begun. Westminster Hall 
 had been arranged for the occasion. At the top of 
 the great chamber was the throne ; below, was the 
 woolsack for the Lord High Steward the Earl of 
 Arundel, in front, similar seats were provided for the 
 lord-keeper and the judges of the high courts. To- 
 wards the centre on each side were seated the peers of 
 England in their ermine robes, their heads covered 
 with their coronets. Stretching along both sides of 
 the hall were eleven rows of seats, tier above tier, 
 occupied by the Commons, and behind and at the 
 sides, railed off for the spectators who had gained the 
 much-sought-for privilege of admission. Further 
 down the middle of the room was the desk with bar 
 in front for the accused, who had four secretaries, and 
 five or six lawyers who were provided with desks at 
 the foot of the hall. They were allowed to give the 
 earl counsel in questions of law, but not on matters 
 of fact. Principal Baillie, who describes the scene 
 for his friends in Scotland, writes that we always 
 behoved to be there at five in the morning and the 
 House was full before seven." 
 
 At eight the Earl of Strafford appeared. He had 
 been brought from the Tower guarded by loo soldiers 
 in six barges who were met at Westminster by 200 
 of the train-bands. He was dressed in black with no 
 ornament save the George, the emblem of a knight of 
 the garter, suspended by a gold chain. Worn with 
 suffering, care, and toil, his tall figure bent with sick- 
 ness, the fallen minister slowly walked up to the bar, 
 saluted the court, knelt, and then stood to hear the 
 
 K 
 
146 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 charge. This was read in a weak voice by the clerk 
 of the House of Commons. The earl's answers to the 
 several articles occupied three hours. They were 
 read by three clerks in succession, as his friends were 
 anxious that they might be fully heard by the assembly. 
 This occupied the first day of the trial. On the 
 morrow Pym sustained the charge in a long speech, 
 powerful in form and weighty in matter, denying all 
 merit to the deputy's Irish government, boldly in- 
 veighing against many actions which had the king's 
 prompting and approval. Charles was listening all the 
 while behind the curtain which, after a while, he tore 
 down with his own hands so that the royal family sat 
 in the eyes of all. If he counted that his presence 
 would awe the assembly he was wrong. "In the 
 intervals," writes Baillie, "while Strafford was making 
 ready for answers, the lords got always to their feet, 
 walked and chatted, the Lower House men too loud 
 chatting. After ten, much public eating, not only of 
 confections, but of flesh and bread, bottles of beer 
 and wine going thick from mouth to mouth without 
 cups, and all this in the king's eye." Witnesses were 
 then called, of whom there were plenty. The eight 
 members of committee succeeded one another in their 
 unsparing attack upon his government and character. 
 Every one knew that it was a wrestle between the 
 parliament and the king, not a simple act of justice, 
 but a counter stroke in defence of the liberties of the 
 nation. If they failed Strafford would return to the 
 privy council to prepare their own impeachments, and 
 prompt the king to carry out in England what he had 
 already done in Ireland, for the subversion of the 
 constitution. 
 
HIS SKILFUL DEFENCE 
 
 147 
 
 Wentworth had played many parts and played 
 them well, for whatever he did he threw himself 
 entirely into it with vigour and tenacity. As a 
 patriotic resister of an illegal exaction, as the eloquent 
 opponent of the royal prerogative in the Commons, 
 as its high-handed promoter when president of the 
 north, as the despotic Lord Deputy in Ireland, he had 
 shown powers, versatile, brilliant, and solid ; where 
 he had erred was in a contemptuous estimate of the 
 strength and abilities of his adversaries, and a foolish 
 trust in a shallow prince, little capable of gratitude or 
 fidelity. Now brought to bay by his enemies, he 
 showed a new face. No more of the surly bully who 
 had made the parhament of Ireland tremble before him, 
 and had aroused ill-will amongst the courtiers of 
 Whitehall ; he now appeared as the ready and subtle 
 debater, the possessor of a masterly and pathetic 
 eloquence, and a histrionic skill which moved with pity 
 and remorse the hearts of the great audience that 
 crowded to hear his defence, and even drew the un- 
 willing admiration of his unrelenting enemies. But 
 his own misdeeds were heavy on him ; when he 
 objected to a witness. Sir David Fowlis, being called 
 that he had a grudge against him, it was shown that 
 he himself had ruled that a witness for the king and 
 commonwealth behoved to be received, notwithstanding 
 any private quarrels, to which he replied : " You are 
 wiser, my lords, than to be ruled by any of my actions 
 as patterns." When the accused observed that there 
 were faction and correspondence and a strong con- 
 spiracy against him, Maynard retorted that he should 
 not bring such a charge against the House of Commons, 
 on which Strafford, falling on his knees, craved pardon, 
 
148 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 and declared that he meant not to accuse any one of 
 the honourable House, but some other persons in 
 England and Ireland. 
 
 Though illegal and arbitrary acts, both in Ireland 
 and in Yorkshire, were proved against the earl, and 
 heightened the general odium against him, some of 
 the accusations were inflated, and others could not be 
 maintained by judicial proof. Strafford strongly 
 insisted that even if the articles were proved, they 
 did not amount to high treason, either separately or 
 collectively ; but the Commons wished to have his 
 life, and unless he could be convicted of high 
 treason, this could not be accomplished. For four- 
 teen days Strafford struggled on through pain and 
 sickness ; on April 9 he was utterly unable to 
 rise, but he promised to appear next day even if 
 he should need to be carried. The Lords were im- 
 patient at the length of the trial, especially as 
 the accusers wished to go back upon the charges to 
 furnish fresh evidence, and the prisoner on his part 
 asked a similar right. The Commons began to be 
 doubtful whether they could secure a conviction ; 
 they too were uneasy at the length of the process, 
 and feared a plot to rescue the prisoner and dissolve 
 the House. Taking advantage of a statute of 
 Edward III. that "the parliament only hath the 
 power to express and declare what is treason," 
 they now brought in a Bill of Attainder against 
 the earl which would allow the Lower House to 
 vote for his condemnation. This, though opposed 
 by Pym and Hampden, who wished to go on with the 
 impeachment, was carried by a majority, and at the 
 same time they brought forward some evidence which 
 
VANE'S EVIDENCE 
 
 149 
 
 had hitherto been kept back in consideration for the 
 younger Vane/ 
 
 His father, wishing to have some title deeds to 
 support the marriage settlement of Sir Harry to the 
 daughter of Sir Christopher Wray, had given his son 
 the key of his private cabinet, instructing him to take 
 out the deeds in question and send them to him in 
 Kent. Young Vane, searching in the cabinet, 
 lighted upon some notes of a meeting of the privy 
 council held shortly after the dissolution of the short 
 parliament. In this it was recorded that Strafford 
 had advised the king to bring over the army in 
 Ireland, forcibly to levy money to conduct an offensive 
 war against Scotland. Troubled in mind about this 
 discovery, Sir Henry sought the advice of Pym, who 
 prevailed upon the young man to let him take a copy 
 of the important document. Pym now read these 
 notes, explained how they were obtained, and called 
 upon the younger Vane to confirm his testimony, 
 which he did in an agitated manner, adding that he 
 knew this discovery would prove little less than his 
 ruin in the good opinion of his father ; but having 
 been induced by the tenderness of his conscience 
 towards his common parent his country, to trespass 
 against his natural father, he hoped he should find 
 compassion from that House, though he had little 
 hopes of pardon elsewhere. 
 
 The elder Vane, who felt his honour as a secretary 
 hurt by this unexpected disclosure, deplored that an 
 unhappy son of his had brought all this trouble upon 
 
 ^ The copy by him was produced in the House, and did much confirm 
 the minds of all Strafford's witnesses ; yet for young Sir Harry's cause, 
 a very gracious youth, they resolved to make no use in public of his 
 testimony, except in case of necessity. — Baillie's Letters^ vol. ii., p. 289. 
 
150 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 him. It was observed that for some time after, there 
 was a distance between the father and son. Sir 
 Henry, senior, admitted the correctness of the notes, 
 and explained that the originals had been sent for by 
 the king, and burned by his orders.^ 
 
 These notes did not profess to give the exact 
 words used by the members of the privy council but 
 the purport of the advices given. The Earl of 
 Northumberland, the Marquis of Hamilton, Bishop 
 Juxon, Lord Treasurer, and Lord Cottington, could 
 not recall such words used by the Earl of Strafford," 
 though Northumberland, the Earl of Bristol, and the 
 Earl of Holland confirmed the general tenor of his 
 persuasions that the king might use any means in his 
 power towards prosecuting an offensive war against 
 the Scots, should the parliament refuse subsidies, 
 advice which was too well in keeping with the bent of 
 the Lord Deputy's policy. 
 
 The excitement out of doors, during the contest 
 between such great orators, mounted day by day. 
 "On Monday," writes Baillie, "some thousands of 
 citizens and apprentices waited all day at Westminster, 
 cried to every lord as they went out and in, in a loud 
 and hideous voice, for justice against Strafford and all 
 
 * Whether the wording of these notes should have been taken as 
 evidence against Strafford at the trial is open to doubt. As a matter of 
 history their genuineness and correctness may be accepted. It is to be 
 borne in mind that the king was present at the trial, and presumably 
 looked over the notes in question. From the publication of the letters of 
 Strafford and Laud we are in possession of evidence, not brought before 
 the parliament, which leaves no doubt of their nefarious schemes to subvert 
 the constitution of their country. The fatal words in the notes were : 
 " They refused. You are acquitted towards God and man ; you have an 
 army in Ireland you may employ.here to reduce this kingdom. Confident 
 as anything under heaven, Scotland will not hold out five months." 
 
 ^ Rushworth's Tryal, pp. 445-559, and Baillie's Letters., vol. i., p. 294. 
 
FINAL DEFENCE 
 
 151 
 
 traitors." It was reported in the House of Commons 
 that a plot had been formed by some young noblemen 
 to rescue the earl to which the king was privy/ and 
 that the king had ordered a hundred new soldiers to be 
 introduced into the Tower commanded by a former 
 page of the earl's, and the governor, Sir William 
 Balfour, stated that his prisoner had offered him the 
 king's pardon and ^22,000, and his daughter in 
 marriage to his son if he would allow him to escape. 
 The Bill of Attainder was rapidly passed through the 
 Lower House. 
 
 On April 12, Strafford delivered his final defence 
 in a speech which lasted two hours and a half. He 
 represented that he should not be questioned for his 
 life and honour upon a law supposed to rest upon 
 records that have lain so many ages forgotten or 
 neglected. 
 
 " Hard it is, and extreme hard, in my opinion, 
 that a punishment should precede the promulga- 
 tion of a law ; that I should be punished by a 
 law subsequent to the act done." He concluded his 
 address by the following moving words : " My lords, 
 I have now troubled your lordships a great deal 
 longer than I should have done, were it not for the 
 interest of those pledges that a saint in heaven left 
 me. I would be loth, my lords — " Here, overcome 
 by these memories, he was unable to control his 
 tears. Recovering his voice he went on: "What 
 I forfeit for myself it is nothing. But I confess, 
 that my indiscretion should forfeit for them, it wounds 
 me very deeply. You will be pleased to pardon my 
 
 1 The History of the Parliament of England, by Thomas May, Oxford, 
 1854, p. 96. 
 
152 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 infirmity, something I should have said, but I see 
 I shall not be able, and therefore I will leave it." 
 
 He was followed by Glyn on behalf of the prose- 
 cution, and then by Pym, from whom the king was 
 able to hear a very free speech against his idolised 
 prerogative. " Nothing can be more equal than 
 that he should perish by the justice of that law which 
 he would have subverted. Neither will this be a new 
 way of blood. There are marks enough to trace 
 this law to the very original of this kingdom, and 
 if it hath not been put in execution, as he allegeth, 
 these two hundred and forty years, it was not for 
 want of law, but that all that time hath not bred a 
 man bold enough to commit such crimes as these, 
 which is a subject much aggravating his offence, and 
 making him no whit less liable to punishment, be- 
 cause he is the only man that in so long a time 
 hath ventured upon such a treason as this." 
 
 St John followed in a stern denunciation. Two 
 hundred and four members of the Lower House voted 
 for, fifty-nine members voted against, the Bill of 
 Attainder, the latter on the ground that the mis- 
 demeanours proved against the earl did not amount to 
 high treason. Amongst them were Lord Digby, who 
 had been a member of the committee of the prosecu- 
 tion, and the learned John Selden, whose attachment 
 to precedents made him reluctant to strain the law to 
 a new departure. 
 
 On April 29, the bill was brought up to the 
 Lords by Oliver St John. To avert it the king called 
 the two Houses together and addressed them in a 
 prepared speech : The earl, he said, had been guilty 
 of misdemeanours so grave that "he was not fit to 
 
THE KING'S PROMISE 
 
 153 
 
 serve in any place of trust, no, not so much as to be a 
 high constable " ; but he could not think him guilty 
 of high treason. His majesty farther protested that 
 his intention "was ever to govern according to law 
 and no otherwise," an assertion which could not add 
 weight to his testimony. Before passing the Bill of 
 Attainder the Lords consulted the bench of judges, 
 who unanimously declared that the offences proved 
 against the earl amounted to high treason, yet the 
 bill only passed by twenty-six peers against nineteen, 
 on May 8. They treated the case judicially, finding 
 the earl guilty on certain articles. Many of the 
 Lords had consulted their own safety by keeping 
 away. The bishops, citing the canon law which 
 excused them being judges in capital offences, had 
 absented themselves from the whole trial. 
 
 The friends of the earl might fairly expect that 
 the king would never pass the bill ; besides he had 
 written, on April 23, to the earl : " You shall not 
 suffer in life, honour, or fortune. This is but justice, 
 and therefore a very mean reward from a master to 
 so faithful and able a servant as you have showed 
 yourself to be." 
 
 Out of the parliament popular clamour was loud 
 and strenuous for Strafford's head. The names of 
 the fifty-nine members who voted against the 
 attainder were placarded in old palace yard as enemies 
 of justice. The House of Commons ordered the 
 speech of Lord Digby, pleading for a milder sentence 
 to be suppressed. A bitter reply to it was published. 
 The Londoners remembered with resentment that, 
 when the city objected to a forced loan, the mayor, 
 sheriffs, and aldermen were brought before the 
 
154 
 
 LIFE OF sm HENRY VANE 
 
 council, when Strafford said that no good would be 
 done with them till an example was made of them, 
 and they were laid by the heels, and some of the alder- 
 men hanged up. Moreover, the forfeitures which were 
 still hanging over the plantation of Londonderry was 
 a cause of bitterness and loss to the citizens. A 
 petition signed by 20,000 Londoners demanded that 
 justice should be executed on the said earl, and riotous 
 processions surrounded the palace shouting for his 
 head. The very power which Strafford had put forth 
 in his own defence rendered his foes the more 
 eager for his blood : they could not feel safe as 
 long as he lived. To one who interceded for his 
 life the Earl of Essex replied : " Stone dead has no 
 fellow." 
 
 The king consulted the Lord Chamberlain and 
 the bishops, all of whom save Juxon advised him to 
 give his consent to the bill. Strafford offered his life as 
 a peace-offering between the king and the parliament, 
 a heroic sacrifice which might well have moved his 
 master to submit to any danger rather than abandon 
 such a servant. After a miserable day's indecision 
 Charles gave his assent to the bill. Every one was 
 astonished ; the usher who brought the message to 
 the peers was so bewildered that he forgot his black 
 rod. The king had still the prerogative of mercy, 
 but here again he yielded in a letter which still 
 remains to his disgrace. When the earl heard that 
 his master, for whom he had dared and done and 
 suffered so much, now deserted him, he uttered the 
 memorable words : " Put not your trust in princes, for 
 in them there is no salvation," a lesson which he had 
 learned too late. He was beheaded on May 12, 
 
DEATH OF STRAFFORD 
 
 155 
 
 1 64 1, meeting his end with great courage and com- 
 posure. 
 
 Some writers, whose notions of history are regu- 
 lated by their sense of the picturesque, have bewailed 
 the injustice of Strafford's fate, but we consider that a 
 people has a right to secure itself against a powerful 
 and dangerous offender for whose transgression there 
 is no punishment provided in the statute book. There 
 are some crimes created by the law. It would be 
 clearly unjust to punish a man for importing goods 
 before they were declared contraband, or killing 
 partridges before they were declared game ; but there 
 are acts which outrage the moral law and imperil 
 public safety, and in a dangerous crisis society, which 
 assum.es the right to make wrong-doing punishable, 
 has also the right to ensure its own safety by sacrific- 
 ing the offender. Strafford compared his own case to 
 a man who runs his barge down the Thames and 
 splits upon an anchor where there was no buoy to 
 warn him. But we know, in his own correspondence, 
 he makes it a merit with the king that, through his 
 high-handed actions to enlarge prerogative, he had put 
 his own life in danger. This he assumes would 
 happen if he fell into the power of those he was 
 trying to deprive of their birthright of liberty for his 
 own aggrandisement. Those who now sit secure in 
 the liberties saved by their forefathers may easily 
 forget, if they ever knew, the antecedent circumstances, 
 and blame Pym and those who supported him because 
 Strafford made an eloquent and pathetic defence ; but 
 the instinct, one may even say the common-sense of 
 mankind will, in times of extreme danger, impel them 
 to protect themselves after a similar fashion. History 
 
156 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 will not blame the imprisonment of Napoleon for six 
 years at St Helena, although there was no law to 
 justify his detention after peace was concluded. 
 
 Apart from the advice to bring over the Irish army 
 to England, it appears that the offences specified in 
 the fifteenth article of impeachment ^ of which Strafford 
 was found guilty, fell within the statute of Edward III., 
 viz., imposing great sums of money by his own 
 authority upon some towns and places in Ireland, 
 and quartering troops upon those who resisted with a 
 view by acts of oppression to enforce payment. To 
 those who carefully go over the trial, which occupied 
 fifteen days, it will appear that Strafford failed to make 
 a sufficient reply to the charges so strongly brought 
 against him. Were those who took up the prosecution 
 to acquit a man of whose conspiracy against the 
 liberties of England there was no doubt, because a 
 condemnation would be a disaster for his children ? 
 Those who listened to his pathetic reference to his 
 second wife knew that he had espoused a third one 
 within a year of her death. This lady seems to have 
 been a kind mother to the children. The parliament 
 did not carry their resentment against their adversary 
 any farther. They expressly exempted his estate from 
 the usual penalties of forfeiture which followed a 
 conviction for high treason. 
 
 1 See Rushworth's Tryal of the Earl of Strafford^ pp. 426-459. The 
 weighty and eloquent remarks in Hallam's Constitutional History on the 
 justice of the impeachment are most worthy of reference. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 Vigorous Reforms of the Long Parliament. Petitions against Episcopal 
 Government, Speech of Sir Henry Vane on the Bill. Defence of 
 Episcopacy by Lord Falkland. The King goes to Scotland. Begins 
 to Collect his Adherents. Rebellion in Ireland. Dismisses Sir Henry 
 Vane, the elder, from his post of Secretary of State, and the younger 
 Vane from being Joint Treasurer of the Navy. Bill to deprive the 
 Bishops of their Seats in the House of Lords. The King's Attempt 
 to arrest the five Members. His Failure and Flight from London. 
 
 During Strafford's trial the Commons had gone 
 on pressing measures for the redress of grievances and 
 for securing their own safety. The Star Chamber, 
 the High Commission, the Council of the North, and 
 the Marshal's Court were abolished, and all taxes 
 raised without the consent of parliament declared 
 illegal. A bill was passed prescribing the calling of a 
 parliament every three years, and arranging how it 
 might be called without the consent of the sovereign 
 should he omit to do so. And on May 8, 1641, a bill 
 was passed through both Houses that the existing 
 parliament should not be adjourned, prorogued, or 
 dissolved save with its own consent. Men were 
 amazed when, two days after, this measure received the 
 royal assent, since it not only surrendered a strong 
 position held by the sovereign, but rendered the 
 parliament independent of its own constituents. 
 
 There were no daily newspapers nor shorthand 
 
158 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 reporters in those days, nor did the parliaments desire 
 that their proceedings should be made public, but 
 reports or rdsum^s of the different speeches were 
 printed and widely diffused. Most of these sheets are 
 to be had in one hbrary or another ; but these debates, 
 fluttering with eager interest at the time, deal with 
 grievances no longer felt. The encroachment of 
 the royal prerogative, Star Chamber, corrupt judges, 
 forest laws, arbitrary imprisonments, ship-money, 
 forced loans and monopolies are all unknown. The 
 parliament is now supreme; the penal laws vex 
 Catholics and Dissenters no more. Every man now 
 can avow what belief he affects; but the Episcopal 
 Church still remains, shorn of its powers to persecute, 
 but still retaining the vices objected to it in the days 
 of the Stuarts as inherent in its constitution. The 
 episcopal fabric, the creation of the Tudors, still 
 stands much as Laud left it, half way between the 
 Church of Rome, whose ritual it affects, and the 
 Protestant churches on whose ordinances it looks 
 down with unconcealed disdain. The bishops are 
 still in the House of Lords. There are still men 
 within its body who more or less secretly adopt the 
 doctrines of Catholicism. There are still conspirators 
 within its walls anxious to surrender its standards, 
 or to keep an open gate to Rome. Through this 
 gate have gone two kings of England, one of its 
 queens, and hundreds of the nobility and the scholars 
 of the old universities, followed by a train of docile 
 disciples who find it too great a trial to think for 
 themselves, and are willing to starve their intellects 
 to gratify their tastes. Within its walls too there 
 are still men of learning and virtue, who uphold the 
 
ROOT AND BRANCH PETITION 
 
 159 
 
 tenets of the reformation ; and so, when it was pro- 
 posed in the Long Parliament that episcopacy 
 should be abolished, many of the speeches, both for 
 and against, might still be appropriately delivered in 
 the present House of Commons. 
 
 Five years after the assembly of the parliament a 
 petition was presented with 15,000 signatures 
 from the city of London, praying that the whole 
 fabric of episcopacy should be destroyed, root and 
 branch ; others of the same tenor followed. On the 
 opposite side many petitions signed by an incredible 
 number of hands were brought in favour of preserving 
 the church.^ 
 
 On February 19, 1641, an order was adopted that 
 a committee of thirty should take into consideration 
 the ministers' remonstrance, a proposal of moderate 
 reform, and the petition for the entire abolition 
 of episcopacy. The root and branch men suc- 
 ceeded by a majority of 180 to 145 in getting the 
 younger Vane, Holies, and Nathaniel Fiennes, the 
 second son of Lord Saye, added to the commission. 
 They inquired at great length upon the questions of 
 divine right, of the church, and the conduct of the 
 clergy. The younger Vane had now come to the 
 front as an assailant of the Episcopal Church, while 
 his father was one of its defenders. 
 
 In March 1641 it was resolved in the House of 
 Commons that the legislative and judicial power of 
 the bishops is a great hindrance to the discharge of 
 their spiritual functions. 
 
 1 The debates about these proposals are described with sufficient 
 fullness in the History of the English Church during the Civil Wars, and 
 under the Commonwealth, by William A. Shaw, London, 1900. 
 
160 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 Sir Edward Deering afterwards said that the bill 
 for the abolition of the episcopal order and the sale 
 of the deans' and chapters' lands, first read on May 27, 
 was given to him by Sir Arthur Hesilrige, being 
 brought unto him by Sir Henry Vane and Mr Oliver 
 Cromwell. 
 
 While all joined in condemning the conduct of the 
 bishops and the scandalous lives of some of the lower 
 clergy, the church itself found defenders within the 
 parliament. In May and June warm speeches were 
 made on both sides. 
 
 We have an outline of Sir H. Vane's speech to 
 the committee for the bill against episcopal govern- 
 ment, Mr Hyde in the chair, delivered on June 11, 
 1 64 1. Vane began by stating that the preamble of 
 the bill carried the day before virtually decided the 
 question that episcopal government hath been found 
 by long experience to be a great impediment to the 
 perfect reformation and growth in religion, and very 
 prejudicial to the civil state. 
 
 He argued that the same ground which supported 
 the diocesan or metropolitan bishop supported the 
 pope or universal bishop. " The spirit of this order," 
 he goes on, "is a spirit of pride, exalting itself, in 
 the temple of God, over all that is called God ; first, 
 exalting itself above its fellow presbyters, under the 
 form of a bishop, then over its fellow bishops, under 
 the title of archbishops, and the still mounting over 
 those of its own profession, till it come to be pope, 
 and then it sticks not to tread upon the necks of 
 princes, kings, and emperors, and trample them 
 under its feet. As itself came in by the back doore 
 into the church, and was brought in by the spirit of 
 
VANE'S SPEECH ON EPISCOPACY 
 
 161 
 
 antichrist, so itselfe hath been the back doore and 
 inlet of all superstition and corruption into the worship 
 and doctrine of the church, and the means of hastening 
 us back againe to Rome. For proofe of this, I 
 appeal to all our knowledges in late years past, the 
 memory whereof is so fresh, I need enter into no 
 perticulars." 
 
 "A second fruit of this government in the 
 church hath been the displacing of the most godly 
 and conscientious ministers : the vexing, punishing, 
 and banishing out of the kingdome, the most 
 religious of all sorts and conditions, that would not 
 comply with their superstitious inventions and 
 ceremonies ; in one word, the turning the edge and 
 power of their government against the very life and 
 power of godliness ; and the favour and protection 
 of it unto all profane, scandalous, and superstitious 
 persons that would uphold their party. Thousands 
 of examples might be given of this, if it were not 
 most notorious. A third fruit has been schism and 
 fractions within, and alienation from all the reformed 
 churches abroad." Vane offered the proviso to assign 
 the power of supervision of the churches, in every 
 diocese, to commissions of clergy and laity to be alike 
 in number. This proposal was referred by the House 
 to a sub-committee. 
 
 In an eloquent speech for the church, Lord 
 Falkland deplored the destruction of unity under 
 pretence of uniformity, the strictness of the bishops 
 against those who disliked ceremonies, and their 
 neglect of immoralities. They neither preached 
 themselves, nor employed those that should, nor 
 suffered those that would. They brought in catechis- 
 
LlFii OF SIR HENRY VAKE 
 
 ing only to thrust out preaching. " It seemed," went 
 on the orator, " that their work was to try how much 
 of a papist might be brought in without popery, and 
 to destroy as much as they could of the gospel without 
 bringing themselves into danger of being destroyed 
 by the law. 
 
 Master speaker, to go yet further, some of them 
 have so industriously laboured to deduce themselves 
 from Rome, that they have given great suspicion, that 
 in gratitude they desire to return thither, or, at least, 
 to meet it half way, some have evidently laboured to 
 bring in an English though not a Roman popery. I 
 mean not only the outside and dress of it, but equally 
 absolute a blind dependance of the people upon the 
 clergy, and of the clergy upon themselves, and have 
 opposed the papacy beyond the sea, that they might 
 settle one within the sea. Nay, common fame is 
 more than ordinarily false, if none of them have found 
 a way to reconcile the opinions of Rome to the 
 preferments of England, be so absolutely directly and 
 cordially papist, that it is all that fifteen hundred 
 pounds a year can do to keep them from confess- 
 ing it." 
 
 After recalling what bishops had done both for the 
 spread of Christianity and for the Reformation : 
 Even now," he goes on, " there are yet some who 
 have conduced in nothing to our late innovations, 
 but by their silence ; some who, in an unexpected and 
 mighty place and power, have expressed an equal 
 moderation and humility, being neither ambitious 
 before, nor proud after, either of the crosiers, staff, or 
 white staff, some who have beene learned opposers 
 of popery, and zealous opposers of Arminianism, 
 
FALKLAND ON THE CHURCH 
 
 163 
 
 between whom and their inferior clergy in frequency 
 of preaching, hath beene no distinction, whose lives 
 are untouched, not only by guilt, but by malice, 
 scarce to be equalled by those of any condition, or to 
 be excelled by those in any calendar ; I doubt not, I 
 say, but if we consider this, this consideration will 
 bring forth this conclusion, that bishops may be 
 good men, and let us give but good men good rules, 
 we shall have both good governors and good times. 
 Wherefore, Mr Speaker, my humble motion is, that 
 we may punish the present offenders, reduce and 
 preserve the calling for better men hereafter. Let us 
 remember with fresh thankfulness to God, those 
 glorious martyr bishops who were burned for our 
 religion, in the times of popery, who, by their learning, 
 zeal, and constancy, upheld and conveyed it down 
 to us. 
 
 "We have some good bishops still, who doe 
 preach every Lord's day, and are therefore worthy 
 of double honour ; they have suffered enough already 
 in the disease ; I shall be sorry wee should make 
 them suffer more in the remedy." 
 
 Mr Hyde, who had been appointed chairman, 
 afterwards boasted that he had managed to wreck 
 this bill by suggesting new subjects for discussion, 
 and encouraging prolonged talking. 
 
 Wearied with playing a humiliating part in 
 London, Charles determined to visit the kingdom of 
 his fathers. The treaty with the Scots had been 
 ratified, and their army withdrawn, having received 
 ;^300,ooo as an indemnity from the English parlia- 
 ment with the thanks of that assembly. The 
 Commons were suspicious of Charles, and sent com- 
 
164 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 missioners to watch his movements. The king stayed 
 three months in Scotland, during which he did his 
 utmost to conciliate his northern subjects by yielding 
 to all their demands. Presbyterianism was formally 
 re-established, and those favourable to it were put 
 in power, Charles was successful in gaining over 
 several of the leaders who gave him detailed informa- 
 tion about the encouragement which the Scots had 
 got from some of the parliamentary men in their 
 recent invasion. The path of conciliation seemed 
 promising when the tidings of the rebellion in Ireland 
 came to Charles as he was playing at golf on Leith 
 Links. The native Irish had been dispossessed of 
 their lands by force and fraud, and their religion 
 prescribed. They had been treated with insolent 
 disdain by Strafford when they asked for the redress 
 of their grievances promised by the king in the 
 beginning of his reign. Ireland had become affected 
 by the general excitement of the time, and Strafford's 
 standing army had been disbanded. The pent-up 
 hatred of a fiery race broke out. The British settlers 
 were everywhere massacred save in Dublin, the head- 
 quarters of government, and in the eastern parts of 
 Ulster, where the Scots were strong enough to make 
 head. The leaders of the insurrection pretended to 
 act under the orders of the king, and published a 
 commission dated from Scotland under his seal. 
 Though this seems to have been a forgery, the report 
 was credited in many quarters, and heightened the 
 unpopularity of the king, who had imprudently shown 
 himself anxious to let off the Catholics while severe 
 against the Puritans. 
 
 During Charles's absence in the north the House 
 
THE GRAND REMONSTRANCE 
 
 165 
 
 of Commons was busy with the grand remonstrance 
 in which all the misrule and oppression of his reign 
 were detailed in powerful language, the whole blame 
 being put upon the king's advisers agreeably to the 
 usual formula. The passage of this declaration was 
 warmly opposed by many members, who thought that 
 the parliament should be satisfied with the king's 
 concessions without recalling exasperating memories. 
 The remonstrance only passed by a majority of 
 eleven ; May says nine. It is always easy to wake 
 the conservative feelings of a portion, at least, of 
 the English people ; and as concession after conces- 
 sion was extorted from the unwilling prince, a party 
 was gradually formed in his favour, comprising men 
 like Hyde, Falkland, and Culpeper, who had previ- 
 ously taken a decided part against him. The English 
 are fonder of building their laws and institutions 
 upon ancient usage and historical precedent, than 
 upon abstract rights. The popular party was pleased 
 to trace the liberties they possessed to something 
 their ancestors had gained, and the liberties they 
 claimed to something their ancestors had lost. 
 
 As Charles I. had persistently struggled to take 
 back the concessions of his predecessors, the Long 
 Parliament not only demanded new privileges, but 
 that these should be fenced by new securities. Those 
 who believe in the divine right of kings, or the 
 expediency of a despotic government, will deplore 
 the concessions of the prince ; those in favour of 
 limited monarchy will draw the line according to their 
 fancy here or there, and say that beyond this and 
 that constitutional meridian the Long Parliament 
 overpassed the limits of popular rights, while those 
 
166 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 who believe that the people can, at any time, draw 
 back from its rulers the power it has delegated to 
 them will not be disposed to blame any of the demands 
 of the Commons, if they are satisfied that the people 
 were fit to exercise the privileges claimed for them. 
 Could Charles Stuart have been trusted, it is certain 
 that their measures would have been so moderate 
 as not to offend any party really entitled to be called 
 the friends of constitutional liberty ; but as it was 
 the Commons were led to demand that the powers 
 of the crown should be curtailed, in order to disarm 
 the faithless occupant of the throne. 
 
 Charles, pleased with the success of his diplomacy 
 in Scotland, and the acclamations he received 
 on his journey southward, fancied that the time for 
 reaction had come. He now ventured to visit the 
 Vanes with his displeasure for the part which 
 they had taken at Strafford's trial. Sir Henry, the 
 elder, was successively deprived of his offices of 
 treasurer and then of secretary of state, and the 
 younger Vane dismissed from his post of joint- 
 treasurer of the navy, and a friend of Strafford was 
 put in his place. The old servant of the crown was 
 welcomed into the popular ranks by Pym's adding his 
 name to a select committee on Irish affairs.^ The 
 Commons resented young Vane's dismissal, and made 
 an order to consider of some means and ways to 
 preserve him in. ^ Charles must have despaired of 
 gaining over the young politician. A few days before 
 the court had tried to corrupt Pym by promising to 
 
 ^ See the Arrest of the Five Members by Charles the First, by John 
 Forster, London, i860, pp. 50 (note), 52-53. 
 
 2 MS. State Paper Office, Sidney Bere to Pennington, (Quoted by 
 Foster, p. 53. 
 
IMPRUDENCE OF THE BISHOPS 167 
 
 make him chancellor of the exchequer ; St John 
 accepted the post of solicitor-general, but continued 
 as hostile to the prerogative as before. 
 
 In the meantime the Commons went on pressing 
 their reforms. A bill was passed to deprive the bishops 
 of their seats in the Upper House, which made slow 
 progress through the Lords. The bishops were 
 insulted by the mob when they passed through the 
 streets. Some of the disbanded officers drew their 
 swords to protect them, which led to frays and riots. 
 The bishops claimed the protection of parliament 
 which the Commons were slow of according. 
 Assembling in the house of Williams, the newly made 
 Archbishop of York, they hastily drew up a protesta- 
 tion that they dare not sit or vote in the House of 
 Peers till secure from affronts and danger. They 
 protested that all laws and resolutions made in their 
 absence from the December 27 were null and of 
 none effect. This protest was promptly taken by the 
 archbishop to the king, who handed it to the lord- 
 keeper to be read to the Lords. Every one was 
 amazed that, while the fate of their order was 
 trembling in the balance, the bishops should proclaim 
 that important measures done in their absence were 
 not legal or binding. The protestation was sent to 
 the Lower House. The root and branch men at 
 once took advantage of the imprudent action of the 
 bishops : they ordered them to be impeached for high 
 treason, and before the prelates knew that the petition 
 had been given to the king, they found themselves 
 kneeling at the bar of the House of Lords. Archbishop 
 Williams, persecuted by Laud, had been for three and a 
 half years in prison ; he had got out of the Tower about 
 
168 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 the same time as Laud had been put in. Now he 
 was back to prison with his bishops. A caricature 
 representing Williams, first bishop of Lincoln, in the 
 fen country, acting as a decoy duck to lure eleven 
 prelatic birds into captivity, much amused old Laud, 
 then a fellow-prisoner in the Tower. The bill depriving 
 the bishops of their seats in the House of Peers was 
 now speedily passed. The king gave his assent to it 
 on February 14 by commission, one of the last 
 concessions to the demands of the parliament. After 
 which the bishops were released. 
 
 The Commons became anxious when the king, on 
 his return from Scotland, withdrew the guard from 
 the Parliament House. Charles, believing that he had 
 proofs of the correspondence between the Scots and 
 some of the parliamentary leaders, ordered the 
 attorney-general to inform the Lords that he meant 
 to impeach Lord Kimbolton, Pym, Hampden, Holies, 
 and Strode, of high treason. The Commons resented 
 this as a breach of their privileges, and a lawless 
 exertion of the prerogative, for the legal way would 
 have been to get a case against them before a grand 
 jury to be tried by a petty jury. The Commons 
 requested a conference with the Lords to acquaint 
 them that a scandalous paper, meaning the articles of 
 impeachment, had been published, and that the king's 
 guard at Whitehall was a breach of their privileges 
 and an interruption to the freedom of debate. 
 Nathaniel Fiennes, Glyn, the younger Vane, and 
 Hotham, were named managers of this conference. 
 
 As the House refused to attend to his summons to 
 deliver up the accused members, Charles made the 
 well-known attempt to arrest them with about 400 
 
ARREST OF THE FIVE MEMBERS 
 
 169 
 
 armed followers. The members, warned in time by 
 Lady Carlisle, had withdrawn, and took refuge in the 
 city, which rose to protect them. When the king 
 next day visited Guildhall in the hopes of getting the 
 Common Council to give them up, he was greeted 
 with shouts of "privilege of parliament." Bands of 
 yeomanry flocked in from the neighbouring counties 
 to join in the defence of the members. The king's 
 offer to abandon the prosecution and grant a free 
 pardon to the accused only increased his humiliation. 
 His wisest councillors holding aloof, his guards 
 powerless amidst a city in revolt, trembling for his 
 own safety, the king with his wife and children, left 
 London for Hampton Court on January lo. Next 
 day the five members, escorted by the train-bands, 
 entered the House in triumph. The two parties 
 already formed stood opposing one another. 
 
 The king soon left Hampton Court for Windsor, 
 where his partisans gathered around him eager to 
 strike the first blow. He made a proposal of 
 redressing any farther grievances in order to gain 
 time, and much against his conscience, agreed to the 
 bill depriving the bishops of their seats, under the 
 reserve that concessions extracted by violence might 
 be taken back on a favourable occasion. The Lords 
 were disposed to welcome the king's proposals ; but 
 the Commons, more deeply involved in the struggle, 
 and more clear-sighted, demanded that the command 
 of the royal fortresses and of the militia should be 
 consigned to men who possessed the confidence of the 
 parliament. Charles saw that this was wresting from 
 him the sword which he was prepared to draw. He 
 commenced a journey to York, there to gather hig 
 
170 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 forces for a resort to arms. There were parleyings on 
 the way, and messages from parliament entreating 
 him to return to his capital with refusals and remon- 
 strances on the king's part, but all in vain. 
 
 And now began a struggle such as the world had 
 never seen before. At the outset the parliament had 
 only dreamed of a redress of manifest evils in the 
 church and state ; but under the sway of causes 
 dimly discerned, every day made them take up a new 
 position. As May, a close watcher of these events, 
 thoughtfully observed : " Such an unhappy genius 
 ruled those times (for historians have observed a genius 
 of times as well as of climates or men) that no 
 endeavours proved successful ; nor did any actions 
 produce the right though probable effects." 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 Charles attempts to seize Kingston-upon-Hull. Collects his Adherents at 
 York. The Fleet sides with the ParHament. Vane's Work in 
 Organising the Navy. The Strength of the Parliamentary Party. 
 The Cavaliers. England not prepared for War. Essex made Com- 
 mander of the Forces of the Parliament. 
 
 KiNGSTON-UPON-HuLL was the most important sea- 
 port in Yorkshire ; its fortifications had been lately- 
 repaired, and it contained a large magazine of arms 
 from the discharging of the northern army. The 
 Earl of Strafford had sought to put a royalist governor, 
 Sir Thomas Glemham, in the town,^ but the mayor 
 and corporation had refused to give up the keys to 
 him, and the parliament had intrusted the defence of 
 the stronghold to Sir John Hotham, a wealthy knight 
 of the East Riding, M.P. for Scarborough, leader of 
 "the obstinate northern men," who had been recently 
 imprisoned for resistance to the king's illegal acts. 
 Riding from York, Charles appeared on April 23 with 
 300 horsemen and demanded admittance. The mayor 
 would have let in his majesty ; but Hotham ordered 
 the gates to be shut, and falling on his knees on the 
 rampart, excused himself to the king that he had 
 taken an oath to hold the place for the parliament. 
 
 1 See The Hull Letters, from a collection of original documents found 
 among the Borough Archives in the Town Hall, Hull, edited by T, F, 
 Tindall Wildridge, Hull, 1886, pp. 19, 21, 29, 30. 
 
172 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 The courtiers around were furious in their impreca- 
 tions, and cried out to the officers on the rampart to 
 throw Hotham into the ditch. His majesty retired 
 a little, and then sent a message requesting to be 
 admitted with twenty men. Hotham knew that the 
 king's son, James, with the Prince Palatine and Lord 
 Newport and their suite were in the town, and that it 
 would be beyond his power to put the king out, if he 
 were once in with twenty men. On this second 
 refusal Charles caused the heralds to proclaim Sir 
 John a traitor, and made his way back to York to 
 send an express to the parliament, calling upon them 
 to condemn Sir John for denying him entry into his 
 own town. The parliament hastened to notify their 
 approval of the conduct of their trusty governor. 
 They met the king's message with a firm refusal, 
 rendered almost ironical by the forms of humility and 
 subservience used in addressing his sacred majesty. 
 The fortresses and arsenals, they declared, were not 
 the personal property of the king, like a house or 
 field, but vested in him for the safety of the realm, 
 and that the same object might justify the parliament 
 to assume the charge of them. They farther pro- 
 tested that to denounce Sir John Hotham as a traitor 
 was a high breach of the privilege of parliament, and 
 complained of the king's intercepting one of their 
 messengers, with other recriminations. The argument 
 sustained by written messages between both parties 
 was in reality an appeal to gain or keep supporters, 
 for it was clear that blows, not words, must decide the 
 dispute. 
 
 The parliament now fairly assumed the executive 
 power, They ordered the stores in Hull to be con- 
 
CHARLES'S COURT AT YORK 
 
 173 
 
 veyed to London, sent directions to organise the 
 militia in the counties, and appointed a committee to 
 negotiate a loan in the city. 
 
 Thirty-two peers and more than sixty members of 
 the Lower House now departed to York to join the king. 
 The parliament ordered them to return under penalties, 
 and forbade all to obey the king's orders to take arms. 
 At the same time they professed to be acting under 
 the king's name, and were only fighting to rescue his 
 person from those about him. When the Lord- 
 Keeper Littleton fled to join the royalists at York 
 with the great seal, parliament was much perplexed, 
 as many acts of state were issued under this warrant. 
 There were earnest discussions between the Commons 
 and the remaining peers at Westminster whether they 
 should get a new seal engraved, which was only done 
 after the battle of Newbury.^ On June 2 the parlia- 
 ment sent, under the title of a Humble Petition and 
 Advice, nineteen propositions framed to put all the 
 real power into their own hands, and divest the king 
 of everything but a titular rank. Surrounded by his 
 swelling bands of boisterous Cavaliers at York, sworn 
 to stand by him, Charles presumed that he might 
 obtain as good terms if reduced to the last extremity. 
 The parliament appointed the Earl of Essex commander 
 of their army, and the Earl of Warwick admiral of the 
 fleet. The persuasive address of Sir Henry Vane, 
 again put at the head of the admiralty, was exerted 
 in getting the navy to declare for the popular cause. 
 Throughout the Civil War the fleet was a valuable 
 support to the parliament in intercepting supplies for 
 the king from the continent, in confirming the fidelity 
 
 1 See Campbell's Lives of the Lord Chancellors, London, 1845. 
 
m 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 of the seaport towns, and in conveying troops and 
 munitions of war from one part of the country to the 
 other. 
 
 The sailors had no reason to love any of their 
 kings, whether Tudor or Stuart, who used them as 
 tools when need pressed, and then cast them into the 
 slime. When the Civil War began Charles named 
 Pennington, a well-known sea-officer, lord high 
 admiral ; but the whole fleet, save one small vessel, 
 took the side of the parliament. Where there were 
 disputes the crews put royalist officers ashore. The 
 dockyards on the Thames, Woolwich, Deptford, and 
 Chatham, and the principal seaports, supported the 
 cause of the parliament.^ In July 1642, Warwick 
 succeeded Northumberland as high admiral. The 
 adhesion of the navy much strengthened the popular 
 cause. If Charles had been able to blockade London 
 with the fleet, it had -fared badly with his opponents. 
 
 For the first time the sailors were treated with 
 kindly consideration. They were now decently fed, 
 paid better wages, ^ and more regularly, allowed a 
 fixed share of prize money, and cared for when sick or 
 wounded. We no longer read of the dire ravages of 
 disease amongst the crews, and the ships were kept 
 fit and ready for service. Vane became sole treasurer 
 of the navy in August 1642. A parliamentary com- 
 mittee was appointed over the admiralty. The 
 members being often changed, Vane's authority must 
 have been paramount. Under this committee were 
 
 * Oppenheim, pp. 241-249, shows how unfounded were the statements 
 made by some royalist writers, that the sailors, "actuated by inherent 
 loyalty," generally were for the king. 
 
 ^ The pay of the sailors was raised to 19s. a month. 
 
ADMlNlSTRATiON OF THE NAVY 
 
 175 
 
 two boards of navy commissioners, one financial, the 
 other administrative/ 
 
 1 Mr Oppenheim, in the History of the Administration of the Royal 
 Navy, London, 1896, p. 295 (note), censures Professor Hosmer for saying, 
 in his Hfe of Sir Henry Vane, that he had created a fleet out of nothing. 
 Oppenheim observes that the pariiament commenced the Civil War 
 infinitely better equipped at sea than on land, and did not find it neces- 
 sary to begin building again till 1646. " If Mr Hosmer," Oppenheim 
 goes on, "is referring to a later period, the statement is still more 
 questionable, since the number of men at war had been increased, and 
 Vane had ceased to have any special connection except in conjunction 
 with others, with naval affairs. Allowing for his narrow intelligence and 
 vacillating temperament, Charles showed more persistence and continuity 
 of design in the government of the navy than in any other of his regal 
 duties, for though relatively weaker as regards other powers, England, as 
 far as ships and dockyards were concerned, was stronger absolutely in 
 1642 than in 1625." 
 
 Returning to Vane, " Mr Hosmer says in one place (p, 148) that the 
 post of treasurer was worth ^^30,000, and in another (p. 376) ;i{^2o,ooo a 
 year. What Mr Hosmer's authority (Sikes, The Life and Death of Sir 
 Henry Vane) really writes is, ' The bare poundage which in time of peace 
 came to about ^3000, would have amounted to about ^20,000 by the 
 year during war with Holland.' The poundage in peace years never 
 approached ;^30oo, and as Vane ceased to be treasurer in 1650, and from 
 the date of his resignation, a lower scale of payment was adopted, the 
 second part of the calculation is obviouslynothing to the purpose. Whether 
 the reduction in the treasurer's commission was due to Vane, or whether 
 he resigned on account of it, we have no evidence to show. Mr Hosmer 
 quotes Sikes to the effect that Vane returned half his receipts, from the 
 date of his appointment as sole treasurer, at the time of the self-denying 
 ordinance. Unfortunately the accounts previous to 1645 wanting, 
 and the question must remain open ; but if the probability may be 
 judged by general tendency it must be said to be extremely unlikely 
 since he was treasurer from August 8, 1642, till December 31, 1650, 
 and during that time received in poundages and salary for the five and a 
 half years for which the accounts remain, the sum of ;^i9,62o, is. lod. 
 There is no sign in the audit office papers, that he returned one penny of 
 his legal dues, and whoever else had to wait, he seems to have paid him- 
 self liberally and punctually. Mr Hosmer has only indirectly noticed 
 that parliament, when Vane resigned, settled a retiring pension on him. 
 Sikes says ' some inconsiderable matter without his seeking ' was allotted 
 to him by parliament in lieu thereof" {i.e., of his place). The inconsider- 
 able matter was landed estate producing £\ioo a year. Seeing that he 
 held his post for only seven and a half years, that during that time he 
 must have received at least ^25,000, and that all previous treasurers had 
 
176 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 i In point of numbers, position, and resources, the 
 parliamentary party were much the strongest. They 
 
 been, on occasion, dismissed without any suggestion of compensation, his 
 disinterestedness may be questioned. Going on with his strictures upon 
 Hosmer, Mr Oppenheim remarks that Sikes " writes only loosely, and 
 generally making up in enthusiasm what he lacked in exactness ; e.g., 
 in the beginning of that expensive war he resigned the treasurership of 
 thenavy. Hutchinson succeeded him from January i, i65o-i,and warwith 
 Holland did not occur till June 1652. There is nothing to show that 
 Vane was not an honest administrator, but his party fortunately produced 
 many others equally trustworthy." 
 
 Assuredly we are in no way bound to submit to the assumption that 
 the question must remain open because Mr Oppenheim cannot get at the 
 accounts of the navy before 1645, and that money returned by Sir Henry 
 Vane to aid the expenses of the Civil War should go back through the 
 audit office. The statement that Vane returned a moiety of what he had 
 received, has been made not only by Sikes, but also by Ludlow, who, 
 having been a member of the Council of States, had better means of 
 knowing than Mr Oppenheim. We give Ludlow's own words : " Sir 
 Henry Vane had been removed by the late king from being treasurer of 
 the navy for performing his duty in the House of Commons, and being 
 restored to that employment by the parliament, he freely contributed half 
 of the profits, amounting to the sum of ^2000 yearly, towards carrying on 
 the war for the liberties of England, When that war was ended he put 
 the receipt for the navy in such a way that, by order of the parliament, 
 the whole expense of the office exceeded not £1000 by year, men being 
 brought by this means to understand that they were not placed in 
 employments to serve themselves but to serve the T^iVihXic^."— Memoirs 
 of General Ludlow, third part, p. 11, printed at Vevay, 1699. 
 
 It should be borne in mind that Vane was not dismissed by the 
 parliament, but voluntarily resigned a post which had been originally 
 granted by the king, and this he offered to do in 1646. See Whitelocke's 
 Memorials, p. 236 : " An ordinance passes at Sir Henry Vane's request to 
 enable him to make a surrender of his place of treasurer of the navy." 
 At this time the king was a prisoner in Holmby House. In saying that 
 after his resignation of the treasurership. Sir Henry had no special con- 
 nection with the navy except in conjunction with others, Mr Oppenheim 
 passes too hastily over his valuable services as chairman of the head com- 
 mittee appointed to manage the admiralty and navy, which are attested 
 by many papers in the PubUc Record Office. 
 
 The profits of the treasurership of the navy varied in different years. 
 Oppenheim (p. 280) tells us that in 1634 the treasurer's fixed fee was 
 raised from ;^27o to £6^S ; Sir Christopher Wray, in arranging for .1 
 jointure for his daughter Frances, who was married to Sir Henry Vane \\\ 
 1640, estimates his office as worth £600 a year. Vane was at that time 
 joint-treasurer, sharing the profits with Sir William Russell. 
 
STRENGTH OF THE PARLIAMENT 
 
 177 
 
 held the capital with all the advantages accruing from 
 such a large centre of population ; it probably held 
 about half a million inhabitants. The train-bands 
 had a regular organisation and some exercise in arms, 
 and could do more than defend the city. The country 
 around London was mostly in their favour. The 
 south-eastern counties, the old seat of Lollardism, 
 had already shown their discontent against the 
 enclosures of commons and other agrarian and class 
 oppressions by several risings suppressed with cruelties 
 not yet forgotten.^ 
 
 From these parts had come the exodus to Holland 
 and New England, and there were so many sym- 
 pathisers left behind as to give the Puritans decidedly 
 the upper hand. The adherents of the parliament 
 were also strong in the centre of England, especially 
 in the larger towns, and they held most of the 
 principal seaports — Bristol, Hull, Portsmouth, and 
 Plymouth. On their side were some of the best of 
 the old nobility, many of the gentry, and a large 
 proportion of the yeomanry and freeholders. Above 
 
 ^ The associated counties, which did so much in the Civil Wars, were 
 Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, Huntington, Bedford, Essex, Lincoln, and 
 Oxford, The social and political influences which brought about the 
 revolution are well reviewed in Die Vorliiufer des neueren Soctalismus, 
 Abschnitt: Kommunistische und demokratisch-Socialistische Stromungen 
 wahrend der englishschen Revolution des 17 Jahrhunderts, Von Ed. 
 Barnstein, Stuttgart, 1895. Noteworthy are the author's remarks about 
 the Lollards, and Robert Ket's insurrection (1549.) He quotes William 
 Petty's Essay on Political Arithmetic, 1687, who estimated the population 
 of London, in the middle of the seventeenth century, at half a million. In 
 those days about three-fourths of the population of England lived in the 
 country. 
 
 Gregory King, who wrote about 1688, calculated that there lived in 
 London ..... 530,000 inhabitants. 
 Larger towns and market towns . , 870,000 „ 
 Villages and Hamlets . . . 4,100,000 „ 
 
 Total population . , 5,500,000 „ 
 
 M 
 
178 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 all, they had that incomparable spirit which sprang 
 from the fresh breath of liberty and hopes not yet 
 blighted, the longing to be rid of the hateful idols 
 of the past, the misrule of the king and priests, with 
 the resolve to enforce the right to think for them- 
 selves in the great problems which filled their minds 
 of God, eternity, and the future life : aspirations 
 stirring and tumultuous, difficult to keep within 
 bounds. Through all, there was a deep confidence 
 that God, who had begun this good work, would 
 surely finish it, and this made easy the sacrifice of 
 wealth and health and life. In London many of 
 the citizens contributed large sums, and loans were 
 easily raised. So much silver plate was brought 
 that it was difficult to take it in store ; even poor 
 women brought their rings and bodkins ; some 
 wealthy men raised troops of horse, one a whole 
 regiment. The pulpits in the city rang with militant 
 harangues ; sheets and pamphlets thrown off every 
 day served to keep up the excitement, and to spread 
 it through the country. The Puritan preachers, 
 silenced no longer. Laud being fast in the Tower, 
 returned to their old flocks, and raised their voices 
 high for the cause of reform. 
 
 Within these districts where the parliament had 
 the upper hand the English Commonwealth now 
 commenced its troubled existence. As the Celt 
 always takes the losing side, Wales and Cornwall 
 were in favour of the Royalists. The king had 
 many supporters in the northern counties ; but even 
 in these quarters the cause of liberty had friends, 
 though over-ruled and outnumbered. 
 
 After the king had gathered at York a cohort 
 
ASSEMBLY ON HEYWORTH MOOR 179 
 
 of the gentry of the northern counties, noisy in their 
 demonstrations of loyalty, he ventured to call on the 
 freeholders and farmers of Yorkshire, to meet him 
 on June 3, on Heyworth moor, with his whole muster 
 of army followers. More than 40,000 men of all 
 degrees assembled. The king rode through the 
 crowd. He was received with confused murmuring. 
 The Cavaliers soon perceived that a petition was 
 being circulated, begging the king not to go to war 
 with his parliament. This the courtiers did their 
 best to hinder, riding amongst the groups and 
 snatching the copies of the petition, declaring, with 
 violent invectives, that the king would not receive 
 it. Sir Thomas Fairfax had headed a protest of 
 the Yorkshire gentry favourable to the parliament, 
 refusing their consent to forces being raised by the 
 king. The petition was entrusted to him and his 
 cousin, Sir William Fairfax, who followed the king 
 about the moor, rudely obstructed by some of the 
 courtiers. Sir Thomas at last managed to get near 
 the king, and placed the petition on the pommel 
 of his saddle. The ill-starred Stuart pushed his 
 horse against the young gentleman, little dreaming 
 that the day would come when he should fly before 
 him. 
 
 A large number of the nobility and gentry of 
 England answered to the king's urgent calls, some 
 from a blind sentiment of traditional loyalty, others 
 from a misgiving that their own rank and dignity 
 were endangered by the levelling tendencies of the 
 Roundheads, or that their fortunes might be bettered 
 by the royal favour. Dislike of change, with a hazy 
 understanding of what the quarrel was about, and an 
 
180 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 indolent acquiescence in the church established, led 
 many of every rank to wish well to the royal cause ; 
 docile souls who had never felt the lash, as they had 
 quietly submitted to the yoke, they wondered that 
 others should be so restive, and in their lowly content 
 for their meat and their portion they cast admiring 
 eyes upon the glitter and pomp of the king and the 
 church. To such minds liberty and a pure worship 
 of God were abstractions which they failed to reach. 
 The Catholics, with whom escape from persecution 
 was of more importance than political freedom enjoyed 
 by others, gave their support to the king, from the 
 belief that they had more to expect from his forbear- 
 ance than from the toleration of the Puritans, who 
 had for years made it a burden of their complaint 
 that too much indulgence had been shown to the 
 papists. 
 
 The king had so little money that had it not been 
 for the generosity of a Catholic nobleman, the 
 Marquis of Worcester, he had wanted wherewithal to 
 support the expenses of his table at York. Obliged 
 now to depend upon voluntary contributions, he did 
 not gather in as he had done with his forced loans, 
 ship-money, and the rapacious fines of the Star 
 Chamber. The queen had gone to Holland, ostensibly 
 to be present at the marriage of her daughter to the 
 Prince of Orange, but really to sell the crown jewels 
 to raise money for munitions of war. The University 
 of Oxford, the centre of episcopacy and conservatism, 
 sent its plate. Cambridge was preparing to do the 
 like when Oliver Cromwell, M.P. for the town, 
 promptly seized the silver for the parliament. On the 
 whole, contributions came in slowly and scantily. 
 
tlOVAL STAiSTDARb AT NOTTINGHAM 
 
 181 
 
 The recusant members from Westminster, most of 
 them friendly both to the king and to the constitution, 
 themselves uneasy and perplexed, damped the courage 
 of the royalists, while their absence from the parlia- 
 ment gave unity and strength to that assembly. 
 Diffident of success, and obliged to humour even his 
 own partisans by conferences and negotiations with 
 the parliament, now ruling so large a part of England 
 from Westminster, the king was vacillating in his 
 moods and his preparations slow. It was only on 
 August 25 that Charles set up his standard on 
 the hill looking down upon Nottingham, with a 
 proclamation which announced the beginning of the 
 Civil War. " There appeared no conflux of men in 
 obedience to his summons, and a general sadness 
 covered the whole town. The standard was blown 
 down the same night it had been set up by a strong 
 and unruly wind, and could not be fixed again for a 
 day or two " (Clarendon). The Earl of Essex was 
 forming the national army at Northampton, and if he 
 had pushed forward, the king had either been taken 
 or put to flight with his unready levies. The parlia- 
 ment was not anxious to begin the war, and none 
 thought it would last so long and inflict so many 
 miseries on the country. 
 
 Neither party could bring forward disciplined 
 soldiers ; military training had fallen much into disuse. 
 There were few officers to be got skilled in manoeuvres. 
 Men who had served in the Low Countries were much 
 in demand. There were no generals capable of 
 comprehensive strategic plans. There were few 
 fortresses able to resist cannon ; but field artillery was 
 of little use. Firearms had not yet attained such 
 
182 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENHY VANE 
 
 precision of aim and sureness of discharge as to be 
 the decisive weapon in warfare. The foot soldiers 
 wore defensive armour ; the musketeers had their 
 cartridges slung round their belts, and carried rests for 
 their matchlocks, which they stuck in the ground. 
 The bayonet was unknown ; one half of the infantry 
 bore pikes ; when charged at close quarters the 
 musketeers took shelter behind the rows of pikemen 
 who formed ten deep. The dragoons were mounted 
 infantry, wearing steel caps and buff coats, with short 
 guns and swords. The cavalry sabre decided many a 
 fight. In fact, cavalry, not infantry, was then the 
 basis of military action.^ Fairfax, Cromwell, Rupert, 
 and David Leslie were all cavalry officers. 
 
 At the outset there was not enough of weapons to 
 arm all the combatants. The country gentleman took 
 down the old swords and spears in his hall and dis- 
 tributed them to his servants and tenants ; some had 
 to make shift with scythes at the end of poles ; 
 even the long bow came into use. 
 
 The country gentlemen who took the field for the 
 king began the struggle with some advantages. They 
 brought out their keepers, grooms, and hangers-on. 
 Most of them were already good riders and tolerable 
 marksmen, inured to hunting and field sports, and 
 practised in fencing and single stick. Thus squadrons 
 were promptly formed, obedient to command, which 
 presented a brave show. On the other hand, the re- 
 
 ^ At the siege of Drogheda, Cromwell refers to the difficulty of acting 
 with infantry alone against the enemy's horse and foot. Even after the 
 parliamentary infantry had passed through the breach, and gained 
 possession of a church, little way was made till the enemy's cavalry was 
 dispersed by a battery of artillery, and Cromwell's horse with much 
 difficulty brought into the town. 
 
CAVALIERS AND ROUNDHEADS 183 
 
 cruits of the parliament were mostly yeomen, farmers, 
 and townsmen, neither so well mounted, so firm in 
 their saddles, nor so forward at the new trade of war. 
 On the same side, however, were not a few of the 
 more thoughtful of the gentry and some of the 
 high nobility, who naturally appeared at the front, 
 though as the war went on the more capable and 
 daring soldiers rose to command. The parliamentary 
 infantry, the musketeers and pikemen, from the 
 beginning were able to match the royal troops. 
 Throughout their whole armies there was an en- 
 thusiasm much deeper than the fantastic loyalty of 
 the Cavaliers. Their staid and sober demeanour 
 contrasted with the swaggering and licentious ways 
 of the soldiers of Rupert and Goring. Men learn 
 warfare quickly under fire ; every month made the 
 Roundheads better soldiers, and strengthened the 
 cohesion of the new regiments. 
 
 In many places there was a struggle between the 
 holders of the royal commissions and the ordinances of 
 the parliament. The Cavaliers broke into the houses 
 of the Roundheads and took away their horses and 
 arms, even their money and plate. The parliament 
 men retaliated. It fared ill with the weakest in the 
 locality. Both parties accused one another of 
 pillaging and bloodguiltiness. Discipline was slack. 
 The royalists more easily enlisted the drunkards and 
 persons of licentious lives who affected a noisy 
 roystering tone. Prince Rupert at once began 
 hostilities after the fashion of the Thirty Years' War, 
 and suffered his men to live at free quarters both on 
 foes and friends. His camps were followed by numbers 
 of abandoned women who gained an evil character for 
 
184 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 stealing, and stripping the slain. Out of the court the 
 standard of honour and morals was high in England. 
 Many took sides with deep misgivings and regret to 
 have to meet neighbours, friends, and relatives, whose 
 hands they had so often clasped in kindness. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 The Battle of Edgehill. The King's Attempt to surprise London. The 
 King retires to Oxford. Waller's Plot. Successes of the Cavaliers in 
 the West. Sir Henry Vane sent as Ambassador to Scotland. 
 Concludes a Treaty with the Scots. The Assembly of Divines 
 in Westminster. The Confession of Faith. The Siege of Gloucester. 
 City relieved by Essex. Death of Pym. The Scottish Army enters 
 England. 
 
 The king's forces had marched from Nottingham to 
 Shrewsbury, where he drew many accessions from 
 Wales and other parts. During the march there were 
 some skirmishes and fights of outposts, and a few 
 places taken. He challenged the town of Coventry to 
 let his troops enter ; but the townsmen, having had 
 experience of the robberies and cruelties of the Cavaliers 
 in divers parts of the kingdom, refused to accede to 
 his majesty's desires. Inspirited by a successful 
 action in which Holies' regiment overcame Digby's 
 brigade, they made good their defence, and the king had 
 to leave Coventry behind him. The Earl of Essex, 
 whose force was now ready for action, parleying to get 
 the king to return to London to his faithful parliament, 
 allowed him time to form his raw levies. The two 
 armies had been marching for ten days within twenty 
 miles of each other. The royal army now approached 
 the border of Warwickshire, the central county of 
 England. It was determined to besiege Banbury 
 
 185 
 
186 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 where the parHament had a garrison. The king was 
 not aware that the Earl of Essex with his army was 
 no more than eight miles off. The people of the 
 country about were well affected for the parliament, 
 being much under the influence of Lord Saye and 
 Lord Brook, two of the most noted leaders of the 
 Puritans. They would not bring provisions to the 
 royal army, who could not even get a smith to shoe 
 their horses. Prince Rupert, riding to reconnoitre, 
 saw about midnight the fires of the parliamentary 
 pickets. He ascertained that the Roundheads had 
 their quarters at Keinton, when it was determined to 
 occupy the ridge of Edgehill. This is a pretty steep 
 acclivity rising from the plain, and running along in an 
 even line for several miles. About the middle of the 
 ridge there is a castle, now ruined, from the topmost 
 tower of which a view of the rich country around may 
 be obtained. The hill is not too steep for horses to 
 ascend ; but the ascent is long enough to make it 
 fatiguing. On gaining the ridge one finds he has 
 mounted to another plain, the hill not sinking on the 
 other side. The front of the hill is now planted with 
 trees. At the time of the battle it was covered by 
 bushes. This was obviously a strong position. The 
 royal army could advantageously defend the slope 
 against a front attack, and there was a broken and 
 difficult country on each side. 
 
 It was clearly the king's game here to await the 
 assault of Essex's force, which they could neither well 
 avoid attacking nor make attack save under great dis- 
 advantage. The royalist army had got between the 
 parliamentary army and London, and Essex had per- 
 emptory orders to stop their advance. Nevertheless, it 
 
THE TWO ARMIES MEET 
 
 187 
 
 was determined in a council of war, at which the king 
 presided, to descend the hill and give battle to the 
 opposing force. It was the fate of the Stuarts that they 
 never could learn from the errors of others nor from 
 their own. A hundred and twenty-nine years before one 
 of Charles's ancestors had, for a foolish bravado, quitted 
 a strong position on a hill to fight a more skilful enemy, 
 throwing away his own life and the fortunes of his 
 kingdom. The Earl of Essex drew up his army in 
 front of the little town of Keinton, three miles off, and 
 waited till the Cavaliers should descend to give battle. 
 It was one o'clock before all the king's army had 
 mustered on the ridge, and three o'clock before they 
 had marched down and deployed at the foot of the 
 hill. Few men on either side had seen a stricken field ; 
 old soldiers in Holland and Germany were in great 
 repute. The regiments were scarcely formed, even 
 the companies wanted cohesion ; discipline was little 
 understood, men new to their weapons, horses which 
 could not stand fire. Both armies, therefore, were 
 unwieldly and difficult to form, or to get to carry out 
 orders. The Earl of Lindsey, a brave and experienced 
 officer, was nominally in command of the royal army ; 
 but Prince Rupert refused to take orders from him. 
 Of course, being a prince of the blood, Rupert, a young 
 man of twenty-three, must be privileged to bring his 
 loud incompetence to the council of war. 
 
 General Ruthven was employed to form the line of 
 battle, and the brave old Lord Lindsey, vexed to see 
 his authority slighted, declared that he would go to 
 seek death at the head of his regiment. The two 
 armies met on October 23. The king's army, 
 amounting to about 15,000 men, was stronger than 
 
l88 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 that of the parliament by about 2000 infantry and 16 
 troops of horse. He was also superior in artillery, for 
 the heavy guns of Essex's army were still toiling 
 behind, guarded by 3000 men under Hampden. The 
 parliament had 10 regiments of foot, 42 troops of 
 horse and 700 dragoons, between 12,000 and 13,000 
 men ready for fighting.' Charles had delivered a 
 spirited address to the higher officers in his tent : 
 "Your king," said he, "is both your cause, your 
 quarrel, and your captain. The foe is in sight. Now 
 show yourselves no malignant parties, but with your 
 swords declare what courage and fidelity is within you. 
 I have written and declared that I intended always to 
 maintain and defend the Protestant religion, the 
 rights and privileges of parliament, and the liberty of 
 the subject, and now I must prove my words by the 
 convincing argument of the sword." 
 
 His speech to the soldiers, afterwards printed, 
 contained passages which may have caused some 
 misgivings, for all in his camp were not anxious to 
 support such high pretensions : "He that made us a 
 king will protect us. We have marched so long in 
 hopes to meet no enemy ; we know none at whose 
 hands we deserve any opposition. Nor can our sun, 
 shining through the clouds of malignant envy, suffer 
 such an obscurity, but that some influence of my 
 royal authority, derived from God, whose substitute 
 and supreme governor under Christ I am, hath 
 
 1 May estimates the forces of the parliament at twelve regiments of 
 foot and forty troops of horse, in all about 10,000 foot and 4000 horse and 
 dragoons. — History^ book iii., chapter i. 
 
 In writing the description of the battle of Edgehill, I have made 
 much use of the account in the Memorials of John Htwipde?!, by Lord 
 Nugent, London, i860, pp. 305-320. 
 
THE FORM OF BATTLE 
 
 189 
 
 begotten in you a confidence in my intentions. But 
 matters are now not to be declared by words, but by 
 swords." 
 
 The royal army marched down the hill and formed 
 in great pomp. On the ridge one thoughtful observer 
 of those opposing lines, moving towards one another 
 to meet in deadly fight for the lust of power of 
 one man, was Dr William Harvey, immortal as the 
 discoverer of the circulation of the blood. He had 
 accompanied the camp as the king's physician, and 
 the two princes, one twelve, the other ten years of 
 age, afterwards Charles H. and James H., had been 
 committed to his care. Harvey told Aubrey that he 
 withdrew with them under a hedge, and took out of 
 his pocket a book to read ; but he had not read very 
 long before a bullet of a great gun grazed on the 
 ground near him, which made him remove his 
 station.^ 
 
 In the centre were the king's guard with the royal 
 standard displayed and five other regiments in line. 
 The king, clad in steel armour covered by a black 
 velvet mantle with his star and George shining, rode 
 in the second line with his pensioners. On the right 
 wing, under Prince Rupert, were eight regiments of 
 foot and his troops of cavalry, with Washington's 
 dragoons on the flank. The left wing, commanded 
 by Lord Wilmot, was made up of his horse, two 
 regiments of foot, with Carnarvon's pikemen and 
 musketeers. Some dragoons were used to cover their 
 advance, and Lord Digby's horse were held in reserve. 
 On the right wing Essex had disposed two regiments 
 of musketeers to take advantage of some hedges and 
 
 ^ Aubrey's Lives, vol. ii. 
 
190 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 broken ground with some cavalry and field-guns in 
 the flank. On the left wing there was some infantry 
 and twenty-four troops of horse commanded by Sir 
 James Ramsay, a Scotsman. The Earl of Essex was 
 himself in the centre, with four regiments of foot ; 
 behind was a reserve of horse commanded by the Earl 
 of Bedford and Sir William Balfour. Ministers were 
 seen riding about the Puritan army exhorting the men 
 to fight valiantly. The action was begun with an 
 artillery fire from the right wing of the parliamentary 
 force and the king's centre, but little harm was done 
 by the unpractised gunners. On the right wing a 
 charge of the king's horse was repulsed by the 
 dragoons, and his musketeers were forced to take 
 refuge behind the line of pikemen. 
 
 At the moment when all hearts were stirred with 
 the excitement of impending battle a troop of horse, 
 intrusted to an Irishman misnamed Sir Faithful 
 Fortescue, firing their pistols on the ground, and 
 plucking of their orange scarfs, wheeled over to desert 
 to the king's side, who, not understanding what they 
 were about, fired at them and laid twenty-five 
 dead. This startling incident and the impetuous 
 charge of the Cavaliers spread dismay amongst the 
 parliamentary horse, who, firing their carbines wildly, 
 took to flight. A regiment of infantry advancing to 
 support them was thrown into disorder and carried 
 away in the rout. Flying across the open fields they 
 were hotly pursued by Prince Rupert, who sabred the 
 fugitives without mercy. The reserve under Sir 
 John Byron, who had not been engaged, rode ofl" to 
 join the chase as if it had been a fox-hunt. They 
 never halted till they came to Keinton, three miles off, 
 
The KING'S CENTRE BROKEN 
 
 191 
 
 where they set to plundering the enemies' baggage 
 waggons. The whole of the Roundhead right wing 
 did not give way, and some officers and gentlemen who 
 did not fly with their men were rallied by Holies' 
 regiment moving from the centre, which checked the 
 infantry of the royalists. 
 
 The Earl of Essex now ordered his centre to 
 advance, and the two opposing ranks of foot met at 
 push of pike. The struggle was kept up till Sir 
 William Balfour charged the royal infantry in rear 
 with a party of horse, and spiked some of their guns. 
 The king's guards were broken, and the standard, 
 borne by Sir Edward Verney, was plucked from his 
 dying hand.^ The Earl of Lindsey was wounded and 
 taken prisoner, dying ere morning. Holies' regiment 
 had occupied the ground left bare by Prince Rupert's 
 wing and some troops of horse from the parliamentary 
 left wing took them on the other flank. The enemy 
 was scattered, and the survivors fled up the hill ; the 
 king remained on the field with about 200 horse. In 
 the meantime Rupert and his Cavaliers were pillaging 
 at Keinton, and amusing themselves shouting and 
 driving away the Earl of Essex's coach. They were 
 disturbed by Hampden coming up from behind with 
 two regiments and five guns, which opened fire upon 
 them and killed some men and horses. Returning 
 in confusion they found the king's centre routed, 
 and the field in the possession of the Roundheads. 
 
 1 This brave gentleman had been sadly perplexed whether it was his 
 duty to follow the king as his standard-bearer. At this very time his 
 eldest son Ralph Verney was at Westminster with the Long Parliament. 
 In the confusion a Cavalier, pretending to be on the other side, got a 
 non-combatant to whom it had been entrusted, to give him the standard, 
 and rode away with it to the king's ranks. 
 
LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 The battle had lasted two hours when darkness came 
 on over the field covered with the dead and dying. 
 There was none to tend the wounded. The main 
 army of the parliament withdrew to the shelter of 
 Keinton, leaving a brigade on the ground which they 
 had won. Among these was Edmund Ludlow, who 
 writes : No man nor horse got any meat that night, 
 and I had touched none since the Saturday before ; 
 neither could I find my servant who had my cloak, so 
 that, having nothing to keep me warm but a suit of 
 iron, I was obliged to walk about all night, which 
 proved very cold by reason of a sharp frost." Both 
 parties magnified the losses which they had inflicted 
 upon their opponents. " The greatest slaughter on our 
 side was," says Ludlow, " of such as ran away, and on 
 the enemy's side of those that stood." The parlia- 
 ment lost more in private soldiers ; but the Cavaliers' 
 loss fell upon persons of distinction, and others were 
 taken prisoners. Next morning the army of the 
 parliament drew up on the battlefield ; the king's on 
 the ridge. Charles sent a flag of truce with a herald 
 to read a proclamation "from our court at Edgehill," 
 offering pardon to those who should lay down their 
 arms. He had printed copies of this proclamation, 
 which were to be scattered the day before, but had 
 been forgotten in the hurry of preparing for battle. The 
 Earl of Essex sternly checked all attempts at tampering 
 with his soldiers, and replied that he would take the 
 opinion of parliament on his majesty's gracious offer. 
 Both armies had suffered so severely that neither had 
 much spirit for fighting. Essex called a council of 
 war. Hampden, who had brought a reinforcement of 
 about 3000 men with the heavy artillery, strongly 
 
A LOST OPPORTUNITY 
 
 193 
 
 urged that an immediate attack should be made on the 
 heights, and it is admitted even by royalist writers, that 
 had he done so, the king's army would have been in 
 great danger. The king's main body was marching 
 off. Had Essex advanced towards Banbury he would 
 have fallen upon the rear of the royalists. " Instead of 
 pursuing the enemy," says Ludlow, " for what reason I 
 know not, we marched to Warwick ; of which the enemy 
 having notice, sent out a party of horse under Prince 
 Rupert, who on Tuesday night fell into the town of 
 Keinton, where our sick and wounded soldiers lay, and 
 after they had cruelly murdered many of them, re- 
 turned to their army." 
 
 The king, marching to Banbury, summoned the 
 garrison, which surrendered, a part joining his forces. 
 Fugitives from the routed cavalry of the left wing 
 brought tidings to London of a battle lost ; but the 
 parliament were soon reassured by dispatches from 
 Essex. They proclaimed a complete victory for 
 which they had little to show. Some of his council 
 advised the king to march promptly upon London, 
 sending the cavalry and light infantry on before ; but 
 the city would not have yielded to a hasty attack. 
 The train-bands mustered in Finsbury Fields, 
 Hyde Park, and St Pancras, and the Londoners 
 were ready to barricade the streets : resistance would 
 have been prolonged till Essex had taken the royalist 
 army in rear. As it was, the king's forces advanced 
 towards the capital by slow and dilatory marches. 
 Essex had time to reach London, where he was 
 greeted with acclamations, and received the thanks 
 of parliament. 
 
 Neither party had yet lost hopes of gaining their 
 
 N 
 
194 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 ends by negotiation, and on November 4, overtures 
 were made to treat with the king. On the loth 
 negotiations were formally opened. Two days after- 
 wards, while his majesty's message proclaiming his 
 willingness to listen to terms was being read to the 
 parliament, his troops, taking advantage of a misty 
 morning, advanced upon the parliamentary pickets, 
 designing to capture their artillery at Hammer- 
 smith. The town of Brentford, about seven miles 
 from London, was occupied by Holies' regiment, who 
 against great odds fought the king's troops till 
 Hampden came to their relief. Towards evening the 
 whole parliamentary army came up and the royalists 
 were driven away. Had they been vigorously pursued 
 next day the whole army might have been encom- 
 passed and cut off. Essex, though he showed much 
 bravery when his army was in danger, when successful 
 seemed always anxious to negotiate. 
 
 Success had not covered the king's breach of 
 a truce, while the city train-bands could boast how 
 they had saved their homes from his dissolute soldiers. 
 A week before, voices in the city had been raised for 
 making peace with the king upon almost any terms ; 
 contributions were coming in slowly, and the soldiers 
 were clamouring for pay. Lord Saye, Lord Brook, 
 and Sir Harry Vane had been sent to address the 
 citizens at Guildhall. Their speeches had been coldly 
 received ; now the king's perfidy had united them 
 and rekindled their zeal, while his partisans had 
 nothing to say in his defence. 
 
 The king retired to Oxford, where he made his 
 headquarters, gathered his shrunken court, and 
 held a mongrel parliament of those Lords and 
 
PRIDE OF THE COMMONS 
 
 195 
 
 Commons who took his side. Some wavering peers 
 came suggesting concessions. They met with too 
 cold a reception to encourage others to follow, and 
 most of them found their way back to Westminster. 
 Above two months of the winter were spent in futile 
 attempts to treat. The debate was, we are told, 
 chiefly managed by Sir Henry Vane, Mr Pierpoint, 
 and Mr Browne, who did it with much clearness and 
 ingenuity as the king himself was pleased to 
 confess.^ 
 
 While still in words claiming to act in the king's 
 name, the House of Commons was now exercising the 
 supreme power with increasing firmness. They 
 began to receive with impatience the dissents or 
 remonstrances of the peers who still remained at 
 Westminster. Sent by the country to be a legisla- 
 tive assembly, the parliament had been driven by the 
 course of events to assume executive powers. Affairs 
 requiring dispatch and continuity were managed 
 by departmental committees, a method of govern- 
 ment which rarely procures efficiency, but which 
 under the circumstances was the only feasible 
 arrangement. 
 
 Step by step the parliament threw off all con- 
 sideration for anything belonging to the king except 
 his title. Henry Martin detained his horses, saying 
 that as they had taken the king's forts and ships 
 they might as well take his horses. They impeached 
 the queen, seized on the regalia, and sequestered the 
 king's estates. On May 1643, they ordered the 
 Book of Sports which had grieved the Puritans so 
 
 ' Historical Manuscripts Commission^ Tenth Report, Appendix, 
 part vi,, p. 150. 
 
196 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 sadly, to be burned by the hangman, and soon after 
 issued an ordinance for removing from the churches 
 all superstitious images, crucifixes, and altars of 
 stone ; the communion tables were removed from 
 the east end. Henry Martin was one of the first to 
 let out the republican views which he had taken 
 up from a study of the histories of Greece and 
 Rome. One Saltmarsh had published a book in 
 which he advanced that if the king would not grant 
 a demand they should root him out, and the royal 
 line too. Theranent Mr Martin said that he saw 
 no reason to condemn Mr Saltmarsh, and that it 
 was better that one family should be destroyed than 
 many. Sir Neville Poole moved that Mr Martin 
 should explain what one family he meant, who boldly 
 answered, "The king and his children." Upon this, 
 many speaking very sharply against him, Henry 
 Martin was committed to the Tower, but a fortnight 
 after was released and readmitted to his seat in 
 parliament.^ 
 
 About this time three of the peers at Oxford, 
 the Earls of Holland, Bedford, and Clare, finding 
 the king set against peace, and dissatisfied with 
 the influence gained by the Catholics, returned 
 to take their seats at Westminster. The Earl of 
 Holland secretly leaving, had been arrested at the 
 outpost by some parliamentary troops, and it was 
 thought that an explanation was needed. His brother 
 the Earl of Warwick and the Earl of Essex were 
 anxious to smooth matters, which Sir Henry Vane 
 opposed. The Earl of Essex informed the House 
 of Lords that he had received intelligence that Sir 
 
 ^ Parliamentary History, vol. xii., pp. 374-376. 
 
ACCUSATION AGAINST VANE 
 
 197 
 
 Henry Vane, the younger, did keep up a corre- 
 spondence with the enemy, and that letters had passed 
 between him and the Lord Lovelace/ This was 
 true ; only Vane had entered upon the correspondence 
 in hopes of gaining some word about a plot, and 
 he had taken the precaution to inform the Speaker 
 and three of the committee what he was doing, show- 
 ing them the letters. Friends were sent to Sir Henry 
 Vane, and the Solicitor St John offering fair 
 quarters to them, if they would accommodate 
 Holland ; they, confident that they had a good excuse, 
 replied that they had no personal grudge at Holland, 
 but desired he might abstain from the House in so 
 suspect a time, and that they required no favour 
 if they themselves were guilty. The accusation 
 against them being pushed, it ended in the confusion 
 of the general and his party, who were soon anxious 
 to drop it. After being under arrest for some time, 
 the lords were allowed to return to their places. 
 It was said in drollery these three earls had much 
 confirmed others to continue with the parliament, 
 for they having tried both parties found, by ex- 
 perience, that this was the best to adhere to. 
 
 Though the parliament had the support of the 
 council of London, a species of civic republic, in that 
 great city the king had still many partisans. The 
 royalists in the city were estimated at this time as one 
 to three who were for the parliament. They were 
 watchful in acting on the unsteady multitude who 
 veered with the drift of events ; some of them were 
 active in sending messages to Oxford and prompting 
 
 1 Parliamentary History^ vol. xiii., p. 27 ; Baillie's Letters^ vol. i., 
 p. 426. 
 
198 
 
 LIFE OF Sm HENRY VANE 
 
 petitions to the parliament urging them to make peace 
 on almost any terms. 
 
 On the last day of May 1643, while the Commons 
 were observing a fast, some of the leaders were called 
 out of church by a startling message that a subtly 
 constructed plot had been detected to seize upon the 
 magazines of arms in the city, arrest the leading 
 members of the Lords and Commons and the Lord 
 Mayor, set free the political prisoners, and to admit a 
 body of the Cavaliers who were to be one march off. 
 A Commission of Array had been brought from the 
 king concealed in her hair by the Countess d'Aubigny, 
 whose husband had been killed at Edgehill. The 
 leaders of the plot were^ Edmund Waller the poet, 
 who had stayed in London to act as a spy for the 
 king, and had been a commissioner to treat with him 
 at Oxford, Tomkins, Waller's brother-in-law, and 
 Chaloner, two London citizens. They were all arrested. 
 Waller, beside himself through fright, confessed every- 
 thing, and revealed his associates with exuberant detail. 
 Two noblemen, the Earl of Portland and Viscount 
 Conway, were implicated. Northumberland was also 
 incriminated. The Commission of Array was found in 
 Tomkins' cellar. Lady d'Aubigny, as Ludlow informs 
 us, fled to the house of the French ambassador, "who, 
 refusing to deliver her to Sir Henry Vane and Mr 
 John Lisle, sent by the parliament with a guard to 
 seize her, pretending his privilege, the House, being 
 informed by Sir Francis Knowles that at the time of 
 
 1 Ludlow, vol. i., p. 83 ; Sanford's Studies and Illustrations of the 
 Great Rebellion^ p. 562 ; Cobbett's Parliamentary History of England^ 
 vol. iii., p. 122 ; The Parliamentary or Constitutional History of 
 England, London, 1762, vol. xii., p. 281 ; The long account of this trans- 
 action in Clarendon's History is incorrect in many details. 
 
A POET AT THE BAR 
 
 199 
 
 the bloody massacre at Paris, one of the French king's 
 secretaries, who was of the Reformed religion, flying to 
 the English ambassador's house for protection, and 
 disguising himself amongst the grooms, was forced 
 from thence by the king's command, ordered this 
 lady to be treated in the like manner, which was 
 done accordingly." The lady, who denied all 
 knowledge of the plot, was soon set free. 
 
 Brought to the bar of the Commons, Waller made 
 an eloquent speech, mean enough if only prompted 
 by fear but not to his discredit if sincere. After 
 a year's imprisonment he was allowed to leave the 
 country with a fine of ^10,000. The poet got back to 
 write flattering elegies to Cromwell and Charles II. 
 Tomkins and Chaloner were hanged opposite their own 
 houses. Portland was imprisoned for a time. 
 
 Sir Henry Vane thought Northumberland guilty 
 at least of disloyal secrecy, distinguishing between an 
 inward and an outward protestation, and wished to 
 have his person secured ; but Pym managed to get 
 the motion referred to the Lords and the affair was 
 dropped. 
 
 The parliament made the most of this plot, which 
 had been entered into by the king about the time 
 he was making offers of peace. Pym was sent to 
 Guildhall, where he in his precise and formal style of 
 eloquence gave an account of this great and 
 mischievous design, tending not only to the ruin and 
 destruction of the city and of the kingdom, but in 
 those ruins likewise to have buried religion and 
 liberty. 
 
 A covenant was drawn up professing hatred of the 
 popish and traitorous plot and a promise to continue 
 
200 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 to assist the forces in arms for the defence of the true 
 Protestant religion and the liberty of the subject 
 against the forces raised by the king. This was 
 subscribed by the members of both Houses, and those 
 who demurred were dubbed as malignants. 
 
 The consent of the peers was gained to the calling 
 of an assembly of divines to draw up a confession of 
 faith. 
 
 Active operations began in the spring. The 
 Cavaliers gained several victories in the western 
 counties. Hampden, who showed wonderful energy in 
 keeping up the cause of the parliament and checking 
 the depredations of Prince Rupert, was wounded in 
 a skirmish at Chalgrove and died a week after 
 (June 1 8). No other leader had combined such 
 skill in parliamentary discussion with wisdom in 
 council and vigour in the field. Had he lived he 
 would likely have superseded Essex, whose irresolute 
 method of pushing his successes caused the zeal of the 
 parliament to dwindle away. Bristol, the second city 
 in the kingdom, fell into the hands of the royalists. 
 In Cornwall, Dorsetshire, and well-nigh the whole of 
 Devonshire, they now had the upper hand. The 
 Fairfaxes were defeated by the Marquis of Newcastle 
 at Atherton Moor, and had to take refuge within the 
 walls of Hull, and Waller was defeated at Devizes by 
 Sir Ralph Hopton. 
 
 Time-serving treachery began to take the form of 
 returning loyalty. Sir Hugh Chomeley succeeded in 
 betraying Scarborough into the hands of the royalists. 
 Hull, fortified and open to the sea, was the rallying 
 place of the parliamentary men of Yorkshire and 
 Lincolnshire. The governor. Sir John Hotham, had 
 
EVENTS ABOUT HULL 
 
 shut the gates against the king and his retinue. He 
 made himself odious to the townsmen by his tyrannical 
 actions,^ and his son had harried the country about 
 with the licence of a freebooter. They were no 
 Puritans, and showed a jealousy of the Fairfaxes, the 
 leaders of the Roundheads in Yorkshire. Sir John 
 was plotting with the Earl of Newcastle to betray 
 Hull, when his designs becoming known, on June 29, 
 the townsmen took prompt action, appointed a 
 committee of defence, and seized on the forts and 
 munitions. Sir John fled, but was soon after arrested, 
 and with his son and some confederates, put on board 
 a ship and sent to London. Lord Ferdinando 
 Fairfax was made governor to the great content of 
 the citizens. 
 
 Sir Henry Vane was joint-member for Hull. As 
 his time was filled up by his care of the navy and 
 other high important duties, the parliamentary affairs 
 of the constituency were mostly looked after by his 
 colleague. Sir Peregrine Pelham, who, like Vane, was 
 a zealous Puritan, and seemed always to have acted 
 with his concurrence. 
 
 In the Earl of Essex the parliament had a general 
 who, though brave in battle, was too apt to find 
 reasons for not pushing warlike operations. Never- 
 theless, as he had friends especially amongst the Lords, 
 and was still liked in the army, it was thought 
 dangerous to offend him. On July 9 the diffident 
 earl wrote a strange letter to the Houses, in which, 
 after complaining that he could not move quickly as 
 his army was neither recruited with horses nor with 
 
 1 The Hull Letters, printed from a collection of original documents 
 found among the Borough Archives in the Town Hall, 1884, edited by 
 T. Tindall V^^ildridge, Hull, 1886, pp. 37, 39, 4°, I5i- 
 
202 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 saddles, he went on to propose that, "if it were 
 thought fit, they would send to his majesty to have 
 peace, with the settling of religion, the laws, and the 
 liberties of the subject, and bringing to just trial those 
 chief delinquents who have caused all this mischief to 
 the kingdom ; and that, if this do not produce a treaty, 
 his majesty may be desired to absent himself from the 
 scene of contention, and both armies may be drawn 
 up near the one to the other, that if peace be not 
 concluded, it might be ended by the sword." This 
 proposal being considered by the House of Lords, it 
 was resolved that they could not offer any petition to 
 the king till he recalled the proclamation that they 
 were no free parliament. In the Commons Essex's 
 letter having been read, Pym recalled that all their 
 offers of peace had been rejected by his majesty, and 
 their safety had been also endangered by them (refer- 
 ring to the Challoner plot carried on under cover of 
 negotiations with the king), and therefore there could 
 be no good issue expected by going that way, being a 
 way full of hazard.^ 
 
 Vane next observed " that seeing we had neglected, 
 upon the several messages of the Lords, to entertain 
 the consideration of sending propositions to his 
 majesty, the lord-general had done well to stir us up 
 to it, although our fatherly care of the kingdom should 
 have preceded his lordship's care. He also observed 
 that the purport of his lordship's letter was, that if we 
 would send propositions of peace to his majesty, and 
 they did not take effect, that then he would do his 
 duty ! " Sir Philip Stapylton, Essex's confidant, took 
 
 ^ The letter to Essex, drawn up by Pym by order of the House, is 
 printed in Sanford's Studies of the Great Rebellion, p. 572. 
 
ESSEX*S LETTER 203 
 
 fire at this sarcasm, which, he said, was a great injury 
 to his lordship, who had hazarded both his life and 
 fortune for the defence of the kingdom. Vane made 
 an apology, which, however, did not satisfy the earl, 
 who sent another letter to the House of Commons in 
 which he said: "I shall advance, God willing, at 
 farthest, on Friday. I have often desired that a 
 committee of both Houses might be sent to be a 
 witness of our integrity to come down ; but then both 
 armies being afoot, I thought it dangerous for their 
 passage ; and not knowing how the great affairs of the 
 kingdom may dispense with many from the service of 
 the Houses, if it may stand with the convenience of 
 the House of Commons, I shall entreat the favour 
 that Sir Henry Vane the younger may be an eye- 
 witness of our actions, he being an intimate friend of 
 mine, and who. by his constant carriage in the 
 parliament, which hath gotten him a good reputation 
 in all places, may be a true testimony of our actions, 
 it being of huge advantage to keep a good corre- 
 spondence betwixt the parliament and their servants 
 the army. He is, besides, a man I put so much trust 
 in, as that, if he pleaseth, I shall go hand in hand 
 with him to the walls of Oxford." 
 
 D'Ewes tells us that "all men easily saw that 
 this letter to be spoken in a scoffing way." Young 
 Sir H. Vane was not in the House at the time of the, 
 reading of this letter ; but old Sir Henry, his father, 
 was, and looked very blank, and was the main cause, 
 awhile after, that the further consideration of the letter 
 was laid aside when his son came into the House.' 
 
 1 Tanner MSS. 62, part i., pp. 166-67 ; and Harl. MSS. 165, pp. 1231 
 A B, Quoted by Sanford, p. 574- 
 
204 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 Under these trying circumstances it was determined 
 by the parliament to seek the aid of the Scots. This 
 was done with reluctance, for, although that people 
 were resolute in their hatred of prelacy, and recognised 
 that the defeat of the parliament would be most 
 perilous to their own liberties, they had no real 
 sympathy with constitutional government, and their 
 idea of union was the extension of their own system 
 of ecclesiastical government to the southern kingdom. 
 On July 20, 1643, the four commissioners were sent 
 from London to seek the alliance of Scotland. "Sir 
 Harry Vane," to use the words of the royalist Clarendon, 
 "was one of the commissioners, and therefore the 
 others need not be named, since he was all in any 
 business where others were joined with him. He was 
 indeed a man of extraordinary parts, a pleasant wit, 
 a great understanding, which pierced into and dis- 
 cerned the purposes of other men with wonderful 
 sagacity ; whilst he had himself vultum clausum, that 
 no man could make guess of what he intended. He 
 was of a temper not to be moved, and of rare dissimula- 
 tion, and would comply when it was not seasonable to 
 contradict, without losing ground by the condescension ; 
 and if he were not superior to Mr Hampden, he was 
 inferior to no other man, in all mysterious artifices." 
 Owing to the difficulties of making their way through 
 the north of England, where the Marquis of Newcastle 
 was powerful, the commissioners had to go by sea. 
 They left London on July 20, and so tedious was 
 navigation in those days that they did not reach 
 Leith till August 7. This is about the time the 
 liners take to cross the Pacific from Vancouver to 
 Shanghai. 
 
TREATS WITH THE SCOTS 
 
 205 
 
 Besides Sir Harry Vane, the commissioners for 
 the parliament were Sir William Armyn, Mr Hatcher, 
 and Mr Darley ; while two ministers, Mr Steven 
 Marshall, a presbyterian, and Mr Philip Nye, an 
 independent, appeared for the assembly of divines. 
 The English commissioners were met by the Scottish 
 Lords at the shore of Leith and driven in state to 
 Edinburgh. The general assembly of the Church of 
 Scotland was then holding its sittings in the aisle of 
 St Giles. The Rev. Alexander Henderson was 
 moderator. A special gallery was allotted to the 
 envoys to witness the proceedings. A committee of 
 ministers was appointed to confer with them, and 
 some lords of the convention were chosen for the same 
 purpose. The English would have been content with 
 a civil league ; the Scots ardently desired uniformity 
 in religious doctrines and church government between 
 the two nations. They held that unity in religion was 
 needed to put an end to civil discord, and in the fervour 
 of their hopes they did not despair of such unity. It 
 would make the minister build the house with both 
 hands, whereas now the one hand was holding out for 
 opposition against the other party. It would, they 
 fancied, put an end to the writing and reading of 
 unprofitable controversies. 
 
 At this time Scotland was governed by a conven- 
 tion of the great lords; but the clergy had much 
 authority over all classes. Some of them were men 
 of great ability, for theology had an attraction for the 
 most powerful minds ; not a few of the ministers 
 were connected with the nobility, by relationship or 
 interest. 
 
 About this time it is recorded that thirty witches 
 
206 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 had been burned in Fife in a few months ; a committee 
 of ministers was appointed to think on that sin, to 
 search and cure it.^ The English parHament had 
 gone so far to meet this desire of unity in the faith 
 that they had sent two ministers, a presbyterian and 
 an independent, to confer with the Scottish ministers. 
 Baillie tells us that Sir Henry Vane, "one of the 
 ablest and gravest of that nation, was the drawer of 
 all their writs." In the eyes of the learned principal 
 the only blemish in Sir Henry's character was that, 
 while he disliked prelacy and Romish practices, he 
 was in favour of letting alone the Protestant sects, 
 especially the independents. A statesman as well as 
 a theologian, able to meet the Scottish divines on 
 their own ground. Vane objected to the first draft of 
 the covenant drawn by Henderson, and after long and 
 subtle discussions a form of covenant was agreed to 
 which left open the toleration of the principal Protest- 
 ant sects. The Scots were not so foolish as to 
 imagine that the English would at once embrace their 
 form, though they believed that it was the most 
 agreeable to the word of God, and to the example of 
 the best reformed churches. Correspondence since 
 published showed that the Scots gained more than 
 they expected.^ 
 
 ^ Baillie's Letters, vol. i., letter 36, p. 379. 
 
 2 See Sketches of Scottish Church History by the Rev. Thomas 
 McCrie, Edinburgh, 1846, p. 284. 
 
 We give the first article of the solemn league and covenant, as the 
 terms of that memorable treaty have been often misrepresented by the 
 carelessness and prejudices of writers : " i. That we shalLsincerely, really, 
 and constantly, through the grace of God, endeavour, in our several 
 places and callings, the preservation of the reformed religion in the 
 Church of Scotland, in doctrine, worship, discipline, and government, 
 against our common enemies ; the reformation of religion in the 
 kingdoms of England and Ireland, in doctrine, worship, discipline, and 
 
SOLEMN LEAGUE AND COVENANT 
 
 207 
 
 It was agreed that a general assembly of divines 
 should forthwith be held at Westminster to consider 
 and arrange for a common creed. 
 
 The leading part allowed to the general assembly 
 in the preparation of this important document shows 
 how much religious sentiment dominated all other 
 considerations. The assembly sat ten hours a day to 
 frame the agreement, conferring with the English 
 commissioners and with deputies from the Scottish 
 convention. When the completed form was read to 
 the assembly it was hailed as a new and hopeful event 
 in the work of the Reformation. Old ministers who 
 had prayed for the church's deliverance through years 
 of prelatic rule shed tears as they subscribed the 
 covenant. It was speedily ratified by the convention 
 of estates, and borne to London by a select committee. 
 Both Houses of Parliament with the assembly of 
 divines met on September 25, in St Margaret's Church 
 in Westmiaster, where the solemn league was read from 
 a parchnnont roll, the whole assembly swearing to it 
 with uplifted hands. The covenant was returned with 
 the sanction of parliament, and on October 13, it was 
 sworn and subscribed by the lords of convention, 
 the mernlers of the assembly, and the English com- 
 
 government, iccording to the word of God, and the example of the best 
 refor-Mei ckurJm ; and shall endeavour to bring the churches of God in 
 the three kingdoms, to the nearest conjunction and uniformity in religion, 
 confession of aith, form of church government, directory for worship and 
 catechising, tiat we, and our posterity after us, may as brethren live in 
 faith and lov(, and the Lord may delight to dwell in the midst of us." 
 It is believed hat the words in italics were introduced at the instance of 
 Vane, thougl it does not appear that they contained anything to which 
 the Scottish ]resbyterians could reasonably object. 
 
 Other art:les in this memorable league provide for the extirpation of 
 prelacy and lopery and the defence of the civil liberties of the two 
 kingdoms. 
 
208 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 missioners, in the midst of a joyous concourse in the 
 High Church of Edinburgh. 
 
 It was stipulated that as soon as the harvest was 
 over, an army of 18,000 foot and 3000 horse with 
 artillery, commanded by Scottish officers, should be 
 sent to aid the parliamentary forces. The auxiliaries 
 were to be paid at the rate of ^30,000 a month. 
 It was agreed that the Scottish troops should be 
 employed for no other purpose, and that during their 
 absence the English fleet should defend the Scottish 
 coasts. 
 
 The king's partisans in Scotland, after vainly 
 trying to avert the covenant, now tried to avoid sign- 
 ing it ; but it was vigilantly pressed. The Marquis 
 of Montrose and Lord Ogilvy sought the king at 
 Oxford ; there also came the Duke of Hamilton and 
 his brother Lord Lanark. On the suspicion that 
 Hamilton had connived with the covenanters and 
 designed to seize the crown of Scotland, he and his 
 brother were arrested. Lanark escaped ; but the 
 duke was detained a prisoner at Pendennis and 
 St Michael's Mount till the castle was taken by the 
 parliamentary forces in April 1646. 
 
 Unhappily, while the general assembly was so 
 anxious to secure religious liberty to themselves, they 
 were ready to prevent it being enjoyed by others. 
 They passed an act for all ministers on the coast to 
 search for books tending to separation, and if found, 
 to bring them before the presbyteries, and to ask the 
 civil courts to help in preventing their dissemination. 
 While Vane, to the end of his life, looked with 
 pleasure upon this memorable covenant, he always 
 disapproved of any attempt to abuse it to other 
 
OPPOSITION TO PRESBYTERIANISM 209 
 
 ends than itself warranted. As he afterwards said 
 at his trial : " Nor will I deny but that as to 
 the manner of the prosecution of the covenant to 
 other ends than itself warrants, and with a rigid 
 oppressive spirit (to bring all dissenting minds and 
 tender consciences under one uniformity of church 
 discipline and government), it was utterly against my 
 judgment. For I always esteemed it more agreeable 
 to the word of God, that the ends and work declared 
 in the covenant should be promoted in a spirit of love 
 and forbearance to differing judgments and consciences, 
 that thereby we might be approving ourselves in 
 doing that to others which we desire they would do 
 to us ; and so, though upon different principles, 
 be found joint and faithful advancers of the reforma- 
 tion contained in the covenant, both public and 
 personal." 
 
 Although many of the Puritans had adopted the 
 leading theological doctrines of Calvinism, and were 
 ready to do away with the bishops and the liturgy, 
 they were not ready to accept the whole machinery 
 of Presbyterian church government ; and when it 
 began to be understood that the scots wished to 
 have it declared that their scheme was founded on 
 divine right, and while jealously rejecting all state 
 interference in church affairs, that they were ready 
 to make use of the secular arm to get Presbyterianism 
 established over England, suspicion and opposition 
 were aroused. The moderate Episcopalians, like 
 Archbishop Usher, of course opposed it, as did the 
 Erastians like Selden, Whitelocke, and St John, who 
 wished to keep the church subordinated to the civil 
 power. There also appeared various sects, Congrega- 
 
 o 
 
210 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 tionalists, Anabaptists, Seekers, Arians, Behmists, 
 and other products of the religious ferment of the 
 times, who, ardent in faith though weak in numbers, 
 claimed toleration, a word which the Presbyterians 
 heard with dislike. 
 
 The covenant was signed by the members of the 
 House of Commons and by the Lords at Westminster. 
 Some members showed much reluctance ; the elder 
 Vane was one of them.^ Copies were sent for 
 signature to all garrisons of places in the power of the 
 parliament and to the ministers with directions to 
 tender it to their congregations. Some politicians 
 accepted it on the consideration that the help of the 
 Scots was not to be obtained on any other terms, yet 
 it had been skilfully framed to express the sentiments 
 of most of the parliamentary party, and, on the whole, 
 it was cheerfully and indeed often enthusiastically 
 signed throughout England. In Scotland and the 
 north of Ireland there are remains of a sect who 
 maintain that the covenant is still a national obliga- 
 tion to these kingdoms which has descended to their 
 children. 
 
 Four ministers, and three noblemen as elders, 
 sailed to London to take part in the discussions of the 
 assembly of divines at Westminster. They were 
 welcomed by the prolocutor, Dr Twiss, who compli- 
 mented them on having undertaken so tedious and 
 hazardous a voyage. 
 
 This memorable assembly had been convened by 
 the parliament in July 1643. The 150 divines called 
 were mostly clergymen of the Church of England 
 
 1 Memoirs of the Verney Families during the Civil War, London, 
 1892, vol. ii., p. 166. 
 
THE CONFESSION OF FAITH 
 
 211 
 
 with 30 lay assessors, 10 of whom were peers and 20 
 commoners. Some of the clergymen attached to 
 prelacy retired from the assembly when they saw how 
 things would be carried. The assembly met in the 
 Jerusalem chamber of Westminster Abbey, and through 
 the civil wars discussed for five years all the points of 
 Calvinistic theology and church government, in the 
 hopes of forming a creed which would unite all true 
 Protestants in Britain in a common faith. As the 
 result of their labours they left the Confession of Faith, 
 and the longer and the shorter catechisms which are 
 still held to be the creed of the Presbyterian churches 
 of Scotland. They also framed a directory for public 
 worship. The shorter catechism is still taught to the 
 children in the Board Schools throughout Scotland. 
 It is a terse epitome of Presbyterian doctrines, hard, 
 dry, sharply defined, like a basaltic column, now dark 
 and cold, though once glowing with the inner heat of 
 the earth. And so these old confessions and creeds 
 once really signified the belief of people who shrunk 
 with terror from losing faith in them : round these 
 creeds a whole nation arranged! their lives and met 
 suffering and death with sublime patience and exultant 
 hope. Nowadays the catechism is mechanically 
 repeated by children and forgotten by grown-up people. 
 Creeds are insensibly changed by the lapse of time, in 
 despite of all efforts to preserve them. The awful 
 doctrines of predestination, the creation of millions of 
 human beings foredoomed from all eternity to ever- 
 lasting torments, have been boldly repudiated by the 
 leaders in the General Assembly of the Church of 
 Scotland, while in the same year the musty records of 
 the assembly of divines have been scrutinised by the 
 
212 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 law lords of the House of Peers on a momentous appeal 
 case. Property held by the United Free Church of 
 Scotland, valued as above four millions of pounds, has 
 been assigned to a remnant of Highland congregations 
 with twenty-five ministers, who claimed to be true to 
 the old confessions from which the majority had 
 wandered. At this there was such an outcry that a bill 
 was easily passed through parliament restoring much 
 of the property to the larger church. 
 
 While the horrors of the Irish massacre were still 
 fresh in men's minds, the king was foolish enough to 
 direct the Earl of Ormonde to make a truce with the 
 rebels under the expectation that he would have their 
 aid to put down the parliament. If the Scottish army 
 in Ulster, about 8000, was overwhelmed, there seemed 
 a danger that the whole force of Catholic Ireland would 
 be turned upon England. 
 
 It is recorded in the Council Records of the 
 city of Edinburgh,^ that "on October 14, 1643, Sir 
 Henry Vane, younger, and Mr Steven Marshall, 
 divyne, two of the English commissioners, were feasted 
 with ane desseart efternoone and were made Burgesses 
 and Gildbrather in the presence of the Provost, 
 Bailies, Dean of Guild, and part of the Guild Council. 
 The thresaurer to pay the charges. Several of the 
 attendants of the commissioners were made Burgesses 
 allenarlie [only]." 
 
 Sir Henry left Edinburgh for London towards 
 the end of October, promising to advise the parlia- 
 
 1 I am indebted to Mr Thomas Hunter, W.S., Town Clerk of 
 Edinburgh, for excerpts recording these proceedings. Their speeches 
 were printed in Edinburgh. Two speeches spoken at a Common Hall, 
 October 1643, by Sir Henry Vane, two by Master Marshall, wherein is 
 showed the readinesse of the Scots to assist the kingdome and parliament 
 of England to the utmost of their power, Edinburgh, 1643. 
 
VANE'S ADDRESS IN GUILDHALL 213 
 
 ment to send supplies to the Scottish troops in 
 Ulster. Shortly after his arrival Vane and Marshall 
 gave a public address in Guildhall, announcing that 
 the covenant had been universally taken by the 
 whole Scottish nation. " They did enjoin it," he 
 told the London citizens, " in such a manner as that 
 the greatest and powerfullest enemies of it amongst 
 them durst not show their heads to oppose it ; those 
 that should not take it or should defer it should be 
 esteemed enemies to religion, to his majesty's honour, 
 and to the good of the two kingdoms, that they 
 should have all their rents and profits confiscated, 
 and should not enjoy any office or benefit in that 
 kingdom, and that they should be cited to the 
 next parliament to answer for not taking it. Mr 
 Marshall said that, in addition to the civil penalties 
 mentioned by Sir Henry Vane, the General Assembly 
 had ordained that particular account should be taken 
 by the several presbyteries of all who should refuse 
 or shift to sweare and subscribe, and that they 
 should be proceeded against with the censures of 
 the church." 
 
 It was shown that the Scottish nation had already 
 borne heavy expenses in raising their army, which 
 was now ready, and an appeal was made to the 
 citizens to assist towards a subsidy of ^20,000 as 
 ordained by the parliament. 
 
 The English commissioners, in their tedious voyage 
 to Leith, must have had anxious fears whether the 
 parliament would be able to maintain themselves in 
 London. The Cavaliers had gained many successes. 
 Essex's army was losing heart ; it was difficult to 
 raise money to pay the soldiers. The king had still 
 
214 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 many partisans in London, and crowds of people 
 beset the doors of the Assembly H ouse shouting to 
 them to make peace. It was said, both at the 
 time and after, that if the king had marched upon 
 the capital, he might have driven the parliament to 
 flight. Nevertheless there were difficulties in the 
 way. Even in the west of England, where the 
 king's party was strongest, there were strenuous 
 upholders of the popular cause who had gathered 
 in some fortified places from which they would have 
 issued had the royalist bands been withdrawn to 
 march upon London. The Welsh were unwilling to 
 leave the strong city of Gloucester between them 
 and their own country. Exeter was not yet reduced, 
 and Plymouth, secure on the sea, dominated the 
 country around. Blake held Lyme, and had begun 
 to show himself a formidable antagonist ; Newcastle 
 would not march south as long as Hull was in the 
 hands of the Fairfaxes. The king knew by experience, 
 that if he approached London, his own army would 
 be weakened by defections and desertions, while the 
 opposing force would be strengthened by the London 
 train-bands who, although not willing to march far 
 away, were ready to do battle to save their homes 
 from the rapine of the king's dissolute soldiers, and 
 so the Cavalier army marched to Gloucester. In- 
 stead of a speedy surrender the trumpeter who 
 bore the royal summons brought back two citizens 
 from the town with pale lean visages, who in a 
 pert, shrill, undismayed accent said that they had 
 brought an answer from the godly city of Glou- 
 cester to the king. This was in writing, and ran 
 as follows : — 
 
THE SIEGE OF GLOUCESTER 
 
 215 
 
 ^'■August lo, 1643. 
 
 " We, the inhabitants of, magistrates, officers, and 
 soldiers, within this garrison of Gloucester, unto his 
 majesty's gracious message, return this humble answer : 
 That we do keep this city, according to our oaths and 
 allegiance, to and for the use of his majesty, and his 
 royal posterity ; and do accordingly conceive ourselves 
 wholly bound to obey the commands of his majesty, 
 signified by both houses of parliament ; and are 
 resolved, by God's help, to keep the city accordingly." 
 
 Having delivered their letter, the two envoys turned 
 their backs upon his majesty and departed amidst the 
 derisive laughter of the courtiers. As soon as they 
 got back to Gloucester the garrison set the houses 
 beyond the fortifications on fire. 
 
 The bare walls stared down on the blackened ruins, 
 and were defended so stoutly that the royalists were 
 forced to change the assault into a blockade. 
 
 The courage of Gloucester touched the heart of 
 London. Six regiments of the train-bands marched 
 out amidst the cheers and prayers of the people to 
 relieve the beleaguered city on the Severn. Essex, 
 convinced by the persuasions of Pym that the work 
 was to be done in earnest, set out with a well-equipped 
 army of 1 5,000 men. Vainly did Rupert's cavalry try 
 to stop their onward march ; vainly did Charles send 
 a trumpeter to propose peace : Essex replied that the 
 parliament gave him no commission to treat, but to 
 relieve Gloucester. "No propositions, no proposi- 
 tions," shouted the soldiers. The siege had lasted 
 twenty-six days, during which the whole strength of 
 the garrison remained on the works day and night, 
 
216 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 except a reserve of 120 men, and only three 
 barrels of gunpowder were left^ when the army 
 of the parliament appeared on Presbury Hill and the 
 townsmen saw the enemy's quarters on fire and their 
 troops retreating from the wasted country. On the 
 6th of September E ssex s soldiers were hailed as 
 deliverers by the Puritan city. 
 
 Marching back to London, the parliamentary army 
 found their way barred by the king's troops, which had 
 occupied a strong position near Newbury. This 
 Essex at once attacked in full force. A bloody 
 struggle raged the whole day. The parliamentary 
 troops had gained some ground and were ready to 
 renew the attack next morning, when they found that 
 the king's host had retreated under cover of night. 
 Not only had the Roundhead infantry again proved 
 their superiority over those of the king, but they had 
 on open ground repelled the furious charges of the 
 royalist cavalry. Many of the bravest of the Cavalier 
 gentlemen had met their deaths on the pikes of the 
 London train-bands. Amongst them were the Lords 
 Carnarvon and Sunderland, and most mourned of all 
 Lord Falkland, who at the first meetings of the Long 
 Parliament had taken part against the court : still the 
 friend of constitutional liberty in the royalist camp, the 
 proposer of impracticable compromises, not satisfied 
 with either party, bewailing the miseries and cruelties 
 of a fratricidal war, he sought the peace of death on the 
 field of battle. 
 
 As men in times of great peril instinctively follow 
 those most worthy to lead, John Pym,^ a gentleman of 
 
 1 May's History of the Parliament^ p. 389. 
 
 2 See Life of John Pym in Foster's Lives of Eminent British 
 Statesmen, Lardner's Encyclopcedia, London, 1837, pp. 293-30. 
 
DEATH OF PYM 
 
 217 
 
 no great estate, had from the beginning of the war 
 swayed the parliament by the authority of pre-eminent 
 abihty, known courage, devotion to the cause of 
 liberty, and unwearied diligence in public duty. 
 Through all the losses and failures in the course of the 
 war, the friends of liberty had gathered courage from 
 his high faith and lofty eloquence. His influence was 
 a force which permeated all and acted through all, so 
 that his individuality seemed lost in the great events 
 of that wonderful time. With a consummate 
 knowledge of parliamentary feelings and procedures, 
 Pym had been able to direct a deliberative assembly 
 to assume executive functions, to sustain a government, 
 and to carry on military operations with a sagacity 
 and resource which triumphed over all difficulties and 
 mischances. In his manners Pym had none of the 
 rigid austerity of the Puritans : with an ardent love 
 for liberty and zeal for the Protestant cause, he had no 
 narrow preference for any form of church government. 
 Between him and Vane there was a warm friendship ; 
 no doubt, from his greater age and experience, Pym 
 had much to do in forming the political opinions of 
 the younger statesman, and now, when success was in 
 view, the great parliamentary leader was called away. 
 Exhausted by incessant work and anxiety, to the last 
 he gave his failing strength to the popular cause. He 
 died on December 8, 1643. His illness was eagerly 
 watched by the royalists ; horses were kept waiting in 
 London to convey the tidings of his death, and bonfires 
 were kindled at Oxford in their coarse joy that their 
 dreaded enemy had passed away, and stories that 
 Pym had died of a loathsome disease were circulated 
 and believed by the blind credulity of hatred. What 
 
218 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 remained of the great patriot was borne to Westminster 
 Abbey on the shoulders of ten of the chief men of the 
 House of Commons, among whom were Denzil Holies, 
 Sir Arthur Hesilrige, Oliver St John, and Sir Henry 
 Vane the younger, followed by both houses of parlia- 
 ment all in mourning, and by the assembly of divines 
 and many others. An eloquent sermon was preached 
 by Doctor Marshall, which ended with the memorable 
 words : "I beseech you let not any of you have one 
 sad thought touching him, nor apprehension as the 
 enemies have, and for which they rejoice, as if our 
 cause were not good, or we should lose it for want of 
 hands and heads to carry it on. No, no, beloved, this 
 cause must prosper ; and although we were all dead, 
 our armies overthrown, and even our parliaments 
 dissolved, this cause must prevail." 
 
 As it was found by inquiry of a parliamentary 
 committee that the deceased statesman had in his 
 care of the public liberties neglected his private estate, 
 1 0,000 were voted to pay his debts, and a pension 
 was accorded to his son, Charles Pym. 
 
 Two great parliamentary leaders had already 
 given their lives in actual combat for the popular 
 cause — John Hampden and Lord Brook. The 
 Cavaliers now hoped that the parliament would not 
 hold together after the death of King Pym, as they 
 derisively styled him. But in that wonderful assembly 
 there were not wanting men to take their places. 
 Young Vane now appeared as the leading statesman 
 in the House, while as the fulfilment of his dexterous 
 diplomacy, a Scottish army of 18,000 foot and 2500 
 horse crossed the Tweed about the middle of January 
 1644. 
 
THE SCOTTISH ARMY 
 
 219 
 
 The Marquis of Newcastle, the king's lieutenant in 
 the north, saw that the Scottish sword would turn the 
 scale against him. The Fairfaxes, no longer shut up 
 in Hull, had driven the royalists out of the East and 
 West Ridings, and were advancing on the North 
 Riding. The Scots were overrunning Northumber- 
 land. Newcastle wrote to the king imploring rein- 
 forcements : "If your majesty beat the Scots, your 
 game is absolutely won " ; but even in the west his 
 majesty's partisans had much to do to hold their 
 own. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell. The Battle of Marston Moor. 
 
 The first heroes of the parliament were the Earl of 
 Essex, "the darling of the swordsmen," Sir William 
 Waller, the champion of the Presbyterians, and stout 
 old Skippon, who drilled the train-bands. Then 
 amidst the shock of arms other names were heard 
 ever oftener and louder. Thomas Fairfax, born the 
 same year as Henry Vane, came of an old Yorkshire 
 family, which had given birth to many warriors. His 
 grandfather was the companion in arms of Lord 
 Vere ; his granduncle made the first and still the best 
 translation of Tasso. Two of his uncles had met 
 their death in the Thirty Years' War. When a youth 
 of eighteen Thomas Fairfax had seen war along with 
 Turenne at the siege of Bois-le-Duc in the Low 
 Countries, where he suffered from ague, which 
 weakened his health for years after. He married 
 Anne, the daughter of Lord Vere. He had attracted 
 notice by presenting a petition to the king at York, 
 which his majesty had disdainfully rejected. In this 
 family there were none of the distressing divisions of 
 kinsmen which frequently attended the Civil War. 
 All the Fairfaxes took the side of the parliament. 
 With his father, Lord Ferdinando Fairfax, Sir 
 
 220 
 
THOMAS FAIRFAX 
 
 221 
 
 Thomas was active in rallying the Yorkshire Ridings 
 against the Cavaliers, who were at the beginning 
 better appointed, and under the Marquis of Newcastle 
 drew many hardy recruits from Northumberland. 
 
 The Fairfaxes were followed by their tenants and 
 many of the yeomanry, and the rising manufacturing 
 towns of the country. Sir Thomas was a tall man 
 with brown hair, fair complexion, and somewhat high 
 cheek-bones. Accomplished in all military exercises, 
 courteous and generous as he was brave, his skill in 
 war and power of organisation soon marked him as a 
 great leader. Commanding the navigation of the 
 Humber, Hull was of signal value both to the south 
 of Yorkshire and to Lincolnshire, where the forces of 
 the parliament were greater. In the south-eastern 
 counties the Earl of Manchester was entrusted with 
 command by the parliament. A man not born to 
 control, he soon yielded to the ascendency of Oliver 
 Cromwell. 
 
 Originally from Glamorganshire and bearing the 
 name of Williams, the Cromwells had been setded for 
 three generations in Huntingdonshire, where they had 
 received grants of church lands in the days of Henry 
 Vni. Robert Cromwell, or Williams, the father of 
 Oliver, was the second son of Sir Henry Cromwell, 
 one of whose daughters was the mother of John 
 Hampden. When seventeen years old Oliver was 
 sent to Cambridge University. It is reported that in 
 his youth he was rough and quarrelsome, and more 
 addicted to field sports than to study, which accounts 
 for his skill shown later in life as a rider, and in the 
 use of weapons.^ 
 
 1 Without giving credit to the malicious statements of royaUst writers, 
 
222 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 Going to London to study civil law, Oliver married 
 when twenty-one, the daughter of a city merchant, after 
 which he led a decorous life and consorted with the 
 zealous Puritans. With him religious emotion was too 
 vivid for the haberdashery and posturings of the 
 episcopal church. Sir Philip Warwick has preserved 
 a note of his mental condition when still a 
 private gentleman which is worthy of quotation in 
 full :— 
 
 " After the rendition of Oxford, I, living some time 
 with Lady Beadle (my wife's sister) near Huntingdon, 
 had occasion to converse with Mr Cromwell's physician, 
 Dr Simcott, who assured me that for many years his 
 patient was a most splenetic man, and had fancies 
 about the cross in that town, and that he had been 
 called up to him at midnight, and such unseasonable 
 hours, very many times, which made him believe he 
 
 the assertion that OHver Cromwell was wild in his youth seems to rest 
 upon some evidence, Sanford (in his Studies and Illustrations of the 
 Great Rebellion, London, 1858, p. 221), quotes a letter written by him to 
 his cousin, the wife of the celebrated Oliver St John : " You know what 
 my manner of life hath been. Oh, I lived in and loved darkness, and 
 hated light ; I was a chief, the chief of sinners. This is true ; I hated 
 godliness, yet God had mercy upon me." It needs some straining to get 
 rid of such direct testimony, even though allowance be made for the 
 wont of religious persons to deplore the depravities of their unconverted 
 state. Sir Philip Warwick lived some time in Huntingdon, and con- 
 versed with Sir Oliver, the protector's uncle, and with his physician, Dr 
 Simcott. Warwick tells us that "the first years of his manhood were 
 spent in a dissolute course of life, in good fellowship and gaming, which 
 afterwards he seemed very sensible of and sorrowful for, and as if it had 
 been a good spirit that had guided him therein, he used a good method 
 upon his conversion, for he declared that he was ready to make restitu- 
 tion unto any man who would accuse him, or whom he could accuse 
 himself to have wronged." — Memoirs of the Reign of Charles /., p. 276. 
 
 Richard Baxter, whom Cromwell invited to be chaplain in his own 
 regiment, writes that Cromwell had been "a prodigal in his youth, 
 and afterwards changed to a zealous religiousness." — See Reliquia 
 BaxteriatuE, London, 1696, lib. i., p. 98. 
 
OLIVER CROMWELL 
 
 223 
 
 was then dyeing, and there went a story of him that 
 in the daytime, lying melancholy in his bed, he 
 believed that a spirit appealed to him and told him 
 that he should be the greatest man (not mentioning 
 the word king) in this kingdom, which his uncle, Sir 
 Thomas Steward, who left him all the little estate 
 Cromwell had, told him was traitorous to relate." 
 
 It thus appears that Cromwell had a nervous 
 system, susceptible of depression and exaltation 
 beyond normal limits, and that his views of objective 
 realities were liable to be coloured by his mental con- 
 ceptions. His temper was said by his body servant 
 to be exceedingly fiery, but restrained by his strong 
 religious-, feelings, and a heart easily excited to pity 
 distress. He first made himself prominent as an 
 opponent of a scheme of the Earl of Bedford for the 
 drainage of the fens because the interests of the 
 dwellers around were not respected. He was elected 
 member for Huntingdon in the parliament of 1628. The 
 same Sir Philip, a gay young courtier, entering the 
 House in the early days of the Long Parliament, was 
 struck by the appearance of a man " in a plain cloth 
 suit which seemed to have been made by an ill 
 country tailor, his hat without a hat-band, his sword 
 stuck close by his side, his voice sharp and untuneable, 
 his eloquence full of fervour," on behalf of a servant of 
 Prynne's, imprisoned for dispersing libels against the 
 queen for her dancing. This uncourtly person was 
 Oliver Cromwell. Sir Philip confesses that he was 
 very much hearkened to. About this time Mr E. 
 Hyde was chairman of a committee to! inquire into the 
 enclosure of common wastes by the Earl of Manchester 
 without the consent of the tenants around. Mr O. 
 
224 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 Cromwell, a member of the committee, accused Hyde of 
 partialities and discountenancing the witnesses. He 
 angrily replied to the earl's son and his carriage was 
 so tempestuous that the chairman threatened to 
 adjourn the committee and complain next day to the 
 H ouse. Apparently this did not prevent the Earl of 
 Manchester acting along with Cromwell in the 
 common cause, though Cromwell never forgave Hyde, 
 as he assures us/ 
 
 As an orator or debater in the Long Parliament, 
 Cromwell could not hope for distinction. Some dis- 
 courses which he made when protector have come 
 down to us. They are tedious, badly arranged, for 
 the most part poorly expressed, rambling, often almost 
 unintelligible ; but by a singular contradiction, no 
 man ever saw more clearly the drift of the events in 
 which he bore a part, nor knew better how to use the 
 hopes, the fears, the passions, and the prejudices of 
 men to his own advantage, or understood more nicely 
 how to lead his adversaries into false positions. 
 
 With the Civil War his time had come. He raised 
 a troop of horse from the Puritan yeomanry of the fen 
 country, which soon grew to a regiment. He would 
 only enlist men of good physique, and took care that 
 they should be well mounted and carefully exercised 
 in the use of their weapons and fired with the same 
 religious zeal. Of a powerful and manly figure, with a 
 stern and commanding air, strong and bold in battle, 
 loud and fervid in prayer, Cromwell soon gained a 
 wonderful control over the minds of the troopers who 
 entered his regiment. Such a mixture of Celtic 
 fervour and Saxon steadfastness, such daring and 
 
 ' The Life of Edward^ Earl of Clarendon^ Dublin, 1760, vol. i., p. 79. 
 
THE SIEGE OF YORK 
 
 225 
 
 such conduct, such enthusiasm, and such presence of 
 mind ! a character at once austere and emotional, with 
 a deep insight into human nature, and a profound faith 
 in the divine guidance which was strengthened by 
 one success following upon another ; but which never 
 led him to neglect a single worldly precaution. At 
 this time, to all appearance, Oliver Cromwell was 
 imbued with a pure zeal for liberty both civil and 
 religious. 
 
 York, the capital of Roman Britain, had remained 
 the chief city of England, north of the Humber. A 
 walled town in a central position with a bridge over 
 the Ouse, a navigable river which divides the city, it 
 was a gathering place for the royalist gentry of the 
 country around. Here Charles had mustered his 
 army to march southwards, and the house where his 
 first manifestoes were printed is still to be seen. He 
 had left behind the Marquis of Newcastle, invested 
 with high powers, a magnificent nobleman fond of 
 music and poetry, a great judge of horses, skilful in 
 riding and fencing, brave in battle, but disliking the 
 hardships of war. Newcastle brought to York a regi- 
 ment of hardy Northumbrians. Superior in number 
 and resources, after much gallant fighting he had 
 driven the Fairfaxes to seek shelter within the forti- 
 fications of Hull, when the Scottish army, commanded 
 by Alexander Leslie, Earl of Leven, made their way 
 through the northern counties. They were joined by 
 Sir Thomas Fairfax, who had just given the Cavaliers 
 a signal defeat at Selby. 
 
 The conjoined army sat down before York on April 
 19, 1644. The investment was completed by the 
 Earl of Manchester's forces from the associated 
 
 P 
 
^26 LIFE Ot" SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 counties of the south-east. Throwing a bridge of 
 boats over the Ouse above and below, they shut York 
 completely in, and tried to breach the walls by batteries 
 and mines. 
 
 The parliament now sent Sir Henry Vane to the 
 leaguer to confer with the generals on some weighty 
 matters, whether Manchester's or Fairfax's force could 
 not be detached to protect those friendly to the cause 
 from pillage and massacre in Lancashire, about the 
 process against the Hothams and other affairs of 
 Yorkshire. Gardiner has given some evidence from 
 the letters of the Venetian and French envoys that 
 Vane had private instructions to induce the generals 
 before York to consent to proclaim the deposition of 
 the king, so that the parliament might get rid of the 
 awkwardness of making war against Charles, while 
 they still recognised him as king. 
 
 Behind the scenes it had been discussed to 
 dethrone Charles I., and to crown the prince and 
 make him king. Old Vane, who knew how intract- 
 able his late master was, seems to have favoured this 
 idea.^ In a full House he declared his conviction 
 that "the present flame would devour all" unless 
 great care and wisdom were used for stopping it, 
 and wished that to that end they might lay a new 
 foundation. Some talked of placing the prince 
 palatine, Charles, on the throne, who was thought to 
 be not unwilling. Whatever the younger Vane's 
 proposals were, it seems that the three generals before 
 York, Manchester, Lord Fairfax, and 'Leslie, would 
 not listen to them.*^ 
 
 ^ See Forster's Arrest of the Five Members^ p. 243. 
 2 History of the Great Civil War, by Samuel R. Gardiner, London, 
 1897, vol. i., p. 368. 
 
RUPERT RELIEVES YORK 
 
 227 
 
 Henry Vane had made his way to the camp 
 through bad weather, which made the roads deep, 
 with change of horses difficult to be got. The 
 committee of estates was eager to have him back, and 
 he was able again to be present by the end of June. 
 He reported that it would not be wise to withdraw 
 any of the besieging force, and that York was likely 
 soon to fall either by assault or treaty. He received 
 thanks for his great pains and his faithful discharge 
 of his mission to the north. 
 
 In the meantime Prince Rupert was gathering 
 an army for the relief of York, marching through 
 Lancashire and Yorkshire, ravaging the country on 
 his way, dreaded by foes and friends. The city, 
 though bravely defended, was in great straits 
 when tidings came to the besiegers, at the end of 
 June, that Prince Rupert, with 20,000 men, was 
 coming near York. Avoiding the allied army, he 
 succeeded in joining hands with Newcastle, on which 
 the besiegers abandoned their lines and could be 
 seen from the towers of the Minster to be marching 
 westward. Not content with raising the siege, pre- 
 tending a peremptory order from the king to join 
 battle with the enemy, the impetuous Rupert urged 
 that the Puritan army should be pursued. Newcastle 
 advised delay, as they were scarcely equal in number 
 with the allied army, and a reinforcement of 3000 
 men from the north was expected within two 
 days. The stately marquis was ruffled at being 
 overruled by the prince, who "was rough and 
 passionate, and loved not debate." It required more 
 persuasion to get some of the soldiers of the York 
 garrison to march out without their pay. 
 
228 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 On July 2, 1644, the infantry of the allied army 
 were as far as Tadcaster, nine miles off, when the 
 Cavaliers appeared in their rear. The whole army, 
 some 15,000 foot and 9000 horse, then wheeled 
 round, and about two o'clock formed in front of the 
 villages of Longmarston and Tockwith. The scene 
 of the battle is now open moor, well adapted for the 
 movements of cavalry. Marston is still a long village 
 made up of cottages, gardens, and parks, within hail 
 of one another, and some of the old roads and lanes 
 can still be made out. The allied army was formed 
 in order of battle by the Earl of Leven, a veteran of 
 the Thirty Years' War, who had compelled Wallenstein 
 to raise the siege of Stralsund, and had been much 
 esteemed by Gustavus. The centre was held by 
 four regiments of Scottish infantry, with three in the 
 rear as a reserve. The baggage was placed on the 
 hill behind. On the right wing was an infantry 
 brigade commanded by Major-General Lawrence 
 Crawford, a daring leader, but over-confident and 
 quarrelsome. Farther to the right were Cromwell's 
 and David Leslie's regiments of horse, with some 
 Scottish dragoons on the extreme flank. Lord 
 Fairfax's Yorkshire men formed the right centre and 
 right wing with three Scottish cavalry regiments in 
 reserve, the horse, as usual in those days, being on 
 the extreme wing. The battle line extending for a 
 mile and a half, being formed amongst the waving 
 cornfields, each brigade had to care for itself, little 
 communication being kept up between the three army 
 corps. Between the two armies was a deep and 
 broad ditch which the royalists had occupied with 
 some infantry, and a few pieces of artillery. Their 
 
MARSTON MOOR 
 
 229 
 
 main army was formed on the moor. Prince Rupert 
 had assured the marquis that he would make no 
 attack upon the Roundheads till next morning, when 
 that nobleman, having shaken off responsibility, went 
 to sleep in his coach. 
 
 But General Leslie did not mean to put off the 
 battle. The sun was now casting its shadows east- 
 ward. There had been some exchange of cannon 
 shot. The Puritan soldiers filled the time of waiting 
 by singing psalms, and about seven o'clock their 
 masses of musketeers and pikemen, their troops of 
 horse in hauberks and helmets, advanced to the 
 attack. The royalists' centre was under Lord 
 Eythin, the only capable general with their army. 
 He had a brigade of Newcastle's northern levies. 
 On the right wing rode Prince Rupert with his own 
 guard and other regiments. The left was led by 
 Lord Goring, who, as Clarendon tell us, had wit 
 and understanding and ambition, uncontrolled by any 
 fear either of God or man, and could not keep from 
 drinking, even in presence of the enemy. He 
 was ably supported by Sir William Urry, a soldier 
 of fortune, who had done good service to the parlia- 
 mentary cause at Edgehill, had deserted to the king, 
 and was fated to change sides twice more, till his 
 career was ended in the last adventure of Montrose. 
 Though thus unconstant, Urry was an able officer, 
 and fought bravely for those who paid him at the 
 time. He adopted Gustavus's tactics of placing 
 companies of musketeers between his troops of 
 horse. 
 
 Fifty thousand men were now arranged against 
 one another, Not; for a, hundred and eighty-twQ 
 
230 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 years had so many troops been arrayed on English 
 ground to meet in fight. The battlefield of Teuton 
 was a few miles off, where 37,000 men had lost their 
 lives, to contend whether the people should have the 
 profligate Edward of York or the weak-minded 
 Henry of Lancaster for their ruler. Now the battle 
 was for the rights of the people against the tyranny 
 of the crown. 
 
 Frizell's dragoons having taken a commanding 
 position on the flank of the ditch, it was crossed 
 along the whole line, some of the enemy's drakes 
 being taken. Cromwell drove away Lord Byron's 
 horse from the ground by the ditch, till they came 
 to form on the moor. Here Cromwell received a 
 wound which took away his strength for a while, ^ 
 
 ^ Many loose and inaccurate descriptions of this famous battle have 
 been published. I have compared the accounts of eye-witnesses. Ash, 
 Watson, Stuart, Slingsby, and twice visited the battlefield. I do not 
 know what command Lord Leven took, or whether he had any aide-de- 
 camps, and he was carried off the field ere the fight was over. The three 
 separate divisions fought as they best might. The morning after the 
 royalists could not be called an army. From the first there were con- 
 flicting versions of the battle, which are not yet settled. The Scottish 
 auxiliaries bitterly complained that the part which they sustained was 
 purposely misrepresented. Clarendon, with his chronic spite against 
 the Scots, shapes his story to discredit them. The best collected 
 description of the battle which I have read is in the Zz/^ 0/ the Great 
 Lord Fairfax, by Clements R. Markham, London, 1870. There is also 
 a good account in the Life and Campaigns of Alexander Leslie, Earl 
 of Leven, by C. S. Terry, London, 1899. On the third day after the 
 battle, Cromwell wrote to his brother-in-law. Colonel Valentine Walton, 
 whose son was mortally wounded at Marston Moor : "It had all the 
 evidence of an absolute victory obtained by the Lord's blessing upon 
 the godly party principally. We never charged, but we routed the 
 enemy. The left wing, which I commanded, being our own horse, 
 saving a few Scots in our rear, beat all the prince's horse. God made 
 them as stubble to our swords." Cromwell winds up : " Give glory, all 
 the glory to God." With so much piety he might have spared a little 
 credit to the few Scots in his rear who were about half the wing, 24 
 troops and 400 dragoons, about 1920 men out of 4200. That they 
 
CROMWELL'S WOUND 
 
 231 
 
 and the advance of his Ironsides was checked by- 
 Rupert's Life Guards and Grandison's horse. Here 
 
 were not in the rear, every other eye-witness who mentions them 
 testifies. In this letter, however, it cannot be fairly denied that 
 Cromwell claimed more than his due. What part Cromwell really 
 took in this battle it is now scarcely possible to estimate. Denzil 
 Holies says {Memoirs from the Year 164 1- 1648, London, 1699, para. 
 16, p. 15) : "Those who did the principal service that day were Major- 
 General Lesly, who commanded the Scots horse, Major-General 
 Crawford, who was Major-General to the Earl of Manchester's brigade, 
 and Sir Thomas Fairfax, who, under his father, commanded the northern 
 brigade. But my friend Cromwell had neither part nor lot in the 
 business. For I have several times heard it from Crawford's own mouth, 
 and I think I shall not be mistaken, if I say Cromwell himself has heard 
 it from him, for he once said it aloud in Westminster Hall when 
 Cromwell past by him with a design he might hear him, that when 
 the whole army at Marston Moor was in a fair possibility to be utterly 
 routed, and a great part of it running, he saw the body of horse of that 
 brigade standing still, and to his seeming doubtful which way to charge, 
 backwards or forwards, when he came up to them in a great passion, 
 reviling them with the name of poltroons and cowards, and asked them 
 if they would stand still and see the day lost. Thereupon Cromwell 
 showed himself, and in a pitiful voice said, ' Major-General, what shall 
 I do ?' He (begging pardon for what he said, not knowing he was there, 
 toward whom he knew his distance, as to his superior officer), told him, 
 ' Sir, if you charge not, all is lost.' Cromwell answered he was wounded, 
 and was not able to charge (his great wound being a little burn in the 
 neck by the accidental going off behind him of one of his soldiers' pistols). 
 Then Crawford desired him to go off the field, and sending one away 
 with him (who very readily followed wholesome advice), led them on 
 himself." Clarendon says that the wound was above the shoulder. 
 Principal Baillie wrote from London, August 10, 1644: "They (the 
 independents) ascribe to him (Cromwell) the victory of York ; but most 
 unjustly, for Hymbie assures us that Prince Rupert's first charge falling 
 upon him, did humble him so, that if David Lesly had not supported 
 them he had fled. Keldon Crawford, who had a regiment of dragoons 
 in that wing, upon his oath assured me, that at the beginning of the 
 fight, Cromwell got a little wound on the neck which made him retire, so 
 that he was not so much as present at the service ; but his troopers were 
 led on by David 'L&sly:'— Letters and Journals of Robert Baillie, Principal 
 of the University of Glasgow, Edinburgh, 1775, vol. ii., p. 49- It is 
 clear that the wound incapacitated him for the time, but not long. A 
 bullet wound impairs the function or destroys the vitality of the tissues 
 around. It seems to me that a wound affecting the cervical vertebrae 
 Pf the muscles rjear the spinal cord might readily c^use a shock which 
 
232 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 Algernon Sydney, then a young captain in Man- 
 chester's horse, was dangerously wounded, and but 
 rescued by one who rode to his help. The Scottish 
 horse under Leslie charged Rupert's horse, and 
 Crawford routed the infantry opposed to them. The 
 Ironsides recovered their ground. Hurling their 
 smoking pistols at one another they closed at the 
 sword point, and a stern cavalry fight was kept up for 
 nearly an hour, when the royalist cavalry gave way 
 and galloped over their own reserves of foot, killing 
 those of their own party who tried to stop their flight. 
 They were pursued with great havoc for three miles. 
 My Lord of Newcastle was awakened by a loud 
 noise and thunder of shooting, whereupon he put on 
 
 would render a man faint. While I was serving as a military surgeon 
 at the siege of Delhi, in the action of July 14, I saw a young officer 
 turn round on his saddle to look backward when a bullet struck along 
 his back. I felt the wound with my finger, through the hole in his 
 clothes, and ascertained that it was a graze which slightly furrowed the 
 skin over the back ; but the shock made the officer feel so ill that, though 
 a very keen and brave soldier, he had to go out of action, which at that 
 time was nearly over. 
 
 Holies, no doubt, injures his case by his absurd charge of cowardice 
 against Cromwell ; but none of the statements he makes seem to me 
 positively unfounded, though exaggerated and distorted. 
 
 In another letter. No. 71, dated London, July 16, Baillie wrote : "We 
 were both grieved and angry that your independents there should have 
 sent up Major Harrison to trumpet over all the city their own praises, to 
 our prejudice, making all believe that Cromwell alone, with his un- 
 speakably valorous regiments, had done all that service, that the most 
 of us fled ; and who staid, fought so and so, as it might be. We were 
 much vexed with these reports, against which you were not pleased, 
 any of you, to instruct us with any answer, till Lindsay's letters came 
 at last, and Captain Stewart and his colours. Then we sent abroad our 
 printed relations, and could lift up our face." 
 
 At the end of his letter the Principal writes : "See by this enclosed, 
 if the whole victory, both in the right and left wing, be not ascribed to 
 Cromwell, and not a word of David Lesly, who in all places that day 
 was his leader" (vol. ii., p. 41). 
 
FAIRFAX'S GALLANTRY 
 
 233 
 
 his arms and got on horseback/ when he beheld the 
 dismal sight of the flying horse of his majesty's right 
 wing. After vainly trying to stop them, the marquis 
 sought his own regiment of whitecoats and charged 
 with them. On the right wing Sir Thomas Fairfax 
 led his troops along the moor lane exposed to a cross 
 fire. At the end of the road they came upon some 
 broken ground difficult for horse to form, where they 
 were opposed by Urry's alternate horse and foot, and 
 Lucas's Cavaliers. Fairfax himself got a sabre cut in 
 the cheek, and was thrown off" his horse, but was 
 rescued, and mounted again. His own regiment 
 drove all before it ; but the rest of the right wing 
 under his father. Lord Fairfax, gave way. The 
 Scottish reserve was carried away by the fugitives, save 
 Eglinton's regiment of Lancers, who fought bravely. A 
 part of the right centre was involved in the flight 
 bearing along the veteran General Leslie, who vainly 
 tried to stop them. Some of the royalist cavalry now 
 took to plundering the baggage in the rear ; but Urry 
 and Lucas's horse, with the Newcastle regiment, fell on 
 the right flank of the Scottish centre, already hotly 
 engaged with the royal regiments in front. The fate 
 of the battle now depended upon the steadiness of the 
 four Scottish regiments who, though very hard pressed, 
 maintained the fight till the victorious left wing came 
 to their relief. Sir Thomas Fairfax, taking the white 
 handkerchief, the badge of his party, from his hat, had 
 ridden across Marston Moor to the victorious left 
 wing, who now turned back from their pursuit to meet 
 such of the royalist left as could gather in time. They 
 
 1 See The Lives of William Cavendishe, Duke of Newcastle^ etc., by 
 Margaret, Duchess of Newcastle, London, 1872, p. 61, 
 
234 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 were soon driven off the field. The royalist cavalry 
 were routed by the reserves of Manchester's horse ; and 
 David Leslie's riders, with the Scottish dragoons, broke 
 through the royalist infantry. The brave borderers, 
 Newcastle's whitecoats, retreated into a piece of 
 ground enclosed by a hedge where, surrounded on all 
 sides and charged by pikemen and horse, they fought 
 till they were all killed save about thirty. In 
 the pursuit, which was pushed to within a mile of 
 York, Sir Thomas Fairfax exhorted his soldiers to 
 spare their misguided countrymen. A throng of 
 fugitive Cavaliers pressed through the Micklegate. 
 They had left behind them their wounded, their 
 artillery, and a hundred standards ; 1 500 soldiers and 
 about 100 officers were made prisoners; 4150 bodies 
 were said to have been buried in the Syke's close ; of 
 these, 3000 were thought to be of the royalist army. 
 Amongst those who fell on the parliament side was 
 the younger brother of Sir T. Fairfax. His father, 
 Lord Fairfax, returned from Tadcaster in time to 
 write an account of the victory to the parliament. 
 Next morning the Marquis of Newcastle called on 
 Prince Rupert to inform him that, having now done his 
 best, he purposed leaving England. So, escorted to 
 Scarborough by a troop of horse (his coach and six 
 left on Marston Moor with papers compromising Sir 
 John Hotham), his lordship with Eythin and other 
 friends and hangers-on set sail for Hamburg. Rupert 
 made his way back to Lancashire with such as chose 
 to follow him. A small garrison was left in York, who 
 surrendered the place to the allied army in a fortnight. 
 
 The ! three allied generals went to the cathedral, 
 where a, service was held by Lord Leven's chaplain, 
 
FAIRFAX'S WOUND 
 
 235 
 
 It was owing to the exertions of Sir Thomas Fairfax 
 that this noble building had been saved from damage 
 through the besieger's cannon. The Marquis of New- 
 castle was not mistaken in believing that it was useless 
 to prolong the struggle north of the H umber. The 
 Scottish army marched away to besiege Newcastle ; 
 Manchester's forces went south to reinforce Essex, 
 reducing Sheffield and Tichill Castle on the way. A 
 contingent, which had arrived from Cheshire too late 
 for the battle, returned to take part in the varied for- 
 tunes of the war in the west, and the Fairfaxes remained 
 to reduce some castles still held by the Cavaliers in 
 Yorkshire. At the siege of Helmsley, Sir Thomas 
 Fairfax was dangerously wounded by a ball through 
 the shoulder, and another which broke his arm, and for 
 weeks alarm was felt for his life. In the meantime 
 Helmsley and Knaresborough surrendered, and on 
 Christmas day Sir Thomas Fairfax appeared before 
 the strong castle of Pomfret. He had hastened back 
 too soon to the hardships of war, for his strength 
 failing, he was constrained to return to York. The 
 siege of Pomfret was converted into a blockade ; but 
 it did not surrender till June 21, 1645. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 Defeat of Essex's Army in Cornwall. Gallant Diversion of Blake. The 
 Second Battle of Newbury. Cromwell's Complaint against Man- 
 chester. The Presbyterians and the Independents. Vane favours 
 Toleration for all Religions. State of the War. The Treaty of 
 Uxbridge. Successes of Montrose. The Trial and Execution of 
 Laud. The Self-denying Ordinance. The new Model Army. 
 Fairfax Commander-in-Chief. 
 
 While the forces of the parliament were victorious 
 in the north, affairs did not go so well with them in 
 the south. Sir William Waller had been defeated at 
 Copready ; the citizen soldiers were weary of the toils 
 of war, and the regiments were dwindling. Essex led 
 his army westward to relieve the besieged garrisons 
 of Plymouth and Lyme, recover Exeter, and rally the 
 country around to the cause. The king, gathering 
 superior forces, came on behind. Instead of offering 
 battle Essex retreated westward, sending word of his 
 peril to the parliament, who ordered Sir William 
 Waller to pursue and retard the enemy. Unready 
 and unprepared, not unwilling that Essex should get 
 a foil. Waller gave no effectual help. Instead of taking 
 refuge in Plymouth, Essex's army was pushed back to 
 the extremity of the Cornish peninsula. The earl 
 showed little skill in manoeuvring, losing position after 
 position ; even his access to the se^ w^s m^de difficult, 
 
ESSEX DEFEATED 
 
 207 
 
 Cooped up in a narrow corner with too little room 
 for forage for his horses, he resolved to send his 
 cavalry to break through. Although word of this 
 design came to the royalists, they kept such poor 
 watch, that, at night, after the setting of the moon, Sir 
 William Balfour, with the Roundhead horse, rode 
 through between two detachments of the enemy, 
 within pistol shot of one of their pickets, and got clear 
 off. Essex, with several of his officers, escaped in a 
 ship, leaving Major-General Skippon with the infantry 
 to settle as he best might. The king was in no 
 condition to make hard terms, and so the infantry 
 of the parliamentary army were allowed to march off, 
 leaving their arms behind them. From Plymouth, 
 Essex wrote a report of the disaster, which the parlia- 
 ment received with the same magnanimity as the 
 Roman senate showed when the Consul Terentius 
 announced from Canusium the rout of Cannae. 
 They let him know that though they apprehended 
 the misfortune, their good affections to his lordship, 
 and their opinion of his fidelity and merit in the public 
 service, were not at all lessened. Sir William Waller 
 was ordered to march speedily upon Dorchester with 
 all his horse and foot ; and 6000 foot arms, 500 pairs 
 of pistols, and 6000 suits of clothes were sent to refit 
 the discomfited, who were eager to have a new occasion 
 for retrieving their disgrace. 
 
 The king had lost some weeks in futile efforts to 
 reduce Plymouth and Taunton. Occupying a central 
 position in the west of Somerset, Blake gave no rest 
 to the royalists around. All attempts to attack the 
 place were driven back. Both at Lyme and Taunton 
 the Cavaliers lost so many men that these two 
 
238 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 garrisons were as good as an army in the west to the 
 cause of the parliament. 
 
 October was well-nigh over before the king 
 marched upon London. The Earl of Manchester 
 covered the capital with Waller's force, augmented by 
 the London Militia. A fierce battle again took place 
 at Newbury. Essex's soldiers rushed upon the 
 cannon, which they had lost in Cornwall, and retook 
 them. The royalist army retreated during the night. 
 Essex, still treated as the Lord-General, had remained 
 in London ; the military leaders, Waller, Balfour, and 
 Cromwell, complained that they wercjpoorly supported 
 by Manchester. When the parliament learned that 
 the king had reappeared and removed his artillery from 
 Donnington Castle, not far from Newbury, the House 
 of Commons ordered an inquiry. Cromwell, who was 
 both a general and a member of parliament, spoke out 
 freely : " It is to the Earl of Manchester," he said, 
 that "all the blame is to be imputed; ever since the 
 battle of Marston Moor, he is afraid to conquer, 
 afraid of a decisive success ; but now, when the king 
 was last at Newbury, nothing would have been more 
 easy than to destroy his army ; I went to the general, 
 I showed him evidently how this could be done ; I 
 desired his leave to make the attack with my own 
 brigade, and the earl with the rest of his army might 
 look on ; other officers urged this with me, but he 
 obstinately refused, giving no other reason but that if 
 we were entirely to overthrow the king's army, the king 
 would still be king, and always have another army to 
 keep up the war, while we, if the army he commanded 
 should be overthrown, should no longer be anything 
 but rebels and traitors, executed and forfeited by the 
 
CHOMWELL AND THE SCOTS 239 
 
 law." Manchester, defending himself in the Upper 
 House, recriminated upon Cromwell, and told some of 
 his bold sayings, how he talked with scant reverence 
 of the peers, even of the Commons ; how he said that 
 if the Scots were bent upon getting their Presby- 
 terianism established in England, he would as soon 
 draw his sword against them as against the king, and 
 how he was gathering the Independents into the army 
 of the eastern counties. 
 
 Though the record of the words which fell from 
 Cromwell was likely coloured by the reflection of his 
 later career, we have contemporary evidence to show 
 that he was now regarded as a man of deep designs, 
 and a fierce enemy of a hollow peace with the king. 
 Since the battle of Marston Moor, there had been 
 bitterness between Cromwell and the Scots. The 
 Presbyterian party got Lawrence Crawford made 
 major-general, and Cromwell got the officers of the 
 army of the Eastern Association to demand Crawford's 
 dismissal. The Scot was not slack at retaliating. 
 The leaders of the Presbyterian party, Holies, 
 Stapleton, and others, met the Scottish commissioners 
 at Essex's house to consider how they might get rid 
 of Cromwell. Lord Loudon, the Scottish chancellor, 
 denounced the lieutenant-general as one who, " since 
 the advance of our army into England, hath used all 
 underhand and cunning means to take off our honour 
 and merit in this kingdom. By our law in Scotland, 
 we call him an incendiary who kindleth coals of 
 contention and causeth differences in the state, to the 
 public damage." He wanted to know whether they 
 could proceed against him as an incendiary. 
 Whitelocke and Maynard, two eminent lawyers, being 
 
240 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 asked their opinion, said that the word incendiary was 
 little used in English law ; whether Lieutenant- 
 General Cromwell was such could only be known by 
 proofs of his particular words or actions, which could 
 not be easily made out and brought to the effect 
 intended, Whitelocke observed : " I take Lieutenant- 
 General Cromwell to be a gentleman of quick and 
 subtle parts, and who hath, especially of late, gained 
 no small interest in the House of Commons, nor is 
 he wanting of friends in the House of Peers, nor of 
 abilities in himself to manage his own part or defence 
 to the best advantage." "Some false brother" in- 
 formed Cromwell of what had passed at the meeting. 
 Nothing came of it ; nor did the Independents succeed 
 in getting Crawford cashiered. 
 
 It was characteristic of the age that through the 
 tumult of war, and while the parliament had sore ado 
 to provide for its armies, religious questions still 
 deeply stirred men's minds. The assembly of divines 
 were holding their sittings at Westminster, disputing 
 point by point, and pushing through by large 
 majorities article after article of the Calvinistic creed 
 and church government. Most of the ministers in 
 London were Presbyterians ; the Scottish commis- 
 sioners would not let the matter rest ; when it was 
 announced to parliament that the Scottish army had 
 stormed Newcastle they represented that the solemn 
 league and covenant should be enforced, Presbyterian 
 churches should be established in every parish in 
 England, and the arm of the law should be used to 
 crush dissent. The politicians like Selden viewed with 
 dislike the prospect of an organised church, based on 
 popular representation, yet claiming to be independent 
 
PRESBYTER PRIEST WRIT LARGE 241 
 
 of the civil power. The Independents were coming 
 more to the front ; they considered that Presby- 
 terianism fitted upon Scotland eighty years before 
 was too strait for the English people ; they held that 
 each congregation should manage its own affairs 
 without the interference of bishops, synods, or general 
 assemblies, and that any godly person acquainted 
 with the scriptures and gifted with speech had a right 
 to preach publicly in the churches. Under the name 
 of Independents, there were many sects differing in 
 doctrine, but united for common safety. Principal 
 Baillie, writing to a friend in Paris, exposes the 
 "singularities" of the Independents: "They do not 
 censure, in their churches, the denial of psedobaptism, 
 though they profess their dislike of that error. Many 
 of them preach, and some print, a liberty of conscience, 
 at least the great equity of a toleration of all religion ; 
 that every man should be permitted, without any fear 
 so much as of discountenance from the magistrate, to 
 profess publicly his conscience, were he never so 
 erroneous and also live according thereunto, if he 
 trouble not the publick peace by any seditious or 
 wicked practice. . . . They profess to regard nothing 
 at all, what all the reformed or all the world say, 
 if their saying be not backed with convincing scriptures 
 or reason." The learned principal concludes his 
 letter with the observation : " The sooner all the 
 Reformed declare against them the better." Milton, 
 who was a unitarian, trembled at the denial of tolera- 
 tion. " Presbyter was but priest writ large." The 
 leaders of the Independent party in the Commons 
 were the younger Vane and Oliver St John ; in the 
 Lords, Saye and Sele and Wharton. The Inde- 
 
242 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 pendents made subtle attempts to get stolen through 
 the committee of Lords, Commons, and Divines, an 
 admission how far tender consciences might be borne 
 with. "This order," wrote the principal,^ "presently 
 gave us the alarm : we saw it was for the toleration of 
 the Independents by act of parliament before the 
 presbytery or any common rule were established. 
 Our most trusty friend the soHcitor (St John) had 
 throughed it the House before we heard of it. Mr 
 Marshall had evidently in the prosecution of it slighted 
 us. Sir Henry Vane, whom we trusted most, had 
 given us many signs of his alteration ; twice at our 
 table prolixly, earnestly, and passionately, had 
 reasoned for a full liberty to all religions without any 
 exceptions ; had publicly in the House opposed the 
 clause in the ordination that required ministers to 
 subscribe the covenant, and that which did intimate 
 their being over their flocks in the Lord ; had moved 
 the mustering of our army, as being far less than we 
 were paid for." 
 
 The Independents, finding they had a majority 
 upon this committee, were anxious to obtain a decla- 
 ration of toleration of the sectaries sent to the 
 parliament without trying to pass it through the 
 assembly of divines. This the Presbyterians opposed, 
 insisting that the common rule of church government 
 should be agreed on before any of forbearance of 
 those who dissented should be resolved on. It was 
 well understood that they were not likely ever to 
 favour any such forbearance. Baillie celebrates the 
 champion orators who argued upon the Presbyterian 
 side and claims a victory for them, " yet Henry Vane 
 1 Letters and Journals^ vol. ii., letter 83, p. 66. 
 
CONDITION OF ENGLAND 
 
 243 
 
 went on violently." About the end of October 1644, 
 the Presbyterians in the House of Commons carried 
 the dissolution of the dangerous committee which had 
 vexed the souls of the divines for five weeks ; then they 
 went on arguing and voting about marriages, burial 
 and funeral services, getting their catechisms and 
 directory ready, and hoping that the Independents 
 would take up their reasons. "If this be," the principal 
 writes, " it were better than a new victory over the 
 king's army. Who knows what reward the Lord may 
 give us for our great patience, and love to these, 
 however very good, yet very dangerous and un- 
 happy men, who have been the great and mighty 
 instruments to keep all things here loose, both in 
 church and state, these two years bygone, for the 
 increasing of their party to so great a strength, 
 that they might, by fear and threats, obtain their 
 desires." 
 
 The war had now lasted over two years ; much 
 blood had been shed, yet neither party had been able 
 to overwhelm the other. The king had made a better 
 fight than most people had expected : but on the whole 
 the advantage was with the parliament. The Cavaliers 
 held all Wales save Pembrokeshire, and most of the 
 south-west of England save Gloucestershire. Marston 
 Moor had given the north to the parliament. The 
 Scots had taken Newcastle, and were besieging 
 Carlisle. Baronial castles here and there were still held 
 for the king over the middle of England. From these 
 strongholds they raided the country around, levied 
 contributions, took rents, and destroyed the property 
 of the Roundheads. The elder Vane afterwards wrote 
 that Raby Castle had been visited four times during 
 
244 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 the war by the Cavaliers/ " so that in my losses, 
 plunderings of rents, and destruction of timber in my 
 woods, I have been damnified to the amount of ^16,000 
 at the least." Many other country gentlemen had 
 the same story to tell. The parliamentarians were 
 not slow at retaliating. Thus a desultory and 
 wasteful war went on over all England ; even the 
 eastern counties did not wholly escape. On this 
 account men able to bear arms were unwilling to 
 serve for a long term far from their homes. Waller 
 had forcibly pointed out that his recruits served for a 
 month or two and then left the colours. Armies called 
 out on a stirring occasion dwindled away when it 
 came to hard marching and exposure to rough weather. 
 The whole of eastern England and the country around 
 London was in the power of the parliament. All the 
 great seaports save Bristol were in their hands. It 
 was much easier for them to raise money, and as their 
 soldiers were better paid and under a more austere 
 discipline, they were much less given to plundering 
 than the royalists. The drunken swaggering 
 ways of the Cavaliers did much harm to the king's 
 cause. 
 
 Ambassadors from the States of the Netherlands 
 and from France had repeatedly offered their media- 
 
 1 One of these occasions is mentioned by Whitelocke : " The king's 
 forces from Bolton Castle surprised Raby Castle belonging to Sir Henry 
 Vane (June 29, 1645) ; but were again close blocked up by forces raised 
 by Sir George Vane." — Memorials, p. 151. 
 
 Sir George was the second son. He is the ancestor of Sir Henry R. 
 Vane of Hutton-in-the-Forest, who has two portraits of him. On the 
 renewal of the civil war in 1648, Raby Castle was again besieged by the 
 royalists. Our information about this affray is derived from the Staindrup 
 parish register. It is recorded that many soldiers were killed and buried 
 in the park. This is mentioned in the Handbook for Raby Castle, 
 written by the late Duchess of Cleveland. 
 
TREATY OF UXBRIDGfi 
 
 §45 
 
 tion, and so weary were most people of the war that 
 neither party could refuse to appear willing to make 
 concessions ; but neither the king nor the leaders of 
 the parliament designed to make peace save on their 
 own terms. Those who had ventured their lives and 
 estates could not trust Charles with the control of the 
 executive power, for they knew that whatever 
 concessions he might be constrained to make, he 
 intended to revoke them whenever a favourable 
 opportunity should occur. He endured with vexation 
 the entreaties of the gentlemen who guarded him at 
 Oxford, that he should abate something of his preten- 
 sions in order that peace might be made with the 
 parliament. He was ready to grant toleration to the 
 Catholics, who were his steadiest supporters, and who 
 in their own faith were as zealous as the Puritans. 
 This did him harm with the Protestant gentlemen, who 
 still followed him, and when it leaked out that he was 
 secretly treating with the Irish rebels in hopes of 
 gaining their assistance, some men of rank left him, 
 submitted to the parliament, and compounded for their 
 estates which they were only allowed to do on signing 
 the covenant. About the middle of November 1644 
 the Earl of Denbigh, Holies, Whitelocke, and 
 William Pierpoint were sent by the parliament with 
 overtures of peace. They were accompanied by the 
 Scottish commissioners, Lord Maitland and two others. 
 
 The king, though he received the envoys in a 
 friendly manner, presented to them for reply a sealed 
 letter with no address, as he would not recognise 
 the parliament even in name. He, however, offered 
 to begin negotiations. Commissioners from the 
 parliament, so many from the Scots, and so many 
 
246 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VAKE 
 
 from the king with their suites, 216 persons in all, met 
 at Uxbridge, a little town between London and 
 Oxford. 
 
 The parliament could hardly have believed that 
 their proposals would be accepted. One of them was 
 that Charles should subscribe to the solemn league 
 and covenant, and agree to abolish episcopacy ; 
 another that the militia and navy of the two kingdoms 
 should be controlled by English and Scottish 
 commissioners in a fixed proportion. Henry Vane, 
 though one of the commissioners, was too well 
 informed of the king's character to cherish any hopes 
 of the conference leading to a pacific result. After 
 two months' parleyings it came to an end on 
 February 22, 1645. The Scots, who had hoped 
 something from the treaty, were now convinced that 
 the dispute must be decided by the sword. 
 
 The king was encouraged by news from the 
 north. James Graham, Earl of Montrose, had been 
 one of the first to sign the solemn league and 
 covenant, and had led the van of the Scottish army 
 that crossed the Tweed in August 1640 to the dis- 
 comfiture of Strafford. Later on, Montrose had been 
 gained over by Charles, had been suspected, and 
 imprisoned for several months by the ruling party 
 in Scotland, had joined the king at Oxford, and 
 received a commission as lieutenant-general to raise 
 the northern kingdom against the covenanters. In 
 disguise with two attendants, he entered Scotland 
 and made his way to Atholl to take command of 
 1500 Irish soldiers sent by the Earl of Antrim, like 
 Montrose, an enemy of Argyll. The Macdonalds, 
 and other clans at feud with the Campbells, soon 
 
SUCCESSES OF MONTROSE 
 
 247 
 
 gathered to his standard. Daring and skilful in arms, 
 ready to adapt himself to every kind of warfare, 
 Montrose, with his fiery Highlanders and Irish, was 
 too much for the Lowland militia, led by the old 
 formal officers of the Thirty Years' War. On 
 September i, 1644, he defeated a covenanting army 
 near Perth with great slaughter. On the 13th 
 he forced his way into Aberdeen. Not five years 
 before Montrose had dealt severely with the people of 
 that city because they were unwilling to sign the 
 Covenant. Now they had to suffer pillage and 
 massacre because they had not shifted with him. 
 Making his way through the Highland passes in the 
 dead of winter into the country of the Campbells, 
 Montrose inflicted a bloody defeat upon the army of 
 his rival at Inverlochy on February 2, and sent a 
 message to Charles at Oxford, that he was in the 
 fairest hopes of reducing Scotland to his majesty's 
 obedience ; and, as he doubted not, before the end of 
 summer to come to his assistance with a brave army. 
 Rumours of the pitiless havoc this ruthless soldier 
 with his Gaelic army was making in the north dis- 
 quieted the minds of the Scottish army campaigning 
 in England, and gave anxiety to the parliament at 
 London. 
 
 It must have exasperated the king, that while 
 the conference at Uxbridge was still sitting, the 
 parliament was pushing on the impeachment of the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury. Laud had lain three 
 years in the Tower, old, feeble, and indigent. Prynne, 
 his former victim, now his prosecutor, would not 
 allow the process to sleep. The House of Commons 
 determined to carry out the impeachment for high 
 
LIFE of sm HENRY VANE 
 
 treason by a vote of attainder. Even those who 
 resorted to this irregular judgment admitted that 
 it should only be resorted to in extreme danger to 
 the state. Strafford was a dangerous man, but 
 certainly not Laud. They could not get the judges 
 to say that his oppressive actions amounted to high 
 treason, and though he deserved punishment, it 
 seemed yielding to hatred rather than to justice 
 now to seek his life. The prosecution gave Laud 
 an opportunity of regaining credit by an abler 
 defence than was expected, and arousing the emotions 
 of those who forget the offence in their compassion 
 for the offender. The ordinance was pushed through 
 the House of Peers, no more than twenty of whom 
 could have taken part in the trial, and few of them 
 sat throughout. In vain did Laud produce a pardon 
 from the king. He was beheaded on January lo, 
 1645, dying with the placid faith that his ritualism 
 was agreeable to the Most High. True to his last 
 hours in externals, he was distressed at the idea of 
 his blood falling on some of the people around the 
 scaffold. 
 
 On December 22, Sir A. Carew was beheaded for 
 an attempt to betray Plymouth to the royalists ; on 
 January 2, Captain Hotham, and on the day after his 
 father. Sir John, suffered the same fate for their 
 proposed treachery at Hull; and on February 20, 
 Lord Macguire for his part in the Irish rebellion. 
 
 The king, who favoured men who showed a noisy 
 zeal, became estranged from those who, while willing 
 to defend his prerogative so far, were anxious for him 
 to make concessions to the parliament. Though the 
 Cavaliers showed the gallant spirit of English 
 
SELF-DENYING ORDINANCE 
 
 gentlemen, no skilful general appeared amongst them, 
 with the exception of Montrose. Rupert was general-in- 
 chief, and the highest commands in the west were given 
 to Goring and Sir Richard Greenvil, men debauched 
 and rapacious, who made themselves odious to the 
 people whom they plundered on their own account. 
 
 In the meantime the parliament, willing to learn 
 from experience, was considering how they could get 
 rid of generals like Essex and Manchester, who, 
 though brave to resist attack, were slack at pushing 
 their successes, as if they were afraid to strike the king 
 too hard. As early as December 1643 the Lords had 
 passed a resolution that no member of either House 
 should be admitted into any office excepting such 
 places of great trust to be executed by persons of 
 eminence and known integrity, and are necessary for the 
 safety of the kingdom ; but this guarded recommenda- 
 tion failed to pass into an ordinance. It was natural, 
 indeed scarcely avoidable, that at the outset of the 
 civil war the parliament should entrust members 
 of their own body, whose sentiments were well pro- 
 nounced, with the administration of affairs, and 
 high commands in the army ; but while the deliberative 
 power of the assembly was weakened by the with- 
 drawal of above one-fourth of its ablest^ members, it 
 
 1 The 22nd of January 1644 being the day appointed for the Anti- 
 parliament to meet at Oxford, the parliament at Westminster called the 
 House, and there appeared 280 of their members, beside 100 more in the 
 service of the parliament in the several counties, and now they expelled 
 by vote 40 members who had deserted the parliament. — Whitelocke's 
 Memorials, London, 1682, p. 76. Mr Sanford supports Whitelocke's 
 statement, Studies and Illustrations, p. 498. 
 
 Out of a house of 100 there were about 29 Peers for attend- 
 ance of Westminster. There were about a dozen waverers who came 
 and went, and some neutrals. About 20 might be present to carry 
 on their deliberations, often there were fewer. The royalist seceders from 
 
Life of sir henhy vane 
 
 was found that good statesmen might make indifferent 
 colonels of regiments, and that orators who could think 
 upon their legs on the floor of the House of Commons 
 could not think so clearly when seated upon a hussar 
 saddle, with bullets hissing in their ears. 
 
 Nathaniel Fiennes, a son of Lord Saye and Sele, 
 had been tried by court-martial for weakly surrendering 
 Bristol, and had been condemned to death. He was 
 pardoned by Lord Essex, and after a time had 
 returned to the House of Commons, of which he was a 
 useful member. Harry Marten, one of the cleverest 
 and boldest speakers in the House, had given up 
 warfare after his retreat from Reading. 
 
 On December 9, the House resolved itself into a 
 grand committee to consider the sad condition of the 
 kingdom by the continuance of the war. As Rush- 
 worth^ tells us : " There was a general silence for a good 
 space of time ; many looking one upon another to see 
 who would break the ice, and speak first in so 
 tender and sharp a point. Amongst whom Oliver 
 Cromwell stood up, and spake briefly to this effect : — 
 
 *' ' That it was now a time to speak, or for ever to 
 hold the tongue ; the important occasion being no less 
 than to save a nation out of a bleeding, nay, almost 
 dying condition, which the long continuance of the war 
 had already brought it into, so that, without a more 
 speedy, vigorous, and effectual prosecution of the war 
 casting off all lingering proceedings, like soldiers of 
 fortune, beyond sea, to spin out a war, we shall make 
 the kingdom weary of us ; and hate the name of a 
 parliament. For what do the enemy say ? Nay, what 
 
 the Lower House might be at first about loo, afterwards swollen by fresh 
 defections during the disastrous year 1643. 
 
 ^ Collections^ vol. vi., p, 4 ; Parliamentary History, vol. xiii., p. 375. 
 
CtlONtWELL'S SPEECrt 
 
 251 
 
 do many say that were friendly at the beginning of 
 the parliament. Even this, that the members of 
 both Houses have got great places and commands, 
 and the sword into their hands ; and what by 
 interest in parliament, and what by power in the army, 
 will perpetually continue themselves in grandeur, 
 and not permit the war speedily to end, lest their own 
 power should determine with it. This I speak here to 
 our own faces, it is but what others do utter abroad 
 behind our backs. 
 
 " ' I am far from relecting on any ; I know the worth 
 of those commanders, members of both Houses, who 
 are yet in power ; but, if I may speak my conscience, 
 without refection upon any, I do conceive, if the army 
 be not put into another method, and the war more 
 vigorously prosecuted, the people can bear the war no 
 longer, and will enforce you to a dishonourable peace. 
 But this I would recommend to your prudence, not to 
 insist upon any complaint or oversight of any occasion 
 whatsoever ; for as I must acknowledge myself guilty 
 of oversights, so I know they can rarely be avoided in 
 military affairs, therefore wavering a strict inquiry into 
 the causes of these things, let us apply ourselves to 
 the remedy which is most necessary ; and I hope we 
 have such true English hearts and zealous affections 
 towards the weal of our mother country, as no members 
 of either House will scruple to deny themselves and 
 their own private interests for the public good, nor 
 account it to be a dishonour done to them, whatever 
 the parliament shall resolve upon in this weighty 
 matter.' " 
 
 After further debate it was moved by Nahum 
 Tate, and seconded by Henry Vane: "That no 
 
252 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANfi 
 
 member of either House of Parliament should, during 
 this war, enjoy or execute any office or command civil 
 or military, and that an ordinance should be brought 
 in accordingly." 
 
 A public fast was held on December i8. 
 Preachers were chosen to address both Houses in 
 Lincoln's Inn Chapel. These pulpit orators used all 
 their .eloquence in favour of the ordinance. When 
 the Commons met the next day after these devout 
 exhortations. Sir Henry Vane told them : " If ever 
 God had appeared to them, it was in the exercise of 
 yesterday, and that it appeared it proceeded from God, 
 because, as he was credibly informed by many who 
 had been auditors in other congregations, the same 
 lamentations and discourses had been made in all 
 other churches, as the godly preachers had made 
 before them ; which, therefore, could proceed only from 
 the immediate spirit of God. He repeated some 
 things which had been said, upon which he was best 
 prepared to enlarge, and besought them to remember 
 their obligations to God and to their country ; and 
 that they would free themselves from those just 
 reproaches, which they could do no otherwise than by 
 divesting themselves of all offices and charges that 
 might bring in the least advantage and profit to 
 themselves ; by which only they could make it appear 
 that they were public-hearted men, and as they paid 
 all taxes and impositions with the rest of the nation, 
 so they gave up all their time to their country's 
 service without any reward or gratuity." 
 
 He told them " that the reflections of yesterday, 
 none of which had ever entered upon his spirit before, 
 had raised another reflection in than had been 
 
VANE'S SPEECH 
 
 253 
 
 mentioned, which was, that it had been often taken 
 notice of, and objected by the king himself, that the 
 numbers of the parliament, who sat in either House, 
 were too few to give reputation to acts of so great 
 moment as were transacted in their councils ; which, 
 though it was no fault of theirs, who kept their proper 
 stations, but of those who had deserted their places 
 and their trusts, by being absent from the parlia- 
 ments ; yet that, in truth, there were too many absent, 
 though in the service of the House, and by their 
 appointment ; and if all the members were obliged to 
 attend the service of the parliament in the parliament, 
 it would bring great reputation to their numbers, and 
 the people would pay more reverence, and yield a 
 fuller obedience to their commands," and then con- 
 cluded : " That he was ready to accuse himself for 
 one of those who gained by an office he had ; and 
 though he was possessed of it before the beginning of 
 the troubles, and owed it not to the favour of the 
 parliament (for he had been joined with Sir William 
 Russell in the treasureship of the navy by the king's 
 grant), yet he was ready to lay it down to be disposed 
 of by the parliament ; and wished that the profits 
 thereof might be applied towards the support of the 
 war. 
 
 Oliver Cromwell, whose success in the war had 
 gained the attention of the House, told them that 
 "God had so blessed their army, that there had 
 grown up with it, and under it, very excellent officers, 
 who were fitter for much greater charges than they 
 were now possessed of ; and desired them not to be 
 terrified with an imagination, that if the highest 
 offices were vacant, they should not be able to put as 
 
254 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 fit men into them ; for, besides, that it was not good 
 to put so much trust in an arm of flesh, as to think 
 such a cause as this depended upon any one man, he 
 did take upon him to assure them, that they had 
 officers in their army, who were fit to be generals in 
 any enterprise in Christendom." In conclusion he 
 said plainly, "That till the whole army were new 
 modelled, and governed under a stricter discipline, 
 they must not expect any notable success in any thing 
 they went about." 
 
 Though Whitelocke spoke against the self-denying 
 ordinance, it passed through the Commons with little 
 difficulty. The Lords complained that they were by 
 this measure deprived of all military commands ; they 
 reminded the Commons that the barons in the old 
 times had been active at the hazard of their lives and 
 estates in maintaining and regaining the fundamental 
 laws of the realm. After several conferences with the 
 Commons they rejected the ordinance. The debates 
 and remonstrances about this measure made a begin- 
 ning of the differences between the Commons and the 
 peers who remained at Westminster. The ordinance 
 was brought in again modified in form, providing that 
 all and every one of the members of either House 
 should be discharged at the end of forty days from 
 the passing of the act from every office or command, 
 military or civil, granted by the said Houses of 
 Parliament. This second edition of the self-denying 
 ordinance which was passed by the Lords on April 3, 
 1645, iiot prevent the discharged officers from 
 being reappointed. 
 
 As a political expedient, this was a master-stroke. 
 With an air of magnanimity the parliament got rid 
 
THE NEW MODEL ARMY 
 
 255 
 
 of commanders to whom they could not refuse 
 gratitude, and whom it was dangerous to offend. 
 Essex the lord-general, Warwick the high admiral. 
 Sir William Waller, Holies, Hesilrige, and others, 
 resigned their commissions and returned with honour 
 to the assembly at Westminster. 
 
 In the meantime the Independents in the House 
 were getting through another measure to remodel the 
 army and to fill up the vacancies in the higher com- 
 mands. An army of 14,400 foot, 6600 horse, and 
 1000 dragoons was to be organised under one com- 
 mander-in-chief Sir Thomas Fairfax was chosen for 
 this great post, and the higher officers were appointed 
 from a list furnished by him. This was not effected 
 without opposition from the peers, the Scottish 
 commissioners, and from the Presbyterian party in the 
 Commons. They got into the new model ordinance 
 that officers and men who had not taken the covenant 
 should be incapable of serving in the army ; but the 
 Independents succeeded in getting this clause 
 modified.^ After the arrival of the Marquis of Argyll 
 in London, the opposition of the Scottish commis- 
 sioners to the self-denying ordinance and the new 
 model was much lessened. This was attributed to 
 the influence of Sir Henry Vane, who had formed 
 a fast friendship with Argyll during his visit to 
 Scotland.^ 
 
 The colonels and lieutenant-colonels were selected 
 from men who had proved their capacity during the 
 war. A few of them had risen from the ranks. John 
 Okey had been a chandler ; Pride a drayman ; 
 Hewson a cobbler ; Harrison a butcher. This made 
 1 Rushworth, vol. vii., p. 6. ^ Clarendon. 
 
256 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 a great outcry amongst the discontented Presbyterians. 
 Holies says in his Memoirs that most of the colonels 
 are tradesmen, brewers, tailors, goldsmiths, shoe- 
 makers, and the like : but Mr Markham ^ has shown 
 that out of thirty-seven generals and colonels twenty- 
 one were commoners of good families, nine were 
 members of noble families, and only seven were not 
 gentlemen by birth. As the war went on the propor- 
 tion of the officers risen from the ranks went on 
 increasing. Most of Fairfax's old soldiers were still 
 in the north, and so the new force was mainly formed 
 out of the armies of Essex and Manchester, reduced 
 into fresh regiments. The excitement of the times 
 filled the ranks with men who possessed in no common 
 measure the independent spirit and religious zeal of 
 the English people. The Independents and other 
 sectaries were numerous in the new model army. 
 Their study of the bible had led to opinions new both 
 to prelate and to presbyter discussed in garrison, 
 camp, and bivouac. The more enthusiastic of these 
 armed devotees indulged in wild militant harangues in 
 the intervals of parade and battle. In point of 
 personal subordination and outward respect to their 
 officers we have drawn the articles of war more 
 strictly ; but we are obliged to condone with practices 
 which would have excited the horror of Fairfax's 
 Puritan pikemen and troopers.^ When we read of 
 some of the soldiers of the Commonwealth being 
 hanged for plundering and for desertion, tied neck and 
 heels together and exposed to public gaze for stealing, 
 
 ^ Life of Fairfax, p. 199. 
 
 ^ See Whitelocke's Memorials, pp. 271, 406, 423, 430, 443, 452, 453, 
 487, for examples of the stern discipline enforced upon the soldiers of the 
 Commonwealth. 
 
THE PURITAN SOLDIER 
 
 257 
 
 being whipped for fornication, and having their 
 tongues bored for blaspheming, punishments which 
 could only have been inflicted, under the circumstances 
 with the approval of the rest, and which no command- 
 ing officer could enforce at Aldershot. Wellington 
 had the lowest opinion of the morals of the British 
 soldiers, whom he regarded as a fighting machine only 
 to be kept within bounds by rigid discipline. In our 
 own day, though capable of praiseworthy devotion to 
 duty in war, Tommy Atkins is much less correct in his 
 morals than Tribulation Wholesome : but his kindly 
 and human feelings are more readily awakened as he 
 lives in a less coarse age. In no time is the homicidal 
 excitement of the combatant who is pushed forward 
 to kill or be killed favourable to the saintly life. In 
 the Old Testament the Puritan soldier found 
 encouragements to deal sternly with the malignants. 
 After resistance was over he might give quarter to his 
 own countrymen who asked it ; but to the Irish 
 brought across the sea, or to the Catholic priests, no 
 more mercy should be given than to the people of Ai, 
 or to the priests of Baal. His rougher nature rejected 
 the verbiage that they were fighting for the king and 
 not against him. The soldiers applauded the bold 
 speech of Cromwell, who openly said that if he met 
 the king in battle he would fire his pistol against him 
 as at any other man. The parliament provided that 
 sufficient pay should be given to the soldiers that 
 year ; ^ they were enjoined to pay at given rates for 
 what they took, and they were sternly prohibited from 
 plundering. The king's troops, who were scarcely 
 
 ' The pay allowed was eightpence a day for a trooper ; sevenpence a 
 day for a dragoon ; and sixpence for a foot-soldier. 
 
 K 
 
258 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 paid at all, lived at free quarters and wasted the 
 country. The example of reckless and dissolute con- 
 duct was given them by their own commanders. In 
 the west, the country most favourable to the royalist 
 cause, the peasants collected in bands under the name 
 of club men, to save their belongings from the soldiers 
 of Rupert and Goring. They had on their banners : — 
 
 If you offer to plunder our cattle 
 Be assured we will give you battle." 
 
 During the whole of April the young general went 
 on working with Major-General Skippon to reorganise 
 the army. 
 
 It has been repeated by prejudiced or ignorant 
 writers that Fairfax was a mere tool who acted under 
 the suggestions of Cromwell, and it has been even 
 stated in shallow little histories that Sir Thomas 
 Fairfax,^ save in military matters, was a man of small 
 intellect. This last assertion shows an ignorance of 
 human character and military affairs which entitles 
 those who make it to a certificate of total incapacity 
 to write history. To get through all the multifarious 
 
 1 Mr Clements R. Markham, in his Life of the Great Lord Fairfax, 
 easily sustains the credit of the Commander-in-chief of the army of the 
 parliament. "Cromwell," he observes, "advocated the self-denying 
 ordinance because he saw that, unless the war was carried on with more 
 energy, the end would inevitably be disastrous. But he had nothing 
 whatever to do with the organisation of the new army ; he was quite 
 ready to resign his appointment as a member of the House, and fully 
 expected to have been called upon to do so, and his subsequent continu- 
 ance in the army was solely due to the application of the general for his 
 services. Sir Thomas Fairfax held no divided responsibility. He was 
 in all respects the Commander-in-chief of the new army ; he selected 
 the officers, organised the regiments, and conducted the operations in 
 the field. Cromwell was subsequently his very efficient lieutenant- 
 general of horse, but was of no use to him in preparing for the field, nor 
 in making the important arrangements at Windsor, where Major-General 
 Skippon, and not Cromwell, was Sir Thomas's right hand " (pp. i94-i95)- 
 
PARLIAMENTARY EXECUTIVE 
 
 259 
 
 duties of the commander of a large army against a 
 capable enemy requires the exercise of so many 
 faculties both intellectual and moral that no one who 
 successfully discharges them can be less than a man 
 of great mental ability. A man may be a good 
 general and no poet, and a man may write good 
 verses and be no general ; but a man who like Fairfax 
 could do both, must possess varied mental power of a 
 high order. The truth is that Cromwell seems to 
 have been only once at Windsor during the new 
 organisation of the army, and even in the campaign 
 which followed he was mostly engaged in military 
 operations apart from the army of the general. 
 
 But we have no mind to chase the Cromwellian 
 legend up and down, satisfied to be able to state the 
 events as they really happened. Three skulls are 
 shown in different places as all belonging to Cromwell, 
 and those who look at history backwards give him 
 credit for three times more than he ever did. 
 
 By the end of April 1645, Fairfax was ready to 
 take the field with his new model army, much decried 
 by the Presbyterians and ridiculed by the Cavaliers. 
 
 In the meantime the forces of the parliament had 
 taken the important town of Shrewsbury and recovered 
 Weymouth. 
 
 At this time the executive power had been entrusted 
 by the parliament to the committee of both kingdoms 
 made up of twenty-one English and four Scottish 
 members, who met in Derby House. Northumberland, 
 Essex, Manchester, Warwick, Saye, and Wharton were 
 amongst the peers ; Lord Loudon and Johnston of 
 Wariston were the most prominent Scottish com- 
 missioners. The two Vanes, elder and younger, and 
 
260 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 Sir Arthur Hesilrige, were amongst the Commoners. 
 The younger Vane was ready for every business where 
 skill, tact, and diligence were needed. His name often 
 strikes the eye in the reports of the proceedings of 
 the committee, as well as of the parliament where 
 he was now the recognised leader of the independent 
 party. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 The New Model Army takes the Field. Cromwell's Exploits. The 
 Battle of Naseby. The King's Cabinet of Letters. New Elections. 
 Farther Victories of Fairfax. The Glamorgan Treaty. Over- 
 tures to Vane. Leslie defeats Montrose. Charles surrenders to the 
 Scots. The Marquess of Argyll. 
 
 By the end of April the new model army was 
 ready to take the field. The design of the parliament 
 was to call the Scottish army to march southward to 
 engage the king's army. Fairfax should go to 
 relieve Taunton, where the unconquerable Blake was 
 still holding at bay a large force of Western royalists 
 behind a barrier of palisades. 
 
 The young general, solicitous to keep Cromwell's 
 services as long as he could, had sent him to attack 
 the enemy's posts about Oxford. He was not long 
 in reporting successes after his characteristic style, 
 how at I slip " a body of the king's troops were put into 
 confusion, so that we had the chace of them three or 
 four miles : wherein we killed many, and took near to 
 200 prisoners, and about 400 horse. Many of them 
 escaped towards Oxford and Woodstock ; divers were 
 drowned ; and others got into a strong house in 
 Bletchinton." Colonel Windebank was terrified into 
 a surrender. " This was the mercy of God," wrote 
 the Puritan leader, '* though I have had greater 
 mercies, yet none clearer ; because, in the first, God 
 brought them to our hands when we looked not for 
 them ; and delivered them out of our hands, when we 
 laid a reasonable design to surprise them, and which 
 
 261 
 
262 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 we carefully endeavoured." Colonel Windebank, the 
 son of the exiled secretary, had no mercy from Charles 
 who got him before a court-martial and condemned to 
 be shot for surrendering the castle with so little 
 resistance. Cromwell finished his letter thus : "I 
 hope you will pardon me, if I say God is not enough 
 owned ; we look too much to men and visible helps ; this 
 has much hindered our success." Such words might 
 imply a reckless fatalism : not so with Cromwell. 
 While he used every visible help he nourished a 
 conviction that an unseen arm was sustaining him, and 
 in every new success he read a new proof that he was 
 a chosen instrument of God's will. 
 
 On the loth of May the parliament ordered that 
 General Cromwell should continue in his command 
 for forty days longer. At the pressing requests of 
 Fairfax, supported by seventeen of the chief officers 
 of the army, Cromwell's attendance at parliament was 
 dispensed with, and he was given the command of the 
 whole cavalry force, a post which had been probably 
 left open for him. It was not without difficulty that 
 Cromwell was excepted from the Self- Denying 
 Ordinance. Some treated it as the result of crafty 
 management on his part ; yet everything goes to show 
 that, in supporting the ordinance in parliament, 
 Cromwell assumed that he would have to resign his 
 military commission along with the rest, and that he 
 was prepared to do so. But in the stress of a still 
 doubtful war it was felt that the army should not lose 
 the services of so great a leader. Fairfax, acting upon 
 new instructions, marched with his main army to 
 besiege Oxford, sending a column to relieve Taunton. 
 In the meantime Charles advancing northwards took 
 
THE TWO HOSTS MEET 
 
 263 
 
 Leicester by storm and raised the siege of Chester. 
 These successes were used to increase distrust of the 
 new model army. Cromwell was sent to provide for 
 the defence of the associated counties, and Fairfax was 
 set free to act as he wanted. When leaving Oxford 
 he marched to seek the king's army. 
 
 The royalists were so poorly supplied with intelli- 
 gence that Fairfax got within five miles of them before 
 they knew of his approach. The king was advised to 
 delay fighting till reinforcements should reach him 
 from the west ; but Fairfax was swift and watchful. 
 He had called in all his power. On the 13th, 
 Cromwell had reached headquarters with his famous 
 regiment of horse. Rossiter was on the way. 
 Harrison was sent to harass the enemy. The out- 
 posts of the Cavaliers were surprised at the village of 
 Naseby. Here, in an open undulating country on 
 June 14, the two hosts encountered. The army of the 
 parliament had some advantage of numbers^ and of 
 position on a slope. The king's troops made a brave 
 fight. Rupert bore down the Roundhead horse on 
 the left wing, Ireton, their commander, being wounded 
 
 1 Many historians have stated the strength of the opposing armies as 
 about equal. This is affirmed by Sprigge, who witnessed the battle. 
 Baillie writes: "That Fairfax had ii,ooo or 12,000 horse and foot; 
 the king was much weaker in foot." May writes : " Nor was the number 
 of the armies very unequal ; the royalists only were strongest in horse " 
 (Breviary of the History of the Parliament). Gardiner writes {Civil W ar, 
 vol ii., p. 247) "that Fairfax's army was little short of 14,000 men, about 
 twice as many as the 7500 who fought for Charles," This latter figure 
 is apparently taken from Clarendon, who only allows 3300 foot to the 
 royalist army. We have no statement of the king's force after the taking 
 of Leicester, and it did not exist as an army the day after the battle ; 
 but we know that 4500 were taken, as reported by Colonel Fiennes who 
 had charge of the prisoners. About 1000 royalists were slain, 700 in 
 the battle and 300 in the pursuit. Moreover, Gardiner tells us that there 
 were 4000 infantry in the king's centre. He says in one place that 
 
264 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 and taken, but the Cavaliers were stopped by the 
 infantry left to guard the baggage train. 
 
 The general of the parliament had charged on the 
 right wing with Cromwell's horse, and then turned 
 to bring up the reserves of the centre before the 
 front lines had been brought back under the furious 
 onset of the king's infantry. Taken in flank by 
 Cromwell, who had turned half his squadrons from 
 the pursuit of the royalist horse, whom he had 
 routed, and taken on the other flank by Okey's 
 dragoons who had formed after Rupert's Cavaliers 
 had swept past, the deserted infantry after a brave 
 struggle threw down their pikes and muskets, and 
 surrendered to the victorious Puritans. They were 
 mostly Welshmen drawn from their mountains to 
 fight in a cause which they little understood. 
 
 Rupert, who had lost time in gathering and 
 reforming his ill-disciplined horse, only got back to 
 the field in time to join the king's squadron in a 
 headlong flight. As Clarendon has remarked : 
 "That difference was observed all along in the 
 discipline of the king's troops, and of those which 
 march'd under the command of Fairfax, and Cromwell 
 (for it was only under them, and had never been 
 
 5000 prisoners of both armies were taken ; in another that the prisoners 
 were 4000, and that the king's cavalry, though defeated, were almost 
 intact. From this we may judge that Clarendon has misled Gardiner 
 in underestimating the strength of the royal army. Gardiner also says 
 that Cromwell on the right wing had 3600 sabres against 2000 of the 
 Cavaliers. Gardiner's observation (p. 248) that the baggage train was 
 really in the power of Rupert, " for musket shots were no permanent 
 defence against cavalry," shows a slight acquaintance with warfare. 
 Rupert had learned something since Edgehill, and knew too well how to 
 handle cavalry to engage without any support of infantry in an attack 
 upon a resolute force of musketeers drawn up behind the baggage 
 waggons, while the fugitive cavalry might be rallying behind, 
 
NASEBY 
 
 265 
 
 remarkable under Essex or Waller) that, though the 
 king's troops prevailed in the charge, and routed those 
 they charged, they seldom rallied themselves again in 
 order, nor could be brought to make a second charge 
 again the same day ; which was the reason, that they 
 had not an entire victory at Edgehill : whereas the 
 other troops, if they prevail'd, or though they were 
 beaten, and routed, presently rallied again, and stood 
 in good order, till they received new orders." 
 
 The whole camp, tents, guns, ammunition, 
 provisions fell into the hands of the victors. Fairfax, 
 who had sustained the part of a skilful general and 
 had fought like a paladin to break the last royalist 
 square, sent to the parliament the welcome tidings in 
 simple terms. Cromwell, a politician as well as a 
 soldier, addressed a letter to the House of Commons, 
 which concluded with these words : " The general 
 served you with all faithfulness and honour ; and the 
 best commendations I can give him is, that I dare 
 say he attributes all to God, and would rather perish 
 than assume to himself, which is an honest and a 
 thriving way ; and yet as much for bravery may be 
 given him in this action as to a man, * Honest men 
 served you faithfully in this action, sir, they are 
 trusty ; I beseech you, in the name of God, not to 
 discourage them.' I wish this action may beget 
 thankfulness and humility in all that are concerned in 
 it. He that ventures his life for the liberty of his 
 country, I wish he trusts God for the liberty of his 
 conscience, and you for the liberty he fights for." 
 
 The parliament sent a jewel worth ^500, as a 
 token of their gratitude to the victorious general. 
 The captured infantry were led in triumph through 
 
266 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 the streets of London with the standards taken at 
 Naseby. The king's cabinet had fallen into the 
 hands of Fairfax, who hesitated to open the papers. 
 The parliament were not so scrupulous. Copies of 
 the queen's letters and Charles's replies were read in 
 the Guildhall to a crowd of members of parliament 
 and citizens. It was made evident that the king 
 never regarded his concessions as binding ; that his 
 promises were made with the design of being revoked 
 upon opportunities. He excused himself to the queen 
 that, in consenting to call the assembly at West- 
 minster a parliament, he had got it privately entered 
 on the journal of the council that this did not mean 
 he had acknowledged them to be so, and that if he 
 could have found two of his " mongrel " parliament 
 at Oxford of his mind he would never have made 
 this illusory concession. It was farther proved 
 that, while Charles had said that he abhorred the 
 thought of bringing foreign soldiers into the realm, 
 he had solicited armed help from the Duke of Lorraine, 
 the King of France, the King of Denmark, and even 
 from the Irish rebels. To the last he had promised 
 toleration for their religion, which was not the least 
 of his demerits in the eyes of the Protestants, who 
 recalled the zeal he had professed for the rooting out 
 of popery. The king's letters were publicly exhibited, 
 and leave given to those who knew his hand-writing 
 to examine them. A selection of these papers was 
 afterwards published. This revelation of Charles's 
 untruthfulness silenced for the time the advocates 
 of peace, and gave an excuse to those ready to turn 
 to the winning side, while the most fervent royalists 
 were at a loss for excuses on his behalf. 
 
CONQUESTS OF FAIRFAX 
 
 267 
 
 The parliament now proceeded to fill up vacancies 
 in the House from death or desertion, by the election 
 of new members, which had been delayed owing to 
 the disturbed state of the country. During the last 
 four months of 1645, 146 new members were elected. 
 Edmund Ludlow took his seat along with Robert 
 Blake; Fairfax, Skippon, Algernon Sydney, Massey, 
 and Hutchinson were added to this illustrious assembly. 
 Eighty-nine new elections were made in the course of 
 the succeeding year. These on the whole added to 
 the strength of the independent party in the House. 
 
 To those who paused to think resistance was 
 hopeless after Naseby, but the people of Celtic blood, 
 the Cornishmen, the Welsh, the Gael, fought on 
 for a year, though they were undermost in the 
 struggle. Fairfax gave them no breathing time. 
 Three days after the battle he recovered Leicester, 
 and a fortnight after, while Goring was lazily 
 blockading Taunton, he was sobered by the tidings 
 that Fairfax's army was within a few miles of him. 
 His disorderly troops were scattered at Langport. 
 The clubmen, who had at first interfered with foraging 
 parties, soon found that the Puritan army was not 
 given to pillaging, and that they could not be safely 
 meddled with. Bridgewater and Dartmouth and other 
 strongholds of the Cavaliers were taken by storm. 
 Rupert, despairing of the cause, gave up Bristol 
 after a weak defence, much to the displeasure of his 
 royal uncle, who had no manner of doubt that it 
 was the bounden duty of all his subjects to expend 
 their wealth and shed their blood that his power over 
 them should not be made less. Charles fied here 
 and there seeking to kindle a courage in men fated 
 
268 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 to destruction. He sent Lord Glamorgan, the son 
 of the Catholic Earl of Worcester, to gain the aid 
 of the Irish rebels, covertly promising them terms 
 which he publicly denied. A copy of the treaty 
 was found on the body of the Archbishop of Tuam, 
 slain at the siege of Sligo, and sent to the parliament, 
 who published it for the king's farther discredit. 
 Charles protested that Glamorgan had gone much 
 beyond his instructions. The Earl of Ormonde, Lord 
 Deputy of Ireland, who saw the affair was fraught 
 with mischief, imprisoned the Catholic lord in Dublin. 
 He produced a secret warrant from Charles granting 
 him unlimited powers to treat. ^ A copy was sent to 
 the king, who could not remember having given the 
 commission. Glamorgan could keep his mind easy : 
 there was no fear of his being brought to trial. He 
 was soon liberated on bail. Charles would have 
 kept the wide promises of toleration to the Catholics, 
 or broken them, as it suited him. One fact stood 
 out that he was willing to bring over men soiled 
 with English blood to help in prolonging a desolating 
 and now hopeless struggle. 
 
 The hunted king fled northwards in the hope of 
 gaining the camp of Montrose, who had now reached 
 the border with his army of Irish and Highlanders. 
 Montrose had routed the raw militia of the covenant 
 in six battles, inflicting terrible havoc and devastation 
 on the country. In his last engagement at Kilsyth 
 he had put to flight an army of 6000 men, and few 
 had escaped the pitiless pursuit of the swift-footed 
 
 ^ There is a copy of this warrant in Carte's Life of Ormonde, vol. i., 
 p. 554. Carte treats this document as fictitious. In that case it must 
 have been a forgery of Glamorgan's. It would be easy to answer the 
 arguments of the royalist historian. 
 
KILSYTH AND PHILIPHAUGH 
 
 269 
 
 Highlanders. Edinburgh opened its gates and set 
 free the political prisoners ; and the leaders of the 
 covenanting party fled southwards to Berwick or 
 Newcastle. All the while the trained Scottish army 
 was besieging towns still held by the royalists in the 
 northern parts of England. Little credit did they get 
 from their English allies, who complained that Leven 
 was slack in his operations. Perhaps evil tidings 
 from their own country rendered the Scots unwilling 
 to move far south. 
 
 A Highland host was easy to gather in the hopes 
 of plunder or revenge ; after a victory they returned to 
 their valleys with their booty. Huntly, the chief of the 
 Gordons, would not follow Montrose, and Alexander 
 Macdonald, often called Colkitto, the Achilles of his host, 
 broke away with the Macdonalds and a band of Irish 
 to harry the lands of their old enemies, the Campbells. 
 
 After the tidings of the battle of Kilsyth, David 
 Leslie quitted the leaguer of Hereford with the 
 Scottish cavalry and a few infantry, and hurried 
 north. About the middle of September, Montrose, 
 who never kept good watch, was lying with his 
 shrunken army at Philiphaugh, near Selkirk, when in 
 the morning mist Leslie's well-trained horsemen burst 
 through his reeling ranks. After a brief struggle 
 Montrose rode away, leaving his Irish banditti to the 
 swords of the covenanters or the dungeons of the 
 Border castles, never again to see the light of day till 
 led out to be shot, a fate their cruelties had provoked. 
 
 Charles, in his desperate shifts to save himself, 
 fancied that he might gain over the Independents by 
 proposing an alliance with the Cavaliers to root out 
 the Presbyterian government, only stipulating that 
 
270 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 when the work was finished he "should not have his 
 conscience disturbed, theirs being free." Two letters 
 to Henry Vane, the younger, conveying this proposal, 
 remain amongst Clarendon's collection of State 
 Papers^ Such overtures amounted to an insult both 
 to Vane's honour and to his understanding. He 
 replied that the Independents would never forget the 
 public good, and the interests of the parliament, 
 from whom they hoped to obtain relief to their 
 consciences when affairs were finally adjusted.^ The 
 king wished to have a safe conduct very fully made 
 out by the two Houses of Parliament, and others 
 allowing him to come to London for forty days to 
 treat, not without hope, as he wrote to Lord Digby, 
 "that I shall be able so to draw either the Presby- 
 terians or the Independents to side with me for extir- 
 pating one the other, that I shall be really king again." 
 
 The overthrow of Montrose quenched the last 
 hopes of the royalists. Those who kept on resisting 
 were beaten down everywhere ; their towns and castles 
 were taken. Trusting to vague promises to which 
 each party assigned a different meaning, Charles sought 
 
 1 Vol. ii., pp. 226-27. 
 
 ^ Gardiner tells us {Civil War, vol. iii., p. 71) that "no evidence 
 exists that Vane even replied to this offer," which shows that the 
 following passage in M. Montreuil's letter has escaped his research : " Ce 
 quelle accorde dans la religion aux Independans fait dire a jeune Vane 
 que c'estoit une addresse de Votre Majeste pour les attirer a son parti, 
 cependant que, quelque quelle fit, ils ne se separeroient jamais du bien 
 publique, et des interests du parlement, duquel seuls ils desireroient 
 obtenir, quand les affaires seroient achevees ce soulagement pour 
 consciences que V.M. leur offroit presentement."— Letter dated London, 
 February 5, 1646. Clarendon's State Papers, vol. ii., p. 215. 
 
 In the two letters written by the king's command in the beginning of 
 March 1646, he confesses the pitiable condition of his affairs, and refers to 
 some gentleman quartered with Vane. 
 
CHARLES A PRISONER 
 
 271 
 
 refuge with the Scottish army, who were besieging 
 Newark. The Scottish commanders, while they gave 
 him the title of king, treated him as a prisoner. The 
 Scottish army was in the service of the parliament, yet 
 the King of England was also King of Scotland. 
 The northern kingdom had never known what 
 constitutional government was. The people were 
 ruled by the nobility and clergy, whose aims and aspira- 
 tions were different from those of the English. They 
 were willing to restore the king to his prerogatives, 
 though not without restrictions and guarantees, which, 
 however, were not the same as those the English 
 desired. One condition was indispensable, the king 
 must sign the Solemn League and Covenant. This 
 to Charles meant turning his back upon all who had 
 fought for him, and apostatising from a church to 
 which he was sincerely attached. 
 
 Willing to play upon their hopes, he promised to 
 listen to their ministers, and tried to gain the chiefs of 
 the army by lavish promises. The Scots got him to 
 order Newark to surrender, to order Montrose to quit 
 his Highland fastnesses, and to leave Scotland. 
 Argyll, who had seen his enemy put to flight at 
 Philiphaugh, was soon able to wreak his vengeance 
 upon the followers of Alexander Macdonald, who had 
 refused to obey the king's order to desist from their 
 predatory warfare. The Scots marched with their 
 prisoner to Newcastle. The situation was embarrassing 
 for the Scots and alarming for the English parliament. 
 What if Charles should gain over the leaders of the 
 Scottish army and take the covenant when the 
 English Presbyterians and the Cavaliers might unite 
 to bring the king back to London upon terms which 
 
272 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 he would soon elude or break through ? In the House 
 the split between the Presbyterians and Independents 
 got wider as they no longer had to fear an armed enemy. 
 The Presbyterians were bent upon fitting their 
 confession of faith upon the English people. They 
 proclaimed it as not only an arrangement for church 
 government but as a divine institution which should 
 be maintained by the state yet kept independent of it, 
 and few priesthoods gained a greater ascendancy over 
 the people than in Scotland. Though Presbyterianism 
 allows a share of government to the laity, at the church 
 courts the clergy always took the lead. In Scotland 
 there was no dissent. 
 
 Archibald Campbell, the eighth Earl of Argyll, was 
 the most powerful supporter of the covenanting party. 
 His family had been zealous for the Reformation, 
 though his father had late in life gone over to the old 
 faith. The son, brought up under the care of 
 guardians, had been carefully educated in the prevailing 
 Presbyterian theology. Subtle, circumspect, far- 
 sighted, tenacious, he extended the influence of the 
 Campbells over the Highlands and Islands, and through 
 his steady support of the covenant became the most 
 powerful man in Scotland. But the address and 
 persuasive gifts which gave him so much authority in 
 the council and the senate did not help him in warfare, 
 nor did he ever show a taste for the clash of arms. 
 Indeed he was accused of timidity, a suspicion easy 
 to arouse and difficult to refute. The same accusation 
 was made against Vane, who never coveted renown as 
 a soldier. With Argyll it was different. As the chief 
 of a great Highland clan which had many foes, he 
 was obliged to command in military operations in 
 
ARGYLL AND MONTROSE 
 
 273 
 
 which he appeared to great disadvantage compared 
 with his brilliant rival, the Marquess of Montrose. 
 Twice the chief of the Campbells had to fly before the 
 head of the Grahams, though at Philiphaugh he saw 
 his enemy routed/ Deeply religious, he formed a 
 great friendship with the young English statesman, 
 which lasted to the end, when both these eminent men 
 showed that in a good cause they could firmly look 
 on death. Charles tried to gain over the powerful 
 earl. Neither of them trusted the other. The king 
 wrote that he found him very civil and cunning. 
 Argyll, however, was willing to go to London with a 
 secret commission to arrange terms with some of the 
 royalist noblemen, and on June 25, 1646, he delivered 
 a speech to the committee of both Houses of Parlia- 
 ment in the Painted Chamber at Westminster. The 
 fair-haired Scottish lord with " misplaced eyes " soon 
 gained upon his audience. While pleading for the 
 Presbyterian form of government he disowned the 
 intolerant claims which had already made it distasteful 
 to the English. " Upon one part," he said, " we 
 would take heed not to settle lawless liberty in 
 religion, whereby, instead of uniformity, we should set 
 up a thousand heresies and schisms, which is directly 
 contrary and destructive to our covenant. Upon the 
 other part, we are to look that we persecute not piety 
 and peaceful men, who cannot, through scruple of 
 conscience, come up in all things to the common rule." 
 
 1 See The Life and Times of Archibald^ Marquess of Montrose (1607- 
 1661), by John Willcock, B.D., Edinburgh, 1903. Mr Willcock is in 
 many passages successful in clearing the memory of the Marquess from 
 the calumnies and inventions of royalist romancists, historiographers, and 
 ballad-mongers. He explains that at Inverlochy, Argyll was suffering 
 from a dislocation of the arm, which he was unable to use for weeks, and 
 persuaded by his friends to retire to his galley before the onset (p. 173). 
 
 S 
 
274 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 Had the same moderation been shown by other 
 advocates of the Presbyterian form of church govern- 
 ment it had been received with less opposition. 
 Presbyterianism, which granted so much voice to the 
 laity, was well-fitted for a commonwealth. At this 
 time it was popular with the citizens of London. 
 
 The Scots were sincerely anxious to promote a 
 reconciliation between the king and the parliament, 
 but although the commissioners entreated Charles on 
 their knees to accept the conditions without which 
 they could do nothing in his cause, he would not give 
 way. He credited enough of the ceremonious speeches 
 of his captors to think that his person was safe, and 
 that by playing on their rivalries he would yet be in a 
 position to gain back all he had lost, crush his enemies, 
 and reward his friends. His last message to the peers 
 made even those best affected to him to hang their 
 heads, and they sent it down to the Commons without 
 a word (Burnet). The Scots fully recognised that 
 the disposing of Charles's person belonged jointly to 
 the two kingdoms. The Scottish army was in the 
 employment of the EngHsh parliament, who had thus 
 a right to demand him to be delivered up as a prisoner 
 taken in war. It is easy to repeat the senseless state- 
 ment that the Scots gave up their king for a sum of 
 money. Those who make it apparently believe that 
 the Scottish army should have marched off to Scotland 
 without their pay, which had remained in arrears for 
 several months, taking the king with them. This 
 meant to rekindle the Civil War in the northern as 
 well as the southern kingdom, or that they should 
 have changed sides and attempted to restore him with 
 all his claims of prerogative and church government 
 
THE KING'S SAFETY STIPULATED 
 
 275 
 
 which they had come so far to fight against. The 
 payments so grudgingly made to the Scots were simply 
 what was due to them for their military services and 
 promised by the treaty ; the matter was arranged 
 five months before the king was delivered to the 
 English commissioners, on January 30, 1647.^ The 
 Scottish auxiliaries then gave up the fortresses of 
 Newcastle, Berwick, and Carlisle, and marched back to 
 their own country. Before giving up the king it was 
 stipulated that "he should be conducted to Holdenby 
 House, there to remain till he gave satisfaction to both 
 kingdoms in the propositions of peace, and that in the 
 meantime there shall be no harm, prejudice, injury, 
 or violence done to his royal person — that there shall 
 be no change of government other than that has been 
 for three years preceding — and that his posterity shall 
 in no wise be prejudiced in their lawful succession to 
 the throne and government of these kingdoms." 
 
 To the representations of the Scottish commis- 
 sioners the parliament had retorted : " Let not your 
 expressions obliquely infer that the parliament of 
 England will not do what become th them to the king, 
 since all the world doth know that this kingdom hath 
 in all times showed as great affection to their kings as 
 any other nation." How could the Scots have foreseen 
 that within three years a victorious faction would have 
 brought the king to the block ? 
 
 ' David Lesley, in reply to complaints against the Scottish soldiers 
 of plundering, states that sometimes for the space of seven or eight 
 months together they had received no pay. — Letter dated Kelham, 
 February 22, 1645, Parliamentary History, vol. xiv., p. 270. Holies, 
 who was teller in almost every division about the settlement with the 
 Scots, observes that " the question was how the soldiers would be disposed 
 to march out who had not been paid for so many vaon'Ca.s.^^— Memoirs, pp. 
 63-69. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 Discord between the Presbyterians and the Independents. Growth of 
 Republican Ideas. Vane on a Change of Government. Charles's 
 Intrigues. Discontent in the Army. The King removed by Joyce. 
 Views of Fairfax, Ireton, and Cromwell. The King escapes from 
 Hampton Court. The New Civil War. Risings in England. 
 Mutiny in the Fleet. Hamilton's Invasion of England. Cromwell's 
 visit to Edinburgh. The Treaty of the Isle of Wight. Great 
 Debate between the Monarchists and Republicans. Vane's Speech. 
 The Vote. Pride's Purge. The King's Trial. 
 
 In the debates and negotiations about the king, the 
 parliament was divided into two parties. The peers 
 and most of the Presbyterians in the Lower House, 
 with the Scottish commissioners, were so anxious to 
 have the king back that they were willing to accept 
 guarantees and to make concessions, which the other 
 party looked upon as an unworthy surrender to the 
 vanquished. Having lost all faith in the honour of 
 the Stuart, and seeing none to put in his place, it 
 began to dawn upon the minds of some bold thinkers 
 that a monarch might be dispensed with. Mr Hyde 
 has recorded with abhorrence that in the early days 
 of the Long Parliament, conversing with Henry 
 Marten, he pressed him to say what he desired. To 
 which that heathen roundly answered : "I do not 
 think one man wise enough to govern us all." Henry 
 
 276 
 
REPUBLICAN IDEAS 
 
 277 
 
 Marten, as already noticed, was imprisoned for some 
 days for an outspoken remark about royalty in parlia- 
 ment. He had none of the austerity of the Puritans ; 
 his private life caused scandal ; but he was honest 
 and kind-hearted, and gifted with a genial wit which 
 sometimes served to soften the harshness of the 
 zealous religionists with whom he took part. His 
 republican sentiments were fostered by a study of the 
 great historians and orators of antiquity. In England 
 men had been so nursed in the traditional sentiment 
 of loyalty, so wedded to inveterate precedent and 
 custom, that they could scarcely conceive of a nation 
 without a king. yEschylus, describing the triumph 
 of the Athenians over the hosts of Asia, makes the 
 Persian queen to ask:^ "What leader is over them 
 and commands their army ? " to which the chorus 
 replies : " They are not called the slaves or the subjects 
 of any man." "How then," asks Atossa, "could 
 they withstand the invasion of enemies ? " a question 
 which an Asiatic might well put, and a European 
 could alone answer. 
 
 Even during the Dark Ages the tradition of 
 liberty did not die out. Wherever feudal or mon- 
 archical tyranny was loosened, men revived the ideas 
 of self-government ; municipalities passed into re- 
 publics in Italy and in the Hanse town. The United 
 Provinces of the Netherlands, after vainly seeking a 
 monarch in England and France, had flourished under 
 a commonwealth, which in illustrious deeds already 
 rivalled the republic of Venice, the oldest state in 
 Europe, and Switzerland, whose valour had been 
 admired for three hundred years. 
 
 ^ Persai, 1. 241. 
 
278 
 
 LIFE OP SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 The renewed study of the classics at the 
 Renaissance nourished ideas of liberty hostile to the 
 traditions of feudal supremacy. Hobbes, a framer of 
 arguments for despotism, assigns such influence to 
 the teaching of Aristotle and Cicero "of controlling 
 the actions of sovereigns, and again of controlling 
 these controllers, that there was never anything so 
 dearly bought as these western parts have bought 
 the learning of the Greek and Latin tongues." 
 We may use the observation of the sophist of 
 Malmesbury, leaving his arguments to the oblivion 
 of failures. 
 
 Henry Vane had not started with a theory of 
 republican government to be fitted upon England. 
 Nevertheless the force of events had led him to 
 recognise, that under the existing conditions, 
 republican institutions were the surest means to gain 
 for his country an equitable government, the freedom 
 of thought, freedom of the press, and immunity from 
 interference in matters of faith and conscience, which 
 he so heartily desired. It is recorded that Ulfilas, in 
 translating the scriptures, missed out the books of 
 Samuel and Kings for fear that they might prove 
 stimulants to the turbulent independence of the Goths ; 
 and while men like Harry Marten, Algernon Sydney, 
 and John Milton, could light the republican fires at 
 the ancient altars of liberty, men of lesser education 
 read in the Old Testament the retribution which fell 
 upon wicked kings. The religious fervour of the 
 times stirred the lower ranks of the people who had 
 not before thought of political questions. 
 
 The misery of those four years' war feebly disturbs 
 us ; indeed, some may feel a pleasurable emotion in 
 
LEADER OF THE INDEPENDENTS 279 
 
 the record of battles bravely fought and won ; but to 
 those who felt, not fancied, the myriad miseries of the 
 struggle, resentments were aroused hard to quell when 
 thinking of friends changed into enemies, houses 
 burned or sacked, homesteads and towns plundered, 
 women outraged, families ruined. Not less than 
 40,000 men had lost their lives, who, but for the lust 
 of power of one man, might have been rejoicing in 
 their youth and strength. 
 
 It was not to be expected that those who took 
 sides against the king should look upon the monarchy 
 as when the war began. The tone of the victorious 
 party was harsher. They could now save taxing 
 their friends by levying heavy fines and compositions 
 on their vanquished antagonists. 
 
 Vane was the leader of the Independents, the 
 most powerful man in the parliament ; Cromwell, now 
 back to the House with a halo of glory from the fights 
 he had gained, and the castles he had stormed, had the 
 support of the sectaries in the army. Both were 
 anxious to get rid of the absurd position of using the 
 king's name to levy war against him. The parliament 
 had proclaimed that they were making war to remove 
 the king's wicked counsellors ; but the counsellors 
 were now removed, and the king was undeniably 
 more perverse than any of them. Vane's views about 
 a radical change of government are thus stated by 
 himself, in his Essay upon Government : " Ancient 
 foundations, when once they become destructive to 
 those very ends for which they were first ordained, 
 and prove hindrances to the good and enjoyment of 
 human societies, to the true worship of God, and the 
 safety of the people, are for their sakes, and upon the 
 
280 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 same reasons, to be altered for which they were first 
 laid. In the way of God's justice they may be 
 shaken and removed, in order to accomplish the 
 counsels of His will upon such a state, nation, or 
 kingdom, in order to His introducing a righteous 
 government of His own framing." 
 
 In another place he argues : "If one race of kings 
 be lawfully deposed, they are not wronged by change 
 of government, and who else can be? It is so natural 
 and fundamental a right in people to have and to use 
 such a liberty, that we may do well to consider 
 whether they have any right to give it out of their 
 hands, unless it be lawful to contradict the law of 
 nature, the true end of all government in human 
 societies, turn their own reason out-of-doors, and so 
 turn beasts for their governors to ride on. That the 
 Jews, Greeks, and Romans, the wisest states in the 
 world, have over and over used this liberty of changing 
 their government, as they saw occasion, and that often 
 with very good success, is undeniable. Were it 
 unlawful for a state in any case to depose and remove 
 kings, what titles have any monarchs now upon 
 oath to their crowns, that are descended of those 
 who were elected into the room of such as the people 
 deposed ? " 
 
 Charles, in the meantime, though held as a 
 prisoner, was still served with the ceremonial due to a 
 king. His mind was busy with schemes to profit by 
 the divisions of his captors. " Let them never flatter 
 themselves," he wrote to the French ambassador, " with 
 their good successes, without pretending to prophesy 
 ' I will foretell their ruin except they agree with 
 me.'" With little address, but with wonderful hope- 
 
ARMY TO BE DISBANDED 
 
 281 
 
 fulness, he sought to set the Independents against 
 the Presbyterians, and the Presbyterians against the 
 Independents. He was full of projects — Irish Catholics 
 to be landed, succours from France, Denmark, 
 Holland ; he even wrote to the Pope. He promised 
 toleration to all whom he tried to cajole. Nothing 
 did him more harm than his futile efforts to gain 
 foreign aid. 
 
 Having got rid of the Scottish army, the parlia- 
 ment now set their minds to reduce the large bodies 
 of troops in their pay which were no longer needed. 
 The brigade of Massey in the west, and that of Pointz 
 in the north, were disbanded, not without murmurings, 
 especially as their arrears of pay were not given. It 
 was carried by a majority, that with the exception of 
 Fairfax there should be no officer above a colonel, and 
 that all should conform to the established, the Pres- 
 byterian church. This last proposal, carried by a 
 majority of 28, would have got rid of Ireton, Ludlow, 
 Blake, and Algernon Sydney. It was resolved that 
 eleven regiments should be sent to Ireland, about 7000 
 horse and dragoons kept for service, and the rest 
 disbanded. Fairfax's army was largely composed of 
 Independents, who were jealous that the cause for 
 which they had fought should be betrayed by unwise 
 concessions to the king or to the Presbyterians, and 
 when they understood that it was proposed to allow 
 only seven weeks' pay of their arrears, which went a 
 year back, the rest to be settled after they were dis- 
 banded, all the soldiers were united in a common griev- 
 ance. At this time they were stationed about New- 
 market. Having no enemy to oppose they had full 
 leisure for political and theological discussions. They 
 
282 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 sent a petition to the general in which they prayed for 
 a full indemnity of actions not warrantable in time 
 of peace, but enforced upon them by the exigencies of 
 war, and desired that auditors should be specially 
 appointed to arrange their account, and that pensions 
 should be given to such as had lost their limbs in the 
 war, and to the widows and children of those slain in 
 the same. 
 
 On March 30 the two Houses ordered a declaration 
 to be published of their high dislike of this petition, 
 which tended to put the army into a distemper and 
 mutiny, and to put conditions upon the parliament, and 
 obstruct the relief of Ireland. To this the officers 
 replied that they hoped by being soldiers they had not 
 lost the capacity of citizens, and that, in winning the 
 freedom of their brethren they had not lost their 
 own. A heated debate took place in the House 
 upon this vindication. Ludlow tells us that menacing 
 expressions falling from some of them, Lieutenant- 
 General Cromwell took the occasion to whisper 
 me in the ear, saying : " These men will never 
 leave till the army pull them out by the ears." Some 
 of his opponents had a design to arrest Cromwell, and 
 send him to the Tower on a charge of instigating the 
 troops to mutiny ; but that sagacious leader secured 
 himself by withdrawal to the army. Late in the night, 
 as the House became thin. Holies, a bold and hot- 
 tempered politician, wrote out on his knee a motion 
 which was passed, denouncing the petition as seditious. 
 The army, herewith enraged, chose two deputies out of 
 every troop and company, who were called adjutators, 
 to discuss their grievances. This assembly being 
 found too large, the deputies elected two representatives 
 
CHARLES CARRIED OFF 
 
 283 
 
 for each regiment. It was said that this council was 
 contrived by Commissary-General Ireton, son-in-law 
 to Cromwell, who, as Hobbes tell us, "was as good at 
 contriving as himself, and at speaking and writing 
 better." 
 
 Thus the imprudent motion of a small majority in 
 the parliament led to the formation of a military 
 council, who assumed the right of controlling the 
 parliament and who had the power of carrying out 
 their resolutions by main force. Nor were they long 
 in acting. Recognising that the king's person was the 
 centre of intrigue, about midnight, on June 3, 1647, 
 a gathering of 500 troopers surrounded Holdenby 
 House. The gates were thrown open by their com- 
 rades on guard, and the spokesman. Cornet Joyce, 
 forced his way with a loaded pistol into the king's 
 chamber, and insisted that he should come with 
 them. In despite of the commissioners of the parlia- 
 ment, Charles went away with the best grace he 
 could, and was conducted to a house near Newmarket. 
 Sir Thomas Fairfax, a stranger to this audacious 
 seizure, sent Colonel Whalley with two regiments to 
 rescue the king : but he refused to return to his old 
 place of confinement. The men had treated him 
 civilly on the way, and he began to entertain hopes of 
 gaining them over to his side. Cornet Joyce, brought 
 before the general, maintained that his action was done 
 with the approval of the army, and when Fairfax 
 called a council of war to get him punished, the 
 officers, who knew the temper of the men, made his 
 endeavour ineffectual. A few days after, when the 
 general personally urged the king to return to 
 Holdenby with the parliamentary commissioners, 
 
284 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 Charles positively refused, adding: "Sir, I have as 
 good interest in the army as you." " By which," 
 says Fairfax, " I plainly saw the broken reed he 
 leaned on." 
 
 Between his sense of the injustice put upon his 
 soldiers, of maintaining his authority as general-in- 
 chief, and of discharging his duty to the parliament, 
 Fairfax had an uneasy position. " I entreat you," he 
 wrote to the Speaker, " that there may be ways in 
 love and composure thought upon, I shall do my 
 endeavours, though I am forced to yield out of order 
 to keep the army from disorder." 
 
 Cromwell and Ireton encouraged the soldiers in 
 their demands, while striving to keep in with the 
 parliament. Cromwell showed matchless address in 
 fomenting discontent in the army, while he kept it 
 from falling into gross insubordination. Sent by 
 Fairfax to restore order in Lilburne's and Harrison's 
 regiments, Cromwell effected his object with great 
 address and courage. The parliament was so far 
 awed by the attitude of the army that the Indepen- 
 dents again had the majority. Votes were passed 
 for the auditing of the accounts and the payment 
 of the arrears, and for erasing the obnoxious declara- 
 tions from the journals of the House. A new 
 commission was sent to the army, of which Vane was 
 a member. On June lo the army was drawn up 
 upon Triplow Heath, and the votes of the parliament 
 were read to them. The soldiers were not so easily 
 satisfied ; they asked that their representatives should 
 have time to consider. Soon a demand came that 
 eleven prominent members of the House should be 
 impeached. In spite of the prohibitions of the 
 
ARMY MARCHES ON LONDON 
 
 285 
 
 parliament, the army advanced towards London. 
 The eleven accused members agreed to absent 
 themselves. Some of them soon returned, and the 
 Presbyterians in the city taking their part, a riotous 
 mob surrounded the Houses of Parliament ; the 
 apprentices crowded the passages, and some of them 
 forced their way into the House of Commons. The 
 assembly yielded so far to violence that a majority 
 was agreed to pass a vote that the control of the 
 London militia should be in the hands of the Presby- 
 terians. Considering that they were no longer safe 
 in Westminster, the Earl of Manchester, who presided 
 in the House of Lords, and Lenthal, the Speaker, 
 with 14 peers and about 100 Commons, took refuge 
 at Fairfax's headquarters. Amongst these were Sir 
 Henry Vane, St John, Ludlow, and Hesilrige. 
 Preparations were made to resist the army with some 
 of the officers and old soldiers of Essex and Waller^ 
 and the London militia, and defences were thrown up. 
 But half-hearted and irresolute, they abandoned their 
 schemes for resistance ; the army entered the city in 
 triumph, and were received as friends by the mayor 
 and council since they could not resist them as 
 enemies. Of the leaders of the counter-movement in 
 parliament some fled, and two lawyers, Glynn and 
 Maynard, were arrested. The Independents returned 
 to Westminster. Manchester and Lenthal again 
 presided, and Vane gave in the report of the com- 
 missioners with the army. 
 
 The king had derived fresh hopes during these 
 discords. Cromwell, Ireton, and other high officers 
 
 ^ See The English Works of Thomas Hobbes, London, 1840, vol. vi., 
 Behemoth, p. 338 ; Holies' Memoirs, p. 184. 
 
286 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 in the army had offered to restore him under con- 
 ditions more favourable than had been offered to 
 him since his captivity. They did not insist that 
 episcopacy should be abolished or the militia taken 
 from the crown. Charles debated the conditions a 
 whole night with Ireton. They could not agree 
 touching the banishment of seven persons and the 
 admission of the king's party to parliament. Ireton 
 told him that there must be a distinction between the 
 conquerors and those who had been beaten, and that 
 he himself should be afraid of a parliament when the 
 king's party had the major vote.^ Ludlow tells us 
 that Cromwell was more anxious than his son-in- 
 law to arrange an accommodation with the king. 
 Cromwell soon found that he was getting into 
 suspicion with the agitators in the army from his 
 frequent communication with Charles.^ His friends 
 advised that prince that a crown lost was never 
 recovered so easily as this would. To the surprise of 
 all he rejected the proposals in sharp and bitter 
 language, repeating the like words: "You cannot be 
 without me. You will fall to ruin if I do not sustain 
 you." These speeches closed his chance of being 
 reconciled to the army. Ready to do his duty in 
 open day, Fairfax kept aloof from these intrigues. 
 To one so proud, his position must have been a most 
 uneasy one, yet he could not quit it while so many 
 dangers threatened the safety of the country and 
 the cause of Hberty. The military chiefs of the 
 Independents had more influence in the army than 
 
 ^ Ludlow, vol. i., p, 20I. 
 
 ^ Letter of Paul de Belli^vre, Montreuil Correspondence^ Edinburgh, 
 1899, vol. ii., p. 305. 
 
HAMILTON INVADES ENGLAND 
 
 287 
 
 the general, and it is said that orders and messages 
 were issued, signed with his name, to which he had 
 given an unwilling assent, or none at all. The 
 soldiers, who now occupied their minds with politics, 
 were impatient that some issue should follow the 
 dispute. Why these unceasing bargainings with the 
 king whom they had conquered and whom they held 
 as a prisoner? It has been asserted that Cromwell 
 was instrumental in frightening the king to make an 
 attempt to escape. Afraid for his life, Charles fled 
 from Hampton Court on November ii, only to 
 fall into the hands of Colonel Robert Hammond, 
 governor of the Isle of Wight. Now a prisoner of 
 the parliament instead of the army, he was detained 
 in Carisbrooke Castle. The ill-starred prince went 
 on treating with the Scottish commissioners in the 
 hope that they would get an army to march into 
 England to rouse an insurrection in his favour, and 
 so it turned out. 
 
 In the spring of the next year the royalists 
 took up arms in Wales, Herefordshire, Surrey, Kent, 
 and Essex, and a portion of the fleet mutinied, as will 
 be hereafter related. In despite of the efforts of 
 Vane,^ who told the Earl of Lauderdale that the 
 Independents were ready to promise all that the Scots 
 could demand if they would give up the king's cause, 
 the royalists gained a majority in the Scottish parlia- 
 ment, though stiffly opposed by the covenanting 
 party and banned by the general assembly. In 
 July 1648 a hastily gathered body of above 10,000 
 men, under the Duke of Hamilton, entered England 
 by the west. The parliament promptly met these 
 
 ^ Montreuil Correspondence^ vol. ii., p. 272. 
 
288 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 formidable uprisings ; Fairfax soon defeated the 
 insurgents in Kent, drove them into Colchester, which 
 was forced to surrender after a siege of seventy-five days. 
 Two of the leaders, Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George 
 Lisle, who had broken their parole, were shot. 
 Fairfax had sent Cromwell to suppress the insurgents 
 in Wales, which he did in time to meet the Scottish 
 army with their English confederates at Preston. 
 Hamilton's army, ill-equipped, ill-disciplined, and ill- 
 handled, was easily defeated. Most of them were 
 taken prisoners, few escaped to Scotland. The 
 parliament now, as the de facto ruling power, punished 
 revolt as treason. Several of the leaders of the 
 insurrection were tried, and Goring and Lord Capel 
 were condemned to death. The latter was beheaded. 
 The Duke of Hamilton, who had been imprisoned in 
 Pendennis Castle on suspicion of plotting to make 
 himself king in Scotland, and set free by the forces of 
 the parliament, was now tried as an English peer and 
 beheaded. The defeat and capture of Hamilton's 
 army left the covenanting party to gain the upper- 
 hand in Scotland. Cromwell advanced to the Border, 
 where he was met by the Marquis of Argyll, who was 
 now the ruler of Scotland. The fortresses Berwick 
 and Carlisle were given up to the parliament, and 
 these two subtle politicians agreed upon a plan of 
 action. Cromwell, to support the well-affected party, 
 brought six regiments of horse and one of dragoons 
 within an easy march of Edinburgh. On October 4, 
 1648, Lieutenant-General Cromwell and Major- 
 General Lambert, were received with much honour, 
 and entertained at Moray House, still a conspicuous 
 mansion in the Canongate. Many outward compli- 
 
CROMWELL AT EDINBURGH 
 
 289 
 
 ments and salutations passed between the Scottish 
 covenanting lords and the English Puritan generals. 
 Each hoped for the aid of the other to gain and hold 
 power ; otherwise their aims were divergent as soon 
 appeared. A correspondent writes : " Cromwell hath 
 the honour, but Lambert's discreet, humble, ingenious, 
 sweet and civil deportment gains him interest from 
 the general department." The lieutenant-general 
 and his officers were entertained by old Leslie at a 
 banquet in Edinburgh Castle. " It is noticed," writes 
 Thomas Margetts ^ to the clerk of the parliament, 
 '* that David Leslie showed himself very little to the 
 lieutenant-general, for he only paid him a visit of 
 necessary civility on the morning after his entry, 
 giving him a bare salute, and presently took his leave 
 and never saw him more." The lieutenant-general 
 presented a paper to the Committee of Estates, the 
 substance of which was that the chief places of the 
 kingdom should be entrusted to persons well affected 
 to the public good. To this he received a very full 
 and satisfactory answer. The Committee of Estates, 
 for their own safety, asked that some of the horse 
 should be left in Scotland. 
 
 Amongst those who called upon the lieutenant- 
 general at Moray House were three Presbyterian 
 ministers with whom Cromwell carried on a long 
 conversation, emphasising his protestations^oi binceri^ 
 with tears and appeals to God. In answer to direct 
 questions from Mr Blair,^ a very able man who had 
 been deputed to go to the parliament of England, 
 Cromwell declared that he was in favour of mon- 
 
 1 Lord Braye's Manuscripts. Historical Manuscripts Commission, 
 London, 1887, p. 72. 
 
 2 Life of Robert Blair, Wodrow Society, p, 210, 
 
 T 
 
290 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 archical government in the person of the king and 
 his posterity. He declared himself against religious 
 toleration, but when pressed to give his views about 
 the government of the church he replied : "Ah now, 
 Mr Blair, you article me too severely : you must 
 pardon me that I give no present answer to that 
 question." On retiring, one of the ministers said : 
 "I am glad to hear this man speak "no worse"; to 
 which Blair replied : "If you knew him as well as I 
 do, you would not believe one word he says. He is 
 an egregious dissembler." Assuming that Cromwell 
 gave such answers, it is clear he was already 
 dissembling. 
 
 The English soldiers did not gain too friendly a 
 reception from the Scottish people, which they attri- 
 buted to the malice of the defeated malignants. 
 "In truth," writes our correspondent, "all the while 
 we were in Edinburgh we were almost afraid to walk 
 the streets or to lie in our beds for fear of mischief. 
 An English soldier can scarce be above a furlong 
 from company, but he is set upon and robbed and 
 dismounted." 
 
 During his detention in the Isle of Wight negotia- 
 tions had been going on between the captive king and 
 his advisers, and the commissioners appointed by the 
 parliament. Vane, who was one of them, is said to 
 have been much impressed with the ability which 
 Charles showed in discussing terms. Vane said 
 that he had believed him to be a very weak person, 
 but he had found him to be a man of great parts 
 and abilities. Charles was indeed a man who showed 
 best in adversity. 
 
 All this verbal acuteness was little to his advan- 
 
THE KING OBDURATE 
 
 291 
 
 tage, and indeed Vane was accused of prolonging 
 the negotiations till the successes of Fairfax in the 
 east, and of Cromwell in the ' west, and the return 
 of some of the mutinous ships had brought the 
 parliamentary affairs into a better condition. Vane, 
 Ireton, St John, and Cromwell, had now arrived at 
 the conviction that it would be foolish to set Charles 
 again on the throne, which would merely mean 
 putting him in a position to recall his promises. 
 The Presbyterian party in the House, less deeply 
 involved and eager to carry their own ends, took a 
 more hopeful view of the outcome of the wearisome 
 bargainings which lasted from September i8 to 
 November 27, 1648. 
 
 On December i, the commissioners from the Isle 
 of Wight reported Charles's answers to parliament. 
 The king had given way about the control of the 
 militia, but held his stand upon the divine institution 
 of the bishops and indemnity of his friends. Holies 
 had in vain implored him on his knees to give in 
 on those points, though they amounted to no more 
 than what the House had already rejected. Through 
 the artifices of the Independents, the debate was 
 adjourned. In the meantime the officers of the army, 
 fearful that an accommodation should be made with 
 the king, got him forcibly removed to Hurst Castle, 
 on the opposite shore of the Isle of Wight. 
 
 Thus, while the parliament still continued the 
 discussion on the fate of the king, he had again 
 fallen into the power of the military chiefs. The 
 speech made by Vane on this momentous question 
 is only left to us in the pages of the royalist historian. 
 "Young Sir Harry Vane," says Clarendon, "had 
 
292 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 begun the debate with the highest insolence and 
 provocation : telling them ' that they should that day 
 know and discover who were their friends, and who 
 were their foes ; or that he might speak more plainly 
 who were the king's party in the House, and who 
 were for the people ' ; and so proceeded with his usual 
 grave bitterness against the person of the king 
 and the government that had been too long settled ; 
 put them in mind that they had been diverted from 
 their old settled resolution and declaration that they 
 would make no more addresses to the king, after 
 which the kingdom had been governed in great peace, 
 and began to taste the sweet of that republican 
 government which they had intended and begun to 
 establish, when, by a combination between the city 
 of London and an ill-affected party in Scotland, 
 with some small contemptible insurrections in 
 England, all which were fomented by the city, the 
 Houses had, by clamour and noise, been induced and 
 compelled to reverse their former votes and resolution, 
 and enter into a personal treaty with the king, with 
 whom they had not been able to prevail, notwith- 
 standing the low condition he was in, to give them 
 any security ; but he had still reserved a power in 
 himself, or at least to his posterity, to exercise as 
 tyrannical a government as he had done ; that all 
 the insurrections which had so terrified them were 
 now totally subdued ; and the principal authors and 
 abettors of them in custody, and ready to be brought 
 to justice, if they pleased to direct and appoint it ; 
 that their enemies in Scotland were reduced, and 
 that kingdom entirely devoted to a firm and good 
 correspondence with their brethren, the parliament 
 
The k1Kg\s concessions 
 
 of England ; so that there was nothing wanting but 
 their own consent and resolution, to make themselves 
 the happiest nation and people in the world ; and 
 to that purpose desired that they might, without 
 any more loss of time, return to their former 
 resolution of making no more addresses to the king, 
 but proceed to the settling of the government without 
 him, and to the severe punishment of those who had 
 disturbed their peace and quiet in such an exemplary 
 manner, as might terrify all other men for the future 
 from making the like bold attempts ; which he told 
 them, they might see would be most grateful to their 
 army, which had merited so much from them by the 
 remonstrance they had so lately published." "This 
 discourse," Clarendon tells us, " appeared to be exceed- 
 ingly disliked, by that kind of murmur which usually 
 shows how the House stands inclined, and by which 
 men make their judgment there of the success that is 
 like to be." The bold orator, however, found sup- 
 porters. The debate was a great struggle between the 
 republicans and the advocates of monarchy. It was 
 resumed next day with heightened vehemence. 
 Prynne, glorious as a martyr, and now for three 
 weeks a member, delivered a very long speech in 
 the affirmative, which was carried by a majority of 
 140 to 104 that the king's concessions were grounds 
 for a future settlement. This was received with 
 loud protestations by the minority, who had resolved 
 never again to be under the rule of Charles Stuart, 
 nor to be subjected to any king whatever. They 
 were convinced that, having perilled their lives and 
 fortunes and gained in the struggle, it was not just 
 that the cause should be compromised by an in- 
 
294 
 
 LIFE OF Sm HENRY VANE 
 
 considerable vote of the majority of the parliament. 
 Having force on their side, they proceeded to use 
 it in the simplest manner. It was agreed by three 
 of the members of the House, and three of the officers 
 of the army, amongst whom were Ireton and Ludlow, 
 that none should be permitted to enter the House 
 save such as had continued faithful to the public 
 interest. Guards were placed around Westminster 
 Hall, and Colonel Pride attended at the parliament 
 doors with a list of those members who were to be 
 excluded. This was carried out on December 6, and 
 by the exclusion of 143 members, the minority were 
 put in power. Ludlow tells us that Ireton went to 
 Sir Thomas Fairfax and acquainted him with the 
 necessity of this extraordinary way of proceeding. 
 Apparently this was not done till after the expulsion 
 was accomplished.^ 
 
 Cromwell, who had been away in Scotland, arrived 
 in London the night after. He declared that he had 
 not been acquainted with the design ; yet, since it was 
 done, he was glad of it and would endeavour to main- 
 tain it. Ireton drove this on as well as the next 
 move : as Burnet says : " Ireton had the principles and 
 temper of a Cassius in him ; he stuck at nothing that 
 might have turned England to a commonwealth ; and 
 he found out Cook and Bradshaw, two bold lawyers, 
 as proper instruments for managing it. Fairfax was 
 much distracted in his mind, and changed purposes 
 often every day." The bitterness of the assembly 
 against the king was intensified by the removing of 
 opposing elements. Petitions were received praying 
 that Charles should be held guilty of the blood shed 
 
 * Ludlow, vol. i., pp. 270-73. 
 
THE KING'S JUDGES 
 
 295 
 
 during the civil wars. On January 2, 1649, the 
 Commons voted that he had been guilty of treason in 
 making war against the parHament, and instituted a 
 high court to try him. One hundred and fifty judges 
 were nominated, composed of the principal men in the 
 army and the Commons.^ Vane and St John formally 
 declared that they disapproved of bringing the king to 
 trial, and it met with opposition from the remaining 
 peers. Unchecked by these refusals, the Commons 
 voted (Jan. 6) that they, as representing the people, 
 possessed the sovereign power, and ordered the court 
 of justice to meet without delay. This tribunal had 
 been reduced to 135 members by withdrawals. 
 Fairfax only attended once, and Algernon Sydney 
 was present at a few meetings in the Painted Chamber, 
 in which he warmly opposed the king's trial, though 
 he was willing that he should be deposed. Sydney 
 dreaded that his execution would create an aversion 
 for the republic, which he ardently desired, or that 
 there might be a sudden rising to save the king. 
 "No one will stir," cried Cromwell ; "I tell you, we 
 will cut his head off with the crown upon it." " Do 
 what you please," answered Sydney, " I cannot 
 hinder you ; but I certainly will have nothing to do 
 with this affair." 
 
 "One thing," writes Mrs Hutchinson,^ " was re- 
 marked in him by many in the court, that when the 
 blood spilt in many of the battles where he was in 
 his own person, and had caused it to be shed by his 
 own command, was layed to his charge, he heard it 
 with disdainful smiles, and looks and gestures, which 
 
 ^ Markham's Life of Fairfax, p. 343. 
 
 ■■^ Memoir of the Life of Colonel Hutchinson, vol. ii., p. 157. 
 
296 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 rather expressed sorrow that all the opposite party 
 to him was not cut off, than that any were ; and he 
 stuck not to declare in words that no man's blood 
 spilt in the quarrel troubled him, but only one, 
 meaning the Earl of Strafford. The gentlemen that 
 were appointed his judges, and divers others, saw in 
 him a disposition so bent on the ruin of all that opposed 
 him, and of all the righteous and just things they had 
 contended for, that it was upon the consciences of 
 many of them that, if they did not execute justice 
 upon him, God would require at their hands all the 
 blood and desolation which should ensue by their 
 suffering him to escape, when God had brought him 
 into their hands." 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 Vane disapproves of the Execution of Charles. The new Common- 
 wealth. Sensation throughout Europe. Milton and Salmasius. 
 The Foundation altered as well as the Superstructure. Abolition of 
 Episcopacy. Varieties of Religious Sects. Serious Tone of the 
 Nation. 
 
 The trial and execution of Charles I. are too well 
 known to relate here. A good deal can be said 
 against the irregularity of the process, and the choice 
 of his judges. But it ought not to be forgotten that, 
 if there was no statute law to provide for the punish- 
 ment of a king who violated his promises and broke 
 his coronation oath, neither was there any to provide 
 for his subjects rising in arms against him. The 
 statute book had nothing of the parliament making 
 war on the king, or the king raising taxes to make 
 war on the parliament. John Bradshaw, the 
 president of the court of justice, in the address he 
 delivered, laid down that "there is something that is 
 superior to law, the parent or author of the law, and 
 that is the people of England." Whether, meted by 
 the standard of his deserts, Charles merited the 
 punishment he got, is a question to which widely 
 different .answers have been given ; but there is no 
 question that as politicians those who brougrht the 
 
298 
 
 LIFE OF Sm HENRY VANE 
 
 king to the scaffold committed a most serious error. 
 Both during the war and his captivity Charles had 
 shown some qualities not noticed in the days of his 
 prosperity. 
 
 His dignified demeanour at the trial, and his pro- 
 test against the breach of old legal forms, aroused 
 sympathy amongst the onlookers. With most men it 
 is more important to excite their emotions than to 
 satisfy their reason. When retribution is exacted 
 men have pity on the worst offenders ; nor were the 
 offences of the Stuart king of that atrocious character 
 which remain long in the popular memory. The 
 spectacle of a king laying his head upon the block at 
 Whitehall, aroused with many a deeper pathos than 
 the slaughter of thousands sacrificed to his love of 
 rule. From the day of his execution there was a 
 reaction in his favour which much helped the cause 
 of his son, who now succeeded to his claims. 
 Nevertheless, it appears that the commission which 
 sat as judges upon the king acted under motives 
 of austere justice. Henry Vane so much disap- 
 proved of the violent expulsion of the opposite party 
 that he forbore to come to the parliament or to 
 meddle in any public transaction for ten weeks, from 
 December 3, 1648, till towards the middle of February. 
 During this time the trial and execution of the king 
 was effected, and the resolutions were passed which 
 changed the kingdom of England into a republic. 
 On February 6, by a majority of 44 over 29, 
 the House of Lords was abolished as useless and 
 injurious. The next day a decree was adopted that 
 the office of king was unnecessary, useless, and 
 dangerous, and a new seal was engraved with the 
 
RINGSHIP ABOLISHED 
 
 299 
 
 arms of England and Ireland, and on the reverse the 
 inscription suggested by Henry Marten : " The first 
 year of liberty restored by the blessing of God, 1648." 
 A proposed constitution for the commonwealth, mostly 
 drawn up by Ireton, was presented to the parliament 
 in the name of Lord Fairfax and the general council 
 of officers of the army on January 15, 1649, under the 
 title of an "Agreement of the People." A scheme of 
 equal distribution of seats was given in detail. The 
 electors were to be all men above twenty-one, who 
 were independent householders. Those who had 
 taken arms or given public support for the king were 
 excluded from voting for seven years, and from being 
 elected for fourteen years. The whole powers of 
 the state were to be vested in a representative 
 chamber of 400 members. An attendance of 1 50 
 was needed for a binding enactment. General 
 elections were to be held every two years. The 
 assembly was to appoint an executive council of state 
 acting with the parliament and in the intervals between 
 parliaments. 
 
 The parliament might endow any church not 
 popish or prelatic. All other forms of Christian 
 worship were to be protected. The proposed scheme 
 should be tendered to the people in all parts, to be 
 subscribed by those that were willing, and as those 
 who had taken sides with the king were excluded, it is 
 likely that an appearance of assent would have been 
 obtained. The parliament was to be dissolved on the 
 last day of April 1649. 
 
 The only part of this scheme which was accepted 
 at the time by the parliament was the election of a 
 council of state of 41 members. The number of 
 
Um of SIR HENRY VA^fi 
 
 members in the House was about 122 (Bisset), and 
 as the average attendance was no greater than 50, the 
 council could generally command a majority. In this 
 council Cromwell, Bradshaw, Marten, and other 
 regicides were active members. For the discharge of 
 business in various departments, they were divided into 
 smaller committees. 
 
 A regard for the safety of the state in those times 
 of imminent danger, both within and without, induced 
 Vane to return to his post at Westminster. When 
 required by the parliament to take an oath to give 
 his approbation ex post facto to what had been 
 done, he utterly refused, and would not accept of 
 sitting in the council of state upon these terms, 
 but occasioned a new oath to be drawn wherein 
 this pledge was omitted. On which terms many 
 of the council of state sat who would not take 
 the oath.^ 
 
 These wonderful events produced a mighty 
 commotion all over Europe. There had been nothing 
 like it since Luther had burnt the papal bulls in the 
 market-place at Wittemberg. That a people should 
 send forth opposing armies to slaughter one another, 
 solely to prove that they were the movable property 
 of this or that prince by inheritance or election — that 
 a sovereign should be hunted away by his barons, or 
 murdered by his own relations, within his palace walls 
 — these were things for which men's minds were 
 already prepared; but when the news came "how a 
 most potent king, after he had trampled upon the laws 
 of the nation, and given a shock to its religion, and 
 begun to rule at his own will and pleasure, was at last 
 
 ^ See The Try al of Sir Henry Vane, 1662, p. 47, 
 
MILTON AND SALMASIUS 
 
 301 
 
 subdued in the field by his own subjects, who had 
 undergone a long slavery under him ; how afterwards 
 he was cast into prison, and when he gave no ground, 
 either by words or actions, to hope better things of 
 him, he was finally, by the supreme council of the 
 kingdom, condemned to die, and beheaded before the 
 very gates of the royal palace." This was something 
 so unheard of, something so different from universal 
 sentiment, and the tradition of ages of feudal servitude, 
 that even in republican states like Holland, the 
 execution of the king was loudly condemned. One of 
 the best known of those who gave expression to the 
 feeling of indignation against the leaders of the 
 English Revolution was Salmasius, a man whose 
 principal qualification was skill in Latin composition. 
 
 To the secretary for foreign tongues of the 
 council of state the parliament committed the task of 
 justifying the republican cause. This was John 
 Milton, already known through several vigorous 
 pamphlets and books in which he had proclaimed the 
 right of the people to rise against and judge kings 
 and rulers, and had treated time-honoured beliefs, 
 moral and theological, with unwonted freedom. 
 In the Eikonoclastes he had exposed the Eikon 
 Basilike, a concoction of Dr Gauden's, reputed to 
 be written by the late king, which had gained a 
 large circulation amongst the sympathisers of the 
 royal martyr. 
 
 The student of Milton's prose works must see 
 with regret that, in exposing the ignorance and pulling 
 to pieces the loosely spun inventions of the pedant, 
 he descends to declamation and scurrility much 
 beneath the dignity of the sublime poet of Paradise 
 
302 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 Lost ; yet personal abuse in controversy suited the 
 mood of the age. Like his other prose works, the 
 Defensio pro Populo Anglicano breathes throughout 
 that fervent love of freedom which was not content 
 with merely guarding the person and property from 
 injustice, but aspired to have the right to inquire 
 into all questions, and to proclaim what the inquirer 
 had found to be true. The eloquence and boldness of 
 the work at once attracted attention throughout 
 Europe. Salmasius had been held in great esteem by 
 Queen Christina of Sweden, but after hearing the 
 work of Milton read to her, there was such a change 
 in her demeanour that the unfortunate advocate of 
 royal rights left the kingdom.^ 
 
 Men like Vane, Harrington, and Milton, who had 
 travelled widely and were versed in history and 
 politics, could find many things to nourish their 
 love of republic institutions ; but to most men in 
 England these ideas flashed with the dazzling strength 
 of novelty, and in the confusion of their old political 
 traditions many sought the guidance of the only book 
 of which they knew anything, or at least the book 
 which they regarded as containing more than the 
 wisdom of all the others. In the histories of the 
 Twelve Tribes, in the imprecations of the prophets 
 against the idolatrous kings of Israel and Judah, and 
 in the social equality of the New Testament, they saw 
 the justification of the deeds of the Long Parliament, 
 while, from the prophecies of the Apocalypse, they 
 judged the time was at hand for the millennium and 
 the reign of the saints. With all the wildness of 
 religious and political fanaticism combined, men of a 
 
 ^ Toland's Life of Milton, London, 1761, p. 89. 
 
A WAR OF CLASSES 
 
 303 
 
 fervid imagination presented their theories as an 
 infalHble remedy for the healing of the nations. Their 
 fancies were rendered still more startling by the 
 grotesque adaptation of Oriental imagery which they 
 drew from the Old Testament. But the very purity 
 of their motives rendered them so headstrong, and 
 so little apt to agree with one another, that there 
 was little danger of any change being carried out 
 really detrimental to the fabric of society. Many 
 impracticable enthusiasts of divers opinions were no 
 doubt included under the nickname of the Levellers, 
 who have been accused of socialistic views, though 
 it appears that they did not claim any more than 
 the permission to cultivate the wastes and commons for 
 their support.^ But while the greater part of men of 
 all parties maintained, with undoubting fervour, the 
 infallible authority of the scriptures, there were 
 deists, like Marten, Challoner, Harrington, Sidney, 
 Wildman, and Nevil, whose desire for a better state of 
 things was unblended with any tinge of the popular 
 theology. 
 
 Though the struggle had commenced as a war 
 between the king and the parliament, before it was 
 over it had become in a great measure a war of 
 classes. Fully two-thirds of the peers, and the greater 
 part of the inferior nobility, had joined the royal 
 standard, and brought their retainers to fight against 
 the trained bands of the towns and the yeomanry of 
 the country. Many of the nobles had been killed; 
 many had exhausted all their resources in raising men 
 and money for the king; and many of them had 
 forfeited their estates. The crown-lands as well as 
 
 1 Memoirs of Hutchinson, vol. ii., p. 129 ; Whitelocke's Memorials. 
 
304 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 those of the church, had been sold, and, as Ludlow 
 tells us, had fetched a good price ; such was the 
 confidence then reposed in the parliament. 
 
 In short, a process which had been slowly going on 
 for generations had been violently hastened by the 
 civil wars. A great shifting of power had taken place ; 
 but this was accomplished by a great change in men's 
 opinions, and a great change in the distribution of 
 property. The throne was overturned along with the 
 king. The feudal nobility had taken part with him, 
 and the remains of feudalism had perished in the 
 struggle. The English commonwealth was, therefore, 
 not a merely superficial change of government, brought 
 about by artifice or by violence, but a great revolution, 
 in which the foundation was altered as well as the 
 superstructure, to use the words of Harrington, the 
 greatest political writer of the republicans of 
 England. 
 
 The overturn in the church was even more far- 
 reaching, as it affected the daily life of each parish. 
 During the civil war neither of the combatant parties 
 would suffer opposing preachers in their domains. 
 As the Puritans gained in the struggle, they proceeded 
 to pull down the whole fabric of episcopacy. The 
 Confession of Faith and the Directory were presented 
 in place of the Book of Common Prayer and the 
 Thirty-nine Articles. The lands of the bishops, 
 deans, and chapters were sold, and the cathedrals 
 cleansed of all decorations which might recall the 
 Catholic liturgy. The ministers and lecturers chased 
 away by Laud were recalled or put into parishes 
 from which the royalist parsons had fled. Hundreds 
 of ministers, who would not conform to the new rule. 
 
vauiations in religion 
 
 306 
 
 were ejected from their livings. These changes were 
 made under the direction of committees of the Lords 
 and Commons who examined complaints against 
 scandalous priests, and exercised the rights of expul- 
 sion and presentation. In these committees the name 
 of Sir Henry Vane sometimes appears. Provision was 
 generally made to save the sequestered ministers from 
 destitution — sometimes half or a quarter of the living ; 
 in time it settled into an allowance of one-fifth.^ To 
 other parishes lecturers were sent who could claim 
 no more than the use of the church for their ministra- 
 tions. 
 
 In many country parishes the Presbyterian 
 government took a feeble growth from the indifference 
 of the laity to take up the function of elders. 
 
 In this general exaltation, this fermentation of 
 thought, no question remained untouched : all the 
 varieties of religious belief, all the sects, all the virtual 
 divisions of opinion which engage men's minds to-day, 
 had already taken form in the days of the common- 
 wealth, though it was not yet safe to proclaim opinions 
 too wide from the received faith. Thomas Webb, 
 delivering deistical opinions in a private house, was 
 arrested for blasphemy; and John Biddle, who denied 
 the divinity of Christ, was imprisoned under the Long 
 Parliament. Milton's unitarian treatise on Christian 
 doctrine remained unpublished till the nineteenth 
 century, when it had ceased to be anything save a 
 literary curiosity. Very few people thought of 
 granting toleration to the Catholics, and this for 
 reasons political as well as religious. In their over- 
 
 » Sh3.vi's Bistofy of the English Church during the Civil Wars, etc 
 vol. ii., p. 192. ' 
 
 U 
 
S06 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 powering sense of an all-seeing God, watchful to take a 
 severe account, the amusements of life seemed an idle, 
 if not a sinful, waste of the time to be used to gain 
 salvation. The Puritan come into power had no 
 taste for social freedom, which he thought no better 
 than the right to do wrong. The Book of Sports, 
 which King James had framed to make the Sundays 
 less wearisome, and which Charles had forced the 
 clergy to read in their pulpits, was burned by the 
 order of the parliament. Christmas and other 
 holidays of the old church were abolished as having 
 been superstitiously observed, and the second 
 Tuesday in every month was assigned for reasonable 
 recreation for working people. In 1647 the parliament 
 passed a severe ordinance against stage plays 
 "condemned by ancient heathens and much less to be 
 tolerated amongst professors of the Christian religion ; 
 the magistrates of London were to pull down the 
 galleries and boxes of the theatrical buildings, stage 
 players were to be punished as rogues, and even 
 spectators of a play were liable to be fined five 
 shillings to go to the poor of the parish.^ It is 
 noteworthy that at this time actors in France were 
 denied Christian burial, yet the gaiety and light 
 raillery of the French were not dimmed even by the 
 wars of the Fronde. In England the mirth and the wit 
 of the Elizabethan days had vanished : every one was in 
 such grim earnest. The political songs and ballads 
 of the Cavaliers are coarse and dull lampoons, not to 
 be compared with the brilliant Jacobite literature after 
 the exile of the Stuarts. England had well-nigh 
 forgotten her great dramatic poet. The second folio 
 
 1 Cobbett's Parliamentary History^ vol. iii., p. 846. 
 
PERILS OF THE COMMONWEALTH 
 
 307 
 
 edition of Shakespeare's works of 1630 sufficed for the 
 readers of the next thirty-two years. Many people, 
 who scarcely knew who reigned at Whitehall or 
 debated at Westminster, or cared whether the 
 eucharist should be taken from a table or from an 
 altar, felt the loss of their maypoles and their dances, 
 were weary of long preachings, and chilled by the 
 sanctimonious spirit which frowned at the appearance 
 of gaiety, under the notion that, by making them- 
 selves happy in this world, people were in danger of 
 losing happiness in the next. 
 
 Many perils begirt the new commonwealth ; the 
 royalists, though held under, were ready to rise : 
 Ireland was still in rebel hands : Scotland turned 
 against the parliament by the execution of the king : 
 the most powerful states in Europe regarded the new 
 republic with unconcealed dislike. No way appalled, 
 those bold men who had taken command of the state 
 made ready to attack their enemies. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 Cromwell's Campaign in Ireland. Affairs in Scotland. Charles Stuart 
 takes the Covenant. English Invasion of Scotland. Leslie's 
 Generalship. Battle of Dunbar. Battle of Worcester. Vane's 
 Visit to Paris. Goes as Commissioner to Scotland. Negotiations 
 for the Union. 
 
 Nearly eight years had passed away since the first 
 tidings of the cruelties of the Irish rebelHon had 
 aroused a fury in the hearts of the Protestants, Hke 
 that following the massacres of Meerut, Delhi, and 
 Cawnpore in the Indian Mutiny. The parliament 
 judged that the time for vengeance had now come. 
 The Earl of Ormonde, Lord Deputy, one of the 
 ablest of the Cavaliers, in the collapse of the royal 
 power in England, found nothing better than to unite 
 in a loose confederacy his own party with the Irish 
 rebels. Owen Roe O'Neill, the general of the old 
 Irish party, had offered to submit to the parliament, 
 if security to their lives, estates, and religion were 
 accorded; but this was refused. Ormonde's army 
 advanced to besiege Dublin, which was held for the 
 parliament by Colonel Michael Jones. By a well- 
 timed sally the parliamentary leader put the besiegers 
 to rout with great loss. Such was the situation when 
 Cromwell, with a well-trained army of 12,000 men, 
 landed at Dublin in August 1649. " We are come "— 
 such were the ominous words of the Puritan general — 
 
 808 
 
TAKING OF DROGHEDA 
 
 309 
 
 " to ask an account of the innocent blood that hath 
 been shed, and to endeavour to bring to an account 
 all who, by appearing in arms, shall justify the same." 
 At the head of sixteen or seventeen thousand men, 
 Cromwell advanced upon Drogheda, which had been 
 recently taken by the enemy, the parliamentary 
 garrison being allowed to march to Dublin, or to 
 return to their homes. A breach was made and 
 stormed after a strenuous resistance, Cromwell lead- 
 ing on his men for the second time to the assault. 
 
 I believe," writes Cromwell, "we put to the 
 sword the whole number of the defendants ; I do 
 not think thirty of the whole number escaped with 
 their lives. Those that did are in safe custody for 
 the Barbadoes. This," he adds, "hath been a 
 marvellous great mercy." According to Ludlow, the 
 garrison consisted of about 3000 men, mostly of 
 English birth, who therefore could not be accounted 
 guilty of the massacres of Ulster. In a much less 
 civilised age, Froissart, a favourite guest at the 
 English court, ventures to condemn the massacre of 
 the inhabitants of Limoges by the Black Prince ; 
 and Cromwell must appeal for an example to the 
 butcheries of Alexander of Parma, Des Adrets, and 
 Count Tilly. The course of history scarcely justifies 
 the assumption that to refuse to take prisoners at a 
 siege or a battle really relaxes the resistance of a 
 spirited people, and a merciless use of victory often 
 leaves a deadly legacy of hate to the victors. 
 Though Trim and Dundalk were abandoned, the 
 massacre of Drogheda had to be repeated at Wexford, 
 and Waterford resisted so vigorously that Cromwell 
 was forced to raise the siege. On receiving this grim 
 
310 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 dispatch announcing the taking of Drogheda, the 
 parliament ordered a thanksgiving day to be held 
 throughout the kingdom : indeed, no one on their side 
 seems to have thought that the Irish were worthy of 
 mercy. The parliament had already decreed that no 
 quarter should be given to the Irish soldiers brought 
 across to fight on the king's side during the civil 
 war, and after the battle of Naseby some hundreds 
 of Irish prostitutes in the Cavalier camp had been 
 killed by the victorious Puritans ; after the battle of 
 Philiphaugh, 300 Irish women and some children had 
 been put to death. 
 
 Cromwell returned to England after an absence of 
 nine months, with the glory of having revenged the 
 papist massacres, and led the troops of England to 
 victory against a detested enemy. The subjugation 
 of Ireland was completed by Ireton and Ludlow. 
 The death of Ireton at the siege of Limerick was 
 bewailed by the republican party, of which he was 
 one of the ablest and most uncompromising leaders. 
 Those who knew them both by personal intercourse, 
 expressed their belief that, had he lived, his personal 
 influence might have restrained the ambition of 
 Cromwell and saved the cause for which they had 
 both so bravely fought. 
 
 Since his appearance in the pillory, John Lilburne 
 had fought his way to be lieutenant-colonel. Falling 
 into the hands of the royalists at Oxford, he had 
 saved his life by managing to send letters to the 
 Speaker, and to Sir Henry Vane, the younger, who 
 threatened to retaliate on prisoners in their hands. 
 Always ready to attack the abuses of those in power, 
 Lilburne had issued pamphlets inveighing against 
 
JOHN LILBURNE AGAIN 
 
 311 
 
 some of the proceedings of the parliament, blaming 
 Hesilrige as too eager to get sequestrated the estates 
 of his political opponents, and warning his country- 
 men against the aspiring designs of St Oliver as he 
 styled Cromwell. The council of state resented 
 these criticisms by putting Lilburne on his trial for 
 high treason, October 1649. Their legal officers 
 pushed for a conviction. Denied the aid of counsel, 
 the undaunted Lilburne defended himself with signal 
 ability, and the jury showed a spirit quite new in 
 government prosecutions by acquitting the accused. 
 This was greeted by the audience with acclamations 
 loud and long, which were taken up by the crowd 
 outside, a salutary lesson to the parliament to be 
 more tolerant of free writing. 
 
 Some of Lilburne's criticisms were not without 
 reason. Enthusiasts like him and idealists like 
 Milton are pretty sure to be disappointed in the 
 realisation of the reforms they have longed for, and 
 there are few reforms which do not bring evils 
 as well as benefits with them. The success of 
 the parliamentary cause brought with it a swarm of 
 time-servers, who sought to enrich themselves through 
 the troubles of the times and the sequestrations 
 of the defeated royalists. Ireton showed a noble 
 example in refusing a grant of ^2000 a year offered 
 him as the reward of his services. The exaltation of 
 Puritanism attracted a brood of worldly men, who 
 assumed the forms of piety while seeking " to trans- 
 late the gospel into pence and plate." Those who 
 are attracted by a cause because it is successful, are 
 ready to betray or abandon it, as was seen too soon. 
 As for Lilburne, about two years after, he got a 
 
312 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 man to join with him in a petition against some of 
 Hesilrige's doings in the north, which the parliament 
 declared to be false and scandalous. He was fined 
 and banished from the British Islands on pain of 
 death. After the expulsion of the Long Parliament 
 the indomitable John returned, was again tried, and 
 again acquitted. He was imprisoned by Cromwell, 
 and finally set free to die of consumption at the age 
 of thirty-nine, one of those honest but turbulent men 
 who are sure to appear in seasons of public ex- 
 citement. His brother. Colonel Robert Lilburne, 
 distinguished himself in the war with Scotland, and 
 was commander-in-chief for above a year (1653). 
 
 The lords and clergy who ruled Scotland had no 
 wish for a republic, and the people no conception 
 of it. When news of the execution of Charles reached 
 Edinburgh on February 4, 1649, it was received with 
 horror and indignation, and the very day after, his 
 son was proclaimed King of Scotland, of England, 
 and of Ireland. The proclamation was guarded by 
 the proviso that before being admitted to the exercise 
 of royal power, Charles II. should subscribe to 
 the national league and covenant. Commissioners 
 were sent to treat with the prince, who was then at 
 the Hague. As he refused to listen to these terms 
 the commissioners returned without effecting their 
 object; but the negotiations were renewed the next 
 year when he was more yielding. To the republican 
 party in England the outlook was alarming. A king 
 north of the Tweed affording a rallying-point to the 
 English royalists, who though depressed were still 
 a powerful party, and with all the Scottish ports 
 open to succours from abroad, meant a new civil war. 
 
RETIREMENT OF FAIRFAX 
 
 313 
 
 The young claimant to the throne might have pre- 
 ferred to throw himself amongst Ormonde's Irish 
 confederates ; but the successes of Cromwell induced 
 him to look to Scotland. With his commission 
 Montrose, in the spring of 1650, made an attempt 
 to rally the Highland clans. He was soon defeated, 
 and falling into the hands of the ruling party was 
 executed at Edinburgh with vindictive ignominy.^ 
 
 Charles had the meanness to repudiate Montrose's 
 expedition after reports of its failure had reached 
 him at Breda. He now consented to take the 
 covenant. Both the parties knew it was a solemn 
 farce, and the returning commissioners felt that they 
 were taking the plague of God to Scotland. Before 
 he was allowed to set his foot on shore (July 1650), 
 he had to sign both the national covenant and 
 the solemn league and covenant. His dissolute 
 company was turned away. The demeanour and 
 conduct of the pleasure-loving prince was jealously 
 watched ; he was lectured to on bended knees, and 
 forced to listen to sermons of unmerciful length in 
 which the backslidings of his father and the idolatry 
 of his mother were freely commented on. 
 
 Cromwell's aspiring character was now so well 
 known that the parliament was not anxious that he 
 should gain any farther distinction. Fairfax, who 
 still held the office of commander-in-chief, was 
 ordered to take the head of the army to be sent 
 against Scotland. But Fairfax's wife had so success- 
 fully wrought on the misgivings of a highly con- 
 scientious mind, that the general would not accept 
 this commission. He considered that the Scots had 
 
 ^ See Willcock's Life of the Marquess of Ar^yll^ p. 235, 
 
314 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 a right to choose what king they pleased ; but declared 
 his readiness to take up arms should they invade 
 England. A committee consisting of Cromwell, 
 Lambert, Harrison, St John, and Whitelocke, was 
 sent to induce him to change his mind, but without 
 avail. Fairfax, who seemed destined, from his 
 military skill and his unselfish love of his country, 
 to be the guardian of its liberties, in an evil hour 
 retired into private life. To use the words of Mrs 
 Hutchinson, he "now died to all his former glory, 
 and became the monument of his own name, which 
 every day wore out." Cromwell was now first in the 
 race for power. In his invasion of Scotland he had 
 to meet, for the first time, a general of real ability and 
 established reputation. 
 
 David Leslie, now commander of the opposing 
 army, had, as we have seen, greatly distinguished 
 himself at Marston Moor, and at Philiphaugh had 
 defeated Montrose, the greatest of all the Cavalier 
 generals, and at one blow put an end to the hopes of 
 Charles L in Scotland. In the summer of 1647 
 David Leslie had crushed Colkitto's band which had 
 so long been the scourge of Argyllshire. 
 
 Leslie, who well knew his adversaries, did not 
 consider the organisation, training, and discipline of 
 his new army to be at all equal to that of the common- 
 wealth, though he had the advantage of numbers. A 
 large proportion of his host was raw and undisciplined, 
 and officered either by the unruly nobility of Scotland or 
 ** by minister's sons, clerks, and such other ^sanctified 
 creatures." Never before nor after was Scotland so 
 much under the rule of the clergy, who were not 
 ashamed to interfere with conscientious stiffness in 
 
GENERALSHIP OF LESLIE 
 
 315 
 
 the military councils, while they injured the discipline 
 of the soldiers by their unruly preachings. Four 
 thousand Cavaliers, numbering among them many 
 stout soldiers, were ignominiously expelled from the 
 ranks as unworthy to fight in the sanctified host of 
 the covenant. Cromwell, on the other hand, had 
 officered his army with men of proved courage and 
 skill. He had 16,000 veteran soldiers, whose 
 religious zeal, as deep as that of the covenanters, was 
 increased by a political enthusiasm, approaching to 
 that of the armies of the first French republic. 
 Hard experience in war had convinced these stern 
 warriors of the need of the restraints of discipline, 
 and filled their minds with an unshaken confidence in 
 the skill and fortune of their general. 
 
 Leslie's plan was a modification of one which had 
 often bafiied the whole strength of England. He 
 withdrew all the people with their cattle and movable 
 effects, from the districts exposed to invasion to 
 remote places, natural fastnesses, or entrenched 
 positions. With a considerable army he held the 
 capital which he connected with Leith, its seaport 
 town, by strong lines of entrenchments. Cromwell, 
 who advanced from Berwick-upon-Tweed, found the 
 country deserted, and had to draw provisions from the 
 fleet. He approached Edinburgh without opposition, 
 and encamped first on one side of it, and then on the 
 other. Leslie drew up his men on Arthur's Seat 
 and then on Corstorphine Hill ; but Cromwell judged 
 those positions too strong to be attacked, and not 
 daring to force Leslie's entrenchments, and his own 
 army suffering much from disease and exposure, he 
 returned to Dunbar, pursued and harassed by his 
 
316 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 wary adversary, who always took care to encamp in 
 strong positions, where he could fight to great 
 advantage. 
 
 Up to this point all the generalship had been in 
 favour of David Leslie. Cromwell had invaded 
 Scotland with a force which he judged not strong 
 enough to attack the enemy as long as they thought 
 it proper to remain in a strong position. He had 
 totally failed to entice Leslie upon more equal ground, 
 and now he was in full retreat for the English frontier, 
 with his forces much diminished by sickness and 
 exposure ; and what was worse, he had allowed his 
 line of retreat to be cut off ; for Leslie had seized 
 the narrow path at Cockburn's Path, between Dunbar 
 and Berwick ; whereas Cromwell himself wrote, " ten 
 men to hinder are better than forty to make their 
 way." Cromwell's intention was to send back his 
 artillery by sea, and try to make his way with the 
 cavalry and infantry to Berwick. Had the Scottish 
 general persisted in his strategy for a week longer, 
 it is possible that he might have cut off Cromwell's 
 army, or at any rate they would have made their way 
 to England in a sorry condition, with numbers much 
 reduced, and with the reputation of their general 
 much damaged. Cromwell wrote to Sir Arthur 
 Hesilrige, governor of Berwick, to gather together 
 what forces he could and to send for more. " Let 
 Sir H. Vane," he adds, "know what I write. I 
 would not make it public, lest danger should accrue 
 thereby." ^ 
 
 In following the invaders to Dunbar, the Scottish 
 army passed the battlefield of Pinkie, where a 
 
 ^ Letter dated Dunbar, September 2, 1650. 
 
LESLIE OVERRULED 
 
 317 
 
 hundred years before a Scottish host had quitted a 
 strong position to join battle with Hertford's dis- 
 cipHned army already in full retreat, and as the 
 consequence of their rashness and want of skill the 
 Scots had suffered a terrible defeat. The same error 
 was to be repeated. The skilful general, who seemed 
 to hold victory in his hand, was overruled by the 
 committee of the estates and kirk,^ and much 
 against his own opinion was prevailed upon to allow 
 the army to leave their strong position on the hill 
 above Dunbar. 
 
 By holding back his troops from battle, as Leslie did 
 for so long, he showed that he distrusted their fighting 
 power. This is apt to injure the morale of the soldiers ; 
 no wonder, then, that he was unwilling to march them 
 
 1 Mr Carlyle, who never hesitates to discredit any authority that 
 cannot be twisted his own way, writes : " A vague story due to Bishop 
 Burnet, the watery source of many such, still circulates about the world, 
 that it was the kirk committee who forced Lesley down against his 
 will : that Oliver at sight of it exclaimed, ' The Lord hath delivered,' etc., 
 which nobody is in the least bound to believe." And why not ? because 
 Bishop Burnet drew the vague story (how vague ?) from his uncle. Sir 
 Archibald Johnston of Warriston, a leading member of the committee, 
 who of course did not know so well as Thomas Carlyle writing from 
 inspiration. Knowing that Burnet is not the only original writer who 
 gives this story, he artfully represents that it appears from other quarters 
 " that Leslie was advised or sanctioned in this attempt, but that he was 
 by no means hard to advise." The story is to be found in Cromwell's 
 own letter— "Dunbar, September 4, 1650.— I hear when the enemy marched 
 last up to us the ministers pressed their army to interfere between us 
 and home, the chief officers desiring rather that we might have way 
 made, though it were by a golden bridge. But the clergy's council 
 prevailed to their no great comfort through the goodness of God." Compare 
 Whitelocke's Memorials, y>- 255. "The ministers carried it to fight." 
 Baillie in his Letters, Edinburgh, 1775, vol. ii.,p. 35, says the matter was 
 investigated at Stirling, but no fault was found with Leslie " save the 
 removal of the army from the hill the night before the rout, which yet 
 was in consequence of the committee's orders, contrary to his mind." 
 
 These authors wrote from sources quite independent of Burnet, whose 
 testimony in the case scarcely needs corroboration. 
 
318 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 down to attack desperate men when victory was to be 
 had by less perilous means. On seeing the enemy 
 descending from the heights, Cromwell gladly 
 advanced to attack them, when the bulk of the 
 Scottish army was seized with one of those panics 
 which occasionally strike ill-disciplined troops on 
 meeting a more steady adversary. They ran, as the 
 Netherlanders did at Jemmingen, as the Federals did 
 at Bull's Run, as the English themselves had done at 
 Newburn. Though Cromwell, who, like all dispatch 
 writers, was willing to make the most of a victory, 
 called it "a hot dispute for about an hour," and says 
 that " the enemy made a gallant resistance," he 
 lets out details which show that it was a very different 
 affair either from Flodden or Bannockburn. Writing 
 of his cavalry : he says, "After their first repulse the 
 enemy were made as stubble to their swords. I do 
 not believe we have lost twenty men." He mentions 
 thirty in two other letters ; Whitelocke forty. The 
 Scots lost 8000 killed, and 10,000 prisoners, with 
 thirty pieces of artillery. Few but mounted men 
 escaped. " Surely," writes Cromwell, with that 
 clear sagacity of the state of things with which he was 
 gifted, "it is probable the kirk has done their doe. 
 I believe the king will be set upon his own score 
 now, wherein he will find many friends." 
 
 In fact Charles, as Clarendon tells us, rejoiced at 
 the "loss of so strong a body of his enemies, and the 
 royalist factions gained power." 
 
 It may be observed that as a general rule during 
 the long wars with England, large Scottish armies 
 wanted unity and cohesion. Their leaders were 
 disputatious and turbulent, and did not well support 
 
EXHAUSTION OF SCOTLAND 
 
 319 
 
 one another. Most of the great battles were gained 
 by the EngHsh, who lost what they had gained in 
 smaller combats. Scotland had met with even 
 greater losses in battles with the English, and had 
 yet been able to recover herself and drive out the 
 invader ; and such might have happened again, not- 
 withstanding the vigour and farther successes of 
 Cromwell, who, well knowing the great difficulties of 
 his undertaking, was anxious to conciliate and gain 
 over the covenanting party, had not Charles succeeded 
 in persuading the Scots to trust their remaining 
 forces, about 18,000 men, in a precipitate march into 
 the heart of England, in the hopes that the royalists 
 would join them to seat him on the English throne. 
 This they were not ready to do in any number. The 
 Scottish army stopped in front, and overtaken behind, 
 was surrounded and cut off at Worcester, as the Duke 
 of Hamilton's army had been cut off at Preston about 
 two years before. Many of the prisoners were sent 
 as slaves to the American plantations. The drain of 
 strength suffered by Scotland since the commence- 
 ment of the civil war, through the carnage of 
 Montrose's force and the loss of three armies, could 
 not have been less than 70,000 men. The country, 
 too, had suffered from plague and famine. The old 
 Earl of Leven and some of the committee of estates 
 and some other noblemen and gentlemen holding a 
 rendezvous to relieve Dundee were surprised and 
 taken prisoners by Colonel Alured. Dundee was 
 stormed by Monk and many of the garrison massacred, 
 and the town given up to plunder.^ Argyll was fain 
 to make terms and capitulate. 
 
 1 Memorials of the Great Civil War, edited by H. Carey, London, 
 
320 
 
 LIFE OP SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 Cromwell remained in England with the reputation 
 of having reduced two kingdoms to dependence upon 
 the English commonwealth. The English fleet had 
 played its part in supporting the invasion of Scotland, 
 and was again used in reducing the Channel Islands. 
 The American colonies and Barbadoes now acknow- 
 ledged the new republic. 
 
 In November 1651, Charles Stuart, fleeing from 
 Worcester, had escaped to France, and reached Paris 
 in a sorry plight. The queen, his mother, herself 
 penniless, could not help him. Lord Jermyn, her 
 lover, gave him a clean shirt. Paul de Condi, 
 Cardinal de Retz, the most active intriguer and 
 demagogue of the Fronde, tells us that he borrowed 
 1500 pistoles, which he sent to the fugitive prince 
 through Lord Taffe. De Retz boasts that the next 
 day he could have reimbursed himself in English 
 money. Vane, a great parliamentary man, asked for 
 an interview and showed him a letter of credence from 
 Cromwell. The message was to the effect that the 
 spirit which he (De Retz) had shown in the defence 
 of public liberty had induced them to seek his friend- 
 ship. This was supported with lavish compliments, 
 offers, and promises. De Retz thus concluded : I 
 answered with respect, but I said and did nothing 
 unworthy of a true Catholic, and a good Frenchman. 
 Vane appeared to me of surprising capacity." ^ One 
 
 vol. 11., p. 351, and Scotland and the Commonwealth^ edited by C. H. Firth 
 Edinburgh, 1895, p. 12. • • > 
 
 1 See Memoirs du Cardinal de Retz, Amsterdam, 1731, vol. ii., p. 108. 
 Some writers have so told this story as to represent that Vane was sent 
 by Cromwell. At this time Cromwell was no more than a general of the 
 parliament, and member of the council, nor was Vane, though a close 
 friend, ever a tool of Cromwell's. De Retz wrote this after Cromwell 
 
UNION WITH SCOTLAND 
 
 321 
 
 of the objects of Vane's visit to Paris probably was 
 to gain protection for the Protestants in the south, 
 Bordeaux having risen against Mazarin's govern- 
 ment.^ 
 
 Sir Henry Vane's visit to Paris must have been 
 between November 19, when he was elected a member 
 of council, and the loth of the next month, when he 
 was appointed one of the commissioners to be sent to 
 Scotland along with St John, Lambert, Monk, Deane, 
 Fenwick, Salway, and Tichborne, to settle the govern- 
 ment of that country. 
 
 The commissioners arrived in Scotland in the 
 middle of January 1652. They had been instructed 
 to treat for the union of Scotland with England, a 
 favourite project of James I., which had been resisted 
 by the House of Commons. They hoped that the 
 northern nation would be grateful for being received 
 into the English commonwealth, and through their 
 representatives admitted to a share in the government 
 of the country. They hoped to gain the middle and 
 poorer classes by delivering them from the meddle- 
 some inquisition of the Presbyterian clergy, and the 
 tyranny of the nobility. On March 16, Vane reported 
 to the parliament that the greater part of the shires 
 
 had become great. Vane's name is printed as Vaire, and the date of the 
 battle of Worcester is incorrectly stated. 
 
 ^ See Cromwell and Mazarin in 1652, by S. R. Gardiner, in English 
 Historical Review for July 1896. 
 
 In the Memoirs de Guy Joli, Geneva, 1751, vol. ii., p. 286, we are 
 told that the prince, on learning of the death of Cromwell, sent the Earl 
 of Ormonde to the Cardinal de Retz, begging him to obtain money from 
 the Pope and promising to take the Catholics under his protection if 
 re-established. 
 
 Guizot's History of Cromwell and the Commonwealth, translated by 
 Scoble, London, 1854, vol. i., p. 262. 
 
 X 
 
322 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 and boroughs of Scotland had, through their deputies, 
 assented to the tender of the union.^ 
 
 The declaration of the parliament for the union, 
 and the election of twenty-one deputies to negotiate, 
 and the abolition of kingly power, was read at the 
 market crosses of Edinburgh and Dundee. The 
 English soldiers shouted ; but the people listened 
 without any sign. The national pride was too deeply 
 hurt by the defeat of their armies in the effort to 
 maintain the Stuart line ; the ministers feared the loss 
 of the privileges of their church courts and the 
 entrance of toleration for all forms of dissent, and 
 they kept up an obstinate opposition to the new 
 government. The commissioners did their best to 
 form a party favourable to their project. They 
 rescued the country from the confusion following the 
 collapse of the former government, and from military 
 rule. They established judicatories, and appointed 
 sheriffs and magistrates and honest clerks. It was 
 soon noticed by the commonality that the even-handed 
 justice of these judges "exceidit the Scottis in mony 
 things." 
 
 The negotiations for the union were long and 
 complicated. The conferences were continued till the 
 expulsion of the parliament, and the union was 
 accomplished at the end of the year 1653, when it was 
 arranged that Scotland should have 30 members 
 in the English parliament. 
 
 1 Scotland and the Commonwealth^ Introduction, p. xxiv. and pp. 
 31-269. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 Mutiny in the Fleet. The Exploits of Blake. Vane's Administration of 
 the Navy. The War with Holland. Vane presses a Bill for a new 
 Election. Cromwell dissolves the Long Parliament. His Accusa- 
 tions against the Parliament. 
 
 The fleet was more inclined to sympathise with the 
 Presbyterians than with the Independents. In 1649 
 the sailors were much discontented with the super- 
 session of William Batten for Colonel Thomas 
 Rainsborow, an Independent who had commanded a 
 man-of-war in 1643, and had gained honours as a 
 soldier. The crews made no complaint about their 
 pay or food, but towards the end of May they put the 
 obnoxious admiral ashore. After a month's lingering, 
 nine of the ships' crews were enticed by Batten to sail 
 to Holland to offer their services to the Prince 
 of Wales. Many of the sailors deserted. By 
 November five ships had returned. The remaining 
 four, recruited with royalist refugees under the 
 command of Prince Rupert and his brother Maurice, 
 sailed out to prey upon the merchantmen they fell in 
 with. This made the parliament pay immediate 
 attention to the state of the navy. 
 
 At the end of December, Colonel Robert Blake 
 was made admiral, with a full commission to hunt 
 down the revolted ships. Blake, the son of a wealthy 
 
324 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 merchant, and a man of good education, had gained 
 signal distinction in the civil wars by his valiant 
 defences of Lyme and Taunton. He was now fifty 
 years of age, a broad-built man of middle stature, with 
 dark curled hair, blunt and straightforward, who 
 openly said monarchy was a kind of government the 
 world was weary of. Nevertheless, he disapproved of 
 the king's execution. Prince Rupert's squadron, 
 increased by some captured merchant ships, took 
 refuge in the harbour of Kinsale, then held by the 
 Irish rebels, where he was shut in by Blake ; but, as 
 the English fleet could not keep the sea in stormy 
 weather, he managed to slip out. Blake followed the 
 fugitive ships to Portugal, where they were allowed to 
 enter the Tagus, sell their prizes, and lie under the 
 guns of Belem. As John, King of Portugal, refused 
 to allow him to attack them, Blake cruised by the 
 mouth of the Tagus till reinforced by eight ships sent 
 from England. He then seized nine outgoing 
 merchantmen. The Portuguese fleet, thirteen men- 
 of-war, with Rupert's privateers, did not dare to sail 
 out to fight Blake's squadron, who now fell upon the 
 returning Brazil fleet, sunk the admiral's flagship and 
 three others, and took eleven large ships with their 
 rich cargoes. 
 
 The knowledge which the elder Vane had of 
 foreign politics proved very useful to the Long 
 Parliament,^ and his other son. Sir Charles Vane, was 
 the envoy for the commonwealth at Lisbon. Letters 
 
 1 M. de Belli^vre, the French ambassador in London, writes, May 27, 
 1647, that Sir Henry Vane is the only member of the House of Commons 
 who has any knowledge of foreign affairs. — Diplomatic Correspondence of 
 the French Ambassadors in England and Scotla?id, Edinburgh, 1899, 
 vol. ii., p. 143. 
 
teXPLOlTS OF feLAKfi 
 
 525 
 
 of the younger Vane to Colonel Edward Popham 
 show how anxiously he watched over the affairs of the 
 navy while Blake was in pursuit of Rupert's squadron 
 at Kinsale and Lisbon. He writes to Popham : " If 
 there be like to be any difference between the King of 
 Portugal and you, take care of my brother's safety, 
 for which purpose you will receive instructions from 
 the council of state." The following shows a kindly 
 heart. Writing to Popham, April 27, 1650, he adds : 
 " I fear I was the occasion of making known to 
 your wife your going southward ; however, it was 
 innocently done, as presuming you had told her, and 
 all I can offer in recompence is to do what service lies 
 in my power in your absence, if she will please to 
 command me."^ 
 
 The King of Portugal sent an ambassador to 
 London to sue for peace which, after much delay, was 
 granted on the Portuguese paying for the damage to 
 English shipping. Rupert, being informed that the 
 Portuguese could no longer shelter him, slipped out 
 of the Tagus while Blake was pursuing the Brazil 
 ships, and sailed into the Mediterranean, pillaging and 
 burning the English merchant ships he met with, 
 pressing sailors and treating those who resisted with 
 brutal cruelty. The avenger was behind, the English 
 fleet now pursued the pirates along the Spanish coast. 
 They were scattered by a storm ; but all save three 
 took refuge in Carthagena. Without heeding the 
 Spaniards who refused to acknowledge the common- 
 wealth, Blake entered the port, boarded one ship and 
 destroyed or ran on shore the others. The remaining 
 
 * Historical Manuscripts Commission : Report of the Manuscripts of 
 F. IV. Ley borne- Popham^ Norwich, 1899, p. 72. 
 
LtF*E Of stti limkY VaKM 
 
 three found temporary shelter in Toulon, whence they 
 fled to the Azores and then to the West Indies, 
 continuing to plunder merchant vessels. In the end 
 their ships were wrecked and Maurice drowned, 
 though Rupert escaped with nine others in a pinnace. 
 The governor of Toulon had allowed the cargo of a 
 prize ship to be sold in that port, and had given 
 succour and countenance to the corsairs.^ Treating 
 this as an act of war, Blake took four French vessels, 
 one of them a frigate of forty guns. His next expedi- 
 tion was to the Scilly Islands, where the Cavaliers of 
 the west had gathered in considerable force. From 
 this base they made depredations upon the English 
 shipping, not sparing the Dutch, who sent a fleet to 
 watch and protect their merchantmen. The Prince 
 Charles had offered to sell the islands to the 
 Hollanders. Landing a force at St Mary's, Blake 
 soon compelled the garrison to surrender. 
 
 About this time a Spanish army, led by the great 
 Conde, was besieging Dunkirk. This port had long 
 been a nest of privateers, which preyed on the English 
 commerce. In 165 1 the council of state had made 
 overtures to get the place delivered up to them ; 
 but at this time Mazarin would not accede to the 
 proposal. Hence the council sent directions to their 
 admiral to prevent a French fleet sailing to the relief 
 of the beleaguered town. Blake gained an easy victory 
 (September 1652), and Dunkirk fell into the hands of 
 the Spaniards. 
 
 England was again formidable on the sea, and 
 once more appeared as a foreign power, which she 
 had ceased to be under the two Stuart kings. The 
 
 ' Dixon's Lz/e of Blake^ London, 1852, p. 163. 
 
DISAGREEMENT WITH HOLLAND 327 
 
 parliament now saw how much the navy contributed 
 to the safety of the state, especially as the hopes of 
 the royalists were dependent upon foreign aid. The 
 commissioners of the navy were now busy in getting 
 new ships built and fitting out others. The fleet of the 
 commonwealth had successfully coped with the naval 
 powers of Portugal, Spain, and France, when the 
 current of events unhappily drove them into a contest 
 with a neighbouring republic and a once friendly 
 Protestant state. During the civil wars the States of 
 Holland had observed a prudent neutrality between 
 Oxford and London, though they seemed to favour 
 the king's cause, and had sent munitions of war 
 (always for money received) to his armies. They had 
 interceded for the life of Charles ; popular indignation 
 in Holland was loud against his execution, and the 
 States had recognised his son as the lawful king, 
 influenced by the Prince of Orange, who had married 
 his sister, the Princess Mary. Dr Dorislaus, the 
 ambassador of the parliament, who had taken a part 
 in the king's trial, was murdered at the Hague in 
 1649 by some Cavaliers, who were allowed to escape. 
 The death of the Stadtholder, William, and the 
 triumph of the republican party, seemed to favour an 
 alliance, and in 1651 the Lord Chief Justice, St John, 
 was sent as ambassador to Holland with a guard of 
 forty gentlemen to propose a close treaty between the 
 two republics. The States, though fearful of offending 
 their powerful neighbour, were naturally anxious to 
 escape a coalition by which they were likely to be 
 merged in the larger commonwealth. The haughty 
 St John abruptly quitted the Hague ; in taking leave 
 of the Dutch commissioners, he said : " My Lords, 
 
328 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 you have an eye upon the events of Scotland, and 
 therefore do refuse the friendship we have offered. In 
 a short time you will see that business ended, and 
 then you will come to us and seek what we have freely 
 offered, when it shall perplex you that you have 
 refused our proffer." 
 
 While maintaining a hard struggle to hold their 
 own low marshes against the Spaniards, the Dutch, 
 from their shallow coasts, found an outlet for their 
 marvellous spirit and enterprise. In every part of the 
 world, in the herring fisheries of the north, on the 
 Connecticut river, and the Hudson, in the East and 
 West Indies, the English merchantmen met the com- 
 peting Hollander. From the Cape of Good Hope, to 
 the far islands of Japan, they ousted the Portuguese 
 swooning under the rule of Spain. The claim to the 
 lordship of the narrow seas was handed down from 
 the time when the kings of England ruled both sides of 
 the Channel, by making foreign ships strike their flags, 
 and lower their top sails on English war vessels, was 
 a perpetual source of irritation. During the early 
 struggle of the United Provinces they were in no 
 mood to resist ; during the civil wars the English 
 had other things to attend to. But these claims, 
 sometimes relaxed, were always revived, and the 
 Hollanders were the chief victims. Possessing most 
 of the shipping of northern Europe, and proud of their 
 victories over the fleets of Spain, the Dutch endured, 
 with increasing impatience, this exaction of a dero- 
 gating ceremony often enforced in a high-handed 
 manner. St John, on his return from his unsuccessful 
 embassy, got the parliament to pass the navigation 
 law, which prohibited the importation of goods from 
 
BLAKE AND TROMP 
 
 Asia, Africa, and America, save in English bottoms, 
 or of European goods, not the produce of the nation 
 that brought them. This was keenly felt by the 
 Dutch who were the great sea-carriers of those days, and 
 were the first to proclaim the maxim that the flag 
 covers the cargo. Their merchants were accused of 
 supplying stores to the Spaniard, while they were 
 carrying on hostile operations against Holland. In 
 those days it was prudent that England should keep 
 up her seafaring population, hence the navigation laws 
 were called for, by political exigencies, even if not in 
 accordance with economical theories. Durinof the 
 informal maritime war between France and England, 
 from 1649 to 1653, the Dutch ships were frequently 
 stopped by privateers under the English flag, ostensibly 
 to search for French goods. On several occasions the 
 crews were roughly and even cruelly treated. In a 
 letter on February 14/24, 1652, De Witt,^the Pensionary 
 of the States, said that he thought Holland had 
 expected more friendly feeling at the hands of the 
 republic. He hoped, however, that the English 
 government will not be so blinded as to seek our 
 mutual ruin, and that this not too pleasant beginning 
 will be crowned by a good and firm alliance. 
 
 The excitement became greater, when about three 
 weeks after the news came to Westminster that the 
 States had resolved to increase their war fleet by 1 50 
 sail, which in those times could be done by arming 
 merchant ships. The English fleet was promptly put 
 on a war footing, and Blake was sent to cruise in the 
 Channel. At the same time Tromp, with a large fleet, 
 was sent to protect the merchant ships of the Nether- 
 
 ^ Geddes : The Admi7tistration of John de Witt^ vol. i., p. 197. 
 
LIFE OF SIR HENtlY VANE 
 
 lands from search. With the overbearing vein of the 
 English and the stubborn temper of the Dutch, war 
 was but a question of time. The two fleets met each 
 other off Dover on May 16/29, 1652. As both 
 Blake and Tromp denied firing the first broadside, 
 this may be taken as a proof that neither of these 
 brave admirals sought a combat.^ 
 
 At any rate, the English Admiral fired on Tromp 
 because he did not at once strike his flag, and the two 
 fleets were soon engaged in a cannonade, which lasted 
 for four hours. The Lord-General Cromwell was 
 promptly sent to Dover to inquire into the affair. 
 Blake's account was confirmed by one of the captains 
 of the two Dutch ships that were taken. 
 
 At this time, from May 17 to June 14, Vane was 
 president of the council of state. Sikes tells us that 
 he heartily laboured to avoid a war with Holland ; but 
 the sons of Zeruiah, the military party, were too many 
 for him on that point." ^ 
 
 Though the Dutch ambassadors still sought to 
 avoid a rupture, nothing save submissions, which they 
 would not make, could now appease the parliament. 
 War was declared within a month after the affray. 
 
 About this time Sikes tells us that Vane received, 
 from a learned gentleman, on July 3, the sonnet in 
 which, in immortal verse, John Milton gives his ap- 
 preciation of the great statesman : — 
 
 " Vane, young in years, but sage in counsel old, 
 Than whom a better senator ne'er held 
 The helm of Rome, when gowns not arms repelled 
 The fierce Epirot and the African bold, 
 
 ^ These questions are discussed at length in Letters and Papers relating 
 to the First Dutch War, 1652 1654, edited by Samuel Rawson Gardiner, 
 printed for the Navy Records Societies, 1899. 
 Life of Sir Henry Vane, p. 63. 
 
iSrOOb STATE The Navy 
 
 Whether to settle peace, or to unfold 
 
 The drift of hollow states hard to be spell'd, 
 Then to advise how War may best upheld, 
 
 Move by her two main nerves, iron and gold, 
 In all her equipage : besides to know 
 Both spiritual power and civil, what each means. 
 
 What severs each, thou hast learn'd, which few have done : 
 The bounds of either sword to thee we owe : 
 Therefore on thy firm hand Religion leans 
 
 In peace, and reckons thee her eldest son." 
 
 The reputation of the Netherlands, as a naval 
 power, rested upon unvarying successes, while, since 
 the defeat of the Armada (done too by the aid of 
 the Dutch), the reputation of the English had sunk 
 through the failure of several naval expeditions. The 
 five separate admirality boards, which managed the 
 navy of the Netherlands, stood much in the way of 
 unity of action. Since 1650 the States general 
 had removed many good sea officers attached to 
 the House of Orange, and had filled their places 
 with men of less experience.^ 
 
 On the other side never had the English fleet 
 been in such working order. The navy com- 
 missioners, with Vane at their head, showed unex- 
 ampled zeal, knowledge, and capacity. Work went 
 on strenuously at the dockyards now cleared of 
 courtier officers, embezzling clerks, and knavish 
 
 1 Captain Richard Gibson reports a conversation, which he had with 
 a Dutch skipper, how the English came to beat the Dutch at sea. Thus, 
 says the skipper, we came to fight the English with gentlemen commanders 
 at sea, and you us seamen commanders of your ships, and by this 
 means you came to beat the Dutch. But|if ever hereafter we should fight 
 with the English, for the mastery of the sea with seamen commanders, 
 and you us with gentlemen commanders, we should beat you. This was 
 actually fulfilled fifteen years after, when under Charles II., the conditions 
 desired by the Dutch skipper were partially realised. 
 
33^ LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANfi 
 
 contractors. The magazines were kept fully supplied. 
 The fleet was well manned, well officered, and well 
 purveyed, and the crews could be readily recruited 
 from men who had shown on shore the stern valour 
 of the Puritan. 
 
 Owing to the fines for delinquents, compositions, 
 monthly assessments, sale of lands and excise, the 
 government was well off for money, and Vane's 
 influence with the parliament and council of state 
 was valuable in gaining prompt supplies for the navy. 
 Besides her greater natural resources, England had 
 the advantage in her position covering the whole 
 coast of the Netherlands. The Dutch merchantmen 
 had to run along the Channel, or to take a long 
 voyage around the hostile shores of Ireland and 
 Scotland to gain their own ports. The winds, being 
 mostly from the west, made all the Cape lands and 
 bays good roads for the English vessels to ride at 
 anchor. Thus it was enormously difficult for the 
 Dutch to defend their large shipping on which 
 the subsistence of the people depended. Nothing 
 could save them from the attacks of a naval power 
 in such a central position but the complete command 
 of the seas. 
 
 Blake sailed to capture the herring busses and 
 their convoys in the northern seas. He was followed 
 by Tromp. The fleets were kept from encountering 
 by stormy weather. On his return the veteran 
 admiral found the people discontented with his want 
 of success. De Witt and De Ruyter were sent out 
 to defend their shipping, and on August 16/26, an 
 engagement took place between the English fleet, 
 under Sir George Ayscue, now returned from the 
 
STUBBORN SEA FIGHTS 
 
 333 
 
 West Indies, and the Dutch, in which the latter 
 had the advantage, the English fleet retiring to 
 Plymouth.^ 
 
 On September 28, the Dutch Admirals De Witt 
 and De Ruyter, encountered an English fleet, com- 
 manded by Blake, about the Downs, when another 
 stubborn fight took place. The Dutch lost five 
 ships, three sunk, and two taken and sought refiige 
 in their own ports. De Witt threw the blame of 
 this defeat upon some of his captains, who were faint 
 in seconding him. He also said that the English 
 ships were better sailers than his, and that their 
 guns were managed as well or better. It appears 
 from further reports that his crews were not so well 
 supplied with provisions as the English fleet, and 
 that the men were weakened with scurvy. The 
 Dutch now turned against De Witt, and Tromp 
 was again put in command. 
 
 In those sea fights there was more room for 
 headstrong courage than combined generalship. 
 Each tried to get to the windward and drive down 
 upon the opposing ship to sink or board her. The 
 Dutch aimed more at the masts and rigging ; the 
 English at the hulls of their adversaries. 
 
 At this time there was no declaration of war between 
 France and England, but the trade had much suffered 
 from the privateers of Dunkirk, against whom there 
 were issued letters of marque by way of reprisals. 
 
 Dunkirk was now besieged by the Spaniards. 
 The French, under the Duke of Vendome, had already 
 defeated a Spanish fleet, and were collecting their 
 
 ^ See Account of the Proceedings of the Fleet with Admiral de Witt, 
 and other documents, in Letters and Papers relating to the First Dutch 
 War, vol. ii. 
 
334 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 transports off Calais to sail to the relief of the 
 beleaguered town. Knowing that the council of 
 state wished that this nest of pirates should pass 
 into other hands, and seeing that no time was to be 
 lost, Blake took the responsibility of interfering. 
 Vendome was not strong enough to resist, and Blake 
 bore away eight ships of war, took some of the 
 transports and scattered others (September 4/14, 1652). 
 Dunkirk immediately surrendered. That this vigorous 
 action did not bring a declaration of war from 
 France is a proof that they felt unable to cope with 
 the commonwealth at sea. The English fleet had 
 been weakened by sending twenty ships to the 
 Mediterranean, and on November 29, Blake with thirty- 
 seven ships encountered Tromp again afloat with a 
 fleet of more than double the English, and boldly 
 accepted his challenge. After a fight of five hours 
 night enabled the English fleet to escape into harbour 
 with a loss of two ships and others much shattered. 
 Blake himself was wounded. 
 
 Those who recall the gloom and anxiety when a 
 British army was shut up in Ladysmith, and the 
 relieving force repulsed at Colenso, may realise the 
 feelings of a proud nation elated with recent victories 
 on land, when the news spread that the Dutch 
 admiral was cruising triumphantly in the Channel 
 with a broom at his masthead, as if he had swept the 
 English from the seas. The government was loudly 
 blamed and attacked in numerous pamphlets.^ Blake 
 
 1 Hyde writes from Paris to Nicholas in Holland : " We are in great 
 hope that this notable fight at sea, in which the Hollanders have so 
 thoroughly banged, the rebels will make a great alteration in the 
 counsels with you and here. It is the first signal overthrow these 
 devilish rebels had sustained whether at sea or land." The prince, 
 
ENGLISH NAVAL VICTORY 
 
 335 
 
 offered to resign his command. It had been urged 
 that he should not have risked a battle against such 
 odds. The council of state, by return of courier, sent 
 their thanks for his gallant conduct, and assured him 
 that his recommendations for the betterment of the 
 fleet would be adopted. Vane and five others were 
 appointed by the parliament to attend to this emer- 
 gency. He reported the navy estimates to the House 
 when ^40,000 a month were voted for the charges of 
 the war, and it was resolved to raise the effective 
 marine force to 30,000 men. Soldiers were drafted 
 into the fleet. At the same time Vane brought in 
 and pushed through a bill for the sale of the royal 
 parks, the price of which was to go to the navy. 
 There was great activity in the dockyards. The 
 shattered ships were refitted and new ones armed. 
 The sailors were now better fed, and better paid than 
 they had ever been. Prize money was more equally 
 distributed. The wounded were attended, and the 
 widows and children of those killed in action got 
 relief. Hence desertions were infrequent, and little 
 recourse was had to impressment. 
 
 In two months, Blake was able to take the sea 
 with a fleet of eighty ships. On February 18, he 
 fell in with Tromp off Portland with a fleet of about 
 the same strength, convoying 300 merchantmen. 
 A dreadful battle raged for three days between 
 these two gallant adversaries, which ended in the 
 victory of the English fleet who took or sunk eleven 
 ships of war, and thirty merchantmen, killed 2000 
 men, and took 1500 prisoners. Though the number 
 
 Charles Stuart, had offered to go with the Dutch fleet and endeavour to 
 lead away English sailors from their duty. This was declined by the 
 States. 
 
336 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 of the slain was nearly as great on the English side, 
 they only lost one ship, which was sunk, the crew 
 being taken off. 
 
 The report announcing this victory was signalled by 
 Blake, Deane, and Monk. The last-named had been 
 brought from Scotland at the recommendation of 
 Cromwell. 
 
 When a victory is gained most of the honour 
 redounds to the commander, and but little to the war 
 or admiralty office that supplied him with the 
 materials of success ; yet the unwearied exertions of 
 Vane and the naval commissions did not fail to gain 
 some praise at least from their friends. The Dutch 
 themselves wondered at the success of their opponents 
 in obtaining intelligence through which their most 
 secret designs were made known to the council of 
 state in London, while that body kept dark their own. 
 To justify their claim to the supremacy of the seas the 
 parliament got Nedham to translate into English the 
 learned work of Selden, Mare Clausum seu de 
 Dominio Maris, in answer to the treatise of Grotius, 
 Mare Liberum. The Dutch now saw that they 
 could not hold the sea against the fleet of the English 
 commonwealth. Their trade through the Channel was 
 well-nigh destroyed, and their trade in the North Sea 
 seriously crippled, although the King of Denmark had 
 favoured them and seized upon such English ships as 
 were in his ports. The States now sent ambassadors 
 to London to sue for peace. 
 
 Mr Bisset, the historian of the commonwealth, was 
 provoked by the ingenuous conceit of a reviewer, who 
 announced that the collection and juxtaposition of 
 Cromwell's letters formed a crucial test of his sincerity. 
 
JUDGED BY HIS DEEDS 
 
 33? 
 
 In truth, Cromwell was not simple enough to write 
 letters likely to tell against himself, and he must be 
 judged by his deeds rather than by his words. To 
 understand his character is a task difficult to attempt 
 and difficult to avoid ; but as he was watched by 
 some men of great penetration, we are not entirely left 
 without light. 
 
 Though it was observed of Oliver Cromwell that, 
 even while in an obscure station, he never loved more 
 than his equals, there is no proof that, from the first of 
 his wonderful career, he dreamed of rising so high ; but 
 from the day he put his foot in the stirrup in command 
 of a troop of horse to his crowning victory at 
 Worcester, he had gone through much to nourish his 
 ambition and to harden his character. During these 
 nine years he had learned to be impatient of parlia- 
 mentary control ; he had become accustomed to 
 military command, and mercilessly to sweep all 
 obstacles from his way. Every stroke of good 
 fortune, every toward chance, he regarded as a token 
 of the divine aid. This belief was not a mere phrase ; 
 it entered into his soul, sustained him in the perils of 
 war and the strife of factions ; and so convinced was he 
 of its truth that he often used his wonderful good 
 fortune as an argument that others should yield to him. 
 This conviction, swayed by his love of rule, though it 
 lulled his conscience, did not obscure his intellect. 
 With infinite tact he tried to make all parties serve his 
 aspiring schemes. In a passion of tears he assured 
 the parliament of his fidelity, while he was inciting the 
 army against them. In a pamphlet published in 1649, 
 in defence of the mutinous party of the army at 
 Triploe Heath, we have the following striking passages; 
 
 Y 
 
LtPfi HENilY VANE 
 
 " O Cromwell, whither art thou aspiring ? The word 
 is already given out amongst their officers that this 
 nation must have one prime minister, magistrate, or 
 ruler over them, and that the general hath power to 
 make a law to bind all the Commons of England. 
 This was most daringly and desperately avowed at 
 Whitehall, and to this temper these court officers are 
 now a-moulding ; he that runs may read and foresee the 
 intent, a new regality. Was there ever a generation of 
 men so apostate, so false, and so perjured, as these ? 
 Did ever men pretend an higher degree of holiness, 
 religion, and zeal to God and their country than 
 these? These preach, these fast, these pray, these 
 have nothing more frequent than the sentences of 
 sacred Scripture, the name of God and of Christ in 
 their mouthes. You shall scarce speak to Cromwell 
 about anything, but he will lay his hand on his breast, 
 elevate his eyes, and call God to record. He will 
 weep, howl, and repent, even while he doth smite 
 you under the first rib. Captain Joyce and Captain 
 Vernam can tell you sufficient stories to that 
 purpose." ^ 
 
 This is a caricature not without resemblance to 
 the original. 
 
 After the battle of Worcester the tone of the lord- 
 general was so high that Hugh Peters said this man 
 will make himself king. A council of officers used to 
 meet at his house. Some of them had seats in 
 parliament, and transmitted recommendations of an 
 embarrassing character, which it was dangerous to 
 disregard. Some of the most fanatical military men 
 
 1 T^e Hunting of the Foxes from Newmarket to Triploe Heath by five 
 small Beagles, London, 1649. 
 
NOT A PULL PARLIAMENT 
 
 339 
 
 wished the law courts to be reformed, justice to be had 
 swift and cheap. The Mosaic code, being inspired, 
 would be the best model. The parliament made some 
 beginning of reform in legal proceedings ; but the 
 lawyers in the House kept back progress with endless 
 debates. Cromwell sounded Ludlow and Whitelocke 
 in no obscure fashion whether they would support his 
 pretensions to be made king ; the answer being 
 unfavourable, he was fain to break off the colloquy 
 with a piece of rough pleasantry. 
 
 The parliament hoped, no doubt, that by unwearied 
 attention to public business and the extraordinary 
 success which attended their labours, they would 
 obtain the approval of the nation, and it was not 
 their efficiency but their title to govern that was 
 questioned. Having been reduced by successive 
 prescriptions and disqualifications to about 1 50 names, 
 they could not claim to be a full parliament. They 
 had put down many opponents, and punished some of 
 them with great severity; they had refused many 
 favours, and made many enemies. The military 
 officers, when they understood that the army would be 
 reduced, were as uneasy as the lawyers when they 
 heard that the law courts were to be reformed ; and 
 councils of officers were held to discuss the state of 
 affairs. Cromwell took every occasion to increase 
 the clamours that were raised against the Long 
 Parliament, and to unite all parties in their hostility 
 against an assembly which, by its delay in giving the 
 country an opportunity to express its opinion by a 
 new election, had aroused the discontent even of 
 republicans like Milton. It may be said for the Long 
 Parliament, that, being anxious lest, in proclaiming a 
 
340 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 republic, they had made an advance on popular 
 opinion, they desired to familiarise the people with 
 their theory of government before they sent out for 
 public approval ; as Harry Marten put it, recalling 
 that Moses was sent by Pharaoh's daughter to nurse : 
 " Their commonwealth was yet an infant of a weak 
 growth, and a very tender constitution, and therefore 
 his opinion was that nobody could be so fit to nurse it 
 as the mother who brought it forth, and that they 
 should not think of putting it under any other hands 
 till it had attained more years and vigour." 
 
 Their notion of a republic was not the same as that 
 of a modern democracy or the pure government of 
 majorities, hence we find Milton denying the right of a 
 majority to make a king to deprive an intelligent 
 minority of their liberties. The republican cause was 
 strongest in the middle classes, and they had the 
 nobility and perhaps the lower classes, against them; 
 but they were by far the ablest, the purest, the noblest, 
 and the most energetic party in the nation. But 
 though a minority may force a nation to be servile, it 
 can scarcely force them to be free. A form of govern- 
 ment which has to be debated at the polls subject to 
 the reaction of popular favour, is in a most insecure 
 position. 
 
 This has several times been proved in the history 
 of England: "An inconstant people," said William 
 of Orange, when he found the tide of popularity 
 ebbing against him after having saved the nation from 
 the consequences of their own political wanderings. 
 With another generation the reaction against the 
 House of Hanover several times placed the Protestant 
 succession in danger. 
 
THE BILL FOR DISSOLUTION 
 
 341 
 
 While some members were content to rest in the 
 present enjoyment of power, Vane was anxious about 
 the future. He restlessly pushed on a bill for a more 
 equal distribution of the franchise and of electoral 
 districts. There were great inequalities in the repre- 
 sentation of different towns and counties. Cornwall, 
 in which crown influence had long been potent, was 
 allowed to send 44 members to parliament, while other 
 counties, which paid as many taxes, returned no more 
 than 6 or 8. Some which had scarce a house 
 upon them sent 2 members to parliament, as many 
 as the great cities, London excepted. The sum paid in 
 taxation was made the basis of representation ; London 
 was allowed 7 members, and other cities i each. 
 Householders of a certain rent were to have a vote 
 in the towns. In the country care was taken to 
 exclude tenants who were under the control of others. 
 An abstract of this bill has been pieced together by 
 Mr Forster,^ from a scrutiny of the allusions, votes, 
 and divisions recorded in the Journals of the Parlia- 
 ment. Anomalies and inequalities were abolished, 
 which in default of the measure not becoming law, 
 continued until they were swept away by the Reform 
 Bill of 1832. The franchise was accorded to all free- 
 holders of land estate of the clear yearly value of 40s., 
 and to tenants of twenty-one years' lease of the value of 
 £20, and to copyholders of estate or tenants for life 
 of the value of ^5. The number of representa- 
 tives, besides those to be sent by Ireland and 
 Scotland, was fixed at 400. It was clearly a just, 
 liberal, and comprehensive measure designed to give a 
 fair representation to the country. 
 
 1 Sir Henry Vane, p. 158 ; Ludlow's Memoirs^ vol. ii., p. 
 
342 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 Whatever his misgivings might be, Cromwell had 
 made up his mind to become supreme ruler of the 
 state. To effect this he had to use the army who 
 hated the name of king, and proclaimed their dislike 
 to the rule of a single person, so he had to steer in a 
 tortuous course, and not let his dupes know whither 
 he was leading. In the army there was a variety of 
 opinions and fancies and interests. The sectaries 
 mixed up their political aims with their theological 
 aspirations. To these he held up the promise of a 
 reign of righteousness, to reform the law, do away 
 with lawyers, regulate the conduct of life to an austere 
 model, and purge the churches of all relics of popery. 
 To the body of the army he held out the prospect of 
 continuance of employment, and to the ambitious he 
 offered the promise of power. Looking at it from a 
 selfish point of view, the council of officers, who had so 
 often interfered with state affairs, could scarcely desire 
 a new parliament in a broadened constituency. Such 
 an assembly would come in with a sense of power, 
 and one of their first proceedings would be to disband 
 a portion of the army. This had been already talked 
 of during the Dutch war, the expenses of which were 
 weighing heavy on the nation. Cromwell knew that 
 time would cause his laurels to fade, and his name 
 would wear out as Fairfax's had already. The later 
 achievements of Blake, not inferior to his own, now 
 filled men's mouths. Five months before Cromwell 
 had been a teller in the divisions in which it was 
 determined by a majority of four and two, not to put 
 an end to the sitting of parliament.^ This furnished 
 
 ^ History of the Commonwealth of England from the Death of Charles 
 I. to the Expulsion of the Long Parliament by Cromivell^ by Andrew 
 Pisset, London, 1867, vol. ii., p. 420, 
 
CROMWELL'S DECLARATION 
 
 343 
 
 him with a grievance for his council of officers that 
 they were too slow to dissolve ; but how could it now 
 be held a grievance that the majority had now 
 determined to do so? It is asserted by Cromwell in 
 his Declaration of the Grounds and Reasons for 
 dissolving the Parliament by Force," dated " White- 
 hall, April 22, 1658," that the council of officers, 
 having a meeting with about 20 members of parlia- 
 ment, they laid before them their judgment, that the 
 supreme authority should be by the parliament 
 devolved upon known persons, men fearing God 
 and of approved integrity, and the government of 
 the commonwealth committed unto them for a time, as 
 the most hopeful way to encourage and countenance 
 all God's people, reform the law, and administer 
 justice impartially. 
 
 "They being plainly dealt with about this, and 
 told that neither the nation, the honest interest, nor 
 we ourselves, would be deluded by such dealings, 
 they did agree to meet again the next day in the 
 afternoon for mutual satisfaction, it being consented 
 to by the members present, that nothing in the mean- 
 time should be done in parliament that might exclude 
 or frustrate the proposals above mentioned. Not- 
 withstanding this, the next morning the parliament 
 did make more haste than usual, in carrying on their 
 said act, being helped on therein by some of the 
 persons engaged to us the night before, none of 
 them which were then present endeavouring to oppose 
 the same ; and being ready to put the main question 
 for consummating the said act, whereby our aforesaid 
 proposals would have been rendered void, and the 
 way of bringing them into a fair and full debate in 
 
344 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 parliament obstructed ; for preventing whereof, and 
 all the sad and evil consequences, which must, upon 
 the grounds aforesaid, have ensued," etc. This 
 promise, whether formal or informal, made by some 
 or made by all the 20 members at this meeting, 
 was certainly not binding upon the parliament, nor 
 was it clear that these under the promise had the 
 power to implement it. Whitelocke, who was 
 at this meeting of officers at Cromwell's lodgings, 
 says nothing of any such promise. He himself repre- 
 sented that it would be a most dangerous thing to 
 dissolve the parliament. Many other members with 
 all the officers, of whom St John was one of the 
 chief, were in favour of putting a period forthwith to 
 the parliament, the better to make way for themselves 
 and their ambitious design of advancing them to the 
 civil government. They and their party declared 
 their opinions that it was necessary the same should 
 be done one way or other, and the members of parlia- 
 ment not permitted to prolong their own power. 
 
 At which expression Cromwell seemed to reprove 
 some of them ; and this conference lasted till late at 
 night, when Widdrington and Whitelocke went home 
 weary, troubled to see the indiscretion and ingratitude 
 of those men, and the way they designed to ruin 
 themselves. The fate of the country was in the air. 
 Apparently Cromwell had not yet decided or was not 
 sure whether the officers were all ready for violent 
 measures. According to appointment they came 
 early in the morning to Cromwell's lodging, a few 
 parliament men and a few officers of the army. What 
 the military cabal was anxious about was not so much 
 the dissolution of parliament as the question into 
 
PRESSES ON THE BILL 
 
 345 
 
 whose hands power should be lodged after the 
 dissolution and during the elections. How the 
 parliament proposed to arrange that is not recorded. 
 It is likely they would continue the council, and that 
 the military party thought that they would not be 
 sufficiently powerful in it. Well aware of the danger, 
 Vane had been pressing through the amendments from 
 his report, and had within the month pushed the bill so 
 far that it only required the third reading to have the 
 force of law. That morning of April 20, he anxiously 
 urged the House to disregard needless forms such as 
 the delay in getting it engrossed. Colonel Ingoldsby 
 now came in haste from the House to warn the 
 military junto that the bill for dissolution was in its 
 last stage. The irritation thus aroused lay in the 
 knowledge that there was no consent to the proposal 
 of the council of forty to manage public affairs during 
 the elections. Cromwell, now perceiving that if he did 
 not act at once, his grievance and his opportunity 
 would be gone together, broke up the meeting and 
 ordered a party of musketeers from his own regiment, 
 commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Worsley, to be 
 sent to the door of the parliament house. The 
 decisive moment had come ; as a man who sways a 
 chain, his hand is in its turn moved by the chain. 
 The number of soldiers was small, but men upon 
 whom he could count, and he had Lambert and 
 H arrison, and several other officers who were 
 members of the parliament to help him through. 
 Into the old Gothic chamber, where sat in earnest 
 discussion this memorable assembly, there now enters 
 quietly the lord-general in plain black clothes 
 and grey worsted stockings. He takes his ordinary 
 
346 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 seat and calls for Harrison, who was on the other side 
 of the House, to whom he said : " That he judges the 
 parliament ripe for dissolution, and this to be the time 
 of doing it." The major-general answered, as he 
 since told me,' " Sir, the work is very great and 
 dangerous, therefore I desire you seriously to consider 
 of it before you engage in it." " You say well," replied 
 the general, and thereupon sat still for about a quarter 
 of an hour. 
 
 What was now passing in that powerful mind so 
 full of conflicting desires and emotions ? The voices 
 of honour and of conscience, the deep conviction that 
 he must answer to God, thoughts of his former 
 aspirations for freedom, the memories of those who 
 had given their life-blood for the liberties of England, 
 the good opinion of the great men before him who 
 had entrusted him with the sword he was to use 
 against them, and the punishment which he had been 
 the means of meting to the king for doing what was 
 most like he was now about to do. Thoughts such 
 as these must have tortured a mind not rendered 
 callous by utter selfishness. Then, on the other side, 
 was the fierce craving for power nourished by years of 
 military command, and the scorn of a successful 
 soldier for the talk and swayings of a popular 
 assembly with the fear that the result of the polls or 
 the caprices of faction might place him and his party 
 in the hands of his adversaries. Nor was Cromwell 
 free from the self-deceptions of Harrison, that he was 
 an instrument in the hands of Providence to do some 
 great work for the people. 
 
 Just as the question for passing the bill was being 
 
 1 I^udlow's Memoirs^ Vivay, 1798, vol. ii., p. 455. 
 
CROMWELL'S ACCUSATION 
 
 347 
 
 put, Cromwell again said to Harrison : " This is the 
 time, I must do it." Then, starting up, he made a speech 
 wherein he " at first and for a good while ^ spake to the 
 commendation of the parliament for their pains and care 
 for the public good," as if still uncertain how to finish : 
 then, changing his tone, he loaded the parliament with 
 reproaches, charging them not to have a heart to do 
 anything for the public good, to have espoused the 
 corrupt interest of Presbytery and the lawyers, who were 
 the supporters of tyranny and oppression, accusing 
 them of an intention to perpetuate themselves in 
 power, had they not been forced to the passing of this 
 act, which he affirmed they designed never to 
 observe,^ and thereupon told them, that the Lord had 
 
 * This is stated in Algernon Sydney's account, see Journal of the Earl 
 of Leicester, Sydney Papers, e^xttd by R. W. Blencowe, London, 1825, 
 p. 139. 
 
 ^ Mr Carlyle, on good evidence, which, however, he does not give us, 
 says that the bill contained a clause that all the members of the sitting 
 parliament should retain their seats, and that they should have power 
 to exclude any elected members obnoxious to them. It has been pointed 
 out by Mr Bisset {Commonwealth of England, vol. ii., p. 473), that while 
 the semi-official narrative published under the direction of Cromwell, the 
 day after the coup d'etat, asserts in positive words, that " by the said Act 
 these present members were to sit and to be made up by others chosen, 
 and by themselves approved of," the official " Declaration " issued on 
 April 22, carefully avoids any such positive assertion, using more vague 
 words : " ' Recruit the house with persons of the same spirit and temper, 
 thereby to perpetuate their own sitting.' " " The craft of Cromwell is very 
 conspicuous in the distinction. He might and would, of course, disown 
 the semi-official paper when it suited him so to do. The words of the 
 official paper which he could not disown, were so chosen that they might 
 be explained to mean either that the present members were to continue to 
 sit, and that persons of the same spirit and temper were to be added to 
 them, to make up the full number of 400 ; or that the present members 
 were either not to sit at all in the next house, or were to take their 
 chance of re-election with the new members who were to form the new 
 parliament." Cromwell could have proved the truth of his assertions or 
 insinuations by publishing a copy of the bill, or at least giving the words 
 of the clause, which he did not do, " The bill had not been printed ox 
 
348 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 done with them, and had chosen other instruments 
 for the carrying on His work that were more worthy. 
 
 engrossed, Cromwell had snatched from the clerk the only copy in exist- 
 ence, had carried it himself under his cloak to his own house at White- 
 chapel, and was never known afterwards to refer to it in any way " 
 (Forster's Life of Oliver Cromwell, vol. ii., p. 75). 
 
 The statement can be met with sufficient disproof. Mrs Hutchinson 
 [^Memoirs of Life of Colonel Hutchinson, London, 1822, vol. ii., p. 200), 
 says, " Meanwhile they and their soldiers could no way palliate their 
 rebellion but by making false crimination of the parliament men, as that 
 they meant to perpetuate themselves in honor and office, that they had 
 gotten vast estates, and perverted justice for gain," etc. 
 
 Colonel Hutchinson was in the country when the parliament was 
 violently turned out, but went to London immediately after and found 
 divers of the members there. Ludlow {Memoirs, vol. ii., p. 453), gives 
 testimony to the same effect. After enumerating the successes of the 
 parliament he says : " To which ought to be added that after so many 
 toils and hazards, so much trouble and loss for the public good, they 
 were not unwilling to put an end to their power, and to content them- 
 selves with an equal share with others for the whole reward of their 
 labours." 
 
 Thomas Scot, in a speech made in Richard Cromwell's parliament 
 {Bwcton's Parliamentary Diary, vol. iii., p. iii): " The Dutch war came 
 on. If it had pleased God and his Highness to have let that little power 
 of a parliament sit a little longer, when Hannibal is ad portas, something 
 must be done extra leges ; we intended to have gone off with a good 
 savour and provided for a succession of parliaments, but we stayed to end 
 the Dutch war." 
 
 Sir Arthur Hesilrige said in the same parliament : " We were labour- 
 ing here in the House on an act to put an end to that parliament and to 
 call another. I desired the passing of it with all my soul. The question 
 was putting for it when our general stood up and stopped the question " 
 (Burton's Diary, vol. iii., p. 98). Here also the testimony of Mr Reynolds, 
 another member of the Long Parliament : " I was very pressing for that 
 act to dissolve ourselves. I never desired any earthly thing with more 
 earnestness to see that parliament fairly dissolved and another provided. . . . 
 This was never known abroad how nearly the parliament that conquered 
 others were to conquering themselves" (Burton's Diary, vol. iii., p. 209). 
 
 These statements were made during a lengthened debate when Scot 
 and Hesilrige were exposed to correction from the Cromwellians and 
 other opponents of the commonwealth. 
 
 A clause providing that every member of the rump should be a 
 member of the new parliament without election was entirely in dis- 
 accord with the spirit and scope of the bill which Mr Forster has gathered 
 from the journals of the parliament, the reports of the select cprnmitte^s 
 
FRENZY OF CROMWELL 
 
 349 
 
 This he spoke with so much passion and discomposure 
 of mind as if he had been distracted. 
 
 Vane rose to remonstrate, when Cromwell shouted 
 
 and the record of votes and divisions. No mention has been found of 
 such a clause which could not have passed the House without discussion. 
 
 Professor Masson, in his Life of Milton^ vol. iv., p. 409, quotes Godwin 
 and Guizot against Bisset. If we are to appeal to authorities, we might 
 cite Mr Christie, who says, in his Life of Shaftesbury^ London, 1871, 
 vol. i., p. 93, " I find it difficult to reconcile Cromwell's objections to the 
 popular character of the scheme of representation proposed in the bill 
 with another charge that they designed by this bill to continue their own 
 power. I cannot suppose with Mr Carlyle that the bill contained a 
 clause providing that every member of the rump should be a member of 
 the new parliament without election." Masson airily observes that " Mr 
 Bisset refers to passages in Ludlow and Colonel Hutchinson's memoirs 
 as contradicting that account ; but they are too general to be worth any- 
 thing." Not so ; Cromwell's assertion was a general one, and therefore 
 to be met with a general reply. Cromwell, of course, could have made it 
 a precise one by quoting the clause, if such a clause ever were in the only 
 copy of the bill which he took and destroyed. I think that the descrip- 
 tion Ludlow gives of the bill quite negatives the statement which Masson 
 is so anxious to credit. 
 
 In the introduction to the Diary of Thomas Burton, p. cxliv., there is 
 mention of a diurnal which refers to a pamphlet entitled Some Mementos 
 for the Officers and Soldiers of the Army, from some sober Christians. 
 One of these Mementos discovers how Cromwell "broke in pieces the 
 parliament that intrusted him with his command under a false pretence that 
 they would have sat for ever," though they were at that instant passing 
 an act for dissolving themselves and settling successive parliaments ; 
 but the Protector broke them in haste to prevent the passing of that act 
 which had otherwise passed within an hour." 
 
 To controvert this statement the courtly diurnal adds : " Sure they had 
 no mind to rise as you may read in his highness's speech to the parlia- 
 ment." This, no doubt, in 1654, was a conclusive argument. 
 
 A few passages from newsletters of the time have been printed in the 
 Historical Review (July 1893), as corroborating Cromwell's statements. 
 The following sentences bear on the question. Newsletter, April 23, 
 1653. "The bill resolved to bee carried on by parliament was not for 
 dissolving this parliament but for recruiting it with such as probably 
 would bee disaffected neuters, lawyers or the like." Another newsletter, 
 dated April 29, " They fell hotly upon the act for calling a new parliament 
 or rather recruiting the old." The writers of these letters are unknown, 
 and their information in some details is incorrect. It is apparent that 
 the reports in question are simply taken from the Narrative of Proceed- 
 ings published on April 21, and Cromwell's declaration issued on the 
 
350 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 out : You think, perhaps, that this is not parliamentary 
 language. I know it." 
 
 Sir Peter Wentworth stood up to answer him, but 
 was cut short by Cromwell, who strode into the 
 middle of the chamber, and stamping the ground, cried 
 out : " You are no parliament, I say you are no 
 parliament ; I will put an end to your sitting. Call 
 them in." "The doors were opened and Colonel 
 Worsley entered the House with five or six files of 
 soldiers, about thirty men with their muskets ready." 
 Sir Henry Vane said aloud : " This is not honest, yea, 
 it is against morality and common honesty." On 
 which Cromwell cried out : " O Sir Henry Vane, Sir 
 Henry Vane, the Lord deliver me from Sir Henry 
 Vane." He then walked up and down the floor of the 
 House, he went on reviling some of the other 
 members. 
 
 Pointing to the Speaker in his chair, he said to 
 Harrison, " Fetch him down." The Speaker refused 
 to go when he was pulled down by Harrison. The 
 general then told him to put out Algernon Sydney, 
 who was seated on the Speaker's right hand. 
 Sydney said he would not go, and sat still. Harrison 
 and Worsley laid their hands upon his shoulders, 
 when he rose and went towards the door. Cromwell 
 told a soldier, pointing to the mace : " Take away this 
 
 22nd, and passed as current before the writers had either time or 
 opportunity for inquiring into their correctness. 
 
 M. de Bordeaux, the French ambassador in London, writing the day 
 after the coup d'etat, who seems well-informed, simply says that the 
 " General Cromwell dissolved the parliament while they debated about a 
 new parliament, and when the present one should take an end " (Guizot's 
 History, Appendix xxiii.). Amongst the charges against the late parlia- 
 ment, Bordeaux makes no mention of the attempt to hold their seats 
 without re-election. 
 
CHOMWfiLL EXPELS THE PAtlLlAMENT 
 
 351 
 
 fool's bauble." He then addressed himself to the 
 members of the House and said, " It's you that have 
 forced me to this, for I have sought the Lord night 
 and day, that He would rather slay me than put me 
 upon the doing of this work." "After this he went 
 to the clerk, and snatching the act of dissolution, 
 which was ready to pass, out of his hand, he put it 
 under his cloak, and having commanded the doors to 
 be locked up, went away to Whitehall." As the 
 members passed out, between 80 and 100, he 
 addressed them in abusive language, some of which 
 has been recorded. He accused Alderman Allen of 
 embezzling, and Whitelocke of injustice, and called 
 Sir Peter Wentworth an adulterer, and Challoner a 
 drunkard. As his old friend, Harry Marten, passed, 
 he asked him if a whoremaster was fit to sit and 
 govern. He is said to have called to Sir Henry 
 Vane that he " might have prevented this ; but he 
 was a juggler, and had not so much as common 
 honesty." Such invective, indicating a mind perturbed 
 to frenzy, were scarcely fit for his audience, the 
 musketeers. Indeed, Whitelocke tells us that some 
 of them were ashamed of his language. Cromwell 
 then went to the council of officers, still in debate 
 about this weighty business, and told them what he 
 had done. 
 
 On the afternoon of the same day he went to the 
 council of state, accompanied by Lambert and 
 Harrison, and told them at his entrance : " Gentlemen, 
 if you are met here as private persons, you shall not 
 be disturbed ; but if, as a council of state, this is no 
 place for you ; and since you can't but know what was 
 done at the House in the morning, so take notice 
 
352 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 that the parliament is dissolved." To this Sergeant 
 Bradshaw answered : " Sir, we have heard what you 
 did at the House in the morning, and before many- 
 hours all England will hear it ; but, sir, you are 
 mistaken to think that the parliament is dissolved ; 
 for no power under Heaven can dissolve them but 
 themselves ; therefore, take you notice of that." 
 Something more was said to the same purpose by Sir 
 Arthur Hesilrige, Mr Lowe, and Mr Scot ; and the 
 council of state, perceiving themselves to be under 
 the same violence, departed.^ 
 
 Thus fell by the treachery and violence of a 
 military junto the commonwealth of England, which 
 during a brief time of four years and three months, 
 had done more and accomplished more than any 
 government that had ever ruled England. It is need- 
 less to repeat the enconiums of friends and the unwill- 
 ing testimony of enemies to the mighty work of these 
 great men. The facts themselves cry out, though 
 posterity has been marvellously reluctant to listen. 
 They had subdued inside and outside enemies, united 
 the three kingdoms of the British Islands under one 
 rule, had changed the scorn and hostility of the 
 princes and courts of Europe into a wholesome fear 
 and involuntary respect, had given a new dignity to 
 the cause of freedom, and had, above all, sustained 
 that incomparable exaltation of mind, that intellectual 
 activity, that unselfish energy and public spirit, which 
 makes nations truly great. 
 
 It is not at all surprising that the parliament 
 should have hesitated to risk the fortunes of the 
 country and their own fates upon the outcome of the 
 
 ' Ludlow, vol. ii., p. 461. 
 
A SERVICEABLE ACCUSATION 353 
 
 polls. At the time, however, it was a serviceable 
 accusation to hurl at them, that they desired to 
 prolong their own power. The eagerness of the 
 admirers of Cromwell, to get this assumption accepted, 
 seems to imply that it constitutes, to their minds, a 
 valid excuse for his violently seizing upon the supreme 
 power, and retaining it during the rest of his life. 
 Well, perhaps this excuse is as good as any which 
 they are able to offer. 
 
 z 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 The Republicans in Suspense. Further Sea Fights. Peace with Holland. 
 The Barebones Parliament. State of Parties. Attempts to reform 
 the Law. Cromwell's Second Parliament His Domestic Policy. 
 His Foreign Policy. His Government of Scotland and of Ireland. 
 
 We do not even hear a dog bark at their going," said 
 Cromwell in his joy at his triumph. Colonel Hutchinson, 
 we are told,^ found divers of the members of parliament 
 consulting together in London. They had friends 
 enough in the army, city, and country, to have dis- 
 puted the matter ; but they thought, that if they should 
 vex the land by war amongst themselves, the royalists 
 and Presbyterians would have an opportunity to pre- 
 vail to the ruin of both. One thing was clear, the 
 parliament had willed a new election, and were 
 prevented by Cromwell from accomplishing it, and 
 Cromwell could have accomplished it and would not. 
 If he really wished the voice of the country to be 
 taken, it was now in his power at once to call for an 
 election, and to see that neither the old parliament 
 nor the other parties should enjoy any unfair 
 advantage. 
 
 As long as he was chief of the army, Cromwell 
 had a force sufficient to quell all opposition, but the 
 army of the commonwealth was not a tool to be used 
 
 ^ Memoirs, vol. ii., p. 206. 
 
 354 
 
MANAGEMENT OF THE ARMY 355 
 
 to do anything like the mercenaries of a Sicilian 
 tyrant or the janissaries of the East, where the down- 
 fall of one despot but meant the elevation of another. 
 The very soldiers had their own opinions and their 
 objects which they expected the lord-general to 
 fulfil and they were averse to be led in the very 
 direction he wanted to go. Indeed, the first difficulty 
 came from some of the officers. Colonel Okey, 
 distinguished for his skill and gallantry during the 
 civil war, repaired to the general to desire satisfaction 
 about his proceedings. Cromwell professed himself 
 resolved to do much more good, and that with more 
 expedition than could be expected from the parliament. 
 This put most of the officers to silence, and they 
 determined to wait to see what further he should do ; 
 but Colonel Okey inquired of Colonel Desborough 
 what his meaning was to give such high commendations 
 to the parliament, when he endeavoured to dissuade 
 the officers of the army from petitioning them for a 
 dissolution, and so short a time after to eject them 
 with so much scorn and contempt, who had no other 
 answer to make, but that, if ever he had drolled in his 
 life, he had drolled then.^ 
 
 The time was most opportune for the usurper 
 occupying the high position attained by the parliament : 
 all enemies within the British Isles were reduced, the 
 Dutch much weakened, and the public treasury full. 
 The Dutch ambassadors had welcomed the usurpation 
 in hopes of getting better terms from Cromwell ; but 
 finding themselves mistaken, they did their best to 
 continue the struggle, counting at least on divided 
 action. In this, too, they found themselves mistaken, for 
 
 ^ Ludlow's Metnoirs, vol. ii., p, 460. 
 
356 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 the commissioners of the navy, "not clearly seeing to 
 what extremities things would be driven combined to 
 act in their station" (Ludlow). When the news of the 
 expulsion of the Long Parliament reached his fleet 
 lying off Aberdeen, Blake said to his captains : " It is 
 not the business of a seaman to mind state affairs, but 
 to hinder foreigners from fooling us." Nevertheless, 
 his republican sentiments and incorruptible integrity 
 moved Cromwell to make General Monk, against 
 whom there were no such objections, admiral of the 
 fleet, with Deane as vice-admiral. With a fleet of 1 20 
 sail manned hastily, Tromp appeared off Dover firing 
 into the town. The English fleet, separated in 
 three squadrons, was hurriedly gathered into one, and 
 couriers riding day and night sped north to call Blake. 
 The two hostile fleets met in the Channel on the 
 morning of June 2. The English had 105 ships, 
 3840 guns, and 16,260 men; the Dutch were about 
 equal in guns and men, though they had more ships, 
 and the sea-fight raged through the long summer day. 
 Deane was killed by a cannon shot. At night they lay 
 within sight of one another repairing damages as well 
 as they could. Next morning Tromp, who thought 
 Blake could never arrive in time to take part, lost 
 some hours manoeuvering to gain the advantage of the 
 wind. The fight began again about noon, with doubt- 
 ful success on either side ; but towards evening ^ the 
 thunder of artillery on the flank of the Dutch fleet 
 gave warning of the terrible approach of the " Sea- 
 King," and the ship of his nephew, young Robert 
 
 1 Dixon says about two o'clock ; but in the original dispatch from 
 Monk and Blake it is said, "About seven o'clock last night General 
 Blake, with 13 sayle of shipps and some victuallers, came up with us." 
 See Historical Commission {Alfred Morrison), ()ih Report, p. 432. 
 
A BAD COMMISSARIAT 
 
 357 
 
 Blake, burst through the Dutch line, volleying fire from 
 each side. His appearance was greeted with one of 
 these manly shouts that stir men's hearts on the battle- 
 field. 
 
 The heroic Dutch admiral did his utmost to 
 sustain the spirit of his men. He ran his own ship, 
 the Brederode, aboard of Penn's ship the James. 
 The English crew drove them back and cleared the 
 quarterdeck of the Brederode of its defenders, when 
 Tromp, resolved not to be taken alive, set a match 
 in the powder room, which sent the upper deck and 
 the boarders into the air. Tromp himself escaped 
 from the disabled ship into a fast sailing frigate, 
 and hurried through the fleet to urge his captains 
 to continue the struggle. In vain! the brave old 
 sailor had at last to give orders for a retreat, and 
 it was only the coming of night that saved his fleet 
 from destruction. The Dutch lost 13 ships taken 
 and 6 sunk, and 1350 men taken. The victors 
 counted 126 men killed, and 236 wounded, with much 
 damage to their ships. 
 
 A blockade was then kept up along the Dutch 
 coast. We may fairly infer from the urgent requests 
 of Blake for supplies that the commissariat on shore 
 was far from being so well looked after as during 
 Vane's administration. In one letter he complains 
 that his stores were all run short ; the beer was sour ; 
 the bread bad ; the butter rancid ; the cheese rotten. 
 The amount of sickness on board was so great that, 
 in spite of the enemy's weakness, and the advantage 
 of holding them in close blockade, he feared that he 
 would be compelled, by want and sickness, to return 
 to England. In another letter Blake writes: "Our 
 
m 
 
 riFfi OF Sift HENRY VANE 
 
 men fell sick very fast every day, having at present 
 on board this ship upwards of 80 sick men, and 
 some of them very dangerously, which we hear is 
 generally through the whole fleet alike, proportionally 
 to the number of men on board." ^ Blake's own 
 health gave way, and he was carried ashore in a 
 dangerous condition, leaving Monk, Penn, and 
 Lawson to carry on the war. The blockading fleet 
 was withdrawn, which enabled the Dutch to con- 
 centrate their squadrons for a last effort. With 
 wonderful courage and energy they again, on July 
 29, encountered the English, but with no better 
 fortune. Thirty-three of their ships were sunk. 
 Up to this date the war had been fought without 
 any needless inhumanity. The prisoners had been 
 well treated and sometimes exchanged. Monk now 
 gave orders to grant no quarter, but out of com- 
 passion the English rescued many of the enemy 
 from drowning. Tromp was shot dead on his 
 quarter-deck. The victors lost i ship, 8 captains, 
 with 400 men slain or drowned, and 700 wounded. 
 The Dutch were now no longer able to continue 
 this deplorable war. Fifteen hundred of their ships 
 are said to have been taken, about double the whole 
 ocean-going mercantile marine of England. Their 
 trade was at a stand ; their people starving ; so they 
 were obliged to accept the terms which Cromwell 
 dictated. 
 
 The states-general had to make formal acknow- 
 ledgment of the sovereignty of the seas ; their men- 
 of-war were to strike their colours to those of 
 England on all occasions, and they engaged to pay 
 
 ^ Dixon's Lz/e 0/ Blake, pp. 257-59, 261. 
 
t^EACE WITH HOLLAND 
 
 359 
 
 a sum to defray the damage done to English 
 merchants in the Indies, Brazil, and other parts. The 
 King of Denmark was, with difficulty from Cromwell, 
 included in the treaty, the Dutch guaranteeing to 
 make good the losses of the owners of the ships 
 detained by him. The two nations engaged not to 
 harbour or succour the rebellious subjects of the 
 other, and the Dutch engaged not to make Stadt- 
 holder any of the House of Orange. Reparation 
 was promised to the heirs of the victims of the 
 massacre of Amboyna, an outrage which had re- 
 mained unavenged for thirty years. Some thought 
 that the project of the coalition entertained by the 
 Long Parliament, should not have been dropped. 
 This, however, could scarcely fit in with the farther 
 designs of the protector. Monk, we are told, thought 
 it "a base treachery in Cromwell to make a sudden 
 peace with the Dutch, and betray all the advantages 
 of the war, that he might go up to the throne with 
 more peace and satisfaction." But, however deep 
 Monk's resentment of baseness and treachery might 
 have been, assuredly he did not express it , to 
 Cromwell. 
 
 The peace was solemnly proclaimed on April 17, 
 1654. The protector in great state entertained the 
 Dutch ambassadors. Medals were struck upon the 
 occasion, and the successful usurper glorified in 
 panegyrical verses. The triumphant issue of the 
 war with the greatest naval power in the world, 
 was mainly due to the genius of Vane and Blake. 
 Alter tulit honor es. 
 
 The rule of Cromwell might be called a dictator- 
 ship restrained as well as upheld by an army 
 
360 
 
 LIFE OF Sm HENRY VANE 
 
 hankering after republicanism. He had got himself 
 into this position by promising to his supporters 
 a better government, which he could not give, and 
 reforms which he soon found too difficult to effect. 
 He, now of his own authority, called together a 
 legislative assembly of persons stated to be " faithful, 
 fearing God and hating covetousness." What 
 Cromwell expected from this convention known as 
 the Barebones Parliament is not clear. After sitting 
 for about five months, much of which time was spent 
 in prayer, they resigned their authority into the hands 
 of the lord-general, from whom they had received 
 it without having passed any of the formidable reforms 
 they had traced out. A few days after, Cromwell was 
 proclaimed protector with much military pomp. 
 
 All the parties who had inveighed against the 
 Long Parliament, now directed their hostility against 
 Cromwell, and the republicans joined in. A few, like 
 Blake and Ludlow, still continued to serve him, hoping 
 for a change in their favour. Milton remained Latin 
 secretary, though his office was shared with another, 
 but was admitted neither into the intimacy nor the 
 confidence of the protector, to whom he offered^advice 
 which could not be welcome, based upon hopes which 
 were never realised. In his Defensio Secunda pro 
 Populo Anglicano, published in 1654, he thus 
 addresses Cromwell : " Cdnsider often with yourself that 
 your country has intrusted you with her dearest 
 pledge, that of her liberty. Regard the great expecta- 
 tions conceived of you ; reflect that your country's hope 
 is entirely from you ; regard the countenances and 
 wounds of so many brave men, who, under your 
 conduct, have fought for liberty ; regard the manes of 
 
MtLTON'S ADVICE TO CROMWELL 361 
 
 those who have died in battle ; regard what foreign 
 nations may think and say of us, and the great things 
 which they have promised themselves from our noble 
 acquisition of liberty, and our new commonwealth so 
 gloriously begun to be established, which, if it prove 
 abortive, will be the greatest infamy to this nation ; 
 lastly, regard your own character, and never suffer that 
 liberty, for which you have passed through so many 
 toils and dangers, to be violated by yourself, or in any 
 measure lessened by others. You cannot be free 
 yourself, unless we are free ; for such is the necessary 
 constitution of things, that whoever invades the liberty 
 of others, first of all loses his own, and will be first 
 sensible of his own being a slave. But if he, who 
 has been the patron, and as it were tutelar deity of 
 liberty, and been esteemed a man of the greatest 
 sanctity and probity, should usurp over that liberty 
 which he has defended ; it will be a pernicious and 
 almost fatal wound, not only to his reputation, but 
 even to that of virtue and piety in general. Honesty 
 and virtue will seem to be lost ; religion will have 
 little regard paid to it ; and reputation will ever after 
 be of small account ; than which no greater misfortune 
 can befall mankind." 
 
 Many people, too, had their immediate fortunes 
 to consider ; they had bought the lands of the crown, 
 of the church, or of the Cavaliers. Oliver was one 
 man ; the Stuarts were a hereditary dynasty who 
 would bring back with them the Lords, the bishops, 
 and the whole royalist faction eager to prescribe, 
 confiscate, and hang. Republican feeling still con- 
 tinued to be strong in the army, and there seemed 
 little likelihood of another general gaining the same 
 
LIFE OF Sm tiENitY VANE 
 
 ascendancy over the soldiers which Cromwell had 
 done. Thus, while some of the republican leadens 
 kept up a resolute opposition to the protector's 
 government, a few continued to serve the state under 
 him, and some were content to await events. 
 
 Many plots were formed against the life of the 
 usurper. A proclamation, said to come from Charles 
 Stuart, was circulated, in which a reward was offered 
 for his assassination, and there was dangerous 
 discontent amongst the zealots in the army, who had 
 expected great changes in the constitution. 
 
 To gain over the sectaries, Cromwell had 
 reproached the Long Parliament with being slow and 
 dilatory at reforming the law, but he was never able 
 to accomplish as much towards that desirable object 
 as they had done. Under the Long Parliament, there 
 was a commission on which Whitelocke and Sir 
 Matthew i Hale sat to inquire into the speediest way 
 to reform the law. The commission " made several 
 valuable reports, but their labours were suddenly 
 interrupted by the violent dissolution of the Long 
 Parliament" (Campbell).^ Amongst the sectaries 
 
 ^ The labours of these enlightened friends of law reform are thus 
 commented on by Lord Campbell in his Lives of the Lord Chancellors : 
 " their efforts were greatly obstructed, not only by the violent end of the 
 Long Parliament, but still more by the folly and fanaticism of Barebones 
 Parliament, and by the abrupt dissolution of the two parliaments which 
 followed ; but they procured the actual enactment of some most impor- 
 tant laws, and the projects of many others which have at last been 
 adopted in the present age." Ordinances passed " for changing tenure in 
 chivalry into common soccage," by which a great portion of the land of 
 the kingdom was freed from ward ship reliefs and other oppressive 
 burdens ; " for allowing marriage to be entered into according to the 
 religious persuasion of the parties or as a civil contract at their option," 
 the model of the recent marriage act ; " for the registration of births, 
 marriages, and deaths," which we have likewise copied, "for paying 
 judges and other officers by salaries instead of fees," the most effectual 
 
MIDDLING WITH THE LAW 
 
 363 
 
 there were not a few zealots who desired to abolish 
 the common and statute law of England, and put the 
 Mosaic code in its place. There were, however, 
 enlightened men who, had they not been hindered, 
 would have anticipated many reforms which had to 
 wait for well-nigh two hundred years. 
 
 One of the boldest schemes of the Barebones 
 Parliament was the summary abolition of the Court 
 of Chancery. As this court was very unpopular 
 owing to its undue delays and great costs, 
 Cromwell undertook to reform it with the con- 
 currence of his council. His ordinance was found so 
 unworkable and likely to inflict unforeseen injustices 
 that the lord commissioners, Whitelocke and 
 Widdrington, refused to obey it, and went on for a 
 whole term without observing it. For this they 
 were summoned before the protector, and dismissed 
 from their office, and two military officers made lords 
 commissioners, against whom there were loud 
 complaints of their general incompetence. Lord 
 Campbell, who severely criticises this ordinance,^ owns 
 that the Common Law Bench and Exchequer 
 were well filled in Cromwell's time : he sought out 
 worthy men as judges, and kept a regard of the just 
 administration of the law so far as was consistent with 
 the maintenance of his own paper. 
 
 After ruling with the help of the tools who formed 
 his council for nearly a year, Cromwell ventured to call 
 
 mode of preventing corruption and correcting abuses in courts of 
 justice; and "for having all legal records in the language of the 
 country," so that a knowledge of the laws might be communicated to 
 those who were to obey them. But the restoration brought back 
 Norman-French to the reports and barbarous Latin to the law records, 
 which continued till the reign of George II." 
 
 ^ Lives of the Lord Chancellors, London, 1846, vol. iii., chapter Ixx. 
 
LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 a parliament based on the scheme of redistribution 
 proposed by Ireton in the Instrument of Government, 
 and adopted by Vane in his bill. It met on September 
 3> 1654. 
 
 The republicans had a scruple against recognising 
 Cromwell's writs by becoming candidates, but a few 
 sought election. Though before taking their seats 
 the members had to make a general recognition of the 
 protector's government, a discussion was soon raised 
 by Bradshaw, Scot, and other republicans who had got 
 in, whether government by a single person should 
 receive their sanction. Cromwell then ordered that 
 the members, before entering the House, should sign 
 a test in the lobby of a stricter form, which was refused 
 by the republicans but signed by about 140 members. 
 Finding that notwithstanding these men still went on 
 considering limitations to his power, Cromwell abruptly 
 dissolved the parliament before they had time to do 
 anything of consequence. 
 
 Cromwell, though overfond of ruling, was anxious 
 to rule well, and for one man to do so after the able 
 statesmen of the commonwealth was assuredly not 
 easy. Such men were not to be had for hire. 
 
 Milton, when asked what made him side with the 
 republicans, answered among other reasons because 
 theirs was the most frugal government, for that the 
 trappings of a monarchy might set up an ordinary 
 commonwealth. The expenses of the protector's 
 court were about ^35,000 a quarter, not too much 
 perhaps ; then there was to pay the expenses of keeping 
 in peace a larger army than the Plantagenets had 
 mustered to march through France. To raise the 
 sums needed for this purpose kept the protector in 
 
CROMWELL'S MASTIFFS 
 
 365 
 
 perpetual difficulties. The cousin and friend of 
 Hampden had to raise taxes without the consent of 
 parliament, and to distrain the goods of those who 
 refused. 
 
 He divided England and Wales into twelve 
 districts, over which he set twelve major-generals. 
 Cromwell's mastiffs were let loose upon the country- 
 charged to raise money, carrying, as one of them said, 
 the laws of England in their breasts. They soon 
 drew up lists of malignants, delinquents, disaffected, 
 and Roman Catholics. Some of the royalist gentry 
 had ventured to return and settle down after years 
 of exile, to pay their debts and repair their houses, 
 when they were ordered to make a statement of their 
 property to be scrutinised by such as would accept 
 the invidious office of commissioners. An exaction 
 of one-tenth of their substance was made. If they 
 refused to pay the estates were sequestered. There 
 is scarcely an honest man that is not in a borrowing 
 condition,"^ writes Sir Ralph Verney ; a proceeding 
 more likely to unite the country gentlemen against 
 the government could scarcely be devised. Sir 
 Arthur Hesilrige, refusing to pay taxes not voted by 
 parliament, had his cattle seized by order of Oliver 
 Cromwell, who like to him had taken up arms to resist 
 the illegal exactions of Charles I. 
 
 ' Memoirs of the Verney Family during the Commonwealth, 1650- 1660, 
 London, 1894, vol. iii,, chap. viii. 
 
 Ralph Verney, who left the Long Parliament rather than sign the 
 covenant, had spent nine years abroad, principally in the south 
 of France, his wife having consumption. On his return he was 
 arrested on a charge of disaffection, but was released after a short 
 detention. It was not so easy to escape the major-generals, who were 
 as eager to raise money as to punish malignants. They exacted a fine 
 of one-tenth of his estate which, by appeals and delays, he managed to 
 escape paying till their powers were over. 
 
366 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 The major-generals were instructed to prevent 
 horse-racing, cock-fighting, bear-baiting, and stage 
 plays ; drunkenness, swearing, and profaning of the 
 Lord's Day, were severely punished. The episcopal 
 ministers were ejected and even chased out of private 
 families where they had been kept as chaplains. The 
 quakers were treated with great severity. The 
 major-generals suppressed solitary alehouses, and 
 restricted the number of licences for the sale of 
 liquor.^ 
 
 They were overwhelmed with work, and found 
 great difficulty in carrying out their puritanical 
 regulations, especially as their ignorance of legal 
 procedures was too patent, and the country gentlemen, 
 who had heretofore the management of rural admini- 
 stration, were obstructive and hostile. 
 
 The protector was watchful in weeding the army 
 of discontented officers. He used to send for the 
 most popular Independent and Anabaptist ministers 
 who preached and prayed against him, expostulated 
 with them, prayed with them, and listened to their 
 remonstrances, as if he were going to take them to 
 heart. He had a long colloquy with Richard Baxter, 
 author of the Saints Everlasting Rest, who had 
 been a chaplain in the civil wars. Cromwell laid 
 forth how God had owned his government by defeat- 
 ing his enemies. They disputed together for four 
 hours. " I saw," said Baxter, " that what he learned 
 must be from himself, being more disposed to speak 
 many hours than to hear one, and little heeding 
 what another said when he had spoken himself." The 
 
 ^ See Cromwell's Major-Generals, by David Watson Rannie, in the 
 English Historical Review for July 1895. 
 
HOW MUCH TOLERATION? 
 
 367 
 
 Presbyterian divine desired a return of the old mon- 
 archy which he had afterwards good cause to deplore. 
 
 The royalists would not have a regicide to rule 
 over them, nor the republicans a dictator. Kept well 
 informed of everything that was going on, Cromwell 
 knew he was in dangers which he was perpetually 
 avoiding by address and conduct. He had no friends 
 save his army and his agents, and some of the clergy 
 to whom he bestowed livings, for he kept the patronage 
 of the church, still Presbyterian, in his hands, though 
 many who had something to lose weariedly acquiesced 
 in his rule, for fear of the Stuarts or the Levellers. 
 The nation was sinking into a dismal state of indiffer- 
 ence to civil liberty. 
 
 Cromwell was faithful to his standard of religious 
 toleration, which, though not so high as in our days, 
 was much higher than in any state of the time save 
 the republic of Holland. Presbyterianism remained 
 the established religion ; only for political reasons, he 
 would not allow the office-bearers to assemble in 
 synods. Sometimes church livings were given to 
 Independents. All the sects, save the Socinians,^ 
 were allowed freedom to preach ; but " the frequent 
 use" of the prayer-book was forbidden, and most of 
 the episcopalian clergy were ousted from their livings, 
 though they were allowed a portion of their incomes 
 for subsistence. Cromwell kept up the penal laws 
 against the Catholics ; but did not press them hard. 
 
 ^ John Biddle, the earliest preacher of Unitarianism, sustained a 
 pubHc disputation in St Paul's cathedral with a Baptist minister. He 
 was committed to Newgate by order of the council ; the protector sent 
 him to Scilly, where he remained till 1658. He was allowed one hundred 
 crowns a year for his maintenance. See Neal's History of the Puritans, 
 edited by Toulmin, vol. iv., p. 135. 
 
368 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 The Dutch war being over, there was no reason 
 why Britain should not enjoy the blessings of peace 
 after so much bloodshed ; but Cromwell, whose first 
 need was to sustain his own power, hoped, by pleas- 
 ing the people with triumphs abroad, to make them 
 forget the liberties of which he had deprived them. 
 He came into power with a large veteran army and 
 a well-equipped fleet manned by sailors who had 
 defeated the greatest naval power in Europe, all under 
 the control of a single hand, which is highly favour- 
 able to arrangements with foreign powers. His 
 policy, though it fulfilled the aim of rendering his 
 name formidable in Europe, was not what a 
 far-sighted statesman would have prosecuted had he 
 thought only of his country's good. France was 
 rising into the colossal monarchy which it became 
 under the majority of Louis XIV. Spain, though 
 still a great power, was sinking into decline. Both 
 nations eagerly bade against one another for the 
 alliance of England. France could do him more 
 harm than Spain, and the Protestants enjoyed some 
 degree of toleration ; but Spain was eminently the 
 persecuting Catholic power, and her rich possessions 
 offered a tempting prey. When the frightened 
 Spanish ambassador asked what cause of offence his 
 country had given, Cromwell demanded that she 
 should abolish the Inquisition and allow the English 
 to trade in the Indies. Cromwell prepared a fleet 
 and army, the destination of which was kept secret. 
 Without any declaration of war, it was sent against 
 the Spanish possessions in the West Indies. In this 
 expedition the want of the organising power of Vane 
 was apparent. The troops were ill supplied with 
 
CROMWELL'S FOREIGN POLICY m 
 
 arms and ammunition, provisions bad and scanty, 
 and entrusted to two incapable commanders.^ At 
 Hispaniola the expedition met with a disgraceful 
 repulse, but they succeeded with little difficulty in 
 seizing upon Jamaica, which still remains to us the 
 sole legacy of the foreign policy of Cromwell. The 
 treachery of the action was not condemned by public 
 opinion in England so strongly as it might have been, 
 though several naval officers were so shocked that 
 they would no longer serve under Cromwell's govern- 
 ment. The victories of Blake filled the enemies of 
 England with fear as they had done in the days of 
 the commonwealth, though he did not meet with the 
 same ready support. In repeated letters to the 
 protector he complains of bad provisions, ships 
 become foul and unseaworthy, and sickly crews. 
 By lending a small contingent to France against 
 Spain, Cromwell triumphed in the field of European 
 politics with no great exertion of military force, while 
 he pleased English vanity by the acquisition of 
 Dunkirk. He did his best to accelerate the downfall 
 of Spain and promote the rise of France ; in short, he 
 helped the work which, continued as it was by his 
 successor, Charles II., caused William III. and 
 Marlborough so much pains to undo. Nevertheless, 
 his foreign policy answered the purpose. The great 
 figure of the protector was regarded with awe and 
 admiration throughout Europe. Even his enemies 
 allowed that, though ambitious for power, he knew 
 how to exercise it. His court was dignified and 
 
 ^ Mr Bisset, in his Essays on Historical Truth, London, 1871, on 
 the Government of the Commonwealth and the Government of 
 Cromwell, has shown the causes of the inferiority, 
 
 2 A 
 
LIFE OF Sm HENRV VANE 
 
 serious ; his private life decorous and free from 
 scandal ; in his public demeanour Oliver was noble 
 and great. 
 
 Venice sent an ambassador to solicit Cromwell's 
 aid as the champion of Christendom against the 
 Turks ; but, though Blake gave the Venetians a 
 welcome diversion by his victory at Tunis, the 
 sagacious protector preferred to be the champion of 
 Protestantism. When the persecution of the Vaudois 
 by the Duke of Savoy aroused indignation amongst 
 all the Protestant states, Cromwell stood as their 
 protector, and though his exertions were successful, 
 mainly through the interest of Mazarin, who was 
 eager to gain the English help against Spain, it 
 served to uphold Cromwell's name as the champion of 
 the Protestant faith. 
 
 In his government of Scotland, Cromwell con- 
 tinued what had been begun by the commissioners 
 of the Long Parliament. The religious toleration 
 allowed looked well when compared with the oppres- 
 sion which followed the restoration. His policy 
 accustomed a people kept back by centuries of misrule 
 and incessant struggles with a more powerful 
 neighbour to a uniform and orderly system of 
 government. 
 
 It was, however, purchased at a dear price ; 
 Scodand was bled white, utterly exhausted of men 
 and means. Such was the poverty of the people 
 that Monk, who was not troubled with feelings of 
 compassion, again and again wrote to the protector ^ 
 
 1 See Scotland and the Protectorate^ edited by C. H. Firth. Edinburgh, 
 1899. Introduction, p. Iv., and letters, pp. 162, 190, 195, 201-212, 259, 
 and 295. 
 
FORFEITURES IN IRELAND 
 
 371 
 
 that it vas impossible to raise the ^10,000 per month 
 laid upoi Scotland to maintain the English garrison. 
 It was only by seizing the cattle in the country and 
 distraini.ig the household goods in the burghs that 
 Monk could raise about ^8000. The amount had to 
 be reduced to ;^6ooo. This was the amount in which 
 Scotlanc was taxed half a century after.^ 
 
 In England and Scotland, after the sword was 
 sheathec, the vanquished were suffered to go in peace ; 
 not so h Ireland, which, during the eight years' war 
 and anarchy, had lost one-third of her population. 
 Cromwe'l's government of the country was intolerant 
 and oppressive, though like his other measures it 
 answered the immediate end which he had in view. 
 His wholesale forfeitures of the lands of the native 
 Irish, and his attempt to banish them into the 
 province of Connaught, did as much as anything else 
 to confirm that irreconcilable hatred to England, 
 which gives to this day so much insecurity to our 
 empire. By encouraging the native Irish to leave 
 their country for foreign service, Cromwell turned 
 Ireland nto a great recruiting depot for the armies of 
 the Catholic powers, which continued till the time of 
 the Freiich revolution. It is known that nearly half 
 a million of Irishmen, during this period, took service 
 in FrRiKe ; and on several occasions, as at Fontenoy, 
 their fieiy valour turned the tide of battle against a 
 British irmy. 
 
 A few years ago the inextinguishable hatred of 
 the Iris! people against Cromwell was shown in the 
 refusal of the nationalist members to allow money to 
 be voted for a statue to the protector, and the 
 
 ^Defoe's History of the Union, London, 1786, p. 165. 
 
LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 English home rule party dared not thus offend their 
 Irish allies. Mr Gladstone, then retired from public 
 life, was delighted with Justin Macarthy's speech on 
 the occasion, observing that Cromwell was no friend 
 to liberty. 
 
 Cromwell was the first ruler of England to 
 recognise the importance of the colonies. He was 
 anxious that some of the settlers in Massachusetts 
 should shift to his new conquest of Jamaica, which 
 they excused themselves from doing. He always 
 favoured New England. The colonists in Virginia, 
 where royalist sentiment was strong, complained 
 that owing to the protector's forbidding them to 
 trade with foreign countries, they could neither 
 procure sufficient supplies for themselves, nor dispose 
 of all their produce in the mother country. 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 "A Retired Man's Meditations." The Healing Question. Vane imprisoned 
 and persecuted. CromwelPs Third Parliament. His Anxieties and 
 Nervous Troubles. His Death. Choice of a Successor. 
 
 After the expulsion of the Long Parliament, Sir 
 Henry had quietly betaken himself to Raby Castle, 
 where he had a rest which could scarcely have been 
 unwelcome after the strain and toil of so many years. 
 He now gave up his mind to those mystical musings 
 recorded in a book entitled A Retired Mans Medita- 
 tions, which will be noticed farther on. On his father's 
 death, in 1654, as the elder son, Sir Henry fell heir 
 to Raby Castle, and Belleau in Lincolnshire. The 
 northern estate had suffered much during the civil 
 war, and as he had while in office paid little attention 
 to his private affairs there were debts and incumbrances 
 to clear off. 
 
 In the hopes of advancing his project of making 
 himself king, Cromwell issued a proclamation calling 
 upon the people to hold a fast, and apply themselves to 
 the Lord to discover the Achan, who had so long 
 obstructed the settlement of these distracted kingdoms, 
 declaring that he and others associated in the govern- 
 ment earnestly longed for light, that they might dis- 
 cern their errors and faults, and that they were ready 
 with a mind open to conviction to receive counsel aud 
 
374 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 direction in whatever methods providence might adopt. 
 Sir Henry took advantage of the invitation and wrote 
 a treatise entitled : " A Healing Question propounded 
 and resolved upon occasion of the late publique and 
 seasonable Call to Humiliation in order to Love and 
 Union amongst the Honest Party, with a desire to 
 apply Balsam to the Wound before it become incurable," 
 by Henry Vane, Knight. A title containing a 
 prophecy only too well fulfilled. A copy of the work 
 was sent through General Fleetwood to Cromwell. 
 Being returned without comment it was published in 
 March 1655.^ The treatise is so carefully constructed, 
 one part supporting the texture of the whole, that a few 
 extracts give no adequate idea of the wisdom and 
 prescience shown in its composition. 
 
 It is addressed to "the honest party," those who 
 took up arms in defence of public liberty. Vane 
 reminded them that the cause has still the same 
 goodness in it as ever, not to be less valued now than 
 when neither blood nor treasure were thought too 
 dear to carry it on and hold it up from sinking. The 
 persons concerned were still the same. In the 
 management of the war it pleased God, the righteous 
 judge, to make them complete conquerors over their 
 common enemy, thus strengthening their just claim to 
 be governed by national councils and successive 
 representations of their own election and setting 
 up. 
 
 This they thought they had been in possession 
 of ; but a great interruption had happened to their 
 expectations, something rising up that seems rather 
 
 1 This treatise maybe found in Somers' Collection of Scarce and Valuable 
 Tracts, second edition, volume vi., p. 308, and in the appendix to Forster'§ 
 British Statesman, Sir Henry Vane, vol. iv, 
 
A HEALING QUESTION 
 
 375 
 
 accommodated to the private and selfish interest of a 
 particular part than truly adequate to the common 
 good. "Hence it is," the writer goes on, "if these 
 breaches be not timely healed, and the offences 
 (before they take too deep root) removed, they will 
 certainly work more to the advantage of the common 
 enemy than any of their own unwearied endeavours 
 and dangerous contrivances in foreign parts put all 
 together." 
 
 He claims that the whole party of honest men, by 
 the success of their arms, have a right to set up meet 
 persons in supreme judicature and authority, and to 
 shape and form all subordinate actings and adminis- 
 trations of rule and government, so as shall best 
 answer the public welfare and safety of the whole. 
 
 In this he eloquently observes, " All the particulars 
 of our civil right and freedom are comprehended, 
 conserved in, and derived from their proper root ; 
 in which whilst they grow, they will ever thrive, 
 flourish, and increase ; whereas, on the contrary, 
 if there be ever so many fair branches of liberty 
 planted on the root of a private and selfish interest, 
 they will not long prosper, but must, within a little 
 time, wither and degenerate into the nature of that 
 whereinto they are planted." 
 
 With fervid eloquence Vane proclaims the right 
 and blessing of freedom in matters of religion, as he 
 had done eighteen years before in Massachusetts : 
 " The magistrates should content themselves with what 
 is plain in their commission in giving protection and 
 punishment in matters of outward practice, converse, 
 and dealing in the things of this life between man 
 and man." "Why shouldest thou," he asks, "set at 
 
376 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 naught thy brother in matters of his faith and 
 conscience, and herein intrude into the proper office 
 of Christ, since we are all to stand at the judgment 
 seat of Christ, whether governors or governed, and 
 by His decision only are capable of being declared 
 with certainty to be in the right or in the wrong ? " 
 
 He observes that since the fall of the bishops 
 and persecuting presbyteries, the same spirit is apt 
 to arise in the next sort of clergy that can get the 
 ear of the magistrates, though he admits that in the 
 matter of religious toleration, the present governors 
 have been willing very eminendy to give their 
 testimony, in their public declaration, however, in 
 practice there is much of grievance yet found among 
 us, though more, in probability, from the officiousness 
 of subordinate ministers, than any clear purpose or 
 designs of the chief in power." 
 
 He warns the army of the danger to the freedom 
 contended for by themselves of having a divided 
 interest from the rest of the commonwealth. "The 
 offence lies in this, that the whole body is denied the 
 exercise of the right of freely disposing of themselves 
 in such a constitution of righteous government, as 
 may best answer the ends held forth upon pretence 
 that they are not in capacity as yet to use it ; which, 
 indeed, have some truth in it, if those that are now 
 in power, and have the command of the arms, do not 
 prepare all things requisite thereunto, as they may, 
 and like faithful guardians to the commonwealth, 
 admitted to be in its nonage, they ought." 
 
 " But if the bringing of true freedom into exercise 
 amongst men, yea, so refined a party of men, be 
 impossible, why has this been concealed all this 
 
WHO WAS THE ACHAN ? 
 
 377 
 
 while? and why was it not thought on before so 
 much blood was spilt, and treasure spent ? Surely 
 such a thing as this was judged real and practicable, 
 not imaginary and notional." 
 
 He skilfully conveys to the readers mind who 
 was the Achan whose sin obstructed the settlement 
 of the kingdoms, and instead of favouring and pro- 
 moting the public good, aimed at self-interest and 
 private gain. Anxious to conciliate and gain over 
 the military party, the author finds excuses for the 
 usurpation : " Since what hath been done amongst us 
 may probably have been more the effect of temptation 
 than the product of any malicious design ; and this 
 sort of temptation is very common and incedent to 
 men in power (how good soever they may be) to be 
 overtaken in, and thereupon do sudden unadvised 
 actions, which the Lord pardons and overrules for 
 the best ; evidently making appear that it is the 
 work of the weak and fleshy part, which his own 
 people carry about with them too much unsubdued." 
 
 For recruiting the party he suggests " a convention 
 of faithful, honest, and discerning men chosen for 
 that purpose by the free consent of the whole body 
 of adherents to this cause in the several parts of 
 the nations, and observing the time and place of 
 meeting appointed to them (with other circumstances 
 concerning their election) by order from the present 
 ruling power, but considered as generall of the army. 
 Which convention is not properly to exercise the 
 legislative power, but only to debate freely, and agree 
 upon the particulars ; that by way of fundamental 
 constitutions shall be laid and inviolably observed, 
 as the conditions upon which the whole body so 
 
378 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 represented, doth consent to cast itself into a civil 
 and politick incorporation, and under the visible form 
 and administration of government therein declared, 
 and to be, by each individual member of the body- 
 subscribed, in testimony of his or their particular 
 consent given thereunto. Which conditions so agreed 
 (and amongst them an act of oblivion for one) will 
 be without danger of being broken or departed from ; 
 considering of what it is they are the conditions and 
 the nature of the convention wherein they are made, 
 which is of the people represented in their highest 
 state of sovereignty, as they have the sword in their 
 hands unsubjected unto the rules of civil government, 
 but what themselves orderly assembled for that 
 purpose do think fit to make. And the sword upon 
 these conditions subjecting itself to the supreme 
 judicature thus to be set up, how suddenly might 
 harmony, righteousness, love, peace, and safety unto 
 the whole body follow hereupon as the happy fruit 
 of such a settlement, if the Lord have any delight 
 to be amongst us." 
 
 Recognising the inconveniency of a legislative 
 assembly discharging the executive powers, he asks : 
 " Would a standing council of state settled for life, in 
 reference to the safety of the commonwealth, and for 
 the maintaining intercourse and commerce with foreign 
 states, under the inspection and oversight of the supreme 
 judicature, but of the same fundamental constitution 
 with themselves, would this be disliked? Admitting 
 their orders were binding, in the intervals of supreme 
 national assemblies, so far only as consonant to the 
 settled laws of the commonwealth the vacancy of any 
 of which by death or otherwise might be supplied by 
 
IDEA OF A COMMONWEALTH 
 
 379 
 
 the vote of the major part of themselves ? Nay, would 
 there be any just exception to be taken if (besides 
 both these) it should be agreed (as another part of the 
 fundamental constitution of the government) to place 
 that branch of sovereignty which chiefly respects the 
 execution of laws in a distinct office from that of the 
 legislative power (and yet subordinate to them and to 
 the laws), capable to be entrusted into the hands of 
 one single person, if need require, or in a greater 
 number, as the legislative power should think fit ; and 
 for the greater strength and honour unto this office, 
 that the execution of all laws and orders (that are 
 binding) may go forth in his or their name." 
 
 This is Vane's idea of a commonwealth. A 
 legislative assembly founded upon a redistribution of 
 electoral power in accordance with the number of the 
 voters in the district and the amount of taxes paid. 
 A council or senate elected for life and filling up their 
 own vacancies, and who should conduct foreign 
 relations and hold the reins of power in the interval of 
 the parliamentary elections. The execution of the 
 laws was to be lodged in a single person. It was 
 clearly left open to Cromwell that he might, as the 
 restorer of liberty, have been the president of the 
 republic, and retained enough of power and authority 
 to satisfy a worthy ambition. It was indeed true, as 
 Vane so wisely pointed out, that the only way of safety 
 lay in the union through mutual concessions of the 
 republican and protector's parties. But Cromwell 
 only thought how he might uphold his own power ; 
 he was far below the magnanimity of an Epaminonidas 
 or a Timoleon. It was left for Washington to show 
 m honour and unselfishness which secured the safety 
 
3^0 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 of a great people who have prospered under a con- 
 stitution similar to that proposed by Vane. 
 
 The Healing Question was published about the 
 time when the writs for Cromwell's third parliament 
 were issued. It is said that the treatise was much 
 read at private meetings. It might seem incredible 
 that an answer to a request for advice so moderate, 
 calm, and impersonal should be viewed as a criminal 
 offence by one like Cromwell, who had spoken so 
 loudly and fought so stoutly for freedom. The action 
 of the usurper showed his extreme anxiety that Vane 
 should be silenced. In the beginning of August he 
 caused a curt summons to be sent to Vane to appear 
 before the council. At this time the friends of the 
 great statesman were labouring to get him elected for 
 Boston, but were afraid of showing themselves openly, 
 such was the intimidation exercised by the ruling 
 party. Failing in the town, Vane's friends tried to get 
 him elected for the county of Lincolnshire. Major- 
 General Whalley took the matter more calmly. " Sir 
 Henry Vane," he wrote ^ to Secretary Thurloe, hath no 
 great interest in Lincolnshire. If anything enable 
 him to be chosen, I fear it will be his being at this 
 time sent for." Whalley, two days after, repeats this 
 observation in a letter to the protector himself,^ so 
 clearly did he recognise this arbitrary summons as an 
 error in electioneering tactics. 
 
 From his seat in Belleau in Lincolnshire, Vane 
 wrote that he could not be in London till some days 
 after the day prescribed. He reached the capital on 
 
 ^ Letter dated Newark, August 9, 1656, Thurloe's State Paper?,, vol. v., 
 p. 297. He adds in a postscript : " Henry Vane's friends labour much 
 for him as they did at Boston, but at last durst not appear." 
 
 ^ Dated Nottingham, August 11, 1656, Thurloe^ vol, v., p. 299. 
 
A SPIRITED LETTER 
 
 381 
 
 August 14. On the 20th, Sir Henry wrote from his 
 house at Charing Cross to Mr William Jessop, clerk 
 to the council at Whitehall.^ 
 
 "Sir, — It being declared by parliament (as is very 
 well known) that it is against the laws and liberties of 
 England that any of the people thereof should be 
 commanded by the king (when there was one) to 
 attend him at his pleasure, but such as are bound 
 thereunto by especial services (which others therefore 
 are not) it will, I hope, be permitted me without offence 
 to claim the same privileges and liberty in these times, 
 and in the case of the summons lately sent unto me, 
 wherein I find no cause for my appearance, but mere 
 will and pleasure ; yet in vindication of the innocent 
 and peaceable deportment I live in, according to the 
 laws, I have not refused to be upon the place at my 
 house here in the Strand ever since Thursday night, 
 as I made known unto you by this bearer the next 
 morning ; and as ever since I have here, so I am still 
 ready to appear, when I shall be sent for, until the 
 press of my occasions in reference to my family 
 concerns (which at this time, by reason of my father's 
 debts, are very great and heavy upon me) shall require 
 my attendance upon them in other places of the 
 nation ; all which I have held myself obliged to make 
 known unto you in the relation you stand in, especially 
 not having heard from you yesterday as I supposed 
 I should. I am your humble servant, H. Vane." 
 
 The council had probably delayed proceedings 
 against Vane till the results of the elections were 
 
 ' Thurloe^ vol. v., p. 328. 
 
382 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 known to them. Sir H. Vane had polled in three 
 places and missed it in all. Thurloe goes on in his 
 letter to Henry Cromwell/ who now filled Strafford's 
 place as Lord Deputy at Dublin. "Sir H. Vane was 
 before the council upon Thursday last (August 21); 
 he owned to the writing of it ( The Healing Question) 
 as also the publishing in terms mysterious enough (as 
 his manner is). He was hereupon ordered to give 
 in security (to the amount of ^5000) not to disturb 
 the peace of the nation, or else to stand committed, 
 and he was to do it by this day." Vane again 
 appeared before the council and delivered into 
 Cromwell's own hand ^ a paper containing the reasons 
 of his disapproving of his usurpation, and a friendly 
 advice to him to return to his duty. This appeal to 
 Cromwell's better self was unavailing, and Vane 
 refused to comply with what was required : "I am 
 well content," he said, "to take this as a mark of 
 honour from those who sent it, and as the recompense 
 of my former services," and added with a terrible 
 significance, " I cannot but observe in this proceeding 
 with me, how exactly they tread in the steps of the 
 late king, whose design being to set the government 
 free from all restraint of laws as in our persons and 
 estates, and to render the monarchy absolute, thought 
 he could employ no better means to effect it, than 
 by casting into obloquy and disgrace all those who 
 desired to preserve the laws and liberties of the 
 nation." He concluded thus : " It is with no small 
 grief to be lamented that the evil and wretched 
 principles, by which the late king aimed to work out 
 
 1 Dated Whitehall, August 26, 1656, vol. v., p. 349. 
 
 2 Ludlow's Memoirs^ vol. ii., p. 577. 
 
VANE IMPRISONED 
 
 383 
 
 his design, should now revive and spring up under 
 the hands of men professing godliness." A fortnight 
 was allowed to pass till a warrant was made out to 
 arrest the unyielding Puritan. He was sent to 
 Carisbrooke Castle, where the late king had been 
 imprisoned.^ Here Vane remained immured under 
 great hardship for four months,^ a piece of tyranny 
 worthy of the Star Chamber. About the same time 
 General Harrison, who had so actively assisted 
 Cromwell in turning out the parliament, was sent to 
 Pendennis Castle ; Colonel Rich had been some weeks 
 prisoner at Windsor. When set free Vane found 
 other persecutions in store for him. Cromwell 
 privately encouraged some of the army to take 
 possession of certain forest walks belonging to 
 Sir Henry near Raby Castle, and set the attorney- 
 general, on pretence of a flaw in his title, to a great 
 part of his estate, to present a bill against him in the 
 Exchequer. At the same time it was privately 
 intimated to him that he should be free from this 
 and other persecutions, if he would conform to the 
 present authority. 
 
 Cromwell had now drunk too deeply of the intoxi- 
 cating draught of power to accept the way of 
 honourable withdrawal, counselled by Vane and 
 hoped for by Milton. Yet he had compunctions : 
 his frequent assertions, that he had prayed to the 
 Lord, not to be compelled to do some violent thing 
 
 ^ Vane himself said, regarding his opposition to the usurpation of 
 Cromwell, it " well near cost me not only the loss of my estate, but of my 
 very life, if he might have had his will, which a higher than he hindered ; 
 yet I did remain a prisoner, under great hardship, four months in an 
 island by his orders." Vane was set free on the last day of 1656. 
 
 2 Ludlow's Memoirs, vol. ii., p. 594. 
 
384 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 indicated the struggle within his breast of conflicting 
 feelings, the resistance of the higher motives on which 
 he had once acted against the undercurrent which 
 swayed him to self-aggrandisement. He was not 
 naturally cruel ; but in his uneasy situation he had no 
 choice, other than to order things abhorrent to his 
 feelings. With his usual sagacity he discerned that 
 Sir Henry Vane was a dangerous adversary who 
 must be swept out of his way in spite of old friend- 
 ship. 
 
 Cromwell's third parliament met on September 17. 
 The elected members found the doors guarded by 
 soldiers, and none were admitted to the House save 
 those who had been furnished with a certificate. In 
 this way above a hundred of Cromwell's political 
 opponents were kept out. Amongst these were 
 Hesilrige, Scot, Weaver, and other republicans 
 besides Sir Harbottle Grimston, Maynard, and the 
 Earl of Salisbury, leaders of the Presbyterians. Sir 
 Anthony Astley Cooper, once on Cromwell's council, 
 had now turned against him, a sign that something 
 might be made of opposition. A spirited protest from 
 sixty-five of the excluded was forwarded by the 
 admitted members somewhat ashamed of their 
 position. To this the council replied that they were 
 empowered by the "Instrument of Government" to 
 regulate the elections and to see that those chosen 
 should be "such and no other than persons of known 
 integrity, fearing God, and of good conversation." 
 Opponents of Cromwell's rule were thus held to be 
 devoid of these estimable qualifications. 
 
 The protector successfully operated upon this 
 assembly to assent to his projects of obtaining the 
 
CROMWELL'S NERVOUS AGITATION 385 
 
 title of king ^ and of fabricating a new House of Lords ; 
 but he failed to get a bill passed condoning the exac- 
 tions of the major-generals whom he had to abandon, 
 and he had to abandon the kingship owing to the 
 resolute opposition of the officers of the army. For 
 his new second chamber, Cromwell nominated 
 63 men likely to be friendly. Out of 7 of the 
 old peerage called only 2, his son-in-law, Lord 
 Falconbridge, and Lord Eure would consent to sit 
 amongst the plebeian colonels and time-serving place- 
 men of the protector's nominees. Only 40 of those 
 called took their seats at the new chamber, which was 
 regarded with dislike by most of the elected parlia- 
 ment. 
 
 After sitting nine months the parliament was pro- 
 rogued. It was called again on January 20, when 
 the excluded members were admitted. 
 
 They forthwith began to question the legality of 
 what had been done in their absence when Cromwell, 
 getting alarmed, dissolved this his last parliament 
 after it had sat for a fortnight. 
 
 Thus, though he had got beyond visible restraints, 
 Cromwell still found obstacles to his domineering will. 
 Adroitly served by his spies he was able to baffle the 
 frequent plots of the Cavaliers to assassinate him, yet 
 he lived in continual apprehension. Julius Ciesar, 
 who believed in no higher power than the forces of 
 blind matter, went unarmed and unguarded amongst 
 
 * In this scheme Cromwell was all along aware of the dangerous 
 ground upon which he was treading. He seemed at first to discounten- 
 ance the proposal to make the protectorate hereditary. Later on (in 
 1656-57), when there was a good deal of talk of making the protector a 
 constitutional king, his feigned reluctance deceived no one.— See the 
 paper on " Cromwell and the Crown " in the English Historical Review^ 
 July 1902, by Dr C. H. Firth, p. 437. 
 
 2 B 
 
386 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 the enemies whom he had conquered and forgiven ; 
 but the predestinarian protector, in the midst of his 
 guards, wore armour under his clothes, and carried 
 loaded pistols in his pockets. Those constant 
 anxieties, those internal mental struggles acted upon 
 his susceptible nervous system. The Venetian 
 ambassador, Sagredo, describing an audience with the 
 protector, wrote to the senate ^ that though of robust 
 and martial presence, he had an air of dejection. 
 While he stood uncovered the hand which grasped his 
 hat, trembled visibly. 
 
 The agitated state of his nervous system is 
 revealed in his handwriting. In 1642 it is firm and 
 regular; in 1649 it is still good; but in 1657 the 
 signature is feeble and shaky like that of one who has 
 passed through a nervous crisis, or that of a very old 
 man.^ I have seen firmer handwriting from a man 
 above ninety, but then he had lived a quiet life. 
 
 It was not given to Cromwell to rebuild what he had 
 done so much to destroy. A military despot he could 
 only found a military despotism. The parliamentary 
 generals who stuck to him each dreamed of being his 
 successor, and could not bear the idea of a hereditary 
 monarchy. In the course of his short reign he made 
 the best and bravest captains of the commonwealth 
 
 1 Lo retrovai un poco abbatuto nel volto, e con qualche apparenza di 
 saluto non interamente consistente e perfetta, osservato avendo che mentre 
 stava scoperto gli tremava la mano con la quale stringeva il cappello. 
 Giovanni Sagredo's report to the Senate of Venice is dated, London, 
 October 22, 1655. He finishes his remarks about Cromwell that, after his 
 death there would be a change of scene agreeable to the rule that violence 
 was never dnrable— Cromwell e la Repubblica di Venezia per Cuglielmo 
 Berchet. (Venezia, 1864.) 
 
 2 This is well seen in the plate of autographs in the frontispiece of the 
 third volume of Burton's Cromwellian Diary, London, 1828, which is here 
 reproduced. 
 
Facsimiles ok Handwriting. 
 
 [To )acp 'jniiji: oSO. 
 
HE FAILED TO GAIN THE NATION 
 
 387 
 
 his enemies ; all the old heroes of the civil wars, 
 Fairfax, Overton, Okey, Robert Lilburne, Hesilrige, 
 Hutchinson, Alured, shunned or opposed him. 
 Harrison, the honest fanatic whom he deluded, was 
 thrown into prison ; Lambert, a gallant cavalry leader, 
 beloved of the soldiers, but vain and ambitious, was 
 deprived of his commission by the man who had used 
 him as his instrument in expelling the parliament. 
 Cromwell did his utmost to form a party of his own, 
 and succeeded in attracting some able politicians like 
 Whitelocke who, being in favour of monarchy though 
 disapproving of his usurpation, still thought his rule 
 preferable to the return of the Stuarts. In the end 
 Cromwell came principally to depend upon those 
 connected with him by blood or marriage, such as his 
 son, Henry, Lockhart who had married his niece, 
 Desborough, his brother-in-law. General Fleetwood 
 and Lord Falconbridge who had married his daughters, 
 and Thurloe, his secretary, an able but unscrupulous 
 man. 
 
 But though scarcely successful in founding a 
 party of his own, the sagacious protector did much to 
 weaken and cripple the rival parties who opposed him. 
 He kept the royalists impoverished by heavy 
 contributions ; he allowed their conspiracies to come 
 to a head, and then visited their leaders with death, 
 transportation, and forfeiture of their estates. He did 
 much to destroy the faith and popularity of the 
 republican party. He succeeded in corrupting some 
 of their leaders, such as St John and Lenthal, and kept 
 the rest in private where their influence went to decay. 
 His schemes were interrupted by a death which might 
 be considered early in view of the robustness of his 
 
388 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 frame and his temperate habits, but which seems to 
 have been hastened by declining health owing to 
 continual care and anxiety. He died on September 3, 
 1658, in the fifty-ninth year of his age. 
 
 On his deathbed, looking back, perhaps with some 
 misgiving, on the means he had used to gain the 
 worldly greatness that was now fading away, he 
 asked Goodwin, his chaplain, "If it were true that the 
 elect could never fall.?" "Nothing more certain," 
 answered the preacher. "Then I am safe," said 
 Oliver, " for I am sure that I once was in a state of 
 grace." 
 
 He had been allowed, by the petition and advice, 
 to nominate his successor, but had neglected to do so 
 in a public manner, though a written document was 
 said to have existed in favour of Fleetwood, Oliver's 
 son-in-law. The night before he died he had named 
 his eldest son, Richard. This was attested on oath 
 by Goodwin, his chaplain, and by Major-Generals 
 Whalley and Goffe, whose testimony was received by 
 the privy council. Fleetwood engaged not to rest any 
 claims upon the missing paper, even should it be found. 
 
 Enthusiastic admirers, like Mr Carlyle, are 
 naturally impelled to throw doubts upon this nomina- 
 tion, for it was in every way a serious error. The 
 protector had allowed his desire of founding a dynasty 
 in his own family to deceive his sagacity and his 
 parental affection to outweigh his sense of public duty. 
 How much nobler the conduct of a great patriot like 
 John de Witt,^ who, though he exerted all his influence 
 to prevent the office of Stadtholder being restored in 
 
 1 See Burnefs History of his Own Times.— Oxford, 1833, vol. i., 
 chapter ccxxi., p. 405. 
 
WHAT WAS WRONG ABOUT CROMWELL 
 
 389 
 
 the family of Orange, yet took care to give the young 
 Prince William an education which should help him to 
 rule well, should he be, in spite of all, put over the 
 state. 
 
 Such a good judge of human nature as Cromwell 
 must have known that Richard had no talents either 
 for politics or war. He bore the character of a good- 
 humoured country gentleman, of manners rather too 
 easy for his father's puritanical court, given to carousing 
 with the Cavaliers living in the neighbourhood, and 
 skilful only in hunting, hawking, and horse-racing. 
 
 Thomas Carlyle has, by the mere force of his style, 
 carried the reading public slenderly acquainted with 
 history into an unreasoning admiration for the 
 protector. With him everything which his hero did 
 was right, and there was nothing wrong about him 
 save that he was not born a Scotsman.^ Clarendon 
 follows a line as straight and simple in the opposite 
 direction — Cromwell was "a brave wicked man." As 
 for understanding Oliver's strange character, we doubt 
 whether he understood it himself What is required 
 of the historian is to keep relative proportions true, and 
 not to make his heroes, like the statues of Egyptian 
 conquerors, ten times bigger than the other figures. 
 
 What would or might have happened had the great 
 protector lived a few years longer ? Such speculations 
 are sure to be tinged with the prejudices of the writer. 
 At any rate we know what actually took place. 
 Oliver Cromwell, from a gentleman of small estate, rose 
 to rule the three kingdoms with greater power, and 
 
 1 " With Oliver born Scotch, one sees not that the whole world might 
 have become Puritan."— CromzvelPs Letters and Speeches, by Thomas 
 Carlyle. 
 
390 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 presented a grander figure than any sovereign either 
 before or after for five years and four months, after 
 which he left great confusions, some of which were the 
 consequences of his own errors. 
 
 EngHshmen nowadays may feel some satisfaction 
 at the victories of Cromwell, and at the fear which his 
 name inspired all over Europe, without feeling the 
 slighest annoyance at the reflection, if it should have 
 occurred to them at all, that under his rule the people 
 of England lost the liberties which they had held with 
 danger and hardship against the Tudors and the 
 Stuarts, and which they had successfully defended 
 through a long and bloody war. What must have 
 been the feelings of the generation that had fought 
 and suffered, to find in the military champion of the 
 parliament a more arbitrary ruler than the crowned king 
 whom Oliver had done so much to bring to the scaffold ? 
 And how could the generation that had grown up 
 since the civil wars think Charles Stuart deserving of 
 dethronement and death without equally condemning 
 Oliver Cromwell? If Charles had raised money with- 
 out the consent of parliament, Cromwell had done so 
 too. What was the king's ship-money compared with 
 the exactions of the protector's major-generals? If 
 Charles had entered the House of Commons to arrest 
 the five members, Oliver had brought armed men to 
 thrust the members out of the House. If Charles 
 had refused to give up the control of the militia, Crom- 
 well had used the army to subvert the civil government; 
 had given the names and power of a parliament to a 
 ridiculous assembly of his own nomination ; had used 
 violence and corruption to ensure the return of men 
 sufficiently subservient to uphold his usurpation, and 
 
BITTER REFLECTIONS 
 
 391 
 
 had prevented his opponents from taking their seats. 
 He had, in defiance of the Magna Carta, instituted a 
 special tribunal for the trial of his opponents, and had 
 imprisoned and sold to slavery British citizens without 
 any trial at all. Nevertheless, the king died the death 
 of a criminal, and the successful soldier was reigning 
 in Whitehall. The hand and seal of the one man 
 were on the death-warrant of the other. 
 
 These were arguments too evident to escape 
 attention, too true to be refuted, and too serviceable 
 not to be used by the royalist party as well as by 
 the republicans, who bitterly accused Cromwell and 
 his partisans of betraying the good old cause. 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 Richard Cromwell Protector. His Parliament. Vane's Speeches. On 
 the Protector's Office. On Captives sent to Barbadoes. Military 
 Cabals. Richard dissolves his Parliament. He resigns his Office. 
 Restoration of the Long Parliament. 
 
 Richard quietly succeeded to the power of the great 
 protector, as the generals had agreed for the time to 
 support him, and the nation knew that they could not 
 resist the army. A letter of Henry Cromwell's from 
 Dublin to his brother, as well as some written by 
 Thurloe, prove that they had little expectation that the 
 government would remain long in their hands. 
 
 All the dissonant parties, which Oliver Cromwell had 
 held under, now began to scheme and plot as if the 
 existing government counted for nothing. While the 
 republicans held secret meetings, the officers of the 
 army met at Wallingford House, the residence of 
 General Fleetwood ; and but six weeks after the death 
 
 if 
 
 of Oliver a deputation of two or three hundred officers, 
 with Fleetwood at their head, appeared to demand that 
 some experienced person should be made commander- 
 in-chief, and that no officer should be cashiered with- 
 out the sentence of a court-martial. Richard, in his 
 reply, which had been prepared by Thurloe, his father's 
 able adviser, observes : " You know the difficulties my 
 father all this time wrestled with, and I believe no man 
 
 392 
 
RICHARD CALLS A PARLIAMENT 393 
 
 thinks that his death has lessened them." In truth he 
 was asked to give up his power by the only men who 
 could help him to maintain it. While Richard's refusal 
 was accepted for the moment, his conciliatory language 
 showed his weakness. 
 
 Oliver had died seven months after dissolving his 
 last parliament ; the treasury was empty, the army in 
 arrears, and as Richard's advisers did not feel their 
 position strong enough to enforce his abitrary method 
 of levying taxes and contributions, they felt them- 
 selves compelled to call a parliament. 
 
 It was determined that the distribution of seats 
 agreed on by the Long Parliament, and practised by 
 Cromwell, should be abandoned, and that the writs of 
 election should be issued according to what was called 
 the ancient law, principally because, as Ludlow tells 
 us, "it was well understood that mean and decayed 
 boroughs might be much more easily corrupted than 
 the numerous counties and considerable cities." It 
 was determined that 30 members should be returned 
 for Scotland and as many for Ireland, and the govern- 
 ment arranged that they should be elected for places 
 where the military garrisons could influence the course 
 of the elections. All the arts of a corrupt government 
 were put into play to procure partisans of the protector 
 to be chosen. All the appointments in the army and 
 civil list were in his hands. The officers of the 
 admiralty and navy had the power of pressing at 
 their pleasure the men of the seaport towns into their 
 fleet. The sheriffs, who were men mostly chosen for 
 their subserviency, made themselves very useful to the 
 protectorate, disposing of the writs to whom they 
 pleased, and acting as judges of the fitness of voters. 
 
LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 As it was known that the members returned would be 
 required to take an oath of fidelity to Richard Cromwell, 
 the opposing parties had to consider how their scruples 
 could be overcome. The Cavaliers were expressly 
 directed by Charles Stuart to try to procure seats, and 
 it was determined, after much deliberation amongst 
 the republicans, to contest a number of places and 
 sit in the House if elected. The influence of the 
 government seems to have been principally directed 
 against the republican party. Great efforts were 
 made to prevent the election of Sir Henry Vane, who 
 was believed to have gained a majority both in Bristol 
 and Hull, two of the largest towns in the kingdom, 
 though the sheriffs refused to return him ; but, in 
 spite of the threats of the court faction, he was elected 
 for the small borough of Whitchurch, in Hampshire. 
 Ludlow, too, was elected, and managed to keep his 
 seat without taking any oath. Sir Arthur Hesilrige, 
 Mr Thomas Scot, Bradshaw, Nevil, and some other 
 well-known republicans. Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, 
 then in league with the commonwealth men, and Lord 
 Fairfax, were also elected. 
 
 Out of a House of 564 members, 504 of whom 
 came from England, there were about 50 determined 
 republicans and from 100 to 140 members who 
 wavered between the protector and a republic, and 
 perhaps 200 supporters of the government. The rest 
 were persons of neutral or unknown opinions. The 
 number of Cavaliers who found their way into the 
 parliament was small, from which it may be concluded 
 that their party had not yet become popular. 
 
 The Upper House, as made up by Oliver 
 Cromwell, was also summoned to assemble. The 
 
RICHARD'S UNEASY POSITION 
 
 395 
 
 parliament was solemnly convoked by Richard 
 Cromwell, February 27, 1659. 
 
 Vane, Hesilrige, and Ashley Cooper, the leaders 
 of the Opposition, lost no time in directing against 
 the government of the new protector a vigorous 
 criticism, which his friends had neither the ability to 
 confute, nor the power to silence. The title of 
 Richard Cromwell was disputed ; his right to call 
 representatives from Scotland and Ireland was 
 questioned, and the upstart House of Lords turned 
 into derision. 
 
 M. de Bordeaux, the French Ambassador, writes 
 to Mazarin:^ "The more moderate among the 
 republicans assert that it will be advisable to grant 
 the protector the same prerogatives which were 
 accepted by the late king when the Long Parliament 
 treated with him in the Isle of Wight," and it would 
 have been well, as events proved, if such an arrange- 
 ment could have been made and held to. Richard 
 was not personally unpopular. " I never knew any 
 gall or guile in him," said Hesilrige, his father's bitter 
 and resolute opponent. He was just the sort of man 
 to make a good constitutional king in quiet times, 
 but was too fond of an easy life not to wish to escape 
 being baited by republican orators, or bullied by 
 unruly generals like his uncle, Desborough, or his 
 brother-in-law, Fleetwood. 
 
 On the bill entitled an Act of Recognition of 
 Richard to be protector of the commonwealth being 
 ready for the second time, there was a long silence. 
 Hesilrige, moving himself upon his seat, was called 
 
 ^ Bordeaux's Letters are printed in the Appendix of the History of 
 Richard Cromwell^ and the Restoration, London, 1856, 
 
396 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 to speak, and spoke for three hours reviewing "what 
 we have, what we are, and what we shall be." 
 He demurred to recognise Richard as protector, 
 and thought that they should inquire how he was 
 appointed. "Never begin," he said, "with the 
 person first, but agree what trust he shall have." 
 
 Mr Scot moved that " you first digest a government 
 and then fix the person." The debate went on with 
 very free speeches for eight days. On the third day 
 Sir Henry Vane rose to address the parliament.^ 
 After reviewing the train of events which led them 
 step by step to change the ancient fabric of the 
 government, he said : "I confess I was then exceed- 
 ingly to seek, in the clearness of my judgment, as to 
 the trial of the king. I was for six weeks absent 
 from my seat here, out of my tenderness of blood. 
 Yet all power being thus in the people originally, I 
 myself was afterwards in the business." 
 
 Further on he said : "It was then necessary, as 
 the first act, to have resort to the foundation of all 
 just power, and to create and establish a free state ; 
 to bring the people out of bondage, from all pretence 
 of superiority over them. It seemed plain to me that 
 all offices had their rise from the people, and that all 
 should be accountable to them. If this be monstrous, 
 then it is monstrous to be safe and rational, and to 
 bear your own good." 
 
 "It is objected that this nation could not bear 
 that government ; but Holland bears it against the 
 power of Orange. They keep the office of Stadtholder 
 vacant to this day. So do other places." 
 
 ^ These passages are taken from the account of the proceedings of 
 the parliament in Burton's Diary, vol. iii. 
 
VANE'S SPEECH 
 
 397 
 
 The orator thus concluded his address : — 
 
 " N(ow, this power and office were given, it seems, 
 by the regulation of the Petition and Advice ; the 
 whole executive power of the late king was all given, 
 at one clap, to the late protector for life. Nothing 
 was given him more, only the nomination and 
 declaration of a successor, which must be according 
 to law. So says the Petition and Advice. This 
 nomination must first appear before we can say this 
 gentleman is undoubted protecter. Had I thought 
 this had been said before I should have spared both 
 you and myself. 
 
 " That which is now brought in, the Bill of Recog- 
 nition, takes it for granted that there is no one in the 
 possession of the protectorship ; for it requires that 
 you acknowledge his right and title, not that we shall 
 acknowledge his person, and then inquire what is 
 this right and title? It is hard we should be put 
 upon that. Let us know what this right and title is, 
 that we must recognise. But it seems the parliament 
 that made the Petition and Advice, they gave it, and 
 we mu3t acknowledge it. If he hath any right it 
 must be by one of these three ways : — 
 
 " I. Either by the Grace of God and by God's 
 Providence, that if he hath a sword, he may take 
 whatever is within the reach of it, and thus maintain 
 his right. 
 
 "2. Or as the son of the conqueror. He was, 
 indeed, a conqueror on your behalf, but never of 
 yourselves fit for you to recognise. 
 
 ** 3. Or lastly, by the Petition and Advice. But 
 that camot be urged, until it doth appear that he 
 hath it according to that. Yet that is only a nomina- 
 
398 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 tion, which hath nothing of constitution until you 
 have made it. He must come to you for that. I 
 appeal then, if this has not deserved three days' 
 debate. Deserves it more to set nails upon it ? May 
 it not deserve a grand committee to convince one 
 another in love and unity ? 
 
 " Therefore I shall move that this bill may, upon 
 the whole matter, be committed to a grand committee, 
 where reason may prevail. 
 
 " It is not a sudden recognition, a sudden obtaining 
 of the first steps that will direct us fairly into this 
 room. It must be on such an unshaken foundation 
 you will maintain it against the old line. If you be 
 minded to resort to the old government, you are not 
 many steps from the old family. They will be too 
 hard for you, if that government be restored. 
 
 " Instead of the son of a conqueror by nature, make 
 him a son by adoption. Take him into your family, 
 and make him such an one as the great one will 
 direct you. When the army see they are yours, they 
 will be protectored by you." 
 
 " I would have all the names of the sectaries 
 laid aside, and righteousness go forward. Let fees 
 and extortions be looked into, which make the laws 
 themselves your oppressors. I have discharged my 
 conscience, and look on it as a special testimony of 
 God's Providence that I am here to speak this before 
 you." The debate went on for five days more. It 
 appears from the words used by Vane and other 
 republican speakers that they were willing to recognise 
 Richard Cromwell as protector, though with consider- 
 able limitations to his power. They would have 
 deprived him of the right of negativing bills passed by 
 
PETITION FROM CAPTIVES 
 
 399 
 
 the parliament and of the control of the militia. 
 Although they were not able to hinder the recognition 
 of Richard's title as proposed, the discussion weakened 
 Richard's party, and the republicans made some 
 converts amongst the new members. 
 
 The parliament considered various high-handed 
 actions of the late protector. Major-General Robert 
 Overton was called to the bar of the House. He 
 had been taken from Scotland on a charge of con- 
 spiring against the government, and without any 
 trial, committed to prison in Jersey where he had 
 remained for three years on a simple order signed 
 Oliver P., without any cause being stated. This 
 was declared by the House to be illegal and unjust, 
 and Overton was set at liberty. The House was 
 much affected by a pathetic petition from Marcellus 
 Rivers, and seventy other free-born people, who had 
 been arrested upon pretence of the Salisbury rising 
 in the end of the year 1654, although, as was stated, 
 many of them never saw Salisbury, nor bore arms 
 in their lives. Many of these men were never tried, 
 yet were kept prisoners for a whole year in Exeter, 
 after which they were driven by a guard of horse 
 and foot to Plymouth to the ship John of London, 
 where, after they had lain aboard fourteen days, the 
 captain hoisted sail ; and at the end of five weeks and 
 four days more, anchored at the Isle of Barbadoes, 
 in the West Indies ; the captive prisoners being all 
 the way locked up under decks amongst horses, that 
 their souls, through heat and steam, under the tropic, 
 fainted in them ; and they never, till they came to 
 the island, knew whither they were going. 
 
 At Barbadoes they were bartered for so many 
 
400 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 hundredweights of sugar, and kept working at the 
 mills or digging outside, "being bought and sold still 
 from one planter to another, or attached as horses 
 and beasts for the debts of their masters, being 
 whipped at the whipping-posts for their master's 
 pleasure, and sleeping in sties worse than hogs in 
 England."^ Another petition was read from one 
 Thomas on whom a price of a ^loo was put; in 
 default he was sent to Barbadoes but managed to 
 escape. It was objected that four members of the 
 House were implicated. This was a breach of 
 privilege. They, however, spoke in their defence. 
 Sir John Coplestone, High Sheriff of Devon, admitted 
 that Rivers had been tried and acquitted from an 
 error in the indictment, notwithstanding he was sent 
 to Plymouth by the order of his late highness. 
 Mr Noel, alderman of London, explained that he 
 sent persons out to the plantations from Bridewell, 
 and other prisons. All were sent with their consent 
 on an indent to work without wages for five years, 
 after which they received a salary. They only worked 
 from six to six, "were civilly treated, and were 
 allowed horses to ride on." It was clear that both 
 Rivers and Thomas were Cavaliers, and the House 
 was warned to be tender how they encouraged that 
 party. One member moved to reject the petition : 
 if the House were to sit for twelve months it would 
 not have time to hear all petitions from Cavaliers. 
 What would they do with the Scots taken at Dunbar 
 and Worcester ? Under the Long Parliament two or 
 three thousand Protestants were sent to Barbadoes 
 against their consent. Some proposed that the 
 
 1 Burton's Diary, vol. iv., p. 262. 
 
VANE DENOUNCES SLAVERY 
 
 401 
 
 petitioners should be arrested and tried, others ex- 
 pressed indignation at men being sold, and would 
 have the petition examined. Sir Henry Vane spoke 
 to this effect : — 
 
 " I do not look upon this business as a cavalierish 
 business ; but as a matter that concerns the liberty 
 of the free-born people of England. To be used in 
 this barbarous manner, put under hatches, to see no 
 light till they came thither, and sold there for ;^ioo, 
 such was the case of this Thomas. 
 
 ** I am glad to hear the old cause so well resented : 
 that we have a sense and loathing of the tyranny of 
 the late king, and of all that tread in his steps, to 
 impose on liberty and property. As I should be 
 glad to see any discouragement upon the Cavaliers, 
 so I should be glad to see any discouragement 
 and indignation of yours against such persons as 
 tread in Charles Stuart's steps, whoever they be. 
 The end of the major-generals was good as to 
 keeping down that party, but the precedent was 
 dangerous. 
 
 " Let us not be led away. Whenever the tables 
 turn, the same will be imposed upon your best men, 
 that is now designed as your worst. There is a 
 fallacy and subtility on both hands. I would have 
 you be as vigilant against that party as you can ; 
 but if you find the liberty and property of the people 
 of England thus violated, take occasion from these 
 ill precedents to make good laws." 
 
 This matter, after occupying most of two sittings, 
 was talked out, nothing apparently being con- 
 cluded. 
 
 Ludlow tells us that there are three parties in the 
 
 2 C 
 
402 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 army who pursued different aims. One which met at 
 WalHngford House wished to make Fleetwood 
 general -in-chief. Some superior officers were left 
 who cherished republican ideas ; of whom Ludlow 
 himself and Colonel Robert Lilburne were the most 
 active, and lastly a small circle which still held round 
 Richard Cromwell. The Wallingford cabal covered 
 their desire to gain the control of the state by an 
 ostentatious anxiety for " the safety of the common 
 cause " ; and made overtures to Vane and Hesilrige. 
 Richard had recourse to the parliament who passed a 
 vote that the officers of the army should no more 
 hold political councils. 
 
 This resolution was opposed by the leaders of the 
 commonwealth party : "Be very wary of proceeding 
 suddenly," said Vane. "This diffidence of your 
 friends ought to be avoided. Take heed you take not 
 the thorn out of another's foot and put it into your 
 own. It never can be policy to distrust those we are 
 obliged to trust." The Wallingford party paid no 
 heed to this prohibition, and the son of Oliver 
 Cromwell had the humiliation to find, by actual trial, 
 that the soldiers no longer obeyed him, and that even 
 his own body-guard could not be trusted. The 
 parliament made a more stringent order declaring the 
 meetings of the military council to be high treason. 
 They retaliated by a deputation to Richard urging 
 him to dissolve the parliament. Richard, prompted 
 by Thurloe, resisted this, maintaining that the 
 dissolving of the parliament, where he still had a 
 majority, would be both his ruin and their own. The 
 Lords Howard, Broghill, and others offered that if he 
 would give them a sufficient authority, they would 
 
RICHARD'S ABDICATION 
 
 403 
 
 either force his enemies to obey him or cut them off. 
 Richard thanked them for their friendship, but said 
 that "rather than a drop of blood should be spilt on 
 his account, he would lay down that greatness which 
 was but a burden to him." ^ 
 
 As Fleetwood's partisans declared that if Richard 
 would not dissolve the House, they would do it them- 
 selves, he had to give an unwilling assent. The 
 Commons, hearing what was in the air, refused to 
 obey the protector's summons to attend him at the 
 House of Lords, and adjourned till next morning. 
 The dissolution was proclaimed, the doors of the 
 House were locked, and a guard placed to prevent 
 them reassembling. 
 
 This was Richard's last public act : The 
 protectorate had rested upon force, the force being 
 withdrawn it swooned away. Richard's formal 
 resignation came a few days after. The control of 
 the government remained in the hands of the unruly 
 generals who had now overturned the protector and 
 his parliament ; but a little consideration showed them 
 the impossibility of military despotism without a 
 commander, whom all were prepared to obey. The 
 generals quarrelled with one another ; the officers 
 made their terms with their superiors, who were too 
 anxious to have the good-will of their men to venture 
 to repress their disorders. They had no skill in 
 managing civil affairs, and felt themselves the object 
 of general dislike. The sectaries, fifth-monarchy men 
 and republicans amongst the soldiery held violent 
 meetings, and discussed their own theories of govern- 
 ment. The republicans demanded that the Long 
 
 ^ See Budgell's Memoirs of the Boyles, i72,7i pp- 75-76. 
 
404 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 Parliament should be recalled. They held that it had 
 never been legally dissolved. 
 
 In spite of the opposition of those who had a share 
 in keeping up Cromwell, a meeting was arranged at 
 Sir Henry Vane's house at Charing Cross, where 
 deputies from the army conferred with Vane, Hesilrige, 
 Ludlow, and Major Salloway. After much discussion 
 it was agreed that an act of indemnity should be 
 passed, securing those who had taken part in the 
 government of the Cromwells from future proscription, 
 and that some provision should be made for Richard 
 Cromwell. The third' and fourth propositions that 
 - reform should be made in the law and clergy, and that 
 the nation should be governed by representative 
 assemblies and by a select senate, caused a great deal 
 of discussion. The officers had to put up with vague 
 answers, rendered still more unsatisfactory by the 
 knowledge that the parties with whom they were 
 treating had no power to carry out what they promised. 
 It was found from a list furnished by Ludlow that i6o 
 of those who had sat in the Long Parliament since the 
 year 1648, were yet alive. After some further 
 conferences 16 of the old members, accompanied 
 by some officers of the army, went to the house of 
 William Lenthal, the old Speaker, and acquainted him 
 with their desire to recall the Long Parliament. 
 Lenthal, who had been created a peer by Cromwell 
 and had become old and feeble, made many excuses, 
 and they were obliged to issue writs without his 
 signature. The Speaker, however, hearing that it 
 was likely a sufficient number would assemble to form a 
 quorum, made his appearance amongst them. " About 
 twelve o'clock," says Ludlow, "we went to take our 
 
THE LONG PARLIAMENT AGAIN 405 
 
 places in the House, Mr Lenthal, our Speaker, leading 
 the way, and the officers of the army lining the room 
 for us as we passed through the Painted Chamber, 
 the Court of Requests, and the lobby itself, the 
 principal officers having placed themselves nearest to 
 the door of the Parliament House, every one seeming 
 to rejoice at our restitution of promising to live and 
 die with us." 
 
 They forthwith sent summonses to all the members 
 throughout England, and eventually about 90 took 
 their seats. 
 
 The first care of the restored parliament was to 
 remove Richard Cromwell from Whitehall. Vane, 
 Hesilrige, Scot, and Ludlow were deputed for that 
 purpose. He promised not only to submit to the 
 authority of the parliament but to use the best of his 
 endeavours to persuade those in whom he had an 
 interest to do so likewise. The parliament ordered 
 ^2000 to be paid to him to enable him to remove, and 
 promised to pay the debts which he had contracted on 
 the public account. 
 
 The parliament gave notice to foreign ambassadors 
 in England and to the English ministers abroad of the 
 restoration of their authority, intelligence not at all 
 pleasing to royal courts. 
 
 Mazarin would willingly have done something to 
 maintain Richard, since he hated and feared the 
 commonwealth, which, to use the words of Oxen- 
 stiern, the Swedish Chancellor, was " exemplary with 
 a witness, or rather minatory, to all princes of the 
 world." He willingly listened to the overtures of the 
 Spanish king to aid the suppression. 
 
 " We agreed," wrote Mazarin to M. Le Tellier, on 
 
40^ 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 August 25, "that it was too dangerous an example to 
 be allowed to go down to posterity unpunished, that 
 subjects should have brought the king to trial and put 
 him to death ; and that if the commonwealth of 
 England established itself it would be a formidable 
 power to all its neighbours ; because, without ex- 
 aggeration, it would be a hundred times greater than 
 the power of the kings of England ever was." 
 
 " I find it somewhat difficult," writes M. de 
 Bordeaux to Mazarin, June 2, 1659, to "comply with 
 the order reiterated to me in M, de Brienne's letter of 
 25th ultimo, that I must thwart the establishment 
 of a commonwealth, as there is no probability of 
 success in such an undertaking unless the protector 
 has a strong party in England, or his friends embrace 
 the cause of the King of Scots. It is very probable 
 that England will fall into the king's power again, or 
 that it will be formed into a perfect republic." In 
 another letter M. de Bordeaux, who regarded the 
 face of events in a mood at once calm and scrutinis- 
 ing, writes : " The commonwealth is not generally 
 disapproved of ; but people can not be brought to 
 believe that those who now possess authority can ever 
 be brought to consent to resign it."^ 
 
 1 Guizot, vol. i., p, 213. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 Government of the Long Parliament. Harrington's Oceana. Changes 
 in the Army. Booth's Insurrection. Lambert's Ambition. The 
 ParHament again expelled. A Split in the Republican Party. 
 Monk marches Southward. His Character. Royalist Reaction. 
 The Convention Parliament. The Restoration. Fate of the 
 Regicides. 
 
 The government of the country was carried on by 
 a council of state consisting of 31 members, 20 
 of whom were also members of the parliament ; 
 amongst them appeared the names of Sir Henry 
 Vane, Sir Arthur Hesilrige, James Harrington, the 
 author of the Oceana, Lieutenant- General Fleetwood, 
 Colonel Algernon Sidney, and Mr Thomas Scot. 
 Amongst those who were not members were the 
 Lord President Bradshaw, Lord Fairfax, Major- 
 General Lambert, Colonel Desborough, Colonel 
 Berry, Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, and Sir Horatio 
 Townsend, who was secretly in correspondence with 
 Hyde, the agent of Charles Stuart. The military 
 officers, Ludlow tells us, seldom came to the council, 
 and "when they condescended to come carried 
 themselves with all imaginable perverseness and 
 insolence." 
 
 Vane was ordered to examine the financial 
 position of the country. He reported a deficit of 
 
 407 
 
408 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 ^1,500,000/ whereas, when Cromwell turned out the 
 Long Parliament, there was a good stock in the 
 treasury, and the pay of the army was in advance. 
 
 "Our treasury was so low," says Ludlow, 
 " through the maladministration of the late govern- 
 ment, that though our plenipotentiaries to the two 
 northern crowns had received their instructions, yet 
 they were obliged to stay a fortnight longer before 
 they could receive the sum of ^2000 which had been 
 ordered for expenses of their voyage, the taxes 
 coming in but slowly, and the city of London, 
 terrified with the reports of an expected insurrection, 
 being very backward in advancing money." 
 
 Money, however, must be had to carry on the 
 administration of the country, and, above all things, 
 to pay up the arrears of the army. They tried to 
 raise it by an income tax, and by increasing the 
 customs ; but, from the weakness of the executive 
 government, they met with great difficulty in collect- 
 ing the money in a country accustomed to the violent 
 exactions of Cromwell's major-generals. No salary 
 was claimed by the commissioners who conducted the 
 government, though they voted themselves a body- 
 guard ; and they had the courage to reduce the 
 salaries of the public servants. Great exertions were 
 
 ^ Colonel Birch said in Richard Cromwell's parliament that when 
 the Long Parliament was put out there were 100,000 men in arms, 
 carried out with a small charge. We left ;i^6oo,ooo and half as much 
 out of Compositions, Weavers' Hall money, Dean and Chapter lands, 
 and ;i^i2o,ooo per month laid. — Burton's Diary^ vol. iii., pp. 58, 63, 64. 
 
 Mr Slingsby Bethel, in a pamphlet entitled The Worlds Mistake in 
 Oliver Cromwell, reprinted in the Harleian Miscellany, tells us that at 
 the expulsion of the parliament, "the public stock was ;£2,ooo,ooo in 
 ready money, the value of ;^7oo,ooo in stores, so that, if there might be a 
 debt of nearly ;i^5oo,ooo upon the kingdom, he met with above twice the 
 value in lieu of it." 
 
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY 
 
 409 
 
 made to appoint sheriffs, justices of peace, and 
 magistrates attached to repubHcan principles, so as 
 to secure their aid at the next election. It was 
 probably the fear of holding an election with the old 
 Cromwellian sheriffs and other magistrates which 
 induced them to continue sitting. On June 6, 1659, 
 they voted that they should cease to sit on May 7, 
 1660. 
 
 The strength of the republican party appeared 
 greater in opposition to Richard Cromwell than when 
 it again took the charge of affairs, for the royalists, 
 who had reinforced it, now turned to pull it down. 
 That prestige of vigour and success, so nobly earned 
 by ceaseless watchfulness, able statesmanship, and 
 great victories by land and sea, had been snatched 
 away. Cromwell, who had reaped the fruits of what 
 they had sown and watered, had done his best to 
 calumniate them, while they had now to struggle 
 against the confusion which he had left behind him. 
 
 Even those soldiers who openly regretted their 
 fault in turning out the Long Parliament might be 
 expected to repeat it, if their resentment should be 
 aroused by any vote which displeased them. The 
 government was thus weak ; and no government will 
 be respected, much less trusted, by the mass of people 
 for wisdom alone. The Long Parliament, before its 
 violent dissolution, could not claim to represent the 
 whole of England ; that it should represent the 
 conquering party was a necessary result of the civil 
 war. The excluded Presbyterian members soon 
 appeared demanding their seats ; nor was it easy for 
 those, who had been chased out of the House by Crom- 
 well, to show that they had a better right to vote than 
 
410 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 those who had been chased out by Colonel Pride. At 
 best, then, they were a provisional government who 
 engaged to take the direction of affairs until a new 
 parliament should be called ; and, viewed as such, 
 a better government could not at that time be 
 had. 
 
 Those who still retained faith in republican ideas 
 were discussing the best form of government. There 
 was a Rota club of which Henry Nevil, Major 
 Wildman, and other republicans were members. 
 They were in favour of the proposed magistrates and 
 senators going out by rotation as in Venice and 
 Switzerland. **The views propounded at this club," 
 says Anthony Wood, "were very taking, the more 
 because as to human foresight there was no probability 
 of the king's return ; " and accordingly we find the 
 opinions of Harrington or those of the Rota repro- 
 duced in the political speeches and pamphlets of that 
 time. 
 
 James Harrington was a prominent debater at this 
 club. He had attended the Prince of Orange in a 
 visit which he made to the court of Denmark, and 
 had travelled in France and Italy. The constitution 
 of Venice, the oldest republic in Europe, where he 
 resided some time, attracted his attention. It was, he 
 said, a government for preservation. He admired the 
 equality granted to those allowed to take a part in the 
 government, but blamed its oligarchical tendency. In 
 the year 1646 he was engaged by the commissioners 
 appointed by the parliament to take the captive king 
 from Newcastle and attend Charles, as one already 
 known to him, and not engaged to any party nor 
 faction. Charles was fond of his conversation about 
 
HARRINGTON'S "OCEANA" 
 
 411 
 
 books and foreign countries ; and, as Anthony Wood 
 tells us, " they had often discourses concerning 
 government, but when they happened to talk of a 
 commonwealth the king seemed not to endure it." 
 Being anxious to induce both parties to make concilia- 
 tions he became suspected by the parliament, and was 
 for some time under arrest, till liberated by Major- 
 General Ireton. He became a member of the council 
 of state before Cromwell's usurpation, and was again a 
 member when the Long Parliament was recalled. 
 Harrington is known as the author of the Oceana, a 
 book which, though never popular, has been often 
 studied by philosophical politicians. Upon a tedious 
 structure of political romance, Harrington introduces 
 a number of original discourses upon political 
 combinations, and examines with deep philosophical 
 insight, the constitution of different governments, from 
 those of the Greeks and Hebrews, down to those of 
 the Dutch and Venetians. 
 
 Harrington was the first to give prominence to the 
 view that empire follows the balance of property — that 
 is, if the possessors of property be few in number, the 
 government is an oligarchy. If one man hold in his 
 hand the greater part of the property of a country, it 
 is absolute monarchy ; but if property be in the hands 
 of the people the government becomes a commonwealth. 
 In a country like England, as it was then constituted, 
 it was natural that landed property should receive the 
 greater share of his attention, for at that time the 
 relative value over movable property was much 
 greater, and a much larger part of the population was 
 dependent for their subsistence on the cultivation of 
 the soil. Nevertheless, he remarks, in such cities as 
 
412 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 subsist mostly by trade, and have little or no land, as 
 Holland and Genoa, the balance of treasure may be 
 equal to that of land. Viewing the form of govern- 
 ment as the natural adaptation of the superstructural, 
 that is, the laws and constitution to the foundation, 
 that is, the distribution of property, and the social 
 habits and customs of the people — Harrington con- 
 sidered that a change in the foundation might be 
 accelerated, if not actually brought about, by laws 
 affecting the distribution of property ; hence he 
 proposed an agrarian law, by which no one should be 
 allowed to inherit more than a rental of ^2000 a year. 
 We know not whether any writer before him in 
 England proposed and argued in favour of the ballot, 
 which he had seen in use at Venice. He advocated 
 liberty of conscience and a complete system of national 
 education. He thought that the Long Parliament 
 was an ill-balanced government having no senate or 
 second chamber. 
 
 Views so enlightened could not have, perhaps, been 
 carried into effect all at once ; but the successful 
 establishment of a commonwealth, under the guidance 
 of great statesmen, would have given a milder and 
 more equal spirit to our laws, and a wiser and nobler 
 course to our national life. It is likely that those of 
 the present day, who judge them so harshly, have 
 never reflected how things must have been viewed in 
 those times. At present it is the march of democracy 
 and socialism which excites alarm in Europe. At 
 that time the progress of despotism must have been 
 regarded with fear and anxiety by every lover of 
 freedom. All the old feudal kingdoms had passed or 
 were passing into absolute monarchies. The states- 
 
WEEDING OF THE ARMY 
 
 413 
 
 men of the commonwealth had no experience of a 
 successful constitutional monarchy such as has existed 
 more or less since 1688. 
 
 The great standing army, left by Cromwell, was 
 not only the support but the difficulty and danger of 
 the restored parliament. No body of men changes 
 its members more rapidly than an army ; which, to 
 retain its efficiency, must be composed of young men 
 possessed of the highest bodily vigour. Thus we may 
 be sure that the soldiery of the protectorate had lost 
 a large number of the yeomanry or citizens, who had 
 quitted their freeholds or trades to fight for the cause 
 of the Long Parliament. Those who had not retired 
 at the close of the civil wars, or during the eight years 
 which had passed away between the battle of Worcester 
 and the death of Cromwell, getting to look upon the 
 army as the means of gaining their bread, had lost 
 much of their civilian modes of thought, and become 
 more imbued with the habits of military discipline. 
 Cromwell had used incessant care to remove those 
 officers, who, being friends of the commonwealth, 
 had disapproved of his usurpation. 
 
 "He weeded," says Mrs Hutchinson, "in a few 
 months' time, above 1 50 godly officers out of the army, 
 with whom many of the religious soldiers went off ; and 
 in their room abundance of the king's dissolute soldiers 
 were entertained, and the army was almost changed 
 from that godly religious army, whose valour God had 
 crowned with triumph, to the dissolute army they had 
 beaten ; bearing yet a better name." The pay which 
 Cromwell allowed to his soldiers was sufficiently large 
 to attract men of a good class. Many of them wished 
 well to the commonwealth, but had, unhappily, learnt 
 
414 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 the lesson that the public interest must come behind 
 their own private leanings, and that they might safely 
 dictate to the civil government. Cromwell's successors 
 in the command of the army, looking to their men as 
 the source of power, treated them with a familiarity 
 which, especially in time of peace, soon becomes fatal 
 to discipline. " Examples of this kind of independence," 
 writes M. de Bordeaux, "are to be seen daily in 
 London, where the corporals assemble together and 
 deliberate on public affairs. The officers, on their 
 side, hold their own councils, and all seem to dread 
 an oligarchy and demand a republic, which would 
 scarcely accord with the present state of public feeling 
 in England." 
 
 "The parliament, meanwhile, treats their inclina- 
 tions with great consideration, and began last week 
 to deliberate on the articles proposed by the army ; 
 those which regard the form of government, liberty of 
 conscience, and the reformation of the laws met with 
 no difficulty." ^ 
 
 The support of a standing army of above 50,000 
 men was a hard strain upon the resources of the 
 country, yet the government was not strong enough 
 to propose disbanding any of them. The parliament 
 sought to secure themselves against the ill-will of the 
 officers of the army by raising the militia; but this 
 only served to diminish their popularity without 
 increasing their strength, for the people disliked 
 serving in the militia, and the militia never dreamt 
 of coping with the regular army. 
 
 To please the Wallingford House party, Fleet- 
 wood was nominated commander-in-chief A bill 
 
 * M. de Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin, June 2, 1659. 
 
REPUBLICAN OFFICERS RESTORED 415 
 
 was prepared and brought in, constituting seven 
 persons to be commissioners for the nomination of 
 officers to be presented for the approbation of the 
 parliament. Of these Sir Henry Vane was the only 
 civilian. Much dissatisfaction was shown at the 
 proposal for the officers to receive their commissions 
 from the Speaker. Desborough openly said that he 
 accounted the commission he had already to be as 
 good as any the parliament could give, and that he 
 would not take another. Considerable difficulty was 
 found in restoring republican officers, such as Alured, 
 Overton, and Okey, who had been cashiered by 
 Cromwell for their republican principles. Sir Arthur 
 Hesilrige had a regiment ; Ludlow was prevailed 
 upon to take one also. He was soon after made 
 commander-in-chief of the army in Ireland. 
 
 A projected insurrection of the royalists was made 
 known to the parliament through the aid of Thurloe, 
 the secretary of Cromwell, who gave the common- 
 wealth the benefit of his means of obtaining intelli- 
 gence. The insurrection was easily put down, and 
 General Lambert, who had been entrusted with this 
 affair, principally through the influence of Vane, 
 returned with the idea that he could imitate Cromwell. 
 The leaders of the insurrection were punished with a 
 mildness which had never before been shown in the 
 civil wars ; but the confiscation of their estates was a 
 great help to the commonwealth labouring under 
 financial difficulties. 
 
 Lambert persuaded the officers to draw up a 
 petition which, if the parliament had acceded to, 
 would have been a virtual forfeiture of the control of 
 the army. They demanded that Fleetwood should 
 
I 
 
 416 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 be made commander-in-chief without any Hmitation 
 of time, and that Lambert, Desborough, and Monk 
 should also have high commands, and that no officer 
 should in future be dismissed without a court-martial. 
 They blamed the parliament for not using greater 
 vigour in suppressing the late rebellion of Sir George 
 Booth, and complained that the officers of the army 
 had not been sufficiently rewarded ; the last especially 
 an audacious misstatement. Sir Arthur Hesilrige 
 called the attention of parliament to this petition 
 before it was delivered, and any further subscriptions 
 to it were forbidden. In a few days, however. Colonel 
 Desborough himself delivered one of a similar char- 
 acter, coming from the council of Wallingford House. 
 The parliament, which had done its best to avoid a 
 conflict, when fairly forced into it, acted with courage 
 and dignity. Fleetwood, Lambert, and Desborough, 
 and six others were dismissed from their appointments, 
 and the command of the army committed to the charge 
 of seven persons, Hesilrige, Ludlow, Monk, and Fleet- 
 wood, and Colonels Overton, Morley, and Walton. 
 Orders were given to arrest Lambert, and Sir Arthur 
 Hesilrige declared his resolution to have him shot. 
 
 Hesilrige is described, even by his friends, as of 
 sour and morose temper to whom liberality seemed 
 a vice ; but he was an incorruptible upholder of 
 republican principles. 
 
 The cashiered generals now appeared, with the 
 soldiers who took their part, and endeavoured to gain 
 over those regiments placed round Westminster 
 for the defence of the parliament. A scene took place 
 which has often had its counterpart in the disorderly 
 republics of South and Central America. It soon 
 
FIVE MONTHS OF PARLIAMENT RULE 
 
 417 
 
 became clear that few of the soldiers were willing to 
 fight against their old commanders, and the parliament, 
 being the weaker body, had to yield. To use the 
 words of Whitelocke : " The council of state came to 
 an accommodation to save the effusion of blood ; and 
 the parliament was not to sit, but the council of 
 officers undertook to provide for the preservation of 
 the peace, and to have a form of government to be 
 drawn up for a new parliament to be shortly summoned, 
 and so to settle all things." 
 
 Thus fell, for the second time, by military violence, 
 the remainder of the Long Parliament, generally called 
 the Rump Parliament, after having been in power 
 about five months, during which the members of the 
 government ruled the country under very difficult 
 circumstances, without their adversaries being able to 
 reproach them with any lack either of ability, courage, 
 or honesty, though they wanted one thing, which by 
 some people is considered worth all these virtues 
 together, they wanted success. Their foreign policy, 
 though opposed to that of Cromwell, was prudent and 
 dignified, and made them respected abroad, if the 
 violence of faction would not allow them to be justly 
 esteemed at home. 
 
 Mr Lockhart, their ambassador, had been received 
 with great distinction at Madrid, and had concluded 
 the war with Spain, which, begun in such bad faith, 
 had so much helped the ambition of France, and been 
 disastrous to English commerce. Algernon Sidney had, 
 with the support of a powerful fleet, acting in accord 
 with the neighbouring republic of Holland, compelled 
 the King of Sweden to raise the siege of Copenhagen, 
 it being at that time thought of great importance to 
 
 2 D 
 
418 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 prevent Sweden gaining nearly the whole coast of the 
 Baltic. 
 
 The revolution caused a split both in the republican 
 and military parties. Vane became a member of the 
 committee of safety, along with Lambert, Desborough, 
 and Fleetwood, not because he approved of their 
 violence, but because he feared that permanent 
 disagreement with the army would prove fatal to the 
 republican cause. In this crisis Vane accepted the 
 commission of colonel of a regiment which was only 
 titular and which as he said my own inclinations, 
 taste, and breeding little fitted me for. Ludlow, too, 
 consented to have his name put upon the committee 
 of safety, hoping, "as they were now under the 
 government of the sword, to procure the best 
 government that could be got." By his name a 
 correspondence was kept up between Vane and their 
 more unyielding colleagues in the parliament, such as 
 Scot and Hesilrige. Whitelocke accepted the charge of 
 the great seal, principally, he assures us, to watch 
 Vane, of whose views he was an opponent. Bradshaw 
 died about this time, " a stout man and learned in his 
 profession. No friend of monarchy." 
 
 The English army in Scotland had remained apart 
 from these tumults. General Monk now declared 
 himself dissatisfied with the committee of safety. 
 George Monk, the son of a gentleman in Devon, had 
 borne arms at Rhe and in the low countries. He had 
 served with the parliament troops against the Irish 
 rebels ; had deserted to the royalists ; had been taken 
 at Nantwich, and had remained a prisoner for two 
 years. Seeing the king's cause hopeless he had 
 joined the parliamentary army. 
 
GEORGE MONK 
 
 419 
 
 In the invasion of Scotland Cromwell had got him 
 made colonel of a regiment, and had advanced him by 
 steps till he became general of the army. The 
 protector did not trust Monk, and let him know 
 that he was watching him ; but he thought him a 
 serviceable tool who would do his work as long as he 
 got his price. He had need of a man of good military 
 capacity, for all the best parliamentary captains were 
 against his usurpation. 
 
 Monk was a man of great courage, quiet and 
 resolute. He had a clear, cold intellect, and was 
 callously selfish. Amongst the Puritan soldiers he 
 echoed somewhat awkwardly the pious phrases in 
 vogue, and observed the code of morals in use, as a 
 sharper recognises the rules of a game of cards and 
 keeps them so long as he thinks them advisable for his 
 own gain. Forced to observe outward decencyMonk had 
 been constrained to marry his mistress, the daughter 
 of a blacksmith. Pepys describes her as "a plain 
 homely dowdy, a very ill-looked woman, and a nasty 
 wife." She, however, suited Monk's taste and "had 
 wit enough and always influence over her husband."^ 
 
 As most of the officers of the northern army were 
 still imbued with republican sentiments they readily 
 assented to the general's proposal that a portion of 
 the army should march southwards to restore the 
 parliament. It is not likely that Monk, at the outset, 
 really designed to bring in the king as he and his 
 friends gave out after that event was accomplished, 
 more likely as Clarendon thought that the conviction 
 
 1 The Mystery and Method of his Majesty's happy Restoration^ by John 
 Price, D.D., one of the late Duke of Albemarle's Chaplains, London, 
 1680. 
 
420 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 was forced upon him on his march through England, 
 that the Rump Parliament had not reputation enough 
 to preserve themselves and those who adhered to 
 them. The reaction in favour of monarchy which 
 had begun at the execution of King Charles, had been 
 reinforced by the usurpation of Cromwell, and his 
 attempts at kingship had now carried away a great part 
 of the nation who were tired out by continual insecurity 
 by the succession of upstart generals without the 
 capacity to rule, and parliamentary politicians without 
 the power, by the insolence of military government 
 without its strength, and by the continuous decline of 
 discipline and authority, which seemed to be rapidly 
 converting the army into bands of janissaries. 
 
 When Lambert marched to meet Monk it soon 
 became clear that his confederates were not able to 
 hold the country behind them. The governor of 
 Portsmouth admitted Sir Arthur Hesilrige and 
 Colonel Morley into that fortress, which now became 
 a rendezvous for the friends of the parliament. 
 Admiral Lawson brought his fleet into the Thames 
 and declared for the parliament. Sir Henry Vane 
 endeavoured to gain him over, but he preferred to listen 
 to the arguments of Scot and Sir Anthony Ashley 
 Cooper, who were active on the other side. Fairfax, 
 though enfeebled by the gout, rose in Yorkshire, and 
 gathered together a mingled army of Presbyterians, 
 royalists, and republicans, joined by some of 
 Lambert's soldiers, who had not forgotten their old 
 general, so that before he crossed the borders Monk 
 received the news that the parliament was restored. 
 The miHtary junto fell to pieces without a blow. 
 Lambert was deserted by his soldiers in the north, as 
 
MONK'S TREACHERY 
 
 421 
 
 Desborough was in the south. At Wooler, in 
 Northumberland, Monk received a message from the 
 parHament thanking him for his services, but not asking 
 him to march farther southwards, without, however, 
 daring to forbid him. After holding a council of 
 his officers, he determined that they should continue 
 their march. 
 
 There is no proof that Monk ever seriously 
 designed, like Lambert, to occupy the place of 
 Cromwell ; he seems to have been more given to 
 avarice than ambition ; but by his march to London he 
 had put himself at the head of the government, in 
 place of Fleetwood and Lambert. He was now the 
 umpire and arbitrator of everything, and at whatever 
 period the intention to restore the king may have 
 entered his mind, he possessed the one quality 
 necessary to carry it through, and that was untruth- 
 fulness. To make a republican army bring back the 
 king, required a man who laid not the slightest stress 
 upon promises, to whom lying and perjury were ready 
 weapons, and who could desert his friends, lull his 
 opponents to sleep by promises, betray the soldiers 
 who trusted him, and sell the liberties of England for 
 a dukedom and a sum of money. With no imagina- 
 tion, though naturally secretive. Monk took no artistic 
 pleasure in lying, he never told a falsehood when the 
 truth would do ; but he never told the truth when a 
 lie would help him. It seems that Monk derived 
 much assistance from Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, a 
 man of great political tact, and a singular power of 
 persuading those who came within his personal in- 
 fluence. 
 
 Nevertheless, the immediate leaders of the two 
 
422 
 
 LIFE OF Sift HENRY VANE 
 
 Opposing parties did not know how near things were 
 to the end. The remains of the old parliament again 
 met, Scot and Hesilrige and others completely deceived 
 by the protestations of Monk, in favour of the good 
 old cause and hatred to the rule of a single person. 
 " Sir Arthur Hesilrige, Walton, and Morley came 
 into the House in their riding-habits, and Hesilrige was 
 very jocund and high." On the other hand, Charles 
 Stuart and his advisers felt their hopes fading away. 
 
 "The surprising restoration of the parliament," 
 writes Clarendon, "that had been so often exploded, 
 so often dead and buried, and was the only image of 
 power that was most formidable to the king and his 
 party, seem to pull up all their hopes by the roots. 
 There remained only within the king's own breast 
 some faint hope, and God knows it was very faint, that 
 Monk's march into England might yet produce some 
 alteration." 
 
 But Vane was not so easily deceived by outward 
 appearances ; he had, for taking a part in the committee 
 of safety, been ordered to return to his house at Raby. 
 Before leaving London he said to Ludlow : " Unless I 
 am much mistaken, Monk has still several masks to pull 
 off" It would have been impossible in fewer words to 
 indicate the game Monk was playing. Vane added : 
 " For what concerns myself, I have all possible 
 satisfaction of mind as to those actions which God has 
 enabled me to do for the commonwealth ; and I hope 
 the same God will fortify me in my sufferings, how 
 hard soever they may be, so that I may bear a faithful 
 testimony to His cause." 
 
 Whitelocke advised Fleetwood either to declare at 
 once for a free parliament or to send some person at once 
 
THE WEEDING OF THE ARMY 423 
 
 to Breda and offer the crown to Charles Stuart upon 
 satisfactory terms ; otherwise, Monk would deceive 
 Scot and Hesilrige and their associates, and bring in 
 the king without making any terms for the country, 
 whereby the lives and fortunes of the parliamentary 
 party would be at the mercy of the Cavaliers. Fleet- 
 wood was of too undecided a character to take the 
 choice of such vigorous alternatives. About this 
 time he had a conversation with Vane still faithful to 
 the good old cause which had been wrecked by selfish 
 partisans, who had been deaf to his warnings. During 
 these disorders in England the control of the army in 
 Ireland had fallen into the hands of a party acting 
 under the name of the parliament, who refused to 
 receive Ludlow on pretence of his having forfeited his 
 command by becoming a member of the committee of 
 safety. Ludlow landed at Duncannon, but was re- 
 called by the restored parliament to answer the 
 charges against him. If he had remained at the 
 head of the army in Ireland he would, from his 
 military talents and steady attachment to the common- 
 wealth, have been a formidable adversary to Monk. 
 As it was, the control of affairs in Ireland fell into the 
 hands of a number of men who joined in all the 
 measures of Monk to restore the king. Monk's first 
 care was to weed the army of all those officers who he 
 thought might oppose his designs. 
 
 Oliver had weeded the army of the republican 
 officers ; the parliament had weeded the army of the 
 Cromwellians ; Lambert had weeded the army of the 
 friends of the parliament, who, on being restored, had 
 weeded out himself and his faction ; and now Monk 
 set to weed the army of the little honesty and honour 
 
424 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 that could be left in the higher ranks. Monk's next 
 measure was to recall the excluded members to the 
 House of Commons by which the Presbyterians found 
 themselves in a majority. Without believing, like 
 Colonel Hutchinson, that had the old Independent 
 party not withdrawn, they might still have gained a 
 sufficient number of votes from the other party to up- 
 hold the cause of the commonwealth, it seems to us 
 that, if they had consented to stay, they might have 
 had a considerable influence on the deliberations of the 
 assembly. As it was, the control of affairs was left 
 entirely in the hands of Monk and the secluded 
 members, who now arranged to call a new parliament. 
 The people, losing all trust in a party which had been 
 so often trampled under by the soldiery, were ready to 
 abandon the fruits of the civil war for the repose of a 
 government that would save them from military rule. 
 It was in vain for Milton to pour out his eloquent 
 warnings, which, ratified by experience and preserved 
 by the fire of genius, remain like a continual reproach 
 to the nation that allowed them to pass unheeded. 
 
 The elections going almost everywhere against the 
 republicans, brought in a large majority of the 
 Presbyterians and Cavaliers. The king was restored 
 without any conditions save the voluntary declaration 
 which he addressed to the parliament from Breda. 
 This was mainly accomplished through the artifices 
 of Monk, who perceived it was for his own personal 
 interest that Charles should come unembarrassed by 
 any promises or limitation to his power. It has 
 been represented that it was necessary to hurry 
 through the restoration for fear that the discontented 
 soldiers should gather to a head, and take vengeance 
 
KING RESTORED WITHOUT CONDITIONS 425 
 
 upon those who had betrayed them ; but historians, in 
 their anxiety to do justice to this line of argument, 
 fail to see, or at least to point out, that the army 
 had a double reason to be discontented ; first, that 
 Charles was restored at all, and second, that it was 
 proposed to restore him without any conditions, 
 leaving themselves, their friends, and leaders exposed 
 to the vengeance of the Cavaliers whom they had so 
 often defeated in the field, and leaving the good cause 
 for which they had risked their lives, and which 
 some of them still loved to be treated as a failure 
 and a crime. It therefore does not appear clear, if 
 the proposal made by Sir Matthew Hale, and 
 supported by Prynne, that conditions should be 
 offered to the king, would have increased the danger 
 of discontent from the army. The danger of re- 
 storing the king without conditions was much greater 
 than the danger of restoring him with conditions ; 
 and, allowing that there was a danger in both, was 
 the danger not worth the risk? It was, indeed, im- 
 possible for such an important transaction as the 
 restoration to be accomplished with such rapidity 
 as not to allow the army time to think about it. 
 Three months passed away from the time when the 
 secluded members were restored, and the Long 
 Parliament was dissolved, and a month passed away 
 after his declaration from Breda was delivered to the 
 Convention Parliament, until he landed at Dover to 
 take possession of the throne. 
 
 The whole nation appeared frantic with an out- 
 burst of joy and loyality, not at all befitting the com- 
 mencement of the most shameful period of English 
 history. Unfortunately, time and experience falsified 
 
426 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 the expectations of every one who expected anything 
 but misery and disappointment. Charles II. receives 
 a magnificent entertainment from the States of 
 Holland, upon whom he twice made an unjust war ; 
 he confirms the declaration of Breda, which he was 
 so soon to break, to a trusting committee of Lords 
 and Commons. This well-written manifesto was com- 
 posed by Hyde, who was made lord chancellor, but 
 whom, in the course of time and convenience, Charles 
 allowed to be chased into exile. The king listens 
 graciously to a deputation of the Presbyterians for 
 whom he has persecution in store. He receives a 
 sum of money from a deputation of the city of 
 London, which he afterwards repaid by depriving 
 the city of its charter ; he sets sail from Holland in 
 the Naseby, now christened the Royal Charles, the 
 same ship which the Dutch afterwards burned in 
 the Medway. On landing at Dover, this excellent 
 prince is presented with a bible — " the thing which 
 he valued most in the world ; " he then reviews the 
 army, which he soon afterwards disbands ; he arrives 
 at Whitehall, where the two Houses of Parliament 
 " solemnly cast themselves at his feet with all vows 
 of affection and fidelity to the world's end." Charles 
 declares his firm attachment to parliaments, which 
 towards the end of his reign he entirely got rid of, 
 and his fidelity to the Protestant religion, which he 
 afterwards renounced. The same evening he com- 
 menced a connection with a married woman, whom 
 he ennobled with the titles of Lady Castlemaine 
 and Duchess of Cleveland. Other favourites re- 
 ceived similar honours. Their services were rewarded 
 with liberal pensions voted to their descendents by 
 
THE ROYALIST PARLIAMENT 427 
 
 a dutiful parliament, and continued to be paid down 
 to our own days. 
 
 The Convention Parliament was dissolved, after 
 sitting about seven months, and a new House of 
 Commons was elected under the influence of that 
 besotted loyalty which had greeted the return of 
 Charles II. with such outbursts of rejoicing. In 
 this parliament, which was not renewed for nineteen 
 years, the Cavalier party had a powerful majority, 
 and proceeded to gratify their dislike to liberty, and 
 their hatred to those who had upheld it. They passed 
 an act declaring the whole right of controlling the 
 militia to be in the king, thus deciding one of the 
 most important points contested between Charles I. 
 and the Long Parliament in a way which, if it has 
 been fatal to the liberties of England, has at least 
 given a good many incapable commanders-in-chief, 
 and cost us several humiliating military reverses. 
 They introduced the bishops into the House of 
 Lords. In open violation of the declaration of 
 Breda, they passed the corporation act, by which 
 all existing magistrates could be removed at the 
 pleasure of commissioners, and none could in future 
 be eligible for office who had not within a year taken 
 the sacrament according to the forms of the Church 
 of England, who did not renounce the Solemn 
 League and Covenant, and declare the unlawfulness 
 of taking up arms against the king on any pretext. 
 This act virtually excluded all honest dissenters 
 from holding any public offices. By the Act of 
 Uniformity, all beneficed clergymen were ordered to 
 subscribe to a corrected copy of the Book of Common 
 Prayer, in consequence of which 2000 clergymen 
 
428 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 of the Presbyterian persuasion left their livings on 
 St Bartholomew's Day. At the urgent request of 
 the king, those provisions of the triennial bill, 
 unanimously passed by the Long Parliament in 
 1 64 1, by which, if the king did not call a parliament 
 in three years, it could be assembled without his 
 consent, were abolished. The only wonder is that 
 they did not bring back the Star Chamber. 
 
 Indeed, the parliament which represented the 
 Cavaliers, vanquished in the field but now victorious 
 at the polling booths, was anxious to go farther 
 than Charles and his minister, Clarendon, thought it 
 safe or honourable to allow. If we consider the 
 overwhelming tide of servility of the nobility, and 
 the clergy of the Church of England, the favourable 
 reception and circulation given to books more slavish 
 than any ever written under Asiastic despotism, 
 advocating abject submission to the worst tyrants 
 as an inviolable Christian duty ; and when we reflect 
 on the flood of vice and licentiousness which over- 
 whelmed this unhappy generation, we may think that 
 the greater part of the nation not only wished to 
 get rid of its freedom, but to make itself unworthy 
 of being free. It was the dislike of the royalists to 
 a standing army founded upon their recollections of 
 the soldiers of Cromwell, the worthless character of 
 the restored king, his indolence and the incapacity 
 of his administration at home and abroad, which 
 saved the nation from totally sinking under the yoke 
 of despotism. As it was the nation fell into such 
 a state of subjection that in spite of the infatuated 
 policy of James, it required the assistance of a 
 Dutch army to set them free. 
 
NEW SHIFTING OF PROPERTY 
 
 429 
 
 The king had been brought back by a parliament 
 in which the Presbyterians were as strong as the 
 Cavaliers, and in which there were still some true 
 friends of liberty, like Lord Fairfax and Mr Pierpont, 
 who thought it was better to regulate events which 
 they could not control. In the Convention Parliament 
 the bishops were still kept out of the House of Lords ; 
 the great question of the control of the militia left 
 undecided, and a bill was introduced to secure at least 
 for compensation the purchasers of the church lands. 
 
 The Cavaliers who, like the Duke of Newcastle, 
 returned in the confident expectation of recovering all 
 their estates, found the Act of Oblivion a great 
 hindrance to their suits. In some cases they had sold 
 their lands to pay their fines, and for this there was 
 no remedy. Most of them, however, got back at least 
 part of their estates, so that at the restoration, as 
 during the civil wars, a great shifting of property 
 took place. 
 
 Ashley Cooper, now made Earl of Shaftesbury, 
 had protested that not a man should be excluded from 
 the amnesty : " for, if I should suffer such a thing," 
 he said, " I should be the greatest rogue alive." This 
 consideration did not prevent him along with 
 Montague, the friend of Cromwell, Lord Manchester, 
 Denzil Holies, and others, who had fought against the 
 king, sitting as judges upon some of their old political 
 allies. 
 
 Twenty- nine of those concerned in the execution 
 of the king were tried for their lives and estates ; all 
 were condemned. At the trials the doctrine of the 
 divine right of kings was assumed as the basis of the 
 accusation, and as they held that nothing could, under 
 
430 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 any circumstances, be lawful save with the concur- 
 rence of the king, Lords, and Commons, it was clear 
 that a king, however guilty, could never be punished 
 unless he himself desired it. The prisoners, on their 
 side, insisted that in case two of the three estates 
 should be in the wrong and become dispossessed, the 
 Commons could act alone. 
 
 Though refused counsel, and often interrupted, 
 insulted, and overruled, the accused defended them- 
 selves with courage and dignity, some of them, 
 especially Scot and Marten, with great ability. The 
 sentence was that they should be drawn upon hurdles 
 to the place of execution and there hanged by the 
 neck, and, being alive, cut down, their entrails to be 
 taken out of their bodies (and they living) the same to 
 be burned before their eyes, and their heads cut off, 
 and their bodies to be divided into four quarters, and 
 heads and quarters to be disposed of at the pleasure 
 of the king's majesty. 
 
 This sentence was literally executed upon ten of 
 them, six of whom had sat at the king's trial, Harri- 
 son, Scot, Scrope, Clements, Carew, Jones, and Cook, 
 who had acted as solicitor. To these were added 
 Colonel Hacker and Axtell, who had commanded the 
 guards at the execution, and Hugh Peters, who had, 
 in his sermons, publicly justified the punishment of 
 Charles. 
 
 They all died with the greatest fortitude, justify- 
 ing their cause to the last. It was feared that Hugh 
 Peters would not have the same courage as the rest ; 
 but at the time of execution his courage rose. When 
 Mr Cook was cut down they brought Mr Peters near 
 that he might see it ; and by-and-by the hangman 
 
FATE OF THE REGICIDES 
 
 431 
 
 came to him, all besmeared in blood, and rubbing his 
 bloody hands together, he tauntingly asked, " Come, 
 how do you like this, Mr Peters, how do you like this 
 work ? " To whom he replied, " I am not [I thank God] 
 terrified at it, you may do your worst." 
 
 Milton, who had justified the king's punishment as 
 boldly as Peters, was not tried, though he was for 
 some time in confinement. He is believed to have 
 been saved mainly by the interest of Sir William 
 Davenant, whose life he had been instrumental in 
 saving when his own party was in power. 
 
 The other nineteen who had been tried were not 
 put to death, as this could not be done without the 
 consent of parliament. All their property was for- 
 feited, and they were confined in the Tower, where 
 they were very cruelly treated. It being found that 
 the charity of their friends procured them some allevia- 
 tion of their miseries, they were disposed in remote 
 dungeons, where most of them soon died. 
 
 Henry Marten lingered out twenty years' imprison- 
 ment in Chepstow Castle in Monmouthshire. 
 
 Okey, Darkstead, and Cobet, who had escaped to 
 the continent, were seized at Delft, with the consent 
 of the States by Downing the king's, once Cromwell's, 
 resident in Holland. They were conveyed to London 
 and put to death with the usual barbarities. Okey 
 was one of the best officers during the civil wars, 
 and had remained a faithful friend to the common- 
 wealth. 
 
 Two of the king's judges. General Whalley and 
 General Goffe, sought refuge in Massachusetts, where 
 the royalist reaction had no force. At Boston, 
 Governor Endicot received them very courteously, 
 
432 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 and for nearly a year they lived unmolested, attending 
 religious meetings, where they preached and prayed. 
 When royalist warrants for their apprehension 
 reached Boston they were conveyed away to the woods 
 by their friends. For many years they lived in great 
 secrecy. In 1664 they were joined at Hadley by 
 Colonel Dixwell, another of the king's judges, who 
 changed his name, married, and lived peaceably 
 among the people of Newhaven, where he died at the 
 age of eighty-two. 
 
 Hutchinson, who had read the papers left by 
 Whalley and Goffe, tells us ^ that they believed that 
 the regicides put to death in London, whose bodies 
 were not suffered to be put into graves, were the 
 witnesses mentioned in the Apocalypse. They 
 looked for the coming of Christ, and were much dis- 
 appointed when the year 1666, which had been 
 assigned for that event, passed away without the 
 deliverance of the saints ; but flattered themselves that 
 the Christian era might be erroneous. 
 
 In 1675, when Hadley was surprised by the 
 Indians during King Philip's war, the town was 
 saved by Goffe, the old Puritan soldier, now bowed 
 with years, who darted from his hiding-place, rallied 
 the disheartened, and having achieved a safe defence 
 sank back to his retirement to be seen no more. 
 
 Hesilrige and Whitelocke were included in the 
 amnesty, the House of Commons being specially 
 divided on their cases. Whitelocke paid an enormous 
 fine to Charles, in order to secure himself from further 
 
 1 History of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, pp. 215-219. Hutchinson 
 gives in the appendix an affecting letter from Goffe's wife in England, 
 who was Whalley's daughter. 
 
SIDNEY GOES INTO EXILE 
 
 molestation ; for a vote of the House of Commons 
 was scarcely sufficient to save a man from the court. 
 Harrington and Colonel Hutchinson were both 
 imprisoned on groundless charges without ever being 
 brought to trial. Harrington was set free after his 
 health was permanently injured ; but Hutchinson died 
 at Sandown Castle in Kent, in 1664, after eleven 
 months' imprisonment. The last of the great 
 commonwealth men that appear in English history 
 are Algernon Sidney and Edmund Ludlow. 
 
 Sidney found it intolerable to live in England 
 after the return of the Stuarts. " I think," he wrote, 
 **that being exiled from my country is a great evil, 
 and would redeem myself from it with the loss of a 
 great deal of my blood. But when that country of 
 mine, which used to be esteemed a Paradise, is now 
 like to be a stage of injury ; the liberty we hoped to 
 establish oppressed ; luxury and lewdness set up in 
 its height, instead of the piety, virtue, sobriety, and 
 modesty which we hoped God by our hands would 
 have introduced ; the best of our nation made a prey 
 to the worst ; the parliament, court, and army cor- 
 rupted ; the people enslaved ; all things vendible ; 
 no man safe but by such evil and infamous means as 
 flattery and bribery — what joy can I have in my own 
 country in this condition ? A pleasure to see that all 
 I love in the world is sold and destroyed ? Shall I 
 renounce my principles, learn the vile court arts, and 
 make my peace by bribing some of them ? Shall 
 their corruption and vice be my safety? 
 
 "Ah, no. Better is a life among strangers than 
 in my own country upon such conditions. 
 
 " When the innocence of my actions will not 
 
434 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 protect me, I will stay till the storm be over- 
 passed. 
 
 " In short, when Vane, Lambert, Hesilrige cannot 
 live in safety, I cannot live at all. If I had been in 
 England, I should have expected a lodging with 
 them ; or, though they may be the first as being more 
 eminent, I must expect to follow their example in 
 suffering as I have been their companion in acting." 
 After spending many years in Italy and France, 
 Sidney returned to England to fall a victim to an 
 unjust trial, leaving his eloquent writings and his 
 heroic example to his countrymen. 
 
 When Ludlow found that resistance to the 
 restoration was hopeless, he took refuge in Switzer- 
 land along with John Lisle, the husband of Alice 
 Lisle, the lady who was put to death for harbouring 
 a fugitive after Monmouth's rebellion. Lisle was 
 murdered by royalist assassins, and several attempts 
 were made upon the life of Ludlow, but without 
 success. Though repeatedly asked, he had refused 
 to engage in the desperate plots of the Wildmans and 
 Fergusons against the Stuarts ; but when the news of 
 the Revolution of 1688 reached the shores of the 
 Lake of Geneva, Ludlow regarded it as the triumph 
 of the cause to which he had been so honest and 
 steady a friend. 
 
 He was invited by some powerful members of the 
 Whig party to return to England ; but it would 
 appear that the horror with which the regicides were 
 regarded had increased during the twenty-eight years, 
 when no man dared say a word in their excuse. It 
 was brought to the notice of parliament by some 
 Tory member that one of the regicides had appeared 
 
THE GRAVE OF LUDLOW 
 
 435 
 
 openly in London, and whatever the Whigs may have 
 thought on the matter, they had not the courage to 
 defend him. Some days elapsed before a warrant 
 could be issued against him, and the Puritan soldier 
 had time to escape from England and to return to the 
 republican state which had sheltered him so long. 
 He died in the seventy-third year of his age. We 
 have seen his grave in the church of St Martin, over- 
 looking the little town of Vevey, and the quiet blue 
 waters of the Leman Lake, surrounded by the 
 mountains on which he must often have gazed. On 
 the church wall there is an inscription in which his 
 widow records his courage in battle, his mercy to the 
 vanquished, his love of liberty, and hatred of arbitrary 
 power. Beside him lies Andrew Broughton, who 
 read the sentence of death on Charles L 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 Vane's Theological Views and Writings 
 
 While Oliver Cromwell took up the uneasy burden of 
 the state, Henry Vane retired to Raby Castle and 
 gave his mind to those theological reveries which so 
 strikingly contrast with his firm grasp of administra- 
 tive details and the clearness of his political insight. 
 Yet, in the deeply religious tone of those days, it is no 
 more surprising that a practical politician should have 
 written an abstruse treatise on theology than that, in 
 our days, a cabinet minister should write a book on the 
 Homeric poems, or on the foundations of belief. In the 
 spring of 1655 Vane published a quarto volume of 
 440 pages entitled, A Retired Mans Meditations or the 
 Mysterie and Power of Godlinesse. One feature of 
 Vane's writings is their entire subjectivity. One may 
 turn over page after page without finding any trace of 
 the personality of the author or political allusions 
 which might mark when the book was written. 
 
 In the last chapter of the Meditations Vane 
 proclaims his faith in the near coming of a real 
 theocracy on earth. This belief, which was shared by 
 many of his contemporaries,^ amongst others by John 
 
 1 Bishop Hacket in his Memoirs of the Life of Archbishop Williams, 
 tells us of a very religious family in Huntingdonshire who kept a 
 sentinel at all hours and seasons to expect the second coming of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 436 
 
THE COMING OF CHRIST 
 
 437 
 
 Wilton, was founded on the Apocalypse "as inter- 
 preted in several volumes lately made extant," the 
 chief of which was the commentary of Mede, Clavis 
 Apocalyptica, Vane tells us that " the general prospect 
 thereof has been given into my faith in some small 
 glimpses (a vague claim of special inspiration) as well 
 as from the inward and outward works of God, in a 
 patient and humble expectation of the clearer and 
 more certain description thereof, as the things them- 
 selves are drawing on, which Christ in His times will 
 fully show, by the brightness of His own coming, unto 
 which the children of light and of this day are 
 exhorted to be hastening, as that which is hastening 
 upon them, that so it may not overtake them as a 
 thief in the night at unawares." To ensure the 
 security of this new paradise the devil should be 
 bound and sealed up in the bottomless pit and totally 
 unable to deceive and beguile the nations. 
 
 *' Christ would then appear in an incorruptible 
 immortal state of spirit, soul, and body, to reign with 
 the glorified saints. All shall obey Him either 
 voluntarily or by compulsion ; every tongue shall 
 confess Him, every knee shall bow to Him. Christ 
 will quicken whom He will, calling whom He pleases out 
 of their very graves, whether spiritual or literal." As 
 to the general state of the world which was to follow 
 this new reign of religion and morals. Vane does not 
 say any more than that it shall be a glorious, pure, 
 incorrupt state unto the whole creation, which shall 
 then keep a holy Sabbath and rest unto the Lord, 
 a seventh time of the time of the world's continuance ; 
 in which there shall be no sowing of the field nor 
 pruning of the vineyard, nor exacting any labour from 
 
438 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 the creature, but what in a voluntary sense it shall 
 perform by way of homage and worship unto Christ, 
 for the use of His saints during the thousand years, 
 who are yet in their corruptible body, expecting their 
 great change. 
 
 As in this new world Christ will reign both as a 
 natural and temporal sovereign, it might be expected 
 that the dignity of the saints would be increased. 
 Vane speaks of a general assembly of the first-born 
 who should administer the accomplishment of God's 
 promise as to making good the reward which 
 righteousness is to receive even in this life. This 
 general assembly is to have the power of the keys ; 
 what they bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, 
 and what they loose in earth shall be loosed in heaven. 
 They are to have the power of church censures to 
 hardened offenders, and of condemning them to ever- 
 lasting destruction from the presence of God. The 
 power of the sword is also committed to them. Here 
 we see the dream of a heavenly Geneva, in which a 
 general assembly has the full powers of an ecclesiastical 
 and civil court, backed by the irresistible might of a 
 living Christ. 
 
 The saints are to have the perfect use of the 
 natural senses of their mind and body ; they shall hold 
 forth the law of righteousness and the obedience 
 thereof unto which natural men in those days shall be 
 required to conform ; natural men shall be under 
 the influence of a ministry and magistracy brought 
 forth in the highest and utmost perfection and 
 purity that can be enjoyed on earth, managed by 
 the person of Christ Himself and the whole assembly 
 of the first-born. 
 
THE ARMIES OF GOG AND MAGOG 
 
 439 
 
 The revelation of nature and of the scriptures 
 shall be made clear and comprehensible in the highest 
 degree. During this blessed period those saints, who 
 may be called from heaven where they exercise a life 
 equal to the angels, will not undergo any debasement 
 by returning to the earth to take human shape, for 
 there will be no hindrance to the free and absolute 
 exercise of the former angelical life, so that they may 
 either walk the earth or be with the Lord in the air. 
 Vane held that the world was to last seven thousand 
 years. At the end of the millennium Satan would 
 again be let loose to renew his insidious warfare 
 against the human race. 
 
 Transforming himself into the figure of an angel of 
 light this powerful being will muster the wicked men 
 and angels, deluding people with lying wonders, gather- 
 ing Gog and Magog to battle, the number of whom 
 is as the sands of the sea, to compass about the camp 
 of the saints. At the end of the struggle Christ will 
 carry the faithful up to the heavenly mansions pro- 
 vided for them. Then the great day of judgment will 
 come when the dead, small and great, shall be made 
 to stand before God, the wicked shall be raised "to 
 everlasting contempt," the devil shall be cast out into 
 the lake of fire where the beast and the false prophet 
 are, and the whole visible frame of the creation will be 
 destroyed by fire. 
 
 Over such views Vane brooded in his imprison- 
 ment. They were held by him to the last.^ The 
 belief in the near coming of the kingdon of righteous- 
 
 ^ This may be seen in his letter to his lady from the Isle of Scylly 
 and from two Treatises published shortly after his death. See An Epistle 
 General to the Mystical Body of Christ on Earth, the Church universal 
 in Babylon, who are Pilgrims and Strangers on the Earth, desiring and 
 
440 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 ness consoled him amidst the disappointments of his 
 schemes for the establishment of a free and happy 
 commonwealth. 
 
 The traditions of a return of the golden age and 
 the destruction of the world are older than Christianity, 
 and have found their way into many mythologies, 
 answering in some way to men's hopes and men's 
 fears. The minds of the first Christians were kept on 
 the strain waiting for the promised coming of their 
 Lord before the generation, which had seen Him, had 
 passed away. These expectations slowly faded as the 
 centuries went by ; but in every age down to our own 
 there have been persons of a devout and ardent frame 
 of mind who have gathered, from their study of the 
 scriptures, that the time is at hand for the second 
 appearance of Christ. Vane had arrived at the idea 
 that six thousand years had elapsed since the creation 
 described in Genesis. As the seventh day brought in 
 the Sabbath, the seventh thousandth year would bring 
 in the reign of the saints. Less deeply occupied with 
 theological ideas, a real belief in the appearance of an 
 incarnate God, in this work-day world, would be too 
 strange to most people, though there are some who 
 still entertain such hopes. Yet ideas of similar import 
 come to the surface in our own day. The hopes of a 
 better state of things, though on a more modest scale, 
 are to be realised, not by supernatural interference, 
 but by an equal distribution of wealth and a planned 
 organisation of labour. Such dreams have their 
 
 seeking the Heavenly Country. Written by Sir Henry Vane, Knight, in 
 the time of his imprisonment. Printed in the year 1662, p. 55, 
 
 These views were shared by his friend and biographer George Sikes. 
 See Life of Vane, p. 81 and p. 115. 
 
VANE A SEEKER 
 
 441 
 
 believers, fanatics, and martyrs. The world is not to 
 be consumed by fire, but by a slow process of cooling 
 and shrinking, so that the surface of the globe will 
 become unfit to sustain life. 
 
 Vane's theological writings were thought obscure, 
 even in his own day, when men entered upon religious 
 questions with an anxious zeal based upon a full 
 belief of their absolute importance to salvation.^ He 
 held meetings at which he used to preach and pray. 
 His followers were called seekers and seemed to wait 
 for some new and clear manifestations. Not long 
 after its appearance the Retired Mans Meditations 
 was attacked in an express publication by a preacher 
 named Martin Finch. ^ Unlike his clerical enemies, 
 Baxter and Mather, Finch treats the noble author 
 with deep respect as may be judged from the following 
 passage : "It pleased this noble knight upon his 
 retirement (after he had been such a great blessing in 
 
 ' Bishop Burnet says of Sir Henry Vane : " In these meetings he 
 used, preached, and prayed often himself, but with so peculiar a darkness, 
 that though I have sometimes taken pains to see if I could find out his 
 meaning in his works, yet I could never reach it ; and since many others 
 have said the same, it may be reasonable to believe that he hid some- 
 what that was a necessary key to the rest. His friends told me he 
 leaned to Origen's notion of a universal salvation of all, both of devils 
 and the damned, and to the doctrine of pre-existence."— i^zj/t-rj/ of his 
 own time, London, 1818, vol. i., p. 180. 
 
 When Vane and Cromwell were close friends and corresponded under 
 the names of brother Fountain and brother Heron, Vane wrote to 
 Cromwell, then in Scotland, begging him not to believe some ill-natured 
 reports, adding : " Be assured he answers your heart's desires in all 
 things, except he be esteemed even by you in principles too high to 
 fathom, which one day I am persuaded, will not be so thought by you, 
 when by increasing with the increasings of God, you shall be brought to 
 that sight and enjoyment of God which passes knowledge." 
 
 2 Animadversions on Sir Henry Vane's Book entitled the Retired 
 Man's Meditations, by Martin Finch, Preacher of the Gospel, London, 
 1656. 
 
442 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 public affairs) to the nation to set himself more closely 
 to the study of gospel mysteries. . . . This author 
 hath not contented himself in the shallows, but hath 
 waded into the deeps of divinity, possibly so far some- 
 times as that he cannot feel the ground of scripture." 
 Through a hundred and seventy-nine pages Finch 
 criticises Vane's religious views in a searching and 
 subtle way. He is a believer in Calvinistic predestina- 
 tion, and argues against Vane that those justified in 
 Christ can never fall. No man under the covenant of 
 works can be justified, as Vane imagines. Finch 
 observes : " I have written but little of the Trinity, 
 because the author's judgment is hard to find out 
 about it." 
 
 Sir Henry's friend and biographer, George Sikes, 
 boldly avers "that no book but the scriptures did ever 
 clear so much truth as his Retired Mans Meditations. 
 " I was," says Sikes, " one of the number of those that, 
 constantly attending upon his discourses, as oft as I 
 was in town, knew him more in his family exercises 
 and discourses for many years than most ; whom I 
 received more help and light in the knowledge of God 
 than from all the men in the world besides, and found 
 his ministry most searching and trying. What others 
 took for gold he proved it to be but brass, and from 
 doctrines that others preferred for spiritual he tried 
 and found them carnal." "His usual practice," we 
 are told, "was to spend an hour or two in preaching 
 and praying with his family." 
 
 Unhappily, Sikes took much more interest in 
 his friend as a theologian than as a statesman. 
 While only giving few and meagre details about his 
 political career, he gives a lengthy exposition of 
 
FAVOURS UNIVERSAL SALVATION 443 
 
 Vane's religious opinions, from which we glean the 
 following. 
 
 He held that external ordinances were of little 
 avail, especially that the baptism of water, as practised 
 by John the Baptist and by Christ, have served their 
 season and are gone off the stage. This is preparatory 
 to the Baptism of the Holy Ghost and of fire which 
 are thus defined : — 
 
 " The first is that wherewith the earthly man is 
 capable to be baptised through the pouring out of 
 the gifts of the Holy Ghost. The second is that 
 whereby the natural or earthly man is baptised into 
 conformity with Christ in his death, and is made 
 to grow up into the incorruptible form of heavenly 
 manhood. He was for the breaking of bread in a 
 way of Christian communion, if practised in the primi- 
 tive apostolical spirit and way. Such meetings as he 
 found to approach nearest to the apostolical order, as 
 to liberty of prophesying one by one (i Cor. xlv. 31) he 
 most approved and frequented." 
 
 Unlike most of the English Puritans and the 
 Scottish Presbyterians, who held that the obligation 
 of the fourth commandment was transferred to 
 the Sunday, Vane thought this observance was rather 
 a magisterial institution (citing Romans xlv. 5) which 
 he so far respected as to spend more time in exercise 
 and in prayer in his family, or other Christian 
 meetings on that day than on any other. 
 
 There are passages in Vane's theological writings 
 which support Burnet's statement that he favoured 
 this idea of universal salvation. He recoiled at the 
 rashness of pronouncing that the heathens were 
 doomed to perdition, since he might thus shut out 
 
444 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 those whom Christ would possibly, at the last day, 
 welcome as His own. " But, indeed," he wrote in the 
 Retired Mans Meditations, " this assertion is so far 
 from straitening or lessening the number of those 
 that are the true heirs of salvation, that it rather 
 discovers how they may lie hid, as they did in Elijah's 
 time, out of the observation of visible professors 
 (amongst those that they exclude as heathens) and 
 be comprehended by Christ, their spiritual head, 
 when as yet they may not have their spiritual senses 
 brought forth into exercise so as to apprehend him, 
 but may be babes in Christ walking as men (i Cor. 
 iii. 13), undistinguished from the rest of the world. 
 And although they may, in that respect, seem to be men 
 in the flesh, yet they may live according to God in 
 the spirit, and find acceptance in the beloved one, 
 whilst they themselves may either be without law, 
 exercising a chaste natural conscience, or may be 
 under the law, believers so zealous of the law, as to 
 flie in the face of Paul himself, for witnessing a 
 higher light than they have yet experience of, or 
 can bear." 
 
 In his religious writings he nowhere speaks of 
 any further punishment on the wicked save that they 
 should be " held in everlasting contempt." A stretch of 
 charity most unusual in the theologians of that day 
 over whom hung the lurid glare of hell with its never 
 ending torments. It was the belief that any error in 
 the interpretation of scripture, any wandering from 
 the creeds, was to be followed by the eternal punish- 
 ments of an angry God that led men to hate and 
 persecute one another. Not only did the obstinate 
 heretic lead others astray, but he awakened doubts 
 
THE SOURCE OF INTOLERANCE 445 
 
 in the mind of the orthodox believer, hence his fury 
 and hate. Wherever such a belief prevails persecu- 
 tion surely follows whenever its votaries have the 
 power. Sir Simonds D'Ewes, defending his learned 
 friend, Sir Robert Cotton, from the reproach of not 
 being a sound Protestant, tells us that "he hath, in > 
 my hearing, most vehemently and learnedly opposed 
 the Romish abominations, openly professing that he 
 did not see how a Tridentine papist could possibly be 
 saved, that is, a papist firmly holding all the late 
 cursed and damnable decrees of the Council of Trent ; " 
 and, indeed, this seemed to follow the belief, general 
 with Protestants at the time, that the Pope was the 
 beast in the Apocalypse whose followers were to be 
 cast into the lake of fire. 
 
 While the trust in heavenly succour nerved Henry 
 Vane throughout the fight and consoled him in 
 reverses, it never induced him to sit with his hands 
 folded. He felt and proclaimed it his duty to be ever 
 ready to struggle or to suffer, in order to advance the 
 cause of right, and justice, and freedom. Whatever 
 might be the tides of the battle, whether the victory 
 was near or deferred, it was for this high-minded man 
 to exert all his powers in the post God had placed 
 him, leaving the issue to the Almighty arm. Judged 
 by the prevailing opinions of our own time. Vane's 
 religious views were much more rational than those 
 of most of his contemporaries, while he was deeply 
 imbued with the Puritan spirit of piety. His views 
 on religious toleration already explained he always 
 upheld both in theory and practice. His admirer, 
 Mr Henry Stubbe,^ argued with force and learning 
 
 ^ An Essay in defence of the Good Old Cause and a Vindication of the 
 
446 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 that the civil magistrate hath nothing to do in matters 
 of religion as God hath distributed to every man, as 
 
 Honourable Sir Henry Vane, from the false Aspersions of Mr Baxter, 
 by Henry Stubbe of Christ Church in Oxon, London, 1659. 
 
 Anthony Wood {AthencB Oxonienses, vol. ii., p. 560) gives a lively 
 account of this Henry Stubbe which is surprisingly favourable, when 
 we consider his usual truculence to those who took the opposite side 
 in pohtics. Stubbe was born in Lincolnshire in 1631. His father, a 
 minister, inclined to favour the anabaptists, sought refuge in Ireland, 
 whence he was again forced to fly by the rebellion of 1641. His mother 
 with two children, betook herself to London where she supported herself 
 by her own industry. She managed to get Henry into Westminster 
 School where his quickness in learning gained him notice. One day 
 Sir Henry Vane came into the school with his old teacher, Dr Lamb 
 Osbaldiston. This was at the beginning of the civil war, when Vane 
 was treasurer to the navy and much burdened with parliamentary 
 work ; yet at the master's motion he took a kindly liking to the lean 
 carotty-headed clever boy then ten years old, frequently relieved him 
 with money, and gave him the liberty to resort to his house where he 
 often got a full meal when otherwise he would have had no sustenance 
 but what one penny could purchase for his dinner. As he still continued 
 to make wonderful progress in his studies, Sir Henry Vane got him to 
 be made King's Scholar, and procured for him a student's place at 
 Christ Church. While still an undergraduate, Stubbe was sent to 
 Oxford, with the engagement of fidelity to the parliament which the 
 members of the university were required to take. Stubbe claims that 
 "he saved the remains of the Cavaliers of Christ Church and Queen's 
 College, and gave them opportunities to live securely and educate 
 others in their principles." After taking the degree of Bachelor of Arts 
 he served the parliament in the wars of Scotland for two years, after 
 which he became second keeper of the Bodleian library. He always 
 retained a fervent gratitude to his kind patron. Sir Henry Vane, and 
 sided with him against his adversaries, whether royalist or Presbyterian. 
 "My youth," he wrote, "and other circumstances incapacitated me 
 from rendering him any great services ; but all that I did, and all that I 
 wrote, had no other aim ; nor do I care how much any man can inodiate 
 my former writings as long as they were subservient to him." 
 
 Losing his place when Vane's fortunes declined, Stubbe retired to 
 Stratford-on-Avon to practise medicine which he had for some years 
 studied. After the restoration, he promised passive obedience to the 
 king's government, and joined the Church of England, not only upon 
 account of its being publicly imposed, but because it is the least defining, 
 and consequently the most comprehensive and fitting to be national. 
 Stubbe had a prodigious memory, and was the most noted Latinist and 
 Grecian of his age. He was a singular mathematician, and thoroughly 
 
HIS MYSTICISM 
 
 447 
 
 the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk, and 
 so ordain in all churches. 
 
 Stubbe pleads for those episcopal divines who have 
 learned in all conditions to be content, and in their 
 prosperity were neither rash in depriving nor forward 
 in persecuting. He even pleads for such Catholics 
 who deny the Pope's power any way in temporals to 
 depose magistrates, to dispose of lands, or the civil 
 obedience of subjects. 
 
 In reading Vane's theological writings, one grasps 
 at the meaning, believes there is a meaning, yet it 
 escapes, or only dwells in the mind for a moment, 
 leaving no conception behind. Vane does not think 
 with the thoughts of others, nor use their phrases. His 
 mind, in its intense search, strains at coincidences and 
 correspondences which escape minds less exalted ; but 
 mystics of his own class, like Sikes, can follow him. 
 He regarded all the scriptures as equally inspired ; 
 every sentence, every turn of expression, conveyed 
 God's meaning, hence a passage from the Old Testa- 
 ment might be used to support a doctrine deduced 
 from the New, a verse in Isaiah might confirm the 
 interpretation of a chapter in an epistle of St Paul ; 
 but through these his mind worked, selecting and 
 systematising. 
 
 Sikes tell us that Vane was reproached for 
 allegorising the scriptures, and carrying them quite 
 
 ready in all political matters, councils, ecclesiastical and profane 
 histories. He had a loud voice, and as he spoke his mind freely in all 
 companies, he sometimes got into quarrels. He was of a high generous 
 nature, and scorned money, and riches, and the adorers of them. He 
 visited Jamaica, and in 1665 resided some time in London, and finally 
 practised in Warwick and in Bath, where he gained much reputation as a 
 physician. 
 
448 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 out of their native significancy, and intendment, 
 wrestling and forcing all to their own purpose. Yet in 
 general, Vane used the quest of allegories more for the 
 illustration of doctrine than for the finding of new 
 ones. Jerusalem, the Tabernacle, and the Temple 
 were treated as allegories of the heavenly kingdom. 
 Adam, Enoch, Noah, Shem, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, 
 Samuel, David, Solomon, and many others, were 
 thought types or significant figures of Christ. Cain 
 and Abel represent the fleshy and spiritual worshipper. 
 
 Sikes well defines an allegory to be when one thing 
 is said as type, letter, or significant figure, through 
 which another farther and more excellent thing is meant 
 and to be understood. Such symbolising was common 
 with the divines and preachers of the day, and seems 
 supported by the example of St Paul (see Gal. iv. 22, 
 31, Romans viii. 2, Tim. ii. 11). 
 
 " The true allegorising interpreter of the scriptures 
 does, and must, expound them into things not seen, 
 things eternal into a sense, quite out of the reach, and 
 discerning of all the sense and reason in mankind ; 
 spiritual things, things eternal, are discernible only to 
 the eye of faith, the spiritual discerning the hearing 
 ear. He only that hath this ear will hear what the 
 spirit saith unto the churches. Things seen, things 
 temporal, are the things that are not. Things eternal, 
 things not seen, are the only things that are." 
 
 Swedenborg finds allegories everywhere in scripture 
 (save in St Paul's epistles), through which he intro- 
 duced his own meanings and found confirmation of his 
 visions. The following idea of Vane's may be found 
 extended and amplified in the writings of the Swedish 
 seer. 
 
EXPLANATION OF THE APOCALYPSE 449 
 
 The earth brought forth her variety of herbs, 
 plants, fruits, and trees, everyone after his kind, all of 
 which are but the shadows of the kingdoms above, the 
 things of higher and better natures. The confident 
 assertions of the first Reformers, that the scarlet woman 
 seated on the seven hills was papal Rome, and that 
 the Pope was Antichrist turned the attention of 
 Protestants to the Apocalypse, the meaning of which 
 had been forgotten and lost. Not only divines and 
 controversialists but men of superior intellect, like 
 Napier of Merchiston, Grotius, and Isaac Newton, 
 wrote commentaries upon it. Vane noted that in the 
 Revelation, John was commanded to write the things 
 which he had seen, the things which are, and lastly, the 
 things which should be hereafter. This is the clue by 
 following which one may arrive at an explanation of 
 the apocalypse.^ Vane went no farther towards the 
 correct answer to the riddle : " The number of the 
 name of the Beast," he tells us, " being said to be the 
 number of a man, signifies that it is the sensual part 
 of men's wisdom or reason become devilish by joining 
 in combination with Satan in his revolt from his true 
 head, and in exercising enmity against all righteousness 
 upon one account or other. Apparently Vane believed 
 that the opening of the seventh seal, when the reign of 
 the saints would begin, was to be 1666 years after the 
 birth of Christ. 
 
 1 After the translation of the Book of Enoch and the Ascensio Isaia 
 Vatis from the Abyssinian it was less difficult to discover the meaning of 
 the Apocalypse. Babylon was the Rome of the Emperors ; the beast 
 was Nero. On this point both Renan and Dean Farrar are agreed. 
 
 2 F 
 
CHAPTER XXV 
 
 Trial and Execution of Argyll. Vane in Prison. Letter to his Lady. 
 His Trial and defence. Can he be Honestly put out of the Way ? 
 
 The Scottish people had shown their displeasure at 
 the execution of Charles L, and had shed their best 
 blood to make his son king. They rejoiced at the 
 Restoration, not dreaming of what was to come. 
 Charles had not forgotten the curb which the 
 Presbyterians had held against his profligacy, and 
 had some grudges to avenge. It was not enough 
 that the solemn league and covenant, which he had 
 signed, should be annulled, and episcopacy established 
 in Scotland. 
 
 The Marquess of Argyll had put the crown on the 
 head of Charles at Scone, and had run himself into 
 debt in supplying the needy prince with money. 
 Having avoided the disastrous march to Worcester, 
 he had been one of the last in Scotland to give in to 
 the army of the parliament. Having promised to live 
 peaceably under the new government, he had kept 
 aloof from royalist plots and futile insurrections. 
 He had been a member of Richard Cromwell's parlia- 
 ment. After the Restoration he had been encouraged 
 by his son, Lord Lome, who was in favour with 
 Charles, to come to London. On his way to 
 Whitehall, Argyll had encountered Clarendon whom 
 
 450 
 
TWO EVIL COUNSELLORS 
 
 451 
 
 he had tried to accost. " Not one word, my Lord," 
 said the chancellor, who whispered to his son, " that 
 is a fatal man." Clarendon and Monk were closeted 
 with the king who ordered Argyll to be arrested in 
 the antechamber and sent to the Tower, where he 
 was kept a prisoner for five months, after which he 
 was sent to Edinburgh to be tried by the Scottish 
 parliament, in which his enemies were numerous. 
 Charges were heaped against him, some of them 
 recklessly false, others covered by indemnities. 
 After the proof had been led, Sir John Gilmour, the 
 President of the Court of Session, said : "I have 
 given all the attention I was capable of to the 
 whole of this process, and I can find nothing proven 
 against the marquess but what the most part of this 
 House are involved in as well as he, and we may as 
 well be found guilty." 
 
 To this Middleton, the royal commissioner, had 
 nothing better to reply than : " What Sir John has 
 said is very true. We are, all of us or most, guilty, 
 and the king may pitch upon any he pleases to make 
 examples." Argyll's friends showed hopes of his 
 being acquitted, which was unpleasing to Monk. The 
 proof was concluded, and should not legally have 
 been reopened, when a special messenger appeared 
 bearing letters, which had been sent by the marquess 
 to Monk and Colonel Lilburne, written by Argyll to 
 clear himself of the suspicion of being disaffected to 
 Cromwell's government at the time when Monk was 
 actually ruling in Scotland as his deputy. The 
 marquess had disavowed his son. Lord Lorne, who 
 had joined Middleton in the Highlands, and had 
 promised to co-operate in the suppression of the 
 
452 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 insurrection.^ Those letters had been furnished by 
 Monk himself, with a base malice of which a pick- 
 pocket would be ashamed. The parliament held that 
 they proved high treason, and Argyll was condemned 
 to death, and beheaded before the sentence could be 
 confirmed by the king (May 27, 1661). 
 
 As Baillie wrote :^ " The man was very wise, and 
 questionless the greatest subject the king had, 
 sometime much known and beloved in all the three 
 kingdoms, it was not safe he should live." 
 
 It was easy to guess that the same policy which 
 brought Argyll to the maiden, would seek the death 
 of Vane ; only it was not so easy to get him tried and 
 condemned, as certain legal formalities had still to be 
 observed in England. 
 
 Charles had promised, in the Declaration of Breda, 
 that no one should be excluded from the Act of 
 Indemnity save those who had taken part in the 
 trial or execution of his father, of which Vane had 
 never approved. Relying upon this engagement. 
 Vane had come from Belleau to Hampstead where, 
 early in July 1660, he was arrested and sent to the 
 Tower. The House of Lords had advised the ex- 
 clusion of Sir Henry Vane at the advice of Clarendon 
 who had drawn up the said Declaration. This was 
 the subject of a conference between the two Houses. 
 Rather than endanger the Indemnity Act, the 
 Commons agreed to except Vane and Lambert on 
 condition that the Lords and Commons should 
 petition the king that, if they should be attainted, 
 
 1 The letters are printed in the Appendix of Willcock's Lzfe of the 
 Marquess of Argyll, Edinburgh, 1903. 
 
 ^ Letters and Journals, let. 200, vol. ii., p. 452. 
 
IMPRISONED IN SCILLY 
 
 453 
 
 their lives should be spared, and his majesty formally 
 granted the desire of the Houses in the said petition. 
 
 What made Vane hateful to the triumphant faction 
 was not his guilt, but his innocence, the noble 
 integrity of his life, the unwavering consistency and 
 rectitude with which he had held his course, the 
 great abilities which had marked him as the chief 
 of the republican party, the only one whom the 
 royalists had now any reason to fear.^ Clarendon 
 and the other advisers of the court did not find the 
 time opportune for bringing the illustrious prisoner 
 to trial ; he was kept in confinement till, under the 
 subservient and vindictive parliament of 1661, it was 
 thought practicable to arrange for a judicial murder 
 in defiance of the promises of King, Lords, and 
 Commons. There is extant a petition from Lady 
 Vane for renewal of permission to visit her husband 
 in the Tower, and that he should be allowed to take 
 the air, "A great indisposition growing upon him." 
 On October 21, about fifteen months after his arrest, 
 there was a warrant to take him to Scilly. In a 
 castle in these remote islands he was confined for 
 five months. Means of access to the prisoner were 
 jealously guarded. During these two years the rental 
 of his estates was arrested, his family suffered from 
 want, his debts amounting to ;^io,ooo were unpaid, and 
 he had not wherewithal to maintain himself in prison. 
 He beguiled these melancholy days by composing 
 
 ^ In the Fifth Report of the Historical Manuscripts Commission, p. 
 155, we find the following passage : "The king hath given order to Sir 
 Ed. Turner to acquaint the House of Commons that by that clause in 
 his speech, ' If there be any other of such dangerous principles that the 
 safety of the nation cannot consist with their liberty,' that he meant 
 Hesilrige, Vane, Lambert, and Axtell." 
 
454 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 meditations on grave subjects. Nothing is more 
 impressive than these weighty reflexions of the victims 
 of oppression, Hke Eliot and Vane, written in the 
 solemn moments of separation from the world, in 
 which a powerful mind asserts its freedom and soars 
 beyond the walls of the prison upheld by the tyrant 
 and guarded by the slave. In the appendix we give 
 extracts of some of these compositions which were 
 printed by his biographer, George Sikes. The 
 thoughts of this great man were too high to let him 
 dwell upon the hardships and privations of his prison. 
 In the following letter he addresses his lady in a vein 
 of noble consolation : — 
 
 " Letter of Sir Heiiry Vane to his Lady from the 
 " Isle of Scylly. 
 
 " My dear heart, — The wind, yet continuing con- 
 trary, makes me desirous to be as much in converse 
 with thee (having this opportunity) as the providence 
 of God will permit ; hoping these will come safe 
 to your hand. It is no small satisfaction to me, in 
 these sharp tryals, to experience the truth of those 
 Christian principles which God of His grace hath 
 afforded you and me, in our measures, the knowledge, 
 and emboldened us to make the profession of. For 
 surely by this fiery trial which is from God appointed 
 to try us, no strange or unusual dispensation of God 
 hath happened to us, differing from that which all 
 His servants and prophets, from the beginning of the 
 world to this day, have found also to be their lot. 
 Nor is it other than the condition (as I may say) and 
 law that all those must come under and submit unto 
 that will approve themselves Christ's disciples indeed. 
 
VANE'S LETTER TO HIS LADY 
 
 455 
 
 Luke xiv. 26, 27. And it is no small mercy that the 
 greatest extremities we have already undergone, and 
 which do as yet threaten, have found that strength 
 and rooting of the grace and love of Christ in our 
 hearts, which causes us not to despair of being made 
 more than conquerors in the end, without desiring 
 those conditions of peace (verse 32) which are not 
 consistent with our being such disciples of Christ 
 as will cheerfully (when called to it) forsake all they 
 have in love to Him and subjection to His will. 
 
 "Why should Christ ask us whether we be able 
 to drink of the cup He drank of, and be baptised 
 with the baptism He was baptised with ? Was it 
 not to intimate that, if we die with Him we shall also 
 reign with Him, and have it granted to us to sit down 
 with Him on the throne of His glory, our very enemies 
 beholding ? What would it be less even in this world, 
 if He should but please to cause, upon this occasion 
 of our suffering, that the spirit of God and of glory 
 should rest upon us and bring forth His kingdom 
 within us in power, giving us that mouth and wisdom 
 that will make mighty in word and deed, that faith 
 to which all things are possible, that spirit of supplica- 
 tion and prayer that He will always hear and im- 
 mediately answer ? God's arm is not shortened ; 
 doubtless, great and precious promises are yet in 
 store to be accomplished, and upon believers here 
 on earth to the making of Christ to be admired in 
 them. If we come not to live here, in the actual 
 fruition and full accomplishment of them (as they 
 will be experienced by believers, even on this side 
 the death, or full change of their mortal body), 
 yet if we die in the certain foresight and embracing 
 
456 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 of them by faith, this will be no small blessing. 
 This dark night and black shade, which God hath 
 drawn over His work in the midst of us, may be 
 (for ought we know) the ground colour to some 
 beautiful piece that He is exposing to the light. 
 His sons may be manifested and evidently dis- 
 tinguished from those who say they are such and 
 are not. There is a glory to be revealed in them, 
 unto which their suffering is made the needful 
 preparation ; and this is called the redemption of 
 the body. In that day, the tabernacling of God in 
 men shall be visible. Their very bodies shall be 
 the Temple of the Holy Ghost. In them, as His 
 Sanctuary, will God dwell for evermore, whence 
 shall be given forth such visible signs of His extra- 
 ordinary presence, as shall render it past dispute, 
 to the sight of every man, that God is in them and 
 with them of a truth. This state of entire resigned- 
 ness and subjection of our bodies to our spirits, and 
 of our spirits unto Christ, the father of them, shall 
 certainly be brought to the view of the whole world. 
 The eyes of those that see them shall acknowledge 
 them ; and the ears that hear them shall bear witness 
 to them, that they are the seed and offspring which 
 the Lord hath blessed. 
 
 ** Our body, thus considered as capable of such 
 advance and honour, is not merely the outward case 
 or shell that must return to dust, but includes also 
 the bodily, organical state of life, or that only animal 
 life which the spirit of man exercises in conjunction 
 with his mortal body. In this kind of life we see, 
 hear, and speak, have the exercise of our senses, after 
 a distinct manner from angels and intellectual sub- 
 
THERE IS A SPIRIT IN MAN 
 
 457 
 
 stances in a way of operation inferior to theirs, proper 
 and peculiar to the rational soul as needing and using 
 the earthly organs or instruments of the mortal 
 body. There is also in man that which is peculiarly 
 called mind or spirit, in distinction from his soul or 
 from the souly life and activity of the same spirit in 
 and by its earthly body (i Thess. v. 23). The spirit 
 or mind of man, as distinguished from that life and 
 operation it performs in the mortal body, is capable 
 even while in the body, to be awakened by the father 
 of spirits and come forth in a superior way, even of 
 natural life received by man in his first creation, to act 
 as out of the body, or without the use of bodily organs 
 as an equal associate to the very angels. Now, because 
 the bodily and inferior powers of our mind are the 
 instruments of that converse we are subjected to in 
 these days of our vanity, so that, if we will be sociable, 
 it must be by the use thereof, the Apostle James 
 comprehends all the actions of these inferior powers by 
 the sensible organs we make use of, in the exercise 
 thereof, under the name of the tongue when he saith, 
 * If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect 
 man, and able to bridle the whole body,' To bridle 
 and regulate the tongue, order all the language, action, 
 and expression of the animal powers aright, is to 
 bridle the whole body under the government or ruling 
 authority of the mind or spirit, considered in its 
 superior and angelical kind of life and acting, as out 
 of the body, or above and without the use of bodily 
 organs. The mind or spirit of man, thus considered, 
 is as the pilot that turns the ship about, whithersoever 
 he listeth. If it well and truly exercise its governing 
 power, it causes the animal life in all the operations 
 
458 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 and affections thereof to obey its dictates and commands, 
 however fiercely driven by contrary winds, false 
 doctrine, any corrupting violent influences of devils or 
 men upon it, and fetches it off from whatever tumultu- 
 ous disorder, its own sensual lusts or passions are 
 ready to run it into. (James iii. 2, 5.) 
 
 To be partaker of the redemption of the body is 
 to be made this perfect man, which is taught so to 
 live and act, from right spiritual principles, as not to 
 offend in word, through the power actually conferred 
 on him, and exercised by him, for the bridling of the 
 whole body, in the sense above declared, and for the 
 keeping it in subjection to the spirit or angelical part 
 in him, in righteousness and true holiness. This 
 taming of the tongue, or subduing of the bodily part 
 in us, to the spiritual and intellectual, is a work of no 
 small difficulty, a thing that is not to be purchased 
 but at a dear rate. It may cost us all that we have, 
 and no ill bargain neither, since by our words it is that 
 we shall be justified, and by our words we shall be 
 condemned. For, until we have brought under our 
 body, and reduced it into a fixed subjection and entire 
 resignation to our spirits, let us boast never so much, 
 that which is perfect is not yet come, even that per- 
 fection, which in a very eminent degree shall be 
 experienced by the saints here on earth, on this side 
 the grave, and during their continuance in the mortal 
 body. This, for ought I can discern, will be the 
 product of the present sharp and fiery trials, that God 
 hath brought upon His people all the world over. 
 After they have suffered a while, and the same 
 afflictions have been accomplished in the rest of their 
 brethren that are in this world, they may so far have 
 
PERFECTION ATTAINABLE 
 
 459 
 
 the work of patience perfected in them, as, in this 
 sense, to become perfect and entire, wanting nothing, 
 and to shine forth as so many bright morning stars 
 and forerunning signs of the brightness of the day of 
 Christ's second coming. This God hath set before 
 the eye of my faith, as the mark for the price of the 
 high calling of God in Christ Jesus. This, that 
 perfection, which by conformity with Christ in His 
 death, and fellowship with Him in His resurrection, is 
 in a most eminent degree attainable, before our 
 dissolution, and the putting off our earthly tabernacle. 
 It shall be so far attained by the power and glory of 
 Christ, that is to be revealed in us, that it shall not 
 much fall short of a very transfiguration. And the 
 state of the then glorious church will be no less than a 
 heaven upon earth in the new heavens and new earth, 
 wherein dwelleth righteousness. This glorious state 
 of things we look for, and therefore are or ought to be 
 hasting apace unto the coming of that day of God. 
 
 "Yet, when I say until we experience this kind of 
 perfection of power in us, that which is perfect is not yet 
 come. My meaning is not that the incorruptible seed 
 and principle of this very principle perfection is not 
 already seated and rooted in the inward man and in 
 the spirit of the mind so soon as we are regenerated, 
 and that Christ is formed in us dwelling in our hearts 
 by faith. Thus it is that we are all glorious within. 
 Thus the kingdom of heaven is within us likened to 
 the hidden treasure, which, when a man hath found in 
 the field, he keeps it concealed till he hath sold all 
 that he hath, and bought that field. Faith, which is 
 the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of 
 that glory, which doth not yet appear, is not unfitly 
 
460 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 expressed when it is called a light shining in a dark 
 place, that is, in our bodily and sensual part, which 
 continues so for a long time our new birth. But those 
 that are all glorious within, must have their time of 
 manifestation, and be made all glorious without also. 
 The outward man of the heart, and the outward court 
 of the temple, must come to be measured, and be of 
 account and estimation, in the sight of the world. 
 Then the whole body shall be full of light, having no 
 part dark, as when the bright shining of a candle doth 
 give the light. 
 
 "This is the perfection which is near us, even at 
 the very door, ready to be testified and witnessed to, 
 who are after another manner than those do pretend to, 
 who are for the subjecting and keeping under the 
 body, but by those mutable and wavering principles of 
 perfection, which amounts but to that visibility of 
 saintship, which is the subject of apostacy, yet hath 
 hitherto passed for current coin. Nor would I have it 
 thought that I have already attained the powerful 
 practice of this holy duty and perfection, but it is 
 much in my desire, aim, and hope. 
 
 "The difficult circumstance I am in, and that I am 
 still more and more every day cast into, by God's 
 wise disposing providence, to the sequestering me 
 from the world, and withholding all sensible comforts 
 from me, so much as He doth make me in some sort 
 confident, it is for a good end, and that out of love 
 and faithfulness I am made to drink of this bitter cup, 
 the better to help forward this necessary work in me, 
 wherein consists the glorious liberty of the sons of 
 God. If I may have and enjoy this, it would seem a 
 very little matter to me to be in outward bonds, 
 
A PILGRIM IN THIS WORLD 
 
 461 
 
 banishment, want, or any other afflictions. Help me 
 then (in all your solicitudes and cares about me) to 
 what will further advance this work in me. 
 
 " The Lord grant me and mine to be content, if 
 He deny us to live of our own, and will bring us to the 
 daily bread of His finding, which He will have us wait 
 for, fresh and fresh from His own table, without knowing 
 anything of it before hand. Peradventure there is a 
 greater sweetness and blessing in such a condition, 
 than we can imagine till we have tried it. This may 
 add to my help, even our making little haste to get 
 out of our troubles, patiently waiting till God's time 
 come, wherein He will open the prison doors either by 
 death, or some other way, as He please, for the 
 magnifying His own great name, not suffering us to be 
 our own choosers in anything, as hitherto has been His 
 way with us." 
 
 "And why should such a taking up sanctuary in 
 God, and desiring to continue a pilgrim and solitary in 
 this world, whilst I am in it, afford still matter of 
 jealousy, distrust, and rage, as I see it doth to those 
 who are unwilling that I should be buried and lie 
 quiet in my grave where now I am. They that press 
 so earnestly to carry on my trial do little know what 
 presence of God may be afforded me in it, and issue 
 out of it to the magnifying of Christ in my body by 
 life or by death. Nor can they (I am sure) imagine 
 how much I desire to be dissolved and to be with 
 Christ, which of all things that can befall me I account 
 best of all. And till then I desire to be made 
 faithful in my place and station, to make confession of 
 Him before men and not deny His name, if called forth 
 to give public testimony and witness concerning Him, 
 
462 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 and to be herein nothing terrified. What then will 
 the hurt be that I can or shall receive by the worst 
 that man can do unto me, who can but kill the body, 
 and thereby open my prison door, that I may ascend 
 into the pleasures that are at Christ's right hand, 
 prepared for those that testify and openly discover 
 their love to Him, by not loving their lives unto the 
 death ? Surely they will prove better than to prefer 
 sin or evil (so much as in appearance) unto affliction 
 and the cross, which Christ would have one take up 
 daily and follow Him in. 
 
 " If the storm against us grow still higher and 
 higher, so as to strip us of all we have, the earth is 
 still the Lord's and the fullness thereof ; He hath a good 
 storehouse for us to live upon. There is nothing more 
 destructive to us every way than the uncertainty we 
 are in. 
 
 " God can, and (if He thinks fit) will chalk out some 
 way, wherein He may appear by His providence, to 
 choose for us, and not leave us to our own choice ; and 
 being contracted into that small compass, which He shall 
 think fit to reduce us unto, we may perhaps meet with as 
 true inward contentment, and see as great a mercy in 
 such a sequestration from the world, as if we were in 
 the greatest outward prosperity. 
 
 " I know nothing that remains unto us, but like a 
 tossed ship in a storm, to let ourselves be tossed and 
 driven with the winds ; till He that can make these 
 storms to cease, and bring us into a safe haven do work 
 out our deliverance for us. I doubt not but you will 
 accordingly endeavour to prepare for the worst. 
 March 7, 1661/62." In the meantime their enemies 
 were busy. 
 
THE NEW DUKE OF ALBEMARLE 463 
 
 Shortly after his committal to the Tower an order 
 was given by the king to seize and take possession of 
 all his estates. Dr Cradock, with two deputies, then 
 went to Raby Castle to put the warrant in execu- 
 tion, and demanded the rent books from Thomas 
 Mowbray, Vane's steward, offering him place under 
 them, which he refused. No particular charge had at 
 this time been made against Sir Henry, and it was 
 illegal that before indictment the goods or other 
 things of any offender should be searched or 
 inventoried or seized, nor after indictment be 
 seized, removed, or taken away before conviction or 
 attainder. 
 
 An order was obtained from the House of 
 Commons, not confirmed by the Lords, requiring the 
 tenants of such persons as were excepted out of the 
 Act of Indemnity to detain their rents in their own 
 hands. Under pretence of this order, though the 
 parliament that had made it was dissolved, the 
 tenants refused to pay their rents as they came due. 
 When prosecuted in the court at Westminster for 
 recovery of their rents, they complained to the House 
 of Commons, which put the House into a great heat 
 against the prisoner, so that they almost passed a 
 vote to sequestrate all his estate, though as yet he 
 was unheard and unconvicted. Sir Henry Vane, in 
 his Bill of Exceptions, says, that by common fame 
 several persons had begged for his goods and estate. 
 He also said that he had been credibly informed that 
 about December last a certain captain came from the 
 Duke of Albemarle to Captain Linn, with threatening 
 language, that if he would not confess things against 
 Sir Henry Vane he should be fetched up before the 
 council and made to do it. Linn answered he knew 
 
464 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 nothing against Sir Henry Vane, nor had he any 
 orders from him, but from the parliament and council. 
 The same captain came again about a fortnight after 
 from the Duke of Albemarle with a parcel of fine 
 words, that if the said Linn would testify that Sir 
 Henry Vane was in the head of his regiment and 
 that he received orders from him, the Duke of 
 Albemarle would gratify him with any civility he 
 should desire. Linn replied he knew no regiment Sir 
 Henry Vane had, but that it was the parliament and 
 council of state's regiment. The same captain came 
 again to him, and told him the duke desired him to 
 testify Sir Henry Vane's being in the head of his 
 regiment, and that he received orders from him to 
 fight Sir George Booth. Linn replied he knew no 
 such things. The captain told him, as from the 
 duke, he should have any place or office in the court. 
 " Be not afraid to speak," said he, "I warrant you, we 
 shall hang Sir Henry Vane, for he is a rogue.'" 
 Having been so helpful in getting Argyll condemned, 
 "honest George Monk" was anxious to do further 
 service against rogues by suborning evidence against 
 Vane. Perhaps his enemies hoped that the hard- 
 ships of his island prison would end the life of the 
 man whom they feared, but though his health 
 was seriously impaired, he lived too long for their 
 peace of mind. Enough of the forms of law still 
 remained in England to render it necessary that, 
 
 1 Tryal of Sir Henry Vane, Knight, at the King's Bench, Westminster, 
 June 2 and 6, 1662, together with what he intended to have spoken the 
 day of his sentence, June 1 1, for Arrest of Judgment {had he not been 
 interrupted and overruled by the Court), and his Bill of Exceptions and 
 other occasional Speeches; also his Speech and Prayer on the Scaffold, 
 printed in the year 1662, p. 71- 
 
APOSTATE LAWYERS 
 
 465 
 
 in accomplishing their murderous design, they should 
 obtain the formal sanction of 12 jurymen, who 
 could be selected from amongst his political adver- 
 saries. 
 
 A bill was brought before the grand jury of 
 Middlesex without the privity, knowledge, or presence 
 of the accused, who met and took the depositions of 
 witnesses and found a bill against him. The bill was 
 not passed without difficulty as some of the jurymen 
 objected to their being asked to decide upon matters 
 of law as well as upon matters of fact. 
 
 The republican chief was brought for trial before 
 the king's bench on June 2, 1662. The difficulty 
 was to frame an indictment which should make him 
 appear to be guilty of something more heinous than 
 what a great part of the nation had done or approved 
 of. All the legal talent, which the crown could 
 command, was arrayed against him. The attorney- 
 general was Sir Geoffrey Palmer, a bitter and 
 extreme royalist ; the Solicitor - General Finch, 
 Serjeants Maynard, Glynn, and others, who had 
 been agents in the affairs of the commonwealth, 
 and had been parties to the same offences as 
 those charged, brought their apostate skill against 
 their illustrious chief Witnesses were cajoled and 
 suborned, and seeing that there were some men on 
 the jury roll, who could not be counted upon, they 
 were unsummoned, and a new list made up the day 
 before the trial. As the prisoner was cut off from all 
 intercourse and refused counsel, he was at a great 
 disadvantage in challenging the jury. Thirty-two 
 names were challenged. At last, a jury of 12 men 
 were sworn. Their names should be recorded to 
 
 2 G 
 
466 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 sustain their infamy : Sir William Roberts, junior, 
 Sir Christopher Abdy, John Stone, Henry Carter, 
 John Leech, Daniel Cole, Daniel Browne, Thomas 
 Chelsam, Thomas Pitts, Thomas Upman, Andrew 
 Bent, and William Smith. Sir Henry said that 
 Roberts and Abdy were sworn before he was aware, 
 so the challenging of them might seem a personal, 
 disobliging, and exasperation of them against him 
 after they were sworn and fixed. Indeed, it was too 
 likely that his protest would be overruled. He 
 was accused that, on May 15, in the eleventh year of 
 our sovereign lord, the king, he did conspire to imagine 
 the death of the king and the ancient frame of power, 
 and to hold the king from the exercise of his royal 
 government and appointed office, that he did, with 
 other false traitors to the juries unknown, on 
 December 20, assemble and sit together to bring the 
 king unto destruction, and did bring war against the 
 peace. This being read, he prayed to have it read a 
 second time, which was done. He then prayed to 
 have it read in Latin, which was refused. He moved 
 several exceptions to the indictment, as neither the 
 place was sufficiently indicated nor the particular acts 
 of treason were specified. On being refused a copy of 
 the indictment he said, "that the indictment being 
 long and his memory short, it could not well be 
 imagined that he should be able to meet every point." 
 He pressed for counsel to be allowed him. The court 
 refused this till he should plead guilty or not, when 
 they assured him that counsel should be assigned 
 him. Vane then pleaded not guilty, when they had 
 the effrontery to say that they themselves would be 
 his counsel. The accused was given four days to 
 
A KING NOT IN POSSESSION 
 
 467 
 
 prepare for his trial, but this did not give sufficient 
 time to call the witnesses he wanted, nor was he 
 allowed solicitors to advise him. The charges 
 against Vane were confined to acts made after the 
 accession of Charles II., which the court was pleased 
 to date from the moment his father's head was off, 
 though it was notorious that his reign did not 
 commence till twelve years later. Formal evidence 
 was given that Sir Henry had been a member of the 
 council of state, and had acted in this capacity, 
 issuing instructions to suppress attempts of any one 
 who should pretend to the title of king, and that he 
 had proposed a new model of the government, in 
 which it was declared destructive to the liberty of the 
 people to admit any king into power. An entry, 
 dated May 7, 1659, was read, showing that a com- 
 mittee of safety had been appointed for the care of 
 the commonwealth, of which the prisoner was a 
 member, and as such had received foreign ambas- 
 sadors, nominated officers, and that he had appeared 
 at the head of a company of soldiers in Southwark. 
 Sir Henry Vane in his defence argued that the word 
 king, in the statute of treason, was to be understood of 
 a reigning king and in actual possession of the crown, 
 and not a king de jure who was not in possession. 
 All ensigns of authority and badges of general merit 
 were visibly in another name and style, the king's 
 best friends serving and being sued in another 
 name. 
 
 Vane observed that the parliament was the only 
 power reigning, at the time specified, consequently that 
 no treason could be committed in serving them. He 
 was th'en interrupted by the court, who asked him to 
 
468 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 call his witnesses, if he had any, to which Sir Henry 
 replied, that he had not been furnished with the indict- 
 ments or of the evidence against him, in time to call 
 witnesses, and desired process of court to summon them 
 and further time to answer the charge. It was told him 
 that the jury were to be kept without meat and drink, 
 fire or candle, till their verdict was delivered in court, 
 therefore that further time could not be granted. As 
 he urged: "Why such haste and precipitancy for a 
 man's life that is more than meat and estate, when 
 you can let civil causes about men's estates depend 
 many years ? If an erroneous judgment be passed in 
 such matters,it is irreversible ; but if innocent blood be 
 spilt, it cannot be gathered up again." Vane stated 
 that he had great reason to believe that the warrant, 
 sending ships to sea and signed with his name, was 
 forged, and produced two witnesses to prove it. 
 
 The substance of what Sir Henry Vane pleaded 
 on the day of his trial, was given by him to his friends, 
 by whom it was secretly printed. The following 
 pages will give some idea of the lucid and powerful 
 manner in which he handled his defence. He stated 
 how he was elected burgess for the town of Kingston- 
 upon-H umber in the parliament that sat down on 
 November 3, 1640, and whose continuance was made 
 with the royal sanction indissoluble save by its own 
 assent, and that a parliament so constituted could not 
 be brought within the statute of 25 Ed. III., 
 nor be questioned, tried, much less judged and 
 sentenced in any inferior court ; and, indeed, by a 
 resolution of parliament of August 13, 1642, it was 
 adjudged treason to bring both or either Houses of 
 Parliament under such imputations. He never before 
 
REX DE JURE ET DE FACTO 
 
 469 
 
 heard that those, who took the judgment of 
 parliament for their guide, however tortuous or 
 erroneous it might be accounted, were to be visited 
 by punishment, because none are judges of the power 
 and privileges of parliament but themselves, nor can 
 their judgment be called in question by private 
 persons or inferior courts. He recalled that the 
 parliament had, when differences had arisen about 
 the very title of the crown, declared the duty of the 
 subject by yielding their obedience to kings de facto 
 when kings de jure were kept out of possession. He 
 thus, with matchless skill and tact, referred to the 
 contest between the late king and his parliament : — 
 
 "The causes that did happen to move his late 
 majesty to depart from his parliament, and continue 
 for many years not only at a distance, and in dis- 
 junction from them, but at last, in a declared posture 
 of enmity and war against them, are so well known 
 and fully stated in print [not to say written in 
 characters of blood] on both parts, that I shall only 
 mention it, and refer to it. 
 
 This matter was not done in a corner ; the appeals 
 were solemn, and the decision by the sword was 
 given by that God, who, being the judge of the whole 
 world, does right, and cannot do otherwise. 
 
 " By occasion of these unhappy differences thus 
 happening, most great and unusual changes and 
 revolutions, like an irresistible torrent, did break in 
 upon us, not only to the disjointing that parliamentary 
 assembly among themselves [the head from the 
 members, the co-ordinates from each other, and the 
 Houses within themselves] but to the creating such 
 formed divisions among the people, and to the 
 
470 
 
 LiPE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 producing such a general state of confusion and 
 disorder, that hardly any were able to know their 
 duty, and with certainty to discern who were to 
 command, and who to obey. All things seemed to be 
 reduced, and in a manner, resolved into their first 
 elements and principles. 
 
 " Nevertheless, as dark as such a state might be, 
 the Law of England leaves not the subject thereof 
 [as I humbly conceive] without some glimpses of 
 direction what to do, in the cleaving to, and pursuing 
 of which, I hope I shall not be accounted nor 
 adjudged an offender ; or if I am, I shall have the 
 comfort and peace of my actions to support me in and 
 under my greatest sufferings. 
 
 ''Admitting then, that thus by law, allegiance is 
 due to the king (as before recited), yet it is always to 
 be presumed that it is to the king in conjunction with 
 the parliament, the law, and the kingdom, and not in 
 disjunction from, or opposition to them, and that 
 while a parliament is in being, and cannot be dissolved 
 but by the consent of the three estates. 
 
 " This is, therefore, that which makes the matter in 
 question a new case, that never before happened in 
 the kingdom, nor was possible to happen, unless there 
 had been a parliament constituted, as this was, 
 unsubjected to adjournment, prorogation, or dissolu- 
 tion, by the king's will. Where such a power is 
 granted, and the co-ordinates thereupon disagree and 
 fall out, such effects and consequents as these that 
 have happened will but too probably follow. And if 
 either the law of nature or England inform not in 
 such cases, it will be impossible for the subjects to 
 know their duty, when that power and command, 
 
THE LAW OF NATURE 471 
 
 which ought to flow from three in conjunction, comes 
 to be exercised by all or either of them, singly and 
 apart, or by two of them against one. 
 
 " When new and never-heard-of changes do fall out 
 in the kingdom, it is not likely that the known and 
 written laws of the land should be the exact rule ; but 
 the grounds and rules of justice, contained and 
 declared in the law of nature, are and ought to be a 
 sanctuary in such cases, even by the very common law 
 of England. For thence originally spring the 
 unerring rules that are set by the divine and eternal 
 law, for rule and subjection in all states and 
 kingdoms. 
 
 "In contemplation hereof as the resolve of all 
 judges, it was agreed 
 
 " I. That allegiance is due to sovereignty by the 
 law of nature, to wit that the law which God, at the 
 creation of man, infused into his heart for his 
 preservation and direction in the law eternal. 
 
 " But through the divisions and disorders of the 
 times, these two powers, the regal and political (which, 
 according to the law of England, make up the one 
 and the same supreme authority) fell asunder, and 
 found themselves in disjunction from and opposition 
 to one another. I do not say the question is now, 
 which of these is most rightly (according to the 
 principles- of the law of nature, and the law of 
 England) to be adhered unto, and obeyed, but unto 
 whether power and adherence is a crime in such an 
 exigent of state ? Which, since it is such a new and 
 extraordinary case, evidently above the track of the 
 ordinary rules, contained in the positive and 
 
472 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 municipal laws of England, there can be no colour to 
 bring it within the statute of 25 Ed. III., cap. 2. 
 Forasmuch as all statutes presuppose these two 
 powers, regal and political, in conjunction, perfect 
 unity, and subservience, which this case does not, 
 cannot admit, so exceeding new and extraordinary a 
 case is it, that it may be doubted whether, and 
 questioned how far any other parliament, but that 
 parliament itself that was privy to all its own actings 
 and intentions, can be an indifferent and competent 
 judge. But, however, the point is of so abstruse and 
 high consideration, as no inferior court can or ought 
 to judge of it as by law books, is most undeniable, to 
 wit Bracton and others. 
 
 "I do therefore humbly affirm, that in the afore- 
 mentioned great changes and revolutions, from first to 
 last, I was never a first mover, but always a- follower, 
 choosing rather to adhere to things that persons, and 
 (where authority was dark or dubious) to do things 
 justifiable by the light and law of nature, as that law 
 was acknowledged part of the law of the land. 
 Things that are in se bona and such as, according to 
 the grounds and principles of the common law, as well 
 as the statutes of this land, would warrant and in- 
 demnify me in doing them. For I have observed by 
 precedents of former times, when there have arisen dis- 
 putes about titles to the crown, between kings de facto 
 and kings de jure, the people of the realm wanted not 
 directions for their safety, and how to behave themselves 
 within the duty and limits of allegiance to the king and 
 kingdom, in such difficult and dangerous seasons. 
 
 " My Lord Coke is very clear in this point, in his 
 chapter of treasons, f 7, and if it were otherwise it 
 
THE WHOLE NATION GUILTY 
 
 473 
 
 were the hardest case that could be for the people of 
 England. For then they would certainly be exposed 
 to punishment from those that are in possession of the 
 supreme power, as traitors, if they do anything against 
 them, or do not obey them ; and they would be 
 punishable as traitors by him that hath right, and is 
 king de jure, in case they do obey the kings de facto ; 
 and so all the people of England are necessarily in- 
 volved in treasons, either against the powers de facto 
 or de jure, and may, by the same reason, be questioned 
 for it, as well as the prisoner, if the Act of Indemnity 
 and the king's pardon did not free them from it. The 
 security then and safety of all the people of England is 
 by this means made to depend upon a pardon (which 
 might have been granted or denied), and not upon the 
 sure foundation of common law. An opinion sure 
 which (duly weighed and considered) is very strange 
 to say no more. 
 
 " For I would gladly know that person in England 
 of estate and fortune and of age, that hath not 
 counselled, aided, or abetted, either by his person or 
 estate, and submitted to the laws and government of 
 the powers that were. And if so, then, by your judg- 
 ment upon me, you condemn (in effigies, and by 
 necessary consequence), the whole kingdom. 
 
 "As to my being no leading or first actor in any 
 change, it is very apparent by my deportment at the 
 time when that great violation of privileges happened 
 to the parliament, so as by force of arms, several 
 members thereof were debarred coming into the House, 
 and keeping their seats there. This made some for- 
 bear to come to the parliament for the space of ten 
 weeks (to wit, from December 3, 1648, till towards the 
 
474 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 middle of February following), or to meddle any way in 
 any public transactions ; and during that time the 
 matter, most obvious to exception, in way of alteration 
 of the government, did happen. I can therefore truly 
 say, that as I had neither consent nor vote at first in 
 resolutions of the Houses concerning the non-addresses 
 to his late majesty, so neither had I in the least any 
 consent in, or approbation to his death. But on the 
 contrary, when required by the parliament to take an 
 oath, to give my approbation ex post facto to what was 
 done, I utterly refused, and would not accept of sitting 
 in the council of state upon those terms, but occasioned 
 a new oath to be drawn, wherein that was omitted. 
 Hereupon many of the council of state sat that would 
 not take the other. 
 
 "In like manner the resolutions and votes, for 
 changing the government into a commonwealth or free 
 state, were passed some weeks before my return to 
 parliament. Yet afterwards (so far as I judged the 
 same consonant to the principles and grounds declared 
 in the laws of England, for upholding that political 
 power which hath given the rise and introduction in 
 this nation to monarchy itself, by the account of ancient 
 writers), I conceived it my duty, as the state of things 
 did then appear to me (notwithstanding the said 
 alterations made) to keep my station in the parliament, 
 and to perform my allegiance therein to king and king- 
 dom, under the powers then regnant (upon my principles 
 before declared), yielding obedience to their authority 
 and commands. And having received trust in refer- 
 ence to the safety and preservation of the kingdom in 
 those times of imminent danger (both within and with- 
 out) I did conscientiously hold myself obliged to be 
 
A PUBLIC CHALLENGE 
 
 475 
 
 true and faithful therein. This I did upon a public 
 account, not daring to quit my station in parliament by 
 virtue of my first writ. Nor was it for any private or 
 gainful ends to profit myself, or to enrich my relations. 
 This may appear as well by the great debt I have 
 contracted, as by the destitute condition my many 
 children are in, as to any provision made for them. 
 And I do publicly challenge all persons whatsoever, 
 that can give information of any bribes or covert ways 
 used by me, during the whole time of my public acting. 
 Therefore, I hope it will be evident to the consciences 
 of the jury, that what I have done hath been upon 
 principles of integrity, honour, justice, reason, and 
 conscience, and not, as is suggested in the indictment 
 by instigation of the devil, or want of the fear of God. 
 
 "A second great change that happened upon the 
 constitution of the parliament, and in them of the very 
 kingdom itself, and the laws thereof (to the plucking 
 up of the liberties of it by the very roots, and the 
 introducing of an arbitrary regal power, under the 
 name of protector, by force and the law of the sword), 
 was the usurpation of Cromwell, which I opposed from 
 the beginning to the end, to the degree of suffering, 
 and with that constancy, that well near had cost me 
 not only the loss of my estate, but of my very life, if 
 he might have had his will, which a higher than he 
 hindered : yet I did remain a prisoner, under great 
 hardship, four months in an island by his orders." 
 
 " The third considerable change was the total disap- 
 pointing and removing of the said usurpation, and the 
 returning again of the members of parliament to the 
 exercise of their primitive and original trust for the 
 good and safety of the kingdom, so far as the state of 
 
476 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 the times would then permit them, being so much, as 
 they were under the power of an army, that for so 
 long a time had influenced the government. Towards 
 the recovery, therefore, of things again into their own 
 channel, and upon the legal route of the people's 
 liberties, to wit their deputies and trustees, I held it 
 my duty to be again acting in public affairs in capacity 
 of a member of the said parliament, then re-entered 
 upon the actual exercise of their former power, or at 
 least struggling for it. In this season I had the 
 opportunity of declaring my true intentions as to the 
 government, upon occasion of refusing the oath of 
 abjuration before mentioned. 
 
 "And whereas I am charged with keeping out his 
 majesty that now is from exercising his regal power 
 and royal authority in this kingdom. Through the 
 ill-will borne me by that part of the parliament then 
 sitting, I was discharged from being a member 
 thereof about January 9, 1659, and by many of them 
 was charged, or at least strongly suspected to be a 
 royalist. Yea, I was not only discharged from my 
 attendance in parliament, but confined as a prisoner 
 at mine own house, some time before there was any 
 visible power in the nation that thought it seasonable 
 to own the king's interest. And I hope my sitting 
 still will not be imputed as a failure of duty, in the 
 condition of a prisoner, and those circumstances I 
 then was in. This I can say, that from the time I 
 saw his majesty's Declaration from Breda, declaring 
 his intentions and resolutions as to his return, to take 
 upon him the actual exercise of his regal office in 
 England, and to indemnify all those that had been 
 actors in the late differences and wars (as in the said 
 
CAN THE PARLIAMENT BE IMPEACHED 477 
 
 Declaration doth appear), I resolved not to avoid any 
 public question (if called thereto, as relying upon mine 
 own innocency, and his majesty's declared favour, as 
 before said. And for the future, I determined to 
 demean myself with that inoffensiveness and agree- 
 ableness to my duty, as to give no just matter of new 
 provocation to his majesty in his government. All 
 this, for my part, hath been punctually observed, what- 
 ever my sufferings hath been." 
 
 He then offered the following points to be con- 
 sidered, and urged that he should have counsel 
 assigned him : — 
 
 "I. Whether the collective body of the parliament 
 can be impeached of high treason ? 
 
 " 2. Whether any person, acting by authority of 
 parliament, can (so long as he acteth by that authority), 
 commit treason ? 
 
 " 3. Whether matters, acted by that authority, can 
 be called in question in an inferior court? 
 
 " 4. Whether a king de jure, and out of possession, 
 can have treason committed against him, he not being 
 king de facto, and in actual possession ; and prayed it 
 might be argued by counsel ? 
 
 " 5. Whether matters, done in Southwark, in 
 another county, may be given in evidence to a 
 Middlesex jury ? " 
 
 There was a statute of Henry VH. expressly 
 made to provide for this question of a contest happen- 
 ing between a king de facto and de jure : That none 
 shall be accounted a traitor for serving in his wars ; 
 the king for the time being and Lord Coke had main- 
 tained that a king that hath right out of possession is 
 not within the statute of treasons. The court insisted 
 
478 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 that this exemption did not apply to a government 
 not under the title of a king. 
 
 It may be recalled that on a subsequent occasion 
 the Stuart government, wishing to destroy the Earl of 
 Shaftesbury, committed the same blunder. They 
 represented all the treasonable acts to have taken 
 place within the city of London. The bill of indict- 
 ment had, therefore, to go before a London jury who 
 threw it out. To Vane's plea, the court replied that 
 any overt act, towards compassing the king's death, 
 might be given in evidence where it was acted. He 
 then prayed the benefit of a Bill of Exceptions upon 
 the statute of Westminster, 2 cap. 31, and held that 
 the justices might seal it, which they all refused, saying 
 that it lay not in any case of the crown. 
 
 The solicitor now made a bitter speech, fraught with 
 all the slavish maxims then in vogue with the syco- 
 phants of power. In reference to the prisoner's repeated 
 demands for the benefit of counsel, he brutally said : 
 '* What counsel did the prisoner think would [or durst] 
 speak for him, in such a manifest case of treason, unless 
 he could call down the heads of those, his fellow traitors 
 [Bradshaw or Cook], from the top of Westminster 
 Hall ? when there were able lawyers in the bottom of 
 Westminster Hall ready to have spoken to his case, if 
 they might have been assigned by the court." 
 
 To this harangue Vane was not allowed to reply, 
 and the solicitor-general carried on a whispered 
 consultation with the foreman of the jury, before they 
 went out, saying that the prisoner must be sacrificed 
 for the nation. The empanelled assassins returned in 
 about half an hour with a verdict of guilty. 
 
 Some friends went to see him in the Tower the 
 
A DEFENCE WORTHY OE THE CAUSE 
 
 479 
 
 same evening, and were surprised to find him in a 
 cheerful mood, although he had been in the court more 
 than ten hours, without any refreshment, engaged in 
 the most strenuous efforts of debate and oratory. 
 He had all along told them that he had foreseen the 
 prosecution. " He knew that the offences to be charged 
 upon him would be such as would equally involve the 
 whole nation, and that, in defending himself, he might 
 therefore be considered as defending the liberty and life 
 of everyEnglishman, who had acted in the cause of the 
 commonwealth. He had been deeply impressed with 
 a sense of the obligation that rested upon him to 
 make a defence worthy of the importance and magni- 
 tude of the occasion ; and he had formed the resolution 
 to avail himself of every security, which the constitution 
 and laws of the country had provided, to protect the 
 subject against injustice and oppression. Actuated by 
 these views, he had refused to plead to the indictment 
 until he was assured he should have the benefit of 
 counsel. When, on the morning of that day, he found 
 that he had been deceived and betrayed, and was 
 without counsel to advise with him, aid him, and speak 
 for him, and that the great cause of Hberty and right was 
 left for him to vindicate, he was oppressed with a sense 
 of his incompetency to do it justice. But, in looking 
 back at the close of the day upon the defence he had 
 been enabled to make, his heart overflowed with 
 fervent gratitude and joy. He blessed the Lord that 
 he had been strengthened to maintain himself at the 
 post which providence had assigned him ; that argu- 
 ments had been suggested to his mind, that he had 
 not been left to overlook any means of defence ; that 
 his lips had been clothed with more than their usual 
 
480 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 eloquence, and that, by his gracious help, he had been 
 enabled to discharge, to his own entire satisfaction, the 
 duty he owed to his country, and to the liberty of his 
 countrymen. He had spoken that day, as he told the 
 judge, ' not for his own sake only, but for theirs, and for 
 posterity.' He had done his best and his utmost for 
 himself and for his fellowmen, his conscience was 
 discharged, his obligations were fulfilled, and his mind 
 was, therefore, at peace with itself, at peace with the 
 world, and full of satisfaction, comfort, and joy." 
 
 During the trial, the members of the court had 
 been going to Hampton Court, whence they expected 
 the reward of their masquerading in the garb of justice. 
 Vane, alone and unaided, had, with marvellous ability, 
 presence of mind, and unexpected knowledge of the 
 law, so often exposed their breaches of justice, and 
 what was more felt by them, their breaches of law, that 
 they were in bad humour with themselves. Chief- 
 Justice Foster, who presided at the trial, was heard to 
 say: "Though we knew not what to say to him, we 
 knew what to do with him." It was a part of their 
 revenge, for the checks and exposures they had suffered 
 from the accused, to exasperate the king against him. 
 
 Charles H., though good-natured to those around 
 him, was thoroughly selfish, and could be merciless 
 when his own safety was concerned. The day after 
 the verdict he wrote to Lord Chancellor Clarendon, 
 the instigator of the whole persecution, the following 
 letter : — 
 
 "Hampton Court, 
 " Saturday. Two in the afternoon. 
 
 " The relation, that has been made to me of Sir Henry 
 Vane's courage yesterday in the hall, is the occasion 
 
THE HONESTY OF CHARLES II. 481 
 
 of this letter, which, if I am rightly informed, was so 
 insolent as to justify all he had done, acknowledging 
 no supreme power in England, but a parliament, and 
 many things to that purpose. You have had a true 
 account of all ; and if he had given new occasion to be 
 hanged, certainly he is too dangerous a man to let live 
 if we can honestly put him out of the way. Think of 
 this, and give me some account of it to-morrow, till 
 when I have no more to say to you. C. R." 
 
 Although Vane had stated the undeniable fact that 
 at a specified time there was no supreme authority 
 save the parliament, he certainly did not refuse to 
 acknowledge any other authority ; indeed, in his defence, 
 he expressly acknowledged the kingly power as a part 
 of the normal constitution of the realm. But, to act 
 honestly, was what neither Charles, nor his chancellor, 
 nor his court of injustice intended to do. 
 
 2 U 
 
CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 Sentence of Death. His Serenity of Mind. Wonderful Composure on 
 the Scaffold. His last Words. Remarks on his Life and Genius. 
 
 On June 1 1, after the customary formalities, Sir Henry- 
 Vane was called upon to say why sentence of death 
 should not be passed upon him. For this, he was well 
 prepared. He first alleged that he had not been 
 allowed to hear the indictment in Latin, upon which the 
 whole charge had been founded. After some debating, 
 this was conceded. Then he desired counsel to make 
 exceptions to it, which was overruled. He then 
 offered a Bill of Exceptions, which he had brought with 
 him ready drawn, and desired the judges, according to 
 the statute of Westminster 2-31, made 13 Edward 
 L, to sign it. The statute bears to this effect, ''That 
 if any man find himself aggrieved by the proceeding 
 against him before any justices, let him write his 
 exemption, and desire the judges to set their seals to 
 It. 
 
 This act had been made that the party, deprived of 
 a fair trial, might have a foundation for a legal process 
 against the judges by a writ of error, if any material 
 evidence were overruled. 
 
 This took the court by surprise. Serjeant Keeling 
 tried to snatch the book out of the prisoner's hand, 
 wherein was the statute of Westminster. Sir Harry 
 
 482 ^ 
 
THE PETITION OF BOTH HOUSES 483 
 
 told him he had a very officious memory, and when he 
 was of counsel for him he would find him books. The 
 statute was consulted and read. They objected that 
 it had not been practised this hundred years ; but 
 Vane insisted that the statute was explicit, and that it 
 had never been repealed. Nothing was left but to 
 disregard it. They argued that, if it be held in criminal 
 cases for life, every felon in Newgate might plead the 
 same. Sir Henry answered that his case was not the 
 case of common felons, that there was no call for such 
 illegal haste, especially as he had been already 
 prisoner for two years before, that he got the judges 
 one by one to record their denial. He then desired 
 that the petition of both Houses, with his majesty's 
 answer thereunto, might be read in the court ; which 
 they said was a thing they were not bound to take 
 notice of, not being an act of parliament. Yet, what 
 is any act of parliament, but a bill presented with the 
 petition of both Houses to his majesty, with his royal 
 assent thereto, upon public record ? At length they 
 condescended to read it.' He then offered, for the 
 consideration of the bench, some questions in his case, 
 
 ' The following is the document in question :— 
 To the king's most excellent majesty. 
 
 The humble Petition of the Lords and Commons assembled in 
 parliament, 
 
 Showeth that your majesty having declared your gracious pleasure 
 to proceed only against the immediate murderers of your royal Father, 
 We, your majesty's most humble subjects, the Lords and Commons 
 assembled, not finding Sir Henry Vane nor Colonel Lambert to be of 
 that number, are humble suitors to your majesty, that if they shall be 
 attainted, that execution as to their lives may be remitted, and as in duty 
 bound, etc. 
 
 The said petition being read it was agreed to, and ordered to be 
 presented to his majesty by the Lord Chancellor. The Lord Chancellor 
 reported that he had presented the petition of both Houses to the king's 
 
484 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 touching matter of law, for which he desired he might 
 have counsel assigned him, to argue them before their 
 lordships, to wit : — 
 
 1. Whether a parliament were accountable to any 
 inferior court ? 
 
 2. Whether the king being out of possession and 
 the power regent in others ? 
 
 Here they interrupted him, crying out that the king 
 was never out of possession. Sir Henry instantly 
 replied that in that case the indictment fell to the 
 ground, for it ran that he endeavoured to keep out his 
 majesty, and how could he keep him out of the realm 
 if he were not out ? The court could now do nothing 
 but persist in their senseless fiction, and seeing that 
 they were bent upon refusing him all justice Sir Henry 
 folded up his papers, reminding the court that God 
 must judge them as well as him. He finished his 
 noble defence by protesting that he was willing to die 
 upon the testimony which he had borne. 
 
 On this, Serjeant Keeling insultingly answered : 
 "So you may. Sir, in good time, by the grace of 
 God." 
 
 Nevertheless, the members of the court were ruffled 
 and disconcerted. They hoped for a reward from the 
 king for making away with his dreaded enemy ; but 
 his majesty expected them to save appearances, to do 
 the thing in a deft quasilegal way, without all these foils, 
 otherwise it had been better to get him murdered in 
 prison. Then there were onlookers in the court, 
 silent friends of the good old cause, whose report 
 
 majesty, concerning Sir Henry Vane and Colonel Lambert, and his 
 maiesty grants the desires in the said petition. 
 
 John Browne, 
 Clerk Parliamentorum. 
 
MIS LOFTY COUriAGe 
 
 485 
 
 through England was to be dreaded. With the 
 accused, a whole party was to be condemned, and it 
 was unwise to exasperate them too far. They had 
 swords, had used them, and might use them again. 
 After pronouncing sentence of death, Chief-Justice 
 Foster endeavoured to take off the king from keeping 
 his engagement, saying that God, though full of 
 mercy, yet intended His mercy only to the penitent. 
 
 After two years' solitary imprisonment, kept away 
 from all his friends, led from his gloomy prison into 
 the court, crowded with foes, there was no weakness, no 
 faltering with the illustrious statesman, deprived of 
 counsel there was no confusion, no loss of presence of 
 mind, no appeal to the mercy of the court nor the pity 
 of the bystanders. How different from Strafford, 
 madly insolent in prosperity, suppliant at his trial, 
 courting with the actor's skill the pity which he had 
 never granted to the victims of his own injustice. 
 Vane had been thought a timid man, he loved not war 
 nor the shedding of blood ; but on the day of final 
 trial he showed a lofty courage wanting in Lambert, 
 who had braved death in many battles. Between the 
 Wednesday and the Saturday he was allowed to see 
 his wife, children, and friends. He still retained his 
 hopefulness of the liberties of his country, although a 
 cloud was now drawn over them. It was with him a 
 usual saying : " Come what would, everything was 
 upon the right wheel in the wise contrivement of God, 
 for the accomplishing of His righteous designs in the 
 world." 
 
 A few of the sayings, treasured up by his friends 
 and recorded by his biographer, ere they had faded 
 from memory, may serve to show his wonderful 
 
486 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HFNRY VANE 
 
 constancy and cheerfulness sustained by an unswerving 
 faith in the goodness of his cause. 
 
 I have not the least reluctancy or struggling in 
 my spirit against death, I desire not to live, but my 
 will is resigned unto God in all. Why are you 
 troubled? I am not." 
 
 He said that he had, for any time these two years, 
 made death familiar to him, and being shut out from 
 the world, had been shut up with God, that he did not 
 know what was the mind of God in this great matter, 
 but that he had not the least recoil in his heart, as to 
 matter or manner of what was done by him, and 
 though he might have had an opportunity of escaping, 
 or by policy might have avoided his charge, yet he 
 did not make use of it, nor could decline that which 
 was come upon him. 
 
 It being told by a friend that his death would be a 
 loss to the people of God, he answered that God 
 would raise up other instruments to serve Him and 
 His people. 
 
 " As for that glorious cause, which God hath owned 
 in these nations, and will own, in which so many 
 righteous souls have lost their lives, and so many have 
 been engaged by my countenance and encouragement, 
 that I now give it up, and so declare them all rebels 
 and murderers, no, I will never do it. That precious 
 blood shall never lie at my door. As a testimony and 
 seal to the justice of that quarrel, I leave now my life 
 upon it, as a legacy to all the honest interest in these 
 three nations. Ten thousand deaths, rather than 
 defile my conscience, the chastity and purity of which 
 I value beyond all this world, and God is not a little 
 concerned on my behalf He will certainly judge my 
 
HE WOULD MAKE NO SUBMISSION 487 
 
 case ; wherein is the bowels of this good cause, and in 
 the bowels of that the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, 
 which will speedily be set on foot in these nations. 
 I would not, for ten thousand lives, part with the peace 
 and satisfaction I have in my own heart [both in 
 holding to the purity of my principles, and to the 
 righteousness of this great cause], and the assurance 
 I have that God is now fulfilling all those great and 
 precious promises in order to what He is bringing 
 forth." 
 
 Upon friends persuading him to make some 
 submission to the king, and to endeavour the obtaining 
 of his life, he said : " If the king did not think himself 
 more concerned for his honour and word, than he did 
 for his life, he was very willing they should take it." 
 And when some others were speaking to him of 
 giving some thousands of pounds for his life, he 
 said : " If a thousand farthings would gain it he would 
 not give it, and if any should attempt to make such a | 
 bargain, he would spoil their market, for I think the j 
 king himself is so sufficiently obliged to spare my life, j 
 that it is fitter for him to do it than myself to seek ] 
 it." j 
 
 The following beautiful passage is taken from his ] 
 last exhortations to his children : " Live in the spirit 
 and walk in the faith of our Father Abraham. Listen 
 to the experiences of your father, in this dying hour 
 and season of darkness, who can and doth here give a 
 good report of that heavenly and better country he is 
 now going to the more free and full enjoyment of In 
 the midst of these his dark circumstances, his enjoy- 
 ments and refreshings, from the presence of the Lord, 
 do more abound than ever. Regard not the 
 
488 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 reproaches that are fallen on your father, say or do 
 men what they will, Abraham's faith will find the 
 blessing Abraham found in whomsoever it is." 
 
 On the Friday about midnight the sheriff's chaplain 
 came with an order for his execution on the ensuing 
 day, June 14. In telling this to a friend next 
 morning, Vane added " there was no dismalness at all. 
 After the receipt of the message I slept four hours so 
 soundly that the Lord hath made it sufficient for me, 
 and now I am going to sleep my last, after which I 
 shall need sleep no more." 
 
 On the last morning his wife, children, and several 
 faithful friends assembled in his chamber. He en- 
 couraged them to cheerfulness, and "showed himself 
 marvellously fitted to meet the king of terrors." He 
 said that death shrank from him rather than he from 
 it. Upon the occasion of parting with his relations 
 he said, " There is some flesh remaining yet, but I 
 must cast it behind me, and press forward to my 
 Father. I know a day of deliverance for Sion will 
 come. Some may think the manner of it may be as 
 before, with confused noise of the warrior, and 
 garments rolled in blood ; but I rather think it will 
 be with burning fuel of fire. The Lord will send a 
 fire that shall burn in the consciences of His enemies, 
 a worm that shall not die, and a fire that shall not 
 go out. Man they may fight against, but this they 
 cannot fight against. And why," said he, speaking 
 before all the company, "should we be frighted 
 with death I bless the Lord, I am so far from 
 being affrighted with death, that I find it rather 
 shrink from me than I from it." Then kissing his 
 children he said, "The Lord bless you, — He will be 
 
TH£ LAST MOkNlNG 
 
 489 
 
 a better Father to you. I must now forget that 
 ever I knew you. I can willingly leave this place 
 and outward enjoyments for those I shall meet with 
 hereafter in a better country. I have made it my 
 business to acquaint myself with the society of 
 heaven. Be not you troubled, for I am going home 
 to my Father." 
 
 In that dark chamber in the Tower, there was 
 assembled Lady Vane and her children to be a 
 widow and orphans ere the day was done, with a 
 few friends, amongst whom was the faithful George 
 Sikes, who described the last scenes. Here, engaged 
 in prayer, was the greatest and wisest statesman of 
 the commonwealth, who had gone through years of 
 civil strife unstained by the world. At Hampton 
 Court was the swarthy libertine, Charles Stuart, 
 jesting with his courtiers, or toying with his harlots, 
 a little anxious to hear that the work, performed by 
 his Clarendons, Fosters, Palmers, and Keelings, each 
 under each, had been finished, and a little appre- 
 hensive too that the discredit of the business might 
 do himself harm. 
 
 There now enters the sheriff who communicated 
 to Sir Henry a message that he must not speak 
 anything against his majesty or the government. 
 He told the sheriff that he was now ready ; the 
 sheriff said that he would not be ready for half an 
 hour; Sir Henry replied: "It rests upon you not 
 on me." The sheriff promised him that his servants 
 should be civilly dealt with, and should attend him 
 on the scaffold ; in despite of this, they were beaten 
 and kept off the scaffold, till he said: "What, have 
 I never a servant here ? " They told him at first 
 
490 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 that there was to be no sled, then one of the sheriff's 
 men came and told him there must be a sled, to 
 which he replied : " Any way how they please, for 
 I long to be at home, to be dissolved, and to be 
 with Christ, which is best of all." He went down 
 the stairs and seated himself on the sled. As he 
 passed out of the Tower some prisoners as well as 
 others prayed the Lord to go with him, and when 
 he came in sight, from the tops of the houses and 
 out of windows, the people used such means and 
 gestures as might best discover at a distance, their 
 respects and love to him, crying aloud : " The Lord 
 go with you ; the great God of Heaven and earth 
 appear to you and for you ; " whereof he took what 
 notice he was capable in those circumstances, in a 
 cheerful manner accepting their respect, putting off 
 his hat and bowing to them. Being asked several 
 times how he did, by some about him, he answered, 
 " Never better in all my life." Another replied, " How 
 should he do ill that suffers for so glorious a cause ? " 
 To which a tall black man said, " Many suffered for 
 a better cause." "And many for a worse," said Sir 
 Henry, " wishing, that when they came to seal their 
 better cause," as he called it, "with their blood, as 
 he was now going to seal his, they might not find 
 themselves deceived. And as to this cause," said he, 
 " it hath given life in death to all the owners of it, 
 and sufferers for it." Being passed within the rails 
 on Tower Hill there were many loud acclamations 
 of the people crying out : " The Lord Jesus go with 
 your dear soul." One told him that was the most 
 glorious seat he had ever sat in. He answered, it 
 is so indeed. After mounting the scaffold, the crowd 
 
A NOBLE AND GREAT PRESENCE 
 
 491 
 
 then divided to make way for him, when he advanced 
 to the front to show himself to the people. But when 
 they knew that the gentleman in the black suit and 
 cloak, with a scarlet silk waistcoat (the victorious 
 colour), showing itself at the breast, was the prisoner, 
 they generally admired that noble and great presence. 
 " How cheerful he is," said some. He does not 
 look like a dying man," said others ; with many like 
 speeches. Then silence being commanded by the 
 sheriff, lifting up his hands and his eyes towards 
 heaven, and afterwards resting his hand on the rails, 
 and taking a very serious, composed, and majestic 
 view of the great multitude before and around him, 
 he spake. In his address he repeated what he had 
 urged at his trial, its informalities, and injustices ; 
 but when he came to tell the people of the refusal 
 of the judges to seal his Bill of Exceptions, Sir John 
 Robinson, the Lieutenant of the Tower,^ shouted out, 
 "Sir, you must not go on thus, you must not rail 
 at the judges ; it is a lie, and I am here to testify 
 that it is a lie." Vane replied: "God will judge 
 between you and me in this matter. I speak but 
 matter of fact, and cannot you bear that ? 'Tis 
 evident the judges have refused to sign my Bill of 
 Exceptions." The trumpeters were then ordered to 
 approach nearer to the prisoner, and blow in his face 
 to prevent his being heard ; at which Sir Henry, 
 lifting up his hand, then laying it on his breast, said, 
 "What mean you, gentlemen ? Is this your usage of 
 me ? Did you use all the rest so ? I had even done [as 
 to that] could you have been patient ; but seeing you 
 cannot bear it, I shall only say this, that whereas the 
 
 ' Pepys calls this man "a talking, bragging, biiffle-headed fellow." 
 
492 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 judges have refused to seal that with their hands that 
 they have done, I am come to seal that with my blood 
 that I have done." 
 
 In his address, which has been rendered by Sikes, 
 he made a pathetic reference to the Earl of Argyll. 
 " For my life, estate, and all is not so dear to me as my 
 service to God, to His cause, to the kingdom of Christ, 
 and the future welfare of my country ; and I am taught 
 according to the example, as well as that most Christian 
 saying of a noble person that lately died after this 
 public manner in Scotland. ' How much better it is to 
 choose affliction and the cross, than to sin or draw back 
 from the service of the living God, into the ways of 
 apostacy and perdition.' That noble person, whose 
 memory I honour, was with myself at the beginning 
 and making of the solemn league and covenant, the 
 matter of which and the holy ends therein contained I 
 fully assent unto, and have been as desirous to observe ; 
 but the rigid way of prosecuting it, and the oppressing 
 uniformity that hath been endeavoured by it, I never 
 approved." 
 
 In another passage he said : " That as the present 
 storm we now lie under, and the dark clouds that yet 
 hang over the reformed churches of Christ [which are 
 coming thicker and thicker for a season, were not un- 
 foreseen by me for many years past, as some writings 
 of mine declare], so the coming of Christ in these clouds, 
 in order to a speedy and sudden revival of His cause, 
 and spreading His kingdom over the face of the whole 
 earth, is most clear to the eye of faith in which I die, 
 whereby the kingdoms of this world will become the 
 kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. 
 
 He then went on : "I stand here this day to re- 
 
A PURE INTENT 
 
 493 
 
 sign up my spirit into the hands of that God that gave 
 it to me. Death is but a little word, but 'tis a great work 
 to die. It is to be but once done ; and after this 
 Cometh the judgment, even the judgment of the great 
 God, which it concerns us all to prepare for. And by 
 this act I do receive a discharge, once for all out of 
 prison, even the prison of the mortal body. In all 
 respects, wherein I have been concerned and engaged 
 as to the public, my design hath been to accomplish 
 good things for these nations." Then, lifting up his 
 eyes and spreading his hands, he said : " I do here ap- 
 peal to the great God of Heaven and all this assembly, 
 or any other persons, to show wherein I have defiled 
 my hands with any man's blood, or estate, or that I 
 have sought myself in any public capacity or place I 
 have been in." 
 
 The cause was three times stated : — 
 
 1. In the remonstrance of the House of Commons. 
 
 2. In the Covenant ; the Solemn League and 
 Covenant. 
 
 Upon this the trumpets were again sounded, and 
 the sheriff caught at the papers in Sir Henry's hand, 
 and Sir John Robinson, seeing some copying the words 
 of the great patriot, called for their books, saying : 
 "He treats of rebellion, and you write it." Hereupon, 
 six note books were delivered up. 
 
 Vane retained the same composure in all these out- 
 rages, only saying, "'Twas hard he might not be suffered 
 to speak, but," says he, "my usage from man is no 
 harder than was my Lord and Master's ; and all that 
 will live His life, this day, must expect hard dealings from 
 the worldly spirit." The trumpets sounded again to 
 prevent his being heard. Then again Robinson 
 
494 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 endeavoured to snatch the paper out of Sir Henry's 
 hand ; but he kept hold of it, and then reading a part 
 he tore it, and delivered the pieces to a friend behind 
 him, from whom it was taken by the sheriff. They 
 then put their hands into his pockets to feel for papers. 
 The spectators were much shocked seeing a prisoner 
 so strangely handled in his last moments. Vane 
 turned aside, observing, " It is a bad cause which 
 cannot bear the words of a dying man, knelt upon the 
 scaffold," and gave a few moments to prayer. Before 
 the stroke he spoke to this effect : *' I bless the Lord 
 who hath accounted me worthy to suffer for His name. 
 Blessed be the Lord that I have kept a conscience 
 void of offence to this day. I bless the Lord I have 
 not deserted the righteous cause for which I suffer." 
 His very last words were as follows : " Father, glorify 
 thy servant in the sight of men that he may glorify 
 thee in the discharge of his duty to thee and to his 
 country." Vane then stretched out his arms, and the 
 executioner struck off his head at one blow. The 
 worst punishment men have for one another is the 
 same fate which hangs over us all. Death has long 
 ago overtaken the oppressors as well as their victims, 
 and in reading this record of old violences and wrongs, 
 the victims seem to triumph, the oppressors to be put 
 to shame. The cause of Vane has triumphed, though 
 those who now enjoy the liberty which he claimed, 
 and for which he suffered, are Httle mindful and little 
 grateful to one of England's purest and greatest 
 statesmen. 
 
 Sikes, who had followed his friend to the scaffold, 
 expresses his feelings in these true and eloquent 
 words : " Cromwell's victories are swallowed up of 
 
VICTORIOUS IN DEATM 
 
 495 
 
 death. Vane has swallowed up death itself into victory. 
 He let fall his mantle, left his body behind, that he 
 had worn nine and forty years, and is gone to keep 
 his everlasting jubilee in God's rest. It is all day 
 with him now, no night or sorrow more, no prisons or 
 death. He is gone from a place where so much as 
 the righteousness of man cannot be endured. He is 
 gone to a place where the righteousness of God is the 
 universal garb of all the inhabitants. He is gone to 
 that better city, the new Jerusalem. He had served 
 his generation in his mortal body, done his work, and 
 was glad to sleep, and go look for his reward some- 
 where else. You see what this ungrateful world has 
 afforded him for all his kindness — reproach, prisons, 
 and death ; he had need have other returns somewhere. 
 Great is his reward in heaven. Well, they have done 
 all they can do to this lover of his country and the 
 laws thereof. • But I would willingly have their under- 
 standings disabused in one point. Let them not think 
 they have conquered him. They knew him not. He 
 judged his judges at the bar. He triumphed over 
 his executioners at the scaffold R. and the rest. Such 
 a public execution was more eligible than to have 
 lingered out some small time in a prison as a con- 
 demned person, liable to any arbitrary after claps, or 
 any future motion or pretence of motion in our 
 troubled sea. He had more ease, God more glory ; 
 the honest party of the nation and their just cause 
 more advantage ; and, why may I not say, his most 
 mtimate friends, and dearest relations more comfort ; 
 in this way of his deliverance, one for all." ' 
 
 1 The body of Sir Henry Vane was given to his friends, who took it 
 next day to the burial place of the family at Shipburne in Kent. In 
 July 1879, Mr Henry M. Vane visited the vault where lie many of his 
 
496 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 Burnet tells us that it was generally thought that 
 " the government had lost more than it had gained by 
 his death." Pepys, now a courtier, who had hired a 
 room to witness the execution, as he had a taste for 
 such spectacles, goes home deeply moved, to write in 
 his diary : He changed not his colour or speech to 
 the last." . . . "In all things, he appeared the most 
 composed man that ever died in that manner, and 
 showed more of heat than of cowardice, but yet with 
 all humility and gravity." Pepys was impressed by 
 the saying of a sympathiser that " the king hath lost 
 more by that man's death than he will get again a 
 good while." 
 
 In summing up the character of Henry Vane, we 
 may use the words of an ancient historian : Vir supra 
 humanain potentiam magnitudine animi prcedttus. In 
 portraying a character one looks for some faults, as 
 an artist requires shading for his picture. Yet, 
 throughout his whole career, nowhere have we found 
 thought or action which needed to be excused or 
 stated in a guarded form. One knows not whether 
 most to admire the correctness of his political judg- 
 ments, his largeness of view with his grasp of details, 
 his triumph over the temptations which beset his 
 rough path, his humanity, and his toleration. Hav- 
 ing devoted his life to the good of his country, and to 
 the cause of liberty, his personality seems lost in the 
 great events of his time. His religious views in no 
 way dimmed his charity or impeded his activity, while 
 
 ancestors. The remains of vSir Henry Vane were found to be in a solid 
 leaden coffin. The receptacle for the head projects beyond those above 
 it. On it is a cast of the head showing the shape of the several features. 
 See the History of the Wrays of Glentivorth, Aberdeen, l88i, vol. ii.» 
 p. 123, note. 
 
HIS DESCENDANTS 497 
 
 they strengthened the earnest tone of his mind, and 
 gave a firmness to his character, which, as some 
 thought, he did not naturally possess. 
 
 The very purity of this great man's life may 
 detract from the interest of his life. In the present 
 'state of popular taste, most readers look for a flavour 
 of vice in their fiction, and possibly something rank in 
 what history they can relish. The ancient historians 
 made history a school for virtue and heroic deeds, and 
 a terror to tyranny and wickedness ; literary aspirants 
 nowadays seek notoriety by displaying their skill in 
 whitewashing Ethiopians, as a young advocate 
 desires to gain reputation by defending a great 
 criminal. Is there any perfidy, any usurpation, any 
 tyranny, any blood-guiltiness for which some historio- 
 grapher of to-day has not found specious excuses, if 
 it only be joined to a fleeting success ? Nevertheless, 
 let us indulge the hope that there are still some to 
 whom the example of a noble and unselfish life will 
 not be lost. 
 
 By his wife, Frances Wray, Sir Henry had lo 
 children, 5 sons, and 5 daughters. The three eldest 
 sons died unmarried ; the fourth without children. 
 The fifth, and only surviving son, Christopher, 
 was reinstated in his father's possessions, and 
 made a peer under the title of Baron Barnard of 
 Barnard Castle. Of one of his descendants, the 
 third Earl of Darlington, it has been aptly said that 
 I" though he had an enormous interest at stake in the 
 'existence of the rotten boroughs, he was amongst the 
 foremost to promote the passing of the Reform Bill of 
 1832, the measure his great ancestor had been the 
 first to propose to parliament." He was made Duke 
 
 2 I 
 
WPE OP Sm ttEKRY VANE 
 
 of Cleveland. His three sons, who succeeded him 
 and each other, dying without children, the title of 
 duke ceased, and the estates fell to the descendants 
 of the Honourable Morgan Vane, son of Gilbert, 
 second Baron Barnard, and brother of the third 
 baron, and first Earl of Darlington. The present 
 holder of the stately pile of Raby Castle is Henry 
 de Vere Vane, Lord Barnard. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 SOME EXTRACTS FROM VANE'S 
 WRITINGS WHILE IN PRISON 
 
 Meditations concerning Mans Life penned by this 
 Sufferer in his Prison State 
 
 On Life 
 
 It is a principal part of wisdom to know how to esteem 
 Life ; to hold and preserve, to loose or give it up. There is 
 scarce anything dearer than Life, esteem Life for itself, live, 
 not but to live. Others think the shortest Life best ; either 
 not to be born at all, or else to die quickly. There are two 
 extremes. That comes nearer Truth ; a wise man said. Life 
 is such a good, that if a man knew what he did in it, he would 
 not accept it, at least not desire it, vitam nejno cuperet, si daretur 
 tantum scientibus. Wise men, in living, make a virtue of neces- 
 sity— live as long as they should, not as long as they can. 
 
 There is a time to live and a time to die, a good death 
 is far better and more eligible than an ill life. A wise man 
 lives but so long as his life is more worth than his death. 
 The longer life is not always the better. To what end 
 serves a long life ? Simply to live, breathe, eat, drink, and 
 see this world ? What needs so long a time for all this ? 
 Methinks we should soon be used with the daily repetition 
 of these and the like vanities. Would we live long to gain 
 knowledge, experience, and virtue? This seems an honest 
 design, but is better to be had other ways by good men, 
 when their bodies are in the grave. 
 
 None usually employ their time so ill in this world as 
 
500 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 men, Non inopes sumus vitae, sed prodigi ; some begin to live 
 when they should die ; some have ended when before they 
 begin. 'Tis incident to folly to be always but beginning 
 to live. Life is but a sorrowful state, a perpetual issue of 
 errors. 'Tis a web of unhappy adventures, a pursuit of 
 divers miseries enchained together on all sides. Solum et 
 certum nil esse certi. Nec miserius quicquam homine nec 
 superbius. Vanity is the most essential and proper quality 
 of man's first nature. The world is not worth that labour 
 and pains, main exercises in and about it, which caused that 
 saying. A wise man should do nothing but for himself 
 'Tis not reason wise men should put themselves in danger 
 for fools, much less for knaves. 
 
 The will only is truly man's own, and the considerate 
 part of the reasonable soul, on it depend the issues of good 
 or evil, life or death. All the rest of a man, his understanding, 
 memory, imagination may be taken from him, altered, 
 troubled by a thousand accidents ; but the will is so much 
 in our power that it cannot be taken away, though its action 
 may be hindered. 'Tis our own till we knowingly and 
 freely give it away, which may be. And he that hath once 
 absolutely given up his will to another, is no more his own 
 man. He hath left himself nothing of his own. 'Tis by the 
 will we are good or evil, happy or unhappy. 
 
 Concerning Enemies 
 
 In reference to our enemies we must take care not to 
 meditate revenge. Yet in some sense we may account it an 
 excellent and worthy revenge to slight the worst they can 
 do, whereby we take away the pleasure which they think to 
 have, in vexing us. We must, in suffering injuries, have 
 respect to ourselves, and to him that offend us. Touching 
 ourselves, we must take heed that we do nothing unworthy or 
 unbecoming us, that may give the enemy advantage 
 against us. As to him that offends us we should be wise as 
 serpents to wave his assaults, till our hour is come, and we 
 can gain a conquest by dying. 
 
 It is a weakness of mind not to know how to contemn 
 an offence. An honest man is not subject to injury. He is 
 inviolable and inmovable. Inviolable not so much that he 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 501 
 
 cannot be beaten, but that being beaten, he does neither 
 receive wound nor hurt. We can receive no evil but of 
 ourselves. We may therefore always say with Socrates, 
 " My enemies may put me to death, but they shall never 
 enforce me to do which I ought not." 
 
 Evils themselves, through the wise overruling Providence 
 of God, have good fruits and effects. The world would be 
 extinguished and perish if it were not changed, shaken, 
 and discomposed, by a variety and an interchangeable 
 course of things, wisely ordered by God, the best physician. 
 This ought to satisfy every honest and reasonable mind, 
 and make it joyfully submit to the worst of changes, how 
 strange and wonderful soever they may seem, since they 
 are the works of God and nature ; and that which is a loss in 
 one respect is a gain in another. 
 
 Let not a wise man disdain or ill resent anything that 
 shall happen to him. Let him know those things that seem 
 hurtful to him, in particular, pertain to the preservation of 
 the whole universe, and are of the nature of those things, the 
 finish and fill up the course and office of this world. 
 
 Meditations on Death 
 
 It is the fruit of true wisdom, not only Christian but 
 natural, to be found and kept in a frame of mind ready for 
 death. The day of death is the judge of all our other days, 
 the very trial and touchstone of the actions of our life. 'Tis 
 the end that crowns the work, and a good death honoureth a 
 man's whole life. 
 
 This last act as it is the most difficult, so but by this a man 
 cannot well judge of the actions of another's life without 
 wronging him. 
 
 A wise Greek, being asked concerning three eminent 
 persons, which of them was to be most esteemed ? returned this 
 answer : We must see them all three die, before this question 
 can be resolved, with which accords that saying of Solon, the 
 wise Athenian to Croesus, when he boastingly showed him 
 his great treasures. No man is to be accounted happy 
 before his death. 
 
 TruQ natural wisdom pursueth the learning and practice 
 
502 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 of dying well, as the very end of life, and indeed he hath not 
 spent his life ill, that hath learned to die well. It is the 
 chiefest thing and duty of life. The knowledge of dying is 
 the knowledge of liberty, the state of true freedom, the way 
 to fear nothing, to live well, contentedly, and peaceably. 
 Without this there is no more pleasure in life than in the 
 fruition of that thing which a man feareth always to lose. In 
 order to which, we must above all endeavour that our sins 
 may die, and that we may see them dead before ourselves, 
 which alone can give us boldness in the day of judgment, and 
 make us always ready and prepared for death. 
 
 Death is not to be feared and fled from, as it is by most, 
 but sweetly and patiently to be waited for, as a thing natural, 
 reasonable, and inevitable. It is to be looked upon as a 
 thing indifferent, carrying no harm in it. This is all the hurt 
 enemies can do us, is that which we should desire and seek 
 after, as the only haven of rest, from all the torments of this 
 life, which, as it gives us a fuller fruition of Christ, is a very 
 great gain, that the sooner we are possessors of the better. 
 
 Death is the only thing of all evils or privations that doth 
 no harm, hath indeed no evil in it, however it be reputed. 
 The sting of it is sin, and that is the sting of life too. There 
 is no reason to fear it, because no man knows certainly what 
 it is. This made Socrates refuse to plead before his judges 
 for his justification or life, for (saith he) " if I should plead 
 for my life and desire of you that I may not die, I doubt I 
 may speak against myself, to my loss and hindrance, who 
 may find more good in death than yet I know. These things 
 I know to be evil, as unrighteousness and sin, I fly and avoid ; 
 those that I know not to be so, as death, I cannot fear, and 
 therefore I leave it to you to determine for me, whether it is 
 more expedient for me to die or to live." He can never live 
 contentedly that fears to die. That man only is a free man 
 who feareth not death. Life itself being but slavery, if it 
 were not made free by death. It is uncertain in what place 
 death attends us, therefore, let us expect it in all places, and 
 be always ready to receive it. Great virtue and great or long 
 life do seldom meet together. Life is measured by the end, 
 if that be good, all the rest will have a proportion to it. The 
 quantity is nothing, as to the making it more or less happy. 
 
APPENDIX 503 
 
 The spirit of a good man, when he ceases to live in the 
 body, goes into a better state of life, than that which he 
 exercises in this world ; when once in that, were it possible 
 to resume this, he would refuse it. Yea, were a man capable 
 to know what this life here is, before he receives it, he would 
 scarce ever have accepted it at first. The self same journey 
 men have taken from no being to being, and from pre- 
 existing being into mortal life, without fear or passion ; they 
 may take again from that life by death, into a life that hath 
 immortality in it. 
 
 Death is the inevitable law God and nature have put 
 upon us. Things certain should not be feared, but expected ; 
 things doubtful only are to be feared. Death, instead of 
 taking away anything from us, gives us all, even the 
 perfection of our natures, sets us at liberty both from our 
 own bodily desires, and others domination, makes the servant 
 free from his master. It doth not bring us into darkness, 
 but takes darkness out of us, us out of darkness, and puts us 
 into marvellous light. Nothing perishes or is dissolved by 
 death, but the veil and covering, which is wont to be done 
 away from all ripe fruit. It brings us out of a dark dungeon, 
 through the crannies whereof our sight of light is but weak 
 and small, and brings us into an open liberty, an estate of 
 life and light, unveiled, and perpetual. It takes us out of 
 that mortality which began in the womb of our mother, and 
 now endeth to bring us into that life which shall never end. 
 This day, which thou fearest as thy last, is thy birthday into 
 eternity. 
 
 Death hath a high place in the policy and great common- 
 wealth of the world. It is very perfectible for the succession 
 and continuance of the works of nature. The fading 
 corruption, and loss of life is the passing into a better. 
 Death is no less essential to us, than to live or to be born. 
 In flying death thou flyest thyself, thy essence is equally 
 parted into those two, life and death. It is the condition 
 and law of thy creation. Men are not sent into the world 
 by God, but with purpose to go forth again, which he that 
 is not willing to do, should not come in. The first day of 
 thy birth bindeth thee and sets thee in the way as well to 
 d^ath a,s to life. To be unwilling, therefore, to diq is to be un- 
 
504 
 
 LIFE OF SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 willing to be a man, since to be a man is to be mortal. It being 
 therefore so serviceable to nature, and the institution of it, why 
 should it be feared or shunned ? Besides, it is necessary and 
 inevitable we must do our best endeavour in things that 
 are not remediless, but ought to grow resolute in things 
 past remedy. 
 
 It is most just, reasonable, and desirable to arrive at that 
 place towards which we are always walking. Why fearest 
 thou to go whither all the world goest? It is the part of 
 a valiant and generous mind to prefer some things before 
 life, as things for which a man should not doubt nor fear 
 to die. In such a case, however matters go, a man must 
 more account thereof than of his life. He must run his race 
 with resolution that he may perform things profitable and 
 exemplary. 
 
 The contempt of death is that which produceth the 
 boldest and most honourable exploits. He that fears not 
 to die fears nothing. From hence have proceeded the 
 commendable resolutions and free speeches of virtue, uttered 
 by men, of whom the world hath not been worthy. 
 
 A gallant Roman, commanded by Vespasian not to 
 come to the Senate, answered he was a senator, therefore fit 
 to be at the Senate, and being there, if required to give his 
 advice, he would do it as his conscience commanded him. 
 Hereupon, being threatened by the emperor, he replied, 
 *' Did I ever tell you that I was immortal ? Do you what you 
 will, and I will do what I ought. It is in your power to put 
 me unjustly to death, and in mine to die constantly." What 
 hard dealing cannot he suffer that fears not to die. Other 
 designments may be hindered by our enemies, but they 
 cannot hinder us from dying. The means whereby to live 
 free is to contemn death. It is no great thing to live, slaves 
 and beasts can do that, but it is a great matter to live freely 
 and die honestly, wisely, constantly. Mori nolo (saith one) 
 sed me esse mortuum nithil estimo : I would not die, but to 
 be as dead I look upon as nothing. But no man can be 
 said to be resolute to die that is afraid to confront it, and 
 suffer with his eyes open, as Socrates did, without passion 
 or alteration. 
 
INDEX 
 
 A 
 
 Aitchison, C, his records of kirk- 
 sessions, 128 note 
 
 Alured, Matthew, Colonel, cap- 
 tures Leven and others, 319 ; 
 opposes Cromwell, 387 
 
 Allegory, how used by Vane, 
 448 
 
 Anstruther, Robert, ambassador 
 
 at Vienna, 40-42 
 Antichrist, Pope held to be, 161, 
 
 445, 449 
 
 Apocalypse, interpretations of, 432- 
 437 
 
 Argyll, Marquis of, his character, 
 272 ; a friend of Vane's, 255 ; 
 defeated by Montrose, 273; 
 made terms with Monk, 319 ; be- 
 trayed by Monk, 450; beheaded, 
 452 
 
 Army, New Model, organised by 
 Fairfax and Skippon, 259 ; dis- 
 content in, 282 ; marches on 
 London, 285 ; changed under 
 Cromwell, 413 ; becomes dis- 
 orderly, 414 
 
 Assembly, General, of Scottish 
 Church, 129, 205 ; of Divines at 
 Westminster, 211 
 
 Attainder of Strafford, 142 j of 
 
 Laud, 248 
 605 
 
 B 
 
 Baillie, Robert, Principal, 141 
 note, 145-149 ; against toleration, 
 242 
 
 Balfour, Sir W., governor of Tower, 
 151 ; at Edgehill, 191 ; at New- 
 bury, 238 
 
 Baptism, Vane on, 443 
 
 Baxter, R., his remarks about 
 Cromwell, 222 note, 366 
 
 Biddle, John, Unitarian, im- 
 prisoned, 305, 367 note 
 
 Bishops, the, expelled from House 
 of Lords, 167 ; imprisoned, 
 168 
 
 Bisset, John, quoted, 336, 347 note, 
 369 note 
 
 Blair, Robert, on Cromwell's 
 character, 289 
 
 Blake, Robert, defends Lyme, 214, 
 and Taunton, 237 ; made 
 admiral, 261 ; pursues Rupert's 
 squadrons in the Tagus, 324 ; 
 in the Mediterranean, 325 ; Scilly 
 Islands, 326 ; fights with the 
 Dutch, 330, 333, 334, 335, 356 ; 
 a sincere republican, 324 ; 
 victories over the Spaniards, 
 369 ; complains of bad pro- 
 visions, 369 
 
 Book; of Sports, 30^ 
 
506 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Bordeaux, M. de, French ambas- 
 sador, quoted, 406, 414 
 
 Boston, founded, 61 ; town records 
 of, 68 
 
 Bradshaw, John, president at trial 
 of Charles I., 297 ; on council, 
 300; reply to Cromwell, 351 ; in 
 Cromwell's second parliament, 
 364 ; on second council of 
 state, 407 
 
 Brook, Lord, friendly to the parlia- 
 ment, 186 ; killed, 218 
 
 Breda, Declaration of, 426 
 
 Bristol, taken by the royalists, 
 200 ; recovered, 267 
 
 Buckingham, Duke of, fails to 
 relieve Rochelle, 16 ; impeached, 
 15 ; assassinated, 19 
 
 C 
 
 Cadiz, expedition to, 14 
 Calvinism, 127, 209, 240 
 Campbell, Lord, on reforms in the 
 law, 362 
 
 Carisbrooke, Charles L imprisoned 
 
 in, 287 ; Vane in, 383 
 Carlyle, T., inaccuracies of, 317 
 
 note, 347 note, 389 
 Catechism, Shorter, 2H 
 Catholics side with the king, 180 ; 
 
 not tolerated by parliament, 305 ; 
 
 denied toleration by Cromwell, 
 
 365, 367 
 Ca,valry, importance of, 182 
 Charles L, his character, 9 ; 
 
 arbitrary rule, 29 ; attempt to 
 
 arrest the five members, 169 ; 
 
 erects standard at Nottingham, 
 
 181 ; surrenders, 271 ; his trial 
 
 and execution, 295 
 Charles Stuart, Prince, offers to sell 
 
 Scilly Islands to the Dutch, 326 ; 
 
 made King of Scotland. 313 ; 
 
 defeated, 318 ; escapes to France, 
 
 320; restoration, 425; Charles 
 
 IL breaks all his promises, 426 ; 
 perfidious letter about Vane, 480 
 
 Clarendon on Sir Henry Vane, 
 Sen., quoted, 34; on Sir Henry 
 Vane, Jun., 204 ; on the Long 
 Parliament, 422 ; instigates the 
 death of Argyll, 451 ; and of 
 Vane, 453. {See Hyde) 
 
 Clubmen, 258 
 
 Colchester, siege of, 288 
 
 Commissioners sent to Scotland, 
 104 
 
 Committee of Safety, 418 
 
 Confession of Faith, 211 
 
 Cooper, Sir A. A., 384, 395, 420, 
 421, 429 
 
 Copready, battle of, 236 
 
 Cotton, John, Rev., 79, 83, 89 
 
 Cotton, Sir Robert, on the salva- 
 tion of papists, 445 
 
 Councils of State, First, 300 ; 
 Second, 407 
 
 Covenant, Solemn League and, 129, 
 207 ; signed by English parlia- 
 ment, 210 
 
 Crawford, Lawrence, at Marston 
 Moor, 231, note 232 ; quarrels 
 with Cromwell, 239 
 
 Cromwell, Oliver, character of, 221, 
 290, 337 ; first appearance of, 
 223 ; at Marston Moor, 230 ; 
 speeches in parliament, 251,253; 
 exempted from Self-denying 
 Ordinance, 262 ; farther exploits, 
 261 ; victories in Ireland, 309 ; in 
 Scotland, 318 ; at Worcester, 319 ; 
 dissolves the Long Parliament, 
 347 ; his domestic policy 361 ; 
 foreign policy, 368 ; his death, 388 
 
 Cromwell, Richard, his character, 
 389, 395 ; abdicates, 403 
 
 D 
 
 Deane, Admiral, killed, 356 
 D'Ewes, Sir Simonds, on the price 
 
INDEX 
 
 507 
 
 of corn, 26 note ; interviews 
 
 Prynne, 102 ; parliamentary 
 
 report, 203 
 Dixwell, J., Colonel, takes refuge 
 
 in New England, 432 
 Dorislaus, Dr, murdered at the 
 
 Hague by Cavaliers, 327 
 Drogheda, massacre at, 309 
 Dublin, siege of, by Ormonde, 308 
 Dudley, Thomas, governor of 
 
 Massachusetts, 68 
 Dunbar, battle of, 317 
 Dunkirk, besieged and taken by 
 
 the Spaniards, 334 ; gained by 
 
 Cromwell, 369 
 Dutch, their enterprise, 328. {See 
 
 Holland) 
 
 E 
 
 Eastern Counties Association, 177 
 
 Edgehill, battle of, 186 
 
 Edinburgh, Vane at, 205 ; Crom- 
 well at, 288 
 
 Eliot, Sir John, imprisoned, 16 ; 
 released, 16 ; again imprisoned, 
 22 ; dies, 22 
 
 Elizabeth, her treatment of Com- 
 mons, 6 ; navy under, 13 
 
 Endicot, John, 71 ; mutilates king's 
 flag, 71 ; sent against Pequots, 76 
 
 England, condition under Charles 
 I., 25, 99 ; distressed state of, 
 during the Civil Wars, 243 
 
 Episcopacy, debate on, 160 ; abol- 
 ished, 304 ; restored, 427 
 
 Episcopal clergymen expelled, 305 
 
 Essex, Earl of, commands parlia- 
 mentary army, 181 ; dilatory 
 tactics, 193 ; popular with 
 soldiers, 220 ; accuses Vane, 197 ; 
 reheves Gloucester, 215; at 
 Newbury, first battle of, 216; 
 defeated in Cornwall, 237 
 
 Eythin, Lord, at Marston Moor, 
 329 ; leaves England, 234 
 
 F 
 
 Fairfax, Lord Ferdinando, 220, 
 225, 233 
 
 Fairfax, Sir Thomas, presents a 
 petition to Charles L, 179 ; his 
 character, 221 ; at Marston Moor, 
 233 J wounded at Helmsley, 235 ; 
 forms new model army, 255-258 ; 
 commands at Naseby, 263 ; 
 victories in the West, 267 ; takes 
 Colchester, 288 ; resigns his 
 command, 313 ; opposed to the 
 protectorate, 387 ; assists the 
 restoration, 420 
 
 Falkland, Lord, his speech on 
 Episcopacy, 163 ; follows Charles, 
 killed at Newbury, 216 
 
 Fiennes, Nathaniel, tried for sur- 
 rendering Bristol, 250 ; root and 
 branch man, 159 
 
 Fleetwood, to succeed Cromwell, 
 388 ; struggles for the command 
 of the army, 402, 416, 418 
 
 G 
 
 Garrard, George, his news letters 
 
 to Wentworth, 54, 92, 104 
 Glamorgan Treaty, the, 268 
 Gloucester, siege of, 215 
 Goffe, William, escapes to New 
 
 England, 432 
 Goring, Lord, at Marston Moor, 
 
 229, 249 ; prisoner at Colchester, 
 
 288 
 
 Grand Remonstrance, the, 165 
 
 Greenvil, Sir R., 249 
 
 Grotius, H., his Mare Liberum, 339 
 
 H 
 
 Hampden, John, 100, 113 
 Hamilton, Marquis of commis- 
 sioner to Scottish Assembly, 129 j 
 
508 
 
 INDEX 
 
 sent with a fleet, 131 ; imprisoned 
 by the king, 208 ; invades 
 England, 287 ; defeated and exe- 
 cuted, 288 
 
 Harrington, J., his Oceana, 411 ; 
 in council of state, 407 
 
 Harrison, Thomas, helps to ex- 
 pel parliament, 347 ; imprisoned 
 by Cromwell, 387 ; executed, 
 430 
 
 Harvey, Dr, at Edgehill, 189 
 Haynes, John, governor of Massa- 
 chusetts, 69 
 Helmsley Castle taken, 235 
 Henderson, Alexander, moderator 
 
 of General Assembly, 205 
 Hesilrige, Sir A., his education, 416 ; 
 opposes O. Cromwell, 365, 387 ; 
 opposes R. Cromwell, 392, 395, 
 405 ; member of council, 407, 
 415 ; his character, 416, 418, 420 ; 
 amnestied, 432 
 Hispaniola, unsuccessful attack on, 
 
 369 
 
 Hobbes, T., quoted, 278, 285 
 Holland, war with, 330 ; peace 
 
 with, 359 
 Holies, Denzil, holds down Speaker, 
 
 20, 22, 185 ; at Edgehill, 191, 
 
 194, 231 note, 245 
 Hosmer, J., quoted, 96 note, 175 
 
 note 
 
 Hotham, Sir John, imprisoned by 
 Charles, 134 ; refuses to let the 
 king into Hull, 172 ; betrays 
 parliamentary cause, 201 ; exe- 
 cuted, 248 
 
 Hull, Vane member for, 132 ; held 
 for the parliament, 201 
 
 Hunter, Thomas, Town Clerk of 
 Edinburgh, records the banquet 
 given to Vane, 212 note 
 
 Hutchinson, Ann, a cause of dis- 
 sension, 77 ; persecuted, 93 ; her 
 fate, 95 
 
 Hutchinson, Mrs, quoted, 295, 348 
 note, 413 
 
 Hutchinson, John, Col., against 
 Cromwell's usurpation, 354, 387 ; 
 imprisoned at the restoration, 
 432 
 
 Hyde, E., meets St John, 133 ; en- 
 counters Cromwell, 223 ; favours 
 Episcopacy, 163. (5^^ Clarendon) 
 
 I 
 
 Independents, the, 241 
 
 Inverlochy, battle of, 247 
 
 Ireland, state of, under Wentworth, 
 114; great confiscations, 117; 
 rebellion in, 164; Ormonde king's 
 deputy in, 308 ; reconquest of, 
 by Cromwell, Ireton,and Ludlow, 
 309> 310 
 
 Irish, dispossession of the native 
 Irish under Wentworth, 116; 
 under Cromwell, 371 
 
 Ireton wounded at Naseby, 263 ; 
 interviews with the king, 286 ; 
 his ability, 283 ; constitution 
 proposed by, 299 ; commands in 
 Ireland, 310 ; his death, 310 
 
 J 
 
 Jamaica, conquest of, 369 
 
 James I. of England, VI. of Scot- 
 land, his character, 9 
 
 Jones, Michael, successfully defends 
 Dublin, 308 
 
 Jones, John, one of the king's 
 judges, executed, 430 
 
 Joyce, Cornet, carries away the 
 king from Holdenby House, 283, 
 338 
 
 K 
 
 Kilsyth, battle of, 268 
 
 Kirk of Scotland, its authority, 126 
 
INDEX 509 
 
 L 
 
 Lambert, John, General, in Scot- 
 land, 289, 321 ; assists Cromwell 
 in the coup d'etat, 345, 485 ; 
 opposes him, 387 ; member of 
 council, 407; intrigues of, 415- 
 16 ; excepted from amnesty, 452 
 
 Laud, William, Archbishop, his 
 interview with Vane, 50 ; char- 
 acter of, 50, 51, his visits to 
 Scotland, 51, 128; correspond- 
 ence with Wentworth, 112; 
 arouses revolt in Scotland, 128 ; 
 his infatuation, 135 ; imprisoned, 
 143, 168 ; his attainder, 247 ; 
 and execution, 248 
 
 Leighton, Alexander, cruel sentence 
 on, lOl ; his petition to parlia- 
 ment, 137 ; set free, 137, 142 
 
 Leslie, Alexander, Earl of Leven, 
 commands Scottish army, 131 ; 
 commands at Marston Moor, 
 228 ; taken prisoner, 319 
 
 Leslie, David, at Marston Moor, 
 228, 232 ; defeats Montrose, 269 ; 
 defeats the Macdonalds, 314 ; 
 out-generals Cromwell, 315 ; 
 forced to leave his position by 
 Committee of Estates and Kirk, 
 317 ; defeated at Dunbar, 318 ; 
 and at Worcester, 319 
 
 Lilburne, John, at the pillory, 106 ; 
 tried under the parliament and 
 acquitted, 311 ; imprisoned by 
 Cromwell, 312 
 
 Lilburne, Robert, Colonel, com- 
 mands in Scotland, 312 ; a re- 
 publican, 402 
 
 Lindsay, Earl of, commands expedi- 
 tion to Rochelle, 19 ; at Edgehill, 
 187 ; killed, 191 
 
 Lisle, John, 198 ; one of the king's 
 judges, escapes to Switzerland, 
 434 ; murdered by the royalists, 
 434 
 
 Lockhart, W., serves Cromwell, 
 
 387 ; ambassador at Madrid for 
 the parliament, 417 
 
 Loftus, A.,Viscount, unjustly treated 
 by Wentworth, 125 
 
 London, its free municipality, its 
 importance to the parliament, 
 177 ; its population, 177 note 
 
 Londoners march to relieve Glou- 
 cester, 215; fight at Newbury, 
 238 
 
 Lords, House of, Charles L 
 offends, 15 ; at Strafford's trial, 
 141 ; bishops excluded from, 
 167 ; small House atWestminster, 
 173, 248, 254 ; aboUshed 298 ; 
 Cromwell's Lords, 385, 394 
 
 Ludlow, Edmund, general at Edge- 
 hill, 192 ; member of first council 
 of state ; in Richard Cromwell's 
 parliament, 394, 416 ; in Ireland, 
 423 ; takes refuge in Switzerland, 
 434 ; his return, 434 ; his grave at 
 Vevey 
 
 Lyme, Blake defends, 214 
 
 M 
 
 Manchester, Lord, also Kimbolton, 
 168 ; his wavering character, 224, 
 225, 238 ; takes refuge with the 
 army, 285 
 
 Marshall, Steven, commissioner in 
 Scotland, 205, 213 
 
 Marten, Harry, detains the king's 
 horses, 195, 196, 250, 266, 278, 
 299; on the New Commonwealth, 
 340, 351 ; imprisoned for life, 
 
 431 
 
 Marston Moor, battle of, 229 
 Massachusetts, 61 
 Matchlocks, used, 182 
 Maurice, Prince, preys on English 
 
 merchantmen, 323 ; drowned, 326 
 Mazarin, Cardinal, 321-6, 405-6 
 Milton, John, his political writings, 
 
 301 ; eager for toleration, 241 ; 
 
510 
 
 INDEX 
 
 his sonnet on Vane, 330 ; his 
 counsels to Cromwell, 360 ; his 
 Unitarian treatise, 305 ; his 
 warning against the restoration, 
 424 
 
 Monk, George, in command in 
 Scotland, 319 ; takes Dundee, 
 319; admiral of the fleet, 336; 
 his inhumanity,358; his character, 
 419; treachery, 421 ; restores the 
 monarchy, 424 ; betrays Argyll, 
 452 ; tries to suborn witnesses 
 against Vane, 463 
 
 Montrose, Marquis of, defeated at 
 Philiphaugh, 269 
 
 Monopolies, 16, 28 
 
 Mountnorris, Lord, Wentworth's 
 tyranny against, 120, 143 
 
 Mutilations, 19 ; practised on, 
 Leighton, 10 1 ; Prynne, 102 ; 
 Bastwick and, Burton, 103-4 
 
 N 
 
 Naseby, battle of, 263 
 
 Navy, growth of, 12; under 
 Elizabeth, 12 ; under Charles I., 
 14 ; under the Commonwealth, 
 331 
 
 Newbury, first battle of, 216 ; 
 
 second battle of, 238 
 Newcastle-on-Tyne, besieged and 
 
 taken by the Scots, 235-240 
 Newcastle, Marquis of, commands 
 
 in the north, 225 ; at Marston 
 
 Moor, 232 ; quits England, 234 ; 
 
 returns at restoration, 429 
 Northumberland, Earl of, high 
 
 admiral, 30 ; on the elder Vane, 
 
 131 ; under suspicion on Waller's 
 
 plot, 198 
 
 O 
 
 Okey, John, Colonel, 255 ; at 
 Naseby, 264 ; dissatisfied with 
 
 Cromwell, 355, 387 ; delivered up 
 by Dutch and executed, 431 
 
 Oppenheim on the navy, 13 ; his 
 criticisms on Hosmer, 175 note 
 
 Orange, William, Prince of, 
 Stadtholder, marries Charles's 
 daughter, 180, 327 ; William of, 
 their son, 340 ; his education, 389 
 
 Ormonde, Earl of, king's deputy 
 for Ireland, 268 ; defeated by 
 Jones, 308 ; in Paris, 321 note 
 
 Overton, R., Colonel, opposes 
 Cromwell, 387 ; imprisoned by 
 him and set free by parliament, 
 399 
 
 Oxford, king's head-quarters at, 
 194 
 
 P 
 
 Parliament, Charles's parliaments, 
 11-15, 20, 132-7 ; 5 the Long 
 Parliament meets, 137 ; Crom- 
 well expels parliament, 351 ; 
 Barebones, 360, 363 ; Crom- 
 well's second, 364 ; third, 384 ; 
 Richard's parliament, 393; con- 
 vention, 424 ; royalist parlia- 
 ment, 427 
 
 Pelham, P., member for Hull 
 with Vane, 201 
 
 Pequot Indians, war with, 75 
 
 Peters, Hugh, Vane's difference 
 with, 82 ; executed, 430 
 
 Petition of Rights, 17 
 
 Philip's war, 94 note 
 
 Philiphaugh, Montrose defeated at, 
 269 
 
 Pikemen, 182, 216 
 
 Plymouth, in North America, 
 
 founded, 59 
 Popham, Edward, admiral, 325 
 Presbyterianism in Scotland, 127 
 Presbyterianism in England, 209 
 Pride, Colonel, 255 ; repels Presby- 
 terian members, 294 
 
INDEX 
 
 Prisoners sent to Barbadoes, 319 
 Prynne, W., his political writings, 
 
 55 ; barbarous treatment of, loi; 
 
 released, 137, 142 ; prosecutes 
 
 Laud, 143, 247 ; his speech in 
 
 the House, 293 
 Puritans leave England, 58 ; their 
 
 character, 25 ; in America, 
 
 65 
 
 Puritan soldiers, 257 
 
 Pym, John, 17 ; his friendship with 
 Vane, 134, 149 ; impeaches 
 Strafford, 141, 168, 215; his death, 
 217 
 
 Q 
 
 Question, A Healing, written by 
 H. Vane, 374 
 
 R 
 
 Radcliffe, George, friend of 
 Strafford's, arrested, 142 
 
 Republicanism, 277-78 
 
 Retz, Cardinal de, 320 
 
 Revelation, see Apocalypse ; 
 Retired Man's Meditations, 436 
 
 Rochelle, siege of, 19 
 
 Rota, club, 410 
 
 Rupert, Prince, at Edgehill, 186 ; 
 at Marston Moor, 229 ; at 
 Naseby, 264; surrenders Bristol, 
 267 ; preys on English merchant- 
 men, 323 ; chased by Blake, 324 
 
 S 
 
 Salmasius, his controversy with 
 Milton, 301 
 
 511 
 
 Salway, Major, 404 
 
 Saye and Sele, Lord, 259 
 
 Scot, Thomas, 36 ; in Crom- 
 well's parliament, 364 ; in 
 Richard's, 396 ; in coun- 
 cil of state, 407 ; executed, 
 430 
 
 Scotland, reformation in, 126; 
 Presbyterianism in resistance to 
 Prelacy, 127 ; Solemn League 
 and Covenant in, 129, 207 ; rise 
 against Charles I., 131 ; makes 
 peace with Charles, 136 ; Vane's 
 negotiation in, 205 ; sends army 
 to help the parliament, 218 
 
 Scots enter England with army, 136 
 and 219 ; at Marston Moor, 231 
 note ; further operations, 235 ; take 
 Newcastle, 240 ; return to Scot- 
 land, 275 ; oppose the Common- 
 wealth, 307, 312 ; receive Charles 
 II.,3i3 ; defeated at Dunbar, 317; 
 and at Worcester, 319 
 
 Seal, Great, importance of a new 
 seal, 173 
 
 Selden, John, 18, 22 ; an Eras- 
 tian, 209 ; his Mare Clausum, 
 336 
 
 Self-denying Ordinance, 249 
 Sikes, George, his life and death of 
 
 Sir H. Vane cited, 36, 175 note ; 
 
 about war with Holland, 330 ; 
 
 on Vane's religious writing, 442, 
 
 447-8 ; accompanies Vane to the 
 
 scaffold, 494 
 Skippon, General, drilled the 
 
 London train bands, 220 ; left 
 
 with the infantry at Cornwall, 
 
 237 ; assists Fairfax to remodel 
 
 the army, 258 
 Star Chamber abolished, 1 56 
 St John, O., Hyde's interview with, 
 
 133 ; impeaches Strafford, 145, 
 
 152 ; solicitor-general, 167 ; 
 
 disapproves of king's trial, 295 ; 
 
 gained over by Cromwell, 
 
 387 
 
512 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Strafford (see Wentworth), Earl of, 
 impeached, 139 ; his trial, 143 ; 
 and execution, 154 
 
 Stubbe, Henry, 445 
 
 Sweden, Gustavus of, 41 ; Christina 
 of, 302 
 
 T 
 
 Taunton, defended against 
 
 royalists, 237-261 
 Toleration, religious ; Vane in 
 
 favour of, 95, 241, 373 ; Roger 
 
 Williams in favour of, 95 ; 
 
 Stubbe in favour of, 447 
 Town, population in England, 177 
 
 nofe 
 
 Tromp, naval fights of, 330-56 ; 
 killed, 358 
 
 U 
 
 Unitarians, persecuted by the 
 pariiament, 305 ; and by Crom- 
 well, 367 ; Milton a, 241 
 
 Upham, quoted, 88 
 
 Urry, J., changes sides at Marston 
 Moor, 229-33 
 
 V 
 
 Vane, Sir Charles, envoy at 
 Lisbon, 324 
 
 Vane, Sir George, defends Raby 
 castle, 244 notes 
 
 Vane, Sir Henry, senior, 33 ; his 
 character, 34-131 ; secretary of 
 state, 131 ; his notes about 
 Strafford's counsels, 149 ; takes 
 part with the parliament, 166 
 
 Vane, Sir Henry, junior, his educa- 
 tion, 36 ; travels, 38 ; goes to 
 New England, 54 ; made 
 
 governor of Massachusetts, 70 ; 
 returns, 91 ; marries, 92 ; 
 treasurer of the navy, 132 ; 
 member for Hull, 132 ; leader of 
 the Independents, 241 ; commis- 
 sioner of the navy, 33 1 ; imprisoned 
 by Cromwell, 383 ; his theological 
 writings, 436 ; opposition to 
 Richard Cromwell, 396 ; member 
 of council, 407 ; imprisoned at 
 Restoration, 452 ; his letter to 
 his lady, 454 ; trial, 465 ; and 
 execution, 489 
 Venice, constitution of, 412 
 Venetian ambassadors, 226, 386 
 Verney, Sir Edward, killed at 
 Edgehill, 191 ; Sir Ralph, 191 
 nofe, 365 
 
 W 
 
 Waller, Sir William, at Devizes, 
 200 ; at Copready, 236 ; at 
 Newbury, 238 ; Edmund the 
 poet, his plot, 199 
 
 Warwick, Sir Philip, description of 
 Cromwell, 222 
 
 Wentworth, T., a patriot, 1 7 ; an 
 apostate, 110 
 
 Westminster, Assembly of Divines 
 at, 210 
 
 Whalley, Edward, Colonel, 283 
 Wheelwright, Rev. Mr, 77, 83 
 Whitelocke, B., on Cromwell, 240 ; 
 at meeting of officers, 341 ; his 
 proposals to Fleetwood, 423 ; 
 buys his safety at the Restoration, 
 
 432 
 Wiggin, 79 
 
 Williams, Roger, 75, 97 
 
 Williams, Bishop, helps to promote 
 Laud, 51 ; imprisoned by him, 
 167 ; again in Tower, 168 
 
 Wilson, Rev., 68 
 
INDEX 
 
 513 
 
 Winthrop, John, governor of Wray, Christopher, father-in-law of 
 
 Massachusetts, 6i ; his character, Vane, 92, 137 
 
 61, 95 ; opposes Vane, 83 
 Winthrop, John, junior, 57 
 
 Witches, burned in New England, Y 
 
 91 ; in Scotland, 128-205 
 Worcester, battle of, 319 York, siege of, 225 
 
 2 K 
 
PBINTKD BY 
 OLIVER AND BOYn 
 KDINBUROB 
 
WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR 
 
 HISTORY OF THE SIEGE OF DELHI 
 
 BY AN OFFICER WHO SERVED THERE 
 
 With a Sketch of the Leading Kvents in the Punjaub 
 connected with the Great Rebellion of 1867 
 
 EDINBURGH: A. AND C. BLACK, 1861 
 
 RANDOLPH METHYL 
 
 A STORY OP ANGLO-INDIAN LIFE 
 
 LONDON: WARD AND LOCK, 1863 
 
 STUDIES OF A WANDE RING OBSERVER 
 
 LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL. 1867 
 
 These Three Books are now out of Print 
 
 THE MENTAL AFFECTIONS 
 OF CHILDREN 
 
 IDIOCY, IMBECILITY, AND INSANITY 
 By WILLIAM W. IRELAND, M.D. 
 
 With 20 Plates. 8»o. 14s. 
 
 Some ©pinions of tbe press on tbe last B&ition 
 
 ^T^fy ^^"^ vn&rAeX deficiencies of idiots deserves special mention and 
 that on the best methods of educating idiots and imbeciles is of great value, conSns as^t 
 does the ripened experience of such an able thinker and teacher. While the book iL ntended 
 mainly for medical men, the author expresses a hope that some parts of it will be found alto 
 Sith^^^'^ '^.^^^r" '^'^'^ guardianship of idiots and iXcilel or who take a 
 
ADVERTISEMENTS 
 
 with technical subjects. His previous works, The Blot on the Brain, and Through the Ivory Gate, 
 made him known as a careful and painstaking student of brain and mind, while his professional 
 life, devoted to the care and treatment of the insane — and especially to those phases of mental 
 aberration included under the terms ' imbecility ' and ' idiocy '—has supplied him with 
 material for observation of the most practical and valuable ^iind."— Glasgow Herald, June 30, 
 1898. 
 
 " Those who are familiar with Dr Ireland's writings will not be surprised to hear that this 
 volume, which is in some sense a second edition of the same author's book on Idiocy and 
 Imbecility, published in 1877, is the most complete work on the subjects with which it treats 
 now extant in the English language. It is well printed, copiously illustrated, and contains a 
 large number of clinical cases of interest. It ought to find a place on the shelves of every 
 Asylum Library." — The Asylum News, July 15, 1898. 
 
 " Dr Ireland is so well known as an interesting writer that expectation as to the quality of 
 the book was pitched high and was not disappointed. It is the best account we have of an 
 extremely difficult subject, and is worthy of the great reputation and long experience of the 
 author."— Lancei, 30th July 1898. 
 
 ■■ The chapter on Laws for Idiots and Imbeciles is of great interest, condensing the legisla- 
 tion, to this end, in England and other countries. 
 
 " Dr Ireland concludes his book with an interesting chapter on Wolf Boys ; his work, 
 while mainly of a technical character, yet contains very much that is of value to all who 
 are interested in the training of the defective minded."— CAaritj; Organisation Bevie^v, 
 August 1898. 
 
 " The work has thus been brought thoroughly up to date in all its aspects, statistical, 
 aetiological, clinical, and pathological, with the result that it forms the most complete text- 
 book on the subject in English, or, for that matter, in any language. An enormous mass of 
 facts has been presented with an ease and freshness of style, and a soundness and independ- 
 ence of judgment, which renders the perusal of the book as pleasant as it is valuable." — 
 Scottish Medical and Surgical Journal, August 1898. 
 
 "Such books as this have an important mission in popular education. ' — Journal of the 
 American Medical Association, August IS, 1898. 
 
 " This book is virtually a new edition of the author's former work on Idiocy and Imbecility. 
 Dr Ireland is to be congratulated on having not merely enlarged that work, but also brought 
 it quite up to modern requirements, so that it now forms one of the best books extant on 
 these subjects, and far the best in English."— r/ic Dublin Journal of Medical Science, 
 September 1898. 
 
 " His chapter on • Cretinism ' is one of the best in the work, and will be the standard in 
 the profession at an early day. On insanity in children, of which little has been generally 
 known, he writes with a great advantage, from his own experience." — Medico-Legal 
 Journal, September 1898. 
 
 " We are familiar with no scientific treatise of Idiocy, Imbecility, and Insanity, from 
 the standpoint of a medical superintendent, which compares with this in thoroughness."— 
 Fort Wayne Medical Journal-Magazine, September 1898. 
 
 Translation from the Danish 
 
 "The author, formerly himself a medical superintendent of an asylum for idiots in 
 Scotland, is in possession of great knowledge concerning idiocy and related matters of 
 science, and no questions thereto pertaining are left unnoticed in the book. The descriptions 
 and treatment of the various subjects are so attractive and so easy to understand that 
 teachers, as well as others who have to do with the training and education of idiots, can 
 have the greatest profit by the reading. The work is beautifully got up, and the text is 
 accompanied by a great many excellent illustrations."— A. Priis, Bibliotek for Laeger, 
 September 1898. 
 
 " Those who are familiar with the many-sided mental activity of the author will not 
 need to be told that he has gathered up, from the polyglot literature of the subject, all that 
 is most valuable and interesting, and that he has collated and criticised with rare discrimina- 
 tion varying views as to the etiology and classification of these affections. . . . Dr Ireland's 
 views on insanity in children and insane idiots are extremely interesting, and the increased 
 tendency to suicide at an early age (as shown by statistics), more especially in continental 
 countries, is a deplorable fact. " — British Medical Journal, October 8, 1898. 
 
 " The book throughout is distinguished by a fine literary style, and should enhance Dr 
 Ireland's great reputation as an authority on the mental aftections of childhood."— Paedtalrtcs, 
 vol. vi.. No. 9, November 1, 1898. 
 
 " The two points which stand out prominently in a reading of the book, are, first, the 
 sense of originality and valuable personal experience, and secondly, the admirable use to vhich 
 the author has put the experience of others."— JSos<ori Medical and Surgical Journal, 
 November 24, 1898. 
 
 " While giving his own more matured views on all the subjects appearing in the volume, 
 Dr Ireland gives a very thorough account of the work and studies of other observers, ao far 
 as space permits." — Medical Press and Circular, November 30, 1898. 
 
 " Dr Ireland does not accept the atavistic hypothesis in regard to idiocy. He points out 
 
 mBS^ggm 
 
ADVERTISEMENTS 
 
 3 
 
 convincingly, as it seems to us, that both the anatomical structure of the brain and the 
 mental characteristics in idiocy, however profoundly modified, are human and not bestial. 
 
 " Dr Ireland's views, as to the measures to be employed and the results to be expected in 
 the education of idiots and imbeciles, are sound and reasonable. 
 
 " The book is well printed and quite abundantly illustrated, mostly by photographic 
 reproductions of excellent qnality."— American Journal of Insanity, January 1899. 
 
 " The lucidity of the author's descriptions, the literary style, and the mechanical excellence 
 of the work will make it a standard for some years to come."— Jeliffe, The Journal of Nervous 
 and Mental Disease, January 1899. New York. 
 
 "We have nothing but unqualified praise for this work. It contains the observations 
 of a physician who has carefully studied the subject for many years, and who has embodied 
 in the book all that is known about it at present ; we highly recommend it as an indispensable 
 manual, not only to medical men, but to all who have to do with the management of idiots 
 and imheciles."— Journal of Mental Science, January 1899. 
 
 " His treatment of the development of the brain in childhood must prove helpful to 
 students of genetic psychology generally. Here, as elsewhere in the book, one gets the 
 mature views of an alienist who has been long and intimately identified with the care and 
 training of mentally deficient children, together with the results of many other workers in 
 cognate fields."— Will. S. Monroe, Pedagogical Seminary, January 1899. 
 
 " The recognition of the types of idiocy in young children is a matter of great difficulty 
 to the young practitioner, and the subject is one which has been becoming of greater 
 importance in practice year by year. Dr Ireland has laid the profession under a debt of 
 gratitude by publishing his exhaustive studies, which deal not only with the different types, 
 but with the methods of treatment and education. The book is readable and most instruc- 
 tive, and we cordially recommend it."~Glasgow Medical Journal, March 1899. 
 
 " He writes out of the fulness of a long experience among idiots and imbeciles ; his many 
 contributions to his selected region of studies have found recognition in all the standard 
 text-books of insanity, and his concrete descriptions here will be appreciated by alienists at 
 a very high value. Now what has he to offer to the student of psychology? Directly, not 
 very much that could be readily summarised ; indirectly, a good deal."— W. Leslie Mackenzie, 
 Mind, April 1899. 
 
 " Der Werth des IKELAND'schen Buches fiir den Psychologen besteht daher weniger in 
 einer umfassendenden, klaren Darstellung des psychischen Symptome des Schwachsinns, als 
 vielmehr in einer ausgezeichneten, leicht verstandlich,en und dabei durchaus wissenschaft- 
 licheu Einfiihrung in die Ursachen, in die pathologische Anatomie und in die korperlichen 
 Symptome des Schwachsinns. Bine solche Einfuhrung wird jedem Psychologen, welcher 
 sich fiir die psychischen Symptome des Schwachsinns interessirt, unentbehrlich sein." 
 Hettl ''^^'''^^"^'''^fl fi'-'^ Psychologic und Physiologic der Sinnesorgane, 1899. Band xix.. 
 
 Translation 
 
 " The value of Ireland's book for psychologists consists less in a comprehensive, clear 
 presentation of the psychical symptoms of feeble-mindedness than much more in an excellent, 
 easily understood, and thoroughly scientific introduction into the causes, the pathological 
 anatomy, and the corporeal symptoms of mental weakness. Such an introduction is in- 
 dispensable to every psychologist who takes an interest in the psychical symptoms of 
 leeble-mindedness." 
 
 Translation from the Norse 
 
 " This renowned and over the whole world recognised authority has, in this his last work, 
 enriched medical literature with a very complete text-book comprising these special subjects. 
 1 rust worthiness and personal experience are the red threads running through Ireland's 
 works ; his rich knowledge of the literature of other countries, and his acquaintance with 
 Idiocy and imbecility have been fully shown in this work of his, so that he will find readers 
 and students m all lands, and not the least so in Norway, with which country he has kept 
 ^^a^cwmection for a series of yea,T3."—Medicinsk Revue udgivet at Bergens Laegcforening, 
 
 " It is a most interesting book, not on account of the subject-matter only, but also from 
 the manner in which it is placed before the reader."— r/ie Medical Chronicle, June 1899. 
 
 " Ma delle vedute nuove e spesso assai profonde che il libro contiene sari fatta prossima- 
 mente parola in questa Bivista con una rassegna che prendera in considerazione il problema 
 deUa frenastenia, considerandone le diverse cause e i diversi rimedi. 
 
 " Ricordiamo intanto che il libro presente non si rivolge soltanto ai medici, ma ai peda- 
 gogisti e a tutti coloro che attualmente si occupano dei deficienti."— iJit^tsia sperimentale di 
 jrematria, vol. xxv., n. 34. 
 
 Translation 
 
 profound enough views, which this book contains, will soon be dealt 
 with in this Review along with a commentary, which will take into consideration the problem 
 or mental weakness, its different causes, and the various remedies. 
 
 "In the meantime let us record that the book is of interest not only to medical men but 
 to teachers, and to all those who have to do with the deficient classes." 
 
4 
 
 ADVERTISEMENTS 
 
 Demy 8uo, Cloth, Price by post, 5s. 6d. 
 
 THE BLOT UPON THE BRAIN 
 
 STUDIES IN HISTORY AND PSYCHOLOGY 
 
 By W. W. IRELAND, M.D., Edin., &c. 
 
 " 'Tis the blot upon the brain 
 That will show itself without."— Tennyson. 
 
 EDINBURGH : BELL AND BRADFUTE, 12 Bank Street 
 NEW YORK : G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS 
 
 " We hope this book will have the success it unquestionably deserves. There are few 
 men, even in our hard-worked profession, who will not greatly benefit by its perusal, both by 
 acquiring new facts, and by having many practical suggestions arise in their minds. It is a 
 book, also, that doctors should recommend their intelligent patients to Tea,d."— Edinburgh 
 Medical Journal, November 1885. 
 
 " It may be safely commended as one of the most admirable popular expositions of the 
 conclusions and opinions of an expert in psychology and mental disease, and sufficient may 
 have been said to indicate the wide range of its contents, and the philosophic proficiency with 
 which these have been handled." — Glasgow Herald, December 2, 1885. 
 
 " Apart altogether from the theories advanced in this book, there is collected an immense 
 amount of information on all branches of the subject, and on some collateral subjects, which 
 gives the book much interest and value for the general as well as the scientific reader." — 
 Scotsman, December 3, 1885. 
 
 " To the work, as a whole, we have nothing but praise to give. The extensive and 
 accurate research displayed in the historical papers, together with the author's judicious and 
 highly interesting choice of facts throughout; the profound acumen and care evident 
 throughout every page of psychological analysis are sufficient to render this work valuable 
 both to the general reader and the specialist in mental physiology. ... No one who is 
 accustomed to think, or write, or speak much about hereditary disease, should be without 
 Ur Ireland's book, as it abounds with most interesting and remarkable historical facts, 
 which will be found exceptionally useful." — Journal of Mental Science, January 1886. 
 
 " This excellent work by Dr Ireland will be read with delight, not only by psychologists, 
 but also by those not directly interested in the subject. The book is written in a popular 
 style, and yet deals with abstruse subjects of absorbing interest."— Canada icwiceJ, November 
 1885. 
 
 " Dr Ireland's essays all bear on mental questions, but what constitutes one of their 
 most attractive characteristics is the large admixture of history with them. Dr Ireland 
 clearly realises the fact that there is still a great deal to be written, not only about the 
 history of medicine, but also about the medicine of history. He enjoys himself especially 
 when he is tracing ' the insanity of power ' as showing itself in the early Csesars, in 
 Mohammed Toghlak, Sultan of India, in Ivan the Terrible, and the Tsars that followed him, 
 or when he is exposing the hereditary neurosis of the royal family of Spain." — The Practi- 
 tioner, January 1886. 
 
 " A work of general interest, containing some original Ideas and ingenious speculations 
 illustrated by examples drawn from history— a work which may be studied with advantage as 
 well by the scientifically disposed as by the general reader." — Spectator, January 1886. 
 
 " Exceedingly well written and carefully worked up, they focus an intellectual light upon 
 the individuals who for many centuries have been, because of their strange and unaccount- 
 able acts, colossal statues in history." — Nevj York Medical Record, December 1885. 
 
 " The volume will find many enthusiastic admirers, and serve at the same time to 
 instruct and interest the thoughtful reader. Dr Ireland, always a cautious and painstaking 
 student of life and character, has given us a lucid exposition of some of the most difficult 
 problems in mental philosophy, and what is more, he has succeeded in translating his ideas 
 in graceful and eloquent language. It is not often that one meets with a book treating of a 
 difficult, and we might say indeterminate, subject, so cleverly constructed, and illustrated 
 by facts gleaned from the world's history. To those who desire the pleasure derivable from 
 the perusal of a work learned and interesting, we heartily recommend Dr Ireland's book."— 
 The Lancet, Febraary 1886. 
 
ADVERTISEMENTS 
 
 5 
 
 "Dr Ireland has the peculiar faculty, or we may say gift, of writing upon scientific 
 subjects in a style as pleasing to the popular taste as to the scientific observer. These pages 
 have all the charm of a novel, and the lives of the rulers, whose characters are historic as 
 seen through the lens Dr Ireland holds to our sense, will be as delightful and valuable to the 
 general student as to the alienist, the neurologist, or the specialist in psychiatry." — The 
 Medico-Legal Journal, New York, December 1885. 
 
 " The book is one which will prove attractive alike to the physician, the physiologist, and 
 the student of mental philosophy. There is more than enough in the pages before us to interest 
 deeply the general reader, who may be curious to know something of the manner in which the 
 body is controlled and governed."— Health, March 1886. 
 
 " This is a book of very great interest and entertainment even for general readers. Dr 
 Ireland is well known for his literary culture and scholarship, which come out here conspicu- 
 ously, as well as his capacity for scientific research." — American Journal of Insanity, April 1886. 
 
 " A rare linguist, an omnivorous reader, and a laborious investigator, the author has been 
 able to shed new light on some of our historic problems. As every fresh page opens new 
 thoughts, new characters in history are brought into relief, the author's choicest treasures of 
 historical research, his well-digested studies of psychology and medicine, richly endow the 
 book with mental pabulum of the most edifying and refreshing kind. His work is unique, 
 such labour and research are rare, and because of their rarity deserve to be treasured and 
 preserved among the classics of history and science." — The Medical Press, April 1886. 
 
 " It is written in so readable a style that any educated person cannot fail to understand 
 what he reads therein, and forms an interesting and instructive addition to psychological 
 literature, unfettered by technical terminology." — 'ITie Provincial Medical Journal, May 1885. 
 
 "Dr Ireland has treated the subjects upon which he writes in a masterly and remarkably 
 lucid manner, and this, his latest book, will undoubtedly be read with interest, not only by 
 the psychological physician, but by the educated and scientific public generaXly."— Glasgow 
 Medical Journal, May 1886. 
 
 " Of all the works that have come under my notice, none, it seems to me, is so rich in 
 historical facts, and thus suitable for the general reader, and at the same time philosophical 
 enough to interest the most experienced psychologist, as the Blot on the Brain, by Dr 
 Ireland." — The Birmingham, Medical Review, July 1886. 
 
 " The alluring title of this book, in addition to the world-wide reputation of it, will at 
 once secure it a place on the bookshelf of every student of psychology. The work being 
 intended to attract persons of culture, beyond those directly interested in the medical 
 psychology, the writer veiy sensibly warns his readers who are not well acquainted with the 
 functions of the nervous system, that the introductory essay will be likely to be the most 
 difficult in the whole book ; but that, if diligently read, it will make the meaning of the 
 succeeding pages much more easily understood." — London Medical Record. 
 
 NOTICES IN FOREIGN PERIODICALS 
 
 " Ireland sich auf all den so disparaten Gebieten als tiichtiger Kenner erweist; bei der 
 ausgesprochenen Bestimmung des Werkes auch flir Nichtfachleute handelt es sich in den 
 speciell flir die letzteren wichtigeren Abschnitten nicht um die Darlegung durchaus neuer 
 Porschungen, aber die voile auf eingehender Benutzung der Literatur basirte Beherrschung 
 des Stoflfes wird selbst fiir jene viel Belehrendes bringen, zumal als iiberall die reiche Erfahrung 
 des Verf. Erlituternd herangezogen ist mit der in England zumeist geiibteu klaren Darstellung 
 des Stoffes harmonirt die gleichfalls dort iibliche priichtige Ausstattung des Werkes." — 
 Neurologischcs Centralhlatt, No. 21, 1885. 
 
 Translation 
 
 " In treating all these different subjects, Ireland shows a great grasp of knowledge. As 
 the book is intended also for the non-medical public, it does not deal with the exposition of 
 new researches, nevertheless, the mastery of the subject based upon a thorough study of its 
 literature makes it very instructive even for physicians, especially as the author draws from 
 his own rich experience. We have the wonted English clearness in the treatment of the subject, 
 and the customary handsome get-up of the book." 
 
 "Tutti questi argomenti interessantissimi sono trattati in forma scientiflca, ma plana, 
 facile, in modo da riuscire istruttiva per gli scienziati, come utile e dilettevole anche pel 
 profano : arrichita sempre da una estesa erudizione storica e letteraria, che non istanca il 
 lettore, ma ravviva e rende attraente I'ardua severita degli aigomenti. "—Ilivista sperimentala 
 di freniatria, 1885, fasc. ii.-iii. 
 
 Translation 
 
 " All those interesting subjects are treated in a form scientific, plain, and easy. The 
 book is both instructive for scientific men, and pleasant reading for the general public. It is 
 enriched by an extensive, historical, and literary erudition, which, instead of fatiguing the 
 reader, vivifies and renders attractive the difficulty of the subject." 
 
6 
 
 ADVERTISEMENTS 
 
 " Questo libro, che ha preso a, titolo una frase poetioa di Tennyson ' The Blot upon the 
 Brain," que letteralmente vuolai tradurre Ma macchia nel cervello,' per la varieta degli argo- 
 menti, la moltiplicitii, dei fatti, la vasta erudizione storica, scientilica e letteraria, e per la 
 forma nuova, facile ed attraente nella quale fu scritto, posto a portata della intelligenza di 
 tutti che vadano forniti di rudimentarienozioni flsiologiche, si rende specialmente interessante 
 ai oultori della storia e della psicologia."— ^rcTiiiJto Italiano per le malatie nervose, Marzo 1886. 
 
 Translation 
 
 "This book, from the variety of the subjects treated, its vast historical, literary, and 
 scientific erudition, and from the novel, easy, and attractive form in which it is written, 
 though adapted to the intelligence of all who have some rudimentary notions on physiology, 
 is especially interesting to the students of history and psychology." 
 
 " Le volume qui vient de publier M. W. Ireland, psychologue et alieniste distingue, rentre 
 dans la categorie des livres suggestifs, c'est a dire des livres qui font penser et reflechir. . . . 
 Son livre s'adresse aussi bien au public qu'au savant, et il aura un bon accueil de I'un et de 
 I'autre." — iieuwe scientifique, Avril 17, 1886. 
 
 " Ni les uns ni les autres [les gens du monde et les medecins] regretteront le temps con- 
 sacre a le lire, d'autant plus que M. Ireland, tres au courant de tous nos travaux, se plait I'l 
 rendre justice au merite des alienistes frangais."— Marandon de Montyel, Anncdes medico- 
 psychologiques, 1887, p. 170. 
 
 " Wollte man alles Gute erwahnen, was in dem Werke zu flnden, so miisste man das ganze 
 Buch hierher setzen. Ich kann dasselbe aus bester Ueberzeugung der vollsten Aufmerksamkeit 
 und dem fleissigsten Studiumjedes Anthropologen, Psychologen, Seelen-Arztes, Historikers, 
 Richters, Staatsmanns, Brziehers, tiberhaupt eines jeden Gebildeten empfehlen. Piir die 
 moralische Gesundheits-Pflege ist das Buch ganz besonders wertvoU."— GcswndTiett. No. 15. 
 1886. ' 
 
 Translation 
 
 " One would need to go over the whole work to mention all the good in it. I can con- 
 fidently recommend it for the earnest attention and diligent study of every anthropologist, 
 psychologist, alienist, historian, judge, statesman, preceptor, and, in general, of every educated 
 person. For the cultivation of a healthy moral state the book is especially valuable." 
 
 " Leser, welche die Lektiire der Uebersetzung zu dem Wiinsche nach der Bekanntschaft 
 mit dem Original veraniilsst, werden in diesem noch eine Reihe anderer historischer 
 Personlichkeiten geschildert flnden, die das besassen, was Ireland ' blot upon the brain ' 
 nennt."— Die Nation, Berlin, 1887. 
 
 Translation 
 
 "Those who, through reading the translation, wish to make acquaintance with the 
 original, will find described in it a series of other, historical personages who possessed what 
 Ireland calls ' blot upon the brain." " 
 
 " Uebersetzung und Original konnen beide nur dringend empfohleu werden, und eignen 
 sich ganz besonders dazu, Interesse und Verstandnis fiir die Psychiatrie auch in den Kreisen 
 hoher gebildeter Laien zu yfec^en."~Centralblatt fiir Nervenheilkunde, September 1887. 
 
 Translation 
 
 " Both the translation and original may be strongly recommended, and are peculiarly 
 fitted to awaken interest and comprehension for psychiatry amongst thei highly educated 
 classes.'" 
 
 In a review of the German translation of the historical portions of the book, Dr B. Reich 
 says : — 
 
 " Bs kann kaum ein interessanteres Werk geben, als das Ireland"sche, welches ich hiermit 
 zu aufmerksamsten Studium dringend empfehle."— Deutsche Presse, No. 30, 1888. 
 
 Translation 
 
 " A more interesting work than Ireland"s can scarcely be. I strongly recommend it to 
 attentive study." 
 
 NOTICES OF THE SECOND EDITION 
 
 " The work, a curious and interesting study of several historical examples of diseased 
 function of the brain, and of mental derangement generally, is in this edition improved by 
 several alterations which, without adding to the bulk of the book, considerably increase its 
 -value."— Scotsman, Monday, October 23, 1893. 
 
 " Apart from its scientific value from its bearing on the phenomena of mental disease, its 
 discussions of historical cases of hallucinations and similar disorders are of high interest to 
 the general reader." — Glasgow Herald, October 26, 1893. 
 
 " His method of approaching these subjects was so original, and his literary style so 
 attractive, that the book receivedlthe attention of general readers as well as professional men.'" 
 •—Dundee Advertiser, November 2, 1898. 
 
ADVERTISEMENTS 
 
 7 
 
 "The book before us is a second and enlarged edition of a work which excited much 
 attention in the literary world a few years since, and which in its present and improved form 
 is calculated to interest, not only the psychologist, but the philosopher, the politician, the 
 philanthropist, and the general reader."— JSas«ern Daily Press, December 28, 1893. 
 
 " This is the work of a physician distinguished not only for his knowledge of psychology 
 and mental disease, but, what is much less common in the profession, for his acquaintance 
 with history. The popularity and success of the book are shown by the fact that a second 
 edition has been so soon called for, and it is, as the author says he has tried to make it, quite 
 abreast of scientific research. 
 
 "The chapter on the dual functions of the double brain contains a mass of information 
 bearing upon the subject. There are many cases on record in which one side of the brain has 
 been destroyed by disease without any impairment of the memory or intellectual power, but 
 there are no instances known in which the mental faculties remained after destruction of both 
 hemispheres. The author concludes from this ' that the intellectual faculties are double, both 
 sides of the brain working at once, and each side having its impressions simultaneously 
 registered." "—British Medical Journal, December 2, 1893. 
 
 " We have had occasion to review most favourably the first edition of this excellent and 
 original treatise, and it was with unfeigned satisfaction that we observed the appearance of a 
 second edition. One merit of it from the author's and publisher's point of view is the fact 
 that it iij a treatise as free from medical technicalities as a work of this kind can possibly be, 
 and this makes it commendable to a much wider circle of readers than would otherwise be 
 possible. To the student of history it is an extremely readable and suggestive book, and the 
 study of morbid psychology as the key to that which in history is puzzling and obscure will 
 be found, and doubtless has in some measure already been found, a most profitable and exciting 
 occupation. The new edition shows that Dr Ireland with open mind is ready to note the 
 criticisms of his work, and as far as possible to profit by them. It might seem unnecessary 
 in a work so essentially historical to revise and rewrite for a second edition, but Dr Ireland is 
 nothing if not thorough, and in his endeavour to keep the work abreast of scientific research 
 he spares no pains. "—ilfedicaZ Press and Circular, January 3, 1894. 
 
 " We recorded our favourable opinion of the first edition of this book when it appeared, 
 and are glad to see a second edition in which the learned author has endeavoured ' to keep 
 abreast of scientific research.' . . . This edition is in many respects an advance on the first." 
 —Journal of Mental Science, January 1894. 
 
 "Dr Ireland's wide general culture, his profound knowledge of Eastern history and 
 customs, and his special studies in insanity, both in theory and in clinical observation, 
 specially fit him to make a work like this profitable to the specialist in insanity, and deeply 
 interesting to tlie cultured general reader. Any one who takes up this work will not willingly 
 lay it down, and will ask for other works by the same author. 
 
 " In all his works we find original thought quaintly expressed, much erudition concealed 
 and digested, much human nature, and the sympathy which we find in the splendid adage, 
 • Tout comprendre est tout pardonner.' "—Edinburgh Medical Journal, May 1894. 
 
 "Dr Ireland's book, which has been brought up to date in this issue, appears, with its 
 contents and omissions, to fairly represent our present position with regard to those problems. 
 It is also a good book, soundly learned and full of fascinating stories."— Sat urrfow Review, 
 September 29, 1894. 
 
 ." In. this (second edition) entrancing volume of psychological and psychiatrical truth, the 
 distinguished author has most happily blended scientific facts, historical truth, and literary 
 beauty of style and diction, so that while the book reads like a classic novel it demonstrates 
 that truth is stranger, and may even be more entertaining, than fiction. In this book the 
 study of diseased function of the brain has helped the author to give explanations of some 
 important events in history. In a similar way several questions in psychology are approached 
 through knowledsje gained by observations in mental derangement. In this new edition the 
 author has kept the work abreast of scientific research, and made a good many changes and 
 additions without increasing the size of the book save by a few pages. No student of anthro- 
 pological science can aftbrd to ignore the readnig of this remarkable and singularly entertaining 
 volume." — 2%e Alienist and Neurologist, St Louis, Jaimary 1894. 
 
 " We cannot follow the author through all the pages of his intensely interesting and 
 instructive book. The work is unique. It is quite original in conception, and very success- 
 fully wrought out. It occupies a legitimate field for the studies and the literary labours of 
 scientists and of physicians, and we congratulate the author upon having so successfully 
 shown the way."— rAe American Journal of the Medical Sciences, No. 267, Philadelphia, 
 July 1894. 
 
 " Le Dr Ireland se montre dans son oeuvre an courant de tons les travaux similaires parus 
 dans la litterature etrangere et par leur analyse, il nous prouve qu'il est a la hauteur des 
 principales langues europeennes. 
 
 " Nous ne pouvons, dans un article bibliographique, que mentionner les principaux objets 
 qui y sont traites ; les hallucinations, la folie du pouvoir, qui relate les faits et gestes princi- 
 paux de nombre de monarques, I'histoire des nevroses hereditaires de la famille d'Bspagne, les 
 id6es fixes, la folio 4 deux, la cerebration inconsciente, la pensee sans paroles et la relation des 
 paroles avec la pensee, I'usage habitue] de la main gauche et du cerveau droit, I'ecriture renversee 
 et la duality des fonctions cer6brales. Ces six derniers chapitres meritent une mention speciale 
 parce qu'on y rencontre des mat6riaux qu'on chercherait vainement, sous une forme aussi 
 complete dans les travaux classiques." — Sulletin de la Sociiti de midecine mentale de Belginuc, 
 D6cembre 1893, No. 71. 
 
8 
 
 ADVERTISEMENTS 
 
 "Der Verfasser ist durch die deutsche Uebersetzung eines Teiles seines interessanteii, 
 vorgenannten Werkes, I. Auflage, welche unter dem Titel ' Herrscbermacht und Geistes- 
 kraukheit,' vor einigeii Jahren erschien, in Deutschland, auch in weiteren Kreisen bekannt 
 geworden. Bs ist nur zu bedauern, dass niclit dose gauze Werk ins Deutsche iibersetzt ist. 
 
 "Das grosse Werk wurde schon bei seinem ersten Brscheinen in diesem Centralblatt 
 (Jahrgang 18s7, p. 536), von Kurella riihmend besprochen. Wir schliessen uns diesor 
 Besprechung ganz an." — Wichmann, Centralblatt fiir Nervenheilkunde, 1894, Miirz. 
 
 Translation 
 
 " The author is also known in Germany and to a wider circle through the German trans- 
 lation of a part of the first edition of this interesting work, which appeared some years ago 
 under the title of 'Herrscbermacht und Geisteskrankheit.' It is only to be regretted that 
 the whole work was not translated into German. The complete work was already on its first 
 appearance reviewed with praise by Kurella. We cordially agree with this review." 
 
 "Von dem Ireland'schen Werke, das 1885 berausgegeben und allseitig mit grossem Beifall 
 aufgenommen wurde, ist die zweite Auflage erschienen, die durch zahlreiche Zusiitze den 
 Ergebnissen der neuesten Forschung gerecht wird, ohne an Umfang wesentlich zugenommen 
 zu haben. Die Ausstattung ist wiederum eine vorzligliche." — Matusch, Allgemeine Zeitschrift 
 fiir Psychiatrie, 4 Band, 6 Heft, 1894. 
 
 Translation 
 
 " The second edition of Ireland's work is published (the 1885 edition having been received 
 on all sides with great applause), which has been enriched by numerous additions of the latest 
 observations on the subjects without making any deductions. The volume is again well 
 got up." 
 
 SECOND NOTICE 
 
 "M. Ireland s'eleve, dans un autre chapitre, contre la theorie de I'inconscient en 
 psychologie; il croit que cette theorie est superiiue et nuUement etablie d'ailleurs. II se livre 
 a une critique du livre celfebre de Carpenter. Pour lui, il est probable que la conscience 
 coexiate constamment avec la vie elle-meme. Un des chapitres les plus interessants est celui 
 sur ce que pent etre la pensee sans le langage et sur les rapports de la pens6e avec les paroles. 
 Celui encore sur la dualite de fonction des deux cerveaux presente une discussion approfondie 
 sur ce point important de psycho-physiologie." — Ph. Chaslin, Annales mMico-psychologiques, 
 1895, p. 832. 
 
 Demy 8vo, Cloth, Price by post, 58. 6d. 
 
 THROUGH THE IVORY GATE 
 
 STUDIES IN PSYCHOLOGY AND HISTORY 
 By W. W. IRELAND, M.D., Edin., &c. 
 
 " Prosequitur dictis, portaque emittit eburna." — Virgil. 
 
 EDINBURGH : BELL AND BRADFUTE, 12 Bank Strekt 
 NEW YORK: G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS 
 
 " The chapters upon the Swedish sage are much the most important and interesting in tlie 
 volume. They condense for us the strange history and experiences, in the spirit and out of the 
 spirit, of this greatest of latter-day dreamers, as these are found voluminously related in his 
 books and in those of his disciples. As Dr Ireland says, there seems no tenable alternative 
 between accepting Swedenborg as a vehicle of inspiration, and recognising him to be the victim 
 of delusions that can be traced to derangements of the brain. The first hypothesis he leaves 
 to the followers of the seor to make good. The second Dr Ireland supports by citation of the 
 acknowledged events of Swedenborg's life, and of the internal evidence of his works."— 
 Scotsman, October 21, 1889. 
 
Advertisements 
 
 9 
 
 " Mis well-known Slot upon the Brain, with its original and ingenious speculations and 
 great historic interest, opened new ground four years ago, and was at once recognised as a 
 piece of solid and valuable as well as attractive work. Dr Ireland is fortunate in the choice 
 of catching titles ; his earlier success is now followed by a collection of historical and psycholo- 
 gical studies, gathered under the suggestive name of Through the Ivory Gate. Properly, the 
 book may be described as a sort of historical appendix to the Blot upon the Brain ; it has 
 less of theory, less of physiology, and more of narrative, although the bearing of heredity on 
 mental disease is not lost sight of. As indicating the scope of the work, we may say that the 
 persons treated of are— Swedenborg ; Blake, the engraver ; King Louis II. of Bavaria ; Guiteau, 
 the assassin of Garfield; Louis Riel; the Jesuit Malagrida; Theodore of Abyssinia; and King 
 Theebaw. Some of these papers display considerable research, and all are written in the easy 
 graphic style that made Dr Ireland's earlier book so popular. Bearing on a subject of such 
 general interest, the volume may be trusted to find appeciative readers not only among pro- 
 fessional men, but also among intelligent people of every class."— Tfte Scottish Leader, 
 November 14, 1889. 
 
 " We cannot reproduce or boil down the excellence of the author's style, the methodical 
 arrangement of his matter, the historical thoroughness, and the philosophic breadth of his 
 conception of Swedenborg in his stages of mental development, maturity, and decay. One 
 must read the book to see how thoroughly Dr Ireland knows his subject, and how dispassion- 
 ately he pieces it out and weighs all sides. Not less interesting to some readers will be the 
 other chapters on historical personages coming nearer our own times, men who have figured 
 in recent history, and either been adjudged insane or had their sanity doubted. The work 
 altogether is a worthy record of its kind, a fitting sequel to the Blot upon the Brain, a careful, 
 masterly work, and a tribute to Dr Ireland's scientific eminence and philosophical culture."— 
 trlasgow Herald, November 16, 1889. 
 
 " We gain nothing by charging with insanity harmless visionaries who ' see an angel ' where 
 we are only conscious of a happy inspiration, and who ' talk with God ' where an ordinary 
 mortal is merely impressed with a great idea. It is very much a matter of expression which 
 partakes of the poetical on the one side and of the matter of fact on the other. 
 
 "Though we have found fault with Dr Ireland as an exponent in these instances of an 
 extreme view, we gladly admit that he tells his stories in an interesting way, and with much 
 * ^^ys °f Charles Guiteau, Louis Riel, and Kings Theodore and Theebaw we find no 
 difficulty in agreeing. His book, though likely to raise controversy, is well worth reading." 
 —British Medical Journal, November 23, 1889. 
 
 P^^''" (Swedenborg) in a work with such a title, means, without further debate, 
 5 r'^ dreams have not been fulfilled. It is, in short, boldly throwing down the gauntlet, 
 and challenging those who still retain faith in the prophetic foresight of Emanuel Swedenborg. 
 We shall see whether it is picked up by any worthy antagonist. . . . 
 
 " ^'^^ Ireland's conclusions, and the evidence on which they are based, we must refer 
 the reader to the work under review itself. We cannot fail to derive both pleasure and profit 
 ^^om its perusal, and will rise from a study of these essays as we have done, with a high sense 
 of the learning, the industry, and the acuteness of the author. We have no doubt that Dr 
 Ireland's last contribution to the literature of psychological medicine will be as well received 
 as the Blot upon the Brain. In America the thoughtful and unprejudiced essay on Guiteau 
 cannot fail to be read with the greatest mterest."— Journal of Mental Science, January 1890. 
 
 " There are indications of wide reading in this volume, of careful inquiry, and of special 
 ^Dd^unusual familiarity with the problems it decipheTS."— Newcastle Daily Leader, January 
 
 " The personages treated in it are not historically as important as those who form the 
 subject of the preceding volume, The Blot upon the Brain, but the writing is equally clear and 
 terse, and Dr Ireland has again to be congratulated on his excellence of work. His biographical 
 sketches of Swedenborg, William Blake, Louis II. of Bavaria, Charles T. Guiteau, Louis Riel, 
 Gabriel Malagrida, Theodore of Abyssinia, and Theebaw of Burmah, are highly interesting 
 reading. His critical examination of their mental state is a valuable contribution to the study 
 of psychology and forensic medicine, and should do much to assist our legal brethren and 
 legislators in interpreting and framing laws dealing with questions of lunacy."— DuUin Journal 
 of Medical Science, January 1890. 
 
 "Dr Ireland's researches servo to throw a light on many events of comparatively recent 
 occurrence. An investigation and exposition by a psychologist of recognised ability, of the 
 mental characteristics of individuals who occupy a prominent place in the world's history, 
 cannot fail to prove interesting to the reading public generally, and Through the Ivory Gate 
 will, we are sure, have accorded to it a reception as cordial as that which was given, both at 
 home and abroad, to its predecessor. The Blot upon the Brain." — Glasgow Medical Journal, 
 January 1890. 
 
 " The sketches are eminently readable, and the first of them has, from the character and 
 influence of its subject, a special interest."— jViwd, January 1890. 
 
 " The doctor here presents two alternatives : Either Swedenborg had supernatural gifts, 
 or he was insane. We admit it. We ask that the test should be applied, and that judgment 
 should be given. . . . 
 
 " The reply of Hamlet to his mother is our reply to Dr Ireland : Bring Swedenborg to the 
 test. When was he unable to re-word the matter which he had written ? Is not there the most 
 wonderful consistency in the twenty or thirty volumes produced during the last twenty or 
 thirty years of his life ? Had he been labouring under ' delusional insanity,' would not his 
 
lO 
 
 ADVERTISEMENTS 
 
 madness during that leuthy period have gambolled from his previous statements? But 
 nothing of the kind can be discovered in all Swedenborg's voluminous writings. Oh, Dr 
 Ireland, had you possessed the fine saneness of the subject of your ready verdict, you would 
 never have produced your odd mixture of reason and unreason, of candour and prejudice, of 
 learning and ignorance."— Aforwingf Light : A New Church Weekly Journal, January 11, 1890. 
 
 " This book, like its remarkable predecessor, The Blot upon the Brain, embraces a series of 
 historical psychological studies ; and whether regarded as a vidimus of striking biographical 
 portraits, or as an inquiry into the mental life and public conduct of notable characters, it 
 deserves a place among the best books of present-day literature."— JfedicaJ Press and Circular, 
 February 5, 1890. 
 
 " To Swedenborg's peculiar theology (still propagated amongst us, and of late defended, 
 somewhat feebly, against Dr Ireland's attack, if we mistake not), our author devotes a very 
 large part of the book under notice. That Swedenborg was the subject of delusions cannot bo 
 doubted by any one, save by those who simply elect to believe that he had veritable intercourse 
 with the spirit- world. . . . 
 
 " Space fails us to follow Dr Ireland's weird studies into further detail. His sketches of 
 Guiteau, Biel, and the Kings Theebaw and Theodore, are masterly and of exceeding interest. 
 His book is the work of a keen, reflective, and judicial mind. He does not mince matters, it is 
 true, but neither does he exaggerate nor distort the plain facts on which his studies are based. 
 As an expert in mental diseases, Dr Ireland writes with authority. It is only bare justice to 
 add that he writes also with grace and power, and that as a consequence his book is one to be 
 read and re-read by all students of history, and by all interested in the problems of man's 
 social evolution. Several tine engravings add to the attractiveness of the work." — Health, 
 February 28. 
 
 " It would appear, indeed, as if much study of the ' Ivory Gate ' had distorted and ' fancified ' 
 his own views on a good many points. But he knows what he is about in his own particular 
 line ; he has thoroughly studied all the windy ways of ' medico-legal,' and the actual interest 
 of the strange cases which he has here set himself to examine is undeniable, though they may 
 seem to be rather oddly grouped." — Saturday Review, March 8. 
 
 "This book is an entertaining clinical study in historical psychiatry, by an alienist of 
 acknowledged ability."— ^^icjitsi and Neurologist, April 1890. 
 
 " While discrediting Swedenborg's claims as a seer by a convincing demonstration of his 
 insanity, the writer recognises at the same time his influence in liberalising religious belief. 
 Also, while abundantly appreciating his conspicuous learning, wonderful mental capacity, and 
 thoroughly scientific methods of inquiry, he makes it very evident that the titles of discoverer 
 in the scientific, and reformer in the religious, world are by no means deserved. We are 
 brought on to firmer ground, also, in the matter of the form of insanity ftom which he suffered. 
 Another writer's interpretation of his morbid history, which leads him to impute his hallucina- 
 tions to epilepsy, leaves far more to be explained than does the gradual unfolding of a case of 
 paranoia as here seen— so true to nature that few who are familiar with insanity in its various 
 aspects can fail to be impressed by it. Next, in point of length and importance, is a descrip- 
 tion of the career of Guiteau, the assassin of President Garfield, which is chiefly interesting as 
 the first thorough and unbiassed examination, in all its aspects, of this celebrated but some- 
 what hackneyed case by a competent foreign critic. That which will commend itself to the 
 discriminating reader in this account, as in all of Dr Ireland's papers, is his conspicuous fair- 
 ness. This is shown in his use of every accessible point that is relevant, respect for the 
 opinion of others, and careful balancing of conflicting evidence. When, therefore, he reaches 
 the conclusion that Guiteau was unmistakably insane, we can but wonder if, after this 
 analysis, there can be any further scepticism on the subject among sensible people."— Bosio?i 
 Medical and Surgical Journal, April 10, 1890. 
 
 "The most interesting part of the book, of course, is that devoted to an analysis of 
 Swedenborg's life. . . . The stories of Louis of Bavaria, and of Guiteau, are also very interest- 
 ing, especially to alienists and psychologists. Doubtless, some will take exception to some of 
 Mr Ireland's deductions, but all must allow that he has written a most entertaining book."— 
 Philadelphia Medical and Surgical Reporter, May 3, 1890. 
 
 " The book is an acceptable addition to the literature of psychology and psychiatry."— 
 New York Medical Journal, May 31. 
 
 "Many people, and people of high intelligence too, have declared their conviction that 
 Swedenborg was not a lunatic at all. Few would assert the same of Blake ; but Blake had 
 more of the 'great wit' than of the madman in him. . . . There is a curious account, too, of 
 Gabriel Malagrida, an ex-Jesuit, who was strangled and burned for heresy, at Lisbon, in 1761." 
 — Spectator, June 28. 
 
 " Through the Ivory Gate, like its predecessor. The Blot upon the Brain, which deserved'.y 
 enjoys a European reputation, consists of a series of biographies, written with a scientific pur- 
 pose. . . . Dr Ireland is well qualified for the task which he has undertaken. He possesses 
 an attractive, though somewhat unequal style. He knows the law of insanity as well as its 
 pathology. Every page of his book bears traces of honest study. He has no preconceived 
 theory which wars against accuracy. Dr Ireland enters upon the debatable ground to investi- 
 gate, not to dogmatise. Perhaps no lawyer, and certainly no member of the medical profession 
 — with the exception of Professor Gairdner — could have given a more judicial summary of the 
 evidence for and against Guiteau."— A. Wood Ronton, British Weekly, July 18, 1890. 
 
ADVERTISEMENTS 
 
 II 
 
 " Those who desire a readable summary of the peculiar views of this wonderful and learned 
 man, who through all his mysticism and mistiness recognised some great truths, must consult 
 Dr Ireland's book. 
 
 " The cases of Charles Guiteau and of Louis Riel are of great medico-legal interest, and 
 after carefully reviewing the facts of their lives, and of their medico-legal examinations, Dr 
 Ireland is of opinion that both were insane. 
 
 " In a most interesting chapter the incidents connected with the insanity of King Louis of 
 Bavaria are given, with a full account of the heroic death of Dr Gudden, who was drowned by 
 the King. 
 
 " The life of Theodore is also interesting. Enough has been said to show that Dr Ireland 
 has again succeeded in writing a pleasant and instructive book which, it may be added, is well 
 got up, and is illustrated with portraits." — Edinburgh Medical Journal, September 1890. 
 
 " For analysis of mental phenomena in health and disease, for epitome of character as the 
 result of study of analysis, for cleanliness of treatment, if one may say so, these essays are 
 historical. ... But still from cover to cover the pages entrance and hold the mind in abey- 
 ance, under the subtle influence of a writer who ventures far, because his wide and accurate 
 knowledge combines so well with his sagacity and matured wisdom." — The Asclepiad, by Dr B. 
 W. Richardson, 3rd Quarter, 1890. 
 
 In Crown 8vo, Price as. 6d., free by post 
 
 GOLDEN BULLETS 
 
 A STORY IN THB DATS OF AKBSR AND ELIZABETH 
 
 By WILLIAM W. IRELAND, M.D., Edin. 
 
 Formerly of H.M. Indian Army, Author of " The History of the Siege of Delhi. " 
 
 EDINBURGH: BELL AND BRADFUTE 
 LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL. HAMILTON, KENT, & CO., LIMITED 
 
 SOME OPINIONS OF THE PRESS 
 
 " The story is told with much spirit, and with careful attention to the colouring and acces- 
 sories of the clime and the time." — Scotsman. 
 
 " How Ashbourne wooed the beautiful Irene is very prettily told. . . . For literary quality 
 and personal interest the chapter descriptive of Akber Badsha is perhaps the best in the volume. 
 Dr Ireland has in a few vigorous strokes limned a commanding character, which shows the real 
 touching the ideal. There are many wise and pithy sayings and sentences interspersed 
 throughout the volume, but in Akber is the centre of the author's ideality. Dr Ireland's style 
 is clear and nervous, and his Golden Bullets, while offering much entertainment to the 
 pleasure-seeking reader of fiction, also contains many elements of enduring interest and deep 
 import." — Glasgow Herald. 
 
 " The story is interwoven with abounding Oriental intrigue and war. It ambles agreeably 
 through a well-printed volume, and is a welcome variation from the ordinary platitudes of the 
 three-volume order." — Saturday Review. 
 
 " The fictional interest of the book is well sustained, while it presents a carefully studied 
 and accurate picture of certain phases of Indian politics and society. Dr Ireland's style has a 
 simplicity and directness which give his narrative the flavour of a veritable chronicle, so that 
 it is very pleasant reading alike for young and old." — Scottish Leader. 
 
 " He introduces us to men and women, not to puppets ; and he manages to convey to the 
 western mind some real conception of Hindu habits and ways of living. Those who read the 
 story will be eager to learn more of Indian history." — Inverness Courier. 
 
 " The central figure is the supercargo of the British ship Unicorn, which was burned in the 
 port of Surat, and the story is interwoven with plenty of adventures, Oriental intrigue, and 
 war. It is well written throughout, and comes as a welcome variation from the well-worn 
 platitudes and persiflage of the ordinary three- volume novel." — Weekly Court Directory. 
 
ADVERTISEMENTS 
 
 " The perpetual petty intrigues, incident to every phase of Indian life, from Selim, otherwise 
 Jehangir, to the revengeful, clever woman, Mihrunisa, are well depicted, and will confirm all 
 our floating suspicions of Oriental duplicity. One of the most interesting episodes is the 
 account of the Jesuit Mission under Jerome Xavier, who carried on the evangelistic labours of 
 his greater relative, Francis Xavier, the apostle of the Indian Continmi."— Belfast Newsletter. 
 
 " Neque semper arcum tendit Apollo seems to be a suitable motto for the author of the above 
 book, for on various occasions, by way of relaxation, he has abandoned for a time the abstruse 
 study of psychology, and wandered into the region of romance and fiction. Dr Ireland is 
 already known to the scientific world as one of our leading British neurologists, and also as a 
 copious contributor to psychological literature, his principal works being his treatise on 
 Idtocy and Imbecility, and his Blot upon the Brain. The former is the standard work on the 
 subject of which he treats, and the latter, being written in a popular style, is calculated to 
 interest persons of culture beyond those interested in medical psychology, as the author dwells 
 upon the mental peculiarities of European dynasties ; and his chapter on the career of the earl y 
 Roman Emperors, as viewed through a psychological medium, is of great value to the classical 
 and historical reader. This more recent work, Through- the Ivory Gate, embraces a series of 
 historical studies, which are of intense interest to the reading public generally. 
 
 ''Golden Bullets, the work before us, is an historical romance, the scene being laid in 
 India during the reign of the great Mogul Emperor Akber, and of our own Elizabeth Its 
 appearance is especially opportune at this juncture, when England and Portugal are striving 
 lor supremacy in Africa, for the story opens at a time when England and Portugal were trying 
 to supplant each other in Asia. It gives a vivid picture of Indian life and Indian manners and 
 habits at the most brilliant period of Mussulman rule. It is characterised by purity of style 
 and elegance of diction, and shows abundant evidence of the literary culture and scholarship of 
 the author. Like some of Dr Ireland's other works, it penetrates into the domain of historical 
 psychiatry; and containing, as it does, graphic details of the political, theological, and 
 domestic history of India some three centuries ago, it must necessarily command a large circle 
 of appreciative readers."— fiosierw Daily Press. 
 
 " It would deprive the reader of Golden Bullets of all his pleasure were the details of the 
 adventures of Stephen Ashbourne mentioned in this place ; all, therefore, that shall be revealed 
 here, after a reading of the book twice told, with twice-told pleasure, is that the pictures of life 
 m India, at the moment when English eyes were first set upon it, and the crown of the Empress 
 of India was in embryo, are rich in mformation, that the story of adventure and of enterprise 
 holds on all through the narrative, that a pure and chastened interest of love is recorded with 
 a charming romance surrounding the lovers, and that all is so pointedly told, it seems as if it 
 could not be a novel but must be a real history, written by one who was present in the making 
 of it. As a contrast to the childish frivolity of the popular novel now floating in the book 
 market, Golden Bullets is great indeed. There must surely be a reading class to whom this 
 contrast will be a joy as well as a relief, and from whom a knowledge of the work will be 
 disseminated with the honourable and useful motive of giving to good art in literature its true 
 value and quick currency."— .4sckptod, 4th Quarter, 1890. 
 
 " The story abounds in stirring incidents, and the interest never flags from the time when 
 the Unicorn sets sail for Surat in 1599, till the hero is left in a valley of the Himalayas ruling 
 over a new State, and meditating a more perfect system of laws. The movements of the smaU 
 company of Englishmen were keenly watched, adversely criticised, and frequently hindered 
 by the Jesuit missionaries, who were jealous of the favour in which the Emperor Akber held 
 them. It may safely be put into the hands of the most confirmed novel reader, nor will such 
 a one readily lay it aside till he has finished the very last page."— Scots Magazine. 
 
 " War, intrigue, treachery, plots most cunning and most diabolical, daring actions, instances 
 of devoted love, go to make up a really excellent Toma.iLce."— Haddingtonshire Advertiser. 
 
 " The wonderful man whose genius for conquest brought him empire, and whose elevated 
 understanding emancipated him from the influence of his surroundings, by inspiring him with 
 a broad and generous philosophy immeasurably in advance of his epoch, is presented in these 
 pages with fair accuracy, and his personality is so deftly merged into the tale that it cannot 
 escape due appreciation. The hero of the little drama is Stephen Ashbourne, an Englishman, 
 who, having proceeded to India on a commercial enterprise, is prevented from returning owing 
 to a disaster to the vessel which conveyed him ; and who, having some knowledge of gunnery, 
 as then understood, joins many members of the ship's crew in the service of Akber He has 
 numerous surprising experiences."— 5roa(« Arroiv and Military Gazette. 
 
 " Dr Ireland may be congratulated on having succeeded where more than one big man before 
 him has failed. It is not given to many, even among the great ones of literature, to write in a 
 way acceptable to men and to boys, to produce work which may be criticised in the smoking- 
 room of the 'Athenasum' or the 'Saville,' and which may also be trusted to keep the 
 youngsters out of mischief of a wet afternoon. Charles Kingsley, in his Water Babies, 
 did not succeed in interesting the play-room ; while, on the other hand, who remembers any- 
 thing, except through Robinson Crusoe, of Daniel Defoe? The work now before us has, 
 however, one material disadvantage in its very excellences, inevitably suggesting, as it does, 
 comparison with the tales of Louis Stevenson and the romances of Walter Scott. It is no small 
 praise to say that, without bemg less readable, its tone is healthier than that of the Master 
 ofBallantrae, while the description of Akber in his son's camp has something of the ring of 
 the Tahsman about it, recalling indeed one of Scott s finest passages about the great 
 Saladm. Dr Ireland has the characteristic defect of his great predecessor. Stephen Ashbourne, 
 
ADVERTISEMENTS 
 
 13 
 
 tUe hero of Golden Bullets, is about as colourless a person as Ivanhoe, and just as we rise 
 from Scott with memories of Di Veruon and of Eebecca, of Effie Deans, or of Lucy, rather 
 than of his titular heroes, so, on closing Golden Bullets, we recall not so much Stephen 
 Ashbourne or Benedict de Goes, or even Alcber himself, as the heroic Sultana, the Circassian 
 bride of the Emperor, and the two Eastern wives of Ashbourne, all of them sketches full of 
 vivacity and insight, pleasant and piquant withal. . . . Those were days when each man 
 had to be something of everything, when there was a touch of the statesman about the ' man 
 on 'change ' and more than a touch of the warrior about the officers and seamen of our mer- 
 cantile marine. It is not too much to say that Dr Ireland makes these stirring days re-live for 
 us in his pages, nor will the veriest schoolboy fail to catch some just idea of everyday life in a 
 century which knew not in India of the English raj. . . . 
 
 " Among the ' side views ' which this admirable romance afl'ords us, we get a fine sketch of 
 Agra in the days of its splendour (p. 91), of life within a Court seraglio (p. 201), and above all, 
 a most interesting attempt to realise for us the daily routine of an Eastern home." — Journal of 
 Mental Science, January 1891. 
 
 "Better known to our profession as the author of Through the Ivory Gate, and other 
 brilliant studies in mental disease and therapeutics, Dr Ireland is not only a capable military 
 historian of the stirring times in which he was a daring actor, but he has now entered the field 
 of romance as an historical novelist. We have a lovely heroine, a disappointed lover, a wicked 
 prince, and a comic Brahmin, with a little captive who is a cross between Topsy and Mrs 
 Naaman's servant, all described in good Saxon, with plenty of local colouring, in a way which 
 in one volume compresses the incidents of an ordinary three-volume novel." — Edinburgh 
 Medical Journal, January 1891. 
 
 "The novel opens well, and if the plot is a little slow in developing, it is complicated 
 enough when it comes, and the incidents are^ sufliciently exciting to stimulate even a jaded 
 appetite. As to the faithfulness of the pictures of Indian scenery and Indian life there can be 
 no doubt ; and the reader, once embarked with Stephen Ashbourne on his adventurous voyage, 
 will pick up many novel impressions and new facts before he lays the book down, leaving the 
 hero in a position to excite the envy alike of the philosopher and the man of action."— JirtitsA 
 Medical Journal. 
 
 " The book may be recommended to young people for entertainment, with a flavour of 
 instruction." — Athenceum. 
 
 " A picturesque tale, full of interest, and with the accessories, as far as we are able to 
 judge, carefully studied. The intrigues of the Court, the policy of the Jesuit missionaries, 
 the contending claims of rival princes, and a variety of other interests are skilfully connected 
 with the fortunes of Stephen Ashbourne and his lady-love Irene. The story is worth reading 
 for itself, and for the light which it throws upon a period about which most of us know very 
 WttX^."— Spectator. 
 
 " It is not the study of Stephen Ashbourne, however, that makes Dr Ireland's book so 
 readable, it is the picture of Akber's court and courtiers, to which the story itself must be 
 regarded as merely subsidiary. . . . Certainly, before reading Dr Ireland's book we had never 
 felt so intimate with the remarkable characters of Akber, the Mogul Emperor ; Abul Pazl, the 
 historian ; and Hakim Ali, the sceptical physician of the court."— Afac?ras Mail. 
 
 " The novel is one of sustained and intense interest, far superior in graphic power and 
 realism to the stories of Colonel Meadows Taylor. . . . Golden Bullets is not only for 
 Europeans, but for those natives who are anxious to study incidents of the courts in the days 
 gone by, before the British became a power in the land, and to them we can thoroughly com- 
 mend the book. Dr Ireland is to be congratulated on having placed before the public a work 
 at once so useful historically, and so full of dramatic incidents." — Calcutta Englishman. 
 
 " Golden Bullets is a pleasing, entertaining story, written in that charming style for 
 which the author is already famous." — Alienist and Neurologist, St Louis, U.S., October 1891. 
 
 Translated from the Norse 
 
 " One can hardly do better in a pleasant way than read Golden Bullets, a historical 
 novel, by the Scottish physician, many-sided litterateur, and scientific author, William W. 
 Ireland. We have read the book with great interest, and have much pleasure in recommend- 
 ing it to our English-reading public. . . . Dr Ireland went as a young surgeon to India, and 
 he has from that time produced several remarkable literary works. Amongst others, he has 
 described the siege of Delhi, in which he took part, and where he was wounded. He went 
 to the Himalayas, where he lived a long time among the natives. He had thus the richest 
 opportunity of studying the subject treated in Golden Bullets, and which is instnictive as well 
 as easily read and entertaining."— JSerg'ews AftenUad, August 22, 1891.