IV. 1651. BOOK obliged to punish the country by a pecuniary fine, which threat produced the desired effect". At the same time, having heard of some incivility that had been offered by the soldiers to Mr. Andrew Cant, an eminent Scottish divine, he waited on him personally to express his sorrow that he should have been in any way molested by the persons under his command. 1654. He is recalled out of Scotland. This man however, who ranked high in the esteem of the republican party, was regarded with an eye of suspicion by Cromwel. When Monk came down into Scotland, he sent him back to Hull, of which place he appears to have made him governor. But, the jealousies of the protector not being yet appeased, Overton was immediately after summoned to London', where he was detained from May to September. At the end of that time Cromwel seems to have command. dismissed his apprehensions; and Overton was appointed second in command in Scotland, in the room of general Morgan". Returns thither as second in Generous behaviour It is gratifying to remark the behaviour of Milof Milton. ton under these circumstances. So far from shewing any coolness or alteration of sentiment towards his friend, he seizes on the occasion to insert a warm panegyric on Overton in his Defensio Secunda pro Populo Anglicano, published in " Whitlocke, Dec. 13, 1651. * Ibid, Dec. 15. Whitlocke, Sept. 27. V. 1654. May, shortly after the commencement of that offi- CHAP. cer's disgrace. He adds his commendation to that of divers members of Cromwel's council, Whitlocke, Whalley and Overton being the only persons commemorated in the eulogium, who were not in the council". He was in no degree tainted with the courtier-propensity of shrinking from the man who falls under the displeasure of the lord of the ascendant. Overton was the victim of suspicion : Milton does not on that account whisper to his own mind, I will separate my fortunes from those of my friend, lest I should become suspected too. The next individual, filling the station of a Practices colonel in the army of Scotland, who was suspected of being disaffected to the government of Cromwel, was Alured. He was sent over from that country to Ireland to conduct certain forces out of Ulster to strengthen the army of Monk. Whether these additional troops were required to suppress the insurgents in the Highlands, or to balance the influence of the anabaptists in the commonwealth army there, is altogether doubtful. We have a list of eighteen regiments already quartered in that country. Be this as it will, it appears that Alured held such language to certain members of the Irish forces, that the friends of Cromwel presently decided that he was either a * Letter of Marvel to Milton, apud Birch, Life of Milton. b See above, p. 25, note. c Several Proceedings, Feb. 2. of Alured. IV. 1654. BOOK very dangerous character, or that he had been intrusted by the government at Westminster with a latitude, politically to try the tempers of men. In the mean time, the protector had received from other sources such information respecting Alured's proceedings, that he wrote to Fleetwood on the sixteenth of May, desiring that the colonel might instantly be sent off to London, and that some trusty officer might be appointed to conduct the forces from Carrickfergus to Port Patrick in his steade. and others. Among the regiments to which disaffection was imputed, was Harrison's, which was itself in Scotland, though he was detained in the south: Okey was likewise commanded home from Scotland: Pride's regiment was also one of those which was ordered into the north; but, when the men were already advanced on their march, the colonel was commanded to stay. Such were some of the domestic difficulties that environed Cromwel in the commencement of the protecto rate. d Thurloe, Vol. II, p. 294, 313 e Ibid, p. 285. 73 CHAPTER VI. CONSPIRACY OF GERARD AND VOWEL.-PROJECTS RINGLEADERS. VI. 1654. Projects for wel. BUT, while Cromwel was thus employed in pro- CHAP. viding against dangers in Scotland and Ireland, a peril of a more urgent nature presented itself at the centre of his government. We have seen assassinahow prone the royalists were, exiled from their ting Cromhome, and stripped of fortune and station, to schemes of assassination. The death of the late king also, not by assassination indeed, but by an act they deemed a thousand times more flagitious, exasperated them to the utmost. Hitherto they had not known to what point to direct their animosity. The commonwealth was in that respect like the Lernean Hydra; if you struck off one head, you might expect others, more numerous and implacable, to rise in its place. But Cromwel, by assuming the chief magistracy, had removed this obstacle. It was like a king going into battle, attired in royal robes. All eyes were IV. 1654. BOOK directed, all swords were brandished, against him. It realized the wish that is said to have been expressed by Caligula, that the Roman people had but one neck. A stroke effectually aimed at the life of Cromwel, would shake the present government of England to its foundation. Proclama a price on his head. The plot that was now formed, was ushered-in tion setting in the most unblushing style, by a proclamation in all the forms, issued at Paris on the twentythird of April (St. George's day), in the name of Charles the Second, by the grace of God king of England, Scotland, France and Ireland. This instrument ran, that, "Whereas a certain mechanic fellow, by name Oliver Cromwel, has most tyrannically and traiterously usurped the supreme power over these kingdoms," the rightful claimant hereby "gives free leave to any man whomsoever, by pistol, sword, poison, or any other means, to destroy the life of the said Cromwel, wherein he will do an act acceptable to God and good men." The proclamation further promises, "in the faith of a Christian king," to the perpetrator and his heirs a reward of five hundred pounds per annum for ever, and the honour of knighthood, and, "if he is a soldier, the office of a colonel, with such other honourable employment, as may render him capable of attaining to further preferment corresponding to his merita."-We Thurloe, Vol. II, p. 248, 249. |