IV. 1655. 1658. BOOK tribute to his subsistences. The prisoner boasted that he passed this period of his life in great satisfaction, studying the divine oracles, and composing a commentary on certain parts of the book of Revelations, in confutation of the doctrine of the fifth monarchy, and the reign of the saints on earth, which was afterwards published. Meanwhile the parliament of 1656, 1657, which was sufficiently disposed to animadvert upon the advocates of heretical opinions, was prevented by his absence from molesting the Socinian champion "; and, this danger being supposed to have passed away, Cromwel allowed a habeas corpus to be sued out in his favour, in consequence of which he was discharged from confinement by Glyn, chief justice of the king's bench, in April 1658 *. He is set at liberty. 1656. Vane and others set On the thirty-first of December Vane was set at liberty from his imprisonment at Carisbrook, at at liberty. the same time with Christopher Feake, who had been under confinement for preaching in the most inflammatory manner against the usurpation of Cromwel. And, a fortnight after, John Rogers, who had been imprisoned for the same offence as that charged against Feake, and judge Jenkins, one of the most undaunted and inflexible of the royalists, were likewise discharged 2. s Life of Firmin, 1698, p. 10. y Public Intelligencer, Jan. 5. t Bidelli Vita, p. 37 to 40. * Ibid, p. 38, 39, 40. Cromwelliana, p. 160. 327 CHAPTER XXI. BILL FOR A TAX TO BE RAISED ON THE ROYAL- CROMWEL.-DEATH OF SINDERCOMBE. XXI. 1656. Bill for the the militia. posed. On the twenty-fifth of December leave was given CHAP. to bring in a bill of supply for the maintenance of the militia, to be raised from the property and estates of such persons as had borne arms against support of the parliament. The purpose of this measure was to sanction the decimation of the preceding year, and by consequence the appointment and authority of the major-generals. It was strongly It is opargued against from the arbitrariness of the proceeding. It was time, its adversaries said, to unite the nation into one body, and to apply ourselves to the extinction of party. An act of oblivion had passed. It was a thing unheard of, and would be a national disgrace, to violate an act of parliament. If any had offended since the act, let them be punished. Let them lose all; but let not the innocent be mulcted for the offences of others. Above all, let not a proceeding of this sort be committed to the discretion of military a Journals. IV. 1656. BOOK officers, nominated by the executive government. The speakers for the bill were Fiennes, Lambert, Strickland, Sydenham, Pickering, and the most considerable of the members of Cromwel's council. The most eminent of the speakers against it, was Whitlocke. The first reading of the bill was on the seventh of January. 1657. Cromwel wavers re Claypole argues against it. Cromwel however, with his usual sagacity, bespecting it. gan to apprehend, that this bill, instead of strengthening his government, would have rather an opposite effect. He was anxious to place his authority on the most substantial foundation, and for that purpose judged that it would be his wisdom to abandon the major-generals and their violent jurisdiction, which had been erected for a temporary purpose. It was no doubt in pursuance of this design, that Claypole, who had been several years married to Cromwel's favourite daughter, and was now master of the horse to the protector, stood up early in the debate of January the seventh, and urged his objections to the bill. He said, he did but start the game, and must leave it to others more experienced than he, to follow in the chace. He should therefore only say, that to violate the act of oblivion, as by this bill was proposed, was a proceeding that should never have his approbation. He had believed, that, in the situation in which the nation then stood, the commission and measures of the majorgenerals were necessary; and they ought therefore to be indemnified. But to turn such proceedings into a law, was an affair of a very different sort; nor could he admit that the authority which had been given to these officers, was fit any longer to be continuedd. CHAP. XXI. 1657. Lambert. Henry the protec The debate which followed was unusually long It is deand obstinate. It continued for ten successive fended by days. Lambert and the major-generals were strenuous in supporting the measure. At length, Speech of on the twenty-first, colonel Henry Cromwel, grand- Cromwel, son of sir Oliver Cromwel, the elder brother of cousin to the protector's fathers, rose, after Boteler, one of tor. the major-generals, had finished his speech in favour of the bill, and replied with great smartness. He observed, that the last speaker, as well as several that had gone before him, had argued that, because some of the cavaliers had done amiss, all ought to be punished. By the same rule, said the young debater, I may infer that, because some of the major-generals have done ill, of which I offer to produce the proofs, all of them ought to be visited with the censure of this house. Kelsey, who probably held himself to be parti- Alterca Burton's Diary, p. 310, 311. Ludlow, p. 581, 582. Journals, Jan. 7, 8, 12, 19, 20, 21, 23, 27, 28, 29. f Burton's Diary. Noble, Vol. I. tion. IV. 1657. BOOK cularly aimed at, immediately called the speaker to order, and insisted upon it that he should name the persons whom he charged as offenders. The colonel declared his entire readiness to do so, and that he seconded the proposition of the major-general. It was however determined to put off this question till the end of the debate, that the main business might not be interrupted". A similar scene passed with another member on the following day i. Interview of Henry Cromwel and the protector. Meanwhile it was intimated to the young man, that he should rue the attack he had made, and that he would find the protector, his kinsman, greatly offended with his forwardness. The colonel, we are told, thus rebuked, immediately repaired to his highness, and avowed what he had said, holding forth documents in his hand to justify his assertions. Cromwel in return reproached him between jest and earnest with the rashness of his conduct; and, in the close of the interview, pulled off a rich scarlet cloak he happened to wear, and presented it with his gloves to the adventurous youth. The next day Henry Cromwel came down to the house, wearing the tokens of his triumph, to the great satisfaction and delight The bill is of some, and trouble of others *.-In fine, the bill rejected. was rejected on the motion for the second read h Journals. Thurloe, Vol. VI, p. 20. i Journals. |