delivering him from his cruel and illegal impriſonment, and holding out unto him legal and ample Reparation for all his unjuſt ſufferings, or elſe ſend him to Tyburn, of which he is not afraid; and doubteth not, if they do it, but at and by his death to do them, Samſon-like, more Miſchief at his Death, than he did them all his Life. All which is expreſſed and declared in the following Epiſtle, written by Lieutenant-Colonel John Lilburne, prerogative priſoner in the Tower of London, to a true friend of his, a citizen thereof, April 1647. In this piece, having intreated his friend to ply the Parliament well with petitions and remonſtrances[sidenote 1], he intimates a deſign, if that method did not ſucceed, to apply himſelf to the army. Accordingly, as that faction ſoon after gave a manifeſt proof that they had play’d the ſupreme power into their own hands[sidenote 2], we find our prerogative priſoner conſulting with the agitators, how to turn this new revolution to his ſervice[sidenote 3]; and being informed by theſe friends, that all their endeavours in his favour were defeated by the commanding officers, and chiefly by Cromwell, he ſent this laſt a threatning letrer, Auguſt the 13th, wherein he charges the Lieutenant-General with a deſign of uſurping the ſovereignty[footnote 1]; which was ſeconded by another on the 29th, addreſſed to Fairfax the General,undertaking
Sidenotes
- ↑ (n n) He alſo declares his opinion for pulling down the preſent Parliament, and calling a new one, to bring them to a ſtrict account, as the only means of ſaving the laws and liberties of England from utter deſtruction. p. 19.
- ↑ (o o) See Salmon’s Chronological Hiſtorian, under June, July, and Auguſt, this year 1647.
- ↑ (p p) See his letter to that Council, in the beginning.
Footnotes
- ↑ [E E] He ſent Cromwell a threatning letter, &c.] This Letter was in the following terms:
‘SIR,
It has been my unhappineſs to be undone, and of late in a manner deſtroyed by men of gilded outſides, and, among the reſt, I muſt plainly and truly tell you, I judge you the chiefe, and ſhall, if you pleaſe to give me ſo much libertie as to come and ſpeak with you, eaſily evince it to your face, with that moderation as becomes a man that loves honeſty and goodlineſſe whereſoever he finds it, but that hates knavery and diſſimulation in whatſoever perſon he meets it. Soe I have uſed all the meanes in the world I could think of to unbowel my mind as a friend to you face to face, but cannot prevail with you any otherwiſe than to flight me and my deſires. I have lately ſent you a fair meſſage by Captain John White; and by him I received a contemning anſwer, onely be preſſed me to know which way I could do you and your flattering darlings a diſpleaſure. I have now at preſent ſent him by Mr Billers, a copy of this incloſed paper to ſend ſpeedily to you with this meſſage, that I to verily believe, that that paper printed with ſuch a paraphraſe upon it as I could eaſily make, for all your preſent conceived greatneſſe, would eaſily pull you as low, before you are three months older, as I am. I have honored you, and my good thoughts of you are not wholly gone, tho’ I confeſſe they are very much weakened. Sir, I muſt earneſtly beg it at your hands, that you will within a week order it ſo, that I may either come and ſpeake with you, or elſe that you would come and ſpeake with me, that ſo I may, betwixt you and me, declare that, which truely my provocations and ſufferings will hardly let me to keep from public view. I
twenty laſts a month, there being twenty-four barrels in every laſt, and a hundred pound in every barrel[citation 1]. That Sir Henry likewiſe, as the principal inſtrument of ſetting this dangerous monopoly on foot, forced the merchants and ſeamen to give large bribes, or uſe ſome other indirect means to obtain his warrant to ſurniſh their ſhips, notwithſtanding they were forced to pay double the price for it; nay, almoſt treble to the rate it was ſold at before his monopoly. That moreover, by this means, he disfurniſhed all parts of the kingdom was notoriouſly known to all the deputy-lieutenants, and thereby laid it open to a foreign invaſion, which created ſtrong jealouſies in the people of a deſign to inſlave and invaſſalize them; and was no little occaſion of the preſent wars, by increaſing the diviſions between the King and people. After this having mentioned his own ſufferings in the Star-chamber, where Sir Henry was then a judge; he goes on to obſerve, that not being able to hinder the Long Parliament from ſecuring themſelves from a diſſolution, Sir Henry took care to behave himſelf ſo as to merit preſervation from the ſwaying party. That to this end, being the King’s Secretary, and by virtue of that office acquainted with his Majeſty’s ſecrets, in regard to which, tho’, as a Privy-counſellor, he was under the ſtricteſt obligation of ſecrecy to the King, ‘yet out the ſecrets went, particularly in the Earl of Strafford’s caſe; of which, (adds he) I have heard ſome great ones ſay, it was ſcrewed to the higheſt pin, if not higher than in honeſty and in juſtice it ſhould;’ but this he did, not only to ſave himſelf, but to gain himſelf an eſteem in the preſent Parliament; and ſo be in a poſſibility by the intereſt of his ſon, Sir Henry (Altho’ (fays he) to men, that were half blind, there was, and I think ſtill is, a ſeeming enmity betwixt him and his father,) in time to make himſelf amends for his 8000l. a year by his places, which, by deſerting the King, he was likely to loſe; and indeed it is commonly reported, that as one of the Committee of the King’s revenue, he hath learned to lick his own fingers well.’ He then proceeds to lay open Sir Henry’s treachery to both ſides, in his doubling carriage between them at the breaking out of the wars. As his obtaining the Place of Lord-Lieutenant of the County of Durham from the Parliament, and then ſending his ſon, Sir George Vaine, on the King’s ſide at the battle of Edge-hill; and alſo conveying his magazine of arms from his caſtle at Raby, by Conyers his Land-ſteward and Dingley his Sollicitor, as a preſent for the King to the Earl of Newcaſtle[citation 2], then and there in arms againſt the Parliament; which Earl, he tells us, ‘might have been eaſily ſuppreſt at his coming there, if old Sir Henry Vaine had been true to his truſt to the Parliament. All this while, if the King loſt the day and the Parliament prevailed, here was himſelf and his ſon, young Sir Henry Vaine, to make good his intereſt on this side; ſo that, which way ſoever the game went, the old fox was ſure in his own thoughts to ſtand upon his legs. But perceiving the King likewiſe to go down the weather by the Scots coming in[citation 3], he whiſtles away his ſon Sir George from the King’s army, and ſending him to Durham, makes him Receiver of the King's ſequeſtred revenue there, a place worth ſeveral hundreds a year; as alſo Chief Deputy-Lieutenant, Juſtice of Peace and Quorum, Committee-man, and Chairman of the Committee, having alſo the Poſſe Comitatus put into his hands:’ and that beſides this ſon, there was a third ſon lately come out of Holland, where he had been a captain; and tho’ he had not a foot of land in the county, yet was made a Juſtice of Peace, and had other gainful offices there. Mr Lilburne concludes theſe remarks upon old Sir Henry Vane and his family, with obſerving that ſeveral other members of Parliament, eſpecially the ruling ones among them, were equally guilty of the groſſeſt knaveries and villainies, and corruptions, in the ſad and afflicting contemplation of which, he breaks into the following exclamation: ‘O England, England, woe unto thee, when thy choſen preſervers turn to be thy grand deſtroyers, and inſtead of eaſing thee of thy grievances, with a high hand of violence protect from juſtice thoſe that commit them; and thou ſeeſt and knoweſt it, and yet art like a ſilly dove without heart, and dares not open thy mouth wide to reprove it, and endeavour, by petition or otherwiſe, the amending of it. Surely and undeniably that body, who or whatever it be, that is not able to evacuate it’s excrements, is nigh unto giving up the ghoſt, or of burſting out into ſuch botches and ulcers, that it ſhall be an eye-ſore to all that behold it, and ſtink in the noſtrils of all men that have their ſenſes[citation 4].’ Upon the whole, we ſee here ſeveral remarkable particulars concerning old Sir Henry Vane, which are not mentioned by Lord Clarendon, and will therefore be of ſervice in throwing ſome further light upon the character given by his Lordſhip of that notorious Baronet. This extract alſo ſhews us how greatly our author’s attachment to Cromwell was looſened at this time, and accordingly we ſhall ſee it intirely disjointed in the next remark.
Citations
- ↑ * If this may be depended on, Sir Henry muſt make above twenty-five thouſand pounds a year of this monopoly.
- ↑ (76) Our author’s father and uncle gave a joint affidavit of this in 1643. England’s Birthright, p. 19, 20, 21.
- ↑ * Our author’s frequent renunciations of a Scotch intereſt was remembred by thoſe people, in the declaration and engagement, ſworn to Auguſt 13, 1647. In which Lilburne, and he only, as being the principal champion of the ſectaries, was cited by name, and ſome of his words againſt the King and Kingly power tranſcribed. Ruſhworth, Vol. VIII. p. 777. edit. 1721.
- ↑ (77) Reſolved Man’s Reſolution, p. 14 to 19.
have
