USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Plymouth > Lives of the governors of New Plymouth, and Massachusetts bay; from the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth in 1620, to the union of the two colonies in 1692 > Part 24
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King. Upon the impeachment no allusion appears to have been made by Mr. Pym to Sir Henry Vane, or to any evidence in his possession ; and there does not appear to have been any judgment on the impeachment. On the 10th of April, 1641, in the House of Commons, Sir Henry Vane, the younger, and Mr. Pym, were enjoined to disclose any facts within their knowledge. Pym now produced a copy of the private notes taken by Secretary Vane of a meeting of the Council on the 5th May, going to shew that the Earl of Strafford, at that meeting, advised the King to traitorous measures, and the words of the paper, purporting to be the very words of the Earl, were quoted. The elder Vane af- fected great surprise at the revelation, but after proper dalliance, upon his last examination, confirmed the principal charge, and the younger Vane coolly ex- plained how he obtained the private memorandum from his father's secret cabi- net, and imparted it to Mr. Pym. On the same day that this scene took place, the bill of attainder against the Earl was first read. An examination of the trial on the impeachment shews, that not one of the other Lords who were at the Coun- cil of the 5th May, could remember any such words as were charged in the pa- per thus produced, (when other evidence was likely to fail,) and sworn to by Secretary Vane. Nor does it appear from the records that the llouse of Com- mons passed any vote justifying the conduet of the younger Vane on this occa- sion, as has been stated by some of his biographers. Whatever may have been the demerits of the great Earl of Strafford, a careful examination of all the au- thorities forces upon us the conviction that he fell a sacrifice to the enmity of the two Vanes. See Whitelock's Memorials, Rushworth, Nalson, L'Estrange, and Clarendon, and other contemporary authorities.
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Hume gives the credit of this transaction to Sir Henry. " In this negotiation," says he, " the man chiefly truste ! to was Vane, who in eloquence, address, capacity, as well as art and dissimulation, was not surpassed by any one, even during that age so famous for active talent -. By his persuasion was framed at Edinburgh the Solemn League and Covenant."# When the Covenant was rati- fied in Parliament, on the 22d September, 1643, his name was subscribed next to that of Cromwell on the list.
As the civil war raged, Sir Henry Vane was inces- santly engaged in Parliament, and upon various com- missions appointed to treat with the King. In this capa- city he was at the treaty of Uxbridge in 1645, and at the Isle of Wight in 1648, and, it is said, "was always an enemy to peace."¡ He resisted all attempts at compro- mise, except upon such a basis as would forever protect the people against the tyranny of the crown. But other counsels prevailed. On the 5th December, 1648, the Commons voted, 129 to 83, that the terms offered by the King ought to be accepted. Sir Henry Vane considered this to be equivalent to a restoration of Charles to the throne.Į
Not so thought Cromwell. He appeared next day with a troop of horse, and forcibly seizing forty-one of the menibers, expelled them from parliament; those re- maining being devoted to his interests, and thenceforth known as " The Rump."
This proceeding of Cromwell was disapproved by Vane, who for the present withdrew from Parliament.
* Hume's Hist. of England. t Biographia Britannica.
: See History of Independency, Part II, p, 26. Parl. Hist. iii. 1145. 1146
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and took no part in the impeachment, trial and execu- tion of King Charles, which followed."
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Charles suffered on the 30th of January, 1649. On the 17th of February a Council of State was installed, into whose hands the executive government of the na- tion was committed. Sir Henry Vane was appointed a member of the Council. Cromwell used great pains to induce him to accept the appointment, and, after many consultations, he so far prevailed in satisfying Vane of the purity of his intentions in reference to the Common- wealth, as to overcome bis reluctance again to appear in public life. He took his seat in the Council nine days after its instalment, and immediately entered, with his accustomed energy and ability, upon the duties of the office. He continued to be in the Council from 1649 to 1653. The powers exercised by that body were very great. They were intrusted with the entire com- mand of the military forces of England and Ireland, and were authorized to raise and control a navy, and to con- duct the whole administration of the country, in refer- ence both to its offensive and defensive operations in war. Sir Henry Vane was for some time President of . the Council, and, as Treasurer and Commissioner for the Navy, he had almost the exclusive direction of that branch of the public service, The foreign relations were wholly under his management. He planned and con- ducted the war with the United Provinces, in which Blake gathered his laurels, and won for his country the proud title of mistress of the seas; and he exhibited a
* " Sir Henry Vane did not approve putting the King to death, nor of the force put on Parliament, but withdrew while these things were acting."-Burnet's History of his Own Times, i. 163.
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patriotic and generous spirit to his countrymen by an unusual example of disinterested devotion to the pub- lic cause. In order to lighten the burden of the war, and to encourage the people to carry it on with vigor. he voluntarily relinquished the profits of the very lucra- tive office he held, as Treasurer of the Navy, and ap- propriated them to the common treasury .*
But the genius of Sir Henry Vane was not confined to the conduct of foreign wars, brilliant and wonderful as was its exercise in that department. At this period of his life his labors were so various, so complicated and so constant, that they were regarded as almost incredi- ble. From an early hour in the morning until late at night, he was every moment engaged in the actual trans- action of business.t His acts are stamped upon the his- tory of his country.
On the 20th April, 1653, Cromwell suddenly entered the House of Parliament, and, backed by his soldiers. exclaimed, " You are no Parliament! Begone, and give place to honester men." Thus ended the famous Long Parliament, and Cromwell had established his authority
* The income thus relinquished was from £5,000 to £6,000 per annum.
! The following tribute of praise was at this period addressed to Sir Henry Vane, by the great Poet of England :
" Vane, young in years, but in sage counsel old, Than whom a better senator ne'er beld The helm of Rome, when gowns, not arms, repelled The fierce Epirot, and the African hold, Whether to settle peace, or to unfold The drift of hollow states hard to be spelled ;
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 learnt, which few have done ; The boundg of either sword to thee we owe ; Therefore on thy firm hand Religion leany Io peace, and reckons thee her eldest son."
JOHN MILTON.
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upon the ruins of the Commonwealth. Sir Henry Vane, shocked at the conduct of Cromwell, now retired to his estate at Raby Castle." Here he wrote and published a pamphlet, entitled the "Healing Question," in opposi- tion to Cromwell, for which he was summoned before the Protector, charged with seditious intent, and required to give bond to keep the peace, which neglecting to do, he was arrested and imprisoned in Carisbrook Castle in the Isle of Wight; from which, Cromwell not choosing to take his life, he was liberated at the close of the year 1656.
Oliver Cromwell died on the 3d September, 1658, and Richard, his son, succeeded to the Protectorship. A new Parliament was summoned in January, 1659. The partisans of the new Protector opposed the return of Sir Henry Vane; and though he was duly chosen from his former borough, they gave the election to another. He determined to persevere, and was finally returned from Whitchurch, in Southamptonshire.
Fearful that the republican party, which was strong' in the House, might gain the ascendancy, the leading
* " When Lieutenant Colonel Worsley entered the House of Commons with two files of musqueteers, to drive out the members, on 20th April, 1653, Sir Henry Vane said aloud, 'This is not honest ; yea, it is against morality and common honesty.' Upon which Cromwell fell to railing at him, crying out with a lond voice, ' O Sir Henry Vane, Sir Henry Vane ! The Lord deliver me from Sir Henry Vane !" Ludlow's Mem. 11. 457.
" Young Sir H. Vane, notwithstanding the affronts he received at the disso- lution of the Parliament, was invited, being in Lincolnshire, by a letter from the Council, which invitation he answered by a letter extracted out of that part of the Apocalypse, wherein the reign of the Saints is mentioned, which he saith he believes will now begin ; but for his part he is willing to deter his share in it until he comes to Heaven ; and desired to be excused in yielding to their desires. Yet upon second thoughts he is come to London, and I believe will, like Tiberius, upon little entreaty, accept a share in this empire." Intercepted Letter T. Robinson to Mr. Stoneham at the Hague, June 3, 1633. Thurloe's State Papers, i. 265.
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officers of the army, on the 21st of April, 1659, sent a request to Richard, to dissolve the Parliament, intim- ting very plainly that unless he complied, they should deprive him of power, and assume the whole gos - ernment to themselves. The Protector accordingh. despatched the Keeper of the Seals to dissolve the Par-
liament. Getting information of this design, the Hou-e ordered their doors to be closed, and the gentleman usher of the black rod was not permitted to enter. It was on this occasion, (says Mr. Upham, following the Biographia Britannica, ) that Sir Henry Vane delivered the follow- ing speech, which produced an overwhelming effect upon the House and nation, and entirely demolished the power of the Protector :*
" Mr. Speaker : Among all the people of the universe, I know none who have shown so much zeal for the li- berty of their country, as the English, at this time, have done. They have, by the help of Divine Providence, overcome all obstacles, and have made themselves frec. We have driven away the hereditary tyranny of the house of Stuart, at the expense of much blood and trea- sure, in hopes of enjoying hereditary liberty, after having shaken off the yoke of kingship; and there is not a man amongst us, who could have imagined that any person would be so bold as to dare attempt the ravishing from us that freedom, which has cost us so much blood and . much labor. But so it happens, I know not by wha: misfortune, we are fallen into the error of those, who poisoned the Emperor Titus to make room for Domitian. who made away Augustus that they might have Tiberius, and changed Claudius for Nero.
* See Upham's Life of Vane, in I Sparks, iv.
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" I am sensible these examples are foreign from my subject, since the Romans, in those days, were buried in lewdness and luxury; whereas the people of England are now renowned, all over the world, for their great virtue and discipline ; and yet suffer an idiot, without courage, without sense, nay, without ambition, to have dominion in a country of liberty.
"One could bear a little with Oliver Cromwell, though, contrary to his oath of fidelity to the Parliament, contrary to his duty to the public, contrary to the res- pect he owed to that venerable body from whom he re- ceived his authority, he usurped the government. His merit was so extraordinary, that our judgment and pas- sions might be blinded by it. He made his way to em- pire by the most illustrious actions. He held under his command an army that had made him a conqueror, and a people that had made him their general.
"But as for Richard Cromwell, his son, who is he ? What are his titles? We have seen that he has a sword by his side, but did he ever draw it? And, what is of more importance in this case, is he fit to get obedience from a mighty nation, who could never make a footman obey him? Yet, we must recognise this man as our king, under the style of Protector !- a man without birth, · without courage, without conduct. For my part, I de- clare, Sir, it shall never be said that I made such a man my master."
" This impetuous torrent swept every thing before it. Oratory, genius, and the spirit of liberty never achieved a more complete triumph. It was signal and decisive, instantaneous and irresistible. It broke, at once and for- ever, the power of Richard and his party, and the con- 42
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trol of the country again passed into the hands of the republicans. Richard immediately abdicated the Pro- tectorate, having at the same time issued a Proclamation dissolving the Parliament; and the general voice of the country was so clearly and strongly uttered, that the mili- tary factions bowed to its demand, and the famous Long Parliament, which Oliver Cromwell had dispersed in 1653, was once more summoned to assemble, by a de- claration from the council of officers, dated on the 6th of May, 1659."*
Such is the account given by the intelligent biogra- pher of Vane, of the effect of a supposed speech of Sir Henry Vane. His authority is a note in the Biographia Britannica, copied from Oldmixon's History of the Stuarts. Where Oldmixon found it, does not appear, and his au- thority is not always to be relied upon. Neither White- locke, who was in Parliament at the time, nor Ludlow, also in Parliament, and the friend of Vane, make any mention of the speech ; nor does it appear from Burton's Diary during the Protectorate, used by Clarendon, that » any such speech was made by Sir Henry Vane, or any body else in Parliament. The entire speech is probably a fiction.t
The Parliament assembled by Richard in January, upon the demand of the army was dissolved by Procla- mation on the 22d of April. On the 6th of May, the
* Upham's Life of Sir Henry Vane, in I Sparks, iv.
t For many of the corrected dates given in this memoir, and in particular for the correction of some of the modern accounts of Sir Henry Vane's agency in bringing the Earl of Strafford to the block, and in the proceedings pending the abdication of Richard Cromwell, the writer is indebted to the suggestions of that thorough antiquary, PETER FORCE, Esq., of Washington, D. C., and the free use of the rich stores in his invaluable library.
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army published a Declaration, requesting the members of the Long Parliament to re-assemble, and that body met on the 7th, at Whitehall.
The records of the time would seem to disprove any feeling of hostility towards Richard. Indeed the Parlia- ment treated him with kindness, and in the debates given by Burton, he is rarely spoken of, even in the stormiest scenes in that body, with harshness. When the army began to dictate, and the Parliament doubted his power or right to the protectorship, he seems to have made up his mind to seek his own comfort and security by abdi- cating. On the 7th of May, 1659, the Commons made their declaration against any government of a single per- son, Kingship, or House of Peers; and on the same day, . Fleetwood, Haslerigge, Vane, Ludlow, Salway, Syden- ham and Jones were made a Committee of Safety. On the 14th, a Council of State was agreed upon, and Sir Henry Vane was one of the number. On the 20th of May, he was one of the committee appointed "to prepare a Declaration to the Nation how affairs stood with the Commonwealth, when the House was interrupted [20 April, 1653,] and how affairs stood at present." On the 25th, he was appointed at the head of a committee to con- sider "what is fit, to be done as to the settlement of a comfortable and honorable subsistence on Richard Crom- well, eldest son of the late Lord General Cromwell." And on the same day, Richard's letter of abdication is dated.
On the 26th of May, Sir Henry Vane was placed first on a committee of seven, to manage the affairs of the Admiralty and Navy, and in September, he was Presi- dent of the Council. On the 13th of October follow-
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ing, the army took possession of the Hall where Parh .- ment sat, and prevented their further meeting. Vane hos took sides with the army against the Parliament. On the 17th, he was one of the committee of ten appointed !! the council of officers, to carry on the affairs of Govern- ment; on the 26th, was one of the Committee of Safety : and on the Ist of November, was one of a committee appointed to consider a form of government for three nations as one commonwealth .*
On the 26th December, 1659, through the influence of General Monk, the Parliament was again assembled. That body were now suspicious of Vane, and question- ing some of his proceedings with the army, on the 9th of January following, ordered him to retire to his house at Raby, and await further orders, at the same time dis- missing him from Parliament. Delaying to comply, and endeavoring to stir up opposition to Parliament, the House in February ordered him to be sent under cus- tody to Raby, and afterwards to be conveyed by the Sergeant at Arms to his house at Bellew, in Lincolnshire.
After King Charles' restoration, Sir Henry Vane. having no apprehension of danger, went up to his house in London. But on the 11th June, 1660, the House of Commons resolved that he should be one of the twenty persons excepted out of the King's Proclamation of Par- don, and in July following he was committed to the Tower. From the Tower he was afterwards removed to other prisons, and finally to the Isle of Scilly. In August, 1660, the Commons petitioned the King, that
* Whitelocke, p. 638, says Sir II. Vane was commissioned 5 Nov. 1650, 1. raise a regiment of horse. On the 14th Jan. 1660, Parliament ordered that the regiment of foot, called Sir Harry Vane's, should be forthwith disbanded.
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if Sir Henry Vane should be attainted, his life might be spared-to which the King assented ; but after the in- surrection of the Fifth Monarchy men,* in January, 1661, the Commons withdrew their request that his life might be spared, and he was remanded to the Tower.f
. He was arraigned before the Court of King's Bench for trial, on the 2d June, 1662, the verdict of guilty was rendered on the 6th, sentence pronounced on the 11th, and on the 14th, he was executed on Tower Hill.
It being observed that the dying speeches of the re- gicides made an impression upon the multitude, unfavor- able to the government, measures were taken to prevent Sir Henry Vane from addressing the people. "His tri- al," says Bancroft, "he had converted into a triumph." And when he offered to address the people from the scaffold, the King's officers interrupted him, trumpets were blown in his face, and personal violence was resort- ed to in snatching away his papers. " Blessed be God," he exclaimed, as he bared his neck for the axe, " I have kept a conscience vòid of offence to this day, and have not deserted the righteous cause for which I suffer." His heroic bearing upon his execution, was the admira-
* The principal idea of this fanatical sect, was, that our Saviour was coming down, to erect a Fifth Monarchy upon earth, which was to last for a thousind years. Sir Henry Vane's pamphlet, called "The Retired Man's Meditations &c., published in 1655, contained an exposition of some of the mystical doc- trines of these enthusiasts.
t The government had now resolved to erush the republican party, of which Vane was a leader. " Certainly," wrote the King, "Sir llenry Vane is too dangerous a man to let live, if we can honestly put him out of the way." Lud- low says, " the cause of his destruction was because his adversaries knew his integrity, and feared his abilities." But Burnet says, " the great share he had in the attainder of the Earl of Strafford, and in the whole turn of affairs to the total change of the government ; but above all the great opinion that was had of his parts and capacity to embroil matters again, made the Court think it was necessary to put him out of the way."
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tion of the times ; and produced so great a senti throughout the kingdom, that the King found it emp . h- ent to allay the public sympathy, by restoring to the last. ily of Sir Henry Vane all his estates and honors.
Sir Henry Vane, in July, 1639, married France. daughter of Sir Christopher Wray, of Glenkworth, in Lin- colnshire, and had a family of eleven children. Christu- pher, the eldest, was knighted by Charles II., was of the Privy Council to James II., and in July, 1698, Was created Baron Bernard of Bernard Castle, in the Bish- oprick of Durham. He married Elizabeth, eldest daugh- ter of Gilbert Holles, Earl of Clare, and sister and cu- heiress of John, Duke of New-Castle, and died at his seat in Fairlawn, Kent, in 1723.
Gilbert Vane, the second Lord Bernard, died in 1753: and his son, Henry Vane, in the following year was cre- ated Viscount Bernard and Earl of Darlington. Ile: married a daughter of Charles, Duke of Cleveland, and died in 175S.
The present lineal descendant is William Harry Vane, who in 1833, was created Marquis of Cleveland, with the names and titles of Baron Raby of Raby Castle, and Duke of Cleveland.
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V. RICHARD BELLINGHAM.
RICHARD BELLINGHAM, the fifth Governor under the first Massachusetts charter, was a native of England, born in 1592. The editor of Winthrop says, "he was of a good family in England, and perhaps Richard Bel- lingham, who was recorder of Boston, in 1625, was his father." He was educated to the profession of the law, which he abandoned, and came to this country in 1634 .* On the 3d of August in that year, he joined the church at Boston, with his wife Elizabeth, whose death is men- tioned as having occurred not long after.
Mr. Bellingham was one of the twenty-six original patentees named in the charter of King Charles I. in 1628; and being well qualified to take an active part in the affairs of the infant colony, the opportunity was not long wanting. He was chosen a deputy in March, 1635. He was an assistant from 1636 to 1639, and from 1643 to 1652; and was also treasurer of the colony from 1637 to 1639. In May, 1635, the general court placed him
* Johnson, in the " Wonder-Working Providence," thus notices the arrival of Mr. Bellingham : " At this time came over the much honored Mr. Richard Bellingham, whose Estate and person did much for the civill Government ofthis wandering people, hee being learned in the Lawes of England, and experiment- ally fitted for the worke, of whom I am bold to say as followeth :
RICHARDU'S now, arise must thou, Christ seed hath thee to plead,
His people's cause, with equall Lawes, in wildernesse them lead ;
Though slow of speech, thy counsell reach, shall each occasion well, Sure thy stern look, it cannot brook, those wickedly rebell.
With labour might thy pen indite doth Lawes for people's learning :
That judge with skill, and not with will, unarbitrate discerning ; BELLINGHAM, thou, on valiant now, stop not in discontent,
For Christ with crown, will thee renown, then spend for him, bo spent ; As thou hast done, thy race still run till death, no death shall stay Christ's work of might, till Scripture light bring Resurrection day."
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upon the commission for military affairs, which Winthrop says " had power of life and limb"-and which was in- deed the most important power exercised in the colony .. His associates in the commission were the governor, de- puty governor, Winthrop, Endecott and others, and they were empowered to make war offensive and defensive. and to imprison such as they might deem to be enemies of the commonwealth, and in case of refusal to come un- der restraint, to put offenders to death.
At the succeeding general court, held at Newtown. [Cambridge,] 6th May, Mr. Bellingham was chosen dep- uty governor. From this period he was annually cho- sen a magistrate until 1641. Hutchinson represents him to have been, at this period, like Winthrop, Dud- ley, and Bradstreet, a man of property and estate above most of the planters of the colony.
In the framing of the colonial laws, which occupied the attention of the General Court from time to time. Mr. Bellingham, being a lawyer, and a man distinguished alike for good judgment and integrity, had a greater share than any other person of his time, excepting per- haps Governor Winthrop.
In 1640, Mr. Bellingham was re-elected deputy governor ; and at the election in 1641, he was chosen governor, in opposition to Winthrop, by a majority of six votes. There were rival and party interests, even at that early day, amongst those who had fled from a common persecution. Winthrop seems to have been the favorite candidate of the General Court, and Bel- lingham, for the time, to have been the candidate of the
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