received his appointment as a member of the Committee of Safety, consisting as it did of fifteen eminent and trusted per'sons. He had also bestowed upon him not merely one of the earliest commissions as a colonel of cavalry, but also the military governorship of Reading. Meanwhile he was far from relaxing in his parliamentary duties, whensoever circumstances would allow him to fulfil them. We find him, at one time, boldly attacking the House of Lords, 'to whom he never affected any ' attachment;' at another, taking two horses out of the mews of his majesty, and declining attention to sundry remonstrances from the upper house for having done so. He proved himself a man of deeds as well as words. We have taken,' he observed, 'the ships and forts of the king, and may as well use his horses, 'lest they might be employed against us.' The Commons espoused his side, voting that he had done rightly,-nor could the peers then presume to do ought else than quietly succumb. An aristocracy must always be, amidst an excited people, like the ghost of a magic lanthorn; apprehension being absorbed in contempt, so soon as the lookers on understand that a phantom, at first seeming dreadful, depends upon two or three moveable glasses for its existence. In fact, the historical destiny of Marten lay very much in teaching, or at least attempting to teach his fellow-countrymen to leave off being affrighted at shadows! Even the cry of the Church in danger' possessed no horrors for him. He feared the face of no man, nor of any set of men. A Puritan minister, named Saltmarsh, had published a book declaring that if the sovereign would not grant the fair demands of his subjects, they ought to root out him and his royal line, and collate the crown upon somebody else.' Several senators having severely condemned such sentiments, the member for Berkshire ventured to remark, that he saw no reason for such strong condemnation, since it must be better that one family should be destroyed rather than many. Sir Nevil Poole then moved that the last speaker should be compelled to explain what one family he meant: when Marten interrupted him with the declaration that such a motion was needless, since he intended to allude to no other than the king and his children! An immense hurricane of words ensued; and in the end, our humorous and gallant patriot was expelled the house, committed to the Tower for a fortnight, then discharged without being obliged to pay his fees, but was not permitted to resume his place until after a year and a half had elapsed. Few can help discerning, from this instance, the immense importance of raising up the public mind to its appropriate pitch by accustoming each class to fair political discussions. Children will acquire sufficient courage in this way to pull the bugbears of their parents by the beard. Some of those, who turned pale at the propositions of Saltmarsh in print,

survived to realize them at the revolution; to say nothing of their witnessing a royal execution in front of Whitehall! How plainly also it appears, that this execution might have been prevented, had the Stuart possessed a few grains of sincerity, or some glimmerings of common understanding. That parliament which could expel Henry Marten, as it thus did under the circumstances, must still have had loyalty sufficient to have enabled an upright monarch to terminate the controversy after an honorable manner, without appealing, as was done so fatally, either to the edge of the sword or the passions of an infuriated empire.

The too forward republican was an individual of imperturbable good humor. Expulsion itself could not put him out; if the pun may be pardoned. Debarred from attendance for a considerable interval on the House of Commons, he opened his own house, called Becket, in the parish of Shrineham, to almost every person of his own party who might choose to come and participate in rural festivities. Berkshire rang with his praise and popularity. The shortest way to the hearts of a larger class than is commonly supposed being down their throats, Roundheads innumerable flocked to the hospitalities of the vale of the White Horse; where the courtesy of the suspended county member at least kept dulness at bay, although at the expense of his still handsome patrimony. He also contributed upwards of £3000 sterling out of his own resources towards the maintenance of the war. Continuing to hold his commission as a colonel, he was present in several skirmishes and engagements. The contest had hitherto been carried forward on the parliamentary side in rather a whiggish way Lord Essex himself seems often to have been afraid of acting out his own principles: the leaven of aristocratical caste sometimes neutralized the noblest measures: energetic professions were followed up often by the most pusillanimous practice: until it became plain that other religionists than Presbyterians, and other warriors than those who fought at Edgehill, must rescue Liberty from its perils, if it was then to be rescued at all. In other words a section of independent politicians, with such as Vane and Marten as their leaders, gained strength in influence and numbers. A resolution for the reinstatement of the last was carried on the 6th of January, 1645-6: nor is it difficult to imagine the cordial welcome he received upon resuming his seat. Debates would appear to have been sadly flat without him. His intellect and genius now broke forth in brighter coruscations than The citizens of London loved him not a little; and not a few of his happiest efforts occurred in their common hall. He bound himself in the closest connexions with St. John and Cromwell whilst it is delightful to observe how invariably his voice and vote were on the right side, whenever an act of mercy might be demanded on behalf of public delinquents, or trouble

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some yet sincere spirits. He even interfered with Prynne to save the honest but intemperate John Lilburne from serious difficulties. He knew this poor creature as well or better than his persecutors so quarrelsome was his temper by nature, that he once happily observed, if there were none alive but himself, John 'would be against Lilburne, and Lilburne against John Political differences were forgotten when victory had thrown the unfortunate under the hoofs of power. When Judge Jenkins, an intrepid loyalist, had openly insulted the House of Commons at their own bar, Henry Marten literally saved him from the death his rashness, if not his royalism, had almost deserved, by a stroke of humor not less felicitous than it proved successful. His wit on subsequent occasions won several of these honorable and bloodless trophies. It preserved the life of the author of Gondibert, part of which was written in the prisons of the Commonwealth, by arresting a proposition for his execution through this droll allusion; You are going,' said the merry member, 'to sacrifice William Davenant, a rotten and imperfect subject, as none can deny but please to recollect that under the Mosaic law, sacri'fices were always required to be pure and without blemish.' Various other instances could easily be adduced; although of course it is not our intention to affirm that his philanthropy was much more than the amiability of natural temperament. Real religion alone could have brought him within the evangelical beatitude, Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain 'mercy.'

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Towards Charles the First he indulged no relentings. He conceived it impossible to negociate for any important purpose with a monarch so steeped in perfidy; more especially after the disclosures of the cabinet, taken at Naseby, had fully developed his character. He moved, and Hazlerig seconded him, that no more addresses should be made to the king; that his person should be demanded from the Scots; and that the army of Fairfax should march into the north to enforce the application. He had learned to abhor monarchy, says the twaddling Bishop Burnet, 'from his study of Greek and Roman models:' no very serious charge certainly. But whether this were the case or not, he remained unchanged to the day of his death; nor had he the slightest notion of robing his ideas in a costume of words conformable to the tastes of his audience. From the very commencement, as he once told Lord Clarendon, he never thought 'one man wise enough to govern all !' Yet in 1647, his talents are found blended with those of Ireton, in preparing that final body of proposals, which issued from the Council of Officers. Upon the plan of this document, parliaments were to be biennial; never to sit less than 120 days, nor more than 240; small boroughs were to be abolished, and their representatives of coun

ties augmented; so as to render the House of Commons an honest echo of the public mind. It was indeed stipulated, that the royalists should not sit in the subsequent parliament; and a very small number were to be exempted from the privilege of compounding for their estates. The scale of that composition, however, in general was calculated to fall far more leniently upon its subjects than had ever been before fixed. Effectual provision was also to be made for future freedom of elections, and certainty of due returns. These military tribunes of Great Britain further demanded that the judicial powers of the two houses should be clearly ascertained and settled; and that no pardon from the crown should be valid for public servants, unless with consent of parliament. The rights of conscience moreover received attention. There was no longer to be an imposition of the Covenant on the one hand; nor was Episcopacy to continue its coercive jurisdiction on the other. Charles and the country had never been favored with a nobler opportunity for winding up their mighty quarrel. The former might still have remained a monarch, in the sense of being an hereditary executive of liberal institutions. His authority over the militia was to be controlled for ten years by a council nominated in effect from the Commons. He complained deeply against all such limitations of the prerogative yet how could Marten or Ireton have acted otherwise, with any wish to keep their heads upon their shoulders? Their views appear to have been statesmanlike, masterly, and comprehensive. They openly avowed their object at the conclusion of their memorial: it being no other than that the things here 'before proposed being provided for settling and securing the 'rights, liberties, peace, and safety of the kingdom, his majesty's 'person, his queen, and royal issue may be restored to a condition ' of security, honor, and freedom, without diminution of their 'personal rights, or further limitation to the exercise of the legal 'power, than according to the particulars aforegoing.' Even Hallam, an inveterate Whig, admits the terms to have been quite tolerable, situated as the king then was; having in truth only to make his election whether to be the nominal chief of an aristo'cratic or democratic republic.' Yet both Sir John Berkeley and Lord Capel in vain appealed to his reason as well as his fears. Still tampering with the Scots, and keeping his eyes fixed on 'the city and parliament, he at that very moment came to an 'open breach with the army, disdainfully refused the propositions 'when publicly tendered to him, and that with such expressions of misplaced resentment and preposterous confidence as con'vinced the officers that they could neither conciliate nor trust him.' This unexpected haughtiness sealed his destiny. Henry Marten went directly to Oliver Cromwell, then in his triumphant career against Caledonian royalism; the famous purge was ad

ministered by Colonel Pride to the lower house which prostrated Presbyterianism before the Independents; whilst at several subsequent meetings of the military council, our gallant, plain spoken member for Berkshire cut the matter short after his usual manner, by forgetting the senator in the soldier, and telling them that they should serve his majesty as the English did his grand'mother,-AND STRIKE OFF HIS HEAD!' Clement Walker can probably be followed in this instance as a genuine authority.

It may not unfrequently be observed, that in very critical periods, the current of public thoughts, after running a long while underground, suddenly appears above it, through some single individual daring to open his mouth, and thus becoming among the first to utter, what multitudes have been long meditating in their minds. So it seemed in the present instance. Baillie, in a letter to Alexander Henderson, as early as the 19th of May, 1646, mentions that hints were even then beginning to get wind with respect to executing the late sovereign, 'if God have hardened 'him.' In the course of 1647, the Scots in their parliament remonstrated against similar language. Berkeley positively affirms that the resolution was taken at Windsor, by a council of officers, soon after the royal prisoner had been confined at Carisbrook; as may be seen in a rather curious tract once published by Baron Maseres. Adjutant-General William Allen corroborates the statement, though differing a little in the precise date, which he places in the commencement of 1648. However all at once, on the 23rd of December, 1648, when, with respect to the proposals of the army, it was resolved that justice should be done upon delinquents, CHARLES THE FIRST was forthwith denounced as the capital criminal, and a committee of thirty-eight persons received their appointment to prepare charges against him. Widdrington and Whitelock, together with Henry Marten and Thomas Scot, were amongst the number; but the two former, feeling their responsibility as keepers of the Seal, shrunk with true conservative timidity from their awful task, and left it to such men as Marten. He had, indeed, sternness enough, and to spare, for whatever might lie before him. Having overheard Cromwell inquiring at a preliminary consultation, how the king could be answered were he to demand at his trial, by whose authority he was called to account; his voice immediately proposed the only correct reply,-namely that the Commons and Parliament assembled, as the representatives of all the good 'people of England, arraigned Charles Stuart;' to which no one present objected. The culprit arrived meanwhile at Windsor, where every absurd ceremonial of departed royalty was soon ordered to be laid aside. Republicanism had already invested with its plain and unassuming habit the entire executive. The new year of 1649 ushered in a new and most memorable era.

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