Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 48.djvu/137

 and sent assistance to the parliamentarians in Pembrokeshire, but failed in his efforts to intercept the queen's voyage from Falmouth to France (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1644, pp. 239, 309, 356, 444). Though the king was obliged to rely entirely on ships hired abroad and on those belonging to the ports under his control, Warwick found the navy insufficient for the many services expected from it, and in February 1644 he addressed a remonstrance to parliament on the subject (Lords' Journals, vi. 419). He complained again in the following year about his want of money and supplies (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1644–5, p. 279). But in spite of these and other difficulties he appears to have been both an efficient and a popular commander. He was so secure of the support of the sailors that on 18 Oct. 1644 he issued a proclamation ordering that ‘none shall obey the command of their superior officers … if the same commands be tending towards disloyalty to the Parliament’ (English Historical Review, viii. 491). In the same year there appeared ‘Laws and Ordinances of the Sea, established for the better Government of the Navy, by Robert, Earl of Warwick’ (London, 1644, fol.) Warwick's command ended with the passing of the self-denying ordinance, and he laid down his commission on 9 April 1645, declaring that he resigned it back to parliament with the greatest cheerfulness, and should be ready to serve ‘the great cause of religion and liberty’ in any capacity (Lords' Journals, vii. 312). On 19 April the government of the navy was entrusted to a committee of six lords and twelve commoners, of whom Warwick was the chief (ib. vii. 327).

Warwick had been previously appointed governor of Jersey and Guernsey, and had made several attempts to reduce the islands. On 25 Sept. 1645 he was reappointed, and seems to have held the office till 1647 (ib. vii. 599;, Charles II in the Channel Islands, i. 220, 274, 353).

Of more historical importance was Warwick's connection with the colonies. On 2 Nov. 1643 the Long parliament entrusted the government of the colonies to a commission of six lords and twelve commoners, headed by Warwick. He bore the title of lord high admiral and governor-in-chief of all the islands and other plantations subject to the English crown (, Ordinances, 1646, p. 378). Massachusetts was impatient of any control, and treated the admiral's warrant with little respect when it was pleaded as an excuse for attacks on royalist merchantmen in Boston harbour. But it accepted the jurisdiction of the commissioners by obtaining from them a grant of the territory on the mainland of Narragansett Bay (10 Dec. 1643). Three months later, however, Warwick and his brother commissioners granted to Roger Williams a patent incorporating Providence and two other towns under the title of Providence Plantation (14 March 1644), and thus Warwick became associated with the foundation of the state of Rhode Island (Cal. State Papers, Col. 1574–1660, p. 325;, Puritan Colonies, i. 358–70; , History of New England, ii. 163, 215). So far as his separate action can be traced, Warwick consistently used his influence in favour of religious freedom. He intervened with the Massachusetts government on behalf of Samuel Gorton [q. v.], who called his settlement at Shawomet by the name of Warwick, which it still bears (ib. ii. 216). He issued, on 4 Nov. 1645, a declaration establishing freedom of worship in the Bermudas (, Bermudas, i. 600). His zeal for religion showed itself also in the support which he gave to the movement for the conversion of the Indians (Hist. MSS. Comm. 4th Rep. p. 274).

In English politics Warwick originally was counted among the presbyterians. In 1646 he was named among the presbyterian and Scottish party in the House of Lords, and in January 1647 he acted with the presbyterian leaders in the endeavour to formulate a scheme of settlement which would be acceptable to the king (, Great Civil War, iii. 105, 213). He was one of the commissioners employed by parliament in April 1647 to persuade the army to engage for service in Ireland (Lords' Journals, ix. 152;, Vindication, pp. 76, 82). But in June following, when the army refused to disband and marched on London, Warwick expressed unbounded confidence in the excellence of Fairfax's intentions. After the presbyterian riots of July he retired into Essex, pledging himself to co-operate with Fairfax in vindicating the independence of parliament, and refusing to obey the summons of the lords to return to his seat in the house (Clarke Papers, i. 137, 222; Lords' Journals, ix. 370;, vii. 742). In the spring of 1648 he used his influence to hinder the presentation of a royalist presbyterian petition from the county of Essex (Hamilton Papers, Camd. Soc. pp. 171, 197). Viewing these facts and Warwick's subsequent conduct, Clarendon's assertion that Warwick was privy to his brother Holland's engagement for the king, and had even promised to join him, must be rejected. It is unsupported by other evidence (, Rebellion, xi. 5, 24, 69).