Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 56.djvu/348

 the ministers of Charles II were attacked for the ignorance which allowed the Dutch to inflict a crushing surprise upon England in 1667, Thurloe's management of intelligence was held up to them as an example. ‘Thereby,’ said Colonel Birch in the House of Commons, ‘Cromwell carried the secrets of all the princes of Europe at his girdle.’ No one denied the fact, but secretary Morrice pleaded in answer that he was allowed but 700l. a year for intelligence, while Cromwell had allowed 70,000l. (, Diary, 14 Feb. 1668). In reality Thurloe's expenditure for intelligence seems to have been between 1,200l. and 2,000l. per annum (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1653–4, pp. 454, 458;, vii. 483, 785). Under the head of intelligence came also the political police, and so long as Thurloe was in office no conspiracy against the government had a chance of success. His control of the post office enabled him to seize the correspondence of plotters, and his collection of papers contains hundreds of intercepted letters. The spies whom he kept at the court of the exiled king, and the plotters whom he corrupted or intimidated, supplied him with information of each new movement among the royalists (see English Historical Review, 1888 p. 340, 1889 p. 527). An illustration of his vigilance is supplied by the traditional story of the royalist gentleman who was told by Cromwell when he returned to England all that had passed in his secret interview with Charles II (, ii. 42, ed. 1894). Burnet and Welwood tell many similar stories (Own Time, i. 121, 131, ed. 1833;, Memoirs, p. 105).

Thurloe's duties as secretary sometimes required him to set forth the views of the government in a declaration or explain them in a speech. Drafts of two such defences of the policy of the government towards the cavaliers are among his papers (State Papers, iv. 132, v. 786). To the parliament of 1656, in which, as in that of 1654, Thurloe represented Ely, he announced Blake's victory at Santa Cruz, related the discovery of Venner's and Sindercombe's plots, and spoke on behalf of the confirmation of Cromwell's ordinances (, Parliamentary Diary, i. 353, ii. 43, 143; State Papers, vi. 184). On 11 April 1657 he received the thanks of the house for his care and vigilance (Common's Journals, vii. 522). On 13 July of the same year he was sworn in as a member of Cromwell's second council, on 2 Nov. he was elected a governor of the Charterhouse, and on 4 Feb. 1658 he was made chancellor of the university of Glasgow (State Papers, vol. i. p. xvii, vol. vi. p. 777). But in spite of the post which he occupied, and though his services were liberally recognised, Thurloe had very little influence in determining the Protector's policy. ‘In matters of the greatest moment,’ writes Welwood, ‘Cromwell trusted none but his secretary Thurloe, and sometimes not even him’ (Memoirs, p. 105). Thurloe was anxious for Cromwell to accept the crown, but was totally unable to tell Henry Cromwell what the Protector intended to do. ‘Surely,’ he concludes, ‘whatever resolutions his highness takes, they will be his own’ (State Papers, vi. 219). In his confidential letters to Henry Cromwell he more than once expresses his dissatisfaction with the policy of the council (ib. vi. 568, 579). Both agreed in their preference for parliamentary and legal ways, and their opposition to the military party among Cromwell's councillors, and the arbitrary methods they advocated (ib. vii. 38, 55, 56, 99). Thurloe thought that the Protector humoured them too much (ib. vii. 269). With Cromwell personally Thurloe's relations were very close. On one occasion Cromwell took him for a drive in Hyde Park in order to try the six horses sent the Protector by the Duke of Oldenburg; the horses ran away with the coach, and the secretary hurt his leg in jumping out (ib. ii. 652). He was one of the little knot of friends with whom the Protector would sometimes be cheerful and ‘lay aside his greatness’ (, Memorials, iv. 289) in the intervals of confidential deliberations on affairs of state. Thurloe's letters to Henry Cromwell during the Protector's illness, and his remarks on the Protector's death, show unbounded admiration for Cromwell as a ruler, and genuine attachment to him as a man (State Papers, vii. 355, 362, 363, 366, 372, 374).

During the brief government of Richard Cromwell, Thurloe's influence rather increased than diminished. He had played an important part in Richard's elevation; the missing letter nominating Richard as successor had been addressed to him, and the verbal nomination finally made had been made at his instance (ib. vii. 363, 364, 372, 374). Hyde and the royalists were convinced that Thurloe (advised in secret by Pierrepoint and St. John) was the real inspirer of Richard's government (Clarendon State Papers, iii. 421, 423, 425, 435). The officers of the army were jealous of his power over Richard, and complained of evil counsellors. Thurloe thought of resigning, but he could not be spared; and even Richard's reply to the complaints of the army was drawn up by him (State Papers,