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However , be this as it may , this indefatigable man had not lived among these new settlers more than seven years , before the urbanity of his manners , and the general benevolence of his conduct , had so won upon them , that the colony deputed him as their ambassador to the Court of Charles
the First * to endeavour to procure for them some indulgence in regard to the recent impositions of customs and excise in that country . * Having now learned that the Parliament of England had relieved the people in some measure from the abuses in Church
and State , he did not hesitate to return home ; and , as Mr . Ludlow informs us , t he encouraged the people whereever he went , and advised them on all occasions , to appear vigorously for the Parliament cause .
Whether Peters succeeded in the business of his mission from the colony of New-England , I have not been able to learn , but it appears that he had not been long in this country
before he was appointed chaplain to a brigade of troops that was sent against the Irish rebels , and accordingly he accompanied the expedition thither . % In Ireland the amiable character of Peterslikewisemanifested
itself ; for having observed the deplorable condition of the poor plundered Protestants in that country , he not only . did everything he could to procure them relief among their neighbours , but kindly undertook a journey to Holland for the purpose of turning the interest , which he knew he had in that country , to their
account . And so successful was he in this labour of love , that he returned to Ireland with nearly £ 30 , 0 O 0 . sterling , which he had obtained from the Dutch for their relief . ^ This was , perhaps , the largest sum that had
ever been collected by a single individual in a foreign country for a charitable purpose ; and shews what talent , zeal and industry may effect , when united , for the attainment of an object deserving of such exertions . When Peters had effected his various purposes in Ireland , he returned
* See the Historical and Critical Ac eount of Hug * 11 Peters , p . xii . f iTddlow ' a Memoirs , III . 61 . t Ibid . § IJbid .
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home , and upon his arrival was received with the warmest welcome by Sir Thomas Fairfax , by the Lord High Admiral Robert Uich , Earl of Warwick , and by Cromwell himself . *
In the year 1643 , we find Peters engaged in the benevolent office of attending Mr . Chaloncr in his last moments , a gentleman who was executed for having been concerned in the scheme wjiiclr had been contrived by the Poet Waller , and usually called Waller ' s Plot . At the place of execution Ghaloner confessed that he
deserved death , stnd at the request of Peters , fully ' ek-ptaiued the part he had taken in the said plot . Hugh Peters having then prayed with him , execution was performed upon him . t
On the second of January 1044 , Peters was called upon to attend Sir John Hotharn on the scaffold , and he received from him public thanks on the occasion . The conversation which
passed between Sir John Hot ham and Peters on this awful occasion , as given by Rush worth , is interesting and natural ; and Dr . Harris $ has passed an encomium upon the conduct of Peters
on this occasion : "We see nothing here , " says he , " but great civility in Peters , and the due discharge of his office . Here is nothing troublesome or impertinent , but as one would wish to have it in like circumstances . " §
About this time Peters was engaged as chaplain to the Parliament forces , in which capacity he soon won the confidence of the different generals in the Republican army \ for in the year
1645 , we find him employed by them in several services of great trust , such as carrying intelligence to the Parliament of the state of the troops in different places , and of the reinforcements which were required by their
* Harris's Historical and Critical Account , p . xiii . f ttushwovth , Part iii . Vol . II . p . 327-\ See the Historical and Critical Account , p . xvii .
§ The behaviour of Charles upon the occasion was not quite so decent ; he being " ing in the habit of explaining the case of Sir John Hotham , by saying * that 4 * his head was divided from his body , because his heart was divided from the king ' . See Milton ' s fconvclaste& i 8 vo . London , 1092 , p . 62 ,
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530 The Nonconformist . No . XIV .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1819, page 530, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1776/page/6/
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