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pounds * * In such a labour of Christian charity , it is not to be supposed , from what has already been related of Peters , that he could remain unemployed , no—Ludlow , a contemporary
writer , has totd us , that «* he was a diligent and earnest solicitor for the distressed Protestants of the Valleys of Piedmont /* t and I trust there is laid up for hirii an abundant reward .
Soon after the affair of the persecuted Protestants was concluded , Cromwell formed an alliance , offensive and defensive , with the French , in which it was agreed that Dunkirk
should be delivered up to him . In consequence of this agreement , six thousand men were sent over to join the French army ; and Peters received a commission to attend them
thither- The town of Dunkirk , in consequence of this league , was taken from the Spaniards , and on the 26 th of June 1658 , was delivered to Colonel JLockart , Cromwell's Ambassador at the French Court . On the 18 th day of the following month , the Colonel wrote from Dunkirk to
Secretary Thurloe , expressly respecting the conduct and services of Peters . It begins— " 1 could not suffer our worthy friend Mr . Peters to come away from Dunkirk , without a testimony of the great benefits we have all re-1
ceived from him in this place ; * and it concludes with this remarkable paragraph : " It were superfluous to tell your Lordship the story of our present condition , either as to the civil government , the works or the soldiery , lie , who hath studied all these more
than any I know here , can certainly give the best account of them . Wherefore I commit the whole to his information , and beg your Lordship ' s casting a favourable eye upon such propositions as he will offer to your JLordbhip for the good of this
garri-Json . From a part of the above letter it appears that , during this expedition , Voters went twice to Berg , and had three or four interviews with the illustrious Cardinal Mazarine respecting : the interests of England . The
* Harris ' s Life of Cromwell , p , 398 . t I . iidlow's Memoirs , III . , 61 . 5 Thurloe \» State Papers , folio , L « nihm , 1742 , VII . 249 ,
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time , however , of his usefulness was now drawing towards a close—for in less than two months after the aforesaid letter was written , his great patron and friend , Oliver Cromwell ,
died : ' and in less than two vears afciied , and m less than two years afterwards , the Royalist party having obtained the ascendancy , this indefatigable and intrepid patriot , who had spent his best days in instructing his
countrymen in the nature of their rights , civil and religious , was apprehended as ix regicide , and closely confined a state prisoner in the Tower of London .
It was expected that Peters would have been included in the Bill of Indemnity , and there is reason to believe that the House of Commons wished to have saved him ; but some of the Lords being clamorous , the Commons consented , and his death
was determined , upon . The charges made a ga i n st li i in , part of w hieh he denied upon his trial , were " for compassing and imagining the death of the king , by conspiring with Oliver
Cromwell , and procuring the soldiers to demand justice ; by preaching divers sermons to persuade the soldiery to take off the king , by comparing him to Barabbas ; in applying to him that part of Psalm cxlix . where the saints are exhorted 4 To bind their
Kings with chains and their Nobles with fetters of iron ;'—and by reminding his hearers of the blood which had been unjustly shed by the king ' s
orders , and assuring them , that if they would look into their Bibles they would see * that whosoever sheddeth man ' s blood , by man shall his blood be shed , * and that there is
no exception from this general rule in favour of kings , " * While Peters was in the Tower , he endured m . uch from depression of spirits , " fearing , " as he would often say , ' * that he should not go through his sufferings with courage and
comfort /* The sequel of the history will shew , however , what little reason there was for these apprehensions . During liis imprisonment in the Tower , he employed himself in drawing up several sheets of advice to an only daughter for her conduct in life , which were delivered to her a little ? * LucHow * * Memoirs . III . ' GO .
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The Nonconformist . No . XIV . 605
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VOL . XIV * 4 L
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1819, page 605, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1777/page/17/
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