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THURLOE, JOHN, who held the office of secretary of 

 state during the Commonwealth, was born in 1616, at 

 Abbots Roding, in Essex, of which place his father, the 

 Rev. Thomas Thurloe, was rector. He was designed for 

 the profession of the law. Through the interest of Oliver 

 St. John, who was his patron through life, he was ap- 

 pointed, in 1045, one of the secretaries to the parliament 

 commissioners for conducting the treaty of Uxbridge. He 

 was called to the bar after this, in 1647, by the society of 

 Lincoln's Inn; and in March, 1048, he received the 

 appointment of receiver or clerk of the cursitors' fines, 

 ' worth at least 350/. per annum,' says Whitelocke; ' and 

 m this place was Mr. Thurloe sen-ant to Mr. Solicitor St. 

 John.' (Afrmoriafx, p. 296.) 



Thurloe has left behind him a distinct denial of know- 

 ledge of or participation in King Charles's death, which 

 took place, as is well known, in January, 1649. Writing 

 to Sir Harbottle Grimston for the purpose of contradicting 

 reports that St. John had been Cromwell's counsellor on 

 that and on other occasions, and ' that I was the medium 

 or hand between them by which their counsels were com- 

 municated to each other,' he says, ' I was altogether a 

 stranger to that fact and to all" the counsels about it, 

 having not had the least communication with any person 

 whatsoever therein.' (Thurloe's State Papers, vol. vii., 

 p. 014. ) It was very unlikely that a person in Thurloe's 

 subordinate position at that "time should have been con- 

 .-ulted ; and if it were :i question of any importance whe- 

 ther he approved of the king's death or not, his subse- 

 quent continual identification with the authors of that 

 event is more than sufficient to fix him with responsibility. 



On the llth of February, 1650, Thurloe was appointed 

 one of the officers of the treasury of the Company of un- 

 dertakers for draining Bedford Level, a new effort to drain 

 this tract of country having been set on foot the year 

 before. [BEDFORD LEVEL.] In a letter from St. John to 

 Thurloe, dated April 13, 1652 (Staff Papers, vol. i., p. 

 3)."; . which is interesting as showing the terms on which 

 Thurloe and St. John were, we find that Thurloe was then 

 on-an official tour of inspection : ' Now you are upon the 

 place, it would be well to see all the works on the north 

 of Bedford river to be begun. Pray by the next let me 

 know whether Bedford river be finished as to the bottom- 

 ing.' In the same letter are directions from St. John, now 

 lord-chief-justice, for the purchase of a place for him in 

 the neighbourhood of London, from which it would appear 

 that Thurloe v.as in the habit of managing St. John's 

 private affairs for him. The same letter contains St. John's 

 congratulations to Thurloe on his appointment as secretary 

 to I tie council of state, which appointment had just taken 

 place : ' I hear from Sir Hen. Vaync, and otherwise, of 

 your election into Mr. Frost's place, with the circumstances. 

 God forbid I should in the least repine at any his works of 

 , ulence, much more at those relating to your own good, 

 and the sood of many. No, I bless him. As soon as I 

 heard the news, in what concerned you, I rejoiced in it 

 upon those grounds. No, go on and prosper: let not 

 your hands faint : wait, upon Him in his ways, and he that 

 'hath called you will cause his presence and blessing to go 

 along with \ <).' In the course of the previous year, 1651, 

 Thurloe had" been to the Hague, as secretary to St. John and 

 Strickland, ambassadors t o the states of the United Provinces. 



When Cromwell assumed the Protectorship, in Decem- 

 ber, 1653, Thurloe was appointed his secretary of state. 

 In consequence of his attaining to this distinction, he was, 

 in the February succeeding, elected a bencher of the 

 society of Lincoln's Inn. Thurloe was elected member for 

 the Isle of Ely in Cromwell's second parliament, called in 

 June, 1634, and framed on the model prescribed by the 

 Instrument of Government. He was re-elected for the Isle 

 of F.ly in the next parliament, called in September, 1056. 

 Cromwell obtained from this parliament an act settling 

 the office of post of letters, both inland and foreign, in 

 ;>>r ever, and granting power to the Protector to 

 for eleven years at such rent as he should judge 

 .nable ; and it was let by him to Thurloe, at a rent of 

 4000'. a veur, as we learn from a memorandum drawn up 

 by him wh-ii the Rump Parliament had cancelled the 

 mint. (I /-., vol. vii., p. 788.) It, is to be in- 



ferred (hut he made much profit, by this farming ol the 

 postage. The salary of hi- ->!' (lt ' state W!ls ***>' 



a year. He is d-srribi-d in a ' Narrative of the Late Par- 

 liament,' reprinted in the ' Hnrleian Miscellany' vol. m., 



p. 453), as ' secretary of state and chief postmaster of Eng- 

 land, places of a vast income. 



There is the following entry in Whitelocke's ' Memorials,' 

 under the date of April 9, 1657 : ' A plot discovered by 

 the vigilancy of Thurloe, of an intended insurrection by 

 Major-General Harrison and many of the Fifth-Monarchy 

 men ' (p. 655). Thurloe afterwards, by Cromwell's desire, 

 reported on the subject of this plot to the parliament, 

 and received in his place the thanks of the house, through 

 the Speaker, for his detection of the plot, and ' for the 

 great services done by him to the commonwealth and to 

 the parliament, both m this and many other particulars.' 

 On the 13th July, 1657, he was sworn one of the privy 

 council to the Protector, appointed in accordance with 

 the 'Humble Petition and Advice.' Honours now came 

 thick upon him. In the year 1658 he was elected one pf 

 the governors of the Charter-House and chancellor of the 

 university of Glasgow. 



In September, 1658, Cromwell died, and his son Richard 

 was proclaimed in his stead. In the parliament that was 

 called in December, Thurloe was solicited to sit ibrTewks- 

 bury, in a letter which is worth extracting, as showing his 

 estimation and position at this time, and the spirit of con- 

 stituencies :' Noble Sir, We understand that you are 

 pleased so much to honour this poor corporation as to 

 accept of our free and unanimous electing you one of our 

 burgesses in the next parliament, and to sit a member for 

 this place. Sir, we are so sensible of the greatness of the 

 obligation, that we know not by what expressions suffi- 

 ciently to demonstrate our acknowledgments; only at 

 present we beseech you to accept of this for an earnest, 

 that whomsoever you shall think worthy to be your part- 

 ner shall have the second election ; and our zeal and 

 hearty affections to serve and honour you whilst we are, 

 as we shall ever strive to be, Sir, your most humble and 

 obliged servants,' &c. : signed by the bailiffs and justices of 

 Tewksbury. (State Papers, vol. vii., p. 572.) He was not 

 after all chosen for Tewksbury. He was elected for Wis- 

 bech, Huntingdon, and the university of Cambridge. His 

 election for the last was communicated to him in a letter 

 from the celebrated Dr. Cuclworth, who wrote to him in 

 this strain : ' We being all very glad that there was a per- 

 son of so much worth and so good a friend to the university 

 and learning as yourself, whom we might betrust with the 

 care of our privileges and concernments.' (Stata Papers, 

 vol. vii., p. 587.) Thurloe made his election to sit for the 

 university of Cambridge. . 



The meeting of this parliament was the beginning of 

 discontents and of Richard Cromwell's fall. We find 

 Thurloe, in a letter to Henry Cromwell, viewing the com- 

 plaints of the army and of the opposition in parliament as 

 pointed principally against himself, and stating that he 

 had asked the Protector's permission to retire from his 

 office ' I trust,' he adds, ' other honest men will have 

 their opportunity, and may do the same thing with myseli 

 with better acceptance, having not been engaged in many 

 particulars, as I have, in your father's lifetime, which must 

 be the true reason of these stirrings ; for they were a 1 set 

 on foot before his now highness had done or refused one 

 single thing, or had received any advice from any one 

 perlon whatsoever.' Thurloe remained however secretary 

 of state. It was one of the objects set before themselves 

 by the royalists in this parliament, who, by uniting with 

 the republican party, formed a most troublesome oppo- 



tion to Richard Cromwell's government, to impeach 

 Thmloe but this object was yet undeveloped when the 

 parliament was dissolved. Thurloe appears to have given 

 Ftrong counsel against the dissolution.* . The immediate 

 consequence of the dissolution was the summoning by 

 Fleetwood and the council of officers, of the Rump of the 

 Long Parliament, and Richard Cromwell's deposition. 



. 

 One of the mmiy h..n-st men v.ns ,loubtlcs 



Thurloe. 



at . ne 

 Clarendon's Stute Vapet.,' Tol. in., pp. 60. 



