Oliver Cromwell | Page 4

you are going to stand out for the people to-morrow.
Cromwell: Well?
Seth: Treason, they call it.
Cromwell: Treason.
Seth: Seeing that my Lord of Bedford has the King's authority, as it were.
Cromwell: Thank you, Seth.
Seth: They were coming here, they said. To warn you, and persuade you against it if it might be.
Cromwell: Thank you, Seth.
Seth (to HAMPDEN): If I might be so bold, sir?
Hampden: What, my friend?
Seth: That was a brave thing to do, sir, that about the ship money. We common folk know what it means. I'm sure we thank you with all our hearts.
Hampden: I don't know about brave, but I know it is good to be thanked like that.
Seth: Yes, sir. That's all. Good-even, sir; good-even, mistress.
(He is moving away as two of BEDFORD'S agents appear at the window, followed by the other labourers, who have returned with them.)
First Agent: Is this Mr. Oliver Cromwell's?
Cromwell: It is.
Mrs. Cromwell: The door is along there, to the right.
Cromwell: It's no matter, mother. What do you want?
First Agent: To see Mr. Cromwell.
Cromwell: You are speaking to him.
Second Agent: May we come in?
Cromwell: Why, yes.
(They do so. The labourers gather round the window again. They follow the coming argument with close personal concern.)
Second Agent: May we speak with you alone?
Cromwell: These are all my friends. I have nothing to say that I would not have them hear.
First Agent: It is discretion for your sake.
Cromwell: I do not desire your interest. What have you to say?
Second Agent: It is said that you will oppose the proclamation to-morrow.
Cromwell: Assuredly.
Second Agent: The Earl of Bedford and those with him have not drained these commons for nothing.
Cromwell: Well?
Second Agent: They have earned the rights to be proclaimed to-morrow.
Cromwell: By whose will?
First Agent: By the King's.
Cromwell: These rights of pasture belong to the people. It is within no man's powers to take them away.
Second Agent: The King decrees it.
Cromwell: I know not how that may be. I know that these rights are the people's, above any earl or king whatsoever. The King is to defend our rights, not to destroy them.
First Agent: This is plain treason.
Cromwell: It is plain sense.
Second Agent: What will you do?
Cromwell: To-morrow you will proclaim these rights from the people to my lord of Bedford. To-morrow I shall tell the people that I alone, if needs be, will oppose it. I will fight it from court to court. I will make these rights my rights--as they are. These people of Ely shall speak through me. They shall pay me a groat a year for each head of cattle they graze, and they shall enjoy every foot of the land as long as I have a word or a pound left for resistance.
Second Agent: You are very arrogant, Mr. Cromwell. There are lessons to be learnt.
Cromwell: Aye, there are lessons. I do not speak to you, but to your master--to the King himself if it comes to that. You may tell him all that I have said. We folk of Ely will use our own commons, and let the Earl of Bedford keep within his own palings. There are lessons, say you. This is Mr. John Hampden. Will you speak to him of lessons? Mr. Hampden's ship money will be a King's lesson, I tell you.
Hampden: You should tell your masters all that you see and hear. Do not flatter them. Let it be the truth. Say that men talk everywhere, more and more openly. Tell them that you heard John Hampden say that the King's Star Chamber was an abomination, that the King soiled his majesty in treating Mr. Prynne and Mr. Bastwick so. Say that you and your like are reviled by all honest men.
Ireton: And you can say that it is no fear of earls or kings that spared you the whipping you would deserve if you were better than shadows.
Bridget: Well said, Mr. Ireton.
(There is a demonstration of anger from the labourers, but CROMWELL checks it.)
Mrs. Cromwell: Now, Henry Ireton, these gentlemen may be bears, but I won't have you make this room into a bear-pit.
Cromwell: No, friends, these men say but what they are sent to say. (To the agents.) I should not speak to you but in the hope that you will report it to those that should know. I am a plain burgess of this city. I farm a few lands and am known to none. But I have a faith that the people of this country are born to be, under God, a free people. That is the fundamental principle of this English life, If your masters, be they who they may, forget that, then, as you say, there will be lessons to be learnt. Here in Ely it is my part to see that my fellows do not lose their birthright. You shall not find us