laring that he saw no
immediate chance of a subversion of the Government and knew of no
design for that end, but refusing to tie his hands "if Providence
_should_ offer an occasion." With that Cromwell, who had begun
to "carry himself more calmly" towards the end of the interview, was
obliged to be content. He became quite civil to Ludlow, saying he
"wished him as well as he did any of his Council," and desiring him
to make "choice of some place to live in where he might have good
air." Ludlow retired into Essex[1].

[Footnote 1: Ludlow's Memoirs, 481-557; Carlyle, III. 136.]

THE COLONIES.

With the exception of a factory of the London East India Company,
which had been established at _Surat_ on the west coast of
Hindostan in 1612, and a settlement on the _Gambia_ on the
western coast of Africa, dating from 1631, all the considerable
Colonies of England in 1656 were American:--I. NEW ENGLAND. The four
chief New England Colonies, _Plymouth_, _Massachusetts_,
_Connecticut_, and _New Haven_, confederated since 1643,
together with the outlying Plantations of _Providence_ and
_Rhode-Island_, &c., still belonged politically to the
mother-country; and through Cromwell's Protectorate, as before, the
connexion had been signified by references of various subjects to the
Home-Government, discussions of these by that Government, and orders
and advices transmitted in return. In the main, however, the Colonies
remained independent, each with its annually elected Governor, and
the Confederacy with its annually elected Board of Commissioners
besides; and, while professing high admiration of Cromwell and
approval generally of his rule, they were not troubled with questions
of rule seriously affecting their own interests. The war with the
Dutch did for some time involve them in inconveniences with their
Dutch neighbours; but their dissensions were chiefly with each other,
or domestically within each colony. The harsh proceedings in
Massachusetts and elsewhere against Baptists and other Sectaries gave
some colour to Roger Williams's assertion that, in the matter of
religious toleration, New England was becoming old while Old England
was becoming new; and, as soon as Quakerism had broken out in New
England and Quakers had appeared there (1656), it became evident that
there would be even less mercy for that sect in New England than on
the other side of the Atlantic. Nevertheless, with their zealous
Puritanism, their energy and industr