C H A R L E S I. 26z

new-invented limitations be able totally to sup- cpress an authority, to which the nation had everbeen accustomed. The sword alone, to whichall human ordinances must submit, could guardtheir acquired power, and fully ensure tq thempersonal safety against the rising indignation oftheir sovereign. This pojnt, therefore, becamethe chief object of their aims. A large magazineof arms being placed, in. the town^ of Hull, theydispatched thither Sir John Hotham , a gentlemanof considerable fortune in the neighbourhood ,and of an ancient family; and they' ‘^tive him theauthority of governor. They seik ^dfiders toGoring, governor ofTortsmouth , ^ ^bey nocommands but such as he should re^eivAfrom theparliament. Not content with haVingJ'obliged theking to displace Luhjssord, whorti he had ap-pointed governor of tste Tower ", thdy neverceased soliciting him j , till he had also displacedSir John Biron , a man of unexceptionable charac-ter, and had bestowed t^Ka^ cOrpm&nd'6n Sir JohnConyers, in whom alpne 1 , they said, they couldrepose confidence. After. making a fruitless at-tempt, in which the peers refused their concur-rence , to give public warning, that the peopleshould put themselves in a posture" of defenceagainst the enterprises of papists and other ill-offcclcdpersons 94 , they now resolved, bv h bold anddecisive stroke , to seize at once the tVhole power.

*’ Rushworth, vol. v. p. 4^9.94 Nelson, vol. ii. p. 8so.

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H A P.LV.1615 .