Exasperated at his own mistake, disappointed at the interference with his plans which he foresaw must flow from the confusion, Somerset, when Sir Peter arrived, overwhelmed him with reproaches. Carew's violence, the Protector chose to think, had changed a riot into a rebellion, and Carew only was to blame. Sir Peter produced his orders, which it appears had been signed by Edward. The chancellor said a royal command was valueless without the great seal; the rest of the council stood by their own act, and high language was used on all sides. The Protector had considered himself a king all but in name;[1] but his royalty was a child of sunshine, and shade was fatal to it. It soon enough became clear that the causes of the rebellion lay deeper than the mistake of a single person. Posts came in one after the other with news that all England was stirring. Yorkshire was up; Northamptonshire was up; Norfolk and Suffolk were up. Peter Martyr and the Oxford controversy had set on fire Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. The enclosures, the high prices, the change in religion, worked one upon the other, and the Protector found that he either must relinquish the Reformation, or lose the title of the people's friend. The many grievances were massed together inseparably; and the army of foreign mercenaries, which he had collected for the invasion of
- ↑ Paget to the Protector: MS. Domestic, vol. viii. Edward VI. It is noticeable that in the preamble of a private Act passed in the late session, referring to the demise of certain of his lands, the Protector styles himself 'The Right Excellent Prince Edward, Duke of Somers.'—2 and 3 Edward VI. cap. 12.
