The
people, taking up the affair as a national quarrel, loudly demanded the
blood of the reputed murderers. On behalf of Pantaleon it was argued: 1.
That he was an ambassador, and therefore answerable to no one but his
master; 2. That he was a person attached to the embassy, and therefore
covered by the privilege of his principal. But the
[Footnote 1: Cromwell did not give credit to the plots for murdering
him.--Thurloe, ii. 512, 533. Clarendon writes thus on the subject to his
friend Nicholas: "I do assure you upon my credit, I do not know, and upon
my confidence, the king does not, of any such design. Many wild, foolish
persons propose wild things to the king, which he civilly discountenances,
and then they and their friends brag what they hear, or could do; and, no
doubt, in some such noble rage that hath now fallen out which they talk so
much of at London, and by which many honest men are in prison, of which
whole matter the king knows no more than secretary Nicholas doth."--Clar.
Papers, iii. 247. See, however, the account of Sexby's plot in the next
chapter.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1653. Nov. 21.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1653. Nov. 22.]
instrument which he produced in proof of the first allegation was no more
than a written promise that he should succeed his brother in-office; and
in reply to the second, it was maintained[a] that the privilege of an
ambassador, whatever it might be, was personal, and did not extend to
the individuals in his suite.
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