At first he was received with coldness; but the news from
Hispaniola established his credit; the value of his information was now
acknowledged; he obtained the sum of forty thousand crowns for the use of
his party, and an assurance was given that, as soon as they should be in
possession of the port which he had named, six thousand men should sail[b]
from Flanders to their assistance. Sexby returned to Antwerp, transmitted
several large sums to his adherents, and, though Cromwell at length
obtained information of the intrigue, though the last remittance of eight
hundred pounds had been seized, the intrepid Leveller crossed over[c] to
England, made his arrangements with his associates, and returned[d] in
safety to the continent.[1]
[Footnote 1: Clarend. Pap. iii. 271, 272, 274, 277, 281, 285. Thurloe, iv.
698; v. 37, 100, 319, 349; vi. 829-833. Carte's Letters, ii. 85, 103.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1655. June.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1656. Jan.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1656. June.]
[Sidenote d: A.D. 1656. August.]
It now became the object of the Spanish ministers, who had, at last,
accepted[a] the offer of Charles, to effect an union between him and Sexby,
that, by the co-operation of the Levellers with the royalists, the common
enemy might more easily be subdued.
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