y was impoverished large grants had been made to
court favourites. An outcry was raised that the king 'should live of
his own,' and ask for no more grants from his people. In =1450=
Suffolk was impeached. Though the charge brought against him was a
tissue of falsehoods, Henry did not dare to shield him entirely, and
ordered him into banishment for five years. Suffolk, indeed, embarked
for the Continent, but a large ship ranged up alongside of the vessel
in which he was. Having been dragged on board amidst cries of
"Welcome, traitor!" he was, two days afterwards, transferred to a
boat, where his head was chopped off with six strokes of a rusty
sword. His body was flung on the beach at Dover.

5. =Jack Cade's Rebellion. 1450.=--Suffolk's supporters remained in
office after his death. The men of Kent rose against them, and found a
leader in an Irish adventurer, Jack Cade, who called himself Mortimer,
and gave out that he was an illegitimate son of the late Earl of
March. He established himself on Blackheath at the head of 30,000 men,
asking that the burdens of the people should be diminished, the Crown
estates recovered, and the Duke of York recalled from Ireland to take
the place of the present councillors. Jack Cade's rebellion, in short,
unlike that of Wat Tyler, was a political, not a social movement. In
demanding that the government should be placed in the hands of the
Duke of York, Jack Cade virtually asked that the Duke should step into
the place, not of the Council, but of the King--that is to say, that a
ruler who could govern should be substituted for one who could not,
and in whose name the great families plundered England. It was this
demand which opened the long struggle which was soon to devastate the
country. At first it seemed as if Jack Cade would carry all before
him. London, which had the most to gain by the establishment of a
strong government, opened its gates to him. When, however, he was
tested by success, he was found wanting. Striking with his sword the
old Roman milestone known as London Stone, he cried out, "Now is
Mortimer lord of this city." His followers gave themselves up to wild
excesses. They beheaded Lord Say and his son-in-law, the Sheriff of
Kent, and carried about their heads on pikes. They plundered houses
and shops. The citizens who had invited them to enter now turned
against them. After a fight on London Bridge the insurgents agreed to
go home on the promise of a pardon. Jack Cade h