man troops as well, who were untouched by the
national sympathies, and in the rebels combated only the enemies of
Protestantism. The government obtained a complete victory.

The insurrectionary movement was suppressed, but it once more produced
a violent reaction in home affairs, by which this time the head of the
government was himself struck down.[144] Among English statesmen there
is none who had a more vivid idea of the monarchical power than the
Protector Somerset. He started from the view that religious and
political authority were united in the hand of the anointed King in
virtue of his divine right. The prayer which he daily addressed to God
is still extant; it is full of the feeling that to himself, as the
representative and guardian of the King, not only his guidance but
also the direction of all affairs is entrusted. Such was also the view
of the young sovereign himself. In one of his letters he thanks the
Protector for taking this employment on him, and for trying to bring
his State to its lawful obedience, the country to acknowledge the true
religion, and the Scots to submission. Somerset did not think himself
bound by the opinion of the Privy Council, since with him, and with no
other, lay the responsibility for the administration of the State. He
held it to be within his competence to remove at pleasure those of its
members who showed themselves adverse to him. He too had that jealousy
of power, which always directs itself against those who stand nearest
to it. There is no doubt that his brother, Thomas Lord Seymour,
impelled by a restless ambition, hoped to overthrow the existing
government and put himself in possession of the highest place, and
committed manifold illegal acts; he--the Lord Admiral of the
realm--even entered into alliance with the pirates in the
Channel.[145] But despite this it was thought at the time very severe
when the Protector gave his word that the vengeance of the law should
be executed on his brother. His reason was that Lord Seymour would not
submit to sue in person for mercy to him the injured party and
possessor of power. Such were these men, these brothers. The one died
rather than pray for mercy: the other made the bestowal of it depend
on this prayer, this confession of his supreme authority.[146] The
Protector took all affairs, home and foreign, exclusively into his own
hand. Without asking any one, he filled up the ministerial and civil
posts: to the foreign ambassadors