merits
were acknowledged by his appointment first to an informal
Secretaryship of State (Jan. 10), and then to that office fully and
formally, with charge of the foreign and domestic intelligence (Jan.
17). He was to be for the Rump government what Thurloe had been for
the Protectorate.

A good deal of the first month's business consisted in votes of
approbation for those who had been faithful during the interruption
and votes condemning the Wallingford-House "usurpers" and their acts.
Monk, of course, was the hero among the faithful. Messages of thanks
were sent to him again and again, and on the 16th of January it was
resolved to bestow on him and his heirs L1000 a year. But there were
thanks as well to Admiral Lawson, Whetham, and Fairfax; to Hasilrig,
Scott, Neville, Morley, Walton, and the other members of the Council
of State who had laboured for the good old cause in the interim; and
to Sir Hardress Waller, Sir Charles Coote, and Colonel Theophilus
Jones, for what they had done in Ireland. In the censure of
delinquents there was nothing very revengeful. The Committee of
Safety was styled "the late pretended Committee of Safety," and all
their doings were voted null; but an indemnity for life and estate
was assured to the men themselves, and to all officers who had acted
under them, on condition of present submission. This indemnity was
not so complete but that a few of the late chief's might expect some
punishment. Accordingly, on the 9th of January Vane was brought
before the House, disabled from sitting there any longer, and ordered
into private life at his estate of Raby in Durham; and on the same
day it was voted that Colonels Lambert, Desborough, Berry, Ashfield,
Kelsay, Cobbet, Barrow, Packer, and Major Creed, all of whom were
still at large, should seclude themselves in whatever houses of
theirs were farthest from London. Vane, Lambert, and the rest not
having complied sufficiently, there were subsequent votes, with
little or no effect, for apprehending and compelling them; and on the
18th of January Sydenham and Salway were added to the list of the
reproved, the former by being expelled from the House and the latter
by being suspended. Whitlocke and the Laird of Warriston, though
unanimously regarded as among the prime culprits, escaped without
punishment. Whitlocke even ventured to appear in the House, but was
received so coolly that he soon withdrew into the country, leaving
instructions to his wife t