“For the Sake of Liberty” 1652–1654Protectorate. Colonel Robert Overton had openly declared his opposition and was
suspected of plotting an insurrection against Cromwell with his troops in Scotland;
when Milton’s tract appeared he was in London being examined about the matter,
and surely visited his friend Milton. John Bradshaw, president of the Regicide
Court, had bitterly denounced the expulsion of the Rump and had remained disaf-
fected from the Protectorate.^125 Masson suggests – rightly I think – that Milton is
discreetly advising Cromwell to conciliate and share power with men like Bradshaw
and Overton, and also advising them to make their peace with this worthy Protec-
tor and help to shape his government by participating in it.^126 Milton claims both
men as long-time personal friends: Bradshaw is “the most faithful of friends and the
most worthy of trust,” as well as the most generous and fearless of patrons; Overton
was “for many years... linked to me with a more than fraternal harmony, by
reason of the likeness of our tastes and the sweetness of your disposition” (CPW
IV.1, 638–9, 676). Milton does not mention his friend Vane whose rift with
Cromwell seemed beyond repair. He handles the requisite praise of Fairfax very
differently, as a digression within his panegyric on Cromwell and in terms that
relegate Fairfax’s splendid service as commander-in-chief of parliament’s armies
firmly to the past, avoiding any suggestion that this conservative Presbyterian should
be restored to the government.^127 Milton concludes with overt political advice in
his familiar role as adviser to the state, exhorting Cromwell to safeguard and enlarge
liberty by adopting policies he has now repudiated or retrenched: abolition of pub-
lic maintenance for ministers, removal of all coercive power over religion, and
removal of pre-publication licensing laws that restrain press freedom. And he ad-
monishes his fellow citizens most earnestly to make themselves worthy, by virtue,
love of liberty, and self-rule, to share in government and exercise their up-coming
vote wisely. Clearly, this work is not only directed to a European audience but also
to Milton’s countrymen at this climactic moment of settling the government anew.
Its argument and rhetoric are discussed on pages 307–18.
Milton sent presentation copies to several friends and acquaintances, surely in-
cluding Cromwell, selected members of the Council of State, and some of those he
had singled out for praise, though these copies have not been found.^128 Three went
to Andrew Marvell at Eton, one for Marvell himself, one for John Oxenbridge, a
fellow of Eton College with whom Marvell was then living in the capacity of tutor
to Cromwell’s protégé William Dutton, and a third to be passed along, with a
letter, to Bradshaw, who was living in the vicinity. In terms indicating his warm
admiration for Milton, Marvell’s letter of June 2 reports on his visit to Bradshaw to
fulfill that charge. Bradshaw did not open Milton’s letter in Marvell’s presence
because, Marvell speculates, he may have thought it contained another recommen-
dation for Marvell like the one Milton had addressed to him before.^129 But Bradshaw
displayed “all Respect” to Milton and showed as much satisfaction in the book as a
cursory examination and Marvell’s account of it would allow for. Expressing great
gratitude for his own copy, Marvell promises to “studie it even to the getting of it