At length, without distinct leave, but trusting to a written engagement Fleetwood had given him, he ventured on the passage; and on Dec.

12, 1655, after the experience of a most stormy sea, he had that of a more stormy interview with the Protector and some of his Council at Whitehall.
Cromwell rated him roundly for his past behaviour generally and for his return without leave, and demanded his _parole_ of submission to the established Government for the future.

Some kind of _parole_ Ludlow was willing to give, declaring that he saw no immediate chance of a subversion of the Government and knew of no design for that end, but refusing to tie his hands "if Providence _should_ offer an occasion." With that Cromwell, who had begun to "carry himself more calmly" towards the end of the interview, was obliged to be content.

He became quite civil to Ludlow, saying he "wished him as well as he did any of his Council," and desiring him to make "choice of some place to live in where he might have good air." Ludlow retired into Essex[1].
[Footnote 1: Ludlow's Memoirs, 481-557; Carlyle, III.

136.] THE COLONIES.
With the exception of a factory of the London East India Company, which had been established at _Surat_ on the west coast of Hindostan in 1612, and a settlement on the _Gambia_ on the western coast of Africa, dating from 1631, all the considerable Colonies of England in 1656 were American:--I.