VANE, Sir HENRY (Harry) (1613 62). An English statesman. lie was the son of Sir Henry Vane, a statesman of the reign of Charles I. Ile studied at Magdalen ibcll, Oxford, but never matriculated, bevause lie refused to take the oath of allegiance and supremacy. At an early age he became a Puritan, and embraced inde pendent principles in religion and republican principles in politics. In 1635 lie sailed for New England. Ile was soon after elected Governor of Massachusetts. but, having quarreled with the leaders of the colony, returned to Englaml in 107. Through his father's intenet he was ap pointed treasurer of the navy, and entered Parlia ment in 1640. He immediately joined Pym and the other Parliamentary leaders in their opposi tion to Charles 1., and was one of the originators of the 'Root and Branch' Bill for the total aboli tion of episcopacy. After the death of Pym in 1643, Vane became the leader of the House of Commons, which power he retained until 1646. lie was a member of the Westminster Assembly; was the chief instrument in carrying the Self Denying Ordinance (1644) ; carried to the House • of Lords the articles of impeachment against Archbishop Laud ; and was one of the commis sioners at the Treaties of Uxbridge (1644-45) and the Isle of Wight (1648). But he was too strict a Parliamentarian to view with satisfac tion the increasing power of Cromwell and the army. He labored for an accommodation with
the King, and after Pride's Purge refused to it in Parliament, taking no part in the execution of the King. On the establishment of a Com monwealth, however, in February, 1649, he was appointed one of the Council of State and was one of its most active and efficient members. After the expulsion of the Rump in 1653, he broke definitely with Cromwell and withdrew from public affairs. lu 1656 Vane wrote a book, en titled A Healing Question Propounded and Re soired, which was so hostile to Cromwell's Pro tectorate, that the author was imprisoned in Carisbrooke Castle, Isle of Wight. He was re leased after a detention of four months, and attempts were made by Cromwell to win him over, but Vane was inflexible, and during the rule of the great Protector and his son Richard he maintained an attitude of sullen discontent. When the Restoration took place. Vane was one of the twenty persons excluded from the general pardon; and in July, 1660, he was committed to the Tower. On June 2, 1662, he was arraigned and indicted for high treason before the Middle sex grand jury, found guilty, and on the 14th was beheaded on Tower There are Lives of Vane by (New York, 1860) and llosmer (Boston, 1888).