When the wars ended, such a man found Oliver easy of approach, and he revived the demand for his “pension.” He had received his “company of horse,” and his father had pocketed £700 compensation; but, being a sturdy beggar, he got his petition referred to two leading Undertakers and friends, Lord Broghill (son of Lord Cork) and Colonel Arthur Hill. In spite of their kindliness towards him, they found his case too full of holes, and reported against it. On their advice the Cromwellian Privy Council resolved on the 25th April, 1656, that no claim for arrears of pension from the late King should be admitted. This was a courteous way of disposing of Clotworthy’s “grievance,” for they might have added that the pension was unlawful in its origin, and that both he and his father had been compensated for its loss. Yet, stale and untenable as Sir John’s pretensions were, his persistence carried the day. He stood in no awe of the Commonwealth Council; and, passing over its head, he appealed to his old friend the Protector, who called for a fresh report. This was enough. What were the terms of the report, or who made it, is unknown; but on the 13th May, 1656, Cromwell cited it as a reason for awarding compensation to Clotworthy. He surmounted the objections which subordinates had raised by basing his decision, not merely on the ground of extinguishing the “pension,” but of rewarding past services. The reward took the form of a grant to Clotworthy of a lease of Lough Neagh for 99 years. Doubtless he craved the Bann also; but that was pledged to the City of London. A Signet Letter from Cromwell (patterned on a King’s Letter) authorised an Irish Patent in Sir John’s favour, at a rent to be settled by the Commonwealth Council in Dublin. That body was composed of his own cronies; Cromwell’s son, Henry, being chief of the Executive there. Irish grants were cheaply bestowed at that epoch; and, if the Lord Protector had been minded to give anyone a lease of the whole island, at a peppercorn rent, his power to do so could not be gainsaid. Clotworthy at once journeyed to Ireland with the Signet Letter; and in July, 1656, presented it to Henry Cromwell. Instead of being content with the valuable gift he had received, he began an intrigue to enlarge it. In this he was abetted by the son of the great Puritan and his Council, who showed themselves as corrupt as the worst parasites of the murdered King. They fixed the rent on Lough Neagh at £5 per annum for the first seven years, and £6 thereafter. Then they conspired to extend the lease enormously beyond what Oliver bestowed. The men who had taken off a King’s head to found a Commonwealth, and who opened business with a psalm, leaned to all the vices which had made the monarchy of the Stuarts odious.