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As writers of propaganda, John Milton and Marchamont Nedham were not immediately answerable to the parliament which had assumed sovereignty in 1649. They wrote at the behest of its executive arm, the council of state, which also employed Milton to write and translate diplomatic correspondence. In the mid-winter of 1650–1, just before Politicus took up Milton's literary cause, a contest between John Bradshaw and Oliver Cromwell for the chancellorship of Oxford University was resolved in Cromwell's favour. The appointment was no merely ornamental one. Cromwell would make maximum use of the post to try to change the religious and political complexion of the university. If the learned Bradshaw shared Milton's views on educational reform and on the need to reform the universities, no doubt he would have done the same — but with fewer compromises with the forces of conservatism.

After 1650 Andrew Marvell put himself forward on two fronts. He was a poet, but he also aspired to a post in diplomacy or foreign affairs. In February 1653, John Milton, the now blind Latin Secretary, wrote to his and Marchamont Nedham's friend the Commonwealth's statesman John Bradshaw to ask, in vain as it turned out, for Marvell to be offered a job as his own assistant. Milton pointed to Marvell's experience of foreign travel, and his knowledge of languages. On that basis he made the audacious claim that ‘in a short time’ Marvell would be able to do ‘as good service’ for the republic as that performed by Anthony Ascham, the ambassador to Madrid. Perhaps Marvell's upbringing at the great port of Hull, which traded with northern Europe, helped to explain why he cultivated a particular interest in the affairs of those rivals for mastery of the Baltic, the Netherlands, and Sweden, the subjects of his political poetry.

This chapter treats the years of the Revolution against Great Britain and Franklin’s diplomacy in France. Although he was advanced in age and facing uncertain health, Franklin worked tirelessly to secure the Revolution. He became a much-consulted strategist for many of the decisions made by Congress. Highlights of Franklin’s activities include his propaganda writing; his work in Congress, especially serving the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence; his crucial role in diplomatic relations between France and British North America during and after the American Revolution; and his work to secure the Peace of Paris of 1783. As part of the treaty negotiations, Franklin was seeking reparations for Americans whose property was destroyed during the war. He was also working hard to assist Americans taken prisoner of war and held—in deplorable conditions—in prisons in Britain.