h^::. ^ I ,t 'it, 7V-VK?"''>V' 'a\ :^ . HISTORY OF IIICHARD CROMWELL AND THE RESTORATION OF CHARLES 11. -HISTORY RICHARD CROMWELL AND THE RESTORATION OF CHARLES II, BY M. GUIZOT. TEANSLATED BY ANDREW E. SCOBLE. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON : RICHARD BENTLEY, Pufaligjjer in ©rtimars to fjet JEajegtg. MDCCCLVI. ^ / % ^^^ <> pO" PBINTBD BY JOHN BDWAKD TATLOB, LITTLE QUEBN 8TBKKT, I,IKCOLK*S ISV IIBLDS. PREFACE In publishing the present History of the Protectorate of Richard Cromwell and of the Restoration of Charles II., which forms the third part of my History of the English Revolution, I should not consider it necessary to make any prefatory observations, if I were not anxious to give a short explanation with regard to the Historical Docu- ments which are appended to it. These documents are numerous. I have collected, and I might have published, many others which w^ould not have been wanting in interest. My reason for publish- ing all those which accompany these volumes, and those only, is the following : — When an author has carefully studied a great histo- rical drama, in the national annals and archives, there still remains one important witness for him to examine, — the public who looked on, without taking part in the action. This public consists of those governments and peoples which are at once foreigners and neighbours, — 321951 11 PREFACE. curious spectators, though with no passionate or all- absorbing interest in the events which are occurring near to them, but not among them, beneath theii* eyes, but not by their hands ; too closely connected with the actors to be indifferent to the performance, and yet suffi- ciently separated from them to be able to observe it with freedom and impartiality of mind. It is chiefly in the correspondence of diplomatic agents that this evidence is to be found ; it was their special mission to watch closely, and to obtain accurate information ; they wrote, without fear or restraint, all that they had seen, learned, and thought. Their narratives fiu^nish the indispensable complement, and the best check, to national documents. In regard to all that has occurred in Europe during the last three centuries, no history can be definitive unless it has been subjected to this test, and has borrowed from this soiu'ce. During the Commonwealth, and under the government of Cromwell, France and Spain contended, in London, for the alliance of England. In my previous volumes, I have published the letters of their ambassadors at this period, — M. de Bordeaux and Don Alonzo de Cardenas. Under the Protectorate of Richard Cromwell, and du- ring the republican anarchy which preceded the recall of the Stuarts, France alone was represented in London ; Spain, at war with England, no longer had a minister in PREFACE. HI that capital. I now publish the correspondence of M. cle Bordeaux with Cardinal Mazarin and M. de Brienne during that interval. I have added eight letters ad- dressed by Mazarin to Bordeaux, soon after the death of Cromwell, in which the Cardinal's personal policy is clearly developed. I have also found some documents among the Spanish correspondence between Brussels and Madrid, at the time when the restoration of the Stuarts was close at hand, which throw great light on the posi- tion and intentions of the Court of Spain in its relations with England and her King ; these papers I have added to the despatches of Bordeaux and Mazarin. I have thus placed, during the whole of this period, and almost day by day, the reports of the French and Spanish di- plomatic agents in juxtaposition with the English narra- tives. I have confined the historical documents which I pubUsh within these limits. I have given enough, I think, to complete and elucidate the history. I do not think I have given too much. GUIZOT. Paris, March 2 i, \S5G. CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. BOOK I. PAOB Condition of Parties in England 2 Accession of Richard Cromwell 3 His Character 5 Attitude of the Continental Powers 6 Hopes of the Royalists 7 First Symptoms of Discord 13 Cautious Demeanour of Monk 15 Pretensions of the Army 17 Difficulties of raising Money 20 The War in the north of Europe 23 Disquietude of Richard's partizans 27 Convocation of a Parliament 32 Character of the Elections ...*... 33 Conduct of the Royalists • . 36 Opening of the Parliament 39 Debate on the Oath of Fidelity 44 On the Recognition of the Protector 47 State of Parties 50 Debate on the Other House 60 On Foreign Affairs 77 On the Finances 84 On Oliver Cromwell's tyrannical Acts 89 Case of Major-General Overton 91 Case of Rowland Thomas 95 Case of Major-General Butler 100 Popularity of Richard Cromwell 105 Discontent of the Army ' . . 112 Yl CONTENTS. PAGB The General Council of Officers 113 Their Humble Representation and Petition .... 115 Alarm of the Parliament 117 Dissolution of the Council of Officers 120 Proposals of Lord Broghill 121 Irresolution of Richard 123 Secession of the Army 125 Dissolution of the Parliament 127 BOOK II. Embarrassment of the Officers 130 Position of the Protector 131 Recall of the Long Parliament 134 Exclusion of the Presbyterians 138 Intrigues of the Royalists with the Cromwellians . . . 141 Petition of the Officers 148 Policy of the Parliament 150 Organization of its Government 151 Its Financial Difficulties 153 Its behaviour towards the Army 162 Its Foreign Policy 165 Its conduct to the sons of Cromwell 173 Monk declares in its favour 178 Thurloe and St. John 181 Outbreak of dissensions 183 Sir Harry Yane and the Sectaries 185 State of the Royalist Party . 186 Its new Elements 187 Views of Charles n 189 Sir Edward Hyde 190 Intrigues of the Catholics . . 192 Royalist Plot in England 195 Treachery of Sir Richard Willis 198 Offers of Conde and Turenne 202 Insurrection of Sir George Booth 204 His defeat by Lambert 207 Charles II. at Fontarabia . . . . . . . . 212 Position of the Republican Parliament 215 Intrigues of Lambert against it 217 Outbreak of the quarrel ........ 219 Lambert's dismissal by the Parliament . . . ... 223 Lambert expels the Parliament 226 CONTENTS. vu ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. BOOK I. PAGB 1. M. de Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin, September 15, 1658 . 231 2. The same to the same, September 28, 1658 .... 233 3. The same to the same, September 29, 1658 .... 237 4. The same to the same, September 30, 1658 .... 239 5. The same to the same, October 3, 1658 .... 240 6. The same to the same, October 10, 1658 .... 242 7. The same to the same, October 17, 1658 .... 244 8. The same to the same, October 24, 1658 .... 245 9. The same to the same, October 31, 1658 .... 247 10. The same to the same, November 11, 1658 .... 249 11. The same to the same, November 18, 1658 .... 252 12. The same to M. de Brienne, November 27, 1658 . . 254 13. The same to Cardinal Mazarin, December 2, 1658 . . 260 14. The same to M. de Brienne, December 2, 1658 . . . 262 15. The same to Cardinal Mazarin, December 9, 1658 . . 266 16. The same to M. de Brienne, December 9, 1658 . . .266 17. The same to Cardinal Mazarin, December 16, 1658 . . 270 18. The same to M. de Brienne, December 16, 1658 . . 271 19. The same to Cardinal Mazarin, December 23, 1658 . . 274 20. The same to M. de Brienne, December 23, 1658 . . 275 21. The same to Cardinal Mazarin, January 16, 1659 . . 278 22. The same to the same, January 30, 1659 .... 286 23. The same to the same, February 3-6, 1659 . . .287 24. The same to the same, February 10, 1659 . . . .295 25. The same to the same, February 13, 1659 .... 296 26. The same to the same, February 20, 1659 . . . . 300 27. The same to the same, February 24, 1659 . . . .303 28. The same to the same, February 27, 1659 .... 306 29. The same to the same, March 6, 1659 . . . .312 30. The same to the same, March 7, 1659 . . . .317 31. The same to the same, March 10, 1659 . . . .321 32. The same to the same, March 13, 1659 .... 324 33. The same to the same, March 17, 1659 . . . .331 34. The same to the same, March 20, 1659 .... 334 35. The same to the same, March 27-31, 1659 . . . .337 36. The same to the same, April 10, 1659 . . . .346 37. Colonel Talbot to Colonel Preston, April 12, 1659 . . 348 38. M. Du Bosc to Cardinal Mazarin, April 15, 1659 . . 349 39. M. de Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin, April 17, 1659 . . 350 40. The same to the same, April 21, 1659 352 41. The same to the same; April 24, 1659 361 VIU CONTENTS. 42. The same to the same, April 28, 1659 43. The same to the same, May 1, 1659 44. The same to the same. May 5, 1659 PAOB 363 366 370 BOOK II. 45. M. de Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin, May 12, 1659 . . 376 46. The same to the same, May 15, 1659 381 47. The same to the same. May 26, 1659 382 48. The same to the same. May 29, 1659 389 49. The same to the same, June 2, 1659 393 50. Tlie same to the same, June 5, 1659 398 51. The same to the same, June 16, 1659 402 52. The same to M. de Brienne, June 16, 1659 .... 405 53. The same to Cardinal Mazarin, June 26, 1659 . . . 409 54. The same to M. de Brienne, July 7, 1659 .... 414 55. The same to the same, July 10, 1659 421 56. The same to Cardinal Mazarin, July 17, 1659 . . . 425 57. The same to M. de Brienne, July 17, 1659 .... 428 58. The same to Cardinal Mazarin, July 29, 1659 ... 433 59. The same to M. de Brienne, July 31, 1659 . . . .435 60. The same to Cardinal Mazarin, August 7, 1659 . . . 440 61. The same to the same, August 11, 1659 .... 444 62. The same to the same, August 14, 1659 .... 447 63. The same to the same, August 18, 1659 .... 449 64. The same to M. de Brienne, August 18, 1659 ... 452 65. The same to Cardinal Mazarin, August 25, 1659 . . 452 66. The same to the same, August 31, 1659 .... 455 67. The same to the same, September 1, 1659 .... 459 68. The same to the same, September 4, 1659 .... 462 69. The same to the same, September 11, 1659 .... 466 70. The same to the same, September 27, 1659 .... 469 71. Abbe Montague to Cardinal Mazarin, September 28, 1659 . 471 72. M. de Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin, September 29, 1659 . 471 73. The same to the same, September 29, 1659 .... 475 74. The same to the same, October 6, 1659 .... 479 75. The same to M. de Brienne, October 6, 1659 . . . 480 76. The same to Cardinal Mazai-in, October 13, 1659 . . 485 77. The same to M. de Brienne, October 13, 1659 ... 487 78. The same to Cardinal Mazarin, October 20, 1659 . . 192 HISTORY OP RICHARD CROMWELL AND THE RESTORATION. BOOK I. ACCESSION OF EICHAED CBOMWELL TO THE PBOTECTOEATE. — ATTITUDE OF THE CONTINENTAL POWEES TOWAEDS HIS GOVEENMENT. — FIEST SYMPTOMS OF DISCOED BETWEEN THE AEMY AND THE PEOTECTOE. — monk's cautious BEHAVIOUE. — DISQUIETUDE OP EICHAED's PAE- TISANS. — CONVOCATION OF A PAELIAMENT. — CHABACTEB OF THE ELECTIONS. — CONDUCT OF THE EOYALISTS. — OPENING OF THE PAE- LIAMENT. — STATE OF PABTIES. — DEBATES ON THE EECOGNITION OF THE PEOTECTOE : ON THE OTHEE HOUSE : ON FOEEIGN AFFAIES : ON THE FINANCES : ON THE AEBITEAEY ACTS OF OLITEE CBOM- WELL AND HIS AGENTS. — THE PAELIAMENT QUAEEELS WITH THE AEMY. — PEEPLEXITY OF EICHAED. — THE GENEBAL COUNCIL eP OF- FICEES FOECES THE PEOTECTOE, AGAINST HIS WILL, TO DISSOLVE THE PAELIAMENT. When revolutions are verging towards their decline, it is a melancholy but most instructive study to watch the disappointment and anguish of those men who have long been powerful and triumphant, but have at length reached the period when, in just retribution of their faults, their dominion escapes from their grasp, leaving them still subject to the sway of their uncnhghtcned and VOL. 1. B 2 KiCHAliD CROMWELL AND invincible obstinacy. Not only are they divided among themselves, like all rivals who have once been accom- plices, but they are detested as oppressors and decried as visionaries by the nation ; and, stricken at once with powerlessness and bitter surprise, they burn with indig- nation against their country, which they accuse of cow- ardice and ingratitude, and struggle vainly beneath the hand of God, whose chastisements they are unable to understand. Such, after the death of Cromwell, was the condition of all those parties which, since the execution of Charles L, had been contending for the government of England as established by the Revolution : Republi- cans and partisans of the Protector, Parliamentarians and soldiers, fanatics and political intriguers, — all, whether sincere or corrupt, were involved in the same fate. At the first moment, when Cromwell was but just ex- pired, under the impressive influence of a death so im- portant, and from a conviction of the perils which w^ould follow it, all dissensions were suspended : a prompt and unanimous resolution was adopted. Had Cromwell, in virtue of the power vested in him by the Instrument of Government, appointed his successor? On this point there was some room for doubt. His family and most intimate advisers declared that, during the night which preceded his death, in the presence of four or five of them, he had named his son Richard ; but there was no authentic document, signed by the Protector, to confirm this declaration. On the other hand, there was an ac- credited report that, more than a year previously, he had executed a secret deed, in favour, it was said, of his son-in-law, Fleetwood. This paper had been sought for THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 6 during Cromweirs illness, by his own order, but had not been found ; and all felt the danger that would arise from a conflict between two pretenders to the Protector- ate, while there was a royal pretender in the field. Two of the men who were at once most thoroughly devoted to Cromwell's family and most influential with his party, Thurloe and Fiennes, proceeded at once to wait upon the principal leaders of the army, among others on Des- borough and Fleetwood himself; and frankly explaining to them the state of afiairs, demanded of them whether, even supposing the document in question should be afterwards discovered, they would pledge themselves to acknowledge and respect the last will and parol declara- tion of Cromwell in favour of his son Richard. Fleet- wood and Desborough unhesitatingly gave the required pledge ; the Privy Council was immediately summoned ; and three persons who had been present during the last moments of the Protector's life, Goodwin his chaplain, and Major- Generals Whalley and Goffe, were called in, and attested upon oath that he had appointed Richard as his successor. Desborough then rose, and adjured all present, in the name of the living God, if any doubt or dissatisfaction remained in their minds, at once to declare it. But all gave their unquaHfied consent to the appointment. The Council then proceeded in a body to offer Richard their congratulations, and to condole with him on his father's death. Strickland, Skippon, and some other members then went into the City, to en- deavour to secure a favourable reception for the new Government; an official Gazette was widely circulated, announcing the death of the Protector, and adding, B 2 \ 4 RICHARD CROMWELL AND "We would willingly express, upon this sad occasion, the deep sorrow which hath possessed the mind of his most noble son and successor, had we language suffi- cient ; but all that we can use will fall short of the merits of that most excellent Prince." On the follow- ing day, the 4th of September, the new Protector was solemnly proclaimed at Whitehall, Westminster, and the principal public places in the City, in the presence of the Council of State, the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, and a large concourse of officers and people. When this ceremony was over, the Lord Mayor came in state to Whitehall to congratulate him, and to deliver up to him his sword, which was immediately returned. His chaplain, Goodwin, then invoked the blessing of God on the person of his Highness, his Government, his forces by sea and land, and upon all the people. Richard then took the oath prescribed by the Instrument of Govern- ment, and passing, with his Council, into another room, immediately signed a proclamation which continued in their employments, until further orders, all the function- aries, both civil and military, who had been appointed by his father. The Council of State then withdrew; and the officers of the army came in crowds to pay their respects to the Protector. All the formalities of his ac- cession were now complete; no obstacle had arisen, no dissent had been expressed ; the whole power of Crom- well passed, in a few hours, into the hands of his son, with the express or tacit consent of all the parties of the Revolution.' ^ Baker's Chronicle, p. 692 ; Heath's Chronicle, p. 737 ; Old Parlia- mentary History, vol. xxi. pp. 223, 228, 230 ; Thurloe's State Papers, vol. vii. pp. 372, 373, 376-378, 382, 384; Wkitelocke, p. 675. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. In the crisis which led to his accession, Richard was neither a source of strength, nor a cause of embarrass- ment, to his friends. He had little desire to hold the supreme rank, but he did not shrink from accepting it when it was offered to him. So long as his father had not required his presence, and associated him with his high position, he had lived on his estate at Hursley, an idle, jovial, and somewhat licentious country squire, very fond of horses and hunting, on intimate terms with the gentlemen of the neighbourhood, nearly all of whom were Cavaliers, disposed to adopt their opinions as freely as he shared in their pleasures, and sometimes drink- ing with them to the health of " their landlord," as they termed the King, wdiom they did not venture to name openly. He was therefore regarded by the Royalist party as almost one of themselves, and they were not without hope that, if he at any time attained the chief power in the State, he would use it to restore the Crown to its legitimate owner. In support of this expectation a story was told that, at the moment of the execution of Charles I., Richard Cromwell, then a youth, filled with horror, had thrown himself at his father's feet to implore him to prevent the commission of so heinous a crime. Even when he had come to London, and taken his place in the Court at Whitehall, Richard remained what he had been at home in the country, addicted to his own tastes, inattentive to public affairs, and friendly to the Cavaliers, to whom, in their trials, he frequently lent sincere though unavailing support. But these efforts proceeded rather from the good-nature of a boon companion than from any serious political intention or positive disinterested- 6 RICHARD CROMWELL AND iicss. A man of timid, vacillating, and undecided cha- racter, with no religious or political convictions or pas- sions, Richard complacently accepted the good fortune which he inherited from his father, though he had never reckoned upon it, and was no more disposed to sacrifice it than he was capable of achieving it. It would even appear that, during his father's lifetime, and in the chambers of Whitehall, he had stated what the charac- ter of his Government should be, after the storms of the preceding administration — "a golden mediocrity between a topping head and a filthy tail." When he was left alone, and required to become the arbiter of his own destiny, his conduct was the same as on all previous oc- casions ; he took things as they came, without either ofiering resistance or feeling confidence, and his father's advisers made Richard the Protector, just as Cromwell had made him a Privy Councillor.^ His unopposed accession excited great surprise on the Continent, in the councils of reigning Kings no less than in the little exiled Court of Charles 11. The death of Cromwell had plunged them into a state of temporary stupefaction ; it is in regard to great men especially that we wonder, as Bossuet finely says, "that the mortal is dead;" hmnan pride is unwilling to believe that so much power and glory can be so fragile and short-lived. But, amid their astonishment, satisfaction had been exhibited. On the arrival of the news, Mazarin had hastened to pay a visit to Queen Henrietta Maria, to congratulate her on an event which, he said, he regarded as the certain pre- ^ Noble's Memoirs of the Protectoral House of Cromwell, vol. i. pp. 158-196;. Clarendon's State Papers, vol. iii. p. 406. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 7 sage of the restoration of the King her son. In Holland, where the people, in consequence of their devotion to the House of Orange and jealousy of England, had remained favourable to the Stuart cause, the public joy was noisily manifested ; the mob danced in the streets of Amster- dam, shouting, "The Devil is dead !" Among the coun- cillors and servants of Charles II., the emotion was still stronger. " There is no doubt of the truth of the news," wrote Hyde to the Marquis of Ormond from Breda ; "Sir Robert Stone saw the carcase, and here are two or three come to this town who left London since he died, which w^as on Friday last. . . . There can be no question but by this time there are great alterations, for I cannot be- lieve all will submit to the government of this young coxcomb." " I think much good is to be done," wrote Colepepper to Hyde from Amsterdam, " by discreet and secret application to those of power and interest amongst them, whom we shall find most discontented wdth Crom- welFs partiality in setting this young man over their heads that have borne the brunt of the day. . . . The person that my eye is chiefly on, as able alone to restore the King, is Monk ; and he is not absolutely averse to it, neither in his principles nor in his affections. . . . You know that he is a sullen man, that values himself enough, and much believes that his knowledge and reputation in arms fit him for the title of Highness and the office of Protector, better than Mr. Richard Cromwell's skill in horse-races and husbandry doth." The Royalists in England strove to heighten, by their letters, the confi- dence that was felt by the exiles. " All men's hearts, almost quite dead, before, are of a sudden wonderfully 8 RICHARD CROMWELL AND revived," wrote Howard to Hyde from his prison in Lon- don ; " oh ! for God's sake, my Lord, as you tender the happiness of that good King and the welfare of bleeding kingdoms, let not delays lose the benefit of such a happy juncture/' Other friends, less sanguine, endeavoured to put Charles and his mother somewhat on their guard against appearances. " I am extremely rejoiced," wrote Cardinal de Retz to Ormond, " at the disposition which Cardinal Mazarin exhibits to serve his Majesty. I will however take the liberty very humbly to beseech his Majesty to take care that he is not duped, . . . and to receive the Cardinal's advances in a manner that will give him reason to believe that the King is quite ready to forget the past, provided that he is furnished with some effective aid for the present." But w^hilst he thus en- deavoured to injure a detested enemy in the opinion of Charles, De Retz confirmed the King in his hopes, and shared in them fully himself. " It is said here," he added, " that Cromwell's son has been proclaimed his successor. As far as I am concerned, I cannot but believe that God will accomplish his work." ^ But day after day messengers, letters, and travellers brought news from England well calculated to destroy these hopes. The establishment of Richard in his au- thority seemed to progress as rapidly as his elevation to it had been effected. At Exeter, at Hull, at Newcastle, in all the chief towns of England, and on the French soil at Dunkirk, as well as in London, he had been proclaimed amid the acclamations, or the indifference, ^ Clarendon's State Papers, voL iii. pp. 407, 409, 412, 415 ; Carte's Ormond Letters, voL ii. pp. 143, 144. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. V of the people ; at Oxford alone some of the students had insulted the Mayor and Aldermen during the ceremony, but this sHght tumult had produced no further result. Addresses expressive of adherence to his government, passionately enthusiastic or basely servile in their tone, reached him from all quarters ; the most important and most prudent men, — Whitelocke, for example, — thought it their duty to present to him in person those which arrived from their respective counties. The French, Dutch, and Italian churches in London lost no time in adding their homage to that of the various English towns and corporations. The general officers met at Fleetwood's house to make arrangements that the three armies of England, Scotland, and Ireland should ex- press their loyal devotion in the same terms ; they suc- ceeded without difficulty in drawing up a suitable ad- dress, and the officers of the fleet joined with them with- out the slightest hesitation. Success so general, and so undisputed that it astonished even Richard's own par- tisans, quickly modified the impressions, and altered the attitude, of the Continental powers. A few days after his proclamation, Richard sent his master of the cere- monies. Sir Oliver Fleming, to announce to the foreign ministers in London the death of his father and his own elevation to the Protectorate. The Court of France went into mourning ; M. de Bordeaux received orders to convey to the new Protector the most friendly assur- ances ; and even at Paris, Mazarin affected to disapprove of the joy which was felt by the Court at the death of Cromwell. Cardenas sent proposals of accommodation from Brussels to London. At the Hague, John de Witt, 10 RICHARD CROMWELL AND who since the peace of 1654 had Uved on good terms with Cromwell, and whose greatest fear was that Spain might triumph in Europe, and the Orangists gain the preponderance in Holland, openly expressed his satis- faction at the tranquil progress of affairs in England, and advised Richard, by means of the English Resident Downing, to act at once as a prince, and by personal letters to inform all foreign sovereigns of his father's death and his own succession. Richard followed this advice, and had ere long to receive, in solemn official audience, all the foreign ministers, who came, with more or less alacrity, to present to him their new credentials and the compliments of their masters. The sad expe- rience of Queen Henrietta Maria had led her to foresee that Europe would give this prompt adhesion to the new government of England, for, on the 18th of September, a few days after she had learned the death of Crom- well, she wrote to Madame de Motteville : " In truth, I expected that you would rejoice to hear of the death of that wretch ; and I will tell you that I do not know whether it is that my heart is so wrapped up in melan- choly that it is incapable of experiencing any joyful emotion, or that I do not as yet see that any great advantages can accrue to us from it, but I did not feel any great joy at the news, and my greatest dehght is to witness that of all my friends." The poor Queen was soon deprived of the satisfaction of witnessing even the joy of her friends : the news which arrived from England and from the Continental courts, plunged the EngHsh Royalists into deep despondency ; even the strongest minds allowed themselves to be overcome bv doubt. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 11 " We have not yet found that advantage by Crom well's death as we reasonably hoped," wrote Hyde to Howard on the 22nd of January ^ " nay rather, we are the worse for it, and the less esteemed, people imagining by the great calm that hath followed that the nation is united, and that, in truth, the King hath very few friends. . . . I hope this young man will not inherit his father's for- tune, but that some confusion will fall out which must make open a door for us." ^ If Hyde could have read the hearts, or even the letters, of Cromwell's own sons and their most devoted adherents, he would not thus have lost confidence. In the midst of this general and eager submission to their government, they were filled with anxiety and disquie- tude, and felt convinced already that their success was superficial and illusory, and their peril imminent. Three of them in particular, enlightened either by their own pressing interests, or by their greater experience — Henry Cromwell in Dublin, and Thurloe and Lord Faulcon- bridge in London — took no false or flattering view of their position. On the 7th of September, by the same messenger who conveyed to Henry Cromwell a detailed account of his father's death, Thurloe thus wrote to him : — " I must needs acquaint your Excellency that there are some secret murmurings in the army, as if his Highness were not general of the army, as his father was ; 1 Old ParUamentary History, vol. xxi. pp. 228, 232, 233 ; Thurloe's State Papers, vol. vii. pp. 376, 377, 378, 379, 380, 381, 382, 390 ; Wliitelocke's Memorials, pp. 675, 676 ; Cromwelliana, p. 178 ; Letters from Bordeaux to Mazarin, 15-29 October, 1658 ; Clarendon's State Papers, vol. iii. pp. 415, 416, 422 ; Oldmixon's History of the Stuarts, p. 428 ; Burton's Diary, 'vol. iii. p. viii ; Meraoires dc Madame de Mottevillo, vol. v. p. 294. See Appendix. 12 RICHARD CROMWELL AND and would look upon him and the army as divided, and as if the conduct of the army should be elsewhere, and in other hands. I am not able to say what this will come to, but I think the conceit of any such thing is dangerous." A week later, on the 14th of September, Lord Faulconbridge wrote to his brother-in-law : "All seemingly wears the face of calmness, but certainly some- what is brewing underhand. A cabal there is of per- sons, and great ones, held very closely, and resolved, it's feared, to rule themselves, or set all on fire." These fore- bodings found immediate credence from Henry Crom- well : naturally restless, distrustful, and melancholy, as soon as he learned that his father's life was in danger, and before he received intelhgence of his death, he had almost despaired of the future. " If no settlement be made in his lifetime," he wrote to Thurloe on the 8th of September, " can we be secure from the lust of am- bitious men ? Nay, if he would declare his successor, where is that person of wisdom, courage, conduct, and (which is equivalent to all) reputation at home and abroad, which we see necessary to preserve our peace ? Though I know none like his Highness, yet he himself is not sufficient for these things, but by and through his communion with God." When Cromwell was dead, Henry immediately had his brother Richard proclaimed in Dublin, and wTote to him soon after, on the 18th of September : " I lost no time, and I used what diligence and industry I could, according to my bounden duty, to make your Highness's entrance easy, and your go- vernment established. . . . Now I humbly beg your Highness's pardon for what I am about to say ; I may not, unless your Highness commands me against my will THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 13 and condemns me to my grave, any longer undergo the charge I did in your father's lifetime; I am not able to live always in the fire." And he therefore implored Richard to permit him to come to London, to converse with him open-heartedly on the reasons which led him to desire retirement, and on their common dangers. " I do think it dangerous," he adds, in a subsequent letter, written on the 20th of October, — " I do think it danger- ous to write freely to your Highness, or for you to do it to me, unless by a messenger that will not be outwitted or corrupted ; for I make no question but that all the letters will be opened which come either to or from your Highness, which can be suspected to contain business."^ The sons of Cromwell had good reason to feel anxious and uneasy. Their father's body still lay in state at Somerset House ; and yet the impression which his death had produced, and the unanimous assent which it had gained to the appointment of his successor, had already ceased to be anything more than a vain outward show. The personal ascendancy of a great man is never re- vealed with more striking clearness than after his de- cease ; and the innumerable pretensions that rise up in the void which he leaves, give the measure of the space which he alone could fill. Republicans and Cavaliers, generals, officers and soldiers, mystical sectaries and freethinkers, parhamentary and regimental orators, all the parties that Cromwell had held in check, the mal- contents who* trembled before him, and the ambitious men who bowed beneath his irresistible superiority, the high-minded patriots and the chimerical visionaries ' Tlmrloe's State Papers, vol. vii. pi). 374, 376, 377, 383, 384, 386, 400,453. 14 RICHARD CROMWELL AND whom he had offended, — indeed all those various classes whom, by consent or force, by persuasion or constraint, he had reduced alike to silence and inaction, — began again, after an interval of a few days, to hope and to act, at first with some reserve and little noise, but ere long with presumption and almost with pubhcity. Under the pretext of uniting in devotional exercises, the officers met on every Friday, at Wallingford House, the residence of Fleetwood, whose rank as Lieutenant- General of the army rendered him the natural centre around which they rallied, and whose weak-minded vanity, pious affecta- tion, and ambitious wife, made him an easy dupe to mih- tary or popular factions. The more ardent malcontents had their secret meetings at the house of Desborough, a rough, haughty, obstinate soldier, who used to boast that he had prevented Cromwell from making himself king, and who yielded with great unwillingness to Richard's Protectorate, although he had openly acknowledged it himself, and induced others with whom he had influence to do the same. At these meetings all the questions of the day were debated, feelings of discontent were ex- pressed, and projects of all kinds suggested; and the spirit of sedition spread from these foci throughout the main body of the army, where the Anabaptists, Quakers, Millennarians, and other subaltern enthusiasts whom Cromwell himself had never been able to crush, re- sumed at the same time their turbulent and inflamma- tory preachings.^ • Monk alone, among the more important generals, ^ Thurloe's State Papers, vol. tu. pp. 385, 386, 406, 413, 450, 511 ; Baker's Chronicle, pp. 693, 695 ; Oldmixon's History of the Stuarts, p. 428. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 15 turning his distance from London to account, kept him- self and his army aloof from these intrigues. He had for his agent in London his brother-in-law, Dr. Thomas Clarges, an active and skilful intriguer, who understood how to serve his patron without compromising him. Immediately after his accession, Richard Cromwell sent Clarges into Scotland to secure the Generars support. Monk, who was accurately informed by this messenger of the real state of feeling in the Council and in the army of England, gave him to understand that he had little sympathy either for these plots or for so unstable a government, and sent him back at once to London with a written paper, in which, in a respectful tone, but with an assumption of cold and careless authority, he gave Richard the most judicious advice in regard to his administration, and his demeanour towards the army, and urged him, above all things, to remove from their commands, by a new organization of the various regi- ments, all those officers whom he considered insolent or disaffected. " I believe his Highness," he said, " may think this bold advice, and not safe to be put in execu- tion ; but you may assure him there is not an officer in the army that has interest enough to draw two men after him, if he be out of place." It may be doubted whether Monk believed Richard capable of acting as he advised him ; but he certainly was less anxious to give effectual counsels than to maintain himself in an isolated and almost independent position in regard to a power which he wished at the time neither to oppose nor to join. ^ ' Thurloe's State Papers, vol. vii. pp. 386, 387, 388 ; Baker's Chro- nicle, p. 693. 16 RICHARD CROMWELL AND No opposition had as yet broken out : hitherto the Protector had met with none but demonstrations of ear- nest and devoted loyalty : addresses were still arriving from the more remote counties ; but those peculiar rumours were already in active circulation, which indi- cate that the public are animated neither by friendly nor trustful feelings towards their governor. It was stated everywhere that the Protector was dangerously ill, and that his brother Henry was either on his dying bed or had actually died suddenly ; reports, too, were afloat that conflicts had taken place between the army and the citizens of London. The most trusted and the ablest of Richard's advisers, Thurloe, was really ill of a vio- lent fever, and was quite unable to attend to business. The Royalists, who had not yet recovered their courage, and who had received orders from Charles II. to keep themselves perfectly quiet, at least gave themselves the satisfaction of spreading and commenting upon these injurious rumours ; the indifferent welcomed all such intelligence with ready credence ; and even the servants of the Government adopted a tone, or took precautions, which betrayed the small amount of confidence which they had in its strength and duration. Though he had been proclaimed with unanimous acclamations, had been acknowledged throughout his dominions, and was still obeyed without cavil or resistance, the new Protector tottered already on his seat, and was visibly in a posi- tion of great weakness and imminent peril. ^ ^ Thurloe's State Papers, vol. vii. pp. 384, 385, 402, 408, 412, 423 ; Clarendon's State Papers, vol. iii. pp. 415, 421; Letters from Bor- deaux to Mazarin, September 26 and 30, and October 10, 1658, See Appendix. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 17 It was not long before the first blow was struck at his authority. After sundry interviews, in which the iJI-humour and arrogant pretensions of the malcontents had been only indirectly manifested, two or three hun- dred officers, headed by Fleetwood, or rather pushing forward Fleetwood at their head, presented a petition to Richard, on the 14th of October, in which, "to restore," as they said, " that good old cause, which had long lain asleep," they demanded that the commander-in-chief of the army should be henceforward, not the Protector himself, but some officer who had fought with it in its days of trial ; that he should have the disposal of com- missions, and that no officer should be dismissed but by sentence of a court-martial. This was to deprive the Protector of all control over the army, and to place him entirely at its mercy. Richard could not consent to this, and answered the petitioners in a speech which had been prepared by Thurloe. " I need not to observe to you," he said, " in what a conjuncture of time and affairs I am come to the government. You all know it ; and you know the difficulties my father all his time wrestled with; and I believe no man thinks that his death hath lessened them. . . . Soon after my acces- sion to the government, I received from the whole army an address, as you know, wherein you expressed your affection and fidelity to me, and engaged to be with me as you had been with my father. . . . It is my disad- vantage that I have been so little amongst you, and am no better known to you. . . . The government, I as- sure you, is not that I take pleasiu-e in. ... It might have pleased God, and the nation too, to have chosen VOL. I. c 18 KICHARD CROMWELL AND out a person more fit and able for this work than I am. I am sure it may be said of me, not for my wisdom, my parts, my experience, my holiness, hath God chosen me before others : there are many here amongst you who excel me in all these things ; but God hath done herein as it pleased Him ; and the nation, by His providence, hath put things this way. Being, then, thus trusted, I shall make a conscience, I hope, in the execution of this trust, which I see not how I should do if I should part with any part of the trust which is committed to me, unto any others, though they may be better men than myself." He then went on to explain, in the first place, that the demands made to him would positively incapacitate him from carrying on the government, and taking the responsibility of its proceedings ; and in the second place, that they were in direct opposition to the Petition and Advice of the Parliament of 1656, the in- strument on which the Protectoral Government was based. " The Petition and Advice," he said, " I must make my rule in my government, and I shall, through the blessing of God, stick close to that. . . . Our ene- mies think that now is their time to devour us all at once. Their main work is to divide you from me, and me from you, and you amongst yourselves ; but if their work be division, our work is union. . . . There is one thing I am troubled at very much, which is that the army is so much in arrear of their pay; and I could have wished that I could have sent you out of town with some certainty to your fellow-soldiers as to this. I can assure you, both myself and the Council do con- sider nothing so much as to pay the arrears, and to THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 19 settle your pay better for the future : I hope you will soon see the effect of our care in part ; and I shall take no comfort in my government imtil I can see you sub- stantially provided for." ^ The officers withdrew, without insisting on their de- mands. On some, the modest and conciliating language of the young Protector had produced its effect ; for the others, it was enough to have made a demonstration, and they promised themselves to return to the charge as soon as they found it necessary to do so to ensure success. Richard and his friends made no attempt to deceive themselves as to the importance of this attack. " I had some hopes," wrote Henry Cromwell to his brother, on the 20th of October, — " I had some hopes it might have been prevented, by keeping all officers at their respective charges. I thought those whom my father had raised from nothing would not so soon have forgot him, and endeavour to destroy his family before he is in his grave. Why do I say I thought, when I know ambitipn and affectation of empire never had any bounds ? As things now stand, I doubt the flood is so strong, you can neither stem it nor come to an anchor, but must be content to go adrift, and expect the ebb. . . . Sometimes I think of a Parliament, but am doubtful whether sober men will adventure to em- bark themselves, when things are in so high a distrac- tion; or, if they would, whether the army can be re- strained from forcing elections." ^ ' Thxirloe's State Papers, vol. vii. pp. 447, 462 ; Letters from Bor- deaux to Mazarin, October 3-24, 1658. See Appendix. * Thurloe's State Papers, vol. vii. pp. 453, 454. c 2 20 RICHARD CROMWELL AND Henry Cromwell was not the only, nor yet the first person to whom the idea of assembling a Parliament had occurred ; by common consent it was admitted to be the only means of obtaining the money that was now indis- pensably requisite for carrying on the government and satisfying the army ; for the idea of levying revolutionary taxes and continuing the system of major-generals had been totally abandoned; the tyranny of Cromwell had descended into the tomb with his genius. But a Parlia- ment seemed to be a more dangerous remedy than was required by the urgency of the evil ; Richard, on his ac- cession to power, had doubtless found some resources ready to his hand, for he temporarily increased the pay of those troops whose arrears had been so long undis- charged. A report was even prevalent that Cromwell had left great wealth to his family ; but this report was soon disproved by the embarrassments in which Richard became involved, and from which a Parliament could alone deliver him. But his chief dread, and that which caused his counsellors most apprehension, was to find himself in presence of the Republicans, the Presbyte- rian Royalists, the Cavaliers, who concealed their designs under the mask of Presbyterianism or Republicanism, and all the deadly enemies against whom his father had had to contend, and who would not fail to coalesce against him, in the name of the rights and laws of the country. \ Without hoping that he could long evade the necessity of convoking a Parliament, he resolved to defer it as long as he could, and to resort to less hazardous expedients for the purpose of meeting the more pressing claims on his exchequer. Ever since his embassy to Louis XIV., THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION^ 21 during the siege of Dunkirk, Lord Faulconbridge had remained on friendly terms with Mazarin^ who, on the death of the Protector, had conveyed to him, by means of M. de Bordeaux, the most friendly assurances. He was now deputed to ascertain confidentially from the French envoy whether the King of France would be disposed to grant the Protector a loan of fifty thousand pounds. "Although the sum did not appear to me difficult to collect," wrote Bordeaux to Mazarin on the 15th of September, " and although I considered it would be to his Majesty's interest to make an effort, in the pre- sent conjuncture, to induce the new Protector to remain true to his father's sentiments, I nevertheless carefully abstained from making any promise, or suggesting any- thing more than a very general hope that his Majesty would be inclined to do anything in his power. ... I had no occasion to consult my father in order to learn the difficulty there is in obtaining money from the King ; I am only too well aware of it myself, and this leads me again to beg your Eminence to make me that payment which I have been in expectation of receiving during the last six months, and in default of which my bills of ex- change will be protested, as I have no other funds where- with to meet them." In whatever embarrassment he left his own minister, Mazarin, if his policy had required it, would have obtained and lent the fifty thousand pounds which were demanded of him : he had offered a far larger sum to Cromwell ; but he regarded his suc- cessor with neither the same confidence nor the same fear ; he was desirous merely to live on good terms with him, and to watch the development of his fortune, with- 22 RICHARD CROMWELL AND out giving him any sucli effectual assistance as would tend to strengthen him, if he were incapable of main- taining his position by his own resources. Bordeaux was instructed to evade the demand by referring to the necessitous condition of the King himself; and when Lockhart, who was still the English ambassador in France, returned to Paris, and with his usual straight- forwardness renewed the demand which Lord Faulcon- bridge had made, Mazarin persisted in refusing to grant it. But at the same time he perceived in these nego- tiations a good opportunity for securing to himself in- fluence and reliable sources of information in London, which he took care not to let slip. " I expressed to Lord Faulconbridge," wrote Bordeaux to Mazarin on the 3rd of October, " the esteem in which your Eminence holds him, and the friendship with which you honour him ; he received these civilities with every mark of gratitude that could be expected of him, and professed to me a real zeal for your service, and an attachment to the interests of France. I exhorted him to continue to entertain such sentiments, giving him to understand that his ser- vices should not be rendered to an ungrateful court. If there be any desire to make use of him, presents must be employed, as the English are not easy to be caught by mere promises, and the Lord Faulconbridge is dis- posed to turn the present conjuncture to advantage, fear- ing that times may change. If your Eminence thinks fit to attach him to the King's service, and to pay the expenses thereof, I could make him a more definite pro- posal, which apparently would not be rejected, nor would the money be ill employed." Four weeks later Bor- THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 23 deaux wrote, " I gave my Lord Faulconbridge to under- stand that your Eminence had thoughts of making him a present : he will receive it, and will pledge himself to serve you. Some jewels for his wife would be more suitable than money. He had expected two Barbary horses, as there has been great mortahty in the Protec- tor's stables ; such a present would be welcome." And four days afterward, he added, "I will give my Lord Faulconbridge reason to expect the present which your Eminence thinks proper to make to his wife ; unless the Protector falls, this money will be well spent ; I should think the gift should not be of a less value than one thousand pistoles." Thus, within three months after the death of Cromwell, his son, the apparent inheritor of his power, had applied in vain to Mazarin for assistance to maintain himself, and his son-in-law and daughter were receiving bribes from the Cardinal, and promising faith- fully to serve him. The downfall is rapid when tottering greatness is not sustained by virtue.^ To these internal sources of embarrassment, a grave complication of foreign affairs was soon added, to com- plete the difBculties of Richard's situation. The King of Sweden, Charles Gustavus X., was at war, on the one hand with John Casimir V., King of Poland, supported by the Emperor Leopold I. and several of the German princes ; and on the other hand, with Frederic IIL, King of Denmark, and his allies the Dutch. Nor was this a mere local and territorial war in the north-east of Europe; Sweden still aspired to that Protestant ascendancy which • Letters of Bordeaux to Mazarin, September 15-29, October 3-10- 21-31, 1658. See Appendix. 24 RICHARD CROMWELL AND the brilliant victories of Gustavus Adolphiis had, for a brief period, achieved for his country in Germany ; and the House of Austria had not yet abandoned the hope of recovering that Catholic predominance which Charles V. had once possessed in Europe. Religious creeds, though greatly moderated, and dreams of Continental supremacy, though entirely frustrated, by the Treaty of Westphalia, still exercised a powerful influence over the plans and conduct of sovereigns. New questions, it is true, had arisen, and had led to the formation of difi'erent combi- nations. No longer alarmed for their independence, and undisturbed in the profession of their faith, the Protestant States were divided ; the Dutch and the Elector of Bran- denburg had united with the House of Austria against the King of Sweden ; the command of the navigation of the Sound and of the entrance into the Baltic Sea, which had long been a cause of contention between Sweden and Denmark, was also a subject of vast importance and active rivalry to England and Holland ; but amid these unex- pected and ever- varying complications, the great interests which ever since the latter half of the sixteenth century had divided Europe, still prevailed in all truly great minds; and Cromwell and Mazarin, by allying themselves with each other and with Sweden against Austria and Spain, had boldly continued the poKcy of Henri- Quatre and Elizabeth. The foundations of this policy, the questions of a Protestant Protectorate and of the balance of power in Europe, lay at the bottom of the war waged by Sweden against Poland and Denmark. Mazarin accordingly sent orders to Bordeaux to m^ge the English Government as strongly as he could to support the Swedes. Cromwell THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 25 assuredly, had he been Hving, would not have waited for any such entreaties ; and the King of Sweden, who had been constantly faithful to him, would have found in him a powerful friend and supporter. Charles Gustavus claimed the assistance of the new Protector. The coun- sellors of Cromwell, who were now the advisers of his son, were deeply imbued with his policy ; Thurloe espe- cially, a man of judicious and sagacious mind, most thoroughly understood its motives and conditions. But Thurloe was, at the same time, timid and subaltern in character ; though an excellent servant of a strong-minded master, he failed as soon as he was deprived of his direct- ing influence. Richard and his council hesitated ; public opinion in England, no less than their own feeling, was in favour of Sweden ; but they clearly foresaw that, when their resolution was once taken, a powerful opposition, whether sincere or factious, would spring up against them. They therefore entered into negotiations, at one time en- deavouring to induce the Dutch to abandon their aUiance with Denmark, and at another time offering to unite with them as mediators between the belligerents, and demand- ing of Mazarin, first subsidies, and afterwards a treaty of guarantee in case England, by acting in favour of Swe- den, should become involved in a war with Holland. Bor- deaux was surprised to find Thurloe so cold and suspi- cious. " Do you know why ?" said Lord Eaulconbridge to him one day ; " it is because Lockhart has written of late that your Cardinal has appeared to him quite another man than he was during the life of the late Protector ; and besides, they are highly offended at your refusal of the fifty thousand pounds, as the sum was not so large 26 RICHARD CROMWELL AND that it could not easily have been obtained, if your past feehngs towards us had not changed." Bordeaux pro- tested against any such unfavourable interpretation being put on the conduct of his Court, and gave fresh assurances of friendship, but without being able to remove the pre- valent impression that France was not sincere. At length, however, Richard and his council appeared to have made up their minds ; it was announced to Bordeaux that an English fleet would be sent into the Baltic to attempt mediation, and, if absolutely necessary, to support Swe- den. The fleet set sail, but returned into port a few days after, driven back by contrary winds ; and when it put to sea again, it proceeded slowly, and as if intending rather to show itself than to act. It was evident that the Enghsh Government was still hesitating, daring neither to abandon altogether a course of policy which it consi- dered good and necessary, nor thoroughly to adopt it, from want of courage, authority, and means. ^ Nothing is more injurious to a Government than hesi- tation, for it is regarded always as indicative of either incapacity or impotence. Richard was conscious of his weakness, and endeavoured on all occasions to devolve the responsibility of the administration on his Privy Council. " All resolutions are now taken in the Coun- cil," wrote Bordeaux to Mazarin, on the 11th of No- vember;^ and in a subsequent letter, written on the 2nd 1 Thurloe's State Papers, vol. vii. pp. 391, 418, 428, 430, 433, 440, 465, 467, 495, 496, 505, 511, 512, 516, 520, 522, 532, 535, 543, 545, 553 ; Baker's Chronicle, p. 694 ; Whitelocke, p. 675 ; Letters from Bordeaux to Mazarin and Brienne, October 31, November 11, 18, 27, December 2, 9, 16, 23, 1658. See Appendix. " Sec Appendix. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 27 of December, he states — " I cannot conceive how it can be expected that I should have very certain news of the deliberations here, unless the King will pay the expense of some pensioners : when the late Protector was alive, as he acted on his own authority, this outlay was avoid- ed with less inconvenience ; but now that the authority is divided, and the Council has a large share of it, it is necessary to act otherwise, however little importance be attached to this State." ^ Either because the practices which Bordeaux then suggested to Mazarin were tried with success in the Council, or as a necessary consequence of its internal dissensions and active participation in the Government, this body, composed of the veterans of the Revolution, was soon as violently attacked as the Pro- tector himself. In addition to the CromweUians, the Council contained some few Republicans, whom Crom- well had kept quiet by his strong ascendancy, and the principal disaffected leaders of the army. Richard, who could feel no confidence in such a body, discussed his affairs and formed his resolutions in a small private committee, and afterwards endeavoured to obtain the sanction of the Council for what had been thus decided upon. Thurloe, St. John, Lord Broghill, William Pierre- point and Lord Faulconbridge, were the leaders of this palace cabal, as it was called; and it very soon became the object of vehement attacks in the Council itself. Thurloe and Lord Faulconbridge in particular, who were considered the most active and influential members of the body, were attacked with unsparing animosity. A report was spread that the Protector intended to intro- ' See Appendix. 28 RICHARD CROMWELL AND duce Lord Faulconbridge and Lord Broghill into the Council, of which they were not members; and Des- borough at once violently denounced the former to the board, accusing him of having formed a design to carry off Fleetwood and himself, and to imprison them in Windsor Castle, and declaring that if Lord Faulcon- bridge were made a member of the Council, he would never set foot in it again. Thurloe, on his part, unused to be thus detested and persecuted on his own account, took the alarm, and expressed a desire to retire from pubhc affairs. " You have had an account," he wrote to Henry Cromwell on the 2nd of November, " of the motions which have been in some part of the army; . . . the fire has again burst out, and at this time new agita- tions are on foot ; at a late meeting of some of the prin- cipal officers and some of the Council, to speak about this affair, something was said to this purpose, that his Highness was led only by the advice of Mr. Comptroller and myself, and that he would do nothing without us. Having heard this, and perceiving also that it was in- dustriously spread amongst the officers of the army, that I was a very evil counsellor, I did desire of his High- ness that I might have leave to retire, hoping it might be a means to quiet things, and facilitate his affairs with the whole army. And truly, my Lord, I do not yet see what opportunity there will be for my doing further ser- vice, in the station I have done, either to God or the nation."^ Thurloe did not retire; but this mutual dis- trust, this ardent jealousy, and these scenes of violent recrimination, deprived the Council of all authority, and * Thurloe's State Papers, vol. vii. p. 490 ; Clarendon's State Papers, vol. iii. p. 421. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 29 carried disorganization into the very core of the Govern- ment ; " and it is remarked," wrote Bordeaux to Maza- rin on the 18th of November, "that some of the minis- ters of the Council, who were once very zealous for the Protector, are now deserting him, for fear that they may fall with him." 1 A Government thus harassed and imperilled will seek support in any quarter, no matter what dangers it may encounter in the search. The want of money daily became more urgently felt. The garrison of Dunkirk mutinied on account of not having received its pay : Lockhart succeeded in quelling the riot; "But, my Lord," he wrote to Thurloe on the 8th of November, " I shall never be able to carry on the affairs of this garrison, unless I have a considerable supply of money sent me from England. ... I have in this place about five hundred of the sick and weak belonging to the regiments in the field. They have nothing to subsist upon, save as I am forced to lend them; and God knoweth how little I need that additional burthen. I have oftentimes importuned your Lordship for beds and gowns. The weather now grows so cold here, that there is truly a greater want of these accommodations than your Lordship can imagine. I beg they may be sent over as soon as is possible. The poor souls at Mardyke and Fort Oliver have nothing to cover them, nor to lie upon, save a few boards. ... I hope your Lordship will persuade yourself, and assure his Highness, that if I knew any way in the world how to shift, I would not at so unseasonable a time, when his Highness * Sec Appendix. 30 RTCHARD CROMWELL AND is under so many pressures, importune him for more," These financial embarrassments were now increased by family difficulties. Henry Cromwell, who was rendered very anxious by the information which reached him in Dublin, earnestly entreated permission to come to Lon- don, and seemed to forget, in his fraternal solicitude, the suspicions and complications w^hich his arrival in the capital could not fail to produce. Thurloe and Lord Faulconbridge both endeavoured, though somewhat ti- midly, to dissuade him from this step. " This I will say now," wrote Thurloe to him on the 16th of No- vember, " that I am sure your being at the head of so good an army hath tended very much to our preserva- tion, and rendered designs against the present Govern- ment the more difficult in the execution. . . . However, the determination will be wholly left to yourself. ... It's an impossible thing to tell what will be the issue of this business. . . . The funeral of his late Highness is to be this day se'nnight. When that is over we shall begin business (if troubles do not begin before), and then revive the debate of a ParHament, and some other things of moment enough to the peace and welfare of these nations."^ Thurloe had good reason to regard the day of Crom- well's funeral as a day of trial. Factions excel in turning popular solemnities to account, and care little whether they be occasions of rejoicing or of mourning. The magnificence of the display on this occasion served as an additional weapon in the hands of the malcontents ; the cost amounted, it was said, to sixty thousand pounds ^ Thurloe's State Papers, vol. vu. pp. 466, 510. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 31 — an expense in shocking contrast with the distress of the army and the penury of the Government. The Repubhcans were loud in their censure of it ; pamphlets were distributed in the streets on the line of the pro- cession, denouncing this shameful prodigality to the people in no measured terms ; and reports were current that the irritated soldiers had conspired to seize the corpse of the great Protector on its way to the tomb, and to hold it in pledge for the liquidation of their arrears of pay. Nothing of the kind was attempted; though the disorder was considerable, no serious tumult occurred, and Cromwell was borne, without insult or injury, into the sepulchre of the English kings. But the ferment continued to increase ; to the cabals of the dis- affected officers were now added those of the repubUcan leaders, who met at the house of Sir Harry Vane, at Charing Cross. The reviving intrigues of the Cavaliers fiu-nished them with subjects of alarm for the future, and grounds of accusation against the Government. In England itself, no royalist movement had as yet ap- peared ; but the activity of the Stuarts on the Continent, and their frequent visits to Brussels, the Hague, Am- sterdam, and Paris, were the themes of general tionver- sation. Richard could no longer consent to remain the isolated object of so many attacks, or to continue in- active and silent in the midst of so much busy clamour. For obtaining money, a Parliament was indispensable; and among the partisans of the Protector, there were many whose anxiety led them to hope that a Parhament would give some additional support to his Government. Why, it was asked, had it not been convoked before, at 32 RICHARD CROMWELL AND the very moment of CromwelFs death ? The disaffected would then have been found far less determined in their opposition, and the public would have been much more easily managed. This was the opinion of Lord Broghill, among others. The Council met on the 29th of Novem- ber, and the convocation of a Parliament was resolved upon ; the writs for the elections were issued a fortnight afterwards, and the Parliament was appointed to meet on the 27th of January following. " I need not trouble your Excellency," wrote Thurloe to Henry Cromwell on the 30th of November, " with giving you the reasons which moved his Highness to call the Parliament at this time. . . . Great strivings there will be to get in, and the Commonwealth's men have their daily meetings, dis- puting what kind of commonwealth they shall have, taking it for granted they may pick and choose. They hope to prepare a part of the army to fall in with them, wherein I hope they will be deceived ; although I must needs say I like not the aspect of things, and my fears are greater than my hopes." ^ The course pursued by the Government in this emer- gency betrayed the fear under which they were labour- ing. They did not venture to allow the elections to be conducted according to the new electoral system which had been established by the Long Parliament, and adopted in practice on two occasions by Cromwell : if effected in the counties alone, and by a uniform method, it was feared they would prove too independent; and 1 Thurloe's State Papers, voL vii. pp. 502, 528, 541, 558, 573; Evelyn's Diary, vol. i. p. 330 ; Cromwelliana, pp. ] 79-181 ; Letters from Bordeaux to Mazarin and Brienne, November 27, 1658. See Appendix. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 33 the traditions of the monarchy were therefore revived, in the hope that a decisive influence might be brought to bear on the choice of a large number of boroughs. And as in regard to Scotland and Ireland, which had been recently incorporated with England, there were no tradi- tional rights to be claimed or recognized, advantage was taken of this absence of precedent to allot to each of the two countries thirty representatives, whose election was regulated in such a manner that it would be left almost entirely under the control of the military authorities, who were at the head of affairs. As to the Other House, Richard left it as it had been constituted by his father ; but he addressed to each of its members letters of sum- mons similar to those which the King had been in the habit of sending in former times to the peers of the realm. It will thus be seen that no legal and consis- tent principle governed the formation of the Parliament ; ancient and modern examples were appealed to in turn ; precedents were borrowed alike from the monarchy and the revolution, from tradition and from tyranny. The Protector and his Council seemed to take delight, at one time in restoring some faint shadow of the ancient na- tional institutions, and at another, in discomfiting the advocates of those institutions by a display of Crom- wellian despotism ; they sought anxiously in all direc- tions for a strength, with which artifices so palpably incoherent can never supply a government. The electoral conflict was ardent and disorderly, though unmarked by any tyrannical or popular violence. The Republican leaders, at a meeting held at the house of Vane, had resolved to offer themselves for election, VOL. I. ' D 34 RICHARD CROMWELL AND and to take their seats in the Parhament, even at the cost of swearing fidelity to the Protector, but at the same time to remain secretly faithful to that Long Parliament which Cromwell had expelled, but had never been able to dissolve, and which still continued in their opinion to be the only legitimate government of the country. All parties, in all ages, have had recourse to these mental reservations, in the hope of thereby strengthening their impotence and gratifying their ambition. Against the Republicans, the most formidable of all their adversaries, Richard and his Council contended with unscrupulous determination : it was of no use to Vane that he obtained the majority at Hull and Bristol, the magistrates who presided over the elections in those cities declared that the choice had fallen on other candidates ; and, but for the resolute firmness of one of his friends who secured his election for a small borough in Hampshire, he would not have had a seat in the new Parliament. Colonel Hutchinson was appointed sheriff of his county, in order to prevent his election at Nottingham. Haslerig, Neville, Scott, Bradshaw, and Ludlow met with with similar opposition, but they succeeded in surmounting it. The Government was unable to exclude any of its most im- portant foes. It was more successful in obtaining the election of a large number of its partisans. Thurloe, the real Prime Minister of the Protector in regard to home no less than to foreign ajQfairs, undertook the management of this business ; and one of his agents, Mr. Howard, a Catholic, and brother to the Earl of Arun- del, boasted, probably with some degree of rodomontade, that he had obtained the return of twenty-four members THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 85 to the new Parliament on the mere recommendation of the Secretary of State. Monk wrote to ask Thurloe to what towns in England three candidates belonged who had been recommended to him for election in Scotland, and whom the Scottish electors hesitated to return without being at least acquainted with their origin. The Univer- sity of Cambridge and the three boroughs of Wisbeach, Huntingdon, and Tewkesbury, contended for the honour of being represented by Thurloe himself. " We under- stand,'' wrote the burgesses of Tewkesbury to him on the i7th of December, "that you are pleased so much to honour this poor corporation as to accept of our free and unanimous electing you one of our burgesses in the next Parliament, and to sit a member for this place. We are so sensible of the greatness of the obligation, that we know not by what expressions sufficiently to demonstrate our acknowledgments ; only at present we beseech you to accept of this for an earnest, that whom- soever you shall think worthy to be your partners shall have the second election." Thurloe preferred to sit for the University of Cambridge, which he considered it an honour to represent : he foresaw that the debates would be stormy and difficult, and in a letter containing in- structions for the Irish elections, which Clarges wrote to Henry Cromwell by his direction, this passage occurs : " There never was more need than now to choose honest and able men, which I am confident your Excellency will take care to do in Ireland ; and if amongst them five or six good argumentative speakers could be elected, they might be of good advantage to his Highnesses service.''* ' Ludlow's Memoirs, pp. 260-262; Oldmixon's History of the Stuarts, n 2 36 RICHARD CROMWELL AND Amidst all this movement the Royalists did not re- main either indifferent or inactive: the turbulent ex- pected that anarchy would soon be restored, and held themselves in readiness to rise in arms ; the credulous, and some few of the intriguers, hoped that Richard, driven to desperation by the army or by the Republi- cans, would at length resolve to call back the King ; and they bestirred themselves in the neighbourhood, and in the very interior of Whitehall, to incline the Protector towards this step, and to claim the merit of it for them- selves at Brussels or at Paris. The quiet men who were weary of civil war, the country gentlemen who lived on their estates, were treated with marked consideration by the Government, which stood in urgent need of their electoral influence to defeat the Republicans ; and they did hot refuse to exercise that influence either in further- ance of their own interests or in support of candidates of moderate views, who would form a neutral party, deter- mined under all circumstances to defend order, to restore the elements of monarchy, no matter under what name, and to take instant advantage of any favourable conjunc- ture. Charles and his advisers, far from disapproving this course of conduct, enjoined it on their adherents in the following formal and positive terms : — " Whereas we think nothing more conducing to our service in this pre- sent conjuncture than that as many persons of aff'ection to us as can get themselves chosen may be members and sit in the next convention of Parliament, we do not only p. 428 ; Forster's Statesmen of the Commonwealth, voL iii. p. 176 ; Hutchinson's Memoirs, p. 377 ; Old Parliamentary History, vol. xxi. p. 289 ; -Thurloe's State Papers, vol. vii. pp. 555, 559, 565, 572, 574, 585, 642. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 37 give you leave, but do heartily desire that you will attend that service, not doubting but you wiU so behave your- selves therein as without any unseasonable profession of your affections to us, you will advance and promote those counsels and conclusions which in the end may, by the blessing of God, restore us to our right, and the kingdom to that peace and happiness it hath been so long deprived of; and for what you shall do herein this shall be your warrant and discharge." The Royalists did not all obey this command ; from feelings of honesty and high-mindedness, and from fear of the unfavourable interpretation which might be put upon these apparent defections, in spite of the King's express permission, by the little exiled Court, many refused either to sit in Par- liament or even to take an active part in the elections. " I did as exactly as was possible observe your first in- structions towards our friends on the point of getting into the House," wrote one of his most confidential cor- respondents to Hyde on the 13th of February, 1659; " but you cannot imagine how stupid and obstinate many of them both were and are in that which most concerns them. I dare say, if the King's party would have been active, they might have governed the Parlia- ment." The Cavaliers were far from possessing so much influence ; only a few of them got into the Parliament, and those did so under false colours ; but they procured the election of a great number of new men, who had borne no part in the civil war, who were Monarchists at bottom, though apparently only friends of order, and who, though not chargeable with any premeditated reso- lution in favour, of the King, were free from all pledges 38 RICHARD CROMWELL AND and from all predilection either towards the Republic or towards the Protector.^ On the whole, and with the exception of a few irre- gular and contested elections, the Assembly was freely chosen, and composed, for the most part, of independent men ; among its five hundred and sixty-four members, there were about fifty determined Republicans, a hundred or a hundred and forty members who wavered between the Protector and the Republic, seventy-two lawyers, a hundred officers and others in the employment of the Govermuent, and two hundred persons of neutral or un- known opinions. On ascertaining this result of the elec- tions, the Protector and his advisers expressed neither confidence nor discouragement. " The men in the Par- liament are very numerous, and beyond measure bold," wrote Lord Faulconbridge to Henry Cromwell, on the 1 5th of February ; " but they are more than doubly over- balanced by the sober party. So that, though this make their results slow, we see no great cause as yet to fear." Thurloe, who, in general, was but little inclined to hope, entertained even less misgivings, and grew animated at the approach of the conflict, like a wary and veteran par- tisan. " Our enemies on all sides are active," he wrote to Henry Cromwell, on the 4th of January, "and will leave no stone unturned to give us trouble both at home and abroad. . . . This is like to be a very troublesome scene; and, I persuade myself, God will bless courage and lively actions, and will be displeased with desponden- cies and melancholy motions. I can say by experience 1 Clarendon's State Papers, vol. iii. pp. 424, 434 ; Letter from Bor- deaux to Mazarin, January 2, 1659. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 39 that I never in all my life made a true judgment of things in a melancholy frame and temper of spiiit ; and what- ever measures I took whilst I was in that case, I wholly disliked them when I was out of it, and have fully re- solved with myself never to do anything, or take up any resolutions, whilst I am melancholy, having always found my thoughts erroneous at such a time. The cause is as good as ever, and the same that ever it was, and the enemies are baffled men ; and if we can believe that God will be with us, He will be with us ; and who then can be against us?"^ On the 27th of January, 1659, Richard, attended by a pompous retinue, proceeded by water to the Parliament- stairs, and after waiting a few moments in the House of Lords, repaired to Westminster Abbey, Major- General Desborough bearing the Sword of State before him. The members of both Houses were already assembled in the Church, as we are told, '' sparsim and in confusion." After a sermon had been preached by Dr. Goodwin, as the audience were rising to depart, a Quaker standing near the pulpit suddenly addressed the congregation with in- coherent exhortations. Richard paused, heard him to the end, and returned to the House of Lords. The Usher of the Black Rod was then sent, by his order, to sum- mon the members of the House of Commons to attend him. Several of them, who had formed part of the pro- cession, were there already, standing at the bar, according to ancient usage ; but about a hundred and sixty had • * Thurloe's State Papers, vol. vii. pp. 576, 588, 594, 612 ; Claren- don's State Papers, vol. iii. p. 440 ; Old Parliamentary History, vol. xxi. pp. 245-262 ; Letters from Bordeaux to Mazarin, January 16-30, 1659. See Appendix^ 40 RICHARD CROMWELL AND collected in their own House, and when the usher came to summon them, not more than ten or twelve obeyed his call. " I went up as one of your servants," said Sir Arthur Haslerig afterwards, "to see in what order we should be. I saw where the Lords were. I asked where the Commons should be, and they said, 'At the bar,' where were servants and footmen." More than a hun- dred and fifty members remained in the House of Com- mons ; while, in the other house, Richard, after standing for a moment uncovered, resumed his seat and his hat, and opened the session of Pariiament. His speech was short and simple, but expressed in a royal tone. '* I believe there are scarce any of you here," he said, " who expected some months since to have seen this great as- sembly at this time, in this place, in peace. . . . Peace was one of the blessings of my father's government. . . . He died full of days, spent in great and sore travail ; yet his eyes were not waxed dim, neither was his natural strength abated, as it was said of Moses. He was ser- viceable even to the last. ... He is gone to rest, and we are entered into his laboiu*s. ... It is agreeable, not only to my trust, but to my principles, to govern these nations by the advice of my two Houses of Parliament. . . . Through the goodness of God, we are, as I have told you, at this time in peace ; but it is not thus with us, because we have no enemies. There are enough both within us and without us, who would soon put an end to our peace, were it in their power, or should it at any time come into their power. It will be becoming your wisdom to consider of the securing of our peace against those who, we all know, are, and ever will be, our im- THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 41 placable enemies. What the means of doing this are, I shall refer unto you. This I can assure you, that the armies of England, Scotland, and Ireland, are true and faithful to the peace and good interest of these nations. ... If they were not the best army in the world, you would have heard of inconveniences, by reason of the great arrear of pay which is now due unto them. . . . This being matter of money, I recommend it particularly to the House of Commons. You have, you know, a war with Spain, carried on by the advice of Parliament. He is an old enemy, and a potent one, and therefore it will be necessary, both for the honour and safety of these na- tions, that that war be vigorously prosecuted. . . . The other things that are to be said, I shall refer to my Lord Keeper Fiennes. ... I recommend unto you, my Lords, and you, Gentlemen of the House of Commons, that you will in all your debates maintain and conserve love and unity among yourselves, that therein you may be the pattern of the nation, who have sent you up in peace, and with their prayers, that the spirit of wisdom and peace may be among you. And this shall also be my prayer for you ; and to this let us all add our utmost endeavours for the making this a happy Parliament."^ Lord Commissioner Fiennes began his speech in the tone of a true courtier. " The wise man," he said, " having proposed this question — * What can the man do that Cometh after the king?' — he answereth himself thus — * Even that which hath been already done.* And * Old Parliamentary History, vol. xxi. pp. 265-269 j Benton's Diary, vol. iii. pp. viii. 2, 7-11, 35 ; Letters from Bordeaux to Mazarin, Fe- bruary 6, 1669. See Appendix. 42 RICHARD CROMWELL AND to the like question at this time, * What can he say that speaketh after his Highness?' the Hke answer may not be unfitly returned, ' Even that which hath been already spoken.' " His speech, as this opening indicated, was a mere commentary on that of the Protector — a commen- tary expressed in emphatic and involved language, amid the mazes of which the idea and plan of conduct enter- tained by the Government were, nevertheless, discernible. " His late Highness," he said, " as you know, and the whole world knows, was a man of war ; yet he died in peace, and left these nations in peace at home, and vic- torious abroad. . . . But that is not all : his late High- ness not only left these three nations in peace with, in, and betwixt themselves, but he left them in unity. And as it was his and the late Parliament's worthy Avork and care to unite these three nations into one commonwealth, so his Highness hath held it incumbent upon him to bring them united to and in this Parliament, according to the practice of the late Parliament, and the express declaration of their intention. That all Parliaments for the future should be Parliaments of the three nations. . . . And all the materials of this House are so fitted and squared beforehand, by the Humble Petition and Advice, and other good laws made by the late Parliament, that by the help of God there will be no need of any new hammering, nor that there shall be heard the noise of any hammer or axe, much less of spear or sword, or any tool of iron, for what is to be further done in the build- ing of this house. . . . The Petition and Advice hath not taken in anything that should have been left out, nor left out anything that is essential ; but whosoever shall well THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 43 weigh the same, and look into it with a single eye, will find that both our spiritual and civil liberties have been squared, stated, and defined therein, with a great deal of care and exactness. . . . And yet there is still behind a great and glorious work, in the location and composure of these parts, though never so well fitted. . . . The ap- plication of things to persons, and of persons to things, and the right jointing and cementing of one part to the other by a spirit of love within, and establishment of due and necessary order without, will make this House to rise up into a strong, a perfect, and a beautiful structure and fabric amongst us. What then remains, but that his Highness and both Houses of Parliament should set about this noble work till they have brought it to perfec- tion ? . . . We have a wholesome and divine counsel to preserve us from falling into the snare of the grand enemy of our peace ; and that is, to hold the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. What is that bond of peace ? In a moral sense, it is that treble knot of true love and good understanding between his Highness and the two Houses of Parliament ; in a public consideration, it is the con- stitution of our Government, whereby we have another treble cord, besides that of the three nations united into one commonwealth, namely, the constitution of their su- preme legislative power, consisting of a single person and two Houses of Parliament — which cord, while it is kept well twisted together, will be a great strength to itself, to the nations, and to the people of God, in these and all our neighbouring nations round about us ; but if it once begin to unravel, and the two ends fall one from another and from the middle, all will run to ruin." 44 RICHARD CROMWELL AND That the Protectoral form of Government should be re- garded as firmly established, and that its basis should be respected as much as that of an ancient monarchy, was the chief aim of Richard and his Council. ** That which all here seem to be fixed in,'' wrote Thurloe to Henry Cromwell, on the 14th of December, " is to adhere to the Petition and Advice; and if the foundation thereof be admitted, namely, a single person and two Houses of Parliament, I hope we may agree in all other things."* The first acts and speeches of the House of Commons made it evident that the work was far from being so nearly completed. All the members were called upon to swear " to be true and faithful to the Lord Protector, and not contrive, design, or attempt anything against his person or lawful authority, but endeavour, as much as in them lay, the preservation of the rights and liberties of the people." On the first day about four hundred mem- bers took this oath and their seats in the House ; a few rigid Republicans, Ludlow among others, refused to take it, and did not present themselves for admission. Sir Walter St. John, one of the commissioners appointed to administer the oath, happening to meet Ludlow in West- minster Hall, asked him why he had not taken his seat ; and on hearing the reason, said, " Meet me in the lobby tomorrow morning, and I will carry you in with me, which will create a belief in the House that I have given you the oath." Less scrupulous as to a silent fraud than as to a public promise, Ludlow consented and took his seat in the gallery, "with as much privacy as he could." * Old Parliamentary History, vol. xxi. pp. 269-281 ; Burton's Diary, vol. iii. p. 3 J Thnrloe's State Papers, vol. vii. p. 562. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 46 For two or three days no one observed him, or com- plained of his presence ; but on the 5th of February, a member of the Court party called the attention of the House to the matter, and demanded that Ludlow should be required to take the oath. " Let not such a thing as this interrupt your business," said Sir Arthur Haslerig, " The debate will cause heat. I desire not to question Scotland or Ireland, who have no colour at all to sit. I beseech you put off this debate." Other members took the same view as Haslerig, but the Court party persisted in their demand. " We come here upon the Petition and Advice," they said, " we must stand upon this founda- tion. Where shall the righteous stand if the foundations be shaken ? Four hundred have taken the oath ; why should two or three refuse it ? At least let them forbear to sit till they have taken it." The discussion went on ; Mr. Weaver and others expressed their dislike of oaths in general, as they proved, " for the most part, only snares to honest men." Colonel Eyre informed the House that he had been elected a member towards the end of the Long Parliament, and had refused to take the oath from conscientious scruples ; his refusal had been reported to the House, and it had allowed him to take his seat im- sworn. Incidents occurred which diverted the atten- tion of the House, or furnished a pretext for dropping the subject ; for Ludlow, and probably others with him, continued to sit without having sworn fidehty to the Protector.^ ' Commons' Journals, vol. vii. p. 593 ; Burton's Diary, vol. iii. pp. 71- 76 ; Ludlow's Memoirs, pp. 262, 263 ; Letter from Bordeaux to Mazarin, February 20, 1659. See Appendix. 46 RICHARD CROMWELL AND On the day on which the Parliament was opened, the House of Commons had elected as its Speaker Mr. Chaloner Chute, a man of moderate views, and respected by all parties. Two days after his installation, he hesi- tated in regard to some act which he was required to do in his official capacity, and submitted to the House his doubts as to the extent of his power. " I love not to hear it," exclaimed Haslerig, " that there is a lameness in this House. I know no law-book for you to be directed by. Yourself is now the greatest man in England. I look upon you so, except what is to be excepted. I had al- most forgot myself, but I am pretty right yet. I say I look upon you as the greatest man in England — the Speaker of the Parliament of England or Commons — call it what you will, I would give no oJ0Pence. It is not fit for you to take a record from any inferior court. Make an order for the judge's clerk to bring it up ; that is more proper and fit."^ Evidently it was of urgent importance not to leave in idleness an assembly composed of men thus jealous of their privileges, and haughty in their dispositions. An attack was in preparation against the Scotch and Irish members, who had been elected, it was said, in accord- ance with no law, and who consequently had no right to sit in an English Parliament. The Government resolved at once to submit to the House the fundamental ques- tion, which would measure the strength of the various parties, and decide their future fate. On the 1st of Fe- bruary, Thurloe rose and spoke to the following efiPect: — ^ Commons' Journals, voL vii. p. 594; Whitelocke's Memorials, p. 676 ; Burton's Diary, vol. iii. pp. 4-18. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 47 " It pleased God to put an end to his Highness's days : sad things were expected by that stroke. God has given that blessing of a son in his stead, who has the hearts of the people, testifying his undoubted right of succession. This can be looked upon as no other thing than the hand of God, so putting down the late King's family. He raises the power out of the dust : it is His prerogative royal. It is not unbecoming this House to recognize this mercy, to acknowledge his now Highness to be the un- doubted successor. ... I hear great endeavours abroad to beget divisions and troubles amongst us : to prevent which, let the nation know we are all of a mind in the Government, all agreed in the foundation. To this purpose I have a short bill for a recognition of the Pro- tector."^ Startled by this sudden challenge to decisive conflict, the first attempt of the Opposition party was to evade it. " This is not seasonably off'ered now," said Haslerig ; " you have many things to do, and have done but one thing. The next is a Committee of Grievances ; the next Religion. . . . We were a glorious Parliament for pulling down ; I hope, this will be glorious for setting up. . . . Let us see what has been done since we went out. He that is gone promised us an account. The army are our children : they came from us ; we are bound to provide for them. We have one that is our prince, Princeps, our [chief. I never knew any guile or gall in him. I honour * Commons' Journals, vol. vii. p. 596 ; Burton's Diary, vol. iii. pp. 25-32,71; Thurloe's State Papers, vol. vii. p. 603; Old Parlia- mentary History, vol. xxi. p. 281 ; Ludlow's Memoirs, p. 263 ; White- locke's Memorials, p. 676 ; Letter from Bordeaux to Mazarin, February 10, 1659. See Appendix. 48 RICHARD CROMWELL AND the person ; I will say no more. Let us not read a bill of this consideration till after the fast. We never pulled down but by prayer and humiliation ; let us not build without them.'' A debate arose upon these observations, but it was of short duration and moderate in tone. As Thurloe proposed, the first reading of the bill took place immediately. The Attorney- General Prideaux moved the second reading, and the more thorough discussion of the bill for the next day. The Opposition modestly demanded that it should be postponed for a few days longer : this was granted at once, and the debate was fixed for the following Monday, the 7th of February.^ If men were governed only by their personal, material, and ephemeral interests, the members of this Parliament would have had little difficulty in coming to an agree- ment, and the debate which was about to commence would have been brief, for the Government which formed its subject possessed the means of gratifying them all in any such petty and selfish desires. It was a Government sprung from the revolution which they had effected, firmly resolved to maintain that revolution, and supported in its turn by a powerful and glorious army. This Government, which commanded universal obedience at home, and was recognized everywhere abroad, was in its essential fea- tures conformable to their common and practical ideas ; the system of " a single person and two Houses of Par- liament," the Constitution established by the Humble Pe- tition and Advice, was accepted not only by the moderate men who had no peculiar party views, but by most of the Republicans who had either become enlightened by 1 Burton's Diary, vol. iii. pp. 26-32. THK DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 49 experience, or had resigned themselves to that which they were unable to prevent. " If a single person be thought best," declared Haslerig, "I shall submit to the ma- jority." " Let us not return to the government of the Long Parliament," said Henry Neville ; " it was an oli- garchy, detested by all men that love a commonwealth. We that are for a commonwealth, are for a single person, senate, and popular assembly." According to Captain Baynes, " The constitution of King, Lords, and Commons can never be suitable to this nation as now constituted. The old Lords did stand in balance to the King by their property. Property generally is now with the people ; the government therefore must be there. But there must be a balance : if you can find a House of Lords to balance property, do it ; else let a senate be chosen by the election of the people on the same ac- count." " I hear not one man against a single person," said Mr. Reynolds ; " against the single person there is not one exception. Not any other man in this nation would pass so clearly." Richard, in fact, was regarded personally with no ill-feeling or antipathy. " I confess," said Haslerig, " I do love the person of the Lord Pro- tector; I never saw nor heard either fraud or guile in him. I wish only continuance of wealth, health, and safety to his family. I wish the greatest of honour and wealth of any man in this nation to him and his poste- rity." " I would not hazard a hair of his present High- nesses head," exclaimed Scott, "he is yet at the door; if you think of a single person, I would have him. sooner than any man alive." " I never saw the Lord Protector but twice," said Mr. Edgar, " I never had the least fa- VOL. I. E 50 RICHARD CROMWELL AND vour from him, and hope I shall never deserve his frown ; but the sweetness of his voice and language has won my heart, and I find the people well satisfied with his govern- ment." His government indeed had no design or desire to act tyrannically. Richard was naturally moderate, patient, and just ; and his advisers, like himself, were animated by no other ambition than to govern in concert with the ParKament, and in conformity with the laws. To all who had not heartily devoted themselves either to the old royal race or to pure repubhcan principles, no- thing apparently could have been more natural and easy than to rest satisfied with the established form of go- vernment, and to live in harmony, tranquillity, and safety under the new Protector.^ But all the various parties, and, in those parties, nearly all the important men who had taken an active part either in promoting or opposing the revolution, enter- tained and earnestly cherished principles and passions which it was not so easy to satisfy. They demanded those moral satisfactions which even a mild and judicious government can never give to those whose convictions and feelings are outraged by its very existence. The Republicans maintained the exclusive sovereignty and omnipotence of the people. In their opinion, all power ought to emanate from the people, and to remain under their control ; none was legitimate unless the peo- ple had created it, and still held it in subjection. And the House of Commons, elected by the people, was their only representative, and was entitled to exercise, in their name, the supreme government of the country, either » Burton's Diarj^, vol. iii. pp. 104, 105, 112, 124, 134, 147, 148, 211. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 51 directly, by means of its own inherent powers, or indi- rectly, by its declared supremacy over the depositaries of those powers which it was obliged to delegate. The Cromwellians, from experience and political in- stinct rather than from any clearly understood and de- finite principle, did not hold that the people were capable of conducting the entire government of the country, or that they were rightfully entitled to destroy and reconsti- tute it at their pleasure. In their opinion, for the main- tenance of good order in society, the government required some self-subsistent bases, which should be recognized by the people, but should be anterior, and, in some measure, superior to their mutable will. In early times, the Nor- man Conquest, and at a later period, the hereditary mon- archy and the preponderance of the great landed pro- prietors, had created, in the government of England, those independent and lawfully unchangeable powers wdth w^hich society could not safely dispense. By the progress of events, landed property had, to some extent, changed hands ; in consequence of its own errors, hereditary mon- archy had fallen ; but God had raised up Cromwell, and given him the power and the victory. The undoubted conqueror and master, Cromwell, surrounded by his com- panions in arms, and treating with a Parliament elected by the people, had established, no less for his successor than for himself, the Protectoral government and its con- stitution. This was that anterior and independent power, sprung from the course of events and not from the will of the people, and which the people could not destroy at their pleasure any more than they had created it. It was their duty to recognize this great fact, established on the E 2 52 RICHARD CROMWELL AND ruins of the ancient monarchy, in the name of an in- vincible necessity, by the genius of a great and God-sup- ported man ; it was beyond their power to call it in ques- tion. These two parties, which had both sprung from the levolution and alone enjoyed freedom under the existing law, were alone able openly to express their views ; but beside them, the royalist party, powerful though pro- scribed, remained unshaken in its attachment to its own principles. To serve the cause which it had at heart, it stooped to the most unnatural and deceitful alliances; but it stood firm to its political faith, and, rejecting alike the republic erected by the Commons in the name of the sovereignty of the people, and the monarchy established by the regicides in the name of necessity, it recognized no legitimate authority but that of Charles Stuart, the lawful heir to the throne, governing in concert with the two Houses of Parliament, according to the traditional laws of the country. With their principles, these parties also retained their passions. The strong hand of Cromwell had kept them in restraint ; but his sway had been too short-lived to exhaust them. On recovering their freedom, and finding themselves once more in presence of each other, all those suspicions, animosities, and antipathies revived, with which political or religious conflicts had filled their hearts ; and if sometimes, from patriotism or prudence, they strove to stifle these feelings, it more frequently happened that they either allowed themselves to be car- ried away by them, or felt it their duty and privilege to express them as strongly as they felt them. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 53 Animated by such feelings, and attached to such op- posite principles, it was impossible that these men should agree, or combine to establish a government, however great might be their interest to do so. The debate which arose on Thurloe's proposition quickly proved the cor- rectness of this anticipation. On the day fixed for the second reading, when the question was brought before the House, no one rose to speak ; all seemed too anxious to be the first to move in a matter of such import. Ha- slerig was observed to shift restlessly in his seat ; he was called up, as it was supposed that he intended to speak ; but, though it would not appear that he had any such design, his vanity overcame his hesitation. " I wonder not at this silence in a business of this weight," he said; and after stating that he had much weakness upon him, he plunged at once, with his wonted impe- tuosity, into an harangue which lasted three hours. He gave a rapid summary of the history of his country — passing in review the Norman Conquest, Magna Charta, the foundation of the two Houses of Parliament, the despotism of the Kings, that of Charles I. in particu- lar, his conflict with the Long Parliament, his trial and death, the proclamation of the Commonwealth, and the expulsion of the Long Parliament by Cromwell. Here he paused : "I would have passed the severest sentence upon those that did this horrid business, that ever was passed upon men, and would have been from my heart the executioner of it. But I forgive them now, both the dead and the living." Then, resuming his summary, he continued : " Surely all the English blood was not spilled in vain? It was a glorious work of 54 RICHARD CROMWELL AND our Saviour to die on the cross for our spirituals. This is as glorious a work for our civils, to put an end to the King and Lords. The right is originally, without all doubt, in the people : undeniably and most undoubtedly it reverts to the people, the power being taken away. In 1653, our General looked on himself as having all power devolved upon himself ; a huge mistake ! The power was then in the people." Haslerig next discussed Cromwell's government, the establishment of the Protectorate, and the Petition and Advice. "And this," he exclaimed, " must be the law and the foundation of all ! And these must be the fruits, all we must enjoy, after the spilling of so much blood and so much treasure ! Pardon me, if I thus make bare my mind to you. This Pariiament of 1656 was a forced Parliament, because some of us were forced out ; an imperfect ParUament, a lame Parhament, so much was it dismembered. We are here the freest and clearest, and most undoubted representatives that ever were since the desolation of the three Estates, King, Lords, and Commons. . . . We can do here whatsoever is for the good of the people. We have power over their purses and persons, can take away whole laws, or part of them, or make new ones. But I will tell you what we cannot do : we cannot set up any power equal to the people, either in one person, or another House. God is the King of this great island. God has done this work. King, Lords, and Commons, — it was not in our thoughts at first. Let us not set up what God has pulled down, nor plant what God has rooted up, lest we be said to build against God. ... I would have us seriously ad- vise and consider what we may do, as the people's repre- THE DAWN OV THE RESTORATION. 55 sentatives, . . . and what foundation soever is built, let it rise from us."* Haslerig had not expressed his own opinions merely ; all the Republican leaders, with such variations as were rendered necessary by their past conduct and present position, merely repeated or commented upon his argu- ments : Scott spoke with even more violence ; Vane, with greater moderation and intellectual acuteness; Ludlow, in a few energetic and sarcastic words ; and Packer, with the blunt frankness of one of Cromwell's old soldiers, full of penitence for having been led into error by his General. "It was impossible to continue the King alive," said Mr. Scott ; " it was resorted unto as the last refuge. . . . We did not assassinate, or do it in a corner. We did it in the face of God, and of all men ... I would be con- tent it should be set upon my monument — if it were my last act, I own it — I was one of the King's judges." Vane, on the contrary, was justly careful to repudiate all participation in that act. " I confess," he said, " I was exceedingly to seek, in the clearness of my judgment, as to the trial of the King. I was for six weeks absent from my seat here, out of my tenderness of blood. Yet all power being thus in the people originally, I myself was afterward in the business. ... At the dissolution of the Long Parliament you lost your possession, not yom* right. The chief magistrate's place was assumed without a law. . . . Now consider what it is we are upon — a Protector in the office of chief magistrate. The office, of right, is in yourselves. It is in your hands, that you may ' Commons' Journals, vol. vii. p. 601 ; Old Parliamentary History, vol. xxi. p. 283 ; Burton's Diary, vol. iii. pp. 87-105. 56 RICHARD CROMWELL AND have the honour of giving or not giving, as best likes you. ... It is not a sudden recognition, a sudden ob- taining of the first steps that will direct us fairly into the room. It must be on such an unshaken foundation, you will maintain it against the old line. If you be minded to resort to the old government, you are not many steps from the old family. ... I believe you apprehend how dangerous it is to confess a title in being, that is not from yourselves, of your own giving ; for there is no obligation to acknowledge obedience to a title you do not set up.'' ^ Neither the Royalists, nor the Cromwellians, nor the moderate men who w^ere unfettered by party engagements, could endure such language as this; some were indig- nant at it, others were offended and alarmed. Though compelled to dissemble their real views, and frequently to assume the disguise of Republicans, the Royalists were occasionally imable to conceal the opinions which they so strongly entertained. " What the Long Parliament was," said Colonel Gorges, " for reasons of State, I shall not say. Nor w^ould I have any reflections on the Lord Pro- tector. I would have them quietly to be in their graves ; and I hope they shall never rise again." " I am for the constitution we lived under," said Mr. Stephens, "for building up the old fabric." But it did not rest with the suspected partisans of fallen royalty effectually to combat the doctrines and pretensions of the Republican party ; the avowed Cromwellians, and the new men, who sup- ported the constituted authorities, were far better able to undertake this conflict, and they did so unhesitatingly. " It is too late," said Major Beake, " to say that all the 1 Burton's Diary, voL iii. pp. 107-113, 171-180, 227. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 57 power is in this House : see your Constitution. Not but that much in that Petition and Advice may admit debate, so it touch not the fundamentals. The Boaz and Jachin of Solomon's Temple you cannot alter: that is not in the people. It is disputable to me that all power is in the people." " Moses," said an unknown member, " was not chosen by the people : they would hardly own him, so could not be imagined to choose him. . . . Did the people choose Samuel or Saul? . . . Our kings were kings before the Parliament declared them to be so. . . . All the rule of law being taken away, they came to a pre- tended rule of nature, that all government was in them- selves, and found it out this way, that all power was in the people. . . . The hand of Providence has set up the Protector. He was Protector before we came : I would have it declared so, in the present tense, that he is." "We have owned him," said Mr. Starkie, "in our as- sembling, in taking our oaths at the door. This very act has acknowledged him to be chief magistrate." "By what authority," asked Mr. Manley, " do you sit here, if you come in upon new foundations ? We are at stake, as well as his Highness." " The single question is," said Mr. Steward, " whether we shall all do what we have severally done? A great weight is in your oath. We have all, or the most of us, already recognized his High- ness in that capacity." An obscure lawyer, Mr. Freeman, went even further than this : " His Highness," he said, " might have forced us to do what we ought to do ; he might have brought an army to your bar." The hero of the civil war, the commander-in-chief of the ai-my of the Long Parliament, Fairfax, who had hitherto sate silent in 58 RICHARD CROMWELL AND the House, rose with indignation, and demanded that the member who had spoken last should himself be brought to the bar for having had the audacity to suggest the employment of an army to force the Parliament. The advisers of the Protector, while strongly disapproving Mr. Freeman's language, claimed for him the right of explanation. This was allowed ; but he showed no signs of weakness. " Such force,'' he said, " has been formerly used. I would not justify what is illegal. I desire we may be governed by the laws. I would have his High- ness recognized with all the honours; and with this design, that Commons may not kick down crowns, nor crowns Commons."^ Por seven days this debate continued, without making any visible progress, though it daily became more mono- tonous and uncompromising. Haslerig's speech had oc- cupied an entire sitting of the House. " If you go on at this rate," said Maynard, " to have one speech a day, the Dutch will give you two thousand pounds a day to do so ;" alluding, no doubt, to the facilities they would thus ob- tain in carrying on their expedition in the Baltic. At length, on the 14th of February, after various attempts on the part of the Republicans to delay the adoption of a resolution which they foresaw would be adverse to their views, the House voted, " That it be part of this bill to recognize and declare his Highness, Richard, Lord Pro- tector and Chief Magistrate of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and the dominions and territories thereunto belonging." But although the word ' Burton's Diary, vol. iii. pp. 114, 115, 117, 131, 140, 157, 158, 222, 223. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 59 " recognize" was admitted, the word " undoubted," which stood before "Lord Protector" in the original motion, was expunged ; and the House further resolved, " That, before this bill be committed, the House do declare such additional clauses to be part of the bill, as may bound the power of the Chief Magistrate, and fully secure the rights and privileges of Parliament, and the liberties and rights of the people ; and that neither this, nor any other previous vote, that is or shall be passed, in order to this bill, shall be of force, or binding to the people, until the whole bill be passed/'^ Thurloe alone voted against this amendment, which was brought forward quite unexpectedly, and adopted without any discussion. A man of his logical and judi- cious mind could not admit that, at the very moment when the House recognized the Protector as an indepen- dent and pre-existent power, both in law and in fact, it should hold that power in suspense, and subject it to such limits as it might think proper to assign.^ Taken altogether, the vote was undoubtedly a victory to the Protector and his government ; but it was one of those victories which, in Parliaments no less than in camps, cost the conquerors far more than they are worth, and portend great future reverses. This protracted conflict, ending in success so incomplete, had revived all the old elements of discord, rekindled all dormant passions, pro- duced irremediable dissensions among the partisans of the revolution, and set the Commonwealth once more ' Commons' Journals, vol. vii. p. 603; Old Parliamentary History, vol. xxi. pp. 283, 284; Burton's Diary, vol. iii. pp. 117, 256-287 ; Tliur- loe's State Papers, vol. vii. p. 609. 2 Old Parliamentary History, vol. xxi. p. 289. 60 RICHARD CROMWELL AND at variance with the Protectorate — while the Royalists looked on with eager tranquillity and earnest attention. " The proceedings at Westminster," wrote John Barwick to his correspondent Sir Edward Hyde, " are so full of distraction, that it is probable they will end in confusion. For the one party thinks the Protectorists cannot stand, and the other, that the Commonwealth cannot rise ; and those that are indifferent men, hope both may be true ; and then the conclusion will be easy to foresee and fore- tell."^ When the second of the fundamental questions on which the Parliament had to decide — whether there should be two Houses or not — was brought under de- bate, the breach became still wider, and the danger far more apparent. The bill for the recognition of the Pro- tector had been brought before the Other House (which Richard and his councillors persisted in designating the House of Lords), at the same time that it was submitted to the House of Commons ; and it had been read for the first and second times on the same day ; but there the Lords had stopped short, partly from timidity, and partly from a dread of making any show of strength so long a-s their own existence, as a power in the State, was in ques- tion. The Republicans were desirous of leaving them as long as possible in this position, for it gave almost sovereign authority to the Commons, by depriving the Protector of the support which the Other House, if defi- nitively constituted, might have afforded him. Accord- ingly, when this question was brought forward for de- bate, Haslerig and Vane moved its adjournment, and * Thurloe's State Papers, vol. vii. p. 615. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 61 demanded that the House should, in the first instance, completely determine the position of the Protector, by assigning limits to his authority. They were particu- larly urgent that the House should decide as to the command of the forces and the legislative veto, which, they said, were questions of vital importance in deter- mining the character of the government. " I know not," said Haslerig, " whether Protector or King be the greater man ; I hope we shall learn in the debate. There was a maxim in the law that the King could do no wrong. . . . Now, if that maxim in law be still true, and this Pro- tector be not greater than the King, then I am sure he can have no negative voice, for by that he might be able to do much wrong." " I am glad there is care taken to bound the Chief Magistrate," said Mr. Trevor ; " I wish we may do it so as he shall not be able to do any harm ; but then it will be questionable whether he shall be able to do you any good." " Let us deal plainly with one another," said Mr. Swinfen : " we have not debated whether we will have a Republic ; let us plainly debate it, and not be drawn off by indirect votes." Vane and Haslerig did not hesitate a moment. " The sole legisla- tive is here," they said : " you have the sole power to bind the people. It is not the question, whether you will have another House; but what power the single person shall have ? Therefore the question ought to be, whether the single person ought not to be excluded from the militia, and from any power of a negative voice in making laws for the good of the people. We sit here entrusted with preserving the rights of the people." These pretensions were vigorously assailed. " As I shall 62 RICHARD CROMWELL AND not go SO high as to vote a King/' said Sir John Lenthall, " so I shall not go so low as to believe and acknowledge that all power is in this House. What extravagances have been, from supposing all power was here !" " To say," exclaimed Mr. Manley, " we have the whole power, what is that but a commonwealth ?"* This last word sufficed to decide all waverers. Hasle- rig's proposition was rejected, and the House resolved, by two hundred and seventeen votes against eighty-six, that, before any other questions were discussed, it would proceed to determine the constitution of the Parliament "as to two Houses." 2 The main question in this debate- — " Shall there be two Houses?" — did not seem to admit of discussion : the Constitutional Act, by which the Protectorate was established, had decided it ; the second House existed ; and the Republican leaders themselves had declared that they considered a Senate to be necessary. But men, and even politicians, are governed to a greater extent than is commonly admitted, by their personal and general behef ; and no concession, even though originally made with all sincerity, is allowed to pass unquestioned at a future time, if those who made it retain the power to discuss it. In their inmost hearts, the RepubUcans believed in none but an elective House, possessed of undivided and sove- reign authority, and which should entrust the executive power to a dependent and responsible Council of State ; this, in their opinion, was the only natural and legitimate ^ Thurloe's State Papers, voL vii. p. 604 ; Commons' Journals, voL vii. p. 605; Old Parliamentary History, vol. xxi. p. 290; Burton's Diary, vol. iii. pp. 316-345. " Commons' Journals, vol. vii. p. 605 ; Burton's Diary, vol. iii. p. 345. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 63 form of government ; they were willing to concede to public prejudices the appointment of a single person at the head of the government, but only on condition that, as regarded his selection and the limits of his power, he should be and continue the creature of the elective House. On the question of two Houses, their feeling was the same ; though their practical good sense had led them to oppose demagogues and levellers, they were, in principle, as unaristocratic as anti-monarchical, and an- other House, possessing independence and strength, was as hateful to them as an hereditary king. They called Cromwell's House of Lords in question, as fearlessly as they had done the Protector. It was proposed to vote that " the Parliament was composed of two Houses ;" Vane moved, as an amendment, that "the Parliament shall be composed of two Houses.'' The House rejected Vane's amendment, and voted, in conformity with the original motion, " That it shall be part of this bill to de- clare the Parliament to consist of two Houses;" but, with that weakness which timid and irresolute assem- blies mistake for impartiality, it immediately resolved " to take into consideration the bounds and powers of another House, in relation to the former vote." This merely re-opened the debate at the very moment that it appeared to have been brought to a close ; all the oppo- sition members eagerly seized the opportunity ; the con- stitution of the other House was discussed just as though it did not exist, and regulations were suggested for its formation, its functions, and its relations with the House of Commons and the Protector. Some demanded that it should be elected by the people, and that its members 64 RICHABD CROMWELL AND should hold office only for life ; others proposed that the House of Commons and the Protector should nominate candidates, from among whom the members should be elected. But though various methods were suggested for the election of the House, nearly all combined in sternly refusing it an hereditary character. Its powers were no less vigorously debated than the mode of its ap- pointment : its right to reject laws adopted by the Com- mons was particularly contested, for, it was said, this would indirectly give the legislative veto to the Pro- tector, with whom the appointment of the other House then rested. In fine, all'the efforts of the Republicans tended to this end, — that the second House should be elective, and completely subordinate to the House of Commons ; and Cromwell's House of Lords, which the Petition and Advice had instituted, and which, at that very hour, was sitting at Westminster, was destroyed piecemeal in this debate. The Cromwellians, in some disquietude, attempted to arrest the work of destruction. " We have not commission from those that sent us here," said Mr. Drake, " to meddle with the Constitution. It has pleased God to reduce the Constitution of the nation to a single person and two Houses of Parliament, as it was before. It is our honour to look forward, and not to go back, that we may be builders, and not de- stroyers." " Por the authority of the Petition and Ad- vice," said Mr. Starkey, " I will say nothing. I look upon it as the ark that has preserved us in the deluge of anarchy and confusion. ... I find another House em- barked with you in this ark. ... I know not which is the elder brother. . . . We all claim from one common THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. ()5 ancestor ; we are twins ; why should we strive, therefore, being brethren ? Let us not struggle in the womb to destroy one another." But these appeals to moderation, these recognitions of the Protectoral Constitution, only made the storm more violent. " The Petition and Ad- vice may be altered by you, if you find inconveniences in it," said Haslerig ; "if there be such a power set up as we cannot touch, let us pull off our hats to them." "As for this Petition and Advice," cried Mr. Hobart, " if Pope Alexander, Caesar Borgia, and Machiavel should all consent together, they could not lay a foundation for a more absolute tyranny."^ This immoderate and imprudent violence, the secret labours of the Royalists, and the natural instinct and im- pulse of the country, soon introduced into the debate an element which neither the Republicans nor the Cromwel- Hans had anticipated ; praises and regrets were openly bestowed on the old House of Peers, the ancient barons of the realm, the aristocratic element in the old national constitution. " The barons anciently were the great bulwarks and defence of the liberties of the nation," said Mr. Powell; "how oft did they fight for Magna Charta ! how often engaged against the King for the Parliament !" " I am glad," said Mr. Higgins, " to see that we may plead for our ancient constitution. The House of Lords was set up ages before ever a House of Commons was." " Though God in his providence," said Major Beake, " hath taken away the nobility, yet what * Commons' Journals, vol. vii. pp. 605-608 ; Old Parliamentary His- tory, vol. xxi. pp. 290-293 ; Burton's Diary, vol. iii. pp. 349, 610, 542, 568. VOL. I. F 66 RICHARD CROMWELL AND God doth providentially, He not always approves. . . . No good Christian can argue from events. Because Constantinople is taken from the Christians, must they not endeavour to recover it ? . . . Five hundred for one upon the poll would be for a House of Lords. . . . We have been trembling ever since they were taken away." Nor did members remain satisfied with indulging in these recollections and regrets ; practical results were at once pointed at. " The old Lords have still a right," said Mr. Drake ; " it doth but sleep, and will at one time or another awake upon us." " I was always against taking away the House of Peers," said Mr. Stephens ; "the Act by which it was taken away was made by a kind of surprisal." " To come to our own times," said Mr. Terrill, " which we are too apt to forget, when Par- liaments were grown contemptible, and no man durst, under less than a capital offence, mention a Parliament, we had then Lords — some twelve at least yet living — that took courage to move the King to call one, even whilst the King was in the midst of an army. They went, with a paper in one hand and their lives in the other, to solicit the King to call a Parliament." " I hope I shall offer what has not been said," said Sir Richard Temple. " There is a right, undoubtedly, before you, — the right of the old Peers. My motion is, that you will repeal that Act which takes away the old Peers, and join with the Protector in calling them together again. This may be done by way of address to his Highness. They are worthy persons upon the same account that you are ; and they have estates to support them."* ^ Burton's Diary, vol. iii. pp. 356, 361, 362, 349, 357, 515 ; vol. iv. p. 40. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 67 This language, as might have been expected, was met with the most unbounded surprise and indignation by many of the old members of the Long Parliament and of Cromwell's old soldiers. " If the law was not good which took away the Lords," exclaimed Major- General Kelsey, " then the law which took away the King is not good. It will then as naturally follow that Charles Stuart is as rightful King at this day, as the Lords are rightful Lords." " If the old Lords be not taken away," said Mr. Scott, " then I have no right to sit here, by the writ of that person that summoned me." "I hear no man move directly for Charles Stuart," said the Attorney- General Prideaux ; " but it is all one to me if that be at the bottom of it. If you bring in one, I know who will bring in the other." ^ The real leaders of the Republican and Cromwellian parties were more reserved in their demeanour, and watched in silence this explosion of aristocratic reaction, each hoping to be able to turn it to advantage against his adversaries. The Republicans flattered themselves that Cromwell's House of Lords would be ruined in pubhc estimation by this comparison with the ancient barons, and that it would then be easy for them either to get rid of it altogether, or to recast it at their plea- sui^e. The Protector and his advisers, on the contrary, hoped they would be able to strengthen their new-made aristocracy by allying it with the ancient nobility, and, instead of opposing the restoration of the old House of Peers, they showed every disposition to promote it. " The old Peers are not excluded by the Petition and Advice," ^ Burton's Diaxy, vol. iii. pp. 407, 526 ; vol. iv. p. 34. F 2 68 RICHARD CROMWELL AND said Thurloe ; " divers are called, others may be." This possibility was at once converted into a formal proposi- tion, and the Cromwellians called on the House to de- clare, on the one hand, that it would " transact with the persons now sitting in the Other House, as a House of Parhament;" and, on the other hand, that it was not " hereby intended to exclude such Peers as have been faithful to the ParUament, from their privilege of being duly summoned to be members of that House." ^ When they found the question thus plainly stated, the anger of the Republicans knew no bounds ; this double vote, if adopted, would be to them a double defeat, for it would at once sanction the authority of their recent foes, and legalize the return of their ancient enemies. Their passion found utterance in violent personal attacks on the men of whom Cromwell had composed his House of Lords. " This new House," they said, " consists of swordsmen, colonels, and commanders of armies : the persons are all either miUtary, or in civil judicature. It is not fit for those that receive public moneys to have a legislature with us. You give them salaries to be your balance. What good will such a Peerage do you, that must borrow twelvepence to buy a blue ribbon to dis- tinguish their honour ? You will set up the picture, the representation, the shadow, of a House of Lords. An ape is the most ridiculous creature in the world, because it is like a man and is not a man." " Those feints which come nearest the shape of man are most ugly and dan- gerous," said Mr. Hungerford; "and men that have ^ Commons' Journals, vol. vii. pp. 605-612 ; Burton's Diary, vol. iii. pp. 509-594 ; vol. iv. pp. 1-86. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 69 transgressed the privileges of this House, that have been guilty of so high a crime against the House, are not only ready to justify what they have done, but to do the like again.'' " I move you would not transact with them," said Ludlow ; " they have been guilty of all the breaches upon the liberties of the people." " They are your ser- vants/' exclaimed Scott, "and it is improper to make them your masters." Haslerig, as usual, was more vehe- ment in his language than any of the rest. " Consider the persons, what they are," he said : " they have taken away your purse with them, to maintain their forces; they took tonnage and poundage for ever; they have settled £1,300,000 a year on the Protector. The King had not, by tonnage and poundage, and all that he had, above £600,000 : if he had had £1,300,000, he had had no need of money to feed his hungry flies the courtiers. . . . Did ever the great Lords treat you so, when they went hence? . . . From my soul, I honour the old Lords : and I had rather, with all my soul, those noble Lords were in, to all intents and purposes, than those persons that have two swords, two strings to their bows, — persons that have torn Parliaments out, and puUed your Speaker out of the chair. . . . This bill is a plain cutting our purses, and next cutting our throats. If it should pass, we shall next vote canvas breeches and wooden shoes for the free people of England. . . . Oh, what would I give to be reduced to what we were be- fore ! We are in a worse condition than if our enemies had prevailed. Never was such a sad condition, as to have fought ourselves into this sad slavery ! " ^ * Burton's Diary, vol. iv. pp. 10-278. 70 RICHARD CROMWELL AND To these furious attacks the Cromwellians could make but one answer : the services which the officers who Avere members of the new House of Lords had rendered to the good old cause, and the danger lest dissensions should bring about the restoration of Charles Stuart. These arguments were brought forward on every opportunity. " Is it a crime," they asked, " to be a man of the army ? If anything make the new Lords capable, it is being soldiers ; that is the greatest trial of faithfulness : they have gone through wet and dry, hot and cold, fire and water. — They are the best officers of the best army in the world. Their swords are made of what Hercules' club was made of. — It is objected that they are mean persons : an honest cobbler among them is better than a hundred old Lords. — By the same hands that you pull down this House, you pull down the single person. He that was last could well sit in the saddle, in all changes ; I doubt whether it will be so now." But these argu- ments produced very little effect : the success and tyranny of the major-generals had more than outweighed their former services ; and among those who were threatened with the restoration of Charles Stuart, there were many who rather desired than dreaded his return. The repub- lican leaders were moreover more eloquent speakers and more practised parliamentary tacticians than their oppo- nents ; they gained ground by the protraction of the de- bate, and though beaten in divisions, it was often by a majority of only a few votes. At once irritated by their repeated defeats and emboldened by their continued pro- gress, they resolved at length to attempt the great scheme which they had had in contemplation, without daring to THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 71 put it forward, ever since the opening of the session ; they attacked, as radically illegal and absolutely void, the elections of the sixty Scotch and Irish members, nearly all of them Cromwellians, who sat in the House. According to the Republicans, they had no right to enter its precincts, for they had been summoned by no law, and the mode of their election had been regulated by no statute ; they had been brought thither by an arbitrary and illegal exercise of power, and an English Parliament could neither admit them among its ranks, nor permit them to make laws for England. International honour and public law alike repudiated these republican preten- sions. Scotland and Ireland had been incorporated with England, and were entitled to have representatives in the Parliament which governed the three countries, now united in a single State ; the right was secured to them by so- lemn promises ; and even if their actual representatives had been elected by arbitrary methods and under go- vernment influence, they had sat unquestioned in the House for six weeks and had taken part in all its de- bates ; so that they had equitable claims and possessory rights on their side, against which legal subtleties and party passions could never prevail. The attempt made by the Republicans far exceeded their strength ; for suc- cess on their part would have been too overwhelming, for the House, which was opposed to a republic, to consent to give it them. After eleven days of confused and furi- ous debate, they suffered a complete defeat. The House decided that the Scotch and Irish members should con- tinue to sit and vote until the dissolution of that Parlia- ment ; and five days afterwards, on the 28th of Mai'ch, 72 RICHARD CROMWELL AND 1659, the question of the existence of two Houses, which had occupied twenty- three sittings in its discussion, also received its final solution. The Commons resolved, by a hundred and ninety-eight votes against a hundred and twenty -five, " That this House will transact with the per- sons now sitting in the Other House, as a House of Par- liament, during this present Parliament ; and that it is not hereby intended to exclude such Peers as have been faithful to the Parliament, from their privilege of being duly summoned to serve as members of that House." ^ This was a great victory on the side of Richard and his advisers ; the perilous defile had been traversed with success. In a House of Commons elected by the free suffrages of the people, after an unfettered and solemn debate, the Protectoral Government had been recognized in its two most essential and most disputed features — • the Protector and the House of Lords. The succession was allowed to belong to the son of Cromwell, and aris- tocratic privilege was conferred on his comrades in war and policy; the revolution now had its king and its barons. In spite of the dangers which still impended over the Government, and notwithstanding the modest demeanour of Richard and the prudence of Thm'loe, the bearing of the victors was not unmarked by indications of haughty joy. Their royalist and republican opponents, on the other hand, were sad and despondent. The Re- publicans had endeavoured to come to some agreement with the disaffected portion of the army, and to make ^ Commons' Journals, vol. vii. p. 621 ; Old Parliamentary History, vol. xxi. pp. 267-296 ; Burton's Diary, vol. iv. pp. 1-294 ; Letters from Bordeaux to Mazarin, Marcli 6-13, 1659. See Appendix. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 73 their attack in concert with them. Lambert, who was a member of both the House of Commons and the Council of Officers, had been their agent in carrying on this intrigue ; and it had been agreed that the officers should present a petition to the House, setting forth their grievances against the government of the Protector. But Richard, on receiving information of this project, proceeded in per- son to the house of Fleetwood, where the disaffected offi- cers were assembled, and, with unexpected firmness, de- clared to them that he would not suffer such intrigues to be carried on to the ruin of their common cause ; and, that if they persisted in their purpose, he would have re- com'se to stronger measures against them, as he was sure of the support of the greater part of the army and of the majority in the House of Commons. Intimidated or won by the boldness of his behaviour, the officers abandoned their design ; the petition was not presented ; and Fleet- wood and Desborough expressed themselves fully satis- fied, and renewed their pledges of fidelity to the Pro- tector. Nor did the hostile efforts of the Royalists meet with better success than those of the Republicans ; in the House, notwithstanding their willingness to act in con- cert with the leaders of both parties, opposite interests and inveterate passions proved too strong for them ; se- veral Cavaliers, on that ground alone, had been indig- nantly denounced, declared ineUgible, and expelled from their seats, and not one of their secret republican friends had ventured to raise his voice in their behalf. And out- side the house, various overtures of alliance, made by the Levellers to the agents of Charles H., had led to nothing but useless conversations and futile correspondence. 74 RICHARD CROMWELL AND After the two votes, in reference to the recognition of the new Protector and the relative position of the two Houses, it was clear, that if the Government were feeble and dis- united, the opposition parties were still more so ; and that too premature hopes had been entertained of setting the Protector at variance, either with the army or with the Parliament.^ But would it not be possible to excite a deadly enmity between the Parliament and the army, and to compel the Protector, at all risks, to choose between them ? This prospect and purpose animated the Opposition with fresh hope, and they renewed their efforts with increased ardour. Towards midnight on the 7th of March, while the House was still engaged in discussing whether it would transact with the new House of Lords, a somewhat ob- scure member, Mr. Knightley, rose to go home ; but in a few moments he returned to his place in the House, in gieat wrath and consternation, and on being asked the cause, he said, " I was going home with the leave of the House, and one met me and said, ' If this vote pass in the negative, you shall be dissolved tomorrow.' I was going through Scotland Yard and the soldiers stayed me ; I told them I was a Parliament man, and I perceive they look already with a strange face upon us. The officer expostu- lated the business with me ; his name was one Shafto. I argued with them my privilege, and they were very earnest » Clarendon's State Papers, voL iii. pp. 426, 430-432, 440-442, 449 Thurloe's State Papers, voL vii. p. 647 ; Ludlow's Memoirs, p. 270 Whitelocke's Memorials, p. 676 ; Commons' Journals, vol. vii. p. 602 Burton's Diary, vol. iii. pp. 233-252 ; Letters from Bordeaux to Ma- zarin, Feb. 24-27, 1659. See Appendix. k THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 75 on me: Eo nomine, that I was a Parliament man, made them expostulate it the more." The House, in considerable excitement, adjourned ; and one of its most royalist mem- bers, Mr. Mordaunt, in writing an account of this inci- dent to Hyde on the following day, added : " I am in hopes this afternoon a motion will be made to adjourn till next week, and remove the session to some hall in the City, where they may be secured from future insolencies. I have blown up Mr. Knightley all I can, and he is natu- rally choleric, so that I am sure such things may prove well, and the trying them cannot prejudice us." ^ A few days later Hyde thus wrote from Breda to Mor- daunt and another of his trusty correspondents : " It is not possible for the King to give his friends advice how to carry themselves in the Parliament, other than in general terms ; they themselves being the best judges upon the place, how to concur with this party today and that tomorrow, which may most contribute to the confu- sion, and may still support that party which is weaken. It is strange they have not in all this time fallen upon Thurloe and those other persons who advanced Crom- well's tyranny. . . . Methinks the most popular way of provoking Cromwell should be by a sharp prosecution of those criminal persons whom he must protect. . . . There is one other thing our friends will not fail to watch, which is, to do all that may be to make a war with Hol- land, in which the honour and trade of the nation is so much concerned." ^ ' Burton's Diary, vol. iv. p. 75 ; Clarendon's State Papers, vol. iii. p. 433. 2 Clarendon's State Papers, vol. iii. pp. 436, 456. 76 RICHARD CROMWELL AND That which Mr. Knightley had foreseen, came to pass ; the course which Hyde, from his foreign exile, had re- commended the King's friends to pursue, was adopted as the tactics of the entire Opposition, repubUcan as well as royalist. The conflict between the Parliament and the army became the absorbing passion of both parties, and the centre around which all other circumstances were made to revolve. Among the Royahsts, politics and ani- mosities combined ; among the Republicans, intense ha- tred stifled all political considerations : both burned with an equal desire to destroy a detested government, and to wreak their vengeance on the servants of Cromwell and his tyranny. The perils in which Richard and his ad- visers would be thereby involved, were regarded by the Royalists as so many victories ; and the Republicans for- got their own dangers in the satisfaction of punishing and ruining their enemies. At the very opening of the Parliament, they had fixed upon the two questions which would furnish the easiest and most effectual means of displaying their retrospective hostility. On the 3rd of February, on the motion of Haslerig, the House decided that all facts and documents in relation to the condition of the army and navy, and to the public revenue and expenditure, should be communi- cated to committees, which should report thereon to the House ; and on the 17th of February, at the suggestion of Scott and Vane, it was resolved that, on the following Monday, the House would take into consideration the state of the aff'airs of the Commonwealth in the Baltic, and of its relations with the Kings of Sweden and Den- mark. Thus the foreign policy and the financial admi- THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 77 iiistmtion of Cromwell were alike to be subjected to the ordeal of a solemn debate.^ In regard to foreign affairs, Richard had hitherto re- mained, and intended to remain, faithful to the policy which had been pursued by his father. To live in peace with the Protestant States of Europe, and to maintain peace among them, by protecting those that were weak and mediating among those that were at variance ; to foment divisions and war between the two great Catholic powers, France and Spain, whose union would have im- perilled not only Protestantism but England itself ; such were the essential characteristics of that policy which Cromwell had conceived and practised in spite of the re- sistance of the prejudices, no less than with the support of the passions, of his country. The peace which he con- cluded with the United Provinces, in 1654, had earned him the bitterest and most violent reproaches from those chimerical republicans who still dreamed of the incor- poration of the two commonwealths : the rupture with Spain entailed considerable loss and suffering on English commerce ; the alliance with Erance shocked inveterate prejudices, and awakened ineradicable suspicions even among a great number of the Protector's own partisans. Without altogether disregarding these obstacles, Crom- well did not allow them to stop him, for he was one of those who are aware that even the best policy has its im- perfections, and who do not hesitate to accept the bur- dens which their own plans impose on them. And not only was Cromwell's foreign policy successful ; not only * Commons' Journals, vol. vii. pp. 599, 605 ; Burton's Diary, vol. iii. pp. 55-65, 313-316. I 78 RICHARD CROMWELL AND did it gain for England a great increase of power in Europe, and win for himself security and renown ; but it had approved itself so thoroughly to his advisers, and taken such deep root in their minds, that when their master was dead, in spite of the clamour of his enemies, they persevered resolutely and uniformly in the course which he had pointed out. The complications which arose in the North of Europe, in consequence of the war between Denmark and Sweden, did not lead them to abandon it ; their only effort, in that quarter, was to con- tinue at peace with Holland, while acting as armed me- diators between the Protestant States that were engaged in the quarrel. In the South of Europe, they persisted in hostilities with Spain, and in alliance with France. The body of troops that Cromwell had sent into France to co-operate with Louis XIV. against Philip IV. still con- tinue to serve in Turenne's army ; and in October, 1658, its commander, Morgan, assisted so valiantly in the ta- king of Ypres, that Turenne publicly ascribed to him the honour of the capture, and Pichard Cromwell created him a knight in token of his satisfaction. The Com-t of Ma- drid, meanwhile, sent frequent overtures of accommoda- tion to London. Mazarin, who was then negotiating the peace of the Pyrenees, and who feared that England might anticipate him and make a separate treaty with Spain, wrote letter after letter to Bordeaux with orders to urge the Protector to explain his intentions, and above all things to make no separate arrangement. Thurloe would give no explanations as to future contingencies ; but he declared that the Protector was resolved not to treat with Spain without the knowledge of France ; and THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 79 I he kept his word. He did even more : when Mazarin, on the point of concluding his own treaty with the Court of Madrid, advised Richard to follow his example and to make peace, Thurloe manifested the greatest surprise, and expressed his deep regret at the offensive and defensive aUiance which had until then united the Courts of Paris and Whitehall. " He told me," wrote Bordeaux to Mazarin, " he knew not to what cause to ascribe our great eager- ness ; never, in his opinion, was an accommodation less opportune, for it would give Spain the means of re-esta- blishing her great power ; whereas, had the war been continued a few years longer, she would have been re- duced to such a condition that her neighbours would never again have had cause to feel jealous of her great- ness." Cromwell himself could not have displayed firmer attachment to his designs.^ When the debate began in the House, it was this very fidelity, on the part of Richard and his ministers, to the foreign policy pursued by his father, which proved the most fruitful source of embarrassment and danger. Their adversaries also remained unchanged in their views. The Republicans still believed that they had been very near achieving the incorporation of Holland with England, and they had never forgiven Cromwell for the peace which had caused them to fail in effecting that inestimable conquest. " If the coalition with the Dutch, which at that time had made a great progress, had been well pursued," said * Baker's Chronicle, p. 693 ; Whitelocke, p. 675 ; Thurloe's State Papers, vol. i. p. 762, vol. vii. p. 591 ; Carte's Ormond Letters, vol. ii. pp. 157-173 ; Letters from Bordeaux to Mazarin, January 2, February 3-13, March 6-7-10-13-17-31, and April 10-12-21-24, 1659. See Appendix. 80 RICHARD CROMWELL AND Vane, " it would have made that State wholly yours/' "If it had pleased God and his Highness," declared Scott, " to have let that little power of a Parliament sit a little longer, we might have brought the Dutch to one- ness with us. This we might have done in four or five months. We never bid fairer for being masters of the whole world.'' " I am ashamed to say upon what terms the peace was made," said Mr. Neville ; " I cannot give a rational account of it, unless it were to establish the government over us, which was set after on foot, so that England was conquered, instead of conquering Holland." The rupture with Spain and the alliance with France were no better understood, and were regarded with equal dis- favour. The victories of Blake in the Mediterranean, the extension of English commerce and the assertion of the authority of the English name in those seas, the conquest of Jamaica in spite of the failure at St. Domingo, the influence exerted by Cromwell on behalf of the conti- nental Protestants, and the security which he had won for them by maintaining disunion and war between France and Spain — all these results of his policy, so evi- dently promotive of the power of England, were banished from memory by the complaints of merchants interested in trade with Spain, or by feelings of jealous hatred of the Dutch, or by the general antipathy with which the name and government of Mazarin were regarded. To these inflexible party recollections, which governed the view taken of the foreign policy of the State, were soon added the equally unmanageable pretensions revived by all questions of internal and constitutional organization. Compelled to return once more to the principle of mon- THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 81 archy, the Republicans would not consent either to admit its necessity, or to accept its consequences ; beside the Protector, they strove ever to maintain the House of Commons, and washed that it alone should possess, not only the sovereignty, but the government ; in discussing foreign affairs, they asserted with passionate energy, the right of the House to proclaim peace or war, to dispose of the army and navy, and to select, or at least to approve, the Generals and the Council of State. " Your meaning, I suppose," said Scott, at the opening of the debate, " is not to leave the making of peace or w^ar in the single person's hands ;" and a few days afterwards, he added : "It is objected that you are not a body fit to manage such an affair as this ; but the time well was, when two kingdoms were conquered, and the Dutch tantum non, by the counsels of a Parliament and some twenty of the Council." " By this very vote," remonstrated Vane, " you grant away your approbation, if not disposal, of your chief commanders at sea, which I suppose is your right. . . . And what is more, do not you take it for granted that there is a Council in being whose names you know not yet, and confirm them all in a lump ?" During the whole course of this debate, it was their constant endeavour to retain in their hands the direct decision of all the ques- tions which they had under discussion. " This is plainly to shake off" a single person and another House," said Sir William Ellis, the Solicitor- General ; " if you vote all this power in you, is it not to exclude all other ? and then we are as perfect a commonwealth as ever we were."^ 1 Burtons Diary, vol. iii. pp. Ill, 389-390, 313, 473, 441, 442, 492; Commons' Journals, vol.. vii. p. 606 ; Baker's Chronicle, p. 697. VOL. I. G 82 RICHARD CROMWELL AND Many Cromwellians, either partisans or creatures of the Protector, took part in this debate ; but Thurloe was the only one who raised it to a level with the natural dignity of the subject, by treating it with that simple firmness and precision of ideas and language which re- vealed the man of strong convictions and profound ex- perience, but also with that melancholy calmness which disclosed his slight confidence in the strength and dura- tion of the power he served. Setting aside all questions of constitutional organization as foreign to the subject before the House, he explained, at the opening of the debate, the state of affairs in the north of Europe and in the Baltic Sea, the position and arrangements of the bel- ligerent powers, the acts they had already accomplished, the preparations they were then making, the relations of England with each one of them, and the points in which her interests might be affected by the contest. His speech was marked by no reservations, no rhetorical ornament, no polemical discussion ; it was just such an explanation as he might have given in the Council of State, for the purpose of assisting its deliberations. "In these af- fairs," he said in conclusion, " his Highness thinks that, unless he hath considerable fleets, his bare interposition as to peace will signify little or nothing ; therefore, his Highness hath thought fit to prepare ships, in order to these emergencies. His meaning is, not to espouse either interest in the quarrel, just or not just, or to meddle with the state of that war, in which we have no concern, but only in relation to the good of this nation and of our trade. The preparation of the fleet is well onward, but there is no engagement as yet ; only his Highness thought THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 83 it fit and necessary that this House should be acquainted with it, that we, knowing of it, may advise as we shall think fit in this case/'^ Thurloe rarely interfered in the course of the debate, and when he spoke, it was merely to rectify a misstate- ment, or reply to a question. But on the last day, either with a view to influence the division, or from a desire to vindicate the honoiu: of his deceased master, he addressed the House ; with his usual simplicity and conciseness, but in a firm and somewhat disdainful tone, he ran over the various questions that had been raised in the debate, — the peace with Holland, the war with Spain, the defence of Protestant interests in Europe; he defended Cromwell's policy on all these points, affirmed that affairs had never been conducted more advantageously or more gloriously for the English people, and declared, in reply to a speaker who had commented rather severely on the war in the Baltic : " This question has spent you much time ; I shall not spend much more. I presume not to give you any counsel in this business, but only to clear matter-of-fact. That worthy gentleman said he was very confident that there was some engagement underhand, to carry on the Swedish business. It doth not belong to charity to say or think so. I told you there was no engagement at all. You had a very honest, just, and true account of that affair, which was neither more nor less than what I then told you, with all ingenuity ; and it is left to your wisdoms to take what counsels you think fit in the business."^ The House rejected the demands of the Republicans » Burton's Diary, vol. iii. pp. 315, 376-385. 2 Burton's Diary, vol. iii. p. 481. g2 84 RICHARD CROMWELL AND who wished to refer the matter to a committee, which should " advise about disposing of it to the most pubHc advantage ;" and on the 24th of February, it was resolved, by a hundred and seventy-six votes against ninety-eight, " That it be referred to his Highness the Lord Protector to put the vote of this House, concerning the preparing and putting to sea a considerable navy for the safety of this Commonwealth, and the preservation of the trade and commerce thereof, in execution ; saving the interest of this House in the militia, and in making of peace and war." For the moment, and in regard to the special question under discussion, this was all that the Protec- tor and his government demanded ; but notwithstanding their success, they came out of the debate much weak- ened and in deep anxiety ; they had seen all those enemies, whom Cromwell had held in check, rise with renewed vigour to oppose them ; and they did not feel sufficiently strong, nor had they sufficient confidence in themselves, long to withstand the flood which was too manifestly rising against them.^ The debate on the supplies proved still more disastrous, for the attack was mainly directed against that which constituted the chief security of the Protector — the fixed annual revenue of £1,300,000, appointed by the seventh article of the Petition and Advice, for the maintenance of the army and navy, and for the payment of the ordinary expenses of the civil government.^ This revenue, which could be modified only by the consent of the three powers * Commons* Journals, voL vii. p. 607 ; Burton's Diary, vol. iii. pp. 450- 493 ; Thurloe's State Papers, vol. vii. p. 626. " Old Parliamentary History, vol. xxi. p. 135. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 85 of the State, was inadequate to defray all the public ex- penditure, which amounted in 1659, to £2,201,540 ; but by its permanence, it secured to the Protectoral govern- ment a certain amount of independence, and enabled it to wait for any ulterior subsidies that it might require. Cromwell had regarded this clause in the Petition and Advice as one of the most valuable concessions made by that instrument to the ruling power ; and it was accord- ingly contested most earnestly by the Republicans, who be- lieved that the popular sovereignty could not be satisfied or the public hberties secured, unless the Government, in regard to its material necessities, as well as to its funda- mental principle, were placed, entirely and at all times, at the mercy of their votes. " The very £1,300,000 will sink us," said Vane ; " it was weak ever to think other- wise : the blessing of God will never go along with it." " If our enemies had prevailed," said Haslerig, " in my heart, I think we had not had £1,300,000 per annum for ever and ever upon us." " Unless that article in the Petition and Advice were mended," declared Serjeant Dendy, " I could not give my affirmative for the other House ;" and as neither the Protector nor the other House were disposed to abandon it, it remained an almost in- superable obstacle to all agreement, in the debate on the supplies. The financial embarrassments of the govern- ment were, moreover, extremely great ; the detailed and conscientious report made to the House by the Committee appointed to investigate the matter, proved beyond all doubt that, according to the most favourable computa- tion, the receipts for the year 1659 would be less than the expenditure by no smaller an amount than £80,623, 86 RICHARD CROMWELL AND A great many abuses were pointed out by the same re- port ; it was found that the farmers of the excise of beer and ale were considerably in arrear with their payments ; and when they were called to the bar of the House and interrogated, they complained in their turn that they found it almost impossible to levy the duty. Several members of Parliament were compromised by these in- vestigations. Even Thurloe himself, who had been in the habit of boasting somewhat ostentatiously of his in- tegrity in money matters, was suspected of having pro- mised the farmers of the beer-tax, that, for an annual con- sideration of one thousand pounds, he would secure them immunity from all prosecutions. The House made strenu- ous and honest efforts to put a stop to these disorders ; at one time, it took measures to secure the regular collec- tion of the taxes, and to provide, in part at least, for the payment of the arrears due to the army ; and at another time, by propositions tending to modify the conditions and duration of certain taxes, it endeavoured to repossess itself of full control over the finances, and thus to render the Government absolutely subject to its yoke. But these attempts, usually ill-planned and quickly abandoned, served rather to publish than to remedy the evil, and to discredit rather than to strengthen the ruling powers. Beginning on the 3rd of February, a few days after the opening of Parliament, the debate on the Revenue was prolonged, from month to month, until the 20th of April, the eve of its dissolution, and occupied sixteen sittings without leading to any effectual or definite result.^ ^ Commons' Journals, vol. vii. pp. 599, 604, 605, 613, 621, 622, 623, 627-631, 632-634, 636-639, 64D, 641, 643; Burton's Diary, vol. iii. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 87 Notwithstanding the importance of these constitutional and financial debates, if the various parties had made trial of their strength only on such occasions, and on ques- tions so official and unavoidable in their character, the progress of events might have been less rapid and deci- sive. The Government, though weakened, w^as not beaten in these contests ; and the Opposition, however daring their expectations or designs may have been, always ended by submitting to the decision of Parliament. But, in the intervals of these great constitutional and legislative dis- cussions, it frequently happened that incidents occurred, arising either from chance or studious premeditation, which occasioned debates, in the course of which the con- tending parties, giving freer vent to their passions, and dealing each other far ruder blows, combined to hasten the catastrophe which was now looming in the distance. The Republicans, with more obstinacy than sagacity, attempted to revive a means of action which, in former times, had been very successful — the presentation of po- pular petitions. On the 9th and 15th of February, and on the l()th of April, numerous bodies of persons, mostly Levellers, Anabaptists, and Quakers, presented themselves at the doors of the House of Commons, with addresses in which, in reference to the questions under debate, they ex- pressed the strongest Repubhcan principles, desires, and complaints, treating the House of Commons as the sole sovereign authority, and not taking the slightest notice of the existence of the House of Lords and the Protector. Nor were they without supporters in the House itself. " I pp. 55-65, 307-313, vol. iv. pp. 139-148, 294-300, 309-318-327, 361-368, 380-389, 389-439, 439-448, 464-468 ; Thurloc's State Papers, vol. vii. p. 623 J Pictorial History of England, vol. iii. pp. 523-526. 88 RICHARD CROMWELL AND desire they may be called in," said Mr. Neville ; *' all have honest old faces." " I am glad to see the people in love with their Representative again," said Captain Baynes. Haslerig, Lambert, Scott, and Ludlow proposed that they should be called in to receive the thanks of the House ; but the majority would not consent to this, and persisted firmly in refusing admission to the petitioners. " Because three or four are waiting at the door," said Mr. Disbrowe, '* shall we put off a business of greatest concernment ?" " There is as much tyranny in liberty as otherwise," said Mr. Swinfen; "I would not stir up that liberty that leaves us no liberty here." On the 9th of February, in- stead of admitting the petitioners, three members were sent to inform them that their petition should be read when the House had finished the business it then had in hand. On the 15th, a proposal that thanks should be returned to them was negatived by a majority of a hun- dred votes. On the 16th of April, the House sent them word that it had read their paper, and could only " declare its dislike of the scandals thereby cast upon magistracy and ministry ;" and it therefore ordered that they should "forthwith resort to their respective habitations, and there apply themselves to their callings, and submit them- selves to the laws of the nation, and the magistracy they live under." The time had passed when the mob, by sympathy or menace, could control the Parliament ; and their demonstrations, like a broken weapon, might dis- quiet, but could not intimidate.^ ^ Commons' Journals, voL vii. pp. 601, 604, 640; Burton's Diary, voL iii. pp. 152-155, 288-296, voL iv. pp. 440-445; Tliurloe's State Papers, voL vii. pp. 617, 618; Letter from . Bordeaux to Mazarin, Fe- bruary 27, 1659. See Appendix. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 89 But although petitions were discouraged when they tended to the restoration of the republican common- wealth, they were eagerly welcomed when they referred to acts of tyranny or iniquity committed by Cromwell or his servants. The Republicans, though they found it im- possible to restore their own ascendency by this means of action, used it with unsparing energy to weaken their ene- mies. When Parliament opened, there were many State- prisoners who had been and still were arbitrarily detained in custody, by Cromwell's order ; twenty-five were con- fined in the Tower of London, and others were dispersed in various fortresses, and in the Channel Islands. On the 2nd of February, Colonel Barkstead, the Governor of the Tower, sent information to Thurloe that several of them had applied either to the Courts of Justice or to ParHa- ment for their liberation ; and he expressed considerable anxiety lest he should himself be exposed to prosecution for having detained them. On the very next day the House of Commons ordered that Captain Richard Yardley, the Governor of Jersey, should bring to its bar Major- General Overton, who had been in his custody since January, 1655 ; and on the 23rd of February, Barkstead also re- ceived orders to appear before the Committee of Griev- ances with his prisoner, John Port man, formerly secretary to Admiral Blake, who had been confined in the Tower for more than a year.^ Barkstead, though a brave soldier and thoroughly de- voted to his General, became timid and embarrassed when * Thurloe's State Papers, vol. vii. pp. 598, 605, 606 ; Commons' Jour- nals, vol. vii. pp. 597-607 ; Burton's Diary, vol. iii. pp. 45, 448 ; Letter from Bordeaux to Mazarin, March 13, 1659. See Appendix. 90 RICHARD CROMWELL AND he had to deal with the civil power, and would gladly have avoided appearing before the Committee. He there- fore merely sent the warrant which he had received from Cromwell, directing him to arrest and imprison Major- General Harrison, Messrs. Feake, Rogers, Portman, Carew, " and other eminent Fifth-monarchy men ;" but the Committee would not be satisfied until he came in per- son to their bar. He was a member of the new House of Lords, but the title of Lord Barkstead was not given him. " It is not fit," said Colonel Terrill, " for a Lord of the Other House to be a gaoler." Three days after, the Committee made its report to the House, " That the imprisonment of Mr. John Portman by the Lieutenant of the Tower, was and is unjust and illegal, and that he ought to be discharged without any fee or charge." The Cromwellians objected to his liberation. " Portman," they said, " was one of the Fifth-monarchy men, who at the time of his arrest were drawing into arms ; his com- mitment was on the account of preserving the public peace. The chief magistrate's vigilance in the business was not to be blamed. The order came at five o'clock in the morning ; if there had not been good cause, the chief magistrate would not at that time have broken his sleep." Vane and Neville had little difficulty in refuting these arguments by an appeal to the laws of the country. The House adopted the report of the Committee ; and Barkstead, in greater apprehension than ever, wrote to Thurloe on the 24th of February, " I am confident I shall be brought again upon the stage by several prisoners in my custody ; . . . and I therefore humbly desire your honour will take it into consideration, that as I have kept THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 91 close in obedience, so I may not be left liable to the malice of particular men." ^ The case of Major- General Overton produced a much greater sensation. When the House decided, on the 3rd of February, that orders should be sent to the Go- vernor of Jersey to bring him to the bar. Colonel Alured proposed that a frigate should be sent for him, as other- wise he could not come without danger, on account of pirates. " This is to triumph before the victory," said Mr. Trevor. " Major- General Overton is a fit person to conduct armies," rephed Mr. Neville, " and the Spaniards may take him prisoner, and make good use of him. I would have a good strong frigate sent;" and it was voted accordingly. Overton arrived in London on the 11th of March, and as soon as his arrival was reported, it was proposed that he should be brought to the bar. " He is brought so weak with four years' imprisonment," said Sir Harry Vane, " that he can scarce go over the floor. If you please, he may be called in on Monday." Overton appeared before the House on the 16th of March; four or five hundred men on horseback, and a vast crowd, bearing branches of laurel, had escorted him thither. His demeanour in presence of the House was calm and modest. *' I acknowledge it a great mercy of God," he said, " that after three years' imprisonment, succeeding fourteen years in your service, I am brought to the bar of this honourable House. As I have been in a sufiering condition for four years, so I desire to be passive still. ... I had better have been torn in pieces by wild horses ^ Burton's Diary, vol. iii. pp. 448, 449-498 ; Thurloe's State Papers vol. vii. p. 623. 92 RICHARD CROMWELL AND than have endured this great torment ; that had been but for a moment. ... I hope I have not done anything contrary to what I at first engaged and fought for. You are my judges, and I think it a great mercy that it is so. I most humbly leave myself, my cause, and condition, to this House. I will not justify myself; I only desire, one way or other, to receive according as I have done." Having thus spoken, he withdrew. " I never knew nor saw the man," said Mr. Broughton ; " I have heard much of his goodness. There appears no cause of his impri- sonment. Pray do not delay one hour, but give him that which was his due many years since — his enlargement." Upon this a stormy debate arose. " You are going to put a question which may be of a very dangerous con- sequence," said Whalley ; " Major-General Overton was not committed upon a civil but a military account. You will lay all your officers in the army liable to actions by these investigations. Take heed how you discourage your army. If ever you have wars again, it may be of dangerous consequence." " The report in Scotland was very high against Major-General Overton," said Dr. Clarges, Monk's brother-in-law ; " and it was thought his Highness 's indulgency not to try him by a court of war." Thurloe also gave some explanations ; " I move that before your judgment you would hear the whole matter," he said; " the beginning of this was in time of war, and in a dangerous juncture of affairs. Plots were daily discovered. There were endeavours to engage a part of the army against the Government. Military men in military times do not so much consider form as mat- ter." " I move to set Major-General Overton at liberty," THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 93 said Major Ashton ; "yet for the honour of him that is gone, that fought you into your liberties, do not in ter- minis reflect upon him by using the words illegal and unjust." Haslerig indignantly denounced the whole pro- ceeding : " Such a w^arrant was never," he said, " since Wilham the Conqueror came in ! It is illegal, because from a single person alone, and because there is no cause expressed. The warrant is from the single person. If he had been alive, I should have said something ; but he is dead. I shall say no more. . . . Major- General Over- ton was not an army man when he was imprisoned, but one of the people of England. I have observed that he was committed by the name of Robert Overton, Esq. You must release him, as he is an Englishman." The House was just about to vote on the question, when an incident occurred which occasioned considerable embar- rassment, even to Haslerig : at the same time that Over- ton was arrested, Cromwell had sent to Jersey, where he was still imprisoned, Sir Thomas Armstrong, a Royalist, who had taken an active part in the Irish Rebellion. " I move that the question be put only as to Major- General Overton," said Mr. Weaver ; " Armstrong is a danger- ous person." Several members protested against this partiality. "I move to do equal justice," said Colonel Morley. " If the warrant be illegal as to one," added Mr. IVevor, " it is so as to another." " There is more reason to declare the warrant illegal as to other gentle- men," said young Lord Falkland, a worthy inheritor of the great name he bore ; "for Major- General Overton might have been committed by the General as an under- officer." The House hesitated ; even the Republican 94 RICHARD CROMWELL AND leaders were divided in opinion. " To put this business off your hands/' said Vane, the most generous and con- sistent of them all, " declare the warrant to be unjust and illegal, and let Armstrong be released." " I would not have you, hand over head, to deliver Irish rebels," exclaimed Haslerig; "this business of Major-General Overton's is only before you; nought else before you requires your justice." " When this business is done," said Colonel Terrill, " I have a report on Sir Thomas Armstrong's case to offer you; but I submit that the ques- tion ought to pass singly." This suggestion was adopt- ed; the House ordered Overton's immediate liberation, and declared that the warrant for his imprisonment was both unjust and illegal. Colonel Terrill then made his report on Sir Thomas Armstrong's case ; but the jealous timidity of Haslerig had more effect than the fearless equity of Vane. The House came to no decision on the subject, and Armstrong was left in prison.^ It was proof of ardent hostility thus to attack the go- vernment of a man whose son had succeeded him as head of the State, and whose companions almost exclusively composed one House of Parliament, were numerous in the other, and directed the councils of the nation. But as yet these attacks were directed against the deceased Protector alone ; and his ministers and officers, while making it a point of honour to defend him, could at any time devolve upon him the responsibility of actions of which they had been only the instruments. Ere long ^ Commons' Journals, vol. vii. p. 614 ; Burton's Diary, vol. iii. pp. 45-48, vol. iv. pp. 120, 150-161 ; Letter from Bordeaux to Mazarin, March 20, 1659. See ApI'endix. THE DAWN OF THE KESTORATION. 95 however they were themselves attacked for their own acts, and with far greater violence than Cromwell had ever been ; for, even when in his grave, a great man is still able to protect himself, and to impose on his ene- mies the necessity of treating him with a certain measure of justice and respectful consideration. On the 25th of March, the Committee of Grievances presented a Report to the House on two petitions, — one signed by seventy-two persons, and the other from a sin- gle individual, Rowland Thomas, — complaining, that in 1655 and 1656, after the insurrection at Salisbury, they had been arbitrarily transported to Barbadoes, and sold as slaves, " to most inhuman and barbarous persons, for one thousand five hundred and fifty pound weight of sugar apiece, more or less, according to their working faculties; neither sparing the aged, nor divines, nor offi- cers, nor gentlemen, nor any age or condition of men, but rendering all alike in this inseparable captivity; they now generally grinding at the mills and attending at the furnaces, or digging in this scorching island, having nought to feed on (notwithstanding their hard labour) but potato-roots, nor to drink but water with such roots washed in it, beside the bread and tears of their own afflictions ; being bought and sold from one planter to another, or attached as horses and beasts for the debts of their masters, being whipped at the whipping-posts (as rogues) for their masters' pleasure, and sleeping in styes worse than hogs in England ; and many other ways made miserable, beyond expression or Christian imagination/' Certain members of the House were denounced as the authors of these barbarities ; and Thurloe personally was 96 RICHARD CROMWELL AND charged by Rowland Thomas with having been the cause of his violent expatriation and enslavement.^ The reading of this report produced a great sensation in the House ; and its effect was, perhaps, even greater on the members criminated than on their adversaries, for the petitions nvere, they said, entirely unexpected by them, as the Committee had made its report very suddenly, and without hearing them. They feebly disputed the accu- racy of some of the facts stated ; but they were loud in their complaints against the irregular manner in which the affair had been brought before the House. " This is a gross breach of privilege of Parhament,*' said Serjeant Maynard ; " we are not, at Committees, masters of one another ; no Committee ought to judge of members with- out your leave. This comes in very irregularly, and the chairman ought to have rejected it. I shall not speak to the matter that it is a Cavalier's petition." Several mem- bers were of the same opinion as Maynard ; and even the Speaker took the same view. " No Committee," he said, " can receive any original petition against a member of this House, without a high breach of privilege." Hasle- rig and Neville disputed the correctness of this doctrine, and spoke in support of the petition, though evidently with some embarrassment ; the House generally took an unfavourable view of the matter, for the character of the petitioners threw discredit on their complaints. Thurloe perceived this state of feeling, and spoke accordingly. " I hear myself named in the petition," he said ; " and I must agree with those gentlemen that say it comes in ' Commons' Journals, voL vii. pp. 619, 620; Burton's Diary, vol. iv. pp. 253-258. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 97 against a fundamental order. It is a Cavalier petition brought in against your members. ... I am much sur- prised to see this petition brought in. I never thought to have Hved to see this day, while we have an army in the field, and the cause afoot. . . . Encouraging peti- tions of this nature, in complaint of oppressions, is to set you at division. It comes in by combination with the King's party. It has almost set the nation in a flame. While you are about hearing their complaints here, I doubt they are preparing themselves for arms against you. Your Committee gave Rivers a protection to come here to prosecute this petition. This fellow, under your wings and colour of this protection, may better carry on his master's business. I pray that you would order his com- mitment, that he be not at his liberty to set a flame among you. ' Thurloe had gone too far; the arrogance that is so confident in its strength as to defend misdeeds, will ever rouse all generous hearts to indignation. Vane rose : " I do not look on this business as a Cavalierish business," he said, "but as a matter that concerns the liberty of the freeborn people of England. ... I am glad to hear the old cause so well resented ; that we have a sense and loathing of the tyranny of the late King, and of all that tread in his steps to impose on liberty and property. As I should be glad to see any discouragement upon the Cavaliers, so I should be glad to see any discouragement and indignation of yours against such persons as tread in Charles Stuart's steps, whoever they be. . . . That ' Burton's Diary, vol. iv. pp. 258-261 ; Clarendon's State Papers, vol. iii. p. 447. VOL. I. H 98 RICHARD CROMWELL AND which makes me hate the Cavahers, is their cause. Let us not be led away, that, whenever the tables turn, the same will be imposed upon your best men, that is now designed to the worst. Let us not have new Cavaliers and old. Let us hate tyranny in those that tread in their steps, as well as in themselves."^ The gauntlet had now been flung down on both sides ; party passions were inflamed ; the Cromwelhans vied with their adversaries in infusing virulence into the debate, and hurled at each other their recollections and appre- hensions, their warnings and their threats. " This Par- liament had not now been sitting,'' said Major-General Kelsey, "it had been impossible to have preserved us from blood and confusion, if, in all proceedings, his late Highness and Council had been guided according to the strict rules of law. . . . From your hearing the com- plaints of the Cavaliers, you will put the nation into such a flame as you wdll hardly quench. There is Lady 's petition, and other petitions. I doubt, the next petition will be from Charles Stuart. I know no law for his banishment, if there has been no law of force since 1648. I would have those persons at your doors secured, and the petitions rejected." " I move to reject the petition," said Major Knight, " for if you sit twelve months, you will not have time to hear all petitions from Cavaliers. What will you do with the Scots taken at Dunbar, and at Durham and Worcester ? Many of them w^ere sent to Barbadoes. Will you hear all their petitions ?" " I am as much against the Cavalier party as any man in these walls," said Mr Boscaw^en ; " and shall as zealously assert ^ Burton's Diary, voL iv. pp. 262, 263. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 99 the old cause ; but you have Paul's case before you. A Roman ought not to be beaten. We are miserable slaves, if we may not have this liberty secured to us." "I hope," exclaimed Sir John Lenthall, " it is not the effect of our war to make merchandise of men !" "We have had no war these seven years," remarked Haslerig ; " true, a little rebellion, and some suffered. But these men deny that they were ever sentenced, charged, or in arms ; some were acquitted ; and yet these men are now sold into slavery amongst beasts ! I could hardly hold weeping when I heard the petition. . . . Our ancestors left us free men. If we have fought our sons into slavery, we are of all men most miserable." " I do much approve of that gentleman's tender-heartedness," said Sir George Booth ; " but he may remember how, in the Long Parlia- ment, two or three thousand Protestants were sent to the Barbadoes against their consent." At this poignant re- collection, the Republican was silent. It was hard in- deed to find the charge he brought against his enemies met by a similar charge against himself.^ The House adjourned without coming to a vote on the matter. Five days afterwards, on the 30th of March, Thurloe revived the question ; and after entering into long details in reference to the petitioner, Rowland Thomas, which made it evident that he was a desperate conspirator in favour of Charles Stuart, he succeeded in inducing the House to give authority to the Speaker to arrest him. But he was no longer to be found at the door of the House, where he had more than once boldly presented himself ; and there is every reason to believe that search » BurtoHi's Diary, vol. iv. pp. 263-273. H 2 100 RICHARD CROMWELL AND was not made for him elsewhere. The CromweUians en- deavoured, but in vain, to persuade the House to adopt more rigorous measures against their enemies ; the ma- jority of the members were wearied and grieved by all they had heard, and eager to put an end to a debate which had tended only to redouble party antipathies and render the Government unpopular, while it had brought the army a step nearer to a rupture with the Parliament. V Before a fortnight had elapsed, however, a fresh incident occurred which irreparably widened the breach. Major- General Butler, one of the roughest and most devoted of Cromwell's soldiers, had, during the preceding year, com- mitted some most brutally illegal acts in Northampton- shire ; not, as it would appear, with any view to personal profit, but his natural violence of character, or the in- toxication produced in a vulgar mind by the possession of power, had led him utterly to set at nought all private rights and civil authorities, and to take pleasure, when his master's service required, in braving the laws and wreak- ing vengeance on his enemies. As soon as Cromwell w^as dead, petitions were sent in, complaining of Butler's ty- rannical conduct ; and the Committee of Grievances, be- fore presenting their report to the House, summoned the Major- General before them, that they might hear his ex- planations. Butler, far from attempting to excuse what he had done, arrogantly justified his proceedings. " He had acted," he said, " in virtue of a letter from his late Highness commanding him so to do ; he had merely done his duty, and w^ould do it again if necessary." When ^ Burton's Diary, voL iv. pp. 301-308 ; Commons' Journals, voL vii. p. 622. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 101 the report was presented to the House, it created great excitement ; several members demanded that Butler should be removed from the commission of the peace, and declared incapable of holding any civil or military office. " I move that he be not only put out of civil and military offices," said Colonel White, " but also that a charge be drawn up against him, as far as the nature of his of- fence will bear: the offence of Lord Strafford was not so high. For him in that insolent manner to tell you, in this House, that he would not dispute whatever the Chief Magistrate ordered him to do ! He had acted highly in the point of decimation, and had indemnity for it through great mercy. To offend again is an abuse of your tenderness for him." Several officers attempted to defend their comrade. " A soldier," said Sir Anthony Morgan, " by the martial law% is not to dispute the orders of his superior officers. I declare myself against the Major- Generals and arbitrary power ; 1 hope never to see such things done again ; but we must distinguish be- tween times; nothing done since 1642 is questioned. I would have no retrospect, but look forward." Major- General Kelsey said that to punish Butler would be a re- flection on his late Highness, who had very great influ- ence over him ; but the indignant House would hardly listen to Butler's defenders. " He is said to have of- fended in a military capacity,'* exclaimed Colonel White ; " if so, the military capacity has committed a rape on the civil." " I hear much that Cavaliers are in town," said Lord Falkland : " I wish there be not CavaKers amongst us, that strive to make our friends Cavaliers." The House almost unanimously resolved that the acts to which 102 RICHARD CROMWELL AND the petitions referred were illegal and unjust, and ordered that the complainants should have immediate redress; and it was further resolved that Major- General Butler should be removed from the commission of the peace. But the Opposition was not yet satisfied, and insisted that he should be deprived of all military command. " It is his livelihood," urged his friends ; " therefore hear him before you pass this sentence upon him." Thurloe, who felt deep interest in Butler, considered that it was now time for him to interfere : "I think the gentleman to be a man of worth," he said ; " and having this severe sentence to be put upon him, I could not but speak my thoughts. To disable him from all employment is the highest sentence next to hfe, and you do this unheard. I understand it is for executing his Highnesses commands, through zeal for your safety, that he is accused. What he did was upon occasion of an insurrection, to be made in this town and several parts of England. Major- General Butler got no profit by it. He has served you faithfully, and honestly, and valiantly. 1 desire that he may be heard before you pass this severe sentence upon him." " To disable him from all employment is not the highest punishment on this side death," exclaimed Mr. Charlton; " sending one to Jamaica or Barbadoes is much more." But though the debate was marked by many outbreaks of passion, it w^as no less characterized by great irresolu- tion ; the House wished to do an act of justice, which might serve as an example to future evildoers, but which it felt would involve it in imminent peril. It finally re- ,solved that a committee should be appointed " to draw up an impeachment against Major- General Butler, and to THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 103 consider of a course how to proceed judicially against him, and against other delinquents ;'' and a committee, con- sisting of fifty-six members, was immediately appointed and invested with the necessary powers for making the strictest and most complete inquiries into the matter.^ Of all the measures which it was possible for the House to have adopted under the circumstances, this was perhaps the most dangerous, for it was a threat rather than a blow, and a threat directed not only against Major- General Butler, but against all the officers who had served Crom- well and his tyranny. The reaction against the existing Government became more and more decided ; the conflict between the House of Commons and the army was al- ready flagrant. The Presbyterians, who were numerous and powerful in the House, induced it to adopt resolu- tions which excited additional animosities against it. It ordained that the Acts which prohibited the use of the liturgy and ritual of the Church of England should be put in execution ; and it appointed a sub-committee of two of its members to take into consideration the best means of suppressing all meetings of Papists, Quakers, Anti-Trinitarians, and Jews. Nor were the freethinkers treated with more forbearance than the sectaries. The republican Neville had been heard to express some very unorthodox and disrespectful opinions in regard to reli- gion ; among other things he was accused of having said that he was more affected by reading Cicero than by reading the Bible ; he was accordingly denounced to the ^ Commons' Journals, vol. vii. pp. 636, 637 ; Burton's Diary, vol. iv. pp. 403-412; Clarendon's State Papers, vol. iii. p. 454; Letter from Bordeaux to Mazarin, 4-pril 24, 1649. See Appendix. 104 RICHARD CROMWELL AND House as an atheist and blasphemer, and his friends had great difficulty in obtaining that the charge should not be proceeded with. It was proposed that a day should be set apart for public fasting and humiliation through- out the three nations, to implore the pardon of God on account of the schisms, heresies, and blasphemies, " for which the land mourned," and of the remissness and connivance of the civil magistrates, whereby " those abo- minations were made the more national." The declara- tion ordaining this fast gave rise to a long and animated debate, in which were revived all the dissensions, preten- sions, and apprehensions of all the churches and sects on which Cromwell had sternly imposed silence and mutual toleration. ReUgious excitement was again added to po- litical antagonism, and liberty of conscience was imperilled as well as the revolution. " Dissension now grows very warm among our enemies," wrote Mordaunt to Hyde, on the 14th of April ; " and we believe nothing can settle them but some rash attempt from us. Here are some too forward for action, but you may be sure three king- doms are too considerable to venture upon a slight ac- count ; and therefore I do all I can to quiet them."^ In common with Mordaunt, Thurloe believed that con- spiracies and insurrections on the part of the Cavaliers could alone save the government of the Protector ; and as he was as free from scruples as from illusions, he made every effort not only to spread the belief that such plots were imminent, but actually to encourage them. 1 Burton's Diary, vol. iii. pp. 403, 296-305, 501, vol iv. pp. 300, 328-349 ; Commons' Journals, vol. vii. pp. 622-625 ; Clarendon's State Papers, vol. iii. pp. 450, 454. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 105 " It is the design of Thurloe to make a plot," wrote one of his emissaries to Hyde, on the 13th of April; "to that purpose he is tui'ning every stone, and pretends to the House a great design ; that many officers of the King's are come over, and in London at least two hundred, and withal he presseth to have all the King's party ba- nished from London. I confess it falls out very unlucky that so many are come over ; though want of bread is the cause, yet in their cups here they do mischief enough with their tongues. My Lord, it is the sense of all the King's party here to be close ; and it is not questioned at all but we shall have an opportunity put into our hands, which I hope will be well managed to his Ma- jesty's advantage." The Royalists remained quiet, watch- ing their opportunity ; and Thurloe could find no mate- rials for the plot which he so much needed.^ Between the antagonistic fermentation of the Repub- lican party, and the equally hostile tranquillity of the Royalists, Richard's perplexity was extreme. Sociable and easy in disposition, and detesting all effort and con- flict, he desired to Hve on friendly terms, or at least at peace, with all with whom he was brought in contact, and he made it his endeavour to attract or retain them near his person, by sympathizing with their views or listening to their counsels. His moderation of mind and urbanity of character had won for him the zealous affec- tion of many of his father's oldest and best friends, and more particularly of Pierrepoint and St. John. " Though perhaps you will not believe it," wrote Broderick to Hyde, ' Clarendon's State Papers, vol. iii. pp. 456, 457 ; Letter from Bor- deaux to Mazarin, April 28, 1659. See Appendix. 106 RICHARD CROMWELL AND on the 18th of March, " they really are more affectionate to the present than the late Protector, whose temper so differed from theirs that it was usually averse to the de- liberate caution they advised, running hazards they trem- bled to think of, upon a sudden violent suggestion, of which they could give themselves no account, — which precipices this young Prince doth prudently as well as naturally avoid, and is thereby rendered more agreeable to those wary statesmen." And as Richard behaved to the friends of his father, so he also treated his own com- panions ; his aristocratic tastes, the associations of his youth, and the kind offices which he constantly rendered them, had led him to live on terms of almost familiar friendship with many Cavaliers ; so that they were firmly persuaded that in his heart he desired the restoration of the King, and would willingly concur in effecting it, if his most trusted advisers, Thurloe and St. John,* could be induced to consent to it. Letters innumerable were sent to Charles 11. and to Hyde, to inspire them with equal confidence in the young Protector's royalism, and to lu-ge them by indirect means to encourage such favourable ten- dencies. But neither the King nor his Chancellor put any faith in these reports ; and they were right, for at the same time, Henry Cromwell thus WTote to Thurloe : " My opinion is, that any extreme is more tolerable than returning to Charles Stuart. Other disasters are tempo- rary, and may be mended : those not. 1 know you are of the same opinion.'' Richard also concurred in this view ; but from carelessness or calculation, he fostered the illusions of the Royalists, in the hope of thereby gain- ing some support under the difficulties which beset his THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 107 government, and perhaps also some alleviation of the consequences of a fall which he was now more and more inclined to anticipate.^ His demeanour in regard to the Republicans was neither more sincere nor more straightforward ; he re- garded them with antipathy, and had nothing to expect from them bat harassment, humiliation, and hostility. Between him and them there was ever raging a secret rivalry, an unseen struggle for the sovereignty. Richard could command an almost certain majority against them in the House of Commons ; but even when vanquished, they continued as intractable, arrogant, and captious as ever ; and he was forced to submit in silence to their pretensions and attacks, so long as their pretensions re- mained barren and their attacks were not mortal. On the 5th of April, just after the House of Commons had agreed to .the declaration ordaining a day of public fast- ing and prayer, Haslerig abruptly addressed the Speaker ; " I have heard by report," he said, " that since you were Speaker you have been at Court, which you ought not to have done. You are the greatest man in England. . . . All the House ought to attend you when you go." This speech was received with tumultuous surprise. " That gentleman has been at dinner," said Mr. Swinfen, " haply he has heard this report there. This is a baiting you with questions, which is not for the honour of this House, to cast reproach upon you by those questions ; I w^ould have you give no answer. I have never been at Court ' Clarendon's State Papers, vol. iii. pp. 440-442, 444, 445, 452, 454 ; Thurloe's State Papers, vol. vii. p. 635 ; Noble's Memoirs of the Pro- tectoral House of Cromwell, vol. i. p. 159. 108 RICHARD CROMWELL AND myself. I know not the Protector ; but I know that you might go to Court without breach of privilege." A de- bate arose on this question, some affirming and some denying that it was customary for the Speaker of the House of Commons to go to Court ; precedents were quoted in support of the former statement. " In 1654," said Mr. Bulkeley, " the Speaker was at Court oftener than once. 1 fear those that go least to Court would be oftener there if the gates were open. Strangeness breeds en- mity. I came to bring court and country together." Neville and Vane attempted to defend, or at least to ex- cuse, the conduct of Haslerig. The Speaker volunteered an explanation, but was not allowed to make it, and the subject was dropped without further result. But the House, while repudiating Haslerig's virulence, permitted him to vent it ; and Richard was not regarded with suf- ficient respect or sufficient fear to render such outbreaks impossible.^ In the army, he possessed, or at least had reason to believe he possessed, a strong party. Among the troops quartered in England, eight regiments, some of them commanded by bold and intelligent officers, such as Whalley, Howard, Ingoldsby, and Faulconbridge, were entirely devoted to his service. The army of Ireland, under the command of his brother Henry, occasioned him no apprehensions. Monk ruled the army in Scotland with a firm hand, and did not hesitate to answer for its obedience. "I am sorry to hear," he WTote to Thurloe, on the 22nd of March, "that any of the Scotch officers * Commons' Journals, vol. vii. pp. 625, 626 ; Old Parliamentary His- tory, vol. xxi. p. 319 J Burton's Diary, vol. iv. pp. 334-350. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 109 should be acting to divide and distract you. I could wish you had written to me the names of them. I heard of Colonel Ashfield and my Lieutenant-Colonel ; if there be any more, I shall desire to hear their names, and I shall Avrite to them. If they were here, these two could sig- nify but a little, as little as any two officers in Scotland ; but I could wish his Highness would command them away to their commands, which I think would be the best course. As to what they are pleased to say, that the rest of the forces in Scotland are of their opinions, I assm-e you that they are much deceived ; for there are no forces can be quieter than these are, and they shall be satisfied with anything his Highness and Parliament shall settle." Lockhart expressed similar confidence in the troops which formed the garrison of Dunkirk. Richard him- self was at great pains to please the soldiers; he held frequent reviews, and manifested the utmost anxiety for their welfare and for the liquidation of their arrears of pay. Thurloe made continual efforts in the House of Commons to obtain the payment of these arrears :^ and Mazarin at length sent him word, by M. de Bordeaux, that if he were in need of assistance, the help of France would not be denied him. But all these means of strength and expressions of friendship failed to set Richard at his ease, and he was right not to trust to them. A stranger all his life to the army, he exercised no influence over it, and possessed for it no attraction ; on the contrary, his opi- nions, associations, and manners led it to regard him with suspicion; the old soldiers did not recognize him as a comrade ; his title and authority were displeasing to the ' On the 9th of April, 1G59, among other occasions. 110 RICHARD CROMWELL AND Republicans ; the austere Puritans charged him with irre- ligion and Hcentiousness ; and all blamed him for the partiality and favour with which he treated the Cavaliers. Richard himself more than once furnished some ground for these accusations by the disdainful levity with which he defended himself against them : on one occasion, he summoned to Whitehall a subaltern officer, who had mur- mured against some promotions which he had made, and having ascertained the cause of his complaints ; " Would you have me," said he, "prefer none but the godly? Here is Dick Ingoldsby, who can neither pray nor preach ; yet will I trust him before ye all." The leading malecon- tents in the army, the ambitious intriguers of Wallingford House, Desborough, Fleetwood, Lambert, Kelsey, and Sydenham, did not fail to turn the popular feeling in the regiments to their own advantage. Moreover, notwith- standing their mutual suspicions and animosities, they had entered into secret arrangements with some of the Republican leaders in the House of Commons, with Lud- low, Scott, and even Haslerig and Vane; their revolu- tionary interests united tjiem in spite of their political dif- ferences ; and in their common hatred of Charles Stuart, they had solemnly agreed, though differing with regard to the constitution of the government, to act in concert, if necessary, against the common enemy. Desborough was, now as ever, the most troublesome and violent of them all ; availing himself of the privilege of near relation- ship, he pestered the Protector by turns with menaces and offers of service, now declaring that the army would abandon him if he continued to treat the Parliament and the Cavaliers with so much consideration, and anon pro- THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. Ill mising him the firm support of the new House of Lords agamst the pretensions of the House of Commons, pro- vided he would abolish, in all cases and for ever, the title of Lords, which offended the democratic pride of the fa- natical soldier. It is said that he carried his intrigues even into the little chosen band which formed the Pro- tector's guard, and that he was better informed and more powerful, in the palace of Whitehall, than Richard Crom- well himself.^ This state of affairs was too anomalous not to be tend- ing rapidly towards a catastrophe. Cromwell had been able, though with great difficulty, to caress and maltreat by turns the revolution which he had effected, and the army which he had led to victory ; whatever ill-feeling they might entertain towards him, both, in the hour of danger, could rely, and did rely, upon him. Whether Parliamentarians or soldiers, the Revolutionaries all ac- cepted him as their arbiter, for they had all been forced to submit to him as their master ; but Richard had no claim either on the party which had overthrown the mon- archy, or on that which had supported the Protectoral tyranny : a man may attain to power under the shadow of a great name, but that name will not enable him to exercise it; both in the Parliament and in the army, Richard met with a strong and jealous opposition, whose passionate attacks were directed far less against the acts of his government, than against the constitutional system of which he was the hereditary chief ; and when, aided by ' Thurloe's State Papers, vol. vii. pp. 411, 466, 495, 566, 638 ; Cla- rendon's State Papers, vol. iii. p. 444; Ludlow's Memoirs, p. 268; Burnet's History of His Own Time, vol. i. pp. 150-152 ; Letters from Bordeaux to Mazarin, M^^rch 7-31, 1659. See Appendix. I ]12 RICHARD CROMWELL AND the apprehensions of the moment and the servants of his father, he triumphed over his enemies, he had gained only a fruitless victory, for that army and that Parliament, among whose members he had obtained a majority, were engaged in mortal warfare with each other : placed be- tween the two, in the position of a powerless arbitrator, he saw the day inevitably approaching when he would fall a victim to the blows which the two great antagonists interchanged, for he could neither reconcile them, nor choose between them, without danger to himself. Towards the end of March, Fleetwood and Desborough waited upon the Protector, and, with the air of anxious and offended friends, represented to him the extreme agitation which prevailed in the army, in consequence of the non-payment of their arrears, the attacks to which their officers were exposed, and the triumphal bearing of the Cavaliers ; and by dint of entreaties and threats, they persuaded him to authorize the convocation of a general council of officers, who should confer with the Protector on the best means of putting an end to the distress of the troops, and of securing to the common cause those guarantees which were essential to its maintenance.^ On being informed of this unexpected concession, which had been made without their knowledge, the more intimate advisers of Richard, Lord Broghill among others, remonstrated with him on having taken so impor- tant a step without consulting his Council, and pointed out the dangerous consequences which might ensue from ^ Ludlow's Memoirs, p. 269 ; Oldmixon's History of the Stuarts, p. 432 ; Morrice's Life of Orrery, prefixed to his State Letters, vol. i. p. 54 ; Biograpliia Britaimica, vol. ii. p. 900. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 113 it to his person and government. But it was now too late to retract : in the early part of April, more than five hmidred officers assembled at Wallingford House, and, after solemn prayer by Dr. Owen, began their delibera- tions. The principal officers attached to the Protector — Lord Howard, who commanded his guard. Lord Faul- conbridge, his brother-in-law, and Lord Broghill — were present at this meeting. Desborough made a long speech, in which " he put them in mind how gracious the Lord had been to them, and how their arms had prospered, though he feared this prosperity would not last long, since several sons of BeHal had crept in among them, who, in all probability, would draw down the judgments of Heaven upon them ; wherefore he thought it would be convenient to purge the army by a test, which every officer should take or be cashiered ; and the test which he proposed was, that every one should swear that he did believe in his conscience that the putting to death of the late King, Charles Stuart, was lawful and just." This proposal was received with acclamations by most of the assembly; but Lord Howard and Lord Faulconbridge left the room immediately, either in indignation, or to inform the Protector of what was going on. Lord Brog- hill remained, and boldly expressed his dissent from Desborough's proposition. "I am not," he said, "of the same opinion with the noble Lord who spoke last, being against all tests put upon the army, as things which would enslave them, and which they have positively declared against. If they once put tests upon them- selves, they will quickly have others put tests upon them ; and will consequently lose their liberty of conscience, for VOL. I. I 114 RICHARD CROMWELL AND which they have so often fought. I am in particular against the test proposed, because it is unjust and un- reasonable to require men to swear to the lawfulness of that which they were not present at ; many besides my- self were not present when the late King was tried and put to death, and how can they swear that what they did not and could not know was just and lawful ? But if you will have a test to purge the army, I think I have as good a right to propose one as any other man ; and I shall therefore take the liberty to propose. That all shall be tiu-ned out of the army that will not swear to defend the Government as it is now established under the Pro- tector and Parliament. I again declare I am against all tests, and for the continuance of the liberty of the army; but if you will have a test, I am for this. This is rea- sonable, because your being depends upon it ; and law- ful, because it is to maintain that authority by which you sit. If you will not pass it here, or do pass the other, I will move for this test tomorrow in Parliament, where I am confident it will pass."^ Lord Broghill had not miscalculated the effect of his speech ; many officers shared in his repugnance to all tests, and many others, notwithstanding their republican- ism, were by no means desirous to associate themselves with the regicides. WhaUey and Goffe, between whom Lord Broghill had been sitting, warmly supported his views, and Desborough, perceiving that his proposition was likely to be rejected, withdrew it. It was succeeded ^ Ludlow's Memoirs, p. 269 ; Oldmixon's History of the Stuarts, p. 432 ; Biographia Britannica, vol. ii. p. 900 ; Morrice's Life of Orrery, vol. i. pp. 55, 56. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 115 by other motions of a less openly destructive character, though still fraught with danger to the Protector. The Council again expressed its desire that the command of the army might be separated from the civil powxr, and entrusted to men of experience in war and possessing the confidence of the troops. These resolutions were embo- died in a " Humble Representation and Petition of the Officers of the Armies of England, Scotland, and Ire- land," which was solemnly presented to the Protector, on the 6th of April, in one of the public rooms of au- dience at Whitehall. Richard received it without any mark of displeasure, and conversed affectionately with the officers who presented it, "using many expressions of tenderness and endearment to them, as the old friends of his renowned father, and the faithful servants of the public interests of the nation, in the maintenance of which he was resolved to live and die with them." " In a word," says the official newspaper of that evening, " so great a satisfaction appeared on either side at this meet- ing, that it speaks nothing less than a vigorous asserting of the present Government, to the terror and confusion of the common enemy." ^ In critical conjunctures, no falsehood can be invented for the purpose of saving appearances, which men will not readily adopt, provided that it furnishes some allevia- tion to their apprehensions. The Humble Representa- tion of the officers was moderate in its tone, and disre- spectful neither to the Protector nor to the Parliament ; • Whitelocke's Memorials, p. 677 ; Burton's Diary, vol. iv. p. 361 ; Oldmixon's History of the Stuarts, p. 432 ; Mercurius Politicus, No. 561 ; Ludlow's Memoirs, p. 269. I 2 116 RICHARD CROMWELL AND in reality, however, it contained all that Desborough had proposed to obtain by means of the oath which he had suggested, for it demanded that the good old cause should be publicly asserted, and all proceedings in prosecution and maintenance of it justified and confirmed, and that present security should be afforded to all who were en- gaged in its defence ; but it was couched in vague and general terms, which disguised the meaning it was in- tended to convey. Two days after its presentation to him, Richard forwarded it, with a letter from himself, to the House of Commons, who appeared to receive it with indifference, as a matter with which they were already ac- quainted, and probably hoped that it would prove an empty demonstration, which might be allowed to pass unnoticed. But this illusion, though entertained by some, was speedily dispelled ; the Humble Representation was immediately printed and widely circulated ; a large num- ber of subaltern officers and soldiers, among others those of the late Colonel Pride's regiment, supported it by pe- titions expressed in far more explicit language, and ad- dressed to Fleetwood as commander-in-chief of the army. "Because our consciences bear us witness," they said, " that we dipped our hands in blood in that cause, and the blood of many thousands hath been shed by our im- mediate hands, under your command, in that quarrel, we are amazed to think of the account that we must render at the great and terrible day of the Lord, if, by your silence, the freedom of these nations should be lost, and returned into the hands of that family, which God hath so eminently appeared against in his many signal pro- vidences, Httle less than miracles." They therefore de- THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 117 clared themselves ready, as in times past, to risk their lives for the good old cause, either against " the old Ca- valier party, or any other party which shall endeavour to bring us into the like thraldom and bondage." Petitions from Quakers and other sectaries were added to those from the soldiery. Two aldermen, and some officers of the City train-bands, succeeded, with considerable diffi- culty, in getting up a similar address from the metropolis. The general council of officers continued to meet, and to invoke the Divine blessing on its proceedings; po- pular preachers, among whom were some of Cromwell's favourite chaplains, conducted these devotional services. In a word, there prevailed, around the Protector and the House of Commons, with a view to control them either by enthusiasm or fear, a movement limited in the number of its supporters, and sustained by painful efforts, but serious and ardent in its character, and conducted by men who were ready to adopt extreme resolutions in order to escape an extreme danger.^ The House could not long mistake the object of this movement, and after ten days had passed in a silence which betokened greater patience than prudence, it resolved firmly to meet these attacks. On the 18th of April there was a large attendance of members, all in a state of high excitement. It was resolved that no one should be al- * Commons' Journals, vol. vii. pp. 631, 632 ; Old Parliamentary His- tory, vol. xxi. pp. 339-345 ; Whitelocke's Memorials, p. 677 ; Burton's Diary, vol. iv. pp. 369-379, 388; Clarendon's History of the Eebellion, vol. vii. p. 308 ; Clarendon's State Papers, vol. iii. p. 451 ; Heath's Chro- nicle, p. 753; Baker's Chronicle, p. 697; Harris's Life of Charles II., p. 203 ; Oldmixon's History of the Stuarts, p. 432 ; Echard's History of England, vol. ii. p. 437 ; Bordeaux to Mazarin, April 17-24-28, 1659. See Appendix. 118 RICHARD CROMWELL AND lowed to leave the House without permission from the Speaker. " You have been a long time talking of three Estates/' said Lord Falkland ; " there is a fourth which, if not well looked to, will turn us all out-of-doors." Sir Robert Pye proposed that, during the session of Parlia- ment, no general council of officers should meet, " with- out the direction, leave, and authority of his Highness the Lord Protector and both Houses of Parhament." This proposition was received with great demonstrations of approval ; but, to the astonishment of all who were not well acquainted with the sudden shiftings and secret in- trigues of party tactics, the Republican leaders, usually so jealous of the power and privileges of Parliament, Haslerig, Scott, Ludlow, and even Vane himself, raised objections to the motion. " Be very wary of proceeding suddenly," they said; "this diffidence of your friends ought to be avoided. Take heed you take not the thorn out of another's foot and put it in your own : it can never be policy to distrust those you are obliged to trust." Scott spoke still more explicitly : " Disperse the officers," he said, "and you will keep the Cavaliers together." This was the secret motive of the opposition of the Re- publican leaders ; alarmed at the progress made by the Royalists, their revolutionary apprehensions overcame their zeal for the independence of the Parliament, and they had entered into a secret compact with the leaders of the army, preferring the prospect of submission to mi- litary rule, to that of Charles Stuart's restoration. But the House shared neither in their aversion to monarchical government, nor in their dread of its re-establishment ; composed for the most part of Presbyterians who were THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 119 more or less favourable to the King, and of new men over whom the personal interests of the old parties had no influence, it resolved to defend its honour and its rights, regardless of the consequences which might ensue from such resistance. It voted, in the first place, that no general council of officers should be held without the permission of the Protector and both Houses of Parliament ; and secondly, that no person should hold any command in the army or navy, unless he subscribed an engagement that he would neither disturb nor interrupt the free meet- ings of either House of Parliament, or the freedom of their debates ; and it further resolved that these votes should be immediately communicated to the other House, and its concurrence in them desired. Having thus as- serted its dignity, if not secured its safety, the House proceeded to consider the causes which had, in appear- ance at least, produced this discontent, and brought about this crisis ; and it decided that, on the following day, it would deliberate on the means of satisfying the arrears due to the army and navy. It was stated that a great number of malignants, Cavaliers and others, had recently made their appearance in London and its neigh- bourhood ; a committee of twenty-nine members was ap- pointed to report on the most effectual means of securing his Highness, the Parliament, and the nation, against their designs. Certain old servants of the Commonwealth had expressed anxiety in regard to their safety ; and three eminent lawyers were directed to prepare and bring in a bill for indemnifying them against any future prosecution, on any ground whatsoever. All these measures were ra- pidly resolved upon, at the same sitting. The House, 120 RICHARD CROMWELL AND while defending itself against their attacks, was desirous to deprive its enemies of all pretext for their accusations and complaints.^ When these resolutions were reported at Whitehall, the Protector's advisers endeavoured to induce him to emu- late the firmness which the House had displayed. " Join in with the Parliament," said Lord Broghill, " and dis- solve the council of officers.'' *'How shall I do it?" asked Richard. " If you please," answered Broghill, " I will draw up a short speech for you, and tomorrow morning go to the Council, where, after an hour's sitting among them, you must stand up and speak it." Richard consented, and on the following day, at about ten o'clock, he proceeded to Wallingford House, and took his seat among the officers, some of whom were pleased, and others made anxious, by his presence. After listening attentively to their debates for about an hour, he sud- denly rose, and thus addressed them : " Gentlemen, I accept of your service with all thankfulness. I have con- sidered what does most aggrieve you, and think the best and properest way to redress what is amiss amongst you, is to do it in the Parliament now sitting, of which many of you are members, where I will see things righted ; and I therefore declare my commission for holding this Coimcil to be now void, and the Council dissolved, and desire you to go to your several commands." ^ * Commons' Journals, voL vii. pp. 641, 642 ; Old Parliamentary His- tory, vol. xxi. p. 348 ; Burton's Diary, vol. iv. pp. 448-463 j "WTiitelocke, p. 677. 2 Oldmixon's History of the Stuarts, pp. 432, 433 ; Morrice's Life of Orrery, vol. i. pp. 57, 58 ; Biographia Britannica, vol. ii. p. 901 ; Neal's History of the Puritans, vol. iv. p. 192. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 121 Surprised and irritated, the maleconteiits did not ven- ture openly to resist the Protector, and withdrew ; but shortly afterwards, meeting Lord Broghill in the House of Lords, in the course of a debate on the resolutions which had been sent up to them by the House of Com- mons, several of the officers, looking steadfastly at him, bitterly complained of the affront they had received, and demanded that an address should be presented to his Highness, to ascertain who it was that had advised him to dissolve the Council of War, without having previously informed the two Houses of Parliament of his intention, and obtained their consent. "At the same time this address is made," said Lord Broghill, " I humbly move there may be also another address to know who advised the calling of a Council of War without the consent or knowledge of the Parliament; for if he be guilty who advised the dissolution of the Council, he must be much more guilty who advised-the calling it." This bold frank- ness made even the angriest pause ; perplexity succeeded to irritation ; and both propositions were allowed to fall to the ground. But the House of Lords was very near dismissing the resolutions of the Commons abruptly, and without discussing them ; by a majority of one vote only, it resolved to take them into consideration, and to make known its answer by its official messengers. The Com- mons, meanwhile, adopted further resolutions which con- ferred the command of the military and naval forces of the country on the Protector, in concert with the Parlia- ment, and authorized him to cashier or supersede any officer who should refuse to obey him. The crisis hourly became more imminent; all parties were hurrying for- k 122 RICHARD CROMWELL AND ward to the catastrophe, less from any impatient unwill- ingness to wait, than from the utter impossibility of averting it.^ Notwithstanding the orders of the Protector and of the House of Commons, the general council of officers still con- tinued to meet at Wallingford House, to rally their forces and mature their plans. Dr. Owen repaired thither daily to conduct the devotional service which invariably pre- ceded their deliberations. Another of Cromwell's former chaplains, Dr. Manton, who held more moderate opinions than Owen, went there one day rather late, after the busi- ness of the meeting had commenced, and heard these words as he stood at the door : "He must down, and he shall down." Recognizing Owen's voice, demanding the deposition of the Protector, Manton withdrew in conster- nation, as he was unwilling to associate himself with such violent designs.^ At Whitehall, on the other hand, the officers who were devoted to Richard — Lord Faulconbridge, Lord Howard, Whalley, Lord Broghill, Goffe, Ingoldsby, and others — gathered around him, and urged him to take his enemies by surprise. " It is time to look about you," said Lord Howard : " empire and command are not now the ques- tion. Your person, your life, are in peril : you are the son of Cromwell, show yourself worthy to be his son. This business requires a bold stroke, and must be sup- ported by a good head. Do not suflFer yourself to be * Commons' Journals, vol. vii. p. 642 ; Old Parliamentary History, vol. xxi. p. 349 ; Ludlow's Memoirs, p. 269 ; Morrice's Life of Orrery, vol, i. p. 59 ; Letter from Bordeaux to Mazarin, May 1, 1659. See Appendix. 2 Neal's History of the Puritans, vol. iv. p. 191 ; Reliquiae Baxterianae, p. 101. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 128 daunted. Fleetwood, Lambert, Desborough, and Vane are the contrivers of all this. I will rid you of them ; do you stand by me, and only back my zeal for your honour with your name; my head shall answer for the conse- quence." Ingoldsby added his entreaties to those of Howard, and offered to become personally responsible for Lambert, who was considered their most dangerous ene- my. Richard was racked by painful perplexity. " I have never done anybody any harm," he said, " and never will ; I will not have a drop of blood spilt for the preservation of my greatness, which is a burden to me." Howard indignantly remonstrated with him on this want of cou- rage : "Do you think," he asked, "this moderation of yours will repair the wrong your family has committed by its elevation ? Everybody knows that by violence your father procured the death of the late King, and kept his sons in banishment : mercy in the present state of affairs is unseasonable. Lay aside this pusillanimity ; every mo- ment is precious ; your enemies spend this time in acting, which we waste in consulting." But Richard was not to be persuaded. " Talk no more of it," he said, " ray resolution is fixed. I am thankful for your friendship, but violent counsels suit not with me." Howard left Whitehall, having discharged his duty as a loyal servant to the Cromwell family ; and now, free from all obligation towards them, he devoted his energies, in concert with Lord Broghill, to preparing the way for the restoration of Charles Stuart.^ * Noble's Memoirs of the Protectoral House of Cromwell, vol. i. pp. 330, 331 ; Oldmixon's History of the Stuai'ts, pp. 433, 434 ; Baker's Chronicle, pp. 697, 698 ; Heath's Chronicle, p. 744 ; Whitelocke, p. 677. 124 RICHARD CROMWELL AND Efforts were made to induce Richard himself to co- operate ill this design ; and many CavaUers still hoped that he would eventually lend his assistance to the pro- ject. Admiral Montague, w^ho commanded the fleet in the Baltic, was, it was asserted, ready and willing to act. The Danish minister in London, who had no doubt re- ceived instructions from his master, offered his services to send out the necessary information and orders. But Richard refused to consent : he was almost as honest as he was weak ; and though a Royalist from predilection, he felt as much repugnance to betray the cause of his name, as to risk a conflict in support of his own position.^ Foreseeing the extremities to which he would soon be reduced, he had sent a messenger into Scotland to ascer- tain Monk's intentions, and to offer to settle on him an annual income of twenty thousand pounds if he would undertake to support him against his enemies. But Monk, whose foresight on this occasion w^as greater than his avarice, merely replied, " The said revenue will do Richard more good than my sticking to him."^ But though rejected and ineffectual, these bold coun- sels, these propositions of a surprise, and these overtures of the Cavaliers to the Protector, filled the oflficers with apprehensive anxiety. Either from uncertainty as to the disposition of a part of the army, or from unwillingness to maltreat pubhcly the son of their master, they en- deavoured to obtain from him, without any violence, an order for the dissolution of the House of Commons, which * Heath's Chronicle, p. 744. 2 MS. Journal of Admiral Montague, quoted in Harris's Life of Charles II., p. 194. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 125 was the real object of their hostihty and dread. It would even appear that, on the 20th of April, they were still in negotiation with Thurloe on this point ; and it was the general opinion that Richard would yield. " I am still persuaded,'* wrote Bordeaux to Mazarin on that day, *' that he will acquiesce in the wishes of the officers, and that he will prefer this course to surrendering himself into the hands of the Parliament, which is composed of men of no great stability, who would abandon him in case of need, and many of whom are his partisans only so far as they believe it consistent with their plans for the restora- tion of the King. The most sensible persons here are of this opinion." But Richard, like all weak men, was de- sirous that violence should be employed upon him, that he might be freed from responsibility. As they could not per- suade him to carrv out their views, the officers resolved to force matters to a crisis at all risks. The rumour of their determination reached Whitehall ; it was even feared that an attack would be made on the palace on the following night. Richard sent word to Fleetwood that he wished to see him; the messenger returned without an answer. Richard then ordered some of his guards to go in search of the Lieutenant- General ; but they desired to be excused. Meanwhile, Fleetwood proceeded to St. James's Palace, where a large number of officers had already assembled. They immediately published an order of the day, sum- moning the whole army to rendezvous at St. James's. A counter-order was at once issued from Whitehall, call- ing on the army to rally round the Protector. Colonel Goffe sent this order to his regiment ; but his Major had already led them to St. James's. Of Colonel Ingoldsby's 126 RICHARD CROMWELL AND six troops of horse, only one followed him to Whitehall. Colonel Whalley, in despair at the desertion of his men, begged them to shoot him ; but they marched off, un- moved by his entreaties. Colonel Hacker's regiment was drawn up near Cheapside, and the Protector sent orders for it to march forthwith to Whitehall ; Hacker replied that he had instructions from the Lieutenant-General to remain where he was. Several of Richard's own guards deserted him; and those who remained declared that they would not disobey any orders that might be sent to them from head-quarters. In the midst of this univer- sal abandonment, at about noon, Desborough arrived at Whitehall; and, with his usual roughness, declared to Richard that if he would dissolve the Parliament, the of- ficers would take care of him and his interests, but if he refused to do so, they would do it without him, and leave him to shift for himself. Richard still made some show of hesitation, and took time to consult his advisers: Whitelocke was almost the only one of them who opposed the dissolution ; and his opposition certainly arose rather from a desire to have nothing to do with it, than from any hope of preventing it. At length Richard yielded, upon this sole condition, that he should not be required to dis- solve the House in person. During the evening, while he was engaged in preparing his message to the House, some companies of soldiers entered the courtyard of Whitehall, " and behaved themselves,'' says Bordeaux, " with considerable license." And at about two o'clock in the morning, Thurloe delivered to Fleetwood and Desborough the Protector's ordinance for the dissolution of the Parliament, which Fiennes, the chief Commissioner i THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 127 of the Great Seal, was appointed to communicate to the House. ^ On the next day, the 22nd of April, the House of Commons met eariy : there was a large attendance of members, and all seemed greatly excited, though few were aware of the speedy termination that was about to be put to their labours. They were discussing various unimportant matters when the Usher of the Black Rod appeared, by order of the Protector, to request their at- tendance in the House of Lords : but they were not told that Kennes alone was waiting to receive them. A few members obeyed the summons, but the great majority re- mained in their places, and voted immediately that those who had gone out should be at once required to return, that none should leave the House without permission, that the doors should be shut, and that all strangers should be commanded forthwith out of the lobby. Hav- ing adopted these measures, a violent tumult arose in the House ; a host of members, most of them under the in- fluence of sincere indignation, but some few in the hope of concealing their connivance in the plot, brought for- ward motions of the most energetic character, — among others, that the House should declare it treason for any persons whatsoever to put force upon any members of the House, and that all votes, acts, and resolutions, passed by any members of Parliament when the rest were detained from the House by force, should be null and void ; with many other propositions, of a perfectly natural and law- ^ Thurloe's State Papers, vol. vii. pp. 657, 659-661, 662 ; Ludlow's Memoirs, pp. 270, 271 ; Whitelocke, p. 677 ; Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, vol. vii. p. 311 ; Burton's Diary, vol. iv. pp. 469-481 ; Letters from Bordeaux to Mazarin, May 1-5, 1659. See Appendix. 128 THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. ful character, which the House nevertheless, with a just consciousness of its impotence and dignity, did not adopt as positive resolutions. On being summoned a second time, by the usher, to attend at the bar of the House of Lords, they paid no attention whatever to the summons, but accompanied their Speaker to his coach, in order, through Westminster Hall, in the face of the soldiery, having adjourned until eight o'clock on Monday morn- ing, the 25th of April, when they proposed to resume their labours.^ During the evening, the proclamation ordaining the dissolution of the Parliament was pubUshed; padlocks wxre placed on the doors of the House of Commons, and guards were stationed in the Court of Requests, with or- ders to refuse admittance to all who should demand it. As if God, to punish them for their dissensions, had de- termined to destroy, at the same moment and by the same stroke, the existing images of power and Uberty, the monarchy which Cromwell had attempted to set up, and the only free Parliament that had been elected since the death of Charles I., fell together; and the phantom of the Commonwealth, at the summons of the army, placed itself once more between England and Royalty.^ ^ Commons' Journals, vol. vii. p. 644 ; Old Parliamentary History, vol. xxi. pp. 349-358 ; Burton's Diary, vol. iv. pp. 482-486 ; Somers' Tracts, vol. vi. p. 519. 2 Ludlow's Memoirs, p. 271 ; Burton's Diary, vol. iv. p. 482 ; White- locke'a Memorials, p. 677. 129 BOOK II. BECALL OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT BY THE ARMY. — DIFFICULTIES WHICH IT ENCOUNTERS. — ITS EFFORTS TO SURMOUNT THEM. — ITS HOME ADMINISTRATION. — ITS FOREIGN POLICY. — ITS EARLY SUCCESSES. ITS INTERNAL DISSENSIONS. — STATE OF THE ROYALIST PARTY. — ITS NEW ELEMENTS. — VIEWS OF CHARLES II. — HIS PRINCIPAL ADVISER, SIR EDWARD HYDE. — INTRIGUES OF THE PARTISANS OF THE DUKE OF YORK. — ROYALIST PLOT. — TREACHERY OF WILLIS. — INSURRECTION OF SIB GEORGE BOOTH. — HIS DEFEAT BY LAMBERT. — CHARLES II. AT FONTARABIA. — INTRIGUES OF LAMBERT AND THE ARMY AGAINST THE PARLIAMENT. — OUTBREAK OF THE QUARREL. — LAMBERT's DIS- MISSAL BY THE PARLIAMENT. — EXPULSION OF THE PARLIAMENT BY LAMBERT. A COMMONWEALTH, whcD established in any nation as the natural and true result of its social condition, ideas, and manners, is a government very worthy of sympathy and respect ; which has, indeed, its theoretical and practical imperfections, but which does honour and service to hu- manity, for it stimulates it to put forth its great moral energies, and is capable of carrying it to a very high de- gree of activity and virtue, prosperity and renown. But when a Commonwealth is established unseasonably and by factitious means, when it is alien to the national his- tory and manners, when it is introduced and maintained by the pride and selfishness of faction, it is a most de- testable government, for it is full of falsehood and vio- VOL. I. K L 130 RICHARD CROMWELL AND lence, and entails moreover this deplorable result, that it casts discredit, in the mind of the people, on the princi- ples of political right and the guarantees of public liberty, because of the false application, and tyrannical use or hypocritical violation, to which it subjects them. The authors of the crisis to which the affairs of Eng- land had now been brought, cared little for the Common- wealth ; they had been conspicuous for their acquiescence and participation in Cromwell's tyranny. Since the ac- cession of his son, they had watched with dismay the evident progress of Royalist opinions ; and they were filled with rage and jealousy by the associates of their new ruler, Richard's favourite councillors and courtiers, — young, elegant, and suspected nobles, or politicians trained either in Parliament or at the bar. They had been accustomed to see, in their master, a man who was at once their comrade and their superior ; their present sovereign was neither the one nor the other; they ac- cordingly regarded Richard with no respect, derived no satisfaction from their position at his Court, and felt no security for their own future condition. Their resolution was taken under the influence of these sentiments ; they placed themselves on their guard against detested ene- mies, swept impertinent rivals from their path, and re- duced a pretended Protector beneath their sway.* But when they had done this, when the first burst of passion was satisfied, their embarrassment was extreme : all government had disappeared. Of those who had been Richard's real advisers, some, like Lord Faulcon- bridge. Lord Broghill, and Lord Howard, retired at * Bordeaux to Mazarin, May 19, 1659. See Appendix. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 181 once to their estates, with a view to resume their places, noiselessly but actively, in the Royalist ranks ; while others, like Pierrepoint, Thurloe, and St. John, held themselves aloof, determined to be no longer responsible for a power which they had ceased to possess. " Having got leave to go for Ireland,'' wrote Lord Broghill to Thurloe, on the 29th of April, *' I am this morning be- ginning my journey. I was twice yesterday, and several times before, to have kissed your hands, which I did to my great trouble fail of; and I may without compliment say, it is none of my least griefs that I must leave this town without receiving the honour of your commands, and paying you my humble thanks for all your favours." Thurloe, on his part, wrote at once to Lockhart, who was then in Paris : " His Highness is now excluded from having any share in the government, and must retire as a private gentleman. ... It will be requisite that you have further powers before you can treat fur- ther with the Court of France. Truly I could wish you were at your government of Dunkirk, to prevent any in- conveniences that may fall out upon this great and un- expected change.'' Richard, meanwhile, still resided at Whitehall, and was still treated as Protector ; the admi- nistration of justice continued to be carried on in his name; and on the 21st of May, three weeks after the catastrophe, Downing signed at the Hague, as represen- tative of the Protector, a convention between England, France, and the United Provinces, for the purpose of obhging the Kings of Sweden and Denmark to make peace.* But these were mere empty appearances, in- • Dumont's Corps Diplomatique, vol. vi. part 2, p. 252. K 2 132 RICHARD CROMWELL AND tended to conceal the anarchy that reigned within : in fact, Richard was now a nuUity ; he remained in his palace, anxiously waiting to learn the fate that was re- served for him ; and the alarm was so great around him, that his servants lost no time in conveying all their va- luables into the City, as they feared Whitehall would be sacked and pillaged. It was evident that no one, among those who remained with the Protector, believed it to be within the sphere of his duty or capacity, to exercise that active authority with which society can at no time safely dispense.^ The army and its leaders, moreover, no longer possessed this needful power, so greatly were they divided among themselves and so uncertain in their councils. Several of the generals, and particularly Fleetwood and Desbo- rough, would have been glad to maintain Richard in the Protectorate, in order to govern under his name, by favour of their relationship. On the day after the dis- solution of Parliament, Pleetwood went to Whitehall, to have some conversation with his brother-in-law, and, "though he was very ill-received at first,'' says Bor- deaux, " he afterwards was taken by the Protector into a private room, where they remained in conference for some time." But the greater number of officers and subalterns were desirous that the Commonwealth should be re-established ; the Anabaptists, Pifth-monarchy men, and other mystical sectaries, who had great power among the soldiers, were all furious in their hostility to the Pro- * Thurloe's State Papers, voL vii. pp. 665-667 j Clarendon's State Papers, vol. iii. pp. 461, 459 ; Commons' Journals, vol. vii. p. 654 ; Noble's Memoirs of the Protectoral House of Cromwell, vol. i. p. 165 ; Ludlow's Memoirs, p. 271. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 133 tector. Each of these various fractions of the army had its official meetings, its secret conclaves, its agents, preach- ers, and pamphlets. Lambert, as active in intrigues for obtaining power as he was incapable of exercising it, courted them all, and rendered them all subservient to the advancement of his ambition and vanity. A reac- tionary measure, which it was impossible for the Generals to avoid adopting, still further increased their embarrass- ment ; they deprived Whalley, Goffe, Ingoldsby, and the other officers who had supported Richard to the last, of their regiments, and gave the command of them to Colo- nels Okey, Saunders, and other intractable fanatics who had been cashiered by Cromwell, but whose sufferings and constancy had rendered them exceedingly popular. All these dissensions and difficulties hourly increased the anarchy which prevailed, in the army as well as through- out the country : the soldiers deserted their regiments, some to preach, others to commit acts of the grossest rapacity and insolence ; all were boldly insubordinate to leaders who were too careful of their popularity to com- mand with firmness ; and the responsibility of a state of things, so fraught with causes of social alarm, rested upon the men who had wrought the downfall of the Parlia- ment and the Protector. A nation looks to those who have destroyed one government to replace it by another.^ In order to relieve themselves from this responsibility, the officers had but one resource, namely, the old Republi- can leaders, who had long been their enemies, but whom * Ludlow's Memoirs, pp. 271, 272 ; Old Parliamentary History, vol. xxi. p. 369 ; Tliiirloe's State Papers, vol. vii. p. 666 ; Clarendon's State Papers, vol. iii. pp. 459, 461, 462 ; Bordeaux to Mazarin, May 5-12, 1659. See Appendix. 134 RICHARD CROMWELL AND a common hatred of the Royalists and dishke of Richard's corn-tiers had recently rendered their secret allies. They entered into negotiations with them for the restoration of a ruling power, — the power of that Long Parliament which, six years before, Cromwell had so brutally ex- pelled. What remained of that assembly ? Would its surviving remnant furnish the means of reconstituting a government ? These were questions difficult to answer. Dr. Owen applied to Ludlow for information respecting the names of the members who had continued to sit in the House after the death of the King ; and Ludlow fur- nished him with a list of about a hundred and sixty mem- bers who, he said, were yet alive. Ludlow had promised more than he could perform : when the Long Parliament was officially recalled, his friends and himself were able, by great exertions, to induce only ninety members to re- sume their seats. Some even of the staunchest Repub- licans, Colonel Hutchinson among others, consented to do so with very great hesitation and repugnance. But the promise was enough to lead to the negotiation. Con- ferences were opened, at the house of Sir Harry Vane, be- tween the principal leaders of the army, with Lambert at their head, and four tried Republicans, Vane, Haslerig, Salloway, and Ludlow. Conditions were made on both sides: the officers demanded, first, that an act of indemnity should be passed to secure their comrades and themselves for all they had done under Cromwell's government; secondly, that a share in the government and a suitable revenue should be allotted to Richard, of w^hom they had promised to take care ; thirdly, the maintenance, in the constitution of the Commonwealth, of a Senate acting THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 135 conjointly with the House of Commons ; and lastly, the introduction of all those reforms in civil and ecclesiastical legislation which had been so long and earnestly desired. The Republicans promised the indemnity and the reforms; with regard to Richard CromweH's position and the Se- nate, they raised objections ; discussion ensued. The po- sitions were now reversed : eager to escape from the anar- chy they had created, the military leaders, so lately mas- ters of the situation, were now almost at the mercy of the Parliamentary chiefs, who could alone relieve them from their responsibihty. But no serious difficulties were raised on either side ; the negotiators separated without having made all their arrangements, but in the full determination to agree together finally. A few days after, at a second interview, the officers declared, in the name of the general council of the army, that it was urgently necessary that the Long Parliament should be restored ; and, without further discussion, it was agreed that their next meeting should be at the house of the former Speaker, William Lenthall, for the purpose of re- questing him to resume his functions.^ On the 6th of May, accordingly, sixteen Parliamenta- rians and as many officers, proceeded to Lenthall' s re- sidence ; the officers, in the name of Lieutenant- General Fleetwood and the general council of the army, had brought an official declaration of their resolution and its motives. " The public concernments of this Common- wealth," they said, " being, through a vicissitude of dan* ^ Ludlow's Memoirs, pp. 272, 273 ; Hutchinson's Memoirs, p. 379 ; Baker's Chronicle, p. 699 ; Bordeaux to Mazarin, May 12-15-26, 1659. See Appendix. 136 RICHARD CROMWELL AND gers, deliverances, and backslidings of many, brought into that state and posture wherein they now stand, and ourselves also contributing thereunto, by wandering di- vers ways from righteous and equal paths ; and although there have been many essays to obviate the dangers, and to settle these nations in peace and prosperity, yet all have proved ineffectual. . . . We have been led to look back, and examine the cause of the Lord's withdrawing his wonted presence from us : and, amongst other things, calling to mind that the Long Parliament, consisting of the members who continued there sitting until the 20th of April, 1653, were eminent asserters of the good old cause, and had a special presence of God with them, and were signally blessed in that work (the desires of many good people concurring with ours therein), we judge it our duty to invite the aforesaid members to re- turn to the exercise and discharge of their trust; and we shall be ready, in oiu* places, to yield them, as be- comes us, our utmost assistance to sit in safety." This declaration was presented to Lenthall by Lambert and his companions, and published immediately.* But an unexpected cause of perplexity arose. Lenthall refused his co-operation. He was old, he said, and quite too infirm to endure the fatigue of a long sitting. His hearers were not deceived by his excuses ; Lenthall was anxious to retain, in the new House of Lords, the rank which he already called his peerage ; he had entered into a secret compact with Richard Cromwell, and had pro- mised to do all he could to prevent the restoration of the 1 Commons' Journals, vol. vii. p. 644; Old Parliamentary History, vol. xxi. p. 367. I THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 137 Long Parliament ; and he felt but little inclination to ex- pose himself to new risks. The Republicans pressed him vigorously, and desired him, as he valued the peace and happiness of the nation, to write, in virtue of his office, to all the old members who were living in London or its neighbourhood, to request them to meet on the following day in the House of Lords, thence to proceed as soon as they formed a quorum, to resume their seats in the House of Commons. Lenthall persisted in his refusal, alleging, as an additional reason, that his regard for his salvation would not allow him to comply with their request, as he was preparing himself to participate in the Lord's Supper on the next Sunday. Vane and his colleages, in great irritation, declared that they would do without him ; and they despatched messengers in all directions, on their own authority, to summon the members whose names they had ascertained from Ludlow's list. On the next morn- ing, the 7th of May, only thirty made theii- appearance ; at least forty were required to form a quorum, and the absentees were waited and sought for with the utmost im- patience. It was mentioned that two of the surviving members. Lord Monson and Henry Martyn, were in Lon- don, in prison for debt ; they were immediately released, and joined their old colleagues. Lenthall, who took care to keep informed as to the number who arrived, soon per- ceived that a House would be made, and, not being will- ing that they should do without him, went to Westmin- ster in his turn. At last forty-two members answered to their names ; they then formed in procession, with their Speaker at their head, and passing between the groups of officers who lined the rooms on their way, they solemnly 138 RICHARD CROMWELL AND resumed their seats in the House of Commons, at about twelve o'clock. The principal officers had posted them- selves near the door of the House, and congratulated the members as they entered, promising to live and die with them.^ They had no sooner resumed possession of the go- vernment, and published a declaration announcing it to the country, than they were guilty of an act of tyranny, in forcibly excluding from the House other members of the Long Parliament, who had once been their colleagues, and who were now desirous of resuming their seats. As soon as the Presbyterians, who had been violently ex- pelled from the House of Commons in 1648, learned that it had recommenced its sittings, they resolved to assert their right to take part in its deliberations ; and on the 7th of May, at the moment when the forty-two Republi- cans were marching into the House amid the acclama- tions of the officers, fourteen Presbyterians, who had penetrated with much ado into the lobby, presented them- selves at the door, stating that they were members of the Long Parliament, and entitled to admittance. The offi- cers repulsed them, and denied their right to enter, on the ground that they had not sat since 1648. Vehement disputes arose on this subject in the lobby and passages ; the excluded of 1648 demanded of the expelled of 1653 by what right they dared to shut them out a second time from the House into which they had themselves re- turned, declaring that no one had had any right to expel ^ Ludlow's Memoirs, pp. 274, 275 ; Whitelocke's Memorials, p. 679 ; Somers* Tracts, vol. vi. p. 520 ; Old Parliamentary History, vol. xxi. pp. 370-376 ; Echard's History of England, vol. ii. p. 841. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 139 them. Sir George Booth and Mr. Prynne made them- selves particularly remarkable by the vigom- of their lan- guage ; but, notwithstanding their efforts, admittance was not allowed them. But two days afterwards, on the 9th of May, in the name of two hundred and thirteen mem- bers who were in the same situation as themselves, they wrote to the Speaker formally to assert their privilege ; and some of them, either from perseverance or curiosity, returned in person to the neighbourhood of the House. Being informed, it is not known by whom, that the door was at that moment open and unguarded, three of them — Prynne, Annesley, and Hungerford — entered the House, and found there only ten or twelve of the Republican members, who courteously saluted them. Hungerford and Annesley went out immediately to inform their friends that the House was open, and to bring them in ; but when Annesley attempted to go in again, the officer of the guard was at his post, and denied him entrance. Annesley asked him " Whether he was a committee to judge of members without-doors?" " No," replied he, ** but I am commanded by my superior officers to let none in that had not sat till April, 1653." Annesley insisted on being admitted ; the officer, in some perplexity, told him that if he would promise not to take his seat and to come out again soon, he might go in and speak to whom he pleased. Annesley gave the required promise, went into the House, and came out again soon after, saying to the officer, " I have kept my parole, and I wish you and the soldiers would do the like." But Prynne had re- mained all this time in the House, sitting quietly in his place, and determined not to go out unless forced. The 140 RICHARD CROMWELL AND Republican members seemed embarrassed by his pre- sence, and did not know what course to pursue. At length Haslerig arrived. Prynne went up to him, and said he was glad to meet him again in that House : "You have no right to sit here as a member," answered Haslerig; " you were formerly secluded." " I have as good a right to sit here," replied Prynne, " as yourself, or any other member whatsoever, upon the account of the Old Par- liament ; for I have acted, written, and suffered more in defence of the rights and privileges of Parliament, than yourself or any sitting with you." Vane now came up, and said to Prynne, in a menacing manner, " What make you here ? You ought not to come into the House, hav- ing been formerly voted out. I wish you, as a friend, quietly to depart hence, else some course will be presently taken with you for your presumption." Prynne only asserted his right with greater boldness and vehemence. " Your high menacing words," he said to Vane, " are a very ill performance of your new published declaration, delivered to me at the door. That you are resolved, by the gracious assistance of Almighty God, to assert, es- tablish, and secure the property and liberty of the people, in reference unto all, both as men and Christians ; which if you should publicly violate and nullify, by any unjust charge or proceedings against me, who have suffered so much both as an English freeman. Christian, and member too, it will highly reflect upon your intended new Free State, and make all out of love with it." Such unflinch- ing firmness disconcerted even the most resolute ; and passing into an adjoining room. Vane and his friends consulted as to the means of getting rid of this trouble- THE DAWN OF THE RESTOUATION. 141 some intruder. On returning into the House, they found him still in his place. It was repugnant to their feelings to remove him by violence, and they therefore resolved to adjourn until the evening. Prynne was the last to leave the House, and he returned immediately after din- ner; but, as he expected, he found all the entrances strictly guarded ; and a vote of the House was placarded in every direction, renewing the sentence of exclusion which had abeady been pronounced against all members who had not sat in the Long Parliament since 1648. It only remained therefore for Prynne to protest publicly against this treatment, by issuing a long narrative of the new violence to which his friends and himself had been subjected ; " a worse and more real levying of war against the Parliament," he declared, " than the behead- ed King and his party were ever guilty of."^ But this was one of those easy acts of oppression which conquerors can commit with impunity upon the men whom they have conquered, and which do not recoil upon their perpetrators until a later period, when misfortune assails them in their turn. The Republican leaders, who were striving to effect their own restoration to power, had from the outset to encounter more formidable rivals, and to face more serious dangers. Notwithstanding their defeat, the sons of Cromwell were in the front rank of these adversaries. A man will always struggle to avoid losing the supreme power, even though he may not have either sense or courage to maintain him- * Old Parliamentary History, vol. xxi. pp. 372, 384-398 ; Hutchin- son's Memoirs, p. 381 ; Somers' Tracts, vol. vi. pp. 521-524 ; Commons' Journals, vol. vii. p. 649. 142 RICHARD CROMWELL AND self in possession of it. Richard, though almost a prisoner and quite a nonentity in Whitehall, continued to cherish prospects and hopes of retaining his Protectorate. The Parliament deputed Haslerig to give him orders to leave the palace. Richard received both the message and the messenger with disdainful hauteur. He listened favour- ably, on the other hand, to the suggestions of the Cava- liers, who were secretly most assiduous in their negotia- tions with him. They urged him to write to his brother Henry in Ireland, to Lockhart at Dunkirk, and to Mon- tague, the commander of the Baltic fleet ; and by inform- ing them of his own adoption of the royal cause, to per- suade them to bring their ships and troops to Ports- mouth, where Colonel Norton should be waiting to receive them. Richard promised to write as required, on con- dition that an annual income of twenty thousand pounds and a large estate were secured to him. He was even, it is said, on the point of going on board ship to join the fleet, and to place it, under his own command, at the King's disposal. At the same time, he received positive and explicit ofi*ers of service from Mazarin. " In reply to the letter," wrote Bordeaux to the Cardinal, " which your Eminence did me the honour to write to me on the 21st instant, to the effect that the King would look with re- gret on the re-establishment of a Commonwealth in Eng- land, I thought I could not do better than address my- self to Mr. Thurloe ; and, having arranged an interview with him yesterday in the country, I assured him that the King would spare neither money nor troops to re- store the Protector, if there were any likelihood that such an attempt would be successful ; and that his friends THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 143 might act on this assurance, and that as soon as I was informed of their designs, I would communicate them to his Majesty with all necessary secrecy and circumspec- tion." All these propositions, though long pending, proved eventually futile ; Thurloe did not reject the offers of Mazarin, but asked for time to discuss them with the Protector. Richard refused to sign the letters which had been prepared in reliance on his promise ; but no sooner had he done so, than he bitterly reproached himself for his pusillanimity, and volunteered to enter into new en- gagements for the King's service. Here then was a per- manent, though not very effective, centre for all hostile hopes and plots against the reviving Commonwealth.^ Henry Cromwell, in Dublin, was in a far better posi- tion than his brother, in London, to defend his family and the Protectorate against Republican encroachments. He had governed Ireland and her army with great pru- dence and mildness ; he was respected by the important men of the country, and popular with all ranks of society. When Richard's Parliament was dissolved, Ingoldsby and Sir Charles Coote proceeded with all haste to Ire- land, to give the Lord Lieutenant accurate information of what had occurred, and urge him to resist. With singular carelessness, or from utter despondency, Richard allowed more than a month to pass before he wrote to his brother, or sent him any directions. Henry complained of this treatment with more sorrow than bitterness. " I am glad at least," he wrote to his brother, " that our dear » Ckrendon's State Papers, vol. iii. pp. 469, 474, 475, 477, 478; Ludlow's Memoirs, p. 281 ; Letters from Bordeaux to Mazarin, May 12-26-29, and June 2, 1659. See Appendix. 144 RICHARD CROMWELL AND father went off in that glory, which was * due to his act- ings." But, though greatly perplexed, he took measures which would enable him to resist if necessary, and at all events to await the arrival of definite instructions. He called together the officers of the army of Ireland, and finding himself unable to persuade them to support the Protector against all opponents, he sent them back to their regiments, exhorting them not to lend themselves to any innovations, under whatever specious appearances they might be presented. He then summoned to Dublin the troops on which he most confidently relied, assured himself of the loyalty of the principal provincial autho- rities, and sent one of his officers to Monk, in Scotland, to ascertain the course of conduct which he intended to pursue under the circumstances, and to concert arrange- ments with him. At the same time he listened readily to the overtures of the Royalists, placed himself in direct communication with the King by means of his brother-in- law, Lord Faulconbridge, and seemed so much disposed to set up the royal standard, that the city of Dublin did not hesitate to manifest its delight at the prospect ; troops were raised, in the northern districts of the island, to support the movement ; and Charles Stuart, at Brussels, believed that he would ere long receive Ireland from the hands of Henry Cromwell, who, he felt sure, was deter- mined not to resign it to the Parliament.^ In regard to Scotland, the Republicans were equally ^ Clarendon's State Papers, vol. iii. pp. 470, 471, 600, 501, 516, 589 ; Thurloe's State Papers, vol. vii. p. 674 ; Ludlow's Memoirs, p. 281 Noble's Memoirs of the Protectoral House of Cromwell, vol. i. pp. 208- 210 ; Leland's History of Ireland, vol. iii. pp. 401, 402 ; Letters from Bordeaux to Mazarin, May 26-29, 1659. See Appendix. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 145 ill at ease. Haslerig had, it is true, maintained friendly intercourse with Monk ; and on the 9th of May, Fleet- wood communicated to the House a letter which he had just received from him, and which seemed to indicate his readiness to acknowledge the authority of the Parliament. But, on the 3rd of May, Monk had written to Thurloe to express his friendly interest in his welfare at so critical a conjuncture. Reports too were prevalent, that he had been heard to declare that consideration was due to the sons of Cromwell, who had rendered such eminent ser- vices to the nation. But his taciturn impartiality in turn excited and lulled apprehension. At all times he had been suspected of Royalist tendencies ; and these suspi- cions had quite recently been strengthened by the anxiety which Lord Howard and Lord Faulconbridge, before leaving London, had manifested to secure his friend- ship.^ Although far less important than Monk, Lockhart on the Continent, and Montague in the Baltic, might still be dangerous. Related by marriage to the Cromwell family, Lockhart was an able and courageous man, on intimate terras with Mazarin, highly esteemed by Louis XIV. him- self, respected and beloved by the EngUsh regiments in garrison at Dunkirk, whom he had commanded with great distinction, and whose necessities he had often sup- plied from his own purse. He had long been a Royahst, and Charles H., who, when in Scotland, had unwisely ahenated him from his service, now sought anxiously for an opportunity of recovering his allegiance. Admiral ' Commons' Journals, vol. vii. p. 647 ; Thurloe *s State Papers, vol. vii. p. 667 ; Whitelocke's Memorials, pp. 678, 680. VOL. I. L 146 RICHARD CROMWELL AND Montague was a still more doubtful servant of the Re- publican Parliament. '* He was wholly devoted to old Noll, his countryman," wrote Mr. Herbert to the King, " and is, for his sake, a great lover of all his family, but a perfect hater of the men that now rule ; and I have it from very good hands that he is at this time very deeply discontented at the present change.'' The only fleet that England then had at sea was under Montague's com- mand, and the greater number, if not all, of his officers and their crews were quite disposed to follow him in any resolution he might adopt.^ The Royalist party showed no great haste to profit by these elements of defection in the enemy's camp, in order to effect a demonstration in the King's favour. No prema- ture insurrection was attempted ; but to make no move- ment without the formal consent, and even without the presence, of the King himself, and to wait until the blun- ders and unpopularity of the old government had pro- duced their full effect, was at once the advice given by the Royalist committee in London, and the natural inclina- tion of the party itself, which was wearied by the many painful and futile efforts it had already made. But beneath the mask of this general inertness, activity and hope were busy among the Royalist ranks ; a great many Royalists, who were either too young to have shared in previous conflicts, or whose vigour was restored by long repose, or whose conversion was of recent date, began once more to visit their country neighbours and to hold secret in- terviews ; plans were formed, correspondence was set on ^ Noble's Memoirs of the Protectoral House of Cromwell, vol. ii. pp. 233-273 ; Clarendon's State Papers, vol. iii. p. 488. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 147 foot with Charles and his advisers, information was sent out to them, instructions were requested, and partisans recruited. Assurances of devoted allegiance and offers of service poured into Brussels from all sides. Lord Falkland, General Venables, Mr. Popham, Mr. Howe, Sir George Booth, and a host of gentlemen of great influence in their respective counties, declared themselves ready to act. Trusty messengers passed incessantly between Eng- land and Flanders, Holland and France. More inteUi- gent and enterprising than any of his colleagues, John Mordaunt, the younger brother of the Earl of Peter- borough, emboldened by his escape from the clutches of Cromwell's High Court of Justice, was at the head of every plot and of every enterprise. Independently of the committee to which he had originally confided the management of his afl'airs, Charles had given some of his most zealous servants power to treat, in his name, with any of his former adversaries, except the regicides, whom they had any hopes of gaining over to his side. By means of his active and ably-conducted correspondence, Hyde, who then possessed the entire confidence of his young master, kept up and directed this movement. Every possible preparation was made for a general insurrection as soon as discord, which all foresaw could not long delay its appearance, should break out between the remnant of the Long Parliament and the army which had reinstated it.i The Royalists had just reason to hope that they would not be kept long in suspense. On the 13th of May, ' Clarendon's History of the Eebellion, vol. vii. pp. 320-324 ; Claren- don's State Papers, vol. iiy. pp. 459-490. l2 148 RICHARD CROMWELL AND hardly a week after the restoration of the Parliament, eighteen officers of high rank and influence, with Lam- bert at their head, presented themselves at the door of the House, and requested permission to present a Humble Petition, in the name of the army. This petition was a summary, in fifteen articles, respectfully but perempto- rily expressed, of their ideas and desires, in relation both to the general government of the country, and to various questions of immediate interest. Among other things, they demanded, — first, an act of oblivion to secure from all prosecutions and penalties all persons who had done, commanded, or advised anything whatsoever, in reference to the several changes in the government, since the 19th of April, 1653, the day of the expulsion of the Long Par- liament by Cromwell ; secondly, the acknowledgment and liquidation of all debts contracted for the service of the Commonwealth, since the same period ; thirdly, a strict inquiry for the purpose of removing from all public offices and employments, all persons who had not given unques- tionable proof of attachment and fidelity to the good old cause ; fourthly, the appointment of a select senate, com- posed of able and faithful persons, and co-ordinate in power with the Representative Assembly elected by the people ; fifthly, the payment of all the debts contracted by his Highness, the late Protector, or by his father, since the 15th of December, 1653, the date of the estabhsh- raent of the Protectorate ; the settlement of an annual revenue of ten thousand pounds, with a suitable house, on Richard Cromwell and his heirs for ever ; together with a further sum often thousand pounds a year to him for life, and eight thousand pounds a year to his honour- THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 149 able mother during her life, " to the end a mark of the high esteem this nation hath of the good service done by his father, om* ever-renowned General, may remain to posterity." And with a view to assert their power, and at the same time to secure an effectual ratification to their principles and demands, the officers ended by declaring : " We do unanimously acknowledge and own the Lord Charles Fleetwood, Lieutenant- General of the army, to be commander-in-chief of the land-forces of this Com- monwealth." They thus imposed, on the restored Long Parliament, the very conditions which the leaders of that assembly in their parliamentary conferences, and Richard Cromwell himself at the outset of his Protectorate, had refused to accept.^ Against all these enemies and dangers, both secret and avowed, the Republican leaders could oppose only a handful of men, already grown old and worn out under the weight of public affairs, who had been brought back to the head of the State by a revolutionary combination and not by their own inherent strength, and whose go- vernment w^as recommended to the country by neither the authority of long-established usage, nor the attraction of novelty. But they were men of courage and sincerity, thoroughly convinced of the goodness of their cause, pas- sionately devoted to its service, and irrevocably compro- mised in its destiny. The re-establishment and mainte- nance of the Commonwealth was to them an act of duty, an affair of honour, and a question of life and death. ' Commons' Journals, vol. vii. p. 651 ; Old Parliamentary History, vol. xxi. pp. 399-406 ; Ludlow's Memoirs, p. 279 ; Baker's Chronicle, p. 703. 150 RICHARD CROMWELL AND They resumed possession of power with as much bUnd confidence and pride as if it had been their lawful right; and they exercised it, during their short tenure of office, with a fidelity and vigour that did them honour, even amidst their well-merited reverses. Two ideas governed their poUcy : the first was, to concentrate all power in the House of Commons, and to secure to it the invariable management of all State affairs, whether home or foreign, military or civil ; the second was, to establish frequent and visible communications between the House and the Republican party scattered through the country, to the end that, finding themselves closely united together, they might not cease for a single day to lend each other mutual support and encourage- ment. In their view, a Commonwealth would be pro- perly established when the entire government was in the hands of the sole power elected by the people, and an intimate connection existed between the people and the power which had emanated from their choice. All preceding governments had been welcomed, on their accession to office, by addresses and deputations from their partisans; the Republicans of the restored Long Parliament converted these deputations and ad- dresses into an habitual means of government. Not only on their return to Westminster, but during the whole of their session, several times in every month and occasionally more than once a week, their friends came up from various parts of the country to assm^e them of their support, and to express to them their wishes, fears, hopes, and counsels, in the name of counties, cities, and towns, churches and sects, permanent corporations and THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 151 accidental meetings. During five months, the Journals of the House make mention of thirty-seven demonstra- tions of this kind, which were always received with grate- ful attention.^ A government may be energetic, but it certainly is ill at ease, when it is thus anxious, at every moment, to renew its connection with its party ; a party may be zealous, but it is weak, when it is thus eager to review its forces and array its ranks to support an im- perilled government. At the same time that it was thus diligent in marshal- ling and employing its forces throughout the country, the Parliament devoted itself with the utmost care to the ef- fectual organization and exercise of its authority. Strictly faithful to Republican principles, it was equally resolute to banish the monarchical system from the smallest de- tails of public affairs as from the head of the State. Its government was, in every department, collective and de- liberative : in Westminster Hall, committees were placed at the head of the various branches of the public service ; * Addres8e8 were presented to tlie restored Long Parliament on the 9th, 10th, 12th, 13th, 26th, and 28th of May, from London, Southwark, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Colchester, and the Ana- baptists of Aylesbury ; on the 1st, 14th, 15th, 16th, 21st, 22nd, 24th, 27th, and 30th of June, from Oxfordshire, Somersetshire, Devonshire, Wiltshire, Hampshire, Dorsetshire, Bedfordshire, Sussex, Hertford- shire, Middlesex, ISTorfolk, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Hull, Ireland, and the ministers of the Grospel in the county of Sussex ; on the 6th, 19th, 21st, and 27th of July, from Northamptonshire, Suffolk, Worcester, Edin- burgh, the officers of regiments serving on the Continent, and the gar- rison of Dunkirk ; on the 6th of August, from Cheshire ; on the 9th and 24th of September, from " divers ministers of the county of Leicester," and from the sheriffs and aldermen of the City of London ; and on the 7th of October, from Warwickshire. Commons' Journals, vol. vii. pp. 647, 648, 649-650, 651, 665-666, 671, 672, 683, 686, 687, 690. 691-692, 693, 694, 695, 698, 706, 723, 726, 735, 736, 750, 776, 785, 793. 152 RICHARD CROMWELL AND throughout the country, commissioners were appointed to represent the ParUament, and to see that its orders were executed; this was the principal, if not the sole, means of action that it adopted. A Committee of Safety, composed in the first instance of seven members and afterwards of eleven, was invested, from the very outset, with the most extensive and arbitrary powers in rela- tion to all matters of policy, administration, and police ; indeed, it was provisionally the real executive authority, acting under the direction of the Parliament. A Council of State — consisting of thirty-one persons, twenty-one of whom were members of the House — was afterwards sub- stituted for this Committee of Safety, and became the permanent and general executive power. The composi- tion of this Council, the instructions prepared for its guidance, and the oath imposed on its members, created grave embarrassments, and presaged even graver difficul- ties for the future. By the admission of the principal leaders of the army — Lambert, Desborough, Berry, and Sydenham — the Parliament took care to secure a strong majority, in the Council, on the side of the Republicans. The oath contained a positive engagement against all government by a single person. Dissatisfied with their present position, and unwilling to give any absolute pledge for their future conduct, some of the officers, Fleetwood and Sydenham among others, refused to take this oath, on the ground of entertaining conscientious ob- jections to oaths in general. The Parliament did not in- sist, and they were authorized to take their seats in the Council, on giving a simple assurance of general fidelity. Still dissatisfied, for they were not yet the masters, they THE DAWN OV THE RESTORATION. 153 were very irregular in their attendance, and carefully marked their disapproval of the proceedings of the Coun- cil, sometimes by absenting themselves from its meetings, and sometimes by making ill-tempered speeches. In ad- dition to these malecontent officers, the Republican Parlia- ment had some secret enemies in the Council of State ; one of the members chosen from the general body of the nation. Sir Horatio Townshend, a great landed proprietor in the county of Norfolk, was in constant communication with the banished King, and had written to ask him whether he should accept the appointment or not. Charles sent him formal permission to accept it. No sooner was the list of members of the Council of State published, than it was received with sneers by the public, and treated with pitiless irony in numerous pamphlets. The most insult- ing comments were appended to each name : " Colonel Thompson, as wooden a head as leg ; Mr. Wallop, a silent Hampshire gentleman, much in debt, fit indeed to be councillor, if he could advise the Commonwealth how to get out of debt ; Desborough, a country clown, with- out fear or wit ; Berry, the worst of the Major- Generals, except Butler ; Josiah Barners, fool of the play ;" and so forth. It was now the fate of the Commonwealth to en- dure, in its turn, the contumely and insult which it had so wantonly lavished on the King.^ The financial Committee, which was appointed on the 9th of May, before the institution of the Council of State, had the most difficult of all tasks to perform. The de- ^ Commons' Journals, vol. vii. pp. 646, 656, 665, 666, 671, 650, 652, 653, 655, 656, 658, 659, 664; Old Parliamentary History, vol. xxi. p. 380 ; Ludlow's Memoirs, pp. 275-278 ; Clarendon's State Papers, vol. iii. pp. 470, 471, 481 ; Somers' Tracts, vol. vi. p. 524. 154 RICHARD CROMWELL AND ficit which, under Crom well's rule, had been very great, was now daily increasing, and it had become impossible to resort to violent means for supplying it. The Parlia- ment determined, at all events, to obtain an exact state- ment of the financial condition of the country -, it added Vane, the most capable man in the House, to the Com- mittee, and called for report after report. Four reports were made during three months, giving a detailed ac- count of the debts in arrear, as well as of the current re- ceipts and expenses. With shght variations, the deficit averaged fifteen hundred thousand pounds. On the 8th of June, the report stated positively, " Ready cash, there is none." A fortnight afterwards, Haslerig declared that the Council of State had not even sufficient funds to pro- vide for the travelling expenses of four Plenipotentiaries who were to be sent to the Baltic for the piu:'pose of ne- gotiating peace between the northern powers ; and they were forced to wait a fortnight for the two thousand pounds which they required for their journey. The House voted a direct tax of fifty thousand pounds per month on England, Scotland, and Ireland ; this w^as a real income-tax, assessed in a very arbitrary manner. Five weeks later, Vane announced that, notwithstanding this vote, the deficit would still amount to £722,534. Recourse was had to all kinds of expedients and severi- ties. Indirect taxes, such as the excise and customs du- ties, were all continued, and some were even augmented ; and a special committee was appointed to take stringent measures for recovering all arrears. The salaries of nearly all public servants were reduced. The Commissioners of the Great Seal were deprived of the eventual rights which THE DAWN OP THE RESTORATION. 155 accrued to them from their office, and which were now confiscated to the use of the pubhc treasury. All the ministerial officers of the courts of justice were required to advance, by way of loan, the presumed amount of the profit of their offices during a year. Minute inquiries were made to ascertain how much might yet be due of the fines imposed upon delinquents. When the House discovered that the sum of fifty thousand pounds raised every month by the direct tax which it had ordained, was insufficient, it doubled the amount. Its conduct was straightforward and courageous ; it was resolutely deter- mined to pay the debts of the State, to provide for the requirements of the public service, and above all things to deprive the army of all reasonable motives for com- plaint and sedition. But all these eff*orts failed to attain their object : the ill-will of the superior classes, the dis- turbances which arose in various localities, and the con- troversies and delays inseparable from all collective ad- ministration, rendered the votes of the House of but little effect ; for it could employ neither the tyranny of re- volutionary governments, nor the authority of regular governments. The direct taxes were imperfectly levied ; the farmers of the indirect taxes demanded that their con- tracts should be cancelled. Resources of a more mode- rate character were next sought after ; an inventory was made of the paintings, furniture, and carpets, formerly belonging to the Crown, which still remained in the pa- lace of Whitehall ; and M. de Bordeaux again received instructions from Mazarin to purchase for him various articles offered for sale among these spoils of banished royalty. The House further decreed that the palaces of 156 RICHARD CROMWELL AND Hampton Court, Somerset House, and Whitehall, should be sold ; but even among the Republicans, there were many whose traditional feelings of respect and instincts of dignity were offended by this proposal. Direct and indirect objections were raised : Henry Martyn obtained the exception, from the sale of Somerset House, of the chapel in which the French Protestant refugees were in the habit of meeting for religious worship ; Ludlow de- manded that the sale of Hampton Court should be post- poned. " I thought that place,'' he says, " very conve- nient for the retirement of those that were employed in public affairs, when they should be indisposed, in the smnmer season. For this I was very much blamed by my good friend Sir Henry Vane, as a thing which was contrary to the interest of a commonwealth ; he said that such places might justly be accounted amongst those things that prove temptations to ambitious men, and ex- ceedingly tend to sharpen their appetite to ascend the throne. But for my own part, as I was free from any sinister design in this action, so I was of opinion that the temptation of sovereign power would prove a far stronger motive to aspire by the sword to gain the sceptre, which, when once attained, would soon be made use of to force the people to supply the want of such an accommoda- tion." Ludlow's conservative suggestion overcame the ho- nest apprehensions of Vane ; neither Hampton Court nor Whitehall were sold ; and the Parliament sought else- where, without any greater success, for the means of sup- plying the deficit, and of repressing ambition.^ 1 Commons' Journals, vol. vii. pp. 647, 648, 655-656, 660, 663, 66i^, 669, 671, 675, 684, 689, 691, 692, 697, 702, 705, 708, 737-738, 762, 771, THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 157 In regard to other questions, less difficult of solution, the activity of the Parliament proved more effectual in producing satisfactory results. Earnestly devoted to the task of promoting the interests and warding off the perils of the Commonwealth, it used all its vigilance to concen- trate all power in the hands of its friends. Par from en- deavouring, as Cromwell had done, to conciliate and enlist in its service all the important men of the various oppos- ing parties, the House was rigidly exclusive in its policy. On the 9th of May, two days only after the restoration of the Parliament, it was laid down as a principle that no person should be admitted to hold any place of trust or authority in the service of the State, unless he had given ample testimony of his love and faithfulness to the cause of the Commonwealth. The members of the Committee of Safety and the Council of State were directed to pro- pose, to the House fit persons to fill certain offices, and re- ceived instructions to confer with the representatives of each county and town, in order to ascertain beyond all doubt that the sheriffs, justices of peace, magistrates, and all other local functionaries were really animated by those sentiments which it was desirable they should entertain. And in order to guard against all falsehood or careless- ness in these recommendations, it was resolved that no person should be appointed to any employment on the day on which he had been proposed, and that those who re- commended any candidate should give in his name in writing to the clerk of the House, together with a decla- ration that they believed him to possess all the requisite 777, 782, 783, 788 ; Ludlow's Memoirs, p. 286 ; Letters from Bordeaux to Mazarin, July 17 and.Augu8t 18, 1659. See Appendix. 158 RICHARD CROMWELL AND qualifications for the office. The Commissioners of the Great Seal, the judges, and all judicial functionaries, were required to take a new oath of fidelity, and to have their commissions renewed. Certain municipal corporations, which had exhibited anti-republican tendencies, were dissolved and deprived of their charters. The House even ventured on a most unusual and arbitrary infringe- ment of the privileges of the City of London ; the Lord Mayor, John Ireton, a staunch Republican, was on the point of retiring from office, having already served for a year ; the House ordained that he should continue to act for another year ; and it was with great difficulty that the Common Council, by strenuous petitions and the repre- sentations of its sheriffs and aldermen, obtained the re- peal of this order, and the restoration to the city of its ancient right of election. The commissioners entrusted with the administration of the navy, of whom Vane was chief, distrusted Admiral Montague, but did not dare to recall him ; they accordingly ordained the equipment of a supplementary fleet of six frigates, and gave the command of it to Lawson, the most thorough Republican among their naval officers. In the state of affairs abroad, there was nothing to show the necessity of this additional ex- pense; and in other respects, the commissioners could not be taxed with malversation or prodigality. On entering office, they had persuaded the House to vote that they should receive no salary ; but when they believed that the safety of the Commonwealth and of the Parliament itself was at stake, all other considerations were lost sight of. On the 9th of July, a special guard was organized for the protection of the House, and the command of THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 159 it given to Colonel Alured, a zealous Republican who had been disgraced by Cromwell ; Haslerig himself pro- posed that this guard should consist of a hundred and twenty men ; but the House voted that it should be a hundred and sixty, the same number as Cromwell's body- guard ; and a week after its formation, the pay of this troop, which had been originally fixed at three shillings a day for each man, was increased by sixpence a day. In all the resolutions and acts of the Parliament the same character was clearly perceptible : all betrayed a melan- choly combination of confidence in their cause and anxiety in regard to their destiny, of devoted courage and secret fear.^ For the Pariiament had a heavy debt to pay to the authors of its restoration. It had promised them an act of indemnity for all that had been done under the tyranny, and (as it was now termed by Republicans as well as RoyaUsts) during the usurpation, of Cromwell. It was also pledged finally to constitute the Republican Govern- ment, to organize the electoral system, to reform the civil and criminal laws, to secure liberty of conscience and the regular preaching of the Gospel, to complete the project- ed union between Scotland and England, and to deter- mine the period at which it should resign its own power and give way to its successors. Of these promises, only one received its fulfilment with- out delay; on the 6th of June, 1659, the Parliament voted that it would not continue to sit after the 7th of May, 1660. In the midst of catastrophes so abrupt and ' Commona' Journals, vol. vii. pp. 646, 648, 687, 693, 773, 787, 794, 665, 666, 716 ; Ludlow's Memoirs, p. 279. 160 RICHARD CROMWELL AND frequent in their occurrence, it was almost an act of pride and strength thus to arrogate to itself a year of life, in order to reform the State. ^ On all the other questions which it had pledged itself to resolve — the act of indemnity, the future constitution of the Commonwealth, the union of England and Scot- land, and the amendment of the law, — the Parliament constantly deliberated, without ever arriving at any con- clusion. On some occasions, national rivalries, the in- terests of lawyers, and the passions of adverse sects, raised up obstacles which the House was either unable to sur- mount, or joyfully welcomed in order to spare itself the embarrassment of a decision : at other times it promoted all delays, either from finding it more advantageous to leave the questions at issue undecided, or in the hope that time would bring facilities for settling them in accordance with its own wishes. When the organization of the Re- publican Government was under discussion, the diversity of opinions and the multiplicity of propositions brought forward, rendered adjournment easy and natural ; outside the walls of Parliament even more than in its midst, and particularly in the Rota Club, in imitation of its founder, Harrington, men of ingenious and inquisitive minds in- dulged in the pleasure of devising political schemes; and when they had debated them among themselves, Henry Neville undertook to propose them to Parliament, as the surest method of establishing the Commonwealth. One sole and sovereign assembly, with collateral branches of va- rious kinds to serve as instruments or counterpoises of its authority : two assemblies, one of which should suggest ' Commons' Journals, vol. vii. p. 673. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 161 and discuss measures without voting on them, while the other should vote on them without discussion ; the Ephori of Lacedaemon ; annual or triennial Parliaments, partial or integral elections, vote by ballot, — in short all the com- binations which since that period have been so frequently reproduced, with many others that have been totally for- gotten, were suggested to the Republican Parliament in 1659, without leading to any definite result, or even originating any serious debate. The revolutions that are boldest in their innovations soon learn to decry novelties, and the supporters of the tottering Commonwealth had something else to do than to discuss and make trial of systems. The debate on the Act of Oblivion, which be- gan on the 23rd of May, was of a far more serious character ; many powerful interests were involved in it, which insisted that it should be passed without restric- tion or delay, while on the other hand, many honest and earnest men were unwilling that it should be carried ab- ruptly and extend to all cases. The Parliament, which had promised to pass the bill, found it convenient to leave those who had most need of it, in a state of uncertainty and disquietude ; various menacing reservations were in- troduced into the original draft of the bill ; those who, during Cromwell's usurpation, had received exorbitant or double salaries, or who had acquired great wealth by ne- farious means, were exempted from the amnesty. Several men of importance, St. John,Thurloe, and Lambert, among others, feared that this clause would, rightly or wrongfully, be used to their disadvantage ; and they therefore con- tended strenuously and successfully for its omission from the bill. But the debate continued to be carried on with VOL. I. M 162 RICHARD CROMWELL AND the bitterest acerbity, and the bill made but slow pro- gress. At length it was carried, on the 12th of July ; but it still contained many ambiguous expressions which caused the greatest dissatisfaction to those most interested in its provisions. Lambert publicly declared his discontent. " The Parliament," said he to Ludlow, " has taken care to make us liable to be questioned for whatsoever we have received, though there is no security given by the Act to indemnify us for what we have done." Ludlow explained and defended the bill ; Haslerig, hearing the conversation, came up, and affirmed that the indemnity was as full and comprehensive as could justly be desired. " It signifies nothing," said Lambert, " and leaves us still at mercy." " You are," rejoined Haslerig, " only at the mercy of the ParHament, who are your good friends." " I know not," replied Lambert, " why they should not be at our mercy as well as we at theirs."^ This was now the real question at issue, and compared with it, all other questions were insignificant and delusive. The army, which, from natural good-sense and an outward respect for right, did not venture to assume to govern in its own name, was nevertheless desirous to hold sway in the name of its victories, and for the security of its own special interests as well as for the maintenance of the cause which it had rendered triumphant. The Long Parliament aimed at possessing the reality and not the appearance of power, and at ruling over the army as well as over the people, in the name of the sovereignty and 1 Commons' Journals, vol. vii. pp. 662, 663, 669, 671, 688, 692, 694, 695, 697, 699, 705, 707, 712, 714, 715; Clarendon's State Papers, vol. iii. p. 452 ; Ludlow's Memoirs, pp. 285, 286 ; Bordeaux to Mazarin, July 10, 1659. See Appendix. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 103 liberties of that people of whom it proclaimed itself the sole representative. In this conflict, the Parliamentary leaders conducted themselves, from the outset, with frank and consistent firmness; on the 13th of May, immedi- ately after their restoration to office, and a few moments before Lambert came to present the Petition, in which the officers, on their own authority, acknowledged Fleet- wood as commander-in-chief of all the land-forces of the Commonwealth, the House decreed that seven commis- sioners, whom it appointed for a year, should have the di- rection of the affairs of the army, and should nominate all commissioned officers, subject to the approbation of the Parliament ; that the Speaker should sign the commis- sions of those officers, who should come to the House to receive them from his hand ; and that Fleetwood, whom it appointed commander-in-chief, should also hold his commission from the Parliament, for the present session only, and subject to the pleasure of the House. Some of the most sincere Republicans, Vane and Ludlow among others, thought these measures somewhat arrogant ; they would have wished that greater consideration should have been shown, at least outwardly, for the wishes of the army, and that some of its pretensions should have been passed over in silence, without any express censure or appro- bation. But Haslerig, Neville, and Sidney advocated a bolder policy ; and when it was put into practice, success seemed to justify their temerity. The general officers at first manifested great dissatisfaction ; at a private coun- cil held at Desborough's house, both Lambert and Des- borough bitterly complained of their treatment by the Parliament. " The^e resolutions,'* said Lambert, " im- M 2 164 RICHARD CROMWELL AND ply a diffidence of the army, and we liave no assurance that the ParHament will continue us in our employments, which is contrary to the promises made to us before the restitution of the Parliament." " I account the commis- sion I have already/' said Desborough, " to be as good as any the Parliament can give ; and I will not take ano- ther/' But the House would not rescind its resolutions ; even those members who had voted against them, loyally supported their execution. The seven commissioners were appointed, and made their selection of officers for each regiment. On the 8th of June, Colonel Hacker and his subalterns presented themselves at the bar of the House, to receive their commissions from the hand of the Speaker. On the following day, Lieutenant- General Ludlow did the same. Pleetwood himself made early submission, and the Speaker delivered to him, with many expressions of trust and confidence, his commission as commander-in-chief. The commissions of all the officers in the army were thus renewed : and similar measures were taken in regard to the navy. Thus satisfied, the House proved itself in its turn more yielding : it had rejected the nomination of Major-General Butler (the worst of all the major-generals, as he was termed) to the post of Quarter-Master- General of the army ; but it now consented to his appointment. It conferred on Lambert the command of two regiments : one of infantry, and the other of cavalry. At the same time, it adopted a measure from which it hoped to reap great advantages ; it re-established the militia, first of all in London, and subsequently in all the counties, in the hope that it would prove a formidable counterpoise to the army, and a useful defence against the Cavaliers in case THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 165 of need. The House appointed a commission to superin- tend its organization, and reserved to itself the right of appointing its officers. The whole military force of the nation was thus reduced to submission and dependence. Haslerig, and the House with him, believed that the Par- liament was decidedly victorious.^ At the same time that they displayed this persevering firmness in the conduct of affairs at home, the foreign policy of the Republicans was characterized by equal pru- dence and moderation. All pretensions to the incorpora- tion of the United Provinces with England were aban- doned ; no more arrogant and aggressive fleets scoured the seas. Peace with all the world was their earnest desire, and the object of all their efforts. " Sir Harry Vane, at his last visit, made no mystery with me," wrote M. de Bordeaux to the Count de Briennc, on the 31st of July; " he assured me that the sole desire of this Government is to live on good terms with all neighbouring States, and to consolidate their internal affairs, as they are per- suaded that they can command no respect abroad so long as their authority is not firmly established at home." But in their endeavours to remain faithful to a pacific policy, the Repubhcan leaders found many obstacles to surmount, arising from their position and their personal preju- dices. They entertained great suspicions, and not without reason, both of the French Court and of Lockhart, the English ambassador in France, whom they had strong grounds to believe thoroughly devoted to the Cromwell family, and on too intimate terms with Mazarin. They » Commons' Journals, vol. vii. pp. 651, 662, 663, 664, 670, 674, 675, 676, 679, 680, 704, 710 ; Jiudlow's Memou'8,^pp. 279-281. 166 RICHARD CROMWELL AND summoned him to London, and Lockhart immediately commmiicated the fact to the Cardinal. "Having re- ceived orders," he wrote to him from Dunkirk, on the 5th of June, " to administer the oath of fidehty to the magistrates of this town, and afterwards to repair to England to give an account to the Council of State of the condition of this place and of the troops under my com- mand, I have done the first, and am now ready to em- bark to perform the second. Some have dissuaded me against this journey ; but I think I sufficiently understand the measures I ought to take in this business. I find my- self obliged to experience the least or the worst that can happen to me. God will give such success as He shall think fit, and I am resolved to show^ no fear, thinking it better to perish hke a man with some little courage, than to live with the reputation of a coward. In all sincere humility I conjure your Eminence to believe that, whe- ther fortune favours me or proves unfavourable, I shall never forget the obligations that I am under to live and die in the utmost fidelity to your Eminence." On his arrival in London, Lockhart gave the most candid expla- nations to the leaders of the Parliament, in regard to his opinions and position : they appreciated his straightfor- wardness, and with intelligent confidence, sent him back to his post, convinced that they could put no one in his place so well qualified to serve the interests of England and of peace. Towards the ambassador of Erance in London their conduct was equally judicious ; they were probably not unaware that Mazarin, preferring a Protectorate to a Commonwealth, had instructed Bordeaux to offer to Richard Cromwell the support of France ; but they also THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 167 knew that Bordeaux, in order to retain his embassy, had at heart the maintenance of amicable relations between the two States. They therefore treated him with distinc- tion, and made every effort to convince him that, in order to secure the same end, they were themselves disposed to make great sacrifices. *' Some of the ministers of this State," wrote Bordeaux to Mazarin, on the 7th of Au- gust, " have given me to understand that it was not to their advantage to retain any conquests beyond seas, that Dunkirk was a burden to them, and only served to keep up a misunderstanding with Spain, and that therefore, if their advice was taken on the matter, it should not stand in the way of peace." With a full knowledge of the policy of the Cardinal, whatever might be the wishes of the Court of Erance, Bordeaux thus summarily described the position of affairs — " The Commonwealth must sub- sist, or the King must return ;" and he well knew that Mazarin would resign himself to acknowledge the Com- monwealth rather than run the risk of a war to restore the King. And the Parliamentary leaders and Bordeaux were right : though still holding out hopes to Charles II., Mazarin determined to recognize the Commonwealth, and sent new credentials to Bordeaux. But the Parhament did not consider the terms of these credentials sufficiently respectful, and refused to give audience to the ambas- sador. Bordeaux remonstrated; Mazarin waited; but no event occurred to save him from the necessity of yield- ing ; credentials in such terms as the Parliament required, were at length sent to Bordeaux; on the 1st of Sep- tember he was admitted to an audience, and though mu- tual distrust and ill-will still prevailed, peace was never- 168 RICHARD CROMWELL AND theless solemnly ratified between the Court of France and the Republican Parliament.^ In regard to Holland, the position of the new govern- ment was less complicated j for, in London, far from en- tertaining any ambitious views in respect to that country, it was the general wish that the two commonwealths might thenceforward live, not only in peace, but in close friendship ; and -the Dutch fully reciprocated this desire. The state of affairs in the Baltic, however, might at any time renew the conflict between them : up to this time, England had supported Sweden, while Holland remained faithful to the cause of Denmark. The EngUsh resident at the Hague, Mr. Downing, was one of Cromwell's mi- nisters, and the Parliament felt but Uttle confidence in him. His recall was brought under discussion ; the zeal- ous Republicans wished to appoint Colonel Rich, one of their own party, in his stead; but the more sagacious politicians succeeded in maintaining Downing at his post. At the same time it was resolved, at any cost, to put an end to those disputes about the navigation of the Baltic, which had so long disturbed the peace of the North, in- jured the commerce of England, and destroyed the har- mony of the Protestant States. Pour plenipotentiaries, with Algernon Sidney at their head, received orders to go on board the fleet of Admiral Montague, and to use every eff'ort, in concert with the plenipotentiaries of Hol- land, to effect this paciflcation. After protracted confe- rences, the plenipotentiaries of the two commonwealths 1 Bordeaux to Mazarin, May 12-26, June 2-3, July 7-29-31, Au- gust 7-18-28-31, and September 1, 1659 : see Appendix. Commons' Journals, vol. vii. pp. 693, 757, 766 ; Ludlow's Memoirs, pp. 283, 284. I THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 169 agreed on a draft of a treaty, which they submitted to the two belhgerent Kings, in the capacity of mediators. The King of Sweden haughtily rejected their proposition ; he told the English Commissioners that, so long as they proved themselves his friends, he was willing to accept them as mediators, but not as arbitrators ; and turning towards the Dutch envoys, he said that he looked upon them as his enemies, and would in no respect admit of their mediation : then, laying his hand upon his sword, he added: "You make projects of treaties in reliance upon your fleets, and I take my resolutions upon my sw^ord." He also expressed his surprise that two Re- publics should thus presume to impose conditions on crowned heads. " Sir," replied Sidney, who spoke for his colleagues during this interview, " the friendship of England is on these terms." No definite conclusion was arrived at, and the war between the two Kings conti- nued ; but it was clear that a change had taken place in the policy of England, and that the nephew of Gustavus Adolphus could no longer reckon upon her support. '' Al- though General Montague has thoroughly broken ofi* from the King of Sweden, and both he and the ofiicers of his fleet have been loaded with chains of gold," wrote Bor- deaux to Brienne, on the 6th of October, " the Parliament does not appear any more inclined to embrace the inter- ests of that Prince, and his liberality will scarcely repair the evil effect produced by his rage. Even the enemies of this government praise the high-spirited manner in which Colonel Sidney answered him ; and if this public dissatis- faction does not induce the Parliament to conform to the wishes of the United Provinces, they will at least be al- 170 RICHARD CROMWELL AND lowed full liberty to assist Denmark, in pursuance of their resolution to do so." At the Hague, still stronger hopes were entertained. " I perceive by Mr. Downing," wrote John de Witt to Nieuport, the Dutch ambassador in London, " that they in England be resolved to pursue the business with vigour against Sweden, in case his Majesty continues to refuse to make peace upon the pro- posed conventions. ... I hope God will give a good issue of this business."^ The war with Spain was the only remaining question : a war which the Enghsh Republicans had never approved, and which they were now less than ever disposed to pro- secute. France and Spain were no longer engaged in active warfare ; a suspension of hostilities, and the pre- liminaries of peace, had been agreed on ; the marriage of Louis XIV. with the Infanta Maria Theresa had been arranged; Mazarin and Don Louis de Haro met in the Isle of Pheasants, at the foot of the Pyrenees, " less to confer," as they themselves stated, " than to unite the two Crowns by the bonds of a sincere and perfect friend- ship ;" and the Treaty of the Pyrenees w^as concluded. The conclusion of this treaty filled the Parliament wdth the liveliest apprehensions; now that Prance and Spain were reconciled, would they not combine to make w^ar against the Commonwealth, and to restore Charles Stuart ? Public rumour asserted that that Prince was about to proceed in person to the Pyrenees, in order to lose no 1 Commons' Journals, vol. vii. pp. 652, 659, 663, 667, 670, 676, 688, 689, 692, 693, 694, 699, 701, 745, 746, 767, 779, 785 ; Thnrloe's State Papers, vol. vii. pp. 676, 724, 727, 732, 733, 736, 881 ; Baker, p. 705 ; Ludlow's Memoirs, p. 282 ; Bordeaux to Mazarin and Brienne, May 8, June 16, September 1-27-29, and October 6, 1659. See Appendix. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 171 time in turning the newly-made peace between the two Courts to his own advantage, and soliciting their assist- ance. Lockhart, who had now returned to Paris, re- ceived orders to present his new credentials to the King without delay, and to proceed immediately afterwards to St. Jean de Luz, in order to watch narrowly the progress of the negotiations, and to lose no opportunity of pro- moting the interests of the Commonwealth. He had in- structions to offer peace to Spain, either in the shape of a separate treaty with England, or by making England a party to the peace between Spain and France. He set out with a numerous retinue of secretaries, pages, servants, carriages, and horses ; determined to maintain his am- bassadorial rank with suitable dignity, and to secure his position under the Commonwealth by means of that in- timacy with Mazarin which he had contracted while in the service of Cromwell. He arrived at St. Jean de Luz on the 1st of August, and on the same day he wrote to Vane : " I expect my train in three or four days, and in the meantime am not altogether idle. I have my Httle emissaries abroad, and besides the informations I get from thence, I insinuate (by all the safe and handsome means I can) to some near Don Louis that a peace with Eng- land may be had upon reasonable terms." The safest and handsomest means which Lockhart had at his dis- posal was Mazarin himself, who readily served as his in- termediary with Don Louis de Haro. " The English am- bassador Lockhart," wrote the Cardinal to M. Le Tellier, on the 30th of August, " has requested me to ascertain from Don Louis whether he could see him, in execution of the orders which he has received from his superiors, in 172 RICHARD CROMWELL AND order to inform hira that their intention was to live at peace with all nations, and that he was fully empowered to conclude a peace with his Excellency, in case he had similar authority from his master, the King of Spain. I stated all this to Don Louis, who said that the ambas- sador might proceed tomorrow to Andaye, and that if he sent his chamberlain to request an audience for the day following, it should be granted him at any hour he might appoint ; and when I told him that it would be necessary to take measures to prevent any disturbance, as there are many Scotch and Irishmen in Pontarabia, Don Louis begged me to assure the ambassador that he might safely rely upon his word."^ This was not, as Cromwell's policy had been, a vigorous and high-minded policy, seeking the consolidation of its power at home by the assertion of its authority and dig- nity abroad ; but it was a sensible course of conduct, pur- sued by a government which was uneasy in spite of its vigilance, and which, conscious of the precariousness of its position, strenuously endeavoured to suppress all ques- tions and all affairs that it was not absolutely compelled to confront, and desired nothing more than to live at peace with its neighbours, in order that it might have some chance of subsisting at home, in spite of the ma- chinations and efforts of its enemies. This firmness of demeanour at home, and this intelli- gent prudence of conduct abroad, were not without their effect ; and the Parliament witnessed the gradual disap- * Commons' Journals, vol. vii. p. 705 ; Ludlow's Memoirs, p. 295 ; Clarendon's State Papers, vol. iii. pp. 528, 538, 541 ; Lettres du Cardinal Mazarin sur la Negociation du Traite des Pyrenees, vol. i. p. 152 j Bor- deaux to Brienne, July 17, 1659. See Appendix. TITE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 173 pcarance of some of those perplexities and dangers which had assailed it at its return to power. The two sons of Cromwell yielded full submission to its authority. Richard was treated with some harshness ; but it must be confessed that he manifested a reluctance to leave Whitehall which, though perhaps necessary to his safety, was certainly undignified as regarded himself, and offensive to his conquerors. The House deputed St. John and Pickering to convey to him its orders that he should leave the palace ; and at the same time to obtain from him a schedule of his debts, and his signature to a deed of submission to the authority of the Parliament. Richard gave them a schedule of the debts which he had found owing at the death of his father, and which amounted to £29,640 ; and he added a statement of his own private fortune, which, after the payment of various encumbrances, left him an annual income of only £1299, I out of which he would have to pay a debt of £3000 contracted by himself during his father's lifetime. " As to that part of your resolve," he wrote to the House, " whereby your Committee are to inform themselves how far I do acquiesce in the government of this Common- wealth, as it is declared by this Parliament, I trust my past carriage hitherto hath manifested my acquiescence in the will and disposition of God, and that I love and value the peace of this Commonwealth much above my own concernments. . . . And as, with other men, I ex- pect protection from the present government, I do hold myself obliged to demean myself with all peaceableness under it, and to procure, to the uttermost of my power, that all in whom I have any interest do the same." The 174 RICHARD CROMWELL AND House, on the 25th of May, declared itself satisfied with this promise, referred the schedule of debts to be exa- mined by the standing Committee of Finance, appointed a special Committee to consider *' what was fit to be done as to the settlement of a comfortable and honourable subsistence on Richard Cromwell, eldest son of the late Lord General Cromwell," advanced him a sum of two thousand pounds "for his present occasions," and again requested him to leave Whitehall. But Richard still remained there, either from a weak-minded unwilling- ness to tear himself from the last relics of his former greatness, or because his palace was his only asylum against the creditors who were incessantly demanding of him, not only the payment of his own debts, but the balance which still remained due of the expenses of his father's funeral. Six weeks elapsed before the House, on the report of Haslerig, resumed the consideration of the question, referred it to a special committee to inquire how much still remained due for funeral expenses, and to provide for the payment of the same by the Common- wealth ; exempted Richard from all arrest for any debt whatsoever, during six months; and peremptorily re- quired him to remove from Whitehall within six days. Thus freed from apprehension as to his personal liberty, Richard obeyed. While his servants w^ere packing up his goods, he gave them strict orders to be very careful of two old trunks that stood in his wardrobe ; one of his friends asked him what they contained, that he was so careful of them. " Why," rephed he, " nothing less than the lives and fortunes of all the good people of England." The two chests were filled with the addresses which, at THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 175 his accession, had been sent to him from all quarters, placing at his disposal the lives and fortunes of the whole nation, whose safety, they said, depended upon his go- vernment. By the advice of Fleetwood, Richard, on leaving Whitehall, retired to Hampton Court, there to await the decision of his fate by the Parhament. A few days afterwards, on the 16th of July, the House resolved that the debts of the late Lord General Cromwell should be paid by the Commonwealth, and that his eldest son Richard should be exempted and discharged from all re- sponsibility in reference thereto ; that the yearly revenue of the said Richard Cromwell should be made up to ten thousand pounds during his life, by a grant of eight thousand seven hundred pounds out of the revenue of the Post Office ; and that lands of the annual value of five thousand pounds should be settled on him and his heirs for ever, as soon as possible, in abatement of the charge on the revenue of the Post Office. In reliance on these votes, Richard quitted Hampton Court as well as White- haU.^ The retirement of Henry Cromwell was marked by less opposition on his part, if not by less bitternesss of feeling, and his conduct under the circumstances was unquestion- ably more dignified than that of his brother. On the 7th of June, he was recalled to England by an order of the House, which had decided that Ireland should in fu- ture be governed by five Commissioners. He immedi- ^ Commons' Journals, vol. vii. pp. 655, 664, 704, 715, 720 ; Old Par- liamentary History, vol. xxi. pp. 419-430 ; Ludlow's Memoirs, pp. 277, 281 ; Noble's Memoirs of the Protectoral House of CromweU, vol. i. pp. 165-168, 179, 180, 325-337 ; Bordeaux to Mazarin, June 2, and July 7, 1669. See Appendix. 176 RICHARD CROMWELL AKD ately abandoned all Royalist machinations, — whether from conscious weakness, or from unwillingness to betray his father's cause, it is impossible now to ascertain; made no resistance to Sir Hardress Waller, who came to take pos- session of Dublin Castle in the name of the Parliament ; and, on the 15th of June, sent the following pledge of submission to the House : " I acquiesce," he wrote, " in the present way of government, although I cannot pro- mise so much affection to the late changes, as others very honestly may. For my own part, I can say that I believe God was present in many of your administrations, before you were last interrupted, and may be so again ; to which end I hope that those worthy persons, who have lately acknowledged their interrupting you in the year 1653 to have been their fault, will, by that sense of their im- patience, be henceforth engaged to do so no more. . . . For my own part, I had an honourable opinion of the government you are now returned unto, before its dis- continuance ; and yet I must not deny but that the free submission, which many worthy, wise, and conscientious persons yielded to the late government under a single person, satisfied me also in that form ; and whereas my father, (whom I hope you yet look upon as no inconsi- derable instrument of the happiness and freedom of these nations,) and since him my brother, were constituted chief in those administrations, and that the returning to ano- ther form hath been looked upon as an indignity to those my nearest relations, I cannot but acknowledge my own weakness as to the sudden digesting thereof, and my own unfitness to serve you in the carrying on your further superstructures upon that basis ; and as I cannot promise THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 177 anything which infers the diminution of my late father's honour and merit, so I thank the Lord, for that He hath kept me safe in the great temptation, wherewith I have been assaulted, to withdraw my affection from that cause wherein he lived and died/' Less than three weeks after the despatch of this honest and high-spirited letter, Henry Cromwell returned to London ; and, on the 4th of July, Fleetwood announced his arrival to the House, and stated that he was ready to give an account of his administra- tion of affairs in L'eland : upon which, a vote was passed, "That it be referred to the Council of State to hear Colonel Henry Cromwell's relation, as touching the ma- nagement of affairs in Ireland ; and that Colonel Henry Cromwell have liberty to retire himself into the country, whither he shall think fit, upon his own occasions."^ The Royalists, whose hopes had rested to a great ex- tent on Henry Cromwell's co-operation, were unwilling to believe that he had thus abandoned their cause. " We do not believe the general discourses of Henry Cromwell's submission," wrote Hyde to Edward Villiers, on the 20th of June ; " the King looks upon Lord Broghill as a person who may be most instrumental to do him ser- vice there, . . . and he therefore very much desires that you would make haste into Ireland, and that you would assure Lord Broghill of all that he can wish for from the King, if he will perform this service, and that he may likewise undertake to Henry Cromwell that he shall be gratified in all that he will propose." When it became * Commons' Journals, vol. vii. p. 705 ; Thurloe's State Papers, vol. vii. pp. 683-685, 686; Letters from Bordeaux to Mazarin, June 26 and July 17, 1659. See Appendix. VOL. I. ' N 178 RICHARD CROMWELL AND impossible to doubt the fact that Henry Cromwell had sent in his submission to the ParUament, the RoyaUsts took their revenge on him by speaking of himself and his family in the most insulting terms. " Richard Cromwell," wrote Mr. Broderick to Hyde, on the 16th of July, "is retired into Hampshire, having no money within his purse, nor, without it, a friend; Harry is gone to his father-in-law, in Cambridgeshire ; Claypole lurks for debt (being really very poor), and pretends himself in France ; the old woman's wealth falls short of expectation ; nor is Faulconbridge any whit proud of the aUiance." So com- plete a downfall of the Cromwell family, and so great a disappointment to the Royalists, were a double victory to the Parliament.^ Another and still more important success was that Monk declared in its favour. Despising anarchy with all the repugnance of a veteran soldier, and dreading its effect upon his own fortune no less than upon his country, Monk invariably gave his support, if not his devoted al- legiance, to that power which, at the moment, appeared to him most capable of holding the reins of government. After the expulsion of the Long Parliament he had obeyed and served Cromwell ; when Richard Cromwell was over- thrown, he determined, for the same reasons and within the same limits, to serve and obey the restored Long ParUament. Many of the officers in his army, moreover, were Republicans, and kept up a close correspondence with those in the English army; so that it would not have been safe for him to oppose their wishes. In con- cert with them, he wrote to the Parliament, on the 12th of May, to express his joy at their restoration to power, ^ Clarendon's State Papers, vol. iii. pp. 501, 528. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 179 " for your presence," he said, " we have so long wanted, that, had you stayed but a little longer, it might have been left to be inquired what England was." He recom- mended, however, in most emphatic terms, " that some speedy care might be taken for his late Highness and his family, together with her Highness-Dow^ager, that there may be such a provision settled upon them, and such other dignities, as are suitable to the former great ser- vices of that family to these nations." And after having reminded the Parliament of the civil and religious hopes of the good old cause, he ended by saying : " And whilst you are pleading and asserting the interest of God and his people, you may rest assured, with greatest confi- dence, that we shall appear in your defence, and the vin- dication of your authority, against the opposition of all arbitrary powers whatsoever." On receiving this letter, the joy of the House was unbounded ; orders were given that it should be immediately printed and distributed in every direction ; and the Council of State was directed to prepare an answer, to be signed by the Speaker, express- ing the " good acceptance and thanks of the House" to Monk and his army. Before many weeks had passed, however, this friendly feeling was on the point of being destroyed. The House, notwithstanding all its demonstra- tions of confidence and affection, would have been glad to diminish the influence of Monk over the army in Scot- land, and to raise up a faction against him among its ranks ; it accordingly attempted to subject his array to the same treatment as the English army had already un- dergone at its hands, and to effect a purge of its officers. Some of his trustiest friends were recalled, and super- N 2 180 RICHARD CROMWELL AND seded by men who were either zealous Republicans, fa- natical democrats, or mystical sectaries ; but even these knew Monk's character too well to consent to enter his army against his will ; and before setting out for Scot- land, they had the prudence to send him word that they had been appointed to one or other of his regiments. Monk immediately wrote to the Speaker, on the 2nd of June, to the effect that " he had heard of their intention to displace many of his officers, which he conceived they did, not from any knowledge they had of their persons or qualifications, but the informations of others ; and that he thought himself as fit to be credited as any, and did as- sure them his officers were all honest and stout men, for whose fidelity and good behaviour he would be engaged." The House was alarmed, and gave way ; the two regi- ments of cavalry and infantry, of which Monk himself was colonel, were exempted from all change, without his express consent ; and with regard to the other regiments, the newly appointed officers did not make their appear- ance, and those who had been recalled were allowed to remain at their posts. By this resolute, though quiet resistance. Monk's influence increased greatly both in England and Scotland, in the Parliament and in his own army ; even his rivals, Fleetwood and Lambert, wrote to him frequently, either to ask his advice, or for the sole purpose of keeping on friendly terms with him. The House of Commons, though distrusting him, treated him with the utmost consideration as an indispensable sup- porter ; and he served the House for the time, without giving it his hearty adherence.^ ^Commons' Journals, vol. vii. pp. 658, 670, 677, 680; Old Parlia- THE DAWN or THE RESTORATION. 181 Thurloe and St. John, the most trusted of Cromwell's advisers, were not less tractable than his sons had been. " If you can, I pray tell me the mystery how St. John comes to hold his credit," wrote Hyde to Mr. Broderick, on the 4th of June : " is Thurloe like to get in at the same door ? I do not enough understand how St. John preserves himself with those people, both of the civil and the martial power ; but I do less understand how Thurloe shapes, and is in danger to be excepted out of the Act of Oblivion, and at the same time employed in the great- est secrets of the government, for I have some reason to believe that he meddles as much as ever in the foreign intelhgence." Hyde's suspicions were well-founded ; the Republican leaders, while leaving Thurloe under the ap- prehension that he would be made a victim to the reac- tionary feeling against all who had been servants of the Usurper, still had recourse to him for the management of foreign affairs, and he continued for some time to direct that department, in conjunction with Vane and Scott, writing despatches for them, placing at their disposal all his secret sources of information on the Continent, at Paris, Brussels, and Madrid, and merely refusing to di- vulge the names of the agents from whom he received his despatches. St. John, for his part, had no confidence in the stability of the Commonwealth ; he foresaw that the restoration of Charles II. was inevitable, and took precautions to secure his family and himself against the worst consequences of that contingency. " Sell two mentary History, vol. xxi. pp. 414, 426 ; Thurloe's State Papers, vol. vii. p. 669 ; Baker's Chronicle, p. 705 ; Gamble's Life of Monk, pp. 98-102 ; Guizot's Life of Monk, pp. 37, 38 ; Bordeaux to Mazarin, June 26, 1659, See Appendix, 182 RICHARD CROMWELL AND manors," he said to his son-in-law, " and transport ten thousand pounds abroad; and for the remainder, run the hazard of a general pardon, for such we may expect, should the King prevail." In the meanwhile, St. John lived on good terms with the Republican leaders, gave them much useful advice, and helped them through their embarrassments whenever he had an opportunity. Nearly all the Cromwellians, whether relatives, ministers, gene- rals, or distinguished or obscure servants of the great Protector, either submitted to the authority, or embraced the cause, or entered the service, of that mutilated Long Parliament which Cromwell had expelled, and which had now retaliated on his son.^ These were real successes on the part of the Common- wealth ; successes obtained by the fidelity of its leaders to their cause, and by their intelligent activity in the ex- ercise of the supreme powder. But these merits and suc- cesses were vain. The Republicans still continued an isolated clique, utterly destitute of the sympathy of Eng- land, w^hich believed neither in the rightfulness nor the stability of their administration, and was determined not to submit to their rule. Arrayed against them were the high and regular powers of all government, the national traditions, and the social hierarchy of their country. The nobles and most of the provincial gentlemen were either their ardent opponents, or kept completely aloof from them. The country population still clung to its recol- lections of monarchy, and remained firm in its attach- ^ Clarendon's State Papers, vol. iii. pp. 476, 482, 528, 532 ; Commons' Journals, vol. vii. pp. 636, 677 ; Old Parliamentary History, vol. xxi. p. 412 ; Thurloe's State Papers, vol. vii. pp. 670, 694 ; Bordeaux to Mazarin, July 10, 1659. See Appendix. THE DAWN OP THE RESTORATION. 183 ment to the ancient proprietors of the soil. In the towns, the majority of the better class of citizens were Presby- terians, favourable to a limited monarchy, and full of sorrow and self-reproach for having allowed themselves to be carried so far beyond their original design. Now more than ever, a commonwealth was felt to be a facti- tious rec/ime, supported by a subaltern minority. The most eminent of the Republican leaders, Vane himself, had lost all hope of its permanent establishment, though he still remained unshaken in his devotion to it. '' The King," he said, " will, I believe, at one time or other, obtain the crown, for the nation is dissatisfied with any other government."^ Discord quickly finds its way into the ranks of falling parties; and on the eve of a common overthrow, men en- gaged in the same cause are often as envious and quar- relsome as though they had to divide among themselves the empire of the world. The RepubHcans, though so isolated in the midst of the nation, were, among them- selves, a prey to divisions and dissensions of all kinds. The rigid Parliamentarians treated those who demanded greater concessions to the army, as traitors. The Oli- garchs struggled to retain the supreme power in the hands of the old ParHament; while the confident De- mocrats wished to confer it on new Parliaments to be elected annually. The freethinkers had the greatest difficulty in defending themselves against the intolerance of the fanatical Pm-itans. The emulators of Greek or Roman antiquity engaged in desperate conflicts against ^ Clarendon's State Papers, vol. iii. p. 527 ; Bordeaux to Mazarin, August 7, 1659. See Appendix. 184 RICHARD CROMWELL AND the mystical sectaries, who wished to restore the judges of Israel or the reign of the saints. Among these frac- tions of parties and sects, reconciliations and ruptures were of daily occurrence ; the contest raged on one day between Haslerig and Vane, on another between Vane and Neville, on a third between Ludlow and Sidney. The various cliques held themselves apart ; their vanity and self-love were irritated ; none would yield, and none could succeed in attaining predominance. " Chaos was perfection in comparison of our order and government," wrote Major Wood, on the 3rd of June ; " parties are Uke so many floating islands, sometimes joining and ap- pearing like a continent, when the next flood or ebb se- parates them, so that it can hardly be known where they will be next. Fleetwood, Lambert, and Desborough, are not much reverenced by the soldiers, who, it is believed, know their own strength, and will set up for them- selves. The Parliament daily expects dissolution : Tues- day last it was debated in the House to establish them- selves during life. Three days since, five thousand of the Fifth-monarchy-men met at Horsham in Sussex, and dispersed after eight hours' consultation. There are two or three thousand of them well armed, and officers ap- pointed to every thousand and every himdred." And on the 25th of September, Mr. Rumbold wrote to Lord Chancellor Hyde : " It is here, and in all other places, believed that the Government will fall into the hands of Anabaptists and their adherents ; which gives very great apprehensions, especially to such persons as, having great estates, have hitherto seciu-ed them by comply- ing with the prevaiUng interest, but are now of opinion THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 185 that they shall not long enjoy them under this sort of people." ^ It was precisely among this sort of people that Vane, despairing of the triumph of his cause, now sought for strength to defend it. He was at once a politician and a mystic, a clear-headed statesman and a dreamy theo- logian, subject to no illusion with regard to the perils which threatened the commonwealth, and ready to plunge, in order to save it from ruin, into any combinations which suggested a ray of hope to his piously chimerical imagi- nation. " Two props," he said, " support this Govern- ment, — rehgion and liberty ; of the former ought our principal care to be, and those seers of Israel ought in all things to have the pre-eminence. They must not be many. . . . Too great is the burden for a single person, because liable to temptation ; but a few, a very few." He accordingly reduced to three, instead of thirty, the number of members of the Supreme Council to which he proposed to entrust, not only the executive power, but the right to negative the resolutions of the Parliament : and he allied himself with the Anabaptists, Millennarians, and the Fifth-monarchy-men, in order to secure their de- voted adherence to the cause of the commonwealth, and to create for himself a party, by placing that cause under their protection. This policy, which he lost no opportu- nity of advocating in pious meetings, soon acquired for Vane, among the lower ranks of the army and populace, an amount of popularity which disquieted the other Par- » Clarendon's State Papers, vol. iii. pp. 479, 569, 484, 493, 511, 531 ; Thurloe's State Papers, vol. vii. p. 703; Ludlow's Memoirs, pp. 285- 287 ; Hutchinson's Memoirs, p. 381. 186 RICHARD CROMWELL AND liamentary leaders, Haslerig, Neville, and Sidney, whose conduct was guided rather by political than by religious considerations ; and they resolved to get rid of Vane by procuring his appointment as ambassador to Holland. His friends however succeeded in parrying this blow ; he was not appointed ; but deep distrust and animosity continued to prevail on both sides ; and the opposing parties taunted each other, either with not perceiving the dangers which threatened the Commonwealth,, or with hurrying into alliances which, far from saving the State, would inevitably work its ruin.^ And whilst, in the Parliament and in the Council, the Repubhcans were a prey to these destructive dissensions, two storms were accumulating without, which burst ere long on both the Commonwealth and the Parliament. Ever since the death of Cromwell, the Royalist party had been apparently inactive ; the old Cavaliers, exhausted and ruined by previous efforts, were, for the most part, but httle inclined to expose themselves again to the risks of conspiracy and war ; the most respected among their leaders, the Marquis of Hertford and the Earl of South- ampton for example, although still faithful to the royal cause, hved in retirement on their estates, not thinking it possible to engage in any serious undertaking with any reasonable prospect of success, and resting satisfied with transmitting to Charles H. from time to time, assurances of fidelity and supplies of money. The small committee which had the management of the King's aff'airs in Lon- ^ Clarendon's State Papers, voL iii. pp. 505, 506 ; Eeliquiae Baxteri- anse, part i. pp. 74-76, 101 ; The Life and Death of Sir Henry Vane (Ijondon, 1662), passim; Biographia Britannica, vol. vi. pp. 3989- 3998 ; Bordeaux to Brienne, July 10-17, 1659. See Appendix. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 187 don, far from promoting any bold enterprises, discou- raged them, and recommended prudence and patience to their adherents. " If you could appear here with any reasonable force," wrote Mr. Ashton to Hyde, on the 1 5th of July, " it cannot rationally be thought but most men will join with you ; but for your old servants to begin anything in this place is not only very improbable, but the most destructive thing in the world to your business, and that which is desired and endeavoured by your enemies to engage your party in, as the only expedient to unite them." Charles and his advisers in exile had themselves adopted this policy of waiting. " We do here clearly concur with you in the opinion that our friends ought to lie still and be quiet till a good opportunity shall be oiFered," wrote Hyde, on the 10th of May, " and we do all that is in our power to let them know that that is the King's opinion and command." When, in spite of these injunctions, any impatient Cavaliers engaged in a plot, the same traitor whom, two or three years be- fore, Cromwell had bribed to give evidence against his comrades, Sir Richard Willis, on the same conditions of discreet moderation, continued to inform Thurloe, and through him the Republican leaders, of the plans and resolutions of the Royalist committee, and thus ensured the silent defeat of schemes projected in doubt and com- menced without energy.^ But new elements, of a bolder and more vigorous cha- racter, had been introduced, and were daily entering, into the RoyaUst party. Many Presbyterians were desirous to repair the injuries they had done to the monarchy, and ^ Clarendon's State Papers, vol. iii. pp. 481, 525, 468. 188 RICHARD CROMWELL AND to make peace with it by contributing to its restoration ; many Cromwellians had deserted their old party, and found it necessary, now that they had changed masters, to do something to secure or remake their fortune ; many young men, who had not been engaged in the former struggles, were anxious to play a part in their country's history, and readily joined the royal cause, in order to have an end of those revolutions which threatened to re- commence their destructive course, and of those govern- ments which were no sooner established than overthrown. These men bitterly complained of the sluggishness of the old Royalists. " Of all the parties in England, the King's is truly the largest and most indifiPerent," wrote Mordaunt to Hyde and the King ; " I strive in vain to resist this flood of meanness which invades us, and to shake this lethargy off* which is so fatally stupefactive. . . . They first of all expected the revolt of Monk, that failing, they expected the revolt of Lockhart, and that faiUng, they still hoped that General Montague would make opposition." At the same time that they judged their own party so severely, these new Royalists, having no personal prejudices and animosities to contend against, welcomed into their ranks all the allies who seemed dis- posed to serve their cause ; they recommended that great consideration should be shown for the ecclesiastical sys- tem of the Presbyterians ; they affirmed that the Crom- welhans, " now that their golden calf was fallen, would never depart from their monarchical principles." Their demeanour and language towards the King himself were chai-acterized by a frankness and independence strangely at variance with Court habits. "The most reserved of THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 189 the prudential men," wrote Mordaunt to the King, on the 1 6th of June, " now own that it is high time we were better prepared ; and though no man dare venture to make it his particular desire to persuade so great a risk, as of necessity you must run by coming hither, yet, Sir, we most humbly beg permission to tell you all are unani- mous that no demonstration can ever be made how you shall be restored without hazarding your person." In all circumstances, they advised the King to act with bold- ness for himself, and with graceful hberality towards his old enemies.^ Charles listened to their advice with great apparent respect, without however awakening full confidence that he was either willing or able to follow it. The men who gave him these counsels were good Enghshmen and sincere Protestants, attached to their national institutions and rehgious creed. Distrusting alike the policy and the religion of the Continent, they earnestly desired that their King should be restored to his throne " solely by English hands ;" and it was a matter of deep concern with them to ascertain whether Charles was a true and staunch Pro- testant. The Queen-mother and her courtiers, the Duke of York and his adherents, were regarded by them with great anxiety ; for the public profession or avowed pre- ference of the Catholic faith and of the tenets of absolute monarchy prevailed among that little band of exiles, whom long absence had rendered almost oblivious of the political traditions and religious belief of England. Although » Clarendon's State Papers, vol. iii. pp. 460, 482, 491, 526, 488, 472, 492, 493, 509 ; Bordeaux to Mazarin, June 16 and July 17, 1659. See Appendix. 190 RICHARD CROMWELL AND Charles lived habitually at Brussels, great apprehensions were excited by his mother's influence over him, and by his own taste for the Court of France, which he never visited without yielding with delight to the seductive charm of its facile manners and elegant pleasures. Se- veral matrimonial alliances with Frenchwomen had been, and still were, proposed to him ; among others, with Mademoiselle de Montpensier, Mademoiselle de Longue- ville, Madame de Chatillon, and Hortense Mancini, the niece of Mazarin ; combinations, some based on political considerations, and others on mere fancy, many of which would have been unworthy of the King, while all would have proved distasteful to the English Royalists. Un- favourable reports, too, now began to be spread with regard to the private life of Charles, who was already a libertine, a gamester, and an infidel ; and those who were most devoted to his cause demanded that some security should be given them with regard to his religion and character, as they could no longer rest satisfied with their own hopes respecting him.^ Fortunately for himself, Charles, who was naturally of a judicious and penetrating mind, then placed his entire confidence in the councillors to whom, on taking leave of him, his father had entrusted him ; and particularly in Hyde, an able, honest, religious, and laborious man, who remained, in exile, as faithful to the laws and creed of the country from which he was banished, as to the in- terests of the master whom he served. Charles was sure 2 Clarendon's State Papers, voL iii. pp. 507, 541, 512, 513, 521, 535 ; Memoirs de MdUe. de Montpensier, vol ii. pp. 1, 6, 12, 53, 58-67, 73- 75, 143-147, 149-157, 233, 248-250, 319 ; voL iii. pp. 7, 48, 51, 183, 239, 279, 360, 434, 436, 451, 528. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 191 that, SO long as they were left in the hands of Hyde, his relations with his party in England would be maintained with dignified assiduity, that neither his personal honour in adverse fortune nor the future rights of his crown would be compromised, and that such noble and prudent lan- guage would always be used in his name as would present him in a favourable light to his own nation and to the rest of Europe ; and he was thankful to his Chancellor for so ably conducting his languishing and difficult affairs, without his assistance. Hyde applied himself to the task with conscientious zeal, writing incessantly, displaying the utmost sagacity in estimating what he ought to say to his various correspondents, constantly occupied in encouraging, rallying, and directing the Royalists ; neg- lecting no opportunity or means of obtaining new friends for the King; and yet very reserved in all his proceedings and promises of this nature, from party pride and states- manlike prudence, feeling unwilling to pledge his master to anything which it might one day be impossible or disadvantageous for him to perform. A zealous Anglican, Presbyterians and Catholics were almost equally suspected and disliked by him ; he was constantly beset by the fear that the royal cause might be laid under too great ob- ligations either to them or to foreign powers ; and when the Royahsts of England asked him to what extent they might rely on the King, he answered unhesitatingly : "He is in truth the most an Englishman, and the most a Protestant, and the most desirous to preserve those two interests, of any man in the nation, and I hope God Almighty has a blessing in store for him upon that account, and that he shall owe more to his own subjects 192 RICHARD CROMWELL AND for his restoration than to foreign princes ; and therefore I pray God the work may begin at home, and the sooner the better, that no advantages may be taken against the EngUsh and Protestant interests."^ Charles probably took some pains to inspire Hyde himself with this unmerited confidence ; and on his side, instead of making too rigid inquiries, the Chancellor doubtless readily consented to receive the most favourable impressions. A particular circumstance materially assisted him in communicating his own feelings to the general body of Royalists. Although the Duke of York still made an outward profession of Anglicanism, the Catho- lics knew that he was at heart one of themselves, and they began to express special devotedness to him, building on him their hopes of recovering, not only liberty, but do- minion in England. A secret scheme was thereupon organized for the creation of a party and reputation for Prince James, at the expense of the King his brother. Eather Talbot, a Jesuit, was the principal agent in these intrigues, which were devised and pursued as much for the furtherance of the interests of a foreign power as for the advantage of the Enghsh Catholics. The Jesuits, at this period, with more or less consistency and discre- tion, were everywhere ready to serve the Court of Spain against the Court of Erance. Eather Talbot, travelling continually between Madrid and Brussels, and Brussels and London, steadily made it his object, not only to cele- brate the praises of the Duke of York, but to combat the influence of Mazarin, and to establish first peace, and then alliance, between England and Spain; and thus combined, ^ Clarendon's State Papers, vol. iii. p. 496. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 193 with the rehgioiis cause of the Catholics, an intrigue for the Crown of England, and a question of European domin- ation. To attain his object, he applied indiscriminately to disaffected Royalists, to restless Levellers, and even to some of the leaders of the Republican Parhament. This de- plorable confusion of principles and interests greatly con- tributed to the overthrow of the Stuarts, and prolonged the distrustful animosity of the English people against the Catholics. On the Continent, as well as in England, this intrigue was discovered almost as soon as it was set on foot. " I have not yet received any confirmation of the statement that no one has been sent from hence into Elanders to treat of peace," wrote Bordeaux to Mazarin, on the 5th of June ; " but the Jesuit father is still here ; and those of his company having expressed an intention to send him beyond the seas, in consequence of the complaints made by the King of Scots respecting his negotiations, he produced superior orders, from which it is plain that his journey is not unauthorized. He has also had some conference with Mr. Scott, who discharges the duties of Secretary of State." Some days before this, on the 7th of May, one of the most faithful Royalists had written to Charles himself: "I have been long since com- manded by those for whom I did first negotiate, to signify to your Majesty their just resentment of the injuries your Majesty receives by the Duke of York's agents, and boldly to declare to your Majesty, that, though they honour him as the best and worthiest of their fellow-subjects, yet will they rather be traitors in abetting these people, than any other who shall presume to stand in competition with your Majesty." The intrigue, nevertheless, continued ; VOL. 1. o 194 RICHARD CROMWELL AND and the Duke of Buckingham became involved in it. " He doth much hurt," wrote Ashton to Hyde, on the 15th of July, "by his endeavouring to beget a better opinion of the Duke of York than of the King." But Hyde, like a faithful and wise counsellor, turned to the King's advantage these very efforts to injure him. "There is no doubt," he wrote to Mordaunt, on the 3rd of July, in reference to the negotiations which had been opened at St. Jean de Luz for the Peace of the Pyrenees; "there is no doubt the Papists are very solicitous, and hope to have great conditions made for them ; and if Peter Talbot be gone out of England, as some letters say he is, it is probable he may be gone to the Treaty to puzzle it all he can. I wish some of those who have had the worst impressions made in them of the King, had been behind the hangings and heard with what alacrity he took the resolutions he hath expressed to you ; . . . they would surely think him the best Protestant and the best Eng- lishman of the nation, which I hope will oblige all those who have desired his presence, and all who ever hope to see England happy, to lay aside all other thoughts but of settling him in his throne, which would easily, with God's blessing, settle all other differences that can arise." ^ Thus detected and combated by the vigilance of Hyde, the intrigues of the partisans of the Duke of York had no other effect than to estabUsh, from this time forth, a marked distinction between the two brothers, to attach the mass of the EngHsh Royalists to Charles XL, in spite of their doubts with regard to his character, and to en- * Clarendon's State Papers, voL iii. pp. 462, 481, 512, 525, 552; Bordeaux to Mazarin, June 5, 1659. See Appendix. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 195 kindle their zeal on behalf of that prince, whom they now regarded as the only representative of the national and Protestant interest. They hesitated greatly however to rise in insurrection, and to try the arbitrament of battle once more against the Commonwealth. '* The wisest men that I meet with here," wrote Barwick to Hy^e, on the 21st of June, " are much reserved in their judgment, what would most advance his Majesty's interest at this time. If his party can appear effectually, it is hoped the enemy will strive who shall first make their peace ; if but slen- derly, it is feared they will thereby be the more firmly united ; if not at all, yet it is still conceived they will shatter of themselves by subdivisions." But these divi- sions, which daily became more flagrant and undeniable, the seditions which broke out among even those regi- ments which were kept in garrison in London as most trustworthy, the promises of service made by numbers of cashiered officers and among others by Colonel Ingoldsby, the financial distress of the Parliament, the discontent which was produced throughout the country and even among its own partisans by its desperate efforts to raise money, the impotence and unpopularity of the Republican Government, in spite of the energy and reputation for abihty which distinguished its leaders, — all these causes daily tended to secure to the more zealous Royalists, the young Cavaliers, the converted Presbyterians who thirsted for an opportunity to display their loyalty, an ascendency which the undecided and timorous were not long able to resist. A general insurrection was resolved upon ; active preparations were made for it more particularly in the eastern, southern, midland, and western counties ; nearly o2 196 RICHARD CROMWELL AND all the leading men among the Royalists, whether veterans or recruits, Cavaliers or Presbyterians, — including the Lords Willoughby, Northampton, Byron, Manchester, Maynard, Oxford, Chesterfield and Falkland, Sir Wil- liam Waller, Sir George Booth, Messrs. Popham, Howe, Boscawen^ Stanhope, and a great many other influential gentlemen, — promised to take part in it ; the important cities of Bristol, Gloucester, Shrewsbury, and Lynn were to be either surrendered or surprised ; and even in the City of London, under the direction of Major-General Brown, a simultaneous movement was confidently ex- pected. The execution of the scheme was fixed for the end of July ; and Mordaunt himself proceeded to Brussels to inform the King of all their preparations, and to agree with him as to the time, place, and manner of his ap- pearance in England, in the midst of his party. ^ For some time previously, with bold and graceful promptitude, Charles had held himself at the disposal of his friends. " If the rage, tyranny, or disunion of the army or the present government," he wrote on the 16th of May, " shall drive his friends into arms, and they shall possess themselves of any places which they choose to defend, or shall keep themselves in a body to oppose the enemy, his Majesty, upon advertisement from them, will make all imaginable haste to transport himself and his own regiments, which he doubts not will consist of two thousand men at the least." A month later, on the 20th of June, he wrote to Mordaunt : " Though I do * Thurloe's State Papers, voL vii. p. 686 ; Clarendon's History of the Eebellion, voL vii. pp. 320-324, 328 ; Clarendon's State Papers, vol. iii. pp. 489, 490, 492, 509, 513, 516, 524 ; Baker's Chronicle, p. 705 ; Bor- deaux to Mazarin, July 31 and August 7, 1659. See Appendix. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 197 assure you I am no ill husband in managing the little money I get, which is less than my friends can imagine, yet I do not wonder at all, and am very well content that they, who will contribute so considerable a sum as twenty thousand pounds towards the enabling me for an enterprise, should desire to be well assured that it should not be employed to any other purpose ; and therefore I am very well pleased that, when they send it over into these parts, themselves send or choose the person who shall issue it out for that only end, according to my directions, and that no part of it be disbursed by him to any other purpose than providing ships, arms, and the like." And a fortnight afterwards, on the 4th of July, he wrote : " I have very good and particular assurance that, upon the conclusion of the treaty [of the Pyrenees], I shall receive very substantial assistance; and that I might the more speedily make these inclinations to be effectual, I resolved by post to have found myself on the frontiers with the two ministers [of France and Spain], by which I hoped to have cut off many formalities which might have delayed their resolutions. . . . But now you have given me an account of the particular preparations made, and resolutions taken, by my friends ; and since it hath pleased God to raise their hearts to that courage that they will undertake to put themselves into arms upon my own or my brother's appearing with them, I will look upon it as the dawning of God's wonderful mercy to us all, and a lively instance that he will cure the wound by the same hand that gave it, and make the English nation the means of removing that misery which it principally brought upon itself, without owning those great obliga- 198 RICHARD CROMWELL AND tions to foreign princes, which they seldom yield without some advantage to their own interest. ... I do there- fore very willingly accept your cheerful and affectionate in- vitation, and do promise you that I, or one of my brothers, or both of us, will make all possible haste to you as soon as you shall desire ; in order whereunto I wish and expect that you send over some fit person that may let me know all the particulars of your advice, which way you think safest for us, to what places we shall come, who shall meet us, and everything else that is necessary for us to know ; and I make no kind of doubt but if any ill acci- dent shall befall us or either of us in the way, you will with the more vigour and consent pursue your resolutions of putting yourselves in arms." At the same time, Charles sent an oflFer to Admiral Montague, that, if he would de- clare for him, " he would put himself on board his ship, and have such a body of foot ready to embark with him, as with his advice and counsel he would not doubt, by God's blessing, of quickly possessing a good harbour, and reducing those by force who would not otherwise retm'n to their obedience."^ But the Parliament was on its guard; the traitor Willis continued to inform Thurloe of all the projects of the Royalists; Thurloe, in his turn, communicated his disclosures to Vane and Scott ; and the intemperate recklessness of the Royalists themselves completed the work begun by treason. " They have made a division of the counties of England," wrote Bordeaux to Mazarin, on the 7th of August ; " and a few days ago each of them took his departure to that county in which he is to serve, * Clarendon's State Papers, voL iii. pp. 472, 498, 514, 515. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 199 with SO little discretion that many of them publicly took leave of their friends before repairing to the rendezvous." "I confess," wrote Hyde, on the 19th of June, "it is a great wonder to me, and a great instance of God's good- ness to us, that, after so much noise of risings, and even the naming of so many persons, all our friends continue still at liberty : which I do not suppose proceeds from any clemency in the present power, but from their dis- traction and want of confidence in themselves." In pre- sence of evident danger, the Government no longer hesi- tated ; vigorous measures were adopted in rapid succes- sion ; the organization of the militia was expedited ; six regiments were raised in the City, and Major- General Skippon, who, since the outbreak of the civil war, had never ceased to possess the confidence of the Republican party, again received the command of all the forces sta- tioned in London and its neighbourhood. The three regiments that had served in France under Turenne were recalled. Civil precautions were added to these military measures. All the members of the House were ordered to attend its meetings punctually every day at eight o'clock in the morning ; for even among their ranks there were some suspected persons, whom it was thought desirable to have within reach. Various bills were passed for the punishment of disseminators of false reports ; for the establishment of a strict surveillance over all inns, and over all persons entering or leaving the country ; for rewarding those w^ho should arrest suspected persons ; and for the prohibition of horse-races, bull-baitings, cock- fights, and all other popular meetings and diversions. Nor were these general precautions deemed sufficient ; 200 RICHARD CROMWELL AND the Council of State ordered the arrest of several eminent Royalists, and the ParUament expressed its approbation by passing a special act to empower the Council arbitra- rily to detain such persons in custody for a fortnight. This severity, however, did not avail to stifle all plots ; the young conspirators, the gentry who lived and acted on their own estates, the men of ardent and haughty cha- racter, scorned these hindrances. " Sir Harry Vane looks narrowly for me at the ports, and in town too," wrote Mordaunt, on the 7 th of July ; " but God will pro- tect me, and I will not be idle, as they shall find out." Major Harley, when summoned to the bar of the House, and afterwards before the Council of State, on a charge of being concerned in seditious intrigues, boldly replied to those who were interrogating him with regard to the Royalist plot in which he had been engaged : " The Par- liament has other enemies against whom it would do well to provide ; there is a secret design of some officers in the army to dissolve the House." " Name them," exclaimed Pleetwood in anger. " Your Lordship is the chief in the conspiracy," replied Harley; and he was immediately committed to prison. But the Royalists were not all either so bold or so obstinate ; among the nobles especially, many were intimidated, and seemed disposed to avail themselves of every possible pretext for keeping aloof from any general movement. Willis, who was well aware of the internal condition of his party, used his knowledge to serve his Republican paymasters, but at the same time he rescued from imminent danger some few at least of the Royahsts whom he betrayed. He proposed and carried, in the Uttle committee of which THE DAWN OP THE RESTORATION. 201 he was still a prominent member, a resolution that all insurrectionary movements should be postponed for a time, in consequence of the discoveries which had been made, and the precautions which had been taken, by the Government. With greater or less readiness, the Lords Oxford, Bruce, Northampton, Faulconbridge, and Wil- loughby assented to this proposal ; and Willis communi- cated it immediately to Brussels, and implored the King to abstain from all premature enterprises, that he might expose himself to no useless dangers.^ Charles knew that Willis was a traitor ; Thurloe's pri- vate secretary, Samuel Morland, probably at the instiga- tion of Thurloe himself, had recently informed him of his treason, and sent him conclusive proof in support of the assertion. In dark revolutionary crises, it is almost in- variably the case that able and important men, filling se- condary positions, will render services to all the contend- ing parties, with a view to secure themselves protectors in every camp. When at length convinced of the truth of this unwelcome revelation, Charles hastened to com- municate it to his friends in London ; and disregarding the advice of Willis, as far as it related to himself, he left Brussels for Calais in the beginning of August, 1659, leaving orders for his brother, the Duke of York, to pro- ceed at once to Boulogne, as they were both determined to pass over into England as soon as they learned that the promised insurrection had commenced. Charles set » Commons' Journals, vol. vii. pp. 705, 707, 715, 716, 717, 720, 721, 723, 725, 728, 729, 730, 731 ; Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, vol. vii. pp. 324-329 ; Clarendon's State Papers, vol. iii. pp. 516, 519, 524, 631-534; Bordeaux to Mazarin, July 29 and August 7, 1659. See Appendix. 202 RICHARD CROMWELL AND out on his journey secretly, attended only by his physi- cian, Dr. Quartermaine, and in a gay and cheerful hu- mour, though with no great confidence of success. At the period of his departure, Conde, then in wearisome exile at Brussels, had off*ered to place himself in person at his service, or at least to give him a body of troops under the command of the Count de Marsin. Charles met Marsin at the first village in which he passed the night ; there was but one bed in the miserable inn at which they lodged, and the King compelled Marsin to take it, and slept himself on a heap of straw. On arri- ving at Calais, where the Duke of York met him, they learned at once that the general insurrection had failed ; that, in consequence either of the disclosures of Willis or their own inertness, or paralyzed by the measures taken by the Parliament, most of the Royalist leaders had re- mained motionless ; and no one ventured to urge the two Princes to pass over into England. One chance how- ever still remained ; in Cheshire, a Presbyterian gentle- man, Sir George Booth, bolder than his associates, or unaware that they had postponed the execution of their design, had raised the royal standard, and begun the conflict against the Republican government. It was not accurately known what forces he had with him, but it was hoped that his example would revive the drooping courage of his confederates. " I cannot believe it pos- sible," wrote Hyde, on the 5th of September, " that our friends will sit still in all places, and suffer all the forces to be applied against Sir George Booth ; it is a grievous thing that the party, upon which the King relied more than upon any other in the kingdom, should not a man THE DAWN OP THE RESTORATION. 203 of them stir upon all these advantages which have been now administered." Charles resolved not to give up his plan, and, leaving the Duke of York at Boulogne, with instructions for his guidance when the time came for passing into England, he left Calais, and wandered along the coasts of Normandy and Brittany, until he should receive news of Sir George Booth, and find some means of joining him. He had scarcely left the town when a letter arrived for him from the Queen his mother, to in- form him that Turenne, then at Amiens, desired an in- terview with him. In the absence of the King, the Duke of York proceeded to Amiens. Turenne, who was as strong a partisan of royalty in England as in France, proposed to place at their disposal his own regiment of infantry (consisting of twelve hundred men), the Scottish guards, six field-pieces, arms, ammunition, and provi- sions for five thousand men during two months, and ships to convey them to the other side of the Channel. He was moreover ready, he said, to pledge his own cre- dit and plate in order to raise the necessary funds for this expedition. Was it altogether without the* know- ledge of Mazarin, then at a distance from the scene of these transactions, that at the same moment when Conde, just before his recall into France, offered his services to the Stuarts, Turenne also engaged his name and fortune thus unreservedly in their cause ? In spite of the formal assurance that he gave on this point to the Duke of York, there is great reason to doubt that the Cardinal was not aware of this proposal. However this may be, the preparations were commenced without delay ; the Governor of Boulogne was ordered to supply the Prince 204 RICHARD CROMWELL AND with the means of transport; the first detachment of troops arrived on the coast, and the Duke de Bouillon, Turenne's nephew, was ready to embark with the Duke of York, when news arrived that Sir George Booth had been defeated by Lambert, that his friends were either dispersed or taken prisoners, and that the Royalist in- surrection, annihilated by a single blow in the only place in which it had been attempted, could no longer furnish the King and his allies with any effectual support.^ Alone among the confederates. Sir George Booth had kept his word, and taken up arms in Cheshire, on the 1st of August, 1659. A few days previously, he had become somewhat doubtful as to the co-operation of the great Royalist leaders, and his demeanour and language had been characterized by some uneasiness and anxiety. But when the day arrived, he unhesitatingly raised the royal standard, and began the campaign. In spite of a violent storm and torrents of rain, a large number of neighbours and friends rallied round him at Warrington, where Colonel Whitley, sent by Mor daunt, gave him a letter from the King, expressing his readiness to cross the sea without delay, that he might take his share in their dangers. Booth immediately published a prudent pro- clamation, in which the King's name was not mentioned. "We have taken arms," he said, "in defence of ourselves, and all others who will partake with us in the vindication and maintenance of the freedom of Parliaments against all violence whatsoever, and of the known laws, liberty, and * Clarendon's History of the Eebellion, vol. vii. pp. 330-338 ; Cla- rendon's State Papers, vol. iii. pp. 541, 542, 543, 538, 552, 561 ; Baker's Chronicle, pp. 705-709. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 205 property of the good people of this nation, who at present groan under illegal, arbitrary and unsupportable taxes and payments, unknown to our ancestors." At first, his success was rapid and unopposed : volunteers flocked to him from the neighbouring counties and from the borders of Wales ; several towns supplied him with money to purchase ammunition and arms. The Earl of Derby, Sir Thomas Middleton, and Colonel Egerton took an active part in the movement. Middleton, an old man of eighty, appeared at Wrexham on a market day, at the head of a troop of Cavaliers, and, brandishing his sword above his head, caused Charles Stuart to be proclaimed King. At Liverpool, Colonel Ireland declared for the insurgents. They were even joined by a member of Parliament, Mr. Peter Brooke. Chester fell into their hands without a battle, though the governor, with a garrison of two hundred men, held the citadel against them. They hoped that, at the same time, Massey would occupy Gloucester for the King. Though deserted by the leaders of his party. Sir George Booth found himself, in a few days, at the head of four or five thousand men, and master of one of the principal towns of the West.^ Greatly alarmed, though it w^as acquainted with all the details of the plot and had witnessed its failure in every other part of the country, the Parhament immediately took the most energetic measures to prevent its fm'ther develop- ment. Numerous arrests were made, and the number of prisoners became so great that it was found necessary • Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, vol. vii. pp. 332-335 ; Com- mons' Journals, vol. vii. p. 749 ; Ludlow's Memoirs, p. 289 ; Baker's Chronicle, p. 706 ; Whitelocke's Memorials, pp. 681-682 ; Bordeaux to Mazarin, August 14-18-25, 1659. See Appendix. 206 RICHARD CROMWELL AND to devote part of the old archiepiscopal palace at Lambeth to their accommodation. Mor daunt was twice sum- moned to appear before the House,^ on pain of being sentenced as contumacious, and having his property con- fiscated, if he did not obey the summons. Whitelocke, who at the time was President of the Council of State, was ordered to prepare a proclamation declaring Sir George Booth and his adherents to be rebels and traitors ; and with a view to compromise the prudent lawyer still more completely, under the pretence of doing him ho- nour, he was appointed Governor of Windsor Castle. Two bills were passed, the first, to sequestrate the property of delinquents, including under that name all persons who had given any support to Charles Stuart, since 1649; and the other, to confer the estates of the insurgents on those of their tenants or relatives who should enter the service of the Parliament. Pines of twenty or a hundred pounds were inflicted on members who absented them- selves from the House. Nor were preparations for war neglected amid these legislative severities ; all the horses in London and its vicinity were seized for the service of the Parliament ; the formation of fourteen new regiments was determined upon ; bodies of militia were called out in various localities, at the expense of the counties in which they were raised and employed. But to whose hands was the command of all these forces to be entrusted ? Who, among the leaders of the army, now either the avowed or secret rivals of the Parliament, was worthy of its confi- dence? Lambert, who had become the most popular, was also considered the ablest and most fortunate. The » On the 28th of July and 8th of September, 1659. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 207 Council of State, forced by the crisis to act with politic boldness in spite of its prejudices, proposed that he should be appointed. Colonel Hutchinson strenuously opposed this, and reminded the House of Lambert's ambitious and untrustworthy character. While the matter was under discussion, some Royalists, under favour of old acquaint- ance, and by means of magnificent offers, endeavoured to gain over Mrs. Lambert to the King's cause, in the hope that she might, in her turn, persuade her husband to declare on his side. Liformed by her of these overtures, Lambert boasted of his refusal to Vane, and Vane com- municated it to Haslerig, with whom Lambert had quar- relled. Their representations induced the House to give him the command. He came, with the strongest pro- testations of zeal and fidelity, to receive his commission from the hands of the Speaker, "who, intending in reply," says Mrs. Hutchinson, " to return him an encouragement in declaring the confidence the House had in him, through mistake made such a speech to him, as afterwards proved a true prophecy of his perfidiousness." Ready to forget his promises of fidelity whenever the interests of his for- tune required, rather than a traitor from premeditation, Lambert left London, on the 6th of August, at the head of five or six thousand men, and proceeded by forced marches into Cheshire, where Sir George Booth still held his ground, waiting for the insurrection to break out else- where, and very undecided as to the course which he and his friends intended to pursue. In order to gain time, though without any definite object in doing so, he at- tempted to enter into parley with Lambert,' who utterly re- fused to listen to his propositions. Surprised, first at 208 RICHARD CROMWELL AND Wilmington, and afterwards at INantwich, and cut off from a portion of their forces and stores which they had left in Chester, the Royahsts were defeated almost without a com- bat; a handful of brave men, with Lieutenant-Colonel Mor- gan at their head, sacrificed their lives in the endeavour to protect a retreat which soon became a flight. Chester and Liverpool fell again into the power of the Parliament. The Earl of Derby and Sir George Booth, who attempted to escape, disguised, the former as a servant and the latter as a woman, were recognized and taken prisoners ; Sir Thomas Middleton capitulated in Chirk Castle, to which he had retired with his men ; and on the 21st of August, scarcely a fortnight after his departure from London, Lambert was able to write to the Parliament : " If there be anything in these parts which may require my further service and attendance, I shall desire your speedy com- mands therein, which shall be most readily observed."^ The victory over the Royalists was complete ; they were defeated, betrayed, disunited, imprisoned ; the inertness of most of their leaders had caused the defeat of Booth; the defeat of Booth paralyzed the zeal of those who were willing to risk their safety with him. Informed of the insurrection that had been planned, and already in secret league with the King, Admiral Montague had suddenly quitted the Baltic, with the greater part of his fleet, and » Commons' Joiirnals, voL vii. pp. 736, 774, 754, 751, 765, 768, 769, 789, 790, 742, 749, 746, 750, 752, 755, 756, 758, 760, 762, 765, 772-774, 779, 780, 789; Old Parliamentary History, vol. xxi. pp. 443-446 ; Carte's Ormonde Letters, vol. ii. p. 194 ; Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, vol. vii. pp. 334, 335 ; Clarendon's State Papers, vol. iii. pp. 552-559 ; Ludlow's Memoirs, p. 293 ; Hutcliinson's Memoirs, p. 382 ; Baker's Chronicle, pp. 705-709 ; Bordeaux to Mazarin, August 7-11-14-18-25, and September 4, 1659. See Appendix. THE DAWN OP THE RESTORATION. 209 sailed to the mouth of the Thames, with the intention of declaring for Charles 11. , and assisting him in any dis- embarkation he might endeavour to eflFect. The Parlia- mentary Commissioners, with Sidney at their head, had vainly opposed the departure of the Admiral ; their indig- nant protests were utterly disregarded by him. But on arriving off the English coast, Montague found that Booth had been defeated, and that there was no Royalist insurrec- tion or disembarkation for him to support. He took his resolution at once, proceeded boldly to London, presented himself before the Council of State, and declared that he had returned only for a fresh supply of provisions, as his stack was wellnigh exhausted. Without putting any faith in this apology, the ParKament, feeling that it would be unwise to call public attention to the failure of his intended revolt, gave no expression to their suspicions. In the midst of their victory, the Republican leaders felt their danger, and were anxious not to increase it. The dis- couragement of the vanquished, and the sequestration of their property, were, to them, the important consequences of their success. The annual income to be derived from the estates which were now confiscated was estimated at more than three millions of pounds sterling ; and would furnish them for a time with ample means to defray the expenses of the Commonwealth, and to recompense faith-' ful servants : three thousand pounds of the proceeds of the sale of Sir Thomas Middleton's lands were at once distributed among Lambert's soldiers. As for the RoyaHsts themselves, they were arrested, imprisoned, and prose- cuted, but no haste or violence characterized the proceed- ings against them. Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, who had VOL. I. p 210 RICHARD CROMWELL AND been justly accused of complicity in the insurrection, was declared innocent, on the report of Neville. When in- structed to examine Sir George Booth, Lord Bellasis, Lord Charles Howard, Lord Faulconbridge, and others who had been committed to the Tower, Vane and Haslerig conducted their inquiries with moderation and gentleness. Pamphlets were freely published, recommending the con- querors to treat the vanquished with mildness, so as not to outrage the national feeling, or to destroy their own chance of future good treatment. In their turn, either from motives of policy, or from respect to their own maxims, they frequently acted with liberal and courteous justice. "I have undergone two strict examinations before the Council," wrote Sir John Greenville to Hyde, on the 19th of August ; " where, after they had asked many frivolous questions, I began to complain of my hard usage and sufferings by old Cromwell, in being often imprisoned by him without any cause or examination, contrary to my articles of war which were confirmed by this Parliament. I found presently that my discourse concerning Cromwell pleased them very much, and proved better than a good advocate for my advantage, and so, insisting upon my innocency, and that I might have my liberty accordingly, and enjoy the benefit of those said articles. Sir Henry Vane told me that I should find a difi'erence between this government of a Pree State and the former of a single person, and though the Council had great suspicion of me, yet finding not real proofs against me, resolved to give me my freedom, and not to commit nor punish any man upon bare suspicion ; and so I was dismissed." The long struggle and its vicissitudes had deadened the viru- THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 211 lence of party passions, and restored to generosity and prudence some of their natural influence.^ Whilst his friends thus experienced the consequences of their defeat, without suffering any very cruel severities, Charles was wandering along the coast of Bretagne, wait- ing for a summons to join his insurgent adherents. It was at St. Malo, or, as some authorities state, at La Rochelle, that he received the news of Booth's defeat, and the failure of the great conspiracy which had been so long in preparation. " You must not expect any more risings," wrote one of his correspondents to Hyde, on the 26th of August ; " all our hopes now are from abroad, which are but small, considering how the Spaniard uses you, the French betray you, and the Dutch already declared against you." Charles immediately resumed the design which the expectation of a successful rising of the Royalists in England had alone induced him to suspend ; he set out for the Pyrenees, in the hope of gaining some favour- able consideration from the two ministers who were nego- tiating the reconciliation of the crowns of France and Spain. He could not expect much from this attempt, for Mazarin, who feared it might cause himself some embar- rassment, had strongly urged the Queen-mother to dis- suade him from his purpose, and had even, after some hesitation, refused him a passport. But Charles, sad- dened by the news from England, tired of his residence in Brussels, and curious to visit new scenes and countries, ^ Commons' Journal, vol. vii. pp. 768, 778, 785, 786 ; Thurloe's State Papers, vol. vii. p. 731 ; Old Parliamentary History, vol. xxi. p. 452 j Clarendon's History of the Eebellion, vol. vii. pp. 433-438 ; Clarendon's State Papers, vol. iii. pp. 550, 543; Somers' Tracts, vol. vi. pp. 530-533; Bordeaux to Mazarin, September 4-11-29, 1659. See Appendix. P 2 212 RICHARD CROMWELL AND took no heed either of the advice or the refusal, and proceeded incogniio across France, choosing the longest routes, halting wherever his fancy dictated, and far more bent on enjoying the incidents of the journey than on speedily reaching its termination. When near Toulouse, te learned that the Court was there, and not wishing to proceed thither himself, for fear of experiencing some rebuff, and perhaps even being detained, he sent forward one of his three companions, the Marquis of Ormonde, to ascertain what progress had been made in the treaty, and appointed a place on the road to Fontarabia, at which they were to meet again. Ormonde acquitted himself dis- creetly of his commission, learned that the treaty had been brought to a conclusion, and hastened to rejoin his master. The King was not at the rendezvous. Ormonde waited for him a whole day, and then proceeded to Fon- tarabia, presuming that he should find the King there. But Charles was not at Fontarabia. Don Louis de Haro, to whom he had announced his coming, and who had promised him a favourable reception, was astonished at the delay. Two or three days had elapsed before it was discovered what had become of the King of England. At length it transpired that, on entering Spain, and believing that the negotiations were ended, he had resolved to pro- ceed directly to Madrid, and that he was at that moment at Saragossa. On learning that the conferences were still being carried on, he returned to Fontarabia, where Don Louis received him with honours that betokened more friendliness than they produced practical advantage. The Court of Spain, still at war with the Commonwealth of England, sincerely desired the restoration of the Stuarts, THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 213 and Don Louis de Haro had already conferred with Mazarin on the subject, and found him disposed to en- tertain the same views. "We agreed," wrote Mazarin to M. Le TelHer, on the 25th of August, "that it was too dangerous an example to be allowed to go down to pos- terity unpunished, — that subjects should have brought their King to trial and put him to death ; and that if the Commonwealth of England estabhshed itself, it would be a formidable power to all its neighbours, because, with- out exaggeration, it would be a hundred times greater than the power of the Kings of England ever was." But Mazarin, who, after many vicissitudes, had wellnigh at- tained the triumph of his policy, — with the Fronde and Spain defeated, peace established at home and abroad, the royalty of Prance raised to supremacy over its rebel- lious subjects and haughty rivals, and in possession of the ascendency in Europe, — Mazarin was determined not to allow himself to be diverted from this great work, but to keep carefully aloof from all complications and enterprizes that might either augment its difficulties or endanger its success. He was moreover, from prudence, if not from any respect to justice and right, but little incKned to interfere in the internal affairs of other States, and his good sense led him to anticipate that the Commonwealth of England would probably fall of itself if left alone, whereas, if foreigners attempted to overthrow it, the dif- ficulties of the enterprise would be far greater than the En- glish RoyaUsts professed to believe. "I told Don Louis," wrote the Cardinal, on the 16th of November, "that I greatly desired that matters might be arranged in the way in which the King of England believed they could be, and 214 RICHARD CROMWELL AND that if his restoration depended on an auxiUary force of four or five thousand men, I made no doubt that the Catholic King would supply him therewith without delay, as the peace which was about to be concluded would place him in a position to do so without the slightest prejudice to his own affairs, and that I did not think that his Catholic Majesty would be willing to share with any one the glory of restoring the King of England, if it could be done at so little cost." Mazarin did more than decline all co-operation in the re-establishment of Charles 11. , he refused to grant him an interview ; and when Sir Henry Bennett, his ambassador at Madrid, attempted to force himself unannounced into the presence of the Cardinal, in order to extort an audience which he had failed to obtain by other means, Mazarin gave peremptory orders that he should not be admitted. " I sent Besmeaux to tell him," he wrote, " that I could not receive him, as I had cause to apprehend that so extraordinary a proceeding must have been concerted with Don Louis, in order to give umbrage to Mr. Lockhart, and thereby to effect a change in our relations with the Commonwealth of Eng- land."^ Lockhart was, in fact, at Madrid at the same time as Charles XL, vigilant, skilful, and high-spirited as ever, and treated with far greater consideration than the King. Don Louis de Haro received him in public audience, on * Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, vol. vii. pp. 337-362 ; Claren- don's State Papers, vol. iii. pp. 560-562, 569, 572, 573 ; Lettres du Car- dinal Mazarin siir les Negociations pour le Traite des Pyrenees, vol. i. pp. 92, 151; vol. ii. pp. 194-199, 252; Abbe Montague to Cardinal Mazarin, September 28, 1659 ; Bordeaux to Mazarin, 29 September, 1659. See Appendix. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 215 the 22nd of August, and conferred with him on the means of restoring peace between the two States. Ma- zarin admitted him to his familiar intimacy, rendered him good offices with the Spaniards, and even communi- cated to him some of the letters which he received from England in reference to the condition and plans of the Royahsts : thus giving to his prudence at least the ap- pearance of meanness, and uselessly degrading himself to serve a great and patriotic policy. " If our friends," wrote Ormonde to Hyde, on the 29th of August, " could stand on their own legs till it might appear to the Car- dinal that he could turn the balance, and have the prin- cipal honour of doing it, it is probable he would frankly engage France in our cause. But to make this appear to him, his own reason, which is very nice, must be sa- tisfied in almost the infallibility of success ; and in the meantime, he will doubtless by any arts keep fair with the Commonwealth, and with Lockhart, their very indus- trious minister, of whom he hath a high esteem." " I can assure your Eminence," wrote Bordeaux to the Cardinal, a few days before the outbreak of Sir George Booth's insurrection, — " I can assure your Eminence that my con- duct has been in strict conformity with yom* orders, and that I have never allowed myself to let fall any expres- sion likely to produce suspicion, or to lead the Royahsts to hope that the King will support their designs."^ Never had the position of the Repubhcan Parliament appeared more prosperous ; victorious at home, it was in » Clarendon's State Papers, vol. iii. pp. 538, 540, 544, 549, 550, 547; Lettres du Cardinal Mazarin sur les Ndgociations des Pyrdndes, vol. i. pp. 150-152 ; Bordeaux to Mazarin, August 7, 1659. See Appendix. 216 RICHARD CROMWELL AND safety abroad ; its ambassador had triumphed over King Charles at Fontarabia, as completely as its General had defeated the Royahsts in Cheshire. Solemn thanksgiv- ings were celebrated throughout the country, on the 6th of October, to express the national gratitude to God for the deliverance of the Commonwealth. The City of Lon- don entertained the House of Commons at a sumptuous banquet, at which the two powers lavished on each other the warmest congratulations and promises of mutual sup- port. But these brilliant displays deceived no one, and the apprehension, of imminent danger weighed on all minds in the midst of the festivities of recent victory.^ As soon as it was informed of the defeat of Booth, the Parliament hastened to bestow on his conqueror substan- tial marks of its satisfaction. On the 23rd of August, it voted " that the sum of one thousand pounds be con- ferred on the Lord Lambert, to buy him a jewel ;" and that presents of one hundred, fifty, and ten pounds should be given to the messengers of various ranks who had brought the news. But in proportion to these displays of gratitude, was the increase of distrust and suspicion. It was stated in the House that Lambert intended to raise himself to the Protectorate, and would probably seize this opportunity for making the attempt. The army, on their side, did not conceal their ill-feeling against the Parliament; on seeing their officers receive their com- missions from the hands of the Speaker, the soldiers openly ridiculed their new General, declaring that they * Commons' Journals, voL vii. pp. 786, 790, 792, 793 ; Whitelocke's Memorials, p. 684 ; Bordeaux to Mazarin, October 6, 1659. See Ap- pendix. THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 217 would have him with them in their next campaign, and that they would go no further than Lenthall should lead them. Lambert was in no haste to return to London after his victory ; rumours were spread that he was marching through the country, sounding the dispositions of the people, cajoling the officers, and even paying his court to the conquered Royalists. These suspicions soon took deeper root ; Lambert was in correspondence with the general officers who had remained in London, — Desborough, Mason, Packer, and several others who were influential in the general council of the army ; and it was even believed that he had come secretly to town to concert measures with them, for some unknown pur- pose. News ere long arrived that a council had been held at Derby among the officers of the regiments which Lambert had led against Booth, that it had been attended by fifty of them, that they had resolved upon a petition to the House, and that a copy of that petition had been sent to London to three officers, with directions for its transmission to General Fleetwood, who, in his turn, was to communicate it to the general council of the army, before presenting it to Parliament. On the 22nd of September, when the House met in the morning, Hasle- rig, with his usual fiery impatience, informed the House of these proceedings, and demanded that an immediate explanation should be given of them, and that Fleetwood, if he had a copy of the petition, should be required to bring it to the House that very afternoon. Fleetwood obeyed, made a statement of the proceedings of the council at Derby, and delivered to the Speaker a docu- ment addressed "To the Supreme Authority of these 218 RICHARD CROMWELL AND Nations, the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Eng- land," and entitled " The Humble Petition and Propo- sals of the Officers under the command of the Right Honourable the Lord Lambert, in the late northern Ex- pedition/' It was a repetition of the wishes which had already been expressed by the general council of the army, a week before the restoration of the Parliament, with this addition, that, while reiterating the demand that Eleetwood should be permanently appointed general-in- chief, it also demanded that Lambert should be consti- tuted major-general of the army, Desborough lieutenant- general of the cavalry, and Monk lieutenant-general of the infantry. Having listened to this statement of facts and claims on the part of the army, the House adjourned the debate until the next day. On the 23rd of Septem- ber, the doors were shut and the lobby was cleared of strangers ; no member was allowed to leave the House without express permission; and the strictest secrecy was enjoined. Fleetwood endeavoured to explain and justify the petition. Haslerig demanded, on the other hand, that Lambert, its real author, should be impeached of high treason and committed to the Tower. After an animated debate, the House voted : " That to have any more general officers in the army than are already settled by the Parliament, is needless, chargeable, and dangerous to the Commonwealth." A further declaration was pro- posed, " That the Petition and Proposals of the Officers under the Lord Lambert are unseasonable and of dan- gerous consequence." But the House, by thirty-one votes against twenty-five, rejected this suggestion, and merely referred it to Fleetwood "to communicate the THE DAWN OP THE RESTORATION. 219 vote of the House to the officers of the army, and to ad- monish them of their irregular proceeding, and to take care to prevent any further proceedings therein by the soldiers."^ The gauntlet was now thrown down on both sides, and the conflict began ; but the Parliament, already so griev- ously mutilated, could not even concentrate its surviving forces for the battle; a new dissension was silently spreading in its ranks. Sir Harry Vane, more yielding than Haslerig, because he was convinced that the rup- ture of the Parliament with t]ie army would work the ruin of the Commonwealth, and wished at any cost to save it from destruction, — Sir Harry Vane had coalesced with the officers, and now lent them his support. It is a peculiarity of subtle and chimerical minds to believe that success is always possible, and to piu-sue it unceas- ingly in the most opposite combinations. Vane, who, in the name of the interest of the Commonwealth, had al- ready sacrificed the people to the sectaries, was now pre- pared to sacrifice the Parliament to the army, seeking support from inferior sources as he fell, and vainly hoping to achieve the salvation of his cause by the desertion of his principles and the abandonment of his friends.^ In obedience to the orders which he had received, Fleet- wood assembled the officers at his house, and communi- ' Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, vol. vii. pp. 319-321 ; Com- mons' Journals, vol. vii. pp. 765, 766, 784, 785 ; Ludlow's Memoirs, pp. 293-304 ; Baker's Chronicle, pp. 711-713 ; Hutchinson's Memoirs, p. 386 ; Bordeaux to Mazarin, August 25 and September 4, 1659. See Appendix. 2 Ludlow's Memoirs, p. 304 ; Hutchinson's Memoirs, p. 386 ; Baker's Chronicle, p. 711 ; Whitelocke's Memorials, p. 683 j Bordeaux to Ma- zarin and Brienne, October 13 and 20, 1659. See Appendix. 220 RICHARD CROMWELL AND cated to them the resolutions of the Parliament. Some sin- cerely regretted, and all affected to regret, the adoption of the step which menaced the Commonwealth with so serious a danger. It was resolved that the petition of Lambert's officers should not be insisted on, and that another should be prepared in its stead, which should not only be more moderate in its tone, but should express submission to the authority of the Parliament, and promise to sup- port it against all the disturbers of the Commonwealth. It was further agreed that a general council of officers should meet in four days, to discuss the terms of this new address. But when the council met, the draft sub- mitted to its consideration was utterly at variance with the original scheme which had been adopted at Fleet- wood's house. The preamble was full of protestations of jfidelity to the Commonwealth, and disavowed, in the name of the army, any desire to infringe upon the au- thority, liberty, and dignity of the Parhament. No names were specially mentioned ; no new title or power was de- manded for Lambert, Desborough, or any other officer ; but complaints were made that the army had been ca- lumniated to the House ; the intentions of all the officers, those under Lambert's command as well as their com- rades, were justified ; the right of petition was demanded for the army as well as for the people ; and it was again insisted that the office of commander-in-chief should cease to be temporary, and that no officer should be cashiered without trial by court-martial. Finally, it was demanded that any person who, in future, should give false infor- mation to the Parhament against its servants, the army, " thereby creating jealousies, and casting scandalous im- THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 221 putations upon them," should be brought to trial, and condignly punished. Some voices were raised, in the council of officers itself, against this petition, the mingled hypocrisy and arrogance of which would, it was felt, offend the House ; Colonels Hacker, Okey, Sanders, and others warmly opposed it ; some threatened to write to General Monk on the subject (as they actually did), to entreat him to use his influence to put a stop to pretensions and proceedings which could not fail to lead to an irremedi- able rupture between the Parliament and the army. But all their remonstrances and representations were in vain ; the council adopted the petition, which was signed by two hundred and thirty officers, and Desborough was appointed to present it to Parliament.^ A week afterwards, on the 5th of October, Desborough, accompanied by several other officers, fulfilled his com- mission, and presented himself at the bar of the House with the address, which he introduced with a speech of great modesty and humility. The House, which fully expected his appearance, received the address without any expression of dissatisfaction, thanked the officers for their assurances of fidelity, and announced that on the following Saturday, the 8th of October, it would take into consideration those questions which they had brought under its notice. At the approach of the crisis, and under the scrutinizing gaze of the country, which took no part in these conflicts of the revolutionary cliques, but regarded their authors with just hostility, both parties felt their weakness, and neither of them was willing either ^ Ludlow's Memoirs, p. 301 ; Baker's Chronicle, p. 713 ; Thurloe's State Papers, vol. vii. p. 754. 222 RICHARD CROMWELL AND to have the credit of provoking the rupture, or to accept the responsibiUty of its consequences. For three days the House dehberated on the various sections of the address, with conflicting alternations of prudence and indignation: measures were taken for satisfying the legitimate de- mands of the army, in regard to the payment of the sol- diers and the condition of their families ; but while re- cognizing the right of every member of the army, in common with all other freeborn Englishmen, to address petitions to Parliament, the House took occasion to ad- monish the officers, " that petitioners ought to be very careful both in the manner and in the matter which they desire ; that their way of promoting and presenting the same may be peaceable, and the things petitioned for not tending to the disturbance of the Commonwealth nor to the dishonour of the Parliament ; and that it is the duty of petitioners to submit their desires to the Parlia- ment, and to acquiesce in the judgment thereof." But the House did more than censure the proceedings of the officers : it provided against extreme violence on their part ; and in order to deprive them beforehand of all legal means of governing, it decreed, on the 11th of Oc- tober, that " whoever should, after that day, assess, levy, or collect any tax or imposition whatever on the people of this Commonwealth, without their consent in Parlia- ment, should be guilty of high treason." The debate was proceeding with ill-concealed acrimony, when, on the morning of the 12th of October, Colonel Okey in- formed the House that the petition of the general coun- cil of officers had been printed and published, and that a letter, signed by Lambert, Desborough, and seven other THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 223 officers, had been circulated through all the regiments in the army, soliciting their express approval of its demands in testimony of the unanimity of their desires. This was evidently the coalition, to precede the insurrection of the army against the Parliament. Haslerig could no longer dissemble his indignation, and the House followed him in casting aside the mask. The nine officers who had signed the letter, with Lambert and Desborough at their head, were dismissed from all their employments, and their successors immediately appointed. The chief com- mand of the army was withdrawn from Fleetwood, and vested in seven commissioners, namely, Fleetwood, Monk, Ludlow, Colonels Morley, Walton, and Overton, and Sir Arthur Haslerig. It was resolved that the organization of the government and of the future Parliaments of the Commonwealth should be the first business discussed on the following day; and that the House might be sure of being able to meet on the morrow, the regiments of Colonels Morley, Okey, and Moss, on which Haslerig could rely, were ordered to pass the night on guard in Westminster Hall and its approaches.^ On the next day, the 13th of October, Westminster and its neighbourhood presented a warlike aspect on all sides. Informed that Lambert had determined to dis- solve it on that very day, the Parliament had prepared to make a vigorous defence : the regiments of Morley and Moss occupied the doors, courtyards, and immediate ap- proaches of the palace ; other troops quartered near Lon- ^ Commons' Journals, vol. vii. pp. 792, 794-796 ; Old Parliamentary- History, vol. xxi. pp. 450, 459-470 ; Baker's Chronicle, pp. 714-718 ; Ludlow's Memoirs, p. 305 ; Whitelocke's Memorials, p. 684 ; Bordeaux to Mazarin, October 20, 1659. See Appendix. 224 RICHARD CROMWELL AND don, among others Colonel Okey's regiment of cavalry, had been ordered to hold themselves ready to march to their assistance at a moment's notice. Lambert, on his side, had received a note in these terms : " Secure your- self, or tomorrow before this time your head will be in danger ;" and Haslerig had, it is said, firmly determined to have him arrested and shot without the least delay. Notwithstanding the hesitation of some of his friends, Lamljert boldly took the offensive ; at the head of his own regiment of infantry he proceeded through the streets, barred all those by which the members could gain access to the House, cut off all communication with the City, and then hastened in person to Westminster. When near the palace, he met Colonel Morley, who, pistol in hand, told him he would fire on him if he advanced a step fur- ther. " Colonel,'' replied Lambert, " I will go another way, though, if I pleased, I could pass this way;" and he turned off in another direction. But here his progress was arrested by Colonel Moss, with his troop ; Lambert at once advanced towards the soldiers, and asked them, " If they would suffer nine of their old ofiicers, who had so often spent their blood for them and with them, to be disgraced and ruined with their families?" " It were much better," replied Moss, " that nine families should be destroyed, than the civil authority of the nation tram- pled under foot." Lambert rejoined; a conference en- sued ; some of Moss's soldiers went over to Lambert ; but the majority remained in suspense. The mounted guard of the Parliament, under the command of Major Evelyn, now came up, on their way to their post. Lam- bert went up to them, and peremptorily addressed them ; THE DAWN OP THE RESTORATION. 225 Evelyn looked around him ; several of his men seemed wavering ; his Lieutenant, Caithness, advised him not to resist ; he dismounted from his horse, and his whole troop went over to Lambert. At about this time, Lenthall, the Speaker, who was proceeding in his carriage to the House, was arrested near Palace Yard, by a detachment of Lambert's soldiers stationed there under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Duckenfield, one of his boldest ad- herents. Lenthall insisted on being allowed to pass, re- minding the soldiers that he was their chief general ; but the soldiers mockingly forced him to turn back, and of- fered to conduct him to Wallingford House, the residence of Fleetwood, who, they said, would give him any expla- nations he might desire. " If Lieutenant- General Fleet- wood has any business with me," replied Lenthall, " he may come to my house ;" and he returned home without further obstruction. Such was the posture of affairs at about the middle of the day ; Lambert manifestly had the advantage ; Has- lerig and his friends applied to the City for assistance ; but the citizens replied that they had no wish to interfere in the quarrel, and would confine their efforts to the main- tenance of order within their own precincts. The public took no interest either in the conflict or in the comba- tants ; the streets were full of careless passengers bent, as usual, on the pursuit of their own affairs, who merely paused a moment to make a few inquiries, and then re- sumed their course. The issue was still uncertain ; in various places, the officers and soldiers of the two parties, posted opposite one another, had drawn near enough to enter into conversation, and seemed determined not to VOL. I. Q 226 RICHARD CROMWELL AND come to blows. A few members of Parliament, in the meanwhile, had succeeded in getting to the House by the Thames. The Council of State had met. Lambert and Desborough on one side, and Haslerig and Morley on the other, were present : those members of the House who had made their way to Westminster, were invited to attend the Council. A stormy debate began ; Colonel Sydenham justified the conduct of the army : " It was," he said, " the last remedy, made use of by a particular call of Divine Providence." Bradshaw, old and infirm though he was, rose to protest against this justification : *' he was now going to his God," he said, " and had not patience to hear His great name so openly blasphemed ;" and, after stigmatizing what the army had done as de- testable, he left the room. The others, less sensitive, con- tinued the conference ; both parties felt the uselessness of discussion ; all acknowledged the pressure of necessity, and used it as an excuse for cowardice as well as for vio- lence. It was admitted that reconciliation and conflict were alike impossible. The Parliament yielded ; it was agreed that it should sit no longer, and that the council of ofiicers should undertake to maintain the public peace, and to prepare for the convocation of a new Parliament, to which the settlement of the nation should be referred. The Council of State sent orders to the troops to retiu-n to their quarters ; they instantly obeyed ; and by an agreement between mutual weaknesses, the Long Par- liament retired noiselessly from that hall from which Cromwell, six years before, had driven it so ignomini- ously ; and Lambert, the paltry imitator of Cromwell, THE DAWN OF THE RESTORATION. 227 remained master of the field, without having achieved a victory.^ * Commons' Journals, vol. vii. p. 797 ; Old Parliamentary History, vol. xxi. pp. 471-477 ; Ludlow's Memoirs, pp. 305-307 ; Wliitelocke's Memorials, pp. 684, 685 ; Baker's Chronicle, p. 719 ; Carte's Ormonde Letters, vol. ii. pp. 245-248 ; Clarendon's History of the EebeUion, vol. vii. pp. 370-372 ; Clarendon's State Papers, vol. iii. pp. 590, 591 ; Heath's Chronicle, p. 756 ; Oldmixon's History of the Stuarts, pp. 441- 443 ; Echard's History of England, vol. ii. pp. 852, 853 ; Rapin's His- tory of England, vol. ix. p. 130. Q 2 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. CORRESPONDENCE OE M. DE BORDEAUX, FRENCH AMBASSADOR IN LONDON, WITH CARDINAL MAZARIN AND THE COUNT DE BRIENNE. ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS [The Letters numbered 1—44 refer to events related in the First Book of this History ; the remainder have reference to the Second Book.] 1.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. September 15, 1658. My Lordj Since my letter of the 13tli instant, the bearer of which was arrested at Dover, — orders having arrived there, before he could get away, that no vessel was to be allowed to leave the port, — it has been intimated to me, on the part of the Protector, that he is desirous that the Court of France should go into mourn- ing for his father, and that it would be a mark of esteem and an honour for which he would feel greatly obliged to the King and to your Eminence ; as it is very necessary to his Highness that his Majesty should appear to regard him as highly as he has previously regarded the Kings of England, and other sove- reign princes, allies and friends of France. The same person who brought me this message also told me that his Highness hoped that I would be present at the funeral ceremony, and that, according to usage, mourning would be sent to me. His last proposition was more important. Its purport is that the King should at once assist the Protector with a loan of ^50,000, which he stands greatly in need of for pressing ex- penses ; as the interest of the present government does not re- quire that the Parliament should be called together just yet, and as no money can be raised without its consent, the assist- 232 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. ance of friends is sought. It is promised that the loan shall be repaid in a short time, and that some security shall even be given for it. As to the first two points, I led his Highness to hope that his wishes would be complied with, — not antici- pating that the King will make any difficulty about putting on mourning for a Prince whose interests are the same as his own, nor that there will be any inconvenience in following the precedent established at the funeral of King James, at which the ambassadors of France were present. As to the last point, I did not speak so positively, and after having represented our great necessities, I promised that the King would do all in his power to justify the confidence which the Protector reposes in his friendship. The sum is so moderate, and it is so impor- tant that this Government should stand, (in which there will probably be some risk, as the Parliament has not met, and the army is not paid,) that it will doubtless be thought advisable to grant this loan. I have given them reason to hope for a positive answer in a few days ; and despatch is essential, in- deed it is stipulated for, in the execution of the agreement. As the ports are closed, orders have been sent me for the free passage of my secretary, who will deliver these presents to your Eminence. My letter of the 13th instant will have in- formed you of the proclamation that was made yesterday, in the same form as that of the deceased Protector, and with even greater acclamations of the people; and never did this city appear more tranquil than it has done during this change. On his return from the ceremony, the Protector took the oaths before the Keepers of the Seal ; after a short speech, the mi- nisters, and afterwards the Mayor of London, took the oath of fidelity. Now, the funeral preparations are in progress ; and orders are being sent out that the same proclamation may be made in the provinces. There is nothing of importance from abroad ; the ministers of Sweden have no news yet of the capture of Copenhagen, but entertain strong hopes that their master will be master of it before the Dutch can send assist- ance. ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 233 I have now only to remind your Eminence of the promise you made to the Sieur Gedeon, whose offers deserve some recognition ; he will be still more capable of serving you in future ; and my Lord Faulconbridge will henceforward have a greater share in public affairs than was allowed him by the de- ceased Protector ; he professes that he will employ his influ- ence to serve France and your Eminence, whenever opportuni- ties ofter. I have the honour to be, etc. 2.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. September 28, 1658. My Lord, I received only today the letter with which your Eminence has honoured me, bearing date on the 16th instant ; it puts me in a position to confirm to the Secretary the assurances which I had already given him of the friendly feeling of the King to- wards the Protector, and of the sentiments of your Eminence on all that regards the interests of the government of Eng- land ; T shall act upon your orders as soon as the Secretary is ready to see me, and I will not fail particularly to express to him the esteem in which he is held by your Eminence. He has, for the last few days, kept his bed, but his malady is not considered dangerous. I will also deliver the friendly messages which I am ordered to convey to my Lord Faulcon- bridge and General Montague. The former has, on several occasions, given me renewed assurances of his zeal, and I do not doubt that, in the present conjuncture, all his offers will be very well received. There are no arrangements as yet for giving public audiences to the foreign ministers, for expressing the condolences and congratulations which the change which has occurred seems to require of them ; this is partly in order that they may all have received new credentials from their su- 234 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. periors, and also that the Government may not be obliged, in this early stage of its existence, to treat of business with any but those of whom they have immediate need. Meanwhile the establishments which relate to the internal administration of the country are being organized, and my previous letters will have informed you that the Council of State has not neg- lected to take all kinds of precautions to keep the army and the metropolis faithful to the interest of the present Govern- ment ; these two bodies alone are capable of drawing the rest of England after them, and they happen to be bound by their own interests to maintain the existing state of things, because of the advantages which they derive from it, and the injury which any discussion would entail upon them. Most of the officers of the army and of the Corporation have enriched themselves with the property that has been confiscated of late years, and are now in possession of lands that once belonged to the King, the bishops, and the Irish ; others have been em- ployed in commissions which have made them unpopular ; and those who have no special interest at stake fear that no change can occur without involving them in total ruin. These con- siderations keep both the town and the army in submission, and give reason to expect that the Government wiU last, and gain strength every day. Even the Royalists, who are very glad to have an honest pretext for accommodating themselves to existing circumstances, are discovering that they have no cause to complain of the Protector, as he never did them any harm, and attribute their past inclinations to revolt to the rough treatment which they experienced from his deceased Highness. There are only a few Republicans who cannot change their principles ; but, without a Parliament, they will have some difficulty in making themselves heard ; and though there is some talk of a Parliament being called, the best-in- formed persons neither believe that the Protector ought to expose himself to its contingencies, nor that he has any in- clination to do so. There is some talk also of a peace with ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 235 Spain^ to satisfy the merchants, who anxiously desire it. I do not see however that this subject has been taken into con- sideration by the Council ; and besides, the war has not been hitherto so biu-densome to England as not to yield as great advantages by continuing it as by coming to an accommoda- tion ; for it is proved by the registers of the Custom-house that the exports and imports of merchandise have been as great since the rupture, as they were before the war began. The only thing that is likely to give any immediate trouble is the payment of the arrears due to the army, which are said to amount to a million sterling. I have already informed your Eminence of the measures projected for the liquidation of at least a part of them. If the King's affairs do not permit him to grant the request which has been made to me, matters are still on their old footing, as I have given no pledge in regard to the proposition which was made to 'me; until the return of my Secretary, I shall act with the same reserve. I had been informed that Mr. Lockhart woidd visit our Court to treat of this affair ; but either because the Government are desirous of knowing what has been told me, or because his presence is judged necessary at Dunkirk, his departure has been delayed to the present time, and it is certain that imless they sent in his place some person more vigilant than the majority of Eng- lish officers, the enemy will find it easy enough when the King's army is at a distance from the coast, to gain possession of the town, either by suborning the soldiers or taking them by surprise : I have not forgotten of late to point out the ne- cessity of guarding against such a contingency, especially as I have heard that watch is not kept with such care as in our frontier fortresses. They may probably, when the Protector has despatched his more pressing business, think of appointing some commandant in the place of Mr. Lockhart, if he should prefer the embassy to that post, — were it only to put a stop to the jealousy felt by some Englishmen at seeing three such im- portant appointments in the hands of a Scot. It is not yet 236 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. time to think of these changes, and Mr. Lockhart, being so nearly related to the late Protector, may retain what the Pro- tector had left him. I can say nothing certain with regard to the property which he has left ; public rumour affirms that his family is very rich; although it appears he left many debts, and his creditors are consequently all attached to the pre- sent Government. I should not, my Lord, have written at such length of the talk of the town nowadays, but for your Eminence's order that I should give you exact information of all news, which I will not fail to do by every post, if I have any subject to write about, and my silence will only be a proof that nothing has come to my knowledge. I do not learn that, since my last letter, either the Protector or the Council (which still continues to act) has done anything of importance ; his Highness has been receiving for the last few days the civilities of private persons, and the compliments of the mayor of Lon- don. He has also, in imitation of the example of the deceased Protector, spent some days in prayer, and tomorrow the town is to celebrate a fast on the same grounds ; all the accounts which are written from the country assure us that the procla- mation was made there with even greater demonstrations of joy than in London ; and the esteem in which the Protector is held increases daily, for it is true that all who visit him come out from their audience in high satisfaction. He pro- fesses to desire nothing but the happiness of the nation and the friendship of the nobility. After I have had some con- versation with the Secretary of State, I shall be able to speak more definitely of his views in regard to foreign affairs. More than one courier has arrived of late for the Dutch ambassador, who states positively that Copenhagen and Cronenburg can hold out until the arrival of succour from the States- General ; an envoy from the King of Sweden, who also arrived this week, asserts that the latter of these two places was reduced to extremities at the time of his departure. ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 237 3.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. September 29, 1658. My Lordj The tranquillity which prevailed during the first few days after the proclamation of the Protector in London and the other towns of England, still continues ; and there even seems to be general satisfaction with his government ; the officers of the army also profess to be firmly resolved to maintain him ; and although news has not yet been received from the army in Ireland, there is no doubt but it will be of the same opi- nion. As to the Scottish army, as General Monk has always been well-intentioned, and has recently given fresh assurances of fidelity, no doubt is entertained as to its behaviour; and thus all things will remain as they were. The Council meets daily for the transaction of business ; and the first act which appeared at the commencement of this week, was a declaration confirming all the officers in their posts ; they are not how- ever dispensed from obtaining new commissions. On the day before yesterday the Master of the Ceremonies came, on the part of the Council, to give me information of the death of the late Protector, and of the accession of the present one, in con- sequence of the legitimate nomination of him by his father ; he then gave me to understand that it was hoped that letters of congratulation and condolence would be sent by his Majesty, and also that it was usual for foreign ministers to obtain new credentials ; I assured him that all things should be done as civilly as his Highness could wish. I think, nevertheless, that a single letter will be sufficient, and until it arrives, I shall not ask for an audience ; but I have not failed to express to the Secretary of State the feelings which would animate the King and your Eminence in regard to the change which has oc- curred, and to assure him that his Majesty would joyfully and warmly consent to anything that might contribute to the satisfaction of his Highness and the Government. The said 238 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. Secretary declared that his master would bear these offers in especial remembrance, that he would be no less zealous for the interests of France than his father had been, and that the death which had occurred would in no respect alter the friend- ship and connection which existed between the two States; indeed, by offering to call on me with these assurances, he even induced me to anticipate his visit by giving him still more particular confirmation of his Majesty^ s friendly disposition towards the present Government. Mr. Lockhart has received orders to proceed in all haste to Court to make known what has occurred here, but the principal object of his mission will be to support the proposition which I had the honour to com- municate to your Eminence in my last ; nothing further has been said to me about it, but as the aforesaid ambassador has instructions to prosecute the demand, it is very plain that the matter is taken to heart, and that with great reason. It is a very general opinion that the Parliament will not be assembled just yet, for fear lest, under the shadow of that body, factions might be formed which would not venture to show themselves at any other time ; when the Government is completely esta- blished, and has taken measures for the election of the mem- bers, the deliberations of a Parliament will no longer be open to suspicion, and in case of extremity, the late Protector's example may be followed without danger; many think that want of money may force his present Highness to adopt some other resolution ; nevertheless, this want does not appear so very great, as within the last few days the pay of the soldiers has been increased, that of the cavalry by fourpence a day, and that of the infantry by twopence, by which sums their pay had been retrenched for some years; this liberality has greatly increased their previous friendly feeling. It is also said that Major-General Lambert, whose tendencies were open to sus- picion, has given the strongest assurances of his fidelity ; and it is impossible to behold without some astonishment such universal submission, after all that has appeared during the ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 239 the last few years, especially when the last Parliament wished to place the crown on the head of the deceased Protector. Nothing has been said as yet as to foreign affairs ; and the Dutch ambassador, who applied for an interview with the Secretary of State today, has been put off to another time. We have no news from Denmark, but many unreliable ru- mours that the King of Sweden has been very badly treated in various attacks ; others assert that Copenhagen is taken. The ministers of that prince have engaged several naval officers, and among others, one of great reputation, who had served under the Parliament, to command the fleet in the Baltic Sea. 4.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. September 30, 1858. My Lord, The continued illness of the Secretary of State, and the oc- cupations of the other persons whom your Eminence, in your last letter, ordered me to call upon on your part, have hitherto prevented me from complying with that order ; but I hope that by the next post I shall announce its fulfilment. Meanwhile I have nothing to add to my previous letters in regard to the state of affairs here, except that a day or two ago, the officers of the army waited on the Protector with fresh assurances of their obedience ; they also begged him to follow his father^s example, and to fill up the vacant places in the coimcil and the army with devoted persons. Lieutenant- General Fleet- wood was their spokesman ; they received an answer in ge- neral terms which satisfied them. There arrived at the same time news that the proclamation [of the new Protector] had been made in Scotland amid the applause of the army; the army of Ireland received it with no less joy ; so his Highness and his Council have now no urgent business except to find the means of liquidating the arrears due to the troops. I have 240 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. received confirmation of the news that Mr. Lockhart was to proceed to Court to make the same proposition that I have al- ready conveyed in writing ; but before his arrival, I shall have learned his Majesty ^s intention, and if it be such as I wish it may be, your Eminence will no doubt have deemed it con- venient to entrust me with the answer, which is expected with considerable impatience ; the delay which has already occurred has lately caused them to send fresh orders to the said ambas- sador to proceed on his mission. There is much public talk among the merchants of a peace with Spain, and some assert that overtures have already been made in the name of his Excellency Don Alonzo de Cardenas ; but the time is not yet ripe for treating of this matter. I have just heard that a courier has arrived from the King of Sweden, who writes news to the Protector of the taking of Cronenburg by capitulation. The same letter gives reason to expect the capture of Copenhagen in a short time. This is the only news either from within or without England. 5.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. October 3, 1658. My Lord, The letter which your Eminence was pleased to write to me on the 23rd ultimo, was delivered to me yesterday. I had, on the day before, assured my Lord Faulconbridge of the good- feeling of the King towards the Protector, and of the honour which his Majesty had paid to the memory of his deceased Highness by going into mourning for him, and professing very particular regret at his death. I also expressed to the said Lord Faulconbridge the esteem in which your Eminence holds him, and the friendship with which you honour him. He re- ceived these civilities with all the marks of gi'atitude that could be expected from him, and professed to feel real zeal for ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 241 your service and attachment to the interests of France. I ex- horted him to persevere in this good frame of mind, and gave him to understand that his services would not be rendered to an ungrateful Court j if you desire to make use of him, you must employ presents, as the English are not easy to be caught by mere promises, and the said Lord is inclined to turn the present conjuncture to account, for fear that times may change. If yoiu* Eminence thinks fit to attach him to the King's ser- vice, and to pay the expense thereof, I could make him a more definite proposal, and, to all appearance, it would not be re- jected, nor would the money be ill spent. The excellent dis- position which the said Lord manifested, induced me to ask him if any overtures of peace with Spain had been made, as I had been told, and whether any citizens of London had been authorized to suggest hopes of an accommodation ; he denied the latter particular, but admitted that Don Alonzo de Cardenas had sent word that if the Government were disposed to an ac- commodation, it should receive from the King of Spain greater advantages than it can possibly obtain from the war ; and this offer was reported to the Council but not discussed, as domes- tic afiairs do not yet allow any other business to be treated. He also assured me that they were in great want of money, and that all other means of obtaining it would be tried before a Parliament w as called ; and he asked me if I had no news as to the request made through me. I replied that all pro- posals of that nature were usually accompanied by so many difficulties that it took time to decide on them, and that even if the will were good, for want of ability, the result was not always satisfactory. Mr. Lockhart, who must by this time have reached the Court, will treat of this matter. The Secre- tary of State sent me word yesterday that he had received orders to repair thither, and that he was the bearer to the King of credentials in the form usually adopted under such circumstances : he alleged his illness as his excuse for not having come to see me, and gave me reason to hope that, in a VOL. I. R 242 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. few days, he would be strong enough to converse with me about the state of affairs here : I expressed to his clerk my great impatience to communicate to him what had been written to me from my Court on the same topic, and made him promise to let mc know when his health would permit him to grant me an interview. Until then, I cannot execute your Eminence's orders, or do anything more to persuade the Government of the King's necessities, after what I have said on the subject to Lord Faulconbridge : and on the first occasion on which the loan was mentioned to me, I replied with all needful reserve, so as not to pledge his Majesty to furnish impossible supplies. I had no need to consult my father to ascertain the difficulty there is in getting money from the King ; I experience it only too fully myself; and this forces me again to entreat your Eminence for the payment which you have led me to expect for the last six months, and for want of which my bills of ex- change will be protested, as I have no other funds wherewith to meet them. If it be your intention that I should be paid, as I have reason to expect from your justice and goodness, I beg that I may be paid without delay, and also that I may be placed in such a position that I shall not need to importune you in future, which I do with as much regret as your Emi- nence can possibly feel in giving the order which is so neces- sary to me. . . . 6.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. September 10, 1658. My Lord, I cannot yet inform your Eminence of the execution of the orders sent to me, as the want of credentials has prevented me from waiting on the Protector, and the illness of the Secretary of State has rendered him inaccessible. I should not have failed to propose, by means of the person who informed me of tlie want of money here, the method of obtaining it in France ILLUSTRATIVE LETTP^RS. 243 which my father communicated to me by your Eminence's command, had I not been assured that they are not in a posi- tion to avail themselves of the suggestion, as any one who had good security in London would not want for money, and would not need to go elsewhere in search of it. . . . There are now more positive statements afloat than when I last wrote/in reference to the assembling of a Parliament, either because the Protector really feels the necessity of convoking one, and intends to do so, or because he thinks it advisable to awaken hopes that one may be summoned. All however agree in thinking that it is not yet his interest to do so, although all the armies and principal towns, in declarations which reach him daily, profess their readiness to give their lives and property in order to maintain the Government as at present established ; the London militia, within the last few days, have made great protestations of fidelity to him, in the same terms as the de- claration of the army ; and hitherto, nothing has appeared to destroy the existing union, but a few preachers, who have de- claimed against the Protector with considerable freedom ; he appears to take no heed of their harangues, and in opposi- tion to the conduct of his late Highness, he has even begun to grant liberty to a great many prisoners ; among others, the Duke of Buckingham has been liberated for some days, and hopes his freedom may be prolonged. No news has arrived from the North since that sent by the King of Sweden after the taking of Cronenburg; his mi- nisters have had some conferences with the .commissioners of the Council, and it is reported today that four ships of war are to leave the Downs on their way to the Sound ; the Dutch ambassador also requested, after having paid his compliments, that commissioners might be appointed to confer with him on very pressing business ; they have not yet been sent to him, and their appointment will probably be deferred until news arrives of the siege of Copenhagen. A report was current here that the King of Denmark had made a sortie, and beaten the R 2 244 ITJ.USTRATIVE LETTKKS. Swedish fleet ; hut the rumour cannot he traced to any au. thentic source. 7.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. Octoher 17, 1658. My Lord, I have now all I require in order to see the Protector, as I have received the letters from the King and your Eminence, and hope to present them to him in a few days. The Secre- tary of State is also visible, and I shall be able to converse with him tomorrow on all the points which your Eminence has ordered me to mention to him. It will apparently not be dif- ficult to prevent the sending of an ambassador extraordinary, as his Majesty is satisfied with the compliments which Mr. Lockhart has paid him by letter j and superfluous expenditure is no less likely to be avoided here than in France. I should have considerable trouble in satisfying your Eminence's curi- osity as to how the Protector can sustain all other expenses without summoning a Parliament ; but the Council must have failed to find any other method, as it has resolved that a Par- liament shall be summoned, notwithstanding the inconve- niences which it will entail, and the slight certainty there is that it will furnish the desired supplies, unless it be mainly composed of persons well-affected to the Government. I am assured that the principal matter in debate at present is, how to regulate the form of the elections, and that if the precau- tions taken do not produce corresponding success, as the army is interested in the application for money, if the Parliament refuses to grant it, the army will be wanting neither in ability nor inclination to obtain it from the people, and will, in conse- quence, be more obliged to support the Protector's authority, — which appears to grow stronger every day, as the counties, chief towns, and clergy are making him continual protesta- tions of their obedience. The fleet, in its declaration, has pro- ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 245 fessed its strenuous opposition to all the designs of the royal family, and of those who aim at establishing a republic ; Mr. Montague is considered to be the author of this special decla- ration against a republic ; I have not yet given him the com- plimentary message with which your Eminence has entrusted me ; his absence from London, whither he is but lately re- turned, has prevented my doing so. It is said that my Lord Henry Cromwell will also come hither ere long, to strengthen the common cause by his presence and friends ; he has been made Lieutenant of Ireland, an office equivalent to that of Viceroy, and which gives him power to subdelegate his au- thority. . . . The last advices which the Protector has received from Ham- burgh speak of the continuance of the siege of Copenhagen, and not of its capture. The ministers of Sweden are in daily expectation of an answer to the letters which their master has lately written to the English Government; and the Dutch ambassador does his best to proclaim the justice of the succour which his superiors have afforded to the King of Denmark, and also to explain that it is not to the advantage of England that the Baltic Sea should be under the control of one sole master. 8.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. October 24, 1658. My Lord, I shall not deliver the letters from the King and your Emi- nence to the Protector until the day after tomorrow ; but last week I destroyed the unfavourable impressions which this de- lay might otherwise have produced, by the visit which I paid to the Secretary of State, and by the assurances which he re- ceived of the fiiendship of his Majesty and your Eminence to- wards the English Government. I did not fail also to offer him the friendship of your Eminence, and to acquaint him with the particular esteem in which you hold him ; he pro- 246 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. fcssed to be, in common with his Highness, firmly persuaded that it was their interest to maintain the alliance which the deceased Protector had made with France ; and also to feel himself highly honoured by the esteem of your Eminence, — without however departing from general expressions in regard to my request for his friendship ; but, at the same time, he for- got nothing that was calculated to convince me of his zeal in all matters that concerned the public interest and your Emi- nence's advantage. ... As to my Lord Faulconbridge, I do not doubt that the expense will be well employed, and after I have ascertained his sentiments, I will write more particularly regarding him. ... I have nothing to communicate at pre- sent, beyond the meetings of certain oflGlcers of the army, in which they had resolved to demand of the Protector to appoint a General to command them, and that in future no officer should be cashiered except by a council of war ; the vigorous speech with which his Highness answered them has some- what dispelled this storm, and the principal men among them have disavowed all share in their proceedings ; it is neverthe- less the general opinion that Lieutenant- General Fleetwood and Major- General Desborough — the first of whom is the Protector's brother-in-law, and the other his uncle — excited the others to take this step ; and although men now pretend to despise the Anabaptist faction, and they have been forbidden to assemble again, some satisfaction will nevertheless be given them, and it is said that, in conformity with their wishes, Fleetwood, whom they wish to have as General, will be made commander-in-chief of the forces in England and Scotland, with greater power than he has at present. This affair seems to have somewhat retarded the convocation of Parliament, as there would be danger in assembling it before the army is tranquillized and united ; it is however admitted that the ne- cessities of the State can be met in no other way. Your Eminence will doubtless have had more particular information on this point from Mr. Lockhart. . . . ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 247 9.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. October 31, 1658. My Lord, Before I had received the letter which your Eminence was pleased to write to me on the 26th instant, I had, in conse- quence of a request made to me yesterday by one of the Swedish ministers, offered to use my utmost endeavours to induce the Protector to succour the King of Sweden with a number of ships ; but, having perceived, at the last visit which I paid to the Secretary of State, that little inclination is felt here to contribute to the destruction of the King of Denmark, I should not have been in such a hurry to press on them the necessity of furnishing such assistance, but for your Eminence's orders. Tomorrow I shall request a conference with the Se- cretary of State, and shall represent to him that, as the King of Sweden is on the eve of being overwhelmed by the great number of his enemies, England would incur greater prejudice by his ruin than by that of his enemy, and I shall not forget any reason likely to persuade him that they must send off with all speed a squadron of vessels, which have been kept for some days in readiness in the Downs, apparently for the purpose of awakening the jealousy of the Dutch. But their ambassador easily perceived that neither the state of affairs in England nor the inclination of the ministers would allow of this succour being sent ; and the Swedish minister, who paid me a visit yesterday, confessed to me that, as an Englishman, he did not think that the Protector had any cause to interfere in this quar- rel. My letter to the Count de Brienne contains an account of my audience on Monday last, at which nothing extraordinary occurred; after having given the King's letter, I presented that from your Eminence, and made all the offers which you had instructed me to make. The Protector spoke at some length on the particular esteem in which his deceased father had held your Eminence, and the confidence which he felt in 248 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. your friendship; he protested his great obligations to you for continuing to regard him with similar feelings, and begged me to entreat you most particularly to remain his friend, and to assure you of his service, until he should do so himself, in the answer which he intends to write to your Eminence's let- ter. The officers of the army do not recede from their de- mands, and it is also considered certain that the Protector has gTanted them nothing as yet ; he is to declare to them that, as the Parliament established the government, the same body must consent to the changes which they are desirous of intro- ducing into it ; this decision awakens great hopes among the Republicans, and some of their leaders have come to London of late ; but all depends upon the conduct of the troops in Scot- land, and if they are well-intentioned, as it is presupposed they are, it will not be difficult to put a stop to the intrigues of these officers. At the present moment, Lieutenant-General Fleetwood and Major- General Desborough appear to coincide with the views of the malecontents ; but this is a consequence of their jealousy, because the Protector places greater confi- dence in others than in them. My Lord Faulconbridge is the man who has given them most oficnce. Ere long however the matter must be settled, and tomorrow's meeting will dis- cover the extent of the designs of the factious ; neither reason nor appearances warrant the belief that they will proceed to extremities. I sounded my Lord Faulconbridge with regard to the present which your Eminence had some idea of making to him ; he will receive it, and will engage to serve you. Some jewels for his wife would be more suitable than money. He had expected a pair of Barbary horses, as a mortality has broken out in the Protector's stables : such a present would be very welcome to him. ... ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 249 10.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. November 11, 1658. My Lord, Since the last letter which I had the honour to write to your Eminence, I have been unable to have any conversation with the Secretary of State in regard to the afiairs of Sweden ; but having a pretext for visiting the principal ministers of the Council, at which all resolutions are now adopted, I availed myself of the opportunity to inform them that, although Eng- land seems to have no interest in favouiing the concentration of all power in the North in the hands of a single Prince, the Protector ought to employ his naval forces in the preservation of the King of Sweden, who is engaged in an enterprise, the failure of which must be followed by his utter ruin ; and his enemies would then be at liberty to assist our enemies, and to act as well against England as against France. This con- sideration, and the other reasons which I alleged, seemed to have won over the Keeper of the Seals (who is President of the Council) and General Montague to the opinions which we should wish them to entertain ; and a few days after, when the subject was brought under discussion, the other ministers were so disposed to follow their advice, that orders were sent to the fleet in the Downs to hold itself in readiness to sail for the Sound. Nevertheless, since the last three days, all these ar- rangements have been altered ; and I was informed yesterday, on very good authority, that his Highness would not interfere in this quarrel, which he attributes in part to the aversion with which some members of the Council regard everything that is desired by Lieutenant-General Fleetwood, whose bro- ther is agent here for the King of Sweden. There are also, in the Council, some ministers who are very zealous for the in- terests of Holland ; and both these parties find, in the present state of the affairs of England, a sufficiently valid pretext for preventing the Protector from engaging in a new war. Al- 250 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. though this repugnance may not be easy to overcome, I shall not fail to continue my solicitations that an auxiliary force of ships may be sent out ; and if the Secretary of State proves inaccessible, I shall demand an audience, in order to satisfy the Swedes, who do not forget just now to implore my good offices ; nor do I neglect to assure them of my friendship, and to inform them of the last orders which I received from your Eminence. I was at some pains to ascertain the cause from which the Secretary of State's coldness towards me proceeded, but yes- terday, my Lord Faulconbridge no doubt discovered to me its motive, when he informed me that of late Mr. Lockhart has written that your Eminence appeared to him very different from what you were during the lifetime of the late Protector, and that the Government here are greatly offended by the re- fusal of the £50,000, as that sum was not so large but that it could have been easily raised, if your past views in relation to this country were not changed ; that furthermore the Protector would have felt greatly obliged for that loan, not so much on account of the advantages it would have produced to his ser- vice, as because it would have been a certain mark of the King's friendship ; and that even if his affairs had not permitted him to repay it so soon as he promised, he would undoubtedly have been in a position to render services to France of a sufficiently important character to compensate his Majesty for the delay. I assured the Lord Faulconbridge that your Eminence's senti- ments had been wrongly interpreted, and that any one who should judge of them, by reference to your own interest or to those of France, could not doubt that you set an equal value on the friendship of the present Protector ; that, as to the loan, the difficulties which Mr. Lockhart had encountered must be attributed to sheer inability to raise the money, and not to any want of willingness ; after having employed all the reasons I could muster in order to persuade the Lord Faulcon- bridge on both these points, I begged him to speak on the ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 251 subject in the same terms, and to efface the unfavourable im- pressions with which the mind of his Highness has been im- bued ; he promised to do so, and to inform me punctually of the result. To encourage him more strongly, I gave him to understand that your Eminence thought of sending a present to his wife ; this will be a most useful outlay, but it does not appear to me the less necessary to make some effort, under present circumstances, to comply with the Protector's wishes ; unless he should fall, nothing will be lost, and his very gene- rous natural disposition gives reason to believe that a benefit could not be more profitably conferred. The last news that I wrote from hence will perhaps have led you to apprehend some notable alteration in the state of England, and it is true that the heat with which some officers of the army urged their de- mands, and the firm resolution of the Protector to make no concession, led every one to indulge in sinister prognostics; but in the last few days, the officers have greatly altered their conduct, and, either because the leaders among them have been gained over, or because they think they will be unable to succeed in their design without carrying matters to extremi- ties, they have made no further demonstration, nor have they even brought forward the subject again at their meetings, which they continue to hold every Friday, under the pretext of devotion. Last week, my Lord Faulconbridge, General Montague, and two other Colonels, with some subaltern officers of their party, attended one of their meetings, without exci- ting the anger of the others ; and it seems they are likely to continue to attend, in order to repress, by their presence, the intrigues of some who are more factious than the rest. Lord Fleetwood has not received any other commission than that of Lieutenant- General, with which he is not well satisfied; it is said that, after he had promised, in the name of the Protector, entire satisfaction of their demands to all the officers, his promise was not ratified by the Government ; the character of his mind does not lead them to fear any evil consequences from 252 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. this insult ; and it is the generally received opinion that the Protector would have no difficulty in removing all discontent if he had money to pay the arrears due to the army ; but if he be necessitated to call a Parliament,, it may with some reason be apprehended that that body, feeling itself supported by a part of the army, will weaken his authority, although the Presbyterians and all the nobility are favourable to him. This is all I have to write at present in regard to the internal aflairs of England. 11.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. November 18, 1658. My Lord, I had hoped to have informed your Eminence, by today's post, of the mood in which the Secretary of State appeared to me to be in reference to the affairs of Sweden ; but for several days he has carefully avoided seeing me, under the pretext of ill-health and press of business ; the ministers of Sweden have found it equally difficult to get at him, and his avoidance of us seems as if it could proceed only from a fixed determination to grant no assistance ; as news is daily expected in regard to what the Dutch fleet has done, and as moreover the season for sending ships to the Baltic is passing away, the Government may perhaps wish to gain time, in order to defend themselves with greater show of reason against our solicitations. Finding it thus impossible to advance matters by my good offices, I can only make known to the Swedish ministers my friendly in- tentions and dihgent zeal in their behalf; they profess to be persuaded of both. I have also some suspicion that the Secre- tary of State avoids me, foreseeing the embarrassment in which he would be placed if I were to tell him of the negotiation of Mr. Bodkins, who reported to me two days ago that the said Secretary of State seemed to him disposed to an accommoda- tion with Spain, and promised to give him shortly a precise ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 253 answer, with despatches for Flanders ; according to his report, Mr. Downing will receive orders to enter into conference with Don Esteban de Garaarra, and the Protector will be content to abandon his conquests in America, on condition that Eng- lish vessels shall be allowed to trade thither. Public rumour gives some amount of confirmation to this statement ; and as my Lord Faulconbridge represents to me that most of the ministers of the Council are favourably inclined towards such an accommodation, there would be reason to believe that this feeling is affected in order to kindle the King^s ardour in fa- vour of this government, if it were not certain that the Ana- baptist party in the army and the Republicans are desirous of peace, and also that the want of money is so great that the hope of obtaining a supply from Spain will lead the Protector to listen to all these propositions ; and he as much as the rest is desirous of making himself agreeable to the people. Never- theless it is not an affair to be treated just now, or to be set- tled without delay ; I shall endeavour to discover accurately how far the matter has been carried, in order afterwards to thwart the resolution. ... I am still persuaded that there is some alteration in the state of feeling here towards France ; nor is there less reason to believe that the Protector may pro- bably suffer a great diminution of his power. The officers of the army have not latterly renewed their pretensions, and they appear very submissive ; but the leaders are not yet satisfied, and they are seen in daily conference with the heads of the Republican party. It is also remarked that some of the mi- nisters of the Council, who were once very zealous for the Pro- tector's interest, are breaking off from him, as fearing to be involved in his fall ; others, who stick more firmly to their principles, are threatened to be dismissed, together with some well-intentioned officers of the army ; and yet no resolution is taken to disperse this faction, which leads me to fear it will finally prevail, in spite of the friendship which the Presbyte- rians and the nobility manifest for the Protector. He now 254 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. allows the Council to act with entire liberty and authority, and most resolutions are adopted in accordance with the wishes of the officers of the army ; it is said that their designs will be carried into execution after the funeral of the late Protector, which was to have taken place tomorrow, but it has been post- poned to another day not yet fixed. . . . 12.] M. DE Bordeaux to M. de Brienne. November 27, 1658. Sir, I finally succeeded in obtaining an interview with the Secre- tary of State last week. As the interests of Sweden were the principal motive which led me to desire an audience, they also formed the principal topic of our conversation. I begged him to acquaint his Highness and the Council that the King, see- ing this Prince on the eve of being overwhelmed by the great number of his enemies, and England being alone capable of delivering him from such imminent danger, by means of her naval force, I had been ordered to urge his Highness to give him all the assistance that the position of his own affairs would permit, — it being no less the interest of England than of France to save from destruction a Prince whose power diverts the at- tention of our enemies, and prevents them from directing their forces against us. The Secretary replied that it was true that, up to this time, his Highness had not deemed it advisable to take part in the quarrel of the King of Sweden, and that he was not satisfied with what he had done, or with the manner in which he had set about it, breaking so solemn a treaty, made by the intervention of the ministers of England, without giving any account of the motive for so great a change of policy : that moreover it was not the interest of England to favour the reduction of all the northern kingdoms under the authority of a single Prince ; and that, as his Majesty had not ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 255 until then appeared desirous of promoting such a conquest, the Protector had not thought it his duty to contribute to it ; but that finding himself now urged to do so, he would take the matter into liis serious deliberation, and would no doubt defer to the King's desire and to the considerations which I had adduced. I assured him that his Majesty would take this complaisance in very good part, although the benefit of it would accrue principally to England. I also confessed that, in the first instance, the proceedings of the King of Sweden had not been approved in France, but that all resentments ought to yield to the interest which we all have to maintain that Prince ; and I begged the Secretary to represent to his Highness that henceforward he could no longer delay taking his resolution, without exposing himself to great inconve- niences ; he agreed with me on this point, and promised me a definite answer on the same day, or, at latest, on the day fol- lowing. He then asked me if we did not purpose to continue the assistance which his Majesty had given to the King of Sweden in past times ; this question leading me to think that it might be his intention to ask for that money in payment of the expenses of the proposed naval armament, I endeavoured to remove any such hope from his mind by assuring him that his past efforts would probably have disabled the King from doing anything at present, and that our financial necessities were great, as they had prevented our granting to his High- ness the loan for which he had applied, and which the King would doubtless have furnished more readily than he would be likely to afford assistance to the King of Sweden. I dis- covered that my presentiment was not altogether without foun- dation, and the Secretary told me pretty plainly that such had been the object of his question, exaggerating to me the great necessities in which his master was placed, and saying that it was not fair to make him bear all the expense ; but having re- minded him that up to the present time England had been put to no expense, and that nevertheless she had reaped all the 256 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. advantage of the diversion which the Swedes had effected in Germany, since, but for that, Dunkirk could not have been taken, and that his Majesty had expended four hundred thou- sand francs already this year, and that, in requesting the Pro- tector to succour a common friend, I had no idea of asking him for assistance for France, — he laid no more stress on this proposition, and gave me reason to hope that the Protec- tor's determination would be in conformity with his Majesty's wishes. . . . This conference took place on the evening of the 21st; on the following day the Secretary, instead of send- ing me an answer, proposed to me another conference on the 23rd, and begged me, on account of his ill -health, to come to him at his house. To which having consented, I found him with one of the Keepers of the Seal, and they declared to me that his Highness, having been informed of all that his Ma- jesty had ordered me to communicate to him, had deputed them to receive from me a more particular account of his in- tentions. I made to them the same overtures as before, and they repeated to me the same speeches as I had already heard from the Secretary of State, — still complaining of the conduct of the King of Sweden. I sympathized with their views, and declared that the King had no more reason to be satisfied, but that this was not the time to manifest our resentment, and that we ought rather to think of finding occupation for the troops of Germany, unless we wished to expose our conquests in Flanders to very certain danger ; finally, after much argu- mentation, the commissioners again asked me if his ^Majesty would not continue to assist the King of Sweden, and what he would do in case the despatch of a fleet should bring on a war between England and Holland, as there was every appearance it would, and they remonstrated that it would not be just that his Highness should sustain this war single-handed, and be abandoned by France : I answered them on the first point in the same terms that I had already used to the Secretary of State, and deprived them of all hope of our purchasing the as- ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 257 sistance of England ; but in regard to the consequences which might ensue, I gave them to understand that his Majesty would be interested in all events ; having previously declared however that I had no orders to make any advances, not having been forewarned that his Highness had cause to appre- hend a rupture with the United Provinces on account of having sent assistance to a Prince of his acquaintance, as international usage permits it, and the Dutch themselves have set the ex- ample. The said commissioners requested me to give them this assurance in writing, and having declined to do so on the ground that my orders only extended to urging them to suc- cour the King of Sweden for their own advantage, we finally agreed that I should merely give them my proposal, to serve as the basis for the deliberations of the Council, that an an- swer should be sent me containing the wishes of his Highness, upon which I should declare my opinion, and that I should send immediately to my Court to learn more particularly the intentions of his Majesty with regard to the treaty of guarantee which his Highness desires, before engaging himself to assist the King of Sweden. All these papers were interchanged yesterday evening, and the Secretary of State, on receiving mine, even urged me to despatch an express, for fear that as the King is away from Paris, the letters might otherwise remain too long on the road and that meanwhile the affairs of the Swedes might be utterly ruined. This I did not think it right to refuse. Sir, in order not to give the Government of Eng- land a pretext for deferring any longer the adoption of the resolution which I have been urging on them ; as the Dutch have entered Copenhagen, and for some days they will not be able to send thither a second auxiliary force, whether they draft it from the Brandenburg army or from their own country ; and the Swedes being still masters of the Baltic Sea, accord- ing to the advices received by their ministers here, we should have leisure to conclude the proposed treaty, though I could have wished that the said Commissioners would have given me VOL. I. 9 258 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. the articles of it, that I might have sent them to you. But they will take no further steps until they are assured of the King's concurrence, and that I have power to treat. There is also no likelihood that they will expose themselves to any new wars until they are assured of the co-operation of France; and as all the despatches which I have received order me to use all my influence on behalf of the King of Sweden, and he is now reduced so low that he will be unable to sustain the attacks of his enemies without the assistance of his fiiends, I have thought I was acting in conformity with his Majesty's views in giving reason to hope that he will combine with Eng- land if her interference involves her in war. Besides, our in- terests are now so united that one cannot be injured without the other suffering also. These considerations will no doubt in- duce you to approve of a treaty of guarantee ; and in case any inconveniences should be perceived therein which I do not now foresee, it will be easy to elude them by inserting clauses the effect of which would be to leave full leisure to the two contend- ing Kings to terminate their quarrel without the interference of France and England. I made no doubt that, if his Majesty judged it advisable to mediate an accommodation between the said Kings of Sweden and Denmark, the Protector would pre- fer that course ; for his ministers are persuaded, as well as all the rest of the nation^ that it is not to their advantage to favour the conquest of the coasts of the Baltic Sea, and this belief would have sufficient influence over the public mind to prevent the assistance of England being given, if his Majesty did not strongly press it, and if it had not been represented here that the ruin of the King of Sweden is fraught with still more dangerous consequences than any excess of power he may obtain : it will therefore be necessary, if the overtures that have been made to me are agreeable to your wishes, to send me power to treat, and to inform me at the same time how far his Majesty wishes to go, that the opportunity of sending help may not be lost by my having to wait for fresh instructions. ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 259 and that those ministers of the Council who may be opposed to my demands, may have no chance of rendering the good- will of the rest unavailable. I have some slight suspicion that this guarantee treaty is proposed with this view ; but however this may be, it is not easy to induce the present government to adopt any other resolution. The copy of the document that was sent to me, and my answer to it, will explain the ex- isting state of this negotiation, and I have no further explana- tions to give, except that I very distinctly intimated to them that the King would not engage to supply any aid in money, but that he would act as he had done in times past if his own domestic affairs permitted, and that it was not his intention to pay the English fleet ; thus the treaty can have regard to the guarantee only, and will be a mere engagement to declare war against the Dutch in case they proclaim hostilities with Eng- land. I have also nothing to say in regard to the intimations which the Protector desires may be sent to the Hague, as I do not think there will be any difficulty about the matter ; and there would really be cause for surprise, if, when England and France act together, the States- General should dare to form any designs which would openly offend them, and should not rather endeavour to effect a reconciliation between the two northern kings. It is probable that, but for the assurance they received from their ambassador in England that the Eng- lish Government would not interfere in the Swedish war, they would not have engaged so deeply in it, as their forces are utterly inadequate to cope with those of England and Sweden combined; and this justly leads me to expect it will be very easy to induce them to adopt other views. I have not yet communicated to the Swedish ministers who are resident here, that which has passed between the Commissioners of his High- ness and myself, as I was required not to inform them of our treaty until we were entirely agreed. This pledge of secrecy has however not prevented me from stating to them, in ge- neral terms, that the disposition of the Enghsh government s 2 260 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. was very favourable towards them, and that they would ere long see the effects of it. They have also received similar assurances from the Secretary of State ; and they profess to ascribe this change to the good offices of France — necessity rendering them more grateful than they are wont to be in prosperity. I shall add nothing to my previous letters in re- gard to affairs here, as no change has occurred in them ; some still declare that the Protector will finally overcome the Ana- baptist faction in the army, while others think very differently; meanwhile everything remains in the same state, and the Council, in which the army party has great power, continues to act ; he now thinks of assembling the Parliament, as the payment of the arrears due to the army can no longer be delayed without very great inconvenience ; it is even rumoured that it was feared that the soldiers would arrest the corpse of the late Protector as security for their debt, and that this ap- prehension is the only cause that led to his interment last week at one o^ clock in the morning ; his effigy however was still left exposed in the same place where his body had been, and the preparations for his funeral are still in progress. 13.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. December 2, 1658. My Lord, The duplicate of my letter to the Count de Brienne will in- form your Eminence of the execution of that which his Ma- jesty desires of England for the preservation of the King of Sweden, and that the auxiliary fleet, which left the Downs at the end of last week, may reach the Sound before the fleet of the United Provinces has conveyed thither the army of the Elector of Brandenburg ; the advices received here in regard to this design hastened the departure of the English squadron, and led the Government to declare to the ambassador of ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 261 Holland that they could not abandon the interests of Sweden; he had not expected any such resolution on their part; I found him yesterday very mortified at it, and all his reflec- tions tend to con\dnce me that it is the interest of France to negotiate an accommodation between the Kings of Sweden and Denmark, which shall secure them both from utter ruin ; that the posture of their afiairs would give us time to carry out this negotiation; and that the Elector of Brandenburg would readily detach himself from the interest of Austria, if he were secured against the incursions of the Swedes by the guarantee of France and England. Apparently too the States- General would contribute to the successful execution of such a treaty, as the power of England deprives them of all hope of saving the King of Denmark. I assured the said ambassador that the King would joyfully interfere to effect so reasonable an accommodation; and if his Majesty thought it conducive to the prosperity of his affairs, it would be easy to bring round the English Government to the same opinion ; but until his intentions are made known to me, I shall abstain from making any overtures on the subject. The letters with which your Eminence honoured me on the 3rd and 25th of November, give me occasion to add that Mr. Lockhart, who paid me a visit yesterday, did not appear to me so well satisfied as you believe with your offer of jewels, as he told me, in allusion thereto, that France did not want for money when she was willing to assist her friends ; but he let fall no expression that indicated that the Protector felt obliged by your Eminence's advances ; I found the said Mr. Lockhart very reserved in re- gard to all the other affairs about which I spoke to him ; it is not credible that this should be the effect of some alteration in the feeling here with respect to France, although it has been reported to me from various quarters that the Government are listening to propkjsals of accommodation with Spain. I do not learn however that any resolution has been adopted to enter upon a treaty ; and Mr. Fleetwood, who is agent for 262 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. Sweden, after having assured me that the ambassador of Holland had also made some overtm-es, gave me to under- stand that his brother, who is a man of great influence, was not in favour of peace. As it is said that after the funeral ceremony, which is to take place tomorrow, they will begin their deliberations on affairs which concern the establishment of the present Government of England, and, as the treaty is one of the principal of these affairs, a manifestation of the in- clinations of the Council may shortly be expected. According to popular rumour, measures will also be taken for assembling the officers of the army, who have continued to meet every Friday, but without renewing their propositions ; the Protec- tor spoke to them very sharply before they assembled last week, but although his speech displeased them, no ill effects have ensued from it as yet. Meanwhile, the Republicans are full of hope, and latterly they have published a formulary of government ! That the present authorities would be exposed to some danger, if the Parliament were assembled while the public mind is thus malignantly disposed, leads many to doubt whether it will meet, although Ministers declare that it will very shortly be summoned. I shall give my Lord Faulconbridge reason to expect the present which your Eminence thinks it advisable to make to his wife ; unless the Protector should faU, it will be money well laid out ; and I should think the present ought not to be of less value than a thousand pistoles. . . . 14i] M. DE Bordeaux to M. de Brienne. December 2, 1658. Sir, The feeling entertained here with regard to the wars in the North is now very different from what it had appeared to me previously; this change must be attributed to the representa- ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 263 lions which I made in the King's name, and doubtless the Protector and his Council must have been influenced by the considerations which were laid before them for the purpose of inducing them to show more regard to the interests of the King of Sweden ; the news of the sea-fight between the Swedish and Dutch fleets arrived at the same time, and may have hastened the adoption of the resolution which I was urging ; and last week, on receipt of information that the Dutch were about to convey, with all speed, a portion of the army of Brandenburg into Zealand, the twenty-two vessels which had been fitted out received their orders and sailed from the Downs ; they must be ofi" Yarmouth by this time, and the wind is very favourable for their voyage to the Sound ; their instructions are to fight the Dutch in case they should be conveying succour by way of hostility; the Dutch ambassador has been informed of this, and orders have been sent to Mr. Downing to advise the States- General to desist from further interference in the war between the two kings. The said ambassador came to see me, and did not fail to broach this subject in conversation, nor did I omit to point out to him that, if it were the interest of his superiors to prevent the ruin of the King of Denmark, England had no less reason to dread the ruin of the Swedes ; he admitted the truth of this argument, but he did his duty to persuade me that they might both secure themselves by an accommodation which should tend also to the profit of all their friends, which should detach the Elector of Brandenburg from the Austrian party, and leave the Swedes sufficient power to find occupation for their enemies; I declared that the King would joyfully contribute to the conclusion of such a peace ; and it would not be difficult to bring over the English Government to the same views, although just now it exhibits great warmth for the Swedish interest. If the weather continues^ as severe as it is now, this good feeling will be useless, and the ice will supply the Elector of Brandenburg with the means of executing his design. One of the envoys of the King of Sweden has just 264 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. gone off with about three hundred sailors, and some naval officers, of wliom the chief is Sir — Ayscough ; he is to be Vice- Admiral of the Swedish fleet ; his reputation is very great, and when he took leave of the Protector, his Highness bestowed on him a ring, and recommended the honour of the nation to his keeping. The other ministers of Sweden who remain here have earnestly thanked me for my good offices; and they have written of the effect of my intervention in the same terms in which they have spoken of it to me ; the King of Sweden will admit that the intervention of his Majesty completely deter- mined this government to lend him assistance; from this complaisance, it may be inferred that the refusal of the loan of £50,000 has not produced any great effect, and that it will be attributed partly to our inability to afford it, although Mr. Lockhart, who has now arrived in London, represents us to be very rich. . . . The ceremony of the funeral of the late Protector is to take place tomorrow ; it is said that measures will immediately be taken to put a stop to the divisions in the army, and the Protector began on Friday last to speak with vigour to the officers, warning them not to abuse the pretext of devotion in order to hold seditious meetings, and to take care that their conduct did not make two armies instead of one ; this language somewhat irritated them ; nevertheless, great hopes are still entertained of an accommodation; the meeting of Parliament cannot be avoided, and creates greater apprehen- sions than ever; we must also expect it will produce some alterations in the close alliance which exists between England and France, as it is likely the Parliament will make peace with Spain. There is much talk already of this being done, and I am informed on good authority that such a proposition has been made, that it has not been rejected, and that some mem- bers of the Council are very much inclined to adopt it. The memory of the late Protector alone is not sufficient to prevent their doing so, as the present state of the affairs of England may give them reason to change the policy which he pursued ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 265 during his lifetime, in addition to which, most of the ministers were even then opposed to that policy ; if Spain is able to sup- ply money, the temptation will be still greater; and in order to combat these adverse reasons, we must back our own interest by some pecuniary gratifications, as the English are too avaricious for us to be likely to get anything from them, unless they are well paid. By taking this course, our opposition will be ren- dered more efibctive. I cannot even conceive how it can be expected that I should have any very certain news of the plans and intentions of this government, unless the King will supply me with funds to enlist a few pensioners ; while the late Pro- tector was alive, as he acted on his own responsibility, this expense was avoided with but little inconvenience ; but now that the authority is so divided, and the Council has so large a share in it, it is necessary to act otherwise in relation to the matter, in however slight esteem this State may be held. ... 15.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. December 9, 1658. My Lord, Nothing has occurred here worth adding to the duplicate of my letter to the Count de Brienne, regarding the afiairs of the North, and the internal condition of England. Only I have learned that the fleet sent to the assistance of the King of Sweden has been driven back on these coasts by unfavourable weather ; and it is feared that the season will henceforth be very much against^^it. I leave it to the despatches which M. Terlon has of late addressed to me, to inform your Eminence of the real issue of the fight, of which the Dutch ambassador has recently given me a very difierent account to that which the ministers of Sweden had at first published ; if the defeat of their fleet be so thorough, the Protector will be under greater obligation to make efibrts to succour the vanquished. I have sent today to 266 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. request a conference with the Secretary of State, for the pur- pose of urging him to resolve on doing so, pending the answer to the despatch which my secretary must have delivered. The internal divisions of the country are still in the same state, and all persons are in expectation of the meeting of Par- liament, on which it appears the future tranquillity or disorder of the nation will depend. Meanwhile, the Council continues to act with the same authority. Mr. Lockhart came to see me this evening, and entrusted to me a letter for your Eminence ; he also expressed to me some displeasure at not being able to render the service which you had desired of him, in regard to the English ships which are at Toulon : the division among the officers serves as the pretext for this refusal ; and it is proposed to recall them all, as the only means of re-establishing order and obedience among them. I spoke to the said ambassador of the necessity there would be for the garrison of Dunkirk to assist our troops, if the enemy, during the winter, should undertake any enterprise in Flanders ; he expressed his readiness to do so, but said I must nevertheless mention the matter, so that orders may be given him on the subject, which I shall not fail to do the first time I see the Secretary of State. M. de Caracena has applied to the Protector for a passport for Don John of Austria, who, he says, has been recalled by the King of Spain, to command the army against Portugal ; this civility will not be refused. 16.] M. DE Bordeaux to M. de Brienne. December 9, 1658. Sir, I fear that my secretary, on his way through Paris, did not deliver to you my despatch, as you have not acknowledged its receipt; he must have thought you were at Court, whither I had directed him to proceed straightway, as I had been urged ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 267 to use all possible speed ; hence his mistake ; my letters by the previous post will have repaired the error in some measure, by informing you of the object of his journey ; they will also have acquainted you with the departure of the English fleet, of which no farther news has been received ; but if the infor- mation which the Dutch ambassador came to communicate to me on the day before yesterday be correct, this succour will not suffice to restore the affairs of the King of Sweden, or to prevent the States- General from sending other troops to the King of Denmark. The despatch of the Chevalier de Terlon will doubtless give full explanations of the state of affairs in that quarter ; his letters to me have led me to request an in- terview with the Secretary of State today, in order to discuss the means of reconciling the two northern Princes; and though, to all appearance, no definite resolution is likely to be adopted here until the arrival of the answer which I am now expect- ing, it is nevertheless expedient, as every delay may produce some fresh disadvantage, to urge the English Government to examine seriously into the matter, in order to take measures for the execution of any proceedings that may be deemed adapted to establish peace between the Princes of the north, or to secure the King of Sweden against the ruin with which he is threatened. I learn from the letters of M. de Thou that he has already imited his efforts with those of Mr. Downing, to prevent the equipment of a second auxiliary force, but the United Provinces appear to be strongly interested in the main- tenance of the King of Denmark, and have already given too much offence, of late, to his enemy, by the assistance they have sent to Dantzic and Copenhagen, not to persevere in their design, unless England should give them occasion to fear the employment of all her navy in behalf of the Swedes, or there should be some certainty of an accommodation. It may also be expected that the Protector, having begun so well, vrill continue to entertain the sentiments which his Ministers have expressed to me, if his Majesty is willing to enter into a treaty 268 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. of guarantee, which can entail no injury to France, and will pledge England all the more strongly to adhere to our inter- ests. If public rumours be well founded, the Protector is now thinking of withdrawing from us, and making peace with Spain ; but I do not learn that he has any immediate inten- tion of doing so ; and probably before entering into any fo- reign negotiation, he will be anxious to set his home affairs in order. It does not appear that he has as yet succeeded in effecting this to any great extent, as the officers of the army continue to manifest their discontent, and to hold meetings, from which the Republicans derive great hopes, if once Parlia- ment be summoned. It is still said that Parliament wiU meet in a very short time, but perhaps these hopes are merely raised in order to keep quiet the army and other creditors of the State ; the danger of its meeting is so certain, in the opinion of the most sagacious and prudent men, that it will not be summoned except in case of extreme necessity. The Council of State moreover has cause to regard its meeting with alarm ; and its authority is now very great, extending even to the ap- pointment to judicial offices, by way of approved presentation, and to the issue of orders for the release of the most inconsi- derable prisoners of State, some of whom, having applied for their discharge to the ordinary tribunals, the Governor of the Tower did not venture to detain them. All these attempts to undermine the authority of the sovereign proceed from the division among the officers of the army ; they will not be con- tinued when the officers are brought together, and this is now the affair uppermost in all minds. The funeral ceremony took place on the 3rd of this month; nothing of importance oc- curred, nor was it in any way different from ordinary pro- ceedings of this nature; its magnificence consisted in the number of mourners, who walked from Somerset House to Westminster between two lines of musketeers, and in front of the effigy of the deceased Protector, arrayed in a royal robe, holding the sceptre in one hand, the orb in the other, and the ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 269 crown on his head. General Fleetwood followed the car as representative of his heir^ and had by his side the Lords Faul- conbridge, the son-in-law of the deceased, and one of the ministers and a Councillor of State : the third son-in-law led a horse by the bridle, in discharge of his office as Master of the Horse. The ambassadors had some dispute with the en- voys of Sweden because they claimed to occupy the same rank as the rest, and not to be treated as subaltern ministers, basing their claim on the honourable position which the King their master gave to the envoy of England, and also on the ground that, as they were ablegates extraordinary, they were entitled to equal consideration with the ambassador of Holland. The Commissioners appointed to arrange the ceremony had de- ferred to their wishes by placing them immediately after the Dutch ambassador, and before the Keepers of the Great Seal of England ; but it was necessary for me to follow the pre- cedent established at the funeral of King James, and to con- test this equality ; the Keepers of the Seal, on their part, re- fused to be preceded by any but ambassadors ; but finally, after many negotiations, they gave way, though protesting against the like being done in future ; and I was entreated to withdraw my opposition, if, in order to mark the difference between the Swedish ministers and the ambassadors (without however doing them any other wrong than displacing them from a rank which had been improperly accorded to them) , the master of the ceremonies and his officers took their places between them and us ; to which I consented. There was also some slight altercation between the other ambassadors and myself, because I wished to walk alone, and not between the representatives of Portugal and Holland, who finally acceded to my desire. The first dispute was, to some extent, the cause of the cere- mony not being terminated until night, and, as this contin- gency had not been anticipated, there was not a single candle in Westminster Abbey to give light to the company and con- duct the effigy into a sort of chapeUe ardente which had been 270 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. prepared ; there were consequently neither prayers^ nor ser- mon, nor funeral oration, and after the trumpets had sounded for a short time, every one withdrew in no particular order. On that day great numbers of printed papers were distributed, inveighing no less against the vanity and expense of the fu- neral, than against the validity of all the acts done in England since the dissolution of the Long Parliament ; and now all persons express their sentiments with great freedom. 17.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. December 16, 1658. My Lord, It appeared to me, from the last letter of M. de Terlon, that the King of Sweden would take it in such good part if France and England extricated him from the war in which he is engaged, that I thought it my duty to communicate this desire to the Secretary of State, who was very much disposed to follow up this overture, and agreed to write to the ministers of his Highness the Protector at the Hague and at the Swedish Court to use every effort to dispose those States to peace, and to ascertain what conditions they will condescend to make, in order that, having obtained this information, some certain measures may be taken for the advancement of the treaty, and that the northern Princes may be required to accommodate their differences, on pain of incurring the hostility of England. Strong persuasion is felt here that the King of Sweden will be unwilling to gainsay his Majesty and the Protector, and that the King of Denmark will also be constrained to accept rea- sonable terms, if the Dutch can be dissuaded from sending him a second reinforcement, either by friendly means or by force, and there is every disposition here to employ both. ... It has at length been publicly resolved in Council to summon Parlia- ment to meet on the 7th of February ; not that the minds of ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 271 the officers of the army are yet thoroughly composed, as there was recently a great quarrel in the Council, in presence of the Protector, between Major- General Desborough and Admiral Montague, the former accusing the latter of having conspired with Lord Faulconbridge to carry him off, and Lieutenant- General Fleetwood also. The two armies have demanded that the author of this report shall be produced, and that they would answer him. The Protector appeared to take their side, and Major-General Desborough grew so angry as to say he would never set foot in the Council again if Lord Faulconbridge, who was not then present, were not excluded. The quarrel was not arranged, and the Council rose without taking the affair into discussion. It is said that since then, the army has proposed to the Protector, for the settlement of all differences, that he should not be able to make any change among the officers without the advice and consent of four of the principal officers to be appointed by the army, and that they are now debating these terms ; and that, as it is so very necessary to put an end to all bitter feelings, in order to derive some profit from the meeting of Parliament, this expedient will be adopted ; or else the Protector will be obliged to make some bold demonstration of his authority. 18.] M. DE Bordeaux to M. de Brienne. December 16, 1658. Sir, As the last letters which I received from M. Terlon informed me in very explicit terms that it would be rendering a great service to the King of Sweden to extricate him from his war with Denmark, and procure for him a satisfactory peace, I thought it advisable to communicate this desire to the Secre- tary of State, in order that the Protector might take speedy measures either to promote a reconciliation between the two Princes, or to restore the fortunes of Sweden. I did not find 272 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. it difficult to persuade him on both these points, and I found in him an even greater inclination to mediate a peace ; the only difficulty is to determine the conditions on which peace can be made, and whether it will be necessary to insist on the execution of the treaty of Roeskild, or to induce the King of Sweden to give up most of the advantages he has gained by it, in case his Danish Majesty cannot be prevailed upon to remain satisfied with it. The Secretary asked me my advice on this point; I thought it my duty not to give a decided answer until I had received a reply to my previous despatches. I proposed that he should ascertain, by means of the French and English am- bassadors who are with the King of Sweden, what his Majesty^s inclination may be on the matter, and also to learn precisely his actual condition before determining on any basis of nego- tiations : I also suggested that, in the meanwhile, it would be well for M. de Thou and Mr. Downing, at the Hague, to do their utmost to prevent the despatch of the second auxiliary force, and to persuade the States- General that the King and the Protector are seriously desirous to effect the pacification of the two northern Princes. These overtures were approved of, and we agreed to write in conformity therewith to the Hague and to Denmark, and that further steps should be taken, as soon as the necessary powers were sent to me, to conclude a treaty tending to the maintenance of the King of Sweden ; and also that his Highness should employ the promptest means for attaining this object in case it should prove impossible to esta- blish in the North a peace on advantageous terms to our two nations. This was the result of the conversation which the Secretary of State and I had on this matter; I can add nothing to it except that he appears to me to incline strongly towards an accommodation, and he told me more than once that peace was the interest of England. He also confirmed to me a report which I had already learned elsewhere, namely, that the En- glish fleet had been driven back on the coast of Norfolk, and would find great difficulty in continuing its voyage at this season ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 273 of the year. I begged him at once to send orders to Mr. Lock- hart to assist, with his garrison, the King^s troops which remain in Flanders, if the enemy should make any movement against them while they are in winter-quarters ; and I oflPered that our garrison should, in like manner, assist the English, if they were attacked. He agreed that we should lend each other this mutual aid. . . . We are on the eve of a Parliament, which is likely to have great authority, and will be considerably inclined to make an accommodation with Spain. Its convocation was solemnly resolved upon in the Council last week, and the writs will be issued on an early day, in order that it may meet on the 7th of February. The Secretary of State made the proposition, and accompanied it by a statement of all the considerations which compel his Highness to have recourse to this remedy, for the purpose of paying the debts of the State and strength- ening the government. People are greatly astonished that this resolution should have been taken before the minds of the army were tranquillized ; and although those who are for the Pro- tector appear to be the most numerous, the others will be in a position to thwart his authority if the Parliament is full of Republicans. As this danger is certain, there is reason to be- lieve (and this is the opinion of many) that the factious officers will be put upon half-pay, or that the government is sure of obtaining the election of well-intentioned persons by the coun- ties ; and it is true that the generality of the people, the nobility and the ministers, are very much opposed to the authority which a portion of the army wish to arrogate to themselves. There was also last week a great quarrel between Major-General Desborough, one of the chief of the malecontents, and Admiral Montague; the former having publicly complained that the latter had entered into a plot with the Lord Faulconbridge and some other officers, to carry him off and Lieutenant- General Fleetwood with him, and to confine them both in Windsor Castle : this accusation was based on a letter of warning which VOL. I. T 274 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. he said he had received. The Admiral disavowed the plot, and demanded that the author of the letter should be named ; this Major-General Desborough refused to do, and nevertheless he insisted that justice should be done him. The Protector here- upon interfered, and took the side of Admiral Montague, and the Council rose without taking the affair into deliberation. This quarrel is not yet appeased, and as it has broken out, it appears likely to lead to further results, the most obvious of which is the ruin of Desborough, a very arrogant man, who owes his fortune to the deceased Protector, to whose sister he is married. . . . 19.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. December 23, 1658. My Lord, Nothing of importance has occurred here since my last despatch, except the departure of the fleet, which put to sea again last week; since then, the wind has been sufficiently favourable for it to have now reached the Sound, from whence no news has arrived for the last few days. The internal aflairs of England are still in the same state ; the resolution to assemble Parliament continues to be carried out by the issue of writs for the election of members, and it seems that the chief care of the Government now is that they should be well-inten- tioned; to obtain this object, the form of the elections has been changed, and instead of the counties assembling as be- fore in a body, in one place, and appointing all the members, each county is to elect only two, and the boroughs and cities will choose the rest. The hope that is entertained that small communities will be more easy to manage than large assem- blies, has led to the substitution of this arrangement in the place of that which was observed at the convocation of the last few Parliaments. The officers of the army continue to meet, but without pressing their claims. ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 275 Mr. Lockhart is to return tomorrow to Dunkirk ; he does not propose to visit the Court before spring ; he has had some difficulty in obtaining funds for the maintenance of his garri- son and the repayment of his advances. 20.] M. DE Bordeaux to M. de Brienne. December 23, 1658. Sir, In my last despatch I acknowledged the receipt of the letter which you were pleased to write to me on the 8th instant ; your letter of the 14th has since been delivered to me, together with a note informing me of the arrival of my secretary at Court ; the contents of neither give me occasion to add any- thing to what I have already stated in regard to the disposi- tion of this Government towards the Swedes. They still appear resolved to assist them, and last week, the wind having changed, the fleet put out to sea again. The Kings of Sweden and Denmark will be strongly urged to make peace, and if the latter will consent to abide by the Treaty of Roeskild, his enemy wiU be admonished to carry it into execution, as it is thought advantageous to England that the passage of the Bal- tic Sea should be under the control of different powers. Mr. Downing must lately have received fresh orders to employ his good offices to induce the States-General to co-operate with us, and the first memorandum which he laid before them to that end was preconcerted here. As soon as my secretary returns, it will be possible to adopt still more definite resolu- tions in reference to affairs in those quarters. Meanwhile, the English fleet, joined with that of Sweden, will be able to prevent the entrance of any fresh reinforcements into the island of Zealand, unless the four thousand men that were to be embarked in Holland have anticipated them, of which we have no news, as the Flanders post did not arrive last week. T 2 276 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. The ambassador of the United Provinces, whom 1 saw a few days ago, does not fail to profess great inclination on the part of his superiors to an accommodation, and even agrees that the Elector of Brandenburg ought, in pursuance of the treaty, to separate himself from the party of the House of Austria ; but when I represented to him that the sending of reinforcements was not in accordance with any such disposi- tion on the part of the States- General, and that, if their pro- fessions were sincere, they ought to act in concert with us for the advancement of peace, and not to labour to effect the utter ruin of one of the contending parties, their ambassador remained silent, whence it may be inferred that the province of Holland confidently expects to restore the King of Den- mark to the position he occupied before beginning the war, and that it will persist in this course of conduct, unless it sees that France and England are making great efforts for the pre- servation of the King of Sweden; the treaty in respect to which I am now awaiting orders, may probably cause them to apprehend that our resolution is taken ; and it will also serve to pledge this Government to the continuation of the war with Spain, as the people of England are sufficiently well- affected to the Crown of Sweden to approve of anything likely to contribute to its preservation. Nevertheless no positive statements can be made respecting the inclinations of the Parliament before it meets, whatever measures the Protector may take to procure the election of well-intentioned deputies ; a body composed of five hundred persons cannot fail to be very difficult to govern, and the Republicans promise them- selves great authority among its members ; the writs for the elections will be issued today throughout the country. It is not likely that, in the meanwhile, any negotiations with Spain will be entered into, and any attempts to redeem Dunkirk would be attended with little success ; although the Protector and his Council may be disposed to raise money from Spain, they would not dare to make such a bargain as the sale of ILLUSTRATIVE LETl^ERS. 277 Dunkirk, which would expose them to very grave reproaches, and would give too great advantages to their enemies, who are already quite too much inclined to make use of anything adapted to cast a slur upon the conduct of the present Go- vernment. They will be less scrupulous about abandoning Jamaica, as they have enough other territories to occupy in America, at less expense. If we entertain suspicions that England may come to an accommodation with Spain, they are no less suspicious of the conduct of M. de Lionne at Madrid, and I have already been questioned by diflPerent per- sons as to the motive of that election; these inquiries it is not easy for me to satisfy, as I have no positive information on the subject ; and have not even received any letters from the Court since it has been at Lyons. Even Mr. Lockhart, on taking leave of me yesterday, did not forget to address to me a few words on this topic ; but I got rid of him by al- luding to the rumours which are also prevalent that England is desirous of making peace with Spain. . . . I do not fail, on all occasions, to insist on the great im- portance it is to England to treat the Catholics well ; and their condition has not become worse under the present Pro- tector ; most of the priests who were prisoners have been released, and if the Secretary of State grants me the libera- tion of three for whom I have interceded, the one whom the Queen of England has recommended will be set at liberty, as no others have been arrested. Lord Henry Cromwell has also liberated several in Ireland at my request, and by his letter, gave me reason to hope the Catholics will be more favourably treated ; and those of Ireland as well as of England may hope much from the inclinations of the Protector, who, in regard to religion, follows the example of his father, and declares himself the partisan of no particular creed, so that he may have them all on his side. 278 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 21.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. January 16, 1659. My Lord, After many postponements, the Secretary of State and the Keeper of the Seals came to me at last this afternoon, and (the latter acting as spokesman) declared to me that the Pro- tector had received in good part, and as a mark of the esteem of the King and of your Eminence, the communication which I had made to him respecting the advances of Spain, and the disposition of his Majesty in regard to peace ; on which point also they would not disavow to me that his Highness had been solicited from various sources, that he had always rejected those solicitations, so as not to detach himself from France, and that now, as his Majesty deemed that it was for the wel- fare of his State to make an accommodation on reasonable conditions, his Highness fully concurred in his \dews and was ready to agree to a special treaty, which should be preliminary to the general treaty : that, in the meanwhile, his Highness having remarked that, when urging the return of Mr. Lock- hart, I had spoken of the approaching campaign and of re- establishing the corps of English infantry, he had also directed them to enter into conference with me respecting the renewal of the last treaty, as it was necessary to take measures early, and to agree on the plans to be executed by the army in Flanders. This last proposition, coming so immediately after so general an answer to the principal point urged by me at my last audience, having led me to suspect that the Protector and his commissioners had not rightly intei-preted what I had told them regarding the negotiation of M. Pimentel, or that, in consequence of the state of domestic affairs in England not permitting them to adopt any resolution on a matter of so much importance before the meeting of Parliament, in order to elude the full explanation which your Eminence is desirous to obtain, they would propose conferences in regard ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 279 to a preliminary treaty as well as to the campaign : I did all I could to persuade them that his Majesty desired the return of Mr. Lockhart, or of some other person whom the Protector might please to send into France to represent his claims, only in order to make known those claims to the said M. Pimentel, and to induce Spain to satisfy them, if she desired peace with France, before any public negotiation was entered upon. I also renewed to them the offer which I had made to the Pro- tector, that, in case his affairs obliged him to make a speedy accommodation, his Majesty, in order to promote the conclu- sion of peace, would waive his own privileges as far as pro- priety allowed ; and in order to remove all pretext for unne- cessary delays, I assured them that not only would the King bind himself by a treaty to make no accommodation without the concurrence of England, and under the mutual guarantee of the two countries, but that your Eminence had already de- prived the said M. Pimentel of all hope of detaching one from the other country ; and that therefore, as no difficulty could arise as to the treaty which the commissioners call prelimi- nary, nothing ought now to prevent the English Government from making known its intentions to me at once, in order that your Eminence might be in a position to speak of them with precision, when M. Pimentel pays a second visit to France. I begged the commissioners to treat me with the same frankness and sincerity that the Protector must have remarked in the King's proceedings towards him, and to feel confident that your Eminence never acted otherwise than with a view to advance the common welfare of France and England, to both of which countries peace might be equ^ly necessary. It was necessary, I added, to take advantage of the present conjuncture, and of the unfortunate condition of Spain, in order to make peace with greater honour and profit. This language having given them a challenge to speak rather more openly than they had hitherto done, after having conferred together, they told me that they had some scruples in the 280 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. business ; and among other things they suggested that pro- priety would not allow England to make her demands before Spain had made hers ; that it was not the custom for one State to treat by means of another, although its ally; that furthermore, it would be time enough to send an ambassador to negotiate the peace, when conferences had been agreed on ; and that the Protector would then explain his claims: and they urged me again to declare my answer regarding the treaty for the conduct of the campaign, on which I had as yet said nothing. I satisfied them on all these points by citing the example of what had occurred between France and other allied States in most ancient treaties of peace, and as- suring them that there was more glory than dishonour in being the first to propose conditions instead of receiving them, not to mention that it was sufficiently notorious that, even if we made advances to Spain, it would not be from any fear of her power ; that moreover it was very usual to make use of the mediation of friends in the assertion of claims, and even to agree together on those on which stress is to be laid, espe- cially when both States are agreed as to the guarantee of the treaty which is to be made ; that the King would not make any difficulty, under similar circumstances, about discovering his wishes to the Protector; but that if his Highness was unwilling to treat his Majesty with the same confidence, he might order Mr. Lockhart to employ such reserve as he might think fit ; and with regard to the public assembly of the mi- nisters of all the nations interested in negotiating peace, I said there was no hope that any such meeting could take place until the principal existing difficulties had been arranged, for fear lest the same inconveniences should ensue which had oc- curred in the negotiation of the Treaty of Munster, when the chief object of Spain was to alienate the allies of France; that moreover, I had not demanded the appointment of an ambassador to treat openly of peace, but merely that some one should be sent, sufficiently well informed of his High- ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 281 ness's intentions, to declare them if occasion required ; and I again urged the said commissioners to persuade the Protector to set aside all these scruples, and candidly to declare to me at once whether he wishes to enter into an accommodation, and if such be his wish, to make known his interests in the matter, as it is not possible for the King to avoid giving some definite answer to Pimentel if he returns to France, without exposing himself to the charge of having rejected peace, which would turn to the great prejudice of France, and to the ad- vantage of Spain. The said commissioners again withdrew, and before giving me an answer, inquired of me whether we should proceed to an accommodation in case Spain refused to satisfy the demands of England. I told them that, as the King was not willing to treat without England, he hoped that the Protector would reduce his claims within reasonable bounds; or otherwise we should be engaged in a perpetual warfare, which France would find it difficult to carry on. They then told me, in very precise terms, that at present they could not give me aU the explanations which your Eminence desires, but that in a few days I should receive them; that Mr. Lockhart should have orders to proceed to France; and that I might rest satisfied that the Protector was disposed towards peace. On receiving this answer, I recommended that no time should be lost, and represented the necessity of coming to a speedy determination. The said commissioners immediately reverted to the treaty for the regulation of the campaign, and inquired whether I had not particular instructions in regard to it. I assured them that your Eminence was waiting to confer with Mr, Lockhart on the subject, and had therefore written to me only in ge- neral terms regarding it, and that I only knew that your Eminence was desirous to render the English corps as com- plete as possible ; but that if they had any special object in view, if they would inform me of it, I would communicate it to his Majesty. The commissioners accepted this overture. 282 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. and also begged me to request that instructions might be sent to me ; and that, in the meanwhile, they would not omit to draw up some scheme, and communicate it to me. I can draw no conclusion from all their speeches, both in regard to the treaty of peace and to the treaty for the conduct of the campaign (which they are so desirous to renew), unless it be that, although the Protector cannot avoid an accommodation with Spain, unless his afiairs change their aspect, he is never- theless unable to determine on any specific course before the meeting of Parliament ; and that not being the master in his Council, without whose participation and advice few matters are decided, he has not thought fit to bring this afiair before them, for fear that, after having discussed it, they might adopt some resolution at variance with his own private designs. It may also somewhat influence his conduct, that a war with Spain might serve as a pretext for obtaining money from the people of England, and for this reason he is unwilling to commence nego- tiations so soon ; or perhaps, as the Protector has summoned the Parliament, in order to use its power against a portion of the army which openly opposes his authority, he is of opinion that he will render himself more agreeable to that body, by leaving it to decide on the question of peace or war. But whatever his motive may be, it is very probable that his com- missioners only came with a view to keep me quiet ; and not- withstanding the care I took to make them understand that it was necessary either to send back Mr. Lockhart, or by some other means to make known the claims of the Protector, he will postpone doing either until the meeting of Parliament. I am confirmed in this opinion by the assurance which the commissioners gave me that they had communicated the ar- rival of M. Pimentel to no one; and it is certain that, al- though the Protector has great confidence in these two minis- ters, the three would not dare to adopt any resolution on an affair of so much consequence. Consequently the proposition which they make of a preliminary treaty, before giving any ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 283 explanation in regard to the treaty of peace, can only be con- sidered as an overture made with a view to gain time ; and with regard to the treaty for the conduct of the campaign, on which they insist so warmly, I think that their object is to use it for the purpose of convincing the Parliament that the Pro- tector is still pledged to incur great expenses, and to awaken hopes of conquest in Flanders by the continuation of the war with Spain, which will probably coincide with the views of some of the members, and induce them to open their purses more liberally. But if your Eminence thinks it desirable to avail yourself of these dispositions in order to obtain troops from England, and also to pledge the Government to make no accom- modation vrith Spain except in conjunction with France, and under the guarantee of peace, it will be necessary to lose no time, for fear the Parliament, which will have less considera- tion for the Protector^ s interest than for the repose of the nation, may deem it more advantageous to treat singly and surely, than to remain for ever bound to France. I foresee that in the campaign-treaty, some other place will be stipulated for, not only on account of the reputation of such a conquest, but in order to obtain from the country the means of sup- porting a garrison, the expense of which is very burdensome. I might also, with equal certainty, affirm that England, in any general treaty, will be satisfied with retaining the conquests which she may then possess in Flanders. The late Protector used to flatter the merchants with hopes of trade with the West Indies in return for the restoration of Jamaica, but the pre- sent Government has no such lofty views, nor is its power firmly enough established to warrant such pretensions. All the information which I have received since the outbreak of divisions among the officers of the army, is uniform in decla- ring that they cannot avoid complying with the vtishes of the people, who are strongly inclined towards peace. This neces- sity leads me to believe that the interest of England cannot long stand in the way of a general accommodation, and that 284 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. some measures may still be taken towards that end, while waiting for the Protector to explain his views more fully. I would give an exact report of all that occurred at the audience which he granted me, if it threw any light on his plans ; but the interview merely consisted, on my part, in an exact rela- tion of the propositions of M. Pimentel, of the opinion which your Eminence had formed of them, and of the whole con- tents of your letter of the 17th of last month; to which the Protector replied in general terms, expressive of his gratitude to the King and to your Eminence, with the assurance that he would endeavour to act correspondingly with so obliging a communication ; without however entering into particulars regarding the affairs which I had made known to him, he deferred further explanations until he had communicated with his Council. I expected nothing more; and I should even have been satisfied to confer on the matter with the Keeper of the Seals and the Secretary of State, if it had not appeared to me that the Protector might have been offended at such conduct on my part. The former of these ministers was his mouthpiece on the occasion, while the other served to divert the attention of two members of the Council, of whose pre- sence he had been unable to rid himself. When I entered for my audience, although I had intimated to them that I wished to see them alone, and they had kept me waiting some time, their embarrassment was so great that the Keeper of the Seals hinted to me to speak on some indifferent subject, in case the intruders should not have enough discretion to withdraw. But I was not put to this trouble. The said commissioners, before leaving, gave me the treaty of guarantee respecting the suc- cour to Sweden, with but little alteration in the articles which I had submitted to them ; they have merely added a clause by which England reserves to herself liberty to treat with the King of Sweden, which is subject to some explanation ; for it is not reasonable that, if England makes any special engage- ment with that Prince, from which she derives any advantage. ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 285 the King should guarantee the consequences and events which may result from such an engagement, imder the pretext that the succour now sent was the original cause of it. I make no doubt that, at our first conference, we shall agree that, if any treaty is made, it shall be made with his Majesty^s parti- cipation, and thus this affair will be quickly settled. But whatever we may determine, in order to secure the King of Sweden against the danger in which he is now placed, Eng- land cannot send any assistance until the month of March ; and but for the ice, the Swedish fleet would have been entirely ruined, before the arrival of the English squadron, which, the commissioners affirm, has prevented the departure of the re- inforcements from Holland; whence we may infer that the States-General will seriously determine to advocate peace, un- less any change occurs. Public opinion here asserts that the Parliament may produce some very important changes, and it is evident, from the elections which have already taken place, that the most factious members of the Long Parliament, and several cashiered officers of the army, are to resume their seats. General Fairfax is one of the number; some even imagine that the Presbyterians have designedly strained every nerve to get themselves elected ; and if they do not find themselves strong enough to form a government of their own, they intend to side with the Protector against the army. Although these differences are not very dangerous, the present Government will assuredly find it difficult more especially to retain the new House of Lords, created by the late Protector. This will be the first stumblingblock. The members from Ireland and Scotland will also run great risk of being expelled, as it is contrary to usage that they should be admitted into the Par- liament of England. These retrenchments will greatly di- minish the number of friends of the government, which will probably be supported by all men of pacific intentions. Three hundred recruits have latterly been sent to Dunkirk ; their em- barkation took place as soon as they had been drafted from 286 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. the old regiments, for fear of a mutiny, as foreign service is not so agreeable as service in England. Your Eminence will doubtless have received the same infor- mation which has reached us here of the arrival of the Indies fleet at the Canary Islands : if the news be true, it was never so richly laden ; rumour tells of forty-five millions of piastres, of which only eight millions were registered ; but the officers searched all the ships so strictly that they found forty mil- lions : this is the news of the Exchange in London, to which I have nothing to add, except that I am with respect, etc. As it was impossible to send the present letter by the last post, I may add that, since I wrote it, the Secretary of State has agreed to omit from the guarantee-treaty the article which he had added, but that he has said nothing more about giving me the explanations which his last visit led me to expect. The same report which I have already mentioned, about the arrival of the Indies fleet, still continue current ; and, as regards the internal afiairs of England, everything remains in the same state. 22.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. Janua/ry 30, 1659. My Lord, I can merely acknowledge the receipt of the letter with which your Eminence has honoured me, bearing date the 14th of this month, as it was delivered to me so late today that I have not had time to decipher it. Neither can I today inform you of the views of the Protector on those afiairs in respect to which I have recently had conferences with the Secretary of State, although he came to see me this evening with the Keeper of the Seals; they have postponed giving me such explanations as the present juncture will aUow, and also sign- ing the guarantee-treaty, until Saturday ; in accordance with the instructions I have received from the Count de Brienne, I ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 287 begged of them that orders might be sent to Mr. Downing to represent to the States- General that England having regard to the Duke of Neuburg, it would offend his Highness as well as his Majesty if they were to enter upon a war with him, unless they had cause to do so, which that Prince will doubt- less avoid giving them. This interference has been promised, and, should it be necessary, I will urge them to act warmly on his behalf. The said commissioners told me that they had no news from the north, except that the King of Sweden has gone to Fredericksoord, and they further assured me that the Elec- tor of Brandenburg has declared that he would not make any accommodation without the consent of the Emperor; the King of Denmark, there is reason to believe, will enter into his views, and we shall in consequence have no resource but to send a naval armament as soon as the sea is free. The Protector declares that he is resolved to do this. There was an English Knight, esteemed a good seaman, who was engaged in the service of Sweden, and had sailed on board the English fleet ; but the bad weather having forced it to return, he now refuses to carry out his original design, and so do all the offi- cers who were engaged with him ; whence it may be inferred that the affairs of that Prince are not in a prosperous condi- tion. I have at present no news to write of English affairs, except that there appears to be a great number of members of Par- liament inclined to peace, and that the party of those who are discontented with the government will probably be numeri- cally the weakest. 23.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. February 3-6, 1659. My Lord, My preceding letter will have informed your Eminence that the commissioners of his Highness were to have visited me on 288 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. the day before yesterday. This interview was however postponed until this evening, when they brought me the guarantee -treaty, which we signed, and in execution of which we are to send letters, by a ship which will sail tomorrow, to the Chevalier de Terlon and the English Resident, directing them to exert their influence with both the King of Sweden and the King of Denmark; but, in order to give more effect to their inter- ference, it is thought advisable to send them letters accredit- ing them to the latter of these two Princes. We have not thought it our duty to take any certain measures regarding the particular conditions of this accommodation, before we are informed of the state of affairs in the north ; it will however rest with the ministers of France and England to adapt their conduct to present circumstances. I shall write to this effect to the Chevalier de Terlon, who may threaten the King of Sweden with the abandonment of France, and the King of Denmark with her power, if he thinks it will be otherwise im- possible to induce them to make peace. The English Resi- dent will speak in the same terms ; and they will both be also informed that, in case the Elector of Brandenburg and the King of Poland refuse to make an accommodation without the concurrence of the Emperor, they must address themselves chiefly to the King of Denmark, whose necessities are most urgent ; and if their endeavours are successful, they must pro- cure the rejection, or at least such an explanation, of the ar- ticle in the Treaty of Roeskild which refers to the passage of the Sound by the ships of other nations, that the trade of France and England may suffer no injury. We also agreed at the same time to communicate to the States- General the resolution which has been adopted by the King and the Pro- tector. Explanations have already been given on the subject to Mr. Nieuport, their ambassador, who, doubtless on infor- mation of the treaty, came two days ago to assure me that he was authorized to bind his superiors to unite with us, against whichever of the said Princes should refuse to make peace on ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 289 equitable terms. I assured him that it would be very agree- able to his Majesty for them to take such a course, and re- ferred him to the Secretary of State, in order that his High- ness, hearing of this, might appoint commissioners, and that we might arrange the matter without further loss of time ; but it turned out that he had no powers or precise instructions on the subject, and that the States- General had an idea of settling the claims of the northern Princes in accordance with the Treaty of Brunsberg, in the year 1 G45, without any regard to that of Roeskild : which has given rise to the opinion here, that the advances made by the said ambassador were not to be treated seriously, and that, before entering into any particu- lars with him, it was necessary that a change should take place in his views. Such a change may probably be produced by our present treaty. I shall not fail to communicate it to M. de Thou by the next post. I have also undertaken to make known to the King of Poland and the Elector of Branden- burg, by means of the French ministers, as England has no representatives at their Courts, the care and diligence we are desirous of employing in order to reconcile them with Sweden; and the Secretary of State, in his next despatch to Mr. Downing, intends, in conformity with these steps, to order him to interpose his good offices to prevent the United Pro- vinces from engaging in hostilities against the Duke of Neu- burg. After all these instructions have been sent, until news arrives from Zealand, nothing further can be done in this busi- ness. After making these arrangements, the Keeper of the Seals told me that his Highness had commanded him to reiterate to me that he felt himself greatly obliged by the communication which I had made to him both of the overtures of M. Pimentel, and of the solicitations of the Elector of Mayence ; but that, before any resolution could be adopted here in reference to sending an ambassador to Augsburg, and making known the claims of England, it would be necessary to consult as to the means of resisting the great preparations which Spain is VOL. I. U 290 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. making in Flanders, which would seem to threaten Dunkirk with a siege before our armies have taken the field. This language, corresponding with that which I had already heard, confirmed me in the opinion I already entertained that the Protector was unable to come to any decision until after the first few meetings of Parliament ; and I thought it my duty to complain to the commissioners for speaking to me with so little candour, and not declaring plainly that his Highness could not just now give his attention to the peace, so that the King might accommodate his proceedings to the necessities of the Protector's affairs ; whereas, by using so much reserve, we were left to conceive distrust ; that all these delays were interposed in order that, in the meanwhile, it might be ascer- tained whether Spain would not grant England some more advantageous conditions, if she made peace apart from France ; that, at all events, the treaty for the management of the cam- paign need not prevent our giving mutual explanations in regard to the peace, any more than the meeting at Augsburg would prevent the junction of our troops, which alone were capable of extracting advantageous conditions from the enemy, and of arresting the progress of their designs in Flanders, which need not awaken apprehensions in respect to Dunkirk, as the town could not be besieged without a fresh army, more powerful than that of England ; that I had already informed your Eminence of his Highnesses desire in this respect, and that, in all probability, in a few days I should receive orders to confer with them on the subject, and to agree on some plan of a feasible and reasonable character ; that in the meanwhile they ought not to scruple to tell me whether his Highness could not explain his views respecting a general peace before the opening of Parliament, in order that I might write with some certainty to my Court, and that his Majesty, who had answered for England, might in future speak more definitely as to her intentions ; and I gave them at the same time to understand that, if they long deferred declaring themselves. ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 291 our common enemies would derive great advantages from it, and would not fail to insinuate to all the prinees of Germany that, under the name of our allies, we were erecting fresh ob- stacles to peace. The commissioners, after having conversed together, at first gave me strong assurances that they had no intention of entering either publicly or secretly into any treaty with Spain without our concurrence ; that his Highness was too grateful for his Majesty's conduct to make an unfair use of it, and that he would neither receive nor listen to any propositions of which we were not informed ; that they must nevertheless confess, without stating any reasons, that he was not at present in a position to adopt any fixed resolution, but that probably he would be in a short time. I received this confession, which was far more ingenuous than their previous speeches, with an assurance that the King would endeavour, on his part, to keep everything in suspense for a few days ; and we made each other innumerable protestations that we would remain as united in the treaty of peace as we had been in the war ; although in March both nations are to be at liberty to arrange their own afiairs separately, and to consult their own advantage. This is all that I was able to obtain from the commissioners ; and there is no reason to be sur- prised that the Protector should delay his decision until he knows what his own future condition is likely to be. I had formed the same opinion as I now hold from the very first answer that was returned to me ; and two days ago, I was in- formed that T must expect nothing until after the first two meetings of Parliament. The hint that M. de Turenne had given me, that it was necessary that Mr. Lockhart should assist us with five or six hundred men from his garrison, if Oudenarde were besieged, gave me occasion to request the Secretary of State that orders to this eflfect might be sent to Dunkirk ; he gave me reason to hope that this should be done, and that, generally, we might dispose of anything in the power of his Highness to grant. But he fears that the garrison of Dunkirk u 2 292 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. is very weak, because he has received no news of five companies that were to pass from Flanders into Dunkirk, although they embarked some time since. He also told me that the com- mandant of the English who are in winter-quarters in one of those two towns, complains greatly of the bad treatment they receive from the inhabitants, and I assured him that orders should be sent for them to be better treated in future. The news of the projects of the Duke of York, and the urgent re- quest I made that Mr. Lockhart might be sent back to the court, put an end to our conference ; secrecy was promised me on the first point, and on the second I was assured that orders should be sent to the said ambassador in a few days to pay a visit to Paris ; but nevertheless there was no abandonment of the request that had been made to me to write to your Eminence regarding the treaty for the conduct of the campaign, in order that early measures might be taken here for the execution of any plan that may be resolved upon : we even spoke of recruits for the English contingent, and the commissioners did not intimate that his Highness would make any difficulty about granting them. It may also be expected that he will claim to extend his conquests in the country, and to draw from it con- tributions that may serve, in part, to maintain the garrison of Dunkirk. If his Majesty's intentions are made known to me, the communication which I shall make of them will expedite the adoption of resolutions here ; and as the Protector does nothing on his own responsibility, his ambassador will be able to take no determination so promptly, or to answer for his present master with so much certainty as he could have done for his late Highness ; even the Council has for some time de- ferred all important affairs until the meeting of Parliament, the conduct of which excites so much apprehension that there is already some talk of breaking it up, unless it submits entirely to the government of the present authorities : which may be doubted, seeing the inclinations of the principal members who liavc been elected. They profess so much animosity against ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 293 the militia, and so much passionate ardour for the establish- ment of a commonwealth^ that part of the army, which is now detached from the Protector's interest, may be forced to rejoin him, for fear lest, by supporting his enemies, it may itself be in its turn destroyed. If the other reports which are current with regard to the sentiments of this assembly be true, they will listen favourably to the solicitations which the principal mer- chants of England are likely to make in favour of peace with Spain. But before they come to that question, they will have to settle other domestic affairs, the decision of which will either destroy or confirm the power of the Protector. The account which I have given above, of all that occurred and was said today between the commissioners of his Highness and myself, leaves me nothing further to reply to the contents of your Eminence's letter of the 14th of January, except that your previous despatches have completely dispelled the suspicions and jealousies occasioned by the visit of M. Pimentel and the pre- tended journey of M. de Lionne, which had, with some foun- dation of reason, given umbrage to the English Government, until communication was made to his Highness of the over- tures of Spain ; he now appears fully persuaded of our sincerity. I think it also my duty to add that, whatever demonstration the States- General may make, by means of their ambassador, of their desire to detach the Elector of Brandenburg from the House of Austria, if they really bestir themselves to succeed in this, it will only be at the last extremity ; and when, at the last visit which their ambassador paid me, I expressed to him, in the course of conversation on the subject, my opinion that his superiors had complete influence with that Prince, he strongly combated my view, and made great efforts to persuade me that the Elector now paid very little deference to their counsels. As regards the intention of the province of Holland with respect to the accommodation of the King of Denmark, although it appears to be unchanged, as far as I can learn from the speech of the above-mentioned ambassador to the Secretary of State, 294 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. there is reason to believe that the engagement into which Eng- land and France have just entered will banish all hopes of depriving the King of Sweden of all the advantages secured to him by the Treaty of Roeskild, if he is able to maintain himself a little longer, and if nothing occurs in England to prevent the return of the fleet. I am, &c. London^ February 6, 1659. As I was unable to send off the present letter by the last post, I will add an account of what passed today at the opening of Parliament. The members proceeded to the chapel at West- minster, whither the Protector also repaired by water, accom- panied by his Council, his family, and some ofl&cers of the army. After having heard the sermon, he retired into a room, where, the new Lords and the deputies of the Commons having assembled, he spoke to them standing and uncovered, after he had sate down in their presence for a moment with his hat on. The commencement of his speech was an exaggerated statement of the care taken by the late Protector to establish peace in Eng- land, and of the condition in which he had left the country at his death ; he then proceeded to set forth the motives which had induced him to assemble this body, professing that, although God had called him to the government, he was umviliing to con- duct it by his own unaided knowledge, but wished to be assisted by the advice of the Council of the nation ; and, descending into particulars, he represented the great necessity which exists for satisfying the army, to which great arrears are due, and took occasion to extol its extreme forbearance and the patience with which it has endured the delay of its payment. He then sug- gested three points on which they would have chiefly to de- liberate ; the first was the Protestant religion, and the means of repressing the disorders with which it is afflicted ; the second was the interest of the King of Sweden, whose ruin he repre- sented would be both prejudicial and disgraceful to England, as his downfall could not but give her enemies the means of imdertaking enterprises against her. The third point was the ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 295 power of the House of Austria, which, he said, was becoming formidable to the whole of Christendom, and more especially to the Protestants, by the apparent junction of the German branch with that which rules in Spain. The end of his speech was an exhortation to union, without which he could expect no advantage from their meeting. When the Protector had con- cluded, the chief of the Keepers of the Seals spoke, and dwelt on no other topic than the necessity of union. This over, his Highness withdrew in the same manner as he had come, and the Parliament proceeded to elect its Speaker, who is one of the most celebrated lawyers in the nation, without there ap- pearing any diversity of opinion regarding his election. 24.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. February 10, 1659. My Lord, The letter which your Eminence did me the honour to write to me on the 30th of January has only just been delivered to me ; I can therefore merely acknowledge its receipt today, and the next post shall convey my answer. Nor shall I now add anything to my previous letters, respecting the affairs of which they treated : the Parliament occupies the attention of the English government too fully to allow the ministers of the Council to give any consideration at present to foreign affairs ; this however in no degree arises from the fact that, since the opening of that assembly, of which I informed your Eminence, any resolution of importance has been adopted by it. Its first resolution was that next Friday should be a day of fasting and bodily humiliation ; a committee was then appointed to examine into the contested elections, and this morning the list of mem- bers was read, which gave rise to a question of considerable importance, namely, whether the thirty representatives of Scot- land, and the same number from Ireland, ought to be admitted : 296 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. those who arc in favour of their exclusion declare that they were not summoned by any act of any previous Parliament, nor even by established usage, but that their only title to sit is an or- dinance of the Council of State, whose power does not extend to the regulation of Parliaments ; that moreover the union of those two nations with England has not yet been effected, and they ought rather to be considered as conquered provinces ; and that, if it were in the power of the Sovereign to add so large a number of members, he would be the absolute master of his Parliaments, because, by the same ordinance, sixty members are reputed to represent the whole body ; and that he might dismiss the rest in imitation of the course practised so fre- quently by the late Protector. It had always been foreseen that this would be a very great difficulty, and it took shape today ; tomorrow it will be discussed and will furnish an op- portunity of discovering those who are well-intentioned towards the government, although some even of these are opposed to this innovation. The establishment of the Other House, created by the previous Parliament, will be next discussed, and will meet with no less opposition ; it may therefore be safely affirmed, that if the Protector gets these two points decided in accordance with his wishes, all the rest will be very easy to him. 25.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. ,^ ^ , Februarv IS, 1659. My Lord, I hope that my despatches of the 7th and 27th of January, and of the 6th of this month, will put an end to the surprise which your Eminence appears to feel, judging from your letter of the 30th ultimo, and that you will perceive that I have ac- knowledged the receipt of your previous letters, replied to their contents, and given an exact account of the answers which the Protector's ministers have given me. As nothing has escaped ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 297 me of what occurred in our conferences, and as I have even touched upon the considerations which helped me to urge this Government to come to a prompt resolution on the overtures of M. Pimentel and the schemes of the Elector of Mayence, I think I cannot better satisfy your Eminence's expectations than by sending you duplicates of my preceding letters, if your next despatch to myself does not acknowledge their receipt. You will also find expressed in them my opinions with regard to the different propositions of his Highness's commissioners, in conformity with what they afterwards declared to me them- selves with considerable plainness. But it was not my expec- tation that his Highness, though deferring his own decision until the meeting of Parliament, would have communicated to that body a negotiation which ought to be kept secret. It was rather to be presumed that the uncertainty of his condition, and the confidence that he would profit by the apparent con- tinuation of the war, in order to establish the internal govern- ment of England, led him to postpone giving the desired ex- planation. The Protector's speech to the Parliament cannot but confirm the judgment I had formed ; and noticing that the power of the House of Austria and trade with the Baltic Sea have served as a pretext for the convocation of that as- sembly and the demand of a grant of money, there is no reason for astonishment that he explained himself in very general terms, or that Mr. Lockhart's journey has also been deferred until they can give him positive instructions ; meanwhile, the disposition which the Protector professes to entertain, and the claims to peace which it seems to me he must support, may lead to the adoption of tolerably certain measures, until the conduct of Parliament permits him to speak out openly, which there is reason to expect he will do in a few days. As far as regards the interests of the northern Kings, the treaty which your Eminence will presently receive will prove that I have faithfully executed the last orders which were sent to me. A considerable number of ships are now being got ready in order 298 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. to oppose the Dutch, if they determine to assist the King of Denmark. Their ambassador however declares that his only desire is to promote a reconciliation, and yesterday he came to assure me that he had sent home the declaration which I had made to him, after previous agreement with the Secretary of State, that if he were empowered to confer with the commis- sioners of his Highness and myself with regard to the means of promoting this accommodation, we should be ready to meet him at once, and even to determine almost positively the con- ditions which each of us would endeavour to induce our allies to accept. He believes that this overture will be embraced by his superiors, but that they cannot send an ambassador before they are informed of the present disposition of the King of Sweden, as, after what has passed on both sides, there is great reason to doubt whether any mediation would be agreeable. The said ambassador went on to tell me that he had orders to state here, as M. Borel was also instructed to do in France, that the United Provinces woidd willingly enter into a defen- sive league with France and England ; and when I asked him what might be the object of such an alliance, he proposed no other than the cessation of many jealousies which now exist between us. I did not fail to suggest hopes to him that his Majesty woidd joyfully listen to such a proposition, and to assure him that my instructions bound me to employ all my influence to prevent any subject of misunderstanding between them and England. I had already, in my previous conferences, urged the commissioners of his Highness to settle the dispute which now exists respecting the capture of three English ships off Bantam ; and I have also, at the request of the Dutch ambassador, represented the evil consequences that might ensue if the Protector permitted his subjects to fit out ships under commissions from the King of Sweden ; the Secretary of State promised me that orders should be sent to Mr. Downing to settle the first point, and as to the equipment of ships, he said he did not know that any Englishman had ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 299 taken the liberty to do so ; and we agreed to act in sueh a manner towards the States- General that they should have no pretext for entering into any connection with Spain. I shall continue to act on the same principle, and if they send orders here for the settlement of affairs in the north_, I make no doubt but that we shall agree on the means of restoring peace, which the English Government desires as ardently as the United Provinces, for fear of involving themselves in a con- flict with a State that is powerful at sea ; in addition to which it is not believed here that it will be any advantage to the nation completely to ruin the King of Denmark. I infer also from the language of the Dutch ambassador, and from his frequent visits since we resolved on the guarantee-treaty, that his superiors are anxious to avoid all occasions of a rupture with France and England. These favourable indications will not hinder the progress of preparations here ; and according to all appearance, the Protector will have power to execute all his projects. The Parliament is better disposed towards him than had been imagined ; instead of ventilating, on the day before yesterday, the question of the exclusion of the Scotch and Irish members, as had been expected, the Secretary of State brought forward a bill for the recognition of the Pro- tector, alleging as his pretext that foreign Princes could have no proper opinion of the government of England until it ap- peared to have been acknowledged by that assembly, and that it might prove a very serious disadvantage to the nation if, in the present conjuncture, they should refuse to treat with his Highness. This proposition was at first opposed by some of the Republicans, but the number of opponents was so small that the bill was read for the first time, and the second read- ing has been postponed to Monday next : it being the custom, before voting on any bill, to have it read three times. It has since been proposed, that, as the neighbouring States to Eng- land are at war, and their great preparations give reason to apprehend some attack on the coast, it was advisable without 300 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. delay to provide sufficient funds for the equipment of a consi- derable fleet : upon which it was resolved that, on Monday week, the treasurers should bring in their accounts, in order that the Parliament, being informed of the amount already raised, might better estimate the present necessities of the Exchequer. These are the principal affairs which have been treated by the House during the last few days ; the rest of their time has been employed in investigating the complaint of one of the members of their body against a major in the army, who has been sent to the Tower of London, and in hearing the petition of Major-General Overton, who has been a prisoner of State for some years in the Castle of Jersey, the governor of which has received orders to bring his prisoner to the bar of the House. An harangue was also made yesterday by one of the most illustrious Republicans in the assembly, proposing to separate the command of the forces from the political government of the State, but it led to no result; whence it may be presumed that the Protector^s party is the strongest, and that he will be able to secure the adoption of resolutions favourable to his designs, although it is believed that a petition is projected, in the name of many people both in London and the country, praying for the diminution of his authority. The Act of Recognition will shortly call forth all forms of discontent. Meanwhile the House of Lords has no correspondence with the House of Commons ; and any discus- sion of the question is avoided, as it might alienate many persons who are well-intentioned to the Government, but op- posed to the new House of Lords. ... 26.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. ,, ^ , February 20, 1659. My Lord, As the last posts have brought me no letter from your Eminence, and nothing has passed here in reference to foreign ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 301 affairs, I have merely to inform you of the home affairs of England, which may be reduced to the debates in Parliament. It spent the last two days of last week in prayers, and in ap- pointing commissioners to investigate various matters ; there was also a rather animated debate because two members, of whom one was Colonel Cook, entered the House without hav- ing taken the oath which the others had taken : they excused themselves from doing so, on the pretext that it would wound their consciences, if they subjected them to any such engage- ment. This reason was not well received by all the body; some demanded that the recusants should suffer the usual penalty of exclusion ; but others declared that the oath was merely an unnecessary ceremony, and that if members were so scrupulous as to be unable to put on it a favourable inter- pretation, they ought not to be forced to take it. Rather than enter more deeply into the question, they were allowed to take their seats, and this has since served as a precedent, to Sir Henry Vane among others, one of the most notable Republicans in the whole nation, who took his seat on the first day of this week. On the same day, the Act of Recognition was read a second time, and since then, no other business has been discussed, although no one has yet gone into the details of the question. All the meetings of the House have been occupied with very free speeches from the Republicans, and answers to them from those who are well-affected towards the Government : the more moderate among the Republicans as- sert that it will be advisable to grant the Protector the same prerogatives and conditions which were accepted by the late King, when the Long Parliament treated with him in the Isle of Wight ; as this proposition is sufficiently plausible, and is in conformity with the wishes of the army, inasmuch as it de- prives the chief magistrate of the command of the forces, it seems likely to be finally adopted, although at present the greater number of members are blindly inclined to maintain the authority of the Protector, which would be greatly dimi- 302 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. nished by this deprivation ; in support of which some citizens appeared yesterday at the door of the House, who demanded permission to present a petition in their own names, and in the names of many other good people. They were informed that at present the House could attend to no other business, but that after the conclusion of the debate then in progress, they might be heard ; it was nevertheless a matter of public notoriety that this petition had been signed by fifteen or twenty thousand persons, and tended to the diminution of the authority of the Protector, whence it may be inferred that his friends are in the ascendant ; and it may safely be said that on their firmness his greatness depends, if it be true, as Major- General Lambert declared, that the Other House, composed of the principal officers of the army, will submit without opposi- tion to the resolutions of the House of Commons. It would be a tiresome narrative to relate all the other free speeches that were made ; it will be enough to show the spirit of some of the Republicans, if I touch on some passages in the long speech of Sir Henry Vane ; after a detailed statement of all that occurred in the last movement, in which he took a con- spicuous part, he admitted that the late Protector might, by labouring as he had done to efifect the ruin of the monarchy, have deserved the authority which the last Parliament had conferred upon him, but when he came to the son, he could find in him no title to succeed him ; and then, examining all the legitimate ways by which men may legitimately attain sovereign authority, he endeavoured to prove that the Protec- tor could not support his own position by any valid reason. This speech did not fail to provoke replies, as there are many illustrious advocates among the friends of his Highness, and it is not believed that the Republicans have any desire to destroy him, as three parts of the body are favourable to his maintenance in his present position ; only they wish to limit his power, and to deprive him of the command of the forces. This debate will last for some days more, whatever efforts ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 303 may be made to terminate it, for fear that the enemies of the Parliament [Protector ?] may in the meanwhile gain over some of those members who are less firm in their opinions. A report was prevalent lately that the Scottish army wished to make a declaration of submission to the Parliament, but up to this time no such declaration has appeared, and it is still the common belief that everything will be settled, both in the army, and in Parliament, in accordance with the wishes of the Protector, who, I learn, has given very positive orders for the preparation of twenty-eight ships to sail to the Sound as soon as the weather will permit. I am also assured that Mr. Lock- hart will be able to set out at the end of this month, and his secretary has come over here to obtain final instructions. I am impatiently awaiting your Eminence's orders respecting my pay ; and I trust you will continue to allow me the honour of your good- will, and to do me the justice to believe that I am, etc. 27.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. February 24, 1659. My Lord, As the questions which were debated in Parliament last week may have awakened some curiosity in your Eminence to know how they were decided, I shall not allow this post to pass, although I have received no letters from you, without informing you of such facts as have come to my knowledge. On the 21st of this month, the debate was continued on the question whether the Protector should be recognized or not. The Republicans having, as usual, exhausted the whole sitting with long harangues, the debate was postponed to the 22nd ; on which day however it was not terminated, as a great deal of time was lost in debates on the exclusion of two members who were expelled for having formerly belonged to the King's party. The matter was therefore brought forward again to- 304 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. day, and a new turn was again given to the debate by an in- quiry as to the terms in which the question should be put ; but after much dispute, by which the sitting of the House was prolonged until evening, the friends of the Protector gained a majority of thirty votes, whence it is to be presumed that the question will be decided in accordance with their wishes, that is to say, that the House will vote the recognition of the Protector. But the great difficulty will be with regard to his authority, and to obtaining the veto on Parliamentary votes, and the command of the forces, which are two very essential points. I learn from good authority that the Republicans have been gaining time all these days, in the hope that part of the army, under the influence of Major-General Lambert, would pre- sent an address to the House ; and this hope has even been publicly expressed of late. But the Protector, being informed that most of the officers who had resolved on this step were assembled at the house of Lieutenant- General Fleetwood, proceeded thither in person, and gave them to understand that he would have recourse to extreme measures rather than permit their petition to be presented. This threat however has not entirely silenced them, and it is momentarily expected that they will present themselves at the bar of the House. In that case, the Protector seems to be resolved to proceed thither with all his friends and drive them out, and some believe that fear of such a catastrophe has caused General Fleetwood and Major-General Desborough, another leader of the officers, to withdraw from the project. These various opinions do not fail to cause considerable alarm here, and to awaken appre- hensions of disorder, as the troops are greatly divided in their views, and the Protector has not been able to prevent Fleet- wood's regiments from remaining in London at this crisis, although, according to the rules of the service, it is now their turn to be in country quarters. Ere long however all these clouds must be dispersed, and one or other party must entirely ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 305 prevail ; if the Republicans get the upper haud, the Protector will have no more authority than the Doge of Venice, and it is to this condition that the petition of the officers tends to reduce him. Amid all these embarrassments, the ministers of the Council have not neglected to listen to the propositions of the Swedish envoys, and I am told that in order to induce the Protector to assist them with his whole fleet in making the conquest of Copenhagen, they have offered him the for- tress of Glounstat [Gliickstadt ?] , which they expect they will quickly take with the help of the English ships. As this pro- position is really splendid, and may inspire the English people with hopes of great advantages in regard to trade with Ger- many, I see a good deal of inclination, if domestic affairs per- mit, to make some treaty on this basis with the Swedes, and great diligence is shown in preparing the fleet to sail in three weeks. Nevertheless, my information of all these designs is derived neither from the Swedish envoys nor from the Secre- tary of State ; and the latter has not sent Mr. Downing any orders to communicate the last guarantee-treaty to the States- General, although we had agreed that he should. This leads me to suspect that the Government of England may delay employing its good offices to promote pacification, until it has ascertained what measures may be concerted with the King of Sweden. The ratification of the said Treaty will enable me to discover what is projected, and if your Eminence will make known to me the King's intentions, I shall act in conformity therewith either to promote or prevent the scheme, or to state that his Majesty will not hold himself bound to guarantee any consequences of such an arrangement. I had previously informed you that Mr. Lockhart would shortly visit the Court, but Lord Faulconbridge told me on the day before yesterday, that his departure had been deferred for some days ; and in- deed the present crisis would not seem to warrant his leaving his post. We have no news from abroad. VOL. I. X 30G ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 28.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. February 27, 1659. My Lord, The state of affairs here is now very different to what it ap- peared to be at the end of last week ; a part of the army was then resolved to present a petition to Parliament^ tending to the diminution of the power of the Protector ; but now that Generals Fleetwood and Desborough have publicly disavowed them, and have gone over to the side of his Highness, the Re- publicans, whose hopes were in part based on the discontent of the troops, find themselves very far from the realization of their designs, and the Court party has fall freedom to act. In my last letter, I informed you of one of the resolutions adopted in Parliament on Monday last ; the session was prolonged on that day imtil ten o'clock in the evening, and another vote of con- siderable importance was carried : the terms of the first reso- lution are that it shall be a part of the bill to recognize and declare his Highness Richard, Lord Protector of the Common- wealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and their depen- dencies; the second states that, before committing the bill, the House declares that the clauses which may limit the power of the chief magistrate, and fully assure the rights and privi- leges of Parliament, and the rights and liberties of the people, form a part of the said bill, and that neither the present nor any other preliminary resolution which is or shall be passed on the subject of the said bill, shall be of any force or obligation upon the people imtil the whole of the said bill be passed : whence it appears that the Protector's condition is not yet thoroughly established. The intention is, of course, to prevent his taking advantage of the first result of the debate before the limits of his power are regulated; but as his friends have already prevailed, in these debates, over the Republicans, who were un- willing to pass any resolution that would prejudge the question and give a title to the Protector, it is to be presumed that if ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 307 they remain unshaken in their views, the power of the govern- ment will be trammelled by no other limitations than those with which the Protector will be satisfied, notwithstanding the peti- tion of the Sectaries, who presented themselves last week at the door of the House. They returned thither again on the day before yesterday, and being admitted to the House, one of them delivered the petition, upon which some discussion arose, the Republicans demanding that, in conformity with the practice observed in the time of the Long Parliament, the petitioners should be thanked for their address and submission : the Court party opposed this, and it was finally determined that the Speaker should inform them that some of the demands contained in their petition had already been taken into consideration, that the others would be dealt with in due course, and that the House expected from them the acquiescence which they pro- mised. This petition was addressed to the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England, and made no mention of the Pro- tector either in its title or its contents, and was in the same terms as that which obliged the late Protector to dissolve the last Parliament, tending to the establishment in England of such a government that the people might enjoy their liberties under it, that tender consciences might not be forced, and that there might be no recurrence of the inconveniences which gave rise to the late wars ; that if it were necessary to maintain an army for the safety of the nation, the command should be given to some person who could not make use of it to oppress the liberty of the people ; that no levy should be made without the consent of Parliament, to coerce which no violence should in future be used, nor should its petitioners be subjected to harsh treatment, but that reparation should even be made of the inju- ries which some of them had suflered from the late Protector. In consideration of such a petition, that of the ofiicers of the army had almost the same objects, and would have been of still greater weight if the Protector had not prevented its presentation by his arrangement with the ringleaders, one of whom, it is said, is to x2 308 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. be General, and the other Lieutenant-General of the army. This reconciliation seems to have put an end to the danger in which the Protector has lately been placed, and causes the Re- publicans to lose heart, as their only resource is to thwart the establishment of too great a power in the State. The sitting yesterday was occupied by an accusation brought against a leading Republican ; he was charged, and there were witnesses ready to prove it, with having declared that he was more affected by reading Cicero than by reading the Bible; this accusation drew down threats and denunciations upon the courtiers, and the Secretary of State even was stigmatized by one of the Republicans, who imputed to him as a crime the enterprise against Jamaica ; at length, it was thought advisable not to proceed further with this discussion, as there is acrimony enough already between the members, who quarrel readily on the most insignificant propositions. This morning it was re- solved that the debate on the act of recognition shall be con- tinued tomorrow, and that the letter from the Protector shall be taken into consideration, which he has written to invite the Parliament to take speedy measures to provide the necessary funds for the maintenance of the fleet which is to be sent to sea to assist the King of Sweden ; in spite of the opposition of the Republicans, a committee has been appointed to investigate the accounts of the treasurers. The same member against whom the accusation was brought yesterday, took the opportunity to speak of peace with Spain, and after having exaggerated the disadvantages of war, he assured the House that Spain would not fail to send propositions of accommodation as soon as she was aware of the feeling of England on the subject. The Se- cretary of State then spoke, and represented the different con- dition in which England was now placed from that which she occupied when the late Protector came to the government; at which time there was war with all other nations, and peace with Spain alone, whereas now there was peace with all nations ex- cept Spain, war with whom was so advantageous to religion and ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 309 SO glorious to England that the Parliament, after a little serious reflection, would not be induced so readily to make peace : but that, in its proper time, it might be discussed, and that the Protector would submit this affair to the consideration of Par- liament. From this speech, your Eminence will be able to judge that the answers which were previously made to me with regard to the overtures of peace which I communicated had their mo- tives, and that the government here is not yet in any hurry to see the conclusion of that which may be desired by France; but as a very little time must set the Protector more at liberty, we shall soon have some assurance of his pretensions. This long narrative of what has occurred here during the last three days leaves me nothing to add by way of making you acquainted with the present condition of the English Government. Ap- pearances are altogether in its favour, and unless there be some new movement on the part of the army there is nothing to fear; not that the Protector^ s authority may not be limited, that of the Kings was likewise trammelled; and if he retains the com- mand of the forces, he will be more absolute than they ever were, even if he is deprived of the veto on Parliamentary votes, and his Council is appointed by the House of Commons. These are the three points which will henceforward be discussed with- out intermission. In presence of all these domestic occupations, I have not thought it expedient to press for a conference with the Secretary of State, although such an interview would have appeared to me opportune to learn the state of the negotiations with the Swedish ministers, who, I have been again assured, have made the offers which your Eminence will have learned from my previous letters ; the diligence which is manifested in the enrolment of seamen also confirms me in the belief that some design is on foot, although that diligence may be only affected in order to expedite the debates and supplies of Par- liament. I have also seen the ambassador of Holland today, who suspects there is some secret treaty, without however having been able to discover any particulars in regard to it ; 310 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. and the apprehension that the King of Sweden may hand over to the English some place in the Sound led him to urge very warmly the conclusion of a defensive league with France and England; he also very much exaggerates the great disadvantage which might one day accrue to us from so close a connection between Sweden and England ; nevertheless, his superiors have not sent him the powers which he was expecting in order to come to an agreement with us regarding the means of promoting peace between the northern Princes : he says that his superiors are apprehensive that certain provinces, which are well-affected to the Elector of Brandenburg, on account of his connection with the House of Orange, may make a diflQculty about pressing him to an accommodation without the concurrence of the House of Austria, and also about soliciting the King of Denmark to make any treaty without the participation of the said Elector ; but he believes that if we were to give the States-General to understand thatwe haddeemed it expedient to urge the northern Princes to come to an accommodation even in accordance with the terms of the last treaty of Roeskild, they would take the opportunity to urge the provinces to concur with us in pro- moting the peace ; and to end the discourse of the said ambas- sador, it appears to me that either he or his superiors are in great alarm. I assured him that the secret treaty with Sweden had not been brought to my knowledge, and that it was not his Majesty^s intention, in assisting the King of Sweden, to do anything which might turn to the prejudice of his other allies, but that his sole object was to reconcile the northern States; that, with regard to a defensive league, doubtless Mr. Borel, who had received orders to propose it, would meet with a most favourable reception at the Court, and that, for my own part, I was ordered to employ all the King's influence with his High- ness in order to maintain a good understanding between Eng- land and the United Provinces ; that if the Protector would agree to press the execution of the Treaty of Roeskild, I would also give my consent, and that M. de Thou should have in- ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 311 structions to act at the Hague in conformity with the reso- lutions adopted here. As soon as the ratification of the gua- rantee-treaty has been sent to me, I shall avail myself of the opportunity to speak to the Secretary of State on all these matters, and to urge that the orders on which we agreed may be sent to Mr. Downing, if they have not already been despatched; which is very doubtful, seeing the propositions of the Swedish ministers, and the armaments that are being prepared. March 3, 1659. As the present letter was not sent by the last post, I may add that the Secretary of State has kept me waiting all this day for an answer with regard to the audience and conference which I had requested in satisfaction of the two letters from your Eminence, and that I have not yet heard from him. I am therefore, by this delay, obliged to defer the explanations which you request until next post. I may also add that, to- wards the end of last week, the Parliament resolved that it should be composed in future of two Houses, and postponed until tomorrow the regulation of the authority of the new House, without the Republicans opposing this resolution, as they saw their party was much weaker than that of the cour- tiers. There will be nevertheless much question as to the composition of this new House, for the Protector wishes to maintain it as instituted by his father, while the majority of the ParKament are disposed to reinstate the old Lords, with the exception of those who have borne arms for the King. His Highness seems to disapprove less strongly of the proposition to combine the two classes, for fear lest the latter, being more numerous, may one day favour the restoration of the King. This morning the Duke of Buckingham obtained his liberty from the Parliament ; and the question of succour to the King of Sweden having been brought under discussion, it was deemed expedient to refer it to the Protector and his Council. 312 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 29.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. March 6, 1659. [This Letter begins with an account of his conference with Secretary Thurloe.] ... I next informed him of the design entertained by the ministers of Spain to convey a body of infantry into Flanders, and to make use of the Duke of York to stir up divisions in England, during the session of Parliament. He told me that the Protector would always be ready to favour the levying of recruits, when his Majesty was entirely diverted from doing so, and that he would shortly send Mr. Lockhart to Paris to re- ceive his commands : that although it was not probable that the Spaniards would be willing to risk a considerable body of infantry in the Channel, he would not fail to order all the English cruisers to keep a sharp look-out ; and that, in regard to the designs of the Duke of York, although some members of Parliament (meaning the Eepublicans) might support him, his Highness had no cause to dread them. Our conversation ended, as far as I was concerned, after I had informed him of tlie orders which have been sent to Amiens in favour of the English regiments, and had reiterated my entreaties that the Protector would either send Mr. Lockhart to Paris as soon as possible, to explain his views, or would declare them to me. The Secretary again assured me that I should hear from him today, and made me abundant protestations that his Highness would have no reservations from your Eminence, and would adopt no resolution in regard to peace without the consent of France. This same declaration has been made to me so fre- quently and so solemnly of late, that I have had no ground to complain, or to stipulate any other correspondence for the future ; and I still remain convinced that the uncertainty of the Protector's position is the only reason why he does not ex- plain himself more openly. To this also must be attributed the ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 313 postponement of Mr. Lockhart^s visit to Paris ; and it would have been a hazardous proceeding for him to leave Dunkirk at a moment when the whole army was ready to declare against the Government, as the garrison of that place is composed of officers on whom Mr. Fleetwood can rely quite as much as the Protector. I have nothing to add to my previous letters in regard to the proceedings of the said Mr. Lockhart, which are so much at variance with his protestations, except that the in- formation which was given me turned out to be in strong con- formity with his own language to myself. I can also say nothing yet in reference to your Eminence's idea of treating for the cession of Dunkirk. It is very certain that the Protector does not value the conquest so highly as his deceased Highness did, as he has no such lofty designs. Even the Parliament regards it as a source of expense and disputes, and, only two days ago, one of the members, a man of considerable reputa- tion, told me that it was the interest of the nation to sell the place either to France or Spain. Nevertheless, the Council of State will hardly resolve to do so, unless pressed by some overpowering necessity, for fear of giving a handle to com- plaints of its conduct. I shall not fail to endeavour, by some private means, to effect some arrangement of this matter, as soon as I get some clearer view of the establishment of the Government ; and the English are mercenary enough to neg- lect no opportunity of obtaining profit, however slight a colour may be given to the proposition. The treaty of peace will furnish an occasion for mooting the subject. We should suc- ceed with still greater facility in this design, if it were inti- mated that Spain means to insist on the restitution of Dun- kirk, but would rather resign her claims to it in favour of France, on account of the interests of the Catholic religion. If the Parliament were to quarrel with the Protector, before granting him any money, we should succeed still more easily in this enterprise, to the advancement of which I shall apply myself with all diligence. I have not thought it necessary to 314 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. make any further efforts to penetrate the intention of his Highness's commissioners, in proposing to me a preliminary treaty. Besides that this overture appears to me to be made simply with a view to gain time, I declared from the first that we needed to take no mutual precaution or engagement, be- yond pledging ourselves not to treat separately, and recipro- cally to guarantee the treaty of peace. The two commis- sioners acquiesced in my opinion, and nothing had been said on the subject since. If the same proposition is made again, I shall act in accordance with your Eminence's orders. , . . In order to complete my reply to the contents of the two letters of your Eminence, it only remains for me to say that my Lord Faulconbridge wiU not be difficult to please with re- gard to the shape of the diamond, provided it is worth a thou- sand pistoles. Mr. Gideon is not a whit more delicate ; and although the authority of the Protector may be somewhat weakened, the expense will not be thrown away, and the pre- sent will be more timely at the present juncture of affairs, than after the consolidation of the government. I may also promise to your Eminence any information that may be given me, in reference to the state of feeling both in the army and in the ParKament. In regard to my own judgments on the conduct of these two bodies, I shall be very scrupulous about stating them, imless there should be an express accommoda- tion ; for I know that events may exactly contradict my pre- visions, as I am not always taken into the confidence of those who have the management of affairs, and they change their policy very often. It may have been noticeable from my let- ters that, before the meeting of Parliament, the Protector was threatened with an alliance between the disaffected officers of the army and the Republican members, and that these two parties, acting together, would be capable of effecting a change in the government. Every one, even the most enlightened ministers of state, then entertained this apprehension ; and, in the first sittings of the House, it was evident that their alarm ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 315 was well founded, — a great number of members having declared openly for a commonwealth, while the Sectaries have pre- sented a petition tending to the same result, and the army also, at the same time, projected a similar address. To dispel all these storms, no other plan has yet been discovered but that of collecting together the principal officers who were fo- menting insurrection among their comrades ; and as soon as the reconciliation was effected, the aspect of affairs changed, the Protector's party gained strength in Parliament, his ene- mies lost heart when they saw their own number diminished and the army united against them, and the Act of Eecogni- tion was no longer beset by so many obstacles. It may even be said that the Parliament, until the day before yesterday, appeared disposed to grant his Highness more than he de- sired, as the restoration of the House of Lords was resolved upon without any endeavour on the part of the Republicans to prevent it; and the communication of the plan for the equipment of a fleet was received so favourably that, on the first day of this week, no difficulty was made about referring it to the Protector and his Council to conduct this affair as they might think fit ; which led one of the members to send me word that the matter had been left entirely to his High- ness. However, two days ago, their minds appear to have undergone a change (I mean the minds of those who had been attached to the interests of the government). Their discon- tent proceeds from the fact that they had imagined that, in re-establishing the Upper House, they placed it on its old footing and restored the old Lords. But they have now found that the Protector intended to maintain the other House as instituted by his father, which would not only exclude the old nobility, but would also destroy the authority of the Parlia- ment, inasmuch as the Upper House would have a veto on the resolutions of the Commons, and would be filled with per- sons chosen by the sovereign, whereas the old Lords held their seats in their own right. This design having become appa- 316 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. rent on the day before yesterday, when the question arose of regulating the authority of this Upper House, threats and re- proaches were interchanged between the Moderate party and the Court party, without the Republicans interfering in the quarrel, or any decision of the question being arrived at. It is to be discussed again tomorrow. However, it was resolved yesterday that the fleet should be equipped, to be employed in such service as might be judged expedient : this is now the prominent question of the day. The minister of Denmark, on his side, has put forth some writing, to guard his master against this storm ; and the Swedes neglect no means of ob- taining a hearing for their reasons ; but they accompany them with an ostentation of their power, which is more calculated to alienate than to conciliate inclinations in their favour. For my part, I have declared to some who have seen me on the matter, that the desire of France is to co-operate with Eng- land in effecting a reconciliation of the northern States ; and that, to insure this, it would be necessary to send commission- ers with the fleet to invite the two Kings to make peace. This course may probably be adopted ; but the Republicans cannot consent that the fleet should sail in the name of the Protector, as they foresee that this would be giving him the command of the forces. This is therefore the great difficulty; and the hope of overcoming this prejudice may induce the ministers of the Council to make the attempt. The result will show whether the Protector's party is weakened or not. The Republicans have no other resource but to divide his ad- herents ; and it is difficult to ascertain whether they have suc- ceeded in doing so ; but generally, it may be said that confu- sion still reigns in the whole body [of Parliament] , composed as it is of courtiers. Republicans, and Moderate men, who p. e. the moderate men] wish for a government whose power shall be limited, and are as much afraid of falling under the au- thority of the army as under that of the Republicans. This fear, and the public belief that the Protector has failed in re- ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 317 gaining the adherence of the leaders of the army, without put- ting himself entirely in their hands, may yet alienate from him the support of many, and it is not easy to form a certain opinion on dispositions of so confused a character. I may however say that it appears to me that the army coincides with the Protector in regard to some points of government, and will consent to the dissolution of the Parliament, if that body refuses to conform to their united views : that the new House of Lords is one of their points of concord, and as it is composed of the principal officers, they intend to maintain it, and thereby to secure the balance of authority to themselves : that already, in regard to home affairs, Fleetwood and Des- borough assume great influence ; and that the Protector can- not avoid yielding subjection to the Parliament without fall- ing into subjection to the army, — which however is still di- vided, the subalterns inclining to a more Republican constitu- tion than their chiefs are desirous to establish. It is to be hoped that order will be born from this discord, and that all will eventually concur in forming a government in which each party shall be fairly represented. . . . 30.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. March 7, 1659. My Lord, I have received the letter which your Eminence did me the honour to write to me on the 29th ultimo : the contents of which give me occasion to add nothing to what I stated in my last letter in regard to Colonel Walter's negotiation, nothing having subsequently come to my knowledge which would en- able me to contradict the information which your Eminence has received, or to convict the Secretary of State of hypo- critical candour in his protestation to me that the said Colonel had no commission from the Protector. I can only confirm 318 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. my previous statement that it does not appear to me that Father Talbot, a Jesuit, has been in England, nor can I divine the motives which would lead the English Government to wish to treat separately ^vith Spain, now that it admits that his Majesty is desirous of peace, that its own condition will not be improved by a separate treaty, and that it is unquestion- ably its interest to retain the friendship of France, far from giving us any cause of complaint, and any pretext for favour- ing the King of Scots, whose restoration will be easier when the two great crowns are agreed. This is the only resource of the Royalists, and whether it be well-founded, or whether they flatter themselves with a vain hope, the Protector's party seems to apprehend it will have more difficulties in establishing its position when foreign States are without any occupation, as they will then be able more easily to furnish underhand assis- tance to its enemies j and those who are discontented with the present government of England will be more adventurous in forming enterprises against it, if they beKeve it is abandoned by France, than they are now that France is favourable to its interests ; I am almost persuaded by these considerations, and by the speeches which have recently been made in Parliament, that the Protector has no thought of detaching himself from France, that his anxiety for peace is not so great, that the vague answers of the Secretary of State proceed no less from his natural coldness than from the uncertainty of affairs at home, and that no positive resolution will be adopted here until the Protector's authority is more securely established. It is true that, in return for the confidence and sincerity with which your Eminence has treated him since the arrival of M. Pimentel at Lyons, the Protector ought to speak more openly than his ministers have done, and not to possess so great a disposition to peace, if it would be so prejudical to his designs as the Secretary of State gave me to understand it would be at our last inter\dew, since which I have received no commu- nication from him, although, on taking leave, he promised he ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 319 would speedily write to me ; and when on the last day of last week, having received your Eminence's letter, I informed him of your impatience to be certified of his Highnesses intentions, he postponed his answer until this afternoon; but I doubt whe- ther the House will rise soon enough to give him time to per- form his promise today, nor can I give any assurance but that I shall continue to impress upon him that we can no longer delay giving an answer to M. Pimentel. The news received I from abroad of the accommodation between France and Spain, and the successful issue of the present debate in Parliament, may perhaps induce the Protector to declare himself. Some merchants of London have also lately presented to him a state- ment of the advantage and injury which England receives from war with Spain ; and this remonstrance may have been sug- gested in order that he may derive some merit from the adop- tion of a resolution which is unavoidable. It is even asserted that Mr. Whitelocke, formerly ambassador to Sweden, and now one of the Keepers of the Seal of England, has been ap- pointed to negotiate the peace ; but if matters had been car- ried so far, Mr. Lockhart would have already conveyed the news to you, and his delay must in part be attributed to the irresolution of the ministers here, as it certainly would not be graceful to send him back in the present conjuncture without instructions regarding the peace. Nothing has occurred of late with reference to the pacification of the northern Princes, as far as I am aware, and I am still waiting for an interview with the Secretary of State, to urge the departure of the fleet, and to remove any scruples that might delay it ; if public re- port be true, the wind alone prevents it from putting to sea at once. It is not however to be presumed that it will sail be- fore the exchange of ratifications of our guarantee-treaty, or until we have agreed on the instructions to be sent to the ministers of France and England at the Court of Sweden. The ambassador of Holland told me two days ago that he had had an interview with the Secretary of State, regarding the 320 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. overtures made at the Hague by the Pensionary of Holland, without obtaining any positive answer from him, which leads me to infer that it has not yet been finally decided whether the King of Sweden shall be urged to give up some of the advantages secured to him by the Treaty of Roeskild. It ap- pears also, from the speech of the said ambassador, that his superiors are willing to keep back their succour only on this condition, and he speaks of this afiair with so much vehe- mence, that I found it impossible to make him appreciate the reasons which would prevent us from forcing that Prince to consent to so disadvantageous a treaty, if we could not induce him voluntarily to accept it ; this is one of the principal dif- ficulties which the Secretary of State mentioned to me, and which still remains to be solved. I have no more important news to communicate, except that a resolution was passed last week to allow the Irish and Scotch members to retain their seats, without entering into the question whether they were lawfuUy summoned or not, or depriving them of the right of voting on their own fate. The other meetings during the week were employed in the discussion of private business, and in investigating the complaints of a Colonel in the army against one of the Secretaries of Lord Henry Cromwell, whom he accuses of extortion and malversation. An order was issued for the said Secretary to present himself at the bar of the House. A gentleman, formerly a Major in the King^s army, has also complained that, without trial or sentence, he has been banished to the island of Barbadoes, and there sold in the market as a slave ; this treatment has excited some up- roar, even against the Secretary of State, although no resolu- tion has been adopted on the subject. Some merchants have also presented a petition to the Committee of Trade appointed by the Parliament, praying that, during the war with Spain, the transport of merchandise from that country, such as wine and fruit, may be prohibited ; at the same time, others have petitioned the Protector to make peace with Spain. At ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 321 present, the question of the new House of Lords is under dis- cussion, and the prevalent opinion is that it will be main- tained. TJie Presbyterians remain firm in their adherence to the Protectoi-'s interests; it is said that the leading men among them have been gained over by promises of a share in the Government, by the admission of some of them into the Council, and of others into the army. It is also stated that the Anabaptists and other Sectaries are held in check by the hope of obtaining some authority, if the House of Lords, com- posed of their leaders, is continued in existence. These two parties being agreed, the Protector can now find no difficulty in carrying out his designs. He loses no opportunity of caress- ing the soldiers, and this morning he was present when they received their pay : he addressed them with much confidence and friendship. . . . I have heard no news of the Secretary of State, but I learn that it has at length been resolved, by 174 votes against 130, that the new Lords shall be recognized ; many other members absented themselves, because they were unwilling to sanction this institution, yet afraid to oppose it. 3L] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. March 10, 1659. My Lord, I waited for the Secretary of State until ten o'clock in the evening ; but instead of bringing me (as he sent me word he would this morning) the answer which I expected, his chief clerk came to inform me on his behalf that his Highness was so greatly embarrassed with hmoe affairs, that he could not yet adopt any resolution on the business I had communicated to him, and that its very importance would not permit him to settle it without the advice of his Parliament : that Mr. Lock- hart should nevertheless have instructions to proceed to Court, VOL. I. r 322 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. and that he should be fiilly informed of his Highncss's inten- tions, both in regard to this aflPair, and to the reinforcements of which I had spoken to the said Secretary at oui: last inter- view. I told the clerk that, relying on the promise made to me, I had awakened expectations of some more positive de- cision ; that your Eminence could consider this answer only as trifling ; that it even appeared to me a contradiction that the Protector should declare that he could take no resolution without the advice of his Parliament, and nevertheless should promise to send Mr. Lockhart immediately with full instruc- tions ; and that I begged the Secretary of State to give me some more positive answer to send home. The clerk, after having read a paper containing his instructions, told me that this was all the explanation he could give me, and that, to tell the truth, he had, like myself, perceived a certain amount of contradiction in his master^s language. To have this cleared up, I told him to go back to his master, and inform him of the difficulty in which he placed me ; that it was fitting that I should see him not only upon this business, but in order to exchange the ratifications of the guarantee-treaty ; and that he should let me know whether I might not promise some other explanation to your Eminence, who was awaiting it with great impatience. The clerk speedily returned, and informed me that his master would not fail to come and see me on the day after tomorrow ; that in the meanwhile I might transmit to you the answer which he had already sent me, adding that, to tell the truth, Mr. Lockhart had not yet received orders to proceed to Paris, and that his journey might even be deferred for some days ; before which time he hoped that the Protector, -with the assistance of Heaven, would be in a position to take his resolution, and to inform me of it as well as Mr. Lockhart. These are the terms of his two messages, with which your Eminence will doubtless be no better satisfied than you have been with his previous answers. There is however no reason for astonishment at these delays, considering the state of affairs ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 323 at home^ which still remains as uncertain as ever ; although at midnight, on Thursday last, the Parliament resolved, after protracted debates, that the Protector should carry out the resolution adopted by the House for putting to sea a consider- able fleet for the defence of the Commonwealth and protection of trade, without prejudice to the interest of Parliament in the militia, and its right to make peace or war. This determina- tion is thought to be very advantageous to his Highness, inas- much as it maintains him in possession of the forces, and al- though the last clause seems, by reservation, also to establish the right of Parliament, this clause is merely considered as a stratagem for obtaining the reference of the matter to the Pro- tector, and thereby not only recognizing his authority, but also placing at his disposal the most important forces of the nation. The Republicans were not of this opinion ; others wished to leave the northern Princes to fight out their quarrel between themselves, and that if the fleet were sent, it might be in the name of the Parliament, and for the purpose of ofifering con- ditions of accommodation before supporting any particular interest. All these various opinions were supported with much debate, but the number of courtiers finally prevailed ; it is further to be remarked that the House determined to refer the matter to the Protector alone, without making any men- tion of the Council, so as not to authorize the Government in its established form ; and it merely referred to him the execution of the resolution which had been adopted two nights before for the equipment of a fleet. Moreover, no one spoke of giving assistance to either of the Princes of the North, so as not to prejudge the question, but the welfare of com- merce was the sole topic dwelt upon ; these are the reflections naturally suggested by this act, from which each party expects to derive advantage. During the remainder of the week, no- thing of importance occurred, and today the House of Lords has again been brought under discussion. The public voice is against the new establishment, and it is said that the Pro- Y 2 324 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. tector is determined to maintain it, which might cause some division between him and the Parliament ; which body also this morning heard the Governor of the Tower, in reference to the complaint made against him by a gentleman in his cus- tody whom he had not given up to the ordinary tribunals in pursuance of his orders to do so. His defence was a letter from the deceased Protector, ordering him to deliver his pri- soner into the hands of an officer, to be transported into some island. The Parliament did not consider this excuse valid, and has permitted the prisoner to prosecute the said governor for damages and interest thereon. It is said that the army is now in a better disposition of mind, and that the officers in- tended today to sign a declaration to dispel the impressions which the public has formed regarding their divisions. . . . 33.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. March 13, 1659. My Lord, My letter sent by the last post will have informed your Eminence of the message sent to me by the Secretary of State on that same day, and of his promised visit to me yesterday ; illness having prevented his coming, I went to him, and com- plained that, after having sent me word in writing that the Protector would declare to me his intentions regarding peace, he had given me only a more general answer than his previous ones, and an answer from which it could not even be ascertained whether his Highness was resolved to treat or not ; whereas I had expected that he would communicate to me his claims, or at least that he would make no scruple to discover to me con- fidentially what is his present interest or desire, that his Majesty, being informed thereof, might adopt such a course of conduct as might not be prejudicial thereto, and also might screen him- self from the reproach he would inevitably incur by longer ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 325 delaying to respond to earnest inclinations of Spain towards peace : I therefore urged the Secretary^ by all the considera- tions that were likely to persuade him, to put me in a position to relieve your Eminence from the diflBculty in which all your despatches informed me you were placed. It was not however possible for me to extract from him anything more than a similar answer to that which his clerk had brought me ; he confessed indeed that he had led me to expect a more precise and parti- cular answer, but that he had done so in the belief that the internal affairs of England would place the Protector in a posi- tion to make up his mind ; that at present, as I well knew, his condition was no more certain than before, that it depended on the deliberations of Parliament, that there was reason to hope that in a short time matters would be arranged satisfactorily, and that then I should be informed of his Highnesses inten- tions ; that in the meanwhile I might assure your Eminence that he felt himself greatly obliged by the manner in which we treated him, and would not abandon the interests or alliance of France ; and he constantly confined himself to these general protestations, without my being able to induce him to descend to any particular explanation, although I pressed him to tell me if it were desired here that the King should keep the treaty in suspense, and said that your Eminence would endeavour to effect this : — upon which the Secretary merely intimated to me that, as the Protector would not treat without the concurrence of France, it was to be expected that we should act with equal friendliness ; and he persisted in defending himself against all the arguments T alleged to convince him that your Eminence could not avoid giving some positive answer to M. Pimentel, by reason of that very declaration that the internal affairs of England did not permit the government to attend to foreign affairs, and that, as soon as he could, the Protector would ex- plain his views, either through myself or through Mr. Lockhart. Failing to get any more satisfactory answer, I spoke to him about recruits for the English corps, begging him to tell me 326 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. candidly whether the English ambassador was to revisit France soon, in order that your Eminence, who was awaiting his arrival, might take certain measures for the ensuing campaign. He told me that, although it was the Protector's intention to send him back, his return might be delayed, and that it was expe- dient that I should be informed of the number of soldiers we desired, and of his Majesty's particular intentions regarding the campaign-treaty, in order that the Protector, having digested the matter, might determine it here, or send over Mr. Lockhart, with full instructions, to arrange it with your Eminence. I undertook to communicate this proposition in writing, and then passed on to the affairs of the North, informing the Secretary that the ratification of the guarantee-treaty had been sent to me, accompanied with very strict orders to represent to his Highness how important it was for our common interest that we should apply ourselves without loss of time to the recon- ciliation of the Kings of Sweden and Denmark, in order that the former might be able to prevent the Emperor from throw- ing his promised succour into Flanders ; that, with this view, he ought to be diverted from attaching any further importance to the conquest of Denmark, for fear lest in the meanwhile the House of Austria, taking advantage of the present conjuncture, should win over many other States and Princes to its side, and should execute its design at the peril of Denmark, whose pre- servation is not so dear to it as the preservation of Flanders. I alluded also to the jealousies which the States- General enter- tain respecting a secret treaty between the Protector and the King of Sweden, by which some place in the Sound or the Elbe is to be given into the hands of the English to induce them to favour the conquest of Copenhagen, and I remarked that, among other inconveuiencies that would ensue from any such connection, it was very far removed from the object we had proposed to ourselves in the guarantee-treaty, and that to put an end to the suspicions to which the language of the Swedish ministers resident in London gives rise, and which might suffice ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 327 to alienate the States-General and drive them to extremities, it was necessary to declare, both here and at the Hague and to the King of Sweden, that France and England intend to inter- fere in the northern wars only in order to bring them to a conclusion, that the Protector has no idea of establishing him- self in those quarters, and that the naval armament now in preparation in England is to be employed against whichever of the two Kings shall refuse to make an accommodation on reasonable terms. I assured him that the ministers of France had orders to speak in these terms, and I insisted that similar instructions should be sent to the ministers of England. I also informed him, with the view to discover what its foundation may be, of the statement which one of the envoys of Sweden has made to his master, that France was the cause that a reso- lution to assist him has not been adopted here sooner. The Secretary told me, with regard to the guarantee-treaty, that the Protector's ratification of it would be ready in two days, and that it was his determination to execute it punctually, and to follow therein the movements of France, as he had done from the beginning, as it was very certain that, unless he had imitated the conduct of France, he would not have interfered in this quarrel ; that the ministers of England had orders to speak in conformity with these views ; and that, whatever rumours might be current, no place had been offered to the Protector by the Swedes, and that it would not even be to his interest to accept one, but that it was proposed to give the castles of Kronborg and Glowstat to the Dutch, as security for the repayment of the great expenses they had incurred. That, in any case, there appeared to be great diflficulties in the way of an accommoda- tion between the Kings of Sweden and Denmark, as the execu- tion of the Treaty of Roeskild is agreeable to neither of them, for the former of those Princes asserts that he is in a position to retain Kronborg, and the other declares that, with the assistance of the Dutch and his other allies, he can recover the territories which he lost by the said Treaty of Roeskild. He also communi- 328 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. catcd to me the advices which he had received from Zealand, from which it appears that the King of Sweden was about to make a general assault on Copenhagen, with great hopes of success. I assured him that the King would learn with great joy that his Highness was disposed to reject all the offers that might be made to him, and to have no ideas beyond the reconcilia- tion of the Princes in question ; and foreseeing that this pre- tended offer to the Dutch might be a mere specious pretext, I intimated that there was little likelihood that the King of Denmark would be willing to strip himself of the two princi- pal fortresses which remained to him, when he was delivered from his enemy ; and I persisted in proposing that both those Princes should be urged to defer to the opinion of their friends ; that if the English fleet put to sea, it should be instructed to propose an accommodation, before commencing any hostile action ; and that the States-General should be imdted to act in the same manner, and to send orders to their resident am- bassador in London to agree on the conditions which each of us shall recommend to our allies. The Secretary agreed to pursue this course of conduct, and told me that the English fleet would not put to sea for some days, although its rendez- vous is fixed for the 20th of this month, and Admiral Monta- gue is to set out tomorrow. This is very nearly the upshot of the conversation I had with him on this matter. It may be inferred from it that they have no idea here of acquiring any fortress in the north, although it is reported to me on good authority that the offer has been made, and was at first re- ceived favourably enough, but that some days ago, the com- missioners of his Highness replied, on being urged to conclude the transaction, that the Protector would send the requisite orders to his minister at the Court of Sweden. It appears also from our discourse that they are anxious here for an ac- commodation, and wiU omit no effort to induce the said Princes to agree to it ; and that no reason has been given for writing of the offices of France in terms of which the falsitv ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 329 is manifested by the guarantee-treaty. I did not neglect to desire that, when opportunity offered, the Secretary of State would efface the impressions which that one of the Swedish ministers who maintains a correspondence with M. Courtin (who I learn also is not a fair judge of the actions of the Court of France) may have given with a view to attribute to himself the merit of all the resolutions which have been adopted here, where I do not see that there is anything now to be done in regard to the pacification of the north, until we receive further news from thence. If M. Terlon has returned into Zealand, he will have found my letters there, and may even have commenced the execution of the guarantee-treaty, before the assault which was to be made on Copenhagen can have been attempted. The failure of this enterprise may render the King of Sweden more tractable. But if he succeeds in his design, we must give up all hopes of an accommodation, — at least this is the opinion of the Secretary of State, who again professed to me when we parted that his Highness would defer to the wishes of his Majesty, both in regard to the treaty of peace with Spain, and to the interests of the north. He also informed me that he hoped for a happy issue to the deliberations of the Parliament, which has been occupied during the whole week with the ques- tion of the House of Lords, without having made much pro- gress, only it has reduced the debate to this point, whether the House of Commons shall treat with the persons who now com- pose the other House, as with one of the Houses of Parlia- ment; it is very certain that the general inclination of the whole assembly is very far removed from this result. Never- theless, the blind submission of some of the members, and the fear which others entertain of the army, may make them vote against their own convictions in order to destroy the old Lords, who have great influence in the election of the present Parlia- ment and made use of it to return members opposed to the Republican Government, without considering that the Govern- ment which it is now proposed to establish will entirely dc- 330 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. stroy their privileges; they now perceive this, but it is too late, and the best that can happen to them will be that some of them may be summoned to sit jointly with the new Lords. The Parliament will continue the discussion of this affair to- morrow, and all persons are agreed that if the question is set- tled agreeably to the wishes of the Court, nothing will after- wards prove a difficulty to it. I am also persuaded that the Protector is likely soon afterwards to make known his views with regard to peace. The army meanwhile remains silent ; a declaration was expected from it which should make known to the public that it was resolved to maintain the Government as it is now established ; but the principal officers were not willing to take this step, although in point of fact they agree on this point with the Protector. I have already written you word that the Governor of the Tower of London has been given up to the ordinary tribunals for having detained pri- soners in obedience to the orders of the late Protector, which he produced before the Parliament. This reference of the matter to the Courts of Justice sets all those who were impri- soned in his lifetime, at liberty to demand reparation ; and it seems as though there were a willingness to sacrifice to the fury of the people this governor (who was originally a gold- smith, and afterwards a colonel, and is now one of the new Lords), so as to keep up some shadow of freedom. It is also said that the Secretary of State may be attacked, as a minis- ter, for the severities exercised under the late administration ; he is on very good terms with his master, and the Parliament is too submissiYC to find fault with his principal officer, unless the army should take up the matter. During that long sitting which lasted until midnight, the result of which I communi- cated to you a week ago, one of the leading Republicans spoke against France, ascribing to us the design entertained by the Protector of succouring the King of Sweden, and condemning the intimate connection which now exists between England and ourselves ; he even made an effort to persuade the House ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 331 that our friendship was not constant, that our treaty with Spain had been signed, and that the acquisition of Dunkirk had been disadvantageous to England. This speech was sup- ported by no other, and the Secretary of State told me yester- day that it had produced no impression. Therefore it can be considered only as having been made for the sole purpose of condemning the conduct of the Government : and the same person who made it declared himself, when T arrived in Eng- land, most inclined of all his colleagues to an accommodation mtli France, and prevented the Parliament from sending suc- cour to Bordeaux, which the Council of State was then very strongly disposed to do. 33.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. March 17, 1659. My Lord, The last two letters, of the 8th and 12th of this month, which your Eminence has done me the honour to write to me, have only just been delivered to me ; I shall therefore merely acknowledge their receipt today, and postpone to the next post such information as I may have to give of the success of the efforts which you order me to repeat on the subject of peace. Not that my last interview with the Secretary of State gives me reason yet to hope for any solution of the question, unless the debates in Parliament should lead to the adoption of some definite determination. It has not been for want of time that it has been put off to this hour ; the Protector does nothing on his own responsibility, and the Secretary, who seems to have the direction of foreign affairs, has often insinuated to me that it was not yet the interest of the government to speak of peace, although, according to all I hear, his Highness is very strongly inclined thereto. I had indeed suspected that, under the pretext of domestic occupations, he was deferring to 332 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. give me a definite answer in order, in the meanwhile, to treat secretly with Spain ; the journey of Colonel Walter had not been concealed from me any more than the propositions of Father Talbot ; it was even reported to me, two days ago, that the Protector was being pressed to declare himself by another emissary of Spain, and that he had referred him to the Secre- tary of State ; and when he complained that that minister had no inclination to peace, his Highness replied that he was wrongly informed on that point, and that the said Secretary was more desirous of peace than he believed. But the same persons who gave me this information also assure me that not only the Secretary, but the other ministers of the Council to whom the proposition has been made, give only illusory an- swers which merely suggest hopes that, when our campaign- treaty is expired, the Protector may possibly think of an ac- commodation. The Secretary of State had also informed me of the proposals of Father Talbot, a grey friar who has the re- putation of being a great scoundrel, and who came with Bod- kin; and as both these statements tally, I judged that we might safely trust to the assurances which have been solemnly renewed to me, that England would not treat without France; besides I do not see that it would be her interest to act other- wise towards us, unless the King should refuse to treat, as it will be far more advantageous to the establishment of the Pro- tector to engage his Majesty to guarantee peace, than to rest upon the good faith of Spain, without now withdrawing from a separate treaty which he will be able to bring about by re- maining friendly with France. I shall not however rely so strongly on these considerations, or on the various advices which I receive, as not to endeavour, on the first opportunity, to discover from the Secretary of State whether he is really acting with the good faith he professes. The offer of an aux- iliary force of men, which your Eminence orders me to make, and which I had already hinted at when the officers of the army began to be divided, will put me in a position to treat of ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 333 this matter. It may be broached without scruple, as it is cer- tain that Colonel Walter's journey was very public : and as I was told that he had neither instructions nor authority, I should not lay much stress upon his proceedings. With re- gard to the affairs of Denmark, my previous letter will have acquainted you that I have spoken to the Secretary of State in conformity with his Majesty's intentions, and that he disa- vowed to me all knowledge of the secret treaty, of which I had nevertheless been informed by a very good authority. When I deliver the ratification, there will be an opportunity again to insinuate that it is not the intention of France to deprive the King of Denmark of any part of his territory, or to favour any enterprise calculated to throw new obstacles in the way of the pacification of the north, which England has even greater in- terest to desire than France. For some days, a report has been spread that Copenhagen has been forced, and this news is attributed to a Polish envoy who has lately arrived here. The fleet however remains in the same state, and General Mon- tague is still in London ; it is said that it was for want of money that he did not start last week, but the Protector may probably be waiting to learn what the States- General will do, and whether the orders which have been sent to Mr. Downing to invite them to concur with us in promoting reconciliation will not produce some effect, before exposing himself to a war which it is in his interest to avoid even if his natural character were not very pacific, as his own position is not so stable that he should have no cause to dread a maritime power. It is very true that the Parliament is composed of members well-inten- tioned towards him, but the army is still divided into different factions, and the Protector will find it difficult to free himself from the control of the first of these bodies without falling into subjection to the other. Nothing was settled again last week in regard to the question, which has been debated for some days, but to all appearance it will be decided today in conformity with the desires of the Court, as it was resolved 334 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. this morning, against the wishes of the Republicans, that the Parliament should meet this afternoon to put an end to the matter, and some of the Presbyterian leaders have spoken strongly in favoiir of the House of new Lords. When this affair is finished, it seems that others will not be likely to occasion much difficulty: every one is therefore anxiously looking for the issue of the present debate. 34.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. March 20, 1659. My Lord, Since I last wrote, I have not seen the Secretary of State or any other minister ; they have been so much occupied in the Parliament that I could not with propriety demand an inter- view with them ; nor was there any likelihood of obtaining from them any satisfaction, as affairs are still in the same state as when the Secretary asked for time to come to a resolution on the affair which I had orders to communicate to him. It cannot even be divined whether the pretexts for these delays will soon cease, as new incidents occur every day which pre- vent the Parliament from deciding those questions, on the determination of which depends the establishment of the Go- vernment of England. Your Eminence will have seen, from the last letter which I did myself the honour to write to you, that the Parliament met in the afternoon for the purpose of coming to some determination as to the recognition of the new Lords ; but after having sat for an hour after midnight, the illness of the Speaker made it necessary to adjourn the debate to the next day without coming to any decision ; all this time was spent in long harangues by men of all parties ; there were even reproaches and menaces uttered on both sides, and one of the members having attempted to excite terror by representing the Protector in arms. General Fairfax grew very ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 335 angry, and declared that he would no longer remain in a place where force was to be employed to procure the adoption of resolutions. The Secretary of State was not spared, because he let fall some expressions against the Republicans ; and even if the question had been settled that evening, the Court party would not have carried it. On the next day the House re- mained sitting until ten o'clock in the evening, and merely resolved on adding this clause to the question : " without pre- judice to the right of the old Peers, who have done nothing against the Government, in case they should be lawfully sum- moned to be members of this House of Lords.^^ This modi- fication was proposed by the Court party in order to give some satisfaction to the old Peers, and by this concession to prevent many members who are dependent on them from joining the Republicans. This addition to the question was however car- ried by only one vote ; and as those who do not wish to treat at all with the new House were opposed to it, it would seem that, as the Court party prevailed on the day before yesterday, the substantial question should have met with no further dif- ficulty, and have been decided yesterday ; but a new incident was mooted, namely, whether the members for Scotland and Ireland should have a voice in this matter, and this was done apparently with a design to weaken the Court party, by ex- cluding them from voting. The illness of the Speaker having compelled him to request the House to discharge him from his office, or at least to give him time to recover his health, his excuse was admitted ; another was elected to serve during his absence only, and the new question was adjourned to this morning; it was debated in due course, and has been ad- journed to tomorrow, without any great likelihood of being terminated then, as the matter may furnish all the speakers with ample means of gaining time ; accordingly, it cannot yet be foreseen when there will be an end to all these debates, nor when the Protector will be in a condition to attend to other affairs. Yesterday, Major-General Overton, whom the Par- 336 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. liament has had brought from Jersey where he was a prisoner, entered London, having an escort of four or five hundred horse- men, volunteers who had gone to meet him ; he was however still detained in custody, and the Court is not at all pleased with his vanity in suffering all these people to accompany him, most of them carrying laurel-branches. Such was the triumphal entry of those three persons who had been mutilated by sen- tence of the Bishops of England before the revolutionary move- ment began ; but at that time there was no army to maintain the authority of the King, and the Parliament was otherwise disposed than that which is now sitting, so that there is now no reason to fear the consequences of these popular gather- ings. The widow of Hewet, the minister, who was beheaded last summer, has also lately presented a petition against those who tried her husband ; and other complaints have been made against the Major- Generals who governed the country for some time ; but all these proceedings are not held in any account, as the Parliament is well-intentioned. This, my Lord, is all that affairs here give me occasion at present to communicate ; I leave it to the letters of M. Terlon^s secretary to inform your Eminence of the success of the assault which the Swedes have made on Copenhagen ; their loss was stated here at first to be greater than it really is, and to prevent this exaggera- tion from producing any bad effect, their ministers are now circulating the rumour that their King has since carried the town ; but the Secretary of State has received no such news, and it is very improbable. General Montague is daily on the point of setting out for the fleet : I do not learn however that it is to put to sea yet, and if the event of this assault has not led to the adoption of some other resolution, the departure of the fleet will not be hurried until some news is received about the fleet of Holland. ... ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 337 35.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. March 27-31, 1659. My Lordj The letter which your Eminence did me the honour to write to me on the 22nd of this month, having been delivered to me today, just as I was going to the Secretary of State, I found myself in a condition to satisfy its contents, by urgently pressing the adoption of the resolution which tJhey have de- layed giving me to this moment, and intimating that, although M. Pimentel has been sent back to Flanders, it was with the assurance that ere long the King would be informed of the pretensions of the English Government, and his Majesty there- fore could not, without exposing himself to the reproaches of all Christendom, remain longer in his present uncertainty as to the Protector^s views. I even went so far as to suggest that, if it were impossible for his Highness to make up his mind just yet, he might at least give some general statement of his inclination ; and, in fine, I omitted none of the reasons which your Eminence has indicated in aU your despatches, in order to obtain the explanation you desire. The Secretary never- theless at first only gave me a similar answer to those I had previously received from him, and continued to ascribe his master's irresolution to his domestic embarrassments : not that he had no time to think of other affairs, but because he could take no definite course until the Parliament had finished the debates which are now in progress. He also dwelt at some length on the various dispositions of that body in regard to peace, representing the Republicans to be strongly inclined to conclude it, and some of them ready even to break with France, while the other members are entirely submissive to the will of the Protector. This expression having given me a pretext for asking what the wiU of the Protector was, the Secretary, after some attempt to evade an answer, finding himself hard pressed, declared to me very plainly that necessity might force him to VOL. I. z 338 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. make peace, but that it would be against his inclination to do so ; which a little surprised me after the very opposite opi- nions which he had professed in our other conferences, and I thought it my duty to tell him that, although his Majesty desired to preserve the close union which existed between France and England, and to accommodate his own conduct to the exigencies of the Protector's affairs, yet as the posture of affairs in France would not permit him to carry on a perpetual war, it was desirable that the Protector should have regard to this consideration, and dispose himself, on his side, towards peace. I also took this opportunity to speak of Colonel Wal- ter's journey into Flanders, intimating that, if the reports I had heard were true, there was not so much repugnance felt here to treat as the Secretary professed. He made a thousand protestations to me, begging me to have confidence in him ; and stating that the said Colonel had never had any commis- sion to make any overture, that they had in truth given him permission to go over to apply for the payment of a consider- able sum which is due to him from Spain for the transport of some Irishmen, but that, far from having made any use of him, they had refused him permission to go into Flanders ; and that moreover he was too imbecile a man to be entrusted with a commission of so much importance; and that there were many other persons in England fitted to be employed with less publicity ; and that I might promise, without fear of being exposed to any reproach, or disavowed by this Govern- ment, that the Protector will neither receive nor listen to any proposal without communicating it to the King. These assu- rances having been given me in such positive terms, I could not avoid receiving them as thoroughly sincere ; and fell back upon the importunities of M. Pimentel, and the promises which your Eminence had given him, in consequence of the declara- tions I had received here that the Protector was not less in- clined to peace than his Majesty. The Secretary thereupon, modifying the declaration he had just made to me, informed ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 339 me that his Highness would hold the same course of conduct as France ; that in a short time he would probably be in a position to give fuller explanations, but that at present we must not expect any further information as to his policy. He nevertheless asked me whether we should retain all the con- quests made in Flanders, alleging, as the pretext for his cu- riosity, that if the English Government were informed of the conditions on which France was willing to treat, more decisive measures would be taken in regard to the accommodation with England. I declared myself to be imperfectly instructed on this point, but gave reason to hope that your Eminence would not refuse to communicate your views to the Protector's min- ister j and I did not omit to state that, in my opinion, as most of the places which the King had conquered belonged to the ancient domain of France, they could not be demanded of him again with any justice; but that, as for the rest, they might be exchanged for those which we have lost, and that, to aU appearance, no great difficulty was likely to arise on this point. The Secretary did not enter further into this question, and not seeing any likelihood of obtaining from him any more satisfaction with regard to the treaty of peace, I passed on to the offers which your Eminence had instructed me to make in case the Protector should have need of succour from France ; these offers were received with great demonstrations of grati- tude, and promises that his Highness should be informed of them at once. I afterwards proceeded to speak of the affairs of the north ; when the Secretary interrupted me to communi- cate to me the advices which he received yesterday by an ex- press from Mr. Downing ; as they related merely to the result of a conference which that minister had at the Hague with the Pensionary of Holland, and of which M. de Thou must have sent you an account, I refer you to his letters on the subject. It would also be superfluous to report to your Emi- nence the long conversation which we had on this subject : I will only say that the Secretary of State again solemnly de- z 2 34D ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. dared to me that the Protector had no thought of making conquests either in Germany or on the shores of the Baltic Sea, and that he had taken arms solely at the instigation of France, in order to protect the King of Sweden against his enemies : that the propositions made by the Pensionary of Holland appeared to him to be captious, and put forward for the purpose of gaining time_, during which the United Pro- vinces will finish putting their fleet into a condition to render powerful aid to the King of Denmark ; that M. de Thou was being greatly caressed at the Hague in order to make him fall into this snare ; that the treaty of Roeskild ought in truth to sen^e as the foundation for the treaty which we are desirous of making between the two northern Princes ; but that it was to be feared that neither of them would accept it as such, and that we ought to make up our minds whether in that case we would support the conquest of Copenhagen, supposing it were the fault of the King of Sweden that our common good offices did not produce a reconciliation, or whether we should abandon him, leaving the Dutch at liberty to carry assistance to the King of Denmark, on giving assurance that they had no other purpose than to restore the said Princes to the position they were in before the late war. He further proposed to me, as a third course, that we should agree with the States- General that neither France, nor England^ nor the United Provinces should assist their allies for a year, during which they should be left to fight out their quan-el between themselves, or come to an accommodation, as they pleased ; he desired my opinion on this suggestion, in order that M. de Thou and Mr. Down- ing might act upon it, and that instructions might be sent to them this evening. All these overtures were couched in terms which make it evident that the inclination here is to favour the designs of the King of Sweden, whatever they be ; and although the said Secretary has often declared to me that consideration for our wishes alone caused England to act in the matter, that she had no interest in maintaining the King of Sweden, that ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 341 she could not bear by herself the expense of £300,000 which the equipment of the fleet would cost, and that if we only wished to secure the execution of the Treaty of Roeskild, there was no necessity to incur such great expenses ; it seemed to me that, in order to follow out his Majesty's intentions, I could not give my assent to the last two propositions, nor agree that the King of Sweden should be left at liberty to prefer the conquest of Denmark to other enterprises which he might un- dertake with greater advantage to the common cause. And after having pointed out that the Protector would be even more exposed than ourselves if the Swedes did not give some employment to the Emperor, that his Majesty on his part was at far greater expense than England in order to put them into a position to do so, and that furthermore the continuation of the war with Denmark was opposed to the object which we had in view in the guarantee-treaty, inasmuch as it would alienate the whole of Germany, and instead of producing a di- version which would previent the Emperor from sending troops into Flanders, it would put him in a position to execute the design which he had formed at the solicitation of Spain, which is less interested in the preservation of Denmark than in the loss of the Netherlands ; that this same war would entirely oc- cupy France and the United Provinces, whatever assurances we might ofier them that we would maintain them in the Baltic trade with as much freedom as they have had in past times, if the Soimd should fall into the power of the King of Sweden, which the Secretary of State had proposed to me as a means of inducing them to lay down their arms. I was of opinion that we must absolutely bring the King of Sweden to an accommodation in order to succeed in our object, and avoid the snare which the Dutch might lay for us ; that the English fleet should put to sea as soon as possible in order to pass the Sound and prevent any assistance being sent by the Dutch ; that at the same time, the ministers of France and England should have orders to invite the Kings of Sweden and Den- 342 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. mark to execute the Treaty of Roeskild, and to deprive the for- mer of those Princes of all idea that we are willing to favour the conquest of Copenhagen or his other designs on Denmark, if he rejects the counsels of his friends, and at the same time to inform his enemy that the English fleet will undertake no- thing to his disadvantage unless he refuses to agree to this accommodation, and that in fact it will not act until each of the belligerents has declared his views ; that in the meanwhile the States-General shall be informed of this resolution, and invited not to send their fleet, in order to avoid all occasions of hostility, but rather to use their good offices with the King of Denmark in order to dispose him towards peace. The Se- cretary did not fall in with my views ; he wishes that, if the fleet once puts to sea, it should support the designs of the King of Sweden, even if he refuses to make peace, and persist in the conquest of Zealand, or that England should not interfere at all in the quarrel ; and on this ground he does not approve of our agreeing here on the modifications which the Dutch wish to make in the Treaty of Roeskild. ... I cannot say whether the fleet will sail, as the Secretary did not give me a categorical answer to the question which I put to him on the subject. Our difierence, or domestic afiairs, may probably detain it for some days, and your Eminence, if I mistake not, will have time to resolve my scruple, which is caused principally by what you have done me the honour to write to me regarding the war with Denmark. I next urged that Mr. Lockhart should be sent back, intimating that the expectation of his speedy return had prevented you from sending me instructions as to the re- newal of the campaign-treaty. The Secretary of State assured me that, in a few days, he should set out, but he nevertheless gave me to understand that he was detained by the state of affairs here. ... I will add to this narrative, which elucidates the state of feeling here with regard to peace with Spain and in the north, that, having recently made special inquiries re- garding the negotiation of the Jesuit, Father Talbot, I found ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 343 that he is not in England, and has not been for some time ; that it is his brother the Cordelier, who has made some pro- positions, among others, one for the marriage of the Duke of York with the Protector's sister, which was treated here as ridiculous, so that, being unable to find any credence, he re- turned into France, with that Irish archbishop whom your Emi- nence had recommended to me, to seek a better fortune. The same information had been given me by Bodkins, and it has since been confirmed to me by such good authority that it may pass for true. I think moreover that if this government wished to treat with Spain, it would not adopt the mediation of priests, as it has many other means at its command. The ambassador of Holland even stated formerly that his superiors would not object to render so good a service. As regards his Highnesses inclinations, they are towards peace ; but as he allows himself to be led, his opinions are not greatly to be considered ; and since his ministers, of whom the Secretary of State is the chief, judge it advisable to continue the war, the accommodation of France or the Parliament are alone capable of producing other resolutions ; and certain measures may be taken in reliance on the protestations which have been renewed to me again today that England will not dissociate herself from France, unless some change should occur in the Government. It also appeals to me, in regard to the wars in the north, that great distrust is felt of the conduct of the Dutch, and that professions are made of unwillingness to break with them ; nevertheless, the government will not fail to send the fleet into the Sound. But I cannot avoid still feeling umbrage at the design of supporting the conquest of Denmark if the King of Sweden cannot be in*- duced to make peace. I am waiting with some impatience for the confidential communication which the Secretary of State agreed to make, in orderto be further enlightened on the matter, after having solemnly declared that if England engaged in any new war by a treaty which should give her any places on the shores of the Baltic, France would not consider herself under 344 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. any obligation to pursue the same course. There will be less inconvenience in allowing the English fleet to act with full liberty than in increasing this coolness, which appears to give a pretext for abandoning the aflairs of the north to the good faith of the States-General. As the ministers of Sweden have not seen me since the funeral of the late Protector, all these negotiations have been carried on without their par- ticipation, and I have no hope that their conduct will be more praiseworthy than that of M. Courtin, as one of them manifests so much bad faith in his letters. The guarantee- treaty will efiace the impression which those letters have produced, although the ministers of that State do not pub- lish, as others have done, that France caused the adoption of the resolution of England to send a fleet into the Baltic Sea, which has given occasion to some members of Parliament to speak against our close connection, and to say that, when England was engaged in the conflict, we should abandon her. The ambassador of Holland has not failed, on his part, to at- tribute to us the despatch of this succour, and the King of Sweden would seem to be the only person who is not persuaded of it. I have sent sufficient information to the Chevalier de Terlon to put him in a position to make known the truth. It now remains for me, my Lord, to speak of the afiairs of Eng- land ; they are still in the same state as my previous letters described them, as the Parliament has adopted no resolution of any importance during the last few days, on account of the illness and death of the last Speaker. A third was elected yesterday, and the liberation of Major-General Overton was debated, which was immediately ordered as an act of justice, although the Secretary of State demanded that it should be postponed for a few days. It was afterwards ordered that all the other prisoners of State detained in distant islands and castles should be brought before the Parliament, and that an Act should be passed to prevent similar imprisonments in future, as contrary to the liberties of the people. Today the ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 345 question of the Scotch and Irish members has been again brought forward ; the question is whether they shall be allowed to speak and vote in their own cause, and apparently it will be difficult to prevent them from doing so. An Act has been proposed in the new House to suppress the title of Lord in re- gard to the new as well as the old nobility ; reserving that prerogative to the Protector and great Officers of State alone. But the suggestion was not supported, although it was made by Major-General Desborough. The same House has passed an Act in conformity with that of the House of Commons respecting the disposal of the fleet, which is referred to the Protector : thus instead of the House of Lords, as in former times, serving as an example to the people^s House, the new Lords now conform their conduct very regularly to that of the Commons, passing the Acts which the Commons have decreed, in the very same terms. As for the army, it is still in the same state, and some imagine that discontents will break out when the questions of the militia, and of the negative voice, are discussed : it is indeed very certain that the faction op- posed to the Protector still exists, and that the reconciliation of the leaders is not so stable as might be desired ; the whole of the fleet has not yet reached the rendezvous, although General Montague has arrived there. March 31, 1659. The length of the present letter having prevented its being sent to the post in sufficient time last week, the delay gives me occasion to add that the Parliament has determined that the Scotch members should continue to sit and vote, they giving their suffrages in their own favour on the question ; the Irish members are to have their fate decided tomorrow, appa- rently with the same success ; the House of Lords has also, on its side, rejected the Act which exterminated all the Lords, both new and old, in order to make ^themselves more agree- able to the Commons. I have received no news from the Secretary of State, though he was to have come to see me 346 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. last week ; and having sent to him this evening, he excused himself on the ground of the pressing business which has en- tirely occupied his time since I saw him; he also sent me word that all his letters from Flanders assure him of the con- clusion of our peace with Spain, and he inquired of my secre- tary whether I had received information of it. I shall com- municate to him what my letters from Paris say on the sub- ject, which is very contradictory of the rumours which are ciu'rent in Flanders. There is nothing new in regard to the affairs of the north, except that the ambassador of Holland came to communicate to me what I had already learned from the Secretary of State, and to beg me to consent to forward the design of his superiors : I led him to hope that I would do so, intimating to him at the same time that the true way to secure the concurrence of France and England was to re- move those causes of distrust which we had of their prepara- tions, and to send no succour into Zealand until we were in- formed of the intentions of the Kings of Sweden and Den- mark : he did not give me any precise answer. The English fleet is now assembling off Yarmouth, and preparations are making that it may be in a few days at its rendezvous. My Lord Faulconbridge, who came to see me this evening, spoke much to me of the horses which your Eminence had promised him, and gave me to understand that the Protector, who was to have them, had rallied him greatly today because he had expected the present. 36.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. April 10, 1659. My Lord, I have been expecting the Secretary of State for the last few days, and he was to have paid me a visit this evening with the Keeper of the Seals, but the latter came alone, and excused the Secretary on the ground of the great affairs which have ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 347 occupied his time of late, but referred me to him for the ex- planation which I expected, telling me only that Mr. Lockhart has set out for the Court with some instructions, but not such as will probably be given before long, as it has not yet been possible to adopt any final resolution on account of the state of affairs in the Parliament. I pointed out to him how preju- cial this delay might prove, and requested him to represent this to the Protector, so that he might free your Eminence from your present uncertainty. The Keeper of the Seals un- dertook to make this report, and strongly assured me that in a few days we should have full explanations. He afterwards communicated to me the departure of the fleet, with instruc- tions to the admiral, and to the resident English minister at the Court of Sweden, in conformity with what we had resolved upon when we signed the guarantee-treaty ; and he again re- ferred it to the Secretary of State to give me more particular information on this subject. I told him that this conference was absolutely necessary, as I had been able to write positively neither to M. Terlon nor to M. de Thou with regard to the affairs of the north, on account of the diversity of opinion which had occurred between the Secretary and myself at our last interview ; and I took occasion to tell him in what respects our views had differed, in order to oblige him also to discover to me more particularly what orders had been given to Admiral Montague ; he reiterated to me that it was not the interest of England to support the conquest of the north, and that the fleet would undertake nothing in favour of the King of Sweden if he rejected the proposed accommodation, but that it rested with the ministers of France and England who reside at his Court, and not with my Lords at the Hague, to regulate with him the conditions of the treaty. . . . Affairs here are not yet in a settled state, although the Parliament decided the ques- tion of the new House on the first day of the week. There are other veiy important matters on the eve of being discussed; the debate on the militia is postponed till tomorrow, and it is 348 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. believed that it will receive some cross, if, as rumour runs, some of the officers of the army, among others those who compose the new House, join with the Republicans to sepa- rate the command of the forces from the civil government. Nothing of any great importance has occurred in the debates of the last few days ; only a fast has been ordained, and there has been some talk about the taxes levied on England, the duration of which is to be determined, and that with the con- sent of the Court itself, which sees that it would offend some of the members to declare them perpetual, although efforts are making to obtain their continuance for a lengthened period. 37.] Extract of a Letter from Colonel Talbot to Colonel Preston. Brussels, April 12, 1659. I have somewhat to communicate to you, that you may tell the Cardinal. My brother, Father Peter Talbot, the Jesuit, went to London last week, to see the Protector, on behalf of the Marquis de Carracena and Don Alonzo de Cardenas. Se- cretary Thurloe sent him a passport. I am the only person who knows of this, besides those I have mentioned, for the said Father Peter Talbot told me at his departure that I must obey the orders of the Marquis de Carracena. Accordingly the said Marquis and Don Alonzo de Cardenas spoke to me yesterday in private, and told me that I must soon go to Lon- don, after my brother. Father Peter Talbot. I may tell you that he is empowered to make great offers to the Protector on the part of the Marquis de Carracena, and that Nieuport and Ostend will be given to him as hostages, if they can come to any agreement. I am resolved to avenge myself on those who have been my ruin here. I beg you therefore to let the Car- dinal know this, and to assure him on my part that, when I ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 349 discover anything further in relation to this affair, I will send him word of it. I shall hope that by your means he will some day reward me for it, for he owes me a recompense for my sufferings. I have been cashiered twice : T have lost a thou- sand men whom I brought over from Ireland ; I have been arrested, and all my officers. I request that his Eminence will be pleased to write to M. de Bordeaux and to the Protector in my favour, as his Eminence has confidence in me. I am sure that you will answer for me favourably to his Eminence. I beg you to send me the two letters above-mentioned. I can quite depend on the friend whom I have in England to bring the affair to a satisfactory conclusion. And if by ill-luck T fail in making this levy, I will come to you with my commis- sion as a cashiered colonel, and live as best I may. Make for me whatever capitulation you please; I will abide by it, and will give as good surety as there is in England. Keep this very secret ; say nothing about it to Mr. Talbot the priest ; he is not to be relied on. The Duke of York did not blame my resolution, when I told him I intended to join you. 38.] M. Du Bosc TO Cardinal Mazarin. A^ril 15, 1659. The ambassador of England having sent for me to his house told me, that I might communicate it to your Emi- nence before the express was sent off, that he has received news from England that everything is going on well there : that the establishment of the Upper House passed by more than three hundred votes; that the other party are weak, about forty-five in number, and as if ashamed and afraid to show themselves ; that the fleet has set out and is now far on its voyage ; that in truth only eighteen ships went down the Thames, but that they were going to join the fleet off Yar- mouth, and that the whole squadron would consist of about 350 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. forty-five ships of war, and would sail together from the road- stead of Solebay, near Yarmouth, which is some distance on their way. And that the establishment of the Protector is gaining strength on all sides, in the Barbadoes and other re- mote islands and territories. He asks whether your Eminence has any other matter to state to him, that he may communicate it to England. He inquired whether any courier had arrived from Spain. I told him that I had heard that one had, but that I had no certain information on the subject. His daughter is ill of a fever ; his wife, who arrived on Sa- turday, is much afflicted thereat. Her Highness the Protectress has been brought to bed of a daughter. The Protector has two sons, and his brother as many. 39.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. April 17, 1659. My Lord, The two letters which your Eminence did me the honour to write to me on the 9th and 10th of this month were not deli- vered to me early enough for me to reply to them today ; I shall merely assure you that I shall use all diligence to satisfy their contents ; and that it is not for want of having suffi- ciently explained myself that Mr. Lockhart has not received other instructions, but that he ajffects to be so imperfectly in- formed for no other purpose than to gain time. Nor will I deny that the English Government has good reason to wish to protract the affair ; and it will have been remarked from my letters that the Secretary of State gave me to understand as much, but not with all the confidence he should have mani- fested ; and this manner of acting with so much reserve is very usual here. I shall tomorrow use every efibrt to force him to speak more openly. Meanwhile, I have nothing to add ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 351 to my previous communication either on this matter or on the affairs of the north, except that it appears, from a letter lately written to me by the secretary of the Chevalier de Terlon, that the King of Sweden is firmly persuaded that he will be assisted by England in his designs, and that he has no intention of re- nouncing the conquest of Copenhagen. I had believed that the Secretary of State would clear up my doubts on this sub- ject, but his silence has continued since I last wrote, and he has given me ample ground for speaking to him with all the firmness that may be desired to induce this government to adopt resolutions which will be advantageous to our common interest. No act of importance has been passed latterly in the Parlia- ment, and it has been chiefly occupied In regulating the name and title to be given to the members of the Other House, when the Commons have to treat with them ; but no decision has yet been arrived at, for some wish to treat them as Lords and others as Gentlemen ; and with regard to civilities, it has been determined that the new House should neither receive nor offer them. It has also been debated whether the Parliament should order the ministers to announce the fast-day, or should request them to do so ; and the former term was held to be the more fitting. The question of taxes has not yet been set- tled. The officers of the army have presented a petition to the Protector, praying for the payment of their arrears, the abandonment of all prosecutions of those who executed the orders of the late government, and the persecution of the Royalists, whom they accuse of being engaged in countless intrigues. This Remonstrance was resolved upon in a council of officers, at which the friends of the Protector found them- selves in the majority; the others however did not shrink from displaying great firmness in their views, and it is as- serted that they are sure of the support of most of the subal- tern officers. This petition is also expressed in terms which leave the pretensions of both parties in their entirety, as the 352 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. acts of the Long Parliament are spoken of with great venera- tion, and a determination still to act on the old principles is manifested, which causes diverse opinions to be formed of the intentions of the whole army. There is no news of the fleet since its departure, although a ship arrived from the Sound a few daj's ago, and the winds have been for some time so con- trary that it cannot have arrived there in less time, as it did not take advantage of the fine weather which prevailed last week. 40.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. April 21, 1659. My Lord, Having informed the Secretary of State that I wished to speak with him, he came to see me on the day before yesterday. I spoke to him of the peace [with Spain] in conformity with your Eminence's two letters of the 9th and 10th instant, ex- aggerating the prejudice which the [delay] of his Highness produced, and the necessity which the King would be under to accept reasonable conditions if they were offered him. I also complained that, notwithstanding all the assurances that had been given me that Mr. Lockhart should be sent back with instructions, he had appeared quite new to this affair; and I stated that the King had the matter so much at heart that, although the said ambassador had doubtless sent home an ac- coimt of the conference he had had with your Eminence, I had nevertheless been ordered to urge his Highness to adopt some resolution, lest his Majesty should be forced, against his in- clination, to treat separately, which he would not do except at the last extremity, and after taking every precaution to secure peace for England, whenever the English Government should think fit to make it. The Secretary of State began his answer with complaints of the distrust of a secret negotiation which your Eminence had exhibited to Mr. Lockhart, and reiterated ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 353 to me the same protestations that he had already made that neither Walter nor any other person had ever had any com- mission, and that the information which had been given to the contrary, must have proceeded from persons who wished to excite jealousy between Prance and England, as it was certain that Spain was no more aware than the Turk of his Highness's intentions, and that I had always been spoken to with the greatest sincerity ; that I should give great pleasure to the Protector by renewing my assurances to him, and that no pro- position of peace would be received here without being com- municated to France ; that after all, the strong representations which I had made having led the Protector to consider what advantages we could just now obtain from peace, it had ap- peared to him that never had an accommodation been less opportune, as it would give Spain the means of re-establishing her great power, and achieving the universal monarchy at which she aims : that she could not fail to complete the conquest of Portugal ; that in Germany, the Emperor and his party would have no less facility in crushing the King of Sweden ; that the United Provinces would not be exempt from danger ; and that France, as well as England, would find it difficult, during a peace, to guard against domestic divisions ; that the Protector, reviewing all these considerations, was at a loss to know to what to attribute our great anxiety to make peace at a moment when Spain was on the decline, and when, after the continua- tion of the war for a few years, she would be reduced to such a state that her neighbours would have no occasion to feel jealous of her greatness : that his Highness nevertheless would not fail to conform to the King^s desires, and that, with this view, powers should be sent to Mr. Lockhart to treat with the minister of Spain who is now in France, if he were furnished with similar powers from his master, as he had stated. I thought it expedient to reply to the said Secretary that it was true that from various sources information had been sent that England was treating secretly with Spain ; that I had even reproached VOL. I. A A 354 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. him on that ground already, and that if your Eminence had again spoken of the matter to Mr. Lockhart, it was only a proof of the frankness with which he continued to act, and state all that he had on his mind : that moreover this sus- picion of a secret treaty had been partly caused by the very vague answers which had been given me during four months, and by the slight confidence the Protector placed in France by not discovering his real views ; but that doubtless the protes- tations which had been again reiterated to me, and which I should not fail to communicate to your Eminence, would en- tirely dissipate the impressions which we might entertain. And as for the motives which led the King to desire peace, I told him they would not be difficult to fathom by those who knew the state to which France had been reduced by a war of so many years' duration, which had drained her of men and money, and which so alienated the minds of the people that its continuation would be not unlikely to kindle insurrections, and to give our enemies the means of repairing their losses : that moreover the whole of Christendom would receive so much injury by its prolongation that it would be impossible to avoid a combination of most of the States of Europe against the authors of their misfortunes ; and that, but for the great advances which were made at Frankfort by the King's ambas- sadors, with the consent of the late Protector, to efiace the impression which all Germany had conceived of our repugnance to peace, it would have taken measures in concert with the House of Austria against us; that the same inconvenience would be now to be apprehended if we rejected an honourable treaty, in which all sorts of securities might be provided for the King of Sweden, the States- General, and our other allies ; that if, in defiance of these precautions, the House of Austria undertook any enterprises against them, France and England would have just cause for renewing the war against the other nations, and with the approval of their own subjects ; and that war might even be carried on more advantageously, after a few ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 355 years of repose. That, in truth, the King of Portugal would find liimself in some danger, but that, besides that it was not rea- sonable to expose other nations to such numerous evils in order to preserve liis throne, some liberty might be reserved to us to send him auxiliary troops, and to act towards him as we for- merly acted in favour of the United Provinces ; that with re- gard to domestic warfare, it appeared to us more to be appre- hended now in France than during peace, and that if England were afflicted therewith, we should be also in a better position to assist the present government against its enemies. That finally, we could not desire a more favourable conjuncture for treating advantageously; and that there appeared to be no reason to prevent the Protector from sending instructions to his am- bassador as soon as possible, and reducing his pretensions within reasonable terms : and I carefully insinuated that we could no longer delay hearing the propositions of M. Pimentel, whom I had already caused to return from the frontiers of Flanders, upon fresh orders from his Court, to support what I had said in relation to his departure. The Secretary of State received my speech with a distinct assurance that the King's wishes should be complied with, but did not enter into parti- culars as to the conditions of our accommodation, which your Eminence will readily judge will not be agreeable here, and I should be [surprised] if their ambassador did not receive orders to protract matters as much as possible. His instructions would probably even have been delayed longer, but for the fear that we might treat separately, as report stated. I then proceeded to speak of the affairs of the north, and informed the Secre- tary that, having made known the sentiments in which I had left him at our last interview, I had received orders to repeat to his Highness that we deemed the accommodation of Sweden and Denmark absolutely essential to the common cause, and that to attain this object, it would be necessary to deprive the King of Sweden of all hope of assistance, if he would not be content witli the execution of the Treaty of Roeskild ; that I A A 2 356 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. knew nevertheless that he expected to be supported by Eng- land in the conquest of Denmark, that his ministers here made no mystery about it, that the French minister at his Court had written to me to the same effect, and that I could not deny that the expectation appeared very reasonable, consider- ing the conduct of the English Government in sending off the fleet without communicating to me the orders which had been given to the Admiral, although we had agreed to do everything in concert : that if his Highness were now still of the same mind, he should speak frankly, and remove thereby the just suspicions which we could not but entertain of his views, in order that if his views were not in accordance with our prin- ciples, the King might take his measures in good time, and not allow himself any longer to be trifled with by all the speeches which have been made to me, or by the guarantee- treaty, which seemed to have been desired here only in order better to conceal the private designs of the Protector. T also dwelt on the disadvantages which have accrued to us from the northern wars, and the great expenses which France had in- curred in maintaining the King of Sweden, without having re- ceived any benefit therefrom, and without any hope of obtaining any other advantage than the diversion of the Emperor's forces, a descent by whom upon Flanders would be no less formidable to England than to France, though we should be the first ex- posed to their attack. The Secretary of State, after having listened to me patiently, told me that he had also come to see me to speak to me on this subject, and to make complaints of what your Eminence said to M. Borel, namely, that there was reason to be astonished that his superiors used no more diligence in sending succour to the King of Denmark, and rescuing him from total ruin which would inevitably recoil upon their subjects ; that if the States- General were not alto- gether oblivious of their interests, they would make a last effor to expel the King of Sweden from his late conquests; that France did not approve of his conduct, and that it was neces- ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 357 sary also to be on one's guard against England, as there was a secret treaty between the Protector and that Prince, and that it was contrary to the advice of France that so large a fleet had been sent from hence into the Baltic. The Secretary of State added that M. de Thou had spoken in similar terms at the Hague, at which his Highness was greatly surprised, as he had engaged in this affair solely at the solicitation of France ; and that I could testify to the truth of this statement, as it was I who had made such urgent representations to secure the equipment of a fleet towards the end of the autumn ; and he took God to witness that no treaty had since been made with Sweden, that no change had taken place in the designs of the English Government, and that it still had at the present mo- ment no other object than the execution of the last guarantee- treaty ; that in truth, at our last conference, he had not en- tirely concurred in my views, but that General Montague's orders were exactly such as I had desired, and if they had not been specially communicated to me, it was his fault : that con- sequently our distrust was unfounded, and that there was much more reason to suspect us of a change of purpose, which the Protector was pained to notice. I denied to the Secretary that your Eminence had ever used such language to M. Borel, but admitted that you might have conceived some suspicion of a particular design on the part of England difierent from the object which we had proposed to ourselves, after the letters you had received on the subject from Sweden and from this country ; but nevertheless, such a suspicion would assuredly not have induced your Eminence to speak so positively, or to exhort the States- General to adopt measures so contrary to the interests of France, which does not seek the downfall of the King of Sweden ; that it was not to be presumed that we should have incurred so much expense, and been at so much pains, on his behalf, in order afterwards to contribute to his ruin ; that the statements made by M. Borel had no foundation in fact, aud were made with a view to excite jealousies be- 358 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. tween France and England, and that the Protector was too keensighted not to see through the artifice ; that I could easily disabuse his mind, if he would have patience to read all that your Eminence had written to me on the subject, and I offered to communicate your letters to the Secretary ; and finally I told him that as we felt distrust on both sides, it became ne- cessary to speak frankly, in order to dispel such feelings : that for my part, I found myself sufiiciently well acquainted with the King's intentions to repeat that he was still determined to support the interests of the King of Sweden, if he would con- sent to make peace on the terms of the treaty of Roeskild without any modification, but to deprive him of all hope of succour if he rejected that proposition; and in case he ac- cepts it, and his enemy rejects it, the English fleet will act openly in his favour. I also told him that we thought the pa- cification of Poland and Brandenburg absolutely necessary, and I desired that orders might be sent to Admiral Mon- tague to act on this principle. The Secretary of State pro- tested to me that he had already received orders to do so, at starting; but that fresh instructions should be sent out to him today, in a vessel which is about to leave for the Sound, that he should execute those orders effectually; and that I might, by the same opportunity, inform the minister of France of our intentions. He also requested me to write to M. de Thou on the subject, that he may declare that the King and the Protector are of the same mind, and that the States-Gene- ral, on their part, may be led to co-operate in the reconcilia- tion, and may not flatter themselves that France would approve of their pursuing any other course of conduct. I again re- quested him to repeat, for fear of equivocation, the terms in which he intended to write to the Admiral, to whom the whole negotiation is referred, and having found that his language was very precise, and such as I had proposed, I undertook that our representatives at the Hague and in Sweden should speak in similar terms. We also agreed that care must be taken that ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 359 the King of Sweden should not trifle away Admiral Monta- gue's time under various pretexts, under the notion that, his presence preventing the arrival of supplies from Holland, Co- penhagen would be reduced, by famine and by the plague (which is said to prevail there very greatly), to submit to the conqueror ; for fear lest, in the meanwhile, the Emperor should have liberty to send an army into Flanders. I do not think that more can be desired of the Protector than the perform- ance of all these promises ; but this cannot be secured without a little violence, as peace appears to him very disadvantageous under present circumstances. It has already been remarked that the advices which have arrived here from various quarters, announcing that peace had been concluded, have raised the courage of the Republicans, who are persuaded that the present Government of England, having more to fear from domestic commotion, will not assume so much power. This considera- tion may have caused all the delay, and must destroy the be- lief that there is any secret treaty with Spain. It also ap- peared to me that all that the Secretary of State has said to me regarding the aflairs of the north did not proceed from a very unfettered will ; and I have not failed, in a letter which I wrote today to M. de Terlon's secretary, to request him to watch the English envoys, as it is not likely that the King of Sweden would have expected the English fleet with so much impatience, unless he had believed that it would support him in designs utterly at variance with peace. . . . An envoy from Denmark arrived in London yesterday, who will be informed of the resolutions which have been adopted in his master's favour; and I have already acquainted the Polish minister with the readiness of the Protector to co-operate with France in procuring the treaty sought by his superiors. The likeli- hood of our peace with Spain may induce the English Govern- ment to take this course, and give up the idea of any estab- lishment in those quarters ; as the acquisition and retention of any place would be very difficult, if the King of Sweden alone 360 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. were concerned in the matter. A French officer, who left Elsinore at the beginning of this month, reports that the Swedish infantry is too weak to undertake a second attack upon Copenhagen ; but that, if the English fleet prevents sup- plies being thrown into the town, it cannot hold out long; which causes its conquest to be spoken of here as certain. The Parliament has adopted no resolution of importance lately ; its debates have turned chiefly on the manner in which it is to treat with the new House ; and last week it resolved to receive no messages from it, unless brought by members, although the House of Lords was accustomed to send its messages by offi- cers of justice. The Protector also wrote to the Speaker of the Parliament on Friday last, on the occasion of sending him the petition of the army ; both communications were very ill- received, and great fault was found with the superscription of the letter, because it termed the Parliament the House of Commons. These little quarrels do not seem likely to produce any great alteration in the Government, provided that the army does not oppose it. It was thought some days ago that the inferior officers intended to publish some document to its disadvantage, but it has not yet appeared; and the Court party are full of hope of a happy issue of all their designs. There is no certain news of the fleet; it is never- theless believed to have reached the Sound by this time, as the wind has changed during the last few days, and some tra- vellers report that it was off Scogey at the beginning of last week. I acquainted my Lord Faulconbridge with your Eminence's pleasure, for which he begged me to return you very humble thanks, awaiting his performance of the duty in question. ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 361 41.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. A2)ril 24, 1659. My Lord, I have received the two letters which your Eminence did me the honour to write to me on the 16th and 19th of this month. As my previous despatches have given sufficiently ample information as to the feelings which appear to me to prevail here with regard to peace with Spain, and the recon- ciliation of the northern Kings, I have nothing to add on either point, as nothing has occurred, except that yesterday the Keeper of the Seals and the SS»retary of State confirmed to me that powers had been sent to Mr. Lockhart, and orders to Admiral Montague, to act in accordance with the resolu- tions already adopted, and that we agreed to exchange ratifi- cations of the guarantee-treaty tomorrow. They also men- tioned to me the reports which are current that peace has been concluded at Paris, and I assured them that matters were in statu quo, as the King wished to wait for news from his High- ness, before coming to any absolute decision; but as articles of a very probable character have been sent over from Flan- ders itself, it is not easy to disabuse the people of the convic- tion that the much-desired accommodation has been efiected, except by means of the heads of the Government. Now that your Eminence has Mr. Lockhart on the spot, you will be able to ascertain from his conduct whether his superiors are as opposed to peace as the Secretary of State appeared to me to be, without however declaring to me that Colonel Walter was now in London, where he arrived on Easter- eve. The same person who confirmed to me the information which your Eminence had already received, reports to me that they have not yet consented to listen to his proposals, for fear of offend- ing France ; but that Colonel Walter intended, if the Secre- tary deferred giving him audience much longer, to adopt other means ; and that, if England wished to treat separately, Spain 362 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. would not make peace with France : I propose to speak to the Secretary of State on this subject tomorrow,, and if he makes any mystery about it, I shall not fail to learn the progress of this negotiation from other sources, as I have particular rela- tions with the only person to whom the Jesuit has discovered his plans. I shall not fail also to urge that a manifesto be published regarding the departure of the fleet ; but I still feel some umbrage as to the sincerity of the protestations made to me by the said Secretary, who came to me to make fresh representations in favour of those interested in the prize made by Captain La Roche, insisting at the same time on the rea- sons which I have stated ifi my letter to M. de Brienne. My reasons, though more solid, did not avail to divert them from their claims ; and after having called on them to give to the clause which speaks of the cessation of acts of hostility, the same sense that it has in all the treaties which have been made between England and other States, seeing that they spoke of letters of marque, I gave them to understand that if the King should be unable, by reason and justice, to prevent the renewal of these acts of hostility, he would make use of other means to guarantee his subjects against them. Upon which we separated without coming to any agreement. Dur- ing the last three days, the Parliament has deliberated on none but private afikirs : among other matters, it has declared a Colonel of the army, on account of his violent conduct while he was Major-General of a district, incapable of ever again holding office in England ; some wished to cashier him, but the majority were satisfied with degrading him from all civil employments, so as not to offend the army, which is not at all satisfied at finding that the Parliament does not defer to its demands, but punishes past misconduct with such severity. This discontent, or some other design, led to a meeting of the officers at the house of Lieutenant- General Fleetwood ; they began yesterday by prayers and speeches, today they are still continuing them, and some of them state that they propose to ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 363 establish an entirely new Council of State, to reform the army, to cashier the friends of the Protector, to choose a General, and to take measures for obtaining their arrears from the Par- liament. I will not guarantee that this statement is altogether true, but it seems that this meeting must ere long produce some change. . . . 42.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. A2)ril 28, 1659. My Lord, % As today's post has brought me no letters from your Emi- nence, and as I have not seen the Protector's ministers since I last wrote, I do myself the honour to write to you only in order to satisfy any curiosity you may entertain with regard to the state of home-affairs in England. My preceding letter has already informed you of the meeting of the Council of War, composed of all the superior and inferior officers, and even of the ensigns who are now in London : and of the mat- ters which I had been told were to be discussed by that as- sembly. There was indeed some talk of the dismissal of such officers as were not very religious and had no interest in the army, and also of requiring Parliament to confirm all that had been done before and after the death of the King, and to exact further securities from the Royalists ; the suppression of Kingship was also mooted, but no conclusion was arrived at on that point; it was only resolved that they should meet again on the day after tomorrow, and that in the meanwhile a committee of twelve officers should inquire into the matter. The upshot of these deliberations, and some information of a design that had been formed to separate the command of the army from the civil Government (going even so far as to sug- gest the appointment of several Generals in order to weaken the power of the civil authorities), having given the alarm. 364 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. the Protector's friends today obtained a vote from Parliament, in spite of the opposition of the Republicans, that the officers shall be prohibited from assembling without the consent of the Protector and the Parliament; that they should return each to his garrison ; and that those who should refuse to re- cognize both his Highness and the Parliament should be ca- shiered J that an act of indemnity shall be passed for all past actions ; that provision shall be made for the payment of their arrears, and that the Royalists shall be required to leave Lon- don. The new House will be invited to give its consent to these resolutions, and if it makes any difficulty, its objections will not be allowed to interfere with the execution of the vote. At the same time that these resolutions were being taken, the Protector sent for the officers, under the pretext of making known to them what the*Parliament was disposed to do with regard to the petition which they had presented ; and after having promised them entire satisfaction, he complained of their late meetings as contrary to the respect which they owe to him and to the Parliament, forbade them to continue to meet, and commanded them to return to their respective posts. General Desborough attempted to justify what had passed at their meetings ; but the Protector did not fail to reiterate his orders that they should separate, professing oblivion of the past ; and on this command they withdrew without replying, and also without its being possible to state certainly whether they will obey or not. I have just been told that the Protector has been informed of a design on foot for arresting him to- night, and that, to prevent this being effected, all his partisans have orders to hold themselves under arms. It is in fact pro- bable enough that if the army intends to act, it will do so at once, for fear lest, being opposed by the Parliament as well as by the City and by all persons of condition, and the Court having also some officers who are still faithftJ to its interests, all these bodies combined should thwart its designs. It is also the most plausible opinion that it will not proceed to ex- ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 365 tremities, as the leaders and inferior officers are too well esta- blished to risk their fortunes unnecessarily. But I shall be able to write more positively by next post. It has been published of late that the accommodation be- tween France and Spain has been concluded^ and some ima- gine that this belief may have contributed to the present movement. Either because it is deemed advisable to efface this belief^ or because the news has really arrived^ it is now stated that Mr. Lockhart^s last letters announce the rupture of the treaty. The Protector has also attempted to persuade the officers that there is a Royalist insurrection in Scotland ; but that party of late_, either from policy or fear, has not given the least cause for jealousy^ and nothing is now spoken of but the conduct of the army_, with which the Republican leg,ders are said to have united. No other affair of any importance has been treated of in the Parliament_, to which the Quakers presented a petition on the day before yesterday, for the libe- ration of some of their brethren who are prisoners^ offering to go to prison in their stead ; after having heard them, they were commanded to return each man to his home and to live in quietness. The House of Commons also last week sent up the ordinance for a fast to the new House, which received the members very honourably, and treated them in the same man- ner as its own deputies will be treated. Provided the army will submit, everything will doubtless pass over to the satis- faction of the Government. No news has arrived of the Eng- lish fleet; it is nevertheless believed to have reached the Sound. Some vessels which have come from the coast of Spain relate that the Treasure-fleet has arrived at Cadiz. I have not seen the Secretary of State for some days, although he appeared to have made up his mind to bring me the ratifl- cation of the guarantee- treaty; this delay is excusable under present circumstances. 366 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 43.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. May 1, 1659. My Lord, My last letter represented the affairs of England to be in a very uncertain state, and it seemed then that in a few days we should be enlightened as to the issue they were likely to have; I do not yet however find myself sufficiently well-informed to speak positively about them ; division still appears to prevail in the army, and between a faction of the officers and the Protector, whose interest the Parliament continues to support. But the decree which it had passed to dissolve the assembly of officers is eluded by the difficulties which the new House makes about giving its consent to these prohibitions ; there is not even any appearance that it will authorize them, and when the Act was laid before it, the first reading passed by only one vote, as many wished to reject it without any examination. Meanwhile the officers, with Major-General Desborough for their spokesman, went yesterday to inform the Protector that, as their meeting brought no detriment to his particular inte- rest or to the public welfare, they thought they might continue to meet ; and in the afternoon they proceeded to Lieutenant- General Fleetwood's house, where no business was discussed, for he sent them away, saying that for the present there was nothing for them to do or to fear. Every one nevertheless holds himself on his guard ; and it is said that the Protector has again received information of a design upon his person : that the Quakers and other Sectaries are ready to join the army if it revolts ; that a great number of officers have signed a paper tending to union ; and that some of the colonels even of the London militia have been to assure General Fleetwood that they were resolved to run the same chance as the army in support of the good old cause. On the other side, the Common Council declares for the Protector and the Parlia- ment, without however either party coming to a manifest rup- ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 367 ture ; they have all so much interest in remaining united, now they are enriched with the spoils of the King and the clergy, that they will hardly resort to extremities, and the party which holds out most firmly will bring over the other to its views. Up to this time the Protector has spoken high-spiritedly, and as the Parliament, the City, and part of the army are well- intentioned towards him, he does not seem to run any great danger. The very risk to which he is believed to be exposed is likely to strengthen his position, and to induce the Parha- raent to pass resolutions which it would not have adopted in any other conjuncture, in order to overcome present circum- stances. The question of the militia was brought forward again today, and the House reassembled this afternoon to de- cide it : the point is, whether the militia shall depend on the Protector alone during the absence of Parliament, or on the Protector and a Council to be appointed to act jointly with him. Unless the inclinations of Parliament change, this matter will not be so long under discussion as the estab- lishment of the new House was, and if the decision is in the Protector's favour, he will have gained his cause against the army. I am nevertheless persuaded that he will yield to the wishes of the leaders, and will prefer this course to placing himself in the hands of the Parliament, which is composed of men of no solidity, who would desert him at a pinch, and some of whom are on his side only so long as they believe it to be consistent with their design of restoring the King. Those who know best concur in these views ; and indeed it seems impos- sible to form any other opinion from the present state of feel- ing in England. These domestic perplexities have not pre- vented the Government from attending to foreign affairs, and the Secretary of State came to me yesterday evening to show me the draft of a treaty between France, England, and the States-General, for the promotion of peace in the north, beg- ging me to read it carefully and to send him my opinion of it this morning, and offering to add or omit anything I might 368 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. think advisable ; he also begged me to write to M. de Thou in conformity with what we should agree on here, that he might make no difficulty about acting in concert with Mr. Downing at the Hague, whither an express would be sent who could convey my despatches. I have complied with the Secretary's wishes, not having found anything in the articles (a copy of which I have sent to M. de Brienne), which was not con- formable to the intentions of the King and to the guarantee- treaty which I have signed, from which his Highnesses minis- ters rejected the very articles which they now propose. His Highness might at that time have entertained other views, but now there is reason to believe that his only desire is peace. I intimated to the said Secretary that France desired peace with Poland no less warmly, and considered it no less neces- sary to the common interest ; and he promised me that Ad- miral Montague should have orders to urge the matter very strongly on the King of Sweden. If there were any further precaution to be taken to secure peace in these quarters, I might be informed of it, and could get the requisite orders given in sufficient time, as M. de Thou makes some scruple about signing anything without express authority. The Se- cretary next asked me for news of the peace, complaining that he had received no letters from Mr. Lockhart by post, but several from Flanders and other localities, which assured him that peace had been concluded, and that we were to restore all the places we had taken in Flanders, even including Gravelines. I confessed to him that my private letters spoke very positively on the subject, but that the good faith with which the King was acting would not permit him to come to any final conclusion until the interests of his allies were suit- ably provided for ; that indeed, his Majesty and the whole of France strongly desired the termination of the war, and that to enjoy the happiness of peace, we should not regret the loss of a few places, provided that Roussillon remained in our hands. I took occasion also, while on this subject, to say ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 369 that doubtless the Protector would not insist on retaining all that he has acquired during the war; but he assured me that, very far from abandoning anything, he would require to be supplied with the means of maintaining Dunkirk, which would otherwise be too troublesome to England. This speech gave me a pretext for proposing the sale of the place, as the surest means of avoiding the difficulty which so extraordinary a pretension would produce. The Secretary of State gave me no serious answer, and merely reiterated to me that Mr. Lock- hart had very express orders to enter into treaty, and to con- sent to reasonable terms : he also let fall that it was feared that the disbanded troops would pass over into England. I confessed that if England were not separated from the main- land by so wide a channel, this danger might reasonably be apprehended ; but that such a fleet as would be necessary for the transport of an army could not be equipped without great expense, or without the consent of France and Spain, and if those countries were at peace with England, such an arma- ment would not be permitted ; and that, for further security, the contingency might even be provided for in the treaty of peace. This overture was well received. The Secretary also agreed to a proposal I made that we should publish the treaty which is to be signed at the Haigue, to make known to all the world that our only object is the reconciliation of the States of the North. When we parted, I renewed my offers of the King's assistance if it should be necessary for the mainte- nance of the present Government under existing circum- stances. The Secretary thanked me in general terms, with- out entering into the matter, and also without expressing, as on former occasions, any hope of a happy issue to the move- ments in progress ; although his appearance and language were more smiling and pleasant than usual, which went far to persuade me that there is some foundation in the report that he has a secret understanding with Generals Fleetwood and Desborough. To conclude, I learn that the Parliament has VOL. I. B B 370 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. come to no resolution as yet, and that news has arrived that the fleet has entered the Sound. 44.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. May 5, 1659. My Lord, If my last letters have not been detained in England, they will have prepared your Eminence to receive without surprise the news of what has occurred here since the 1st of this month. It is true that the evil did not then appear so close at hand, and that, up to that very day, it was still hoped that some means of accommodation might be found. But the leaders of the army, finding that they were being deluded by negotiations, whilst the friends of the Protector were pressing the Parliament to adopt resolutions tending to his establish- ment and their overthrow, thought it advisable to provide for their own safety, and to ejffect by force that which they had been unable to obtain by fair means. With this intent, on Thursday, towards midnight, they placed the troops under arms in the neighbourhood of Whitehall ; and the principal men among them, having assembled at St. James's, and re- fused to admit to their conclave those who were known to be well-intentioned towards the Court, sent Major- General Des- borough, with about a dozen officers, to demand of the Protector that he should dissolve Parliament in person on the following day. They found his Highness with a few officers who were friendly to him, and soon learned that he was already aware of the resolution which had been adopted by the council of war ; but at the same time, he had lost the confidence he had formerly felt in several regiments, all the subaltern officers of which had abandoned their colonels to follow the example of other corps, and one squadron of cavalry had even gone so far as to refuse to follow their captain, who was leading them ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 371 to Whitehall. Although the Protector was aware of this general alienation, and his friends had scarcely been able to iind two hundred men in the whole army who were disposed to back him, he nevertheless exhibited great firmness, and de- clared that he would suffer any violence rather than grant the demand which was made of him. This refusal obliged General Desborough to come to threats, and to inform him that he was not in a position even to defer for an hour the execution of the resolution which the army had adopted ; leaving him how- ever at liberty to commission some member of his Council to dissolve the Parliament, if he were unwilling to do it in per- son. His Highness, seeing that the necessity was inevitable, and that those who were with him were of opinion that he must submit to force, after having again expressed his dis- pleasure and repugnance, promised that which he was unable to refuse. Thereupon General Desborough and the others withdrew, and went to a neighbouring house to await the performance of the promise; and between two and three o'clock in the morning, the Secretary of State brought them the necessary orders addressed to the Keeper of the Seal. In the meanwhile, some companies of cavalry and infantry en- tered the courtyard of Whitehall, and behaved themselves with considerable license, particularly in the cellars ; and there were also many parleys, and it was said that it was agreed not to overthrow the Protector entirely, but to allow him to govern in conjunction with a council, though he is not to be permitted to interfere with the army, which remained on guard in London and round about Whitehall during the whole of the 2nd of May. Opposite Whitehall there was a picquetj which arrested some officers and soldiers who were thought to belong to the Court party, and who wished to enter the palace. This great commotion did not prevent the mem- bers of Parliament from going down to Westminster at the usual hour. Accordingly, when they had taken their seats, the first Keeper of the Seals, who is President of the new B B 2 372 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. House, made known his Highness' s intention to the Lords, and it was resolved that the Commons should be summoned to hear the commission under the Great Seal pronouncing the dissolution of the Parliament. But this message, being sent by the Usher of the Black Rod, as the Commons had previously determined to receive no message from the other House unless brought by one of its members, and as more- over the subject of the invitation was not agreeable, after a debate of two hours' duration, they resolved to take no notice of the summons, and in order to prevent the order of dis- solution from being notified to them in any other way, they adjourned until today, and immediately left the House. Dur- ing this debate, the violence of the officers of the army was strongly reprehended ; some proposed that they should be de- clared traitors ; others that the protection of the City of Lon- don should be requested, and that the House should remove its meetings thither. The Presbjrterians among others ap- peared very animated, and General Fairfax was highly indig- nant; some Republicans also affected dissatisfaction; but no conclusion was arrived at, as many of the members desired, and had secretly promoted, the dissolution of the Parliament, because they found it was too blindly devoted to the Pro- tector's interest. As soon as the Commons had gone, the Keepers of the Seals went into their House, and read the com- mission from his Highness, presupposing that it was sufficient to declare his will in their place of meeting. During the re- mainder of the day, nothing remarkable occurred, except that General Fleetwood waited upon the Protector, who gave him a very bad reception at first, but afterwards took him into a private room, where they remained some time in conference. On the 3rd of this month a great council of officers was held, where the principal topic of discussion was the means of find- ing money wherewith to satisfy the troops, and a committee of ten was appointed to advise on the most urgent affairs. On the same day a proclamation was printed, announcing the dis- ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 373 solution of Parliament, which the Protector declared he had done from very important considerations, without stating that it was with the advice of his Council. A great number of members did not fail to proceed to Westminster this morning, where, having found some cavalry on guard, and the House of Parliament closed, they contented themselves with knocking at the door, and expressing their indignation. Orders have also been issued to all the Royalists and Catholics to leave London without delay, under the pretext that they are cabal- ling together in favour of the King. The City of London, on its part, has not remained inactive; the Mayor and some Colonels of City militia, who, a few days before, had induced their council of war to adopt a resolution to unite with the army for the maintenance of the good old cause, have met together, and in order to obtain perfect conformity with their first declaration, have cashiered some of their officers whose principles were of a difierent character ; thus, up to the pre- sent moment, there appears to be no opposition to the autho- rity of the leaders of the army. Not that the Corporation of the City, which is composed of Presbyterians, is not entirely opposed to them ; as well as the ministers, who rightly think that their tithes will be in danger if the government falls into the hands of the Anabaptists and other Sectaries, of whom Lieutenant- General Fleetwood is reputed to be the protector ; and it is accordingly stated that some of them made an offer to the Protector to get up an insurrection in the City in his favour, if he would retire thither, and that he would have availed himself of their offer, if his Council had not dissuaded him ; whence it is inferred that the Council had a previous un- derstanding with the army. .'• I cannot speak with so much certainty of what is likely to happen as of what is past, nor can I say what will be the new form of government. Many are persuaded that the Protector will remain in his place at least for some time ; that Generals Fleetwood and Desborough will have all the authority ; that the Council will continue to act, and that another Parliament will be summoned, that will 374 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. manifest a greater desire for the public good. Others believe that the Commonwealth will be again established, as most of the inferior officers of the army desire that form of govern- ment; that they have even begun already to entertain sus- picions of their chief, because they believe him to have other inclinations; and that they have appointed agitators, as in former times, for the preservation of their interests. It is also stated that Major- General Lambert and some other officers who were cashiered by the late Protector, claim to be restored to their commands, and that, as they are supported by a part of the army, division may spring up among them from this cause; that want of money is likely to cause similar dis- orders ; and that if, without a Parliament, the funds necessary for paying the arrears due to the army cannot be obtained, it will be requisite to restore the old Parliament, as there is no reason to hope that any other would grant the money. Some also apprehend that the troops in Ireland and Scotland may disapprove of the conduct of those in England, and that my Lord Henry Cromwell and General Monk may foment dissen- sion ; it is known also that General Montague was well-inten- tioned towards the Protector when he sailed ; and it is pro- bable that the nobility and people would declare against the army, either in favour of the King whose restoration is advo- cated, or in favour of the Protector, if they saw any influ- ential body give the least support to either interest. These are the reflections suggested by the change which has oc- curred, which holds all minds in suspense, and the conse- quences of which are still unknown to the most enlightened men of all parties. It nevertheless appears to me that the Protector will retain his title without any power, that the council of the army will govern under his name, that Mr. Fleetwood will be made General, and Mr. Desborough Lieu- tenant-General, and that the latter will have the greater share in the government, being an abler man than the former ; that the officers who have remained true to the Protector will be cashiered, and some of the colonels dismissed by his late ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 375 Highness will be reinstated ; that the troops in Scotland and Ireland will not desert the common cause, even if their leaders should attempt to persuade them to do so, which is not sus- pected in regard to General Monk ; Admiral Montague awakens greater suspicion, but besides that he is not absolute in the fleet, the fleet can do nothing against the government, unless there is a division in the army; and as regards the raising of money, very difierent means to those employed by the Parliament will be used ; it seems also that the Repub- licans are not satisfied with these arrangements; but that they will nevertheless tolerate them with less reluctance than the consolidation of the Protector's authority, as they have greater hopes that the new system will finally subside into a commonwealth, than they could have if all the power were in the hands of one man. A declaration is projected which, in a few days, will enable us to form a more certain opinion on the state of afiairs. Meanwhile all other business is at a stand- still ; and having sent this evening to the Secretary of State, who has gone into the country, to inform him that I was de- sii'ous, at this crisis, to confirm the ofiers I had previously made, he received my civility very graciously, and even sent me word that he would see me in a day or two ; but he would not listen when my secretary attempted to converse with him on the affairs of the north. I shall nevertheless endeavour, at our first meeting, to comply with the wish of the Dutch ambassador to obtain that the article of the treaty which is to be signed at the Hague concerning the reconciliation of the United Provinces with the King of Sweden may be couched in more urgent terms ; to which I see no objection. It is true that this is not a good opportunity for obtaining a change in the orders which have been sent to Mr. Downing, and General Fleetwood wiU doubtless incline to favour the cause of the Swedes, for whom liis brother is agent in London, unless he should deem it necessary to recall the fleet, news of which has arrived today. 376 ILLUSTRATIVE LETfERS. 45.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. May 12, 1659. My Lord, I saw the Secretary of State on the 9th of this month, and spoke to him in the first instance respecting the suspension of hostilities, in the terms which your Eminence had prescribed, begging him to secure the adoption of a speedy resolution on this subject, by the Council which has just met. He told me that Mr. Lockhart had written to him on the matter by the last post, but that, as he did not communicate the state of our negotiation or treaty with Spain, and as England would receive no advantage from so short a truce, the Protector could not enter into it ; that he would prefer peace, or a suspension of hostilities for at least six months, both on land and sea; that any other course would be giving Spain opportunity to pre- pare for the attack of Dunkirk, and for conveying troops into England this summer, which would compel his Highness to be as much on his guard, and to keep the same garrison in Dunkirk, as if there were no suspension of hostilities, while at the same time he would be deprived of the advantages which war may produce. He also made some complaint that we wished to include England as an allied State, without giving her time to make a separate treaty ; and he repeated to me several times that your Eminence had not communicated to him the state of the negotiation with M. Pimentel, although it was matter of public notoriety that the peace had been signed; that, while in this uncertainty, the Protector could not approve of the truce, and that Mr. Lockhart had instruc- tions to declare as much. This speech compelled me to en- force with still greater particularity all the considerations touched upon by your Eminence in your last letters, in order to convince the Secretary of State of the necessity of a short suspension of hostilities, and to show him that a longer one would give Spain the advantage of overthrowing Portugal, ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 377 relieving Flanders, and placing herself in a position to refuse the conditions which she now offers. I replied to his com- plaints by reminding him of our conduct since the arrival of M. Pimentel at Court, and I civilly reproached him that we had acted with much greater frankness and ingenuousness than the English Government, which had systematically re- fused to declare its intentions ; that, even now, Mr. Lockhart, though he professed to have power to treat, was acting in such a manner that it was impossible to believe that he had orders to conclude a treaty ; and that these delays had partly com- pelled his Majesty to condescend to a truce, which could in nowise prejudice English interests, whether they were most forwarded by peace or war, especially at the present conjunc- ture, as it was to be presumed that England was not in a con- dition to make any great conquests of Spain, and that both the Protector and his Council of State were too much occu- pied by home affairs to attend with any degree of freedom to foreign affairs, until the present troubles were quieted, for which we could not wait without great inconvenience, unless there were a suspension of hostilities which should leave all things in their present state. I next assured him that, even supposing the conditions between France and England were granted, of which I had no certain information, if our allies could not obtain peace on reasonable terms, we would not desert them ; that therefore whatever state our treaty might be in, it ought to cause them no jealousy ; and that moreover Mr. Lockhart could have no foundation for writing that we did not approve of his treating separately, as it was certain that the option had been proposed to him, as I proved by that clause in your Eminence's letter which mentions the fact; and finally, after a rather long speech, which it would be use- less to report, I urged the Secretary to deliver the King from the embarrassment in which he would be placed, if, while he had a truce in Flanders, the Spaniards should attack Dunkirk, or undertake any enterprise against England. He seemed 378 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. convinced by my reasons, and promised that I should have a positive answer that very evening, but I have not received any communication from him since. Before leaving this subject, in order to discover his views in regard to Father Talbot's journey, I told him banteringly that I had expected to find him more disposed to consent to a truce, as Father Talbot had boasted to some of his friends that he had convinced him that peace was necessary to England. He denied that he had ever heard from him any proposition of the kind, and again pro- tested to me that the present Protector had had no thought of treating with Spain, except since France has desired it, and that, if contrary statements had been made, it was solely with a view to sow distrust between the two nations. I afterwards passed on to the affairs of the north, and, in accordance with the wish of the ambassador of Holland, I proposed that the article of the treaty which is to be signed at the Hague, con- cerning the reconciliation of the United Provinces with the King of Sweden, should be couched in the terms w^hich the States- General desire ; he told me that the Council had not deemed it expedient to comply with this request, and, having shown me that they demanded not only that we should recon- cile them, but that it was also expressly stipulated that the English fleet should abandon the King of Sweden if he would not ratify the Treaty of Elbing with all the explanations which the States-General have added to it, and that England and France should guarantee the execution of that treaty, I did not think it fitting, any more than he did, to enter into these details, and consequently we agreed that orders should merely be sent to the resident ministers of France and England at the Comi; of Sweden to promote, by their mediation, an ac- commodation with the United Provinces, on conditions with which they may have cause to be satisfied, and to use similar good offices, with equal warmth, on behalf of Poland and Brandenburg. The Secretary of State confirmed to me the report that the last news from Zealand represent the King of ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 379 Sweden to be very dissatisfied with our intention to oblige him to stand by the Treaty of Roeskild ; but that the Pro- tector nevertheless remained firm to the views he had already declared, and to give me certain proof of this, he placed in my hands the ratification of the last treaty, the exchange of which for the King's had been deferred until that moment. I ended my visit with the same offers and demonstrations of friendship which I had already conveyed to the Secretary, begging him to assure the Protector that the King would spare no efforts for his maintenance. The Secretary received these civilities with abundant thanks, undertook to report them to his Highness, and tried to make me believe that there was a probability of reconciliation, as the army had been satisfied by the dissolution of the Parliament, which he blamed for having acted a little too hastily towards the officers. It is however quite certain that, in the meanwhile, the leaders of the army had resolved on recalling the Long Parliament, and that a declaration to that effect was being printed ; but it is said that this has since been withdrawn, and that a new project of government is in contemplation, in which the Protector will be included in the capacity of Pre- sident of a council which will be partly composed of Fifth- monarchy men, in order to satisfy all parties ; but there is nothing very certain to report as yet, except that the officers cashiered by the late Protector have been appointed to the commands of those who are thought hostile to the Common- wealth, in favour of which numbers of manifestoes and declara- tions are daily published, addressed to the army, which, apart from any such incitements, is sufficiently prone to follow out its old principles ; and although the present leaders have other views, and wish to maintain the existing dissension, they will nevertheless find it very difficult to succeed in their designs, because they have lost all their influence with the troops. General Lambert is more popular than any of them. The opinion of the troops in Scotland and Ireland will decide the 380 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. question. This point is still spoken of as uncertain, and no news can have been received from thence, although a report has been current for some days that my Lord Henry Cromwell was in the same condition as the Protector, that is, under a sort of arrest. The Royalists are meanwhile full of great hopes, and it is true that a little assistance would be sufficient to put them in a good position. Some of them hope that the Protector and his partisans will not be averse to join them, and the Republicans, in order to increase their unpopularity, accuse them of having been lately in treaty with Massey, which is not improbable. There is more reason to believe that, before the end of the week, the Government will be es- tablished, for fear lest, when the weakness of the army (which is only seven or eight thousand men strong) is ascertained, the malecontents should avail themselves of the confusion to form factions ; if the Long Parliament were restored to au- thority, it would not long delay concluding the accommoda- tion with Spain. No one here doubts that the French treaty is signed, or that the King^s marriage with the Infanta is settled j if the intelligence which reaches me to this effect from all parts be well founded, I hope that your Eminence will consider that, as I am to be the Queen's Chancellor, and as usage requires that persons of my profession should be em- ployed in negotiations of this nature, I have some title to claim a preference, and that, after so many years of service in a cold climate, I may with some justice request permission to draw near the sun. . . . The Secretary of State has just sent me word that his High- ness, having considered the reasons which I stated to him at our last interview to induce him to consent to a suspension of hostilities, although he had formerly held a different opinion, has resolved to conform to his Majesty's wish, and that orders have been sent to Mr. Lockhart to agree to the truce, in a letter which I am requested to forward to him. The Secre- tary also informs me that there is hope of an accommodation ; ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 381 and indeed, the ofl&cers do not appear to be agreed among themselves. I have also received from the Secretary of State two packets which have come from Zealand, and which will acquaint your Eminence with the state of affairs in those quarters. 46.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. May 15, 1659. My Lord, I informed your Eminence, in my last letter, that the officers of the army were not wholly agreed, — some desiring to restore the Long Parliament, and others to establish a Council, of which the Protector should be chief: after many negotia- tions between them and the principal Republicans, it has at length been determined to have both; a declaration to this effect is now in course of preparation, and it will be published this week, unless some fresh change. should occur in the pre- sent state of feelings of an unfavourable character to the Pro- tector ; as that assembly is composed of old Republicans who took an active part in the destruction of royalty, it has been deemed advisable to restore them to their seats, in order to have a body which, bearing the name of Parliament, may make laws and levy money ; but it will be the council which will really manage all affairs. This council will be composed of the leaders of the army, among whom Major-General Lam- bert is now most in vogue, and of the most distinguished Republicans, of whom Sir Harry Vane is reputed to be the chief: these two persons will have great authority, and there appears no likelihood, in England or in Scotland, of its being contested. In his first answer. General Monk had demanded to be told what the good old cause was, before he explained his intentions ; but he has since sent a declaration, by express, that he would not desert the interest of the army. The go- vernors of some towns in England, among others the governor 382 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. of Hull, who was believed to be very faithful to the Protector, have adopted the same course. And as to the troops in Ire- land, although no news has yet arrived from them, they cause but little anxiety ; they have too much interest in retaining possession of that country, where all their property is situated, to be easily persuaded to leave their goods at the mercy of the inhabitants, and come to make war in England : thus every- thing will pass over without bloodshed, although there are many malecontents, and the Presbyterians are extremely op- posed to those who are entering into possession of the govern- ment; they are therefore very much disposed to take their tithes for the payment of the army and to allow liberty of con- science. The next post will doubtless bring you particulars of the new government, now in course of formation. 47.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. May 26, 1659. My Lord, I made no doubt that the agitations of England would awaken your impatience to learn their result; and I have therefore allowed no post to pass without writing you all the particulars which deserved consideration. My last letter in- formed you that the Parliament was deliberating on the estab- lishment of the officers of the army ; before the final resolu- tion was adopted. General Lambert, accompanied by eighteen other colonels, presented to Parliament the articles which I have already sent to you, and which had been projected before the meeting of the House, some of whose members appeared to resent this address, which prescribes the form of the go- vernment ; to mollify their resentment, it is stated that the army has no desire to impose the adoption of this model as a necessity, and that it does not even wish that all the articles should be approved ; among others it does not insist on the ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 383 one which secures a pension to the Protector ; but that^ from feelings of propriety, it could not avoid expressing some mark of esteem for the memory of the late Protector, and that it was also obliged, in order to avoid a sudden transition from one extreme to the other, to propose a form of government some- what approaching to that which has been destroyed ; and that it has demanded a council to co-operate with the Parliament solely with this view ; it had even been determined to establish the one when the other was restored. But Sir H. Vane and three other eminent Republicans, in a conference which they had with the leaders of the army, persuaded them to leave the whole matter to the Parliament, which was but little inclined to create a Senate which it would be necessary to compose of officers of the army who have enough authority in other re- spects : it has been deemed more expedient to institute a Council of State, consisting of thirty-one ministers, of whom twenty-one are to be members of Parliament, and ten not. The choice of most of these was made on the last day of last week, and was finished this morning ; it has also been deter- mined that seven of these councillors, with Fleetwood at their head, shall present all the officers of the army, who are all to receive new commissions from the Parliament, which is fully resolved so to limit the power of the commander-in-chief and other principal officers, that they shall never be able to dispose as they please of the subalterns, who are greatly caressed at the present moment. There is even some talk of changing the General every year ; but, in the articles which the army has presented, it recognizes Fleetwood without any limitation of time, and it will be difficult to avoid giving him a commis- sion on similar terms; no provision has yet been made about the officers of justice. There is so great an aversion to those who were in office under the Protector that, in spite of the excuses and justifications they have alleged, and although most of them are members of Parliament, they will be dispossessed ; and this morning the Speaker of the Parliament discharged 384 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. the duties of Chancellor pro tempore, which prevented the Parliament from sitting today for any length of time ; it rose after having resolved to pay the arrears due to the army and navy, and after having ordered a committee to obtain from the eldest son of the late Protector a statement of his father^s debts and his own, and to ascertain his opinion with regard to the present Government. This last question seems to be put for the purpose of having a pretext for refusing him a pension if he does not submit, and he may perhaps be diverted from submitting by the news which has arrived during the last twenty-four hours from Ireland. It is to the effect that Lord Henry Cromwell, notwithstanding his declaration, has fortified himself in Dublin by summoning thither two regi- ments which arQ devoted to him, that he has found means to give money to those troops and extracted a promise from the officers that they will receive orders from no one but himself or the Protector, and that the governors of the principal towns have returned to their posts with a firm determination to re- cognize no other authority. This intelligence fills all the malecontents with hopes of a civil war. The Royalists are persuaded that this division will promote the King^s return, as the Lord Henry will be unable to maintain himself without the assistance of some other power, and there is no power which it would be so much his advantage to serve as that of his lawful sovereign. The Parliamentarians however do not appear to be greatly alarmed, and flatter themselves that the troops in Ireland will follow the example of those in England, when they find the Government established, and the Protector not in a position to avail himself of their goodwill ; they fur- ther declare their persuasion that these troops will not come to terms with the King of Scots, as they can derive no advan- tage from him but the confirmation of their title to the ac- quisitions they have made in Ireland, their enjoyment of which wiU be more fully secured to them if they submit to the Parliament, which already projects reforms in the adminis- ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 385 tration of justice. Even the army appears not to be exempted from reformation, although the power is in its hands, and if it withdrew its protection, the Parliament could not subsist for a moment, although the Council of the City of London, at the suggestion of the Mayor, has resolved to recognize its au- thority. This is, my Lord, the present state of affairs in Eng- land. In reply to the letter which your Eminence did me the honour to write to me on the 21st instant, I must add that it always appeared to me that the King would regret to see the establishment of a commonwealth in England, and that, as I have latterly perceived that the army was inclining towards that form of government, I have frequently renewed my offers of the King^s assistance, believing that the Pro- tector, in reliance thereupon, would adopt some bold resolu- tion. But, either because his heart failed him, as many be- lieve, or because his friends were unwilling to expose them- selves to the contingencies of a civil war, I have never received any but an answer in general terms, and instead of confessing the danger, the Secretary of State, on the very eve of the restoration of the Long Parliament, sent me word that there were great hopes of an accommodation with the army. When I afterwards renewed to him my assurances of the King's goo'dwill, he remained satisfied with thanking me, and even offered me his good offices with the new Government. After proof of such great depression, and seeing the state of aban- donment in which the Protector is left, and as moreover his reputation is such that it is not to be supposed that any man would risk his life and property for him, I do not think that France could undertake his defence with any success. It is true that the army in Ireland now shows a disposition to follow his brother, that the inclination of the fleet is still doubtful, and that the number of disaffected persons in England is very great. I must also confess that, according to popular report, the present Government has not yet any solid foundation ; that the army is not satisfied with its conduct; that the in- VOL. I. C C 386 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. ferior officers distrust their leaders; that the Presbyterians profess their intention to take the side of any who will declare against the Protector ; and that these distractions give reason to believe that nothing would be easier than the conquest of England ; many have even insinuated to me that it would be a fine opportunity for France, if she had any wish to employ her troops either on her own account, or in favour of the King of England. But we must wait for a more express declaration from the troops in Ireland, before building any plans on their disaffection; and it is to be feared that, when they see the Parliament act without opposition, and the armies of England and Scotland animated by the same spirit, the inferior officers will follow their example, and arrest my Lord Henry. It is also very uncertain whether General Montague can dispose of the fleet ; his Vice- Admiral is better known and more influen- tial among the sailors, and is a strong Republican ; besides which, without large funds, which France or Spain can alone furnish, the fleet cannot be kept at sea. As far as the English malecontents are concerned, the best informed persons in the nation are as fully persuaded as I am that they are no longer capable of exciting the slightest insurrection, and that, if a foreign army should land, some would wait the issue, as they did when the King of England entered with the Scots in 1651, and others, from the aversion which they feel to all foreigners, and particularly to the French, would unite to oppose our pro- gress, even if we embraced the King's cause. These considera- tions persuade me that there is nothing to be done at present in favour of the Protector, except to encourage the division in Ire- land, and to furnish the means of maintaining the troops if they remain true to his interests ; and when they have, by an open rupture, entered into conflict with the Commonwealth, if there does not appear to be any force to support them in England, and if the King stiU prefers to favour the restoration of the King of Scots rather than to see England a commonwealth, the Protector must be persuaded to make some accommodation with ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 387 that Prince, which he will not refuse to do, if he loses all hope of his own return to power ; Lord Henry Cromwell will adopt this course with even less difficulty, as he will find it more to his advantage than an accommodation with the Parliament, if he once enters into conflict with it ; and this is also the greatest obstacle that can be set in the way of the Common- wealth, the governors whereof will unite, and will resolve to please the people at the expense of their own authority if they find their position in any danger. I shall seek for means of acquainting the Protector with his Majesty's sentiments, which it will be difficult for me to find, as there are none of the friends of his father, or of his own domestics and officers, except Fiennes, formerly Keeper of the Seal, and Secretary Thurloe, who have not taken their seats in the Parliament, and made a sort of amende honorable ; even the two above- mentioned would not have been more constant than the rest, if there had been any willingness to receive them to mercy, but they are in so good a position that they will now hardly pledge themselves to any party. My Lord Faulconbridge has gone a hundred miles away from this, and no one remains with the Protector, capable of transacting business, or of ap- proved fidelity. As to Mr. Lockhart, no apprehension is ma- nifested of his resolutions, even if his garrison should prove to be at his disposal ; the sale of Dunkirk is regarded as the greatest harm he could do, and it would be borne without much grief; if he wishes to retain the place, it can be only at the expense of England, and by making such an accommoda- tion, whatever may be his goodwill, the effects cannot be very important, and the money paid him will not be adequate for the restoration of his master. It is even to be feared that something of this may be known here, as the English are, for the most part, false, and the great Repub- licans. I should consider the King^s money more usefully employed, if sent to Lord Henry to maintain his troops in their fidelity, as nothing can be hoped for except from that quarter, c c 2 388 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. unless the King, now he is at peace with Spain, should wish to undertake the conquest of England, the Government of which is somewhat disposed to feel suspicious of France ; to avoid war, it will be necessary to send me orders to recognize the present authorities. Meanwhile I have stated that doubt- less my orders to do so will not be long delayed, and that I should not even refuse, if any pressing occasion presented itself for acting for the common interest of the two nations, to enter into conference and agree on whatever might be judged best for both countries. The Committee informed my secretary, in reply, that, if I wished that this offer should be laid before Parliam^t, it must be put in writing : I have not yet thought it necessary to do so, and it is enough to have taken this step to remove the suspicion which might be felt of our aversion to the new Government. The ambassador of Holland, at the same time, communicated the resolution adopted by his superiors in regard to the affairs of Denmark ; and Mr. Downing having sent, by an express on the day before yesterday, the treaty which had been projected here, the Committee immediately communicated it to the said am- bassador, and assured him that a frigate should be despatched with orders to Admiral Montague to act in conformity with its provisions. Besides that the present Ministers of State have publicly declared that they are opposed to the invasion of Zealand, they may be very glad to have so good a pretext for keeping the fleet at a distance, whilst the Government is being established. Nothing remains for me to add with re- gard to their deliberations, and the dispositions which they appear to me to manifest, nor have I any further news, ex- cept that a vessel from Biscay, which was conveying three or four hundred Spaniards to Ostend, has been captured in the Channel; that an ambassador extraordinary from Por- tugal to France has arrived at Plymouth; and that letters from Lubeck gave positive assurance of the defeat of the naval armament of the King of Sweden near the island of ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 389 Dalsen. This disgrace will completely bring him over to the side of peace. 48.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. Jfay 29, 1659. My Lord, I thought I could not address myself to a better person than Mr. Thurloe in order to comply with the contents of your Eminence's last letter ; and, having yesterday contrived to get an interview with him in the country, I assured him that the King would spare neither money nor troops in order to re-establish the Protector, if there were any likelihood of success ; that his friends might take measures upon this groundwork, and that as soon as I was informed of their designs, I would communicate them to your Eminence with all necessary secrecy and circumspection; that I should ex- pect similar conduct on their part, and that they would not commit us to offend the present goverment inopportunely. The Secretary, after drawing an exaggerated picture of the surprising and extraordinary disgrace that had befallen his master, told me that he would communicate the King's offers to him without delay, and that within two days I should know whether he will be able to avail himself of them; agreeing that it would be an undertaking which would lead to his total ruin and to the ruin of his friends, and which might also be pre- judicial to France, if it were not successful. In order to as- certain what might be expected, I questioned the said Secre- tary as to the condition of Ireland and the state of fecHng in England. He appeared to me convinced that my Lord Henry Cromwell has absolute authority over his army ; that the in- clinations of the Scottish troops were doubtful, and that dis- contents increased daily in England, as the officers did not obtain from the Parliament those facilities which they had ex- pected, and the people do not think the conduct of the Par- 390 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. liament is at all different jfrom what it was before its dissolu- tion : that moreover the whole nation was well affected to the Protector, and that nothing was wanting but money to keep some in their allegiance, and to foment division among the others ; that he could not however speak to me very positively of the future, imtil he had conferred with his Highness. I did not press him further, and merely gave him to understand that it was expedient, in an affair of this nature, to act in con- cert with perfect confidence, to open one's heart and discover the evil as well as the good ; that this was the surest way of leading the King to make every effort of which France was capable ; whereas if he did not meet with conduct correspond- ing to his advances, he might listen to other counsels and abandon the undertaking, which cannot fail to be attended with great difficulty and expense. Mr. Thurloe protested that the Protector's conduct towards us should be all that we could desire ; that his own interest would not permit him to engage in a civil war, unless he saw great probability of bringing it to a successful issue ; he even recommended me not to men- tion it, and his whole language was marked by so much ap- prehension of events, that he will doubtless risk nothing rashly. I next asked him if Mr. Lockhart had not written to him on his departure from Paris : he told me that his secretary had arrived, and had given him a letter of credence, but he had not yet been able to converse with him ; and he even asked me for news of the peace with Spain, in terms which lead me to believe that it is not considered favourable to our present designs ; on which point I endeavoured to disabuse his mind, but not until after I had addressed to him some reproaches for not having spoken to me frankly on this subject when it was in our power to postpone the treaty. We separated with- out further conversation, deferring it to another day, and agreeing to meet again with such circumspection that the present Government may feel no suspicion of our meeting, which it would not fail to do if it knew that we had had two ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 391 interviews. On the same day, I had sent a message to Mr. Fiennes, formerly Keeper of the Great Seal, to say that I wished to visit him, thinking that he was sufficiently attached to the late Government to be informed of his Majesty's views ; he excused himself from receiving me, however, and in conver- sation with my secretary, he appeared to have no hope of re- turn to power, speaking of the Lord Henry Cromwell as in- capable of maintaining the division of the army in Ireland ; but at the same time he does not believe that the Parliament will long agree with the officers, as both wish to appropriate to themselves the entire government ; it is true that, up to the present moment, their union has not been perfect, as the superior officers aim at the establishment of a Senate com- posed of themselves, and the inferior officers incline to a Commonwealth governed by successive Parliaments, in the interval between which there should be a Council of State appointed, with power to execute their laws and statutes. The Parliament itself is also greatly divided, some of the mem- bers being true Republicans, while others are so only in name. As regards the armies at a distance, whatever Mr. Thurloe may have said. Monk, and the officers under his command, have lately written a letter to the Parliament, full of submis- sion ; and I see no one who doubts that this letter was in strict conformity with their inclinations, as that army is com- posed of all those regiments which the deceased Protector knew to be inclined to a Commonwealth, and sent away on purpose, for fear they might thwart him in his designs. Mr. Lockhart and his garrison have written a similar letter to the Parliament, of which his secretary was the bearer; it is thought to be even more submissive than the other, and it is stated that he was not in a position to act differently, not being the master of his troops. Mr. Thurloe did not inform me of this declaration of which he was probably aware, al- though I had not heard of it when I saw him, and your Emi- nence will judge whether it is in conformity with Mr. Lock- 392 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. hart's pledges. No news has arrived from Ireland since that which I have already written, and it is believed that, as letters from that quarter are suppressed, affairs cannot be going on there in accordance with the wishes of the Government ; that my Lord Henry nevertheless will derive no other advantage from the goodwill of his troops than an advantageous accom- modation, as he only has about twelve thousand men under his command, the greater part of whom are necessary for guarding the country ; if he were supplied with the means of increasing his force, and sending a body of troops into Eng- land, something of greater importance might be expected, and the malecontents would unite with him, especially if they saw France was supporting his cause or that of the King of Scots. When Mr. Thurloe gives me his answer, I shall not fail, be- fore making any engagement, to do all I can to discover whe- ther his plans have any solid foimdation, and in the mean- while, I can suspend the adoption of any resolution. I have nothing further to write except that, during the last few days, the Parliament has been occupied in seeking for means of paying the army : that the sale of the two royal residences of Whitehall and Somerset House was the first method proposed, and orders were given accordingly ; during the debate on this subject, some very bitter speeches were made against the late Protector. The petition presented for the impeachment of one of his most trusted ministers was also heard, although he has taken his seat in the Parliament. The examination of the articles submitted by the army has been postponed until Satur- day. There has been some discontent among the soldiers, be- cause some difficulty was made about paying a part of their pay, which had been retrenched by the late Protector ; they were immediately appeased by the assurance that complete satisfaction should be given them. It is said that the subal- tern officers have projected a petition against their superiors, among others against Generals Fleetwood and Desborough, whom they accuse of wishing to maintain tyranny. The ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 393 Council of State has not yet commenced sitting, and the Committee is to continue for the rest of the week. The order which the Parliament gave it to send to the Protector, spoke of him merely as eldest son of the late General of the forces of England ; this commission has not yet been executed. The same Committee has appointed three commissioners to confer on the treaty which has been signed at the Hague with the ambassador of Holland, who came to me this morning to thank me on the part of his superiors for the trouble I had taken to promote that treaty, in which there is still some mu- tual guarantee-clause with regard to trade and tolls in the Sound, respecting which it was not thought fit here to give any pledge. The said ambassador also informed me that the States-General anticipated great difficulty in inducing the King of Denmark to treat without his allies ; I agreed that it w^as a great obstacle, and that France desired the accommoda- tion of Poland no less than that of Denmark ; that the King woidd not refuse to order his ambassador to act with equal warmth for both ; and that if the English Government would fall in with these views, and send similar orders to Admiral Montague, the King of Sweden would find it difficult to avoid compliance. This is, in fact, the only certain means of pre- venting the continuance of the war with Poland, as it is very probable that the King of Poland will evacuate Zealand only in order to pursue his conquests in Prussia. If the Parlia- ment should confer with me on this subject, I shall speak in these terms. The news of a fight between the fleets of Hol- land and Sweden turns out to be false ; on the approach of the former, the latter fell back on the English squadron. 49.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. June 2, 1659. My Lord, Mr. Thurloe's silence cannot fail to surprise your Eminence ; 394 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. I have heard nothing from him since our interview, of which I gave you an account in my last letter, and I can ascribe this conduct on his part only to his fear of engaging in an affair, of which the issue may be doubtful ; as it is not to be pre- sumed that, if he saw any chance of his master^s restoration, he would refuse the assistance of the King ; after having made him so positive an offer, it only remains for me to await his determination. Meanwhile, I find it somewhat difficult to comply with the order reiterated to me in M. de Brienne's let- ter of the 25th ult., that I must thwart the establishment of a Commonwealth, as there is no probability of success in such an undertaking, unless the Protector has a strong party in England or his friends embrace the cause of the King of Scots. I am told by a person who pretends to be well-informed, that it is their intention to take this course, as nothing can be done under the name of the Protector, who, I am assured, is of this opinion also. It is very probable that England will fall into the King's power again, or that it will be formed into a perfect republic ; and the division in Ireland ought to be supported, in order that the former condition may be realized. As up to this moment, it has not appeared to me that France wished to promote the interest of the King of England, I have taken no measures with his partisans; and indeed, since our alliance with the late Protector, they have regarded me as their enemy. It would not be difficult now to obtain credence from them, if there should be any disposition to support them. I shall await express orders before making any advances to them, as the step will be very delicate and the issue very uncertain ; many talk and make a noise without any intention of incur- ring any risk; and unless divisions arise among the troops in England, or an army from Ireland or abroad should make its appearance, it must not be expected that either the Presby- terians (who are the oldest) or the Eoyalists will take arms ; it is even to be feared that both may await the event of a battle before they declare themselves ; and this is the opinion ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 395 of the most sensible among them. I think also that no time must be lost, if anything is to be undertaken ; otherwise the present Government, if unprevented, will arm itself with suf- ficient power to crush its enemies, wiU put an end to divisions in the English army by granting a part of its demands, and will pacify the Irish army, which no one believes my Lord Henry CromweU will be able to maintain in opposition. The last news which has arrived from Ireland states that three regiments have declared for him and four against him, and that all the towns, except Threda, have resolved not to submit to the Parliament. I am also assured that some of the principal officers are very much inclined to recall the King ; but in that coimtry, they are but rarely followed by the subalterns, or the subalterns by the soldiers, unless the commands of the former are in conformity with the principles of the latter. Examples of this kind of independence are to be seen daily in London, where the corporals assemble together, and deliberate on pub- lic aflPairs ; the officers, on their side, hold their own councils, and all seem to dread an oligarchy and demand a republic, which would scarcely accord with the present state of pubKc feeling in England. The Parliament meanwhile treats their inclinations with great consideration, and began last week to deliberate on the articles proposed by the army; those which regard the form of Government, liberty of conscience, and the reformation of the laws, met with no difficulty ; it was also resolved that a limit should be fixed for the session of the present Parliament ; the other articles on which more discus- sion is likely to arise, — for instance, the one which proposes a pension for the Protector, — have been postponed until Wed- nesday. It is expected that in the interim he will give his answer to the questions submitted to him last week by Sir H. Vane and two other deputies, in pursuance of the order of the committee which I have already mentioned ; they did not ad- dress him as " My Lord'' but as " Sir,'' and told him that they had come on the part of their masters to present to him a 396 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. document which contained nothing that did not tend to the welfare of the Commonwealth and to his own advantage, and that he must give his answer in writing, which he promised to do as soon as possible ; it was expected today, and he will find it difficult to refuse the pledge of submission which they are desirous to obtain from him, as he is in the power of the Par- liament, and still resides in Whitehall, where the Council of State began to meet last week, and met again yesterday al- though it was Sunday, to confer on the subject of a conspiracy which has been discovered but of which no particulars are pub- licly known, except that arms have been found in different places, from whence they have been removed, as well as all that were found in the shops of merchants and armourers. This morning also, ten men were drafted from every squadron of cavalry, to be sent into certain counties where an insurrec- tion is apprehended. Before this distrust arose, it had been resolved that a considerable number of ships should be equip- ped for sea, as the coasts of England are destitute of any pro- tection j and levies of infantry are being made to reinforce the land-army. These preparations give some credibility to the reports which are current that there will be a speedy insurrec- tion, and that the King has already embarked with a body of troops to make a descent upon England. Although every one appears to be persuaded of the truth of these rumours, and I have received confirmation of them from various quarters, I can nevertheless scarcely put faith in them ; and the Eepubli- cans might very probably be spreading these alarms in order to promote union in the army, according to the usual practice of the late Protector, who generally discovered plots whenever he wished to strengthen his own position. The Irish insurrec- tion is the most certain obstacle which the Parliament has yet encountered to its design, and which it nevertheless hopes easily to overcome. I expected to receive my credentials to- day, empowering me to acknowledge its authority on behalf of the King, as I see no inconvenience in so doing, whatever its ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 397 inclinations and designs may be ; for it is impossible that my residence here can fail to excite great suspicion, unless we ac- knowledge the only authority which exists in England, as I should not otherwise be suffered to remain here long ; what- ever likelihood there may be of an insurrection, this step must be taken, or I must be recalled. I learn that Father Talbot has already had an interview with one of the ministers of State, and offered him the continuation of the war between Spain and France, if the Parliament would restore matters to the footing they were on before the war, which Spain declares she did not wage against England, but only against the Pro- tector. The proposition was not rejected, but the answer post- poned for a few days, because of existing embarrassments. It is even stated that since then one of the De Witts has passed into Flanders, and I have no doubt that the English Govern- ment will do all that decency will permit in order to have peace with Spain, as it is one of the most solid means of obtaining the affection of the people, especially of the Londoners ; be- sides which, all now profess to disapprove of the conduct of the late Protector. I cannot hope that all that passes on this sub- ject will come to my knowledge, as it is very probable that the resolutions will be agreed on between certain individuals, be- fore they are laid before the Council and the Parliament, in which body it will perhaps be advisable to have some few pen- sioners ; your Eminence knows better than I do the use to be derived fi'om them. Nothing appears to me to have been re- solved upon in regard to the affairs of the north. The ambas- sador of Holland takes care to press for the ratification and execution of the treaty signed at the Hague, and in order to leave nothing to retard either result, his superiors have sent him, by express, letters of credence which he is to present on the earliest opportunity. There is still great uncertainty as to the inclinations of the English fleet, which is in the Sound, from whence no news has been received. My previous letter informed you of Mr. Lockhart's submissive declaration; his 398 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. secretary is still in London, demanding the repayment of the advances he has made for the maintenance of his garrison and the fortification of Dunkirk. 50.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. June 5, 1659. My Lord, The news which I communicated to you on the day before yesterday, together with that conveyed by previous posts, may serve to answer the letter with which your Eminence honoured me on the 31st of May; as my despatches inform you of the present state of the Commonwealth of England; and prove that, even if division again arose between the army and the Parliament, no change can occur in England, or relieve the King from the necessity of recognizing the present govern- ment ; and request that, for however short a time this step may be deferred, you would not fail to fix a time by which I shall either receive credentials or withdraw : this compliment has already been paid under similar circumstances, and the in- clinations of France are sufficiently suspected here to induce us not to act otherwise now, whatever friendly speeches I may make in private to the ministers of State. As it is not the in- tention of the King to break with England, and as it also is not becoming to wait until the last extremity, — as moreover England appears to have entirely submitted, and other States have already taken the step now expected of France, — it will doubtless be judged expedient to send back my courier with all diligence with express orders, and I will employ the inter- val under the pretext that I am preparing my retinue. Those who govern are however keensighted enough to perceive that we wished to see what my Lord Henry would do, and it will not be easy for me to efface this impression by any private re- presentations that I may make to those of them with whom I ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 399 have any friendly relations; Sir H. Vane is not one of this number, but has always remained satisfied with receiving and returning my civilities by means of his nearest friends who come to see me, and excused himself from paying me visits, during the lifetime of the Protector, on the ground that they would give him umbrage. There are two other gentlemen whose opinion might serve to induce one or other Crown, or perhaps both of them, if they once find themselves at peace, to take up the quarrel of the lawful Prince, but I only obtained from them a confession that nothing can be done unless there should be a schism in the army, or some foreign State should send a very large force of cavalry and infantry into England ; that such a division in the army cannot be produced by foreign intrigues, which are more likely to unite than to alienate the minds of the soldiery, but it must be brought about by do- mestic discontents ; that most of those who make a noise would remain in their houses, to await the event of a battle, if foreign troops appeared ; and that such troops must therefore be strong enough to sustain a first attack, which renders their passage across a matter of some difficulty (unless the whole or the greater part of the English fleet should desert the present au- thorities), so long as that fleet alone is more powerful at sea than the combined navies of France and Spain ; and as to the disafiection of the Presbyterians, whose faction is more nume- rous and influential than the King ^s party, they will never be induced to take up arms, unless there be a body of foreign troops to attract and occupy the forces of the Commonwealth. I did not think it my duty to take any further steps, after re- ceiving such replies to my inquiries, and as my circumspection proves to be in conformity with your Eminence's views, and his Majesty prefers to dissemble his own opinions with regard to the present Government rather than to give expression to them uselessly, I have only to observe carefully all that may occur ; and, if the Protector or his party appear to me in a position to undertake anything, to encourage them by assur- 400 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. ances of assistance from France ; and to exhibit to the Roy- alists similar feelings in favour of their Prince, without pro- fessing less friendliness publicly than privately to the Repub- licans ; and to communicate, with as much regularity as I have heretofore observed, all that may come to my knowledge : which I shall not fail to do. Nothing has occurred during the last two days which gives me occasion to add anything to my last advices, except that different letters from Ireland have confirmed the report that the intrigues of certain private individuals, who wished to sow division and to debauch the minds of the troops, could not prevent the officers of the army, as soon as the declaration of the Parliament appeared, from conforming to it, and professing their adherence to the good old cause ; that my Lord Henry has been obliged to submit ; and that as nothing remains in that quarter likely to disturb the public tranquillity, the Par- liament seems to have nought to do but to keep on good terms with the army, and so to regulate the government that both great' and petty officers and the people may be satisfied with it. Yesterday the article was to have been discussed which proposes the establishment of a Senate co-ordinate with the Parliament ; but the question has been adjourned, and some say that efforts are being made to persuade the officers not to insist on it, or at all events not to require that the Senate shall be perpetual, but that, as in the case of the Parliament, it may be elected annually, in which case public liberty would not receive so much injury as if it were always composed of the same persons ; this is now the great question of the day. The other business discussed yesterday was not of a very important nature : an Act was projected for the establishment of the mi- litia throughout the country ; and the statement of the private debts of the Protector, which amount to £30,000, was read and referred to a Committee, which was further instructed to consider what honourable maintenance the Parliament should allow to the Lord Richard Cromwell, eldest son of the late ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 401 Lord-General, and to report thereon to the Parliament. The Council of State, within the last few days, before its meetings were interrupted, had been ordered to examine into the position of England in regard to foreign countries ; which indicates an intention to return to the same condition as before, and to re- new all the treaties which have been made since, so as to leave no agreeable recollection of a destroyed government. I have received no confirmation of the statement that any one has been sent into Flanders to treat of peace, but the Jesuit father is still here, and when, in consequence of a complaint made by the King of Scots of his negotiations, the heads of his order were about to send him beyond sea, he produced superior commands from which it is plain that his journey was not un- authorized. He has accordingly had some conference with Mr. Scott, who discharges the duties of Secretary of State ; and your Eminence may take your measures on this basis, that the present Government is altogether disposed to peace with Spain, and that peace with France has lately been spoken of as very uncertain ; some even assert that the troops of the Emperor are on their march, and that the Jesuit's propositions may serve as a foundation for these rumours, I have already informed you that the ambassador of Holland has had an au- dience ; he was admitted yesterday to the Council of State, and begged them to adopt some resolution with regard to the treaty signed at the Hague ; he was requested to put his pro- position in writing ; this proceeding leads him to apprehend some dilatoriness in their deliberations. It is nevertheless probable enough that they will avail themselves of this pretext to keep the fleet at a distance. Not that, whatever the Admi- ral's inclinations may be, and even if all his officers were of the same opinion, they would not find it difficult, unless a party were formed against the Commonwealth, to avoid obey- ing it. I have nothing new to write in regard to Mr. Lock- hart ; his secretary is still in London, but has not been to see me ; he will not have needed the money which your Eminence VOL. I. D D 402 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. lent him to enter Dunkirk; at Calais, he declared himself ready to follow the opinion of his garrison ; this was a more certain way to gain admission into the place. I said a few words about this loan to Mr. Thurloe, who appeared sur- prised ; I was obliged to pass through his hands in order to communicate the King's friendly intentions to the Protector, who has been closely watched ever since the army took off the mask. He will henceforward be free, as he has given the de- claration which was desired of him ; it is a document of suf- ficient authenticity and extraordinariness to deserve to be appended to the present letter. . . . 51.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. June 16, 1659. My Lord, I have not been honoured with any letters from your Emi- nence of late, and nothing of any importance has occurred here ; but during the last few days, I have seen some ministers of State, and some Royalists ; from the conversation of the former, it appears to me that it is expected here that France and Spain will oppose the establishment of the Commonwealth of England as much as they can, and that the Parliament is taking measures against their ill-will by putting a powerful fleet to sea; that orders have even been given already for ships to cruise off Ostend and Nieuport ; that, in order not to alienate the Dutch, the Government will endeavour to keep up a perfect correspondence with them, and will give them every satisfaction in the treaty which is to be negotiated between the northern Princes. I also learn that the leaders of the Parliament are agreed with the leaders of the army, and that they are all desirous to form a Commonwealth of which they shall have the entire administration, without leaving to the people anything more than the appearance of power; but that ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS- 403 a great number of members of Parliament wish that each in turn should have the government, and these stimulate the soldiers and subaltern officers to reject the designs of the others ; which may probably produce a dislocation of the Par- liament, which is composed of persons whose inclinations and interests are very different, although they are only eighty in number, — some of them being men who took a most active part under the Protector, and who, on this ground, have been de- graded from their employments and offices, and others being true Republicans who denounce the army with as much vehe- mence as if they were not indebted to it for their recall and restoration ; while a third party consists of those who co- operated with the officers to dethrone the Protector, and are agreed with them to obtain the establishment of a government of their own : and these last are the most able men. As they are not so numerous as the others, they are obliged to resort to art and skill, and many of them propose, if they cannot retain the supreme authority, rather than let it fall entirely into the hands of the people, to restore the Protector, and govern under his name. This diversity of purposes keeps all minds in suspense, and it cannot be doubted that, but for jealousy of foreign interference, it would cause some consider- able division. As for the Royalists, they are persuaded that the irregularity of the present Government and the general dread of the Sectaries will excite, even among those who have been the King's greatest enemies, a strong desire for his re- storation ; that many gentlemen, not belonging to the high nobility who are now in great discredit, but many men of influence in the country, entertain this opinion, ^^nd are re- solved to take arms as soon as they can see the least likelihood of success. I am told that a division in the army, or an invasion from abroad, which is promised by the King of Eng- land, seems to them necessary, and they would find it difficult to get up an insurrection without one or the other of these stimulants : most of them are too wealthy to run any untimely 1) D 2 404 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. risk, and perceive that a premature declaration would only serve to unite their opponents ; the City of London is very much divided, and therefore would be indisposed to take up arms, even if the troops were called away to a distance by an insurrection. I have also seen Mr. Ficnnes, formerly the Keeper of the Seal, in order to ascertain whether any hope remained for the Protector : I find that he blames his con- duct, and compares it to that of Rehoboam : he appeared to me to have some knowledge of the last propositions I made to Mr. Thurloe, for he gave me to understand that that minister was not a man to enter into any warlike designs, and that as Divine Providence had seen fit thus to dispose of the govern- ment of England, no other course remained open but sub- mission. At the same time however he professed to me his belief that division would spring up between the army and the Parliament, because each of these bodies is desirous to govern. From these speeches it may be gathered that, on the Protec- tor's side, there is little to hope, as his most trusted ministers have so bad an opinion of his cause, and that the recall of the King of England is more likely ; nevertheless, without a division, everything is very uncertain. I have also learned that Father Talbot has received instructions from Flanders to say no more . about an accommodation with England until further orders. It has been published here that Mr. Lockhart received money from the King before his departure from Paris, that he was to surrender Dunkirk to his Majesty, and that the English troops which are in our service had drawn near the town with that view. This it was doubtless which led the ministers of ^the Council to ask me if I was aware of the reason of their march. It is probable that Mr. Lockhart has removed this suspicion, and avoids seeing me, in order not to give any further cause for jealousy by his own behaviour. News has arrived from the Sound to the efiect that the fleet commanded by Admiral Ruyter was at Schagin Point, and that Admiral Opdam was in the Great Belt with the Danish ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 405 ships ; and Admiral Montague (who is one of the cashiered Colonels) is at Cronenburg. An express has been despatched to him from hence within the last few days, to inform him of the resolution which has been adopted to execute the treaty signed at the Hague, and that commissioners are to be sent out by the Council. Some also wished them to have orders to propose a league between England, Sweden, Denmark and the United Provinces, in opposition to that which is said to have been made between France and Spain for the ruin of the Protestant States: this is only a rumour, which does not obtain entire credence, but no one now doubts that peace and the King's marriage to the Infanta of Spain have been finally arranged, and that your Eminence will soon set out for Bay- onne. This leads me to beg of you as a very special favour that I may be one of your company ; if my services were necessary here I would not prefer this request with so much urgency ; but under existing circumstances, there is nothing to be done in England, and my absence may serve as a pretext for deferring the recognition of the Parliament, if it should be thought expedient not to take this step just yet. . . . 52.] M. DE Bordeaux to M. de Brienne. June 16, 1659. Sir, I perceived, from the letter which you were pleased to write to me on the 8th instant, that a resolution to recognize the new Government of England had been adopted by the King's Council, but that it was judged expedient to defer this step until the Parliament, by some written document, had given evidence of its inclinations and respect towards France. . . . I nevertheless did not fail, as soon as the King's will became known to me, to obtain an interview with some ministers of the Council, and to inform them of the present feelings of his 406 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. Majesty towards the English Government, and to let them know what he expects from it before making any public de- monstration of his friendship ; I accompanied this declaration with very positive assurances that he wished to maintain a good understanding between the two nations, in order to banish the idea which might otherwise be entertained here that our only object was to gain time, during which measures might be taken against the establishment of the Common- wealth, a report to which effect has already been spread, — nay more, that a treaty was in contemplation between France and Spain for this object, which excites no slight jealousies here. The ministers of the Council of State received my speech without appearing to take in ill part the deference which his Majesty desired, and in some measure undertook to persuade the Parliament to concede the point, without allowing the public to know that it took the step at our request. I availed myself of the same opportunity to speak to them of the affairs of Sweden in the terms prescribed to me, and they assured me that the Parliament was well intentioned in regard to peace in the north, for the promotion of which, it had been resolved to send two Councillors of State to the fleet, of whom one had been already appointed, as plenipotentiaries to nego- tiate this accommodation, and that before their departure, I should have a copy of their instructions, which cannot tend to favour the conquests of the King of Sweden. After all the fine speeches and demonstrations of friendship which have been made to *he ambassador of the States- General, whose maritime power cannot but be greatly feared in the present circumstances of England, there can be no doubt that the United Provinces are greatly flattered and caressed, although France does not interfere to maintain friendship between the two Republics ; not that it is not thought that the one will destroy the other some day. But as those who now govern Holland fear that the Restoration of the King of England may favour the re-establishment of the Prince of Orange, I ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 407 they are more anxious to prevent than to postpone the im- pending evil, and they might probably for this reason enter into engagements with the Commonwealth of England, from which the King would receive every duty of friendship and every support in his designs, if he would cure the jealousies entertained here on account of his aversion to the form of the present Government. In order to secure itself against the ill- will of foreign Princes, and against any enterprises which they might undertake to its prejudice, it is preparing to put to sea such a great naval force that foreign troops will be unable to pass into England ; in regard to the English troops, they now seem so disposed to maintain the Commonwealth, that the King of England must not expect them to recall him, or that the diversity of opinions which seems to exist between the superior and inferior officers, will ever produce division among them. There is indeed more reason to believe that they will come to an agreement, perhaps to the destruction of the Par- liament, one party in which inflames the subalterns in order to compel the higher officers to desist from their demands for the establishment of a Senate with equal power with the Par- liaments. This question is not yet settled, and the discontent which it produces between these two bodies fills the Royalists with much hope. All the old nobility of the country belong undoubtedly to this party, but the majority of them are so disheartened and so careful to retain their property that, un- less they see success is certain, they will scarcely be induced to join in an insurrection. The King's intg:est is also sup- ported by the Presbyterians, although they are Republicans in principle, and it is only the fear of these Sectaries that the Anabaptists and other Sectaries may obtain the Government, which leads them to oppose the present authorities; if they had arms in their hands and found themselves the strongest, perhaps they would change their opinions. Their ill-will com- pels the Government to put the arms of the country into the hands of the Sectaries, even of the Quakers, who up to this 408 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. time had affected to seek nought but peace with liberty of conscience. The Spirit of God, by which they are ruled, now permits them to take part in the affairs of this world, and the Parliament seems inclined to make use of them. I have no- thing of any importance to write in regard to the debates in that assembly : it was chiefly occupied during last week by the Act of Indemnity demanded by the army ; but this has not yet been entirely settled, on account of the restrictions which various parties desire to introduce into the Act, con- trary to the wishes of the officers, who demand a general oblivion of all that was done under the late Government. The establishment of the Chancery, and the selection of the Keepers of the Great Seal, have also occupied some part of the last sittings ; and finally, Mr. Bradshaw, who presided over the King's trial, and two other lawyers have been ap- pointed in the place of the old officers, although one of these is still a member of the Council of State, and has even been appointed a plenipotentiary for the Swedish treaty, and was moreover supported by Lieutenant- General Fleetwood. The Parliament has also, within the last few days, increased the pay of each foot-soldier a halfpenny a day, and that of each horse-soldier three halfpence, which had been retrenched by the deceased Protector. The City of London, two days ago, presented a petition to the effect that some Government less subject to change should be established, that no one should be molested or disturbed in his conscience, that the ministers of religion should be allowed to enjoy the revenues to which they are lawfully entitled, that provision should be made for the security of trade, and that the City should pay the ex- penses of its own militia. This petition having been read, the Speaker thanked the deputation for the affectionate ex- pressions it contained, and gave them reason to hope that its prayers should be complied with. Some officers of the Irish army have also arrived with rather harsh propositions, but it is said that they do not desire to obtain all their demands, and ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 409 among others, they are willing to forego those which concern the interest of my Lord Henry Cromwell. The Council of State has ordered the demolition of the chapel in which the late Protector^s effigy was exposed ; and the Committee to which the investigation of the Protector's debts was referred has recommended, that, in addition to the payment of his liabilities, a landed estate of £5000 a year should be settled on him in perpetuity, and that, until such an estate can be found, j810,000 a year should be assigned to him out of the revenues of the Post-office. Mr. Lockhart arrived last week, and has sent to excuse himself for not visiting me, on the ground of his great press of business. I had spoken of him on several occasions in the terms which I was desired to em- ploy, and I found considerable disposition to maintain him in his employments ; besides which. Generals Fleetwood and Des- borough, his wife's uncle, are of great weight with the Go- vernment, which is quite satisfied with his submission; and there is so little jealousy of the Protector's family that no great scruple is made about employing those who are still at- tached to it. To conclude this letter, I learn that the Par- liament has this day resolved that its sittings shall not extend beyond the 1st of May next; that Fleetwood shall be Lieu- tenant-General only so long as the Parliament remains sitting, unless some other determination is arrived at before its disso- lution ; that of the seven who are to nominate the officers of the army, at least five must be present to form a quorum ; and that the commissions are to be issued gratuitously in the name of the Parliament. Tomorrow the form of the Govern- ment is to be discussed. 53.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. June 26, 1659. My Lord, I have not yet presented my credentials, as I inferred from 410 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. the contents of M. de Brienne's letters, that it was desired that I should wait until the Parliament had written to the King. As the ministers of the Council are aware that this considera- tion alone has kept me back for the last few days, they cannot take any umbrage at my delay ; and the very assurances which I gave them of his Majesty's goodwill and your Eminence's offers have, it appears, led them to adopt a resolution to de- spatch Mr. Lockhart to the Court, because they think he wdll be more agreeable than any other person ; he called on me on the day before yesterday to inform me of his speedy return to Dunkirk, from whence he will pass into France, but he gave me no insight whatever into his orders ; he only appeared to me to intend to go after your Eminence if he found you had left Paris before his arrival ; he also made to me many protesta- tions of his gratitude to the present authorities for continuing him in the government of Dunkirk ; and he again asked me what would be done in France after the armistice had expired, giving me to understand that the Council of State was anxious to know ; I was unable to give him any further explanations than at his first visit, and during our whole conversation no mention was made of the twenty thousand crowns, as I did not deem it necessary to advert to them as he is returning into France, and he said nothing on the subject to me, although I gave him abundant opportunities for doing so. A few hours after he had left me, he sent me word by his secretary that he was obliged to set out that very evening, and that Sir H. Vane would come to see me in two or three days, — which an- nouncement he made to me doubtless in order that I might understand that he had reported that I should take no cogni- zance either of his mission or of his letters, until some of the Council had informed me thereof; as propriety requires, after my declaration that I could not address myself to the Parlia- ment until it had given some proof of its respect for France, that its resolution should be communicated to me ; as soon as this step has been taken, I shall think myself at liberty to see ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 411 it, and address it in the terms prescribed to me. Meanwhile, I have nothing to write about, except that it seems to some that Sir H. Vane, the principal minister in the present Go- vernment, would not support Mr. Lockhart or send him back to Finance, unless he had given strong proofs of his detachment from all other interests ; so much so that lately a stanch Re- publican told me that he must doubtless have revealed some great mysteries, and that the Government must necessarily expect to discover the inclinations of France by his means, as he was employed in its service ; for there are many reasons for regarding him with suspicion and treating him in the same way as all those who have been connected with the Protector, were it only for the purpose of rewarding those who have been zealous adherents of the Republican party. This notion may be unfounded, and Mr. Lockhart is too loyal to reveal the sentiments which your Eminence expressed to him before his departure from Paris. Nevertheless it is my duty to report all that is communicated to me, as there would result greater inconvenience from suppressing than from repeating it. I must also inform you that it is certainly believed by the Royalists that France is taking measures for the re-establish- ment of the King of England, and that the nephew of my Lord Jermyn has been sent back to Flanders with some very advantageous proposition, upon which they build great hopes ; and one of the most devoted members of this party, either with a view to sound me or because he was wrongly informed, came yesterday to tell me that several of them had received advices of his Majesty^s friendly feeling towards their Prince, that he was even permitted to pass into France, and that his marriage with Mademoiselle was being negotiated, on condi- tion that he should be furnished with all the assistance neces- sary for his re-establishment. The same person also repre- sented to me that the people of England were very dissatisfied with the existing Government, and that, in all the coimties, the most influential among the nobility were quite ready to 41 2 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. take up arms : he even named to me several who are, I know, very much opposed to the present administration ; and the upshot of all his discourse was to persuade me that France might easily restore the King of England, and thereby win the affection of the whole nation. I professed ignorance of the news which he had reported to me, though I did not deny that his Majesty was very well intentioned towards King Charles ; but I stated that before engaging in an undertaking of this nature, it would be necessary first to ascertain exactly how much the Royalists were capable of doing, and what was the extent of their devotion ; I then exaggerated the difficul- ties which would attend the conveyance of troops into Eng- land, now that the Government has such a formidable navy afloat, and I pointed out the necessity of possessing a port not only to facilitate the disembarkation of troops, but to re- main in until the people rose in arms. No satisfactory answer was returned to these objections, and I found no very positive grounds to go upon, except a great desire for the Restoration of the King, with a disposition to a general insurrection if the smallest body of troops should make their appearance and occupy the attention of the army whilst the malecontents were assembling : on which foundation measures may certainly be taken. It also appears to me that the discontent of the prin- cipal officers furnishes some groimd for hope ; but this foun- dation is but slight, as the subalterns are thoroughly devoted to the Parliament, which must now be filled with the greatest confidence, since, a few days ago, on a petition presented by the inhabitants of one of the counties of England, it took into consideration the suppression of tithes ; and it was only carried by the casting vote of the Speaker that this affair should be treated in committee of the whole House, which amounts to an indirect rejection of the proposition, whereas part of the assembly wished to refer it to a special committee, and thereby prejudged that the measure would not be disagreeable. The Act of Indemnity has been again discussed within the last few i ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 413 days, and the officers have continued to take their commissions from the hands of the Speaker, to whom General Monk has written to request the Parliament to be pleased to make no alte- ration in his regiments. An answer has been sent to him that the House would have great regard to himself personally, and would treat the other officers according to their merit ; and although the General's petition was expressed in very respect- ful terms, it has nevertheless been considered by some as a kind of threat, and the same persons believe that my Lord Henry is in a position to refuse obedience to the orders which have been sent him. Lieutenant- General Fleetwood, two days ago, made a speech in his favour in Parliament, but he was not supported ; and that tenderness which was exhibited for the Protector after his submission has not yet led to the adop- tion of any resolution for the payment of his debts in pursu- ance of the advice of the Committee, although on the day before yesterday he was on the point of being arrested by his creditors, who sent the officers of justice even into Whitehall itself to seize him ; but he very wisely shut himself up in his cabinet. There is no news from the north, and the English plenipotentiaries are preparing to set out on their journey at the beginning of next week. The Portuguese ambassador having demanded audience of commissioners from the Coun- cil, they went yesterday to receive his propositions, which tend to bind his King and this Commonwealth in the alliance which France has refused, and to pledge England to the maintenance of the independence of Portugal ; he had communicated his intention to me, and I greatly approved of it, and I even as- sured him that I had orders to favour it ; that I had already spoken to several ministers of State on the subject, and that they appeared favourably disposed. But this offer of good offices did not cure the fear which the ambassador entertains of the utter ruin of his Prince ; and indeed, besides that Eng- land will not continue the war on his account alone, her forces would not be capable of securing his crown. 414 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 54.] M. DE Bordeaux to M. de Brienne. July 7, 1659. Sir, I thought I should today have given you an account of the audience I expected to have on the day before yesterday, but an incident occurred which caused its postponement, and unless the Parliament changes its opinion, it may probably be again deferred until orders have been sent to me on the subject in question. As soon as the letter of credence from the King had been delivered to me, I informed one of the ministers of the Council, and after having stated to him what his Majesty desired of the Parliament before he recognized it, I further gave him to understand that some difference ought to be made between the reception of an ambassador of France and that of an envoy from an inferior State, in accordance with the usage formerly observed in England and in other States ; and I suggested that, if the distinction were not established by the rank of the members of Parliament ap- pointed to introduce me to the audience, it ought at least to be marked by their number, in order that it might appear abroad that England regarded France with higher consideration than she did a kingdom or commonwealth inferior in power. I also proposed that some troops should be put under arms in- stead of the Gardes-du-corps, who are drawn up in France to honour ambassadors of first-class States. My pretensions were received without contradiction, and even with a rather explicit avowal of their justice j but when the Master of the Cere- monies came to me on the 4th of this month to inform me that the Parliament would give me audience at ten o'clock on the following morning, I found he knew nothing of my claims, and he declared to me he had no orders to treat me otherwise than the ambassador of Holland had been treated ; which obliged me to request him to intimate to the Councd that this great equality rather wounded the dignity of France, and that ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 415 I expected to be treated with the same difference that would be made between an ambassador of England and one from any Prince or Republic of less importance ; insisting that at all events a larger number of members of Parliament should be sent to accompany me to the audience. He promised to do his utmost, without making any difficulty ; but I had no news from him until the next day at the hour appointed for the audience, when he came to tell me that the Council had been unable to make any alteration in the orders given for my re- ception, as they had emanated from the Parliament itself, and that it was too late to obtain the adoption of a fresh resolution by that assembly ; and that all that it had been possible to do was to increase the number of soldiers and carriages employed for the audience of the Dutch ambassador, but that there could be only three commissioners to escort me, the chief of whom was the same person who had been sent to him. I thought it my duty to insist on the difference which I had from the outset proposed, and I again begged of the Master of the Ceremonies to return to the Parliament to make known' my wishes, and state that I would rather postpone my audience for an hour, or even for a day or two, so that it might be of a more honourable character ; that I should be satisfied if four commissioners were sent to me instead of three, and that the King had no less right to be offended at their affecting to set up such equality of treatment between France and inferior States, than if the English ambassador were received in the same manner as the Genoese envoy or the representative of any other inferior State. As soon as this proposition was made known to the Parliament, some members took occasion to declaim against France and her antipathy to the present Government ; and instead of deliberating on the affair, orders were given that the carriages should be dismissed, of which the Master of the Ceremonies came to inform me, apparently of his own accord and without orders. This somewhat abrupt proceeding was at first published all over London, and consi- 416 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. dered rather violent and imprudent, as England still observes greater respect for ambassadors than any other State, and the new Government has no cause to take my demands amiss, or to put itself in a passion on so trivial an occasion, at a time when it needs to be on good terms with all its neighbours, and particularly with France, which alone is able to prevent its complete establishment. These considerations having led me to doubt whether the Master of the Ceremonies might not have irritated the House by the tone of his report, I sent yes- terday to the same minister of the Council to express my sur- prise that such great indignation should be affected, and that so bad an interpretation should be put on my conduct after I had shown all possible willingness to comply with the desires of the Government, and had so clearly explained my preten- sions : he replied that, to tell the truth, the manner of my re- ception had been regulated by the Council in his absence, and that, if he had been present, this question would have been prevented, as well as many other difficulties which had been avoided by his means ; that my credentials had not been found to be, either in form or substance, such as the Parlia- ment could be satisfied with; indeed, that many were of opinion that they did not constitute me an ambassador, bat merely presupposed that I had filled that office in the time of the Protector, which could not serve as a title to my recogni- tion in that capacity at the present day ; that moreover infor- mation had been received here which confirmed the belief of our ill-will to the present Government, and that, as we were considered so ill-disposed, a very little had sufficed to lead the House to adopt such a decision ; that furthermore the Master of the Ceremonies had reported that I would be satisfied neither with the number nor the rank of the members ap- pointed to attend me, though in times past the Spanish am- bassador had not been treated with greater honour ; and that, as England had never made any difference between Spain and France, it mattered not to us if they paid more or less honour ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 417 to other States ; and that we must not expect the Parliament to rescind its orders, even if war were to ensue. This haughty answer compelled me to send again to the above-mentioned minister this morning, in order in the first place to enlighten him as to the facts^ and then to let him know that France was not to be dictated to ; that if at the outset the Council had sent some one to confer with me about this diflSiculty, and had alleged valid reasons for refusing my demand, I should have submitted, but that now, after the publicity the affair had re- ceived, I could not draw back, without derogating from the dignity of France, and that there would be less impropriety for the Parliament to yield the civility desired of it ; that I therefore urged it to adopt some resolution in accordance with the interest which both nations have to live on good terms with each other, and to follow wiser counsels than those which may be suggested by anger or ill-founded distrust ; that moreover it was carrying delicacy beyond due limits to com- plain that the King^s letters spoke of me as already an am- bassador, and to desire that, while I am actually here in that capacity, his Majesty should speak as though he were sending me for the first time into England ; that there was no ground to complain either of his expressions, although they might not be so affectionate as those employed by the King of Sweden and other States (as had been remarked to me), for this dif- ference of language only proceeded from the unfortunate con- dition of those States, not to say that we had never been used to borrow the style of other nations; and I added to this repartee, which I thought ought to be proportionate to the minister's speech, that, as far as I was myself concerned, I was very sorry to find them so much inclined to put a wrong interpretation on all that proceeded from France, that I had hoped to find some honourable mode of getting out of this dispute, and that none had occurred to me ; but that the Par- liament might with perfect propriety adopt other resolutions, if it considered that I was not here in the capacity of an ordi- VOL. I. E E 418 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. nary ambassador, as all the powers in virtue of which I have acted designate me an ambassador extraordinary, and my credentials are in some sort relative to them. This over- ture seemed to me most calculated to furnish them with a pretext for modifying their resolution; as it was certain that, without some loss of honour after such great publi- city, I could not rest satisfied with a similar reception to that given to the ambassador of Holland. I have also sent word to the same minister that, though I found my audience deferred, I nevertheless did not wish to postpone the execu- tion of the orders which had been sent to me to inform the Parliament that the armistice between France and Spain has been prolonged, and that if England wishes to continue it, she must declare her willingness by some act. I have not failed to write to the Council of State on the subject this morning, to urge them to adopt some speedy resolution, — which will doubtless be sent to Mr. Lockhart, because of the quarrel which led the ambassador of Holland to visit me today, under the pretext of conversing with me about the affairs of the Sound, but in reality for the purpose of talking to me of what had occurred, in regard to which he proved well acquainted with all the reasons which the Parliament can allege in justi- fication of its late conduct towards me ; these may be reduced to the practice which it has observed since its establishment of treating all ambassadors ahke, although, in spite of this, they had placed a regiment imder arms and increased the number of carriages out of respect to me, whereas at his reception there were only a few files of musketeers ; he also tried to soften down the bitterness which the ParHament has shown ; the purport of his conversation was to persuade me to agree to some accommodation, to which I am not averse, provided that the dignity of France is ftdly maintained ; it does not however seem expedient for me to manifest any eagerness, and as no answer has been returned to me, I shall wait its coming before I take any other step, lest I should increase the pride I ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 419 of the Government, which is quite extraordinary on this occa- sion ; from this it may be inferred that they are not fully per- suaded of the King^s intentions, and that the different reports which are current that France intends to restore the King of England have produced a great impression; it is also certain, for I have heard it from various quarters, that my letters of credence are considered very cold, nay more, that it was re- ferred to the Council to consider whether they should be re- ceived at all, and that although it was determined that no public dissatisfaction should be expressed, great vexation is still felt, regarding which I have no particular information. As the copy of my letter was not seen until the moment when the audience was assigned to me, dissatisfaction at its charac- ter must have contributed to instigate the refusal of the parti- cular civility which I claimed, as the ministers of the Council, to whom I had previously explained my wishes, had made no objection to granting them ; if they had raised the slightest difficulty, or even if the Council had given me a reason, I would have avoided the question ; but as the Master of the Ceremonies only urged want of time, and as I did not see that the King's orders were very pressing on me to obtain an au- dience, I did not think it right thus easily to waive a prero- gative which is conceded to the ministers of France in other States. If the Parliament holds out, I also shall in a few days be in a better condition to see it than I am now. The thought has occurred to me, in order to save appearances, and give it a pretext for making some difference in my reception, that I might assume the character of an ambassador extraordi- nary ; it would be necessary in this case to send me fresh cre- dentials ; in order to show some civility to the Government, some change might be made in the style, and instead of con- fining my credentials to the affairs of Sweden, of which com- plaint is made here, to couch them in general terms. Although the Government is not so fully established or in such a con- dition as to cause any apprehension (for there is still a great E E 2 420 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. division between its members and the leaders of the army, so much so that General Fleetwood offered, two days ago, to re- sign his commission), nevertheless if the King wishes to avoid a rupture, he must adopt this expedient, as the Parliament is composed of men extravagant enough to forget their own in- terest on this occasion, as they have done already in regard to many other matters. It will also be well to express to Mr. Lock- hart, if he is still at Court, his Majesty's opinion on this occur- rence, which will prevent the plenipotentiaries, who are going to the Sound, from seeing me. Their instructions were to be confirmed this morning in Parliament, after which they will set out at once. The ministers of Sweden, at their first audience, did their utmost to obtain complete assistance from England, and their language tends to produce the persuasion that their master alone is maintaining the Protestant interest, that France and Spain have been led by the intrigues of the Jesuits to make peace at a time when the House of Austria was in arms, in order that it might have every facility for oppressing Swe- den ; and they accuse the United Provinces of ha^dng entered into the same plot, and reproach us with having thrown delays and obstacles in the way of their King's designs. There is room for surprise that, while he daily receives all kinds of as- sistance from France, his ministers should dare to speak in these terms. The Dutch ambassador does not fail to ani- madvert strongly on them, and I do not think they have been greatly approved of here. During the last few days, the Par- liament has continued to debate on the means of obtaining money, and has resolved to raise the whole year's taxation in four months ; it has applied to the City of London for a loan, but without success; the Act of Indemnity has also been brought forward again, but has not been finally settled. The Quakers have presented a petition for the dismissal of all antichristian ministers; after a long debate, thanks were voted to them. My Lord Henry has again renewed his as- surances of submission, and promised to come to England. ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 421 The militia continues to be called out and embodied in all the counties. 55.] M. DE Bordeaux to M. de Brienne. July 10, 1659. Sir, The quarrel which I have had with the Parliament is still in statu quo, and the Council has despatched an express to Mr. Lockhart on the subject ; until his return, this difference will not be terminated, although they admit they have acted with great precipitation. To shield their conduct from the blame which every one casts upon it, the ministers are desi- rous to establish the fact that they informed me of the resolu- tion adopted ten years ago, that no difference should be made in the reception of ambassadors, that other envoys had submitted to this regulation, and that I refused the audience, in all which there is not a word of truth, and the Master of the Ceremonies maintains that he reported to the Parliament and to myself only what will be found in my previous despatch, since writing which it has again been intimated to me that the Government would employ Mr. Lockhart to ascertain whether I would not demand audience of the Parliament, and that it was expected that, if France had not already resolved to make war on Eng- land in favour of the royal family, as many rumours affirm, the King would order me to dispense with these formalities. I stated that I cared little by whom the wishes of the English Government were conveyed, and that if his Majesty was will- ing to act with complaisance towards the present administra- tion, I should feel no repugnance to execute his orders, but that, before those orders were sent to me, I could not with honour recede from so reasonable a demand, after all the fuss that had been made. It also seems to me more advisable that, if the King does not care to insist on any difference being made between his ministers and those of other States, he should have the full advantage of the concession. These considcra- 422 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. tions^ and the wish which I discern that I should defer, for as long a time as possible, the recognition of the present Govern- ment, will lead me to await his Majesty's orders without any anxiety. I am certain, and this may be perceived from the care which has been taken to send an express into France, that however haughty may be the bearing of the Ministers of State here, they are in some anxiety as to the manner in which their want of respect will be received, inasmuch as it causes the dis- affected to entertain great hopes. I have already informed you of the complaints made against my credentials; these complaints still continue to be made publicly, and it is asserted that it was by civility alone that I was recognized as an am- bassador ; and in the answer which the Council of State re- turned yesterday to a communication which I had made to it regarding the suspension of hostilities, I did not receive the title due to my ambassadorial rank, but was termed simply My Lord, instead of Your Excellency : even the address is not as it should have. been, although, as I only assumed in my communication the title of ambassador of France (upon which one of the ministers of the Council informed me that it was desired that I should style myself ambassador of the King of France to the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England), I should have made no difficulty about that matter. These are petty vexations which give proof of the state of feeling here, and show their inclination to take umbrage at the merest trifles, at the same time that they give so much cause for com- plaint by their own conduct. Yesterday evening I did not fail to remonstrate very strongly on this subject to the same mi- nister of the Council, who came to see me, and to declare to him that, if the Council should fail in its duty towards France, France would thereby lose none of her dignity ; he very plainly attributed this mode of proceeding to the irritation caused by the King's letter, and by my refusal to accept an audience ; and he attempted further to prove to me that I was not con- stituted ambassador to the new Government. This question ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 423 gave rise to a long argument which it would be tiresome to recapitulate, and we ended it without coming to any conclu- sion, — ^the said minister still justifying the conduct of the Par- liament and maintaining the truth of the mistakes which I asserted had been made, by the declaration of the Master of the Ceremonies himself; nor did he forget to put this alterna- tive, that France either wished to make war with England or to maintain a good understanding, that in the former case, whatever civility might be shown towards me, it would not alter our purpose, and in the latter case, we should not come to a rupture on account of a ceremony : that the Parliament, accordi'ngly, was waiting for the return of the courier that had been despatched. We then proceeded to the subject which had procured me a vi^it from this minister, who is the chief of the plenipotentiaries appointed to negotiate peace in the north ; he had come to learn the particulars of the armistice, which the Council of State had requested me to give in writing, and which I had promised to furnish to such ministers as might be deputed to confer with me on the subject. His greatest dif- ficulty was to understand the import of the words — -jusqu'd nouvel ordre ; I told him that, as it was impossible to deter- mine the duration of the armistice, because of the uncertainty of the time at which peace would be concluded or the negotia- tion broken off, it had been thought necessary to speak in- definitely, and that the intention was for the contracting par- ties to undertake nothing against each other, until they had mutually agreed to recommence the war, which would depend on the success of his Eminence's journey. The same minister also asked me for a copy of the document agreed on by France and Spain, presupposing that the Parliament could not deli- berate on the subject without seeing it and becoming ac- quainted with its contents : I was not in a position to comply with his request, but I promised to inform you of the desire of the Government, which appears to me reasonable enough. It may however be inferred from the answer of the Council of 424 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. State, that it consents to the armistice. I also ascertained^ from the conversation of the said minister, that Mr. Lockhart has orders to return to his Eminence after he has presented his credentials to the King; that all the instructions and arrangements for the English plenipotentiaries have been pre- pared, and that they will start tomorrow or the next day ; but he would enter into no particulars ; and I do not learn from the Dutch ambassador, or from any other source, that their public orders are different from the treaty which has been signed ; the ratification whereof has been resolved on mutatis mutandis. Mr. Downing is to remain at the Hague to make the alterations, which are only to substitute for the name of the Protector that of the Commonwealth of England. It was proposed this morning that, in order firmly to establish friend- ship between the two republics of England and Holland, cer- tain well-disposed and qualified persons should be sent to Hol- land to arrange a lasting peace. This proposition, which was followed by the nomination of Sir H. Vane to this embassy, is considered to be merely a pretext for removing him from England, devised by those who are jealous of his influence, which is said to have diminished since he stated, in a speech which he made in the House on the form of the government, that the people were mad, and that the authority of the State ought not to be entrusted to them, but to pious and holy per- sons, under which name he is understood to mean the Sec- taries of the Fifth Monarchy, to whom he preaches very regu- larly. This overture was not followed up, and it is not yet certain what sort of Commonwealth will please the Parliament, as the opinions of the members are very different ; the matter has not since been brought under discussion, and the most im- portant resolution which has been adopted lately was the con- firmation of the payment of tithes to the ministers, until some other funds shall be provided for their payment. The Quakers are not at all satisfied with this act, but it is more prudent to please the Presbyterians, whose number far exceeds that of all ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 425 the other Sectaries put together. Other propositions are being made for the payment of the public debts ; but none of any importance have yet been brought forward, as those hitherto suggested have merely been prosecutions of persons who held ofl&ce under the late Government. The Act of Indemnity has not yet been passed, and there is some talk of excepting from it five or six persons, of whom Secretary Thurloe is one, although, according to public opinion, he has done all he could to conci- liate the Government, going so far even as to give some very salutary advice ; he suggested, among other things, that at the conference at Bayonne, there would be arrangements made for the Restoration of the King of England, on condition that he shall give the Catholics liberty of conscience, and abolish the penal laws against them. This unfounded rumour seems to cause the Government some alarm ; at least it professes to feel considerable apprehension, and urges forward, on this pretext, the establishment of the militia throughout the country. My Lord Henry's letters have been read in Parliament ; they give assurance of his speedy arrival in England, and of his resigna- tion of the Government of Ireland ; the letters from the army express no less submission, and steps are being taken for the reformation of the officers, many of whom are to be removed, that those may be restored whom the deceased Protector dis- missed from their employments. News has arrived from Dun- kirk to the effect that the mutiny which had broken out among the soldiers, on account of their pay not being forthcoming, has been appeased ; and commissioners have been sent over to investigate the matter. 56.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. July 17, 1659. My Lord, 1 have this day received the letter which your Eminence did me the honour to write to me on the lOth instant, to- 426 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. gether with the copy of your answer to the Council of State, which arrived last week ; its perusal, and the account which Mr. Lockhart gave of your Eminence's sentiments, have en- tirely satisfied the Parliament, and one of its members has since expressed to me so much joy at finding France so well- intentioned, that it cannot be doubted that that assembly pre- viously felt great jealousy of his Majesty's inclinations, not- withstanding all the assurances I had given with a view to dissipate all suspicions. The orders which have since been sent to Mr. Lockhart to proceed to Bayonne, as soon as the King has given him audience, are proofs that confidence is becoming established, and I had attributed to this feeling the overtures made to me, three days ago, by one of the ministers of the Council, in order to adjust the dificrence which arose in regard to my reception ; the same minister greatly exag- gerated to me the obliging manner in which your Eminence had spoken with regard to the suspension of hostilities, and left me persuaded that henceforward it will be easy to induce this Government to adopt those views which France may de- sire ; it seems nevertheless to have since expressed disappro- bation of the advances which had been made to me in order to facilitate my audience ; but the honour which Mr. Lock- hart will receive will bring it completely to reason. Mean- while I have no negotiation to conduct, as the armistice is agreed to, and the plenipotentiaries have set out for Sweden with instructions in conformity with the treaty signed at the Hague. I have advised MM. de Thou and Terlon of this, and if the professions which have been made to me are sincere, all matters will be arranged in concert with the latter. . . . The authority of the Parliament gains strength, though it is still greatly divided on the subject of the form of government ; the true Republicans are opposed to Sir H. Vane, who wishes to establish a sort of oligarchy composed of Sectaries of the Fifth Monarchy ; Lambert and some other officers of the army agree with him on this point. The subaltern officers side T^dth ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 427 the pure Republicans, and those who have, within the last two days, got up a petition, in the name of several gentlemen, tending to the advancement of their design ; many are per- suaded that this diversity of inclinations will produce a notable division ; but it seems to me that the most resolute will gain over, instead of alienating, the rest. Meanwhile the discon- tents of the people increase, and in order to guard against them, they put themselves into the hands of the Sectaries. As regards the Royalists, they expect at every moment a general insurrection of the Presbyterians or new Royalists ; but unless there be a descent of foreign troops on the coast of England, which does not seem very probable, or a division in the army, the Presbyterians are too wealthy to expose themselves. I confess that of late I have rather listened to their plans than talked of them, without letting fall a single word that could lead to the belief that France was willing to oppose the pre- sent Government. My conduct has been founded on the orders I received to keep on good terms with all parties, and to make known whatever measures might be taken to thwart the establishment of the Commonwealth. Although I have acted with so much circumspection that no inconvenience can ensue from my conduct, I shall be even still more reserved in future, since the sentiments of the present day are changed. There is no more talk of selling the furniture of Whitehall, and as to that of Hampton Com't, there is still considerable uncer- tainty ; as soon as some resolution has been adopted on the subject, I will send the catalogue : I may beforehand acquaint you that there are nine pictures by old Mantegna which repre- sent the triumphs of Caesar, and two tapestry hangings which are highly esteemed : the Due de Crequi may perhaps re- member them. As I may possibly not have time to receive your Eminence's orders during your absence from Paris, it would be advisable for M. Colbert to be informed of your in- tentions and even authorized to pay for anything you may desire to purchase. 428 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 57.] M. DE Bordeaux to M. de Brienne. July 17, 1659. Sir, I had not been honoured with any letters from yourself or your son, since the departure of his Eminence until today, when your letter of the 13th instant was delivered to me, to- gether with a copy of that which the English Council of State had written to his Eminence, and his answer, which arrived here last week ; its perusal entirely satisfied the Council, and it resolved immediately to send orders to Mr. Lockhart to re- pair in the capacity of ambassador to the meeting which is to take place at Bayonne, as soon as he has had audience of the King. The answer has since been reported to the Parliament, and has partially dispelled the distrust awakened by our peace with Spain, which was regarded as the forerunner of a war in favour of the King of Scots. At the same time that this resolution was being adopted, one of the plenipotentiaries who have been sent to the Sound came to bid me farewell as a private friend \ and after some conversation on the subject of his journey, he communicated to me the information which Mr. Lockhart had given, and the good effect it had produced ; and he even went so far as to confess to me that the Com- monwealth had no reason to fear now that it is assured of the friendship of France and the United Provinces, as aU the other powers of Europe were not capable of thwarting its es- tablishment. This very natural confession was followed by some expression of displeasure that the dispute which had oc- curred in relation to my reception was not yet terminated, and he proposed to me the mediation of the ambassador of Hol- land, in order to procure its adjustment : I professed that I felt no less regret at this little quarrel than he did, and that, if propriety had permitted, I would have passed over all these punctilios, in order to make known the King^s inclinations sooner, but that, the question having once been raised, there ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 429 was less inconvenience in the Parliament conceding the civility that I claimed than in my receding from my demand ; that further, it was not an affair of such great consequence as to require the intervention of a foreign mediator, and that he might himself bring about the desired accommodation. He undertook to speak on the matter before his departure to some of the principal members of the Council, in which he could not resume his seat, as he had taken his leave of it ; and he proposed to me that, instead of augmenting the number of members of Parliament, one of the Earls who sit in that as- sembly should be sent to me, as this change might be made under the pretext that one of those who was to have escorted me is now President of the Council, and could not be em- ployed on such a mission. I accepted this overture, and the next day, the ambassador of Holland came again to offer me his good offices, and gave me to understand that he had seen certain ministers of the Council, and had found them very much inclined to give me every satisfaction ; I related to him the terms on which I had agreed with the above-mentioned plenipotentiary, and assured him that, for my own part, I would make all the advances that might be required in order to give the Parliament a pretext for reconsidering its decision. It seemed to me that, after such explanations, my audience would be deferred no longer ; however the ambassador came to me again yesterday, and told me that he had seen the same ministers of the Council again, and they had offered to do their utmost as individuals to induce the Parliament to adopt the expedient which had been suggested to me, but that their success was not at all certain, as that body is composed of very touchy persons, who might make a difficulty about send- ing to me any person of higher rank than on the first occa- sion ; and that all that could be promised me was as speedy and honourable an audience as could be given me, if I would make a second application for it. I did not think it my duty to jump at an offer of this sort, until I had been informed of 430 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. the opinion of the Court, especially as I see that Mr. Lock- hart is to present himself in the capacity of an ambassador, and that this would be a good opportunity for settling this dispute to our advantage, as he will doubtless desire a better reception than that which would be given to the ambassador of Holland, and as it is also his Majesty's intention to treat him more honourably. Their ground of defence here is that, in the early days of the Commonwealth, the ambassador of Spain had no better reception ; but even if we were agreed on the point of equality, as the honour which was done him at that time has since been conferred on the ministers of States inferior in dignity, there would still be cause for dissatisfac- tion. To all appearance, the next post will remove my scruples on this point ; meanwhile there will be no intercourse between the ministers of State and myself; and indeed there are no affairs for us to consult upon, as the plenipotentiaries set out on the 14th instant, with instructions for the northern peace. The one who called on me seemed fully persuaded that the Kings of Denmark and Sweden were not in a position to reject the counsels of their Mends, and he assured me that it was the intention of the English Government to bring them to a speedy accommodation ; he would not speak positively in regard to the restitution of Bornholm and Drontheim, but I perceived nevertheless that the Council of State was desirous of showing complaisance to the United Provinces on this point, and if they insist on maintaining the King of Denmark in possession of those places, although he has abandoned them in pursuance of the Treaty of Roeskild, the English plenipo- tentiaries will agree to their restitution. I have also been assured that everything vrill be done in concert vrith M. de Terlon ; nevertheless, as Erance has no fleet at sea, the voice of her minister will not, I think, have so much power ; I have sent him the most accurate information of all that has come to my knowledge, and even of my suspicions, which it will not be difficult for him to justify if they have any real foundation : ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 431 I have also communicated regularly with MM. De Thou and De Lambres. It was proposed in Parliament that some emi- nent person should be sent to the Hague to strengthen the friendly relations now existing between England and the States- General, and Sir H. Vane was suggested for the mis- sion; but his partisans prevailed over those who wished to get him out of the way under this specious pretext. As the alliance of the United Provinces is regarded here as most im- portant to the preservation of the present Government_, their ambassador has proposed a treaty, in which France is to be included, and Mr. Lockhart will doubtless receive orders on this subject. The Swedes, on their side, still continue to ex- cite distrust both of this Commonwealth and of ourselves, and either because their minister is offended at the declaration which France has made that she will not assist their King if he rejects peace, or because he thinks he can persuade England to embrace her interests, by awakening her jealousy of other States, their representatives speak of us with little gratitude for the benefits their country has received from his Majesty. Our peace with Spain serves them as a fine pretext for in- sinuating that the Catholic States intend to combine to effect the ruin of the Protestants, and particularly of England. . . . The advices which Mr. Lockhart has sent from Poitiers have caused the Republicans less joy than the Royalists : whatever confidence may be felt in the friendship of France, there is nevertheless a strong apprehension that storms are brevring abroad which may have power to change the Govern- ment of England, with which every one expresses great dis- content ; not that the Commonwealth is generally disapproved of, but people cannot be brought to believe that those who now possess authority will ever consent to resign it, and those even who are most opposed to a monarchy declare that it would be better to recall the King than to endure such a go- vernment as is now projected. Some private gentlemen yester- day presented a petition to the House, tending to give it a less 432 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. objectionable form; they were thanked by the Speaker; but although a part of that assembly agrees with their opinions, no resolution is adopted in regard to this very general wish ; it is deferred until all other establishments have been made. The embodiment of the militia, in all the counties, is the most important step that has been taken of late days ; many are persuaded that it will excite the jealousy of the army ; and in fact it does not seem probable that it will be disabled from undertaking any attack on the authority of the Parliament, if once the people are armed; the Anabaptists and Quakers are the classes in whom the greatest confidence is placed; the Presbyterians murmur without revolting, and indeed there is not so much talk of insurrection since the tithes have been secured to the ministers. This week, from information given to the authorities, strict search has been made all over Lon- don, and all horses were seized in order that their masters might be forced to come and claim them, but no suspected persons were discovered ; a very rigorous enactment against the Royalists has also been brought under deliberation, and the Act of Indemnity is still in suspense. Orders have been issued that all persons who are now inhabiting Whitehall must leave within six days ; this order extends to the Lord Richard Cromwell, and in order to secure him against his creditors. Parliament has taken him under its protection for six months ; his brother. Colonel Henry Cromwell, has arrived in London and presented himself before the Council of State, which, after hearing what he had to say, gave him permission to retire to one of his country-houses. The East India Com- pany has lent a large sum to the Parliament, which was de- voted today to the payment of the troops ; measures are still under consideration for the raising of larger funds, and the royal palaces are to be sold, — even the deer of Hampton Court have been exposed for sale. ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 433 58.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. July 29, 1669. My Lord, I am still in statu quo as regards the Parliament, and the last letters I have received from M. de Brienne give me no occasion to demand an audience until I have received your orders : this coolness has not prevented Sir H. Vane and two other ministers of the Council from coming to see me today ; after some civilities and demonstrations of gratitude for the King^s feelings towards the English Government, they spoke to me about affairs in the Sound, and suggested that, as the difficulty which would arise in regard to the restitution of Bornholm and Drontheim was of such importance that it might put a stop to the proceedings of the mediators unless they had precise instructions from their superiors on the sub- ject, it was thought advisable here to send them such instruc- tions, and in order that nothing might be done without the concurrence of France, they wished to know my opinion. I declared I had not sufficiently accurate information on this point to give the required explanation, but that our idea had been, when we agreed on the treaty signed at the Hague, that the ministers of France, England, and Holland should adjust, on the spot, any difficulties that might arise in respect to this accommodation, acting as far as possible in conformity with the Treaty of Roeskild, which however did not prevent them from satisfying both Kings by means of an exchange or some other recompense, as a peace of this nature ought not to be postponed for the sake of one place more or less ; that on this ground, his Majesty would not gainsay England, if she judged it necessary to adopt some expedient ; and it would be necessary only to avoid the reproach to which we should be exposed, if we contributed to rob the King of Sweden of con- quests which he made during the first war. The said minis- ters appeared to enter into these views more by their counte- voL. I. r r 434 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. nances than by any positive answer, as they merely acknow- ledged my speech, and assured me that, but for the English fleet, the King of Sweden would have been overwhelmed by his enemies, as he well knew. The end of this conversation was a very positive assurance that nothing should be done either at the Hague or in Zealand without preconcert with his Majesty's ministers, and that it was the intention of the Parliament to pacify the northern Princes as quickly as pos- sible, in order to free itself from the great expense of main- taining the fleet. I also gave them reason to hope that the ministers of France would co-operate with their policy, and thinking I might lead the conversation to the difficulties in re- spect to my audience, I passed to the news which the Council had received from Mr. Lockhart, and inquired whether he had not yet presented his credentials ; they would not enter upon this subject however, and after telling me that his orders were to proceed to Bayonne as soon as an audience had been granted him, they renewed their protestations of the Parliament's de- sire to live on good terms with France, and to act in concert with her on all occasions. . . . There have been some great alarms during the last few days j the army was believed to be so discontented that it had resolved to dissolve Parliament this week ; but this storm has blown over ; this misunderstanding appeared to proceed from the obstacles thrown in the way of the Act of Indemnity, the delay in the payment of the arrears due to the army, and the establishment of the militia. To put a stop to these causes of complaint, the Parliament has at length passed an Act of Indemnity, or approbation of all that was done under the Pro- tectors, with a reservation of the honours and appointments then conferred ; it has also promised satisfaction on the second point, and the subaltern officers have been persuaded that the militia tended merely to the preservation of the country against the enemies of the Government, among others, the Koyalists, against whom an act of banishment is projected. ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 435 which is to extend to those who have been already allowed to compound for their opinions. Whether there really has been some plot on foot, or whether it was only thought necessary to make believe that there was one, great searches have been made of late days throughout London, and the troops have been under arms every night. This rumour is quieted today, and the Parliament appears to have no distrust of the army ; but it has nevertheless voted itself a guard of 160 men. 59.] M. DE Bordeaux to M. de Brienne. July 31, 1659. Sir, I had postponed until today sending a more particular answer to some points in the letter which you were pleased to write to me on the 20th instant, and as your letter of the 27th, which has since reached me, relates to the same matters, I shall reply to both together, and inform you that, with a view to conform my conduct to your wishes, and to give the Parliament an opportunity to take some step which would permit me to make another application for an audience with- out impropriety. Sir H. Vane, to whom I addressed myself, informed me that Mr. Lockhart had met with so good a recep- tion in France that it was only fair that they should treat me with similar civility and seek out some expedient whereby to satisfy me, but that it was desirable not to hurry matters until the arrival of my fresh credentials, which Mr. Lockhart assured them would be sent to me, in order to give the Par- liament a pretext for withdrawing its opposition, and comply- ing with my demands. This speech, accompanied as it was by offers of his private services in the business, would lead me to expect the said letters if your last despatch did not appear to me to disclaim any such intention ; although it would be the most honourable way of getting out of this quarrel, and F F 2 436 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. his Majesty might, with less inconvenience, send an obliging answer to the letter of the Parliament, and give me the same rank as Mr. Lockhart holds, than suffer equality to be estab- lished between his ministers and the envoys of States of inferior dignity, especially after the question has once been raised. I do not rightly know what ground Mr. Lockhart had for writing that he had disposed the Court of France to take this step, but it is very certain that the English Govern- ment expects it, and that, until it is disabused of the erroneous impression, very far from doing anything to hasten my au- dience, it will delay it, as it sees that its ambassador is not less favourably regarded on that account. Wherefore it must not be thought that I am treated with consideration, and I must either submit to the common treatment of all ambas- sadors or be furnished with credentials that will be more agreeable to the Parliament; I am somewhat impatient to know which of these two courses will be judged least dis- honourable, that I may be able thereupon to act otherwise than I have done of late, in any affairs that may present themselves. I had taken occasion to mention to Sir H. Vane the statement of M. de Thou that, on the ratification of the last treaty signed at the Hague, the Parliament had forgotten to give the King his proper titles, more from carelessness than with any deliberate purpose, as was proved by the readiness with which I obtained an assurance that the act should be couched in such terms as I might desire. The most enlight- ened members of the government are too well aware of the importance of keeping on good terms with his Majesty not to endeavour to please him ; and it may have been remarked from my despatches, as well as from the language of Mr. Lockhart, that they are animated with this determination. I should not like to assert that our treaty with Spain does not cause them some jealousy. The different conversations I have had with certain Ministers of State lead me to believe that this is their greatest source of alarm, and it would be strange ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 437 if they were not alarmed, on hearing all the reports which are in circulation. So that if their ambassador represents them to be full of strong confidence, and so firmly established as to have nothing to fear from the interior of England, his lan- guage will be more polite than truthful, and you must no more believe him than when he speaks with indifference of peace between England and Spain : I am assured that such a peace is greatly desired, and Sir H. Vane, at his last visit, made no mystery about it, but told me plainly that the go- vernment had no desire but to live on good terms with all neighbouring States and to secure tranquillity at home, as it is convinced that it will never be respected abroad so until its authority is firmly established in its own dominions. So long as Mr. Lockhart uses language like this, he may be believed, but not if he affects that the Parliament is superior to all re- verses of fortune, as it may be said today that there appears as much inclination to a change as I have ever witnessed since my residence in England ; everybody is discontented, the in- clinations of the army itself are greatly divided, and but for the fear that division might bring back the King, the troops would not so long have deferred expelling the Parliament, which in itself is sufficiently disunited, as two factions have been formed in it, one of which agrees with the army, while the other aims only at ruining it. The chief officers found themselves accused this week of intending to replace my Lord Richard Cromwell at the head of the government ; the charge has been heard in both the Council and the Parliament, but it was not justified, and proved to have no foundation beyond a popular rumour. The City of London also has lately ex- pressed its dissatisfaction with the order of Parliament which compels the embodiment of the militia, and presented a peti- tion praying for the diminution of the cavalry it is obliged to furnish, and that it might not be employed on any service, without the consent of the City ; both requests were refused, and the City obeyed. There has been, near London, an insur- 438 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. rection of peasants^ to quell which three companies of cavalry have been sent. If the Royalists are to be believed, we are daily on the verge of a general insurrection of their party, and I am almost persuaded that, if they thought they could obtain ever so little succour from abroad, they would engage in some enterprise against the Government, which has won additional unpopularity from the calling out of the militia, which is at once burdensome and unprofitable to the people. This is the present condition of the Parliament, whose meet- ings have of late produced no resolution of importance ; it intends to apply itself unremittingly to regulating the form of the government, and providing for the public safety and for the expenses of the State. I learn that latterly the Council has despatched a vessel with instructions to the fleet. The Swedish minister, in great alarm, came to see me on the sub- ject (although for eight months previously, he had not paid me a visit), and did all he could to obtain from me some explanation of the intentions of the English ministry ; com- plaining that, in the last conferences he had with them, they exhibited some disposition to compel his master to give up some of the advantages secured to him by the Treaty of Roes- kild. I neither cured nor increased his suspicions, but con- fined myself to general terms ; I assured him that I had, in pursuance of the King's orders, used the same good ofiices, under the present Government, as in the time of the Protec- tors, to induce England to arm in favour of his master, not in order to promote the conquest of Denmark and Poland, but to secure him against the numerous enemies that this war has raised up against him, and to procure for him an honourable peace ; and that, as the mediators were now on the spot, they would doubtless neglect no means of satisfying both parties. I then invited the said minister to write in these terms to his Court, in order to disabuse it of the impression it entertained that we were thwarting its plans. He clearly understood that I meant to reproach him with having given false infor- ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 439 mation, and endeavoured to justify himself by disavowing all connection with those reports^ and professing his convic- tion that I had acted very much to his master's advantage ; but even if this be his opinion, he has used very different lan- guage in his letters. The remainder of his conversation left me persuaded that his master would not consent to an accom- modation with Poland so readily as we believed, if he is obliged to make peace with Denmark. I informed him that France desired one no less than the other, and that the treaty would be of Httle force if it were not general. This reason will not have much weight, unless it is seconded by the necessity of deferring to the wishes of other nations ; and it is to be feared that England does not interest herself so much in the peace with Poland as to be willing to press it as warmly as the peace with Denmark, in regard to which very precise instructions have been given to the English plenipotentiaries ; and if those which have been sent to them lately set them at liberty to leave Drontheim and Bornholm in the hands of the King of Denmark, which I think is very likely to be the case, he will make no scruple to treat without his allies, and will have a sufficiently reasonable pretext for doing so ; this is the opinion of the ministers here, and also of the ambassador of Holland, who, at our last interview, declared to me that the King would very sensibly oblige his superiors if he would give orders to his ambassador to acquiesce in these conditions of peace. I assured him that M. Terlon would agree to anything within the bounds of propriety in order to satisfy them ; and it was in consequence of this conversation that the ministers of the Council came to see me at the beginning of the week, in order to learn my opinion on this subject. The interests of the Elector of Brandenburg have not been brought under consi- deration; he is regarded only as an ally of the Poles, and therefore his accommodation will be deferred until after that of Denmark, which the great expense of the two fleets renders it necessary to hasten forward more rapidly than the others. 440 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. In regard 'to Portugal, nothing must be expected from this country ; declarations have often been made to me that they earnestly desired the preservation of that crown_, but not so much as to be willing to continue the war with Spain on its account. We can only hope that the States-General may be invited to make peace. When in a position to act, I shall be able to use my good offices for this purpose without any fear of reproach. I do not see so much necessity for exerting my- self on behalf of the Catholics; the Parliament exhibits no intention of persecuting them ; if the leaders dared to do it, they would give them full liberty. Yesterday a proposition was made that they should be relieved of the taxes they now pay, and some other means adopted for securing their fidelity; but there is great apprehension of too strongly exciting thereby the clamours of the Presbyterians and other Sectaries, who see clearly that such a step would be their ruin, as the present disorders in religion make known the strayings of the nation. Some reports have been spread that the King was about to persecute his Protestant subjects, but these rumours rested on such little foundation that they have produced no impression. News has arrived today from the Sound to the effect that the King of Denmark still remains firmly resolved not to treat without his allies, in spite of all the endeavours of the Dutch commissioners to alter his determination. The English com- missioners had not yet arrived. 60.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. Auffust 7, 1659. My Lord, The letter with which your Eminence has honoured me, dated on the 23rd of July last, gives me reason to assure you that my conduct has been in strict conformity with your or- ders, and that it has never happened to me to let slip any ex- pression capable of producing jealousy, nor to lead the Royal- ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 441 ists to hope that the King will support their designs ; and I maintain no further relation with them than is absolutely necessai'y in order to enable me to keep your Eminence in- formed of the state of affairs in England. I have nothing to write today, except that there is a great disposition to an insurrection, not so much on the part of the Lords who have all along sided with the King, as on the part of the gentry, who are reputed to be Presbyterians and rather strongly inclined to a republican government ; and it is certain that, since the recall of the Parliament, the gentry have made great collections of horses, and that, according to the statements which have been prepared, enough have been sent from London to supply a more numerous army than that of the Parliament ; that a great many gentlemen have under- taken to furnish a number of men in proportion to their wealth; that they have made a division of the English counties, and that, within the last few days, each man set out for that county in which he is to serve, with so little discretion that many of them publicly took leave of their friends before repairing to their posts. I have also been informed that the insurrection was to have begun at the end of this week, but it has been postponed until next week, for want of munitions of war ; that the King was to have passed over into England, but that he has been advised to defer his coming until his partisans are able to get together a considerable body of troops, for fear that, if he came sooner, all the forces of the Commonwealth would be turned against him, and would crush him before as- sistance could be given him, which would entirely ruin his party ; whereas if the insurrection were general, and the corps commanded by private individuals, the defeat of one will not do any great injury to the reputation of the party or prevent the others from pushing their point. It is said that the Par- liament is tolerably well informed of the general plan, but not of the details, and that it is not in a condition to prevent it, as it has not sufficient forces to guard London and the flat 442 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. country. Indeed the principal men in the Government either are or aiSect to be alarmed ; and of late days both the Parlia- ment and the Council have been occupied solely in endeavour- ing to avert the evil which threatens them. An Act has been passed to compel all householders both in London and the country, under very severe penalties, to send within twenty- four hours a list of the arms in their possession, and of the persons under their roof. Searches have been made in many places, and breastplates and quantities of steel bullets have been found in the houses of some of the citizens. Some gen- tlemen of considerable importance have also been arrested in the country, whither cavalry has been sent, chiefly into the western and southern counties, where it is said that the insur- rection is to begin. The Parliament has also continued to give orders for the establishment of the militia, and the strengthening of the old troops by means of recruits. Such is the present disposition of England; every one is waiting the issue, and many imagine that the Eoyalists will be want- ing in courage when the time for action arrives, as most of those who are engaged in the plot are too rich to expose themselves, unless there be a division in the army, which has too much interest in remaining united, although some corps are represented as being well-intentioned towards the King's cause. Since all these rumours have been afloat, nothing more has been said of the misunderstanding between the chief officers of the army and the Parliament. In a few days, this storm cannot fail to have entirely blown over, as the impri- sonment of some of the leaders will lead to the discovery of their other accomplices ; or else the whole of England will be in arms. Nevertheless I do not fail to express to the Council an equal desire to see the Parliament ; and on learning from M. de Brienne that your Eminence thought it advisable, in order to satisfy the Parliament, and supply it with a pretext for paying me greater honour than is paid to an ambassador of Holland, that I should be furnished with fresh credentials. ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 443 I informed Sir H. Vane of your intention today, and begged him to endeavour to dispose the House to act correspondingly with so obliging a proceeding on the part of his Majesty ; he sent me word that I might expect all possible civilities that the Parliament could pay me, and he even dwelt at great length on the friendly feelings of that assembly towards France, whatever might be its fortune, and whether England conti- nued the war with Spain or made peace ; upon which last-named subject I must here report that some other ministers of this State have given me to understand that it was not to their advantage to retain conquests beyond the sea ; that Dunkirk was a burden to them, and only served to keep up misunder- standings with Spain ; and that therefore, if their advice was followed, the retention of that town should not stand in the way of peace. This is the opinion of certain individuals, and must not be taken to represent the feeling of the whole body; but it is nevertheless of some weight, and makes it evident that an accommodation with Spain is greatly desired here. I have also ascertained that latterly some fresh suspicion had been aroused against France, and I am told that it is founded on the advices given by Mr. Lockhart in his last letters : to this I may ascribe their curiosity in opening the despatches which arrived for me by today's post, among others your Emi- nence's letter, the contents of which must have removed all distrust. I have nothing, my Lord, to add in regard to the internal affairs of England, as the Parliament has been solely occupied with the militia question, and with other regulations affecting the domestic security of the State ; in the meanwhile, it has postponed its deliberations on the form of the government, although it seems to me that if a perfect Commonwealth were established, it would appease a great many malecontents. There is nothing to mention respecting foreign affairs, except that the ministers of Sweden have made great complaints to the Council of State that, after having involved their master in a 444 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. war for the advantage of the common cause, the Common- wealth of England, instead of supporting him, had combined with the Dutch to deprive him of the principal advantage he had gained from all his labours. This spirited remonstrance has not led to any change in the resolutions which had pre- viously been adopted ; and Sir H. Vane has sent me word that the English plenipotentiaries must by this time have received the last instructions sent to them regarding the bailiwick of Drontheim and the 400,000 rixdoUars, and that they would act in conformity therewith with all speed. The ambassador of Portugal has this week demanded an audience of the Council in order to renew his proposals of the connection which he had already suggested with England, on the same terms as his Court had offered to France, and also in order to urge the present Government to use their good offices with the United Provinces for the advancement of the treaty begun by Don Fernando de Telles ; but he does not think that the King is now in a position to pay so dearly for it, as he has need of all his money for his own maintenance : I do not notice any dis- position to give him a very favourable answer on the first of his proposals, at all events until news has been received from Mr. Lockhart, as the intention of the Government is not to engage in any alliance which may involve it in war. . . . 61.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. Auffust 11, 1659. My Lord, I proceed to comply with your Eminence's orders, not doubting that my last letter must have excited in you some curiosity to be informed of the present state of England. The Parliament having continued its endeavours to discover the particulars of the projected insurrection, and some inter- cepted letters having confirmed the suspicion that it was to ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 445 break out today, measures were taken to prevent it; and with this view, the greater part of the cavalry, with some picked men from the infantry mounted for the occasion, have been sent into the various counties to arrest the suspected nobles. Orders have also been issued for setting the militia on foot with all speed, and the ministers of the Council have been authorized to invite their friends to take up arms. At the same time all sorts of precautions have been used to keep London in its allegiance ; both the old and the new militia have been under arms ; the gates have been guarded, as well as all other outlets, in order to prevent any one from leaving the city, which it was judged necessary to do because it was discovered that the apprentices and many artisans intended to join the disaffected in the country, and had been secretly supplied with money to obtain arms and equipments ; great researches have continued to be made throughout the city with a view to secure all weapons, to such an extent that it is no longer necessary to keep many troops there, who might be needed elsewhere when the insurrection begins. No re- sistance however was met with from the gentlemen who have been arrested ; the number of whom is already so great that it would seem that their design must be utterly aban- doned. Those who are said to be engaged in it are young men, urged onwards by others who are held back by fear of confiscation (and it is certain that since the last movement in England there has not been so much disposition to insur- rection manifested by all orders of the people) . The conspi- rators were in the first instance to assume as their pretext the restoration of those members of Parliament who were expelled before the King's death, in order to render it more favourable to his execution ; but the real object is only too evident, as the enterprise is conducted by Royalists, and an amnesty has already been published, which excepts only a few persons who were parties to the death of the late King. Some reports have been spread that my Lord Richard Cromwell, who is 446 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. now living in retirement in the country, was one of the party, but there is little foundation for the statement, although some officers of the army, who had been cashiered for their attach- ment to his interests, have been arrested. Among the pri- soners is the daughter of the Earl of Berkshire, who was con- veying a letter of summons to a gentleman to be present to- day at the rendezvous. There is as yet no other prisoner of much importance, but it is hoped that some may be found, and that the public treasury will profit by the confiscations. This is, my Lord, the present state of England, which cannot be said to be very tranquil ; and although, in the opinion of the most sensible persons I meet, the great danger is past, I may safely defer giving any positive assurance imtil news ar- rives from the provinces. The Council of State has had no more important affair to treat of latterly, and the Parliament, on its side, has been occupied merely in filling up the com- missions in the militia, and in making some other domestic regulations of no great importance. In three days, it is to apply itself to the formation of the government, in order to efface the prevailing impression that the leaders of the House aim at perpetuating their tenure of authority, — an impression which alienates many minds. I am still awaiting the letter of credence which M. de Brienne led me to expect, before I request an audience. No news has arrived from abroad, and I have only to state that the ambassador of Holland, this morn- ing, communicated to me that his superiors have ordered him to demand of the Council of State that the plenipotentiaries of England may have instructions to urge the King of Swe- den to consent that England, France, and the United Provinces shall fix the recompense in money which Poland is to pay for the restitution of the towns which she holds in Prussia. I have not rejected this proposition, nor have I promised to support it, but if anything is said to me about it by the mi- nisters of the Council, I shall not refuse to entertain overtures which, without injury to propriety, may expedite the pacifica- ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 447 tion of the two northern Princes, which is so much desired by his Majesty. 62.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. August 14, 1659. My Lord, The news received today renders it certain that the suspi- cions of the Parliament and the reports currently afloat were not without foundation. It is unquestionable, and the in- telligence arrived today, that Sir George Booth, one of the members of Parliament who were expelled by the Republican party, taking advantage of the inclination which prevailed in Cheshire in favour of an insurrection against the present Go- vernment, has collected a great number of gentlemen together; and they have made themselves masters of the City of Chester, the chief town in the county, not very strong, but large and very useful to fall back upon. The governor has taken refuge in the castle with a few soldiers, but without any hope of being able to defend it until the arrival of succour, as there is no infantry in the whole district or its neighbourhood. Some people are also in arms in Lancashire, on the borders of Che- shire, but they have done nothing of any consequence hitherto. The Parliament was no sooner informed of it, than it ordered three regiments of infantry, under Major-General Lambert, to set out and reduce the insurgents ; and this very afternoon some soldiers have been mounted and despatched. The con- sequences of this insurrection are dreaded all the more because the leaders are men of great reputation and large fortune; their declaration, which has already appeared, makes no men- tion of the King, but only of the liberties of the people and pri- vileges of the Parliament, which they assert have been violated by the session of the present Parliament, from which most of the members have been expelled. They have with them some 448 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. of the most illustrious Presbyterian ministers, and in the ex- hortation given to the soldiers this afternoon, the preacher inveighed very strongly against all that sect, as well as against the King, who has been very near losing one of his principal officers. Colonel Massey; the Parliamentarian troops had caught him, but he had the good fortune to escape. There has been no movement in the counties round about London, al- though there were some rendezvous very near the metropolis ; but cavalry having been sent out, few persons attended the meetings. The danger will be greater when the army is away. Preparations are being made for bringing the militia into the field in case of need, and paying them at the same rate as the regular troops during their period of service. The Parliament has been so entirely occupied with this business that it has been unable to deliberate on the form of the Government. The agreement made last month at the Hague, in order to ad- vance the^acification of the north, was ratified two days ago ; the second agreement, which binds England and the United Provinces to combine against whichever of the two Kings shall refuse to come to an accommodation, has not yet been brought under discussion, as it arrived here only yesterday, but there is no reason to doubt that the Government will approve of every measure that will facilitate the return of the fleet, which is more necessary, at the present crisis, oJ0P the coast of Eng- land^ than in the Sound. I have not yet received the letters of credence which the Count de Brienne was to send me ; after having led the Government here to expect them, if they did not come quickly, the delay would be attributed to a coolness occasioned by the condition of domestic affairs in this country, of which I shall not fail to inform your Eminence by every post. ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 449 63.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. August 18, 1659. My Lord, I have still nothing to communicate but the continuation of the insurrection in Cheshire ; all reports state that the insur- gent party gains strength every day, that the neighbouring county of Lancashire is also in arms, and that the general feel- ing in the principality of Wales is not at all more favourable to the Parliament ; that the insurgents have even made them- selves masters of some other towns and castles, but of no place of very great importance, and that assemblages are taking place in many other counties. This news may be believed because it is not denied by the ministers of the Government, and it has been printed that the insurgents already number four or five thousand men, without counting those in the Duchy of Lan- cashire. To disperse them, the Parliament last week sent off three regiments of infantry and as many of cavalry, who will be joined by other troops on their way ; the rendezvous is at Coventry, some distance from Chester, on the 37th of the month. Major-General Lambert and the artillery left London yesterday, and it is asserted that this army of five thousand men will come up with the enemy by the beginning of next week. Colonel Desborough has also been sent, with other troops, towards the western counties, of which some suspicions are entertained ; and as these detachments leave London and the adjacent counties rather unguarded, commissions are being delivered for new levies of volunteer regiments. The three regiments which were in the service of France have also been sent for. Meanwhile, the militia of this city are under arms, and no one is allowed to leave London without a passport ; they continue also to arrest the nobility, and there are no longer prisons enough to lodge them in ; this precaution seems to have been quite necessary, as it is certain that gatherings were to have been made in several places near at hand, if the VOL. I. G G 450 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. troops had not appeared at the rendezvous. There are some illustrious Presbyterian leaders who cannot be found, and whose absence occasions great umbrage, as they are persons of considerable influence and known to be disaffected. General Fairfax, who had gone to the Bath, has been sent for, and has returned to London. The late Protector has also cleared him- self of the suspicions entertained against him ; but some of the officers who were cashiered on account of their attachment to his interests cannot be found, and some have been taken who have not denied their complicity in the conspiracy ; the con- sequences of which will not, it seems, be so very much to be feared unless London engages in the revolt. The mayor and many other citizens, especially the Sectaries, are very faithful to the Government ; but the Presbyterian party, who are much more numerous and influential, are dissatisfied, and their mi- nisters do not fail to foment their discontent. A proposition has been made to the Common Council to present to Parliament a petition tending to the same objects as the declaration of Sir G. Booth, which professes submission to a free Parliament, and asserts that the present Parliament cannot exercise any legitimate authority because the greater number of its mem- bers have been expelled from it. This is the substance of the documents published in his name, and it is not easy to reply to them. If the Common Council adopted the same views, it would be difficult to refuse this demand ; but strenuous efforts are being made to banish the idea which some may entertain of doing so, at the instigation of the Presbyterian ministers, who are greatly interested in this insurrection, to which some of them have excited the people as though it were a holy war. Those in London preach up an accommodation, and they rightly dread the downfall of a party which will doubtless in- volve their own party in its ruin. During the last few days, the Parliament has been solely oc- cupied in giving orders with regard to the present crisis ; a proposition was made to give Major-General Lambert power ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 451 to make an accommodation with the insurgents, but this sug- gestion was not followed up ; there has also been some deli- beration as to restoring a certain officer of the army who had lately been cashiered, on the assurance given by Lieutenant- General Fleetwood of his affection to the Commonwealth, but even his support failed to gain the object ; and the aversion felt by the Parliament towards those officers who were favour- able to the government of a single person, excites feelings of jealousy against even Lambert, who would not have been em- ployed unless the officers had expressed a desire to have him to command them. I have only today received my new credentials, and as M. de Brienne informs me that your Eminence deems it fitting that I should not take an audience unless the Parliament makes a difference in the manner of my reception, it will be a subject of negotiation with the mihisters of the Council to induce them to agree on some distinction proportionate to the dignity of his Majesty and of France. I do not learn that any news has arrived from the Sound of late days, or that anything remarkable has occurred except the death of the Prince of Wiirtemberg, who was in France last winter. I have received the letter which your Eminence did me the honour to write to me on the 1st of the month : the contents merely give me occasion to add that there is now no talk of any sale, and that, when any resolution is come to on the sub- ject, I will use all diligence to inform your Eminence of it, and I beg you to be so good as to give M. de Villars the orders which you have lately led me to hope for. I have just heard that news has just reached the Council, with the assurance that the number of the insurgents is far less than was thought, and cannot at most be more than two thousand men. G G 2 4o2 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 64.] M. DE Bordeaux to M. de Brienne. August 18, 1659. I have received the two letters with which you have honoured me, dated on the 9th of August, and accompanying the King's letter to the Parliament ; the contents of the former confirm my expectation that it would be thought that I did not act unwisely in making a difficulty about being treated on an equality with the ambassador of the United Provinces, and that it is still his Eminence's opinion that I ought to insist on the number or rank of the members who are to escort me. I shall endeavour to make the ministers of the Council agree on doing this before I take my audience, and it will not be long delayed if Mr. Lockhart spoke in pursuance of orders from his superiors when he promised all kinds of satisfaction. It would seem moreover that the present Government is not in a position to refuse a civility which will be absolutely re- quired by France. . . . 65.] M. de Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. August 25, 1659. My Lord, The last posts have not brought me any letters from your Eminence, neither have I had any news from the Parliament, although the Speaker announced that I had new credentials to present ; wherefore I have only to inform your Eminence of what has occurred in England since my last letter was written. The advices which have arrived from Chester and its neighbourhood assert that Sir George Booth is gaining strength every day by the junction of many persons of quality, and that, in order to favour the designs of those who were willing to take up arms, he had sent parties into the adjacent counties, one of which parties has been repulsed by the Par- ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 453 liament^s troops, and lost eight prisoners ; that he has since drawn near Liverpool, a town near Chester, the fortifications of which have been demolished by order of the Parliament ; that in other counties nearer London, certain gentlemen have assembled, among others, in Leicestershire, where the Earl of Stamford, Sir George Booth's father-in-law, has made himself master of a very defensible castle. There was also a rendezvous at a place thirty miles from London, not many days ago, at which Mr. Mordaunt, who made all those journeys into Flan- ders, and the brother of M. Daubigny, were present, with about a hundred and fifty others ; the district militia dispersed them, and took some of them prisoners, but not the leaders ; there have been similar meetings in other counties with the like success ; and the Parliament, having been informed that one was to be held very near London, and that the leaders had not yet left the city, had them arrested and sent to the Tower on the day before yesterday ; the Earl of Oxford is one of the number. Measures are still being taken, in all the counties, to secure the persons of the nobility, who are thought to be generally disaflPected towards the Government, and pledged to take part in the insurrection. As to London, it is certain that it was disposed to follow this example, and that Major Brown, formerly a dealer in wood, was to have placed himself at the head of the malecontents ; but the scheme having been dis- covered, their measures were frustrated ; and • the 2500 in- fantry who occupied the town, in addition to the militia, whose officers are well-affected to the Government, and the difference of opinion which prevails among the citizens, seem likely to keep the metropolis in subjection, unless the insurgents in the country should make some considerable progress, and gain over a portion of the regular troops. The Parliament mean- while continues to levy volunteer regiments among those Sec- taries who have offered to serve it, — Independents, Anabap- tists, Millennarians, and Quakers; according to the present plan, a corps will be formed of them, in addition to those who 454 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. will be enrolled in the militia of the country, of which the Government is already beginning to make use. The Presby- terian ministers in several places are doing their utmost to excite the people, and whether we regard their conduct, or consider Sir George Booth and the other leaders who have joined him, the war must be partially imputed to them ; it appears that there are few old Royalists in arms, and some even seem to be rather jealous of all this being done without their co-operation, so that they are utterly careless about the issue, which the Government partly expect will be very speedily favourable to themselves ; they will not admit that there are more than four thousand men in arms, most of them cavalry and noblemen, against whom Lambert is leading six or seven thousand men, partly veterans of the old army, and partly country troops which have had orders to join him ; he must now be near the enemy ; and the city of Chester, which has only dry walls, without ramparts, is not thought to be easily defensible, especially as the castle still holds out for the Parliament. But the Royalists assert that Sir George Booth has seven or eight thousand men well armed, that his infantry is as good as the Parliament's infantry, that the country is strong, that it will therefore be difficult to force him to give battle, and that by protracting the war, the other counties of England will be able to arm against the Parliament, as the number of malecontents increases daily, for want of the es- tablishment of a form of government in which each, in his turn, might take part. It is not easy to form a certain judg- ment on such varying opinions and statements ; I can only say that public feeling is very unfavourable to the Parliament ; that every one is preparing to stir, and that if the Parliament suffered the shghtest disgrace, it would have great difficulty in getting over it ; for it is even jealous of Lambert, and antici- pates that he will follow the example of the deceased Pro- tector. There is reason to believe that the first news received from Lambert will enable us to judge of the probable dura- ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 455 tion of this war, which holds all minds in suspense; and rea- sonably enough, as the ruin of one of the two parties is at stake, and chiefly that of the Presbyterians, who form the most powerful body in England, as the others are neither so respectable, nor so numerous. There was a rumour of some movement in Ireland, but I do not hear that it has been con- firmed. Complete tranquillity prevails in Scotland, and orders have been sent to General Monk to send two of his regiments into England. There was a report that General Montague had been removed from his command by the plenipotentiaries of the Parliament, but this has been refuted today by the ar- rival of an express with despatches from them. The letters which M. Terlon has sent me by him inform your Eminence of the state of affairs in the north, in regard to which it does not appear to me that any change has occurred here, although the ministers of Sweden complain very loudly of the last con- ventions between the two Republics : it is said that the King of Sweden will endeavour to avoid any settlement until winter, in the hope that, when the two fleets find themselves obliged to retire, he will be left at full liberty to complete the con- quest of Zealand. It only remains for me to add that, ac- cording to some reports, Mr. Lockhart's letters have excited some hopes here that your Eminence's journey to the frontier would not meet with all the success that France anticipates from it : I am willing to believe that, even if such information has been given, it will prove to be ill-founded. 66.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. August 31, 1659. My Lord, I have not yet seen the Parliament, as I did not think it advisable to demand an audience until I had arranged the method of my reception with some ministers of the Coimcil. 456 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. Sir Harry Vane and another came to see me yesterday ; they fully agreed with me as to the distinction which I assert ought to be made between the ambassadors of France and those of other States of inferior dignity, and professed that the Parliament held itself bound to make a suitable return to the civilities received by its ambassador ; but they could not consent to the distinctions which I proposed to them, and even declared that the Council of State was not authorized to deliberate on this subject until it had been formally referred to it by the Parliament ; and they desired that, in order that that this step might be taken, I should inform the Speaker that I had received my new credentials, and that his Majesty expected that I should be treated with as much civility as Mr. Lockhart had met with in France. I made no scruple to fol- low up this overture ; and if the feeling of the Parliament is really such as the above-mentioned ministers represent it, some expedient will soon be found for terminating this dis- pute to our mutual satisfaction. I availed myself of this interview to ascertain what resolutions had been adopted in regard to the affairs of the north, and I was assured that the Parliament has approved of the last convention entered into at the Hague between Mr. Downing and the commissioners of the States- General ; that the plenipotentiaries of England also had orders to urge the King of Sweden to leave his claims to the places which he possesses in Prussia in the hands of the media- tors, but not to go so far as to make the declarations which are to be conveyed to him in order to bring the treaty with Denmark to an end ; in regard to which I was told that the two Kings complained equally of the two Republics, but that England was not in a condition to act otherwise, or to main- tain her fleet longer at sea. Wherefore we may, with good reason, expect that this treaty will soon be completed. I also obtained the consent of the said ministers to the alterations necessary in the ratification of the treaty signed at the Hague ; and they excused themselves for the delay on the ground of ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 457 the great amount of business which the Council has latterly- had to attend to. After I had obtained from them all the explanations I desired, they asked me for news of what was passing between your Eminence and Don Louis de Haro, and complained that they had received none since the 1st of the month ; and they then proceeded in some sort to reproach me for the disposition which prevailed in France to assist the King of England as soon as peace should be signed with Spain, T)asing these remarks on certain information which they said they had lately received, that preparations were already being made in our ports for such an expedition. I assured them that these suspicions could only be suggested by common ene- mies of France and England ; that it was not to be presumed that the King would give up a war which might be productive of great advantages to him, in order to engage in another against his own allies and of no possible utility ; and that the Parliament might safely therefore give its undivided attention to its domestic difficulties and the discontents of the City of London. This answer gave the ministers occasion to speak of their own affairs, and they appeared to be full of confidence that the City would not rise, and that Sir George Booth's party was not in a condition to withstand the troops under the command of Lambert ; they also gave me an exaggerated statement of the great forces which the Parliament now has on foot, and of the great dangers from which it had formerly emerged, though with less power to meet them, as it now has, including the militia, more than a hundred thousand men under arms. I assured them that the King would rejoice to hear they were in so good a condition, and that tranquillity was being restored in England ; such is not the case yet how- ever, as the insurgents are not dispersed, and their number is said to be more considerable than the Government admit ; it is true that we do not hear that they have yet executed any enterprise, or even reduced the castle of Chester ; they have remained satisfied, up to this time, with sending out parties to 458 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. collect arms, seizing some few castles, and exciting the people, who have become cooler than they appeared at first, since the approach of the army ; but even if this original warmth has not passed away, it is not to be supposed that, except by ex- traordinary good fortune, the insurgents will be able to defend themselves against all the troops of the Parliament; and accordingly they expected other counties to take up arms at the same time, and particularly the City of London, which would doubtless have risen but for the energetic measured taken to prevent it. On the day before yesterday, great alarm was again felt about London, and the Council of State sent for the Mayor and Sheriffs ; the President made them a speech on the dangers to which the whole nation had been exposed in consequence of a design which had been formed to pillage the town, and pointed out to them the real motives of the insur- rection in Cheshire ; the conclusion of his discourse was an invitation to them to co-operate with the Parliament to pre- vent such great evils ; and then he read to them an act of Parliament which declares Sir George Booth and all his par- tisans or adherents, traitors to the State. This Act was after- wards read at various places in the city, in presence of the Mayor, and at the head of two squadrons of cavalry; and whether this resolute proceeding intimidated the citizens, or the fear that the mob might avail themselves of the oppor- tunity to pillage the town led them to alter their resolution, the night of Tuesday, which was to have produced a great insurrection, proved as tranquil as previous nights ; the Par- liament however does not neglect to take precautions against the ill-feeling which still prevails ; and, in consequence of the offer of the Sectaries to take arms, it has ordered the raising of three regiments, one of which will be commanded by Sir H. Vane. Those troops which have come from France have also entered London, and no suspected person is left at liberty. If the Presbyterians, who are thought to be interested in maintaining Sir G. Booth^s movement, intend to make an TLLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 459 eftbrt, they must make it soon, otherwise they will not be in time : of which your Eminence shall be duly informed. . . . 67.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. September 1, 1659. My Lord, * As the letter with which your Eminence honoured me on the 14th of August speaks only of the difficulties which pre- sented themselves in the way of my reception, I shall reply to it by informing you that, on the day before yesterday, I was acquainted by the Master of the Ceremonies that the Parlia- ment would give me an audience this morning, and that the Earl of Pembroke, General Fleetwood, and Sir H. Vane would conduct me to it. The last two did not make their appear- ance, and the Earl of Salisbury and Sir T. Wentworth of- ficiated in their stead. In addition to the difference which was made in the rank of these deputies, in accordance with my original desire, the Parliament's company of Guards was under arms in the courtyard of Westminster ; from the entrance of which to the steps which lead into the House of Parliament through the great Hall, there were two files of musketeers more than attended at the audience of the ambassador of Hol- land, or even at that of the Portuguese ambassador. There were also, in the room in which I rested, an arm-chair and an extraordinary carpet ; the remainder of the ceremony took place in the usual manner ; and after having paid my compli- ment and presented the King's letter, together with my own speech in French and English, the Speaker gave me no other answer but that he would inform the House of what I had said. I postpone until another day informing you whether the Parliament was satisfied ; as it may be that the sentiments of the whole body may have been different from those of the members who conducted me home, or that even their appro- 460 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. bation may have been a mere effect of complaisance : as they expressed to me great satisfaction, I also on my part professed entire satisfaction with the civilities of the Parliament, and a great part of our conversation both in going and returning was only a mutual protestation of the desire felt by both the King and the Commonwealth to maintain a perfect correspondence between the two States. The remainder of our conversation will make you acquainted with the present condition of Eng- land. They assured me that this very morning the Parlia- ment had received confirmation by letters from General Lam- bert, of the news which was brought, on the evening of the day before yesterday, of the defeat of Sir George Booth and his adherents, which took place on Thursday, the 28th ultimo, at about eleven o'clock in the morning near the town of Northwich, ten or twelve miles from Chester. Before enga- ging battle. Sir George had sent to propose an accommodation in order to prevent bloodshed, and had offered to submit to a free Parliament. General Lambert replied that his orders merely gave him power to fight, that he could grant no ac- commodation unless he laid down his arms, and that, in that case, he would with all his heart do his utmost with the Par- liament to obtain his pardon. This proposition was not agree- able, and the insurgents, preferring the fortune of battle, came the first to the charge ; but after haviiig fired a volley from some distance, both cavalry and infantry retired in disorder upon Chester, under cover of the woods and hollows. The Parliament's army pursued them, taking many prisoners and shedding very little blood. The victors speak of only four men killed on their side, and assert that they were very infe- rior in numbers to the vanquished, who had two thousand two hundred infantry, and about four thousand horse. The E/oy- alists will not admit the truth of this story, and declare that Sir George had only divided his troops, leaving his infantry in Chester ; and that he is still in the field at the head of his cavalry, with the intention of avoiding a decisive combat, and ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 461 waiting until the City of London or some of the other coun- ties should revolt : but it is very improbable that the ministers of State would so positively announce news of this nature un- less they had good ground for doing so ; and it only appears to me from their language that the defeat is not so complete as to render it impossible that enough troops may still remain to garrison Chester^ and prolong the war for some time : for the Generals of this country are not so skilful in conducting sieges as in fighting in the open field. The despatch of two regi- ments of infantry, since the arrival of this good news, leads me to believe that the war is not yet entirely finished, even if the defeat should have actually occurred, as I suppose it has. It is however very certain that for two or three days the Par- liament has been exhibiting greater alarm than in past times, to such an extent that orders are to be issued forbidding any one to leave his house after nine o^ clock in the evening ; this was done formerly by William the Conqueror, in order to se- cure himself against the iU-will of the inhabitants of the coun- try ; it is no less necessary at the present day, and if any dis- grace occurred to the existing Government of England, it would find it hard to recover from it. Its distrust is also in- creased by the reports which have reached it that the King has landed in England, and that he is even in London, which has given rise to very strict searches every night, without except- ing the colleges and other public places, from which aU the arms that were found have been taken ; it will nevertheless not be difficult for the King to keep himself concealed, but I do not see any great likelihood of success to his designs, after the check which Sir George Booth has sustained, if it be so great as the Government asserts, as it is to be presumed that the malecontents will be greatly discouraged thereby, and that those who are still in arms will joyfully lay them aside, if the Parliament does not treat them with severity : nothing very positive can however be said about the future until we have more particular news of this encounter, in which very few were slain on either side. 462 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. I have not learned that any news has arrived from Zealand ; only the statement has received confirmation that part of the English fleet has been recalled, and that the States-General have agreed to withdraw an equal number of their ships. The Parliament's commissioners did not fail to ask me for news of the Conference between your Eminence and Don Louis de Haro. I told them all that the private letters of Mr. Lock- hart have brought to my knowledge. The Council of State will doubtless have received more certain intelligence; but neither of the commissioners is a member of that body : they spoke to me of the peace with Spain in the same terms as 1 had heard from others, even going so far as to intimate that the re- tention of Mardyke and Dunkirk was not sufficiently advan- tageous to England to prevent an accommodation. Sir Harry Vane and the others who have the principal direction of foreign afiairs, may be of a different opinion. I shall not fail to sa- tisfy your Eminence's commands in relation to the sale of the King's furniture, whenever it takes place ; now, the only idea of the Government is to turn the property of the insurgents into money, and to declare certain Lords traitors, who have taken up arms in the provinces. 68.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. September 4, 1659. My Lord, The letter which I did myself the honour to write to your Eminence by the last post will have informed you of the flight of Sir George Booth and his partisans : you will learn by the present despatch that they have been entirely dispersed since the mere aspect of the Parliament's troops put them to rout, without however suffering any other loss than thirty killed, and about two or three hundred prisoners. General Lambert, in order to profit by their terror, marched immediately on Ches- ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 463 ter, whither most of the fugitives had retired ; but as all the leaders, officers, and soldiers had abandoned the city during the night, he found the gates open the next morning, and entered with some of his troops, without allowing them to commit any disorder, in accordance with the promise he had given to the inhabitants. The town of Liverpool, having also been left at liberty, sent word that it had always held out for the Parlia- ment, and even Colonel Ireland, the commandant, declared in favour of the same interest, although he had received his com- mission from Sir G. Booth. Some other small fortresses, into which he had thrown garrisons, have also been reduced with- out fighting ; and no one now remains in arms but Sir Thomas Middleton, who has retired into his castle with some troops, with no other hope than to obtain a capitulation. If Sir George Booth had adopted this course, and endeavoured to retain possession of Chester, he might have rescued himself from the disgrace into which he has fallen ; for, attempting to escape to London, disguised in a woman's dress and attended by three servants, he was recognized in an inn, and given up by the host to the soldiers, who lodged him yesterday in the Tower of London, whither Sir H. Vane and Sir Arthur Has- lerig at once proceeded, to interrogate him by order of the Parliament. Major- General Egerton, another of the leaders, and the Earl of Derby, have also been taken, besides many other persons of quality engaged in the same cause. By their depositions, they do not prove to have been so strong as was published, or to have had altogether more than three or four thousand men. This body was nevertheless capable, by avoid- ing battle, of maintaining the war for some time, and awaken- ing the courage of the malecontents in other counties, who would probably have taken up arms when they found the army unable to stir from one particular locality ; but in order to pursue this course with any success, they required leaders of more experience than Sir George Booth, whom the whole City of London regrets, and whose downfall ruins the hopes of the 464 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. Royalists : so that there is but little likelihood of their re- covery, unless there should be a division between the army and the Parliament. This latter body has sinee voted thanks to General Lambert, with a jewel of the value of one thousand pounds ; but a proposition that was made to give him the pa- tent of Major-General of all the forces was not favourably re- ceived; some gratuities have also been voted to those who captured the insurgent officers, and at the same time a Com- mittee has been appointed to proceed to the confiscation of the property of the delinquents, which it is said will produce a revenue of three millions sterling, if all the culprits are con- victed. Some difficulty has arisen with regard to the appoint- ment of judges, as the Parliament disapproves of employing the regular Courts of Justice, and it is very doubtful whether the twelve jurymen who, according to the laws of the country, ought to judge the criminals, could be induced to condemn men who took up arms in order to obtain a free Parliament. This difficulty, and the animosities which would be kindled by any excessive severity, may perhaps lead the Parliament to deal gently with even Sir George Booth, especially if he will divulge the names of those who were under obligation to take up arms in the other counties : which he might be induced to do in order to save his own life, as he is not moreover bound to spare persons who abandoned him, after having embarked him in so perilous a business. But whatever mild course the Government may pursue, it would be contrary to universal expectation if the property of the rebels did not suffer some- what, and if the Government did not avail itself of this ad- vantage to pay a portion of the public debts, and thereby di- minish the taxes to some extent, as they have been doubled within the last few days, which the people suffer with consider- able impatience ; but the Government does not appear now to apprehend their ill-will, and all domiciliary visitations and extraordinary guards, both within and without the city, have ceased : there is even no more talk of the landing of the King ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 465 of England : and the Parliament seems to entertain similar confidence, — and with some reason, for there is not now any- one in a condition to oppose the present authorities, so that they will have greater liberty to act in regard to foreign affairs. Letters have arrived this week from Zealand which represent the King of Sweden to be entirely averse to peace ; they were read in Parliament, but led to no resolution ; upon this refusal, it is to be presumed that the ministers of the Council will make to me some communication of their views before they decide on anything, and in that case, I shall not fail, in accord- ance with his Majesty's intentions, to do all in my power to prevent them from engaging in war against the Swedes, as some have already proposed to do. Not that the general in- clinations of the present Government are not favourable to the King of Denmark and the States- General, as they are per- suaded that the destruction of the latter Prince would recoil on their ovm subjects. This impression will not be easy to re- move, and will stimulate them to great efforts, unless they be- lieve that France would resent any such proceeding : and to tell the truth, we shall have no cause to complain of them if they insist on the execution of the treaties agreed on between France and the two Commonwealths, and the King of Sweden will have nothing to reproach us with if his refusal involves him in some disgrace, and if, because he will defer to the ad- vice of his friends only in so far as it is in accordance with his own ambition, we abandon him to his own fortune, whether good or bad : the capture of Naskow and the approach of win- ter lead him to reject the accommodation; but the Danes assert that even if the season should not allow their confede- rates to deliver them this year, they will easily be able to hold out until the Baltic is navigable, and then, if the English with- draw their opposition, it will not be difficult, with help from abroad, to retake Cronenburg and the other places. With this scheme in contemplation, we may expect to have occasion next year also, in these northern quarters, to employ those who VOL. I. . H H 466 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. are very strongly inclined to war. If the previous letters of Mr. Lockhart had given reason to believe that difficulties would be thrown in the way of the peace between France and Spain^ his last despatches speak quite differently, and repre- sent it as certain of accomplishment. I learn also that they give every assurance that his Majesty will not desert England if Spain should refuse to agree to reasonable terms; and doubtless this confidence, combined with the success they have met with in their domestic affairs, will render the ministers of this Commonwealth less ready to give up their conquests. It only remains for me, my Lord, to inform you that the Parliament appears satisfied with the King^s letter and with my speech, and that it has directed the Council to confer with me on any affairs that may arise : at present, I have no busi- ness to transact. 69.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazartn. September 11, 1659. My Lord, I have to acknowledge the receipt of no orders from your Eminence, and I have merely to inform you that there now remains no one in arms against the Government of England, as Sir T. Middleton^s castle has surrendered, without its de- fenders having been able to obtain any other conditions than liberty to depart from England within two months, if they cannot, during the interval, obtain pardon from the Parlia- ment, whose commissioners have continued their examination of Sir G. Booth. He very ingenuously acknowledged having been in treaty with Mr. Mordaunt, an agent of the King of England, and that his wife had received letters from his said Majesty; he also disclosed the whole plot, without however naming its authors, as he desired that he might not be pressed to do a thing which would wound his honour ; and up to this time, they have had the complaisance to be satisfied with what ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 467 he has voluntarily confessed. His language has also made it clear that misunderstandings had already sprung up between himself and the other leaders, because he refused to proclaim the King of England ; that, contrary to his advice, they had approached the Parliament's army and engaged battle; and that, before he arrived at the head of his troops, those who had so obstinately insisted on attacking Lambert had taken to flight ; and that afterwards, when he endeavoured to rally them in Chester in order to defend that city, they refused to carry arms any longer for a cause which they said was aban- doned by God. The Parliament has also ascertained, from him as well as from other prisoners, that many other counties and persons of rank ought to have followed his example at the same time ; and it cannot be doubted that if all who pledged themselves had kept their word, the King of England would now be in a position to make his appearance in this country ; but some were anticipated and arrested, and others had not courage to show themselves, and some were false brethren : the whole party is now so mortified and depressed that, by their own confession, no further movement must be expected against the present authorities, unless there is a division in the army, or help is sent from abroad. The Parliament ac- cordingly appears to feel great confidence ; it has already dis- missed the greater part of the militia of the country, in order to relieve the people of that burden ; and it even intends to disband the regiments of Sectaries, and to place the country again under the guardianship of the old army, for the payment of which arrangements are being made for appropriating the estates of the last prisoners as well as of those who, since the year 1648, have acted in favour of the King ; and the commission has already issued for their sale. The Parliament has also, of late days, resumed the debate on the form of the Government, without coming to any conclusion : and it will not be without difficulty that those who now hold the reins of authority will condescend to establish a perfect Commonwealth. H H 2 468 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. The leaders of tlie army enter into their views ; and, under the pretext that the people are evilly intentioned, they pro- pose a Senate which shall have equal power with the Parlia- ments. This question seems to many likely to produce divi- sion at some time or other. It is no less probable that some officer of the army may, in course of time, be fired with the same ambition as the deceased Protector ; and as Mr. Lambert is considered the only one capable of following in his foot- steps, all sorts of measures and precautions will be taken to prevent him from doing so ; therefore his elevation will meet with greater difficulties. As to the Restoration of the King of England, without foreign aid, it appears exceedingly remote ; therefore we may, with great reason, believe that the ministers of the Government speak sincerely when they profess that, with France for their friend, they have nothing to fear. I have not seen any of them for some days, and contrary to my expectation, they have, without consulting me, sent orders to the plenipotentiaries in Zealand to execute the last conven- tions agreed on at the Hague for the pacification of the Kings of Sweden and Denmark. In truth, the Government was not in a position to take any other course, as the English fleet had been recalled. Sir Harry Vane had merely admitted to me that part of it was to return, and that the Dutch would with- draw an equal number of their ships. But one of the mem- bers of Parliament has just told me that news arrived, a few hours ago, that Admiral Montague is sailing off the coast of England, and that he has left only three ships in the Sound, although the Dutch have withdrawn only nine of their ves- sels ; — from which it may be inferred that the King of Swe- den has consented to the accommodation, in consequence of the declaration made by the King of Denmark that he was ready to treat separately : or else that the English plenipoten- tiaries have come to the opinion that the presence of their fleet could only render the Swedes more untractable, and that it was not necessary, after the agreements between the two Re- ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 469 publics, to keep so large a number of ships at sea, especially at a time when they seemed to be more necessary nearer to the coast of England. Whatever may be the motive, the Dutch will now have fall liberty to act according to the treaties, but not to go beyond them : in regard to which I shall be able to write more positively by the next post. 70.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. September 27, 1659. My Lord, I wrote to you three days ago by the Count de Fiirsten- berg, merely to salute you. Yesterday our news from Hol- land arrived, and as my letters contain information of some importance, I write at once to communicate it to you. The ambassadors of England and of the States- General, having at length persuaded the King of Denmark blindly to accept their mediation, proceeded to confer with the King of Sweden, who was awaiting them in a military tent which he had had erected between his quarters and the ambassador' lodgings, and who was attended by some senators of Sweden, and a great retinue of officers. When the ambassadors ar- rived, and had been received to conference and audience, Mr. Sidney, an English ambassador, being spokesman and address- ing the King, pointed out to him in few words, but with many good reasons, the necessity which must induce the King of Sweden to make peace, and which had led his allies to agree among themselves on certain conditions which they had judged useful to their common interests, as well as to his own ; and afterwards, when he wished to show him the draft of the treaty agreed on at the Hague in June last between France, Eng- land, and the United Provinces, the King would neither look at it nor listen to it, but speaking, and addressing himself first of all to the ambassadors of England, he told them : " I 470 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. accept you as my mediators, so long as you remain on the terms of good friends, but not for my arbitrators -^ and then turning and addressing himself to the ambassadors of the United Provinces, he told them : ^^ I refuse you as my media- tors, because you are my enemies/^ Upon which all the am- bassadors conferred, and he also spoke apart to the senators of Sweden ; and the ambassadors having resolved among them- selves to withdraw without saying anything further, took their leave, and sent word of it to the King of Denmark, who re- quired of them that, in conformity with their promise, they should succour him and act against the King of Sweden, their common enemy : which they agreed to do. The King of Den- mark also immediately informed the States-General of the whole affair, and begged them to assist him; and has des- patched an envoy to the Elector of Brandenburg to request him to return with the troops of the League, which the fleets will be able to convey anywhere. I forgot to mention that after the King of Sweden had thus spoken to the English and Dutch, he added : ^^ You make treaties on your fleets, and I take my resolutions on my sword.^^ And the ambassadors of England have resolved to send back some of their ships, and to leave fifteen or twenty to winter in the Sound for the assistance of Denmark : the States will leave an equal number ; and these will be more than enough to drive the Swedes out of the sea ; and they have resolved to send to England for the means of revictualling these ships before the winter, which they will be able to do three times over if they wish. Thus the King of Sweden is now attacked in Prussia by the Poles, who have taken Grandentz with twenty thousand Poles or Imperialists ; in Pomerania by the troops of the League ; and in Denmark by his own allies. If he is ruined or overthrown, I think it will make a very notable change in the views of our allies in Germany. They can do nothing of themselves, and if they could, they would risk no- ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 471 thing against the Emperor ; and if any one thinks otherwise, he will reckon without his host, judging by the conduct of England. 71.] Abbe Montague to Cardinal Mazarin. September 28, 1659. It would seem as though fortune made it her object not to leave our poor King even rest for his person, as he has under- taken a journey which shows that his judgment is as ill-esta- blished as his fortune. I was very much surprised when a man who is to accompany him, passing this way, told me that he was going into Spain, which is contrary to the advice of all whom he consulted here by means of the Marquis of Ormond, who seemed to us convinced by our reasons : but we are told that he has been sent to you to make excuses for his master's journey, and therefore this letter will bring you no news. The Queen of England sends me word that she will assure you that this conduct is quite in opposition to her wishes : we must wait to know your opinion on the subject : for my part it wiU be to implore God Almighty for DaniePs commission in the days of his captivity, namely, the shortening of the days which God has fixed for the work which He designs for the restitu- tion of that which belongs in the first instance to God and to Caesar. We do not fail to pray God to grant you what the ex- ercise in which you are engaged requires from all good men, whom may God grant me to resemble in aU other things, as I do in fervent attachment to your person. 72.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. September 29, 1659. My Lord, The suspicions which the ministers of the Government of 472 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. England affect to entertain furnish me today with more sub- jects for my letter, than the events which have occurred during the last few days. My last week's letter has already informed your Eminence that it appeared to me that great jealousy was felt of us here ; I have since been confirmed in my belief that Sir H. Vane and his party openly express their persuasion that the King of England was on the coast of France at the time of the last insurrection ; that he afterwards passed into Spain, to secure some treaty to his advantage, during the in- terview between your Eminence and the Lord Louis de Haro ; and that his Majesty was quite disposed to undertake his restoration. In order the better to express this opinion to the public at large, the Council has lately refused permission to some invalids to go over to France, under the pretext that it was a suspected country : and no incident occurs which does not serve them as a means of giving colour to their jealousies. I have done all I could to dispel them, and when I sought for the source from which they might proceed, I was told by some very well informed persons that it was doubtless a political trick of Sir H. Vane, who is desirous, by these alarms, to intimidate and keep back those who oppose his de- signs. This conduct is in exact conformity with that pursued by the deceased Protector to keep the army quiet ; and the present Government has the like good fortune with him that the Royalists second their artifices by boasting that they will be supported by France, as soon as she is released from her war with Spain ; it is also published at the same time that the Spanish Crown is not desirous of peace with England, on which subject, as your Eminence is sufficiently informed, you will be able to judge, if this be the foundation of some re- ports, what basis the others rest upon. It also appears to me from the reserve manifested by the Council in treating of the affairs of the North, and from a conversation which I lately had with the ambassador of Holland, that the ministry here doubt whether the conduct of France was sincere in the ac- ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 473 commodation of the Kings of Sweden and Denmark, and be- lieve that his Majesty has even continued to assist the former of those Princes with considerable sums of money, instead of depriving him of all hope of succour. A reproach of this kind was brought against me by the said ambassador as a pendant to his complaints against the Government of England that it had trifled with the States-General in order to prevent them from acting while the season permitted, and that they will now be left alone to support the King of Denmark, in utter neglect of treaties, to which the said States would never have consented unless France had persuaded them to do so; for although M. de Thou had not signed the last conventions be- tween the two Commonwealths, he had not opposed them, and had even suggested hopes that orders would be sent to him to subscribe them. These complaints were followed by a decla- ration that his superiors would not fail to pursue their object, and would spare neither the blood nor the property of their subjects in order to secure the integrity of Denmark. I gave the said ambassador to understand that, as the two Republics had adopted resolutions altogether at variance with the treaty of the 21st of May, and in some degree injurious to the King of Sweden, his Majesty was no longer bound to support them, and had rather cause to complain of a proceeding which wa,s an offence against propriety and a breach of good faith : that M. Terlon however had not acted with less warmth in order to induce the King of Sweden to accept the conditions which the other mediators proposed ; that the remittances of money to Hamburg of which he spoke, were either imaginary or had been made before we had agreed to enforce an accommoda- tion ; and as to the conduct of England, it was not my busi- ness to justify it, but it appeared to me to have no other ob- ject than the reconciliation of the two Kings, and that more- over it would be very harsh to require this Government to de- clare war against a Prince for whose preservation it had gone to such great expense. I have no doubt that the ambassador 474 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. has spoken in very similar language to the ministers of the Council, and that some suspicion still remains in their minds that the King had not this peace very much at heart, as they continue to treat of these affairs without communicating with me, although Sir H. Vane assured me that I should meet with different treatment. I do not think it worth while to make any further endeavour to obtain such communication from them. As it has been resolved not to send back the fleet to the Baltic this winter, there will be nothing to negotiate until the spring; in the meanwhile the English plenipotentiaries will return, and their report will give rise to new determinations. It may be that the Parliament may desire the continuation of the war in those quarters, in the hope that others might be- come involved in the struggle, and that it might give fresh occupation to the troops of France as well as to those of Ger- many, if his Majesty intends to compel the Emperor to with- draw his troops from Pomerania. This consideration is suffi- ciently powerful to stifle the resentment which the conduct of the King of Sweden towards the English plenipotentiaries has excited, and to leave the Dutch to act alone, provided that Denmark can maintain herself, as it is very certain that her ruin is considered unlikely to prove prejudicial to the com- merce of England, and that no reliance is placed on the friend- ship of the King of Sweden. I have nothing to write in regard to the domestic affairs of England, except that the influence of Sir H. Vane and the Millenarians, otherwise called Saints, who expect the reign of Jesus Christ, daily increases; that they have procured the abandonment of a proposed pledge against the government of a single person ; and that some of them, on the day before yesterday, presented a sort of petition to Parliament, which tends to deprive of all authority those persons who have held office under the Protector, and to form a Commonwealth of which the true elect of God shall have the sole administra- tion. Sir H. Vane is said to have got up this address, and ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 475 the leaders of the army are believed to have joined with him, and all are resolved to form a Council of forty persons of their owai way of thinking, who shall have entire authority in the State, and a veto on the resolutions of the Parliament, under the pretext that if the people were at full liberty, they would restore the King. The faction of true Republicans will strongly oppose this establishment, which would be capable of producing division even in the army. No act of importance has ema- nated of late days from the Parliament. It has been chiefly occupied in imposing taxes, and degrading the Earl of Chester from his privileges : it has also ordained that the Earl of Arundel, who is detained at Adour as a lunatic, shall be brought over into England, and it has referred to the Council to deliberate both on the report of the ministers who are in Zealand and on the papers presented by the ambassador of Holland, as well as on the statement of Admiral Montague, who returned home without orders. The squadron of eight ships, which was in the Mediterranean, has returned to the Downs. General Monk, who is considered one of the best officers in the army, has lately requested permission to retire, on the pretext of ill-health and private business, but most probably, because he is dissatisfied with the present state of things. His friends have prevented his letter from being read in Parliament, and are anxious to retain him in the service. General Lambert was expected to arrive in London today, after having pacified and disarmed the suspected provinces. 73.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. September 29, 1669. My Lord, The satisfaction which your Eminence, in your letter of the 4th of this month, has expressed at the regularity with which I have kept you informed of the progress of events in Eng- 476 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. land^ would not permit me to allow a post to leave without my having the honour to write to you_, if the present state of this Commonwealth furnished me with as much subject for a letter as it has done of late. But since the defeat of the insurgents, no event of importance has occurred, and no resolution has been adopted in Parliament, worthy of being made known to you. Foreign affairs also have produced equally little matter for communication, as I have had nothing to treat of with the ministers of State. As they receive full information through Mr. Lockhart with regard to the peace with Spain, they doubtless avail themselves of the same means to make known their sentiments to your Eminence ; if these sentiments are in conformity with those professed by all the members of Par- liament, the treaty with England will go on all fours with that with France; not that prosperity does not instil into some minds a desire to retain their conquests, or that there is just now no talk of Jamaica as a very advantageous post for English commerce, — so much so indeed that some merchants have proposed to equip a number of ships at their own expense for the retention of that island, in consideration of certain concessions ; but no answer has yet been given them, and it will depend very much on the nature of the advices that may arrive from the Spanish frontier. If it were desired that I should ascertain more particularly the inclinations of the Go- vernment of England in regard to peace, it would be neces- sary to give me occasion to speak to the ministers of the Council on the subject. Last week, I reproached Sir H. Vane for not having acted towards me, for some time, with the same correspondence and concert in regard to the affairs of the North which had been maintained even previously to my audience of the Parliament : as no communication had been made to me of the return of the fleet, or of the last orders sent to the Eng- lish plenipotentiaries. Sir H. Vane sent me word in reply that if the Council had adopted any fresh resolutions, they would have been communicated to me, and as to the fleet, no- ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 477 thing certain could yet be said about it ; nevertheless, news had then come of its arrival. General Montague has been here for two days ; he has had audience of the Council, and obtained its approval of his conduct, although it was not en- tirely in conformity with his orders, which bound him to leave fifteen ships in the Sound, where there are now only three, for the conveyance home of the ministers of England. I cannot attribute the disavowal made to me by Sir H. Vane of all knowledge on this point, or the reserve with which both he and the other ministers now treat me, to any other cause than a design which they entertain to leave the Dutch full liberty to compel the King of Sweden to accept the accommodation ; and as they imagine that France would wish that the two Re- publics should not proceed to extremities, they are desirous to avoid any remonstrances on my part, by keeping me in igno- rance of their resolutions. This same consideration must also have led to the postponement up to this hour, contrary to all usage, of the announcement that Parliament has authorized the Council to treat with me. I should not however hesitate to pass over this formality, if I thought that his Majesty's views with regard to the pacification of the North were different from those now held by the two Republics, or that we could ob- tain from England any greater moderation than the abandon- ment of the Swedes, after having agreed to join the Dutch against whichever of the two Kings should refuse to make peace, especially at a conjuncture which will not permit the Parliament to engage in a war with another State that is powerful at sea, on behalf of a Prince whose last proceeding is indefensible, and whose power if allowed to become too great, might justly awaken jealousy. It is even very proba- ble that if the English fleet had not been in the Sound when the present Government came into power, it would not have been sent thither, and attempts have been made to persuade me that regard for France alone prevented its recall. We should not now be treated with so much complaisance, if it be 478 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. true, as some have stated it is, that the principal members of the Government have become distrustful of his Majesty's in- clinations towards the Commonwealth ; I cannot imagine on what foundation, for nothing has come to my knowledge which would be likely to create such impressions and convictions. The other news which I have to write today is of little im- portance ; the Parliament has continued, during the last few days, to treat of the same matters which were previously under discussion, without arriving at any conclusion, either as to the union of Scotland with England, or as to the definite form of the Commonwealth itself. The examination of this latter question has been referred to a committee, which is to present its report in a month ; there has been a great debate on the engagement against the royal family, and government by a single person, which was proposed by some members of the assembly, though it is in conformity with the declarations of the Parliament; nevertheless Sir H. Vane and the Sectaries of the Fifth Monarchy, who are looking for the reign of Jesus Christ, strongly opposed it ; the principal officers of the army also, and those who dread another revolution, are no less scru- pulous about it ; and among the leaders of the party, some very sharp words were interchanged on the last occasion on which this question was discussed. Sir Harry Vane last week offered an army which should cost the Commonwealth nothing; he doubtless intended to compose it of those to whom he usually preaches, and who, at the time of the late insurrection, were already disposed to form three regiments ; but no advantage will just now be taken of their goodwill, as the army is suffi- cient to guard the country. James Naylor, that illustrious Quaker, has been set at liberty by Act of Parliament, and the Mayor of London continues in his office because he is well- affectioned to the cause. No proceedings have yet been taken in regard to the trial of the prisoners, whose number increases daily, mostly consisting of persons of the highest rank in the country. Lord Faulconbridge, among others, has been sent ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 479 for lately ; and Sir George Booth has placed in the hands of the commissioners a list of many persons who were to have taken arms. The difficulty will be to convict them, and the Council is now occupied with this affair. . . . 74.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. October 6, 1659. My Lord, I cannot better inform your Eminence of what has occurred in London during the last few days than by sending you a duplicate of my letter to M. de Brienne : it will acquaint you with the pretensions of certain officers of the army, and with the submission of the Council of War to the Parliament. General Lambert, who is suspected of having a great share in this design, justifies himself indignantly, and even begged Lieutenant- General Fleetwood to apply to Parliament for permission for him to retire, in order to put an end to the jealousies which the continuation of his services in the army might cause. Fleetwood would not undertake this commis- sion, and there now appears to be no alteration or difierence of opinion between these two bodies, — the army professing its resolution to remain firm to the interests of the Parliament ; it is said that the same propositions have been sent to Scot- land and Ireland, but the last declaration will arrive there equally soon, and moreover, those two armies are partly com- posed of officers who have recently been restored, and who will therefore not be easily lured from obedience. It is gene- rally believed that the Parliament has run some risk of losing its authority. It continues to treat of the affairs of the north without inviting my participation; and the news that his Majesty is sending troops into Germany to create a diversion, can only serve to confirm the English Government in their reserved policy, which the Dutch ambassador imitates very 480 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. exactly, as he abstained from mentioning the subject on our late interviews. I learn nevertheless that the intentions of England are not at all favourable to the designs of the King of Sweden. . . . 75.] M. DE Bordeaux to M. de Brienne. October 6, 1659. Sir, You must not attribute the delay of my letters to any other cause than the irregularity of the departure of the post from London, which is hastened or postponed according to the state of the atmosphere, so that I am sometimes obliged to send a courier after the post, whenever affairs or news warrant the expense. I have not had occasion to do so lately, and my despatches will have been found to contain more reflections and conjectural reasonings than resolutions positively adopted here, in regard to the establishment of the Government or to the advancement of peace in the north. Even today I have nothing more definite to communicate on the latter point, and the letter which you did me the honour to write to me on the 28th of last month merely gives me occasion to say that although General Montague had finally taken his leave of the King of Sweden, and both he and the officers of the fleet had been laden with chains of gold, the Parliament nevertheless does not appear one whit more inclined to embrace the interests of that Prince, and his liberalities will scarcely countervail the ill effect of his anger ; even the enemies of the present Go- vernment praise the high-spirited way in which Colonel Sidney answered him, and if the public discontent does not lead the Parliament to follow the inclinations of the United Provinces, full libeii:y will at least be allowed them to assist Denmark in pursuance of their resolution to that effect ; and I learn that the Council of State withdraws its plenipotentiaries, consider- ing that their intervention can no longer be of any utility ; ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 481 there is also some talk of recalling all the English officers, both naval and military, who are in the service of the King of Sweden ; and already, at the request of the ambassador of Holland, very stringent orders have been issued, prohibiting the admission into any English port of the privateers, who were doing great injury to trade, and had endeavoured to in- terrupt the herring fishery in which the Dutch are engaged, at this season of the year, off the coast of Scotland. This last order proceeds rather from complaisance towards the United Provinces than from any animosity against their enemy : and it would be a fair estimate of the intentions of this Govern- ment to believe that the leading members of it are disposed to maintain a perfect correspondence between the two Re- publics. This feeling may be compatible with a desire to see war kindled among all the other States of Europe ; and we cannot blame their policy, in wishing to see their neighbours occupied, so that they may have neither the intention nor the power to favour the Restoration of the King of England. If Spain were as capable as France of supporting her own interests, peace might easily be purchased at the expense of Dunkirk and Jamaica; the English merchants would not oppose it, and a great many members of Parliament are per- suaded that the retention of those two places is more onerous than advantageous. But those who have the direction of foreign affairs do not sufficiently fear Spain, and do not think so much of her trade as of the dishonour and censure they might incur by the abandonment of their conquests, unless it should be on conditions which should take the fancy of the people ; so that their restitution is likely to meet with difficulties, and Mr. Lockhart will probably not favour it. The same persons have professed for some time so much jealousy of France that the said ambassador might be suspected of having furnished them with reason to do so by the information he has given them, if it were not more likely that this distrust is only feigned. I have not failed to do all in my power to dispel it, as I am VOL. 1. I I 482 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. fully aware that^ even if his Majesty was under no necessity for keeping on good terms with England, it would be essential to avoid any suspicion being cast on the sincerity of the as- surances which he gives of his friendship ; and if my eflPorts have met with any success, all the rumours of the King of England's passage through France, and of the pledge given by his Majesty and the King of Spain to support him, will not produce the eflPect which their disseminators desire. It would even seem that their motives must now cease, as their de- signs have been frustrated. It was the opinion of some that, after Lambert's return, the army would present a petition to the Parliament : this anticipation has proved only too correct; last week, three Colonels were charged to prepare it by the officers who had defeated Sir G. Booth, and they were to propose it in the Council of War before it was laid before Parliament; it tended to force the House to make Fleetwood General; Lambert, Lieutenant- General ; Colonel Desborough, Major- General of the Cavalry ; Monk, Major- General of the Infantry; and Colonel Berry, Commissary- General of all the forces of the Commonwealth. Payment was also demanded of the arrears due to them, with trial of those implicated in the last insurrection, and the estab- lishment of a Senate co-ordinate in power with the Parlia- ment; and it was also insisted that the churches and all civil offices should be filled by zealous and devout persons, that is to say, by Sectaries of the Fifth Monarchy. This project having been made known by the said officers to Sir Arthur Haslerig, the leader of the Republican faction, he informed the ParHament of it, on the 2nd of this month, and pointed out the consequences of these propositions in the most exaggerated language : Mr. Fleetwood, who was present, did not disavow the petition, so the three Colonels who had the carriage of it were ordered to produce it, which they did, and that and the next day were spent in debates on it ; and it was finally re- solved that the petition was unnecessary and of dangerous ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 483 consequence, and that Mr. Fleetwood should call the officers together on the following day to make known to them the resolution of the Parliament_, which was done on the day be- fore yesterday, and the Council of War agreed to conform to the wishes of the Parliament, some members of which mani- fested great indignation in the course of the debate, and even proposed to recall the King rather than suffer the army to usurp such great authority ; while others attempted to throw the whole conspiracy on Mr. Lambert, and were of opinion that he ought to be sent to the Tower of London. Sir H. Vane and his partisans, who are thought to be acting in con- cert with the military leaders, endeavoured to allay the irri- tation, by representing that the Government had no other friends or supporters either at home or abroad, and it would be exposed to utter ruin by offending them ; that the principal officers were not to be blamed for the faults of their inferiors ; and that Mr. Lambert had not deserved such bad treatment, but rather ought to be rewarded for the services he has ren- dered during so many years. These reasons were well received, and calmness is now re-established. Nevertheless those who reflect that the army has hitherto commenced nothing that it has not completed, regard its submission only as a palliative, and believe that the leaders (and Lambert among others, of whom great suspicion is publicly expressed,) are only delaying in order to take their measures more thoroughly, and to secure the co-operation of the inferior officers, a great number of whom are still in favour of a true Commonwealth. The ablest men in the government have other views, and wish to main- tain themselves in power, and if they do not succeed, some notable division wiQ be formed. Sir H. Vane already pro- fesses to be dissatisfied, and under the pretext of ill-health has retired to the country for some days, perhaps in the hope that his absence will make his colleagues recognize the necessity for his presence; as there is, in fact, no minister in the Council so well-informed as he is, chiefly in regard to foreign I I 2 484 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. affairs, of which he had the entire direction towards the end of the first session of the Parliament. At the same time that the House was debating on the pretensions of the army, the Common Council presented a petition against the continuance of the present Mayor in office, as contrary to their privileges, which no Kings or previous Parliaments had ever infringed upon ; the debate on this question was postponed until today : meanwhile, the citizens declare that they will not acknowledge the Mayor's authority after the 10th of the month, on which day his year expires, whatever may be the resolution of the Parliament. All these quarrels cannot but leave the mind in suspense with regard to the establishment of the Government of England, and satisfy those who have no interest or inclina- tion to see it firmly consolidated. Religion is in an equally bad condition ; and never were the Catholics more full of hope of obtaining liberty of conscience. But the Saints must get the upper hand, and their maxims are much more opposed to the Presbyterians (who are like the Sectaries in France) than to the Catholics ; and if they do not change their views when they find themselves in power, they will persecute no one on account of his creed. The depositions of Sir G. Booth and several other prisoners were read in Parliament last week, and it was ordered that my Lord Faulconbridge, who was for- merly under guard, should be sent to the Tower of London, in spite of Mr. Fleetwood's endeavours to prevent it. Such is the present condition of those who were most influential under the late Protector, and who are suspected of having taken part, by advice or otherwise, in the last insurrection; and if there were sufficient evidence against them all, the State would enrich itself by seizing their property ; but most of them were suffi- ciently wary to communicate their design to only a few per- sons, and Booth is their sole accuser. ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 485 76.1 M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. October 13, 1659. My Lord, The letter with which your Eminence honoured me on the 22nd of last month led me to request that commissioners might be appointed in order that I might confirm the Council of State in their belief of his Majesty's friendly feeling towards the government of England. This readiness appears to me very opportune at a time when it is receiving from all quarters information calculated to foment the jealousies excited by the King of Scotland's passage through France, regarding which I knew not how to speak until now, as I found it confirmed by all the letters I saw from Flanders and France, although no official intimation of it had been sent me. The language that I shall use will doubtless efface the impression which that journey may have produced on the Parliament, and I could not give it any more agreeable news than the assurance that France will enter into no engagement against its interests, with whatever hopes the Royalists and other enemies of the government may delude themselves. Nothing new has come to my knowledge respecting the affairs of the north, in regard to which I propose to speak to the ministers here, and to re- proach them for the great reserve with which they have lately acted, in consequence of their belief that his Majesty had not pressed the accommodation of the Kings of Sweden and Den- mark with all the warmth that might have been expected of him. By the duplicate of my letter to M. de Brienne, your Eminence will be informed of the deliberations of the Parlia- ment and the army during the last few days, from which it may be perceived that those two bodies are divided into two factions, one of the true Republicans who are reputed Pres- byterians, and the other of the Anabaptists and Millenarians or Saints ; that the former party prevails in the Parliament, and that the other is not so powerful in that assembly, but 486 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. that it has on its side the majority of the officers of the army ; which leads to the inference that^ either by purgation or disso- lution of the Parliament, it will assume the entire authority of the State,, and that in a few days we shall again behold some new establishment. The Council of War is now assem- bled to resolve on the declaration which its deputies have prepared : although it speaks of submission, its substance con- tains nothing approaching to it, and it is considered certain that the officers are resolved to depend no longer on the Par- liament but on a Council of War. This was the subject of their quarrel with the late Protector and the cause of his downfall. There is no doubt that the troops in Scotland and Ireland will enter into the views of those in England ; and General Monk has yielded to Lieutenant- General Fleetwood's request that he would remain in the service. Most of the officers in the gar- rison of Dunkirk have been changed, as have also those of the three regiments that were in the service of France, as it was found that their morals were not so good as they ought to be. The commandant appointed to Dunkirk has not yet taken his departure, and it seems that Mr. Lockhart is ex- pected here. I learn that the merchants make great com- plaint that they were not allowed to load at Eouen until the French ships had taken in their freights, — a regulation which had never before been enforced in France; they intend to present a petition to Parliament in order to obtain the revoca- tion of this order, which is believed to be contrary to his Majesty^s wishes. I will take the liberty, my Lord, to express to your Emi- nence, — as the reconciliation of the Crowns of France and Spain yield you all the glory that can be derived from such negotiations, and win you the grateful good wishes of all Frenchmen, — how thoroughly I feel all the joy which must especially be felt by those whom you honour by your good- will, and who profess, as I do, to be passionately devoted to your service. ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 487 77.] M. DE Bordeaux to M. de Brienne. October 13, 1659. Sir, The letter which you were pleased to write to me on the 4th of this month puts me in a better position to act towards the Government of England than I had been in for some days, because, as it informs me of the foundation of their jealousies, and of his Majesty^s intentions with regard to the wars in the north, I can now speak on both subjects, which I previously avoided doing, for fear of being found ill-informed, or losing credence by disavowing facts notoriously true, such as the King of England^s visit to Eouen, where he was enter- tained by a Scottish merchant named Scott, and his embarka- tion at St. Maloes, both which statements were published here, but I would not believe them until I had received confirma- tion of their truth : it would be of no service now to disavow them, and accordingly I shall only aim at convincing the mi- nisters of the Council, in the conference which I have sought of them, that his Majesty was unable to prevent their surprise, but that he must not be thought any the less averse to under- taking any engagements against the English Government, what- ever umbrage his enemies may endeavour to create against him ; if I succeed in dispelling their suspicions, I shall be able to discover their present dispositions towards the King of Swe- den, and without declaring his Majesty^s views, I shall not fail to give them to understand that it is not England^s interest to follow the movements of the United Provinces, whose ambas- sador, at our last interview, reported to me the demands of that Prince, which did not indicate any inclination towards peace. It would, in fact, be self-delusion to believe that he will ever desire peace, if he once perceives that France and the Princes of Germany are willing to take up arms to main- tain him in possession of the territories which he holds in the Empire ; because, without any risk, he will maintain himself 488 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. at least in his conquests in Denmark, and might eventually render himself sole master of the country, if the inhabitants of Copenhagen find themselves without hope of raising the siege. It is not therefore without reason that the States-General, who are keen-sighted enough, make such efforts to stop the transmission of succour from France ; and although the care which they take for the preservation of Denmark may seem to stimulate us to act with equal consideration towards our ally, there is nevertheless this difference between them, that one is on the defensive and the other on the offensive, and that the latter may easily and without loss of honour with- draw from the contest, thereby putting an end to the pretext which the Emperor has for attacking Pomerania, and break- ing off the alliances which the Elector of Brandenburg and other States will doubtless make with the House of Austria, in order to secure themselves against a power which sets no limits to its extension ; as it may, with good reason, be ex- pected that the King of Sweden, after the conquest of Den- mark, will carry his arms elsewhere, and will pay far less deference to the pacific counsels of his friends, when he finds himself in no need of their help. His past conduct and his ambition admit of our forming no more favourable opinion, and neither the threats which he puts forth of making his peace with the Emperor, nor his defence of the Protestant re- ligion, of which he ostentatiously boasts to States of the same creed, can now be considered in any other light than as arti- fices to promote his designs. But the interest that France may have to establish in Germany a Prince capable of ba- lancing the power of the House of Austria, or at least of car- rying on war against it on its own ground, must be regarded as a more substantial motive, as it leads us to prefer the aggrandisement of the Swedes to the friendship of some other States : it is to be desired that England may enter into the same views, and I will do all in my power to bring over the ministers to this opinion, whenever they give me an opportu- ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 489 nity of conversing with them. I have however nothing more positive to communicate on this subject than what you will have gathered from my previous letters : they will have in- formed you that General Montague^s negotiations have pro- duced no result here, that his return apparently has been cen- suredj and that he only justified himself by showing that he had had the approbation of the other plenipotentiaries_, one of whom wished indeed to detain a portion of the fleet, but only in order to join it with the Dutch fleet against the Swedes ; the others were in favour of more moderate proceedings. There is no talk of sending a squadron again into the Sound; if the season would permit it, any such intention would be deferred until the arrival of the plenipotentiaries, who have liberty to return to England, unless the King of Sweden should change his mind. The success of the Imperial troops both in Pomerania and in Eoyal Prussia might produce this effect, and the journey of Secretary Coyet from Holland still leaves some hope of it ; nevertheless, if M. de Terlon does not de- stroy all hope of succour from France, it is not to be expected that peace will be restored in these northern quarters. It would also be contrary to all reason that England should now involve herself in a new war from mere resentment ; Sir H. Vane and his faction are too politic not to perceive the injury such a course would do to them, and Colonel Sidney, himself an important person, is too able a man to suggest taking ven- geance unseasonably. They profess to be desirous of peace with all their neighbours, among others with Spain, as the trade of England cannot revive so long as the war lasts, and you wiU have ascertained from the conduct of Mr. Lockhart whether this general desire is in accordance with the maxims of the principal members of the Government, who might pos- sibly be of opinion that it was necessary, for the maintenance of their authority, to leave some foreign enemy to be feared ; although the present Government seems to have gained strength by the defeat of the Royalists, its constitution is 490 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. nevertheless sucli that deliverance from one danger is only entrance into another, and after having destroyed its enemies it is forced to combat domestic divisions of an equally dan- gerous character, and in suppressing which, apprehensions of foreign war are more effectual than any other means that can be employed. My letter of last week has informed you of the propositions of part of the army, of the resolution by which the Parliament eluded them, and of the submission of the Council of War, which was to be expressed by a formal declaration ; the committee of officers, appointed to draw up this document, has met daily without agreeing on any draft : the majority wished to insert a demand for an apology from those members of Parliament who, by proposing that General Lambert should be sent to the Tower of London, put so bad an interpretation on the desire of the northern brigade under his command; and it was also proposed to insist that the future disposal of commissions in the army should be vested in a committee of the principal officers. These clauses ap- peared too arrogant to those who are true Republicans, and the draft is to be reported today to the General Council of War, in order that some final resolution may be adopted, which may lead to some modification, but not to giving full satisfaction to the Parliament, notwithstanding the efforts of the Republican members, by whose advice the Common Coun- cil have obtained liberty to elect another Mayor. The same persons, in order to strengthen their party, propose to fill up the places of the deceased members by fresh elections, without however recalling those who have been expelled or substituting others in their stead ; and they have determined that the civil magistrate shall have a corrective power in matters of religion. But as Vane and his party act in conjunction with the army, the majority in which are unwilling to suffer the Parliament to assume so much authority, it is to be expected that the prudence of the others will be confounded ; there is even some talk of expelling some of the principal men among them, and ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 491 every one is in immediate expectation of a change : if it takes place. Vane and Lambert will have a great share in the Go- vernment; the former has now returned from the country, and continues to act. The Court of England cannot but de- rive great hopes from all these partialities ; and indeed no one thinks that the nation can be restored to tranquillity other- wise than by its restoration, as the ambition of private indi- viduals will not permit a true republic to be established, and it is not likely that the leaders of the army and those who, on the ground of saintship, lay claim to power, will long remain on good terms together. The issue of these disorders may be contemplated without disquietude, now that France and Spain are at peace. Wherefore the subjects of both these nations ought to render thanks to Heaven, and to those whose cares have wrought so great a work. There has lately been great excitement on the Exchange in London because the authorities at Rouen have refused to allow the English ships to load until the French ships had taken in their freight, a regu- lation never enforced before ; the merchants intend to present a petition to Parliament, in order to obtain by its intervention the revocation of these new orders which, it is said, did not emanate from the royal authority. The City of London is preparing to give a great festival on Thursday to the Parlia- ment and the principal officers of the army, after they have spent the greater part of the day in the churches in rendering thanks for the defeat of Sir G. Booth, in regard to whom and to the other prisoners nothing has been done, as the divisions between the army and the Parliament supply abundant occu- pation of another kind. 492 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 78.] M. DE Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin. October 20, 1659. My Lord, In obedience to the contents of the letter which your Emi- nence did me the honour to write to me on the 22nd of last month, I had requested the Council of State to appoint com- missioners to meet me, but as that body desired to receive what I had to communicate in ftdl assembly, I yielded to its wish, and on the 14th of this month, I informed it that his Majesty's orders enjoined me to assure the Parliament that he retained towards it the same feehngs that I had already ex- pressed, and that he proposed to keep up a perfect correspond- ence with the Government of England ; that if, to fortify that correspondence which had been established by our late trea- ties, and especially by the treaty of 1655, it was deemed expe- dient to renew them, the King would give all the necessary orders for concerting and agreeing with the ministers of the Commonwealth on such changes as were required by the con- stitution of the present government ; that, in fine, his Majesty would joyfully accede to anything calculated to advance the common welfare of the two nations, and to prove the reality of his good intentions ; and that, as these assurances were re- newed at a juncture which did not admit of any doubt of their sincerity, they deserved to meet with entire credence, and to produce a greater impression than any public rumours, or the statements of those who were endeavouring to foment jealou- sies between the two countries, and availed themselves for that purpose of any occurrence that ought to be ascribed to acci- dent, and to the facility with which even his Majesty's ene- mies have found passage through France. I then declared that I also had orders to express to the Council that his Ma- jesty beheld with great displeasure the little success that up to this time had attended our joint efibrts for the pacification of the northern States, and the injuries which the continuation ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 493 of the war in those quarters might inflict on other Princes, and particularly on those who are bound to guarantee the execu- tion of the Treaty of Munster ; that, in order to prevent these inconveniences, his Majesty had lately sent fresh orders to his resident ambassador at the Court of Sweden to make new efforts to persuade the King to consent to an accommodation, but that, if this salutary counsel proved unavailing, his Ma- jesty did not think that it would conduce to the dignity or the interest of the friends of that Prince to turn to his destruction the succour which had saved him from his enemies, or that the Parliament would adopt resolutions calculated to alienate the friendship of a nation which England has always esteemed, and of which she has lately deserved so much, notwithstand- ing the ill-feeling which other States have endeavoured to ex- cite; and that if his Majesty's example was of any weight, no other means would be employed to promote this accommoda- tion, but such as are generally used among allied States, whose reasons and counsels might ultimately prevail over any expec- tations of a great conquest which seems to have thrown some difficulty in the way of peace between Sweden and Denmark. I afterwards said a few words in regard to the differences which remain to be settled respecting the places in new France, and requested that commissioners might be appointed to ter- minate the matter, and that everything should at least be re- stored to the condition it was in at the period of the treaty of 1655; and I ended my audience by requesting the delivery into my hands of some fifteen or twenty Frenchmen who are among the Spanish soldiers taken some months ago on their way from St. Sebastian into Flanders. The President of the Council, following the practice of Parliament, merely replied that he would report my speech to the assembly, and on the following day the Master of the Ceremonies requested me to put it in writing, which I did, but I have not since received any communication from him. It might happen that they, will not hurry to give me any answer, as my expressions of 494 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. the King's good feeling may be treated as civilities for which Mr. Lockhart will express gratitude, and as what I said in regard to the affairs of Sweden was only an invitation to them to take advice which perhaps is not in accordance with the inclinations of the principal ministers of the Government^, who are more disposed to please the United Provinces than the King of Sweden. In a conference, I might have ascertained their views, and even have urged them to make efforts with the States- General in order to withdraw them from the en- gagement on which they are entering, but I had to refrain from speaking in full council ; and if I have not opportunity afforded me, by an official visit from some of the ministers, of entering more particularly into this matter, it will be in consequence of the resolution which has been adopted to authorize, by pubHc consent, all that the said States- General may do for the ad- vancement of the peace of Denmark. One of the ministers of Sweden complained to me of this yesterday, and not content vdth blaming England for abandoning his master in so just a war, he extended his censure to all the other friends of his King, without even excepting France, and strove by many good reasons to prove to me that, whatever security may be offered him, no secure peace can be established. I thought it right to animadvert on a speech so full of misconceptions, and so entirely conformable to the statements which the same minister had formerly made that his master had thwarted the despatch of the English fleet, and I told him that he could not speak in this manner unless he were ignorant of the efforts which France had made of late in favour of his master, even exposing herself, by this assistance, to the risk of losing the affection of other States, and giving them reason to suspect that she was secretly fomenting the war with Denmark ; that he also flattered himself too greatly if he believed that he could persuade the public that the King of Sweden cannot secure himself against Denmark, if he were supported by the guarantee of France and England j that it would doubtless be ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 495 thought that the hope of conquering the whole of Denmark led him to reject peace rather than any fear of so feeble a Prince^ or any distrust of two States whose power, as well as their goodwill, were sufficiently well-known to him ; that more- over, by preferring to continue the war, he would arm so many enemies against himself that his Majesty would not be able to save him from them, and that he would find it difficult to in- duce England to continue to hold the same views which the past and present governments had entertained so long as they were persuaded that the King of Sweden was disposed to make peace. After having inflicted this little mortification on the said minister, who is one of the most arrogant persons that Sweden could possibly employ, I informed him of the last re- presentations which I had made to the Council in favour of his master, and assured him that his Majesty's orders obliged me to continue the same good offices, but that he must not so strongly rely on them as to refuse an honourable accommoda- tion ; in fact the Parliament can only with great difficulty be induced to suffer the Baltic Sea to fall entirely into the power of a single Prince, whatever franchises and prerogatives may be offered to England therein : as the faith of treaties is not so so- lidly fixed but that whoever has the power in his hand will find pretexts for contravening them. Parliament may moreover be desirous to have war kindled in Germany, and therefore cares nothing about the present interruption of the Baltic trade, which leads me to doubt whether, if we should renew our treaties of alliance with Mr. Lockhart, it would be stipulated that the English Government should do all in its power to divert the Dutch from defending the King of Denmark, as, whether the execution of this stipulation were thoroughly sincere or successful, the ruin of that Prince cannot but be followed by the destruction of their commerce in the North ; wherefore I see no likelihood of any treaty so long as the King of Sweden claims to retain possession of the islands of Denmark, what- ever offers his secretary may make at the Hague, nor is it 496 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. probable that he can succeed in his designs^ and retain his conquests for the future. Public rumours still assert that France intends to undertake the defence and restoration of the King of England, but the ministers of the Government are now sufficiently aware of the resolutions adopted on the frontier not to take umbrage at these reports ; they speak of peace with Spain with considerable indifference, and even now lead the Portuguese ambassador to hope for an answer to his propositions, similar to that which his Court made to France for a close league and alliance ; if however the general incli- nation of the people and of the true Republicans in the Parliament were followed, all these advantages (not even including the retention of Dunkirk and Jamaica) would not prevent an accommodation with Spain; not that her forces are considered capable of replacing the King on his throne, but with a view to restore trade, which has been greatly ruined by the war : the leaders of the party most in authority seem to entertain views which are not in accordance with this desire, and may probably avail themselves of the coolness which the Council of Spain will affect, in order to continue the war, and thereby to keep things quiet at home : nothing positive can however be said of the future, so long as the Government is so unstable. My last letter represented the officers as assembled to resolve on a declaration of some im- portance to the establishment of their position, but the acri- mony which manifested itself among them prevented them from coming to any determination on that day ; but on the next day, they agreed on a document which, in its preamble, justifies the conduct of Lambert^ s brigade, professes a con- stant desire to maintain a Republican government, treats as a calumny the opinion which some entertained that the army intended to elevate a single person to the chief power, and de- mands that in future, punishment shall be inflicted on those who may attempt to sow division between those two bodies, whose union is so necessary for the maintenance of public ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. 497 tranquillity. This preamble, which is expressed in somewhat haughty language, is followed by certain propositions, the first of which regards the reconciliation of Lambert's brigade with the Parliament, and demands the payment of the arrears due to the army, and that provision shall be made for disabled soldiers, and for the widows of those who have died in the service ; that, in order to maintain good military discipline, no soldier or officer shall be dismissed except by a court- martial ; that no one shall be appointed to a command except at the recommendation of a committee of officers ; that the Parliament shall take measures to avoid the confusion which might arise if the army had no chief commander, considering that Mr. Fleetwood's commission is about to expire ; and that those who have lately, with so much success, exposed their lives for the safety of the Commonwealth shall be rewarded. This requisition was presented and read to the Parliament, on the 15th instant, by Colonel Desborough and other officers ; and they were at once, according to usage, thanked for the expressions of affection which it contained. The Speaker also told them that provision had already been made for a por- tion of their demands, namely the payment of their arrears, and the maintenance of disabled soldiers and widows ; and that their other proposals should be taken into consideration as soon as possible. This was to have been done on the day before yesterday, but the debate was adjourned till today j and this morning, it was resolved not to examine the preamble, but to proceed at once to the articles. Meanwhile the Repub- licans have not remained idle. They have latterly endea- voured to gain over certain officers to their party, in order to induce them to sign a declaration in opposition to that of the Council of War, composed of two hundred and thirty officers of various ranks ; and some, among others the Colonels recently restored to their commands, were ready enough to disavow what the majority had done ; they even boast of the sympathy of the Scottish army, because General Monk wrote two days VOL. I. , K K 498 ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERS. ago to inform the Parliament that he had prevented the peti- tion of the northern brigade from being subscribed by the troops under his command ; and it is said that both parties have sent messengers into Scotland to treat with the said General_, and obtain the approval or disapproval of the last propositions by his officers. According to the answers which are sent, the Parliament will prove either firmer or more ac- commodating, and meanwhile the debate will linger on ; it is the only affair now before the House ; it appears of so much importance that on its issue depends the ruin of one of the two great factions, and the ultimate form of the Government. The Parliament has of late days passed no act of importance, and has not even settled the question with regard to filling up the seats left vacant by the death of certain members, as the Army party oppose this reinforcement, which would doubtless be composed of Presbyterians. All these differences did not prevent the army and the Parliament from meeting on the 7th of the month at the banquet given by the City autho- rities, after they had attended certain preachments which the Quakers had the impudence to interrupt, notwithstanding the respect due to three such important bodies. The Mayor was obliged to have them driven out, and the Parliament has an Act in contemplation for repressing similar disturbances in future.XV^w . END OF VOLUME I. JOHN EDWAED TAYLOB, PEINTEB, UTILE QUEEX STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS. 14 DAY USE RE'lURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED This book is due on the last date stamped below, or on the date to which renewed. Renewed books are subjea to immediate recall. HASb INTER LIBRARY LOAN OCT 8 1969 rr IM^ 1 (JM5lslo')«"|i?|.82 Uni«r?gguf^rnia V.I THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA UBRARY