of all Recusants,' and some Comittees of the Houses are appointed to see ye statutes on that behalf forthw put in execucon. Upon consideracon of ye great ielousies that are raysed here & spread abroade, as if there were some intencons to make use of some of y armyes to y preiudice of y Parliam', and upon the apparent delay that hath been used in y paying off, & disbanding y English armye, weh hath bene cleerely throughe y negligence of those whom y Parliam hath imployed in that service, I humbly beseech yo' Matie to give me leaue to offer to yo' Matie the inclosed sideracon, whether it may not be fitt for yo' Marie to the Keeper p'sently to wryte yo' l'res to the Speaker of one or effect, onlie I both Houses, taking notice of ye delay & sloth that would haue hath bene used in y disbanding the armies, wh you aduertice my wyfe have bene kept on foote here to ye great greeof it. vaunce of yo subets in ye North, & att a heavy Heerein I haue tane your aduyce, being to that con-. charge to yo' kingdome in England in g'rall, notwithstanding yo' Matie hath from tyme to tyme by frequent speeches to both Houses often called upon them to ease this yo kingdome of that greevous burthen. Yo' Mate now understanding, that (when by y agreem with the Scots all the Englishe forces are to be disbanded) y Lo. G'rall hath advertised y Houses that there wants 140. thousand pounds to finish that worke, therefore yo' Mae may be pleased to quicken the Parliam' here, & to let them know how sensible yo' Matie is of ye long sufferings of yo' people of England, & to comaund the Houses, (all other matters set apart,) forthwith to apply themselves to free this yo' kingdome of soe heavy & dayly a charge. Such a letter would let yo' people here see yo care & affec'on to them, & make appeare cleerely to the world that there is noe intenc'on on yo' Maties ple to make use of the army here, as may be otherwise insinuated. 1 This originated in a complaint from the Commons to the Lords on the 17th of August, that the laws for disarming them were neglected, and that many of them were even screened by members of the Upper House. I humbly beg yo' Maties p'don for this bold & tedious discourse, wch is noe other than an effect of the dutifull affeccon of Yo' Maties most humble & most EDW. NICHOLAS. As I was closing this packet, I receaved one from Edenburgh, wherein was yo' Maties ler of the 19th p'esent: I shall lett my Lo. Keeper understand what yo' Matie hath comaunded me to deliver to my Lo. Ch. Justice Bankes (who is now in his circuit in Suffolke) touching ye 4 Irishe regiments,' and desire his LOPP (in ye others absence) to acquaint y Lodes House therewith. Yo' Maties le' of ye 19th p'sent I have sent to y Queene. WESTMINSTER, 23o Aug. 1641. Under this date, in the King's writing, "EDEN. 28." Indorsed, "For yo Matie" And signed by the King, "Yours apostyled." Likewise indorsed by Sir E. N. "My ler to ye King of ye 23 Aug. 1641. Apostiled y 28th.” The King to Sir Edward Nicholas. Nicholas, I thanke you for the account you haue giuen by yours of the 14, comanding you still to continew the same course, as lykewais that in my name ye tell the same to my Lord Cheefe justice Bankes also: So I rest EDEN: 19 Aug: 1641. Your frend, CHARLES R. You must tell my L. Cheefe justice Bankes from 2 When the Irish regiments were on the point of being disbanded, the Ambassadors of France and Spain mede an application to the Parliament on the 14th of August for leave to hire several regiments for foreign service; but their application was refused. Sir John Banks, who had succeeded Sir Edward Lyttel ton as Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. discretion may bee trusted in greater inaters. me that I am so far now engaged to the Spanish Embassador for fower regiment, that I cannot now goe backe, for it was asseured me before I cam from London that bothe Houses were content, onlie it wanted the formalitie of voting: whereupon I gaue an absolute order for the leauing & transporting of those men, but also reiterated my promises to the Embassador: wherefor he must tell the Houses from me that thease leauies must not be stoped. C. R. Addressed: "For your selfe." tie Sir Edward Nicholas to the King. May it please yo' most excellent Male, This morning about 6 o'clock I receaved by y hands of Mr. Murray yo' Maties of the 22th, & have acquainted my Lo. Keeper, that yo' Male is well satisfyed wth his lett', whereof his LOPP is very glad, & acknowledgeth yo' Maties great goodnes to him in it. Before my receipt of yo' Maties last letter I had acquainted my Lo. Keeper (in y° absence of I see your my Lo. Ch. Justice Bankes) w what yo' Matie commanded me, touching yo' Mate engagem' for transportac'on of 4 regiments of Irishe for ye service of the Spanishe King, & why reasons of it, & his LOPP having that morning made ye same knowne to the Lodes, they thereupon had ye next day a conference why Comons House, the result of wch conference is not as yet reported to ye Lodes House, but I am tould, that the Comons are very much against these 4 regiments going for Spayne, in regard it crosseth wth yo' Maties & ye Houses Declaration 1 Don Alonzo de Cardenas. This is noticed in the precedletter. ing On the 28th of August, when the House of Commons again took this affair into consideration, Sir Benjamin Rudyard spoke loudly against it, founding his objections principally upon the points here stated by Sir Edward Nicholas. The Commons then refused assent to the measure, in which the Lords agreed with them; and a letter, expressing their refusal, was sent to the King. against y* Spanyard on behalf of y Prince Elector ;' & therefore my Lo. Keeper thinkes not fitt to hasten ye report of that conference: As soone as there shal be any order or resolucon in it by ye Parliam', I shall advertise it to yo' Maie. I sent yo' Maties letter to Sir Ph. Maynewaring by an expresse messenger into Northamptonsh: whither S Phillip was gonne 2 dayes before my receipt of yo' Maties to him. Since Satterday last there hath beene noe business done in Parliam' of any publique nature' that I can heare of; but only the order made by the Lode touching y election of y present Sheriffs of London, whereof I gave advertisem' to Mr. Thre'r' by myne of y 23th. This day y Lo. Mayor was att the Upper House to get an alteration of that their LOP order but the House would not recede from it in any p'ticular, whereat y Lo. Mayor and cheif cittizens seeme to be much troubled. 'Charles Louis, Elector of Bavaria, Prince Palatine of the Rhine, and nephew to Charles I., being the son of his sister Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia. 2 He was of Over Peover, in Cheshire, and father to the first Baronet of that name, so created after the Restoration. He was Sheriff of Cheshire in 1639, and Captain in the Cheshire light horse. Collins does not mention his knighthood. 3 Again the Secretary is remiss, or at fault. Public business was certainly going forward. On the 25th of August the Lords sequestrated the temporalities of Dr. Roger Manwaring, Bishop of St. David's, for his contumacy to an order of the House; and, on the day on which Sir Edward wrote his letter, both Houses hed a conference respecting a proposed recess of Parliament. "Mr. Treasurer," that is, Sir Henry Vane the elder. 5 This evidently relates to the dispute then existing between the Lord Mayor and the Commons of London; the former laying claim to the choice of one of the Sheriffs, by a prescription of three hundred years. The Livery refusing to abide by this, the Court of Aldermen petitioned the King to decide upon the affair; but the King referred it to the House of Lords, who, after some delay, ordered that the Commonalty should proceed to the choice of the two Sheriffs, at the same time recommending that they would have those who had already been nominated by the Mayor. The Sheriff's chosen were George Garret and George Clark. Sir William Acton, Bart., was the then Lord Mayor; but he was superseded by the Parliament, and replaced by Sir Edmund Wright, They came beere yesternight. There is here great expectation what recepcon yo' Matie will give to ye Comittees sent hence. I wishe yo' Mate could have soe tymely expedited yo' affaires there, as that you might have bene reddy to come away before their arrivall there.' Yesterday y Comons ordered that ye pay of Coll. Willmot, Ashbournham, & y rest of ye soldiers (that are questioned in P'liam't) shalbe sequestred untill their busines shalbe heard & adjudged. And upon occasion of y discourse of that busines, Mr. Selden did then in that house deliver his opinion with much confidence, that by y ACT OF OBLIVION Mr. Percy and Mr. Jermyn, & all ye rest that are questioned with them, are freed and pardoned, wh he argued so strongly out of the very words of that Act, as y sages of that house, who oppugned his opinion, did not (in ye iudgem' of able men) give any reasonable or satisfactory answere to it: the House seemed to be much amazed att this slipp in that 'The names of the Commissioners were Lords Bedford and Howard of Esricke, Hampden, Fiennes, Sir Philip Stapleton, and Sir William Armyne. The Secretary seems to entertain a reasonable fear of the King's being brought into collision with such Commissioners. Not recorded in the Parliamentary Debates. Jermyn had been especially implicated, by the confession of Colonel Goring, in the alleged plot contrived by certain officers of the army to secure Strafford's escape, and overawe and dissolve the Parliament, by marching the army on London and making the King absolute. Balfour, the Lieutenant of the Tower, baffled that part of it relating to Strafford; and, a quarrel arising between the leaders of the design, Goring and Wilmot ("Gorrein et Hailmot," as Madame de Motteville calls them in her account of the affair), which Jermyn had in vain done his best to reconcile, Goring made a quasi discovery of the plot to Lord Newark, from whom, through Lords Bedford and Kimbolton, it reached Pym. Goring subsequently asserted that for his own part he had refused concurrence with the proposals to put the army into a posture to serve the King, and send a Declaration to Parliament that Episcopacy should not be infringed upon, and that the King's revenue should be established; for he said that he thought it belonged to an army to maintain, not to contrive, acts of state. At the same time he professed that his particular object, in joining in the proposed measures, was to solicit "a redresse for the miseries of the souldiers.” |