you see cleerly the trewth of this business, by wch, if it be brought to light, (wch I comand you to endeuor, with all possible industry) I must haue honnor; for where my owen justifies me (wch I am sure my Wyfe can produce, lett the Rebells doe what they will) I care not what lyers can inuent in this kynde. For what else remaines unanswered in your two letters I refer you to your fellow Secretary, & rest Your most asseured frend, R. 24° Sepbris 1645. His Maties ler to me that ye Rebells have not printed some Irs of his Matie & ye Queens wch iustifie their Maties in ye busenes conc'ning Ireland. The King to Sir Edward Nicholas. BRIDGENORTHE 1 Oct. 1645. Nicholas, none of your letres haue hitherto miscarried, this day having receaued the 12' by Wytefoord, & shall at this tyme, more insist upon telling you of my desynes & giuing you directions, then in answers, hauing comanded your fellow Secretary to supply that: first then, (that you may know whither to send to me) I intend my course 173 293: 83: 36: 3 :: 380 : is lykely to be eather : 14: 37: 32: 17: 38: 27: 242:53:19:32: 2:43: 36: 84: 307: 277: 47: 20: 98: I haue com'and him to breake throughe to 169: 290: 14: 2 : 36: 33: 62: 37: 60: 283: 290: me passe by or neere Oxon 213 now they must 238: 110: 232: 226: 433 : wherfor my plasure is, that you take that oportunety 290: 264: 125 : 231 : 541: 290: 213: for since it is the fashion to 314: 17: 54: 68: 27:35:52:70: venture 14:33:52:36:207: none can blame me to 43:35: 27: 19: 44: 3 : 224 : 59: 39: 79 : 4: 84: 2:36: in an army rather then 27: 176: 95 : 323 : 47: 90:2:33:277:3:18:39: 36: 27: 290: 104: 60: 16: 36: 52: 38: 78: 24: 127: I haue no more to say but that I approue of all your aduyses in your last, & meanes to follow the Queene of England them: one of thease inclosed is for 247 : 231 : 363 : the other speakes it selfe. So I rest "For your selfe." Your most asseured frend, CHARLES R. 1° Octobr 1645. His Matie to me concerning sending yo D. of Yorke to him by Lo: Goring. The King to Sir Edward Nicholas. Nicholas, When you shall have considered the strange and most inexcusable deliverye vpp of the Castle and Fort of Bristoll, and compared it with those many precedinge aduertisments wch have been giuen mee, I make noe doubt, but you and all my Counsell there will conclude that I could doe noe Ïesse, then what you will find heere inclosed, in my care of the preseruation of my Sonne, of all you my faithfull servaunts there, and of that important place, my Citty of Oxford. In the first place you will finde a coppy of my letter to my nephew; secondly, a reuocation of his commission of Generall; thirdlye, a warrant to Lieutenant Coll' Hamilton to exercise the charge of Lieutenant Gouernor of Oxford in Sir This evidently refers to the King's displeasure against Prince Rupert for the loss of Bristol. 2 Alluded to in the preceding letter. Thomas Glemhams' absence; fourthly, a warrant to the sayd Lieutenant Colonell Hamilton to apprehend the person of Will: Legge' present Gouernour of Oxford; and lastlye, a warrant to be directed to what person shall bee thought fittest for the apprehendinge my Nephew Rupert, in case of such extreamitye as shall bee hereafter specifyed, and not otherwise. As for the circumstances and the timinge of the execution of all these particulars, as farr forth as they may admitt of some howres delay more or lesse, I must referr it to my Lord Treasurers' care and yours to aduise of, vpon the place, how it may be done with most securitye, and accordinglye to direct the manner of proceedinge. But yett I shall tell you my opinion as farr forth as I can judge at this distance, wch is, that you should beginne with securing the person of Will: Legge, before any thing be declared concerninge my Nephew. But that once done, then the sooner you declare to the Lords both the revokinge of my Nephews commission, and my makinge St Thomas Glemham Gouernour of Oxford, the better. As for the deliuery of my letter to my Nepheu, if hee bee at Oxford, I take the proper time for that to be as soone as possiblye may bee after the securinge of Will: Legge. But if my Nepheu be not there, I would then haue you hasten my letter unto him, and in the meane time putt the rest in execution. The warrant for my Nephews commitment is onlye that you may haue the power to doe it, if in The King appears to have reposed great confidence in Sir Thomas Glemham, notwithstanding his surrender of Carlisle on the 28th of June preceding; which, however, had not taken place till after a long siege, and when he had reason finally to despair of succour. Indeed he had distinguished himself, from the first, in the Royal Cause; having been second in command in Yorkshire, under the Earl of Cumberland. 2 This is a piece of private history not noticed in the Peerage; but it is right to add that the King's suspicions of his old and faithful friend, the ancestor of the present family of Dartmouth, were subsequently ascertained to be without the slightest foundation. Sir John Culpepper. stead of submittinge to, and obeyinge my commaunds in goinge beyond sea, you shall finde that hee practise the raysinge of mutinye or any other disturbance in that place, or any other, in wch case the sayd warrant for his committment is to bee deliuered unto whome you and my Lord Treasurer shall thinke fittest for it to be directed unto, and by that person to be putt in execution. Lastlye I enjoyne you the care to lett all the Lords know, that whateuer is done in this kinde, is out of my tender regard of their safetye and preseruation, and that they shall speedilye receiue for their satisfaction a particular account of the reasons of this necessarye proceedinge. I rest Your most asseured frend, CHARLES R. HEREFORD, Sept: 14th 1645. Tell my Sone that I shall lesse greeue to heere. that he is knoked in the head then that he should doe soe meane an action as is the rendring of Bristoll Castell & Fort' upon the termes it was. C. R. R: 17° 7bris 1645, by Mr. North. The King to me. Copie of Pr: Ruperts &c. Petition deliuered at May it please yo' most excellent Matie, Whereas in all humility wee came to present our selues this day unto your Matie, to make our seuerall The King's anger at the surrender of Bristol is not surprising, when it is recollected that Prince Rupert possessed at the time 140 pieces of mounted cannon, 100 barrels of powder, with 2500 foot, 1000 horse, and 1000 trained bands and auxiliaries; on the other hand, he had not more than sixteen days' provisions for such a force. But the King's feelings at this precise period must have been very bitter; since the immediate and consequent loss of Devizes, Winchester, Basing House, Berkeley Castle, and Chepstowe, had reduced his affairs to a situation almost desperate. The affair that gave rise to this Petition deserves notice. The King having at this moment gone to Newark, as a place of the best security, some differences of opinion arose among greevances knowne, Wee find we haue drawne upon us some misconstruction by the manner of that, by reason your Matie thought that appeared as a mutiny, Wee shall therefore with all humblenes and carefulnes present unto your Matie, that wee, the persons subscribed, whom from the beginning of this unhappy warre haue giuen such testimony to your Matie and the world of our fidelity and zeale to your Maties person and cause, doe thinke our selves unhappy to lye under that censure; and as wee know in our consciences our selues innocent and free from that, wee doe in all humility therefore (least wee should hazard our selues upon a second misinterpretation) present these reasons of our humblest desires unto your sacred Matie, rather in writing than personnally, which are these: That many of us trusted in high commands in your Maties service, haue not only our com'ission taken away without any reason or cause expressed, whereby our honors are blemished to the world, our fortunes ruined, and wee rendred incapable of trust or command from any forraigne Prince; but many others (as we have cause to feare) designed to suffer in the same manner. Our intention in our addressing our selues to your Matie, and our submissiue desires, now are: that yo' Matie wilbee graciously pleased that such of us as now labour under the opinion of unworthinesse and incahis confidential officers respecting the defeat of Lord Digby at Sherborne, which General Gerard asserted to be the result of treason. Digby's character, however, was supported by Bellasis, the Governor, and several others; but the Princes, Rupert and Maurice, sided with Gerard. At length swords were drawn, and the King rushed in to part them; but when it was found that his opinion was in favour of Digby, Prince Rupert, and 400 of that party, actually threw up their commissions, as Burton declares in his Civil Wars. This Petition now printed, however, seems to imply positively that their commissions were taken from them. There appears a strange inconsistency in the accounts given of these affairs by the various contemporary writers of the period. The curious reader will find much amusement in referring to Bulstrode's Memoirs, page 127, et seq.; and to the notices by Clarendon. |