this. affaires here, & that yo' Matie would vouchsafe to let them know, how farre yo' Matic would have them I shall doe to confide in me in any yo' Maties services, that I may have ye more creddit wth them, when I shall have occasion to attend them, & be ye better able to annsweare yo' Maties expectac'on. I haue not bene att Oatlands since Mr. Berkley came, but am this morning going to wayte on y Queene, to know if her Matie hath any com'aunds for Yo' sacred Maties Most humble & obedient servaunt, THORPE; 15 8bris, 1641. EDEN: 20: "For yo sacred Matie" By the King: "Yours apostyled." 15° 8bris 1641. Apost: 20. R. 25° at 9. at night. Sir Edward Nicholas to the King. May it please yo' most excellent Matie, Yo Maties sent by Sr Wm Ballatine1 were delivered here ye 18th of this moneth by 4 in ye afternoone. to send a per of this busi whose dis Upon let's from ye Englishe Com'ittees now in I was the Scotl: to ye Com'ittee here, relating ye newes of Mar: lesse carfull Hamiltons, the Ea. of Arguiles, and Ea: of Lanne- fect relation ricks abandoning ye Court & Parliam there, our ness, because Com'ittee here was yesterday in a great fright, & I sent one of 1 Afterwards Lord Ballenden, the first Peer of that name. In 1640 he appears, by Bromley's Letters, pp. 115, 116, to have been attached as Minister at the Palatine Court. He was much in the confidence of all the branches of the Royal Family; and obtained his peerage from Charles the Second for his very useful and active services during the Usurpation. 2 This is the affair which, in the history of that time, went by the name of "The Incident." See Pym's Report of the Committees on the re-opening of Parliament, which may be referred to in vol. x. of the Parliamentary History, p. 5. Lord Lanerick's (or Lanark's) relation of it may be seen in Hardwicke's State Papers, vol. ii. p. 299, wherein he asserts that there was a plan laid, by the opposite party, to cut the throats of himself and the two Lords mentioned in this letter; and he adds, that their "abandoning the Court and Parliament" was literally nothing more than quitting Edinburgh in order to save their lives. All that is absolutely known in the matter is, that Charles had summoned these three Lords cretion & knowledg I was & am so confident, that I thought his of the busi discourse ness as hauing beene an ey witness would haue satisfied more than anie tion, there (declaring that they conceaved the same to be a plot of ye Papists there, & of some Lodds & others here,) sent pesent order to ye Lo: Mayor &c. to dubble ye gardes & watches of this Citty & Suborbs, & it is thought that this business will this day in Parliament be declared to be a greater plot against the Kingdomes and Parliams in Eng: & Scotl: then hath bene discovered at all There have bene some wellaffected parliam'-men here wth me this morning to written rela- know whether I had any relac'on of that busines, fore I desyre but finding I had none, but only a few words from you to call on Mr. Sec'rie Vane, wch I shewed to them, they seemed name to much troubled, as not knowing what to say to it: I affected per- hasten this of purpose to give yo1 Matic notice hereof, sones, of the & to pray yo' Matie, that there may be sent hither wth w'ch passed all possible dilligence a full & p'fect relac❜on of ye while he was present disturbance there, & the cause & grounds what hath thereof, & what upon exa'iac'on it appeares to that I haue di-, parliamt to be: all wch, I humbly wishe may be rected the certefyed hither in as authentique a way,' & from as to giue you vnsuspected a hand as may be. him in my satisfie well treuth of that heere ; &, for passed since, D: of Rich: such an account as there is. It is now under exa mination, as it (is) ended you shall be sure to haue. of If Mr. Secr'ie Vane had written to me, or any his friends here, a true narrac'on of that busines, it would have given much satifacc'on here, and stopped the causles alarmes that are taken vpon ye noyse of w'ch as soone to attend his Court; but that they not only absented themselves, but quitted the city, and placed their houses in a state of defence; and that on the King demanding an investigation to clear his honour, a secret committee of the Scotch Parliament made a report in exculpation of his Majesty, but justifying the three Lords in the course they had taken. Clarendon says that Montrose had advised and "frankly" undertaken the assassination of Hamilton, his brother Lanerick, and Argyle; and whatever reception may have been given to this proposal (which there is no ground for thinking that the King for a moment sanctioned), it is hardly to be doubted that schemes were now on foot between Montrose and Charles, embracing a simultaneous movement in the three kingdoms, and sufficiently explaining the alarm and excitement of the Parliamentary leaders, especially on the sudden breaking out of the Irish rebellion. It should be added that the friends of Montrose strenuously assert, in opposition to the statement of Clarendon, that his secret proposal to the King was not for the murder, but simply for the arrest, of Argyle and the Hamiltons. 'The Parliament met this day; the first time after the recess. it, that busines being now by y relac'on of diverse Scotsmen here made much worse, then I beleeve it will proove in yo end. The Queene tould me yesterday that she will wryte to yo' Matie this night or too morrow, but I thought it not fitt to deferre this packet now for her Maties let', which shalbe hastened away as soone as I shali receave it. The inclosed from S' Art: Hopton,' I receaved from my Lo: Cottington with direcc'on to send it to yo' Matie. Yo' Matie will I hope pardon this hasty expression of the humble diligence of Yo' sacred Maties Most humble & most obedient servaunt, As I was closing this, I receaved for yo' Matie this let from my Lo: Marshall. Written by the King: "Those of yours, wch I returne not to you apostyled, I alwais burne." WESTMINSTER, 20: 8bris, 1641. EDEN. 24. "For yo sacred Matie" "Yours apostyled." 20. 8bris, 1641. Apost. 24° 8bris. R. 30 at 7 at night at Thorpe. Rec. of Captain Smith. Sir Edward Nicholas to the King. yes May it please yo' most excellent Matie, I hope my le', wch I hastily wrote to yo❜ Matie terday by packet, wilbe come to yo' Royall hands before this, & that wee shall speedily receaue a relac'on of this busines concerning the Marquis & ye rest, wch all yo' servaunts here call for very earnestly. 1 He was uncle to Sir Ralph Hopton, the famous Royalist General; and, when the latter was created Lord Hopton, Sir Arthur was named heir in remainder, in default of issue male; but, dying before his nephew, he never enjoyed those honours. He was of a Somersetshire family, the Hoptons of Wytham. Of this I much wonmy credit I acquainted der, for on nobodie with the contents thereof, & am verie confident Yo' Maties let' to my Lo: Keeper was carefully delivered to his owne hands yesterday before y sitting of ye Parliam', but his LoPP tells me, that ye effect of it was knowne here some dayes before he receaved it: wch is an infinite piudice to yor Maties affaires here; such anticipation of yo' Maties direcc'ons in businesses of importaunce renders ye same heere knew impossible, or extreame difficult, to be effected: And I observe that ye perfect intelligence, that is here of all yo' Maties resoluc'ons & proceedings there, thinke it fitt puts lief and spiritt into some here, who wthout that encouragem & light, would (I beleeve) pay more reverence to yo' Maties councells and acc'ons. that none whether I writt to him or not: therefor I that you When yo' Matie hath made stay y disbanding of 5 companies remayning in Barwick, it is here thought fit not to make any order to ye contrary, but it is declared (as I heare) that from ye 15th of this moneth (wch was yetyme appoynted by ye Houses for disbanding all that garrison) those companies I remember shall have no further pay from ye Comonwealth as that I had it is called, and concerning this, there is to be some discourse with speedily a conference wth ye Lodds, wth ye issue whereof I shall acquaint yor Matie by my next. that is satisfied. the Eng: Par: men about Prorogation, but that it was after my Lett: was Sir Jo. Berkley was yesterday com'itted to ye I'mconfident Tower, & Capt. O'Neale to ye Gatehouse by yo House of Co'mons vpon y old business. Yo Matie will herewth receave a coppy of ye let sent hither by ye written, if it Com'ittees in Scotland, and of ye order made thereupon y day before ye P'liam' by ye Com'ittees here. I have p'sented yo Maties let to ye BPP of London, the Plague who hath promised to use all possible expedic❜on in p'formaunce of yor Maties comaunds therein. were serius, all others wer in con sequence of at randome. The Lodds Commissioners have given order for peparing a Proclamac'on for p'sent dispersing & sending away of y disbanded souldiers, as yo' Matie directed 1 The jealousy of the Parliament about Berwick was so very great, that when the Scottish army, upon their return in August, wished to march through that garrison, a wooden bridge was actually ordered to be built over the Tweed, at some distance from the town. 2 It was also ordered, the Lords should be desired to examine those gentlemen respecting the charges brought against them. 3 May, in his History of the Parliament, says that both tion of this Bristo in mynde to by yo' apostile of the 13th of this moneth. My Lo: Keeper delivered me this morning to be sent to yo Mate this paper, we was p'sented to his Lop in ye nature of a protestac'on by y persons therein vndernamed: his LoPP tells me he hath formerly acquainted yor Matie wth that busines. My Lo: of Bristoll' tould For diverme this day, that he heares from severall hands, that & other there is an intenc'on to question his Lo", & his mischeefes, I would ye sonne ye Lo: Digby, but he knowes not for what, & should put he tells me that nothing shall deterre him from p'formaunce of his duty. This day there was twice renew that read in ye Com'ons House a Bill for taking away the betwixt the Votes of BPPs in ye Vpper House, and that Bill is two Houses, comitted, and it is said it will passe both Houses the Parlawthin two days. The disobedience against ye order ment Protesof ye House of Co'mons concerning innovac❜ons, was Southamp this day questioned in that House, & after a long fearse upon. debate, there was no way found or resolved on, to punishe those that disobeyed ye same, for that that order was conceaved by most in yt House not to be iustifyable by lawe, & therefore not binding.2 dispute concerning tation w'ch ton was so hope, this longins, but to I belive, not some of your I have herewth sent yo' Matie some notes of ye effect In this, I of ye conference this day betweene ye 2 Houses. I dispache will beseech God amongst those great distracc'ons to satisfie your p'serve yo' Matie in safety: & I beseech yo' Matie give me leave once more to put you in minde to hasten hither a true relac'on of ye vnhappy interrupc'on of yo" affairs there, for I find, that yo the armies, English and Scotch, "quietly departed, conducted to their owne homes by order from Justices of Peace through the several counties." 'The Earl of Bristol had mingled much in party politics previous to this date. He had been Ambassador to Spain in proposing Charles's marriage with the Infanta, and was afterwards impeached in Parliament respecting the treaty and its failure; but he had such influence with the House of Commons as to bring about a counter impeachment against the Duke of Buckingham. This may account for his hostility to Charles's friend, Lord Strafford, though the increasing probabilities of civil war now induced him to support the Royal Cause. 2 None of these circumstances are stated in the Parliamentary History; yet they are important additions to the record of those times. expectations. |