credit, and Trear. tells me all his complaints. But Ranelagh is a man of great action, and it is his Intrest to be well with Essex, and you may perceave it is not a small matter will make him otherwise. I wish Yor Excelce had a Letter wch I writ to you the 2nd of May I heare it is kept from you; possibly, if you speak to my Brother . Rawdon, he may get it. I have no designe but to leave yo' affaires heere in a good posture, and in order to that I should be glad I could deliver a Letter from you to Trear. that might cordially assure him of yor friendship, and also that you writ some Paragraph in yor Letter to me to signify yo' esteeme and readinesse to be favorable to Ranelagh. He hath now obtained what he so long aimed at, wch is the Vice-Tresurership. The King refused to give it him for Life, but only during pleasure, and he hath a Liberty to hold the Chancellorship till he comes into the Execution of the other.

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The Parliam in Scotland is suddenly to be dissolved, and Duke Hamilton is coming to London to be reconciled to my Lord Lauderdale.a

CLI. THE EARL OF ESSEX TO THE EARL OF ARLINGTON.

MY LORD,

Dublin Castle, May 23, '74.

This Country hath long layn under great Oppressions by ye Extortion of ye Clerks of ye Crowne, Clerks of ye peace, & other like Officers. I have severall times bin made acquainted wth ye practice of these men, & have often told those who moved me in relation to these grievances, that if a Complaint were brought in a Regular Way by petition, I would redress it, & make those who

a Hamilton's real object was to complain of Lauderdale.-Lauderdale Papers, iii. pp. 41 seq.

were faulty in ye Execution of their Office smart for it. One practice of theirs is ye multiplying of frivolous Indictments, & I have known Instances of it to so great a degree, that one person hath had almost threescore brought agt him, who, tho' he were acquitted of them all, yet ye charges of ye Fees to ye Clerke of ye Crowne hath ruined ye poor man. For redress of this I have ordered ye Judges that in their severall Circuits they should discountenance, as much as they could, all vexatious Indictments for petty Crimes; But, besides, these Clerks of ye Crowne doe likewise make ye poor people pay double, treble, nay, sometimes six times ye value of their due Fees. This, by Law, is a forfeiture of their Office. The first petition wch hath bin brought to me upon this subject was ye last weeke, agt Sr John Eustace (brother to St Maurice), Clerke of ye Crowne for ye province of Leinster, & I am now upon examination thereof; but I know they are so quick in getting pardons out of England, that I doe expect yr LP will hear of some applications made there, even before I can come to a true knowledge of that matter. I doe therefore desire y' LP, that if any thing of this nature should be offered at, you would please to obstruct it, & that there may not be any Lre signed either to pardon faults past, or to grant any Reversion of this Office. The Truth is, ye people here are miserably impoverished by the exactions, & unless some example be made there will never be any reformation, as I am sure, on ye other side, a litle severity will infallibly cure it throughout ye whole Kingdome, & I know not any thing will so much recomend his Maties Governmt to ye people as ye punishing of some of these oppressors. Mr Godolphin is very suddenly goeing for England, therefore, if yr LP will please that any thing of his buisness may be suspended till you speak wth him (who will informe you more particularly then I can by Lře), it will be of no small benefitt to his Maties Service.

I doe also intreat y' LP will appoint Mr. Bridgeman to putt a stop to any thing of this kind that may pass at ye other Secretary's Office.

CLIF-THE EARL OF ESSEX TO SIR OLIVER ST GEORGE."

Dublin Castle, May 23, '74. There was one Martin French, a Frier, whom I have formerly recomended to yr protection. He is very useful to me, & hath lately given us very good Intelligence of ye Actings of Priests & Titular Bpps in those parts. Having about a month since published a second proclamation for all Romish Titular Bpps, etc., & Friers to depart, & ye day limited for their goeing being past, I now remind you of this Martine French, to take care of him & see that no harm happen to him. I also desire you to give him ten pounds, either all at once, or five pounds now and two months hence five pounds more, as you thinke convenient, & if you please to appoint any body in Dublin to receive it, I shall there repay it to y1 use. You may doe well to give ye Mayer of Galloway a litle hint of this man, but it must be kept secrett, or otherwise He will not be able to furnish us wth such Intelligence as may be of advantage

to me.

I have ordered Mr Beecher to send you ye protection you desired for one of ye Torys.

CLIII. THE EARL OF ESSEX TO LORD CONWAY."

MY LORD,

Dublin Castle, May 26, '74.

I have recd yr Lps of ye 19th of May, & have also recoverd ye other of ye 24. I I presume that before this Lre will arrive, my La Trear. & my Lord Ranelagh have both of them recd my Lões dated ye sixth of this month, wherein I am sure I have fully demonstrated

First Baronet of Carrickdrumneck, 1666; Commissioner for settling the affairs of Ireland; d. 1695.

my sense concerning ye support of my Lord Ranelagh's Undertaking, & in such Terms as I conceive cannot be displeasing to any reasonable man, & have therein said nothing but what both is, & ever was, my opinion, viz., That I doe not know a better piece of service that hath bin performed since his Majesties restauration then this, in case they goe through wth it, yet I must confess I have ever bin uneasy to finde things in so much obscurity, that neither his Majestie nor myselfe could upon any solid grounds understand ye State of ye Treãry. I am sworne by ye Oath of my Office to doe Justice to all his Majesties people, & I am sure no consideration whatever shall ever bribe or terrify me from doeing my duty. My Lord Ranelagh hath undertaken severall Debts & other Paymts, & if I mistake not, It is my part, being Lieutenant, to see him performe. How is it possible, then, for me to doe that Right to all men, weh my Place obligeth me to doe, unless I know in what state. their Undertaking is, & what materialls they have to compleat their worke, for wch I am glad we have at length obtained an Ord? As my Lord Ranelagh hath found ye Utmost of my assistance hitherto for ye carrying on his buisness, so neither shall He ever finde me failing to him in any thing that He can reasonably aske. This I have said so often, as I thinke it needlesse to repeat.

Y' LP tells me that my La Trear. is not alltogether satisfied with something that I writt in a Lie of y 31 of March. The Truth is, having then an occasion to make a Return to my Ld Trear. of some Ord's relating to ye Farm's & to quicken them in their paymts, I tooke that opportunity to tell his LP that My Lord Ranelagh, too, and his partners, were not so forward as they ought to be, & did adde, that in case they should not for ye future take a litle more care, I should be forced to make some formall representaĉon to his Majestie of that matter. This I did after my Lre of ye 17th to my Lord of Arlington. Yet did I conceive therein shew nothing of disrespect to my Ld Trear, for it is my Rule to obey my Master's Orders punctually. At my coming away out of England, I desired ye King to tell me what person I should hold my constant Intelli

gence wth concerning affairs in Ireland, & he directed me to my Lord of Arlington. How should I my selfe make choice of any to my owne liking for holding correspondence wth, & not obey his Majesties comands? I should make myself Master, & not Servant, & dispose ye buisness into another Tract then his Majestie himselfe thought fitt. I confess, for my owne part, I have ever bin of opinion that his Majesties affairs receive much prejudice by not suffering them constantly to run in their owne channells; that is to say, Matters of ye Revenue perpetually to run through my Lord Treasurer's hands, Questions of Gifts and Grants through my Lord Keeper's, Affairs of State & Governmt through ye Secretary's ; and of this my opinion I have four or five months agoe given his Majestie a hint in one of my Lres, but having never recd any direction to communicate his Majesties buisness to any other then my Lord of Arlington, I have constantly (as a good servant ought to do) kept that course; nay, that I have bin so far from declining my Lord Treasurer, that I have taken all advantage to reduce ye buisness into his hands.

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Next as for ye representacon wch I made in my Lord of Arlington's Lře so long before that to my Lord Treasurer, weh seems to be ye point ill taken. I say this, that my Lord of Arlington, as Secretary of State, is ye private way of conveighing my observation of Things here to his Majestie; that that Lre was not a formall representacon, such as I meant in my Lord Treasurers Lfe, where I said that unless they tooke more care I should be forced to make a formall representacón, wch I meant a representacon from myselfe & Councell here upon Examination & prooffs of those points wherein we should have found them failing in their performances. Upon ye whole, it hath never bin my way to make large professions, or use much Courtship towards ye persons themselves, how great soever, tho' I will never be wanting in all civilities as are fitt, especially towards ye present Lord Treasurer, for whom I have a great value, & I doe assure y LP in some of my Lres to his Majestie (whereof one is.

CAMD. SOC.

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VOL. I.