by robbing & spoiling them. The usuall course I have taken in cases of this nature is to direct a Lře to Three or four of ye principall Justices of peace in ye County, who are most active & diligent, to make it their particular buisnesse to apprehend such mischievous persons, wherefore, if yr LP please to send me ye names of some whom you conceive fittest for this worke, I shall order a speciall Letter to them in this case. As for granting a warrt to bring men in dead or Alive, 'tis somewhat a dangerous Thing to trust such a powr wth any, till by some Tryall of Law ye Offenders have bin proceeded agt, & to this end I have severall Times appointed ye Judges that Indictm's should be preferrd agt ye men who were thus suspected, & if ye Grand Jury find ye Indictmt upon ye returne thereof, proclamation issues giving them a certain space of Time to render themselves, whereof if they faile powr is given to any of his Majesties subjects to bring them in alive or dead; yet, however, in regard men of this sort are comonly desperate, & not easily apprehended, if in taking of them such a Accident happens as one of them is killed, if he prove a Tory we take care to indemnify ye persons who killed him; therefore, so soon as yr LP shall let me know who are fitt to be employed in this affaire, I shall send directions to them to quicken them in ye execution of their Trust, & use all means to pursue & take these Malefactors.

CLXXX.-THE EARL OF ESSEX TO WILLIAM HARBORD.

MR HARBORD,

Dublin Castle, Novem. 14, '74. In yr Two late Letters of ye last of Octob" & 3d of Novem: there was much said concerning my Lord Berkeleys coming hither; I am still of ye mind I was in before, that Tis impossible he can be ye man, whatever people may imagine, or himselfe believe; you tell me that by ye means of Duke Hamilton you have made ye

Dutchesse of Portsmouth my friend; for my owne part I cannot desire ye friendship of any of that sort. To keep faire with them & all ye world I shall be glad to doe, but to make any such friends so as to be usefull, or a support to me, will necessarily obliege me to be assistant to them in finding out money, or other advantages for their qualification, & if once I should begin there would be no end of it; However, I desire you to returne my humble thanks to Duke Hamilton, La Tweedale, for their kindness to me, & to all others whom you see friendly upon these occasions.

As to my stay here for 4 years I desire no proposal of that nature should ever be made on my behalfe, & I cannot imagine what it is makes men in England believe ye Govermt of Ireland to be for a Limited Time of Three Years; for ye Comission is during his Majesties pleasure, & if they regard ye practice my Ld Arthur Chichester was here seven or eight years; my La Strafford six or seven; my Lord of Ormond as long; my La Robarts but seven months; my L Berkeley not full three years; nor is any series of Governors to be found where this of Three years Time was observed.

His Majestie may please to continue me here so long as he finds me usefull in his service, & when ever Tis more convenient for his Affaires to send another, it may be either before or after ye three years; Truly for my owne part I doe not desire to stay longer then my Actings are gratefull to my master. That ye Employmt is convenient to me in relation to my private Affairs you well know; The pains are so great wch must be taken in it, that truly unlesse it be performed to his Majesties satisfaction in such a manner as without ye extraordinary pressing of friends I cannot remaine in it, I cannot thinke it worth ye labour to continue upon these Terms.

CLXXXI.-WILLIAM HARBORD TO THE EARL OF ESSEX.

Having with all care & Dilligence attended the Report of y removal, & imployed 96 97 Chiffing & others to discourse it wth Kg, & finding by ym all yt Brock had prest to succeede, & thought himself so sure that Leyton bragged of it on Monday morning last, I thought it time to trye, & waited on Kg; & knowing that the question about the guards and countrie companies would please him, I began wth that. He said much upon that subject as to the practice in forrain parts, & his owne opinion was that It was the priviledge of ye regiment, & that they ought to have it.

Then of himselfe told me that he had been asked by severall if he had any intentions to remove Essex. He swore it never came into his thoughts, and that He would be glad to have Essex here & there, but that till he could doe better for Essex He intended to continue you there; That he wished wth all his Soule he had sent Essex over at his first coming over; That he was abundantly satisfied with your Conduct, & thought Essex ye most considerable and weighty man in the kingdome. Thereupon I thought fitt to give him an Acc' how much Essex Family had suffered, & yt Essex had contracted a great Debt by giving Three portions to younger Sisters; That by the helpe of Essex his Imployment S H. Capell & Mr Harbord out of yr Estate payd part of y' Debts, & yt in 1 or 2 years more, if King did continue Essex, his Family would in some measure be repaired, & Essex also to serve King on any occasion. I could not perceave but that this discourse was greatful enough to him, for King continued to say kind Things of Essex & his Father. Then I proposed to call parliament in Essex his Time, and read to him a part of y" instructions to me about it, & urged the bennifitts I thought he might reasonably expect from one, & in how unsafe a posture his Affairs were in there when his Subjects were unsafe in their Lande &

properties. That now, all the Defects in the former Acts seen, that Essex understood them very well, And would be able to propose such Expedients by new Laues as would give him & his subjects great security and safety both in their Minds & Estates, so as private men did not prevaile & give provisoes, as in the other Acts, destroying ye very intentions & scope of the same; that the English had great trust & confidence in Essex, and yt the Irish were satisfyed wth yr Justice to them on all occasions; That they Injoyed the bennefitt of the Laws equally wth any of his other subjects; That the Army was uselesse for want of it, for till 3 Monthes paye were always locked up in the Castle the Army could doe little or noe Service; That if his Revenue increased, so might his Troops; That in probability a means might be found to ease him of a great part of his charge at Tangier by sending thither yearly store of Salt, beef, pork, bacon, pease, wheat, & barley, wch the people were much better able to spare than money, & would equally be usefull to King his Affaires; That now was a very fit Time, ye Nation beginning to finde the Effects of peace, the Exchaynge being at parr betwixt Kingdomes, whereas it used to be at Tenn p Cent. & upwards of the English side; That the Dutch Commissioners were in Treaty wth E Ossory for ye taking yearly a great number of Cattle at a certain price, weighing such a weight, a thing infinitely to be sifted, wch would not only Obstruct the Trades yt then Danes, Holsteiners, & Hamburgers now drove wth their Cattle there, but bring the Dutch to have a great dependance upon that Kingdome; That the fforts & Garrisons now in great decaye, and yt nothing but a parliament could repair them, King his Revenue being unable to doe it ; That it was absolutely necessary to have Parliament before the renewing the Farme, because if the Revenue were improved, there would be less neede of a Supply. King seemed well pleased wth the discourse, and had me talk wth Trear. & S. Coventry about it. I then proposed in order to it the obliging Sr Oliver St George. He startled at it, & asked if he were not concerned in the Genoa prize. He made many difficulties. However, I have herewth sent Mr Ald

ye

worth a Letter to make him a Privy Councillor. Essex & Ossory thought it not fesible. I am heartely glad yt it is donne. I have also Sent over a Letter for his Brother Signed, & a hope these 2 will thinke themselves obliged to Esser. I did yisterday meete wth an opportunity, after having tried Twenty, to show Treasurer a Letter I had prepared for his Mates Signature about ye postage of Letters. He read it & aproved of it, & I read also yr Directions about Dean Sherydon. He told me how he came to be engaged in yt affaire, yt It was grounded upon the great ffame & Character of the man, both of his Learning & piety, but how Essex did affirme these Things wch were of might the Caveat [unintelligible] & the Matter should be heard; & I finde that he will opinion the Thing, & therefore I pray write to him about it, & laye what weight you can to back y' Commands to me. I believe a petition from ye College & some of the Chief Clergy to Essex, & a Copy sent over, will doe well. It's fitt for Essex to keepe faire with him. Tis not to be immagined by any body absent what Juggling there is among them, & how a Man is forced to live & waite. 96 is very kinde, & took the 100 Guinys Kindly; but is Trear. his own creature. Chiffing is most zealous for Essex, & hates Trear., but depends on Arlington. 96 told me the other day yt Arlington had spoken to King that Carr might succeed Essex; but tis only to sett Arlington & Essex at odds.

yr

I finde my best way is to Learne all I can & to depend on King, who hath promised to write to Essex to this effect, and hath Directed Chiffing to minde him of it; but I would not get it ready this post; Chiffing spoke the other day to Portsmouth about Essex, who offered him yt she had never said word to King about Berkeley. That she heard yt Essex was a very good Man, & if she could serve Essex she would. Chiffing gave me an account of this, but I durst give him no other answer but that wee would reserve her favour for a better occasion, but that if she as of her self would trye King it was not amisse, & see how he stood inclined, since wch he tells me that she did it thus: "Sir, There is a Report that you are calling

a Elliot.