that upon this very subject, wch I have here caused to be transcribed, you may mind his Majestie thereof, & in it have said as much as I can upon this occasion. My Lord of Orrery has often by his Lřes sollicited me to forme this Militia, & I know, if he be empowered to command that in Munster, ye first thing you will hear of, so soon as he arrives, will be his calling of them together, & I am sure it will necessitate me to be afore hand wth him, & to doe ye like to all ye military throughout ye Kingdome, or otherwise He will be looked upon as ye great Patrone of ye Protestant Interest. a In my Lord of Ormond's Time, upon occasion of some plotts, his Grace thought some of these men so far from being fitt to be trusted as he disarmed many of them, & by that means he lost so much of his creditt among ye Protestants here as he will hardly ever recover a thorough esteeme of being truly affected to that party, & I know that, even to this day, It is objected to him that he disarmed ye Protestants. I would be loath to be involved in ye like difficulties, & therefore I conceive Tis better to foresee a Thing & prevent it, then to hazard ye entangling my selfe in perplexities. Tis very obvious what my Lord of Orrery aimes at in ye Thing, namely = ye putting Arms into ye hands of Cromwellists, wth whom he has yet some litle remains of Creditt, & likewise to make himselfe popular, as if by this Militia (whereof He would appear ye first mover) ye Protestant Interest were more now then ever strengthened. Adde to this, that ye proposall of Trained bands here hath bin touched upon by ye House of Commons, in this last Sessions, wth some approbation, & so by this He would make himselfe a litle ye more gratefull there. But by what I have already said you may discerne into what inconveniences this will bring me, & indeed I know ye Temper of men's minds here so well, as I must not suffer him to have ye Creditt of Establishing this Force; besides, I must be very tender in appearing any waies to obstruct it. For these reasons I desire, when you speake wth his Majestie upon this sub On August 22 Essex says he has heard from both Conway and Ranelagh that this is Orrery's intention. ject, that by all means it be not known to any that I doe stand in opposition to it, for should it in ye least take Vent, all ye Repute I have since my coming here gained with ye Protestants would at one stroak be destroyd; and if my Lord of Orrery in ye least apprehends that I have thus appeared in it, I am certeine He would quickly blaze it abroad to lessen me here. Having, therefore, shewd you how tender y point is, I shall leave it to y' own managemt as you thinke best for his Majesties service. In case of any Invasion, I conceive this Militia may be of great use, & upon such occasions ye men, doubtless, will fight well enough for ye preservation of their owne Estates; but as for any Thing at home, ye Army is now abundantly sufficient to keep all quiett, so as considering ye circumstances of Affaires in England, & also ye present motions in Scotland, his Matie may, in my humble opinion, be pleased to take agen into consideration what I have offerd in my Lre of ye first of Decembr to him, herewth transmitted, & I doe not desire that any Thing, as coming from me, should therefore have ye more sway, but receive its force so far only as it is grounded upon good reason. Sr Arthur Forbese, being now in England, knows this matter very fully, & all ye care & caution I have used in it. You may communicate things freely to him; if his Majestie shall thinke fitt to speake wth him in this business, I conceive He may explaine it more perfectly then any other that I know. * Here is, with a flying Seale, enclosed a Lře to Sr Arthur; if you finde cause you may please to give it him, or if this matter of ye Militia be asleep, you may then throw it away. CLIX.-FRANCIS GODOLPHIN TO THE EARL OF ESSEX. MY LORD, Exey more freely of our affairs here then I could well doe by ye Ordinary pacquet. It seems to be ye interest of those people who desire y breaking of ye parliamt that your Excy were recalled from that governmt, and as they, despairing to divert ye King from his resolution of their meeting in November, doe by all means labour to render that meeting ineffectual, by doing those things in ye mean time which they imagine will soe far disoblige & exasperate them as to make a rupture between his Matie & them almost unavoidable (I might instance in a late proclamacon, whereby ye penalties of Recusants, upon conviction, are made much lighter then they formerly were by law), soe they, distrusting to obtain ye King's consent to your Excy's removal, doe underhand foment & countenance any little complaint against you, give about reports to your disadvantage, & procure such grants and Orders from hence as they imagine will bee unpleasing to you, & by these means endeavour to render ye government soe uneasy to you that you shall petition to bee recalled, of wch sort I reckon ye last Order concerning ye armies march into ye North; ye Author of wch council, I suspect, designed as much your Excy's trouble as ye King's service, in wch cases your Exey might possibly find very good effects of applying your selfe immediately to his Matie, with whom your opinion would weigh more than most of your Adversaryes, especially in matters relating to that Country, whereof your Excy must needs be a better judge; and at ye worst you will disappoint them of their chiefe ayme when you seem to approve what you cannot remedy; your most friends not having credit enough to prevent such hardships from beeing put upon you as they desire, & as your Excy may perhaps expect, for ye Duke governs absolutely, & I think my Lord Trear. & D. of Lauderdale derive all their favour from his countenance, & will signify noe longer then they are subservient to his designe, yet ye former of those two seems to stand a little more on his owne bottome, & dislikes among his friends every thing that is done, though people think, with reason enough, his Lopp has a good share in ye advice, & however they may differ in their private capacity, in Council CAMD. SOC. 21 VOL. I. those three are very unanimous & scarcely ever disagree. M2 Secr. Coventry does little more then ye necessary busines of his Office. S Jos. Williamson is understood to bee a creature of Lauderdale's, as he was before of Clifford, who made him Plenipot., not onely without My Lord Arl. help, but agst his consent, though they are willing to have it thought (as likewise his new intended promotion) ye sole acts of his old master. Lauderdale, Northampton, & of late Anglesey, have been publickly voyced to succeed your Excy, though I cannot learn that any one but Seymour was ever proposed in Council, who was never talkt on for it in publick. L. Anglesey, L. Ranelagh, L. Conway, or ye Speaker, they think may serve their turn well enough in Ireland, but they will find difficulty in bringing it to effect while your Exey continues soe well in ye King's esteem, unlesse it move first from your selfe. Most people think ye houses will meet at ye time appointed, but not sit long. L. Lauderdale does undertake to endeavour to clear himselfe to several eminent members of those aspersions for wch hee conceives hee had incurred their displeasure ye last Session. I heard my L. Berkeley had offered ye D. of Portsmouth his house at Mittenham, on condicon hee might bee sent once more into Ireland. I have herewith sent your Excy a few new books & fashionable Pamphlets, some of wch may deserve your Excy's perusal. S H. Capell & Sr Arthur Forbes are still at ye Bathe, in whose absence I have ventured ye rather to give your Excy this Account of ye present posture of our Court, for which I humbly beg your Excy's pardon & fayr interpretacon. CLX.-THE EARL OF ESSEX TO THE EARL OF ARLINGTON. MY LORD, Dublin Castle, July 18th [1674.] In my last to yr LP I promist to send yr LP a List of ye Non-Con formist preachers of ye Scottish Nation, as have bin forward of late to returne home.a The enclosed papers will informe you of something of this kind, as also ye news, wch is spread among them; there is likewise a Copy of a Letter of ye Arch BP of St. Andrews to ye Arch BP of Canterbury, wherein is not any great matter that I can observe, & whether there were really such a Letter writt or no I cannot tell, but if there were, you may see what Intelligence these men have, & if not, Tis maliciously suggested to disquiet ye minds of people. As I hear any thing further that is of moment, I shall not faile to comunicate it to yr LP & remaine. [Enclosure.] COPY OF FORGED LETTER OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP TO THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. MAY IT PLEASE YR GRACE, Albeit I kept long silence, & my correspondence with y1 Grace hath not bin soe frequent as formerly, yet like ye son of Croesus I must cry out when my Mother ye Church is in hazard, & I believe if I should hold my peace ye very stones would speake, for ye gospell is now at stake; we are assaulted not only by Foreigners, our old enemies ye Phanaticks, who were never of us, but also alass my Lord there is Fire in our owne bedstrawe, they are all crying for a generall Convocation of ye Clergie upon no other Acct, but that to shake off our Yoak, & break our bonds asunder. I hope yr Grace will consider ye owne hazard, & not forgett what disorders followed in England upon our distempers in Scotland; when our Neighbor's House is a Fire Tis Time to looke to our owne, their great aime and designe is at me, who God knows like Paul have spent myselfe in ye service of ye Church & am willing yet to spend what remains, & I believe that no man can say I have run in vain. If I be not supported by his Maties speciall favor through a This was sent July 13. |