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CLXV. THE EARL OF ESSEX TO THE EARL OF DANBY.

MY LORD,

Dublin Castle, Aug. 14, 1674.

By the hands of my Lord Ranelagh I received ye favor of yr Lps most oblieging Letter, dated ye 30th of July, wherein you are pleased to give me so many assurances of yr kindnesse, as I confesse I cannot wish for more, &, indeed, Tis one of ye greatest satisfactions could befall me, who have long desired ye honour of a firme & settled friendship wth yr LP, to find it now so well established; & since those Two worthy persons you name, my Lord Conway & Sr Arth Forbese have bin instrumentall & usefull to me herein, I doe assure yr LP that this part they have done shall much endear them to me.

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CLXVI.-WILLIAM HARBORD TO THE EARL OF ESSEX. MAY IT PLEASE YR EXCELLENCY,

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Windesore Castle, 22 Aug. 1674.

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This day I gave his Maty yr Letter wch he was pleased to reade wth great patience, & afterwards expressed all the kindnesse Imaginable for you, saying That he was abundantly satisfyed wth your cominge & care of His affaires, & yt he heartely wished he could have you both there & here. King told me yt he would in a few dayes discourse wth me about the regiment, & privately betwixt us two give you directions int, & that he had spoken somwhat to Forbese of it already. Fa. Patrick was extremely inquisitive wheither that I had not brought him any Letters from Conway, & wheither Conway had not writt to Kg by me, whereby Essex may be able to finde yt tis a plot laid by Conway to runn Essex into

* The first distinct notice that Conway is in the scheme against Essex. CAMD. SOC.

2 K

VOL. I.

some inconvenience about Fa. Patrick, and undoubtedly Con., Ran., Or., & Trea. endeavour all they can to weaken Essex wth King and people; & though I could not, by reason of ye great Company, speake much to Arl., yet he told me yt he was wounded by his Enemies, but yt Essex was wounded by his friends, & promised me this evening to come to particulars, but the post going away by 7 o' Clock, I must differ it till ye next post.

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CLXVII. THE EARL OF ESSEX TO THE EARL OF DANBY.

MY LORD,

Dublin Castle, Aug. 23, '74.

On Fryday last I received ye favour of yr LPs dated ye 14th of ' this moneth, ye substance of it relating to a Comission intended to be granted to ye Earle of Orrery, wch, importing more then was designed by his Majestie or known to yr LP, has, I finde by ye Letter, receivd some stop. I must also acquainte yr LP that some or other have not dealt well with you in telling yr LP that my Lord of Orrery did voluntarily surrender his patent of ye military power in Munster, whereupon yr LP writes that his Majestie would be glad to gratify his LP herein, especially because his LP did surrender that patent of ye Govermt of Munster without being demanded of him, & wch He might have kept wth very extraordinary powrs, whereas indeed his Military Comission, as well ye others, was by his Majesties Comand to be vacated, and had he refused to surrender, care would have bin taken to supersede it, as will appear by my Instructions, & Mr Atturney & Mr Sollicitors Advice how to execute them (here inclosed). The words of my 18th Instruction are these:

Whereas we have thought fitt, for divers good considerations us thereunto moving, to suppress ye Civill Courts & Military powrs of ye Two Presidents of Conaght & Munster in that our Kingdome (as (we shall more particularly by our royal Letters signify to them),

we have thought fitt hereby to direct you to proceed to ye suppressing of ye sd powers accordingly. And we doe therefore hereby authorise & impowr you to conforme ye practice of Civill causes in those our said provinces to ye method of ye Laws generally observed through ye whole Kingdome. And for ye due regulation & ordering of ye Military powr there, to erect, instead of ye said Presidents, Governors or Deputys of Countys for that purpose, wth such pow'rs & Instructions for ye Administration of their respective charges as you shall thinke necessary for that end, & as near as you can agreeable to ye powrs given to ye Deputy Lieutenants in England, & to name thereunto persons of known Loyalty, Courage, & prudence in that our Kingdome, To be continued during our pleasure.

By all wch It is apparent that his Maties resolutions were totally to suppress these Presidencys, & for ye Military part thereof to leave it wholly to me to erect & nominate Govern's of Countys wth such powrs as I should thinke necessary for that end. I did proceed to ye execution of that part, weh related to ye presidencys; my Lord of Orrery being then in ye Kingdome did readily resigne, my Lord Berkeley & La Kingston being both in England, I transmitted copies of what my Ld of Orrery had done, as formes for their resignation, they making some difficulties have not yet as I hear complied, nevertheless my Lord of Kingston hath obtained a Letter for a compensation, altho' ye patent be still in being. For ye constituting of Govern1s of Countys in pursuance of ye latter part of my Instruction the paper I have herewth enclosed will show yr LP what progress I have made in it, & upon what Acct I desisted.

If his Majestie shall thinke fitt to grant my Lord of Orrery a Comission, as others have for ye Govermt of Countys, & this to extend to two, three, four, or all ye Countys within ye Province of Munster, that his Majestie may be acquainted wth ye formes (now in Use) of these Comissions, & ye scope of ye powers conteyned in them, I have herewth transmitted a Copy of one (There are some few others of an antiquated Stile, of that sort my Lord of Donegall has one for Carrigfergus). I confess I doe much wonder why my

Lord of Orrery, being Major Genrl of ye Army, should desire any such Comission, weh is looked upon here as very insignificant, & indeed is soe; for I believe a man may be chiefe Govern' seven years, & not know unless by Accidt who are Governors of Countys. I have bin now above Two years in this place, & I am sure I cannot tell who they all are, for they never act or doe any Thing. However I concieve for his Majesties sake it may be most proper that ye Comission doe pass here, & this because it may be enquired whether some nobleman (as, for instance, my Lord of Tyrone hath for ye County of Waterford) have not already comissions for ye same, wch should they be thus superseded, would unnecessarily disobliege those persons, who are at present possest of these Comands, how inconsiderable soever in themselves, yet could not but take it a litle to heart to be turned out of them. I cannot conclude without giving yr LP my humble thanks for ye favor you express in these words of ye Letter, That you are agt any Thing new without my approbation to it.

CLXVIII.-WILLIAM HARBORD TO THE EARL OF ESSEX.

MAY IT PLEASE YR EXCELLY

London, 25 Aug. 1674.

I am more & more convinced yt Tr: Orr: Con: & Ran: are in Combination against Essex & endeavour to put all the tricks Imaginable upon him, & have attempted to set up an Irish secretary for that purpose, but I cannot as yet learne the man.

At Windesore I found great Complaints, yt Essex his lady had not visited Queen, & yt If it were not donne It would be ill taken, where upon I gave my thoughts freely to her about It, and she doth intend to doe it.

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If you have not already, I think It necessary that yr Excellency send y' thanks to Mr Secretary Coventry for his great Care of y Concerns at Court on all occasions, & particularly about Orrery; To-morrow Sr. Arthur, Sr. Henry, & my self meen to put things in a way upon his going away, wch he designes on Thursday next; I dare assure you that Ran: is much weakened in his Interest both wth Kg. & Trea: & yt Orrery is much worse then he, & Kg. hath declared his thoughts of both upon this last occasion frankly, & to me he called it a dirty trick; This is all at present from &c.

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All my Letters shalbe sealed this Seale to y' Excellency, & I will use it to nobody else.

CLXIX. THE EARL OF ESSEX TO MR. WILLIAM HARBORD.

MR. HARBORD,

Dublin Castle, Aug. 31, '74. I have recd yrs of ye 22 & 25 of Aug. I approve well of what my brother proposes concerning Mr Coke, & have writt to him to that purpose.

On Saturday last Mr Justice Johnson & Mr Justice Cusack, returning from their Circuite, gave me an Acct that among other persons condemned there was one whose name was Brown at Trim convict for murder in Time of ye Rebellion, & accordingly sentenced. Enquiring of ye particulars they made me this relation. This person, being a soldier in ye English Army, was appointed with others by ye Governt of Trim for ye guard of a litle Castle neer that Towne, for ye convenient bringing in of Corne & other provisions to that Garrison, & he finding an opportunity to deale wth some of ye Irish betrayd that place to them, who, when they enterd, putt all ye others to ye sword. I asked ye Judges whether they

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