And in that time the chancellor had enough to do
to inform the duke, who was not only very much
offended with the treasurer, but thought that he had
been, out of his friendship to the treasurer, more re-
miss than he ought to have been in a business so
earnestly recommended by him and his wife ; and
the intelligence from Salisbury had made reflections upon him as much as upon the other.
to inform the duke, who was not only very much
offended with the treasurer, but thought that he had
been, out of his friendship to the treasurer, more re-
miss than he ought to have been in a business so
earnestly recommended by him and his wife ; and
the intelligence from Salisbury had made reflections upon him as much as upon the other.
Edward Hyde - Earl of Clarendon
Clifford would give him a
" meeting at a place he appointed, to which the
" shallop should convey him. " Mr. Clifford was more
willing to go than the earl was to permit him ; yet
at last upon his earnest desire he consented, and he
put himself into the shallop. It happened that when
the action was over and the English under sail, the
vice-king arrived at Bergen, with two or three regi-
ments of the country ; and the orders were likewise
come from Copenhagen, whereby, at least as they
z from the governor] Not in MS.
E e 3
422 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. pretended, they were required to permit all that the
~" English desired : and the vice-king had caused the
shallop to be sent, and was himself with the gover-
nor at the place whither Mr. Clifford was to come,
and there he spake with them together.
The governor with many protestations excused
himself for shooting from the castle, after the town
was assaulted, and many of the burghers killed, who
had stood in arms only to defend the town, without
being concerned for the Dutch or their ships ; and
made it an argument of his integrity and respect,
" that he had permitted them to depart when it
" was in his power to have sunk them. " He com-
plained, " that the commander would not have the
" patience to defer the assault one day longer,
" which if he had done, the orders from Copenhagen
" had been come, and the vice-king had been pre-
" sent with his forces, which would have secured
** the enterprise. " The vice-king seemed very much
troubled for what had been done, and earnestly de-
sired " that the same or another squadron might be
" again sent in, when they should be at liberty to do
" what they would upon the Dutch ; and if they
*' stood in need of assistance, they should have as
" much as was necessary. "
Mr. Clifford replied to many of the excuses which
were made, and urged " the suffering the Dutch to
** bring their ordnance on shore, and the townsmen
** being in arms to assist them ;" and proposed,
" that they would first begin by seizing upon some
" of their ships, and then that their fleet should an-
" swer :" but this the vice-king did absolutely refuse,
and made another proposition, that startled more,
and was directly new, " that when the English had
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 423
" seized upon all the Dutch ships, they should not 1665.
" have carried any of them away till a perfect divi- ~
" sion of the goods was made, that the king of
" Denmark might have his just proportion. " Mr.
Clifford made no answer but " that he would pre-
" sent all that they proposed to the earl of Sand-
" wich, in whom the power of concluding and ex-
" ecuting remained solely :" and so he returned to
the fleet, and they to the town, and expected an
answer.
The earl of Sandwich thought not fit to run any The eari of
more hazards, and was not satisfied that they
proceeded sincerely. But that which most
vailed with him was, that he had received i
gence "that De Ruyter was come out with the
" fleet," and he would not he should find him en-
tangled in those rocks, or obliged to fight with him
upon that coast; and the season of the year now
made that station very unsecure, for it was already
the beginning of October, when those seas run very
high and boisterous : and therefore he resolved to
be master of more sea-room, that he might fight De
Ruyter, if he came ; and if he did not, he might then
meet those East India ships more securely in their
way to Holland, than by making another attempt
in the harbour. And so, after some letters had
passed and repassed between the vice-king and
him, and both the vice-king and governor had
undertaken to keep the Dutch ships there for the
space of six weeks, for they desired to see the suc-
cess of another engagement between the two fleets ;
the earl steered that way with his fleet that most
probably might bring him and De Ruyter together,
which above all things he desired.
E e 4
424 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. This whole affair of Bergen and the managery
Tbe au _ thereof was so perplexed and intricate, that it was
thor-s re. never clearly understood. That which seemed to
flections J
upon this have most probability was, that as soon as the
Dutch fleet came to Bergen, they had unladen
many of their richest commodities and put them
into the castle, before the governor had received his
orders from Copenhagen : and so both his own and
his master's faith and honour were engaged to dis-
charge the trust, of which he made haste to send an
account to the king, and thereupon expected new
directions, which were not arrived when the English
fleet came thither. And when they did come,
whether that court, according to its custom, did
change its mind, and believe they should make a
better bargain by keeping what was already depo-
sited in their hands in the castle, than by making
an uncertain division with the king; or whether
they did in truth continue firm to the first agree-
ment, and that the messenger was stopped by ex-
traordinary accidents in his journey, (which was po-
sitively alleged,) so that he did not arrive in time ;
or whether the governor was not able to master the
town that was much inclined to the Hollanders,
before the vice-king came with his troops, who did
make all possible haste as soon as he heard that the
English were arrived ; or whether the English did
proceed more unadvisedly and rashly than they
ought to have done ; remains still in the dark :
and both parties reproached each other afterwards,
as they found most necessary for their several
defences and pretences ; of which more hereafter.
The king The king stayed not altogether so long at Salis-
eourt re- bury as he had intended to have done : for besides
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 425
a little accidental indisposition which made him dis- 1 665.
like the air, some inferior servants and their wives more to
came from London or the villages adjacent, and xford '
brought the plague with them ; so that the court
removed to Oxford before the end of September,
the parliament being to assemble there on the tenth
of the next month. And before he left Salisbury,
his majesty sent an express to York to his brother,
" that he would meet him as soon as he could. "
The duke had lived in great lustre in York all that
summer, with the very great respect and continual
attendance of all the persons of quality of that large
county : and the duke no sooner received his ma-
jesty's summons than he took post, and left his wife
and family to follow by ordinary journeys, and him-
self came to Oxford the next day after the king,
where there were indeed matters of the highest im-
portance to be consulted and resolved.
The king had sent Mr. Clifford to Denmark to be
satisfied, upon conference with sir Gilbert Talbot,
concerning the miscarriage at Bergen, and if the
ships remained still there according to the promise
the vice-king had made, and if that king were
ready to perform what he had undertaken, that all
particulars might be so adjusted that there might
be no further mistake ; and if he found that the jea-
lousy of Sweden was a real obstruction to that
alliance, that he should make a journey to Sweden,
and upon conference with Mr. Coventry, who by
his dexterity and very good parts had reconciled the
affections of that court to a very great esteem of
him, endeavour a to remove all those obstructions :
and as soon as his majesty should receive full infor-
a endeavour] to endeavour
426 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. mation of that whole affair, he must consider what
~he was to do to vindicate himself in that business
of Bergen ; for he knew well that he must suffer
with all the world, for violating the peace of a port
that was under the government of a neighbour
prince with whom he was allied, if he did not make
it appear that he had the consent of that prince,
which he was not willing to do till he first knew
what that king would do.
A further j n fa e next place his majesty was to resolve what
negotiation > J
with the answer to make to the French ambassadors, who
French am- -i i / i- -,
bassadors. now desired trequcnt audiences, and positively de-
clared, " that their master was engaged by his
*' treaty with the Dutch, that in case they were in-
" vaded or assaulted by any prince, he would assist
" them with men, money, and ships, which he had
** hitherto deferred to do out of respect to the king,
" and in hope that he would accept his mediation,
** and make such propositions towards peace as he
" might press the others to consent to. " The Dutch
ambassador was likewise come to town, rather to
treat concerning the prisoners and to observe what
the French ambassadors did, than that he had any
thing to propose in order to peace, there appearing
now since their fleet was at sea more insolence in
the Dutch, and a greater aversion from the peace,
than had been formerly.
The king complained to the ambassadors of the
French king's proceedings, " that the entering into
** that treaty was expressly against his word given to
" the king : that the Dutch had first began the war,
' and ought to make the first approach towards
" peace, but that their b ambassador had no instruc-
b their] Not in MS.
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 427
" tion to make any such instance; and therefore it 1665.
" seemed very strange to his majesty, that the ~
" French king should press for that which they had
" no desire to have. "
The ambassadors confessed " that the Dutch did
" not desire a peace ; that they thought they were
" too much behindhand, and that they had at pre-
" sent great advantages ; that they looked upon the
" great plague in London" (which continued in its
full rage and vigour, insomuch as at that time in the
end of September there died not so few as six thou-
sand in the week, amongst which some were of the
best quality in the city) " as of such insupportable
" damage to the king, that he would not be able to
" set out another fleet the year following : and
" therefore that, when they had been pressed by the
" French king to make some propositions towards
" peace, he could get no other answer from them,
" than that they expected that the island of Pole-
" roone should be released to them, and that the
" fort at Cabo Corso in Guinea should be thrown
" down and slighted ; which they confessed was an
" insolent proposition. That they complained that
" the king their master, instead of giving them the
" assistance he was obliged to do, spent the time in
" procuring a peace, which they cared not for : so
" that," they said, " their master continued the same
" Christian office principally to do his majesty of
" Great Britain a service, who he in truth believed
" would be reduced to great straits by the terrible
" effect of the plague ; and in the next place to de-
" fend himself from entering into the war, which he
" could no longer defer to do, if his majesty did not,
" by consenting to some reasonable overture, give
428 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. " him a just occasion to press them to yield to it;
~~ " and in that case he would behave himself in that
" manner that the king should have no cause to
" complain of his partiality. " The king's indigna-
tion was so provoked by the pride and impudence of
the Dutch demands, that he gave the ambassadors
no other answer, than " that he hoped God Al-
v mighty had not sent that heavy judgment of the
" plague upon him and his people on the behalf of
" the Hollanders, and to expose him to their inso-
" lerice. "
Tlie parliament convened at Oxford in greater
""oxford. * numbers than could reasonably have been expected,
the sickness still continuing to rage and spread itself
in several counties ; so that between the danger that
was in the towns infected, and the necessary severity
hi other towns to keep themselves from being in-
fected, it was a very inconvenient season for all per-
sons of quality to travel from their own habitations.
Upon the tenth of October the king commanded
both houses to attend him in Christ Church hall,
The ting's and told them, " that he was confident they did all
. " believe, that if it had not been absolutely neces-
" sary to consult with them, he would not have
" called them together at that time, when the con-
" tagion had spread itself over so many parts of the
" kingdom : and he thanked them for their compli-
" ance so far with his desires. "
His majesty said, " the truth was ; as he had en-
" tered upon the war by their advice and encou-
" ragement, so he desired that they might as fre-
" quently as was possible receive information of the
" effects and conduct of it, and that he might have
" the continuance of their cheerful supply for the
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 429
" carrying it on. He would not deny to them, that 1665.
" it had proved more chargeable than he could ima- ~~
" gine it would have been : the addition the enemy
" had still made to their fleets, beyond their first
" purpose, made it unavoidably necessary for him to
" make proportionable preparations, which God had
" hitherto blessed with success in all encounters.
" And as they had used their utmost endeavours by
" calumnies and false suggestions to gain friends to
" themselves, and to persuade them to assist them
" against him, so he had not been wanting to en-
" courage those princes who had been wronged by
" the Dutch, to recover their own by force ; and in
" order thereunto, he had assisted the bishop of
" Munster with a great sum of ready money, and
" was to continue a supply to him, who he believed
" was at that time in the bowels of their country
" with a powerful army.
" Those issues, which he might tell them had
" been made with very much conduct and hus-
" bandry, (nor indeed did he know that any thing
" had been spent that could have been well and
" safely saved ;)" he said, " those expenses would
" not suffer them to wonder, that the great supply
" which they gave him for this war in so bountiful a
" proportion was upon the matter already spent : so
" that he must not only expect an assistance from
" them to carry on that war, but such an assistance
" as might enable him to defend himself and them
" against a more powerful neighbour, if he should
" prefer the friendship of the Dutch before his. "
He put them in mind, " that when he entered
" upon this war, he had told them, that he had not
" such a brutal appetite as to make war for war's
430 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
J665. " sake ; he was still of the same mind : he had been
" ready to receive any propositions that France had
" thought fit to offer to that end, but hitherto no-
" thing had been offered worthy his acceptance ;
" nor was the Dutch less insolent, though he knew .
" no advantage they had got but the continuance of
" the contagion, and he hoped that God Almighty
" would shortly deprive them of that encourage-
" ment. "
Substance The chancellor at the same time, by the king's
of the chan- J
command, made a short narrative of the history of
the war, the circumstances with which it was be-
gun, and the progress it had since made, and the
victory that the duke had attained; of the vast
number of the prisoners and sick and wounded men,
a charge that had never been computed.
He told them, " the French king had indeed of-
" fered his mediation, and that if he intended no more
" than a mediation, it was an office very worthy the
" most Christian king : he wished, that as a mediator
" he would make equal propositions, or that he
" would not so importunately press his majesty to
" consent to those he makes, upon an instance and
" argument, that he holds himself engaged by a for-
" mer treaty (of which his majesty had never heard
" till since the beginning of the war, and had some
" reason to have presumed the contrary) to assist
" the Dutch with men and money, if his majesty
" would not consent. "
He said, " his majesty had told them, that he had
" no appetite to make war for war's sake ; but he
" would be always ready to make such a peace as
" might be for his honour and the interest of his
" subjects = And no doubt it would be a great trouble
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 431
" and grief to his majesty to find so great a prince, 1665
" towards whom he had manifested so great an af-~~
" fection, in conjunction with his enemies : yet even
" the apprehension of such a war would not terrify
" him to purchase a peace by such concessions as he
" should be ashamed to make them acquainted with ;
" of which nature they would easily believe the pro-
" positions hitherto made to be, when they knew
" the release of Poleroone in the East Indies, and
" the demolishing the fort of Cabo Corso upon the
" coast of Guinea, were two ; which would be upon
" the matter to be contented with a very vile trade
" in the East Indies under their control, and with
" none in Guinea. And yet those are not propo-
" sitions unreasonable enough to please the Dutch,
" who reproached France for interposing for peace,
" instead of assisting them in the war, boldly in-
" sisting upon the advantage the contagion in Lon-
" don and some other parts of the kingdom gives
" them ; by which, they confidently say, the king
" will be no longer able to maintain a fleet against
" them at sea. "
He told them, " that he had fully obeyed the
" command that had been laid upon him, in making
" that plain, clear, true narrative of what had pass-
" ed ; he had no order to make reflection upon it, nor
"any deduction from it: the king himself had told
" them, that the noble, unparalleled supply they had
" already given him is upon the matter spent, spent
" with all the animadversions of good husbandly
" that the nature of the affair would bear. What
" was more to be done he left to their own generous
" understandings, being not more assured of any
" thing that was to come in this world, than that the
432, CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1 665. " same noble indignation for the honour of the king
~ " and the nation, that first provoked them to inflame
" the king himself, would continue the same passion
" still boiling in their loyal breasts ; that all the
" world may see, which they never hoped to have
" seen, that never prince and people were so entirely
" united in their affections, for their true, joint, in-
" separable honour, as their only sure infallible expe-
** dient to preserve their distinct several interests. "
A further The king could not expect or wish a fuller con-
g^Jd. currence from a parliament than he now found.
With very little hesitation they declared, " that they
" would supply his majesty with another million,
" (ten hundred thousand pounds :)" and because
they desired to be dismissed as soon as might be to
their several habitations, not without apprehension
that so great a concourse of persons from all places,
even from London itself, (for the term was likewise
adjourned to Oxford,) might bring the contagion
thither likewise ; they rejected all other businesses
but what immediately related to the public. To
the supply they designed to the king they added
the sum of above forty thousand pounds, which they
desired his majesty to confer upon the duke, having
received some insinuation, " that it would not be
" ingrateful to the king that such a present should
An act for be made to his brother. " Then they passed two
attainting o i i/ti*
the English or three acts ot parliament very much for the king s
honour and security, amongst which one was, " for
" the attainting all those his subjects who either re-
" sided in Holland" (as some of the English officers
who had long served in that country presumed still
to do) " and continued in their service, or in any
" other parts beyond the seas, if they did not ap-
service.
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 4433
" pear at a day prefixed, after notice by the king's 1C65.
" proclamation :" and the nomination of the persons "~
was entirely left to his majesty.
His majesty did hope, that this very good car-
riage in the parliament would have made some im-
pression upon France, either to have given c over
their mediation, or to have drawn reasonable and
just concessions from the States : but it did pro-
duce the contrary. The Hollander had received a
new damage which inflamed them exceedingly,
which shall be particularly mentioned in the next
place, whereupon they made grievous complaints to
France of its breach of faith upon the promises that
had been made to them. That d king upon this
required his ambassadors once more to make a lively
instance to his majesty, " that he would declare
" what he meant to insist upon in order to a peace,
" which if he should refuse to do, they should take
" their leaves and return into France with all pos-
" sible expedition. " In this audience they spake in
a higher style than they had formerly used. They The French
complained " of the intolerable damage the subjects dors re-
" of France had sustained in their goods and estates
" by the king's ships, and those who were licensed English*'' 6
" by his authority, which without any distinction
" seized upon all that came in their way as if they
" were Dutch : and when they complained to the
" admiralty or to the lords commissioners, they could
" procure no justice, and were obliged to such e an
" attendance and expense, that what they sued for
" did not prove of value to satisfy the charge of the
" prosecution ; and if after a long and a tedious so-
c have given] give d That] The e such] Not in MS.
VOL. II. F f
434 CONTINUATION OR THE LIFE OF
1665. " licitation they did at last procure a sentence for the
~~ " redelivery of what had been taken from them,
" when they hoped to enjoy the benefit of this just
" sentence by the execution, they found the goods
" embezzled in the port or plundered by the seamen,
" that the owners had rarely a third part of their
" goods ever restored to them. And that by this
" violence and unjust proceeding, of which they had
" often made complaint, the French merchants had
" lost near five hundred thousand pistoles ; which
" their master resented and looked upon as a great
" indignity to himself, which he had hitherto borne,
" in hope that the license would have been restrained
" by the end of the war. "
They urged it as an argument of their master's
friendship to the king, " that after an offensive treaty
" had been so long since entered into by him, by
" which he was obliged to assist the Dutch with
" men, money, and ships, he had notwithstanding
" hitherto forborne it, and looked on whilst they
" were soundly beaten, and had lately sustained
" another blow ; and that it was not possible for
" him to defer it longer :" and so concluded with
very earnest persuasions, " that his majesty would
" consent to such a peace as their master should
"judge to be reasonable, who could not but be very
" just to his majesty ;" and wished, " that it might
" be considered, besides the damage by the plague,
" which nobody knew how long it might continue,
" how impossible it was for the king to sustain the
" arms of France in conjunction with those of
" Holland, when possibly some other prince might
" join likewise with them. "
They who were appointed by the king to confer
EDWARD EARL OF CjLARENDON. 435
with the ambassadors were most perplexed to justify JG6f>.
their first charge, " of the depredation that had A confer _
"been made upon the French merchants," which e " cebe ~
* tween them
had in truth been very great, though not amounting and the
to the sum they mentioned. Yet to that they an- ministers
swered, " that the damage and loss which the sub- r e P mon- "
" jects of France had undergone that way had ori- strance "
" ginally proceeded from themselves, and their own
" default in owning the goods and merchandise of
" the Dutch to belong to themselves as their proper
" goods, and in undertaking to carry and deliver
" the wine and other goods, which were bought and
" paid for in France by the Hollanders, in French
" vessels in that country ; all which had been fully
" and notoriously proved, and could not be contra-
" dieted : and when that discovery was once made,
" it was no wonder if the seamen sometimes seized
" upon some vessels which were not liable to the
" same reproach. But when any complaints of that
" kind had been made, the king had always given
" strict charge to the judges to cause restitution to
" be made, and the transgressors to be severely pu-
" nished ; and his majesty presumed that the judges
" had done their duty. For the French king's being
" bound by his treaty to assist the Hollanders," they
Said, " that if the king had any such obligation upon
" him, it was subsequent to his obligation to his
" majesty, by which he was bound to make no such
" treaty : nor in truth did they believe that he had
" entered into any such treaty ? for if it were only
" such as they themselves stated it to be, a defen-
" sive league, it would neither engage nor excuse
" France in giving assistance to them who had done
" the wrong and begun the war ; and therefore if
F f 2
436 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1 665. " the king was in truth bound to assist them, it must
~ " be from some offensive, not defensive clause. "
The ambassadors replied, " that their master con-
" eluded that their king was the aggressor, and then
" the defensive article did oblige him ;" and they
acknowledged there was no other. It was answer-
ed, " that the king had assumed a power to judge
" upon a matter of fact of which he had taken no
" examination ; and that it was a partiality not agree-
" able to the office of a judge, to believe what the
" Dutch said, and not to believe what the king said,
" who had clearly published the true history of the
" fact ; and that it was notorious, and not possible
" to be denied, that they had refused to deliver Pole-
" roone according to their treaty, and that De Ruyter
" had begun the war in Guinea before one of their
" ships had been seized on by the king. " To which
they replied, " that their master thought otherwise,
" and did look upon the king as aggressor. " When
they were urged with the violation of the former
obligation by entering into the latter, all the answer
they gave was, " that they knew nothing of it, and
" that they had commission only to treat upon the
" present state of affairs, and not upon what had
" passed long before ;" and so, according to the cha-
racter they underwent near fourteen hundred years
since, " Galli ridentes fidem fregerunt. "
The counsellors of the king told them, " that
" their master had very well considered the disad-
" vantage he must undergo by the access of so pow-
" erful a friend, and of whose friendship he had
" thought himself possessed, to the part of his ene-
" mies, who were too insolent already ; and there-
" fore to prevent that disadvantage, he had and
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 437
" would do any thing that would consist with the
" dignity of a king : but that he must be laughed
" at and despised by all the world, if he should con-
" sent to make him the arbitrator of the differences
" who had already declared himself to be a party,
" and that he is resolved to make war against him
"on the behalf of his enemy ; and that such menaces
" would make no impression in the last article of
" danger that could befall the king. " The ambas-
sadors took that expression of menaces very heavily,
as if it were a tax upon their manners, and said
" they had never used words that could imply a
" menace. " To which it was replied, " that there
" was no purpose to make any reflection upon their
" persons, who had always carried themselves with
" great respect to the king, and who his majesty be-
" lieved did in their own particular affection wish
" him better than they did the Dutch : however the
" declaring, that if the king did not do this or that,
" the French king would make war upon him, could
" in no language be looked upon to have any other
"signification than of a menace and threat. " This
raised a little warmth on both sides, which made
the conference break off at that time.
The ambassadors prepared to be gone ; and the
king discerned clearly that there was no way to
divert the French from an entire conjunction with
the Dutch : and thereupon he assembled his secret
council together again, to consult what should be
the final answer his majesty -should give to the
French ambassadors at parting. There was no per-
son present, who had not a deep apprehension of the
extreme damage and danger that must fall upon the
Ff8
438 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. king's affairs, if in this conjuncture France should
""declare a war against England.
The pros- It was well known, that the duke of Beaufort
kfng-s af- e was forthwith to be at Brest, where all the French
ume. at " s king's ships were to assemble at their rendezvous by
Christmas ; that the French king f had already sent
to the bishop of Munster to dissuade him from pro-
secuting his enterprise against Holland, and that pro-
bably he might unite Denmark again to the Dutch,
and probably even allay those warm inclinations
which the Swede had for the king. It was well
known, that the French king had in the last dis-
tractions in Holland contributed very much to the
composing them, and to the support of the power
and credit of De Wit, who was the soul of the war,
and that he had sent him one hundred thousand
pistoles, without which they would have hardly been
able to have set out their last fleet under De Ruyter.
And ^above all this, his giving life to some domestic
rebellion in England and in Ireland, by sending mo-
ney to discontented persons, was apprehended : for
as there were enough discontented and desperate per-
sons in the latter, who wanted only arms and money
to declare for any prince who would take them into
his protection ; so % it was well known that there
was a general combination amongst those of the
late army to have risen, if the duke of York had
been defeated at sea, and that it was that victory
that disappointed that intended insurrection. That
there had been a later design, in the very height of
this dismal sickness and contagion, in London, (whi-
f the French king] he s so] Not in MS.
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 439
ther the fanatic party had repaired from all the 1665.
quarters of the kingdom, and had appointed a day ~
upon which the general should be assassinated, which
some soldiers of his own regiment had undertaken,
and then the whole rendezvous x was to be in several
streets at the same time ;) which in so formidable a
conjuncture might have succeeded to a great degree,
if by God's blessing it had not been discovered two
days before to the general, who caused some of the
chief conspirators to be apprehended, who suffered
afterwards by the hand of justice. And yet the
chief amongst them, colonel Danvers, who in spite
of all the vigilance that could be used had been al-
ways searched for and always concealed from the
time of the king's return, being at this time appre-
hended and brought before the general, and by him
sent with a lieutenant and a guard of soldiers to the
Tower, was rescued in Cheapside, and so escaped,
all the citizens looking on without aiding the officer.
This was the prospect that the king had of his
condition and affairs in this consultation : and there-
fore if any thing could have occurred that might
probably have diverted this storm, it would no doubt
have been embraced. But then the exceeding breach
of faith in entering into that treaty, the denying it
afterwards, and concealing his engagement by it so
long after the war was entered into, (which if he
had not done, the king could never have looked
upon him as a fit mediator,) and the impossibility
of depending upon any thing -that should be pro-
mised for the future, were convincing arguments
against any such reference of the conditions to his
determination as was proposed, and was the only
expedient that was proposed towards the making a
Ff 4
440 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. peace. It was well known that the chief counsels
of France, since monsieur Colbert entered upon the
ministry, had been directed towards the advance-
ment of manufactures at home, by which they might
have less need of commerce with their neighbours ;
and for the erecting a trade h abroad, with which
they had been very little acquainted in former times.
And it was justly to be feared, that where the judg-
ment was left to them, they would imitate the in-
famous Roman precedent, of adjudging that to
themselves that was in difference between their
neighbours and left to their decision : and so both
Poleroone in the East Indies, and Cabo Corso for
the West, must be determined to belong to them ;
which might be the rather apprehended, by their
having erected an East India company and a West
India company, before they had any visible founda-
tion for a trade in either, to which both these places
might carry with them great conveniences.
A final an- These considerations being seriously reflected upon,
with a little generous indignation to find himself
thus treated, prevailed with the king to lay aside
all thoughts of further complying with France, and
to resolve to dismiss the ambassadors without any
other answer, than what should contain complaints,
" of the French king's want of kindness, which his
" majesty had cultivated by all the offices he could
" perform since his restoration, which did not re-
" ceive an equal return, by the preferring the friend-
" ship of the Dutch before that of his majesty. "
They leave And with this answer the ambassadors were dis-
the king-
dom, missed, with liberal presents and all gracious de-
h a trade] a foreign trade
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 441
monstrations of esteem of their persons, and so 1665.
returned for France, where they always gave just
testimony of the civilities and fair treatment they
had received.
But this resolution increased the king's appetite
to peace, and made him think of all other expedi-
ents that might contribute to it ; and none seemed
so hopeful, as that France and Holland might be
divided : and he would have been very willing to A prospect
have agreed with Holland upon any reasonable con- France and
ditions, that he might continue the war with France ; Holland -
which there were many reasonable inducements to
hope might be brought to pass. It was notorious,
that preparations had been made for two or three
years past by France at a very great expense upon
the borders, that they might be ready to enter
into Flanders as soon as news should arrive of the
king of Spain's death ; and that war would immedi-
ately fall out as soon as that king's decease should
be known, which from his age and infirmities must
be expected every day : and in that case the friend-
ship could not continue long with Holland, which
thought that France was already too near a neigh-
bour to them, to be willing that they should be nearer
by a conquest of Flanders, which with its own force
could not make an equal resistance. It was likewise
as notorious that all the other provinces, Holland
only excepted, did impatiently desire the peace; and
Holland had only been restrained from the same
impatience by the sole credit" and authority of De
Wit, and by his persuading them, " that France
" would assist them with men, money, and ships, and
*' likewise declare a war. against England, which"
442 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. (as hath been said before) " would produce a peace
~ " upon such conditions as would make it happy to
" them :" and that though it was true that it had
indeed assisted them with some money, it was not
considerable to their vast expenses, nor in truth of
importance in comparison of the other, which it was
equally obliged to do, and had performed nothing.
And it was evident that Holland itself was jealous
of those proceedings ; and even De Wit, in his pri-
vate discourses to other ministers, seemed to be much
unsatisfied with their breach of faith, and not to be
without apprehension that they would in the end
enter into a stricter alliance with England, and leave
Holland as a prey to both.
The Spanish ambassador, who always desired that
the peace might be established between the English
and the Dutch, and that they would both join with
Spain in a defensive league, into which Denmark
would be glad to enter, and Sweden might be drawn
in upon the same conditions which they now re-
ceived from France, towards which he had often de-
sired the king to interpose, was now very glad that
the French ambassadors had taken their leaves and
were gone ; and he pretended to have many assu-
rances from the Spanish ambassador at the Hague,
that the Dutch had those inclinations which are
mentioned before, " and that De Wit would be glad
" to confer in private with any man trusted by the
" king, if he might be sure that it should not be
" communicated to France. " Upon all these proba-
bilities, and the certainty that no good could be ex-
pected from France, his majesty resolved to embrace
all opportunities to agree with Holland ; towards
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 443
which he had a secret intelligence, to which he gave 1665.
more credit than to all the rest, which shall be~
mentioned hereafter.
There were so many great transactions during the
king's residence in Oxford, besides what was done
in the parliament and what related to the dismission
of the French ambassadors, so many counsels which
were executed, and so many secret designs only ini-
tiated then, and not executed till long after, that
there cannot be too particular a recollection of the
occurrences of all that time. And if some things
are mentioned which seem too light and of too small
importance to have a place in this relation, they will
be found at last to be the rise and principal ingre-
dient to some counsel and resolution, which proved
afterwards of consequence enough, as well to the
public as to the interest of particular persons.
The first attempt that was made was to make a AD attempt
breach between the chancellor and the treasurer, friendship
who had been long fast friends, and were believed
to have most credit with the king; and they who an ^ trea *
loved neither of them thought the most likely way
to hurt them was to make them love one another
less. Several attempts had been made upon the
chancellor to that purpose without effect : he knew
the other too well to be shaken in the esteem he had
of his friendship, and the knowledge he had of his
virtue.
But there was now an accident fell out, that gave
them an opportunity to suggest to the treasurer,
" that the chancellor had failed in his friendship to-
" wards him. " The occasion was upon the vacancy The occa.
of an office near the queen by the death of Mr. 8lonoflU
Mountague, master of the horse to her majesty, who
444 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. had been killed before Bergen : and the news arriv-
ing with the duke at York, before it was known at
Salisbury to the king, the duke and his wife writ to
the king and to the queen " to confer that place
" upon his younger brother," who was now become
both the eldest and the only son to his father, the
lord Mountague of Boughton ; and the gentleman
himself, on whose behalf the letters were writ, came
himself by post with them within two or three
hours after the news was brought to Salisbury, and
he brought likewise a letter from the duchess to the
chancellor, " to assist the gentleman all he could
" in his pretence," he at the same time enjoying
the same office under the duchess that his brother
had under the queen.
The chancellor had never used to interpose in
matters of that nature, nor had he any acquaintance
with this gentleman who was now recommended :
yet he could not refuse to wait upon the queen, and
shew her the letter he had received, without any
intention to appear further in it. But when he
waited upon the queen, who had received her letter
before, her majesty seemed graciously disposed to
gratify the gentleman, if the king approved it ; but
said, " that she would make no choice herself of any
" servant without knowing first his majesty's plea-
" sure :" and she added, " that she had been in-
" formed, that the lord Mountague was very angry
" with his son that was unfortunately slain, for hav-
" ing taken that charge in her family, and that he
" never allowed him any thing towards his support ;
" and if all other obstructions were out of the way,
" she would not receive him, except she were first
" assured that his father would like and desire it. "
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 445
Her majesty vouchsafed to wish the chancellor " to 1665.
" speak with the king, and as dexterously as he could ~~
" to dispose him to recommend Mr. Mountague to
" her, as just and reasonable, since his brother had
" lost his life in his service. "
This command of her majesty obliged the chan-
cellor to wait upon the king, and to shew him the
letter he had received from the duchess ; and at the
same time the king gve him that which he had
from the duke, in which his highness desired him,
" that if that place was not presently conferred upon
" Mr. Mountague, his majesty would not dispose of
" it till he waited upon him. " The chancellor told
him, " that the queen gave no answer, but referred
" it entirely to his majesty. " And he said, " he
" would never recommend any person to her but
" such a one as would be very grateful to her. " He
said, " it would seem very hard to deny one brother
" to succeed another who was killed in his service. "
He confessed, " that the lord Crofts had moved him
" on the behalf of Mr. Robert Spencer, of whom he
" had a good opinion : but that he had answered
" him, that he would not do any thing in it till
"he saw his brother ; which resolution he would
" keep. " To which the chancellor made no reply,
having in his own private inclinations and affection
much more kindness for Mr. Spencer, of whose pre-
tence he had never received the least intimation
before, than for the other, with whom he had spoken
very few words in his life. He told Mr. Mountague
no more but that which the king himself had told
him, " that he would not dispose of the place till
" the duke should arrive ;" only he added what
the queen had said of his father, and advised him
446 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1G65. to think of the way to remove that obstruction.
~ Whereupon he resolved to make a journey to his fa-
ther, which he knew he might well do before the
king and his brother could meet.
The same night Mr. Spencer came to the chan-
cellor, and brought him a letter from the treasurer
(whose nephew he was, and who was unfortunately
gone out of the town the day before to a house of
his own twenty miles distant) to recommend his ne-
phew to the queen, to whom and to the king he had
likewise letters. The chancellor gave him an ac-
count of all that had passed, shewed him the letter
that he had received from the duchess, and told him
what the queen and the king had said, and " that it
" was not possible for him to do him service, for
" which he was very sorry ;" but advised him " to
" deliver both his letters, and to attend their ma-
" jesties, who he was confident had yet taken no re-
" solution :" with all which he was very well satis-
tisfied, and confessed " he could not expect that he
" should appear for him. " When he delivered his
letters to both their majesties, he received so gra-
cious an answer from both, that he might reasonably
expect 1 his suit to be granted, though the king told
him, " he would not dispose of the place till he
" spake with his brother. " And there is no doubt
but if the lord treasurer had been in the town when
the news first came to the king of Mr. Mountague's
death, which was a whole day before the arrival of
the duke's letter, the king or queen would not have
denied him his request.
Within a short time after Mr. Spencer had left
1 expect] Omitted in MS.
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 447
him, the lord Crofts, who had married his sister, and ifi65.
was governed by the lord Arlington, came to the""
chancellor, and desired him " to take care, out of
" his friendship with the treasurer, that the king
" might not refuse to gratify him in this suit for his
" nephew, which was the first he had ever made ;
" and if he should be denied, it would exceedingly
" trouble him. That when he spake to the king of
" it, as soon as the news came, and told him, he was
" sure that the treasurer would be a suitor to him
" for his nephew, his majesty did promise him that
" he should have it ; and that both their majesties
" had as good as said the same now to Robert
" Spencer : and therefore, if he would now use his
" credit, the thing might be despatched presently,
"^nd without further delay. " **y^
The chancellor asked him, " whether Mr. Spencer
" had informed him of all that had passed between
" them two :" he said, " yes ; and that he had done
" all that the duchess had desired him, in speaking
" both to the king and queen, and that his friendship
" to the lord treasurer should prevail with him to
" use all his endeavours for his nephew. " Where-
upon the chancellor shewed the duchess's letter, and
repeated to him again all that he had formerly said
to Mr. Spencer, and asked him, " what the duke
" and his wife must think of him, if, instead of pur-
" suing what they desired, he should solicit quite
" contrary to it. " He said, " that he might tell
" them that he was engaged by the lord treasurer
" before he received their letter;" and then talked
passionately and indiscreetly " of the affront the
" treasurer would think he received, if this were de-
" nied him; and that all the world would say, that
448 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. " he might have compassed it, if he had not failed
" in his friendship. " To which he made no other
answer, than " that the doing so base a thing as he
*' desired would more probably destroy that friend-
" ship with a man so punctual in honour and justice
" as the treasurer was, than any thing that he had
" done or should leave undone ;" and advised him
" not to make the business worse by his activity,
" and that if he had the king's and queen's promise,
" as he pretended, he might very well acquiesce till
" the duke came. "
However, his very great indiscretion and pre-
sumption made the thing much worse, by deliver-
ing messages from the king to the queen, and from
her majesty to the king, that they both disavowed,
and by his usual discourses, " that it should now
" appear who had the most credit with the king,
" the duke or the treasurer, and how much the king
" would suffer, if he disobliged the treasurer;" all
which was quickly transmitted by the intelligence
that was every day sent to York. On the other
hand, he still advised the treasurer " to continue his
" importunity to the king and queen," (a thing the
most contrary to his nature,) and assured him, " that
" it would be grateful to them, and was expected
" by them. " Whereupon, as soon as the treasurer
came to the court, which was not till the king came
to Oxford, he went to both their majesties, and re-
newed his suit to them with more warmth and con-
cernment than was customary to him, and received
such an answer from both as very well satisfied him :
and without doubt the king intended to persuade his
brother to desist from pressing him further on the
behalf of the other, for whom he had no kindness.
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 449
But the duke, who arrived by post the very next 1665.
day, came in another temper than was expected.
The intelligence from Salisbury of the contest that
was for that place, and the insolent behaviour and
expressions used by the lord Crofts, had exceedingly
moved him, and he looked upon the treasurer as
engaged to try who had the greatest power, and as k
in opposition to him : so that the same night that he
came to town, when the king and he were in pri-
vate, he complained of it with much warmth ; and
he besought his majesty importunately " that he
" would declare, that the world might know who had
" most interest in his favour, he or the treasurer. "
The king was so much put out of the method he
intended to use in this affair, knowing that the ex-
pressions the duke had mentioned had been too often
used by the lord Crofts, for which he had often re-
prehended him, that he presently applied that re-
medy which he thought most proper; and, after
conference with the queen, signed the warrant for
admitting Mr. Mountague into the office, who was
sworn the next morning : so that the first news the
treasurer heard, after both their majesties had the
day before said all to him that he could desire, was,
that the place was already full ; which he received
with more commotion than was natural to him, and
looked upon it as a designed contrived affront, to
expose him to contempt. " Why would not the
" king, if he had changed his mind after he left
fl him, first send him word of it, that he might have
" known his purpose ? "
All this storm fell presently upon the chancellor :
k as] Not in MS.
VOL. II. G g
450 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. the lord Crofts assured him, " that it had been done
~" at Salisbury, if he had not hindered it; that he
" had been with the duke before he spake with
" the king, and given him advice what tune he
" should speak in, which was used accordingly, and
" had prevailed ; and that when he came into the
" duke's chamber to kiss his hand, his highness
" turned away, and would not speak to him, which
" must proceed from the influence of the chancellor. "
Whereas in truth the chancellor had only seen the
duke in public, and said no more to him than what
he said in public, thinking it no good manners to
trouble him with any private discourse, when he
was so weary of his journey ; nor did he know that
any thing was done in that affair till the day after
it was done, and after it was known to the treasurer.
Upon the 'whole matter, how unwilling soever he
was to believe that he could be so grossly faulty to
him, when he saw the chancellor next, his counte-
nance was not the same it used to be ; which the
other taking notice of, asked him, according to his
"usual familiarity, " what the matter was ;" but re-
ceived such an answer as made him discern that
there was somewhat amiss : and so he said no more.
The other being the same day with the king, the
duke came into the room, and in his looks mani-
fested a displeasure towards the treasurer, which
confirmed the former jealousy of the chancellor ;
which was improved by the ladies, who did not like
their lodging, and thought it proceeded from want
of friendship in him, who had the power over the
university, and might have assigned what lodgings
he pleased to the treasurer; and he had assigned
this, as the best house in the town for so great a
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 451
family, and which their own servant had desired as 1G65.
the best in the town, as it was.
When the chancellor discovered the ground of
this alteration, he grew out of humour too, and
thought himself unworthily suspected: and so for
two or three days the two friends came not together.
And in that time the chancellor had enough to do
to inform the duke, who was not only very much
offended with the treasurer, but thought that he had
been, out of his friendship to the treasurer, more re-
miss than he ought to have been in a business so
earnestly recommended by him and his wife ; and
the intelligence from Salisbury had made reflections upon him as much as upon the other. But his royal
highness willingly received information of all that
had passed, and discerned the foul carriage of others
as well as of the lord Crofts; and was pleased to
confess, " that he had done all he ought to do, and
" that he had been misinformed of the lord trea-
" surer's part in that affair, which had made him
" think amiss of him ; which he would acknowledge
" to him next time he saw him. "
After this the chancellor, having a more clear
view, upon conference with the king and the duke,
of this pernicious design, which in some degree had
compassed its end, if there grew a strangeness be-
tween the treasurer and him, went to him : and they
being together without any others, he told him, " it
" should not be in his power to break friendship
" with him to gratify the humour of other people,
" without letting him know what the matter was,"
which he conjured him to impart to him ; assuring
him, " that he would find that nothing was more im-
" possible than that he could commit a fault towards
Gg2
452 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. " him, and that they who wished well to neither of
~ " them had contrived this separation as the best
" way to hurt them both. " And when he saw that
lie did not yet open himself, he told him, " that he
'" had heard that he had received some umbrage in
'* the pretence of his nephew, and therefore he would
" give him an account of all that he knew of it,"
which he did exactly ; and concluded with a pro-
testation,' " that he had not known what had been
" done at Oxford till after he came from him, when
" he observed the change of his countenance towards
" him, of the cause of which he could not then make
" any conjecture. "
The treasurer thereupon with his usual freedom
told him, " that if his part had been no other than
" as he related, he thought himself obliged to give
" him a narration of all he had done, and of the
" grounds and motives he had to think that he had
" failed in his friendship. " And thereupon he men-
tioned " the kindness and esteem he had for his
" nephew, whom he thought in all respects of birth
" and breeding at least as worthy of that relation as
" the gentleman who was possessed of it ; and yet
" that since he was not upon the place, he had no
" mind to engage himself in the suit : and that
" when his nephew had given him an account what
" the chancellor had said to him," which he did with
great ingenuity, " and he knew that the duke of
" York appeared in it for another, he resolved to
" prosecute it no further ; until the lord Crofts with
" all confidence assured him, that the king had pro-
'" mised him to confer the place upon Robert Spencer,
" and that both their majesties expected that he
" should make it his suit, to the end that they might
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 453
" thereby decline the importunity that he expected 1665.
" from his brother. " He told him of some expressions ~~
he had used to the king in that affair, which the king
himself had reported ; and " that when he took his
" leave of the queen to go to Oxford," (which was
the next day after Mr. Mountague came from York,)
" he dissuaded her majesty from receiving Mr.
" Spencer, alleging some reasons against it, which a
" lady who was near overheard, and informed the
" person of it who acquainted him with it : all
" which, with the king's and queen's so ample pro-
" mises to him so few hours before the conferring
'* the place upon another, and the duke of York's
" manner of receiving him after he had been shut
" up with him, as he was informed, might very well
" excuse him for thinking he had some share in the
" affront he had undergone. "
To which the other replied, " that if indeed he
" did believe all that he had been told, he could not
" but think so ; but," he said, " he thought he had
" known him better than to give credit to such re-
" ports, which must make him a fool and a knave :
" that for the words he should have used to the
" king or the queen, there had nothing passed like
" it to either of them, but that they were purely
" devised out of malice ; which should be manifest
" unto him, for he would not speak a word of it to
" the king till they were both with him together)
" and then he would ask before him what his car-
" riage had been, and by his majesty's sudden an-
" swer he might judge of the report. " He told him
then, " how much he had suffered with the duke,
" and what excellent stories had been made to his
" royal highness of both of them, and of the good
Gg3
454 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. " part the lord Crofts had acted, of which he was
~~" not without some evidence. " After this eclair-
cissement, of the sincerity whereof every day admin-
istered new testimony, they both returned to their
mutual confidence in each other : and they who had
contrived this former device entered into a new
confederacy, how they might first remove the trea-
surer, which would facilitate the pulling the chan-
cellor down ; of which anon.
The duke Within a short time after the duke returned out
consults the
chancellor of Yorkshire, his highness told the chancellor in
\ng two"* confidence, " that he had two suits which he in-
king. * the " tended to make to the king, and with which he
" first acquainted him, that he might have his as-
" sistance in the obtaining them. The first was, in
" which he and his wife were equally engaged, to
" prevail with the king to make sir George Savile a
" viscount. " He said, " he knew well the resolution
" the king had taken, to which he had contributed
" his advice, to make no more lords : but that he
" hoped in this particular case his majesty would
" upon his desire dispense with a general rule.
" That sir George had one of the best fortunes of
" any man in England, and lived the most like a
" great man ; that he had been very civil to him
" and his wife in the north, and treated them at his
" house in a very splendid manner ; and that he
" was engaged to prevail with the king in this
" point, or to confess he had no power, which he
" hoped he should not be without in this matter ;"
and asked his opinion.
The chancellor in his usual freedom, which he
always took when he was to deliver his advice to
the king or duke, said, "that he could not advise
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 455
*' his highness to move the king in it; for besides
" that he knew the king's positive determination,
" the departure from which might ,be of ill con-
" sequence, sir George Savile was a man of a very
" ill reputation amongst men of piety and reli-
" gion, and was looked upon as void of all sense
" of religion, even to the doubting, if not denying,
" that there is a God, and that he was not reserved
" in any company to publish his opinions : which
" made him believe that it would neither be for
" his highness's honour to propose it, nor for the
" king's to grant it, in a time when all license in
" discourse and in actions was spread over the king-
" dom, to the heart-breaking of very many good
" men 1 , who had terrible apprehensions of the con-
" sequence of it. " The duke was not at all pleased
with his discourse, and said, " he was resolved to
" use all his credit with the king to compass it, and
" that he hoped, that whatever he thought, he would
" not oppose it. "
The other particular was, " that he would move
" the king to make Mr. Coventry his secretary a
'* privy counsellor ;" and asked him " what he
" thought of that. " To which he answered, " that
" his opinion in that point would please him no bet-
" ter than in the former. That he did not think it
" fit to be asked : and if the king his brother were
" inclined to be jealous of him, as some had endea-
" voured to persuade him, such an instance as this
" would very much confirm it ; for never any
" prince of Wales had a servant of the highest de-
" gree about him called to the council, till his father
" called the earl of Newcastle, who was the prince's
1 men] Omitted in MS.
Gg4
456 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. " governor, to the board; which was not till upon
"~" the approach of the troubles he discerned that he
" should employ him in another charge. That the
" members of that board had been always those
" great officers of state, and other officers, who in
" respect of the places they held had a title to sit
'* there, and of such few others who, having great
" titles and fortunes and interest in the kingdom,
" were an ornament to the table. That there were
" at present too many already, and the number
" lessened the dignity of the relation : that his high-
" ness had already brought the lord Berkley thither,
" who had no manner of title to be there but his de-
" pendance upon him ; and now to bring in his se-
" cretary, for no other reason but for being his se-
" cretary, might be thought an encroachment, and
" be misinterpreted by the king. " He added, " that
" his wrangling litigious nature would give the
'* board much trouble ; and that he knew him to be
" so much his particular enemy, that he would
" watch all the opportunities to do him all possible
" ill offices to the king and to his royal highness. "
The duke replied only to the last, and said, " he
" perceived somebody had done Will. Coventry ill
(C offices, which he knew to be unjust and false :
** and that he could assure him, upon his own
" knowledge, that he had a great respect for him,
" and desired his favour ; and that he would pass
" his word for him, that he would never do any
** thing to disserve him, which if he should do, he
" should for ever lose his favour, which he knew
" well. " And no doubt the duke did believe all he
said, for he had a perfect kindness for the chancel-
lor; and when he did not comply with what he
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 457
wished, he knew that it was out of the integrity of 1665.
his judgment, and his strict duty to the king and""
himself, and that he had never flattered or dissem-
bled with either of them. And Mr. Coventry had
skill enough to persuade him to believe what he de-
sired should be true, though there were in the view
of all men frequent instances of the contrary, and of
the absence of all ingenuity and sincerity in his ac-
tions.
Within very few days after this conference, and ^he duke
11-1 . 11 moves the
when the duchess had made new instance with her king to
father in the case of sir George Savile, and with
more importunity than the duke, and appeared more
concerned and troubled that he should not be more
forward to comply with the duke's desires, (but the
chancellor, who always with the respect that was
due to her quality preserved the dignity of a father
very entire, would give no other answer than he
had done to the duke, and advised her to dissuade
him from making the request to the king ;) his
highness one day desired the king that he would re-
tire into his closet, and call the chancellor to him :
and when they three were together in the room,
after a short discourse of letters which he had TG-
ceived from the earl of Sandwich, which there will
be occasion anon to mention at large, the duke told
the king, " he had an humble suit to his majesty ;"
and then spake much of the great interest that sir
George Savile had in the northern parts, of the
greatness of his estate, and his orderly and splendid
way of living, and concluded with his desire, " that
" his majesty would make him an English viscount. "
Upon which the king presently put him in mind
" of the resolution he had formerly made in that
458 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. " room, and he thought upon his own motion, but
~~" he was sure it had been with his concurrence and
" approbation. "
The duke replied, " that he remembered it very
" well, and thought he should do well still in the.
" general to observe it : yet it was in those cases al-
" ways supposed, that an extraordinary case might
" fall out, that might produce an exception ; and he
" did most humbly beseech his majesty, that he
" would, upon his very earnest interposition-, from
" which nobody could make a precedent, dispense
" with the rule. " He did confess, " that he was so
" confident of his majesty's favour, that he had given
" sir George Savile cause to believe that he would
" prevail in that suit ; which if he should not do, he
" must be thought either not to have intended what
" he promised, or to have no credit with his ma-
" jesty, neither of which would be for his honour. "
which the The king replied roundly, and with more pre-
not consent sence of mind than he had always about him, " that
" it was absolutely necessary to be very precise in
" the observation of the rule, which if he should
" once break, a world of inconveniences would break
" in upon him, which he could not defend himself
" against. " He named two or three persons who
were very solicitous for honours, and had several
pretences to it, and his majesty had only been able
to resist and evade their importunity, by objecting
this declared resolution to them. The plain truth
is ; he had made some promise (a weakness he was
too often liable to), to those persons or to their friends,
" that when he should make any new creations,
" they should be sure to be in the number :" nor did
he apprehend any inconvenience from redeeming
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 459
himself from the present importunity, which was still 1665.
grievous to him, since he had resolved to make no
new creation. And this was the true reason that
made him now so inexorable to his brother, who was
very much troubled, and declined to move any thing
else in so unlucky a season, not without some appre-
hension, from the king's quicker way of discourse,
that he had been prepared for it by the chancellor,
who though present had not spoke one word in the
debate, nor indeed ever informed the king of the
conference his highness had formerly held with him
upon that subject, nor ever spoken to him concern-
ing it.
However, in this perplexity, as the duke thought
it necessary to inform Mr. Coventry, who had prin-
cipally advanced this pretence, all that had passed
before the king, that his nephew (for so sir George
Savile was) might see he could make no further pro-
gress in it ; so in the passion he unwarily told him
all that had passed in the former conference with
the chancellor, which he took care should not be
concealed from any who were like to be willing to
revenge it. And the duke, to shew how willing he
was to oblige the family, immediately received a
younger brother of sir George Savile, whom he had
only seen in the north, to wait upon him in his bed-
chamber ; who being a young man of wit, and in-
credible confidence and presumption, omitted no
occasion to vent his malice against the chancellor,
with a license that in former times would have been
very penal, though it had concerned a person of a
much inferior quality in the state.
Within a short time after, the king told the Mr. wniiam
chancellor, " that his brother had desired him that adm! ttc7of
460 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. " his secretary Mr. Coventry might be admitted of
the privy. " the privy-council, which he could not deny, but
council and na( j p rom j se( i it should be done at the next meet-
the private
committee;"' ing;" which was accordingly done, and he knight-
. ed: and quickly after, upon the like desire of the
duke, he was called to that committee with which
his majesty used to consult his most secret affairs.
And from this time there was an alteration in the
whole carriage and debate of all manner of business :
and as the chancellor had found his own credit with
the king much diminished from the time of the lord
Arlington's being secretary ; so a greater decrease of
it was now visible to all men from the access of this
new counsellor.
The lord Arlington had not the gift of speaking
nor of a quick conception, and go rarely contradicted
any thing in council: his talent was in private,
where he frequently procured, very inconveniently,
changes and alterations from public determinations.
But sir William Coventry (between whom and the
other there was an entire conjunction and combina-
tion) was a man of quick parts and a ready speaker,
unrestrained by any modesty or submission to the
age, experience, or dignity of other men, equally
censorious of what had been done before he was a
counsellor, as solicitous in contradiction of whatsoever
was proposed afterwards : insomuch as the very first
time that he was admitted to the private committee,
the debate being about providing money to be paid
at a day approaching to the bishop of Munster, ac-
cording to the king's obligation, he said, " we had
" need enough of money for our own immediate
" occasions ; and that we ought not to assign any to
" the advancement of the affairs of other men. "
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 461
Whereupon he was informed " of the treaty the 1665.
" king had entered into, and that the bishop was at ~~
" that time upon his march, which was by every
" body looked upon as of great importance to his
" majesty ;" to which he answered, " that he had
" heard somewhat of it, how secretly soever it had
" been carried, and that he had never liked it from
" the beginning, nor would give his consent that any
" more money should be paid towards it ;" which
the king himself looked upon as a rare impudence.
His great ambition was to be taken notice ef j for where he
opposing and contradicting whatsoever was proposed oppoleftL
or said by the chancellor or treasurer, towards whom chancellor
and trea-
all other counsellors, how little soever they cared surer -
for their persons, had ever paid respect in regard of
their offices. He was a declared enemy to all law-
yers, and to the law itself; and any thing passed
under the great seal of England was of no more
authority with him, than if it were the scroll of a
scrivener. He had no principles in religion or state ;
of one mind this day, and another to-morrow ; and
always very uneasy to those who were obliged to
consult with him; whose pride and insolence will
administer frequent occasions of mention throughout
the ensuing relation.
The king had not been many days in Oxford, ^" e cc ^ t of
when news arrived that the earl of Sandwich had& fterthe
. a m . i T-V n attempt at
been engaged in some conflict with the Dutch fleet ; Bergen.
of the particulars whereof there was a general long-
ing to be advertised. The truth was, that whilst
the earl rode, after the business of Bergen, as near
that coast as was safe, in expectation of the Dutch
fleet, the winds, which are always tempestuous in
that season of the year, September, made it abso-
462 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. lutely necessary for him to remove with his whole
~ fleet to the coast of Scotland, where there were har-
bours enough for him to ride safe ; and in this in-
terval of time De Ruyter was passed by towards
that of Norway. The news of their Indian fleet
having been attacked by the English in Bergen, and
the letters of some of their officers, which implied as
if they were not satisfied in the security of the port
and of the fidelity of the governor, produced a won-
derful consternation in Holland ; and if they should
be deprived of that wealth, the very company of the
East Indies would be in danger of being dissolved.
The fleet was ready to set sail, under the com-
mand of De Ruyter, well fitted and manned : but
there were still many m factions amongst the cap-
tains and other officers, that might upon any acci-
dents produce many mischiefs ; for the better pre-
vention whereof, the pensionary De Wit was willing
to venture his own person, believing himself to be
as secure any where as on shore, if any misfortune
should befall the fleet. And so he was by a special
commission made plenipotentiary, with an ample
allowance for his table, and a guard of halberdiers
for the safety of his person, with a good train of vo-
lunteers : and so he put himself on board the ship
of De Ruyter, who received orders from him.
Lord sand- The earl of Sandwich, after he had received ad-
abie'to * vertisements of the Dutch fleet's being passed by
come to an f or Norway, took all the care he could to put him-
engagement
with De self and his fleet in the way of their return. They
made a short stay on the coast of Norway, where
upon good consideration their ships were dismissed,
m many] so many
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 463
and loud clamour raised against the hostility of the 1665.
English. And notwithstanding all the vigilance the"
earl could use, the darkness and length of the nights
so favoured them, that he could not engage their
whole fleet, as he endeavoured to do : yet he had But takes
many of his
the good fortune in two encounters to take eight of ships in
their great ships of war, two of their best East India
ships, and about twenty of their other merchant
ships, which were all under the protection of their
fleet, or ought to have been. After which he was
by tempest driven to put the fleet into security in
the English harbours, it being already the month of
October.
It was a fair booty, and came very opportunely to
supply the present necessities of the navy, and to
provide for the setting out of the next fleet at
spring, and was in truth gotten with very good con-
duct, and without any considerable damage : but it
being much less than was expected, (for whatsoever
was upon the sea was looked upon as our own,) the
news no sooner arrived at Oxford, but intelligence
came with it of many oversights which had been
committed and opportunities lost, otherwise it had
been easy to have taken the whole fleet ; and that it
might have been pursued further when it was in
view, after those East India ships were taken, which
were indeed surprised and boarded at the break of
day, when they thought themselves in the middle
of their own fleet. And it is as true that the earl
did then pursue to engage the fleet, till they were
got so near the French shore, that the wind blowing
in to the land, it was by all the flag-officers thought
absolutely necessary to give over the chace.
464 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. Sir William Coventry, who had never paid a ci-
sirw. co- vility to any worthy man but as it was a disobliga-
ventry-s t j on to another whom he cared less for, and so had
unjust re-
flections only contributed to the preferment of the earl of
upon him. -. . ;,. . ',/,. ,. . , . .
Sandwich in the last expedition that he might cross
prince Rupert, received much intelligence from seve-
ral officers in the fleet, which he scattered abroad to
the prejudice of the earl, and was willing that it
should be believed that he had been too wary in
avoiding danger. But the king and the duke were
very just to the earl, and discountenanced all those
reports as scandals and calumnies : and the duke,
who had seen his behaviour in the most dangerous
action, gave him a loud testimony " of a prudent
" and brave commander, and as forward and bold in
" the face of danger as the occasion required or dis-
" cretion permitted. " And his highness undertook
" that he had in all this expedition done what a
" man of honour was pbliged to do," and was abun-
dantly satisfied (as his majesty likewise was) with
the rich prizes he had brought home, which had
caused equal lamentation in Holland, and almost
broke the heart of De Wit himself. But what suc-
cess soever the earl had at sea, it was his mis-
fortune to do an unadvised action when he came
into the harbour, that lessened the king's own
esteem of him, and to a great degree irreconciled
the duke to him, and gave opportunity to his ene-
mies to do him much prejudice.
An impm- It was a constant and a known rule in the admi-
of theeari" ralty, that of any ship that is taken from the enemy
wLh a after bulk * s not to ^ e Dr k eT1 till it be brought into the
his return; port and adjudged lawful prize. It seems that when
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 465
the fleet returned to the harbour, the flag-officers 1665.
petitioned or moved the earl of Sandwich, " in re-~~
" gard of their having continued all the summer
" upon the seas with great fatigue, and been en-
" gaged in many actions of danger, that he would
" distribute amongst them some reward out of the
" Indian ships ;" which he thought reasonable, and
inclined to satisfy them, and writ a letter to the
vice-chamberlain to inform the king of it, and " that
" he thought it fit to be done ;" to which the vice-
chamberlain, having shewed the letter to the king,
returned his majesty's approbation. But before the
answer came to his hand, he had executed the de-
sign, and distributed as much of the coarser goods
to the flag-officers, as by estimatitin was valued to
be one thousand pounds to each officer, and took to
the value of two thousand pounds for himself. This
suddenly made such a noise and outcry, as if all the
Indian and other merchant ships had been plundered
by the seamen : and they again cried out as much,^
that no care was taken of them, but all given to the
flag-officers ; which the other captains thought to be
an injury to them.
The general (who had nothing like kindness for which the
the earl of Sandwich, whose service he thought had
been too much considered and recompensed by the |j
king at his arrival) had notice of it before it came to
Oxford ; and, according to his universal care, (which
was afterwards found to proceed from private ani-
mosity,) sent orders to all the port towns, to seize
upon goods which were brought in shallops from the
fleet ; and gave advertisement to Oxford of the ex-
traordinary ill consequence of that action, and " that
" it would spoil the sale of all that remained of those
VOL. II. H h
466 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. " ships, since the East India company, which pro-
" bably would have been the best chapmen, would
" not now be forward to buy, since so much was
" disposed of already to other hands as would spoil
" their market. " And by this time the earl himself
had given an account of all that had been done, and
The king the motives, to the duke. The king was justly dis-
with tL pleased for the expedition he had used, " Why had
earl> " his approbation been desired, when he resolved to
" do the thing before he could receive an answer? "
yet n was glad that he had done so, because he
would have been more excusable if he had received
it.
The duke But the duke, who had been constantly kind to
against him. the earl, was offended in the highest degree, and
thought himself injured and affronted beyond any
precedent. " This most unjustifiable action could
" proceed only from two fountains : the one of ex-
" treme vanity and ambition, to make himself popu-
" lar amongst the officers of the fleet, who ought not
" to have been gratified by him at the king's charge.
" When any such bounty should be seasonable, it
" was the duke's province to have been the author,
" and the conduit to have conveyed it : he had him-
" self been an eyewitness of their behaviour in the
' greatest action ; and for the earl to assume the
" rewarding them by his own authority, was to de-
" fraud and rob him of his proper right and juris-
" diction. " And he looked upon his having desired
the king's allowance by the vice-chamberlain, as a
trick and an aggravation ; for he ought to have
asked his advice, as his superior officer: and the
n yet] and the] their
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 467
poor vice-chamberlain underwent his share in the 1G65.
reproach, for having presumed to move the king in ~~
a particular, that, if it was to be moved at all, had
been to be moved by the duke. " The other foun-
" tain which might produce this presumption might
" be avarice," which was the sole blemish (though it
never appeared in any gross instance) that- seemed
to cloud many noble virtues in that earl, who now
became a very pregnant evidence of the irresistible
strength and power of envy ; which though it feeds
on its own poison, and is naturally more grievous to
the person who harbours it, than to him that is ma-
ligned, yet when it finds a subject it can effectually
work upon, it is more insatiable in revenge than any
passion the soul is liable unto.
He was a gentleman of so excellent a temper and character of
the earl of
behaviour, that he could make himself no enemies ; sandwich.
of so many good qualities, and so easy to live with,
that he marvellously reconciled the minds of all men
to him, who had not intimacy enough with him to
admire his other parts : yet was in the general in-
clinations of men upon some disadvantage. They
who had constantly followed the king whilst he as
constantly adhered to Cromwell, and knew not how
early he had entertained repentance,. and with what
hazards and dangers he had manifested it, did be-
lieve the king had been too prodigal in heaping so
many honours upon him. And they who had been
familiar with him and of the same party, and
thought they had been as active as he in contribut-
ing to the revolution, considered him with some
anger, as one who had better luck than they without
more merit, and who had made early conditions :
when in truth no man in the kingdom had been
Hh 2
468 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. less guilty of that address; nor did he ever contri-
bute to any advancement to which he arrived, by
the least intimation or insinuation that he wished it,
He is very or that it would be acceptable to him. Yet upon
treated. this blast the winds rose from all quarters, reproaches
of all sorts were cast upon him, and all affronts con-
trived for him.
The earl had conveyed that part of the goods
which he had assigned to himself in a shallop to
Lynn, from whence it could pass* by water to his
own house. An officer in that port seized upon it
by virtue of the general's warrant, and would cause
it presently to be unladen, which he began to do.
But the servants of the earl appealed to the other
officers in equal authority, to whom they brought a
letter with them from the earl of Sandwich, in which
he owned all those goods to be his, (amongst which
were his bedding and furniture for his cabin, and all
his plate, and other things suitable,) and likewise a
note of all the other goods which might be liable to
pay custom ; and desired them " to send one of
" their searchers with the boat to his house, where
" he should receive all their dues, without being
" unladen in the port ;" which, besides the delay,
would be liable to many inconveniences. The officer
who had first arrested it, and who had dependance
upon a great man of the country, who was not un-
willing that any affront should be put upon the earl,
roughly refused to suffer it to pass without being
first unladen ; but being overruled by the other offi-
cers, vented his anger in very unmannerly language
against the earl : of all which he, being advertised
by his servants, sent a complaint to the lords of the
council, and desired " the fellow might be sent for
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 469
" and punished ;" which could not be refused, though 1665.
it proved troublesome in the inquiry. For the offi- ~~
cer, who was a gentleman of a fair behaviour and
good repute, denied all those words which carried in
them the worst interpretation ; but justified the ac-
tion, and produced the general's warrant, which had
unusual expressions, and apparent enough to have a
particular and not a general intention.
The general had quick advertisement of it, and
writ very passionately from London, " that an offi-
" cer should be sent for without having committed
" any other offence than in obeying and executing
" a warrant of his :" and the other great man, who
was of great importance to the king's service, and in
the highest trust in that country, writ several let-
ters, " how impossible it would be to carry on the
" king's service in that country, if that officer should
" be punished for doing that, when he ought to be
" punished if he had not done it ;" and therefore de-
sired, " that he might be repaired by them who had
" caused him to be sent for. "
Sir William Coventry had now full sea-room to
give vent to all his passions, and to incense the
duke, who was enough offended without such con-
tributions : " if this proceeded from covetousness, it
" was not probable that it would be satisfied with so
" little ; and therefore it was probable, that though
" the officers might not have received above the va-
" lue of one thousand pounds," which was assigned
to each, " yet himself would not be contented with
" so little as two thousand ; and they might there-
" fore well conceive that he had taken much more,
" which ought to be examined with the greatest
" strictness. " There had been nothing said before
Hh 3
470 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. of not taking advantage enough upon the enemy in
~ all occasions which had been offered, and of not
pursuing them far enough, which was not now re-
newed, with P advice, " that he might be presently
" sent for ;" though it was known that, as soon as he
could put the ships into the ports to which they
were designed, he would come to Oxford. And
there were great underhand endeavours, that the
house of commons might be inflamed with this mis-
carriage and misdemeanor, and present it as a com-
plaint to the house of peers, as fit to be examined
and brought to judgment before that tribunal. And
. they, who with all the malice imaginable did endea-
vour in vain to kindle this fire, persuaded the king
and the duke, " that by their sole activity and
" interest it was prevented for that time, because
" the session was too short, and that all necessary
" evidence could not be soon produced at Oxford ;
" but that, as soon as the plague should cease to
" such a degree in London that the parliament
" might assemble there, it would be impossible to
" restrain the house of commons from pursuing that
" complaint," of which nobody thought but them-
selves and they who were provoked by them.
The earl of Sandwich had so good intelligence
from Oxford, that he knew all that was said of him,
and began to believe that he had done unadvisedly
in administering occasion of speaking ill to those
He fuiiy who greedily sought for it : and as soon as his ab-
seifofthT sence from the fleet could be dispensed with, he
misconduct ma ^ e haste to Oxford, and gave so full an account
at sea ; o f every day's action, from the time that he went to
P with] without
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 471
sea to the day of his return, and of his having never J665.
done any thing of importance, nor having left any
thing undone, but with and by the advice of the
council of war, upon the orders he had received,
that both the king and the duke could not but ab-
solve him from all the imputations of negligence or
inadvertency.
But for the breaking bulk, and the circumstances And makes
11*11111 . an injjenu-
that attended it, they declared they were unsatis- ous acknow-
fied. And he confessed " that he had been much to e f hhHin-
" blame," and asked pardon, ,and with such excuses P mdence '
as he thought might in some degree plead for him.
He protested, " it seemed to him to have had some
" necessity : that the whole fleet was in a general
" indisposition, and complained, that for all that
" summer action" (which indeed had been full of
merit) " they had nothing given to them, not without
" some muttering that they would have somewhat
" out of those Indian ships before they would part
" with them ; insomuch as he had a real apprehen-
" sion that they had a purpose to plunder them.
" And he should have feared more, if he had. not
" complied with the flag-officers' importunity : and
" thereupon he consented that they should have
" each of them the value of one thousand pounds,
" and which he was most confident the goods which
" had been delivered to them did not exceed. " He
confessed " he had not enough considered the con->
" sequence, and that they who had not received any
" donative would be more displeased, than they who
" had it were satisfied with it ; which he acknow-
" ledged was the case : that he was heartily sorry
" for permitting any such thing to be done, and
" more for having taken any himself, and humbly
H h 4
472 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1 665. " asked 1 pardon for both ; and desired ' that his
"~ " own part, which remained entire, might be re-
" stored to the ship from whence it had been taken,
" which he would cause to be done. "
A more ingenuous acknowledgment could not be
made : and they who could not but observe many
persons every day excused for more enormous trans-
gressions, did hope that he, who had so few faults to
answer for, would have been absolved for that tres-
with which pass. And the king himself used him very gracious-
satisfied, ly, and so did the duke ; and he was sent back to
the fleet, to give order for the sending out a winter-
guard and ordering all other maritime affairs, and
for the sending up the India ships into the river, with
great care that none of the seamen should go on
shore, where the plague still raged little if at all less
than it had done in the summer : and so he himself
and most other men believed and were glad, that an
ill business was so well composed. But sir William
did not intend that it should end there.
The East The present business, that must admit no inter-
India prizes
sold for the ruption, was the raising what money might be to
service of . .
the war. supply the present necessities of the fleet, to pay the
seamen, and to make all preparations to set out the
fleet against the spring, when the French ships
would be infallibly ready to join with the Dutch ;
and the money that was given by the parliament
would not be paid till long after ; and the affairs of
the bankers were in such disorder by the death of
servants, and the plague having been in some of
their houses, that the usual course of advancing mo-
nies by assignations could not be depended upon.
( i asked] Omitted in MS. r desired] Omitted in MS.
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 473
The general had written to the lord treasurer, " that J665.
" he thought that there could not be so good chap-""
" men for those ships as the East India company,
" some whereof had been with him to know the
" king's pleasure ; and if authority were granted to
" any men to treat upon that affair, they would
" send for members enough of their company, who
" were dispersed in the country, to be present at a
" court, which would authorize a committee to
" treat and contract with them :" and he said,
" that he was confident that half the money would
" be paid upon the making the bargain. " The king
was no sooner advertised of this overture, than he
sent sir George Carteret and Mr. Ashburnham to
London, to confer with the general and to be ad-
vised by him, and granted authority to them three
to sell those two prizes to those who would give
most. And they found no overtures to be so advan-
tageous as those which were made by that company:
and yet they made so much use of the advantage of
the time, when all men of notorious wealth were
out of the town, that they thought not fit to make
any agreement till they gave the king an account of
the whole transaction, with their opinions, upon
conference with other men of business ; and to that
purpose the two persons who had been sent to the
general returned safe to Oxford.
It hath been mentioned before, that it was
thought a great presumption in any body to pre-
sume to interpose in the maritime affairs, which
was interpreted to be an invasion of the duke's pe-
culiar province 8 ; and by this means the credit of sir
s province] Not in MS.
474 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. William Coventry was so absolute, that the disposal
The kin of all was in his power. He had persuaded the
persuaded duke, and the lord Arlington, who was in firm con-
to remove
lord sand- junction with him, had prevailed with the king to
the com believe, "that the house of commons was so in-
nandofthe cense( j a g a inst the lord Sandwich for his late pre-
" sumption, that it would not be possible to hinder
" them in their next assembling" (which was ap-
pointed or resolved to be in April, if it pleased God
to extinguish the sickness) " from falling* very se-
" verely upon the earl of Sandwich, which would
" be a very great dishonour to the king, if he were
" at that time in ttie command of the fleet ; and
" that -there was no way to preserve him" (for that
was their method when they had a mind to ruin a
man, to pretend a great care that he might not be
undone) "but by dismissing him from that charge,
" which probably might preserve him from being
" further questioned, since it would be interpreted
" a punishment inflicted on him by the king for his
" crime, and so might stop him from being further
" prosecuted for the same offence. " To which they
added, "that it would be necessary in another re-
" spect; for that many of the officers, as well as
" common seamen, had opened their mouths very
" wide against him, especially after it was gene-
" rally known that the king and the duke were of-
" fended with him, and had not been at all reserved
" in charging him with several reproaches : and that
" if the same command were still continued in him,
" it could not be presumed that those men would
" ever put themselves under his command whom
" they had so much provoked. "
1 from falling] to fall
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 475
These arguments, urged by men who were not 1665.
known, at least by the king and duke, to be his ene-
mies, and one of them thought to be (and in truth
was, but for his conjunction with the other) his
friend, and to wish him very well, prevailed upon
the judgments of both of them ; insomuch as they
resolved to confer with the chancellor, whom they
knew to be much the earl's friend. And they both
expressed " very much kindness to and confidence The king
" in the affection and integrity and courage of
" earl of Sandwich, though he was to be blamed
" his late indiscretion, and a resolution with their
" utmost power to defend him from undergoing any
" disgrace by it : but that it would contribute most
" to his preservation, that he quitted the employ-
" ment, and that some other persons should be sent
" to command the next fleet in the spring. For if
** he should again go to sea, and the u parliament
" should press to have him sent for, to answer what
" they had to object against him, his majesty must
" either refuse to consent to it, which would make
" a breach with his parliament, or by consenting dis-
" order his maritime affairs to that degree, that the
" enemy could not but take very great advantage of
" it. " Therefore they commanded the chancellor
to confer with him and discourse the whole matter
to him, to assure him x " of the king's and duke's fa-
" vour, and that they were in this particular moved
*' only by their tenderness to him ; and that some
" expedient should be first found out to remove him
" with honour, before any notice should be taken of
" the purpose to remove him, and before any other
11 the] Not in MS. * to assure him] secure him
476 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. "person should be deputed to the command; and
~ " that he himself should either propose the expe-
" dient, if any such occurred to him that would be
" grateful, or judge of any that should be proposed
" to him. "
The cban- The chancellor did presume to declare, " that he
against re- " thought that they were persuaded to apprehend
him? D " somewhat that could not fall out. That he would
" not take upon him to excuse the earl of Sandwich
" for any offence he had committed : if it were of
" that magnitude that his majesty thought fit to re-
" move him from his command, nobody could cen-
" sure it ; and it may be, in a time of so much li-
" cense, the severity might be thought seasonable.
" But the apprehension that the parliament would
" take more notice of what the earl had done, than
" they would of any other breach of order that was
" every day committed, was without any just rea-
" son. " But that argument was presently silenced
by their undertaking to know somewhat that the
other could not do, and that there was no other way
to preserve him y but that which was proposed.
There was at that time an opportunity in view,
that might give the earl of Sandwich an employ-
ment very worthy of him, and which no man could
imagine would be assigned to any man who was in
An account disgrace. Sir Richard Fanshaw, who was a gentle-
S Fan- nian very well known and very well beloved, had
1 been first ambassador in Portugal, and had behaved
Spain. himself so well there, that when he returned from
thence, he was recommended, and upon the matter
desired, by that crown to be sent to Spain, as the
y him] Omitted in MS.
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 477
fittest person to mediate in the king's name between ] 665.
Spain and Portugal; and the king had before de-~~
signed to send him ambassador into Spain, as well
to settle a treaty between England and Spain, (for
there was none yet,) as to do all the offices between
those other crowns which were requisite to the end
aforesaid. No man knew that court better 2 , or
was so well versed in the language, having lived
many years before in that court in much better
times. He had remained now about two years,
with such frequent mortifications as ministers use to
meet with in courts irresolute and perplexed in their
own affairs, as the counsels of Madrid were in the
last years of the king, as his indisposition increased,
or by relaxing administered some hope. He had
made a journey to Lisbon upon the earnest desire
of Spain, and returned without eifect.
" meeting at a place he appointed, to which the
" shallop should convey him. " Mr. Clifford was more
willing to go than the earl was to permit him ; yet
at last upon his earnest desire he consented, and he
put himself into the shallop. It happened that when
the action was over and the English under sail, the
vice-king arrived at Bergen, with two or three regi-
ments of the country ; and the orders were likewise
come from Copenhagen, whereby, at least as they
z from the governor] Not in MS.
E e 3
422 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. pretended, they were required to permit all that the
~" English desired : and the vice-king had caused the
shallop to be sent, and was himself with the gover-
nor at the place whither Mr. Clifford was to come,
and there he spake with them together.
The governor with many protestations excused
himself for shooting from the castle, after the town
was assaulted, and many of the burghers killed, who
had stood in arms only to defend the town, without
being concerned for the Dutch or their ships ; and
made it an argument of his integrity and respect,
" that he had permitted them to depart when it
" was in his power to have sunk them. " He com-
plained, " that the commander would not have the
" patience to defer the assault one day longer,
" which if he had done, the orders from Copenhagen
" had been come, and the vice-king had been pre-
" sent with his forces, which would have secured
** the enterprise. " The vice-king seemed very much
troubled for what had been done, and earnestly de-
sired " that the same or another squadron might be
" again sent in, when they should be at liberty to do
" what they would upon the Dutch ; and if they
*' stood in need of assistance, they should have as
" much as was necessary. "
Mr. Clifford replied to many of the excuses which
were made, and urged " the suffering the Dutch to
** bring their ordnance on shore, and the townsmen
** being in arms to assist them ;" and proposed,
" that they would first begin by seizing upon some
" of their ships, and then that their fleet should an-
" swer :" but this the vice-king did absolutely refuse,
and made another proposition, that startled more,
and was directly new, " that when the English had
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 423
" seized upon all the Dutch ships, they should not 1665.
" have carried any of them away till a perfect divi- ~
" sion of the goods was made, that the king of
" Denmark might have his just proportion. " Mr.
Clifford made no answer but " that he would pre-
" sent all that they proposed to the earl of Sand-
" wich, in whom the power of concluding and ex-
" ecuting remained solely :" and so he returned to
the fleet, and they to the town, and expected an
answer.
The earl of Sandwich thought not fit to run any The eari of
more hazards, and was not satisfied that they
proceeded sincerely. But that which most
vailed with him was, that he had received i
gence "that De Ruyter was come out with the
" fleet," and he would not he should find him en-
tangled in those rocks, or obliged to fight with him
upon that coast; and the season of the year now
made that station very unsecure, for it was already
the beginning of October, when those seas run very
high and boisterous : and therefore he resolved to
be master of more sea-room, that he might fight De
Ruyter, if he came ; and if he did not, he might then
meet those East India ships more securely in their
way to Holland, than by making another attempt
in the harbour. And so, after some letters had
passed and repassed between the vice-king and
him, and both the vice-king and governor had
undertaken to keep the Dutch ships there for the
space of six weeks, for they desired to see the suc-
cess of another engagement between the two fleets ;
the earl steered that way with his fleet that most
probably might bring him and De Ruyter together,
which above all things he desired.
E e 4
424 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. This whole affair of Bergen and the managery
Tbe au _ thereof was so perplexed and intricate, that it was
thor-s re. never clearly understood. That which seemed to
flections J
upon this have most probability was, that as soon as the
Dutch fleet came to Bergen, they had unladen
many of their richest commodities and put them
into the castle, before the governor had received his
orders from Copenhagen : and so both his own and
his master's faith and honour were engaged to dis-
charge the trust, of which he made haste to send an
account to the king, and thereupon expected new
directions, which were not arrived when the English
fleet came thither. And when they did come,
whether that court, according to its custom, did
change its mind, and believe they should make a
better bargain by keeping what was already depo-
sited in their hands in the castle, than by making
an uncertain division with the king; or whether
they did in truth continue firm to the first agree-
ment, and that the messenger was stopped by ex-
traordinary accidents in his journey, (which was po-
sitively alleged,) so that he did not arrive in time ;
or whether the governor was not able to master the
town that was much inclined to the Hollanders,
before the vice-king came with his troops, who did
make all possible haste as soon as he heard that the
English were arrived ; or whether the English did
proceed more unadvisedly and rashly than they
ought to have done ; remains still in the dark :
and both parties reproached each other afterwards,
as they found most necessary for their several
defences and pretences ; of which more hereafter.
The king The king stayed not altogether so long at Salis-
eourt re- bury as he had intended to have done : for besides
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 425
a little accidental indisposition which made him dis- 1 665.
like the air, some inferior servants and their wives more to
came from London or the villages adjacent, and xford '
brought the plague with them ; so that the court
removed to Oxford before the end of September,
the parliament being to assemble there on the tenth
of the next month. And before he left Salisbury,
his majesty sent an express to York to his brother,
" that he would meet him as soon as he could. "
The duke had lived in great lustre in York all that
summer, with the very great respect and continual
attendance of all the persons of quality of that large
county : and the duke no sooner received his ma-
jesty's summons than he took post, and left his wife
and family to follow by ordinary journeys, and him-
self came to Oxford the next day after the king,
where there were indeed matters of the highest im-
portance to be consulted and resolved.
The king had sent Mr. Clifford to Denmark to be
satisfied, upon conference with sir Gilbert Talbot,
concerning the miscarriage at Bergen, and if the
ships remained still there according to the promise
the vice-king had made, and if that king were
ready to perform what he had undertaken, that all
particulars might be so adjusted that there might
be no further mistake ; and if he found that the jea-
lousy of Sweden was a real obstruction to that
alliance, that he should make a journey to Sweden,
and upon conference with Mr. Coventry, who by
his dexterity and very good parts had reconciled the
affections of that court to a very great esteem of
him, endeavour a to remove all those obstructions :
and as soon as his majesty should receive full infor-
a endeavour] to endeavour
426 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. mation of that whole affair, he must consider what
~he was to do to vindicate himself in that business
of Bergen ; for he knew well that he must suffer
with all the world, for violating the peace of a port
that was under the government of a neighbour
prince with whom he was allied, if he did not make
it appear that he had the consent of that prince,
which he was not willing to do till he first knew
what that king would do.
A further j n fa e next place his majesty was to resolve what
negotiation > J
with the answer to make to the French ambassadors, who
French am- -i i / i- -,
bassadors. now desired trequcnt audiences, and positively de-
clared, " that their master was engaged by his
*' treaty with the Dutch, that in case they were in-
" vaded or assaulted by any prince, he would assist
" them with men, money, and ships, which he had
** hitherto deferred to do out of respect to the king,
" and in hope that he would accept his mediation,
** and make such propositions towards peace as he
" might press the others to consent to. " The Dutch
ambassador was likewise come to town, rather to
treat concerning the prisoners and to observe what
the French ambassadors did, than that he had any
thing to propose in order to peace, there appearing
now since their fleet was at sea more insolence in
the Dutch, and a greater aversion from the peace,
than had been formerly.
The king complained to the ambassadors of the
French king's proceedings, " that the entering into
** that treaty was expressly against his word given to
" the king : that the Dutch had first began the war,
' and ought to make the first approach towards
" peace, but that their b ambassador had no instruc-
b their] Not in MS.
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 427
" tion to make any such instance; and therefore it 1665.
" seemed very strange to his majesty, that the ~
" French king should press for that which they had
" no desire to have. "
The ambassadors confessed " that the Dutch did
" not desire a peace ; that they thought they were
" too much behindhand, and that they had at pre-
" sent great advantages ; that they looked upon the
" great plague in London" (which continued in its
full rage and vigour, insomuch as at that time in the
end of September there died not so few as six thou-
sand in the week, amongst which some were of the
best quality in the city) " as of such insupportable
" damage to the king, that he would not be able to
" set out another fleet the year following : and
" therefore that, when they had been pressed by the
" French king to make some propositions towards
" peace, he could get no other answer from them,
" than that they expected that the island of Pole-
" roone should be released to them, and that the
" fort at Cabo Corso in Guinea should be thrown
" down and slighted ; which they confessed was an
" insolent proposition. That they complained that
" the king their master, instead of giving them the
" assistance he was obliged to do, spent the time in
" procuring a peace, which they cared not for : so
" that," they said, " their master continued the same
" Christian office principally to do his majesty of
" Great Britain a service, who he in truth believed
" would be reduced to great straits by the terrible
" effect of the plague ; and in the next place to de-
" fend himself from entering into the war, which he
" could no longer defer to do, if his majesty did not,
" by consenting to some reasonable overture, give
428 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. " him a just occasion to press them to yield to it;
~~ " and in that case he would behave himself in that
" manner that the king should have no cause to
" complain of his partiality. " The king's indigna-
tion was so provoked by the pride and impudence of
the Dutch demands, that he gave the ambassadors
no other answer, than " that he hoped God Al-
v mighty had not sent that heavy judgment of the
" plague upon him and his people on the behalf of
" the Hollanders, and to expose him to their inso-
" lerice. "
Tlie parliament convened at Oxford in greater
""oxford. * numbers than could reasonably have been expected,
the sickness still continuing to rage and spread itself
in several counties ; so that between the danger that
was in the towns infected, and the necessary severity
hi other towns to keep themselves from being in-
fected, it was a very inconvenient season for all per-
sons of quality to travel from their own habitations.
Upon the tenth of October the king commanded
both houses to attend him in Christ Church hall,
The ting's and told them, " that he was confident they did all
. " believe, that if it had not been absolutely neces-
" sary to consult with them, he would not have
" called them together at that time, when the con-
" tagion had spread itself over so many parts of the
" kingdom : and he thanked them for their compli-
" ance so far with his desires. "
His majesty said, " the truth was ; as he had en-
" tered upon the war by their advice and encou-
" ragement, so he desired that they might as fre-
" quently as was possible receive information of the
" effects and conduct of it, and that he might have
" the continuance of their cheerful supply for the
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 429
" carrying it on. He would not deny to them, that 1665.
" it had proved more chargeable than he could ima- ~~
" gine it would have been : the addition the enemy
" had still made to their fleets, beyond their first
" purpose, made it unavoidably necessary for him to
" make proportionable preparations, which God had
" hitherto blessed with success in all encounters.
" And as they had used their utmost endeavours by
" calumnies and false suggestions to gain friends to
" themselves, and to persuade them to assist them
" against him, so he had not been wanting to en-
" courage those princes who had been wronged by
" the Dutch, to recover their own by force ; and in
" order thereunto, he had assisted the bishop of
" Munster with a great sum of ready money, and
" was to continue a supply to him, who he believed
" was at that time in the bowels of their country
" with a powerful army.
" Those issues, which he might tell them had
" been made with very much conduct and hus-
" bandry, (nor indeed did he know that any thing
" had been spent that could have been well and
" safely saved ;)" he said, " those expenses would
" not suffer them to wonder, that the great supply
" which they gave him for this war in so bountiful a
" proportion was upon the matter already spent : so
" that he must not only expect an assistance from
" them to carry on that war, but such an assistance
" as might enable him to defend himself and them
" against a more powerful neighbour, if he should
" prefer the friendship of the Dutch before his. "
He put them in mind, " that when he entered
" upon this war, he had told them, that he had not
" such a brutal appetite as to make war for war's
430 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
J665. " sake ; he was still of the same mind : he had been
" ready to receive any propositions that France had
" thought fit to offer to that end, but hitherto no-
" thing had been offered worthy his acceptance ;
" nor was the Dutch less insolent, though he knew .
" no advantage they had got but the continuance of
" the contagion, and he hoped that God Almighty
" would shortly deprive them of that encourage-
" ment. "
Substance The chancellor at the same time, by the king's
of the chan- J
command, made a short narrative of the history of
the war, the circumstances with which it was be-
gun, and the progress it had since made, and the
victory that the duke had attained; of the vast
number of the prisoners and sick and wounded men,
a charge that had never been computed.
He told them, " the French king had indeed of-
" fered his mediation, and that if he intended no more
" than a mediation, it was an office very worthy the
" most Christian king : he wished, that as a mediator
" he would make equal propositions, or that he
" would not so importunately press his majesty to
" consent to those he makes, upon an instance and
" argument, that he holds himself engaged by a for-
" mer treaty (of which his majesty had never heard
" till since the beginning of the war, and had some
" reason to have presumed the contrary) to assist
" the Dutch with men and money, if his majesty
" would not consent. "
He said, " his majesty had told them, that he had
" no appetite to make war for war's sake ; but he
" would be always ready to make such a peace as
" might be for his honour and the interest of his
" subjects = And no doubt it would be a great trouble
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 431
" and grief to his majesty to find so great a prince, 1665
" towards whom he had manifested so great an af-~~
" fection, in conjunction with his enemies : yet even
" the apprehension of such a war would not terrify
" him to purchase a peace by such concessions as he
" should be ashamed to make them acquainted with ;
" of which nature they would easily believe the pro-
" positions hitherto made to be, when they knew
" the release of Poleroone in the East Indies, and
" the demolishing the fort of Cabo Corso upon the
" coast of Guinea, were two ; which would be upon
" the matter to be contented with a very vile trade
" in the East Indies under their control, and with
" none in Guinea. And yet those are not propo-
" sitions unreasonable enough to please the Dutch,
" who reproached France for interposing for peace,
" instead of assisting them in the war, boldly in-
" sisting upon the advantage the contagion in Lon-
" don and some other parts of the kingdom gives
" them ; by which, they confidently say, the king
" will be no longer able to maintain a fleet against
" them at sea. "
He told them, " that he had fully obeyed the
" command that had been laid upon him, in making
" that plain, clear, true narrative of what had pass-
" ed ; he had no order to make reflection upon it, nor
"any deduction from it: the king himself had told
" them, that the noble, unparalleled supply they had
" already given him is upon the matter spent, spent
" with all the animadversions of good husbandly
" that the nature of the affair would bear. What
" was more to be done he left to their own generous
" understandings, being not more assured of any
" thing that was to come in this world, than that the
432, CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1 665. " same noble indignation for the honour of the king
~ " and the nation, that first provoked them to inflame
" the king himself, would continue the same passion
" still boiling in their loyal breasts ; that all the
" world may see, which they never hoped to have
" seen, that never prince and people were so entirely
" united in their affections, for their true, joint, in-
" separable honour, as their only sure infallible expe-
** dient to preserve their distinct several interests. "
A further The king could not expect or wish a fuller con-
g^Jd. currence from a parliament than he now found.
With very little hesitation they declared, " that they
" would supply his majesty with another million,
" (ten hundred thousand pounds :)" and because
they desired to be dismissed as soon as might be to
their several habitations, not without apprehension
that so great a concourse of persons from all places,
even from London itself, (for the term was likewise
adjourned to Oxford,) might bring the contagion
thither likewise ; they rejected all other businesses
but what immediately related to the public. To
the supply they designed to the king they added
the sum of above forty thousand pounds, which they
desired his majesty to confer upon the duke, having
received some insinuation, " that it would not be
" ingrateful to the king that such a present should
An act for be made to his brother. " Then they passed two
attainting o i i/ti*
the English or three acts ot parliament very much for the king s
honour and security, amongst which one was, " for
" the attainting all those his subjects who either re-
" sided in Holland" (as some of the English officers
who had long served in that country presumed still
to do) " and continued in their service, or in any
" other parts beyond the seas, if they did not ap-
service.
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 4433
" pear at a day prefixed, after notice by the king's 1C65.
" proclamation :" and the nomination of the persons "~
was entirely left to his majesty.
His majesty did hope, that this very good car-
riage in the parliament would have made some im-
pression upon France, either to have given c over
their mediation, or to have drawn reasonable and
just concessions from the States : but it did pro-
duce the contrary. The Hollander had received a
new damage which inflamed them exceedingly,
which shall be particularly mentioned in the next
place, whereupon they made grievous complaints to
France of its breach of faith upon the promises that
had been made to them. That d king upon this
required his ambassadors once more to make a lively
instance to his majesty, " that he would declare
" what he meant to insist upon in order to a peace,
" which if he should refuse to do, they should take
" their leaves and return into France with all pos-
" sible expedition. " In this audience they spake in
a higher style than they had formerly used. They The French
complained " of the intolerable damage the subjects dors re-
" of France had sustained in their goods and estates
" by the king's ships, and those who were licensed English*'' 6
" by his authority, which without any distinction
" seized upon all that came in their way as if they
" were Dutch : and when they complained to the
" admiralty or to the lords commissioners, they could
" procure no justice, and were obliged to such e an
" attendance and expense, that what they sued for
" did not prove of value to satisfy the charge of the
" prosecution ; and if after a long and a tedious so-
c have given] give d That] The e such] Not in MS.
VOL. II. F f
434 CONTINUATION OR THE LIFE OF
1665. " licitation they did at last procure a sentence for the
~~ " redelivery of what had been taken from them,
" when they hoped to enjoy the benefit of this just
" sentence by the execution, they found the goods
" embezzled in the port or plundered by the seamen,
" that the owners had rarely a third part of their
" goods ever restored to them. And that by this
" violence and unjust proceeding, of which they had
" often made complaint, the French merchants had
" lost near five hundred thousand pistoles ; which
" their master resented and looked upon as a great
" indignity to himself, which he had hitherto borne,
" in hope that the license would have been restrained
" by the end of the war. "
They urged it as an argument of their master's
friendship to the king, " that after an offensive treaty
" had been so long since entered into by him, by
" which he was obliged to assist the Dutch with
" men, money, and ships, he had notwithstanding
" hitherto forborne it, and looked on whilst they
" were soundly beaten, and had lately sustained
" another blow ; and that it was not possible for
" him to defer it longer :" and so concluded with
very earnest persuasions, " that his majesty would
" consent to such a peace as their master should
"judge to be reasonable, who could not but be very
" just to his majesty ;" and wished, " that it might
" be considered, besides the damage by the plague,
" which nobody knew how long it might continue,
" how impossible it was for the king to sustain the
" arms of France in conjunction with those of
" Holland, when possibly some other prince might
" join likewise with them. "
They who were appointed by the king to confer
EDWARD EARL OF CjLARENDON. 435
with the ambassadors were most perplexed to justify JG6f>.
their first charge, " of the depredation that had A confer _
"been made upon the French merchants," which e " cebe ~
* tween them
had in truth been very great, though not amounting and the
to the sum they mentioned. Yet to that they an- ministers
swered, " that the damage and loss which the sub- r e P mon- "
" jects of France had undergone that way had ori- strance "
" ginally proceeded from themselves, and their own
" default in owning the goods and merchandise of
" the Dutch to belong to themselves as their proper
" goods, and in undertaking to carry and deliver
" the wine and other goods, which were bought and
" paid for in France by the Hollanders, in French
" vessels in that country ; all which had been fully
" and notoriously proved, and could not be contra-
" dieted : and when that discovery was once made,
" it was no wonder if the seamen sometimes seized
" upon some vessels which were not liable to the
" same reproach. But when any complaints of that
" kind had been made, the king had always given
" strict charge to the judges to cause restitution to
" be made, and the transgressors to be severely pu-
" nished ; and his majesty presumed that the judges
" had done their duty. For the French king's being
" bound by his treaty to assist the Hollanders," they
Said, " that if the king had any such obligation upon
" him, it was subsequent to his obligation to his
" majesty, by which he was bound to make no such
" treaty : nor in truth did they believe that he had
" entered into any such treaty ? for if it were only
" such as they themselves stated it to be, a defen-
" sive league, it would neither engage nor excuse
" France in giving assistance to them who had done
" the wrong and begun the war ; and therefore if
F f 2
436 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1 665. " the king was in truth bound to assist them, it must
~ " be from some offensive, not defensive clause. "
The ambassadors replied, " that their master con-
" eluded that their king was the aggressor, and then
" the defensive article did oblige him ;" and they
acknowledged there was no other. It was answer-
ed, " that the king had assumed a power to judge
" upon a matter of fact of which he had taken no
" examination ; and that it was a partiality not agree-
" able to the office of a judge, to believe what the
" Dutch said, and not to believe what the king said,
" who had clearly published the true history of the
" fact ; and that it was notorious, and not possible
" to be denied, that they had refused to deliver Pole-
" roone according to their treaty, and that De Ruyter
" had begun the war in Guinea before one of their
" ships had been seized on by the king. " To which
they replied, " that their master thought otherwise,
" and did look upon the king as aggressor. " When
they were urged with the violation of the former
obligation by entering into the latter, all the answer
they gave was, " that they knew nothing of it, and
" that they had commission only to treat upon the
" present state of affairs, and not upon what had
" passed long before ;" and so, according to the cha-
racter they underwent near fourteen hundred years
since, " Galli ridentes fidem fregerunt. "
The counsellors of the king told them, " that
" their master had very well considered the disad-
" vantage he must undergo by the access of so pow-
" erful a friend, and of whose friendship he had
" thought himself possessed, to the part of his ene-
" mies, who were too insolent already ; and there-
" fore to prevent that disadvantage, he had and
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 437
" would do any thing that would consist with the
" dignity of a king : but that he must be laughed
" at and despised by all the world, if he should con-
" sent to make him the arbitrator of the differences
" who had already declared himself to be a party,
" and that he is resolved to make war against him
"on the behalf of his enemy ; and that such menaces
" would make no impression in the last article of
" danger that could befall the king. " The ambas-
sadors took that expression of menaces very heavily,
as if it were a tax upon their manners, and said
" they had never used words that could imply a
" menace. " To which it was replied, " that there
" was no purpose to make any reflection upon their
" persons, who had always carried themselves with
" great respect to the king, and who his majesty be-
" lieved did in their own particular affection wish
" him better than they did the Dutch : however the
" declaring, that if the king did not do this or that,
" the French king would make war upon him, could
" in no language be looked upon to have any other
"signification than of a menace and threat. " This
raised a little warmth on both sides, which made
the conference break off at that time.
The ambassadors prepared to be gone ; and the
king discerned clearly that there was no way to
divert the French from an entire conjunction with
the Dutch : and thereupon he assembled his secret
council together again, to consult what should be
the final answer his majesty -should give to the
French ambassadors at parting. There was no per-
son present, who had not a deep apprehension of the
extreme damage and danger that must fall upon the
Ff8
438 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. king's affairs, if in this conjuncture France should
""declare a war against England.
The pros- It was well known, that the duke of Beaufort
kfng-s af- e was forthwith to be at Brest, where all the French
ume. at " s king's ships were to assemble at their rendezvous by
Christmas ; that the French king f had already sent
to the bishop of Munster to dissuade him from pro-
secuting his enterprise against Holland, and that pro-
bably he might unite Denmark again to the Dutch,
and probably even allay those warm inclinations
which the Swede had for the king. It was well
known, that the French king had in the last dis-
tractions in Holland contributed very much to the
composing them, and to the support of the power
and credit of De Wit, who was the soul of the war,
and that he had sent him one hundred thousand
pistoles, without which they would have hardly been
able to have set out their last fleet under De Ruyter.
And ^above all this, his giving life to some domestic
rebellion in England and in Ireland, by sending mo-
ney to discontented persons, was apprehended : for
as there were enough discontented and desperate per-
sons in the latter, who wanted only arms and money
to declare for any prince who would take them into
his protection ; so % it was well known that there
was a general combination amongst those of the
late army to have risen, if the duke of York had
been defeated at sea, and that it was that victory
that disappointed that intended insurrection. That
there had been a later design, in the very height of
this dismal sickness and contagion, in London, (whi-
f the French king] he s so] Not in MS.
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 439
ther the fanatic party had repaired from all the 1665.
quarters of the kingdom, and had appointed a day ~
upon which the general should be assassinated, which
some soldiers of his own regiment had undertaken,
and then the whole rendezvous x was to be in several
streets at the same time ;) which in so formidable a
conjuncture might have succeeded to a great degree,
if by God's blessing it had not been discovered two
days before to the general, who caused some of the
chief conspirators to be apprehended, who suffered
afterwards by the hand of justice. And yet the
chief amongst them, colonel Danvers, who in spite
of all the vigilance that could be used had been al-
ways searched for and always concealed from the
time of the king's return, being at this time appre-
hended and brought before the general, and by him
sent with a lieutenant and a guard of soldiers to the
Tower, was rescued in Cheapside, and so escaped,
all the citizens looking on without aiding the officer.
This was the prospect that the king had of his
condition and affairs in this consultation : and there-
fore if any thing could have occurred that might
probably have diverted this storm, it would no doubt
have been embraced. But then the exceeding breach
of faith in entering into that treaty, the denying it
afterwards, and concealing his engagement by it so
long after the war was entered into, (which if he
had not done, the king could never have looked
upon him as a fit mediator,) and the impossibility
of depending upon any thing -that should be pro-
mised for the future, were convincing arguments
against any such reference of the conditions to his
determination as was proposed, and was the only
expedient that was proposed towards the making a
Ff 4
440 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. peace. It was well known that the chief counsels
of France, since monsieur Colbert entered upon the
ministry, had been directed towards the advance-
ment of manufactures at home, by which they might
have less need of commerce with their neighbours ;
and for the erecting a trade h abroad, with which
they had been very little acquainted in former times.
And it was justly to be feared, that where the judg-
ment was left to them, they would imitate the in-
famous Roman precedent, of adjudging that to
themselves that was in difference between their
neighbours and left to their decision : and so both
Poleroone in the East Indies, and Cabo Corso for
the West, must be determined to belong to them ;
which might be the rather apprehended, by their
having erected an East India company and a West
India company, before they had any visible founda-
tion for a trade in either, to which both these places
might carry with them great conveniences.
A final an- These considerations being seriously reflected upon,
with a little generous indignation to find himself
thus treated, prevailed with the king to lay aside
all thoughts of further complying with France, and
to resolve to dismiss the ambassadors without any
other answer, than what should contain complaints,
" of the French king's want of kindness, which his
" majesty had cultivated by all the offices he could
" perform since his restoration, which did not re-
" ceive an equal return, by the preferring the friend-
" ship of the Dutch before that of his majesty. "
They leave And with this answer the ambassadors were dis-
the king-
dom, missed, with liberal presents and all gracious de-
h a trade] a foreign trade
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 441
monstrations of esteem of their persons, and so 1665.
returned for France, where they always gave just
testimony of the civilities and fair treatment they
had received.
But this resolution increased the king's appetite
to peace, and made him think of all other expedi-
ents that might contribute to it ; and none seemed
so hopeful, as that France and Holland might be
divided : and he would have been very willing to A prospect
have agreed with Holland upon any reasonable con- France and
ditions, that he might continue the war with France ; Holland -
which there were many reasonable inducements to
hope might be brought to pass. It was notorious,
that preparations had been made for two or three
years past by France at a very great expense upon
the borders, that they might be ready to enter
into Flanders as soon as news should arrive of the
king of Spain's death ; and that war would immedi-
ately fall out as soon as that king's decease should
be known, which from his age and infirmities must
be expected every day : and in that case the friend-
ship could not continue long with Holland, which
thought that France was already too near a neigh-
bour to them, to be willing that they should be nearer
by a conquest of Flanders, which with its own force
could not make an equal resistance. It was likewise
as notorious that all the other provinces, Holland
only excepted, did impatiently desire the peace; and
Holland had only been restrained from the same
impatience by the sole credit" and authority of De
Wit, and by his persuading them, " that France
" would assist them with men, money, and ships, and
*' likewise declare a war. against England, which"
442 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. (as hath been said before) " would produce a peace
~ " upon such conditions as would make it happy to
" them :" and that though it was true that it had
indeed assisted them with some money, it was not
considerable to their vast expenses, nor in truth of
importance in comparison of the other, which it was
equally obliged to do, and had performed nothing.
And it was evident that Holland itself was jealous
of those proceedings ; and even De Wit, in his pri-
vate discourses to other ministers, seemed to be much
unsatisfied with their breach of faith, and not to be
without apprehension that they would in the end
enter into a stricter alliance with England, and leave
Holland as a prey to both.
The Spanish ambassador, who always desired that
the peace might be established between the English
and the Dutch, and that they would both join with
Spain in a defensive league, into which Denmark
would be glad to enter, and Sweden might be drawn
in upon the same conditions which they now re-
ceived from France, towards which he had often de-
sired the king to interpose, was now very glad that
the French ambassadors had taken their leaves and
were gone ; and he pretended to have many assu-
rances from the Spanish ambassador at the Hague,
that the Dutch had those inclinations which are
mentioned before, " and that De Wit would be glad
" to confer in private with any man trusted by the
" king, if he might be sure that it should not be
" communicated to France. " Upon all these proba-
bilities, and the certainty that no good could be ex-
pected from France, his majesty resolved to embrace
all opportunities to agree with Holland ; towards
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 443
which he had a secret intelligence, to which he gave 1665.
more credit than to all the rest, which shall be~
mentioned hereafter.
There were so many great transactions during the
king's residence in Oxford, besides what was done
in the parliament and what related to the dismission
of the French ambassadors, so many counsels which
were executed, and so many secret designs only ini-
tiated then, and not executed till long after, that
there cannot be too particular a recollection of the
occurrences of all that time. And if some things
are mentioned which seem too light and of too small
importance to have a place in this relation, they will
be found at last to be the rise and principal ingre-
dient to some counsel and resolution, which proved
afterwards of consequence enough, as well to the
public as to the interest of particular persons.
The first attempt that was made was to make a AD attempt
breach between the chancellor and the treasurer, friendship
who had been long fast friends, and were believed
to have most credit with the king; and they who an ^ trea *
loved neither of them thought the most likely way
to hurt them was to make them love one another
less. Several attempts had been made upon the
chancellor to that purpose without effect : he knew
the other too well to be shaken in the esteem he had
of his friendship, and the knowledge he had of his
virtue.
But there was now an accident fell out, that gave
them an opportunity to suggest to the treasurer,
" that the chancellor had failed in his friendship to-
" wards him. " The occasion was upon the vacancy The occa.
of an office near the queen by the death of Mr. 8lonoflU
Mountague, master of the horse to her majesty, who
444 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. had been killed before Bergen : and the news arriv-
ing with the duke at York, before it was known at
Salisbury to the king, the duke and his wife writ to
the king and to the queen " to confer that place
" upon his younger brother," who was now become
both the eldest and the only son to his father, the
lord Mountague of Boughton ; and the gentleman
himself, on whose behalf the letters were writ, came
himself by post with them within two or three
hours after the news was brought to Salisbury, and
he brought likewise a letter from the duchess to the
chancellor, " to assist the gentleman all he could
" in his pretence," he at the same time enjoying
the same office under the duchess that his brother
had under the queen.
The chancellor had never used to interpose in
matters of that nature, nor had he any acquaintance
with this gentleman who was now recommended :
yet he could not refuse to wait upon the queen, and
shew her the letter he had received, without any
intention to appear further in it. But when he
waited upon the queen, who had received her letter
before, her majesty seemed graciously disposed to
gratify the gentleman, if the king approved it ; but
said, " that she would make no choice herself of any
" servant without knowing first his majesty's plea-
" sure :" and she added, " that she had been in-
" formed, that the lord Mountague was very angry
" with his son that was unfortunately slain, for hav-
" ing taken that charge in her family, and that he
" never allowed him any thing towards his support ;
" and if all other obstructions were out of the way,
" she would not receive him, except she were first
" assured that his father would like and desire it. "
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 445
Her majesty vouchsafed to wish the chancellor " to 1665.
" speak with the king, and as dexterously as he could ~~
" to dispose him to recommend Mr. Mountague to
" her, as just and reasonable, since his brother had
" lost his life in his service. "
This command of her majesty obliged the chan-
cellor to wait upon the king, and to shew him the
letter he had received from the duchess ; and at the
same time the king gve him that which he had
from the duke, in which his highness desired him,
" that if that place was not presently conferred upon
" Mr. Mountague, his majesty would not dispose of
" it till he waited upon him. " The chancellor told
him, " that the queen gave no answer, but referred
" it entirely to his majesty. " And he said, " he
" would never recommend any person to her but
" such a one as would be very grateful to her. " He
said, " it would seem very hard to deny one brother
" to succeed another who was killed in his service. "
He confessed, " that the lord Crofts had moved him
" on the behalf of Mr. Robert Spencer, of whom he
" had a good opinion : but that he had answered
" him, that he would not do any thing in it till
"he saw his brother ; which resolution he would
" keep. " To which the chancellor made no reply,
having in his own private inclinations and affection
much more kindness for Mr. Spencer, of whose pre-
tence he had never received the least intimation
before, than for the other, with whom he had spoken
very few words in his life. He told Mr. Mountague
no more but that which the king himself had told
him, " that he would not dispose of the place till
" the duke should arrive ;" only he added what
the queen had said of his father, and advised him
446 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1G65. to think of the way to remove that obstruction.
~ Whereupon he resolved to make a journey to his fa-
ther, which he knew he might well do before the
king and his brother could meet.
The same night Mr. Spencer came to the chan-
cellor, and brought him a letter from the treasurer
(whose nephew he was, and who was unfortunately
gone out of the town the day before to a house of
his own twenty miles distant) to recommend his ne-
phew to the queen, to whom and to the king he had
likewise letters. The chancellor gave him an ac-
count of all that had passed, shewed him the letter
that he had received from the duchess, and told him
what the queen and the king had said, and " that it
" was not possible for him to do him service, for
" which he was very sorry ;" but advised him " to
" deliver both his letters, and to attend their ma-
" jesties, who he was confident had yet taken no re-
" solution :" with all which he was very well satis-
tisfied, and confessed " he could not expect that he
" should appear for him. " When he delivered his
letters to both their majesties, he received so gra-
cious an answer from both, that he might reasonably
expect 1 his suit to be granted, though the king told
him, " he would not dispose of the place till he
" spake with his brother. " And there is no doubt
but if the lord treasurer had been in the town when
the news first came to the king of Mr. Mountague's
death, which was a whole day before the arrival of
the duke's letter, the king or queen would not have
denied him his request.
Within a short time after Mr. Spencer had left
1 expect] Omitted in MS.
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 447
him, the lord Crofts, who had married his sister, and ifi65.
was governed by the lord Arlington, came to the""
chancellor, and desired him " to take care, out of
" his friendship with the treasurer, that the king
" might not refuse to gratify him in this suit for his
" nephew, which was the first he had ever made ;
" and if he should be denied, it would exceedingly
" trouble him. That when he spake to the king of
" it, as soon as the news came, and told him, he was
" sure that the treasurer would be a suitor to him
" for his nephew, his majesty did promise him that
" he should have it ; and that both their majesties
" had as good as said the same now to Robert
" Spencer : and therefore, if he would now use his
" credit, the thing might be despatched presently,
"^nd without further delay. " **y^
The chancellor asked him, " whether Mr. Spencer
" had informed him of all that had passed between
" them two :" he said, " yes ; and that he had done
" all that the duchess had desired him, in speaking
" both to the king and queen, and that his friendship
" to the lord treasurer should prevail with him to
" use all his endeavours for his nephew. " Where-
upon the chancellor shewed the duchess's letter, and
repeated to him again all that he had formerly said
to Mr. Spencer, and asked him, " what the duke
" and his wife must think of him, if, instead of pur-
" suing what they desired, he should solicit quite
" contrary to it. " He said, " that he might tell
" them that he was engaged by the lord treasurer
" before he received their letter;" and then talked
passionately and indiscreetly " of the affront the
" treasurer would think he received, if this were de-
" nied him; and that all the world would say, that
448 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. " he might have compassed it, if he had not failed
" in his friendship. " To which he made no other
answer, than " that the doing so base a thing as he
*' desired would more probably destroy that friend-
" ship with a man so punctual in honour and justice
" as the treasurer was, than any thing that he had
" done or should leave undone ;" and advised him
" not to make the business worse by his activity,
" and that if he had the king's and queen's promise,
" as he pretended, he might very well acquiesce till
" the duke came. "
However, his very great indiscretion and pre-
sumption made the thing much worse, by deliver-
ing messages from the king to the queen, and from
her majesty to the king, that they both disavowed,
and by his usual discourses, " that it should now
" appear who had the most credit with the king,
" the duke or the treasurer, and how much the king
" would suffer, if he disobliged the treasurer;" all
which was quickly transmitted by the intelligence
that was every day sent to York. On the other
hand, he still advised the treasurer " to continue his
" importunity to the king and queen," (a thing the
most contrary to his nature,) and assured him, " that
" it would be grateful to them, and was expected
" by them. " Whereupon, as soon as the treasurer
came to the court, which was not till the king came
to Oxford, he went to both their majesties, and re-
newed his suit to them with more warmth and con-
cernment than was customary to him, and received
such an answer from both as very well satisfied him :
and without doubt the king intended to persuade his
brother to desist from pressing him further on the
behalf of the other, for whom he had no kindness.
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 449
But the duke, who arrived by post the very next 1665.
day, came in another temper than was expected.
The intelligence from Salisbury of the contest that
was for that place, and the insolent behaviour and
expressions used by the lord Crofts, had exceedingly
moved him, and he looked upon the treasurer as
engaged to try who had the greatest power, and as k
in opposition to him : so that the same night that he
came to town, when the king and he were in pri-
vate, he complained of it with much warmth ; and
he besought his majesty importunately " that he
" would declare, that the world might know who had
" most interest in his favour, he or the treasurer. "
The king was so much put out of the method he
intended to use in this affair, knowing that the ex-
pressions the duke had mentioned had been too often
used by the lord Crofts, for which he had often re-
prehended him, that he presently applied that re-
medy which he thought most proper; and, after
conference with the queen, signed the warrant for
admitting Mr. Mountague into the office, who was
sworn the next morning : so that the first news the
treasurer heard, after both their majesties had the
day before said all to him that he could desire, was,
that the place was already full ; which he received
with more commotion than was natural to him, and
looked upon it as a designed contrived affront, to
expose him to contempt. " Why would not the
" king, if he had changed his mind after he left
fl him, first send him word of it, that he might have
" known his purpose ? "
All this storm fell presently upon the chancellor :
k as] Not in MS.
VOL. II. G g
450 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. the lord Crofts assured him, " that it had been done
~" at Salisbury, if he had not hindered it; that he
" had been with the duke before he spake with
" the king, and given him advice what tune he
" should speak in, which was used accordingly, and
" had prevailed ; and that when he came into the
" duke's chamber to kiss his hand, his highness
" turned away, and would not speak to him, which
" must proceed from the influence of the chancellor. "
Whereas in truth the chancellor had only seen the
duke in public, and said no more to him than what
he said in public, thinking it no good manners to
trouble him with any private discourse, when he
was so weary of his journey ; nor did he know that
any thing was done in that affair till the day after
it was done, and after it was known to the treasurer.
Upon the 'whole matter, how unwilling soever he
was to believe that he could be so grossly faulty to
him, when he saw the chancellor next, his counte-
nance was not the same it used to be ; which the
other taking notice of, asked him, according to his
"usual familiarity, " what the matter was ;" but re-
ceived such an answer as made him discern that
there was somewhat amiss : and so he said no more.
The other being the same day with the king, the
duke came into the room, and in his looks mani-
fested a displeasure towards the treasurer, which
confirmed the former jealousy of the chancellor ;
which was improved by the ladies, who did not like
their lodging, and thought it proceeded from want
of friendship in him, who had the power over the
university, and might have assigned what lodgings
he pleased to the treasurer; and he had assigned
this, as the best house in the town for so great a
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 451
family, and which their own servant had desired as 1G65.
the best in the town, as it was.
When the chancellor discovered the ground of
this alteration, he grew out of humour too, and
thought himself unworthily suspected: and so for
two or three days the two friends came not together.
And in that time the chancellor had enough to do
to inform the duke, who was not only very much
offended with the treasurer, but thought that he had
been, out of his friendship to the treasurer, more re-
miss than he ought to have been in a business so
earnestly recommended by him and his wife ; and
the intelligence from Salisbury had made reflections upon him as much as upon the other. But his royal
highness willingly received information of all that
had passed, and discerned the foul carriage of others
as well as of the lord Crofts; and was pleased to
confess, " that he had done all he ought to do, and
" that he had been misinformed of the lord trea-
" surer's part in that affair, which had made him
" think amiss of him ; which he would acknowledge
" to him next time he saw him. "
After this the chancellor, having a more clear
view, upon conference with the king and the duke,
of this pernicious design, which in some degree had
compassed its end, if there grew a strangeness be-
tween the treasurer and him, went to him : and they
being together without any others, he told him, " it
" should not be in his power to break friendship
" with him to gratify the humour of other people,
" without letting him know what the matter was,"
which he conjured him to impart to him ; assuring
him, " that he would find that nothing was more im-
" possible than that he could commit a fault towards
Gg2
452 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. " him, and that they who wished well to neither of
~ " them had contrived this separation as the best
" way to hurt them both. " And when he saw that
lie did not yet open himself, he told him, " that he
'" had heard that he had received some umbrage in
'* the pretence of his nephew, and therefore he would
" give him an account of all that he knew of it,"
which he did exactly ; and concluded with a pro-
testation,' " that he had not known what had been
" done at Oxford till after he came from him, when
" he observed the change of his countenance towards
" him, of the cause of which he could not then make
" any conjecture. "
The treasurer thereupon with his usual freedom
told him, " that if his part had been no other than
" as he related, he thought himself obliged to give
" him a narration of all he had done, and of the
" grounds and motives he had to think that he had
" failed in his friendship. " And thereupon he men-
tioned " the kindness and esteem he had for his
" nephew, whom he thought in all respects of birth
" and breeding at least as worthy of that relation as
" the gentleman who was possessed of it ; and yet
" that since he was not upon the place, he had no
" mind to engage himself in the suit : and that
" when his nephew had given him an account what
" the chancellor had said to him," which he did with
great ingenuity, " and he knew that the duke of
" York appeared in it for another, he resolved to
" prosecute it no further ; until the lord Crofts with
" all confidence assured him, that the king had pro-
'" mised him to confer the place upon Robert Spencer,
" and that both their majesties expected that he
" should make it his suit, to the end that they might
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 453
" thereby decline the importunity that he expected 1665.
" from his brother. " He told him of some expressions ~~
he had used to the king in that affair, which the king
himself had reported ; and " that when he took his
" leave of the queen to go to Oxford," (which was
the next day after Mr. Mountague came from York,)
" he dissuaded her majesty from receiving Mr.
" Spencer, alleging some reasons against it, which a
" lady who was near overheard, and informed the
" person of it who acquainted him with it : all
" which, with the king's and queen's so ample pro-
" mises to him so few hours before the conferring
'* the place upon another, and the duke of York's
" manner of receiving him after he had been shut
" up with him, as he was informed, might very well
" excuse him for thinking he had some share in the
" affront he had undergone. "
To which the other replied, " that if indeed he
" did believe all that he had been told, he could not
" but think so ; but," he said, " he thought he had
" known him better than to give credit to such re-
" ports, which must make him a fool and a knave :
" that for the words he should have used to the
" king or the queen, there had nothing passed like
" it to either of them, but that they were purely
" devised out of malice ; which should be manifest
" unto him, for he would not speak a word of it to
" the king till they were both with him together)
" and then he would ask before him what his car-
" riage had been, and by his majesty's sudden an-
" swer he might judge of the report. " He told him
then, " how much he had suffered with the duke,
" and what excellent stories had been made to his
" royal highness of both of them, and of the good
Gg3
454 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. " part the lord Crofts had acted, of which he was
~~" not without some evidence. " After this eclair-
cissement, of the sincerity whereof every day admin-
istered new testimony, they both returned to their
mutual confidence in each other : and they who had
contrived this former device entered into a new
confederacy, how they might first remove the trea-
surer, which would facilitate the pulling the chan-
cellor down ; of which anon.
The duke Within a short time after the duke returned out
consults the
chancellor of Yorkshire, his highness told the chancellor in
\ng two"* confidence, " that he had two suits which he in-
king. * the " tended to make to the king, and with which he
" first acquainted him, that he might have his as-
" sistance in the obtaining them. The first was, in
" which he and his wife were equally engaged, to
" prevail with the king to make sir George Savile a
" viscount. " He said, " he knew well the resolution
" the king had taken, to which he had contributed
" his advice, to make no more lords : but that he
" hoped in this particular case his majesty would
" upon his desire dispense with a general rule.
" That sir George had one of the best fortunes of
" any man in England, and lived the most like a
" great man ; that he had been very civil to him
" and his wife in the north, and treated them at his
" house in a very splendid manner ; and that he
" was engaged to prevail with the king in this
" point, or to confess he had no power, which he
" hoped he should not be without in this matter ;"
and asked his opinion.
The chancellor in his usual freedom, which he
always took when he was to deliver his advice to
the king or duke, said, "that he could not advise
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 455
*' his highness to move the king in it; for besides
" that he knew the king's positive determination,
" the departure from which might ,be of ill con-
" sequence, sir George Savile was a man of a very
" ill reputation amongst men of piety and reli-
" gion, and was looked upon as void of all sense
" of religion, even to the doubting, if not denying,
" that there is a God, and that he was not reserved
" in any company to publish his opinions : which
" made him believe that it would neither be for
" his highness's honour to propose it, nor for the
" king's to grant it, in a time when all license in
" discourse and in actions was spread over the king-
" dom, to the heart-breaking of very many good
" men 1 , who had terrible apprehensions of the con-
" sequence of it. " The duke was not at all pleased
with his discourse, and said, " he was resolved to
" use all his credit with the king to compass it, and
" that he hoped, that whatever he thought, he would
" not oppose it. "
The other particular was, " that he would move
" the king to make Mr. Coventry his secretary a
'* privy counsellor ;" and asked him " what he
" thought of that. " To which he answered, " that
" his opinion in that point would please him no bet-
" ter than in the former. That he did not think it
" fit to be asked : and if the king his brother were
" inclined to be jealous of him, as some had endea-
" voured to persuade him, such an instance as this
" would very much confirm it ; for never any
" prince of Wales had a servant of the highest de-
" gree about him called to the council, till his father
" called the earl of Newcastle, who was the prince's
1 men] Omitted in MS.
Gg4
456 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. " governor, to the board; which was not till upon
"~" the approach of the troubles he discerned that he
" should employ him in another charge. That the
" members of that board had been always those
" great officers of state, and other officers, who in
" respect of the places they held had a title to sit
'* there, and of such few others who, having great
" titles and fortunes and interest in the kingdom,
" were an ornament to the table. That there were
" at present too many already, and the number
" lessened the dignity of the relation : that his high-
" ness had already brought the lord Berkley thither,
" who had no manner of title to be there but his de-
" pendance upon him ; and now to bring in his se-
" cretary, for no other reason but for being his se-
" cretary, might be thought an encroachment, and
" be misinterpreted by the king. " He added, " that
" his wrangling litigious nature would give the
'* board much trouble ; and that he knew him to be
" so much his particular enemy, that he would
" watch all the opportunities to do him all possible
" ill offices to the king and to his royal highness. "
The duke replied only to the last, and said, " he
" perceived somebody had done Will. Coventry ill
(C offices, which he knew to be unjust and false :
** and that he could assure him, upon his own
" knowledge, that he had a great respect for him,
" and desired his favour ; and that he would pass
" his word for him, that he would never do any
** thing to disserve him, which if he should do, he
" should for ever lose his favour, which he knew
" well. " And no doubt the duke did believe all he
said, for he had a perfect kindness for the chancel-
lor; and when he did not comply with what he
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 457
wished, he knew that it was out of the integrity of 1665.
his judgment, and his strict duty to the king and""
himself, and that he had never flattered or dissem-
bled with either of them. And Mr. Coventry had
skill enough to persuade him to believe what he de-
sired should be true, though there were in the view
of all men frequent instances of the contrary, and of
the absence of all ingenuity and sincerity in his ac-
tions.
Within very few days after this conference, and ^he duke
11-1 . 11 moves the
when the duchess had made new instance with her king to
father in the case of sir George Savile, and with
more importunity than the duke, and appeared more
concerned and troubled that he should not be more
forward to comply with the duke's desires, (but the
chancellor, who always with the respect that was
due to her quality preserved the dignity of a father
very entire, would give no other answer than he
had done to the duke, and advised her to dissuade
him from making the request to the king ;) his
highness one day desired the king that he would re-
tire into his closet, and call the chancellor to him :
and when they three were together in the room,
after a short discourse of letters which he had TG-
ceived from the earl of Sandwich, which there will
be occasion anon to mention at large, the duke told
the king, " he had an humble suit to his majesty ;"
and then spake much of the great interest that sir
George Savile had in the northern parts, of the
greatness of his estate, and his orderly and splendid
way of living, and concluded with his desire, " that
" his majesty would make him an English viscount. "
Upon which the king presently put him in mind
" of the resolution he had formerly made in that
458 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. " room, and he thought upon his own motion, but
~~" he was sure it had been with his concurrence and
" approbation. "
The duke replied, " that he remembered it very
" well, and thought he should do well still in the.
" general to observe it : yet it was in those cases al-
" ways supposed, that an extraordinary case might
" fall out, that might produce an exception ; and he
" did most humbly beseech his majesty, that he
" would, upon his very earnest interposition-, from
" which nobody could make a precedent, dispense
" with the rule. " He did confess, " that he was so
" confident of his majesty's favour, that he had given
" sir George Savile cause to believe that he would
" prevail in that suit ; which if he should not do, he
" must be thought either not to have intended what
" he promised, or to have no credit with his ma-
" jesty, neither of which would be for his honour. "
which the The king replied roundly, and with more pre-
not consent sence of mind than he had always about him, " that
" it was absolutely necessary to be very precise in
" the observation of the rule, which if he should
" once break, a world of inconveniences would break
" in upon him, which he could not defend himself
" against. " He named two or three persons who
were very solicitous for honours, and had several
pretences to it, and his majesty had only been able
to resist and evade their importunity, by objecting
this declared resolution to them. The plain truth
is ; he had made some promise (a weakness he was
too often liable to), to those persons or to their friends,
" that when he should make any new creations,
" they should be sure to be in the number :" nor did
he apprehend any inconvenience from redeeming
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 459
himself from the present importunity, which was still 1665.
grievous to him, since he had resolved to make no
new creation. And this was the true reason that
made him now so inexorable to his brother, who was
very much troubled, and declined to move any thing
else in so unlucky a season, not without some appre-
hension, from the king's quicker way of discourse,
that he had been prepared for it by the chancellor,
who though present had not spoke one word in the
debate, nor indeed ever informed the king of the
conference his highness had formerly held with him
upon that subject, nor ever spoken to him concern-
ing it.
However, in this perplexity, as the duke thought
it necessary to inform Mr. Coventry, who had prin-
cipally advanced this pretence, all that had passed
before the king, that his nephew (for so sir George
Savile was) might see he could make no further pro-
gress in it ; so in the passion he unwarily told him
all that had passed in the former conference with
the chancellor, which he took care should not be
concealed from any who were like to be willing to
revenge it. And the duke, to shew how willing he
was to oblige the family, immediately received a
younger brother of sir George Savile, whom he had
only seen in the north, to wait upon him in his bed-
chamber ; who being a young man of wit, and in-
credible confidence and presumption, omitted no
occasion to vent his malice against the chancellor,
with a license that in former times would have been
very penal, though it had concerned a person of a
much inferior quality in the state.
Within a short time after, the king told the Mr. wniiam
chancellor, " that his brother had desired him that adm! ttc7of
460 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. " his secretary Mr. Coventry might be admitted of
the privy. " the privy-council, which he could not deny, but
council and na( j p rom j se( i it should be done at the next meet-
the private
committee;"' ing;" which was accordingly done, and he knight-
. ed: and quickly after, upon the like desire of the
duke, he was called to that committee with which
his majesty used to consult his most secret affairs.
And from this time there was an alteration in the
whole carriage and debate of all manner of business :
and as the chancellor had found his own credit with
the king much diminished from the time of the lord
Arlington's being secretary ; so a greater decrease of
it was now visible to all men from the access of this
new counsellor.
The lord Arlington had not the gift of speaking
nor of a quick conception, and go rarely contradicted
any thing in council: his talent was in private,
where he frequently procured, very inconveniently,
changes and alterations from public determinations.
But sir William Coventry (between whom and the
other there was an entire conjunction and combina-
tion) was a man of quick parts and a ready speaker,
unrestrained by any modesty or submission to the
age, experience, or dignity of other men, equally
censorious of what had been done before he was a
counsellor, as solicitous in contradiction of whatsoever
was proposed afterwards : insomuch as the very first
time that he was admitted to the private committee,
the debate being about providing money to be paid
at a day approaching to the bishop of Munster, ac-
cording to the king's obligation, he said, " we had
" need enough of money for our own immediate
" occasions ; and that we ought not to assign any to
" the advancement of the affairs of other men. "
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 461
Whereupon he was informed " of the treaty the 1665.
" king had entered into, and that the bishop was at ~~
" that time upon his march, which was by every
" body looked upon as of great importance to his
" majesty ;" to which he answered, " that he had
" heard somewhat of it, how secretly soever it had
" been carried, and that he had never liked it from
" the beginning, nor would give his consent that any
" more money should be paid towards it ;" which
the king himself looked upon as a rare impudence.
His great ambition was to be taken notice ef j for where he
opposing and contradicting whatsoever was proposed oppoleftL
or said by the chancellor or treasurer, towards whom chancellor
and trea-
all other counsellors, how little soever they cared surer -
for their persons, had ever paid respect in regard of
their offices. He was a declared enemy to all law-
yers, and to the law itself; and any thing passed
under the great seal of England was of no more
authority with him, than if it were the scroll of a
scrivener. He had no principles in religion or state ;
of one mind this day, and another to-morrow ; and
always very uneasy to those who were obliged to
consult with him; whose pride and insolence will
administer frequent occasions of mention throughout
the ensuing relation.
The king had not been many days in Oxford, ^" e cc ^ t of
when news arrived that the earl of Sandwich had& fterthe
. a m . i T-V n attempt at
been engaged in some conflict with the Dutch fleet ; Bergen.
of the particulars whereof there was a general long-
ing to be advertised. The truth was, that whilst
the earl rode, after the business of Bergen, as near
that coast as was safe, in expectation of the Dutch
fleet, the winds, which are always tempestuous in
that season of the year, September, made it abso-
462 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. lutely necessary for him to remove with his whole
~ fleet to the coast of Scotland, where there were har-
bours enough for him to ride safe ; and in this in-
terval of time De Ruyter was passed by towards
that of Norway. The news of their Indian fleet
having been attacked by the English in Bergen, and
the letters of some of their officers, which implied as
if they were not satisfied in the security of the port
and of the fidelity of the governor, produced a won-
derful consternation in Holland ; and if they should
be deprived of that wealth, the very company of the
East Indies would be in danger of being dissolved.
The fleet was ready to set sail, under the com-
mand of De Ruyter, well fitted and manned : but
there were still many m factions amongst the cap-
tains and other officers, that might upon any acci-
dents produce many mischiefs ; for the better pre-
vention whereof, the pensionary De Wit was willing
to venture his own person, believing himself to be
as secure any where as on shore, if any misfortune
should befall the fleet. And so he was by a special
commission made plenipotentiary, with an ample
allowance for his table, and a guard of halberdiers
for the safety of his person, with a good train of vo-
lunteers : and so he put himself on board the ship
of De Ruyter, who received orders from him.
Lord sand- The earl of Sandwich, after he had received ad-
abie'to * vertisements of the Dutch fleet's being passed by
come to an f or Norway, took all the care he could to put him-
engagement
with De self and his fleet in the way of their return. They
made a short stay on the coast of Norway, where
upon good consideration their ships were dismissed,
m many] so many
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 463
and loud clamour raised against the hostility of the 1665.
English. And notwithstanding all the vigilance the"
earl could use, the darkness and length of the nights
so favoured them, that he could not engage their
whole fleet, as he endeavoured to do : yet he had But takes
many of his
the good fortune in two encounters to take eight of ships in
their great ships of war, two of their best East India
ships, and about twenty of their other merchant
ships, which were all under the protection of their
fleet, or ought to have been. After which he was
by tempest driven to put the fleet into security in
the English harbours, it being already the month of
October.
It was a fair booty, and came very opportunely to
supply the present necessities of the navy, and to
provide for the setting out of the next fleet at
spring, and was in truth gotten with very good con-
duct, and without any considerable damage : but it
being much less than was expected, (for whatsoever
was upon the sea was looked upon as our own,) the
news no sooner arrived at Oxford, but intelligence
came with it of many oversights which had been
committed and opportunities lost, otherwise it had
been easy to have taken the whole fleet ; and that it
might have been pursued further when it was in
view, after those East India ships were taken, which
were indeed surprised and boarded at the break of
day, when they thought themselves in the middle
of their own fleet. And it is as true that the earl
did then pursue to engage the fleet, till they were
got so near the French shore, that the wind blowing
in to the land, it was by all the flag-officers thought
absolutely necessary to give over the chace.
464 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. Sir William Coventry, who had never paid a ci-
sirw. co- vility to any worthy man but as it was a disobliga-
ventry-s t j on to another whom he cared less for, and so had
unjust re-
flections only contributed to the preferment of the earl of
upon him. -. . ;,. . ',/,. ,. . , . .
Sandwich in the last expedition that he might cross
prince Rupert, received much intelligence from seve-
ral officers in the fleet, which he scattered abroad to
the prejudice of the earl, and was willing that it
should be believed that he had been too wary in
avoiding danger. But the king and the duke were
very just to the earl, and discountenanced all those
reports as scandals and calumnies : and the duke,
who had seen his behaviour in the most dangerous
action, gave him a loud testimony " of a prudent
" and brave commander, and as forward and bold in
" the face of danger as the occasion required or dis-
" cretion permitted. " And his highness undertook
" that he had in all this expedition done what a
" man of honour was pbliged to do," and was abun-
dantly satisfied (as his majesty likewise was) with
the rich prizes he had brought home, which had
caused equal lamentation in Holland, and almost
broke the heart of De Wit himself. But what suc-
cess soever the earl had at sea, it was his mis-
fortune to do an unadvised action when he came
into the harbour, that lessened the king's own
esteem of him, and to a great degree irreconciled
the duke to him, and gave opportunity to his ene-
mies to do him much prejudice.
An impm- It was a constant and a known rule in the admi-
of theeari" ralty, that of any ship that is taken from the enemy
wLh a after bulk * s not to ^ e Dr k eT1 till it be brought into the
his return; port and adjudged lawful prize. It seems that when
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 465
the fleet returned to the harbour, the flag-officers 1665.
petitioned or moved the earl of Sandwich, " in re-~~
" gard of their having continued all the summer
" upon the seas with great fatigue, and been en-
" gaged in many actions of danger, that he would
" distribute amongst them some reward out of the
" Indian ships ;" which he thought reasonable, and
inclined to satisfy them, and writ a letter to the
vice-chamberlain to inform the king of it, and " that
" he thought it fit to be done ;" to which the vice-
chamberlain, having shewed the letter to the king,
returned his majesty's approbation. But before the
answer came to his hand, he had executed the de-
sign, and distributed as much of the coarser goods
to the flag-officers, as by estimatitin was valued to
be one thousand pounds to each officer, and took to
the value of two thousand pounds for himself. This
suddenly made such a noise and outcry, as if all the
Indian and other merchant ships had been plundered
by the seamen : and they again cried out as much,^
that no care was taken of them, but all given to the
flag-officers ; which the other captains thought to be
an injury to them.
The general (who had nothing like kindness for which the
the earl of Sandwich, whose service he thought had
been too much considered and recompensed by the |j
king at his arrival) had notice of it before it came to
Oxford ; and, according to his universal care, (which
was afterwards found to proceed from private ani-
mosity,) sent orders to all the port towns, to seize
upon goods which were brought in shallops from the
fleet ; and gave advertisement to Oxford of the ex-
traordinary ill consequence of that action, and " that
" it would spoil the sale of all that remained of those
VOL. II. H h
466 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. " ships, since the East India company, which pro-
" bably would have been the best chapmen, would
" not now be forward to buy, since so much was
" disposed of already to other hands as would spoil
" their market. " And by this time the earl himself
had given an account of all that had been done, and
The king the motives, to the duke. The king was justly dis-
with tL pleased for the expedition he had used, " Why had
earl> " his approbation been desired, when he resolved to
" do the thing before he could receive an answer? "
yet n was glad that he had done so, because he
would have been more excusable if he had received
it.
The duke But the duke, who had been constantly kind to
against him. the earl, was offended in the highest degree, and
thought himself injured and affronted beyond any
precedent. " This most unjustifiable action could
" proceed only from two fountains : the one of ex-
" treme vanity and ambition, to make himself popu-
" lar amongst the officers of the fleet, who ought not
" to have been gratified by him at the king's charge.
" When any such bounty should be seasonable, it
" was the duke's province to have been the author,
" and the conduit to have conveyed it : he had him-
" self been an eyewitness of their behaviour in the
' greatest action ; and for the earl to assume the
" rewarding them by his own authority, was to de-
" fraud and rob him of his proper right and juris-
" diction. " And he looked upon his having desired
the king's allowance by the vice-chamberlain, as a
trick and an aggravation ; for he ought to have
asked his advice, as his superior officer: and the
n yet] and the] their
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 467
poor vice-chamberlain underwent his share in the 1G65.
reproach, for having presumed to move the king in ~~
a particular, that, if it was to be moved at all, had
been to be moved by the duke. " The other foun-
" tain which might produce this presumption might
" be avarice," which was the sole blemish (though it
never appeared in any gross instance) that- seemed
to cloud many noble virtues in that earl, who now
became a very pregnant evidence of the irresistible
strength and power of envy ; which though it feeds
on its own poison, and is naturally more grievous to
the person who harbours it, than to him that is ma-
ligned, yet when it finds a subject it can effectually
work upon, it is more insatiable in revenge than any
passion the soul is liable unto.
He was a gentleman of so excellent a temper and character of
the earl of
behaviour, that he could make himself no enemies ; sandwich.
of so many good qualities, and so easy to live with,
that he marvellously reconciled the minds of all men
to him, who had not intimacy enough with him to
admire his other parts : yet was in the general in-
clinations of men upon some disadvantage. They
who had constantly followed the king whilst he as
constantly adhered to Cromwell, and knew not how
early he had entertained repentance,. and with what
hazards and dangers he had manifested it, did be-
lieve the king had been too prodigal in heaping so
many honours upon him. And they who had been
familiar with him and of the same party, and
thought they had been as active as he in contribut-
ing to the revolution, considered him with some
anger, as one who had better luck than they without
more merit, and who had made early conditions :
when in truth no man in the kingdom had been
Hh 2
468 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. less guilty of that address; nor did he ever contri-
bute to any advancement to which he arrived, by
the least intimation or insinuation that he wished it,
He is very or that it would be acceptable to him. Yet upon
treated. this blast the winds rose from all quarters, reproaches
of all sorts were cast upon him, and all affronts con-
trived for him.
The earl had conveyed that part of the goods
which he had assigned to himself in a shallop to
Lynn, from whence it could pass* by water to his
own house. An officer in that port seized upon it
by virtue of the general's warrant, and would cause
it presently to be unladen, which he began to do.
But the servants of the earl appealed to the other
officers in equal authority, to whom they brought a
letter with them from the earl of Sandwich, in which
he owned all those goods to be his, (amongst which
were his bedding and furniture for his cabin, and all
his plate, and other things suitable,) and likewise a
note of all the other goods which might be liable to
pay custom ; and desired them " to send one of
" their searchers with the boat to his house, where
" he should receive all their dues, without being
" unladen in the port ;" which, besides the delay,
would be liable to many inconveniences. The officer
who had first arrested it, and who had dependance
upon a great man of the country, who was not un-
willing that any affront should be put upon the earl,
roughly refused to suffer it to pass without being
first unladen ; but being overruled by the other offi-
cers, vented his anger in very unmannerly language
against the earl : of all which he, being advertised
by his servants, sent a complaint to the lords of the
council, and desired " the fellow might be sent for
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 469
" and punished ;" which could not be refused, though 1665.
it proved troublesome in the inquiry. For the offi- ~~
cer, who was a gentleman of a fair behaviour and
good repute, denied all those words which carried in
them the worst interpretation ; but justified the ac-
tion, and produced the general's warrant, which had
unusual expressions, and apparent enough to have a
particular and not a general intention.
The general had quick advertisement of it, and
writ very passionately from London, " that an offi-
" cer should be sent for without having committed
" any other offence than in obeying and executing
" a warrant of his :" and the other great man, who
was of great importance to the king's service, and in
the highest trust in that country, writ several let-
ters, " how impossible it would be to carry on the
" king's service in that country, if that officer should
" be punished for doing that, when he ought to be
" punished if he had not done it ;" and therefore de-
sired, " that he might be repaired by them who had
" caused him to be sent for. "
Sir William Coventry had now full sea-room to
give vent to all his passions, and to incense the
duke, who was enough offended without such con-
tributions : " if this proceeded from covetousness, it
" was not probable that it would be satisfied with so
" little ; and therefore it was probable, that though
" the officers might not have received above the va-
" lue of one thousand pounds," which was assigned
to each, " yet himself would not be contented with
" so little as two thousand ; and they might there-
" fore well conceive that he had taken much more,
" which ought to be examined with the greatest
" strictness. " There had been nothing said before
Hh 3
470 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. of not taking advantage enough upon the enemy in
~ all occasions which had been offered, and of not
pursuing them far enough, which was not now re-
newed, with P advice, " that he might be presently
" sent for ;" though it was known that, as soon as he
could put the ships into the ports to which they
were designed, he would come to Oxford. And
there were great underhand endeavours, that the
house of commons might be inflamed with this mis-
carriage and misdemeanor, and present it as a com-
plaint to the house of peers, as fit to be examined
and brought to judgment before that tribunal. And
. they, who with all the malice imaginable did endea-
vour in vain to kindle this fire, persuaded the king
and the duke, " that by their sole activity and
" interest it was prevented for that time, because
" the session was too short, and that all necessary
" evidence could not be soon produced at Oxford ;
" but that, as soon as the plague should cease to
" such a degree in London that the parliament
" might assemble there, it would be impossible to
" restrain the house of commons from pursuing that
" complaint," of which nobody thought but them-
selves and they who were provoked by them.
The earl of Sandwich had so good intelligence
from Oxford, that he knew all that was said of him,
and began to believe that he had done unadvisedly
in administering occasion of speaking ill to those
He fuiiy who greedily sought for it : and as soon as his ab-
seifofthT sence from the fleet could be dispensed with, he
misconduct ma ^ e haste to Oxford, and gave so full an account
at sea ; o f every day's action, from the time that he went to
P with] without
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 471
sea to the day of his return, and of his having never J665.
done any thing of importance, nor having left any
thing undone, but with and by the advice of the
council of war, upon the orders he had received,
that both the king and the duke could not but ab-
solve him from all the imputations of negligence or
inadvertency.
But for the breaking bulk, and the circumstances And makes
11*11111 . an injjenu-
that attended it, they declared they were unsatis- ous acknow-
fied. And he confessed " that he had been much to e f hhHin-
" blame," and asked pardon, ,and with such excuses P mdence '
as he thought might in some degree plead for him.
He protested, " it seemed to him to have had some
" necessity : that the whole fleet was in a general
" indisposition, and complained, that for all that
" summer action" (which indeed had been full of
merit) " they had nothing given to them, not without
" some muttering that they would have somewhat
" out of those Indian ships before they would part
" with them ; insomuch as he had a real apprehen-
" sion that they had a purpose to plunder them.
" And he should have feared more, if he had. not
" complied with the flag-officers' importunity : and
" thereupon he consented that they should have
" each of them the value of one thousand pounds,
" and which he was most confident the goods which
" had been delivered to them did not exceed. " He
confessed " he had not enough considered the con->
" sequence, and that they who had not received any
" donative would be more displeased, than they who
" had it were satisfied with it ; which he acknow-
" ledged was the case : that he was heartily sorry
" for permitting any such thing to be done, and
" more for having taken any himself, and humbly
H h 4
472 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1 665. " asked 1 pardon for both ; and desired ' that his
"~ " own part, which remained entire, might be re-
" stored to the ship from whence it had been taken,
" which he would cause to be done. "
A more ingenuous acknowledgment could not be
made : and they who could not but observe many
persons every day excused for more enormous trans-
gressions, did hope that he, who had so few faults to
answer for, would have been absolved for that tres-
with which pass. And the king himself used him very gracious-
satisfied, ly, and so did the duke ; and he was sent back to
the fleet, to give order for the sending out a winter-
guard and ordering all other maritime affairs, and
for the sending up the India ships into the river, with
great care that none of the seamen should go on
shore, where the plague still raged little if at all less
than it had done in the summer : and so he himself
and most other men believed and were glad, that an
ill business was so well composed. But sir William
did not intend that it should end there.
The East The present business, that must admit no inter-
India prizes
sold for the ruption, was the raising what money might be to
service of . .
the war. supply the present necessities of the fleet, to pay the
seamen, and to make all preparations to set out the
fleet against the spring, when the French ships
would be infallibly ready to join with the Dutch ;
and the money that was given by the parliament
would not be paid till long after ; and the affairs of
the bankers were in such disorder by the death of
servants, and the plague having been in some of
their houses, that the usual course of advancing mo-
nies by assignations could not be depended upon.
( i asked] Omitted in MS. r desired] Omitted in MS.
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 473
The general had written to the lord treasurer, " that J665.
" he thought that there could not be so good chap-""
" men for those ships as the East India company,
" some whereof had been with him to know the
" king's pleasure ; and if authority were granted to
" any men to treat upon that affair, they would
" send for members enough of their company, who
" were dispersed in the country, to be present at a
" court, which would authorize a committee to
" treat and contract with them :" and he said,
" that he was confident that half the money would
" be paid upon the making the bargain. " The king
was no sooner advertised of this overture, than he
sent sir George Carteret and Mr. Ashburnham to
London, to confer with the general and to be ad-
vised by him, and granted authority to them three
to sell those two prizes to those who would give
most. And they found no overtures to be so advan-
tageous as those which were made by that company:
and yet they made so much use of the advantage of
the time, when all men of notorious wealth were
out of the town, that they thought not fit to make
any agreement till they gave the king an account of
the whole transaction, with their opinions, upon
conference with other men of business ; and to that
purpose the two persons who had been sent to the
general returned safe to Oxford.
It hath been mentioned before, that it was
thought a great presumption in any body to pre-
sume to interpose in the maritime affairs, which
was interpreted to be an invasion of the duke's pe-
culiar province 8 ; and by this means the credit of sir
s province] Not in MS.
474 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. William Coventry was so absolute, that the disposal
The kin of all was in his power. He had persuaded the
persuaded duke, and the lord Arlington, who was in firm con-
to remove
lord sand- junction with him, had prevailed with the king to
the com believe, "that the house of commons was so in-
nandofthe cense( j a g a inst the lord Sandwich for his late pre-
" sumption, that it would not be possible to hinder
" them in their next assembling" (which was ap-
pointed or resolved to be in April, if it pleased God
to extinguish the sickness) " from falling* very se-
" verely upon the earl of Sandwich, which would
" be a very great dishonour to the king, if he were
" at that time in ttie command of the fleet ; and
" that -there was no way to preserve him" (for that
was their method when they had a mind to ruin a
man, to pretend a great care that he might not be
undone) "but by dismissing him from that charge,
" which probably might preserve him from being
" further questioned, since it would be interpreted
" a punishment inflicted on him by the king for his
" crime, and so might stop him from being further
" prosecuted for the same offence. " To which they
added, "that it would be necessary in another re-
" spect; for that many of the officers, as well as
" common seamen, had opened their mouths very
" wide against him, especially after it was gene-
" rally known that the king and the duke were of-
" fended with him, and had not been at all reserved
" in charging him with several reproaches : and that
" if the same command were still continued in him,
" it could not be presumed that those men would
" ever put themselves under his command whom
" they had so much provoked. "
1 from falling] to fall
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 475
These arguments, urged by men who were not 1665.
known, at least by the king and duke, to be his ene-
mies, and one of them thought to be (and in truth
was, but for his conjunction with the other) his
friend, and to wish him very well, prevailed upon
the judgments of both of them ; insomuch as they
resolved to confer with the chancellor, whom they
knew to be much the earl's friend. And they both
expressed " very much kindness to and confidence The king
" in the affection and integrity and courage of
" earl of Sandwich, though he was to be blamed
" his late indiscretion, and a resolution with their
" utmost power to defend him from undergoing any
" disgrace by it : but that it would contribute most
" to his preservation, that he quitted the employ-
" ment, and that some other persons should be sent
" to command the next fleet in the spring. For if
** he should again go to sea, and the u parliament
" should press to have him sent for, to answer what
" they had to object against him, his majesty must
" either refuse to consent to it, which would make
" a breach with his parliament, or by consenting dis-
" order his maritime affairs to that degree, that the
" enemy could not but take very great advantage of
" it. " Therefore they commanded the chancellor
to confer with him and discourse the whole matter
to him, to assure him x " of the king's and duke's fa-
" vour, and that they were in this particular moved
*' only by their tenderness to him ; and that some
" expedient should be first found out to remove him
" with honour, before any notice should be taken of
" the purpose to remove him, and before any other
11 the] Not in MS. * to assure him] secure him
476 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1665. "person should be deputed to the command; and
~ " that he himself should either propose the expe-
" dient, if any such occurred to him that would be
" grateful, or judge of any that should be proposed
" to him. "
The cban- The chancellor did presume to declare, " that he
against re- " thought that they were persuaded to apprehend
him? D " somewhat that could not fall out. That he would
" not take upon him to excuse the earl of Sandwich
" for any offence he had committed : if it were of
" that magnitude that his majesty thought fit to re-
" move him from his command, nobody could cen-
" sure it ; and it may be, in a time of so much li-
" cense, the severity might be thought seasonable.
" But the apprehension that the parliament would
" take more notice of what the earl had done, than
" they would of any other breach of order that was
" every day committed, was without any just rea-
" son. " But that argument was presently silenced
by their undertaking to know somewhat that the
other could not do, and that there was no other way
to preserve him y but that which was proposed.
There was at that time an opportunity in view,
that might give the earl of Sandwich an employ-
ment very worthy of him, and which no man could
imagine would be assigned to any man who was in
An account disgrace. Sir Richard Fanshaw, who was a gentle-
S Fan- nian very well known and very well beloved, had
1 been first ambassador in Portugal, and had behaved
Spain. himself so well there, that when he returned from
thence, he was recommended, and upon the matter
desired, by that crown to be sent to Spain, as the
y him] Omitted in MS.
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 477
fittest person to mediate in the king's name between ] 665.
Spain and Portugal; and the king had before de-~~
signed to send him ambassador into Spain, as well
to settle a treaty between England and Spain, (for
there was none yet,) as to do all the offices between
those other crowns which were requisite to the end
aforesaid. No man knew that court better 2 , or
was so well versed in the language, having lived
many years before in that court in much better
times. He had remained now about two years,
with such frequent mortifications as ministers use to
meet with in courts irresolute and perplexed in their
own affairs, as the counsels of Madrid were in the
last years of the king, as his indisposition increased,
or by relaxing administered some hope. He had
made a journey to Lisbon upon the earnest desire
of Spain, and returned without eifect.
