"the Soldiers, and see what effect your Votes and their endeavours might "have with them. We desire as speedy an account of this business as "might well be; but, upon the desire of the Officers, thought it necessary "for the service to give them until Saturday next3 to bring us an account of "their business, by reason the Regiments were so far distant.

"As anything falls out worthy of your knowledge, we shall represent "it; and in the mean time study to approve ourselves, your most humble "servants,

64 PH. SKIPPON.

"OLIVER CROMWELL.

"H. IRETON.

"CHARLES FLEETWOOD."G

3. "To the Honourable William Lenthall, Esquire, Speaker of the

Commons House: These.'

"Walden, 17th May 1647.

"SIR,-We having made some progress in the Business you commanded "us upon, we are bold to give you this account. Which, although it come not with that expedition you may expect and your other affairs require, Iyet we hope you will be pleased to excuse us with the weight of the "Affair: in comparison whereof nothing that ever yet we undertook was, at "least to our apprehension, equal; and wherein, whatever the issue prove, "our greatest comfort is, That our consciences bear us witness we have, "according to our abilities, endeavoured faithfully to serve you and the 64 Kingdom.

"The Officers repaired to us at Saffron Walden upon Saturday last, according to appointment, to give us a return of what they had in charge "from us at our last Meeting; which was, To read your Votes to the "Soldiers under their respective commands for their satisfaction, and to "improve their interest faithfully and honestly with them to that end; and " 'then' to give us a perfect account of the effect of their endeavours, and "a true representation of the temper of the Army.

66

"At this Meeting we received what they had to offer to us. Which they delivered to us in writing, by the hands of some chosen by the rest "of the Officers then present, and in the name of the rest of the Officers "and of the Soldiers under their commands. Which was not done till

66

Sunday in the evening. At which time, and likewise before upon Saturday, we acquainted them all with a Letter from the Earl of Manchester, expressing that an Act of Indemnity, large and full, had passed the House of Commons; and that two weeks' pay more was voted to those "that were disbanded, as also to them that undertook the service of Ire

44

5 This day week; the 15th.

6 'Letter from the General Officers,' 'from Walden, of 8th Maii 1647, was this day read' (Commons Journals, Tuesday 11th May 1647). The Letter seems to be cf Cromwell's writing.

7 Means 'response to."

8 Commons Journals, v. 174 (14th May 1647).

"land. And, thinking fit to dismiss the Officers to their several com"mands,—all but some that were to stay here about farther business,-we gave them in charge To communicate these last Votes to their Soldiers, "and to improve their utmost diligence and interest for their best satis"faction.

"

"We must acknowledge, we found the Army under a deep sense of some sufferings, and the common Soldiers much unsettled; whereof, "that which we have to represent to you will give you a more perfect "view. Which, because it consists of many papers, and needs some more "method in the representation of them to you than can be done by letter, "and forasmuch as we were sent down by you to our several charges "to do our best to keep the Soldiers in order,-we are not well satisfied, "any of us, to leave the place nor duty you sent us to, until we have the signification of your pleasure to us. To which we shall most readily "conform; and rest, your most humble servants,

"

"PH. SKIPPON.

OLIVER CROMWELL. "H. IRETON.

"CHARLES FLEETWOOD."9

No. 11.

WELSH DISTURBANCES IN 1648.

[Vol. ii. p. 7.]

1. SOME charge of Welsh misbehaviour, perhaps treachery, in the late May revolt; charge which, if founded, ought to be made good against 'Edwards'! Colonel Hughes has been Governor of Chepstow, from the time when it was first taken, in autumn 1645; and, we may infer, has returned to his post since Ewers (25th May 1648) retook the Castle. Of Edwards, and his misdeeds, and his accusers, no other clear trace has occurred to me. But in Moyne's Court, Monmouthshire, the seat of this Colonel Thomas Hughes, the following old Note had turned up, and was printed in 1791.

'To Colonel Hughes, Chepstow Castle.

COLONEL HUGHES,

Before Pembroke,' 26th June 1648. It's of absolute necessity that Collington and Ashe do attend the Council of War, to make good what they say of Edwards. Let it be your especial care to get them into

▸ Tanner MSS. (in Cary, i. 205-16.)

1 Commons Journals iv. 321 and v. 115.

Monmouthshire thereunto. What Mr. Herbert and Mrs. Cradock hath (sic) promised to them in point of indemnity, I will endeavour to have it performed; and I desire you to certify as much to them for their encouragement. I pray do this speedily after receipt hereof, and I shall remain your servant,

OLIVER CROMWELL.*

2. A short Letter to the Committee of Carmarthen. The ancient 'Ironfurnaces' at Carmarthen, the 'Committee' sitting there, the 'Paper' or Proclamation from the Leaguer: these, and the other points of this Letter, will be intelligible to the reader.

For my noble Friends the Committee of Carmarthen: These.

GENTLEMEN,

have your

The Leaguer before Pembroke, 9th June 1648.

I have sent this Bearer to you to desire we may furtherance and assistance in procuring some necessaries to be cast in the Iron-furnaces in your county of Carmarthen, which will the better enable us to reduce the Town and Castle of Pembroke.

The principal things are: Shells for our Mortarpiece; the depth of them we desire may be of fourteen inches and threequarters of an inch. That which I desire at your hands is, To cause the service to be performed, and that with all possible expedition; that so, if it be the will of God, the service being done, these poor wasted countries may be freed from the burden of the Army.

In the next place, we desire some D cannon-shot, and some culverin-shot, may with all possible speed be cast for us, and hasted to us also.

We give you thanks for your care in helping us with bread and [word lost]. You do herein a very special service to the State; and I do most earnestly desire you to continue herein, according to our desire in the late Letters. I desire that copies of this Paper? may be published throughout your county, and the effects thereof observed; for the ease of the county, and to avoid the wronging of the country men.

Not doubting the continuance of your care to give assistance

The Topographer, edited by Sir E. Brydges (London, March 1791), iv. 125-9. ? Some Proclamation seemingly,-ot the conceivable sort.

to the Public in the services we have in hand, I rest, your affectionate servant, O. CROMWELL.*

3. Letter found, some years ago, among the lumber of 'St. Jillian's' (Julian's) 'old Castle of the Lords Herbert in Monmouthshire :' Address gone, and not conjecturable with any certainty; Letter evidently genuine, -and still hanging curiously as postscript to Letter LX. (vol. ii. p. 5) of date the day before.

'For the Honourable Richard Herbert, at St. Jillian's: These. SIR,

Leaguer before Pembroke, 18th June 1648.

I would have you to be informed that I have good report of your secret practices against the public advantage; by means whereof that arch-traitor Sir Nicholas Kemeys, with his Horse, did surprise the Castle of Chepstow : but we have notable discovery, from the papers taken by Colonel Ewer3 on recovering the Castle, That Sir Trevor Williams of Llangibby was the Malignant who set on foot the plot.

Now I give you this plain warning by Captain Nicholas and Captain Burges, That if you harbour or conceal either of the parties or abet their misdoings, I will cause your treasonable nest to be burnt about your ears. OLIVER CROMWELL.+

4. In the Town Archives of Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, are the following three Papers; footmarks, still visible, of Oliver's transit through those parts. Twelfth July, date of the first Paper, is the morrow after Pembroke surrendered.

(a.)" To the Mayor and Aldermen of Haverfordwest.

"We being authorised by Parliament to view and consider what GarriIsons and Places of Strength are fit to be demolished; and we finding * Brayley's Graphic and Historical Illustrator (London, 1834), p. 355. ‘Original in the hands of Richard Williams, Esq., Stapleton Hall, Hornsey.'

3 'Hewer' he spells.

Monmouthshire Merlin' (Welsh Newspaper) 'for September 1845.' Inserted there, it would appear, along with other antiquarian fractions, in very ignorant condition, by one Mr. W. M. Townshend, an Attorney in Newport, who is now (1858) dead some years since.-St. Jillian's,' now a farmhouse near Caerleon, Monmouthshire, was the mansion of the Lords Herbert, of the celebrated Lord Edward of Cherbury for one, to whom (or to his successor, as the Attorney thinks) this Note was addressed. Note picked up in converting the old Manorhouse into a Farmhouse (which it still is), and published, along with other antiquarian tagraggeries in a very dim and helpless manner, by the Attorney who had been in charge of that operation.

"that the Castle of Haverford is not tenable for the services of the State, " and yet that it may be possessed by ill-affected persons, to the prejudice " of the peace of these parts: These are to authorise you to summon-in the "Hundred of Roose and the inhabitants of the Town and County of Haver"fordwest; and that they forthwith demolish the several walls and towers of "the said Castle; so as that the said Castle may not be possessed by the Enemy, to the endangering of the peace of these parts. "Given under our hands this 12th of July 1648.

46

"We expect an account of your proceedings, with effect, in this busi"ness, by Saturday being the 15th of July instant.”

To which Oliver appends:

If a speedy course be not taken to fulfil the commands of this Warrant, I shall be necessitated to consider of settling a Garrison. OLIVER CROMWELL.

(b.) "For the Honourable Lieutenant-General Cromwell, at Pembroke. "Haverfordwest, 13th July 1648

"HONOURED SIR,-We received an Order from your Honour and the "Committee, for the demolishing of the Castle of Haverfordwest. Accord"ing to which we have this day set some workmen about it: but we find "the work so difficult to be brought about without powder to blow it by, " that it will exhaust an 'huge' sum of money, and will not in a long time "be effected.

Wherefore we become suitors of your Honour that there may a competent quantity of Powder be spared out of the Ships, for the speedy "effecting the work, and the County paying for the same. And we like"wise desire that your Honour and the Committee be pleased that the whole County may join with us in the work; and that an Order be con"sidered for the levying of a competent sum of money on the several Hun"dreds of the County, for the paying for the Powder, and defraying the "rest of the charge.

Thus being over-bold to be troublesome to your Honour; desiring to "know your Honour's resolves,—we rest, your Honour's humble servants,

Gunpowder cannot be spared on light occasion; and 'levying of com petent sums' have had their difficulties before now: here is the handie method: