No. 13. LETTER ON BEHALF OF YOUNG CHOLMELY. [Vol. i. p. 329.] WRITTEN on the march from Carlisle to Pontefract. To the Honourable William Lenthall, Esquire, Speaker of the House of SIR, Commons: These. Boroughbridge, 28th October 1648. I do not often trouble you in particular businesses; but I shall be bold now, upon the desire of a worthy Gentleman, LieutenantColonel Cholmely, to entreat your favour in his behalf. The case stands thus. His son Major Cholmely, who was bold in the Fight against the Scots at Berwick,1 was Custom-master at Carlisle ;—the Gentleman 'had' merited well from you. Since his death, his aged Father, having lost this his Eldest Son in your service, did resolve to use his endeavours to procure the place for a Younger Son, who had likewise been in your service. And resolving to obtain my Letter to some friends about it, did acquaint an undertenant of the place for his Son with this his purpose To come to me to the borders of Scotland to obtain the said Letter; -which the said servant' or undertenant' did say, Was very well. And when the said Lieutenant-Colonel was come for my Letter, this tenant immediately hastens away to London; where he, in a very circumventing and deceitful way, prefers a Petition to the House of Commons; gets a reference to the Committee of the Navy; who approve of the said man, 'the undertenant,' by the mediation of some gentlemen :-but I hear there is a stop of it in the House. My humble suit to you is, That if Colonel Morgan do wait upon you about this business,—I having given you this true information of the state of it, as I have received it, you would be pleased to further his desire concerning Lieutenant-Colonel Cholmely's youngest Son, that he may have the place conferred upon him; and that you would acquaint some of my friends herewith. By which you will very much oblige, Your most humble servant, OLIVER CROMWELL.* 1 Against Monro, I suppose, when he ended his maraudings in that quarter (vol. i p. 304). * Tanner мss. (in Cary, ii. 46.) No. 14. CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE MAYOR OF WATERFORD. [Vol. ii. p. 89.] PRESERVED in the anonymous Fragment of a Narrative, more than once referred to, are these Letters and Replies: LETTER 1. To the Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Waterford. GENTLEMEN, Kilbarry, near Waterford, 21st November 1649. I have received information that you hitherto refuse a Garrison of the Enemy to be imposed upon you; as also that some Factions in the Town are very active still, notwithstanding your refusal, to persuade you to the contrary. Being come into these parts, not to destroy people and places, but to save them, that men may live comfortably and happily by their trade, it the fault be not in themselves; and purposing also, by God's assistance, to reduce this City of Waterford to its due obedience, as He shall dispose the matter, by Force, or by Agreement with you upon Terms wherein your own good and happiness, and that of your wives, children and families may consist, notwithstanding' what' some busy-headed persons may pretend to the contrary; 'and' knowing that if after all this you shall receive a Garrison, it will probably put you out of a capacity to make any such Accord for yourselves, which was the cause of the ruin of the Town and people of Wexford,—I thought fit to lay these things before you; leaving you to use your own judgment therein. And if any shall have so much power upon you as to persuade you that these are the counsels of an enemy, I doubt it will hardly prove, in the end, that they gave you better. You did once live flourishingly under the power (sic) and in commerce with England. It shall be your own faults if you do not so again. I send these intimations timeously to you: weigh them well; it so behoves you. I rest, Your loving friend, OLIVER CROMWELL. REPLY 1. "For General Cromwell, General of the Parliament Forces in Ireland. "Waterford, 23d November 1649. "MY LORD,-Your Letter of the 21st, directed to me and my Aldermen, we "have, by your Trumpet, received. Your Lordship's advice, as we do all others, we weigh with the condition of our safety; and so far shall make use thereof as "it contributes to the same. "For your intentions of reducing this City, by Force or Agreement:-as we "will by all possible means endeavour our natural defence against the first, so happily will we not be averse to the latter,-if we shall find it not dishonourable nor destructive. And for that purpose 'we' do desire your Lordship will grant us a Cessation, for fifteen days, from all acts of hostility; and send us Safe-con“ducts, with blanks for the men we shall employ, to treat with your Lordship; "and in the interim bring your Army no nearer this City than now it is. " 66 66 "We have learned not to slight advice, if we find it wholesome, even from an enemy's hands; nor to deny him such thanks as it merits. And if your Lord ship should deny us the time we look for, we doubt not,—with the men we have "already in Town, though we should receive no more,-to make good this Place, "till the Power of the Kingdom relieves us. "To signify which to your Lordship, the Council and Commons have laid "their commands on me, "My Lord, "Your very loving friend, "JOHN LYVETT, Mayor of Waterford." LETTER 2. For the Mayor, Aldermen, or other Governor or Governors of GENTLEMEN, the City of Waterford. From my Camp before Waterford, 24th November 1649. I expected to have heard from you before this, by my Trumpet; but he not coming to me, I thought fit to send, That I might have an account given me, how you have disposed of him. And to save farther trouble, I have thought fit— Hereby to summon you To surrender the City and Fort into my hands, to the use of the State of England. I expect to receive your answer to these things, and rest, Your servant, OLIVER CROMWELL. REPLY 2. "For the Lieutenant-General Cromwell. "Waterford, 24th November 1649. "MY LORD, Your Letter of the 24th I have received even now; in which you "desire an account of your Lordship's Trumpeter, sent with a former Letter to us; and summon us to deliver your Lordship this City and Fort. "Your Lordship's former Letter by your Trumpeter we have answered yester. "day morning; and do doubt, by the Trumpeter's not coming to you, he might "have suffered some mischance by going the County-of-Kilkenny way. We there"fore now send you a Copy of that Answer;' to which we desire your Lordship's "resolution. Before we receive which, we cannot make further answer to the "rest of your Letter. "We therefore desire you will despatch the Safe-conduct desired, and forbear 1 Reply 1; already given. acts of hostility during the Treaty;—and you shall be very soon attended by "Commissioners from, LETTER 3. To the Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Waterford. SIRS, 'Before Waterford,' 24th November 1649. My first Trumpet not being yet come to me, makes me suspect that, as you say, he has suffered some mischance going by the way of the County of Kilkenny. If I had received your Letter sooner, I should nevertheless, by the help of God, have marched up to this place, as I have done. And as for your desire of a Treaty, I am more willing to that way, for the prevention of blood and ruin, than to the other of Force;—although if necessitated thereunto, you and we are under the overruling Power of God, who will dispose of you and us as He pleaseth. As to a Cessation for Fifteen Days, I shall not agree thereunto; because a far shorter time may bring this Business to a conclusion as well. But for Four or Five Days I am content that there be a Cessation of all acts of hostility betwixt your City and this Army:—provided you give me assurance That, in the mean time, no soldiers not now in your City be received into it, during the Cessation, nor for Twenty-four hours after. I expect to have your present answer hereto : because, if this be agreed-to, I shall forbear any nearer approach during the said Cessation. Your servant, OLIVER CROMWELL. I have by this Bearer returned a Safe-convoy, as you desire, for what Commissioners you think fit to send out to me.* No. 15. EXCHANGE OF PRISONERS: RENEGADO WOGAN. [Vol. ii. p. 94.] THE Narrative Fragment above cited has these words, in reference to the affair at Passage and its consequences: 'At that time, there being one Captain Caufield a * Fragment of Narrative: in Ayscough мss. no. 4769, p. 95 et seqq. 'prisoner at Clonmel, a stranger to the General, but being a prisoner on an Eng. 'lish account, the Army concerned themselves for him, and at a Council of War ' certain Votes were passed,' which we shall soon read: 'For Lieutenant-General Farrell, Governor of Clonmel. 'Cork, 4th January 1649.' "At the Council of War held at the City of Cork, the Fourth day of January, "Anno Domini 1649, whereat the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, the Lord Presi"dent of Munster,' Sir Hardress Waller knight, and divers other chief Officers of "the Army were present, it was resolved as followeth: "1. That a Letter be sent, by Lieutenant-General Farrell's Trumpet, to let "him know, That for every private Foot-soldier of our party, prisoner with him, "whom he shall release, he shall have so many of his private soldiers, prisoners "with us, released for them; and for every Trooper of ours which he shall re“lease, he shall have Two private Foot-soldiers released for him. "2. That the Lord-Lieutenant is ready to release Officers of like quality for "such Officers of ours as are in their power; and that he will deliver a Major of "Foot for a Captain of Horse, and Two Captains of Foot for a Captain of Horse; " and so proportionably. "3. Or that he will deliver Major-General Butler, the Earl of Ormond's Bro"ther, for those Officers of ours now in their custody." SIR, Having lately received an advertisement, that some of the principal Officers of the Irish Army did send menacing Orders to the Governor of Clonmel, to be communicated to the Lord Broghil, That if we did put to death Colonel Wogan, they were ready to put Captain Caufield to death, I thought fit to offer to you the equal Exchanges before mentioned; leaving you to your election. Which when you perform, there shall be just and honest performance on my part. And withal to let you know, That if any shall think to put such conditions on me that I may not execute a Person so obnoxious as Wogan,—who did not only betray his trust in England, but counterfeited the General's hand, thereby to carry his men (whom he had seduced) into a Foreign Nation, to invade England, under whom he had taken pay, and from whose service he was not discharged; and with the said Nation did invade England; and hath since, contrary to the said trust, taken up arms here:-That 'then, I say,' as I am willing to the Exchanges aforesaid; so, 'if' that equality be denied me, I would that all concerned should understand, That I am resolved to deal with Colonel Wogan as I shall see cause, and be satisfied in my conscience and judgment to do. And if anything thereupon shall be done to Captain Caufield as is menaced, I think fit to let you know, That I 1 Ireton. 2 Scotland: to join Hamilton and his Engagement. |