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Subject Area: Political Theory
Subject Area: History
Topic: The English Revolution

Letter to General Monck [?] - Sir William Clarke, The Clarke Papers. Selections from the Papers of William Clarke, vol. 4 [1901]

Edition used:

The Clarke Papers. Selections from the Papers of William Clarke, Secretary to the Council of the Army, 1647-1649, and to General Monck and the Commanders of the Army in Scotland, 1651-1660, ed. C.H. Firth (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1901). 4 vols.

Part of: The Clarke Papers. Selections from the Papers of William Clarke, 4 vols.

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Letter to General Monck [?]

October 22, 1659.—

xxxii. f. 45b.Before I came out of Berwick Col. Cobbett came into the post-house, [with] his servant and one Browne formerly belonging to the excize in Leith, where hee was secured. Hee came from the officers in London with an expresse on Saboath day last.1

[1 ]Cobbett apparently started on October 16. He took with him an account of the late revolution, drawn up by the officers and signed by Fleetwood, Desborough, Berry, Mason, Kelsey, Salmon, Duckenfield, and Camfield, on behalf of the rest of the officers. This letter, which begins, ‘We hold it a duty incumbent upon us, in order to the preserving the peace of the Commonwealth,’ Monck was requested to communicate to his officers. It is reprinted in Redmayne’s Narrative (p. 35), but not dated there. The answer of the officers at Edinburgh, dated October 27, is in the same collection (p. 38). It begins: ‘With how great reluctancy we put pens to paper against you, our sad hearts . . . can bear us witness.’

The same day that this answer was drawn up the General Council of the Officers of the Army assembled at Wallingford House published a declaration intended as an appeal to the nation, and as a public vindication of their conduct in putting a stop to the sitting of Parliament. It is also reprinted by Redmayne (p. 42), and was published in pamphlet form.

On Cobbett’s arrest, see Baker, p. 687. ‘It was seasonably done,’ says the continuator; ‘for if he had been permitted to pass, the opinion which was had of him by the soldiers might much have hindered the General’s proceedings.’