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

The Council of Officers in Scotland to their Commissioners in England - 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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The Council of Officers in Scotland to their Commissioners in England

Gentlemen,

lii. f. 19.Wee have received yours of the 16th instant, and doe finde cause to returne you our hearty thankes for the greate care and paines yow have taken in the common cause, which wee could have wish’t might have had the desired successe of produceing an happy and perfect agreement. But as wee finde there som things necessarie thereto which have not as yet been treated of or concluded by yow, soe wee finde some things, amongst those to which yow have already given your consent, in which wee have reason to think yow have mistaken your Instructions. Wee have therefore resolved, to the end the agreement which wee all ayme at may bee not onely firme and sure, but perfect alsoe and cleare, and not lyable to any misconstructions, to add two more to your number, and to furnish them with such further Instructions as wee shall conceive to bee necessary for the full accomplishing of the busines.1 In order to which wee desire yow to repaire to the Lord Fleetwood, and to such other officers as you shall see convenient, and to acquaint them with thus much, and withall to desire a safe conduct to bee sent to us for such persons as wee shall have occasion to send, and to let them know that since the time of the Treaty the pacquetts have not bin soe free as wee did expect, which wee conceive to bee one greate reason of the present mistakes; for wee cannot attribute it to your neglect that wee have heard noe oftner from you since yow went, and that before yow have concluded uppon things soe much besides your Instructions you did not send to us for new. Wherefore, for the prevention of such inconveniencies for the future, and for the convenience of quick returnes of dispatches uppon emergencies, it is our desire that the Treaty may bee att York, which is at an equall distance from the Head Quarters on both sides, unles in regard of my Lord Lambert’s being in the North yow can procure it to bee att Newcastle, which would much expedite the busines. Wee leave it to themselves to appoint the time, and wee wish (out of our earnest desire of peace) it might bee as soone as possible; and wee desire yow uppon the very first oppertunity to acquaint us with it, and to repaire thither to expect such as shall bee joyned in commission with yow (who shall likewise uppon advertisement make all speed to yow), and in the meane time to forbeare all further concludeing uppon anything in our names, and to beleeve that, as your friends heere are sensible of the greate endeavoures and progresses you have made in bringing things so neere to a happy issue, soe they are still mindefull of that good cause in which they are embark’t, and for which they have declared, and that it is not any apprehention they have of change in the state of affaires, or any mistrust to goe happily through with what they have soe sincerely and uprightly begun, that makes them thus earnest to seeke peace and ensue it, but onely a deep sence of the danger the comon cause, and even the whole three Nations, may incurr in case things should be brought to extremity, and an earnest and zealouse affection for those who have bin soe long theire brethren, and whose interest is soe neerely joyned with theires. Gentlemen, we comitt yow to the protection of the Almighty, whome wee beseech to direct your Councells, and Remaine

Your very affectionate friends and servants,

GEORGE MONCK.WM. UNDERHILL.
THO: MORGAN.AA: MOODY.
C. FAIRFAX.THO: ELLIS.
THOMAS READE.RO: FORSTER.
ROBT. READE.SAM. WILKES.
ETHELBERT MORGAN.JOHN TRUSS.
JO: HUBBLETHORNE.JO: NICHOLLS.
JERE: SMYTH.PHIL. CORBET.
DAN: DAVISON.GEO: SELBY.
JAMES MUTLOW.TI. SPOKLOTH.
J. EMERSON.OB: HOWARD.
FRA: NICHOLLS.LYTCOTT.
J. OGLE.JO: MUTLOW.
JOSEPH WILTEN.JOHN HILL.
JA: DENNIS.FRAN: HARTLEY.
MICH: RICHARDSON.TIMO: LANGLEY.
RI: CLIFTON.WM. MASON.
THO: JOHNSON.WM. NEWMAN.
J. CLARKE.THO: HUNT.
JO: MILLER.JOHN ROGERS.
THO: GODWING.FRAN: SERGANT.
JOSEPH FELLOW.GREGORY CONSTABLE.
J. ROBINSON.HERT. BROWNE.
WM. COWELL.ROB. HAWDEN.
JO: SANDERS.JOHN CURTES.
ROBT. HEATH.SAM. STYLE.
CHA: POWELL.GILES BARNARDISTONE.
RICH: SMYTH.THO: POOLE.
RICH. COLLINS.

Edinburgh,
24 November, 1659.

For the Honourable Col. Wilkes, Lt.-Col. Cloberry, and Major
Ralph Knight, Commissioners from the Parliament’s
Army in Scotland, these at London.

Though it bee not usuall in cases of this nature to put any thing in execution till an agreement bee made uppon the whole, yet wee are soe farr contented to shew our inclinations to peace as to take the same course in drawing back the forces advanced as shalbee taken by the Lord Lambert.

[1 ]According to Phillips, Monck was informed of the terms of the agreement, by the industry of Clarges, before the messengers mentioned in Lambert’s letter arrived. They reached Edinburgh, says the same authority, the evening before the day on which the answer of Monck’s officers was drawn up—i.e. on the evening of November 23. Of the officers named on p. 125, Cambridge was major of Twisleton’s, Griffith Lloyd captain in Fleetwood’s horse, and Joseph Wallington captain in Desborough’s.