The Works of Thomas Carlyle/Volume 6/Letter 76
Follows here a small Note, enclosing a duplicate of the above Letter, for Fairfax; written chiefly to enforce the request as to Haselrig and Berwick,—‘Hasleridge’ and ‘Barwick’ as Oliver here spells. Haselrig is Governor of Newcastle; a man of chief authority in those Northern regions.—Fairfax, who has been surveying, regulating, and extensively dining in Townhalls, through the Eastern Counties, is now at St. Albans,[1]—the Army’s head-quarters for some time to come.
FOR HIS EXCELLENCY THE LORD GENERAL FAIRFAX, AT ST ALBANS THESE
May it please your Excellency,—I received your late Commissions, with your directions how they shall be disposed; which I hope I shall pursue to your satisfaction.
I having sent an account to the House of Commons, am bold (being straitened in time) to present you with a Duplicate thereof, which I trust will give you satisfaction. I hope there is a very good understanding between the Honest Party of Scotland and us here; better than some would have.—Sir, I beg of your Excellency to write to Sir A. Haselrig to take care of Berwick; he having at Newcastle all things necessary for the Garrison “here,” which is left destitute of all, and may be lost if this be not “done.” I beg of your Lordship a Commission to be speeded to him. I have no more at present; but rest, my Lord, your most humble servant,
In these weeks, once more, there is an intensely interesting Treaty going on in the Isle of Wight; Treaty of Forty days with the King; solemn Parliamentary Commissioners on one hand, Majesty with due Assistants on the other, very solemnly debating and negotiating day after day, for forty days and longer, in the Town of Newport there.[3] The last hope of Presbyterian Royalism in this world. Not yet the last hope of his Majesty; who still, after all the sanguinary ruin of this year, feels himself a tower of strength; inexpugnable in his divine right, which no sane man can question; settlement of the Nation impossible without him. Happily, at any rate, it is the last of the Treaties with Charles Stuart,—for History begins to be weary of them. Treaty which came to nothing, as all the others had done. Which indeed could come only to nothing; his Majesty not having the smallest design to abide by it; his Majesty eagerly consulting about ‘escape’ all the while,—escape to Ormond who is now in Ireland again, escape somewhither, anywhither;—and considering the Treaty mainly as a piece of Dramaturgy, which must be handsomely done in the interim, and leave a good impression on the Public.[4] Such is the Treaty of Forty Days; a mere torpor on the page of History; which the reader shall conceive for himself ad libitum. The Army, from head-quarters at St. Albans, regards him and it with a sternly watchful eye; not participating in the hopes of Presbyterian Royalism at all;—and there begin to be Army Councils held again.
As for Cromwell, he is gone forward to Edinburgh; reaches Seaton, the Earl of Winton’s House, which is the head-quarters of the horse, a few miles east of Edinburgh, on Tuesday evening. Next day, Wednesday 4th October 1648, come certain Dignitaries of the Argyle or Whiggamore Party, and escort him honourably into Edinburgh; ‘to the Earl of Murrie’s House in the Cannigate’ (so, in good Edinburgh Scotch, do the old Pamphlets spell it); ‘where a strong guard’, an English Guard, ‘is appointed to keep constant watch at the Gate’; and all manner of Earls and persons of Whiggamore quality come to visit the Lieutenant-General; and even certain Clergy come, who have a leaning that way.[5]—The Earl of Moray’s House, Moray House, still stands in the Canongate of Edinburgh, well known to the inhabitants there. A solid spacious mansion, which, when all bright and new two-hundred years ago, must have been a very adequate lodging. There are remains of noble gardens; one of the noble state-rooms, when T last saw it, was an extensive Paper Warehouse. There is no doubt but the Lieutenant-General did lodge here; Guthry seeming to contradict this old Pamphlet, turns out to confirm it.[6]
The Lieutenant-General has received certain Votes of Parliament,[7] sanctioning what he has done in reference to these Scotch Parties, and encouraging and authorising him to do more. Of which circumstance, in the following official Document, he fails not to avail himself, on the morrow after his arrival.
- ↑ Since 15th September, Rushworth, vii. 1271.
- ↑ Sloane MSS. 1519, f. 92.
- ↑ Warwick, pp. 321-9; Rushworth, vii. etc. etc. Began 18th September; was lengthened out by successive permissions to the 18th, 25th, and even 27th of November.
- ↑ His own Letters (in Wagstaff’s Vindication of the Royal Martyr, in Carte’s Ormond, etc.); see Godwin, ii. 608-23.
- ↑ True Account of the great Expressions of Love from the Noblemen etc. of Scotland unto Lieutenant-General Cromwell and his Officers; In a Letter to a Friend (London, 1648; King’s Pamphlets, small 4to, no. 392, §26, dated with the pen 23d October): Abridged in Rushworth, vii. 1295.
- ↑ Guthry’s Memoirs, p. 297. For a description of the place, see Chambers’s Edinburgh Journal, 21st January 1837.
- ↑ Commons Journals, 28th September 1648.