THough yours to me sound somewhat a tedious pas­sage, yet it had the unusuall fortune to come sealed unto my hands. I must confesse, it did yeeld mee much contentment to see your desires and mine meet so happily upon the point of giving and re­ceiving satisfaction. And howbeit, I cannot be­lieve you declined this Service for any other cause but a meer com­pliance with your friends on that side the water; yet I did often designe, giving you an accompt of our Proceedings here, to the end, that you might as well possesse others as your selfe, with a right understanding thereof; which I had e'r this attempted, but that in some things, whereto I had not the happinesse to be privie, I was myselfe untill of late a little to seeke.

I shall now very briefly summe up our Proceedings, since the time the Lord President found it fit to declare his Resolutions of not adhering unto that Power in the hands of the Independants, un­der which we discerned the Parliament to be in subjection, whose obedience thereunto would have been as inconsistent with his du­tie to God and man, as it was against the sence and conscience of most honest men upon the place: The Subordination to which ex­torted Power, speciously onely in the Parliament, but effectually in the Independants and Grandees of the Armie, was to tread the paths of violating all manner of publique engagements, & especially that of the Covenant, for maintenance of the Kings Person and Rights, and of involving our selves in the most horrid and detesta­ble perjurie that any people could be guiltie of, as the processe of Affaires hath since made manifest.

When therefore it was seene, that the Votes of no more Ad­dresses to the King were to be obtruded on us, contrarie to our Nationall Oath, and that there was a necessitie of refusing a com­pliance therwith, or imbracing perjurie; the first thing which fell (and that most properly) under consideration, was, by what ex­pedient wee might subsist in the justification of our selves in our first Principles, and engagement for our King, and the genuine Par­liament of the Kingdome: At which time, being shut from all in­tercourse with the Presbyterian Partee in England, the Lord Presi­dent, [Page] after severall other dispatches, imployed a Gentleman ex­pressely to the Estates of Parliament in Scotland, advertising his and the Armies Resolution to adhere to the Obligations upon them by the Covenant, and desiring the advice and assistance of the King­dom, and the Presbyterian Partie in England, on sundry particulars, before any Cessation or tearmes, other then bare and conjecturall discourses were on foot. By which Gentleman, the Lord President did not onely receive an approbation from the Estates of conclu­ding a Cessation with the Irish, in order to our own subsistance for opposing the Independant Faction, but also advice for the receiving of the Marquesse of Ormond as Lord Lieutenant of this Kingdome; whose resort hither could be understood to tend to no other design, then by his power and interest to draw the most considerable part of the Kingdome (though not for numbers) to a cleare submission unto his Majesties Authoritie, and to return from their present en­gagements to an obedience under the Crown & interest of England; what other thing any man could propose to himself to be expected, I cannot imagine: and undenyably, his comming must be either to settle an accommodation in the Kingdome, or prosecute a War; and how little of sence their apprehension carryes with it, who will pre­tend they supposed he came to assist us against the Irish, will appear from the consideration of an impossibilitie for us to support a gene­rall War against the Natives here without assistance from England, which it was well knowne wee could not expect to have, but upon the forfeiture of our Faith; and by the accesse of the Marquesse, our hopes that way were never heightned with more then a promise of 10000 li. (which was taken afterwards from his Excellencie to an­swer the Princes affaires) wherewith to put this Armie into a con­dition that might render them not so contemptible. But if we might with much reason insist upon saving conditions for the English Na­tion and interest, and that his Excellencie might have the better ground to lay the foundation of his designes upon, the Lord Presi­dent had managed the businesse of dividing the Nation, with so good judgement and successe, that upon the Lord Lieutenants arrivall, the two Factions, for and against an obedience to the Crowne of England, were growne to an irreconcileable distance, testified by the frequent exercise of hostile actions and bloud-shed, especially of late at Ca [...]rig Dromrusk, where Rory mac Guire, on the part of Owen O Neil, stormed that Castle, and put all in it to the Sword receiving himselfe his deaths wound, and leaving most of his Regiment dead upon the place, wherein his Lop held the Ballamud: with so much e­qualitie, [Page] supporting the weaker Partie against the more numerous and pernitious, as by receiving either Partie under protection, he was able to give the Law to the other, & yet to secure himself against both, wherein his Lo. hath comported himselfe with so much pru­dence & providence, as that it easily & evidently appeares, that his Lo, in the conduct & management of that businesse, hath without any assistance from the Kingdom of England done that Nation, and the interest of it more Service in one years space then all their Armies, when in the most powerful condition, were ever able to do in seve [...]; for besides that, his Lo. hath made the Nation instrumentall one against the other, he hath marched through all quarters of the King­dom ( Ulster only excepted) hath taken in several considerable places, done much execution upon the common Enemy, and forced him to most dishonourable evasions; somtimes by slight, by fastnesses, & by quartering his Army in places formerly altogether unacquainted with the sight of an English Troop or Regiment; hath so impoveri­shed the Countrey, and anticipated the meanes of providing for any new or old Forces of their owne, as that if any fresh irrupti­on doe happen, it will be by many degrees more difficult (if not wholly impossible) for the Irish to support an Army against us, then it was at the beginning of the Cessation; whi [...] also hath bin ef­fected without any hazard or exposing the English Interest to any probable danger, until Owen mac Art O Neil, resolving to subdue that party of the Irish, who were for a return to his Majesties obedi­ence, was marched with a numerous Army unto the confines of this Province; wherein most of those that were averse from his princi­ples did reside, which did necessitate my Lord to draw forth his Ar­my, & to face O Neil on the Frontiers of Lynster, which was done with so much dexterity & advantage, that upon our approach within any convenient distance of him▪ he stil dislodged his Camp & flew from us, stil giving ground, & losing sundry of his men, whensoe­ver they lay so open that we could possibly come at them; & indeed, so intent my Lord was upon the pursuit of him, & reducing his In­terest, as that finding he would not be drawn to give him Battaile in any open ground, his Lo. sate down before Fort Falkland, a prin­cipall Hold of his, which he had lately surprized, expecting that if he would do any thing that savoured of a Souldier, with so numerous an Army, he would come to the reliefe of that place, & accordingly O Neil did draw towards us; and by reason of my Lords want of knowledge of the ground in that Country, did possesse himselfe of a very strong Passe betweene us and Munster, & confined us with­in a nooke of Land, so as probably he might have greatly distressed [Page] us; But the Lord President supposing that by the accesse of some late forces he had come to him, was more confident then to stick to the security of a Fastnesse, being drawn up severall dayes to give him Battaile; found at length, his designe to be the streitning of us for provisions in that corner: which design carried much proba­bility of taking effect; but was utterly frustrated by meanes of con­stant supplies which we had out of Connaught from the Marquesse of Clanrickard over the Shannon, and by the activity and diligence of a party of five hundred Horse and Foot, which lay in an out­ward Garrison, betwixt Owen Roe and Munster, who falling on sometimes on his reare and flank, & wee Skirmishing dayly on the head of his Army, wherein he lost many Souldiers, and divers prime Officers; his owne designe being at length turned upon his owne head, and his Army so necessitated and discouraged, that upon some apprehension, that wee were resolved in the morning, having taken in that Fort, to force our passage through their Camp and Fastnesse, (though wee could have gone orderly over the Shannon; for which wee had a competencie of Boates) they rose over night in great disorder, and marched, or rather fled away with so much affright and speed, as of a rabble of neere ten thousand men, whereof his Army did consist, he had not two thousand left the night ensuing: by which dissipation equall to any defeat, Owen O Neiles designes of marching into this Province, and of drawing or enforcing the Countrey to rise with him, and of suppressing all such of the con­formable party, who were willing to submit to authority, contra­ry to his resolution of alienating the English into a Forraigne Inte­rest, were disappoynted, & this Army preserved & maintained in an indifferent plentifull condition, chiefly out of their owne quarters, which will be very evidently made appear to be an act of the greatest advantage to the English Interest that was possible to be effected.

The Cessation being in this kind of transaction well nigh efflux­ed, it did necessarily fall under consideration what further corres­pondency was to be held with this people, and the impossibility of our subsisting by our former quarters, appearing by the experience wee made thereof in the former Cessation, and of the poverty of the Country, there could not a more solid expedient be proposed, for preservation of the English interest, then entring upon a Trea­ty or Capitulation for a Peace with those persons which had ma­nifested their reall inclinations thereunto, in order to His Maje­sties restauration, and to render this Kingdom of use to that end; who though the more considerable party for subsistance and interest, are [Page] yet by much the weaker in respect of number; so as the scandall of our agreement with the whole Irish, will manifest by a secluding of Owen O Neile and his adherents, in case a pacification be agreed upon; against which, though I find sundry persons doe greatly ex­cept; yet I doe not find any materiall reason whereon such excepti­on is grounded, unlesse this may be allowed for one; that hereby wee arme our selves against being brought under subjection to the Independants; whom by experience and profession, wee find to be more inveterately imbittered against us, then against the very Irish, that now persist in Rebellion, by the more vigorous prosecution of us, then of them; for as it is most evident, that by an accommoda­tion wee shall settle a more competent and satisfactory provision for the Army; so wee shall acquire a more important interest in the power of the Kingdome. Wee know our adversaries, when malice will suffer them to be ingenious, doe acknowledge that wee have bin justly necessitated to what wee have done hitherto by their neg­lect of us, and for our owne preservation: and that for these reasons, the Cessation was excusable, and for the same reasons being still un­der the same neglect and necessity, wee are constrained to imbrace an accommodation: against which it may be objected, that hereby instead of gaining ground upon the Irish, we pull the English Inte­rest into their hands; which truly, I that am upon the place, am so unable to apprehend, that I cannot hardly allow the exception to be sensibly framed: wee know already the poverty of the Country in generall, and that if a new warre or designe should be undertaken, it must be chiefly supported by the Townes, (which being put into our hands, as that without which, no pacification can succeed) cer­tainly the power of the Kingdom, at least so much as is in the hands of those wee Treate with, devolves fully and clearely to us: It may be also alledged, that probably the Irish will not accept lower con­ditions then those the Marquesse of Ormond last concluded, where­in the Irish had but one particular advantagious Article upon the English which was for a coordination in power with him: whereunto there will now no way be given, nor any accord pitched upon, un­lesse the Irish doe utterly relinquish, insisting upon that particular, and leave all Authority & Power incommunicable in his Excellen­cie; so as the agreement now, (if any) will be of much lesse a­vaile to the Irish, then the former. Our Churches, besides a full re­stitution to the English of all their remaining Interests, must b [...] put clearely into our hands, and the very hope of enjoying any thing of that kind, utterly taken away; whereunto may be added, that the [Page] conditions now are such and so slenderly grounded, as that it is very evident the Irish (I meane the submitting party) are content to ac­cept even of the shadow of a Peace, to attract the more considerable party to a conformity with them; for it cannot be unobserved by the intelligent part of them, That for the last agreement the Marquesse made with them, he had for his warrant His Majesties Commission under the broad Seale of this Kingdome: That His Majestie was at that time in a condition hopefull enough to have bin able to justifie the Concessions which were made unto them: Whereas now it must needs be understood, that his Authority being derivatory only from the Prince, whatsoever he shall conclude must be Arbitrary at His Majesties pleasure.

And therefore, though wee are for the encouragement of those that are capable of advancing our endeavours for His Majesties ser­vice, wee are content to give this transaction the name of a Peace; yet it is essentially, and in effect, no more then a bare submission of the Power and Interest of the Kingdome into our hands; which wee hope wee shall not be blameable for receiving, nor that the Tenents of some Independants will be so strictly held, that it were better in the hands of the Irish then in ours.

Some Factors for the Independants have strangely laboured to beget a high Odium and distaste of the proceedings upon this affaire, and had contrived severall wayes for the betraying of the Lord Lieutenant, & the Lo. President into their hands; to prevent whose practises▪ the Lord President hath bin forced to bestir himselfe with a great deale of active resolution, and reclaimed most of the Facti­on (who were seduced) by reason; he hath assured the rest of in­dempnity, upon their promise to acquiesse; some whereof are so vi­olently engaged, that it is discerned they only recend a little now to attend a fitter opportunity, and with these people his Lo. will be obliged to deale in a more particular manner.

At the present there is onely a renovation of the Cessation, no­thing being either concluded, or any progresse made so farre to­wards it, as to answer the Proposition of the Irish; nay, I dare con­fidently averre, that their first Proposition being absolutely rejected, and they advised to draw up more moderate and hopefull ones; those Propositions are not yet put in: what the result will be of these ne­gotiations, I know not; But shall advertise what I understand or observe, with all convenient speed.

Cork, the 30. of Novem­ber, 1648.