Admiral Montague for the Fleet and to the Major of London for the Capital town of his Kingdom which were all united with one and the same affection and laboured unanimously to make one and the same design to succeed His Majesty added thereunto an excellent Declaration for the safety and repose of those who tortured in their consciences for having partaken in the rebellion might fear the punishment of it and in that fear might oppose the tranquility of the Estate and the calling in of their lawful Prince It is printed and published as well as the Letter but that shall not hinder me to say that there was never seen a more perfect assemblage of all the most excellent natural qualities and of all the vertues as well Royal as Christian wherewith a great Prince may be endowed then was found in those two wonderfull productions They breath but piety and zeal for the glory of God and for Religion but tendernesse for the afflictions of his people but esteem for the Parliament but firmness for the conversation of the King 's rights an admirable prudence for the regulating of affairs an inexemplar conduct for the re-establishment of the government in its former estate love for the good indulgence for the seduced and a more then Christian clemency for criminals or rather for crime it self for a crime I say so black and so abhominable that as there hath not been an example in history since the creation of the world so it is to be hoped that the goodnesse of his Majesty will not make it serve for example to the following ages Both one and t'other wrought the effect which the King promised to himself from them since they fully gained the hearts which the miseries of the time pass'd had already very much disposed to acknowledge their Prince For the Letter and Declaration were no sooner read but the Parliament declared that the sentiments of the King were good lawful generous and conformable to the fundamental laws of the Estate the government whereof ought to be composed of a King of Lords or Peers and of Commons and judging that the people would be well satisfied in the Declaration which the King had granted them the Parliament ordained at the same time that most humble thanks should be returned to his Majesty for the favourable Letter which he graciously had written to them That to disingage his Majesty from the place where he was and to facilitate his passage they ordered him presently a sum of fifty thousand pounds sterling which was increased with another of ten thousand by the inhabitants of the City of London That the Admiral Montague should go with his Fleet to attend the King's orders on the coast of Holland That the two Houses and City of London should send to beseech him by their Deputies to come forthwith to take possession of the Kingdoms which God and his Right had given him and that in the mean time Sir John Greenvil should be dispatched with the Parliaments answer and should carry to Breda the resolutions and prayers of the two Houses or rather the just impatience which all England had to see again their Soveraign after a sad absence of so many years But that which is most remarkable in these resolutions is that they were not taken after a long contestation nor upon a simple acquiesment of the assembly but by the expresse suffrages and upon the universal and unanimous consent of all the Deputies of the two Houses who laboured in emulation of each other which should give the most proofs of affection The Parliament also permitted General Monck to send Mr. Clarges his brother-in-law accompanied with some Officers of the Army to assure his Majesty of the fidelity and obedience of the Army which had made publick and solemn protestations thereof after the Letter and Declaration was communicated unto them by the General But to the end one may see plainly what the sentiments were of all the English on this occasion I will not fear to report here the very words which the Speaker of the house of Commons said to the Gentleman which had delivered him Letters from his Majesty It is impossible for me said he to expresse the acknowledgment and submission with which the Commons assembled here in Parliament have received the Letter wherewith his Majesty was pleased to honour them The thing speaks it self you have seen it with your eys and heard it with your ears Our Bels our Bonfires and the report of our Artillery have already begun to proclaim the King and to publish our joy We have made known to the People that our King the glory of England is returning unto his Kingdom and have heard resound in our ears these agreeable protestations that they are ready to receive him and their hearts open to lodge him and as well the Parliament as People have already cried aloud together with one voice in their prayers to the King of Kings Long live King Charls the second I have also to tell you continued he that the Parliament not willing that you should return without some mark of acknowledgment to the King your Soveraign and ours hath ordained you the sum of five hundred pounds sterling to buy you a Jewel to make you to remember the honour which his Majesty hath done you in charging you with a Commission of this nature whereof you have so well acquitted your self that the Parliament hath commanded me to give you thanks We must confesse that there is something very extraordinary in this marvellous revolution but it is also certain that there is nothing miraculous in it The King was not surprised thereat God used him in the conduct of this great work He had laboured therein he had observed the dispositions and knew the progresses thereof and in this foresight he departed from Bruxels the last of Mareh to go to Breda And though since in the same month he went sometimes to Bruxels and to Antwerp he was resolved notwithstanding not to remain there but to betake him to the Princess Royal his sister Many considerations obliged him to depart the Territorres under the obedience of the King of Spain in this conjuncture of affairs but the sole convenience which he had at Breda to receive at all times Posts from England which passed and repassed every day and hour and to go from thence unto Holland to expedite the return into his Kingdom might invite him to transfer his Court there for a while He arrived there the 14. of April and was the same day complemented by Mr. Snel old Burgemaster in the name of the Magistrate who would likewise oblige the Town to make a solemn entrance to his Majesty but the Princess Royall hindred it for most considerable reasons The 17 the Lord Mordant arrived there with full assurances of the good will of the Parliament and that it would labour indubitably for the re-establishment of the King as soon as it should be compleat
A RELATION IN FORM of JOURNAL OF THE VOIAGE And RESIDENCE Which The most EXCELLENT and most MIGHTY PRINCE CHARLS THE II KING OF GREAT BRITAIN c. Hath made in Holland from the 25 of May to the 2 of June 1660. Rendered into English out of the Original French By Sir WILLIAM LOWER Knight HAGUE Printed by ADRIAN VLACK Anno M. DC LX. with Priviledge of the Estates of Holland and West-Freesland THE PRINTER TO THE READER IF ever was a Relation whose truth might be indubitable it is questionlesse this which I give you at present It was composed on the Publick Acts drawn from the Registers of the Estate and exposed to the eys of those who were ey-witnesses of the things whereof it treateth and made the speeches which are inserted there and which are so faithfully related that except one onely there is none which was not pronounced in the same manner as you see them here written After this one cannot doubt that it may not one day serve advantagiously the History of the time whose mervellous revolution of the affairs of England shall make one of the principal parts It is requisite the world should know the particularities which you shall not find but in this discourse and I think to oblige my Country in publishing the marks of affection and good will which one of the first Kings of Christendom hath left it The Relation is French because the King would use that tongue during the residence whereof you have here the recital though he that composed it hinders it not to be extant in other languages but would that all people of the Universe should know it I confess it would have been more proper to have put it forth as soon as it was made immediately after the Kings departure and I would have given you this satisfaction if the diligence of those men that graved the Plates had answered my desire But I cease not to hope that it will not be ill received and that this production though tardive will have its agreements as well as the fruits which though given by nature but in a late season please notwithstanding and are carefully preserved I confess also that some faults are escaped in the Impression which all the diligent care of the Corrector could not avoid There is not any though that I know which alters the sense and which your discretion may not either correct or excuse Extract out of the Priviledge of the Estates of Holland and West-Freesland THe Estates of Holland and West-Freesland make known that Adrian Vlack dwelling at the Hague having remonstrated to us that he had caused to be printed at his great expense a Book entitled A Relation of the Voyage and Residence which the most Excellent and most Mighty Prince CHARLS THE SECOND King of Great Britain c. Hath made into Holland from the 25 of May to the 2 of June 1660. Enriched with divers fair Plates not only in the French tongue but also in the Dutch and English c. And fearing that some one might counterfeit it to his great Damage We have consented and granted by these Presents that the said Adrian Vlack may cause the said Book to be imprinted with prohibition to all other persons to imprint or distribute in our Province the said Book or part of it in any language or form whatsoever nor counterfeit the said Plates in any kind during the space of ten Years on pain of Confiscation of all the Copies and of three hundred pounds besides A RELATION Of the VOYAGE AND RESIDENCE Which His Most Excellent MAIESTY CHARLS THE II KING OF GREAT BRITAIN c. Hath made in Holland from the 25 of May to the 2 of June 1660. WHen the Parliament began at London the fourth day of May in this present Year 1660. it was no new thing in the noble breast of his Excellence the Lord General Monck Commander in Chief of the English Army in Scotland as sensibly touch'd with the calamities wherewith he saw his poor country so long afflicted to think of the means to establish there the Monarchal government grounded upon the old and primitive Laws of the Estate This could not be a free Parliament and such a one as the whole Kingdom demanded if it were not composed of two Houses viz. the Higher House of Lords or Peers and the Lower House of Commons or Deputies of the Provinces For the same violence which had destroyed the essential form of the estate had so disfigured that illustrious Body in cutting off one of its principal members that being incapable to act for the important affairs which made the convocation of that great assembly to be judged absolutely necessary if it opened not the Higher house which tyranny had shut up it must of necessity find it fit to repeal the Lords who had voice and place there for so many Ages I say many Ages because it may be truly affirmed that this custom is no lesse ancient then Monarchy it self since that from the time that it came out of the hands of the Britans and Saxons to passe into the family of those that possesse it at present the Estates of England never assembled but the Peers were called as well as the Deputies from the towns of the Kingdom The resolution which was taken on this occasion was not so soon executed and scarce had the two Houses began their assemblies to labour in regulating the government which the pass'd disorders had perverted into a miserable Anarchy but there appeared on the twelfth of the same moneth of May at the dore one of the Gentlemen of the King's Bed-chamber named Sir John Greenvil who demanded permission to present Letters to the House from his Majesty That Sacred name which not long since was the aversion of varlets and fanaticks was heard with veneration and inspired into that illustrious assembly such extraordinary and advantagious motions for the King that it was impossible for it to expresse them as we also will not undertake to represent them here upon paper It sufficeth to say that not above three or four months before it had been a crime of high treason to speak in Parliament in behalf of the King but now no sooner is that great name pronounc'd then one sees a general joy in the countenance of all the commons and observes a most high respect for that divine character They caused the Gentleman to enter The Speakers of the two Houses receive the King's Letters from his hand and make the Secretary to read them every one in the meane time with the greatest expressive submission of the world standing bare headed The two Houses compose but one sole Parliament and they are two members of one and the same body so that the King in writing to each of them upon one and the same subject might well make use of one Letter and addresse it not only under divers inscriptions to the two Houses but also to General Monck for the Army to
thing most remarkable that the same day Mr. Moorland chief Commissioner under Mr. Thurlo who was Secretary of Estate unto Oliver Cromwel his chief and most confident Minister of his Tyranny arrived at Breda where he brought divers Letters and Notes of most great importance forasmuch as the King discovered there a part of the intricate plots of the interreign and likewise the perfidiousness of some of those who owed him without doubt the greatest fidelity of the world The King received him perfectly well made him Knight and rendred him this publick testimony that he had received most considerable services from him for some years past The 17. the Deputies of the Estates General whom we have named departed from the Hage about two a clock after dinner and embarked themselves the same day at Rotterdam where the Jachts or Pinnaces which the Estate had caused to be in readiness attended them Those of Holland departed in the morning but they made not the same haste as well because they would not be the first in the place where the Estates were to precede as because they had divers orders to give in the places of their passage The Deputies of the States General arrived at Breda the 18. of May after dinner and were met with neer the village of Terheida by four Cornets of Horse of the Garrison and arriving at the Town they found there 12 Companies of Foot drawn up in battalia which saluted them with their shot whil'st the Artillery thundred from the walls and bulwarks As soon as they were come to the house which was prepared for them they gave notice thereof to his Majesty and next to the Dukes of York and Glocester and to the Princess Royal and towards the evening the King and their Royal Hignesses sent them most civil salutes by Gentlemen of their House They understood that Mr. Clarges brother-in-brother-in-law to General Monck was arrived there the same day and that he had brought the protestations of fidelity and obedience from the Army and the confirmation of what they had already heard of the Declaration of the Parliament Until then the Major of the Garrison had taken orders from the Princess Royal but the Deputies of the States General being arrived at Breda would transfer that honour to the King who gave the word Amsterdam not so much for that he considered this Town as the most powerfull of all these Provinces but for as much as he could not silence the resentiments which he had for the Magistrate which had given him most illustrious and most agreeable marks of its affection The next day there came a Post to Breda bringing intelligence that the Garrison of Dunkerck declared for the King and had witnessed its joy by the fire of its Cannon and Muskets The King had the goodness to invite the Lord Lockart Governour of the place to express some inclination for his service and to give him an occasion for it by the advance he had made and the assurances he had given him but it could gain nothing upon that spirit prepossessed and tied so by particular interests to the house of Cromwel untill he was constrained to leave himself to be carried away by the general motion of the whole Army and of the Garrison it self The next day being the 19. the Estates General having had advertisement by publick Letters from their Ambassadour at London of what passed in Parliament in behalf of the King redoubled the orders which they had given to their Deputies touching the complement and offices which they were to do to the end to acquit themselves thereof with zeal and affection and certified them by an express that they had sent commissions to Arnham Heusden Bergen op Zoom and Gercum for the Troops of Horse of Prince William of Nassau of the Count Christian of Dona and of M rs de Buat de Wassenaer and de la Lecque son to Mr. Beverweert with order to march with all speed night and day towards high Swaluwe to attend there the King of great Britain and to execute the commands which should be given them by the Deputies of the Estates of Holland The last arrived this day at Breda and the Deputies of the Estates General had their audience The King sent unto them about eleven a clock in the forenoon the Lord Gerard one of the Gentlemen of his bed-chamber whose quality and functions are answerable to those of the chief Gentlemen of the Chamber of the King of France who was to take them at their lodgings with four Coaches each drawn by six white horses and conducted them to the Castle where the King was lodg'd The Marquess of Ormond came to receive them at the top of the stairs and caused them to enter into the King's chamber where they found his Majesty standing in the mid'st of the chamber and covered but as soon as he saw them he uncovered himself and came two or there paces to meet them After they had made most low reverences and were come unto the King Monsieur de Ripperda Lord of Buirse one of the Deputies would begin to speak but his Majesty would oblige them to put on their hats in making semblance that he would be covered They had not the character of Ambassadour and could not have it at home with them therefore would they not be in that condition but remained in their duty and obliged thereby his Majesty who could not overcome their modesty though innocently and against their intention to remain also uncovered whil'st the first Deputy spake The substance of his discourse was that the States General of the United Provinces had understood with an extream joy the chang of the affairs of England That they knew the good God had so well touched the heart of the inhabitants that there was not any Person almost that cried not on the name of the King and wished passionately to see him returned into his Kingdom that upon certain advertiements which the Estates General had had thereof they thought it fit to send their Deputies to this Majesty to witness unto him the part they take to congratulate him in so important an occasion and to wish him and all his Royal Family all the blessings of Heaven and all the prosperity that he might hope from God after so long and such bitter afflictions that the Estates General made those prayers with so much the more ardour as they knew that the repose of this Common-wealth depended in some kind on that of its neighbours and that they would not willingly enjoy the amity of the English but under the Monarchal Government of his Royal House that they pretended to enjoy it still for the future under the happy government of his Majesty and for this purpose they hoped he would have the goodness to renue with the United Provinces the alliance which they alwaies considered here as one of the chief points of Estate and as the foundation of the conservation of the
Mr. Copes ordinary Resident from the Elector to the Lords the Estates The discourse of the Prince was like a Cavaleer so that after the King had answered his complement they spake of indifferent affairs which have nothing of common with this relation The same day Monsieur Vicquefort Knight Resident with the Lords the Estates for the Land-Grave of Hessen made his complement for the Prince his Master which was so much the better received as in his particular he had had an occasion to render most important services to his Majesty as well as to the deceased King his Father of glorious memory He had the honour to do reverence to his Majesty at Breda when in the voiage which he made there some daies before with the Duke of Brunswick Lunenburg the King expressed unto him that he remembred the affection which he had for his service He spake also for the Duke of Courland in such sort that the King who witnessed to be touched with the affliction of that Prince protested that he would not fail to acknowledge the good offices which that Prince rendred to the deceased King and to his own person during the disorders of his Kingdom Monsieur Walter de Raet Councellour in the Court of Holland Zealand and West-Freesland being gone to Bruxels in the beginning of the moneth of March this present year with Mr. Goes his Colleague by vertue of a Commission from the Court to speak to the Princess Royal of the affairs of the Principality of Orange understood that there was notice given that General Monck dissembled in a manner no more the inclination which he had for the King's interests and for the re-establishment of the affairs of England and from thence took the liberty to felicitate the King His Majesty received him so well as also the words which he said unto him when being gone since about the same affairs at Breda where his Majesty betook himself he gave him to understand the occasion which hindred the Lords the Estates at present to complement him on the estate of the affairs of the Kingdom of England that he said unto him that he should never see him but he would remember the good will he expressed to him in this conjuncture And indeed this very day the 29 of May the King remembring those marks of affection sent him his in presenting him by Mr. Oudart Councellour to the Princess Royal and to the Prince of Orange her son with Letters Pattents under the great Seal of England by which he gives to Mr. Raet and to his issue male the quality and rank of Knight Barronet for ever And for as much as those whom the King honours with this title are obliged to maintain thirty foot souldiers for the service of Ireland or to pay into the hands of the Treasurer the sum of a thousand fourscore and fifteen pounds his Majesty caused the first Letters to be accompanied with a second dispensing him of paying that sum and acquitting him in general terms and his posterity after him to perpetuity of the said sum We have said elsewhere that Don Stephen of Gamarra ordinary Embassadour of Spain to the Lords the Estates went to meet the King at Moordike to express there to his Majesty the joy that he had for his re-establishment The residence which the King had made for some years at Bruxels where Don Stephen of Gamarra had the honour to lodge some daies in the house of the two Princes the King's brothers made him to be considered quite otherwise then he could hope from his character in a time when there was open war between Spain and England though against the intention of the two Kings The caresses which the Princes made him on this occasion and the extraordinary civilities which he had received from the King proceeded from a particular affection as well as the goodness wherewith the same Dukes of York and of Glocester prayed to dine with him on thursday the 27 of this moneth The Marquess of Ormond and many other Lords had dined there the day before with the same familiarity wherewith the Lords German Earl of St. Albans and Craft went to dine with the Embassadour of France the day the King arrived at the Hage and upon the recital which these Lords had made to their Royal Highnesses of the great cheer the Embassadour of Spain had made them they resolved to dine there the next day But the King who would dine that day in publick with the Queen of Bohemia the Princess Royal the Prince of Orange and the Deputies of the Estates General having desired that the Princes his brothers might be of the company the Embassadour who had expected their Royal Highnesses gave himself the liberty to complain to the King in raillery for taking away his guests from him His Majesty had the goodness to tell him that he did it of purpose to hinder their dining with him because he would be also of the Party And indeed that very Saturday the King after he had ridden to Scheveling where he saw the Fleet and at his return visited the Queen of Bohemia went in the evening to the house of the Spanish Embassadour where were also the Queen of Bohemia the Dukes of York and Glocester the Princess Royal the Prince of Orange the Marquess of Ormond the Lords Digby Craft and Taff the Lady Stanhop Widow to the Lord Heenvliet to whom the King gave the title of Countess of Chesterfeild and Madam Howard her daughter-in-daughter-in-law Lady of honour to the Princess Royal. The table was covered in the Hall which is one of the fairest and greatest of the whole Hage but it would be very difficult to make a pertinent discription of this feast because that although they served up there but fish and sallats it was without doubt one of the most splendid and stately that ever was seen at a private house There was two great services of fish or rather of Sea-monsters besides the pottages the courses and the inter-meats and there was served up so great a quantity of sweet meats dry and liquid that all the persons of quality which were come in great number to see the order of that supper returned thence all loaden For the Master of the house had given order that they should have enough and that the servants should present Limonada Hypocras and all sorts of delicious wines to all those that should demand it whil'st the Officers of his Majesty and of their Royal Highnesses were magnificently treated in the other apartments of the house The King appeared there in the best humour that ever he was seen to be and expressed so much content in this company which was composed of none almost but of his family and of persons whom he saw every day that he staied there even until one a clock after midnight notwithstanding without the least disorder or confusion that might trouble their conversation and divertisement Every thing there was high and magnificent but that
into the Hage had the leisure to cut some little streets and to come to put themselves behind and so to make a guard from the Highstreet and along the great Place even to the Viverberg where the Regiment of the Guards had taken its Post and made a guard on both sides even to the House of Prince Maurice of Nassau which the Estates of Holland had caused to be furnish'd and accommodated for the King's lodging As soon as the first coaches were entred into the Court and the King alighted the Deputies of the Estates General retired and left the honour of the reception and entertainment for that day to the Estates of Holland The King being gone up found on the top of the stairs the Queen of Bohemia his Aunt led by the Duke of Brunswick Lunenburg who had the honour to salute and to entertain the King at Breda and the Princess Dowager of Orange led by Prince William Frederick of Nassau her son-in-son-in-law and accompanied with the two Princesses her daughters Madam the Princess of Nassau and the young Lady of Orange The King saluted them all and being entred into the chamber where he was followed by the Deputies of the Estates of Holland he received there another small complement from them by the mouth of the Pensionary Councellour who said no other thing but that the Estates of Holland would give themselves the honour to come in full body to render their duty to his Majesty when they might do it without incommodating him The King answered him that they should alwaies be welcome and that after he had dined they might take their audience But the Pensioner replied that his Majesty being without doubt weary with his journy they would not trouble his repose that day but would send to receive his orders the next The King who was weary indeed expressed a willingness to dine in private so that there staied no body by him but Mr. of Wimmenum who was charged with the order of making his Majesty to be served at dinner and in whatsoever it should please him to command The Princess Royal who had not slept the night before was the first that withdrew and obliged the others by her example to do the like The Queen of Bohemia and the Princess Dowager of Orange followed her and the King who would lead them and who took the Queen by the hand had the goodness after he had put her into the coach to turn about to the end to help the Princess Dowager to go up There staied with the King at dinner none but the two Dukes his brothers who dined with him His Majesty before he sate at Table would do Mr. of Wimmenum the honour to make him to take his napkin to present it him but that Gentleman who knew how to behave himself civilly excused himself through modesty and yeelded that advantage to him of his Officers who used to perform that function about the person of his Majesty The toil of the journy and little rest he had taken the two former nights made him desire to withdraw And indeed they would have made the musketteers to forbear shooting who gave continual volleys if it had been possible to smother the universal joy which the whole world would express on this occasion To these volleys answered those of a battery of eight and thirty peeces of Canon which were planted on the Viverberg reinforced with another of five and twenty peeces of a greater stamp which they were enforced to plant behind the Cloister Church of the Voorhout upon the rampart in turning the mouth towards the field for fear the noise of that thunder might shake the walls of the old Palace and of all the adjoining buildings The Estates General had ordained the precedent day Mr. de Heyde their Agent to go to Prince Maurice his House and to know immediately after the King's arrival at least as soon as civility would permit him when it would please his Majesty to receive the duty which they had resolved to render him in coming to do him reverence in a body and his Majesty having granted it them at four a clock in the afternoon it was resolved that they should all meet in the ordinary chamber of their assembly half an hour after 3 a clock to go from thence in a body to the house of Nassau They met accordingly at the hour appointed to the number of five and twenty viz. Mr. van Swanenburgh Burgemaster of Leiden and Deputy to the Estates General from the Province of Holland who at his turn was President that week the Baron of Gent M rs van Bemmel Braeckel Balveren Vande Steen Ripperda of Buirse the Count of Flodorff Schimmelpennick Vander Oyen Huygens and Ommeren Deputies from the Dutchy of Gelders Meerman of Horn and the Pensionary Councellour from the Province of Holland de Veth Crommon Vrybergen Lampsins and Kien for Zealand Renswoude and Amerongen Deputies from the Province of Utrecht Velsen for the Province of Freesland Ripperda of Hengelo for Overyssel and Schulenbourg and Isbrants for the town of Groning and the adjacent country with which it makes also a Province As soon as they were assembled they went forth two and two in the same order as we have named them going directly to the King's lodging which is separated from the Palace but by a Ditch whose two sides are joined by a stone bridge That Palace is named the Court or the Court of Holland because it served sometime for dwelling to the Counts as it comprehends now in its inclosure the apartments where the Estates General assemble the Councel of Estate of the United Provinces the Estates of Holland the Councel of Estate of the same Province the Reckoning-chambers of the Generality and of the Province of Holland The two Courts of Justice and the apartments assigned for the lodging of the Princess Royal and of the Prince of Orange Before the Estates marched Prince William Frederick of Nassau Governour and Lievtenant General of Freesland of Groning and of Overyssel the Rhine Grave Commissary General of the Horse of the United Provinces and Governour of Mastricht Mons de Hauterive Chasteau neuf Collonel of a Regiment of French Foot in the service of the Estates and Governour of Breda and many other Collonels Lievtenant Collonels and other Officers as well of Foot as of Horse all bareheaded At the entrance into the King's lodging they were met with by the Lord Crafts one of the four Gentlemen of the bed-chamber accompanied with a great number of gentlemen The Marquess of Ormond Lord Deputy of Ireland and in this quality the first and most considerable person of all England after the Dukes came to receive them at the stairs and brought them into the King's chamber All the high Officers that marched before being entred the Lords the Estates could scarce make way through the press which was extraordinary great there but at last being come to the King the Baron of Gent as chief Deputy