Add MS 4156

The documents here formed part of the original collection of John Thurloe (d. 1668), Secretary to the Council of State and subsequently to the two Cromwells, Lord Protectors. They illuminate both the domestic and international politics of the period, as also the scope of Thurloe's intelligence service.

This forms one volume of the Thurloe State Papers Collection of state letters and papers in the British Library: it has been catalogued as Volume II (e.g. The British Library: Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts, 1756-1782, pp. 31-33), though there is a question-mark as to whether Volume I, Add MS 4155, is properly counted as Thurloe State Papers).

The main series of Thurloe's papers were hidden behind a false ceiling in a garret over his chambers, and upon their discovery were sold to John Somers, 1st Baron Somers (1651-1716), lawyer and politician. The papers here probably came into Somers's possession after the 67 volumes of Thurloe Papers which are now in the Bodleian Library (in Rawlinson MSS A) were bound up. They afterwards came into the hands of Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, Lord Chancellor, and were 'communicated' by him to Birch, according to the Preface to the Thurloe State Papers, which Birch edited and dedicated to Lord Hardwicke in 1742, and in which many of the documents here are printed. From Hardwicke the letters passed to Birch who left them to the British Library.

The papers in this volume range between 1650 and 1658, but are especially rich for the period 1654-1655. Amongst major themes are the royalist rising in the Highlands (the Glencairn Rising) in 1654; diplomatic relations with Sweden and France; and the concern with dissent in the Army in Scotland and Ireland in late 1654 and early 1655. Most striking is the rare copy of the printed pamphlet, Two Letters from Major General [Robert] Overton (directed to a friend), The one from Aberdeen, dated the 26 Decemb. 1654. The other from the Tower of London (the place of his Confinement) dated Janu. 17. 1654[/55], ff. 118r-120r, found in a search of an Edinburgh innkeeper in March 1655; the pamphlet is accompanied by the wrapper in which it was found (f. 117r) and the covering letter with which the pamphlet was sent to Oliver Cromwell (ff. 161r-162v).

Contents:

ff. 1r-v: Ratification by Scottish Parliament of pensions granted to Sir Archibald Johnston, Lord Wariston, amounting to £400 sterling per annum, Edinburgh, 16 Mar 1650.

ff. 2r-3v: Letter of Oliver Cromwell to John Cotton, Pastor to the Church at Boston in New England, 2 Oct 1651. Copy.

ff. 4r-5v: Commission of Oliver Cromwell, Captain-General and Commander-in-Chief, to Major-General Charles Fleetwood to be Commander-in-Chief of the forces in Ireland, 10 Jul 1652. Copy.

ff. 6r-7v: Letter of Edward Barnard to Walter Strickland, of the Council of State (London), 'Adie', 4 Jun 1653. Original, with address and seal. Gives news of a naval engagement between the English and Dutch off Dunkirk.

ff. 8r-9v: Acts of the Roman Catholic Provincial Chapter of Canterbury held at London, 13 Jun 1653, with signatures of the members. In Latin.

ff. 10r-11v: Order of the Committee of the English Parliament for Affairs in Scotland instituting a Court of Admiralty there, Dalkeith, 1 Mar 1652. Copy. The order includes the appointment of Samuel Disbrowe and Richard Saltonstall to the Court.

ff. 12r-13v: Representations of Don Alonso de Cardenas, Spanish Ambassador to the Parliament, on the detention of Spanish vessels, London, 24/14 Dec. 1652. English translation. Endorsed as pronounced and read 14 Dec 1652.

ff. 14r-15v: Letter of Bulstrode Whitelocke to John Thurloe, Uppsala, 21 Apr 1654.

ff. 16r-v: Appeal of John Tully, William Bexbey and others, close prisoners in Amsterdam, to the Commonwealth's Admirals of the Fleet, 27 Apr 1653. Complaining of their ill-treatment, having been taken on 19 April. Original, with signatures and address. (see ff 17r-v, 18r-v)

ff. 17r-v: Letter of William Bexbey to Alexander Bence (in Catherine's Court in the Cloister, London), Amsterdam, 29 Apr 1653. An appeal for himself and his fellows, prisoners taken on 19 Apr (see ff. 16r-v, 18r-v)). Original, with address.

ff. 18r-v: Appeal of John Tully, William Bexbey and others, close prisoners in Amsterdam, to the Governor and Assistants of the Eastland Company. Complaining of their ill-treatment, having been taken on 19 April. Original, with signatures and address.

ff. 19r-20v: Pass issued by the Dutch States-General to the Parliament of England for Thilman Aquilius, 1 May 1653. In French.

ff. 21r-22v: Letter of accreditation to Oliver Cromwell for Hieronimus de Beverningh to act as representative in the peace negotiations for the Provinces of Holland and East Friesland, the Hague, 5 Jun 1653. English translation.

ff. 23r, 24r-25v, 26r: Petition of Captain John Mynne to Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector, claiming monies owing to him from grant to his father as King’s Harbinger to James I and Charles I (f. 23r); the breviate of his case is ff. 24r-25v, and f. 26r is an order of the Committee for Public Debts for Colonel Robert Castell to report on the matter to the House, 16 Sep 1653.

ff. 27r-28v: Letter of Alexander Lindsay, 1st Earl of Balcarres to John Murray, 2nd Earl of Atholl, Killin, 12 Nov 1653. Original, intercepted, letter.

ff. 29r-30v: Unsigned letter to Cardinal Jules Mazarin, London, 14 Nov 1653. The endorsement gives the date as both old style/new style, 14/24 Nov.

ff. 31r-32v: Address of the English Council of State to Leopold William, Archduke of Austria, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, about John Causton, London merchant, Whitehall, 9 Dec 1653 (new style).

ff. 33r-34v: Letter of Robert Barry, Catholic Bishop of Cork and Cloyne, Owen OSullivan Moore and OSullivane Beere to Colonel Mortough O’Bryan, Colonel Daniel O Sullivane and Colonel Daniel McCarthy and Colonel McElligott o Donivane, or one of them, Paris, 10 Dec. With fragment of seal. The date is given as 10 December new style or ‘the last of Novembr wth you’, 1653. The letter is to be left with an English merchant at Dunkirk, Mr Everrett, to be sent on as directed. However, the letter was, as endorsed, an ‘Intercepted Letter’.

ff. 35r-36v: Letter of John Middleton to John Murray, 2nd Earl of Atholl, Amsterdam, 17 Dec 1653. With seal.

f. 37r: Letter of Bulstrode Whitelocke to Christina, Queen of Sweden, Uppsala, 14 Jan 1654. In English with Latin translation beneath.

ff. 38r-39v: Address of the University of Cambridge to Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector, 29 Dec 1653. In Latin (the date is written ‘quarto Kalendas Januarias. 1653’. With address and seal.

ff. 40r-41v: Letter of William Drummond (royalist army officer) to William Cunningham, 8th Earl of Glencairn, Dunkeld, 17 Feb 1654. The letter itself says 1652 (old style), though a rather clumsy ‘2’, the endorsement 1653 (old style). The latter is the more convincing date.

ff. 42r-44v: Letter of John Thurloe to Bulstrode Whitelocke, 3 Mar 1654. Draft.

ff. 45r-46v: Letter of the Commissioners for Prizes to John Thurloe, Prize Office, 4 Mar 1654. With address and seal. Signed by Richard Hill, Humphrey Blake, Robert Turpin, and Richard Blackwall.

ff. 47r-48v: Letter of J. Vernon to Oliver Cromwell, 10 Mar 1654.

ff. 49r-50v: Letter of Bulstrode Whitelocke to Oliver Cromwell, Uppsala, 17 March 1654. With address.

ff. 51r-52v: Letter of J. Cannibale, n.d. [?1654]. In French. The letter, which seeks a passport to England from the Lord Protector, may be intended for Bulstrode Whitelocke or John Thurloe. It is endorsed by Thurloe as passed on to him by Lord Whitelocke. Although the endorsement is an uncertain guide as to the date of writing, as there are endorsements which refer to the author by a peerage later than the dated document (e.g. fols 61r-62v), Whitelocke only became a peer on 10 Dec 1657.

ff. 52r-53v: Letter of John Johnson to George Monck. Rotterdam, 18/28 Apr 1658. Exhorting him to support Charles II. The endorsement suggests possibly 1654, but this has to ne an error: the letter itself is dated 1658 and refers to the fall of John Lambert in 1657. See also ff. 63r-64v.

ff. 54r-55v: Articles between the Lord Protector and Portugal examined and compared against the articles formerly made between the Council of State and the Portuguese Ambassador, noting the differences now made by the Ambassador, 22 Apr 1654.

ff. 56r-57v: Order of the Lord Protector and his Council, signed by Henry Lawrence, to the Commissioners appointed for managing the affairs of Ireland, Whitehall 26 Apr 1654. The order is that estreated lands in the four counties of Dublin, Cork, Kildare and Carlow shall be rented on a yearly basis.

ff. 58r-v: Letter of information of Charles Howard against William Carleton and other royalists in Cumberland, March 1655.

f. 59r: Letter of Bulstrode Whitelocke to Christina, Queen of Sweden, 13 May 1654. On taking leave. In English. Signed.

ff. 60r-60*v: Printed proclamation of George Monck, Commander-in-Chief in Scotland, Dalkeith, 4 May 1654. Offering pardon or punishment for those in rebellion, and specifying £200 sterling reward for the arrest or killing of the leaders and fomenters of the rebellion: Major-General Middleton, the Earl of Atholl, the Earl of Seaforth, Viscount Kenmure and Major-General Dalyell. This copy is not mentioned in ESTC: R33064; Wing (2nd edn.) A841.

ff. 61r-62v: Letter of Charles Fleetwood to John Thurloe, 7 Jun 1654. Original, with address and seal.

ff. 63r-64v: Letter of George Monck to John Thurloe, Dalkeith, 3 Jul 1658. Original, with address and seal. The letter encloses an offensive letter addressed to him ‘a Knavish trick of some Scotchman’ (from the reference in the endorsement to John Johnson, almost certainly ff. 52r-53v). Monck also recounts the fate of an Ostender privateer on the Scottish coast pursued by an English frigate.

ff. 65r-v: Letter of Don Alonso de Cardenas (Spanish Ambassador) to Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector, London, 25/15 Jul 1654. In Spanish. For translation into English, see f. 69r.

ff. 66r-67r: Extracts of letters sent to Samuel Hartlib. The extracts are dated Zurich, 22 Jul 1654; Leśna in Poland, 3 Jul 1654; and a passage out of Mr (Johannes Amos) Comenius, Leśna, 3 Jul 1654.

ff. 68r-v: Letter of John Middleton to John Murray, 2nd Earl of Atholl, Lawers, 10 Jul 1654.

f. 69r: Letter of Don Alonso de Cardenas (Spanish Ambassador) to Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector, London, 25/15 Jul 1654. English translation of ff 65r-v.

ff. 71r-72v: Letter of Charles Fleetwood to John Thurloe, 27 Jul 1654. With address and seal.

ff. 73r-74v: Letter of Archibald Campbell, Marquess of Argyll to Oliver Cromwell, Carrick, 4 Aug 1654. With address and seal.

ff. 75r-76v: Letter of George Monck to Oliver Cromwell, Camp at ‘Lence’, 5 Aug 1654. With address and seals.

ff. 77r-78v: Letter of Charles Fleetwood to Oliver Cromwell, Phoenix, 8 Aug 1654. He sends a 'list of our elected members for Ireland'. With address and seals.

ff. 79r-80v: Letter of Charles Howard to Oliver Cromwell, Carlisle, 9 Aug 1654. With address and seal.

ff. 81r-82v: Letter of George Monck to John Thurloe, Sterling, 21 Aug 1654. With address and seal.

ff. 83r-84v: Letter of Cardinal Jules Mazarin to Antoine de Bordeaux-Neufville, French Ambassador in London, Peronne, 27 Aug 1654. English translation.

ff. 85r-86v: Letter of Armand Jean de Vignerot du Plessis, 2nd Duc de Richelieu to Antoine de Bordeaux-Neufville, French Ambassador in London, Paris, 19 Sept. 1654. English translation.

ff. 87r-88v: Letter of George Monck to John Thurloe, Dalkeith, 21 Sep 1654. With address and seal.

ff. 89r-90v: Estimates of the income of the Commonweath, 3 Oct 1654 (f. 89r) and 4 Dec 1654 (f. 90r).

ff. 91r-92v: Letter of Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia to the Dutch States-General, The Hague, 27 Oct 1654. Copy in English (see also ff. 93r-94r).

ff. 93r-94r: Letter of Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia to the Dutch States-General, The Hague, 27 Oct 1654. Copy in French (see also ff. 91r-92v).

f. 95r: Letter of Oliver Cromwell to the City of Bremen, Westminster, 27 Oct 1654. In Latin.

ff. 96r-98v: Letter of John II Casimir, King of Poland to Oliver Cromwell, Grodna, 30 Nov 1654. Letter of accreditation for his envoy Nicholas de Bye. f. 96r is an English translation; f. 97r is a copy of the Latin text.

ff. 99r-100v: Letter of George Monck to John Thurloe, Dalkeith, 2 Dec 1654. With address and seal.

ff. 101r-102v, 103r-v: Letter of Louis XIV, King of France to Oliver Cromwell, Paris, 18 Dec 1654. Two copies, the first in French and the second an English translation. Seeking an audience or his ambassador, Antoine de Bordeaux-Neufville.

ff. 105r-107v: Letter of Antoine de Bordeaux-Neufville to Louis de Béthune, Comte de Charost, 21 Dec 1654. In French. Copy.

ff. 108r-109v: Letter of Antoine de Bordeaux-Neufville to Henri Auguste de Loménie, Comte de Brienne (Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs), 21 Dec 1654. In French. Copy.

ff. 110r-111v: Letter of John Thurloe to Thomas Savage, Earl Rivers, 21 Dec 1654. Draft. A letter about a debt owing to the widow of Sir John Lytcott.

ff. 112r-113v: State of the account of the forces in Scotland, to 24 Dec 1654. This includes the cost of the forces; the monies allocated for them; and the shortfall between income and cost.

ff. 114r-115v: Letter of George Monck to John Thurloe, Dalkeith, 26 Dec 1654. With address and seals. Monck promises, evidently in response to a letter from Thurloe, that he will be careful to hinder the printing of 'some new Pamphlets’ all he may.

ff. 117r-v: Wrapper around the pamphlet, ff. 118r-120v. The letter is addressed to Mr James Wallis, innkeeper in ‘Canneygate’ [?Canongate], Edinburgh, and carried a note by James Nallow(?) that this is the paper that the printed papers of letters signed by Robert Overton was found, Edinburgh, 9 Mar 1655. [see ff. 118r-120v, 161r-162v].

ff. 118r-120v: Two Letters from Major General [Robert] Overton (directed to a friend), The one from Aberdeen, dated the 26 Decemb. 1654. The other from the Tower of London (the place of his Confinement) dated Janu. 17. 1654[/55]. A printed pamphlet (noted as printed by Livewell Chapman, at the Crown in Pope’s Head Alley, London, 1655). For other copies, see ESTC: R222625; Wind (2nd edn.) O643A [see ff. 117r-v, 161r-162v].

ff. 121r-124v: Letter to Charles X, King of Sweden. The endorsement states the letter to be of ‘His Highnesse’ (i.e. Oliver Cromwell); the draft is in Thurloe’s hand; the content of the letter points to it being carried as a letter from Edward Rolt, appointed Ambassador to Sweden in June 1655, whose first audience with the King was on 6 Nov.

ff. 125r-126v: Letter of Christina, Queen of Sweden to Benjamin Bonel, her commissioner in England, Uppsala, 9 Jan 1654. An English translation.

ff. 127r-128v: Letter of Thomas Herbert to John Thurloe, Dublin, 25 Jan 1655. With address and seal. On the seizure of Colonel William Eyre as ‘a Complotter in the late conspiracy in England’, and in consideration of ‘his former levelling principles’.

ff. 129r-130v: Parole of Edmund Ludlow, Lieutenant-General of Horse and Colonel of Horse in Ireland to present himself before the Lord Protector by 10 March, Dublin, 30 Jan 1655. Copy.

ff. 131r-132v: Letter of Cardinal Jules Mazarin to Antoine de Bordeaux-Neufville, Paris, 2 Feb 1655. An English translation.

ff. 133r-134v: Address of Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia to the Dutch Estates-General, The Hague, 29 Jan 1654. Copy in French.

ff. 135r-136v: Address of Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia to the Dutch Estates-General, The Hague, 29 Jan 1654. Copy in English.

ff. 136r-137v: Letter of Cardinal Jules Mazarin to Antoine de Bordeaux-Neufville, Paris, 6 Feb 1655. An English translation.

ff. 138r-139v: Letter of Thomas Herbert to John Thurloe, Dublin, 7 Feb 1655. With address and seals. A letter enclosing Edmund Ludlow’s parole (see ff. 129r-130v), as well as the examination of Colonel William Eyre and reporting the imprisonment of Colonel Daniel Treswell.

ff. 140r-141v: Letter of Tobias Bridge to John Thurloe, Dalkeith, 8 Feb 1655. With address and seal. Information on prisoners being sent to London and the situation in the Army in Scotland; he desires his regiment, which has served long in Scotland, is not forgotten.

ff. 142r-142*v: Letter of Cardinal Jules Mazarin to Antoine de Bordeaux-Neufville, 11 Feb 1655. An English translation.

ff. 143r-v: Verdict of court martial held for the Head Quarters in Scotland at the Tolbooth, Canongate, Edinburgh, 16 Feb 1655. the court finds that the letters dated Aberdeen, 18 Dec 1654 and signed by Captain Henry Hedworth, Lieutenant John Braman, Cornet John Toomes, Quartermaster William Barford, Quartermaster John Gregory, Quartermaster John Wattridge, Mr Samuel Oates and Lieutenant Rawson and directed to several persons in the Regiments in Scotland were tending to sedition, mutiny and divisions in the Army. the copy is attested by Henry Whalley (Judge Advocate).

ff. 144r-145v: Letter of Antoine Léger, born in Piedmont and now Pastor and Divinity Reader in Geneva, to Jen-Baptiste Stouppe (pastor of the French Reformed Congregation in Threadneedle Street. Copy of a letter on the oppression of the Protestants in Piedmont, 1655.

f. 146r: An Information to his Highness the Lord Protector, and his Honourable Councill, concerning Sir John Scott of Scottistarvett [1655]. A broadsheet laying out his innocence and appealing for remission of his fine and reinstatement to his office. This is not the same as the pamphlet To His Highness Protector of the Common-wealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and the dominions thereunto belonging. The humble address of Sir John Scot, of Scottistarvet (ESTC R183622; Wing S2076A).

ff. 147r-148v: Letter of George Monck to John Thurloe, Dalkeith, 27 Feb 1655. With address and seals.

ff. 149r-150v: Examinations of Captain William Collinson, Captain John Miller and Lieutenant-Colonel Timothy Wilkes (Deputy-Governor of Leith), 6 and 7 Mar 1655. On finding incriminating verses against Oliver Cromwell upon search of Major-General Robert Overton on 4 Jan 1655: what Collinson describes as 'severall unhandsome verses relateinge to His Highnes the Lord Protector written upon the backside of an old Letter' (f. 149r). Overton told Wilkes that the verses 'were but for the tryall of my Witt' (f. 150r).

ff. 151r-152v: The humble remonstrance to the Lord Protector of sundry Congregational ministers in Scotland, on behalf of the churches and many others that way inclined. the seven ministers signing are John Stalham, John Collins, Thomas Charteris, John Beverley, William Dugard, William Stoughton and John Woadley.

ff. 153r-154v: Letter of Henry Whalley, Judge Advocate, to Oliver Cromwell, Edinburgh, 8 Mar 1655. On the court martials and proceedings against the officers in Scotland. With address and seals.

ff. 155r-156v: Letter of George Monck to Oliver Cromwell, Dalkeith, 10 Mar 1655. With address and seal. The letter includes allegations in the case against Overton, including an incriminating letter found in a trunk.

ff. 157r-160v: Letter of Bulstrode Whitlocke to John Thurloe, Uppsala, 10 Mar 1655. With address and seals.

ff. 161r-162v: Letter of Henry Whalley, Judge Advocate, to Oliver Cromwell, Edinburgh, 10 Mar 1655. With address and seal. On the letters discovered at the tavern of James Wallace (where Overton stayed when in Edinburgh) and his examination of Wallace. He encloses the one of the printed letters come to Wallace (see ff. 117r-v, 118r-120v).

ff. 163r-163*v: Letter of Cardinal Jules Mazarin to Antoine de Bordeaux-Neufville, 5 Apr 1655. An English translation.

ff. 164r-165v: Information of Francis Heighington, servant of Mr Linley Wren, taken by Thomas Lilburne, 9 Apr 1655. On a projected rising in the North.

ff. 166r-169v: Information and examination of Edward Bell of Duddo, Northumberland, 14 and 15 Apr 1655. The examination (ff. 168r-169r)was taken 11 Apr, the information (ff. 166r-168r) followed on 15 Apr; they were taken before Charles Howard. On an abortive royalist rising in the North.

ff. 170r-170*v: Letters of James Wilson, Consul at Cadiz, to Oliver Cromwell, 28 Apr 1655, 20 May 1655. On maritime news, including the sinking of 'the admirall of the Southe Sea called the Jesus and Mary'.

ff. 171r-172v: Speech of Constantin Schaum, Envoy of the Prince of Transylvania, George II Rakoczi, to the Lord Protector, 4 May 1655. English translation.

ff. 173r-v: Letter of William Prideaux, Resident in Russia, to Oliver Cromwell, 7 May 1655.

ff. 174r-174*v: Propositions tendered to the Lord Protector on the behalf of George II Ráckóczi, Prince of Transylvania, 14/24 May 1655. In Latin.

ff. 175r-176v: Propositions tendered to the Lord Protector on the behalf of George II Ráckóczi, Prince of Transylvania, 14/24 May 1655. English translation.

ff. 177r-178v; Letter of J.W. to Monsiuer Farettes, London, 28 May 1655. In French. With address and seal. Farettes's address is the Rue de Grenelle, at the next door to Monsieur Moreau, 'brasseur', Faubourg St Germain, Paris. Endorsed as an intercepted letter for Paris.

ff. 179r-180v: Letter of J.C. to Monsieur Osiris, Paris, 27 Jun 1655. In French. With address. The address for M. Osiris is given as his chamber in 'La Rue Royale', Westminster; in his absence the letter is directed to John Thurloe.

ff. 181r-182v: Letter of Cardinal Jules Mazarin to Antoine de Bordeaux-Neufville, Compiègne, 4 Jun 1655. English translation.

ff. 183r-184v: Address of the Protestant Cantons of Switzerland to the Lord Protector imploring his aid, 17 Jun 1655. In Latin. With address and seal.

ff. 185r-186v: Letter of Cardinal Jules Mazarin to Antoine de Bordeaux-Neufville, La Fère, 19 Jun 1655.

ff. 187r-188v: Letter of intelligence to John Thurloe, Paris, 26 Jun 1655. With address. The letter also has extracts from letters from Saumur, 14 Jun, and Bordeaux, 24 Jun.

ff. 189r-190v: Letter of Archibald Hamilton, Archbishop of Cashel to Oliver Cromwell, 1655. In Latin. With address and seal.

ff. 191r-191*v: Letter of Monsieur de Poincy [Robert, or possibly Philippe, Longvilliers de Poincy] to Antoine de Bordeaux-Neufville, Plymouth, 2 Jul 1655. In French. Original. With address.

ff. 192r-193v: Letter of Oliver St John, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, to John Thurloe, 13 Jul 1655. With address and seal.

ff. 194r-195v: Letter of Oliver St John. Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, to John Thurloe, Bury St Edmunds, 2 Aug 1655. With address and seal.

ff. 196r-197v: Letter of Charles Fleetwood to Oliver Cromwell, 8 Aug 1654. He writes of his sense of neglect and his trials in Ireland; and a postscript sending his wife's (and Cromwell's daughter's) duty to him and his wife, her term now draws near.

ff. 198r-200r: Four letters to individuals in England from Charles II, Cologne, 12 Aug 1655. In both he avows his belief in their loyalty ana affection. Copies.

ff. 201r-202v: Letter of Charles II to Alexander Leslie, 1st Earl of Leven, Cologne, 12 Aug 1655. With address and seal. He rebukes him for levying men in land 'for the service of some forraine Prince', and forbids it. Endorsed 'Intercepted Letter'.

ff. 203r-207v: Letter of Antoine de Bordeaux-Neufville to Cardinal Jules Mazarin, London, 2 Sep 1655. A copy in English and French.

ff. 208r-v: Letters of John Middleton to William Cunningham, 8th Earl of Glencairn and John Murray, 2nd Earl of Atholl, both from Utrecht. 4 Sep 1655.

ff. 209r-215v: Letter of Guillaume de Bordeaux, seigneur de Neufville and du Génitoy (father of the French Ambassador Antoine de Bordeaux-Neufville), to Cardinal Jules Mazarin, Génitoy, 12 Sep 1655. English translation. On Cromwell's designs towards France.