Ideology and Politics on the Eve of Restoration. Newcastle's advce to Charles II 0871691590

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lnEOLOGY AND PouT1cs ON TttE EvE OF REsTORATION: NEWCASTLE's Anv1cE To CttARLES

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Transcribed and with an introduction &y

Thomas P. Slaughter Department of History, Rutgers University

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The American Philosophical Society Independence Square : Philadelphia 1984

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To Copy~ght © ~ 984 by the American Philosophical Society

for 1ts Memozrs series, Volume 159

Publication of this volume has been made possible by the John Louis Haney Fund. T~ix:setting: The Historical Society of Pennsylvania Prmtmg: Port City Press, Inc.

Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 83-73278 lnternational Standard Book Number: 0-87169-159-0 US ISSN: 0065-9738

Lawrence Stone

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Introduction Among the Clarendon papers held by the Bodleian Library at Oxford and also in the Portland Manuscripts at W elbeck Abbey appear copies of a long and detailed letter of advice written to Charles II on the eve of the Restoration. U ntil the twentieth century the "Advice" was attributed to Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon and Lord Chancellor during the early years of Charles's reign. 1 In 1903, however, Arthur Strong found that the handwriting of the Welbeck copy was identical to other documents written by William Cavendish, Earl of Newcastle. 2 Other evidence corroborates the essential correctness of Strong's claim. 3 The letter was apparently written by Newcastle in late 1658 or early 1659 and presented to Charles during the spring of 1659. 4 Those f ew modern historians who cite the letter ha ve minimized its significance as a historical document. David Ogg, among others, dismissed the political importance of Newcastle's ad vice. "It is at least certain," wrote Ogg, "that the counsels of the dissertation had no influence on royal policy; for its ' Falconer Madon attributed the fair copy held by the Bodleian to Clarendon. Madon, ed., A Summary Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxftrrd . .. , 3 (Oxford, 1895): 567. 2 Arthur Strong, ed., A Catalogue of Letters and Other Hìstorical Documents Exhibited in the Library at Welbeck (London, 1903). Strong observed that three other items near the letter in the collection, one signed by Newcasùe, are written in the same hand. Those include, according to Strong, "notes in the handwriting of the (first) Duke of Newcastle for the book on Horsemanship which he published in London, in 1667" (Strong, p. 53); "A Note for Andrewe Clayton about my Building att Welbeck" (pp. !io-57) that was signed "W. Newcasùe;" and a "Book containing songs and sketches of plays in the handwritingofÙte D. ofNewcasùe" (p. 57). > Margaret, Duchess of Newcastle, in her Life of the Thrice Noble, High and Puissant l'rince, Wil/iam Cavendish, !Juke, Marquess, and Earl of Newcastle (London, 1667), rncn1ioned that her husband, "when he was in banishment, presumed out ofhis duty ;md love to his gracious master, our new sovereign king, Charles the second, to write ami scnd him a little book, or rather a letter, wherein he delivered his opinion con' 1·n1ing thc govcn1111cnl of his dominions, whensover God should be pleased to re•lotr him lo his lhrorw." 'William Ncwcislk, l\111w .. rp, lo Secretary Nicholas, 18 Aprii 1659, in C.H. FirÙt, ...i., rlu• I ,ifl'f1j W 1//u1m U ca1.1, lor 1woplC' loves not the Cudgell, though your mastenng ol Lon111111, is some what perspicuous, & Indeed ca_nnot hec .hclpc~l. 11 11 1 lor 1hc Reste, if your Majestie please to h~de yc~ur loffcs 111 vrntt porte-Townes, to have them ali well fortehcd. & ~