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he should so distress France, as to obtain such conditions for them and for England, as Cromwell himself should dictate. Upon this offer Cromwell sent Stoupe round all France, to talk with their most eminent men, to see into their strength, into their present disposition, the oppressions they lay under, and their inclinations to trust the prince of Conde. He went from Paris down the Loire, then to Bourdeaux, from thence to Montauban, and cross the south of France to Lions: he was instructed to talk to them only as a traveller, and to assure them of Cromwell's zeal and care for them, which he magnified every where. The protestants were then very much at their ease: for Mazarin, who thought of nothing but to enrich his family, took care to maintain the edicts better than they had been in any time formerly. So Stoupe returned, and gave Cromwell an account of the ease they were then in, and of their resolution to be quiet. They had a very bad opinion of the prince of Conde, [as an impious and immoral man,] as a man who sought nothing but his own greatness, to which they believed that he was ready to sacrifice all his friends, and every cause that he espoused. This settled Cromwell as to that particular. He also found that the cardinal 73 had such spies on that prince, that he knew every message that had passed between them: therefore he would have no farther correspondence with him: he said upon that to Stoupe, Stultus est, et garrulus, et venditur a suis cardinali. That which determined him afterwards in the choice was this: he found the parties grew so strong against him at home, that he saw if the king or his brother were assisted by France with an army of Huguenots to

make a descent in England, which was threatened if he should join with Spain, this might prove very dangerous to him, who had so many enemies at home, and so few friends. This particular consideration, with relation to himself, made great impression on him; for he knew the Spaniards could give those princes no strength, nor had they any protestant subjects to assist them in any such design. Upon this occasion king James told me, that among other prejudices he had at the protestant religion this was one, that both his brother and himself, being in many companies in Paris incognito, where they met many protestants, he found they were all alienated from them, and were great admirers of Cromwell: so he believed they were all rebels in their heart. I answered, that foreigners were no other way concerned in the quarrels of their neighbours, than to see who could or would assist them: the coldness they had seen formerly in the court of England with relation to them, and the zeal which was then expressed, must naturally make them depend on one that seemed resolved to protect them. As the negotiation went on between France and England, Cromwell would have the king and his brother dismissed the kingdom. Mazarin consented to this; for he thought it more honourable, that the French king should send them away of his own accord, than that it should be done pursuant to an article with Cromwell. Great excuses were made for doing it: they had some money given them, and were sent away loaded with promises of constant supplies that were never meant to be performed: and they retired to Colen; for the Spaniards were not yet out of hope of gaining Cromwell. But when that vanished,

The king turned pa

pist.

they invited them to Bruxells, and they settled great appointments on them; in their way, which was always to promise much, how little soever they could perform. They also settled a pay for such of the subjects of the three kingdoms as would come and serve under our princes: but few came, except from Ireland: of these some regiments were formed. But though this gave them a great and lasting interest in our court, especially in king James's, yet they did not much to deserve it.

Before king Charles left Paris he changed his religion, but by whose persuasion is not yet known : 74 only cardinal de Retz was in the secret, and lord Aubigny had a great hand in it. It was kept a great secret. Chancellor Hide had some suspicion of it, but would never suffer himself to believe it quitem. Soon after the restoration, that cardinal came over in disguise, and had an audience of the king: what passed is not known. The first ground I had to believe it was this: the marquis de Roucy, who was the man of the greatest family in France that continued protestant to the last, was much pressed by that cardinal to change his religion: he was his kinsman, and his particular friend. Among other reasons one that he urged was, that the protestant religion must certainly be ruined, and that they could expect no protection from England, for to his certain knowledge both the princes were already changed. Roucy told this in great confidence to his minister, who after his death sent an advertisement of it to my self. Sir Allen Broderick, a great confident of the chancellor's, who, from being very

m See his vindication in the State Trials, vol. viii. p. 386. O.

atheistical became in the last years of his life an eminent penitent, as he was a man of great parts, with whom I had lived long in great confidence, on his deathbed sent me likewise an account of this matter, which he believed was done in Fontainebleau, before king Charles was sent to Colen. As for king James, it seems he was not reconciled at that time: for he told me, that being in a monastery in Flanders, a nun desired him to pray every day, that if he was not in the right way, God would bring him into it and he said, the impression these words made on him never left him till he changed.

Indies.

To return to Cromwell: while he was balancing in his mind what was fit for him to do, Gage, who had been a priest, came over from the West Indies, and gave him such an account of the feebleness, as well as of the wealth of the Spaniards in those parts, as made him conclude that it would be both a great Cromwell's design on and an easy conquest to seize on their dominions. the West By this he reckoned he would be supplied with such a treasure, that his government would be established before he should need to have any recourse to a parliament for money. Spain would never admit of a peace with England between the tropics: so he was in a state of war with them as to those parts, even before he declared war in Europe. He upon that equipped a fleet with a force sufficient, as he hoped, to have seized Hispaniola and Cuba. And Gage had assured him, that success in that expedition would make all the rest fall into his hands. Stoupe, being on another occasion called to his closet, saw him one day very intent in looking on a map, and in measuring distances. Stoupe saw it was a map of the bay of Mexico, and observed who printed it.

And when the

75 So, there being no discourse upon that subject, Stoupe went next day to the printer to buy the map. The printer denied he had printed it. Stoupe affirmed he had seen it. Then, he said, it must be only in Cromwell's hand; for he only had some of the prints, and had given him a strict charge to sell none, till he had leave given him. So Stoupe perceived there was a design that way. time of setting out the fleet came on, all were in a gaze whither it was to go: some fancied it was to rob the church of Loretto, which did occasion a fortification to be drawn round it: others talked of Rome itself; for Cromwell's preachers had this, often in their mouths, that if it were not for the divisions at home, he would go and sack Babylon: others talked of Cadiz, though he had not yet broke with the Spaniards. The French could not penetrate into the secret. Cromwell had not finished his alliance with them: so he was not bound to give them an account of the expedition. All he said upon it was, that he sent out the fleet to guard the seas, and to restore England to its dominion on that element. Stoupe happened to say in a company, he believed the design was on the West Indies. The Spanish ambassador, hearing that, sent for him very privately, to ask him upon what ground he said it : and he offered to lay down 10,000l. if he could make any discovery of that. Stoupe owned to me he had a great mind to the money; and fancied he betrayed nothing, if he did discover the grounds of these conjectures, since nothing had been trusted to him but he expected greater matters from Cromwell, and so kept the secret; and said only, that in a diversity of conjectures, that seemed to him more

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