Wednesday 2 May 1660

In the morning at a breakfast of radishes at the Purser’s cabin. After that to writing till dinner. At which time comes Dunne from London, with letters that tell us the welcome news of the Parliament’s votes yesterday, which will be remembered for the happiest May-day that hath been many a year to England. The King’s letter was read in the House, wherein he submits himself and all things to them, as to an Act of Oblivion to all,¹ unless they shall please to except any, as to the confirming of the sales of the King’s and Church lands, if they see good. The House upon reading the letter, ordered 50,000l. to be forthwith provided to send to His Majesty for his present supply; and a committee chosen to return an answer of thanks to His Majesty for his gracious letter; and that the letter be kept among the records of the Parliament; and in all this not so much as one No. So that Luke Robinson himself stood up and made a recantation for what he had done, and promises to be a loyal subject to his Prince for the time to come. The City of London have put a Declaration, wherein they do disclaim their owing any other government but that of a King, Lords, and Commons. Thanks was given by the House to Sir John Greenville, one of the bedchamber to the King, who brought the letter, and they continued bare all the time it was reading. Upon notice made from the Lords to the Commons, of their desire that the Commons would join with them in their vote for King, Lords, and Commons; the Commons did concur and voted that all books whatever that are out against the Government of King, Lords, and Commons, should be brought into the House and burned. Great joy all yesterday at London, and at night more bonfires than ever, and ringing of bells, and drinking of the King’s health upon their knees in the streets, which methinks is a little too much. But every body seems to be very joyfull in the business, insomuch that our sea- commanders now begin to say so too, which a week ago they would not do.² And our seamen, as many as had money or credit for drink, did do nothing else this evening. This day came Mr. North (Sir Dudley North’s son) on board, to spend a little time here, which my Lord was a little troubled at, but he seems to be a fine gentleman, and at night did play his part exceeding well at first sight. After musique I went up to the Captain’s Cabin with him and Lieutenant Ferrers, who came hither to-day from London to bring this news to my Lord, and after a bottle of wine we all to bed.

“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 tranquillity 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 venues, as well Royal as Christian, wherewith a great Prince may be endowed, than was found in those two wonderful productions.”—Sir William Lowers ‘Relation … of the voiage and Residence Which … Charles the II. Hath made in Holland,’ Hague, 1660, folio, p. 3.
“The picture of King Charles II. was often set up in houses, without the least molestation, whereas a while ago, it was almost a hanging matter so to do; but now the Rump Parliament was so hated and jeered at, that the butchers’ boys would say, ‘Will you buy any Parliament rumps and kidneys?’ And it was a very ordinary thing to see little children make a fire in the streets, and burn rumps.” —Rugge’s Diurnal.—B.

Thursday 3 May 1660Tuesday 1 May 1660

Also on this day

Temperature: 11°C / 52°F

(Average for May 1660)

In Parliament

House of Commons
House of Lords

In Earls Colne, Essex

Diary of Ralph Josselin

(About this data)

Annotations

N WKW on Fri 2 May 2003, 11:12pm

“In the morning at a breakfast of radishes”: vegetables at last. Perhaps the morning draught helped wash them down.
The whole question of fresh produce has been fruitfully surveyed on this “Food and Drink” Background Page:

http://www.pepysdiary.com/p/397.php
N Paul Brewster on Sat 3 May 2003, 12:03am

L&M’s title for the City of London’s Declaration
“A declaration and and vindication of the Lord Mayor, alderman and commons of the city of London in common-councell assembled”
N vk on Sat 3 May 2003, 12:40am

Note that the Declaration of Breda and the letter to the Commons are two separate documents. I quoted part of the letter (which is not available on-line) in the April 4 entry, and mentioned that there were actually several letters sent - I think Montague has one.

Also note that, as I pointed out before, the Declaration of Breda was just a parroting-back of the conditions Monck asked for.

One of the big issues at the moment is: who exactly is going to be executed once the King is restored? All of the regicides? Just the more prominent ones? Propagandists for the regicides (among the most notable of whom is poet John Milton)? The King conspicuously fails to answer that question, and that’s going to be something Parliament wrestles with in a couple of weeks.
N Jenny Doughty on Sat 3 May 2003, 04:27am

‘and they continued bare all the time it was reading’ - One hopes it was just their heads that were bare…
N vincent on Sat 3 May 2003, 04:59am

”..And our seamen, as many as had money or credit for drink,.. “
Money problems>> Oh well..
N Larry Bunce on Sat 3 May 2003, 06:19am

“The City of London have put a Declaration” I see that Pepys is using the modern British practice of using plural verbs with institutions. At times he uses expressions still used in the southern U.S., such as ‘carrying’ someone someplace, where we would say ‘taking’ today. Was this usage common in England and America in the 1600’s, or is the shorthand symbol involved the same for any form of ‘to have,’ so that the spelling is the editor’s?
N Emilio on Sat 3 May 2003, 11:23am

“which methinks is a little too much”
I think our Sam can only say this since he’s been in the center of events and has been getting strong hints for weeks now. Perhaps all the hubbub is beginning to seem a bit undignified as well, now that he’s among the powerful and in his finest clothes.
The intoxication of it all (the clothes as well as the beer) is probably also why he hasn’t mentioned Elizabeth in a while, which Ann noted yesterday.
N Glyn on Sat 3 May 2003, 03:28pm

which methinks is a little too much

I think it’s more that it seems undignified for people to do this. At this point in time, the English (especially the Londoners) had a bad reputation with the French and the rest of continental Europe for being amazingly disrespectful to their “social superiors”. Probably because in France you could be executed for arguing with your “betters”, not just King Louis but with noblemen as well. But here, a Londoner was more likely to throw a brick at someone he disliked rather than fawn upon him.

So for someone to get down on their knees to drink a toast, seems to Pepys to be theatrical and unnatural. (He may change his mind in later years, I don’t know.)
N Hhomeboy on Sat 3 May 2003, 03:48pm

re: VK’s post…

Much mention has been made of Monck’s demands forming the backbone of the Breda proclamation…and no doubt the King had been acquiescing to many of Monck’s suggestions (eg. Monck’s secret warning letter to the King to leave Spanish controlled territory before initiating the final, formal stages of restoration negotiations).

Although Grenville has received credit as the key emissary who facilitated bringing Montagu and others onside, it would be remiss not to to give all due credit to Charles II ‘s closest advisor, most able loyalist and strategist—Edward Hyde, soon to be elevated as Clarendon.

Both the letter to Parliament (florid flattery) and the Breda document reflect Hyde’s own beliefs in mediation and true moderation.

Monck was a blunt instrument and expected huge paybacks…his manipulation of council and blatant election fixing resulted in an ugly Cavalier majority in parliament, which, true to form, became cavalier in adhering to the spirit and subtsance of Breda—starting with the regicide revenge motif…unfortunately, as we shall see, the able Hyde—who, unlike Monck, had the brains and the breeding of a true statesman but alas not the political cunning— became the Cavaliers’ whipping boy and eventually Cahrles’ convenient scapegoat.

BTW, Hyde also authored the authoritative contemporary account of the Civil War(s)…had Sam been a bit older and his diary had commenced during what was the first decade of his life, putative online annotators would have had to cite Hyde’s lengthy history/memoirs on frequent occasions…I find Chris Hill’s work, Milton’s prose and Hyde’s history to be the three most authoritative interpretative tools in understanding the miltary/political strife and intellectual/social upheaval which preceded the Stuart counter-reformation.

Here’s a succinct biographical info. page on Hyde from the Columbia encyclopaedia:

www.bartleby.com/65/cl/ClarendoE.html
N vk on Sat 3 May 2003, 04:57pm

Hhomeboy, I don’t have the text of Grenville’s message from Monck to compare to the Declaration, but according to a footnote in a John Morrill article, R. Hutton has demonstrated (on pages 106-9 of The Restoration) that the Declaration simply repeats what the Grenville message has asked for.

Hyde did believe in moderation, and he did help draft Breda, but that alone does not demonstrate that it embodies his own ideas. If you’ve got a copy of Clarendon (I do not), you can cite it and see what he says about the events of early April.

According to Morrill, Breda is going to become irrelevant anyway, since Parliament is going to make the King’s return pretty much unconditional. (But that’s getting a week ahead of our story.)
N Hhomeboy on Sat 3 May 2003, 07:52pm

Hyde…

I sold my mint condition first-state deluxe Hyde civil war set (History of the Rebellion, standard ed., 6 vol., 1888) several yrs ago at auction when antiquarian prices were sky-high…and am now looking for an intact, reasonably priced reading-set…

Please be advised that Hyde’s memoirs (1857) are distinct from his 6 volume history.

Hyde’s stamp is all over the Breda document, which formulates a statesman-like delicate balance. My own untutored opinion of the letter to parliament is that it is a subversive political tool designed to temporarily blunt, mollify, flatter and assuage various parliamentary factions and the military rank and file—thereby encouraging/promoting populist goodwill—and to undermine sundry republican voices, Stuart sceptics (of which there were still legions) and religious/regional forces and parties…under the rubric of ” peace, order and good gov’t “by ‘graciously’ proffering the prospect of ‘saintly’ forgiveness and magisterial leniency to those INDIVIDUALS who retract and repent (re: ‘treason’, disloyalty, dissent, regicide).

My view is that Hyde had long promulgated such heartfelt assurances of religious and political tolerance but was not responsible for the text of the letters, which are palpably insincere.

…moreover, the letters were quite successful in promoting reciprocal excesses of insincerity—eg.’laid-on’ expressions of fealty—both en masse (hence the incongruous kneeling outbreaks all over the restored Maypole celebrations, as chronicled by a dismayed Pepys, who must have been reflecting his Lord’s vocal disdain) and on the part of erstwhile plotters antagonistic to unfettered Royal privileges: eg. Manchester’s fulsome public grovels.
N TLD on Sun 4 May 2003, 12:54am

“…peace, order and good government.”

Was keyed by Hhomeboy’s annotation today on today’s letter to the Commons which linked to Hyde with the phrase, “peace, order and good government.” While a citizen in good standing of the former colonies futher south (sorry for the spoiler), I did at one point in my schooling take a class on regional political affairs from a Canadian Military officer who went over a comparison and contrast of the Canadian Consitution and the more enthusiastic constitution we use down here. Did some backchecking and see that the Canadian Consitution, Article 91 does indeed include the same phrase, “peace, order and good government.” Not that should be a surprise to Canadians as it appears to be a basic school level civics learning objective for them.

All this makes me curious. Does this all relate somehow to the changes we’re watching unfolding with our Sam today. Would assume it does. Do other Common Wealth members use similar expresssions of government control in their Consitutional philosophy?
N Hhomeboy on Sun 4 May 2003, 07:08pm

‘Peace, order and good gov’t…

Unlike the U.S. (‘melting pot’) credo of ‘E pluribus unum’ (Out of many, one)…the British North America Act’s foundation phrase “POAGG” (not to be confused with ‘The Pogues’ or the Br. Navy’s ‘Rum, Sodomy and the lash’) is a seminal concept of the Victorian era British empire.

It was certainly used in Australia circa 1834 and became the governing principle of British colonialism and 19th & 20th century neo-colonialism and post-colonial ‘British’ territories and emerging states. You will find it in constitutional and legislative acts from Nigeria to Belize….so it’s not a ‘Canadian’ construct but rather a totemic phrase for the export and inculcation of British parliamentary concepts and values.

If anyone can trace its first-use (or authorship) in British parliamentary history, I would be much obliged.

N.B. I doubt the phrase had been conceived or coined in Clarendon’s era but may have been used prior to the American revolution a century hence…then again, maybe it was used in the heyday of the Roman Empire.
N vicente on Sat 29 May 2004, 06:04am

Parliaments: Letter and Declaration from the King. [to read in full at this site]
The House being informed, “That there was a Gentleman, Sir John Greenvill, in the Lobby, and had a Letter to deliver to this House from the King:”
The House thereupon was adjourned during Pleasure; and the Speaker was appointed to go to the Lower End of this House, and receive it at the Hands of the Messenger.
The House being resumed;
The Speaker reported, “That Sir John Greenvill delivered to him a Letter, which he said he received from the King his Master, to deliver to the House of Peers.”
The House commanded the said Letter, with a Declaration inclosed therein, to be read Twice; which was accordingly done, as follows; videlicet,
The real guts….the piece that made it possible…
“…..And We do further Declare, That We will be ready to consent to any Act or Acts of Parliament to the Purposes asoresaid, and for the full Satisfaction of all Arrears due to the Officers and Soldiers of the Army under the Command of General Monck; and that they shall be received into Our Service upon as good Pay and Conditions as they now enjoy…..”

From: British History Online
Source: House of Lords Journal Volume 11: 1 May 1660. House of Lords Journal Volume 11, ().
URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=13940#s7
Date: 29/05/2004
N cgs on Mon 17 Dec 2007, 08:41pm

‘uman knees? this time
“…and drinking of the King’s health upon their knees in the streets, which methinks is a little too much…”