Rupert, some thought that he really had the right of conquest to nominate the governor; that the King's promise had been given; that as he desired the governorship for himself, he could not reasonably be refused; and that Sir Ralph Hopton could not regard it as any disrespect if the Prince himself should take the command to which he was now appointed; "that the

66

eyes of the army were upon his Highness, whose "name was grown a terror to the enemy, as his

courage and conduct had been very prosperous to the "King; and that if he should now receive a repulse in so "reasonable a pretence it might have an unhappy in"fluence upon his reputation and interest in the army, "which could receive no diminution without apparent "damage to his Majesty."

The partisans of each thought the other should give way; and whilst the friends of Lord Hertford hoped the King would "by counsel and precept reform and "soften the Prince's understanding and humour, and

indeed, had the Prince studied more to have removed this jealousy, or "the King more vigorously interposed therein, and been master of both parties, his arms had probably been much more prosperous than they were, but neither of them stood in awe of him, and so the consequence was fatal."-Warwick's Memoirs,' pp. 249, 250.

The impression made by their conduct on the Parliament party is pretty strongly exhibited by the following proposition in the treaty of Uxbridge :"That your Majesty will give your Royal assent to such ways and means "L as the Parliament of both kingdoms shall think fitting for the uniting of "the Protestant Princes and for the entire restitution and re-establish"ment of Charles Lodwick, Prince Elector Palatine, his heirs and successors, to his Electoral dignity, rights, and dominions, provided that "this extend not to Prince Rupert or Prince Maurice, or the children of "either of them, who have been the instruments of so much bloodshed " and mischief against both kingdoms."-Rushworth, vol. v. p. 800. Hist. of the Rebellion, vol. iv. pp. 165-6.

66

66

"thus persuade him in compliance with his service to "decline the contest, and suffer the Marquis to proceed "in his disposition, which on all parts was acknowledged to be most fitly designed," the friends of Prince Rupert expected some means should be used "to the Marquis to waive his title, and to consent that "the Prince should enjoy his desires." The King resolved to go immediately to Bristol and settle in person a difference which might prove so important in its consequences to his service. There were other reasons which rendered his presence desirable at Bristol; but," says Lord Clarendon, Lord Clarendon, "there was nothing more 'disposed his Majesty to that resolution than to be "absent from his Council at Oxford when he should "settle the differences between the Princes and the Marquis; for as he was always swayed by his affec"tion to his nephews, which he did not think partiality, so the Lords, towards whom the Princes did "not live with any condescension, were very solicitous "that the Marquis might receive no injustice or disobligation. And the King, to avoid all counsel in "this particular, resolved to declare no resolution till " he should come himself to Bristol, and so went from "Oxford thither."

66

66

66

But though the King had not publicly declared his resolution, it is clear by the following letter addressed to Prince Rupert on the 28th of July, two days only

'Life of Lord Clarendon, vol. i. p. 162. He was only accompanied by the Duke of Richmond, the Lord Falkland, Sir J. Culpepper (Master of the Rolls), and Sir Edward Hyde (Chancellor of the Exchequer).—See Life of Lord Falkland, vol. i. p. 156.

after the surrender of Bristol, that no time was lost by him in admitting the superiority of his nephew's claims over those of Lord Hertford by the hasty recall of the latter:

Nephew,

know

"Oxford, July 28, 1643. I did not write to you yesternight, because I employed that time in doing that which I thought more necessary, to wit, recalling of the Marquis Hertford about my necessary affairs, and commanding your brother to stay with that army; for I you do not expect compliments from me, yet I must not be so forgetful as, now that I have time, not only to congratulate with you for this last happy success of the taking of Bristol, but to acknowlege the chief thanks thereof to belong to you, which, I assure you, adds to my contentment. That which I desire you to remember is, first, to settle the contributions and other ways for raising of moneys; then to take care to have a good account of all the arms and ammunition, but especially the powder; and, lastly, to settle some way for the recruiting both of my horse and foot.

Your most loving uncle and faithful friend,

"CHARLES R."

The King's journey to Bristol seems to have forestalled the return of Lord Hertford to Oxford, and on his arrival there he declared the plan which he had devised to compose the differences between Lord Hertford and his nephews, and by which he thought both parties would be appeased. Prince Rupert was to be gratified "with the name, and the Marquis by making "Sir Ralph Hopton enjoy the thing." Sir Ralph

Eliot Warburton's 'Memoirs of Prince Rupert and the Cavaliers,' vol. ii. p. 268.

"Hist. of the Rebellion, vol. iv. p. 166.

Hopton was treated with marked respect by the King, and to the Marquis "he used all kind and obliging expressions." He spoke to him in private, and asked his consent to fulfil the promise he had made to his nephew; "a promise which he said he had passed "before he had any imagination that his Lordship "otherwise had determined of it ;" and no other claim was put forward in favour of Prince Rupert but the fulfilment of the King's own promise. Lord Hertford was silenced by the strong expression of the King's wishes, though but little convinced of the justice of his decision. Prince Rupert was announced Governor of Bristol, and immediately upon his appointment he sent a commission to Sir Ralph Hopton to be his Lieutenant-Governor; at the same time he conveyed to him. by a confidential friend the assurance "that, though he was now engaged for some time, which should not be long, to keep the superior title himself, he would not "at all meddle in the government, but that he should "be as absolute in it as if the original commission had "been granted to him.'

66

It was matter of great regret to Sir Ralph Hopton that his name should have been brought forward on this occasion and should have become the subject of serious difference and misunderstanding between those whose united service was of great public importance; and however plausible the King's plan of reconciling conflicting claims might appear to some, Sir Ralph Hopton saw at once the embarrassing position in which he was placed by the Prince's offer. He felt that 'Hist. of the Rebellion, vol. iv. p. 167.

2 Ibid.

Ibid.

Lord Hertford's friends, and probably Lord Hertford also, would expect him to refuse the commission offered by the Prince, both as being inferior to what the Marquis had already conferred on him, and as seeming by acceptance to join in the slight that had been just put upon his friend. He found there were some who would be ready to so misconstrue his conduct as to treat his acceptance as an act of retaliation for offences supposed to have been given the preceding year, and to believe that he was influenced by angry recollections— first, of Lord Hertford's having retired into Wales instead of proceeding with the remains of the western army into Cornwall; and again, for the more recent offence of bringing new officers to command the army over their heads who had raised it." Sir Ralph Hopton well knew that in neither case had offence been given by Lord Hertford; he knew that in the division of their forces Lord Hertford had acted not only with his full concurrence, but by his own advice; and however galling to the feelings of himself and his army might have been the appointment of new officers over those already in command, he rightly attributed that error to the influence of Prince Maurice, and did full justice to the kindness and esteem with which Lord Hertford had ever treated him, and he returned his friendship by a fast and unshaken devotion.

66

It is highly probable that, had Sir Ralph Hopton been guided only by the feelings which were most consonant with his generous and disinterested character, he would

Hist. of the Rebellion, vol. iv. p. 168.