“And to the second part of your Excellency’s letter, give me leave to thank you for your tenderness in not accepting the £2500 from me; but also your Excellency may know, that it is upon a reliance thereon, that the Council offered you the £3000, and for the performance thereof I am enforced to this journey, without which against the prefixed time I could not have supplied them with the money. Now to the latter part of your letter, wherein you promise I should at large hear farther from you, as upon Friday last; but yet have received no other your commands, which I expected, before I thought it necessary to answer yours of the 24th of March. But receiving no other your directions, I think it opportune to let your Excellency know, that, of three vessels which I sent for a convoy unto the Prince, Sir Nicholas Crispe, and Mr. Hasendanke, the merchant, I have but one return, Captain Allen being taken and stript. And I hear a packet of your Excellency’s, as well as letters, thrown overboard without weight, were taken up; which I look for shortly to have in print.[B] “By the sole return which came unto me, I received notice from the Prince and those about him, in how ill a condition he was enforced to retire into the Isle of Scilly, where he now is; and made use of Hasendanke’s frigates to transport himself, whereby I was not only disappointed of what I hoped for by the Prince, but also of his. “Sir Nicholas Crispe indeed offers to send me three, but they were not then with him, and he desires a return from me first, so that only my Lord of Antrim’s frigates are come; and a ship with 18 pieces of ordnance, which is hourly expected, and bought by me at Galway. Two Hollanders there are likewise at Waterford, and two frigates likewise of Captain Antonio’s, and the Spanish agents, which carry ordnance. These are all of force, and truly I conceive, might, for so short a cut, be a sufficient convoy, were not Chester taken, the Prince in so bad a condition, and some defeat of my brother’s forces in Glamorganshire spoken of. But upon these considerations, how hazardous it will be to send away a part of the army only. I humbly offer to your Excellency, not speaking anything of a great disheartening and discouragement some take at a pretended declaration of his Majesty against me, though I myself value it so little, as that, could I, without shortening much more advantage to his Majesty’s service, go myself in person with 6000 men, I should no ways boggle thereat. And as it now stands, to give testimony that my zeal is not lessened to his service, and that you may have further assurance of my care to your person, I make this offer, that if you please to join, and together with the Supreme Council assure me, that against my return I may have 10,000 men in readiness for his Majesty’s service, I will immediately go and bring back with me twenty sail of good shipping at the least, well furnished for men of war; £40,000 ready money; 10,000