“For his Majesty’s better information, through your favour, and by the channel of your Lordship’s understanding things rightly, give me leave to acquaint you with one chief key, wherewith to open the secret passages between his late Majesty and myself, in order to his service; which was no other than a real exposing of myself to any expense or difficulty, rather than his just design should not take place; or, in taking effect, that his honour should suffer. An effect, you may justly say, relishing more of a passionate and blind affection to his Majesty’s service, than of discretion and care of myself. This made me take a resolution that he should have seemed angry with me at my return out of Ireland, until I had brought him into a posture and power to own his commands, to make good his instructions, and to reward my faithfulness and zeal therein. “Your Lordship may well wonder, and the King too, at the amplitude of my commission. But when you have understood the height of his Majesty’s design you will soon be satisfied that nothing less could have made me capable to effect it; being that one army of ten thousand men was to have come out of Ireland through North Wales; another, of a like number at least, under my command-in-chief, have expected my return in South Wales, which Sir Henry Gage was to have commanded as Lieutenant-General; and a third should have consisted of a matter of six thousand men, two thousand of which were to have been Liegois, commanded by Sir Francis Edmonds, two thousand Lorrainers to have been commanded by Colonel Browne, and two thousand of such English, French, Scots, and Irish as could be drawn out of Flanders and Holland. And the six thousand were to have been, by the Prince of Orange’s assistance, in the associated counties; and the Governor of Lyne, cousin-german to Major Bacon, major of my own regiment, was to have delivered the town unto them. “The maintenance of this army of foreigners was to have come from the Pope and such Catholic Princes as he should draw into it, having engaged to afford and procure £30,000 a month; out of which the foreign army was first to be provided for; and the remainder to be divided among other armies. And for this purpose had I power to treat with the Pope and Catholic Princes, with particular advantages promised to Catholics, for the quiet enjoying their religion, without the penalties which the statutes in force had power to inflict upon them. And my instructions for this purpose, and my powers to conclude and treat thereupon, were signed by the King under his pocket signet, with blanks for me to put in the names of Pope or Princes, to the end the King might have a starting hole to deny the having given me such commissions, if excepted against by his own subjects; leaving me as it were at stake, who for his Majesty’s sake was willing to undergo it, trusting to his word alone.