Free King Charles II by Antonia Fraser Page B

there would always be the danger of others during the years of exile toying with the same fantasy.Rumours of Charles’ illness and death always brought the provident and the toadies scurrying to James’ side. It was sad but inevitable that Charles’ new relationship with his brother had to be built upon suspicion as well as affection.
    The fleet, which had arrived ‘full of anger, hatred and disdain’, was restored to discipline. 11 Lord Willoughby of Parham, who had the advantage of being a Presbyterian, was made Vice-Admiral. It was now time to resume the original plan of sailing for Scotland. Money and supplies continued to present difficulties and the Dutch were not in a particularly generous mood. Nevertheless, on 17 July Charles set sail and by 24 July the fleet was off Yarmouth.
    Meanwhile, matters had already progressed in the north. Hamilton had actually crossed the border on 8 July. The Covenanters however did not join him and remained in Scotland, like so many Achilles sulking in their tents. In the absence of the Prince of Wales, gleeful Parliamentary propaganda put exactly that xenophobic construction upon the expedition which the wiser Royalists dreaded. The Parliamentary newspaper Mercurius Britannicus was able to write disdainfully of the Scots bringing ‘their lice and Presbytery amongst us’. 12 Mere words of scorn might not have harmed the royal cause overmuch: the trouble was that northern Royalists, acting on the same anti-Scottish principle, simply did not join in with the so-called Scottish army of liberation as had been expected. The Scottish army’s reputation for plunder, as it zig-zagged uneasily south, completed the disastrous picture. Rumours that the Scots would be rewarded with good English lands for their efforts were readily believed.
    In the south, Charles, at the head of his newly acquired fleet, showed resolution and courage. It was born of a surge of new Royalist optimism, since he was in no position to appreciate how disastrously the northern situation was deteriorating. He tried first to save Colchester, which was being besieged by Fairfax. Then he sailed for the Downs, seizing a number of merchant ships on the way and exacting a useful ransom of £20,000 from the Common Council. Next he set up a blockade at the mouth of the Thames, penning in the Earl of Warwick and the rest of the Parliamentary fleet. Here another importantship absconded to his side; now in command of a fleet of eleven ships, carrying a total of nearly three hundred guns, Charles felt sufficiently confident to write to the House of Lords on behalf of his father.
    It was certainly in Charles’ mind that he might soon be in a position to rescue the King, still in his Isle of Wight fastness, if this naval superiority was maintained.
    At this point the Scots reminded Charles strongly of their prior strategic claims. On 10 August an emissary from the Committee of the Estates, in the shape of the Earl of Lauderdale, arrived in order to persuade Charles to fulfil his promise and join them. Yet, even at this stage, both sides continued to argue out the points of dispute – mainly religious – between them. The Prince was informed in unvarnished terms that certain members of his train, such as Prince Rupert, the Marquess of Montrose and Lord Digby, would not be welcome among the Scots. And there was no question of the Prince being accompanied by his own Anglican (non-Covenanting) chaplains. The Prince must also promise to use the Presbyterian form of service.
    It is true that the Prince and Lauderdale did establish a good personal relationship. This Lauderdale, a man of thirty, must be distinguished from the infinitely grosser and less attractive post-Restoration statesman he subsequently became. He was odd-looking, with a mass of uncouth red hair hanging down on either side of his face, but he was acute and quick-witted, despite his barbaric appearance. Nevertheless, for all his Caliban quality, Lauderdale would go