hing 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 French, English, 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 Catholick princes as he, should have drawn into it, having engaged
to afford and procure thirty thousand pounds a month; out of which the
foreign army was first to be provided for, and the remainder to be divided
among the other armies. And for this purpose had I power to treat with
the pope and Catholick princes with particular advantages promised to
Catholicks 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 treat and conclude
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."--Clarendon Papers, ii. 201, 202.

But his departure was delayed by Ormond's objections to the conditions of
peace; and the king, to relieve himself from the difficulty, proposed to
Herbert to proceed to Ireland, and grant privately to the Catholics those
concessions which the lord-lieutenant hesitated to make, on condition of
receiving in return an army of ten thousand men for the royal service. In
consequence, on the 27th of December, Charles announced to Ormond
that Herbert was going to Ireland under an engagement to further the
peace.--Carte, ii. App. p. 5.

1645, Januar