." 40, pp. 8.]

The contents of the letter are his offer of grace to all that will come in
within forty days, only excepting them that the Parliament shall hereafter
except. That the sales of lands during these troubles, and all other
things, shall be left to the Parliament, by which he will stand. The
letter dated at Breda, April, 4 1660, in the 12th year of his reign. Upon
the receipt of it this morning by an express, Mr. Phillips, one of the
messengers of the Council from General Monk, my Lord summoned a council of
war, and in the mean time did dictate to me how he would have the vote
ordered which he would have pass this council. Which done, the Commanders
all came on board, and the council sat in the coach (the first council of
war that had been in my time), where I read the letter and declaration;
and while they were discoursing upon it, I seemed to draw up a vote, which
being offered, they passed. Not one man seemed to say no to it, though I
am confident many in their hearts were against it. After this was done, I
went up to the quarter-deck with my Lord and the Commanders, and there
read both the papers and the vote; which done, and demanding their
opinion, the seamen did all of them cry out, "God bless King Charles!"
with the greatest joy imaginable. That being done, Sir R. Stayner, who
had invited us yesterday, took all the Commanders and myself on board him
to dinner, which not being ready, I went with Captain Hayward to the
Plimouth and Essex, and did what I had to do there and returned, where
very merry at dinner. After dinner, to the rest of the ships (staid at
the Assistance to hear the harper a good while) quite through the fleet.
Which was a very brave sight to visit all the ships, and to be received
with the respect and honour that I was on board them all; and much more to
see the great joy that I brought to all men; not one through the whole
fleet showing the least dislike of the business. In the evening as I was
going on board the Vice-Admiral, the General began to fire his guns, which
he did all that he had in the ship, and so did all the rest of the
Commanders, which was very gallant, and to hear the bullets go hissing
over our heads as we were in the boat. This done and finished my
Proclamation, I returned to the Nazeby, where my Lord was much pleased to
hear how all the fleet took it in a transport of joy, showed me a private
letter of the King's to him, and another from the Duke of York in