_THE
JOURNAL OF JOACHIM HANE_
_CONTAINING HIS ESCAPES AND SUFFERINGS
DURING HIS EMPLOYMENT BY OLIVER
CROMWELL IN FRANCE FROM
NOVEMBER 1653 TO
FEBRUARY 1654_
_EDITED FROM THE MANUSCRIPT IN
THE LIBRARY OF WORCESTER COLLEGE, OXFORD_
_BY C. H. FIRTH, M.A._
_OXFORD_
_B. H. BLACKWELL, 50 & 51 BROAD STREET_
_LONDON_
_T. FISHER UNWIN, PATERNOSTER SQUARE_
_M DCCC XCVI_
OXFORD: HORACE HART
PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY
INTRODUCTION
Joachim Hane, the author of the following journal and the hero of the
adventures recorded in it, was a German engineer in the service of the
Commonwealth. During the Civil War there were many foreign soldiers in
the armies both of the King and the Parliament. Readers of Carlyle's
_Cromwell_ will remember 'Dutch Dalbier,' from whom, according to
Carlyle, 'Cromwell first of all learned the mechanical part of
soldiering'--a soldier who first served the Parliament but met his death
at St. Neots in 1648 while heading a royalist rising against it. Another
Dutchman in the Parliament's service was Vandruske, who like Dalbier
went over to the royalist cause, and ended by seeking his fortune in the
service of the Czar. A third of these foreign adventurers was Sir
Bernard Gascoyne, or Bernardino Guasconi, a Florentine, condemned to
death with Lucas and Lisle at Colchester, but spared to be rewarded by
Charles II and to be employed by him as English envoy at Vienna. There
were many others of less note in the two armies, but it was not merely
as fighting men that the services of foreign soldiers were desired and
valued. What made officers bred abroad necessary to both parties was
their knowledge of the scientific side of warfare, a subject of which
home-made royalist and parliamentary colonels knew little or nothing.
Each party found these scientifically trained soldiers indispensable as
engineers and commanders of artillery. When the king first established
his headquarters at Oxford, and proceeded to fortify the town, he
appears to have had no qualified engineer in his army. According to Wood
the first fortifications about the city 'were mostly contrived by one
Richard Rallingson, Bachelor of Arts of Queen's College,' who was
rewarded by Charles with promotion to the rank of M.A. Such amateur
engineers might be employed at a pinch, but the chief engineer in the
service of Charles I was Sir Bernard de Gomme, another Dutchman, whose
career is excellently sketched by Mr. Gordon Goodwin in the _Dictionary
of National Biography_. The plans of the castle at Liverpool and the
citadel he designed for Dublin, with his diagrams of the battles of
Newbury and Marston Moor, are now in the British Museum.
Dutch and German engineers also abounded on the parliamentary side. One
of the best known is Lieutenant-Colonel John Rosworm, who fortified
Manchester for the Parliament, helped to capture Liverpool Castle, and
wrote a narrative called _Good Service hitherto ill-rewarded_, setting
forth his difficulties in obtaining his pay. In Essex's army Philibert
Emmanuel du Boys held the post of Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance,
whilst in the New Model Peter Manteau Van Dalem was Engineer-General.
The names of Cornelius and Chrystoph Van Bemmell appear in the
Parliamentary Army Lists in 1648, and in 1649 Joachim Hane begins to be
mentioned.
Fortunately, the English portion of Hane's career can be traced with
tolerable fullness. He was born at Frankfort on the Oder, and was
therefore by birth a subject of the Elector of Brandenburg. In his army,
or in some other foreign army, Hane obtained his military education.
Probably he was one of the many soldiers cast adrift by the disbanding
which followed the peace of Westphalia, and obliged thereby to seek
employment outside Germany. He appeared in England first in 1649, and
was employed by the Council of State to report on the fortifications of
Weymouth with a view to the building of a citadel there. He was also
sent to Yarmouth to consult with the governor and the officers of the
garrison on the erection of a fort[1]. In the following year Hane seems
to have accompanied Cromwell in his expedition to Scotland, and he
remained in Scotland with Monk when Cromwell marched into England. The
surrender of Stirling Castle to Monk was mainly due to Hane's skill as
an artilleryman. On August 13, says the diary of the siege, 'the
morter-pieces were planted, and Mr. Hane, the engineer, plaid with one
of the morter-pieces twice. The second shot fell into the middle of the
Castle, and did much execution. Afterwards he played with the other
great morter-piece and did execution.' On the 14th the garrison, who
were not accustomed to shells, mutinied and forced the governor to
surrender. Again, a fortnight later, at the siege of Dundee, the same
narrative records that 'Mr. Hane, the engineer, plaid the morter-piece.'
December following Hane was sent to Inverness to report on its
possibilities as a fortress, and returned with the news that it was 'not
fortifiable without a great deal of charges, nor tenable without a
greater number of men than the town can possibly provide accomodation
for.' The result was that instead of fortifying the town itself a fort
large enough to hold 2000 men was built close by it. In 1653 Hane was
again in England, though Colonel Lilburne, the Commander-in-Chief in
Scotland, was writing letter after letter to the Lord-General to demand
his return. Many officers, complained Lilburne, have been absent a long
time from their charges: 'and in particular Mr. Hane, the Engineer, of
whom wee have an exceeding great want, and I doe wonder hee should
neglect this duty soe much as hee does, his absence being the losse of
some hundreds to the State, and if wee should have any occasion to make
use of a morter-piece without Mr. Hane, there is noebody to undertake
that businesse that is fitt for itt[2].'
But the Lord-General turned a deaf ear to Lilburne's appeals. He had
chosen Hane for a business of much more difficulty than planning forts,
and of much greater danger than playing a mortar-piece. He was kept from
his professional duties in Scotland to play a part in one of the
obscurest and least known episodes of Cromwell's foreign policy. On
October 11, 1653, Hane set sail for France on his mysterious mission,
and spent the next five months in struggling with the dangers and
privations related in this journal.
At that time the relations of France with England were still strained
and unfriendly. It was still uncertain whether England would ally itself
with Spain against France, or with France against Spain. Charles II was
a pensioner at the French Court. In 1649 Louis XIV had prohibited the
introduction into France of all woollen stuffs or silks manufactured in
England, and the Republic had replied by forbidding the introduction
into England of wines, woollen stuffs, and silks from France. French
corsairs had made prey of English merchantmen, and English ships armed
with letters of reprisal had retaliated on French commerce. At the close
of 1651 war with France seemed much more probable than war with Holland.
The Dutch war had aggravated the situation still further by leading to
the confiscation of many French ships on the ground that they carried
Dutch goods or contraband of war. In September, 1652, Blake captured a
small French fleet sent to relieve and provision the garrison of
Dunkirk, and that place in consequence fell into the hands of the
Spaniards. At last, in December, 1652, Louis XIV, driven by necessity,
recognized the English republic and sent M. de Bordeaux to negotiate
with its rulers.
But in spite of this recognition the possibility of English intervention
in the civil struggles in France was not ended. In September, 1651, the
third war of the Fronde--the 'Fronde Espagnole'--began. Condé raised the
standard of revolt in Guienne, and Bordeaux became the headquarters of
the rebellion.
Not until August, 1653, was the royal authority re-established at
Bordeaux. The rebellion was prolonged by Spanish help and by the hope of
aid from England. Both Condé and the city of Bordeaux sent agents to
London to solicit English intervention, and from time to time both
Cromwell and the Council of State seemed inclined to accede to their
requests. Condé's agents offered free trade with Guienne, certain
favours towards the French Protestants, and even the cession of the
island of Oléron. The City of Bordeaux instructed its agents 'to demand
of the Commonwealth of England, as of a just and powerful State,
assistance in men, money, and ships to support the city and commons of
Bordeaux, now united with our lords the Princes; and not only to shelter
them from the oppression and cruel vengeance which is in store for
them, but also to effect their restoration to their ancient privileges,
and to enable them to breathe a freer air than they have hitherto done.
And as the said lords of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England
will probably demand of them reciprocal advantages, they will let them
first explain their pretensions, and afterwards, if necessary, they may
grant them a port in the river of Bordeaux, where their vessels may find
retirement and safety, such as Castillon, Royan, Talmont or Pauillac, or
that of Arcachon if they wish, which they may fortify at their own
expense. We may even permit them to besiege and capture Blaye, in which
our troops will help them as much as possible. They may also make a
descent upon La Rochelle and capture it if they please[3].' Besides
appealing to the desire of the English Government for commercial
advantages and territorial gains, Condé's emissary appealed to the
desire which some of the statesmen of the Republic cherished to see free
institutions established amongst their neighbours. 'What a great honour
will it be for the Commonwealth of England,' said M. de Barrière, 'after
it hath so happily and so gloriously established the precious liberty at
home to send their helping hands unto their craving neighbours for the
same, whose obligation for that shall be eternal and the acknowledgement
of it real and perfect[4].'
There was a wide belief that the foreign policy of the English Republic
was influenced by a general hostility to monarchy and a general desire
to propagate republican institutions in Europe, which found expression
in rumours of the sayings and the intentions of the heads of the
Commonwealth. The English royalists talked of a design for the ruin of
the kings and sovereigns of the earth, of which Cromwell was the author,
and predicted that he would begin with France. When he returned from
Ireland there was a rumour that he and his army would effect a landing
in France. One report which Croullé, Mazarin's agent in London, sent to
the Cardinal, represented Cromwell as saying that if he were ten years
younger, there was not a king in Europe whom he would not make to
tremble, and that as he had a better motive than the late king of
Sweden, he believed himself still capable of doing more for the good of
nations than the other ever did for his own ambition[5].' Marvell's
verses to Cromwell on his return from Ireland prophesied similar
exploits--
'As Caesar, he, ere long, to Gaul,
To Italy an Hannibal,
And to all states not free
Shall climacteric be.'
But Cromwell had been obliged to turn his arms against Scotland instead
of against France, and hardly was the Scottish war over, when all the
resources of the Commonwealth were strained to the utmost by the war
with Holland. In July, 1653, negotiations had begun, and the war seemed
nearing its close, but at the same time Bordeaux was nearing its fall.
Barrière, Condé's agent, wrote to the prince that the Republic would
come to no resolution till it saw how the treaty with the Dutch
ended[6]. It was still believed that as soon as Cromwell's hands were
free he would intervene in France. 'Our General,' said a letter from
England, 'conceives it not good for his army to be longer idle, and
therefore hath told some of his myrmidons that if he could be assured
the prince of Condé would aim at liberty really, as he calls it, he
would within this month land his army in France[7].' In October, 1653,
when Joachim Hane sailed for France, the negotiations between England
and Holland had not yet been brought to a successful conclusion. The
position of affairs had been altered by the subjugation of Guienne and
the surrender of Bordeaux, but Condé had not made his peace with Louis
XIV, and a revival of the revolt in Southern France was still a
possibility.
Before Hane the English Government had sent similar emissaries to
France, with the double object of finding out the real strength of the
opposition and entering into communication with the disaffected. Thomas
Scot, who had the management of the foreign intelligence during the
Republic as Thurloe had during the Protectorate, drew up at the
restoration a short account of his proceedings for the information of
the Government of Charles II.
'I sent one Lewis de Bourgoyne (reteined by me as a domesticke to
have helped me for the French tongue) into France, to view and
returne mee the strength of all the ports usward. Hee began at
Callis and went through all the Wash (?) to Bourdeaux, and there
staid some time to dispose that people who then favoured the Prince
of Condé's interest in contradistinction to the crowne of France,
and likeliest to have given a footing to the English had there been
occasion ministered of attempting them by land. Wee had some
correspondence with the Prince of Condé by credentialls to Monsieur
Barrière, and from Bourdeaux by some commissioners they sent over
express, who came but a few weekes before our interruption, 1653;
but that which to mee look'd most hopefull and important I was just
then beginning a correspondence with Cardinal de Retz, commonly
called the Coadjutor, Mazarine's rivall and antagonist, who
pretended to fancy and favour the Commonwealth of England, as so;
some lettres past, but not much donne beyond mutuall credence, and
that also perish'd after Bourgoine's returne from Bourdeaux. Coll.
Saxby (the old Agitator) was sent to Bourdeaux on the same errand
by Gen. Cromwell and myself upon joint advice with good summes of
money, but what harvest he made of his negociations Gen. Cromwell
or his ministers could only tell who overturn'd us and succeeded in
those concernments.'
Of Bourgoyne, beyond this mention of Scot's, nothing is known, nor is
much to be gleaned from other sources concerning this correspondence
with de Retz. A passage in the Cardinal's memoirs states that 'Vainc,
grand parlementaire et tres confident de Cromwell,' came to see him with
a letter of credence from Cromwell, and told him that his defence of
liberty and his reputation had inspired Cromwell with the desire to form
a close friendship with him. This emissary has generally been
identified rightly or wrongly with Sir Henry Vane, but the
identification is at least doubtful. Nor is it easy to fix the date at
which this interview took place. It is placed in the narrative of the
events of 1650, but is said to have occurred soon after the return of
Charles II to Paris, that is about the end of October, 1651. Of Sexby's
mission more is known. For a delicate diplomatic mission he was a very
singular agent. A Suffolk man by birth, he had served four years as a
private in Cromwell's own troop of Ironsides and in Fairfax's regiment
of horse. He became notorious in 1647 as one of the leaders of the
Agitators and as the spokesman of the extreme democratic party amongst
the soldiers. He left the army for a time, but seems to have entered it
again in 1649 and obtained commissions as captain and governor of
Portland. Then he raised a regiment of foot and served for a short time
under Cromwell in Scotland with the rank of Colonel, but in June, 1651,
he was cashiered by a court-martial. The charge which lost him his
commission was that he had detained the pay of seven or eight of the
soldiers of his old company who refused to enter his new regiment; and
though it was urged that 'as to his own intentions he did it for the
public service,' it seemed a sufficient breach of the articles of war to
secure his condemnation. His offence could scarcely have been considered
as a mere act of embezzlement or he would not have been employed again.
In a petition which Sexby presented to the Council of State in 1654, he
gives a brief account of his mission. A secret committee of the Council
of State, consisting of Cromwell, Scot, and Whitelocke, sent him to
France in 1651. He was instructed 'to give an account of the state of
that country, and the affections of the people, in order to prevent
danger and to create an interest.' He took with him four gentlemen, was
to have a salary of £1000 a year for himself and them, and stayed in
France twenty-three months[8].
Of his doings in France the petition says nothing, but a curious
illustration of his zeal for democracy has survived amongst the papers
of Mazarin and Condé--a draft of a republican constitution drawn up in
the name of the Princes of Condé and Conti and the City of Bordeaux[9].
On examination it proves to be a French translation of the _Agreement_
_of the People_ which Lilburne and the leaders of the English Levellers
had published in May, 1649. It bears the title of _L'Accord du Peuple_,
and the difference between it and its English original consists in the
introductory engagement of the subscribers not to lay down their arms
till they have obtained the liberties it defines and in the list of
grievances to be redressed. It was intended to serve as a manifesto for
the republicans of Bordeaux and Guienne, but a constitution too advanced
for England had no prospect of acceptance in France. Lenet, Condé's
confidential agent, endorsed it 'Memoires données a son Altesse de Conti
par les sieurs Saxebri et Arrondel que je n'approuve pas.' 'Saxebri,' or
'Saxebery,' evidently denotes Sexby, and 'Arrondel' is one of his
companions.
The two were back in England, as Barrière's letters prove, in the autumn
of 1653. Arrondel's return is mentioned in a letter of October 24, and
Saxebri's in one dated December 12. Both had doubtless returned before
Hane set out.
It was now Cromwell's turn to send confidential agents to inquire into
the state of France. Unlike Scot and the republican fanatics, it is
evident that he cared little for the propagation of republican
principles. What he cared about was the condition of the French
Protestants and the propagation of the Protestant religion.
To Cromwell, as to most of his party, one of the worst sins of Charles I
was that he had induced the Huguenots to revolt against Louis XIII, and
then left them to be crushed by his forces. Englishmen abroad were
accustomed to be taunted with their desertion of their co-religionists.
'I have heard,' wrote John Cook, 'fearful exclamations from the French
Protestants against the King and the late Duke of Buckingham for the
betraying of Rochelle; and some of the ministers told me ten years ago
that God would be revenged of the wicked King of England for betraying
Rochelle[10].' One of the arguments which agents of the Huguenots of
Guienne used when they appealed to Cromwell was 'that the churches of
these parts have endured a very great brunt by the deceitful promises
which have been made to them by the former supreme powers of Great
Britain[11].' To this argument Cromwell was particularly accessible. He
said that England had ruined the Protestant party in France and that
England must restore it again[12]. In the twenty-second article of the
draft-treaty which he proposed to Mazarin in July, 1654, he demanded the
right of superintending the execution of the edicts in favour of the
French Protestants and seeing that they were scrupulously observed--a
demand which naturally met with a refusal from Mazarin[13]. To obtain
information of the condition of the French Protestants and of their
political attitude Cromwell despatched to France about the close of
1653, or early in 1654, a Swiss who is often mentioned by Burnet,
namely, Jean Baptiste Stouppe. Burnet describes him as 'a Grison by
birth, then minister of the French church in the Savoy, and afterwards a
brigadier-general in the French armies: a man of intrigue but of no
virtue.' Condé, continues Burnet, had sent over 'to offer Cromwell to
turn Protestant: and if he would give him a fleet with good troops he
would make a descent on Guienne, where he did not doubt he should be
assisted by the Protestants; and that he should so distress France, as
to obtain such conditions for them and for England as Cromwell himself
should dictate. Upon this offer Cromwell sent Stouppe round all France,
to talk with their most eminent men, to see into their strength, into
their present disposition, the oppressions they lay under, and their
inclinations to trust the Prince of Condé. He went from Paris down the
Loire, then to Bordeaux, from thence to Montauban, and cross the south
of France to Lyons: he was instructed to talk to them only as a
traveller, and to assure them of Cromwell's zeal and care for them,
which he magnified everywhere. The Protestants were then very much at
their ease: for Mazarin, who thought of nothing but to enrich his
family, took care to maintain the edicts better than they had been in
any time formerly. So Stouppe returned and gave Cromwell an account of
the ease they were in, and of their resolution to be quiet. They had a
very bad opinion of the Prince of Condé, as a man who sought nothing but
his own greatness, to which they believed he was ready to sacrifice all
his friends and every cause that he espoused. This settled Cromwell in
that particular. He also found that the Cardinal had such spies on that
prince, that he knew every message that had passed between them:
therefore he would have no further correspondence with him: he said upon
that to Stouppe _stultus est, et garrulus, et venditur a suis
cardinali_[14].'
Burnet's account of Stouppe's mission seems tolerably accurate[15]. The
attitude of the French Protestants was such as he describes it to have
been. The want of secrecy with which Condé's intrigues were conducted
was a real obstacle to the negotiations. In his letters to Condé,
Barrière himself says as much, and in one dated Aug. 14, 1654, he
relates that Cromwell had complained to the Spanish Ambassador that
Bordeaux was well acquainted with all his negotiations with Condé's
agents.
But the story that Condé offered to become a Protestant can scarcely be
true. It was rather Cromwell who suggested that he should convert
himself to Protestantism as a step to the political headship of the
Huguenots. In a conversation on the affairs of the Protestants in France
the Protector, according to Barrière's report, had said: 'A! s'il y
avoit moyen que M. le Prince se fist de nostre religion, ce seroit le
plus grand bien qui peust jamais arriver a nos eglises, car pour moy je
le tiens le plus grand homme et le plus grand capitaine non seulement
de nostre siecle, mais qui aye esté depuis longtemps: et il est
malheureux d'estre enguagé avecque des gens qui ont si peu de soin de
luy tenir les choses qu'ils luy ont promis[16].' Some eighteen months
earlier Condé was reported to have spoken in somewhat similar terms of
Cromwell, drinking his health openly at Antwerp, 'as the wisest, ablest
and greatest commander in Europe[17].' But it may well be that the
reports of the views of the French Protestants which Stouppe brought
back from France changed Cromwell's views, and that a more intimate
knowledge of French politics altered his estimate of the prince's
capacity.
The history of Joachim Hane's mission is still more obscure than that of
Sexby or Stouppe. One of its objects probably was to communicate with
the French Protestants. Slingsby Bethell, the only contemporary who
mentions it, in a discussion on the policy of the Long Parliament
towards foreign Protestants says that they treated with the deputies of
Bordeaux on a plan for the ruin of popery and the advancement of the
Protestant religion. But Cromwell, 'usurping the government did not
only overthrow the design, but probably betrayed it to the French King
with the lives of some engaged in the business; for Mr. Joachim Haines
(by birth a German) general engineer to the army, and one of his own
emissaries employed in that affair, who after Cromwell and Mazarin were
agreed was pursued through France, and escaped miraculously, did believe
he was discovered by Oliver, his errand being known only to himself and
his confident[18].' Bethell's accusation against Cromwell deserves no
credit. There is no trace of this belief in Hane's narrative, or in
Hane's later conduct. Oliver and Mazarin did not agree till eighteen
months after Hane's return from France. It is simply an example of the
vague slanders which the extreme republicans circulated against the
ruler they regarded as an apostate. Ludlow tells a similar story about
Cromwell betraying Sexby to the French, probably confusing Hane and
Sexby, and echoing Bethell's charge[19].
Hane himself says nothing of the nature of his mission in his narrative.
When he was examined he stoutly denied that he was anything more than a
gentleman travelling for his pleasure; but as he justly observes 'to
speak the truth in all things did not consist with my safety at that
time' (p. 9). Amongst Thurloe's correspondence there are two letters
which may have been written by Hane[20]. Both are signed Israell
Bernhard; one is dated Paris, October 25, 1653, the other Rochelle,
November 15. Hane was at those places on the dates mentioned, and the
second letter contains a still more remarkable parallel. The writer
says, 'I intend to go two days hence to Bordeaux,' that is presumably on
November 17. Now Hane's narrative states that he went from Rochelle to
Bordeaux on November 18. It is very improbable that Thurloe had two
correspondents in France whose movements tallied so exactly with those
of Hane. In each letter the writer assumes the character of a merchant,
and begins by giving various details about the state of trade. The first
ends with a rather enigmatical reference to the proposed purchase of a
house. 'I long to heare whether your neighbour Mr. Smith still hath a
mind to buy Mr. Rob. tenement, that layeth towards you from his other
house; if he intends to build such a house upon as he talketh, he had
need of 6 or 7000 pound to begin withall, and then he may have a
habitation to spend 2000 pound a yeare in it; but I am sure he will not
perfect the building in so short a time as he was speaking to us, for he
will have but a few materialls neere hand, and there is not so much as a
hedge about the garden, but he will be forced to make new hedges round
about. I would have him take good advise before he medle with the
bargaine.' In the letter from Rochelle he says, 'All things hereabouts
are pritty quiet; the prince's party being sufficiently silenced, so
that we hope they will not rise in hast again. We are perswaded, that
the government of our towne is in surer hands than it was three yeare
ago, when we were betrayed with a corrupted governor, who kept the two
towers next the haven for the prince de Condé, and did much annoyance to
the towne from off them; the which after they were reduced, one of them
was burned downe, and the other is now repairing againe, so that we hope
we shall feare no more such bustling as formerly we have had[21].' The
passage from the first letter probably refers to some French port, to
the state of its fortifications, and to the cost of repairing them,
while the second gives important facts as to the present state of the
fortifications of Rochelle. At the moment information on that subject
was of some importance to Cromwell. About October, 1651, there had
arrived in England a person named Conan, whose object was to negotiate
for a due pecuniary consideration to the persons concerned in the
reception of an English governor into that town. He is frequently
mentioned in Barrière's letters to Condé. In a letter dated October 24,
1653, Barrière relates an interview which he had with Cromwell the
previous day. He found him, he said, well disposed to assist the prince.
'Ce à quoy j'ay trouvé plus de disposition s'a esté à l'afaire de La
Rochelle; et pour sest effect il me demanda de luy faire voir Conan, qui
présentement est avecque luy. A son retour je vous manderay ce qu'il luy
aura dit, car en me séparant de luy, il me dit que quant il auroit veu
sest homme là, il me diret ce qu'il pourroit faire.' On a later page,
after mentioning Conan's intended departure for Spain, he adds:
'Monsieur de Conan vient tout présentement de parler à Cromwel, qui l'a
fort questionné sur les moyens de faire réussir l'affaire dont il est
question, et a tesmoigné désirer avec passion qu'elle se peut exécuter;
mais pourtant luy a dit qu'il ne ce pourroit enguager à rien jusques à
ce que l'on eust des nouvelles d'Espagne, et que lorsqu'il auret de
l'argent, on fourniroit toutes les choses necessaires, luy a recommendé
de revenir le plus tost qu'il pourret, et que peut estre a son retour
les afaires auroyent changé de face et, que, sela estant, luy, Cromwel,
et tout ce qui gouverne en Angleterre estoyent entièrement portés a sela
pour le soulagement du peuple et pour le service de Son Altesse.'
A letter written on November 14 from Madrid by the Comte de Fiesque to
the Prince de Condé adds: 'La resolution est prise icy de ligue
offensive et deffensive entre l'Angleterre et l'Espagne, pour laquelle
il sera porté expressément qu'ils attaqueront ou la Guyenne, ou la
Normandie, ou qu'ils descendront a la Rochelle, selon ce qui sera jugé a
propos pour le bien du party, et cela dans le mois d'Avril
prochain[22].'
The projected league between England and Spain came to nothing, but the
existence of these schemes at the time when Hane was sent to France and
the indications afforded by Hane's letters explain the objects of his
mission.
A minister like Stouppe was an admirable choice when the main object was
to learn from Huguenot preachers and Huguenot politicians what their
views of the political situation were. If, however, Cromwell was to
intervene in France and send an army to Guienne, as he was asked to do,
he required also some trustworthy information about the Huguenot
strongholds and the coast seaports. The state of the defences of
Bordeaux and La Rochelle, and the comparative military value of the
different places which Condé's agents and the agents of Bordeaux offered
him, were questions on which the opinion of a skilled engineer would be
of the greatest value. It is probable that Hane's mission was more
military than political, and that he was rather a spy than a political
intriguer.
Whether spy or political intriguer his peril was much the same. The
tortures with which the hangman of Bordeaux threatened him were employed
impartially to extract the truth from either. One of Sexby's four
companions had been arrested on suspicion in Languedoc. 'He was put in
prison,' says Sexby, 'and after racked to make him confess with whom he
had corrispondence, but God inabled him to keep secret what he knew,
though the torture and paine he suffered cost him his life[23].' It was
only by a miracle that Hane escaped a similar fate. The story of his
escapes and his wanderings is so vivid and picturesque that it seemed
worth rescuing from entire oblivion, even though it throws little light
on the dark places of Cromwell's foreign policy.
Hane's services and sufferings were not unrewarded. Before he started
the Council of State had voted that £100 a year in Scottish lands should
be settled upon him 'to encourage him and his family to settle in this
nation.' On November 1, 1653, Mr. Moyer, on behalf of the Council, moved
Parliament to give effect to this recommendation. He reported 'that
there is one Major Hane, by birth a foreigner, who hath performed many
eminent services in the war of Scotland; hath very great skill in
fortifications and all matters relating to the profession of an
engineer, and is of very great use at this time in services of that
nature; that he is a person eminent for godliness, and of undoubted
affection to this commonwealth.' Parliament, however, in a fit of
economy, or because it knew nothing of the nature of Hane's services,
negatived the vote without a division[24]. This was merely a
postponement of his reward. On June 26, 1654, Cromwell's Council of
State voted that an ordinance for naturalizing Hane should be prepared,
and agreed to another ordinance settling lands to the value of £120 a
year upon him. Eventually the naturalization ordinance was made to date
June 26, 1654, and that conferring the lands July 27 of the same year,
and both ordinances were confirmed by Cromwell's second Parliament on
April 28, 1657[25]. Hane meantime had returned to his duties in
Scotland, where he no doubt superintended the erection of those forts at
Inverness, Leith, Ayr, and Inverlochy, which were built to bridle the
Scots. It is not improbable that the plans of those forts, which still
exist in Worcester College Library, were drawn by Hane's hand. William
Clarke, the owner of the plans in consequence of his position as
secretary to General Monk, was necessarily acquainted with Hane; and the
narrative of Hane's adventures in France was doubtless copied by Clarke
from Hane's original manuscript. The copy is dated as begun on October
14, 1657, which proves that Hane must have committed his story to
writing within a very short time after the events had occurred.
In the summer of 1657 Hane was called to a new sphere of action.
Cromwell had allied himself with France, and 6,000 English soldiers had
been despatched to Flanders. In September Turenne and Sir John Reynolds
laid siege to Mardyke, for which purpose the Protector had promised to
provide artillery and mortar-pieces. Hane was sent for from Scotland to
take part in the siege. He had just obtained leave from Monk to go to
England, on account of the dangerous illness of his wife, and Monk's
messenger overtook him at Alnwick and brought him back to Scotland.
Before he could sail however Mardyke had fallen. On September 29, 1657,
Monk wrote to congratulate Thurloe on its capture, and in the same
letter announced Hane's departure: 'You may acquaint his Highness that
Mr. Hane sett sayle from hence on Saturday morning last the wind being
very fair. Hee had his tackling fixt, and everything ready to play his
morter-piece, as soone as a platforme should be layd for it; being hee
could not gett those materialls there, which hee carried with him, wee
thought fitt to provide him heere, and wee hope hee was there on Monday
last.' He was immediately sent back to England to report to the
Protector the state of his new acquisition. Lockhart wrote on October 3
to Thurloe that in order that his Highness 'might want no informatione
that can be given him concerning that place, Mr. Hains, the ingeneer
(who hath visited the place and consithered all the defects of it), will
be with his Highnesse before these can come to your lordships hands.'
When Dunkirk fell Hane was again summoned to inspect and add to its
fortifications, but he was taken ill immediately after his arrival. On
August 11, 1658, Lockhart informed Thurloe of his death. 'Mr. Hains the
ingeneer is dead. I endeavoured all I could to cherish him, both before
and during his sicknesse; but the poor man was so desperately
mallancholly, as I could not perswade him it was possible for him to
live[26].' He had survived all his perils and borne them with a stout
heart, only to die a commonplace death and to have it attributed to lack
of resolution.
_The
Journall of Mr. Joachim Hane
his Passages in France in
the yeare 1653._
A SHORT Relacion of the severall wonderfull passages which I did meete
withall in my jorney into France.
* * * * *
When by the Lord's providence who disposeth of all the wayes and actions
of man, I had undertaken a jorney into France upon some private
occations, Anno. 1653, tending towards Rie, where being come I found a
ship ready to goe to Rouen, in Normandie, which I made use of for my
transportacion thether. Having set sayle on the 11th of the same wee
crossed the sea with a faire wind, and came upon the coast of France on
the 12th of October by day breake in the morning without any
impediment, and entred the River's mouth. Wee met with a small man of
warr, which being licenced to robb by a comission from the Scottish
King, made an attempt upon us even within the River of Seine, having noe
regaurd at all to the nation right of the King's dominions; but wee made
all the resistance wee could, changing some shotts with him for the
space of halfe an houre, till hee dispared of his enterprize, and wee
were carried upp by the floud farther into the land. Being thus free
from the pirate, wee arrived at Quillebeuf that day. There I left the
ship and went by land on horse back to Rouen, from whence after three
dayes rest I directed my course to Parris and after to Orleans, where I
tooke boate and went downe the River of Loyre to Nantes, vissiting by
the way the Citties of Bloys, Amboys, Toures, Saumeur, and Angeirs. From
Nantes I went to Rochell by land with the messager, and thus farr I had
reasonable good sucses in my intended jorney.
But when the Lord intended to carry mee through a faire tryall, wherein
I might more experimentally learne to know his power and strenght, his
knowledge and wisdome, his love and care over his children, and his
faithfullnes to all those that put their trust in him, hee suffred the
malice of sume pernicious sperits to worke upon me. The beginning
whereof happened in this manner. Being come to Rochell I went to inquire
of a marchant of whom I was to receive a sume of monny by bill of
exchange. And among the rest I mett with a companie of 6 or 7 persons,
most of them being Flemings, standing together in the publique meeting
place, where the merchants as upon the Exchang at noone and in the
evening use to come togeather. In this companie, as I was enquiring of
them for the said marchant, there was found a Scott, who whilst I was
receiving instruccion of a Fleming to find out the merchant, looked very
ernestly upon mee; and at last tooke an occacion to aske mee whether I
was not an Englishman or noe: 'for I am very confident,' said hee, 'that
I have seene you at Edinburgh or with the English army.' I replyed I had
indeed spent some time in England, where perhaps hee might have seene
mee, but for Scotland I never had beene their. He againe answered, that
yet for all that he durst lay a wager that I have seene you their,
though you deny it. And so I declyning to have any further discourse
with him we had no more words together, nor did I ever speake with him
any more after that tyme.
Now whilest I was inquireing for my marchant, and discoursing with the
Scott after the manner expressed, their was also a Frenchman in the
number of the company who was a familiar aquaintance and constant
companion of the Scotts, for all the weeke after I continued their I
never saw either of them aloane, but alwayes both of them very intimatly
conversing together. This Frenchman being but of a meane quallity, and
in the judgment of my further experience a man of a hungry condition,
after he had heard both my inquiry for the marchant and the questions
the Scott putt to me, went to the said marchant on purpose to learne
what my expeditions were with him, what sume of money I had to receive
of him as also the progresse of my journey: namely whither: when: and by
what occasions I would goe from Rochell. For being void of all suspition
of tretchery I did freely aske councell of my marchant which way I might
with most safety goe from Rochell to Burdeaux; who because he could not
retourne my money to Burdeaux by Bill of Exchange, advised me to take
the said money in gold, and goe by water from Rochell to Burdeaux by the
way of Mornack and Regan where their was no danger to be feared. The
which councell I did embrace, and went accordingly on the 18th of
November from Rochell to Burdeaux on a small hoy wherin their weere
severall other passingers: and amongst the rest this Frenchman, the
Scotts companion formerly mentioned, who undertooke the journey from
Rochell to Burdeaux on purpose to try whether either by order or by any
other action he might gett advantage against me; to which end he had
drawne three others of the passengers more to his side, that his
designes against me might be carried on with more strength and
authority. These compliants oft shewed themselves very active along the
journey; first by insinuateing themselves into my company by various
discourses, and by diveing into my affairs with all manner of subtill
questions, and afterwards by frameing and deviseing many frivolus and
groundless accusations against me; though neither of my discourse nor of
my carriage they could borrow any more matter of suspetion, then the
Frenchman formerly mentioned had instiled into them aforehand. After we
were come therefore upon the River Garonne, and got soe hye as Blaye
(which is a small towne with a cittadell where the cheife Governour of
Bourdeaux doth reside, and where all customes for importacion and
transportacion are discharged) myne adversaryes, which were now
increased to the number of foure more, went to the Governour of the
place, desiring a gaurd from him to conduct mee as a suspect'd person
to prison, the which was granted them; whereupon I was taken out of the
hoy that I came thether in, and was placed with the gaurd and myne
adversarye into a greate open boate to goe directly for Bourdeaux.
Heare I came to know those whome had a hand in myne accusacion, who
otherwise before that in all the jorney caried themselves very
courtiosly towards mee, but now began their trecherous malice against
mee openly, all their former complements and courtious usage being now
degenerated into mockings and scoffings and spightfull langage. For all
the way up to Bordeaux they used all possible endeavours to agravate to
the highest measure the affliccions of my mind by all manner of
reproches and affronts they put upon mee. They contryved as it were a
comidy, or rather a tragedie, whereby they laboured to set forth to the
life my future suffrings, introducing severall persons, whereof some
acted the hangman's part, some the condemned prisoner's, some bore other
officers parts, making the mast of the boate for a payre of gallowes,
while I perforce was the sad subject of their hopes, I was to undergoe
both in my torture and finall execucion, making continuall repetition of
such lamentable cryes and dullfull exprecions as I should use if I came
to feele the unsufferable torments of racking. And more over they would
perswade now and then that I was ingaged to them for their insolences;
for said they 'all the paynes wee take in our play are intended for your
learning.' They called upon all the people they met upon the River,
desiring them that if they had a mind to see an English saint hanging on
the gallowes they should repair to Bourdeaux within two or three days.
With such and the like pastime wee arrived at Bourdeaux about 4 of the
clock in the afternoone, where the gaurd that came with mee from Blaye
was discharged, and I carried to a greate house in the Citty, which I
tooke to be a house of entertainment because a great supper was their
prepared for my sake, though without myne order, and likwise three of
mine adversaryes being Rochellers intended to lodge their. But before we
came to the house, because they would spare no meanes to increase my
terrors they called the hangman, because our way fell out by his doore,
recomending me to his care; who very courteously received me, promissing
and engageing to me all his abillityes to be ready for my service. After
I was lodged and sufficient care taken for me in the said house, myne
accusers were very busye in provideing all necessaryes for my
examination; wherupon severall persons to the number of seaven or eight
did appeare their an houre before supper tyme, and went into a roome by
themselves to advise upon the questions they intended to put unto me.
And againe by the tyme that we had made an end of our supper the hangman
came also, with two of his servants or attendants bringing his
instruments along with him. After supper was done I was called to those
eight men that were come to try me; for they continued their ever since
they came, and supped also in a roome by themselves, but I and myne
accusers supped in another roome. And when I came in unto them they
demanded of me from whence I came, whither I intended, what my
expeditions were in Burdeaux, what my aquaintance were that I had their,
item what countryman I was and of what profession, whether I had skill
in the Lattine tongue, whether I had beene long in France? Other
frivolus questions they put to me, viz. where I had beene in such a
yeare and at such a tyme of that yeare, what my busines had beene their,
where my parents lived; and many other trifleing demands they asked me.
Myne answers to all these questions they tooke in writing, on purpose to
propound them againe to me in the midst of my tortures, where in case I
had not answered according to trueth they thought it would be
impossible (as indeed it would have falne out so, for to speake the
trueth in all things did not consist with my safety at that tyme) for me
to remember the same expressions to all those questions they had made to
me, that so having found me in severall tales they might have the
stronger grounds of their suspition against me.
Thus haveing made an end of this examination of myne they replyed, that
those answers of myne had no conformity with those informations which
upon sufficient grounds they had received conserning me; for said they,
I had endeavoured to deny my native country, affirming myselfe to be a
Germain, notwithstanding that I was an Englishman. Item that I denyed
that ever I had any relation to the English army, although they were
assured without contradiction that I was an officer of that army, and
had beene upon service with the same in Scotland. Item that I had denyed
to have any correspondence with any of the inhabitants of Burdeaux and
Rochell, whereas it was not possible that I should travaile to so far a
country without some recomendation at leastwise to some marchant; and
since I had refused to relate the trueth in these things I must of
necessity be guilty of some great designe or conspiration against their
country, the which to prevent they did hold it their duty both to their
kinge and country to bring me to a cleare confession by all possible
meanes. Wherupon they desired me to resolve unto them without fraud or
deceit these following questions. By whom I was sent thither? 2^{ly}
what myne instructions were for my expedition? 3^{ly} what
correspondency I had in Rochell and Burdeaux? 4^{thly} what charge I had
in the English army, and lastly in whose hands those 1200 livres were
which according to their well grounded information I had at my
disposeing at Burdeaux? This last query was meerly devised by my
accusers on purpose to begett in the coveteous magistrate a more earnest
desire to afflict me with the more cruell torments, which might (as it
often happeneth) cause me to confesse even such things as perhaps I was
not guilty of, and so to be willingly condemned to dye rather then to
suffer the intollerable greife and anguish of tortureing, which
neverthelesse in themselves without any further condemnation would have
prooved destructive to my life; for they myne accusers were after my
conviction to have all the meanes that I had about me for their good
service they had done in betraying of me, although in myne examination
they were never brought in to confront me for all that I earnestly
begged it.