Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 12.djvu/50

 having settled a Government according to Gorges' Charter, pray "

This is all that need be recorded here con- cerning the descendants of Sir Ferdinando Gorges and what they did in regard of this vast property.

I must now refer back to the period of twenty-five years between September, 1603, and June, 1629, whilst he is still governing at Plymouth, and constantly in communication with the Government. I give a few excerpts. In 1611 he informs the Earl of Salisbury that English pirates are congregated off the Scilly Isles, that several London merchants have been captured by them, and that, in con- sequence of measures he has taken to disperse them, the pirates have sought refuge in Ireland, and talk of joining the Duke of Florence. Again in 1617 he writes to Lord Salisbury, informing him that the merchants of Plymouth think a small fleet will not be of much use as a convoy against the pirates of Algiers and Tunis, that their trade is much injured, and that the only means of suppressing the pirates is to make war by sea and land against the Turks. He writes in 1621 to Secretary Calvert, inform- ing him of a French plot to land troops in Ireland, and advises that all the coast towns be put in state of defence, which is done. In 1624 he communicates with the Earl of Buckingham about the warlike preparations of the King of Spain, and acquaints him that dangerous factions have arisen in Ireland and parts of England " will not presume to offer advice, though sometimes thought worthy to be consulted by the queen," but suggests the importance of providing in peace for war, points out the ruinous condition of the forts and castles, which are utterly defenceless, and grieves that he should have lived to see the present state of Plymouth, &c.

In 1625 he is aboard his ship the Great Neptune off Beachy Head, and conveys the French ambassador to France; and on 16 May, 1626, he writes to Secretary Con way that " there are 80 great ships between the Lizard and Looe, verily thought to be Spaniards," and that he "had ordered all the troops on the coast to be ready on the first sound of the drum," and had "given like directions to the fleet in the harbour." On the 24th of the same month he again writes :

"The captains assigned to keep the coast after the departure of the fleet have complained of their great want of men; he had furnished them with 70 or 80 musketeers, which he desired to have con- firmed by the Council."

The mutinous clamours of the soldiers and the murmurings of the country people had been

set forth by letters of the Commissioners to the Council. On27 July, 1627, Sir Ferdinando writes to Secretary Coke, reporting on the military condition of Devon: It the king will aid them with 12 or 14 demi- culverins for the defences along the coasts, the county will supply the rest." ^Hemen ions the state of the trained bands, and says, "It is four years since the Commissioners reported the state of the Fort and the Island (in Sir Ferdinando's charge), " but nothing has been done, and all things are further decayed. There is neither port nor drawbridge but must be new made, as no doubt the king will recollect." The guards ought to be strengthened, as "the French will hourly be practising how they may be quittance of us. They make great preparations for defence of their own coasts." Desires leave to attend the Lords to " give account of the particulars referred to, and to urge on suggested designs on the West Indies, deemed necessary to advance our decayed honour." On 23 August he again writes :

" There are on the coast six sail of great ships of the French king, and two Biscayners lie off and on, between Scilly and the coast of France, taking and sinking all our nation that comes athwart them. Within 12 days they have taken 8 of our colliers, sinking 5, and carrying away the rest. Trade will be impossible, to the destruction of the country, and dishonour of the king's state and Government."

He writes many more letters "states that the garrison of Plymouth have been unpaid for 3^ years, that the soldiers are dying of famine in consequence, that there is terrible sick- ness amongst the crews of the neet, that the Fort is a ruin and unguardable, that the soldiers say they are used like dogs, that they have rip means to put clothes on their backs, much less relieve their wives and children."

Sir Ferdinando, finding all his applications for monetary aid, munitions of war, and other matters ignored, threw up his appointment in disgust on 30 June, 1629, being suc- ceeded by Sir James Bagg as Captain of Ply- mouth Fort. Sir Ferdinando, however, took command of a troop of horse in Devonshire, but shortly after severed his long connexion with the county in which he had done so much, and been assisted so little, and retired to Long Ashton, Bristol, where he carried on his colonization scheme for America.

When in 1641 the Civil War came to a climax Sir Ferdinando Gorges, now well advanced in years, adhered to the king, and concerted measures for the defence of the city of Bristol, in consequence of which he was denounced by the Parliament as a delin- quent. Early in 1645, before the final battle of Naseby had taken place, Sir Ferdinando, who was then residing in Bristol at "the.