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89

Page 89

Savoy, SP 92/24

These papers all deal with the Piedmont Massacre, April, 1655.

1. (304-5, Latin) Cromwell to the United Provinces, May 25, 1655 (Works, 54; Prose, 75).

2. (306-7, Latin) Cromwell to the King of Sweden, May 25, 1655 (Works, 53; Prose, 74).

3. (308-9, Latin) Cromwell to the King of France, May 25, 1655 (Works, 139; Prose, 78).

4. (310-11, Latin) Cromwell to the Evangelical Swiss Cantons, May 25, 1655 (Works, 55; Prose, 76).

5. (312-13, Latin) Cromwell to the Duke of Savoy, May 25, 1655 (Works, 51; Prose, 73).

These letters (1-5) are erroneously listed by French and Prose as a part of SP 96/6, Switzerland. See the catalogue for 96/6 (PRO, Round Room, Press 15/140), p. 24, where appears the following notation, "Documents relating to Savoy, March-August, 1655, formerly in this bundle were moved to S.P. 92/24 in August 1953."

#6. (358-59, Latin) Headed "Mr. Morland's Speech to the Duke of Savoy 1655," unsigned (Works, 153). This copy is verbally identical to the speech identified in Works, p. 476, as "First Draft Prepared by Milton for Samuel Morland." It is not the one presented, for Morland revised it before delivery. The final speech appears in Works, pp. 482-89, transcribed from Morland's History of the Evangelical Churches of the Valleys of Piedmont, 1658, pp. 568 ff. It will be of value to quote Works briefly, "(Hamilton) believed the draft Milton's, and that Morland had changed the speech before delivering it; and this belief was shared by Masson (V, 186, ff.) who found certain verbal parallels (which are exceedingly close and convincing) to other writings of Milton. But unfortunately Hamilton gave no reference to where his manuscript was in the State Paper office, and now it cannot be located" (p. 633). Prof. Maurice Kelley located it, for he discussed it with J. Milton French (French, IV, 30); but this was before it was transferred to SP 92/24, for French has it still in SP 96/6. The speech is not referred to in Prose.

Pertinent to the Comment below, it should be mentioned that there are four additional letters in the file, all addressed to Cromwell: (318, Latin) from the States General, June 12; (323-26, Latin) from the Duke of Savoy, July 10; (342-43, French) from the Vaudois, August 26; (355-56, French) from the Vaudois, September 23. All of these were transferred with 1-6 in 1953.

Two letters were not transferred, however, for some reason, and so are still on file in SP 96/6 Switzerland. They are included here, as they seem to be part of the same original packet.

**7. (121, Latin) A copy of Summum Dolorem, Cromwell to the Senate of Geneva (Works, 59; Prose, 81). It is verbally identical to Works, 59 (Literae, p. 103) except for the opening and closing. It concludes, "Dab: ex Aula Nostra


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Westmonasterii 7th Junii Anno 1655. Vester bonus Amicus," followed by a note concerning the money.

8. (123-24, Latin) A copy of a letter from the States General to the Evangelical Cantons, dated June 7, 1655, concerning the Piedmontese.

Comment: The most striking aspect of these eight documents is that they are all in the same hand and apparently were deposited as a packet in SP 96/6, for the old folio numbers assigned before the transfer was made are in sequence. These circumstances strongly suggest that they are a transcript of a packet of documents sent to Morland, who had left for Savoy on May 26th. The date of the transcript can be identified fairly closely. The letter of June 12 to Cromwell from the States General is in the same hand as these eight, that of July 10 from the Duke of Savoy in a different hand. Presumably the transcript was made between these dates. There are no other documents in either file in this hand.

It will be noted that seven of these documents originated in England (1-7). Of these, six have been identified as Miltonic, the draft of Morland's speech being the only one questioned. It cannot be definitely concluded, of course, that since all seven were transcribed at once and that six of them have a single author, he must, therefore, be the author of the seventh; but such a circumstance adds weight to the judgments of Hamilton, Masson, and the editors of Works that the draft of Moreland's speech is, indeed, the work of John Milton. The copy in SP 92/24, it must be emphasized, is not a transcript of the speech as delivered, but of the draft, presumably composed in May-June, when Milton was so deeply involved in the matter. The letters which did not originate in England (8 and the four to Cromwell) are included since Milton, as Cromwell's "action officer" in the secretariat, may have been responsible for their translation.