By the
French minister the proposal was gratefully received; he promised the
royal fugitive the continuation of his pension, ordered the arrears to be
immediately discharged, and paid him for the next half-year in advance.[2]
Charles fixed[a] his residence at Cologne, where he remained for almost two
years, till the rupture between England and Spain called him again into
activity.[3] After some previous negotiation, he repaired
[Footnote 1: Clarendon Papers, iii. 163, 164, 256, 281, 298, 316; Hist.
iii. 443]
[Footnote 2: Seven thousand two hundred pistoles for twelve months'
arrears, and three thousand six hundred for six in advance.--Clar. Pap.
iii. 293.]
[Footnote 3: While Charles was at Cologne, he was surrounded by spies, who
supplied Cromwell with copious information, though it is probable that they
knew little more than the public reports in the town. On one occasion the
letters were opened at the post-office, and a despatch was found from a
person named Manning to Thurloe. Being questioned before Charles, Manning
confessed that he received an ample maintenance from the protector, but
defended himself on the ground that he was careful to communicate nothing
but what was false. That this plea was true, appeared from his despatch,
which was filled with a detailed account of a fictitious debate in the
council: but the falsehoods which he had sent to England had occasioned the
arrest and imprisonment of several royalists, and Manning was shot as a
traitor at Duynwald, in the territory of the duke of Neuburg.
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