Folios 125-125. Letter dated at Lisburn from [Major-General de] Scravenmoer to 'Monsieur'...

Folios 125-125. Letter dated at Lisburn from [Major-General de] Scravenmoer to 'Monsieur' thanking him for interceding successfully with the King. As soon as the frost goes he will continue his journey to Londonderry and on his way back hopes to visit the rest of the country around Strangford and learn the state of everything. That done he hopes the King will allow him to return to London. He mentions the rumour, which he does not believe, of the enemy sending six regiments to Dundalk with the aim of attacking Newry. He says the Duke [i.e. Schomberg] has no contact with the enemy's army and nothing is known of what is happening there; he descibes himself as a mere cypher. He has hired as many horses as he could to carry provisions to Armagh for the transport, as the horses were not fit for the work. He says that Harboard's parsimony and avarice has resulted in the greatest part of the Londonderry regiments leaving [?deserting]; the officers have not been paid for four months and there have been desertions from the regiments of Kirke, Stuart and [Sir John] Hanmer. He says the clerks lend money at five or six per cent. In a postscript he says the money the Duke said he would send by Colonel Wolseley has not yet arrived.