A letter from Sir Hardress Waller and several other gentlemen at Dublin, to Lieutenant General Ludlowe: with his answer to the same. Waller, Hardress, Sir, 1604?-1666? This text is an enriched version of the TCP digital transcription A67359 of text R207292 in the English Short Title Catalog (Wing W537). Textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. The text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with MorphAdorner. The annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). Textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. This text has not been fully proofread Approx. 36 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 9 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. EarlyPrint Project Evanston,IL, Notre Dame, IN, St. Louis, MO 2017 A67359 Wing W537 ESTC R207292 99866351 99866351 118622 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A67359) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 118622) Images scanned from microfilm: (Thomason Tracts ; 118:E774[6]) A letter from Sir Hardress Waller and several other gentlemen at Dublin, to Lieutenant General Ludlowe: with his answer to the same. Waller, Hardress, Sir, 1604?-1666? Ludlow, Edmund, fl. 1691-1692. [2], 14 p. Printed for John Allen at the Rising Sun in Pauls Church-yard., London, : 1660. Signed: Har. Waller [and 28 others]. Annotation on Thomason copy: "Feb: 9. 1659. Reproduction of the original in the British Library. eng England and Wales. -- Parliament -- Early works to 1800. Ireland -- History -- 1649-1660 -- Early works to 1800. Great Britain -- History -- Commonwealth and Protectorate, 1649-1660 -- Early works to 1800. A67359 R207292 (Wing W537). civilwar no A letter from Sir Hardress Waller and several other gentlemen at Dublin, to Lieutenant General Ludlowe: with his answer to the same. Waller, Hardress, Sir 1660 6699 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 A This text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. 2000-00 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2001-06 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2001-06 TCP Staff (Michigan) Sampled and proofread 2001-00 TCP Staff (Michigan) Text and markup reviewed and edited 2001-11 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion A LETTER FROM Sir HARDRESS WALLER and several other GENTLEMEN AT DUBLIN , TO Lieutenant General Ludlowe : With His ANSWER to the same . LONDON , Printed for Iohn Allen at the Rising Sun in Pauls Church-yard , 1660. A Letter from Sr. Hardress Waller and several other Gentlemen at Dublin , to Lieutenant General Ludlowe . Sir , VVE have received a Letter from Lt Collonel Puckle , Governour of Ross , and in it , one from you , to him , Dated at Duncannon ; wherein you require him to preserve his Garrison for the Parliament : He had done that before he had any Orders from you to do it . We wish you had rather sent Orders of that nature to your Substitute , Collonel Iones , when he so long and so openly acted against the Parliaments Authority , than to Lieutenant Collonel Puckle , who you could not but know , had together with us , declared for it . When you were in this Bay , you received an Assurance under all our hands that we had declared ( as in duty bound ) for the Parliament ; whose Commands both concerning you and our selves , we would chearfully and punctually obey : But you write to Lieutenant Collonel Puckle , That we had set up for our selves : We will not say , that you have set up for your self , though your staying , if not acting amongst those who had set up for themselves at London ; you never declaring for the Parliament , when most of the Army here had declared against them ; your posting from the Parliment , when you your self write , they were to sit within a day or two ; and your now casting your self into the only place in this Nation , which hath not , together with us , declared for the Parliament ; might , we say , give us a juster rise to believe you had set up for your self , than our Actings or Letters have given you cause so untruly to report of us ; if you have assumed that Belief concerning us , because of our not admitting you here , we hope , whatever you your self are pleased to believe , all unbyassed persons will with us , judge , it was not consistent with our Duty , to admit to the Command of the Parliaments Army here ( till their pleasure was signified ) a person that had ever since their Interruption resided among , and ( we more then doubt ) acted with their enemies ; that would not stay two or three dayes for their sitting , to bring their Commands with him ; and who stands now accused before them with several Articles of High Treason . Truly Sir , your Actings have made our Suspitions but too strong . You went declaredly from hence with an Address from this Army to the Parliament , and to settle according to their Commands , the Forces in this Nation : But though you met a Conway the News of their being by Force kept from sitting , whereby the end you proposed by your journey was cut off , even in the beginning of it ; yet you went on to those who had offered that sinful violence . 'T is true , you say , that by a Letter your received from that Factious Party which had been guilty thereof , they intimated unto you , that a stop for the present was only put upon their Sitting , and consequently a door of hope was opened unto you to bring them to their Duty . But let all rational men judge , whether it had not been a much more probable way conducing to that end , for you to have returned to this Army , and accompanied your Perswasions with a Declaration ; That if those were not listned unto , the Forces of this Nation should be employed by you to bring them to that obedience , which fair means could not effect . We doubt you had too good an opinion of such men , or of the force of your own reasons , to believe that those who would not listen to the Authority and Commands of a Parliament , would be brought to their Duties by the prevalency of your particular Arguings , or Desires : Had worthy General Monke been possest with the like thoughts , and employed only his Arguments and Entreaties to reduce them , putting his Person also at the same time in their power , 't is to be feared , we had received our Laws from Wallingford House , and not from the Parliament , who only can make and repeal them . But allow you could be so much mistaken in them and in your self , why did you not forthwith return to your duty here , when you found experimentally the unsuccessefulness of your endeavours there ? it being then too manifest that the Council of Officers at Wallingford House were so far from restoring the Parliament , that they voted the calling a new one , with a Senate and one and twenty Conservators , with power in several Particulars above both Senate and Parliament . And when also Col. Iones ( who you intrusted with the Army here ) did openly send out Orders for the Election of two out of each Regiment , to compose that Meeting at London , which was to introduce this new Government , and vigorously contributed what in him lay , to promote Subscriptions to an Agreement , as opposite and destructive to the Restoration of the Parliament , as even those fore-mentioned Elections were designed to be : For which Elections , we hope you have not forgotten , how by particular Letters to several Officers here ( ready to be produced ) you did appear but too active and encouraging . But left you might not remember the Contents of Letters to private persons , and of an ancienter Date , we shall mind you of one written to a publick Person , viz. Col. Iohn Iones , and of a fresher Date , viz. the 17th . of December last ; wherein you use these very words : We seem to be necessitated to look towards the Long Parliament ; 't is to be feared they will be very high , in case they should be trough in without Conditions . Let all that hear this , judge how fit that person is to command an Army of the Parliaments , that includes himself amongst those , who not out of willingness , but necessity , seem to be looking towards the Restoration of the Parliament ; and who expresses a fear they would be very high , if not bound up by Conditions before their admittance . Your Duty had been the contrary to what your fears are , and we would gladly know , who you judged fit to put Conditions upon the Parliament ? But since you fear the Actings of the Parliament , unless brought in by Conditions , you teach us thereby to keep you from the Head of one of the Parliaments Armies , left you should make use of their Forces to secure you , and those like-minded with you , from your fears . For our parts , we desire no earthly thing more than their Restoration , and bless God , both our duties and innocency makes us not fear , but desire they should sit as a PARLIAMENT , that is , without any previous Conditions put upon them . You that could fear the Parliament would be very high , in case they should be admitted without Conditions , and have associated your self of late with those , the moderatest of which were guilty of that apprehension , may be suspected to have been pleased with , if not consenting to , the interruption of that Authority , whose high Actings are confessedly feared by you . We shall not much dwell upon the Title that you give Col. Iones , of Dear Friend , in the said Letter ; though in it we cannot but observe , that 't is not probable you would call him by that Name , if you thought he had falsified the Trust you had reposed in him ; and yet that he has publickly acted against the Authority of Parliament , and their Laws , could not be unknown unto you , were it only in reference to that particular Subscription promoted , of owning the Lord Fleetwood Commander in Chief of the Armies of this Common-wealth , contrary to an express Act in that behalf ; whereby from your Substitute , he became my Lord Fleetwoods ; and you from Lieutenant General under the Parliament , become Lieutenant General under their enemies . If you approv'd of this Action , why should we receive you ? If you disapprov'd it , why do you give the chief promoter of it , the Title of your dear Friend ? In the same Letter also you have these words , viz. I hope ere this the Commissions for the setting of Civil Iustice on the wheels in Ireland , is come unto your hands : Which Commissions being sent by the power of those who had violated the Parliaments Authority , we might expect , would rather have had your discountenance , than your hope that they would come safely unto his hands . And though we love to have the wheels of Civil Justice moving ; yet we as much desire to have those wheels receive their motion from that Authority only which legally can give it to them ; and we heartily wish you had the like principle . That you could have come from London hither , when your mentioned hopes failed you , and when your Substitute Col. Iones had so egregiously acted against the Parliament , and with their enemies , is evident , by your being now able to come into Ireland ; and therefore your declining thereof so long , proves , the fault ' lay more in your want of inclination , than in your want of power ; and if you had appeared active at London for the Restoration of the Parliament , or earnest against those here which had neglected their duty therein , it is not over probable you would have been permitted to have come for Ireland , which ( as your own Letter imports ) was well known at London , before your departure thence , to have declared for the Parliament ; unless those that permitted you to come for this Country , had believed your actings here ( if received ) would prove more advantagious to them , than to the Parliaments Service . You went to London to represent things to the Parliament , and staid there all the while that by force they were kept from sitting ; and assoon as ever ( through providence ) they were restored to sit , you hasten away hither , without any application to them . This being the matter of Fact , we leave it to all sober men to make the Inference . We cannot indeed but admire , that having assured you under all out hands , whatever the Parliaments Commands were concerning you , when your case was heard by them , they should be chearfully and readily obeyed , that you would rather elect to put things into extreams as much as in you lay , than patiently waiting a little time , to have them receive a Legal and quiet issue . If your Actings have not incapacitated you to sit in the Parliament , doubtless it had been more proportionate to you to have gone to London , and there have acted what you went over for , than to have put your self up into Duncannon , the only place that has not ( together with us ) declared for the Authority of the Parliament . Some possibly from thence may infer , that you think it a more hopeful and more expeditious way to obtain the Command of this Army , from so small a beginning thereunto , as Duncannon ; than to acquire that end by any hopes you have of reviving the Parliaments Commission for it . We have upon all these considerations , thought it our duty to the Parliament , to send Forces for the blocking up Duncannon : Of all which we thought fit to send you notice , and remain , Your humble Servants , Io. Sale . Sol. Cambie . Rod . Mansel . Barry Foulk . Io. Harrison . Gen. Pepper . Io. Jeonar . Io. King . Max. Fenton . E. Temple . W. Caulfield . Ri. Stephens . Dan. Lisle . Theo. Iones . Tho. Hopkins . Har. Waller . Broghill . Cha. Coote . Chidly Coote . Rich. Lehiunt . Eliah Greene . Hen. Owen . Ben. Lucas . Io. Frend . Hen. Morton . R. Fitz. Gerald . Samp. Towgood . Io. Maunsell . Will. Candler . Dated at Dublin , Ian. 10 , 1659. Lieutenant General Ludlow his Answer to a Letter sent unto him from Sr Hardress Waller , and several other Gentlemen at Dublin , bearing date the 10th of Ianuary , 1659. Gentlemen , I Yesterday received yours of the tenth instant , whereof I had a view in Print sometime before , which makes me of a belief that it was rather intended for the informing of others , then the satisfying of me in the grounds of what you resolv'd upon touching the blocking up of this place ; though I want the help of the Press , and the like Rhetorical Pen for the publishing and illustrating what I have to answer , yet doubt not ( through the clearness of the truth I have to offer ) but I shall ( in the judgement of any unbyassed person ) make out my own sincerity , and the selfishness of this your undertaking . After your refusal to admit me to the Command of this Army , ( upon general Suppositions of I know not what , till the pleasure of the Parliament were made known concerning me ) I looked upon it as my duty not to hearken to your advice for my return into England , ( you not being that Councel the Parliament commanded me to consult with in things of that Nature , nor principled for their Interest which I am ingaged to carry on ; most of you , though now declaring for the Parliament , having formerly with much zeal and industrie promoted a single persons Interest , and by your present proceedings expressed an utter enmity and aversation to all whom this Parliament thought fit to intrust , either in Civil or Military Imploiment : And therefore least I should acknowledge my self guilty of what you accuse me , ( which my Conscience clears me of ) and by withdrawing my shoulder from the work the Parliament hath call'd me to , betray their Interest , and those who are its hearty Well-wishers ; I made my repair unto this place , where I found the Governour and the rest of the Officers declaring ( though not with you ) yet with all freedome and cheerfulness for this Parliament , expressing the great grief which they conceived at both their interruptions , their joy for their Restitutions , and their prosperous proceedings since they met , and their hearty desire they may go on to lay the Top-stone ; all which scaarce any of you which subscribe this Letter are able to affirm of your selves ; and therefore was it they were unfree to joyn with you , and come under your conduct , whose design they had , and have still much cause to suspect , was rather to take advantage against those the Parliament had preferred , and thereby get into their places , then out of the least affection to this present Parliament . This was the cause I sent to Ross , Waterford , and other places , to press them to declare for the Parliament , not in shew only , but in reallity ; which had they done , they would not have taken up such frivolous excuses for the disputing of my Authority , ( well known to be legally derived from this Parliament ) nor upon such groundless suspitions have calumniated my person with dis-affections to their Authority , to which ( through mercy ) in the worst of times , I have born a faithful witness : And in the mean time yeelded obedience to Sir Hardress Waller , who hath no Commission from the Parliament , who served a single Persons Interest whilst he might ; and who by a Letter he subscribed with others , to the Army in England , bid good speed to their undertakings , after their assuming the power into their own hands ; and by his subscribing the Letter sent hence to General Monk clearly espoused the Armies Interest , and disclaimed the Parliaments , of which I am supposed only to be guilty , and therefore not to be received , though there be not one Particular of that nature that sticks upon me , having in several Letters ( sent hence ) born my Witness against the said Letter to General Monk expressing myself to this effect : That though by reason of the reports we then heard of General Monk's leaving the strong holds of Scotland , in the Cavalierish Nobilities hands , I was not without my fears what the Issue thereof might be ; yet he declaring for the restitution of the Parliament ( a lawful Authority ) and the Army being as yet upon a personal account , I thought it sinful to own the Army and dis-own him ; and this it self is objected against me as a Crime , as if I had branded General Monk's Design with being Cavalierish . Neither did I at all own the Army in this late precipitate undertaking , nor acted with them otherwise then in a Military capacity , but refused to joyn in their Committee of Safety ( so called ) or their Committee for Nomination ( though earnestly pressed thereunto ; neither am I conscious to my self that I did any thing since the Interruption of the Parliament that did weaken their Authority ; but that I bore a constant witness for their Restitution , and against those with whom I had to do that did any thing which I judg'd had a contrary aspect . And what discourse I had either with the Officers of the Army , or others about Government or Reformation , was always with an intention to submit the same to the judgment of this Parliament . If the Letters which I sent to Colonel Iones be in your custody ( as I suppose they are ) they will sufficiently evidence the discharge of my duty , both in relation to his Answer to General Monk's Letter ; as also to that of the Subscriptions to the Engagement of the Army in England . But your Design is to asperse , and not to justifie ; for the accomplishment whereof , for want of something material , every shadow of a Mole-hill must be magnified to a Mountain : Witness the Deductions that are made from the Title of Dear Friend , in one of mine to Col. Iones of the 17. of December , as if from thence I must be concluded to consent to whatever evil he was guilty of ; if I was mistaken in his friendship , he is not the only man in whom I have been deceived . But I have received reall friendship from him , and would not be ungrateful in my acknowledgments : Yet truly I was so apprehensive of the evil of the Letter to General Monk , and of the dis-ingenuity of those Subscriptions ( of which had I approved , I must have been a Fool as well as a Knave , it being both against my Interest and my Principle ) that as I remember in my Letter to him ( wherein I bore my witness against them ) I altered my Inscription . But being by subsequent Letters from him informed , that he was only passive therein , and that at the importunity of such Colonels to whom those Papers were directed , he consented to deliver the same unto them , ( which ( as I am informed ) Sir Charles Coot did convey also to those Officers and Souldiers that were immediatly under his Command ) notwithstanding I was not satisfied that he had discharged his duty therein , yet was I so far moderated in my thoughts towards him , that I judg'd my self bound as not in Christianity to keep a distance from him , so not in prudence , he having my sword in his hand ; which also may be a reason that a better Interpretation at present is put upon your undertaking then it in truth deserves , and why you break through all Rules of Justice and Moderation , for the getting of all places of strength into your power within this Nation . Another Clause in that Letter much aggravated against me is this , We seem to be necessitated to the looking towards the long Parliament , it is to be feared if they come in without conditions they will be very high . If the date of that Letter be viewed and considered , and my endeavours at that time made appear what they were , for the necessitating of the Army to the speedy restoring of the Parliament ; as also my resolutions and endeavors then and above a week before to break out of the hands of the Army , in order to my repair to the discharge of my duty here , together with my Intentions to come by the way of Miniehead to the Fort of Duncannon , upon supposition that the Road by Holihead was laid against me ; and not daring to trust my self at Dublin , where by their Subscriptions to the Engagement of the Army in England , they had subjected themselves to another Conduct ; it would be evident that my joyning my self with those who seemed to be necessitated to the calling of the Parliament , and my writing to Colonel . Iones that I feared they would be very high if they came in without conditions was , to let him see it to be his prudence , as well as his duty , not to do any thing in opposition to their Authority , nor to me who was invested therewith ; rather then that I was averse to their coming in , or that I desired that conditions should be put upon them , judging it always the most likely way to procure the mercy of the Parliament towards the Army , for the Army to have restored them with the greatest freedom and ingenuity : Yet must I own it as my Opinion , That the power at present being in the hands of those who were obnoxious to the Justice of the Parliament ; and fearing whilst it was so , they would not be willing to subject their Necks to the Block : I thought it advisable for the avoiding of the effusion of blood , and for the putting the wheels of Authority aright again , for the Parliament to have somewhat complied with the Army for the good of the whole , and for the preserving of our cause from being over-run by the common Enemy , of which it was in imminent danger . But the Lord hath brought it about another way , and I hope a better , having through mercy much moderated their spirits towards their old Servants ( who by this late Interruption had highly provoked them ) to the disappointing the hopes of enemies , and preventing the fears of faithful and true Friends . The last Clause objected against me is this , I hope ere this the Commissions for setting of Civil Iustice on the wheels are come to your hands . It seems very strange that the mentioning of these Commissions should be such a hainous crime in me , reputed by you , who were free that the Administration of all Civil Justice should be derived from a Military hand , during the Lord Oliver and his Son Richard's Reign . It is to be feared , you now rather dislike the Persons from whom it comes , than the thing it self : But I am glad you own it now to be your Principle , 't was alwaies mine : And I have during these Interruptions born a constant witness thereunto , and in particular against sending these Commissions upon that account , advising that the Commissioners of Parliament should upon their general Instructions issue out Commissions for the administring of Civil Justice , rather than derive it from so corrupt a Fountain . But the Lawyers are of an opinion , whoever is actually in power , may set the Wheels of Civil Justice going : Upon this score they were sent to Ireland , in answer to the importunity of the people there , who much complained of the mischiefs that befel them , for want of them : And in particular the running out of many Tories , who being long imprisoned for horrid murders , ( there being no way of Tryal ) made their escape . It is easie hence to observe how occasions are sought after for the blasting of me ; but it is a mercy ( which I desire to own ) that you have no more to lay to my charge , and that I have so just a Bar to appeal unto , as that of the Parliament of England , who I doubt not will protect me , and do me right against the malicious prosecution of any Cavalierish Spirit whatever . If to have been true , faithful and constant to the Parliament of the Common-wealth of England , in opposition to a Single Person , Kingship , or House of Peers ; If to bear my witness against such as are disaffected to publick Interest , or as are vicious in their Lives and Conversations , or to be faithful in the discharge of the trust the Parliament reposed in me , be High Treason , I must confess my self guilty : For any thing else that may be laid to my Charge , of publick concernment , I value not , except my Infirmities . I presume her 's the substance of those Articles of High Treason hinted at in yours , for had there been anything that by representing me black and odious , would have tended to the excusing you , in the opposing of me , Commissionated by the Parliament , it would have been here inferred . But the old policy , in casting good store of dint that some of it may stick , will not be forgotten . What my Endeavours have been since my going for England , for the Restitution of this Parliament , time will make our , being best known to those who are most concerned therein . I could express my self in that place , no way but by Letter for their Service ; which i did fully in most of those I wrote , till finding my endeavours fruitless to the ends I proposed to my self , and that my presence was necessary for the composing of differences in this Army for the Service of this Parliament , I resolved to break out of the hands of those in power in England , by whom I was under a kind of restraint ; and in order thereunto , had prepared for my escape , as is well known to some eminent persons , and resolved to come by the way of Miniehead , for the reasons afore specified ; But several intervening providences giving life to my hopes of this Parliaments Restitution , respited my Journey , till by a Vote of a Council of Officers at Whitehal , for the calling of a new Parliament , of the 24th . Instant , ( wich which you immediatly closed , by agreeing upon a Parliament to meet at Dublin the same day ) I was out of hopes of serving the Interest of the Parliament in that place any longer : This being Tuesday , I resolved on Thursday following in the Evening , to begin my intended Journey into Ireland : On Wednesday late at night , Lieutenant Col. Walker brought me an account from Wallingford House , that my Lord Fleetwood being convinced that nothing but Charles Stuart his Interest could be advanced by this New Parliament , had therefore resolved to remove the Obstruction that was put in the way of the sitting of the Old One . The next Morning being Thursday , having met with the Lord Fleetwood in order thereunto , he received a Letter from Captain Allgate , Commander of the Oxford Frigot , with a Declaration of part of this Army for the Parliament , he acquainted me therewith , and then thought it necessary I should repair to my Charge , which to that time I could not convince him of , though for a moneth or five weeks past , I laboured to perswade him thereunto . But now having got my Liberty ( that power no longer prevailing ) and finding my self owned in your Declaration , as Commander in Chief ( my Brother Kempstons Name being thereunto , which since I understand was writ contrary to his mind , not liking his Company ) I thought it my duty to hast away ; and the rather , for that though the Declaration for the generality of it , was plausible and fair , yet many of the persons who had subscribed the same , being known unto me to be persons of a contrary principle thereunto , and such as constantly adhered to another Interest , for which they were laid aside , and ( as they judged ) disobliged by this Parliament ; I look't upon it as my duty to hasten hither for the keeping this Army to the things declared for , and from the setting up a Government by a Single Person , which the Subscribers are generally enclined unto : For which Service , I doubted not of the Parliaments acknowledgment ; having first taken my leave of the Speaker , and left with him the Address and Petition of the Officers of this Army , declaring their hearty affection to this Parliament , and their resolution to stand by them ; whereunto very few of your hearts or hands then were . Nothwithstanding my hast into the Bay of Dublin , I came too late ; for I found those whom the Parliament owned , both Commissioners of Parliament , and Field-Officers of the Army , disown'd , dismist , and imprisoned ; and those who never owned the Parliaments interest , except in shew , as now , for their own ends , being principled for a King or Single Person , preferred , and put into their places . As your Ingenuity in your Letter is very much to be commended , in that you do not aver that those publick-spirited persons , whom throughout the Nation you have imprisoned , did not declare for the Parliament , but they did it not with you ; so is your design much laid open thereby , and what I affirm'd concerning your setting up for your selves , made good ; and that your quarrel with this and other places , is not for not declaring for the Parliament , but for not declaring with you , or rather for you ; which they could not satisfy themselves to do , for the reasons above mentioned , having but too much cause to doubt your heartiness therein , which out of the mouths of those who I judged the moderatest of your party , is now put out of doubt , they publickly declaring for Sir George Booth's design , of which this is a Second part , and calling this Parliament a Limb of the Parliament . Had I been upon the place of my Command as General Monk was of his , when the Resolutions of the Army came to me , your advice had been very wholsom and good ; but it pleased the Lord to order it otherwise , I was in my Journey towards London , when I was first surprized with the unwelcom News of the Parliaments Interruption : And truly were I now in the same posture , accompanied with the like Circumstances as then , I cannot say but that I should take the same Resolution ; more relying upon the reasonableness of what was to be proposed for the effecting of what I had in design , or rather the necessity that lay upon the Army of closing therewith ; than upon the good Opinion of my own parts , or interest : On this account I promised my self success , had the persons I had to do withal , been worse than they are . The reason of my not returning , when I found my endeavours fruitless , I have before mentioned , and likewise the witness I bare against those Subscriptions , not so much , as they were against me , as against the Parliament and publick interest . As to the general Meeting of two Officers of each Regiment throughout the Three Nations , if it were designed to be in opposition to the restoring of this Parliament , it was contrary to what I intended ; General Monk's Commissioners ( who had declared for this Parliament ) having agreed to it , I was the more free to concur in it : And the rather , for that one part of the Army about London , being only engaged in the interruption of the Parliament , there was in my judgment no way more probable for their Restitution without the effusion of bloud , than by the Vote of a general Council of the three Armies , three parts of four of which at the least , were not engaged in that unhappy undertaking . And whereas 't is charged against me , that I wrote to have such men chosen as were spirited for the work ; in Letters to Collonel Richards , I interpreted that work to be the restoring of this Parliament : My Witness against any thing of a new Parliament to be called , whether with Conservators , with a Senate , or without , is sufficiently known . And truly you have given too much ground of belief by your appointing a kind of Parliament of the Irish Constitution , to meet on the same 24th , of Ian. of your readiness to close with that kind of Parliament . Thus have I though confusedly , yet ( I hope ) satisfactorily given answer to each particular in your Letter , and to some Objections that I have heard made against me , and made appear that your sending Forces for the blocking up this place , hath proceeded from a selfish consideration , because I ( who am appointed by this Parliament to command their Forces in this Nation , according to my Principle , have made it my Practice to give countenance to all who fear God and work righteousness , and to promote an English Interest in Ireland ) will not receive Orders from you ( many of whom laid down your Commissions when this Parliament was first restored , others were laid by long since , some by this Parliament , and others of you under consideration , so to be for your adherence to a contrary Interest , and your vitiousness in life and conversation ) and not for any thing of affection or duty to this Parliament whom most of you never till now pretended to wish well unto . Did not you judge of me by your selves , who have taken this opportunity without any call that I know of , to put your selves into power and place ; you might conclude from all these Particulars that I should not have undertaken such a journey as this , and run so many hazards , and undergone so many affronts and difficulties as I have done , did I not look upon it as my Duty to the Parliament , as far as I had an opportunity to answer the Call I had from them in promoting their Interest , and standing by and countenancing such as fear the Lord , and have approved themselves Well-wishers to his service : Which had I been wanting in , I should not have had peace in my own Conscience in the condition the Lord hath appointed me for my portion , which now through mercy whatever it be , I hope upon good grounds I have cause to promise unto my self ; having though in much weakness , yet in faithfulness discharged the Trust the Parliament reposed in me . It was answer to their Call I first undertook this Imployment , it s their service I have indeavoured to promote , it s their pleasure I have waited for ; which by Letters from them of the seventh instant , I understand to be that out of their tender respect to the peace and welfare of this Nation , they have thought fit I should forthwith attend them , that thereby they may the more fully understand the Affairs of this Nation . In obedience whereunto I am making all possible speed , and hope to set sail for England this day , assuring my self that they will impartially judge of what is in difference between us , and will certainly so provide for the security of their Interest here , as that whatever difficulty they may encounter with this ensuing Summer from a broad , or at home , they may have this Nation to their Friend ; which truly in the hands things now are , they cannot promise unto themselves , and the rather if you continue your Hostility against this and other places , and your restraint on such persons , who your own Consciences tell you are more hearty to their service , and more ready to obey their Commands then your selves . The Lord divert that cloud which seems to hang over this poor Nation , and direct you into ways that are of Truth and Peace , that you may not be beating your Fellow-servants , but that the presence of the Lord may be amongst you , and you may see it your Interest to be subservient to his great design of exalting Justice and Righteousness which is all the hurt wished you , By your humble Servant Edm. Ludlow . Dated at Duncannon Fort this 21 of January , 1659. FINIS .