A LETTER FROM The Earl of ESSEX to His highness' Prince RUPERT, concerning the putting to death of soldiers come out of Ireland taken Prisoners.  
WITH His highness' Answer thereunto.  
Bristol, Printed by ROBERT BARKER, and JOHN BILL, Printers to the Kings most Excellent Majesty: MDC.XLV.   

A Letter from the Earl of Essex, to his highness' Prince Rupert.  
SIR,  
THe two Houses of Parliament have received Information, That because the Committee at Shrewsbury caused thirteen Irish Rebels taken in Hostility against the Parliament to suffer death, according to an Ordinance of Parliament herewith sent; therefore by your express Commands thirteen English Protestants, who had Quarter given them by your Officers that took them Prisoners, were notwithstanding murdered upon cool blood; and that you have resolved to proceed in the same manner for the future; A Relation and Resolution so strange, that the truth thereof might justly be suspected, were it not certified by Letters from that Committee of the 24. of March last, to the Speaker of the House of Commons, and by a letter of the 23. of March sent to the same Committee by your direction, and subscribed by one Ralph Goodwin your Secretary (as I am informed) which doth own and avow the fact. And therefore the two Houses of Parliament being deeply affected with such cruel Massacres committed upon their Protestant brethren, whose lives they value as their own, have commanded me to acquaint your highness, That it is evident by undoubted proof, that the Rebels of Ireland (what ever they pretended to some on this side the Sea) did really intend by that odious Rebellion, to wrest that Kingdom, for ever, from the Crown of England, to the utter deshereson of the King, and His Posterity, and to extirpate the English Nation, and Protestant Religion. And for that purpose have solicited, by their Agents, the bringing over of powerful Aids from foreign parts, to assist them in this their intended Conquest; and have set up the Spanish Colours publicly, both at Wexford and Galloway; have caused their Captains, Officers, and others, to make Oath before their titular Clergy, That they shall not suffer any English, or Protestant to live in that Kingdom, That they prosecuted this horrid design by murdering, hanging, drowning, burning alive, and starving, within few months in one Province, one hundred fifty four thousand of harmless British Protestants, Men, Women, and Children, without distinction of Age, or Sex, without any provocation given, but living securely by them, in a full and settled Peace. That the King first by Proclamation attested by His own royal Signiture and privy Signet, hath proclaimed them traitors, and Rebels; and since that time, both King and Parliament, by four several Acts of Parliament, have declared and styled them in the same manner. And further, His Majesty, by Act of Parliament, hath consented, That all Pardons granted to them, or any of them before attainder, shall be void. Now that such bloody barbarous Miscreants, so odious both to God and Men, so obnoxious to Law and Justice (even by the judgement of both sides) coming out of Ireland (where they neither did give nor receive Quarter) to burn and lay waste this Kingdom, as they have done that, should after all this be admitted to receive Quarter here, and consequently be made equal in Exchange with the English Nation, and Protestants: The Lords and Commons of the Parliament of England, cannot with Religion, Honour, or Justice, in any sort consent unto it: And have commanded me to let your highness, and all other Commanders on that side know, That if hereafter, upon executing the Irish Rebels, in pursuance of that just Ordinance, any unjust pretext shall be made, to murder, in cool blood, any Officer, soldier, or Seaman in the service of the Parliament, That the two Houses have resolved, and do hereby declare, That for every Officer, soldier, or Seaman so causelessly massacred, they shall, and must (though with deep sorrow and reluctancy) cause so many of the Prisoners remaining in their power to be put to death in the same manner. And therefore do earnestly desire your highness, and all other your inferior Commanders, to forbear by such prodigious Cruelty, to embase the value of the English Nation, which they are confident will be recented with indignation, even by those English Protestants, who are for the present deceived into Arms against the Protestant Religion, and the Parliament of England: To whom they shall be ready to allow Quarter, and equal exchange as before, and for whom they daily pray, That Almighty God would open their eyes, and reduce them into the right way. Sir, this being all I have in command, I take my leave, and remain  
Your humble Servant ESSEX. Westminster the 4. of April 1645.   

Die Jovis 24. Octob. 1644.  
THe Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England, do declare, That no Quarter shall be given hereafter, to any Irishman, nor to any Papists whatsoever born in Ireland, which shall be taken in hostility against the Parliament, either upon the Sea, or within this Kingdom, or Dominion of Wales; And therefore do Order and Ordain, That the Lord general, Lord admiral, and all other Officers and Commanders, both by Sea and Land, shall except all Irishmen, and all Papists born in Ireland out of all Capitulations, Agreements, and Compositions hereafter to be made with the Enemy: And shall upon the taking of every such Irishman, or Papist born in Ireland, as aforesaid, forthwith put every such person to Death. And 'tis further Ordered and Ordained, That the Lord general, Lord admiral, and the Committees of the several Counties do give speedy notice hereof to all subordinate Officers and Commanders by Sea, and Land respectively, who are hereby required to use their utmost care and circumspection, that this Ordinance be duly executed. And lastly, the Lords and Commons do declare, That every Officer and Commander by Sea or Land that shall be remiss, or negligent in observing the tenor of this Ordinance, shall be reputed a favourer of that bloody Rebellion of Ireland, and shall be liable to such condign punishment, as the Justice of both Houses of Parliament shall inflict upon him.  
Jo. Browne Cler. Parliam.   

His highness' Prince Rupert's Answer to the aforesaid LETTER.  
My Lord,  
I Received your lordship's Letter of the 4. of this month on the 11. and cannot but wonder, that it should seem strange to the two Houses, that I should cause those Prisoners which were taken in Arms against His Majesty to be used in the same manner, and by the same measure, as His majesty's good Subjects taken Prisoners in the Act of their duty, are used by those that take them. Those soldiers of mine, which were barbarously murdered, in cold blood, after Quarter given to them, at Shrewsbury, were those who during the time they were in Ireland served His Majesty stoutly, constantly, and faithfully against the Rebels of that Kingdom, and after the Cessation there, were by His majesty's Command transported to serve him in this, where they honestly performed the duty of soldiers; and therefore I were unworthy of the Command I hold under His Majesty if upon so high a provocation, and so unheard of an Act of injustice, as the putting those poor honest men to death, I had not let the authors of that Massacre know, that their own men must pay the price of such Acts of Inhumanity, and be used as they use their Brethren: And therefore I caused the like number (to whom Quarter was no otherwise given then to the former) to be put to death in the same manner as had been done at Shrewsbury. How the Rebellion in Ireland began, and with what circumstances of blood and cruelty it hath been carried on, (the odiousness whereof, and of all other Rebellions is apparent, and all good men must abhor) is not applicable to this Argument; (I wish the temper of this Kingdom had been, or yet were such as might be applied to the composure of that) Your Lordship hath in that Army many soldiers, who served His Majesty in that Kingdom of Ireland, yet to those soldiers when taken Prisoners, Quarter is given, and observed on this side, the like must be expected from you; And if it should be otherwise, and that Quarter should be denied to all those who have been Proclaimed traitors and Rebels, or who by Act of Parliament are such, this War will be much more merciless and bloody than it hath been, or then any good man, or true Englishman can desire to see it: I am sure such rigour shall be prevented by all the interest and power I have. Neither can that threat and menace in your lordship's Letter, of the resolution to use such Prisoners as shall be taken of His majesty's Army for the future, make any other impression in me, then of grief and sadness of heart to see such Injustice and Inhumanity, a proceeding contrary to the Laws of Nature and Nations, contrary to the Rules and Customs of war in any part of the Christian World, so deliberately and solemnly resolved, declared, and published. If there should be an Ordinanc● made that there should be no Quarter given to any soldiers under my Command, and an expectation that those under yours should receive Quarter, would your Lordship expect that I submit to such an Ordinance, This is the case. I have taken Prisoners of those who have taken Arms against His Majesty of all Nations, English, Scotch, Irish, French, Dutch, Walloons, of all Religions & opinions that are avowed by Christians, and have always allowed them Quarter, and equal Exchange, (how unequal soever the quarrel & contention is, & what judgement soever the Law hath determined upon such Persons) and shall do so still, hoping that Almighty God will open the eyes of those who have been strangely deceived into Arms against, and to the scandal and destruction of the Protestant Religion, (in which all men know I have been born, & for which they have reason enough to believe I will die) and the Parliament of England, assembled by His majesty's Command, and of which His Majesty is the head, and will recover and reduce those, who out of ambition or malice have made those paths, in which the other have trod, to their Piety towards their Maker, and their Allegiance towards their sovereign: But if the contrary course shall be held, and any Prisoners under my Command shall be taken, executed, and murdered in cold blood, under what senseless and unjust pretence soever, for every Officer and soldier so causelessly and barbarously murdered, I will cause so many of the Prisoners remaining in my Power to be put to death in the same manner, and I doubt not but the blood of those miserable men, who shall so suffer by my Order, as well as of those who shall be butchered by that Ordinance your Lordship mentions, shall be required at their hands, who by their cruel examples impose a necessity upon other men to observe the Rules they lay down. And I cannot but express a great sense to your Lordship, that since His majesty's gracious offers and importunity for Peace will not be harkened unto, by these prodigious resolutions expressed in your lordship's Letter, the war is like to be so managed, that the English Nation is in danger of destroying one another, or (which is a kind of extirpation) of degenerating into such an animosity and cruelty, that all eliments of Charity, Compassion, and Brotherly Affection shall be extinguished. I hope they whose opinions and resolutions your Lordship hath imparted to me, will take these animadversions into serious consideration from  
MY LORD Your humble Servant RUPERT.  
FINIS.