A LETTER FROM THE Noblemen, Gentlemen, Justices, and Freeholders' of the Shire of Fife, to the Lord General Monck.  
With his Lordships Answer thereunto.  
May it please your Lordship,  
BY the call of your Letter, of the fifteenth of November last, We Noblemen, Gentlemen, Justices and Freeholders of the Shre of Fife and Kinrosse, having met, and taking into our serious consideration the tenor and import thereof, both as to the grounds of your present undertaking, and the expressions of your favour & tenderness towards the Peace, Safety and Help of this (even burdened and) afflicted Nation. We hold it a duty incumbent upon us, humbly to represent your Lordship with this return. In the first place, we conceive ourselves bound to pay our thankful acknowledgements of those many and great obligements you have put upon us; for the regard you have expressed of those crushing pressures which we have so long and visibly laboured under; and your care and readiness to interpose to ease the languishing (and now utterly expiring) condition of this poor Country, which cryeth out for relief. Next, as we look upon it as a token for good, that the merciful God who can plead the cause of the oppressed, hath stirred your Lordship in this day of desperate extremity, to stand in the breach, to avert that impendent ruin of all that is precious, by asserting the Liberty and being of Parliaments, according to our ancient Constitutions, and a Godly Ministry, wherein our freedom & Rights (Religious and Civil) are bound up jointly with the Interest of England and Ireland; So we judge it to be the duty of all, as they are truehearted Patriots and Christians, and hear a due sense of their concernments in the weal or woe of public Transactions, to own the Prosecution of those mentioned Ends, as the only effectual Expedient, distinctly considerable beyond any other, for the lightning of the Evils we now feel, & prevention of tho●e we fear, by … lings the Government and Authourity, which may rule in the hearts of men by Love and Righteousness, and not Tyrannize over their Persons and Estates by Force and Power. For our parts, we have been spectators with sad bleeding hearts of the grievous breaches, which by the Revolutions of late years have been made upon these Nations: And among all the pretenders to our Cause, we have found no healing Medicines, nor can we expect that our suffering wounds can be healed, and wasting divisions closed by an Unparliamentary unchoe way. The Gospel and the Interest of Jesus Christ should be (and we hope shall be) dearer to us than our lives, which we are sure cannot be preserved and maintained without a Godly and learned Ministry; our other concernments we must w●ve in these places, (The great preserver of men, who loveth and delighteth in righteous things, is the LORD alone, upon whom we do fix our eyes) but according to what cometh within the compass of humane consideration, and the knowledge we might have acquired by dear-bought experience, when these personal and public Interests, solemnly owned, may be best secured; So we do most unanimously bear our Testimony to the Equity and Justice of these Grounds you have professed; That we know, we can willingly own no safer nor better means for restoring and preserving of all our dearest concernments, than by a Parliament, sitting in safety and honour, without any force or interruption, and capacitated for application of such comprehensive Remedies, as may reach the universal public Maladies, and Distempers, and Persons, and proc●re the private benefit of signal men, and several parties, how considerable soever, only so far as they advance the general Interest and public good of the Commonwealth. When we reflect upon the uncertain, torn, disjointed and tottering condition we are cast into by an Arbitrary Government, and the distracting Terrors, dismal Confusions, necessitated Ruins desolating Exactions, which sad experience doth prove to be the usual attendants of a Sword-Power; so that when it takes the Helm, than neither is, nor can be, the lest hope of settled assurance of Life, Estate, Property, or any matter or thing whatsoever, but all must be contented in a reeling fluctuating estate, which at the long-run may prove destructive, even to those who promise to themselves greatest immunity; therefore if we shall express the belief and preservation of our hearts and souls, we must profess undoubtedly that we see not how this Island can have Remedy, Cure, and Deliverance, and Settlement to the satisfaction and content of sober men, till Parliaments be restored to their honour, freedom and safety, and we cannot be answerable to those Dictates, which Reason, Interest, and Duty and Engagements promp unto us, if we do not unanimously concur and lay ourselves forth in our stations for promoting and advancing this fi●m and sure settling way of a lasting Peace and Happiness; in pursuance whereof, we do purpose and resolve by the help of God to preserve the peace and safety of this Country as we can, to give all countenance and encouragement to the godly Ministry, and faithful in the Land, and so to dispose of ourselves as we may attend your Lordship's directions, and yield all due respects to your Commands from time to time, making our supplication, that the Supreme Disposer of all things, and the great GOD of Peace may put into the hearts of those who are now upon the Stage of Action, to improve their utmost interest & power for the preventing the effusion of blood, and incline them to pursue the just ways of peace and firm Settlement so much desired and longed for, whic may be obtained with safety enough on all sides, and indemnity to all persons; the speedier and cheerful accomplishment whereof, we do verily believe is in the hearts & thirstings of all good people, save such who mind fears, jealousies, prejudices and advantages, more than the Common-good and Publick-safety, and care not though all pe●ish and sink, so they may but keep themselves aloft, and swimming. We beg your Lordship's pardon, that we have taken the liberty thus to express our Sense, Fears Desires and Purposes, relating to the Affairs now in hand, and shall add no more, but that the only wise good GOD (if he hath yet such a Mercy for us they make you a renowned Instrument for restoring three populous Nations after a long tedious storm, to that calm and felicity of Peacen a Settlement, to be transmitted and derived to our Posterities, that your fame and just praise for so noble and glorious Achievement may sound far and near, and never endingly continued.  
Thus Prayeth, Your Lordship's most humble and faithful Servants.  
For the Right Honourable, my Lord General Monck These.   

General Monck's Answer.  
My Lords and Gentlemen,  
I Received your Letter, and return you thanks for the large testimony of your Fidelity to the Commonwealth, and your good Affections to that Good Cause, in which we are now engaged; And do hereby assure you, that it shall be amongst the chiefest of my Cares, to preserve you in peace and prosperity, and to defend and and protect you from all dangers especially such as you may incur, by this your honest and cheerful expression of your well-wishes towards us: And to that end, I do Empower and Authorise the Noblemen, Gentlemen and Justices of Peace of your Counties, or any nine of them, with the Advice and consent of the Governor of the next adjacent Garrison, to put in execution such Orders and Commands as I shall have occasion to give, for securing the Peace of the Country; provided, the Noblemen, Gentlemen, and Justices be such as have subscribed to live peaceably, and to act nothing prejudicial to the Commonwealth of England; and that none of them be Papists: and I do allow, that such Noblemen and Gentlemen as have subscribed the Letter as aforesaid, shall have liberty (with Passes from me) to wear their Arms, and four Servants to be likewise armed, for the attendance of each Nobleman, and two for each Gentleman: and as you know of any other thing wherein I may be serviceable to you, I shall desire you to propound, with assurance of the utmost endeavours and furtherance of  
Berwick Dec. 14. 1659. Your Lordships very humble Servant GEORGE MONCK.