The COPIES Of the King's Letter, and general Order for the surrender of all his garrisons: And several other Letters between Sir William Brereton, and Sir Thom. Tildsley, about the overtures for the surrender of LITCHFIELD to the PARLIAMENT.  
These Papers being examined, are Printed and published according to Order.  
LONDON, Printed for F. L. June 19 1646.   

Sir THOMAS TILDSLEYES and colonel Baggots to Sir William Brereton, touching the women that were sent to their Husbands in the Close.  
SIR,  
YOur last night's night work which might well be ashamed of the light is an act of so much barbarity so remote from Nature, laws, Christianity, and so dangerous to your souls, that we cannot suffer you to sleep in it another, and pray you may not harden your hearts to Counterfeit it for our parts we are secure that neither the blood of those Innocents if shed can be said to▪ our Charge nor dare we fail to let you understand to whom it must be imputed.  
You have turned out of their Habitations sundry poor women and their Innocent Children whom you should have rather relieved) upon us that are now freed from all Obligations to relieve the harbourless, or feed the Hungry, It is not unsuspected also that God's visiting hand is upon some of them, which if being true their houses are fittest for them as is by Law appointed and we have no better warrant to entertain them then to be desperate, and tempt God. Our Resolution is neither to receive these nor any others, you are unchristianly resolved to expose to death, we are all absolved from the duty and the sin that may grow by the neglect of it, and advise you to think upon it seriously with a belief of a time when God will make Inquisition for blood. And so we recommend them to your reception or other disposal upon more Christian thoughts. And we further wish you to take of the vicissitude of subblnary affairs, and that your party may be capable for though we will not menace to be your imitators in so bad an example, yet we will not for our better discharge omit to te●● you, that there has been known many an Adombethed in the world, and the just God hath his wonderful just retaliations▪ And so having done our duty both to the miserable exposed and your souls, we pray God to keep you from so merciless unreasonable and wilful a wretchedness as you are acting upon those innocent women (who upon our engagments as we are Gentlemen and soldiers) have not done any thing this siege prejudicial to your Cause by intelligence, or otherwise that we know of. If this may not satisfy you we shall send two or three Gentlemen to meet the like number of yours to discuss the business by word of worth, lest this extremity should be▪ occasioned by some mistake, in the mean time remaining  
Your servants. 

Tho. Tildsley.  
Her. Baggot.   Litchfield Close May 28. 1646.   

A Letter shot by an Arrow out of the Close into the town, written by Sir Tho. Tildsley's own hand.  
Whereas for our constant persistence in our loyalty in defending and maintaing his majesty's Garrison of Litch. according to our duty, we have visibly seen the blessing of God in our protection against the fury of the enemy hitherto which hath so far enraged him that not being able in a manly way to prevail against us, he hath betaken himself to barbarous and in human attempts, and such as have never yet been practised by Christians bloods, the thrusting poor innocent women and Children (no way engaged with quarrel) upon the danger which they dare not look upon themselves, exposing them either to famine or their merciless sword. We do hereby desire the Country to take notice that the King is now in the head of a very powerful Army consisting of ●0000, Men which by God's assistance may resettle him and all his royal Subjects in their Rights, and we doubt not but will speedily relieve us. If therefore the Country shall suffer the enemy to go on in their barbarous way and bring any more women for their Relation to us and a good Cause into this danger, or suffer those to continue in it whereby they may innocently perish as is threatened they must expect we shall be enforced to a course contrary to our dispositions, and if God shall enable us, we will endeavour to make all men and their Wives that consent to their proceedings, and endeavour not to hinder the sam●, to ●ee●e those miseries which are now unjustly inflicted upon us and ours and this we desire all that have relation to this garrison to take notice of and publish.  
Signed by the general consent of the whole garrison, 27. of May 1646.   

Another Letter to Sir William Brereton, from Sir Thomas Tildsley and Bagot, touching the Women.  
SIR;  
THe Gentleman of our party have met with yours out of hopes to have created a right understanding about the women forced by you wi●hin our slighted works, but your Commissioners pretending to have no instructions from you to agitate that business made the Treaty short and fruitless, Th●y seem to make you a party in this uncivil act where we can hardly persuade ourselves to fix it, unless you own it yourself: we believe you to be a man of so much honour, that you will neither begin nor continue an example which would imply so great a thirst of blood, and produce consequences of greater inhumanity than becomes them, though of different persuasions in some things yet linked together in many common Obligations, especially that great one of Christianity, which makes profession of better things; We have tried all other means, and they failing we make this last particular address to yourself as having the greatest command of your party here, desiring you to understand we are resolved to defend the place like men, and shall be ready to encounter those attempts that you shall make upon us in a manlike way▪ We cannot think ourselves bound either in honour conscience or reason to pester ourselves with those multitudes of women that you press upon us many of them having no relation at all to us, and few or none to this place of an engagement. Besides we have no entertainment here but what is fit for soldiers, and if we should receive them to a diet so unnatural, to there weak bodies we should expose them to destruction as inevitable as by famine, we are therefore resolved that we neither can nor will adant them least we should contract the guil● of their deaths upon ourselves and we think ourselves bound to prevent it in you, and if it be possible all other the ill consequences of it, by this timely prevention. We hope you will take it into a sad and serious consideration, and since you are resolved to be our enemy to have so much regard to your own honour at least as to show yourself a gallant one, and not to stain yourself with these inhumanities which will render you account at the latter day, but will lessen your esteem in the reputation of the world especially to us who (what ever opinion we have of your Cause) will have a great one of you▪ if you prosecute it nobly.  
Sir, Since Captain Stone has lost civility so far that he will not answer a letter to a business, wherein he wholly rely●d upon his word yet we are confident you will enforce the 3. Ensigns to perform their parralls which they cannot deny And if captain Heskith be escaped, propose some fair exchange for the prisoners we released upon your word. Resting,  
Your Servants, 

Thomas Tildsly,  
Heroy Bagot.     

Sir William Brereton's answer to divers former Leeters sent out the Close from Sir Tho. Tildsley and Colo. Bagot.  
GEntlemen, Yours of the 28. of this month I received, and two former so full of impertinencies and incivilities that I intended not to ha●e vouchsafed any answer, were it not so that you might conclude I had nothing to reply in justification and defence of that which you term barbarous and inhuman which may be most justly retorted upon yourselves for not admitting those accosse to their husbands whom the laws of God and man have joined together, some whereof were never ceasing to Petition for admission to them; By all or most whereof I conceive you might receive such abundant information of the condition of your affairs abroad as might bring you to a more right understanding thereof, and teach you not to disperse such silly and senseless untruths as were those papers shot into the Town are said to be signed by the consent of the whole garrison, dated 27. and 28. of this instant May, a copy whereof is enclosed.  
The first whereof that I ever saw was written by Sir Thom, Tildsley's own hand but signed by none, wherein there is nothing more true than that which is most false, That the King is in the head of an Army, consisting of 30000, men, which you doubt not but will speedily relieve you, and yet in the mean time you not only refuse to give entertainment to the Wives of those with you (whose affections to you and your cause so far prevailed with them, as to forsake their Lives, Families and estates) but you do also detain other men's Wives, desired from you by their Husbands) affirming your garrison to be sufficiently able to entertain whom you please to admit.  
You pretend this to be an unpara●leld and unpresiden●ed act of cruelty, we can put you in mind of much more cruelty practised by your par●y in Chester when the wives and children of those husbands with us we●e not only sent out before the city was besieged, but after the suburbs were taken, divers persons sent forth, and their houses and whole estates of great value●● well before the siege as after the taking the suburbs seized upon, which we have not yet done to those we have sent into you for their Families remain possessed of their houses and estates, as when they left the same.  
If there were any violence offered to any of those wom●n that were sent (for children none were sent but such as went on their own accord) we must charge the same upon your score who taking away a●l their provisions left many of them to a merci●es enemy (as you term us) & disclaim any such charge to proceed from us further than in sending those wives to their husbands, whom God hath joined together, and were fitter to be with them then with us.  
You say God's visitting hand is upon some of them▪ It is more than we know or believe, but sure we are that you or some of you threatened, and did accordingly send amongst us some of those with you that were visited with the Plague.  
And whereas you lay to our charge the barbarities and inhumanities committed by▪ us, I cannot but believe you have forgotten what hath been practised by yourselves in fitting all Bacon street, whereby you advantaged us much, but yourselves nothing, for you may see God hath made better provision for us] and in burning and ruining diverse houses of your friends in the City ●ohing at all to your advantage or our prejudice.  
You aggravate much the battering down of your spear-steeple, not cons●dering how much our men were galled and annoyed from thence in several places, and how much you had defiled the same with blood, what yourselves had purposed and endeavoured by undermining and battering down the chapel Steple [which still stands with its wounds, to witness against you the little respect you give to those places which you call the house of God further than they may be servieable to your own ends.  
You insist much upon the defacing the ancientest Monument of Christian piety in the kingdom, and will not see the hand of God's justice upon the same for the Ignorance and Superstition that hath been nourished and preached in that place the guilt whereof is further increased by being made use of to be your only refuse both for yourselves, and those with you and your Magazine, and therefore the most proper object to be demolished by us, seeing it had been formerly so abused by others, and now so much profaned by yourselves whom God it seems hath heardened, because he purposeth to destroy you otherwise, he would not suffer you to resist in your obstinateness, when you cannot but know yourselves incapable of relief, and that the longer you hold ou● the worse condition, you must expect seeing you discover nothing at all therein, but perverseness and forwardness, and cannot but either know or may know that it is as unsouldier-like as indiscreet, for you to attempt to hold out that place, now that you have no show of relief and that the King hath wholly put himself upon the Parliament.  
In your last you say you believe me to be a man of so much Honour as that you cannot persuade yourselves to fix upon me this (as you call it) incivill act, and you acknowledge me the Commander of the said forces here whereas formerly in your Letter of the 13. of April, directed to Adjutant general Leuthan you Speak scornfully and much more in your Answer to my first, Dated March 9 which if you had remembered, might have spared you the Labour of censuring or reflecting that upon me which you then justified to be soldier like in yourselves.  
And whereas you desire I would take notice you are resolve● to keep that place where you are in a warlike way, you may hereby be assured that by God's assistance there shall be as manlike and soldierlike attempts and endeavours used for correcting your insolences, and reducing you to d●e obedience of the Parliament, if not of making you examples to the world for your desperate folly, obstinateness, and imprudence in maintaining this hold, when you cannot but know there is no hopes of relief, and render yourselves every day more and more uncapable of the Parliaments Clemency which you have so often repeated which I desired might have been extended to you, I shall therefore once further advise you forthwith to submit to the mercy of the Parliament, that so that ruin which is otherwise inevitable fall not upon you, the prevention whereof if you willembrace the same is still desired by  
Your servant Brereton, Litchfield May 29. 1646.   

From the camp at Rainhill. Since which time Sir William Brereton hath played with his mortar pieces and Batteries against the Clo●e, and hath made several breaches into divers houses in the Close, and Sir William loseth no advantage that may begained upon any opportunity.  
Charles Rex.  
HAving resolved to comply with the designs of the Parliaments in every thing which may be for the good of the Subjects, and leave no means unassaid for removing of differences between us, therefore we have thought fit, the more to evidence the realty of our intentions of settling a happy and firm peace, to require you upon honourable conditions, to quit those towns and Castles, and Forts entrusted by you, to us, and to disband all the forces under your several Commands.  
Newcastle the 10. of June 1646. To our Trusty and well-beloved Sir Thomas Glemham, Sir Thomas Tilsley, Colonel Henry Washington, Colo. Thomas Blague governors of our towns, and cities of Oxford Worcester Litchfield, and Wallingford, and all other Commanders of any other towns, Castles, or Forts with in the kingdom of England, or dominion of Wales.  
FINIS.