A Copy of a Letter from an Officer of the Army in Jreland, to his Highness the Lord Protector, concerning his changing of the Government.  
My Lord,  
I Do not at all doubt but that your Highness will wonder to receive a letter, and of this length, from so mean a person; but when you shall be pleased to weigh that, no man who is not too mean to be calumniated, can be too inconsiderable to defend himself; I make no question but you will think this boldness a necessity, and so pardon it: It is now near five years since I left England in your company, and under your Command, ever since which time I have constantly resided with my charge here, one bare month excepted, for which space I had leave to dispatch some affairs in England. Now for that my superiors here do refuse at present to give me permission to wait upon your Highness in person, as also that I have small hopes otherwise, that your many weighty employments can ever admit me to be heard by you at large, I have presumed to write these few lines, beseeching you to believe the contents of them, as proceeding from an unfeigned heart, and to take a measure of me and my principles from hence, and not from such Clandestine reports as may possibly be justilled into your ears, by those that are my Enemies, and will be yours, when they shall have prevailed with you, to disgrace those that have been oldservants to the cause of liberty, and to your person, and to put yourself wholly at their mercy and discretion, whose deep policy hath made them desert their country for this last five years, during which time they have been little less than Martyrs to Charles Steward, and his interest: My Lord, I cannot answer to these objections against me, for which I am traduced to your Highness, because I yet never heard them in particular, nor is there any charge against me that yet I can learn news of, only a rumor speaks me disaffected to your present power, and so not fit to be trusted any longer, to give answer to this, it would be necessary to understand the drift of this government we are now under which I protest I cannot, I mean, whether we are in the way to a glorious Commonwealth for which we have engaged, & to which the great power which you are Possessed of, may make us much nearer, if you please, or upon a transition, thinking the case of our liberty desperate, from a free state, to a lasting settled Monarchy, when it shall appear to be the latter, I shall not at all conceal my disaffection, nor desire to retain my employment, that may give me a relation to that government, to expose which my life hath been so often hazarded, and my hand and my heart to so many solemn declarations against it, which together with mine own light and reason, would haunt and persecute me, like so many revenging furies, if I should dare to harbour an apostate thought of being instrumental to revert, as if it was nothing in the eyes of God and Good men, to imbrue two Nations in blood, to execute a great Prince, to destroy so many considerable persons and families, who now all beg their bread in foreign Lands, and to take the food out of the mouths of the poor, and their beds from under them for taxes and impositions, and all this to the intent to support that liberty which nature hath bestowed upon mankind, and then to make no more use of the most miraculous mercies of God, and the precious blood and ●●ars of so many worthy and religious patriarchs, then to make them instrumental to pull down a legal Monarchy, for being somewhat too tenacious of certain power prejudicial to common freedom, and at the same time to set up, and introduce without form of law, justice, or consent (no not of the army itself as is suggested) an arbitaary boundless power solely subservant to the exorbitant will and unsupportable ambition of one single person, and that for ever, who is to have thirty thousand men, who are not to be disbanded, nor the money for their entertainment laid or altered by Parliament, these are to be his janissaries, and their work to enslave the people in these nations, to the lusts of their grand Senior. For if he have any foreign emergencies he may raise more: what hard-hearted men were those in Parliament, who thought the Earl of Stratford worthy of death, for telling the late King, he had an Army in Ireland, which he might employ to reduce his subjects here to their obedience, and how severe were these grave and learned lawyers, who judged that speech treason, even at the Common Law, and now think it none for themselves, to act in seats of Judicatory, execute laws, and hang men, and yet have no power to authorise them therein, but what is derived from such another trick, as that Earl would have then played; to be short, if I should examine that paper cal●ed the Government, I should hardly find a line in it, which is not destructive to our cause and liberty, so that it appears plainly to be a Monarchy bottomed in the sword, or to come nearer the right name, a commonwealth established in a Lord Protector, and thirty Thousand men, these considerations my Lord, do prevail with me, to believe that your Highness do not intend to continue this form of government upon us, but have assumed the power for a time, that you may be able to accomplish the work of liberty amongst us, which the parliament consisting of divers Persons, of several and different capacities, was not able to establish, and this seems more probable to me, not only from your own Oaths, protestations, and excellent principles against Monarchy, but even from the consideration of the ticklish and slippery Posture in which all Monarchies do stand, who have no foundation of their right and Government, but an armed force; how often have the P●eto●ian bands, the Turkish & Rushian Armies proved more fatal and tyrannical to their own princes, then to their poor oppressed vassals, and it seems to be agreeing both to divine justice, and human reason, that an armed multitude, which by the preswasions of one man, hath broken all the bonds of Law and conscience, to serve his interest, and enslave their country; should when the tide of their fancy or passion turns, think themselves as well absolved and disengaged from all reverence and obedience to their own captain.  
Since I have said thus much it will be needless to speak more in praise of a free state, for that the best and most limited Monarchies are but perpetual contests between the interest of Mankind, and that of one person, each striving industriously which shall ruin and undermine the other, & in that Government flattery and unworthy insinuations are turned up Trump, without which no man can win in such a game, which gives a plain reason why the most virtuous Princes, as Marcus Aurelius, Antonius Pius, and others, could never make their people so; the interest of their Government being wholly contrary thereunto; for if the principle of virtue and justice should be sown, and come up, they would have that growth and increase, which would in short time overtop the interest of one person, & so destroy the state; as hath been seen by the experience of those Governments which have erected themselves out of the ruin of Monarchy, where the Prince hath been so unadvised, to suffer his people to attain to riches, and so get good education, for that the great concernment, or reason of state in Kings and Tyrants, is to keep mankind poor and ignorant, which the Greeks and Romans understood well, when they styled those nations who lived under the command of one man, Barbarians, just point blank contrary to this, are the principles and maxims of a Commonwealth, which is the nursery of virtue, valour, and industry, where no Court whispers, no pimping projecting, or such arts, can bring advantage to those who practise them, but only a public spirit expressed in just and honourable actions, must advance and prefer persons to the highest offices and employments, this lays a foundation for the constant succession of g●n●●●us and worthy Patriots, this makes a people rich and free, ●●pp●e at home, and formable abroad, and history, which is the best reason in this point, will plainly show, that the worst and meanest of commonwealths, have been more rich, powerful and populous, than the same country could ever be under a Prince; I take the most factious and corrupt estate in story; to have been that of Fl●rence, yet did that commonwealth for many years together give Law to Italy, and when they had war with part of their own Territories, as Pisa, and its country, did for many thousand years maintain sixty thousand men, whereas the same Dominions now under a Duke, with the addition of the state of Sienna, is not able to raise or maintain twelve thousand men; for when the present Prince was necessitated in the year one thousand six hundred and forty three, to make an inconsiderable war against the Pope in company of Parma, Modena, and the Venetian, and that for but one summer, he was reduced to such extremity, that he hath been forced to sell his galleys, and wholly to neglect the Sea, and yet those people that are left in his Dominion, are much more oppressed by impositions, then in the days of liberty; I will not speak of England, because it was never yet a Commonwealth, though it hath past a civil war, and all other sufferings which belongs to a Change, yet this must and will be said, that all those actions of Honour, which our Kings for six hundred years have performed, did not bring more renown; nor so much advantage to these Nations, as the achievements of the same People when they had no Prince, and but the Name only of a free state; and if for our sins it be decreed that we shall never be so; I dare almost prophecy that the actions of succeeding monarchies will not outdo, nor perhaps not equal these, and then Posterity will have leave to think, that all the wisdom, valour, and activity of these Nations was not residing in one single person; but I have dwelled too long upon this, and shall only conclude, that if all kingdoms be near their period and ruin, when the subjects under them grow rich, wise, and capable of understanding their own good, and contrariwise, that commonwealths do not decay, but when their people in general grow poor; and ignorant, and the riches of the Nation comes to be engrossed by a few, who by that means can buy voices to get into command, and then bribe soldiers to uphold them in their ambitious designs, to enslave their country, the poverty and abjectness of the people, making them fit for the impression; then it must necessarily follow, that those in whose hand and power it is to settle and establish what form of Government they please, aught to improve that power for erecting a Free State, or a Commonwealth; this is the case of your highness, who besides your oaths and trust, have this obligation more, that you know, and are persuaded in your conscience, that this is a more excellent form then monarchy, as you have thousand of times expressed yourself, and particularly in that Declaration which you composed here, and published when you entered the Province of Munster, 1649. in which you have most excellent and unanswerable Reasons for a Popular Government, which shall make me say no more of this business; but come to bring it to our present condition, because it is alleged (and indeed to that we owe this Change, which hath brought upon us so much distraction & unsettlement, that we were not capable being a free state, And so that you by necessity have been forced upon these Courses, to prevent confusion) I am not ignorant, that nothing is more commonly said and believed amongst the Vulgar, than this Error, and it is besides industriously fomented by some subtle grandees, who knows their great Riches, titles, knavish cunnings, and such useless Qualities, will not prefer them to that dignity and eminency in such a Government, as they hope to enjoy under a Prince, whom they can soothe and flatter, I must confess, to look upon the present humour of the People, as they are divided into factions, & animated against the Parliaments managing affairs, a rational man might believe, that as their passions do hinder them from seeing the advantage of a commonwealth, so they would likewise hinder them from Obeying it; but those who shall consider on the one hand their punctual Obedience, not only to all laws, but even to these ordinances, which are now called so, and that undoubtedly against their Judgement, as well as their affections; and on the other side their genuine inclinations, and before this war, when they were free from factions, and in Puris naturalibus, to freedom, which was plainly seen by their joining unanimously with the House of Commons, in their contest against their King: I say whosoever shall observe that, must needs say, that a small force joined with Good Principle, and honest Governors, will soon reduce them to their natural disposition and temper again, If thirty thousand men can support this Government, then ten thousand might maintain freedom, which would quickly come to subject by itself without any force at all; which all states do, that are Established upon a right Basis, viz upon the natural temper and humour which the posture and condition of the people puts them into, if they be poor and low, Monarchy may serve their turn, if rich, they would look to have share, Rule & magistracy themselves: whosoever then would, found a Government which he intends not, shall subject by force (for if he do it, matters not what he makes it) might above all things, observe these accidences, which ruined the precedeing state, for every form of Government which crumbles and falls to ruin, by the weakness of its own pillars, must have a new fabric, or mend the old, one just in the place, first break, if it be capable of it, and whosoever shall look back into the turns and revolutions of state; will find, that all changes in Government have been mending of old frames, or making of new ones, & as Legislators or senates, have gone to the root of nature in this, have not palliated or patched up the cure, so Nations have been happy or unhappy, free or slaves, governed by force continually, or by consent, and states durable, or short lived, is true, that our unhappiness is that great alterations seldom come without intestine wars, it being hard (especially in populous and flourishing Cities, to bring the multitude to give so great a power to one man as is necessary to redress a disordered State, and for that men are generally short sighted, and cannot foresee great inconveniences till they are too late to remedy, but by force, this makes the cure oftentimes miscarry, as in the case of the Gracchis at Rome, and of Agis and Cleomenes at Sparta, in both which examples, there was an endeavour to reduce those two excellent States, to their first principles, but it was too late attempted, when the corruption was grown to too great a height, which if they had found, and would have been contented to erect a new form more suitable to the inequality of men's estates at that time, they might possibly have succeeded, if not to have introduced so good and excellent a model as they fell from, yet one able to have prevented the ruin and slavery which soon after befell both these people; not to make the business longer, I will instance in the example of our own Nation, the first history of which, (it is not esteemed fabolous) is that we were invaded and conquered by William the Norman, who either ruled by his own will, or made the Law rule, which he gave at his own pleasure; his French Lords left posterity behind them, who in process of time grew so rich and powerful, that they did not think it fit to be governed by the discretion of one man, but believed, they might deserve and share in rules themselves, for there is nothing more fundamental by nature, then that those who possess a land will desire, and by all means attempt to govern it, which is the true reason of what was alleged before, viz. That it is against the interest of a Monarchy, to let his subjects grow rich; from this contest of the Lords, with succeeding Kings, began the Baron's Wars, and in the close of them our Government, by Kings, Lords, and Commons, wherein, although the Commons were named, it will be found (if we look into Records, that they had little share, except to help bear up the Lords, whose Blew-coats they wore against the King) and it will likewise appear, that they were never discontented at their small proportion, and the reason is the same with the former, viz. that either they possessed no lands at all, or else he held them as servants to their loving Lords and clergy, so that this State was founded with great wisdom, upon the very condition of the People, which had it continued the same it than was, could never have been shaken, but by a foreign war; but all great bodies are well politic as natural, receive great alteration and corruption, and though in good mixtures they commonly tend to decay and ruin, yet where the Crasis is bad, there may be accedents which may incline to amend it, and that without the knowledge of the parties, who are the subject matter of the change, and as Wine changes itself by working, so many times the natural humour of a Nation tends from the corruption of a Monarely, to the erecting of a Popular State, though whilst they are in motion, they may not possibly understand whether their own impulse doth incline and lead them, this will prove to be the case of England; for when Henry the Seventh had established himself King, and saw plainly that he did owe his acc●ssed to the Crown, more to the favour of those Lords who assisted him, then either to his own Sword or Title, he began to consider in how ticklish a posture he stood, whilst it was in the power of any small number of Lords to set up, or pull down a sovereign at their will, and upon this contemplation he made it his whole aim and work to lessen and debase the nobility, that he might have the less to apprehend in his new-gotten royalty, by which he laid the foundation of destroying his Posterity, not considering at all that the Lords could not be diminished, but by advancing and enriching the Commons, whose desire of power must necessarily increase accordingly, which if they could obtain, it was then obvious that they must strike not at this or that Prince, but at the very Root of Monarchy itself, as being a thing useless wholly to them, and indeed inconsistent with their Government and interest: Henry the Eight continued in the same policy, and amongst many other accidents of increasing the power of the commonwealth, to the settling the Militia in deputy lieutenant, it happened in his days that religious houses being taken away, most of the Lands and manors belonging to them, some for moneys, others for Donations, fell into the hands of the Commons; this was the first time they began to bear up with the Lords, who since have been abased and impoverished by many accidents, as by finding a means to cut off intails, whereby it came to be in the power of those who were in present possession, to sell their posterity and revenues, and so to ruin the Lords who succeeded them, (which estates too) being most what spent in Court vices and luxury, lost the interest of the Peers in their Countries, and made them contemptible to the whole Nation, and slaves to the Citizens, who by their prodigalities grew into great wealth, and possessed their lands; about this time trade beyond Sea increased, and abuses in the Law growing up, made that a wealthy profession, so that incensibly foundations of great families amongst the Commons were laid, whilst the Lords grew daily to decay, and that which brought them to nothing at last, was doubtless the Scotch race of Kings, who whether by design, or for want of prudence, is not known, made so many worthless persons Peers here, as well Scotch as English, and those too for the most part so inconsiderable in point of estate, that the people did universally detest the Government, as we may observe by the constant unquietness of their Representors in Parliament, there scarce having been one in the two last Kings reigns, which were not dissolved abruptly by them, so little complying were they to his Government: Now though I am no ways ignorant that the dissensions which happened between those Kings and their Parliaments, had very good ground on the people's side, as the taking away grievances, and the like, yet the natural cause (and which was a long time collecting) was the height of the Commons, and the meanness of the Lords, and the King, who had by this time sold and given away all his revenues; and this too will appear to have been the original of these civil wars, for although the last action, which drove us into it, will ever be acknowledged to have been the King's misgovernment, yet as we are apt to say in Malignant fevers, that the last excess we made drove us into it, though the body had been gathering that pestilential Mass many years before; so in this case the essential and natural cause of this State disease, was much longer in collecting, than the Ship-money, or the Loan; and this is clear, for that the people did support much more than those from their Prince and Landlords too, whilst they were poor, and never did stomach to be governed, even arbitrarily, by those upon whom they were necessarily to depend in point of estate and subsistence, it being then, my Lord, so clear and evident, That the riches of the people in general, is the natural cause of destruction to all Regal States: I desire to bring this to our present discourse, and will beg leave to ask your highness' leave, whether the commonalty of England be grown poorer than they were when this was began, or rather, whether they are not become so much more rich, as the Lands and manors of King, Bishops, Dean and Chapters, and of all the great Delinquent Lords, together with Free-farm Rents, could make them; if this be granted, it must be then concluded, that we are farther off from a capacity of being governed by Monarchy again, then when we first began this quarrel; so that you see that it is so far from being true, that the Nation of England is not fit at all to be a Commonwealth, that indeed it is wholly impossible to make it any other, without an excessive force and violence; so that my Lord, if your Highness shall yet resolve to detain from us our liberties, with which you were entrusted, you will not only offend against your own Oaths and Principles, against common right and justice, but even against God and nature too, for that it will be impossible for you to mend this frame where it first broke, except you can take from the people their estates, and confer them upon old or new Lords, which will be hardly safe for you to attempt, it hath been my unhappiness to make this discourse somewhat too long for a letter, but I have been forced to rove too far into the nature of Government in general, before I could show the principles of a Free-State, and how near we are to it, if you please, so near, that the Cavaliers themselves in their hatred to the Parliament, and now to yourself, do fully manifest, that they abhor all superiors, and are impatient to be governed by others; and this very humour in them, is a secret impulse towards a Commonwealth, which although they do not now understand to be so, yet they would soon do it, if they had what they immediately desire, for I am fully persuaded, if their Darling Charles Stewart could be brought in by them, and all his opposers wholly rooted out, he would not be able without a standing army to maintain the old Government, even amongst his own party, so much is the case altered now, and so strong and natural the motives which draw towards Liberty. I must confess these speculations were no part of the cause which induced me first to take up arms first for the Parliament, but did come into my thoughts since by discourse, what I did originally look at, was the justness and honesty of the cause, the excellency of liberty, the glory of advancing and promoting the interest of mankind, the making my Nation more wise, valiant, happy, and honest then before, as well as more free, which I cannot yet despair of whilst I see you alive, whose noble and unwearied endeavours to that end, can never be forgotten, when the King, the Scots, and half the Parliament combined against us, you could not be daunted, when your own Grandees would have persuaded you out of those principles, you would not be circumvented, but did often say, that towards the attaining of a just and upright Government, an ounce of honesty and resolution, was worth a pound of sneaking policy: Oh let not those men who have suffered for your enemies get that upon you, by soothing your ambition, which they could never do by opposing your reason, let not those instruments, who have deserted the cause of liberty, be now made use of to destroy it, and by advising you to purge the army, make those janissaries, whose glory it was once, they would not acknowledge themselves to be Mercenaries, put not yourself upon the discretion of those whose love is not to you, but to Monarchy, and when they shall have made you a while the instrument of their ambition and avarice, will in the least adversity look back to the old line again, which they scarce ever yet offended, and when that shall be understood by Charles Stewart and his Hector's, and that there shall be nothing standing in their way hither, but your life, the ancient asserters of liberty being laid by with shame, and those who were once outed for opposing it, stepped into their places, in how hazardous and desperate a condition is that life of yours like to be, which hath been hitherto so precious to all the honest party in these Nations; Consider therefore that those Grandees are like fire and water, good servants, but very dangerous masters, let them do your drudgery, but let them not steer your counsels, trust this Nation with their freedom, posterity with your fame, and God for a reward; we know we cannot be free without your help, till we have undergone a thousand confusions in the way, our factions will not suffer us to agree in any thing, except you lead us into that frame which will fit us, and to make which, you may find persons enough to assist you, if you please to seek them; and who knows but that the wise providence of God, seeing the failings of the Parliament hath permitted you to assume this great power, to that end, do not offend that God whom you have so often called to witness of the integrity of your heart; Consider, that if you will not build us up that fabric of a Free State, you must be the first to lose your own liberty; do but weigh the fears and the uncertainties you will be in, whilst you live, and the almost inevitable necessity that your posterity must be destroyed when you are gone, as well as ours, or let this prevail with you, at least to make us a Commonwealth, because you can make us nothing else; if you believe yourself not safe without this power, pray consider how many plots and designs there were against you when you were our General, and how many nights sleep you broke then in examinations, nay remember, if during the trial of the late King, you did not walk the streets often with one servant, or without one, whereas now, new Troops and Regiments must be raised, and the old recruited, and all thought too little to preserve you▪ and yet the lives of all the honest Patriots in England were then wrapped up in yours, as much as now, and their interest more; but if yet after all this, that detestable poison of ambition, and desire of domination, have taken so far possession of you, that no Antidote can expel it, and that nothing will satisfy you, but to destroy that liberty which you were appointed Guardian to; and to outdo him whom you have pulled down and executed: I must profess to all the world, that though I shall ever acknowledge that I owe much of my being settled in the principles of freedom, which I now adhere to, to your former excellent discourses, and most excellent actions; yet that I cannot find any thing in my conscience that will persuade me to change with you, but shall wash my hands from the guilt and infamy of your ways, and withal lay down my commands, and all other relations to your Government, that so I may deliver you from the apprehensions, which I believe you are in, that you cannot find a specious pretence to discharge me from my employments, though the series of your former behaviour in that kind towards your friends, makes me believe you will be soon provided of a cause to lay me by, for you have hitherto (as I may so say) rid so fast, that you have seemed to be mounted rather upon Post-horses, than those which were your own, leaving them still at their stage's end, and taking fresh ones; one while none but Barkley Legg and Ashburnham must serve your turn, and the King must either be brought in, or it must be thought so, soon after, when his head comes to be cut off, the Levellers must when that is well over, the Presbyterian must be Courted till the war of Scotland be ended, and their nest fired; next to this an expedient in Religion must be thought upon, and a Committee for Propagation appointed, into which, as into the Ark, all kind of creatures must enter, soon after this Blackfriers men must be encouraged to cry this down, and the Parliament too, for going on too fast with it, and for not reforming the Laws, till at length they being preached ripe for destruction, the members of Parliament must be removed, and such honest godly persons chosen to succeed them, as may make the people forget monarchy; but these are presently cashiered too, for endeavouring to perform what they were called for, as if they had been summoned only to beat a Commonwealth out of the Pit, and serve for a foil for the new monarchy; next, because we have no more varieties of fashions or instruments, we must revert to our Monarchical Grandees again, these are now the only wise men, for having disinherited you, and foreseen all this, the only firm States men, for sticking to their principles, these must now be called the honest party, whilst those who were so the last year are styled factious fellows, and to make this relish the better, there must be sought out instruments of an inferior capacity to the Grandees, who never had any other principles than fear and avarice, and who never disdained to be flatterers in any age, I mean Divines and Lawyers, whom the late fright they were in for tithes and Reformation, hath made them now more supple then formerly; the first of these must now preach up tyranny, as much as ever they have done liberty, they who once said the people, or the Saints, were the Lord's anointed, must now recant that Doctrine, and say its the Lord's Protector, and must even prostitute the Jus Divinum of their Ordination itself, to an Ordinance of your Highness, and for the latter, they must make that just and honourable in you, which they thought. Treason in the Earl of Stafford; those who condemned Ship-money, must cry up the monthly Taxes in their Circuits and charges, and such who scrupled council-table Orders formerly, must now swear to, and judge by such Laws, as you can make a dozen in an hour, without the trouble of twice reading or engrossing, nay, the same persons must be a High Court, and hang men for striving to oppose monarchy to day, who yesterday did the same to them who would have brought it in: But my Lord, we will have patience to expect the end, it will be that which must give the denomination to all this, which if it terminate in liberty, will be esteemed prudent policy, if in the contrary, it will have another name; but lest your Highness should think, that either myself, or any honest man here, do place our hopes of a good issue to this business in the next Parliament, as you call it, I will presume to disabuse you in that particular, and give you that which I conceive to be the judgement of the world concerning it, at well as mine: First, than my Lord, it is understood to be a creature of your will and power, the definition of the places, the qualification of the persons, the summons, and all other incidents belonging unto it, deriving themselves wholly from you, and your assumed office, so that if there be a flaw in the justice of legality, of that which is the foundation, what can be hoped for in the superstructure? it might be objected in the next place, the people having already chosen a Parliament, which have not received any formal, (or as it was once called) legal determination, could not be in a capacity to choose another, because this would seem to grant, that any prevailing violence might, even in that sense of Law, dissolve a Parliament; but I leave this as that which comes too near Treason; another thing which renders the whole scrupellous is, that your Highness should think the people fit to have a share in Government, and give Laws, and yet should make yourself so far Paramount to them at the same time, as to confine them by the Instrument and Indentures, what power they shall delegate to their trusties, if the original of all just power be in the people, as we have been taught by the Parliament, how comes there to be a Jurisdiction superior to theirs, which must command them what to do with that power, and what instructions to give those who represent them? but if that Doctrine be not true, what need they be disturbed in their harvest work, to choose and send needless ciphers up to London? and why cannot you rather, either as you do now, make laws still with the consent of the major part of seven men, or without it, or else take the pains, as you did lately, to name the persons, to be summoned yourself, this had savoured of much more ingenuity, and would have made us hope this deplorable estate we are now in, had been to last no longer than till you, with the advice of wise and honest Patriots, had been able to frame a model of present freedom for us, whereas things standing thus, there are sad apprehensions, that the countenance of a Parliament, and not their counsel, is sought for, and that specious pretence to deceive the vulgar are more aimed at and desired, then either the present good of the Nation, or any design of settlement for the future, and really what advantage could have been expected from the last Parliament, if the King, which called it, had encumbered it with an Indenture, that they should have power only to have secured his ends, but not to alter the Government, though he had taken them man by man, and murdered them, and doubtless this must be a precedent for all Kings and other usurped Powers, which shall succeed in England, to put all their Commands, Lusts and Projects into writing, and deliver them for a lesson to the people at their choice, till they have made their Indentures as long as Drury House Conveyance, till such time as the people of those Nations, like the Natives under the Spaniard in the Indies, shall be capable of no other office or employment, but to summon and bring in their fellows to the mines, and make them slaves; one advantage more towards tyranny in this business is, that those blocks laid in the way, will discourage many wise and honest Patriots, from suffering themselves being elected, and so the credit and reputation of this new Junto, will be as small as its authority, only this will render them somewhat more fit to serve the end for which they are appointed, viz. either to confirm this power as it is, or settle the old royalty in your line, or else perhaps find out some mongrel expedient, by which they will seem to retrench some part of this arbirrary sovereignty, and by that means, as much as in them lies, authenticate the rest; but the truth is, they do perform all that by summoning in; and not only so, but make all these poor blind people who elect them, to submit themselves to a voluntary slavery, by owning an authority destructive to their freedom, for either those they send, must not attempt to do them any service, or if they do, be perfidious and break their trust, since the only call they can pretend to, is the people's choice, and even by them they are confused by an instruction to approve this Government, and so undo all that hath been building up towards our liberty for these fourteen years: Next my Lord, because it is Commonly reported here that your Highness intends to resign your power, entirely and absolutely into the hands of those men when they are met, I will crave leave to say a word to that, to the end, you may perceive that there are some honest people even in Ireland who are undeceived in that point. First than they Conceive you may, as well and justly Resign it to your Council, they being equally your Creatures, and then they observe the fallacy of Leaving those men free, whom you have Caused to be bound ere they came there, and with such chains as you yourself cannot loosen, no more than a foreign Prince can Give an ambassador sent from hence Authority to Negotiate beyond his Commission, and those bonds which you have Laid upon them are concerning the very Essence of our Liberty, viz. the Government by one Person, which you were once so fully persuaded of that you said in your Declaration here, that you did believe that God was entering into a contest with Kings and Priests, and would very suddenly open the eyes of the Nations, so that within few years, there should not be either left in the whole world. Cease then, my Lord, to Flatter yourself any longer with an Opinion that the well affected people of any of these Nations will think any better of your Monarchy than they now do, when you shall seemingly have Laid it down to those men who have no power for any thing, but to restore it to you; and who are besides a product of your own will. A civil Army Raised by yourself to handle the Estates of your people, as the other perhaps do their persons when they are purged and fitted to the principles of A Turkish Empire, and possibly you had this, this thought when you made this model, that because it was probable (and it fell out since) that the Most wise and honest part of the Gentlemen of England would not suffer themselves to be persuaded to come into your Council, nor own your government, therefore you would make the people of that Nation your Lictors, who should send you four hundred men bound hand and foot to perform your commands, and who should have power to tax, poll, and oppress them, but not the least shadow of any to relieve them: And here I cannot chose but touch at one thing often alleged; and it is, that if you do rightly and duly administer justice, the Nation will be happy that you took this power, for it matters not who Governs so they Govern well, for my part I wholly dissent from, and detest this opinion, and do conceive it to have been invented first by some Lawyer or other flatterer, merely to satiate their present apostasy, for if it will be granted that there is in the most pure and incorrupt part of mankind, a natural instinct or inclination to Liberty in Government (which is for aught I know) the only thing that distinguishes them from beasts for that the creature hath no Reason, or no Religion, cannot infallibly be said by us as it can, that they never attempt to rule themselves by laws but suffer a Monarchy over them, to be either in the strongest of themselves, or in us, without ever attempting to assert their freedom) than it will likewise be confessed that it is a vile and an unnatural Passion in us which makes us prefer estate, much more a little quiet or ease, before that liberty which is so essential to us, and for this I have the example of all those excellent Persons and Nations whom their own hazards and adventures in this behalf have styled so in the universal esteem of all mankind; indeed if the contrary to this were true, it would follow as Mr. Goodwin holds, that any Person who believeth in his conscience that he could govern better than others do, might, nay is bound to use all means to attain to power, and acquire the Government, the consequence of which will be that if any man will call his Ambition Conscience, no known Laws, no Constitution of Estate, no Common Right, in fine nothing divine or human aught to stand in this way. I dare go yet farther and affirm that nothing can be more pernicious to these Nations at this present, then for you to govern well, for it would Palliate the assumed Power, and so hide it from the just indignation of this age, and prove like the guilding of poisonous pills, or Painting of Sepulchers, and be a bribing us out of our Rights and Liberties with a seeming justice, nothing but this can jull asleep so many Patriots, who have been often awakened with Drums and Trumpets, to adventure their lives against a Tyrant; neither indeed could any other thing than the just and happy Reign of Augustus Caesar, have given the last defeat to the Roman liberty, or made way for those Monsters who succeeded. You see then my Lord what a business you have undertaken, when you have made it the interest of honest men to wish that you may commit all Excesses, and use more violence, break more Laws and ties, in carrying on this arbitrary sovereignty than you have done in the assuming of it. My Lord, I beseech your highness to pardon the length of this Letter, which could not well have been made shorter, for that the intention thereof is to evince, first, that to continue this present government upon us or any thing like it, would be most injurious in you, not only because it is most contrary to your own trust and oaths but even against common right and justice, and in the next place that there is no necessity of a new erected Royalty, the nature and Condition of those Nations being so proportionable to a Commonwealth that we are no way fit to receive any other form, but by an outward force and violence, besides that we have spent our blood and fortunes for it, and in the last place to show that we are not easily deluded into a belief, that either the next assembly or any expediencies that arise from thence have any right or likelihood to mend our conditions; I shall next give your highness a short account of myself, and then humbly take my leave. I took up arms with the first in the quarrel of the Parliament, not as a mercenary, as not having before my eyes the temptation of my Masters pay or the spoil of their enemies, but purely and solely out of a conscientious desire to free my Nation from slavery and oppression, and having confirmed my judgement in this, I did examine my zeal and resolution, and believed it had enough of both to hazard myself, for such a cause; in which expectation I thank the Lord, I have not yet found myself deceived; How I have behaved myself since I came under your command, it would seem vanity for me to relate, if my former and present usage did not make it necessary for me to say that for my Justification, which I should never have said for boasting; this excuse makes me bold to lay before you some of my services, as well as my personal discouragements: your Highness may please to Remember, (here some particulars are left out which would detect the person who wrote the letter) notwithstanding all which I am yet satisfied to go on with my employment here, and to be faithful in it, as being for the advancement of the Common Cause and against the Common Enemy, and yet if I were assured that you did intend to perpetuate upon us this slavery (after you had disolved the Parliament, for an imputation of endeavouring to perpetuate themselves) I should have many scruples against serving you in Scotland, whither we are very liable to be transported; for what Reason is there that we should not give them leaves to be Governed by their Native King, and whom they had received by their Parliament? and at the same time seek to impose upon them by force another Prince of our Nation, whom we had chosen for them, or rather had chosen himself, what can you think my Lord the just God, who hath been used to decide upon appeals would do in this quarrel, if they should have recourse to him with faith and prayer? Alas my Lord you do not consider how much these thoughts do weaken the hands and hearts of those poor righteous and precious souls, who are yet left in the Army and who pour forth their tears and prayers daily before the Lord on your behalf, that you may find mercy in this day of your temptation, that so they may not be traduced to have slain so many men as Bravoes to your designs, and that you would make use of the Great power you are now possessed of to settle and transmit to succeeding ages a state of Lasting freedom which a small trouble and force would accomplish, whereas this Government must be eternally supported by violence, no unnatural things being permanent without it, or if this cannot be, their prayers and desires are that you would summon a free unlimited Parliament (consisting of such that have not forfeited their liberties) not bound or fettered by Indentures, and divesting yourself of all power and Command, you would leave the whole sway & Government to them, and swear the Army to obey them, by this means the Nation would either enjoy their liberty, or have the choice & imposition of their own yoke; nor is there any Reason except you will do one of these, upon which you can excuse the dismission of the Parliament, for that it was within their power and design to make Indentures in the behalf of Liberty, which would have had an unquestionable Authority as well as a more Noble end, than those you have compelled for the Contrary; If you shall wholly refuse all things of this kind, and obstinately resolve to go forward in your way you now take, you will want the hands, hearts and prayers of all God's people in these Nations; and though the principles of some of them may not give leave as private men to make you any further opposition, yet they will wash their own hands, and deliver their own Souls, and beseech the just God of Heaven and earth, who hath appeared so visibly and Miraculously for this Cause of freedom, and whom no hypocrisy can deceive, no false oaths, nor tears prevail upon to judge between you and these poor oppressed and deluded people, but if yet you shall Answer their hungry expectations of Liberty; you will give Glory to God, increase to his Church, flock and Religion, which hath been grievously dishonoured by those actions, immortal fame to yourself, safety to your Posterity, happiness to mankind, and will have the lives of many thousands entirely at your service and Command, and amongst the rest that of  
Waterford this 24 June 1654. Your most humble and most faithful Servant R. G.   

POSTSCRIPT.  
REader, that this letter should not be exposed to public view so long after the date thereof, I hope will not possess thee with any prejudice against it the honesty and reason of the tract and faithfulness of the Author to that good old principle of common justice, equity and liberty, secured in the most noble form of government, viz. The people's representative may commend it to thee, indeed that hath been the Axletree of the cause which God so signally blessed us in, and since it was broken (although upon pretence of going faster on in the obtaining of our liberties) hath blasted us, wherein that saying is verified Melius in via claudicare quam extra viam currere. It was the design of the old, so it is of the new Court, to estrange the people from, and work them out of love with Parliaments, many honest well meaning men being too much led away with that mistake. The Author mentioneth his fear of the last Representative not of their judgement in, & affection to the public cause of liberty, but by reason of that restriction in the indenture framed to serve the interest of the present Protector. But indeed the Gentlemen deserve an honourable esteem from all English men, who though they could not do the good desired by us, and doubtless intended by them, yet would not do us the evil (which a powerful party endeavoured to court and threaten them unto) in perpetuating by any act of theirs our vassalage to the present Grandees, or revoke those acts which maketh it treason for any single person to assume the supreme Magistracy. I shall only add this as the earnestly desire of myself and of many who are friends to the good old cause, that the Lord would be pleased to guide us in the attaining of a free Representative, which may assert our liberties, and secure them to posterity, which will be a glorious answer to the faith, prayer, expense of blood and treasure, both of the godly and likewise of the rest of the freeborn people of England who have been faithful to the common cause of justice and liberty.  
FINIS.