A LETTER OF ADVICE TO HIS EXCELLENCY The LORD General Monck, TENDING To the Peace and Welfare of this NATION.  
Printed in the Year, 1659.   

May it please your Excellency,  
'TIs not out of any fear or distrust of your good intentions to the public good, that I assume the confidence, to excite you thereunto, your own inclinations I hope, though wrapped up in ambiguous expressions, fixes on the same thing: I must ingeniously confess my affection and zeal to your person, whom I infinitely esteem, is the only Motive of this Address unto you▪  
You cannot be insensible or ignorant, my Lord, how our expectations have been wearied (by those ambitious and self-interessed persons, who have too long sat at the Stern of Government) with promises of an immunity of our Privileges and Liberties, and a firm and glorious establishment of the Commonwealth; and yet to our Misery, and anxiety of soul, We have been so far from enjoying the Fruits thereof, that our Slavery and oppressions are become more intolerable than the Egyptian bondage; the specious and smooth pretences of those cunning Sophisters, whereby they have deluded many thousand persons, was nothing else but a vizard to disguise the cruelty of their wicked proceed, their actions have always run counter to their Protestations; and that pretended Liberty, which they so soothed up and inflamed the vulgar withal, hath proved nothing else but an imaginary Chimaera.  
My Lord, It is now perspicuous and evident to all the World, unless to those who are wilfully blind, that they never intended the public welfare, or any settlement in Church or State; but to carry on their own ambitious designs and private ends; the Foundation whereof, they have laid on the ruins of many Ancient and Honourable Families.  
My Lord, It is not my intention, nor do I think it absolutely necessary to rip up and lay before your eyes, all the particular Grievances of this miserable Nation, they are so many and so prodigious, that I should (seemingly) render myself guilty of notorious falsity to dilute them; I will leave that therefore to those, whose sufferings and unsupportable Oppressions, will cry loud in your ears, and penetrate your soul, which I hope will be so prevalent with your goodness and clemency, that you will speedily put a period to this tyrannical Power, and convene a Free Parliament, unto whom all public Grievances may be freely and amply propounded and redressed.  
My Lord, God hath given you that power now, whereof you may make a ●ery good use, which certainly if you neglect to do, your own ruin will infallibly follow: the Sword is now in your hand, it behoves you therefore speedily to cut off the head of that monstrous beast, that hath violated both Church and State, and rooted up both our Liberties and Privileges, never think or imagine yourself securely seated in their favour, by the services and obligations they have received from you; let the Examples of others, be a caution to you for that; and assure yourself, if you destroy not them, they will ruin you; and your only security depends upon their destruction; this must be the first thing you are obliged to do, in which you happily open a way for the calling of a Free Parliament: In doing whereof, give me leave to mind your Lordship of two or three Particulars of high concernment.  
First, Let there be an especial care taken in the Elections, that the persons be prudential and honest, and of considerable Fortunes.  
Secondly, That they be , and uninteressed in the late Kings, Queens, Bishops, or any other Lands, or otherwise.  
Lastly, That they may freely Debate, freely Vote, without searing the obstructing or menacing of an Army; this is the way to make it a happy Parliament, and us a flourishing People.  
My Lord, I have so high an opinion of your courage & heroical spirit, that I believe you dare attempt a more hazardous enterprise then this, for the dis-enslaving your Country; wherein I must confess I cannot apprehend you expose yourself to the least danger: several parts of the Nation have already declared for a Free Parliament, which if countenanced by so great a person as yourself, no doubt but they will venture their Lives and Fortunes, for the effecting thereof; and more than this, you are ascertained of the Assistance and Conjunction of the powerful and populous City of London, whose Declaration you have already seen, and whose Fidelity you need not doubt, and who are resolved never to own this arbitrary and tyrannical power.  
I need not tell your Lordship, I suppose you are already sensible of it, how the eyes of all people are fixed on you; and the great hopes they have already conceived of your Lordship's good intentions, have chained their Affections to you: 'tis on you Sir they look as their DELIVERER; and certainly 'tis in your power to make this a happy, or continue it a miserable Nation.  
My Lord, Give me leave to tell you the Advantages will accrue unto You, by the accomplishment of so glorious a Work, as the Establishment of this Nation: that sublimity of grandeur You have raised yourself to by your Sword, You need never fear a diminution of, the just and lawful Power you Erect, will not only confirm and settle You in it, and your Posterity after you, but gratify You with the highest Reward You can expect or imagine, as a Testimony of their deep resentment of Your real worth and merit: the Memory of Your Person will be Reverenced by succeeding Ages, and Your Name and Actions Recorded in the Annals of Fame, which neither Time nor Malice will be ever able to obliterate.  
Thus my Lord, I have briefly given You my ADVICE very faithfully, without flattery or fraud; God Almighty will bless You in the Management of it, 'tis the prayer of all good People, and of Me in particular, who am  
My Lord Your Lordship's most faithful Servant, T. J.