A COPY OF A LETTER Writ from Sergeant Major KIRLE, to a friend in Windsor.  
SIR,  
YOu were pleased to command a constant account from me, as the only requital you would receive for admitting me an Officer in the Parliament Army; and though divers things have come from us, which have been either doubted or contradicted, and seem to have no other credit then the close Committee; yet what I am now about to tell you, shall run none of those dangers, but that with a great deal of confidence you may report, both in public to the House, and in private to my friends that I am now at Oxford; nor shall your wonder last long for by that time I have declared upon what grounds at first I undertook that service, and upon what reasons I have since deserted it, I shall without doubt (where there is charity or reason) free myself from the imputation of dishonour, and undeceive others that are as I was, seduced.  
About the time these distempers began here, I returned from serving the Swede in Germany, and the States in Holland, in both which Countries; I can without vanity say, I did nothing to the dishonour of my own, as this absence made me ignorant of the condition of the Kingdom; so it rendered me more inclinable to receive an employment from the Parliament: for though neither my youth, nor this profession are curious after the affairs of State; yet so common were the grievances in that unhappy concture of time, when I went abroad, that I retained the same impressions in me at my coming home, especially when I saw the complaints remain, but did not know that the causes were taken away: thus possessed with prejudice, it was no hard thing for me to believe, that the pretences of the war (in themselves so specious) and the employment therein, to be full of Honour, Justice and Piety; and that there needed not the importunity of my nearest friends, or an argument from the necessity their former severity had cast upon me, nor an invitation from yourself, to seek for the preferment you speedily procured me.  
How have I behaved myself, while I was of your mind, and in that service will be best judged by those, that know that from a Lieutenant I was soon preferred to be Captain of a Troop raised to my hand: and shortly after, to be Sergeant Major to the Earl of Stamfords' Regiment of horse: what prisoners I took, what contribution I brought in, what places and Towns I secured, appears by the testimony given of me, and the thanks I received from you. It is not therefore Necessity has made me leave you to go to the King, from whom you have taken not only his revenues which should give him bread, but the benevolences (as fare as in you lies) of his People that should maintain his Army. It is not ambition, to forsake a certain benefit for an uncertain employment, and (in justice) as doubtful a pardon: It is not malice for any particular neglect or injury, for I must confess no man received greater kindness from his superior Officers, or more ample thanks from yourselves than I hrve done; nocivill humane respect, but a perfect discovery of those false lights, that have hithetto misled me, and the deep apprehension of the horror which attends the persevering in such errors.  
I must confess (though you would little think it) that Master Sedgwicke Chaplain to that Regiment, first opened my Eyes, and moved me to that refliction upon myself, which set me since in the right way; not by his persuasions or conversion, (for I can assure you, you may still confide in him) but by the spirit (not that pretended to of meekness and peace but) of fury and madness; he revealed the misery of this war, and in his inspired rage, broke the shell (Religion, safety of the King, Liberty and Propriety) and shown us the kernel (Atheism, Anarchy, arbytrary government and confusion) what was meant else by his saucy and impertinent talking to God Almighty, whom he seemed rather to command then entreat? what was meant else by his traducing the King, and cursing him, while he seemed to pray for him; and presently with a tone as gentle as his language magnify the Worthies, the Estates assembled in Parliament; what was meant else by encouraging violence, and sharing in things plundered? not had one man given me a just prejudice of the cause, but that I saw the whole lump of these pseudo-clergy, seasoned with the same leaven, who hate (and so instruct the people) an innocent ceremony, but thirst after blood, who abhor learning and Bishops, but adore ignorance and division, who while they are severe (and therein they do well) against drunkenness and adultery, and they make robbery rebellion sacrilege and murder, become virtues, because they are in order to effect their designs; and truly I had not trusted my ears, if the same and much more had not been confirmed by my eyes; for those few Regiments then with us, were a perfect model of the whole Army; and most certain I am, that all the Officers of no one▪ Company were all of the same opinion what Religion they fought for: Some loved the book of Common Prayer and Bishops, others were zealous for extemporary prayers and Elders, another thought Bishops so many Elders, and Elders so many Bishops, and therefore they fought to set Jesus Christ in his throne (meaning) independency: Some liked the Chaplain of the Regiment, another thought his Corporal preached better; some had so much of the spirit they wanted courage, and when they should fight, thought it better to pray, or else declared it was revealed unto them they should be beaten, and to fulfil the prophecy, threw down their Arms; and one would think, that every Company had been raised out of the several Congregations of Amsterdam, who wanted not Scripture for every mutiny, who plunder and call it God's providence who if they cannot prove any of quality to be a Papist, yet as he is a Gentleman he shall want grace; and that is title enough to possess the estates of all that are more richer than themselves: and in truth had it not been for this persuasion, you might have made riots but not a war; for under the promise of Malignants estates, are included, not only those that directly take part with the King but all those too that shall not concur with you in all things; hence it is that those were thought meritorious, who voted Bishops out of the House of Peers, but are become Malignants, because they will not put them out of the Church; hence some that contributed with a large hand to this war, received marks of favour, but are become Malignants, because they will not give all that they are worth; hence those that in tumults creid for justice were worthy of thanks, but are become Malignants, because they will help to depose the King: I shall not need to tell what dishonourable and indirect means have been used to these ends, what burdens have been laid upon weak consciences of some men by Divines, what preferment have been promised to some, what threaten have been used to others; the sending of Horses, money, plate, shall expiate for past sins, or cover others which by their busy emissaries they haven found out, and will otherwise discover▪ he that has power in his Country and will use it for you may oppress his neighbour, who must not sue him because he is in their service, and if he would be revenged it is no hard thing, to procure a warrant and the Sergeants man, and lay him up till he find an accusation, or produce one he never means to prove. I could instance in divers, who have been by these allurements, invited to this war, and so to the ruin both of themselves and families; nor can I forget that more obvious artifice, which has made the press the fruitful Mother of many Bastards; when the taking three scouts in an Alehouse, has been made at London, a Castle and the defeat of a Regiment, and Cler. Parl. has made the pamphlet sell for a truth, when a defeat has been voted a victory, and to muse the people an Order has been made, that God should be thanked for it; and indeed the Officers at last found that to tell truth when they had the worst; sometimes endangered their cashiering, always procured them an ill opinion; and when they saved the labour of doing the contrary, they were the better used and therefore of late have justly wracked betwixt this Scylla and Charybdis, while they rather complied with their humour then obeyed Truth, so that Religion is but the reverend name for blood and ruin; and it is most evident, it was only used as a disguise, that we might with the more case devour one another, which nature otherwise would forbid us to do.  
Next to this, nothing wrought more upon me, than that strange mystery, that fight for the safety of the King, was shooting at him, as at Edgehill and else where, where I thank God I was not; for sure the apprehension is ●o horrid unto me, that had. I been in that action, the wounds of my conscience could never have been healed; I am told the Laws are very severe, not ●ot only against those that raise Arms against the Crown, and after violence ●o the person of the King, but extend even to the intentions, words and thoughts; certain I am Religion and Nature, rank treason and rebellion among the foulest sins, and follows them with the worst of punishments, and doubts Ravailla might as well have excused his bloody fact, by saying the King was in his way, when he stabbed him; as those that justify these late actions, by saying His Majesty was among their enemies, when he was on his own ground, and amongst his own Servants: And who ever shall consider what His Majesty has done before this water began, in reparation of these errors past, what calumnies and reproaches he hath suffered since (injuries not to be born by private spirits) how beyond hope and expectation His Army rise from being despised to be justly feared; and lastly, what royal promises, sacred protestations he has so often and so solemnly made, cannot but renounce Charity and Honour, or else he must believe and trust His Majesty, ressent His sufferings, and acknowledge the miraculous hand of God in His preservation.  
But I must confess the reason of complaining against you for using the King no better, seems to grow less, whilst the Subject is in a much worse condition. Laws we have indeed, but they are so little exercised, that shortly they will be buried in the places of those late risen Fundamentals, which no man yet could ere discover where they lay; when for the liberty of the Subject, there is such good provision made that whereas one Gaol was enough for a whole County, now there is more than one almost in every Parish; when the superscription of a letter (and may be that feigned too) the information of a malicious neighbour: a fear, a jealousy, deprives many of their liberty, some of their lives, most of their healths and fortunes; when the petitioning for Laws established, and for peace (without which we can enjoy neither Laws nor Truth) are become (with the crime of Loyalty) the only things punished; and with such a severity that as no condition so spares, no age is spared; the youth entering into the world and having undergone the labour of a prenticeship, instead of being made free of the City, are to serve again in a prison; and those reverend Aldermen who have gone through the several Offices of London with honour, stooping under the weight of many years, and the infirmities thereof, have been drawn from their hospitable houses, (and some from their beds, where extreme age had kept them many years before) to loathsome prisons, from thence at midnight in cold and stormy weather, in a little boat to Gravesend, and from thence to the unwholesome air of some port Town, that they might not live long, to bewail that banishment from their dear wives and children.  
And herein I acknowledge the greatest justice, for Propriety has no privilege above Liberty; for being lately at London I found Prisons and plundering went hand in hand and it is worth the observing how these disbursments like hasty weeds, grew on a sudden to so great a height; as first a gentle benevolence, than subscription, then sending in plate, next taxations by an order, at last the twentieth part by an Ordinance, besides those smaller diversions of under writing for Ireland, and spending it in this war, of gathering for the distressed Protestants of that Nation, and bestowing that charity upon the Ministers of our own, whose seditious Sermons, had brought a just poverty upon them; of sequestering estates and benefices, of taking Portions and keeping the Orphans upon public Faith, of seizing the Stocks of Churches, till by the same public Faith, they build or repair the same; and doubtless were not my thoughts more for the general, than my private interest, I might easily and by authority grow rich with the spoils of that propriety you seem to defend, and as others, be gallant with the overplus taken for the twentieth part; who likewise by an Order take the Coach Horses of persons of quality, and use them afterwards in their visits and to Taverns for the service of the Commonwealth.  
I had not made instance in so many particulars, but to justify myself thereby to all the world for what I have now done, which upon these considerations will be rather approved then condemned, by any that have not wholly given up their reason unto faction; for doubtless dishonour is fixed upon levity, ambition, cowardice, upon the persisting in that course which by conscience is declared unjust and irreligious. The breach of Articles renders void all Covenants, much more when that which is contracted for, is not only altered but subverted. They were but pretences not realities I have hitherto served under, and Justice and Honour commands me to leave them. Some Soldiers take Honour in so large a sense, that if they took pay under the Turk they would not desert him: The comparison is not amiss; but sure where there is such an indifferency, as to serve any for pay, Religion is no part of their Honour; but if they be of the Mahometan persuasion, I shall not blame them to be true to that service, no more than I do those here, if their consciences tell them decency and order is Antichristian, and Authority and Magistracy Heathenish: for certain I am, there is nothing more base and unworthy a Gentleman and a Christian then to forsake the dictates of his own reason and conscience to persist in an erroneous way, because he has already entered into it: If this false opinion of Honour should be received as Orthodox, it will be in the power of every subtle Sophister and cheating Mountabanke, to engage men for ever in ignoble actions, because they brought them since to an opinion that conduced thereunto. And lastly, whereas the end of war is peace, what hope can there be of a reconciliation, or that those that have got the Regal and supreme power into their hands, should ever leave that which they have userped, to resume that which they were borne to, or that the Officers of that Army should consent to a peace as long as they can have supplies of money; since that then a great part from being Colonels and Captains, must again betake themselves to their aprons and shops, and instead of receiving pay, must bethink themselves how to satisfy their beguiled Creditors: for my part, I am borne to no inconsiderable fortune, and as I abhor my name should be branded with treason, or that forfeited by a confiscation, so am I as loath we should ever be reduced to have a parity in either (which is aimed at) or have both buried in the ruins of this miserable Nation.  
I do protest had none of these promises wrought upon me, yet the very sight of His Najesties' Army, the discipline, unanimity, and exact obedience, thereof, the excellent conversation of so many gallant, and noble personages who know no other emulation then that of honour, who dare do any thing but what is base, and (on my soul) daily express hearty desires of peace (not out of any defect in the Army) but to prevent the ruin and procure the happiness of their Country: to conclude, what English Gentlemen that ever heard of the ancient honour of this Kingdom, or would preserve that of himself and family, can tamely see our courage (terrible sometime to foreign Nations) basely degenerate into a rebellion against our natural Prince, to whom malice itself can object no crime, and therefore casts upon him the faults of others, and since it cannot touch His Person, quarrels at His Crown: you see Him powerful at the head of His Army, and may see him glorious in his throne of peace, you ought not to doubt his justice, (and if you wlir) you may (as I have done) obtain his mercy.  
Sir, I have freely told you my sense, if it have any proportion to yours, and so incline you to that effect it hath wrought in me, I shall take it (next to the condition I am in) as the greatest happiness, and if I be so fortunate, since in these dangerous times you cannot safely convey it by letters, let me know it, by your publishing this, whereby also you may happily benefit others, and certainly oblige.  
Your humble servant, R. K.