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<DATE>2010-05-04</DATE>
<RESPSTMT>
<NAME>Pip Willcox</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch Z100410.pdcc.</ITEM>
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<IDG S="marc" R="OX" ID="A89030">
<STC T="W">M1640</STC>
<STC T="T">E123_3</STC>
<BIBNO T="umi">99859841</BIBNO>
<VID>111940</VID>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>The Copy of a LETTER Sent to the KING BY Sir Jo. Meldrum.</P>
<P><HI>London,</HI> Printed for <HI>Jo&s;eph Hun&s;cott. Octob.</HI>
18. 1642.</P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="copy of letter">
<PB REF="2">
<PB N="3" REF="2">
<OPENER><SALUTE>Most Gracious Soveraign,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>_IT is held a common Tenet, That an Apologie doth imply an offence; Whereof if I were con&s;cious to my &s;elf in the lea&s;t breach of Allegiance, due to Soveraignty, I would not blu&s;h in the ingenious acknowledge|ment of my guiltine&s;&s;e; but would (in all humility) throw my &s;elf down at Your Maje&s;ties feet, though culpable in nothing el&s;e (&s;o far as my con&s;cience doth &s;ugge&s;t) but of a great aver&s;ene&s;&s;e in di&s;po&s;ition, and a great reluctation I have had within my &s;elf, again&s;t all the late proceedings have been attempted in Your Maje&s;ties Service; which (if it &s;hould be found criminall) there are not many of Your Maje&s;ties be&s;t advi&s;ed and be&s;t affected &s;ubjects or &s;ervants of any quality, who &s;tand either for the glory of God, The Honour of Your Maie&s;ty, or, The peace and happine&s;&s;e of the Kingdom, who <HI>(in foro con&s;cientiae)</HI> can plead guiltle&s;&s;e in that point: And if there be any of a contrary &s;en&s;e (who are con&s;iderable) It will appear (upon a &s;trict &s;earch) That flattery, &s;pleen, or emulation, hath rather tran&s;ported them then any thing el&s;e, will be found e&s;&s;entiall, to make &s;uch a breach as the Kingdom is threatned with; which (unprevent|ed) may bury them and their po&s;terities in the ruines thereof. The Zeal I have had to Your Maie&s;ties Fathers Service in <HI>Ire|land,</HI> in &s;etling the Province of
<HI>&V;l&s;ter;</HI> and to Your own Ser|vice at <HI>Rochell</HI> (which in my time hath had no example) will <PB N="4" REF="3"> vindicate me from any a&s;per&s;ion may be ca&s;t upon me, either of ingratitude, or di&s;loyalty: And that all Your Maie&s;ties favours have produced no other effects to me, but to have been made the &s;ubiect of all calumnies, and detraction, that malice could brand me with, and a deep engagement in 2000^<ABBR>l</ABBR> debt, after the &s;pending of 36 yeers of time in Your Maie&s;ties Fathers and Your own Service. I did adventure upon a great free|dome of di&s;cour&s;e with Your Maie&s;ty at <HI>Newca&s;tle,</HI> upon the &s;ubiect of War; which if it had taken any impre&s;&s;ion (&s;utable to the &s;incerity of my heart) as a bu&s;ine&s;&s;e of &s;o high a Nature did require, Your Maie&s;ty might have avoyded many unhappy accidents which have encountred all Your Attempts &s;ince that time; which cannot be interpreted to have &s;prung from any other &s;ource, th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">n from the ra&s;hne&s;&s;e, arrogancy, and ambition of &s;ome pre&s;umptuous &s;pirits, who have drawn Your Maie&s;ty upon ruinous Precipices, which could not but bring forth the like wretched effects: Their aym was at nothing &s;o much, as at the di&s;grace and overthrow of all Your Maie&s;ties well-affected and loyall &s;ubiects and &s;ervants, who were not &s;tamped with the Character of the time; and to engage Your Maie&s;ty in their unhappy Intere&s;ts of ambition, gain, malice, revenge, de&s;pair, and emulation; as if Your Maie&s;ties Crowns, and their de&s;pe|rate Fortunes, had had but one and the &s;ame Center; as if both had been ca&s;t in one Ballance, to &s;tand or fall, in the di&s;tractions of the times. When I did look upon the lamentable po&s;ture of three Kingdomes, reduced to a great height of de&s;olation and mi&s;ery: When I did perceive that no corner in all Your Dominions that could afford one good man, that was &s;en&s;ible of the purity of Religion towards God, of the Honour, Peace, and Safety of Your Maie&s;ty and Kingdoms; who did not groan under the exorbitances of the time: And when there was &s;mall probability (unle&s;&s;e by miracle) that Your Maie&s;ties Diadems could retayn that ancient lu&s;tre and beauty, nor tho&s;e <HI>Halcyon</HI> dayes of publike pro&s;perity Your loving &s;ubiects and their Ance&s;tors had formerly enioyed, under the Raigns of your Royall Progenitors (whil&s;t they kept a regular cour&s;e of Go|vernment with their Parliaments.) I could finde no better way to do Your Maie&s;ty a more agreeable Service, then by &s;topping
<PB N="5" REF="3"> the cour&s;e of a Civill War, &s;o far as could fall within the com|pa&s;&s;e of my endeavour, to embrace any fit opportunity offered (as to ca&s;t my &s;elf within <HI>Hull</HI>) whereby my real and affection to the publike good might be demon&s;trated, in a &s;ervice for the common Intere&s;t of Your Maie&s;ty and the Kingdom; which who&s;oever &s;hall go about to &s;eparate, cannot but expect &s;uch fearfull events as ordinarily do accompany all &s;uch, who would entertain and fo&s;ter a wofull Divorcement betwixt a Prince and his People; a wretched div<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;ion betwixt the head and the mem|bers; which (of nece&s;&s;ity) mu&s;t bring forth prodigious i&s;&s;ues, as may not onely &s;hake the foundation of Monarchy, but al&s;o overflow the fertile and plea&s;ant fields and valleyes of this Kingdome with &s;treams of innocent blood, which might be more &s;afely re&s;erved for more advantagious, and more honora|ble employments, then profu&s;edly &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">ent, in the ripping up of the bowells one of another, of Your Maie&s;ties good &s;ubiects, by an inte&s;tine War, which will divide the father from the &s;on, the brother from the brother, and the neere&s;t kin&s;man from his deare&s;t friend; and that (which is mo&s;t deplorable) the ground of the War mu&s;t ari&s;e from the un&s;etled and uncon&s;tant appe|tites of &s;ome factious and turbulent &s;pirits, overladed with the bitterne&s;&s;e of their own pa&s;&s;ions and intere&s;t, and at &s;uch an un&s;ea&s;onable time, when a more iu&s;t, and a more honourable &s;ubiect for a War, cannot be long wanting, if the un&s;ea&s;ona|ble di&s;tempers of the time could allow your Maie&s;ties good &s;ubiects a little time to breathe in the calm ayr, and happine&s;&s;e of a ble&s;&s;ed peace, untill &s;uch time as
<HI>France</HI> and <HI>Spain</HI> (by their mutuall cla&s;hings) have &s;o far debilitated each other, that both might run the hazard to be made the Stage for Your Ma|ie&s;ties ju&s;t indignation, provoked by the affronts have been put upon Your Maie&s;ties Father and Your Self, in the uniu&s;t detention of the Patrimony of a Grand-childe of this Crown, if there were a happy attonement with Your Maie&s;ties loving &s;ub|iects, &s;trongly cemented by a &s;trict corre&s;pondency with the <HI>Ne|therland</HI> Provinces, who&s;e friend&s;hip or immunity may do more good or hurt to the&s;e kingdoms, then the friend&s;hip or immunity of <HI>France</HI> and <HI>Spain</HI> ioyned together. The mi&s;erable &s;en&s;e of that War in <HI>Italy,</HI> by the pertinacious ob&s;tinacy of <HI>Charls</HI> the eighth, <PB N="6" REF="4"> which was &s;tirred up and fomented by the ignorance and ambi|tion of that proud Prelate, the Bi&s;hop of S. <HI>Malo,</HI> which did draw on his &s;hamefull expul&s;ion out of <HI>Italy,</HI> at the expence of his reputation, and hazard of his life: The deplorable event of that War, violently pro&s;ecuted by <HI>Charls</HI> the more hardy then wi&s;e Duke of
<HI>Burgundy,</HI> again&s;t the <HI>Swi&s;&s;es,</HI> which had no other ground but unmea&s;urable ambition, and the refu&s;all of redre&s;&s;e to &s;ome of the <HI>Swi&s;&s;es,</HI> who had but a Cart full of Sheep-skins taken iniuriou&s;ly from them, going to their Mar|ket, by the Count of
<HI>Romont,</HI> which was paid home by the lo&s;&s;e of his Baggage, by the lo&s;&s;e of his reputation, by the lo&s;&s;e of his Family (which for four Generations, had &s;tood in com|peti ion with the Emperour, and the French King) and in the end, by lo&s;&s;e of his life. The va&s;t and profu&s;e con&s;umption of more men and money, &s;pent by the King of <HI>Spain</HI> in that <HI>Bel|gick</HI> War, then might have reduced <HI>Italy</HI> and
<HI>France</HI> to that <HI>Austrian</HI> &s;ervitude (a&s;pired unto by
<HI>Charls</HI> the fifth, aiming at a fifth Monarchy) which if it had in time been nipped in the bud, might have been ea&s;ily prevented, by hearing the humble Petitions of a handfull of his &s;ubiects, oppre&s;&s;ed with the Ty|ranny of the Spani&s;h Government, may &s;erve as example of terrour to all great Princes, who (at the appetites of their &s;er|vants) will embark them&s;elves in &s;uch extricable errours, as are often accompanied with &s;udden and unfortunate events. Ma|ny great and honorable Actions have been brought to hap|py and, glorious conclu&s;ions, by Princes who have relyed up|on the valour and affection of their loving &s;ubiects; which (be|ing wanting) the examples of good &s;ucce&s;&s;e have been no le&s;&s;e rare, then of black Swans, either in ancient or modern Stories. The hearty acclamations of joy at Your Fathers entry to the Crown of <HI>England,</HI> the publike exultations at Your Maie&s;ties &s;afe return from <HI>Spain,</HI> will challenge a more kindely retribu|tion, then the expo&s;ing of the Fortunes and lives of Your good &s;ubiects to the inhumane butcheries of an inte&s;tine War, which (like a
<HI>Gangrene</HI>) hath already over-run the greate&s;t part of
<HI>Europe,</HI> and may (by the revolution of time, whereunto all &s;ub|lunary things are &s;ubiect) kindle &s;uch a fire here among&s;t Your good &s;ubiects, which wil not be quickly extingui&s;hed, by all the <PB N="7" REF="4"> plots &amp; practices of the time, nor without &s;ome hazards to your Scepters. E&s;pecially when &s;trangers (being invited by our di&s;tra|ctions) if they have power, ambition, and &s;ence of revenge, may endeavour to be &s;harers with Your Ma^t^i^e^s good Subjects, in the felicities of this Iland, as the onely place in <HI>Europe,</HI> which hath been long exempted from the thraldom and bondage of War, which undoubtedly they would have attempted before this time, if God (in his gracious providence and care of this Iland) had not &s;uffered <HI>France</HI> and <HI>Spain</HI> to be deeply embarqued over head and ears: The common quarrell of inva&s;ion which Princes never forget, if they can finde an opportunity to remember, The Je&s;uitick plots to extirpate the whole body of Prote&s;tants in this Iland, which (as it was in former times, the onely &s;afe Sanctuary and protection of all that &s;uffered under the tyranny of <HI>Rome</HI>) may (by the&s;e Machinations, rooted here too deeply) become a Cage for unclean birds to ne&s;tle therein, and di&s;turb the peace of the&s;e Kingdoms, as a powerfull effect of too much implicite tru&s;t put in &s;ome, who will prove in the end Your Maje&s;ties greate&s;t enemies, and of too much neglect of others, who will be found the be&s;t &s;upporters of the dignity of Your Per&s;on, and Crowns. And if there be a War really intended, there is a nece&s;&s;ity of a more &s;olid foundation then the prote|ction of evil and unadvi&s;ed Mini&s;ters, whom Your Maje&s;ties Predece&s;&s;our <HI>Henry</HI> the fourth of <HI>England,</HI> would have rather offred up as publike Victims to an offended Commonwealth, then that three Kingdoms &s;hould lye pitifully expo&s;ed to the hazards of a publike conflagration; which God in his mercy avert: I mu&s;t rather accompt him an ignorant Mountebank then a skillfull Phi&s;itian, who advi&s;eth his patient to apply a more violent remedy, then the nature of the di&s;ea&s;e will com|port with, orherwi&s;e the remedy may prove wor&s;t then the di&s;ea&s;e: Nor &s;hall I ever accompt him for a faithfull &s;ervant, who per&s;wadeth his Ma&s;ter to imbrace any action, which may more conduce to the advancement of any private intere&s;t of ambition, gain, malice, revenge, de&s;paire, or emulation, then to the &s;afety of his Ma&s;ters repuatiton and honour: Your Maje&s;ty doth well know, the different Characters antiquity hath put upon the two favorites of <HI>Alexander, Hephe&s;tion</HI> and <PB N="8" REF="5">
<HI>Craterus,</HI> the one loved <HI>Alexander</HI> out of con&s;cience, duty, zeale, and love as his Soveraign, the other loved the King for his magnificence, pompe, glory, and power; <HI>Alexander</HI> had to rai&s;e his fortune, and to make him great, not unlike to the
<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">egionary Souldiers that followed <HI>Germanicus,</HI> recorded by <HI>Tacitus,</HI> to have &s;aid
<HI>fortunam meum potius quam me forebatis,</HI> or &s;uch Court
<HI>Para&s;its,</HI> who do rather look upon the fortunes, then per&s;ons of great Princes: I pray God Your Maje&s;ty have not too many of the one, and too few of the other kinde of Servants; Pardon Dread Soveraign this freedom of &s;pirit, which no extremity, no power, no puni&s;hment can re&s;train, And which cannot but bur&s;t forth in this exce&s;&s;e of pa&s;&s;ion and grief, to &s;ee Your Maje&s;ty &s;o inclinable to give way to all &s;uch cour&s;es, which can pre&s;age no le&s;&s;e then a fearfull revolation, if Your Maie&s;ty &s;hould continue in a con&s;tant cour&s;e of being inexorable to the per&s;wa&s;ions, coun&s;ells, and petitions of Your loving Subiects, inviting Your Maie&s;ty to adhere to your great Councell of Parliament, who are only able to make Your maie&s;ty no le&s;&s;e happy &amp; glorious then any of your Royall Progenitors: God grant that in end, Your Maie&s;ty may be &s;en&s;ible of the Common callamities your good Sebiects are involved in, and that &s;ome proper occa&s;ion may be repre&s;ented, whereby every true and loyall Subiect may be encouraged, to offer up his &s;acrifice of blood, for the honour and &s;afety of Your Maie&s;ty and your whole Dominions, whereof none &s;hall be more prodigall Then</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Your Maje&s;ties mo&s;t humble and faithfull Servant, <HI>JO. MELDRUM.</HI></SIGNED></CLOSER>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
<PB REF="5">
</DIV1>
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