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<DATE>2014-06-24</DATE>
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<NAME>John Pas</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B140428.pdcc.</ITEM>
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<IDG S="marc" R="UM" ID="B19059">
<STC T="W">C2493</STC>
<BIBNO T="oclc">[ocm]12175358</BIBNO>
<VID>197206</VID>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>A Me&s;&s;age with a Letter &s;ent by his Maje&s;ty to Prince <HI>Ru|pert,</HI> at or before the time of the taking or &s;urrendring of Litchfield and the clo&s;e.</P>
<P>Willing and commanding Prince <HI>Rupert</HI> not to u&s;e any cruelty upon the Inhabitants of the afore&s;aid City of Litchfield, but with all po&s;|&s;ible care and providence to pre&s;erve the lives of our mi&s;&s;ed and blinded people: Al&s;o to let the inhabitants upon rea&s;onable quarter depart the place with Bag and Baggage, to the end that no bloud might be &s;pilt, whereby it may become an Acceldama, &amp;c.</P>
<P><FIGURE>
<FIGDESC>arms of Charles I</FIGDESC>
<HEAD>C R</HEAD>
<P>HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE</P>
<P>DIEV ET MON DROIT.</P>
</FIGURE></P>
<P>Printed for <HI>I. Vnderwood</HI> neare the new Exchange. 1643.</P>
</DIV1>
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<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="letter">
<PB REF="2">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD><FIGURE>
<FIGDESC>royal badges of house of Stuart: Tudor Rose, Scottish Thistle, Fleur-de-lys, Harp</FIGDESC>
</FIGURE> A Me&s;&s;age, with a Letter &s;ent by his Maje&s;ty to Prince <HI>Rupert,</HI> at or be|fore the time of the taking or &s;urrendring of Litchfield and the clo&s;e, &amp;c.</HEAD>
<P>_TRu&s;ty and wel-beloved Nephew Prince <HI>Robert,</HI> although Wee know that your own knowledge and experience can conduct you in all military af|faires, and that your loving affection unto us hath beene approved by many te&s;timonies and reall demon|&s;trations in your con&s;tant and faithfull &s;ervice, per&s;onally performed in our war, which we have endeavoured &s;o much to decline, &s;eeking and heartily per&s;uing after peace, which de&s;ires of ours cannot yet bee obtained; wee would have you therefore with us patiently waite the divine opportu|nity, which can in a moment &s;ettle and compo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e the uni|ver&s;all di&s;tractions of our Kingdome, and by no meanes &s;eeke to anticipate divine revenge on our &s;ubjects. For we are fully per&s;waded that a great part of our loyall people do recant and deeply cogitate and thinke on the fractions and
<PB REF="3"> divi&s;ions of our di&s;turbed State, and doe wi&s;h that by &s;ome happy and effectuall meanes they <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 word"> once clo|&s;ed againe: But as the beginning is the harde&s;t in all mat|ters of importance, &s;o now our Subjects being entred into this laborinth of errour and refractory di&s;obedience, cannot &s;uddainly find out the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> of rea&s;on and religious loyalty to guide and leade them back again<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">; the way of a peace and accomodation is that which is portended to be &s;o hard to finde, and like ab&s;urd and weake actions that can onely fit their humour and fancy unto one part, &s;o our Kingdome being now made the &s;tage of war, they can pre&s;ent nothing but daily skirmi&s;hes, taking of Townes, and many ho&s;tile pa&s;&s;ages, whereas in&s;tead of performing the parts of &s;oul|diers it would become them far better to fall down on their knees, and with a loving &s;ubmis&s;ion comply with us for the happine&s;&s;e and peace of our Kingdome, the ruine whereof (as in other Countries) mu&s;t needs bee the con&s;e|quent and effect of a civill war. We doe thus open our mind unto you, that you may have a cleare pro&s;pect into our mer|ci<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ull thoughts in the pro&s;ecution of this war, which wee follow and maintaine not voluntarily but being neces&s;ita|ted thereunto, and we wi&s;h that our people had never beene &s;o far blinded and drawne into fal&s;e opinions of us and our integrious intents, as we &s;hall an&s;wer one day, if it bee our faults, before the high Tribunall, that we mu&s;t u&s;e &s;o &s;harpe a medicine as the &s;word to cure their malady and their deceived under&s;tandings, and that ungrounded opi|nion &s;hould prevaile among&s;t them above all our former royall expres&s;ions, and patheticall implorations of Heaven, as the con&s;tant witne&s;&s;e of our thoughts and actions. But yet all <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">his cannot make us forget our &s;elves as they doe; we will containe our &s;elves within the limits of a King,
<PB REF="3"> and our good example &s;hall wou<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d our &s;ubjects with the thought of their unmindne&s;&s;e d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="3 letters"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">o than the &s;word, which wounds but gently, but con&s;cient &s;ti<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">es home indeed; all our &s;ubjects &s;hall ever find us in the mid&s;t of Armes and &s;ucce&s;&s;efull victories (which we attribute to God) mercifull, and not in any thing de&s;irous of the bloud &s;hed of our peo|ple, and as after the hure&s;&s;e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">d vattaile at Edge-hill, wee gave you our Nephew and all our &s;ouldiers mo&s;t hearty thankes for the great valour and loyall &s;ervice that day per|&s;onally expre&s;&s;e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">, but yet withall wee told you, that wee were &s;orry then had beene &s;o much effu&s;ion of bloud, and that all in both Armes were our &s;ubiects, for who&s;e lo&s;&s;e in that merciles battaile wee were exceedingly and deepely grieved, &s;o our tender affections to our &s;ubjects that &s;hall be ever &s;uch, that we &s;hall alwaies &s;mart in their calamities, e&s;teeming them as our owne. And as wee have largely ex|pre&s;t how we &s;tand affected to our people, and what our griefe for them is, that this inte&s;tine civill war &s;hould bee &s;till pro&s;ecuted to our and their great detriment lo&s;&s;e and &s;orrow, &s;o we would have you wel-beloved Nephew, and all others that imploy their endeavours to doe us &s;ervice, in all ho&s;tile manner to mingle &s;everity with mercy, that your and their carriage, and behaviour towards our &s;ub|jects may gaine upon their opinions, and take their affecti|ons rather than their Townes, that they may know our Army is the power of their King, armed not to their de|&s;truction but conver&s;ion; and therefore wee lovingly charge and de&s;ire you our affectionate Nephew Prince <HI>Robert,</HI> to looke on our people in all your marches and attempts as on our people and &s;ubjects, capable of reclaiming though now mi&s;led; we would have therefore all your actions as deri|ved from us, and the influence of our mercy &s;hew us a King
<PB REF="4"> tender of the welfare of our &s;ubjects, and as a Father will not deale with his offen<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ing children with any rigorous violence, but doth declare his Iu&s;tice with a compul&s;ive unwillingne&s;&s;e, &s;o doe you imitate us in carrying affections and intentions to our &s;ubiects, not as Lyons but as friends di&s;agreeing that may hereafter be happily reconciled; &s;ince it <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">oth &s;hew a Prince more neere to Heaven to pre&s;erve than de&s;troy. And &s;ince this civill flame cannot be &s;uddaine|ly quenched, let us not pull down the Kingdome into ruine and deve&s;tation, but goe on this war in a &s;aving way, &s;ince the lo&s;&s;e is as great on our &s;ide as on our &s;ubiects part, wee &s;end you this premotion, becau&s;e wee expect daily to bee more engaged with ho&s;tility, and great forces are advan|cing towards us, with what intentions we know not, but &s;uch they appeare that we mu&s;t re&s;olve to oppo&s;e them and their pretences, as contradictory to our De&s;ires and Com|mands, and preiudiciall to the &s;afety of our Per&s;on, and therefore we would have you know our Royall Will and plea&s;ure is, to bee mercifull <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> all our de&s;ignes whereunto we &s;hall by the in&s;tigation of an Army advancing towards us be provoked, de&s;iring you and all our loving &s;ubiects and Commanders to deale temperately, and with as much curte&s;ie and humanity with all our other &s;ubiects on the contrary part, as if all our performances and actions in ho&s;tile manner were by them nece&s;&s;itated and not by us de|&s;ired, for though we have cho&s;en Oxford yet a while to bee our place of Re&s;idence, and of our Army for the &s;afety of our Per&s;on, we doubt not but that as the Soule is not contay|ned in one but every part of the body, &s;o our power will bee &s;o largely diffu&s;ed and extended through all and every part of our Kingdome, that we &s;h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ll not want &s;ufficient &s;trength to re&s;i&s;t any oppo&s;ing forces, if any be &s;o impuous to attempt
<PB REF="4"> &s;uch violence again&s;t us under &s;pecious and faire &s;hewes and pretences. We know that our army is much m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ligne<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> as if it were repugnant to the good of the Common-weal<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">h to accept of our &s;ubiects &s;ervice in the&s;e great and civill di|&s;tractions, doe you therefore good Nephew by your mana|ging all affaires in this civill war, teach our people to bee undeceived in us thou mercifull King, let your farre actions make it appeare that you are no malignants, no evill Coun|&s;ellours, but that you &s;tand in defence of us as much as they protend to doe, and that you &s;eeke not the ruine and de|&s;truction of our kingdomes, which a&s;per&s;ions are ca&s;t upon you, which can be no acceptable &s;ervice unto us, that &s;o all our &s;ubjects may be convinced that all the calamities which this civill war &s;hall introduce upon this land are occa&s;ioned by malevolent opinion and ungrounded furie, and not from <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s, and as you have begirt and de&s;ieged our City of Litch|field, &s;o have a care of &s;pilling or &s;hedding innocent bloud which are among&s;t them; but &s;pace when you may de&s;troy, &s;ave where time and opportunity gives vantage: let our &s;ubjects if they will or de&s;ire, it have free quarter, &amp; march with bagge and baggage forth of our City, provided they doe not u&s;e any out-rages, or offer violence to the &s;aid town of Litchfield, and hereof faile not as you de&s;ire the good of us, who de&s;ire nothing more than the good happine&s;&s;e and peaceable government of our kingdome, and not the effu&s;i|on of the bloud of our &s;ubjects, mercy being the highe&s;t at|tribute of a King.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="postscript">
<PB REF="5">
<HEAD>The Po&s;t-&s;cript.</HEAD>
<P>YOur Highne&s;&s;e may under&s;tand by this Letter his Maje&s;ties reall intenti|ons, how your princely thoughts ought to be &s;teered in your re&s;olutions, and in all your warlicke affaires and enterpri&s;es,</P>
<CLOSER><SALUTE>Sir,</SALUTE>
<SIGNED><HI>J am yours to command.</HI> Edm. Nicholas.</SIGNED>
<DATELINE><HI>From the Court at Oxford</HI> <DATE><HI>Aprill</HI> 18. 1643.</DATE></DATELINE></CLOSER>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
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