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<DATE>2014-08-27</DATE>
<RESPSTMT>
<NAME>John Pas</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B140522.pdcc.</ITEM>
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<IDG S="marc" R="UM" ID="B25920">
<STC T="W">L1757</STC>
<BIBNO T="oclc">[ocm]12175015</BIBNO>
<VID>197009</VID>
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<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>A LETTER WITHOVT Any Super&s;cription, Intercepted in the way to <HI>LONDON.</HI></P>
<P>Publi&s;hed, that the poore people of <HI>England</HI> may &s;ee the intentions of tho&s;e whom they have followed</P>
<P>Printed in the Yeare, 1643.</P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="letter">
<PB N="2" REF="2">
<HEAD>A Letter without any &s;uper&s;cription, intercepted in the way to LONDON.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>SIR,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>VVE could not till now &s;end you an An&s;wer of your Letter with any account of our &s;ervice; for be&s;ides the danger of conveyance to you, (it being ea&s;ier to pa&s;&s;e through the <HI>Cava|liers,</HI> whom a merry Tale or two of the <HI>Roundheads,</HI> pre&s;ently reconciles to us, then through our Army; your Souldiers being &s;o unruly, that they call our good Lord Major nothing but <HI>faith|full I&s;aack;</HI> and as familiarly rob tho&s;e who have his Pa&s;&s;e, as you would have them doe the Papi&s;ts.) The truth is, our mee|tings are not &s;o ea&s;ie or &s;o &s;afe as they have beene, by rea&s;on many places of the three Counties, even where they &s;eemed to come readily into the A&s;&s;ociation, grow every day malignant, in&s;omuch, that ou<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">ting, which you know &s;hould have bin the Thur&s;day before the Fa&s;t, that &s;o, upon peru&s;all of your In|&s;tructions, we might have agreed in what manner to have wor|ked upon our Auditories that day; we came not together till Munday, and then wanted the information of our friends of <HI>Gloce&s;ter,</HI> and the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of our brother by <HI>Warwick</HI> neither of which came to us &s;o that our Coun&s;els and Re&s;olutions want much of that vigour and perfection you might have expected, which we hope &s;hall be &s;upplyed when the Lord &s;hall bring us next together. In the meane time we give you &s;uch adverti&s;e|ments, and offer &s;uch Propo&s;itions to your con&s;ideration, as in &s;o &s;hort a time (for we parted the next morning) could be di&s;|ge&s;ted,</P>
<P>We are much afflicted at the Di&s;tractions above; you mu&s;t take the more care to &s;uppre&s;&s;e the Munity, and to compo&s;e all private differences, le&s;t if the people, upon who&s;e weakene&s;&s;e we have wrought to advance the wonderfull things we have de&s;igned, &s;hould now be as mad again&s;t us, as they were for us; and having beene taught by us to throw &s;tones at the Bi&s;hops
<PB N="3" REF="2"> and their Adherents, &s;hould now learne of them&s;elves to teare us in pieces; and if feares and jealou&s;ies, with which we have corrupted mens loyalty to the King, &s;hall now divide us a|mong&s;t our &s;elves, and make us feare and hate one another: though &s;uch accidents may fall out by the &s;ubtilty of our ene|mies, yet the wicked will make the people thinke it a judge|ment of God Almighty, the beleeving of which will doe us more mi&s;chiefe, then the thing it &s;elfe.</P>
<P>Our neighbour who went &s;o long with us, and you know is of &s;o great power with the Countrey, by his notable oppo&s;ing of Ship-money, and all the high cour&s;es of that time, doth us now mighty hurt, by telling the people what the Law is, and that all you doe is again&s;t Law. He &s;aid openly before much company the other day, <HI>Th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t when your declaring fit was upon you, you cared neither for God nor man.</HI> We de&s;ire you to con&s;i|der, whether it be not fit &s;peedily to &s;end for him, and to keep him in &s;afe cu&s;tody, with the other bad in&s;truments you have taken from many places; or becau&s;e there may be many more &s;uch mi&s;chievous per&s;ons in other Counties, and &s;ince you have declared away the twentieth part of their e&s;tates from them, mo&s;t men begin villanou&s;ly to enquire how the Law &s;tands; whether it be not now time to declare, That being intru&s;ted by the whole Kingdome, rather to improve their Condition, and provide new Liberties and Priviledges for them, then dul|ly to take care that they be onely as happy as their fore-fathers; you intend to avoyd all the old Lawes, and to make better in their places, and that hereafter you will be no more &s;wayed by what is lawfull, but what is fit. Be&s;ides, that you have pretty well prepared people to looke for it, by tho&s;e excellent Argu|ments you pre&s;cribed for the taking away of the Kings negative voyce; you will by this finde away by degrees to fall in your expre&s;&s;ions of duty to His Maje&s;tie, which &s;eeme rather to make again&s;t you then for you, when they appeare not to come from your heart; and when you have once intimated and com|municated your purpo&s;e of making a reall alteration in the go|vernment, no body can imagine the King is to continue as good a man as he is now, and &s;o any di&s;re&s;pect towards him will be the more popular and allowed.</P>
<PB N="4" REF="3">
<P>This Con&s;ideration we rather pre&s;ent to you as a hint for your grave wi&s;edomes to debate and enlarge, then as any for|med opinion of our owne, which we pre&s;ume not to deliver; and with the &s;ame &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion offer the&s;e following <HI>Quae<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e's</HI> to your better Re&s;olution.</P>
<P N="1">1. Whether in regard very many per&s;ons are &s;candalized at the continuance of this Parliament, whereby they are out of hope to be admitted to the &s;ervice of their Countrey; and ma|ny of our owne deare&s;t friends would be glad to have a more immeditate hand in the wonderfull things which are done, and to have the liberty for the bettering their under&s;tanding, to make &s;ome experiments upon the Commonwealth too, it be not fit to declare, that though you never intend that this Parliament &s;hall be di&s;&s;olved, yet by an Ordinance of both Hou&s;es you will adjourne every yeare for the &s;pace of forty days; during which time, every County and Burrough &s;hall make a new election, by a Warrant under the <HI>Speakers</HI> hand, whereby good men may take their turnes in the &s;ervice, and you be quit of tho&s;e who will not for feare or love be of your mindes; or if there cannot &s;afely be &s;o long a Vacation, le&s;t the Law might then come in credit againe and oppre&s;&s;e us; or if there be any doubt, that if the Countrey were once rid of many of the principall Mem|bers, it would never choo&s;e them againe; Whether for the pre&s;ent it were not fit by Ordinance to enable &s;ome good con|fiding townes, as <HI>Hull, Gloce&s;ter,</HI> and any other place in which you have Garri&s;ons, to &s;end foure or &s;ixe Burge&s;&s;es: Since you have &s;etled the &s;tanding Committee, and by that means brought all bu&s;ine&s;&s;e into a few hands, you need not care how many you admit to the Hou&s;e, which is the onely objection again&s;t the later.</P>
<P N="2">2. Seeing the people are per&s;waded to follow us by no Ar|gument more then by making them beleeve, that what we doe is in oppo&s;ition to Popery; whether it be not fit to declare all &s;uch who come not in and &s;ubmit by &s;uch a day to be Papi&s;ts.</P>
<P N="3">3. Whether it be not time to publi&s;h &s;ome Ordinance a|gain&s;t the Booke of <HI>Common-Prayer,</HI> that the &s;pirit may have freedome and e&s;timation; and whether it be not fit to ordaine,
<PB N="5" REF="3"> that any man of gifts may preach and teach in any places; for though the &s;ame be permitted, it will not be of that efficacy till it receive &s;ome countenance from publique Authority.</P>
<P N="4">4. Whether it be not yet time to declare your intentions of levelling degrees, that the common people may take the more heart to &s;econd you; and if &s;o, whether it be fit to pa&s;&s;e &s;ome Vote on the behalfe of tho&s;e few Noblemen and Per&s;ons of quality, whom you have found true to you, or to &s;ecure their per&s;ons, and transferre the tru&s;ts you have committed to them to men of our owne condition; for as you could never have gotten the Kings Navie, if there had not beene fir&s;t care taken to have removed &s;o many Gentlemen from command, and to preferre Skippers and watermen to their places; &s;o you will never &s;ettle a through Reformation on Land, till you have removed all Noblemen and Gentlemen from pretending to pri|ority in re&s;pect of their quality.</P>
<P N="5">5. Whether it be not fit to publi&s;h &s;ome Declaration or Vote of both Hou&s;es again&s;t morall hone&s;ty, as well to di&s;cre|dit tho&s;e people, who upon their reputation of living well, op|po&s;e the common cau&s;e with more credit and advantage with the people; as for the countenance of &s;uch, who notwith&s;tan|ding their vitious and debo&s;hed lives, are great promoters or a&s;&s;i&s;tants of the good worke in hand; which in many places is thought the wor&s;e of, for the knowne villany and di&s;hone&s;ty of the Factors.</P>
<P N="6">6. Since the Reformation of the Church Government, is not like to be fini&s;hed in a long time, e&s;pecially if the Ceremony of the Kings con&s;ent to what you enact &s;hall be thought worth the &s;taying for; &s;o that Super&s;tition is like to grow and con|tinue among&s;t us, whether it may not be fit by an Ordinance of Parliament to make all &s;uch children incapable to inherit, who from this time &s;hall be Chri&s;tned with the &s;igne of the Cro&s;&s;e; which may &s;trike &s;uch a terrour into their Parents, who by &s;eeing the &s;trange things you have done within this la&s;t year, will beleeve you may be as good as your words hereafter too, that they will rather not Chri&s;ten them at all, then incurre the cen&s;ure of the two Hou&s;es.</P>
<P N="7">7. Since you have now publi&s;hed your di&s;like, and hatred
<PB N="6" REF="4"> of all Newters, and &s;uch who would willingly looke on, and grow wi&s;e at your charge, without being as deepe in as your &s;elves; and that you re&s;olve to proceed again&s;t all &s;uch as ene|mies to the publique Peace, according to your di&s;cretion; whether it be not time to define your termes of Art, and to de|clare, That by <HI>Evill Councellours,</HI> you intend all tho&s;e who pre&s;ume to &s;peake or thinke ill of any Member of either Hou&s;e; or of any per&s;on imployed by them: By <HI>Malignant,</HI> all &s;uch who beleeve, that more obedience is to be given to the Acts of former Parliaments, then to the Orders and Votes of this, and &s;o &s;hew their wit in &s;tead of their duty, to the infecting and troubling many well di&s;po&s;ed mindes in the publique &s;er|vice. And by <HI>Cavalier,</HI> all tho&s;e who impiou&s;ly de&s;ire to pre|&s;erve the degrees and di&s;tinction of men, and thinke that any learning or education can enable them to judge of Rea&s;on, Sen&s;e, and Iu&s;tice, as well as the repre&s;entative body of the Kingdome. La&s;tly, that by <HI>Popi&s;hly affected,</HI> you intend all tho&s;e of the Clergie and Layty who doe not abhorre the pre|&s;ent Government of the Church, and thinke that any &s;et forme of Prayer can equally be to the edification of the People, as the dictates of the Spirit; that &s;o the weake people of the Country, who cannot &s;o well conceive your meaning, as they that are wi&s;er may know whom they are to be again&s;t, and &s;o without gathering into great bodies, may do your worke in Villages by de&s;troying your Enemies as they meete with them, as well as if they came in thou&s;ands to his Excellencie.</P>
<P N="8">8. Becau&s;e the impri&s;oning of men is an impropular thing, not as 'tis ualawfull, but as it takes away Liberty, which people of all &s;orts de&s;ire; and becau&s;e the Country and the Cavaliers are like to fill all your City Pri&s;ons, notwith&s;tanding the large addition of receipt you have made for &s;uch purpo&s;es: whether for the &s;ub&s;tantiall Citizens and Inhabitants of London, you were not better put people of hone&s;ty and tru&s;t into their hou|&s;es to overlooke them, by Order of both Hou&s;es, as in the ca&s;e of a Malignant Shop-keeper, by Ordinance of Parliament to make a Brother of the &s;ame Trade his fore-man, allowing him &s;uch wages as you thinke fit, whereby you &s;hall know all the
<PB N="7" REF="4"> &s;ecrets of the hou&s;e, and &s;uch hone&s;t men for whom you are bound to provide many opportuities to doe them&s;elves good too.</P>
<P N="9">9 Whether con&s;ideration &s;hould not be taken, that all great marriages of great Heites, and rich Widdowes, be di&s;po&s;ed by Ordinance of both Hou&s;es, for the encouragement of well|affected Per&s;ons, and that tho&s;e wordly and temporall ble&s;|&s;ings may alwaies be &s;ure to follow the Hou&s;hold of Faith.</P>
<P N="10">10 Since mo&s;t of our friends are put out of the Commi&s;&s;ions of Peace in all Counties, and others put in, who endeavour to di&s;countenance your proceedings, and the Country people will yet pay &s;ome regard and re&s;pect to tho&s;e places; whether it be not fit to make a &s;tanding Committee in every County, who un|der pretence of the &s;ervice of the Hou&s;e, and upholding the Priviledges of Parliament, may take notice of all matters, and &s;end for all Per&s;ons according to their di&s;cretion, and &s;o the Kings Authority, and the Kings friends &s;hall quickly be &s;up|pre&s;&s;ed, and di&s;-regarded.</P>
<P N="11">11 Whether it be not fit to publi&s;h &s;ome Declaration of both Hou&s;es of the nature of Trea&s;on, that wel di&s;po&s;ed people be not di&s;turbed with the vulgar interpretation of the Law in that point, in which care mu&s;t be taken not to leave the Prince in a better condition then his father, but as you have provi|dently di&s;tingui&s;hed in the Kings ca&s;e between his Per&s;on, and his Office, thereby enabling men without danger of the Law to con&s;pire the death of the King in the behalfe of his office; So that &s;ome other way may be found to interpret the like at|tempts upon the Prince who hath no office, in &s;uch a manner, that the Subject may not be more re&s;trained from exerci&s;ing his Con&s;cience upon him, then upon the King, which el&s;e will be a great di&s;heartning to the pre&s;ent inclinations.</P>
<P>La&s;tly, &s;ince many men are troubled at the Oathes of Alle|giance and Supremacie, which they tooke long &s;ince, when they had no hope that the truth would have beene manife&s;ted thus cleerely to them, and of which Our Enemies &s;eem to have &s;uch Advantage upon their con&s;cience; whether it be not fit fir&s;t by the Re&s;olution of &s;ome godly Mini&s;ters to ab&s;olve them
<PB N="8" REF="5"> of tho&s;e very Oathes, as beene unprofitably done in the bu&s;i|ne&s;&s;e of Brainceford by the&s;e two Lamps of our Religion, the Reverend <HI>Downing,</HI> and <HI>Mar&s;hall,</HI> and for the future by an Ordinance of both Hou&s;es to enjoyne all men to take the &s;ame oathes againe <HI>(mutatis mutandis)</HI> to his Excellency for the time being; for while&s;t you make any mention of the Kings per&s;on in any oath or prote&s;tation, the fooli&s;h people will be apt to beleeve you intend &s;ome regard to him, and &s;o are ea|&s;ily di&s;couraged in the duty of their &s;everall callings.</P>
<P>The&s;e con&s;iderations were the effect of our ha&s;ty con&s;ulta|tions, which we de&s;ire you with our humble re&s;pects to pre|&s;ent to <HI>the Worthies,</HI> whether they (or &s;ome of them) are fit yet to be put in execution, we mu&s;t leave to you, who are upon the place, and can onely judge what is &s;ea&s;onable to be done; onely we mu&s;t &s;ay this, that it is nece&s;&s;ary to lay out &s;ome new Baite for the people; and we conceive it will be bet|ter to per&s;wade them that Peace is not good for them (which may be improved by many pretty arguments) then to endea|vour to make them beleeve that you endeavour to procure it. and that the King refu&s;es to grant it. Above all, be &s;ure you never give over calling for Delinquents, nor admit any way of Tryall to them, but your owne Votes; for if you &s;hall once al|low them any Rule to be tryed by, every body will take upon them to cen&s;ure your judgements, and thinke them&s;elves as wi&s;e as you, which is the greate&s;t breach of Priviledge that can be imagined.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
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