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<DATE>2014-11-05</DATE>
<RESPSTMT>
<NAME>Mona Logarbo</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B140730.pdcc.</ITEM>
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<IDG S="marc" R="UM" ID="B43733">
<STC T="W">P3999A</STC>
<BIBNO T="oclc">688634844</BIBNO>
<VID>212051</VID>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="letter">
<PB REF="1">
<PB REF="2">
<PB REF="2" MS="y">
<HEAD>Mr. PRYNNES LETTER To the <HI>Borrough</HI> of <HI>NEWPORT</HI> in <HI>Cornwall,</HI> for which he &s;erves in <HI>PARLIAMENT.</HI></HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>GENTLEMEN,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>BEING freely and unanimou&s;ly elected by you (without my privity or &s;eeking) to &s;erve as one of your <HI>Burge&s;&s;es</HI> in this <HI>Parliament,</HI> I have &s;ince my entrance into the Commons Hou&s;e (the 7th of <HI>Novemb.</HI> la&s;t) endeavoured to the be&s;t of my skill &amp; Judgement, faithfully to di&s;charge that tru&s;t and duty you repo&s;'d in me, (according to my Con&s;cience) to put a &s;peedy and happy period to our <HI>unnaturall</HI> long-la&s;ting bloody <HI>Warres,</HI> and &s;ettle a <HI>firme well|grounded peace,</HI> upon &s;uch Terms of <HI>honor, freedom, &s;afety,</HI> &amp; <HI>advantage,</HI> as no Subjects under Heaven ever yet enjoyed from the Creation til this pre&s;ent, What my indefatigable endeavours were herein, in drawing up al the <HI>Bills</HI> upon the <HI>Kings Conce&s;&s;ions</HI> in the late <HI>Treaty,</HI> is wel known to mo&s;t of the <HI>Members</HI> then &s;itting, and what I delivered in the <HI>Hou&s;e</HI> upon the <HI>Debate</HI> of the <HI>Kings An&s;wers to our Propo&s;itions</HI> up|on the whole <HI>Treaty</HI> (with a &s;incere and publike &s;pirit, ayming at no|thing but yours and the whole Kingdomes felicity and pro&s;perity, not a|ny private intere&s;t of mine owne) I have &s;ent you here in print, being fal&s;ely charged by a new erected <HI>Generall Councell of Officers of the Army</HI> (who have <HI>trayterou&s;ly</HI> u&s;urped to them&s;elves the <HI>&s;upreame Au|thority of the Kingdom,</HI> &amp; again&s;t the knowne <HI>Priviledges of Parlia.</HI> the <HI>Liberty of the Subjects,</HI> and the <HI>Law of the Land</HI> forcibly &s;ei&s;ed on my &s;elfe, and divers other <HI>eminent Members</HI> going to the Hou&s;e to di&s;charge our duties, on the 6th. and 7th. of <HI>December</HI> la&s;t, in pur&s;u|ance
<PB REF="3">of the <HI>Treaty,</HI> and &s;ecluded me and them from &s;itting there ever &s;ince, to yours and the whole Kingdomes prejudice) among other &s;ecu|red Members in the gro&s;&s;e, <HI>for an Apo&s;tate from the publike tru&s;t which you repo&s;ed in me, only for this</HI> SPEECH, <HI>and the</HI> VOTE of the <HI>whole hou&s;e,</HI> for the <HI>&s;ettlement of the Kingdomes peace,</HI> made in pur&s;uance of it; they having no particular matter el&s;e to charge mee with [had they any ju&s;t power to impeach or &s;eclude me, which they have not) but this alone. How <HI>perfidiously</HI> and <HI>iniuriou&s;ly</HI> they have dealt with, and how <HI>&s;candalously</HI> they have traduced and libelled a|gain&s;t me, and the other <HI>re&s;trained Members</HI> in print, upon this occa|&s;ion only, you may reade in the <HI>Epi&s;tle to the Reader;</HI> though mine and the other <HI>Members</HI> innocency be &s;o per&s;picuous, that they confe&s;s, <HI>they have yet no particular matters of impeachment again&s;t us,</HI> after a|bove 7. weeks impri&s;onment, <HI>but promi&s;e &s;hortly to produce &s;ome</HI> [if they can:) whereas their owne <HI>Trea&s;onable Rebellions, violences, per|iuries</HI> and crimes, written with <HI>Sunbeams</HI> in their very foreheads, are vi&s;ible to all the world, and need no witne&s;&s;es to prove their gvilt; their late unparallel'd exorbitances and proceedings both again&s;t the <HI>King, Parliament, Lords, Members, City and Countrey</HI> being knowne and apparent unto all. <HI>I</HI> &s;hall therefore appeale from the&s;e <HI>u&s;urpers,</HI> (who have no more Authority to que&s;tion or re&s;train me, for any reall or pretended <HI>breach of my Trust, as a Member,</HI> were I guilty of it, then the meane&s;t <HI>Servant</HI> hath to call his Ma&s;ter to account for mi&s;|governing his family, or to &s;hut him out of doores:] unto you alone, who elected me, and are be&s;t able to know and judge of your <HI>own tru&s;t;</HI> de&s;iring your &s;peedy re&s;olution of this Que&s;tion, <HI>Whether in that here in &s;poken or voted by me, I have any wayes violated the tru&s;t or faith which you and every of you repo&s;ed in me?</HI> For which <HI>Speech and Vote,</HI> though <HI>I</HI> am <HI>Iudicially accountable</HI> only to the <HI>Commons Hou&s;e,</HI> which knowes the true grounds upon which I went, and can only truly <HI>Iudge</HI> of what was there &s;poken and voted (none <HI>being</HI>
<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 chunk">i judi|<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 chunk">, cog|<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 chunk">&s;e. SE|<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="2 letters">CA.</NOTE> <HI>fit to Iudge</HI> any thing but tho&s;e <HI>who know and hear it too</HI>) the <HI>maiority</HI> of which hou&s;e concurred with me in the <HI>vote,</HI> without any divi&s;ion: yet, I hold my &s;elfe in &s;ome &s;ort mini&s;terially <HI>accomptable</HI> unto you for whom I &s;erve as the propere&s;t <HI>Iudges,</HI> without the <HI>Hou&s;e doores,</HI> of what I &s;pake or <HI>voted</HI> in your behalfe. From whom I &s;hall humbly reque&s;t &s;o much right and ju&s;tice, upon the peru&s;al of the <HI>inclo&s;ed Speech</HI> and <HI>papers,</HI> [which I de&s;ire may be read openly before all my <HI>Electors</HI> at your next
<PB REF="3" MS="y">
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<PB REF="4">
<GAP DESC="duplicate" EXTENT="1 page">
<PB REF="4" MS="y">publique meeting) as to te&s;tify to the world under your <HI>hands</HI> and <HI>&s;eals</HI> (which you &s;et to the return of my <HI>Election</HI>] your own Iudgements &amp; opinions, <HI>whether I have betrayed or broken the Tru&s;t you repo&s;ed in me or not, by what I</HI> &s;pake or <HI>voted in this debate?</HI> and what &s;ence you have of the Armies forcible &s;ecluding and impri&s;oning me [your <HI>Bur|ge&s;&s;e</HI>] from the <HI>Hou&s;e,</HI> among other <HI>Members,</HI> above &s;even weekes &s;pace together, contrary to mine and your <HI>undoubted Priviledge;</HI> how farre you conceive your &s;elves obliged by ought that hath been or &s;hall be concluded or voted in the Hou&s;e during the <HI>Armies force</HI> upon it, &amp; your <HI>Burge&s;&s;es</HI> [&amp; mo&s;t other <HI>Members] violent &s;eclu&s;ion</HI> thence, again&s;t all <HI>Law</HI> and <HI>pre&s;ident,</HI> and what reparations you expect for this high <HI>Injustice</HI> to your &s;elves and me: With what el&s;e you think fit to determine touching the premi&s;es: And if you deeme it nece&s;&s;ary, to returne your re&s;ults herein to me, with all convenient &s;peed: who &s;hall make the be&s;t advantage thereof for yours, mine owne and the Kingdomes benefit: who&s;e <HI>peace</HI> (by Gods ble&s;&s;ing) had been fully &s;et|tled to your <HI>hearts content</HI> before this time, had not the <HI>Enemies of Peace</HI> (who gaine their livings by the Warres) interrupted our procee|dings by <HI>Impri&s;oning</HI> and &s;ecluding the greate&s;t part of the <HI>Members,</HI> and particularly</P>
<CLOSER><DATELINE>From the <HI>Kings Head</HI> in the <HI>Strand</HI> <DATE>Ian. 26. 1648.</DATE></DATELINE>
<SIGNED>Your mo&s;t affectionat friend and faithfull &s;ervant and Burge&s;&s;e. WILLIAM PRYNNE.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
<TRAILER>To his honoured Friends the Vianders and free Bur|ge&s;&s;es of the Borrough of <HI>Newport</HI> in Cornwall, the&s;e pre&s;ent.</TRAILER>
<PB REF="5">
<PB REF="5" MS="y">
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<PB REF="6" MS="y">
</DIV1>
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