The Digger Movement in the Days of the Commonwealth Part 18

If thou reject, and still remain a froward Son to be, Another Land will it receive, and take the Crown from thee.

REV. 11-15. DAN. 7. 27.

LONDON.

Printed for the Author, and are to be sold by Giles Calvert at the Black Spred-Eagle at the West end of Pauls."

As already mentioned, it opens with a Dedicatory Letter--

"To His Excellency OLIVER CROMWEL, General of the Commonwealth's Army in England, Scotland and Ireland"--

which commences as follows:

"SIR,--G.o.d hath honored you with the highest honor of any man since Moses' time, to be the head of a People who have cast out an oppressing Pharaoh. For when the Norman Power had conquered our forefathers, he took the free use of our English Ground from them, and made them his servants. And G.o.d hath made you a successful instrument to cast out that Conqueror, and to recover our Land and Liberties again, by your Victories, out of that Norman hand."

Winstanley then indicates Cromwell's duty, as well as the alternative ways open to him, in the following words:

"That which is wanting on your part to be done is this, To see the Oppressor's Power be cast out with his person; and to see that the free possession of the Land and Liberties be put into the hands of the Oppressed Commoners of England. For the Crown of Honor cannot be yours, neither can these Victories be called victories on your part, till the Land and Freedom won be possessed by them that adventured person and purse for them.

"Now you know, Sir, that the Kingly Conqueror was not beaten by you only, as you are a single man, nor by the Officers of the Army joined to you; but by the hand and a.s.sistance of the Commoners, whereof some came in person and adventured their lives with you, others stayed at home and planted the Earth, and paid Taxes and gave Free Quarter to maintain you that went to war.... And now you have the Power of the Land in your hand, you must do one of these two things: First, either set the Land free to the Oppressed Commoners who a.s.sisted you ... and so take possession of your deserved honor. Or, secondly, you must only remove the Conqueror's power out of the King's hand into other men's, maintaining the old laws still; and then your wisdom and honor will be blasted for ever, and you will either lose yourself, or lay the foundation of greater slavery to posterity than you ever knew."

A marvellous prophecy, truly! Cromwell could see nothing in Winstanley's demands save that they tended "to make the Tenant as liberal a fortune as the Land-lord,"[165:1] which did not conform to his sense of the eternal fitness of things. Winstanley then continues:

"You know that while the King was in the height of his oppressing power, the People only whispered in private chambers against him; but afterwards it was preached upon the house-tops, that he was a Tyrant, a Traitor to England's Peace: and he had his overturn.

"The Righteous Power in the Creation is the same still. If you and those in power with you should be found walking in the King's steps, can you secure yourselves or posterities from an overturn?

Surely No.

"The Spirit of the whole Creation (who is G.o.d) is about the Reformation of the World, and he will go forward in his work.[166:1] For if he would not spare Kings, who have sat so long at his right hand, governing the world, neither will he regard you, unless your ways be found more righteous than the King's.... Lose not your Crown; take it up and wear it. But know that it is no Crown of Honor till promises and engagements made by you be performed to your friends. _He that continues to the end, shall receive the Crown._ Now you do not see the end of your work unless the Kingly Law and Power be removed as well as his person."

THE COMPLAINTS OF THE PEOPLE.

He subsequently returns to his original subject, as follows:

"It may be you will say to me, _What shall I do?_ I answer, You are in place and power to see all Burthens taken off from your friends the Commoners of England. You will say, _What are those burthens?_

"I will instance in some, both which I know in my own experience, and which I hear the people daily complaining of and groaning under, looking upon you and waiting for deliverance.

"Most people cry, We have paid taxes, given free-quarter, wasted our estates, and lost our friends in the wars, and the Task-masters multiply over us more than formerly. I have asked divers this question, _Why do you say so?_

"Some have answered me that promises, oaths and engagements have been made, as a motive to draw us to a.s.sist in the wars, that Privileges of Parliament and Liberties of Subjects should be preserved, and that all Popery and Episcopacy and Tyranny should be rooted out. And these promises are not performed. Now there is an opportunity to perform them.

"For first, say they, the current of succeeding Parliaments is stopped, which is one of the greatest privileges (and people's liberties) for safety and peace. And if that continue stopped, we shall be more offended by an hereditary Parliament than we were oppressed by an hereditary King.

"And for the Commoners, who were called Subjects while the Kingly Conqueror was in power, they have not as yet their Liberties granted them. I will instance them in order, according as the common whisperings are among the people."

THE POWER OF THE CLERGY.

"For say they, The Burthens of the Clergy remain still upon us, in a threefold nature.

"_First_, If any man declare his judgement in the things of G.o.d contrary to the Clergy's report, or the minds of some high Officers, they are cas.h.i.+ered, imprisoned, crushed and undone, and made sinners for a word, as they were in the Popes and Bishops days; so that though their names be cast out, yet their High Commission Court Power remains still, persecuting men for conscience sake, when their actions are unblamable.

"_Secondly_,{9} In many Parishes there are old, formal, ignorant Episcopal Priests established; and some Ministers, who are bitter enemies to Commonwealth's Freedom, and friends to Monarchy, are established preachers, and are continually buzzing their subtle principles into the minds of the people, to undermine the peace of our declared Commonwealth, causing a disaffection of spirit among neighbours, who otherwise would live in peace.

"_Thirdly_, The burthen of Tythes remains still upon our estates, which was taken from us by the Kings and given to the Clergy to maintain them by our labors. So that though their preaching fill the minds of many with madness, contention and unsatisfied doubting, because their imaginary and ungrounded doctrines cannot be understood by them, yet we must pay them large Tythes for so doing: this is Oppression."

THE POWER OF THE LAWYERS.

"_Fourthly_, If we go to the Lawyer, we find him to sit in the Conqueror's Chair, though the King be removed, maintaining the King's power to the height....

"_Fifthly_, Say they, if we look upon the Customs of the Law itself, it is the same it was in the King's days, only the name is altered; as if the Commoners of England had paid their taxes, given free-quarter, and shed their blood, not to reform, but to baptize the Law with a new name, from Kingly Law to State Law....[168:1]

And so as the Sword pulls down Kingly Power with one hand, the King's Old Law builds up Monarchy again with the other."

THE MAIN WORK OF REFORMATION.

"AND INDEED THE MAIN WORK OF REFORMATION LIES IN THIS, TO REFORM THE CLERGY, LAWYERS AND LAW; FOR ALL THE COMPLAINTS OF THE LAND ARE WRAPPED UP WITHIN THEM THREE, NOT IN THE PERSON OF A KING."

"_Sixthly_, If we look into Parishes, the burthens there are many."

AND OF LORDS OF MANORS.

"_First_, For the Power of Lords of Manors remains still over their Bretheren, requiring Fines and Heriots, beating them off the free use of the Common Land, unless their Bretheren will pay them Rent, exacting obedience as much as they did, and more, when the King was in power.

"Now saith the People, By what Power do these maintain their t.i.tle over us? Formerly they held t.i.tle from the King, as he was the Conqueror's successor. But have not the Commoners cast out the King, and broken the band of that Conquest? Therefore in equity they are free from the slavery of that Lordly Power.

"_Secondly_, In Parishes where Commons lie, the rich Norman Free-holders, or the new (more covetous) Gentry, overstock the Commons with sheep and cattle, so that the inferior Tenants and poor Labourers can hardly keep a cow, but half starve her. So that the poor are kept poor still, and the Common Freedom of the Earth is kept from them, and the poor have no more relief than they had when the King (or Conqueror) was in power....

"Now saith the whisperings of the People, the inferior Tenants and Laborers bear all the burthens, in laboring the Earth, in paying Taxes and Free-quarter above their strength, and in furnis.h.i.+ng the Armies with soldiers, who bear the greatest burden of the War; and yet the Gentry, who oppress them and live idle upon their labors, carry away all the comfortable livelihood of the Earth.

"For is not this a common speech among the People, We have parted with our estates, we have lost our friends in the wars, which we willingly gave up because Freedom was promised us; and now in the end we have new Task-masters, and our old burthens are increased.

And though all sorts of people have taken an engagement to cast out Kingly Power, yet Kingly Power remains in power still in the hands of those who have no more right to the Earth than ourselves.

"For say the people, If the Lords of Manors and our Task-masters hold t.i.tle to the Earth over us from the old Kingly Power, behold that power is broken and cast out. And two Acts of Parliament have been made. The one to cast out Kingly Power, backed by the Engagement against King and the House of Lords. The other to make England a Free Commonwealth."

He then still further supports his fundamental contention in the following unanswerable manner:

"If Lords of Manors lay claim to the Earth over us from the Army's Victories over the King; then we have as much right to the Land as they, because our labors and blood and death of friends, were the purchasers of the Earth's Freedom as well as theirs. And is not this a slavery, say the people, that though there be land enough in England to maintain ten times as many people as are in it, yet some must beg of their bretheren, or work in hard drudgery for day wages for them, or starve, or steal, and so be hanged out of the way, as men not fit to live on the Earth? Before they are suffered to plant the waste land for a livelihood, they must pay rent to their bretheren for it. Well, this is a burthen the Creation groans under; and the subjects (so-called) have not their birth-right freedom granted them from their bretheren, who hold it from them by Club-Law, but not by Righteousness."

WHAT IS TO RULE?

"And who now must we be subject to, seeing the Conqueror is gone? I answer, We must either be subject to a law or to men's wills. If to a law, then _all_ men in England are subject, or ought to be, thereunto.... You will say, We must be subject to the Rulers. This is true, but not to suffer the Rulers to call the Earth theirs and not ours; for by so doing they betray their trust and run into the line of tyranny, and we lose our freedom, and from thence enmity and wars arise. A Ruler is worthy double honor when he rules well; that is, when he himself is subject to the Law, and requires all others to be subject thereunto, and makes it his work to see the Law obeyed, and not his own will; and such Rulers are faithful, and they are to be subjected unto us therein: For all Commonwealth's Rulers are Servants to, not Lords and Kings over the people."[170:1]