upon them unto the distressed and oppressed Commons or people of this Nation yea the setling of which principles is that that will thereby make it evident and apparent unto all rationall and understanding people in the world that the reall and hearty good and welfare of the people of this Nation hath cordially and in good earnest been that that their souls have hunted for and thirsted after in all the late bloody civill wars and contests All the Contests of the Kings party for his Will and Prerogative being meerly Selvish and so none of the peoples interest and the contest of the Presbyterians for their â—â—ke-bate dividing and hypocriticall Covenant no better in the least and the present contest of the present dissembling interest of Independents for the peoples Liberties in generall read the following Discourse pag. 27 28 29 meerly no more but Self in the highest and to set up the false saint and most desperate Apostate murderer and traytor Oliver Cromwel by a pretended election of his mercinary souldiers under the selfe name of the godly Interest to be King of England c. that being now too too apparently all the intended Liberties of the people that ever he fought for in his life that so he might rule and govern them by his Will and Pleasure and so destroy and envassalize their lives and properties to his lusts which is the highest treason that ever was committed or acted in this Nation in any sense or kinde either first in the eye of the Law or secondly in the eye of the ancient but yet too much arbitrary proceedings of Parliament or thirdly in the eye of their own late declared principles of reason by pretence of which and by no rules of Law in the least they took away the late Kings head and life which it there were any Law or Justice in England to be had or any Magistrates left to execute it as in the least there is not I durst undertake upon my life plainly evidently and undeniably to make good the foresaid unparalleld treasons against the foresaid Ol. Cromwel upon against all the three forementioned principles viz Law Parliament and Reason yea and to frame against him such an Impeachment or Indictment which way of Indictments is the true legall and only just way of England to be tried at the Common Law higher and greater then all the charges against the fourty four Judges hanged for false and illegal Judgments by King Alfred before the conquest which with their crimes are recorded in the Law Book called The mirror of Justice Printed in English for Matthew Walbank at Grayes Inn gate 1646. page 239. 240. 241. 242. 243. 244. 245. See also page 196. 197. 207. ibid. Or then the impeachment or accusation Of the Lord chief Justice Wayland and the rest of his brother Judges and Lawyers tormented in Edward the first his time and mentioned in Speeds Chronicle fol. 635. Or then the impeachment in Parliament against Judg Thorp who for taking small bribes against his oath was condemned to die in Edward the third his time of whom you may read in the 3. part Cooks Institut fol. 155 156. and in Mr. Pyms Speech against the Earl of Strafford in the Book called Speeches and Passages of Parliament pag. 9. Or then the impeachment 〈◊〉 a charge of the dethroned King Edward the second in full Parliament the maner of whose dethroning you may notably read in Speeds Chronicle fol. 665. Or then the many Articles of impeachment of the dethroned King Richard the second in full Parliament recorded at large in the Chronicles or History of Will. Martin fol 156. 157. 158. 159. the 8. 10. 12. 15. 21. Articles of which I conceive must remarkable as to the people which are extraordinary well worth the reading for in them the King himself in those dark days of Popery is charged To have perverted the due course of the Law or Justice and Right and that he destroyed men by information without legal examination or tryal and that he had declared the Laws of the Kingdom were in his own Erest just the same thing do Mr. Peters and other mercenary Agents of the Grandees of the Army now constantly declare of them and that by himself and his own authority just Cromwel and Ireton like onely much short of them he had displaced divers Burgesses of the Parliament and had placed such other in their rooms as would better fit and serve his own turn Or then the impeachment of the Lord chief Justice Trisâ—lian who had the worship or honor in Richard the second his time in full Parliament to be apprehended in the forenoon and hanged at Tiburn in the afternoon with his brother Judges viz. Fulthorp Belknay Care Hot Burge and Lockton or their associates Sir Nicholas Bramble Lord Mayor of London Sir Simon Burley Sir William Elinham Sir John Salisbury Sir Thomas Trevit Sir James Bernis and Sir Nicholas Dodgworth some of whom were destroyed and hanged for setting their hands to Judgments in subversion of the Law in advancing the Kings will above Law yea and one of them banished therefore although a dagger was held to his brest to compel him thereunto Or then the indictment of those two grand and notorious traitorly subvertors of the Laws and Liberties of England Empson and Dudley Privy Counsellors to Henry the seventh recorded in Cooks 4. part Institut fol. 198. 199 read also fol 41. ibid. and 2. part Instit fol. 51. Or then the impeachment of that notorious wicked and traiterous man Cardinal Woolsey by King Henry the eight his Privy Councel recorded in the 4. part Cooks Instit fol. 89. 90. 91. 92. 93. 94. 95. Read especially Artic. 17. 20. 21. 23 25 26. 30. 31. 33. 35. 38. 42. in all which he is charged with Arbitrariness and subversion of the Law Or then the impeachment of the Shipmoney Judges who in one judgment did as much as in them lay destroy all the Properties of all the men in England read the notable Speeches against them in Speeches and Passages Or then the impeachment of the Bishop of Canterbury in the late Parliament Or then the impeachment of the Lord Keeper Finch Earl of Strafford Secretary Windebank Sir Richard Bolton Lord Chancellor of Ireland John Lord Bishop of Derry Sir Gerrard Lowther Knight Lord chief Justice of the Common Pleas in Ireland and Sir George Ratcliff all whose impeachments are recorded in a Book intituled Speeches and Passages of Parliament from November 1640. to June 1641. Pag. 76. 77. to 83. and 117. 118. to 143. and 174. and 256. 257. 258. Or then the Articles or charge against the two Sir John Hothams the elder of which kept the King out of Hull the beginning of these Wars when the House of Commons durst not command him positively to do it although they were effectually put upon it by a motion from the younger then sitting in the House and yet they were both beheaded as Traytors for but endevoring to
AN IMPEACHMENT OF HIGH TREASON AGAINST Oliver Cromwel and his Son in Law Henry Ireton Esquires late Members of the late forcibly dissolved House of Commons presented to publique view by Lieutenant Colonel Iohn Lilburn close Prisoner in the Tower of London for his real true and zealous affections to the Liberties of his native Country In which following Discourse or Impeachment he engageth upon his life either upon the principles of Law by way of indictment the only and alone legall way of all tryals in England or upon the principles of Parliaments ancient proceedings or upon the principles of reason by pretence of which alone they lately took away the Kings life before a legal Magistracy when there shal be one again in England which now in the least there is not to prove the said Oliver Cromwel guilty of the highest Treason that ever was acted in England and more deserving punishment and death Then the 44 Judges hanged for injustice by King Alfred before the Conquest or then the Lord chief Justice Wayland and his associates tormented by Edw. 1. Or then Judg Thorpe condemned to dye for Bribery in Edw. 3. time Or then the two dis-throned Kings Edw 2. and Rich. 2. Or then the Lord chief Justice Tresillian who had His throat cut at Tyburn as a Traitor in Rich. 2. time for subverting the Law and all his associates Or then those two grand Traytorly subverters of the Laws and Liberties of England Empson and Dudley who therefore as Traytors lost their heads upon Tower-hill in the beginning of Henr. 8. raign Or then trayterous Cardinal Wolsey who after he was arrested of Treason poysoned himself Or then the late trayterous Ship-Money Judges who with one Verdict or Judgment destroyed all our propertie Or then the late trayterous Bishop of Canterbury Earl of Strafford Lord-Keeper Finch Secretary VVindebanck or then Sir George Ratcliff or all his Associates Or then the two Hothams who lost their heads for corresponding with the Queen c. Or then the late King Charls whom themselves have beheaded for a Tyrant and traytor In which are also some Hints of Cautions to the Lord FAIRFAX for absolutely breaking his solemn Engagement with his souldiers c. to take head and to regain his lost Credit in acting honestly in time to come in helping to settle the Peace and Liberties of the Nation which truly really and lastingly can never be done but by establishing the principles of the Agreement of the Fâ—â—â— People that being really the peoples interest and all the rest that went before but particular and selvish In which is also the Authors late Proposition sent to Mr Holland June 26. 1649. to justifie and make good at his utmost hazard upon the principles of Scripture Law Reason and the Parliaments and Armies ancient Declarations his late actions or writings in any or all his Books Ier. 5.26 27 â—8 29. For among my peoyle are found wicked â—en they lye in wait as he that setteth snares they set a trap they catch men As a cage is full of Birds so are their houses full of deceit therefore they are become great and waxen rich They are waxen fat they shine yea they overpass the deeds of the wicked they judg not the cause the cause of the Fatherless yet they prosper and the right of the needy doe they not judg Shall I not visit for those things saith the Lord Shall not my soul be avenged of such a Nation as this Imprinted at LONDON Anno Dom. 1649. The Author to the Courteous Reader COurteous Reader There wanting room at the conclusion of this Discourse to make a Postscript I am necessitated to make it upon the back of the Title page that being the last printed and to acquaint thee that divers weeks agoe this discouse was all in a manner printed which I have been necessitated to keep in ever since by reason of a little liberty I obtained of the day time to visit my sick and distressed family which by sicknes have been sorely afflicted by the wise hand of him that dispenseth all his dealings to those that truly know him in mercy and loving kindnesse with the bowels of a loving father yea in afflictions his seeming frowns hath that end in them to draw the souls of his nigher and closer to himself and that thereby they may truly and substantially see that in the naked injoyment of himself that is not to be found in all earthly or creature objects or delights and his wise hand having thought it fit to exercise my faith and patience by taking away both my Sons from me who were the greatest part of my earthly delight in this world and brought my wife and daughter even to deaths door which affliction I must truly acknowledge made me unfit to think almost of any earthly thing and became unto me a greater tryall of my dependence upon God then ever I had in my life especially being not alone by my self but a company like Jobs with many other bitter ones but my sweet father letting me see his hand in it and being merciful to me in sparing and recovering my wife and daughter and hath as it were brought my spirit to its selfe which hath made me wait for a righteous and hoped for composure betwixt my unrighteous adversaries and my self and which if it had come I had burnt this discourse in whose promises I constantly find nothing but meer delusions and therefore am compelled in my own spirit to let this fly and the rather because Sir Arthur Haâ—â—erig and Colonel Fenwick treacherously and theevishly have not only without any pretence of Law and Justice but their meer wills seized upon above 1000l of my estate in the North but also most maliciously detaine it in their hands and are so resolved to do which action tends to the apparent ruine and destruction of me and the rest of my Family remaining alive whose wickednesse in this particular c. I have hinted at in the following discourse pag 6. 8. as also in the 12 page of the late second edition of my Book Entituled The legall Fundamentall Liberty of the People of England revived the 2 last pages of which I also intreat the Reader carefully to peruse which with other grand oppressions both general and particular remaining upon me in severall particulars and also seing no rationall hopes of any just composure I am resolved being I am in manner a weary of any thing I can see abroad through the assistance of God to be as prodigall of my pen and life for the future as my bloody and tyrannicall adversaries are of their oppression cruelty tyranny and blood-thirstines and so I rest this present August 1649. as much as ever IOHN LILBURN To all the Affectors and Approvers in England of the London Petition of the eleventh of September 1648. but especially to the owners of it by their subscriptions either to it or any other Petition in the behalf of it and particularly to the
Speaker I shall draw towards a conclusion but being that which followed is printed at large in the 17 18 19 20 22 c. pages of the forementioned Book Calleda Whip for the present House of Lords I for brevities sake shall here passe it over and refer the Reader if he pleases to the perusing of it there where also he will find I was like to be murthered at the House door by their Guard because I would not go to prison but by vertue of a Warrant made according to that forme the law requires all Mittimusses to be but being overpoured with drawn Swords and bent Muskets I was forced to the Tower as a pretended Traytor And therefore to record to posterity the despâ—rate and inveterate malice and hatred of Cromwel and his associats against the Liberties and freedoms of England who to the breadth of an haire are like those wicked men in Christs time unto whom in Mat. 23 13. he thus speaketh But wo unto Scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites for ye shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men for ye neither goe in you selves neither suffer ye them that are entring to go in Even so traiterous bloody and ambitious Cromwell and his wicked associats wil neither do good themselves in settling the Liberties of England nor suffer those that would to doe it therefore woe unto them hypocrites and painted Sepulchers who for all their fair pretences hate the Liberties of England more then they do the Devil and rather then the people shall enjoy any real good for all the cost and hazards in seaven yeares wars for their Liberties and Freedoms and so rid themselves of their Lordly and tyrannicall yoaks they wil shake Kingdoms and Nations and hazard all yea their own lives by dint of Sword in new and bloody Wars rather then the people shall enjoy their Liberties or those without an imprisonment for Traytors that fairely and justly prosecute them the last war in this Nation and all the innocent blood shed therein lying principally upon Cromwel and Iretons sâ—â—re for breaking all their faith promises and engagements made unto the Kingdom for their glorious sâ—tling of their Liberties which they not only failed in but begun to set up a selfish and Tyrannicall Interest of their own and persecuted unto death and bonds the zealous sticklers for the peoples welfare liberties and freedoms which begot heart burnings and divisions and thereby put the people into fury and madnesse which brought in an inundation of bloudshed For the demonstrating this in part take here A Copy of the Petition for promoting of which M. Iohn Wildman and I were imprisoned a matter of seven months as Traytors which thus followeth To the Supream Authority of England the Commons assembled in PARLIAMENT The earnest Petition of many Free-people of this Nation SHEWETH THat the devouring fire of the Lords wrath hath burnt in the Bowels of this miserable Nation untill it s almost consumed That upon a due search into the causes of Gods heavie judgements we find a) a) Ezek. 24.6.8.9.10 Amos 5 9 10 11 12. Mic. 2.2 3. 3.3.4 9 10 11 12. Nahum 3 1.2.19 Hab. 1.3.4 6. 2.8.11 12 17. Joe 3.6 7 8. that injustice and oppression have been the common Nationall sinnes for which the Lord hath threatned woes confusions and desolations unto any people or nation Wo saith God unto the oppressing City Zeph. 3.1 That when the King had opened the (b) (b) by Ship-mony Loane-mony Coat conduct mony Patents Monopolies c. Flood-gates of injustice and oppression (c) (c) See the Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom Decem 1641. p. 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 14 15 upon the people and yet peremptorily declared that the People who trusted him for their good could not in or by their Parliament require any account of the discharge of his trust and when by a pretended negative voice (d) (d) See the Kings Answer to the Petition of Right and also the Parlia Remon of May 19. 1642. 1 part Book Dec. pag. 254 284 285. See the Kings Answer to the Par. Dec. of May 26. 1642. p. 298. to Laws he would not suffer the strength of the Kingdom the Militia to be so disposed of that oppression might be safely remedied and oppressours brough to condigne punishment but raised (e) (e) See the Ord. for Militia 1641. 1 Book Dec. p. 89. 105. 106. 114 126. 175 176. 182. 243. 283 292. a War (f) (f) See the Par. Votes May 20. 1642. 1 part Book Dec. 259 See also p. 465. 509 576. 580. 584. 617 618. to protect the Subverters of our Laws and Liberties and maintain Himself to be subject to no accompt even to such oppâ—essions and pursuing after an oppressive power the Judge oâ— the earth with whom the Throne of iniquity can have no fellowship hath brough him low and executed fierce wrath upon many of his adherents That God expects justice from those before whose eyes he hath destroyed an unjust generation Zeph. 3 6 7. and without doing justly and relieving the oppressed God abhor fastings and prayers and accounts himselfe mocked Pro. 15.8 Isa 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17. 29.13 14. 58.41 5 6 7. 66.2 3. Jer. 6.19 20. 7 9 10 11 14. Amos 5.6 7.15.21 22 23. Mich. 6.6 7 8. That our eyes fall with looking to see the foundations of our Freedome and peace secured by this Honorable Hâ—â—â—e and yet we are made to depend upon the Will of the King and the Lords which were never chosen or betrusted by the People to redresse their grievances And this Honorable House which formerly declared that they were the Representatives of all England and be trusted with our estates liberties and lives 1 part Book of Decla 264. 382. do now declare by their practice that they will not redresse our grievances and settle our freedoms unlesse the King and the Lords will That in case you should thus proceed Parliaments will be rendred wholy uselesse to the People and their happinesse left to depend solely upon the will of the King and such as he by his Paâ—ents creatâ— Lords and so the invaluable price of all the precious English bloud spilt in the defence of our freedoms against the King shall be imbezelled or lost and certainly God the avenger of bloud wil require it of the obstructors of justice and freedom Judges 9 23. That though our Petitions have been burned and our persons imprisoned reviled abused only for petitioning yet we cannot despair absolutely of all bowels of Compassion in this Honorable House to an enslaved perishing people We will nourish some hopes that you will at last consider our Estates are expended the whole trade of the Nation decayed thousands of families impoverished and mercilesse Famine is entring into our gates and therefore we cannot but once more essay to pierce your ears with our dolefull cries for Justice and Freedom before your delays wholy consume
pray That Lieutenant Colonel Lilburn and Master Iohn Wildman may be forthwith enlarged our selves secured and with the test of our Countrymen encouraged in a peaceable manner to make their addresses to this Honorable House and to render fruitlesse the practises of all such as under any coate shall seek to sow discord between you and yours And your Petitioners shall pray c. Iames Worts Roger Sawyer Henry Giding Tho. Chapman Valent. Elsign Dennis Liddall George Brown Edward Pardo Tho. Goddad Tho. Culles Tho. VVilliams Iohn Merihust Mich. Reeve Iohn North. Iohn VVells Ed. Floyd Rob. Bagesse Iohn Sowden Rob. Levite Andrew Dedman This Petition thus subscribed was as I remember delivered to the House of Commons the very same week Master Wildman and my self was first imprisoned as Traytors in reference to the foresaid Petition but this Petition was to no purpose nor took no effect which rightly weighed is a clear demonstration we were not imprisoned for miscarriage in mannaging the Petition but meerly and barely out of malice and hatred at us for promoting zealously a Petition that tended effectually to the ease of the People of their grievances and make us really Free-men and therfore from hence c. And let all unbiased people judge whether Cromwel and his Associates or my selfe and those he hath nicknamed Levellers be the real Traytors disturbers of the peace and the malicious and wicked hinderers of the Settlers of their Freedoms but to fill up this sheet and so to conclude I shall because I often use it here insert the Charge against the King which thus followeth The CHARGE of the Commons of England against CHARLES STVART King of England Of high Treasâ—n and other high Crimes exhibited to the High Court of Justice Saturday the 20 of January 1648. The Court being sate and the prisoner at the Barr M. Cook Solicitor General spake thus My Lord In behalf of the Commons of England and of all the people thereof I do accuse Charles Stuart here present of High Treason and high Misdemeanors And I do in the name of the Commons of England desire the Charge may be read unto Him Which the Clerk then read as followeth THat the said CHARLS STUART being * * Then his induction is better then theirs that come in by absolute conquest and now govern us by the sword as slaves admitted King of England and therein trusted with a limited Power to govern by and according to the Laws of the ††But H. Peters saith there is now no Law but the sword and the wil and pleasure of those that now rule by it See his discourse with mee 25. May 1649. p. 4. 5. Land and not otherwise And by his Trust Oath and Office being obliged to use the power committed to him for the good and benefit of the People and for the preservation of their Rights and Liberties Yet nevertheless out of a wicked Design to erect and uphold in himself an unlimited and tyrannical power to rule according to his ‖ ‖ Cromwels and the rest of the great Sword-mens constant practice will and to overthrow the Rights and Liberties of the People Yea to take away and make void the foundations thereof and of all redress and remedy of mis government which by the fundamental Constitutions of this Kingdom were reserved on the peoples behalf in the right and power of frequent and successive Parliaments or National meetings in Councel He the said Charles Stuart for accomplishing such his Designs and for the protecting of himself and his adherents in His and Their wicked practices to the same Ends hath trayterously and maliciously levied VVar against the present Parliament and the People therein * * And so hath Cromwel and Ireton c. which I will prove upon my life and therefore as traitors ought to dy much more then the King who till now hath by Parliaments c. themselves been often declared not to be subject to the penall part of the Law Represented Particularly upon or about the 13 day of June in the yeer of our Lord 1642 at Beverly in the County of York And upon or about the 30 day of July in the yeer abovesaid in the County of the City of York And upon or about the 24 day of Aug. in the same yeer at the County of the Town of Nottingham when and where he set up his Standard of war And also on or about the 23 day of October in the same yeer at Edg-Hill and Keinton-field in the County of Warwick And upon or about the 13 day of Novemb. in the same yeer at Brainford in the County of Middlesex And upon or about the 30 day of Aug. in the yeer of our Lord 1643 at Cavesham-Bridg neer Reading in the County of Berks And upon or about the 13 day of October in the yeer last mentioned at or neer the City of Glocester And upon or about the 13 day of Novemb. in the yeer last mentioned at Newbery in the County of Berks And upon or about the 31 day of July in the yeer of our Lord 1644 at Cropredy-Bridg in the County of Oxon And upon or about the 30 of Septemb. in the yeer last mentioned at Bodmin and other places neer adjacent in the County of Cornwal And upon or about the 30 day of Novemb. in the yeer last mentioned at Newbery aforesaid And upon or about the 8 day of June in the yeer of our Lord 1645 at the Town of Leicester And also upon the 14 day of the same month in the same yeer at Nasâ—â—y-field in the County of Northampton At which several times and places or most of them and at many other places in this Land at several other times within the yeers aforementioned and in the yeer of our Lord 1646 He the said Charls Stuart hath caused and procured many thousands of the free people of the Nation to be slain and by Divisions Parties and Insurrections within this Land by invasions from forrain parts endeavoured and procured by Him and by many other evill wayes and meanes He the said CHARLES STUART hath not only maintained and carryed on the said War both by Land and Sea curing the yeeres before mentioned but also hath renewed or â—â—used to be renewed the said War against the Parliament and good People of this Nation in this present (*) (*) Of which years war Cromwel Ireton by their cheating jugling hindering the setling the liberties of the Nation are were mâ—re guilty of by thousands of degres then the King or any of his party and if they had been but honest to their primitive engagements the wars had never been upon whose heads alone principally all the blood shed in those wars lyes say I Iohn Lilburn year 1648. in the Counties of Kent Essex Surrey Sussex Middlesex and many other Counties and places in England and Wales and also by Sea And particularly He the said Charles Stuart hath for that purpose Given Commissions to his son the Prince and others whereby besides multitudes of other persons many such as were by the Parliament intrusted and imployed for the safety of the Nation being by him or His Agents corrupted to the betraying of their Trust revolting from the Parliament have had intertainment and Commission for the continuing and renewing of war and hostility against the said Parliament and People as aforesaid By which Cruel and Unnaturall wars by him the said Charles Stuart levyed continued and renewed as aforesaid much Innocent blood of the (*) (*) But I am sure the chief prosecutors of this charge have made us now perfect slaves and are most superlatively 〈◊〉 of all that in the next words followeth Free-People of this Nation hath been spilt many Families have been undone the Publick Treasury wasted exhausted Trade obstructed and miserably decayed vast expence and damage to the Nation incurred and many parts of the Land spoyled some of them even to desolation And for further prosecution of His said Evill designs He the said Charles Stuart doth still continue His Commissions to the said Prince and other Rebels and Revolters both English and Forrainers and to the Earl of Ormond and to the Irish Rebels and Revolters associated with him from whom further Invasions upon this Land are threatned upon the procurement and on the behalf of the said Charles Stuart All which wicked designs Wars and evill practises of him the said Charles Stuart have been and are carryed on * * mark this well for the advancing and upholding of the personall interest of Will and Power and pretended Prerogative to Himself and His Family against the Publick Interest Common Right Liberty Iustice and Peace of the People of this Nation by and for whom he was entrusted as aforesaid By all which it appeareth that He the said Charles Stuart hath been and is the Occasioner Author and Contriver of the said Unnaturall Cruel and Bloody Wars and therein guilty of all the Treasons Murthers Rapines Burnings Spoiles Desolations Damage and Mischief to this Nation acted or committed in the said wars or occassoned thereby And the said Iohn Cook by Protestation saving on the behalf of the (*) (*) Which as they carry their businesse they judge to be no more but Cromwel Ireton Bradshaw Haslerig all the rest being really their slalves in several degrees People of England the liberty of Exhibiting at any time hereafter any other Charge against the said CHARLES STUART and also of replying to the Answers which the said CHARLES STUART shall make to the Premises or any of them or any other Charge that shall be so exhibited doth for the said Treasons and Crimes on the behalf of the said People of England Impeach the said Charles Stuart as a Tyrant Traytor Murtherer and a publick Implacable Enemy to the Common wealth of England And pray That the said CAARLS STUART King of England may be put to answer all and every the Premises That such Proceedings Examinations Tryals Sentence and Judgment may be thereupon had as shall be agreeable to Justice FINIS
were not visibly faln out I told Cromwel very freely and plainly of as appears by my Letters to him of the 22 of June 1647 and the 1 of July 1647. and in my Advise to the Adiutators of the 16 of July 1647. All which I caused immediatly after to be Printed in my Book called Jonahs cries out of the Whales belly and the like in my little Book called the Juglers Discovered and I am sure it was August following when the Armies Head quarters were at Kingston where Cromwel begun to be afraid of the Adiutators apprehending his underhand and night Juglings with the King to maâ—â— himself able like Cardinal Woolsey to say I and my King which he was afraid the Adiutators should take too much notice of although long before their power and authority was destroyed and therefore was not willing they should at all remain or lodge at the Head quarters although Crumwel had weeks and some moneths before designedly and of set purpose with all his power and interest walked in a continual breaking and trampling the engagement under his feet and therefore about that time he and his agents set that Petition a foot to rid the Head quarters of the Adiutators that they might not so much as see his baseness but alas that Petition could not null and destroy that that was broken nuld in efficacy and power annihilated long before but yet I could not for all this ever hear that Petition was one tenth part so formall as they report it to be But from what hath been already said and in time will speedily be declared it is evident that the General and the Officers at St. Albans broke their solemn engagement with their Souldiers and the Kingdom immediatly after it was made and tyrannically and treacherously invaded their Rights and Freedoms which bred heart-burnings and those divisions which the publique enemy so called took the advantage of and so came on the wars God ever after their abominable and villanous appostacy filling their hands with troubles and confusions besides loss of reputation and good name upon whose score alone lies the true guilt of all the blood-shed in the last years war and of all the miseries that since have befaln Ireland * Which they might easily have relieved if they had pleased with those forces they disbanded in several places of the Nation immediately after the making the foresaid Engagement or with those twenty they the last Spring disbanded out of every Troop and Company Part of which in discontent at their base using of them run to Laughorn and Poyer and others to Goring Capel and others to Sir Marmaduke Langdale and the Scots but Cromwel it seems was resolved then That no forces should go to relieve Ireland till he went with them with an absolute Commission to be King of Ireland Which Commission though he hath got yet he may fail of his expected Town both there and elsewhere and this year again is likely by forraign invasions of strange Nations and by intestine broyles to befall England and therefore if you love the Lord Fairfax tell him that though people at the present deal by him and Cromwel c as the Parliament used to do with the King laying all the evill of his actions upon his evill Councellors yet he and his Officers in their Remonstrance from St Albons 16. of November 1648. say That the King himself is the reall Fountain and true originall from whom principally all that mischief hath issued that of late in his Raign hath befaln the Kingdom being himself the principall Author and causer of the first and second War and thereby guilty of all the innocent blood spill therein and of all the evils hapning thereby pag. 17. 19. 23. 24. 61. 62 64. whos 's one example in doing Justice upon to future Generations would be of more terror and avail then the execution of his whole party pag. 47. 48. It being as they say a most unjust and unconscionable thing to punish inferior Ministers the accessories and let the King the principall go free pag. 50. Even so though most men now lay the blame of all the Armies apostacy baseness perfidiousness and treachery upon Cromwel and Ireton as the Generals evil Councellors yet they his Screen betwixt him and the peoples wrath being gone from him toward Ireland he will now appear nakedly and singly to be as he is in himself and let him take heed lest from his by-past constant signing assenting to approving of and acting in all their perfidiousness treachery and baseness with his present carriage now he stands as it were a Noun Substantive upon his own legs and may now most gloriously act honestly and justly if he please without their controul or any others and so regain his lost credit and reputation if wickedness and baseness be not as largely inherent in his heart as it is in either Cromwels or Iretons I say let him take heed from all his actings the knowing and seeing people do not justly conclude him to be the principal Author and causer of all their miseries distresses and woes and so in time serve him as he hath served the King and only put Cromwel Ireton Haslerig Bradshaw Harrison c. in Hambletons Hollands Capels Gorings and Owens places as but accessories or dependants upon Fairfax the principall But my true friends I shall hear take upon me the boldness in regard of the great distractions of the present times to give a little further advice to you from whole company or society or from some of them hath begun and issued out the most transcendent clear rational and just things for the peoples Liberties and Freedoms that I have seen or read in this Nation as your notable and excellent Petition of May 20. 1647. burnt by the hands of the common Hangman Recorded in my Book called Rash Oaths unwarrantable pag. 29 30 31 32 33 34 35. with divers others Petitions of that nature and the Petition of the 19 of Jan. 1647. Recorded in the following discourse pag. 45 46 47 48 c. and the masculine Petition of the 11. of Sept 1648. so much owned by Petitions out of severall Counties yea and by the Officers of the Armies large Remonstrance from St. Albans of the 16. Novemb. 1648. pag 67 68 69. The substance of all which I conceive is contained in the Printed sheet of paper signed by my fellow prisoners Mr. Will. Walwin Mr. Tho Prince Mr. Rich. Overton and my self dated the 1. of May 1649. and intituled An Agreement of the free people of England c. The principles of which I hope and desire you will make the final Center unwavering Standard of all your desires hazards and indeavors as to the future settlement of the peace and government of this distracted wasted and divided Nation the firm establishing of the principles therein contained being that only which will really and in good earnest marry and knit that interest what ever it be that dwells
reallest and best service that ever with my tongue I did them in my life And as I said I was very sure I had done them some real and unspotted services For the occasion of that meeting as I told them was upon this ground there being a large Petition a promoting some Copies of them came into the hands of some cordial honest active men about Wappin who though they had nothing to object against the Petition it self yet one or more of them did very much scruple as I was told not maliciously but conscienciously how they could lawfully act to promote any more Petitions to this House of Commons seeing that in their Declarations they had declared in answer to the Kings Objections about tumultuous meetings about Petitions That desired the abolition of things established by Law That they did conceive that numbers do not make an assembly unlawful but when either the end or the maner of their carriage shall be unlawful Divers just occasions say they might draw the Citizens to Westminster where many publique and private Petitions and other causes were depending in Parliament and why that should be found more faulty in the Citizens then the resort of great numbers every day in the Term to the ordinary Courts of Justice we know not * These are their own words in their Declaration of the nineteenth of May 1642. 1. Part. Book Declar. pag. 201 202 See also pag. 123. 533. 548. 691. See the Armies Declarations to this purpose Book Declar. pag. 10. 11. 17. 23. 33. 35. 44. 60. 61. 62. 83. 85. 118 but especially read the notable Arguments in Master Nathaniel Fines his Speech in the House the ninth of February 1640. To justifie popular Petitions and multitudes delivâ—ring of them for the abolition of the things established by Law which you may read in Print in the 22. 23. 24. 25. pages of a Printed Book intituled Speeches and Passages of Parliament Printed 1641. for William Cook And in the same Declaration Pag. 209. they say That such a concourse of people as is before mentioned cannot in the interpretation of the Law be held tumultuary and seditious And in their Declaration of the second of November 1642. 1 Part. Book Declar. pag. 720. They do acknowledg that they have received Petitions for the removal of things established by Law and say they we must say and all that know what bâ—longeth to the course and practice of Parliament will say That we ought so to do and that both our Predecessors and His Majesties Ancestors have constantly done it there being no other place wherein Laws that by experience may be found grievous and burthensom can be altered or repealed and there being no other due and legal way wherein they which are aggrieved by them can seek redress And yet notwithstanding all this That this very Parliament or House of Commons that had made these Declarations Should declare men Traytors for endevoring to Petition burn their Petitions and imprison the persons of divers honest men meerly for Petitioning for those things they had made us fight for viz. Our Liberties and Freedom * When formerly they received the poor mens Petitions with threatning language in it with a great deal of thankfulness as appears 1. Part. Book Declarat pag. 289. 364. 365. 398. 533. 548. 557. All these things laid together were such discouragements to the Objecter or Objecters That at the present as it was said they could not in Conscience nor Honor go about to Petition so unworthy an Apostatized House any more Whereupon some of their Neighbors in and about Wappin that were zealous in promoting the Petition appointed a meeting to debate and satisfie these Scruples if it were possible that so they might go unanimously to work to promote the Petition which was now much retarded by the foresaid Scruples the party or parties scrupling being of some eminency amongst their Neighbors Unto which meeting by some Friends I was earnestly desired to come and if I could to bring Mr. John Wildeman with me which I did And the substance of that Discourse was to convince our scrupling friends or friend That the Kingdom was in exceeding great distractions and the people under general Oppressions and Burthens and trading generally decayed which had occasioned mighty heart-burnings and dividings of Spirit amongst the people and the present House of Commons though sufficiently corrupted was the visibly best and justest Authoritie that was extant in England the overthrowing of which as things stood would bring in such a present Inundation of misery and confusion into the whole Kingdom that there would be nothing in the eye of Reason but cutting of throats every where and all return into its first Chaos and the longest Swords to be Judges of all and we might be as soon destroyed in such a general confusion and hurly burly as any others And therefore I and my friend pressed That if they either wished well unto themselves or their Native Countrey they were tied in duty and conscience to the uttermost of their power to preserve the Interest and Being of the House of Commons so long as it continued a House and yet in such a way That they might not invassalize the people Both of which they were told was provided for in this Petition and to do any thing that might pull down or destroy the present Power and Being of the House of Commons in the eyes of the people before things are in some settledness which would sufficiently be done if they should disclaim them as unworthy to be Petitioned unto any more were to undo and destroy our selves especially considering That they had so lately engaged so high against the King and the Scots and therefore it behoved us not so to act as to increase their adversaries but rather to strengthen their hands and the rather at this juncture of time and yet so to do it as that the generality of the Commons of England might be gainers by it in the knowledg of their particular Liberties that so if it were possible they might be united therein and might thereupon as one man in the Spirit of Englishmen stand up and live and die each with other against all Forraign Interests whatsoever And as I further told my said acquaintance and friends That I was confident there was never any one Discourse in England wherein the true and just Interest of the House of Commons was more firmly cordially and strongly maintained then in that And if they should punish me for my actions or speeches at that meeting I should be punished for doing as great and as real a peece of service to the Interest of the House of Commons and consequently to the Interest of the Kingdom as ever was done in any meeting by any Member of the House And this I told them I doubted not but to make as evident as the Sun when it shined if the House would hear me but speak for my self At which my Friends were very much
our selves that it was impossible for all the professed enemies we had in England to have put such a mischievous division amongst us the bitter fruites of which we had lamentable experience of every day in that it deprived us of the vigorous pursuing of al effectuall meanes to preserve and secure our selves from that eminent ruine and destruction that is even at our very thresholds And therefore it behoved us with all our might to presse hard forward according to the marginall note of our Petition to get our Lawes so strictly setled as though it were impossible that ever an honest man should be borne into the world to be an executor or administrator of them we having found it too true a maxime by experience in Lieut Gen CROMWELL alone that whosoever meanes to settle good Laws must proceed in them with a sinister or evil opinion of all man-kind and suppose ESPECIALLY AFTER HIS GROSSE APOSTACY that whosoever is not wicked it is for want of opportunity and that no State or People can be wisely or securely confident of any publick minister whatsoever continuing good longer then the rod is over his head And Mr Speaker it was further declared that though he might now seeme to face about and to intend just and righteous things to the Kingdome by reason of his late forwardnesse in the late Votes against the King for no more Addresses to Him Yet what rational man could groundlesly judge that he thereby intended a reall good to the Kingdome especially considering that in the very neck of those Votes he and his faction that he hath at command at the head-quarters published a Declaration to the whole Kingdome to maintaine the House of Lords in all their tyrannicall usurpations the continuance of whose Law-making interests is perfect vassalage and bondage to the whole Nation as I have before undeniably and fully proved or the rather may not any rationall knowing man conclude that Lieut Gen Cromwel's and his Son Ireton's late spight against the King did procceed only from animositie and revenge against the King because he had forsaken them and accepted of a better bargaine from the * For so saith Mr John Wildman in his Truths Triumph 7. 8. and he was conversant then at the Head-quarters and knew almost all secrets See also his Putney projects Scots who for their preservation it may be were not onely willing to give Him His Negative voice and an hereafter possession of the Militia but a present right in it and possession of it the which if he enjoyed the Army-Grandees and their accomplices could not reigne over the people as they intended to do for undoubtedly if the King would have taken and accepted of their conditions and stuck close to them and imbrace no other lovers they would never have been so angry with Him but withall their hearts have helped Him to His Crown Throne againe which is evident and clear from Iretons transcendent pleading for Him and new Addresses to Him in this House and the open Councels at Putney c. and Mr Speaker while they accused Mr Hollis and Sir Philip Stapleton c. for high Treason for under hand tamperings with the King they themselves out-stript them at that very time in that which they declared a crime in them for Mr Speaker their under hand tamperings with the King were but petty ones to those grand ones these apostates had for Mr Speaker as I said among my friends I do now aver at this Bar having my relation from so knowing good hands upon the place that I dare ingage at my utmost peril before this House at this Bar to prove by exceeding good testimony to this effect That when the proposals of the Army had past the great or Generall Councell of the Army for so themselves called it and therefore I wil give it the same name Commissary General Ireton declared to diverse of the chief Officers he would send a copy of them to the King which being opposed by them he replied that he was engaged by promise to send a copy to the King and therefore he would send one though the General hanged him for so doing And Mr Speaker he did send one to the King and that by the hands of Cromwels own Major viz. †Which Major Huntington confesseth and averreth in the 6th and 7th pages of his printed reasons for laying downe his Commission which by way of impeachment against Cromwell and Ireton he delivered into both Houses of Parliament August 2. 1648. which because of the pertinency of it to prove the most of my charge against him and because it comes from one that then lay at his very heart and was his choice agent and instrument in most of his underhand negotiations with the King then the joy of his heart and the delight of his eyes I shall incert it verbatim at the last end hereof and intreat the judicious Reader to peruse it seriously as as true a piece I believe as ever was Printed in England and so I often declared it to be in my thoughts to diverse of Cromwels owne friends when it was first delivered to both Houses though I could not joyne with Huntington at that time in the prosecution of it for Duke Hamiltons hostile invasions sake though I was often solicited to it by great ones and I believe then in my lownesse might have had money enough to have done it but I abhorred it as Mr Cornelius Holland with other present Parliament-men very well knowes and also my reasons therefore Major Huntington who then was the bosome and indeared darling of both Iereton and his Father Cromwell and it viz. the Copy of the proposals was delivered to the Kings owne hands who read it over and WITH HIS OWNE HANDS BLOTTED AND RASED OUT WHAT HE MOST DISLIKED and enterlined it with His own hand in some places which very Copy thus curtail'd and guelded the King sent back to Ireton and IRETON CAVSD THIS GVELDED COPY OF THE KINGS TO BE PRINTED TO THE VIEW OF THE KINGDOME AS THE ARMIES ‖ The Anatomy of which by Mr. John Wildman you may fully read in Putney's Projects pag. PROPOSALS when as indeed in truth Mr Speaker they were no other then the Proposals of the King and himself and therefore no wonder the King to the Parliament so pressed to Treat upon these Proposals as He did so that here was once declared affection enough to the King But Mr. Speaker I do further aver and upon my life profer at your command to produce at this Bar a Gentleman of good quality and of very much integrity and a man of much repute amongst all the honest men in the Army who comming from London to Westminster with me not long since voluntary and freely told me to this effect wâ—â—h avowed confidence to justifie it That Cromwels Son that commands the Generals Life-guard taking notice of his aversenesse to his fathers designâ—s in his continuall crossing him and his
creatures laboured to draw him over to a compliance with his father telling him how great a man his father was likely to be in the Kingdome and thereby able to promote all those that would comply with him for saith he I speake it with confidence as a thing already done that the King himself hath wholly cast himself upon my father and my brother Ireton to make His tearmes for Him and restore Him to His Throne againe * Which Major Huntington in his foresaid charge avers to be a truth pag. 7. he himselfe being the King's messenger to Ireton with it which he delivered to him at Colebrook who received it with joy and returned by him to the King this answer that they should be the veriest knaves that ever lived if in every thing they should not make good whatever they had promised to the King because the King in not declaring against them had given them great advantage against their present adversaries which was the Parliament then sitting at Westminster And Mr. Speaker I know the Gentleman that told me this is a man of so much gallantry and honesty that I am confident that he will scorne for all the Cromwels in the world to deny one sillable he told me and therefore againe Mr. Speaker I do offer upon my credit and life if this House please to produce him at this Bar and upon his oath and life to justifie before you the effectuall substance of what in this particular I have declared unto this Honourable House But Mr. Speaker whether it was the Kings forsaking of Cromwel and Ireton and running over to the Scots as those that had bid most for him it may be being necessitated thereunto for their owne preservation from the fear of an after ruine from the King and Cromwell if the King should come in by the means of Cromwell that had a powerful Army at his command who both of them it may be they thought might be glad of a fit opportunity to chastise them for all their iniquities committed against them and their afforonts put upon them I say Mr. Speaker whether it was the Kings forsaking of Cromwell that made him face about and to be now of late so high against Him for pure love to Justice and the universall good of his Country it could not be or that lost condition he might apprehend himself to be in by his apostacy in the affection of all his old and faithful friends which it may be he might fear might produce him a great deal of danger and mischief especially his perceiving the Kings staggering in his confidence of him if not prevented by his speedy fancig about or at least pretending to justice and righteousnesse amongst men once againe I say whether of these two it were that had the strongest impression upon him to worke so speedy a change in him I know not But this Mr Speaker I said unto my friends and do aver unto you that I was told by a very honest understanding Godly man as I judge him and one that is a very great honourer and doter upon Lieutenant Generall Cromwell and one that hath had many bickerings with me for contesting with him †The man is Mr. Hunt by name now this present July 1649. living in Mr. Hollands lodgings at White-hall and as great a creature of Lieut Gent Cromwels now as ever he was in his life and now as intimate and familiar with him aâ— ever to this effect That there was an honest stout gallant and godly Gentleman of this House for so he stilâ—â— him to me and one that had been right for the Parliament and his Country all along who being lately upon very good grounds in his apprehension told and informed by a Lady of quality in this Kingdom that a bargain was struck betwixt Lieut Gen Cromwel and the King AND THAT CROMWEL WAS TO BE MADE EARL OF ESSEX and since I have heard from other good hands a confirmation of iâ— AND THAT HE WAS TO HAVE BESIDES A GEORGE AND A BLEW RIBBON AND BE MADE A KNIGHT OF THE GARTER c. AND HIS OWN SON BEDCHAMBER-MAN TO THE PRINCE AND HIS SON IN LAW IRETON WAS EITHER TO BE LORD DEPUTY OF IRELAND OR AT LEAST FIELD MARSHALL GENERALL OF IRELAND And this Member of your House as he told me entring into the serious consideration of these things and believing they might be too true was even confounded and amazed in himself that England's Liberties and the protecters and preservers thereof should at once be betraid and as it were bought and sold and that by Lieutenant Generall CROMWEL a quondam bosom friend that he that sometimes had been the glory of English-men for professed honesty publiquely upon the house top should now become the scorn and basest of his Nation in under-hand and under-board while he pretended friendship to honest English-men and their liberties to stab them to the heart by betraying them to the King against whom for the preservation of them they had been fighting all this while was that Mr Speaker that confounded and amazed the gallant Gentleman to think with himself that if this under-hand bargain betwixt the King and Cromwel should be true for it seems he believed it was all the honest men in England that in the integrity of their hearts had adhered to the Parliament and vigorously acted against the King where destroyed and undone and the liberties of England now in a worse condition then they were before any of this late bloud shed for them for by this bargain if the King were restored upon it he would have the interest and power of the Army at his beck and command besides his own party by means of which he would be enabled to cut off the head of every honest gallant English man in England that he had a mind to destroy and for ever to subdue their laws and liberties and make the survivers perfect vassals and slaves The serious consideration of which with a hot burning zealous indignation so fired his soul and elevated his spirit that he by an unresistable force concluded that necessarily one man must perish to save the whole Nation and therfore resolved with himself that he would be the man that would play the part of a second FELTON was by an inward compulsion resolved to go to Windsor then the head Quarters and wherever he met Lieutenant Generall Cromwel either with his pistol or dagger to dispatch him as a desperate apostatized Traitor to the liberties of his Country though he were destroyed when he had so done And truly Mr Speaker as I understand this had been vigorously attempted by him if he had not revealed his intention to a Friend of his another Member of this House who stop'd him by force in a Chamber atWhite-hall And this Gentleman that told me the story speedily hearing of it wrote a large and pithy Letter to the Lieutenant Generall of almost a sheet of paper wherein to my understanding he acquitted
could not continue their pride and tyrannicall domination over their Souldiers and the rest of the people of the Kingdom and absolutely I conceive their interest to be war But it was our interest and the generality of the people of the Kingdom to prevent wars if it were possible But if we must engage in war again it was our interest and wisdom so to engage if it were possible as that meerly as English men we might be unanimous in our engagements either against the Scots or any other interests whatsoever that would rob us of our English liberties and freedoms And Mr Speaker I told them both these things were contained in the Petition For First if those things were granted unto us that were desired in the Petition it was impossible for us to conceive of any thing else the want of which is worth the going to war for And if the Petition were vigorously promoted and pursued to the House without all controversy it hath such excellent things in it so good in themselves for all sorts and kinds of English men that if the House and the people should be united in those gallant just and rationall things the generall heart-burnings of the Kingdom would be alaied and confidence in love and respect to each other would be raised up amongst us and our union of hearts thereby each to other as Englishmen would be as a wall of brasse for securing the common interest of our Nation So that neither Scotchman nor any forraign power in Europe durst to invade us so that in the vigorous prosecuting of this Petition union and love would be increased and war prevented thereby whereas nothing in the world will occasion wars so much as our dis-union and heart-burnings each at other which is impossible ever to be alaied but either by the active prosecuting of this Petition or something like it that so something that is good for all men as English-men might be setled But in the second place if we could not be so speedy in the prosecution of this Petition so as to get those universall good and just things therein contained setled before the Scots begun to Invade us yet if upon their march we should enjoy the possession of them it would make the generality of English-men stand together as one man and all of them in the spirit and with the principles of English-men oppose them so that the War if it must be would be carried on with that vigor and strength that it were impossible for all the power in Scotland if they did the worst they could to destroy our Nation Whereas now in our divided condition they will be sure if they come in to make a prey of us for in their comming in they declare for the King's Interest which absolutely unites and knits their owne Kingdom as one man against us and glues unto them in England all the Kings party and of necessity the Presbyters must joyne with their Masters of the Covenant and risings there will be of necessity and without all peradventure all over the Kingdome and if the Army be united within themselves as it is a very great question whether they be or no and were able to deale and grabble with all that opposition it is like to meet with from those severall parties and interests that here are like to rise up against it yet truely Mr Speaker though I do not like the late apostatized actions of the great men in the Army I do as little like the Scotch high flown expressions to instate the King absolutely into the Militia as His right and His absolute Negative Voice And indeed Mr Speaker it sounds not wel nor justly in my eares for the Scots who are and will be free men at home and will neither as I am told allow the King the exercise of the Militia in their Kingdome nor His Negative Voice no nor yet the benefit of His Revenue that they should notwithstanding all this go about to make us all slaves by fettering us with His mischievous Negative Voice and His absolute exercise of our Militia which seemes to me to be nothing lesse then a desire to pick a quarrell with us that so Mr Speaker they might come in againe for some more of our guids therefore Mr Speaker I cry out for union and peace upon just principles For the very beginnings of War againe amongst us would presently destroy that little Trade that is left and then undoubtedly comes in famine which is already at our very doores for Mr Speaker they were told a story to this effect That some Wilke-shire Cloathiers comming to the Sarazens head in Friday-street had for a truth reported to the Master of the house that Trading was already so decayed in their Country that that Cloathier that used to set an hundred poor people at worke could now scarce set twelve insomuch that the poor peoples necessities were growne so great in that Country that they already begin in companies of six ten 12. 20 c. to meet together in the Market Roads and to take away the Country-mens Corne as they carried it to sell at the Market and before their faces to divide it amongst themselves but give them their Horses and Sacks againe and withall tell them that meer hunger forced and necessitated them to do what they did And truely Mr Speaker things are like shortly to be as bad at London for want of Trade for I have heard such grievous complaints from two sorts of people especially that it would pitty any mans heart that hath the heart of a man to hear of the wants and necessities of divers families amongst them that formerly had lived in good fashion and they are the Weavers Cloathworkers and as for the Weavers their Trade consisting principally in Ribbons and Laces but superfluities in such things being laid aside their Trade was growne exceeding dead and many hundreds of their families falne into great miseries and wants by reason that the most part of that little remaining part of their Trade that is left them is taken from them by French men Walloons c. and that which adds unto their misery Mr Speaker is this That the Lord Major and Court of Aldermen do put in execution of late A MOST WICKED ILLEGAL Order or Ordinance of their owne making by reason of which their Catchpoles seize upon the goods of the said poor Free-men of London and beat and wound them yea and have committed murder upon some of them if they come to any Innes c. and offer to sell their goods to any but Shop-keepers who will give them but what they please for them so that the poor Weavers though Free-men of London are not only in miserable poverty but in the miserablest slavery in the City where they by name are Free-men that it is possible for men to be in and to bear it with patience And Mr Speaker the poor Cloathworkers who by the expresse Statute-Law of the Kingdom ought to dresse