Selected quad for the lemma: justice_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
justice_n	chief_a	great_a	lord_n	5,215	5	3.7728	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A88237	A preparative to an hue and cry after Sir Arthur Haslerig, (a late Member of the forcibly dissolved House of Commons, and now the present wicked, bloody, and tyrannicall governor of Newcastle upon Tine) for his severall ways attempting to murder, and by base plots, conspiracies and false witnesse to take away the life of Lieutenant Colonel John Lilburn now prisoner in the Tower of London: as also for his felonious robbing the said Lieut Col. John Lilburn of betwixt 24 and 2500 l. by the meer power of his own will, ... In which action alone, he the said Haslerig hath outstript the Earl of Strafford, in traiterously subverting the fundamentall liberties of England, ... and better and more justly deserves to die therefore, then ever the Earl of Strafford did ... by which tyrannicall actions the said Haslerig is become a polecat, a fox, and a wolf, ... and may and ought to be knockt on the head therefore, ... / All which the said Lieutenant Col. John Lilburn hath cleerly and evidently evinced in his following epistle of the 18 of August 1649, to his uncle George Lilburn Esquire of Sunderland, in the county of Durham.	Lilburne, John, 1614?-1657.	1649 (1649)	Wing L2162; Thomason E573_16; ESTC R12119	55,497	45

Jones And after the barbarous execution of this Sentence being April 18. 1638. the said Lord Coventry Arch bishop of Canterbury Bishop of London Earl of Manchester Earl of Arundel Earl of Salisbury Lord Conington Lord Newburgh Secretary Cook and Windebank passed another Sentence in effect for the Starving of your Petitioner and for the tormenting of him with irons upon both hands and legs both night and day and by keeping him close in the comm●n Gacle of the Fleet from the speech of any of his friends all which was executed with the greatest cruelty that could be for the space of almost three yeers together to the apparant hazard of his life both by starving him which was with all art and industry severall wayes attempted and also by severall assaults made upon him by the said Wardens men instigated thereunto by the said Deputy Warden to the maiming and wounding him whereby to this day he is totally deprived of the use of two of his fingers All which with much more too tedious to be here inserted was fully proved by sufficient witnesses before a Committee of your House whereof M. Francis Rous had the Chair upon whose report made May 4. 1641 your House voted That the Sentence in the Star-chamber given against the said John Lilburn and all the proceedings thereupon was illegall and against the liberty of the Subject and also bloody wicked cruell barbarous and tyrannicall and that he ought to have good Repa●ations therefore Which Votes by reason of multiplicity of businesse in your House cost your Petitioner some yeers of importunate and chargeable attendance to get them transmitted to the Lords which was obtained in February 1645. the 13 day of which month your Petitioners whole cause was effectually opened at the Lords Bar by his learned Councel M. John Bradshaw and M. John Cook and there every particular again proved upon Oath by testimony of people of very good quality whereupon they concurred in all things with the House of Commons saving in the matter of Reparation But upon the delivery of a true narrative the Copy whereof is hereunto annexed which your Petitioner with his own hands in the same month delivered unto every individuall Lord they made a further Decree that your Petitioner should have 2000 l. reparations out of the estates of the said Lord Cottington Sir Francis Windebank and James Ingram for the reasons alledged in an Ordina●ce which they passed in April 1646 and transmitted to your House where it hath lain dormant ever since and is now referred to the consideration of this Honorable Committee Now forasmuch as by the judicial Laws of God which are the pure laws of right reason he that wilfully harteth his neighbour is bound to the performance of these five things First If it be a blemish or wound Like for like or to redeem it with money thereby to satisfie him for his wound Secondly For his pain and torment Thirdly For the healing Fourthly For his losse of time in his calling Fifthly For the shame and disgrace all which are to be considered according to the quality of the person damnified which reparations are to be paid out of the best of the goods of him that damnified him and that without delay And as the Law of God so the Laws of this Nation doth abhorre and hath severely punished above all persons Judges many times with the losse of their ‖ ‖ ‖ See notably to this purpose those pregnant instances in my Epistle to my nick named Levelling friends usually meeting at the Whalebone in Lothbury behind the Exchange dated From my close imprisonment in the Tower of London the 17 of July and recorded in my Impeachment of high-Treason against Oliver Cromwel c. pag. 6. 7. 8. lives and estates who under colour of Law have violated their Oaths and destroyed the lives liberties and properties of the People whom by law they should have preserved as may be instanced by the 44 Judges and Justices hanged in one yeer by King Alfred divers of them for lesse crimes then hath been done in this case of your Petitioner as may be read in the Law-book called The Mirrour of Justice pag. 239. 240. 241. translated and re-printed this very Parliament and by Justice Thorp in Edw the third his time who was condemned to death for the violation of his Oath for taking small summs of money in Causes depending before him as appears in the 3 part of Cooks Institute fol. 155.156 And by the Lord chief Justice Tresilian c. who in full Parliament in Rich. the seconds time was attached as a Traitor in the forenoon and had his throat cut at Tyburn in the afternoon because he had given it under his hand that the King might create unto himself as his pleasure another rule to walk by then the Law of the Land prescribes him as appears by the Parliament Records in the Tower by many of your own Declarations and also by the Chronicles of England Now forasmuch as your Petitioners sufferings hath been unparalel'd and his prejudice sustained thereby altogether unrepatrable having lost his limbe c. And forasmuch as by the Law of God Nature and Nations reparations for hurts and damages received ought to be satisfied as far as may be in all persons though done by a●cident and not intentionally and though through ignorance much more when the Persons offending did it knowingly and on purpose in the face nay in the spight of the fundamentall Laws of the Land which they were swoon to preserve And for that the reparations in the said Ordinance assigned doth scarce amount to what your Petitioner spent in his three yeers sad captivity and his now almost eight yeers chargeable attendance ●n suing for it besides the losse of a rich and profitable trade for eleven yeers together and his wounds torments smart and disgrace sustained by his said Tyannicall sentences He therefore humbly prayeth the favour and Justice of this honorable Committee for some considerable augmentation of his said Reparations and the rather because his fellow sufferer Doctor B●stwick had 4000 l. reparations alotted him whose sufferings he submissively conceiveth was nothing nigh so great in torment pain and shame as your Petitioners And forasmuch as the now Lord Coventry son and heir to the foresaid Lord Coventry hath walked in his Father Steps in enmity to the Laws Liberties and freedom of the Nation by being in arms at the beginning of the Wars against the Parliament and made his peace with the Earl of Essex for a small matter hath since disened the Kingdom living in France privately receiving the profits of a vast estate which his Father left him And forasmuch as his said Father the late Lord Coventry was the activest man in infringing the Laws and liberties of the Nation although a Lawyer and Judge sitting on the supream seat of justice and a person as is groundedly conceived who got a great estate by corruption and particularly a man

any other way and this act of Verney's should have to the eyes of the world been merit enough to have saved Verney 's life and also procured him his liberty from his Lords and Masters Haslerig and Bradshaw c. who for his traiterous and good services done them protect him against all the complaints of cheating perjury forgery and all manner of knavery that my intelligence tels on daily is brought in against him Which Verny a few dayes ago as I am from extraordinary good hands informed had the impudence for all the high complaints against him to petition or otherwise to sue for an annuall Pension for his good services done them in forsaking his Interest in the PRINCE and adhering to Them in any thing they put him upon though never so wicked Fourthly Haslerig 's design in endeavouring to murther me is not only evident in his Associats imprisoning me for nothing and so robbing me of my trade and credit but also in close imprisoning me from the society of all my friends and denying me the just and legall allowance due to me in my case and condition not one penny of which I have received to this day but also in taking away compleatly betwixt 24 and 2500 l. that so I may not have a penny left to buy me my wife or family a bit of bread But to ●eturne I would fain have HASLERIG to consider seriously from his friend S. Johns words and the rest foregoing what he deserves that not only by theft of murther breaks one of the Laws of England but endeavours to destroy and actually plucks up by the roots the whole Fabrick of the Laws of England and so destroyes HUMANE SOCIETY by bringing all things into the originall Chaos of confusion and when he hath so done doubly and trebly protects and secures himself by force of the sa●d and other tyrannicall Priviledges from all manner of Process of Law or Justice truely he deserves whereever he be found to be dealt with as Felton did with the Duke of Backingham which for my part I protest seriously I judge to be more juster both before God and man a thousand times over then Haslerig 's dealing with me and the last and ultimate refuge and remedie that all such men have in such cases and a thousand times more just then for a man to murder himself by fami●hing in silence by such mens oppressive and tyrannicall de●ling with him And if Strafford upon S. Johns forementioned principles were A FOX and A WOLF for arbitrarily subverting the Law and taking away mens prop●●ties and estates by proceedings upon Paper petitions then abundantly 〈◊〉 is Haslerig a FOX and a WOLF in arbitrarily subverting the Law and taking away my estate with wi●e much as any proceedings at all or any Paper Petition against me 〈…〉 so much as receiving and producing any pretended Commission from any Legall or pretended Magistracy so to doe And therefore undeniably ●rom S. Johns and his own grounds may as a POLCAT a FOX and a WOLF yea and as a Destroyer of the society of mankind he knockt on the (**) Read carefully for illustration hereof my Law-quotations in the Marginall note of the sixt page of the late Impeachment of High Treason against Oliver Cromwel and his Son in law Henry Ireton head where ever he is found 〈◊〉 he had which peradventure before much time may be expired may be for his portion and that justifiably both before God and man seeing no law in the world can be said against him in the least or take hold of him And therefore as in a Speech made one thousand six hundred and forty it is said against the Ship-money Judges Speeches and passages of Parliament page 275. Much more truly may I say now when our Liberties are violated our Fundamentall Laws abrogated our Modern Laws already obsoleted the propertie of our Estates alienated nothing left us we can call our own but our misery and our patience if ever any Nation might justifiably this certainly may now most properly most seasonably cry out and cry aloud VEL SACRA REGNAT JUSTITIA VEL RUAT CAELUM that is Either let the Heavens fall or let Sacred Justice reign But if he should deny that that which at Newcastle he hath seized upon is none of mine I prove my Legall right thus 1. Admit I had in the eye of the law illegally come by it yet being in possession of it he hath no pretence in the world to dispossess me of it of his owne head and by his own will but 2ly I answer that against the law of equity reason and Justice yea and the law of England I was in the year 1637 1638. 1639. 1640. most illegally and tyrannically dealt with by the High-Commission Councel-Board and Star-Chamber by Doctor Guinne Doctor Lambe Doctor Ali● and the Lord Keeper Coventry Lord Privy Seal Manchester Lord Newberg Old Sir Henry Vane Lord Chief Justice Bramston and Judge Jones And by the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Lord Keeper againe Lord Treasurer Bishop of London Lord Privy-Seal again Earl of Arundel Earl of Salisbury Lord Cottington Secretary Cook and Secretary Windebank and the Warden of the Fleet who gagged me upon the Pillo● without order in writing Of which the 3. of Novemb. 164● being the first day the late dissolved Parliament sate I according to Law and Justice preferred my Petition and Complaint to to them who upon the reading of my Petit●on immediately ordered me my Liberty being as I remember the first prisoner in England set at liberty by them to foll●w my Petition and according to the legall custom of Parliaments make i● good by proof before a select Committee appointed by them to that purpose Mr. Francis Reuse having the hai●● before whom many particular dayes one after another● I appeared with my Councel being Mr. Robert Gurden brother to Mr. John Gurdon now Member of the p●es●nt J●ncto or pretended House of Commons and my Witnesses and fully proved all my Petition Upon the report of all which by Mr Reus the Chairman the House of Commons the fourth of May 164● being the very same day that the King himself caused me to be arraigned for high Treason at the Ba●r of the House of Pee●s voted and resolved upon the Question That the Sentence of Star-chamber given against JOHN LILBURN is illegall and against the libertie of the Subject and also bloody cruell wicked barbarous and tyrannicall Resolved upon the Question That reparations ought to be given to M. LILBURN for his imprisonment sufferings and lostes sustained by that illegall sentence O●dered That the Committee shall prepare this case of Mr Li●burns to be transmitted to the Lords with those other of Dr. Bastwick D●ctor L●●gh●on Mr Button and Mr. Pryn. H. E●singe Cler. Parl. Dom. Com. After which Votes being in a full free un●avisht or inforc'd legall and unquestionable Parliament after a full open free * Where I very well remember Sir Arthur Hosle●ig was one of

Bishops Lands hath lately but more unjustly done my self and my Landlord * Whose legal interest thereunto is thus Nicholas Young Esquire had a Patent from Bishop Montague about 30 yeers since confirmed by the Dean and Chapter of Winchester which is unquestionably good in Law for the keeping of the Manor of Winchester House in Southwark and not only so but also for his life to enjoy all the profits benefits c. of the said Manor house gardens orchards and all things thereunto belonging as is largely set forth in the said Patent All which upon speciall view of Youngs Evidence by a select Committee of Parliament hath been since solemnly confirmed by an Ordinance of a full free and unquestionable Parliament about five yeers agoe which Ordinance forced Devenish to pay Young as his tenant for his un●●●estionable legal and confirmed right in the said house 52 l. per ●●nun for the bare Manor House reserving unto the said Young as much besides as was worth about as much more per annum all which right the said Devenish bought for money of him and M. John Cook drew up the conveyances who hath often told me Devenish his right was as good as either Law or Ordinance could make it of which Devenish I took a Lease for three yeers in case Young lives so long for as much as I am to pay 13 l. per annum and yet by force of arms without any manner of proceedings at Law by the command and wil of the said T●uftees c. we are dispossessed of our just and legall possessions by the hands of the Sheriff of Surrey who if we could enjoy any Law as in the least we cannot is liable to repay all our wrongs c. But for my part seeing I live in a Land where Law and Justice is in words professed I am resolved as soon to part with my heart blood as in silence slave and vassal-like part with my legal and unquestionable right and possession although the Trustees have lately sold it as it is said to M. Walker of Newington which they have no more right to do then so many theeves have to sel the clothes of my back Ob●ave Independent Justice more abominable in their ways and doings then all the currupt Interest that pretendedly for tyranny they have pulled down Devenish at Winchester house of his free-hold and inheritance of his Manor of TYMORE in the County of ARMAGH after he had two yeers quiet possession In the 7 and 8 Articles of which are severall other cases of the like nature as of Thomas Lord Dillons Adam Viscount Losius and George Earl of Kildare and the Lady Mary Hibbots which eighth Article concludeth in these words That the Earl in like manner did imprison divers others of his Majesties subjects upon pretence of disobedience to his Orders Decrees and other illegall commands by him made for pretended Debts titles of Lands and other causes in an arbitrary and extrajudiciall course upon paper Petitions to him preferred and no other cause legally depending For aggravation of whose offences in treasonably subverting the fundamentall Laws and Liberties of England and Ireland read the Masculine speech of Mr. John Py● against him and the Argument of Solicitor S. John now the pretended Lord chief Justice of the Common Pleas against him who toward the last end of his argument by way of aggravation of Straffords crime in setting up an arbitrary Government in the overthrow of the Law saith The Parliament is the representation of the whole Kingdom wherein the King as Head your Lordships as the more noble and the Commons the other members are knit together in one body politick this crime of Straffords dissolves the arteries and ligaments that hold the bo●y together viz the Lawes he that takes away the Laws takes not away the allegeance of one s●bject alone but of the whole kingdom It was saith he made treason by the Statute of the 13 Eliz for her time to affirm That the Laws of the Land do not binde the descent of the Crown No Law no descent at all No Laws no PEERAGE no ranks or degrees of men the same condition to all It s Treason to kill a Judge upon the Bench This kils not only the Judge but the Judgment It s Felony to imbezell any one of the judiciall Records of the Kingdom This at once sweeps them all away and from all It s treason to counterfeit a twenty shillings Piece Here 's a counterfeiting of the Law we can neither call the counterfeit nor true Coin our own It s Treason to counterfeit the Great Seal for an Acre of Land No property hereby is left to any ‖ It was well said in a Speech against the Ship mony Judges Take from us as the said Judges by that Judgment had done the propriety of our estates our subsistence and we are no more a people Speeches and Passages of Parliament pag. 271. land at all Nothing Treason now neither against King NOR KINGDOM no Law to punish it And therefore he concludes in aggravation against Strafford or any thing by way of Plea advantage or excuse that can be said for him He that would not have others to have Law why should he have any himself why should not that be done to him that himself would have done to others It s true saith he We give law to Hares and Deers because they be beasts of chase but it was never accounted cruelty or foul play TO KNOCK FOXES AND WOLVES ON THE HEAD AS THEY CAN BE FOUND because these be beasts of prey Out of thine own mouth saith Christ thou wicked servant will I judge thee Luke 19 21. And saith Paul Tit. 1.12 13. One of themselves even one of their own prophets said The Cretians are alwa●es Lyars evill beasts flow bellies This witnesse is true Therefore I desire Sir ARTHUR HASLERIG to consider that if he deserves death that steals a sheep or an o● c. because it is a transgression of a Law which Law I say in it self is unjust for putting men to death for theft what doth he deserve that breaks not only that Law by theft as he hath done in stealing my goods but breaks all the Laws of humane society by murder plots and conspiracies to take away the innocents lives all which he hath done to me First By endavouring to murder me by cruell and illegall imprisonment and close and barbarous imprisonment for he was one of my unjust Judges that for nothing committed me Secondly By conspiracy (**) The punishment of Conspirators saies Cook in his 3 Part Inst f. 222 is five fold 1. That their bodies shall be imprisoned in the Common Goal 2. Their Wives and children amoved out of their houses Thirdly that all their Houses and Lands shall be seized into the Kings hands and the House wasted and the Trees extirpated Fourthly All their goods and chattels forfeited to the King Fiftly That they shall lose the freedom and franchise of

Sir FRANCIS WINDEBANK'S heir the said Committee were pleased seeing they judged it a difficult piece of work for me to get it proportionably from all or most part of my unjust Judges to fix it intirely upon the Lord Keepers estate as the principal guilty man of which when the young Lord COVENTRY his Son and Heir heard thereof in France he came posting to England as in a maze fearing what such a precedent might bring upon him if his Fathers estate then dead should be compell'd to make me satisfaction he being so capitall in injustice that if that course should be taken his estate left him by his Father if it were trebled would not satisfie for his Fathers palpable injustice committed in his life time And Manchester being in the same Bryers with his Father being as unjust as the other and having a Brother viz. George Montague and other considerable Interests in the House of Commons so plyed their friends there that they put a stop to the second reading of the aforesaid Ordinance Which I first fully understood by the Speakers means then my great pretended friend who one day began to reason with a Member of the House and my special Friend about the unreasonablenesse to fix my Reparations upon the estate of the deceased Lord COVENTRY nay or to give me any Reparations at all out of the estates of those persons that did me wrong for fear the precedent in time might reach to themselves for Sir said the Speaker as the Member told me if my Son and Heir should be liable in law to make satisfaction to all those men out of that Estate I should leave him that I have in the eye of the Law wronged by signing Warrants Orders and Decrees by the Command of my Superiours he would soon be a begger although I should leave him 5 or 6000 l. per annum and therefore desired as it were the said Members concurrence with them who see a necessity both in justice and for the clamorous importunity as they called it of me and my friends to give me reparations but yet to do it in such a way that the Precedent might not in future make themselves smart for their injustice to particular men Of which when the said Member told me and withall told me they were resolved to make the Common wealth my Pay-Master out of the publick Treasury and colour over the justness of it with this pretence That Cottingtons estate c. formerly assigned me they had since disposed of for the Common-wealths use to the Lord Sey and therefore now it would be no injustice to the Common-wealth although in the Star-chamber it never wronged me to pay me my reparation Of all which when I understood their designe I was not a little troubled and perplexed in my spirit although I was grown much into debt by reason of my long and chargeable sufferings and large losses to see that my sufferings should produce no benefit at all to the Common-wealth which I must as before God in the sincerity of my heart aver was much in mine eye no earthly Treasure in the world being of that value to me to make me undergo those sorrows and distresses that I underwent in the Bishops time neither had I undertaken any hazards and continued in them out of any other consideration but out of conscience and duty to God and my native Country I was much perplexed and raised up in my spirit seeing the main end of my struglings was like to be frustrated which was That the Nation might have good by it by the creating of Precedents and terrour for the future to Tyrants and Knaves that so the people hereafter might live more in freedom and peace in the enjoyment of their Laws and Liberties the consideration of which made me something fearlesse of my own particular welfare and in my discourse at their door to set all my expectation on the Tenter-hooks and a little recollecting my thoughts I modellized the fore-mentioned Addresse of the 4 of Sebtember 1648 and printed it and the next day as I remember with my own hands presented it to every Member that would receive it as they went into the House The true copy of which thus followeth To every individuall Member of the Honourable House of Commons The Humble Remembrance of Lieut. Col. JOHN LILBURN Septemb. 4. 1648. Honoured Sir VOuchsafe to take notice and seriously to consider That the first week this present Parliament sate which is now almost full 8 yeers agoe I presented a humble Petition to the House of Commons for justice and right against the cruell Judges of the high Commission Court and the Star-chamber and I had the honour the same day it was presented to be one of the first prisoners in England that was set at liberty by this Parliament and also received a speedy full fair and candid proceeding in the hearing and examining of my tyrannicall sufferings but by reason of multiplicity of publick businesse and other great obstructions I have not as yet been able to attain to the full end of my legall and just expectation and right viz. Reparations for my long sad and tormenting sufferings by the foresaid unjust and unrighteous Judges Be pleased also favourably to take notice That upon the first of August last there was an humble Petition presented to the Honourable House of Commons subscribed by many thousands of honest citizens c humbly to desire you to put me in the fall possession of all your be-past just Votes about my foresaid sufferings upon reading and debating of which Petition as in answer to that particular of it your House were pleased to make this ensuing Order Die Martis 1 Augusti 1648. Lord Carre Sir John Maynard Sir Peter Wentworth Col. Boswell Col. Ludlow M. Copley M. Holland IT is referred to this Committee or any five of them to consider how Col. John Lilburn may have such satisfaction and allowance for his sufferings and losses as was formerly intended him by this House Henry Elsing Cler. Dom. Com. Unto which said Committee at their first sitting I presented a Petition the copy of which thus followeth To the Honourable the Committee of the House of Commons appointed to consider of Lieut. Col. Lilburns businesse in reference to the Star-chamber The humble Petition of Lieut. Col. John Lilburn SHEWETH THat besides your Petitioners sufferings by reason of his banishment into the Low Countries he was first committed by D. Lamb Guin Ayle● 1637. and afterwards had 3 yeers imprisonment in the common Gaole of the Fleet being whipt from Fleet-bridg to Westminster and enduring the cruell torment of above five hundred stripes with knotted cords afterwards being set in the Pillory for the space of two hours and by James Ingram Deputy Warden of the Fleet gagged tearing his jaws almost in pieces without Order which Sentence was given by Lord Keeper Coventry Earl of Manchester Lord Privie Seale Lord Newburgh Sir Henry Vane senior Lord chief Justice Brampston and Judge

that principally passed as chief Judge of the Court both the aforesaid sentence against your Petitioner And in regard the estates of the said Lord Cottington and Sir Francis Windebank by subsequent orders of both Houses upon urgent occasions are much intangled and altered from the condition they were in in 1646 when the Lords ordered your Petitioner 2000 Marks out of them and for that the estate of James Ingram cannot be found nor at present come by Your Petition●r therefore most humbly prayeth That the greatest part if not all your Petitioners reparations may be fixed upon the said now Lord Coventries estate to be immediatly paid your Petitioner or else that his Rents and the profits of his woods and goods may be seized in the respective Counties where they lie for the satisfying thereof that your Petitioner may no longer run the hazzard of ruine to him and his by tedious delaies having already contracted the debts of many hundreds of pounds occasioned by the chargeable prosecution hereof And that if you shall think of conjoyning any other with him That it may be principally the Judges of the Law who ought to have been Pilots and guides unto the rest of the Judges of that Court who were Lords and persons not knowing the Law And your Petitioner shall ever pray c. JOHN LILBURN After the reading of which they entred into a serious debate of the whole busines and thereupon passed severall Votes to be the Heads of an Ordinance to be drawn up and reported to the House by the Right Honourable the Lord Car Chairman to the said Committee who accordingly reported the proceedings and votes of the said Committee to your House who approved of the said Votes and ordered an Ordinance to be presented to the House consonant thereunto which was accordingly done by the Lord Car which Ordinance hath been once read in your House The Copie of which thus followes An Ordinance of the Lords and Commons Assembled in Parliament for the raising of three thousand pounds out of the reall Estate of the late Thomas Lord Coventry late Lord Keeper of the great Seal of England for and towards the reparation and damages of John Lilburn Gent. which he sustained by vertue and colour of two Sentences given and made against him in the late Court of Star-chamber the one the 13. of Febr. 1637. the other the 18. of April 1638. WHereas the cause of John Lilburn Gent. concerning two Sentences pronounced against him in the late Court of Star Chamber 13 Febr. 13 Car. Regn. and 18. Apr. 14 Car. Regis were voted the 4. of May 1641. by the House of Commons to be illegall and against the Liberty of the Subject and also bloody wicked cruel barbarous and tyrannical which were transmitted from the said House of Commons unto the House of Lords who thereupon by an order or decree by them made 13 Feb. 1645. Adjudged do declared the said proceedings of the said Star chamber against the said John Lilburn to be illegall and most unjust and against the liberty of the Subject and Mag. Chart. and unfit to continue upon Record c. And by another Order or Decree made by them the said Lords the 5. of March 1645. they assigned to be paid unto the said John Lilburn the sum of two thousand pounds for his reparations and the said House of Peers then fixed that sum upon the estates reall and personall of Francis Lord Cottington Sir Francis VVindebank and James Ingram (**) (**) (**) But the Lord Roberts the Lord Wharton c. told mee severall times if their estates had not been under Sequestration by Ordinance of Parliament they would never have gone about to fix my reparations by Ordinance which they must needs then doe to take off the Sequestration but have issued out a decree and extent under the great Seal immediatly to have put me in present possession of my 2000 l. which they said was their right by Law to doe late Deputy Warden of the Fleet and afterwards for the present levying thereof with allowance of Interest in case of Obstructions while the same should be in levying and of such part as should not be forthwith levyed The said House of Peers did cause an Ordinance to be drawn up and passed the same in their House the 27 Aprill 1646. and afterwards transmitted the same to the House of Commons for their concurrence with whom it yet dependeth And for as much as since that transm●ssion all or the greatest part of the estates of the said Lord Cottington and Sir Francis Wind●ban●k is since by both Houses disposed of to other uses and the estate of the said James Ingram is so small and weak and so intangled with former ni●umbrances that it can afford little or no part unto the said John Lilburn of the said reparations And for that the said late Lord Coventry was the principall Judge and chief Actor in giving of both the said Illegall Sentences in the said Court of Starchamber and for the barbarous inflicting of punishments thereupon Therefore and or satisfaction of the said 2000 l. and for the increase of reparation unto the said John Lilburn for his extraordinary wrongs sufferings and losses thereby sustained and the ●ong time hitherto elapsed without any satisfaction The Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament do ordain and be it hereby ordained by the said Lords and Commons and by Authority of the same That the said John Lilburn shall receive the sum of 3000 l. out of all or any the Mannors Mesuages Lands Tenements and Hereditaments whereof he the said late Thomas Lord Coventry or any other person or persons to or for his use or in trust for him was or were seized in fee-simple or fee taile or otherwise at the time of the said sentences or decrees or o● either of them in the said late Court of Star-chamber or since within the Kingdom of England or Dominion of Wales any Order o● Ordinance heretofore made by either or both Houses of Parliament for the imployment of the estate of the said late Thomas Lord Coventry to the contrary hereof in any wise notwithstanding And for the more spee●ly levying of the said summe of three thousand pounds It is further Ordered and Ordained That the severall and respect●ve Sheriffs of the severall and respective Counties within England and Wales wherein any of the said Lands Tenements or Hereditaments doe lye shall forthwith upon sight and by vertue of this Ordinance cause an inquisition to be made and taken by the oathes of twelve or more lawfull men where the same lands do lie and what the same are and do contain and of the clear yearly value thereof over and above all charges and re-prises and after such inquisition so made and taken the severall and respective Sheriffs shall deliver unto the said John Lilburne true copies in Parchment of the same inquisitions by them taken and shall then also deliver unto the said John Li●burn the said Lands

Tenements and Hereditaments which shall be so comprised or mentioned in the said inquisitions To have and to hold to him the said John Lilburne and his assignes without impeachment of waste and untill he shall have received out of the issues and profits thereof to be estimated according to the yearly values contained in the said inquisions the said summe of three thousand pounds together with all reasonable charges and expences to be sustained from henceforth for obtaining the said summe of three thousand pounds And all and every the said severall and respective Sheriffs and all other person and persons whatsoever that shall any wayes act or ●ssist in obedience to this Ordinance according to the true intent and meaning thereof shall be therefore defended and kept harmelesse by the authority of both Houses of Parliament Be pleased further to take notice That after the foresaid Ordi●ance was once read it came to a debate in your House for to be read the second time which was carried in the negative by majority of voices and I cannot but apprehend that were divers in the house unsatisfied in the Ordinance it self in regard the House was divided upon the debate and Vote which I cannot but apprehend must flow from one of these two considerations First Either because that the whole reparations is fixed upon the Lord Coventries estate singly who had many co-partners in the sentences and who also it may be supposed hath expiated his crime by his death Or else secondly Because in some mens thoughts some of my late actions are or have been so evill in themselves that they may seem to them to over-ballance the merrits of all my ancient sufferings To the first of which besides the reasons contained in the foregoing Petition I humbly crave leave to offer these unto your judicious consideration First I have by almost eight years (*) (*) Viz. the Earle of Salisbury but especially old Sr. Henry Vane that notorious and guilty Traitour that betrayed all the North of England to the Earl of Newcastle the particulars whereof you may at large read in Englands birth-right pag. 19 20 21. and in my Resolved mans Resolution April 1647 pag. 14. 15 16. 17 18. See also the 2 Edition of my picture of my fore-mentioned book of the eight of June 1649 pag. 19. 20. and the Impeachment of high Treason against Cromwell pag. 6. dear-bought experi●nce found the interest of some of my fore-mentioned potent Judges who yet sit in both houses of Parliament to be too strong for me to grapple with and the onely cause in my apprehension that hath all this while kept me from my own and therefore my own interest which compels me strongly to endeavour by all just wayes and means to attain to my just end reparations necessitates me as much as I can to wave the fixing upon them Secondly I continually finde amongst the greatest part of my Judges an apprehension in their own spirits that in conscience and equity there ought to be favour shewed to those of my Star-chamber Judges that have joyned with the Parliament and Kingdom rather then to those that have fought and contested against them both and that seeing the latter are able enough in Estates to make satisfaction it ought in conscience and equity soly to lie upon their heads and I being not to guide or command my Judges but rather to be in this guided and commanded by them and to acquiess in their reasons they give me especially when my own understanding tels me they most conduce to the obtaining my main end which is justice in the possessing of my own Now these things considered and conjoyned to the reasons laid down in my foregoing Petition I submissively conceive as things now stand in Law equity and conscience no juster objecton can be found for you to fix my reparations upon then the reall estate whereever it is to be found of the late Thomas Lord Coventry who was the Principal Actor in this bloody Tragedy and who was not lesse eminent in cruellty then in place being judge of the highest seat of mercy the Chancery which ought to abate the ●edge of the Law when it is too keen Now for the chief (*) (*) Read carefully Mr. Iohn Cooks most remarkable aggravations in his forementioned relation of my sufferings at the Lords bar Febr. 13. 1645. p. 8 9. Judge of mercy to degenerate into a savage cruelty not heard of amongst the Barbarians nor to be read of in the Histories of the bloodiest Persecutors how transcendently hainous and punishable is it And though he be dead yet justice lives and whatsoever is become of him his estate ought to make satisfaction according to the rule of his own court of Star-chamber he that suffers not in his body must suffer in his purse And therefore I may justly expect my reparations out of his reall estate that he was possessor of at his death where ever I can now find it whether it be in the possession of the present Lord Coventry or others and you may there as righteous Judges fix it for these reasons First Because the said Thomas late Lord Coventries reall estate in equity if not in the eye of the Common law ought to satisfie his debts though dead though now it be in the possession of the present Lord Coventry c. and in reason conscience there is at least as much equity that it should repair injuries especially of so high a nature as mine is of and the rather if it be considered that the late Lord keeper Coventry had besides his reall estate a very considerable personall estate at his death which I desire not to meddle with although it be descended to his heirs c. Secondly Because the estate now in the hands of the son and heir c. of the late Lord Keeper Coventry descended from him and was in the hands of the said late Lord Keeper Coventry himself at the time and some years after his passing the forementioned two illegall and barbarous sentences against me Now in case I could have injoyed the benefit of the Law then or immediately after they were passed against me I might by an action of the case have had at Law satisfactory damages out of his estate And if there was any Law or equity for reparations to be given me out of his estate then the equity and justice of the case is nothing altered by the said late Lord Coventries decease and bequest of the same estate to the present Lord Coventry his son or others Thirdly Because the late Lord keeper Coventries passing such sentences as he did against me was as may appear by the Votes of your own House made in the case 4. May 1641. a subversion of the Fundamentall Lawes and Constitutions of the Land and in the case of the Earle of Strafford that was adjudged Treason And in the case of Treason the Law doth dis-inherit and dis-franchise all the posterity of any one adjudged