5000. l. for one losse or another so that for my part I ãâã though a man be never so gallant when he is in the field yer such bewitching baites of money c. is in the House of Commons that as soone as he comes to sit there he is in my thoughtâ three quarters spoyled yea and it may be in a very little time will be an enemy to that gallââ try and down right honesty he in the field professed so that for my part of all the late Commanders that have been chosen to fit in the House they are so taken with the Silver baites of that House that I professe for my partâ will not give a groat a dozen for them to doe the Common wealth service in their present plate unlesse it be one or two at most amongst them therefore say I let us earnestly contest for the inioyment of our iust nationall liberties and the long and antient just laws of Bâgland to have every yeare afresh and new Parliament to call this to an account for all our money they have had and all the iniustice they have done us ãâã our which we are destroyed both in our lawes liberties and proprieties but if any shall ãâã the Kingdome in generall will ââd great hazards by a new choise I say no for if never ââch base men be chosen if we have a fresh Parliament every yeare to sit three or four score dâyes aâ most it will be as a rod kept over their heads to awe them that they shall not dare to doe the Kingdome one thousand part of that into slice that this Parliament hath done for feare the next Parliament they shall be questioned and then loose their head or estates Therfore for the Kingdomes good in generall it is worth the indeavouring to get the same provisorâ in aâ annuall act that now is in the trianiall made the 16. yeare of the King to settle the government of the Kingdome either by the King againe of some otherway that the Parliament shall think sit by chusing out a Committee amongst themselves to mannage the great affaires of the Kingdome till the next free and new chosen Parliament for now we are under a Laâ when Parliament men please to destroy us and when the Law will not reach us then their will shall tell which be done England shall never inioy iustice impartiallity but be in the absolute condition of as perfect vassolage and slaverie as either the Turks in Turky oâ the Pesânâa France or the Boorâ in Flânders having neither the inioyment of liberty nor propriety now it being I wil maintain it the greatest act of breach of trust that ever the King did in his life when he passed the Act called the Act to prevent inconveniencies by untimely dissolving the Parliament made 1641. to let both houses sit as long as they pleased and so make sitting in Parliament a Monopoly and heriditary to them and their heires for ever which is such a palpable and visible violation of our essentiall and fundamentall liberties that it is lesse to be induced by the honest free men of England then any act of iniustice or violence that ever he did to us in his life for this is so universall that it absolutely destroyes both our lawes liberties trades and proprieties and makes us all perfect and absolute slaves but Parliament men and their new made and created creatures there being nothing wanting but the Kings consent to the twelfth Proposition that both houses by law may levie upon the People what money they please and doe with it what they please and never be accountable and therefore I will adds ââft thing to those things of gââââsh evill mentioned by ãâã iâ ãâ¦ã delâââery before âây booke called To Charters of London and pray from the Popes ãâ¦ã Kings ââlimited Prerogatives Parliaments unknowne priviledges the Lord Major Court of Aldeâââen and the rest of the prerogative Common-Counsell men of Londonâ implâââ saith âut especially from an everlasting Parliament Good Lord deliver honest John Liâbârne Now Sir I come to speak a few words unto the state that yeââ are in by reason of the trouble I have brought upon my selfe a you thinke by owning of my booke to which I answer Alassâ I professe it seriously death it selfe is more acceptable to me then to live and be without cause destroyed in a Gaole what should I be affraid of For I assuredly know God in Iesus Christ is my reconciled father in the strength of which I have walked stedfastly above these ten yeares so that I without doubt know he hath in store for me a crown of eternall glory in the Kingdome of glory And Cursed be he that is afraid of ãâã that shall die and of the sâââ of man which shall he made as grasse and forget test the Lord his make that stretcheth forth the heavens and laid the foundations of the Earth Esay 11.12 13. And truly âo extraordinary large experience have I had of God unfadomable loving kindnesse and truth that there is nothing but sinne can make me afraid For the Lord is on my side I will not feare what man can doe unto ãâã Psal 118.6 and 56 4.11 Heb. 13.6 which I am principally tyed from by that overâowing bounty goodnesse that I have taisted in God And for my wife and children which most troubles me unto whoââ I ought and I hope have and doâ beare a husband and fatherly affection unto yet alasse shall I for love of them sin against my owne soule and be silent when my conscience from sound grounds tells me God would have me to speake to reprove the perversnesse and stiffe nedeednesse of an Hypocriticall uncircumcised in heart generation of men that under specious pretence a goe about to inslave their native Country and so by consequences strongly endeavour to destroy my wife and Children as well as my selfe who must undeniably perish if I should live with them if the law and justice of the Kingdome be overthrowne which cannot in likelyhood be avoyded if God should not open the mouthes of some to speake reprove and informe and God having âââasted me with a Talent yea and by my unjust imprisonment put an oppertunity into my âand to improve it for his advantage and glory accursed should I be in my own apprehension if I should tye it up in a Napkin and hide it And besides when all ordinary meanes failes to contest for my right without the injoyment of which my wife and children in the eye of reason most perish and be destroyed In my understanding is the only way to obtaine it but if in the persuit of my present contest I should loose my life I can lay it downe with a great deale of comfort and commit my wife and children with a great deale of confidence to the faithfullnesse and coâe of God who hath manifested so much unto me in all the straites and extremities that ever I was in for the faithfull discharge of
to the Iudges Foster ãâã Heath 5. to draw a sequestration for my life according to Law which they did 6. and brought it to the house and the House confirmed it 7. and ordered it to my Lord Keeper who decreed it in Chancery 8. and set it out under the great sââle of England I having all this while received nothing from the Estate the great seale being made voide I petitioned to the house in ââay last 1646 for the new broad sâale which was granted me 9. and J therewith sequestred part of the Estate but never âââved but one five pounds thereof In the meane time my husband petitions to the house for a râ-bearing alledging he could prâââ incontinency against me it was granted him and comming with our Counsell to the barre my counsell pleaded his severall contempts at which time ãâã were dismissed theâ he petitions againe gets of his contempt paying me my arrears 10. which was ãâã hundred pounds before he should have a re-beââing then he petitions againe and then I was ordered to suspend the arrears till after the hearing 11. then we had a hearing Counsell of both sides meet without witnesses on his side there was nothing or little proved and ââlââred of whâââspertions were laid upon me iâ then the Lords referred it is all the ãâ¦ã what alley money was due to a woman by the law 1â who reported there ãâ¦ã report they dissinâulled all their former orders took of they sâââstration 14. and diââââssed the cause though my Counsell cited to them severall cases of womân that were found gâââry of incontinency As Staâely 15. Dutton and others I have spent above foure hundred pounds in the suite and now no less without relase as at the beginning The Judges report was but verball which is noâââdinâââ At the giving me an estate there was three score or foure scare Lords at the raking it away there was not above twelve or fourteen and two of them protested against it which was my Lord North and Moulgrave My Counsell were Mr. Maynard Mr. Horne and Mr. Nudiâââ Elizabeth Walter Now I pray you friend judge and consider whether or no these Lords be not a company of brave and gallant conscionable men fit to be our Law makers indeed that can make a poore Gentlewoman dance above 6. yeares attendance for a little reliefe to keep her and her children alive for you see that when her husband left her he left her âââeaven pence and did not forsake her for any undutifullnesse or incontinency but rather thââ heââighâ have elbow room enough to live as incontinent as his lust pleased and yet in conclusion to expose the poore Gentle-woman and her three children in the eye of reason to a perishing and starving condition after she hath spent above 400. l. to obtaine that at their âââds that in it selfe is as just equitable and conscionable as any thing in the world can he cândufââr they have made her order upon order for the possessing of her just desire ãâã full I thinke for I have read the mall as it is possible to he comprised in paper and I desire âot only you but all the Ladyes and Gentlewomen in England yea all the Fathers of Fâmeniâe creaturel to consider what a sad thing it is that if they shall bring up their daughters well and bestow large portions upon them and marrie them and their husbands shall live with them tell he hath got three or foure children upon them and then at his pleasure without any just cause given him by his wife for âhe satisfying of his lust upon a whore or whored shall leave his wife and children to the wiâe world and not alloâ them fix pence to live upon and then which is worst of all to be in such a condition that they have no legall way to compell him to doe it for it see ââes by the gallant but not unspotted justice of the House of Lords to this Gentle woman there is none and yet they can find some to commit Mr. Stâvely to prison for refusing to pay his wife ally-money who I my selfe have heard him c. say liâes in the highesâ professed and open incontinency that a woman can I pray answer me this whether these very Lords doe not by these two forementioned actions visibly declare that they are greater friends to whores and âogues then to honest chastmen women whether injustice oppression be not more delightsome to them then justice righteousnesse and truth and whether or no it is possible to be in a worse a sadder condition then when such men as these fiâ at the Helm and govern the stearn of it not by true just rationall principles but by the crooked âhir stand perverst principle of their owne crooked partiall and depraved wills ãâã England England woe woe unto thâe in this thy present sad condition which thou seel ãâã will not see and which thou feelest but wilt not feele but stoop Isakar like unto the burthen and noâââke any rationall course for thy preservation from being as âââllaâây and a prey to every from ãâ¦ã which ãâã neessity thou must ãâã in conclusion in the way that is now ââad ââââly if the Lords of Cââmons or both of them put together âây doe unto thee what they please without my cââtrole because they are thy Magiâârates and thou with all submission must stoop unto a ãâã of necessity thou art guilty as a wilfull murtheter in shâading the blood of all the Caviââââ for endeavouring to protect their King from thy violent and furiouâ hands who is a hunââed times more secured and forââfied with the expressed and declared law of the Kingdome then the Parliament is who now doe what they list yea levie money upon us and put it in that own pockets and pretend we must ãâã queâtion them and aske them wherefore they dââsâ because we have rusted them Oh brave Parliament principles indeed fitter for the greââ Turke then for English Parliament men The second thing I shall declare to you is the scandalous and base dealing of William ãâã with me a fellow so unworthy and base and so fraught with malice and blood thââ ãâã and so habituated in telling lyes and falshoods that a man of unspotted worth honour and integritie would scorne as Iob saith chap. 30 1â âo set him with the dogs of his flock who a about this 3. yeares hath been an agent in the hands of the Divell maliciously and causelesây to indeavour with all his might the destruction of the generation of the righteous puâââsed with the blood of the Lamb in this land and Kingdome and either to have them ãâã hanged kild or banished of which when ãâã a wel wiââer alveâââsââ him as you may read ãâ¦ã primed spistle to him dated 7. Ianuary 1â45 and in my printed âraâons delivered into the Committee of Examinations dated 13. Iune 164â the ãâã was fild âo fulloâ fury as ãâã be would cate me up at a mouthfull and
owne advantage and hoped for benefit notwithstanding the chââpt of 2000. l. c. against me but Mr. Pryn pressed that I might speedily come againe that so the state might not suffer by reason of the moneys I had received and before them stood charged with Truly Gentlemen for all this charge I âm every considerâââ shall make it evident that I have been and am as free from defrauding the State or any of my officers or Sââââeâs of a penny as any man in England that ever the Parliament imployed and I am âure that J am not in the Parliaments debt but they in mine and seeing that which J seeke from them is but some hundreds of pounds and the businesse I am now of following of concernment to me two thousand pounds thick I pray give me leave for a time to lay the lesser concernment aside that so J may not be disinabled to prosecute the obtaining of the greater and Sir if you Mr. Pryn thinke I am not responsible to answer the charge you may either put in a barre to make stoppage of the money I expect to receive by my decree or else I will put you in good securitie to answer this charge With which the Committee was satisfied and demanded of me what time I would demand but I told them I conceived it not âââvenient for me to make my demand before I heard how long time they were willing to give me and they bid me take a moneth or six weekes for which I thanked them but withall toâd them I would be with them sooner if I gât my businesse done but if I could not get it done J âold them I thought I should scaâce be able to wait upon them âell I had perfected that so they left it indifferent And this relation which here I have made for the substance of it is a reall truth I doe protest it in the sight and presence of God and therefore dear friend I pray you judge and consider seriously of the âitter and implacable mallice of this lying and base fellow Willâam Pryn for I doe assure you to ãâã remembrance I failed not to be at Westminster every day the Parliament sate to follow my foresaid businesse from the day of my being before he said Commiââââee of accâunts to the day of my unjust imprisonment in New gate by the Lords which I am confident of William Pryn by his secret and close designes hâd a finger in and that he laboured by all the in aâââs he could to âinder me from obtaining my said two thousand pounds for immediately upon my good successe in the Lords house his brother in Evill Doctor Bastwick put in his businesse of purpose to cloâ mine so they all sate still before I had likely without rub to obtaine my just desire and being a Presbyter obtained quick dispatch there and as I was informed foâre thousand pounds for his damages although I am confident of it my bodily sufferinâs was twenty times more then his and I am confident of it in the eye of reason there was twenty times more visible ground for his sufferings thââ mine I having not writâ line against the Bishops c. nor medled with them tell they forced me to flye London and hee had avowedly writ divers provoking and invective bookes against them before his sentence in the Star-Chamber And bâsides I am confidently perswaded Pryn was the maine instruâe it to provoke his reaââe our Tyburne deserving comrad and extraordinary great associate Colonel Edward King to arrest me upon he 14. of April 1646. in a false and fained action of two thousand pound for calling him Traytor which I aver he is to the Parliament if a man can commit treason against them having âs will easily be proved if the Parliament would doe any justice upon knaves and Viââams betrayed his trust reposed in him derivitine from and by the Parliament at Crowâaâd c. which said unjust arrest did not only disinable me to follow my businesse but necessitate me to write that fâââll Epistle to Judge Reâââ dated the 6 of Iune 16â6 now in print and called the Iust mans Iustâfication in which I have so truly and lively pictured the said unworthy follow King that I beleeve all the picture drawers in England cannot mend it and being necessiated by way of defence to touch ââe Lord of Manchesters exceeding guilty conscience for protecting Col. King from the âallowes contrary to justice and right and the Law marriaâ established by ordidance of Parliament uâder which authority they both fought though J am apt to thinke neither of thââ ever âild anything that had more danger in it then a Rât yet I say for that very Epistle the Earle of Manchester as to me is visibly caused me upon the 10 of Iune 1616. to be summoned up to the Lords barre who by law arâ none of my Iudges * Se Magna Charta Chap. 29. and the Petition of Right which confirmes iâ Cooke 2. part institutes fol. 27 â8 46. 47 48. Vââ Plebis pag. 3â 3â 29 ââ 41. Regalleyânny page 43. 44 7â 76. Londons Liberty in Chains discovered pag. 68 69 the Oppressed mans oppressions declared pag. 17 18 19 the out cryes of oppressed Commons pag. 2 3. 4. also the Anotomy of the Lords tyranny being not any Peers and Equalls and there himselfâ being Speaker would cântrary ãâ¦ã âined me upon inter regriââies for which ãâã necessitated in writing to proââst against ãâã which pioust you may read in the 5. 6. pâges ãâã The Frâââ ãâ¦ã âet which they unjustly committed me and for which to this day I lye by the heeles so not doubting but I have fully ãâã your objection I commit you to God and rest your faithfull and true friend ready to lay downe his life for the liberties of his Country Iohn Lilburn From my unjust captivitie in the Tower of London for the almost destroyed lawes and liberties of England which condition I more highly price though in misery enough outwardly then the visablest best condition of any Member whatsoever that sits in either or both houses being all and every of them for sworne having all of them taken oathes to maintaine the Lawes and Liberties of the Land and yet in their dayly practice destroy them of which sin and wickednesse they are all of them guilty in regard they all sit there in silence and doe not publiquely and avowedly to the whole Kingdome according to their duty declare their dislike of their crooked unjust and Englands destroying wayes this 30. April 1647. John Lilburne FINIS
wife to Lieut. Col. John Lilburn prerogative prisoner in the tower of London Feb. 8. 1646. Gentlemen YOu have all of you taken the Covenant for you have made an Order that no man shall sit in your House that will not take it where you have sworn to maintain the fundamentall Lawes of the Kingdome and for you to examine me upon Interrogatories is contrary to the fundamentall Law of the Kingdome and for me to answer to them is to be traiterous to my owne liberty or for you to proceed by any other rules to punish me for any reall or pretended crime but what is declared by the Law is unjust and unrighteous and therefore I humbly intreat this honourable Committee seriously to read and consider the Statute of the 42. of Edward the third Chapter 3. which thus followeth Item At the request of the Commons by their Petitions put forth in this Parliament to eschew the mischiefes and dammage done to divers of his Commons by false âââusers which often times have made their aâââ aâonmoâ for revenge and since for benefit theâ for the profit of the King or of his people which ãâã used persons some have been âaken and sometime caused to come before the Kings Counsell Which the Parââament is by ãâã or otherwise upon grievious paine against the Law this assented and accorded for the good governaâce of the Commons that no man be put to answer withâut presentment before Iustices or matter of record or by due processe and writ originall according ãâã to the old Law of the land and if any thing from henceforth be done to the contrary it shall be ãâã âoid in the Law and holden for errour And sutable to this is the 19. chap of Magna Charta and âhe 5 E. 3.9 and 25. â 3.4 and 28. E. 3.5.37 E. 3.18 which are all and every of them conâârmed by the Peââtion of Right made in the third yeare of the present King which expresly saith No ãâã man ought to be adjudged but by the lawes established in the Realm and not otherwise which âetâtion of Right you your selves have in every point confirmed as appeares by the Seatuâe that aboliââth the Star Chamber and by the Statute that abolâsheth Ship-money and you your selves with your and lifted up to the most high God have often sworne vowed protested and declared you will mainâine preserve and defend the fundamentall lawes of the land and square your actions accordingly and âârecate the wrath and vengeance of the great God of Heaven and Earth to fall upon you when you âase to performe what there you sweare to and declare and therefore Gentle men what thoughts soever dâspleasure you have towards me I hope you will be so tender of your own honours and reputations that will not in the least indervouâ to deale with me contrary to the true intent and meaâing of the forementioned lawes but if you should I cannot stoop unto any tryed that iâ contrary to the pattern of the âremântioned honest just and good lawes and if you please to âe me ââây the benefit of them I shall be âââdy to joyce issue with you whensoever you please and legally to answer whatsoever I have said and âonâ and so I humbly take my leave of your honours and rest ââsbr 8. 1646. Your servant Elâzabeth Lilburne And having finished hers and taken care to get a copy of it I begun to thinke what to doe foâây selfe and being very confidently perswaded that they would shew me my book and aske me if I âould owne it for mine because this was their method the last yeare with me as you may fully âad in a printed Epistle I writ to you last yeare when I was a prisoner under the Sârgeant at Arms âf the house of Commons which Epistle is dated Iuly 25. 1645. And in my answer to William Prinus notorious lyes and falâhoods * Which he was so âree of that he did print 13 or 14 in âight lines as you there may read pag. â 5 6. see also pag. â5 âhim called Innoceney and truth iustified pag. 6. 13 14. 15. 16. And therefore I fell to my pen and ââkâ but before I had writ a quarteâ of that I intended my selfe to give into the Committee my keeper came and told me it was pastonâ a clock and therefore full time for us to be gone being we were to be there by two and in regard it was so very cold we marched all the way by land and comming to the outward Court of of wards before the. Committee said I fell to perfect what I had begun and as I was at worke out came to me a Citizen and told me there was a young Gentle-man in a for âacket who looked something a squiââ pressed with a great deale of choâer and indignation that I might be imediately called ãâã to answer for my notorious crime or writing the Oppressed mans oppressions declared which I say ãâã a book of truth and honesty and âââst as I had done I was called in before the Committee whââe I found as I conceived them ãâã âreat many of the little better then the evish catch-poule Stationers whose trade it is for divers of them illegally and little better then felloniously to breake open honest mens houses and I ãâã Theeves and Rogues carry away their true and proper goods * As lately whit taker the Book-seller c. did mine the other day loading away 3. Porters with my proper and truly come by goods for which by Gods assistance I intend to arraign them as fellons and hang them if Law will doe it and a very large company of Parliament men as ever I see at a Committee to my remembrance before and looking well abouâ me the most of them were to me men of new faces and one of them appeared to me to be one of Pryns infants or Minors not above 18. yeares old as I conceived but amongst them all I see not the face of one of my old acquaintance And after I had âendered my respects to Mr. Corbet the Chair-man thereof he took a little book and read the title of it The Oppressed mans Oppressions declared c. and also turned to the last end of it and read the conclusion which was subscribed Iohn Lilburn Semper idem and told me he was commanded by the Committee to ask me this question whether I would own that book for mine or no unto which I answered Sir with the favour of this honourable Committee I shall humbly desire to speake a few words well said Mr. Corbet answer to the question Sir said I if you please to give me leave to speak well and good if not if you please to command me silence I shall obey you Saith he the question is but short therefore answer to it either I or no Sir said I I am now past a schole boy and have long since learned to say my A B C after my master but have now attained to a
power of the honourable house of Commons and looke upon it in its constitution at the greatest and legall best interest that the Commons of England âath and of all the Committees thereof that legally and âustly derive their power therefrom and act according to the Law and just customes of Parliament within their bounds unto all whose commands so farre as the established law of England requires me I shall yield all cheerfull and ready obedience but having the last yeer very large experience of the arbitrary and illegall proceedings of some Committee or Committees of the House of Commons and the Chair-manor Chair-men thereof and fearing to meet with the like now againâ by way of prevention I amnecâssitated humbly to declare unto this honourable Committee that in the dayes of the Star-Chamber I was there sentenced for no other cause but for refusing to answer to their interrogateries or questions and upon the 4. of May 1641. the honourable house of Commons whereof you are Members upon the report of Mr. Francis Rouse made these ensuing Votes Resolved upon the question That the sentence of the Star Chamber given against John Lilburn lâillegall and against the the liberty of the Subject and also bloody wicked cruell barberous and tyrannicall Resolved upon the question that reparations ought to be given to Mr. Lilburn for his imprisonment sufferings and losses sustained by that illegall sentence Here is your own iust and legall Votes in my own case to condemne as illegall and uniust all inquisition proceedings upon selfe accusing interrogatories and your Votes are sutable to the ancient and fundamentall lawes of this land as appeares by the 29. chap. of Magâa Carta and the 5. E. 3 9 and 25. E. 3.4 and 2â E. 3.3 and 37. E. 3.18 and 42. E. 3.3 the words of which last cited Statute thus followeth Item at the request of the Commons by their Petitions put forth in this Parliament to eschew the mischiefes and dammages done to divers of his Commons by false accusers which oftentimes have made their accusations more for revenge and singular benefit then for the profit of the King or of his people which accused persons some have been taken sometime caused to come before the Kings Counsel * * Which the Parliament is by writ otherwise upon grievous paine against the law It is assented and accorded for the good governance of the Commons that no man be put to answer without presentment before Iustices or matter of record or by due processe and writ originall according to the old Law of the land and if any thing from henceforth be done to the contrary it shall be void in the Law and holden forerrour All which forementioned good Lawes are all and every of them confirmed by the Petition of right made in the third year of the present King Charleâ which expresly saith no man ought to be adjudged but by the lawes establâshed in the Realme and not otherwise which Petition of right you your selves in this present Parliament have in every point confirmed as appeares by the Statute that abolishâth the Star-Chamber and by the Statute that abolisheâh ship money and you your selves with your hands lifted up to the most high God have often sworne vowed proâââted and dâeââred you will maintaine preserve and defend the fundamentall lawes of the land and square you actions accordingly and imprecate the wrath and vengeance of the great God of Heaven an dearth to fail upon you when you cease to performe what there you sweare to and declare And therefore honourable Gentlemen what thoughts soever of indâgnation and displeasure you have towards me I hope you will be so tender of your owne honours and reputations that you will not in the least endeavour to deale with me contrary to the true intent and meaning of the forââentioned good and iust lawes But if you should I cannot nor shall not willingly stoop unto âây tryall that is contrary to the pattern of the forementioned honest iust and good lawes and if you please to let me ââioy the benefit of them J shall be ready to ioyne issue with you whensoever you please without craving any mercy pity or compassion at your hands and legally to answer whatsoever J have said or done But under the favour of this honourable Committee I die humblie conceive it will neither bâluâ nor honourable for the house of Commas to punâsh me either for a pretended or reall crime committed by me in a bard tedious provoking and uâiust imprisonment while my case is depending before themselves and I by themselves extrâamly delayed in receiving iustice and right therefore I make it my humble suite unto this honourable Committee to represent myiust desire to the honourable house of Commons that they would first adiudge my cause betwixt the house of Lords and me which hath been dependant before them about this 8 moneths and either according to the lawes and constitutions of the land iustifie we or condemn me and then in the second place when they have done righteous and true iudgement in this then I desire them if they have any reall or pretended crime or crimes toâay to my charge committed by me in my present hard uniust and extraordinary provoking imprisonment whilst J am managing my buslnesse before them that then they would proceed according to law with me and according thereunto to punish me without mercy or compassion which proposition I hope is so rationall that in iustiece it cannot be denied me So humbly taking leave of your honours I subscribe my selfe A true and faithfull servant to the honourable House of Commons to be commanded by them according to law and justice but no further John Lilburne From the outward Court of Wards 8. day of February 1646. And having concluded my paper now Mr. Corbet said I if you please le ts goe to the question well then said he will you renounce this booke or no Sir said I I had rather give you leave to hough âe in ten thousand peeces then renounce any act of mine done by me upon grounded mature and deliberate consideration and therefore Sir somethings before hand premised J shall give you a possitive and satisfactory answer to the question And therefore in the first place I desire you and all here present to take notice that I doe not return you an answer to your question our of any opinion that J am bound in duty or conscience unto your Authority to doe it because you command me to doe it for I know J am actively only to obey you in lawfull things which this is not in the least for by law no man what ever is bound to betray himselfe Nor secondly J doe not return you an answer to it as though I were bound by any law in England thereto for I have before punctually proved it to your faces out of my paper that it is altogether unlawfull by the law of the land to presse or force me to answer
of the King to save himselfe he was likely to loose and indeed it is commonly reported that in his place as one of the Committee of the Kings ââvenue he hath learned to lick his own fingers well and the first or grand step of honour he attaind to by the Parliament was to be made Lord Lieutenant of the County of Durham and the wars comming one betwixt the King and Parliament to indeare himselfe againe unto the King knowing that the chance of warre was doubtfull he sent his second son Sir George Vaine to waâe upon and serve the King who in person was actually ââând in the baitell of Edge-Hill with the rest of his fellow Courtiers but to make up his case the more with the King though himselfe stard with the Parliament where as a seeming friend to them he was able to doe the King truer service yea and did it then if he had been with him for instead of protecting preserving securing and defending the County of Durham of which he was Lieutenant according to the duty of his place and those many importunare desires expressed unto him by the well affected Gentlemen of the Country which were all in raine for in stead of preserving the Country he sent his Magazine of Armes from his Castle at Raby by his tâo principall servants Mr. Will em Conyers Steward of his land and Mr. Henry Dingly his Solâciter at law as a present for the King to the Earle of New-Castle then in Armes at New Castle against the Parliament who might then have been easily suppreââ at his comming to New Castle if old Sir Henry Vaine had been true to his trust the Parliament reposed in him And that he sent them is visible enough for they carried them openly and avowedly in the day time through the Country boasting of their act both in their going and comming and at New-Castle from the hand of one of the Earles sârvant or Officers received a note for the receipt of those armes that so when time should serve Sir Henry Vaine might have it to justifie his good service done for his Majestie in being the principall instrument of raising the Earle of New Castles Army and giving the King so great a footing in the North as there he had for his Armes being sent to the Kings Generall so openly publiquely and avowedly as they were though his person were with the Parliament yet it ââde all people there to conclude that he was himselfe absolutely for the King against the Parliament which presently his influence in those parts being grent got the Earle of New Castle a mighty repute and credit and made those that were really for him to be impudent and bold in their attempts and made abundance of Newters then to declare all or most of whom might at the first have been made serviceable to the Parliament if they had been looke to betimeâ and the most of those few of cordiall well affected Gentlemen were immediately forced to âly and leave all they had behind them and the test that stayed were immediately taken prisoners and destroyed as well as the other in their estates for which Sir Henry Vaines land and estate ought iâ justice and conscience to goe to the last penny of it to make them satisfaction being the ãâã instrumentall cause of all their losses woe and misery and of all the woe and misery of the whole North occasioned by the Earle of New-Castles forces and those that were necessiââted to be raised to destroy them which if they had never had a being there had never been no need of the Scots comming into this Kingdome to our deare bought ayde the evill consequences of whose comming I am afraid England this twise seaven yeares will not âââke of without a great deale of blood shed and misery the yoâk of Presbyterian bondage alone besides then to-operations if not co sharing in the Civill government of England to the unspeakable prejudice to the freemen thereof which they brought with them over Tweâd iâto this Kingdome which is likely to prove 100. times worse then the tyranny and Lordlinesse of the Bishops One thing more about Sir Henry Vaine I desire you to take notice of and that is further to demonstrate that his servants carried the Armes not of their owne heads but by his command or at least good liking is this that he never complained to the Parliament of it nor never indeavouted to have them punished for it but rather protected and defended them so that those that complained of them as well as of himselfe by reason of his greatnesse could never be heard nor obtaine justice though it was with some zeale followed by my Father my Vâkle Mr. George Lilburn with other Gentlemen of the same Country as you may partly read in Englands Birth Râght pag. 19.20.21 All this while if the King lost the day and the Parliament prevailed here was himselfe and his son young Sir Henry to make good his interest here so that of which side soever the gâât went the old crafty Fox was sure in his owne thoughts to stand upon his leggs and be no looser but perceiving the King likely to goe down the weather by the Scots comming in he whistles away his son Sir George Vaine from the Kings Army And though the Parliament had upon the 20 May 1642 voted That when soever the King in kith war upon the Parliament it iââbreach of the trust reposed in him by his people contrary to his oath and tendeth to the dissolution of this Government And thât whosoever shall serve or assist him in such warres are Traitors by the fundament all lawes of this Kingdome and have been so adjudged by two Acts of Parliament viz. 11. R. 2. and 1 ll 4 And yet notwithstanding though Sir George Vaine did both serve and assist the King actually at the battell at Edge-Hill yet as soone as any footing by the Parliament is gotten in the County of Durbam he is by his Father and I thinke I might say brother too for it is impossible if young Sir Henry were honest and true to the publique interest of his Country according to what he seemingly professes and would be thought to be that his father and brother should doe such actions as they have done and dayly doe and escape scot free and no man to be heard that complains of them but rather crushed and destroyed which could not be if he and his interest did not support them in all their basenesse I say Sir George is by his Father sent down into the Country as the only fit man to govern it by deserving well at the hands of the Parliament for being with the King at the battell of Edge-hill and therefore is made the receiver of the Kings sequestered revenue there worth to his particular a great many hundreds pounds per aunum and is also made chiefe Deputy Lieutenant yea as it were Deputy Lord Lieutenant Iustice of peace and quorum Committee man and Chair-man
times used to be so carefull in the discharge of their Daâ for the welfare of the people that did chuse and be trust them that they would impose nothing upon the people that might be a burthen to them without acquainting them first withâââ ãâã Sir Edward Cooke that learned Lawyer in the 4. part of his Instâââtes Chap. of the high Court of Parliament fol. 1â declares his words are as followeth which is printed by the present Parliaments speciall order It is also the law of the Parliament that when any new device is moved on the Kings ãâ¦ã Parliament for his aid on the like the Commons may answer that they âââderâd the Kings sate and are ready to aid the same only in this new device they dare not agree without conserâââce with ãâã Countryer whereby saith he it appeareth that such conferences is warrantable by the law ââââstome of Parliament And folio 34. he saith that at the Parliament holden in the 9. E. 3. wheâ a mââion was made for a subsidy to be granted of a new kind the Commons answered that they would bâve conference with those of their severall Countries and places who had put thââ ãâã trust before they treated of any such matter Set my bââkââalled Innocency and truth just fâeâ pag 60. But now things by the present Parliament are so carried as if they were absolute Lords over al the estates of al every individuall in the Kindom that chuse and trusted them and as though they might leavie upon them at their wills what they pleased and dispose of it how they pleased even to their own particular pockets to the inrichment of their particular selves See the Opressed mans Oppressions declared pag. 22 35. Regall Tyranny p. 10â â04 105 106. and Londons account So that the People now are without a Bol-warke to preserve them from being swallowed up by unlimited prerogative unknown priviledgââ exercised by them so that by their owne principles if they vote to set up âoâary oâ the âurkiââ Aâââââ ãâ¦ã it be cause they vote and declare it and if they vote into their owne ãâ¦ã we must give them unto them or if they vote to monopolise unto themselves âll our âives and children we must part with them to them because they vote it and have no remedy to helpe our selves because we have trusted them O brave Parliament principles though we never intended them in the least any power at all to doe what they list nor any other power but only raâionaâly to the best of their understandings according to justice ãâã and right âeason to provide for our greater happinesse and better well being which they themselves before they had âor the King and his party downe did honestly confesse book âecl 1 ãâã pag. 1â ãâ¦ã to call the Iudges to an account and to punish them if they should perââââ the law and justice of the Kingdome either by the King flatteries letters commands or threats which the law expresly âaith they are not in the least to regard in the administration of justice 9. ãâ¦ã 8.5 E. 3.9.14 E. 3.14 11. R. 2.10 And if they see cause to call the Lord ãâ¦ã c. to account to know and see if the publique Treasure of the âââdome be ãâ¦ã according to the end and uses that it is assigned ãâ¦ã for the good preservation safety and protection of the Kingdome and not to be imbeâelled or âââââed ãâã ends or use ãâã warrantable not justifiable But they were never in the least betrusted with a power to protect and beare out their own Members in all manner of treachery and basenesse committed by them against the Kingdome as I could easily instance they have done in divers and to cheat and ãâã them of great and vast sums of their money and yet not to be liable to be called to any account for it see Mr. Andrew Burrells Remostrance to the Parliament of England and the state of Irish affaires presented to the Parliament by the Committee of adventures in London for Ireland and Regall Tyranny pag. 101 102 103 104 105 10â in which pages iâ iâ declared that a right reverend Gentleman of the House of Commons Sir John Clotworthy and his agent Mr. Davis have put in their particular pockets 97195. l. of the money raised for the relief of Ireland and I have heard that the foresaid Committee of Lââdouârâ haâââsâââted Sir Jâââ Clotworthy to the purpose in the House of Commons about 24000. d. that they possitively say he hath in his hands if as I am informed he had not by a great deale of industry found some very great Citizens tardy contrary to the law in transporting beyond the Seas Silver and Gold who improved all their interest to keep him from complaining and it is thought prevailed on purpose with the said Committee to cease prosecuting Sir John Clotworthy that so he might cease of securing them for their transportations nay it is verily though some lickt their fingers soundly about this businesse for I have from very good hands heard there are some notable blades about London that can easily discover so many great men about London capitally tardy with transporting of the Kingdome treasure beyond the Seas that if there were any that would doe impartiall justice in ãâ¦ã the penalty of the lawes divers hundreds of thousands of pounds might easily be raised to be put into the publique purse only it were worth the Commons of Englands serious looking to it that three quarters of it were not put into particular Parliament mens pockets Oh for a new chosen Parliament to find out that almost unfadomable knavery that iâ amongst divers of this Parliament about mighty sums of the publiques money J dâre boldly aver it that all the businesse against Strafford Canterbury Lord Keeper Finch Lord Chieft Iustice Brâmstone Iudge Baââlet Barron Trâver Sir George Ratclâffe The Farmers of the Custome house Alderman Abell Mr. Cââvet and the rest of their Cater-piller brethren Monopolisers was never when they were openned more odious to the people then the villanny and roguery of divers of the present Parliâââââ men would endâay appeare if there were any uncorrupted and ââpartiall âudgeââ ãâã open which ãâã they are is impossible to be found or had they being generally and ãâã in a manner so corrupted with ââgââing the States money that for my part I am very ãâã deaâ of it they daâe not âip up one anothers knavery for âeare he that first begins gets a ãâã himselfe before he hath done Yea I have observed it for divers moneths together that ãâã a common practice in the House of Commons that as soone as a Soldier is chosen a Parliament man of whose honesty valour and boldnesse many people had high thoughts of but ââminatish him and low up his lips which gifts doe Paââ 23.8 Deut. 16.19 Eccles 1â 11 within a moneth or six weekeâ very commonly order that he shall have his Arrears can âpaââ paid him of else a Vote for ãâã or
more ripe understanding so that I am now able to speak without being dictated unto what I should say and therefore if you please to give me leave to speak my own words in my owne manner and forme well and good if not I have no more to say unto you Sir saith he the question is but short therefore you are commanded to give a possitive answer to it unto which I replyed Sir if you will not let me speak my owne words in my owne way I will neither tell you whether I will owne it or disavow it and with that he took his pen and writ part of what I said and read it to me Sir said I what you have writ is not full what I said and therefore if you please to give me pen inke and paper I shall write what I said my selfe and set my hand unto it which he refused but divers of the Parliament men pressed him to keep me to the question Vnto which I said Gentlemen if you please to give me leave to speak well and good if not lets come to an issuâ and command me out of doores for I will not answer you till I have free liberty to speak upon which one or two of the Committee said let him speak but saith Mr. Corbet if after you have liberty for to speake will you returne a possitive answer to the question yea Sir said I that I will well then speak said he speak Sir said I what I have to say is in the first place in reference to the house of Commons for apprehending with my selfe that my carriage and speeches this day before the Committee may be represented to the honourable House of Commons to my detriment and dammage I therefore judge it convenient for me to fortifie my self as wel as I can and therfore I desire humbly to declare that I own the constituâion of the honorable house of Commons as the greatest best and legallest interest that the Commons of England have for the preservation of their Rights and Liberties and I doe not only owne their constitution but also I honour their authority and power and the power and authority of all Committees legally deriving their power therefrom and shall readily and cheerfully yeeld obedience to all their commands provided they act according to the rules of justice and to the good knowne lawes of the hand but not otherwise And in the second place I desire to speake a few words of my thoughts of this Committee but I was exceedingly interrupted not only by the Chairman but also by other Members of the House and very much pressed to give an answer to the question which made me say Mr. Corbet if you please to let me goe on in my own way well and good if not I have no more to say to you for I came not hither of my owne head to make a complaint unto you of my own but I was sent for by you as I conceive in a criminall way to answer something before you in which regard it behoves me to stand upon the best guard that either law reason or judgement can furnish me with and being that I apprehend I am so much concerned in my present appearance before you it exceeding much concernes me to be very considerate and wise in managing my businesse before you therefore iâ you please let me goe on to speak out what I have to say and I thinke in conclusion I shall give you as possitive an answer to the question as you desire So up stepped a welsh Gentleman one Mr. Harbert as I remember his name desired Mr. Corbet to let me speak on for saith he you hear him promise to give you a possitive answer to your question Well then saith Mr Corbet but will you as soone as you have spoken give a possitive answer to the question Yea Sir said I and clapt my hand upon my breast upon my credit and reputation will I then goe one saith he Well then Sir said I two words concerning this Committee and that at present I have to say is this that I looke upon this Committee as a branch deriving its power from the House of Commons and therefore honour it and I looke upon you in the capacitie you fit here as a Court of justice and I conceive you look upon your selves in the very selfe same capacity but in case you do not I have no more to say unto you neither if ye be not a Court of Justice doe I conceive have you in law any power at all to examine me But none of them replying upon me made me take it for granted they took themselves for a Court of justice and therefore I went one and said if you so doe that is own your selves for a Court of justice then I desire you to deale with me as it doth become a Court of Justice and as by law you are bound which is to let me have a free open and publique hearing For Gentlemen you have all of you taken the Covenant in which you have lifted up your hands to the most high God and sworne to maintaine the lawes of the Land And it is the law of the land that all Courts of Justice ever have been are and ought to be held openly and publiquely not close like a Cabinet Counsell from whence no Auditers are or ought to be excluded * See Mr. Pryns relation of Colonell Fines his tryall pag. 11. 12 13. and Regall Tyranny discovered pag. 81. 82. 83. and therefore as you would not give cause to me to Judge you a company of forsworne men I desire you to command your doore to be opened that so all the people that have a mind to heare and see you and beare witnesse that you proceed with justice and righteousnesse may without check or comptrole have free accesse to behold you they behaving themselves like civill men But here arose a mighty stir by some Parliament men who declared fiery indignation in their very countenances against me but especially a Gentleman that saâe on the left hand of the forementioned Gentleman in the fur jacket who pressed vehemently to hold me close to the question and keep to their Committee proceedings but truly I conceived the Gentleman to be but a very young Parliament man and one that neither had read nor understood the lawes of England and therefore Sir said I to him to stop your mouth I tell you I blesse God I am not now before a Spanish Inquisition but a Committee of an English Parliament that have sworne to maintaine and preserve the lawes of the Kingdome and therefore Mr. Corbet I know you are a Lawyer and know and understand the lawes of the Kingdome and I appeale to your very conscience whether my desire of an open and publique hearing be any otherwise then according to Law sure J am Sir it was the constant practise of this very Parliament at the beginning thereof that in all their Committees whatever where they
Declarations * See the Oat cryes ãâã Oppressed Comâons pag. 4 5. 6. ãâã and Regall Tyânny pag 33. 34. ââ 72. 73. being the principall end wherfore the people chuse and trusted them to sit where they doe and therefore Sir I pray you let me goe on which was granted but before I could get through my paper there was a greaâ hurly burly amongst the Parliament men being extreamly netled at my par per which many of them expressed in their speeches to Mr. Corbet and desired him to silence me in the way I then was in and hold me to the question Gentlemen said I this is very strange proceedings that you will neither let âe alone nor let me speake Be it knowne unto you that I conceive J stand in need neither of merââ nor favour ââom you but only what reason Law and justice affords me neither doe I crave any âher priviledge at your hands but what the Eârle of Strafford injoyed from you although you ãâã selves judged him the greatest of offenders which was a free and uninterrupted liberty to âââk for himselfe in the best manner he could and to make the best defence for himselfe that ââssible all the wit and parts he had would inable him to doe and sure I am this is a priviledge due by law to every Murtherer Rogue Theese * ãâã See 1. H. 7. sol ãâã in Sâr Humpheââ Straffords case which I am sure the arrantest Villaine that is arraigned at Newgate Sessions for the noâorioust of crimes injoyes this priviledge as his right by law to speake his owne words in his owne manner for the best advantage of himselfe to his own understanding and it is very strange to me that I who am after man of Engâed and am not conscious to the committing of ãâã crime against the Law shall not be suffered by a ââââittee of Parlâament that have solemnly sworââ to maintaine the lawes to inioy that legall priââledge to speak my owne word in my owne manner for my most advantage and best defence that is ãâã nor legally nor cannot be denyed at any Assizes or Sessions to the most capitall bloody and aârânââ Rogât in England Truly Gentlemen I must plainly tell you I never was convicted of any crime ãâã that did in the least disfranchise me of my hereditary and legall Rights and Liberties nor ââer was legally in the least made uncapable of injoying the utmost benefit and priviledge that the ãâã of England will afford or hand out to any legall man of England But have at your command âây times and often adventured my life and all that ãâã had in the world lââ the maintenance and preâââation of the lawes and liberties of England with as much uprightnesse of heart and as much man ãâã âârrage and resolution as any member of the House of Commons what ever he be and therefore I tell ãâã before this Committee or any power in England what ever it be shall rob me of my just exâââed recompence of reward for all my labours travels and hazards which recompence of reward is the injoyment of the just priâiledges and benefits of the good lawes of the Kingdome I will spend my bea rt blood against you yea if I had a million of lives I would sacrifice them all againââ yââ and therefore seeing you have all of you solemnly lifted up your hands to the most high God and sworne to maintaine the Lawes of the Kingdome I desire you for your owne credits âake to deale with me so as not to give me to just cause to avouch it ãâã your faces you are a company if forsworne men and so to publish declare you to the whole Kingdome VVith this Mr Wever Burgesse for Stamford spoke Mr Corbet I conceive such reproachfull and dishonourable expressions as Mr. Lilburn gives us to our fates is not to be indured or suffered and therefore I beseech you let us be sensible of the honour due to our Authority and the house whereof we are Members Good Mr. Corlet I intreat you heare me for J desire to let that Gentleman know J am very confident I have not you said any thing that is dishonourable to the legall and iust interest and power either of this Committee or the house of Commons whereof you are Members and Sir if I should I conceive you are enough to beare witnesse against me and I thinke you judge your selves sufficiently indowed with power to punish me if I should doe as that Gentleman pretends I have done and truly Mr. Corbet J must againe aver it before you that I am no contemner nor despiser of the just and legall authority of the house of Commons neither doe I desire to affront or reproâch this Committee but I pray consider I am but a man and a prisoner under many provocations and to be so tosly âalne upon as I am by halfe a dozen of you at a time and interrupted in making my legall defence and not suffered to speake my own words is very hard and it is possible hereby I may be provoked to hear and in heat say that that is not convenient and sitting the which if J should doe I hope you Mr. Corbet have understanding enough to iudge and to reprove me for it and truly Sit upon your reproofe if I can possibly apprehend and see I have done amisse I shall presently Cry you peccavic But here abouts my wife seeing Mr. Wever so furious upon me as he was burst out with aloud voice said I told thee often enough long since that thou would serve the Parliamenâ and venter thy life so long for them till they would hang thee for thy paines and give thee Tyburn for thy recompence and I told thee besides thou shouldst in conclusion find them a company of uniust and unrighteous Judges that more sought themselves and their owne ends then the publique good of the Kingdome or any of those that faithfully adventured their lives therefore But J desired Mr. Corbet to passe by what in the bitternesse of her heart being a woman she had said unto them and desired him to let me conclude my paper and then J would give him a possitive answer to their question which was granted and I read out my paper the true copy of which at large thus followeth To the Honourable Committee of the Honourable House of Commons for suppressing of scandalous Pamphlets The humble Addresses of Liâut Col. John Lilburne Prerogative Prisoner in the Tower of London Feb. 8. 1646. Mây it please this honourable Committee this any I see and read a warrant under the hand of Mr. Miles Corbet dâââsed to the Lieutenant of the Tower to bring me before your honours sâââng in the inner Courâs of wards at two a clock this present afternoon but no cause wherefore is expressed in the warrâââ therefore in the first plaâe I desire and humble intreat this honourable Committee to take âoââe that I hoââââ and ââvereâce the constitution authority and
and I was fairely promised I should have but the hundred of the present bookes in controversie and I was fairely promised I should have them but as yet I have found no performance at all though truly I doe conceive there was is many books carried away by him as stood me in about twenty or thirty pounds for there was the greatest part of a thousand of my bookes called London Charters the printing of which with the paying for the copies of the originall Charters c. which I had out of the Record office in the Tower cost me almost twenty pounds besides a great many of severall othââ sorts And at my withdrawing the people eryed out they never would answer to close Committees any more being the doores by law ought to be open which they never knâw before Now friend I know you are acquainted very well with some able and honest Lawyers and therefore I pray doe me the favour as inquire of them whether all these things laid together it be not an act of Fellony in the forementioned Whittaker c thus forceably to enter my house and without any reall or pretended warrant to take away my goodââ but if it be not fellony I desire to know of them what effectuall course I may take in saw to obtaine my just and legall satisfaction for this illegall wrone and making these catch-poule Knaves who art as bad if not worse then the Bishops Rookes and Catch-poules examples to all their fellow Knaves and Catch-poules Thirdly I desire to know whether by law any free mans house in England can be broken open or forceably entered under any pretence whatever unlesse if be for fellony and treason or a strong and grounded suspition of fellony or treason or to serve an execution after judgement for the King Fourthly if any person or persons whatever shall indeavonr to break open or foreceâbly enter my house or any other free menâ of England upon any precence what ever but the forementioned ãâã some other that is expresly warrantable by the known law whether according to law or no I may not stand upon my owne defence in my owne house being my Castle and Sanctuary and kill any or all of those that so illegally though under specious authoritive pretences shall assault me Fiftly whether in law it be not as great a crime in the foresaid whittaker c. for cably to enter my house and carrie away my own goods fawfully come by under a pretence of a warrant signed by a single Member of the House of Commons commonly called a Chair-man of a Committee As for Sir William Beacher Clark of his Majesties Privie Counsell Old Sir Henry Vaine a Privie Counceller and it I mistake not then Secretary of State and Mr. Laurance whâttâker that old corrupt Monopolizer now Member of the House of Commons by vertue of Regall or Councell-Board authoritie to sench the pockets or break open the study doors of the Earle of Warwick the Lord Say Mr. Hambden Mr. Pym Mr. Câue or any other of those that was so served after the breaking up of the short Parliament for which by this present Parliament as I am credibly informed from knowing and good hands Sir Wiliam Beacher was committed to the Fleet Mr. Laurance Whittaker to the Tower and old Sir Henry Vaine who as it is credibly said was this principall actor in this bâsinesse and was in this present House of Commons strongly moved against againe and againe and in all probability had smarted soundly for it if it had not been for the interest that his Son young Sir Henry had in Mr. Iohn Pym and the rest of his bosome associates who as it plainly now appeares for ends besides the pâbliââe had use to make of him against the Earle of Strafford who was one of the chiefe men that stood in their way and hindâed them from possessing themselves of those high and mighty places of honour and profit that is now too much apparent they then aspired unto and therefore truly when I seriously cast my eye upon their continued serious of actions especially of late my conscience is overcome and J am forced to thinke that there is a great deale of more truth in many of the charges fixed upon them in those two notable Declarations of the Kings then at the first reading of them I conceive there was the first of which is the 12. of August 1642. and begins book Decl 1. pan pag. 514. some notable passages of which Mr. Rubard Overton and my selfe have published in the 6 pag. of out late discourse called The Out-Cry I of Oppressed Commâns unto which I shall desire toad one more and that is of their partialliây in judgement which the Kâng chargeth them with ibim page 516 That they threw out of their house some Monopolizers as unfit to be Law-makers because their principles was not fit for the present turns of the powerfull party there and kept in other as great Monopolizers as those they threw out because they did comply with them in their ends and the King instances Sir Heary Mildmer and Mr. Laurance Whittaker both of whom for all their transgressions still fit in the houââ And if it be an act of treason to exercise an Arbitrary and tyrannicall power for so it was charged upon the Earle of Strafford c. then I will maintain it M. Laurance Whittaker is guilty of it for he hath severall times done it unto the free men of England yea upon mean particular as at large you may read in my book called Innocency and Truth justified to the apparent hazard of my life and being for which I will never forgive him tell he hath acknowledged his fault and made me legâll and just satisfaction the which if he do not the speedier seeing by his unreasonable priviledge as he is a Parliament man that by law I cannot meddle either with his body or goods I will by Gods assistance seeing I have no other reâedy pay him with my pen as well as ever he waâ paid since his eyes was open cost it what it will and therefore I now advise him if he love his owne reputation without any more adoe to acknowledge his fault by giving me legall satisfaction The King second Declaration is an answer to the two Houses Declaration of the proceeding of the Treaty at Oxfoâd 1643. and in the second part book decl pag. 100. printed Anno 1646. where in pag. 10â he chargeth them possââvely that the maintenance and advancement of Religion justice liberty propriety and peace are really but their stalking hoâses and neither the gâound of their watre nor of their demands and I for my part must ingeniously protest and declare unto you that the dealings of both houses with me and others of the Kingdomes best friends is such that as sure as the Lord lives I should sin against my own soule if I should not really beleeve this particular charge of his Majesties to be most undeniable true and just
of the Committee and hath also the Posse commitatis of the whole County put into his hands as being the fitteââ man to be High Sheriffe there yea and noâirin that County what ever a King is in his Kingdome that saying of Daâiâl chap. 5.19 concerning the power of ââââbad nezzar being too truly verified of him and his father in âefoâeâce their acted and executed power in that âoore County that whom they will they set up yea even as arch blades as Sir George himselfe and whom they will they pull down and all the people there in a manner tumble and feare before them But this is not all for the Parliament upon the clearing of the Country sent a Magazine of Ammunition and Armes downe which was landed and laid up at Sunderland in the possession of my Vnâle Mr. George Lalburn one of the Deputy Lieutenants and Iustices of Peace c. of the County which Sir George Vaine by his supreame prerogative sent for away and put into his Fathers Castle of Râb no laid in store of Provisions there but I will not say he sent for some scores of Cavieliers from a Castle in York shire to come and take possession of it so soone as be had so done but this I will say that they did come and take possession of it with a great deale of ease and it cost the Country some thousands of pounds before they could take it againe So here you have at present a briefe relation of the game that Sir Henry Vaine hath plaid this many yeares together by meanes of which he hath got a great estate but I may say an ill estate to leave to his son Sir Henry principally a man for all the experience I have had of him and I have had not a little no whit inferior in my apprehension to his Father in Machiavels principles for all his guilded professions and truly it is very strange tone what the Family of the Vaines hath deserved of this Kingdome that they must have so many thousands pounds a yeare out of the Kingdomes Revenue in its present great and extraordinary poverty as they have never any of which ever hazarded the shedding of one drop of blood for the Parliament or Kingdome And besides the two sonnes before mentioned there is a third lately come out of Holland that was a Captain there and though he hath not one foot of Land in the County of Durham yet he is as I am informed lately made a Iustice of peace and hath besides profitable and gainefull Offices there I pray Sir what doe you thinke such doings as this of which the Parliament is full as I could easily declare doth portend to the whole Kingdome doe you thinke that it portends lesse then absolute vassolage and slavery to the whole Kingdome by a company of base and unworthy men set up by the people whom they may if they please pull downe by calling them home and chuse honester men in their places in a new Parliament to call them to a strict accompt without doing of which the lawes and liberties of England are destroyed and our proprieties utterly overthrow that doe and will tyrannise ten times worse ovâr us then ever our prerogative task masters of old did Sir sure I am by the antient good just and unrepealed laws of England it is inacted that a Parliament should be holden every yeare once or mâre oftner âfââed require for the maintenance of the lawes and the redresse of divers mischiefes and grievances which dayly happen 4. E. 3.14 and 36. E. 3.10 And by the act made this present Parliament in the 16. yeare of the King called an Act for the preventing of inconveniences hapning by the long intermission of Parliaments there It is provided in ease the King doe not performe his duty to the Kingdome in summoning of Parliaments as he ought that then we shall have a Parliament once in 3. yeare whether he will or no as appeares by the Act it selfe which most excellent Act is altogether fruitlesse to the Kingdome if we must have a perpetuall Parliament and therefore an everlasting Parliament is the greatest abridgement and deââustion to our lawes liberties and proprieties that possibly can be imposed upon us the present Parliament men being in their owne principles unpuestionable lawlesse uncontrowleable and so are a kind of Monsters rather of the Divells creation then Gods for he never created and made any man lawlesse during all whose fitting as they by their actions order the matter we have no propriety in our lives liberties estates or trades for all of them are subject to be destroyed by a Vote and ãâã sometimes it may be carried but by the Vote of one of D. Bastwicks Nânyes or ãâ¦ã Prynt Minors or Infants it may be but of 18. yeares old 3. yeares younger then any ãâã to be by law that can sit in that House nay to such a hight of tyrannie are these ãâ¦ã grown that they by Vote without law of reason take our liberties from us upon ãâ¦ã and false report of any of their Members or any of their secofanising Catch pouled ãâã either the bearing us speak for ourselves or so much as telling us the cause wherefore ãâã imprisonned and this the last yeare in every particular was my portion by the meanââ of ãâã William ââthâll Speaker of the House of Commons Dâ Bastwick and that basâ and ãâ¦ã fellow Col. Edward King who divers yeares agoe deserved to be hanged for beâââing ãâã trust reposed in him by the Parliament this was lately the portion of Major Tââââ by ãâã means of M Hollis Sir Walier Eaâle Sir Phillip Stapleton Sir Sam. Luke the rest of their gââ trusty and doubty Associates O brave Parliament Which by its constitution on and primitive practises was a Bulwarke to secure the Commons of England from being caâeâ up and destroyed by the prerogative and wills of the Kings of England but haââââ now fâr âaken this first station destroyes us with unknown unlimitted and arbitrary priviledger more thââ ãâã the prerogatives of any King of England since the first day of Mâgââ Chââtas estiblishâââ and are unaccomptable for any thing they say and doe yea and doe not only act the Parliamentary power but also a regall power yea and though they count themselves the greatâââ Iudges in the Kingdome yet contrary to law justice reason and conscience take upon them for sees which I may call bribes to plead causes before Iudges of their own making who dare as well ease their fingers ends as displease them and then in conclusion it may be the very same causes by way of appeale comes before themselves as supreame Iudges and judge yoâ how those causes must goe in which they have been and it may be are Hackney Counseller which they ought not in the least to be it being not only contrary to law but the ãâã of Iudges that any Iudge should give Counsell or be a Counseller Yea Parliaments in former
my duty to him in endeavouring to keep my conscience unsported before him I pray read my Epistle dated 11. Nov. 16â8 and printed at the latter and of my answer to Pryn called Innocency and truâh justified Besides in my present imprisonment I am stripe of all industrious meanes to provide for my wife and children and am much more in the rode way by expences to destroy them then to lay up six pence for their future subsistance and which if long continued in the eye of reason I must either eat them or they me And therefore being in many straights in my owne spirit and under many capitall oppressions contrary to the law and justice of the Kingdome I looked up to God and pluckt up my resolution and put pen to Paper on purpose if it were possiblâ to give them a provocation to bring the forth to a publâque tryall that so if possible I could I might know what to ãâã to and yet so carrying âây businesse that I would in my own appreh ãâã ãâã have the law of the land of my side and advantages sufficient to render my adversarieâ ãâã and contemptable for their unjust proceedings with me and therefore it was that I ãâã âââpose before the forementioned Committee owned my book in that manner that I did which if I had not the credit of the book would have been blasted and divers other great inconveniââces to me would have followed And therefore knowing very well that though divers in the house of Commons were ãâ¦ã the book yet by law they themselves in their Arbitrary way could not try me for it the ãâã if they should or had attempted I should have shewed them their owne Oathes and Deââââtions where they sweare and declare to maintain the lawes and liberty of the land and should ãâã shall say to them as Tamâr said to Judah after he had in his unadvised rashnesse ãâã to death for being with child by ãâ¦ã but when she was ââought forth she sent to Judaâ ãâã Father in Law saying to the man whose thâse are am I with Child ãâã I pray theâ ãâ¦ã these the Signââ and ârasâeââ and Sââffe And Judah acknowledged them and said she hath ãâã more righteous then I ãâã because I gave her not to Shâââh my sonne and he knew her ãâã more Gen 38 14 15 16 c. Even so should I have said if they should have falne upon me with fury to have tryed me for writing my booke In their Arbitrary and Parliamentary wayâ and falne upon me ãâã as much heat for standing upon my legall priviledge as Judah did upon Tamar when he judged her to be burnt whose Oathes whose Covenants whose Declaration and Protestations ãâ¦ã thâse In all of which you have solemnly ingaged before the presence of the great God of Heaveâ ãâ¦ã and all the world that you will ãâ¦ã the lawes and liberties of the land Yeâ the House of Commons in their most excellent Declaration of the 19. April 1646. book ãâ¦ã folio 879 expresly say Thââ although the necessary of the wâr hath given some disturbanceâ to all proceedings stopped the usuall course of justice inforced the Parliament for the preservance of thâs Sâate to impose and require many great and unusuall payments from the good Subjects of thâ Kingdome and to take extraordinary wayes for prâââring of mâneys for their many pressing ââsiâns it having pleased God to reduce our affaires into a more hopefull condition then heretofore we doe declarâ marke this well That we will not nor any by colour of any authority derived from us shall interrupt the ordinary course of justice oâ the severall Courts and Iudicatories of this Kingdome nor intermeddle in cases of Private interest other where determinable unlesse it be ãâã case of male administration of âustice wherein we shall see and provide that right be done ãâã inflicted as thâââ shall be ocâââsion according to the laws of the Kingdome and the trust reposed in us whâch elsewhere they say iâ to provide for the peoples weale but not for their woe and in other of their Declarations they declare That the lâw and the ordinary course of âustice iâ the common birth-right of every Subiect of England and what the Law is in case of tryall they declare it to be one and the same with that expressed in my forementioned paper see â part book Decâââa pag. â 7.38.39.77 278.458.459.660.845 see also The Aâââotomy of the ãâ¦ã pag. 8 9 10. The Out-tryes of Oppressed Commons pag. 7 8. and Vâx Plebis pag. 13.14 15.6 c. And therefore if I be in an error or have committed an evill in the judgement of the Parliament for standing upon my legall priviledges against them verily by the men whoâe are these am I seduced deluded and led into error discerne I pray you whose are these these Remonstrances Declaratioâs Protestations Oathes Vowes and Covenants the benefit of which I ought to ãâã the which if they let me J shall let you know I was not nor am not altogether âosââit to know my owne priviledges at the Common Law for I know if they indict me ãâã they have wholly altered the government it must be in the King name and for committing a crime against him this is expresly the form of their ââdictmentââ I am sure can be found guilty of no crime committed against him unless it be at their command for drawing my sword fighting against him his Army in this I ãâã plead their own Ordinances and Declarations where they promise to beare me hirmâââsse for so doing and I am sure this is a good and sufficient plea before one of their owne Iudges who hath no other power but what he detives from one of their owne Ordinances which if he shall hang or destroy me or any man for actions done expresly in obedience to their Ordinances for any thing I know he ought to be hanged as a wilfull âurtherer for destroying me for doing actions in obedience to that power and expresly commanded by them from which he hath all his power and hath no other power to sit as a Iudge but by vertue of an Ordinance of the two Houses But if they should condemne me for this action what doe they else but condemne in me the whole Parliament and all that have in these warres adhered to them But if they should happen to indict me for acting committing or indeavouring to act or commit treason rebellion or insurrection against the Parliament I very much question according to Law and the present constitution of the Kingdome whether any such indictment can be made or no but if it can I wonder then the Parliament doth not then try the Cavieleââs in the severall prisons of London that avowedly and professedly have drawn their swords against them to destroy them yea and glory in it as their duty so to doe and truly it is the greatest injustice in the world to let those goe scot free that are guilty in the
highest nature and to punish him or them that is not in the hundred degree so guilty and yet this is my case where if here I could not defend my selfe although I believe I should be able to give them good store of strong and pulling reasons which now I will not communicate to you but yet they would goe one and presse me to plead to the indictment I should desire to see and know whether or no my Iury of twelve men of my equalls were all legall men or no yea and something more besides And in the first place if I were indicted for treason I might by law except against 35. Jury men without tendering any reason for it see the 32. H. 6. folio 26. â4 H. 7. folio 19. Stam. Pleas Crowne folio 158. Cockes 3. part Institutes folio 24. and 27. and then I might except against so many as I could declare bore me a particular mallice * See 28 E. 3.13 â H. 6.29 for pre-judgement is a good challenge by the law for the common law of the land iâ that a Iury man must be in different and impartiall before he be sworne see Stanfords Pleat of the Crowne lib. 3. folio 158. and Brittân in his discourse of the lawes of the Land folio 12. and 25. l. 3. chap. 3 12. Ass plea. 30. Brâ Challenge 42 101.120.142.1â6 And so within the compasse of malicions men against me would come all the Presbyterians that have taken the League and Covenant in the second Article of which bâdâââ part fol. 415. they have iliegally and unjustly sworne to destroy and extirpate all Heretiqueââ one of which they iudge me to be because I will not take that ilegall Oath nor be conformable to their Scotch Antichristian Presbytery and so have sworne to destroy me before I be legally convicted which is wicked and unlawfull For a man bound by an Oath before to doe that which he is to doe upon the indictment evidence and proofe thereof is partiall and not in different see Cookers pare institutes libr. 1. chap. 12. sect 234. pag. 156. who saith expresly I âers must be meâ without all exceptions And by the Statutes of 2. H. 5.3 and â H. 6.19 It is inacted that âo person shall be admitted to passe in any inquest or Iury upon tryall of the deâth of a man or iâ any inquest betwixt pââty or party in Plea reall nor in plea personall whereof the debt or the damâage declared amount to forty makes if the same person or Jurer have not lands or tenements of the yearâly vaââ of forty shillings alwayes provided that the party to be tryed doe make his challenge And by the Statute of 17. Eliz chap. 6. It is inacted that is all cases where any lârers to be returned for tryall of any issue or issues ioyned in the Kings beâch Common pleas and the Exchequer or before ãâã isgâates of Assize shall every one of them have estate of free holdin lands I eâiments or Herediââments to the yearly value of 4. l. at the least and the Sheriffe or other Ministers unto whom the meâing of the Paânell shall appertaine shall not returne many such pannell any person unlesse be âây dispend foure pound by the yeare at the least of free hold out of âââient demesue within the County where the issue is to be tryed upon paine to forfeit for every person so returned in any such pâââll that cannot dispend 4. l. free hold 20 s. It is true that by the Statute of the 33. H 8.13 it is inâcted That every person and persons being the Kings naturall Subject borne which either by the name of a Cuizen or of a froe ãâã or aââ other name doth inioy and use the liberties and privâledge of any City Burrough or Tâââââporate where be dwelleth and mâkâth his abode being worth in moveable goods and substance to the cleare value of 40 l be from henceforth admitted in tryall of mârthers andâelânies in every ãâã and Gaole delivery kept and holden in and for the liberty of such Cities âurrought and Townââââ pârate albeit they have no frethold provided alway that this act doe not extendin any ãâã of wise to any Knight or Esquire dwelling abidiâg or resorting in or to any such City c. And I by vertue of having been à Lieutenant Colonel âm an Esquire as may easily be proved one of the Herauld of Armes Office and therefore in what place soever I am or shall be tryed ãâã lawfully make ây exceptions against every man of my lury that is not worth in free land ãâã âlper annum And besides if none of these will doe me good I have this last remedy that I am conâident I shall legally and fully prove any charge whatever that in that booke I lay upon the Parliament in generall or any member of it in particular if I may from them injoy the benefit of the law and then I pray what doe they gaine or I loose by owning and arowing the ãâã booke But if you thinke that by owning of my booke they are thereby so exasperated that I ãâã the hazard of being destroyed by them by an act of power and will to which I answer by that law neither you noâ any man in England is safe but liable to be destroyed at their pleasure joâ the lesser part of themselves are liable by that law every houre to be destroyed by the Voââ of the Major part and then the Major part are liable every houre to be destroyed for acompany of Tyrants and forsworne perjured men forâre king all their Oaths which they have taken is âantaine the law of the Kingdome and lâke absolute Tyrants have made their will a law by any company or multitude of men stronger then themselves which if they should goe this way to work they would every houre be justly in feare of but if they should be so farre be stuped and bâfoâted as to run the hazard of their owne deserved ruine by destroying me by an act of power is cold blood by the law of their owne will I for my owne particular should be no looseâ by ây translation from an earthly death to an eternall life and therefore I feare not their malice nor care not a straw for the worst they can doe to ãâã being notwithstanding the feare of your selfe and other of my friends resolved so to provoke them that they shall either be necessitated forced out of meer fear or shame to do me justice right by making hearing my report now in the hands of sluggâsâ Mr. Henry Martin whose prisâner principally I nâw aâ judging my case and setting me free at liberty and giving me legall reparations for my illegall and unjust sufferings ârelse out of meere madnesse surie and revenge to send me to Ryturne to be âid of me of which I am not in the least afraid and doubt not but if God should so âorsake them and the Devil âo fure lead them as there to hang me but at and