The Digger Movement in the Days of the Commonwealth

twofold, either for one king to reign, or for many to rule by kingly principles. For the king's power lies in his laws, not in his name. And if either one king rule, or many rule

evellers Standard Advanced, Winstanley, on June 9th, 1649, again made his appearance at the headquarters of the Army, the bearer of

Fairfax and his Co

ndeniable equity that the Common People ought to dig, plow, plant a

9th, 1649, by Gerrard Winstanley in the behalf of th

r opens a

oderation from you and your Council of War, both when some of us were at Whitehall before you, and when you came in person to George Hill to view our works. We endeavour to lay open the bott

n cont

ers are enemies filled with fury, who falsely report of us that we have intent to fortify ourselves, and afterwards to fight against others and take away their goods from them, which is a thing we abhor. And many other slanders we rejoice over, be

freeholders that would have all the Commons to themselves, and that would up

bought and sold among us, but to remain a standing portion of livelihood to us and our children, without that cheating entanglement of buying and selling; and we shall not arrest one another. And then what need have we of imprisoning, whipping or hanging laws to bring one another into bondage? And we know that none of those that are subject to this righteous law dares arrest or ensla

ain; and states the readiness of himself and companions to come to headquarters "upon a bare letter." He reiterates his contention that their demand is onl

hich give good assurance, by the law of the land, that we that are the younger brothers, or co

s to the

dispossess the English, and thus

es the direct successo

s of the chief officers of William the First, holding

e not lost their royalty to the co

, respecting all alike, or have not been grounded upon selfish principles in fear or flattery of their king, to up

respecting persons, ought not to be cut off with the king's head? We affirm they ought. If all laws be grounded

e his dwelling in any part of the Commons of England, without buying or renting land of any, seeing that everyone by agreement and covenant a

in the days of the king do give free

blic Preachers, "that say they preach the Righteous Law,

to Public

ght and sold from one to another; And whether one part of mankind was made to be a

ithout respect of persons, and was not made to be bought and sold.... And this being a truth, as it is, then none ou

ith the following eloquent

me; by reason whereof I am called fool and madman, and have many slanderous reports cast upon me, and meet with much fury from some covetous people; under all of which my spirit is made patient and is guarded with joy and peace. I hate none, I love all, I delight to see everyone live comfortably, I would have none live in poverty, straits and sorrows; therefore if you find any selfishness in this work, or discover anything that is destructive of the whole

11th, 1649, the day before Cromwell set out with much pomp and ceremony for his notorious expedition to Ireland, Winstanley, under circumstances that will presently be revealed, found himself compelle

THE HOUSE OF

ey shall be under the will of Lords of Manors still. Occasioned by an Arrest made by Thomas Lord Wenman, Ralph Verney Knigh

nley, John Barker

he poor oppressed in

ame, but love, righteousness and te

Winstanley at once states the subject

else to deliver us out of their tyrannical hands: In whose hands by way of Arrest we are for the present, for a Trespass to them, as they say, in digging upon the Common Land. The settling whereof according to Equity and Reason will quiet the minds of the oppressed people; it will be

e succour of man, offering no offence to any, but do carry ourselves in love and peace towards all, having no intent to meddle with any man's enclosures or property till it be freely given to us by themselves, but only to improve

the Commons, and upon the arrest we made our appearance in Kingstone Court, where we understood we were arrested for meddling with other men's rights; and, secondly, they were encouraged to arrest us up

to recover England from under the Norman yoke, shall have the freedom to improve the Commons and Waste Lands free to themselves, as freely their own as the Enclosures are the propriety of the elder broth

freedom to us, you being the men with whom we have to do in this business, in whose hands there is power to sett

ness all should have the freedom of the Earth granted unto them, he summarises the caus

so great that without a war England was likely to be more enslaved, therefore you called upon us to assist you with plate, taxes, free-quarter and our persons: and you promised us, in the name of the Almighty, to make us a Free People. Thereupon you and we took the National Covenant with joint consent, to endeavour the freedom, peace, and safety of the people of England. And you and we joined person and purse together in the common cause, and Will. the Conqueror's successor, which was Charles, was cast out; thereby we have recovered ourselves from under that Norman yoke. And now unless you and we be merely besotted with covetousnes

ills, and indicates their manife

be this, to set the land free. Let the Gentry have their enclosures free from all enslaving entanglements whatsoever, and let the Common People have the Commons and Waste Lands set free to them from all Norman enslaving Lords of Manors. That so both Elder and Younger Brother, as we spring successively one from another, may live free and quiet one by and with another in this La

," despite barbarous laws, involving their wholesale hanging, had steadily increased. During the reign of James the First, in a pamphlet entitled Grievous Groans of the Poor, published 1622, we hear the complaint that "the number of the poor do daily increase." The only remedy the then wise men of England could devise was to make the laws against them still more severe. Consequently it was order

country during the time of which we are writing, yet there be no doubt of the truth of Thorold Rogers' contention, that109:1-"I am convinced from the comparison I have been able to make between wages, rents and prices, that it was a period of excessive misery among the mass of the people and the tenants, a time in which a f

no documentary evidence by which to support their titles, were confiscated and turned into tenancies at will. By means of Enclosure Acts they still further plundered and impoverished the peasantry, by appropriating to themselves millions of acres of land over which these still had some right, some enjoyment. By means of the Law of Parochial Settlement, as Thorold Rogers repeatedly points out,110:2 they "consummated the degradation of the labourer"; and made him, as it has left him, what the same impartial authority well terms "the most portentous phenomenon in agriculture, a serf without land." By means of their Financial Policy they rid themselves of the duties which originally accompanied the privilege of land-holding, viz. to provide the necessary public revenues for all defence purposes, and converted themselves from Land Ho

, Press Mark, E. 560 (1). Reprinted in t

are none. There are many thousands of us soldiers that have ventured our lives, we have had little propriety in the kingdom as to our estates, yet we have had a birthright. But it seems now that except a man hath a fixed estate in this kingdom, he hath no right in this kingdom. I wonder we were so deceived. If we had not a right to the kingdom, we were mere mercenary soldiers. There are men in my position, it may be little estate they have at present, and yet they have as much a birthright as those two who are their law-givers, or as any in this place."

he Guildhall Library. The Ralph Verney mentioned is the hero of The V

at in his opinion-"It was not the business of Jesus Christ, when he came into the world, to create Kingdoms of the World,

ing in of new laws.' ... If writings be true, there hath been many scuttlings between the honest men of England and those that have tyrannised over them. And if what I have read be true, there is none of those just and equitable laws that the people of England are born to, but were once intrenchments [but were once innovations]. But if they [the existing laws]

nterpretation of

nterpretation of

es of Work and Wa