Lewis H. Berens - The Digger Movement in the Days of the Commonwealth

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"Now, Sirs, our case is this, for we appeal to you, for you are the
only men that we are to deal withal in this business: Whether the
common people, after all their taxes, free-quarter and loss of
blood 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 brothers? Or whether the Lords of Manors shall have them,
according to their old custom, from the King's will and grant, and
so remain Task Masters still over us, which was the people's
slavery under conquest?

"We have made our appeal to you to settle this matter in the Equity
and Reason of it, and to pass the sentence of freedom to us, you
being the men with whom we have to do in this business, in whose
hands there is power to settle it, for no Court can end this
controversy but your Court of Parliament, as the case of this
Nation now stands."

After emphasising his fundamental contention that in Equity and by the
Law of Righteousness all should have the freedom of the Earth granted
unto them, he summarises the causes that have conspired to place the
Members of the House of Commons in power, as follows:

"You of the Gentry, as well as we of the Commonalty, all groaned
under the burden of the bad government and burdening laws of the
late King Charles, who was the last successor of William the
Conqueror. You and we cried for a Parliament, and a Parliament was
called, and wars, you know, presently began between the king that
represented William the Conqueror and the body of the English
people that were enslaved. We looked upon you to be our Chief
Council to agitate business for us, though you were summonsed by
the king's writ, and choosen by the Freeholders, who are the
successors of William the Conqueror's soldiers. You saw the danger
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 covetousness, pride and
slavish fear of men, it is and will be our wisdom to cast out all
those enslaving laws which was the tyrannical power the king
pressed us down by.[108:1] O shut not your eyes against the light;
darken not knowledge by dispute about particular men's privileges,
when Universal Freedom is brought to be tried before you; dispute
no further when truth appears, but be silent and practice it. Stop
not your ears against the secret moanings of the oppressed, under
these expressions, lest the Lord see it and be offended, and shut
His eyes against your cries, and work a deliverance for His waiting
people some other way than by you."

He then summarises the prevailing ills, and indicates their manifest and
immediate duty, as follows:

"The main thing that you should look upon is the Land, which calls
upon her children to be free from the entanglements of the Norman
Taskmasters. For one third part lies waste and barren, and her
children starve for want, in regard the Lords of Manors will not
suffer the poor to manure it.... The power is in your hands, the
Nations Representative, O let the first thing you do 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 Land of our Nativity." "This
thing," he then boldly declares, "you are bound to see done, or at
least to endeavour it, before another Representative force you;
otherwise you cannot discharge your trust to God and man." And the
Appeal concludes with the following words: "Set the Land free from
oppression, and righteousness will be the Laws, Government, and
Strength of that People."

The Long Parliament, however, were too busy carrying English
civilisation into Ireland to heed his words. And yet surely there was
work enough for them to do in their own country, in which, as we have
already pointed out, since the reign of Henry the Seventh the condition
of the masses of the people had steadily worsened, and, as a natural
consequence, the number of beggars, "rogues and vagrants," 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 ordered that the first time such
people were apprehended they should be branded with the letter R, and if
subsequently again found begging or wandering they were "to suffer death
without benefit of Clergy." Yet such was their obstinacy that they still
increased in numbers; and that for the simple reason that the economic
or social causes of which they were but the inevitable outcome were not
removed.

During all this period, however, the country was developing, its
industry and commerce expanding, and its wealth increasing by leaps and
bounds; but in all this the "meaner sort," the Younger Brothers, the
disinherited masses, had neither lot nor share. Though Clarendon may
speak of the growing economical prosperity of the country during the
time of which we are writing, yet there be no doubt of the truth of
Thorold Rogers' contention, that[109:1]--"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 few might have become rich, while the
many were crushed down into hopeless and almost permanent indigence."
And yet the facts are such as to compel him, when speaking of the
Restoration, to point out that[110:1]--"the labourers, as far as the
will went, were better off under the rule of the Saints than under that
of the sinners."

The English land-system, as we know it to-day, really began with the
Restoration, when the very memory of Winstanley and his doctrines was
swept away, when the men of the Model Army found themselves powerless,
while "the great and wise men" of the nation "set up Monarchy again,"
humbly prostrating themselves at the feet of a licentious, cynical
debauchee, and the Landocracy, new and old, found themselves in the
saddle with far greater political power than they had ever before
enjoyed. They soon found means of fastening their yoke more firmly than
ever on the necks of the people, and of making short work of any claims
of an independent yeomanry to any right to the soil of their native
country apart from their good-will and pleasure. After some effort, they
passed a Statute under which the estates of such of the free-holders as
had 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 Holders into Land Owners, by shifting the burden
of taxation to the food, industry, and handicraft of those they had
despoiled and disinherited. And, finally, for the first time in the
history of England, they passed a Corn Law artificially to increase
their rents, at the cost and to the detriment, often to the starvation,
of the masses of the people. From the effect of these laws the people of
Great Britain have not yet been able entirely to recover themselves,
though since 1824 they have made heroic steps to do so. With this
portion of the history, we had almost written of the martyrdom, of the
English people we are not here directly concerned. Manifestly it would
have been very different had the Long Parliament listened to
Winstanley's appeal, or had his self-sacrificing efforts been crowned
with the success they so well deserved.

FOOTNOTES:

[100:1] Thomasson's Tracts. British Museum, Press Mark, E. 560 (1).
Reprinted in the _Harleian Miscellany_, vol. ii. p. 485.

[103:1] Others, in far more influential positions than Winstanley and
his comrades, gave forcible expression to much the same views. In the
debates of the Army Council on the Agreement of the People, on November
1647, Edward Sexby, the Agitator or Representative of the private
soldiers, an able, daring, and energetic man, replying to Ireton, on the
question of the right to vote, said: "We have engaged in this kingdom
and ventured our lives, and it was all for this: to recover our
birthrights and privileges as Englishmen; and by the arguments urged,
there 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." During the same debate Colonel Rainborrow said: "I think that
the poorest he that is in England hath a life to live as the greatest
he." And, also in reply to Ireton, he subsequently declared: "Sir, I see
that it is impossible to have liberty but all property must be taken
away.... If you will say it, it must be so. But I would fain know what
the soldier hath fought for all this while? He hath fought to enslave
himself, to give power to men of riches, to men of estate, and to make
himself a perpetual slave."--See _Clarke Papers_, vol. i. pp. 322-323,
325.

[105:1] King's Pamphlets. British Museum, Press Mark, E. 564. Also at
the Guildhall Library. The Ralph Verney mentioned is the hero of _The
Verney Memoirs_: there is, however, no mention of this incident therein.

[106:1] This argument would scarcely have appealed to Ireton, who during
the debate of the Army Council frankly declared that in his opinion--"It
was not the business of Jesus Christ, when he came into the world, to
create Kingdoms of the World, and Magistracies and Monarchies, or to
give the rule of them, positive or negative."--See _Clarke Papers_, vol.
ii. p. 101.

[108:1] Colonel Rainborrow, who with Sexby and Wildman represented on
the Army Council the private soldiers of the Model Army, during the
debate on the right of voting, gave expression to the view that some
fundamental changes in the laws of the Land were both necessary and
justifiable, in the following words: "I hear it said, 'It's a huge
alteration it's a bringing 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] were those which the
people have been always under, if the people find that they are not
suitable to freeman, I know no reason that should deter me, either in
what I must answer before God or the world, from endeavouring by all
means to gain anything that might be of more advantage to them than the
government under which they live."--_Clarke Papers_, vol. i. p. 247.

[109:1] _Economic Interpretation of History_, p. 138.

[110:1] _Economic Interpretation of History_, p. 241.

[110:2] _Six Centuries of Work and Wages_, pp. 432-433.

CHAPTER XI

A WATCHWORD TO THE CITY OF LONDON, ETC.

"All men have stood for Freedom; thou hast kept fasting-days and
prayed in the morning exercises for Freedom; thou hast given thanks
for victories because hopes of Freedom; plenty of Petitions and
Promises thereupon have been made for Freedom. But now the common
enemy is gone, you are all like men in a mist seeking for Freedom,
but know not where nor what it is.... Assure yourselves, if you
pitch not now upon the right point of Freedom in action, as your
Covenant hath it in words, you will wrap up your children in
greater slavery than ever you were in."--WINSTANLEY, _A Watchword
to the City of London_.

The House of Commons, as we have seen, took no notice of Winstanley's
dignified appeal, hence, within a week of its publication in pamphlet
form, Winstanley, on August 26th, 1649, addressed himself to the City of
London, at that time the stronghold of advanced political and religious
thought. The pamphlet, which is one of the most interesting he ever
wrote, appeared the following month: the title-page reads as follows:

"A WATCHWORD TO THE CITY OF LONDON AND THE ARMY:[112:1]

Wherein you may see that England's Freedom, which should be the
result of all our Victories, is sinking deeper under the Norman
Power, as appears by this Relation of the unrighteous
proceedings of Kingston Court against some of the Diggers at
George Hill, under colour of law; but yet thereby the cause of
the Diggers is more brightened and strengthened, so that every
one singly may truly say what his Freedom is and where it lies.

BY JERRARD WINSTANLEY.

When these clay bodies are in grave, and children stand in place,
This shows we stood for truth and peace and freedom in our days;
And true-born sons we shall appear of England that's our Mother,
No Priests nor Lawyers wiles t'embrace, their slavery we'll discover."

This pamphlet, too, commences with a Dedicatory Letter, which opens as
follows:

"TO THE CITY OF LONDON,--Freedom and Peace desired,--{6}Thou City
of London, I am one of thy sons by freedom, and I do truly love thy
peace. While I had an estate in thee, I was free to offer my Mite
into thy Public Treasury, Guildhall, for a preservation to thee and
to the whole Land. But by thy cheating sons in the thieving art of
buying and selling, and by the burdens of and for the soldiery in
the beginning of the War, I was beaten out of both estate and
trade, and forced to accept of the good-will of friends, crediting
of me, to live a Country life. There likewise by the burthen of
Taxes and much Free Quarter my weak back found the burthen heavier
than I could bear. Yet in all the passages of these eight years
troubles, I have been willing to lay out what my talent was, to
procure England's peace inward and outward; and yet all along I
have found such as in words have professed the same cause to be
enemies to me."

It then briefly summarises Winstanley's past actions, as well as the
causes that inspired them, and the position in which he finds himself in
consequence thereof, as follows:

"Not a full year since, being quiet at my work, my heart was filled
with sweet thoughts, and many things were revealed to me which I
never read in books, nor heard from the mouth of any flesh. When I
began to speak of them some people could not bear my words. Amongst
these revelations this was one, _That the Earth shall be made a
Common Treasury of Livelihood to whole mankind without respect of
persons._

"And I had a voice within me that bade me declare it by word all
abroad, which I did obey, for I declared it by word of mouth
wheresoever I came. Then I was made to write a little book called
the New Law of Righteousness, and therein I declared it. Yet my
mind was not at rest, because nothing was acted; and thoughts ran
in me that words and writings were all nothing and must die; for
action is the life of all, and if thou dost not act, thou dost
nothing.

"Within a little time I was made obedient to the word in that
particular likewise. For I took my spade and went and broke the
ground upon George Hill in Surrey, thereby declaring Freedom to the
Creation, and that the Earth must be set free from entanglement of
Lords and Land Lords, and that it shall become a Common Treasury to
all, as it was first made and given to the sons of men.

"For which doing ... the old Norman Prerogative Lord of that Manor
caused me to be arrested for a trespass against him in digging upon
that barren Heath. And the unrighteous proceedings of Kingston
Court I have declared to thee and to the whole Land that you may
consider the case England is in."

The Dedicatory Letter concludes as follows:

"I have declared this truth to the Army and Parliament, and now I
have declared it to thee likewise, that none of you that are the
fleshy strength of this Land may be left without excuse: for now
you have been all spoken to. And because I have obeyed the voice of
the Lord in this thing, therefore do the Freeholders and Lords of
Manors seek to oppress me in the outward livelihood of the world,
but I am in peace. And London, nay England, look to thy Freedom. I
assure you thou art very near to be cheated of it, and if thou lose
it now after all thy boasting, truly thy posterity will curse thee
for thy unfaithfulness to them. Everyone talks of Freedom, but
there are but few that act for Freedom, and the actors for Freedom
are oppressed by the talkers and verbal professors of Freedom. If
thou wouldst know what true Freedom is, read over this and other of
my writings, and thou shalt see it lies in the Community in Spirit
and Community in the Earthly Treasury; and this is Christ, the true
manchild, spread abroad in the Creation, restoring all things unto
himself. And so I leave thee, Being a free Denizon of thee, and a
true lover of thy peace.

JERRARD WINSTANLEY.
"_August 26th, 1649._"

The pamphlet commences with a short and business-like account of the
proceedings at Kingston Court, as follows:

"Whereas we, Henry Bickerstaffe, Thomas Star and Jerrard
Winstanley, were arrested into Kingston Court by Thomas Wenman,
Ralph Verney, and Richard Winwood, for a trespass in digging upon
George Hill in Surrey, being the right of Mr. Drake, Lord of that
Manor, as they say, we all three did appear the first Court-day of
our arrest, and demanded of the Court, What was laid to our
charge? and to give answer thereunto ourselves. But the answer of
your Court was this, that you would not tell us what the trespass
was, unless we would fee an Attorney to speak for us. We told them
we were to plead our own cause, for we knew no Lawyer that we could
trust with this business. We desired a copy of the Declaration, and
profered to pay for it, but still you denied us unless we would fee
an Attorney. But in conclusion the Recorder of your Court told us
that the cause was not entered. We appeared two Court-days after
this, and desired to see the Declaration, and still you denied us
unless we would fee an Attorney, so greedy are these Attornies
after money, more than to justify a righteous cause. We told them
that we could not fee any unless we would wilfully break our
National Covenant, which both Parliament and People have taken
jointly together to effect a Reformation. And unless we would be
professed Traitors to the Nation and Common-wealth of England, by
upholding the old Norman tyrannical and destructive Laws, when they
are to be cast out of equity, and reason to be the Moderator.

"Then seeing that you would not suffer us to speak, one of us
brought the following writing into Court, that you might read our
answer. Because we would acknowledge all righteous proceedings in
Law, though some slander us and say we deny all Law, because we
deny the corruption of Law, and endeavour a Reformation in our
place and calling, according to that National Covenant. And we know
if your Laws were built upon equity and reason, you ought both to
have heard us speak, and to have read our answer. For that is no
righteous Law, whereby to keep a Common-wealth in peace, when one
sort shall be suffered to speak and not another, as you deal with
us, to pass sentence and execution upon us, before both sides be
heard to speak. This principle in the forehead of your Laws
foretells destruction to this Common-wealth. For it declares that
the Laws that follow such refusal are selfish and thievish and full
of murder, protecting all that get money by their Laws, and
crushing all others.

"The writer hereof does require Mr. Drake, and he is a Parliament
man, therefore a man counted able to speak rationally, to plead
this cause of digging with me.[115:1] And if he show a just and
rational title that Lords of Manors have to the Commons, and that
they have a just power from God to call it their right, shutting
out others, then I will write as much against it as ever I wrote
for this cause. [A heavy forfeit, truly!] But if I show by the Law
of Righteousness that the poorest man hath as good a title and just
right to the Land as the richest man, and that undeniably the Earth
ought to be a Common Treasury of Livelihood for all without
respecting persons; then I shall require no more of Mr. Drake but
that he would justify our cause of digging, and declare abroad that
the Commons ought to be free to all sorts, and that it is a great
trespass before the Lord God Almighty for one to hinder another of
his liberty to dig the earth, that he might feed and clothe himself
with the fruits of his labor thereupon freely, without owning any
Land Lord or paying any Rent to any person of his own kind."

After this perfectly safe challenge, he continues:

"I sent this following answer to the Arrest in writing into
Kingston Court:

"In four passages your Court hath gone contrary to the
righteousness of your own Statute Laws. For, _First_, it is
mentioned in 36 Edward III. 15 that no Process, Warrant or Arrest
should be served till after the cause was recorded and entered. But
your Bailiff either could not or would not tell us the cause when
he arrested us, and Mr. Rogers, your Recorder, told us the first
Court-day we appeared that our cause was not entered.

"_Secondly_, We appeared two other Court-days, and desired a copy
of the Declaration, and profered to pay for it, and you denied us.
This is contrary to equity and reason, which is the foundation your
Laws are or should be built upon, if you would have England to be a
Common-wealth, and stand in peace.

"_Thirdly_, We desired to plead our own cause, and you denied us,
but told us we must fee an Attorney to speak for us, or else you
would mark us in default for not appearance. This is contrary to
your own Laws likewise, for in 28 Edward I. chapter ii. there is
freedom given to a man to speak for himself, or else he may choose
his father, friend or neighbour to speak for him, without the help
of any other Lawyer.

"_Fourthly_, You have granted a judgement against us, and are
proceeding to an execution, and this is contrary likewise to your
own laws, which say that no plaint ought to be received or
judgement passed, till the cause be heard, and witnesses present,
to testify the plaint to be true, as Sir Edward Coke, 2nd part of
Institutes upon the 29 chap. of Magna Charta, fol. 51-53. The
Mirror of Justice."

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