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

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By way of appendix the author adds a long poem, of nine verses, entitled
"A Digger's Ballad," of which the following verse, the last one, will
give our readers a sufficient idea:

"The glorious state
which I do relate
Unspeakable comfort shall bring,
The corn will be green
and the flowers seen,
Our Storehouses they will be filled.
The birds will rejoice
with a merry voice,
All things shall yield sweet increase.
Then let us all sing
and joy in our King,
Who causeth all sorrows to cease."

As will be seen in the following chapter, the time the above pamphlet
was published was one of great anxiety in the brave little community
which had ventured so much to lay the foundations of a better society
than ever they knew, of a Social State based upon Justice, in which all
should equally enjoy the benefits of their Creation. They had thrown
their little possessions into a Common Treasury; they had taken
possession of their birthright, the Commons of England; they had
patiently endured all possible wrongs, injuries and insults, and had
still remained steadfast to the Law of Reason and Love, to the express
command of their acknowledged Master and King--Resist not evil. However,
though their courage and endurance remained unabated, their little stock
of provisions was becoming exhausted, and the end of their high
endeavour was in sight. However this may be, it was about this time,
during the bleak winter months, that they composed two Christmas Carols
to sing round their camp-fires, which were given to the world the
following April in a little book bearing the following title:

"THE DIGGERS MIRTH:[129:1]

OR

Certain Verses composed and fitted to tunes, for the delight and
recreation of all those that dig, or own that work, in the
Commonwealth of England.

Wherein is shewed how the Kingly Power doth still reign in several
sorts of men.

With a hint of that Freedom which shall come,
When the Father shall reign alone in His Son.

Set forth by those who were the original of that so righteous a
work, and continue still successful therein at Cobham in Surrey.

LONDON.

Printed in the year 1650."

It contains but two long pieces, both of which merit more than a passing
notice. The first, probably from the pen of Robert Coster, entitled "The
Diggers Christmasse Caroll," contains some twenty-eight verses of six
lines each. The view and hopes of the Diggers, as well as references to
recent public events, are amusingly related, and in conclusion the
reader is reminded that--"Freedom is not won, neither by sword nor gun,"
and therefore entreated to discard his faith in the efficacy of force,
of Money and the Sword, and to share their belief in the power of Love,
Righteousness, and Co-operative Labour, for the satisfaction of the
needs and desires of all.

The second piece, which we suspect to be from Winstanley's pen, is
headed:

"A hint of that Freedom which shall come,
When the Father shall reign alone in His Son,"

and the first two verses seem to us worthy of being given in full. They
run as follows:

"The Father He is God alone,
nothing besides Him is;
All things are folded in that one,
by Him all things subsist.

He is our Light, our Life, our Peace,
whereby we our being have;
From Him all things have their increase,
the Tyrant and the Slave."

It was probably also about this time that Winstanley composed the
following much more lively piece, which is to be found in the _Clarke
Papers_,[130:1] and which may here find a fitting place:

"THE DIGGERS SONG.

"You noble Diggers all, stand up now, stand up now,
You noble Diggers all, stand up now,
The waste land to maintain, seeing Cavaliers by name
Your digging do disdain and persons all defame.
Stand up now, stand up now.

Your houses they pull down, stand up now, stand up now,
Your houses they pull down, stand up now;
Your houses they pull down to fright poor men in town,
But the Gentry must come down, and the poor shall wear the crown.
Stand up now, Diggers all!

With spades and hoes and plowes, stand up now, stand up now,
With spades and hoes and plowes, stand up now;
Your freedom to uphold, seeing Cavaliers are bold
To kill you if they could, and rights from you withhold.
Stand up now, Diggers all!

Their self-will is their law, stand up now, stand up now,
Their self-will is their law, stand up now;
Since tyranny came in, they count it now no sin
To make a goal a gin, to starve poor men therein.
Stand up now, stand up now.

The Gentry are all round, stand up now, stand up now,
The Gentry are all round, stand up now;
The Gentry are all round, on each side they are found,
Their wisdom's so profound to cheat us of our ground.
Stand up now, stand up now.

The Lawyers they conjoin, stand up now, stand up now,
The Lawyers they conjoin, stand up now;
To arrest you they advise, such fury they devise,
The devil in them lies, and hath blinded both their eyes.
Stand up now, stand up now.

The Clergy they come in, stand up now, stand up now,
The Clergy they come in, stand up now;
The Clergy they come in, and say it is a sin
That we should now begin our freedom for to win.
Stand up now, Diggers all!

The tithes they yet will have, stand up now, stand up now,
The tithes they yet will have, stand up now;
The tithes they yet will have, and Lawyers their fees crave,
And this they say is brave, to make the poor their slave.
Stand up now, Diggers all!

'Gainst Lawyers and 'gainst Priests, stand up now, stand up now,
'Gainst Lawyers and 'gainst Priests, stand up now;
For tyrants they are both, even flat against their oath,
To grant us they are loath, free meat and drink and cloth.
Stand up now, Diggers all!

The club is all their law, stand up now, stand up now,
The club is all their law, stand up now;
The club is all their law, to keep poor men in awe;
But they no vision saw to maintain such a law.
Stand up now, Diggers all!

The Cavaliers are foes, stand up now, stand up now,
The Cavaliers are foes, stand up now;
The Cavaliers are foes, themselves they do disclose
By verses, not in prose, to please the singing boys.
Stand up now, Diggers all!

To conquer them by love, come in now, come in now,
To conquer them by love, come in now;
To conquer them by love, as it does you behove,
For He is King above, no Power is like to Love.
Glory here, Diggers all!"

FOOTNOTES:

[112:1] King's Pamphlets. British Museum, Press Mark, E. 573. Also at
the Guildhall Library.

[115:1] Mr. Drake was the Lord of the Manor, and the patron of Parson
Platt. He was made an Ejector for the County of Surrey by Cromwell, and
Platt made Lay Ejector.

[122:1] See _A Declaration of the Bloody and Unchristian Acting of
William Star and John Taylor of Walton, with divers men in women's
apparell, in opposition to those that dig upon St. Georges Hill_. King's
Pamphlets. British Museum, Press Mark, E. 561.

[122:2] _Clarke Papers_, vol. ii. pp. 215-217. No date is attached; but
Winstanley's second letter, which immediately follows it, is dated
December 8th, 1649.

[124:1] See _Calendar of State Papers_, Domestic, 1649-1650, p. 335.

[124:2] _Clarke Papers_, vol. ii. pp. 217-220.

[126:1] King's Pamphlets. British Museum, Press Mark, E. 585.

[129:1] King's Pamphlets. British Museum, Press Mark, E. 1365.

[130:1] Vol. ii. p. 221.

CHAPTER XII

A NEW YEAR'S GIFT FOR THE PARLIAMENT AND ARMY

"Hear, O thou Righteous Spirit of the Whole Creation, and judge,
who is the thief, he who takes away the Freedom of the Common Earth
from me, which is my Creation Right; Or I, who take the Common
Earth to plant upon for my free livelihood, endeavouring to live as
a Free Commoner, in a Free Common-wealth, in Righteousness and
Peace."--WINSTANLEY, _The Law of Freedom_.

It was probably during the anxious times that beset the little community
of Diggers during the winter of 1649-1650, that Winstanley wrote the
long and bitter pamphlet, to which is attached a detailed list of the
injuries inflicted upon them, and which early in 1650 appeared in book
form under the following title:

"A NEW YEAR'S GIFT FOR THE PARLIAMENT AND ARMY:[132:1]

Showing what the Kingly Power is; and that the Cause of those they
call Diggers is the Life and Marrow of that Cause the
Parliament hath declared for and the Army fought for. The
perfecting of which work will prove England to be the First of
Nations, or the Tenth Part of the City Babylon, that falls off
from the Beast first, and that sets the Crown upon Christ's
head, to govern the World in Righteousness.

By JERRARD WINSTANLEY,
A Lover of England's Freedom and Peace.

Die Pride and Envy; Flesh take the Poor's advice.
Covetousness begone: Come Truth and Love arise.
Patience take the Crown; throw Anger out of doors:
Cast out Hypocrisy, and Lust, and mere invented Laws.[133:1]
Then England sit in rest; Thy Sorrows will have end;
Thy Sons will live in Peace, and each will be a friend.

LONDON.
Printed for Giles Calvert, 1650."

Winstanley first gives a rapid sketch of recent events, as follows:

"Gentlemen of the Parliament and Army; You and the Common People
have assisted each other to cast out the head of oppression, which
was Kingly Power seated in one man's hand, and that work is now
done, and till that work was done you called upon the people to
assist you to deliver this distressed, bleeding, dying Nation out
of bondage. And the people came and failed you not, counting
neither purse nor blood too dear to part with to effect this work.

"The Parliament after this have made an Act to cast out Kingly
Power and to make England a free Common-wealth. These Acts the
people are much rejoiced with, as being words forerunning their
freedom, and they wait for their accomplishment that their joy may
be full. For as words without actions are a cheat, and kill the
comfort of a righteous spirit, so words performed in action do
comfort and nourish the life thereof.

"Now, Sirs, wheresoever we spy out Kingly Power, no man I hope
shall be troubled to declare it, nor afraid to cast it out, having
both Act of Parliament, the Soldier's Oath, and the Common People's
Consent on his side. For Kingly Power is like a great spread tree;
if you lop the head or top bough and let the other branches and
root stand, it will grow again and recover fresher strength.

"If any ask me, what Kingly Power is? I answer, there is a twofold
Kingly Power. The one is the Kingly Power of Righteousness, and
this is the power of the Almighty God, ruling the whole Creation in
Peace, and keeping it together. And this is the Power of Universal
Love, leading people unto all truth, teaching everyone to do as he
would be done unto.... But the other Kingly Power is the power of
Unrighteousness.... This Kingly Power is the Power of Self Love,
ruling in one or in many men over others, and enslaving those who
in the Creation are their equals; nay, who are in the strictness of
equity rather their masters. And this Kingly Power is usually set
in the Chair of Government, under the name of Prerogative, when he
rules in one over another; and in the name of State Privilege of
Parliament, when he rules in many over others.... While this Kingly
Power ruled in a man called Charles, all sorts of people complained
of oppression, both Gentry and Common People, because their lands,
enclosures and copyholds were entangled, and because their Trade
was destroyed by Monopolising Patentees, and your troubles were
that you could not live free from oppression in the earth.
Thereupon you that were the Gentry, when you were assembled in
Parliament, you called upon the Common People to come and help you
to cast out oppression: and you that complained are helped and
freed, and that top-bough is lopped off the Tree of Tyranny, and
Kingly Power in that one particular is cast out. But, alas!
oppression is a great tree still, and keeps off the Sun of Freedom
from the poor Commons still. He hath many branches and great roots
which must be grubbed up, before everyone can sing Zion's song in
peace."

After again praising the two Acts of Parliament--"the one to cast out
Kingly Power; the other to make England a free Common-wealth"--and
detailing his grievances against the Tything Priests and Lords of
Manors, he continues:

"Search all your Laws, and I'll adventure my life, for I have
little else to lose, that all Lords of Manors hold Title to the
Commons by no stronger hold than the King's Will, whose head is cut
off; and the King held title as he was a Conqueror. Now if you cast
off the King who was the head of that power, surely the power of
Lords of Manors is the same. Therefore perform your own Act of
Parliament, and cast out that part of the Kingly Power likewise,
that the People may see that you understand what you say and do,
and that you are faithful. For truly the Kingly Power reigns
strongly in the Lords of Manors over the Poor. For my own
particular, I have in other writings, as well as in this, declared
my reasons why the Common Land is the Poor People's propriety; and
I have digged upon the Commons; and I hope in time to obtain the
freedom to get food and raiment therefrom by righteous labour:
which is all I desire. And for so doing the supposed Lord of that
Manor hath arrested me twice. First in an Action of L20 trespass
for plowing upon the Commons, which I never did.... And now they
have arrested me again in an Action of L4 trespass for digging upon
the Commons, which I did, and own the work to be righteous and no
trespass to any. This was the Attorney at Kingstone's advice,
either to get money from both sides ... or else that I should not
remove the action to a Higher Court, but that the cause might be
tried there. For they know how to please Lords of Manors, that have
resolved to spend hundreds of pounds but they will hinder the Poor
from enjoying the Commons."

Then he gives utterance to the sense of indignation which filled his
heart in the following bitter and contemptuous words:

"Do these men obey the Parliament's Acts, to throw down Kingly
Power? O no! The same unrighteous doing that was complained of in
King Charles' days, the same doing is among them still. Money will
buy and sell Justice still. And is our eight years' war come round
about to lay us down again in the Kennel of Injustice as much or
more than before? Are we no farther learned yet? O ye Rulers of
England, when must we turn over a new leaf? Will you always hold us
in one lesson? Surely you will make Dunces of us; then all the Boys
in other Lands will laugh at us! Come, I pray, let us take forth
and go forward in our learning!"

Winstanley's zeal for the cause he had espoused was, however, too real
to allow him to continue long in this strain, so he immediately adopts a
more persuasive tone, as follows:

"You blame us who are the Common People as though we would have no
government. Truly, Gentlemen, we desire a righteous government with
all our hearts. But the Government we have gives freedom and
livelihood to the Gentry, to have abundance, and to lock up
Treasures of the Earth from the Poor; so that rich men may have
chests full of gold and silver, and houses full of corn and goods
to look upon, while the Poor who work to get it can hardly live;
and if they cannot work like slaves, then they must starve. Thus
the Law gives all the Land to some part of mankind, whose
predecessors got it by conquest, and denies it to others, who by
the Righteous Law of Creation may claim an equal portion. And yet
you say this is a Righteous Government, but surely it is no other
than selfishness."

His indignation again gets the mastery of him, and he continues
bitterly:

"England is a prison; the varieties of subtilties in the Laws
preserved by the Sword are the bolts, bars and doors of the prison;
the Lawyers are the Jailers; and Poor Men are the prisoners. For
let a man fall into the hands of any, from the Bailiff to the
Judge, and he is either undone or weary of his life. Surely this
power, the Law, which is the great Idol that people dote upon, is
the burden of the Creation, a nursery of idleness, luxury and
cheating, the only enemy of Christ, the King of Righteousness! For
though it pretends Justice, yet the Judges and Law Officers buy and
sell Justice for money, and say it is my calling, and never are
troubled at it."

He then makes the following manly appeal to his persecutors:

"You Gentlemen of Surrey, and Lords of Manors, and you Mr. Parson
Platt especially ... my advice to you is this, hereafter to lie
still and cherish the Diggers, for they love you and would not have
your finger ache if they could help it, then why should you be so
bitter against them? O let them live beside you. Some of them have
been Soldiers, and some Countrymen that were always friends to the
Parliament's cause, by whose hardships and means you enjoy the
creatures about you in peace. And will you now destroy part of them
that have preserved your lives? O do not do so; be not so besotted
with the Kingly Power.... Bid them go and plant the Commons. This
will be your honor and your comfort; for assure yourselves that you
can never have true comfort till you be friends with the Poor.
Therefore, come, come, love the Diggers, make restitution of their
land you hold from them; for what would you do if you had not such
laboring men to work for you?"

A pertinent question, truly, and one which those whom he addressed, as
well as those who are to-day in their places, would find it somewhat
inconvenient to answer.

He then appeals to the Officers of the Army in the following bold and
manly words:

"And you, great Officers of the Army and Parliament, love your
common Soldiers (I plead for Equity and Reason) and do not force
them, by long delay of payment, to sell you their dearly bought
Debentures for a thing of nought, and then to go and buy our Common
Land, and Crown Land, and other Land that is the spoil, one of
another therewith. Remember you are Servants to the Commons of
England, and you were volunteers in the Wars, and the Common People
have paid you for your pains largely.... As soon as you have freed
the Earth from one entanglement of Kingly Power, will you entangle
it more? I pray you consider what you do, and do righteously. We
that are the Poor Commons, that paid our money and gave you
free-quarter, have as much right in those Crown Lands and Lands of
the spoil as you. Therefore we give no consent that you should buy
and sell our Crown Lands and Waste Lands; for it is our purchased
inheritance from under oppression! it is our own, even the poor
Common People's of England.... We paid you your wages to help us
recover it, but not to take it yourselves and turn us out, and to
buy and sell it among yourselves.... If you do so, you uphold the
Kingly Power, and so disobey both Acts of Parliament, and break
your Oath; and you will live in the breach of these two
commandments, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, by denying
us the Earth which is our livelihood, and thereby killing us by a
lingering death."

Winstanley then summarises his contentions, as follows:

"Well, the end of all my speech is to point out the Kingly Power
where I spy it out. And you see it remains strongly in the hands of
Lords of Manors, who have dealt so discourteously with some who are
sincere in heart, though there have some come among the Diggers
that have caused scandal, but we disown their ways.[137:1]

"The Lords of Manors have sent to beat us, to pull down our houses,
spoil our labours; yet we are patient, and never offered any
violence to them again these forty weeks past, but wait upon God
with love till their hearts thereby be softened. All that we
desire is but to live quietly in the Land of our Nativity by our
righteous labour upon the Common Land, which is our own; but as yet
the Lords of the Manors, so formerly called, will not suffer us,
but abuse us. Is not that part of the Kingly Power? In that which
follows I shall clearly prove it is; for it appears so clear that
the understanding of a child does say, 'It is tyranny; it is the
Kingly Power of Darkness.' Therefore we expect that you will grant
us the benefit of your Act of Parliament, so that we may say--Truly
England is a Common-wealth, and a Free People indeed."

Winstanley then declares that despite all their trouble and anxiety the
Diggers were still "mightily cheerful," and resolved "to wait upon God
to see what He will do ... taking it a great happiness to be persecuted
for righteousness' sake by the Priests and Professors that are the
successors of Judas and the bitter spirited Pharisees that put the man
Christ to death." He then again advances the reasons on which he bases
the equal claims of all to the use of the earth, denounces the sources
whence the exclusive claims of the few have sprung, more especially the
tyrannical claims of Lords of Manors, boldly claiming that from this
tyranny of man to man England should have been freed by the recent
casting out of kingly power--and continues:

"Therefore I say, the Common Land is my own Land, equal with my
Fellow Commoners; and our true propriety by the Law of Creation.
_It is every ones, but not one single ones._ Yea, the Commons are
as truly ours by the last excellent two Acts of Parliament, the
foundation of England's new Righteous Government aimed at, as the
Elder Brothers can say the Enclosures are theirs. For they ventured
their lives and covenanted with us to help them preserve their
Freedom; and we adventured our lives and they covenanted with us to
purchase and to give us our Freedom, that hath been hundreds of
years kept from us."

The first part of this pamphlet concludes as follows:

"_Damona non Armis sed Morte subegit Jesus._

"By patient sufferings, not by Death,
Christ did the devil kill:
And by the same still to this day,
His foes he conquers still.

"True Religion and undefiled is this: To make Restitution of the
Earth, which hath been taken and held from the Common People by the
power of Conquests formerly, and to set the oppressed free. Do not
all strive to enjoy the land? The Gentry strive for land; the
Clergy strive for land; the Common People strive for land; and
Buying and Selling is an Art whereby People endeavour to cheat one
another of the land. Now, if any can prove from the Law of
Righteousness that the land was made peculiar to him and his
successively, shutting others out, he shall enjoy it freely for my
part. But I affirm, it was made for all; and true Religion is to
let everyone enjoy it. Therefore you Rulers of England, make
restitution of the Land which the Kingly Power holds from us. Set
the Oppressed free; and come in and honor Christ, who is the
Restoring Power, and you shall find rest."

In the opening of the second part of this pamphlet Winstanley reverts
somewhat to his earlier mystical style, and still further expounds the
eternal struggle between the Spirit of Self Love and the Spirit of
Universal Love, denouncing the former as the source of all social ills,
extolling the latter as the source and inspirer of peaceful and
equitable social life. "In our present experience," he contends,
"Darkness or Self Love goes before, and Light or Universal Love follows
after"; and hence "Darkness and Bondage doth oppress Liberty and Light."
He illustrates this contention, as well as the essential difference of
the spirits animating the Diggers and their opponents, by relating how
one of the Colonels of the Army told him--"That the Diggers did work
upon Georges Hill for no other end than to draw a company of people into
arms; and that our knavery was found out, because it takes not that
effect": on which Winstanley comments as follows:

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