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

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TITLES OF HONOUR.

"But shall not one man have more Titles of Honor than another?

"Yes: As a man goes through offices, he rises to Titles of Honor,
till he comes to the highest nobility, to be a faithful
Commonwealth's Man in a Parliament House. Likewise he who finds out
any secret in Nature shall have a Title of Honor given him, though
he be a young man. But no man shall have any Title of Honor till he
win it by industry, or come to it by age or Office-bearing. Every
man that is fifty years of age shall have respect as a man of honor
from all others that are younger, as is shown hereafter."

OF FAMILY LIFE.

"Shall every man count his neighbour's house as his own, and live
together as one family?

"No; though the Earth and Storehouses be common to every Family,
yet every Family shall live apart as they do; and every man's
house, wife, children and furniture for ornament of his house, or
anything he hath fetched in from the Storehouses, or provided for
the necessary use of his family, is all a propriety unto that
Family, for the peace thereof. And if any man offer to take away a
man's wife, children, or furniture of his house, without his
consent, or disturb the peace of his dwelling, he shall suffer
punishment as an enemy to the Commonwealth's Government, as is
mentioned in the Platform following."

OF LAW AND LAWYERS.

"Shall we have no Lawyers?

"There shall be no need of them, for there is to be no buying and
selling, neither any need to expound Laws; for the bare letter of
the Law shall be both Judge and Lawyer, trying every man's actions.
And seeing we shall have successive Parliaments every year, there
will be rules made for every action that a man can do.

"But there are to be Officers chosen yearly in every Parish, to see
the Laws executed according to the letter of the Laws; so that
there will be no long work in trying of offences, as it is under
Kingly Government, to get the Lawyers money, and to enslave the
Commoners to the Conqueror's Prerogative Law or Will. The sons of
contention, Simeon and Levi, must not bear rule in a Free
Commonwealth."

PLEA FOR CONSIDERATION.

"At the first view you may say, 'This is a strange government.' But
I pray you judge nothing before trial. Lay this Platform of
Commonwealth's Government in one scale, and lay Monarchy, or Kingly
Government, in the other scale, and see which gives true weight to
Righteous Freedom and Peace. _There is no middle path between
these two; for a man must either be a free and true Commonwealth
man, or a Monarchial Tyrannical Royalist._"

ANSWERS TO FURTHER OBJECTIONS.

"If any say this will bring poverty, surely they mistake: for there
will be plenty of all Earthly Commodities, with less labor and
trouble then now it is under Monarchy. There will be no want; for
every man may keep as plentiful a house as he will, and never run
into debt, for common stock pays for all.

"If you say, Some will live idle; I answer, No. It will make idle
persons to become workers, as is declared in the Platform: There
shall be neither Beggar nor Idle Person.

"If you say, This will make men quarrel and fight; I answer, No. It
will turn Swords into Ploughshares, and settle such a peace in the
Earth as Nations shall learn war no more. Indeed, the Government of
Kings is a breeder of wars, because men being put into the straits
of poverty, are moved to fight for Liberty, and to take one
another's estates from them, and to obtain Mastery. Look into all
Armies and see what they do more, but make some poor, some rich,
put some into freedom others into bondage: and is not this a plague
among mankind?

"Well I question not but what Objections can be raised against this
Commonwealth's Government, they shall find an answer in this
Platform following. I have been something large, because I could
not contract myself into a lesser volume, having so many things to
speak of."

THE ONE THING NECESSARY.

"I do not say nor desire that everyone shall be compelled to
practice this Commonwealth's Government; for the spirits of some
will be enemies at first, though afterwards they will prove the
most cordial and true friends thereunto. Yet I desire that the
Commonwealth's Land ... may be set free to all that have lent
assistance{10} either of person or purse to obtain it, and to all
that are willing to come in to the practice of this Government, and
be obedient to the Laws thereof. And for others who are not
willing, let them stay in the way of buying and selling, which is
the Law of the Conqueror, till they be willing."

CONCLUSION.

"And so I leave this in your hand, humbly prostrating myself and it
before you, and remain, A true lover of Commonwealth's Government,
Peace and Freedom.
"GERRARD WINSTANLEY.
"_November 5th, 1651._"

TO THE FRIENDLY AND UNBIASSED READER.

The somewhat long, though comprehensive, letter to Cromwell is followed
by one addressed "To the Friendly and Unbiassed Reader," in which a very
different tone is adopted, and which runs as follows:

"READER,--It was the Apostle's advice formerly to try all things,
and to hold fast that which is best. This Platform of Government
which I offer is the original Righteousness and Peace in the Earth,
though he hath been buried under the clod of Kingly Covetousness,
Pride and Oppression a long time. Now he begins to have his
Resurrection, despise it not while it is small; though thou
understand it not at the first sight, yet open the door and look
into the house; for thou mayst see that which will satisfy thy
heart in quiet rest."

SUMMARY OF THE RESULTS OF HIS PLAN.

"To prevent thy hasty rashness, I have given thee a short
compendium of the whole.

"_First_, Thou knowst that the Earth in all Nations is governed by
buying and selling, for all the Laws of Kings hath relation
thereunto. Now this Platform following declares to thee the
Government of the Earth without buying and selling, and the Laws
are the Laws of a free and peaceable Commonwealth....

"Every family shall live apart, as now they do; every man shall
enjoy his own wife, and every woman her own husband, as now they
do: every Trade shall be improved to more excellency than now it
is; all children shall be educated and trained up in subjection to
parents and elder persons more than now they are: The Earth shall
be planted and the fruits reaped and carried into Storehouses by
common assistance of every family: The Riches of the Storehouses
shall be the common stock to every Family: There shall be no idle
person nor beggar in the Land."

COMMONWEALTH GOVERNMENT AND KINGLY GOVERNMENT.

"The Commonwealth's Government unites all people in a Land into one
heart and mind. And it was this Government which made Moses to call
Abraham's seed one House of Israel, though there were many Tribes
and many Families. And it may be said, Blessed is the People whose
Earthly Government is the Law of Common Righteousness....

"The Government of Kings is the Government of the Scribes and
Pharisees, who count it no freedom unless they be the Lords of the
Earth and of their Bretheren. But Commonwealth's Government is the
Government of Righteousness and Peace, who is no respecter of
persons."

FINAL APPEAL TO THE READER.

"Therefore, Reader, here is a trial for thy sincerity. Thou shalt
have no want of food, raiment or freedom among bretheren in this
way propounded. See now if thou canst be content, as the Scriptures
say, Having food and raiment therewith be content, and grudge not
to let thy brother have the same with thee.

"Dost thou pray and fast for Freedom, and give God thanks again for
it? Why, know that God is not partial. For if thou pray, it must be
for Freedom to all; and if thou give thanks, it must be because
Freedom covers all people: for this will prove a lasting peace.

"Everyone is ready to say, They fight for their Country, and what
they do, they do it is for the good of their Country. Well, let it
appear now that thou hast fought and acted for thy Country's
Freedom. But if when thou hast power to settle Freedom in thy
Country, thou takest the possession of the Earth into thy own
particular hands, and makest thy Brother work for thee, as the
Kings did, thou hast fought and acted for thyself, not for thy
Country, and here thy inside hypocrisy is discovered.

"But here take notice, That Common Freedom, which is the Rule I
would have practiced and not talked on, was thy pretence, but
particular Freedom to thyself was thy intent. Amend, or else thou
wilt be shamed, when Knowledge doth spread to cover the Earth, even
as the waters cover the Seas. And so Farewell.
J. W."

To-day knowledge is commencing "to spread to cover the Earth even as the
waters cover the Seas"; and the thinkers of our times are rapidly coming
to realise, to use Shelley's words, that--"The most fatal error that
ever happened in the world was the separation of political and ethical
science": a separation against which, as we have seen, Winstanley in his
time protested so vigorously. Hence it is, probably, that the teachings
of our modern seers and prophets, of the leaders and inspirers of the
advanced thought of to-day, of Ruskin, Tolstoy, and even of Henry
George, almost seem to us but as the echoes of those of their great
forerunner in the stirring days of the Commonwealth.

FOOTNOTES:

[163:1] _History of the Commonwealth_, vol. i. p. 446.

[163:2] _Ibid._ p. 471.

[164:1] King's Pamphlets. British Museum, Press Mark, E. 655. Also at
the Guildhall Library and the Bodleian.

[164:2] At the very time this book was being written, some of the new
settlements in America were making Church Fellowship a necessary
condition of civil rights.

[165:1] See Carlyle's _Letters and Speeches_, Speech II., Sept. 4th,
1654, part viii. p. 20.

[166:1] This argument would have appealed strongly to Cromwell, who, in
one of his Speeches to his First Parliament, said: "If I had not a hope
fixed in me that this cause and this business was of God, I would many
years ago have run from it. If it be of God, He will bear it up. If it
be of man, it will tumble; as everything that hath been of man since the
world began hath done. And what are all our Histories and other
Traditions of Actions in former times but God manifesting Himself, that
He hath shaken and tumbled down, and trampled upon everything that He
had not planted."--Carlyle, _Letters and Speeches_, part viii. p. 89.

[168:1] With this contention, too, Cromwell would have found himself in
complete sympathy. For "the truth of it is, There are wicked and
abominable laws which will be in your power to alter," he said to one of
his Parliaments on Sept. 17th, 1656. "To hang a man for
Six-and-eight-pence, and I know not what; to hang for a trifle and
acquit murder,--is in the ministration of the Law, through the ill
framing of it. I have known in my experience abominable murders
acquitted. And to see men lose their lives for petty matters: this is a
thing God will reckon for. And I wish it may not lie upon this Nation a
day longer than you have an opportunity to give a remedy; and I hope I
shall cheerfully join with you in it. This hath been a great grief to
many honest hearts and conscientious people; and I hope it is in all
your hearts to rectify it."

[170:1] "And truly this is matter of praise to God:--and it hath some
instruction in it, To own men who are religious and godly. And so many
of them as are peaceable and honestly and quietly disposed to live
within Government, and will be subject to those Gospel rules of obeying
Magistrates and living under Authority. I reckon no Godliness without
that circle! Without that spirit, let it pretend what it will, it is
diabolical, it is devilish," and so on. See Cromwell's Speech to his
Second Parliament, April 13th, 1657 (Carlyle, part x. p. 250). It would
almost seem as if Winstanley had written the above paragraph to answer
this explosive utterance of Cromwell, some six years before it took
place. As a matter of fact, of course, he was only answering an
objection which every little conventional upholder of existing abuses,
in his time as in our time, would be sure to make in one form or other.

CHAPTER XV

GERRARD WINSTANLEY'S UTOPIA

THE LAW OF FREEDOM (_continued_)

"Look on yonder earth:
The golden harvests spring; the unfailing sun
Sheds light and life; the fruits, the flowers, the trees,
Arise in due succession; all things speak
Peace, harmony and love.... Is Mother Earth
A step-dame to her numerous sons, who earn
Her unshared gifts with unremitting toil;
A mother only to those puling babes
Who, nursed in ease and luxury, make men
The playthings of their babyhood, and mar,
In self-important childishness, that peace
Which men alone appreciate?"--SHELLEY.

"The end of law," says Locke, "is not to abolish or restrain, but to
preserve and enlarge freedom." Winstanley evidently held the same view;
for he commences this, his last and greatest book, as follows:

"WHERE TRUE FREEDOM LIES.

"The great searching of heart in these days is to find out where
true Freedom lies, that the Commonwealth of England might be
established in peace. Some say, It lies in the free use of Trading,
and to have all Patents, Licenses and Restraints removed: But this
is a Freedom under the Will of a Conqueror. Others say, It is true
Freedom to have Ministers to preach, and for people to hear whom
they will, without being restrained or compelled from or to any
form of worship: But this is an unsettled Freedom.... Others say,
It is true Freedom that the Elder Brother shall be Land Lord of the
Earth, and the Younger Brother a Servant: And this is but a half
Freedom, and begets murmurings, wars and quarrels.

"All these, and such like, are Freedoms; but they lead to Bondage,
and are not the true Foundation-Freedom which settles a
Commonwealth in Peace.

"TRUE COMMONWEALTH'S FREEDOM LIES IN THE FREE ENJOYMENT OF THE
EARTH.

"True Freedom lies where a man receives his nourishment and
preservation, and that is in the use of the Earth.... All that a
man labors for, saith Solomon, is this, That he may enjoy the free
use of the Earth with the fruits thereof (Eccles. 2. 24). Do not
the Ministers preach for maintenance in the Earth? The Lawyers
plead causes to get the possessions of the Earth? Doth not the
Soldier fight for the Earth? And doth not the Land Lord require
Rent that he may live in the fullness of the Earth by the labor of
his Tenants? And so from the Thief upon the Highway to the King who
sits upon the Throne, does not everyone strive, either by force of
Arms or secret Cheats, to get the possessions of the Earth one from
another, because they see their Freedom lies in plenty, and their
Bondage lies in Poverty?"

Then occurs this eternally true passage:

"Surely, then, oppressing Lords of Manors, exacting Land-lords and
Tythe-takers, may as well say their Bretheren shall not breathe in
the air, nor enjoy warmth in their bodies, nor have the moist
waters to fall upon them in showers, unless they will pay them rent
for it, as to say their Bretheren shall not work upon Earth, nor
eat the fruits thereof, unless they will hire that liberty of them.
For he that takes upon him to restrain his Brother from the liberty
of the one, may upon the same ground restrain him from the liberty
of all four, viz., Fire, Water, Earth and Air.

"A man had better to have had no body than to have no food for it.
Therefore this restraining of the Earth from Bretheren by Bretheren
is oppression and bondage; but the free enjoyment thereof is true
Freedom."

INWARD AND OUTWARD BONDAGE.

"I speak now in relation between the Oppressor and the Oppressed,
the Inward Bondages I meddle not with in this place, though I am
assured that if it be rightly searched into, the inward bondages of
the mind, as covetousness, pride, hypocrisy, envy, sorrow, fears,
desperation and madness, are all occasioned by the outward bondage
that one sort of people lay upon another. And thus far natural
experience makes it good, THAT TRUE FREEDOM LIES IN THE FREE
ENJOYMENT OF THE EARTH."

"WHAT IS GOVERNMENT IN GENERAL?

"Government is a wise and free ordering of the Earth and of the
Manners of Mankind by observation of particular Laws or Rules, so
that all the inhabitants may live peaceably in plenty and freedom
in the Land where they are born and bred."

With this most suggestive, philosophic and beautiful definition of
Government, Winstanley opens his second chapter, and immediately
elucidates his views on this all-important subject by drawing what we
regard as a true and just comparison between what he well terms Kingly
Government and Commonwealth's Government, or, what would now be termed,
Aristocracy and Democracy, as follows:

"WHAT IS KINGLY GOVERNMENT?

"There is a twofold Government: a Kingly Government and a
Commonwealth's Government.

"Kingly Government governs the Earth by that cheating art of buying
and selling, and thereby becomes a man of contention, his hand is
against every man, and every man's hand against him ... and if it
had not a Club Law to support it, there would be no order in it,
because it is but the covetous and proud will of a Conqueror
enslaving a conquered people.... Indeed, this Government may well
be called the Government of Highwaymen, who hath stolen the Earth
from the Younger Bretheren by force and holds it from them by
force.... The great Lawgiver of this Kingly Government is
Covetousness, ruling in the hearts of mankind, making one Brother
to covet a full possession of the Earth, and a Lordly Rule over
another Brother.... The Rise of Kingly Government is attributable
to a politic wit in drawing the people out of Common Freedom into
a way of Common Bondage: FOR SO LONG AS THE EARTH IS A COMMON
TREASURY TO ALL MEN, KINGLY COVETOUSNESS CAN NEVER REIGN AS KING.

"WHAT IS COMMONWEALTH'S GOVERNMENT?

"Commonwealth's Government governs the Earth without buying and
selling, and thereby becomes a man of peace, and the Restorer of
Ancient Peace and Freedom. He makes provision for the oppressed,
the weak and the simple, as well as for the rich, the wise and the
strong.... All slavery and Oppressions ... are cast out by this
Government, _if it be right in power as well as in name_ ... IF
ONCE COMMONWEALTH'S GOVERNMENT BE SET UPON THE THRONE, THEN NO
TYRANNY OR OPPRESSION CAN LOOK HIM IN THE FACE AND LIVE.{11}

"If true Commonwealth's Freedom lies in the free enjoyment of the
Earth, as it doth, then whatsoever Law or Custom doth deprive
Bretheren of their Freedom in the Earth is to be cast out as
unsavoury salt."

And after reminding his readers that "the great Lawgiver in
Commonwealth's Government is the Spirit of Universal Righteousness," and
warning them of the evils that would necessarily attend their posterity
if they heeded not His dictates, he continues:

"If you do not run in the right channel of Freedom, you must, nay,
you will as you do, face about and turn back again to Egyptian
Monarchy; and so your names in the days of posterity shall be
blasted with abhorred infamy for your unfaithfulness to Common
Freedom; and the evil effects will be sharp upon the backs of
posterity.

"Therefore, seeing England is declared to be a Free Commonwealth,
and the name thereof established by a Law; surely then the greatest
work is now to be done; and that is, to escape all Kingly cheats in
setting up a Commonwealth's Government, so that the power and the
name may agree together; so that all the inhabitants may live in
peace, plenty and freedom.... For oppression was always the
occasion why the spirit of freedom in the people desired change of
government.... And the oppressions of the Kingly Government have
made this age of the world to desire a Commonwealth's Government
and the removal of the Kings: for the Spirit of Light in man loves
Freedom and hates Bondage."

"WHERE BEGAN THE FIRST ORIGINAL OF GOVERNMENT IN THE EARTH AMONG
MANKIND?"

In the third chapter, under the above heading, Winstanley first points
out that--"The original root of Magistracy is Common Preservation; and
it rose up first in a private family," and then continues:

COMMON PRESERVATION.

"There are two roots whence Laws do spring. The first root is
Common Preservation, when there is a principle in every one to seek
the good of others as himself, without respecting persons: and this
is the root of the tree Magistracy, and the Law of Righteousness
and Peace: and all particular Laws found out by experience
necessary to be practiced for common preservation, are the boughs
and branches of that tree."

THE INWARD LIGHT.

"And because among the variety of mankind ignorance may grow up,
therefore this Original Law is written in the hearts of every man,
to be his guide and leader; so that if an Officer be blinded by
covetousness and pride, and ignorance rule in him, yet an inferior
man may tell him when he goes astray. For COMMON PRESERVATION AND
PEACE IS THE FOUNDATION-RULE OF ALL GOVERNMENT: therefore if any
will preach or practice Fundamental Truths, or Doctrine, here you
may see where the foundation thereof lies."

SELF-PRESERVATION.

"The second root is Self-Preservation: when particular Officers
seek their own preservation, ease, honor, riches, and freedom in
the Earth, and do respect persons that are in power and riches with
them, and regard not the peace, freedom, and preservation of the
weak and foolish among Bretheren."

THE ROOT OF THE TREE TYRANNY.

"This is the root of the tree Tyranny, and the Law of
Unrighteousness; and all particular Kingly Laws found out by
Covetous Policy to enslave one Brother to another, whereby bondage,
tears, sorrows and poverty are brought upon many men, are all but
the boughs and branches of that tree Tyranny.... Indeed, this
Tyranny is the cause of all wars and troubles, of the removal of
the Government of the Earth out of one hand into another so often
as it is in all Nations. For if Magistrates had a care to cherish
the peace and liberties of the common people, and to see them set
free from oppression, they might sit in the Chair of Government and
never be disturbed. But when their sitting is altogether to advance
their own interest, and to forget the afflictions of their
Bretheren who are under bondage: this is the forerunner of their
own downfall, and oftentimes proves the plague of the whole Land.

"Therefore the work of all true Magistrates is to maintain the
Common Law, which is the root of right government, and preservation
and peace to everyone; and to cast out all self-ended principles
and interests, which is Tyranny and Oppression, and which breaks
common peace. For surely the disorderly actings of Officers break
the peace of the Commonwealth more than any men whatsoever."

"ALL OFFICERS IN A TRUE MAGISTRACY OF A COMMONWEALTH ARE TO BE
CHOSEN OFFICERS.

"He who is a true Commonwealth's officer is not to step into the
place of Magistracy by policy or violent force, as all Kings and
Conquerors do, and so become oppressing Tyrants, by promoting their
self-ended Interests, or Machiavilian Cheats, that they may live in
plenty and rule as Lords over their Bretheren. But a true
Commonwealth's Officer is to be a chosen one by them who are in
necessity and who judge him fit for that work....

"When the people have chosen all Officers, to preserve a right
order in government of earth among them, then doth the same
necessity of common peace move the people to say to their Overseers
and Officers--'_Do you see our Laws observed for our preservation
and peace, and we will assist and protect you._' And these words
_assist_ and _protect_ imply the rising up of the people by force
of arms to defend their Laws and Officers against any Invasion,
Rebellion or Resistance: yea, to beat down the turbulency of any
foolish or self-ended spirit that endeavours to break their common
peace."

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