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

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

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23

Fundamental social laws and institutions, based upon inequality of
rights, must necessarily produce inequality of conditions. And all who
impartially consider the question will be forced to admit that both
Winstanley and Henry George trace the prevailing social inequality, the
debauching wealth of the few and the degrading poverty of the many, to
its true cause. Nor can there be any doubt but that if Winstanley's
practical and efficacious remedy had been adopted, if the use of the
Common Land had been secured to the Common People on equitable terms,
the economic condition of the masses of the generations which succeeded
him, the whole subsequent economic, social and political history of the
English People, would have been very different; and they would not now,
in the Twentieth Century, be fighting for, or more often whispering with
bated breath concerning, those very reforms he so strenuously advocated
over two hundred and fifty years ago.

Winstanley's writings met with the fate that awaits all thought much in
advance of the times in which it is given to the world. They have been
ignored and forgotten; and till very recently even his memory had
vanished from the minds of his fellow-countrymen, to whose emancipation
he unstintedly devoted his life. Nor can we be surprised at this, when
we consider the circumstances. There can be little doubt but that his
earlier writings were the quiver whence the early Quakers derived many
of their arrows, their most pointed and consequently by their opponents
most hated doctrines. And yet the highly philosophic and rational
attitude toward cosmological and theological speculations Winstanley
attained to in his last pamphlet, placed before our readers in Chapter
XVI., seems to us sufficiently to account for his having been ignored
even by those who may have availed themselves of his earlier works, and
hence that these, too, should have been gradually forgotten.

That the same fate should have befallen his political writings, his
noble and yet simple and practical political ideals and aspirations, is
also not surprising. After the Restoration, when, as we have already
shown, Winstanley's bitter opponents, the old and new landholders, were
in the saddle, and made unsparing, we had almost written unscrupulous,
use of their opportunities, such doctrines as his were little likely to
commend themselves to the privileged, cultured and educated classes.
Prior to the Reformation, education, at least the knowledge of reading,
writing and arithmetic, was undoubtedly more widely diffused amongst the
masses of the people than it was subsequently--at all events, till very
recent times. From the Restoration to within our own times, education,
even the knowledge of reading, was as a very general rule only within
the reach of the few, of the privileged classes and those more or less
dependent on their favour, with whom such ideals as those voiced by
Winstanley would naturally meet with but scant consideration. Moreover,
though we may be accused of pessimism or cynicism for saying so, it
seems to us that the main reason why teachings such as Winstanley's must
necessarily remain specially unpalatable and unwelcome so long as social
and political privileges are allowed to continue, is that they are too
simple and direct, and the path toward their realisation too clearly
indicated, to be acceptable or welcome to those who benefit, or think
they benefit, by the continuance of social injustice. Winstanley's
proposals, as the proposals of his great modern representative, Henry
George, are, indeed, a test of sincerity. It is easy to express approval
of Freedom, Justice, Honesty, Equality of Opportunities, Brotherhood, of
the Equal Right of All to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness,
and so on, _in the abstract_, and to talk about the necessity for men,
_other men_, dealing honestly, equitably and righteously one toward the
other. It is difficult, though but a test of our own honesty and
sincerity, to give practical support to unpopular doctrines and
proposals which would tend to make these noble and elevating conceptions
into real, living realities, and to enforce us to act honestly,
equitably and righteously ourselves. Hence it is that even to-day those
who advocate any such doctrines, any such social change, are either
dismissed as impossible, utopian dreamers, or denounced as revolutionary
demagogues, as "prophets of iniquity," "preachers of immorality,"
"advocates of villany," as enemies of society, and so on; and if this
fails of its desired effects, other means are found by which their
influence is undermined and their teachings discredited in the minds of
those who more or less blindly follow in the wake of the "superior
classes," the privileged few and their more or less direct dependents.
Thus Society continues its troubled slumbers until--until the necessary
changes denied to peaceful reformers, to the thinkers of the race, may
be demanded, by revolutionary methods, by force, by those who know
themselves injured and oppressed, though they may be ignorant of the
means by which they are wronged.

It was, however, as a sincere and unswerving advocate of peaceful,
practical reforms, as a courageous and unflinching opponent of the use
of force, of the sword, even for righteous ends, that Winstanley
appealed to his own generation, as Henry George, Ruskin and Tolstoy
appeal to the present. Nor can there be any doubt but that his teachings
found far more general acceptance than is to be gathered from modern
histories of the troubled times in which his lot was cast. For not only
was there sufficient demand to warrant the publication of at least two
editions of _The Law of Freedom_, as of several of his other pamphlets,
but additional testimony is to be gathered from the fact that his
writings were immediately pirated and issued under new titles by other
publishers:[232:1] than which no better evidence can be had of the
popularity of any writer.

However this may be, new and less earnest and less strenuous generations
arose which knew not Winstanley, and heeded not his teachings; and till
very recent years both he and his teachings have remained utterly
forgotten. And yet we write the closing lines of our work with the same
conviction with which we commenced it some five years ago, that not only
was Gerrard Winstanley a man worthy to be recalled to the memory of his
fellow-countrymen, as one who deserved well of his day, of his
generation and of his country, but that the intrinsic merits of his
writings and teachings make them worthy of our most careful study, of
our highest admiration, and of our most profound respect.

True, they have hitherto received but scant consideration; but this need
neither surprise nor disturb us. The man in whose heart a new truth is
born may be a benefactor of his species; but, as all history teaches us,
if he have courage to proclaim it to the world, he must be prepared to
meet the hatred, scoffing and abuse of the ignorant, the sneering
contempt, if not bitter persecution, of the learned and highly placed
upholders of already accepted beliefs and superstitions. More especially
is this true of a social truth, of a truth which threatens the
continuance of society in its accustomed paths, which threatens the
continuance of some vested social wrong, of some deep-rooted and
time-honoured social injustice, which, though it may be poisoning the
springs of social life, necessarily finds favour in the eyes of those
who are advantaged, or think they are advantaged, thereby. It was such a
truth that meditation and reflection revealed to Gerrard Winstanley;
and, as we have seen, he too met with the fate awaiting those who find
themselves in advance of their times. As already pointed out, his memory
has passed away, his teachings have remained unheeded. The seed he
planted fell upon barren soil; but though so hardened by the withering
frosts of ignorance, of that ignorance which is indeed "the curse of
God," as to seem but as a dead stone, the vivifying sun of knowledge may
yet stir its dormant potency, recalling it to life, to spring up and to
develop into a stately tree, yielding its life-giving fruits, offering
the welcome protection of its branches to all seeking rest and shelter
beneath its shade. To-day the thought that inspired Winstanley has again
been proclaimed by one greater than Winstanley, and is slowly but surely
remoulding the social thought of the world. Thanks to the genius of
Henry George, the more thoughtful and ethical-minded of our race are
gradually coming to realise that, to use Winstanley's words--"True
Commonwealth's Freedom lies in the free enjoyment of the Earth"; and
that if they would remove those remediable social ills which harass,
haunt and warp our advancing civilisation, the use of the Earth and a
share in the bounties and blessings of Nature must be secured to each
and all upon equitable terms and conditions. Hence it is that we feel
impelled to close our notice of the great Apostle of Social Justice and
Economic Freedom of the Seventeenth Century with the following eloquent
and soul-stirring words of his still greater successor of the Nineteenth
Century, words which almost seem but as an echo of his own, even though
many of us even to-day may have yet to learn to appreciate their full
force, meaning and truth:

"In our time, as in times before, creep on the insidious forces
that, producing inequality, destroy Liberty. On the horizon the
clouds begin to lower. Liberty calls to us again. We must follow
her further; we must trust her fully. Either we must wholly accept
her or she will not stay. It is not enough that men should vote; it
is not enough that they should be theoretically equal before the
law. They must have liberty to avail themselves of the
opportunities and means of life; they must stand on equal terms
with reference to the bounties of nature. Either this, or Liberty
withdraws her light! Either this, or darkness comes on, and the
very forces that progress has evolved turn to powers that work
destruction. This is the universal law. This is the lesson of the
centuries. Unless its foundations be laid in justice the social
structure cannot stand."

END.

FOOTNOTES:

[228:1] Published under the title, _The Condition of Labour_ (Swan,
Sonnenschein & Co., London).

[232:1] The following are some of such pirated publications: _Articles
of High Treason._ British Museum, Press Mark, E. 521. _A Declaration for
Freedom._ E. 321. _The Levellers Remonstrance._ E. 652. 12.

APPENDIX A

THE FUNDAMENTAL AND JUST CHIEF ARTICLES OF ALL THE PEASANTRY AND
VILLEINS BY WHICH THEY DEEM THEMSELVES OPPRESSED

INTRODUCTION.

To the Christian Reader, Peace and the Grace of God through
Christ,--There are many Anti-Christians who now take occasion to libel
the Gospel on account of the assembled peasantry, saying these be the
fruits of the New Gospel, to obey none, to raise rebellion in all
places, to rush to arms to reform, to root out, and perhaps to destroy
all spiritual and temporal authority. All such godless and wicked
judgements the Articles here written do answer; in the first place, so
that the shame may be lifted off the word of God; in the second, to
excuse in a Christian manner this uprising of the peasants.

In the first place, the Gospel is no cause of any uprising, seeing that
it is the word of Christ, the promised Messiah, whose word and life
teach naught save love, peace, patience and unity; so all who believe in
this Christ should be loving, peaceful, patient and united. The object
of all the Articles of the Peasants, when once clearly apprehended, is
that they may hear the Gospel and live according to the Gospel. How then
can Anti-Christians denounce the Gospel as a cause of rebellion and
disobedience? But that Anti-Christians and Enemies of the Gospel should
rise up against such requirements, of this the Gospel is not the cause,
but the Devil, the most hurtful enemy of the Gospel, who arouses
infidelity in his followers, so that the word of God, which teaches
peace and unity, may be trodden down and taken away.

In the second place, the following show clearly that the peasants in
their Articles demand the Gospel for teaching and for life; therefore
they cannot be called disobedient or rebellious. But should God hear the
peasants, who sincerely desire to live according to His word: Who will
oppose the will of God? (Rom. xi.). Who will impeach His judgment? (Isa.
xi.). Who dare resist His majesty? (Rom. viii.). Did He not hear the
Children of Israel when they called on Him, and delivered them out of
the hand of Pharaoh (II Moses 3. 7), and can He not to-day also save His
own? Aye, He will save them, and that speedily (Luke xviii. 8).
Therefore, Christian Reader, read the following Articles sedulously, and
then judge.

FIRST ARTICLE.

It is our humble request and desire, as also our will and intention,
that henceforth the community itself shall have power to choose their
Pastor, as also to dismiss him should he be found unsuitable. The Pastor
so chosen shall preach to us the Gospel clearly and purely, free from
all man-made additions, teachings and ordinances. For whoever preaches
to us the true Faith giveth us reason to pray to God for His mercy, and
to call up within us and confirm us in the true Faith. For if we do not
enjoy His grace, we remain mere flesh and blood, which profiteth not. It
is clearly written in the Scriptures that it is only through the true
Faith that we can come to God, and only through His mercy that we can be
saved. Therefore it is that we require such a Pastor and Minister.

SECOND ARTICLE.

_Secondly_, As the just tithe was established in the Old Testament, and
in the New covered all dues, so we will gladly furnish the just tithe of
corn, but only in a seemly manner, according to which it should be given
to God, and divided among His servants. It is the due of a Pastor, as
the Word of God clearly proclaims. Therefore it is our will that the
Church Overseers, such as are appointed by the Community, shall collect
and receive this tithe, and therefrom shall give to the Pastor, who
shall be chosen by the Community, suitable and sufficient subsistence
for him and his, as the whole Community may deem just. The surplus shall
be devoted to the use of the poor and needy, as we are instructed in the
Holy Scriptures. And so that no general tax shall be levied on the poor,
their share of such taxation shall be defrayed out of such surplus.

In villages where the right to the tithe has been sold, out of sheer
necessity, the buyers shall lose nothing, but their rights shall be
redeemed in a seemly manner. But those who have not bought the right to
the tithe from the village, but who or whose fathers have simply usurped
it to themselves, we will not and we should not give them anything. We
owe such men nothing; but we are willing out of the proceeds of such
tithe to support our chosen Pastor, and to relieve the needy as we are
commanded in the Holy Scriptures.

The small tithe we will not give. For God the Lord hath created the
beasts free to mankind (Gen. i.). It is only a mere human invention that
we should pay tithe on them. Therefore we shall not pay such tithe for
the future.

THIRD ARTICLE.

_Thirdly_, It has hitherto been the custom that we should be held as
serfs, which is deplorable, since Christ redeemed us all with His
precious blood, the shepherd as well as the noble, the lowest as well as
the highest, none being excepted. Therefore it accords with Scripture
that we should be free; and we will be free. Not that we are absolutely
free, or desire to be free from all authority: this God does not teach
us. We are to live according to His commandments, not according to the
promptings of the flesh; but shall love God as our Master, and recognise
Him as the one nearest to us. And everything He has commanded we shall
do; and His commands do not instruct us to disobey the orders of the
Authorities. On the contrary, not only before the Authorities, but
before all men we are to be humble; so that in all matters fitting and
Christian we shall gladly obey the orders of those who have been chosen
or have been set up over us. And doubtless, as true and honest
Christians, you will gladly abolish serfdom, or prove it to be in
accordance with the Gospel.

FOURTH ARTICLE.

_Fourthly_, It has hitherto been the custom that no poor man should have
any right to the game, the birds, or to the fish in the running waters.
This seems to us unseemly and unbrotherly, and not to be in accordance
with the Word of God. Moreover, in some places the authorities let the
game increase to our injury and mighty undoing, since we have to permit
that which God has caused to grow for the use of man to be unavailingly
devoured by the beasts; and we have to hold our peace concerning this,
which is against God and our neighbours. When our Lord God created
mankind, He gave him power over all creatures, over the birds in the air
and the fish in the waters. Therefore as regards those who control the
running waters, and who can show us documents to prove that they
purchased it with money, we do not desire to take it away from such men
by force, but to come to some Christian agreement with them in brotherly
love. Those who have no such documents shall share with the community in
a seemly manner.

FIFTH ARTICLE.

_Fifthly_, We find ourselves oppressed as regards the woods. For our
Lords have taken to themselves all the woods; and when poor men require
any wood, they have to buy it with money. Our view is that such woods,
whether claimed by spiritual or by temporal Lords, as have not been
purchased, should return to the community, and be free to all in a
seemly manner. So that those who require wood for firing shall be free
to take same without payment, as also if they require any for
carpentering: but, of course, always with the knowledge of the chosen
Authorities of the community. But where there are no woods save those as
have been honestly purchased, with such we will arrange the matter in a
brotherly and Christian spirit. And in cases where the land was first
appropriated and afterwards sold, we will also come to an agreement with
the buyers according to the circumstances of the case, and with regard
to brotherly love and the Holy Writings.

SIXTH ARTICLE.

_Sixthly_, The burden of service presses heavily upon us, and is daily
increased. We desire that this matter shall be looked into, and that we
be not so heavily burdened, but shall be mercifully dealt with herein;
that we should serve but as our fathers have served, but only according
to the Word of God.

SEVENTH ARTICLE.

_Seventhly_, Henceforth we will no longer allow ourselves to be
oppressed by the Lords, but according as a Lord hath granted the land,
so shall it be held, according to the agreement between the Lord and the
peasant. The Lord shall not force him to render more service for naught;
so that the peasant shall enjoy his holding in peace and unoppressed.
But if the Lord hath need of service, the peasant shall be willing and
obedient to him before others; but it shall be at the hour and the time
when it shall not injure the peasant, and at a proper remuneration.

EIGHTH ARTICLE.

_Eighthly_, Many of us are oppressed in that we hold lands that will not
bear the price placed on them, so that the peasant thereby is ruined and
undone. Our desire is that the Lord shall allow such land to be seen by
honourable men, so that the price shall be fixed in such a manner that
the peasant shall not have his labour in vain: for every labourer is
worthy of his hire (Matt. x.).

NINTH ARTICLE.

_Ninthly_, We suffer greatly because of the new punishments that are
continually laid upon us. Not that they punish us according to the
circumstances of the case, but at times spitefully and at other times
favourably. We would be punished according to the old written
punishments, and not arbitrarily.

TENTH ARTICLE.

_Tenthly_, We suffer in that some have taken to themselves meadows and
arable land that belong to the community. Such land we would take once
more into the hands of our communities wheresoever they have not been
honestly purchased. But where they have been purchased, then shall the
case be agreed upon in peace and brotherly love, according to the
circumstances of the case.

ELEVENTH ARTICLE.

_Eleventhly_, We would have the custom called the death-due entirely
abolished. We will never suffer nor permit that widows and orphans shall
be disgraced and robbed of their own, contrary to God and honour, as has
happened in many cases and in many ways. Those who would protect and
shelter them, they have abused and injured, and when these have had
some little property, even this they have taken. Such things God will no
longer suffer, they shall be abolished. For such things no man shall
henceforth be compelled to give aught, be it little or much.

TWELFTH ARTICLE.

_Twelfthly_, It is our resolve and final decision that if any of the
Articles here set forth be not according to the Word of God, we will,
whenever they are shown to be against the Word of God, at once withdraw
therefrom. Yea, even though certain articles were now granted and it
should hereafter be found that they are unjust, from that hour they
shall be null and void and of no effect. The same shall happen if there
should with truth be found in the Scriptures yet more Articles which
were held to be against God and a stumbling-block to our neighbours,
even though we should have determined to preserve such for ourselves.
For we have determined and resolved to practice ourselves in all
Christian doctrines. Therefore we pray God the Lord who can grant us the
same, and none other. The Peace of Christ be with you all. Amen.

APPENDIX B

TOLERATION

The statement that toleration was the one leading principle of
Cromwell's life, may seem somewhat exaggerated to those who have not
carefully studied his career. By his own words let him be judged.
Writing to Major Crawford as early as March 1643 (1644) he plainly tells
him--"Sir, the State, in choosing men to serve it, takes no notice of
their opinions; if they be willing faithfully to serve it, that
satisfies." After Naseby, under date June 14th, 1645, in his dispatch to
the Speaker, he tells the Presbyterian House of Commons--"Honest men
served you faithfully in this action. Sir, they are trusty; I beseech
you in the name of God not to discourage them.... _He that ventures his
life for the liberty of the country, I wish he trust God for the liberty
of his conscience, and you for the liberty he fights for._" The meaning
of these words was not lost to the House, so when sending his dispatch
to the press, they carefully omitted this paragraph.

After the siege of Bristol, Cromwell is still more outspoken. Under date
September 14th, 1645, he writes to the Speaker as follows--"Presbyterians,
Independents, all have here the same spirit of faith and prayer; the same
presence and answer; they agree here, have no names of difference; pity
it should be otherwise anywhere--_for, bretheren, in things of the mind
we look for no compulsion but that of light and reason_." This dispatch,
too, the House of Commons took care to mutilate before sending it to the
press.

As he advanced in his career, Cromwell became still more outspoken. In
his opening speech to his first Parliament, after having given
expression to his view that the Lord had given them the victory for the
common good of all, "for the good of the whole flock," he
continues--"Therefore I beseech you--but I think I need not--have a care
of the whole flock! Love the sheep, love the lambs; love all, tender
all, cherish and countenance all, in all things that are good. _And if
the poorest Christian, the most mistaken Christian, shall desire to live
peaceably and quietly under you--I say, if any shall desire but to lead
a life of godliness and honesty, let him be protected._"

Again, when dissolving his first Parliament (Speech IV.), he expresses
the same thought in the following words--"Is there not yet upon the
spirits of men a strange itch? Nothing will satisfy them unless they can
press their finger upon their bretheren's consciences, to pinch them
there. To do this was no part of the contest we had with the common
adversary. For religion was not the thing at first contended for, but
God brought it to that issue at last; and gave it unto us by way of
redundancy; and at last it proved to be that which was most dear to us.
And wherein consisted this more than in obtaining that liberty from the
tyranny of the Bishops to all species of Protestants to worship God
according to their own light and consciences? ... And was it fit for them
to sit heavy upon others? Is it ingenuous to ask liberty and not to give
it? What greater hypocrisy than for those who were oppressed by the
Bishops to become the greatest oppressors themselves, so soon as their
yoke was removed? I could wish that they who call for liberty now also
had not too much of that spirit, if the power were in their hands."

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23