“Thus we have in writing declared in effect what we should say, if we had liberty to speak before you, declaring withal that your Court cannot end this controversy in that equity and reason of it which we stand to maintain. Therefore we have appealed to the Parliament, who have received our Appeal and promised an answer, and we wait for it. And we leave this with you, and let Reason and Righteousness be our Judge. Therefore we hope you will do nothing rashly, but seriously consider of this cause before you proceed to execution upon us.”
Of course, the Court paid no heed to his pleadings, and he details the subsequent proceedings in the following business-like manner:
“Well, this same writing was delivered into their Court, but they cast it out again, and would not read it, and all because I would not fee an Attorney. And then the Court-day following, before there was any trial of our cause, for there was none suffered to speak but the Plaintiff, they passed a judgement, and after that an execution. Now their Jury was made of rich Freeholders, and such as stand strongly for the Norman power. And though our digging upon that barren Common hath done the Common good, yet this Jury brings in damages of £10 a man, and the charges of the Plaintiff in their Court, twenty-nine shillings and a penny: and this was their sentence and the passing of the execution upon us.”
Winstanley then mentions one instance descriptive of the way he and his comrades were “boycotted” by his neighbours, and of the men responsible therefor. He says:
“Before the report of our digging was much known, I bought three acres of grass from a Lord of the Manor, whom I will not here name because I know the counsel of others made him prove false to me. For when the time came to mow, I brought money to pay him beforehand, but he answered me that I should not have it, and sold it to another before my face. This was because his Parish Priest and the Surrey Ministers have bid the people neither to buy nor to sell us, but to beat us, imprison us, or to banish us.”
He then relates that two days later “they sent to execute the execution, and they put Harry Bickerstaffe in prison, but after three days Mr. Drake released him again, Bickerstaffe not knowing of it till the release came. They seek after Thomas Star to imprison his body, who is a poor man, not worth ten pounds.” He continues:
“Then they came privately by day to Gerrard Winstanley’s house and drove away four cows, I not knowing of it. They took away the cows which were my livelihood, and beat them with their clubs that the cows’ heads and sides did swell, which grieved tender hearts to see. And yet,” he pathetically but somewhat humourously adds, “these cows never were upon George Hill, nor never digged upon that ground, and yet the poor beasts must suffer because they gave milk to feed me. But strangers made rescue of those cows, and drove them astray out of the Bailiffs’ hands, so that the Bailiffs lost them. But before the Bailiffs had lost the cows, I, hearing of it, went to them and said—‘Here is my body, take me, that I may speak to those Normans that have stolen our land from us; and let the cows go, for they are none of mine.’ After some time, they telling me they had nothing against my body, it was my goods they were to have. Then said I, ‘Take my goods, for the cows are not mine.’”
Here follows one of the most touching passages to which Winstanley ever set pen:
“And so I went away and left them, being quiet in my heart, and filled with comfort within myself, that the King of Righteousness would cause this to work for the advancing of His own cause, which I prefer above estate and livelihood. Saying within my heart as I went along, that if I could not get meat to eat, I would feed upon bread, milk and cheese. And if they take the cows, and I cannot feed on this, or hereby make a breach between me and him that owns the cows, then I’ll feed upon bread and beer, till the King of Righteousness clears up my innocency and the justice of His own cause. And if this be taken from me for maintaining His cause, then I’ll stand still and see what He will do with me; for as yet I know not.
“Saying likewise within my heart as I was walking along—O thou King of Righteousness, show thy power and do thy work thyself, and free thy people now from under this heavy bondage of misery. And the answer in my heart was satisfactory, and full of sweet joy and peace: and so I said, Father, do what thou wilt, for this cause is thine, and thou knowest that the love to righteousness makes me do what I do.”
He then continues:
“I was made to appeal to the Father of Life in the speakings of my heart likewise thus—Father, thou knowst that what I have writ or spoken concerning this light, that the Earth should be restored and become a Common Treasury for all mankind, without respect of persons, was thy free revelation to me, I never read it in any book, I heard it from no mouth of flesh, till I understood it from thy teaching first within me. I did not study nor imagine the conceit of it; self-love to my own particular body does not carry me along in the managing of this business; but the power of love flowing forth to the liberty and peace of thy whole Creation, to enemies as well as to friends: nay, towards those who oppress me, endeavouring to make me a beggar to them. And since I did obey thy voice, to speak and act this truth, I am hated, reproached and oppressed on every side. Such as make professions of thee, yet revile me. And though they see I cannot fight with fleshy weapons, yet they will strive with me by that power. And so I see, Father, that England yet doth choose rather to fight with the Sword of Iron and Covetousness than with the Sword of the Spirit, which is Love. And what thy purpose is with this Land or with my body, I know not, but establish thy power in me, and then do what pleases thee.
“These and such like sweet thoughts dwelt in my heart as I went along; and I feel myself now like a man in a storm, standing under shelter upon a hill in peace, waiting till the storm be over to see the end of it, and of many other things that my eye is fixed upon.”
The pamphlet concludes as follows:
“You have arrested us for digging upon the common land, you have executed your unrighteous power, in destraining cattle, imprisoning our bodies, and yet our cause was never publicly heard, neither can it be proved that we broke any Law that is built upon equity and reason. Therefore we wonder whence you had your power to rule over us by will, more than we to rule over you by our will.... We request that you would let us have a fair open trial.... let your Ministers plead with us in the Scriptures, and let your Lawyers plead with us as to the equity and reason of your own Law. And if you prove us transgressors, then we shall lay down our work and acknowledge that we have trespassed against you in digging upon the Commons, and then punish us. But if we prove by Scripture and Reason that undeniably the Land belongs to one as well as another, then you shall own our work, justify our cause, and declare that you have done wrong to Christ, who you say is your Lord and Master, in abusing us His servants and your fellow-creatures, while we are doing His work. Therefore, knowing you to be men of moderation in outward show, I desire that your actions towards your fellow-creatures may not be like one beast to another, but carry yourselves like man to man, for your proceeding in your pretence of Law hitherto against us is both unrighteous, beastly, and devilish, and nothing of the spirit of man seen in it. You Attornies and Lawyers, you say you are Ministers of Justice, and we know that equity and reason is or ought to be the foundation of Law. If so, then plead not for money altogether, but stand for Universal Justice and Equity: then you will have peace; otherwise both you and the corrupt Clergy will be cast out as unsavoury salt.”
As will have been seen from the above, and as we shall show more fully later on, the little company of Diggers were having a rather troublesome time. Within two days of the delivery of their first letter to Lord Fairfax, on June 11th, some of them were grievously assaulted by two of the local freeholders, accompanied by men in women’s garments; but, according to their own account, they made no attempt to defend themselves.122:1 In November of the same year the agitation against their doings was revived, or became more acute, and early in December they found themselves compelled again to appeal to Lord Fairfax for protection.122:2 After having recapitulated their main arguments, this letter continues:
“Now, Sirs, divers repulses we have had from some of the Lords of Manors and their servants, with whom we are patient and loving, not doubting but at last they will grant liberty quietly to live by them. And though your tenderness hath moved us to be requesting your protection against them, yet we have forborne, and rather waited upon God with patience till he quell their unruly spirits.... In regard likewise the soldiers did not molest us, for that you told us when some of us were before you, that you had given command to your soldiers not to meddle with us, but resolved to leave us to the Gentlemen of the County and to the Law of the Land to deal with us, which we were satisfied with, and for this half-year past your soldiers have not meddled with us.
“But now, Sirs, this last week, upon the 28th of November, there came a party of soldiers commanded by a Cornet, and some of them of your own regiment, and by their threatening words forced three labouring men to help them to pull down our two houses, and carried away the wood in a cart to a Gentleman’s house, who hath been a Cavalier all our time of war, and cast two or three old people out who lived in those houses to lie in the open fields this cold weather (an act more becoming Turks to deal with Christians than for one Christian to deal with another). But if you inquire into the business you will find that the Gentlemen who set the soldiers on are enemies to you, for some of the chief had hands in the Kentish rising against the Parliament, and we know, and you will find it true if you trust them so far, that they love you but from the teeth outward.
“Therefore our request to you is this, that you would call your soldiers to account for attempting to abuse us without your commission, that the Country may know that you had no hand in such an unrighteous and cruel act. Likewise we desire that you would continue your former kindness and promise to give commission to your soldiers not to meddle with us without your order.”
As we shall presently see, nothing more discouraged the little company of Diggers than the assistance given to their enemies by the soldiery. Lord Fairfax, however, had no free hand in this matter; the Council of State had again received information of what was termed “a tumultuous meeting at Cobham,” which the ordinary power at the disposal of the local Justices of the Peace “was not sufficient to disperse,” and had consequently sent Lord Fairfax definite instructions to send “such horse as you may think fit to march to that place.”124:1 This information had evidently come to Winstanley’s knowledge. He had not signed the foregoing letter, so felt himself at liberty to supplement it by another and more forcible one, which opens as follows:
“Winstanley’s Second Letter to Lord Fairfax.124:2
“To my Lord General and his Council of War.
“Sir,—I understand that Mr. Parson Platt with some other gentlemen have made report to you and the Council of State that we that are called Diggers are a riotous people, and that we will not be ruled by the Justices, and that we hold a man’s house by violence from him, and that we have four guns in it to secure ourselves, and that we are drunkards, and Cavaliers waiting an opportunity to bring in the Prince, and such like. Truly, Sir, these are all untrue reports, and as false as those which Hamaan of old brought against sincere-hearted Mordecai to incense king Ahasuerus against him. The conversation of the Diggers is not such as they report; we are peaceable men and walk in the light of righteousness to the utmost of our power.”
He then expounds their aims, and justifies their action in the manner with which our readers will by now be familiar, and continues:
“We know that England cannot be a free Common-wealth, unless all the poor Commoners have a free use and benefit of the land. For if this freedom be not granted, we that are the poor commoners are in a worse case than we were in the King’s days; for then we had some estate about us, though we were under oppression, but now our estates are spent to purchase freedom, and we are under oppression still of Lords of Manors tyranny. Therefore unless we that are poor commoners have some part of the land to live upon freely, as well as the Gentry, it cannot be a Common-wealth, neither can the kingly power be removed so long as this kingly power in the hands of Lords of Manors rules over us.
“Now, Sir, if you and the Council will quietly grant us this freedom, which is our own right, and set us free from the kingly power of Lords of Manors, that violently now as in the king’s days hold the commons from us (as if we had obtained no conquest at all over the kingly power), then the poor that lie under the great burden of poverty, and are always complaining for want, and their miseries increase because they see no means of relief found out, and therefore cry out continually to you and the Parliament for relief, and to make good your promises, will be quieted.
“We desire no more of you than freedom to work, and to enjoy the benefit of our labors—for here is waste land enough and to spare to supply all our wants. But if you deny this freedom, then in righteousness we must raise collections for the poor out of the estates, and a mass of money will not supply their wants. Many are in want that are ashamed to take collection money, and therefore they are desperate, and would rather rob and steal and disturb the land, and others that are ashamed to beg would do any work for to live, as it is the case of many of our Diggers, who have been good housekeepers. But if this freedom were granted to improve the common lands, then there would be a supply to answer everyone’s inquire, and the murmurings of the people against you and the Parliament would cease, and within a few years we should have no beggars nor idle persons in the land.
“Secondly, Hereby England would be enriched with all commodities within itself which they each would afford. And truly this is a stain to Christian religion in England [a stain not yet removed] that we have so much land lie waste and so many starve for want. Further, if this freedom be granted, the whole Land will be united in love and strength, that if a foreign enemy, like an army of rats and mice, come to take our inheritance from us, we shall all rise as one man to defend it.
“Then, lastly, if you will grant the poor commoners this quiet freedom to improve the common land for our livelihood, we shall rejoice in you and the Army in protecting our work, and we and our work will be ready to secure that, and we hope that there will not be any kingly power over us, to rule at will and we to be slaves, as the power has been, but that you will rule in love as Moses and Joshua did the children of Israel before any kingly power came in, and that the Parliament will be as the elders of Israel, chosen freely by the people to advise for and to assist both you and us.
“And thus in the name of the rest of those called Diggers and Commoners through the land, I have in short declared our mind and cause to you in the light of righteousness, which will prove all these reports made against us to be false and destructive to the uniting of England into peace.
“Per me Gerrard Winstanley, for myself and in the behalf of my fellow commoners.
“December the 8th, 1649.”
Amongst Winstanley’s disciples was one Robert Coster, who appears to have been the poet of the Digger Movement, and the next pamphlet which issued from their camp, on December 18th, some ten days after the date affixed to the above vigorous letter, was from his pen. It is entitled:
“A Mite cast into the Common Treasury:126:1 Or Queries propounded (for all Men to consider of) by him who desireth to advance the work of Public Community. By Robert Coster.”
In it Coster first recapitulates Winstanley’s main arguments and contentions, and then shows that he for one fully realised their far-reaching scope, by indicating their probable effects in the following words:
“As, 1. If men would do as aforesaid rather than to go with cap in hand and bended knee to Gentlemen and Farmers, begging and entreating to work with them for 8d. or 10d. a day, which doth give them an occasion to tyrannise over poor people, who are their fellow-creatures; if poor men would not go in such a slavish posture, but do as aforesaid, the rich Farmers would be weary of renting so much land of the Lords of Manors.
“2. If the Lords of Manors and other Gentlemen who covet after so much land, could not let it out by parcels, but must be constrained to keep it in their own hands, then would they want those great bags of money (which do maintain pride, idleness and fullness of bread) which are carried in to them by the Tenants, who go in as slavish a posture as well may be, namely, with cap in hand and bended knee, crouching and creeping from corner to corner, while his Lord (rather Tyrant) walks up and down the room with his proud looks, and with great swelling words questions him about his holding.
“3. If the Lords of Manors and other Gentlemen had not those great bags of money brought to them, then down would fall the lordliness of their spirits, and then poor men might speak to them, and there might be an acknowledging of one another to be Fellow-Creatures.
“For what is the reason that great gentlemen covet after so much land? Is it not because Farmers and others creep to them in a slavish manner, profering them so much money for such and such parcels of it, which doth give them occasion to tyrannise over their Fellow-Creatures, which they call their Inferiors?
“And what is the reason that Farmers and others are so greedy to rent land of the Lords of Manors? Is it not because they expect great gains, and because poor men are so foolish and slavish as to creep to them for employment, although they will not give them money enough to maintain themselves and their families comfortably? All which do give them an occasion to tyrannise over their Fellow-Creatures, which they call their Inferiors.
“All which considered, if poor men which want employment and others which work for little wages would go to dress and improve the Commons and Waste Lands, whether it would not bring down the price of Land, which doth principally cause all things to be dear?”
The pamphlet concludes with the following lines:
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:
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.
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:
and the first two verses seem to us worthy of being given in full. They run as follows:
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.
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.
“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.
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 £20 trespass for plowing upon the Commons, which I never did.... And now they have arrested me again in an Action of £4 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: