The Digger Movement in the Days of the Commonwealth Part 14

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 t.i.tle:

"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 l.u.s.t, 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 a.s.sisted 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 a.s.sist 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 G.o.d, 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 a.s.sembled 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 t.i.tle to the Commons by no stronger hold than the King's Will, whose head is cut off; and the King held t.i.tle 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 trespa.s.s for plowing upon the Commons, which I never did.... And now they have arrested me again in an Action of 4 trespa.s.s for digging upon the Commons, which I did, and own the work to be righteous and no trespa.s.s 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 a.s.sure yourselves that you can never have true comfort till you be friends with the Poor.

Therefore, come, come, love the Diggers, make rest.i.tution 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d 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 Rest.i.tution 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 rest.i.tution 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 ill.u.s.trates 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:

"Truly thou Colonel, I tell thee, thy knavish imagination is thereby discovered, which hinders the effecting of that Freedom which by Oath and Covenant thou hast engaged to maintain. For my part and the rest, we had no such thought. We abhor fighting for Freedom; it is acting of the Curse, and lifting him up higher. Do thou uphold it by the Sword; we will not. We will conquer by Love and Patience, or else we count it no Freedom. Freedom gotten by the Sword is an established Bondage to some part or other of the Creation. This we have declared publicly enough. Therefore thy imagination told thee a lie, and will deceive thee in a greater matter, if Love doth not kill him. VICTORY THAT IS GOTTEN BY THE SWORD IS A VICTORY SLAVES GET ONE OVER ANOTHER; BUT VICTORY OBTAINED BY LOVE IS A VICTORY FOR A KING!"

Surely, surely, if all other writings of Winstanley had perished, this one pa.s.sage would have given us sufficient insight into his philosophy, into the n.o.ble principles animating his life, to ent.i.tle him to our admiration and respect.

He then continues:

"This is your very inward principle, O ye present Powers of England, you do not study how to advance Universal Love. If you did it would appear in action. But Imagination and Self Love mightily disquiet your mind, and makes you to call up all the Powers of Darkness to come forth and help you to set the Crown upon the head of Self, which is that Kingly Power you have oathed and vowed against, but yet uphold it in your hands.... All this falling out and quarrelling among mankind is about the Earth, and who shall, and who shall not enjoy it, when indeed it is the portion of everyone, and ought not to be striven for, nor bought, nor sold, whereby some are hedged in and others are hedged out. Far better not to have had a body than to be debarred the fruit of the Earth to feed and clothe it. And if every one did but quietly enjoy the Earth for food and raiment, there would be no wars, prisons, nor gallows, and this action which men call theft would be no sin. For Universal Love never made it a sin, but the Power of Covetousness made it a sin, and made Laws to punish it, though he himself lives in that sin in a higher manner than those he hangs and punishes....

Well, He that made the Earth for us as well as for you will set us free, though you will not. When will the Veil of Darkness be drawn off your faces? Will you not be wise, O ye Rulers?"

After further expatiating on the blessings inherent in Righteousness and Universal Love, and on the inevitable evil consequences of Self Love or Covetousness, he indicates the practical steps by which these evils might be removed, as follows:

"If ever the Creation is to be restored, this is the way, which lies in this two-fold power:

"First, Community of Mankind, which is comprised in the Unity of the Spirit of Love, which is called Christ within you, or the Law written in the Heart, leading Mankind unto all Truth, and to be of one heart and one mind.

"The Second is Community of the Earth, for the quiet livelihood in food and raiment, without using force or restraining one another.

"These Two Communities, or rather one in two branches, is that true Levelling which Christ shall work at His more glorious appearance.

FOR JESUS CHRIST, THE SAVIOUR OF ALL MEN, IS THE GREATEST, FIRST AND TRUEST LEVELLER THAT EVER WAS SPOKEN OF IN THE WORLD."

"Therefore you Rulers of England, be not afraid nor ashamed of Levellers, hate them not; Christ comes to you riding upon these clouds. Look not upon other Lands to be your pattern. All Lands in the World lie under Darkness, so doth England yet, though the nearest to Light and Freedom than any other. Therefore let no other Land take your Crown....