The Digger Movement in the Days of the Commonwealth Part 22

"Choose such as have adventured the loss of their estates and lives to redeem the Land from bondage, and who have remained constant.

"Choose men of courage, who are not afraid to speak the truth; for this is the shame of many in England at this day, they are drowned in the dung-hill mud of slavish fear of men.

"Choose Officers out of the number of those men that are above forty years of age, for these are most likely to be experienced men, and to be men of courage, dealing truly and hating covetousness."

PAYMENT OF REPRESENTATIVES.

"And if you choose men thus principled who are poor men, as times go, for the Conqueror's Power hath made many a righteous man a poor man, then allow them a yearly maintenance from the Common Stock, until such time as a Commonwealth's Freedom is established, for then there will be no need of such allowances."

THE MAIN SOURCE OF IGNORANCE.

"What is the reason that most men are so ignorant of their Freedoms, and so few fit to be chosen Commonwealth's Officers?

"Because the old Kingly Clergy, that are seated in Parishes for lucre of Tythes, are continually distilling their blind principles into the people, and do thereby nurse up ignorance to them. For they observe the bent of the people's minds, and make sermons to please the sickly minds of ignorant people, to preserve their own riches and esteem among a charmed, befooled and besotted people."

After this pa.s.sing shot at his old adversaries, Winstanley proceeds to consider the Offices and Inst.i.tutions suitable for his ideal community, for a Free Commonwealth. He first summarises their function as a whole, and of the special duty inc.u.mbent on all public officials, as follows:

"All the Offices in a Commonwealth are like links of a chain; they arise from one and the same root, which is necessity of Common Peace; therefore they are to a.s.sist each other, and all others are to a.s.sist them, as need requires, upon pain of punishment by the breach of the Laws. The Rule of Right Government being thus observed, may make a whole Land, nay the whole Fabric of the Earth, to become one Family of Mankind, and one well-governed Commonwealth."

THE WORK OF A FATHER OR MASTER OF A FAMILY.

"A Father is to cherish his children till they grow wise and strong; and then as a Master he is to instruct them in reading, in learning languages, Arts and Sciences, or to bring them up to labor, or employ them in some Trade or other, or cause them to be instructed therein, according as is shown hereafter in the Education of Mankind. A Father is to have a care that all his children do a.s.sist to plant the Earth, or by other Trades provide necessaries; so he shall see that every one have a comfortable livelihood, not respecting one before another. He is to command them their work, and see they do it, and not suffer them to live idle; he is either to reprove by words, or whip those that offend; for the Rod is prepared to bring the unreasonable ones to experience and moderation. That so children may not quarrel like beasts, but live in Peace, like rational men, experienced in yielding obedience to the Law and Officers of the Commonwealth: every one doing to another as he would have another do to him."

THE WORK OF A PEACEMAKER.

"In a Parish or Town may be chosen three, four or six Peacemakers, according to the bigness of the place: and their work is twofold.

_First_, In general to sit in Council to order the affairs of the Parish, to prevent troubles, and to preserve common peace.

_Secondly_, If there arise any matters of offence between man and man, the offending parties shall be brought by the Soldiers [Policemen] before any one or more of these Peacemakers, who shall hear the matter, and endeavour to reconcile the parties and make peace, and so put a stop to the rigour of the Law, and go no further. But if the Peacemaker cannot persuade or reconcile the parties, then he shall command them to appear at the Judges' Court at the time appointed to receive the Judgement of the Law.

"If any matter of public concernment fall out wherein the Peace of the City, Town or Country is concerned, then the Peacemakers in every town thereabouts shall meet and consult about it; and from them, or any six of them, if need require, shall issue forth any orders to inferior Officers. But if the matter concern only the limits of a Town or City, then the Peacemakers of that Town shall from their Court send forth orders to inferior Officers for the performing of any public service within their limits.

"_Thirdly_, If any proof be given that any Officer neglects his duty, a Peacemaker is to tell that Officer, between them two, of his neglect. If the Officer continue negligent after this reproof, the Peacemaker shall acquaint either the County Senate, or the National Parliament therewith, that from them the offender may receive condign punishment.

"AND IT IS ALL TO THIS END THAT THE LAWS BE OBEYED; FOR A CAREFUL EXECUTION OF LAWS IS THE LIFE OF GOVERNMENT."

THE WORK OF AN OVERSEER.

Winstanley then details at some length the functions of Overseers, of which the following will, we think, give our readers sufficient insight:

"In a Parish or Town there is to be a four-fold degree of Overseers, which are to be chosen yearly. The first is an Overseer to preserve peace, in case of any quarrels that may fall out between man and man.... The second office of Overseer is for Trades. This Overseer is to see that young people be put to Masters, to be instructed in some labour, trade, service, or to be waiters in Storehouses, that none may be idly brought up in any family within his circuit.... Truly the Government of the Halls and Companies in London is a very rational and well-ordered government; and the Overseers for Trades may well be called Masters, Wardens, and a.s.sistants of such and such a Company, for such and such a particular Trade.... Likewise this Overseer for Trades shall see that no man shall be a Housekeeper and have servants under him till he hath served under a Master seven years, and hath learned his Trade: and the reason is, that every Family may be governed by staid and experienced Masters, and not by wanton youth. And this Office of Overseer keeps all people within a peaceful harmony of Trades, Sciences, or Works, that there be neither Beggar nor Idle Person in the Commonwealth.

"The third Office of Overseership is to see particular Tradesmen bring in their work to the Storehouses and Shops, and to see that the waiters in Storehouses do their duty.... And if any Keeper of a Shop or Storehouse neglect the duty of his place ... the Overseer shall admonish him and reprove him. If he amend, all is well; if he doth not, the Overseer shall give orders to the Soldiers to carry him before the Peacemaker's Court, and if he reform upon the reproof of that Court, all is well. But if he doth not reform, he shall be sent by the Officers to appear before the Judge's Court, and the Judge shall pa.s.s sentence--That he shall be put out of that House and Employment, and sent among the Husbandmen to work in the Earth: and some other shall have his place and house till he be reformed."

"Fourthly, all ancient men, above sixty years of age, are General Overseers. And wheresoever they go and see things amiss in any Officer or Tradesmen, they shall call any Officer or others to account for their neglect of duty to the Commonwealth's Peace; and they are called Elders."

THE OFFICE OF A SOLDIER.

"A Soldier is a Magistrate as well as any other Officer; and indeed all State Officers are Soldiers, for they represent power; and if there were not power in the hands of Officers, the spirit of rudeness would not be obedient to any Law or Government, but their own wills. Therefore every year shall be chosen a Soldier, like unto a Marshall of a City, and, being the Chief, he shall have divers soldiers under him at his command to a.s.sist in case of need.

The work of a Soldier in times of peace is to fetch in Offenders, and to bring them before either Officer or Court, and to be a protector to the Officers against all disturbances."

THE WORK OF A TASK-MASTER.

"The Work or Office of a Task-master is to take those into his oversight as are sentenced by the Judge to loose their Freedom, to appoint them their work, and to see they do it."

THE WORK OF A JUDGE.

"THE LAW ITSELF IS THE JUDGE OF ALL MEN'S ACTIONS; yet he who is chosen to p.r.o.nounce the Law is called Judge, because he is the mouth of the Law: for no single man ought to judge or to interpret the Law. Because the Law itself, as it is left us in the letter, is the mind and determination of the Parliament and of the people of the Land, to be their Rule to walk by and to be the touch-stone of all actions. And the man who takes upon him to interpret the Law, doth either darken the sense of the Law, and so make it confused and hard to be understood, or else puts another meaning upon it, and so lifts up himself above the Parliament, above the Law, and above all people in the Land.

"Therefore the work of that man who is called Judge is to hear any matter that is brought before him; and in all cases of difference between man and man, he shall see the parties on both sides before him, and shall hear each man speak for himself, without a fee'd Lawyer; likewise he is to examine any witness who is to prove a matter on trial before him. And then he is to p.r.o.nounce the bare letter of the Law concerning such a thing: for he hath his name Judge, not because his will or mind is to judge the actions of offenders before him, but because he is the mouth to p.r.o.nounce the Law, who, indeed, is the true Judge: Therefore to this Law and to this Testimony let everyone have regard who intends to live in Peace in the Commonwealth."

Then occurs a pa.s.sage that shows how carefully Winstanley had watched the public affairs of his own times, more especially the prolonged attempt of the late King to govern England under cover of ancient obsolete Laws interpreted by Judges removable at his will. He continues:

"For hence hath arisen much misery in the Nations under Kingly Government, in that the man called the Judge hath been suffered to interpret the Law. And when the mind of the Law, the Judgement of the Parliament and the Government of the Land, is resolved into the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of the Judges, this hath occasioned much complaining of Injustice in Judges, in Courts of Justice, in Lawyers, and in the course of the Law itself, as if it were an evil Rule. Because the Law which was a certain Rule was varied, according to the will of a covetous, envious or proud Judge. Therefore no marvel though the Kingly Laws be so intricate, and though few know which way the course of the Law goes, because the sentence lies many times in the breast of a Judge, and not in the letter of the Law. And so the good Laws made by an industrious Parliament are like good eggs laid by a silly goose, and as soon as she hath laid them, she goes her way and lets others take them, and never looks after them more, so that if you lay a stone in her nest, she will sit upon it as if it were an egg. And so, though the Laws be good, yet if they be left to the will of a Judge to interpret, the execution hath many times proved bad."

"WHAT IS THE JUDGE'S COURT?

"In a County or Shire there are to be chosen--A Judge, the Peacemakers of every Town within that Circuit, the Overseers, and a band of Soldiers attending thereupon: and this is called the Judge's Court or the County Senate. The Court shall sit four times in the year, or oftener if need be.... If any disorder break in among the people, this Court shall set things to right. If any be bound over to appear at this Court, the Judge shall hear the matter, and p.r.o.nounce the letter of the Law, according to the nature of the offence. So that the alone work of the Judge is to p.r.o.nounce the Sentence and mind of the Law: and all this is but to see the Law executed and the Peace of the Commonwealth preserved."

"WHAT IS THE WORK OF A COMMONWEALTH'S PARLIAMENT IN GENERAL?"

Winstanley then sketches, first in broad outline and then in detail, what he deemed the work of a Commonwealth's Parliament should be; and for our own part we know not where to find a higher ideal of the duties inc.u.mbent upon the chosen Representatives of the People: an ideal that no Parliament to this day has ever attained, and which probably is only attainable when there shall be a strong body of educated public opinion, loving Justice and deserving Justice, inspiring and supporting their endeavours. He commences as follows:

"A Parliament is the highest Court of Equity in a Land; and it is to be chosen every year.... This Court is to oversee all other Courts, Officers, persons, and actions, and to have a full power, being the Representative of the whole Land, to remove all grievances, and to ease the people that are oppressed."

A PARLIAMENT IS THE FATHER OF THE COMMONWEALTH.

"A Parliament hath its rise from the lowest Office in a Commonwealth, viz., from the Father in a Family. For as a Father's tender care is to remove all grievances from the oppressed children, not respecting one before another; so a Parliament are to remove all burdens from the people of the Land, and are not to respect persons who are great before those who are weak; but their eye and care must be princ.i.p.ally to relieve the oppressed ones, who groan under the Tyrant's Laws and Powers: the strong, or such as have the Tyrant's Power to support them, need no help.

"But though a Parliament be the Father of a Land, yet by the Covetousness and Cheats of Kingly Government the heart of this Father hath been alienated from the children of the Land, or else so overawed by the frowns of a Kingly Tyrant, that they could not or durst not act for the weaker children's ease. For hath not Parliament sat and rose again, and made Laws to strengthen the Tyrant in his Throne, and to strengthen the rich and the strong by those Laws, and left Oppression upon the backs of the oppressed still?"

HIS HOPES FOR THE FUTURE.

Here Winstanley checks himself, and continues:

"But I'll not reap up former weaknesses, but rather rejoice in hope of amendment, seeing our present Parliament hath declared England to be a Free Commonwealth, and to cast out Kingly Power: and upon this ground I rejoice in hope that succeeding Parliaments will be tender-hearted Fathers to the oppressed children of the Land. And not only dandle us upon the knee with good words and promises till particular men's turn be served, but will feed our bellies and clothe our backs with good actions of Freedom, and give to the oppressed children's children their birthright portion, which is Freedom in the Commonwealth's Land, which the Kingly Law and Power, our cruel step-fathers and step-mothers, have kept from us and our fathers for many years past.