Chapter GERRARD WINSTANLEY'S UTOPIA

CHAPTER XV

GERRARD WINSTANLEY'S UTOPIA

THE LAW OF FREEDOM (continued)

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

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

 「WHERE TRUE FREEDOM LIES.

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

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


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

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

Then occurs this eternally true passage:

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

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

INWARD AND OUTWARD BONDAGE.

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


 「WHAT IS GOVERNMENT IN GENERAL?

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

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

 「WHAT IS KINGLY GOVERNMENT?

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

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


 「WHAT IS COMMONWEALTH'S GOVERNMENT?

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

COMMON PRESERVATION.

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

THE INWARD LIGHT.

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

SELF-PRESERVATION.

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

THE ROOT OF THE TREE TYRANNY.

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

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


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

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

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

FAITHFUL OFFICERS AND FAITHLESS OFFICERS.

 「So that all true Officers are chosen Officers, and when they act
 to satisfy the necessities of them who chose them, then they are
 faithful and righteous servants to that Commonwealth, and then
 there is a rejoicing in the City. But when Officers do take the
 possessions of the Earth into their own hands, lifting themselves
 up thereby to be Lords over their Masters, the people who choose
 them, and will not suffer the people to plant the Earth and reap
 the fruits for their livelihood unless they will hire the land of
 them, or work for day wages for them, that they may live in ease
 and plenty and not work: These Officers are fallen from true
 Magistracy of a Commonwealth, and they do not act righteously, and
 because of this sorrow and tears, poverty and bondages are known
 among mankind, and now that City mourns.「


 「ALL OFFICERS IN A COMMONWEALTH ARE TO BE CHOSEN NEW ONES EVERY
 YEAR.「

Winstanley believed that power of any sort, more especially if long enjoyed, tends to corrupt and to deteriorate. He therefore advocates, and shows surprisingly good reasons for his advocacy, that new Officers should be appointed every year. He says:

 「When public Officers remain long in places of Judicature, they
 will degenerate from the bounds of humility, honesty and tender
 care of bretheren, in regard the heart of man is so subject to be
 overspread with the clouds of covetousness, pride and vain-glory.
 For though at the first entrance into places of Rule they be of
 public spirits, seeking the Freedom of others as their own; yet
 continuing long in such a place, where honors and greatness come
 in, they become selfish, seeking themselves, and not Common
 Freedom; as experience proves it true in these days, according to
 this common proverb--'_Great offices in a Land and Army have
 changed the disposition of many sweet spirited men._'

 「And Nature tells us, that if water stand long, it corrupts;
 whereas running water keeps sweet and is fit for common use.

 「Therefore, as the necessity of Common Preservation moves the
 people to frame a Law and to choose Officers to see the Law
 obeyed, that they may live in peace: So doth the same necessity bid
 the people, and cries aloud in the ears and eyes of England, to
 choose new Officers, and to remove the old ones, and to choose
 State Officers every year: and that for these reasons:

 「_First_, To prevent their own evils: for when pride and fulness
 take hold of an Officer, his eyes are so blinded therewith that he
 forgets he is a servant to the Commonwealth, and strives to lift up
 himself high above his Bretheren, and oftentimes his fall prove
 very great: witness the fall of oppressing Kings, Bishops and other
 State Officers.

 「_Secondly_,{12} To prevent the creeping of oppression into the
 Commonwealth again. For when Officers grow proud and full, they
 will maintain their greatness, though it be in the poverty, ruin
 and hardship of their Bretheren: Witness the practice of Kings and
 their Laws, that have crushed the Commoners of England a long time.
 And have we not experience in these days that some Officers of the
 Commonwealth have grown so mossy for want of removing that they
 will hardly speak to an old acquaintance, if he be an inferior man,
 though they were very familiar before these wars began? And what
 hath occasioned this distance among friends and bretheren, but long
 continuance in places of honor, greatness and riches?「

 「_Thirdly_, Let Officers be chosen new every year in love to our
 posterity. For if burdens and oppressions should grow up in our
 Laws and in our Officers for want of removing, as moss and weeds
 grow in some land for want of stirring, surely it will be a
 foundation of misery not easily to be removed by our posterity, and
 then will they curse the time when we their forefathers had
 opportunities to set things to rights for their ease, and would not
 do it.

 「_Fourthly_, To remove Officers of State every year will make them
 truly faithful, knowing that others are coming after who will look
 into their ways, and if they do not do things justly, they must be
 ashamed when the next Officers succeed. And when Officers deal
 faithfully with the Government of the Commonwealth, they will not
 be unwilling to remove: the peace of London is much preserved by
 removing their Officers yearly.

 「_Fifthly_, It is good to remove Officers every year, that whereas
 many have their portions to obey, so many may have their turn to
 rule. And this will encourage all men to advance righteousness and
 good manners in hopes of honor; but when money and riches bear all
 the sway in the Rulers' hearts, there is nothing but tyranny in
 such ways.

 「_Sixthly_, The Commonwealth hereby will be furnished with able and
 experienced men, fit to govern, which will mightily advance the
 honor and peace of our Land, occasion the more watchful care in the
 education of children, and in time will make our Commonwealth of
 England the Lily among the Nations of the Earth.


 「WHO ARE FIT TO CHOOSE, AND FIT TO BE CHOSEN OFFICERS IN A
 COMMONWEALTH.

 「All uncivil livers, as drunkards, quarrellers, fearful ignorant
 men, who dare not speak truth less they anger other men; likewise
 all who are wholly given to pleasure and sports, or men who are
 full of talk: all these are empty of substance and cannot be
 experienced men, therefore not fit to be chosen Officers in a
 Commonwealth--yet they may have a voice in the choosing.

 「_Secondly_, All those who are interested in the Monarchial Power
 and Government, ought neither to choose nor to be chosen Officers
 to manage Commonwealth's affairs; for these cannot be friends to
 Common Freedom.... But seeing that few of the Parliament's friends
 understand their Common Freedom, though they own the name
 Commonwealth, therefore the Parliament's Party ought to bear with
 the ignorance of the King's Party, because they are Bretheren, and
 not make them servants, though for the present they be suffered
 neither to choose nor be chosen Officers, lest that ignorant spirit
 of revenge break out in them to interrupt our common peace.

 「Moreover, All those who have been so hasty to buy and sell the
 Commonwealth's Land, and so to entangle it upon a new accompt,
 ought neither to choose nor be chosen Officers. For hereby they
 declare themselves either to be for kingly interest, or else are
 ignorant of Commonwealth's Freedom, or both, therefore unfit to
 make Laws to govern a Free Commonwealth, or to be Overseers to see
 those laws executed. What greater injury could be done to the
 Commoners of England than to sell away their Land so hastily,
 before the people knew where they were, or what Freedom they had
 got by such cost and bloodshed as they were at? And what greater
 ignorance could be declared by Officers than to sell away the
 purchased Land from the purchasers, or from part of them, into the
 hands of particular men to uphold Monarchial Principles?

 「But though this be a fault, let it be borne withal, it was
 ignorance of Bretheren; for England hath lain so long under kingly
 slavery that few knew what Common Freedom was; and let a
 restoration of this redeemed land be speedily made by those who
 have possession of it. For there is neither Reason nor Equity that
 a few men should go away with that Land and Freedom which the whole
 Commoners have paid taxes, free-quarter, and wasted their estates,
 healths and blood, to purchase out of bondage, and many of them are
 in want of a comfortable livelihood.

 「Well, these are the men that take away other men's rights from
 them, and they are members of the covetous generation of
 self-seekers, therefore unfit to be chosen Officers or to choose.


 「WHO THEN ARE FIT TO BE CHOSEN OFFICERS?

 「Why truly choose such as have a long time given testimony by their
 actions to be promoters of Common Freedom, whether they be Members
 in Church Fellowship, or not in Church Fellowship, for all are one
 in Christ.

 「Choose such as are men of peaceable spirits, and of a peaceable
 conversation.

 「Choose such as have suffered under Kingly Oppression, for they
 will be fellow-feelers of others' bondages.

 「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 passing shot at his old adversaries, Winstanley proceeds to consider the Offices and Institutions suitable for his ideal community, for a Free Commonwealth. He first summarises their function as a whole, and of the special duty incumbent 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 assist each other, and all others are
 to assist 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 assist 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 Assistants 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 pass 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 assist 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 pronounce 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 pronounce 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 pronounce 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 passage 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
 breasts 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 pronounce the letter of the Law, according to the
 nature of the offence. So that the alone work of the Judge is to
 pronounce 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 incumbent 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 principally 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.


 「THE PARTICULAR WORK OF A PARLIAMENT IS FOUR-FOLD--FIRSTLY,

 「As a tender Father, a Parliament is to empower Officers and give
 orders for the free planting and reaping of the Commonwealth's
 Land, that all who have been oppressed, and kept back from the free
 use thereof by Conquerors, Kings, and their Tyrant Laws, may now be
 set at liberty to plant in Freedom for food and raiment, and are to
 be a protection to them who labor the Earth, and a punisher of them
 who are idle.

 「But some may say, What is that I call Commonwealth's Land? I
 answer, All that land which hath been withheld from the inhabitants
 by the Conqueror, or Tyrant Kings, and is now recovered out of the
 hands of that oppression by the joint assistance of the persons and
 purses of the Commoners of the Land. For this Land is the price of
 their blood. It is their birthright to them and to their posterity,
 and ought not to be converted into particular hands again by the
 Laws of a Free Commonwealth. In particular, this Land is all Abbey
 Lands, formerly recovered out of the Pope's Power by the blood of
 the Commoners of England, though the Kings withheld their rights
 therein from them. So likewise all Crown Lands, Bishops' Lands,
 with all Parks, Forests, Chases, now of late recovered out of the
 hand of the Kingly Tyrants, who have set Lords of Manors and
 Taskmasters over the Commoners, to withhold the free use of the
 land from them. So likewise all the Commons and Waste Lands, which
 are called Commons because the Poor was to have part therein. But
 this is withheld from the Commoners, either by Lords of Manors
 requiring quit-rents, and overseeing the poor so narrowly that none
 dares build him a house upon this Common Land, or plant thereupon,
 without his leave, but must pay him rents, fines, and heriots, and
 homage as unto a Conqueror. Or else the benefit of this Common Land
 is taken away from the Younger Bretheren by the rich Land Lords and
 Freeholders, who overstock the Commons with sheep and cattle, so
 that the Poor in many places are not able to keep a Cow unless they
 steal grass for her.

 「And this is the bondage the Poor complain of, that they are kept
 poor in a Land where there is so much plenty for everyone, if
 Covetousness and Pride did not rule as King in one Brother over
 another: and Kingly Government occasions all this. Now it is the
 work of a Parliament to break the Tyrant's bands, to abolish all
 their oppressing Laws, and to give orders, encouragements and
 directions unto the poor oppressed people of the Land, that they
 forthwith plant and manure this their own Land, for the free and
 comfortable livelihood of themselves and posterities. And to
 declare to them, it is their own Creation-Rights, faithfully and
 courageously recovered by their diligence, purses and blood from
 under the Kingly Tyrant's and Oppressor's Power.


 「THE WORK OF A PARLIAMENT--SECONDLY,

 「Is to abolish all old Laws and Customs which have been the
 strength of the Oppressor, and to prepare and then to enact new
 Laws for the ease and freedom of the people, but yet not without
 the people's knowledge.[197:1]

 「For the work of a Parliament herein is three-fold:

 「_First_, When old Laws and Customs of the Kings do burden the
 people, and the people desire the remove of them, and the
 establishment of more easy Laws: it is now the work of a Parliament
 to search into Reason and Equity, how relief may be found for the
 people in such a case, and to preserve a Common Peace. And when
 they have found a way by debate of counsel among themselves,
 whereby the people may be relieved, they are not presently to
 establish their conclusions for a Law. But in the next place they
 are to make a public declaration thereof to the people of the Land,
 who choose them, for their approbation. And if no objection come in
 from the people within one month, they may then take the people's
 silence as a consent thereto. And then, in the third place, they
 are to enact it for a Law, to be a binding rule to the whole Land.
 For as the remove of the old Laws and Customs is by the people's
 consent, which is proved by their frequent petitionings and
 requests; so the enacting of new Laws must be by the people's
 consent and knowledge likewise. And here they are to require the
 consent, not of men interested in the old oppressing Laws and
 Customs,[197:2] as Kings used to do, but of them who have been
 oppressed. And the reason is this: Because the people must be all
 subject to the Law, under pain of punishment, therefore it is all
 reason that they should know it before it be enacted, so that if
 there be anything of the Counsel of Oppression in it, it may be
 discovered and amended.「

ANSWERS TO TWO OBJECTIONS.

 「But you will say, If it must be so, then will men so differ in
 their judgements that we shall never agree.

 「I answer: There is but Bondage and Freedom, _particular_ Interest
 or _common_ Interest; and he who pleads to bring in particular
 interest into a Free Commonwealth, will presently be seen and cast
 out, as one bringing in Kingly Slavery again.

 「Moreover, men in place and office, where greatness and honor is
 coming in, may sooner be corrupted to bring in particular interest
 than a whole Land can be, who must either suffer sorrow under a
 burdensome Law, or rejoice under a Law of Freedom. And surely those
 men who are not willing to enslave the people will be unwilling to
 consent hereunto.


 「THE WORK OF A PARLIAMENT--THIRDLY,

 「Is to see all those burdens removed actually, which have hindered
 or do hinder the oppressed People from the enjoyment of their
 Birth-Rights.

 「If their Common Lands be under the oppression of Lords of Manors,
 they are to see the Land freed from that slavery.

 「If the Commonwealth Land be sold by the hasty counsel of subtle,
 covetous and ignorant Officers, who act for their own particular
 interest, and so hath entangled the Commoners' Land again, under
 colour of being bought and sold: then a Parliament is to examine
 what authority any had to sell or buy the Commonwealth's Land
 without a general consent of the People: FOR IT IS NOT ANY ONE'S,
 BUT EVERY ONE'S BIRTH-RIGHT. And if some through covetousness and
 self-interest gave consent privately, yet a Parliament, who is the
 Father of the Land, ought not to give consent to buy and sell that
 Land which is all the children's birth-right, and the price of
 their labors, moneys and blood.

 「They are to declare likewise that the Bargain is unrighteous; and
 that the Buyers and Sellers are Enemies to the Peace and Freedom of
 the Commonwealth. For indeed the necessity of the People chose a
 Parliament to help them in their weakness. Hence when they see a
 danger like to impoverish or enslave one part of the people to
 another, they are to give warning and so prevent that danger. For
 they are the Eyes of the Land: and surely those are blind eyes that
 lead the People into Bogs to be entangled in Mud again, after they
 are once pulled out. =And when the Land is once freed from the
 Oppressor's Power and Laws, the Parliament is to keep it so, and
 not suffer it by their consent to have it bought or sold, and so
 entangled in Bondage upon a new account.=

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