The Digger Movement in the Days of the Commonwealth eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 345 pages of information about The Digger Movement in the Days of the Commonwealth.

The Digger Movement in the Days of the Commonwealth eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 345 pages of information about The Digger Movement in the Days of the Commonwealth.

[109:1] Economic Interpretation of History, p. 138.

[110:1] Economic Interpretation of History, p. 241.

[110:2] Six Centuries of Work and Wages, pp. 432-433.

CHAPTER XI

A WATCHWORD TO THE CITY OF LONDON, ETC.

“All men have stood for Freedom; thou hast kept fasting-days and prayed in the morning exercises for Freedom; thou hast given thanks for victories because hopes of Freedom; plenty of Petitions and Promises thereupon have been made for Freedom.  But now the common enemy is gone, you are all like men in a mist seeking for Freedom, but know not where nor what it is....  Assure yourselves, if you pitch not now upon the right point of Freedom in action, as your Covenant hath it in words, you will wrap up your children in greater slavery than ever you were in.”—­WINSTANLEY, A Watchword to the City of London.

The House of Commons, as we have seen, took no notice of Winstanley’s dignified appeal, hence, within a week of its publication in pamphlet form, Winstanley, on August 26th, 1649, addressed himself to the City of London, at that time the stronghold of advanced political and religious thought.  The pamphlet, which is one of the most interesting he ever wrote, appeared the following month:  the title-page reads as follows: 

“A WATCHWORD TO THE CITY OF LONDON AND THE ARMY:[112:1]

Wherein you may see that England’s Freedom, which should be the
result of all our Victories, is sinking deeper under the Norman
Power, as appears by this Relation of the unrighteous
proceedings of Kingston Court against some of the Diggers at
George Hill, under colour of law; but yet thereby the cause of
the Diggers is more brightened and strengthened, so that every
one singly may truly say what his Freedom is and where it lies.

BY JERRARD WINSTANLEY.

When these clay bodies are in grave, and children stand in place,
This shows we stood for truth and peace and freedom in our days;
And true-born sons we shall appear of England that’s our Mother,
No Priests nor Lawyers wiles t’embrace, their slavery we’ll discover.”

This pamphlet, too, commences with a Dedicatory Letter, which opens as follows: 

“TO THE CITY OF LONDON,—­Freedom and Peace desired,—­{6}Thou City of London, I am one of thy sons by freedom, and I do truly love thy peace.  While I had an estate in thee, I was free to offer my Mite into thy Public Treasury, Guildhall, for a preservation to thee and to the whole Land.  But by thy cheating sons in the thieving art of buying and selling, and by the burdens of and for the soldiery in the beginning of the War, I was beaten out of both estate and trade, and forced to accept of the good-will of friends, crediting of me, to live a Country life.  There likewise by the burthen of Taxes
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The Digger Movement in the Days of the Commonwealth from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.