Presently we shall lay some evidence before our readers of the view the Council of State, influenced as it was by men who had recently enriched themselves by land-grabbing, took of such proceedings, the trend of which they fully recognised.  However, whatever view the Council of State were likely to take of this touching Declaration, there can be little doubt but that it appealed most strongly to Winstanley, who within a fortnight of its issue, on March 26th, replied to it in the following high-spirited, almost triumphal, address, which also appeared in the form of a broadsheet:[153:1]

“AN APPEAL TO ALL ENGLISHMEN TO JUDGE BETWEEN BONDAGE AND FREEDOM: 
Sent from those that began to dig upon George Hill in Surrey,
but now are carrying on that public work upon the little heath
in the Parish of Cobham, near unto George Hill, wherein it
appears that the work of Digging upon the Commons is not only
warranted by Scripture, but by the Law of the Common-wealth of
England likewise.

“Behold, behold all Englishmen, The Land of England now is your free inheritance:  all Kingly and Lordly entanglements are declared against by our Army and Parliament.  The Norman Power is beaten in the field, and his head is cut off.  And that oppressing Conquest, that hath reigned over you by King and House of Lords, for about 600 years past, is now cast out by the Armies’ Swords, the Parliament’s Acts and Laws, and the Common-wealth’s Engagement.

“Therefore let not sottish covetousness in the Gentry deny the poor or younger bretheren their just Freedom to build and plant corn upon the common waste land; nor let slavish fear possess the heart of the poor to stand in fear of the Norman yoke any longer, seeing that it is broke.  Come, those that are free within, turn your Swords into Ploughshares, and Spears into Pruning Hooks, and take Plow and Spade, and break up the Common Land, build your houses, sow corn and take possession of your own Land, which you have recovered out of the hands of the Norman oppressor.

“The common Land hath laid unmanured all the days of his Kingly and Lordly power over you, by reason whereof both you and your fathers (many of you) have been burthened with poverty.  And that land which would have been fruitful with corn, hath brought forth nothing but heath, moss, turfeys, and the curse, according to the words of the Scriptures:  A fruitful land is made barren because of the unrighteousness of the people that ruled therein, and would not suffer it to be planted, because they would keep the poor under bondage, to maintain their own Lordly Power and conquering covetousness.

“But what hinders you now?  Will you be Slaves and Beggars still when you may be Freemen?  Will you live in straits and die in poverty when you may live comfortably?  Will you always make a profession of the words of Christ and Scripture, the sum whereof is this—­Do