“And for all those that will come in and work they should have meat, drink, and clothes, which is all that is necessary to the life of man; and that for money, there was not any need of it, nor of clothes more than to cover nakedness.

“That they will not defend themselves by arms, but will submit unto authority, and wait till the promised opportunity be offered, which they conceive to be at hand.  And that as their forefathers lived in tents, so it would be suitable to their condition now to live in the same:  and more to the like effect.

“While they were before the General, they stood with their hats on; and being demanded the reason thereof, they said, ’Because he was but their fellow-creature.’  Being asked the meaning of that place, ‘Give honour to whom honour is due’; they said that their mouths should be stopped that gave them that offence.”

Whitelocke continues, “I have set down this the more largely because it was the beginning of the appearance of this opinion; and that we might the better understand and avoid these weak persuasions.”

“The germ of Quakerism and much else is curiously visible here,” is Carlyle’s shrewd comment on the above incident.  But as to how far this account of the views of the Diggers is correct, we shall leave to the judgement of those who read the pages that are to follow.  Though we may now believe that, save that he placed Norman in the place of the Saxon Lords, William the Conqueror introduced but few innovations into the laws and institutions of the country, the very opposite was the accepted opinion in the days of Winstanley and his associates.[38:1] It may also be well to mention here that, though Everard’s name appears, and first in order, amongst those who signed the pamphlet, The True Levellers Standard Advanced:  or, The State of Community opened and presented to the Sons of Men, which bears date April 26th, 1649, and to which we shall presently refer, it does not appear in any of the later publications of the Diggers.  Whether he died about this time or merely dropped out of the movement, we have not been able to ascertain.

However this may be, Lord Fairfax appears to have been somewhat impressed by his interview, to which the Diggers themselves always referred in most cordial terms; for on his way from Guildford to London the following month, he visited them at their work, of which visit we take the following account from the pages of a contemporary and evidently friendly news-sheet, dated May 31st, 1649:[39:1]

     “The SPEECHES of Lord General FAIRFAX and the Officers of the Army
     to the Diggers at St. George’s Hill in Surrey, and the Diggers’
     several answers and replies thereunto.