warrant illegall And after a long and sound debate of the businesse it was thus unanimously resolved in the Commons House 3 April 4. Car. Regis and afterwards A Conference had by a Committee oâ—â—oth Houses concerning the Rights and Priviledges of the Subject 3 April 4 Car. printed 1642. p. 66. consented to by the Lords 1. Resolved upon the Question That no Free-man ought to be detained or kept in prison or otherwise restrained by the Command of the King or the Privy Councell or any other unlesse some cause of the commitment detainer or restraint bee expressed for which by Law he ought to bee committed deteined or restrained 2. That the Writ of Habeas corpus may not be delayed but ought to bee granted to every man that is committed or deteined in prison or otherwise restrained though it be by the Command of the King the Privy Councell or any other he praying the same 3. That if a Free-man be committed or detained in prison or otherwise restrained by the Command of the King and Privy Councell or any other no cause of such commitment detainer or restraint being expressed for which by Law he ought to be committed deteined or restrained and the same to be returned upon a Habeas Corpus granted for the said party then he ought to be delivered or bayled These Votes and the Lords concurrence with them begat the Petition of Right after many dayes debate which thus states the Subjects grievance in this particular First it recites Magna Charta c. 29. and 28. of Ed. 3. That no Free-man should be taken or imprisoned without being brought to answer by due processe of Law and then proceeds thus Neverthelesse against the Tenor of the said Statutes and other the good Laws and Statutes of your Realme to that end provided divers of your Subjects have of late been imprisoned without any cause shewed And when for their deliverance they were brought before your Justices by your Majesties Writs of Habeas corpus there to undergoe and receive as the Court should order and their keepers commanded to certifie the causes of their detainer no cause was certified but that they were detained by your Majesties speciall Command signified by the Lords of your Privy Councell and yet were returned back to severall prisons without being charged with any thing to which they might make answer according to the Law Whereupon they pray in this Petition That no Free-man in any such manner as is before mentioned be imprisoned or detained To which the King subscribed this Answer Let Right be done as is desired Now what is this to Lilburns case Who was not now committed to prison by the Committee without any cause expressed but only sent for in custody to come before the Committee as these Gentlemen were sent for by Pursevants to come before the Privy Councell to answer to such things as should be objected against them which sending for was never so much as once complained of in Parliament as a breach of the Great Charter or Subjects Rights but admitted to be legall Had the Parliament or Committee sent Lilburne then to Newgate without expressing any cause of his commitment in the warrant and he had brought a Habeas corpus in the Kings Bench to be bayled as these Gentlemen did and then no cause of his commitment or detainer had been returned but only the Committees pleasure if thereupon hee had been remanded perchance then he might have had some colour to complaine of injustice and breach of Magna Charta and the Petition of Right But the Committee not so much as then proceeding against him so farre as to commit him but only sending for him in custody and permitting him to goe at large upon his appearance without baile only upon his bare word to attend them when he should be summoned how this can be brought within the compasse of Magna Charta or the Petition of Right as a breach of both or either transcends my understanding and all other Lawyers but himselfe I am credibly informed that this upstart monstrous Lawyer since he was called to the Barre at Newgate where he now practiseth hath the Book of Statutes there lying open before him which he reads and interprets to all the poore ignorant people that visit him telling them that he will in a few dayes make them understand the Lawes and Statutes of the Realme as exactly as any Lawyer in the Kingdome Belike he keeps now his Reading in that Inne of Court and will be a Serjeant at Law or a Iudge very shortly since he hath commenced a Reader of Law in so short a space But I shall beseech his Readership to resolve this Mootpoint against what clause of Magna Charta and the Petition of Right his sending for in custody by the Committee of Examinations is and what coherence there is in this his Argument No man ought to be detained or kept in prison upon a Habeas corpus returned in the Kings Bench unlesse some legall cause of his commitment be returned upon the Writ because it is contrary to Magna Charta and so resolved in the Petition of Right Ergo the Committee of Examinations in sending for John Lilburne in custody to examine him for his printing divulging Libels contrary to the Common Statute Law and Ordinances of Parliament without any commitment of him or any Habeas corpus brought or returned is contrary to Magna Charta and so resolved in the Petition of Right When all the wise men of Gotham Colledge can make this argument Sense or Reason it may passe for Law among the vulgar Separatists till then it deserves no other censure but this that it is only John Lilburns Newgate Law Yea but he hath something more to say against the Commons House though not against the Committee of Examinations in this point which is contrary Object as he conceives and it is but his conceit to the true intent of Magna Charta And what is that forsooth he was by the forementioned Vote of the House of Commons on the 19 Iuly 1645. upon Dr Bastwicks Paper only which the Doctor hath sufficiently cleaâ—ed to bee a meere Lye and slandâ—r to defame him ordered to be forthwith taken into custody by the Serjeant at Armes attending that House and so kept till the House took further order by meanes of which Vote he was committed to prison to his custody only before he was ever heard speak This forsooth is the grand breach of Magna Charta so much declaimed against in his Letter to a Friend and since seconded in another most seditious printed paper entituled The Copy of a Letter from an Utter Barrister to his speciall friend concerning Lievtenant Colonell Lilburnes Imprisonment there justified to be illegall and against Magna Charta I answer and averre that this Commitment of his by the House of Commons was most just and necessary if the occasion and ground of it be considered Answ Iohn Lilburne had that very
Law or Iustice executed the summons being ever the first proces and meanes to bring men to appeare before the Officers of Iustice who are to examine their misdemeanors complained of and so to informe them of them when they appeare and if men should know their particular accusers or accusations before their summons it would be a meanes First to make the Delinquents fly or hide away to avoyd the hand of Iustice if they could possibly make escapes Secondly to corrupt the Informers and witnesses that should prosecute to smother or exâ—enuate theeir crimes Thirdly to furnish the Delinquent with premeditated answers and evasions and so introduce a totall subversion or pervertion of Iustice All which inconveniences a generall summons which the Lawes provide and allow of prevents In few words a summons to appeare without an actuall attachment of the person summoned is no imprisonment no outing of any man of his freehold lands goods franchises no sentence passed against him Therefore clearely no proceedings at all within the words or intent of Magna Charta or the Petition of Right as this New Lawyer out of his deep ignorance hath most magisterially resolved being one of those unintelligent Lawyers that St Paul speaks of 1 Tim. 1. 17. Desiring to be Teachers of the Law understanding neither what they say nor what they affirme These Premises make way for proofe of the second Conclusion to wit That the Committees sending for Lilburne in custody upon new information of the Stationers against him for printing his libellous Answer given in to them contrary to their expresse Order with scandalous marginall Notes and other schismaticall seditious Papers contrary to Law and severall Ordinances of Parliament is agreeable to Magna Charta and the Petition of Right not any wayes repugnant to them For the clearing whereof to the very meanest capacy we must distinguish between a warrant to apprehend a man in nature of a processe or attachment and the commitment of a man to a prison goale or Messenger upon his examination after an apprehension or attachment In the first of these a generall warrant made to a Sheriffe Constable Messenger or any other inferiour Officer upon a precedent particular information or vehement suspition is and ever was reputed just legall without expressing the name of the Accuser or particulars of the Accusation in the warrant For example If an information be given in to the Lord Maior of London or to the Chiefe Iustice of England or any Iustice of Peace that any particular person hath committed or is suspected to be guilty of such a Murther Robbery Treason Trespasse or offended any penal Law the breach whereof they have power to examine there is nothing so ordinary in daily practice and experience as to send a warrant to the Sheriffe Constable or other under Officer to apprehend and bring the party accused or suspected before them to answer such things as shal be objected against him The like is done daily in all Courts of Iustice upon complaint of Misdemeanours in and by both Houses of Parliament their Committees and Sub-Committees and hath been done of late in many thousand persons cases who neither did nor could of right so much as once complain of the breach of Magna Charta And I appeale to Iohn Lilburn or any other Officer or Souldier in our Armies whether the General Councel of warre and other Officers doe not every day almost upon complaints send for Souldiers and others in custody and apprehend them by the Marshall sometimes by a warrant in writing sometimes by a meere verball command without acquainting them before hand with the Accusers name or his particular accusation but only in generall termes to answer such things as are or shall be objected against them and did ever any Souldier yet complaine that this was tyranny injustice in their Generall the Counsell of warre their Officers or contrary to Magna Charta the Petition of Right and the Liberty of the Subject for which they fight What ground then hath this clamorous Libeller to raile against the Parliament or Committee of Examinations for sending for him in custody upon a precedent true just and viâ—â—ble complaint even the printing of these libellous Papers conttary to their expresse Order the priviledges of Parliament and Ordinances against unlicensed printing which inflict in this case imprisonment by this very Committee with other penalties upon such offenders Certainly none at all but only his owne seditious malignant venomous rankor against the Parliaments justice But certainly if others yet he of all men had least cause to complaine thus in this case because though the warrant was to bring him in custody yet he was not brought thither in custody as other prisoners ate but only summoned to appeare and that upon a more particular warrant then others expressing in generall termes the cause for which he was sent for and when he came he was neither committed to any prison nor forced to put in Baile nor deteined in the Messengers custody as a prisoner but remained with him one night at his free liberty as a friend and paid no fees nor any thing for his diet and lodging as the Messenger himselfe will depose And was this sending for an infringement of Magna Charta and the Lawes of the Land Certainly if it were it was only in his favour that he was not according to the Law of the Land Magna Charta and the severall Ordinances concerning printing presently committed to some Goale or other for his seditious Libels and Lies and there detained as he hath been since This case of summons and attachment by vertue of a generall warrant being cleare out of Magna Charta and the Petition of Right the sole question will be What commitment and imprisonment that is which is against Magna Charta and the Petition of Right and whether Lilburnes was such a commitment This will best appeare by the very Petition of Right it selfe and the originall case and votes in Parliament which were the grounds and occasion of this Petition The case was only this Divers eminent Gentlemen of the Kingdome in the third yeare of King Charles were sent for by Pursevants before the Lords of the Councell for refusing the loane of moneyes then set on foot contrary to divers Statutes and by them committed to severall prisons sundry monthes without expressing any cause of their commitment in the warrant And when for their deliverances they brought their Habeas corpus in the Kings Bench the Iaylors certified no cause of their deliverance or commitment but only the Kings speciall Command signified by the Lords of his privy Councell yet the Iudges would not bayle but remaunded them to prison Hereupon in the next Parliament complaint was made that this imprisonment and detaining of them in prison only upon the Kings bare Command without any other cause expressed was against Magna Charta and other Statutes and the Iudges remanding of them to prison upon such a generall
would be to the Parliament and what cause of clamours and just exceptions it would give to the Kings Malignant party to exclaim against them if they upon the information of those false Coyners who were Traitors by Law and had relapsed into this offence after a Pardon and now fled from thence to escape the hands of Iustice should thus be sent over thither by the Parliaments Authority as their Agents to apprehend Sir Philip the Governour a man of honour and credit who had formerly saved them from the Gallows and did now but his duty in prosecuting them and craved my advice therein before their arrivall here and bring him prisoner over hither who had just cause to apprehend and hang them there That this would be such an Act of indiscretion and injustice as would open the mouthes of all the world against them and alienate the heart of Sir Philip the whole Island and all good men from them And thereupon I desired them to take some course to call in their Warrant which they thought very just and desired my assistance therein whereupon I imployed one to finde out their lodgings which he did at last informing me withall that they were full of money and that Maximilian had offered a small Ingot of gold to sell whereupon I conceiving they had here set up their Coyning trade for which they fled from Jersey procured a Warrant from Iustice Hooker to apprehend their persons and search their lodgings for suspition of Coyning which was delivered to one Master Stone a Constable in Saint Clements who coming early in the morning to their lodging and standing at their Chamber door heard them telling mony on the Table which he conceived to amount to five or six pounds at least by the noise it made after which he knocking at the door and demanding them to open it they suspecting by his words and carriage he was some Officer refused to do it stood upon their guard and Maximillian offered to escape forth out of a Garret window and after that at a back door but at last they were both apprehended and searched but no money could be found about them except three or four pieces of French and Spanish Coyn not amounting to above five or six shillings But in Maximilians Trunk there was found a plate and mould to coyne with which himself bespoke about a month before of a Smith neer Charing Crosse bringing him the pattern in paper pretending it was an instrument which he must use in the Army wherein he pretended he was to be a Trooper together with powder to cast gold and silver mettle in and Alchimy Salts to colour their false silver with in the chamber over theirs there was found about a pound or two of their false mettle hid under the mats in a corner some in the lump not sophisticated some in small pieces newly melted and so cunningly sophisticated with Alchimy ingredients that it shewed like silver and would indure the Test insomuch that the Goldsmiths themselves could not discern whether it was sophisticated or not till Sir John Wollastons servants melted it down and then there was not one grain of silver in it being the most artificiall counterfeiting of silver without any mixture of it that they ever saw Vpon these pregnant evidences of their guiltinesse of coyning false money here seconded with their reall guilt of it in Iersey whence they so lately fled They were examined by Iustice Shepherd where Maximillian confessing his having the Ingot of gold which he tendred to sale and being examined what he had done therewith First he said he had given it away but to whom he knew not then that he had exchanged it for some Commodities he wanted but when where and with whom he exchanged it he knew not afterwards he said he had delivered it to a Master of a Ship and being taken tardy in that his last envasion was that he had sent it to Saint Malâ—es in France Vpon all these circumstances they were both committed Prisoners to the Gate-house there being nothing wanting fully to convict them but only some of their false Coyne which they conveyed away in such sort that no piece of it could be found though the Constable heard them telling it as he conceived After which they were examined by Sir Robert Harles Master of the Mint who took away the Warrant they had from the close Committee to apprehend Sir Philip which Maximillian carried about him in a little box Not long after this these two Coyners lying prisoners in the Gate-house procured some Iersey Anabaptists and other of Sir Philips adversaries to informe some Members of the House of Commons that these two Coyners were very honest men who came purposely from Iersey to complain of Sir Philip to the Parliament for his Malignity and great oppressions and that by a meer plot and combination of some Malignants and friends of Sir Philips their lodgings were searched and they committed by Iustice Hooker and Iustice Shepherd to the Gate-house of purpose to take them off from prosecuting Sir Philip who was a great Royalist and notorious Enemy to the Parliament and would keep the Island only for the King they having complained against him and one or two of his Agents here that were in custody to the Committee of Examinations Vpon which mis-information both the Iustices and Constable were sent for to that Committee to be examined touching this practise who acquainting me therewith I accompanied them thither and hearing them begin to examine Iustice Shepherd in a criminall way upon the pretended plot against these Coyners I the reupon took all the businesse on my self that the Iustices and Constable did what they had done upon my information being meer strangers to Sir Philip and the Prisoners acquainted them with all the premises produced Sir Philips Letters the Mettle Mould and other particulars to make them good informing how they had abused the close Committee and this Committee too through their mis-informations and what a dishonour it would be to countenance or imploy such villains whom they should either hang here or send over thither in a way of Iustice to be executed desiring them to take some course to punish those who did thus mis-informe and abuse them neither of them daring to appear to make good what they suggested Whereupon the Iustices were dismisled these Coyners remanded to the Gate-house and Ordered to be proceeded against at the Sessions Whilest these things were in agitation about the time of these Coyners first arrivall in England Sir Philip assembled the Estates of Iersey together in nature of a Parliament where he and the States in name of the whole Island framed and joyned together in two Petitions the one to the King the other to the Parliament to this effect That they were deeply affected with the dissentions and civill Wars in England between the King and Parliament that they feared the like distractions there unlesse timely prevented by their wisdoms and care
indulged so much liberty to any other in the like case onely they added this command then entred in their Booke of Examinations He was commanded to be carefull to publish nothing Hereupon being dismissed for the present he Penned an Answer full of Invectives against the Parliament the Iudges and Iustices Legall proceedings against seditious Sectaries seconded with many false relations of unheard off cruelties towards them to render the Parliament odious to his Faction calumniates and railes afresh against me as an enemy to Gods people a Seditious Fire-brand one deserving to be hanged c. which answer he no sooner delivered in to the Committee but the very same or the next day after he published it in Print without any Licence contrary to the Committees expresse Command and the Priviledges and Orders of Parliament and to shew his further contempt of Authority caused this very Letter for which he was questioned to be re-printed About which time the Scurrilous Libels entituled The Araignement of Persecution and A Sacred Synodicall Decretall were published Printed with the selfe same Letter and Presse as his Letter and Answere were and some of them seised together with his Letters by the Stationers Who acquainting the Committee of Examinations therewith according to the former Order of the House thereupon the Committee for these insufferable insolencies and contempts of his on the 18. of June ordered that Lilburne should be sent for in custody touching the Printing of his Letter and other Scandalous Bookes in which number was his Answer to nine Arguments Printed at an unlicensed Presse Anno 1645. with his Picture and Verses before it wherein he intollerably railes against our Church Ministers Worship Goverâ—ent as Antichristian and Diabolicall to be utterly abhorred renounced by all Gods people Upon this the Messenger only summoned him to appeare before the Committee but did not at all attach or imprison him After that another seditious Libell intituled Martyns Eccho Printed with the selfe same Letter and Presse that Lilburnes Letters and Pamphelts were being published and having some of his very Expressions and Phrases scatterd in it Lilburne upon the Stationers Information who were checked for suffering these Libels to be Printed which they said they could not remedy unlesse some were exemplarily punished was againe Ordered to be sent for in custody by the said Committee whereupon the Messenger took detained him in his house but for one nights space where he used him very courteously and tooke not one farthing of him And notwithstanding his publishing of so many Libellous Pamphlets contrary to expresse Ordinances of both Houses which inflict not onely Imprisonment but other Censures too upon such delinquents and his refusall to discover the Printers of those Books the Committee of Examinations were so exceeding indulgent to him thinking to reclaime his incorrigible obstinacie by lenity that they permitted him to goe at large attending them only when he should be sent for without putting in any Bayle On the 19.th of July following Lilburne walking in the Court of Requests with one Hawkins and others reported to them without any reall ground at all but bare reports heare-sayes from persons of meane condition That there were strange things discovered against many Members of the House of Commons and went as high as the Speaker against whom it would be proved that he had with his owne hand sent three score thousand pounds to the King at Oxford and that many Members had made their Peace and done strange things amongst whom Sir Robert Harloe was one Of which seditious and scandalous Speeches the House being informed by Colonel King Dr. Bastwicke and other Witnesses of good credit and having no time to examine the businesse having sate all that day till past six of the clocke made this ensuing Vote Die Sabbati 19. Julij 1645. Resolved upon the Question by the Commons assembled in Parliament that Lievtenant Colonel Lilburne be forth with taken into Custody by the Serjeant at Armes attending this House and so kept till the House take further Order To the Serjeant at Armes attending on this House or to his Deputy c. H. Elsing Cler. Parl. D. Com. By vertue of this Warrant and upon this occasion onely he was apprehended by the Serjeant of the House and kept in Custody till the 24. of July At which time being brought to the Committee of Examinations and there examined touching this forementioned scandalous Speeches of the Speaker and others He peremptorily refused to give them any answer unlesse the Committee would first expresse the cause why he was ordered to be taken into custody when as himselse did well knwo it was for those very words against the Speaker and other Members whereupon they told him they would then examine him Using divers insolent Speeches to them and charging them with the breach of Magna Charta which he is not ashamed to relate at large in his Printed Libel to his Friend pag. 2. to 5. whereupon he was most justly and Legally committed to Custody and his contempt Ordered to bee reported to the House The very next day he compiled a most lying scandalous seditious Libell Against the Parliament Speaker some eminent Members of both Houses Sir Iohn Lentall Doctor Bastwicke and my selfe which he Intitled The Copy of a Letter from Lievtenant Colonell Iohn Lilburne to a friend The most seditious scandalous false lying Libell against the Parliament Committe of Examinations and Members of both Houses that ever yet was penned farre worse then any Oxford Aulicus and tending only to stirre up the People to rise up against the Parliament to resist their power Proceedings alienate their affections from them This after his old manner he sent to a private Unlicensed Presse alwaies ready at his command where being speedily Printed he despersed the printed Copies thereof every where by his Agents among his Friends and Confederates who vented them under-hand for money One of the Printed Copies whereof being brought into the House and there read the House unanimously passed this Vote Die Sabbati 9. August 1645. Ordered by the Commons assembled in Parliament That the consideration for finding out the Author of this Booke be referred to the Committee of Examinations and that in case it appeares to be Lilbournes Booke they shall have power to commit him to what Prison they please Hereupon the Committee of Examinations sent for Lilburne this very day in the afternoone to examine him concerning the writing and printing of this Letter but he most obstinatly in a peremptory and contemtuous manner refused to be examined or give any answer to the questions demanded of him concerning the writing or publishing therof whereupon he was committed to Newgate by this ensuing Warrant expressing the cause of his commitment thither according to the Petition of Right and Magna Charta the effect whereof is thus entred in the Keepers Book of Newgate Gibb Chambers Vic August 1645. Lievtenant Collonel Lilburne committed by Laur. Whittaker Esquire
What heavier charge of Injustice Oppression could be objected against the Parliament its Committees then this vile libellous Incendiary hath most falsly and scandalously cast upon them in these seditious bitter lines in which there is scarce one word of truth For where as he publisheth with a bâ—azen forehead 1. That he hath beene three times imprisoned since the first of May last by Authority from the House of Commont before his two last commitments It is most certaine he was not so much as once imprisoned by any Authority from the House though hee deserved to bee three times successively imprisoned in that space for his intollerable Libels and affronts against the Parliament Let him therefore shame the Devill and tell his deluded Confederates when where and by whom he was thus three times imprisoned to what Goale he was thus committed how long he lay there what fees he payd and how he got thence released or else recanâ— this desperate malicious Lye True it is hee was thrice sommoned to appeare before the Committee of examinations for his successive printed Libels and the last time sent for in custody by a Messenger but yet not apprehended as a Prisoner but entertained and lodged by him at his house as a friend one night without paying any fees and permitted the next morning to goe at liberty withâ—ut bayle or mainprize And these are the three No imprisonments this libâ—ller so much declaimes against instead of rendring heartiest thanks to the Committee for their incomparable Clemency towards him considering his reiterated Crimes and obstinacy 2. Whereas he aveâ—s he was thrice imprisoned before ever he knew his Accuser or Accusation he writes expresly in the very next words pag. 1. 2. 3. c. that I was his Accuser that his Accusation was the writing and printing of his letter to me and that he was the Author of Martins Bookes Was not here then both an Accuser and Accusation by his own printed confession True it is that when he first appeared before the Committee I did accuse him for printing his libellous Letter but the Commons house had accused him for it some two or three Moneths before and ordered the Committee to send for and examine him which order he knew off long before he was sent for and when he was sommoned the second and third time the Wardens of the Stationers formerly checked about his unlicensed libells were his knowne Accusers not I but as their Councell And therefore it is a most impudent Lye that he neither knew his Accuser nor accusation before he was committed 3. Whereas he complaines he was committed before he was ever suffered to speake one word for himselfe this is a more audacious Lye then all the rest For at his first appearance before the Committee he had liberty to speake what he pleased for himselfe nay which was never granted to any before upon a bare Examination without Articles by expresse order from the house Leave and time indulged him by them to set downe his owne answer in writing which he not only gave in under his hand but likewise published in print to all the world and informes them againe in this very Libell that he did so Yet forsooth he hath the monstrous impudency to print this contradiction That he was never heard to answer or speake one word for himselfe O the falsenesse and boldnesse of this matchlesse Lyer who needs no other testimony against him but himselfe It may be at his second appearance the Committee being otherwise imployed had no time to heare him but I am certaine they did not then commit him before he was heard or suffered to speak one word For he was not at all committed And that he was committed at other times before he was heard one word is so apparently false that the greatest part of his Libellous Letter to a Friend is but a meer Relation of what saucy malapert daring speeches hee used to the Committees faces charging them with the breach of Magna Charta which they gave him free liberty to read as himself records for their vindication against his brazen-face Lyes and much trampling upon the Subjects Liberties they hearing him speake with much patience such desperate Language against their Authority and most just proceedings as never any Malignant Cavaleere or Royalist of the Kings owne Party durst use unto them which they would not have endured from any other but such an impudent ungratfull Companion as himselfe Yet for all this liberty of speech in his defence hee cries out of the sad and deplorable condition that himselfe and the other free people of England are fallen into that they should from Committees of Parliament themselves be Imprisoned they know not wherefore and when wee come before them according to their owne commands bee remanded backe againe unheard AND NOT SVFFRED TO SPEAK ONE WORD FOR OUR SELVES when himself was suffered as he there relates to speake and write so much Wherfore I shall only turn his own Scripture exclamation against himselfe Heare ô Heavens and give eare ô Earth and thou righteous God that lovest Iustice and Truth and hatest and abhorrest Lying and Lyars put forth thy hand and doe justice thy selfe upon this most desperate Malignant Lyar Slanderer of the Parliaments most just proceedings against him for his conversion and amendment if he belong thee or else to his just punishment who hath thus falsely abused his Tongue and Pen against these highest Powers who represent thy person and are thy faithfull Ministers And all you giddy seduced people of his combination and Schisme now at last discerne and Judge I beseech you of the gracelesse nay Devillish temper of this transcendent Lyer and how false those vile imputations are which he hath publikely charged on the Parliament to render them odious to the people out of the meere malevolence and virulency of his seditious spirit contrary to his owne knowledge in his Printed papers How can or dare you credit him in any thing who hath so grosely belyed both the Parliament and Committee in those very particulars which are the ground of all his Satyricall Declamations against their Proceeding as Tyrannicall and unjust which certainely himselfe of all Malignants ever yet brought before them had the least cause of any to complaine But admit all these three malicious Lyes to be true there is no such cause for such an outcry as he makes against the Parliaments proceedings as Arbitrary and unjust Certainely had he ever enjoyed the honour of being mine or any other Lawyers or Justices Clarke he would have known that there is nothing more usuall then for Judges Justices Mayors Aldermen and all superior and inferiour Courts of Justice in the Realme upon private credible Informations or complaints to sommon yea attach men by Bayliffes Serjeants Constables and other Officers to appeare before them upon generall summons to answer such matters as shall be objected or alleaged against them and sometimes to commit them to safe Custody till
examined before they ever acquaint them with their Accuser or Accusation or heare them speake one word in their own behalfe yet none ever deemed these ordinary proceedings of theirs either Arbitrary Tyrannicall or Illegall contrary to Magna Charta or the Subjects Liberties but most iust And shall not the Parliament the supremest Court have as great a liberty and power thus to summon and attach men upon informations against them onely to answer their Accusations when ripe for Examination as the meanest Iustice of the Peace doth dayly exâ—rcise without exceptions How many thousands have the Lord Mayor of London the Courts of Guard and Committee of Examinations sent sor attached and restrained thus for a short space of their liberty till they could be examined before ever they knew their Accuser or Accusaton or could be brought to publike examination and yet not one of them ever made such an horrid outcry against the Legality of their proceedings as this Ignoramus who understands the Law and Magna Charta no more then a Iack-daw as one once said of a doting Lawyer But to proceed to his other falsehoods Page 7. he writes That during his imprisonment at Oxford he was ruined in his estate to the value of six or seven hundred pounds which he left behind him at LondoÌ„ which he can clearly make appeare Which he likewise recites in two other printed papers This certainly is as grosse a lye as any of the former For his best and neerest friends will attest he was never worth halfe so much and the maine reason why he left the City and went into the Parliaments Forces was not so much for any good affection to the Parliaments cause as to protect himselfe against his Creditors arrests for these many debts which he incurred by renting of a Brew-house which both himself and his Father oft times told me when they repaired to me for advice in Law concerning it had quite undone and broke both himselfe and his friends who stood ingaged for him And this Libeller himself Pag. 5. insinuates as much complaining for want of recompence for his imprisonment TO PAY HIS DEBTS and buy him and his bread So that he was as much or more beholing to the Parliaments Service for protecting him from the arrests and executions of his Creditors as they were to him for any of his good services the praise whereof he hath now utterly lost and blemished by his evill Libellous and Seditious attempts against them Pag. 16. He most scandalously and falsely avers That many of the House of Commons tooke to themselves 3. l. 10. s. a weeke and some of them more and others of them great places worth 500 l. 1000 l. 1500 l. 2000 l. and more per annum and live in as great pompe superfluity and bravery as ever they did in their daies by the ruine of the Common-wealth when as thousands who have spent all they have in the world and done the Kingdome good service have not a bitt of bread to put in their mouthes c. This is a most notorious Lye the Lords and Commons having removed all their Members by a speciall Ordinance from all the Offices conferred on them by the Parliament though well deserving and fit to mannage them And when this slanderer shall make good this false charge by sufficient witnesses against any particular Members guilty of it he shall receive a fuller answer Page 5. He complaines that the Parliament and House of Commons who formerly owned him having served their turnes of him hee could never have Justice from them though he hath been as faithfull a friend to the Common-wealth as ever any they imployed And whereas Magna Charta saith Justice and Right we will deny to none we will deferre to none yet have I waited these foure yeares upon them at great expences and cannot get them to put their Votes in execution And now of late I have followed them about this six moneths to the expence of about 100 l. to get a Petition read that I might have justice and reparation but have been denied Justice and Right and could not get my Petition read which he ingeminates inculcates in sundry other pages To which I answer that it appeares by the next preceeding words that the Parliament served his turn first not he theirs First By inlarging him out of Prison and restoring him to his Liberty Secondly By hearing his cause and Voting his sentence in the Star-Chamber illegall and that he ought to have reparations Thirdly By saving him from an arraignement for his life before the whole House of Peeres about the Earle of Strafford when the King himselfe sent in an Accusation against him Aug. 4. 1641. for his seditious carriage To which he might have added and doth elsewhere relate a fourth by saveing his necke from the Gallowes at Oxford and purchasing his release by an exchange from thence to which I contributed my owne best assistance But did the House ever imploy him in any publike service to serve their turnes Surely never for ought I could learne and if they had they should have heard of it to purpose in this Letter What an ungratefull lying Merchant then doth he shew himselfe thus ill to requite the House of Commons for this their extraordinary favours to use such scandalous false speeches and Libellous invectives against them that having served their owne turnes of him he could never have Iustice from them since c. Yea but he hath waited above foure houres space and can have no reparations for his losses according to their Votes But is this the House of Commons fault Have they been backewards to doe him right or rather hath not he beene negligent and wanting to himselfe in procuring a transmission of his cause to the Lords without whose concurrence his sentence cannot be reversed nor his dammages ascertained and repaired Surely it is very well knowne to the world that my owne Sufferings Imprisonments Losses transcended his by many degrees and that the Commons Voted me Reparations and Dammages for them long before they passed their Votes for him that never yet received one farthing recompence for all my Losses Dammages eight yeares Imprisonment Exile the losse of my calling and estate in any kinde whatsoever though I presume I have done far greater more and better Services for the State Church Parliament then ever he performed for them Yet did I never complain either of or against the Parliament for breach of Magna Charta in not doing or delaying to do me Right or Justice neither had I just cause to do it since the weightier publike affaires of three bleeding Kingdomes Churches and our Bloody Wars and Schismes in all three have ingrossed all their time thoughts and deprived them both of vacancy opportunity and since of present meanes to right me in this kind in these necessitous times The like I might say of my Dear Fellow-sufferers Doctor Bastwicke Mr. Henry Burton Mr. Peter Smart Dr. Leighton Mr. Walker and
and to the just practise that was used by the very Heathen Romans O brave times and brave justice To which he adds this imprecation to heaven against them Heare ô Heavens and give eare ô earth and thou righteous judge that lovest justice and judgement put forth thy hand and do justice thy selfe upon these unjust and unrighteous Judges of this age whom the people have set up for their good namely to preserve their lives Libertyes and Estates as their faithfull Stewards and yet destroy what they would seeme to maintaine with other passages as bad or worse By the Statutes of Westminster 1. made 3. Ed. 1. c. 33. 2. R. 2. c. 5. 12. R. 2. c. 11 1. and 2. Phil. Mary c. 3. and 1. Eliz. c. 7. It is enacted and straitly defended upon grievous paine that from thenceforth none should be so hardy to contrive speake or tell any false newes lyes or other such false things or publish any false Newes Lyes or Tales or Prelates Dukes Earles Barons Nobles or Great men of the Realme whereby debates discords or slanders may arise betweene the King and his people or the Lords Nobles and commons whereof great perill and mischiâ—fe might come to all the Realm and quick subvertion and dâ—struction of the Note said Realme if remedy were not provided And that he that shall offend herein shal be kept in prison untill he hath brought him forth in Court that did first speake and report the same and if he cannot bring him forth that then he should be grievously punished according to the nature of the â—ffence by the Councell And all Justices of Peace within every shire Citty and Towne Corporate are inabled to heare examine and determine the said causes and enjoyned to put these Lawes in due execution that from henceforth condigne punishment be not deferred from such offenders And by vertue of these Acts and of the very Common Law it selfe many persons for libellous false speeches Newes Reports and writings not only against Noblemen Iudges great Officers and other persons of honour but even of private persons have constantly in all ages been indicted in the Kings Bench before the Iudges and proceeded against in the Star-chamber for raising or spreading false News Lyes Libels Rumours and been imprisoned fined adjudged to the pillory to weare papers on their heads lose their eares undergoe other corporall punishments and bound with good sureties to the good behaviour as you may read in Sir Edward Cooks Commentary or Institutes on Magna Charta 3 E. 1. c. 33. His 3. Institutes c. 76. f. 174. His 4 Institutes cap. 5. 7. 5. Rep. pars 2. f. 129. 125. 9. Rep. f. 59. Cromptons Iurisdiction of Courts Tit. Starchamber and Banke le Roy 43 Ass 38. and Parson Harrisons case in the Kings Bench for defaming Iudge Hutton being a late memorable president of Iustice in this nature which every man approved This being the knowne received Common and Statute Law of the Realm agreeable to Magna Charta and the Petition of Right which protect no mans liberty person or estate against the due proccedings and punishments of Law when he turnes a Libeller Malefactor Felon Traytor or Delinquent against the Law for then every Theefe Murderer Felon in Newgate might plead it as well as Iohn Lilburn against their imprisonments and judgements The first question will be Whether the Committee of Examinations and House of Commons being really and truly informed of all the forementioned seditious Papers Libels Lies and false Reports published and printed by Lilburn against the Iurisdiction Ordinances Proceedings of the Parliament their Committees Members the Synod and others might not justly summon him to appeare before them being authorized and commanded by a speciall Order of the House to do it without any infringement of Magna Charta and the Petition of Right Certainly this being the truth of the question there is no man that knows what belongs to Law or justice but will acknowledge it since there is nothing so common in daily practice or experience as for the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London the Mayor Iustices and chiefe Officers in every City or Corporacion the Iustices of Peace in every County the Judges and Stewards in every Court of Iustice the severall Committees and all Subcommittees of Parliament upon informations and complaints of any wrong or injury within their severall Iurisdictions to send out generall warrants writs or summons to the parties complained of to appeare before them to answer such things or misdemeanors as shall be objected against them And in the Army it selfe Iohn Lilburne cannot but know it is an ordinary course for the Generall or Councell of war or any chief Officer of the Army to send the Provost Marshall or other under Officers to summon any souldier under their Command to appeare before them upon complaints without sending them notice first what their accusation is or who their accuser and Iohn Lilburne himselfe as I am credibly informed hath without any Commission done more then this amounts to in Lincolnshire whiles he had there some petty Command And shall not a Committee of Parliament then have as much authority to summon John Lilburne to appeare before them upon a just complaint and speciall Order of the House without a grand infringement of Magna Charta the Petition of Right and such an out-cry as you have heard in print when as any Iustice of Peace or petty Officer may doe as much and more in the like case and every Souldier or Officer at any Court of Guard in any the Parliaments Garrisons Heare O Heavens and hearken O Earth what mad Non-sense new Law and Doctrine this Ignoramus hath published How many thousands have this Committee and other Committees and Sub-Committees of Parliament summoned to appeare before them many of them in custody since the Parliament begun and yet not one of them though the veriest malignant Royalist or Anti-parliamentarian breathing did ever pretend or alleage that this was an infringement of Magna Charta or invasion of the Subjects Liberties And all that have read any Parliament Iournalls in either House know that in all Oâ—ders which appoint Committees or Sub-Committees to examine any businesse this clause is added And this Committee hath power to send for Parties Witnesses Records c. which they pursue accordingly and have done so in all ages Further take notice First that in matters which concerne the State or Republike meerly there needs no particular Informer or Relator but the Iudges and Officers of State ought ex officio to informe and prosecute all publike Delinquents Secondly that Iohn Lilburne certainly was the first of any I ever met with that preached or at least printed such Apocryphall Nonsense Law for which he produceth no Authority but his owne Ignorance And if the summoning of men to appeare either in Courts of Iustice or before Magistrates and Iustices of Peace should be against Magna Charta certainly there could never bee any
day publiquely reported to Independent Hawkins and others at Westminster divers groundlesse scandalous malicious Reports amounting to no lesse then High Treason concerning Mr Speaker and other members of the House of Commons in a libellous illegall scandalous seditious way of purpose to defame and stirre up the people against them and the House of Commons whose destruction by sorce and violence he or his confederates had then been plotting and since pursued in sundry private meetings which being done without any ground proofe or legall way of accusation the House being informed of it that Evening when they had sate all day and had no time to examine Lilburne touching it that night did for this false Rumour spread by him in such sort contrary to the forementioned Statutes and the Liberties and Priviledges of Parliament only Vote That the Sergeant at Armes belonging to the House should apprehend and take him into custody till further order taken by the House for examination of the businesse Which Order is no judiciall Imprisonment or Commitment contrary to Magna Charta or the Petition of Right but a meere Processe or Attachment to apprehend and bring him to examination Of which there are thousands of presidents in both Houses in this and former Parliaments as well in the case of the members themselves when informed or complained against as of others and no more then all Courts of Iustice do and ever have done before and since Magna Charta who grant out writs to arrest men upon Actions of Debt Trespasse and the like before ever they heare the parties and that which every Magistrate Iustice of Peace and Subcommittee daily do without exception who make out warrants to attatch and bring Delinquents before them upon meere informations before ever they heare them speak For how I pray should they heare them speak before they bee sent for and if no warrant or processe should bee granted by the Houses Committees Courts of Iustice Officers Iudges Iustices against any till they were first heard speak then no man ever would or could appeare before them for this would be to hear men first and then to summon them that they might be heard when as they must first be summoned and then heard the processe ever necessarily preceding the hearing See then the sottishnesse and folly of this grand Ignoramus who complaines of a breach of Magna Charta only because he was not heard in the House before they voted him to be apprehended and sent for by the House which had no cause to send for him to hear him speak if he had bin heard before he was sent for he might have as justly complained against his own mother that she did not heare him cry before he was born or against his father for not binding him an Apprentice in London before he sent him up thither that he might be bound as against the Parliament for not hearing him speak before they voted him to be sent for or attached by the Sergeant at Armes Priâ—hee Iohn Lilburn to use but thy own instances did ever Straford or the Archbishop of Canterbury complaine of the breach of Magna Charta because they were accused by the Commons of High Treason and committed upon their Accusation before ever they acquainted them with thâ—ir Charge or heard them speak Or if Newgate examples like thee better did ever any Horse-stealer Theefe or Felon in Newgate complain that Magna Charta was violated the Petition of Right infringed because he was apprehended by a Constable by warrant from the Iustice before ever hee was brought before him or he heard him speak or because he was not arraigned at the Barre and there heard and tried before he was indited Silly Iohn if this be all thy Law and Reason there is no man in his right senses but will judge thee fitter for Bedlam then Newgate and think thy overmuch Learning in the Law hath made thee madde or lunatick And if the Sergeants keeping thee in his custody till the House or Committee had leisure to examine and heare thee speak for thy selfe be a breach of Magna Charta and the Petition of Right then Straford Canterbury might as justly have complained of this injustice as thee for that they were detained prisoners till they were brought unto their Trials to prevent escapes and all thy fellow prisoners in Newgate may as justly complain for being there detained till their trials Wherefore Iohn if I may advise thee as thy old Friend and Councell never meddle any more with matters concerning Law untill thou hast studied thy selfe and it a little better especially so farre as to cast durt with it into the Parliaments face and charge them with injustice tyranny or proceeding against Law and Magna Charta their imprisonment of thee in this nature upon this occasion being by the lawfull judgement of thy peeres and by the Law of the Land as well as by the Law and Custome of Parliament which neither is nor ought to be alwayes bounded by Magna Charta especially in extraordinary cases as we see by sundry particulars in these extraordinary times of warre and danger having power to repeal old Lawes to enact new ones if they see occasion and to inflict new punishments upon new crimes and offences not heard of in former ages of which nature thy Libels and Invectives against them seem to be though the Parliament and Committee in their proceedings against thee and them have gone on in the old way of Law and justice in all particulars to the last of which I shall next proceed And that is to prove in the third place That the Committee of Examinations examination of thee by order of the House concerning thy false Reports of Mr Speaker and other members and thy printed Libell against the Parliament and them entituled A Copy of a Letter to a friend and their commitment of thee to Newgate for refusing to be examined and the House of Commons Vote in prosecution of it were legall and just agreeable not contrary to Magna Charta and the Petition of Right Had Poore Iohn but Law enough to qualify him to be the meanest Iustice of Peace his Clark or some Recorders or Clark of the Assizes his Clarkes Clark he might have known that by the Law of the Land every Iustice of Peace every day doth may and ought to examine every Traytor and Felon that is brought before him concerning the Treasons and Felonies that are layd to their charge that those examinations so taken usually are and ought to be returned to the Assizes Sessions and there openly read and given in evidencé many times against them to the Iury even in these capitall causes And if they refuse to be examined it is held a contempt against Law and the ordinary course of justice and when they are indited arraigned at the Bar the Iudges and Iustices demand of them when the inditement is read Whether they are guilty or not guilty and if they refuse to answer