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A88237 A preparative to an hue and cry after Sir Arthur Haslerig, (a late Member of the forcibly dissolved House of Commons, and now the present wicked, bloody, and tyrannicall governor of Newcastle upon Tine) for his severall ways attempting to murder, and by base plots, conspiracies and false witnesse to take away the life of Lieutenant Colonel John Lilburn now prisoner in the Tower of London: as also for his felonious robbing the said Lieut Col. John Lilburn of betwixt 24 and 2500 l. by the meer power of his own will, ... In which action alone, he the said Haslerig hath outstript the Earl of Strafford, in traiterously subverting the fundamentall liberties of England, ... and better and more justly deserves to die therefore, then ever the Earl of Strafford did ... by which tyrannicall actions the said Haslerig is become a polecat, a fox, and a wolf, ... and may and ought to be knockt on the head therefore, ... / All which the said Lieutenant Col. John Lilburn hath cleerly and evidently evinced in his following epistle of the 18 of August 1649, to his uncle George Lilburn Esquire of Sunderland, in the county of Durham. Lilburne, John, 1614?-1657. 1649 (1649) Wing L2162; Thomason E573_16; ESTC R12119 55,497 45

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oppressed English-man and considering you in the place you are in I cannot choose but in black and white present you with a little of my sorrowes which I assuredly know is now as easie for you to redresse if you please as it is almost for me to write these lines to you it is not unknowne to your selfe what transcendent miseries I suffered before this Parliament by the Bishops c. for divers yeers together and how that for betwixt eight and nine yeers I have in a manner constantly waited upon your House for redresse without any reall fruit at all to this day though I dare safely say it I have spent well nigh 1500. l. one way and another since I first begun my suit unto you divers hundreds of which I must in truth tell you I am at this time ingaged for and owe at this houre and how soon I may be throwne into a Jayle and there rot for want of payment of it and see my wife and tender babes perish for want before my eyes I know not and therefore truly Sir I must with bitternesse of spirit say a happinesse it had been for me if when almost full eight years ago you voted me reparations to my barbarous sufferings you had voted me to everlasting banishment out of the land of my nativity and that it should have been immediate death for me to have returned to have fought for any justice at your hands for alas Sir what a happy man as to the world had I been to have had the improvement of my wasted money and my eight years hazardous ill spent time in waiting upon you for your often promised Justice in my calling in some forraigne land for the subsistence of me and mine whereas all the benefit I have really enjoyed from you hath been the tormenting of my spirits and the filling of my bones with aches and paines in those hard unrighteous and unjust imprisonments that I have six or seven severall times sustained from your House and their Committees in which I will not now say your selfe had a considerable hand in some of them and yet have alwaies been delivered by you as an innocent and righteous man without ever having any thing laid unto my charge Sir I have often had many faire promises from you and so have some of my friends besides of your readinesse and desirablenesse to help me to justice and my own though some other of my friends that have sate within your walls have told me the quite contrary which I have been loath to believe and therefore I now write unto you to put you to the test Wherefore without any more delay I adjure you as you will answer before God and his mighty Angells that now you deale ingeniously and honestly with me and either help me effectually to get my Ordinance past your House for my 3000. l. reparations and force that faith breaking man that hath not a spark of Gentleman in him I mean Sir Charles Kemish to help me to my 300. l. which by your assignment I should have had four moneths ago from him or els tell me plainly and truly you will not cannot or dare not for feare of my adversaries meddle with my businesse to do me any effectuall good and I do assure you I will take it for an honest finall answer and never trouble you particularly any more but put my businesse to a publike test by one more printed addresse sutable to my extremities and if I must perish because I cannot nor will not creaturize to crouch unto mens corrupt lusts and wills I perish but by Gods assistance I shall do the best I can if it must needs be so that it shall be with a witnesse So with my service presented unto you being desirous to wait upon you at your lodging for an answer I rest From my lodging in Brewers yard in Kings street Westminster Decemb. 16. 1648. Yours very desirous to have just cause to be Your Servant John Lilburne So when my Ordinance came to the Lords they disinabled me to cut down any more timber trees then what was already fell'd which I judged fitter for me to content my self with then to struggle any longer to get it passe as the House of Commons had sent it up so the Lords in two or three daies dispatched it and sent it down to the House of Commons for their concurrence according to those abridgements they had made in it and taking my opportunity to speak to those in the House of Commons I had interest in I intreated them to dispute it no more but passe it as the Lords had gelded it and accordingly they did the copy of which thus followeth Die Jovis 21. Decemb. 1648. An Ordinance of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament for raising of three thousand pounds out of the sequestred estates and compositions of Sir Henry Gibb Knight Sir Henry Bellingham Knight and Baronet and Thomas Bowes Esquire lying and being within the County of Durham to be paid unto L. Col. John Lilburne by the Committee of Sequestrations of the said County for and towards the reparation and damages of the said John Lilburn which he sustained by vertue colour of two unjust Sentences or Decrees given and made against him in the late Court of Starchamber the one the 13. of February 1637. the other the 18. of April 1638. WHereas the cause of Lievt Col. John Lilburne concerning two sentences pronounced against him in the late Court of Starchamber 13. February decimo tertio Caroli Regis and the 18. April decimo quarto Caroli Regis which were voted the 4. of May 1641. by the House of Commons to be illegall and against the liberty of the Subject and also bloody wicked cruell barbarous and tyrannicall were transmitted from the said House of Commons unto the House of Lords in which the House of Peers concurred in judgment and the 13. of February 1645. declared the said proceedings of the said Starchamber against the said John Lilburne to be illegall most unjust and against the liberty of the Subject and law of the land and Magna Charta and unfit to continue upon record c. The said Lords and Commons taking into their serious consideration the extraordinary sufferings and barbarous tyranny that by colour of the said unjust Decrees were inflicted upon the said Lievt Col. John Lilburne and the long time hitherto elapsed without any satisfaction do conceive it most just equitable and reasonable to repaire him in some considerable manner and therefore in pursuance of two orders of the House of Commons one of the 22. of August 1648. and the other of the 5. of September 1648. have ordained and be it hereby ordained by the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament and by the authority of the same That the said John Lilburne shall have and receive the sum of 3000. l. to be paid unto him or his Assignes by the Committee of Sequestrations for the County of Durham out
any other way and this act of Verney's should have to the eyes of the world been merit enough to have saved Verney 's life and also procured him his liberty from his Lords and Masters Haslerig and Bradshaw c. who for his traiterous and good services done them protect him against all the complaints of cheating perjury forgery and all manner of knavery that my intelligence tels on daily is brought in against him Which Verny a few dayes ago as I am from extraordinary good hands informed had the impudence for all the high complaints against him to petition or otherwise to sue for an annuall Pension for his good services done them in forsaking his Interest in the PRINCE and adhering to Them in any thing they put him upon though never so wicked Fourthly Haslerig 's design in endeavouring to murther me is not only evident in his Associats imprisoning me for nothing and so robbing me of my trade and credit but also in close imprisoning me from the society of all my friends and denying me the just and legall allowance due to me in my case and condition not one penny of which I have received to this day but also in taking away compleatly betwixt 24 and 2500 l. that so I may not have a penny left to buy me my wife or family a bit of bread But to ●eturne I would fain have HASLERIG to consider seriously from his friend S. Johns words and the rest foregoing what he deserves that not only by theft of murther breaks one of the Laws of England but endeavours to destroy and actually plucks up by the roots the whole Fabrick of the Laws of England and so destroyes HUMANE SOCIETY by bringing all things into the originall Chaos of confusion and when he hath so done doubly and trebly protects and secures himself by force of the sa●d and other tyrannicall Priviledges from all manner of Process of Law or Justice truely he deserves whereever he be found to be dealt with as Felton did with the Duke of Backingham which for my part I protest seriously I judge to be more juster both before God and man a thousand times over then Haslerig 's dealing with me and the last and ultimate refuge and remedie that all such men have in such cases and a thousand times more just then for a man to murder himself by fami●hing in silence by such mens oppressive and tyrannicall de●ling with him And if Strafford upon S. Johns forementioned principles were A FOX and A WOLF for arbitrarily subverting the Law and taking away mens prop●●ties and estates by proceedings upon Paper petitions then abundantly 〈◊〉 is Haslerig a FOX and a WOLF in arbitrarily subverting the Law and taking away my estate with wi●e much as any proceedings at all or any Paper Petition against me 〈…〉 so much as receiving and producing any pretended Commission from any Legall or pretended Magistracy so to doe And therefore undeniably ●rom S. Johns and his own grounds may as a POLCAT a FOX and a WOLF yea and as a Destroyer of the society of mankind he knockt on the (**) Read carefully for illustration hereof my Law-quotations in the Marginall note of the sixt page of the late Impeachment of High Treason against Oliver Cromwel and his Son in law Henry Ireton head where ever he is found 〈◊〉 he had which peradventure before much time may be expired may be for his portion and that justifiably both before God and man seeing no law in the world can be said against him in the least or take hold of him And therefore as in a Speech made one thousand six hundred and forty it is said against the Ship-money Judges Speeches and passages of Parliament page 275. Much more truly may I say now when our Liberties are violated our Fundamentall Laws abrogated our Modern Laws already obsoleted the propertie of our Estates alienated nothing left us we can call our own but our misery and our patience if ever any Nation might justifiably this certainly may now most properly most seasonably cry out and cry aloud VEL SACRA REGNAT JUSTITIA VEL RUAT CAELUM that is Either let the Heavens fall or let Sacred Justice reign But if he should deny that that which at Newcastle he hath seized upon is none of mine I prove my Legall right thus 1. Admit I had in the eye of the law illegally come by it yet being in possession of it he hath no pretence in the world to dispossess me of it of his owne head and by his own will but 2ly I answer that against the law of equity reason and Justice yea and the law of England I was in the year 1637 1638. 1639. 1640. most illegally and tyrannically dealt with by the High-Commission Councel-Board and Star-Chamber by Doctor Guinne Doctor Lambe Doctor Ali● and the Lord Keeper Coventry Lord Privy Seal Manchester Lord Newberg Old Sir Henry Vane Lord Chief Justice Bramston and Judge Jones And by the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Lord Keeper againe Lord Treasurer Bishop of London Lord Privy-Seal again Earl of Arundel Earl of Salisbury Lord Cottington Secretary Cook and Secretary Windebank and the Warden of the Fleet who gagged me upon the Pillo● without order in writing Of which the 3. of Novemb. 164● being the first day the late dissolved Parliament sate I according to Law and Justice preferred my Petition and Complaint to to them who upon the reading of my Petit●on immediately ordered me my Liberty being as I remember the first prisoner in England set at liberty by them to foll●w my Petition and according to the legall custom of Parliaments make i● good by proof before a select Committee appointed by them to that purpose Mr. Francis Reuse having the hai●● before whom many particular dayes one after another● I appeared with my Councel being Mr. Robert Gurden brother to Mr. John Gurdon now Member of the p●es●nt J●ncto or pretended House of Commons and my Witnesses and fully proved all my Petition Upon the report of all which by Mr Reus the Chairman the House of Commons the fourth of May 164● being the very same day that the King himself caused me to be arraigned for high Treason at the Ba●r of the House of Pee●s voted and resolved upon the Question That the Sentence of Star-chamber given against JOHN LILBURN is illegall and against the libertie of the Subject and also bloody cruell wicked barbarous and tyrannicall Resolved upon the Question That reparations ought to be given to M. LILBURN for his imprisonment sufferings and lostes sustained by that illegall sentence O●dered That the Committee shall prepare this case of Mr Li●burns to be transmitted to the Lords with those other of Dr. Bastwick D●ctor L●●gh●on Mr Button and Mr. Pryn. H. E●singe Cler. Parl. Dom. Com. After which Votes being in a full free un●avisht or inforc'd legall and unquestionable Parliament after a full open free * Where I very well remember Sir Arthur Hosle●ig was one of
my zealous and forward Judges and when Warned James Ingram came to the B●● of the Court of Wards and brought Master Herne ●●h C●uncellor to plead for the Lords and in excuse of himself● who st●sly insisted in a high manner upon the orders and decrees of Star-Chamber upon which I very well remember Sir Arthur with a great deale of indignation said unto Herne I value not a Decree of the Lords in Star-Chamber a rush if it be not expresly according to the tenor of their commission the Law and I further tell you it is a ridiculous thing Sir to summon Parliaments to meet together to make Laws if the Lords decrees in Star-Chamber against law should be bind●ng and therefore although you have proved for your Clyant Master Ingram that the Lords in open Court the Court sitting commanded him on the Pillory to gagg Master Lilburn● yet for speaking against them I tell you by law that order ought to have been in writing according to the custom of the Court which you confesse it was not and therefore Master Ingram must smart for his executing of orders on M. Lilburne made illegally and fan hearing and examining of all my foresaid sufferings and complaints troubles and the warres came on and being in my own conscience folly satisfied of the justness● of the Parliaments then cause in the height of zeale accompanied with judgment and conscience upon the principles I have largely laid down in the 26. 27. 75. 76 pages of my book of the 8th of June 1649. intituled Englands legal fundamentall c. I took up Armes for them and fought heartily and faithfully in their quarrel for maintaining of which I had like to have been hanged at Oxford while during my in prisonnment there I lost 5 or 600 l. out of my estate at London till the p●esent Earle of Manchester had like to have hanged me for being a little to quick in taking in Tikell Castle which spoyled a souldier of me ever since after which in the year 1648. I followed the House of Commons close to transmit my foresaid votes to the Lords which with much difficulty occasioned chiefly by Mr William Prinne and other his zealous Presbyterian frien●s I got by peice-meales transmitted where by reason of Manchesters interest I might have expected long delay yet I found quick dispatch and upon the 1 of December 1645 by specially decree they took off the fine set upon me by the Starchamber and afterwards I got the whole vote transmitted who at their open Barre Judicially upon the 13 of February 1645. appointed me a solemn hearing de novo of the whole matter and assigned Mr. John Bradshaw and Mr. John Cook for my counsell who with abundance of witnesses accordingly appeared where Mr. Bradshaw did most notably open the Starchamber injustice towards me but especially their (*) Whose very words all are recorded by M. John Cook in his printed Relation of that dayes proceedings before the Lords who in the 3 page thereof upon the reading of the Star-chamber sentence against me most truly recites Mr. Bradshaws observations in these very words viz. that the said sentence was felo de se guilty of its own death the ground whereof being because Mr Lilburne refused to take an oath to answer to all such questions as should be demanded of him It being so contrary to the Lawes of God Nature and the Kingdom for any man to be his own accuser and yet the same Mr. Bradshaw after he hath most illegally taken away the Kings life and drenched his hands in his blood commits me then to prison for suspition of Treason meerely for refusing to answer to a question that he himself demanded of me as fully appears in the 2 edition of my picture of the Councell of state pag 10. 11. 16. ex officio or interogatogatory proceedings with me and produced my witnesses upon oath punctually to prove every head of his argument Upon which full hearing the Lords made a notable decree and adjudged and declared tho said proceedings of the said Star chamber against the said John Lilburn to be illegall and most unjust and against the Liberty of the Subject and Law of the Land and Magna Charta and unfit to continue upon record But not assigning me any reparations in that Decree the doing of which the House of Commons left unto them and the Lords according to former custome looked upon to be their right in law to do whereupon I got Mr. John Cook to draw me up that dayes work with most pregnant and notable aggravations which I printed and presented a few dayes after to every one of the Lords praying their assigning me particular reparations according to Law and Justice out of the Estates of my unjust Judges that had done me so much wrong upon which new addresse to them they did upon the fifth of March 1645. order and decree and assigned to be paid unto the said John Lilburne the summe of ten thousand pounds for his Reparations which for many reasons as there being ayding in the warres to the King c. they fixed upon the Estates reall and personall of Francis Lord Cottington Sir Francis Windebank and James Ingram late Deputy Warden of the Fleet and afterwards by an other Decree for the present levying thereof out of their lands at eight yeers purchase as they were before the Warres with the allowance of Interest at 8 l per centum per annum in case of obstruction for all or any part of it and to this purchase caused an Ordinance to be drawn up which fully passed their House the 15 20 and 27. of Aprill 1646. and afterwards transmitted it to the House of Commons where by reason of my bloody adversary old Sir Henry Vains Interests and of my imprisonment by Manchesters means in the Tower of London it lay asleep till the 1. of August 1648 at which time 7. or 8000. of my true friends in London signed and caused to be delivered a Petition to the House of Commons for my Liberty and the passing of the said Ordinance which Petition is since printed with the Speech of my true Friend Sir John Maynard upon it And in reference to which Ordinance the House made this Order Die Martis 1 August 1648. Sir JOHN MAYNARD Sir PETER WENTVVORTH Lord CARRE Col. BOSVVEL Col. LUDLOVV Mr HOLLAND Mr COPLEY IT is referred to this Committee or any five of them to consider how Colonel John Lilburn may have such satisfaction and allowance for his sufferings and losses as was formerly intended him by this House Henry Elsynge Cler. Parl. Dom. Com. Upon which Order I got the Committee to meet and preferred a Petition to them the true copy of which followeth in my addresse to every individuall Member daied 4 of September 1648. Upon which Petition at my discourse with them the Parliament having disposed of all that part of the Lord COTTINGTONS estate that I should have had unto the Lord SEY and also compounded with
Sir FRANCIS WINDEBANK'S heir the said Committee were pleased seeing they judged it a difficult piece of work for me to get it proportionably from all or most part of my unjust Judges to fix it intirely upon the Lord Keepers estate as the principal guilty man of which when the young Lord COVENTRY his Son and Heir heard thereof in France he came posting to England as in a maze fearing what such a precedent might bring upon him if his Fathers estate then dead should be compell'd to make me satisfaction he being so capitall in injustice that if that course should be taken his estate left him by his Father if it were trebled would not satisfie for his Fathers palpable injustice committed in his life time And Manchester being in the same Bryers with his Father being as unjust as the other and having a Brother viz. George Montague and other considerable Interests in the House of Commons so plyed their friends there that they put a stop to the second reading of the aforesaid Ordinance Which I first fully understood by the Speakers means then my great pretended friend who one day began to reason with a Member of the House and my special Friend about the unreasonablenesse to fix my Reparations upon the estate of the deceased Lord COVENTRY nay or to give me any Reparations at all out of the estates of those persons that did me wrong for fear the precedent in time might reach to themselves for Sir said the Speaker as the Member told me if my Son and Heir should be liable in law to make satisfaction to all those men out of that Estate I should leave him that I have in the eye of the Law wronged by signing Warrants Orders and Decrees by the Command of my Superiours he would soon be a begger although I should leave him 5 or 6000 l. per annum and therefore desired as it were the said Members concurrence with them who see a necessity both in justice and for the clamorous importunity as they called it of me and my friends to give me reparations but yet to do it in such a way that the Precedent might not in future make themselves smart for their injustice to particular men Of which when the said Member told me and withall told me they were resolved to make the Common wealth my Pay-Master out of the publick Treasury and colour over the justness of it with this pretence That Cottingtons estate c. formerly assigned me they had since disposed of for the Common-wealths use to the Lord Sey and therefore now it would be no injustice to the Common-wealth although in the Star-chamber it never wronged me to pay me my reparation Of all which when I understood their designe I was not a little troubled and perplexed in my spirit although I was grown much into debt by reason of my long and chargeable sufferings and large losses to see that my sufferings should produce no benefit at all to the Common-wealth which I must as before God in the sincerity of my heart aver was much in mine eye no earthly Treasure in the world being of that value to me to make me undergo those sorrows and distresses that I underwent in the Bishops time neither had I undertaken any hazards and continued in them out of any other consideration but out of conscience and duty to God and my native Country I was much perplexed and raised up in my spirit seeing the main end of my struglings was like to be frustrated which was That the Nation might have good by it by the creating of Precedents and terrour for the future to Tyrants and Knaves that so the people hereafter might live more in freedom and peace in the enjoyment of their Laws and Liberties the consideration of which made me something fearlesse of my own particular welfare and in my discourse at their door to set all my expectation on the Tenter-hooks and a little recollecting my thoughts I modellized the fore-mentioned Addresse of the 4 of Sebtember 1648 and printed it and the next day as I remember with my own hands presented it to every Member that would receive it as they went into the House The true copy of which thus followeth To every individuall Member of the Honourable House of Commons The Humble Remembrance of Lieut. Col. JOHN LILBURN Septemb. 4. 1648. Honoured Sir VOuchsafe to take notice and seriously to consider That the first week this present Parliament sate which is now almost full 8 yeers agoe I presented a humble Petition to the House of Commons for justice and right against the cruell Judges of the high Commission Court and the Star-chamber and I had the honour the same day it was presented to be one of the first prisoners in England that was set at liberty by this Parliament and also received a speedy full fair and candid proceeding in the hearing and examining of my tyrannicall sufferings but by reason of multiplicity of publick businesse and other great obstructions I have not as yet been able to attain to the full end of my legall and just expectation and right viz. Reparations for my long sad and tormenting sufferings by the foresaid unjust and unrighteous Judges Be pleased also favourably to take notice That upon the first of August last there was an humble Petition presented to the Honourable House of Commons subscribed by many thousands of honest citizens c humbly to desire you to put me in the fall possession of all your be-past just Votes about my foresaid sufferings upon reading and debating of which Petition as in answer to that particular of it your House were pleased to make this ensuing Order Die Martis 1 Augusti 1648. Lord Carre Sir John Maynard Sir Peter Wentworth Col. Boswell Col. Ludlow M. Copley M. Holland IT is referred to this Committee or any five of them to consider how Col. John Lilburn may have such satisfaction and allowance for his sufferings and losses as was formerly intended him by this House Henry Elsing Cler. Dom. Com. Unto which said Committee at their first sitting I presented a Petition the copy of which thus followeth To the Honourable the Committee of the House of Commons appointed to consider of Lieut. Col. Lilburns businesse in reference to the Star-chamber The humble Petition of Lieut. Col. John Lilburn SHEWETH THat besides your Petitioners sufferings by reason of his banishment into the Low Countries he was first committed by D. Lamb Guin Ayle● 1637. and afterwards had 3 yeers imprisonment in the common Gaole of the Fleet being whipt from Fleet-bridg to Westminster and enduring the cruell torment of above five hundred stripes with knotted cords afterwards being set in the Pillory for the space of two hours and by James Ingram Deputy Warden of the Fleet gagged tearing his jaws almost in pieces without Order which Sentence was given by Lord Keeper Coventry Earl of Manchester Lord Privie Seale Lord Newburgh Sir Henry Vane senior Lord chief Justice Brampston and Judge
Jones And after the barbarous execution of this Sentence being April 18. 1638. the said Lord Coventry Arch bishop of Canterbury Bishop of London Earl of Manchester Earl of Arundel Earl of Salisbury Lord Conington Lord Newburgh Secretary Cook and Windebank passed another Sentence in effect for the Starving of your Petitioner and for the tormenting of him with irons upon both hands and legs both night and day and by keeping him close in the comm●n Gacle of the Fleet from the speech of any of his friends all which was executed with the greatest cruelty that could be for the space of almost three yeers together to the apparant hazard of his life both by starving him which was with all art and industry severall wayes attempted and also by severall assaults made upon him by the said Wardens men instigated thereunto by the said Deputy Warden to the maiming and wounding him whereby to this day he is totally deprived of the use of two of his fingers All which with much more too tedious to be here inserted was fully proved by sufficient witnesses before a Committee of your House whereof M. Francis Rous had the Chair upon whose report made May 4. 1641 your House voted That the Sentence in the Star-chamber given against the said John Lilburn and all the proceedings thereupon was illegall and against the liberty of the Subject and also bloody wicked cruell barbarous and tyrannicall and that he ought to have good Repa●ations therefore Which Votes by reason of multiplicity of businesse in your House cost your Petitioner some yeers of importunate and chargeable attendance to get them transmitted to the Lords which was obtained in February 1645. the 13 day of which month your Petitioners whole cause was effectually opened at the Lords Bar by his learned Councel M. John Bradshaw and M. John Cook and there every particular again proved upon Oath by testimony of people of very good quality whereupon they concurred in all things with the House of Commons saving in the matter of Reparation But upon the delivery of a true narrative the Copy whereof is hereunto annexed which your Petitioner with his own hands in the same month delivered unto every individuall Lord they made a further Decree that your Petitioner should have 2000 l. reparations out of the estates of the said Lord Cottington Sir Francis Windebank and James Ingram for the reasons alledged in an Ordina●ce which they passed in April 1646 and transmitted to your House where it hath lain dormant ever since and is now referred to the consideration of this Honorable Committee Now forasmuch as by the judicial Laws of God which are the pure laws of right reason he that wilfully harteth his neighbour is bound to the performance of these five things First If it be a blemish or wound Like for like or to redeem it with money thereby to satisfie him for his wound Secondly For his pain and torment Thirdly For the healing Fourthly For his losse of time in his calling Fifthly For the shame and disgrace all which are to be considered according to the quality of the person damnified which reparations are to be paid out of the best of the goods of him that damnified him and that without delay And as the Law of God so the Laws of this Nation doth abhorre and hath severely punished above all persons Judges many times with the losse of their ‖ ‖ ‖ See notably to this purpose those pregnant instances in my Epistle to my nick named Levelling friends usually meeting at the Whalebone in Lothbury behind the Exchange dated From my close imprisonment in the Tower of London the 17 of July and recorded in my Impeachment of high-Treason against Oliver Cromwel c. pag. 6. 7. 8. lives and estates who under colour of Law have violated their Oaths and destroyed the lives liberties and properties of the People whom by law they should have preserved as may be instanced by the 44 Judges and Justices hanged in one yeer by King Alfred divers of them for lesse crimes then hath been done in this case of your Petitioner as may be read in the Law-book called The Mirrour of Justice pag. 239. 240. 241. translated and re-printed this very Parliament and by Justice Thorp in Edw the third his time who was condemned to death for the violation of his Oath for taking small summs of money in Causes depending before him as appears in the 3 part of Cooks Institute fol. 155.156 And by the Lord chief Justice Tresilian c. who in full Parliament in Rich. the seconds time was attached as a Traitor in the forenoon and had his throat cut at Tyburn in the afternoon because he had given it under his hand that the King might create unto himself as his pleasure another rule to walk by then the Law of the Land prescribes him as appears by the Parliament Records in the Tower by many of your own Declarations and also by the Chronicles of England Now forasmuch as your Petitioners sufferings hath been unparalel'd and his prejudice sustained thereby altogether unrepatrable having lost his limbe c. And forasmuch as by the Law of God Nature and Nations reparations for hurts and damages received ought to be satisfied as far as may be in all persons though done by a●cident and not intentionally and though through ignorance much more when the Persons offending did it knowingly and on purpose in the face nay in the spight of the fundamentall Laws of the Land which they were swoon to preserve And for that the reparations in the said Ordinance assigned doth scarce amount to what your Petitioner spent in his three yeers sad captivity and his now almost eight yeers chargeable attendance ●n suing for it besides the losse of a rich and profitable trade for eleven yeers together and his wounds torments smart and disgrace sustained by his said Tyannicall sentences He therefore humbly prayeth the favour and Justice of this honorable Committee for some considerable augmentation of his said Reparations and the rather because his fellow sufferer Doctor B●stwick had 4000 l. reparations alotted him whose sufferings he submissively conceiveth was nothing nigh so great in torment pain and shame as your Petitioners And forasmuch as the now Lord Coventry son and heir to the foresaid Lord Coventry hath walked in his Father Steps in enmity to the Laws Liberties and freedom of the Nation by being in arms at the beginning of the Wars against the Parliament and made his peace with the Earl of Essex for a small matter hath since disened the Kingdom living in France privately receiving the profits of a vast estate which his Father left him And forasmuch as his said Father the late Lord Coventry was the activest man in infringing the Laws and liberties of the Nation although a Lawyer and Judge sitting on the supream seat of justice and a person as is groundedly conceived who got a great estate by corruption and particularly a man
that principally passed as chief Judge of the Court both the aforesaid sentence against your Petitioner And in regard the estates of the said Lord Cottington and Sir Francis Windebank by subsequent orders of both Houses upon urgent occasions are much intangled and altered from the condition they were in in 1646 when the Lords ordered your Petitioner 2000 Marks out of them and for that the estate of James Ingram cannot be found nor at present come by Your Petition●r therefore most humbly prayeth That the greatest part if not all your Petitioners reparations may be fixed upon the said now Lord Coventries estate to be immediatly paid your Petitioner or else that his Rents and the profits of his woods and goods may be seized in the respective Counties where they lie for the satisfying thereof that your Petitioner may no longer run the hazzard of ruine to him and his by tedious delaies having already contracted the debts of many hundreds of pounds occasioned by the chargeable prosecution hereof And that if you shall think of conjoyning any other with him That it may be principally the Judges of the Law who ought to have been Pilots and guides unto the rest of the Judges of that Court who were Lords and persons not knowing the Law And your Petitioner shall ever pray c. JOHN LILBURN After the reading of which they entred into a serious debate of the whole busines and thereupon passed severall Votes to be the Heads of an Ordinance to be drawn up and reported to the House by the Right Honourable the Lord Car Chairman to the said Committee who accordingly reported the proceedings and votes of the said Committee to your House who approved of the said Votes and ordered an Ordinance to be presented to the House consonant thereunto which was accordingly done by the Lord Car which Ordinance hath been once read in your House The Copie of which thus followes An Ordinance of the Lords and Commons Assembled in Parliament for the raising of three thousand pounds out of the reall Estate of the late Thomas Lord Coventry late Lord Keeper of the great Seal of England for and towards the reparation and damages of John Lilburn Gent. which he sustained by vertue and colour of two Sentences given and made against him in the late Court of Star-chamber the one the 13. of Febr. 1637. the other the 18. of April 1638. WHereas the cause of John Lilburn Gent. concerning two Sentences pronounced against him in the late Court of Star Chamber 13 Febr. 13 Car. Regn. and 18. Apr. 14 Car. Regis were voted the 4. of May 1641. by the House of Commons to be illegall and against the Liberty of the Subject and also bloody wicked cruel barbarous and tyrannical which were transmitted from the said House of Commons unto the House of Lords who thereupon by an order or decree by them made 13 Feb. 1645. Adjudged do declared the said proceedings of the said Star chamber against the said John Lilburn to be illegall and most unjust and against the liberty of the Subject and Mag. Chart. and unfit to continue upon Record c. And by another Order or Decree made by them the said Lords the 5. of March 1645. they assigned to be paid unto the said John Lilburn the sum of two thousand pounds for his reparations and the said House of Peers then fixed that sum upon the estates reall and personall of Francis Lord Cottington Sir Francis VVindebank and James Ingram (**) (**) (**) But the Lord Roberts the Lord Wharton c. told mee severall times if their estates had not been under Sequestration by Ordinance of Parliament they would never have gone about to fix my reparations by Ordinance which they must needs then doe to take off the Sequestration but have issued out a decree and extent under the great Seal immediatly to have put me in present possession of my 2000 l. which they said was their right by Law to doe late Deputy Warden of the Fleet and afterwards for the present levying thereof with allowance of Interest in case of Obstructions while the same should be in levying and of such part as should not be forthwith levyed The said House of Peers did cause an Ordinance to be drawn up and passed the same in their House the 27 Aprill 1646. and afterwards transmitted the same to the House of Commons for their concurrence with whom it yet dependeth And for as much as since that transm●ssion all or the greatest part of the estates of the said Lord Cottington and Sir Francis Wind●ban●k is since by both Houses disposed of to other uses and the estate of the said James Ingram is so small and weak and so intangled with former ni●umbrances that it can afford little or no part unto the said John Lilburn of the said reparations And for that the said late Lord Coventry was the principall Judge and chief Actor in giving of both the said Illegall Sentences in the said Court of Starchamber and for the barbarous inflicting of punishments thereupon Therefore and or satisfaction of the said 2000 l. and for the increase of reparation unto the said John Lilburn for his extraordinary wrongs sufferings and losses thereby sustained and the ●ong time hitherto elapsed without any satisfaction The Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament do ordain and be it hereby ordained by the said Lords and Commons and by Authority of the same That the said John Lilburn shall receive the sum of 3000 l. out of all or any the Mannors Mesuages Lands Tenements and Hereditaments whereof he the said late Thomas Lord Coventry or any other person or persons to or for his use or in trust for him was or were seized in fee-simple or fee taile or otherwise at the time of the said sentences or decrees or o● either of them in the said late Court of Star-chamber or since within the Kingdom of England or Dominion of Wales any Order o● Ordinance heretofore made by either or both Houses of Parliament for the imployment of the estate of the said late Thomas Lord Coventry to the contrary hereof in any wise notwithstanding And for the more spee●ly levying of the said summe of three thousand pounds It is further Ordered and Ordained That the severall and respect●ve Sheriffs of the severall and respective Counties within England and Wales wherein any of the said Lands Tenements or Hereditaments doe lye shall forthwith upon sight and by vertue of this Ordinance cause an inquisition to be made and taken by the oathes of twelve or more lawfull men where the same lands do lie and what the same are and do contain and of the clear yearly value thereof over and above all charges and re-prises and after such inquisition so made and taken the severall and respective Sheriffs shall deliver unto the said John Lilburne true copies in Parchment of the same inquisitions by them taken and shall then also deliver unto the said John Li●burn the said Lands
guilty thereof therefore my reparations for transcendent injuries done in such an extraordinary case out of the estate of the Father though it be descended to the Son or Sons c. is no injury to them in equity nor conscience neither do I conceive that in case this Parliament should impose a Fine of ten-times as much as my reparations amount unto out of the aforesaid late Lord Coventries vast estate to be paid to the publike purse of the Kingdome for the satisfaction of the publike Justice thereof and the expiation of his notorious and superlative crimes could not in the least in equity reason and conscience be esteemed unjust in the eye of any impartiall righteous or just man in England and so much in answer to the first Objection And now with all respect to the just honour of Parliament a word or two to the second which is That it may be in some Parliament mens thoughts the evill of some of my late actions may weigh down the merit and desert of all my ancient sufferings and therefore to quit scores with me without passing my Ordinance for Starchamber reparation is too large Justice in the strictnesse of Justice for me To which with all modesty and respect I Answer Admit my late actions were as vile and as punishable as by the worst of my enemies can be supposed to be yet there can be no Justice in quitting scores with me therefore and the reason is because that were not only to punish me for good actions done which my sufferings against the Starchamber was and was almost eight years ago so adjudged by your own Votes but it were also to acquit and gratifie the guilty and obnoxious which the present Lord Coventry upon your own principles is as well as his Father was and the Spirit of truth saith To justifie the wicked and to condemn the righteous is both an abomination in the sight of God Secondly I answer It is not now seasonable for me to justifie my self * * Yet I have since that do●e it with justification as you may clearly and fully read in the second Edition of my book of the eighth of June 1649. intitulled The legall fundamentall Liberties c. p. 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30. c. but rather to intreat you to do me justice and right in passing my present Ordinance without any more delay for my reparations wherein I have deserved well by your own often and ancient confessions before ever you had any pretence of evill to fix upon me or lay unto my charge and when you have so done if for any subsequent actions any of you be offended again with me I will put you in sufficient and good security to answer the Law without interceding for mercy or compassion But O if you be men of gallantry justice honesty or conscience punish not my poor and afflicted wife and tender babes for my pretended transgressions by exposing them to famish or eat one another by keeping my own from me which should preserve them alive voted unto me by your selves almost eight years ago and when you have done do your pleasure with me even whatsoever seems good in your eyes rather then expose me to see my dearest Consort and the tender off-spring of our wombs to perish before my eyes which I must ingeniously confesse the strength of duty and naturall indeared affections will not inable me to behold with patience and silence So desiring God to direct your hearts now at the last to doe just and righteous things to me and the Kingdome for just and righteous ends I take leave in sincerity to subscribe my selfe From the Tower of London this fourth of Septem 1648. Yours to the last drop of my heart-blood if either you be Gods or your Countreys JOHN LILBVRN Neverthelesse we according to his promise look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righocousnesse 2 Pet. 3.13 Upon the presenting of which my Ordinance was called for to be read the second time which Elsynge the Clerke pretended he had laid ready upon the table before him but what betwixt his knavery old Henry Vanes the Speakers and young Mountagues my Ordinance was stoln and could never after be found so that I was sent to out of the House to get another fair copie writ over presently which being long in doing my friends went away not expecting it would any more be medled with that day so that when most of them were gone my adversaries took the advantage to call for it and in a thin House read it the second time and upon debate threw it out of doors and at present to stop my mouth voted me 300. l. ready money as they pretended out of Sir Charls Kemish his Composition to inable me for present subsistence and to follow my businesse and also made this further Order Die Martis Septem 5. 1648. ORdered by the Commons assembled in Parliament that the sum of three thousand pounds be allowed and paid unto Lievtenant Colonell John Lilburne for reparations of his damages sustained by colour of the sentences given against him in the late Court of Star-Chamber where Lord Carr hath the Chaire with the addition of Sir John Danvers and Colonell Rigby to consider of and present to this House an Ordinance for setling of Lands to him and his heires to the value of 3000. l. at twelve yeers purchase out of the estates of new Delinquents In the Insurrections not yet sequestred H. Elsynge Cler. Parl. Dom. Com. Of which when I fully understood I was troubled but knew not how to help myself and having already met with so many difficulties and received so manie baffles as I had done I thought it was better being almost wearied out with strugling to take half a loaf then go away without any bread at all so I addressed my selfe to the Committee who left me to my choice to fix my reparations upon what Delinquents I thought fittest that were not already disposed of and some of them told me of an Order the House had made against Sir Henry Gibbs who had a good estate in the County of Durham upon an information M. Ashurst and the rest of their Commissioners from Scotland had brought them upon which they made this Order Die Luna Aug. 28. 1648. ORdered by the Commons assembled in Parliament that the estate of Sir Henry Gibbs reall and personall in England be forthwith sequestred H. Elsynge Cler. Parl. Dom. Com. Upon consideration of which and my Fathers and Vncles being Committee-men in the said County of Durham I then judged it most fittest for me for the speedy dispatch of my businesse without any more baffles delayes or cheats to fix in that County and accordingly I got my foresaid Committee to write a Letter to them the copy of which thus followeth For their honoured friends the Committee of Sequestrations in the County of Durham or to any three of them Gentlemen IT being by an Order of the House of
he is also authorized hereby to go and repair to Henry Young Banchman of the Collyery of Carterthorn or to his Deputy or Deputies and fully to enquire and inform himself of the true estate and value of the said Collyery as relating to the said Mr. Thomas Bowes As also to repair to the Iron Mill and Furnace at Hunwick and Witton and there to take a true and perfect account and Inventory of all the Stock Implements Vtensills and necessaries and of all profits and advantages arising growing or coming thereby unto the said Mr. Thomas Bowes and speedily to certifie this Committee thereof also to summon John Hodgson Steward of the Iron works at Witton and the said Henry Young to be before this Committee at Gatshead upon Wednesday next to give in and testifie their knowledge touching Mr. Bowes his interest in the said Iron works and Collyery Isaac Gilpin Cler. Com. By vertue of which Order my Father and my self went to the Tenants of the three forementioned Delinquents as also to the foresaid Young and Hodgson which Young and Hudgson according to the aforesaid order appeared at Gateside before Sir Arthur Haslerig and your said Committee of Sequestrations unto whom I punctually gave an ex●ct account of Mr. Bowes his ●oles at Karterthorn and his Iron Mill and Forge at Hunwick and Witton upon which the foresaid Stewards were examined what they conceived M● Bowe● interest in the said Colepits and Iron Mill to be worth and after they had given in their Verdict and opinion the said Committee of Sequestration sold with my good liking the said Bowes his interest to Sir Arthur Haslerig for 400. l present money upon his ingagement to pay it me at London which he did within the compasse of about a moneth after as part of my 3000. l. and I also received then in the Countrey of the respective Tenants ● of the foresaid three Gentlemen betwixt 100. and 200. l. ready money all which I certified your Committee of at Durham and by 〈◊〉 speciall order delivered to their Clark and A●●itor copies of all the discharges I had given the severall Tenants who comparing them with the respective rentalls and deductions for assessements and free-quarter the originalls of which they had by them did audit my accounts and gave me a discharge under b● 〈…〉 hands upon the eighth day of February 1648. si●ned Isaac Gilpin Cler. Com Ex● per Ca●hl●●t Haw● Auditor so that now I have from step to step shewed you my right and ti●●e to my 3000. l. which is not ab●●ne o● gratuity given me ●as some men imagine by the Parliament but the issue and product of severall legall Parliamentary judgements judicially given me for damage sustained in body estate and losse of time and trade by illegall unjust decrees made and given against me which Parliamentary judgments and decrees of mine and some of them of eight years standing before any warrs or ●ar●● betwixt the King and Parliament others of 5 and 4. years standing while the Lords and Commons were a free just and unquestionable Parliament in the 〈◊〉 opinion of all the Parliamenteers in England others of my decrees and judgements meerly in confirmations of the former of 3. and 2. years standing while ●●th Houses were commonly received and owned for an unforc●d unpurged and unravished Parliament and the very last passing of my Ordinance was by both Houses before the Lords dissolution or the Kings beheading whose death in Law unquestionably put a period to the Parliament In most of which judgements For full pre●●se of which assertion read my arguments 〈◊〉 the second edition of my book of the 8. of June 1649. in●●●ted The legall F●●● 〈◊〉 ●ill Liberties of the people of England revived pag. 55. 56 57. and Mr. William P●ins a●●●ments in his late book 〈…〉 the illegall tax of 90. thousand pounds per annum pag. 3. 46 47. Sir Arthur Haslerig was one of the ●udges I am sure of it eminently in some of them and who was one of those that was active in putting me into a quiet just and legall possession for so it was eminently up in his own principles of my long strugled for and dear bought right unto which in the strictest eye of God or man I have as true a judiciall legall right unto as either he or you have or ever had to any cloaths you wore in your lives and therefore Sir I may well call it theft in him in stealing my goods or moneys from me by will and force just like a cutter upon the high way yea and by his own and the late Parliaments principles treason it self in disp●ssessing me of my legall and just come by estate without any manner of proceedings is Law yea or so much as upon any proceedings upon a paper Petition or so much as ever summoning 〈◊〉 to answer for my self or to know what he had to lay to my charge as a colourable pretence to take it away from me it is impossible for him to plead ignorance of my right he having as is before truly declared been privy to all the circumstances of my just proceedings yea as I understand my Father did not a little plead my right with him and produced my Ordinance c. to his face to maintain it when he took it away which notwithstanding he valued not but most maliciously premiditately and in despite and contempt of the Law of England and most trayterously in subversion thereof hath exercised an arbitrary and tyrannicall power over and above the Law in his taking it away for which felonious and trayte●ous Action of his by Gods assistance I will stick as close to him as ever his shirt did to his back or as ever I did to the Bishop of Canterbury who for lesse villanies then his I saw lose his head as a Traytor upon Tower Hill Sir the late King hath lost his head by Sir Arthur and his associates for tyranny in advancing his will above the Law of England as in his impeachment printed at the last end of my late Impeachment of Cromwell you may read pag. 57. 58. And yet I am sure he formerly and for any thing I groundedly know to the contrary legally impeached Haslerig of high Treason and yet never pretended any right to a penny of his estate before conviction but Haslerig nor any body else never laid any crime in the world to my charge either of Treason particularly or of Felony or Misdemeanour or any thing else and yet hath seized upon my estate without any pretence or shadow or colour of Law And that the King impeached him you may read in 1. part Parliament book Decla pag. 34. 35. which verbatim thus followeth Articles of high Treason and other Misdemeanours against the Lord Kimbolton Mr. Pym John Hampden Denzill Hollis Sir Arthur Haslerig and William Strode being all Members of the House of Commons 1. That they have trayterously endeavoured to subvert the fundamentall Laws and Government of this Kingdome