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<DATE>2008-02-11</DATE>
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<NAME>Emma Leeson Huber</NAME>
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<STC T="W">N634</STC>
<STC T="T">669.f.12[97]</STC>
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<HEAD>A New Engagement, or, Manife&s;to: Wherein is declared the &s;ence and Re&s;olution of many thou&s;ands of well-affected people in and about LONDON, and &s;ome adjacent Counties (viz. Kent. Hartford, Buckingham, and Berks, &amp;c.) who &s;eeing all pre&s;ent Authorities to be perverted from their naturall end, the Peoples Safety, are nece&s;&s;itated to invite all Faith|full Engli&s;hmen to put them&s;elves into a Po&s;ture of Defending their own and Countries Liberties, and to labour for a &s;peedy e&s;tabli&s;hment of a Ju&s;t and Equall Government.</HEAD>
<HEAD>Publi&s;hed at the de&s;ire of &s;ome hone&s;t and eminent per&s;ons, for the &s;atisfaction of all that &s;eek not the advancement of Parties and Factions, but de&s;ire the Peace and pro&s;peritie of the Nation.</HEAD>
<P>THE freedom we were born to, is &s;o ju&s;tly due to every Engli&s;h man, that who&s;oever &s;hall remember the vehemency wherewith the people did thir&s;t af|ter a Parliament before they had this; the zeal wherewith they contributed to the late War, for defence of this freedom, and the &s;ucce&s;s wherewith it hath plea&s;ed God to ble&s;s tho&s;e endeavours, will &s;oon be &s;atisfied, that there is no better cau&s;e in the world to engage upon. And therefore,</P>
<P>The cau&s;e we undertake at pre&s;ent, (for which we carry our lives in our hands) being the very &s;ame, will certainly need no Ap<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">logy for it &s;elf; the only thing that may &s;eem &s;trange in the&s;e our actings being the irregular manner of pro&s;ecuting our un-doubted rights.</P>
<P>Herein we de&s;ire it may be con&s;idered, that all ordinary means, and &s;ome extraordinary have been already attempted, and after much patience proved altogether fruit|le&s;s. That the Parliament hath made no other u&s;e of tho&s;e many &s;ignal opportunities put into their hands, then to continue their &s;itting at <HI>Westminster,</HI> and dividing the publike trea&s;ure among them&s;elves. That the chief Officers of the Army, though pretending to keep up the Forces under them, to &s;ee the &s;ame for the peoples good, accompli&s;hed in a &s;hort time; have yet made no other u&s;e of their power, then to continue and enlarge their own commands. That be&s;ides our being di&s;ap|pointed of the fruit &s;o long expected, and being made more &s;laves every day then other, to Committees, and &s;undry other like arbitrary cour&s;es, even in the mo&s;t legal proceedings we find &s;o much corruption, tediou&s;ne&s;s, chargeablene&s;s and ob&s;curity, practi&s;ed and abetted by Officers of all &s;orts, that the Law it &s;elf is become no protection to us in our Properties or Liberties.</P>
<P>We find that barbarous cour&s;e &s;till maintained of impri&s;oning men for debt, thereby, hindering them from the u&s;e of their lawful callings, though they have nothing el&s;e wherewith to &s;atisfie their Creditors, or to pre&s;erve them&s;elves and their families from &s;tarving.</P>
<P>We find, that the re&s;training mens per&s;ons at plea&s;ure, without cau&s;e rendred, and during plea&s;ure, was never more frequent.</P>
<P>We find, That Tythes, who&s;e beginning was &s;uper&s;titious, and is found by experience to oppre&s;s the poor husbandmen, to be vexations to all manner of people, and prejudicial to the Common-wealth, were never &s;o rigorou&s;ly and cruelly exacted as at this pre&s;ent.</P>
<P>We find Taxes to be &s;o multiplyed without number or hopes of end, and Exci&s;e &s;o cruelly exacted, that no man knows what is, or what &s;hall be his own: And al|though many millions of moneys have been levied and paid, both voluntarily and by compul&s;ion, yet no accompt is given how they have been expended; but the publike debts are dayly increa&s;ed, in&s;tead of being &s;atisfied, and &s;uch va&s;t &s;ums of money paid dayly out of the publike trea&s;ury for intere&s;t, unto &s;ome rich U&s;urers, as is almo&s;t incredible.</P>
<P>We find the Trade of the nation (which the Parlia. at fir&s;t promi&s;ed to advance) to be &s;o generally decayed, that without &s;peedy remedy the nation cannot long &s;ub&s;i&s;t.</P>
<P>We find the poor to be wholly di&s;-regarded, and mo&s;t oppre&s;&s;ed, and thou&s;ands of families &s;uffered to beg their bread, and many to peri&s;h with hunger.</P>
<P>But herein our condition hath been rendred mo&s;t de&s;perate; That we have not been &s;uffered to Repre&s;ent our Mi&s;eries to the Parliament, and Petition for Re|dre&s;s, but per&s;ons have been impri&s;oned for Petitioning, and Orders i&s;&s;ued out from Parliament to &s;uppre&s;s Petitions.</P>
<P>Con&s;idering therefore this deplorable e&s;tate of the Common-wealth, and the apparent danger of being imbroyled again each in others blood, unle&s;s a &s;peedy &s;ettle|ment prevent it and con&s;idering not only that we have attempted all Regular ways, to procure relief for our long oppre&s;&s;ed Country, but al&s;o that we cannot with &s;afe|ty any longer offer our grievances, and de&s;ires to the Parliament in Petitions; and likewi&s;e con&s;idering, that our &s;lavery under Arbitrary powers, is occa&s;ioned by the want of a &s;ettlement of a ju&s;t and equal Government, which, if it were e&s;tabli&s;hed, would &s;peedily ea&s;e us of all our common burthens; we cannot bethink our &s;elves of a more probable remedy then to put our &s;elves, and invite our Country-men to joyn with us in a po&s;ture of defence, whereby we may be &s;ecure from danger, and from being prevented of our good intentions by the oppo&s;ition of &s;uch as have de&s;igned our &s;lavery, while we propound to all our dear Country-men (who are &s;ure to be concerned as much as though they were in office) &s;ome certain grounds of common Right and Freedom, wherein they and we might &s;ee rea&s;on to agree among our &s;elves, and thereupon to e&s;tabli&s;h a firm and pre&s;ent peace. The Particulars we offer are as followeth:</P>
<P N="1">1. That a period of time be &s;et wherein this pre&s;ent Parliament &s;hal certainly end.</P>
<P N="2">2. That the people be equally proportioned for the choyce of their Deputies in all future Parliaments, and that they do of cour&s;e meet upon a certain day once at lea&s;t in two years for that end.</P>
<P N="3">3. That a Contract be drawn and &s;ealed between the People and their &s;everal Deputies re&s;pectively, upon the day of their Election, wherein the bounds, limits and extent of their tru&s;t &s;hall be clearly expre&s;&s;ed. As that they be empowered with &s;ufficient authority for enacting, altering and repealing of Laws; for erecting and aboli&s;hing Judicatories; for appointing, removing and calling to account of Magi&s;trates and Officers of all degrees; for making War and Peace, and Treating with Forraign States. And that their power do not extend to the binding of any man in matters of Religion, or in the way of Gods Wor&s;hip; not to compel the per&s;on of any innocent man to &s;erve again&s;t his will either by Sea or Land; nor to the making of any Law that &s;hal be either evidently pernicious to the people, or not equally obligatory to all per&s;ons, without exception.</P>
<P N="4">4. That for the &s;ecurity of all parties, which have acted on any &s;ide in the late publick differences &s;ince the year 1640. and for preventing all contentions among&s;t them, the people may agree among&s;t them&s;elves, that no future Parliaments &s;hall que&s;tion or mole&s;t any per&s;on, for any thing &s;aid or done in reference to tho&s;e publicke differences.</P>
<P N="5">5. That the great Officers of the Kingdom as well Civill as Military, be often removed, and others put in their roomes, either every year or every &s;econd year at the farthe&s;t, to the end that the per&s;ons employed may di&s;charge their places with the greater care when they know them&s;elves lyable to a &s;peedie account, and that other men may be encouraged to de&s;erve prefer|ment, when they &s;ee the pre&s;ent incumbents not affixed to their Offices as to free-holds.</P>
<P N="6">6. That all determinating Committees (except &s;uch as are nece&s;&s;ary to be kept up for the managing of Forces by Sea or Land) the Chancery with all other Arbitrary Courts, be forthwith di&s;&s;olved, or at lea&s;t all power taken from them, which they have hitherto exerci&s;ed over mens per&s;ons or E&s;tates, and that henceforward as well Ordinances as acts of Parliament be executed in the Ancient way of Tryalls by Juries.</P>
<P N="7">7. That the huge volumes of Statute-Laws and Ordinances with the penalties therein impo&s;ed, as well corporall as pecuniarie, be well revi&s;ed, and &s;uch onely left in force as &s;hall be found fit for the Common-wealth, e&s;pecially, that mens lives be more precious then formerly, and that le&s;&s;er puni&s;hments then death, and more u&s;efull to the publique be found out for &s;mall offences. That all Laws, Writs, Commi&s;&s;ions, pleadings and records be in the Engli&s;h tongue, and that proceedings be reduced to a more certain cheap and expeditious way then formerly. That no Fees at all be exacted of the people in Courts of ju&s;tice, but that the publick Mini&s;ters of State be wholly maintained out of the publique Trea&s;urie.</P>
<P N="8">8. That E&s;tates of all kinds reall and per&s;onall be made lyable to debts, but no empri&s;onment at all by way of puni&s;hment, nor in order to making that &s;atisfaction, which po&s;&s;ibly can never be made, but onely by way of &s;ecuritie in order to a tryall for &s;ome criminall Fact, to be determined within &s;ome &s;hort and certain &s;pace of time, and that this power of re&s;training mens per&s;ons be very cauciou&s;ly allowed, to which end the benefit of <HI>Habeas Corpu&s;&s;es</HI> to be in no ca&s;e denyed by tho&s;e whom it concerns to grant them.</P>
<P N="9">9. That Tythes be wholy taken away, the pari&s;honer, from whence they are due, paying in liew thereof to the State where they are not appropriate, and to the owner where they are, a moderate and certain rent charge out of his land. The Mini&s;ters to be maintained either by the voluntary contribution of &s;uch as de&s;ire to hear them, or el&s;e by &s;ome &s;ettled pen&s;ions out of the publike trea&s;ure.</P>
<P N="10">10. That as &s;peedy and as perfect an Accompt as may be, be given and publi&s;hed for the &s;atisfaction of the people, how tho&s;e va&s;t &s;ums of money have been di&s;po&s;ed of that have been di&s;|bur&s;ed voluntarily and otherwi&s;e, &s;ince the beginning of the&s;e troubles.</P>
<P N="11">11. That &s;o &s;oon as publike occa&s;ions will po&s;&s;ibly permit, the impo&s;ition of Exci&s;e and all other Taxes upon the people be wholy taken away; and that in the mean time all care and dili|gence be u&s;ed, in taking away tho&s;e occa&s;ions, and in the husbandly managing of the publike pur&s;e, and to that end that a balance be made and declared of all publike revenues and expences; and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">hat a cour&s;e be taken for paying all publike debts and damages &s;o far as may be; that the debts upon intere&s;t be di&s;charged by &s;ale of &s;uch lands and goods as are either properly belong|ing or any ways accrewed to the State, and that they be &s;old to the be&s;t advantage.</P>
<P N="12">12. That there be no le&s;s care taken for the growing wealth of the Nation, con&s;i&s;ting principally in trade, which being our &s;trength and glory, ought by mitigating of the Cu&s;tomes, and by all other good means, to be cheri&s;hed and encouraged.</P>
<P N="13">13. That (though re&s;toring peace and commerce be the &s;ure&s;t way of providing for the poor) yet &s;ome more effectual cour&s;e may be found out then hitherto hath been for &s;etting tho&s;e to work who are able, for bringing up of children to profitable employments, and for relieving &s;uch as are pa&s;t their labor, e&s;pecially &s;uch as became &s;o in the &s;ervice of their Country, during the late War.</P>
<P N="14">14. That the affairs of Ireland be taken into a more &s;erious con&s;ideration then heretofore, and that a peaceable way of reducing that Nation may be once endeavoured, and in ca&s;e that &s;ucceed not, the War be pro&s;ecuted with that vigor and unanimity, as by Gods ble&s;&s;ing, we may promi&s;e to our &s;elves a &s;peedy end of tho&s;e troubles, a timely relief to many fami&s;hing fa|milies there, and better intend the affairs of England.</P>
<P N="15">15. That all Monopolies and re&s;traint of trade, under colour of any Companies, Fraternities, or otherwi&s;e be forthwith aboli&s;hed.</P>
<P N="16">16. That the Ancient and almo&s;t antiquated badge of &s;lavery, <HI>viz.</HI> all ba&s;e Tenures by Copies, Oaths of Fealty, Homage, Fines, at the will of the Lord, &amp;c. (being the Conquerors marks upon the people) may be taken away; and to that end that a certain valuable rate be &s;et, at which all po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ors of Lands &s;o holden, may purcha&s;e them&s;elves Freeholders, and in ca&s;e any &s;hall not be willing or able, that there be a prefixed period of time after which all Services, Fines, Cu&s;tomes, &amp;c. &s;hall be changed into, and become a certain Rent, that &s;o per&s;o is di&s;affected to the Freedom and welfare of the Nation, may not have that advantage upon the people, to draw them into a War again&s;t them&s;elves upon any occa&s;ion, by vertue of an awe upon them in &s;uch dependent tenures.</P>
<P>Now con&s;idering that the &s;ettlement of the Nations Peace and Freedom hath been con&s;tantly declared by the Parliament to be their only end in engaging in the late War, and con&s;idering their many promi&s;es, &s;olemn vows, and oaths made by them to the people to confirm them in the belief of their &s;incere intentions therein, we &s;hould hope to find no oppo&s;ition from them in the&s;e our de&s;ires; but however we cannot but be confident that the Souldiery of the Army (who &s;olemnly ingaged at Newmarket, in June la&s;t, to procure the &s;ame things in effect for the people which are here propounded) will &s;o remember that &s;olemn ingagement, as to &s;hew their ready concurrence with us; And we hope it will be clear to them, that there is no other po&s;&s;ible way to provide that &s;ufficient Indempnity (the want whereof fir&s;t occa&s;ioned their refu&s;al to disband) then what is here propounded; neither that there is any other probable way to &s;ecure the Arrears of the Supernumeraries, who are disbanded, contrary to the &s;olemn Ingagement, or of tho&s;e continuing in Arms; And at lea&s;t we cannot but promi&s;e our &s;elves the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of all the Com|mons who are not either blinded by &s;ome &s;elf-intere&s;t, or ingaged to continue the pre&s;ent con&s;uming di&s;tractions by vertue of &s;ome office or imployment depending thereon.</P>
<P>But however we intending wrong to no man, nor any private advantage to our &s;elves, and the cau&s;e for which we appear being &s;o clearly ju&s;t, and of common concernment to all parties and hone&s;t intere&s;ts, we repo&s;e our confidence in the mo&s;t high God to protect us from the malice and rage both of all &s;elf-&s;eeking ambitious men, who affect Lordline&s;s and Tyranny, and have de&s;igned the Peoples &s;lavery, and a perpetuation of their own rule; and of all &s;uch m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">rcenary va&s;&s;als as they &s;hal hire to de&s;troy us, and keep the yokes of &s;lavery upon the Peoples necks; And we do hereby promi&s;e and ingage to all our Country-men, that when&s;oever the &s;ettlement of the Peace and Freedom herein propounded &s;hal be effected (all delays wherein we &s;hall to our utmo&s;t po&s;sibilities prevent) we &s;hal gladly and cheerfully return to our private habitations and callings, enjoying only our equal &s;hare of Freedom with all others in the Nation.</P>
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<P>Printed in the Year. MDCXLVIII.</P>
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