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<DATE>2008-02-10</DATE>
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<NAME>Judith Siefring</NAME>
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<VID>163406</VID>
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<HEAD>A DECLARATION of the Free-born people of ENGLAND, now in Armes again&s;t the Tyrannie and Oppre&s;&s;ion of OLIVER CROMWELL E&s;q.</HEAD>
<P>BEing &s;atisfied in our Judgements and Con&s;ciences of the pre&s;ent nece&s;&s;ity to take up <HI>Armes</HI> for the defence of our Native Rights and Freedoms, which are wholly invaded and &s;wallowed up in the Pride and Ambition of <HI>OLIVER CROMWEL E&s;q</HI> who calls him&s;elf <HI>Lord Protector</HI> of ENGLAND, and hath rendred all Engli&s;h-men no better than his Va&s;&s;als: We expect to be branded with the infamous name of <HI>Rebels</HI> and <HI>Traytors,</HI> or to be mi&s;-repre&s;ented both to the <HI>Army, City,</HI> and <HI>Country,</HI> as Common Enemies, Di&s;turbers of the Publick Peace, <HI>Arbitrary Cavaliers,</HI> or under &s;ome other odious notion, that may provoke the <HI>Army</HI> and <HI>People</HI> to endeavour our de&s;truction: But if we may prevaile to be heard before we be Condemned and Executed, We &s;hall &s;ubmit our cau&s;e, and the righteous end we &s;eek, to the judgement of the <HI>Army,</HI> and every hone&s;t <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Man, and if the <HI>Army</HI> it &s;elfe (according to their many engagements) will undertake (and their &s;trength be &s;ufficient) to redeem Us from Our pre&s;ent &s;lavery, and &s;ettle that Right and Freedome, unto which Our birth gave Us title, we &s;hall readily lay downe our pre&s;ent <HI>ARMES.</HI></P>
<P>The whole Chri&s;tian world knowes that our Engli&s;h <HI>Earth</HI> hath been drunk with <HI>Blood</HI> the&s;e twelve yeares, through the great conte&s;t for Right and Freedom, and the whole Trea&s;ure of the Nation exhau&s;ted in that quarrell. How then can any Man, who&s;e Hand or Heart hath been ingag'd in that Bloody conte&s;t, either acquit him&s;elfe to God, his Con&s;cience, or his Countrey, in yeilding up tamely and &s;ilently all the Lawes, Rights and Liberties of <HI>England,</HI> into an U&s;urpers hand? We have for many yeares patiently borne all kindes of Oppre&s;&s;ion, Arbitrarine&s;&s;e and Tyrannie, and &s;uffered under &s;uch heavy burthens of Exci&s;e and Taxes, as <HI>England</HI> never knew in former ages, having been fed by him that now calls him&s;elfe <HI>Lord Protector,</HI> and his <HI>Army,</HI> with &s;pecious preten|ces, and mo&s;t alluring promi&s;es (&s;econded with many Appeales to God for their integrity of heart in them) that true <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Liberty, &s;hould be &s;etled and &s;ecured, Impartiall Ju&s;tice provided for, Arbitrary Power aboli&s;hed, and every yoak of Oppre&s;&s;ion broken, and every Burthen ea&s;ed: And we did believe, as they told us, that our pre&s;ent &s;ufferings, were onely like a rough &s;tormy pa&s;&s;age, to the Haven of Ju&s;tice, Right, and Freedome: We cou'd not &s;u&s;pect the&s;e ambitious de&s;ignes in <HI>Cromwell,</HI> and his Confederates, that are now proclaimed to the World: We could not thinke it po&s;&s;ible, that a Man of &s;uch meane Quality and E&s;tate as he, &s;hould a&s;pire to make him&s;elfe an ab&s;olute Lord and <HI>Tyrant</HI> over three potent Nations: But above all, his pretended zeal for God and his People, his high profe&s;&s;ions of Godline&s;&s;e, Simplicity, and Integrity, his Hypocriticall Prayers, and dayes of Fa&s;ting to &s;eek the Lord, his di&s;&s;em|bled humility and meekne&s;s, and his frequent compa&s;&s;ionate teares upon every occa&s;ion, We &s;ay, The&s;e things, together with his Ingagements publique and private, his mo&s;t Solemne Prote&s;tations, with Imprecations of Vengeance upon Him&s;elfe and Family, if he di&s;&s;embled, and his mo&s;t frequent Appeales to God for the truth of his Profe&s;&s;ions and Declarations; That he de&s;igned nothing but the &s;ecuring the Liberty of Gods people, and the admini&s;tration of Imparti|all ju&s;tice, and &s;ought no Power, Honour, Riches or Greatne&s;&s;e to Him&s;elfe or any particular <HI>Party</HI> or <HI>Intere&s;t:</HI> We &s;ay, the&s;e things rocked us a&s;leep, with the plea&s;ant Dreames of Liberty and Ju&s;tice, untill he hath made a Sacrifice of all our <HI>Lawes, Liberties,</HI> and <HI>Properties,</HI> unto his owne Ambition. And now he is not afraid to owne what he before di&s;claimed, and Declared again&s;t; He that formerly Prote&s;ted before the Dreadfull God, and to the Long <HI>Parliament,</HI> That He and his Army &s;hould be wholly &s;ubject to their Civill Authority, and that who&s;oever &s;hould attempt any violence again&s;t them &s;hould make their way through his Blood, <HI>He</HI> now ownes the breaking them in pieces with &s;corne and contempt. <HI>He</HI> that declared &s;o much Humility and Selfe-denyall, claims and owns a Power &s;upreame to <HI>Parliaments,</HI> and exerci&s;eth an Ab&s;olute Dominion over the Lawes and E&s;tates of Three Nations: <HI>He</HI> that &s;eemed &s;o zealous for Liberty, now dares owne every private Engli&s;h Man his Va&s;&s;all, and their Parliaments his Slaves: <HI>He</HI> publi&s;heth in Print in his owne Speeches to his Parlia|ments, that the benefit that all Engli&s;h Men have in the execution of any Lawes among&s;t them is from <HI>Him,</HI> and that the Authority which their Parliaments have, and &s;hall have, is onely derived from <HI>Him: He</HI> hath publi&s;hed in the whole world, that he hath di&s;&s;olved all civill Government, and that He had in him|&s;elfe alone, an ab&s;olute unlimited Arbitrary power, without check or controle, untill He put &s;ome limits upon Him&s;elfe (if he may be believed in his paper of Government.) Now what <HI>Patroon</HI> in <HI>Algier,</HI> ever claimed more Ma&s;tery over his Slaves bought in the Market, then this claime of <HI>Cromwells</HI> extends unto over Us: If We have the benefit of the execution of no <HI>Laws</HI> but from Him, then all the Rights, Priviledges, and E&s;tates we have, are enjoyed by his mercy only, and without the execution of Lawes, no man hath more right to Lands, or Goods, then another, nor is any mans life under any &s;ecurity, if another be &s;tron|get than he. So that <HI>Cromwell</HI> ownes and profe&s;&s;eth, that the bread that every man eates is by his Mercy: And if his Power was without limit (as he &s;aith) untill he had put &s;ome bounds, then 'tis of his Grace and Favour onely, that all Engli&s;h Men have now a &s;eeming right in their Wives, Children, Servants, Lives, and E&s;tates, if his owne limits of his Power gives any &s;uch right: And if he plea&s;e to throw away, (or burne by the hand of the Hangman) his <HI>Limits</HI> in his paper of Government, who can trouble him? He may doe what he li&s;t with things of his owne making; 'Tis the old Engli&s;h proverb, <HI>he that can binde can loo&s;e;</HI> And he may doe what he li&s;t al&s;o with the Authority of Parliaments, if it be as he &s;ayes, of his owne giving: Now wherein doth a <HI>Patroons</HI> Power over his purcha&s;ed <HI>Slave,</HI> exceed this which <HI>Cromwell</HI> ownes over Us? The <HI>Patroone</HI> can but give the <HI>Slave</HI> his Lawes, his Cloaths, his Meat, his Life, and all this <HI>Cromwell</HI> ownes to have given us, onely he &s;peaks it in &s;uch language as &s;ounds not &s;o har&s;hly.</P>
<P>Now after the expence of &s;o much Chri&s;tian blood, for the &s;etling the Rights and Liberties due unto Us, as Men and Chri&s;tians; when he that was tru&s;ted with an Army for that purpo&s;e, hath &s;o unworthily betrayed his tru&s;t, &s;pilt Innocent Blood like Water, fal&s;ified all his <HI>Declarations, Promi&s;es, Prote&s;tations</HI> and <HI>Oaths,</HI> and a&s;&s;umed to him&s;elfe &s;uch a dominion over our Countrey, as is de&s;tructive to all Right and Liberty, and renders Us and Our Po&s;terities, <HI>Slaves</HI> to him and his Succe&s;&s;ors, with a payment of a <HI>Fifth</HI> (or thereabouts) of our E&s;tates certain in <HI>Taxes</HI> to be intailed upon our Po&s;terities, be&s;ides other burthens <HI>We ap|peale</HI> to the Con&s;cience of every hone&s;t Man, whether a pre&s;ent Nece&s;&s;ity, and an incumbent Duty be not upon us to <HI>Arm</HI> our &s;elves in defence of our antient Lawes, and deare&s;t birthrights, again&s;t the pre&s;ent <HI>Impo&s;tor</HI> and <HI>&V;&s;urper:</HI> And we hope mo&s;t of the <HI>pre&s;ent Army</HI> have not extingui&s;hed their Love to their Countreyes Freedome (although <HI>Cromwells</HI> Hypocriticall profe&s;&s;ions, Prayers and Teares, have much deluded them) but that they will readily concurre with <HI>&V;s,</HI> and other hone&s;t <HI>Engli&s;h men</HI> in our pre&s;ent attempt, by force of <HI>Armes</HI> to redeem our Countrey out of the <HI>&V;&s;urpers</HI> bonds, and to &s;eek tho&s;e righte|ous ends, which we doe hereby declare to be tho&s;e, for which we now hazard our Lives, and with which we &s;hall re&s;t &s;atisfied, and returne to our homes in peace: And they are the&s;e following. <HI>viz.</HI></P>
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<ITEM>I. <HI>That all A&s;&s;umed and &V;&s;urped Powers and Authorities over our Country may be utterly aboli&s;hed.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>II. <HI>That the Government may be &s;etled upon a ju&s;t</HI> Ba&s;is, <HI>with the due Bounds and Limits to every</HI> Magi&s;trate.</ITEM>
<ITEM>III. <HI>That the</HI> Ancient <HI>Liberties of</HI> ENGLAND <HI>&s;etled by</HI> Magna Charta, <HI>the Petition of Right, and other Lawes, may be &s;ecured inviolably: That no mans per|&s;on may be mole&s;ted, impri&s;oned, restrained or touched, without a Legall cau&s;e &s;hewn in the Warrant, whereby he is mole&s;ted or restrained, (and that al&s;o in a due cour&s;e of the Laws known proceedings, without countermands from the will of any man) whereas now mens Per&s;ons are troubled and re&s;trained at will, and de&s;troyed by long Impri|&s;onments, no man knowes for what: And al&s;o that no mans E&s;tate may be lyable to any di&s;po&s;all or prejudice, but by the known Laws of the Land, and the lawfull judg|ment of his</HI> Equals.</ITEM>
<ITEM>IV. <HI>That Free Succe&s;&s;ive Parliaments may be &s;etled, with times of their Beginning and Ending, and with their</HI> Ancient <HI>Power and Priviledges: And that the</HI> Juri&s;dictive Power <HI>which Parliaments have taken upon them to exerci&s;e in the&s;e times of Warre and Di&s;traction, (by taking upon them the judgement of particular Cau&s;es concerning mens Per&s;ons and E&s;tates, &s;ometimes by their Committees, and &s;ometimes by them&s;elves, contrary to the knowne proceedings of the Law) That &s;uch Power (we &s;ay) may be Declared again&s;t, and &s;ecure Provi&s;ion made against the &s;ame: That thereby Parliaments may be free from the temptations of Profit, Friend|&s;hip, and all private Intere&s;ts, by which onely they can be corrupted.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>V. <HI>That the Militia of the Nation may be &s;o dispo&s;ed, that no man may be able to be Ab&s;olute Ma&s;ter of Parliaments; And al&s;o that &s;ecure provi&s;ion may be made, That no Parliament &s;hall make it &s;elfe Perpetuall, and in&s;lave the People to them.</HI></ITEM>
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<P>And that &s;uch a Settlement may be made of Right and Freedome, and the&s;e our ends obtained, and a Peace firmly e&s;tabli&s;hed, we know no means, under God, but a truly FREE PARLIAMENT.</P>
<P>Now for the defence of the&s;e our Rights and Liberties, we are re&s;olved to expo&s;e our Lives to the utmo&s;t hazards; And we &s;hall neither wrong nor op|po&s;e any man who doth not joyne him&s;elfe to the pre&s;ent <HI>&V;&s;urper</HI> to de&s;troy or prevent the&s;e our righteous ends: And though we have rea&s;on to belive, That no per&s;on fearing <HI>GOD,</HI> or of Con&s;cience, Honour, or Rea&s;on, can &s;atisfie him&s;elfe to &s;hed our innocent blood for &s;eeking the&s;e things, yet however we &s;hall commit our &s;elves and our ju&s;t cau&s;e to the tuition of the righteous <HI>God,</HI> and hope in his mercy, That our indeavours may procure Ju&s;tice, Freedome, Peace, and Settlement unto this di&s;tracted <HI>Nation.</HI></P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
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