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<DATE>8-5-09</DATE>
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<NAME>John Latta</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<STC T="T">669.f.14[20]</STC>
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<DIV1 TYPE="petition">
<PB REF="1">
<HEAD>TO THE
SVPREME AVTHORITY
OF THE
NATION
The COMMONS of ENGLAND, A&s;&s;embled in Parliament.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">The Humble Petition of divers well-affected Per&s;ons of the Cities of London and We&s;tmin&s;ter, the Borough of Southwark, Hamblets, and Parts Adjacent.
In the behalf of Lieut. Coll. John Lilburn, M. William Walwin, M. Thomas Prince, and M. Richard Overton, now Pri&s;oners in the Tower.</HEAD>
<OPENER>Sheweth;</OPENER>
<P>THat the more we con&s;ider the &s;tate and condition of our &s;aid Friends, the more we are perplexed in our thoughts with fear of great danger intended towards them: For, though no|thing
hath bin pretended to be done by them contrary to any Law made before the fact whereof they are &s;u&s;pected, nor any thing done by them after you had publi&s;hed your Decla|ration
concerning the &s;ame; yet your Votes and Declarations, the ho&s;tile &s;eizure of them by the Councel of State, and their Examinations apart upon que&s;tions again&s;t them&s;elves, no
Accu&s;er appearing face to face, nor friends allowed to be pre&s;ent, and thereupon committed pri&s;oners to the Tower; do all (in a great mea&s;ure) <HI>fore-judge them as really guilty of high
Trea&s;on.</HI></P>
<P>All which, being proceedings directly contrary to <HI>Magna Charta,</HI> the <HI>Petition of Right,</HI> and to your <HI>Late Declarations</HI> of the 9. of <HI>Febr.</HI> 1648. and of the 17. of <HI>March</HI> 1648.
wherein you re&s;olve to pre&s;erve inviolable tho&s;e Fundamental Laws and Liberties concerning the Pre&s;ervation of the Lives, Properties, and Liberties of the People, with all things in|cident
thereunto: we are enforced to believe (what this Hou&s;e hath formerly found) that &s;ome eminent per&s;ons (who&s;e particular Intere&s;t our &s;aid Friends may have oppo&s;ed) have &s;ur|pri&s;ed
this honorable Hou&s;e, and tran&s;ported you into &s;ome cau&s;ele&s;s fears of danger from tho&s;e our Friends, who&s;e con&s;tant care and watchfulne&s;s for the &s;ettlement of this long wa&s;ted
Common-wealth, and prevention of mi&s;ery and bloud&s;hed, hath bin &s;o evident by their frequent motions and petitions to tho&s;e ju&s;t ends, e&s;pecially, by that which was burnt by the
common Hangman, that of <HI>Sept.</HI> 11. 1648. and their <HI>Agreement of the People;</HI> wherein are compri&s;ed &s;uch cleer Fundamentals of ju&s;t Government, redre&s;s of Grievances, and con|ducements
to general Peace and Reconcilement, as had their advi&s;e in any rea&s;onable time bin taken, we are verily per&s;waded, much of that rancour, bitterne&s;s, and bloud&s;hed which hath
befallen, had bin prevented.</P>
<P>And which in our apprehen&s;ions are &s;ufficient <HI>Evidences</HI> again&s;t all <HI>&s;u&s;pition</HI> of <HI>trea&s;onable practi&s;es,</HI> or <HI>intentions</HI> in them, and may al&s;o acquit them of that a&s;per&s;ion of <HI>un&s;etled|ne&s;s</HI>
ca&s;t upon them, and which we wonder did not invite a more re&s;pectful carriage towards them, than to fetch them out of their Beds and hou&s;es by &s;o formidable partys of Hor&s;e and
Foot.</P>
<P>And truely, if we may have leave to &s;peak our hearts in behalf of the&s;e our friends, who for many yeers have neither &s;pared their e&s;tates, nor time; but frequently hazarded their lives
in our behalf, and for the &s;afety and Freedom of Parliament and People. We are per&s;waded in our Con&s;ciences, the greate&s;t crime, (<HI>or rather cau&s;e</HI>) for which they are thus mole&s;ted is,</P>
<P>That they have unce&s;&s;antly endeavoured to induce the Army to the real performance of tho&s;e many good things, they engaged for, and largely promi&s;ed to this Nation in their many Decla|rations,
&amp;c. When fir&s;t they di&s;puted and oppo&s;ed the Orders of Parliament.</P>
<P>And for that they have endeavoured to pre&s;erve the intere&s;t of the Army, to the ju&s;t intere&s;t of the People; and to reduce the Military power to a real &s;ubordination to the Civil Autho|rity.</P>
<P>For which their endeavours, we verily believe, they are hated by &s;ome eminent per&s;ons of the Army, who&s;e frequent di&s;tinct actings according to their own imediate Wills, towards this
Honourable Hou&s;e, in ca&s;ting out Members without Charge brought again&s;t them, leaving or taking in only whom they plea&s;ed; and &s;o likewi&s;e in the Army. And by their prevalency
again&s;t &s;ome particular per&s;ons, hath made them pre&s;ume, and (we fear) re&s;olve, to <HI>&s;acrifice the bloods and lives of the&s;e our dear Friends, for &s;tanding betwixt their ab&s;olute Domination,
and the Freedom of the People.</HI></P>
<P>And that this may not appear to be a groundle&s;s &s;uppo&s;ition, be plea&s;ed to take notice, that our &s;aid friends have bin long a&s;per&s;ed by them, as Levellers, Athei&s;ts, Je&s;uites, &amp;c. upon what
ground, and to what end we know not, except, <HI>to prepare them to de&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">ruction;</HI> Threatning, <HI>That if once they caught hold of them, they &s;hould not e&s;cape out of their hands, as they had done
out of the hands of</HI> Hollis <HI>and</HI> Stapleton; <HI>That they have de&s;erved more to be fought again&s;t, than the mo&s;t de&s;perate Enemy:</HI> Ploting and contriving in their General Councel of Offi|cers,
to get a Law to <HI>have power to hang, or otherwi&s;e put to death, as they &s;aw cau&s;e, and that,</HI> becau&s;e <HI>the Civil Magi&s;trate could not di&s;patch them fa&s;t enough.</HI></P>
<P>In all which their threats and contrivances, there are many circum&s;tances to prove, they principally aimed at tho&s;e our friends: And &s;o, when neither by threats nor promi&s;es they could pre|vaile
with them, to de&s;i&s;t from pre&s;erving the Freedom of the Nation, and di&s;covery of their de&s;igns, (as was done in their <HI>Serious apprehen&s;ions</HI> pre&s;ented to this Hou&s;e, <HI>Febr.</HI> 26. 1648.)
having ab&s;olute power in the Hou&s;e, where (contrary to the &s;elf-denying Ordinanc<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="blotted" EXTENT="1 letter">) they takeup many places, (which with an Army at Command, is more than all the re&s;t) and having got
enow of them&s;elves into their Councel of State, (contrary to their own po&s;itive con&s;ent in the <HI>Agreement of the People</HI>) they catch at an opportunity, and fall upon our Friends, with
&s;uch a face of force and terror, as would have made the world believe (what ever cruelty had &s;ucceeded) there had bin a cau&s;e an&s;werable to that force.</P>
<P>The like having not bin known, that per&s;ons &s;o vi&s;ible and re&s;pon&s;ible, &s;hould (to the terror of their wives children, families, and neighbors) in the break of the day, be fetched out of
their beds, forced out of their hou&s;es, and carried away as pri&s;oners of War, and after a days re&s;traint in their Gari&s;on at White-hall, were carryed before the Councel of State, and there af|ter
examination of them again&s;t them&s;elves (no accu&s;ers appearing face to face, or friends allowed to be pre&s;ent) were about twelve of the clock at night, committed pri&s;oners to the Tower,
upon &s;u&s;pition of <HI>High Trea&s;on.</HI> In their debates whereupon, (as we are credibly informed) Lieut. Gen. <HI>Cromwel</HI> declared in the Councel, <HI>That they mu&s;t break this Party in pieces,</HI>
(meaning our friends) <HI>or they would break them: That if they did not do it, they would render them&s;elves the mo&s;t &s;illy, low-&s;pirited men in the world, to be routed by &s;o contemptible and
de&s;picable a generation of men.</HI></P>
<P>And immediately after was publi&s;hed your Declaration, which reflecting upon them, as per&s;ons <HI>&s;editious, de&s;tructive to the pre&s;ent Government, Mutineers, Hinderers of the relief of
Ireland, and Continuers of Free-quarter,</HI> hath (with the re&s;t fore-mentioned) &s;o fore-&s;poken them, that where&s;oever they come to tryal, they are likely to fall under abundance of preju|dice,
be&s;ides the influence tho&s;e eminent per&s;ons (who now vi&s;ibly appear their particular adver&s;aries) have upon all per&s;ons in Office, and upon the pre&s;ent forces in being. In&s;omuch as all
things duly weighed, they are in truth really fore-judged and condemned; For what Judge or Jury may not unawares be captivated by &s;o many pre-occupations and pre-po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions, or
not be terrified, to do what &s;o force-able and powerful influences &s;o &s;trongly incline, if not inforce them unto?</P>
<P>Be&s;ides, your Order for their tryal, requires the Atturney General, to take &s;peedy cour&s;e for pro&s;ecution of them; which is a di&s;advantage we hoped the&s;e times would have bin free
from, as holding too much re&s;emblance with tho&s;e foregone, that &s;ought by craft and &s;ophi&s;try to entrap and en&s;lave plain men in their Tryals for life, e&s;tate or liberty, to the wills of Princes:
the &s;aid Atturney being a Member of your Hou&s;e, and con&s;equently a <HI>Judge of the Judge before whom he pleads,</HI> and (in oppo&s;ition to our Friends,) repre&s;enteth no le&s;s than the &s;upreme
Authority; a mo&s;t unequal pro&s;ecutor, and again&s;t whom they have no plea or relief, as by Law they have again&s;t others.</P>
<P>Vpon all which con&s;iderations, we cannot di&s;cern it to be equal in it &s;elf, or &s;afe for them, that they &s;hould through &s;o many prejudices and preoccupations, be by you put upon their tryal
in the upper Bench: So that how plau&s;ible &s;oever it may &s;eem in it &s;elf; for you to put them upon this kind of Tryal, yet all things con&s;idered, nothing more evidently tendeth to their de|&s;truction:
Nor can we di&s;cern how it can be ju&s;t to try men upon a Declaration made after the fact pretended. Nor can we judge it to be rea&s;onable, that &s;o many Members of the Army
their proffe&s;&s;ed Adver&s;aries, &s;hould (contrary to the &s;elf-denying Ordinance and Common equity it &s;elf) &s;it as Judges in this Honourable Hou&s;e or in the Councel of State whil&s;t this
Cau&s;e is debated; they having in effect bin charged by tho&s;e our Friends in their &s;erious Apprehen&s;ions to this Hou&s;e: And this proceeding towards them, appearing but as a revengful
recrimination.</P>
<P>And therefore, if after mature con&s;ideration of the premi&s;es, you &s;hall judge them worthy of further pro&s;ecution (<HI>as for our parts we verily believe there is no cau&s;e</HI>) we earne&s;tly in|treat.
That you will make fir&s;t &s;trict enquiry into the cau&s;e of that terror and force of &s;ouldiers u&s;ed towards them, contrary to Law: repaire their credit; give them the benefit of law a|gain&s;t
whom&s;oever &s;hall appear to have bin authors or actors therein, and enlarge them from their pre&s;ent impri&s;onment in the Tower.</P>
<P>And then, if any per&s;on have whereof to accu&s;e them, that they be proceeded again&s;t (as by Law they ought) by Warrants from a Ju&s;tice of the Peace of the Neighborhood, where the
fact in que&s;tion was pretended to be committed, not granted without oath made of a crime again&s;t &s;ome Law in being before the fact; and to be &s;erved by Con&s;tables,
not Souldiers, And that upon appearance of the accu&s;ers and accu&s;ed face to face (as by Law is due) and if the fact be baylable, then to be allowed bayl; if not, to be &s;e<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="blotted" EXTENT="1 letter">ured in that
Legal pri&s;on appointed for that place and fact, until the next &s;e&s;&s;ions (<HI>not in a Prerogative Pri&s;on, as the Tower is</HI>) and then in an ordinary way (exempt from all &s;uch pre-occupations
and fore-judgings, to have the benefit of a Tryal by a Jury of twelve &s;worn men of the Neighborhood (not over-awed by Souldiers, nor di&s;turbed by policy or &s;ophi&s;try:)
A Tryal which we conceive cannot in Ju&s;tice (in any circum&s;tance) be denyed to the wor&s;t of thieves, murtherers, and traytors; and which was our real Intentions in our late Petiti|on
pre&s;ented to you concerning them. And (we are confident our Friends upon &s;uch a Tryal, wil prove them&s;elves to be no &s;uch per&s;ons, but faithful friends to their Countries Liberties.</P>
<P>We al&s;o intreat that for the future no per&s;on may be cen&s;ured, condemned, or mole&s;ted, concerning life, limbe, liberty or e&s;tate, but for the breach of &s;ome Law fir&s;t made and publi&s;hed,
and that this Honourable Hou&s;e, would be a Pattern to all future Parliaments in leaving the tryal of all &s;uch cau&s;es to &s;ubordinate Magi&s;trates, and ordinary proper Courts of Ju&s;tice.</P>
<P>That the excution of Civil affaires may be wholely freed from the interpo&s;ition of the Sword, and that Martial Law, during the times of peace (where all Courts are open) may not
be exerci&s;ed upon the per&s;ons of any whom&s;oever: All which, are not more evidently ju&s;t in them&s;elves, than they are con&s;onant to <HI>Magna Charta</HI> and the <HI>Petition of
Right;</HI> the benefit whereof, we tru&s;t you will never be induced to take from us.</P>
<P>That Captain <HI>Bray</HI> (now clo&s;e Pri&s;oner in <HI>Wind&s;or</HI>) may immediately be enlarged, or otherwi&s;e put upon a legal tryal, as is before de&s;ired in behalf of our other Friends.</P>
<P>La&s;tly, we intreat, that there may be &s;ome general encouragement from you to proceed to a &s;peedy &s;ettlement, by way of <HI>an Agreement of the People, upon the grounds of an equal and
ju&s;t Government;</HI> that &s;o all di&s;cord, enmity, and dis&s;atisfaction among&s;t former Friends may finally receive a &s;peedy end, by and with this Parliament; and that the end of this may be the
beginning of a new and equal Repre&s;entative.</P>
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