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<DATE>1-28-10</DATE>
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<NAME>John Latta</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<STC T="W">P2296</STC>
<STC T="T">669.f.12[68]</STC>
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<DIV1 TYPE="complaint">
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<HEAD>A pittifull Remon&s;trance, or ju&s;t Complaint MADE</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub"><HI>To all free-born true-hearted Engli&s;hmen, &s;en&s;ible of the Kingdoms mi&s;erable &s;lavery. From all the poor afflicted and mi&s;erable, in&s;laved and immured Pri&s;oners for Debt, Contempts, and other trivial matters; Mr.</HI> John Rayment, <HI>a man of known fidelity, being</HI> 500. l. <HI>out for the State, yet having been mo&s;t unju&s;tly held in &s;uit the&s;e</HI> 12 <HI>years in the Court of Reque&s;t and Chancery for pretended Debt of</HI> 537 l. 19 s. 6 d <HI>by one</HI> John Johns: <HI>although neuer a pen y proued again&s;t him, but hath been cleared by Mr.</HI> Leigh. <HI>and Mr</HI> Northy <HI>Merchants of known ability, to whom it was referred, who brought upon acocmpt</HI> 54. l. <HI>due to the &s;aid</HI> Rayment; <HI>yet did that corrupt Judg</HI> Manche&s;ter, <HI>after he had pronounced him clear, in the open Court, yet in private &s;uffered it to go on in &s;ute, and being here twelve years, Mr. Speaker ordered, the</HI> 537. <HI>l.</HI> 19. <HI>s.</HI> 6. <HI>d. to be brought into the Court, and then they &s;hould have a trial, though never a penny proved to be due upon the not doing, of which he is committed to the Fleet in his old days, there to end his days without &s;ome cour&s;e of Iu&s;tice be taken, which he always de&s;ired: The &s;aid</HI> Johns <HI>having nei|ther Bill, Bond, Hand, or any Witne&s;s again&s;t him, to prove penny or pennyworth due. In all the &s;everal murdering &s;laughter-hou&s;es, and dens of cruelty, called Gaols, Pri&s;ons, and Comptors, within the Kingdom of England, and principality of Wales, about</HI> 20000 <HI>in number.</HI></HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>SHEWETH,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>THat we the oppre&s;&s;ed pri&s;oners have <HI>(though fruitle&s;s)</HI> for the&s;e &s;even years by our humble Petitions addre&s;&s;ed our &s;elves to the high Court of Parliament, craving deliverance <HI>from this unjust, inhumane &s;lavery of impri&s;onment for debt,</HI> illegally fa&s;tned, as on us, &s;o, on this whole Nati|on and their po&s;terity, contrary to <HI>the Law of God, and the fundamental great Charter of Englands Liberty,</HI> and the Parliaments &s;everal <HI>Declarations, Manife&s;tations, Prote&s;tations, and Imprecations,</HI> and to the tru&s;t repo&s;ed in them at their Election, as the Kingdoms Stewards to &s;ee <HI>Inju&s;tice and Oppre&s;&s;ion bani&s;hed the Land, and Ju&s;tice and Mercy recalled and e&s;tabli&s;hed,</HI> where the in&s;laved pri&s;oners are buried alive, and rob|bed of their E&s;tates, Callings, and precious Liberties, contrary to the true Liberty of the Commons of <HI>England;</HI> as appeareth plainly by <HI>Regi&s;ter. folio.</HI> 77. <HI>Dehomino Replegiando, folio</HI> 66. the 3 of <HI>Edward,</HI> the 1. <HI>chap.</HI> 15. the 25. of <HI>Edward,</HI> 3 <HI>chap.</HI> 4. where it appeareth, That the body of <HI>no Commoner of England is to be impri&s;oned for Debt,</HI> but only for <HI>Murther, Fellony</HI> and <HI>Trea&s;on,</HI> Ni&s;i per legem terrae, the 9. of <HI>Henry,</HI> the 3. <HI>chap.</HI> 29. the 52. of <HI>Henry</HI> the 3. <HI>chap.</HI> 5. and the 14. of <HI>Edward</HI> the 3. <HI>chap.</HI> 1. and <HI>Abridgment of Statutes, folio</HI> 65. <HI>&amp;</HI> 6. as al&s;o by the <HI>Petition of Right,</HI> in the 3. of <HI>King Charles,</HI> confirmed this Se&s;&s;ion of Parliament, and it appeareth by the Statute of the 42. of <HI>Edward</HI> the 3. <HI>chap.</HI> 1. That all Statutes which have bin &s;ince made, <HI>to the in&s;ringement of the Subjects Liberty, contrary to Magna Charta,</HI> are ab&s;olutely voyd, and of none effect, as if they had never been made, <HI>and rea&s;on good, for the le&s;&s;er and latter mu&s;t needs give place to the greater, and Mother Law of this Kingdom</HI></P>
<P>Thus you &s;ee, dear Countrymen and fellow Commoners, it appeareth clearly, that impri&s;onment of the per&s;ons of the free Commons of <HI>England</HI> for debt, (which had its ri&s;e and original but from the time of <HI>Henry</HI> the 8. at his di&s;&s;olution of Abbies, Frieries, and Nunneries,) is only an unju&s;t, illegal, &s;lavi&s;h Innovation fa&s;tned upon us, the free Commons of <HI>England,</HI> within the&s;e hundred years, by the &s;ubtile, diabolical practi&s;e of ambitious, unju&s;t Judges, and by evil minded, covetous, exacting Lawyers, who&s;e beginning and ri&s;e al&s;o was with <HI>Ignatius Loyola,</HI> the Infernal Father and Founder of the order of <HI>Je&s;uites,</HI> about an hundred years &s;ince, under who&s;e heavy, &s;lavi&s;h yokes of Inju&s;tice, Tyranny and Oppre&s;&s;ion, this Common-wealth hath long groaned, and doth &s;till groan: Witne&s;s the many thou&s;ands of &s;tained hou&s;es, and ancient families in this Kingdom.</P>
<P>Nor can this great <HI>oppre&s;&s;ing evil</HI> be ever redre&s;&s;ed, unle&s;s the&s;e wicked Mercenary, Contentious In&s;truments of Inju&s;tice and oppre&s;&s;ion (the Lawyers) <NOTE PLACE="marg">No Lawyers &s;uffered to fit in Parliament, or in any great Coun|cel, in <HI>Scot|land,</HI> nor in a|ny other King|dom, but only in <HI>England.</HI> Many hun|dred of poor Chri&s;tians have been murdered, &s;tarved &amp; de|&s;troyed, in the Gaols of <HI>Kings Bench,</HI> the <HI>Fleet Newgate,</HI> and in divers o|ther Pri&s;ons; by the Gaol|ers, their Clarks and Servants; as will be proved when ever by Iu&s;tice re|quired.</NOTE> be quite expelled the Hou&s;e of Commons, as the proud Lordly Bi&s;hops were out of the Hou&s;e of Lords; a Lawyer being no more fit to be cho&s;en for a Parliament man then a Butcher, or a Gaoler, for a Jury man, much le&s;s for a Ju&s;tice of Peace. For we, the Commons of <HI>England,</HI> mu&s;t not expect, that the&s;e Mercenary Lawyers will ever &s;uffer the Conduite of Ju&s;tice to be opened, or the free and clear currant thereof to overflow and drown their Infernal, Impious, gainful, filthy, raging waters of contention: &s;o long as they can keep the &s;taff of honor, credit, re&s;pect, and power in their hands, and by their wicked, gainful In&s;truments the bloody Gaolers, Bayliffs, Sergeants, Atturnies and Solicitors, bring all the Wealth or Grayn of the Kingdom to their im|pious, abhominable Mills of contention, corruptly called Courts of Ju&s;tice, or rather of Fees and Bribes, where they grind the faces of the poor, the wid|dow, the fatherle&s;s and the &s;tranger even to du&s;t, and devour their e&s;tates, liberties and lives.</P>
<P>The above&s;aid particulars being by you, dear Countrymen and fellow feeling Commoners, truly and &s;eriou&s;ly con&s;idered:</P>
<P>Our humble and earne&s;t reque&s;t unto you is, That you would be plea&s;ed by &s;ome &s;peedy, ju&s;t and pious cour&s;e (in your addre&s;&s;es to the high Court of Parliament) to acquit your &s;elves and us, and the po&s;terity of this whole Nation. from this inhumane, cruel bondage, and &s;tarving condition of Being, that &s;o our lives, and the lives of our wives and children may be pre&s;erved from peri&s;hing, and we by our liberties thus regained, may be inabled in and by our &s;everal Callings, to provide for our and their future &s;ub&s;i&s;tance.</P>
<P>And Courteous Readers, We be&s;eech you in the bowels of compa&s;sion, to &s;uffer this our pittiful complaint to &s;tand, that &s;o all may &s;ee and read it, and by it may become &s;en&s;ible of this our inhumane, cruel, &s;lavi&s;h, &s;tarving condition of Being, not to be paraleld by any other Country, or in any other King|dom, <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> or <HI>Pagan,</HI> within the confines of <HI>Europe, A&s;ia, Africa,</HI> nor <HI>America,</HI> being a cruelty repugnant to the Law of God, of all o|ther Nations, and of this Kingdom.</P>
<P>In the <HI>Fleet,</HI> Pri&s;oners upon contempt.</P>
<P N="1">1 Mr. <HI>Robert Ram&s;ey</HI> hath 700. <HI>l. per annum,</HI> unju&s;tly kept from him by Sir <HI>Tho. Wal&s;ingham,</HI> and yet kept in pri&s;on by him upon a pretended contempt the&s;e 12. or 13. years.</P>
<P N="2">2. <HI>Henry Adis,</HI> who&s;e cruel Adver&s;ary <HI>Keyzar</HI> (by Mr. <HI>Lenthal,</HI> the Speakers unju&s;t practi&s;es) illegally turns <HI>Adis</HI> out of his hou&s;e, &s;ea&s;es upon all his goods, and upon a pretended contempt keeps <HI>Adis</HI> clo&s;e pri&s;oner in the <HI>Fleet.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. <HI>Robert Cole</HI> (now more then two years) illegally detained pri&s;oner by the Warden of the <HI>Fleet,</HI> upon a pretended contempt, obtained again&s;t him by his Adver&s;ary <HI>Bayber,</HI> who is 2000. <HI>l.</HI> indebted to <HI>Cole,</HI> and <HI>Cole</HI> oweth him nothing.</P>
<P N="4">4. <HI>James Fre&s;e</HI> Marchant (upon a private verbal command from the Speaker, (Mr. <HI>Lenthal)</HI> and his brother Sir <HI>John Lenthal,)</HI> hath been the&s;e two years, and four moneths, (and is &s;till) kept clo&s;e pri&s;oner in the <HI>Tower Chamber</HI> by the Warden of the <HI>Fleet.</HI></P>
<P N="5">5. Captain <HI>Sanford,</HI> who, in the &s;ervice of the Kingdom, hath adventured both e&s;tate and life, to whom are great &s;ums due from the State, was taken and impri&s;oned upon a pretended contempt, out of the <HI>Chancery,</HI> although he hath proved, that he was not &s;erved with any <HI>Subpaena</HI> in the cau&s;e; and al&s;o that he was then in actual &s;ervice for the Parliament, far remote from his hou&s;e.</P>
<P>The&s;e, and many other &s;uch like cruel, illegal practi&s;es in the Law, expo&s;es and in&s;laves all the Commons of <HI>England</HI> in their Lives, E&s;tates and Liberties, to the imperious will of greatne&s;s, and to the rage and cruelty of their Adver&s;aries, Lawyers and Gaolers. Although they know, that only the poor pri&s;oners future endeavours by liberty enjoyed, mu&s;t give &s;ome hope to the <HI>Creditor,</HI> of &s;atisfaction for his debt, although not in whole, yet in part, which is better then the lo&s;s of all their debt. Be&s;ides, the guilt of the poor pri&s;oners blood, and the peri&s;hing condition of his poor wife and children to lie upon him. Un|der the impious, heavy burden, of which &s;everal great cruelties this whole Land groaneth.</P>
<L><HI>And thus it plainly doth appear,</HI></L>
<L><HI>That Lawyers do rule all things there.</HI></L>
<L><HI>Where we expected Ju&s;tice, that the Speaker</HI></L>
<L><HI>Rules Lawyers, the Gaoler rules the Speaker,</HI></L>
<L><HI>But him&s;elf in every thing</HI></L>
<L><HI>Is ruled by that wicked &s;ting.</HI></L>
<L><HI>Of Death and Hell, named</HI> Thomas Dud&s;on,</L>
<L><HI>Who is none other then the Devils god&s;on,</HI></L>
<L><HI>Directed always, by that fiend of Hell,</HI></L>
<L><HI>For all his actions in cruelties excel.</HI></L>
<L><HI>Thus Englands Steed is carryed &s;till</HI></L>
<L><HI>By</HI> Lenthals, Dud&s;ons, <HI>and the Devils will,</HI></L>
<L><HI>Rub'd and furbi&s;ht by the Lawyers Fees,</HI></L>
<L><HI>The Prie&s;tly tythes have brought him on his knees,</HI></L>
<L><HI>And Gaoler cruelties have made him lame,</HI></L>
<L><HI>Are not the&s;e imps of Hell for this to blame?</HI></L>
<L><HI>Yea, worthy to be whipt, their proper fee,</HI></L>
<L><HI>Being just &s;entence, and the triple tree.</HI></L>
<L><HI>Ju&s;tice, and Mercy, pre&s;erves the Land, and all</HI></L>
<L><HI>Her Sons and Daughters, from ruins final fall,</HI></L>
<L><HI>But they that Ju&s;tice, Truth, and Mercy &s;light</HI></L>
<L><HI>Are foes to Christ, de&s;pi&s;ed in his &s;ight.</HI></L>
<L><HI>O then let Ju&s;tice, Truth, and Mercy &s;way,</HI></L>
<L><HI>That &s;o from England, wrath may flie away,</HI></L>
<L><HI>And Mercy, Truth, and Ju&s;tice, then may dwell</HI></L>
<L><HI>Within our Land, till then 'twill ne're be well.</HI></L>
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