<!DOCTYPE ETS PUBLIC "-//UMDLPS//DTD EEBOPROOF 2.0//EN">
<ETS>
<TEMPHEAD>
<REVDESCR>
<CHANGE>
<DATE>2009-04-08</DATE>
<RESPSTMT>
<NAME>Scott Lepisto</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
</RESPSTMT>
<ITEM>Checklist:
x Add TEMPHEAD, change DATE, validate
x Add DIV TYPEs, validate
x Review structure, use BODY or rarely GROUP
x Check PB placement and completeness, ensure sequence of N=""
x Proof title page(s)
x Check HEAD TRAILER ARGUMENT EPIGRAPH OPENER CLOSER SIGNED SALUTE BYLINE
x Check ^, oe, italic I / J, _Initals, space between &amp;c FIGURE
x Check q; startq endq Q
x Check ligatures if in black letter &abper; &abpro; &abus; &abquod; &absed; &abser; &abcon; &abrum; &abis;
x Correct illegibles from proofsheet
x Check illegible page, para, line, span, word, dollar signs, &punc;
Final validate

Corrected [  ] illegible groups out of [  ].
Converted [  ] illegible groups to GAP DESC="illegible".
DONE</ITEM>
</CHANGE>
</REVDESCR>
</TEMPHEAD>
<EEBO>
<IDG S="marc" R="UM" ID="A94439">
<STC T="W">T1391</STC>
<STC T="T">E579_9</STC>
<BIBNO T="umi">99865353</BIBNO>
<VID>165474</VID>
</IDG>
<TEXT LANG="eng">
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="petition">
<PB N="1" REF="1" MS="y">
<HEAD>TO THE Commons of <HI>England,</HI> A&s;&s;embled in PARLIAMENT.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">The Humble <HI>Petition</HI> of the well-affected, in and about the City of <HI>London, We&s;tmin&s;ter,</HI> and parts adjacent; Pre&s;enters, and Approvers of the late <HI>Petition</HI> of the <HI>11.</HI> of September, &amp;c.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>SHEVVETH,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>THAT As the <HI>wi&s;dome</HI> and <HI>Goodne&s;&s;e</HI> of God is the be&s;t example to all Authorities in the World; &s;o tho&s;e in Authoritie can in no|thing more re&s;emble God, then in their readine&s;&s;e to heare and receive the complaints and Petitions of any that apply them&s;elves unto them: And who in ca&s;es of di&s;&s;atisfaction willingly condi|&s;cend to a rea&s;oning out of all doubts and differences, for &s;o his goodne&s;&s;e daigned to <HI>commune wi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">h his &s;ervant Abraham,</HI> and <HI>even to a &s;innefull and gain&s;aying People</HI> hee &s;aith, <HI>come let us Rea&s;on together.</HI></P>
<P>And &s;urely if ever there were neede of &s;uch a goodne&s;&s;e now is the time, when not only complaints and di&s;tractions abound in all places, but multitudes of cor|diall friends to the Parliament are exceedingly grieved and &s;adned in their &s;pirits, as not &s;eeing the Common-Wealth in a condition of freedome, or exemption from grievances and burthens (in any mea&s;ure) an&s;werable to the many pro|mi&s;es of the Parliament, to the affections of tho&s;e that have a&s;&s;i&s;ted them, or to the endeavours, engagements, intentions and de&s;ires of the Army.</P>
<P>Every one believing, That in a very &s;hort time after the expul&s;ion of the greater number of the Members of this honourable Hou&s;e (as betrayers of their tru&s;t) A new Repre&s;entative &s;hould immediately have beene ordered, according to that Moddell of an Agreement of the People, tendered by the Coun&s;ell of the Army, or in &s;ome other way: And that becau&s;e that honourable Councell in their Declaration of <HI>December</HI> la&s;t Declared, <HI>That they &s;hould not looke on the re|maining part as a formall &s;tanding Power to bee continued; but in order unto, and untill the inttoducing of a more full and formall Power in a ju&s;t Repre&s;enta|tive to bee &s;peedily endeavoured,</HI> by an Agreement of the People.</P>
<P>And we were the more confident hereof, becau&s;e they had formerly declared al&s;o, <HI>That where the Supreame Authoritie was fixt in the &s;ame Per&s;ons during their owne plea&s;ure, it rendered that Government no better then a Tyrannie, and the People &s;ubject thereunto, no better then Va&s;&s;ells: That by frequent Elections men come to ta&s;te of &s;ubjection as well as Rule</HI> (and are thereby oblieged for their
<PB N="2" REF="2">owne &s;akes to bee tender of the good of the People) &s;o that con&s;idering tho&s;e ex|pre&s;&s;ions and tho&s;e extraordinary things done (<HI>declaredly</HI>) for a &s;peedy <HI>new Elected Parliament;</HI> how it &s;hould come not only to bee wholly deferred; but to bee matter of blame for us or any of our friends earne&s;tly to de&s;ire what is &s;o evidently ju&s;t and nece&s;&s;ary in it &s;elfe, and &s;o e&s;&s;entiall to the Liberties of the Nation perplexeth us above mea&s;ure; and wee intreat &s;ome &s;atisfacton therein.</P>
<P>And truly when you had voted the People under God to bee the originall of all ju&s;t Power, and the cho&s;en Repre&s;entatives of the People, the Supreame Authoritie, wee conceived that you did it to convey tho&s;e Righteous principles (which wee and our friends long laboured for) to the next full and formall Re|pre&s;entative, and not that you intended to have exerci&s;ed the Supreame Law making Power.</P>
<P>Much le&s;&s;e, that &s;uch en&s;naring Lawes &s;hould ever have i&s;&s;ued from a hou&s;e of Commons &s;o often and &s;o exceedingly purged (intentionally by the Army) for the freedome of the Common-Wealth, as is your Act again&s;t Trea&s;on, where|in, contrary to the cour&s;e of former Parliaments and to <HI>Magna Charta,</HI> &s;o many things are made Trea&s;on, that it is almo&s;t impo&s;&s;ible for any to di&s;cour&s;e with any affection for performance of Promi&s;es and Engagements, or for the Liberties of the Nation, but hee is in danger of his life, if Judges and Juries &s;hould take it for good Law, which God forbid.</P>
<P>Al&s;o your Act for continuance and receipt of Exci&s;e (which every one hoped upon the prevailing of the Army weuld have had a <HI>finall end</HI>) to Trade more oppre&s;&s;ive then all the Pattents, Projects, and Shipmoney put together.</P>
<P>Al&s;o your act for continuance &amp; &s;trict receipt of Cu&s;toms was exceeding cro&s;&s;e to expectation, that and the other for Exci&s;e being e&s;teemed mo&s;t de&s;tructive to all kind of Commerce, Shiping, and Navigation, and are &s;o chargeable in the re|ceipt, as that if what is disbur&s;ed to Officers and Collectors were rai&s;ed in an ordinary way of Sub&s;idies it would goe very farre towards the publique charge, which it was hoped you would have &s;eriou&s;ly laid to heart, and have prepared a way to have ca&s;ed the Nation of both, and to have rai&s;ed all publique moneys by way of Sub&s;idies.</P>
<P>It was hoped al&s;o, That you would have don &s;omething towards ea&s;ing the Peo|ple of the <HI>long complained burthen</HI> of Tythes, rather then to have enforced the &s;ame upon treble dammages.</P>
<P>It was al&s;o expected upon the prevailing of the Army and the reducement of this honourable Hou&s;e, That the Printing Pre&s;&s;es &s;hould have beene fully opened and &s;et at free Liberty, for the cleare Information of the People, the &s;topping of them having beene complained of as a great oppr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;&s;ion in the Bi&s;hops times, and in the time of the late unpurged Parliament, rather then &s;uch an Act again&s;t all unlicen&s;ed Printing, Writing or Publi&s;hing, as for &s;trictne&s;&s;e and &s;everity was never before &s;eene in <HI>England,</HI> and is extreamely di&s;&s;atisfactory to mo&s;t People.</P>
<P>And truly when you had Declared &s;o highly and re&s;olvedly for the maintenance of the Law of the Land, as to the defence of every mans Liberty and Property according to that excellent Law of the <HI>Petition of Right,</HI> you may &s;oone conceive what heart breaking and torment of Spirit was occa&s;ioned by your &s;eizing in an ho&s;tile manner &s;uch con&s;tant cordiall Promoters of tho&s;e excellent Maximes fore|mentioned, by the commitment of them in an extrajuditiall manner to an Arbitrary
<PB N="3" REF="2">Pri&s;on, where they have beene long time Pri&s;oners, and mo&s;t of that time clo&s;&s;e Pri&s;on<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">rs, their Chambers and Pockets &s;earch'd more then once, to find matter again&s;t them (things altogether unparliamentary) yea, denyed a legall Tryall, no legall Crime being laid to their Charge, nor Accu&s;er or Witne&s;&s;e, over &s;eene by them face to face, as Law requires; and this to the Ruine of them&s;elves and Families as to temporall &s;ub&s;i&s;tance: Wee profe&s;&s;e wee are not able to expre&s;&s;e the griefe and amazement that &s;eized on us thereupon, and which is dayly renewed upon us, in that, now after extreame provocations, you &s;eeme Re&s;olved to take away the life of our deare friend Mr. <HI>Lilburne</HI> and others, not by any ordinary way of Triall at the u&s;uall A&s;&s;izes, but by a &s;peciall Commi&s;&s;ion of <HI>Oyer</HI> and <HI>Ter|miner,</HI> the judges being compo&s;ed of &s;uch as who&s;e intere&s;t hee hath long oppo|&s;ed; a way much complained of in the corrupt times before this Parliament, and which wee hoped wee &s;hould have heard no more of in this Nation.</P>
<P>And although this is too too lamentable, yet would this were all; but if wee un|der&s;tand the Petition of Right truly, the puting of Souldiers to death, or to other reproachfull &amp; painfull puni&s;hments, by Martiall-Law, in time of Peace, is not a|greeable thereunto, and if wee are deceived therein, the expre&s;&s;e words of that Law hath deceived us.</P>
<P>But that &s;uch as have ventured their Lives for you, and thought nothing too deere to bee &s;pent in defence of a ju&s;t Parliamentary-Authority, &s;hould yet be im|pri&s;oned [as &s;ome &s;uch there are] in remote Ca&s;tles, and u&s;ed more Barbarou&s;ly then Mr. <HI>Burton,</HI> M. <HI>Prinne,</HI> and Dr. <HI>Ba&s;twick</HI> in the Bi&s;hops time, and how &s;oone intended to bee proceeded again&s;t, by &s;peciall Commi&s;&s;ion of <HI>Oyer</HI> and <HI>Terminer</HI> [wee cannot but feare:] This makes our very hearts to bleed, and our Bowels to ea<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">ne within us; in&s;omuch as if no Rea&s;on, Con&s;cience, feare of God, or &s;ence of Religion will put a &s;peedy &s;top to the&s;e proceedings, but our mo&s;t deere Friends [becau&s;e ever faithfull to their Countrey] mu&s;t thus bee ruined and &s;laughtered, under pretence of Tryalls, wee &s;hall not de&s;ire to breathe longer i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter"> this World, as &s;eeing nothing but Mi&s;ery and Slavery like to follow after them.</P>
<P>What a &s;ad thing, we be&s;eech you is it, that it &s;hould be thus in this Nation, in the fir&s;t yeere of <HI>Englands</HI> Liberty [as you would haue it e&s;teemed] which in our apprehen&s;ion exceeds in Mi&s;ery &amp; Thraldome, the wor&s;t of <HI>Englands</HI> bondage.</P>
<P>For b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;ides what hath been mentioned, what is more frequent then to examine men again&s;t them&s;elves, to impri&s;on men by votes of Committees, to &s;eize upon mens Per&s;ons by Pur&s;uivants and Me&s;&s;engers, to &s;weare men again&s;t them&s;elves; Taxes and Impo&s;itions never &s;o high, and Soldiers [not civill Officer] let to ga|ther them, to the terror of the People; and upon the lea&s;t denyall, either violence or an Impri&s;onment ceriainly en&s;ue<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">h: Lawyers in effect are &s;aid to rule all, the Lawes are trod under-foot by them, and wre&s;ted to what &s;ence they plea&s;e, &amp; Law|&s;uits extended beyond all rea&s;on, in re&s;pect of time &amp; charge, then [as is verily &s;up|po&s;ed] having mudded the cleere intentions of this Hou&s;e, and perverted the ju&s;t intentions of the Army, poore impotent Pri&s;oners for debt and &s;mall offences a|bound, and &s;tarve in Pri&s;ons, through poverty and the cruelty of Lawyers and Goalers: and the poore abroad even peri&s;h for want of imployment, and through the exce&s;&s;ive price of foode, and few or none lay the&s;e things to heart: And if a|ny doe, and b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">come pa&s;&s;ionately affected therewith, and but &s;peake their mindes freely thereof, or [as hath been u&s;uall and commendable] endeavor to get Peo|ple
<PB N="4" REF="3">together in meetings and propo&s;e Petitions for redre&s;&s;e, the Puritans were ne|ver more reproched in the Bi&s;hops times, nor the Independents &amp; Anabapti&s;ts in the late defection of Parliament, then now all &s;uch are, with more odious Titles (or the &s;ame in a more odious forme, as Athei&s;ts, Levellers, Libertines, Introducers of Monarchy, Anarchy and Confu&s;ion; which are poy&s;oned Arrowes &s;hot princi|pally at us and our friends, though mo&s;t unju&s;tly, none hating or abhorring either the Principles or the Practice more then wee or our Relations.</P>
<P>To our under&s;tandings this is truly our mi&s;erable condition, and the &s;ad condition of the Common-wealth, and which is the more grievous (becau&s;e in a time when up|on promi&s;es made in the pre&s;ence of God, and with appeales to his mo&s;t righteous Judgements, we ju&s;tly expected the cleere&s;t and large&s;t freedoms, with even a totall redre&s;&s;e of all grievances, and which is no &s;mall addition to our &s;orrow, that we are wounded thus &s;orely, by the hands whence we expected our mo&s;t perfect Cure.</P>
<P>So that what to &s;ay or doe, either to help our &s;elves or our friends that are both in mi&s;ery and danger, and the Common-wealth that lyeth in no &s;mall degree of thraldome, we are exceedingly to &s;eeke, and therefore as in fit condition for his help only, that is a pre&s;ent help in time of trouble, and who maketh mans extremity his oportunity, we mo&s;t humbly and ardently be&s;eech his divine goodne&s;&s;e to vouch&s;afe you a true Chri&s;tian like Spirit of Condi&s;cention, whereby you may bee inclined to appoint &s;ome impartiall per&s;ons to informe our under&s;tandings aright of many things here complained of, that if we be, we may appeare to have been mi&s;taken, pro fe&s;&s;ing from our Con&s;ciences, that as yet we are confirmed in the&s;e our apprehen&s;i|ons of things, not only from our own rea&s;ons, but from the Declarations, Promi&s;es, and Egagements of Parliament; and we tru&s;t, this way of rea&s;oning out of diffe|rences will appeare more like unto the waies of God, then by force or threats to &s;top our mouthes, or &s;uppre&s;&s;e our under&s;tandings.</P>
<P>Al&s;o that he will both rectifie and mollifie your hearts, that you may in&s;tantly look back from whence you are fall'n, To the ju&s;t ends for which the Army re&s;erved you together, &amp; then not de&s;payring but the hand that wounded may heale (it being Gods way) wee would be&s;eech you to render up unto the People their long de|teined Right of new elections, and a new elected Parliament.</P>
<P>To fulfill your promi&s;es concerning <HI>Magna Charta</HI> and the <HI>Petion</HI> of <HI>Right,</HI> to unbind every Burthen and to breake every Yoake; to give bread to the hungry, when you &s;ee the naked to cover him; &amp; not to hide your &s;elves from tho&s;e of your owne fle&s;h (your pre&s;ent humble Petitioners) though never &s;o much &s;candalized and reproached: To deliver the captive and &s;et the oppre&s;&s;ed free: and if for a te&s;timony of your Reall intentions herein you &s;hall relea&s;e unto us ours and the Nations true Friends, though pointed unto death or continuance in bonds, wee <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="2 lines"> have &s;hall bee ever ready to pre&s;erve you; and wee &s;hall ever pray that the Lord our God may bee your exceeding great reward.</P>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="to the reader">
<P><HI>READER,</HI> This foregoing Petition was <HI>(Octob. 23. 1649.)</HI> offered unto the Hou&s;e, with mo&s;t earne&s;t &amp; importunate &s;ollicitation to have it Received, but &s;uch a face of denyall and oppo&s;ition appeared among&s;t them, that neither the Sargeant at Armes, nor any Member would &s;o much as touch it, telling the Petitio|ners that the Hou&s;e would not receive any Petition in <HI>Lieu. Col. Lilburnes</HI> behalfe; Notwith&s;tanding they have Declared, That it is the Right of the People of <HI>England</HI> To Pettion, and their Duty to receive Petitions, though again&s;t Law e&s;tabli&s;hed.</P>
</DIV1>
</BACK>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
