WE have for this eight years waited with much patience, and great expence of Trea­sure, besides the loss of many our dear friends, in the pursuance of our just Rights, and Freedoms, which God had inve­sted us withall, and the whole Nation, and kept from us by the Arbitrary Powers, & tyrannicall Facti­ons of the Nobility, Courtiers, Episcopal Priests, and wicked cheating Lawyers, besides Impropriators, Patentee-men, Lords of Mannors, and all illegall Courts, &c. and other diabolicall Interest parties, that had all their Licences, Pa­tents, Grants, Commissions, from the late King, whose first Predecessor was that out-landish Bastard, William the Nor­man Conqueror; from whence doth proceed the originall of all our slavery, both in Tenures, Termes, tyrannicall Laws, Customs, &c. whereby we, the lower sort of People, are made slaves to the wills of Tyrants, by reason the Law, being in an outlandish Tongue, and withall bought and sold by the Lawyers, who judge the Causes according to the Purse, and will do no Justice without money; so for filthy [Page 4]lucre, will stand to justifie and maintain any unjust, and wicked, and tyrannicall Custome, or illegall persecutions of any Tyrants whatsoever, although to the utter depriva­tion and undoing of the poor widdows, fatherless, &c. and to the advancing the Wills of merciless Tyrants; and which said parties, especially the Lawyers, was the chief instruments of procuring all that miserable effusion of bloodshed, and ruine in this Nation, by the Judges giving their Verdict for ship-moneys, and other Monopolies over all sorts and trades, and which doth still strive to hinder all good, and godly, honest and just Reformation, they striving rather to uphold their own theft and deceit, then admitting any just composure and agrement of the People, lest all trials should be by twelve men of the neighbourhood in every Hundred; without expence and charge, which would be the ruine of their needless Calling, and a full ease to the People, who are now vexed and undone by their Removes, Demurs, and needless journeys to their Termes, whereby they live upon the only Dissentions, and Differences of the People, and by whose Subtilties, Counsels, and Delusions, the whole Na­tion hath been inslaved ever since the foresaid Conquest, by whose strategems all the middle sort, and poor People hath been pursued by merciless Priviledges, great men, as Lords, Gentlemen, and extorting Lords of Mannors, where­by all wicked Customs, as Fines; Hariots, Quit-rents, and Headsilvers, with all slavish and base Tenours, Tyths, Im­propriations, and Patents, Prerogative Charters; the said Lawyers being alwayes Judges and Stewards of those Ar­bitrary Courts, and are chosen by those Prerogative Bo­rough towns to be Burgesses of Parliament, which have been the great obstructors and hinderers of all our Liber­ [...]ies, Freedoms, and naturall Rights.

But when we received so many Promises, Declarations, and Remonstrances from the Parliament, that so soon as God should make them capable, and overthrow their ene­ [...]ies that were in arms against them, they would make us [Page 5]the absolute freest People in the world, removing all Op­pressions; all which did engage us to assist them: and find­ [...]ng them to apostatize from their principles in their Trea­ties, the Army promising to stand by us that we might have our Freedoms; but finding both the Parliament and Army to break their promises and to be as Arbitrary as those that were before them, in maintaining all the foresaid oppressi­ons upon us, with new vexations, as Excise, Taxes, Free-quarter, &c. suffering their Committees to domineer over us, the same Terms, Lawyers, Courts, remain as corrupt as formerly, Tithes, slavish Tenures, Tolls, Patents, &c. still in force, our friends most unjustly, and Starchamber-like im­prisoned by a new Committee, called the Councel of State, which was never desired to be set up or allowed to tyran­nize over the People, yet no less then four of our worthy friends, as Mr. Lilburn, Mr. Walwin, Mr. Prince, Mr. Over­ton, must be by them sent to the Tower at their pleasure, for not answering Interogatories; the Parliament approve of it, some of our friends cast into other prisons, as Captain Bray, and an honest faithful souldier murthered, and shot to death by the audatious and perfidious proud Officers of the Army, who in a Councel of War condemus him, the General refusing to pardon or repleeve him, the Janisary souldiers murther him, so that even the old conquest of William the Norman is now revived again; the forenamed Lawyers, with the Impropriators, Lords of Mannors, Pa­tentee men, and chiefe Officers of the Army, with the Judges, wicked Peers, &c. being compacted all in one, and minding utterly to betray, inslave, and undo us, more then those former Tyrants before them, doth still keep up the Kingly power, altering the title, and all that Dia­bolicall Interest that doth belong unto it, &c. so that Quitrents, Fines, and Hariots, Tolls and Customs are still forced upon us, and the Impropriators suing us for Tythes; no right Justice to be had for the meaner and poor people, many undone, ready to famish and starve, yet no effec [...]uall [Page 6]course taken for them, as their need requires, all our honest Petitions slighted, and disregarded.

All which tyranny, oppression, and arbitrary proceedings of theirs, makes us doubt of any true Reformation, or just Freedom and Liberty to come from them, so long as those wicked Lawyers and impropriators, &c. are amongst them, and untill all those Lawyers and Impropriators be purged out from amongst them it will be to little purpose to make any more addresses to them.

Likewise finding the Grandees of the Army to be the men that hinder both the honest soldiery, that stands for absolute Freedom, and doth imprison, and put them to death, that are for just principles of common Right and Equity, so that those honest men are by those proud Commanders persecu­ted by the name of Levellers.

By all which, we see those chief Commanders are grown to an extream height of avarice, pride, hypocrisie and apo­stacy, meer arbitrary Politicians prefering their filthy lucres, and diabolical interests, gain and ugly honor, more then the common Freedom of us and the soldiery, for a great part of them to be so barbarous, as to subject themselves to those Commanders wils, although it be to murther their fellows that are godly, honest, and consciencious, &c.

All which, both by Parliament, and Grandees of the Army, there can be but little good expected from them, and boot­lesse for us any longer to wait for their delivering us, not­withstanding their flattering delusions, and hypocritical Fasts, making us believe they would take off our oppressi­ons, when they lay more on us, not at all removing the Ro­man power, but allowing Law to be bought and sold still, and yet will not suffer our imprisoned friends to have it for their money, but to lye in prison during pleasure, &c. in­venting new wayes to try them; others tryed, sentenced, condemned, kild, &c. even by a Court Martial, contrary to the diabolical Norman Laws themselves.

ANd therefore we declare our intenti­ons, that the World may take notice of our Principles, which are for com­mon right and freedom. And therefore,

• 1. We do protest against all Arbitrary Courts, Terms, Lawyers, Impropriators, Lords of Mannors, Patents, Priviledges, Customs, Tolls, Monopolizers, Incroach­ers, Inhancers, &c. or any other interest-parties, whose power are Arbitrary, &c. as not to allow, or suffer our selves to be in­slaved by any of those parties, but shall re­sist, as far as lawfully we may, all their Ar­bitrary proceedings.
• 2. We protest against the whole Norman power, as being too intollerable a bur­den any longer to bear.
• 3. We protest against paying Tythes, Tolls, Custom, &c.
• 4. We protest against coming to West­minster Terms, or to give any mony to the Lawyers, but will endeavor to have all our controversies ended by 2, 3, or 12 men of our own neighborhood, as before the Norman Conquest.
• [Page 8]5. We protest against any trial by a Martial Court, as Arbitrary, Tyrannical, and Wic­ked; and not for a free people to suffer in time of Peace.
• 6. We shall help to aid and assist the poor, to the regaining all their Rights, dues, &c. that do belong unto them, and are detained from them by any tyrant whatsoever.
• 7. And likewise will further and help the said poor to manure, dig, &c. the said Com­mons, and to fell those woods growing thereon to help them to a stock, &c.
• 8. All wel-affected persons that joyn in community in Gods way, as those Acts 2. and desire to manure, dig, and plant in the waste grounds and Commons, shall not be troubled or molested by any of us, but rather furthered therein.
• 9. Wee desire to go by the golden rule of equity, viz. To do to all men as we would they should do to us, and no otherwise; And as we would tyrannize over none, so we shall not suffer our selves to be slaves to any whosoever.