I Was committed to this prison by your War­rant, and I am now informed, that sundry Wit­nesses are summoned to give evidence to the grand (or first) Jury against me; upon which, they may have seeming ground for finding some Indictment, without which it is known I cannot be further proceeded against.

It hath been an evil custom for many Ages (taken up meerly upon Prerogative Interests) and that without Law, Reason, or any Statute, or Act of Parliament to warrant it, for the Grand (or first) Jury, upon return of private Chamber-examinations of parties or witnesses, to find the first In­dictment against the prisoner, without his privity, or being called to give his just Challenge to the Witnesses Testimony; which Indictment, so found or presented, billa vera, can be no less then a Condemnation without publike or open Exami­nation of the first, contrary even to the laudible practice [Page 4] of the ancient Heathen [...] Rom [...]n Judges, as is most excellent­ly set forth by the Evangelist Luke in the Acts of the Apo­stles, chap. 24.16. in the Case of Paul, upon his Appeal to Caesar. And suitable to this, another Heathen Writer could say, Quis aliquid Statuerit, altera part [...] inaudita, equum licit Statuerit, injustus est; That is to say, Whosoever judgeth any cause or party unheard, though the Sentence be agreeable with Law, yet in so judging is unjust; And this favour, in case of Treason; was not denied to Major Rolf, upon his Tryal in Hampshire, in case of high Treason a­bout 4 years since, before the Lord chief Ba [...]on Wilde; as is well known to Judge N [...]cholas, and Mr. John Maynard then of Councel with Major Rolf: But Major Rolf with His Councel was admitted to be present in open Court upon the Examination of the Witnesses produced against him, before the grand Jury there, and to give his legal excepti­ons to the Witnesses: By meanes of which the prisoner Rolf was freed.

And in case of Fellony, I am well informed that at Carlisle Assizes about 1642. by Sir R [...]bert Heath, the like favour and justice was gran [...]ed to sundry prisoners, as their legal Right, to the preservation of their lives: For then there were sundry of Sir Richard Grimes Tenants committed to Carlisle prison by their said Masters procurement; and a Rogue called Burney there kept in prison likewise for Fel­lony, and therein maintained by Sir Richard Grimes to give evidence upon the prisoners Tryal, as an Approver, wherewith Judge Heath being informed at the prisoners Suit, The Witnesses against them at the Bar in open Court were examined by the Grand Jury in presence of the prisoners; and upon the prisoners legal Exceptions and Challenge, the Rogues Evidence was waved, and the prisoners acquitted by the Grand Jury, and so their lives never came in jeopardy.

I being a free born English-man, I hope shall not be denied that right granted of course to prisoners, charged with higher crimes then I am; And that the Grand Jury being to return their Indictment against me upon their Oathes, I expect the like justice from them, and you; which if denied, will render both you and them unjust men: As before by the practice of the Heathens, and the Judges and Sages of the Law of this Nation is cleerly made out, and approved of God.

Therefore I desire you before any Witnesses be judici­ally sworn and examined before the Grand Jury against me, That I may be present, and allowed with my Councel, to give my legal Exceptions against them; and that no Witnesses may be examined against me, but in open Court, in the face of the free people of England: So having my Accusers face to face, I may have license to answer for my self concerning the Crime laid against me.

Sir, The bloud thirsty Jewes could not, neither do we finde they offered to procure Pontius Pylate, the Roman Judge, to examine Witnesses against Christ, otherwise th [...] [...] the publike Judicatures, and in the very presence of Christ.

I further desire you to assigne me Counsel, be­ing my absolute Right by Law, to advise, consult, and be assistant to me in matter of Law upon my Trial; as was granted to the Earl of Strafford in case of High Treason upon his Trial by his Peers in Parliament, to Duke Hamilton an Alien to the Earl of Holland an English Peer, and to the Lord Capel in Case of High Treason, upon their trial before the High Court of Justice, and to the [Page 6] above-named Major Rolfe, in case of Treason at the Assizes or Goal-delivery in the aforesaid Coun­ty of Hampshire, and to Vaux the Lawyer in case of Felony upon his trial for his life, in the Reign of the late Queen Elizabeth, as is by Judge Cook in Vauxes Case of Appeals learnedly set forth, and which was granted to my self at Oxford, by the Cavalier Judges there, as my Right by Law, when I was there arraigned for my life upon an Indict­ment of High Treason.

My Lord, I have prevailed with my Father and some other my honest friends, to be the Bearers hereof to your Honour, to receive such an answer from you, as you need not hereafter at the Bar of Justice to be ashamed of: So with my service pre­sented to you, intreating you seriously to remem­ber the Punishment of the Arbitrary Lord Major of London in King Richard the seconds time, men­tioned in the last Page of the first Edition of Lieu­tenant Colonel John Lilburne's Plea in Law, I rest