Lieu. Col. John Lilburn's plea in law,: against an Act of Parliament of the 30 of January, 1651. entituled, An act for the execution of a judgment given in Parliament against Lieu. Col. John Lilburn. Contrived and penned, on purpose for him, by a true and faithful lover of the fundamental laws and liberties of the free people of England, ... all which compels and forceth the penman to be very studious of his own good and preservation, ... and therefore, for his own good and benefit, the honest readers information, and for Mr Lilburns the prisoners advantage, he presents these ensuing lines to thy view, and his, as the form of a plea; that the penman hereof, as a true well-wisher of his, and the people of England, would have him to ingross into parchment, and to have ready by him to make use of (in case his own braines cannot contrive a better) when he is called up to answer for his life before the judges of the upper-bench, or any other bar of justice whatsoever; and the said form of a plea for him thus followeth verbatim.

Lieu. Col. John Lilburn's Plea in Law, Against an Act of Parliament of the 30 of January, 1651. Entituled, An Act for the execution of a Judgment given in Par∣liament against Lieu. Col. John Lilburn. Contrived and penned, on purpose for him, by a true and faithful lover of the Fundamental Laws and Liberties of the free people of England, a great deal more then of the person of Lieu. col. John Lilburn, though now he be a pri∣soner for the said Lawes, and Liberties, and his own innocency, in Newgate: All which compels and forceth the Penman to be very studious of his own good and preservation, very much concerned, and very much incroached upon, in that harsh, unjust, and illegal dealing, that at present is exercised upon him: And therefore, for his own good and benefit, the honest Readers information, and for M^r Lilburns the prisoners advantage, he presents these ensuing lines to thy view, and his, as the form of a Plea; that the Penman here∣of, as a true well-wisher of his, and the people of England, would have him to ingross into Parchment, and to have ready by him to make use of (in case his own braines cannot contrive a better) when he is called up to answer for his life before the Judges of the Upper-Bench, or any other Bar of Justice whatsoever; and the said form of a Plea for him thus followeth verbatim.

The second Edition much inlarged, corrected, and amended, July 2. 1653.

JOhn Lilburn now prisoner at the Bar saith, that he having heard the Charge contained in the Scire facias, Indictment, or Information, now read unto him at the Bar: For plea thereunto he saith, That it appear∣eth by the Act of Parl of the 30 of Jan. 1651. That upon the 15. of Jan. 1651. a Judgment was given in Parl. against one Lieu. Col. Jo. Lilburn, in the Act named, for high crimes and misdemeanors by him committed, as by the same appeares, for which the fines and other punishments were promulgated against him, mentioned in the said Act. But the said John Lilburn now prisoner at the Bar saith, that the said J. Lilburn in the said Act named, and he the now prisoner at the Bar, be not one and the self-same person; for that he the now prisoner at the Bar is a free-born English Gentleman; and never was legally charged, indicted, & convicted, either by the Parl. or any other Court of Judicature, being a Court of Record, in

the English Nation, or Commonwealth: Neither ever was there any Judgment given in Parl. against him the now prisoner at the Bar, for high crimes and misdemeanors mentioned in the said Act, upon the said 15 of Jan. 1651 (Votes or Resolves being not in the least any judgments in law) It being impossible that a Judgment in any legal Court of England should be past against a free-born English man; and that man dayly forth-coming, and never to hear read, nor see any of the proceedings ante-ceding the said Judgment, and never summoned by any legal pro∣cess to any legal proceedings, nor called to any legal Bar whatsoever, and demanded (according to Law) what he could say, why Judgment should not be past against him. Neither ever did the pris••ner J. Lilburn, now at the Bar, ever in all his life-time, by kneeling at the Bar of the P. of the Commonwelth of England, lately sitting at Westm. ever acknow∣ledge that the said Parl. in law, ever had in all their life times, any the least jurisdiction in the world, to sentence him, or any other free-born Eng∣lish man of England, (that are none of their Members of immedi••te Of∣ficers) for any crimes whatsoever, as I. Lilburn the prisoner at th•• Bar hath fully and undeniably proved by Law in his P••ea (upon the Writ of Habeas Corpus) before the late Judges of the Kings Bench, viz. Judge Bacon, and Judge Rolls, upon the 8^th of May, 1648. as in that printed Law-Argument, entituled, The lawes funeral, is fully to be read in pag. 8 9, 10, 11. All crimes whatsoever being for him, onely and solely to be h••ard, determined, and judged at the Common-law, and no where else. For, Magna Charta th•• P••tition of Right, and the Act that abolished the Star-Chamber, expresly saith, That no free-man of England shall be taken, or imprisoned, or be disseized of his free hold, or liber∣ties, or free customes, or be out-lawed or be ex••led, but by a lawful Judgment (of a Jury of 12 sworn men) of his equals (of the same neighborhood) ac∣cording to the Law of the Land. And that none shalbe taken (for any crime whatsoever, by any person or Court whatsoever) unless it be by indict∣ment, or presentment of good and lawful people of the same neighborhood where such deeds be done, in due manner, or by process made by Writ original at the Common law, and that none be put out of his franchise or free-hold, unless he be duly brought in to answer and adjudged of the same according to the course of the Law, and if any thing be done (by any persons, or Courts wha••soever) a∣gainst the tenor of the same it shall be void in Law, and holden for error.

And the Petition of Right expresly saith, No man whatsoever shall be any wayes punished (especially in criminal cases) but according to the Laws and Statutes already established in the Land. And those also by the said Pe∣tition of Right, and the Statute that abolished the Star-Chamber, are

precisely declared to be according to our good, old, native, fundamental Rights & Liberties. This very thing (or the securing therof) alone, being the principal and chief declared cause of all the late Parl. and present Armies wars with the late King and his son; and without the invio∣lable preservation of these our fundamental laws and liberties, it is impossible that any in the Army, from the highest to the lowest, in the least can acquit themselves of being justly esteemed, both before God and all just men, real and wilful murderers, of all those persons that they have slain in the late civil wars; and if so? woe unto them when God makes inquisition for innocent bloud. Neither indeed, is he the now prisoner at the Bar, guilty of any such high crimes and misdemean∣ors, as is expressed in the said Act: Neither ever was he the now priso∣ner at the Bar, in the least duly and legally banished, and fined by the said Act; nor yet is a fellon, nor guilty of fellony in no manner of respect, as by the said Scire facias, Indictment, or Information, now read unto him is sup∣posed: Neither can he rationally imagine, that by the Parl. that is mentioned in the said Act of the 30 of Jan. 1651. for banishing one Lieu. Col. Iohn Lilburn, is not in the least meant the late Parl. of the Common-wealth of England sitting at Westminster, (especially, because it is not so exprest) who had taken many Oaths, and past abundance of Declarations, and particularly that of the 9 of Feb. 1648. inviolably to maintain the funda••ental Lawes of the Land, in reference to the peoples lives, liberties, and properties, with all things incident, appertainining, and be∣longing thereunto; But that rather it was some ignorant sottish French Parl. sitting at Paris, or elsewhere in France, that understand nothing of the laws, liberties, and freedomes of England, or that it was the Malig∣nant Cavalier Parl. lately sitting at Oxford, in the Kings Quarters there, post-dating their Act, and thereby endeavoring by the said Act, to create such a a president as in the consequence of it would destroy all the lawes, liberties, and properties, of the free-born people of England, and thereby ab∣solutely set up the Kings Will and Prerogative above Law, the bare endeavouring of which in the Earl of Strafford, hath bin long since ad∣judgd high Treason. Or in the next place, if the Authors of the said monstrous and illegal Act of banishment, be neither the ignorant Parlia∣ment of Paris, nor the Cavalier Parliament of Oxford, then of necessity in the third place, it cannot in Charity and Reason but be judged that the said Act of banishment was drawn up by M^r Scobel, the Parliaments Clerk, M^r Hill their Chairman, and M^r Prideaux their Attorney Ge∣neral, when they were all riding Post, and so jumbled or shaken with fast riding, that it was impossible for them to hold their pens to

write right and true; and when they had framed it, then by some cunning artifice, or inchantment of theirs, they preferred it to the said Parl. who in charity and common Reason must needs be judged to pass it when they were three quarters asleep, against some sillie natural fool called Lieu. col. John Lilburn, that could not be imagined ever in his life to have read any thing of Law or Reason. It being impossible (in the least) in Rea∣son to be conceived, that the late supream Authority the Parl. of the Com∣monwealth of England sitting at Westminster, being onely by their own Declarations, but trusted to provide for the Peoples weal, but not in the least for their woe, would ever in their right wits, or not being three quarters asleep, pass such an Act of Parliament against Iohn Lilburn now prisoner at the Bar (who hath much read the law, and very well under∣stands the fundamental liberties of England, and hath hazardously adven∣tured his life a thousand times for the inviolable preserving of them) because such an Act of Parl. as the foresaid Act of Parl. is, is in the first place, An Act of Parliament against common right, common equity, & common reason; and therfore is void and null in law, and ought not to be execu∣ted; as appears by these following Law Authorities, viz. 1 part of D^r Bonhams Case, fol. 118. and the 8^th of Edw. 3. fol. 3. 30. 33 E. cassavit 32. and 27 H. G. annuity 41. and 1 Eliz. Dier. 113. and 1 part Cooks Institutes, lib. 2. chap. 11. sect. 209. fol. 140. a. 4 Edw. 4. 12. 12 Ed. 4. 18. 1 H. 7. 12. 13. Plow. com. fol. 369. and Judge Jenkins learned Works in the Law, printed for I. Gyles, 1648. but particu∣larly by his Discourse of long Parliaments, pag. 139, 140, &c. See also M^r W. Prins notable book of the 16 of Iune, 1649. called, A legal Vin∣dication of the liberties of England against illegal taxes, p. 11, 12, 13. &c. But especially see a book, entituled, The legal and fundamental liberties of England revived, asserted, and vindicated; printed and reprinted in the year, 1649. pag. 54, 55, 56, 57. yea an Act of Parl. That a man shall be Judges in his own Case, is avoid Act in law; as appeares in Hubberts Case, fol. 120. and by the 8^th Part of Cookes Reports in D^r Bonhams Case, and by the present Armies own Book of Declarations, pag. 35, 52, 54, 59, 60, 61, 63, 132, 141, 142, 143, 144. Yea, saith that learned Oracle of the Law of England S^r Edw. Cook, in the 4^th part of his Institutes, fol. 330. Where Reason ceaseth, there the Law ceaseth; for, seeing Reason is the very life and spirit of the law it self, the law-giver is not to be esteemed, to respect that which hath no Reason; although the generality of the words, at the first sight, or after the letter, seem otherwise. And saith the said learned Au∣thor in his first part Institutes, fol. 140. a. All Customs and prescriptions (Acts of Parliament, Lawes and Iudgments) that be against Reason, are void and null in themselves.

And saith the Armies Atturny General John Cook, in the late Kings Case stated, pag. 23. that by the law of England, any Act or agreement against the laws of God and nature, is a meer nullity: for as a man hath no hand in making the laws of God and nature, no more hath he power to marre or alter them; and he cites the E. of Leicesters ad∣judged Case for a proof: And in pag. the 20t^h he also saith, That all the Judges in England cannot make one case to be law that is not reason, no more then they can prove a hair to be white that is black; which if they should so declare or adjudge it is a meer nullity; For law (saith he) must be reason adjudged. And excellent to this very purpose, is that an∣cient Law Book, called the Doctor and Student, who in his second Chap. pag. 4. expresly saith, Against the law of Nature (which he cals the law of reason) prescription, statute, nor custome, may not prevail; and if any be brought in against it, they be no prescriptions, statutes, nor customs, but things void and against justice; And what this law of nature or reason is, he ex∣cellently sheweth in the latter end of the 4^th pag. and the beginning of the fifth; and therefore in his 7^th pag. he expresly saith, That to every good law, is required these properties, viz. that it be honest, rightwise, pos∣sible in it self, and after the custom of the country, convenient for the place and time; necessary, profitable, and also manifest; that it be not captious by any dark sentence, nor mixt with any private wealth, but all made for the common good; for, saith he, every mans law must be consonant to the law of God, other∣wise they are not righteous, nor obligatory.

Secondly, such an Act of Parliament as the foresaid Act of Banish∣ment, is not onely against common-right, common-equity, and com∣mon-reason; but it is absolutely destructive to the very ends of the peoples trust conferred upon the Parliament; and so the highest of Treasons that can be committed, and that it is destructive to the ends of the peo∣ples Trusts, clearly appears by the Statutes of the 4^th of Ed. the 3^d, chap. 14. and 36 Edw. 3. 10. which expresly saith, That a Parliament at least shall be holden once every year; and that for the maintenance of the Peoples lawes and liberties, and the redress of divers mischiefs and grievances that dayly happen; and suitable to these things, are the ends contained in the Writs that summon them, & the intentions of those that chuse the Members and send them. And suitable to this is the ends of Parl. sitting, as the present General and his Army in many of their remark∣able Declarations have fully declared against the late 11 members, & their Accomplices: Yea, and forced the late Parl. to raze out of their Books and Records, many wicked and unrighteous things, as they judged them to be, after the Parl. had solemnly past them; as Votes,

Orders, Iudgments, and Acts; yea, and endeavoured very earnestly to hang divers of those as Traytors that had executed them; as particu∣larly, Alderman Adams, Langham, and Bunch; with the Lord Major S^r Iohn Gayer, &c. But the greatest grievances and mischiefs in the world are by the foresaid mischievous and unjust banishing Act, established, ratified, and confirmed; for by it a man is condemned to lose his li∣berty and estate, and all the comforts of this life; and that without any the least crime committed, or accusation exhibited, or legal process issued out to summon the party to make any defence in the world, or ever calling or permit∣ting him to speak one word for himself; Which is an act or proceeding a∣gainst the light and law of Nature, Reason, the Law of God, against the Law of Honour, Conscience, and common-honesty; yea, a dealing worse with the party, then ever the cruel Jewes did with Christ; or, then the bloudy Butchers, Bishop Gardiner and Bonner did with the ••oasted Martyrs in Queen Mary's dayes; who alwayes suffered them to have due process of law, and to know and see their Accusers, and to have free liberty to speak for themselves; and never condemned them, but for transgressing a known and declared Law in being.

Yea also dealing worse with the party then ever the bloudy Gun∣powder Traitors were dealt with by King James, who always allow∣ed them fair trials in law, from the beginning to the end, at the Bar of Justice, for their lives: Yea it is a worse dealing with the party, then ever the Parliament themselves dealt with the bloudiest and most massacring traitors that ever was in arms against them to cut their throats. Yea, the fore-mentioned practice, of the foresaid most ille∣gal and unrighteous Act of banishment, is an Act, and proceedings in the highest subversion of the fundamental law and liberty of England, that can be invented or imagined; and by consequence, if it may without the highest offence, or solicismes in Law be supposed, that his Excellency the Lord Gen. Cromwel, Major Gen. Harrison, and the rest of the Members of the late supream Authority of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England sitting at Westminster, had any real finger in it, or were Actors of it, they may and ought all of them, with all the rest under them, that have executed any part of the foresaid un∣just, injurious, illegal Act of Parliament, be apprehended, indicted, and processed against at the common-law, as Traytors, and subverters of the fundamental lawes, liberties, and freedoms, of the free-born people of England: As that learned man in the Lawes of England, S^r Edward Cook, in the second, third, and fourth parts of his Institutes (all three of which are published by two special Orders of the late House of Commons, in

Anno, 1641. for good Law) doth declare, and proof was dealt with by Empson and Dudley in lesse Cases, then the before recited unjust Act of banishment. Which Case of Empson and Dudley was thus:

At the Parliament holden by King, Lords, and Commons, in Henry the sevenths time, who was a most undoubted lawful King of Eng∣land, and by his Marriage of his Wife the Lady Elizabeth, Heir appa∣rent to the House of York, as Himself was to the House of Lancaster, had united the two claims of Lancaster and York in Himself; and in pitcht-battel had slain King Richard the third, the Usurper; and by reason of the extraordinary many troubles of His Reign, and the ignorant Regal time in which he lived considered, He had a thousand times more grounds to be arbytrary and discretionary in his proceed∣ings with the people of England, then the late decapitated Parliament had. Yet he summoned a free Parliament, who sate peaceably and qui∣etly, without the force or purgings of soldiers, and after that several Ju∣ries, at Assizes and Sessions by corruption and favour, had refused to fi••de persons that were judicially proved guilty before them of br••ach of penal laws, as in full and free Parliament by King, Lords and Commons, is avowedly declared; An Act of Parliament (recorded in the 4^th part of Cooks Institutes, fol. 40, 41.) in the 11^th of Hen. 7. chap. 3 was past by King, Lords and Commons, in full and free parliament, to enable the Justices of Assize in open Sessions to be holden before them, and the Justices of peace in each country in England, upon information for the King before them to be made, to have full power and authority by their discretion (with ••ut trials by Juries) to hear and determine all offences and contempts committed against penal laws: In all which arbitrary or discretion I proceedings, murther, treason and felony, was excepted out of their cogni∣zance or jurisdiction, as also all other offences whereby any person should lose life, or member, or lands, tenements, goods, or chattels to the party com∣plaining.

By pretext of which statute saith the Lord Cook in his last recited fo∣li••, Empson and Dudley (privie Counsellors and Justices of peace to Henry the seventh) did commit upon the subject insufferable pressures and op∣pressions (which yet at the highest was but the taking away some small part of the persons estates from them that they condemned) and ther∣for•• this statute was justly soon after the decease of Henry the seventh repealed at the next Parliament after his decease, by the statute of the 1 Hen 8. chap 6. A good caveat saith he to parliaments, to leave all causes to be measured by the golden and streight wet-wand of the law, and not to the uncertain and crooked cord of discretion. For it is not almost credible to fore-see (saith

he) when any maxime, or fundamental law of this Realm is altered (as else∣where hath been observed) what dangerous inconveniences do follow, which most expresly appeareth by this most unjust and strange Act of 11 H. 7. For hereby not onely Empson and Dudley themselves, but such Justices of peace (corrupt men) as they caused to be authorised, committed most grievous and heavy oppressions and exactions, grinding the face of the poor subjects by penal laws (be they never so obsolete or unfit for the time) by information one∣ly, without any presentment or trial by Jury, being the ancient birth-right of the subject, but to hear and determine the same by their discretion, inflicting such penalty, as the statutes not repealed imposed. These and other like actions and op∣pressions by, or by the means of Empson and Dudley and their instruments, brought infinite treasures to the Kings Coffers, whereof the King himself in the end, with great grief and compunction repented, as in another place we have observed. This statute of 11 H. 7. we have recited, and shewed the just in∣conveniences therof, to the end, that the like should never hereafter be attempted in any Court of Parliament, and that others might avoid the fearful end of those two Time-servers Empson and Dudley. Qui eorum vestigia insistant, eorum exitus perhorrescant. That is to say, Those that follow their foot-steps, may fear the same destruction that they had; whose end in the third part of the Institutes fol. 208. and the fourth part fol. 198, 199. may be seen; was severally to be indicted at Common law (whose indictments is there to be read) and convicted and executed as Traitors, for sub∣verting the fundamental Law and Liberties of England, viz. Trials by Juries: which the Conquests of the Romans, Saxons, Danes, or Normans, could never blot out of the Kalendar of Englishmens fundamental Li∣berties, but hath from time to time, with the infinite hazards of their lives and blouds been preserved, as the choisest of their jewels, and as one of their chiefest fundamental right.

Of whom the said Lord Cook in his exposition of the 29 Chapter of Magna Charta, in his second part, Institutes fol. 51, upon the words of lex terra, or the law of the Land (where he plentifully shews, that no Englishman whatsoever, ought not for any crime whatsoever, in any Court whatsoever, by any power or authority whatsoever, to be tried but by Juries, and due process of Law as is before shewed) expresly saith; Yet

Against this ancient and fundamental Law, and in the face thereof, I finde an Act of Parliament made (saith he) that aswel Justices of Assize, as Justices of Peace (without any finding or presentment by the verdict of twelve men) upon a bare information for the King before them made, should have full power and authority by their discretions to hear and determine all offences and contempts committed or done by any person or persons, against the form, or∣dinance,

and effect of any Statute, made and not repealed, &c. By colour of which Act, shaking this fundamental Law, it is not credible what hor∣rible oppressions and exactions, to the undoing infinite numbers of people, were committed by Sir Richard Empson Knight, and Edmond ••••dley, being Justices of the Peace throughout England, and upon this unjust and injurious Act (as commonly in sixe cases it falleth out) a new Of∣fice was erected, and they made Masters of the Kings forfeitures.

But at the Parliament hold••n in the first year of Henry the 8, this Act of the 11^th of Henry the 7^th is recited, and made void, and repealed, and the reason thereof is yeilded, for that by force of the said Act it was mani∣festly known, that many sinister and crafty feigned forged informations, had been persued against divers of the Kings subjects, to their great dammage and wrongfull vexations, and the ill success hereof, and the fearful ends of the two Oppressors, should deterr others from committing the like, and should admo∣nish Parliaments, That instead of the ordinary and pretious trial (per legem terra) by the law of the Land, they bring not in Absolute, and partial trials by discretion.

And in the fourth part of his Institutes fol. 37. he expres∣ly saith, That he findes an Attainder by Parliament of a subject (viz. Thomas Cromwel then Earl of Essex) of High Treason, who was committed to the Tower, and thereby forth com∣ming to be heard, and yet was never called to answer in any of the Houses of Parliament. Of the manner of which proceeding he thus saith; Auferat oblivio, si potest, si non, utcunque si∣lentiam tegat; That is, Let the Parliaments crime be buried in oblivion, if it be possible; and if not, nevertheless, yet let it give place to silence for the present. For saith he, the more high and ab∣solute the jurisdiction of the Court is, the more just and honourable it ought to be in the proceeding, and to give example of Justice to inferiour Courts. And fol. 38. he is confidently perswaded, that the rehearsal of this unjust Attainder, will hereafter cause the Honourable Members of both Houses of Parliament, to be so tender of their duty, in preserving the fundamental Lawes and liberties of the people of England, as that never hereafter such an unjust Attainder shall be brought, where the party is forth comming, to condemn him, without hearing of him. And con∣sonant unto this, is the Scripture and the Law of God there∣in

contained, as appears by the third of Gen. vers. 9. where God after Adam had transgressed his Law, summons him be∣fore him to answer for himself, before he would pass judgement against him. And when Sodom had abhominably defiled its wayes, with the height of wickedness, yet the just God of heaven and earth, would not judge, condemn or pass sen∣tence against them, Till he went down to see, whether they have done altogether according to the cry that is come up against them, or not; And saith God, I will know, Gen. 18. And Deut. 17.6.11. and Chap. 20.15. God saith expresly, One Witness shall not rise against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth; at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established. And by the hand of Moses he required the people of Israel, to do according to the sentence of the Law, & the judgment which shall be given there∣upon, and not to decline from the law, to the right hand, or to the left. And suitable to this is the judicial and legal proceedings of the great Congregation of the children of Israel (consisting to the number of four hundred thousand able men) in the case of the Levite, and his ravished and slain Concubine, who in their judicial proceedings in that Case, first demanded of him, how so great a wickednes came to be committed in Israel? And the conclusion, after their hearing, and examining the cause, was to consider, consult, and then to give sentence. And saith Nico∣demus, that learned man in the Law of God, against the Scribes and Pharisees, in behalf of Christ, Doth our Law judge any man before it hear him? John 7.51. And saith Festus, the Heathen Roman Governor in Judea (that had no other guide to walk by, but the Light and Law of Nature) in the behalf of Paul, against his bloudy enemies; It is not the manner of the Romans to deliver any one to die, before that he which is ac∣cused have the accusers face to face, and have licence to answer for himself, Act. 25.16. And saith righteous Paul, who writ the Oracles of God, infallibly by the Spirit of God; where there is no law, there is, nor can be no transgression, Rom. 4.15. And as

evil saith the Lord Cook in the last fore-cited fol. was the pro∣ceeding in Parliament, in the second of Henry the 6. against Sir John Mortimer, the third son of Edmund the second E. of March, (descended from Lionel Duke of Clarence) who was indicted of High Treason, for certain words; which Indictment (without any Arraignment or pleading) being meerly feigned to blemish the Title of the Mortimers; and withall, being insufficient in Law, as by the same appeareth, was confirmed by Authority of Parliament. And the said Sir John being brought into the Parliament, without Arraignment, and Answer, Judgment in Parliament was given a∣gainst him, upon the said Indictment, that he should be carryed to the Tower of London, and drawn through the city to Tyburn, and there hanged, drawn, and quartered; his head to be set on London Bridge; his four quarters on the four gates of London; as by the Record of Parliament appeareth. And therefore, in the next folio, being fol. 39. he saith, That whereas by Order of Law, a man cannot be attainted of high Treason, unless the Offence be in Law high Treason: he ought not to be attainted by general words of high Treason, by Authority of Parliament (as somtime hath been used) but the high treason ought to be specially expressed, seeing that the Court of Parliament is the highest and most honourable Court of Justice, and ought (as hath been said) to give example to inferior Courts. And further to shew that Parliaments (which in their right constitution are the best conservators of our Laws, and Liberties) are erroneous things (when they walk by their own Wills, and forsake their true and only guide the fanda∣mental Lawes of England) what need there any more instances then many of the Armies own Declarations; in severall of which, and their frequent Discourses, they have declared the late parliament a trayterous Parliament, Breakers of their Trust, and embroylers of the Nation in bloudy wars, and subverters of the peoples liberties and freedoms; yea, and in the conclusion, the Lord Gen. Cromwel himself, and Maj. Gen. Harrison, with their own hands have pul'd them out by the ears, and pluckt them up by the very Roots, as final breakers of their trust, & as

a pack of the vildest knaves and villaines that ever breathed in England; Although they were fenced in, and about by an Act of parliament made before the wars, by King, Lords, and Commons, that they should not be dissolved, but by their own free and voluntary consents; And, also, since they changed the Kingdom into a Commonwealth, by two several Acts of parl. of the 14 of May, 1649. and the 17 of July, 1649. in which it is expresly made high Treason, for any Englishman, or men, by writing, printing, or words declaring; or by endeavouring to raise or stir up Force to dissolve the late parliamment, or their councel of state, without their own consents or to say, that the said late parl. or their councel of state is tyrannical, usurped, or unlawful, as by the said Acts of Parl. with reference thereunto being had, more at large doth appear; (which Acts are printed in the first part of the Tryal or Arraignment of the prisoner at the Bar at Guild-hall, Octob. 1649. pag. 86, 87, 88, 89) And the said J. Lilburn, now prisoner at the Bar, for further plea saith, That for supposed violating those two last forementioned Acts of Parl. and that but for supposed words, and for the supposed, compiling, writing, and causing to be printed, Arguments, founded at grounded upon the known and declared funda∣mental Lawes of England, the received principals of Reason, and the Armies own printed and published Declarations; he the said Joh. Lilburn, now prisoner at the Bar, was arraigned, and indicted, as a Traytor for his life at Guildhall, London, in Octo. 1649. And that principally by the instigation and means of his Excellency the present L. G. Cromwel; which Tryal was with that violence and fury, that the said prisoner at the Bar was absolutely denied the declared benefit of the known Laws of England, viz. the help of Councel learned in the Law (and a copy of his Charge and Indictment) which were not denyed, but granted to the Lord Macquire, that grand Irish Rebel, and those arch Traytors, as they are commonly called, Strafford, Canterbury, Hambleton, Capel &c. and which also was granted to the prisoner at the Bar, as his Right by Law, when he was

prisoner at Oxford, and arraigned by Judge Heath, &c. for his life as a traytor; so that the said J. Lilburn now prisoner, at the Bar, considering the several penalties declared to be due, to any person, or persons whatsoever, that by force or otherwise should but indea∣vor to dissolve the late Pa•…•…. or the•• Councel of State, he cannot either in Rea∣son or Law, see or apprehend which way his Excellency the said L.G. Cromwel, and M. Gen. Harison, &c. if they continue and persevere as they have begun, to execute the said unjust and injurious Act of parl. upon the said J. Lilburn, prisoner at the Bar, (which is one of the most wic∣ked'st, and unjust, that ever the Parl. in their lives made, and one of the highest and most notorious Acts of their breach of trust that ever they committed; as is before fully proved) can in the least either be∣fore God or Man, acquit themselves of being guilty of the high••st of Treason, both by the letter and equity of the two last forementioned Lawes (lately made in part by themselves; but principally by their instigation) in forcibly dissolving the late parl. against their own vo∣luntary wills and consents; or how they can acquit themselves in the least in the eyes of all the understanding people in England, to be justly esteemed guilty of plucking up the parl. by the roots, not in the least for any evil oppression, injustice, or breach of trust they had commit∣ted against the Nation, or honest people thereof (that never yet in the least, upon their own principles, forfeited their liberties & freedoms) but onely because they would destroy the parl. to have the power in their own hands; thereby to dispose of all the lives, liberties, and proprieties, of all the people of England, by their absolute wills and pleasures; and to deal worse and more arbytrary with the honest Inhabitants there∣of, then any Conqueror that ever went before them did, although themselves against the late King, have in the Kings Case stated, p. 22. by John Cook their own Atturney Gen. publikely declared, That Con∣quest is a Title or Government fit to be exercised amongst Beares and Wolves; but not in the least amongst men. And for any to aver Us in England to be a conquered Nation, is not only expresly against all the tenour of the Armies many and remarkable Declarations; but it is such an averment, then which, there can be none more pregnant and fruitful in Treason then it; as M^r Jo. Pym in his learned and rational printed Argument, by the special Order of the House of Commons the 29 April, 1641. against the E. of Strafford avers. And further in pag. 6. saith. There are few Nations in the world that have not been conquered; & NO doubt but the Conqueror may give what Laws he please to those that are con∣quered; but if the succeeding pacts and Agreements do not limit and

restrain that Right, what people can be secure? England hath been conquered and Wales hath been conquered; and by this Reason will be in little better case then Ireland, if the King by the right of a Conqueror give lawes to his people; shall not the people by the same Reason be restored to the right of the Conquer∣ed, to recover their liberty if they can? What can be more hurtful, more pernicious to both, then such Propositions as these? Which must needs be most truly averred, have no end of bloud-shed and murder, and all the miseries besides that Tongue can express, or Heart can imagine.

And it is impossible that ever the honest people of England should in∣trust, (as in some measure they have done) the General and His Offi∣cers with the Custody, and preservation of their lives, liberties, freedoms, and proprieties, with any the least intentions, that when they had sub∣dued their common enemies, they should subdue their fundamental laws and Rights (for the preservation of which, the onely Contest with the common enemy was begun) and then give them a Law, flowing from their uncertain discretionary Wils and pleasures. Sure I am, that righ∣teous and just David calls those sons of Belial, and wicked men, that would go about to deprive those that staid with the stuff, of an equall share in the Conquest, even with those that went out to fight, 1 Sam. 30.21, 22, 23, 24, 25, &c. and sure I am, that worthy man in his Age, M^r John Pym, in his foresaid excellent Speech, pag. 22. saith, That such Treasons as the subversion of fundamental laws, violating of liberties, can never be good or justifiable by any circumstance or occasion; and therefore by how much the more, a trust is upon a man, or generation of men, by so much the more it makes their Crime in this kind to be the more capital and haynous. Therfore, to conclude, though J. Lilburn, the prisoner at the Bar, could, and might in Law, urge many things more against the Parl. legallest power, in all manner of Acts of Attainder, the Argumenes against w^ch are excellently set down in that rationall & highly to be commended Plea in Law, entituled, The Laws subversion (p. 32.) or, S^r Iohn Maynards Case truly stated in 1648. by I. Houldin, Gent. and their non-jurisdiction in the least, as to punish any man whatsoever that is not of them, for any crime whatsoever; and also the absolute irrationallity and ille∣gality, of their making a particular law, or their setting up of a parti∣cular Court, for a particular man; which are notably and rationally discussed upon, in the 2^d edition of the book, entituled, The Picture of the Councel of state, p. 4, 5, 6. & the 2^d edition of The legal fundamental li∣berties of England revived, asserted, & vindicated, p 71, 72, 73. yea, he might urge many Arguments, lawfully to prove, that the parl. was no parl. when they past the said Act of banishment, but were long before dis∣solved,

and that by their own consents, when the late parl. took upon them the exercise of Regality, & the dissolution of Kingship, and the House of Lords; as is notably endeavored to be proved in the late Dis∣courses of several of the Armies Champions; as particularly, one li∣censed to be printed for G. Calvert, and another by R. Moon, at the seven Stars in Pauls Church-yard. Yet he shall close all at present with this last Plea, viz. That although by the said unjust Act of banishment, the Act it self doth authorize all Judges, Mayors, Sheriffs, Bayliffs, and all other other Officers, as well Military as Civil, in their respective places, to be aiding and assisting in apprehending &c. the said banished Lieu. Col. John Lilburn; yet it authorizeth none of them in the least to ar∣raign, try, condemn, and execute the said John Lilburn mentioned in the said Act; and therefore by reason of the insufficiency of the said Act, in that very particular, although John Lilburn, Gentleman, now prisoner at the Bar, were that Lieu. Col. Iohn Lilburn mentioned in the said Act of banishment (as with confidence, for the just and legal Rea∣sons, at the beginning of this his Plea it mentioned, he doth avow he is not) yet in regard the Parliament is dissolved, that made the said Act, which in reason (by reason of the said insufficiency of the said Act) cannot otherwise be supposed; but as they past the Act of banishment themselves, against the Iohn Lilburn therein mentioned and meant; so they resolved to reserve only to themselves, the final judging and con∣demning of him; which cannot be done now without their sitting a∣gain. And further he avers, that its impossible, as things at present in England now stands, to find a legal number of men, or one single legal men, to give a legal Commission to any man or men in England, to hold a legal Court of Iustice to try Iohn Lilburn, now prisoner at the Bar, either upon pretence for transgressing the said unjust and illegal Act of banishment, or for any other real, or pretended Crime whatsoever: And, therfore, the premises duly and legally weighed and considered, he prayes, and demands, as his absolute Right, the judgment of the Court upon the insufficiency & invalidity of proceedings now had against him, on the Keepers of the Liberties of England's behalf, in point of Law, before he put himself upon the Countrey for any further Trial.

Iune 28. 1653.

Iohn Lilburn, Gent.