Associated Digger Manuscript Material, 1649
These manuscript letters preserve Digger appeals and related correspondence addressed to Thomas Fairfax and others in 1649.
This public text follows the public-domain Clarke Papers, vol. 2, edited by C. H. Firth and captured through the Online Library of Liberty.
To His Excellency the Lord Fairfax and the Counsell of Warre
The Brotherly Request Of Those That Are Called Diggers Sheweth
That whereas wee have begun to digg upon the Commons for a livelihood, and have
declared to your Excellency and the whole world our reasons, which are four. First,
from the righteous law of Creation that gives the earth freely to one as well as to
another without respect of persons. Secondly, by vertue of yours and our victory over
the King, whereby the enslaved people of England have recovered themselves from
under the Norman Conquest; though wee doe not as yet enjoy the benefitt of our
victories, nor cannott soe long as the use of the Common land is held from the
younger bretheren by the Lords of Mannours, that as yet sitte in the Norman chaire,
and upholde that tyranny as if the kingly power were in force still; and a third reason
that moved us to digg was the perswasion of our hartes that the Parliament and Army
would make good their bargaine with us; for you promised that if wee would
adventure person and purse to recover England from under that Norman oppression
you would make us a free people, and you have obtained the victory by your owne
and our assistance, and there is nothing wanting from you to us but makeing good
your bargaine to us, for by the law of reason and contract wee have bought our
freedom of the Parliament and Army, who have the power of the sword in your hands,
by our blood, taxes, and free quarter. And wee are perswaded of your faithfullness to
us for two reasons. First, your promises, which as you are Gospell professours wee
expect you will make good, and soe give us our freedome, which wee have dearely
paid for, and you have received our moneys the fruits of our labours. Secondly, your
Covenant to God, unto whome first wee kept fasting dayes, and praied him to help
and deliver this oppressed Nation, and then after any victory over our oppressour
Charles you apointed daies of thanks-giving unto God. Now in the third place, God
expects from you and the Parliament to performe your Covenant in deede and worke
as well as in words, and let the oppressed goe free unto whom you promised
freedome; and though you have fought for it, yet wee have paid for it, and soe have
purchased that same freedome with you, that is that wee may live in the earth without
poverty; for (fourthly) wee digg upon the Common to make the earth a common
treasury, because our necessity for food and rayment require it.
Now Sirs, divers repulses wee have had from some of the Lords of Mannours and
their servants, with whome wee are patient and loveing, not doubting but at last they
will grant liberty quietly to live by them; and though your tenderness have moved us
to bee requesting your protection against them, yet wee have forborne, and rather
waited upon God with patience till hee quell their unruely spirits, and of prosecuting
Sauls to make them righteous Pauls; and in regard likewise the souldiers did not
molest us, for that you tould us when some of us were before you, that you had given
command to your souldiers not to meddle with us, but resolved to leave us to the
Gentlemen of the Cuntry and to the law of the Land to deale with us; which wee were
satisfied with, and for this halfe year past your souldiers have not meddled with us.
But now Sirs, this last weeke upon the 28th of November, there came a party of
souldiers commanded by a cornet, and some of them of your owne Regiment, and by
their threatneing words forced 3 labouring men to helpe them to pull downe our 2
houses, and carried away the wood in a cart to a Gentleman's house who hath bin a
Cavaleer all our tyme of warrs, and cast 2 or 3 old people out who lived in those
houses to lye in the open feild this cold weather, (an action more becomeing the Turks
to deale with Christians then for one Christian to deale with another); but if you
inquire into the business you will finde that the Gentlemen that sett the souldyers on
are enemyes to you, for some of the cheife had hands in the Kentish riseing against
the Parliament, and wee know, and you will finde it true if you trust them so farr, that
[they] love you but from the teeth outward.
Therefore our request to you is this, that you would call your souldiers to accompt for
attempting to abuse us without your commission, that the Cuntry may know that you
had noe hand in such an unrighteous and cruell act. Likewise wee desire that you
would continue your former kindnesse and promise to give commission to your
souldiers not to meddle with us without your order, and wee shalbee very thankfull to
you and remayne
Yours And England True Borne Sonnes And Frends.
JOHN HEYMAN }
AN: WRENN }
HEN: BARTON }
JON COULTON } in the behalfe of others called the Diggers.
ROBERT COSLER }
JOHN PALMER }
JACOB HEARD }
To My Lord Generall and His Councell of Warr
Sir,
I understand that Mr. Parson Platt with some other Gentlemen, have made report to
you, and the Councell of State, that wee that are called Diggers are a riotous people,
and that wee will not bee ruled by the Justices, and that wee hold a mans house by
violence from him, and that wee have 4 guns in it, to secure ourselves, and that wee
are drunkards, and Cavaleers waiteing an opportunity to helpe to bringe in the Prince,
and such like.
Truely Sir, these are all untrue reports, and as false as those which Haman of old
raised against sincere harted Mordecay to incense Kinge Ahasuerus against him. The
conversacion of the diggers is not such as they report, wee are peaceable men, and
walke in the light of righteousness to the utmost of our power. Our enemies have sent
divers tymes to beate us, and to pull downe our houses, yet wee never gave them bad
language, nor resisted againe, but tooke all their abuses patiently, waiteing upon God
till hee make their harts quiett, that wee may live in peace by them; but truely the
same things which they falsely report of us, wee and all the people round about us,
can and would prove to their faces, if yow should call us face to face, some of them
were alwayes Cavaleers, and had a hand in the Kentish riseing, and were cheife
promoters of the offensive Surry petition; but wee doe not speake this to ripp up old
quarrells, neither doe I desire to mencion their names, least yow should thinke wee
were enemies; for truely it is our desire to conquer them with love, though they much
abuse us that have alwayes bin your freinds, as the enemy themselves, if they were
face to face, can say not otherwise.
Now Sir, the end of our digging and ploughing upon the common land is this, that
wee and all the impoverisht poore in the land may gett a comfortable livelyhood by
our righteous labours thereupon; which wee conceive wee have a true right unto, (I
speake in the name of all the poore commoners) by vertue of the conquest over the
King, for while hee was in power hee was the successour of William the
Conquerour, and held the land as a conquerour from us, and all Lords of Mannours
held tytle to the common lands from him; but seeing the common people of England
by ioynt consent of person and purse, have caste out Charles our Norman
oppressour, wee have by this victory recovered ourselves from under his Norman
yoake, and the land now is to returne into the ioynt hands of those who have
conquered, that in the commonours, and the land is to bee held noe longer from the
use of them by the hand of anye whose those will uphold the Norman and kingly
power still; and if soe, then wee that are impoverished by sticking to the Parliament
and you, shall loose the benefitt of all our taxes, free quarter, and blood, and remayne
slaves still to the kingly power in the hands of Lords of Mannours, which wee have
cast out of the hands of Charles.
Therefore wee poore oppressed Commoners claime freedome in the common land, by
virtue of the Parliaments promises and ingagement, and of the armies actinge; for wee
did beleive and rely thereupon, being as wee conceive it a firme bargaine betweene
you and us; for you and the Parliament in effect said to us, 'Give us your taxes, free
quarter, excise, and adventure your lives with us to cast out the oppressour Charles,
and wee will make yow a free people', therefore by the law of contract as wee
expected was firmly made and confirmed on our part by performance, wee claime this
freedom to enioy the common land for our livelihood, for wee have bought it by our
bloud and money.
Secondly, wee claime this freedome by equality in the conquest over the Kinge, for
the Parliament told us what they did they did it for the safety and peace of the whole
nation, the army told us they fought not for themselves, but for the safety and peace of
the whole Nation, and yow and wee ioyned our forces togeather to procure our
freedome, and have obteyned it; therefore if there bee a spoyle of the common land to
be gathered, as there is, it is to bee equally devided betweene yow that went to warr,
and wee that stay'd at home and paid you, that is, as the Gentry have their inclosure
free to themselves, soe wee the poore impoverisht commoners claime freedome in the
common land by vertue of this conquest over the Kinge, which is gotten by our ioynt
consent.
Thirdly, wee know that England cannott bee a free Commonwealth, unless all the
poore commoners have a free use and benefitt of the land; for if this freedome bee not
granted, wee that are the poore commoners are in a worse case then we were in the
King's dayes, for then wee had some estate about us, though wee were under
oppression, but now our estates are spent to purchase freedome, and wee are under
oppression still of Lords of Mannours tyranny; therefore [unless] wee that are poore
commoners have some part of the land to live upon freely, as well as the Gentry it
cannott bee a common wealth, neither can the kingly power bee removed soe longe as
this kingly power in the hands of Lords of Mannours rules over us.
Now Sir, if you and the Counsell will quiettly grant us this freedome, which is our
owne right, and sett us free from the kingly power of Lords of Mannours, that
violently now as in the Kings dayes holde the commons from us, (as if wee had
obteyned noe conquest at all over the kingly power), then the poore that ly under the
great burden of poverty, and are alwayes complayning for want, and their miseries
increased because they see noe meanes of releife found out, and therefore cry out
continually to you and the Parliament for releife and to make good your promises,
wilbe quietted.
Wee desire noe more of yow then freedome to worke, and to enioy the benefitt of our
labours--for here is wast land enough and to spare to supply all our wants--but if
yow deny this freedome, then in righteousness wee must raise collections for the
poore out of the estates, and a mass of money will not supply their wants; because
many are in want that are ashamed to take collection money, and therefore they are
desperate, and will rather robb and steale, and disturb the land, and others that are
ashamed to beg would doe any worke for to live, as it is the case of many of our
diggers that have bin good housekeepers; but if this freedome were granted to
improve the common lands then there would bee a supply to answer every ones
inquire, and the murmurings of the people against yow and the Parliament would
cease, and within a few yeares wee should have noe beggers nor idle persons in the
land.
Secondly, hereby England would bee enriched with all commodity with in it selfe
which they each would afford; and truely this is a stayne to Christian religion in
England, that wee have soe much land ly wast, and soe many starve for want; and
further, if this freedome bee granted, the whole land wilbee united in love and
strength, that if a forraigne enemy like an army of ratts and mice come to take our
inheritance from us, wee shall all rise as one man to defend it.
Then lastly, if yow will grant the poore comoners this quiett freedome to improve the
common land for our livelyhood, wee shall reioyce in yow and the army in protecting
our worke, and wee and our worke wilbee ready to secure that, and wee hope there
will not bee any kingly power over us, to rule at will and wee to bee slaves, as the
power has bin, but that you will rule in love as Moses and Joshua did the Children of
Israell before any kingly power came in, and that the Parliament wilbee as the Elders
of Israell, chosen freely by the people to advise for and assist both yow and us.
And thus in the name of the rest of these called Diggers and Commonours through the
land, I have in short declared our mynde and cause to you in the light of
righteousness, which will prove all these reports made against us to bee false and
distructive to the uniteing of England into peace.
Per me Gerrard Winstanley for my selfe and in the behalfe of my fellow Commoners.
December the 8th,
1649.
Colophon
This edition follows the public-domain Clarke Papers, vol. 2, edited by C. H. Firth and captured through the Online Library of Liberty. Navigation matter, page headers, page footers, and link artifacts have been removed from the reader text.
Three hyperlink-style footnote letters embedded in the source text view were removed from the body: ofa, consentb, and thosec. The phrase whose those will uphold is preserved from the rendered Clarke source; Clarke's apparatus records MS. those at that point.
These items are included as associated manuscript material connected with the Digger movement and Winstanley's circle.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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