The Prisoner's Remonstrance.  
To the right Honourable, the Lord General Fairfax, and to his Council of War, to all the Officers and Soldiers of the Army, and to every Freeborn Commoner of England.  
The humble Remonstrance and Complaint of all the Prisoners of this Nation for Debt, in the several Goals and slaughter-houses of this Land.  LAM. 1.2. 
She weepeth continually in the night, and her tears run down by her cheeks, among all her lovers, she hath none to comfort her, all her friends have dealt unfaithfully, and are her enemies.  
IT hath been, and still is as the ardent desire, so the great work & labour of some eminent persons in place & authority, though not in goodness and reputation, to render odious the honest and integral party of this Nation, (especially you who have endeavoured so much for the public, without hope of remedy) redress or ease, by misrepresentations of all their just causes and actions, to undermine that credit and honourable respect, which God the Fountain of all Justice and mercy is pleased to attribute unto his beloved Ones, the poor oppressed and despised people of this Nation; but Counsels too subtle and forced, use oftentimes to produce contrary and unthought of ends; but as God makes us instrumentally subservient to his will, in the transactions of his providential determinations, so we ought laboriously to endeavour and stand fast in all just and rightful oppositions, to such contrary interests and proprieties, as neither by the Law of Creation, or nature was ever imposed on us: and as the Gospel of Christ giveth liberty and freedom in the inward man, so by the rule of proportion, as well as by the same Law, our bodies and outward man, should receive and be invested with the like privileges and Prerogatives; but man hath resisted his Maker, the clay hath said to the Potter, why hast thou made me thus? although (saith he oppressor) God be a God of order, and not of confusion, although his Government be principled upon the foundation of mercy, and Justice towards the sons of men, yet will we alter the frame of his Government; and whereas he hath given us the hearts of Lambs, and harmless Doves, we will not have this man rule over us, but we will serve the God of this World, and according to his nature, assume the cruelty of Tigers, Wolves, Bears, Lions; this is the cause why a man ruleth over another to his own hurt: and hence it is, that disorders, wars, tumults, seditions, strife, envy, hatred, murder, tyranny, oppression, servitude, imprisonment, and all such cruelties, are exercised towards men; and the more the God of darkness ruleth in the spirits of the children of disobedience, there certainly men become more impudent in wickedness; Their Judges judge for a reward, 
Jer. 5.35.  their Prophet's prophecy lies, and the Priests receive gifts in their hands, and the people delight therein, our Magistrates establish iniquity, by a Law, they overpasse the deeds of the wicked, 
Jer. 5.28.  they exercise no judgement, no not the judgement of the Fatherless; and therefore as the Lord, in the visitations of Jerusalem, Ezech. 9.4. set a mark upon the foreheads of them that mourned and cried for all the abominations that were done in thè midst thereof; so we are assured that the God of this world hath set a mark on the right hands, and on the foreheads of them that worship the beast and his Image, Rev. 14.9.10. and we are persuaded that the buying and selling, and grinding the faces of the poor, and sending and giving gifts one to an other, is to us an external manifestation of this out ward mark, and impression in their foreheads, and in their hands. These shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, yea of the pure wine, which is poured into the cup of his wrath.  
But above all the inhumanities' wherewith this distressed Commonwealth is now encumbered, there is none exceeds either for termlesse durability, end less misery, or height of torment, the this involving of our persons (which are the Temples of the Holy Ghost) into miserable and transcendent slavery, to be incaged in such loathsome dens, and hateful dungeons, amongst horrible stinks and noisome vermin, which challenge the whole world and every Commonwealth of this Universe, and every distinct member thereof, to give in but one parallel comparable to those horrible Parisian massacres and murders, cruelties and barbarities, which are exercised on the persons of men imprisoned for debt in this our English Nation; besides the every way unlawfulness, and disusage of this action in all other Countries, Christian or Pagan. A Sessions or Goal delivery puts an end to the fears and expectations of Murderers and Traitors, 
Mat. 25.41, 42, 43  but what Law or what person relieveth a man imprisoned and in bonds? the Law which should have been his antidote, is become his poison, and the Judges, the interpreters thereof are become his hangmen; nay our very Lawmakers decree wicked decrees, and write grievous things, by keeping back the poor from judgement, 
Jer. 10. 1●.  and by taking away the judgement of the poor of this people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may spoil the fatherless, 
Isa. 10.1, 2 Mica 6.16.  the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the manner of the house of Ahab, and they walk in their Counsels; therefore they shall bear the reproach of this people: the statutes and decrees of the Norman Conqueror, and his Successors are still observed, and the bastard's yoke of slavery continued unto us and our posterity: those Iron fetters which should have been removed, and those liberties, which with so much blood and wealth we have regained are still denied, and instead thereof, endless imprisonment, hereditary imprisonment is entailed unto us and our posterity for evermore. And now notwithstanding, the late many years restless labours and endeavours of the poor prisoner, and his fellow labourers in this our English Vineyard, for liberty and freedom, notwithstanding the many solemn Engagements, Oaths, Promises, Vows, and Declarations of this present Parliament in general, and of every individual Member there of in particular, notwithstanding the numberless Petitions and endeavours of all parties and interests in so just a cause, notwithstanding there wanteth nothing at this present for the passing of that laudable Act for our release, yet by the malevolent influence, 
Mat. 23.14 23.25.27.28.32.33.35.36.  and supernatant power of the Lawyers it is still obstructed, and by an overpotent hand more than ordinary pressed, and repressed by it, that something may be found therein pretendedly consequential and unseasonable, and so be made liable to a new Commitment, and our prosecutors deterred and overthrown in their apprehensions of any future perfection and accomplishment thereof. Yea our condition is yet more deplorable, by reason of their resolvedness and violent nature, not at all to be moved by the complaints of those, 
Psal. 12.2.  who seek redress at their hands; so that now deprived in a manner of all hope (which is usually a comfort to those in affliction) we are become so much the more sensible of the hardness of our present condition.  
It were endless to remonstrate unto you, the many several orders and expresses that have issued out unto a selected Committee of that House, for a speedy dispatch; and drawing up of an Act for our release, and how many several times it hath been imprisoned, and recommitted again upon mere delusive objections, on purpose to protract the miseries of the afflicted; what a profound diseased Lethargy did it fall into about the year 1642, from whence it received a resurrection & reviver in the year 1645, since which time, it hath been tossed like a giddy ball from one hand to another, by the Members of that house to this day, sometimes awakened with a sudden Alarm of pretended rights, and again laid asleep as oppressed with two much watchfulness, until at last it fell into the hands of Col. Martin, and from him to Col. Rigby, which for some amendments was recommitted; after that into the hands of Mr. Lechemore, where it was like to have been buried in everlasting silence, but after many long demurs, it was recommitted to Col. Rigby, who after some amendments, reported the same unto the House, yet by Mr. Speakers obstruction (as Mr. Lechemore affirmed) it received a new Commitment (poor thing, for its faults no doubt as well as the poor prisoners) and committed it into the hands of Mr. Reynolds, who by the former unnecessary delays spun out the length and time of the last Term in promises, and repromises, Protractions and Rejoinders, whereupon on the 17. of July last, M. Whitlock made some objections against it, and upon his motion it was referred to a new Committee, where Colonel Martin had the Chair, who on the 23. of July reports the same into the house again; but it was then ordered to be reported on Friday afterwards, thereupon the 27. of the same month (after the report & reading thereof) it was again recommitted into the hands of M. Martin and Mr. Fell, who reported the same into the House the third of this instant August, but it was put of until Monday afterwards, and on the seventh of this month again reported, and again delayed until the morrow morning but not reported until the eighth of this month; whereupon the House made two several Orders: First, for a Commission ● Grace, for the release of such as cannot pay their debts, and the M. Garland do bring the same into the House the next morning which is not yet performed; the other was, that after the fin and second time reading of the Act, it was again recommitted to the same Committee, who were ordered to sit the die in diem, an● to report the same with speed, and yet that Committee hath never met at all unto this day, and we are confident never intent to do; Gentlemen, what shall we say unto you? the potency of the Marshal of the Kings-Bench, M. Speakers elder brother, the power of the Warden of the Fleet, with the same person, and all Lawyers is so great, and their bribes so large, that we fear some persons have seen a vision of Angels lately, upon which two wheels of the Kings-Bench and Fleet, the very doors and orb of this Commonwealth doth move, and turneth round, and from which is extracted in one year out of prisoners pockets many thousand pounds, to the upholding of that wretched and abominable kingdom of contention and oppression in the Law, as the Puteus inexhaustus of this Nation, a well that can never be drawn dry.  
It were innumerable to reckon up the many Petitions and Addresses, which have been made by the imprisoned Soldiery unto the House of Commons in this nature, and to their Committees, Sub-Committees, the Council of State, the Committee of Indemnity, by Letters, Advocates, Suits, and unexpressible humilities and demonstrations of our endless groans and miseries, wherein we are become the unmerited objects of scandal and contempt, and our persons exposed without remedy to the merciless rage of many hardhearted persons, whose revenge would reach those black Parliamentary objects sitting in the clouds, 
Psa. 82. to the end.  if they were within the compass of their power, wherein our misery is yet more lamentable, that we who have undergone the utmost of all dangers for them, and in whose service we have consumed and spent our estates, and lost the dearest blood of ourselves, children, brothers, cousins, and friends, in their cause, yet we are left naked, open and bare, and exposed to the mercy of a malignant crew of infernal machiavels, notwithstanding the many Contracts, Vows, Oaths, Declarations, and promises of protection from their revenge: and although we are become Creditors to this Parliament in such large and ample sums of money in several loans and various debts accrueing and depending upon our service, since the transaction of these bloody wars. 
Bracton. See the Plea of the Crown, 1. p. 31.   
Gentlemen, we desire you to consider, that all Laws are comprehended under a threefold division: 1. The Law of Nature. 2. The Law of God, of Faith, or of the Gospel. And 3. The Law of Man, made upon the dictates of right reason: The Law of Nature requireth of us, not to do that to another man, which we will not have done to ourselves, to render to every man his own, and to confirm and distinguish his inheritance, birthright, propriety and possession; the Law of God is a law of love, upon which principle all Statutes, Acts of Parliaments, and Constitutions, made and used for the Government of the people are founded, and whatsoever is against this Law hath ever by the worthy Sages of our Law been declared void. Thirdly, the Laws of men and the Municipal Laws of this Realm have not their progeny from men, Alured, Alfred, Athelstan, Edmundus, Edgar, Canutus, 
Mirror of Justices, made by Andrew Horn.  Edward the Confessor, Henry the first, called Beuclerke, were the chief promoters of many necessary and good Laws, yet if we look into them, we shall find that most of them have their original from a higher power, even from the Law of God, and of Faith; and although Historians to please the Successors and lovers of the Norman yoke and tyranny, writ that the original of our common Laws flowed first out of Normandy, yet that is not true in general; for although the Conqueror introduced several Laws from thence, yet seeing that the spirits of the English would not be bounded within such unnatural Prerogatives, without a bloody and uncertain war, was content to suffer the English Saxon Laws to remain in force, and be hereditary to the Commonwealth of England, amongst which all imprisonments for debt was utterly against the great Charter of the English Liberties, 
Mirror of Justices, p. 27.28.29.30.192.  and never came in force but in special cases, until Henry the seventh and eighth introduced on the freedom of the people by a prevailing party of wilful Lawyers, since which time our fundamental Laws and Liberties have been trampled on, and as the Proverb is, lie now in water, and as Tully said of the Senate of Rome, we have Laws only written in Tables, like a sword in a sheath, the people being governed by others wills, and not by public Laws; if we should trace now our English Lawyers through these foundations, we should hardly discover any footsteps of them, who having forsaken the right way have gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, which loved the wages of unrighteousness, 2 Pet. 2.15. And therefore Gentlemen, it is the desire of our souls that you will begin at last to weigh the state of your own affairs, and considering the proceed of the present government, to resolve no longer to stand by as idle Spectators of your own disgraces, but find out some remedy for the time to come, in the behalf of this distressed Nation, which may recompense our past losses, and stop the precipice of our future ruin, which we see so undoubtedly lie before us: and let our humble, yet honest Counsels exhort you to abandon the society of self-interests, and factions, and not so cruelly wound and rend asunder the bosom of your own Country, the welfare whereof you are obliged to maintain with the hazard of your own persons, even to the last period of your lives; and how great a glory will it be for you to purge yourselves from those jealousies the people have so wondrously conceived of your inclinations & proceed, & you will merit much more of your Country by this so pious a resolution, then by all your former actions put together, though seeming in your own eyes never so glorious and beneficial, 
Ezek. 16.7 Esa. 58.6, 7, 8.  for this will bring safety to your persons, and satisfaction to your souls, whereas those add only greatness, reputation and uncertainty to your affairs.  
And therefore Gentlemen, amongst the many Remonstrancers, who with their desires have presented themselves unto you, we are bold to intrude ourselves unto your sight and public view, desiring you to consider that amongst the many honourable requests which the Irish Officers made unto the House, one was, that prisoners for debt might be released, who we are sure had the same consideration and fellow-feeling of our miseries, which themselves in particular might one day participate of, if this burden were not taken off, whose estates, trade and means have been totally consumed in the service of the State, as well as their brethren, which are now in prison, whose present desperate condition and the forlorn and abject hopes of their affairs is such, that they are enforced to remonstrate to you, and the public view, their unparallelled cruelties and oppressions, as not longer willing tacitly to be the causers of their own woe, wherein some of us your Soldiers and Officers are now close imprisoned, and have been shot at, and extremely abused otherways, in being guarded through the streets, as in the time of the high Commission & Star-Chamber, in a most shameful and disgraceful manner, (like Murderers and Traitors) to the Committee of Indemnity, to be examined upon Interrogatories against themselves, contrary to the very Order of the House, only for appearing active for the passing of this laudable and truly Christian Act of Mercy, and Humanity. Seeing therefore life is denied us, the precious jewels of our beings, our liberty detained from us, and our persons thus subjected unto endless slavery, and oppression, we invite you, and beseech you, as you tender the honour of Almighty God, and the welfare and liberty of this oppressed Nation, to assist us in these our just desires: and do implore you all, and every member of this honourable society, every faithful and well principled Soldier, and all that love the peace and freedom of this Nation, to stand up as one man in the defence of your poor afflicted brethren, and not suffer the many hungry and unpitied cries, and dying groans of your fellow-brethrens and soldier in prison, still to call for justice, and without speedy remedy to draw down some heavy judgement from the God of heaven o● this whole Nation, that so we may be freed from the power and tyranny of our unmerciful Depositors, and hardhearted Gaolers that all Capias' in Law for the future may be taken off, and excessive Fees, and Chamber-rents mitigated, and reduced to the form and mdell of the ancient Statutes of this Kingdom, desiring you to consider also, that whatsoever cross or calamit hath now befallen us, may endanger, if not totally subvert, you persons, reputations, callings, families, and estates, the succeeding day and hour at hand to come. If there be therefore any fellow ship of the Spirit in you, if any bowels and mercies, think upon these things, and the God of mercy, peace, and perfect libert● be with you all. Amen.  
From our close imprisonments in the sever all Dungeons and Goals of this Land, August 20. 1649. the first year of England's declared liberty, but of our further and perpetual bondage and slavery.  
FINIS.