The Vnbiassed STATESMAN, Laying the Government in an equal BALANCE.  
BEING A SEASONABLE WORD For the Commonwealth, In a seasonable time, from a well seasoned. Friend, viz. A real Lover of his Country. Published for the begetting a right understanding between the People, their Representatives, and the Army.  
LONDON: Printed for Livewel Chapman, at the Crown in Popes-Head-Alley. 1659.   

The Vnbiassed STATESMAN.  
HOW miserable the State of these three Nations hath been for many years, and still is, most men are sensible; and how far the remedies prescribed for its recovery, have fallen short of working a good effect, our present Calamities, unsettledness and distractions, are too clear a proof. All remedies hitherto for the curing of our distempers, have wrought no other effect, but to distemper and make sick the body Politic; only raise and cause the peccant humours to boil up, and not e●●ate. But that which is worse than the former, is this: the remedies used are so far from true and sound curing, that they become in the people's apprehensions Symptomatical, and by them accounted of the nature of the disease itself; they are so for from removing the Oppressions, Tyrannies, and sore Evils, under which the good people groan, that they are reckoned among the Number of our Calamities. This Nation hath been sick and in a languishing condition for some ages: We had a Parliament called in 1640. who we believed were able and willing Physicians to cure our Maladies; with them did the good people of the Nation engage, and fa●●ened their expectations (and thought they had firmly anchored) upon their endeavours: but alas, the foundation proved sandy; our Ship tossed up and down, could find no harbour: and poor sick England grew sick of the cure, and weary of her Physician.  
How far the offence taken against the than Ser●●●●s, was just or unjust, I shall not now make Enquity; or how far they followed their own wills, and pursued their own ends more than the desires and wellfares of them who entrusted them with their power, I shall not here determine, knowing how many severe judges there were, and are of their actions. But true it is, that after much blood and treasure spilt, the King and the common Enemy conquered, and a change made in the form of Government, a new Image and superscription put upon it, which was a matter of great concernment to the three Nations, most men grew unsatisfied. To wave the complaints and outcries of such as unjustly complained, viz. of such as cannot be pleased unless others be crushed; whose desires, hopes, endeavours and ends are various and contrary, and so are their welfares; for which way soever the scale turns, a considerable part sinks, groans, and complains of the oppression, Tyranny and hardship which they undergo by the ease and exaltation of others; As if there were no common good, where all honest interests might meet; No superiority, dignity for some, without slavery and contempt for Oaths. Must one man's reason become another man's rule, or arm him to destroy him? Had we more true wisdom amongst us, contrariety would be better ordered, that it might no longer harshly jar, but make up a sweet Harmony. Many, even too many complain of unrighteousness abroad, yet consider not how they nourish, cherish, dung, and water the root thereof in themselves; and are unrighteous, in judging others for unrighteousness. Can such men expect, that God should make their superiors just towards them in their actings, whilst they are so unjust in the interpretation of their actings? Or, is it not consentaneous to Justice and Equity, that every man in his turn and season should meet with that force, oppression, and injustice, which he in his desire, reason and judgement, hath measured out to other?  
Waving, I say, the complaints of such men, let us not shut our Ears to the complaints, to the fears and jealousies of the good people, who willingly served the Parliament, and freely offered up their Lives, Blood and Estates, for them and the Cause, who after the expense of their Lives, Blood and Treasure, grow jealous of their new-erected Government, and could but expect and desire, that they should give the people security; that this new mould of Government should not prove as burdensome, tyrannical and oppressive as the former. For wise men saw that multitude of affairs, and prolixity of their motions, were like to eat up the benefit of the Parliament, and swallow up their credit with the people. Whilst they tired both themselves and the people; they complained of their work, and the people complained of their burdens: the work grew upon them, and the burdens still lay upon the people. The attendance, the seeking, waiting for relief, eat up the sweetness of that which the people get from them. Oh how could the people be pleased with these their actions? Whilst their groans and complaints under their afflictions, pierced not their ears and hearts, though their consciences could not but tell them, that they ought to have eased them of their pressures.  
Here, good people, may you behold the beginning of our backsliding and Apostasy: for whilst the spirits of most men were elevated, with contempt and disdain of their then too lofty Senators, whom a little before, they had in much a we and reverence; The Grandees of the Army (whether intending to advance the good Old Cause, or their own fortunes, I know not) put a period to their sitting. But mark what followed: the contempt of the people towards that famous Parliament, gave opportunity to aspiring and ambitious spirits, to bring about their own designs, and to make the good Old Cause, and her Servants, as a bawd and her panders to cover and obscure their whoring after honour and Kingly dignity; so that by this means the late diverted stream, was almost brought into its former channel of Monarchy; and the good Old Cause, not only neglected, but reproached and denied; and such as continued faithful to the same, became the most contemptible of mankind.  
Thus did the common Enemy gain advantage over the good people, and the good Old Cause, till they were even upon the brink of destruction, & ready to be rend & torn by their hungry & greedy jaws, and swallowed into their endless gut of malice; Till the Army were awakened from their drowsy and careless security, and in tenderness to their awakened consciences, or to their own welfare and security (which had got wing, and was flying from them;) took courage to cut down the Sucker, which otherwise in a short time had grown as high as the former lofty Cedar, from whose root it sprang; and to evidence (in part) their repentance, called that famous Parliament, who before had changed the Government from Kingly to a Commonwealth.  
Thus stands the Estate of this Commonwealth, we hope freed from Monarchy, and delivered from her Aristocratical Ape: and that the foundation of Democracie may be firmly laid, and our State free indeed, give me leave to offer a word or two to the People, to the Parliament, to the Army. I hope I may make bold to begin with the people, the ground, root, and foundation of all power, whose representatives Parliaments are, who are entrusted with the people's Liver, Liberties and Estates, as P●offees in trust; as Stewards or Servants, not Lords, nor unbounded and unlimited Masters. To the good people, who have adhered to the good Old Cause who have been instrumental to bring the Nation out of its Egyptian, Monarchical bondage, & have continued faithful to this day, I say, that by you are and aught Parliaments to be constituted; or you, your interest, our ends, and to fulfil your intentions, ought they to act; and as they receive their being, so ought they to be bounded by you: Therefore in all humility, I offer these things to the serious consideration of the good people.  
First, that you would all unanimously declare from every Corner of the Nation, that the Legislative power lieth in you, and in your representatives, by you Legally chosen, whom you have entrusted with this power, not entailed it upon them and their heirs for ever; and for this end, and no other, that the act and do your wills, and not their own.  
2. That you would all with one consent declare what your wills are, and what are the oppressions you groan under; that the Parliament may know what they ought to do; and if they neglect, be left without excuse.  
3. That your trust be not abused, nor the power you have given to the Parliament (inftead of preserving your liberties) made use of to instinge them; And that the privileges of Parliament swallow not up your rights and Liberties, which they ought to defend and maintain; that you would with one heart endeavour, that there may be some bounds and Limits set before the Parliament, beyond which they ought not to pass: Let there be some standing Privileges, Principles of Reason, or Rules of Law extant, whereto any person doubting, might address himself for satisfaction, and to which the actions and acts of Parliament ought exactly to answer.  
To the Parliament I say, O that you would be wondrous watchful over yourselves, and wary in the managing of yours and the people's affairs: for there is a far severer Eye upon you now, then formerly. Labour to be faithful Stewards in that which the people hath entrusted you with. You have (and that justly too) blamed your predecessors for unjustice, and you have seen the Judgement of God follow them; you have been also sensible of your own unjustice, and the Judgement of God upon you, in so much that (after you had been owned by the good people, had in reverence, awe, love, esteem, and fear of all) you became suddenly a scorn, and reproach to all sorts of people, and in conclusion, cast out with scorn & reproach; scarce one among all your friends that had one drachm of pity for you. You have since seen the Judgement of God fall upon your interruptors, for their unrighteousness and unjustice; And the Lord hath been so merciful to you, as to set you once more in a capacity to act for the people's good. Which if you do, O how will good men bless God for you, and Chronologize you to posterity, and your faithfulness to God and your Country be founded forth from one generation to another. On the contrary, if you slight the Cause of God, and the people's good; the affections of your friends will soon decays▪ the presence of the Lord will departed from you, and the Judgement of God, which you already have had a sense of, will inevitably fall upon you.  
Oh, now consider what opportunities you have had, what you now do enjoy to do the people good: do your work throughly, go to the bottom, let the Nation be free indeed; you have thrown down one power for its arbitraryness, do not set up another; but let a foundation of freedom and Righteousness be laid; in the laying of which, singly eye the good and welfare of the people in general, not particular persons and interests.  
For the effecting of which, I conceive three things principally to be minded; The first, is good Laws; The second is proper & fit hands for the executing those Laws; And thirdly, an exact rule or way, whereby their hands may be guided to a due and speedy execution of those Laws.  
Let the Laws be bounds of right and Liberty, and determine what every man shall enjoy for his own, what he may act for himself, and what he must act for the Public▪ Let the Laws be certain, and suited to the State of the Nation; Let them be clear, and easy to be known by the people; Lest a foundation of injustice and misery lie at the bottom, that they become not Snares to them, whom it should preserve from ensnaring; nor give occasion to cunning and crafty heads, to crush and perplex the plain, hearted.  
The next thing is execution, without which the Law signifies nothing: it is the life of the Law, without which, the Law is neither terror nor encouragement. For the best Laws are to little purpose, if they be not placed into fit hands, for the faithful execution of them: And indeed, we are subject more to complain, (and have most cause so to do) concerning the Non-execution of the Laws we have, than the Non-addition of the Laws we want.  
After good Laws, and fit hands to execute them, it is meet that there be a clear Rule prescribed to them that are to execute; lest being left to their own wills in the determination of things, to follow their own apprehensions and judgements, being furnished with corruption, to draw them aside, and advantages of security beyond others, (as authority, power, and greatness do always afford) they lay an arbitrary foundation, and rear a Tyrannical Government. Therefore the people are bound, in respect to their own safety, and those they entrust in matters of Government, First, to provide good Laws for themselves to be governed by; Secondly, due bounds to keep them in, who are to execute those Laws.  
For the making of good Laws, to provide for execution, and to keep the executors within due bounds, the people have provided workmen, and given them authority, viz. to wit, Parliaments: they have as yet had but a slender account of their Stewardship; much do they expect from this present Parliament, or a strict account for the breach of trust, from every particular member.  
Right honourable, you are the Supreme Authority, you have an extraordinary power entrusted you with, for extraordinary ends and purposes; & if you do safely apply it, it may produce excellent effects, but if it be extended too far, and to cases contrary to the good people's appointment, it will produce a great mischief, instead of a remedy; for the greatest power misapplyed, must needs be the greatest oppression. I pray you consider, that a Parliament may more easily Err, than a King or Ordinary Council: for they have or aught to have a rule to walk by; but you act by mere Supremacy, from your own determinations, where you do but vote, and it shall be so, and the people are bound to stand to it: Therefore if you go out of the Circumference, if you step without the bounds of clear Reason and Justice, you do unavoidably make the people Slaves. Therefore it is much to be bewailed, that Parliaments are not bounded, that the trust reposed in them, is not clearly known, either to the people or to themselves; that they have so large a road to walk in, that they may easily err: nay it is almost impossible for them to walk aright; for the heart of man is deceitful and prone (though he hath a rule) to bend it to his miscarriages, much more when he is left to his Liberty: it is ill trusting unbounded power; it is so sharp a tool, it quickly eats up all, but it's own Sovereignty, and hard keeping limited power within its bounds. Few men there are that know any thing of themselves, that are not sensible that they have in them a principle to misled them; and he that knows it, and is not willing to be chained up (as a Lion or Wolf is from doing harm) nourisheth up in himself a desire to be a Tyrant. And the people by calling persons to office, without bounds or limitations, and a standard to measure their Actions by, do carelessly sow the seeds of Tyranny, and to their sorrow too soon reap the fruit.  
Though the people of this Nation have been too negligent of their own security; do not you that are their Representatives (I beseech you) take an advantage thereat, but put them in a way now, and join with the good people that will be ready to advise with you, that they may have somewhat whereunto they might have recourse in matter of controversy between them and the Parliament, upon whose faithful discharge of trust the welfare of the people doth depend, & by whose care they may be set and preserved in a flourishing condition; when on the contrary, they may easily be impoverished and enslaved. Equity allows, wisdom and self-preservation teacheth all to look after the managing of their trust, and have satisfaction whether it be managed faithfully, speedily and carefully for their advantage. How shall the people know this? how can they be satisfied, if any controversy arise about it? and how can you gainsay, when the people charge you with slighting and betraying your trust, and swallowing up their Rights and Liberties by your Privileges? how will it be decided, whether the reproaches cast upon you by the people, be true or false; or whether you have faithfully discharged your trust, or betrayed it, if there be not some standing privileges and Rules of Law extant, to which the people may have recourse for satisfaction? The want of this, without doubt, was the bottom root of all our disturbances and distractions. The want of this made the case between this present Parliament and the late King so difficult: you charged him with violating the Laws, and extending his Prerogatives, even to the extirpating of the privileges of Parliament, and much to the damage and hurt of the people. He charged you with overturning the Laws, and extending your privileges to the hurt both of him and the people, etc. this made a great clashing between those two great powers; neither had any standard to determine which were truly guilty; each justify themselves, as it is usual with men so to do: for want of this standard, the people took part with one, or with the other, as their minds led them. The same difference may happen between the Parliament and People, as did between the King and Parliament: the people may declare their thoughts and minds, that the Parliament doth not discharge their trusts, that they do meddle with things with which they were not entrusted, and neglect that which they were entrusted with, etc. and so make use of an Army to throw them out of the House. The Parliament on the other hand, may justify themselves, and say, They have been faithful to the people, ran great hazards for them, and have denied themselves much for the people, and therefore are ill requited by them, from whom they deserved better things: what then? shall the Parliament make use of an Army to stop the people's mouths, or curb their insolence? or were it not better that there should be a standard between them, by which any man though of a mean capacity, might end the controversy? Therefore in all Humility, I do present these three things to this present Parliament.  

First, that you will publish to open view a true measure of Parliamentary trust, from the principles of Law and reason; whereby the members of Parliament may know, what they ought to do, and what not to meddle with; and the people know what to expect, what not; when to complain, and when they ought to be silent. And that these principles of reason, and rules of Law, may be so plain, that it may not be easy to wrest it to the favour of any particular person: and not to be abrogated by Parliaments, without a general consent of the good people.  
Secondly, that a Committee be appointed by the Parliament, to hear all persons, who are capable of advising them, and the Parliament; and men known to be sensible of public dangers, and ready to improve their utmost abilities for the public good, to advise them in the framing these fundamental principles of reason, and rules of Law; and that the Parliament will take care that this Committee may meet at such times, and take such care in hearing all addresses, that the persons attending on them, be not tired with over-tedious waiting.  
Thirdly, that you will appoint a certain limited time for the sitting of Parliaments, and that they be chosen by the good people, and no others; and that in the interval of Parliament, the Laws may be executed by a Council of State, made up with the Members of Parliament of the People's Electing, and that they every year be removed: And that especial care may be taken, that the work of Parliaments may be dispatched with more ease and speed, that their work grow not faster upon them, than it can be dispatched by them. By this means, the safety and prosperity of the people might be preserved; the Parliaments privileges preserved and maintained, and their persons honoured and respected; and all people fearing the Lord, will have cause to bless God for your faithful and honest endeavours, and the fruits thereof.   
I cannot pass by the Army, and take no notice of them, who the Lord hath made use of to do great and mighty things, in the throwing down of his and our Enemies, and freeing us of the Norman yoke, under the pressure of which we so long groaned. Yet dear friends, as we cannot but love you, so we dare not but mind you of your backsliding, slighting the good Old Cause, and forgetting your faithful friends, whom (after all our familiarity and Godly Society) you have (like joseph's Brethren) sold us to the Ishmaclites; and truly we might have remained in Egypt for ever, had not the Lord provided dangers and necessities, as strong motives to you, to fetch us out, & deliver yourselves. You are members of the body, and are and must be sensible of its joy and sorrow. You cannot say (because you wear the Sword) that you are unconcerned in the affairs of State; Let not your interests stand in Antipathy to the interests of the good people; but labour to be faithful to your own, and the people's just interests, and the Parliaments Privileges.  
We earnestly desire you to join with the good people of these Nations, in addressing yourselves unto the Parliament, and assisting both them and the people in establishing of peace, righteousness, and justice among us; that as we have laboured, so we may rejoice together, and reap the fruit of our labours in peace and tranquillity; which that we may do, I make bold also to offer three things to you: 

1. That as we have cause to bless God for the largeness of your power, so for the preventing of any evil effects which may be likely to spring therefrom, we desire to have, see and know a standard, bounds and limits of your power also; that as you ought not to hold up your Sword in vain, so that you may so hold it up, as to hold up the honest interest and privileges, both of Parliaments and People.  
2. That you will advise with the good people, and join with them, and present to the Parliament what may be thought meet, as principles of reason and Rules of Law, to be bounds and Limits for future Parliaments; and hedges and fences for them, you and us.  
3. And that you will make use of your power, only to see the fundamental principles, and Rules of Reason, and Law performed, and be ready to join with the people, when their Liberties & just rights are likely to be infringed; and that you will not without the consent of the good people, and upon apparent breach of the Parliamentary trust, intermeddle with their affairs, or disturb their proceed: Nor on the other hand, we desire you not to act any thing against the people, or any particular person, contrary to the civil Law or Limits set to you by Parliament; nor suffer any to be persecuted, who have not transgressed the Civil Law, entrenched upon the Parliaments Privileges, or fundamental principles, as aforesaid.    
This may be useful, both in respect of Parliament, People and Army; for want of which, all three have been drawn to act things displeasing to each other, which otherwise they would not have done. This is the way to make the three parts Sympahetically labour to build up the body, and to employ the power of each, for the good of all. This is a way to take away all occasions of differences, which now continually do arise, when every man is left to his own (perhaps misbyassed) reason and judgement, and hath no clear rule to guide his eye and thoughts by. This is a triple Cord, which if well woven & twisted, will not easily be broken; but be of great use as a fagot-band to hold the little and great, short and long, and sorts and sizes together.  
Thus far have I vented myself, partly for my own, but principally for the public good, of which I have been a long time full. I conceive it a needful subject: how well it may be relished or find acceptance, I patiently wait, and cheerfully submit, let the Lot be good or bad: part of my end I have already, viz. the publication thereof: if it find acceptance, be a means to do good, or set abler heads, and deeper brains, to perform something which shall be more excellent, and worthy of public view, I have my whole end. If it doth neither, I desire in patience to possess my soul, and rest content, till the times be more capable of hearing and submitting to reason, or I enabled from above to judge of things better, and more effectually to declare them.  
An End.