To the Right Honourable (his Excellency) Oliver Cromwell, Lord General of all the Forces raised in England, Ireland, and Scotland, for the regainment of England's long lost Liberties, and to the Honourable Tho. Harrison, Major General, and to the whole Council of State sitting at White-Hall, J. F. wisheth health, and increase of true honour in the Lord Jesus here, and eternal glory in the glorious world to come. Right Honourable, AS for many years past (by the good hand of my God) I have been drawn forth for the public, Whatsoever is not of Christ, is assuredly of the Devil, but cruelty, oppression, and murdering of men and women in Prisons, Goals and Dungeons, is not of Christ; Therefore of the Devil and his servants they are, (that so do) whose will they act, and to whom they obey. All Felons are bailable, and not to be imprisoned before judgement hath passed of their crime, fo. 73. and not for self-ends, Those that imprison a free man, or blemish his credit, are by the Law infamous persons, fo. 192. so I desire still to persist to the glory of his great name, and this my country's welfare, being also stirred up thereunto by your (hitherto) most Christian proceed, Multitude of Clerks not to be permitted, fo. 246. and revived in my spirit by the great hopes I do retain of your faithful perseverance to the perfecting of this good work by you taken in hand (for the calling a new Representative) to the glory of God, No Writs of Account to be issued forth, because none may imprison another wrongfully, fo. 247. the advance of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ in true Justice, Judgement, and Mercy, and the restoration of this your Native Country's Birthrights and Liberties. Upon that account I am encouraged most humbly to present these few lines to your pious wisdom, No Right in judgement to be sold for fees or bribes, fo. 258. and Christian consideration, hoping that your faith and zeal for God's glory and this your Country's peace and tranquillity, will speedily appear by your works to all the inhabitants of this Land, From the days of Alfred, King of England, to the time of Edward, Nationall Counsels were held twice in the year. Reasons showed, That the new Statute for the imprisonment of men for debt, is Evil, Illegal, and quite contrary to the Fundamental Law, reason, and the liberty of the people, fo. 283. 284. whereby all your friends in the Lord will have great cause of rejoicing, and your enemies will be enforced to acknowledge and say, that of a surety God is in you, and that he the only Lord of Hosts, See that ancient famous Law-book called, Mirror of Justice, fol. 6. the God of Israel, hath done very great and excellent things by you for this poor enslaved Nation under the Norman yoke, of 587. year's continnance. And therefore I do most humbly and hearty (in the Lord) beseech you to consider. That it is deliverance from this Norman yoke of bondage and slavery, Justice and Right was then done truly, and all causes of controversy determined within fifteen days, fol. 8. yourselves, and the people of God in this Nation have fought for, to the hazard of yours and their lives, the vast expense of treasure, and effusion of a Sea of blood, None to be hanged for theft, nor imprisoned for debt, fo. 192. 257. that notwithstanding the innumerable blessings of God (through your indefatigable endeavours) conferred on this Nation, and the several vows and promises made by the late Parliament to this Nation for the restoration of their ancient Rights and Liberties, as by their Declaration of the seventh of April 1646. No Action to be entered nor received to Judgement, unlessesecurity was first given to make good the plaint, and costs and damages to the Defendant, if not made good, fol. 14. 233. 257. False Witnesses are to die the death, being attainted of a false appeal, fo. 228. and March 1648. appeareth; yet hitherto that great unsupportable and unparallelled bondage of Arrest, and imprisonment of men and women's persons, is still continued, whereby the liberty of the persons (a point of highest concernment to the people in general) is left open to the violent, It is manslaughter for any Officer to suffer the poor to starve, or perish, and not to relieve them, by setting them on work, fo. 228. barbarous, and destructive usage of every covetous curlish Naball, and most inhuman cruel oppressor, and the prosperity of the Lawyers, and their self-seeking adherents, hitherto preferred before the peace and well-being of this great Nation, the dangerous consequence whereof is legible to all, in this Maxim (what befalls one man to day, may befall another to morrow.) All imprisonment for debt, Imprisonment of men till they die in prison, is manslaughter by the Law, fol. 27. 28. 30. 274. Corrupt Judges were then punished in the same manner and measure as had been by them unjustly adjudged, or inflicted upon others. folio 207. being clearly an encroachment upon the Common Law; and therefore (in the first place) fit to be rectified at this time, and in this year of England's Jubilee, 1653. And as at present (through mercy) the spirits of all do partake of Christian liberty, so is it as requisite and just, that our bodies (being the mansion houses of our spirits) may enjoy liberty, and not to be buried alive in the several most filthy noisome graves, None to be imprisoned, but for Felony, Murder, and Treason, fo. 29. 57 231. 73. 274. Also Hen. 3.1218. called Goals, Prisons, and Dungeons. That Liberty from the late Norman thraldom, Felons escape out of prison is no mortal offence, because warranted by the Law of Nature for safety, fo. 226. is the due birthright of this Nation, No judge nor Officer is to take any fee of the people, nor reward, fo. 64. appeareth by the several Statutes of this Land, from King alfred's time, to the third year of this last King Charles, and was also acknowledged by all the Judges of this corrupt age, in the case of Sir William Herbors, reported by Sir Edward Cook, Lord Chief Justice, where it was resolved, None to be imprisoned, but only for mortal offences, fo. 73. that by the Common Law, Any Judge once doing wrong, is never more to be obeyed, fo. 230. (which is to be understood the Great Charter of England) neither the body, nor Lands of the Defendant are liable to execution upon judgement for debt or damages (à fortiori) therefore not to arrests and imprisonment upon any Mesne Process whatsoever, Goals and Prisons ordained for mortal offenders only, fo. 72. Goalers' punishable for plundering prisoners, exacting maims from them, as putting them in irons, fo. 231. for that every man is an innocent person in the eye of the Law, until condemned by it. How unreasonable and unjust a thing is it then, Gaolers to be severely punished for detaining any Felon in prison after his acquittalls; and if the Felon die in Goal, being acquitted, than the Gaoler is to be hanged, and is to lose his place for exacting maims from the prisoners, or for putting any of them in irons, fo. 231. that any free man of England should suffer imprisonment upon a Capias, (which is the utmost punishment the Law can inflict upon any Malefactor) before he be condemned by the Law. It is therefore most clear, A Pleader (or Lawyer) once attainted of false pleading, or maintaining any unjust Action or Cause, is to suffer bodily punishment, fol. 230. that all the Statutes and Judgements which have subjected the bodies of men and women to arrests and imprisonment, are diametrically opposite to the Law of God, to reason, to charity, and to the Great Charter, being the Fountain of all the Fundamental Laws of England, therefore void and null; for that the body kept in an iron Cage (as a bird) cannot yield satisfaction for any debt, any other ways, nor by any other means, then by liberty and industry in some calling. For that Charter is to be interpreted by itself, Judges to suffer death for pronouncing false Judgement, fo. 239. and not to be infringed by the innovating Laws and opinions of Judges, that lived in the cruel tyrannical enslaving times, If justice thus take place again, woe then to all our Gaolers, Prisons, and Counter-keepers of this age, by whom thousands have been thus destroyed. whose wrested constructions (of this very point in question) hath ever tended more to the filling of their own purses, No Gaolers to keep a prison to the dishonour of the State, fo. 214. and the purses of their adherents, with the unjust gain of destructive contention, and by tossing and tumbling of men and women from one prison to another, and upon Habias' Corpus, and Commitments, then to the due administration of Justice, according to the just rules of the Common Law of England. Wherefore upon very just reasons founded on the birthright of this Nation, A judge that shall delay to relieve a prisoner, and he that imprisoneth any man till he die, and doth not relieve him, are both man-slayers, fo. 30. He hanged judge Hall, because he saved Trustrom (the Sheriff) from death, who bade taken to the King's use from some men their goods against their wills, for that such taking and robbery hath no difference, fo. 241. & judgements passed by any against any one point of the Great Charter, (in point of this Nation's Liberty) ought to stand and become as Null: and all the offenders are punishable in their estates and lives for murdering of so many thousands, and robbing this whole Nation of their just Liberties; for if any one absurd error be admitted against our liberty, a thousand will follow, as at this day woeful experience showeth; and the perishing lives of thousands of families can testify. I do therefore in the behalf of this (still enslaved) Nation, Alfred King of England hanged 44. judges in one year, for oppressing the people by false judgement, fo. 240. become a most humble and earnest Suitor unto your Excellency, and to this great Council, He hanged Judge Athelstone, because the judged Herbert to death for an offence not mortal, fo. 240. by whom the Lord hath done very great things for this Nation, to the admiration, yea to the astonishment of all Europe, and by his powerful actings in and by you, he hath made you to become England's glory, and Europe's wonder, by putting down the high and mighty, and exalting the humble and meek: Behold this is the Lords doing, He hanged judge Rolfe for hanging a Felon for escaping out of prison before conviction, fo. 240. and it is marvellous in our eyes, and in the eyes of all Nations. That by some speedy course all the poor oppressed in the Land may be relieved and righted, He hanged judge Diling, because he caused Eldon to be hanged, who killed a man by chance, fo. 242. the enslaved out of all prisons forth with set free from the iron bands of their illegal and most cruel captivity, under which they are still oppressed, yea pressed to death. That the abominable tyrannical Writ Capias may be forthwith abolished, judge Th●lwell was imprisoned for imprisoning a man for an offence not mortal. and the most ancient justifiable common course for levying of debts on men's estates may be restored, it being indifferent to all that live under one common Government, to take such apt remedies one against the other, (for all just debts) as the wisdom of our Ancestors thought fit and used, judge beling was hanged for judging Leston to death by fraud. that so Foxes, Wolves, Bears, and Tigers, judge Oswine was hanged for judging Fulk to death out of Court, fo. 242. (I mean wicked Lawyers, Bailiffs, Sergeants and Gaolers) may thereby be prevented from ravening any longer on the bodies of men and women, whereby their estates for many years past, have been and still are a prey unto such insatiable. Monsters of Cruelty, and the oppressed, their wives and children, are thereby exposed to famine and misery. The faithful and speedy accomplishment of this will enable many thousands (yea all) by their liberty, judge Seafold was banged for judging Ordine to death, for not answering. judge Muckline was hanged, because he hanged Hellgrave by a Warrant of Indictment not special, fo. 242. to use ways and means of industry to serve their country, labour in their several callings, make provisions for payment of all just debts, and live peaceably and charitably one with another in this Commonwealth, judge Arnold was hanged for saving a Bailiff from death, who had rob the people by distresses, and for selling distresses, and for extorting fines, fo. 241. to the glory of God, and to the honour of the English Nation, which hitherto for these her cruel practices, bears the burden of a great reproach, and is therein condemned by all other Nations, both Christian and Pagan; let the cause be therefore taken away, and then the effects will cease. The accomplishment of these particulars in the speedy dissolution of all prisons for debt in the Land, and the due administration of Justice to the people in every County, Hundred, and Town Corporate by the Neighbourhood (so as no man may travel from his habitation above four or five miles for Justice, and not a hundred or two hundred miles, judge Therborne was hanged, because he had judged one Osgat to death, for a fact whereof be had been acquitted before against the same Plaintiff, which acquittance Osgat tendered to approve by oath, but because be did not aver it by Record, judge Therborn would not allow of the Acquittal which was tendered to him, fol. 242. as now) will advance the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, judge R●…wood was imprisoned for imprisoning a man for a debt due to the said King Alfred himself, fo. 244. peace and happiness to this Nation, and work the total downfall of Satan's Thrones of Injustice, tyranny, and oppression, and of the quarterly fairs kept at Westminster, (by the illegal ingrocers of pretended Justice) where men are daily bought and sold in their estates, rights, and liberties, and where a bit of parchment and wax (but of the real value of one farthing) is by them sold to the people at several rates, judge Perine was hanged for suffering a man to die in prison, whom he had imprisoned for an offence not mortal. viz. from 2. s. 9.d. 4. s. 1.d. to 2.l. 3.l. 4.l. 5.l. yea 10.l. hath been given (in a long vacation) for one Habias' Corpus by many people. Behold therefore and see, are not such men workers of iniquity, doing wickedly, by pleading falsely (in the presence of the Lord) against the poor, and the oppressed, making thereby empty the souls of the hungry, and causing the drink of the thirsty to fail, judge Athulfe was hanged for causing Coppine to be hanged, before he was 21. years of age, fo. 240. their weapons whereby they murder the innocent, are Pens, Ink, Paper, Wax, and Parchment; yea they undo the poor with lying words, overthrowing the cause of the righteous in judgement, and spinning out the thread of one suit in Law, to twenty, thirty, yea forty years continuance, thus making the remedy worse than the disease of oppression; and when the pulses of one of their Clients beats slow, and the other Client is quite spent, so as he can neither kick nor winch (as some of themselves have said) than they consult to tie these two together, by a Commission, judge Marks was hanged for judging During to death by 12. men, who were not sworn, fo. 240. into the Country, there (amongst their friends) to provide more money against the next Term, and yet these persons in the presence of their Clients seem to be as Adversaries one to the other, and at the Bar plead and maintain that for truth, which their own conscience tells them, Tongue thou liest. Break their present power, He hanged judge Wulster, because he judged Haubert to death, though it was at the suit of the King. O God, cast them down to the dust (as the Prelates were) and let their houses of wickedness (called Inns of Court) become habitations for the poor, that so Judgement may dwell in our Cities, and Justice in the fruitful field, He cut off the band of judge Hulfe, because be did not cause the hand of Armock to be cut off, who had feloniously wounded one Ricbald. fo. 245. causing the poor to rejoice, and the oppressed to sing for joy of heart, than the work of Justice shall be peace to all, and assurance of quietness, yea deliverance from their great Oppressors, Lawyers, Impropriators, Lords of Manors, cruel revengeful persons, churlish nabals, and all other sons of belial. So shall God be glorified, He caused Judge Edulfe to be wounded, because he judged not Arnold to be wounded, who had feloniously wounded one Aldens, fo. 245. your honourable Name, and names (as Israel's Deliverers) recorded, and this whole Nation comforted, and ever engaged to bless God for you their great deliverers; stick fast therefore unto the Lord your God in this work, as you have done unto this day, for behold, the Lord hath cast out before you the great and mighty, He hanged all the Judges in every County, who had falsely saved a man guilty of death, or falsely hanged any man against Law, or reasonable exceptions, fo. 243. and none of them have hitherto been able to stand before your face. Take good heed therefore, and love the Lord your God, and cleave not unto the Generation of cruel men, Joshua 23.8. 9 10. 11. Then shall ye be my people, and I will be your God, saith the Lord God, Jer. 30.22. These particulars aforesaid (most noble and victorious Sir) together with my more than ten years cruel sufferings undergone, The Lord God of judgement, justice and Mercy, grant that such Justice may take place again in this Land, to the terror of all cruel oppressors, and to the relief of the poor oppressed, that so these great and powerful ravenous Wolves may not devour the poor and innocent Lambs any more, by making their persons and estates a prey unto their teeth (as bitherto they have done, and wherein they glory;) for the truth hereof, I do appeal to all the people of England, who have for these many years longed for deliverance from these their bitter pangs and throws, and for the enjoyment of their freedom, peace and happiness; witness the many hundreds of Petitions presented from several Connties, and also from sundry persons, to the late Parliament, from time to time these 12. or 13. years' space, to the same effect, who were not so wise, as to consider that the poor laborious feet support and carry the head, and not the head the feet, and therefore in the first place the poor feet of the body and head, are to be cherished and strengthened for the better support of them, both in their Walking and National progress. For if the Lord had not been on my side, and stirred up your Noble spirits for my deliverance from thraldom, mine enemies had swallowed me up quick, for they were too mighty for me, and kept me locked up in one chamber above five years, viz. from February 1645. until April 1650. in the Fleet Prison, London, without any just cause by them showed to this day for so doing. from the hands of cruelties powerful instruments, (for my several services most faithfully performed for the State, yea sundry times to the hazard of life) I do without any desire of revenge on my cruel Adversaries, most humbly refer to your grave wisdom, and pious consideration, beseeching the Lord to be still the protector of you, by whom he hath done wonderful things for this Nation, under his sacred wing of safety, and your sole Director in all your undertake, to the comfort of all those that wish well unto Zion, and to the amazement and confusion of his and your enemies. This is, and hath been the constant desires of him, who in all faithfulness subscribes himself, Right Honourable, Your Excellencies, and his Country's servant in all readiness (during this short time of his frail being in this world of misery) to serve you in the Lord Jesus. J. F. This 25. of the 4. month 1653.