A PLEA at large, For JOHN LILBURN Gentleman, now a prisoner in NEWGATE.  
Penned for his use and benefit, by a faithful and true wellwisher to the Fundamental Laws, Liberties, and Freedoms of the ancient free people of England; and exposed to public view, and the censure of the  and learned men in the Laws of England, Aug. 6. 1653.  
JOhn Lilburn Gent. now prisoner at the Bar saith, That he having heard the Charge contained in the Indictment now read unto him at the Bar; for Plea thereunto he saith, That it appeareth by the Act of Parliament of Jan. 30. 1651. That upon the 15 of January 1651 a judgement was given in Parliament against one Lieut. Col. John Lilburn in the Act named, for high Crimes and Misdemeanours by him committed; as by the same appears, 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 John 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 freeborn English Gentleman, and never was legally Charged, Indicted, and convicted, either by the Parliament or any other Court of Judicature, being a Court of Record, in the English Nation, or Commonwealth. And he saith, that the Parliament being dissolved, and by the Law of Parliament in all dubious cases, there being no other way to render the sense and meaning of the Parliament, being a body politic, but by Vote of Parliament he saith it is now impossible; if the Speaker himself, and all the individual members of the said Parliament should upon their oaths be produced at the Bar; yet it is impossible by all their oaths, in Law to prove the John Lilburn now prisoner at the Bar, to be that Lieut. Col. John Lilburn, that the said Parliament in the said Act of banishment meant, because by the Law of Parliament there is no other way in all dubious cases to render the sense of Parliament, but by the solemn Vote of the Parliament fitting as a Parliament, and passing it thereupon as a body politic.  
And the prisoner at the Bar further saith, Neither was there any Judgement given in Parliament against him the now prisoner at the Bar, for high Crimes and Misdemeanours mentioned in the said Act, upon the said fifteenth of Jan. 1651. Votes and Resolves being not in the least any Judgements in Law, but at most only preparatives, to more serious, solemn, and judicious things that are to follow them; for what at most are they, or can they in Law be called or styled? can they in any sense be styled Judgements? No, it's impossible: because they are no such things in themselves; for I resolve to go to such a place, on such a day; and it may be within an hour after, I resolve to the contrary; is this a Judgement? No: Vantrump the Dutch Admiral resolved at the last Sea-fight, or the last sea-fight before that, to beat the English Navy, but when he came throughly to try it, he was not able to do it: was therefore his resolve a Judgement, or the act of beating the English Fleet ever the more done because he resolved it? No: and therefore John Lilburn Gent. the now prisoner at the Bar saith again, That a Resolve at most is but a preparative to the doing or perfecting of a more solemn act: as for instance, a vicious man resolves to lie with his neighbour's wife, is that an act therefore ever the more done, because he resolves it? No: for it may be for all his resolve he will never be able to accomplish it, or do the act whiles he breathes. Again, the Lord himself in Exod. 32. resolved to destroy and root out the children of Israel for making them a golden Calf, and worshipping it, when Moses was in the Mountain, yet that resolve never came to a Judgement, nor never was executed. Again, David in the second of Samuel and the seventeenth, resolved to build God a house, yet God would not let it be done by him (because he was a man of blood) but it was done by his son Solomon: was that resolve therefore a Judgement; or ever the more to be esteemed so, because David resolved it? no, not in the least.  
And the prisoner at the Bar further saith, that it is in Law, Equity or Reason impossible, that a Judgement in any legal Court of England should be passed against a freeborn Englishman, and that man daily forth coming, and never to hear, read, nor see any of the proceed anteceding the said Judgement: and never summoned by any legal processes to any legal proceed; nor called to any legal Bar whatsoever, and demanded (according to Law) what he could say for himself, why Judgement should not be passed against him. Neither did the prisoner John Lilburn now at the Bar, ever in all his life time, by kneeling at the Bar of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England lately sitting at Westminster, ever acknowledge that the said Parliament in Law ever had in all their life times, any the least jurisdiction in the world, to sentence him in any kind, or to fine, imprison or banish him, or any other freeborn Englishman of England, though never so mean (that are none of their members or immediate officers) for any crimes whatsoever; which is not by Law in the least within their power, upon any pretence whatsoever: As John Lilburn the prisoner at the Bar hath fully and undeniably proved by Law in his Plea (upon the Writ of Habeas Corpus) before the late Judges of the King's Bench; viz. Judge Bacon and Judge Rolls, upon the eighth of May, 1648. as in that printed Law-Argument Entitled The Laws funeral, it is fully to be read, in pag. 8, 9, 10, 11. All crimes whatsoever being for him, only and solely to be heard, determined, and judged at the Common Law and nowhere else, all treasons being only to be tried at the Common law, by a Jury of twelve legal men of the neighbourhood, as expressly appeareth by the Statute of 1 Hen. 4. chap. 10. and the 1 of May chap. 1. & 2 of Mary chap. 10. and so are all misdemeanours or breaches of peace, though it be in affronting, beating, or wounding (which is much more than by papers disgracing) any Parliamentman, for that's expressly to be tried by the Kings (or now as it is called upper) bench, as clearly appears by the fifth of Hen. 4. chap. 6. and the 11. of Hen. 6. cha. 11. Yea although a Sheriff by law is to pay a hundred pound to the King, or now as they are called, To the Keepers of the Liberties of England, and to suffer a years imprisonment, etc. without Bail or Maineprise, for every false return of a Knight of the shire that he makes, yet by law, the House of Commons in former time, were not in the least to be Judges in this very business, so immediately concerning themselves; but it shall be examined and tried before the Justices of Assizes in the Sessions of the Assize, as appeareth by the 8. of Hen. 6. chap. 7. and 23. Hen. 6. chap. 15. Yea the Parliament are not to punish those that will not pay them their wages for their service done in Parliament, but the refusers are to be punished by the legal administers of the law in the ordinary of Courts of Justice, as appears by the 23. of Hen. 6. chap. 11. Yea the law of England, which is right reason, or as Sir Edward Cook styles it (in his second part Institutes, folio 179.) the absolute perfection of reason; and which, as he saith, is the surest sanctuary that a man can take, and the strongest fortress to protect the weakest of all; and therefore it is called the best birthright the Subjects hath, for thereby his goods, lands, wife, children, his body, life, honour, and estimation are protected from injury and wrong; for (saith he) to every one of us, there comes a greater inheritance by the law then by our parents, it being the Judges guide in all causes that come before them, in the ways of right Justice, which never yet misguided any man that certainly knew them, and truly followed them, 2 part. of the Lords Cooks Institutes, fol. 56, 63, 97, 526. and the 4. part folio 41. yea and the law-book of Ed. 6. folio 36. with the arguments in the Law in the Court of King's Bench, upon the Writ of Habeas Corpus in the cases of Sir John Eliot, Sir Thomas Daniel, etc. pag. 11. in Michaelmas-terme, in the third of the late King Charles, calls the good old fundamental Laws of England, the great inheritance of every subject, and the inheritance of inheritances; without the enjoyments of which inheritance, we have no inheritance at all. And therefore the said Oracle of the Law of England, the Lord Cook, doth bitterly cry out of the unexpressible mischief that accrues to the whole body of the people of England, when any fundamental maxims of their good old fundamental Laws are invaded or encroached upon, either by Parliament, or any other power whatsoever, as appears in his 2 part Institutes folio 29, 46, 48, 51 74, 103, 104, 179, 210, 249, 529, 533, 534, 540. and 3. part fol. 208. & 4. part fol. 41, 196, 197 198. and the preface to the 4. part of the Lord Cook's Reports, where he saith the Laws of England consist of three parts, the Common Laws, Customs, and Acts of Parliament; for any fundamental point of the ancient Common Laws and customs of the Realm it is a maxim in policy, and a trial by experience, that the alteration of any of them is more dangerous: for that which hath been refined and perfected by all the wisest men in former succession of ages, and proved and approved by continual experience to be good and profitable for the Commonwealth, cannot without great hazard and danger to be altered or changed: see also that old Law-book, called The mirror of Justice, page 239.  
And which law, as the author of the ancient and excellent law book, called the Doctor and Student, chap. 4.8. is grounded upon six foundation, or basis, viz. the law of reason. Secondly, the Law of God. 3. Upon divers general customs of common utility. 4. On divers principals that be called maxims. 5. On divers particular customs. 6. On divers Statutes made by the Kings and the Common-council of the Nation; all which do abhor arbitrariness in the law-proceeding, especially in criminal cases; and especially it abhors the arbitrary uncertain way of proceed in Parliaments, the rules of which certainly no man in heaven or earth knoweth (the vileness, wickedness, and mischeviousness of which, is sufficiently demonstrated in the Lord Cravens late printed case.) And saith that worthiest of English Lawyers Sir Edward Cook, in the Proem to the third part of his Institutes, It is a miserable servitude or slavery, where the law is uncertain or unknown; and therefore it is that the twenty ninth Chapter of Magna Charta, the Petition of Right, and the Act that abolished the Star-Chamber, expressly saith, That no freeman of England shall be taken or imprisoned, or disseized of his freehold, or liberties, or free customs, or be outlawed, or be exiled, but by lawful judgement (of a Jury of twelve sworn men) of his equals (of the same neighbourhood) according to the law of the Land. And that none shall be taken (for any crime whatsoever, by any person or Court whatsoever) unless it be by Indictment or Presentment of good and lawful people of the same neighbourhood, 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 freehold, 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 whatsoever) against the tenor of the same, it shall be void in law, and holden for error: which two last Statutes of the Petition of Right, and the Act that abol●sheth the Star-chamber, doth expressly and nominally ratify and confirm the Statute of the 42. of Edward the third, which according to the people's true fundamental law of England, makes void and null all Acts of Parliament, Ordinances, Orders, Judgements, and Decrees whatsoever, made by any power whatsoever, that are contrary unto, or in diminution of the free people of England's foresaid liberties and freedoms of due Process of Law. And the Petition of Right expressly saith, No man whatsoever shall be any ways punished (especially in criminal cases) but according to the laws and Statutes already established in the land. And those also by the said Petition of Right, and the Statute that abolished the Star-chamber, are precisely declared to be according to our good old native fundamental rights and liberties, or else they are ipso facto null and void in law; this very thing (or the securing thereof) alone, being the principal and chief declared cause of all the late Parliaments, and present armies bloodshed and wars with the late King and his son, and without the inviolable 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 just men, real and wilful murderers of all those persons that they have stain in the late civil wars; and if so, woe unto them when God makes inquisition for innocent blood.  
Neither indeed is he the now prisoner at the Bar guilty of any such high crimes and misdemeanours as is expressed in the said Act; neither ever was he the now prisoner at the Bar in the least duly and legally banished and fined by the said Act; nor yet is a Felon, nor guilty of felony in no manner of respect whatsoever, as by the said Indictment now read unto him is supposed: neither can he rationally imagine that by the Parliament that is mentioned in the said Act of the 30 of January 1651. for banishing one Lieutenant-Colonel John Lilburn, is in the least meant the late Parliament of the Commonwealth of England sitting at Westminster, (especially, because it is not so therein expressed) who had taken many Oaths, and past abundance of Declarations, and particularly that of the 9 of February 1648. inviolably to maintain the Fundamental Laws of the Land, in reference to the People's lives, liberties, and properties, with all things incident, appertaining, and belonging thereunto: But that rather it was some ignorant sottish French Parliament sitting at Paris or elsewhere in France, that understand nothing of the Laws, Liberties, and Freedoms of England; or that it was the malignant Cavalier Parliament lately sitting at Oxford, in the King's Quarters there, post-dating their Act, and thereby endeavouring by the said Act to create such a precedent as in the consequence of it would destroy all the Laws, Liberties, and Properties of the freeborn people of England, and thereby absolutely set up the Kings will and prerogative above Law; the bare endeavouring of which, in the Earl of Strafford, hath been long since adjudged high treason. Or in the next place, it the authors of the said monstrous and illegal Act of Banishment be neither the ignorant Parliament 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 Mr. Scobel the Parliaments Clerk, Mr. Hill their Chayrman, and Mr. Prideaux their Attorney and Post-master-general, 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 enchantment of theirs, they preferred it to the said Parliament, who in charity and common reason must needs be judged to pass it when they were three quarters asleep, against some silly natural fool called Lieutenant-Colonel 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 reason to be conceived) that the late Supreme Authority, the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England sitting at Westminster, being only by their own Declarations, but trusted to provide for the people's 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 John Lilburn now prisoner at the Bar (who hath much read the Law, and very well understands the Fundamental Liberties of England, and hath hazardously adventured his life a thousand cimes, for the inviolable preserving of them) because such an Act of Parliament as the foresaid Act of Parliament, is in the first place an Act of Parliament against common right, common equity, and common reason; and therefore is void and null in Law, and ought not to be executed, as appears by these following authorities, viz. 1 part of Dr. Bonham's Case, fol. 118. and the 8 of Edw. 3. fol. 3, 30, 33. F. Cessavit. 32 & 27 H. G. Annuity 41. and 1 Eliz. Dyer, 113. and 1 part Cook's Institutes, lib. 2. Chap. 11. Sect. 209. fol. 140. and 4 Edw. 4.12. and 12 Edw. 4.18. and 1 H. 7.12, 13. and Ploughed. Com. fol. 369. and Judge Jenkins learned works in the Law, printed for J. Giles, 1648. but particularly, by his Discourse of Long Parliaments, p. 139, 140. and see also Mr. W. Prynne's notable book of the 16 of June 1649. called, A Legal Vindication of the Liberties of England against illegal Taxes, p. 11, 12, 13, etc. But especially see a book entitled The Legal Fundamental Liberties of England revived, asserted, and vindicated, printed and reprinted in the year 1649 page 54, 55, 56, 57 yea an Act of Parliament that a man shall be judge in his own case, is a void Act in law, as appears in Hubberts Case, fol. 120. and by the 8 part of Cook's Reports, in Dr. Bonham's Case, and by the present Armies own Book of Declarations, p. 35, 52, 54, 59, 60, 61, 63, 132, 141, 142, 143, 144. yea, saith that learned Oracle of the Law of England Sir Edw. Cook, in the 4 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 itself, the Lawgiver 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 Author, in his first part Institutes, fol. 140. All Customs and Prescriptions, Acts of Parliament, Laws and Judgements, that be against Reason, are void and null in themselves. And saith the Army's Sollicitor-General, John Cook, in the late Kings Case stated, p. 23. That by the law of England, any Act or Agreement against the Laws of God and Nature, is a mere nullity: for as a man hath no hand in making the Laws of God and Nature, no more hath he power to mar or alter them. And he citys the Earl of Leicester's adjudged Case for a proof. And in page 20 he also saith, that all the Judges in England cannot make one Case to be Law that is not Reason, no more than they can prove an hair to be white that is black: which if they should so declare or adjudge, it is a mere nullity: for Law (saith he) must be Reason adjudged. And therefore saith he, page 8. That man or men that rules by lust, and not by law, is or are creatures that were never of Gods making, nor of God's approbation, but his permission: and though such men be said to be gods on earth, 'tis in no other sense then the devil is called the god of this world. And excellent to this very purpose is that ancient Law-book called The Doctor and Student, who in his second Chapter, pag. 4. expressly saith, Against the law of Nature (which he calls the Law of Reason) Prescription, Statute, or Customs 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 excellently showeth in the latter end of the fourth page, and the beginning of the fifth: and therefore in pag. 7. he expresty saith, That to every good Law is required these properties, viz. That it be honest, right wise, possible in itself, 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 mixed with any private wealth, but all made for the common good: for (saith he) every man's law must be consonant to the Law of God, otherwise they are not righteous nor obligatory. All which Judgements or Cases in Law, in the equitable and rational part of them, are fully confirmed by that commonly reputed able Lawyer Serjeant John Bradshaw, late Lord Precedent of the high Court of Justice against King Charles; who in his large Speech to him, and against him, printed in the second Edition of his Trial, and sold by Peter Cole, Francis Titan, and John Playford, 1650. from p. 52. to 70. And amongst other passages in p. 55. he hath this: That the end of having Kings or any other Governors, it is for the enjoying of justice; that is the end. Now Sir, (saith he) if so be the King will go contrary to that end, or any other Governor will go contrary to the end of his Government, he must understand that he is but an Officer in trust, and he or they ought to discharge that trust, and they are to take order for the animadversion and punishment of such an offending Governor. And in p. 53. he tells the King, That as the Law is his superior, so also he tells him there is something that is superior to the Law, and that is indeed the parent or author of the Law, and that is the people of England: for Sir, as they are those that at the first (as other Countries have done) did choose to themselves this form of Government, even for Justice sake, that justice might be administered, that peace might be preserved: so that Sir (saith he to the King) the people gave Laws to Governors, according to which they should govern: and if those Laws should have proved inconvenient or prejudicial to the Public, the People had a power in them, and reserved to themselves, to alter them as they shall see cause.  
Secondly, such an Act of Parliament as the aforesaid Act of Banishment, is not only against common right, common equity, and common reason; but it is absolutely destructive to the very ends of the people's 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 people's Trust, clearly appears by the Statutes of 4 Edw. 3. cap. 14 and 16 Edw. 3.10. which expressly saith, that a Parliament at least shall be holden once every year; and that for the maintenance of the people's Laws and Liberties, and the redress of divers mischiefs and grievances that daily happen. And suitable to these things are the ends contained in the Writs that summon them, and the intentions of those that choose the Members and send them. And suitable to this, is the end of the Parliaments sitting, as the present General and his Army in many of their remarkable Declarations have fully declared, against the late 11 Members and their accomplices, yea and forced the late Parliament to raze out of their books and Records many wicked and unjust things, as they judged them to be, after the Parliament had solemnly past them, as Votes, Orders, Judgements, and Acts, yea and endeavoured very earnestly to hang divers of those as Traitors that had executed them, as particularly Alderman adam's, Alderman Langham, Alderman Bunce, with the Lord Maior Sir John Gayre, and divers others. But the greatest grievances and mischiefs in the world are by the aforesaid mischievous and unjust Banishing Act established, ratified, and confirmed: for by it a man is condemned to lose his liberty and estate, and the comforts of this life, and that without any the least crime committed, or accusation exhibited, or legal Processes issued out, to summon the party to make any defence in the world, or ever calling or permitting him to speak one word for himself; which is an Act or proceeding against 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, than ever the cruel Jews did with Christ, or then the bloody butcher's Bishop Gardner and Bonner did with the roasted Martyrs in Queen Mary's days, who always suffered them to have due processes 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, than ever the bloody Gunpowder-Traytors were dealt with by King James, who always allowed 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, than ever the Parliament themselves dealt with the bloodiest and most massacring Traitors that ever were in Arms against them to cut their throats. Yea, the forementioned practice of the foresaid most illegal and unrighteous Act of Banishment, is an Act and proceed 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 soloecism in Law be supposed, that his Excellency the Lord Gen. Cromwell, Major-Gen. Harison, and the rest of the Members of the late Supreme Authority of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England sitting at Westm. had any real finger in it, or were actors of it, they may and aught all of them, with all the rest under them, that have executed any part of the aforesaid unjust, injurious, illegal Act of Parliament, to be apprehended, indicted, and proceeded against at the Common Law, as Traitors, and subverters of the Fundamental Laws, Liberties, and Freedoms of the freeborn people of England; as that learned man in the Laws of England, Sir 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 Laws) doth declare and prove was dealt with by Empson and Dudley in less cases than the forerecited unjust act of Banishment, and of which severe punishments those Arbitrary and discretionary Judges, viz. Trisilian, Fulthrop, Belknap, Care, Holt, Burge, and Lockton, in Richard the seconds time sufficiently tasted of; as also their arbitrary Accomplices, the then Lord Major of London, Sir Simon Burley, Sir William Ellinham, Sir John Salisbury, Sir Thomas Trevit, Sir James Barnis, and Sir Nicholas Dodgworth, some of whom were destroyed and hanged for setting their hands to Judgements in subversion of the people's fundamental Law and Liberties, in advancing the Kings will above the same; yea one of them was banished therefore, although he had a Dagger held unto his very breast to compel him to set his hand thereto. But the two first mentioned persons cases being the most remarkable, the prisoner at the Bar shall only at present enlarge upon theirs.  
Which Case of Empson and Dudley was thus: At the Parliament holden by King, Lords, and Commons, in Henry the sevenths' time, who was an undoubted lawful king of England, and by his marriage of his wife, the Lady Elizabeth, heir apparent 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 a pitched battle 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 arbitrary and discretionary in his proceed with the people of England, than the late decapitated Parliament had; yet he summoned a free Parliament, who sat peaceably and quietly, without the force or purging of soldiers; and after that several Juries, at Assizes and Sessions, by corruption and savour, had refused to find persons that were judicially proved guilty before them of breach of penal laws, as in full and free Parliament by King, Lords and Commons, is avowedly declared, an Act of Parliament, (recorded in the fourth part of Cooks Institutes, fol. 40. 41.) in the 11. of Hen. 7. chap. 3. was passed 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 the Peace in each County in England, upon information for the King before them to be made, to have full power and authority by their discretion (without trials by Juries) to hear and determine all offences and contempts committed against penal laws; in all which arbitrary or discretional proceed, murder, treason, and felony, was excepted out of their cognizance or jurisdiction; as also all other offences whereby any person should lose life, or member, or lands, goods, or chattels to the party complaining. By pretext of which Statute, saith the Lord Cook in his last recited folio, Empson and Dudley (privy Councillors and Justices of Peace to Henry the seventh) did commit upon the subject insufferable pressures and oppressions, which yet at the highest was but the taking away some small part of the persons estates from them that they condemned. And therefore 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. cha. 6. A good caveat, saith he, to Parliaments to leave all causes to be measured by the golden and straight met-wand of the law, and not to the uncertain and crooked cord of disrcetion, for it is not almost credible to foresee, saith he, when any maxim, or fundamental law of this realm is altered, as elsewhere in the fourth part of Lord Cooks Reports hath been observed, what dangerous inconveniences do follow; which most expressly appeareth by this most unjust and strange Act of 11 H. 7. for hereby not only Empson and Dudley themselves, but such Justices of Peace (corrupt men) as they caused to be authorized, 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 only, without any presentment or trial by Jury, being the ancient birthright 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 oppressions by, or by the means of Empson and Dudley, and their instruments, brought infinite treasures to the King's Coffers, whereof the K●ng himself in the end, with great grief and compunction repenced, as in another place we have observed. This Statute of 11. H. 7. We have recited, and shown the just inconveniences thereof, to the end that the l●ke should never hereafter be attempted in any court of Parliament; and that others might avoid the fearful end of those two time-servers, Emp●on and Dudley Qui corum v●stigia insistant, corum exitus per●o● rescan, that is, those that follow their footsteps 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 subverting the fundamental laws and liberties of England, viz. trials by Juries, which the Conquest of the Rom●n●, Saxons, D●n●●, or Normans, could never blot out of the Calendar of English men's fundamental liberties, but hath from time to time, with the infinite hazards of their lives & bloods been preserved, as the choicest of their Jewels, and as one of their chiefest fundamental rights; of whom the said L. Cook in his exposition of the 29 Ch. of Magn● Charta, in his 2 part Instit. fol. 51. upon the words of lex terrae, or the law of the land (where he plentifully shows, that no Englishman whatsoever, ought, 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 showed, expressly saith, yet against the ancient & fundamental las●, & in the face thereof, I find an Act of Parliament made, saith he, that as well 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, ordinance and effect of any Statute made and not repealed, etc. by colour of which Act, shaking this fundamental law, it is not credible what horrible oppressions and exaction, to the undoing infinite numbers of people, were committed by Sir Richard Empson knight, and Edmund Dudley, being Justices of the Peace, throughout England, upon this unjust and injurious Act (as commonly in like cases ●t falleth out) a new office was erected, and they made masters of the King's forfeitures. But at the Parliament, holden ●n the first year of Henry the eighth, This Act of the 11. of H●nry the seventh is rejected, and made void, and repeater, and the reason thereof is yielded, for that by force of the said act it was manifestly known, that many sinister and crafty feigned forged informations, had been pursued against divers of the K●ngs subjects, to their great damage and wrongful vexations, and ill success hereo●: and the fearful ends of the two oppressors, should deter others from committing the l●ke, and should admonish Parliaments, that in stead of the ordinary and precious trial per legem terrae, by the law of the land, they bring not in absolute an partial trial by discretion. And in the fourth part of his Institutes, folio 37. he expressly saith. That he finds an Attainder by Parliament of a subject (viz. Thomas Cromwell, than Earl of Essex) of high treason, who was committed to the Tower, and thereby forth coming to be heard, and yet was never called to answer in any of the Houses of Parliament. Of the manner of which proceed, he thus saith, Aus●●a 〈◊〉, si potest, si non, ut cunque silontiam legate, 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 absolute the jurisdiction of Court is, the more just and honourable it ought to be in the proceeding, and to give examples of justice to inferior Courts. And fol. 38. He is confidently persuaded, that the rehearseal of this unjust Attainder will hereafter cause the Honourable Members of both Houses of Parliament to be so tender of their duty in perserving the fundamental Laws and Liberties of the people of England, as that never hereafter such an unjust Attainder shall be brought, where the party is forth coming to condemn him without hearing of him. And consonant unto this, is the Scripture, and the Law of God therein contained, as appears by the third of Gen vers. 9 where God after Adam had transgressed his law, summons him before him to answer for himself, before he would pass judgement against him. And when Sodom had abominably defiled its ways with the height of wickedness, yet the just God of heaven and earth would not judge, condemn, or pass sentence 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 expressly, 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, and the judgement which shall be given thereupon, and not to decline from the law and the judgement which shall be given thereupon, and not to decline from the Law to the right hand or to the left. And suitable to this, is the judicial and legal proceed of the great congregation of the children of Israel (consisting to the number of four thousand able men) in the case of the Levite, and his ravished and slain concubine, who in their judicial proceed in that case, first demanded of him how so great a wickedness 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 Nicodemus 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 and know what he doth? 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 bloody enemies, It is not the manner of the Romans to deliver any one to die, before that he which is accused have the accuser's face to face, and have licence to answer for himself concerning the crime laid against him, Acts 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. But saith that judicious and learned Lawyer Sir Edward Cook in the third part of his Institutes, folio 35. of Rhadamanthus, that cruel and wicked Judge of hell:  
First, he punisheth before he hears (like the late Parliament) and when he doth hear the denial, than he compels the party accused by torture to confess it: but, saith he, far otherwise doth Almighty God proceed; for after that the guilty person is accused, he calls, he examines, and then judges or condemns, Luk. 16.1, 2. But in his fourth part Institutes, he proceeds and goeth on, and saith in his last forerecited folio, As evil was the proceed in Parliament, in the second of Henry the 6. Number 18. against Sir John Mortimer, the third son of Edmund the second Earl of Marsh (descended from Lionel Duke of Clarence) who was Indicted of high treason, for certain words, which Indictment (without any arraignment or pleading) being merely feigned to blemish the title of the Mortimers, and withal 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, judgement in Parliament was given against him upon the said Indictment, that he should be carried 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 folio 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 attained by general words of high treason, By authority of Parliament (as sometime 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 aught (as hath been said) to give examples to inferior Courts. And further, to show 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 fundamental laws of England) What need there any more instances than many of the Armies own Declarations, in several of which and their frequent discourses they have declared the late Parliament a traitorous Parliament, breakers of their trust, and imbroylers of the Nation in bloody wars, and subverters of the people's liberties and freedoms; yea, and in the conclusion, the Lord General Cromwell himself, and Major Gen. Harison, with their own hands have pulled them out by the ears, and plucked them up by the very roots, as final breakers of their trust; and as a pack of the vilest knaves and villains 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, in the seventeenth of the reign of the late King (being in the year 1641) 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 Parliament of the 14. of May, 1649. and the 17. of July 1649. In which it is expressly 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 Parliament, or their Council of State, without their own consents, or to say that the said late Parliament or their Council of State is tyrannical, usurped, or unlawful, as by the said Acts of Parliament, with reference thereunto being had, more at large doth appear (which Acts are printed in the first part of the trial or arraignment of the prisoner at the Bar, at Guildhall, Oct. 1649. pag. 86, 87▪ 88, 89. the first of which Acts, viz. that of the 14. of May, 1649. thus followeth Verbatim.  

An Act Declaring what offences shall be adjudged Treason.  
WHereas the Parliament hath abolished the the Kingly Office in England and Ireland, and in the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging; and hath resolved and declared, that the people shall for the future be governed by its own Representatives, or national meetings in council, chosen and entrusted by them for that purpose, hath settled the Government in the way of a Commonwealth and free State, without King or House of Lords; Be it Enacted by this present Parliament, and by the Authority of the same, That if any person shall maliciously or advisedly publish, by writing, printing, or openly declaring, That the said Government is tyrannical, usurped, or unlawful; or that the Commons in Parliament assembled are not the Supreme Authority of this Nation; or shall plot, contrive, or endeavour o● stir up, or raise force against the present government, o● for the subversion or alteration of the s●m●, and shall declare the same by any o●●n de●d, that then every such ofence shall be taken, deemed, and adjudged by the Authority of this Parliament to b● high treason. And whereas the Keepers of the liberties of England, and the council of State, construted, and ●o be f●om time to time consti●ut●● by A●●uo●…y of Parliament are to be under the said R●presentatives in Parliament, ●n ●u●… for the ma●n●…ce of the said government, with several powers and Authorities limited, given and appointed unto th●m by the Parliament; Be 〈◊〉 likewise Enacted by the authority aforesaid, that ●f any person shall maliciously and advisedly ●o or endeavour the subversion of the said Keepers of the liberties of England or the Councils of State, and the same shall declare by any op●n De●d, o● shall move any person o● p●●sons fo● the do●ng thereof, or stir up the people to rise against them, or either of them, the●… or ei●her of 〈◊〉 authorities, That then every sum offence and offence shall be tak●n, d●●med and a clored to be high treason, And w●●as the Parliament for their just and lawful def●nce, hath raised, levied the Army and fo●●es now under the command of Thomas Lord Fairfax, and are a● present necessitated, by reason of the manifold distractions with●n this commonwealth, and invasions threatened from abroad, ●o continue the same, which under God must be the instrumental means of preserving the well-afflicted people of this Na●●on in peace and safe●y, Be it further Enacted by the authority aforesaid, that if any person, ●o being an Officer, Soldier, o● Member of the Army, shall ●o, contrive, o● endeavour to stir up any mutiny in the said Army, or withdraw any Soldier's o● Officers from their obedience to their superbous Officers, o● from the present Government as aforesaid; o● shall procure, invite, and, o● assist any foreigners or strangers to invade England o● Ireland: or shall adhere ●o any forces raised by the enemies of the Parliament or Common wealth, o● keepers of the Liberty of England: Or if any person shall counterfeit the Great Seal of England (for the time being) used and appointed by authority of Parliament, That th●n every ●uch offence and offence shall be taken, deemed, and declared by the authority of this Parliament to be high-treason; and every such person shall suffer pains of death, and also forfeit un●o the Keepers of the Liberty of England, to and for the use of the Commonwealth, all and singular his and their lands, ten●m●n●s, and hereditament, goods and chattels, as in c●s● of high-treason hath been used by the Laws and Statutes of ●●is land to be forfeit and lost. Provided always, that no persons shall be indicted and arraigned for any of the offence mentioned in this Act, unless such offenders shall be indicted or prosecuted for the same within one year after the offence committed.  
Die Lunae, 14 Maii, 1649. Ordered by the Parliament, That this Act be forthwith printed and published. Hen. Scobel, Cleric. Parliamenti.   

London, Printed by Edw. Husband & John Field, Printers to the Parl. of England. 1649   
And the said John Lilburn, now prisoner at the Bar, for further Plea saith, that for supposed violating those two last  Acts of Parliament, and that but for supposed words, and for the supposed compiling, writing, and caused to be printed Arguments, founded and grounded upon the known and declared fundamental laws of England, received principles of Reason, and the Armies own printed and published Declarations, he the said John Lilburn, now prisoner at the bar, was arraigned and indicted as a Traitor for his light at Guildhall London, in October 1649. and that principally by the instigation and means of his Excellency the present Lord General Cromwell: which Trial 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 Counsel learned in the Law, and a copy of his Charge and Indictment, which were not denied, but granted to the Lord Mocqu●●, that grand dushanbe; and those Arch-trayt●rs, as the year commonly called, Scrasso●c, Can●●●bury, Hamilton, and Cap●l, etc. which also was granted to the prisoner at Bar as his right by Law, when he was pr●●●ner a● O●fo●●, and a●●agned by judge Heart, etc. for his l●● as a traitor So that the said John 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 endeavour to dissolve the late Parliament or their Council of State, ●e cannot either in Reason or Law see or apprehend which way his Excellency the said Lord General Cromw●l, and Major General Ha●son, etc. if they continue and persevere as they have begun, to execute the said unjust and injurious Act of Parliament upon the said Jo●n Lilbu●n prisoner at the Bar, (which is one of the most wickedest and unjust that ever the Parliament in their lives made, and of the highest and most notorious acts of their breach of trust that ever they committed, as is before fully proved) can ●n the least, either before God or men, acquit themselves of being guilty of the highest of treason, both by the letter and equity of the two last . Laws lately made in part by themselves, but principally by their instigation, in forcibly dissolving the late Parliament, against their own voluntary wills and consents.  
Therefore John Lilburn, the now prisoner at the bar, for further plea saith, That it is most just, equitable, and reasonable, to indict, arraign, condemn, and execute the foresaid declared Parliament Traitors, Olive● Cromwell Esquire, Captain General, and Mr. Thomas Harison, commonly called Major-General Harison, before the prisoner at the bar be indicted, arraigned, condemned, and executed, for being a supposed Parliament fellow, especially considering their transgressions is a fact committed after the declaring, printing, and divulging of a visible and plain Law; and a● the prisoner at the Bar's supposed crime is for a fact done before there was a Law in being, as in searching into the bottom of the whole illegal proceed against him will evidently appear. 2. The prisoner at the bar's transgression, at most, is but a supposed or a real scandal of one Member of Parliament, viz. Sir Arthur Haslerig, in which at most he was but of Counsel for Mr. Primate, upon a Petitionary Appeal; which Primate, at the open Bar of the Parliament, freed John Lilburne the now prisoner at the Bar from drawing his said Petition at which the Parliament took the offence, and at whose Bar he avowedly laid the drawing of it upon another; and yet the prisoner at the Bar must be thought worthy to be banished, and rob by Sir Arthur Hazlerig of all his estate, that at the most was but an accessary to a scandal, and Primate the principal, that owned the Petition for his, and justified the printing of it by his own order, hath no such punishment at all inflicted upon him n● nor yet his Counsel that he avowed drew it. But the crime of the said Oliver Cromwell Lord General, and Major-Gen. Harison, in forcibly dissolving the Parliament, is not only a scandalising of one Member of Parliament, but of all the Members thereof, as a pack of Rogues, and traitors to their trust, and thereby fit for nothing, but to be knocked on the head by the enraged people wherever they meet them, and as unsavoury salt, that is good for nothing, but to be plucked our by the ears, and plucked up by the roots, and thrown to the dunghill. 3. The Parliaments Laws were either good and just, or they were not If good and just, why were they that made them plucked up by the roots, and dissolved without their free consents, and that by their hired servants, that had no power either in Law or from the people so to do, and upon whom out of the people's moneys they have bestowed many thousand pounds gratuities? If they were wicked and unjust, why is the basest and vilest of them endeavoured to be executed upon the prisoner at the Bar for supposed Felony, and that principally by the means of those, that both by the letter and equity of the said Parliaments Laws, are guilty of highest of treasons, in dissolving the Parliament by force of Arms, without their own free consents; and who have been, and yet are, the only & principal prosecutors of me the prisoner at the Bar for his life, for returning into the land of his Nativity (against the Fundamental Laws & Liberties, which in all his days he never committed the least transgression) after he was forced, by reason of Sir Arthur Hazlerig's robbing him of all his estate, for divers months together, to borrow all the money that bought him bread, and after he had continued about a year & a half in constant danger of his life, of being murdered beyond the Seas, by the hands of the mad or ranting Cavaliers, by the cunning artifice and designs of the pensioned Agents of some of the principallest of those that most in Parliament studied his Banishment, yet in which Act that they pretend to banish one Lieut. Col. John Lilburn by, there is no crime of Law at all in Law laid unto the said Lieut. Col. John Lilburn's charge (generals being no crimes in law, nor signify nothing, as fully appears by the Lord Cook's second part of his Institutes, fol. 52, 315, 318, 590, 591, 615, 616. and third part, fol. 12, 13, 14. and fourth part, fol. 39, 333, 334.) as appears by the Act itself, which thus verbatim followeth.  

An Act for the execution of a Judgement given in Parliament against Lieut. Col. JOHN LILBURNE.  
WHereas upon the fifteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred fifty one, Judgement was given in Parliament against the said Lieut. Col. John Lilburn, for high Crimes and Misdemeanours by him committed, relating to a false, malicious, and scandalous Petition heretofore presented to the Parliament by one Josiah Primate of London Leather seller, as by the due proceed had upon the said Petition, and the Judgement thereupon given, at large appeareth: Be it therefore Enacted by this present Parliament, and by the authority of the same, That the Fine of three thousand pounds imposed upon the said John Lilburn to the use of the Commonwealth, by the Judgement aforesaid, shall be forthwith levied by due Process of Law to the use of the commonwealth accordingly. And be it further enacted, That the sum of two thousand pounds imposed by the said Judgement upon the said John Lilburn, to be paid to James Russel, Edw. Winslow, William Molins, and Arthur Squib, in the said Judgement named, that is to say, to each of them five hundred pounds for their damages, shall be forthwith paid accordingly: And that the said Sir Arthur Hazlerig, James Russel, Edw. Winslow, William Molins, and Arthur Squib, their Executors and Administrators, shall have the like remedy and proceed at Law respectively against the said John Lilburn, his Heirs, Executors, Administrators and Assigns, for the recovery of the said respective sums so given to them by the said Judgement, as if the said respective sums had been due by several Recognizances in the nature of a Statute-staple acknowledged unto them severally by the said John Lilburn upon the said 15 day of January 1651. And be it likewise enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the said John Lilburn shall within twenty days, to be accounted from the said fifteenth day of January 1651. depart out of England, Scotland, Ireland, and the Islands, Territories, or Dominions thereof. And in case the said John Lilburn, at any time after the expiration of the said twenty days to be accounted as aforesaid, shall be found or shall be remaining within England, Scotland, Ireland, or within any of the Islands, Territories, or Dominions thereof the said John Lilburn shall be, and is hereby adjudged a Felon, and shall be executed as a Felon, without benefit of Clergy. And it is lastly enacted by the Authority aforesaid, 〈◊〉 all and 〈…〉 and persons who shall after the expiration of the said twenty days accordingly relieve, harbour, or conceal the said John Lilburn, he being in England, Scotland, or Ireland, or any of the Territories, Islands, or Dominions thereof, shall be hereby adjudged accessary of Felony after the fact. And all Judges, Justices, Majors, Bailiffs, Sheriffs, and all other Officers, as well Military as Civil, in their respective places, are hereby required to be aiding and assisting in apprehending the said John Lilburn.  
1651. Ordered by the Parliament, That this Act be forthwith printed and published. Hen. Scobel, Cleric. Parliamenti.   
Fourthly, the prisoner at the Bar's return into England tends not in the least to the disturbance of the public peace, quietness, or tranquillity of the Nation, nor to the destruction and overthrow of all the People's Fundamental liberties and freedoms; and therefore no reasons at all can be drawn from public utility or profit to try me John Lilburn now prisoner at the bar for his life as a Felon, upon the unjust letter of a void Act of Parliament. But as for the said Generals, and the said Major-General Harisons dissolving the late Parliament by force, against their own consents, and thereby against several Acts of Parliament afore mentioned (partly of their own making) committing high-treason against the apparent letter of a known, printed, and declared Law, before their fact committed; out of which evil action (as it is in itself simply considered) though it be granted, that that God that can and hath brought light out of darkness, and order out of confusion, and good out of evil, may out of it, by his wisdom, power, and omnipotency, bring abundance of good to this poor nation of England; yet already it hath visibly produced this grand mischief and evil, viz. to give the said General a colourable pretence of a Necessity of his own making and creating, to assume unto himself all the Civil powers in the Nation into his own hands; and thereby not only to make slaves (if he please) of all his own private soldiers, in subjecting them to Trials for their lives by Military or arbitrary Discipline in times of peace, when all the Courts of Justice for administering the Law are or aught to be open, which is expressly against the Petition of Right, and the declared end wherefore the Wars were engaged in against the late King; but also of the free people of England, that have fought as hearty and faithfully for the preservation of their Liberties and Freedoms as himself, who have already thereby lost two of the chiefest of their fundamental rights and freedoms, viz.  
First, to have Taxes laid upon them by the General, with the advice of his Military Officers, all of whom at most are but the people's hired and paid servants, to kill the Weasels and Polecats that would destroy their Liberties; which is not only contrary to the express tenor of that most excellent Law (as the late Parliament, in their remarkable Declaration of March 17. 1648. calls it) of the Petition of Right, which expressly saith, That no Taxes, Aids, or Contributions whatever, shall by any person or persons, or any Authority whatsoever, be laid or levyrd upon the people, but by common consent of their chosen Deputies or trusties in Parliament assembled for that end. See also the Lord Cooks 4 part Institutes, chap. High Court of Parliament, fol. 14, 34. and by the Statute made in the late Parliament, in the 17 year (being anno 1641) of the late King, entitled, An Act for declaring unlawful and void the late proceed touching Ship money. The Judgement of the Judges in that case is declared null and void, and against the right of Proprieties, although their judgements were grounded upon these plausible Questions, viz. That when the good and safety of the Kingdom in general is concerned, and the whole Kingdom in danger, Whether the King might by writ under the Great Seal of England command all the Subjects of his Kingdom at their charge to provide and furnish such number of Ships, with Men, Victuals, and Munition, and for such a time as the King should think fit, for the defence and safeguard of the kingdom from such peril and danger: and, Whether by Law the King might compel the doing thereof, in case of refusal or ●●f●actari●ss. And whether that the King (who was then a far more legal Magistrate than the Lord General Cromwell now is) were no● the sol● judge both of the danger, and wi●●n and ●ow the same is to be prevented and avoided. According to which grounds and reasons, all the justices of the said Courts of K●ngs Bench, and Common pleas, and the said Barons of the Exchequer, having been formerly con●ul●●d with by his Majesty's command, had set their hands to an extrajudicial Opinion expressed to the same purpose, That he might: and yet notwithstanding all this, thus decreed and adjudged by all the judges, all such Ship-writes and all proceed thereupon are by King, Lords, and Commons, in full, legal, and free Parliament, declared that they were and are contrary and against the Laws and Statutes of this Realm, and the Petition of Right made in the third year of the Reign of his Majesty that then was. And it is there further declared and enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That all and every the particulars prayed or desired in the said Petition of Right, shall from henceforth be put in execution accordingly, and shall be firmly and strictly holden and observed, as in the same Petition they are prayed and expressed: And that all the said Judgements and Proceed about the said Ship money be vacated and canceled. One of the makers of which Law was the said Oliver Cromwell, now Lord General, and also one of the impeachers of the said Ship money-Judges of high-treason, for arbitrary subverters of the free people of England's fundamental Laws, Liberties, and Proprieties.  
Secondly, the General, with whom of his Officers by his will he is pleased to join with him, hath not only by their late forcible dissolving of the late Parliament, assumed the whole Civil power of the Nation into his own hands; by means of which already, by his Declaration with the advice of his Officers, of the 9 of June 1653. he hath arbitrarily laid a Tax of Sixscore thousand pounds per month upon the free people of England, by which all their proprieties are confounded and destroyed. For, by the same Rule that he lays Sixscore thousand pounds Tax a month upon the people, he may (when he pleaseth) lay six Millions a month upon them, and so ad infinitum; and engross into his own coffers and hands, and his Officers, not only all the people's treasure, but also their whole lands and estates, as Joseph did the slavish Egyptians unto Pharaoh, Gen 47. but that which is worse, he hath not only there by created a precedent to destroy all their proprieties, but his choosing the people Legislators or Lawmakers, (though it's possible the men may prove in their actions the justest men in the Nation) and denying those that never forfeited their Liberties in their lives, that inherent and natural right, he hath created a precedent to destroy their Laws, Liberties, and Lives, and absolutely subject them to his will and mercy: which crimes put together, are in the eye of the Law the highest Treason that ever I read any transgressor in the Nation charged with, ever since it became a Politic Society or Nation, and an act that the highest of three Tyrants or Conquerors, either under the Romans, Saxons, Danes, or Normans, durst never attempt to put in execution: By means of which, he hath given away the just and honest Cause betwixt the King and Parliament, and done as much as in him hath to make all those murderers that have since the beginning of the late Civil war engaged in the Parliament-quarrel against the late King, his actions as evidently as the ●un declaring it was not in the least for the securing of the peoples encroached upon Liberties and Freedoms, that he and his accomplices took up Arms against the King for, but to pull him out of his Throne, slay him, and divide his inheritance amongst him and his accomplices, and then to set up his lust, will, and pleasure, as the people's standing Laws. By which apparent, and in the face of the ●un avowed practices of his, he hath all over the Christian world brought more scorn and contempt upon the zealous profession of God and godliness, and all the pretences of struggling for Liberty and Freedom, than any one man that ever I read of ●n all the Histories of the world that ever my eyes were fixed upon: yea, and in the doing of the forementioned things, hath given in the face of the sun the absolute and perfect lie to himself, and all his many printed Declarations, both as he is to be considered as a Parliament-man, or as an Officer in Arms. And first, consider him as a Parliament-man, how many Oaths, Covenants, Protestations, and Engagements, hath he formerly taken, to maintain the fundamental Laws and Liberties of the people of England; and also, after he had caused the Parliament to be purged over and over, again and again, and left none to sit there, but those that then pleased his tooth, and by their authority taken away the King's life, and altered the form of Government nominally into a Commonwealth or free State, did not he and his said friends or Councillors immediately after that publish a solemn Declaration of Febr. 9 1648. in these very words verbatim.  

A Declaration of the Parliament of England, for maintaining the Fundamental Laws of this Nation.  
THe Parliament of England now assembled doth declare, That they are fully resolved to maintain, and shall and will uphold, preserve, and keep the fundamental Laws of this Nation, for and concerning the preservation of the lives, properties, and liberties of the people, with all things incident thereunto, with the alterations touching Kings and House of Lords already resolved in this present Parliament, for the good of the people, and what shall be further necessary for the perfecting thereof; and do require and expect that all Judges, Justices, Sheriffs, and all Officers and ministers of Justice for the time being, do administer justice, and do proceed in their respective places and Offices accordingly: which resolution, with the reasons thereof, shall be hereafter published in a larger Declaration touching the same. And it is hereby ordered and appointed, that this Declaration shall be forthwith proclaimed in Westminster-Hall, and at the Old Exchange: and the Judges in their respective Courts at Westminster, and at the first sitting thereof, are to cause this Declaration to be publicly read. And the Sheriffs in their several Counties are to cause this Declaration to be likewise published.  
Die Veneris, 9 February, 1648. Ordered by the Commons assembled in Parliament, That this Declaration be forthwith printed and published; and that the Members of this House do take care to disperse the said Declaration into the several Counties with all speed. H. Scobel, Cler. Parl. D. Com.   

London, Printed by Edward Husbands.   
Which said Declaration was backed also with a large & pithy one, the 17 of March 1648. which expresseth the grounds and reasons of their late proceed, and settling the present Government in way of a Free State.  
Yea, John Lilburn now prisoner at the bar for his further plea saith, That by the Act of the late Parliament entitled, An Act for the abolishing the Kingly Office in England and Ireland, and the Dominions thereunto belonging, it is there amongst other things enacted and declared, that the Office of a King in this Nation shall not henceforth reside in, or be exercised by any one single person. And that no person whatsoever shall or may have or hold the office, stile, dignity, power, or authority of King of the said Dominions, or any of them, upon pain of high treason against the Parliament and People of England, to all such said persons, and to all their aiders, assisters, comforters or abettors.  
Now whether or no that the said actions of laying Taxes, and choosing the people Law makers, be not the absolute exercising the office, dignity, power, and authority of the greatest King that ever was in England, the prisoner at the Bar submits it to the judgement of the learned Judges of the Law.  
And in the last forementioned Act, it is further declared and averred, that by the abolishing of the Kingly Office, a most happy way is made for this English Nation to return to its just and ancient rights of being governed by its own Representatives, or National Meetings in Council, from time to time chosen and entrusted for that purpose by the people. And further it is therefore there resolved and declared by the Commons assembled in Parliament, That they will put a period to the sitting of this present Parliament, and dissolve the same, as soon as may possibly stand with the safety of the people that hath betrusted them, & with what is absolutely necessary for the preserving and upholding the Government now settled in the way of a Commonwealth. And that they will carefully provide for the certain meeting choosing & sitting of the next and future Representatives, with such other circumstances of freedom in choice, and equality in distribution of Members to be elected thereunto, as shall most conduce to the lasting freedom and good of this Commonwealth. And in several other Acts immediately made after the last forementioned Acts; and particularly those two Acts of Parliament of the 14 of May and the 17 of June 1649. declaring what offences shall be judged treason, it is thus expressed: Whereas the Parliament hath abolished the Kingly Office in England and Ireland, and in the dominions and territories thereunto belonging, and hath resolved and declared that the people shall for the future be governed by its own Representatives, or National Meetings in Council, chosen and entrusted by them for that purpose.  
And the Prisoner at the Bar for further plea in the second place saith, that his Declarations as a Soldier or Commander to this purpose are so full as more cannot be said; and particularly that remarkable Declaration of the 14 of June 1647. printed in the Army's Book of Declar. p. 36. 37. etc. in which 37. p. there he positively declares that the settling of the liberties, and freedoms, and peace of the Nation is the blessing of God, than which of all worldly things, nothing (say they) is more dear unto us, or more precious in our thoughts; we having hitherto thought all our present enjoments (whether of live or livelihood, or nearest relations) a price but sufficient to the puchase of so rich a blessing, that we and all the freeborn people of this Nation may sit down in quiet under our Vines, and under the glorious administration of justice and righteousness, and in full possession of those fundamental rights and liberties, without which we can have little hopes (as to humane considerations) to enjoy either any comforts of life, or so much as life itself, but at the pleasures of some men ruling merely according to will and power. And therein, pag. 43. they declared it is their earnest desire, that some determinate period of time may be set for the countinuance of this and future Parliaments, beyond which none shall continue, and upon which new Writs may of course issue out, and new Elections successively take place, according to the intent of the Bill for triennial Parliaments; which Bill or Act being one of the first Laws passed by the late Parliament, in the year 1640. Expressly by name in divers places of it declares it is the undoubted right of the Freeholders, Citizens, and other Freeborn persons of England, to elect such persons as they please for their Representors in the Parliament or Common counsel of the Nation, as at large appears by the Act itself, reference thereunto being had; Unto which the prisoner at the Bar for further confirmation referreth himself, and in his, and the Officers of the Armies large Declaration for trial of the late King, dated at St. Albon November, 1948. they in page 14. 15. thus declare themselves; that the sum of the public interest of the Nation, in relation to common right and freedom (which they there a vow to be the chief subject of their contest with the King) and in opposition to tyranny and injustice of Kings or others they judge to lie.  
First, that all matters of supreme trust or concernment to the safety and welfare of the whole, they have a common and supreme counsel of Parliament, and that (as to he common behalf, who cannot all meet together themselves) to consist of Deputies or Representors freely chosen by them with as much equality as may be: and after in that Remonstrance, they have made large Declarations of divers things for the good of the people of England, in pag. 65. they desired that the Parliament would set some reasonable and certain period to their power and sitting; by which time (say they) That great and supreme trust reposed in you, shall be returned in●o the hands of the people, from, and for whom you received it, that so you may give them satisfaction and assurance, that what you have contended for against the King (for which they have been put to so much trouble, cost, and loss of blood) hath been only for their liberties, and common interest, and not for your own personal interest.  
And in the next page, being pag. 66. they vehemently press for the equal distribution of elections thereunto, to render the house of Commons as near as may be, an equal Representative of the whole people electing; and they there also press, for the establishing a certainty for the people's meeting to elect, and for their full freedom in election, provided that none who have engaged, or shall engage in war against the right of Parliament and interest of the kingdom therein, or have adhered to the enemies thereof, may be capable of electing, or being elected (at least during a competent number of years) nor any other who shall oppose, or not join in agreement to this settlement: and in the next pag. being 67. In their first head, they desire liberty of entering dissents in the said Representatives, that in case of corruption, or abuse in these matters of highest trust, the people may be in capacity to know who are free thereof, and who guilty, to the end only the people may avoid the future trusting of such: and suitable to these heads and others of public freedom there laid down, the said General Cromwell and the rest of his Officers, concluded upon a platform of Government, for the securing the future liberties and freedoms of the people in all the aforesaid concernments; and entitled it, An Agreement prepared for the people of England, and the places there incorporated, which was with seriousness presented by Lieut. General Hamond, Col. Okey, and other Officers of the Army to the Parliament upon the 20 of January 1649. as the sum of all they had been fight for, and all that which they desired to establish for the future good of the Nation; as more at large doth appear by the printed Model of the said agreement; reference thereunto being had, and unto which for further satisfaction the prisoner at the Bar refers himself.  
And in the General's last Declaration of April 22 last, p. 6. there he declares it his earnest desire to reform the Law, and administer justice impartially, hoping thereby the people might forget Monarchy; and understanding their true interest in the election of successive Parliaments, may have the Government settled upon a true Basis.  
And the prisoner at the Bar for further plea saith, That he cannot see or apprehend how the said Lord General, or Major-General Harison, can, if they continue and persevere as they have begun, to execute the said unjust and injurious Act of Parliament upon the said John Lilburn prisoner at the Bar (which is one of the most wicked and unjust that ever the Parliament 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 before God or man, acquit themselves of being guilty of the highest Treasons, both by the letter and equity of the two  Laws of the 14 of May and the 17 of June 1649. lately made in part by themselves, but principally by their instigators, in forcibly dissolving the late Parliament against their own voluntary 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 Parliament by the roots, not in the least for evil, oppression, injustice, or breach of trust they had committed against the Nation, or honest people thereof, (that never yet in the least, upon their own principles, forfeited their Liberties and Freedoms) but only because they would destroy the Parliament, 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 then absolute wills and pleasures, and to deal worse and in arbitrarily with the honest inhabitants thereof, than any Conqueror that every ●n before them did, although themselves, against the late King, have in The K●ng Cas● stated, p. 22. by John Cook their own Atturney-General publicly declared, That Conquest is a Title o● Government fit to be exercised amongst Bears and Wolves, but gol●●n 〈◊〉 least among men. And for any to aver us in England to be a conquered Nation, is not only expressly against the tenor of the Armies many and remarkable Declarations, but it is such an averment, than which there can be none more pregnant and fruitful in Treason than it, as Mr. John ●ym in his learned and rational printed Argument, by the special Order of the House of Commons, the 29 of April 1641. against the Earl of Strafford, avers. And further, in pag. 6. saith, There are few Nations in the world that have not been conquered: and no doubt but the Conqueror may give what Laws he please to those that are conquered; but if the succeeding pac●s 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 than Ireland: if the King by the right of a Conqueror give Laws to his people, shall not the people by the same reason be restored to the right of the Conquered, to recover their liberty if they can? what can be more hurtful, more pernicious to both, than such propositions as these, which must needs be most truly averred, have no end of blood 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 intrust (as in some measure they have done) the General and his Officers with the custody, and preservation of their lives, liberties, freedoms, and proprieties, with any the least intention, that when they had subdued their common enemies, they should subdue their fundamental laws and rights (for the preservation of which, the only contest with the common enemy was begun) and then give them a law flowing from their uncertain discretionary wills and pleasures. Sure I am, that righteous and just David calls those sons of Belial, and wicked men, that would go about to deprive those that stayed with the stuff of an equal share in the Conquest, even with those that went out to fight, 1 Sam. 30.21, 22, 23, 24, 25. etc. And righteous and just Abraham, out of his affection to his brother Lot, ventured his life by fore of Arms, to redeem him from his captivity, and with him redeemed the people of the King of Sodom, and their goods, after they were overthrown in pitched battle: after which valiant and friendly service, the King of Sodom entreated of Abraham, to give him the persons, and to take the goods to himself: unto which the righteous man answers (although the King of Sodom was an al●en and stranger to him and all his, and all that he had taken was by our present Christian Soldiers Marshal-law good priz) I have lift up my hand to the Lord (as the present General hath often done, and solemnly protested and sworn, to make this Nation free and happy) the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take from a thread even to a shoo-latchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abraham rich. And honest and Godly (not in word and show, but ●n real substantial actions) Nehemiah, when the cries of the poor Jews and their wives were very great, by reason of the sword and violence of their adversaries, and the grinding oppression of their Nobles and great men; Just Nehemiah was very angry when he heard the poor people's cry, and rebuked the Nobles and Rulers for their oppression, and set a great assembly against them; and said unto them, It is not good that you do, ought you not to walk in the fear of our God, because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies? and made them restore to the poor people their lands, their Vineyards, their Olive yards, and their houses, etc. that they had taken by usury, and oppression from them, in the day of their straits and calamity; and so far was that just and righteous soul in the day of their Warfare, and hot contest with their enemies for their liberties and freedoms, from going from a poor and mean condition, to be worth many thousands a year amongst them, and to exercise more than princely jurisdiction and Lordship over them by his will and pleasures in robbing them of all their ancient, native, fundamental rights and freedoms, that he did the quite contrary: for, saith he, when the time came, I was appointed to be their Governor in the land of Judah, from the 20 year to the 32 year of Artaxerxes the King; that is, twelve years I and my Brethren have not eat the bread of the Governors; but the former Governors that had been before me, were chargeable unto the people, and had taken of them bread and wine; besides forty Shekels of Silver; yea even their servants bare rule over the people; but so did not I, because of the fear of God; yea also I continued in the work of this Wall; neither bought we any land, and all my servants were gathered theither unto the Work. Moreover, there were at my Table 150 of the Jews and Rulers; besides those that came unto us from among the heathen that are about us: yet for all this required not I the bread or the Govenour, because the bondage was heavy upon the people his brethren and countrymen, and therefore in the cleanness of his heart, and the integrity of his soul he cries out, Think upon me my God for good, according to all that I have done for this people.  
And sure I am that worthy man in his age, Mr. John Pym in his foresaid excellent speeches, page 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 heinous. Therefore to conclude, though John Lilburn the prisoner at the Bar, could and might urge many things more against the Parliaments legallest power, in all manner of special acts; or acts of Attainders, the arguments against which are excellently set down in that rational and highly to be commended plea in law, entitled The laws subversion (pag. 32.) or Sir John Maynards' case truly stated in 1648. by John holden Gentleman; and to say that a freeman of England by Law may be tried by a Bill of Attainder, is irrational and unjust; for such a proceeding is no trial, but rather a sentence, and it is no act of jurisdiction, but an act of the legislative power, but no sentence can be passed against an offender, but by some fore-declared visible, known rule or law; of which the supposed offender, either actually had, or might have had knowledge. The Law saith, invincible ignorance of the Law excuseth a toto from the whole offence; but surely than no judgement can be passed justly upon any man by a law that was not in being, when his supposed offence was committed in that case; though the fact were in itself evil, yet it were not judicially evil, if no law in the Nation were extent against it: and so by consequence a law to punish a person in that case, were a law to destroy an innocent man: and whosoever shall duly weigh the law-giving power, shall find that the essential properties of that power is to respect things or actions that are to come, not bypast, and their no jurisdictions in the least as to punish man whatsoever that is not of them; for if my crime whatsoever, which in part is already touched upon in the former part of the Prisoners Plea at the Bar, and also the absolute Irrationality and Illegality, of their making a particular law, or their setting up of a particular Court, for a particular man: which are notably and rationally discussed upon, in the se●ond Edition of the book Entitled, The Picture of the Council of State, pag. 45. and the second Edition of The Legal, Fundamental Liberties of England rec●iv●d, asserted, and vindicated, pag. 71 72, 73. For though a Parliament hath power to levy what money they judge convenient upon the people, by a general tax for common safety of the Nation, which Act both by Law and reason they may do; yet they cannot in law equity, or reason lay all tax upon one, two, or three men alone, and so make them bear all the charges of the public, even so though Parliaments may pass Acts for the good of the People, to administer law indifferently to all the people of England alike, without exception of persons; yet they can neither by law nor reason, pass a particular Act of Parliament on purpose to destroy or condemn one, two, or three individual persons, and which shall not in his extent or intention reach any body else, because such an Act is against common reason, common equity, all English men or people being all borne free equally alike, and the liberties and freedoms thereof being equally entailed to all alike without exception of persons, and theref●…●…e in common reason not to be burdened with an Iron yoke of a particular Act of Parliament, when the universalities goeth scotfree in that particular  
Yea, he might urge many Arguments lawful to prove, that the Parliament was no Parliament: when they passed the said Act of Banishment, but were long before dissolved, and that by their own consents, when the late Parliament took upon them the exercise of regality, and the dissolution of Kingship, and the house of Lords, as it is notaly endeavoured to be proved, in the late discourse of the Armies champions: as for particularly, one licenced to be printed for Giles Calvert, and another by Richard Moon at the ssven sters in Paul's Church yard; and that it was long since dissolved, by that learned man in the Law of England, Judge Jenkins, renders many reasons in Law to prove it, as in his works printed for J. Gyles, are to be read, p. 19 20. 26. 27. 48. 49. 50. 96. 139. 140. 142. 147. But much more full to prove its absolute dissolution long since, is Mr. Will. Prynne Barrister at Law, In his Law-Arguments of the 16 of June, 1649. called A Legal vindication of the Liberties of England against illegal Taxes and pretended Acts of Parliament, p. 3, 4, 5, 6, etc. and p. 44, 45, 46, etc.  
And that the Parl. Acts long since in Law dissolved, the prisoner at the Bar for further plea saith, The death of tde King in law indispensibly dissolved the late Parl. as appears by the express Judgement of the Parl. of 1 H. 4. Rot. Parl. Num. 1. and the Parl. of 14 H. 4. & 1 H. 5. Rot. Parl. N. 26. and 4 part Cooks jast. f. 46. (which book was published for good Law by two special Orders of the House of Commons, in an. 1641) and 4 E. 4. 44 b. For the Writ of Summons of the late Parliament, that was directed to the Sheriffs, by virtue of which men were chosen for the last Parl. runs in these words: King Charles being to have conference and treaty with and upon such a day, about or concerning (as the words of the Triennial Act hath it) and high and urgent affairs, concerning his Majesty, the State, and the defence of the kingdom, and Church of England. But how it's possible for a Parl. to confer or treat with King Charles now he is dead, is not to be imagined. See 2 H. 5. Cook tit. Parl. 3. and therefore the whole current of the Law of England (yea Reason itself) from the beginning to the end, is expressly, that the King's death doth ipso facto dissolve this late Parliament, though it had been all the time before never so entire and unquestionable to that very hour. And it must needs be so, he being in Law, yea and by the authority of this very Parl. styled, The Head, the Beginning, and End of Parliaments. See Cooks 1 part Instit. f. 109. b. 110. a. and 4 part Inst. f. 1, 2, 3. and Mr. Pym's  Speech against Strafford, p. 8. and the Lord St. Jo●ns Argum. against Strafford, p. 12, 70, 71. and therefore as a Parl. in Law cannot begin without the King's presence in it, either by person, or representation, Cook ibid. in part 4. fol. 6. see also Rot. Parl. 25 E. 3. N. 10. so it is positively dissolved by his death: for thereby not only the true declared, but intended end of their assembling (which was to treat and confer with King Charles) is ceased. See 1 Edw. 6. cap. 7. Cooks 7 Rep. 30, 30. and Dyer 156. & 4 E. 4. f. 43, 44. & 1 E. 5. f. 1. Brooks Commission, 19, 21. and thereby a final end is put unto all the means that are appointed to attain unto the end, and therefore it is as impossible for the late Parliament, or any Parliament summoned by the King, to be the Parliament in law after his death, as it is for a Parl. to make King Charles alive again. The King's Writ that summoned this Parl. is the basis in Law, and foundation of this Parl. If the foundation be destroyed, the Parl. falls: but the foundation of it, in every circumstance, is destroyed; and therefore the thing built upon that foundation must needs fall: it is a Maxim both in Law and Reason. But if it be objected, the law of necessity required the continuance of the Parliament against the letter of the Law. The Prisoner at the Bar answers; first, its necessary to consider, whether the men that would have it continue as long as they please, or after it is in Law dissolved, be not those that have created the necessities on purpose, that by the colour thereof, they may make themselves great and potent; and if so, than that objection hath no weight, nor by any rules of Justice can they be allowed to gain this advantage by their own fault, as to make that a ground of their justification, which is a great part of their offence, and that it is true in itself, is so obvious to every  knowing eye, it needs no illustration. Secondly I answer, There can be no necessity be pretended, that can be justifiable for breach of trusts that are conferred on purpose for the redress of mischiefs and grievances, yea to the subversions of Laws and liberties. I am sure Mr. Pym by the Parliaments command and order told the Earl of Strafford so, when he objected the like, and that he was the King's Counsellor, and might not be question for any thing he advised according to his conscience. But saith Mr. Pym p. 11. he that will have the privileges of a Counsel, must keep within the just bounds of a Counsellor, those matters are the proper subjects of counsel, wihch in their times and occasions may be good or beneficial to the King or Commonwealth. But such Teasons as these, the subversion of the Laws, violation of liberties, they can never be good or justifiable by any circumstances or occasions; and therefore saith he, his being a Counsellor maketh his fault much more heinous, as being committed against a great trust: and in page 12. he answers another excuse of his which was, that what he did, he did with a good intention. It's true, saith Mr. Pym, Some matters that are hurtful and dangerous may he accompanied with such circumstances, as may make it appear useful and convenient, and in all such cases good intentions will justtifie evil counsel; but where the matters prepounded are evil in their own nature, such as the matters are with which the Earl of Strafford is charged, viz. to break a public saith to subvert laws and Government; they can never be justified by any intentions, how specious or good soever they pretended; see in Mr. Steels answer to Duke Hambletons' objection in the like case, in his case stated, pag. 12. 13. 14.  
The prisoner at the Bar shall close all at present with this plea, viz. that although by the said unjust Act of Banishment the Act itself doth authorise all Judges, Majors, Sheriffs, Bailiffs, and all other Officers, as well Military as Civil, in their respective places to be aiding and assisting in apprehending, viz. the said banished Lieut. Col. John Lilburn; yet it authorizeth none of them in the least to arraign, 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 Gent. now prisoner at the bar were that Lieut. Col. John Lilburn mentioned in the said Act of Banishment, (as with confidence, for the just and legal reasons at the beginning of this Plea mentioned, he doth a vow 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 passed the Act of Banishment themselves against the John Lilburn therein mentioned and meant; so they resolve to o reserve only to themselves the final judging and condemning of him; which cannot be now without their sitting again: And that in special and extraordinary acts of Parliament (as the aforesaid Act of Banishment is) there ought in law to be plain, evident, and full words, (especially when it doth concern life) to demonstrate and express who shall finally put the said Acts in execution. And that this is Law, the same Parliament that made the foresaid Act of Banishment doth in several Acts since fully justify this the prisoner at the Bar's averment of several of their Acts of Parliament, as particularly that of Aug. 2. 1650. entitled, An Act to prohibit all commerce and traffic between England and Scotland, and enjoin the departure of the Scots ou● of this Commonwealth. In the Preamble or beginning of which, the mischievous designs of the Scotish nation are declared, and their compelling of England to make war upon them. In the body of which Act it is declared (for the raking off, as the Act saith, all pretence of ignorance) and enacted, That all and every person or persons within this Commonwealth (of England) or the Dominions thereof, that shall from and after the 5 of August 1641 use, hold, or maintain any correspondency or intelligence with any person or persons of the Scotish nation, etc. or shall abet, assist, countenance, or encourage the said Scotish nation, or any other per●on or persons adhering to them, in their war against the Parliament and Commonwealth of England; or shall go o● send, or cause to be sent or conveyed any men, mon●ys, horse, arms, ammunition, or other furniture of war, plate, goods, or merchandise, or other supply whatsoever, in●o Scotland, or any ports or places thereof, etc. all and every such person or persons so offending, (without such licence as is therein mentioned) shall be adjudged as Traitors to this Commonwealth, and shall undergo all the pains, penalties, and forfeitures, as in case of high-treason. And although the Scots were at present as great enemies to the Parliament, as the Parl. could imagine any persons in the world could be, and the offences aforementioned of any of them against this nation as criminous, and the time as arbitrary a time (being a time of war) as could be imagined; yet the Parliament would be so just, even to strangers and aliens, and people or a foreign nation, as not to leave them arbitrary for their transgressions, to be punished by whom were pleased first to lay hold of it; but in ample and plain words fixeth upon the persons that are to do it or execute it; therefore the Act expressly saith, The same offences shall be enquired of, tried, judged, and determined by the Commissioners for the high Court of Justice lately established, in such manner and form as other offences already reserved to the power and cognizance of that Court are to be hdard and determined. And in the second part of the Act, the makers of it come to declare it treason for any person or persons of the Scotish nation (without such licence as is therein mentioned) to be found within the Lines of Communication after Aug. 10. 1631. And in the third place, the matter of the said Act makes it high treason for any person or persons of the Scotish nation (without licence as is therein mentioned) to stay within the limits of the Commonwealth after Sept. 1. 1651. Yet the prisoner at the bar, as he saith before, doth now avow, that the said Parl. that made the said Act, would be so just men unto strangers and aliens, and people of a foreign nation, as not to leave them arbitrary for their transgressions, to be punished by whom were pleased first to lay hold on them; but in ample and plain words fixeth upon the persons that are to do it, or execute it: and therefore the Act again expressly saith, That the said offences and treasons shall be proceeded against by the said Commissioners of the high Court of Justice, who are required to give Judgement and Sentence of death against offenders. And every person and persons so found guilty of the said offences, shall suffer the pains of death as traitors and enemies, in such manner as the said Commissioners shall adjudge and appoint. And the same ample and full words as in that special Act for suppressing of Incest, Adultery, etc. which by plain and evident words doth refer the punishment of the offenders therein named to the next Assizes or Goal-delivery to be held for the said County where the fact is committed. And the very selfsame particular words are in the Act entitled An Act against several atheistical, blasphemous, and execrable Opinions derogatory to the honour of God, and destructive to humane society, to refer the punishment of all the transgressors thereof at common law before the Justices of Assize or Goal-delivery, as by the Acts themselves doth more fully appear; unto which the prisoner at the bar for more safety referreth himself.  
And lastly, the prisoner at the bar for his final plea saith, That Lieut. Col. John Lilburn indicted in the said Indictment now read, is none of the prisoner at the bar's name, and so he is not the party mentioned in the said Indictment now read.  
All which premises he is ready to prove for good Law: and therefore humbly prays the judgement of the Court before he put himself upon any further Trial.  
July 13. 1653. John Lilburn Gentleman.