"To hang a man for
Six-and-eight-pence, and I know not what; to hang for a trifle and
acquit murder,--is in the ministration of the Law, through the ill
framing of it. I have known in my experience abominable murders
acquitted. And to see men lose their lives for petty matters: this is a
thing God will reckon for. And I wish it may not lie upon this Nation a
day longer than you have an opportunity to give a remedy; and I hope I
shall cheerfully join with you in it. This hath been a great grief to
many honest hearts and conscientious people; and I hope it is in all
your hearts to rectify it."

[170:1] "And truly this is matter of praise to God:--and it hath some
instruction in it, To own men who are religious and godly. And so many
of them as are peaceable and honestly and quietly disposed to live
within Government, and will be subject to those Gospel rules of obeying
Magistrates and living under Authority. I reckon no Godliness without
that circle! Without that spirit, let it pretend what it will, it is
diabolical, it is devilish," and so on. See Cromwell's Speech to his
Second Parliament, April 13th, 1657 (Carlyle, part x. p. 250). It would
almost seem as if Winstanley had written the above paragraph to answer
this explosive utterance of Cromwell, some six years before it took
place. As a matter of fact, of course, he was only answering an
objection which every little conventional upholder of existing abuses,
in his time as in our time, would be sure to make in one form or other.

CHAPTER XV

GERRARD WINSTANLEY'S UTOPIA

THE LAW OF FREEDOM (_continued_)

"Look on yonder earth:
The golden harvests spring; the unfailing sun
Sheds light and life; the fruits, the flowers, the trees,
Arise in due succession; all things speak
Peace, harmony and love.... Is Mother Earth
A step-dame to her numerous sons, who earn
Her unshared gifts with unremitting toil;
A mother only to those puling babes
Who, nursed in ease and luxury, make men
The playthings of their babyhood, and mar,
In self-important childishness, that peace
Which men alone appreciate?"--SHELLEY.

"The end of law," says Locke, "is not to abolish or restrain, but to
preserve and enlarge freedom." Winstanley evidently held the same view;
for he commences this, his last and greatest book, as follows:

"WHERE TRUE FREEDOM LIES.

"The great searching of heart in these days is to fin