Sheweth:

THat by the wisdome, hazards, and industry of our prudent Ancestors, the great Char­ter of England was gained and confirmed, In the 29. chap. of which it is enacted, That no Freeman shall be taken, impri­soned, or be disseized of his Freehold or Liberties, or free Customes, or be outlawed or exiled, or otherwise destroyed; nor past upon, nor condemned, but by lawfull Judgement of his Peeres, or by the Law of the Land. And by the 15. and 16. chap. of which it is enacted, That no Freeman shall be distrained or compelled to make or maintaine Banks or Bridges, but what were in old time, and by such as were of right accustomed thereunto: For the well regulating and keeping in repaire of which, by future Statutes it is commanded, That Commissions be made in due forme to sufficient persons, to be Justices in every County of England; and they are authorized, (in pursuance of the intent of Magna Charta) to survey and inquire by Juries of the Neighbourhood, and to execute [Page 2]and do that which shall be needfull and just, according to Law (as appeares by the Statutes of 25 E. 3. cap. 2. and the 1 H. 4. cap. 12. and 6 H. 6. cap. 5. and 8 H. 6. cap. 2. and 12 Ed. 4. cap. 7. and 6 H. 8. cap. 10. All which are confirmed by the Commission of Sewers, contained in the Statute of the 23 H. 8. cap. 5. which expresly tyes up all the said Commissioners of Sewers, to proceed according to the Lawes, Customes, and Statutes of the Kingdome, and not otherwise; which is confirmed by the 3 and 4 Ed. 6. cap. 8. yea and by the Statute of Improvement, of the 43 Eliz. cap. 11. in which there is the first mention of an Undertaker; It is enacted, That the Lord or Lords, as well Bodies Politique or Corporate, as any other person or persons whatsoever, of all and every the Wasts and Commons aforesaid, and the most of the Commoners for their particular Commons; and likewise the Owners, and such as have or shall have in severall surrounded grounds, lying within or neare the same, may contract or bargaine for part of such Commons, Wasts, and severals aforesaid, with such as will undertake the drayning, and keeping dry perpetually the said grounds: Which Contract, Bar­gaine, and Conveyances thereupon made, shall be good and availeable in Law, to all constructions and purposes, against the said Lords of the said Soyle, &c. Provided that such Contract, Bargaine, Assignement, and Conveyances, be by writing Indented, Sealed, and delivered by the most part of such Commoners, and to the use of the Underta­kers, &c. And provided, That such Undertakers shall lay claime to nothing else, but onely that which is so bargain­ed or contracted for in the forme aforesaid: The effect and meaning of which Statute, is pursued by the Statute of the 4 Jac. chap. 8. in that Contract, Covenant, and Agree­ment, made by Indenture betweene the Owners of the Marshes of Lesues and Fants in the C [...]unty of Kent, and William Burrell of Ratcliffe, the Undertaker; and by the Statute of the 7 Jac. chap. 20. which provides for the reco­very of a great quantity of ground lately surrounded in [Page 3] Norfolk and Suffolk by the Sea; those two forementioned indubitable Priviledges, of the indifferency of the Com­missioners themselves, and the manner of their proceed­ing by Juries of good and lawfull men of the Neighbour­hood, are preserved to the free People therein concerned: Yet notwithstanding all the Priviledges of the aforesaid Magna Charta, and the other recited Statutes, Robert late Earle of Lindsey, Sir William Killagrew, Robert Long, now Secretary to Charles Stewart, Sonne to the late King, and divers other projecting Undertakers, by bribing the late King and divers Lords of the Councell (as hath been fully proved) with a designe to levell and destroy the said Anti­ent and good Lawes and Liberties of England, and to overthrow our proprieties. Which Actions in the late Ship-money, Judges and the Earle of Strafford were voted by the Parliament in 1640. to be Treason) procured from the late King (as by his Letter of the 12. of Febr. in the eighth yeare of his Reigne appeareth,) A Preroga­tive Power and Authority, by their owne wils, and with­out our consents to draine us, and to lay such a Tax upon us the Lords, Owners, and Commoners aforesaid, as (if it be paid) may defray the charge of the Worke, and recom­pence the Undertakers for their paines, without any re­spect to the interest of particular persons, or consulting the Owners; where by their owne single view, without any Inquisition or Verdict of Jurors) they finde our Land so surrounded or annoyed with water, that it shall receive benefit by the draining; And that the judgement of the said proiecting Undertakers (being both Judges and Par­ties) must be their rule of proceeding, and not the con­sent of the Owner, or the Rules of the Law. These are the expresse words of the Letter; In pursuance of which illegall and Prerogative power, they (like so many armed theeves) tooke possession of large proportions of our pro­priety, Lands, and Estates, and by force of Armes would have kept it; which we legally maintaining, had divers of our friends and associates murdered; and our proceedings [Page 4]at Law damm'd up by Councell-Table Orders, and left us either in Law or reason, no other remedy but an Ap­peale to the House of Commons: Upon the hearing and full examining of which businesse, in the particular Case of Master Robert Barkham, they thought it just upon the third of February, 1640. to vote, That the severall Impri­sonments of Master Barkham, by vertue of severall Or­ders from the Councell Board, is a grievance, and illegall.

Resolved, &c.

That reparation is fit to be given to Master Bark­ham, for his severall commitments, by those Lords of the Councell that have subscribed to his commitments.

Resolved, &c.

That Sir William Killagrew, and Sir Anthony Thomas, shall contribute towards those Reparations to be given to Master Barkham.

And upon the tenth of February, 1640. It was resolved upon the Question,

That Master Barkham shall be at liberty to proceed at Common Law touching the Premisses, and the Injun­ction made in the Court of Dutchy to be dissolved.

So here in his particular Case, the Locks and Bolts fast­ened upon the Law were taken off, and we left to enjoy our hereditarie Priviledges, or proper remedie at the Law. And besides this particular Case of his, the then House of Commons, in their Grand and first Remonstrance of the state of the Kingdome, and of the roots and causes of all the miseries possessing this Nation, enumerate the violence and injustice done to Your Petitioners, as one of the grand Grievances, Projects, injustice, Oppression and Violence, that brake in upon the Nation, without any restraint or moderation: And in Page 7. thus particularly expresse it: Large quantities of Common and severall Grounds have [Page 5]been taken from the Subject, by colour of the Statute of Improvement, and by abuse of the Commission of Sewers, without their consent, and against it. Yea and upon the Report of Sir Guy Palmes, the 29 July, 1641. of the Earle of Lindsey procuring an Order from the House of Lords, to stop us of the benefit of the Law against him and his As­sociates, the House resolved, That the said Order is a breach of the Priviledge of that House (the Cause there de­pending before them) and that the Commons were not bound by the said Orden.

Our whole businesse being long since examined before a Committee of Parliament, where Master Ellis had the Chaire; we were in hopes long since upon the Report thereof, to have exemplary Justice done upon our draining projecting Adversaries, as destroyers of propriety; with which if they had gone on, and so have taken away our E­states and Substance, we had beene no more a People; but the Warres coming on (in which divers of them had no lit­tle share, as beginners thereof) we waited with a patient expectation of the full enjoyment of all the benefits of your Primitive Declarations, for the full securing of our Liberties and Properties; abundance of us having beene active and faithfull in Armes, in yours and the Nations Service. But contrariwise, we by sad experience finde, that our Prerogative Projectors and Destroyers, that had long endeavoured with their swords &c. to cut your and our throats; after the Warres are ended, assume unto them­selves the impudence and boldnesse beyond our imagina­tions, lately to petition this Honourable House with fun­dry false suggestions, and pretence of Title to 14000 Acres of our said Fennes, for their endeavouring as afore­said, to draine us contrary to Law, and against our con­sents; which are our Properties, and therefore without our consents cannot upon any pretence whatsoever be ta­ken from us (as largely proved and declared by those two notable printed Arguments of Judge Crook and Judge Hut­ton, in the Case of Ship-money; as also by your remarka­ble [Page 6]Votes thereunto annexed; as also by the Act of the seventeenth of the late King, Declaring the Ship-Money to be illegall; as also by Naboth's preserving his Title to his Vineyard, against King Ahab, although he would have given him a better for it, or the worth of it in Money; hoping in our absence by the said Petition to have intru­ded, as formerly they have done, into our Antient and undoubted Right and Inheritance, legally preserved by us under your protection, at a vast charge. Now for­asmuch as by the whole Current of all your Declarati­ons, the end of the late Warres was to maintaine, de­fend, and secure our Properties, and Fundamentall Le­gall Rights, and not in the least to destroy them: And in your Declarations of the second of November, 1642. 1 Part Booke Dec. pag. 693. You declare your abhorren­cy and detestation of the Kings Charge laid upon you That you will dispose of the Peoples Fortunes and Estates by your owne Votes, contrary to the Law of Propriety. And in your Declaration of the seventeenth of Aprill, 1646. 2 Part, Booke, Dec. fol. 879. You declare, That al­though the necessity of Warre hath stopped the usuall course of Justice, enforced the Parliament for the pre­servation of this State, to impose and require many great and unusuall Payments from the good Subjects of this Kingdome, and to take extraordinary waies for pro­curing of Monies for their many pressing occasions; It having pleased God to reduce our Affairee into a more hopefull condition then heretofore; We do Declare, That We will not, nor any by colour of any Authority derived from us, shall not interrupt the ordinary course of Justice, in the severall Courts and Judicatories of this Kingdom, nor intermeddle in cases of private interest, otherwhere determinable, unless it be in case of Male Administrationem of Justice, wherein we shall see and provide that right be done, and punishment inflicted, as there shall be occasion, according to the Laws of the Kingdom, and the Trust re­posed in us.

And in your late Declarations of the ninth of Feb. 1648. and the seventeenth of March 1648. you declare you will main­tain the good old Laws and Customs of England, the Badges of our Freedom; The benefit whereof our Ancestors enjoyed long before the Conquest, and particularly the Great Char­ter of Liberties; and that excellent Law (as your selves call it) of the Petition of Right, with all things therein contai­ned, incident and belonging to the preservation of the Lives, Proprieties, and Liberties of the People; which you there ac­knowledge, being duely executed, are the most just, free, and equal of any other Laws in the world. And for the violating of the priviledges; of which Empson and Dudley, Privy Coun­cellors to Henry 7. for taking away mens Estates, and Pro­prieties, by their wills and discretions, without Tryals by Juries, Although they had an Act of Parliament (viz. the 11. Henry 7. Chap. 3. to warrant them for their so doing) lost their heads and lives upon Tower-hill, as Traitors, for sub­verting the Fundamental Laws and Liberties of England.

The premises seriously and duely considered, and in that in your Declaration of the 17. January. 1644. 1. Part Book Declar. pag. 39. in the Case of the Five Members, against whom Sir Wil. Killegrew was a violent Actor (as by that Declaration appears) You have declared, that you are very sensible, that it equally imports you aswell to see Justice done against them that are Criminous, as to defend the just Rights and Liberties of the Subjects, and Parliament of England: And in your Declaration of the 23 of Octob. 1642. 1. Part Book Dec. pa. 656. You declare, that the Execution of Justice is the Soul and Life of all Laws. Your Petitioners therefore humbly pray, That the said Pro­jecting and Propriety-destroying Sir Wil. Killegrew, with all his Participants, may (for the vindicating of the pub­lique Justice of the Nation, and for the exemplary deterring of all other in future time to walk in his Arbitrary, Prero­gative Law, and Liberty-destroying steps) be speedily and effectually proceeded against, both as to Life and Estate, for his aforesaid Crimes, committed against the Comman Liber­ty, Peace, and Tranquility of the Nation, to the utmost extent of any Law in being before his said transgressions. [Page 8]And more particularly, that all Differences betwixt him, &c. and your Petitioners, or any other of their Associates, may be wholly and totally turned over, and left to the ordi­nary and due Course of the Common Law, in the Ordina­ry Courts of Justice, the proper and sole Administrators and Executors of the Law; That so we may thereby, without interruption, maintain our undoubted Inheritances, and proprieties, and legally recover our just Satisfaction and Re­parations, from him, &c. For all his, and their oppressions, murders, and violences committed upon us, and our associ­ates: It being (in our weak judgements) then, and onely then proper for him, by the Law of England now in be­ing, to appeal to the Parliament, after Tryals at the Com­mon Law, and his Conceptions of injustice done him there, which is cleer by the Statutes of the 27 of Elizab. Cha. 8. and 31. Eliz. c. 1. and the Lord Cooks Plea, fol. 2.24.37. And that we may be inabled to scoure, cleanse, wyden, and repair our ancient Rivers, Sewers, Drayns, Goats, Sluces, and Clowes, which will sufficiently keep dry our said Fenns: In the perfecting of which work, we have these 60 years, been interrupted and hindred, by that Court-project of Ʋndertaking.

SHEWETH,

THat in the said Parts of Holland and County of Lincoln, there is a great Common Fenn called Holland Fenn alias the eight hundred Fenn, conteining about one and twenty thousand Acres; within which your Petiti­oners and all others possessed of any ancient Messuage, Cot­tage, or Toftstead, within all or any of the eleven populous [Page 9]Towns abovesaid, have by prescription, time out of minde, peaceably without eviction or disturbance, had and enjoyed Common of pasture for themselves, their Tenants; and Far­mers, for all and all manner their own Cattel respectively, together with common of Turbary, and other Liberties, du­ring their respective residences in their Messuages, Cottages, or Toftsteads, as belonging and rightly appertaining to the same: Until of late years, some of your Petitioners were most injuriously vexed, aswell by unjust suits of Law, as by other illegal and tyrannical usurpations, promoted and pro­secuted in the name of the late King, by several undertakers, who were likewise Commissioners, all or most of them men not onely of ill affected spirits, but in these late Wars, open and violent oppugnors of the just priviledges, undoubted im­munities and common peace of this Nation; one while pre­tending the Kings Title to the said Fenns, when as in truth no such ever was or could be made appear: And otherwhiles by new Commissioners of Sewers, illegally procured, and as illegally executed, without inquision, verdict of Jurors, or other legal means; declaring a great part of the said Fenns to be hurtfully surrounded, assessing unnecesary and intolera­ble taxes for its draining: And in default of payment thereof, decrecing away from your Petitioners, and the rest of the Commissioners, eight thousand Acres of the said Fenn, worth fourscore thousand pounds at the least, at such a time when your Petitioners Cattel there depasturing, were ready to pe­rish for lack of water: Against all such which and other un­paralleld oppressive proceedings, not onely imprisoning and fining the persons of divers of your Petitioners, upon their humble, peaceable, and legal implorements of Justice, at large specified in a Petition formerly presented to your Ho­norable House, now remaining in the hands of William Ellis Esquire, then Chairman to the Committee for these affairs. Your Petitioners, though to their great trouble and charge, have not onely lawfully defended themselves, but hitherto have and still do maintain their possession and right in the said Fenns, in such sort as their Ancestors for many hundred of years past have injoyed the same. Yet taking notice, that the said undertakers, notorious and declared enemies of the good and peace of this Common-wealth, by new contri­vences [Page 10]promote their old corrupt interests; Your Petiti­oner [...] aswell in conformity to your first Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom, wherein your selves lay it down as a grievance, that large quantities of Commons have been taken from the Subjects, by colour of the Statute of improve­ment, and abuse of the Commission of Sewers, without their consents and against it; as in defence of their own just Pro­prieties, cannot but take themselves bound, as to protest a­gainst their horrid and long since exploded undertaking, So to remonstrate to your Honors, that the said eight hun­dred Fenn is, and time whereof the memory of man is not to the contrary, was a firme soyl apt for depasturing all manner of Cattel, most part of the year: By the commodi­tie of which many thousands with their families, have been and are incouraged to reside amongst us, the fruit of whose cordial affections, cheerful assistance and liberal contributi­ons in these late unhappy differences, the Parliament and Na­tion have been no ordinary participants. Upon all which,