Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1916 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER III THE FIRST RADICAL CRITICISM OF PARLIAMENT T N the summer of 1645, a few of the lesser members of the Independent party began to criticise certain actions of the House of Commons as contrary to the fundamental law of the kingdom. One particular action in question was the imprisonment of Lieutenant Colonel John Lilburne for his refusal to answer the questions of a parliamentary committee till he was sure his answers might not be made the basis of legal proceedings against him. The man in question on this occasion, as in many other events of his life, registered by his action a concrete protest against an illegal or inequitable act of the government. Because Lilburne continually exemplified in his actions the political principles of his party, it is difficult to disentangle the Leveller movement from the personality of the arch Leveller. Our estimate of the Leveller principles naturally varies with our estimate of the man. What we know of John Lilburne's life and character is told us partly by his friends, partly by his enemies, but mainly by himself. The comparative weight we attach to these sources of information will determine whether we regard Lilburne as a knave ready to feather his own nest in civil disorder, a blustering braggard, unable long to agree with any set of men, or a crusader for principles to which he clings through revolutions generally swayed by factional or personal considerations. To establish the proper weight to be assigned to each of these three views, a knowledge of his career before 1645 is necessary. John Lilburne was the younger son of a Durham family whose lineage traced to the fifteenth, perhaps even to the fourteenth century. Lilburne, though he might forget his gentle birth in his..."
