as those Acts 2. v. 44, and desire to manure, dig and plant in the
waste grounds and commons, shall not be troubled or molested by any
of us, but rather furthered therein.

"We desire to go by the Golden Rule of Equity, viz., To do to all
men as we would they should do to us, and no otherwise: and as we
would tyrannise over none, so we shall not suffer ourselves to be
slaves to any whosoever."

That such views were not restricted to "the Levellers" may be inferred
from the very similar demands made in "A Petition of the Officers
engaged for Ireland," and presented to the House of Commons in July of
the same year (see Whitelocke, p. 413), from which we take the
following: "That proceedings in law may be in English, cheap, certain,
etc., and all suits and differences first to be arbitrated by three
neighbours, and if they cannot determine it, then to certify the Court."
They also "humbly pray"--"That Tithes may be taken away, and Two
Shillings in the Pound paid for all lands, out of which the Ministers to
be maintained and the Poor." This, we should think, was the first
petition to the House of Commons in favour of the Taxation of Land
Values.

In fact, religious and political speculation, as well as dissatisfaction
and discontent, were rife amongst the active and thoughtful of the
people, as well as in the Army. On the 17th of the previous month, some
of the soldiers, who, according to Gardiner,[87:1] "had resolved not to
leave England till the demands of the Levellers [the political
Levellers] had been granted--300 in Hewson's regiment alone," had
refused to go to Ireland, and had been promptly cashiered. On April 24th
a dispute about pay in one of the troops of Whalley's regiment had