The Levellers
The most vocal of the Leveller leaders was John Lilburne. Other leaders included William Walwyn, Thomas Prince and Richard Overton. "Freeborn" John Lilburne regarded the term Levellers as pejorative. Lilburne called his supporters "Levellers so-called" and preferred to refer to The Levellers as "Agitators". The Levellers political ambitions were fundamentally middle-ground, and involved a remodelling of the English political process along the lines of a more egalitarian and less class-driven regime. They held (in the words of Richard Overton) that "by natural birth all men are equally and alike borne to like propriety, liberty and freedom", and that government should be a contract between equal citizens. Their manifesto included: universal suffrage for all adult males; biannual or annual elections; complete religious freedom; an end to the censorship of books and newspapers; the abolition of the monarchy and the House of Lords; trial by jury; an end to taxation of people earning less than £30 a year and a maximum interest rate of 6%. Their views were in stark contrast to groups such as The Diggers, who were led by Gerrard Winstanley and called themselves True Levellers. They called for a total destruction of the existing order and replacement with a communistic and agrarian lifestyle based around the precepts of the early Christians. The whole basis of Leveller politics was original in that it was not founded on religious doctrine. What the Levellers sought was a secular republic, without religious direction from the state. In common with later liberals they called for the abolition of tithes, the feudal fee charged to pay for the state church. They argued for complete religious tolerance, a position which was markedly radical for the time.
Time LineThe Putney Debates[1], at the St Mary's Church, Putney, in the county of Surrey, started on October 28 1647 and lasted into November, took place between other factions of the New Model Army and the Levellers, who's supporters were elected from each regiment of the army to participate. The discussions centred around the Agreement of the People[2], a written constitutional proposal drafted by civilian Levellers and endorsed by Army supporters and the preposals put forward by Henry Ireton, (son-in-law of Oliver Cromwell) The Heads of the Proposals[3] putting forward a constitutional manifesto which included the preservation of property rights and maintaining the privileges of the gentry. The Corkbush Field rendezvous on November 17 1647, was the first of three rendezvous to take place as agreed in the Putney Debates. The Army commanders Thomas Fairfax and Cromwell were worried at the strength of support which the Levellers had in the Army. So they decided to impose The Heads of the Proposals as the army's manifesto instead of the Levellers the Agreement of the People. When some refused to accept this, because the wanted the army to adopt Levellers' Agreement of the People, they were arrested and one of the ringleaders, Private Richard Arnold was executed. That the other two rendezvous the troops who were summond agreed to the manifesto without further protest. The Levellers largest petition titled To The Right Honovrable The Commons Of England[4] was presented to Parliament on September 11 1648 after amassing signatories including about a third of all Londoners. On October 30 1648 Thomas Rainsborough was killed. He was a Member of Parliament and also a Leveller leader who had spoken at the Putney Debates. His the funeral was the occasion for a large Leveller-led demonstration in London, with thousands of mourners wearing the Levellers' ribbons of sea-green and bunches of rosemary for remembrance in their hats. In January 1649 Charles I of England tried and executed for treason against the people. In February the "Grandees" (senior officers) ban petitions to Parliament by soldiers. In March Eight Leveller troopers went to the comander-in-Chief of the New Model Army, Thomas Fairfax and demand the restoration of the right to petition. Five of them were cashiered out of the army. 300 infantrymen of Colonel John Hewson's regiment, who declared that they would not serve in Ireland until the Levellers' programme had been realised, were cashiered without arrears of pay. Which was the threat that had been used to quell the mutiny at the Corkbush Field rendezvous. In the Bishopsgate mutiny soldiers of the regiment of Colonel Edward Whalley stationed in Bishopsgate London made demands similar to those of Hewson's regiment, they were ordered out of London. When the refused to go, fifteen soldiers were arrested and court marshalled, of whom six were sentenced to death. Five were pardoned and Robert Lockier, a former Levellers' Agitator was hanged April 27 1649. In 1649 Lieutenant Colonel John Lilburne, William Walwyn, Thomas Prince, and Richard Overton, were imprisoned by the Council of State in the Tower of London (see above). It was while the leaders of the Levellers were being held in the Tower of London that they wrote outline of the reforms the Levellers wanted in a pamphlet called An Agreement Of The Free People Of England[5] written on May 1 1649 while the leaders of the Levellers were being held in the Tower of London. It includes reforms since made law in England such as the right to silence and others such as an elected judiciary that have not. Shortly afterwards Cromwell attacked the "Banbury mutineers",, 400 troopers who supported the levellers and who were commanded by Captain William Thompson[6]. Several mutineers were killed in the skirmish, but Captain Thompson escaped only to be killed in another skirmish near the Digger community at Wellingborough. The three other leaders were hanged, William Thompson's brother, Corporal Perkins and John Church on May 17 1649. This destroyed the Leveller's power base in the New Model Army which by this time was the major power in the land. Although Walwyn and Overton were released from the Tower and Lilburne was tried and acquitted, the Leveller cause had effectively been crushed. In 1655 (?) Vane, Ludlow, Robert Overton, Harrison and Major Wildman, the head of the Levellers, were all arrested on the orders of Oliver Cromwell. Other usageIn 1724 there was a rising against enclosures in Galloway, and a number of men who took part therein were called Levellers or Dykebreakers (A. Lang, History of Scotland, vol. iv.). The word was also used in Ireland during the 18th century to describe a secret revolutionary society similar to the Whiteboys. [[ See alsoExternal link
Categories: Historical liberal parties | New Model Army | Levellers |
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