Page:The Leveller movement; a study in the history and political theory of the English Great Civil War (IA levellermovement01peas).djvu/126

 English summarizes the meaning of the whole later Leveller movement. The pamphlet further suggests that the charters of London be put in English so that every citizen may know his own rights; in this connection it quotes with approval a petition of the City of London of April 15, 1645, asking that the citizens may have freedom to petition Parliament directly and not merely through the common council. England’s Birth-right goes on to complain of the burden the excise lays on the poor; of the monopolies, notably that of the Merchant Adventurers on exported cloth; of the censorship of the press, and of the restriction to licensed preachers of the right to preach.

The radical platform criticises the constitutional status as well as the policy of the Long Parliament. Annual elections should be held, so that the people may remove worthless members and replace them