Page:The Leveller movement; a study in the history and political theory of the English Great Civil War (IA levellermovement01peas).djvu/138

 London could afford to speak more boldly than Edwards. On May 26 it presented humble remonstrances to each of the Houses of Parliament. But while the remonstrance to the Presbyterian House of Lords was caressing in tone, that to the House of Commons informed the House in so many words that its conduct was leading the sectaries to hope for a toleration not warranted by the Solemn League and Covenant, and such as the supporters of the remonstrance were pledged to oppose.

The Independents were ready with an answer. On the day that the City Remonstrance was presented, Lilburne handed to members of Parliament in Westminster Hall a tract entitled A Word in season. It warned Parliament against suffering any intruder to interpret its obligations under the Covenant lest, by so doing, it commit the great treason of giving itself a master. Addressing the supporters of the remonstrance, the tract accused them of presumption in venturing to speak for the whole people of England; the remonstrators were but a small part of the kingdom, and even if they were the whole, it was not their place to speak as they had done. Parliament was absolutely free to follow the dictates of its own understanding and conscience, informed by the Word of God and the principles of right reason, in choosing the course that would most probably lead to the welfare and safety of the people.