S52 
JOHN LILBURNE. 
of high treason, but was saved by a declaration of parliament, threat- 
ening reprisals, and soon after w^as exchanged. He was received 
with triumph by his party, and rewarded with a purse of three hun- 
dred pounds. 
When his general, the earl of Essex, began to urge the Scotch cove- 
nant in the army, Lilburne, who was attached to the principles of 
the Independents, left him, and obtained the commission of major of 
foot in the forces raised by the earl of Manchester. The regiment in 
which he served was sent to garrison Boston in Lincolnshire, and he 
was diligent in putting the place in a good state of defence. Having 
quarrelled here w ith his colonel, the earl of Manchester made him lieu- 
tenant colonel to his own regiment of dragoons, in which situation he 
behaved wdth great bravery at the battle of Marston-moor, in 1644. 
Cromwell and Fairfax would willingly have given him a good post in 
the army, as new-modelled in 1645 ; but Lilburne’s dislike to Presby- 
terian church government would not permit him to serve the party 
then in power, and he laid down his sword. This, however, was only 
to take up his other weapon, the pen, which he employed against 
Prynne, Lenthal, and other persons. He was in consequence committed 
to Newgate on a charge of seditious practices ; but no bill being found 
against him, he was discharged without trial. 
It would be a waste of the reader’s time to enter into all the events 
of this man’s turbulent life, which are detailed with extraordinary mi- 
nuteness in the Biographia Britannica. A few' incidents, mpst impor- 
tant to his character and that of the times, will suffice for the remain- 
der of the article. Having thrown out some reflections against the 
earl of Manchester, for which he was brought before the house of 
lords, he treated the jurisdiction of that house with so much contempt, 
that he was committed first to Newgate, and then to the Tower. So 
much was he regarded by the people as the champion of liberty, that 
a remonstrance, signed by many thousand names, was presented to the 
house of commons iii his behalf. This failing of effect, he continued 
to publish pamphlets, in which he displayed his grievances in such 
bold and virulent language, that he rendered the leading men of all 
parties his enemies. 
Finding himself abandoned by the parliament, he endeavoured to 
engage the army in his favour; and as he conceived that his wishes 
were thwarted by Cromwell, he did not scruple to charge that power- 
ful man with a design of usurping the sovereignty. He even brought 
a charge of high treason against Cromwell and Ireton, on account of 
which he was ordered to be tried for seditious and scandalous practices 
against the state. In conclusion, however, so active and numerous were 
his friends among the people, that the house of commons, in 1648, 
thought fit to discharge him from imprisonment, and make an order 
for giving him satisfaction for his sufferings. 
At the time of the king’s death, Lilburne was extremely busy in plans 
for settling a new mode of government. Finding the army-leaders 
resolved to keep the power in their own hands, he opposed them with 
his usual intrepidity, and boldly maintained the right of the people to 
form a constitution for themselves. So dangerous did he aspear to 
Cromwell and his council* that he was again committed to the Tower* 
