Note 563 — Chapter I · THE AGRARIAN PROBLEM AND THE STATE

Camden Society, Clarke Papers, vol. ii. pp. 215–217. Winstanley’s letter to Lord Fairfax and the Council of War begins: “That whereas we have begun to dig upon the Commons for livelihood, and have declared unto your excellency and the whole world our reasons, which are four. First, from the righteous law of creation that gives the earth freely to one as well as another, without respect of persons"; also Gooch, op. cit. The Owenite note may be more than a mere chance. Owen himself stated ("New View of Society"): “Any merit due for the discovery calculated to effect more substantial and permanent benefit to mankind than any ever yet contemplated by the human mind belongs exclusively to John Bellers.” Bellers published his College of Industry in 1696, and may easily have been acquainted with the story of the Diggers' agitation.