Editing John Lilburne (section)

==On trial for high treason==
When [[Hugh Peters]] visited Lilburne in the Tower on 25 May 1649, Lilburne told him that he would rather have had seven years under the late king's rule than one under the present regime, and that in his opinion if the current regime remained as tyrannical as it was, then people would be prepared to fight for "Prince Charles".<ref>{{harvnb|Guizot|1854|loc=[https://archive.org/details/historyolivercr03scobgoog/page/n74 pp. 61, 64]}} cites ''A Discourse betwixt Lieut.-Colonel John Lilburne, close prisoner in the Tower of London, and Mr. Hugh Peters'', upon 25 May 1649, p. 8.</ref> Three months later in ''Outcry of the Apprentices to the Soldiers'' Lilburne stated that apprentices and soldiers fought to maintain the fundamental constitution of the Commonwealth and rights of the people in their Parliaments by regulating [[the Crown]] not against the person of the King.<ref>{{harvnb|Guizot|1854|loc=[https://archive.org/details/historyolivercr03scobgoog/page/n67 64]}} ''An Outcry of the Young Men and Apprentices of London'', 22 August 1649 p. 4.</ref>
[[File:John-lilburne-trial.jpg|thumb|Lilburne reads from [[Institutes of the Lawes of England|Coke's ''Institutes'']] at his trial.]]

There had been rumours after the [[Broadway meeting]] of January 1648, that Levellers were conspiring with Royalists to overthrow the new republic.{{sfn|Willis-Bund|2008|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=oCZnhesONHsC&pg=PA199 p. 199]}} During the [[Oxford mutiny]] this was confirmed when Parliament acquired a letter from a Royalist prisoner in the Tower of London to [[Lord Cottington]], an advisor in exile with Charles II in France, which suggested that the Royalists should finance the Levellers, as a method by which Charles could be restored to the throne. Armed with this evidence parliament published a long declaration against the Levellers and passed a motion to try Lilburne for [[high treason]], using a court similar to that which had tried Charles I. As in the trial of the King, sentence would be passed by appointed commissioners (forty for Lilburne's trial), but unlike in the case of the King (who had no peers) a jury of 12 would decide Lilburne's guilt or innocence.{{sfn|Guizot|1854|p=65}} The trial took place in the [[Guildhall, London|London Guildhall]].{{sfn|Guizot|1854|p=66}} It started on 24 October 1649, and lasted two days. When the jury found him not guilty, the public shouted their approval so loudly and for so long that it was another half hour before the proceedings could be formally closed.<ref>{{harvnb|Guizot|1854|p=66}} cites State Trials, vol. iv. cols. 1270–1470</ref>

Lilburne was not released immediately and was held for a further two weeks before pressure from the populace and some friends in Parliament finally secured his release.{{sfn|Guizot|1854|p=68}} Although some members of parliament were irked at Lilburne's release, Parliament had succeeded in suppressing open Leveller dissent. The Levellers gave up all attempts to rouse the country and army to open rebellion, and started to conspire ineffectually in secret.{{sfn|Guizot|1854|p=68}}