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A46947
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An essay concerning Parliaments at a certainty, or, The kalends of May by Samvel Johnson.
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Johnson, Samuel, 1649-1703.
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1693
(1693)
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Wing J826; ESTC R11823
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20,302
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52
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pur aides 〈◊〉 cuilets de 〈◊〉 Et ou les 〈◊〉 duissent faire al Common assent del Roy 〈◊〉 de ses Counties la le se font 〈◊〉 per le Roy 〈◊〉 ses Clerks 〈◊〉 per aliens 〈◊〉 autres que nosent contravener le 〈◊〉 eins 〈◊〉 de luy plaire 〈◊〉 de luy Counseller a son 〈◊〉 tout ne soit my le Counsel Covenable al Commons del People fans 〈◊〉 les Counties 〈◊〉 fans ensuer les Rules de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dount 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 se foundent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fur 〈◊〉 que sur Droit The second Abusion of the Law is that whereas Parliaments ought to Convene for the Salvation of the Souls of Trespassors and this at London and Two Times in the Year now a days they meet but seldom and at the Will of the King for Aids and Gatherings of Treasure And whereas Ordinances ought to be made by the Common Assent of the King and his Counties now they are made by the King and his Clerks and by Aliens and others that dare not Contradict the King but desire to Please him and to Counsel him for his own Profit though it be not Counsel which is Convenient for the Commons of the People without applying to the Counties and without following the Rules of Right Whereupon there are several of the present Ordinances that are rather founded upon Will than upon Right From this Passage I shall only observe that the Place of a Parliament's meeting is Fixed and still at London And that the Two Times a Year was standing Law down to King Edward the First though Abusions and Court-Practices had broken in upon the Law Now let us see how the Law stood afterwards wherein I can only consult the Books I have by me for I have not Health enough to go and Transcribe the Records in the Tower but take them upon Content as they lie in Sir Robert Cotton's Abridgment of the Records in the Tower And there in the very first Page 5 Ed. 〈◊〉 it is Ordained Que Parliament serra tenus un ou deux foits per An. That a Parliament shall be held one Time or Two Times a Year Here you see the Twice a Year is 〈◊〉 into Once or Twice The next is p. 93. of the same Bock 36. Ed. 3. The Print touching the Yearly holding of a Parliament cap. 10. agreeth with the Record Now the Print is Item for Maintenance of the said Articles and Statutes and Redress of divers Mischiefs which Daily happen a Parliament shall be holden every Year as another time was Ordained by Statute Now that Statute as I find by the Statute-Book for I cannot find it in Sir Robert Cotton is thus 4 Ed. 3. cap. 14. Item it is accorded that a Parliament shall be holden every Year Once and more Often if need be By the Reason given in the 36 Ed. 3. cap. 10. just now recited for a Yearly Parliament one would think it should be a Daily Parliament because it is for the Maintenance of former 〈◊〉 and Redress of divers Mischiefs which Daily happen But I believe that a Parliament which Sits but Forty Days in the Year are able to do that Work Concerning which we will enquire further afterwards In the 50 Ed. 3. p. 138. The Parliament's Demand or Petition is this That a Parliament may be holden every Year the Knights of the Parliament may be chosen by the whole Counties and that the Sheriff may likewise be without brokage in Court The King's Answer is this To the Parliament there are Statutes made therefore To the Sheriffs there is answer made To the Knights it is agreed that they shall be chosen by common Consent of every County After these Three Laws in Ed. 3d's Time we come to the First of King Richard the Second p. 163. where the Petition or Demand for a Yearly Parliament is this That a Parliament may be Yearly holden in convenient place to redress Delays in Suits and to end such Cases as the Judges doubt of The King's Answer is It shall be as it hath been used In the 2 R. 2. p. 173. By the King's Commandment one Cause of opening the Parliament is Declared to be this Secondly for that it was enacted that a Parliament should Yearly be holden Nay if the Court insist upon a Yearly Parliament the Country may and ought Thus stood the Law of England till the 16 Caroli 1. when that King having discontinued Parliaments for Twelve Years and created a Distrust of him in the Breasts of his People which was Just for if a Prince spoil the Government for Twelve Years together who shall Trust him in the Thirteenth The Nation found a Necessity of having a Cautionary Parliament every Third Year to secure their Annual Parliaments for the Two Years immediately foregoing This is the true Reason of the Act for a Triennial Parliament which was a perfect Innovation both Name and Thing For I challenge any Antiquary Lawyer or Person whatsoever that has turned over Books to shew me the word Triennial joined to the word Parliament from the Foundation of this Government till the Year 1640. A Triennial Parliament therefore is so far from being the Constitution of this Government that if it were so a great number of our present Lords and Commoners are Older than the Constitution and were Born before it But as I said before that Act was only a Cautionary Act as a Town or Gate of a City is taken in Caution for performance of Articles This appears by the first thing which is Enacted in that Law namely That the Laws for a Parliament to be holden at least once a Year shall hereafter be duly Kept and Observed Scobel's Coll. 16 Car. 1. Cap. 1. This Act was Gently drawn up and had more of a Prospect than a Retrospect and does not look back into those Oppressions which King Charles himself in his large Declaration of August the 12th does acknowledge were Insupportable which were wholly owing to this long Intermission of Parliaments but it wisely provides that in case the two first Years Parliaments should fail then came a Peremptory Parliament which the King and Keeper might call if they pleased but if they did not the Counties and Burroughs of England were forced to send It is an Act that executes it self like our Act for Burying in Woollen and he that will see the Wisdom of it may read it where I have quoted it After this comes the Act 16 Car. 2. cap. 1. and repeals this Triennial Act because say they It is in Derogation of his Majesty's just Rights and Prerogative inherent to the Imperial Crown of this Realm for the Calling and Assembling of Parliaments whereupon the Triennial Act is Annulled as if it had never been made I wish it had never been made But we will stop there first It is annulled as if it had never been made There is nothing lost by that for then our Parliaments are where they were which was Due Annual Well now let
Kalends of May was a Greve's Court. Now what Court should this be belonging to a Greve or any Count or Viscount or President whatsoever for Greve is an Ambiguous Word It is not a Burghmote for that is Three times a Year by the Saxon Laws It is not a County Court for that by Edward the Senior's Laws N. 11. was in these words Ic Wille that aelc Gerefa haebbe Gemot a ymb feower wucan I will that each Greve have a Gemot at about Four Weeks So that there were Twelve in the Year It was not the Sheriffs Turn or le 〈◊〉 del 〈◊〉 for that was twice a Year 〈◊〉 Scirgemot on ger by the Laws of King Edgar cap. 5. it is not the Gemot for the View of Weapons or Arms which every Freeman in England was charged with and was bound to shew once every Year and as was wisely contrived all in one Day throughout all England but that Day was not in our Kalends of May but the Morrow after Candlemass Crastino Purificationis B. M. And therefore I cannot for my Life make any thing else of an Universal Anniversary Full Folkmote which is but semel in Anno scilicet in capite Kal. Maii but a Stationary Parliament Especially considering who they were and what they did The next thing to be considered is the Author or Founder of this Ancient Constitution which we have in the aforesaid Chap. De Greve Num. 35. amongst the Laws of Good King Edward Hanc Legem Invenit Arthurus qui quondam fuit Inclytissimus Rex Brytonum ità consolidavit confoederavit regnum Britanniae universum semper in unum This Law of the Anniversary Folkmore Arthur Invented who was heretefore the most Renowned King of the Brytons and thereby he consolidated and confederated together the whole Realm of Britany for ever as One Man It is good to Honour the Founders of all Useful Constitutions and I believe that 〈◊〉 Arthur was the Inventor of this as to this Realm because these Laws of K. Edward say so And so was Cadmus the Inventor of Letters in Greece though we 〈◊〉 trace them out of Phoenicia and the Letters speak for themselves For if it be Aleph Beth Gimel Daleth in one Place and in the same Order it is Alpha Beta Gamma Delta in the other Place then we are sure there has been an Understanding and Communication For it is impossible to be otherwise when the Alphabets are settled on both Sides by being their Numeral Letters as it was plainly in King David's Time by the Octonaries of the 119th Psalm as it stands in the middle of the Bible and as it was in Homer's Time in Greece or else the Old Scholiasts have deceived me who say that Homer purposely couched the Number of all his Books in the first Word of his Iliads 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which Numerals stand for 48. The Greeks likewise taught the Welch to tell Twenty and I believe they taught the Romans too Now by the same Rule if there was a very Ancient Folkmote in the Neighbouring Kingdom of France upon every Kalends of May then perhaps King Arthur borrowed from them and it is good to look upon their Kalends because it is possible they may give Light to Ours The French Kalends of May lie thus in Radulphus de Diceto a Famous Dean of Paul's in King John's time whose History was thought so Authentick that the English Parliament in Edward the First 's time Relied upon his Testimony amongst some others in no less a Point than the Claim of the King of England to the Supream Dominion of the Realm of Scotland As to our present business he has these Words Abbreviat Chronicorum pag. 439. Abhinc Francorum Regibus à solita fortitudine scientia degenerantibus regni potentia disponebatur per Majores domus Regibus solo nomine regnantibus Quibus moris erat principari quidem secundum genus nil agere vel disponere praeterquam irrationabiliter edere bibere domique morari Kal. Maii praesidere coram totâ gente salutari obsequia dona accipere rependere sic secum usque ad alium Maium permanere I will render the Sense of it into English as near as I can However the Latin lies before every Man to Translate it for himself From henceforward the French Kings degenerating from the Valour and Learning which they used to have the Power of the Kingdom was Administred by the Masters of the Palace the Kings themselves being upon the Matter only Titular whose Custom it was to come to the Crown indeed according to their Descent and neither to Act nor Order any thing but to Eat and Drink Unconscionably and to live at Home and upon the Kalends of May to Preside in an Assembly of the whole Nation and there to be Addressed to receive their Allegiances and Aids or Benevolences and to Remercie them and so to retire to the same Life again till another May came This French Kalends of May is so much a Picture of Ours that I know not which is the Copy nor which the Original Their's was an Assembly of the whole Nation so was Our's Annual and Anniversary so was Our's It was 〈◊〉 Gens Kal. Maii in France Our Folkmote looks extreamly like it in those two Strokes Statutum est enim quod ibi debent populi omnes gentes Universae singulis annis semel in anno scilicet convenire scilicet in capite Kal. Mati For it was Appointed by Statute that all the People and Counties Universal should meet together at the Folkmote each Year namely Once in the Year namely in the Beginnings of the Kalends of May. The King used to have fine Speeches made to him in France so had we They swore Allegiance to him so did our Folk They gave him Gifts it was not New-Year's tide Aids Benevolences call them what you will and our People at the same time as Sir H. Spelman said above Consulted of Peace and War which cannot be managed without Ways and Means of raising Money which is the Sinews of War as Laws are of Peace The word rependere at last in the French Kalends looks so like our French form of the Royal Assent given to a Money Bill le 〈◊〉 Remercie ses Loyals Sujects that I knew not how to render the word Rependere any otherwise than I did by the word Remercie I know that the Year 662 was below K. Arthur's Time but it appears that when the French Government was utterly spoiled in the Merovingian Family as to the other Points still they retained the old Custom of the Kalends of May so that it was of much greater standing The Conclusion And thus I have finished what I at first propoundded but under such difficulties and disadvantages of a broken Health as I do verily believe never Book was Written And for that Reason I am certain that the very Great Personages to whom I ventured to Offer it though it was upon presumption of a better Performance will bear with it to whom I wholly Submit it with all Deference and if one single Word of it should happen to be against Law I here revoke it before hand And for the same Reason I earnestly desire all Antiquaries and Learned Men to look further into this Matter because I my self cannot And as they see Cause either to Confirm or Confute my Notion which is Indifferent to me because I only seek Truth I do not speak thus doubtingly concerning Annual Parliaments for I am Positive in them but if People will have the utmost of Antiquities and the very Original of the Wisest and Justest Government in the World they must sometimes be content to Read with Letters that are somewhat Worn Though I have been of Opinion for many a Year that the Kalends of May were very Legible And I am sure that I have by this Time gained my Point which was to set Wiser Men upon Thinking I was afraid that this Government would float and move upon the Face of the Waters till we were at a certainty about our Parliaments and therefore when I waited upon my Lord Devonshire before the Coronation and it is my Fault I have not done it often since I said that we were never the Better for this Revolution till we had a Settlement of Parliaments and our Ancient Right was Anniversary Parliaments and that nothing else could set the Government to rights Knowing how much he had Assisted the King and seeing the white Staff in his Hand I concluded upon his Interest with the King and therefore said My Lord you may make a Complement of this Matter to the King and tell him that we must have Good Laws in a Good Reign or never for we cannot have them in a Bad one but the Laws made in a Good Reign are to support us when a bad one comes as the seven Years of Plenty in Egypt sustained the seven Years of Famine It breaks no Rules to repeat my own Discourse to his Lordship and to say that he gave me the hearing nor to say that a certain Knight pulled me by the Sleeve which had no other Effect than to make me speak the more and the more earnestly to my Lord in that matter Likewise when Mr. Johnston the present Secretary of State for Scotland told me in the Court of Requests that the Bill of Rights was going up to the House of Lords I wish'd at that Time that all the Rights were reduced to One Line which was our Right To have a Parliament every Kalends of May. I tell these old Stories to shew that I was always of the same Mind and that no Court neglects nor disappointments have Altered me and I will Love this Court whether they will or no for I am sure that I laid the Bridg that brought them over and am pretty certain that they did not come hither in Virtue of Passive-Obedience FINIS ERRATA P. 19. l. 6. dele The. P. 30. l. 11. for the Year before read some few Years before 4 E. 3. c. 14. 36 E. 3. c. 10. An. Dom. 662. L. L. Ed. Cons. cap. 35. de Greve