Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	act_n	court_n	parliament_n	2,086	5	6.9871	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A86588	A true state of the case of Mr. Hotham, late Fellow of Peter-House; declaring the grounds and reasons of his appeal to the Parliament, against the sentence of those members of the committee for reformation of the universities; who on May 22. last, resolv'd the writing and publishing of his book intitled The petition and argument, &c. to be scandalous and against the priviledge of Parliament; and himself to be depriv'd of his fellowship in that colledge.	Hotham, Charles, 1615-1672?	1651 (1651)	Wing H2901; Thomason E636_4; ESTC R206575	32,556	48

answer for his defence his writing and publishing of his book was adjudged scandalous and against the priviledge of Parliament and he to be depriv'd of his Fellowship in the said Colledge which at their very next sitting was confer'd upon another Which extream hard measure not usually proceeding from Committees of Parliament he cannot but impute to the evil influences of the Master of the Colledge and of his officious agent Mr. Byfield who though no member or officer either of the University or of that Committee for Reformation * Some employment he hath at the Committee for augmentations sitting on wednesdays but when they sit as a Committee for Reformation of the Vniversities on Thursdays he hath as far as I can learn by any means no pretence of office there but is a meer intruder and therefore being no ways entrusted by the Vniversity nor call'd to it by the Committee his uncivil intrusion into their privacies together with his other intermedlings renders him justly suspected yet intrudes himself to be present a hearer and speaker in their private debates even in such cases wherein he hath pleaded as a party and when those most concern'd to be present and could give truest information have been commanded to withdraw And hath further sometimes endeavour'd to intrude his alloy into the penning of their orders Of which strange censure and proceedings against him he is the more sensible because he knoweth in his own conscience that he hath in these his representations of truth to the honourable Committee used much candor and hath been very tender and careful of not giving them any just cause of offence and is as yet altogether ignorant that his book containeth any thing of that nature there being nothing therein but what he verily believes he is able upon an indifferent hearing to make appear to be consistent with truth and with that respect due to such an honourable Assembly and much tending to the advancement of the true principles and interest of the Common-wealth of England Nor doth he know that he hath done any thing against the priviledge of Parliament and is certain he should have been very careful to have avoided any thing tending thereunto had he been so happy as to have had any means of knowing what those priviledges were And in all humility wisheth they were publish't to the whole Nation that other men might not be thus split as it hath been his hard lot to be upon rocks under water And he is further wholly unsatisfied how so great a power can be in that Committee as to enable them to adjudge that scandalous and against the Priviledge of Parliament at their own private discretion which no precedent Law Act or Declaration of Parliament hath manifested to be of that nature or to deprive any man of his just and legal possession whether descended to him by the ordinary course of Law or confirm'd upon him by authority of Parliament without due triall and conviction for some offence punishable with such forfeiture An arbritary power in any Court of Judicature having been always accounted as in the High-Commission Star-Chamber c. a grievance of the highest nature and the same declared by the Commons in Parliament April the 17th 1646. when the Assembly of Divines desir'd such a power to be invested in their Presbyteries to be inconsistent with the fundamental Laws and government of this Nation Yet that these their proceedings against him were wholy arbitrary may here appear in that he was neither by those of the sub-Committee which were appointed to consider and report their opoinons of his book nor by the Committee it self once call'd to hear any charge or to make his defence as to any scandalous matter contain'd in his boook or any thing therein tending to the infringement of the priviledge of Parliament or any Law by him trangsgrest in the writing or publishing thereof Their only charge laid against him in his absence as is attested by their publick officer was verbatim as followeth The Petition and Argument of Mr. Hotham The book though Without a name owned by him dispersed by him his Letters about it Epistle to the Committee His Argument against the Order of the sub-Committee p. 4 5. This I say that that power which can eject a man out of his legal possession for a misdemeanor of a date of near two years old committed and punished in the days of his minority long before his entrance into that possession must sure be very transcendent and above that of any either Common Law or Chancery that I have heard of p. 45 46. Gilb. Millington Peter Temple To which though he being not suffer'd to be present at their making the report holds himself no ways oblig'd to make answer yet for the better vindication of his integrity he cannot but take notice 1. That it seems strange to him the book should be said to be without a name his name being prefixt both in the very front of the Title page and to each of those two several Prefaces in both of which he own'd the whole book 2. For his owning and dispersing the book by sending Copies with Letters to Members of the Committee till the book it self be duly proved and adjudged scandalous he hopes will be accounted no crime and for his Letters about it he appeals to those Gentlemen themselves to whom they were written and requests of them that favour that if there were in them any scandalous or unseemly expressions it may be declar'd before the whole House Concerning his Epistle to the Committee and Argument as the Reporters stile it against the order of the sub-Committee he hopes the prefacing to the one or in a fit manner representing to the other the inconveniencies or imperfections of their order was a thing not at all contrary to any Law of the Land or of common reason books having been usually put forth with Prefaces Dedicatory to the Parliament it self with many Petitions representing ways of Reformation diverse from their present proceedings The only offensive passages cull'd out of the whole book by the reporters are pages the 4 and 5 of the Preface and page 46 of the book it self All which seem to reflect either upon Mr. Byfield or upon the Committee or sub-Committee themselves As for Mr. Byfield he being already prov'd to be a meer intruder or as the Apostle phrases it a busie body in other mens matters no reason why he might not be made bold with and if he were resembled to that Switzer who by his tall stature and grave aspect sumptuous coat and guilded halberd which the Country fellow might possibly take to be a Royal Scepter together with that imperial power he exercised in knocking away the rude multitude from the gates and those many low congies that were made to him for admittance into the Court was by the Idiot mistaken to be the King himself it s a similitude will hold water in the most material circumstances For

A True state of the CASE OF Mr. Hotham Late Fellow of Peter-House Declaring the grounds and reasons of his Appeal to the Parliament against the sentence of those Members of the Committee for Reformation of the Universities who on May 22. last Resolv'd the writing and publishing of his book Intitled The Petition and Argument c. to be scandalous and against the Priviledge of Parliament and himself to be depriv'd of his Fellowship in that Colledge Printed in the Year 1651. To every Member of the Parliament of the Common-wealth of England A true state of the case of Charls Hotham of Peter-house lately depriv'd of his Fellowship in that Colledge by the Committee for Reformation of the Vniversities Humbly representing for the more full and clear understanding of the grounds and reasons of his Appeal to the House against their censure THat in the year 1644. The University of Cambridge being by multiplicity of ejectments of Delinquent Masters and Fellows almost wholly depopulated and there being a great want of men of reasonable seniority for the supply of those many vacancies he did not of his own seeking but upon several motions from some of that Colledge and after near half a years deliberation accept of a poor Fellowship in Peter-house confered on him by authority of Parliament which Fellowship he hath ever since that time stood seized of with all the rights and priviledges thereof as his just and legall possession and hath as he can well make it appear demean'd himself in that charge both as becomes a Christian and a faithful member of that Colledg and University and of the Common-wealth of England whose interest he hath always to this day zealously promoted to the utmost of his power That in pursuance of the same Common-wealth interest he did on the 27. of March last past prefer a Petition to the Honourable the Committee for Reformation of the Universities against the negative voice of the Master of that Colledge and for the fuller extirpation of that destructive power of one man over a Community did pray of that Committee that a remedy might be granted the Colledge agreeable to what was granted by Parliament to the Common Councel of the City of London in the year 1648. against the negative voice of the Lord Mayor of that City That on April the tenth last past being the day appointed for taking his Petition into consideration he did as he humbly conceives make it appear before the said Committee that the Master of the Colledges claim to a negative voice was not at all warranted by the Statutes of the University rightly understood and was besides contradictory both to the Founders intention exprest in the Statutes of the Colledge the grounds of our war against the late King the common Law of reason and the interest of a Common wealth And that to the taking away the many sad inconveniencies of the negative voice the remedies by him Petition'd for were of little less then absolute necessity being no other in substance then what the wisdom of Parliament had thought fit to be granted in a parallel case to the City of London where yet the danger was not so great as in our smaller Corporation their chief officer being annually changeable and new elected to his trust but ours one and the same during the whole term of life And he was hopeful that these his endeavours would have procured a speedy and effectual redress of that fundamental grievance of the Masters negative voice and his power of calling or dissolving of meetings and propounding or refusing of questions at his own only pleasure But the Committee possibly not having power to go further were pleas'd that day onely to make a resolve of taking a view of the Statures of every Colledge throughout both Universities that they might be reduc't to such a state as might render them most conducing to the advancement of true piety and the interest of a Common-wealth and did then appoint a sub-Committee of their own members or any three of them to meet consider and make report concerning the same some of which about 15 days after did meet and give order that the Heads of Colledges and officers intrusted with the government of the Universities for the time being should send them transcripts of the said Statutes and should likewise themselves meet and propose to them their opinions of what they should find in the said Statutes prejudicial to Religion piety learning good manners or the present government or of any defects in the said Statutes and the best remedies for supplying them Which way of proceeding however intentionally good in those worthy Gentlemen of the sub-Committee yet he fear'd that through the suggestions of the Master of the Colledge residing in London and his assistant Mr. Byfield together with some Colledge impediments would prove a way of prolongation and perplexity tending to the wearying out of those that were really desirous of reformation and rendring all their endeavours fruitless The suppression of a negative voice though the main scope of the Committees first resolve being not once mention'd in that Order and it being besides very unlikely that the Head of our House whose concurrence was as to our Colledge specially required would be instrumental to the abatement of his own prerogative Whereupon knowing of what great concernment it might be to some principal points of the Reformation resolv'd on that both the first Resolve and the occasion upon which it was made should be publikely known by all that were to be actors in it he did for the better information both of the Universities and very many Members of the Committee not present at the making of the first Resolve publish in print his said Petition and Argument with a full historical Narrative of that days proceedings as to that Colledge of which he was a member together with two Prefaces the one to the honourable Committee the other to the Society In the former of which he did with all due respect and in humble manner make to the honourable Committee a discovery of such obstructions as he conceiv'd would retard them in this way of their intended reformation And was hopeful that his publishing thereof would both have appear'd a necessary and acceptable service and have procur'd a removal of those obstructions But the contrary soon appear'd For no sooner was his book publish't but it was on their very next sitting day complain'd of in that Committee and was by them referr'd to a sub-Committee of divers of their Members or any two of them to consider of the said book and report their opinions concerning the same on May 29th next ensuing which he hearing of did on that day present himself before them And being ask't the question did except in some inconsiderable escapes of the Printer own the book Whereupon he was commanded to withdraw And immediately upon one or two of the sub-Committees report without his being at all call'd to hear any charge or make

quality of Probationers only as those that are Statutably elected into-Fellowships use to do And your Petitioners shall pray c. This Petition seemed to carry so much reason in the very Front that without our being call'd in to back it with any reasons 't was unanimously assented to and an order therepon granted as followes Jan. 2d 1650. At the Commitee for Reformation of the UNIVERSITIES VPon reading the Petition of Charls Hotham James Clark Francis Brock and Edward Sammes Masters of Arts and Fellows of Peterhouse in Cambridge It is Ordered by this Committee That all Fellowes admitted or hereafter to be admitted into the said Colledge by Order from this Committee being under the degree of Master of Arts at the time of their admission be Probationers according to the Statutes of the said Colledge for the first year to commence from the time of their admission And at the expiration of the said year this Committee will judge whither they are fit and worthy of any further trust James Chaloner But Sir Goodaell with other two since put in by the Committee not acquiescing in this Order He that was the Masters man comes up to the Committee with this following Petition for a Revocation To the Right Honourable the Committee for Reformation of the Vniversities The humble Petition of James Goodall Thomas Church Ralf Heywood Batchelors in Arts. Humbly sheweth THat it having pleased this Honourable Committee to constitute your Petitioners in the Places and steads of several Fellows ejected out of their Fellowships in Peter-house in Cambridge by which means your Petitioners have wholly declined those other helps they were capable of for their subsistence in the Vniversity depending upon the advantage of their Fellowships whereby to enable them to attend their studies yet upon some information given by Mr. Hotham Mr. Clark Mr. Brock and Mr. Sammes in the absence of your Petitioners they have procured your Honours Order that your Petitioners should be only as Probationers for the first year thereby sweeping away that maintenance that did formerly belong to the said ejected Fellows and since conferred upon your Petitioners by this honourable Committee although the said Complainants were setled by Authority of Parliament and some of them at the time of the said settlements were upon the same pretences they urge against your Petitioners equally uncapeable as your Petitioners of enjoyning their Fellowships had that been any ground of exception at all For that by the aforesaid Order the Complainants with the rest of the Fellows who have ample encouragement from the proceede of their own Fellowships without coveting that bread your Honours have been pleased to give for your Petitioners will by this means divide among themselves the profits of your Petitioners Fellowships likewise and it having been your constant course in reference to the Reformation of the said Vniversity so happily carried along hitherto by your Honors to confer the proper benefit and advantage of every ejected Fellow upon him whom you have from time appointed to succeed him Your Petitioners therefore humbly pray your Honors confirmation of the former Order whereby the said Fellowships are respectivly conferr'd on your Petitioners and the reversing of the said order granted in yours Petitioners absence And your Petitioners shall ever pray James Goodall Tho. Church Ralp Heywood So upon these bare suggestions strongly urged by some in their behalf without our being once heard to make answer or having the least notice to appear for that purpose the Committee were pleased upon a debate among themselves to pass this following Revocation of our Order Ian. 23.1650 At the Committee for Reformation of the UNIVERSITIES VPon reading the Petition of James Goodal Thomas Church and Ralph Heywood Batchelors in Arts and Fellows of Peter-house in Cambridge And upon reading the former Orders of this Committee for constituting them Fellows of the said Colledge And likewise the Order of this Committee of the 9th of January instant made upon the Petition of Mr. Hotham and other the Fellows of that Colledge concerning Probationers This Committee finding by their former Orders whereby the aforesaid persons were respectively constituted Fellows of that Colledge That they wre to receive all profits and priviledges as Fellows to all intents and purposes do now Order upon debate of the whole matter that the former Orders whereby the Petitioners were constituted Fellows be pursued and observed according to the directions therein given James Chaloner One thing suggested by divers of the Committee why they might the better pass this Revocation was as I had certain information from a stranger there present that they were not present at the making of our Order else it should never have been granted I hope the like may be alledg'd by many more Members of that Honourable Committee why the sentence of my ejectment may as well be revok't there being of their whole number which is forty at least if not a hundred not above eight or ten at the most present at the passing of that Censure At the receit of this Order of Revocation we were much astonish'd and almost wholly discourag'd from all further addresses yet rerceiving the fundamental error of all these proceedings was only the passing of Orders in the behalf of one party without hearing the other we desirous that open reason might put an end to the controversie having first given notice of our intentions to two of the parties then in Town and to the Master of the Colledge their Patron made bold to assay the Committee once more with this our last Petition To the Honourable Committee for Reformation of the Universities The humble Petition of Charls Hotham James Clark Francis Btock Edward Sammes and Charls Mildmay Fellows of Peter-house in Cambridge Sheweth THat whereas James Goodall Batchelor of Arts made Fellow of our Colledge by order of this Honourable Committee did upon some undue information procure your further Order for his present enstating into all the priviledges of a Fellow without first living a year in the quality of a Probationer according to the Statute and laudable customes of our Colledge according to which Statute as well those put in formerly by the late King as all others coming in by election have been usually admitted and not otherwise You were pleased upon the humble representation by some of your Petitioners of the great inconvenience of exempting men from that Statute to order That both the said James Goodall and all others admitted or hereafter to be admitted Fellows of our Colledge by Order of this Honourable Committee being under the degree of Master of Arts at the time of their admission should as others that come in by Election live one whole year in the quality of Probationers as above said and after their year of Probation expired to stand to the judgement of this Honourable Committee for ther confirmation to further Trust Yet a small while after this your Order granted and your Petitioners retir'd to their Studies or other