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	parliament_n	year_n	2,273	5	5.2206	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A34347	Considerations concerning the African-Companies petition		1698 (1698)	Wing C5908A; ESTC R6813	2,168	1

Considerations Concerning the African-Companies 〈…〉 THE African Company have Petition'd the House of Commons to have their Monopoly confirm'd by 〈…〉 of Parliament or in their own words that a Bill may be brought in to settle that Trade according to 〈…〉 Charter Concerning which Petition and that whole Matter these things in behalf of the People of ●●●…land are Humbly offer'd to Consideration I. That all English Subjects have Right and Liberty to Trade to Africa unless prohibited by Parliament II. That of this Liberty they have been deprived and from this Trade they have been forcibly excluded without Authority of Parliament for many Years And on the account of Trading thither they have been persecuted and tormented with all Violence and Cruelty Many have been robb'd of their Ships and Goods divers have been imprisoned and so●● have lost their Lives III. These things have been done by the African Company by colour of an illegal Patent which they call their C●●●ter Which Company have carried on their Oppressions with a high Hand and in contempt and defiance of the I●●●●… IV. If their Patent were legal they would have no need of an Act of Parliament for none would oppose a legal Pa●●●●… V. The ingrossing the African Trade by these Men with the Exclusion of all others is a perfect Monopoly to 〈◊〉 ●●…tents and hath all the pernicious Effects of a Monopoly Having been the ruin of Thousands with infinite Damage to the whole Kingdom And two sorts of People but in whom the whole Kingdom is concerned have suffered b●●his Monopoly in a more especial manner namely the Woollen Manufacturers and the Plantations VI. They have the sole Selling and sole Buying of all that comes from or goes to the Countries within their Patent which contain a Sea-Coast of six or seven thousand Miles All that buy of them must give what they please to deman● and all that sell to them must take what they please to give VII It must be confest that these Gentlemen of the Company are grown more reasonable then they have been formerly For as for the very remote Countries toward the Case of Good Hope which have neither Gold nor good Negroes nor any that is good they are now content for quietness sake that the People of England be permitted to Trade to them But the Trade to the Gold Coast and other good Places they think is too dainty a Morsel for such Cattel and is fit for none but Projectors VIII My Lord Coke tell us that all Monopolies have specious pretences of the Publick Good And so has this But it can be plainly made out that their pretences are false and frivolous Whereas the reason must be very strong and the matters very well proved and very evident that shall induce a House of Commons to set up a Monopoly and to prejudice the whole People of England whom they Represent in favour and for the advantage of a few Men. IX The African Company during the late Reigns was above the Law But now the Law hath broke in upon them and they have been Sued and have paid great Damages for Wrongs done by colour of their Patent Nor dare they now commit the like Outrages nor use their Fellow Subjects as Enemies if they find them in the African Trade So that their excluding Power being gone their Monopoly must sink and perish For the excluding Power is the life of Monopoly Wherefore in this desperate Case they use a desperate Remedy and flie to the Parliament for help X. This is the first Monopoly that ever was brought to a Parliament to be confirm'd Parliaments do not use to confirm or countenance illegal Projects but rather to punish the Projectors But these Men have gone so long without Punishment that now they pretend to favours XI These men have exercised an illegal Authority for Thirty Years and now they would have it made legal If an Act of Parliament be necessary now it was necessary Thirty Years ago and why did not they get one then Either they despair'd to get it or they scorn'd to take it XII The Turkey Trade is properously carried on by a regulated Company without a Joint-stock or Forts And nothing hinders but that the African Trade might be carried on in like manner Nay we Trade safely even with the Pirates of Algier Tripoli and Tunis who are the worst of Infidels There is no Nation so Wicked so Wild and Barbarous but that they will well-come and protect fair Traders that come to them it being for their own benefit XIII But if Forts be found or thought necessary they may be maintain'd without the odious Expedient of a Monopoly For a regulated Company may easily maintain them by impositions upon Ships and Goods XIV The East-India Company hath some probable Grounds both but for the Legality and for the Necessity of it But this African Company hath none XV. Were the Trade to Africa laid open and Ships permitted to go we should certainly furnish the Spaniards with Negroes for ready Money Whereby both Nations would reap great advantage the Spaniards by having the Negroes and the People of England by having the Money Suppose some Men should get a Patent to inclose a Common which accordingly they do inclose and hold it many years by strong hand But at last the Law breaks in upon them and they can hold it no longer Would a Parliament now confirm those Men in their Usurpation if they should have the confidence to ask it Yet perhaps they might say that they have been at great charge in improving the Land and preserving it from Inundations and likewise in Building upon it all which things are for the Publick Good and that they shall be great Sufferers if their Inclosure be thrown ●pen And perhaps they might offer as the African Company does now that the Commoners since they are so trouble●ome shall have some Out-Skirt of the Land that 's good for little they keeping the best and greatest part themselves Let not this Supposition seem sorrain or impertinent for it comes near the present Case 'T is the same thing to ingros● Trade as to inclose a Common