to write you an historical discourse I wil touch them lightly for that I speak of them obiter and by digression and I hold it sufficient to refute the Objections that may be made in this Cause not by Law but by the Histories of France For albeit Iohn Bodine a Frenchman and notably well seen and read in Histories discoursing in his Book de Methodo Historie at large what Rules are to be observed in judging a right of an Historographer and what credit may be given to an History setteth it down in an opinion not controlable That in matters touching France or England you ought not to credit a French or English History but rather a stranger writing thereof with more indifferency and less partiality yet as in Causes which cannot be well decided or perfectly known but by Domestical witnesses their Testimony is to be preferred before all others So in matters of State which cannot be so well known unto Forrainers as unto men born and bred within the same State better credit ought to be given unto these then unto them You shall therefore hear this first Objection refuted by their own Writers and especially by Du Haillan who in my opinion is the best Historographer that writeth of France who refuteth this Objection by reckoning up a bed-roll of Kings who did not succeed one another but were chosen one after another Pharamond saith he in his third Book was the first chosen King of France After whom Daniel surnamed Childerick was chosen Pipin likewise was chosen and after him Charles and Charlâ—main his Sons And the Frenchmen despising the Youth of Charles King Lewis his Son who was betwixt nine and ten years of age chose Odâ—n Son to Robert the Saxon for their King And afterwards being discontented with his Government they deprived him of his Kingdom and set up Charles in his place who governing them somewhat looslly was likewise deposed and cast into Prison and in his place Baâ—ul King of Burgundy was instituted and created King of France and there remaineth even at this day a certain form of Election which is made at the consecrating and crowning of the King at Beihins where the Peer of France in the name of the Clergy Nobility and People chuse the King that is present Here you see an Election begun in Pharamond continued in others and observed at this day and yet as many as have been Kings since Capet's time have succeeded to their Kingdoms and claimed the same by Inheritance rather then by custom and you shall see when we come to another of their Objections that neither this Election nor this Custom in succession hath been alwayes duly kept and observed The second Objection against this agreement is That although Contracts do bind Princes as well as Subjects yet such Contracts as are made by men not being sufficient and able to celebrate Contracts as men distracted of their wits Lunatiques and others not being in perfect sense and memory do not bind the Contrahents but are held in Law as matters of no weight force or validity and therefore Charles the Sixth who concluded his Peace with the above-mentioned conditions being both before and after the celebration of the same notoriously reputed and known to be a Lunatique this Contract did neither bind him nor his Successors To this it is easily answered That Contracts made by men disabled by Law to enter into any such compositions are of force by two wayes The one if they with due and requisite solemnities be done by such as by Law are deputed to have the Government of their goods and persons during the time of their weakness and imbecillity The other if they themselves having dilucida intervalla being as Lunatiques many times are in perfect sense and memory to celebrate any manner of Contract the same is of full force and strength and therefore Charles the sixth being as their own Histories report at the time when this Agreement was made in his right wits and memory This contract wanted not the force and vertue which Law requireth especially since the chief Nobility of the Realm were then not only present but consenting thereunto and sworn to the performance thereof The third Objection is That the Kings of France cannot alienate the Demeans Rights Titles and Interests of the Crown without the privity and consent of the three Estates which consent could not possibly be had at this Agreement because a great part of the Peers Nobles and others were then absent and bore Armes with the young Prince Charles or at the leastwâ—se followed him against the King his Father To this I briefly answer That in matters which go by plurality of voices it is not alwayes necessary that all be present but that the greater or better part of them that will and do vouchsafe their presence thereat yield their consents thereunto especially when the others who are absent have been cited and warned to be present and they either willingly or contemptuously will not appear For albeit the thing that concerneth all men must be approved of all men yet when some or all may approve or disallow the things which concerneth them and they will not be present to shew their consent or dislike their absence shall not prejudice the Contract that is celebrated and there is no wrong offered unto them by proceeding in their absence quia volenti non fit injuria In this case therefore those that were away being either voluntarily absent or trayterously minded to their King which appeared in that they followed his Son against him and animated and assisted him in his disobedience and rebellion against his Father could not in any respect prejudice the force and validity of this contract for if they were absent of purpose then there was no injury done unto them and if they were Traytors as undoubtedly they are who either bear Armes against their Prince or assist his Enemies with their counsels then they had lost the right of their consent and voice And so consequently the Contract which was celebrated by the more and better part or by all the Nobility and of the three Estates that were present and true and Loyal Subjects unto their King notwithstanding the others voluntary malicious absence was by Law warrantable especially being confirmed and fortified by the Oath of the King and his Council and Nobility The fourth Objection against this Agreement is That when it was concluded the King of England had almost Conquered all France was there with his power and strength about him and shut up the French King as it were in Prison and utterly disabled him to make any resistance against his invincible Army and conquering Forces And therefore whatsoever he did being done by fear and compulsion was of no better force then a Contract extorted by violence or made in Prison by a private man which when he is set at liberty he is not bound by Law to perform except he list To this
Creator in heaven in violating the latter they remember not their maker on earth for the people and Peers of the Realm are their makers next unto God Contracts ergo of subjects having their ground their foundation and their strength not from Princes Laws but from the Laws of Nature binde King and Emperour Prince and Prelate Lords Spiritual and Temporal be it that they are made between a Prince and a private man or the Prince and a City or the Prince and any other The reasons why they are of such force are these First It is not lawful to falsifie a mans faith Then The Laws of Nature binde men and perswade them to keep their contracts and to hold their promise even unto their enemies Next The Laws of honesty charge their Princes to perform their contracts there is nothing becometh them better nothing that commendeth them more nothing that men require so much at their hands Lastly Princes Contracts are as good as Laws and have the same force as Laws in the same strength and vertue against their Successors which they have against themselves nay they are of greater strength then Princes Laws for Laws may be repealed but contracts cannot be revoked The reason of the diversity Laws may alter according unto the times and the occasions unto which Laws must be accomodated by which Laws are occasioned from which Laws received their beginning but contracts are irrevocable they admit no change no alteration and if they be once perfected they can neither receive addition or substraction diminution nor enlargement they may not be wrested but taken according to the true and plain meaning of the contrahents But why they may they not be changed Why may not a Prince alter them The reasons are these Before they are made they are of Free will and when they are once perfected they are of necessity that the Emperour of the world cannot add or detract any thing from his contract without his consent to whom it is made although he were the meanest man in the world who may be benefited but not deceived by a contract that is not defrauded of that which is agreed upon in the contract although it be lawful in bargaining before the bargain be concluded to deceive one another Secondly If Princes might revoke their contracts at their pleasure there should be no good dealing with them which would be ridiculous no trust to their words which would be dishonest no benefit would be gotten by them which would be illiberal and unbeseeming the Majesty of a Prince Thirdly Princes actions must be free from scandal far from deceipt and not subject unto malice Fourthly Princes are reasonable creatures and must submit themselves unto reason lest they be reputed as B. Celestine was not a man but a beast because he revoked in the evening the grants which he made in the morning Lastly Other men may attend to profit but Princes must look to honour and have an especial regard thereof and what can be more dishonourable then to break their word to falsifie their faith to violate their contract especially if their word faith and contract be fortified and strengthned with a solemn oath with an oath that being added to a contract hath these vertues these qualities these operations It maketh their contracts lawful and of full strength and force which without an oath are not of weight before God and man For a young man under yeers who by reason of his minority cannot contract without authority consent and counsel of his Guardian shall be bound to stand to his contract if he hath sworn to observe and keep the same his oath strengthneth his contract and depriveth him of the benefit of restitution to his former and pristine estate it maketh the person infamous which breaketh such a contract it debarreth him of any action against the other contrahent it enforceth him to restore that he hath received it disableth him to take the forfeiture that is made unto him it freeth the observer of the Contract from any penalty whereinto he is fallen it benefiteth the absent as the present it forfeiteth the contract whether it be interposed either before or after the contract or at the instant of the making of her or at any other time it urgeth and bindeth the contrahents to a strict and due observance unless it may endanger their souls health and keep and observe their contracts Briefly it hath many other operations which shall be more fitly mentioned hereafter But what availeth it to have said all this if all may be refelled in a few words The King of Spain was not well informed when he made this contract when he took this oath he prejudiced himself greatly in yeilding thereunto and he weakned his authority too much in submitting himself to the observance of the Laws and all these being proved or any one of these three inconveniences falling out to be true he is not bound to the performance of this contract or of this oath But how are all or any of these three inconveniences proved How can it be that he should not be well informed when he yeilded to this contract Could he be ignorant of that which all the world knew which his Predecessors did before him which strangers unto his Laws and Country knew many years ago For Guicciardine who wrote his book before he was crowned writeth in the sixth book of his History That the Aragonian Kings have no absolute and Kingly authority in all things but are subject unto the subjects and constitutions of their Country which derogate much from the power and authority of a King And Bodin who wrote not many years being a Frenchman and having no other knowledge of the Laws of Aragon but such as he received from others used in his Book the same words of the Kings authority which are used by the King at his Coronation We that are able to do as much as you make you our Lord and King upon condition that you shall keep our Laws and Liberties and if you will not you shall not be our King Laws bind the present assoon as they are published in their presence and hearing and the absent shortly after that they come to their notice and knowledge those Laws therefore being as by all likelyhood it seemeth made and established at the Institution of the Aragonian King could not be hidden from his knowledge nor prejudicial to his Majesty and Authority Royal. For what blemish is it to a King to submit himself unto those Laws which his Predecessors were contented to acknowledge and observe The Emperour that made and authorized almost all the Civil Laws that are now extant could set it down as a Law that it should be well and worthily done of a Prince be he never so great and mighty to be pleased to subject himself to his own Laws it delighteth a good Prince it liketh his subjects it honoureth Kings and it greatly rejoyceth their Vassals The ancient Kings of
she might happily be enabled to maintain either all or part of the Expences of those Wars with his Treasure And having learned of men of great experience what Forces would suffice to effect her desire and purpose thought it superfluous and needless to send thither greater strength then they not unadvisedly required And albeit neither her Majesty nor the Lords of her privy Council were ignorant that the Indians were far stronger then when they were first conquered And therefore that such a Navy as was first sent thither could not work the like effect there yet both her Grace and they thought it not meet to employ any more of her own or of her Merchants Ships in that service lest that the Spanish Fleet which was expected in England many years before it came coming upon her Realm in the absence of Sir Francis Drake and his Consorts should not have found the same sufficiently provided to make such resistance as was needful For as it sheweth courage in a Prince to give the first on-set upon his enemies within his own Dominions so it argueth want of discretion and wisdom to assault his adversaries with such force and power as if the enemy in absence thereof invade his Realm there should not be found at home an Army sufficient to withstand his Invasion Now as touching her Majesties Attempt made against Portugal and Spain The manner thereof is not unknown unto the world the cause is notorious and the success is not hidden nor secret For Mr Anthony Wingfields and Mr Dr Doylies Books the one in English the other in Latine set down the order motive and the event of that Attempt so truly so fully and so plainly as I shall not need to say any thing thereof especially having already touched his Right at large for whose cause and at whose instance the Voyage was undertaken But because the said Books make but a plain and true Narration of the Journey and of the cause and success thereof leaving the Justification of the same cause unhandled and you desire to see the same confirmed and strengthned by some examples declaring the equity thereof I will in this Point somwhat satisfie your desire and pleasure Presupposing therefore Don Antonion his Title to the Kingdom of Portugal to be just and right as his own Apology can and doth testifie I think it will not be denyed but that what help soever was or shall be hereafter yeilded unto him for the recovery thereof was and will be both warrantable by Law and justifiable by many and infinite Histories The Law be it of Nature or of Nations warranteth any man whatsoever Vim vi repellere to repel force by force which is not tyed to this bare sence and meaning only That it shall be lawful for him to defend himself only against him that assaulteth his person or endangereth his life but it reacheth further and giveth him leave to use any moderate violence yea sometimes to kill him if he cannot otherwise retain his own that goeth about by main force to put him out of possession of his lands and inheritance or to take away his goods from him The same proceedeth further with us in England and in France and provideth that if a man be assaulted and others stand by and help him not they are held for partakers of the violence that is offered unto him and if a man be robbed upon the high-way and Hue and Cry be not made presently after the Theeves the Town Village or Hamlet which presently pursueth not the Malefactor shall answer whatsoever is taken from the party that is robbed The reasons of this Law are many First it is expedient for the Common-wealth to conserve the lives and goods of the Subjects thereof then there should neither be Meum nor Tuum if this Law did not take place Next the first and especial cause of assembling Societies together and of making and fortifying Villages Towns and Cities was a desire and care which men had to live together in safety as well of their Goods as of their persons Lastly nature detesteth unlawful violence desireth the conservation of her Creatures tendreth their welfare and hateth the Procurers of her harm and detriment and therefore provided Princes that should minister Justice unto all men indifferently defend the innocent valiantly maintain their Subjects in peace continually and duly inflict condigne punishment upon the breakers and perturbers of peace and tranquility Now because Justice loseth her name and majesty unless a proportionable Equity be observed in the administration and exercise thereof as private mens security is regarded and tendred in Justice so the Law must likewise have the indempnity safety and commodity of Superiors Magistrates and Princes in recommendation otherwise they should be in far worse case then their own Subjects are For the wrongs that are done unto them are righted by their Magistrates and therefore it standeth with good reason that some provision be made and some care had for the reformation of such injuries as are offered to the Kings and Princes If a Subject be thrust out of possession of his proper Inheritance the Law provideth that he shall be presently restored thereunto And if a king be wrongfully driven out of his kingdom shall not he be allowed to seek a restitution thereof He shall but how Forsooth at his hands who hath deprived him but what if the Usurper will not yeild to his petition he is then to implore the help of other Princes and they on his behalf are to pray and admonish the Usurper to make restitution of all that he detaineth wrongfully whereunto iâ— he shall not hearken after due admonition given unto him they may junctis viribus invade his Realm and by main force inforce him to restore whatsoever he with-holdeth unjustly For this charge lay upon the Emperours as long as they were of sufficient force and authority to command and controll the Kings of this world But now that the Imperial Majesty is somewhat abated and Kings have freed and emancipated themselves from the Emperours power and jurisdiction it remaineth as part of the charge of Kings to see that no violence be offered unto their Colleagues and especially unto their Confederates Therefore it is usual amongst Princes to enter into Alliance together with express conditions to take the Enemies each one of the other for their own Enemies and not only to defend their own Estates against all men whatsoever but also to offend him whatsoever he be that shall attempt any thing to their prejudice and there is nothing more common then to see Princes oppressed to fly for aid unto the Oppressors Adversaries and to receive help and succour from them They therefore are highly commended which receive and harbour a distressed Prince and they contrarywise worthy of perpetual shame and infamy which either refuse to receive such an one or after his receipt offer him any manner of wrong or violence because as to adde affliction unto the