declare against Roger Manwaring Clerk Dr. in Divinity that whereas by the Laws and Statutes of this Realm the Free Subjects of England doe undoubtedly inherit this right and liberty not to be compelled to contribute to any tax tallage aid or to make any Loans not set or imposed by common consent by Act of Parliament and divers of his Majesties loving Subjects relying upon the said Laws and Customs did in all humility refuse to lend such sums of mony as without authority of Parliament were lately required of them Nevertheless he the said Roger Manwaring in contempt and contrary to the Laws of this Realm hath lately preached in his Majesties presence two several Sermons That is the 4. day of July last one of the said Sermons and upon the 29. day of the same moneth the other of the same Sermons Both which Sermons he hath since published in print in a Book entituled Religion and Allegeance and with a wicked and malicious intention to seduce and misguide the conscience of the Kings most excellent Majesty touching the observation of the Laws and Customs of this kingdom and of the rights and liberties of the Subjects to incense his royal displeasure against his good Subjects so refusing to subvert scandalize and impeach the good Laws and Government of this Realm and the Authority of the High Court of Parliament to avert his Majesties mind from calling of Parliaments to alienate his royal heart from his people and to cause jealousies sedition and division in the kingdom He the said Roger Manwaring doth in the said Sermons and book perswade the kings most excellent Majesty First That his Majesty is not bound to keep and observe the good Laws and Customs of the Realm concerning the rights and liberties of the Subjects aforementioned and this his royal will and command in imposing loans taxes and other aids upon his people without common consent in Parliament doth so far bind the Subjects of this Realm that they cannot refuse the same without peril of eternal damnation Secondly That those his Majesties loving Subjects which refused the loan aforementioned in such manner as is before recited did therein offend the Law of God against his Majesties supream authority and by so doing became guilty of impiety disloyaltâ—e rebellion and dis-obedience and lyable to many other taxes and censures which he in the several parts of his book doth most fasly and malitiously lay upon them Thirdly That authority of Parliament is not necessary for raising of aids and subsidies that the slow proceedings of such assemblies are not fit for the supply of the urgent necessities of the estate but rather apt to produce sundry impedimenâ—s to the just designs of Princes and to give them occasion of displeasure and discontent All which the Commons are ready to prove not only by the general scope of the same Sermons and books but likewise by several clauses aspersions and sentences therein contained and that he the said Roger Manwaring by preaching and publishing the Sermons and book aforementioned did most unlawfully abuse his holy function instituted by God in his Church for the guiding of the consciences of all his servants and chiefly of soveraign Princes and Magistrates and for the maintenance of peace and concord betwixt all men especially between the King and his People and hath thereby most grievously offended against the Crown and dignity of his Majesty and against the prosperity and good government of this estate and Commonwealth And the said Commons by protestation saving to themselves the liberty of exhibiting of any other accusation at any time hereafter or impeachment againg the said Roger Manwaring and also of replying to the answers which he said Roger shall make unto any of the matters contained in this present bill of complaint and of offering further proof of the premises or of any of them as the cause according to the course of the Parliament shall require Do pray that the said Roger Manwaring mâ—y be put to answer to all and every the premisses and that such proceeding examinatâ—on trial judgement and exemplary punishment may be thereupon had and executed as is agreeable to Law and Justice On June the 14 1628. the Lords sending a message to the House of Commons that they were ready to give judgement against Manwaring if the House of Commons would demand it Thereupon they went with the Speaker up to the Lords House having agreed he should demand judgement in these words which he then used at the Lords Bar The Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons have impeached Roger Manwaring of sundry misdemeanors and your Lordships having taken consideration thereof they doe now by me their Speaker demand judgement against them Which upon reading his impeachment and full proof thereof out of his Sermons in his presence was done accordingly The Judgement was given and pronounced by the Lord Keeper all the LORDS being in their Robes and Manwaring at the Bar it was delivered in these words Whereas Roger Manwaring Doctor in Divinity hath been impeached by the House of Commons for misdemeanors of a high nature in preaching two Sermons before his Majestie in Summer which since are published in print in a Book intituled Religion and Allegiance and in another Sermon preached in the Parish of St. Giles in the Fields the 4th of May last And their Lordships have considered of the said Manwarings answer thereunto expressed with tears and grief for his offence most humbly craving pardon therefore of the Lords and Commons yet neverthelesse for that it can be no satisfaction for the great offence wherewith he is charged by the said Declaration which doth evidently appear in the very words of the said Sermons their Lordships have proceeded to judgement against him and therfore this High Court doth adjudge First That Dr. Manwaring shall be imprisoned during the pleasure of the House 2ly That he de fined at 1000 l. to the King 3ly That he shall make such submission and acknowledgement of his offences as shall be set down by a Committee in writing both at the Bar and in the House of Commons 4ly That he shall be suspended for the time of 3 years from the exercise of the Ministery and in the mean time a sufficient preaching Minister shall be provided out of his living to serve the Cure this suspension and this provision of a preaching Minister shall be done by the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction 5ly That he shall be for ever disabled to preach at the Court hereafter 6ly That he shall be hereafter disabled to have any Ecclesiastical dignity or secular Office 7ly That his said Book is worthy to be burnt and that for the better effecting of this his Majesty may be moved to grant a Proclamation to call in the said Books that they may be all burnt accordingly in London and both Universities and for the inhibiting the permitting therof upon a great penalty Here we have a most direct president where the whole House of Commons
Barons being no such Knights Citizens or Burgesses as the writ enjoyns them to elect and return 3. By all the Statutes for electing Knights Citizens and Burgesses recorded in Rastall Tit. Parliament the Lords being not within their words or intention 4. By the Great Charter of King John and express Statutes of 5 R. 2. Stat. 2. c. 4.31 H. 8. c. 10. Rot. Par. n. 10. which disable them to sit amongst the Commons but only in the Lords house among their Peers 5. By the very words of the Patents of their Creation which authorize and prescribe all Dukes Earls Viconts Barons in direct terms Quod in omnibus tenerentur tractentur et reputentur ut Duces Comites Barones quod haeredes sui masculi et eorum quilibet habeat teneat possideat sedem locum et vocem in Parliamentis publilicis Comitiis et Consiliis nostris Haeredum et Successorum nostrorum infra Regnum nostrum Angliae inter alios Duces Comites et Barones not amongst the Knights Citizens and Burgesses ut Duces Comites et Barones Parliamentorum Publicorum Comitiorum et Consiliorum not as Knights Citizens or Burgesses 6. By Sir Edward Cooks 4 Institutes p. 46 47. and Mr. Seldens Titles of Honour p. 736 737. who resolve That a Baron or Lord of Parliament is not eligible to be a Knight Citizen or Burgess of the House of Commons as was resolved in the case of Thomas Camoyes who was not only a Baronet but also a Baron and Lord of Parliament The Lord Camoyes being elected by the Freeholders of the County of Surrey for one of the Knights of the Shire to serve in Parliament for them Anno 7 R. 2. thereupon the King by advice of Council declared his election to be null and void in Law and commanded a new election of some other fit person to be made in his place by this memorable Writ extant on record Rex Vicecomiti Surriae salutem Quia ut accepimus tu Thomam Camoyes Chivaler qui Baronettus est sicut quamplures antecessorum suorum extiterunt ad essendum unum Militum venientium ad proximum Parliamentum nostrum pro Communitate Comitatus praedicti de assensu ejusdem Comitatus eligisti Nos advertentes quod hujusmodi Baronetti ante haec tempora in Milites Comitatus ratione alicujus Parliamenti elegi minime consueverunt ipsum de officio Militis ad dictum Parliamentum pro communitate Comitatus praedicti venturi exonerari volumus Et ideo tibi praecipimus quod quendam aâ—ium Misi em idoneum et discretum gladio cinctum in loco ipsius Thomae elegi et eum ad diem et locum Parliamenti praedicti venire facias cum plena et sufficienti potestate ad consentiendum hiis quae in Parliamento praedicto sicut juxta renorem prioris Brevis nostri tibi pro electione hujusmodi militum directi et nomen ejus Nobis Sciri facias Teste Rege apud Westmonasterium octavo die Octobris 7ly Both Houses of Parliament in their Remonstrance of Nov. 2. 1642. declare and publish in print to all the World This to be so clear and fundamental a privilege of Parliament That no Member of either House of Parliament is to be taken away or detained from the service of the House whereof he is a Member until such time as that House hath satisfaction concerning the cause and the cause be heard in Parliament first and dismissed from it That the whole freedom of Parlament dependeth upon it For who seeth not that by this means under false pretences of crimes and accusations such or so many Members of both or either Houses of Parliament may be taken out of it at any time by any persons to serve a turn and to make a MAJOR PART of whom they will at pleasure So as the freedom of Parliament dependeth in a great part on this privilege yea without it the whole Body of the Parliament will be destroyed by depriving it of its Members by degrees some at one time and others at another time as both Houses further remonstrate in their Declaration of October 23. 1642. Which as it infallibly demonstrates that the Lords House or Members cannot be taken away or taken from them against their wils without the destruction subversion of the whole Parliament of which they are chief Members the Judicial power of Parliaments residing principally in that House if not wholly So it likewise clearly resolves that no Peer or Member of the Lords House can be elected a Member of the Commons house For if the election of the Freeholders Citizens or Burgesses of any County City or Borough of a Duke Earl Lord or Baron of the Realm to be a Knight Citizen or Burgess in Parliament should be valid in Law to make them legal actual Members of the Commons house it would then lie in their powers to un-Peer un-Lord and degrade any Nobleman yea all the Earls Peers Lords Barons of the Realm and their Posterity at their pleasures to reduce them and the whole House of Peers into the Commons inferiour house and so quite dissolve the Lords House in high affront dishonor of the Lords and their House and of the Kings Soveraign royal Authority the fountain of all Honor and that without any legal trial or Judgment by their Peers or just cause of degradation on their parts against the express words and meaning of Magna Charta c. 29. And if any Lords upon such Elections should so far degenerate debase or degrade themselves as to accept thereof and ignobly sit and vote as Members of the Commons House both they and their posteritieâ— for such an ignoble act meritoriously deserved to be for ever degraded from their Nobility and secluded from all future sitting in the Lords House as Peers becoming thereby the very shame scorn scandal of Nobility fit only to be ranked with the basest Peasants to whom these Levellers would now equallize them Yea it would be now no less than wilfull perjury in any Freeholders Citizens Burgesses to elect them Knights or Burgesses and in themselves to accept of such Elections when chosen and in the whole House of Peers and Commons too once to permit allow approve or connive at such elections after their late Protestation Vow and Solemn League and Covenant to maintain to their power the Rights Privileges of Parliament and both Houses of Parliament whereof this is an unquestionable Right and Privilege That no Member of the Lords House should be elected a Knight Citizen Burgess or brought down from thence to sit only as a Commoner in the Commons House so long as he continues a Peer or Member of the Lords House a distinct House from and superior to the Commons House in all ages as its Title of the Lower House and their standing alwayes bare before the Lords with other evidences demonstrate nor any Knight Citizen or Burgess a true real Member of the House of Peers
Peers made this memorable Petition and Remonstrance of their Privileges to the King The humble Remonstrance and Petition of the Peers MAy it please your Majestie we the Peers of this Realm now assembled in Parliament finding the Earl of Arundel absent from his place amongst us his presence was therefore called for But thereupon a message was delivered us from your Majestie by the Lord Keeper That the Earl of Arundel was restrained for a misdemeanor which was personal to your Majesty and lay in the proper knowledge of your Majesty and had no relation to matter of Parliament This Message occasioned us to inquire into the Acts of our Ancestors and what in like cases they had done that so we might not erre in a dutifull respect to your Majesty and yet preserve our right and privileges of Parliament And after diligent search made both of all Stories Statutes and Records that might inform us in this case we find iâ— to be an undoubted Right and constant Privilege of Parliament That no Lord of Parliament sitting in Parliament or within the usual time of Privilege of Parliament is to be imprisoned or restrained without sentence or order of the House unlesse it be â—or Treason or Felony or for refusing to give surety for the Peace And to satisfie our selves the better we have heard all that could be aleged by your Majesties learned Counsel at Law that might any way infringe or weaken this claim of the Peers and to all that can be shewed or alleged so full satisfaction hath been given as that all the Peers in Parliament upon the question made of this Privilege have una voce consented that this is the undoubted right of the Peers and hath been inviolably enjoyed by them Wherefore we your Majesties loyal Subjects and humble Servants the whole body of the Peers in Parliament assembled most humbly beseech your Majesty that the Earl of Arundel a Member of this Body may presently be admitted by your gracious favour to come sit and serve your Majesty and the Commonwealth in the great affairs of this Parliament And we shall pray c. Upon which Remonstrance and Petition the King refusing to inlarge him thereupon the Lords to maintain their Privilege adjourned themselves on the 25 and 26 of May without doing any thing and upon the Kings refusal to release him they adjourned from May 26 till June 2. refusing to sit and so the Parliament dissolved in discontent his imprisonment in this case being a breach of privilege contrary to Magna Charta In this very Parliament the Lord Digby Earl of Bristol being omitted out of the summons of Parliament upon complaint to the Lords House was by order admitted to set therein as his Birthright from which he might not be debarred for want of Summons which ought to have been sent unto him ex debito Iustitiae as Sir Edward Cook in his 4 Institutes p. 1. The Act for ttriennial Parliaments and King John great Charter resolve And not long after the beginning of this Parliament upon the Kings accusation and impeachment of the Lord Kimbolton and the five Members of the Commons House both Houses adjourned and sate not as Houses till they had received satisfaction and restitution of those Members as the Journals of both Houses manifest it being an high breach of their Privileges contrary to the Great Charter If then the Kings bare not summoning of some Pears to Parliament who ought to sit there by their right of Perage or impeaching or imprisoning any Peer unjustly to disable them to sit personally in Parl. be a breach of Privilege of the fundamental Laws of the Realm and Magna Charta it self confirmed in above 40 successive Parliaments then the Lords right to sit vote and judge in Parliament is as firm and indisputable as Magna Charta can make it and consented to confirmed by all the Commons people and Parliaments of England that ever consented to Magna Charta though they be not eligible every Parliament by the Freeholders people as Knights and Burgesses ought to be and to deny this birthright and privilege of theits is to deny Magna Charta it self and this present Parliaments Declarations proceedings in the case of the Lord Kimbolton a Member of the House of Peers Fifthly The Treatise intituled The manner of holding Parliaments in England in Edward the Confessors time befose the Conquest rehearsed afterwards before William the Conquerour by the discreet men of the Kingdom and by himself approved and used in his time and in the times of his successors Kings of England if the Title be true and the Treatise so antient as Sir Edward Cook others now take it to be When as its mention of the Bishop of Carlisles usual place in Parliaments which Bishoprick was not founded till the year of our Lord 1132. or 1134. as Matthew Paris Matthew Westminster Roger Hoveden Godwin and others attest in the later end of Henry the first his reign Its menâ—ion of the Mayors of London other Cities and writs usually directed to them to elect two Citizens to serve in Parliament whereas London it self had no Mayor before the year 1208. being the 9. year of King John nor other Cities Mayors til divers years after nor can any Writs for electing Knights of Shires Citizens or Burgesses to serve in Parliament which it oft times writes of be produced before 49 H. 3. nor any Writs to levy their expences or wages for their Service in Parliaments which it recites be produced before the reign of King Edward the 1. Nor was the name of Parliament which it mentions and writes of so much as used by any Author before the later end of King Henry the 3. his reign after whose reign this Modus was certainly compiled towards the end of K. Richard the 2. or after as other passages in it evidence beyond all contradiction This magnified Treatise be it genuine or spurious determines thus of the Kings and Lords rights to be personally present in all Parliaments The King is bound by all means possible to be present at the Parliament unless he be detained or let there from by bodily sickness and then he may keep his Chamber yet so that he lye not without the Manour or Town where the Parliament is held and then he ought to send for twelve persons of the greatest and best of them that are summoned to the Parliament that is two Bishops two EARLS two BARONS two Knights of the Shire two Burgesses and two Citizens to look upon his person to testifie and witness his estate and in their presence he ought to make a Commission and give Authority to the Archbishop of the Place the Steward of England and Chief Justice that they joyntly and severally should begin the Parliament and continue the same in his name express mention being made in that Commission of the cause of his absence thence which ought to suffice and admonish the OTHER NOBLES
elect such other persons to represent assent and vote for them in Parliament in whom they most confided Sixthly our Peers in Parliament though they there serve for the good of the whole Kingdom which hath always trusted to them in matters of Counsel Judicature and making Laws yet they represent no persons but themselves only or their families Tenants Friends and Allies which depend upon them and bear their own expences which are so great and chargeable that the Abbot of St. James without Northampton in the Parliament of 12 E. 2. and the Abbot of Leicester in the the 26 of E. 3. being summoned to Parliament petitioned and procured themselves and their successors to be exemped from any future summons to and attendance in the Lords House as Barons of the Realm both because they held no lands of the King by Barony but only in frank almoign and their Predecessors had not formerly or usually been summoned to Parliaments sed vicibus interpolatis only And likewise because it would tend to the great grievance and loss of them and their houses and much impoverish them by reason of the great expence it would bring upon them One Peer and his retinue expending more every Parliament than the wages of 40 or 50 Knights and Burgesses amount to Wherefore there is no shadow of reason why the people should elect them since they doe not represent them nor pay them wages as they doe to their Knights Citizens Burgesses who serve for and represent them Wherefore their Levelling Oppugners may as well argue That our Nobles ought to be elected by the people to their Honors Lands Estates which descend unto them from their Ancestors not from the common people as that they ought to sir in Parliament by the peoples election only to represent themselves in their own right not the people And that the Knights of the Shire ought to be elected to their dignity of Knighthood which the King only confers on them or to their Lands and Freeholds which they enjoy in their own right because they are elected by the Free-holders to sit in Parliament in their right who elected them nor their own alone which Barons doe not 7ly On these grounds the suppressing debasing captivity or slaughter of the Princes Lords and Nobles of a kingdom or Nation is by God himself defined to be an immediate forerunner concomitant cause of the Kingdoms Nations ruine and slavery and a matter of great lamentation Ezech. 19.1.14 c. 17.12 Lam. 1.6 c. 2.2 c. 5.12 Prov. 19.10 c. 30.21.22 Eccl. 10.5 7. Isay 3.4 c. c. 34.11 12 13. c. 40.23 c. 43.28 Jer. 4.9 c. 27.20 c. 29. c. 25.18 19. c. 50.35.41 51 55. c. 52.16 Hos 7.16 Amos 2.15 c. 2.2 3. 2 Kings 24.14 Mich. 3.7 2 Chron. 24.23 Jer. 24.8 9. And the continuing of Kings Princes and Nobles in honour and power in any kingdom and nation are reputed and resolved by God to be the greatest honour happiness defence safety and preservation of that kingdom and people Jer. 17.24 25. c. 22.4 Eccles 10.17 Jer. 30.21 Psal 68.27 28. Prov 8.15 16. Isay 32.1 1. Chron. 23.2 c. c. 28.1 c. c. 29.24 25. Gen. 17.6.16 c. 35.11 2 Sam. 11 12. 1 Chron. 14.2 c. 28.4 5. c. 2 Chron. 2.11 c. 9.8 1 Kings 11.32 36. 2 Chron. 21.6 7. 2 King 8.18 19. 1 Kings 15 45. 2 Chron. 23.3.11.20 21. c. 9.26.27 Numb 24.7 Ezech. 37 22 29. Mich. 2.13 c. 4.8 Therfore they cannot be rejected suppressed by us now without apparent danger ruine and desolation to our kingdom whatever frantick Levellers and others fancy to the contrary who would be more than Kings and Lords themselves over the Nation could they once suppress both King and Lords as they design and endeavour By all which premises it is most apparent That our Lords and Barons sitting voting in Parliament who if you take them poll by poll have in all ages been more able Parliament-men States-men in all respects than the Commons though chosen by the people who alwayes make not choice of the best and wisest men as experience manifests is not only just lawfull in respect of Right and Title but originally instituted upon such grounds of Reason Justice Equity Policy as no rational understanding man can dislike or contradict but must subscribe to as necessary and convenient and so still to be continued supported in this their Right and Honour to moderate the Excesses Encroachments both of King and Commons one upon the other and keep both of them within their just and antient bounds for the kingdoms peace and safety The rather for that the very Act made this Parliament for the preventing of inconveniences happening through the long intermission of Parliaments not only enacts and requires ALL the Lords and Barons of this Realm to meet and sit in every Parliament under a penalty but likewise prescribes an Oath to the Lord Keeper and Commissioners of the Great Seal under severe penalties to send forth Writs of Summons to Parl. TO THEM ALL and in their default enables and enjoyns the Peers of the Realm or any twelve or more of them to issue forth Writs of Summons to Parliament under the Great Seal of England for the electing of Knights Citizens and Burgesses which Act will be meerly void and nugatory if their Votes and Right to sit in Parliament be denyed or the House of Peers reduced to the House of Commons which this very Statute doth distinguish Now whereas our whimsical Lilburnists and Levellers object that the Lords have no right to sit or vote in our Parliaments because they are not elected as Knights and Burgesses by the people under which Notion alone when thus elected they will admit them a place and vote in the Commons house but not otherwise I must inform these Ignoramusses that by the Laws Statutes of our Realm and the custom resolution of our Parliaments the Earls Lords and Barons of the Realm are altogether uncapable of being elected Knights or Burgesses to serve in Parliament and their elections as such meerly void and null in Law to all intents This is most apparent 1. By the very words of the writs of Summons to the Lords whereby they are summoned Nobiscum cum caeteris Praelatis Magnatibus et Proceribus dicti Regni nostri colloquium habere tractare c. vestrumque consilium impensuri c. not to treat conferr and consult with the Knights Citizens and Burgesses 2. By the express words of the Writs for the electing of Knights Citizens and Burgesses which have the same clause and then enjoyn the Sherifs to cause to be elected and returned duos Milites magis idoâ—eos discretos Comitatus praedicti de qualibet Civitate duos Cives de quolibet Burgo duos Burgenses de discretioribus magis sufficientibus c. ad faciendum et consentiendum hiis quae tunc c. Which disables them to elect any Lords or
Hall was moved to repair to the Lord Keeper and make such Oath which he did and then had a Writ of privilege In the Parliament of 23 Eliz. 21 Jan. Saturday Mr. Paul Wentworth moved for a publike Fast and for a Sermon every morning at 7. a clock before the House sate The House upon debate were divided about the Fast 115. were for and 100. against it It was thereupon ordered That as many of the House as conveniently could should on Sunday fortnight after assemble and meet together in the Temple Church there to hear preaching and joyn together in prayer with humiliation and fasting for the assistance of Gods spirit in all their consultations during this Parliament and for the preservation of the Queens Majesty and her Realm and the Preachers to be appointed by the privy Council that were of the House that they may be discreet not medling with Innovation or unquietness This Order being made by the Commons alone without the Lords and Queens privities assents the Queen being informed thereof sent a Message to the House by Master Vice-chamberlain a Member of it That her Highness had great admiration of the rashness of this House in committing such an apparent contempt of her express command not to meddle with her person the State or Church-government as to put in execution such an Innovation without her privity or pleasure first known Thereupon the Vice-chamberlain moved the House to make humble submission to her Majesty acknowledging the said offence and contempt craving the remission of the same with a full purpose to forbear the committing of the like hereafter Upon which by consent of the WHOLE HOUSE Mr. Vice-chamberlain carried this their submission to her Majesty as being the Judge and punisher of their misdemeanors even in the House it self though caried by majority of Voices In the Parliament of 28 Eliz. the Commons questioning the chusing and returning of the knights of the Shire for Norfolk the Queen said She was sorry the Commons medled therewith being a thing impertinent for that House to deal withall it belonging only to the Office of the Lord Chancellor from whom the Writs issue and to whom they are returned In the Parliament of 35 Eliz. Mr. Peter Wentworth and Sir Henry Bromley delivered a petition to the Lord Keeper desiring the Lords of the Vpper House to be suppliants with them of the Lower House unto her Majesty for intayling the succession of the Crown whereof a Bill was ready drawn by them The Queen being highly displeased therewith as contrary to her former strict command charged the LORDS of her COUNCIL to call the parties before them which they did and after Speech with them commanded them to forbear the Parliament and not to go out of their lodgings after which Mr. Wentworth was committed by them to the Tower Sir Henry Bromley with Mr. Richard Stevens and Mr. Welch to whom Sir Henry had imparted the matter were committed to the Fleet sitting the Parliament And when Mr. Wrâ—th moved in the House that they might be humble suters to her Majesty that she would be pleased to set at liberty those Members of the House that were restrained It was answered by all the Privy Counsellors there present That her Majesty committed him for causes best known to her self and to press her Highness with this sute would but hinder them whose good as foughtâ— That the House must not call the Queen to account for what she doth of her royal Authority That the causes for which they are restrained may be high and dangerous That her Majesty liketh no such questions neither doth it become the House to search into these matters In the same Parliament M. Morrice Attorny of the Court of Wards by a Serjeant at Arms was taken out of the Commons House Febr. 28. and committed to prison by the Queens command for delivering in a Bill against the abuses of the Bishops on Tuesday Febr. 27. against which many Members spake that it should not be read The Queen hearing of it sent for Sir Edward Cooke then Speaker the same day giving him in command with her own mouth to signifie to the House her dislike of the said Bill preferred by Mr. Morrice and charging him upon his Allegiance if any such Bill he exhibited not to read it Adding It is in me and my power to call Parliaments it is in my power to end and determine them it is in my power to assent or dissent to any thing done in Parliament Lo here several Members of the Commons House imprisoned by the Queens command by the Lords of her Council for disobeying her express commands in her Speech in medling in matters of State and Ecclesiastical affaires which she had forbidden them to do So farr was the Commons house then from being the Judges or sole Judges of their own Members privileges speeches or actions in the House it self even in this good Queens late reign of blessed memory In the same Parliament of 35 Eliz. when Sir Edward 〈◊〉 was Speaker of the Commons House there fell out a question in the Commons House about the Amendment of a mistake in the 〈◊〉 of the Burgess of Southwark and after long debate it was resolved that the House could not amend it but the Lâ— Keeper in Chancery â—here the return was of record if he thought it amendable by Law and that Master Speaker should wait upon the Lord Keeper about it which he did who advised with the Judges concerning it as appears by the Journal In the same Parliament Thomas Fitz-Herbert of Staffordshire was elected a Burgess of Parliament and two hours after before the Indenture returned the Sherif took him prisoner upon a Capias Utlagatum Whereupon he petitioned the House that he might have a Writ of Privilege and be enlarged After many dayes debate and Arguments of this case in the House by sundry Lawyers and Sir Edward Cooke then Speaker it was agreed That no Writ of Privilege could in this case be returned into the House of Commons being but a Member of Parliament and no Court of Record but only into the Chancery or House of Peers And that this being a point of Law it was meet the Judges should be advised with and determine it not the House And at last he was outed of his privilege by the Houses resolution These forecited presidents in all ages will sufficiently prove the late objected presidents for the Commons sole Judicial Authority and Jurisdiction in cases of Privilege and Elections and the suspending ejecting fining secluding imprisoning their own Members and such who violate their privileges or make false returns to be a meer late Groundless Innovation if not Usurpation upon the King House of Peers and Chancellors of England no ways grounded on the Law and custom of Parliaments as Sir Edward Cooke mistakes but point-blank against them both and that the Statutes concerning Elections and attendance or absence of Knights and Burgesses as 5 R.
Premises THe Principal scope of the Precedent Plea for the Lords and House of Peers being only to justifie and ratifie their ancient just Right to sit and vote in all English Parliaments and Great Councils or State and their Judicial Authority in them without the Commons especially in Criminal Causes then only controverted contradicted by Lilbourne Overton their Disciples I reputed it both useful and necessary to superadde thereto some memorable Presidents in former ages which no Vulgar writers of our English Parliaments have remembred of the Kings and Lords Proceedings Judicature in Parliament in Civil and Ecclesiastical Causes of publick and private concernment as no way heterogeneal but homogeneal to my Theam to make this Plea more compleat and communicate some more knowledge of Parliamentary Affairs and Proceedings both to the Ignorant and Learned in this declining age wherein learning and learned men of publick spirits in all Professions are so much decayed and little Visible Probability left of any speedy reparations of this inestimable losse for want of publick encouragement I shall proceed herein only in a Chronological Method as I have done for the most part in the premises beginning with the ancientest president I meet with of this kind and so descending to succeeding ages About the year of Christ 536 Our famous Brittish victorious King Arthur by his Letters and Messengers summoned all the Kings Prelates Dukes and Nobles subject to him to meet at the City of Caerleon on the feast of Pentecost then to be new crowned and settle the peace and affairs of his Realmes whereupon there assembled at that time and place thirteen Kings three Archbishops and many Princes Dukes Consuls Earls and LORDS whose names are registred in Geoffry Monmouth whiles they were thus convened there arrived twelve men with letters from Lucius Tiberius procurator of the Roman Republick demanding in high language The Tribute of Brittain which the Senate command King Arthur to pay with the arrears injuriously detained because Julius Caesar had reserved it upon his conquest of Brittain and hee with other Romane Emperours had long received it summoning him likewise to appear at Rome in August the year following to satisfie the Senate for the injuries done them and submit to the sentence their Justice should pronounce or else denouncing war against him This Letter being publickly read before all the Kings Princes Dukes and Nobles present the King consulted with them craving their unanimous advise and sense concerning this business affirming That this Tribute was exacted ex irrationabili causa against all reason for he demanded it to be payd as due because it was paid to Julius Caesar and his successors who invited by the devisions of the old Brittains arrived with an Army in Brittain and By force and violence subjected the Country to their power shaken with domestick commotions Now because they obtained it in this manner vectigal ex eo injuste receperunt therefore they unjustly received tribute out of it Nihil enim quod vi violentia acquiritur juste ab â—llo possidetur qui violentiam intulit irrationabilem ergo causam praeâ—endit qua nos jure sibi tribitarios arbitratur For nothing which is acquired by force and violence is justly possessed by any man who hath offered the violence Therefore hee pretends An irrationable cause whereby hee reputes us to be Tributaries to him c. The whole Council upon debate fully assented to this opinion and promised the King their assistance against the Romans in this cause Whereupâ—n King Arthur returned this answer That he would by no mâ—ans render them tribute neither would he submit himself to their judgement concerning it nor repare to Rome c. An expresse resolution That Conquest by warr force and violence is no good just nor lawful but an unlawful and unjust Title to any Tributes or Possessions which these who now pretend they are Conquerors and us a meer conquered Nation and therefore they may impose what Taxes Excises Tributes Laws Executions they please upon us when as they were only raysed waged commissioned to defend preserve our Laws Liberties King Parliament and Kingdomes not to conquer or enslave them may do well to consider In the year of our Lord 799. King Kenulfus upon the petition and complaint of Athelardus Arch-Bishop of Canterbury consentientibus EPISCOPIS ET PRINCIPIBUS MEIS assembled in a Parliamentary Council restored four parcels of Lands to Christ-Church in Canterbury which King Offa heretofore had taken from this Church and conferred on his Officers Kenulfus King of Mercia calling a Provincial Council held at Cloveshe Anno Dom. 800. wherein all the Bishops Dukes Abbots and Nobles of every order were assembled complaint was made therein that after the death of Arch-Bishop Cuthhert Verheb and Osbert led by a malignant spirit stole away the evidences and writings of the Monastery of Cotham and all the Lands thereunto belonging given by King Athelbald to our Saviours Church in Canterbury and brought them to Kenulfus King of the West-Saxons who thereupon converted the said Monastery and Lands to his own use After which â—regwin and Jambert Arch-Bishops of Canterbury complained of this injurie done to the Church in sundry Councils both to King Kenulfus and Offa King of Mercia who took from Kenulfus the Monastery of Cotham with many other Lands and Towns and subjected them to the Realme of Mercia At last Kenulfus induced by late repentance restored the evidences and writings of the said Monastery together with a great summe of mony to the said Church to prevent the danger of an excommunication but King Offa as hee received the said Monastery without writings so hee retained them during his life and left them to descend to his heirs without any evidence after his death whereupon Athelardus the Arch-Bishop and other wise men of Christ-Church brought these Evidences and Writing touching Gotham into this Council of Clovesho where when they had been publickly read OMNIUM VOCE DECRETUM EST that it was just the Metropoliticall Church should bee restored to the said Monastery of which shee had been unjustly spoiled for so long a time Athelardus receiving also in this Council the dignities and possessions which King Offa had taken from Jamberâ— annuente ipso Rege as Gervasius records In a Council held at Clovesho Anno 813. Upon complaint of the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury the Arch-Bishoprick of Litchfield was dissolved and the Bishopricks annexed to it by King Offa taken from the See of Canterbury restored and reunited thereunto by the consent of King Kenulfus his Bishops Dukes and Nobles who writ a Letter to Pope Leo for that purpose unanimo consilio totius sanctae Synodi And in this Council also other lands were restored to the Bishop of Worcester and other controversies between Bishops concerning their Lands and Limits decided In another Council at Clovesho Anno 821. Wherein King Kenulfus Wulfred Arch-Bishop of Canterbury with the rest of the Bishops Abbots
possessions and hereditaments with their appurtenances which come to the hands of the said King Richard by forfeiture by force of an Act made in a Parlement holden at Westminster the 21. year of his reign except the said Commons beseeching our said Liege Lord to have and take all only the issues and revenues of all the said Castles Manors Lordships Honors lands tenements rents services and of other the premises aforesaid with their appurtenances except afore except from the said fourth day of the said moneth of March and not afore Saving to every of the liegemen and subjects of our said Soveraign and liege Lord King Edward the fourth such lawfull title and right as he or any other to his use had in any of the premises the said third day of March other than he had either of the grant of the said Henry late Earl of Derby called King Henry the fourth the said Henry his son or the said Henry late called King Henry the sixth or by authority of any pretenced Parlement holden in any of their dayes And that it be ordained declared and stablished by the assent advice and authority aforesaid That all Statutes Acts and Ordinances heretofore made in and for the hurt destruction and avoyding of the said right and title of the said King Richard or of his heirs to ask claim or have the Crown Royal power estate dignity preheminence governance exercise possessions and Lordship abovesaid be voyd and be taken holden â—nd reputed voyd and for nought adnulled repealed revoked and of no force value or effect And furthermore consideration and respect had to the horrible detestable cruel and inhuman tyranny by the said Henry late Earl of Derby against his faith and ligeance done and committed to the said King Richard his rightwise true and natural Liege and Soveraign Lord the unright wise and unlawfull usurpation and intrusion of the same Henry upon the said Crown of Englond and Lordship of Irelond the great intollerable hurt prejudice and derogation that thereby followed to the said Edmund Mortymer Earl of March next heir of blood of the said King Richard time of his death and to the heirs of the said Edmund and the great and excessive damage that by the said usurpations and the continuance thereof hath grown to the said Realm of Englond and to the politique and peaceable governance thereof by inward wars moved and grounded by occasion of the said Vsurpation It be therefore Ordeined declared and stablished by the advice assent and authority aforesaid for the more stablishing of the assured and undoubted inward rest and tranquility of the said Realm of Englond And for the avoyding of the said usurpation and intrusion very cause and ground of the tribulation persecution and adversity thereof that the said Henry late Earl of Derby the heirs of his body coming be from henceforth unabled and taken and holden from henceforth unable and unworthy the premises considered to have joy occupy hold or inherit any estate dignity preheminence enheritaments or possessions within the Realm of Englond Wales or Irelond aforesaid or in Caleys or the Marches thereof And sith that the Crown Royal estate dignity and Lordship above rehearsed of right appertained to the said Noble Prince Richard Duke of York And that the said Usurper late called King Henry the sixth that understanding to the intent that in his opinion he might the more surely stand and continue in his usurpation and intrusion of and in the same Crown Royal estate dignities and Lordship evermore intended and laboured continually by subtile imaginations frauds deceipts and exorbitant means to the extreme and final destruction of the same noble Prince Richard and his issue And for the execution of this malicious and damnable purpose therein in a preâ—ence Parliament by him and his usurped authority holden at Coventree the 38 year of his usurped Reign without cause lawfull or reasonable declared and judged the same noble Prince Richard and the Noble Lords his Sons that is to wit Edward then Earl of March and now the King our Soveraign Lord abovesaid and Edmund Earl of Ruthland to be his Rebels and Enemies them and all their issue dis-inheriting of all name state title and preheminence tenements possessions and enheritaments for evermore cruelly wickedly and unjustly and agenst all humanity right and reason whereby the said noble Prince Richard and his sons above named were compelled by the dread of death to absent them for a time out of this Realm of Englond the natural land of their birth unto their intollerable hurt prejudice heavinesse and discomfort And where after these the said noble Prince Richard Duke of York using the benefice of the Law of Nature and sufficiently accompanied for his defence and recovery of his right to the said Crown of the said Realm came thereunto not then having any Lord therein above him but God And in the time of a Parliament holden by the said Henry late called King Henry the sixth the sixth day of October the 39 year of his said usurped reign intended to use his right and to enter into the exercise of the royal powers dignitees and Lordships abovesaid as it was lawfull and according to Law reason and justice him so to doe and thereupon shewed opened declared and proved his right and title to the said Crown to fore the Lords Spiritual and temporal and Commons being in the same Parlitment by antient matters of sufficient and notable Record undefaisible whereunto it could not be answered or replyed by any matter that of right ought to have deferred him then from the possession thereof yet nevertheless for the tender zeal love and affection that the same Duke bare of Godly and blessed vertues and natural disposition to the restfull governance and pollicy of the same Realm and the Common wele thereof which he loved all his life desired and preferred afore all other things earthly though all the seid Lords spiritual and temporal after long and mature deliberation by them had by good advice upon the said right and title and the authorities and Records proving the same the answers thereunto gives and the replâ—cations to the same made knew the same right and title true by them and the seid Commons so declared accepted and admitted in the same Parliament Iâ— liked him at the grete instance desire and request of the seid Lords solemnply and many times unto him made to assent and grant unto a convention concord and agreement between the seid Henry late called King Henry the sixth on that opâ—party and him on that other upon the seid right and title by the same late called King by the advice and assent of the seid Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons being in the seid Parliament auctorized in the same comprehending among other that the seid Vsurper late called King Henry the sixt understanding certainly the seid title of the said Richard Duke of York just lawfull true and sufficient by the