Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A45191
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A defence of the charter, and municipal rights of the city of London, and the rights of the other municipal cities and towns of England directed to the citizens of London. / By Thomas Hunt.
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Hunt, Thomas, 1627?-1688.
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1683
(1683)
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Wing H3750; ESTC R16568
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22,067
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49
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If the minority be big enough to maintain support the ends of the Corporation the minority is still the Corporation If any single Person is unwilling the Society should be dissolved and this Corporation is under the Government of any greater Society of Men as a Corporation within a Polity this single person may require and prosecute the revolters from the Society to abide in that Community These societies of men that are form'd by the soveraign Authority cannot dissolve or make the terms of their Society and the Order and Rule of governing them other than is appointed by the Charter of Incorporation Nay it is a Question whether a King can change it who hath not the Power of making Laws For the terms of their Society their Order and Rule of Government is the Condition of Incorporating and upon these terms they consent to be incorporated no man by our Law is compellable to be incorporated against his own liking Roll. 1. Rep. Baggs Case And agreeable hereto changes in the Government of the City of London from the first Charters have been made by Acts of Parliament Acts of Parliament was made for the Division of a Ward and for altering the Election and Continuance of the Office of an Alderman for Life whereas in the first Charters they were choosen annually and not to be choosen the next Year I shall here transcribe the Acts themselves which are not printed but supplied to me by my worthy Friend Mr. Petyt whose enquiry nothing that is notable in our Records hath escaped The Commons in the Parliament 7. R. 2. prayed the King for the maintenance of peace and tranquility in the City of London for the time to come by reason that all the Aldermen were choosen from year to year at the Feast of St. Gregory the Pope and none of them could be re-elected for the year ensuing and others put in their places to the great endamagement of the City The Commons therefore pray the King to grant to the Mayor and Commons of the City and their Successors in that present Parliament that the Aldermen to be elected from year to year at the said Feast franchement Ezluz be freely choosen and that of the most sufficient persons and good fame of those who had been Aldermen as others per le Gardes de la Citee by the Wards of the City Saving to the Wards their free Election in manner aforesaid To which the King answer'd Le Roy le voet Grante to endure so long as good Government should be in the City by reason of that clause Rot. Parl. 7o. R. 2 ds Numb 24. In the Parliament 17o. R. 2 di Numb 25. It was ordained that the Aldermen should not be removed Sanz honest reasonable causes without reasonable Cause In the same Parliament Numb 27. upon the Petition of the Mayor Aldermen and Commons in the said City by reason of the greatness of the Ward of Farringdon which was too great to be governed by one Alderman The King grants that les Gents de la dite Gard of Farringdon within might choose one Alderman and those of Farringdon without another and that both those Aldermen so choosen should not be removed Si non per cause reasonable as it was ordained by the King in Parliament to the Aldermen of the said City But though the Government of such Societies and Corporations may be changed by Law Yet no Law can change the Government of Kingdoms and Common-wealths and alter the terms of Government and Obedience established nothing can do this but chance and time violence and an irresistible Power But every English man ought from the Nature of his Allegiance to defend the English Monarchy with his Life under the Authority of the Government and the protection of Laws To conclude the best way to shew our Loyalty to the King is to think honorably of His Majesty to account his Person Sacred as it is and himself impeccable for so our Government hath made him by imputation which is the highest Prerogative of the Crown and a notable instance of the wisdom of our Government Imperii Majestas Tutelae Salus We heartily bewail the unhappy death of the late King But detest that it should be made a pretense to change our Government They are very bad men that raise on the one side in the People a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or King-dread and on the otherside in the King a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or People dread from his deplorable death Such passions indeed respectively possess the People and Successors of Tyrants and work the woo of the People or the abolition of the Kingly Government But most unnatural these confounding apprehensions are from the death of a good King bitterly bewail'd by almost all of his subjection It is too unreasonable that we should offer up our antient Government our pretious liberties our Religion it self in the defence of which he dyed to attone for the guilt of an inconsiderable part of the Nation that was engaged in that detestable fact and are since gone to their proper place This is hard that we must loose our Government and have no more English Kings to expiate for their guilt We do not shew our Loyalty but discover an ignominious baseness if we yeeld up our rights at the perswasion of a Courtier who tells us it is for the Kings Service when he is thereby promoting his own advantages and projects and shifting for indeminity upon the ruin of the Government Plutarch in his treatise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 base sneaking says that the Asâ—â—ticks became slaves because they could not pronounce the word NO and gave denyal to Sycohants and flatterers If these Courtiers really and honestly thought it were for His Majesties Service that all Authorities and Dignities in the Government should be held precaciously of the Crown they ought to hold their honors and session in Parliament by the same tenure for that those that shall inherit to them may be wiser than themselves for this there way is their folly and their posterities I hope will not approve their doings When our Preachers exhort to obedience they ought not to be heard if they press us beyond the terms of obedience that the Government hath established And we may dutifully insist notwithstanding to have the benefit of such Laws that the power of the Government can make to preserve us in the peaceable enjoyment of our Religion when we have a Protestant King When they exhort us to Christian patience they should not forget to tell the People that they are not bound to suffer but where the Christian virtue of Fortitude is perfected and not else but as Christian charity doth direct But they ought not by any means to abuse the People with a vain amuzement that a Popish Successor will protect the Church of England I shall end with the words of King Solomon Proverbs 24. My Son fear thou the Lord and the King and meddle not with them that are given to change for their Calamity shall arise suddenly and who knoweth the Ruine of them both It is not good to have respect of Persons in Judgment He that saith unto the wicked thou art righteous him shall the People curse Nations shall abhor him But to them that rebuke him shall be delight and a good Blessing shall come upon them If thou faint in the day of adversity thy strength is small If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death and those that are ready to be slain If thou saist behold we knew it not doth not he that pondereth the Heart consider it and he that keepeth thy Soul doth not he know it and shall not he render to every Man according to his Works ERRATA Pag. 2. L. 23. r the negligence of page number the twelfth is misplac'd after page the thirteenth and must be read before it pag. 7. r obliquandi for obliquendi pag. 12. lin vlt. for which r what pag. 13. L. 19. for help r help'd pag. 19. L. 26 dele all pag. 36. r. By-laws p. 38. l. 21. r. their FINIS