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cause_n	great_a	speak_v	word_n	2,711	5	3.7885	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A90916	The Case and vindication of John Poyntz, alias Morrice, and his friends or, The first part of their long proceedings and oppression in the House of Lords who never could be released, notwithstanding the judges of Englands report for their deliverance, but are denyed the benefit of the common law, which is the subjects birth-right and inheritance : this is declared for the satisfaction of all those that wish well, and that will stand up to maintain truth, and that desire their brother commoners deliverances, and to know the oppressors from the oppressed, and what the right and interest of a commoner is, by the great Charter of England.		1648 (1648)	Wing P3131D; ESTC R42282	13,291	11

which the said Mr. Audly pleaded by two Councel viz. Sir The. Witherington and M Maynard and extream honestly and like an Englishman and a Christian maugre Browns threats and menaces justified the finding of the said Records and delivery of Copies thereof and was by his Councel and the Clerks belonging to his office justified and cleared in giving Copies and by the Lords discharged v●z in regard there was no witness produced against the said woman Mrs Smith who was charged ●o foyst them in by Brown and Littleton and yet the said Records were brought up to the Lords after this and condemned at the request of M. Brown and Littl●ton and Poyntz alias Morrice and his witnesses adjudged and fined for a supposed forgery of the said Act and Records The said Poyntz alias Morrice and Mary his wife Issabella Smith Leonard Darby and Iohn Harris have continued prisoners ever since May 11. 1647. notwithstanding several Petitions to the Lords and several Orders of the Lords whereby the business hath been referred to the consideration of the Judges to consider how they might be released and the opinion of the Judges given in that behalf viz. That they might be released being they was imprisoned not for any fine but during pleasure but M. Brown absolutely refused to sign the said Report because it should not be authentick and when the Lords yielded to have released them upon the making of the said Report M. Brown fa●sly informed the Lords that they were imprisoned for debt when they never had any action layd upon them and put in a Petition to crass the Judges report and the Lords intention pretending they were in contempt for not delivering in writings which they have not neither if they had do concern the estate in question and this he doth on purpose to starve them in prison and as a further evidence of his inveterate spleen against Poyntz alias Morrice and his enjoyment of his right having got him and his witnesses into prison and thereby disabled them of making their defence themselves and being discerted by all their Councel for fear of M. Brown who breathed out continual threats and slanders against all that should dare to appear in their cause against him they were necessitated to engage one M. Pendred in the prosecution of their business who with great fidelity and courage did for several moneths manage the same and was in fair possibility by his continued addresses and importunancy to effect not only their delivery from their imprisonment but also to bring the said cause to a tryal at Law for prevention whereof M. Brown charged the said Pendred with speaking several seditious words against the House by means of which false report he got him committed to the Gatehouse Westminster not so much as allowing him one hours liberty to put in Bayl. But the said Pendred afterwards putting in sufficient Bayl before Sir Edward Powel one of the Justices of the Peace for the Liberty of Westminster was freed which M. Brown hearing of and knowing that Poyntz alias Morrice was to have a hearing before the Judges that day at Sarg●ents Inn in Fleet street immediatly together with Justice Manly and others came to the said Sir Edward Powel and rated him for taking Bayl threatning him that if he did not send a Warrant and attach Pendred he would make him loose his Commission whereupon the said Sir Edward Powel being enformed by the said Pendred that that afternoon he would be at Sergeants Inn at Poyntz al●● Moorice's referrance before the Judges got Sir John Woolastons Warrant to attach Pendre and carry him to the Gatehouse without being carryed before any Justice at all or returnin● the Bond of his sureties formerly given all which proceedings being clearly declared in a P●tition to the Lords from the said Pendred M. Brown took the Impudence to affirm that h● Bayl were Knights of the Post in the open House of Lords although it be known that they a●● men of more honesty and better credit then himself and for Estate for ought I know settin● aside his office far before him by vertue of which Warrant he the said Pendred hath als● been kept in prison about 8. weeks contrary to Law M. Brown not thinking himself sa●● if any person be left at liberty to discover his unjust unparaleld wicked practises But let hi● know that neither his power policy or friends shall be able to protect him from the hand 〈◊〉 Justice or keep his gross knavery concealed for what he doth in secret shall be published o● the house top And though Justice seem to slumber for a season yet she will awake and stretch out her arm and weigh his actions in the ballance and finding them too light with one stroke sweep him and them from the face of the earth which they have polluted Therefore it were to be wished that he would consider and repent lest a worse mischief befall him then yet hath hapned Thus have you a true Narrative of the state of the Case of Poyntz alias Morrice and his witnesses who have bin imprisoned about 17. months although they in all their Petitions have desired nothing but their freedomes a fair tryal at Common Law according to evidence and witness on both sides heard that so the benefit of Law and birthright of the Subject may effectually take place and that the writings taken away may be restored Poyntz alias Morrice himself having never so much as bin before any Magistrate since the time of his imprisonment Now if this be not an imparraleld piece of injustice if this be not a wickedness in high places if this be not an abomination that will make desolate if not only redressed but also repented of I leave to all rational men to judg especially all you the peoples Representatives who have bin intrusted and have taken upon you to hear receive and redress the grievances of the people whom you represent and punish their oppressors be they high or low rich or poor friend or foe without respect to any thing but pure Justice here is a fit Subject for you to insist upon here is a piece of injustice of a bloody tincture of a scarlet dye Oh that your speedy Justice herein might prepare a place for you in the affection of the people of this Nation who for want hereof have in a great measure estranged themselves and divorsed themselves from you which they had formerly espoused Oh therefore if you have the hearts of Englishmen if you be Christians if you would hope for protection in the evil day rouze up your selves awake from that Lethargy of sottish security that you have long bathed your selves in gird your sword unto your thigh and be what you should be a terror to evill doers a protection to the innocent and relief for the oppressed then shall your Enemies be confounded your reproaches removed and your reproachers silenced then shall the people love you and your honor not only continued but enlarged and which is best your consciences will bear a sweet testimony of peace and comfort when all other dependencies shall take wings and fly from you And all you Englishmen and Christians to whose hand this paper shall come I beseech you lay these poor mens condition to heart By the same means that they are like to be destroyed thou mayst be destroyed also if Records nay Acts of Parliament may at the will Clerk because they cross his interest be cancelled removed destroyed and annulled what ●ecurity can be had in the enjoyment of any estate This is the Tyranny indeed so much fear●d and decryed against in others but ip●o facto practi●●d by the Lords and Mr Brown and ●is Accomplices Therefore if thou hast any sence of compassion or christianity joyn in a petition to the Honorable House of Commons for the execution of speedy Justice in this and ●uch like Cases See you not how the Prisons swarm with Prisoners of pleasure suffer not ●heir undoing to be made a president for your own misery For by the same Law that Poy●tz ●lias Morrice and his Witnesses c. may be imprisoned seventeen moneths without hearing without Crime without Witnesses by the same Law you may be imprisoned also you having no more protection then they or any other all the liberty you enjoy being but during the pleasure of a few men who are acted by no other rule but their wills and friends perswasions For if M. Brown say you forge an Act the Lords will beleeve it and you shall be imprisoned and fined If M. Brown say you speak seditious words against that House the Lords will beleeve it without Witness nay against Evidence upon Oath to the contrary although the Law hath provided that a Freemans liberty should not be taken from him unless a legal Crime be proved upon Oath against him before a Judg or Justice of the Peace c. The due Execution of Law is your birth-right and protection let therefore your timely endeavors be imployed for the due Execution thereof now while you have an opportunity lest by your sencelessness of their unjust sufferings you bring an irrecoverable mischief upon your selves and posterity and then when it is too late you repent but cannot prevent your destruction Gentle Reader Know that this is no Pamphlet or Scandal but certain Truths which divers well-affected people are satisfied in and have knowledg of and if Justice in this case do not the speedier take place then thou mayst expect a Charge by way of Articles promised thee for thy better satisfaction at sight whereof the heart of every Englishman that hath either fear of God or the least spark of grace will stand amazed and rend his heart with grief to see such horrible Oppression in a Land where the Gospel is planted and Christianity professed and especially in time of Parliament and days of Reformation FINIS

by Law and the Tenants yeelding him possession and turning Tenants unto him which was a better Title by far without the Act of Parliament then ever Sir Adam Littleton could make or show for the premises which is nothing but a Colatteral Deed made about four years after the decease of the foresaid Iames that setled this estate to whom all the right and interest of the foresaid Gabriel was past and to the Heirs males of his body for ever and besides the said Collateral Deed hath no fine and recovery upon it neither is it inrolled therefore is of no validity there being not any Vouchers to make it good when it was made for James was dead and Iohn that married Katherine was but a termer for life So that these things being duly weighed and considered it cannot be adjudged other then a wicked and malicious slander cast upon the said Poyntz alias Morrice and his friends by the said Sir Adam Littleton and Mr Brown c. Every particular of whose proceedings herein in relation to the Premises shall be declared more particularly in several subsequent Articles for your better information But to proceed Upon the false suggestion of Mr Brown and Littleton c. by his prevalence in the Lords House and making Littleton acquainted with all Poyntz alias Morrice's proceedings before any hearing could be had he caused the said Copies of the Acts and other Records found as aforesaid to ●ondemned and Iohn Poynnz alias Morrice and Mary his Wife Leonard Da●by Iohn Harris and Isabeln●th to be seized upon by vertue of the Lords Order and to be carryed to four several prisons Ludgate Newgate Counter and Kings Bench there to be imprisoned during pleasure The date of Warrant by which they were kept in prison above three weeks before they were brought before Lords upon Mr Browns Command was the 11 d●y the date of the Commitment to prison by the ●●ds during pleasure Die Lunae septimo Iunit 1647. ●y colour of which first Order the said Iohn Brown Clerk of the house of Lords together with Mr Wil. ●●leton Mr Baker and others c. about eleven of the clock at night came with a Constable to the 〈◊〉 or the said Iohn Poyatz alias Morrice whom the said Iohn Brown commanded to break open door and being by the Constable asked for a Warrant he replyed It is sufficient that I say it I am Clerk to the Parliament or words to that effect upon which the Constable returned him answer viz. That that was no sufficient Warrant for him to break open any mans house and there●●●e bad him do it himself which he according●y violently did when having searched the house and not ●●ding the Copy of the said act he seized and took away all Poyatz alias Morrice's other Writings and ●●oks of Accounts all which he detains to this day contrary to Law for the doing whereof he had Warrant but his own Will who it appears thinks himself above all Law because he is Clerk to ●●e house of Lords But when he had thus broke up the house seized the writings and given them to ●●e adversary Littleton to read c. he also by vertue of the said Warrant attached the persons of ●●bella Smith Mary Poyntz alias Morrice Leonard Darby and Iohn Harris and retained them in cu●●dy about three week before ever any thing was layd to their Charge or they brought before any le●●l Magistrate all which proceedings of the said Brown and Littleton c. are altogether illegal shall be fully demonstrated For first the Warrant it self is ●llegal as not coming from persons legally authorized to take the ●●●gnizance of the Crimes of Commoners For no Free-man ought to be taken or imprisoned or ●●●ized of his Freehold or Liberties or Custom or be out-lawed or exiled or any other ways de●●royed neither passed upon nor condemned but by the lawful judgment of his Peers or by the Law the Land viz. By the judgment of twelve men of his equals If a Lord by twelve Peers If a commoner by twelve Commoners And Sir Edw. ●ook saith in his Exposition on the 29 chapter of ●agna Charta pag. 54. That if any man or men by colour of any authority which they have not legally in ●●at particular case for which they arrest or cause any man to be arrested or imprisoned That it is against ●●e great Charter and is most hateful and destructive when it is don● by the Countenance of justice And it plain That the Lo●d have not the least legal jurisdiction over Commoners and so cannot take the ●●●gnizance of any pretended Crime much less ought they to grant out Warrants to break the houses 〈◊〉 Commoners or to seize upon their Goods and imprison the persons of Commoners at their pleasures ●hen they have neither been pa●●ed upon by good and lawful men nor nothing appears upon Record ●gainst them as by Law ought no man being to be put so much as to answer without presentment be●ore Justices or matter of Record or by writ original according to the old Law of the Land as appears by Magna Charta 28. E. 3. Ch. 3.37 E 3 Ch 8.42 E. 3. Ch. 3.2 ●art Cooks Inst pag. 50 But second The Warrant for the attachment of the said persons is illegal not having in it the seve●al ingredients which should make a Warrant legal 1. A legal Warrant ought to be in writi●g in the name and under the seal of him that makes it expressing his office place and authority by force whereof he makes it But this Warrant is under the band of M. Brown who doth not only make but execute it also being both Judg and party which is a practise which the Law abhors nay he is the person accusing having accused them in the name of a pretended power viz. the Lords he himself makes a Warrant in his own case then as an Officer or Judg be p●●s his own Warrant in execution which practise of his I presume will hardly be judged legal or reasonable especially in M John Brown Clericus Parhomentorum 〈◊〉 not only tending to the dishonor of his Royal Masters but also rendering him unfit for such a weighty and honorable employment 2. The Warrant ought to contain the cause and that with convenient certainty if for treason then for what treason or if for felony then for what felony c. But this Warrant contains no cause although the words of the Law are postitive Nisi causa pro qua Captus c. unless the cause why a man should be taken be expressed the Warrant cannot be legal only to answer such things as shall be objected c. Is the cause in this Warrant contained which is indeed no cause at all complaints being no crimes in Law a man being happily never the more guilty because complained of and if the La●● should tolerate the imprisonment or persons upon complaint only before the hearing of both partie● and matter of crime be proved certainly we were the