the Subjects to which the late Kings answer was That he willed that right be done according to the Laws and Customs of the Realm and that the Statutes be put in due Execution that his Subjects may have no cause to complain of any Wrong or Oppressions contrary to their just Rights and Liberties to the Preservation whereof he held himself in Conscience as well obliged as of his Prerogative But this answer not giving satisfaction he was again Petitioned unto that he would give a full and satisfactory answer to their Petion in full Parliament whereupon the late King in Person after their Petition was read by the Clerk of the Crown the Kings answer thereunto was read by the Clerk of the Parliament in these words Soit droit fait come est desire Let right be done as is desired And on the last day of the Session of that Parliament he declared his dislike of a Remonstrance given him by the House of Commons and since he was certainly informed of a second Remonstrance was preparing to take away his profit of Tonnage and Poundage alledging that he had given away his right thereunto by his Answer to their Petition that therefore he was forced to put an end to that Session before he meant it being unwilling to receive any more Remonstrances to which he must give a harsh answer And as for Tonnage and Poundage it was a thing he could not want and never meant by him to be granted As single Persons usually quarrel before they fight so now began there to be a kind of Logomachy a contention in Words Speeches Remonstrances and Declarations began to be cryed up and down the Streets all which in time after ushered in the late War It will be material for a plainer discovery of the injury intended to his said most excellent Majesty in the said second Remonstrance to take away his Profit of Tonnage and Poundage to speak something for the explanation of this learning of the Customs from our Books of Law from which it is observable That the Duties payable to the King out of Merchandizes exported or imported are of three kinds 1. Customs 2. Subsidies 3. Imposts or Impositions all which admit of these Definitions and Divisions 1. Customs are Duties certain and perpetual payable to the King as the Inheritance of his Crown for Merchandizes imported and exported to and from parts over and beyond the Seas from one Realm to another Realm These Duties called Customs are divided into three kinds 1. Magna antiqua Custuma 2. Parva nova Custuma 3. Prisage and Butlerage and in all these the Crown hath a certain and perpetual Inheritance 1. The great and ancient Custome is payable out of native or homebred Commodities of three sorts to wit Wool Woollfells and Hides and is in certainty 6 s. 8 d. for a Sack of Wool for 300. of Woolfells 6 s. 8 d. for a Last of Hides 13 s. 4. d. 1 f. And every Sack of Wool containeth 26 Stone and every Stone 14 Pounds And the Last of Hides is 20 Dickar and every Dickar is 10 Hides this is the Ancient Custom payable by every Merchant Denizon for the exportation of the Commodities aforesaid but the Merchant Strangers payed a third part more for remission of Prizes and other Priviledges to them granted by the Charter of 31. Ed. 1. Dyer 1 Eliz. 165. b. 1. 2. The new and pettit Custom is 3 d. of the Pound payable by Merchant Strangers only for all Commodities by them imported and exported as is expressed in the said Charter of 31. Ed. 1. 3. Prisage is a Custom taken of Wines of all sorts and is in certainty 2 Tuns of Wine out of every Ship laden with 20 Tun or more the one Tun to be taken before the Mast of the Ship and the other behind the Mast and because that this Custom is part of the Merchandizes imported and taken in specie it is called Prizeage and this Custom of Prizeage was payable in England by all Merchants Denizons and Aliens before the said Charter of 31 Ed. 1. for which the King remitted to all Merchant strangers all Prizes And in the same Charter it is expressed that in consideration thereof the Merchants strangers had granted to pay to the King and his Heirs by name of Custom 2 s. of every Tun of Wine that they shall bring or cause to be brought into the Kingdom c. which Custom of 2 s. of the Tun is now in England called Buttlerage and payable there by all Merchant strangers See the Stat. de Extra ad Scaccar 15th Ed. 2. And this is the nature of these several Duties for the Original of these Customs 1. The said Ancient and grand Custom is parcel of the Ancient Inheritance of the Crown and as Ancient as the Crown it self Inhaeret sceptro and is due of common Right and by Prescription and not by grant or benevolence of Merchants or by Act of Parliament Dyer 1. Eliz. 165. b. But because that every thing that is due of common Right and by Prescription ought to have a reasonable cause of beginning it is to be Noted and Observed that this Custom was payed to the Crown for four principle Causes and Reasons 1. For the better knowledg of such as depart the Realm and of what Commodities are carried out of the Realm See Dyer 165. b. and the Statute of 18. Ed. 3. ca. 3. 2. For the Interest that the King hath in the Sea and in the Braches and Arms of it 22. Ass Pl. 93.15 Eliz. Dyer 326. b. the Sea is of the Ligeance of the King as of his Crown and is his proper Inheritance Davyes rep 56. a. 3. Because the King is Guardian of all the Ports and Havens of the Realm which are Ostia or januae Regni and the King is Custos totius Regni 4. For Waftage and Protection of Merchants upon the Sea against the Enemies of the Realm and against Pirates who are the common Enemies of all Nations 2. The Pettit and new Custom payable by Merchant strangers only had its beginning in the time of Ed. 1. for before this time the duties payable by Merchant strangers for all Commodities imported except Wines and for all native Commodities exported except the said staple wares of Wool Woolfells and Hides were uncertain For the King by his Prerogative took to his use and at his own price so many and such portions of their Merchandizes as he had need of by name of Prizes which were always uncertain But King Ed. 1. by his said Charter dated the 1 of Febr. in the 31 year of his Reign in favour of Merchant strangers and to invite and occasion their Commerce and Trade remitted to them all Prizes and granted to them divers other Priviledges In consideration whereof all and singular the said Merchant strangers for themselves and others of the same parts with them and every of them beyond the Seas unanimously agreed to pay to the King and
their own Wills and Pleasures There is no Government more resembling Heaven or more durable on Earth or that hath any certain principles but Monarchy and such a Monarchy that hath an actual visible military strength to support it self not only to protect the Good and Loyal but also to awe the Bad and Rebellious People The King represents God the Houses of Parliament the People And as in some sort is expressed before the King by his Writ gives the very essence and form to his Parliament being the production of his breath therefore Priviledges which are the consequences of the Form must necessarily flow from him Now would you know how to Elect Men Fearing God Honouring the King and such as will not meddle with those that are given to change Know aâ—d take notice that true Religion is the well tempered Mortar that buildeth up all Estates that there can be no true Religion where the word of God is wanting or not duly observed I have proved from and made it plain to you that the word of God condemneth and prohibiteth all mutinous Rebellious Actions whatsoever against the Magistrate either Supream or Subordinate And because there can be no surer sign of the ruine of a Kingdom than the contempt of Religion My Advice is to all that they would Conform but as to such that will not Conform nor be Reformed nor advised to joyn with us in the way Established by Law for the Service and Worship of God because they are either stubborn obstinate or wise in their own conceits and will not be informed such as these that are Dissenters from us in the better half of the Government that is to say in the Government of the Church I pray that as they absent themselves from us in the Divine Service and Worship of God so they would be pleased to absent and separate themselves from the publick meetings in their several Counties for the Choosing and Electing of Members to sit in Parliament for the future for as the Vessel savoureth of the same Liquor wherewith it was first seasoned so it is to be feared the mind of these Dissenters still retaineth those very qualities in their Elder Age wherein it was trained up in Youth However by their absence their misguided Consciences will be clear and the more Loyal and conformable Subjects by their so doing will be less offended and disturbed in their choise and Election of such as themselves that may better Comply than heretofore they did with his late Sacred Majesty in making and constituting such wholesome Laws and Provisions as may make for the security and preservation of our Protestant Religion which is confirmed by Scripture and History of Ancient Fathers in the Primitive Church to be agreeing in Doctrine and Discipline with the truly Ancient Catholick and Apostolick Christian Religion and Profession as it is now Established by Law in the Church of England CHAP. XIX Sheweth that the King of England is and always hath been Supream Head of the Church not the Pope FOR we are to know and understand that the King of England is in all Causes as well Ecclesiastical as Temporal within these his Majesties Realms and Dominions Supream Head and Governour By the Ancient Law of the Realm the King hath power to visit reform and correct all Abuses and Enormities in the Church and by the Statutes made in the time of King Henry the Eighth the Crown was but remitted and restored to its Ancient jurisdiction which was Usurped by the Bishop of Rome Reges sacro oleo uncti spiritualis jurisdictionis sunt capaces Kings Anointed with Holy Oyl are capable of Spiritual Jurisdiction And 10. H. 7. 18. Rex est persona mixta cum sacerdote the King is said to be a Person mixt or participating with the Priest in the Priesthood Also the King shall have Tythes by the Common Law of which no Lay Person can be capable And the King by himself or by his Commissioners shall visit his free Chappels and Hospitals And by the Cannon Law Omnes Reges dicuntur Clerici and another Text thereof saith quod causa Spiritualis committi potest Principi laico All Kings are said to be Clarks and that however a Spiritual Cause may be determined by a Lay Prince as may be seen in Davyes rep 4. a. And although the proceedings in the Ecclesiastical Courts be in the Name of the Bishop yet they are the Courts and Law of the King as the Leet though it be holden in the Name of the Lord of the Manour yet it is the Court of the King C. 5. 1. part 39. b. The Canonists ascribe to the Pope Prerogative as to the Interpretation of Laws and granting of Dispensations but the jurisdiction that the Pope by Colour thereof claimed in England was a meer Usurpation to which the Kings of England as I shall presently shew you from time to time made opposition even to the time of King Henry the Eighth And the King of England not the Pope before the making the Statute of Faculties might de jure of right dispence with the Ecclesiastical Law for though that many of our Ecclesiastical were first devised in the Court of Rome yet being established and confirmed in this Realm by acceptance and usage they are now become English Laws and are no more to be reputed Romish Cannons and they are to be observed as the Laws of the Kingdom of England and not to be esteemed or reputed as Rules of the Pope Davyes rep 71 72. And the King is Supream Patron as King and not as in respect of the Supream Jurisdiction that the Realm by the Statute hath acknowledged in him Therefore a Resignation to the King of a Deanry is as good as if it had been made to the Bishop because that by the Common Law he is the Supream Head of the Church of England and the Deanry is void by it And the King shall be made privy and shall give his consent to every Appropriation where the Church is of the Patronage of another as well as where it is of his own Patronage Plowd 498 499. And it appeareth by Doctor and Student 124 125. That the Law hath appointed Six Months unto the Patron to present his Clark unto the Bishop but if the Patron do not present his Clark unto the Bishop within Six Months next after the Church shall become void then shall the Lapse incur to the Bishop and he shall present for the default of the Patron a Clark of his own choosing and his presentation is called Collation and if the Bishop or Ordinary surcease his time and shall not Collate within the Six Months then shall the Metropolitan the Archbishop of the Province Collate his Clark and if he do not Collate within other Six Months then shall the Kings Majesty not the Pope as Supream Ordinary of all the Benefices in England present his Clark to the Church And all the Archbishopricks and Bishopricks within the Realm of England are
the Ancient Customs of common Right and by Prescription belonging to the King his Heirs and Successors and that we may Collect from what is aforesaid that if not so granted they may and have been imposed by Prerogative Royal for the Four principal Causes and Reasons aforesaid and to support the necessary Charges of the Crown The Words of the King when he Passeth the Bill of Subsedies are observable which are these Le Roy remercye ses Loyal Subjects accept lour benevolence aussi ainsy le veult The King thanks his Loyal Subjects accepts of their good will and also will have it which last Words make the Act of Subsedy a Law and so binds every Man to the payment of it insomuch that the Two Houses of Parliament joint or separate cannot impose a Penny upon the Subject without the King nor can the Freeholders whom they serve invest any such power in them But for the Soveraign Prince himself there are many Examples Old and New how he hath not only raised pecuniary summs in specie but layed Impositions upon Commodities by meer Royal Authority I shall instance only in Two viz. in Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth the first laid an Imposition upon Cloth and Gascon Wines the other upon sweet Wines and Alloms without Parliament Therefore those Parliaments of the First and Third years of King Charles the First and the Members of the same that so highly insisted upon their Priviledges their meun and tuum Liberties c. and that would have been unwilling to have abated one of their Tennants of any their Manours or Farms a small matter of their Rents though it may be credited for truth that Twenty Acres of their Lands then let at 20 l. per ann might in the time of Ed. 1. be let for 20 s. per ann were very injurious to the said King in that they contrary to their bounden Duty neglected to Grant to him the usually Granted and Passed Act for Tonnage and Poundage being the chief Maintenance of the Crown in his time The first Parliaments of King Charles the First being Dissolved in a short time after by Order of the said King and Council the then Farmors of the Customs were Commanded to receive the Customs and all Duties payable for the same as in the time of his Royal Ancestor King James the First and the first Seventeen years of the said King Charles the First were times of great Plenty then Trade was great and good and the Farmors of the Customs did very much augment their Estates insomuch that none of them did refuse to Obey the said Order But in time next subsequent they were all great Sufferers for the fatal Parliament called in Noverber 1640. wanted Money for the work they had cut out and after they had Sat a few Months they questioned the Farmers for Intermeddling Farming and Receiving the Customs and Imposts contrary as they said to Law contrary to a Declaration and Vote 3o. Car. and contrary to the Liberty of the Subject they being Threatned and Timorous thô there was no Law to prohibit the Receipt for Farming of the Customs nor any Vote Passed 3o. Car. primi against it suddenly submitted to a Composition of 165000 l. and whilst or a small time before these things were agitating the Farmers contracted for a new Farm of the Customs with his late Majesty for Four years from Christmass 1640. and Lady day 1641. upon the which Farm and the Assignments of the Rents for the same the Sum of 200000 l. was Advanced for his said Majesty King Charles the First by which the said King had made some provisions for War which the said pretended Parliament recovered and made great use of against himself and the next day the said Composition was reported the Contract for the new Farm was Voted Void the Assignments upon the Rents were made Null instead of Farmers many of them were made Commissioners and the said Parliament resolving not to spare this Revenue Commanded them non obstante the Law lately passed by themselves to run into the same Crime for which they had lately Punished them to receive the Customs which with the said Composition paid by them in the space of Two Months was made use of to raise and pay the pretended Parliaments Army which said great Sums of 165000 l. and 200000 l. which the said Farmers may be said to have been Fined and to have advanced for his said Majesty King Charles the First reduced all of them to low Estates and some of them were Prisoners for near Twenty years before his late Majesties most happy Restauration who afterwards in the 16th year of his Reign was graciously pleased to take into Consideration the great sufferings of the said old unhappy Farmers of his late Majesties Customs and out of his special Grace and Favour by his Letters Pattents under the Great Seal of England and by Privy Seal and Tallyes thereupon Struck Leavyed and Allowed of Granted unto Sir John Jacob and other the said Farmers 200000 l. for the discharging and satisfying of the rest and residue of the great Debts by them Contracted for his said Majesty King Charles the First and for their reimbursement and satisfaction of such Sums of Money as they had lent to or paid for the said King Charles the First to be Received and Deducted by them out of their Rents payable to his late Majesty out of the Farm of the Customs then or lately before made to Sir John Wolstenholme Sir John Jacob Sir Nicholas Crisp and Sir John Shaw in Five years being the Term of their then said Farm which they or some others of them or on their behalfs accordingly Received and Disposed of in payment and satissatisfaction of the said Debts which if his late Majesty had not been pleased to do the said Farmers and many of their Creditors also had been utterly Ruined and undone CHAP. III. Sheweth how the late Rebellion broke out and something is said of the great Advantages the Rebels had with what Advantages only the Loyal Party had NOW in time King Charles the First had lately left White-hall because of the rude Insolency of Tumults backed and abetted by those intended nothing less than confusion upon Church and State nothing in the World had more of horrour than these Tumults Enormous and Detestable were their outrages and no means could take place for their Suppression so that to Redeem his Royal Person and Conscience from violence the said King withdrew himself hoping thereby to give time both for the Ebbing of their Tumultuous fury and others their Abettors regaining some degrees of modesty and more sober sense But it is a thing Common to Men High and Low Noble and Ignoble of all Qualities and Conditions whatsoever that when their Adversities approach they lose chiefly that Reason and Wisdom with the which they might have hindred or avoided the ills that happen and it is common to Men and Kingdoms that draw towards their destinies that when
that sueth by Petition he may afterwards enterplede with the King and if cause be for the same the Subject shall have right done him and shall have restitution of that he sueth for by Petition as readily as one Subject may recover against another Subject in any of the Kings Courts For the King of England hath all Subordinate Offices in him to grant but none in him to use himself and all his Subordinate Officers Ministers of State and such as do occupy Judicial places and others even from those of his Majesties Privy Counsel to the Petty Constable at their admittance to their Offices are Sworn by meet Forms of Religious Attestations or Oaths for their just and upright Execution of the same between the King and his Subjects meaning thereby not only to set God before their Eyes whom by such Oath they call to Witness of their promise and call upon for revenge of their falshood but also they are thereby threatned with temporal peins provided by the Policy of Christian Laws against corrupt dealings and thereby their minds are strengthened and they are Armed with Courage against the force of humane affections which otherwise might allure or draw them to partiallity and out of the way of right Judgment and Justice And the King as is said Plow 231. b. neither gives nor takes but by matter of Record and therefore Livery of Seizin being matter in Deed the King ought not to do it for he ought to have a Record for his Acts therefore the King shall neither make Livery nor take by Livery and a Subject may not give Lands to the King by Act Executed in his Life time if not that it be by Deed Enrolled or other matter of Record So that seeing the King must have a Record for his Acts and that the same are had and obtained by his Subordinate Officers if any thing be done in prejudice of the Subject his Officers are answerable for the same not the King And also C. 11. 90. b. an Officer or Minister of the King may do nothing in disadvantage of the King nor of the Subject by reason Publick Officers are at their admittance to their Publick Offices and Imployments Sworn Well and Lawfully to serve the Lord the King and his People and that Lawfully they shall Counsel the King in his business and that they shall not Counsel nor Assent to any thing which shall turn him in dammage or disherison by any manner way or colour and that they shall do equal Law and Execution of right to all his Subjects Rich and Poor without having regard to any Person as may be seen in Mr. Pulton's Statutes at large 18th Edward the Third in the Oath of the Justices and the Oaths of the Clerks of the Chancery c. And Stanford 59. a. The King is said to be alwaies present in Court and if the Parties in pleading or any Jury in their Verdict disclose matter that entitleth the King and the Court shall adjudge for the King though that he is not any of the Parties to the Action CHAP. XIV Sheweth what inconveniencies happen in the Realm of France through Regal Government alone with the Commodities that proceed of the joynt Government Politick and Regal in the Realm of England And all the Community are herein disswaded by mutinous and Rebellious practises to Disinfranchise themselves IN Sir John Davyes rep Fol. 40. b. it is said that the Kings of England have always claimed and had within their Dominions a Monarchy Royal and not a Monarchy Seignioral or Tyranny and that under a Monarchy Royal the Subjects are Freemen and have property in their Goods and Freehold and Inheritance in their Lands but under a Monarchy Seignioral or Tyranny they are all as Villains or Slaves and are Proprietors of nothing but at the will of their Grand Seignior or Tyrant as in Turkey and Moscovy But Sir John Fortescue Fol. 25 c. saith That the King of England cannot alter or change the Laws of his Realm at his pleasure for that he Governeth his People not by power only Royal but also Politick and such King Ruling by Power Royal and Politick can neither change Laws without the consent of his Subjects nor yet charge them with strange impositions against their Wills so that to Rule the People by Government Politick is no Yoak not only to the Subject but to the King himself accordingly within the Realm of England no Man Sojourneth in another Mans House without the love and leave of the good Man of the same House saving in Common Inns where before his departure he shall satisfie and pay for all his charges there neither shall he escape unpunished whosoever he be that taketh another Mans Goods without the good will of the owner thereof nether is it unlawful for any Man to provide and store himself of Salt and other Merchandizes and Wares at his own will and pleasure or any Man that selleth the same neither doth the King take away any of his Subjects Goods without due satisfaction for the same neither doth the King by himself or his Servants and Officers leavy upon his Subjects Tallages Subsedies or any other burdens or alter their Laws without the express consent and agreement of the whole Realm in his Parliament So that every Inhabitant of the Realm useth and enjoyeth at his pleasure all the Fruits that his Land or Cattle beareth with all the Profits and Commodities which by his own Travel or by the Labour of others he gaineth by Land or by Water not hindered by the injury or wrong detainment of any Man but that he shall be allowed reasonable recompence So that the People of England are plentifully furnished with all things that are requisite to the accomplishment of a quiet and wealthy life according to their Estates and Degrees neither are they sued in the Law nor are Arrested or Impleaded for their Moveables or Possessions or Arraigned of any offence Criminal but only before ordinary Judges where by the Laws of the Land they are justly intreated And these are the Fruits which Government Politick and Regal conjoyned doth bear and bring forth But in the Realm of France where the People are Governed by Regal Power alone the Villages and Towns are pestered with the Kings Men at Arms and their Horses so that it is hard in any of the great Towns there to get any Lodging which Men at Arms though they continue in one Village a Month or Two do not nor will pay any thing at all for their own charges or for the charges of their Horses and when they have spent all the Victuals Fuel and Horse-meat in one Town then they go to another Town wasting the same in the like manner not paying one Penny for any necessaries and thus are all the Villages and Unwalled Towns of the Land used so that there is not the least Village there free from this miserable Calamity but that it is Once or Twice every year beggered by this