Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	king_n	lord_n	prince_n	3,449	5	5.5271	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59476	Notes taken in short-hand of a speech in the House of Lords on the debates of appointing a day for hearing Dr. Shirley's cause, Octob. 20, 1675	Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of, 1621-1683.	1679 (1679)	Wing S2897A; ESTC R12391	8,136	5

Notes taken in Short-hand of a Speech in the House of Lords on the Debates of appointing a day for Hearing Dr. Shirley's Cause Octob. 20. 1675. My Lords OUr All is at Stake and therefore you must give me leave to speak freely before we part with it My Lord Bishop of Sarum is of Opinion that we should rather appoint a day to consider what to do upon the Petition then to appoint a day of hearing And my Lord Keeper for I may name them at a Committee of the whole house tells us in a very Eloquent and Studied Language That he will propose us a way far less lyable to Exceptions and much less offensive to our Priviledges than that of appointing a day of Hearing And I beseech your Lordships did you not after all these fine words expect some admirable proposals but it ended in this that your Lordships should appoint a day nay a very long day to consider what to do in it And my Lord hath undertaken to convince you that this is the only course by several undenyable reasons The first of which is that it is against our Judicature to hear this cause which is not proper for us nor ought to be relieved by us To this my Lords give me leave to answer that I did not expect from a man professing the Law that after an answer by order of the Court was put in and a day had been appointed for hearing which by some accident was set aside and the Plaintiff moving for a second day to be assigned that ever without hearing Councel on both sides the Court did enter into the merits of the cause And if your Lordships should do it in a cause attended with the circumstances as this is it would not only be an apparent injustice but a plain subterfuge to avoid a point you durst not maintain But my Lords second reason speaks the matter more plainly for it is because it is a doubtful case whether the Commons have not priviledge therefore my Lord would have you to appoint a further very long day to consider of it which indeed in plain English is that your Lordships would confess upon your own Books that you conceive it on second thoughts a doubtful case and that for no other reason but because my Lord Keeper thinks it so which I hope will not be a reason to prevail with your Lordships since you cannot yet by experience tell that his Lordship is capable of thinking your Lordships in the right in any matter against the Judgment of the House of Commons 't is so hard a thing even for the ablest man to change ill habits But now my Lords third reason is the most admirable of all which he stiles unanswerable viz. That your Lordships are all convinced in your own Conscience that this if prosecuted will cause a breach I beseech your Lordships to consider whether the Argument thus applyed would not overthrow the Law of Nature and all the Laws of right and property in the World for it is an Argument and a very good one that you should not stand or insist on claims where you have not a clear right or where the question is not of consequence and moment in a matter that may produce a dangerous and pernicious breach between Relations Persons or Bodies-politick joyned in Interests and high Concerns together So on the other hand if the obstinacy of the parties in the wrong shall be made an unanswerable Argument for the other party to recede and give up his just rights how long shall the people keep their Liberties or the Princes and Governours of the World their Prerogatives How long shall the Husband maintain his Dominion or any man his property from his Friends or his Neighbours Obstinacy But my Lords when I hear my Lord Keeper open so Eloquently the fatal consequence of a breach I cannot forbear to fall into some admiration how it comes to pass that if the consequences be so fatal the Kings Ministers in the House of Commons of which I am sure there are several that are of the Cabinet and have easie resort to his Majesty and have the direction and trust of his Affairs I say that none of these should press these consequences there or give the least stop in the career of that House in this business but that all the Votes concerning this affair nay even that very Vote that no Appeal is cognoscible by the House of Lords should pass nemine contradicente and yet all the great Ministers here yea Bishops and other Lords of greatest dependance on the Court contend this point as if it were pro aris foris I hear His Majesty in Scotland hath been pleased to declare against Appeals in Parliament I cannot much blame the Court if they think the Lord Keeper and Judges being of the Kings naming and in his power to change that the justice of the Nation is safe enough and I my Lords may think so too during this Kings Reign though I hear Scotland not without reason complain already Yet how future Princes may use this power and how Judges may be made not men of Ability or Integrity men of Relation and dependance who will do what they are commanded and all mens Causes come to be judged and Estates disposed of as great men at Court please is to be considered My Lords the constitution of our Government hath provided better for us and I can never believe so wise a Body as the House of Commons will prove that foolish woman that pluck'd down her house with her hands My Lords I must presume to say something to wit what was offered by my Lord Bishop of Sarum a man of great Learning and Ability and always versed in a stronger and closer way of reasoning then the business of the Noble Lord I answered before did accustom him to and that Reverend Prelate hath stated the matter very fairly upon two heads 1. Whether the hearing of Causes and Appeals and especially in this point where the Members have priviledge be so material to us that it ought not to give way to the reason of State of greater Affairs that press us at this time 2. If the business be of that moment yet whether the appointing a day to consider of the Petition would prove of that consequence and prejudice to our cause My Lords to these give me leave in the first place to say that this matter is no less then your whole Judicature and your Judicature is no less then the Life and Soul of the Dignity of the Peerage of England you will quickly grow burthensom if you grow useless you have now the greatest and most useful end of Parliament principally in you which is not to make new Laws but to redress Grievances and to maintain the Old Land-Marks The House of Commons business is to complain to your Lordships to redress not only the Complaints from them that are the Eyes of the Nation but also other particular persons that