Selected quad for the lemma: city_n
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A57326
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The rights of the city farther unfolded and the manifold miscarriages of my Lord Mayor, as well as the punishments he hath rendred himself obnoxious unto, for his misbehaviour in relation to the present election of sheriffs, display'd and laid open.
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1682
(1682)
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Wing R1516; ESTC R22269
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7,631
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6
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these means prevailed upon to put the said Writ in Execution and to levy money by way of Distress upon many of his fellow Citizens Now it is worth my Lord Mayors serious consideration how things at last issued with him notwithstanding all this precaution in himself and assurance of Protection and indemnity from others For there being an Action of Trespass and false Imprisonment brought against him in the Kings-Bench in Trinity Term 14 Car. 1638. There was notwithstanding his Pleading the Kings Writ and the Opinion of the Judges a Judgment given against him on the 4th of February 16 Car. by those very Judges that had formerly given their Opinion concerning the legality of the Ship-money Yea when he thought to have relieved himself by a Writ of Error in the Exchequer Chamber the poor Gentleman after a long and costly Suit had the former Judgment affirmed against him 17 Feb. Car. and that by the unanimous Opinion of all the Judges notwithstanding these very men had the 4th of Aug. 11 Car. declared that the King might according to Law issue forth such a Writ and levy money upon it And when on his being Cast and Condemned in one Action a Deluge of Suits flow'd in upon him so that not a Term pass'd without Process Outlawries Executions or Extents against him he was at last after long concealment in his own House and wandring obscurely for some time up and down the Country apprehended and thrown into the Kings-Bench where he continued Prisoner 15 years and died under Executions against him to the value of above 40000 l. Nor had he in all this time any Succour either from the King or his Ministers but Pity which is a poor relief to the miserable And as all this befell him for venturing to Act where the Law would not justify him so it may caution others against doing things more palpably Illegal and which they have not an Act of Common Council and the Opinion of all the Judges to support them in as he had But doth the present Lord Mayor think what prejudice he does his Majesty by his late Carriage and Behaviour all he did in opposition to his Father when he carried a Musket against him and was Clerk to a Company that fought under his Enemies Banners was much more pardonable than the being so Instrumental as he is to make the King lose the love and confidence of five parts in six of the whole City Can his Lordship believe that he hath done as becomes a Loyal Person to his Prince to engage the King in a visible Contest with a Loyal as well as a great People in a point that they will not part with and which his Majesty cannot wrest frâ—m them without declining from the course of the Law which both his Justice and his Oath oblige him against Nor can my Lord be unsentible unless he hears only on one Ear how much he hath lessen'd that Party which they call their own by the Method which he hath been pursuing and his unexpected as well as unaccountable Carriage in the late Halls Alas though there be some that mortally hate Phanaticks yet there are none but distracted men who are fond of parting with their Priviledges and Rights and or putting their Lives and Fortunes in the power of him that sits in the Chair For as they know not what kind of Mayor they may have the next year so they would not expose themselves and Children to be râ—…ed hereafter meerly for having the pleasure of doing some whom they do not heartily love a discourtesie at present But if we look a little into matter of Fact we shall both have a view of some mens extravagancy and understand in subserviency to what mischievous ends all this is insisted upon and so violently prosecured For after some of the Ministers had met at my Lord Mayors and obtained a promise from him to drink to North as Sheriff it is observable that the next morning Mr North and his Brother the Lord Chief Justice went to Windsor in a Coach with Six Horses And tho we dare not undertake to tell what they did there yet we are well assured that upon the performance of that promise they reckoned themselves so secure of this Gentleman lately come from Turkey for Sheriff that my Lord Mayor both contrary to Custom and an Act of Common-council 7 Car. 1. sent for Mr. North and made him seal a Bond to hold Sheriff for the year ensuing And being thus far dipt my Lord was pleased in prosecution of this design to issue out Precepts of a nature and strain perfectly different from the frame and terms of all former Precepts Nay when the proceedings on Midsummer-day were carrying on in a legal and orderly way and all things likely to have been issued peaceably and according to custom my Lord Mayor was pleased to come attended with a company of men whereof many were not Free men many had Swords and divers were known Papists to give interruption to the Poll. Nor need we wonder if after such an action several persons were sworn guilty of a Riot tho as some of those deposed against were at that time out of Town and others confined all the day to be at home by reason of their business so the most that any were guilty of was their receiving manifold affronts with Patience and not vouchsafing to make a Riot for the service and conveniency of our Ministers who had gotten all His Majesties Forces drawn about the City and most of them ready upon a Minutes warning for Service and Execution To this we may subjoin his Lordships carriage on Friday last when after a long uncertainty what to do he was pleased at last to consent to have the matter argued by Council and because the Inns of Court could afford no other my Lord pâ—…ched upon Mr. Saunders and Sir George Jefferies whereof the one hath been turned out of employment by the City and censured by Parliament and both of them against the Charter and in Council for the destroying of it Nay when not only Mr. Pollexfen Mr. Williams but the Recorder whom the Mayor is bound to hearken unto had given it against his Lordships claim and pretence and offered to set their Hands to it as Law yet upon receiving a Letter from a certain Minister his Lordship came down and dismissed the Court. But the whole Mystery is easily unridled for not only my Lord H. hath declared That he foresees there will be Hanging and he is resolved to Hang last but Mr. Duncomb and one more told some worthy Citizens that they wonder'd why they would take all that pains seeing they were in no danger their only design by obtaining Sheriffs according to their mind being to Hang 9 or 10 persons 〈◊〉 are uneasie to some in Power Thus we have once more accosted you and chuse to be the briefer because you all know whereabout you are only this I will take the boldness to intimate to you That besides the manifold actions which you may have against the Mayor you may either Indict him upon the Statute of Westminster or complain for breaking his Oath both as a Free-man and a Magistrate And whereas Mr. Town-Clerk runs up and down thinking himself injured in a former paper I shall only tell him that besides his being in company where confusion was drunk to the Charter he instructed the Council against it all he could to the overthrow thereof Nay I may add that for all his late penitence it was he that Originally led my Lord Mayor into these mistakes which are like to prove his overthrow And if this do not teach him to be silent I can assure him that there is that in Articles against him whensoever a Parliament comes that will reach farther than the forfeiture of his Place London Printed for J. Johnson 1682.
THE RIGHTS of the CITY Farther unfolded AND The Manifold Miscarriages of My Lord Mayor As well as the Punishments he hath rendred himself obnoxious unto for his Misbehaviour in relation to the present Election of SHERIFFS Display'd and laid Open. WHILE either unthinking and deluded men or persons enraged against our Religion and Civil Rights persevere in their endeavours to deprive and rob us of our Birth-rights and Priviledges if not by fraud and trick yet by direct Violence and open Usurpation we hope that we shall not only be connived at and allowed but justified and applauded in continuing to Assert and Vindicate what we enjoy by an entail from our Ancestors and possess by the Patents and Charters of our most Renowned and Victorious Princes Nor have we any thing more to bewail than that we are called to conflict with Enemies who have neither Sense Truth nor Generosity so that without great Conduct we should be either obliged to what an ordinary mind esteems a Drudgery namely the daily baffling and exposing them or else we must spend our pains in alarming the City concerning our Dangers and in raising the Inhabitants to Vigilance against Treachery and Force But as we shall decline the last as being apprehensive that it will be misconstrued by ill men so they themselves prevent us in the first seeing their own Actions render them more base and ridiculous than the strongest reason cloathed with the best words is capable of making them And were their Antickness and Legerdemain calculated for any thing less than the Destruction of our Rights and Properties we should look upon them as a Company of Creatures raised up meerly for our sport and diversion The Office of a Sheriff of London is of all other a Trust of the greatest weight and importance For besides their having the power over the posse of London and Middlesex and the Right of returning Juries both in Capital and Civil Causes not only all Offenders but all Debtors are committed to their Custody and they are the persons who are to answer for them So that upon their Fidelity depends both our Lives and Estates in more ways than is now convenient to insist upon and deduce Only the late endeavours to have obtained the present Sheriffs to have parted with the present Convicted Priests in Newgate and the prank of the Warden of the Fleet some years ago in conspiring with his Prisoners to run away and leave their Creditors in the lurch may give us some imperfect Idea and dark Umbrage of it Yea the Sherivalty is the first step towards advancement in the Government over the City and a miscarriage in the choice of such an Officer is like a faileur in the first concoction not to be afterwards remedied And had not the Free-men more regarded mens Estates than their Wisdom and Intellectual capacities in the Election of some former Sheriffs we should not now have occasion to complain of a Bench when near the greatest part can only Vote as they are prompted but are not able to manâ—ge a Debate nor comprehend the meanest thing which comes before them For whereas the Law provides that they who were to be chosen Sheriffs should be of the more able most discreet and the fittest for the Government of so great a People We through supineness and inadvertency have too too often 〈◊〉 the White-Staff into the hands of some that a man of Understanding would not bestow half an 〈◊〉 in their Conversation if his business and Interest did not indispensably require it Nor is any person qualified for being Sheriff of London that hath not both lived in it for some considerable 〈◊〉 and past through the inferiour Offices either by way of Service or Fine and that accompanied with a strict and diligent observation of the Duties of those lesser Offices For as it is not otherwise possible that a person should know the Customs and Usages of the City as he ought to do that is to be Elected Sheriff 〈◊〉 he is nâ—t likely to demean himself acceptably in so high a Station who hath neither learn'd to obey as a private Citizen nor been train'd up to Magistracy by an Apprenticeship in the more servile Employs And as it hath been already demonstrated that the Right of Electing Sheriffs belongs by Charter Law and Prescription to the Free-men so our Ancestors have been in nothing more careful than that all Election should be managed with Freedom without either fraud force or menace Hence our Parliaments which are the Epitome of the Wisdom of the Nation as well as the Representatives of the Kingdom have not only frequently declared against the Kings and great mens Letters when made use of to influence Elections but even all the Acts of the Parliament of the 38 Hen. 6. were repealed and declared Null by a Parliament of the 39 of the same King meerly because the members were unlawfully Summoned and unduly Chosen Yea one of the most fundamental Statutes which we have in England namely that of Westminster 3 Ed. 1. provides that all Elections shall be free and undisturbed and that no man per poyar des armes ne per malice on manaces disturbe de faire franke Election shall by arms malice or force molest the freedom of any Election and this sur la grove forfeiture And as Cook well observes this Statute extends to Elections to every dignity Office or place that is Elective and whosoever disturbeth the Freedom of any such Election 2 Instit p. 168. 169. may be punished by grievous fines and imprisonment Nor have our Ancestors been more Zealous in punishing any sort of offenders than those that have interposed by power or fraud to hinder the free Election of Sheriffs and other Civil Officers For besides that the imposing the Sheriffs upon the Cities and Counties contrary to Right and Custom Kinghton and for ill purposes and intents was made one of the Articles against Richard the 2d for which he was deposed the Duke of Suffolk was in the 28 Hen. 6. impeached in Parliament for causing divers persons to be made Sheriffs in order to the fulfilling his desires Rot. Par. 28 Hen. 6. N. 45. and to enhance to himself Rule in the Realm And among many other instances and examples of the punishment of those that have invaded the Franchises and Priviledges of Corporations in obtruding Magistrates and Officers upon them contrary to the vote and choice of the Majorâ—ty to whom the making and performing those respective Elections did belong we have a most remarkable Case in the 4th of Richard the 2d wherein upon the Petition of the Commons in Parliament assembled to the King signifying that whereas the Citizens of York had according to their Franchises and Customes chosen one John Gisburgh to be their Mayor Rot. Parlia 4 R. 2 N. 50. some of the then present Magistrates in combination with a few Citizens had put him by and chosen one Simon Quixlay in his Room it was