London hath anciently been commended for and summes it all up in Sir Edward Cooks words who cals it the Chamber of the King the Heart of the Common-wealth the Epitome of the Kingdome All this wee grant and blesse God for onely wee desire that this place which hee cals the heart of the Common-wealth may never bee sick at the heart of those diseases and distempers which such members thereof as himself strive to breed and to cherish in it But now hee comes to prove his Proofes to wit that they enjoy these their Priviledges de Jure as given and bestowed on them not usurped by them and those priviledges hee tels you are these two First To have the power to choose their own chiefe Governour and subordinate Officers among themselves Secondly To have also the power to make such Laws which are or shall bee for their own welfare and best accommodation For proofe of the first of these which is the Cities power in choosing their own chiefe Governour and subordinate Officers among themselves hee produceth many Charters granted in the time of Richard the first King John Edward the second and Henry the eighth as you may see in his book at large I must confesse it is a fine and easie thing to prove what no body denies onely let mee observe thus much from his proofes if the City can prove they have a power by Charter to choose their own chiefe Governour the Lord Major as I do not deny but they may yet ought they by that Charter and are bound when they doe choose to choose a Lord Major indeed and not a Sword-bearer in stead of a Lord Major I say they ought to choose themselves a Lord Major and therefore to grant him the power of a Lord Major to dispose of the Sword that is given him according to his best ability and understanding for the good of the City but not to choose him to bee no more then the City Sword-bearer to lay down his Sword in Common-Counsell when they list and not to take it up againe till they will give him leave as Mr. Bellamy would have it to bee although they should injoyn him to sit all day or all night hee being never so old weak and unable to sit or never so much tyred with impertinences and such frothy speeches as this is or though hee hath never so much necessary occasion to use the same Sword at the same time either in the Court of Aldermen the seat of Justice or else-where for the necessary good and safety of the City The next Priviledge of the City that hee goes about to prove is that they have also the power to make such Laws as shall bee for their own welfare and best accommodation And this hee proves by the Charter of Edward the third in the fifteenth year of his Reigne where indeed hee draws a knife to cut his own throat for I doe not know how hee could have pickt out any Charter which doth invest the Lord Major and Aldermen with a negative voyce and put the power of making Laws into their hands more then this Charter of Edward the third I will relate the Charter it self in Mr. Bellamies own words it runs thus Wee have granted further for us and our Heires and by this our present Charter confirmed to the Major and Aldermen of the City aforesaid That if any Customes in the said City hither to obtained and used bee in any part difficult or defective or any thing in the same newly happening where before there was no remedy ordained and have need of amending the same Major and Aldermen and their Successed with the assent of the Commonalty of the same City may adde 〈◊〉 ordaine a remedy meet faithfull and consonant to Reason for the common prâ—sâ— of the Citizens of the same City as oft and at such time as to them shall bee thought expedient Wee will consider in this Charter but two things First to whom the Charter itselfe is confirmed Secondly how the power of this Charter must bee used First to whom it is confirmed it speaks plainly that it is granted to the Lord Major and Aldermen of the City without so much as naming any interest that the Commons have in the grant of it Whence I conclude that the Lord Major and Aldermen of the City of London were thought fit by the same King that granted this Charter to bee intrusted with the absolute power of the Charter to use it for the Cities Good even as Counsell is given to the Head to use for the benefit of the whole body Secondly Wee are to observe how the power of this Charter which is the power of making Laws must bee used Read the words of the Charter and they tell you thus The Lord Major Aldermen and their Successors have a power thereby given them to make or mend what Laws they see necessary with the assent of the Commoners From whence it will necessarily follow that the Active power of making Laws nay of proposing Laws otherwise then by way of Counsell rests wholly in the hands of the Lord Major and Aldermen and no more power is left in the Commoners but to assent or to dissent from those Laws that shall seem good to bee made by the Lord Major and Aldermen and by their assent to ratifie or by their dissent to hinder them So that now where lies the Negative voyce If the Commoners in regard of the greatnesse of their number shall out-vote the Lord Major and Aldermen which at all times they easily may and thereupon undertake to make or mend a Law then is the very Charter it self absolutely and apparently broken For it doth not say wee have granted to the Commons that by the consent of the greater part of the Common-Councell nor yet by the consent of the Lord Major and Aldermen much lesse without their consent that they to wit the Commoners shall have power to make or mend a Law But it faith wee have granted to the Lord Major and Aldermen to make the Law by consent of the Commoners So that it must needs follow that the Lord Major and Aldermen must either use their power to the making of a Law or else let the Commons consent what they will though they have a power to consent they have no power by consenting to make a Law And I would faine know whether that Law can bee said truely to bee made by the Lord Major Aldermen and their Successors which is onely carryed by the Plurality of the voyces of the Commoners and thereupon made though contrary to the consent of the Lord Major and Aldermen as Mr. Bellamy would have them to bee and I would fain know whether the proper meaning of this Charter must not needs bee thus that the Lord Major and Aldermen who being chosen by the City are intrusted with the care and charge of the welfare of the same shall have therefore power to make or mend Laws for the Cities good onely
in the Commons or else there is lesse integrity in the Lord Major and Aldermen to passe such Laws for the Cities good then there is in the Commons Till one or both of these bee prov'd I shall give this Objection no further Answer His second Argument is that by this meanes the City would fall into a remedilesse way of Ruine and hee instanceth in the case of Sir Richard Gurneys standing out against the just desires and commands of the Parliament I shall throw his own Instance at his head and beat him with his last weapon In the case of Sir Richard Gurney I would fain know how the City fell into a remedilesse way of ruine When it was found that Sir Richard Gurney was a man uncordiall and unfaithfull to the Parliaments Service was hee not presently apprehended removed and committed by Authority of the same Parliament and was not the City soon reduced from this remedilesse way of ruine and a faithfull and active Lord Major placed in his roome And doe you not think it would happen so again either in the Lord Major or Aldermen if they should not bee men of that integrity which is expected would the Parliament think you sit still and look on and provide the City no Remedy Away then for shame with such senselesse Arguments See his own book p. 16. l. 17. and let us heare no more of your sitting still and sighing with your fingers in your Eyes and cannot tell what you would have which are Arguments fitter for a childe to begge Plums with then a Common-Councell man Priviledges But next hee tels you what hee hath done all this while what hee hath fully and clearely proved both by Charters and by Practice I shall give it you in his own words They are these That the Lord Major Aldermen and Commons conjunctim and not either alone as separated or dis-junct from the other are the proper recipients of those Grants and Priviledges which our Royall Kings have in their bounty and favour invested this City with And hath hee rais'd all this dust spent all this time and matter to prove this I know no body that offers to deny it him for my part I have already granted and will not now recall that the proper Recipients of the City Priviledges are the Lord Major Aldermen and Commons conjunctim that is joyntly but not equally as the Lord Major and Aldermen may bee joyned with the Commons in one Commission and yet have a greater power then they by vertue of the same Commission or the Commons may have joynt Right with the Lord Major and Aldermen to the City Charters that is to the benefit that is received by them yet the power of acting and exercising those Charters may bee intrusted in the Lord Major and Aldermen as I have shewed before But here I must tell you what I may well feare lest Mr. Bellamy in this claim made to usurpe the Rights of the Lord Major and Aldermen doe not sin against knowledge My reason is because if you compare but two things what before hee said hee would prove and what here hee saith hee hath proved you will finde hee doth acknowledge a weaknesse in his own Arguments that they cannot make good what hee would have them For Example read p. 9. lin 24. and pag. 11. lin 1. of his book and in those hee tels you hee will make cleare First That the Commons have equall share with the Lord Major and Aldermen in City priviledges Secondly That if there bee any advantage it is to the Commons Thirdly That the Lord Major and Aldermen have no more negative voyce tâ—en the inferiour members of the Court. These things hee undertakes to prove and yet when hee hath brought all the Arguments hee can to prove them hee concludes his Arguments in the last line of the 16. and beginning of the 17. page by telling you that hee hath proved what First Hee doth not say hee hath proved That the Commons have an equall share with the Lord Major and Aldermen in City priviledges Secondly Hee doth not say there that hee hath proved any advantage to the Commons Thirdly Hee doth not say hee hath proved any thing at all to take away the Lord Major and Aldermens negative voyce All that hee saith hee hath proved is that the City priviledges belong to the Lord Major Aldermen and Commons joyntly which is no more then wee grant whence I conclude thus much That Mr. Bellamy at first would have proved those things which hee undertook to prove with all his heart but finding when hee had brought in all his Arguments they were too weak to prove what hee would have though hee said hee would prove them at first yet hee dares not say hee hath proved them at last but faith onely hee hath proved a joynt share that the Lord Major Aldermen and Commons have in City priviledges which for my part never was or shall bee denyed him But for all this though hee dares not say hee hath proved what hee undertook and if hee should say so no wise man would beleeve him yet hee layes as hard claim to the same Priviledges as if hee had proved all before him which makes mee feare hee sins against knowledge for to indevour by violence to gain what a man cannot make good his right unto is a plain sin of covetousnesse and against knowledge And now with a faire glozing conclusion having thus prepared a Pill hee tryes to make it work It is a Linsey-wolsey-conclusion and the last part spoyles the first In the first part hee tells your Lordship hee honours you with your Brethren hee acknowledgeth you to bee the Cities Head and that in eclipsing your Honour they wound themselves I would fain know if any man will beleeve this when First The honour hee gives you is to pull you downe from being so high as your own Rights and Charters have made you and to make your Lordships power in a Common-councell no more then the youngest and meanest Commoner who hath a voyce as well nay as good as your Lordship if your negative voyce bee once taken away Secondly Hee tels you hee acknowledgeth you under his Majesty to bee head of this City and yet the head must not have a negative voyce to whatsoever the members will have done Thirdly Hee tels you that if they should goe about to Eclipse your Honour they would wound themselves when how can hee goe more about to Eclipse your honour nay to destroy it then hee doth by leaving you in a Common-councell but the name of a Lord Major but making you a Commoner onely like himselfe When 1. you shall have no more power of the Sword when you have laid it down you shall not take it up till hee please 2. When you shall have no more power or voyce in Common-councell then the meanest Commoner that sits with you But wee are not yet come to the snake that lies hid in this grasse that appeares in
of Edward the third confirmes a power to the Common-councell of altering as well as making Laws and as any thing is made for the Cities good by power of Common-councell so upon good reason it may bee by the same power reverst but then it must bee done by power of Common-councell indeed which cannot bee meant of the Commons alone but of the Lord Major Aldermen and Commons joyntly And so I grant it that if the Lord Major Aldermen and Commons shall consent to reinvest you in that power which I confesse I doe not beleeve you ever had in the beginning though you confidently say so no doubt but then you may reassume it But if that power were heretofore as you conceive made over or given away by your forefathers upon solid reasons in their esteeme into the hands of the Lord Major and Aldermen then though you can shew it may bee better reasons why to reassume it then they had to give it away it is not in your power that is it is not in the power of the Commons of themselves to reassume it without the consent of the Lord Major and Aldermen who are now possest of it no more then it is in my power when I list without the consent of the possessor to enter upon any Land or meanes which my Father lawfully sold heretofore upon pretence that I can shew better reasons why I should keep it then my Father shewed why hee should sell it Thus you see you have made but one objection where you might have made many and but the least when you might have found farre greater and yet both your Answers will not serve to satisfie that First You tell us from the beginning it was not so which you never prove and therefore wee deny Secondly You tell us why If your Priviledges have been lost they ought to bee reassumed First If they were usurpt which wee say they were not Secondly If given away by consent which wee say without the consent of the Lord Major and Aldermen who are the now possessours of those Priviledges which you pretend to have lost you of your selves cannot reassume them And thus like Heroules I have cut off two of the heads of this Hydra the third follows which as it riseth I shall likewise labour to destroy And it is this The Reasons or Arguments why those persons unto whom this power is committed should carefully and conscionably maintain and use those Priviledges with which they are intrusted The Reasons hee gives for this are these two First From the dammage and losse which our Predecessors have suffered for mis-usage and non-usage of those Priviledges and Immunities which by the favour of former Princes have been bestowed on us In prosecuting whereof though hee cite the Charter of Edward the third the first of his Reigne to free the City from bearing the offences of particular ministers of Justice yet hee tels you If the Common-councell either not use or mis-use their Priviledges they may expect to smart for it as their Predecessours did and here hee instanceth in the fifteenth yeer of Edward the third What it cost the City for not fully using their free Customs and Liberties whence hee observes That it is not enough for us to use some of our Priviledges but wee must use them all My Lord I shall urge no more upon your Lordship and the rest of your Brethren in this place then that you would remember Mr. Bellamies observation which is That your Predecessors have smarted for not fully using their Priviledges and therefore it is not enough for you to use some of your Priviledges but you must use them all I say so too my Lord Mr. Bellamy and I in this are both of a mind it is not therefore enough for your Lordship to use the power of the Sword at home or abroad in the City onely which is but some of your Priviledge but you must use it in Common-councell too by reserving in your selfe the power of laying it by when you please and taking it up againe when you please whether with or without the Commons consent or else you doe not use all your Priviledge Nor is it enough for you to use your assenting and consenting voyces in Common-Councell onely as the Commons doe use them which is indeed all their Priviledge but onely some of yours but you must use your Negative voyce also in Common-councell when your judgement tels you it is for the Cities good or else you doe not use all your Priviledge Yet doe I not close with Mr. Bellamy in that Conclusion that hee draws from hence That because you are bound to use all your Priviledges therefore you must use more then all Nor doe I conclude that because you grant to the Commons the choyce of some Officers are you therefore bound to grant them the choyce of all as Mr. Bellamie would have you which is the same as this that because the Law grants mee an interest in some of the Land of the Kingdome it ought therefore to grant mee an Interest in all For I think as Mr. Bellamy thinks but something more Hee thinks it much better to use and keep what you have then to lose all so think I by your Negative voyces but then hee would have you to require more then all that I think is usurpation But the more to back this observation of his own well raised but ill managed that you must use not onely some but all your Priviledges hee tels you they are not wanting about the King that would bee glad to fill their Coffers with City coyn if they could pick a hole in its Coat And hee recites a Record of the sixteenth of Richard the second wherein the Major Aldermen and Sheriffes were deeply fined and the City Liberties seized by the King because they had abused City Priviledges My Lord I shall commend to your consideration a short view of the Record it selfe which is here cited by Mr. Bellamy as if it made much for his Argument when indeed nothing can make more against him The Record runs thus The King granted a Commission to inquire of all and singular errors defects and misprisions in the City of London for want of good government in the Major Sheriffes and Aldermen of the said City Herein I shall desire your Lordship to take notice of two things First from whom this Government was expected which was not from the Commons but from the Major Sheriffes and Aldermen so runs the Commission Secondly for whose fault did both they and the City suffer it was not for the fault of the Commons but for the fault of the Major Sheriffes and Aldermen My Lord if ever the like businesse come upon the stage againe that enquiry bee made into the Government of the City of London how it stands it will bee after the same manner The Commission will run thus to enquire what hath befaln for want of good Government in the Major Sheriffes and Aldermen not in