speak not Reason For what Power hath the State to elect while any that is living hath Right to succeed But such a Successor is not the Duke of Lancaster as descended from * So call'd from a Cross he used to wear upon his Back Edmund Crouchback the Elder Son of King Henry the Third tho' put by the Crown for Deformity of his Body For who knows not the Falseness of this Allegation Seeing it is a thing notorious that this Edmund was neither the Elder Brother nor yet Crook-back'd but of a goodly Personage and without any Deformity And your selves cannot forget a thing so lately done who it vvas that in the Fourth year of King Richard vvas declared by Parliament to be Heir to the Crovvn in case King Richard should die without Issue But why then is not that Claim made because Silent Leges inter Arma what disputing of Titles against the stream of Power But however it is extreme injustice that King Richard should be condemned without being heard or once allowed to make his Defence And now my Lords I have spoken thus at this time that you may consider of it before it be too late for as yet it is in your Power to undo that justly which you have unjustly done Thus spoke that Loyal and Good Prelate but to little purpose though there was neither Protestation nor Exception made against this Speech which certainly there would have been had there not been as much Truth as Boldness in vvhat he said And tho' Henry the Fourth did afterwards get the Inheritance of the Crown and Realm of England setled upon himself for Life and the Remainder entailed upon his four Sons by Name and the Issue of their Bodies yet that cannot at all make for my Adversaries purpose since it amounted to no more than a Confirmation of him in the Throne or if it did vve may vvell suppose that a Prince that vvas conscious to himself hovv unjustly he had gain'd his Crown would not be very unwilling to take such a way tho' in derogation to his Prerogative to secure himself if possible tho' not out of an Opinion that they could give him a better Right than they had but because 't is natural to suppose they would upon any occasion be ready to defend what they so solemnly had enacted Come we next to Henry the Fifth who this Gentleman says was Elected But how notoriously false that Assertion of his is will appear from hence that first there was no Parliament called till after his Coronation and in the next place that if the Act of Parliament made in the Seventh Year of Henry the Fourth had so great a Force and Vertue as he says it had it was needless nor can he prove any such thing from that careless and negligent Historian Polydore For Concilium Principum with him does not always signifie a Parliament as any one that has read him which I dare say he never did will perceive nor does his Phrase creare Regem import any more than the King's Coronation besides 't is most untrue which he affirms that Allegiance was never sworn before his Time till after a King was Crowned For the contrary appears from King John and Edward the First Nay 't is undeniably true that the Kings of England have exercised all manner of Royal Jurisdiction precedent to all Ceremony or any Formality whatsoever and that the Death of one King has in that very Moment given Livery and Seisin of the Royalty to the next Heir and by vertue of that Richard the First as a Mark of his Sovereignty immediately on his Father's Death restor'd the Earl of Leicester to his whole Estate Henry the Fifth being dead he was without any Opposition admitted to the Throne although but an Infant but in the Thirty Ninth Year of this King in open Parliament Richard Duke of York the true and rightful Heir to the Crown of England and France made his Challenge and Demand of it as being next Heir to Lionell Duke of Clarence Elder Brother to John of Gaunt from whom descended the House of Lancaster but to this Claim of his it was answered by the King's Friends That the same Crowns were by Act of Parliament Entailed upon Henry the Fourth and the Heirs of his Body from whom King Henry the Sixth did lineally descend * Rot. Parl. 39 H. 6. n. 10. c. The which Act say they as it is in the Record is of Authority to defeat any manner of Title made to any Person To which the Duke of York answerably replies That if King Henry the Fourth might have obtained and enjoyed the said Crowns of England and France by title of Inheritance Descent or Succession he neither needed nor would have desired or made them to be granted to him in such wise as they be by the said Act the which taketh no place nor is of any Force or Effect mind that against him that is Right Inheritor of the said Crowns as it accordeth with God's Laws and all Natural Laws And this Claim and Answer of the Duke of York is expresly acknowledged and recognized by this Parliament to be Good True Just Lawful and Sufficient and 't is agreed that Henry shall hold the Crown during his Life and the Duke of York in the mean time to be reputed and proclaimed Heir Apparent So that we have here as much as can be desired a Parliament not only declaring that a Title to the Crown ought to derive it self only from the Laws of God and Nature and not from any Civil Sanction and acknowledging in at the Bargain that it is beyond the Reach of any Humane Legislative Power to debar and exclude any one that justly claims by such a Right But to â— proceed upon Edward the Fourth's coming to the Crown a Parliament conven'd in the first year of his Reign does acknowledge and recognize his Title in these words as the * Rot. Parl. 1 Ed. 4. n. 8. c. Record has it Knowing also certainly without doubt and ambiguity that by Gods Law and Law of Nature He h. e. Edward the Fourth and none other is and ought to be true right-wise and natural Liege and Sovereign Lord. And that he was in Right from the Death of the said Noble and Famous Prince his Father very just King of the same Realm of England So here again we have another Parliament of the same mind with the last and I doubt not but we shall meet with more of 'em e're we have done When King Edward the Fourth was droven out of his Kingdom by Henry the Sixth 't is true the Crown was again entail'd if it may be properly so call'd upon him and his Heirs c. but still the proceeding was grounded upon the same Bottom with the former Here our Pamphleteer is pleased to make this drowsie Observation that both the Families of York and Lancaster claim'd a Title by Act of Parliament 't is true the latter did because they
a most excellent and fair pretence therefore I persuade my self it was only the consideration of his Elder Brothers Right according to the Laws of God and Nature that deterred this Excellent and Learned Prince from being allured by the inviting and almost irresistable temptations of a Crown in prejudice of those that had a greater Right than himself But if such a Rule of Succession as I am contending for were in use at that time how could Athelstan Grandchild to Alfred succeed his Father Edward the Elder to the dis-inherizon of his Brother Edmund if he as this Gentleman would have us believe were a Bastard but what if there be no such thing for I for my part cannot find that he was if our Historiographer have any Author besides Polydor by him that the World has not yet been blest with the sight of he would do well to produce him for the publick good but till then since I have got some ‖ Flo. Wigorn. f. 598. M. Westm f. 184 W. Malmesb l. 2. c. 6. f. 76. good Writers on my side I may without any disparagement to the Gentlemans remarksincerity and faithfulness hold Athelstan to be as legitimate as himself The next instance he gives us to shew that the Crown descended not according to proximity of Blood is ** Florent Wigornens f. 604. M. Westm f. 188. Defuncto itaque Edmundo Edredus frater ejus regni diadema suscepit reliquit quoque duos filios haeredes legitimos Edwinum Edgarum qui repugnante illegitimâ aetate patri succedere non valebant R. Hoveden par 1. f. 423. W. Malmesb l. 2. c. 7. f. 55. Edreds Succession to his Brother Edmond though the deceased Prince had left two Sons behind him but he forgets to tell us they were Minors and upon that account their Uncle the Office of Protector being not then in use was Crowned King tho' by this odd Custom it often happen'd that the lawfull Heirs were deprived of their Right for notwithstanding they were under an Obligation to resign as soon as their Kinsmen came to Age yet so strong were the Temptations and so sweet the Enjoyment of a Crown to an ambitious Soul that rather than they would submit to a just resignation of that which was but committed to them in Trust for another they would break through all Laws Humane and Divine to maintain that by Force which contrary to Reason and Justice they had usurped But however in this case it happen'd otherwise for Edred dying very opportunely was succeeded by his Nephew Edwy he after a short but troublesome Reign had his Brother Edgar for Successor who having governed his Subjects in peace and plenty and to his own Eternal Honour left the Crown to his Eldest Son * Brompton f. 872. M. Westm f. 193. Edward who on the account of his barbarous and cruel Death contrived by his inhumane Step-mother was afterwards called the Martyr But his Coronation was a little obstructed by a Faction of the Nobility who endeavour'd to advance Ethelred to the Throne being animated thereto by Alfdritha his Mother that she during his minority for he was but seven years of Age might satisfie her Ambition by domineering it over the Kingdom †M. Westm ubi supra Vt potius sub ejus nomine regnare videretur for they pretended that Edward was illegitimate and therefore ought not to be preferr'd before his Brother Ethelred who was the true Heir to his Father and to whom therefore the Crown was dire so that the dispute was not who should but who ought to be King nor was it carried by Interest in favour of Edward as our Pamphleteer would persuade us but by right for Dunstan Archbishop of Canterbury being fully satisfied of the justness of his Title without suffering a thing so clear any longer to be debated according as his Father had commanded * M. Westâ—â— ubi supra Fl. VVigorit f. 605. ut pater ejus moriens dictitaverat are the very words of the Historian consecrated Edward King which he surely durst never have done if he could have derived his Right from no other Original than the Choice of the People But tho' none of those Instances alledged by him yet are of force enough to prove what he produced them for yet we are not to suppose a man of his Infinite Reading cannot find out something that at a dead lift may serve his turn and truly I cannot but admire his excellence that way he has had the good luck to hit upon the most admirable passage and so pat for his purpose that 't is impossible to match it in any of those most incomparable and delectable Histories of Montelion Knight of the Oracle Amadis of Gaul Parismus and Parismenus there 's nothing in them either for pleasure or astonishment but comes a Mile behind what this Gentleman's Author the Canting Abbot of Rievalis can help us to and to the everlasting credit of his Wit and Invention be it spoken his Life of Edward the Confessor from one end to the other is as perfect Romance as any of 'em and truly amongst all his Romantick Tales and I assure you they amount to no sinall number this of Choosing of Edward by the Estates whil'st in his Mothers Womb is one of the most improbable For not to insist upon the universal silence of all our Historians in this matter which if any such thing had been it would have been a most unpardonable fault in them not to have mention'd not I say to insist upon this No man certainly in his right Wits can think so wise an Assembly as was composed of all the Noblemen of England could be guilty of so much folly and madness as to choose a Child and that unborn too for their King and reject several brave and worthy Princes since they could not be ignorant how many inconveniencies and Convulsions a People are subject to whose King is a Child and they could not rationally expect the Father would live till their future Monarch was past his Minority besides the Kingdom being actually invaded by the Danes stood then in need of a Prince that was Active Prudent and Valiant and as I think they could not be reasonably suppos'd guilty of so extreamly foolish an Action so neither in my mind ought we to be so uncharitable as to imagine them so prodigiously wicked as that contrary to all Equity and Justice they should afterwards as basely forsake and reject as they had rashly tho' solemnly chosen the poor Prince surely none can believe they can stand chargeable with two Crimes of so great a magnitude For my own part I cannot be persuaded that this Gentleman can be so senseless as to believe so evident a Forgery or that he would have had the confidence to have made use of it had lie not devoted himself to buoy up an Interest that is able to support it self upon no better grounds than a company of specious and plausible
felt the effects of this popular Doctrine which the Archbishop had instilled into the peoples heads For they growing weary of his Government that was partly Arbitrary and Tyrannical withdrew their Obedience from him and elected Lewis Son to the French King which how they could do and not be guilty of Rebellion I am not able to understand but however it was not as my Pamphleteer would have it more easily consented to by Philip his Father because King John had been condemned and attained for Treason in his Brother Richards time because he was pardoned all his Crimes by that King as * Vit. R. 1. f. 176. M. Paris will inform him but because he stood attainted for the Murder of †M. Paris f. 281. M. Westm f. 275. Duke Arthur for which he had in France been try'd by his Peers and condemned But King John dying in the midst of these Troubles his Son Henry the Third being then under Age was advanced to the Throne by the Loyal endeavours of the Earl Marshall and the Legate Walo with several other Great Men who Westminster the usual place of Coronation being in the hands of Lewis and the Rebel Lords before the great Altar in the Conventual Church at Gloucester annointed and solemnly crowned him sayes the ‖ Est Henricus Johannis primogenitus in regem inunctus solenniter coronatus M. Westm f. 277. Historian And tho' from the Speech which was made to that party of the Nobility that was there then by the Earl Marshall 't is pretended that Henry was Elected yet I dare say if any one do but imparâ—â—â—ly consider the Tenor of it he will find that the Design of it was rather to persuade those present to return to their Duty and acknowledge him for their King whom God and Nature had designed for that great Charge for he begins his Discourse to 'em thus ** H. Knighton l. 2. c. 15. f. 2426. Ecce Rex Vester which he certainly then could not be if their Election were necessary to make him such and amongst the rest of his Arguments sayes to 'em thus hunc igitur libeat regem dicere cui ipsum regnum debetur You ought to choose him to whom the Kingdom is due which surely it can be to none if it be not Hereditary and what puts all out of doubt that the Kingdom was not then and if not then I am sure never since Elective is the Ansvver of Hubert de Burgh that great both Statesman and Souldier to Lewis vvhen he summon'd him to deliver up Dover to him since his Master for vvhose use and service he had so long and valiantly defended it vvas dead ††Si Dominus meus mortuus est habet filios filias qui ei succedere debent M Par. vit H. 3. in prin If my old Master sayes he be dead he has left behind him Sons and Daughters which ought to succeed him A thing he never vvould have asserted had he not thought there had been a Divine Right somevvhere else than in the people Henry the Third being gone the vvay of all Flesh his Eldest son Edward succeeded him a Prince of most extraordinary hopes and vvhose Life let the World see it vvas not deceived in him this Prince at his Fathers death vvas absent in the Holy Land in pursuit of Honour there yet notvvithstanding in a great Council held at London ‖‖ Edwardum absentem Dominum suum Ligeum recognoverunt paternique Successorem honoris ordinaverunt Tho. Walsingh vit E. 1. f. 43. he was recognized and acknowledged to be their Natural Liege Lord and Lawful Successor to his Fathers Throne We meet not here vvith any thing like Election vvhich no doubt vve should not fail to do if there vvere any such thing practised But because we are told page 6 that whether Edward were the Eldest Son of his Father or no remains a doubt in History I shall endeavor notwithstanding the pretences of the House of Lancaster to the contrary whose Interest it was as the Foundation upon which the Justness to their Claim to the Crown was founded to have it thought otherwise assure him from one that had as good an Opportunity and great Reason to know as any man that Edmund was six years younger than his Brother Edward For says M. Paris who lived in the Time of Henry the 3 d. and was very great at Court * M. Par. 488. Edward was born the 15th day of May An. 1239. at Westm and upon S. Marcellus's day An. 1245 †M. P. f. 654. Queen Elianor presented the King with another Son who by his Command was called Edmund and tho' it was sometimes said he was put by for his Deformity yet 't is well known how notoriously false that Scandal is For he had his Name Crouch back not because he was crooked but by reason of a Cross he used as did all those that took upon them the Croisado to wear upon it The next was that Unfortunate Prince Edward 2. who suffering himself to be too much guided by his Minions fell at length into some arbitrary and irregular Courses that brought the hatred and ill will of his Subjects to that degree upon him that by the disloyal and ambitious Practices of his lustful and lascivious Queen and undutiful and unnatural Son he was at last deprived both of his Crown and Life an Action so inhumane barbarous and detestable and every way so unjustifiable that I cannot but wonder with vvhat Brow and Conference any man can bring that as an Instance of the Power of Parliaments At this rate the blackest Villanies that Hell can invent may be defended if it be but as sucessful as 't is impious Besides should we but once allow it lawful for Subjects when they think fit to depose and murder or as then 't is call'd bring to Justice their Princes we shall not only undermine the very Foundations of all Government but give a fatal Blow even to Christianity it self And well might the poor Prince solace himself in the midst of all his almost insupportable Afflictions with the hopes of having his Son whose Wickedness he was ignorant of Reign after For it would be no doubt no small comfort to him to think that those Men who in Contempt and open Defiance to the Laws of God and Nature had proceeded to perpetrate so horrid a Crime that a Heathen of the true Roman Stamp would have blush'd at the thoughts of should not yet so far forget themselves as to reject every Branch of that Tree at whose Root they had struck so great a Blow Surely from Times so disturbed and unsettled as these Men of either Honesty or Common Sence will not offer to bring Presidents to direct themselves by After a long and Glorious Reign Edward the Third who after the Death of Edward the Black Prince had in Parliament created Richard of Burdeaux Earl of Chester and Prince of Wales in a short
time after left the Crown to this Young Prince another of our unfortunate Kings †P. Virg. lib. 19. 20. and so far is it from being true that his Title to the Crown was questioned by John of Gaunt the great Duke of Lancaster that he was at the latter end of his Father's Reign intrusted with the Lieutenancy of the Realm and after his Death was Protector to the Young King during his Minority which certainly had never been if John of Gaunt jure propinquitatis had claim'd the Crown it being dangerous to put so great a Trust and Power into the hands of a Competitor Nor was ever the Succession confirm'd to him by Parliament any otherwise than I have mentioned Neither can Polydore's Regem dicunt if you leave out this Gentleman 's disingenuous Addition of by their Common Suffrages for there is no such thing in the Original signifie any more than that he was proclaimed King But it would be well for this unhappy Prince if he might but as quietly quit as he enter'd into the Throne but alas it fell out quite otherwise For King Richard being made Prisoner by his Cousin Henry of Lancaster a Parliament was Summoned by him in the King's Name in the one and twentieth year of his Reign to meet at Westminster An action certainly illegal in it self for if the Kings Summons were necessary as it appears it was I would gladly know how it can be pretended in this Case that this Parliament did convene by his Authority for tho' the Writs were issued out in his Name yet was he so far from consenting to it that if it had lay'n in his power he would have prevented it But this Assembly or Parliament call it what you will being got together I would fain be inform'd upon what Law or Authority I mean Legal they grounded their following Proceedings for if the Breath of the Kings Nostrils was necessary to give them their Being it is a little irrational to suppose they could thence derive a Lawful Power to destroy the Author of their Life besides how can it be supposed they could proceed justly to pass a Final Sentence upon Him whose concurrance was absolutely required to give birth to any Law which might concern his meanest Subjects tho' they thought it ne're so convenient and why should we believe it in the Power of the Estates of the Realm to impose any thing upon the King when he could bind them to observe nothing without their consent first obtained and yet our Pamphleteer is not ashamed to avouch this as a President of Parliamentary Power in the Point of Succession But if we do but examine the matter a little more narrowly we shall find it makes very little for his purpose unless it be his Design and a man must have a great deal of Charity to believe it is not to instruct the people how to proceed in case their King will not do as they would have him for we shall find that tho' they usurped the exorbitant Power of Deposing Richard yet did they not pretend to the power of Electing who they pleas'd but thought themselves in duty bound to submit to him to whom by Right of Blood the Crown did belong And this evidently appears from Henry Duke of Lancaster's manner of laying Claim to the Crown for no sooner was the Throne void by the pretended voluntary Resignation of King Richard but Henry first having fortified himself with the sign of the Cross stood up and made his demand of the Crown in his Mother-Tongue in this form of Word as I have extracted them out of the * Rot. Parl. 1 H. 4. memb 20. Parliament Roll In the Name of the Fader Sonne and Holy Gost I Henry of Lancastre challenge this Rewme of Ynglonde and the Corone with all the Membres and the Appurtenances al 's I that am descendit by ryght line of the blode comyng fro the gude Lord King Henry therde By this you may see vvhat it vvas he laid the stress of his Claim on and thorghe that Right that God of his Grace hath sent me He it seems acknovvledges God and not the people for the Author of his Right with the help of my Ryn and of my Friendes to recover it the which Rewme was in point to be ondone for defaut of Governance and undoyng of the gude Lawes After which Chalenge and Claim says the Record as well the Lords Spiritual as Temporal all and all the States there present being severally and all interrogated what they thought of the aforesaid Challenge and Claim The above-named States with all the Commonalty without any difficulty or delay unanimously agreed that the aforesaid Duke should reign over them And this being the Naked Truth of the matter I cannot imagine with what propriety of Speech this can be called an Election or what reason this Gentleman had for to say that the above-mentioned Title was the least of all insisted on when it appears from the Roll as I have faithfully translated it that no other was so much as mentioned And thus we have heard how the poor and unfortunate Prince Richard the Second from whose Actions if they be but examined with an impartial Eye we cannot conclude him to have been either very insufficient or evil if we soberly weigh the Imputations that were objected against him we shall find nothing of any truth or at least any moment was in a tempestuous Rage deprived of his Right and upon what Grounds Henry 4. mounted his Throne But how justly even in the Opinion of some at that time you will best be inform'd from Thomas Merks Bishop of Carlisle a wise and Learned man and of no less Courage who when it was moved in Parliament what should be done with King Richard He boldly stood up and spoke to this Effect as it is set down by * Bak. Chron. f. 158. Sir Richard Baker and since it is so much to the purpose I hope the reader will not be displeased with the length of it My Lords The matter now propounded is of marvellous Weight and Consequence wherein there are two points chiefly to be considered The First Whether King Richard be sufficiently put out of his Throne The Second whether the Duke of Lancaster be lawfully taken in For the First How can that be sufficiently done when there is no Power sufficient to do it The Parliament cannot for of the Parliament the King is the Head and can the Body put down the Head You will say the Head may how it self down and may the King resign It is true but what force is in that which is done by Force And who knows not that King Richard's Resignation was no other But suppose he be sufficiently out yet how comes the Duke of Lancaster to be lawfully in If you say by Conquest you speak Treason For what Conquest without Arms And can a Subject take up Arms and not be Treason If you say by Election of the State you
had no other that would carry Water but as false that the former ever did for they as you have seen before founded their pretences upon the sound Bottom of Divine and Natural Law Besides Richard Duke of York challenged the Crown as his just Right before any Act pass'd in his favour nor was it the want of a Parliamentary Title which he stood in need of that kept him off but because he had not Power and Interest enough to assert the justness of his Title and therefore 't is no wonder he deferr'd the making of his Claim so long for to have done it sooner would but have riveted the Usurper more firmly in his Throne But Edward having regain'd his Kingdom as quickly as he lost it left it at his death to his unfortunate Son Edward the Fifth who was soon deprived both of that and his Life by his barbarous inhumane and ambitious Uncle Richard Duke of Gloucester who having persuaded some and forced others to believe or at least seem to believe that all his Brother Edwad's Children were Bastards did by a kind of pretended Election and at the instance of all the Great Men take or rather usurp the Crown But that the mystery of that subtle Transaction may be fully discovered I shall transcribe that Petition and Election as they call it out of the Parliament Roll as much as is necessary and opitomize the rest and then I will leave the Reader to judge how dis-ingenuously not to call it worse tho' according to his Custom this Gentleman would insinuate as if in the midst of their highest flatteries and courtship to him they tell him only of this great and sure Title by Act of Parliament An untruth if he had had the least grain of Modesty he could not have had the confidence to assert but by this time I suppose you know what a man I have to deal with But I hope the Roll will convince him and make him asham'd of his dis-ingenuity * Rot. Parl. tent apud Weâ—im die Ven. 23 die Jan. 1 R. 3. In this Petition and Election but that Election imports not what he would have it I hope will evidently appear from the sequel they set forth the many Grievances and Oppressions the Kingdom groan'd under through the dissolute Government of the late King Edward the Fourth they say farther That the King was never married to his pretended and reputed Queen or if he was that upon the account of a Precontract to another Lady that Marriage was unlawful and ipso facto void and so either way all his Children were illegitimate They say farther That George the late Duke of Clarence being attainted of High Treason and his Blood corrupted by reason thereof his issue are debarred or all Right and Claim to the Crown But the reasonableness and lawfulness of this Position I shall take the Liberty to examine hereafter Over this I give you the Words of the Record in English We consider that you be the undoubted Son and Heir of Richard late Duke of York very Inheritor of the said Crown and Dignity Royal and as in Right King of England by way of Inheritance how then can the Parliament challenge a power of Election in the modern sense of the words and that at this time the premises duly considered there is none other person living but You only that by Right may Claim the said Crown and Dignity Royal by way of Inheritance And then they go on in a most abject way of Flattery to recount his excellent Parts and extraordinary Qualifications for the Government Wherefore say they these premises by us diligently considered we desiring effectually the Peace Tranquillity and Weal-publick of this Land and the reduction of the same to the ancient honourable Estate and Presperity and having in your great Prudence Justice Princely Courage and excellent Vertue singular Confidence have chosen in all that in us is and by this our Writing choose you High and Mighty Prince our King and Sovereign Lord to whom we know of certain it appertaineth to be chosen From whence it appears that what they call Election amounts to no more than a Ceremony or formality of acknowledging their Prince Therefore they desire him as his true Inheritance which 't is impossible in an Elective Kingdom the Royalty can be to accept of the said Crown and Dignity according to this Election of the Three Estates Surely then the King vvas none They add soon after Albeit that the Right Title and Estate which our Sovereign Lord the King Richard the Third hath to and in the Crown and Royal Dignity of this Realm of England be just and lawful as grounded upon the Laws of God and of Nature mind that and also upon the ancient Laws and landable Customes and therefore not upon any Statute but Common-Lavv of this said Realm and so taken and reputed by all such persons as be Learned in the abovesaid Laws and Customes yet nevertheless Here once for all take notice of the true Reason of the Parliaments medling vvith the Succession for as much as it is considered that the most part of the people is not sufficiently Learned in the abovesaid Laws and Customes whereby the Truth and Right in this behalf of likelyhood may be hid and not clearly known to all the people and thereupon put in doubt and question And over this how that the Court of Parliament is of such Authority and the people of this Land of such a Nature and Disposition as experience teacheth that Manifestation and Declaration of any Truth or Right made by the Three Estates of this Realm Assembled in Parliament maketh before all other things most Faith and Certainty and quieting of Mens Minds removeth the occasion of all Doubts and Seditious Language And therefore at the Request and by the Assent of the three Estates of this Realm the King cannot be one that is to say the Lords Spiritual 't is they are one of the Estates and Temporal and Commons of this Land Assembled in this present Parliament and by Authority of the same be it pronounced decreed and declared That our said Sovereign Lord the King was and is the very undoubted King of this Realm of England c. as well by right of Consanguinity and Inheritance as by lawful Election Consecration and Coronation And since the two latter as all the World knows do give no new right but are only Ceremonies and bare Formalities of State I can see no reason why what they call Election which certainly must not be strain'd to Propriety should be reputed any other because it not only is joyned with the rest without any Distinction but likewise Election in the usual Sence is incompatible with an Hereditary Monarchy such as this is over and over proved to be To all which the King assented in these words Et idem Dominus Rex de assensis dictorum trium Statuum Regni Authoritate praedicta omnia singula Praemissa in Billa
praedicta contenta concedit ac ea pro vero indubio pronunciat decernit declarat So here we have as much as can be desired a Parliament that had assumed a very extravagant Power yet declaring that the Kings of England do derive their Titles from God and Nature only and that this was consonant to the known Custom and Ancient Practice of the Realm But the innocent Blood of this barbarous and cruel Tyrant's Nephews whom he had caus'd inhumanely to be murder'd crying to Heaven for Vengeance God raised up one to deprive him at once both of his Grown and Life I mean Henry Duke of Richmond of whom the judicious * 7 Book in fine Comines says Qu' il n' avoit Croix ne Pile ne nul Droit come Ico croy al a Corone d' Angleterre Come we now to the Consideration of the Methods he used to establish himself in his new-gotten Kingdom after the Death of †Bacon's Hist of H. 7. f. 4. Edit London 1622. Richard and we shall learn that from the best of our Historians in his Life of that wise Prince who tell us that the King after his Victory at Bosworth Field being come to London was very much distracted in his Choice of a Title to the Crown as whether he should claim it by Right of Conquest but that he judged a very dangerous and unsatisfactory way or in Right of the Lady Elizabeth Heiress to the House of York whom he had promised and intended to marry But as to this he considered that he should be a King only by Courtesie and Tho' he should obtain by Parliament says my Lord Bacon to be continued for otherwise he must upon his Queen's Death have resign'd yet he knew there was a very great difference between a King that holdeth his Crown by a Civil Act of the Estates and one mind that that holdeth it Originally by the Law of Nature and Descent of Blood So far he Therefore upon those Considerations he resolv'd to rest upon the Title and Right of the House of Lancaster as the Main as that which would prove his surest Card For tho' he could not be ignorant that upon several Accounts that Title could not stand the Test of a severe and legal Tryal yet he knew very well that it was not only very foolish to dispute such things with a man that had thirty Legions at his Beck but that there could be no occasion for it during the Life of his Queen who was true Heir to the Kingdom and after her Death he might hope the Sence of Filial Duty would deter her Children from any Attempt to disturb him yet however his opportune Death vvas look'd upon by many as his greatest Happiness vvhereby he vvas vvithdravvn from any future Blovv of Fortune which certainly in regard of the great hatred of his People and the Title of his Son being then come to Eighteen years of Age and being a bold Prince and liberal and that gain'd upon the People by his very Aspect and Presence had not been impossible to have come upon him as the Judicious Bacon * Hist of H. 7. f. 231. words it With this Resolution he was Crown'd and having call'd a Parliament you see he did think an Act of theirs necessary to make him King tho' he thought it convenient to confirm him where an Act was pass'd for settling the Crown upon him †Hist of H. 7. f. 11. which he did not press to have pen'd by way of Declaration or Recognition of Right as on the other side he avoid to have it by new Law or Ordinance but chose rather a kind of middle way by way of Establishment and that under covert and indifferent words That the Inheritance of the Crown should rest remain and abide in the King c. which words might equally be applied that the Crown should continue to him but whether as having former Right to it which was doubtful or having then in Fact or Possession which no man denied was left fair to Interpretation either way And this Statute he procured to be confirm'd by the Pope's Bull the year following which is a plain Proof he relied not so much upon the Power of a Parliament as this Gentleman would persuade us nor can there be drawn from this proceeding of King Henry's any thing that makes more for the Authority of a Parliament in these matters than for the Popes which I am sure no Sober man but must allow to be none at all Besides this Prudent King was so conscious of the Weakness of his own Title notwithstanding this Act of Parliament that in the Troubles that happen'd very often in his Reign to prevent the Peoples prying and enquiry into the Justness of it he got an an Act to pass ‖ Lord Bacon's History of H. 7. f. 144. in the Eleventh year of his Reign that no man that assisted him in Wars should afterwards be deem'd or taken for a Traytor nor should be impeach'd therefore or attainted either by the Course of the Law or by Act of Parliament and truly it was agreable to good Conscience that whatsoever the Fortune of the War were the Subject should not suffer for his Obedience His Argument drawn from the Oath of Allegiance and other Publick Test and Securities after what I have said already will appear so ill considered a pretence that I should but lose time in standing to confute it I shall then proceed to Henry the 8th his Son and Successor and see if any thing can be gathered from thence that may make for our Pamphleteer's purpose And I doubt not but it will appear that whatever was done in that Great Prince's Reign was rather the Effect of his extravagant Capricious Lust or Revenge than founded upon the true Maxims of Justice Equity or Lawful Authority For Sir W. R. in his Preface to the History of the World can tell us that his violent Hatred to the Elder House of Scotland was the cause of most of those Acts using says he his sharpest Weapons to cut off and hew down those Branches which sprang from the same Root that himself did but yet that Blood which the same King affirm'd that the Cold Air of Scotland had frozen up in the North God hath diffus'd by the Sun-shine of his Grace from whence His Majesty now living and whom God grant long to live is descended And as for the rest they were consented to or rather to speak Truth forced from the Parliament by the King for he used to make them do what he had a mind to to satisfie some wild Humor of his though to the prejudice of his Prerogative For the legality and unlawfulness of his second Marriage depending upon the validity or weakness of the Popes Dispensation which by the generality of the World was then thought unexceptionable it is no wonder if Henry the Eighth contrary to the natural greatness of his Soul call'd to his Assistance his Parliament with