Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n
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A46957
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Notes upon the Phœnix edition of the Pastoral letter Part I / by Samvel Johnson.
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Johnson, Samuel, 1649-1703.
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1694
(1694)
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Wing J835; ESTC R11877
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45,073
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120
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Positions of the Dispensing Power And when that was done I publickly Challenged them for giving me no Relief from my duress and barbarous Usage They had the Grace to tell me that my Motion was to go abroad to Counsel which I knew to be Impossible as well as they being in Execution I said that my Motion I was suâ—e was Right being drawn up by my own Hand and several Gentlemen at the Bar generously attested that my Counsel who was then not in Court had Moved right But I will say no more of those Judges for considering the great number of Brave and Honest Men which they have Hanged in their Time when it comes to their own Turn they will but Prophane a Gallows Out of this long and impertinent Story I put this short Case It was certainly Lawful for me to submit to this Usage when I could not help it but I had deserved to die the Death of a Dog and had betrayed the Rights of an English-Man if I had entred into Engagements to abide by it I will give him a third Instance At the Parliament at Oxford in 65 when they made the Five Mile Act there was the same Enslaving Project on foot as there was afterwards in Seventy odd to Swear to the Government in Church and State without Alteration The Wise Lord Treasurer Southampton was against it and said that though he liked Episcopacy yet he would not be Sworn to it because he might hereafter be of another Opinion And perhaps he had been further off from that Oath if he had lived till now The Remainder of this third Paragraph follows in these words And as it appears that there lies no just Objection to the swearing Obedience so there arises none from â— of his Subjects I am sure he cannot tell what Fee As if the King were Landlord of all England 4 thly He makes a King in Fact to be Lord of the Fee as if English-men did not know their True Landlord from Iohn a Green 5 thly He would have People swear an Obedience according to Law in opposition to a Blind and Absolute Obedience though they are still to retain their Passive Obedience which is certainly Blind and Absolute Obedience or else there is no such thing in the World I shall slightly touch upon each of these in their Order First of all he out-runs the Constable in taking for granted an Oath of Obedience where he has neither proved bare Obedience much less a Promise of Obedience onwards to be due for which I refer my self to what passed on the former part of the Paragraph It is true indeed what a Right Reverend Preacher said That Possession is Eleven Points of the Law But where is the Twelfth We want the Point of Right without which the Eleven Points of Law are like the Verdict of Eleven Jury-men for receiving of which King Alfred heretofore hanged one of his Judges Secondly He here gives us a Notion of Allegiance by the halves for he says It is in its Original Signification nothing but the Service due to the Chief Lord of the Fee What nothing more Yes it was always likewise the Duty which the liege-Liege-Lord owed to his Liege-man Allegiance and Fealty were always Reciprocal And therefore he need not say so sparingly p. 24. that an Original Contract was implied in it for it was an Express Contract Allegiance was always a Mutual Bond and a Duty that was promised interchangeably It was so when Canutus and the English swore Fealty to one another at Southampton Brompton p. 903. l. 57. It was a true Bargain upon Articles treated of and agreed upon before hand Ut me teneat says the Liege-man in his Oath sicut deservire volo totum mihi compleat quod in nostrâ praelocutione fuit quando suus deveni ejus elegi voluntatem Thirdly He makes the King Lord of the Fee to intitle him to our Oath of Allegiance It is nothing so for the People of England do not hold of the King what Holy Church does I know not they may be his Vassals for ought I know I am sure I am none Our Allegiance stands upon truer and surer Grounds The King of England is Invested with the Regal Office of Governing a Free-born People This High Office and Dominion was given him by Law and all his Powers which are very Great and give him an Opportunity of doing a world of Good are all stated by Law for else how should we know they are his and they are butted and bounded by Law or else they might be pretended to be Infinite We find it thus in the first Constitution of this Monarchy in the beginning of the Mirror and thus the Office of the King stands delineated in the 17 th Chapter of Edward the Confessor's Laws where by the by we find that King Iames Forfeited and ceased to be a King Our King has the most Glorious Crown this Day in Christendom for it has not that dark Side of Impotency which by some is falsly called the Power of doing Wrong This Crown at the time of his Coronation he used to be Adjured not to meddle with unless he would observe his Coronation Oath bonâ Fide sine malo Ingenio It is a Righteous Oath and wonderfully for the Benefit of this Great People and when he has done this he has a Legal Right as well as a Conscionable to the Oaths of all his People For if his Subjects will not swear to Him let us give the King his Oath again It is true Sworn or Unsworn both Prince and People are upon the Terms of the Government which is a Stable thing and not like Cannon to be new Cast only to put the present Prince's Arms upon it But still I say for the Prince to be Sworn and the People not is like a Marriage on One side as if the other Party were to be at a loose end and left to discretion I am clearly for the old Law of Swearing every one above Sixteen at the Court-Leet and not suffering any one that sets foot upon English Ground to be Unsworn above Nuarante jours which is the Ancient Common Law And he that will not take the Oath ought to be treated as an Outlaw for he ought not to live under a Government who refuses to give it the Customary and Legal Caution If they dote upon King Iames's unextinguishable Right they would do better to be at St. Germains than here for if I had a Rightful injured Prince abroad my Sense of Allegiance would prompt me to follow him to the World's End Fourthly He makes a King in Fact to be Lord of the Fee We have been too long haunted with this word Fact and therefore I will try to lay the Goblin Either a King is a Rightful King or he is not if he be write him down so but never call him Fact that is Wrongful King Usurper Pretender Tyrant in Title Idol Counterfeit King No King For he that pretends to
it is no more than Common Honesty to stand to one's own Act and Deed But in the way of the Passive Doctrine to prostitute the Lives Liberties and Estates of the People of England to the Will of the Prince is Treason against the Realm and Higher Treason than the Highâ—Treason against the Prince For as Fortesâ—ue and the rest of the Lawyers â—ay the King was made for the Kingdom and not the Kingdom for the King And as Treason against the Realm is such as the King cannot pardon so it is such as an Actual King by Succession is capable of being guilty of as appears by several Acts of Parliament which I can shew to any Dabbler in our Government that understands it not He clenches his third Paragraph with a Fourth which follows in these words This is either true or all these who live upon a Continent and that are subject to the Conquests and Invasions of their Neighbours must be misâ—rable For though our Happy Scituation has exempted us for a whole Age from falling under any such Difficulties yet this is a Case that falls often out in all different States which are on the same Continent for if Subjects owe their natural Prince such an Obstinate Allegiance that neither Desertion nor Conqueâ—t can dissolve it then in what a miserable Condition must they be when they fall under the Power of their Enemy that never thinks himself secure of them but treats them still as Enemies till they swear Allegiance to him Now all the true Maxims of Government being such that they must tend to the Preservation and not to the Ruin of Mankind it is certain that all those are false which tend to the inevitable Destruction of Cities and Societies and therefore this of an indiffeasable Allegiance must be reckoned among these since the fatal Consequences that must attend upon it are evident and this is the Opinion in which all who have considered this matter either as Lawyers or Casuists do agree This is shifting the Scene for he knows that we are a World by our selves and have nothing to do with the Continent It is a Londlopeing Argument and till we are in the Condition of the Flanderkin Towns he need not urge us with their Practice and Example And he is wholly out of the way in every word he utters For we are not Deserted or Forsaken nor Conquered or Subdued nor under the Power of an Enemy nor treated as Enemies and cudgelled into an Oath of Allegiance nor ever will be If I were hired to write against the Oath of Allegiance I would use such Arguments as this is Are we in the Case of those that are Slaves under the Spaniard and Slaves under the French that often change their Master but never their Condition that are Prize and Retaken and Prize still Let him answer me to that If not why must our Vertue be taught us by their Necessity God help thâ—m my Soul pities their Case and I should not readily know what to do in it because I never considered it And perhaps it is like one of those wherein our Saviour forbids Forecast and would have no Man Premeditate but promises help at a dead Lift Dabitur in illâ Horâ But in all his Travels could he find no Copy for us to write after nor no Body to match us with but a Conquered People What then is become of our Thanksgiving Deliverance which God and Man have been told of If after all we are to be in the Condition of a Conquered People it is a Deliverance downstairs and our last State is worse than the First For we were not Conquered in King Iames's Time though we were in election to be so and though his Westminster-hall Red-coats had made a fair Progress in it And therefore I am sure neither King nor Parliament have reason to thank him for the Choice of this Argument When all is done as I said beâ—ore all Arguments that come from abroad are Foreign to Us. We live under Municipal Laws and Local Statutes and By-Laws that are Peculiar to this Empire And therefore if he had offered us the tenth part of an Argument fetch'd out of the Bowels of our own Laws we would have hearkn'd to him but as for his Stories from abroad he may even if he pleases carry them home again But I love to talk with his Maxims as I do the sight of an Ass who looks like Wisdom and Gravity and is not For Allegiance Defined by Convenience is much like Religion Defined by maintaining a Coach and Six However let us have his own words over again For if Subjects owe their Natural Prince such an Obstinate Allegiance that neither Desertion nor Conquest can dissolve it then in what a miserable Condition must they be when they fall under the Power of their Enemy that never thinks himself secure of them but treats them still as Enemies till they swear Allegiance to him Now I can tell him that Allegiance is so Obstinate a thing that neither Desertion nor Conquest nor any thing in the World but what is intrinsecal to it that is Breach of Covenant or Consent of both Parties can Dissolve it It is a Moral Duty and Heaven and Earth may pass away before Allegiance can pass away As for Desertion we must first know what it is before we can know whether it will affect our Allegiance A Souldier's Deserting and running away from his Colours we know but what is this Deserting a Crown or a Kingdom A Resignation Renunciation Cession accepted by the People is valid and they are words currant in our Law and the Prince being thereby Deposed Allegiance ceases But as for Desertion we must enquire further about it Did the King Desert Willingly or Unwillingly Did not his People Desert him first If so then for shame never say that King Iames Deserted but say that he was Deserted Well now we are coming to the Merits of the Cause Had the People Reason to forsake King Iames or no had he Forfeited had he broke his Allegiance first was He the Aggressor Yes He had made our Allegiance to him Impossible For we were by the Constitution Sworn Brethren Conjurati Fratres ad Defensionem Regis Regni and he had brought things to that pass that we must either part with our King or our Realm The keeping our Allegiance to King Iames's Person would have Perjured us for we owed a Higher Duty to our Country and Laws to which he was sworn as well as we But instead of the double Duty which lay upon him of observare observari facere of Keeping the Laws and Causing them to be kept he abridged our Common Law and Statutes into five Positions of a Dispensing Power After which I would never look upon a Statute-Book more but kept the Copy of that Compendious Law always in my Pocket to see whether it would outlast the Paper which fell in pieces at the Prince's coming Now an Allegiance to the Destruction