they neuer so great as great as Gyants yet if they disswade the King from his ready and assured way of his subsistence they must devise how the K. may be else-where supplied for they otherwise runne into a dangerous fortune COVNS Hold you contented Sir the King needes no great disswasion IVST My Lord learne of me that there is none of you all that can pierce the King It is an essentiall property of a man truely wise not to open all the boxes of his bosome even to those that are neerest and deerest vnto him for when a man is discovered to the very bottome he is after the lesse esteemed I dare vndertake that when your Lordship hath served the King twice twelue yeares more you will finde that his Majestie hath reserved somewhat beyond all your capacities his Majestie hath great reason to put off the Parliament as his last refuge and in the meane time to make triall of all your loues to serue him for his Majestie hath had good experience how well you can serue your selues But when the King finds that the building of your owne fortunes and factions hath beene the diligent studies and the service of his Majestie but the exercises of your leisures Hee may then perchance cast himself vpon the general loue of his people of which I trust hee shall never bee deceiued and leaue as many of your Lordships as haue pilfered from the Crowne to their examination COVNS Well Sir I take no great pleasure in this dispute goe on I pray IVST In that Kinges 5 th yeare hee had also a subsedy which he got by holding the house together from Easter to Christmas and would not suffer them to depart He had also a subsedie in his ninth yeare In his eleventh yeare the Commons did againe presse the king to take all the temporalities of the Church-men into his hands which they proved sufficient to maintaine 150 Earles 1500 knights and 6400 Esquiers with a hundred hospitals but they not prevayling gaue the King a subsedy As for the notorious Prince Henry the fift I finde that he had given him in his second yeare 300000 markes and after that two other subsedies one in his fifth yeare another in his ninth without any disputes In the time of his successour Henry the sixt there where not many subsedies In his third yeare he had a subsedy of a Tunnage and Poundage And here saith Iohn Stom began those payments which wee call customes because the payment was continued whereas before that time it was granted but for a yeare two or three according to the Kings occasions Hee had also an ayde and gathering of money in his fourth yeare and the like in his tenth yeare and in his thirteenth yere a 15 th He had also a fifteenth for the conveying of the Queene out of France into England In the twenty eight yeare of that King was the acte of Resumption of all honours townes castles Signieuries villages Manors lands tenements rents reversions fees c. But because the wages of the Kings seruants were by the strictnes of the acte also restrained this acte of Resumption was expounded in the Parliament at Reading the 31 th yeare of the Kings reigne COVNS I perceiue that those acts of Resumption were ordinary in former times for King Stephen resumed the lands which in former times hee had giuen to make friends during the Ciuill warres And Henry the second resumed all without exception which King Stephen had not resumed for although King Stephen tooke backe a great deale yet hee suffered his trustiest seruants to enjoye his gift IVST Yes my Lord in after times also for this was not the last nor shall be the last I hope And judge you my Lord whether the Parliaments doe not only serue the King whatsoeuer is said to the contrary for as all King Henry the 6 gifts graunts were made voide by the Duke of Yorke when he was in possession of the kingdome by Parliament So in the time of K. H. when K. Edw was beaten out again the Parliament of Westminster made all his acts voyde made him all his followers traytors gaue the King many of their heads lands The Parliaments of England do alwaies serue the King in possession It seru'd Rich. the second to condemne the popular Lords It seru'd Bollingbrooke to depose Rich. When Edw. the 4. had the Scepter it made them all beggars that had followed H. the 6. And it did the like for H. when Edw. was driuen out The Parliaments are as the friendship of this world is which alwayes followeth prosperity For K. Edw. the 4 after that hee was possessed of the Crown he had in his 13 yeare a subsedy freely giuen him in the yeare following hee tooke a benevolence through England which arbitrary taking frō the people seru'd that ambitious traytor the Duke of Bucks After the Kings death was a plausible argument to perswade the multitude that they should not permit saith Sir Thomas Moore his line to raigne any longer vpon them COVNS Well Sir what say you to the Parliament of Richard the third his time IVST I finde but one and therein he made diuerse good Lawes For K. Henry the seuenth in the beginning of his third yeare hee had by Parliament an ayde granted vnto him towards the reliefe of the Duke of Brittaine then assailed by the French King And although the King did not enter into the warre but by the advice of the three estates who did willingly contribute Yet those Northerne men which loued Richard the third raised rebellion vnder colour of the mony impos'd murthered the Earle of Northumberland whom the King employed in that Collection By which your Lordship sees that it hath not beene for taxes and impositions alone that the ill disposed haue taken Armes but euen for those payments which haue beene appoynted by Parliament COVNS And what became of those Rebels IVST They were fairely hang'd and the mony levied notwithstanding in the Kings first yeare he gathered a marvailous great masse of mony by a benevolence taking patterne by this kind of levie from Edw. 4 th But the King caused it first to be moued in Parliament where it was allowed because the poorer sort were therein spared Yet it is true that the king vsed some arte for in his Letters hee declared that hee would measure euery mans affections by his gifts In the thirteenth yeare hee had also a subsedy whereupon the Cornish men tooke Armes as the Northerne men of the Bishoppricke had done in the third yeare of the King COVNS It is without example that euer the people haue rebelled for any thing granted by Parliament saue in this kings dayes IVST Your Lordship must consider that he was not ouer much belou'd for hee tooke many advantages vpon the people and the Nobility both COVNS And I pray you what say they now of the new impositions lately laide by the Kings Maiesty doe they say that
they are justly or injustly laide IVST To impose vpon all things brought into the Kingdome is very auncient which imposing when it hath beene continued a certaine time is then called Customes because the subjects are accustomed to pay it yet the great taxe vpon wine is still called Impost because it was imposed after the ordinary rate of payment had lasted many yeares But we doe now a dayes vnderstand those things to bee impositions which are raised by the commaund of Princes without the aduice of the common-wealth though as I take it much of that which is now called custome was at the first imposed by Prerogatiue royall Now whether it be time or consent that makes them just I cannot define were they just because new and not justified yet by time or vnjust because they want a generall consent yet is this rule of Aristotle verified in respect of his Majestie Minus timent homines iniustum pati à principe quem cultorem dei putant Yea my Lord they are also the more willingly borne because all the world knowes they are no new Invention of the Kings And if those that advised his Maiestie to impose them had raised his lands as it was offered them to 20000 l more then it was and his wards to asmuch as aforesaid they had done him farre more acceptable seruice But they had their own ends in refusing the one and accepting the other If the land had beene raised they could not haue selected the best of it for themselues If the impositions had not been laide some of them could not haue their silkes others peeces in farme which indeed grieued the subiect tenne times more then that which his Maiestie enjoyeth But certainly they made a great advantage that were the advisers for if any tumult had followed his Maiesty ready way had beene to haue deliuered them ouer to the people COVNS But thinke you that the King would haue deliuered them if any troubles had followed IVST I know not my Lord it was Machiavels counsell to Caesar Borgia to doe it and K. H. the 8 deliuered vp Empson and Dudley yea the same King when the great Cardinall Woolsey who gouerned the King and all his estate had by requiring the sixt part of euery mans goods for the King raised a rebellion the King I say disavowed him absolutely that had not the Dukes of Norfolke and Suffolke appeased the people the Cardinall had sung no more Masse for these are the words of our Story The King then came to Westminster to the Cardinals palace and assembled there a great Councell in which he protested that his minde was neuer to aske any thing of his Commons which might sound to the breach of his Lawes Wherefore hee then willed them to know by whose meanes they were so strictly giuen foorth Now my Lord how the Cardinall would haue shifted himselfe by saying I had the opinion of the Iudges had not the rebellion beene appeal'd I greatly doubt COVNS But good Sir you blanch my question and answere mee by examples I aske you whether or no in any such tumult the people pretending against any one or two great Officers the King should deliuer them or defend them IVST My good Lord the people haue not stayde for the kings deliuery neither in England nor in France Your Lordship knowes how the Chauncellour Treasurer and Chiefe Iustice with many others at seuerall times haue bin vsed by the Rebels And the Marshals Constables and Treasurers in France haue beene cut in pieces in Charles the sixt his time Now to your Lordships question I say that where any man shall giue a King perilous advice as may either cause a rebellion or draw the peoples loue from the King I say that a King shal be advised to banish him But if the King doe absolutely commaund his seruant to doe any thing displeasing to the Common-wealth and to his own peril there is the King bound in honour to defend him But my good Lord for conclusion there is no man in England that will lay any invention either grieuous or against law vpon the Kings Maiesty And therefore your Lordships must share it amongst you COVNS For my part I had no hand in it I thinke Ingram was he that propounded it to the Treasurer IVST Alas my good Lord euery poore wayter in the Custome-house or euery promoter might haue done it there is no invention in these things To lay impositions and sell the Kings lands are poore and common devices It is true that Ingram and his fellowes are odious men and therefore his Maiestie pleas'd the people greatly to put him from the Coffership It is better for a Prince to vse such a kinde of men then to countenance them hang-men are necessary in a Commonwealth yet in the Nether-lands none but a hangmans sonne will marry a hang-mans daughter Now my Lord the last gathering which Henry the seuenth made was in his twentieth yeare wherein hee had another benevolence both of the Cleargy and Laity a part of which taken of the poorer sort hee ordained by his Testament that it should bee restored And for King Henry the eight although hee was left in a most plentifull estate yet he wonderfully prest his people with great payments for in the beginning of his time it was infinite that hee spent in Masking and Tilting Banquetting and other vanities before hee was entered into the most consuming expence of the most fond and fruitlesse warre that euer King vndertooke In his fourth yeare hee had one of the greatest subsedies that euer was granted for besides two fifteenes and two dismes hee vsed Dauids Lawe of Capitation or head-money and had of euery Duke ten markes of euery Earle fiue pounds of euery Lord foure pounds of euery Knight foure markes euery man rated at 8 ◠in goods 4 markes and so after the rate yea euery man that was valued but at 40 paide 12 ◠and euery man and woman aboue 15 yeares 4 ◠Hee had also in his sixt yeare diuers subsedies granted him In his fourteenth there was a tenth demaunded of euery mans goods but it was moderated In the Parliament following the Clergie gaue the King the halfe of their spirituall liuings for one yeare of the Laity there was demanded 800000 ' which could not be levied in England but it was a marveilous great gift that the king had giuen him at that time In the Kings seuenteenth yeare was the Rebellion before spoken of wherein King disavowed the Cardinall In his seuenteenth yeare hee had the tenth and fifteenth giuen by Parliament which were before that time paide to the Pope And before that also the monyes that the King borrowed in his fifteenth yeare were forgiuen him by Parliament in his seuenteenth yeare In his 35 yeare a subsedy was granted of 4 ◠the pound of euery man worth in goods from 20◠to 5 ◠from 5 ◠to 10 l and vpwards of euery pound 2. And all strangers denisens and others doubled
the subsedy Bookes wee found the summe but smal whē the 30 ◠men were left out In the beginning of his fourth yeare a tenth with a fifteene vvere granted vpon condition that for one vvhole yeare no subsedies should bee demaunded but this promise vvas as suddenly forgotten as made for in the end of that yeare the great subsedy of Poll mony vvas granted in the Parliament at Northampton COVNS Yea but there follovved the terrible Rebellion of Baker Straw and others Leister Wrais and others IVST That vvas not the fault of the Parliament my Lord it is manifest that the subsedy giuen vvas not the cause for it is plaine that the bondmen of England began it because they vvere grieuously prest by their Lords in their tenure of Villenage as also for the hatred they bare to the Lavvyers Attorneyes for the story of those times say that they destroyed the houses Mannors of men of lavv and such Lavvyers as they caught slevv them beheaded the Lord chiefe Iustice which commotion being once begun the head mony was by other Rebels pretended A fire is often kindled with a litle straw which oftentimes takes hold of greater timber consumes the whole building And that this Rebellion was begun by the discontented slaues whereof there haue beene many in Elder times the like is manifest by the Charter of Manumission which the King granted in haec verba Rich. Dei gratia c. Sciatis quòd de gratia nostrâ spirituals manumissimus c. to which seeing the King was constrained by force of armes hee revoked the letters Pattents and made them voide the same revocation being strengthened by the Parliament ensuing In which the King had giuen him a subsedy vpon wools called a Maletot In the same fourth yeare was the Lord Treasurer discharged of his Office and Hales Lord of S Iohns chosen in his place In his fift yeare was the Treasurer againe changed and the Staffe giuen to Segraue and the Lord Chancellour was also changed and the staffe giuen to the Lord Scroope Which Lord Scroope was againe in the beginning of his sixt yeare turned out and the King after that he had for a while kept the Seale in his own hand gaue it to the Bishop of London from vvhom it vvas soone after taken bestovved on the Earle of Suffolke vvho they say had abused the king and converted the kings Treasure to his ovvne vse To this the King condiscended and though saith Walsingham he deserued to loose his life and goods yet he had the fauor to goe at liberty vpō good sureties because the K. vvas but yong that the reliefe granted vvas committed to the trust of the Earle of Arundell for the furnishing of the Kings Navy against the French COVNS Yet you see it vvas a dishonor to the K. to haue his beloued Chancellour remoued IVS. Truly no for the K. had both his fine 1000 lāds a subsedy to boot And though for the present it pleased the K. to fancy a man all the vvorld hated the K s passiō ouercōming his Iudgmēt yet it cānot be cal'd a dishonor for the K. is to belieue the general coūsel of the kingdom to prefer it before his affection especially vvhen Suffolk vvas proued to be false euen to the K for were it otherwise loue and affection might bee called a frenzie and a madnesse for it is the nature of humane passions that the loue bredde by fidelity doth change it selfe into hatred when the fidelity is first changed into falshood COVNS But you see there were thirteene Lords chosen in the Parliament to haue the oversight of the government vnder the King IVS No my Lord it was to haue the oversight of those Officers which saith the Story had imbezeled lewdly wasted and prodigally spent the Kings treasure for to the Cōmission to those Lords or to any six of them joyn'd with the Kings Counsell was one of the most royall and most profitable that euer he did if hee had bin constant to himself But my good Lord man is the cause of his own misery for I wil repeate the substance of the commission granted by the K confirmed by Parliament which whether it had bin profitable for the K. to haue prosecuted your Lordship may judge The preamble hath these words Whereas our Sovereigne Lord the King perceiveth by the greivous complaints of the Lords Commons of this Realme that the rents profits revenues of this Realme by the singular and insufficient Councell and evill gouernment aswell of some his late great Officers and others c. are so much withdrawen wasted eloyued giuen granted alienated destroyed and evill dispended that he is so much impoverished and void of treasure and goods and the substance of the Crown so much diminished and destroyed that his estate may not honorably be sustained as appertayneth The K. of his free will at the request of the Lords and Commons hath ordayned Williā Archbishop of Canterbury and others with his Chancellour Treasurer keeper of his privy seale to survey and examine as well the estate and governance of his house c. as of all the rents and profits and revenues that to him appertayneth and to be due or ought to appertaine and be due c. And all manner of gifts graunts alienations and confirmations made by him of lands tenements rents c. bargained and sold to the preiudice of him and his Crowne c. And of his iewels goods which were his Grandfathers at the time of his death c. and where they be become This is in effect the substance of the commission which your Lordship may reade at large in the booke of Statutes this commission being enacted in the tenth yere of the Kings reigne Now if such a commission were in these daies granted to the faithfull men that haue no interest in the sales gifts nor purchases nor in the keeping of the jewells at the Queenes death nor in the obtaining graunts of the Kings best lands I cannot say what may be recouered justly recovered and what say your Lordship was not this a noble acte for the King if it had beene followed to effect COVNS I cannot tell whether it were or no for it gaue power to the Commissioners to examine all the graunts IVST Why my Lord doth the King graunt any thing that shames at the examination are not the Kings graunts on record COVNS But by your leaue it is some dishonour to a King to haue his judgement called in question IVST That is true my Lord but in this or vvhensoever the like shall be graunted in the future the Kings judgement is not examined but their knavery that abused the K. Nay by your favour the contrary is true that vvhen a King will suffer himselfe to bee eaten vp by a company of petty fellowes by himselfe raised there in both the judgement and courage is disputed And if your Lordship vvill disdaine it at your own servants
Kings stay in Ireland hee had a 10 th and a 15 th graunted COVNS And good reason for the King had in his army 4000 horse and 30000 foote IVST That by your fauour was the Kings sanity for great armies do rather devour themselues then destroy enimies Such an army whereof the fourth part would haue conquered all Ireland was in respect of Ireland such an army as Xerxes led into Greece in this twentith yeare wherein hee had a tenth of the Cleargy was the great conspiracy of the Kings vnkle the Duke of Glocester and of Moubrey Arundell Nottingham and Warwick the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Abbotte of VVestminster and others who in the 21 â— yeare of the King were all redeemed by parliament what thinkes your Lordship was not this assembly of the 3 states for the kings estate wherein hee so prevailed that hee not onely overthrew those popular Lords but besides the English Chronicle sayth the king so wrought and brought things about that hee obtained the power of both houses to be graunted to certaine persons to 15 Noblemen and Gentlmen or to seauen of them COVNS Sir whether the king wrought well or ill I cannot judge but our Chronicles say that many things were done in this parliament to the displeasure of no small number of people to wit for that diverse rightfull heires were disinherited of their lands liuings with which wrongfull doings the people were much offended so that the King with those that were about him and chiefe in counsell came into great infamy and slander IVST My good Lord if your Lordship will pardon mee I am of opinion that those Parliaments wherein the kings of this land haue satisfied the people as they haue beene euer prosperous so where the king hath restrained the house the contrary hath happened for the K â— atchiuements in this parliament were the ready preparations to his ruine COV You meane by the general discontetmet that followed and because the King did not proceede legally with Glocester and others Why Sir this was not the first time that the Kings of England haue done things without the Counsell of the land yea contrary to the lawe IVST It is true my Lord in some particulars as euen at this time the Duke of Glocester was made away at Callice by strong hand without any lawfull triall for hee was a man so beloued of the people and so allied hauing the Dukes of Lancaster and Yorke his brethren the Duke of Aumarle and the Duke of Hereford his Nephewes the great Earles of Arundell and VVarwicke with diuerse other of his part in the conspiracy as the King durst not trie him according to the law for at the tryall of Arundell and VVarwicke the king was forced to entertaine a petty army about him And though the Duke was greatly lamented yet it cannot be denyed but that he was then a traytor to the King And was it not so my Lord with the Duke of Guise your Lordship doth remember the spurgald proverbe that necessitie hath no law and my good Lord it is the practice of doing wrong and of generall wrongs done that brings danger and not where kings are prest in this or that particular for there is great difference betweene naturall cruelty and accidentall And therefore it was Machiauels advice that all that a king did in that kind he shall do at once and by his mercies afterwards make the world know that his cruelty was not affected And my Lord take this for a generall rule that the immortall policy of a state cannot admit any law or priuiledge whatsoeuer but in some particular or other the same is necessarily broken yea in an Aristocratia or popular estate which vaunts so much of equality and common right more outrage hath beene committed then in any Christian Monarchy COVNS But whence came this hatred between the Duke and the King his Nephew IVST My Lord the Dukes constraining the King when he was young stucke in the kings heart and now the Dukes proud speech to the King when hee had rendred Brest formerly ingaged to the Duke of Brittaine kindled againe these coales that were not altogether extinguished for he vsed these words Your grace ought to put your body in great paine to winne a strong hold or towne by feares of armes ere you take vpon you to sell or deliuer any towne gotten by the manhood and strong hand and policy of your noble progenitours VVhereat sayth the story the King chaunged his countenance c and to say trueth it was a proud and maisterly speech of the Duke besides that inclusiuely hee taxed him of sloath and cowardize as if he had neuer put himselfe to the adventure of winning such a place vndutifull wordes of a subiect do often take deeper roote then the memory of ill deedes do The Duke of Biron found it when the King had him at advantage Yea the late Earle of Essex told Queene Elizabeth that her conditions was as crooked as her carkasse but it cost him his head which his insurrection had not cost him but for that speech who will say vnto a King saith Iob thou art wicked Certainly it is the same thing to say vnto a Lady thou art crooked and perchance more as to say vnto a King that he is wicked and to say that hee is a coward or to vse any other wordes of disgrace it is one and the same errour COVN But what say you for Arundell a braue and valiant man who had the Kings pardon of his contempt during his minority IVST My good Lord the Parliament which you say disputes the Kings prerogatiue did quite contrary and destroyed the kings charter and pardon formerly giuen to Arundell And my good Lord do you remember that at the Parliament that wrought wonders when these Lords compounded that parliament as the King did this they were so mercilesse towards all that they thought their enemies as the Earle of Arundell most insolently suffered the Qu to kneele vnto him three houres for the sauing of one of her servants and that scorne of his manebat alto mente repostum And to say the truth it is more barbarous vnpardonable then any act that ever hee did to permit the wife of his Soueraigne to kneele to him being the Kings vassaile For if he had saued the Lords seruant freely at her first request as it is like enough that the Qu would also haue saued him Miseris succurrens paria obtinebis aliquando For your Lordship sees that the Earle of Warwicke who was as farre in the treason as any of the rest was pardoned It was also at this parliament that the Duke of Hereford accused Mowbray Duke of Norfolke and that the Duke of Hereford sonne to the Duke of Lancaster was banished to the Kings confusion as your Lordship well knowes COVNS I know it well and God knowes that the K. had then a silly and weake Counsell about him that perswaded him to banish a Prince
this summe strangers not being inhabitants aboue 16 yeares 4 â— a head All that had Lands Fees and Annuities from 20 to 5â— and so double as they did for goods And the Cleargy gaue 6 the pound In the thirty seuenth yeare a Benevolence was taken not voluntary but rated by Commissioners which because one of the Aldermen refused to pay he was sent for a soldier into Scotland He had also another great subsedy of sixe shillings the pound of the Clergy and two shillings eight pence of the goods of the Laity and foure shillings the pound vpon Lands In the second yeare of Edward the sixt the Parliament gaue the King an ayde of twelue pence the pound of goods of his Natural subiects and two shillings the pound of strangers and this to continue for three yeares and by the statute of the second and third of Edward the sixt it may appeare the same Parliament did also giue a second ayde as followeth to wit of euery Ewe kept in seuerall pastures 3 of euery weather kept as aforesaid 2 â— of euery sheepe kept in the Common 1 â— ob The House gaue the King also 8 the pound of euery woollen cloath made for the sale throughout England for three yeares In the third and fourth of the King by reason of the troublesome gathering of the polymony vpon sheepe the taxe vpon cloath this acte of subsedy was repeal'd and other reliefe giuen the King and in the kings seauenth yeare hee had a subsedy and two fifteenes In the first yeare of Queene Mary tunnage and poundage were granted In the second yeare a subsedy was giuen to King Philip and to the Queene shee had also a third subsedy in Annis 4. 5. Now my Lord for the Parliaments of the late Queenes time in which there was nothing new neither head money nor sheepe money nor escuage nor any of these kindes of payments was required but onely the ordinary subsedies those as easily graunted as demaunded I shall not neede to trouble your Lordship with any of them neither can I informe your Lordship of all the passages and actes which haue passed for they are not extant nor printed COVNS No it were but time lost to speake of the latter and by those that are alreadie remembred we may iudge of the rest for those of the greatest importance are publique But I pray you deale freely with mee what you thinke would bee done for his Maiestie if hee should call a Parliament at this time or what would bee required at his Maiesties hands IVST The first thing that would be required would be the same that vvas required by the Commons in the thirtenth yeare of H. the 8 to wit that if any man of the commons house should speake more largely then of duety hee ought to doe all such offences to be pardoned and that to be of record COVNS So might euery Companion speake of the King what they list IVST No my Lord the reuerence vvhich a Vassall ovyeth to his Soueraigne is alvvaies intended for euery speech howsoeuer it must import the good of the King and his estate and so long it may bee easily pardoned othervvise not for in Queene Elizabeths time vvho gaue freedome of speech in all Parliaments vvhen Wentworth made those motions that were but supposed dangerous to the Queenes estate he was imprisoned in the Towre notwithstanding the priviledge of the house and there died COVNS What say you to the Scicilian vespers remembred in the last Parliament IVST I say hee repented him heartily that vsed that speech and indeede besides that it was seditious this example held not The French in Scicily vsurped that Kingdome they kept neither law nor faith they tooke away the inheritance of the Inhabitants they tooke from them their wiues and rauished their daughters committing all other insolencies that could bee imagined The Kings Maiesty is the Naturall Lord of England his Vassals of Scotland obey the English Lawes if they breake them they are punished without respect Yea his Maiesty put one of his Barons to a shamefull death for being consenting onely to the death of a Common Fencer And which of these euer did or durst commit any outrage in England but to say the trueth the opinion of packing the last was the cause of the contention and disorder that happened COVNS Why sir doe you not think it best to compound a Parliament of the Kings seruaunts and others that shall in all obey the kings desires IVST Certainely no for it hath neuer succeeded well neither on the kings part nor on the subiects as by the Parliament before-remembred your Lordshippe may gather for from such a composition doe arise all jealousies and all contentions It was practized in elder times to the great trouble of the kingdome and to the losse and ruine of many It was of latter time vsed by King Henry the eight but euery way to his disadvantage When the King leaues himselfe to his people they assure themselues that they are trusted and beloued of their king and there was neuer any assembly so barbarous as not to aunswere the loue and trust of their King Henry the sixt when his estate was in effect vtterly ouerthrowne vtterly impouerished at the humble request of his Treasurer made the same knowne to the House or otherwise vsing the Treasurers owne words Hee humbly desired the King to take his staffe that hee might saue his wardship COVNS But you know they will presently bee in hand with those impositions which the King hath laid by his owne royall prerogatiue IVST Perchance not my Lord but rather with those impositions that haue beene by some of your Lordships laide vpon the King which did not some of your Lordships feare more than you doe the impositions laid vpon the Subjects you would neuer disswade his Majestie from a Parliament For no man doubted but that his Majestie was advised to lay those impositions by his Councell and for particular things on which they were laid the aduice came from petty fellowes though now great ones belonging to the Custome-house Now my Lord what prejudice hath his Majestie his revenue beeing kept vp if the impositions that were laid by the aduice of a few be in Parliament laid by the generall Councell of the kingdome which takes off all grudging and complaint COVNS Yea Sir but that which is done by the King with the aduice of his priuate or priuy Councell is done by the Kings absolute power IVS. And by whose power is it done in Parliament but by the Kinges absolute power mistake it not my Lord The 3 estates doe but advise as the priuy Councel doth which advice if the king embrace it becomes the kings own acte in the one the kings law in the other for without the kings acceptation both the publicke priuate aduices bee but as empty egge-shels and what doth his Majestie loose if some of those things which concerns the poorer sort be made free
again the reuenue kept vp vpō that which is superfluous Is it a losse to the K. to be beloued of the Commons if it be revenue which the K. seekes is it not better to take it of those that laugh than of those that crie Yea if all bee content to pay vpon a moderation and chaunge of the Species Is it more honourable and more safe for the King that the Subject pay by perswasion then to haue them constrayned If they be contented to whip themselues for the King were it not better to giue them their rod into their owne hands than to commit them to the executioner Certainly it is farre more happy for a Soveraigne Prince that a Subject open his purse willingly than that the same bee opened by violence Besides that when impositions are laid by Parliament they are gathered by the authority of the lawe which as aforesaid rejecteth all complaints and stoppeth every mutinous mouth It shall ever be my praier that the King embrace the Councell of honour and safety let other Princes embrace that of force COVNS But good Sir it is his Prerogatiue which the K. stands vpon and it is the Prerogatiue of the kings that the Parliaments doe all diminish IVST If your Lordship would pardon mee I would say then that your Lordships objection against Parliaments is ridiculous In former Parliaments three thinges haue beene supposed dishonour of the King The first that the Subjects haue conditioned with the King when the King hath needed them to haue the great Charter confirmed the second that the Estates haue made Treasurers for the necessary and profitable disbursing of those summes by them given to the end that the kinges to whom they were giuen should expend them for their owne defence for the defence of the common-wealth The third that these haue prest the King to discharge some great Officers of the Crowne and to elect others As touching the first my Lord I would faine learne what disadvantage the Kings of this Land haue had by confirming the great Charter the breach of which haue served onely men of your Lordships ranke to assist their owne passions and to punish and imprison at their owne discretion the Kings poore Subjects Concerning their private hatred with the colour of the Kings service for the Kings Majestie takes no mans inheritance as I haue said before nor any mans life but by the Law of the land according to the Charter Neither doth his Majestie imprison any man matter of practice which concernes the preservation of his estate excepted but by the law of the land And yet hee vseth his prerogatiue as all the Kings of England haue ever vsed it for the supreame reason cause to practise many thinges without the aduice of the law As in insurrections and rebellions it vseth the marshall and not the common law without any breach of the Charter the intent of the Charter cōsidered truely Neither hath any Subject made complaint or beene grieued in that the Kings of this land for their own safties and preservation of their estates haue vsed their Prerogatiues the great Ensigne on which there is written soli Deo And my good Lord was not Buckingham in England and Byron in France condemned their Peeres vncall'd And withall was not Byron vtterly contrary to the customes priviledges of the French denyed an advocate to assist his defence for where lawes forecast cannot prouide remedies for future daungers Princes are forced to assist themselues by their prerogatiues But that which hath beene ever grievous and the cause of many troubles very dangerous is that your Lordships abusing the reasons of state doe punish and imprison the Kings Subiects at your pleasure It is you my Lords that when Subjects haue sometimes neede of the Kings prerogatiue doe then vse the strength of the law and when they require the lawe you afflict them with the prerogatiue and tread the great Charter which hath beene confirmed by 16. actes of Parliament vnder your feete as a torne parchment or wast paper COVNS Good Sir which of vs doe in this sort breake the great Charter perchance you meane that we haue aduised the King to lay the new impositions IVST No my Lord there is nothing in the great Charter against impositions and besides that necessity doth perswade them And if necessity doe in somewhat excuse a private man a fortiori it may then excuse a Prince Againe the Kinges Majestie hath profit and increase of revenue by the impositions But there are of your Lordships contrary to the direct letter of the Charter that imprison the Kinges Subjects and deny them the benefit of the law to the Kings disprofit And what do you otherwise thereby if the impositions be in any sort grievous but Renovare dolores and withall digge out of the dust the long-buried memory of the Subjects former intentions with their Kings COVNS What meane you by that IVST I will tell your Lordshippe when I dare in the meane time it is enough for mee to put your Lordship in minde that all the estates in the world in the offence of the people haue either had profit or necessity to perswade them to adventure it of which if neither bee vrgent and yet the Subject exceedingly grieved your Lordship may conjecture that the House will bee humble suitors for a redresse And if it bee a Maxime in policie to please the people in all thinges indifferent and neuer suffer them to bee beaten but for the Kinges benefit for there are no blowes forgotten with the smart but those then I say to make them vassals to vassals is but to batter downe those mastering buildings erected by King Henry the seaventh and fortified by his Sonne by which the people and Gentlemen of England were brought to depend vpon the King alone Yea my good Lord our late deare Soveraigne kept them vp and to their advantage as well repaired as ever Prince did Defend mee and spend me saith the Irish churle COVNS Then you thinke that this violent breach of the Charter will be the cause of seeking the confirmation of it in the next Parliament which otherwise could neuer haue bin moued IVST I knowe not my good Lord perchance not for if the House presse the King to graunt vnto them all that is theirs by the lawe they cannot in justice refuse the King all that is his by the lawe And where will bee the issue of such a contention I dare not divine but sure I am that it will tend to the preiudice both of the K and subiect COVN If they dispute not their owne liberties why should they then dispute the Kings liberties which wee call his prerogatiue IVST Among so many so diverse spirits no man can foretell what may be propounded but howsoeuer if the matter be not slightly handled on the Kings behalfe these disputes will soone dissolue for the King hath so little neede of his prerogatiue and so great advantage by the lawes as