Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	ancient_a	course_n	great_a	64	3	2.1033	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50219	New-England vindicated from the unjust aspersions cast on the former government there, by some late considerations, pretending to shew, that the charters in those Colonies were taken from them on account of their destroying the manufactures and navigation of England.	Mather, Increase, 1639-1723.	1689 (1689)	Wing M1233; ESTC R217669	3,893	9

New-England VINDICATED From the Vnjust Aspersions cast on the former Government there by some late CONSIDERATIONS Pretending to Shew That the Charters in those Colonies were Taken from them on Account of their Destroying the Manufactures and Navigation of England WE shall pretermit what the Considerators have in their Scandalous Libel related concerning other Plantations and only take notice of what concerns new-New-England And in the first place they affirm That hundreds of Ships have been Employed to transport thence Tobacco Sugars Wooll and other Materials for Manufactures into France Holland and to import thence into new-New-England Linnen Woollen and all other Manufactures This at first View will appear a great Untruth to all that know new-New-England for that Countrey can hardly expend the Goods that are yearly Exported from hence thither the Number of the People considered nor have they any other way to vend so great a quantity of Goods as such a Number of Ships must necessarily Import Nor have they Commodities to Export fit for those parts nor could they all things considered purchase Goods thence on so easie terms as they may have them from England And they have made a Law against Exporting of Wooll not having a twentieth part of what is necessary for their own Use The most of their Shipping is employed in transporting Lumber Horses and Provisions to Jamaica Barbados and the Caribbee Islands without which those Islands cannot well subsist And many Vessels are built there upon Account of Merchants in London sent home and by them often sold or employed here And to prevent Illegal practices they made in the Year 1663. a Law That the Act of Navigation should be strictly observed and their Governours have been carefull to see it Executed and are yearly Sworn so to doe nor can it be proved that the least Breach of it was ever allowed by the Government which is not to be blamed for the private Transgressions of some few particular persons As for what the Considerators report concerning the Manner of Vacating the Charter of the Massachusets Colony the Matter is by them fallaciously represented When a Quo Warranto was in the Year 1683. issued out against them with the Notification thereof By the then Kings Order were sent over one hundred Copies of the proceedings against the Charter of London and two hundred Copies of a Declaration to be dispersed among the People in New-England discharging the Inhabitants from all Rates and Contributions towards the Expence of the said Suit and enjoyning those particular Persons mentioned in the Quo Warranto to make their Defence at their own particular Charge without any help by a publick Stock Nevertheless the Governour and Company appointed an Attorney to Answer to the Quo Warranto in the Court of Kings Bench where it was let fall and a new Suit Began by Scire Facias in Court of Chancery and Judgment entred against them for Default in not Appearing Whereas considering the Remoteness of New-England from Westminster it was impossible for them to Appear in the time allowed and so by a Surprize their Charter was taken from them As to what is objected about Coyning many Goldsmiths in London can testifie that the Money coyned in new-New-England is as good as that of England and not of a baser Allay as is suggested It was formerly customary for private Persons in England to Coyn Farthings for their own Use and the Coyning in Massachusets Colony was little more than that and with Design to prevent the great Injuries Merchants and others sustained by base Spanish Money And the Mint was set up in 1652. when there was no King in England but the Government out of Course and when the ancient Government of England was resettled and the Kings mind to the contrary signified to them they resolved to comply therewith though many wayes disadvantageous to themselves Was not the Value of Coyn altered in Pensilvania Did not the Lord Baltimore in Maryland Coyn Money with his own Image on one side and his Coat of Arms on the other Did not the East-India Company But when they understood ther Error they petitioned the King for liberty of Coynage and pardon of what was past and it was granted them Why then should New-England be esteemed more criminal than other Plantations The Considerators go on and complain That in New-England they have Imposed Taxes upon Shipping and the Manufactures of England coming into those parts There hath been none Imposed on Shipping but Powder-Money and not half so much as is done in the other Plantations nor any upon the Manufactures of England particularly but only one penny upon Twenty shillings Value of all Merchandizes whatsoever as on all other Estates in the Countrey and since Charters were taken from them the same and more hath been levied by the present Governour besides six times the Fees upon Shipping more than was paid formerly All which hath been done by him without any consent of the People or their Representatives which the former Government never practised Whereas it is maliciously insinuated That the Massachusets have Imposed an Oath of Fidelity to their Common-wealth we shall only in Answer Insert the Copy of the Oath as it is in their printed Law-book The OATH WHereas I A. B. am an Inhabitant within this Jurisdiction considering how I stand Obliged to the Kings Majesty his Heirs and Successors by our Charter and the Government Established thereby Do Swear accordingly by the great and dreadful Name of the Ever-living God that I will bear Faith and true Allegiance to our Sovereign Lord the King his Heirs and Successors and that I will be True and Faithfull to this Government and accordingly yield Assistance thereunto with my Person and Estate as in Equity I am bound And will also truly endeavour to Maintain and Preserve all the Liberties and Priviledges thereof Submitting my self unto the wholsom Laws made and established by the same And farther That I will not Plot or Practise any evil against it or consent to any that shall so do but will timely discover and reveal the same to Lawful Authority now here Established for the speedy preventing thereof So help me God in our Lord Jesus Christ Nor know we that they have as is asserted Encroached upon their Neighbouring Colonies in a hostile manner except it be meant of their Assisting with Voluntiers when King Charles the Second sent to take Monhatas now called New-York or of their Concurrence in taking from the French S. Johns Penobscot Port Royal which were put into the hands of those that were then in Power in England Nor have they as is alledged Affronted the Commissioners of King Charles the Second whose Commission as to the legal part of it not by them duly observed was in some particulars Illegal and Arbitrary and Empowred them to Hear and determine all Causes not by Law but according to their sound Discretion which could not be submitted to by the Massachusets without giving up at once their

Charter and Priviledges Neither have they made Laws against all Opinions in Religion excepting those of the Congregational Churches and more especially against the Church of England It must be acknowledged that there have been some severe and unjustifiable Laws there in matters 〈…〉 long since sensible yet what is here affirmed is untrue for Presbyterians have equal Encouragement with those of the Congregational perswasion Nor are there any Laws against the Church of England as is falsly and malitiously pretended Let them prove if they can that any number of Men inclined to worship God in the way of the Church of England were denyed by the Government in New-England liberty so to do The Magistrates there have often professed that they would not hinder any that were so principled from practising what they did most approve of As for their Treating ill the Captains of the Kings Ships for desiring Permission to recruit themselves with Men and Victuals and as to entertaining of Pirats These things are like the former If any Commanders of Ships have behaved themselves Insolently and violated the Laws of God and the Land it became the Government to testifie against them but malice it self cannot deny that the People of New-England have been extreamly Civil to Strangers and especially to such as the King hath put any mark of Honour upon and they have sometimes relieved and that Gratis the Kings Ships distressed through want of Provision And if any Pirats have been entertained it hath been because they were not known to be such for they made a particular Law against Piracy agreeable to the Law of England on account whereof some have been there Executed The Considerators tell us that the People of New-England are free from all Taxes and Contribute nothing to the Crown nor their own Protection or Support Whereas they are no more free than other Plantations for they pay Customs in the Plantations for the Goods they fetch thence into New-England and when those Goods are brought into England they pay the same a second time so that they Contribute not a little to the Crown Before the change of their Government they never did put the Crown to a penny Charge for their Protection or Support but since that have been very chargeable and less beneficial to the Crown It is strange that the Considerators should have the Impudence to publish to the World That the People of New-England in General are better satisfied with the present Government there and do not among whom there is not one known Papist excepting some now in Government there All the Charters of New-England one only excepted are still in force there having been no Judgment against them nor Surrender of them made or Recorded and by their Charters they have Power to choose their own Governours and Magistrates as much as any Towns Corporate or Cities here in England have Power to choose their own Maior and Aldermen Besides must those Colonies in new-New-England be the only ones excepted from Indempnity and all other Corporations supposed to have been without fault And must they alone remain sorrowful for the loss of what is so valuable to them who at their own vast Charges and great Hazards subdued a Wilderness and with the loss of many hundreds of their Lives have maintained and defended it to the enlargment of the Kings Dominions hoping as in Reason they might that their Posterity should enjoy the benefit thereof So that to deprive them of their Charters is to deal more hardly than to do the like with any Bodies Politick in England As to the other Pamphlet newly come forth called An Abstract of Laws in New-England not agreeable with the Laws of England The first Law they take notice of is a Fiction of their own the rest were most of them long since repealed yea all that were inconvenient or esteemed repugnant to the Laws of England and the Considerators whom we must needs suppose to be the Authors of the Abstract if ever they read the New-England Laws could not be ignorant that the Word Common-wealth so much complain'd of was repealed and obliterated and the Word Jurisdiction inserted instead of it As for the Remarks which they make thereon they are nothing else but the Ebullitions of a spiteful Spirit and so notoriously false as that we think it not worth the while to recite much less to refute them FINIS