cause of Complaint being removed and his Estate in Ireland having received great damage from his Enemies he left Leolin to Treat for himself and his Friends and went over to Ireland where he was slain by Treachery The Treaty went on and among the terms it was provided That all Men on the one side or the other Rot. Claus 18. H. 3. N. 17. dors Homines etiam illi qui hinc inde recesserunt a fidelitate dominorum suorum se tenuerunt ex adversa parte libere revertantur Rot. Claus 18. H. 3. N. 20. dors who had receded from the fealty of their Lords and adher'd to the adverse Party should return with freedom And in the Credential Letters which were sent to Leolin with them that managed the Treaty on the side of King Henry He gives him to understand That before that he had restor'd the Lands to all people who had been disseiz'd by occasion of the War between him and the Earl Marshal where 't is far from being call'd a Rebellion on the Marshal's side and at the time of the Treaty the King found himself obliged to protest that he was clear of any consent to the Death of the Marshal and that his Seal was by the great importunity of his evil Counsellours set to Letters which encouraged the Treachery against him and pronounc'd him a Traytor But that he was wholly ignorant of the Contents of them Vid. Matthew Paris The Clergy the Historians the People of that Age in all things extol the Marshal would never allow him to have been a Traytor and were not his own Defence of himself too long to transcribe I should add it as an embelishment to these Remarks Dugdale's Baronage o Vol. 1. f. 752. Simon 16. H. 3. bore the Title of the Earl of Leicester and obtain'd from Almaric his Brother then bearing the Title of Constable of France a grant of all the Lands in England with the Stewardship of England This came to the Earls of Leicester with the Honour of Hinkley in Leicestershire from Petronil Daughter of Hugh de Grentesmenil Vid. Mat. West 20 H. 3. Simon Montfort holding the King's Bason at his Nuptials as Steward of England The Fourth War was that under the Great Simon Montfort Earl of Leicester another Tribune of the People as he was hereditary High Steward by Purchase from his Brother Almaric Constable of France the Stewardship of England having descended from their Mother Amicia eldest Sister to Robert Fitz Parnel Earl of Leicester who died without Issue Mat. Par. f. 1302. Whoever reads the History of H. 3. must needs conceive a mean opinion of him his Cowardise was as remarkable as that of one of his Successors who is said not to have been able to contain at the sight of a drawn Sword nor could H. bear the terrour of Thunder and Lightning yet when Simon Montfort endeavoured to remove one of his frights Quod scilicet Comes Leycestriae virilius perstitit ferventius in persequendâ provisione ut saltem Regem omnes adversantes suis astare consiliis cogerent c. he confest to him That he fear'd him most Which was suspected to proceed from Montfort's warm and strenuous pursuing the Provisions at Oxford at least his being for compelling the King and all opposers to stand to the Counsel of his Barons Simon thinking the execution of the Oxford Provisions to be well secur'd Fol. 1314. went beyond Sea upon which Richard the King's Brother prepar'd to come into England with intention and hopes as it should seem to get them vacated as being made without consulting him But the rest of the Barons tho' they were in great fear because of Simon 's absence Ib. f. 1315. Juramentum quale Barones Angliae reipub Zelatores exigebant would not suffer Richard to Land till he had oblig'd himself under his hand to take such an Oath as the Barons of England who were zealous for the Commonweal or Publick-good required the form of which follows I Richard Earl of Cornwal will be faithful and diligent to reform the Kingdom of England with you hitherto too much deform'd by the Counsel of Evil-men And I will be your effectual helper to expel the Rebels and disturbers of the said Kingdom Notwithstanding the seeming agreement between the King and People and Security taken for his performance Foreigners invited and supported by him became an intolerable burden and the King being kinder to them than to his People obtain'd from the Pope an Absolution from his Oath Mat. Par. F. 1322. to make good the establishment at Oxford But the Barons resolutely insisted upon the Establishment and when the King sent Itinerent Justices into Herefordshire Ibid. the Barons of that County would not suffer them to execute their Office there as being contrary to the Provisions at Oxford which contrariety seems to lye in the King 's directing enquiries of misdemeanours to be judged of in the Countries when according to what was then Enacted the Inquisitions were to be return'd before the Parliament or at least such Council as was chosen in a Parliament But the King having procur'd an Absolution from his Oath thought himself free to act by the Counsels of Foreigners which his Great men would not bear Wherefore the Earl of Leicester and others met together in Arms at Oxford resolving either to dye for the Peace of their Country F. 1323. or to drive out the Foreigners The Foreigners met at the same place but finding themselves out-number'd and that the Lords were resolv'd to call them to account for their violations of the Government and make them swear to observe with them the Provisions made for the profit of the Realm they fled away by Night but were pursued by the Barons and forc'd to quit the Land Yet soon after this the King as the Historian says Anno 1260. 44 H. 3. 45 H. 3. by the evil Counsel of some fell from the pact which he had made with his Great Men betook himself to the Tower of London and compell'd the Citizens to swear to be true to him without regard to the terms before setled and rais'd what Forces he could Whereby it is evident That he began the War and that it was an open violation of his Contract made with the people at Oxford The Barons took Arms against him in their own defence F. 1331. Communiter prestitum and sent Messengers to him to entreat him to observe the Oath which had been sworn to by all Which Message he slighted at first but afterwards was prevail'd upon to consent that he should chuse one and the Barons another to arbitrate their differences the Arbitrators having power to chuse an Vmpire but that this should be respited till the King's Son Edward came from abroad When his Son came home he was so fully convinced of his Father's being in the wrong that he joyn'd with the Barons and they resolv'd together to drive
THE Fundamental Constitution OF THE English Government PROVING KING WILLIAM and QUEEN MARY our Lawful and Rightful KING and QUEEN In Two Parts In the First is shewn The ORIGINAL CONTRACT with its Legal Consequences allowed of in former Ages In the Second All the Pretences to a Conquest of this Nation by Will 1. are fully examin'd and refuted With a large Account of the Antiquity of the English Laws Tenures Honours and Courts for Legislature and Justice And an Explanation of material Entries in Dooms-day-Book By W. A. Author of the first Answer to the late Chief Justice Herbert on the Dispensing Power Errat siquis existimat tutum ibi esse Regem ubi nihil à Rege tutum est securitas securitate mutuâ paciscenda est Sen. London Printed by J. D. for the Author 1690. To the Right honble AUBREY DE VERE Earl of Oxford Baron of Bolebec Sandford and Badlesnere Lieutenant General of their Majesties Forces Colonel of the Royal Regiment of Horse-Guards Lord Lieutenant for their Majesties in the County of Essex Knight of the most honourable Order of the Garter and one of His Majesty's most honourable Privy-Council My LORD THEY who observe what License has been given as well as taken to blemish the Instruments under God and our King in the greatest Deliverance with the most immediate appearance of God in it perhaps of any next to that of his chosen People of old would think the Nature of things to be inverted Triumph to belong to the Conquer'd and the most desir'd Deliverance to be worse than the deprecated Bondage or to lose its Nature because it was the return of Prayers and Tears and not purchas'd by Rivers of Blood And after-times I have seen an exact Pedegree o◠the Earl's Family from Syford a noble Norman Gothick Extraction Vid. Pref. who was eminent under Rollo who Anno 912 obtain'd Normandy by Treaty with Charles the Simple and marrying his Daughter This Syford made the like bargain with Arald the first Earl of Flanders from which Marriage the Earls of Flanders and the Veres Earls of Guisnes in Flanders descended Alberic or Aubrey de Vere or Ver as he stands enter'd in Dooms-day Book is suppos'd to have come into England with W. 1. 'T is certain at the time of the great Survey he was a Proprietor in several Counties particularly in Essex and Humphrey the Son of Alberic had at that time several Mannors in Norfolk and Suffolk 'T is probable that this Son of Alberic dy'd in his Father's Life-time I should take the Comes Albericus who is enter'd in Dooms-day Book in several Counties as a Proprietor from before the reputed Conquest to have been Alberic de Ver and the rather because otherwise he and his Descendents from that time are wholly lost and besides no place in England can be found of which any Alberic or Aubrey was Earl till the time of H. 2. when Aubrey the third of his Name was created Earl of Oxford But before that time the Office of High Chamberlain belonged to the Family and as appears by Records which I have seen in the Tower was annex'd to their Barony But that of Bolebec belong'd not to it till about the time of King John when Earl Robert married the eldest Daughter of the Lord of Bolebec the Barony of Sandford came by another Marriage about the time of H. 3. the Barony of Badesmere came not till the time of E. 3 with the eldest Sister and Co-heir of Bartholomew Lord Badlesmere in which your Lordship 's Great Name will flourish taking root downwards as it has spread upwards to the first Ages will treat their Memories with Contempt who would inure the Brand of Disloyalty and Unchristian Behaviour upon your Lordship and the Followers of so bright an Example Selden Dissert ad Flet. f. 519. speaking of the time of Will. 2. sub idem tempus c. eminentissimus erat pristini planè commatis juris sine ullâ Caesarci intermixtione peritus atque exercitatissimus apud nos Albericus de Ver. Nor was your Ancestor Earl Aubrey more eminent in the time of W. 2. for his Skill in the unmix'd English Laws than your Lordship is and will be to Posterity for your generous Defence of them Certain it is how much soever some pretend to passive Valour they cannot bear the Reproach of such extraordinary Vertue and are forced to shut their weak Eyes at that shining Bravery with which your Lordship strugled with the Flatteries and Threats of Fortune and of Power Becoming in the Language of the Heathen Philosopher a Spectacle most pleasing to the Gods the Effects of which Pleasure your Lordship has felt in the admir'd Tranquillity of your own Mind and in the Glory permitted you of being signally accessary towards the present Happiness of your Country not only by your resolute Vndertaking but even by your Sufferings I must own the Sufferings of others to have contributed to it by accident as those things may well be said to be which happen contrary to the intention of the Agent and nature of the Action But the Nation was glad to find their private Resentments and self-Defence to carry them along with the Publick Interest which some of them had sacrificed to low Ends or stupidly neglected being as unconcern'd at publick Calamities as if their former Exemptions which they seem'd to aim at had made them of another distinct Community Such as these deservedly lost the Credit of their share in this Revolution not only as they had drawn their Sufferings upon themselves and others by tempting those whom they flattered to make Experiment of the force of their Doctrine but as their subsequent Carriage has demonstrated upon what narrow Principles they engag'd not in the Cause of their Country but their Own Their lowness of Spirit makes them resemble those fawning Creatures whom the least Gentleness raises to Familiarity but notwithstanding the Advantages which they enjoy under this Government 't is not to be presum'd that they are given them otherwise than to reclaim and wean them from Notions as destructive as they are useless to this equal Administration They who now pretend to merit by transplanting the Doctrine of the Bow-string into the Service of this Government would do well to consider whether in the late Reign it really profited any but themselves and whether they kept to it any longer than while they found their account in it As it is our Happiness to have a King born and acting for the Good of Mankind it is not to be fear'd that he should cherish what is contrary to their common Sense and Interest or that he will countenance Reflections upon those noble Patriots who ventur'd every thing dear to them in the same Cause with himself while Success was doubtful and whose Reputations next to his own facilitated that Revolution for which late Posterity shall praise those of this Generation One would think that such a Cause should not stand in
of the Legions and the Consent of the Senate according to the Custom of the Empire And so was in his Sense a Republican sort of Monarchy Pag. 52. and Heirs says he among them is to be taken in the Sense it then had for chosen or constituted Heirs or Successors But the first rise of the Custom concurring with God's Providence to fix the Crown here Pref. p. 7. he makes to be the reputed Norman Conquest which first brought in this limited way of hereditary Succession unto one Line This I take to be a true and full Scheme of his Notion upon this Head whereby it appears That it wholly condemns our present Settlement Pref. p. 56. as against that absolute Right or Birth-right to exclude vvhich even in Reversion he says would be to oppose the Will of God And yet till he disprove what I shall offer against the belief of a Conquest made by W. 1. or shew either that Custom or Constitution which proves that the Crown of England has so much as since the supposed Conquest been strictly and indivisibly tied to him or her who either was in Possession or expected it as next of Blood I may affirm that according to his own Hypothesis God has not so given it in his Providence I vvould desire no greater scope to prove our Government to be fundamentally an Elective Monarcy keeping within a Family but not confin'd to the next of Blood than he takes to prove the Roman Empire to be Elective Nor vvould I desire any other Justification of the present Oath of Allegiance notwithstanding the former to the King his Heirs and Successors than what himself vvould allow of in the Roman Empire But if God has by his Providential Appointment transferred our Allegiance to our present Soveraigns Vid. the Preface to Predictions concerning this Government and no such Original Constitution or Custom as is pretended can be produced which I have formerly evinced and more at large in the following Treatise the Doctor 's Foundation of unalterable Allegiance to the last King failing 't is odds but an Agreement between a King with the Lords and a full Representative of the Commons of England will bid fairer for being according to the Original Constitution of our Government than the Doctor 's fancied Fundamental and indivisible Entail of the Crown If Conquest only without any Original Entail by the Conqueror or Consent of the Conquer'd has fix'd it to the next of Blood tho in truth the Providential Appointments till the Settlements occasioned by the Quarrels between the two Roses have generally been otherwise then 't is plain that this is such a Right as may be entirely lost by the conquer'd Possessor And as Will 1. conquer'd Harold tho he did not conquer the Kingdom Vid. inf having been design'd Successor in the Confessor's time and after invited by the Clergy chiefly and coming to a speedy Agreement with all in general So this King conquer'd the late for he who runs away without fighting is at least as much conquer'd as he who fights and is beaten nay in truth more absolutely for he that is beaten generally gets some Terms for himself whereas the other dares not stay to take them 2. As to the Rights or Prerogatives of the Crown by such an impious vvay of using Quotations as he unduly charges upon the Lord Hollis he goes about to prove that all that Soveraign Power by which the Nation is govern'd which must be equally absolute in all independent Governments in which sense all Crowns that are not Feudatory or any ways under a Foreign Power are Imperial is by our Constitution vested solely in the Person of the King In the English Government Pag. 240. says he tho the House of Commons bears the shew of a Democracy and the Peers look like an Aristocracy among us yet our Government is a perfect Monarchy because the Supream Power is as I have proved neither in the one nor in the other nor in both together but solely in the Person of the King Vid. Grot. de summâ potestate subjecto potestatis modo habendi potestatem Where he is not satisfied to have the Supream Power in the King in a supream manner so as neither Commons nor Lords nor both have it equally or co-ordinately but nothing less than the absolute manner will answer his Scheme as will appear farther I was the more willing says he to make this Observation that when I speak of Soveraign Princes Jov. p. 240. I may not be maliciously traduced as if I spoke of them exclusively of other Soveraigns as if Monarchy were of sole Divine Right For want of this Distinction other Writers have had this invidious Imputation laid upon them But this Reason of not resisting the Soveraign because he is God's Vicegerent and only subject to him is a common Reason of Passive Obedience to all Soveraigns as well as unto Kings and unto Kings as well as unto any other Soveraigns c. If the Government of Men as well as Angels be from God then it must follow That upon whomsoever God is understood to bestow the Soveraign Authority he must also be understood to bestow upon him all the essential Rights of Soveraignty 'T is manifest that this is upon Supposition that God has bestowed the Soveraignty absolutely for otherwise every one who has the Name of Soveraign would be equally entitled to all the Rights And where God has not bestowed all the Essential Rights 't is as evident that he has not bestowed the Soveraignty absolutely Accordingly himself owns Pag. 239. that the Soveraign must be always understood the real and compleat Soveraign because there are many seeming Soveraigns which are not really such and instances in the Kings of Sparta subject to the Ephori who being appointed by the People he says The People themselves were the real Soveraign next under God Upon which some may ask Whether if our Constitution in some case warrant taking up Arms without or against Command from the King that may not be done by the Authority vested in the People for preserving the Constitution without using the traiterous Position that the King's Authority may be turn'd against his Person And whether if there be such a real Soveraignty lodg'd with them to that end and the Constitution likewise in some Cases discharges Allegiance and makes the Person to whom it was sworn cease to be King this Right can be alter'd or diminish'd by the Declaration that it is not lawful to take up Arms against the King But to proceed with the Doctor Pag. 242. In all Soveraign Governments Subjects must be Slaves as to this particular they must trust their Lives and Liberties with their Soveraign Which with us he supposes he had prov'd to be the King according to all the Rights of absolute or compleat Soveraignty And having started up an Imperial Law or Common Law of Soveraignty Pag. 202. for the evacuating
Determination of the others and such a Consent as God himself seem'd to direct and appoint Yet since he supposes what is said by Mr. Johnson of the Reciprocal Contract between Prince and People to be like his own Assertions Pag. 7. The Reciprocal Contract a begging the Question or at least an haughty Imposition of his own Sentiments without proof but admits that if this could be substantially prov'd it would go a great way towards a Conviction of those Ib. whose Consciences for want of Information IN THIS VERY POINT will not give them leave to take the new Oath I would entreat him to shew wherein I either falsify in the Authorities which I have formerly produc'd and here repeat with Additions to this very Point or make wrong Inferences from them Which till he does as a due Correction for his railing at Mr. Johnson whose Memory will flourish in after-Ages when he shall be no otherwise known than under the Character of his Reviler I may say that his refusing to swear Allegiance to our legal Government is Obstinacy and his distinguishing Faith Faction And if he should be call'd in Question for that impotent Libel and no other means of reducing him to Sobriety being effectual should according to his snarling Reflection upon the immortal Memory of the Lord Russel and other inferior Patriots be condemn'd to mount toward an Apotheosis for his meritorious Crime of Treason against that Power which has been ordain'd of God the most apparently of any Civil Government that has been known for at least many Centuries could he expect to be as much desir'd lamented and praised by all that are themselves worthy of Praise Should he as he went along tell the good People that he suffer'd for that Doctrine which shall know no end but when all things confess their Ashes Pag. 6. and that tho his Sins are strangely great yet he now pay'd his Head forfeited by the Letter of the Law for Treason against a King which that acknowledges where Mr. Johnson's is due by a true equitable Construction for Treason against one who is no King in the Eye of the Law would not Men be tempted to make the Poet's Observation upon such a spruce and finical Malefactor Crimina rasis Librat in antithetis doctas posuisse figuras Laudatur In smooth Antitheses his Crimes he weighs And his departing Figures force our Praise I well know that Men are as zealous for a false Religion and their own Superstructure of Hay and Stubble as for the true Foundation And they who expose their Additions are in danger if not of suffering as Hereticks of being censur'd as Atheists And tho false Doctrines like false Miracles impare the Credit of the true yet he that attacks them after they have spread and gained the Name of sacred not only hazards himself but while he untwines or roots up the Weeds may chance to shake some standing Corn. Which may excuse the early freedom which I have taken to prevent the speading of that new Law-Divinity in this Age which rose in the last upon the fall of good Archbishop Abbot was rear'd up by Bishop Laud's Canons upon which the Parliament which brought in Car. 2. put a sufficient mark of Dislike and was fatned with the Charters of well-fed Corporations and the Blood of its forwardest Opposers While I expose the Folly of some Mens Notions which fight as much against our present Settlement as against common Safety and shew the Obligation which lies upon Kings to keep their Compacts with the People I would not be thought to go about to loosen the Bond of due Subjection to the Powers vvhich are over us I am sure they vvho vvill acknowledg none but King James to be their rightful King have no colour to urge this against me and yet by means of such false Alarums they have made most dangerous Approaches towards the Destruction of this Government I vvould not be thought to revive the powerful Hereditary Offices of the Palatine of Chester the High-Steward and the Constable of England that Tribunitial Authority which they had vvould be very dangerous in most times and too great Incentives to ambitious Men to set up for themselves The Author of the Sighs of France enslav'd observes that Charles Martel Les soupirs de la France Esclave Mem. 9. p. 130. Mair du Palais or High-Steward made himself King of France and Pepin his Son caus'd himself to be chosen the Family of the Merovingians being rejected That Eudes Mair du Palais upon the declining of the House of Charlemain took the Crown and caus'd it to pass to Hugh Capet and that Hugh Capet and his Descendants wisely suppress'd this Office It has doubtless been no less the Wisdom of this Government to have the like Offices with us to be now only known in Story yet they at least are Evidences of the English Liberties Vid. Les soupirs de la France Esclave Mem. 9. p. 142. On doit recicillir que quelque changement qui soit arrive dans le Government a Pégard des noms des fonctions des Principaux Officiers Mairs du Palais Connestables Chanceliers Grande Cómbelloins c. a touts ceté sans aucun prejudice des Proits du Peuple les Officiers de la Cour don de la Couronne out en plus ou moius de pouvoir mais c ' est par rarpert au Royles Droits de la Nation sont toù jours demeures en leur entier nor are the Liberties the less or the less inviolable because the Subjects of this Monarchy have had greater Confidence in their Kings than to insist upon having such settled Officers who may represent their Grievances with the better Authority and unite them in the common Cause when the oppress'd Nation should want nothing but an Head under which they might become formidable to evil Ministers who either think that the former Injuries which they have done are too great to be forgotten and therefore seek for Security in the Ruin of them who had before smarted under them Or who next to setting up themselves have no other aim but to make way for their suppos'd King of Right Such Men pretend that tho they cannot swear or declare that King William and Queen Mary are Lawful and Rightful King and Queen yet they can act in the Service of them as King and Queen and that there can be no danger from them because of the harmless Doctrine of Passive Obedience Prayers and Tears alas are all their Weapons and with them they may sollicit Heaven and Earth Vid. The Form of Prayer and Humiliation Ed. An. 1690. p. 60. Pag. 39. That we may no longer be without King without Priest without God in the World pray to God to restore their Prince who they say for the Sins both of Priests and People is now kept out and encourage a Rebellion against him who in their very Prayers to God Almighty they will have to be no King
Mr. Lawson's Opinion Bp Bilson's whose Authority is confirm'd by the Objection made to it in the History of Passive Obedience To which is added the Divine Plato FOR the Equity and reserv'd Cases I think it appears in the nature of the thing that they for whose benefit the Reservation is must be the Judges as in all Cases of Necessity he who is warranted by the Necessity must judg for himself before he acts tho whether he acts according to that Warrant or no may be referr'd to an higher Examen But where the last Resort is there must be the Judgment which of necessary Consequence in these Cases must needs be in the People the Question being of the Exercise of their Original Power and where they have by a general Concurrence past the final Sentence in this case their Voice is as the Voice of God and ought to be submitted to The late Earl of Clarendon Survey of the Leviathan p. 86. speaking even of a Contract wherein the absolute Power of a Man's Life is supposed to be submitted says He was not bound by the Command of his Soveraign to execute any dangerous or dishonourable Offices but in such cases Men are not to resort so much to the Words of the Submission as to the Intention which Distinction he will have applicable to all that monstrous Power which Mr. Hobbs gives his Governour to take away the Lives and Estates of his Subjects without any Cause or Reason upon an imaginary Contract which if never so real can never be supposed to be with the Intention of the Contractors in such Cases * Cocceius de Principe p. 197. Leges fundamentales Regni vel Imperii quae vel disertè pactae sunt cum Principe antequam imperium ineat c. Cocceius holds the fundamental Laws of any Kingdom or Empire to be not only those for which there has been an express Contract with a Prince before or upon his assuming the Government but such also as seem tacitè inesse rei publicae to be implied as belonging to every Community or Civil Society For the direction of Mens Judgments in such Cases they need not consult voluminous Authors but may receive sufficient Light from those excellent Papers The Enquiry into the present State of Affairs The Grounds and Measures of Submission and The brief Justification of the Prince of Orange ' s Descent into England and of the Kingdom 's late Recourse to Arms. Which I shall here only confirm by some Authorities The first as being of most Credit among them who raise the greatest Dust Sanderson de Juramenti obligatione p. 41. shall be Bishop Sanderson Of the Obligation of an Oath who shews several Exceptions or Conditions which of Common Right are to be understood before an Oath can oblige in which I shall not confine my self to the Order in which he places them 1. If God permit because all things are subject to the Divine Providence and Will Nor is it in any Man's Power to provide against future Accidents Wherefore he who did what lay in him to perform what he promis'd has discharg'd his Oath 2. Things remaining as they now are Whence he who swore to marry any Woman is not oblig'd if he discovers that she is with Child by another These two Exceptions sufficiently warrant Submission to such Government as God in his Providence shall permit notwithstanding Oaths to a former King And if he cease to treat his People as Subjects the Obligation which was to a Legal King determines before his actual withdrawing from the Government 3. As far as we may as if one swear indefinitely to observe all the Statutes and Customs of any Community he is not oblig'd to observe them farther than they are lawful and honest 4. Saving the Power of a Superior Whence if a Son in his Father's Family swear to do a thing lawful in it self but the Father not knowing it commands another thing which hinders the doing that which is sworn he is not bound by his Oath because by the Divine Natural Law he is bound to obey his Father And he who has sworn not to go out of his House being cited to appear before a lawful Judg is bound to go out notwithstanding his Oath the Reason is because the Act of one ought not to prejudice the Right of another These two last Instances added to the Consideration of a Legal King Vid. Stat. 13. car 2. c. 1. will qualify the Oath declaring it not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take Arms against the King and abhorring the Traiterous Position of taking Arms by his Authority against his Person or aginst those that are commissioned by him This I think I may say with warrant from Bishop Sanderson That no Man is bound by this Oath to act against Law Vid. infra p. under colour of the King's Commission Vid. Grounds and Measures of Submission Salus Populi suprema Lex nor to permit such Actions if it be in his Power to hinder them the common Fundamental Law being in this Case the Superior which he is to obey and which is to explain and limit the Sense of Acts of Parliament seeming to the contrary To Bishop Sanderson I may add Grotius Vid. Johannis à Felde Annotata ad Grot. c. 3 4. who runs the Prerogative of Kings as far as any Man in reason can Yet he allows of reserved Cases in which Allegiance may be withdrawn tho there is no express Letter of Law for it As 1. Where the People being yet free Grot. de jure Belli Pacis c. 3. p. 60. Vid. Pufendorf Elementa Juris prud p. 256. Nemo alteri potest quid efficaciter injungere per modum praecepti in quem nihil potestatis legitimae habet Grot. c. 4. p. 86. habet pro derelicto command their future King by way of continuing Precept Whether there be any such with us can be no doubt to them who read the Coronation Oaths from time to time required and taken upon Elections of some Kings and the receiving others by reason of prior Elections and Stipulations with their Predecessors 2. If a King has abdicated or abandon'd his Authority or manifestly holds it as derelict indeed he says he is not to be thought to have done this who only manages his Affairs negligently But surely no Man can think but the Power of J. 2. is direlict And he cites three Cases wherein even Barclay the most zealous Asserter of Kingly Power allows Reservations to the People 1. If the King treats his People with outragious Cruelty 2. If with an hostile Mind he seek the Destruction of his People 3. If he alien his Kingdom This Grotius denies to have any effect and therefore will not admit among the reserved Cases Vid. Mat. Par. Addit f. 281. The King of France his Attorny General speaking of King John 's resigning his Crown to the Pope Etsi dare non potuit potuit tamen
Corporations the managing Juries and improving Religious and lawful Civil Assemblies into Riots nay Consults for Treason had not then been brought to Perfection And the Dispensing Power having been attempted but receded from he says The true Religion is established by our Laws Page 542. and no Law can be repealed or altered to the Prejudice of English Subjects by the Pleasure of any Prince alone and without the Consent of the Peers and the Representatives of the Commons of England And indeed the good Man takes a great deal of Pains from the Duty Honour and Interest of the Prince the danger to evil Instruments and the like to prove that it ought not to be presumed that any such Case as we have known will happen which at this time looks like a Philosophical Argument against Motion and deserves the like Confutation However Page 532. looking upon such Violations as but simply possible he maintains that the Declarataion against taking Arms ought to be in general Terms for that such extraordinary Cases as may be put fall not under Consideration Page 361. I may add till they happen for then they must be put and remembred to justify what they have render'd necessary Nay himself restrains the general Terms to a Subject's taking Arms without any Command from his Prince Page 360. against those who act by virtue and in pursuance of his Commission REGVLARLY granted to them Page 346. I will yield to him that it would be an high Reflection upon the Laws of our Realm if there were need of consulting skilful Lawyers for the general Rule of Duty and to whom Men ought to yeild Obedience and Submission Yet if learned Men will confound the plain Rule of Submission to the Powers which are in being by setting up a supposed inseparable Right in a Power which once had a being but is become a meer Shadow and Spectre 't will be requisite to have recourse to them who have taken some pains in enquiring into the Constitution of the Government to see what Remedy is thereby allowed in extraordinary Cases Christian Loyalty p. 521. And whereas speaking of Officers suppos'd by some to have Authority of resisting in such Cases he seems to know of none but by Charter or Commission having their Authority depending upon the King a little Skill in the Law or in Antiquity would have inform'd him of several others at least such as were not so dependent Vid. inf of the Earl Marshall c. Vid. The Act of Pacification between the English and the Scots Temp. Car. 1. which provides that it shall be lawful for the Subjects of either Nation to fall upon the Forces which shall come out of one into the other without the Consent of the Parliaments of both Kingdoms not only hereditary Great Officers and other Great Men of the Kingdom but other Officers chosen by the People the Heretochii or Lords Lieutenants and the Sheriffs anciently and the Officers in Boroughs by Prescription and Constables at this day I will be as ready as he to maintain that for the future such Supposals as he touches with great Fear and Tenderness will be very remote Possibilities and being look'd upon in our Law as vain in the Apprehension are thought not to stand in need of any particular Provision but he mentions three Cases in which upon yeilding the Suppositions Page 531. he grants the Answer given by Barclay to two of them and to all three by Grotius to be true To the general Question May there no Cases fall out in which the People by their Authority may take Arms against the King Page 515. Barclay answers Certainly none as long as he is King or unless ipso jure Rex esse desinat which is pregnant with the Affirmative that there may be some Case wherein he by Law or of Right ceases to be King And Barclay manifestly allows of two Grotius adds a third branch'd into a fourth in which Mr. Falkner concurs with him as well as with Barclay and Grotius in the other two Pag. 525 527. The first particular Case upon which he delivers his own Opinion Voluntary Resignation or Cession or Abdication without referring to Authorities is of a King 's voluntarily relinquishing and laying aside his Crown and Government of this several Examples are mentioned and among the rest nine of our Saxon Kings Page 426. and he rightly observes that if such Persons should act against the settled Government of their respective Kingdoms after they are fixed in the next Heir in an Hereditary Kingdom or in another King according to the Constitution of Elective Principalities the resisting any of them is not the taking Arms against the King but against him who now is a private Person If therefore the late King's Abdication were such a relinquishing as he means Vid. sup f. 13. which it must be if he receive Grotius or if he hold to the other Cases in which as it will appear he yields that he would be devested of Soveraignty in all such Cases every thing is lawful against the late King that would be lawful against any other private Person 2. The second Case agreed by all three and by Bishop Bilson Page 526. is of a Prince ' s undertaking to alienate his Kingdom Alienation of the Kingdom or to give it up to the Hands of another Soveraign Power against the Mind of his Subjects And he thinks Barclay Grotius and Bishop Bilson truly to assert that such an Act of Alienation or of acknowledged Subjection especially if obtained by evil Methods as was done in the Case of King John is null and void and therefore can neither give any Right of Soveraignty to another nor dispossess the King himself thereof But if any such Prince shall actually and forcibly undertake to bring his Subjects under a new Supream Power who have no Right thereto and shall deliver up his Kingdom to be thereby possess'd Grotius saith he doubteth not but he may be resisted in his undertaking but then says Mr. Falkner this Resolution must proceed upon this ground that this Action includeth his devesting himself of his Soveraignty together with his injurious proceeding against those who were his Subjects And Barclay who allows only two Cases in which a Prince may be devested of his Royal Dignity doth account this to be one of them Not to mention the notorious truckling to France and Pupilage under that bribing and imposing Monarch since the Kings of England are Supream in Ecclesiastical as well as Civil Affairs and the late King by Force and open Violation of the Laws against the universal Bent and Mind of his People renounc'd his own Supremacy in yielding to the Pope's and since the People might resist him therein but that which justified their resisting him devested him of his Soveraignty 't is evident that according to Mr. Falkner and the Learned Men whose Authority he receives the late King thereby ceas'd
TO proceed to the Reign of H. 3. who was Crown'd by a Faction at Glocester while Lewis was in possession of London the Metropolis of the Kingdom That he came not to the Crown as Successor in an Hereditary Monarchy but upon a plain Election and Compact with part of the Nation at least in the Name of the rest who would come in under those terms may be prov'd beyond contradiction For tho' in the Language of the Homilies King John were Natural Lord to the Subjects of England yet as Arthur who was the next in the Line to King John's Predecessor had the Right of Blood Mat. Par. f. 278. as far as that could operate before King John which he insisted on in the Fourth of that King's Reign even while he was his Prisoner the same right had Eleanor Arthur's Sister all the remainder of King John's time and for some years during the Reign of H. 3. 2. The Father came to the Crown by virtue of a Free Election of the People as the Archbishop of Canterbury told him at his Coronation wherefore his Election could not invest him with more than a Personal Right unless more were express'd at the time But the Archbishop Hubert Mat. Par. f. 264. 1 Johan Audite universi noverint discretio vestra quod nullus praevia ratione alii succedere habet in regnum nisi ab universitate regni unanimiter invocatâ spiritus gratiâ Electus secundum morum suorum eminentiam praeelectus who spake in the name of the Community was so far from giving the least Umbrage to a Right that might extend to Heirs that he affirm'd That no man is Intituled to succeed to the Crown upon any other account previous to the unanimous choice of the Kingdom except only the eminence of his Virtue And being afterwards ask'd why he took such freedom of Speech He declar'd That he foresaw and was assur'd by Ancient Prophecies That King John would corrupt the Kingdom and Crown of England and precipitate it into great confusion And he asserted That he ought to be minded of his coming to the Crown by * Ne haberet liberas habâ—nas hoc faciendi Election not by Hereditary Succession least he should take a liberty to act as he fear'd 3. Since therefore what the Archbishop fear'd came to pass and that Contract in virtue of which King John assum'd the Royal Scepter was notoriously broken How can it be thought that a Right devolv'd upon his Son H. 3. especially considering the interruption that was made by a Choice of Lewis tho' not Universal I must confess there is no Evidence occurring to me that Lewis was ever Crown'd here yet considering that the Coronation as is agreed by most is but a Ceremony the bare want of it would not the less argue a breach in the Succession since the sounder part of the people took the benefit of that Forfeiture which King John manifestly made and if nothing but an Universal Concurrence in this could justify withdrawing Allegiance from him then it is hardly possible for any resisting of Tyranny to be lawful at the begining and he who is forwardest in the Cause of his Country must be always a Criminal But being there is a deep silence as to Lewis his Coronation Mat. Par. Illico Coronandus tho he was promis'd by the Barons at London to be Crown'd immediately upon his coming over I take the reason of the silence in this matter to be That if he were Crown'd in form it was by the Laity alone because the Pope was fast to the side of King John and his Son and Lewis lay under a Papal Sentence of Excommunication so that the Clergy durst not Communicate with him in those Acts of Religious Worship which accompany Coronations But these Ceremonies being to be performed by Clergy-men 't is most probable that the Laity contented themselves with the Substance and left those Ceremonies for a more convenient time But that Lewis was in Possession of the Crown and the Regalia is to be believed as London with the Tower where they us'd to be lodg'd had not only been in the Possession of his Friends from the beginning but held so till the second Year after H. had been Crown'd as it is to be presum'd with a Crown made for that purpose Whether Lewis were Crown'd or no he was as fully received by them that had withdrawn their Allegiance from King John as if he had been Crown'd and reciprocal Oaths past between them And he was so far lookt on as King Mat. Par. that Alexander King of Scots swore Homage to him for the Lands he held of the Crown of England But certain it is as the Circumstances evince that there were at least three Express and Binding Contracts which H. 3. entred into with his People either beyond or rather explanatory of what is included in the Coronation-Oath and which H. 3. was bound to observe as he would be King of England and these besides several Confirmations of the Great Charter purchas'd with the Peoples Money and one of the Grants of Aid so particularly Conditional that Treasurers for it were appointed in Parliament and the Money was to be returned upon the King 's not performing the Conditions of the Grant 1. The First Contract which I shall observe was that which Lewis perhaps induc'd to it by the Money which he borrowed of the Londoners oblig'd H. to before he would quit his Pretensions So that one was plainly the Condition of the other and as the Civilians have it ran into the other by way of Mutual Consideration Vid. inf Lewis for the reasons which I before touch'd upon finding his Interest daily decline thought good to come to terms with Henry whereby Lewis oblig'd himself by Oath to withdraw from England Mat. Par. fol. 400. with all his Followers never to return and to use his endeavours that his Father might restore all the Rights of the Crown of England which he had seiz'd on beyond Sea In consideration of which Henry the Earl Marshal of England and the Pope's Legat F. 423. N a. Discord not Rebellion f. 431. swore to the restoring to the Barons of England and all others all their Rights and Liberties for which there had been Discord between King John and his Barons This Agreement with Lewis the Great Council of the Nation afterwards insisted on 7º H. 3. when they urg'd a Confirmation of the Great Charter which they obtain'd not till 9º of that King 2. The Second particular Contract was that of which the Great Council or Parliament 28º H. 3. mind him and of which they then after much strugling purchas'd a Confirmation According to this among other things 28 H. 3. referring to 20. f. 864. Four Great Men were to be chosen by Common Consent as Guardians of the Kingdom to be the standing Council about the King with a very large Trust reposed in them The Chancellor Treasurer and
shew the Antiquity and Power of a Palatine in Germany and England Gunterus used to shew that Office in several Countries Loyseau concerning it in France The Distinction in the Author of Les Soupirs between Officers of the King's House and Officers of the Crown The Antiquity and Authority of the Offices of Constable of England of the High Steward and the Earl Marshal which with the Earl of Chester have been as so many Tribunes of the People TO proceed to E. 2. Son to E. 1. 't is certain that the sentence threatned H. 3. was executed upon his Grandson E. 2. who was formally Deposed in Parliament for his misgovernment Walsingham f. 107. Rex dignitate regali abdicatur filius substituitur His Case with his next Successor's but one R. 2. by what I have observed before appear to have been no Novelties in England Nor was it long before the like was again put in practice more than once Hollingshead f. 637. Ib. f. 639 640. H. 6. being a weak mis-led Prince gave occasion to Richard Duke of York whose Line was put by to cover his designs for restoring the elder Family with the pretence of redressing publick Grievances A Crown over a Branch of lights in the H. of Commons and another from the top of Dover-Castle falling about the same time ib. f. 659. The Crown he was so far from pretending to at first that himself swore Allegiance to H. 6. in a very particular manner But having afterwards an advantage given by the Divisions of them who had driven him out of the Land he in a fortunate hour with lucky Omens as was believed challeng'd the Crown as his Right upon which there was an agreement ratified in Parliament That H. 6. should enjoy it during his Life and Richard and his Heirs after him Tho Richard Duke of York and his Son Edward afterwards E. 4. had sworn that H. 6. should enjoy the Royal Dignity during life without trouble from them or either of them yet Richard having been treacherously slain by the Queen's Army immediately after the solemn Pacification Edward at the Petition of some of the Bishops and Temporal Lords Ib. f. 661. took upon him the charge of the Kingdom as forfeited to him by breach of the Covenant established in Parliament Yet this gave him no sure footing for the popularity of the Earl of Warwick drove him out of the Kingdom without striking a stroke for it Ib. f. 678. Upon which H. 6. was again restor'd to his Kingly Power and Edward was in Parliament declared a Traytor to the Country and an Vsurper of the Realm the Settlement upon Richard and his Heirs revok'd and the Crown entail'd upon H. 6. and his Heirs Males with remainders over to secure against Edward's coming to the Crown But the Death of the Earl of Warwick having in effect put an end to King Henry's Power he was soon taken Prisoner and put to death as his Son had been before and then Edward procures a Confirmation in Parliament Hollingshead f. 693. of the Settlement under which he enjoyed the Crown Thus the Parliament from time to time determined the Controversie according to the Inclination of the People or Reason of State And as the power of the People of England or of Great Men of interest with them turn'd the scales sometimes one way sometimes another so their consent fixt them at last during the Life of E. 4. I might following the light of History take in the most material Occurrences from the Reign of E. 4. to the last Revolution but tho the unanimity which appeared at the first casting off the former Yoke made me with chearfulness undertake the justification of those who have contributed to the Change yet I must needs say I am checkt in that freedom which otherwise I might have justly used in relation to late times and tho I labour against prejudice in what I bring from faithful Memorials of ancient days yet I hope the prejudice will be free from that heat and passion which mixes with mens own concerns or the concerns of them from whom they immediately descend in Blood or Parties Object Vid. 13 C. 2. Stat. 2. c. 1.13 14 C. 2. c. 3.14 C. 2. c. 3 4.15 C. 2. c. 5.12 C. 2. c. 30. It may be said That whatever the Law or Practice has been anciently neither can now be of any moment by reason of the Oath required by several Statutes declaring it not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take Arms against the King and abhorring the Traiterous Position of taking Arms by his Authority against his Person And 2. The Clause in the Statute 12 Car. 2. whereby it is declared That by the undoubted and fundamental Laws of this Kingdom neither the Peers of this Realm nor the Commons nor both together in Parliament or out of Parliament nor the People Collectively or Representatively nor any other Persons whatsoever had have or ought to have any Coercive Power over the Persons of the Kings of this Realm What has before been observed from and upon Mr. Falkner's Answer Vid. Chap. 2. Christian Loyalty might make it needless to take notice of the Objection from either of these Clauses were it not that many either cannot or will not observe what lies at the least distance I shall not here insist in answer to the first part of the Objection on the necessity of a Commission and a King continuing legal in the Exercise as well as Possession of Power nor the difference between the Traiterous Acts of single Persons and the Revolt of a Nation nor yet upon the Authority of the Common Law whereby a Constable or other Officer chosen by the people Vid. Justin Pandec l. 1. tit 3. Nulla juris ratio aut aequitatis benignitas patitur ut quae salubriter pro utilitate hominum introducuntur ea nos duriore interpretatione contra ipsorum commodum producamus ad severitatem may act without any Authority from the King And for rhe latter part of the Objection as Coertion is restrained to the Person of the King the declaring against that is not contrary to the Authorities for discharging Allegiance by a judicial Sentence or otherwise by virtue of equitable and implied Reservations provided a tender regard to the Person be still observ'd But if proceedings to free our selves from his Authority fall under this Coertion then I shall offer something which may remove both this and the other from being objections to what I have above shewn To keep to what may equally reach to both Authorities I shall not urge here Vid. Rot. Parl. 39 H. 6. n. 18. That these Statutes being barely declaratotory and Enacting no Law for the future introduce none so that if the Fundamental Laws shall appear to be otherwise the Declarations do not supplant them Nor yet to insist upon a Rule in the Civil-Law That the Commonwealth is always a Minor Vid. Cujac
been split into the Constable Chancellour Treasurer and the Grand Maistre du France or Count du Palais which he seems to resemble to an High-Steward with us The Author of the Sighs of France shews Les soupirs Mem. 7. p. 167. that when Childebert was chosen King they chose Grimoald for Maire du Palais And says he Through all our History we may always see a very clear distinction between the Officers of the King's House and those of the Crown This distinction remains to this day as a Monument of the Ancient Liberty of the French For we say the Great Master of the King's Houshold the Great Chamberlain c. But we say the Constable of France the Admiral of France the Chancellour of France And these last Charges do not dye with the King whereas the Officers of the King's House dye with the King and may be changed by his Successour The Reason of this difference comes from this That that which is given by one King may be taken away by another But the Officers of the Crown being made by the People and by the Realm cannot be turn'd out by the King alone And it is very remarkable that these Offices of the Crown which the States of the Kingdom may give and which they alone can take away may extend to the whole to the War to Justice and to the Finances or Treasury In a Book published in Queen Mary's Reign which at least went under the name of Bishop Poinet one of our Confessors History of Passive Obedience p. 38. who fled to Germany from the Marian Persecution such a Power as is above mentioned is affirmed to have belong'd to the High Constable of England Treatise of Politick Power Anno 1556. As God says the Author has ordained Magistrates to hear and determine private Matters and to punish their Vices so also will he that the Magistrates doings be call'd to account and reckoning and their Vices corrected and punished by the Body of the whole Congregation or Commonwealth As it is manifest by the meaning of the Ancient Office of High-Constable of England unto whose Authority it pertained not only to summon the King personally before the Parliament or other Courts of Justice to answer and receive according to Justice but also upon just occasion to commit him to Ward Theloal in his Digest of Writs Printed in the year 1579. 21 Eliz. Collects what is in the Year-Books concerning Summoning the King Theloal's Digest tit Roy. p 71. This was H. 3. Vid. 22. E. 3. f. 3. b. Trin. 24 E. 3. f. 55. b 43 E. 3.22 a. Wilby Justice Fuit dit H. 22 E. 3. que en temps le Roy Henry devant le Roy fuit impled come serroit autre home de people Mes Edward son fits ordein que home sueroit vers le Roy per petition Et issint dit suit T. 43. E. 3.22 que en temps le Roy Henry le Roy ne fuit mes come comune person car a ceo temps home averoit brief d'entre sur disseisin vers le Roy touts autres maners d'actions come vers auters persons c. Et Wilby dit T. 24. E. 3.23 que il avoit vieu tiel brief Precipe Henrico Regi Angliae c. En lieu de quel est ore done petition pur sa Prerogative It was says he held Hil. 22 E. 3. that in the time of King Henry and before the King was impleded as any other Man of his people but Edward his Son ordain'd That a Man shall sue to the King by Petition And so it was said Trin. 43 E. 3.22 That in the time of King Henry the King was but as a common person for at that time a Man might have a Writ of Entry upon Disseisin against the King and all other manner of Actions as against other persons c. And Wilby said Trin. 24 E. 3.23 That he had seen such a Writ Precipe Henrico Regi Angliae in lieu of which now a Petition is given for his Prerogative Sir Robert Cotton of the Constable of England MS. in the Herald's Office It may be difficult to distinguish between the Office of the Earl of Chester and the Constable of England who as Sir Robert Cotton held is Second to the King and has the Custody of his Sword the carrying which as appears by Matthew Paris belonged to the Earl of Chester by reason of his Palatinate and yet at the same time Humphrey de Bohun Earl of Hereford Constable of England was in full possession of his Office Dugdale 's Bar. 1. Vol. f. 180. 11 H. 3. he stood up with the Earl of Chester and others on the behalf of Richard the King's Brother and was alive and in England 20 H. 3. when the Earl of Chester carried the Sword as of Ancient Right so that one seemed to have the right to carry the other to keep the Sword The Office of Constable seems to have been no ancienter than the the time of W. 1. Vid. Patent to Earl Rivers Temp. E. 4. Vid. 2 d. Part. to which the Patents for the Office refer but the Earldom of Chester and its Rights were Ancienter Wherefore one would think that W. 1. erected the Office of Constable to ballance that of the Earl Palatine Sir Rob. Cotton Of Constable c. MS. sup The other Great Officers the High-Steward and Marshal are easily distinguishable from the Constable and as Sir Robert Cotton observes the Office of Constable was of Military that of the High-Steward of a Civil Jurisdiction The Marshal was in the nature of an High Sheriff Vid. Stat. 3. R. 2. Stat. 1. C. 2. Of the Constable and Marshal Flet. lib. 2. c. 60. Of the Steward and Marshal So Ryle 's Placita Parl. f. 126. 21 E. 1. Selden 's Bar. 2 d Part c. 5. f. 739 F. 743. to see to the Execution of the Process and Judgments of either and yet had a Judicial Power with both In some Cases all three acted with joynt authority as appears by the most Ancient Copies of the Modus tenendi Parliamenta which tho' it has been put into Latine since the Conquest and has the names of Things and Offices adapted to what was known and in use at the time of the Translation from the Saxon MS. yet certainly for substance gives a true account of what was before the Conquest Mr. Selden supposes it to have been no ancienter than about the time of E. 3. yet confesses that he had from Mr. Hackwel a Copy of an Inspeximus 12 H. 4. Exemplifying under the Great Seal most of the particulars that occur in the ordinary Modus for England fitted for Ireland as sent thither by H. 2. but it would have been very strange if there should have passed an exemplification under the Great Seal of what was a meer fiction The Modus says Modus tenendi Parl. Cum dubitatio vel casus difficilis pacis vel
guerrae emergat c. Vid. Append. When any doubt or difficult case of War or Peace happens in the Kingdom or without let that Case be referr'd and brought in Writing into full Parliament and let it be treated of and debated among the Peers of Parliament and if need be let it be enjoyn'd by the King or in his Name to every degree of the Peers That every degree act by its self and let the Case be delivered to their Clerks in Writing and in the said place let them cause the said Case to be recited before them so that they may consider among themselves how it may in the best manner and most justly be proceeded upon as they would answer before God for the Person of the King and their own proper persons and also the proper persons of them whom they represent And let them report in Writing their Answers and Advice that all their Answers Counsels and Advices on all sides being heard it may be proceeded upon according to the better and more wholesom Counsel But if the Peace of the Kingdom or the Nation People or Commonwealth be weakned by reason of discord between the King and other Great Men so that it seems to the King and his Council What that Council was vid. 2d Part that the matter should be treated of and amended by the consideration of all the Peers of his Kingdom or if the King and Kingdom are disturbed by War or if a difficult Case arise before the Chancellor of England or a difficult Judgment is to be given before the Justices and the like And if it happen that in such deliberations all N 2 a Remedy where equally divided or at least the greater part cannot agree then the Earl Steward Earl Constable and Earl Marshal or Two of them shall chuse Twenty five persons from all parts of the Kingdom viz. Two Bishops and Three Proxies of the Clergy Two Earls and Three Barons Five Knights of Shires Five Citizens and Five Burgesses who make Five and Twenty Et condescendere in eos and they Five and Twenty may chuse Twelve out of themselves and be concluded by what they do The Twelve may chuse Six and be concluded by them The Six Three and be concluded by them But the Three cannot be reduced to fewer without leave of the King And if the King consent the Three may be brought to Two and the Two to One and so at last their Ordinance shall bind the whole Parliament and so by coming from Twenty five to One if the greater number cannot agree to an establishment at last one Person as is said shall Ordain for all because he cannot disagree from himself saving to the King and his Council That they may examin and amend such Ordinances after they are written if they can and will Provided they do this upon the place in full Parliament and with the consent of the Parliament and not out of Parliament According to which the High Steward Constable and Marshal being looked on as Hereditary Officers were entrusted with a means of composing the differences of the Nation when they should happen to be equally divided I find the Authority of the High Steward and Constable more express in a Translation of another Modus tenendi Parl. agreeing in substance with that which I have cited The MS. which I have used seems to be of the time of H. 7. MS. penes Authorem MS. penes Authorem thô Mr. Elsing says That which is in Sir Robert Cotton's Library was written temp E. 2. The Translation of the other was Printed with Royal Privilege in King James his time as I take it It was done in a very pedantick stile by one Anthony Bustard of Lyons-Inn He that wrote the Latine in his Preface speaks of it as the Order setled by W. 1. Pref. That Modus places the Power of chusing the Twenty five in the Steward and Constable It adds That if any of the Ministers act contrary to their Duty the King the Steward and others of the Parliament may remove them from their Office And says particularly That the Steward of England with the Constable and Nobles of the Realm shall send to evil Counsellors willing them to desist from giving Counsel and entreat the King not to listen to them and if they regard not such advertisement they were to send to the King to put such away from him And if King and Counsellors neglect such wholsom Advice then for the safety of the Commonwealth it hath been thought fit and lawful for the Steward and Constable and Nobles and others of the Commons of England with the King's Banner displayed the King's name omitted the said Counsellors to take and keep in Custody till the next Parliament and Seize their Goods Vid. Append. Lands and Hereditaments until they receive Judgment by consideration of the whole Parliament Sir Robert Cotton Of the High Steward c. There is no more in this than is warranted by Sir Robert Cotton's Letters in the Herald's Office part of which seem to be taken from a MS. joyn'd to the Modus in his Library under the name of Fleetwood The High-Steward's Office as I have before observed was annex'd to Land 4 Inst f. 127. Dyer f. 285. b. Kelway f. 170. and so was the Constable's of England as appears by our Law-Books in the Case of the Duke of Buckingham 6 H. 8. who pleaded That Humphrey de Bohun formerly Earl of Hereford was seiz'd in Fee of the Mannors of Harefield Newnam and Whitenhurst in the County of Glocester and held them by the service to be Constable of England which the Judges allowed of as a good Plea Dyer Indeed they held that thô the King might compel him who had the Land at his pleasure to execute the Office so he might at his pleasure resuse to have it Executed But as to that this being an honorary and profitable tenure by Grand Serjeanty it is to be considered 12 Car. 2. c. 4. that the Stat. 12 Car. 2. when it took away those Tenures of the Crown which were burthensom to the Subject provided that it shall not take away the Honorary Services of Grand Serjeanty But H. 8. Dyer thought it sufficient that he disclaimed the Service and the Reason of the disclaimer was because it was very high and dangerous and very chargeable to the King in Fees the last part of which shewed the Subject's property concerned in the question Upon the Duke of Buckingham's claim to this Office Kelway f. 171◠Nevil says it has been a common saying That the Constable of England by virtue of his Office in some case may Arrest the King himself and therefore held it necessary that the King should be appriz'd what Authorities belong to his Office Fineux Chief Justice says We know of no such Authority to belong to any Officer within the Realm by the Common Law of the Land Which he afterwards explains for
And as anciently as the year 789. an Act was made in a General Convention of all England in Conventu Pananglico that their Kings should be Elected by the Clergy senioribus populi and Elders of the people that is such as were Members of their Great Councils or Witena Gemots Assemblies of Sage and Wise Men. This tho it was long before the reputed Conquest yet was never repealed or cut off by the Sword nay seems received with the Confessor's Laws as included in them 2. It appears by the several instances given in the fourth Chapter and the testimonies there both of Malmsbury and the Publisher of the life of King Alfred That no lineal Succession was observed here before the supposed Conquest 3. The Confessor's Law received by W. 1. Vid. Sup. and continued downwards as the noblest Transcript of the Common Law shews that the Kings of England were to be elected and the end for which they are chosen by the people After the same manner do the ancient Historians and Lawyers as well since that time as before commonly express accessions to the Throne and seem industriously to mind Kings of it that according to the caution given the Jewish Kings Deut. 17.20 their hearts be not lifted up above their Brethren 4. According to the usage from before the reputed Conquest downwards the People are asked Whether they are content to have such a Man King 5. The most absolute of the English Monarchs never believed Cambd. Brit. s 104. de W. 1 Neminem Anglici regi constituo Haredem sed a terno conditori cujus sum in cujus manu sunt omnia illud commendo non enim taâ—tum decus hereditario jure possedi c that then Children had a right to the Crown except the people consented that they should succeed as appears by King Alfred's Will and the Death-bed Declaration of William 1. And therefore some of our Kings against whom there has been no pretence of better Title in any particular Person or Family when they stood upon good Terms with their People have often prevail'd with them in their Lives-time to secure the Succession to their eldest Son and H. 2. to prevent hazarding the Succession endanger'd himself by getting his eldest Son Crown'd himself living But as the going no farther than the eldest argues that they looked on that as a Favour the pressing for a Settlement on their Issue in any manner argues That it was not look'd upon as a clear Point of Right without it Of later Times Settlements have been made in Tail which though they were occasion'd by Pretences to Titles are Records against an Hereditary Monarchy according to the common notion which is one that by the original Constitution descends to the next in the Line male or Female V. Leges W. 1. de Fide c. Statuimus etiam ut omnes liberi homines foedere sacramento affirment quod intra extra regnum Angliae Willielmo Regi Domino suo fideles esse volunt c. Leges S. Edw. tit Greve Vid. Juramentum homagii facti Regi 6. The Oaths of Allegiance required of all the Subjects were never extended to Heirs but were barely Personal till Settlements of the Crown were obtain'd upon the Quarrels between the Families of York and Lancaster and though H. 4. obtain'd in Parliament an Oath to himself the Prince and his Issue and to every one of his Sons successively and in the time of H. 6. the Bishops and Temporal Lords swore to be true to the Heirs of R. Duke of York yet perhaps no Oath of Allegiance to the King and his Heirs can be shewn to have been requir'd of the Subjects in general till that 26 H. 8. according to the Limitations of the Statute 25. 7. Even where the People had setled the Crown they seem'd to intend no more than to give a preference before other Pretenders not but that as Ideocy Frenzy or the like might set such an one aside so upon other weighty Reasons they might alter the Settlement Pryn 's Signal Loyalty p. 274. Pol. Virgil. 1. 22. sub initio as appears by Polydore Virgil who was never thought to lie on the Peoples side whatever Evidences for them he may have conceal'd or destroy'd whose words of H. 5. to whom the Crown had been limited by Parliament may be thus rendred Nota Proceres may take in the Nobiles minores Prince Henry having buried his Father causes a Council of Nobles to be conven'd at Westminster in which while they according to the Custom of their Ancestors consulted about making a King behold on a sudden some of the Nobility of their own accord swear Allegiance to him which officious Good-will was never known to have been shewn to any before he was declared King William 2. was elected during the Life of his eldest Brother who was set aside by the English against whom he had discovered Ill-will in spite of the Normans So H. 1. Stephen was elected while Maud the Daughter of H. 1. was alive and H. 2. succeeded in her Life-time upon an Agreement made with Stephen by the Peoples Consent R. 1. as within King John crown'd in the Life-time of his eldest Brother's Son Prince Arthur So was his Son H. 3. in the Life-time of Eleanor Prince Arthur's Sister E. 1. as within E. 2. elected E. 3. set up by the People in his Father's Life-time which the Father took for a Favour R. 2. declared Successor by Parliament in the Life-time of his Grandfather H. 4. of the younger House came in by the Peoples Choice upon their deposing R. 2. H. 5 6. Son and Grandson to H. 4. came in upon a Settlement E. 4. of the elder House came in under an Agreement made in Parliament between his Father who liv'd not to have the benefit of it and H. 6. His Son E. 5. was never crown'd R. 3. who set him aside was of the younger House H. 7. who vanquish'd him could have no Right of Proximity for the Daughter of E. 4. and his own Mother were before him All that came in since enjoy'd the Crown either under the various Settlements of H. 8. or that of H. 7. which took place again in J. 1. or from H. 6. at the highest 8. As the Practice of the Kingdom is an Evidence of its Right numerous Instances might be produc'd of Choices since the supposed Conquest not only so called by Historians but appearing so in their own Natures wherein no regard has been had to Proximity but barely to Blood And I believe no Man can shew me any more than Two since the reputed Conquest of whom it can be affirm'd with any semblance of Truth that they came in otherwise than upon Election express'd by the Historians of the Time or imply'd as they had no other Title or else a late Settlement of the Crown either upon themselves immediately or in Remainder The Two upon which I will yield
not be thought that I in the least derogate from the Honour due to him when I observe matter of fact not falling within his notice The Author of a late Paper in relation to these Times has this passage not to be neglected A Letter to a Friend advising in this extraordinary Juncture All Power is originally or fundamentally in the People formally in the Parliament which is one Corporation made up of three Constituent essentiating Parts King Lords and Commons so it was with us in England When this Corporation is broken when any one essentiating Part is lost or gone there is a Dissolution of the Corporation the formal Seat of Power and that Power devolves on the People When it is impossible to have a Parliament the Power returns to them with whom it was originally Is it possible to have a Parliament It is not possible the Government therefore is Dissolv'd Hence he would argue a necessity of having a larger Representative of the People Vid. Pufend. de Interregnis p. 267. sup in Marg. that the Convention may be truly National But had this Ingenious Person observed Pufendorf's two distinct Contracts by the first of which a Provision was made for a Monarchy before any particular Person was setled in the Throne he would have found no such necessity But if immemorially the People of England have been Represented as they were for this Assembly and no needful form or circumstance has been wanting to make the Representation compleat all men who impartially weigh the former Proofs of Elections not without a Rightful Power must needs think the last duly made Dr. Brady indeed with some few that led him the Dance and others that follow will have the present Representation of the Commons of England to have been occasioned by Rebellion 49 H. 3. But I must do him the honour to own him to be the first who would make the Barons to have no Personal Right but what depends upon a King in being for he allows none to have Right of coming to Parliament Brady's first Ed. p. 227. See this prov'd upon him in the Pref. to Jus Anglorum ab antiquo but such only to whom the King has thought fit to direct Writs of Summons Yet I dare say no man of sense who has read that Controversie believes him But were his Assertions true it might be granted that the Barons would have no more personal Right to be of any Convention upon the total Absence or Abdication of a King than they would have of coming to Parliament without His Writ Yet since the Right of the People in person or Representation is indubitable in such a Case what hinders the validity of the late Choice considering how many Elections of Kings we have had and that never by the people diffusively since the first Institution of the Government And the Representations agreed on tho I take them to be earlier setled for Cities and Burroughs than for the Freeholders in the Counties have ever since their respective settlements been in the same manner as now at least none have since the first Institution ever come in their own persons or been Electors but what are now present personally or representatively and their own Consent takes away all pretence of Error If it be said That they ought to have been Summoned Forty days before the Assembly held That is only a Privilege from the King which they may wave and have more than once consented to be Represented upon less than Forty days Summons Prynne 's Animadversions on 4 Inst f. 10. Mr. Prynne gives several Instances as 49 H. 3. 4 E. 3. 1 H. 4. 28 Eliz. and says he omits other Precedents of Parliaments Summoned within Fourty days after the Writs of Summons bear date upon extraordinary Occasions of publick safety and concernment which could not conveniently admit so long delay And Sir Robert Cotton being a strict Adherer to Form Vid. Rushw 1 Vol. f. 470. 3 Car. 1. upon an Emergency advised That the Writs should be Antedated which Trick could make no real difference To say however there ought to have been a Summons from or in the name of a King in being is absurd it being for the exercise of a lawful power which unless my Authorities fail the people had without a King or even against the consent of one in being Besides it appears That such Summons have not been essential to the Great Councils of the Nation Tacitus shews That the Germans Tacit. de Moribus German Coeunt nisi quid fortuitum subitum certis diebus c. V. Leges S. Ed. tit Greve In Capite Kal. Maij. Jus. Angl. c. 7. Vid. Append. from whom we descend had theirs at certain days unless when some extraordinary matter happened And by the Confessor's Laws received by W. 1. and continued downwards by the Coronaton Oaths requir'd to this very day the General Folcmot ought to be held annually without any formal Summons upon May-day By the time of E. 1. this custom to hold a Parliament upon May-day received a little alteration for the Pope having at the beginning of that King's Reign demanded eight years Arrears of an Annual payment which he claim'd for the Kingdom of England the King had put him off till the next Parliament which he said had us'd to be held in England about the Octaves of our Saviour's Resurrection This Parliament was held at the Octaves accordingly as the King acknowleges upon the Pope's second demand but pleads that it had been taken up with the great Affairs of the Nation till his want of Health occasion'd a Dissolution before they could consider oâ—… tt Matter which he promis'd should be brought before them at the next Parliament which he purposed to hold at Michaelmas then following The Statute 16 Car. 1. which our rigid Formalists must own to be in Force has wholly taken away the necessity of Writs of Summons from a King Stat. 12. Car. 2. c. 1. The Assembly of the Lords and Commons held Anno 1660. was summoned by the Keepers of the Liberties of England not by the Kings Writs yet when they came to Act in conjunction with the King they declare enact and adjudge where the Statute is manifestly declaratory of what was Law before That the Lords and Commons then sitting are and shall be the Two Houses of Parliament notwithstanding any want of the King 's Writ or Writs of Summons or any defect or alteration of or in any Writ of Summons c. Tho' this seems parallel to the present Case yet in truth ours is the strongest For the King then had been only King de jure no Authority could be received from Him nor could any Act of His be regarded in Law through defect either of Jurisdiction or Proof if not both Accordingly as not only the Reason of the thing but the Lord Coke shews 3 Inst f. 7. Sup. in Marg. a Pardon from one barely King de jure is of
exaltationem Sanctae Ecclesiae pacem populi tenendam concessit c. King William being dead the Great Men of England not knowing what was become of Robert Duke of Normandy So R. 1. was call'd but Duke of Normandy till he was chosen King of England the deceased King's Elder Brother who had been five years at the Holy-war were fearful of wavering long without a Government Which when Henry the youngest Brother a very wise young Man cunningly observ'd the Clergy of England and all the people being assembled He promised an amendment of those Laws with which England had been oppressed in the time of his Father and his Brother newly deceas'd that he might stir up the minds of all to his promotion and Love and that they might receive him for King and Patron To these things the Clergy answering and then the Great Men That if with a willing mind he would Grant and Confirm with His Charter those Liberties and ancient Customs which flourish'd in the Kingdom in the time of Holy King Edward they would consent to have him and would unanimously consecrate him King And Henry freely consenting to this and affirming with an Oath that he would perform He was Consecrated King on our Lady day by the Consent of Clergy and People upon whose Head the Crown was immediately set by Maurice Bishop of London and Thomas Archbishop of York As soon as he was Crown'd He granted the under-written liberties for the exaltation of Holy-Church and preserving the Peace of the Kingdom Then follows his Charter containing some Alterations of the Law which had before obtained not only in relation to the Rights of the Crown but of the Subjects particularly whereas the Relief had been Cart. H 1. Siquis Baronum meorum Comitum vel aliorum qui de me tenent mortuus fuerit as Fines now in most Copy-hold Mannors at the Will of the Lords they were reduced to what was just and lawful according to St. Edward's Laws for which as should seem by the Charters of King John and H. 3. declaratory of the Common-Law there were known Rates and H. 1. restored all the Common-Law with the Statutes made for the amendment of it in the time of W. 1. He seem'd in two particulars wisely to have ingratiated himself with the people the first was in gaining to his side the Directers of their Consciences by a concession to the benefit of Church-men which was wholly new and that was That an Archbishop or Bishop or Abbat being dead Vid. Cart. H. 1. he would take nothing of the demean of the Church nor of its tenents until the Successor was inducted which was a departure from that Prerogative which belonged to the Crown upon the Vacancies as appears by the affirmation of H. 2. Vid. Anti. Brit. inf f. 135. Carta Johannis Haec omnia observentur de custodiis Arch. Episcopatuum Abbat Prior Eccles Dignitat vacantium quae ad nos pertinent c. Prerog Regis 17 E. 2. c. 14. the Charter of King John and the Statute of the King's Prerogative 17 E. 2. This Indulgence to the Church without special Provision for keeping it up was withdrawn by the next general Confirmation of the Confessor's Laws and therefore 't is no wonder that it is left out of subsequent Charters If he was not popular in this at least he was in another Action which was his imprisoning Ranulph who had been the great Instrument of oppression in the former Reign Mat. Par. f. 76. and that it was with intention of punishing him severely appears by Ranulph's making his escape out of Prison by means of those great Treasures which he had heaped up from the Spoils of the People Ranulph no doubt could at a much cheaper rate have applied himself to such a Lawyer as the Author of the Magistracy vindicated if such an one could have been found in that Age of less corruption Vid. the last part of the Magistracy and Government vindicated p. 8. I 'll not mention the Argument from the Vacancy that the Government was dissolved every thing reduced into its Primitive State of nature all Power devolved into Individuals and the particulars only to provide for themselves by a new Contract for if so there 's no new consent for punishment of Acts done before the dissolution and consequently revenge for that is at an end Vid. ib. p. 2. who might have advised him to rest satisfied that it would not be consistent with the Wisdom and Justice of a Prince who came in upon a Vacancy of the Throne as H. 1. did not standing next in the Line to punish any Criminals of the foregoing Reign but Ranulph was wiser in running away and perhaps more modest than to think that for his useful parts employed in the pillaging and destroying innocent men he might pretend to merit under the Successor H. 1. having truly shewn a Fatherly care of the people no man then raised any foolish scruple upon the manner of the Proceedings where the Substance was pleasing to all But that which has been done by them who could get together upon the intervals of Government has been held valid that the Vacancies might be as short as possible unless the general sense of the people has immediately appear'd against it and thus Harold having been Crown'd by surprize when the Friends of W. 1. were at the Confessors Buryal some Authors upon that very Account Vid. 2. part will have it that Harold was an Usurper But that it may be seen how little apt people are to dispute Forms when a King acts agreeably to the sense of a Nation I shall shew that H. 1. acted as King even before he was Crown'd immediately upon his Election for which Huntindon is my Author who having mentioned the death of W. 2. says Henricus frater ejus junior ibidem in Regem electus Hen. Huntin f. 216. b. de H. 1. dedit episcopatum Wincestriae W. Giffard pergensque Londoniam sacratus est ibi a Mauritio Londonensi Episcopo His younger Brother Henry being there chosen King gave the Bishoprick of Winchester to W. Giffard and going on to London was consecrated there by Maurice Bishop of London And I am much mistaken if what he did in relation to another Bishop Anselm who had been Archbishop of Canterbury in the time of W. 2. is not an additional evidence to what I have already produced that the Convention in which he was Crown'd was turn'd into a Parliament or acted as one Ordericus Vitalis says Anselmus enim Dorebornensis Archiep. exulabat Eadmerus f. 38 39 40. shews this was at a Council at Winchester ubi says he ex condicto venimus Mat. Far. f. 25. Trajacere quidem liberum esse sed inconsulte id facturum siquidem nullam revertendi spem in posterum ei futuram Eadmerus Anselm as appears by the circumstances of the story had been condemned to perpetual Banishment by Parliament in the time of
thinges paste as also in thinges present And that most certeynly there was never either eny such Letters Patentes past under the greate Seale of England nor yet eny such Will signed with his most gratious Hande as sufficient Witnesses yet lyvinge can well testify Theise two maters touchinge the legitimation and validitie of the Will in that behaulf of eny indifferent Person I trust may be acceptid as fully and truly answeryd And thus lovinge Reader have I vtteryd and layd before the theise cases as they ar And whome wold it not moove to commpassion to behould the state of these thinges or whose English Harte wold it not grieve even to every parte of it to fynde any such Bookes countenanced or accompt made of such Bastardie slippes as appeerith by those Opinions and Bookes spredde to enherite so noble a Realme our most deere and natural Countrey as though it wer either so infortunate so curs'd of God or else so farre from Mercy that such shuld be fitter for the same without eny colour of eny just Title to plague it with most infamous Dissention Warre and all other Confusion and so to bring it to vtter ruyne and destruction then those to whome of right it ought both by the Lawe of God and Man most iustly to belonge vnto What is he that esteemith or tendrith the prosperyte of the Countrie in the favour of God or the good fame or fortune of the Worlde that wold seeke to exalt vnto the Government therof such infamous and spottyd titles with which is lynked alwayes such wrathe of God and th'Effectes thereof with such continuall stryfe and contention before the vnstaynid true and perfect Inheritors apoynted by him and by his Lawes to sette forth his Glory and by whose Justice such ar alwayes prosperyd and defendid to their own honour and the great weale and safety of their Subjects as longe as they remayne in his feare and obedyent vnto his Lawes and Ordinances But what might be sayd further Yf those in greate face and shew of great zeale and iustice and in greate authoritie hath so much neglected their Duties and so much preferryd theire owne Ambitions and corrupte Desyres before the Honour and Service of the Realme as such have not sticked to further these spottyd and coulerid Titles and also to encourage other to fall vnto the same What a case is this that such so placyd shuld go aboute to extol such motions of Dishonour and ruyne of their naturall Countrey and yet remayne with their Callinge in so greate countenance of honour for their Good and faithful Service O England blame thow not the inferior sorte so much that doth but receyve these thinges as it is ministryd unto them by whose credyte and persuasion they may be easily abusd But seeke thou to decifer and discover such Abusers as have more regard to mainteyne theimselfes by whose overthrowe or what wronge so ever it be then to proceede dirertly to thy Service either to the Honour of God Author and Favorer of all Truth or els to thy Weale Prosperytie and quietnes And I exhorte the and exhorte the agayne not to suffer thy self to be ledde and caryd away with eny such foule iniurious Perswasion either of ambitious Abuser or such other corrupt or vnadvised Person For such foule iniurious and false persuasions ar apt to no other ende but to serve Sedition Discord and Dissention in the and overthrow also all those that dealith with theim And how hard and perilous it is to obteyne a Crowne by eny injust or sinister Title and how much harder the things gotten it hath ben to contynew and keepe the same we may daily see and learne in dyvers Historyes of sondry places by such lyke Fortunes and of the in that of K. H. 4. H. the 5. and H. the 6. who after they had withholden the Crowne by wronge with the losse of meny a Manne's Lyfe two discentes wherin passed forty Yeres and more at last were overthrowne and quite confoundid and it restoryd to Kinge Edward the Fourth that rightly requyrd and lawfully obteynid the same Compare these togither and consider what multitude of Friends such continuance in possession was lyke to make and of what fame and worthynesse the Princes were and yet that the 3 d. and last could not enioy the same all that notwithstandinge And it may be supposd that there is fewe so simple so farre from reason or so affectionate but may thinke that K. H. the 6 was much more abler to defend so longe a contynued Possession then the Lady K. or eny comminge of the French Queene is able both to gayne the lyke and afterwards to keep it By which and such other Examples we may call to mynde that God doth not favour those that doth vsurpe with eny injust or indirect Title agaynst his Will and Ordinance And what greater mishappe discomfort or Misery can happ to eny then after the liftinge up to such a degree or th' attaininge of eny such desire in a moment to lose all and to be cast downe to vtter confusion both they and all their Freendes for ever Consider for the love of God the Honour of your Countrey the Suretie and Quietnes of your Freendes and Neighbours Kynsemen and deere Country-folkes remember the Threttes pronouncyd of God against all Injustice and call to remembrance where aboute yow goe ye that study and endeavour your selfes to sette forth these false and deceyvable Titles in the parte or favour of eny and beholde that insteade of the shadow of your vndewe Desire to the greate hazard and perill of the tranquill and peaceable state of your most deere Friendes and natural Contrey that yow do but procure bothe to such as how wold seeme to favour and also vnto your selfes such danger grief and sorowe with such yll and adverse Fortune as your most bitter and dedly Enemyes could no way wysh yow greater And to conclude thus much is due to th'Answer of the Bookes abroade with th' advancement of the Lady Mary the French Queen's Issue and settinge foorth of these Cases of Bastady before yow that after these maters thus manifestyd there shuld insewe of such Errors the lesse inconvenience and that ye might thereby hereafter the better judge what were in these cases the fittest both for the honour of God and the Weale prosperyte and quyetnes of the whole Realme But thow O England ar by the Grace and greate Mercy of God vnder the Gouernment of our most Gracious and Prudent Queene who hath the same tender and lovinge care of the Weale-Publike that the most carefull and lovinge Mothers have not greater for the Weale Saufety of theire most deere and best-belovyd Chyldren of the which there may be daily seene most apparente and manifest Examples Her maiestie havinge governid thee with the noble assistance of her Counsell so meny Years without manifest Danger and greate perill of Civill Warre and most miserable slaghter as the case yet standith it is not