the Ministers of State are concerned in them But whether for any of these Reasons or others it is that we hear of no great Prosecution of those Discoveries that have been made I will not pretend to determine time will best explain this and other Mysteries of the like Nature Yet this I will adventure to say That it is not so safe a Rule to measure Plots by whether they be true or false by the remisness or forwardness of the Government in prosecuting of them as to consider how far it is the interest of the persons accused to carry on such a Design And herein every man of a reasonable understanding is as capable of giving a judgment as the Ministers of State I would not encourage any man to be over-credulous in believing of Plots and yet there are some Conspiracies that carry their own Conviction along with them as it will always be the interest of the Papists to bring in Popery and of the Non-Jurors and those who take the Oaths in a double sense to bring in King James Nor would I be the occasion of pushing on a Prosecution with too much violence and yet to be too remiss is an Errour of the other extream and seems to intimate That either the Government is afraid of them and dare not call them to account or else that it is necessary to oblige that sort of people all it can and when ever either of those cases fall out it is sooner or later mischievous if not fatal to the Government I suppose you have heard that King James intended to land here the last Spring with a French Force tho this seems to be already forgot by some yet I am verily persuaded that many people believe it because of the notoriety of the thing For they that doubt of it may as well question whether there was a Gunpowder Plot for it is as plain as a thing of that nature can be which has not actually taken effect It was wonderfully prevented first by the Easterly Winds that continued so long together and next by the happy success of our Fleet even beyond what any man could have hoped for at that time All things considered it was wholly the work of God and to his ever blessed and holy Name be the praise and glory of it tho the Nation hath not yet made so publick an acknowledgment of it as it usually doth upon less occasions than that was The defeating of that Design is a mercy never to be forgotten for we do not yet know of any Design that was ever formed against this Nation that could have been more bloody and destructive than that would have been For King James in his Declaration doth expresly say That his Intent is to spend the remainder of his Reign as he hath always design'd since his coming to the Crown These Words speak a great deal of comfort to England for they cannot mean less than what he hath already done When he took the Customs against Law Carried on Sham Plots by his countenance and bribery to destroy honest and worthy men When he ravish'd the Corporations of their Liberties and Franchises When he turn'd out Judges for acting according to their Consciences and fill'd the Benches with the Raff of the Gown When he avowedly set up Popery and erected publick Chappels in all parts of the Kingdom When he placed notorious Papists in the Seats of Justice and brought a Jesuit into his Councils to preside publickly there which was more than any Popish Prince ever did When he sate up a High Commission Court When he kept up in time of peace a numerous Army to the terrour of his Subjects and allowed so little for their Quarters as that it amounted to little less than free Quarter When he assumed a Dispencing Power and declared that he would be obeyed without reserve These and a great many other Irregularities were the product of his Reign and it is not very probable that he is brought to a better temper by any thing that he hath seen or learnt from his Conversation with the French King and it is as little probable that that King would have treated him as he hath done had he discovered in King James any disposition to govern more mildly and reasonably for the future How much he is influenced to the contrary is very evident by designing to bring in the French upon us the people of all others this Nation ought most to dread being the old and irreconcilable Enemy of England For whoever looks into History will find that France hath occasioned more trouble to England than all the world besides Nay there has scarce been any ill Design against this Nation but France hath had a hand in it as if their very Climate did necessitate them to be at enmity with us When any of the Kings of England have had a design upon the Peoples Liberties they have entred into a Confederacy with France as the People of all others most likely to serve their Purpose and it has always gone ill with England when our Kings have made an intimate Friendship with the French King as we may remember by woeful experience Let us consider besides that no people under the Sun are at this day so noted for treachery and cruelty as the French of which they have given such pregnant Instances upon the Protestants of their own Nation and in their New Conquests as were never done by the most Barbarous and Uncivilized People For after Terms agreed on and submitted to yet without any new Provocation or other occasion given by those poor Creatures the French have fallen upon them taken from them that little that was left and in cold Blood Murthered them sparing neither Age nor Sex and shall not we then think our selves in a comfortable Condition when we have such Task-Masters as these set over us But it seems these are they by whom King James hopes to be restored to his Kingdoms it is by these that he means to do his Work and they are the Instruments he will imploy to make the Settlement he designs in England for in his Declaration he plainly tells us That if those he brings over with him are not sufficient he has more of the same sort roady at hand Now tho a Reconciliation with King James were practicable under a Supposition that there could be any moral assurance that he would sacredly keep his Word and that he had more just and righteous Intentions then heretofore yet to come in such Company and to bring such a Train along with him makes it impossible to all those who have not abandoned all Sence of Religion and Morality and are not resolved to run into all the Excesses of Cruelty and Oppression But that nothing might be wanting to give Success to this fatal Enterprize and make our Ruin more certain several Persons in England I believe some in every County were not only privy but consenting to it and had prepared Horses and Arms to
BOOKS Sold by Richard Baldwin BIbliotheca Politica Or An Enquiry into the Ancient Constitution of the English Government with respect both to the just Extent of Regal Power and to the Rights and Liberties of the Subject Wherein all the Chief Arguments both for and against the Late Revolution are impartially represented and considered In XIII Dialogues Collected out of the best Approved Authors both Ancient and Modern To which is added An Alphabetical Table to the whole Work The Works of Fr. Rabelais M. D. or the Lives Heroick Deeds and Sayings of Gargantua and Pantagruel Done out of French by Sir Tho. Urchard Kt. and others With a large Account of the Life and Works of the Author particularly an Explanation of the most difficult Passages in them Never before publish'd in any Language Mercury or the Secret and Swift Messenger Shewing how a man may with privacy and speed communicate his Thoughts to a Friend at any distance The second Edition By the Right Reverend Father in God John Wilkins late Lord Bishop of Chester Printed for Richard Baldwin where are to be had The World in the Moon and Mathematical Magick The Antiquity and Justice of an Oath of Abjuration In answer to a Treatise Entituled The Case of an Oath of Abjuration An Essay concerning Obedience to the Supream Powers and the Duty of Subjects in all Revolutions With some Considerations touching the present Juncture of Affairs A Compendious History of the Taxes of France and of the Oppressive Methods of Raising of them An Impartial Enquiry into the Advantages and Losses that England hath received since the beginning of this present War with France A COLLECTION OF SPEECHES OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE HENRY Late EARL of Warrington VIZ. I. His Speech upon his being Sworn Mayor of Chester in November 1691. II. His Speech to the Grand-Jury at Chester April 13. 1692. III. His Charge to the Grand-Jury at the Quarter-Sessions held for the County of Chester on the 11th of Octob. 1692 IV. His Charge to the Grand-Jury at the Quarter-Sessions Held for the County of Chester on the 25th day of April 1693. LONDON Printed for Richard Baldwin near the Oxford-Arms in Warwick Lane 1694. A Collection of SPEECHES Of the Right Honourable HENRY Late EARL of Warrington THE SPEECH Of the RIGHT HONOURABLE HENRY EARL of Warrington Upon his being Sworn MAYOR of Chester In NOVEMBER 1691. I AM much oblig'd to you for the respect you have done me by putting this Trust into my hands and your Kindness is the greater because you did it without any Sollicitation on my part for I did so little expect it that I was extreamly Surpriz'd when I read my Predecessor's Letter which gave me to understand That your Choice of a Mayor for the Year ensuing was fallen upon me it is a great Trust that you repose in me and I hope I shall not Disappoint you in the Considence you have of me It is with some Inconvenience to my private Affairs That I have taken this Journey yet had my particular Occasions suffer'd more I should have made no difficuly in postponing them when an opportunity offers it self of doing any Service to the Publick or to thâ— Corporation neither could I have been excusable if I should have put so great a slight upon the Respect and good Will of my Friends as to refuse to Serve them in this or any other Capacity By the Oath I have now taken I have oblig'd my self before God and the World to that to which my own Inclinations did zealously dispose me for it was with extream Grief when in the late Reigns I beheld your Liberties and Franchises were Ravish'd from you What in me lies shall not be wanting to repair those Breaches that have been made and to prevent the like Invasions for the future I hope during this King's Life we are out of such Dangers since the offering up of Charters can be no acceptable Sacrifice to him because he came to the Crown upon English Principles and Governing by such Politicks is that alone which can make him Safe and Glorious But you may remember that lately we had Two Kings to whom nothing was so acceptable as the submitting our Religion and Liberties to their Arbitrary Wills and Pleasure and this Nation was then so unfortunate as to have a Party in it tho much the least who were industrious to comply with those two Kings in their wicked Desires The first step made by that Party was in their fulsome Addresses where they deliver'd up themselves and all they had to be disposed of at the King's Pleasure Making no other claim to their Liberties and Civil Rights but as Concessions from the Crown telling the King withal That every one of his Commands was Stampt with God's Authority and a great deal of such nauseous Stuff much fitter to be offer'd to some Eastern Monarch or the French King than to a King of England governing by the Laws of the Realm Well had it been if their Falshood and Flattery had gone no further but contrary to their Oath and the Trust reposed in them they proceeded to the Surrendring of Charters a thing so contrary to Justice and inconsistent with the Fundamentals of the Government of England that if such Surrenders can be justified I don't see what can be Dishonest or Vnlawful yet such Proceedings became a Test of Loyalty by which they thought to recommend themselves to the King's Favour whilst those who dissented in this point were accounted disaffected to the Government and were loaded with all manner of Reproaches But Gentlemen till then it was never accounted Liberality to be generous at the expence of others nor the usual way of recommending a man's Fidelity by betraying of a Trust nor to bring a man's word into credit by making light of an Oath These things I mention not that I desire to keep up Divisions amongst us or to discourage any that are sorry for what they have done and are willing to come into the Interest of this Government for I wish from my Soul that we were all of a mind but I mention these things to testify my dislike of such Proceedings and to shew how much I desire to prevent the like for the future For I am sure no man can be hearty for this Government who does not abhor such Proceedings as these were And saying this it puts me in mind of an Observation which I have made for some time which is this That generally those people who refuse to take the Oaths to this King and Queen are such as were active in or consenting to the surrendring of Charters which shews they are men of extraordinary Consciences who think it unlawful to Swear to this Government and yet could think it not only lawful but an Act of unshaken Loyalty to break their Oaths and betray their Trust If there be any such in this Corporation I hope they are but few and will serve as Examples not of Imitation but Admonition to
These things Gentlemen I in particular recommend to you not as all you business but yet as things that cry aloud for redress for there does fall within your Enquiry High-Treasons Petty-Treasons Felonies of all sorts whether against the Person Possession or Goods of a man Riots Routs and unlawful Assemblies and every thing that is an Offence against the Publick Peace in which I am not more particular because I fear I have held you too long already and therefore I will trouble you no farther but pray God to direct you in your Business FINIS BOOKS Printed for R. Baldwin MErcurius Britannicus Or the New Observator Containing Reflections upon the most Remarkable Events falling out from time to time in Europe and more particularly in England The Fifth Volume Printed for Ric. Baldwin where are also to be had the First Second Third and Fourth Volumes with the Appendix to them The Speech of the Right Honourable Thomas Earl of Stamford Lord Gray of Grooby c. at the General Quarter-Sessions held for the County of Leicester at Michaelmas 1691. His Lordship being made Custos Rotulorum for the said County by the late Lord Commissioners of the Great Seal Bibliotheca Politica Or a Discourse by way of Dialogue Whether Absolute Non-Resistance of the Supreme Powers be enjoined by the Doctrine of the Gospel and was the Ancient Practise of the Primitive Church and the constant Doctrine of our Reformed Church of England Collected out of the most approved Authors both Ancient and Modern Dialogue the Fourth Printed for R. Baldwin where also may be had the First Second and Third Dialogues A Project of a Descent upon France By a Person of Quality A True Relation of the Cruelties and Barbarities of the French upon the English Prisoners of War being a Journal of their Travels from Dinant in Britany to Thoulon in Provence and back again With a Description of the Scituation and Fortifications of all the Eminent Towns upon the Road and their Distance Of their Prisons and Hospitals and the number of men that died under their Cruelty c. Europe's Chains broke or a sure and speedy Project to rescue her from the present Usurpations of the Tyrant of France Reflections upon the late King James's Declaration lately Dispersed by the Jacobites Truth brought to Light or the History of the first 14 years of King James I. In Four Ports I The happy state of England at his Majesty's Entrance the corruption of it afterwards With the Rise of Particular Favourites and the Divisions between this and other States abroad II. The Divorce betwixt the Lady Frances Howard and Robert Earl of Essex before the King's Delegates authorized under the King's Broad-Seal As also the Arraignment of Sir Jer. Ellis Lieutenant of the Tower c. about the murther of Sir Tho. Overbury with all Proceedings thereupon and the King 's gracious Pardon and Favour to the Counâ—â—ss III. A Declaration of his Majesty's Revenue since he came to the Crown of England with the Annual Issues Gifts Pensions and extraordinary Disbursements IV. The Commissions and Warrants for the bâ—rning of two Hereticks newly revived with two Pardons one for Theopâ—â—â—â—s Higgons the other for Sir Eustace Hart. A Sermon preached before the General and Officers in the King's Chappel at Portsmouth on Sunday July 24. 1692 Being the day before they Embarqu'd for the Descent upon France By Willam Gallaway A.M. Chaplain to Their Majesties Sea-Train of Artillery THE Lord DELAMERE's CHARGE TO THE GRAND JURY OF CHESTER THE CHARGE Of the Right Honourable HENRY Earl of WARRINGTON TO THE GRAND JURY AT THE QUARTER SESSIONS Held for the County of Chester On the 11th of October 1692. LONDON Printed for Richard Baldwin near the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-Lane 1693. THE CHARGE Of the Right Honourable HENRY Earl of WARRINGTON TO THE GRAND JURY c. GENTLEMEN PEACE in a Nation is like Health in a Natural Body whose value is not sufficiently known but by the want of it and herein God Almighty is wonderfully gracious to this Land not only in continuing to us the Blessing of Peace but in teaching us the worth of it by letting us see the Nations round about us in War and groaning under all the miserable Effects of it whilst it is kept at a distance from Us and we are only at some Expence which is unavoidable all Circumstances considered unless we will submit to that Monster the French King And indeed God hath done so many and great things for us that nothing is wanting to compleat our Happiness but our selves Of all the Mercies this Nation hath lately received I think our Deliverance from King James was none of the least if it be a Mercy to be delivered from Popery and Slavery That we were in great danger thereof I think was very evident from what we had suffered and what King James apparently further designed to have done had he been let alone a little longer for his Administration was become so iexorbitant that Men of all persuasions many of the Papists not excepted did think his Yoke intolerable and that it was highly just to be relieved against his Oppressions for when the Prince of Orange landed scarce any Man appeared for King James nay a great many of his Army deserted him which coldness and neglect could not probably proceed from any thing so much as from the ill opinion they had of his Cause Now if any that were then so indifferent and passive have lately conceived a better Opinion of him it may well be suspected that a particular Picque or some Sinister Byas guided their motion at that time and if so it 's no matter what side they are on for those who are governed in such cases by any thing but a publick Principle are easily turned about by every breath of Air Nor can I imagine what can give any man a better opinion of King James now than he had of him before he went into France the only place as he says he could retire to with safety considering how improbable it is that any Instructions which that Tyrant may give him will make him less inclined to Popery and Arbitrary Power Before I come to the Particulars of your Enquiry give me leave to say something of a great Deliverance which God wrought for us this Year To talk of Plots and Conspiracies against the Government may be rather to tell some people News than that which they do believe because we have already heard of many Discoveries of Plots but none that have been prosecuted and for that reason men may be inclined to think they were rather Fictitious than real Plots against the Government Plots sometimes are not prosecuted either because of the great indulgence of the Government being desirous to gain people rather by mercy than by being too extream to mark what is done amiss or it may be because the Government hath a more than ordinary tenderness for that sort of People or it may be because some of
great Offence To rob any Booth in a Fan or Market This became socommon a Trade that all other Remedies to prevent it proved inessectual and therefore it was made Felony without benefit of Clergy as are the rest that I have mentioned The Accessories to all these and other Felonies do fall within your Enquiry for generally where benefit of Clergy is taken away from the Principal the Accessories before the Fact are likewise to suffer Death and good reason is it that he who is partaker in the Crime and without whose concurrence and assistance it could not have been effected should fall into the like Condemnation Petty-Larceny is the stealing of a thing that is under the value of 12 d. though it is a small Offence yet the frequency wherewith it is committed requires your care to suppress it for the truth is there is a parcel of idle wandring People whose whole business is to go from place to place to strip Hedges and commit such like Offences There are several other Offences that are inquirable of by you but I omit to mention them because I believe your own Observation will help you therein Only thus much I will observe in general that whatever is an Offence against the Publick Peace or Plenty falls within your Enquiry And having said this I will keep you no longer from your Business FINIS Books Printed for Richard Baldwin STate-Tracts In Two Parts The First Part being a Collection of several Treatises relating to the Government Privately printed in the Reign of King Charles II. The Second Part consisting of a farther Collection of several Choice Treatises relating to the Government from the Year 1660. to 1689. Now published in a Body to shew the Necessity and clear the Legality of the late Revolution and our Happy Settlement under the Auspicious Reign of Their Majesties King William and Queen Mary A Brief Disquisition of the Law of Nature according to the Principles and Method laid down in the Reverend Dr. Cumberland's now Lord Bishop of Peterborough's Latin Treatise on that Subject As also his Confutation of Mr. Hobb's Principles put into another Method With the Right Reverend Author's Approbation The Life of Lewis of Bourbon late Prince of Conde Digested into Annals with many curious Remarks on the Transactions of Europe for these last 60 Years Done out of French The Tragedies of the Last Age consider'd and examin'd by the Practice of the Ancients and by the common Sense of all Ages in a Letter to Fleetwood Shephard Esq The Second Edition A short View of Tragedy its Original Excellency and Corruption With some Reflections on Shakespear and other Practitioners for the Stage Both by Mr. Rymer Servant to Their Majesties Travels into divers parts of Europe and Asia undertaken by the French King's Order to discover a new Way by Land into China containing many curious Remarks in Natural Philosophy Geography Hydrography and History Together with a Description of Great Tartary and of the different People who inhabit there Done out of French To which is added A Supplement extracted from Hakluyt and Purchas giving an Account of several Journeys over Land from Russia Persia and the Moguls Country to China together with the Roads and distances of the Places Liturgia Tigurina Or The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and other Ecclesiastical Rites and Ceremonies usually practised and solemnly performed in all the Churches and Chappels of the City and Canton of Zurick in Switzerland c. A New Plain Short and Compleat French and English Grammer whereby the Learner may attain in few Months to speak and write French correctly as they do now in the Court of France And wherein all that is dark superfluous and desicient in other Grammars is plain short and methodically supplied Also very useful to Strangers that are desirous to learn the English Tongue For whose sake is added a Short but very Exact English Grammar The Third Edition with Additions By Peter Berault Mâ—moirs cencerning the Campagne of Three Kings William Lewis and James in the Year 1692. With Reflections upon the Great Endeavours of Lewis the 14th to effect his Designs of James the 2d to Remount the Throne And the proper Methods for the Allies to take to hinder both The Speech of the Right Honourable Thomas Earl of Stamford Lord Gray of Grooby c. at the General Quarter-Sessions held for the County of Leicester at Michaelmas 1691. His Lordship being made Gustes Rotulorum for the said County by the late Lord Commissioners of the Great Seal The Speech of the Right Honourable Henry Earl of Warrington Lord Delamere to the Grand Jury at Chester April 13. 1692. An Answer to the Late King James's Declaration dated at St. Germains April the 17th S. N. 1693. An Account of the late Terrible Earthquake in Sicily with most of its Particulars Done from the Italian Copy printed at Rome Reflections upon the Late Horrid Conspiracy contrived by the French Court to Murther His Majesty in Flanders And for which Monsieur Granvall one of the Assassinates was Executed A True and Exact Account of the Retaking a Ship called The Friend's Adventure of Topsham from the French after she had been Taken six Days and they were upon the Coasts of France with it four Days where one Englishman and a Boy set upon Seven Frenchmen killed Two of them took the other Five Prisoners and brought the Ship and them safe to England Their Majesties Customs of the said Ship amounted to 1000 l. and upwards Performed and written by Robert Lyde Mate of the same Ship Reflections upon Two Pamphlets lately published one called A Letter from Monsieur de Cros concerning the Memoirs of Christendom And the other An Answer to that Letter Pretended to have been written by the Author of the said Memoirs By a Lover of Truth Europe's Chains Broke or a sure and speedy Project to rescue Her from the Present Usurpations of the Tyrant of France The Gentleman's Journal Or The Monthly Miscellany In a Letter to a Gentleman in the Country Consisting of News History Philosophy Poetry Musick Translations c. Vol. II. June 1693. Where are to be had Compleat Sets for the Year 1692. or Single ones for last Year Bibliotheca Politica Or A Discourse by way of Dialogue upon these Questions Whether by the Ancient Laws and Constitutions of this Kingdom as well as by the Statutes of the 13th and 14th of King Charles the II. all Resistance of the King or of those commissioned by him are expresly forbid upon any Pretence whatsoever And also Whether all those who assisted his Present Majesty King William either before or after the coming over are guilty of the breach of this Law Collected out of the most Approved Authors both Ancient and Modern Dialogue the Ninth Where are also to be had the First Second Third Fourth Fifth Sixth Seventh and Eighth Dialogues Saul at Endor or the Ghost of the Marquiss de Louvois consulted by the French
from Oppressing than to have an Absolute Regal Power And says another The Way of Governing must be both Right and Clear as well as is the End and how this can be expected when a King is guided by no other Rule than that of his unbounded Will and Pleasure I do not see any more than a man can depend upon the Weather Do not all examples of it that ever were prove that Absolute Power and Oppression are inseparable and as naturally proceed the one from the other as the Effect doth from the Cause 'T is a Riddle to me how that Prince can be called God's Ordinance who assumes a Power above what the Law hath invested him with and useth it to the Grieving and Oppressing of his Subjects May not the Plague Famine or Sword as well be called God's Ordinance since one no less than the other is sent by him for the Punishment of that People whom he so visits We may reasonably suppose that Order and Peace are much rather the end of Government than Oppression and Violence because God is a God of order and when he sent the greatest Blessing upon Earth it was Peace and though God was often very wroth with the Kings of Israel and Judah for their Idolatries yet the Innocent Blood they shed and the Violence and Oppression which they committed provoked him more highly and with his severest Judgments he always testified his Displeasure against it I could run out into a large Discourse upon this Subject but I will stop here because I am perswaded that what I have already said is sufficient to convince any one who is unprejudiced That an Absolute Power is so far from being the Right of the King of England that the exercise of such a Power is Unlawful in any King I know very well that in the late Reigns this Doctrine would not have been endured to have said less than this would have cost a man his Head For whoever would not then comply with Arbitrary Power was called a Factious man and an Opposer of the Government but is it not nonsense or very near a-kin to it to call that Seditious that is for bringing things into Order and for maintaining the Laws and supporting the Government Arbitrary desires never did any King good but have ruined many It shook King Charles the Second's Throne and tumbled down his next Successor and though such Kings are left without excuse when Ruined yet I may say they are not only in the fault for their overthrow is in a great measure occasioned by those who Preach up and advise the King to Arbitrary Power Did not other People cocker up and cherish Arbitrary Notions in Kings minds though such Conceptions might sometimes get into their heads yet they would never fructifie nor come to perfection if they were not cultivated by Parasites who make their Court that way in hopes to raise themselves tho with the hazard of their Master's Crown As it befel the late King James whose Male-Administration rendered him unmeet to sway the Scepter And I am very well satisfied that the Judgment upon him was just for unless a People are decreed to be miserable which God Almighty will never do except thereto very highly provoked by their Sins certainly he will never so tye up their hands that they shall not be allowed to use them when they have no other way to help themselves Several Artifices were made use of in the Two late Reigns for the introducing Arbitrary Power and Popery one of which was to insinuate into the minds of the People that the Succession of the Crown was the Chief Pillar of the Government and that the breaking into it upon any pretence whatsoever was no less than a Dissolution of the whole Constitution and nothing but Disorder and Confusion could ensue This Doctrine was boldly then Preached up and prevailed with many and obtained no less than if the Crown had been setled in that Family by an Ordinance or Decree dropt down from Heaven and that every one of that Line or Race had been distinguished from the rest of Mankind by more than ordinary virtues and endowments of Mind and Body But we know not of any such Divine Revelation and happy had it been for this Nation if that Family had been so signal for its Justice and its Piety we might then have prayed That there might not want one of them to fit upon this Throne to all Ages How much this Nation is obliged to that Family we very well remember for the Wounds they gave us are not yet healed Election was certainly the Original of Succession for as the living more safely and with the freer Enjoyment of their Goods was the Original Cause that people associated themselves into a Nation or Kingdom so for the better attaining that End they did set over themselves the best and wisest of their brethren to be their Rulers and Governours and this Administration was trusted in one or more hands according to the Temper and Disposition of the People in which Authority they continued either for their lives or for one year or for some other stated Period of time Where the Government was under a King he usually held it for life and then upon his Decease the people proceeded to a New Election till at last it fell into the hands of some very excellent Person who having more than ordinarily deserved of his Countrey the people as well in Gratitude to him as believing they could not expect a better Choice than in the Branches that would grow out of so excellent a Stock entailed that Dignity upon him and his Posterity And this seems to be the most Natural and Lawful Rise of Succession I do not deny but some Successions have arisen from Force but that was never lasting for it could not subsist or seem Lawful any longer than there was a Force to support it Now when Princes come to the Crown by the first way of Succession I mean by the Consent and Approbation of the People does not that plainly imply That they ought to use that Power for the Good and Advantage of their Subjects and not to their hurt and enjoy the Crown only upon that condition No man would ever suffer a Monster to inherit his Estate and Kings are no more exempted from the Accidents of Human Nature than their meanest Subjects and it is every days practice in private Families to exclude those that will waste their Estates and ruin the Family and if the reason will there hold good then it is so much the stronger in the Descent of the Crown by how much the good of the whole Kingdom is to be preserted to that of one Family Nor is Succession so very Ancient in England as some people may apprehend Till the time of William the First commonly though falsly called the Conqueror it was look'd upon as a very precarious Title the next in Succession could make but little reckoning on the Crown further than his
in false and counterfeit Money knowing it to be such to make payment with it is High-Treason by 25 Edw. III. and so it is to clip file or wash Money by 3 Hen. V. and very good reason it should be so for these and every of them is a great Offence against the Publick for Mony being as it were the Sinews of the Nation to impair or counterfeit it is a great Joss and damage to the Publick so that the Offence in so doing is not because it is marked with the King's Image for the French Money and the Spanish Coin and others are current in England which have not the King's Image upon them but the true reason is because of the great interest the Publick has in it and it would be the same thing if the Money had any other Stamp or Size put upon it by Publick Authority To kill the Chancellor Treasurer or the King's Justices being in their Places doing their Offices is High-Treason by 25 Edw. III. It is very great reason that they who serve the Publick in such eminent Stations should have the publick protection for when they faithfully and honestly discharge their several Trusts the Publick receive great advantages by it and therefore this Offence was made High-Treason To counterfeit the Sign-Manual Privy-Signet or Seal is High-Treason by 1 M. 6. and I think it is so by 25 Edw. III. to counterfeit the Privy-Seal And the reason why the Offences in these Cases are made so capital is because of the great detriment they bring upon the Publick To extol a Foreign Power is High-Treason by 1 Eliz. and very fit it should be so for every man will allow it is a great Offence to set up any other Power in opposition to the Publick Authority For a Priest or a Jesuit to come and abide within this Realm is High-Treason by 27 Eliz. I believe a great many people have been under a very great mistake in this matter supposing it was upon the Score of Religion that the Priests and Jesuits were put to death whereas it was quite otherwise for it was upon a Politick account that they suffered it was for an Offence against the Government that they were executed For it having been found by experience that this sort of Vermin by their Doctrine and Practice sowed the Seeds of Division and thereby wrought great Disturbances in the Nation it was therefore thought fit by the Parliament to take this way as the most effectual to keep them out for as what they did amounted to nothing less than Treason so it was highly reasonable that the punishment should be commensurate to the Offence And since it is become a Law of the Realm if this sort of people will be so presumptuous as to break it they have no body to blame but themselves if they suffer by it for it is a very just and reasonable Law To absolve any from their Allegiance or to be absolved is High Treason by 3 Jac. 1. the Law does heighten or abate the Punishment according as the Offence does more or less affect the Publick Peace so that the more it tends to the Publick Prejudice the greater is the Offence and what can strike more directly at the ruin and overthrow of the Nation than to withdraw the People from their Allegiance and to become the Destroyers of their Native Country And since those that absolve and those that are absolved have thereby declared themselves Enemies to the Nation it is very fit the Government should treat them as such The next Offence is Petty-Treason as for a Wife to kill her Husband a Priest his Ordinary a Servant his Master these are made so Capital because of the Obedience and Subjection which they ought to pay by reason of the Power and Authority which the Law gives the other over them The next Offence is Felony and it is either against the Person or the Goods or Possession Against the Person of another To kill another with Malice prepensed either expressed or implyed is Murther Designedly to cut out the Tongue maim or disfigure another is Felony without benefit of Clergy To Stab or Pistol another without a Weapon be drawn or a Blow given by the Party that is slain is also Felony without benefit of Clergy And so is Buggery with Man or Beast a Sin that could never have entered into the thoughts of Man till they were fallen to the lowest degree of Depravity So it is to Ravish a Woman that is to have the Carnal Knowledge of her Body against her Consent and so it is to lye with a Child under Ten years old tho with her Consent So is Witchcraft but it is an Offence very hard to prove So is Poysoning the most Secret and Treacherous way of Murthering of all others an Offence so abhorred by the Law that by Statute 22 Hen. 8. c. 9. it was made Treason and the Judgment was to be boiled to Death but it is since altered and made Felony by 1º Edward 6th c. 12. It is surely an Offence that deserves a severe Punishment because there is no Fence against it In all other Cases a Man has some means of defending himself but in this none All these Felonies are Death without benefit of Clergy Manslaughter is when two fall out and Fight immediately or so soon after as it may be supposed that that heat continued and one of them is Slain Here there is benefit of the Clergy because there does not appear to be any premeditated Malice To kill another by Accident doing a lawful Act is Chance-medly and if a Man is assaulted by another and in his own Defence he happens to kill him these the Law pardons of course Felonies against the Goods or Possession of another are such as these viz. To Rob on the High-way for the Law will protect the Goods and Persons of those who are upon their lawful Occasions and it is very reasonable that those who Travel on the Road should have some such Guard or else the Trade and Business of the Nation would be very much obstructed and suffer great damage To take away any thing privately from the Person of another if the Punishment of this were not great it would become a great Trade for it is so easily done and so hard to be prevented that a Mans Money would be safer any where than in his Pocket To steal a Horse Designedly to burn a Stack of Hay or Corn if it be done by Accident it is but a Trespass but being done by Design it carries so much Malice and Wickedness along with it that it justly deserves to be punished with Death To Rob a Church To break into a House and take any thing thence by Night or by Day for this carries a double Offence along with it for the Goods of another are not only Feloniously taken from him but he is also put in fear of his Life where he ought to be most secure and undisturb'd which the Law accounts a