it hath blessed both us and that Kingdom with the benefit of Peace yet hath it not delivered himself from a large and yearly expence here for supportation of that State out of his own Treasure And thus far in answer of the Argument from increase of Revenue by forraign Dominions As to the Arguments of Honour by addition of Titles and forraign Territories it may suffice in answer That so long as this Crown was actually possessed of any such Signiory the Tenure and Service did ever bring with it a note and badge of Vassalage than which nothing to so free a Monarch as the King of England who is Monarcha in Regno tot tanta habet Privilegia quot Imperator in Imperio a Monarch in his Kingdom and hath as many and as large Priviledges therein as an Emperour in his Empire could be more in blemish or opposition To write Domino Regi nostro Franciae To our Lord the King of France as during the time we held the Provinces in France we usually did in all our Letters and publick Contracts with that Crown can be called no addition of Honour And whether upon every command to act in person those base services of Homage and Fidelity as first in putting off the Imperial Crown the kneeling low at the foot of that King and taking an Oath to become Homme liege du Roys de France a liege subject to the Kings of France c. we in performing so the duties of a subject do not much more disparage the dignity of a Soveraign is no question of doubt From these considerations of Reputation and Honour the greatest stayes that support Majesty and retain Obedience our Kings of England have as far as to the forfeit of those Signiories either avoided or refused the services As King John did Normandy and Edward the second resigned to his Son the Duchy of Aquitain to put off the act of homage from himself to whom it could not in respect of his Regality but be a dishonour As appeareth in Henry the second who having made his Son Consortem Imperii a King of England with him Homagium à Filio noluit saith the Record quia Rex fuit sed securitatem accepit would not receive Homage of him because he was a King but took his Security In the seventeenth of Richard the second the Lords and Justices would not consent to a Peace with France unless the King might not do Homage they held it so basâ— supposing thereby the liberty of the Kings Person and Subject wronged And thus much of the little Reputation that either in Title or Territory those subordiante Duchies in France added to this Crown As for the Kingdom of France the people of England were so little in love with that Title as any Honour to them that by Acts of Parliament 14 Ed. 3. and 8 Ed. 5. they provided that the Subjects of England should owe no Obedience to the King as King of France nor the Kingdom of England be in any wise subjected by such Union to that Crown And so much we have ever been in fear of that place lest it might leave this State to the misery of a Provincial Government as in 17 H. 6. the Commons urged to contribute for the recovery of that Crown answered that the gaining of any footing in France would induce the Kings aboad there and by such absence cause great decay and desolation in this State besides the transport of our money in the mean time which would inrich that Countrey and impoverish the Realm at home whereby we should justly again say Britannia servitutem suam quotidie emit quotidie poscit The Britains are every day begging to be slaves every day giving money for it THe last motive is the advantage we now have of greater Facility and assurance of Success in any forreign enterprise by this happy Union of both Kingdoms than ever any of our Ancestors had To which in answer nothing can be more full than laying down the motives and means that led on the Kings of this Realm to attempt and prosperously effect their undertakings in other parts weigh how they suit these times and whether that any or all the advantages we now have may be to them of equal worth and valuation The first consideration is in Place the next in Person In the wars of France whether those for the defence of particular Signiories or competition of the intire Kingdom we had ever Ports to land at and Forts to retire to which now we have not The coast of Normandy was our own by which we might enter the midst of France And Edward the third when he intended to annoy the East part sided with Montfort against Charles de Bloys whom he invested with the Duchy of Britain that so he might have there an easie footing Thus by leave of his Confederates in Flanders he had safe entrance for all his Army to invade the other side and a sure retreat when upon any occasion he would come back as he did to Antwerp And wheresoever any Army may have a quiet descent the greatest difficulty is overcome for the rest consisteth in Chance wherein Fortune is rather wont to prevail than Vertue But ibi grave est Bellum gerere ubi nullus est Classâ— Portus apertus non ager pacatus non Civitassocia non consistendi aut procedendi locus quocunque circum spexeris hostilia sunt omnia There 't is a hard task to wage war where there is no Port open for our Navy the Countrey our enemy no City our Confederate no place to make a stand or to march out from but whithersoever a man looks he can see nothing but hostile intentions against us And this must be now our case which was never our Ancestors Advantage personal was either A Party found made For the Persons considerable the aâ—… the Subjects to our enemies or our own Confederates Of the first our Kings heretofore did either work on the opportunity of any dissention ministred or by Pension and Reward either make a fraction in Obedience or Neutrality in Assistance with the Subjects of their Adversary The Dukes of Burgundy Earls of Britain Dreux and others in France offended with their Sovereign Confederati erant Comiti Britanniae Henrico Regi Angliae became Confederates with Henry Earl of Britain and King of England and thereupon drew him over into Britain The same King by yearly Pensions of 7000 l. kept divers in Poictou in fraction against their Lord and their own Loyalty Edw. 3. had never undertaken the conquest of France if Robert de Artoys displeased with the Sentence of Philip his Master for that Earldom had not incited and complotted for him as Godfrey of Harecourt did after Nor Henry 5. if the unsound memory of the French King the jealousie of those Princes and Orleantial Faction had not made his way and Fortune Confederates THe
never would be drawn to â—he hazard of war for improbe Neptunum acâ—usat qui iterum naufragium facit he blames Neptune very unjustly who suffers shipwrack â—he second time until the French King conâ—ra juramentum formam pacis contrary to â—is oath and the form of peace had vexillis exâ—licatis with banners displayed invaded his doâ—inions in France and with a Fleet intended â—o attempt England ad ipsum Regem viribus subâ—ertendum utterly to undo the King by force of Arms. Richard the second whom as well he left Successour to his troubles as to his Kingdom â—ntred in the decline of his Grandsires fortune â—nd after many years of war and much loss had â—n the end an expectation of peace which opened â—o his Commons and Council in Parliament their longing affection was so much inclined hereto that they advised the King though it were â—n doing homage for Guien Callis and the rest he â—hould not let slip that opportunity Until Charles of France had received that â—angerous Rebel Owen Glendowr by the name â—f Metuendissimi Principis Walliae the most â—read Prince of Wales into a strict confederacy â—gainst his Master whom he vouchsafed no â—ther title than Henricus de Lancastria by â—ontract and had harrowed the Isle of Wight by â—he Duke of Orleans and Earl of Saint Paul â—ntred into Gascoign himself and prepared a Fleet and an Army to invade this Land Henry the fourth did never disquiet his peace and after many prorogued Truces would not break out again until Burgundy that had wrested into his hand the Government of France meanâ— with all his force to besiege Callis and annoy this Realm The Uncle and Chancellour to Henry the fifth declared in Parliament the desire his Master had to procure Peace and how the French King had refused all reason denying to render his prisoners or ransom those taken at Agin-Court battel so that the King was driven to his last hope which was by dint of sword to seek his peace concluding thus his speech Bella faciamuâ— ut Pacem habeamus quia finis Belli Pax est Let us fight that we may obtain peace for the end of war is peace Henry the sixth to save the expence of his people and treasure offered many large and liberal conditions but received in exchange nothing but scoffs he was contented to part with the Dutchy of Mayne to make up a peace with his uncle of France Against the Duke of Somerset it was objected by the Duke of York that he contrary to the Oath and Council by breaking the Amity between the two Princes was the only ground of the loss of Normandy There is extant in the Treasury a petition of 9 Hen. 7. from the Captains and military men propace habenda that they might have peace Neither interest of right nor jealousie of increasing power could draw Henry 8. unto the quarrel of France until the Church complained against Lewis 12. who neither esteeming â—f God good fame nor conscience detained â—he revenues of the Clergy supported the Cardiâ—al William to aspire to the Papacy aided in the â—ege of Boucy Alfonso of Ferrara and the Benivagli both Traytors to the Papal See where â—e intended to lay the foundation of his Empire â—o usurp all Italy and besought him for the pitty â—f our Saviour and by the virtue of his famous Ancestors for I use the words of the Popes Brief that never forsook the Church of God in diâ—ress and by his filial obedience the strongest â—ond to enter into that holy League they having â—lected him against Lewis Coput foeder is Italici Head of the Italian League Edward the sixth until urged with the touch of his honour being by his neighbours neglected â—n the marriage of their Mistress never attempted â—ny war against them The quarrels of France in the time of his sucâ—eeding sister after the marriage with Spain were â—either properly ours nor begun by us although â—n the end we only went away with the loss Her Sister of holy memory to effect the peace with France forbore the demand of Callis for â—ight years and neglected to urge a just debt of four millions from that Crown And the labours she â—pent to confirm amity with Spain by many â—riendly offices of mediation are apparent to the whole world though in the end of her desires she â—ailed whether happily in prevention of the Spaâ—ish Monarchy eternizing her memory or that â—his work of peace was by divine providence reâ—erved for him that could and hath best effected â—t I know not Only I conclude that as the first Monarch in Rome so the first in Britain might justly write Pace Populo Britanno terrâ— marique parta Janum clausi having setled Britaiâ— in peace by Land and sea I have shut up the doorâ— of Janus Temple Forraign arms the ground of trouble at home by the Enemy who to divert will attempt Subjects wearied with Toyl Taxation Feared with the effect of tyranny Inured to wars can never sute after to a quiet life It is evident by our own examples that for the moâ—â— part the Civil or Forraign Armies that have oppressed this State have been either bred out of our first attempting of others or out of the grievance of the Nobility and people either wearied with the toil and charge or feared with the effect of Tyranny which might corrupt the good fortune of their King or else aâ— plague no less of war that the better sort inured to command abroad have forgotten to obey at home and the inferiour by living there upon rapine and purchase unwilling here to tye themselves again to order and industry There is in the Register of State no time that so well expresseth either the danger or damage we underwent in making an adversary as that of Edward the third Out of many examples I will select some few beginning with the tenth of his reign at what time his intention was to attempt somewhat in France but diverted by Philip who mustring in partibus Britanniae ad invadendum Regnum Angliae in the parts of â—ritany to invade the Kingdom of England a â—uissant Army enforced Edward the third to fall â—rom his first purpose and insist upon his own â—uard for which cause to the infinite charge â—f himself and people he levied 80000. men â—ut of the Shires of this Kingdom To withdraw â—is forces from France in the thirteenth of his â—eign they invaded the Realm and burned the â—owns of Plymouth and Southampton places â—hat suffered from the same motive the like caâ—amity In the first of Richard the second after the â—attel of Cressy when they feared our too much â—ooting and we too much believed our own forâ—une for she cito reposcit quod dedit quickly â—alls for back what she gave us the Duke of Normandy to draw home our forces levieth an Army of forty thousand men at armes and forty â—housand
shall be lawful for all persons in our Kingdom to rise up against us and to do omnia quae gravamen nostrum respiciant acsi Nobis in nullâ— tenerentur so to act all things in reference to the grievances from us upon them as if they were by no tye obliged to us If Richard Duke of York had never learned to be so great a Souldier at the cost of his Master Henry the sixth in another State he had never disquieted the calm of his Times or given just occasion to his Opposite Somerset to say That if he had never learned to play the King by his Regency in France he had never forgot to obey as a Subject when he returned into England Our own times can afford some whose spirit improved by Military imployment and made wanton with popular applause might have given instance of these dangers if good success had been a relative to bad intentions And every age breeds some exorbitant spirits who turn the edge of their own sufficiency upon whatsoever they can devour in their ambitious apprehensions seeking rather a great than a good Fame and holding it the chiefest Honour to be thought the Wonder of their times which if they attain to it is but the condition of Monsters that are generally much admired but more abhorred But war some may say mouldeth not all men thus for vertuous men will use their weapons for ornament amongst their Friends against Enemies for defence And to those men their own goodness is not safe nam Regibus boni quam mali suspectiores sunt for Kings suspect good men sooner than bad Kings must have their Ministers pares negotiis fit for their business and not supra above it or too able for it For another mans too-much sufficiency as they take it is a diminution of their respectiveness and therefore dangerous THe meaner sort having forgot the toile of their first life by inuring themselves to the liberty of War which leaveth for the most part the lives of men to their own looseness and the means of getting to their own justice can never again endure either order or labour and so return but to corrupt the Common-wealth with their lawless manners For living more riotously than the rapine of forraign victory could warrant as for the most they do in contempt of their own private Want and Fortune they desire a change of the publick Quiet In Tumults and Uproars they take least care for their livings however the world goes they can be no losers for like Silla's Army making no difference between sacred and profane Robberies for the victors Sword seldom teacheth either mean or modesty they will be ready upon every advantage to pillage their Countrey-men at home For who can expect men dissolutely disciplined can ever use their armes with moderation Against the fury of such seditious Outrages many Parliaments as in the twenty second of Hen. the sixth have been sollicited for redress And that example in Champaign after the Peace at Callis 1360. where this licentious Rout at the close of those wars slew the Duke of Bourbon and besieged the Pope at Avignon may suffice to express this mischief It hath no less weakened the bond of mutual Trade since our Merchants whom the necessity of late times left to recover by force the losses they pretended do now teach as a Maxime of their Mysterie and our State That the directest way either to wealth or security is by Rapine and Spoil and to cloak their own ends pretend the common good as if the State stood by their affections when in truth they themselves cannot fish but in aqua turbida in troubled waters and therefore would have Incendium Patriae a bonefire of their Countrey if it be but to keep warm and awake their own humours THe last motive from Necessity is the ease War bringeth to a surcharged State Intending it seemeth War but as the Sink and Souldiers but as the Corruptions of Common-weals whereas besides the inevitable use of the one and the noble condition of the other an Errour in the argument Nature doth never oppress further by increase than she again dischargeth The breast of the Mother she enableth to nourish up as many as the Womb shall uno partu at one birth ever bring forth proportioning to the number of the Children the condition of their Strength and Appetites It is then accession of our own that may furcharge for Parents by such indulgent admission may soon famish whom in Motherly affection they intend to cherish But admitting the former ground whether by this way of waste we be ever able and at pleasure to gage the Issue when such elective power is left to him only qui suis stat viribus non alieno pendet arbitrio who stands by his own strength and not at the pleasure of another is considerable since to begin cuivis licet deponere cum victores â—â—lunt is easie for any man but the laying down â—ill be at the Conquerours pleasure For the wastâ—…g of our people in ambitious Enterprizes as that â—…r an Empire by Constantine in France left this 〈◊〉 and as a prey to the barbarous Frontiers â—…mni milite floridae juventut is alacritate spoliaâ—… being left naked of Souldiery and robbed of â—…e choicest flower of youth And when we were â—…ed to make good our undertaking in France the waste of our people was so great that to supply extremity we took purgamenta urbium the dregs â—f Towns as Curtius saith of Alexander â—eed hiring the Bankrupts by protection as in â—…e twenty second of Edward the first and enâ—…orcing against the rule of justice the Judges to â—…ut Placita corum in respectu qui in obsequium Reâ—…is profecturi sunt Pleas in the behalf of such as â—…ere to go in the Kings service And as Tacitus â—…f a declined Majesty saith emunt militem non â—…egunt they buy their Souldiers rather than make â—…hoice of them we made purchase of general Pardons of all that were Utlegati Banniti aut de Feloniis indictati si cum Rege transitare voluerint out-lawed excommunicated or indicted of Feâ—…ony in case they would go over with the King As in the same year of the former King and in the year after were dischaged out of all Prisons in the Realm to the number of ninety seven notorious Maâ—…efactors b And in the eighteenth of Edward the second and eighth of Edward the third and â—weleth of Edward the fourth we did the like An army better apted by Necessity than Election to â—ive upon the Enemy Quibus ob Egestatem Flagitia maxima peccandi necessitudo est whose â—ndigency and former ill way of life must needs make them ready for any mischief In the end 〈◊〉 this King last remembred and entrance of 〈◊〉 Heir Richard the second the State began to be seâ—… sible of consuming Issue which not lying in thâ—… Kings power now as the strength of France
set oâ—… Revenge stood to stay at pleasure for armâ—… tenenti Omnia dat qui justa neg at Deny thâ—… Souldiers due You give him all you have it wâ—… urged to him in Parliament in the seventh of hâ—… reign as an errour in his Government whereto 〈◊〉 answered that they ought not to lay the cause upâ—… on him for that together with the Crown thâ—… Wars descended unto him And the Chancellour 〈◊〉 the fourth of Henry the fourth declared publicklâ—… in the Higher House that by the mischance of Wâ—… and want of reasonable Peace for I use the wordâ—… of the Roll occasioned by dissensions and privaâ—… desire the flower of Chivalry and Rock of Nobleâ—… within the Realm was in a manner consumed Nobilit as cum Plebe perit lateque vagatur Ensis à multo revocatum est pectore ferrum The Peer and Peasant falls and hating rest Bloody the Sword returns from many a breast And the whole State by war had been thus subverted had not God as a mean raised that King But since the end of mans creation is not for thâ—… Slaughter nor education of Armes to make meâ—… Cast-aways the course most answerable either to Charity or Example for Rome did by Coloniâ—… inlarge and confirm her Empire is to transplaâ—… that we may best spare In Ireland we may increase the King many Subjects and in the Indiâ—… God many servants a world from our Forefathers â—…ockt up by divine Providence as only best to glorifie and purifie these Times And as in war conquirendus potius miles quam dimittendus Souldiers are rather to be listed than disbanded so post â—ellum vires refovendae magis quam spargendae after war forces are rather to be cherished than wasted And thus much in answer of Necessity Answer to the Arguments of Profit THe profits gained by Forraign Expeditions cannot be any wayes so truly esteemed as by setting down the expence of Money Men and Munition by which we have made purchase of them I will therefore deliver as they fall in sequence all the Impositions Taxes and Lones whether by general Grant or Prerogative power leâ—ied of the People summing after up as I go along the times of our Princes the number of Men Ships and vast provisions of Victuals raised to supply the necessity and expence of War WIlliam the Conquerour in the entrance of his Government took of every Hide-land twelve pence a due of the Subjects to the Soveraign both before and since the Conquest to defray such charge as either the defence of the Land from spoil or the Sea from Piracy should expose the Prince to It is called Dane-geld Gelda Regis or Hidage and was sessed by the Hide or Plough-land like to that Jugatio per jugera taxation by the acre in Rome yet by no rate definite with this as with another Exaction taken as the Monk of S. Albans saith sive per fas sive per nefas by fair means or by foul He passeâ— over into Francs into the list of charge he rankeâ— the Bishops and Abbots sessing upon them and aâ—… their charge a proportion of Souldiers for his serâ—…vice exiling many worthy men that opposed thâ—â— thraldom William Rufus anno 7. set upon the heads of sâ—… many as he mustered up for the French wars teâ— shillings a man and so discharged them In an 9. he to the same end spoiled the Churches of their Ornaments and Holy vessels and levied four Hidages of every Plough-land Tribâ—… Angliam non modo abradens sed excorians nâ—â— only shaving but even flaying England wiâ—… his impositions so that wearied with war and expence ne respirare potuit Anglia sub ipso suffocata England was quite stifled by him anâ— could not so much as breath Quid jam non Regibus ausum Aut quid jam Regno resta Scelus What durst not Kings then do What mischief could the Nation suffer more in this Kings time Henry the first anno 5. magnam à Regno exegit Pecuniam exacted a great â—umm of his Kingdom with which he passed into France and by this means gravabatur terra Angliae oppressâ—nibus multis England was born down with many oppressions He took in the tenth year siâ— shillings Danegeld And in the seventeenth Quod inter eum Regem Francorum magnum fuit dissidium Anglia fuit variis depressa Exactionibus Bonis sine peccato spoliata by means of the great differenoe betwixt him and the King of France England was oppressed with divers exactions and men spoiled of their goods for no offence at all Of King Stephen there need no more than the words of the Monk of Gisborn Post annum sextum Pax nulla omnes partes terrebat violenta Pradatio after the sixth year of his reign there was no quiet but all parts of the Land became a prey and spoil to violent men Henry the second alluding not unlike to the â—eada given the Eremitae in the decline of the Empire as Salaries by which they stood bound to defend the Frontiers against the Incursions of the Barbarous Nations continued the Policy of his Progenitors who allotted the Land into such and so many equal portions as might seem competent for supportation of a Knight or man at Arms from whom as occasion required they received either service or contribution This Tenure now esteemed a Thraldom began upon a voluntary and desired submission for who from his gift would not of the Prince accept Land upon the like conditions so it toucheth not the Soveraign as a wrong to the Subject but as in right his own And therefore respecting their first immediate dependency upon the Crown which is a great part of the Kings Honour their duties and Escheats a great benefit and their attendance by Tenure in war at their own charge to the number of 602 16. at the least for the Knights Fees in England are no less a great ease strength and security to his State for they are totidem Hostagia so many Hostages as Bracton saith it were a thing perillous now to alter after such a current of time and custome This King to understand the better his own strength publico praecepit edicto quod quilibet Praelatus Baro quot Milites de eo tenerent in Capite publicis suis instrument is significarent he caused it to be proclaimed that every Prelate and Baron should notifie by publick deed how many Knightships they held of him in capite By this rule of Scutage constant in the number he levied alwayes his Subsidies and relief though divers in the rate Of the first which was near the beginning of his Reign there is no record The second Scutage which was anno 5. amounted to 124 millia librarum argenti thousand pounds of silver which reduced to the standard of our money five shillings the ounce whereas that was not five groats will amount to
two Millions and eight hundred thousand pounds by Subsidies Tenths and Fifteens she hath spent of her Lands Jewels and Revenues an infinite proportion As for the imaginary Profit grown by thâ—… many rich Spoils at Sea and Attempts in Spain it may be well cast up by two examples of oâ—… best Fortunes The Journey of Cales defrayed not the Charge to her Majesty by 64000â—… And our times of most advantage by Prizes between anno 30 and 34 of the Queen wherein we received but 64044 l. defrayed not the Charge of her Navy arising in the same yeaâ— to 275761 l. As to the greatest Loss expence of Christian Blood it may well susfice to bemoâ—… with Horace Parumne Campis atque Neptuno superfusum est Latini sanguinis Neque hic Lupis mos nec fuit Leonibus Unquam nisi in dispar feris Is there as yet so little Latine Blood Spilt on the Fields and Floods Nor Wolves nor Lions do we ever find So cruel to their kind THe last motive from Utility is increase of Revenues to the publick Treasury by addition of Forreign Dominions Which can receive no answer so full of satisfaction as to instance the particular Summs exhausted in every Age to retain them Beginning first with the Duchiâ— of Normandy For retention whereof William the Conquerour from hence as the Author saith laden Thesauris innumeris with unaccountable Treasure exacted sive per faâ— sive per nefas in Normanniam transfretavit gathered together by hook or by crook wafted over into Normandy His Son ad retinendam Normanniam Angliam excoriavit to retain Normandy flayed off Englands skin To the same end by Henry the first Anglia fuit bonis spoliata England was despoiled of its Goods His Grand-child took Scutagium pro Exercitu Normanniae a Scutage for his army in Normandy three times at a high rate and was inforced then against incursions of the French to build and man thirteen Castles de novo integro intirely new Richard the first exacted heavily upon his people ut potentes homines Regis Franciae sibi conciliaret ut terram propriam Normanniae tutaretur therewith to make himself friends amongst the most powerful Courtiers of France so to keep quietly his possessions in Normandy King John as wearied with the Charge neglected it And his Son feeling a burden more than benefit resigned his interest there for a little Money When it was again reduced by Henry the fifth the judgement in Council was That the keeping of it would be no less of expence than to war forth for all France In the quiet possession of his Son Henry John Duke of Bedford then Regent this Duchy cost the Crown of England 10942 l. yearly In an 10. â—…t appeareth by the Accompts of the Lord Cromâ—…wel Treasurer of England that out of the Kings Exchequer at Westminster the entertainâ—…ent of the Garrison and Governour was deâ—…rayed the Rents of the Duchy not supporting â—…he charge ordinary When Richard Duke of York was in the fifteenth year of Henry the sixth â—…egent the certain Expence over-ballanced the Receipt 34008 l. And an 27. the Lord Hastings Chancellour of France declareth in Parliament that Normandy was not able to maintain it self But thus it continued not much longer for this Crown was both eased of the Duchy and Charge shortly Of the Principality of Aquitain the Duchy of Gascoign Guien and the Members I find the state thus in record In the twenty sixth of Henry the third there was issued from the Treasurer and Chamberlains at Westminster 10000 l. for payments in Gascoign besides an infinite proportion of Victuals and Munition thither sent To retain this Duchy in Duty and possession this King was inforced to pawn his Jewels being are alieno graviter obligatus Thesauris Donativis Tallagiis extortionibus in Anglia consumptis very much indebted and having spent all his Treasures Grants Tallages and other Extortions in England Besides the people there at his departure extorserunt ab eo confessionem quadraginta millia Marcarum forced an acknowledgment from him of 40000 Marks And a Story of that time saith of anno 38. Ille per multos labores expensas inutiliter recuperavit Castra sua propria Vasconiae with a great deal of toile and expence he unprofitably recovered his own Castles in Gascoign of which the Labour was more than ever the Benefit could be And thus it appeareth to have continued for an 17. of Edward the second the money disbursed out of England to defray the surcharge there came to 46595 l. 9 shillings 7 d. besides 29660 Quarters of Grain and of Beeves and Bacons an infinite proportion In the first of Edward the third the issues of Gascoign were 10000 l. above the Revenues The Signiories in Aquitain cost in eight years ending the thirty sixth of this King 192599 l. 4 shill 5 d. de receptis forinsecis only it was delivered in Parliament an 1 Rich. 2. that Gascoign and some few other places that were then held in France cost yearly this Crown 42000 l. And in the seventeenth of this King a Parliament was summoned for no other cause especial than to provide money to clear the annual expences of those parts The charge of Bordeaux but one Town surmounting in half a year all Rents and perquisites there 2232 l. As Fronsack in Aquitain 5787 l. for double that time when the intire Duchy exceeded not 820 l. in yearly Revenues The Charge of Guien all the Reign of Henry the fourth was 2200 l. annually out of the Exchequer of England By accompt Aquitain besides Guien 6606 l. was the first of Henry the fifth in surplusage of charge 11200 l. and the Town of Bordeaux the five first years of the same King 6815 l. In the eleventh of Henry the sixth Sir John Ratcliffe Steward of Aquitain received from the Treasury of England pro vadiis suis c. 2729 l. and for expence in custody of Fronsack Castle only he payed 666 l. 13 shill the profits of the Duchy no wayes able to clear the Accompts The Benefit we reaped by any footing in Britany may in a few Examples appear Henry the third confesseth that ad defensionem Britanniae non sufficiebant Angliae Thesauri quod jam per triennium comprobavit that the Treasure of England would not suffice to maintain Britany which he had found to be true upon three years tryal and left in the end tam laboriosis expensis amplius fatigari to tire himself farther with such toil some expences The Town of Brest cost Richard the second 12000 marks a year and it stood him in an 9. in 13118 l. 18 shill For Callis I will deliver with as much shortness as may be from the first acquisition until the loss in every age the Expence for the
observing the divers humours accidents and dispositions thereof findeth at length the cause from whence it is or well or ill-affected and so by mixture of Art and Observation sets to his Patient rules of exercise and dyet so is it in a Kingdom or Commonwealth If then out of the Registers of Record and Story the true Remembrancers of Art and Errour in passages of State it shall appear Answers to the former Arguments 1 Affections of our wisest Princes ever to peace 2 Forraign expeditions 1 Rebellions at home 2 Cause of 1 Endless taxations 2 Vassalage 3 Danger to the State 3 Confederacy alliance the means of former victories no ways to be restored as heretofore that those times wich have been glorified with the mightiest Princes and wisest Councils would ever acknowledge that Pax una triumphis Innumeris potior one Peace outgoes for worth Innumerable triumphs That Combustions at home were like Meteors ever kindled in another Region but spent themselves there That our men instead of Lawrel and Olive Garlands to adorn with victory and peace our Gates and Temples have ever brought home fire-balls to burn our Cities That forraign spoils have been summed up with Taxes and Penury That this addition of Revenue hath tyed us to a perpetual issue of our own Treasure That by these titles of Honour we have bought Slavery and by extenture of Territories Danger And that difficulty either to undertake or pursue any forraign enterprise now is much more than in any age before I think that no Englishman will either love his own errour so much or his Countrey so little as to advise a course so far estranged either from judgement or security IT is manifest by warrant of our own examples that the Kings of England except in some heat of Youth which is not the best director of Counsel preferred unjust Peace before the justest War none inthralling their minds with ambitious desires of extending Territories or imaginary humours of licentious Soveraignty every one willing to pass his time with content of his private fortunes Upon this ground Henry the second gave 20000 marks Expensarum nomine under the notion of expences to the French King ut firmior Pax haberetur that he might have a firm and setled Peace His succeeding son pro quieta clamatione de sorore sua ducenda for a peaceable claim to the marriage of his sister which was like to make a fraction gave to the French King docem millia librarum ten thousand pounds Three hundred thousand marks John gave to the French King to match his calm entrance to a secure peace Until the Confederacy with Scotland and invading of the Land by Charls de Valoys the French King provoked Edward the first he never disquieted France with noise of war as after he did by the Earls of Richmond and Lancaster although Boniface the Pope incited him thereunto His Son the second Edward anno 2. requireth the Bishops and Clergy to pray and offer alms for him and the people of this State the words are ut Deus nos regat dirigat in mundi hujus turbinibus that God would rule and direct us in the troubles of this world for that having sought all means with France he could for Peace ut Guerrarum discrimina vitaret that he might avoid the dangers of war he reaped nothing but bitterness and detention of his Messengers Son and part of his Dutchy of Gascoigne his Rebels injoying all Protection and his Merchants all Inhospitality whose ships his enemy hostiliter cepit Mercatores interfecit took in a hostile sort and slew the Merchants The Parliament quinto of Edward 3. was especially called to consult how Peace might be procured In his 17 year the Peers and Commons petition him to labour a peace with France and to sollicite the Pope for mediation The truce from hence effected he would by no means violate but in the twentieth year moveth peace by all the offers he can as Contracts Intermarriage and to take up the Cross with France in succursum Terrae Sanctae for succour of the Holy Land But all he could do could abate no whit of the French â—ury who invaded by themselves Aquitain England by the Scots surprizing in breach of Truce his Nobility of Britain whom at Paris ignominiosae morti tradidit he put to shameful deaths there and in Gascoign murdering the rest of his Subjects and rasing his Castles nor would upon a second meditation admit any way of peace War then was left his last refuge Et pia Armaquibus nulla nisi in Armis spes est War is to that man just and lawful who hath no hope of help but by war And this his Clergy was injoyned to open in Sermons that he might eschew the infamy of Christian blood-shed In his two and twentieth year finding war to have brought to his people gravia onera multa mala heavy burthens and many mischiefs as the Record saith and that the fortune of War cum splendet frangitur when it shineth clearest is then nearest breaking he passed over into France to seek peace divers times and to strengthen his affections with the best hopes he injoyneth all the Bishops of England to offer devotas preces suppliciter ad Deum humble and devout prayers to God to direct his actions to Gods glory and the peace of his Countrey nec non ad totius Christianitatis commodum and the advantage of the whole Christian world which he believed could not follow but by a firm amity with his neighbours This is the dislike of war he openeth himself in the five and twentieth year in Parliament declaring the great means he had wrought by the Pope but could not effect it And in the third year after calleth again the body of the State to devise with him the means to obtain it for that he saw his Subjects by war so greatly wasted But when anno 29. to redeem himself and subjects from the hard tasks they had undertaken and to avoid effusionem sanguinis Christiani quantum potuit vel decuit pacem quaesivit the shedding of Christian blood he sought peace as much as in him lay and as far as was fitting sending the Duke of Lancaster to Avignon in intercession but all in vain he stood upon his own strength By which his confident adversary the year following captive that was afore obdurate justly found that one hour can overthrow simul parta sperata decora at once both the honours we enjoy and those we hope for And we may truly conclude of this Kings success as Livy of the Roman fortune Propterea bella felicia gessisse quia justa that therefore his wars were prosperous because they were just To obtain his desire and Subjects quiet he was contented to disclaim the interest that Right and Fortune had cast upon him And after though often again incited yet