he comes in the next place with his Thunder-bolts to affright and terrify the Parliament and all other thinking Men from acting according to their own Reason For in the 7th Page he tells the Jury viz. And it could not be expected that the Duke should have sat still under such in indignity and if he had the Prinees of Christendom to whom he is allied and to many of the greatest would have taken up the Quarrel and then our Fields of Peace should have been turned into Fields of Blood so then the Parliament of England of which the King is the Head must be afraid to provide for the Safety of the Nation against Popery and Ruine because one of the King's Subjects hath great Friends abroad and will fight his Quarrel Sure should a Phanatick have said but half so much he had been over head and ears in the Crown-Office and well he might what must England be afraid to do right and upon one of her own Subjects because of the Dukes Friends abroad Certainly England was never so low and cowardly yet as to fear to provide for their own Safety for fear of the Princes abroad Pray why did not Portugal consider that and why did not the French King at first send and advise with the Pope before he caused to be confirmed and registred as lately a Rule for the time to come in his Dominions that the Clergy of France was an independent thing from that of Rome and that the Pope is not infallible Doth the Justice think that the King of France now did not run as great an hazard of the Pope's and other Princes ill resenting this as we should have done in England if we in England had secured the Nation from a Popish Successor And for the Justice telling us and putting us in mind of the Blood that was spilt between the two Houses of York and Lancaster in their difference about the Crown it is a most strange thing that he hath no more Understanding in him than to compare this of this Parliaments Actings about the Duke which was the sense of the whole Nation with that of those of York and Lancaster when all Stories tell us that the Nation in those times was divided and it was doubtful of whose side the Right was and here in this Case the whole Nation all of one side would have put the thing all out of doubt by Law to prevent future Mischiefs this Parliament did intend and so far are these two Cases different that the Parliament foreseeing such Dangers that might arise as before and such bloody times again that it made them go about to take all possible care to prevent it in time to come and yet you Mr. Justice and the rest of your Abhorrers are angry with them for it tho you tell us we must have a care of such Times as were in those Days But now to the proper Work of the Jury for all this while it is not certainly known what all his former Discourse meant or whom he discoursed to therefore now he tells you it is to acquaint the Jury with the Laws and Statutes of the Kingdom and therein the Statute of the 13th of this King which is well done of the Justice And he tells you That that Statute provided for the Preservation of the Kings's Person and Government So then it was not made to preserve the Duke nor to join him in the Government that is clear and if so how suitable that Attempt was of his for doing any such thing as before was hinted ought to be considered And the Justice tells us The Statute provides against setting up of Votes of one or both Houses of Parliament to be as effectual as Law What the Justice means by this unless as I said before that he meant the Grand-Jury should present the Parliament is not known for since the King came in no Parliament ever offered at any such thing nor can he shew any such printed Pamphlets as he speaks of walking about our Streets that do assert such a Doctrine unless by some of the Justices contriving Therefore he must mean he hates all Votes of Parliament and them too And I dare say he would not for a World have any Laws repealed neither tho never so destructive to the Government for if he did mean otherwise he would not quarrel with their Votes which lead to the repealing of such Laws as are destructive to common Good In the next place where he saith They have printed Votes to give check to Laws Pray what Laws doth he mean Or did the Parliament ever flie out of their due Bounds Or is he angry because they did repeal the Act de Heretico comburendo Or that the two Houses had both voted and passed the Bill for the Repeal of the 35th of Eliz. Or angry with the Parliament for voting and bringing in Bills for the Repeal of the Laws made against the Dissenters Sure Sir W. who was so long in the Pensionary Parliament must needs know that Votes as well as Debates must be in either House to shew their Sense of what is good for the Nation and what must be had before they can bring it into an Act and will Sir W. quarrel with them for that too It is really something hard Sir W. that a Man of your Honour should be so severe upon those Gentlemen as not only not to give them a good Word behind their Backs but to compare them to Nero and cursed Cham that uncovered his Father's Nakedness which you do in this Page unless you can better discover your own Sence than the Words have shewed And surely when you consider again you will not call it the ripping open their Mothers Bellies that is the Common-Wealth as you call it for the Parliament to pass Votes to repeal such Laws as they think prejudicial to the Life and Preservation of this Common-Wealth our Mother as you term it Now for the good Counsel he gives to the Jury and for the Cleanness of his Hands Uprightness of his Mind being freed from ambitious Thoughts his not doing any thing to the Hurt and Prejudice of God the King or his Country and all other his divine Insinuations as he in this Page expresses I shall wholly leave himself to himself only desire him to examine himself by what hath been afore-hinted and if he find Ignoramus there I shall not be much concerned But since the Justice warns us from the Word of God in this page against Perjury and Subornation and pronounces the dreadful Sentence of Ire maledicti so often in his Speech against such he would methinks have done well the last Summer-Sessions as is before hinted not to have hindred those Bills of Indictment when brought there being presented and tendred But it may be since that he hath seen his Error and therefore in this Speech is resolved both for the time to come to amend it himself and also encourage others a blessed Reformation if it be
where he sat Chairman then that the Commission of Oyer and Terminer might be read having something to move which was not proper to be moved before it was read it being for the making of a request for the Prisoners then in the Tower upon the Statute of 31 of this King And the Chairman as well as the Justices being aware of it made an excuse to put it off till the Afternoon which was only a trick or in effect a modest denial but when that time came and the same request made then another excuse was made by the Justices that though they had such a Commission yet they heard there was a new one Sealed and so they thought it not safe to execute it but that being inquired into was false so by this trick the Commission was never read and the Law was defeated and the Justices so to elude the Law used this triek so those Persons who were then prisoners in the Tower was forced to loose the benefit of the Act that Sessions which was made on purpose that Justices and Judges should not dare but to deliver upon bayl or try them as the Law directed Well but saith the Justice and his Associates that are resolved to adhere to him page 11 This is but one Instance and in that the Justices as to the law might be mistaken it being a surprize upon them for you hear the Justice himself in page 2. declares he knows not if it be against the Law or not it is a sign Justice is come to a fine pass then in England for certainly if he undertook that place of a Justice he ought neither to pretend he knows not the Law nor that he was surprized for at that rate the whole County may be ruined Well but to show Sir W's Wisdom Justice and Conscience further and his impartiality in a Sessions that was held before him and the rest of his Adherers about August last past after the Grand-Jury was sworn divers bills of Indictment were presented to the Grand-Jury for to be found against certain persons of most wicked fame for Subornation Perjury and such other Villanies as scarce ever was heard went unpunished for they were Bills against a pack of Conspirators that had a design to have murthered divers Noble and Worthy persons in this Kingdom by Perjury and Witnesses to prove those Bills was produced to the Court to be sworn in order to give their Testimony to the Grand Jury against those Villains but this just upright Sir W. and his Associates stopped it in open Court in the face of the Sun and denyed the Witnesses to be sworn till they had leave from the Attorney General which certainly was the greatest stab that ever was given to the Common Law of England and a perfect turning and altering the course of Justice making the Law subservient to protect the Guilty and condemn the Innocent This thing is of so high a Nature that no King in England ever did or dare attempt the same or like it publickly what ever secret tricks may be underhand shewed for this was not only to break the Grand Juries Oath who are sworn to present all without favour or affection And the Justices Oath who are sworn not to deny or delay Justice to any man but forcing the King if possible but at least as much as in them lies to violate and break his Coronation Oath that sacred Tye and the fundamental Laws of the Land And that I may not be said to speak without book I shall here incert a Copy of the Judges Oath and give a short touch of the fundamental Laws of the Land established in this Kingdom concerning the true Execution of Justice and which the Kings of England are bound to observe by vertue of their Oath and the trust the people repose in them and this digression I hope will not be amiss before we come further to take notice of the Speech The 27 Cap. of Magna Charta Magna Charta Anno c. H. 3. Chap. 27 which Magna Charta is no other then thē Confirmation of the ancient Rights Customs and Common Law of the Land It is ordained viz. Do Freeman shall be Taken or Imprisoned or be Diseased of his fréehold Liberties or free Customes or be out Lamed or Excited or any otherwise destroyed nor we will not pass upon him or condemn him but by Lawful Judgment of his Peers or by the Law of the Land We will sell to no man 9. H. 3. C. 29. we will not deny or defer to any man either Justice or Right Pray mark this last clause and see how it suits the Justices refusing and stopping Justice and with what impudence he dares do that which no King of England did or can do without violation of his Oath and Laws of the Land and yet now tells you of Loyalty and Justice and you will find in the Statute made in Edward the 3. time that by no Commandment whatsoever the course of Justice could be stopped The Title of the Act is this Vid. Rot. Anno. E. 3. Chap 1. No Commandment under the Kings Seal shall disturb or delay Justice Which Sattute I shall Incert Verbatim as it is upon the Roll viz. Item it is Accorded and Established that it shall not be Commanded by the Great Seal or the Little Seal to disturb or delay Common Right and though such Commandment do cōme the Iustices shall not therefore leave to do right in any point There was another Record of 14 Ed. 3. See Crook fol 417. Eliz. Chap. 14. Intitled there shall be but four writs of Search for the King nothing shall hinder the Execution of Justice In the last part of the Statute are these words viz. Nor that the Iustices of whatsoever place it be sha l let to do the Common Law by Commandment which shall come to them under the Great Seal or Privy Seal The 11 R. 2. Vid. 11. R. 2. Cap. 10. Chap. 10. The same is again Asserted that the Law shall not be stopped or Disturbed and begins thus viz. Item It is Ordained and Established that neither Letters of the Signet nor of the Kings Privy Seal shall be from hence forth sent in damage or prejudice of the Realm nor in disturbance of the Law By this it appears most plain that by no Command of the King or his Ministers the Law can be stopped It is true the King in some Cases may pardon by his Prerogative but to stop the Course of Law though you have the Command of the King or his Ministers is point blanck against the Law and tends to the overthrow of the Government and that very Law which the Kings of England by their places are the Executioners off for this land in all ages never knew any Government but by their own Laws and to which Laws the Kings who are Crowned in England doth swear and ought and must maintain otherwise let him be what he will and who he will he
if so our Ancestors were Fools to make the Coronation Oath and the good Statutes with divers others before recited But Sir W. all this you do to be Great and by this it may be you may be so fond as to believe you make the King great too tho it be the quite contrary way nay such Men as you that take away all Law do totally lessen both the Prince the Nation and the Government for if the King have no better Title than his Sword or the Jure Divino-ship you speak off then Lord have Mercy on him For you Sir W. by the same Rule tho but an Attorneys Son if you can but make your self popular enough and get a long Sword cased with a Pretence of a Divine Right you may be King as well as any only I think if you should do so and not make your Sword long enough you may chance to find that the Jure Regnum would spoil your Jure Divino But to please you in something and not to thwart all your dark Sayings so hard to be understood we will for once as you insinuate allow that Government is Jure Divino and the Ordinance of God but the Modes and Forms were ever yet left to Man which in all Countries whatsoever have been chalked out by the People themselves for their Weal and Government And if our ancient Records may be credited no Nation under Heaven ever established better Rules for Government than this Kingdom hath done for here neither the Prince can by Law hurt the People nor the People the Prince and the Law is the Standard between them and the Protector of both which sure Sir W. you ought to have known or at least to have shown us what Text of Scripture it is that establisheth our Kings in England and gives them Authority above the Law but when you have said all the Kingship of England is but an Office and a Trust reposed in them by the Law of the Land under your good Favour And they are made Kings by Humane Laws but to whom the Kings of England are accountable I am not to question nor do I think it fit for you And for your saying the King ought not to be importuned by the People to do any thing which he knows is contrary to his Duty and Trust I say so too but how this will amend the Matter or plead for your designing to join some Person with him as was told you before I know not but by the Rule of Contrary if the People ought not to importune the King nor he to grant what is not just as is clear they ought not then sure both the People ought to importune the King and he to grant them all that is Just and Right and what by the Law and his Sacred Oath he is bound to do And then Sir W. I will take leave to tell you and make your best on 't that the People ought in this imminent time of danger both from your Friends the Papists at home and the dangers from abroad to importune the King for a Parliament as their Right by Law according to the Statutes of Edw. the 3d. And if you are so conscientious a Man and mean for the Law and right Government of England as you pretend I do not doubt in the least but you will help forward such a Petition and since the Justice tells us that a Prince must be just against the importuning of his Subjects I hope Sir W. you that say so will not be so unjust as not to begin so good a work since you have ever had the knack of Addressing And now we are in the sixth Page come to Sir W's Hear-say that is The King I have heard was pressed to exclude the D. of Y. Pray saith the Justice examine the Justice of that can it be just saith he to punish in presonti for a Fault to be committed in futuro Divine Sir William he must still have a fling at the Parliament it is as good Leachery to him to scratch there as to be a standing Stallion in another place well but this is a grand Fault of the Parliament no doubt What punish a Man before he had committed any Fault as he tells the Grand Jury surely they would not find a Bill against any Man for a Fault that might be committed Now observe the cunning of this Abuse that he would sham upon the unthinking People of a Wrong the Parliament was about pray who was or who would have been wronged if such a Bill had passed altho for my own part I ever thought there were other Bills more needful Is it not strange the whole Nation in a Body in three several Parliaments could be so foolish and wicked as not to see the Sin and Evil of this thing as well as the Justice and the Justice then said nothing nor was so kind to give his Advice But the Justice will mistake the Case he looks upon the Duke as in Possession and not as a Subject and he looks upon the single Subject this one Man to be of more value than all the Subjects Good and Welfare of England and to put a blind upon the World topes upon us the D's divine Right to be King here over us and as natural for him to be our King as to do the Office of Nature Now I always thought the Kingship of England as is before hinted is by the Law of the Land and no otherwise and that every King in this Kingdom is or ought to be the Supream Magistrate for the Peoples Good But if a Prince be born a Fool an Ideot or become a mad Man how can that Man be thought to reign for the Peoples Good Now if such a thing should happen may not the King and People then in being altogether as in all Ages they have done chuse another more fit to govern in that Office is there any Injustice in this is there any more than common Prudence and would they be just to themselves if they should do otherwise Where is the Wrong to the mad Man He is bereaved of his Senses must therefore the People be so too And in all Ages hath not the Crown of England been settled by the King and Parliament and have not Forreigners done the same witness the Portugals they did not only put by a Subeject not fit to reign by his Folly but put by and do still to this day their King when in actual Possession because of his Infirmities otherwise they had sinned against the very Law of Nature for that teaches us self Preservation But so much hath been said already by abler Heads as to this most ridiculous nonsensical Notion that I thought no Man pretending to common Sense would have dared to have been so bold as to have mentioned such a thing or to arraign the Judgment of the whole Nation And now after the Justice hath thus spent the time in ranting and beating the Air about this unjust Design of the Parliament
really so But if by Craft or Dissimulation all this be done to colour what he did before then the very Ite maledicti he pronounces against others may chance to light upon his own Pate but far is the Author from wishing such a severe Sentence upon the Noble Justice whatever he seeks and clandestinely wishes against others And now after the Justice hath read this Lecture of Christianity he comes in pag. 9. to tell the Court and the Jury of the Rarity and Excellency of the Thing called Grand-Juries and tells them It is the Honour of the Government to have them Well then since it is so and that it cannot be denied it is a great deal of pity that the Justice and others of his Coat have not taken more care to preserve their Reputation but have suffered not only the Gazette but other scandalous Libels to walk about the Streets and defame them as late Times have most notoriously shown But this I conceive came into his Head by the by a meer Accident in the Justice's Speech for by what goes before and what follows it appears plain he did not intend them any Honour but only had some other meaning as may be easily discerned if we compare the Whole of his Discourse and what he and the rest of the Justices did sometimes since at Hicks's Hall endeavouring to curtail the Grand-Juries and to strike out and put in whom they pleased when there was a Job to do at the time when the Lord Shaftsbury Lord Howard Mr. Whitaker and others were in the Tower O then what a Speech was made to the Under-Sheriff to alter his Pannel and what Conscience and Religion was press'd to have it done by this very Justice And if the Sheriff had yielded that Point then the Subornation had taken effect and the Work done upon the innocent Prisoners in the Tower contra omnes Gentes But because Sir W. is pleased to top upon the World with his Loyalty and to shew it pretends to extol in this Page the Happiness of the Nation that the Kings of England have by their Prerogative always had the nominating of Sheriffs by which the Grand Juries are returned I shall crave leave a little to speak to that Point not that I deny it to be in the King in some measure as the Statutes have settled it but the Justice mistakes the Case as will appear if the thing be well and throughly considered and what this Justice aims at ought also to be fully searched into but that I may not seem to misconstrue the Justice I shall set down his Words in this Page viz. Grand Juries have always been esteemed the Honour of the Government and the great Security of the Lives and Liberties of the Subjects they are to be probi legales Homines and so is a Golden Chain as well for Ornament as Security if they should prove otherwise this Chain of Gold would be turned into Fetters of Iron and Brass and we should be greater Slaves here in England than they are in Algier Our Ancestors have taken great Care that Grand Juries should be such as they ought to be and as you may see the Statutes made in that Case provide but for all that it is happy for the People that the King hath the Nomination of Sheriffs by whom the Juries are to be returned it is a Prerogative of great Consequence and not to be entrusted into the hands of any Subject or Subjects whatsoever Now as to his Commendation of the Constitution of the Government relating to Juries as being a sacred thing there is no doubt of that and we hope it will never be in his Power or in the Power of any Judg Justice or Magistrate in England to alter that Fundamental Constitu ion which our wise Ancestors have laid that make us both a free and safe People for by that means to ambitious or foolish Prince tho led away by Court-Flatterers and pernicious Counsels can hurt the Subject so powerfully as otherwise they might do every Man's Life and Estate here by this means are safe and cannot be touched or taken from him but by he Approbation and Consent of his Peers and they must be of the Vicinage and probi legales Homines as the Justice observes but because the Justice is pleased to expresse himself or rather to flatter the Kings of England that by their Prerogative they have the sole right of chusing of Sheriffs And that it is the Happiness of the Nation that the Subject do it not I must crave leave to put the justice in mind of the ancient Practice in that very Case of choice of Sheriffs and also show that in all probability the whole Body of the County have been as fit to see and chuse who is fit to serve the County in the Office of Sheriffs as Kings who do but see often times with other Mens Eyes and hear with other Mens Ears and often times led by the Nose of some Persons about them as either work their own Ends or the Ends and Interest of their Friends and not the Countries Good For who knows not but that the old saying is true in Princes Courts Kissing goes by Favour But to answer the Justice I do say and aver from ancient Records the People of the several Shires in England had the sole right of chusing their Sheriffs without the King 's Appointment Consent or Nomination and that was the Law of the Land and if it be not now so yet it is but some late Statutes that have abridged the Counties of their Choice And to shew that I do not mistake the Point I have inserted a new Copy of the Record which is by me and that is a Statute made in the Confirmation of Ancient Right too in the Roll of Parliament made at Westminster in the 28 E. 1. cap. 8. The Title of the Statute is this viz. The Inhabitants of every County shall make Choice of their Sheriffs being not of Fee the words are these Rot. 2.28 E. 1. An. 1300 Cook on Lit. 2d part 559. viz. The King hath granted unto his People that they shall have the Election of their Sheriffs in every Shire where the Sheriffalty is not of Fee if they list To this Statute agree our Law-Books See Cook 's Institutes and this Statute in the same Roll 13th Chapter is again confirmed and explained the Statute begins thus viz. And for as much as the King hath granted the Election of Sheriffs to the Commons of the Shire the King will that they shall chuse such Sheriffs that shall not charge them and that they shall not put any Officers in Authority for Rewards or Bribes and such as shall not lodg so oft in one place nor with poor Persons or Men of Religi n. Indeed after this in Edward the second 's time Power was given at the Complaint of the Commons in Parliament That the Chancellor Treasurer Barons of the Ex hequer should appoint the
a Speech But why must the Dissenters Trading together and taking one anothers Parts be a Design against the Government more than of those that call themselves the Church-Party Is it not as lawful for one as well as the other Sort to trade with whom they will and to eat and drink with whom they please If so then it is most plain the boasting Church-Men do feast together often and associate themselves in Clubs Cabals Taverns and Coffee-Houses and divers other Places both Sundays and Working-Days to manage the Cause which the Justice aims at and the Church-men in reality as they would be accounted such as they are have in reality stuck by their Champion Cradock so far that no less than two Knights and four or five Esquires and Gentlemen to save their Brother Cradock have joined together in a solemn Oath before the Judg that the Earl of Shaftsbury doth live in Thanet-House and is a great Trader in the City I am confident the Justice cannot shew us any such voluntary Oath of Men of their Quality that ever did so far take one anothers Parts among the Dissenters as to swear in Clubs So after the Justice had shewed the Dissenters Dealings of laying their Heads together in disturbing the Peace in the next place pag. 5. he tells us in praise of the Church Pary and in opposition to the Dissenters that they the Chuch Party are good honest Men in these Words viz. The Church Party the Children of Light they trust in a good Cause put out their own Eyes and will neither see their Danger or Interest most of them endeavour to build upon their own Ground and raise to themselves Pyramids of Honour and Riches and have not minded them of the same Party who are forced to shift for themselves as well as they can Now I would have the ingenuous Church-Men consider what a great deal of Honour this Gentleman hath done them he has to vindicate them called them blind Fools nay such Fools that no brute Beasts can be worse what is it I pray you to them to put out their own Eyes and not see for themselves and when that is done he tells us it is the only way to get Riches If this be the way of the Children of Light to put out their own Eyes and trust to others I pray God with all my Heart that I may be in Darkness still and that this Child of Light tho a Church-Man may get Honour and in his own way for my part I will neither envy his nor his Church-Men's Happiness as to their Wisdom nor as to their Honour and Riches but this I may say that had the Church of England-men received such a Vilifying from a Dissenter as this certainly they would have called loudly for Satisfaction either from the Court Christian or our Temporal Courts What call them such Fools and treat them as such as will pull out their own Eyes and not see can the Church-Men forgive this I dare not say they cannot because some of them are Men of great Charity but were it not for that doubtless such an Affront as this would be enough to raise the whole posse Clergy about the Knights Eyes for in effect he calls them blind Papists for none but those poor deluded Souls that ever live in the Light of the Sun would rather trust other Folks Eyes than their own Well but what must not a Justice make a slip but there must be all this notice taken yes sure he may be allowed many when he means well for in this whole Speech if you observe it and if you believe himself He doth say and do all for the Established Church and the Publick Good Now then if so he ought to have Mercy shewn him In the next place you will find he deserves it too because the Dissenters in this page are made by the same Man Coblers and nothing but their last is their Coat and so fearful is he of them If as he saith the Cards should be shufled again that these Coblers will have all the Shoes and himself go Bare-foot that he advises here in this Page That it is not prudent to trust them tho they are contented with their own Vertue a most strange Paradox what if they will be contented with their own Vertue shan't they be let alone it is mighty hard especially when in the next place he himself commends Vertue as a choice Plant or Tree that bears excellent Fruit and saith he The Gardiners must nourish and cherish this Plant and Tree or else in time this Tree will bear sower Fruit that is I suppose he means the Magistrate and you Grand Inquest-men you must Present these Dissenters that we may get some of their Money lop off their loose Twigs and Wild-Sprigs that makes them too rich and too proud and then thier Fruit will be Savoury such as I like for tho I like not the Men yet their Money I like and so do all their Enemies but to quiet the Church whom before he abused he now makes them full amends again for saith he in this Page viz. I hope for the Honour of the King and Safety of the Government no Man for the future shall be employed until he be first sifted and winnowed and if any Grain of Faction be found in him he shall be laid aside But then Sir W. What will you do and your Addressers Do you not remember Sir W. the very day you made this learned Speech when you and the rest of the Tribe were withdrawn out of the Court you propounded or at least abetted one of the greatest pieces of Faction that ever was done in England this 20 Years except F. H. which was it was urged among you Justices to Address His Majesty that he would be pleased to keep the Duke by him at home to join with him in the Government or at least to assist him therein Pray Sir W. had you gone on in this Address had it not been the heighth of Faction and Sedition if not High-Treason in designing to alter the Government What are you in such haste that you cannot stay the time must Popery and Protestantism be joined together in our days Pray Sir will you before your next Speech consider it well and tho you abhor the Parliaments because they would have no Popish Successor yet methinks you should not dig a Grave for our King and Government while he is alive and what other construction sober thinking Men as you call them can make of such Designs time may shew but for your placing so much upon that Text By me Kings Reign and Princes decree Justice I know not what you mean unless you would by that Scripture insinuate that because there is such a place of Scripture therefore the People should have no Law of the Land to be their Standard but the Will of the Prince to be absolute Lord Paramount above all Laws and no Bounds to be set by the Law of the Land