to joyn issue upon to stand and fall by as I am by this challenging any to brand me with the least of injustice I ever did them being ready with my fortune to make good what I prosecute The thing I aim at is a right understanding between the free and unfree men of England a perfect love every one injoying their own and to be governed under our known and wholesome Laws as also an obedience thereunto and not by a hidden Prerogative alias Charters It being a wonder there dare be such presumption in this Corporation to exercise such insolencies which were the greatest obstructors of our Nations Liberties by garisoning that Town The Mayor Aldermen and Recorder with the Burgesses and others against the free-born of England which prohibited all Trade from the 9th day of January 1642. to the 14th of November 1644 in that Port which caused Coals to be four pound the Chaldron and Salt four pound the weigh the poor Inhabitants forced to flie the Country others to quarter all Armies upon free Quarter heavy Taxes to them all both English Scots and Garisons Plundered of all they had Land lying waste Coal-pits drowned Salt-works broken down Hay and Corn burnt Town pulled down mens wives carried away by the unsatiable Scots and abused All being occasioned by that Corporations disaffection And yet to tyrannize as is hereafter mentioned I appeal to God and the World Ralph Gardner Charter-Law with its Practice discovered CHAP. I. Newcastle upon Tynes Patron King John surnamed without land Raigned 17 Yeres and 7 monethes died â—9 daiâ— of october 121â— Was buried att Worcester in the 51. Yere of his age A KIng John who usurped the Crown of England was only for formalities sake sworn by a Bishop who being demanded the reason why he did so said that by the gift of Prophecy certified that at some time King John would take the Crown and Realm of England and bring all to ruin and confusion he pretending the King his Brother was dead in the time of his being absent beyond Sea being the first Author of Charters for gain and people like himself for lucre of gain sold their Birth-right to become Bodies Corporate and oppressors of the free-born people of England For before Charters were all the Free-holders of England were free to make Laws for the good of the Nation but Corporations being subordinate to such Laws as he by his Prerogative gave them being repugnant to the known fundamental Laws of England In the first year of his reign dreadful tempestuous weathers by rains that the grounds were so spoiled that whereas corn was sold for one shilling the Boule in King Henry the seconds daies then cost 13 shillings the Boule also an abundance of fish found dead upon the Land by the corruption of the waters no hay could be mowed and hale as big as hens eggs B He was an Usurper a Tyrant a bloody person a Murderer a perjured person a covetous person a demolisher of famous Towns with fire and a seller of Englands Supremacy to the Pope whose reign was oppressive and end shame For further satisfaction I refer you to his true History I shall onely give a brief of some passages in his reign He made a Law that all Jews that would not turn Christians should pay a certain great sum of money or be imprisoned and when they did turn they they should have their money again a young Merchant paid 60 l. to continue a Jew and after turned to be a Christian then he demanded his money from the King but he being unwilling to part with money demanded what reason he had to turn and sent for his Father and Mother to dis-swade him and to perswade him to change again to be a Jew C He gave command that all the Jews in England and Wales to be forthwith imprisoned men women and children by reason they turned so fast to be of his Religion and then seized on all their riches to satisfie his covetous disposition and such as would not confess where their money was pulled out their teeth and eies and then took the thirteenth part of all estates moveable to war against the Earls of Marsh who desired him to forbear but he would not for which they dispossessed him of all his Lands in France c. He having little love to his Wife Izabel the Queen was divorced pretending she was too near of Kâ—n to him and so took another D He murthered Duke Arthur Earl of Brittan his eldest Brothers Son being Heir to the Crown in the Castle of Roan in France and chased William de Branes out of England and caused his wife and children to be starved to death in Winsor Castle He dis-inherited many of the Nobility without Judgement of the Law and put to death Ramp Earl of Chester for reproving him for lying with his Brothers Wife and reproached others of his Nobles telling them how often he had defiled their beds and defloured their Daughters E He granted to the City of London their Charter and Letters Pattents to chuse their Mayor yeerly in the tenth year 1210 who governs well c. F He removed the Exchequer from London to Northampton and got a great Army to go against the King of Scots but the King of Scots met him and did him homage and gave him his two Daughters as pledges and Eleven thousand Scotch Marks and upon his return took homage of the Free-holders of England and sware them to his allegiance all above 11 years of age G He made oath to be obedient to the Pope of Rome by name Innocentius to Randolphe his Bâ—ll who went with his Nobles to Dover where he met with the said Popes Bull and there resigned the Crown with the Realm of England and Ireland into the Popes hand See his Oath in chap. 59. B Upon which the Bishops who he had banished returned to England by leave from the Pope King John met them and fell flat upon his face on the ground and asked them forgiveness melting bitterly into tears c. H He grants the very next year after his power was given to the Pope unto the Town of Newcastle upon Tyne Letters Pattents to be a Corporation and to hold the said Town in Fee-farm at the rent of 100 l. per annum as by the said recited Letters Pattents in the second Chapter more at large appears An. 1213. Surely this Charter is not good by Law c. I He was the cause of firing the chief Town in Northumberland called Morpeth and caused many more Towns in England and Wales to be burnt The Barons of England being armed demanded of him the Laws and Liberties granted by King Edward the Confessor vulgarly called St. Edward he desired respite till Easter and gave Sureties to perform them K He met with the Barons of England in Running Meadow between Winsor and Stains upon the 16 of June granted under his hand to them the Liberties of England without
any difficulty and the whole Realm was sworn thereunto And soon after subtlely and privately sends to the Pope and other Nations for Armies to make void those Charters and Liberties granted to the Barons and to subdue England and promised them great rewards Forty thousand Souldiers that were to have Norfolk and Suffolk to conquer England for King John were all cast away on the Sea The Pope sends in great strength who landed at Dover and destroyed many Towns by fire and with the sword slew many thousands of people the Pope excommunicating the Barons particularly by their names great subversion and dissolution thereupon fell laying all Hedges and Ditches level tormenting the Barons with their wives c. L The Barons were necessitated to send for Lewis Son to the King of France for to come with an Army to joyn with them to conquer King John whose cruelties were intollerable which was done and King John overthrown and forced to flee towards Lin being poysoned by a Monk at Swinsted the reason he gave was that if he had lived half a year longer a half penny loaf would cost 20 s. he died and was buried at Worcester and King Henry the third Son to King John of nine years of age was crowned at Glocester c. M The reason of King John his granting Charters in England and making Corporations was for that he had but little land to raise great Rents from them and to assist him with strength by out-voting the Knights of M the Shires as is hereafter exprest For all Free-holders of England that had forty shillings a yeer met two times a yeer at Sessions Meadows neer Rockingham Castle in Northampton-shire and there made such Laws as the Nation was governed by and confirmed by the King N King John resolving to have Monies and Aid of men to go to Normandy to conquer them could not conveniently motion it by reason of the numerousnesse of the Free-holders but made a speech to them that he had contrived a very â—it and convenient way for the making Laws for the good of the whole Nation which was that by reason he conceived it a great trouble for all them to come so far for that purpose onely to make Laws that they would chuse two Knights of every Shire and County in England and Wales and give to them the full power of the Nation and then the said Knights to come and fit with him in Parliament at Westminster and also to allow them four shillings a day out of the County stock which more plainly appears in the Statute of 35. Hen. 8. Ch. 11. Knights to have 4 s. per diem and Burgesses 2 s. per diem O King John when he had got the hundred and four Knights in Parliament they having the full power of the Nation from the Free-holders immediately required from them great Subsidies and Armies to go for Normandy to recover such Lands as he had lost P The Knights answered they onely were intrusted to make Laws and not to taxe the Free-holders who had intrusted them and not to raise Armies and that by so doing they could not discharge the trust reposed in them Q The King finding his expectation frustrated having nothing doubted but to have wrought his design on so small a number Mastered his passion and not long after acquainted the Knights that he was sorry for the great burden which lay upon them for making Laws being for a publick and that they were too few in number and that he had found out a way how to ease them and bring in a great revenew to free the Nation from impositions R Which was that he resolved to Incorporate all the great Towns in England and Wales and depute Magistrates to govern as his Lieutenants and every Corporation should hold their Town in Fee-Farm from him and his heirs at a certain Rent some more others lesse according to the quality c. S Also that every Corporation should chuse two Burgesses to â—it and vote with them in Parliament they knowing the state of every County and the Burgesses of the Corporation by which means the Burgesses being more in number then the Knights might out-vote them and vote for him the Knights medled not therein at all but were out-voted by these Vassals and Tenants to the King they granting to him what ever he demanded or else must forfeit their Charters And he granted to them what ever they demanded c. T The Free-holders of England were represented in Parliament by their Knights in their Election And if the Burgesses were Free-holders then represented in the same Knights V But if the Burgesses were no Free-holders then no power in England to make Laws or to â—it in Parliament to out-vote the true Representative which are the Knights especially representing no body further then the will of the King who was onely to confirm Laws but not to make them King John had four considerations in making great Towns Corporations 1 To assume â— Prerogative 2 To raise vast sums of Mony 3 To divide the Nation 4 To enslave bodies Corporate by being his Vassals and Slaves Charters are no Laws and nothing is binding that is not lawful no Laws are made but by Parliament read Stat. 2. Edw. 3. 8. CHAP. II. Newcastles first Charter A KIng John by his Letters Pattents dated the day of in the fourteenth yeer of his Reign and in the Yeer of our Lord 1213. Granted Demised and Confirmed to the honest men of the Newcastle upon Tyne and to their Heirs his Town of Newcastle upon Tyne with all the Appurtenances to Fee-farm for one hundred pounds to be â—endred to the said King and his Heirs at his Exchequer to wit at the Feast of Eaâ—ter fifty pounds and at the Feast of St. Michael other fifty pounds saving to the said King the Rents Prizes and Assizes in the Port of the said Town Further he grants to them and confirmeth one hundred and ten shillings and six pence of Rent which they have by the gift of the said King in the said Town of Escheats to be divided and assigned to them who lost their Rents by occasion of a Ditch or Trench and of the new work made under the Castle towards the River or Water so that thereof they might have the more that lost the more and they that lost the lesse should have the lesse He also granted to them for him and his Heirs that in nothing they should be answerable to the Sheriffe nor to the Constable for those things which belong to them as the said Charter testifieth Wherefore he willeth and firmly commandeth that the said men and their Heirs may have and hold the same Town with its Appurtenances to Fee-farm for the said hundred pounds yeerly to be paid as is aforesaid well and in peace freely quietly and intirely with all Liberties and free Customes which they were wont to have in the time of King Henry the 2. Father of the said King
John as by the said Letters Pattents appeareth The said King John was the cause of burning Morpeth the chief Town in Northumberland and many more Towns in Wales because of the enmity between him and the family of the Bruces who originally were planted in Wales Wherefore the said Charter made by the said King John to the said honest men of Newcastle upon Tyne cannot be valid in Law because in the fourteenth year of his Reign he subjected himself to be a Vassal to the Pope of Rome as is aforesaid and for many other reasons mentioned in the said Charter it self considered in themselves In this Charter of King John that he grants to the honest men of Newcastle upon Tyne he mentions not the Port of the River of Tyne from Sparhawk at Tinmouth-Bar upon the Sea to Hadwyn streams above Newburn in Northumberland neither is there so much as one syllable whereby the said King grants to them the two third parts of the said River or any of the Fishing between the said places c. CHAP. III. A KIng Henry the Third being earnestly supplicated by the good men of Newcastle to confirm King Johns Charter which was done upon the second day of July in the year of our Lord 1234. the said King Henry did not inlarge their jurisdiction at all but onely grants them the Charter in the very same words as King John had in his Charter granted B King Henry the Third by his Letters Pattents under the Great Seal of England dated at Westminster the first day of December in the three and twentieth year of his Reign upon the good men of Newcastles supplication thought it fit to give them Licence to dig Coals and Stones in the common Soil of that Town without the walls thereof in the place called Castle-field and the Frith and from thence to draw and convert them unto their own profit in aid of their said Fee-farm Rent of a 100 â— per Annum and the same as often as it should seem good unto them the same to endure during his pleasure which said Letters Pattents were granted upon payment of twenty shillings into the Hamper nothing more was given neither Lands c. but only to work the Coals during pleasure for their own use C King Henry the Third was petitioned again by the same honest men for so they were called by King Johns Charters probi homines That his Majesty would be graciously pleased to give them all the Stone and Coals in a place called the Frith adjoyning to the former the better to enable them to pay their Fee-farm Rent which also was granted paying forty shillings per Annum into the Hamper upon the eleventh of May in the one and thirtieth yeer of his Reign All which Coals and Stones have do and will amount to many thousands of pounds yet no land above the said Coals was granted unto them CHAP. IV. A KIng Edward the First in the Nineteenth yeer of his Reign was supplicated by the good men of Newcastle to grant them a sum of money and a Licence for the building of a Wall round the Town on which Wall one of the Mayors of Newcastle was hanged as by the Record of the Registery appears That two third parts of the River of Tyne from Sparhawk to Beadwyn shelves were in this Kings hands And for such Lords as held any Fishings on the South-side of the said River of Tyne which went to the Mid-stream they were meer intruders of one sixt part more then was their own for whereas they were to have had but one third part they claimed half B And that this King gave Licence to build a Wall about the Town of Newcastle and gave mony towards this wall which was not bestowed C And that divers purpreslures were then incroached upon by the good men of the Town of Newcastle upon the Moat of the Newcastle built by William Rufus adjoyning thereunto And to the end that the then Sheriffe of Northumberland might present these incroachments into the Chancery whereby to discover their unjust dealing and intrusion upon the said Moat of the said Castle they the said good men gave to him the said Sheriffe a gift or bribe of ten Marks that he might not vex them as by the said Record more at large appears c. CHAP. V. THe said King Edward the Third by his Letters Pattents dated at Westminster the tenth day of May in the one and thirtieth yeer of his Reign confirms all former Charters with an addition of his own that he for himself and his Heirs Granted Demised and Confirmed unto his honest men of the Town of the Newcastle upon Tyne his Town of Newcastle before called Manchester with all its Appurtenances for a hundred pound per Annum to be paid to the said King and his Heirs c. Which he the said King confirms to the said men and Burgesses and to their Heirs for ever And because on the behalf of the said Burgesses of the said Town it was humbly supplicated to the said King That whereas the said Moore and Lands called Castle-fields and Castle-moor on the North-side of the said Town of Newcastle from a certain place called Ingler Dike c. as the same are butted and bounded c. even to the said Town of Newcastle are the lands and soil of the said Town of Newcastle belonging to the same beyond memory with all profits coming of the said Lands Moor and Soil as by an Inquisition thereof taken and returned into the Chancery appeareth And albeit the said Burgesses and their Predecessors from the time they have had the said Town to farm they have held the said Moor and Land as though it were appertaining to the said Town and have alwayes hitherto peaceably and quietly had and reaped all the profits coming of the said Moor and Lands yet the said Burgesses now they are turned from honest men to Burgesses the next will be to For that there is no mention made of the said Moor and Lands albeit they be of the Appurtenances of the said Town do fear that they may be impeached afterwards and for that the said Town as well by reason of the last Pestilence at that time as by the hazards of Wars and divers other adversities was so impoverished and destitute of men that the profits of the said Town sufficed not for the payment of the said Farm as they then pretended The said King being willing to provide for their indempnity in that behalf and for him and his Heirs granted that they and their Heirs might have and hold the same Moor and Soil as if it were appertaining to the said Town with all profits out of the same c. And that they the said Burgesses and their Heirs in the said Moor and Lands may dig and may have Coal Slaiâ— and Stâ—ne there and from thence may draw them and may make their profit of the said Coals Slait and Stones and other profits coming out of the said
wholesome profitable c. according as they shall think good for the good Rule and Government of the Governor Stewards and Brethren of the said Fraternity and for Declaration by what means and Order they fo 151. and their Factors Servants and Apprentices in their Office and businesses concerning the said Fraternity they shall have carry and use c. And that the Governor Stewards and Brethren of that fraternity c. as often as they grant make ordain or establish such Laws Institutes inform fo 152. and they may impose such pains penalties punishments and imprisonments of body or by fines c. upon all Delinquents against such Laws S Institutes c. as to them shall be thought necessary and requisite and as to them shall be thought best for the observation of the said Laws Ordinances c. fo 153. and the said fines and amerciaments at their discretions they may levy have and retain to them and their Successors to the use of the Governor Stewards and Brethren aforesaid without calumny c. All which and singular Laws Ordinances c. the said late Queen willeth to be observed so that the said Laws Ordinances fo 154 c. be not repugnant to the Laws or Statutes of the Kingdom of England And further the Queen granteth to the said Governor Stewards and Brethren c. and to their Successors that for ever hereafter they and their Successors c. fo 155. may have and shall have full power from time to time at their pleasure to chuse name and ordain other inhabitants and Burgesses of the said Town c. to be and shall be Brethren of the said Fraternity c. who so elected nominated and sworn shall be named and be Brethren of that Fraternity Moreover fo 156. the said Queen grants licence power and authority to the said Governor Stewards and Brethren c. and to their Successors that they for the time being and their Successors and every of them for ever hereafter may and shall quietly and peaceably have hold use and enjoy all such Liberties Privileges c. fo 157. concerning the loading and unloading shipping or unshipping of Stone-coals Pit-coals * Grind-stones Rub-stones and Whetstones T And that they may for ever hereafter load and unload ship and unship in or out of any ships or vessels Pit-coals and Stones aforesaid within the said River and Port of Tyne in any place or places as to them shall be expedient fo 158. between the said Town of Newcastle c. and the aforesaid place in the aforesaid River called the Sparhawke so nigh to the said Town of Newcastle c. as conveniently may be done according to the true intention of these Letters Pattents as the men and Brethren of the said Fraternity at any time have used and accustomed notwithstanding the Statute of King Hen. 8. the 3. of Novemb in the 21. year of his reign and from thence adjourned to Westminster holden published 1559. Intituled An Act concerning Newcastle and the Port and c. to the same belonging or any other Act c. notwithstanding And the said Queen also willeth c. for that express mention c. Witness the Queen at Westminster the 22 of March in the 13 year of her reign fo 160. What a world of profits is given from the Crown which ought to maintain it and would have so filled the Coffers as that there had been little need of Sesments c. Having read some works of those late famous Expositors of the Law I drew two or three heads out as Observations for the knowledge of those who know them not written by way of explanation of our known Laws as being a Law used time out of mind or by prescription The Law of Nature is that which God infused into the heart of man for his preservation and direction and that the Law of England is grounded upon six principle Points the Law of Reason the Law of God divers Customs of this Land of divers principles and maxims divers particular customs and of divers Statutes made in Parliament The fundamentall Lawes of England are so excellent that they are the Birth-right and the most antient and best Inheritance that the free people of England have for by them they enjoy not onely their Inheritance and Goods in peace and quietness but their Lives and dear Country in peace and safety Cooks Preface to the sixth Replication and on Littleton l. 2. c. 12. sect 213. Sometime it is called Right sometime Common Right and sometimes Communis Justitia and it is the same Law which William the Conqueror found in England the Laws which he sware to observe were Bonae c. approbatae antiquae Regni legis Charter-Law being so repugnant to the above written and so destructive to the weal of the people that never any Writer ever writ of them nor ever any Parliament Enacted their publication knowing they were no other then Prerogative and dyes with the Donor And it is an infallible rule where no Law is published there cannot be any transgression or obedience required The Corporation of Newcastle hath but two Supporters to stand and fall by first Prescription secondly Custom As to Prescription a Quo Warrante will avoid that upon a legall tryal it being understood that Charters are void by reason of the change of Government if not yet by breach of Charter exceeding their power being nothing else then a fallacy And as to plead Custom they have no right nor never in possession of what they claim Customary Right is good Law but Custom without Right is but an old error and ought to be removed Drunkenness and Swearing is customary is it fit it should stand because of its custom Kings were before Corporations and could have better justified themselves for a continuance than Corporations by reason they might plead Hereditary or Electary Conquerors or Customary yet being found a grievance was taken and removed for their Arbitrary actings why then must their power stand that is no Law If it were justice to execute those two Judges Empson and Dudly for onely putting a Statute Law in execution not repealed which is above Charters being grievous to the people it were nothing more to execute Justice upon such who acts the same without any Law King John who was a Murderer yet commanded a murderer to be taken from the Altar and sent to the slaughter Here was Justice Why do not our just Judges send such like from the Charter to the slaughter If Strafford lost his life for acting oppressively by an Arbitrary power why not others for the same CHAP. XII King James his Charters and Orders Mars Puer Alecto Virgo VULPES LEO Nullus Iamâ—s king of England Scotland and Ireland â—â— A KIng James in the second year of his reign being humbly supplicated by the Mayor and Burgesses of Newcastle that he would be graciously pleased to confirm all their antient Grants and Charters and to give them
Bishop of Durham who killed Levisus was killed by them for which William the Conqueror sent down Odo with an Army who totally laid Northumberland to waste cut off the heads of all the people after they had dismembred them Little of Confession or Repentance was by King John as was by William the Conqueror for he upon his Arrest at the Suit of Death confessed he had committed many outrages and won England by the Sword and not by Inheritance and was heartily sorry for the wrongs he had done and required his body to be buried at Cain in Normandy when he was dead they would not affoard him a burial-place till such time as one of his relation was constrained to purchase so much ground but soon after they defaced his Tomb took up his bones and brake them and cast them away In the fifteenth year of King Richard the second the Scots burnt all the Towns of Northumberland and the North as far as York except Rippon who redeemed themselves with a sum of mony In the sixth year of King Edward the third 1332. a great Battel was fought between the English and the Scots near Barwick where was killed eight Earls fifteen hundred Horse and thirty five thousand Foot In the thirteenth year of King Edward the third 1339. An inundation of water surmounted the Wall of Newcastle and broke down six pearches in length and drowned one hundred and sixty persons neer the Wark Knowl In the year 1345. William Douglas lead into Northumberland above thirty thousand Scots and fired many Towns but was overcome by a stratagem with Bishop Ogle The next year 1346. King David King of the Scots entred Northumberland with a great Army and fought at Nevils-Crosse where he was overthrown himself taken prisoner by one Copland of Northumberland who had five hundred pound per Annum given to him and to his heirs for ever In King Richard the seconds dayes 1379. the Scots entred England and killed all men women and children in the North parts notwithstanding the plague was sorely amongst them 1383. The Scots entred England and lead all the people away prisoners that were in Northumberland and laid that County to waste 1384. They entred again and did the like 1389. The Scots again invaded England where a great battel was fought at Oâ—terborn in Northumberland where they were over-thrown and eleven hundred killed and thirty thousand put to flight who upon their flight killed men women and sucking babes and filled houses with people two hundred in a house and then shut the doors and fired the houses 1399. King Richard the second caused seventeen Counties to be indicted pretending they were all against him with the Duke of Glocester Arundel and Warwick and commanded them all to give it under their hands and seals that they were Traytors though indeed they never were And then he makes them pay some a thousand pound some more some lesse King Henry the fourth Great fights were between Doughlas and Piercy in the North. And in the years 1639. and 1643. and 1648. It being well known to all the misery they brought upon the North and heavy Impositions both upon the North and South parts as appears in the close of the Epistle to the Reader c. It is no small mercy that we now live so in peace here being none of those bloody times and our Ancestors would willingly have enjoyed this mercy and we hunger after blood which they wallowed in what bloody minded men are these I wish them in better minds and to be contented with that which in former times could not be obtained Many have admired the poverty of Northumberland as well they may for what with the bloody Tyrants the Scots on the North of that poor County and oppressive Corporation of Newcastle on the South thereof bounded in with the High-lands on the West and the Sea on the East that it can get nothing but stroaks and worried out of what they have and not being tollerated to make use of their own and cold blasts from the Sea but it would be otherwise if such Gentlemen might be re-imbursed for such sums of money as they would expend to vend Coals out of Hartly Blithe and Bedlington Rivers which be convenient places to vend them at after some charge which would be done by having either their money again or Custome free for some years to re-imburse them which would not onely make that poor County as rich as any is but reduce the excessive rates of Coals and Salt and bring in many thousands per Annum into the publick revenew c. enable the people to be serviceable and abundantly increase Trade and Navigation as also there being as good Coals as possibly can be burnt which now lyes c. and others not knowing their right is stript of it But if one thing they look after which is to examine some Records they may perceive what is their Rights and which was especially in a book lodged in the Exchequor made in the year 1080. it being called Domus Dei or Dooms day being a perfect Survey of all the Lands in England the Rent Value Quantity c. by which William the Conqueror taxed the whole Nation and it goeth by the name of the Role of Winton being ordered to be kept in Winchester and recites the Earldomes Hundreds Tythings Woods Parks and Farms in every Territory and Precinct with Plowlands Meadows Marshes Acres c. what Tenements and Tenants then the Corporation of Newcastle might be as glad to keep what is their own as they are to take from others c. CHAP. LVII THe reason of my Collecting these few Statutes is to shew how they are intrenched upon by an illegal Charter and pressing upon a remedy shal cite Poulton which is that seeing we have all received and allow it for truth that the ignorance of the Law doth excuse none of offence and also that the Law doth help the watchful and not the sloathful man Therefore it behoveth each person first to seek the knowledge of those Laws under which he doth live and whereby he is to receive benefit or to sustain peril and next with all industry to frame his obedience unto them or humbly to submit himself to the censure of them And though we find by experience that some men by the sluggishnesse of their natures others by the carelesnesse of their own welfares And a third sort wholly given over to pleasures and vanities do little respect to know and lesse to obey our criminal and capital Laws being things of great moment importance and therefore do oftentimes taste the smart of them and repent of their follies when it is too late Many there be that by reading desires to conceive them others for increase of their knowledge others in their actions to be directed by them therefore to content such as knoweth not as yet these heads that they may know what they condemn and do tend to the breach of the peace of
all Jurors and return all such Writ or Writs * touching the same as shall appertain to be done by my duty or Office during the time I shall remain in the said Office So help me Gd and by the Contents of this Book The reason I write these Oaths is that perjury may the better appear to be punished in Officers as well as others The Oath of a Jury C You shall truly enquire and due presentment make of all such things as you are charged withall on the Lord Protectors behalf the Lord Protectors Council your own and your fellows you shall well and truly keep and in all other things the truth present So help you God c. The Oath of those that give evidence to a Jury upon an Indictment D The Evidence you shall give to the enquest upon this Bill shall be the truth the whole Truth and nothing but the truth and you shall not let so to do for malice hatred or evil will nor for meed dread favor or affection So help you God and the holy Contents of this Book CHAP. LIX King Charls his Oath at his Coronation with his hand upon the Bible at the Altar A SIR Will you grant and keep and by your Oath confirm to the people of England their Lawes and Customs to them granted by the Kings of England your lawfull and Religious Predecessors and namely the Laws Customes and Franchizes granted to the Clergy and to the people by the King St. Edward your predecessor according and conformable to the Laws of God and profession of the Gospel established in this Kingdom and agreeing to the Prerogatives of the Kings thereof and to the antient Customs of this Realm Respons I grant and promise to keep SIR Will you keep peace and agreement intirely according to your power both to God the holy Church the Clergy and the people Respons I will keep it SIR Will you to your power cause Law Justice and Mercy in discretion and truth to be executed in all your Judgements Respon I will SIR Will you grant to hold and keep the Laws and rightfull Customs * which the Commonalty of your Kingdom have and to defend and uphold them to the honor of God so much as in you lieth Respons I grant and promise so to do and shall observe and keep So God me help and the Contents of this book King Johns Oath and fealty to the Pope Innocentius An. Dom. 1213. B JOhn by the Grace of God King of England France and Ireland from this hour forward shall be faithful to God and to St. Peter and to the Church of Rome and to my Lord Pope Innocentius and to his Successors lawfully entering I shall not be in word and deed in consent or counsel that they should loose Life or Member or be apprehended in evill manner their loss if I may know it I shall impeach and stay so far as I shall be able or else so shortly as I can I shall signifie unto them and declare the same unto you the Councill which they shall commit unto me by themselves their Messengers and their Letters I shall keep secretly and not utter to any man to their hurt to my knowledge the Patrimony of St. Peter and especially the Kingdom of England and Ireland And I shall endeavor my self to defend against all men to my power So help me God and the holy Evangelist Amen See his reassignation of the Liberties after this Oath to the Barons of the Liberties of England in ch 1. K CHAP. LX. The Oath of a Mayor of a Corporation A YOu shall swear that you well and truly shall serve the Keepers of the Liberties of England by authority of Parliament and the Commonwealth in the Office of a Mayor and as Mayor of this Town and Borough of Newcastle for and during the space of one whole year now next coming and you shall minister equal Justice as well to the poor as rich * to the best of your cunning wit and power and you shall procure such things to be done as may honestly and justly be to the profit and commodity of the Corporation of this Town And also shall indeavor your self to the utmost of your power to see all Heresies Treasons Fellonies and all other Trespasses Misdemeanors * and Offences whatsoever to be committed * within this Town and Borough during the time of your Office to be repressed reformed and amended * and the Offenders duly punished according to the Law * And finally you shall support uphold and maintain the Commonwealth within this Town prescribed Customs Rights Liberties Jurisdictions Franchizes Compositions and all lawful Ordinances of this Town and Borough * And as concerning all other things appertaining to your Office you shall therein faithfully and uprightly behave your selfe for the most quietness * benefit worship honesty and credit of this Town and of the Inhabitants thereof So help you God The Oath of Burgesses of Corporation B YOu shall swear that you well and truly shall serve the Keepers of the Liberties of England by authority of Parliament and the Inhabitants of this Town and Borough of this Town as one of the Burgesses of this Town and shall minister equall Justice to poor and rich after the best of your cunning wit and power And also shall well and truly observe perform fulfill and keep all such good Orders Rules and Compositions as are or shall be made ordered or established by the Common-Council of this Town for the good Government thereof in all things to you appertaining And you shall not utter or disclose any counsel or secret thing or matter touching the Fellowship or Corporation of this Town whereby any prejudice loss hinderance or slander shall or may arise grow or be to the same Corporation But you shall in things belonging to the Fellowship or Corporation of this Town faithfully honestly * and indifferently behave your self for the most benefit and honesty of this Town and the Inhabitants thereof So help you God The same Oath is for the Aldermen Where the Stars are in the Lines there will appear breaches CHAP. LXI The Oath of a Sheriff A YOu shall swear that you shall well and truly serve the Keepers of the Liberties of England by authority of Parliament in the Office of a Sheriff of the County of N. And do the Keepers of the Liberties of England profits in all that belongeth you to do by way of your Office as far forth as you may or can Yee shall truely keep the Keepers c. and all that belongeth to them Ye shall not assent to decrease to lessen nor to concealment of any of their Rights or Franchizes and whensoever yee shall have knowledge that their Rights be concealed or withdrawn be it in Lands Rents Franchizes or Suits or any other thing ye shall do your true power to make them be restored to them again And if ye may not do it ye shall certifie them thereof such as you know for certain will
are not free of their Corporation pag. 20. 94. 92. 93. 95. 96. 97. 45. 78. 76. 75. 37. 190 162. D. And if this be not a Monopoly of as high a nature and producing as ill effects and those of as large extent as any that to the great content and satisfaction of the Nation hath bâ—en abolished let the * world judge A Welch Pedigree doth not descend by more steps and degrees than the propriety of their coals is varied while it is derived from the Owner of the Collery unto him that at last buyes the commodity to spend it as well Trades as others The Owners of Colleries must first sell the Coals to the Magistrates of Newcastle the Magistrates to the Masters of ships the Master of ships to the Woodmongers or Wharfingers and they to those that spend them Every change of the propriety adding to and enhancing the price of the Coals thus interchangeably bought and sold which course as it picks some money out of the purses of every man that buys Coals besides bad Coals being therby vented so it grinds the faces of the poor who in these latter years by reason mainly of this Monopolizing of them have found it as hard a matter to fortifie themselves against cold as against hunger p. 104. Whereas if the owners of every Collery had free liberty to sell p. 118. his Coals to ships immediately Tinmouth Haven would afford Two hundred thousand Chaldrons of Coals in the year more than now are vented which would reduce the late exorbitant excessive rates of Coals in the City of London p. 60. 75. to under twenty shillings a Chalder all the year Winter as well as Summer and bring into the common Treasury above Forty thousand pounds per annum p. 57. 94. 96. Some owners of Coal-pits will rather let their pits be fired like those at Benwell and consume than let their Coals to the Magistrates of Newcastle If the Coal-owners in each County from whence all Coals come should be as refractory to the Magistrates in denying their Coals as the Magistrates are to the Masters pag. 97. 93. 92. few or none would be brought to London or any Revenue raised Eighthly Forcing all ships up the River six miles amongst dangerous Sands Shelves and the bulks of sunk ships p. 69 70 71. 72 78 93 that so they may cast out their Ballast upon their Shoars and all for the greediness of receiving eight pence for every Tun of Ballast which hath occasioned the spoil and loss of many ships to the utter undoing of the Masters and Owners of the ships and the destruction of the lives of many poor Seaman and Mariners whose blood will be required at their hands who put them on those dangers in which they perished Besides their choaking up the most part of that River by forcing the Ballast up their Sandy hils near the said Town of Newcastle many thousand Tuns whereof is blown and washed down into that River pag. 78. They will neither preserve the River nor let Doctor Swinbourn Vice Admiral for the County of Durham doe it who hath fined some of the Magistrates hundreds of pounds for Damages c. Lastly Countenancing their Officers in their oppressions nay in their very murthers as in the case of Thomas Râ—tter with others who having forfeited their lives to Justice for killing Ann the wise of Thâ—mas Cliff of North-Shields was by their power and favor rescued from that death which they justly deserved p. 80. God would not suffer his Altar to be a Sanctuary to a wilful Murtherer neither would King John their Patron pag. 34. If a man come presumptuously upon his Neighbor to slay him thou shalt take him from mine Altar that he may die Exo. 21. 14. The Law of England dâ—fines what murther is pa. 165. Blood defileth the Land and the Land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein but by the blood of him that shed it Numb 35. 33. When therefore God shall make inquisition they that staid him that offered â—iolence to the blood of his Nâ—ighbor and should have gone to the pit Prov. 20. 17. will be found to communicate in this murder and involved in the same guilt with him that committed it but the good God be merciful to them that have not approved or consented to this wickedness For though our eyes did see this blood yet our hands did not shed it and therefore let every one that would wash his hands clean from that blood pray as God prescribed Be merciful O Lord unto thy people Israel whom thou hast redeemed and lay not innocent blood unto thy people Israels charge Deut. 21. 7 8. Thus have I given you a short view of the tyrannical oppressive practices of the Magistrates of Newcastle whose sin receives no smal aggravation from their Office and Calling in that they are Magistrates whom God hath furnished with Authority to that end that they might prevent and redress Injuries done by others and execute wrath upon evill doers Rom. 13. So that in their oppressions they sin against the very end of their Calling they transform the very Image of Gods Power and Justice which they sustain into the Image of Gods enemy Satan whom herein they resemble and become after a sort wickednesses in high places as the Devils are for amongst them as much as any where is that of Solomon verified I saw under the Sun the place of Judgement that wickedness was there and the place of righteousness that iniquity was there Eccles 3. 16. And although attempts hitherto and all indeavors for redress of these oppressive courses have proved abortive and fruitless No man compassionating the people with Saul so much as to aske What ayleth this people that they weep 1 Sam. 11. 5. No after many addresses Petitions Remonstrances and Sutes at Law being stifled by the instigation of corrupt persons then in power and obstructed by the mutability and changes we have too just reason to complain with Solomon Behold the tears of such as were oppressed and they had no comforters and on the sides of their Oppressors there was power but they the oppressed had no comforter Eccles 4. 1. Yet at this time we are not without good hopes but that the cries of the poor and the oppressed will enter into the ears and hearts of this present Power That they will be as a hiding place from the winde and a covert from the tempest as Rivers of waters in a dry place as the shadow of a great Rock in a weary Land Isa 32. 2. But if our hopes now fail us we must sit down and sigh-out that of Solomon If thou seest the oppression of the poor and violent perverting of Judgement and Justice in a Province marvail not at the matter for hee that is higher than the Highest regardeth and there he Higher than they Eccles 5. 8. THE TABLE A ATcheson Page 85 Arresting in others names Page 76 Arresting out of a Liberty Page 154 Arresting
which they would if occasion served willingly receive Nay they do not onely deny to do those favors themselves which not onely by the Law of Christian Charity but even by the Dictate of Nature and common Humanity they are bound to perform but they binder and deter those that would do them and violently prosecute fine and imprison those who have releived them and without their present help had ship-wracked in the very Haven and perished under the expectation of a delayed assistance I shall not accuse all Incorporations as established Monopolies but certainly the Corporation of Newcastle as it is managed by those men is of all Monopolies the most oppressive and consequently the most odiâ—us Monopolie rendred so by those injurious destructive illegal privileges which against all Law of God and man they have made and indulged to themselves and accordingly are rigorously practised by them But that their monstrous practices may more clearly appear to all the world what hath been scattered and divided by necessary interweaving of Proofs and Depositions Statutes and Laws and other Supplements I shall here contract into a narrow compass and present them Brevi quasi Tabellâ unto the view of the world Their Tyranny and Oppression may be reduced to these heads First False Imprisonments without any tryal of Law or offence committed pag. 72. 89. 58. 76. 84. 87. 93. 85. 103. 59. 81. 106. 90. When the Chief Priest and Elders of the Jews desired Festus on their Information barely to pass sentence upon St. Paul though a Heathen Judge he returns them this answer It is not the manner of the Romans to deliver any man to die before that he which is accused have the accusers face to face and have licence to answer for himself Act. 25. 16. On the unjustice and unreasonableness of this course doth Nicodemus oppose the Chief Priests and Phariseeâ— in the behalf of Christ Doth our Law saith he judge any man before it hear him and know what he hath done John 7. 51. p. 163. G. This way of proceeding in Judicatory is most repugnant both to the Law of Nature as you see in the Romans Law and also to the Law of God which positively determines One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity or any sin that he sinneth At the mouth of two or three witnesses shall the matter be established Deut. 19. 15. And if God would not have any man to be condemned in any Judicatory by the testimony of one witness but by the joynt attestation of two or three at least as is evident by this Text of Scripture and by many concurrent places of divine Writ as Numb 35. 30. Deut. 17. 6. Mat. 18. 16. John 8. 17. Heb. 10. 28. 2 Cor. 13. 1. How much less would God approve of such tyrannical proceedings to condemn a man without any witness at all or ever permitting the person accused to take up an Apology or just defence for himself Secondly Forcing men to swear against themselves pag. 60. 72. 86. 87. 88. 91. 92. 103. How highly were the hearts of this Nation inflamed what indignation did they conceive against the practices both of the Star Chamber and High Commission heretofore pag. 87. as laying an unsupportable yoak upon the necks of the people by the tender of the Oath ex Officio Hath all the Nation freed themselves from this bondage by a good Law so that elsewhere no man is compelled to testifie against himselfe or where other witnesses fail inforced to accuse himself And must they onely that come under the Jurisdiction of the Magistrates of Newcastle remain inslaved under the same bondage Is this Tyranny lawful at Newcastle that is exploded and cast off every where else Nay that which infinitely heightens their oppression and wickedness is this That those Reasons which were alleged to justifie this practice pag. 188 88. 87. 86. 103. both in the Star Chamber and High Commission have no place of pretension here There the zeal of Justice to let no sin go unpunished and the Glory of God in the sinners Confession and accusing of himself as Joshua abjured Achan My Son give I pray thee glory to the Lord God of Israel and make confession unto him and tell me now what thou hast done hide it not from me Josh 7. 19. was alleged as an instance to justifie their proceedings where otherwise the Offender could not be discovered either by evidence of the Fact or testimony of witnesses But here by an Oath they compel men to reveal the secrets of their hearts to rise up in Judgement against themselves for no other end but by their own confession to make them guilty and then invade their fortunes First They make themselves Masters of their Consciences pag. 86. 107. 99. And by that make themselves Masters of their Estates Covetousness and not zeal of Justice or Gods Glory is the principle from whence they act Thirdly Imposing Fines Arbitrarily p. 23. â— 31. R 44. 60. 84. 87. 90. 91. 93. 117. 24. 109. 110 92. 16. and then no wonder if they be excessive exceeding both the Merrit of the crime pretended or the ability of the Offender How great a temptation is it to Justice to be severe and ridged in its sentence when the punishment of the Offendor is the inriching of them that passe the sentence nay the Judges themselves are the grand Offenders and goe unpunished p. 77. 78. 79 and so it is here at Newcastle p. 81. Q p. 91. C p. 90. H p. 103. D p. 110. One reason that induced some sages of the Law to affirme that the latter Kings of England had evested themselves of their power to sit Personally in their Courts of Justice and deligated it to and invested the Judges of the respective Benches therewith was because in Imposing of Fines the King was both a Judge and party interested not only as the fountain of Justice to be administred unto the people but as the person into whose exchequers and treasury the laws of England paid their Fines But the Magistrates of Newcastle injoy those privileges which were thought unbeseeming the Kings of England They are both Judges and Parties They estimate the offence and receive the fine and then how frequently covetousnesse and self-interest sit on the Bench in the place of Justice p. 35. the world may easily Judge as appeares in the case of Lewis Frost and unjust Judge Bonner hee having two pence halfpenny of all ballast and the other Catchpole Bonner to arrest the refusers Fourthly Obstructing all indeavours for grant of a Market at North-sheilds six miles from Newcastle and in another County and 12 miles from any other Market in the same County and then robbing people of their commodities in their own markets and seizing on goods carried through their Town alledging Forraigne bought and Forraigne sold Markets were for conveniences and not for ingrossing all provisions and peoples lives p. 87. Fifthly For imprisoning poor Artificers