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A45577
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A charge given at the general quarter sessions of the peace for the county of Surrey holden at Dorking on Tuesday the 5th day of April 1692, and in the fourth year of Their Majesties reign / by Hugh Hare.
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Hare, Hugh, 1668-1707.; England and Wales. Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace (Surrey)
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1692
(1692)
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Wing H760; ESTC R25410
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29,639
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42
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against whom the Offences which you are to enquire of and present are High-Treasons Praemunire's and Misprisions of Treason High-Treason is a Crime punishable with Death and whoever compasseth or imagineth the death of the King or Queen and declares it by some Overt Act whoever levyeth War against the King whoever shall counterfeit the King or Queen Regnants Great Seal Sign Manual Privy Segnet or Privy Seal whoever shall counterfeit the Coyn of this Realm or any other Coyn permitted by the King's consent to be current in this Kingdom or whoever shall bring over from beyond the Seas any counterfeit Coyn knowing it to be false and shall make payment thereof in deceit of the King and his People or shall clip impair or falsifie any such Coin as aforesaid or whoever shall obtain or receive from the Bishop of Rome or any Authority of that See any Bull Writing or Instrument Written or Printed or shall Use Publish or put it in Ure or shall be reconciled to the Bishop or See of Rome by virtue of any such Bull or shall perswade any Person to be reconciled by vertue of such Bull or shall abett or conceal such Offenders and Offences or whoever shall by any other ways or means withdraw or endeavour to withdraw any to the Romish Religion or whoever shall be so withdrawn or whoever being a Jesuit Seminary Priest or any other Priest Deacon Religious or Ecclesiastical Person of the Church of Rome and being a Native of this Realm shall come hither or into any of their Majesties Dominions or lastly whosoever during the Present War with the French King shall Send Load Transport or Deliver or cause to be Sent Laden Transported or Delivered for the use of the said French King or any of his Subjects residing in any part of his Dominions or in any place in his Possession any Arms Ordnance Powder Bullets Pitch Tarr Hemp Masts Cordage Iron Coals Lead or Salt-Peter or whoever of their Majesties Subjects shall without License from their Majesties voluntarily go or repair or imbark in any Vessel with an intent to go into France or any Dominions of the French King Whosoever Gentlemen commits any of the Facts abovementioned and all their Aiders Abetters Counsellors and Maintainers are guilty of High-Treason And by the Statute of the 25 th of Edw. the 3d. it is likewise High-Treason to kill the Chancellor Treasurer or any of the Justices Assigned to hear and determine being in their Places doing their Offices All these Facts Gentlemen are High-Treason and you are to enquire and present them In the next place Gentlemen you are to enquire of such Offences against the King and Queen which fall within the Statutes of Praemunire's This Law was made to preserve the Crown of England from the papal Incroachments and Usurpations and to prevent Foreign Appeals in Cases determinable in the King's Courts So jealous were our wise Ancestors of the freedom and independancy of the Regal Power and of their own Liberties that near two Hundred Years before the Reformation in the darkest times of Popery there was no less a Penalty than being put out of the King's Protection being fined at the King's Pleasure and being imprisoned without Bail till that Fine should be paid and their Lands Goods and Possessions Forfeited to the King unless they should come in and receive their Tryal within two Months after Summons no less a Penalty I say than this was provided for all such as should Sue to any Foreign Court or to any Spiritual Court within this Realm to defeat or impeach the Judgment given in the King's Court as also for all such as should on this account purchase or pursue in the Court of Rome or elsewhere any Excommunication Bull or other Instrument against the King his Crown or Realm or should bring receive notifie or execute them here in England and for all their Procurers Maintainers Abettors and Counsellors For in Treasons Murthers and Praemunire's all the Offenders are Principals and are so punishable It would be too tedious Gentlemen to receite to you the several Statutes that have been made especially since the Reformation concerning Praemunire's It is enough to inform you in the General that they are mostly levell'd at Popish Recusants and at such as by word of Mouth or Writing shall defend the Authority the Pope or any Foreign Prince may pretend to have over the King and People of England And Gentlemen I must not omit taking notice to you that an Act made in the last Sessions of Parliament Entituled An Act against Corresponding with their Majesties Enemies Declares That if any Person during the present War with the French King shall Send Load Transport or Deliver or cause to be Sent Laden Transported or Delivered for the use of the said French King or any of his Subjects residing in any part of his Dominions or in any place in his Possession any Goods Merchandizes Wares Or Commodities shall incurr the Pain and Forfeiture of a Praemunire This Act is so exceeding useful for the Nation in this present juncture that I must particularly recommend it to you diligently to enquire and present all Offenders against it In the next place Gentlemen you are to enquire and present all Misprisions of Treason which Word signifieth in our Law Negligence or Oversight in not revealing to the King his Council or some Magistrate a Treason which any Man knows to be committed or about to be committed for it is a high Crime and the Consequences may be very dangerous for any one though not consenting to it for that comes within the Statutes of Treasons to conceal so Capital an Offence Therefore for Misprision of Treason the Offender shall forfeit to the King his Goods and Chattels for ever and the profits of his Lands during his Life and also shall be imprisoned during his Life And Gentlemen now I am discoursing to you concerning such Offences as do most immediately strike at the Persons and Government of the King and Queen I must take notice to you of three sorts of Men of whom we have at this time no small Reason to be Apprehensive and they are these Popish Recusants Protestant Recusants and Protestants who though they have taken the Oaths to their present Majesties and enjoy the Benefit of their Protection do yet make it their business to libel and censure the Government and in their Words and daily Behaviour shew themselves disaffected and to give them their due Character are but one Degree from Traytors By Popish Recusants I mean those Subjects of England who divide their Allegiance between the King and the Bishop of Rome whom they look upon as Christ's Vicar on Earth and of whose Church and Communion they are On this Account they refuse to take the Oath of Supremacy which excludes the Pope's Power in spiritual Matters to any Prince though of their Perswasion and if the
modelled Combinations to oppress cheat and ruin the weaker and submitting part of Mankind Not but that the advantages of a Political Union are so Considerable that it may be doubted whether Tyranny it self though as execrable as that formerly practised by the Roman Nero and in these our Days revived with many Additions by the French Louis be not rather to be chosen than a wild and confused Anarchy This State exposes Men to the Frauds and Violence of all their Neighbours and the extravagant Caprices of the Mobile and the other subjects whole Nations to the mad Frolicks and brutal Passions of a slattered and abused Tyrant Both extremes are very Dreadfull and as much to be deprecated as a raging Pestilence or any other common Calamity While the mean between them from which they both so far deviate is a Copy well drawn from that Great and not to be parallelled Original of God's Government of the World whose onely end is to promote the happiness of his Creatures as the Peace Safety and Publick good of the People ought to be no less the Aim of all Rulers than it is the Reason why Government was at first Instituted How happy therefore and how much to be valued are the Constitutions and Laws of England whereby we are delivered from both Extremes We neither lie under the Terror of an Arbitrary Power nor are we cast loose to the Wildness of ungoverned Multitudes we neither groan under the Tyranny of a French Army nor the Madness of the Lawless Rabble Our Laws are Writ neither on Sand nor with Blood for they are neither easie to be Defaced nor cruel in their Execution but are known and establisht Rule whereby we are taught how to administer Justice and whereby as Mens Rights are limited so their Passions are restrained and the Publick Peace is settled on a secure Foundation Prerogative and Property which are so much abused as pretences for Oppression on the one Hand and Sedition on the other are by our Laws so well disposed and regulated that being twisted together in a mutual Defence they afford our Island a safer Protection than the Ocean that surrounds it and having crusht all the Domestick Enemies that secretly Project our Ruine strike a Terrour on those Foreigners that would Invade our Repose The Subject I am upon is so Copious and so Pleasant that should I follow my own Inclinations I should wast that time in Speaking which may be much better spent in Acting for the good of our Country Therefore I shall make my Charge as short as conveniently I may being fully sensible that you all know as well as I the Business for which we are here met together And I am sure they serve the Government best who though they may want Eloquence to give it its due Praises yet have courage enough to defend and preserve it when disturbed by any Enemies In which number are to be reckoned not only that Ambitious Bloody and Perfidious Prince that Ishmael of our Age whose Hand is against every Man and every Man's Hand against Him with whom we are at this time necessarily engaged in a just and honourable War for the common Safety Liberty and Repose of Europe but also those more dangerous Enemies our Domestick Ones I mean all Prophane Lewd Debauched Traiterous Seditious Lawless and disorderly Persons who Blaspheme God and Dishonour themselves who conspire the ruin of the Government under whose Protection they live and censure all its Proceedings who Rob Murther and Oppress the Innocent and in a word disturb the Publick Peace Of all which sorts of People I may truly say that as they are a Scandal and Reproach to Humane Nature so do they naturally weaken the Foundations of any Constitution and must in time if not duly repress'd and punish'd occasion its overthrow Therefore the Laws of England have several ways wisely provided Remedies for so great an Evil and Preservatives against so dangerous a Distemper Among which I may reckon the chiefest to be the Court of Quarter Sessions which is four times in a Year held in every County A Court so Honourable that it receives its Authority by a special Commission from their Majesties in which the highest Subjects of England think it an additional Dignity and Privilege to Act for the Publick Good and in relation whereunto the King himself is by our Laws stiled the Principal Conservator of the Peace A Title glorious without Pomp and clearly expressive of the weighty Burthen annexed to Royalty And as our Office is Honourable so is it likewise very Ancient for besides the Reasons we have to believe that this or something very like it was Contemporary with the Original of our Own and most other Governments besides this I say our Chronicles inform us that William the First commonly called the Conquerour about the fourth Year of his Reign which is above Six Hundred Years ago ordained Justices of the Peace Though the first particular Statute we meet with concerning it is of a younger date viz. the first Year of Edward the Third's Reign How generally useful and serviceable to the Country this our Authority hath been found to be needs no other Proof than the considerable enlargements it hath since that time received Whereas the High Commission Court the Star Chamber the Court of Wards and Liveries and several other Courts being found to deviate from their Original Institution and instead of giving Ease Relief and Security to become Burthensome and Oppressive to the Subjects have been suppress'd by Authority of Parliament But the Wisdom of the Nation instead of vacating our Power hath in several Particulars extended the Limits of it for they could not but be sensible of the vast advantages that every Man receives by so frequent and so regular so cheap and so easie an Administration of Justice whereby all violences are checkt and the Infringers and Disturbers of the Publick Peace are hindred from triumphing in their unpunish'd Villainies That Peace is in its self the greatest Temporal Blessing that either Nations or private Men can enjoy is not only evident from the unavoidable Miseries and Calamities that attend the contrary State and cloud the Glories of the most successfull Conquerours but also from the high Encomium the Holy Spirit gives of it throughout the Blessed Scriptures It was all along promised to the Jews who then were God's peculiar People as the greatest reward that he could bestow on those who were obedient to his Laws And whenever they notoriously swerved from this Divine Rule how severely did they feel the Prophet Isaiah's Denunciation executed upon them There is no Peace saith my God to the Wicked which is literally verified as to all Mankind whether we consider them united into several Political Societies or under the Character of private Persons in both stations Peace and Security Quiet and Comfort are at as vast a distance from them as they are from Innocence and Integrity One of the Characters under