THE SECOND PART OF THE Ignoramus Iustices OR An Answer to the Scandalous SPEECH OF Sir W. S. Barronet Spoken to the Grand-Jury at the Sessions of Peace held for the County of Middlesex at Hick's-hall On Monday the 24 of April 1682. TOGETHER With several Remarks upon the Order of Sessions for the Printing and Publishing the same By the same Authour LONDON Printed for E. Smith at the Elephant and Castle in Cornhill 1682. THE SECOND PART OF THE Ignoramus Iustices OR An ANSWER to the Scandalous SPEECH OF Sir W. S. Barronet I Will not ong ltrouble the Courtious Reader with a difcription of the Person that made this learned Speech which is Sir W. S. And the very same Sir Wm. which heretofore as I am informed in the late troubles was called Col. S. And though I love not to rake in Dunghills or into the lives and actions of men at any time much less after so long an intervale yet because he himself hath been pleased to make the world so happy not only in the publication of that Excellent speech but also told us in p. 4. that he feels the smart of Goldsmith's and Haberdashers Hall to this day it may not therefore be amis a little to give him a hint of his Piety when he was in the Station of a Souldier that as in a looking-glass he may view himself now being a Justice and as this is done as well to inform the world of the person and his zeal for the cause of God in times past as now he pretends by his speech both for the cause of God and his R. H. for time to come so learnedly interwoven with Scripture Phrases and larded with such Sentenses of Elegant Latine If this be the same S. that was called Col. S. in the late troubles he may remember and bless God for his great Conversion since that time and if it be not painted Piety that he now makes the world believe he hath then he above all men hath the greatest reason in the world to admire the free grace of God in converting his bloudy heart for in those dayes and in cool of bloud too in the County of Bucks he like as wicked Haman did against the Jews gave this Councel to kill and destroy all the Gentlemen Yeomen Farmers their wives and Children without regard either to Sex Age or condition in that Country for fear that there being many in that County as he believed would be of the other side when they had an opportunity and should take part against them Now if this be the same man his nature is mightily altered for now his gaul goes no further but that the Dissenters Purses should pay that shot he has so elegantly manifested and if the standers by did not mistake his words he both speak and meant that the Dissenters should be prosecuted for their money to help pay the charge the King had been out in the war with Argier c. and the building the 30 Ships to save the Parliament a labour which was a most ingenious Contrivance but more of that in its due place But whether this be the same Coll. S. or not yet I am fully asured this is the very same Sir W. S. that the last Westminster Parliament was had before the Committee for stoping and hindring Petitioning the King for calling of Parliaments and therein abusing that law he hath since owned by his late Abhorrencies who was then heard to say that he was falsely accused for that he was so far good man from offering any such violence to the Rights of the people and Parliaments that he protested his innocency with much more asseverations then now in his grand speech he doth his sincerity of obedience to the King and the Laws yet at that time true evidence tells us that the very same day he made that so solemn protestation of his Innocency the very thing he was accused of before the Committee of Parliament was most evidently proved against him and had not the Parliament been Prorogued he might have met with as seveer a Censure by the Parliament as now he is pleased in his Oration to wish and urge for the Dissenters but more of this in its due place And that very same Col. S. not many years after the war was done when the tide was turned was the chief promoter in the County of Bucks and other places to procure Addresses to Richard Cromwel and was then the most zealous and forwardest man in that Service A mighty great sign of his Loyalty to our present King by which it seems his trade is Addresses And the very same Col. S. did as was most commonly reported when he was Governour of Chepstow Castle for the King find out a way to surrender or rather betray the same to the Parliament without blows or force of iron or leaden bullets French or English Crowns at that time being his Conqueror the same Col. S. who was the Son of an Attorney and being imployed either as Agent or Steward to the noble Lady Cleveland or Wentworth being called to an account for high misdemeaners in that Trust and being prosecuted in the Court of Exchequer for the same in the time when the late Lord Chief Justice Hales was one of the Barrons of the Exchequer the Baron having seen so much in that Cause so evidently proved before him of certain frauds used by him gave this opinion of him in open Court That it was pitty the honour of Knight-hood should ever be so blemished as to be bestowed on such a Person guilty of those fowl things which that S. who ever he was best knows what the good Barons reason was for such expressions And I presume if any person would be further satisfied whether it be the same Sir W. S. he may be informed from the Records there And if it should prove to be their Chairman of the Sessions then the world may see what a kind of Loyal upright person we have to justisie and adhere unto as the worthy order of Sessions puts it Fol. 11. These things should not have been touched although a deal more is due had it not pleased the Justice so much to vindicate his uprightness and Loyalty By this the Reader may see the old cheat whores will alwayes cry whore first but if these be the men that his Majesty must rely on and which makes this bustle and stir with Loyalty in prosecuting Addresses and Abhorrencies in what miserable condition is that Prince that trusts them or their Loyalty for can it be supposed that he that has Addressed to Richard Cromwel one day will not Address to the King the next if that side be uppermost and if to the King one day why not to his Enemies the next day if the wind change for what hath been may be if he cannot be faithful to a trust reposed in him of a private Estate and Concernment as a Steward certainly he is a very unsit man to be entrusted with a
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
transgresses that Law that made him so and his Ministers Judges and Justices of all sorts that either assists him in it or Act by such Commands shall account to the people by the Law of the Land and reckon one day for it to their cost for though it be a maxim in Law the King can do no wrong which is meant as to his pollitick capacity yet the Ministers and Officers that act under the pretence of his command if it be an unlawful Act they do though they are commanded by the King to do it it shall be no excuse for them for if the Kings Commands or his Patents be not according to the Law they are Null and Void and the Person that Acts by such Commands though he hath such pretended Authority shall be punished for the same with Life and Member as the crime deserves And the efore our wise Ancestors foreseeing the mischief that corrupt Ministers and Judges about the King might bring upon the Nation always took care that within some convenient time a General Councel of the whole Nation should meet for to judg of matters hear complaints redress Grievances punish Evil Councellors wicked Judges Officers and Offenders who had wronged the King and People by such their foul practices and pernitious Councels well foreseeing that in a pollitick Body as well as in a Corporal Body Deseases and Scurbitick humours will ever be growing and therefore must stand in need of good Physick and wise and honest Physitians to heal them lest the Disease grows incurable And therefore in all ages we find that our Ancestors took care that the people should meet together at certain times sometimes twice in a year and oftner if need required As in King Alfred's time and the reason by the Records is given to keep the people of God from sin and to do Holy Judgments as you may see by our Law Books Vid. Flornes Merrour of Justice Sect. 3. p. 10. Cook and Litâ—leton fol. 110. See Hornes Mirrour of Justice and my Lord Cooks second part of the Institutes of the Law of England The words of the Law are these viz. That a Parliament shall be called at London twice every year or oftner if need be to keep the people of God from Sin that they might live in peace and true Religion certain Vsages and Holy Iudgments Now of later years in Edward the thirds time a Law was made that a Parliament should be holden once a year and more often if need be See the Statute of the 4 E. 3. Cap. 4. which ordains viz. Item 4 E. 3. C. 14. It is Recorded that a Parliament shall be holden every year once and more often if need be There is another Act made in the 36 E. 3. in these words viz. Item 36 E. 3. C. 10. For maintenance of the said Articles and Statutes and Redress of divers Mischiefs and Grievances which daily happen A Parliament shall be holden every year as another time was ordained by a Statute Now by these Statutes we may plainly see what is the Right of the Subject and the Law of the Land Why it is frequent Parliaments to protect and preserve the Nation without which it is impossible for either the King or People to be safe from violence oppressions and incroachment of proud and insolent men which always was and over will be designing to root up the Government and the peoples Rights and get them into their own Clutches under the disguise of their serving the King in his own way And if this be so that both these last recited Laws be yet in force which I am sure neither the wise Justice or any Judg of England that is a man of Law can say they are not And since we have been now without a Parliament above one whole year sure Sir W. in his Speech ought to have given some touch to the Jury to present as a Grievance and a Breach of the Law the want of a Parliament and it would have better befitted him to have discoursed about the Effluviums of the Mouth and Haggs And since we are governed by Laws and our Kings are sworn to maintain them as we shall show you anon and that we are sure our Kings receive the Crowns they wear from the Law of the Land And that no King of England came into the world booted and Spurred ready prepared to ride the people to death nor drop from Heaven in a Cloud nor yet riseth in a night like a Mushroom but that he is the Ordinance of man as St. Paul calls him for their good And that the Kings of England can deny then Subjects nothing in Parliament that is for the publick welfare as appears in the latter clause of the Statutes of provisoes made in the 25 year of Edward the 3 25 E. 3. C. 1. and since the Justice is pleased to say page 1. that it is high time to speak plain English methinks he could not have spoken better English then this that the want of a Parliament is the greatest mischief this Nation now groanes under especially if his own words are true that we are a miserable devided people what means can better be found out to unite and help us then the Parliament where every mans complaint may be heard and where the King is most powerful to Redress which is no where so great as in the High Court of Parliament but to justifie what I have before propounded or rather asserted that Justice cannot be stopped either by the King his Ministers or his Judges on any other pretence whatever I shall here add to what hath been said a short branch of the Statute of Provisoes and the Coronation Oath which plainly shews that our Kings are so by Law and not otherwise of Divine institution then any other man in such Station as God calls them to for every man in his several calling may be said to be by Gods permission and allowance in some way or other as much as Kings in their way of Government which appears plainly by the Text the Justice hath named to wit by me Kings Reign but with his good leave the Law choose them or else they come by force and are Tyrants and that will appear not only by our Records of our English Government both in the altering and translating of the Crown from one to another in all ages by Act of Parliament but in holy Record too though we are not under the same Dispensation the Jews were under yet the Scripture tells us they choose and made their King See the 2d of Kings Cap. 17. ver 21. The words are And they made Jeroboam Son of Nebat King and though the prophet did anoint David to be King yet all the people met together to make David King and to in divers other places but I think Jure Divino is so far out of the case that it would show in the Author as much Ignorance to spend time to make Arguments about so vain
and foppish an assertion as it will be if the Justice should the next Sessions spend his time in his Discourse of catching of Connies in a Warren he is well acquainted with In the Statute of Provisoes the Parliament there asserts these words viz. The Commons have prayed our Lord the King that since the Crown of England and the Law of the said Realm is such that upon the mischief and damages which happen to this Realm he ought and is bound by his Oath with the accord of his People in his Parliament thereof to make Remedy and Law in removing the mischiefs and damages which thereof ensue that it may please him thereupon to ordain remedy The King in the same Statute Answers the Prayer of the Commons and saith by his Oath he is bound to it which Statute may be read at leasure to this plainly agrees the Kings Oath at his Coronation viz. Râ—t Parliament 1 H. 4. Num. 17. Forma Juramenti solit consueti prestart per Reges Angliae in horam Coronatione Servabis Ecclesiae Dei cleroque populo pacem ex integro concordium in Deo secundum Vices tuas Respondebit Servabo Facias fieri in omnibus Judiciis tuis equam Rectam Justitiam Discretioonem in misericordia veritate secundum Vices tuas Respondebit faciam Concedis Justas Leges Consuetudines esse tenendas promittis per te eas esse protegendas ad honorem cas Corroborandas quas vulgus elegerit secundum Vices tuas Respondebit Censedo Promitto Aujiciantque puldutis interrogationibus que justa fuerint pronunciat iisque orbus confirmet Rex se omnia servatur sacramento super altare Prestito coraâ—â— Cunctis By which Oath we may perceive the Kings of England are bound to keep all Laws and to grant fulfil and defend all rightful Laws which the people of the Realm shall choose and to strengthen and maintain them the Chancellor and Ministers about him are sworn to give him true and faithful advice the Judges are sworn to advice the King in point of Law and to Administer the Law indifferently between the King and his Subjects which Oath begins thus viz. An oath of the Iustices being made in the year of Edw. the 3d. in the year 1344. Ye shall swear that well and lawfully ye shall serve our Lord the King and the people in the office of Iustice and that lawfully ye shall Coucel the King in his business and that ye shall not Councel or Assent to any thing which may turn him in damage or dishersion by any manner way or culler and that ye shall not know the damage or dishersion of him whereof ye shall not cause him to be warrented by your self or by other and that ye shall do equal law and right to all his Subjects rich and poor without haveing regard to any Person and that you take not by your self or by others privately or apertly gifts nor rewards of Gold nor Silver nor of any other thing which may turn to your profit unless it be meat or drink and that of small value of any man that shall have any plea or process hanging before you as long as the same process shall so be hanging nor after for the same Cause and that ye take no fee as long as ye shall be Iustice nor Roabes of any man great or small but of the King himself and that ye give no Advice or Councel to no man great or small in no case where the King is party and in case that any of what Estate or Condition they be come before you in your Sessions with force and armes or otherwise against the peace or against the form of the Statute thereof made to disturb execution of the Common Law or to mennace the people that they may not pursue the Law that ye shall cause their Bodies to be Arrested and put in prison and in case they be such that ye cannot arrest then that ye certifie the King of their Names and of their misprision hastily so that ye may thereof ordain a conveneable Remedy And that ye by your self nor by others privity or apertly maintain any Plea or Quarrel hanging in the Kings Court or elsewhere in the County And that ye deny no man common Right by the Kings Letters nor no other mans nor for none other Cause And in case any Letters come to you contrary to the Law that ye do nothing by such Letters but certifie the King thereof and proceed to execute the Law Notwithstanding the same Letters and that ye shall do and procure the profit of the King and of his Crown with all things where you may reasonably do the same And in case ye be from hence forth found in default in any of the points aforesaid ye shall be at the Kings will Body Lands and Goods thereof to be done as shall please him As God you help and all Saints Now having given you the Oaths as the Law hath setled it I shall add one Statute more to shew how careful and diligent our Ancestors were to preserve this Nation from Arbitrary Power not only in the King but also in Judges and Officers that we might not be enslaved and opprest by the Judges under a colour and pretence of Law And that is the Statute of 20 E. 3. The Title is viz. The Justices of both Benches 20 E. 3. cap 10 Assices c. shall do right to all men take no fee but of the King nor give Councel where the King is party First we have commanded all our Iustices that they shall from henceforth do equal Law and Execution of Right to all our Subjects rich and poor without having regard to any person and without omitting to do right for any Letters or Commandment which come to them from us or from any other or by any other Cause And if that any Letters Writs or Commandments come to the Iustices or to others deputed to do Law and Right according to the usage of the Realm in disturbance of the Law or of Execution of the same or of Right of the Parties The Iustices and others aforesaid shall proceed and hold their Courts and Process where they please and matters be depending before them As if no such Letters Writs or Commandments were come to them And they shall certifie us and our Councel of such Commandment is which be contrary to Law as aforesaid and to the Iuterâ— that our Iustices shall do even right to all people in manner aforesaid without more favour shewn to one then to the other We have ordained and caused out Iustices to be sworn That they shall not from henceforth as long as they shall be in Office of Iustice take Fee nor Roab of any man but of our self and that they shall take no gift or reward by themselves nor by others privily or apertly of any man that hath to do before them by any way except meat and Drink and that of small value
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
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