reach up to Heaven But to shew how vain all humane Designments are which think to contest with the Dispensations of Divine Providence the Almighty sent amongst them a Confusion of Tongues and dispersed those who were congregated into one place over the Face of the whole Earth By this Dispersion there were according to the generally-received Opinion seventy two distinct Nations erected all which were not confused Multitudes left at Liberty to choose what Governors or Government they listed but so careful was GOD even in that Confusion to preserve the Paternal and Monarchical Authority that he distributed the Diversity of Languages according to the Diversity of Families having Fathers for Rulers over them This appears plainly in the sacred Text where after the Enumeration of the Sons and Grandsons of Japheth immediately follow these Words By these were the Isles of the Gentiles divided in their Lands every one after his Tongue after their Families in their Nations So again of the Children of Ham it is said These are the Sons of Ham after their Families after their Tongues in their Countreys and in their Nations And again of the Children of Shem These are the Sons of Shem after their Families after their Tongues in their Lands after their Nations The Conclusion of the whole being thus These are the Families of the Sons of Noah after their Generations in their Nations and by these were the Nations divided in the Earth after the Flood However therefore the Manner used by Noah in the Distribution of the Earth amongst his Posterity be uncertain yet most certain it is that the Division it self was by Families from Noah and his Children over which the Fathers were Rulers enjoying as absolute an Authority and Dominion as ever any Monarch since the Creation pretended to Agreeably to this Account of the Original of Monarchy delivered in in holy Scripture doth Plato in his third Book of Laws affirm that the true and first Reason of Authority is that the Father and Mother and simply those that beget and ingender do command and rule over all their Children Groundless therefore is that Distinction which some men make of Monarchy into Despotical and Paternal since no Master has Right to exact a more absolute and unlimited Obedience from his Slave than is due from the Child to the Father Of the Absoluteness of this Paternal Jurisdiction Examples are frequent in Holy Writ Thus we find that Abraham commanded an Army of three hundred and eighteen Souldiers of his own Family and that Esau met his Brother Jacob with four hundred Men at Arms. Thus Abraham concluded a Peace with Abimelech and ratified the Articles by Oath Thus Judah sentenced Thamar his Daughter-in-Law to be burnt for playing the Harlot Which three Acts of making War concluding Peace and giving Judgment of Life or Death are the chief marks of Soveraignty that can be found in any Monarch As the Original therefore of Monarchy was of Divine Institution so its Power was uncontrollable nor can it be otherwise without the Destruction of the Government it self Rightly then whatever Milton in his Justification of the blackest Treason that ever Eye beheld sayes to the contrary is a King defined by Salmasius He who has the Supreme Power in the Kingdom accountable to none but GOD who may do what he pleases and is free from the Laws Ridiculous then if not Malicious are the clamors of those who daily fill the World with Outcries against Arbitrary Power For there never was nor ever can be any People governed without a Power of Legislation which Power must of necessity be Arbitrary and is an inseparable Concomitant of the Supreme Governor or Governors and must therefore in a Monarchy reside in one The Question then is not whether there shall be an Arbitrary Power without which not any Government can one Moment subsist but who shall have this Arbitrary Power whether one man or many that is in effect whether the Government shall be Monarchical or not Nay it has been seen that those very Persons who clamored so much and with so little reason against an Arbitrary Power in their Prince have themselves exercised the Height of Arbitrary Power over their fellow Subjects punishing them by Imprisonment and other Penalties not for the Breach of any known and certain Laws but of unknown and uncertain Priviledges and ascending to that Excess of Insolence as even against all Law Reason and Equity to declare it Criminal for any one to lend Money to his King It is an antient Tradition which has every where obtained Reputation that Noah as Lord of all was Author of the Distribution of the World and of private Dominion and that by the appointment of GOD himself he confirmed this Distribution by his last Will and Testament left at his Death in the Hands of his Eldest Son Shem by which he warned all his Sons that none of them should invade any of their Brothers Dominions because Discord and Civil War would thence necessarily follow Thus we find that in all Nations the Princes were at first Lords of the whole Lands as well as of the whole Inhabitants amongst whom they divided such part thereof to be held by such Tenures and Services as they judged most convenient Instead then of Empires being founded in Property as some men love to speak the Natural dominion of the Prince was the Original of all Propriety Monarchs at first governed by no stated Rule or Law but by immediate Edicts or commands of their own Wills as they in their own Judgments thought fit But when Kings came to be so busied with Wars and distracted with publick Cares that private persons could not have access to them to learn their Pleasure upon every occasion then did they both for the Ease of themselves and their people set down Laws by which they would ordinarily govern reserving to themselves nevertheless Liberty to vary from them as oft as they in their Discretion should think fit Afterwards Princes graciously condescended to call to their Councels several of the Chief men of their Kingdoms and in time to admit likewise of Deputies from their People without whose Advice and Consent they would neither make new nor abrogate old Laws Thus all those Rights and Priviledges which licentious people make their pretence of contesting with their Soveraigns had no other Original but the Gracious Concessions of Princes which tho they are so far bound to keep as that when in a setled Kingdom the Prince leaves to govern according to Law he is guilty of very great Injustice yet where he sees the Laws rigorous or doubtful he may to the Peoples great Happiness lest otherwise Summum jus should prove Summa injuria mitigate and interpret them And whenever any powerful Faction shall by making ill use of the Grace and Bounty of the Prince endanger the Subversion of his Government the Safety of the People whom GOD has committed to his Care being the Law-paramount over all others obliges him
conjectured to be about Coway Stakes neer Oatlands where Cassibelan having caused the Bank to be set with sharp Stakes and the Ford knockt full of them covered with Water had drawn up his men in great numbers to oppose the Passage of the Romans who having notice of this Stratagem by their Captives with greater Circumspection entred the River first the Horse then the Foot wading up to the Neck in Water so resolutely and so fast that the Britains having bestowed a few Darts upon them retiâ—… into Woods and secret Coverts where lining with their Horse and Chariots the Roads through which Caesar was to pass and driving the Inhabitants and their Cattel into places of security within the Woods with continual and unexpected Sallies upon the Roman Horse cutting off some and terrifying others they compel'd them so close together that they could not fetch in Prey or Booty without ill success The Affairs of Caesar who had nothing left in his way but empty Fields and Houses had now but a bad Aspect his Army whose Horse durst not stir out of the Protection of their Foot being almost starved when a Dissention arising among the Britains brought them joyful News of a Supply The Trinobantes one of the most potent States amongst the Britains out of an old Grudge against Cassibelan who had slain their King Immanuentius and forced his Son Mandubratius called also Androgoriâ—… and Androgius to secure his Life bâ— Flight into Gallia sent Ambassadour to Caesar imploring his Protectionâ— promising Obedience to the Roman State and desiring Mandubratius who was then with Caesar to be sent to take Possession of his Fathers Crown Caesar granted their Request having first demanded fourty Hostages and Provisions for his Army which they sent in and had their Confines protected from the Souldier By their Example did several otheâ— States also submit themselves from whom Caesar having learnt that Cassibelians chief Seat supposed to be Verulam near the now St. Albans was not far off fenc't about with Woods and Marshes and full of Men and Cattel went thither assaulted it in two Places and after some Dispute forced the Britains to fly out at a Postern Gate and leave the Plunder of the Town to the Enemy by whom many of them were cut off in their Flight Yet did not Cassibelan desert himself but sending into Kent directed Cingetorix Carvilius Taximagulus and Segonax four Kings reigning in those Countryes who still kept faithful to the Union to raise what Forces they could and assault the Camp where the Roman Shipping was entrencht but these Kentish Souldiers being raw and unskild not able to endure one Sally were totally routed and Cingetorix made Prisonor Cassibelan informed of this Defeat and seeing the treacherous Defection of so many States for the Preservation of himself and Country by the Mediation of Comius of Arras sent Ambassadours to Caesar who having enjoyned him not to Molest Mandubratius and the Trinobantes setled the Annual Tribute to be paid by the Britains to Rome and received Hostages with a great number of Captives put off to Sea having at twice embarkt his whole Army Returning to Rome he offered to Venus Genitrix the Patroness of his Family a Corslet of British Pearles as a Testimony of his Glorious Enterprize Julius Caesar having now taken his last Farewell of Britain the Romans hindred partly by Civil Dissensions and partly by other more urgent Affairs had not the least Thoughts of making any farther Attempt against it for twenty Years together when Octavius Augustus now setled in the possession of the Roman Empire having advanced as far as Gallia in order to the reducing of Britain was diverted by a Revolt in Pannonia as he was seven Years after by the unsetledness of Gallia and the coming of the British Ambassadours thither to him and the Year following by new Commotions arising in Spain Being so often crost in his Designs upon Britain he no more bent his thoughts that way being satisfied with the Respects paid him by the British Princes who courted his Friendship with Gifts offered in the Capitol and other obsequious Addresses The like amicable Correspondence they held also with his Successor Tiberius whom more highly to oblige they courteously entertained and sent home the Souldiers of Germanicus cast by Tempest on their Shore Caligula indeed to whose Protection Adminius Son of Cunobelyn banished by his Father had betaken himself making semblance to invade Britain brought down all his Army to the Belgick Shore where being informed that the Britains having levyed the Strength of their Nation stood ready to oppose his Landing if he should make any attempt upon them he commanded his Souldiers whom he supposed to have Lyncean Eyes to take a full view of the British Forces and having encouraged them not to fear their great Numbers with unmatchable Valor rowed a Stones cast or two from the Shore where resolutely defying the Britains he caused the Engines of Battery to be set up the Trumpets to sound a Charge and the Souldiers to fall on but no Enemy appearing he ordered them to plunder the Ocean of its Shells and therewith fill their Helmets and Laps and that the Memory of so Heroick an Enterprize might not be lost he erected in the same place an high Tower wherein Lights were set to direct Mariners in their Courses by Night the Ruins whereof sometimes seen at Low-Water on the Coast of Holland are to this day by the Inhabitants ealled Briten-huis Conquest The Britains for well-near an hundred Years after the departure of Julius Caesar had been governed by their own Princes unmolested by the Romans to whom after the first breaking out of the Civil War they paid not any Tribute except such easy Customs as were levied on the Commodities wherewith they traded into Gallia when intestin Divisions among themselves making way for a Roman Conquest Claudius Drusus now the third time Consul instigated by the perswasions of Bericus of whom there is no farther knowledge and other Fugitives whom the Britains demanding he had refused to deliver up and they for that cause had denied farther Amity with Rome resolved upon an Invasion of Britain sending Orders to Aulus Plautius the Praetor to transport thither the Legions lying in Gallia who complaining that they must now be put to make War beyond the Worlds end were at last with much difficulty prevailed upon and from three several Ports set sail for Britain but meeting with cross Winds were driven back and disheartned till in the Night a Meteor darting Flames from the East and directing as they fancied their Course for this Island they again put to Sea and landed without opposition the Britains who had heard of their Unwillingness having neglected to provide against them and now retiring into the Woods where they intended to wear them out with Delayes as their Predecessors had formerly done Caesar The British Armies were commanded by two young Sons of the deceased Cunobelyn who keeping their Forces separate were
for the Safety and Well-Government of his Subjects the abandoning tho for so short a time the Protection and Defence of the People committed to his Charge Whatever things are proper unto Supreme Majesty Scepters and Crowns Soveraignty the Purple Robe the Globe or Golden Ball and Holy Unction have as long appertained to the British Monarch as to any other Prince in Europe The Antiquity of anointing Kings in Britain has been already shewn out of Gildas and as for the other four they are by Leland a famous Antiquary ascribed unto King Arthur who began his Reign in the Year of our Lord 506. Which was as soon as they were ordinarily in use with the Roman Emperors The King of Great Britain is an absolute and unaccountable Monarch a Free Prince of Soveraign Power not holding his Kingdom in Vassallage nor receiving his Instalment or Investiture from another Nor does he acknowledge Superiority to any but to GOD alone He is not only the Supreme but sole Legislator within his Dominions The Power of making Laws whatever some Antimonarchists pretend to the contrary rests solely in him And altho the Gracious Condescension of our Kings has been such as to render the subordinate Concurrence of the Estates of each Realm a Condition requisite to the making of new or abrogating of old Laws within the respective Kingdoms yet are they not thereby admitted to any Share in the Soveraignty their Power being wholly derivative from the King who is Caput Principium Finis Parliamentorum the three Estates when assembled in Parliament being as much his Subjects as every particular Man of them is when the Meeting is dissolved All Bills passed by them are but so much dead matter till quickned by his Royal Fiat which alone gives Life and Form to all their Proceedings Nor is it ex debito Justitiae but of his Special Grace that he passes such Acts as are presented to him Thus Henry the IIId begins his Magna Charta with Know ye that WE of our meer and free Will have given these Liberties Thus we hear King Edward the Ist saying The King of his special Grace for Redress of the Grievances of His People sustained by his Wars and for the Amendment of their Estate and to the intent that they may be the more ready to do him Service the more willing to assist and aid him in time of need Grants 28. E. 1. c. 1. And altho of later times Laws are said to be made by Authority of Parliament yet if we look into our antient Statutes we shall find the meaning to be that The King Ordains the Lords advise and the Commons consent Those then are much mistaken who affirm the Parliament to be at the least as Essential a Part of the Government as the Prince Which if it were true whenever the Parliament is dissolved the Government would be so too But this with the Pernicious Maxim of Coordinacy or sharing the Soveraign Power between King Lords and Commons with other treasonable and Antimonarchical Doctrines daily dispersed amongst the People and with the utmost of his Art industriously asserted by the Author of a late seditious Book entituled Plato Redivivus together with his audacious Proposals aiming to take all the Flowers out of the Imperial Diadem of the British Monarch are most fitly to be answered in Westminster-Hall as tending no less to the subversion of our Government which being purely Monarchical may be without the two Houses whereas they cannot be without the King than those traitorous Designs for which Coleman and his Accomplices paid their forfeited Lives to the Justice of the Laws The King of Great Britain is Lord Paramount supreme Landlord of all the Lands within his Dominions all landed men being mediately or immediately his Tenants by some Tenure or other By the Laws and Ordinances of ancient Kings saith Sir Edward Cook in the first part of his Institutes and especially of King Alfred it appeareth that the first Kings of this Realm had all the Lands of England in Demesne and the great Manors and Royalties they reserved to themselves and of the Remnant they for the Defence of the Realm enfeoffed the Barons of the Realm with such Jurisdiction as the Court Baron now hath The King as it is evident by the Rolls of the Chancellery in Scotland which contain their eldest and fundamental Laws is Dominus omnium bonorum and Dominus directus totius Dominii the whole Subjects being but his Vassals and from him holding all their Lands as their Over-lord Thus none but the King hath Allodium and Directum Dominium the sole and independent Property in any Land Upon this Ground no doubt it was that Serjeant Heal in the three and fortieth year of Queen Elizabeth said in Parliament He marvelled the House stood either at the granting of a Subsidy or time of Payment when all we have is her Majesties and She may lawfully at her pleasure take it from us and that She had as much Right to all our Lands and Goods as to any Revenue of the Crown And he said he could prove it by Precedents in the time of Henry the IIId King John and King Stephen And upon the same Ground was it resolved by the Judges in the beginning of the Reign of King James when there was a purpose to have taken away Tenures by Act of Parliament That such a Statute had been void because the Tenures were for the Defence of the King and Kingdom And altho since that the Tenures which gave a Dependency upon the Crown and were the greatest Safety to the King and People have been taken away and thereby a great Blow given to Monarchy yet let those who have the Fee the Jus perpetuum and the Vtile Dominium have a care lest by following the mischievous Advice of Plato Redivivus and abusing the Grace and Bounty of the Prince by endeavoring to draw the Soveraignty to themselves they necessitate not their King for the Preservation of himself and People to have Recourse to his Prerogative which is a Preheminence in Cases of Necessity above and before the Law of Property or Inheritance For the Prevention whereof it is to be wished that either by an Act of Resumption of the ancient Demesns of the Crown which was a sacred Patrimony and by Law unalienable or by such other way as the Wisdom of the Nation shall think fit a Royal Support adaequate to the Charges of the Crown be made for the King to defend his Kingdom and protect his People so that he may not be reduced to the Infelicity of having a precarious Revenue out of the Peoples Purse and to be beholden to a Parliament for his Bread in time of Peace which is no good Condition for a Monarchy As the Legislative Power is solely in the King so he alone has the Soveraign Power in the Administration of Justice and Execution of the Law He is the Fountain of all Justice which by his Judges and