thing to the Reader thereupon the bare relation sufficiently manifesting the injustice They containing three or four sheets of paper close written After the reading Cony is asked by the Committee what he had to say thereunto he alledgeth that he had not yet pleaded and insists as before to have a Copie of the Information and a day to plead In fine after he was bidden to withdraw and soon after called in again a Copie of the Information was n If he pleaded before why was he Ordered a Copie and a new day if he had not pleaded how could the Committee proceed to Judgment doubtlesse he would have rather moved for Copies of the Depositions than for a Copie of the Information if in his own understanding he had pleaded Ordered him and the same day sevenight given him to appear and answer against which day this ensuing Petition was drawn To the right Honourable the Committee for Preservation of the Customes The humble Petition of George Cony the Elder Sheweth THat of common right belonging to all and every Member of the Common-wealth of England any person or persons standing charged in any Court of Law or Equity within the said Common-wealth may have liberty to demurre to the Iurisdiction of the same Court And although it is true that the Judges of the same Court are the proper Judges to determine the question upon such Demurrer whether the matters are within their Jurisdiction or not yet it hath never been known that any such Demurrer was refused but as well for the satisfaction of the Partie as for the avoiding of all Arbitrary proceedings was admitted to be argued without the Parties incurring the guilt of Contumacie or stirring the passion of his Judges That to make the Parties capable of Demurring if there be just cause it is of necessity That that upon which the Jurisdiction of such Court is founded whether it be Common Law Statute Law Ordinance or Commission be known And therefore in all Courts that proceed by any new Authority that which gives the Authority whether Ordinance Commission or whatever ought as the Petitioner humbly conceives to be openly read published and promulgated or otherwise no person can be in contempt of the same none being bound to obey or Answer before such an Authority or Iurisdiction as is not known Now whereas the Petitioner standeth charged before your Honours upon an Information of Fraud force and misdemeanour exhibited against him by the Commissioners of the Customes and not finding by the Common Law or Statute Law of this Common-wealth or any Act or Ordinance publickly or legally promulgated what the Jurisdiction of your Honours in reference to the said Fraud force and misdemeanour pretended in the said Information may be The Petitioner humbly hopes he shall not be construed of any Contumacie against Authority to which he shall be alwaies ready to yeild a willing and cheerfull obedience if as in right onely of a Free Member of the Common-wealth of England and not otherwise he shall humbly pray a sight of such Ordinance Commission or other Authority by which your Honours are to proceed Upon which if he shall finde cause of Demurrer your Honours being your selves the proper Judges to determine the question after your Petitioners Counsell shall first have been heard thereupon the Petitioners purpose is humbly to submit to your Iudgments therein and then afterwards to plead or answer over to the said Charge if your Honours shall finde the matters within your Iurisdiction according as by his Counsell learned in the Lawes he shall be advised For his advising with whom afterwards the Petitioner shall humbly pray such reasonable time may be given him as to your Honours shall seem convenient And he shall pray c. At the day Cony accordingly appears but exhibits not the Petition but verbally o He had good reason to demurre to their Jurisdiction not knowing by what Power or Warrant they sate no man being bound to answer a Jurisdiction that is not known and that founded not in the Common Law but in an Ordinance of his Highnesse which was never promulgated nor so much as published in print whereby it might be known demurrs to the Jurisdiction of the Committee and prayes liberty to argue his Demurrer Whereupon being commanded to withdraw the Committee without further hearing or p If they had suffer'd their Jurisdiction to be argued and had then over-ruled the Demurrer the Defendant must have pleaded over and therefore there was no necessity of such proceeding unlesse to surprize him suffering their Jurisdiction to be argued proceed to sentence and Cony being called in again is q By the Statute of Magna Charta no Freeman shall be taken or imprisoned or be disseized c. or any way otherwise destroyed nor shall the King passe upon him but by lawfull Judgement of his Peers or by the Law of the Land To this Statute there is no nonbstante in the Ordinance of his Highnesse by which this Committee are impowred and if there had yet by the sixt Article of the instrument of Government the Laws shall not be altered suspended abrogated or repealed nor any new Law made c. save only as is expressed in the 30th Article which 30th Article relates only to the raising of money in cases of necessity and preventing of disorders adjudged in the payment of 500th in 14 dayes Cony having been served with this order of Judgment and not performing the same is afterwards by warrant of the said Committee of the 12th of December last directed to the Sergeant at Armes taken into Custody and upon the 19th of December is brought before the said Committee to answer the contempt as the said Order styles it which Order follows in these words Tuesday the 12th of December 1654. At the Committee for preservation of Customes WHereas George Cony the Elder was by Order of the Committee of the 16th of November last Ordered to pay in to the Commissioners for the Customes for the use of the Common-wealth the summe of five hundred pounds of lawfull money of England on or before the 30th day of the same moneth of November being so much imposed on him as a fine by this Committee for receiving goods not first duly entred at the Custome-house opposing of the Officers of the Customes in the execution of their duty and severall other misdemeanors And forasmuch as by Certificate from the Commissioners of the Customes bearing date the 5th of this instant December it appears that the said George Cony the Elder hath neglected to make payment of his said Fine in contempt of the said Order This Committee therefore in pursuance of the powers and Authority to them given by virtue of an Ordinance from his Highnesse the Lord Protector and his Councell bearing date the 2d of September last Doe order that the Sergeant at Arms attending the Parliament doe forthwith apprehend and bring in safe Custody the body of the said George Cony the
A NARRATIVE OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE Committee for preservation of the Customes In the Case of Mr GEORGE CONY Merchant By SAMUEL SELVVOOD Gent. LONDON Printed for William Sheares at the Bible in S. Pauls Churchyard 1655. A NARRATIVE OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE Committee for preservation of the Customes in the Case of Mr GEORGE CONY Merchant FInding the expectations and discourses of men diversly and dangerously engaged touching the Case of Mr George Cony merchant now depending by writ of Habeas Corpus in the Upper-Bench Insomuch that on the one side the peace of the Commonwealth on the other side the Credit of the Gentleman himself and on both sides the truth is thereby endangered I conceive my self in some measure obliged having been employed in the solliciting of the whole businesse from the beginning and knowing every foot step and period thereof to give the Nation a true and faithfull account of all proceedings in the case that so the evil hopes and expectations of some and the groundlesse fears and censures of others may be taken away And the errour of that unlucky question which hath been stated by occasion of the said case in so unseasonable a juncture may be laid at the doores of those whose violence weaknesse or design hath been indeed properly and immediately guilty thereof For true it is that on the one side there is a generation of men restlesse in their spirits thirsting continually after change quarrelling with what-ever is present and disliking all things wherein their own heads or hands are not called to be principall Actors or Advisers who have taken occasion from this very businesse to fill the minds of the discontented of all Interests with an expectation of some opportunity to spring from hence to serve the turn of their particular discontents To this end they have given out severall false reports of dangerous consequence which by way of impression or preparation may dispose the people to a dislike of the present Government as namely That the Merchants of London have combined together to overthrow the Customes that to this end the businesse of Mr Cony is purposely set on foot that under the conduct of his single case the whole design may march the more securely that they have made a common purse to bear the charges at law that they doubt not but to obtain Judgement of law against the Customes and in consequence to overthrow the payment of all other taxes in like manner not imposed by common consent in Parliament And the unsteady multitude whose judgement and affection for the most part is guided according to the more or lesse they suffer in their purses being incouraged by these reports and not discerning further then this immediate ease which they have fancied to themselves by the hoped for discharge of all taxes as aforesaid are hereby speciously drawn in and easily disposed when the opportunity shall ripen to assist the more dangerous and deep designs of the enemies of the Commonwealth In the mean time neither reckoning what may be the issues of the changes they affect nor measuring the present necessity which induces such levies nor considering that the common safety is involved therein But on the other side there is a certain sort of men such as indeed are alwayes swarming in the Courts of Princes described by the name of Flatterers or Sychophants men of low and abject spirits within themselves but outwardly of high and insolent deportment capable of all forms and impressions whatsoever which the present power inclines to who the better to raise or radicate themselves in places of trust and profit use to abuse the eare of Greatnesse to which they have accesse with forged tales and misrepresentation of other mens actions as much thereby imposing upon the Prince as the other sort did upon the people And some of these have not been wanting in this opportunity to represent this case of Mr Conyes though to a different end under the same notion of design and combination against the present Government which opinion by the help of a very small circumstance viz. Mr Conyes personall relation to a Gentleman not long since thought fit to be secured hath the more easily obtained the reputation of a truth To contribute therefore as much as in me lyes to the preventing of the inconveniences on both sides I do publish this ensuing Narrative which I avow to be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth And thereby I doubt not but it will appear that whatever Mr Cony hath done for the purchase of his liberty hath been all occasionall and necessary and not in pursuance of any design or combination as hath been insinuated Nor is it likely if any such designe or combination had been among the Merchants it could have totally escaped my knowledge who not only was conversant in all the passages of this businesse from the time it came before the Committee for Preservation of the Customes but do own Mr Conyes demurring to the jurisdiction of that Committee and the sueing forth of his writt of Habeas Corpus upon his imprisonment to be the effect of my proper and peculiar advise unto him grounded upon their not publishing the power by which they acted and upon the illegality of the said Committees proceedings And not at all to start any unhappy question to the disturbance of the publick peace For for my own part I professe obedience to the present Government and think I am bound so to do not for fear but for conscience sake And that I am herein to follow the conduct of Gods providence without so much as inquiring into the lawfulnesse or unlawfulnesse of those means by which the acquest of Power and Government is made my obedience thereunto not at all amounting to any justification of such unlawfull acquest in case any such were which for my part I must leave to the great Judge of Heaven and earth to determine but being fully grounded as I conceive upon that reason of the Apostles rule of like obedience which he gives to all Christians viz. For that the powers which be are ordained of God which I understand generally of all Governing powers which have once obtained in any Nation be the by-past means of such obtaining what they will And as to the particular question touching the Customes set on foot upon occasion of Mr. Conyes case touching the decision whereof all mens mindes are at present big with expectation for my own part also I am convinced of the necessity that induceth the continuance of that and other payments for the present although peradventure the formality of law may be wanting And as upon this ground I never advised the bringing of the writt with any intention of striking at the payment of the Customes or to introduce question of his Highnesses power in reference to the present levying of the same So I must do my Clyent that conscionable right as to averre that he never discovered to me any
force and misdemeanour humbly presented by the Commissioners for the Customes against George Cony the elder George Cony the younger Robert Hawkins Constable and others THat the said Cony the elder and George Cony the younger and others did on the fourth day of this instant November 1654. affront and abuse Theophilus Colcoke and others Deputies for the Commissioners of the Customes in the execution of the trust to them committed and particularly opposed beat or caused to be beaten some of the said Deputies when they peaceably entred the house of the said Cony in which severall great quantities of silks for which no Custome was payed were lodged That the said Hawkins being Constable and required by the said Deputies to assist them herein the said Hawkins by force carried the said Colcoke to the Justice of the peace as a Felon on purpose that the said silks might be conveyed away which was accordingly done All which was acted and done by the persons above mentioned in contempt of the Power and Authority of his Highnesse the Lord Protector and the Parliament whom the said Cony much vilified and in opposition to the lawes and ordinances made concerning the Customes to the prejudice of the Common-wealth and losse in the Revenue of the Customes Novemb. 6. 1654. This is a true copie examined by FRAN. MEVERELL Cler. By c Such warrant they had no powet to grant in any capacity whatsoever especially being the Informants themselves It is true the Commissioners of the Customes had formerly power by Ordinance of the 14. April 1645. and of the 16. Decemb. 1647. to constitute a Messenger who should have power to summon and attach c. and carry the offender before the Committee of Parliament for Regulating the Excise c. But that Committee ceasing the power of that Messenger ceaseth by impossibility of execution and the Commissioners of the Customes have no power to give speciall warrant in the case by any Act or Ordinance whatsoever speciall warrant also under the hands of the same Commissioners who note are the Informants themselves Cony the elder is attached upon the Exchange at d This favours of direction given to the Messenger and of malice in the directors the defendant being a merchant and was at that instant of time to draw bills for at least 4000 l. neither was there any necessity of such attachment when a summons would have served the turn he being a person resident and of note high Exchange time and carried in custody before the said Committee as yet not understanding for what cause the Officer e This savours of direction also and is likewise contrary to law for that no man ought to be denied a copy of that warrant by which is either attached or imprisoned neither can there be any reason for it but malice and surprize denying him a copy of his warrant and not so much as shewing him the same till he came to the door of the Committee Being carried in before the said Committee f It is contrary to the common light of nature that two parties coming before a Court the one should have greater countenance then the other and Col. Harvie behaved himself here more like a Judge then an Informant Colonel Harvy one of the Informants sitting with them and having been in g This was derogatory to the honour of a Court to suffer thēselves to be prepossessed by one party private with the Committee almost an hour before the Information is read to which Cony pleads not but demands a Copy and time to plead after advice with his Counsell The Committee upon the motion Colonell Harvy the Informant note as aforesaid deny h No Court ought to deny any man a copie of his Charge and 't is the highest injustice that can be for a Court to endeavour the surprise of any party and there could be nothing lesse intended in such a deniall him a Copie and it is violently pressed by Colonel Harvy that he might be required to plead immediatly and that no i This was as ignorantly moved as unjustly for that according to the Law of England no Court shall deny me to plead by Counsel but in cases of Felony and Treason and yet then also I shall have Counsell assigned me to advise with if I desire it Counsell might be allowed to speak for him Cony being accordingly required to plead alledgeth on the contrary the unreasonablenesse of such surprize his own ignorance of the Law and the absence of his Counsell But in the mixture of his discourse being much and violently pressed by Colonel Harvey And being at that instant also under the distemper of an Hectique Feaver which after a long sicknesse had not quite left him did incautiously let Fall but not by way of Plea that he knew of nothing contained in the said Information that he was guilty of yet because he knew not what prejudice he might doe himselfe by making that Plea he still insisted to have a Copie of the Information and a day appointed to put in his Plea after advise with his Counsell The k No Court can take that for a Pleading which I intend not for a pleading at the time of my speaking declare my intention at the same time as here Cony did for by such declaration I refuse to put my self upon that issue and if no issue be joyned no Judgment can lawfully be given except where the matter can be taken pro confesso upon default when I was bound to plead and did not But in this Case first Cony was not by law bound to plead the Committee having denied him a copie of the information Secondly the Judgment it self was not given by default but recites as if issue had been joyned whereas indeed Cony declared himselfe expresly to the contrary Committee lay hold of this incaution of his words and though Cony then immediately declared that he intended them not as a Plea yet will needs have it understood That he had thereby pleaded Not guilty to the Information and thereupon call the Depositions to be read l If issue had been joyned yet it was contrary to all law reason equity good conscience or common honesty that such issue should be tried by the evidence of Depositions taken by the Informants themselves and that before any Information depending which Depositions were taken by or before themselves as aforesaid m There is nothing more visible in this whole Case than that a surprize of the Defendant was designed from the beginning for mark Cony is attached upon the Exchange carried in custody before this Committee not knowing any thing that was against him required to plead ore tenus immediately to an Information whereof he must have no copie and Depositions ready taken against him privately in the nature of an Inquisition by the Informants themselves upon which the issue must be tried immediately a proceeding so grosse as I shall not need to observe any