Selected quad for the lemma: law_n
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A62468
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Captain Thorogood his opinion of the point of succession, to a brother of the blade in Scotland
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Thorogood, B.
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1680
(1680)
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Wing T1062; ESTC R9103
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17,937
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16
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Captain Thorogood His Opinion of the Point of SUCCESSION To a Brother of the Blade in SCOTLAND Dear Jack AS I covet nothing so much as to see the Exorbitant Power of France reduc'd to its ancient bounds so I am sensible no Nation upon Earth can stop the rapid Course of their Victories but Ours whose Valour still fills their hearts with no less fear then their late Successes have done with ambition But I confess the consideration of Ourpresent unhappy differences makes me dread losing the opportunity of rescuing enslaved Christendom from their Tyrany and Our own Glory from the stains of Infamy contracted bâ—â—he over-long repose of our Arms. This fear I look upon to be well-grounded since no less a thing is said to be in agitation then a change in the very Fundamentals of our Government which like a distemper that seizes the noble Parts must after the long struglings and conflicts of the contending parties extremely weaken if not absolutely destroy it as is evident by the no less impious then doleful examples of all Ages And if that should once happen which God in his Mercy prevent who would be able to resist the mighty Force of France or what could England which alone if united is capable to prevent it expect but with the rest of Europe and upon harder conditions then any other Nation be swallow'd up in the Universal Monarchy To prevent which since nothing can more effectually contribute then a firm and lasting Union among Our selves which is morally impossible to be attained if once the ancient and fundamental form of Government under which this Nation has to its Immortal Renown and its Enemies Terror flourished so many Generations be now abolised I thought fit in a Soldierly manner and en Cavalier to shew you that the just exclusion of His Royal Highness from the Imperial Crown of this Realm in case the King should die without Issue is absolutely impossible and this I do on no other account but because I believe it may do my Country good whose Interest as well as Glory it will be to have a Prince of Martial Spirit Reign over Us by whose Valour Our almost withered Lawrels may once more be planted in French-ground moisten'd and made fat with the Bloud of our implacable Enemies and nourish'd and rear'd up to that Strength and Vigour they formerly enjoyed by the Courage and Conduct of our Ancestors You know it is the common Theme of the Town-Scriblers than Monarchy is a meer Humane Institution alterable in Part or in the Whole as often as the Governour and Governed shall think it necessary for their common Safety That the King for the time being is the Supreme Governour and the whole Aggregate of People the Governed That these being not otherwise easily to be assembled are some personally and the rest by their Representatives in Parliament That whatever Law or Sanction the King with the advice and consent of his People so conven'd does Enact binds the whole Nation and that consequently it is in their Power to exclude His R. H. the Succession or which is the same thing to turn the Hereditary Monarchy into an Elective This Position how injurious soever to a Successor is more dangerous to a Prince Regnant who if weak easie or inconsiderate may through hope or fear be prevail'd upon to yield to his own dethroning and exchange his actual Royalty for an Annuity or yearly Pension whereas the other loses only a possibility of a Crown with this further advantage That most Men will think him worthy of wearing it because not the want of Courage and Magnanimity but of Interest and Power creates his Misfortune Whatever then shall be said to shew the impracticableness of this Position here in England is as much intended to secure the Possession of His most Sacred Majesty or any other that shall lawfully fill the Throne as the possibility which His R. H. now has or any other Heir Apparent may have in after Ages It is indeed a Royal Cause and as such to be maintain'd by the Swords and Pens of all good Subjects of which number I profess my self to be one and in evidence of my Loyalty say 1. That since England is de facto a Hereditary Kingdom and every King for the time being with the help of his Parliaments entrusted with the Government of it as such it follows that as he cannot alien or subject it to another Crown or Person because the alienation of a Kingdom is so far from being comprehended in the Government of it by him to whom first committed and his Heirs that it is directly repugnant and inconsistent with it so he cannot alter the course and order of Succession which is a kind of alienation because it transfers the Title to one who without such an Act would have none and consequently any Monarch attempting the Destruction of the very Form and Essence of such a Government may be thought rather to frustrate in some measure part of the Trust reposed in him and stray from his Duty then vitiate his Successors Title to the Kingdom 2. If both Houses of Parliament should be allowed to have a share in the Government in a co-ordinate manner with the King then the King and they having the Supreme Power of Governing a Hereditary Monarchy committed to their Charge and nothing else have no authority to alter or destroy it because a Power to support and maintain a Government and change and dissolve it is absolutely inconsistent with it self 3. This great trust was reposed in them either by God or Man if by God then 't is certain it cannot warrantably be alter'd without his possitive command infallibly known as such If by Man we are under the disability until his express Will and Pleasure be made known to us in a plain evident and indisputable way God has not yet revealed us his Will or Desire to change our Government nor are we to look for such extraordinary Injunctions at this time when the light of the Gospel has sufficiently cleared all the Errors and Doubts that might hinder our Duty And it is an act of equal Folly and Impiety to attempt an Innovation upon the supposition of being able to know certainly and unquestionably the Will of Man since that knowledge will to any that seriously considers the Constitution of this Kingdom appear absolutely impossible For if by Man we understand as we must the whole Complex of the People or the Governed we cannot possibly be satisfied of their being after a full and mature deliberation desirous of a Change because we have or at least will use no other way of knowing their minds but by their Representatives in Parliament and these whom we commonly call Representatives are either not so at all or if they be do not derive their Power from a third part of the Nation and consequently cannot impart a knowledge to us which they themselves never had or execute an Authority which was never given 'em
the way they chalked out for me and waving the common received opinion I likewise speculatively pry into the very Constitution and Frame of Parliaments thereby to shew the impossibility of altering the Succession But to clear all Objections as far as possible I say That the supposition of the Parliaments representing the People is a fiction of Law well devised by the Wisdom of our Ancestors for quieting and appeasing the minds of all particular men who could not have a stronger Motive of Submission or of not believing themselves injured then their being accounted parties and privy to all Acts of Parliament But this fiction of Law cannot reach the Actual Legislators as such since they cannot be supposed to wrong themselves though they might those by whom commissioned The Parliament then when it alters or repeals Laws lops off the exuberancies and excrescencies which by the design or heedlesness of the Managers grow up in the Government curbs the Pride A varice and encroachments of great Persons bounds and limits reciprocally the Princes Prerogative and Subjects Liberty and in fine lends its healing hand towards the removing any thing that is dangerous or noxious to the Body Politick as first constituted then I say it may well enough for its greater Strength and Authority be allowed the Representative of the whole Body of the People But if instead of applying fit remedies for its preservation and continuance they should go about to annihilate or dissolve it which must inevitably be attended with violent concussions and universal calamities it cannot as I said before be accounted their Representative because the consequence of such an Act must immediately influence every individual Member of the Society and 't is but reason that the common concernment of the ruine or happiness of all should be left not by fiction of Law but in reality to be weighed by their own Judgment For if as some would have it the Power of Dominion was originally in the People and by them transferred on one few or many of themselves 't is evident that as every one was actually aiding by his choice and agreement in erecting such a Dominion so it 's necessary he should by the same means concur to its change and destruction If it should be said that our Government was first established not by the Votes of Individuals but by Representatives in the Nature of Parliaments as now constituted I Answer that it could not be because of the inequality of the choice which is certain was not in the beginning for until the 8th year of Henry the 6th as is plain by the Statute then made the Electors of Knights of the Shire were not under a necessity of having forty Shillings per annum to expend or if it was let our Adversaries prove when and where it first began if they cannot but confidently and positively affirm it was so and we as confidently and positively deny it then 't is evident we being in possession that the advantage will be of our side for in equali jure melior est conditio possidentis 4. Having thus far endeavour'd to prove that the Parliament is not the Representative of the People I further say That allowing them to be so yet 't is certain they assemble not of themselves but by the King 's Writ which sets forth the occasion of their being call'd viz. to advise and consult c. Dâ—arduis urgentibus negotiis Regni of the great and pressing Affairs of the Kingdom Now the Kingdom being Hereditary at the time of issuing forth the Writ and they summoned to appear and give their advice concerning the good Estate and Defence of it as such 't is plain they cannot change alter or destroy it no more then a Physician sent for to remove the Pains and Oppressions of Sickness can lawfully stab or poyson his Patient who through rage or folly may yield his assent to his own destruction 'T is ridiculous and foolish to think that even the very Country would not with high Indignation resent such an attempt since they know full well that the Election of Members to constitute the Body Politick of a Parliament was never intended to destroy the Head and most essential part of it I mean the Hereditary Kingship which abstractedly from this or that man who may give an ill President and therefore is not intrusted with an absolute disposal of it is the very Life and Soul of the Government and without which it must infallibly crumble into pieces 5. We all know that a Body Politick which is the Work and Creature of Man has many resemblances with the Body Natural which is the Creature of God for as this aims always at its ease happiness and long preceptions of the pleasures of this Life and consequently dreads and abhors Death or Dissolution which puts an end to all so the other is constant and unwearied in the pursuit of the like ends to that degree that by its very constitution and essential form we attribute to it a kind of Immortality whence comes the known Maxim received into our Laws That the King never dies that is that Kingship not the Persons to whom it is inherent or annexed for this or that time is beyond the reach of Fate and Time that puts and end to all things This then being so we cannot rationally conclude that our present Sovereign has Will or Power to destroy himself that is Hereditary Kingship which made him what he is and is as essential to the Politick Capacity he is in as Supreme Governour as the rational Soul is to his natural Capacity as man To say or judge otherwise would be no less then to put him to break all the sacred ties of Love which bind him so strongly to himself and suppose him capable to be in some measure his own Executioner and a Felo de se of Monarchy then which there can be no greater Indignity offered to the Majesty of a Prince whom we all know to be Just Merciful and Generous to others and who therefore must so much the more signally practice those Vertues towards himself by how much self-respect exceeds that due to another 6. And lastly 'T is evident by several Statutes that all Knights ' of the Shires and their Electors are to be Inhabitants and Residents in the respective Counties the day of the Writ and that likewise the Citizens and Burgesses are to be men resident dwelling and free in the Cities and Boroughs for which they are to be chosen And right reason teaches us that none ought by sinister and unjust means to 〈◊〉 into Authority if therefore any one be previously disabled ahd uncapable to exercise Power by a positive Law or openly by deceits calumnies or corruption thrust himself into the Seat of Justice 't is certain all his Proceedings and Sanctions do carry a nullity and insufficiency in themselves and affect none besides the Maker who by endeavouring to exercise a Legislative Power against Law and Reason