Selected quad for the lemma: law_n
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A69598
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An address to the free-men and free-holders of the nation.; Address to the free-men and free-holders of the nation. Part 1
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Bohun, Edmund, 1645-1699.
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1682
(1682)
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Wing B3445; Wing B3460; Wing B3461; ESTC R23155
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159,294
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284
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is founded are weak and unconcluding and that no Malice could have Contrived a more effectual way to hasten those Calamities upon us it pretends to prevent and to ascertain what is full as likely never to happen without it So I conclude the Lords did well and wisely in rejecting the Bill and the Bishops in joyning with them so to do And now I will proceed with the rest of the Votes having made this short Digression to Express my thoughts on this great affair which I submit to the Judgment of wiser men and shall willingly retract or amend any thing if I have erred for I seek nothing by all this but the Peace and Prosperity of my Country There being little done of importance on Thursday the 18th day of November the next day the Commons fell upon the business of the Abhorrers of the Petitions and began with the Grand-Juries for the Counties of Somerset and Devon which had both detested and abhorred the said Tumultuous Petition So they Ordered That Sir Giles Philips and William Coleman being the Fore-men of the said Grand-Juries should be sent for in Custody of the Serjeant at Arms attending their House to answer at the Bar of their House for Breach of Priviledge by them committed against their House Before in Sir George Jeffereys Case it was for betraying the Rights of the Subject and Now 't is become a Priviledge of Parliament for the People to Petition by Hundreds and Thousands for the Sitting of a Parliament At this rate of Proceeding there will be Priviledges of Parliament enough at last At the same time they ordered Captain William Castle and Mr. John Hutchinson and Mr. Henry Walrond the two last being of the said Grand-Juries to be Sent for in Custody too So this was a pretty handsom begining But the next day they found that Mr. William Stawell was Fore-man for the Grand-Jury for Devon and not Mr. Coleman so they ordered his Name to be put out of the Warrant and Mr. Stawell's to be put in This shews with what heat and haste they managed this affair But why should the Fore-men of the Grand-Juries be sent for rather than all or any of the rest the Foreman having no more Authority than the Last man nor being any way inabled by his place to Help or Hinder any thing but being Concluded by the Major part be his own Opinion what it will but they could not tell who promoted this affair and therefore Right or Wrong Singled them out to be made Examples not thinking it convenient to send for the whole Number who yet were punished in these and not only they that suffered but every Gentleman in the Nation suffer'd in them their Liberties being at the Mercy of every Corporation who when they please may send Taylors Grocers c. to enjoy these exorbitant priviledges and Send for the best Knights and Gentlemen in England for not having payd respects great enough to them The Bill of Importation of Cattel from Scotland was read the second time and Committed Then they proceeded in the business of the Abhorrers and Voted That one Thomas Herbert Esq should be sent for in Custody for prosecuting John Arnold Esq at the Council Table for promoting the said Petition and procuring Subscriptions To him they added Sir Thomas Holt Serjeant at Law and Mr. Thomas Staples as Betrayers of the Liberties of the Subject The same day one Eld was discharged out of Custody who had been taken for not Making a good Search for Arms at the Lord Aston's House at Taxall in Staffordshire Notice being taken that he was a Sober Protestant what that means I must leave to my Reader for I never heard that any sort of Protestants made Drunkenness or Debauchery or any other sort of Insobriety a part of Protestantisme and I should have liked it better if it had been a Confiding Man and an Enemy to the Popish Faction It were worth the while to enquire how he stood affected to the Puritan Faction On Munday the 22 of November Two Bills for Regulating Elections were read the second time and Committed to a Committee to unite or divide them as they should see cause The day following Sir Thomas Holt petitioning the House was called in and Censured upon his Knees and Discharged The same day a further Address was Voted to Petition his Majesty to remit a Fine of 500 l. that had been set upon Mr. Benjamin Harris for Printing Seditious Libels Such men were not to be discouraged in an Age when so few were to be found who would undertake that dangerous Imployment for the good of the Nation The same day a Bill was brought in for Repeal of an ACT made in the 35 of Eliz. Cap. 1. Against Seditious and Disloyal Sectaries and Conventicles this Bill passed both Houses but was taken away before it was Signed by the King So that Statute Escaped then to the terror of those Protestants There having been a design to Indict the Duke of York for a Popish Recusant in Trinity Term this Year and the same being prevented by the Court of Kings-Benches discharging the Grand-Jury before they had found the same the House made this Vote That the discharging of a Grand-Jury by any Judge before the end of the Term Assizes or Sessions whilest Matters are under their Consideration and Not presented is Arbitrary Illegal and Destructive to publick Justice a manifest Violation of his Oath what Oath and is a Means to Subvert the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom Resolved That a Committee be appointed to Examine the Proceedings of the Judges in Westminster-Hall c. On Wednesday November 24. After Orders for the sending for George Bell an Attorney at Law Arthur Yeomans William Jordan John Laws and Henry Aulnett for Breach of Priviledge of Parliament without assigning wherein Order was given to bring in a Bill 1. To Supply the Laws against Bankrupey 2. And another to take away the Court held before the Lord President and Council in the Marches of Wales Then the Bill for Repeal of the 35 Eliz Cap. 1. was read the Second time and Ordered to be ingrossed Ordered That an humble Address be made to his Majesty from this House by such Members thereof as are of His Majesties Most Honourable Privy Council to desire his Majesty to give Orders That all Protestant Dissenters who are prosecuted upon any Penal Laws made against Popish Recusants in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth and King James may be Admitted to a Composition in the Exchequer without paying any Fees Which was granted by his Majesty Ordered That Leave be given to bring in a Bill declaring that those Laws shall not be Extended to P. Dissenters and that it be referred to the Committee appointed to bring in the Bill for the better Vniting of his Majesties Protestant Subjects The Attorney-General being ordered formerly to attend and This day Called in and Examined touching the Manner of Issuing forth of the P. stiled A Proclamation against Tumultuous
No person should be Admitted to come to them but such as should have occasion to bring them Necessaries On Friday the 10th of December Captain Castle was found and Voted guilty of offending against the Rights of the Subject by Obstructing Petitioning to His Majesty for the Sitting of that Parliament The same day the Commons Ordered an Impeachment to be prepared against Sir Francis North Chief Justice of the Court of Common-Pleas for High Crimes and Misdemeanors viz. for Advising the Proclamation against Tumultuous Petitions Then they Voted That the Imprisonment of one Peter Norris at Dover by the Order of Sir Leoline Jenkins was Illegal and Arbitrary and an Obstruction to the Evidence for the Discovery of the Horrid Popish Plott This was the business for which Sheridon and Day were imprisoned On Munday the 13th A Bill for Exportation of Cloth and other Woollen Manufactures into Turkey being read the second time and a Debate arising thereupon it was Ordered that it should lie upon the Clerks Table They Ordered also That the Committee appointed to look into and prepare Evidence against the Lords in the Tower do Examine the Evidence against all persons concerned in the Popish Plot. And they were to report the Names of such persons together with their Opinions therein to the House upon the Debate And also that Leave should be given to bring in a Bill for Banishing of all Papists and suspected Papists from the Cities of London and Westminster and XX miles of the same with Clauses therein for disarming of all Papists and for Pains and Penalties against all such Papists or suspected Papists as should Ride Go or be Armed And that Lists of them should be brought in by the Members When ever any Law pass against suspected Papists great care ought to be taken to limit that Loose term or great Mischiefs will insue On Tuesday the 14th of December Complaint was made That one Herbert Herring who had been ordered to be taken into Custody for a Breach of Priviledge did abscond himself to avoid the Execution of the said Order whereupon it was Resolved That if he did not render himself by Saturday that House would proceed against him by Bill in Parliament for endeavouring by his absconding to Avoid the Justice of the House This was a way never to want Work if every Fugitive Attorney or Porter that had broke the Priviledge of the House was to be brought in by Bill Sir Robert Peyton a Member of their House was the Next that fell under their displeasure being said to Have had Secret Negotiation with the Duke of Y. by the Means of the Earl of Peterborough Mrs. Cellier and Mr. Gadbury at such time as they were turning the Popish Plot upon the Protestants i. e. the Presbyterians it seems they are THE Protestants For which he was Ordered after his defence to be Expelled the House and to be brought to the Bar to receive the Censure of the House upon his Knees from the Speaker Which was done with so little respect to the Quality of the person that after the Dissolution of the Parliament he sent the Speaker a Challenge for which he was Committed having been before committed to the Serjeant for not being at hand when it should have been first done by the Speaker So he was twice Committed and Expell'd too but by what Law the House of Commons proceeded I know not It is the Interest both of the Members and of Us whom they represent to take care that this be not left to them for here was a Member Expelled not for being a party to that Conspiracy of the Papists but for having Secret Negotiations with the Duke of York at that time and if this be allowed that they may Expel for what cause they please be there Law or be there none then have the greater part of the House an Absolute and Arbitrary power over the lesser part and if either Side do by accident get the Advantage of the other by a Single Vote they may Expel them as they please which must Necessarily end in Confusion and Slavery On Wednesday the 15th of December the House resolved into a Committee of the whole House to Consider of Ways and Means to Secure this Kingdom against Popery and Arbitrary Power and Resolved upon two Votes viz. Resolved Nemine Contradicente That this House doth agree with the Committee That one Means for the Suppressing Popery is That a Bill be brought in to banish immediately all the Considerable Papists of England out of the Kings Dominions Resolved N. C. That this House doth agree with the Committee That a Bill be brought in for an Association of all his Majesties Protestant Subjects for the Safety of his Majesties Person * Note here is no mention of his Majesties Government in this Association the Defence of the Protestant Religion and the Preservation of his Majesties Protestant Subjects against all Invasions and Oppositions whatsoever and for preventing the Duke of York or any Papist from Succeeding to the Crown And ordered a Committee to be appointed to prepare and bring in a Bill pursuant to the first of the said Resolves The latter was taken up to Supply the Bill of Exclusion which bad been thrown out by the Lords and was never prosecuted any further for when they came to draw the Bill it was found impracticable without involving us presently in a Civil War For an Association signifies nothing without a Head to govern and direct it if the King be made the Head then we are where we were and it is to no purpose If another person be made So then there is two distinct Governments in the same Kingdom which can never stand together a Month without imbroyling themselves and the People This the Holy League of France proved Experimentally true and the same Event will always follow Besides there was no reason to Expect that either his Majesty or the House of Lords would yield to this way of Exclusion which was worse than the former Tho if that had passed it would have signified nothing without an Association or a Standing Army as the Author of the Seasonable Address to both Houses of Parliament hath well proved This day also His Majesty made a Speech to both the Houses which I will insert when I come to the Answer of the Commons to it On Thursday the 16th of December A Petition of Divers Inhabitants in the County of Surry Complaining of the proceedings in an Ecclesiastical Court against them being read it was referred to a Committee to bring in a Bill or Bills for Regulating the proceedings of such Courts A Petition of Joshua Brook and other Merchants against the African Company was also read and referred to a Committee Mr. Booth reporting from the Committee to whom the Bill for the better Regulating the Tryals of the Peers of England was committed An Amendment to be made and a Clause to be Added and thereupon a Motion being made to bring in a Clause