Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	king_n	people_n	power_n	15,452	5	5.2145	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A83975	A letter to a friend concerning the bill for resuming the forfeited estates in Ireland.	R. E.	1700 (1700)	Wing E29; ESTC R171891	5,877	4

nothing can pass into a Law till it has been duly examin'd by the King Lords and Representatives of the People This is generally reckon'd the happy Temperament of our Constitution But what becomes of it if the Delegates of the Commons to a Bill which can only have its Rise in their House can tack Foreign Clauses which it shall not be in the Power of the Lords to Examine If this be the Right and Priviledge of the Commons they may with that consolidate all other Bills and so take the whole Legislature into their own Hands Besides these great Inconveniencies the Lords will find that great Multitudes are griev'd in this Bill who could not be touch'd in that which they formerly let fall They who by the King's Grace and Favour enjoy those Forfeited Estates are Legally seiz'd of them For it must be own'd that a Grant made by His Majesty whether of Crown Lands or Forfeitures makes a good and legal Title This is the Title by which many of the Lords hod their Estates 't is what admits of no Controversie in our Laws 't is what the Lords allow'd when they let the Bills dye in their House and gave up the Forfeitures to His Majesty 'T is likewise to be consider'd That as His Majesty by Fighting our Battles and hazarding His Life acquir'd a better Title to give than generally our Kings have done so the generality of the Grantees made their Titles stronger in Equity by their great Services To resume therefore from them will be more than barely taking away what Men are legally possess'd of This Bill does not save any one great Man I mean of the Protestant Communion None of His Majesty's nearest Friends who ought to be consider'd if not for their own Merit yet for His Sake Not that Noble Foreigner who Commanded our Army and put an end to the War in Ireland tho' the Commons caressed Him for His Services Nor another who had a good part in that Successful Expedition though his Grant is Charitably employ'd in Supporting his poor Persecuted Countrymen Nor another Noble Person of our own Country who ventur'd hard and Travel'd far to procure the Happiness we enjoy though his good Services were confider'd in two former Bills yet is he not regarded in this The Lords who derive their Honour from our Kings and many of their Estates from their Grants are the most competent Judges of these Hardships and can very well see of what ill Consequence 't will be to their own Order to pass this Bill and destroy that Perogative of the Crown which is the Source and Fountain of their Grandeur Another great Hardship of the Bill is That it destroys that Right which Purchasers have in those Lands and deprives them of the Money they laid out If they purchas'd under a Title that is good in our Law they are legally Seiz'd if so the Lords will Judge whether it be a Hardship or no to turn Men out of their Freeholds They who are for the Bill say they purchas'd a bad Title The Title had been good enough if it had been left to stand upon its own Bottom If it be invalidated afterwards by an Act of Parliament that is not the Fault of the Title nor of those who purchass'd it In prejudice of the Title they say the House of Commons Address'd the King and pray'd he would not dispose of the Forfeitures If the King had a Right to them by Law that Address if there had been such an Address as there never was could make no Alteration in the Title for an Address of the House of Commons cannot alter the Law of England To strengthen their Argument they urge the King's Promise What did he Promise That he would never dispose of the Forfeitures If Men are enclin'd to overlook that Respect which is due to Majesty and tax the King with breach of Promise yet they ought to consider what a Reproach 't is to themselves to mistake the Sense of very plain English They who consider His Majesty's Words will see that the Lords to say nothing of what the Commons did themselves Cancell'd all the Obligations of his Promise And the Purchasers who took all their Encouragement from the Lords thought what their Lordships did was of as great Force to Strengthen as the Commons Address was to make void a settled and undoubted Right Besides these Purchasers there are others whose Cases I 'm told are very deplorable They who knew the State of Ireland at that time say That in the late Troubles the Protestants every where in the Country were Plunder'd by the Irish and driven out of their Habitations After the Reduction of that Kingdom the English whose Cattle and Goods had been generally taken away and in many places their Houses burnt not being able to hold their former Leases were very generally speaking destitute of Settlement and Habitation To many of them Leases were made by the King whilst the Lands were in his Hands Afterwards His Majesty's Grantees made it a Rule to encourage them This was occasion'd by an unlucky and as it appears wrong Notion conceiv'd by them that it would promote the English and Protestant Interest in that Kingdom to encourage Protestant Tenants This Bill deprives all these of the Fruits of their Labour for many Years It makes void their Leases without any Consideration for their Improvements which have rais'd the Value of the Lands it turns them out of their Habitations and as I am inform'd by those who understand the Genius of the Country in effect puts them into the Hands of the Irish who will certainly bid most for them Were the Bill free from the heavy Clogs 't is loaded with could no other Objection be made against it than this one great and general Calamity that it brings as I 'm very well inform'd on many thousand Protestant Families this alone were enough to terrifie the Lords from passing it They who would not seize the Forfeitures when the King only had a Property in them because they would not invade his Right will hardly think it reasonable after Nine Years time when People are settled in their Habitations to turn them out and resume their Improvements and the Sweat of their Brows to defray the Charge of the War These Hardships are generally allow'd but 't is said that they now are only to be Bewail'd not Remedy'd The Lords they say Must make no Alterations because 't is a Money Bill 'T is pity it should be so I always thought a Money Bill which was priviledg'd from the Inspection of the Lords was that in which the Commons rais'd Money by a fair and equal Tax on the People whose Representatives they are If Men's Estates were seiz'd in gross I imagin'd that ought to be reckon'd a Penalty or Mulct rather than a Tax laid on them by their Representatives Besides I don't remember that any Money has ever been paid upon such a Bill in Ireland To Consolidate Clauses how Heterogeneous soever with a Money-Bill and call them part of it is a very ready way to lodge the whole Legislature in the Commons but 't is a great Solecism in Speech and a Contradiction in our Constitution What will not pass currently hereafter in a Money-Bill if the Clause which strikes at several Men of Knowledge and Integrity and renders Members of Parliament incapable of being Commissioners of the Excise be now Adopted into that Family This is not only foreign to the Bill but of most dangerous consequence to the Commonwealth That we know which secures the Peace and Happiness of our Community is the mutual Confidence which the King and his People have in each other To Enact therefore a publick Distrust to tell the People so Solemnly that worthy Men whom they have Chosen for their Representatives are not to be Trusted in the King's Service is to create in People Jealousies and Suspicions of the King and to hazard the Safety of the publick I have Sir tir'd you with a longer Letter than I design'd I now shall only desire you to Reflect upon what the Lords did formerly and then consider whe-'tis possible they should pass this Bill A Bill which bears so hard upon the King Which cramps the Power of the Lords and consequently affects the Constitution of England Which Deprives Grantees and Purchasers of the Freeholds they are legally possessed of and Turns others out of their Habitations and Improvements Which Destroys many other Legal Titles Which sets up a severe Inquisition in Ireland and Vests a Power in the Inquisitors too great to be given to any of the Sons of Men. Notwithstanding these Severities 't is said That the Lords must pass the Bill because the Necessity of our Affairs requires it I can't see what pressing Necessity there is for us to do what we think Hard and seem to Condemn The English Land-Tax Bill may soon be recover'd The Purchase Money of the Irish Forfeitures requires a considerable time to have it brought into the Exchequer If Money must be rais'd on those Lands it may be done without Resuming His Majesty's Grants without Seizing the Freeholds of Grantees and Purchasers or the Labours of others and that with greater Expedition and infinitely more to the Satisfaction of the People of England than 't will be now For if this Bill pass you will see such Calamities follow it as will Grieve all the merciful and tender-hearted People of England but the Advantages which you expect by it you will never see I forgot to tell you that His Majesty after the Lords let the first Bill fall and Absolv'd Him from His Promise staid almost Three Years before He made any one Grant I ask your Pardon for the trouble of so long a Letter I am Your very humble Servant R. E. LONDON Printed for the Author 1700.