of all the breaches and violations of those Laws may bee given in charge by the chief Iudges to be presented and punished according to Law 12. That all the Judges and all the Officers placed by approbation of Parliament may hold their places quam diu â—e benè gesserint 13. That the Justice of Parliament may pass upon all Delinquents whether they be within the Kingdom or fled without it And that all persons cited by either Court may appear and abide the censure of Parliament 14. That the General pardon offered by your Majesty may be granted with such exceptions as shall be advised of by the Parliament 15. That the Forts and Castles of the Kingdom be put under the command and custody of such as your Majesty shall appoint with the approbation of your great Council and in the interval with the major part of your Privy Council as formerly 16. That the extraordinary guard and military forces now attending your Majesty be removed and discharged and that for the future that you will raise no such Guards or extraordinary forces but according to the Law in case of actual Rebellion or Invasion 17. That your Majesty will be pleased to enter in a more strict league with the Hollanders and other Neighbour Princes and States of the Reformed Religion for the defence and maintenance thereof against all designes and attempts of the Pope and his adherents to subvert and suppress it whereby your Majesty will obtain a great access of strength and reputation and your Subjects much encoâ—raged and enabled in a Parliamentary way for your aid and assistance in restoring the Queen of Bohemia and her Princely issue to those dignities and dominions that belong to them and relieving the other reformed distressed Princes who have suffered in the same cause 18. That your Majesty will be pleased to clear by a Parliamentary Act those Members you have empeached in such a manner that future Parliaments may be secured from the consequence of ill Presiâ—ents 19. That your Majesty will be graciously pleas'd to pass a Bill for restraiâ—ing Peers made hereafâ—en from sitting 〈◊〉 voting in Parliament unless they be admitted thereunto by consent of both Houses And these our humble desires being granted by your Majesty we shall forthwith apply our selves to regulate your present Revenew in such sort as may be to your best advantage and likewise to settle such aâ— ordinary and constant encrease of it as shall be sufficient to support your Royal dignity in honour and plenty beyond the Proportion of any former grants of the Subjects of this Kingdom to your Majesties Royall Predecessors We shall likewise put the Town of Hul into such hands that your Majesty shall appoint with the consent and approbation of Parliament and deliver up a just account of all the Magazine and cheerfully employ the utmost of our endeavors in the real expression and performance of our dutiful and Loyal affections to the preserving and maintaining of the Royal honour greatness and safety of your Majesty and your posterity Polyander How did these Propositions relish they run in a very high strain though the preamble and conclusion breath a great deal of humility and allegeance Philanglus The King received these proposals with a kind of indignation saying that he was worthy to be a King no longer over them if he should stoop so low some alledged that the very propounding of them was Treason in the highest degree for they struck at the very foundation and root of all Royal authority therefore the condescending to them would render him a King of cloâ—â—s and fit to be hooted at by all his Neighbours Polyander The world was much amazed abroad that the Peers should concur in passing such Proposals considering how their honour must stand and fall with the Royal Prerogative well Siâ— on Philanglus You must think Sir that one part of foure of the Lords were not there the rest were with the King who slighting those nineteen Propositions an unluckie number it made the Pulse of the Parliament to beat higher and to publish to the World a new Declaration the substance whereof was That the Parliament hath an absolute power of declaring the Law and whâ—tsoevâ—r they declare is not to be questioned by â—ing Magistrate or Subject That â—n Pâ—â—cedents can bound or limit their proceedings â—at they may dispose of any thing wherâ—iâ— King of Subject hath any rig'tâ—forth publick good wherefore they may be Judâ—es without Royal Assen That none of their Members â—ught to be molested or medled withal for treason felony or any other crime unlesse the cause â— brought bâ—fore them to judge oâ— the fâ—ct That the Sâ—vâ—raign power resides in them That lâ—vying of Warre against the command of the King though his person be present is no lâ—vying of War against the King but the levying of War against his politick person and Laws that is the onely levying War against the King Polyander It was not the first time that this new kind of Metaphysick was found out to abstract the person of the King from his Office and make him have two capacities private and politick for the same Metaphysick was made use of in Edward the seconds Reign but it was exploded and declar'd by Act of Parliament afterwards to be detestable and damnable Treason This were to make Soveraignty by separating it from the person to be a kind of Platonick Idea hovering in the aer to make a King a strange kind of Amphibium to make at the same instant a King and no King of the same Individuum a power which the Casuists affirm God Almighty never assum'd to himself to do any thing that implies contradiction Philanglus The Parliament or rather the Presbyteriaâ— Army for the Presbyters sate then at the Helm increas'd dayly and things being at such a desperate point there were two choice Earls Southampton and Dorset sent from Nottingham with this Pathetick Letter of the Kings to the Parliament WE have with unspeakâ—bl grief of heart long beheld the distraction of this our Kingdom Our very soul is full of anguish until we may find some reâ—â—dy to prevent the miseries which are ready to overwhelm this whole Nation by a civil War And though all our indeavors tâ—nding to the composing of those unhappy differences 'twixt us and our Parliament though pursued by us with all Zeal and Sincerity have been hitherto without the successe we hoped for yet such is our earnest and constant care to preserve the publick peace that we shall not bee discouraged from using any expedient which by the blessing of the God of mercy may lay a firm foundation of peace and happinesse to all our good Subjects To this end observing that many mistakes have arisen by the Messages Petitions and Answers betwixt us and our great Councel which haply may be prevented by some other way of Treaty wherein the matters in difference may be clearly undâ—rstood and more freely transacted We have thought fit to
the interpretation of Laws and in that point the twelve Judges who are called the Sages and Oracles of the Law are to be beleeved before the Parliament whose office is more to make new Laws then to expound the old Parliamentâ— being composed of men may erre Mr. Pryn as I alledged before tels us how many usurpers they have preferred before the rightful Heirs How often did Henry the eight make Parliaments the panders of his lust in whose time there are three acts observable 1. That Proclamations shold be equivalent to laws 2. That Queen Elizabeth was illegitimat 3. That the King in his will might name whom he pleas'd to be his successor Besides in lesse then four yeers Religion was changed twelve times in his raign by Parliament Polyander Touching the last Act of naming a successor I have seen a manuscript which makes mention that Henry the eight som 2. yeers before his death summoned a Parliament wherein he intimated unto them that one of the main designs of convoking that Parliament was that they should declare a successor to the Crown But the Parliament with much modesty answered that touching that point it belonged to his Majesty to consider of it and consult with his learned and Privy Councel about it And whomsoever his Majesty would please to nominat in his last Will they would confirm and ratifie Whereupon old Harry made a formal Will which was enrolled in the Chancery wherein remembring the perfidious carriage of James the fourth his brother in law he declared the issue of his eldest sister the Queen of Scotts being forreners incapable to inherit and the issue of Charles Brandon after the progeny of his own body to succeed next This Will continued in the Chancery all Edward the sixts time till Queen Mary who about the midst of her reign did cancel it But now Sir be pleas'd to pardon this Parenthesis and resume the thread of your former discourse in displaying what are the priviledges of Parliament which were so much insisted upon and cried up in the late long Parliament till they swell'd so high that they swallowed up and devour'd the Prerogative Philanglus If we will give credit to Sir Ed. Coke who was a great Champion of the House of Commons and no friend to Prerogative which he was us'd to call that Great Monster the priviledge of freedom from Arrests is the onely priviledge of Parliament He cannot or at least he doth not so much as name any other in his Section of the priviledge of Parliament neither is this priviledge so unquestionable and cleer as some do imagine as divers examples may be produced in the reign of Queen Elizabeth who was so great a darling of the Commons In the 39. of her reign Sir Ed. Hobby and Mr. Brograve Attorney of the Dutchy were sent by the House to the Lord Keeper to require his Lordship to revoke two writs of Subpoena's which were serv'd upon Mr. Tho. Kâ—â—vet a Member of the House the Lord Keeper demanded of them whether they were appointed by any advised consultation of the House to deliver this message unto him with the word require they answered yes he replyed as he thought reverently and honourably of the House and of their liberties and privileges so to revoke the said Subpoenas in that sort was to restrain her Majesty in her greatest power which is in the publick administration of Justice in the place wherein he serves her Therefore he concluded that as they had required him to revoke his Writ so he did require farther deliberation 18 Eliz. report was made by the Attorney of the Dutchy upon the Committee for the delivering of one Mr. Halls man that the Committee found no precedent for setting at large by the Mace any person in arrest but onely by Writ and that by divers precedents of records perus'd by the said Committee it appeared that every Knight Citizen or Burgesse which doth desire privilege hath used in that case to take a corporal oath before the Lord Chancellor or Keeper for the time being that the party for whom such writ is prayed came up with him and was his servant at the time of the arrest made Thereupon Mr. Hall was directed by the house to repair to the Lord Keeper and make oath and then to take a warrant for a writ of privilege for his servant 270 Eliz. Richard Coke a Parliament member being served with a subpoena of Chancery The Lord Keeper boldly answered that he thought the House had 〈◊〉 such privilege against subpoenas as they pretended Neither could he allow of any precedents of the House used in that behalf unlesse the House of Commons could also prove the same to have been likewise allowed and ratified by precedents in the high Court of Chancery Now the Original writ for Election which is the foundation of the whole business makes mention of no such privilege and 't is a rule that to vary from the meaning of the Writ makes a nullity of the cause and the proceedings thereupon For where a Commissioner exerciseth more power then is warranted by his Commission the act is not only invalid but punishable Now the end and scope of privileges of Parlement is not to give power to do any publick act not warranted by the writ but they are intended as helps only to enable the members towards the performance of their duties and so are subservient to the power comprized in the Writ For instance the freedom from Arrests doth not give any power at all to the House of Commons to do any extraordinary act thereby but the Members are made the more capable to attend the publick service by being free from the trouble of arrests so that this privilege giveth no further power at all but only helps to the execution of the power derived from the Royal writ Nor can the Freeholders by their Elections give any such privilege of exemption from arrests but it is the meer gift and grace of the Soveraign Prince yet in point of treson felony or breach of the Kings peace this privilege extends not Now privileges are things contrary to law or at least they serve as a dispensation against law intended originally for the better expediting of the Kings businesse or som publik service Nor could the House of Commons punish any for breach of this their privilege till they had conferr'd with the Lords and till the punishment had been referred by them to the Commons there is a notable example hereof in the 33. of Henry the eight George Ferrers the Kings servant and Burgesse of Plymouth going to Parliament was arrested by process out of the Kings Bench for debt which being signified to Sir Thomas Moyl then Speaker the Sargeant that attended the House was sent to the Counter to demand Ferres the Officers of the Counter refuse to deliver him anâ— giving the Sergeant ill language a scuâ—â—â— happened the Sheriff of London being sent for took part with the Counteâ—â— and so the Sergeant
any thing was amiss in that divorce he wish'd it might light upon his own Soul but I pray be pleas'd to go on Philanglus The King understanding that the Parliament did thus arm he was told that it was not fit for him to be idle so having levied some forces in the North he marched with them to Nottingham where he set up and displaied the Royal Standard but the Beam thereof by a gust of wind towards the evening was broke which was held an ill augury Polyander I heard by some of those that were then on the place that the King had not 4000 effective fighting men when he put up his Standard and the Parliament had an Army of above 15000 in a compleat body and upon their march about Northampton therefore I heard it censured a great oversight in the Parliament that they did not inorder their General to find out the King at Nottingham where he might have either taken him Prisoner or forc'd him to flie with his little confus'd Army But I pray pursue your discourse Philanglus I must again step a little back and inform you as that Army of the Parliaments was a levying these Propositions were sent to the King with a complemental introduction which because they are of a very high nature I will particularly relate unto you the preamble was this WEE your Majesties most humble and faithful Subjects having nothing in our thoughts and desires more precious and of higher esteem next to the honour and immediate service of God then the just and faithfull performance of our duty to your Majesty and this Kingdom and being sensible of the great distractions and distempers and of the iminent dangers and calamities which the said distractions and distempers are like to bring upon your Majesty and your Subjects all which have proceeded from the subtile informations mischievous practises and ill counsels of men disaffected to Gods true Religion your Majesties honour and safety and the publick Peace and Prosperity of your people After a serious observation of the Causes of these mischiefs Wee do in all humility and sincerity present to your Majesty our most humble Petition and Advice that out of your Princely wisdom for the establishing of your own honour and safety and gracious tendernesse of the welfare and security of your Subjects and Dominions You will be pleased to grant and accept these our humble desires and Propositions as the most necessary effectual meanes through Gods blessing of removing those jealousies and differences which have unhappily fallen 'twixt you and your people and for procuring both your Majesty and them a constant course of honour peace and happiness 1. That those of your Privy Council and such great Officers and Ministers of State either at home or beyond the Seas may be put from about you and from those Offices and Employments excepting such as shall be approved of by Parliament And that the persons put into the places and employments of those that be removed may be approved of by Parliament And that all Privy Councellors shall take an Oath for the due execution of their places as shall be agreed upon by Parliament 2. That the great affairs of the Land may not be concluded or transacted by the advise of private men or by unknown and unsworn Councellors but that such matters that concern the publique and are proper for high Assemblies which is your Majesties great and supream Council may be debated resolved and transacted here and no where else and such as shall presume to do any thing to the contrary shall be reserved to the censure and judgment of Parliament And such other matters of State as are proper for your Privy Council shall be debated and concluded by such as shall from time to time be chosen for what place by approbation of Parliament And that no publique Act concerning the affairs of the Land which are proper for your Privy Council may be esteemed of any validity as proceeding from Royal Authority unless it be done by the advice and consent of the major part of your Council And that your Council be limited to a certain number noâ—t exceeding twenty five nor under fifâ—â—een And if any Councellors place happen to be void in the intervalls of Parliament it shall not be supplyed without the coâ—â—sent of the major part of the Council which voice shall be confirmed at the next sitting of Parliament or else to be void 3. That all the great Oâ—ficers of State and Civil Justice as also your Secretaries may be chosen with the approbation of Parliament and in the intervals as formerly 4. That he or they to whom the Government and Education of the Royal issue shall be committed shall be approved by Parliament and in the intervals as formerly And that all such servants which are now about them against whom the Parliament shal have any just exception shal be removed 5. That no All â—nce of any of the Royal issue by way of marriage shall be concluded or treated with any forraign Prince or other Person whatsoever at home or abroad without consent of Parliament under the penalty of a Praemunire unto such as shall conclude or treat of any such Alliance And the said penalty shall not be pardoned or dispensed with but by consent of Parliament 6. That the Laws in force against Papists be strictly put in execution without any toleration or dispensation to the contrary And that some more effectuall course be enacted to disable them from making any disturbance in the State or â—luding the Law by Trusts or otherwise 7. That the Votes of all Papists in the upper House may be taken away as long as they continue Papists and that such a Bill be drawn for the education of their Children in the reformed Religion 8. That your Majesty will be pleas'd to consent that such a Reformation bee made of the Church-government as the Parliamsnt shall advise of And that your Majesty will contribute your best assistance for the raising of a sufficient maintenance for Preaching Ministers throughout the Kingdom And that your Majesty will be pleas'd to give your consent to Laws for the taking away of Innovations and Superstition and pluralities and against scandalous Ministers 9. That your Majesty will be pleas'd to rest satisfied with that course the Parliament hath appointed for ordering the Militia untill the same shall be further setled by â—â—ill and that your Majesty will recall your Declarations and Proclamations against the Ordinance made by the Parliament concerning it 10. That such Lords and Gentlemen that are Members of the House which have been put out of any Place or Office may either be restor'd or have satisfaction for the same upon the Petition of the Court whereof he or they are Members 11. That all Privy Councellors and Iudges take Oath the form whereâ—f to be agreed upon and setled in Parliament for the maintenance of the Petition of Right of certain Statutes made by this Parliament And that an Inquiry
duty to study the welfare to complain of the grievances and havâ— the defects supplyed of that place foâ— which he served The Bourgesse of 〈◊〉 studied to find out something that moughâ— have aduanced the trade of Fishing He 〈◊〉 Norwich what mought have advantage the making of Stuffs He of Rye what might preserve their Harbour from being choaked up with shelfs of sands He of Taverston what might have further'd the manufacture of Kersies He of Suffolk what conduced to the benefit of cloathing the Burgesses of Cornwal what belong'd to their Stanneries and in doing this they thought to have complyed with the obligation and discharg'd the conscience of honest men without soaring to things above their reach and roving at random to treat of Universals to pry into Arcana Imperii and bring Religion to the Bar the one belonging to the chief Governour and his intern Councel of State the other to Divines who according to the erymology of the Word use to be conversant and imploy their Talent in the exercise and speculations of holy and heavenly things Polyander I am clearly of your opinion touching the two last particulars for Secrecy being the Soul of Policy matters of State should be communicated to the cognizance and deliberations of few viz. the Governor in Chief and his Privy Councel And touching Religion I do not see humbly under favour how it may quadrat with the calling of Laymen to determine matters of Divinity and discusse points of Faith But though the establishment of the House of Commons be a wholesome thing in it self I heard it censur'd beyond the Sea that there is a great incongruity in one particular which is thaâ— the Burgesses are more in number then the Knights of Shires for the Knights 〈◊〉 Shires are commonly Gentlemen weâ— born and bred and divers of them verseâ— in forraign governments as well as the Lawâ— of the Land But the Burgesses of Townâ— are for the most part all Trades-men and being bred in Corporations they are more inclining to popular governmenâ— and democracy Now these exceeding thâ—Knights in number carry all before then by plurality of voices and so puzzle the proceedings of matters But now thaâ— I have mentioned Corporations I must 〈◊〉 you that the greatest soloecism in the policâ— of this State is the number of them specially this monstrous City which is composed of nothing else but Corporations which smell ranck of little Republiques 〈◊〉 Hanses and it was a great errour in the last two Kings to suffer this Town to spreaâ— her wings so wide for she bears no proportion with the bignesse of the Island but may fit a Kingdom thrice as spacious she ingrosseth and dreins all the wealth of the Land so that I cannot compare England more properly then to a Cremona Goose in Italy where they have a way to fatten onely the heart of the Goose but in doing so they make the rest of the whole body grow leanand lank And as it was an errour so to suffer her to Monopolize the trade and riches of the land so it was in letting her gather so much strength in exercise of arms by suffering her to have such an Artillery garden and Military yard which makes me think on a speech of Count Gondamar the Spanish Embassadour who being invited by the King to see a Muster of the Citizens in St. Jame's Fields after they were gone he was ask'd by the King how hee lik'd his Citizens of Londons Truly Sir said he I have seen a company of goodly able men with great store of good arms but Sir I fear that these men will do you a mischief one day for the conceit wherewith they may be puffed up for the knowledge they have in handling their Arms may heighten their spirits too much and make them insolent My Master the King of Spain though there breaths in his Court well neer as many Souls as there are in London and though he be in perpetual War with some or other yet iâ— his Court he is so peaceable that one shall see no sign of War at all hee suffers not any armed men to strut under his nose there is neither Artillery Garden or Military yard there at all but onely a feâ— Partisians that guard his body therefore as I said before these men may do you Majesty an ill turn one day and whether Gondamar was a Prophet herein or no judge you But I pray Sir be pleased to dispense with me for these interruptions give to your former discourse touching Parliaments Philanglus Having formerly spoken something of the Original duty and power of the Great Councel of the Kingdom with the Primitive institution of the House of Commons I will proceed now to that grand question Where the Supream Legislative Power resides Certainly if we examine the Writs of Summons for both Houses with the Bodies and Titles of our ancient Acts of Parliament we shall find the Supremacy and power of making Laws to rest in the King or Governour in chief Now when the Parliament is stiled the Supream Court it must be understood properly of the King sitting in the house of Peers in person and but improperly of the Lords without him It is granted that the consultative directive or deliberativâ— paâ—er is in the House of Peers the performing and consenting power in the house of Commons but the Legislative powers lodgeth in the person of the King for Parliaments are but his productions they derive their being from the breath of his Writs He as Sir Edward Cook doth positively affirm is Capâ—t Principum finis He is the head he is the beginning and ending the Alpha and Omega of Parliaments Polâ—ander But some affirm that the legislative power is in the two Houses and that they are above the King Philanglus The difference 'twixt the King or Supream Magistrate and the Parliament is this that the one represents God the other the people 'T is true as I said before the consultative power is in Parliament and 't is but by the Kings permission the commanding power resides stil in the chief Governor and is inseparable from him the results and productions of Parliament at best are but Bills 't is the Kings breath makes them Laws till then they are but dead things they are like matches unfired 't is the King that gives life and light unto them The Lords advise the Commons consenâ— but the King ordains they mould the Bills but the King makes them Laws therefore they are ever after called the Kings Laws the Kings Judgments The Lords c. have the Indicatif part but the King the Imperatif the liberties also of the people flow all from him for Magna Charta begins thus Henry by the grace of God Know ye that We of our meer and free will have given these liberties in the self same stile runs Charta de foresta The Statute of Marlborough 52. Henry the third runs thus The King hath made these Acts Ordinances and Statutes which