Magna Charta is such a fellow that he will have no Soveraign I wonder this Soveraign was not in Magna Charta or the confirmations of it If we grant this by Implication we give a Soveraign power above all these Laws mind that for all Power and Liberties and Prerogatives are bounded and limited by the Laws and though they be great as the Sea yet have their bounds the Law saying Hitherto shalt thou go and no further and here shall thy proud Waves be stay'd no Prerogative is infinite in England nor any power omnipotent except that of God alone the Law limits and bounds us all from the greatest to the least And therefore Sir Eward Cook goes on telling the House That Power in Law is taken for a power with force The Sheriff shall take the power of the County what it means here God only knows It is repugnant to our Petition that is the King shall not Billet Souldiers raise Money by Privy Seals Loans Imprison without cause in Law shewn c. saving by his Soveraign Power our Petition is a Petition of Right grounded on Acts of Parliament Our Predecessors would never endure a Salvo Jure suo no more than the Kings of Old could endure for the Church Salvo Honore Dei Ecclesiae we must not admit of it and to qualifie it is impossible Let us hold our Priviledges according to the Law that Power that is above this it is not sit for the King and People to have it disputed further Tant The Oath of Allegiance binds us all to maintain the Kings Prerogative Whigg No doubt on 't and let it be for ever Sacred let no Prophane Hand or Tongue touch it no nor so much as think upon it Irreverently both it and the Peoples Liberties as aforesaid are vast and great but they are not Infinite they have their known Bounds and ancient Land-marks and Cursed is that evil Councellor that makes such a Stir to Encroach or Remove them extend them or Stretch them such deserve to Stretch for it For 't is certain that there is no Soveraign Power or Prerogative wherewith any King of England hath been intrusted either by God or Man but what is for Edification not for Destruction for the Weal of his People and for their Protection Safety and Happiness Tant Our Gracious Soveraign in his late Declarations pretends to no other Prerogative but what is legal Whigg All the better for him and us his Royal Father of Gracious Memory seem'd to Disgust his Lords as aforesaid when he told them that he meant not to shew the Power of a King by diminishing their Priviledges Tory. He wanted not bad Instillers sometimes as he Confest afterwards Whigg The Summer shall want Flies e're the Crown want Sycophants swarming about it yet like Musketoes too they usually Burn their Wings in the Flame to this sort some ascribed those words in the Kings Speech I owe the account of my Actions to God alone c. But as for Tunnage and Poundage it is a thing I cannot want Tant No why should he Whigg The matter of taking it was not so much the question as the manner of taking it namely taking it before and without the gift thereof to the King by them that had the only power to dispose thereof Tant Then there was hard Measure to some as well as hard Imprisonment if the Parliament had the only power to give Tunnage and Poundage for the Kings Commission to the Customers begins thus C. R. WHereas the Lords of the Council taking into Consideration our Revenue and finding that Tunnage and Poundage is a principal Revenue of our Crown and has been continued for these many Years have therefore Order'd all those Duties of Subsidie Custom and Import as they were in the Twenty first of King James and as they shall be appointed by Us under our Seal to be Levyed Know ye that we by the Advice of our Lords Declare our Will that all those Duties be Levyed and Collected as they were in the time of our Father and in such manner as we shall appoint and if any Person refuse to Pay then our Will is that the Lord Treasurer shall Commit to Prison such so Refusing 'till they Conform themselves And we give full Power to all our Officers from time to time to give Assistance to the Farmers of the same as fully as when they were Collected by Authority of Parliament Whigg This occasion'd Debates that ended in the Dissolution of that Parliament after which the King call'd no more of eleven long Years and Straits and Necessities were urgent and remediless without a Parliament and woful work in Conclusion Tant Why did the Parliament meddle with the Customers Whigg Because they collected Customs in Tunnage and Poundage without Authority of Parliament Tant King James had them before they were given to him in Parliament Whigg King James had them by Authority of Parliament from the day before his first Parliament begun but the Statute gave him Power so to do but not from the first day of his coming to the Crown for he came to the Crown March 24. 1602. His first Parliament began at Westminster March 19. 1603. and took many things into Consideration and Enacted them before they took into consideration Tunnage and Poundage but 1 Jac. cap. 33. the Commons by the Advice and consent of the Lords gave the King the Subsidy of Tunnage and Poundage at a very low rate namely but three Shillings a Tun for Wine and so proportionably for quantities greater or lesser than a Tun but this expir'd with the Kings Life his only Son and Successor took it without Authority of Parliament as his Father took it by Authority of Parliament to the great Disgust of his Parliament who did at length grant him Tunnage and Poundage upon certain Trusts and Confidences from the 9th of August 1641. for about three months 16 Car. 1.22 Tant What no longer Whigg Not at one loose then by 16 Car. 1.25 they trusted the King with the Customs from November 30. 1641. to February 1. namely for two Months longer Then the other Hitch for five Months namely from February 1. 1641. until July 2. 1642. Then they continued it for some little time by 16 Car. 1. c. 29. cap. 31. cap. 36. Tant But did the Free Free-Parliament in 12 Car. 2.4 give it to our gracious King for no longer time Whigg Yes yes for his Life but upon trust too so sayes the Act namely The Commons Assembled in Parliament reposing Trust and Confidence in your Majesty in and for the Guarding and defending of the Seas against all Persons intending or that shall intend the Disturbance of your said Commons in the Intercourse of Trade and the Invading of this Realm c. Tant Then it was granted for these Uses and Considerations belike and should be made Use of for no other end you would say Whigg Yea I do say so as the said Statute sayes Tant
THE SECOND PART OF THE History of Whiggisme OR THE Whiggish-PLOTS PRINCIPLES and PRACTICES Mining and Countermining THE TORY-PLOTS PRINCIPLES and PRACTICES In REIGN of King CHARLES I. TORY ONce more well met Mr. Tantivee and honest Whigg Tantivee Whigg We come on purpose to hear the Continuation of your History of Whiggisme Tory. I neither am able nor do I pretend to tell you any thing but what is to be found in Chronicles Histories and at large already in Print Tant Ay but I have not Money to buy them nor Leisure to read large Volumes give us onely an Abridgment out of those vaster Collections in relation only to the Whiggisme of them Tory. With all my heart where left I off Tant At Mr. Moor's Release and Discharge by his Gracious Majesty Charles 1. and the Imprisonment and Release of the Earl of Arundel Tory. Oh! 'T is Right Whigg But was not that part of the Kings Answer about the Imprisonment of the Earl of Arundel namely My Lords By this I do not mean to shew the Power of a King by diminishing your Priviledges ill resented by the House of Lords Tory. It plainly Intimated that the King thought He had such a Power or some about him made him believe he had such a Power of a King to Diminish their Priviledges but he did not mean to show it Tant No the more Gracious King He. Tory. However the House of Lords were so Allarum'd at the Expression that lest they should happen to have a King that was less Gracious or of a worse Meaning they would not meddle with any Business 'till they had secured as well as claim'd their Priviledges by another Tenure than what was meerly Arbitrary Ad libitum Regis and therefore Adjourn'd in Disgust resolving unanimously to take nothing into Consideration 'till they had Contrived how their Priviledges might be Secur'd to Posterity which being perceiv'd the Earl of Arundel as you have heard was Releas't to them for which he was thankfull Tant Ay that was right Tory-like and most Loyally done some Whiggs would not so Religiously have Kist the Rod that whips them Whigg 'T is somewhat against the Grain of Humanity to fawn Spaniel-like upon the Hand that beats them Tant Some men are so Loyal as to make a Legg at every Box of the Ear Who may say to a King what dost thou Whigg Misapply'd and Misconstru'd Scriptures make up a Tantivee and makes a man be a Tantivee Tant Why Is not the King's Will a Law Whigg In France they say and in Turkey not in England for so the Barons of England told the two Cardinals whom the Pope sent to Reconcile the Differences betwixt King and People about Magna Charta Liberties and Prerogative That there were many Worthy and Learned men in the Kingdom whose Council they would use and not Strangers who knew not the cause of their Commotion in the Reign of K. Edward 2. Tory. No I must confess that Forreigners unacquainted with the Fundamental Constitution of our Government and Laws are no Competent Judges of the lawfulness or unlawfulness of Contests betwixt King and People Whigg Ay the English were alwayes tender of their Liberties Tant But if English Kings did Invade their Liberties they used no Remedy I hope but Prayers and Tears Whigg And Bows and Arrows and long Swords until the Kings were Contented to Rule them according to their Oath and the Law of the Land Tant Ay Perhaps when they happened to have some easie weak timerous and condescending King Whigg No In such a juncture they were alwayes the calmer but grew rough raging high and boysterous the more vehement strong and tempestuous their Kings were as for Instance in Edw. 1. another Saul for he was higher and taller than ordinary men by the Head and Shoulders and as Tyrannical too as King Saul was He at one time at the Instigation of William Marchian then Lord Treasurer fetch 't all the Riches out of the Churches and Religious Houses and put it into his own Exchequer Loans Benevolences the Writ of Trailbaston great Fines were used by him in the Seventeenth Year of his Reign he Fined all his Judges pretending for Corruption the least of them one thousand Marks an immense Summe in those dayes but some of them two thousand some three thousand some four thousand some six thousand and the Chief Justice Sir Ralph de Hengham seven thousand Marks the Chief Baron Sir Adam Stratton four and thirty thousand Marks but from Thomas Wayland all his Goods and whole Estate Confiscate and himself Banish't and just so he used the Jews which were then in England very rich and very numerous 'T is said of K. Hen. 8. that he never Spared Man in his Anger nor Woman in his Lust but King Edw. 1. was as resolv'd as he as Couragious and Stout leaving the Marks of his personal Valour the Trophies of his Victories in the Holy-land before he was King but he could Disguise his furious Resentments and Adjourn Revenge seven and seven Years 'till he could safely Execute it Tant Safely why who should or durst say to that most Couragious and Victorious King that thrice Conquer'd Scotland France and Wales What dost thou Whigg His own People and Subjects forc't him to reason and to Rule them according to Law his Oath and Magna Charta the Parliament-men came to his Parliament Attended with Armed men very numerous at Stamford 28 Edw. 1. to make him fulfill and Execute the Charter of the Forrest says Walsingham and Knighton two Famous Historians of those times Rex Angliae sub his diebus Parliamentum tenuit Stamford ad quod convenerunt Comites Barones cum equis armis co prout dicebatur proposito ut Executionem Chartae de Foresta hactenùs dilatam extorquerent mind that ad plenum Tant Ay but how did the Stout King Edward Treat these Armed Petitioners Whigg They ask't nothing but what the Laws and his own Oath ought to have Compelled him unto and the King yielded to their Requests Rex autem eorum Instantiam Importunitatem attendens eorum voluntati in omnibus condescendit Knighton sayes De quâ re Rex Integrè plenè eorum voluntatem Implevit ad vota in which matter the King fully and wholly granted their Desires to their Wishes Tant It was very civilly done of him Whigg It was wisely and honestly done and as his Coronation Oath Equity Reason Conscience and the Laws from none of which English Kings pretend to be exempt did adjure him and Constrain him and they are devillish Councellors and the Kings worst Enemies and Traitors that perswade him to act contrary to Law Power is high enough without being wanton and lasts longest when it is not Stretcht to the height or Over-stretcht 't is a wonder that a thing so uneasie should please Tory. Ambition and Covetousness know no bounds and I have read King Edward got the Pope to set him free from the
obligation of his Coronation Oath and Magna Charta Tant But did the Pope absolve him and let him loose and free from his Oath and the Laws Tory. Yes he did for the Pope was a Native of Burdeaux Born in King Edward's Domnions but yet he would not acquit him of his Oath and Obligation to his Subjects and his own Conscience 'till the King sent his Holiship all manner of Vessels belonging to a Chamber made of pure Gold and then the Pope untied the King from the Covenant made with his Subjects concerning their Charters Confirmed unto them by his last three Acts of Parliament Tant Has the Pope power to do these things Whigg Yes Fools think so and Knaves would perswade others to think so the King and the Pope got by it but the poor English Subjects paid for all Tant But did not the King pay part of the Reckoning Whigg No doubt on 't King Edward 1. made a shift with much Bickering to rub through and come to his Grave in Peace dying on his fair Death but his Son Edw. 2. that followed his Fathers steps when he could or durst had not the Wit or else not the Luck to manage the Feat so well poor Rehoboam for he was Deposed by the Parliament or rather was perswaded to Depose himself lest his Son also should be Excluded from the Crown for so they threatned and to make a King of another Race Thus he lost his Kingdom no Blow struck no Battel Fought done forcibly and yet without force violently and yet with Consent Tant Then surely he had first lost the Hearts of his People Whigg You may be assured of it for at first his Subjects refused to suffer him to be Crowned unless he would remove Gaveston from the Court and Kingdom which dampt King Edward's Spirit especially many of his great Friends being then at Court witnesses of his Disgrace as Charles of Valois the Queens Unkle and Brother to her Father Philip the Fair the French King the Dukes of Brittain and Brabant the Count of Luxemburg who was afterwards Emperour the Duke of Savoy the Dutchesses of Brabant and Artois with many other Princes and great Ladies so that the King solemnly Swore he would do what they desired in the next Parliament so they would be quiet now and thereupon the Coronation went on Tant Could not so many Forreign Princes and so powerful Encourage the King to repel with force his Subjects Insolence Whigg Insolence Oh Brave Tantivee What would have become of thee if thou hadst liv'd in these dayes to have an answer in Parliament for your Tantivee-principles so Discrepant from and Inconsistent with our English-frame Constitution and Fundamental Laws Tant Why were Parliaments so Malapert in those dayes Whigg Malapert Hey day what again in your Tantivee-strain you have got the Language of some late Addressers that take upon them to Judge the highest Court and Council of the Kingdom the Parliament Tant In your Opinion you mean the Highest Council Whigg Dare you say to the contrary whatever you think Tant I durst if I were sure never to live to see another Parliament Whigg Ay thou art a good one but the Parliament as soon as they met drew Articles of their Grievances which though seeming Harsh to the King yet for avoiding further Inconvenience he yielded unto them Tant Inconvenience What Inconvenience they were Subjects and Christians in those dayes and had no weapons but prayers and tears which can bring no great Inconvenience if a man resolve to be hard-hearted Whig No thou I believe art Prayer-proof but King Edward 2. remembred well that in his stout Fathers time the Parliament met at London Octob. 10. Non tamen nudi not naked and unarm'd but immò cum quingentis equis armatis multitudine magnâ peditum Electorum with five hundred Horse and a vast number of choice Foot Induxerunt etiam cives Londoniarum ut pro recuperandis libertatibus secum starent The Citizens of London were brought to stand up with them for the recovery of their Charters and Liberties Comitibus itaque Baronibus pariter conglobatis confederatis necnon majoritate populi eis inclinante several Lords and Barons confederating and leaguing solemnly together with the majority of the common-people Inclining to their side Tant What against the King Whig No for the Ling against evil Councellors that seduc'd the King against his Oath his Conscience Religion and Law And the Historian Hen. Knighton gives the reason of this general Confederacy quia communem profectum utilitatem amplectebatur communes diligebant eos fortiter because the Conlederates or Covenanters stood for the common benefit and common-weal and the Laws therefore the People lov'd them mightily and voluntarily accompanyed their Parliament-men to London with horse and Arms at their own charge Nay 't is a wonder that any man that had an English heart in his Belly could be a fawning Spaniel-like Tantivee some French Bastard sure Tant But what said the King to his armed Parliamentarians Whig Said he did instead of saying any thing his duty and confirmed their Charters and Liberties so often confirmed and so often wickedly and illegally broken and encroach't upon but King Edward 1. was loath to confirm their Charters except with this clause salvo Jure Coronae nostrae saving the Rights of our Crown But the People would not by any means admit that saving and Exception so that the King confirm'd them as formerly as K. Charles 1. after a long Tugg in the House of Lords consented to the Petition of Right without the saving or leaving intire that Sovereign power wherewith c. Whereupon sayes Mr. Noy To adde a saving is not safe And sayes Mr. Alford Let us look into the Records and see what they are what is Sovereign power Bodin saith That is free from any condition by this we shall acknowledge a Regal as well as a Legal Power let us give that to the King that the Law gives him and no more Tory. There spoke a Whigg Whigg True so Mr. Pym added I know how to adde Sovereign to his Person but not to his Power Also We cannot leave to him a sovereign power Also We never were possessed of it Tory. Our King God bless him does not pretend to absolute and arbitrary Power Whig Sovereign power cannot be invested in any thing that is not Omnipotent And the great Oracle of the Law added that the saving or leaving intire the sovereign Power c. will overthrow all our Petition of Right It trenches to all the Parts of it It flyes at Loans and at the Oath and at Imprisonment and Billeting of Souldiers This turns all about again I know that Prerogative is part of the Law but Sovereign Power is no Parliamentary word In my opinion it weakens Magna Charta and all our Statutes for they are absolute without any saving of Sovereign Power take we heed what we yield unto
for there he was Stabb'd by Lieutenant Felton Whigg Upon what Provocation Tory. I 'le tell you anon as for the Loans the King Promis'd that this way should not be made a President for the time to come to charge them or their Posterity to the Prejudice of their Just and Ancient Liberties enjoyed under his most Noble Progenitors and Promising them In the Word of a Prince to repay such Summes Tant That is to be understood when he has the Money to repay Whigg Yes but that time never yet came Tant I am not for this kind of Lending whether I will or no and without being able to sue for or recover neither by fair means nor foul neither Principal nor Interest I 'le Swear Whigg Nay Do not Swear I 'le believe the Parson without Searing for Men of thy Coat and Tantivee-principle seldom put out Money to Interest or Use except to the Ale-house or Tavern to wipe out the Chalk and clear old Scores and then run fresh upon Tick again what needs thou to care for the Liberties and Charters of an English-man thou hast no Inheritance to lose nor will thy Heirs fall out or quarrel about the Land thou leavest them thou wilt take a Course for that and make thine own Hands and Guts thy Executors Tory. To the Imposition of Loans was added the Burthen of Billeting of Souldiers return'd from that unsuccesseful and dishonourable Voyage from Cadiz and Moneys to discharge their quarters were for the present to be levyed upon the Countrey to be repay'd out of Summes Collected upon the General Loan Tant Yes when they could catch it Tory. The Companies were scattered here and there all the Kingdom over but that did not much affright men out of their Purses though many Felonies Robberies Rapes and Murders were Committed by the Souldiers and Mariners but they were governed by Martial-law and some were Executed but they Mastered the People disturbed the Peace of Families committed frequent Rapes Burglaries and Robberies Murthers and Barbarous Cruelties which made a general Outcry and Lamentation wherever they came but the Lord Chief Justice Sir Randolph Crew lost his Place for not favouring the Loan and in his room succeeded a right Cavalier Sir Nicholas Hide who yet for his Abilities and Skill in Law might without blushing climb up to the Bench but he could not without great disgust and general Prejudice succeed a man so universally belov'd as was Sir Randolph Crew To advance this Loan one Sibthorp had contriv'd a Tantivee-Sermon Preached by him at Northampton at Lent Assiizes upon Rom. 13.7 called Apostolical Obedience and by all means the Divinity must be in Print or else you 'l say how could it have reacht the Ears of Bishop Laud or made room for Preferment And Archbishop Abbot must License it under his own Hand or take what followes Tant Why sure he would not lose his Archbishoprick for want of Subscribing his Name Tory. He refused to do it though the Court prest him earnestly to do it and his Archbishoprick was Sequestred soon after Whigg Some said it was Bishop Lauds Policy to pick a Quarrel with him if he refused to obey the Kings Commands or expose him to the Indignation of a Parliament if he dared to License such Tantivee-Stuff and illegal and wicked Positions some called them Traiterous Positions he affirmed that the Prince who is the Head and makes his Court and Council it is his Duty to direct and make Laws Eccles 8.3 4. He doth whatsoever pleases him where the word of the the King is there is power and who may say unto him What dost thou And If Princes Command any thing which Subjects may not Perform because 't is against the Laws of God or of Nature or Impossible yet Subjects are bound to undergoe the Punishment without either resisting or railing or reviling and so to yield a Passive Obedience where they cannot exhibit an active one I know no other Case but one of these three wherein a Subject may excuse himself with Passive Obedience but in all other he is bound to Active Obedience sayes Sybthorp Tory. He had forgot the Laws of this Land which all Kings are bound and Sworn to obey for the municipal Laws are not immediately any of those three and Doctor Manwaring he fisht for Preferment with two Sermons to Drill in the Loan though against Law as the King confest in after Statutes as also the Ship-writs Condemn'd by the King 16 Car. 1.14 But those Court-Sermons did Mischief awhile though in Conclusion the Court-Parasites smarted for their sawcy rashness and falshood Manwaring asserting that the King is not bound to observe the Laws of the Realm concerning the Subjects Rights and Liberties Whigg This is just like the Popes Pardon and Absolving King Edward of and from the Obligation of his Coronation-Oath Vows and Promises Tory. Manwaring also asserted that those who refused to pay the Loan Offended against the Law of God Tant Did he find that in the Bible Tory. And that the Authority of Parliament is not necessary for the raising of Aids and Subsidies Whigg 'T is a wonder to me that the Parliament let him escape after this what sets a Kingdom in a flame but these Incendiaries that do not or will not know the Constitution of this Kingdom and Common-wealth An equal Bridle to curb Tyranny and Arbitrary Sway on the one hand and Anarchy and Confusion on the other Tory. Ay our Laws are good enough none better Whigg Then what Traytors and Villains are they that dare debauch the fundamental Constitutions and Laws Tory. It was the way to Preferment Whigg The way to the Gallowes was it not better a hundred thousand such Sycophants were Hang'd than a good King and his Laws Betray'd and the Kingdom Involv'd in blood through their sly Tantivee-leasings and Insinuations Tory. Bishop Laud was the Man and all in all with the King all Preferments in Church and State he annuated or He and Buckingham though they so mischeivously to the King and State countenanc't the Loan so contrary to the grants of the great Charter and the Subjects Liberties and Properties which the King was bound by Oath and Duty to Preserve and Observe and was ready to do it of his own Benignity and Goodness but those Court-Parasites ruin'd all at length and themselves too Popery and Arbitrary Sway are Twins alwayes coupled the Queen had great Influence upon the Favourites either to make or marre them and they knew it as well and the Jesuits had too much Influence over her what by fair means what by foul but the King was angry when he heard they made her for Penance walk bare-foot to Tyburn Whigg The Jesuits Ay they are pretty Creatures for Princes to be Slaves unto and to become their Vassals and Instruments they have got the two Reyns into their own hands that guide the silly World namely Hope and Fear whom the hopes of Heaven cannot allure to their purposes the
offend our Liberties Charters Rights and Properties Thirdly By the said Law the place of Meeting then was London Tant Perhaps Westminster and the Banquetting-house were not then built Tory. Thou happens to be in the right on 't Parson for once Whig Parliaments then being so Ancient no Court so Ancient the Lord Coke having trac'd them from the Brittains Saxons Danes Normans to our days I wonder what Tantivees dares as Sybthorp and Bishop Manwaring c. attempt thus to divide separate and make null and void two of the three Estates of this Realm the Lords and Commons to leave us but one Estate a King in use and de facto whilst the the other two the great and main Body have no Subsistance but de Jure stand useless and for nothing years together and always when there is most need of them too If ever any Head liv'd well without the Body give me but one Instance Tant This makes me think of the Fable when the Head and Hand joyn'd together to pull the Gutts out for quoth the Head I plod for all and we quoth Toryhands and Feet have Fought and Wrought for the Head as it annuated and directed and yet the Whiggish Gutts devour all the good Victuals wherefore it was agreed with joynt-forces to tear the Gutts a pieces little considering that both Hand and Head Live and are Nourish'd and grow Fat and Fresh and well-liking by the assistance of the Trading Part the Whiggish-Gutts to whom we grutch that they have a Being and Subsistance though by them we Live and grow Fat and if we offer to tear them apieces and their Ancient Priviledges Charters and Franchises who knows but it may prove our own Ruine Tory. Here 's a wise Tale of a Tub more fit for a Tub-Preacher than a Tantivee Whig Nay for that there shall be no quarrel for Tantivee at an Idle-Pulpit Metaphor or Far-fetch'd Similitude shall match the best Tub-Preacher of them all whilst Tantivee is Pay'd for some as Idle Stories as poor Tub is Fined and Punish'd for Tory. Some men had better Steal a Horse than others to look over the Hedge You have told us what the Common-Law sayes for Parliaments frequent Parliaments Parliaments that Sit and must be held not Mock-Parliaments made like Penelope's-Web only to be Vnravell'd and Dissolv'd But what says the Statute-Law to this point Whig I have not done yet with my Common-Law Tory. Proceed then but be brief Whig The Ancient Treatise called Modus Tenendi Parliamentum which Lord Coke says was rehearsed and declared before William the Conqueror and by him approved and accordingly he held a Parliament for England as appears 21 Edw. 3. fol. 60. wherein we Read that Petitions being truly prefer'd have been Answered by the Law and Custom of Parliament before the end of Parliament Tant But suppose the King will end it before the Petitions and Grievances be redrest by his Prerogative Whig Parson Thou makes Suppositions most dishonourable to Loyal Majesty and that which is scarce to be suppos'd that ever any Head should not permit any Remedy to be applyed to the Gouty or distempered Hands Gutts and Feet For if the Hands be Lame how will the Politick-Head help it self Or if the Gutts be empty or Gutifounder'd how will Head feed its self And if the Feet be Lame and the Heart faint the Head will make Wise-Fighting I believe when it comes too Therefore I cannot imagine a Head to be so Senseless except the Brains be out that should have such an Vnnatural Cruel Stupid and foolish project in the Nodle of it as neither to help the oppressed Gutts and Hands or Feet nor yet permit the Charity and good will of others that are both willing and able to Ease Remedy and Redress the Griefs and Grievances of the Body and all this without a Fee Tant If you apply this to Parliament Redressing Grievances without a Fee you do not mean a Pentioners Parliament I hope Tory. No no such Physitians are payed as many others they got Fees to hasten us the sooner to our Graves Whig But the True-English-Parliament can never be a Long-Parliament nor can the Intervals of Parliament be long nor yet the Sessions of Parliament can be short For Modus Tenendi saith That the Parliament ought not to be ended while any Petition dependeth Vndiscussed and so say the Statutes too as I 'le shew anon irrefragably Or at least to which a determinate Answer is not made Rot. Par. 17 Ed. 3. No. 60.25 Ed. 3. No. 60.50 Ed. 3. No. 212. 2 Rich. 2.134 2 Rich. 2. No. 38. 1 Hen. 4.132 2 Hen. 4. No. 325. and 113. And that one of the Principal ends of calling Parliaments is for Redressing of Grievances that dayly happen of which the King cannot possibly be inform'd so truly as by Parliaments that Parler le ments speak their minds freely without Glozing and Flattery for Kings seldom hear Truth but in Parliament that it is one of the greatest wonders in the World that Kings of all others should not most of all desire frequent Parliamens wherein of all other places he sits in most Majesty and King-like as Gloriously as Powerfully but those Kings that have been Enemies to Parliaments and to frequent Parliaments have been at poor as ever they could creep for go they could not in State and King-like but were glad to make Poor and Beggarly and Illegal Shifts and all to preserve a company of Sneaking Sycophants that care not how Bare and Beggarly the King's Exchequer be so they may but live impune to pull him more bare and bald when there 's scarce a Hair left knowing that they must be Fleec'd too if a Parliament Sir and also must disgorge the ill gotten Goods they have Gourmandiz'd so Greedily and Illegally swallowed up and they are afraid they shall be choak'd when they are forc'd by the Wise Physitians to Spue it up Tory. But if frequent Parliaments to fit so long till all Petitions be Answered and Grievances be Redress'd be secured by common-Common-Law and statute-Statute-Law How came King Charles I. in open Parliament more than in one Parliament in a kind of Threatning way to tell the Parliaments and bid them remember that the Calling Adjourning Prorogueing Holding and Dissolving was wholly in his Power Whig So it is in his Power that is he alone can do it as many other Kingly Acts Indicting men for Felony Treason c. It cannot be done but in the Kings Name you cannot Arrest a man for Debt that is owing to you but in the Kings Name But still they are things in Course and directed by the Law Besides when King Charles I. had such Principles whisper'd into his head he was but young he liv'd to be wiser before his latter end and to know the Truth of what his Wise Father had told him and his Parliaments very often That as the Head is ordained for the Body and not the Body for the Head so must a Righteous
them to have taken away the only legal bound to their arbitrary power and made as it were a conquest upon the common Law of the Land which is our common Inheritance and after made use of that power to turn their Brethren out of their Free-holds for not doing that which no Law of man required them to do and which in their Opinions the Law of God required of them not to do We shall find them in general to have encouraged all the Clergy to suits and to have brought all suits to the Council-table that having all power in Ecclesiastical matters they laboured for equal power in Temporal and to dispose as well of every Office as of every Benefice which lost the Clergy much Revenue and much reverence whereof the last is never given when it is so asked by encouraging them indiscreetly to exact more of both than was due so that indeed the gain of their greatness extended but to a few of that order though the envy extended upon all We shall find of them to have both kindled and blown the common fire of both Nations to have both sent and maintained that Book of which the Author no doubt hath long since wish'd with Nero Vtinam nescissem litera and of which more than one Kingdom hath cause to wish that when he writ that he had rather burn'd a Library though of the value of Ptolomie's We shall find them to have been the first and principal cause of the breach I will not say of but since the Pacification at Berwick We shall find them to have been the almost sole abettors of my Lord of Strafford whilst he was practising upon another Kingdom that manner of Government which he intended to settle in this where he committed so many so mighty and so manifest Enormities and Oppressions as the like have not been Committed by any Governour in any Government since Verres left Sicily And after they had called him over from being Deputy of Ireland to be in a manner Deputy of England All things here being Govern'd by a Juntillo who dare say thus much at this time of day and that Juntillo Govern'd by him And he Govern'd by I know who to have assisted him in giving of such Councels and the pursuing of such Courses as it is a hard and measuring Cast whether they were more Unwise more Unjust or more Unfortunate and which had Infallibly been our Destruction if by the Grace of God their share had not been as small in the subtilty of Serpents as in the Innocency of Doves Master Speaker I have represented no small quantity and no mean degree of Guilt Tant Enough enough of this I see Whiggish Doctrines Principles and Practices grow upon us Whigg Do not mistake your self Tory it is your Tory-Plots and Principles have swell'd of late years to a monstrous Tumour and Deformity almost to the Consumption of our right and natural Constitution and because we make warm Applications sometimes to draw down the Swelling and let out the Corruption how you Tantivees Kick and Frisk Tant Kings of old us'd not to be Bearded nor Brav'd by their Subjects Whigg No there was no Cause for it but read the History of the Lives of King John Henry 3. Edw. 1. Edw. 2. what Bickering there was to keep those Kings from encroaching on the Subjects Liberties and Properties the subject of the great Quarrel Contest and Battels fought betwixt King and People in all and onely in the unhappy Reigns of unhappy Kings that suffer'd themselves to be Seduc't out of their Faith and Truth and to outstretch their Prerogatives beyond its Maker and Creator the Law and outstretch their Consciences and their Oaths till they broke all to pieces Tant Poor feeble Kings perhaps they were Worms soonest grow in soft Wood. Whigg Were any Kings Fiercer or Stouter than the three first of them who more Valiant than Edward 1. or more Victorious against Forreigners and if he were weak and feeble it was only when the Head like Children that have the Rickets swell'd monstrously and unconscionably to the starving and Consumption of the whole Body and inferiour Members which cannot fare ill but the Head must ake for it and feel the smart at long run Honestly therefore if he could have continued so did he answer the encroaching Prelates to whom he had Promis'd to give whatever they would ask and they ask't him to Repeal the Statute of Mortmain The King answered that this was a Statute made by the whole Body of the Realm and therefore was not in his Power who was but one Member of that Body to undo that which all the Members together had done Tant By this Answer he should seem to inferr that He and his People are made all of a piece of the same Clay Whigg Why what dost thou think Kings are not Mortals Tant They are Divine Whigg So Tantivees also call themselves but as Alexander the great answered his Flatterers that call'd him a god those that emptyed their Close-stools scent no such matter or extraordinary Hogo beyond other Mortals Tant Does not the Text say Touch not mine Anointed and do my Prophets no Harm Whigg What of that Tant Then do not you touch Gods Ministers and Gods Prophets Whigg Where are they you must first show them to me before I can touch them Tant All the Kings Ministers Arch-bishops Bishops Arch-deacons Deans Parsons Vicars and Curates are all Ministers and Prophets of God Whigg And also all Officials Commissaries Publick-notaries Delegates Surrogates Vicars general Apparitors Proctors Jaylors and Hangmen Registers and Summers are also all the Kings Ministers I do not desire to touch them nor am very ambititious that they should touch me from them all good Lord deliver us and all good Men. Tant They meddle not with good men cannot live by good men the Hangmen must starve if all were good men they live by Sinners they eat eat up Gods People as they eat Bread that is the Sins of Gods People is Meat and Drink and Cloath to them Whigg Foh no more of them Tant Thou talk'st like a bold Rebel and wouldst act like a Rebel I fear with other Weapons than Prayers and Tears Whigg I do not know how such Fools and Knaves as thou art may hap to provoke the old man within me 't is at your peril and you come at your own adventure but I will rather dye than be a Rebel Tant When the Kings Subjects in Edw. 2. Reign took up Arms to remove evil Counsellors from the King and the King fled before them and at length in hopes to preserve his Minion and the Instrument of his wickedness Gaveston lodg'd him in an impregnable Hold Scarborough-Castle which the Kings Subjects took and Beheaded poor Pierce Gaveston you Whiggs do not call this Rebellion Whigg Why what Historian does call it so I am sure that great Loyalist and Cavalier Sir Richard Baker that throughout writes leaning on one side as if he was
Hold and Dissolve Parliaments at pleasure Whig King Charles often told the Parliament so saying as before in pag. 23. Remember that Parliaments are altogether in my Power for their Calling Sitting and Dissolution therefore as I find the fruits of them good or Evil they are to continue or not to be Tory. By his Prerogative the Law of Parliaments is wholly at the Kings Will and in his breast For grievances intoiierable as aforesaid many and great in false Imprisonment false Seizures false Subsidies all illegal were yearly and daily inflicted in the Kings Name and by his Authority upon the Bodies and Estates of the King's Subjects no man was sure of holding either liberty or property longer than the good pleasure these grievances were contrary to Law Equity Justice Equity Reason and the Stipulation Oath and Acts these grievances ought not to have been or if by evil Councellours and evil Ministers and wicked men they happened the King ought to have remedied and redrest them instead of abetting and defending the Oppressors of his Subjects and the violators of those Laws that he was sworn to uphold and obey and ought to have lookt upon these Vsurpations of his Subjects Rights and the Vsurpers as the greatest Enemies of his Throne which Solomon says is only established by Justice not by Pilling and Polling Robbing or Defrauding the harmless People And the King should have look't upon the Parliament that desired to redress the Grievances and to cure these griefes and distempers of the State as his best Friends and should have blest God that he had a Prerogative to Call them and keep them together for so blessed a work and not to threaten to Dissolve them if they will not give him more Money and if they will not forbear to punish those grand Delinquents that had so shamefully abused the King by abusing his Subjects his Justice his Oath his Royal Word and Promises his Conscience and his Laws Tory. Bracton says that although the Common Law doth allow many Prerogatives to the King yet it doth not allow any that he shall wrong or Hurt any by his Prerogative Tant By that Rule a King has no Prerogative it seems to Dissolve a Parliament for medling with Redress of Grievances or the punishment of the Evil Instruments and Ministers that caus'd or councell'd them Whig I will not be so bold to define the Kings Prerogative let it be for ever Sacred otherwise than as we describe Divinity Negatively rather telling what it is not than what it is First The King has no Prerogative to hurt himself or his People nor yet to break his Laws or dispense with a Statute nor to violate his Conscience his Word nor his Oath For Rex merito debet retribuere legi quia lex tribuit ei facit enim lex quod ipse sit Rex says Bracton The King may well give the Law its free course due unto it because the Law gives him his due For the Law makes him what he is a King Rex enim a bene Regendo The King is so called from Ruling well but he is called a Tyrant that Oppresses Secondly The Kings Oath is not only to Rule according to Law but to make new and abrogate old Laws which cannot be without a Parliament therefore Parliament therefore Parliaments are a Fundamental and Vital part and constitution of the Government Thirdly If a King can chuse whether he will Call a Parliament at all except once in three years and then send them Home and Dissolve them as he list and when he list without Redress of Grievances then the fundamental Constitution and Law of the Government must be Lame and Imperfect For at this rate the Prince and his Ministers may do what they list and impune make their Wills a Law But it is impossible that a Government so wisely Constituted as ours is should be so lame imperfect and deficient as not to make Provision for its own Being and Subsistance in the Fundamentals This therefore is provided for in the very Essence of the Government which we may call the Common-Law which is of more value than any Statute and of which Magna Charta and other Statutes are but Declaratory Fourthly Tho' the King is Trusted with the formal part of Summoning and pronouncing the Dissolution of Parliaments yet the Law which obliges both him and us has determined and ascertained how and when he shall do it Tant Ay marry Whigg now you come close let us hear that Whig I 'le prove it clearly and evidently by Common-Law and Statute-Law Reason and Equity and these four do guide or should guide all the Benches in Westminster-Hall Tory. If you can do this it will prove very Beneficial to all for I observ'd that in the late Civil Wars the cause of the great Bloodshed was the difference betwixt the Kings Prerogative and the Peoples Liberties which could not be decided it seems but by the Sword Whig It is better far to decide the difference with a Pen but indeed the Kings Prerogative and the Peoples Liberties never clash but there is a sweet Harmony betwixt them one with another one supporting and upholding another not destroying and ruining one another as some Juncto Councils would make them Tory. We Tories Fought for the Prerogative Royal. Whig Then you Fought for you did not know what Tory. Yes the Loans Privy-Seals Tunnage and Poundage Ship-Money c. and Seizures and Imprisonment thereupon were all against Law Law and against the Peoples Liberties and Properties but the King did act by his Royal Prerogative and so took the Goods and Imprisoned the Gentlemen that refus'd by Prerogative Whig The King has no Prerogative wrongfully to Imprison or take mens Goods to Imprison men is a work for the Kings Ministers of Justice but below the Grandeur of Royal Majesty to do it or to give order for it other than that as all the Execution of the Kings Laws is to be done in his Name though he personally know nothing of the matter And if the King ore tenus or in writing command John a Nokes to Imprison John a Styles without mentioning any cause in Law or breach of some Law that requires Imprisonment an Action of false Imprisonment lyes against John a Nokes and he shall not be suffered in his excuse and justification to plead speciale mandatum Regis that the King Commanded it but must set forth some other special matter for if that might be admitted the King who cannot with a word take away my Pence my Horse nor my Asse yet he might destroy with a Breath that which is much Dearer to me my Liberty Tory. You speak Reason and Law too but may not the King Invade his Subjects Liberties and Properties in Cases of Necessity by his Royal Prerogative Whig Pish The Favourites Buckingham and Laud c. as you have heard before destroyed the Kings Fleet consumed the Kings Men and Money Ships and Ammunition by Senseless and
them can tell what or who is the Church but usually by the Church they mean themselves the Clergy that is the promoted and Dignifyed Clergy-men and how the Vilest and worst of Clergy-men came to be promoted by their Vileness and Villanies you have heard for no other Clergy-men could be found so to Debauch their Consciences the Laws of England and the Protestant Religion and these are the men Forsooth whose Spitle we must all lick up and be punish'd if we speak never so little against them Ten thousand times more than when by Curses and Oaths we Blaspheme the Holy Name of God Oh brave World and brave Holy Religion and bravely managed Tant You are warm upon us Whig Is this a time to be Meally-mouth'd To sit weeping and wailing and wringing of hand with Prayers and Tears only when Tant When what Speak out Whig I will not Catch-pole you do but ly at lurch to undo a man for speaking Truth if you can but by hook or Crook drill him in and bring him within the reach or swing of some Old Stretch'd Law to colour as well as vindicate safely the private Spleens and Revenge every body sees you and yet you think you walk invisible and now too having got Tory here to be a Fellow-witness with you Oh how you will Strain a word and your own Consciences To bring a man that Thwarts your Evil purpose to be Maul'd by Law especially when you get which is not difficult a Jury and for your Turns Tory. You speak feelingly Whigg Jeet on and mark the end on 't there is an over-ruling Providence and God of Justice the very Heathens apprehend it and the Wheel of Fortune comforted the Captive Prince that drew the Conqueror's Chariot the Wheels whereof turning round and the upmost side forthwith undermost and the undermost again uppermost comforted and cheer'd his Captivity with the certain incertainty inconstancy and vicissitude of things And therefore good Rampant Tory let not him that putteth on his Armour boast himself yet you think you have got the World in a string and since the days of Blessed Mary Popery Coleman says had never so fair and likely a Prospect Tant I am not for Popery Whigg No not for the Name I believe thy Religion is 1500 l per Annum call it by what Name any body pleases Tory. But did not you say Whigg that you would prove by Common-Law Statute-Law Reason and Equity that the Law determines how and when Parliaments shall sit or be Dissolv'd How long they shall sit and when they shall be called all which I understand lay no where but in the Hallow of the Kings-Breast His Will and Pleasure Whig No Acts of Justice as a King lyes so incertainly only as at the will and pleasure of the King so as not to be determined by Law though some Acts of Mercy and Pardon are purely Arbitrary to adorn the Throne For if that did all our other Laws are nothing worth but at the good pleasure of the King and His Ministers Arbitrarily For for all their Transgressions none can call Evil Ministers to Account but a Parliament at least none more properly And if they can stave off a Parliament at pleasure and Dissolve it at pleasure we hold all our other Liberties Charters and Properties at pleasure which they have often oppress'd and invaded as aforesaid and when a Parliament call'd them to a Reckoning and Account for their Roguery and worse than march them off Here the Remedy by this Rule is left to the mercy and good will and pleasure of the Disease when Evil Ministers Disease the Common-wealth and this Disease may not be inquired into by the only Physitians the Parliament For Alas the Judges know who gives them and continues to them their Places and Soft Seats Tory. You see as aforesaid in King Charles I. his Speeches his Declarations c. Still he inculcates and bids them remember that the Calling Adjourning Prorogueing Holding and Dissolving Parliaments are in his Power Whig I believe you mistake for the Houses usually if not always do Adjourn themselves but they are Prorogued and Called and Dissolved by the King so all Criminals or so suspected are Indicted by the King that is in the Kings Name but the Law directs it both how and wherefore Tory. So you would say the Law directs the formal part also of Calling and Dissolving of Parliaments to be by the King in His Name but the wherefore or cause of Calling and Dissolving Parliaments is limited and determined by the Law and the time of Intervals which the King cannot pass or dispute with Whig Yes surely or else the great foundation of our Laws Parliaments the banks that limit and bound the out-ragious swellings and overflowings of Arbitrary and unlimited dominion would be strangely deficient and lame in not providing first and especially for its own Preservation against Arbitrary Will and Pleasure Tant Nay I suppose you are a Learned and Stout Champion for the Laws and for the Laws of Parliament and much Skill'd in them Whig I pretend to no Skill therein nor to the Honour of it all I have to say or have said on this Subject is only as an Historian of Whiggism a bare summary Collection of what others have done and said as to these particulars in the Reign of King Charles I. to rub up your memory with my brief Notes not to tell you any thing you have not heard before but with little Cost and Charge give you the Marrow of greater and more Elaborate works at an easier rate and minute Expence both of Money and Time Tant Well said I like that very well for I have not much of either to spare but first say what the Common Law enjoynes as to the Holding or Dissolving Parliaments Whig Few know what the Common Law is Coke says it is founded in the Immutable Law and Light of Nature agreeable to the Law of God requiring Order Government Subjection and Protection containing Ancient usages warranted by Holy Scripture and because it is generally given to all King and People Poor and Rich Lords and Commons it is therefore called Common Now consider that never any King of England had any Prerogative but what the Common-Law or Statute-Law gives them nor any Liberty or Priviledge but by Law The Prerogative is a Royal Priviledge Privilegio quasi privatae Leges Priviledges are Private Laws which always yields to the Common-Law Common-weal and Common-Benefit The King has no Priviledge or Prerogative contrary to the Publick-weal Order Government and Protection of the People Apply this to the question in hand concerning Holding or Dissolving of Parliaments And therefore in the Mirror of Justice a Book so commended by the Lord Coke that he saith it contains the whole Frame of the Ancient Common-Laws of this Realm from the time of King Arthur till near the Conquest Citesout of it one Law Concerning Parliaments made Reg. R. Alfred Anno Dom. 880.
years namely from March Anno Domini 1628. until April 13. 1640. which lasted but twenty dayes his Majesty Dissolving them also for they went on in the old Story looking back since the last Parliament at the Grievances which were as numerous as intollerable but the King found it necessary to call another Parliament which met November 3. 1640. and did the strange things you have heard Tant Sure the People were mad stark mad in 40. and 41. Whigg Oppression makes Wise men mad Tant Did not Addresses come from all parts to thank the King for Dissolving the Parliaments so fast Whigg No such matter for the people were so enraged when the Parliament was Dissolved 1628. attributing it to the D. of Buckingham that they would ordinarily utter these words Let Charles and George do what they can The Duke shall dye like Doctor Lamb. Tant How dyed Doctor Lamb Whigg The Boyes ordinary People and the Rabble beat him and bruised him and left him for dead falling on him as he walk't through the Old-Jury calling him the Duke's Conjurer Tant But when the Duke was Stabb'd who did they blame for the Dissolution of the Parliament Whigg Who who but the powerful men at Court especially Bishop Laud some few dayes after two Libels being found in the Dean of Paul's Yard to this effect Laud look to thy self be assured thy Life is sought as thou art the Fountain of Wickedness repent of thy monstrous Sins before thou be taken out of the World and assure thy self neither God nor the World can endure such a vile Councellor or Whisperer to live The other was as bad against the Lord Treasurer Weston Tant What he that you say dyed a profest Papist Whigg The same Tant But Bishop Laud dyed of the Church of England Whigg Yes yes It is better to be the Arch or Chief of the Clergy of England and chief Favourite Also than to be the Second at Rome and he very fairly refused a Cardinal's cap which was proffer'd him and I believe he was no more a Papist in heart than I am what he did in complyance with Popery and Popish Ceremonies was only in complacence to you know who Tory. The more blame-worthy to act against his little Conscience as appear'd by the then Favourites for Strafford Noy Laud c. untill Preferment dazel'd them and height made them Vertiginous and Turn-sick were as steddy Protestants and English-men as any Whigg Ay Ay the Devil knew what he did when he proffer'd our Saviour the Kingdoms of the World shewing the glory of them tempting him as if they had need be assisted by Divinity who are Temptation-proof Tant Right for onely Divines are temptation-proof Whigg True none are Temptation-proof but those that are true Divines in Reality not Divines that are such in Name onely or such that lay heavy burdens on others but will not touch them themselves with one of their fingers or such as preach Prayers and Tears onely to other Christians whilest they themselves tear and rend with the Civil Sword curses instead of prayers and instead of tears rant it with blood and wounds Tory. You think the Laws are the onely as well as the best Boundaries to keep King and People within their just limits and duty Whigg Right The Rules of Justice or the Laws are the Hercules Pillars or the nè plus ultra to King and People to the Kings Prerogative and the Peoples Liberties as they are the Hercules Pillars so they are the Pillar to every Hercules to every Prince which if he pass he goes into the vast Ocean the Lord knowes whither for no body knowes what will be the End and Issue of such dismal wandring Therefore the old Rule of Law is Solum Rex hoc non potest facere quod non potest justè agere The King can do nothing but what he can Legally do Therefore Antiochus King of Asia sent his Letters and Missives to all his Provinces That if they received any Dispatches in his Name not agreeable to Law and Justice Ignoto se literas esse scriptas ideoque iis non parerent he disclaim'd the same as not being his Act and deed though attested under the Broad-Seal Tory. But suppose at a Bone-fire on a Thanksgiving Night such a Whigg as you pass by and will not drink the Kings Health or the Dukes Health and I break your head Whigg Whigg Then you are a Ryotor and the Magistrates ought to punish you accordingly and in my own defence I may lawfully Knock your Pate again Tory to get out of your clutches Tory. That might occasion Knocking-work Whigg Have a care then that you keep the Kings-Peace and do not dye as a Fool dyeth for he that makes the assault the Aggressor must be responsible for all the mischief that ensues from his own wickedness and villanously-bold attempt in stopping the Kings Subjects and setting upon them with violence in the Kings High-way walking peaceably by them Tory. There is none but a Rebell will refuse the King or Dukes Health Whigg There is none but a drunken Coxcomb will say so besides 't is expressely against His Majesties Proclamation publisht Against forcing of Healths down mens Throats whether they will or no. Tory. Wee for the King will Drink and Whore It showes our Loyalty the more Whigg Ay such Loyalty has done wonders wonderful Mischief and the Kings Friends were his greatest Enemies and Traytors and most guilty Laesae Majestatis Tory. How prove you that Whigg Infallibly by the Premises for if the King can do no wrong and can onely do that that Legally and justly he may do then 1. Tunnage and Poundage without Authority of Parliament 2. Money for Knights Fees or lest you should be made a Knight 3. Loans and Privy Seals Benevolences and Monopolies 4. Billeting of Souldiers 5. Ship-money and Ship-writs 6. Imprisonment and seizures for refusing to pay those illegal Taxes were none of them the Kings Act and deed though in his Name and under his Seal Tant That 's strange why man the return of the Cause of their Commitment upon their Habeas Corpus was this Per speciale mandatum domini Regis that the Prisoners were Committed by the special Command of the King himself and so the Council Order'd Whig That 's Braze Good Councellors will take upon themselves harsh things and leave the King the Honour and Thanks of our Acts of Grace and Goodness but this invests all the order of true Politicks Mercy and Goodness only naturally and immediately flow from the Throne Justice from the Ministers Therefore the Sword is carried before him but the Scepter in his Hand Tory. Ay but it was advised that the Calling of a Parliament being pleasing to the People and obliging should be given out to be at the motion of Buckingham Ay Ay But when it was Dissolv'd the King did it in his own Person as well as by his Prerogative But has the King such a Prerogative to Adjourn