tallie le tallon les aids les aquavalentas les equi pollentes les cruces or augmentations of divers kinds le hop benevolence la Gabelle upon Salt amounting to an exceeding great Revenue the Impost of Wines upon every Vessell carried into any walled Towns or Suburbs thereof and payable although it be transported thence again before it be sold la hault passage or de maine forrein for Merchandizes exported le traject forrene for Merchandizes imported la solid de Cinquants mil holmes imposed upon Cities walled Towns and the Suburbs onely and after layd upon Town and Country without distinction the common positions for provisions the tenthes paid by all Ecclesiasticall persons These and other Impositions of the like nature are layd and levied upon the Subjects of France by the absolute power and Prerogative of the King and though many of these were imposed at first upon extraordinary occasions and set but for a time yet the succeeding Princes have continued them from time to time and the most part of them made ordinary and perpetuall by King Lewis the 11. who was wont to say France was a Meadow which he could have mowed as often as he pleased In Spain there is an Imposition named Alcavala imposed as well upon the Nobility as the Commons which was first raised by Alphonsus the 12. to expell the Mores and for the expurgation of Algiers but afterwards it was made perpetuall and is now a principall part of the Royall Patrimony Gutturis de Gabellis Quaest. 174. this Imposition was at first but the twentieth part but afterwards it was raised to the tenth of every mans Estate which doth far surmount the highest Impositions that ever were layd in England by the Kings Prerogative without Act of Parliament This Alâ—avali is an Imposition within the Land but the Impositions upon Merchandizes exported and imported are far higher especially upon Merchants Strangers for their common Impositions upon Strangers is five parts upon the hundred and in the year 1604. they imposed thirty of the hundred as is before declared and upon the Ingate of Indian Spices into Portugall the King of Spain doth lay the greatest rates that ever were set in Christendome although upon the outgate the rates are more moderate In Italy the Impositions and Gabells set upon every kind of thing by the States and Princes there are intolerable and innumerable Non mihi si Centum Linguae sunt or aque Centum Ferrea vox Italorum omnes numerare gabellas Cunct a gabellarum percurrere nomina possem Especially upon the great Towns and Teritories that are subject to the Great Duke of Tusknie where there is not any roots nor any herb nor the least thing that is necessary for the life of man that is bought and sold or brought into any Town but there is a Gabell or Imposition set upon it where no Inholder Baker Brewer or Artificer can exercise his Trade but the Great Duke will share with him in his gain by laying some Imposition upon him where no man can travell by Land or by Water but at every Bridge at every Ferry at every Wharf or Key at every Gate of a Town the Garbellor arrests him and is ready to strip him naked to search what goods he hath about him for which he ought to pay the Garbell In the Popes Territories the Impositions which His Holinesse doth lay upon his Subjects as a Temporall Prince are as many and as heavy as those that are levied by the Duke of Tuskanie in so much as when Sixtus Quintus had set an Imposition upon every thing that served for the use of mans life Pasquill made hast to dry his Shirt in the Sun fearing the Pope would set some Imposition upon the heat of the Sun mi astingo saith he in the 16. sole sevenda I omit to speak of the Exactions of the Court of Rome in another kind which are infinite and which long lay heavie upon the Western Countries of Christendome untill of late years some Nations did free themselves thereof by rejecting the Yoke of the Bishop of Rome In the Seigniory of Venice the Gabells upon the Land were more moderate than in the other parts of Italy But that City being the Lady of the Adriatique Sea doth use by prescription a high Prerogative in laying Impositions upon all Merchandizes arriving within the Gulf Civitas Venetiorum saith Baltholus potest pro maritmeis mercibus Gabellas imponere quia est Civitas in Mari situata Veneti saith Baldus ex consuetudine sunt domini maris Adriatici possunt statuere super Gabellis maris wherein they observe a profitable and politique course for upon the Commodities of other Nations which are of goods in their Common-wealth they lay the easier Impositions sometimes five sometimes seven sometimes ten upon the hundred which doth exceed the highest Imposition in England five in the hundred at the least In the Low Countries the Impositions which they call Exeizes paid by the Retaylors of Wines and other CoÌ„modities and not by the Merchant are the highest in Christendome and yet we perceive that people to thrive and grow rich withall for an improved high rent doth so quicken the industrie of the Farmer as he thriveth oftentimes better than his Neighbour who is a Free-holder and payeth no rent at all howbeit to draw Trade and to invite all Nations to Comerce with them so to make their Country a Staple Store-house or Magizen of all Europe they do set but easie rates upon Merchandizes imported but when they once have gotten their coÌ„modities in to their hands if any Merchant will export the same again hee shall pay a greater Custome The Grand Seignior of Turkie doth impose sometimes ten in the hundred sometimes twenty in the hundred upon Merchant Strangers who Trade into the Levant and I could speak of his other Exactions and Impositions upon his Vassalls but that I think it not meet to compare that Regions Tyrant to the Princes and States of Christendome I may remember at last the Great Toll which the King of Denmark taketh of every Ship that passeth into the Sound taking advantage of a narrow Straight between Elsmore and Copman Haven whereas the King of England being the undoubted Lord of the Narrow Seas between Dover and Callis might take the like Toll if it pleased him and by the same right might participate of the great gain of Fishing which the Busses of Holland and Zeland do make yearly upon the Coasts of Great Britain Thus we see by this comparison that the King of England doth lay but his little Finger upon his Subjects when other Princes and States do lay their heavy loins upon their people what is the reason of this difference from whence commeth it assuredly not from a different Power or Prerogative for the King of England is as absolute a Monarch as any Emperor or King in the world
this was Magna Customa in the time of the Britans and though the certain rates thereof doth not appear yet because the same were gravia vectigalia in those dayes we may easily beleeve that Custome to have been greater than the demi mark for a Sack of Wooll Again the Statute of Magna Charia which was as ancient as King Iohn speaketh of ancient Customs payable for Merchandizes and the Book of 29 Edw. 3. maketh mention of ancient Customes granted to King Iohn in the Town of Southampton which doubtlesse were other Customes than that of the demi mark c. for that in the Record of the Tower 3 Edw. 1. Rot. sin 24. Rot. Patent of the same year m. 9. the demi mark which was first established by the Kings Letters Patents is called Nova Custuma and this was a diminution of the ancient Custome saith the Book of 30. H. 8. Dyer 43. Again when the same King Edw. 1. had by his Writ onely without Act of Parliament established the Custome of the demi mark c. in Ireland in all the Customers Accounts which are found in the Pipe-Rolls in the time of Edw. 1. Edw. 2. Edw. 3. in that Realm it is also called Nova Custuma which importeth as much as a new Imposition for Imposition is a new name and hath been of use but of late years whereas every new charge laid upon Merchandizes in ancient times was called Nova Custuma as the Lord chief Baron Fleming observed in his Argument in Bates Case of Currans in the Exchequor of England but because this Custome of a demi mark was a reducement made by King Edw. 1. of the great and ancient Custome to that proportion which was then thought reasonable as after upon sundry Petitions of the Commons was allowed by the succeeding Princes it obtained in tract of time the name of the great and ancient Custome this Custome of demi mark was not granted to the King by Parliament but reduced to that rate by the King by the prayer of the Cōmons as is expressed in the Record of 3. Edw. 1. fin memb. 24. for albeit the Charter for confirmation of Magna Charta made in 25 Edw. 1. doth recite That the demi mark was granted by the Cominaltie yet is there no Act of P. printed or recorded wherein that grant of the Cominaltie doth appear neither can it stand with the rule of reason that the demi mark being a diminution of the ancient Custome should proceed from the grant of the Cominalty to the King for the King would never have accepted of such a grant as did diminish his Revenue neither had it been thank-worthy or acceptable and therefore the King having a Negative voice would never have given his assent to such a grant in Parliament but it is to be presumed that this diminution of the ancient Custome was made in Parliament and not by Parliament and that by prayer of the Commons as the Record of 3 Edw. 1. Rot. fin memb. 24. testifieth the King was then well pleased for that time to draw down the ancient Custome to that rate and the people did willingly yeeld and consent to the payment thereof and this I take to be the true interpretation of the Charter or Statute made in 25 Edw. 1. And therefore because we find no Act of Parliament whereby the people did originally grant the great and ancient Customes to the King and because we find it was uncertain and subject to diminution and alteration we may conclude that it was but an imposition laid by the King from time to time by vertue of his Prerogative without any grant from the Cominalty of the Realm who can make no grant but by Act of Parliament in truth it were absurd to affirme that the great and ancient Custome imposed upon Native commodities of the Kingdom was first granted by Act of Parliament since it cannot be imagined that ever those commodities did passe out of the Kingdom without Custome being equal in time with the first Scepter and since the Scepter was established many hundred years before the people were called to be in Parliament besides the very name of Custome doth note and argue that it began before any Act of Parliament was made for that it signifieth a duty payable or accustomable to be paid time out of mind which in presumption of Law is before any Record wherefore the rules in the Lord Dyers Book are good Law viz. The King hath an Estate of Inheritance in the Custome payable for Merchandizes as being a Prerogative annexed to his Crown And again 30 Hen 8. 43. Custome is an Inheritance in the King by the Common Law and not given by any Statute CHAP. XI Of the ancient duties called Prizes taken out of Forreign goods imported except Wines and the petty-Customes of three pence of the pound were accepted by King Edw. 1. in lieu of Prizes FOr the Forreign commodities which are brought into England our Kings in ancient times did not take any Rates or Customes or Sums of Money but took such part of the severall commodities in specie as they thought fit for their proper use paying for that they took a price as themselves did likewise think fit and reasonable which was called the Kings price this Prerogative is proved by the rule of the Imperiall Law Rex non recognoscens superiorem potest è India in propria causa and also by the rule which is given 31 Edw. 3. 60. where the Bishop of Norwich having forfeited to the King thirty Talents of Beasants of Gold because the quantity and value thereof was uncertain it was adjudged that the Kings House should set down of what quantity and value every Talent should be and that the same should be paid accordingly and by the same Prerogative whensoever any Subject is to pay a Fine or Ransome unto the King for a contempt The King himfelf doth limit and set the Fine or Ransome at his own will or pleasure The Forreign commodities thus taken by the King in Spain at his own price were called Prizes but because these prizes were many times grievances to the Merchants and brought little or nothing to the Kings Coffers That prudent Prince Edw. 1. by that famous Charter called Charta Mercatoria made in the 31 year of his reign did remit unto all Merchant Strangers their prizes and did grant quod de caetero super mercimonia Merchandizas vel bona ipsorum per ipsum Regem vel Ministros suos nullos nulla appretiatio vel estimatio apponeretur quod nulla prisa vel arrestatio ratione prisae inde fieret c. and the Charter doth further recite That for the remission of these prizes the Merchants Strangers did grant unto the King three pence upon the pound now called the petty-custome out of all Forreign Merchandizes imported except Wines and for our Native commodities exported they would pay for every Sack of Wooll four
they wanted right so to doe or because they doubted of their right in that behalf for they well knew they had the same right the same prerogative and absolute power that their Predecessors had but because they found other means to make other profit upon transporting of Merchandizés and that in another manner and in so high measure as the trade of Merchandizes in those daies could hardly bear any greater charge without danger of overthrowing all Trade and Comerce And therefore those Princes did in their wisdomes forbear to lay any further Impositions by their Prerogatives For these Kings who reigned after King Edw. 3. who conquered Callis in France and before Queen Mary lost Callis had two principal waies and meanes to raise extraordinary profits upon Merchandizes but proceeding from one cause namely from establishing the Staple at Callis for King Edw. 3. some few yeares before his death did by his Prerogative in point of Government without Act of Parliament erect a Staple at his Town of Callis and did ordain and command that all the Merchandizes exported out of England Wales and Ireland by any Merchant Denison or Alien should presently be carried to the Staple at Callis and to no other place beyond the Seas This Staple at Callis was first setled and fixed there by an Ordinance which the King made by virtue of his Prerogative and absolute power in the government of Trade and Comerce without Act of Parliament And if this Ordinance so made had been thought unlawful and against the liberty of the Subject it would never have been approved and confirmed by the Judgements of so many Parliaments in the times of Rich. 2. Hen. 4. Hen. 5. and Edw. 4. Neither could there have been such heavy penalties layd by those Parliaments upon the transgressors of those Ordinances Insomuch as in the time of King Henry the sixth it was made Felony to Transport any Merchandizes to any part beyond the Seas but to Callis onely Now the Staple of Callis being thus established there did arise a double profit to the Crown for transportieg of Merchandizes over and above the ancient Customes and other Subsidies granted by Parliament First it came to pass that the Customs and Subsidies for Merchandizes transported out of England Wales and Ireland which before was single and payd but once that is upon the outgate after the establishing of the Staple at Callis the duties for the same Merchandizes became double at the least and for the most part treble and were ever payd twice and for the most part thrice namely once upon the outgate in the Ports of England Wales and Ireland secondly upon the ingate at Callis and because all the commodities brought into Callis could not be vented into the main Land there but the greatest part was to be exported again by Sea into higher or lower Germany and other the North-East Countries and some into Spain and Italy and the Hands of the Levant there did arise a third payment of Customes and Subsidies for so much of their commodities as were exported again cut of Callis by meanes whereof the Customes and Subsidies did amount to threescore thousand or threescore and ten thousand pounds sterling per annum in the latter times of King Edw. 3. and during the reign of Rich. 2. Hen. 4. Hen. 5. and the beginning of the reign of Hen. 6. as appears by the Records of the Exchequer of England which according to the valuation of Moneys at this day the ounce of Silver being now raised from two shillings to five shillings do make two hundred thousand pound sterling per annum which doth equal or surmount all the Customes Subsidies and Impositions received at this day though that plenty of money and price of all things and consequently the expences of the Crown be exceedingly increased in these times And albeit the breach of Amity between the Crown of England and the Duke of Burgundy who was the Lord of the Lower Germany in the weak and unfortunate time of King Hen. 6. did cause a stop of Trade between us and that Country into which the greatest part of our Staple wares especially Wooll and Cloth were vented and uttered and was likewise the cause of loss of all our Territories in France except Callis and all the Merchandizes thereof whereby the Customes and other duties payable for Merchandizes were in the time of that unhappy Prince withdrawn and diminished to a low proportion yet afterwards upon the Mariage of Margaret Sister to King E. 4. unto the Lord Duke of Burgundy as that in honour of the English Wooll which brought so much Gold into his Country he instituted the Order of the Golden Fleece and thereupon the Customes Subsidies and Impositions were raised again to so high a Revenue as our Kings could not well in policy strain that strength of profit upon Merchandizes any higher Secondly albeit the Staple established at Callis being first established by an order made by the Kings Prerogative and absolute power was afterwards approved and confirmed by sundry Acts of Parliament yet did the King by another Prerogative retain a power to dispence with that Ordinance and those Acts of Parliament and to give license to such and so many Merchants as himself thought fit to export any Merchandizes out of England Wales and Ireland unto any other parts beyond the Seas besides à non obstante of the first Ordinance and of the Statutes which did establish the Staple at Callis By virtue of this Prerogative and power the several Kings who had Callis in their possessions did grant so many Licences to Merchants as well Aliens as Denizens to transport our Staple commodities immediately into other places without coming to Callis for which Licences whereof there are an incredible number found in the Records of England the Merchants payd so dear for their commodities especially the Genoeses and the Venetians and other Merchants of the Levant as by the profits made of those Licences did amount to double the value of those Customes and Subsidies payable for exportation thereof and thereof those Princes as they had the less need so had they no reason at all to charge the Trade of Merchandizes with any other or greater Impositions In these two points before expressed doe consist the principal cause why the Princes of England who succeeded King Edw. 3. who won Callis untill the reign of Queen Mary who lost Callis did not directly use their Prerogative in setting any other Impositions upon Merchandizes above the ancient Customes and Subsidies granted by Parliament For it is to be observed that most part of those Princes who reigned after K. Edw. 3. and before Queen Mary had the Subsidy of Tonnage and Poundage granted unto them by Parliament which being added to the gain of the Staple of Callis did augment not a little the profit layd upon Merchandizes And may be a reason likewise why those Kings did forbear to lay any other Impositions by their Prerogative
Sweet Wines by Letters Patents and by colour thereof had extorted three shillings and four pence out of every Pipe or Vessell of Wine vented by others was also fined and imprisoned and made satisfaction to the parties grieved 50 Edw. 3. Rot. Parli numb. 33. and more than this a Bill was preferred by the Commons in this Parliament that such as should set new Impositions should have Judgement of life and member 50 Edw. 3. Rot. Parliament num 191. in Arch. Turris These examples strook such a terrour at that time as from the time of King Edw. 3. till the Reign of Queen Mary being a hundred and fifty years and upwards there was no man found that would advise the King of England to set or levie any Impositions upon Merchandizes by Prerogative and therefore we find no Imposition laid upō Merchandizes all that space of time Queen Mary indeed began to set on foot this Prerogative again and laid an Imposition of three shillings and eight pence upon every Cloth transported out of the Kingdome but what doth the Lord Dyer report 1 Eliz. f. 165 the Merchants of London saith he found themselves greatly grieved and made exclamation and sute to Queen Elizabeth to be disburthened of that Imposition because it was not granted by Parliament but assessed by Queen Mary her absolute power these frequent Petitions complaints and exclamations these suspensions and remitalls of Impositions are good arguments say they against the right of this Prerogative CHAP. XXI The Answer to the third Objection THis Objection consisteth of several parts and shall recieve an Answer consisting of divers parts the first part of this answer King Edw. 1. being a prudent and resolute Prince did not onely impose the three pence upon the pound upon Merchant Strangers by his Charta Mercatoria but justified and maintained that Imposition during his life True it is that after his death King Edw. 2. it was repealed as is before objected but whose Act was this by whom was this Ordinance made which did repeal this Charter not by the King and his Parliament but by certain rebellious Barons who took upon them the Government of the Realm and called themselves Ordainers Wherefore King Edw. 3. in the first year of his Reign did revive that Charter and commanded by his Writ that the Customes and Duties therein contained should be collected and levied to his use He maketh mention of these Ordinances of 5 Edw. 2. and saith the same were made per quosdā Magnates and not by the King as appeareth by the Record 1 Edw. 3. Rot. fin memb. 30. in Arch. Turris which in another place before I have recited by which Record it likewise appeareth that those Ordinances 5 Edw. 2. were before that time repealed and made void and therefore that which was done in that time of that unfortunate Prince over-ruled by his unruly Barons is not to be urged and used as an example especially since they that urge this repeal of Charta Mercatoria might if they would find any thing which makes against their contradicting humour find in the said Roll of Ordinance made in 5 Edw. 2. divers Arcles wherein those Ordainers did wrong and wound the Prerogative in matter of greater importance than in the repeal of that Charter for they might have found among the same Ordinances these things ordained First that the King should not make gifts of Lands Rents Franhises Wards or Escheats without the consent of the Ordainers Secondly that all gifts and grants formerly made by the King not only of Land and other things in England but in Gasconie Ireland and Scotland should be resumed and made void Thirdly that the King should not depart out of the Realm nor make Warre without the assent of his Barons and of his Parliament That because the King was misguided and counselled by evill Counsellers it was ordained that all his Counsel should be renewed and new Officers and Servants appointed for him These traiterous Ordinances were made against the King at that time and therefore it is a shame that any part of these Ordinances should be made an argument against the right of the Crown in laying Impositions upon Merchandizes for with the same reasons they might argue the King had no right to grant his Lands Rents Wards or Escheats that he might not go out of the Realm nor make Warre nor choose his own Counsellers or Servants without an Act of Parliament and it is manifest that those factious Barons did cause the King to forego the said Impositions rather ad faciendum populum and to gratifie the Cōmons and to draw them to their party than for the good of the Cōmon-wealth for if they had been good Counsellers they would have done as the Senate of Rome did when Nero in a glorious humor to please the people would needs have discharged at once all Customes and Impositions the Senate gave him thanks for his favour towards the people but utterly diswaded him so to doe telling him that in so doing he would ruine the state of the Common-wealth for indeed no Common-wealth can stand without these duties they are Nervi they are succus sanguis Reipublicae and therefore no Cōmon-wealth was ever without them but the imaginary Common-wealths of Plato and Sir Thomas More for they doe both agree for in the Common-wealths of which they dream there was nothing to be paid for Merchandizes exported and imported But to return to King Edw. 2. what followed upon the Repeal of Charta Mercatoria and the discharge of Impositions which King Edw. 1. established was not that poor Prince King Edw. 2. enforced to take up great sums of money of his Merchants by way of loan which he never repaid again 11 Edw. 2. Rot. fin m. 12. whereby the Merchants received a greater detriment than if they had made a double payment of Customes and Impositions which the King had discharged and therefore the example of this weak Prince doth make but a weak argument against the right of the Crown in laying Impositions upon Merchandizes and here I think it fit to observe that they were all wise and worthy Princes which are spoken of in former ages to have laid Impositions upon Merchandizes namely Solomon in the Holy Land Iulius Caesar and Augustus Caesar in the Empire King Ed. 1. and King Ed. 3. in England but on the other part they which released all Customes and Impositions were but weak Princes and destroyed themselves and the Common-wealth wherein they lived namely Nero in the Empire of Rome King Edw. 2. and King Rich. 2. with us and truly by the rule of our Common Law the King cannot if he would release all Subsides and Aids of his Subjects that they should be for ever discharged of all Subsidies to be given to the Crown such a grant were made void and against the Law Secondly touching the Petitions exhibited to the King in sundry
their freedom from Impositions at so high a rate or price The like conditionall agreement between the King and the people we find in 6 Edw. 3. Rot. Parliament numb. 4. 13 Ed. 3. Rot. Parliament numb. 5. 18 Edw. 3. Rot. Parliament numb. 10. 26. in Arch. Turris In 28 Edw. 3. Rot. Parliament numb. 26. The Commons complain of an excessive Imposition upon Wooll-fells and desire that the old Custome might he paid The Kings Answer is the old Custome ought not to be withdrawn In 38 Edw. 3. Rot. Parliament numb. 26. The Commons desire that an Imposition of three shillings and four pence upon every Sack of Wooll at Callis and all unreasonable Impositions bee repealed The Kings answer unto this is It pleaseth the King that all unreasonable Impositions be repealed like unto this is that answer which is contained in the Parliament Rolls of 6 Edw. 3. numb. 4. in Arch. Turris When Petition was made for remittall of Impositions I shall saith the King assesse no such Tallages in time to come but in manner as it hath been in time of mine Ancestors and ought to be by reason Can any wit of man pick any Arguments out of these Answers against the right of the Crown in setting Impositiout upon Merchandizes Lastly in 13 Edw. 3. Rot. Parliament numb. 13. the Commons pray that the Maletolts of Wooll may be taken as it was used in former times being then enhaunsed without the Assent of the Commons To this Petition there is no answer found of Record the King is silent and gives no answer at all which doubtless the King had not refused to do if the Petition had been exhibited in point of right and not in point of favour Thirdly touching the punishing of the persons before mentioned for procuring of new Impositions to be set upon Merchandizes we are to consider two circumstances first the time when and next the causes wherefore these persons were called in question The time when these persons were called to account was a Parliament holden in 50 Edw. 3. the last year of that Kings Reign at which time that great and renowned Prince who had been formerly assisted by a most wise and politique Councell was become weak and stupid and almost in despair through sicknesse age melancholy conceipted upon the death of his eldest Son the Black Prince and suffered himself to be ill-governed by a Woman called Alice Perrey and her Favourite the Lord Latimer upon which occasion and advantage the Commons grew more bold than they were wont to be in former Parliaments and therefore if ought had been done in that Parliament which might prejudice the Kings Prerogative it is not to be urged as an example or president in these times but in truth the causes for which these persons were censured do rather approve the right of the Crown in laying Impositions than any way disaffirm the same First Richard Lions a Farmer of the Customes was accused in this Parliament by the Commons that he had set and procured to be set upon Wooll and other Merchandizes certain new Impositions without assent of Parliament converting the same to his own use without controule the High Treasurer not being acquainted therewith the said Richard assuming to himself in divers things as a King 50 Edw. 3. Rot. Parliament numb. 17,18,19 20. This was his Accusation and though his answer were that he set those Impositions by the Kings Commandment yet did he shew no Warrant for it and therefore was justly punished with fine ransome disfranchisment and imprisonment But how may this insolency and misdemeanour of a Subject be an argument against the right or Prerogative of the King Lions a Merchant of his own head cannot set Impositions upon Merchandizes Ergo King Edw. 3. a Monarch of his royall Authority cannot do it what an absurd argument were this as if a man should say it were High Treason in a Subject to Coyn money Ergo the King himself cannot do it or cause it to bee done besides the accusation it self doth imply that the King hath power to impose upon Merchandizes because Lions is charged being a Subject to take upon him as a King in divers things namely in setting of Impositiōs as if they should have said a King may do it but not a Subject according to the rules of the Imperial Law Solus Princeps instituit vectigalia Regni tantum juris muneris est indicere vectialia imponere vectigalia maximi Imperii est inferior a Principe non potest imponere and the like And the Bill exhibited by the Commons in this Parliament 50 Edw. 3. Rot. Parliament 191. praying that those that should set new Impositions by their own Authority encroaching unto themselves Royal Power might have Judgement of life and member seemeth to be grounded upon good reason and doth prove it is a Mark of Soveraignty and Royall Power to set Impositions and therefore if a Subject of his own head of his own authority wil presume to do it he is worthy to dye for it and yet this Bill did receive but a general answer viz. Let the Common Law run as it hath been used heretofore Touching the Lord Latimers censure he had not only upon his own head and authority set sundry Impositions upon Merchandizes at Callis where the Staple there was much decayed but he was charged with sundry other misdemeanors mentioned in the said Roll namely that he brought in divers Tallies and Tickets whereby the King was indebted unto his Souldiers and Pensioners for which he gave little or nothing to the parties and yet had an entire allowance in the Exchequer to the great damage of the King and scandall of the Court that he had also deceived the King of the pay and wages which he had sent unto his Souldiers in Britain that he had sold a great quantity of the Kings provisions for his Army there and converted the same to his own use and that he had delivered up the Town of Saint Saviours it Normandy and the Town and Fort of Betherell in Britainy not without suspition of Corruption and Treason How can the Lord Latimers censure for these deceits and misdemeanors make an argument against the right of the Crown in laying Impositions upon Merchandizes And the like may be said of the punishment of Iohn Peachy who having got a Patent that none should sell sweet Wines within the City of London but himself his Deputies and Assignes by colour thereof did extort three shillings and four pence out of every Pipe or Vessell of sweet Wine sold by others within the City Shall this extortion committed by a Subject by colour of a Patent where perhaps the Patent doth not warrant it be objected as an argument that the King himself might not lay the like Imsition upon every Pipe or Vessel by vertue of his Prerogative therefore the punishment of these persons was not the cause that for
to take these Subsidies by Acts of Parliament CHAP. XXXI The Answer to the fifth Objection THe Answer to this Objection is twofold First That which is objected is not true for Tonnage and Poundage have been taken by the Kings Prerogative without Act of Parliament Secondly If it had been true it is no Argument against the Kings Prerogative in this point for what is Tonnage but a certain sum of money payable for every Tun of VVine imported did not King Edw. 3 by force of his Charter Mercatoria without Act of Parliament take two shillings for every Tun of VVine imported by Strangers did not the same King set a new Imposition of Gauge viz. upon every Tun of VVine brought into London as is before expressed and are not the severall Impositions of VVines taken by His Majesty in England and Ireland a kind of Tonnage being nothing else but extraordinary rates imposed upon ever Tun of VVine and levied and taken by the Kings Prerogative Again was not the three pence upon the pound imposed by King Edw. 1. by his Charta Mercatoria a kind of Poundage and well nigh as great an Imposition as twelve of the pound granted at this day by Act of Parliament if we consider the Standard of Monies in the time of King Edw. 1. when a peny sterling did contain as much or more pure Silver as the three pence sterling doth contain at this day but admit that no Tonnage or Poundage had ever been taken but by grant in Parliament yet it is no Argument but that the King might impose the like or the same by his Prerogative for three particular reasons The first because these Subsidies were granted for maintainance of the Navy Royall the charges whereof were grown so great in the time of King Edw. 4. as appearech by the Act of Tonnage and Poundage granted in the 12 year of that Kings Reign that it sufficed not nor in time to come was like to suffice or defray the charge of the Crown in keeping the Sea these are the words of that Act if then in the time of King Edw. 4. the Subsidy of Tonnage being three shillings upon a Tun of VVine brought in by Denizens and six shillings upon a tun brought in by Strangers and the Subsidy of Poundage or of twelve pence of the pound upon other Cōmodities was not then sufficient to bear the charge of the Royall Navy which was not comparable by many degrees in strength and beauty and multitude of Ships to the Kings Navie at this day Doth it stand with reason that the Crown should be stinted or limited ever after to take no more than those poor Subsidies granted at that time that the King should wait for a Parliament and pray an ayde of the Commons for a competent means to maintain the Walls of the Kingdom when by the Common Law of the Realm he may grant Letters Patents for Murage to maintain the Walls of a Corporate Town If any unexpected necessity should arise for repairing of the Navy Royall and making a Navall War should the King expect a Parliament for a greater Subsidy to bee granted by the Commons before he should rigge and make ready his Ships perhaps a Kingdom might be lost in the mean time as if a Pilot sitting at the Helm and seeing a sudden gust of wind would over-set the Ship or perceiving her to be running on a Rock should forbear to turn the Helm or cause the Sail to be stricken untill he had consulted with the Mariners or Passengers and demanded their consent or counsell in the businesse the Pilot himself with his Mariners and Passengers might be cast away before they were agreed what course to take Secondly these Subsidies of Tonnage and Poundage were first granted by Act of Parliament in the time of the Civill VVars between the two great Houses of Lancaster and York when the severall Kings were loath to make use of their Prerogatives but were glad to please their people and loath to impose any charge upon them but by common consent in those troublesome times Thirdly Kings and Princes oftentimes of their own noble nature and sometimes in policy do accept that of their Subjects as a gift which they might exact take as a duty and therefore our most potent and politique Kings have ordained and accepted many things in Parliament which they might have done in their private Chambers by their own prerogative without any other Ceremony who ever made doubt of the Kings Prerogative in establishing the Standard of monies and yet how many Acts of Parliament do we find touching Monies in the times of King E. 1. and King Edw. 2 the Kings Prerotative in making establishing Marshall Law was never yet in question yet are there Acts of Parliament touching Musters departures of Souldiers without their Captains Licences or the like The King only doth give Honours and places of precedency yet King Hen. 8. made an Act of Parliament whereby he rancked the great Offices of the Crown in their severall places as well in Council as in Parliament No man ever doubted but the King being the Fountain of Justice may erect Courts or Justice by his Prerogative yet we find the Court of Augmentations and the Court of VVards erected by Act of Parliament Lastly in the time of Edw. 2. we find an Act of Declaration of the principall Prerogatives of the Crown of England were most undoubted and clear yet His Majesty was pleased in his first Parliament to accept of an Act of Recognition CHAP. XXXII The Conclusion BY these reasons and demonstrations which are before expressed it is evident that the King of England by vertue of an ancient Prerogative inherent to the Crown and Scepter may justly and lawfully set Impositions upon Merchandizes and may limit and rate the quantity and proportion thereof by his own wisdom and discretion without Act of Parliament and this Prerogative is warranted and approved by the generall Law of Nations and the Law Merchant which is a principall branch of the Law of Nations by the Imperial Law the Ecclesiasticall Law and by the rule of the Common Law of England and by the practice of the most prudent Kings and Queens of England since the Conquest and that this Prerogative is grounded upon many excellent reasons and that the severall Objections made against this Prerogative are but shadows and colours of reason and clearly removed and washed away by the severall Answers thereunto CHAP. XXXIII A Comparison of the Impositions set and taken in England by the Kings Prerogative with the Exceptions and Gabells in Forein States and Kingdoms whereby it will appear that the Subjects of the Crown of England do not bear so heavy a burthen by many degrees as the Subjects of other Nations do bear in this kind ALbeit indeed the King of England being no Emperor and having all Imperiall Rights within his own Kingdoms hath and ever had as absolute a Prerogative Imponere vectigalia
and hath as many Prerogatives incident to his Crown whence then proceedeth it to what profitable cause may we ascribe it certainly to divers causes profitable and principally to these causes following First our King of England hath alwayes gone before and beyond all other Kings in Christendome in many points of Magnificency and especially in this That they have alwayes had a more Rich and Royall Demean belonging to the Crown I mean more large and Royall Patrimony in Lands and Rents than ever any Christian King had before or now hath at this day for it is certain that the Revenues of other Princes and States do principally consist in such Gabells Impositions and Exactions as are before remembred and not in terra firma not in such a Reall and Royall Patrimony as hath ever belonged to the Crown of England and therefore other Kings being lesse able to maintain their Estates or more covetous in their own Nature have laid heavier Burthens upon their Subjects than ever the King of England hath layd or will do or hereafter hath need to do God be blessed for it the Kings of England have had the Princes Portion spoken of before in 45 of Ezekiel and therefore they had no need so to oppresse the people Again we may ascribe this difference to the bounty and noble nature of our Kings that they would never descend to those poor and sordid Exactions which other Princes States do take of their Subjects Sordidum putandum est aurum quod ex lachrimis oritur as a good Counseller told Vespasian Again we may ascribe it to the wisdom and policy of our Kings who would never follow the Counsell of Rehoboams younger Counsellers boni pastoris est oves tondere non diglubere as Tiberius the Emperor was wont to say Odi hortulanum saith Alexander qui ab radice olera excindit qui nimis emergit elicit sanguinem saith Solomon they well considered that the money levied by Taxes and Impositions is the blood of the people which is not to bee let out in any great quantity but to save the life as it were of the Common-wealth when she is sick indebted and in great danger Again it may be ascribed to their Piety and Religion which moved them to follow the counsell of the Divine Rule Deut. 17 where the King is warned not to multiply upon him much Gold and Silver for that indeed there doth seldome come good by great Treasure heapt up by a great Prince for it doth but nourish Pride and Ambition in him and stir him up many times to make an unjust Warre upon his Neighbours or if he leave it unto his Successers it makes them luxurious and vitious which draweth with it sometimes the ruin of the kingdome sed optimus certissimus thesaurus Principis est in loculis subditorum saith the learned Buterus in his Book against Machiavill let the King saith he have a care to maintain Religion and Justice and Peace in his Kingdom this will soon bring plenty with a continuall increase and make a rich and wealthy people then shall the King never want money to serve his just and necessary and honourable occasions for it is impossible the Soveraign should be poor when the Subjects are rich and untill occasions do arise the Coffers of his Subjects will be his best Exchequer they will be his Treasurers they will be his Receivers his Tellers without fees or wages no bad Accomptant shall deceive him nor no Bankrupt Officer shall deceive him they will keep the Treasure of the Kingdom so frugally as no Importunate Courtier shall be able to withdraw the same from a Prince but that it shall still remain in store to supply the necessities of the Common wealth Lastly our Kings of England in their wisdoms well understood the natures and dispositions of their people and knowing them to be a free generous and noble Nation held them not fit to be beaten with Rehoboams Rod esteemed them too good to be whipt with Scorpions and therefore God be blessed we have not in England the Gabeller standing at every Towns end we have not a Publican in every Market we pay not a Gabell for every Bunch of Reddish or Branch of Rosemary sold in Cheap-side we have none of those Harpies which do swarm in other Countries we have no complaining in the streets as is said in the 144. Psalm and therefore I may well conclude with the conclusion of that Psalm Happy are the people that are in such a case blessed is the people that have the Lord for their God above in Heaven and King Iames for their King here upon Earth FINIS These Books following are printed for Henry Twyford and Partners and are to be sold at his Shop in Vine-Court Middle Temple THe Compleat Attorney or the Practick parâ— of the Law A Learned Treatise of Wards and Liveries by Sir Iames Ley Knight The Life of the Apostle St. Paul Soliloquies Meditations and Prayers of St. Bonaventure The discontented Collonel by Sir Iohn Sucklin The European Mercury The humble Remonstrance of Sir Iohn Stawell Hebdomada Magna or the great Week of Christ's Passion Sir Robert Brooks Reading on the Statute of Limitations Kitchens Jurisdictions of Courts Leet Courts Baron c. Rich. Brownlow Esq Prothonotary to the Court of Common Pleas Reports the first and second Part. His Declarations and Pleadings English Judiciall Writs Plowdens Abridgment Abridgment of Lord Cook's Littleton Abridgement of Pulton's Statutes at large by Edmund Wingate Esq The Books of the drawing up of all manner of Judgments The Body of Law by Edmund Wingate Esq The Marrow of Law or the second part of the Faithfull Counsellor Office and duty of Executors in 8. Lay-mans Lawyer or the second part of the Practick part of the Law A Commentary on the Original Writs by William Hughes Esq Stevenson's Poems The Anabaptists Anatomised in a Dispute between Mr. Crag and Mr. Tombesâ— Caesars Commentaries with Sir Clement Edmunds Observations The Compleat Clark and Scriveners guide being the exact Forms of all manner of Conveyances and Instruments now in use as they were Penned by Learned Counsel both Ancient and Modern The Counesse of Arundells Secrets in Physick and Chirurgery c. The History of the Troubles of Swethland and Poland Iustinian Doct. Stud. 1. lib. cap. 2. Baldus Baldus Strabo Iustinian halicar. lib. 3. Bracton stampford prà rogat Regis fol. 37. 6. 19 E. 4. 6. 37 E. 6. 20 11 H. 4. Com. 316 7 E. 4.19 3. R. 3. 2. Magna Charta cap. 30. Vlpian 13 Edw. 4. 9 10. Reg. fol. 135. F. N. 117. D. F. N. 117. D. 2 E. 3. Regist. 259. a. Bodin Register 122 6. 46. Hen. 3 Rot. Pa. 3. E 1. m. 19. in Archis turris London 3 Edw. 1. 27 E. 3. Cap. 2. Cicero 13 E. 4. 9. Lex Civilis Cicero offic. li 2. Bodin de repub. li 2 cap. 8. Bodin Stephen King of Spain Pope Eluther 1â— R. 2. Chopinns Rhodians The Canon Law Decret. causae 24 Quaest. 3. Canonists Poll-money St. Paul Fortescue 1 H. 7. fol. 23. 3 Edw. 1 pat m 21 F. N. 170 D. Register of Writs fol. 107. Custome and Toll Strabo 38 H. 8. Dyer 43. Edw. 1. Edw. 2. Edw. 3. Bates case de Currans in Sccio per Flemâ—ing chief Baron 3 Edw. 1. 3 Edw. 1. Rot. fin memb. 24. Statute 25 E. 1. Dyer 29. 30 H. 8. 43. 31 Ed 3. 60. 27 E. 3. Prizage and Butlerage 52 H. 3. 31 Ed. 1. Gauger Alneger 14 Ed. 2. Customer Comtroller Searcher 25 E. 1. 3 Ed. 2. 11 E. 2. The Writ to his Collecttors of his Customs Collectors of his Customs Raimundus Lullius 1 Ed. 1. Rot. fin m. 30. in Archivis Turris Le Records 17 Ed 3. Rot. 308. in Sccio Angliae c 12 Ed. 3. Rot. Almaniae pars 1. numb. 3. 31 Ed. 3. Rot. Parl. numb. 24. 13 Ed. 1. 14 Ed. 3. Staple at Callis E. 3. R. 2. H. 4. H. 5. Dyer 165 12 Eliz. 12 Eliz. Letters Patents 28. Iuly 6. Iac. Bodin lib. 6 de repub. ca. 2. Caligula Appian Cicero 12 Ed. 4. cap. 5. Virgil Plin. lib. 19. cap. 4. Tempore Edw. 3. 2 Edw. 1. 2 Edw. 3. 10 Ed. 3. 17 Hen. 4 Matthew Paris Histor. Magna p. 568. 10 Hen. 7. Stow. Fitz Avowry 192. 6 Rich. 2. protection 46 Rot. Scotiae nu 16 in Arch Turris Gen. 1. Baldus Strabo stampford 19. Ass. p. 6. 22. Ass. p 93. 22 Ed. 4. 4 Edw. 3. 21 Ed. 3. 16 Ri. 2. 17 Hâ— 6. Tempore Henry 8. The K. of Spain's Imposition in An. 1614. Magna Charta cap. 30. 46 Ed. 3. 1 Edw. 3. Anno 40. Elizabeth Object 1. The Answer to the 1. Object Object 2. The Answer to the 2. Object Solomon Henry 7. Poeta Object 3. 3 Edw. 2 5 Edw. 2. 13 Ed. 3. 14 Ed. 3. 12 Ed. 3. 18 Ed. 3. 22 Ed. 3. 13 Ed. 3. Lord Latimer Richard Lions I. Peachy 50 Ed. 3. Rot. Parl. numb. 33. 50 Ed. 3. Rot. Parl. num 191. in Arch. Turris Dyer 1 Eliz. fol. 165. The Answer to Object 3. 5 Edw. 2. Senatus Rome Solomon Iulius Caesar Augustus Caesar Edw. 1. Edw. 3. Nero Edw. 2. Rich. 2. Petitions are of divers kinds have divers Answers Mayle 〈…〉 3 Kings cap. 12. 14 Ed. 3. cap. 12. Anno 29 Ed. 3. 6 Edw. 3. Rot. Parl. nu 4. 13 Edw. 3. Rot. Parl. numb. 5. 18 Ed. 3. Rot. Parl. nu 10. 26 in Arch. Turris 28 Ed. 3. Rot. Parl. numb. 27. 38 Ed. 3. Rot. Parl. numb. 26. 6 Edw. 3. Rot. Parl. numb. 4. Lions case 50 Ed. 3. Rot. Parl. nu 17 18. Lord Latimers ease Peachies Case 1 Eliz. Dyer fol. 165. Object 4. The Answer to the forth Object Dyer 44. Statute of Northampton 2 Edw. 3. Object 5. The Answer to the 5. Object Ed. 4. Iulius Caesars Impositions Tiberius the Roman Emperor Caligula Vespasian The Imposition of France The Spanish Impositions Gutturis degabellis Quaest. 174 The D. of Tuskanies Impositions The Impositions by the Pope Sixtus Quintus The Impositions of the Seigniory of Venice Baltholus Baldus The Impositions of the Low countries The Impositions of the Grand Seignior of Turkie The Impositions of Denmark Ezek. 45. Solomon Deut. 17. Buterus contra Machiavill Psa. 144
We may adde hereunto other reasons First Rich. 2. was a Minor and over-ruled by the great Princes of the Blood who would not suffer him to use his Prerogative Secondly that during the Wars of Lancaster and York there was no fit time to make use of that Prerogative while both parties did strive to win the favour of the people Thirdly that King Hen. 7. had much ado to settle himself in the quiet possession of the Kingdome after those troubles Fourthly that King H. 8. had such a mass of Treasure left him by his Father and did so inrich himself by dissolution of Abbyes as he had no need to make use of this Prerogative Fiftly that K. E. 6. was also a Minor and that his chiefest Council did more contend to advance their own houses than the Kings profit CHAP. XVIII That Queen Mary did use her Prerogative in laying Impositions upon Merchandizes QUeen Mary in whose time the Town of Callis was lost and consequently the benefit of the Staple at Callis was lost did by her absolute power as appeareth by the Report of the Lord Dyer 1 Eliz. Dyer 165. raise an Imposition upon Clothes viz. six shillings and eight pence upon every Cloth over and above all Customes and Subsidies True it is that the Merchants petition'd to be disburthened of this Imposition which was referred to the consideration of the Justices and other whereupon they had many assemblies and conference as that Book reporteth And albeit the Resolution of the Judges in that behalf be not found in that book it is to be presumed That they adjudged the Imposition to be just and lawfull because it was continued and answered during all the Reign of Queen Mary This Queen Mary likewise by her Preroonely layd an Imposition of four Marks upon every Tun of French Wines over and above the Prizage and Buttlerage which during her life time was payd without contradiction CHAP. XIX That Queen Elizabeth also used her Prerogative in laying Impositions upon Merchandizes QUeen Elizabeth also by virtue of the same Prerogative did not only continue the Impositions layd by Queen Mary upon Cloths and French Wines but did raise other Impositions of sundry sorts of Merchandizes by the same absolute power namely upon every Tun of sweet Wines upon every Tun of Rhenish Wines upon every Kental of Allom which during the time of the prudent Princess were payd and received without question Besides the same Queen upon complaint made unto her in the twelfth year of her Reign That the State of Venice did impose one Ducket upon every hundred of Currans exported out of their Dominions by the Merchants of England did by her Letters Patents grant unto the English Merchants who traded into the Levant That they only and their Assigns might bring Currans into England The English Merchants having this privilege did take five shillings and six pence upon every hundred waight of Currans brought into England by Strangers which was duly payd although it was taken by the Merchants by virtue of their privilege only of fortiori yet it ought to have been payd if it had been payable to the Queen her self as the Lord Chief Baron Fleming did observe in his Argument of Bate's case of Currans in the Court of Exchequer in England CHAP. XX That our Soveraign Lord King James hath by virtue of the same Prerogative without Act of Parliament layd several Impositions upon Merchandizes HIS Majesty likewise when he came to be King of England finding his Crown to be seized of this Prerogative and finding withall the necessary charge of the Crown exceedingly to increase did for the supportation thereof not onely continue the Impositions layd by Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth but also layd new Impositions upon sundry sorts of Merchandizes over and above all Customes and Subsidies formerly due and payable for the same And these are the Impositions now the principal of these is twelve pence upon the pound or a second poundage set upon Merchandizes as well exported as imported by Letters Patents 28. Iuly in the sixth year of his Majesties Reign but how is it set and imposed surely with such moderation and limitations and such receptations full of grace and favour as no Monarch or State in the world did ever impart to their Subjects the like in the like case for besides other gracious clauses contained in the same Letters Patents All commodities serving either for food or sustenance of the Kings people or seting the poor on work or for munition or defence of the Realm or for maintainance of Navigation or which especially tends to the enriching of a Kingdome are excepted and discharged by this Imposition As for the special Impositions which his Majesty hath set upon certain forrein commodities as Currans Logwood Tobacco c. As touching the first of these the Imposition hath been adjudged lawful in the Court of Exchequer of England And for the other commodities they are of such nature as no man ever made question but that the Impositions set upon them were lawful Besides these Impositions layd in England his Majesty by his Prerogative onely since the beginning of his Reign received the Impost of Wines in Ireland and hath likewise to make equality of Trade in that Realm layd an Imposition of twelve pence on the pound of all other Merchandizes imported and exported out of the Ports of Dublin Waterford Drogheda and Galway the Citizens of which Cities and Townes are exempted and discharged of Poundage granted by Act of Parliament there which Imposition was never impugned in Ireland but hath since the setting thereof been levied and payd without contradiction And that wee see how long the Crown of England hath been seised of this Prerogative in laying Impositions upon Merchandizes and how the same hath been put in practice by the most prudent Princes since the Conquest CHAP. XXI The general reasons whereupon this Prerogative is grounded ALthough it be a matter of difficulty and doth savour withall of curiosity and presumption to search a reason for every Prerogative that is incident to the Crown for Sacrilegii est disputare de Principis facto saith the Imperial Law and Scrutator Majestatis opprimitur à gloria saith the Wise man Yet the reasons whereupon this Prerogative is grounded are so many and manifest as it were not amiss to collect the principal of them rather for the confirmation than the satisfaction of such as have moved this question touching the lawfulness of Impositions layd by his Majesty upon Merchandizes First the King is the Fountain of all Justice and therefore the first reason drawn from the Kings charge in doing Justice and procuring Justice to be done to Merchants not onely distributive Justice wherein consisteth Praemium and Paena but cōmutative Justice is also derived from the king Now his Majesty doth exercise commutative Justice chiefly in the ordering and government of Trade and Comerce wherein hee is to doe Justice or to procure Justice to
be done to his Subjects who do make contracts real and personal within the Land But to his Merchants that trade and traffique with Forrein Nations and to Strangers that trade traffick with us for the Administration of cōmutative Justice within the Land the King receiveth sundry profits which grew first by way of Imposition A man cannot recover a Debt in the Kings Court but first he payeth the King a Fine for his first Process Land cannot be conveighed by a Common Recovery but a Fine for the Original must be payd to the King Neither can Land be passed from one to another by Fine in the Kings Court but the Kings Silver must be payd pro licentia concordandi Adde hereunto the profit of the Seals in all the Kings Courts for all manner of Writs And yet the King in Charta magna did promise Nulli negabimus nulli vendemus Iustitiam vel rectum but the Kings taking of these and the like Duties is no breach of the great Charter for that the same was imposed by the King long before the Charter was made and taken ut Ministerii sui stipendia as the Schoolman speaketh and withall to recompence the charge of the Crown in maintaining the Court of Justice See Bodin lib. 6. de Repub. cap. 2. where hee speaketh of the like profit made upon the Process in France And shews that the antient Romans did the like And the Emperour Caligula took the fortieth penny of that which was demanded in every several Civil Action If then such profits be taken for the King in his Courts of Justice within the Land towards the charge which he sustaineth in the maintainance of these Courts and the Offices thereof which duties were at first limitted and imposed by the King himself without any Act of Parliament for who ever heard of an Act of Parliament whereby the same were granted Is there not as good reason why the charge of the King in doing Justice and procuring Justice to be done unto Merchants whose residence and comerce is for the most part out of the Land should be recompenced out of Merchandizes imported and exported not according to the will of the Merchant and pleasure of the people but proportionable according to the Kings charge which being best known to himself it is most meet that the recompence should be limitted by himself Touching the charge of the King in doing and appointing Justice to be done to Merchants Are not all Leagues Truces and Treaties of State with Forein Princes wherein the publique Trade and Comerce of Merchants are ever included concluded and made at the Kings charge Did not the Kings Council of State and high Court of Chancery give more speedy hearing to the causes of Merchants than to the causes of other Subjects Doth not the King maintain a Court of Admiralty for deciding of Marine causes which doe for the most part concern Merchants Doth he not bear the charge of several Leiger Ambassadors in Italy in Spain in France in the Lom Countries in Turkie whose principal Negotiation doth consist in procuring Justice to be done to our Merchants And if our Merchants doe suffer wrong in any Forein Country by reason of any defective neglect in doing Justice there doth not the King by his Prerogative grant them Letters of Mart or Reprisal that they may right themselves which is a species justi Belli as the Civilians call it And if the injury done to the Merchants bee multiplyed and continued with a high hand Is it not the Kings Office to denounce and prosecute War against such a people as doth refuse to doe Justice unto his Merchants For this cause the Romans began the first Punick War saith Appian Cicero in his Oration pro Lege Manlia affirmeth Populum Romanum faepe Mercatoribus Injuria suis tractata bella gessisse Briefly the plenty of Money being greater in this Age than ever was there by reason of so many Millions of Gold and Silver brought from the Indies into Europe and the price of all Merchandizes being withall greatly enhanced and the charges and expences of Princes exceedingly encreased is it meet or just that the King at this day should be stinted or bound to that old Demimark onely for Native commodities or the three pence of the pound for the Forein commodities which Edw. 1. was content to accept of four hundred years since or a single poundage onely which in the time of King Edw. 4. was not sufficient to maintain the necessary charges of keeping the Sea as the Acts of Parliament 12. Edw. 4. cap. 5. which granteth that Subsidy to the King reciteth all the Kings charge in supporting the Trade of Merchants being unlimited and infinite And shall the duties payable for Merchandizes be stinted and restrained to such a proportion only as the Subject shall bee pleased to grant unto him Assuredly if the King had not a Prerogative of his own absolute power without Act of Parliament to increase the duties payable for Merchandizes at this day a Merchants Counting-house would be richer than the Kings Exchequer and the Subject who may live privately and moderate his expenses and yet raise the Fines of his Coppy-holds and Rents of his Demeans without controlement would be in better case than the King who by reason of the Majesty of his Estate cannot abridge his charges and yet should have no power of himself without leave of his Subjects to increase his Revenue Again the King is not only at charge in doing of Justice to his Merchants at home and in procuring Justice to bee done to them abroad but he doth withall maintain a Royall Navy of Ships the best the fairest the strongest in the world at this day to protect all Merchants from spoyl and Piracy on the sea In the maintainance of this Navy the King doth expend more Treasure than the whole Revenue of some of his Predecessors did amount to And he doth not onely secure Merchants by Sea but he gives them safe conduct by Land also as appeareth by the great Charter So as they may well give our King that title which virgil gives to the King of Bees Ille operum custos And seeing Merchants are most likely resembled to those Industrious creatures because they bring the hony to the Kings Hives to wit to his Havens and Ports where they and their Merchandizes bee protected and reserved why should they not imitate the Bees in observing their King and in making him partaker of the fruit of their labours Neither is it a new thing or an invention of this Age to lay Impositions upon Merchants for their Waftage and Protection at Sea for plinius tels us lib. 19. cap. 4. Merces praetiosae ut ex India Arabia Ethiopia tuto in Europam à Mercatoribus conveherentur necessariò classem parandam esse adversas Piraticas incursiones inde maritimi exercitus habendi causa vectigal rubri maris institutum A third reason drawn
Merchants what duties they shall pay and upon what terms and conditions they shall passe to and fro upon the Seas and come in and out of his Streams and Ports with their Ships and Merchandizes Podagium in Mari debet solvi sicut in teria si sit impositum per dominuni Maris saith Baldus and the rights belonging to the Lord of the Sea saith another Doctor are Ius navigandi jus piscandi jus imponendi vectigalia pro utroque Again the Kings of England have the like Prerogative in the government of Trade and Comerce belonging to this Kingdome as other Princes and States have within their Dominions he must of necessity have the like absolute power as they all have to lay Impositions upon Merchandizes imported and exported otherwise he cannot possible hold the ballance of Trade upright or perserve an equality of Traffique between his own Subjects and the Subjects of Forein Princes and consequently it will lye in the power of our Neighbours to drain and draw away all our wealth in a short time or else to overthrow all Trade and Comerce between us and them at their pleasure and we shall have no means to encounter or avoid the mischief for their Princes having sole power to impose will have the sole making and managing of the Market between their Subjects and us and consequently may set what price they please upon all Merchandizes enforcing us to sell our Commodities cheap and buy their Commodities dear onely by this advantage of laying Impositions And therefore the King of England must of necessity have the same absolute power to lay Impositions upon MerchaÌ„dizes as other Princes have as well ut evitetur absurdum as to prevent the ruin of the Common-wealth by the equall ballancing of Trade Comerce between his Subjects and the Subjects of Forein Princes Upon this reason when the Duke of Venice in the time of Q. Eliz. as is before expressed had laid an Imposition of one Ducket upon a 100 li. weight of Currans carried out of his Dominions by any English Merchant the Queen by speciall Patent in the twelfth year of â—â—e Reign did enable the Merchants which did Trade into the Levant to levie five shillings and six pence upon every 100 livre. weight of Currans brought into England by any Merchant Stranger Upon the like reason when in the time of King Hen. 8. the Emperor and the Freneh King had raised the valuation of their monies both so high as there grew not only an inequality of Trade between their Subjects and the Subjects of England but our monies standing at their former values were carried out of the Realm in great quantities The King in the 24 year of his Reign granted a Commission unto Cadinall Woolsey to enhance the values of English monies likewise by that means to set ballance of trade even again and to keep our monies within the Realm Upon the same reason of State when the King of Spain that now is in the year 1614. had laid an Imposition of thirty upon the hundred on all Merchandizes imported and exported by Strangers the French King Hen. 4. was quickly sensible of it and did forthwith impose the like in his Kingdom then it followed of necessity that other Nations should follow and imitate them whereby it came to passe that Comerce of Merchants generally throughout Christendome began to decay which being perceived by these two great Princes they agreed to take away those excessive Impositions upon severall Treaties between them and the Italians and after between them and the English and the Dutch Briefly we find examples in all ages that whensoever by reason of Warre or for any other cause any Forein Prince gave the least impediment to Merchants in their Trade our Princes gave the like entertainment to their Merchants again This is declared in Magna Charta cap. 30. where it is plainly expressed what entertainment the Merchants of all Nations should expect in England Habeant salvum securum conductum saith the Charter Praeterquam in tempore guerrae si fâ—â—rint de terra contra nos guerrina then as our Merchants are used with them so shall their Merchants be used with us 46 Edw. 3. The Countesse of Flanders having arrested the goods of the English Merchants there the King in recompence of their losses granted unto them all the goods of the Flemings in England whereof there is a notable Record mentioned before 1 Edw. 3. pat m. 19. in Arch. Turris There are many other examples of mutuall embarments of Trade between the Flemings us and also between us and the French men during our Wars with France which I omit I will recite onely one president in the 40 year of Queen Elizabeth at which times the Merchants of the Haunce Towns having by sinister information procured the Emperour to banish our English Merchants out of the Empire the Queen by her speciall Commission did authorize the Mayor and Sheriffs of London to repair to the Still-yard being the Hostell of the Haunces to seize that House into her Majesties hands and there to give warning to the Merchants of the Haunce Towns to forbear Traffique with any of her Subjects in England and to depart the Realm upon that very day which was assigned to our Merchants to depart out of the Empire Lastly for the ordering and government of Trade among our own Merchants in Forein Countries and at home our Kings by their Prerogatives have instituted divers Societies and Companies of Merchants as the Company of Merchant-Adventurers the Muscovia Company the Turkie Company the East India Company c. all which are created upholden and ruled by the Kings Charter only whereupon I may conclude that the Kings of England having the same power in governing and ballancing Trade as other Princes have may justly execute the same power as well by laying Impositions upon Merchandizes as by the other means which are before expressed CHAP. XXII Of the several Objections that are made against the Kings Prerogative in laying Impositions upon Merchandizes and the several Answers thereunto THE first Objection touching the property which all free Subjects have in their goods First it is objected that under a Royal Monarchy where the Prince doth govern by a positive Law the Subjects have a property in their Goods and inheritance in their Lands Ad Reges potestas omnium pertinet and singulos proprietas So as the King hath no such Prerogative say they whereby he may take away the Lands or Goods of a Subject without his consent unless it be in a case of Forfeiture And therefore though Samuel foretold the people when they desired a King Hoc erit Ius Regis tollere agros vestros vineas oliveta dâ—re servis suis Yet Ahab though he were a wicked King did not claim that Pretogative when he coveted Naboths Vineyard neither did he enter into it untill Naboth by false witnesses was condemned