Sir Francis Bacon then Atturney General said whilst the Praerogative runs within its ancient and proper Banks the main Channel thereof is so much the stronger for Overflowes he adds evermore hurt the River Guilme Jermyes Commentary on the Customier of Normandy If any man after all this Evidence be yet unsatisfyed in this point I will send him to France for I would rather find a President there and advise him to consider the case of Normandy That Dutchy had beâ—â—â—â—â— some time rak'd with Exactions contrary to their Franchise and Customes and thereupon complain to Lewis the 10th the then French King he by his Charter in the year 1314. recognizing the Right Priveledges of these people and the injustice of their Grievances grants that from that time forward they shall be discharged from all Subsidies and Impositions to be laid upon them by him or his Successors yet with this deadly sting in the tail of all Si necessitie grand ne le requiret Vnless in cases of great necessity which Minute and almost insensible exception we see hath eaten up upon the matter all their immunities Comines Hist of France Lib. 13. Fortescue cap. 35. for though these States do annually assemble yet their Conveâ—tion is little better then the carkass of a Parliament and they are become but the necessary Executioners of the Royal pleasure Obj. Ay but did not our Ed. 1. and Edw. 3. do greater things then stopping the Exchequer are not our Chronicles full of their breaking even into the Churches and Abbies and ravishing the Treasure of the Subject for Supply of their Warrs Admitting this Allegation to be true I Answer Sol. First we discourse not here what hath been done de facto but what may be done de Jure And to counterballance these we may put other Princes of this Realm of a contrary complexion into the other Scale Edward the Confessor restored the Danegeld Money a grievous Taxe formerly in use here to the persons from whom it was exacted Polydore Virgil. Ribaâ—â—â—â—ra Copgrave Surius it seeming to him as no mean Authors write that he saw the Devil danceing and triumphing upon that vast heap of Treasure when he was conducted by his Officers to view the same And by the way this Act of singular piety he did Sâ—lden's Mare clausum Lib 2 Spiâ—m Glossary title Danegueld when his people laboured under a dreadful Famine King Henry the Second say our Chronicles maintain'd great Wars and obtaind a larger Dominion then pertain'd at any other time to this Realm of England and notwithstanding never demanded Subsidy of his Subjects Speed Baker Haywards Hen 4.1 part p. 56 and yet his Treasure after his death was found to be Nine hundred thousand pounds beside his Jewels and Plate Certainly a prodigious summe in those dayes It is notorious also that Queen Mary did by her Letters Patents of her meer Grace and great Clemency for the succour and relief of her loving Subjects saith that Record pardon and remit a whole Subsidâ— given by them to her Predecessor Old Statutes 1 Maria sessio 2. cap. 17. which release was afterward confirm'd by Parliament And Queen Elisabeth also remitted one Subsidy of four granted to her saying Cambden vita Elizabethâ— It wâ—â— all one toher whether the Money were in Her Subjects Coffers or her own Secondly these Depredations begot many good Lawes for the firmer munition of property for future time and particularly this violence of Edw. 1. was executed in the 25th year of his Reign and in that very year and not in 340 as our Printed Statute Books say was made the Statute de Tallagio non concedendo De Repub. lib. 1. cap. 8. with which the English defend themselves faith Bodine quasi Clypeo as with a Buckler against their Prince Thirdly this King as our Chronicles affirm layd this outrage much to heart and that before his Royal Pallace at Westminster invironed with infinite numbers of his people thither by him purposely summoned and being rais'd upon an Ascent or Pedestal the better to be heard and seen Lib. 3. cap. 9. columna 2510. the Prince Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and the Earl of Warwick also standing with him Rogavit populum accepta licentia saith Knighton ut omnia condonaretur ei orarent pro eo He earnestly intreated the people that they would forgive him and pray for him And Matthew Westminster goes yet farther Kex erumpentibus lacrymis saith he veniam de commissis humillime postulavit The King bursting forth into Tears Math. Westminster pag. 409. 410. did most humbly aske pardon for what he had done a passionate transport of a Prince that before that time had rendred himself redout table among the Saracens as well as the French and that had triumpht over Scotland and Wales And after he had excused himself to them with all the sweetness of Expression adds Et omnia oblata reddam vobis Math. Westm ibid. And I will restore all that I have forct from you And in pursuance of this promise forthwith makes an * Bundelae Brevium de privato Sigillo in Turre London Anno 25. Ed. 1. pat 26 Ed. 1. Mem. 21. Ordination of Councel which have seen in French and can produce the Copy to issue forth Commissions of Oyer and Terminer into all the Counties of England to enquire what things had been forcibly taken by his Officers out of the Churches or else where from the Clergy or Laytye either to guard the Seas or for any other purpose with Warrants or without during his Wars with France and to determine those matters Et et qu serra pris seit returne a ceaux qe le damage ont receu saith the Record And that those things that were forct away might be return'd to them that had receiv'd the damage and to punish the parties offending which * Pat. 26. Ed. 1. Memb. 21. inquirendo super gravaminibus popu lo Regnifacti c. Commissions were accordingly executed many of which I have seen and can produce the Copies in which are contained many excellent particulars too long here to be recited And for those small Remainders of Moneys which hapned not to be restored or satisfied by vertue of those Commissions they were two or three years after recovered in the very ordinary Courts of Justice to prove which among many others I will eite this one Record Coia Pa. 29. Edw. 1. Rot. 18. The King pro urgentissimis Regni negotiis pro defentione totius Regni saith the Record had seized divers summes of money in all the Abbies Cathedrals and Religious Houses within the Realm quo citius commode poterit promised repayment In the Parliament of 29 Edw. 1. at Lincoln the King is Petitioned for repayment who promiseth payment Ita quod Regis conscientia super hoc exoneretur and there and Rot. 19. Divers summes are adjudged to be repaid Again it is not at all probable
is the Answer I shall give to this Allegation at present in the sequel of this discourse very probably I may add more These things premis'd I shall now forthwith address my self to the main business In the Argument whereof I shall observe these Gradations or steps 1. First I shall shortly put the ease as it now stands between the King and the Bankers 2. Secondly I shall prove that by this Councel of stopping payments in the Exchequer the Subjects property is invaded at Common Law 3. Thirdly that hereby it is invaded contray to the Statute Law 4. Fourthly that this Councel is expresly contray to his Majesties gracious promises and Declarations Printed and promulgated by His own especial command 5. Fifthly I shall at large answer the grand Objection of necessity and National danger supposing too our fears to be at that time just And shall prove by sundry Records and otherwise that the Subjects property is not violable but by his own consent in cases of far greater National Danger then this was I shall answer the Rapines of Ed. 1. and 3d. and because I would take up this Objection by the Roots I shall then shew what courses the Law hath provided for preservation of the Kingdome where the danger is instant and cannot stay for a Parliament 6. Sixthly I shall prove that this Councel is contray to the Pollicies hitherto used by the wisest Forreign States of the World in far greater Exigencies then ours I shall answer the Objection of some Princes not repaying Money lent them by their Subjects to retain them in better Obedience 7. Seventhly I shall prove this Councel to be contrary to common Reason and in some respects to violate the Rules of Humanity That it is pernicious to the credit of his Majesties Exchequer Then I shall truly state the case between Phillip the 2d of Spain and the Bankers of Genoa and shall prove that case essentially different from ours And Lastly shall frame a Conclusion upon the whole matter SECT 1. The Case put between the King and the Bankers I think it is now evident enough to every man that understands any thing that the concernment of the Bankers is now become the concernment of their Creditors and that both their interests are common and so inseperably twisted together that the prosperity of the latter will depend altogether upon the Fate of the former Insomuch that if the Banker never receive his debt I do not in probability see how he will be able to satisfie his Creditor we are therefore by invincible necessity obliged to maintain the right of the Banker and in order thereunto I will now put his Case which in short is no more but this A Banker lends to the King an hundred thousand pounds more or less this money is secured to the said Banker upon the Customes or any other Branch of the King's Revenues c. by Order Registred in the Exchequer or by Talley of Loane or both and then the King upon the War-like preparations of our neighbour Princes and States is advised to make stop of all payments out of the Exchequer which is executed accordingly whether by this Councel executed the Subjects property be invaded and I clearly conceive it is SECT 2. That by this Councel of stopping Payments out of the Exchequer the Subject propâ—rtâ—is in vaded at Common Law IT is an Essential principle of the Law of this Realine That the Subject hath an undoubted property in his Goods and Possessions Otherwise there shall remain no more industry no more Justice no more valour for who will labour who will hazzard his person in he day of Bâ—ttaâ— for that which is not his own How can the Subject â—y any Act of Bounâ—y ingratiate himself with his Soveraign Neither was this Right of propriety introduc there by any Charter or Edict of Princes but was the old Fundamental Law Lambards Archaion Fortes de laudibus Legum Angliae cap. 17. Dugdales Origines Jurid ciales Insinite Authorities there quoted to prove this See there Fol. 5.6 springing from the Original Frame and first Architecture of the Kingdome There were manifest Footsteps of this Law in the Britâ—ish Roman Saxon and Danish Governments here nay it was of that vigour and puissance to survive even the very Norman Conquest To prove which I shall crave leave to produce this following short memorable Record One Shirboorn a Saxon at the time of the Conquest being seized of a Castle and Lands in Norfolke William the Conquerer gave the same to one Warren a Norman of principal Quality Shirboorn dying his Heir shewed to the Conquerour that he was his Subject and that he ought to Inherit the said Castle and Land by vertue of that Law which he himself had establisht in England In this Case the Conquerour gave Judgement for Shirboorn against Warren and pronounc'd his own former gift void See for this Cambden in his Description of Norfolk And Sir John Davis Rep. 41 a. The Case of Tanistry And there it is said by Judge Calthrop that he himself had seen an Authentique Copy of this Judgement For indeed the Common Law is not more solicitous of any one thing then to preserve the property of the Subject from the inundation of the Prerogative And therefore where a custome is to pay Toll for all Cattle that shall be driven over a common Bridge this Custome shall bind the Subject but not the King but where a Custome is to pay Toll for all Cattle that shall be driven over a mans private Freehold there the Custome shall prevail against the Prerogative and what 's the Reason why because the Law will not allow the King to invade the Subjects Inheritance and Property without consent and compensation For this see the expreâ—s book of 46 of Ed 3. cited in Plowden 236. a. The Lord Barkley's case Many other cases of this nature are there recited and in other Books of our Law which for brevity I for bear to mention To come then to the Hinge upon which this point turns I do lay this down for an indisputeable ground That the Law of the Court of Exchequer is the universal Law of this Land and so is Plowden 320. b. and 321. b. The case of Mines and Cooks 2d Report 16. b. Lanes case adjudg'd Now then by the Law of the Exchequer when the King hath charged himself to the Subject by Talley and liberate as in our case to pay a summe of money out of his Customes or any other branch of his Revenue and his Collector hath received this Revenew this money though at first it appertains in property to the King yet as soon as ever the Kings Creditor comes to this Collector and shewes him his Talley and Liberate and demands payment accordingly the property of this money to the proportion of the Debt by meer operation of Law is transfer'd out of the King into the Collector or Receiver and in an instant becomes the proper and personal Money of
There be many things which possibly I have forgot and some things which I have perhaps industriously omitted If any matter have fallen from me inconsiderately as in so long a Discourse may easily happen I do with unspeakable humility and Prostration beg Pardon requesting this one Favour that no persons would censure me or those worthy persons in my condition until they have first represented our Cases to them selves as their own Protesting in the last place that I have written nothing but with a mind at all times ready to sacrifice the Body it dwells in to the Honour and Safety of my Gracious Soveraign and his Kingdomes And upon that glorious account prepared alwayes to suffer more then He or They deserve that advised His Majesty to the stopping the Exchequer Illud omnium maximè tenendum erit a Principâ— ut fortunis alienis temper atum fuisse cognoscatur Nam citius parentum cadem oblivioni dant Homines quam Fortunarum suarum direptioneâ— Nic. Machiavelli princeps Cap. 17. His Majesties Declaration To all His Loving Subjects to preserve Inviolable the Securities by Him given for Moneys and the due Course of Payments thereupon in the Receipt of the EXCHEQUER WHereas We are given to understand That divers of Our good and Loyal Subjects Goldsmiths and others who have advanced to Us great Summs of Money for the Publick Service which are sufficiently secured unto them upon several Branches of Our Revenue and other moneys arising by several late Acts of Parliament have upon occasion taken from the late Attempt of the Dutch Fleet and the false Reports spread thereof been prest in an unusual manner with many sudden Demands by their Creditors for present Payment through Fears and Apprehensions which may weaken the Credit of Our said Subjects ☜ who have been so useful to Us bring an undervalue on Our said Securities and in consequence indanger the Publick Safety in this present Conjunctur We have therefore thought fit as well for satisfying the minds of our good Subjects whose fears so transported them to call for their moneys in such a manner as for the allaying such Jealousies and misapprehensions as may be taken up by those concerned in the said Securities to Declare as we do hereby declare that as the Course of Payments in our Exchequer hath hitherto been punctual and according to the due Order even in this time of disturbance and interruption of Payments amongst our Subjects so Our stedfast resolution for preserving inviolable to all such Our good Subjects who have Lent or Advanced any moneys for Our service as aforesaid All and every the Securities and Assignements any wayes made by Us for and towards the Repayment and satisfaction of the said several summs of money ☞ And that We will not upon any occasion whatsoever permit or suffer any Alteration Anticipation or Interruption to be made of our said Subjects Securities but that they shall from time to time receive the Moneys so secured unto them in the same Course and Method as they were charged ☞ and ought to be satisfied Which resolution we shall likewise hold firm and sacred in all Future Assignements and Securities to be by Us Granted upon any other Advance of Money by any of our Subjects upon any Future Occasion for Our Service And we cannot doubt upon the publishing this our Royal Word and Declaration of our sincere Intention but that all reasonable persons will rest satisfied that their feâ—â—s were causeless their respective Interests in no danger at all and that no evil can happen to them on this Occasion since the Securites by Us to them given being inviolable we doubt not but that our said Subjects will satisfie every person both their Principal and Interest as they have formerly done with untainted Reputation And of this our Declaration we straitly charge and Command our High Chancellor of England the Lords Commissioners of our Treasury the Chancellor and Under-Treasurer of our Exchequer and all other our Officers and Ministers whatsoever whom it doth or may concern to take notice and duly to observe the same as they will be answerable to Us at their utmost perils Given at Our Court at whitehall this 18th day of June 1667. And in the Nineteenth year of Our Reign THE Postscript TO THE Letter THus Sir I have as you see according to the Model of my weak Talent discovered the Enormity and pernicious Influences of this Advice I â—ake God to witness I have done this without the least Malice or Designe against any man's person of what Degree or Quality soever Indeed if any man shall come from behind the Curtain with a bare open face shall say I am the Man that gave this Advice That person I must confess and only that person hath not escapt my Animadversions and from him only and no body else I hope I can with Reason expect Reproof And then let all Mankind judge whether of the two is more to be blamed he that hath lead his Prince out of the old via Regia or King's high way into by and untrodden Paths unknown to the Law and to walk upon Precipices or he that hath given an honest Alarm or Outcry of this evil Dealing The Lord Treasurer Burleigh under whose old English Councels this Kingdome flourisht and became formidable to all the world Cottoni posthuma p. 313. and one perhaps that better understood the Genius and temper of this Nation then this Advisor was used to tell his Queen Madam sayes he Win Hearts and you 'l be sure of Hands and Purses vita Dionisâ— And Dion in Plutarch doth admonish the Son of King Dionysius That the Love of the subject obtaind by vertue and Justice is the strongest guard and security of a Prince The great God of Heaven and Earth and my own Conscience will be my Compurgators and Witnesses that whatever I have said in this Discourse I have done it with a most ardent and passionate Desire of the Prosperity of my dread Soveraign and an unfeined Love to my dear Countreymen and to raise and enkindle as well as I could an universal Disposition in this Kingdome towards the Payment of this Debt That thereupon so considerable a part of the English Nation as are concern'd with the Bankers may not be overwhelm'd with an inevitable Ruine and that so great a Member thereof may not be ravisht and torn limbmeal from the Body of this Common-wealth I shall probably be thought by some persons to have prosecuted this Argument with a warmer Zeal then became mee and to have sallied out sometimes perhaps into Extravagancies and Inconsideration I can only Reply that the Authors and Testimonies by me vouched are Authentique and of approved Credit and by me truly and carefully quoted That after I have sacrificed my Person and Fortunes to mine Allegiance in the Late Rebellion no man I hope will suppose that I should now become Apostate or Renegado to so glorious a Cause That Necessity and the want of a mans own are spurs sharp and invincible And Lastly that I have been actuated all along in this Discourse with no other Impulses of mind then those which loosen'd the Tongue of the Dumb Son of King Craesus when he saw a Soldier ready to offer violence to his Father crying out It is the King At whose Royal Feet I am alwayes ready upon Occasion to lay down my Life together with that poor Mite or Fragment of Estate which the Rebbeis and this Advisor have left me Praying in the Scripture Language That God would strike through the Loins of all them that hate His Majesty but that upon his own Head his Crown may for ever flourish I am Sir your most Affectionate Servant S. R. Errata Reader Some faults thou art desired to amend which by reason of the absence of the Author and haste have escaped the Press As in the third page of the Letter in the first sheet Line 18. for irradicated read irradiated c. The Poyntings also in many places are to be amended FINIS
this Prince would be negligent in paying his own that was so just in satisfying his Fathers Debts as we find by our Records so that upon the whole matter Pot. 4. Ed. 1. Memb. 19. intut notwithstanding this Objection I think we may concurr well enough with Sir William Herle Ch. Justice of the Common Pleas who in 5. of Edw. 3. saith of this Ed. 1 Pasch 5. Ed 3 casus 5. in whose time he lived Que fuit pluis sage Roy que unques fuit That he was one of the wisest Kings that ever was in the World For Ed. 3. his Rapines likewise produc't very benificial Lawes to the Subject as will be manifest to any man that shall peruse the Statutes of that time Fot Alminiae 12. Ed. 3 Mem. 22 in Dorso De excusando Râ—ge populam versut They were actions which he never justified but excused alway with singular Resentments As appears by his Letter extant upon Record to John Stratford then Arch-bishop of Canterbury in the which he recounts the Tallages and Exactions with which he had burdened his people which be faith he could not mention without inexpressible grief of mind and there excuseth himself upon the inevitable necessity of his warrs and desires the Arch-bishop to satisfy the people and to stir them up to pray for him hoping ere long he should make them compensation and give them comfort Ob. There remains yet one Objection with which I am infore't to encounter se defendendo because I perceive it ready to assail me And that is that the Parliament is a great Body I speak it with all due reverence and moves slowly and therefore if the Law allow not some other course as this of stopping the Exchequer or the like in raising money in case of suddain Danger the Kingdome may be lost before the Parliament can supply Sol. To this I answer That all Warrs are either Offensive or Defensive If it be Offensive it cannot be suddain for it is the King 's own Act and the result of mature deliberation and so their may be time enough to call a Parliament if it stand with his Sacred Majestie 's good will and pleasure If it be a Defensive War by Forreign invasion which I shall to avoid Cavil agree may be suddain though a great Statesman tells us Comines fol. 79. that these Clouds are commonly visible afar off before the Tempest fall I say if by Forreign Invasion then first the impulse of self-preservation an indelible Character wrote on every man's mind by the very band of Nature will dispose all Mankind to expose their Lives and Estates which otherwise they must inevitably lose And this seems to be the case of this Kingdome in the Year 88. â—ambden viâ—â— Eliza. for there was then no Parliament sitting but many of the Worthies of that time some of whose names are transmitted to Posterity at their own private charges brought in men and Ships to the Common Defence But Secondly if we are to suppose that men must be drag'd and haled to their own preservation I say then the Law hath provided that in case of Forreign invasion every Subject within the Land high or low whether he hold of the King or not may be compel'd at his own charge to serve the King in person To prove this I can vouch Authorities from Common Law Statutes and Records which for brevity I will not quote at large but least any man should doubt hereof will only point where they may be found Common Law see 7. H. 4. Brook Tenures 44. 73. Fitch Protection 100. Coke 7. Re. 7. b. Calvins case 2 Rolls Title Imposition 165. c. 1 Inst 69. b. in fine For Statute Laws see among many others 1. Ed. 3. cap. 5.11 H. 7. cap. 1.11 H. 7. cap. 18. c. For Records among many others that I have seen I will crave leave to vouch two The First is 14. Johannis Regis Math. Paris 223. Matth. Westm 92. where upon an imminent French invasion King John issues our Writts in which he summons all his Subjects high and low to repair forthwith to Dover Ad defendendum caput nostrum saith the Record capita suae quod nullue remaneat qui Arma portare possit sub nomine * Base Cowardise or Turwail so the glossaries Culvertagij perpetuae servitutis c. The other is upon a French invasion too design'd against this Kingdome in 26. Ed. 3. the which being a Record so apposite to my purpose I shall recite somewhat more at large Rot. Franciae Anno 26. Ed. 3. Memb. 5. Rex dilecto consanguineo fideli suo Henrico Duci Lancastriae salutem Quia Adversarij nostri Franciae nos Regnum nostrum Angliae invadere machinantes ad nos Dominium nostrum totam nationem Anglicanam pro viribus destruend Nos considerantes omnes Incolas dicti Regni cujuscunque conditionis extiterint cum versetur commune periculum teneri de jure pro patriâ pugnare eam contrae hostiles aggressus defensare vobis mandamus quod omnes homines defensabiles tam milites Armigeros quam alios quoscunque de dictoÌ„ ducatu cujuscunque status seu conditionis fuerint arraiari quemlibet eorum iuxta statum faculates suas Equitaturis Armit competentib us muniri c. I shall conclude this Section with a case of very recent Memory and of singular Notoriety throughout the whole Kingdome I mean that of the Conflagration of our Ships by the Dutch not many years past in the River of Chatham There prevail'd at that time an universal jealoufy among the people that upon this occasion some suddain stop might be put upon the Exchequer and thereupon the Bankers were exercised with restless solicitations for the speedy payment of their Debts The King for the sedation of these Fears and apprehensions See the Declaration at the end of this Treatise is advised and not without infinite prudence to issue forthwith his Declaration to preserve inviolable the course of payments in the Exchequer which was accordingly done Now 〈◊〉 see what were the grounds of this Declaration Why truly they are exprest there to be First Least the Credit of the Bankers who had been so useful to the King might be weakned Secondly Least the King's Securities might be undervalued Lastly Least in consequence the publick Safety might be endangered Now all that I shall say is this That of what valew in reason of State it may be I know not but to men of vulgar Negotiation it seems a Riddle and matter inextricable that these considerations which at that time appeard to have been of so politique and valuable Regard within the space of two or three years upon a like occasion should be thought by this Advisor clearly Obsolete and altogether void of Prudence And the Credits of the Exchequer Royal securities and the publique safety so little by him consulted Idem manens idem