Selected quad for the lemma: war_n

Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
war_n king_n law_n levy_v 3,963 5 11.2983 5 true
View all documents for the selected quad

Text snippets containing the quad

ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A37465 The charge of the Right Honourable Henry Earl of Warrington to the Grand Jury at the Quarter Sessions held for the county of Chester on the 11th of October, 1692 Warrington, Henry Booth, Earl of, 1652-1694.; Cheshire (England). Grand Jury. 1693 (1693) Wing D874; ESTC R27633 13,513 36

There is 1 snippet containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

one would suppose that God had made man not after his own Image but rather that of an Ass or something else that is beneath a Rational Creature For is it not ridiculous that any thing should be more excellent and knowing than that which is to govern it Is an insatiable desire of Power preferable to that Reason with which man was indued at his Creation Must a man give up that to which he has a clear right both by the Laws of God and his Countrey because another who is at that time guided by his passion desires to lay hold of it What Justice can any man promise to himself when Passion is above the Law What signifies Law if the King's Will must be the measure of our Obedience To what purpose are Parliaments and all those other Provisions which our Forefathers made to preserve our Liberties if Prerogative were in truth that Omnipotent thing which it boasted it self to be in the late Reigns That man is surely out of his way that is beside his Reason Had men been guided by it and nothing else there had been no misunderstandings about Government Reason will not mislead us but other things will be resolved to follow that and you will be sure to approve your selves in the sight of God and man Having said this I will now proceed to the Particulars of your Enquiry The first of which is High Treasons of which there are several sorts and Species both at Common-Law and by Statute-Law but those only that are made such by some Statutes are those that fall within your Enquiry To compass or imagine the Death of the King or Queen and that declared by some Overt and plain Act is High-Treason by the 25 Edw. III. but such Acts must be direct and clear void of all Implication or other Construction or else it will not make it Treason within this Statute for this Statute was made to take away constructive Treasons and thereby relieved the Subjects against an unspeakable evil under which they had laboured for many years for till then the Judges took an extravagant Liberty in stamping Treason upon almost any Offence that came before them which cost many an innocent man his Life contrary to all Reason and Justice so that this Statute was a very beneficial Law for the Subject To levy War against the King or Queen in their Realm or to adhere to their Enemies in the Realm or to give them comfort here or elsewhere is High-Treason by the same Statute But a Conspiracy to levy War is not Treason unless the War be actually levied though the contrary Opinion prevailed in the late Times whereby several worthy men were murthered It was a very far-fetched Opinion and could never have obtained but in that or some other corrupt Age when all Law and Justice was given up to the Will and Pleasure of the King For my Lord Coke is express in it That unless the War is actually levied it is not Treason and I remember in the Debate in the House of Lords upon the Bill for reversing my Lord Russel's Attainder the Lords were unanimously of opinion that it was not Treason and upon that ground chiefly they passed the Bill To counterfeit the Great Seal is High-Treason by 25 Edw. 3. and very good reason it should be so because of the great Authority it carries along with it it would be often attempted to be done and thereby innumerable mischiefs would follow and breed a great deal of confusion To counterfeit the King's Money or to bring in false and counterfeit Money knowing it to be such to make payment with it is High-Treason by 25 Edw. III. and so it is to clip file or wash Money by 3 Hen. V. and very good reason it should be so for these and every of them is a great Offence against the Publick for Mony being as it were the Sinews of the Nation to impair or counterfeit it is a great loss and damage to the Publick so that the Offence in so doing is not because it is marked with the King's Image for the French Money and the Spanish Coin and others are current in England which have not the King's Image upon them but the true reason is because of the great interest the Publick has in it and it would be the same thing if the Money had any other Stamp or Size put upon it by Publick Authority To kill the Chancellor Treasurer or the King's Justices being in their Places doing their Offices is High Treason by 25 Edw. III. It is very great reason that they who serve the Publick in such eminent Stations should have the publick protection for when they faithfully and honestly discharge their several Trusts the Publick receive great advantages by it and therefore this Offence was made High-Treason To counterfeit the Sign-Manual Privy-Signet or Seal is High-Treason by 1 M. 6. and I think it is so by 25 Edw. III. to counterfeit the Privy-Seal And the reason why the Offences in these Cases are made so capital is because of the great detriment they bring upon the Publick To extol a Foreign Power is High-Treason by 1 Eliz. and very fit it should be so for every man will allow it is a great Offence to set up any other Power in opposition to the Publick Authority For a Priest or a Jesuit to come and abide within this Realm is High-Treason by 27 Eliz. I believe a great many people have been under a very great mistake in this matter supposing it was upon the Score of Religion that the Priests and Jesuits were put to death whereas it was quite otherwise for it was upon a Politick account that they suffered it was for an Offence against the Government that they were executed For it having been found by experience that this sort of Vermin by their Doctrine and Practice sowed the Seeds of Division and thereby wrought great Disturbances in the Nation it was therefore thought fit by the Parliament to take this way as the most effectual to keep them out for as what they did amounted to nothing less than Treason so it was highly reasonable that the punishment should be commensurate to the Offence And since it is become a Law of the Realm if this sort of people will be so presumptuous as to break it they have no body to blame but themselves if they suffer by it for it is a very just and reasonable Law To absolve any from their Allegiance or to be absolved is High Treason by 3 Jac. 1. the Law does heighten or abate the Punishment according as the Offence does more or less affect the Publick Peace so that the more it tends to the Publick Prejudice the greater is the Offence and what can strike more directly at the ruin and overthrow of the Nation than to withdraw the People from their Allegiance and to become the Destroyers of their Native Country And since those that absolve and those that are absolved have thereby declared themselves