Εικόνες σελίδας
PDF
Ηλεκτρ. έκδοση

politick (like that sheaf of arrows in the emblem) one entire concentrical piece; and the results of their deliberations, but as so many harmonious diapasons arising from different strings. And what greater immunity and happiness can there be to a people, than to be liable to no laws, but what they make themselves? to be subject to no contribution, assessment, or any pecuniar levy whatsoever, but what they vote, and voluntarily yield unto themselves? For, in this compacted politick body, there be all degrees of people represented; both the mechanick, tradesmen, merchant, and yeoman, have their inclusive vote, as well as the gentry, in the persons of their trustees, their knights and burgesses, in passing of all things. Nor is this sovereign superintendent council an epitome of this kingdom only; but it may be said to have a representation of the whole universe; as I heard a fluent well-worded knight deliver in the last parliament, who compared the beautiful composure of that high court to the great work of God, the world itself. The king is as the sun, the nobles the fixed stars, the itinerant judges and other officers, that go upon messages betwixt both houses, to the planets; the clergy to the element of fire; the commons to the solid body of the earth, and the rest of the elements. And, to pursue this comparison a little further: as the heavenly bodies, when three of them meet in conjunction, do use to produce some admirable effects in the elementary world; so when these three states convene and assemble in one solemn great junta, some notable and extraordinary things are brought forth, tending to the welfare of the whole kingdom, our microcosm.

He, that is never so little versed in the annals of this isle, will find, that it hath been her fate to be four times conquered. I exclude the Scot; for the situation of his country, and the quality of the clime, hath been such an advantage and security to him, that neither the Roman eagles would fly thither for fear of freezing their wings, nor any other nation attempt the work.

These so many conquests must needs bring with them many tumblings and tossings, many disturbances and changes in government; yet I have observed, that, notwithstanding these tumblings, it retained still the form of a monarchy, and something there was always, that had analogy with the great assembly, the parliament.

The first conquest, I find, was made by Claudius Cæsar; at which time, as some well observe, the Roman ensigns and the standard of Christ, carne in together. It is well known what laws the Roman had; he had his comitia, which bore a resemblance with our convention in parliament; the place of their meeting was called Prætorium*, and the laws which they enacted, Plebiscitat.

The Saxon conquest succeeded next, which were the English, there being no name in Welch or Irish for an Englishman, but Saxon, to this day. They governed by Parliament, though it were under other names, as Michel Sinoth, Michel Gemote, and Witenage Mote.'

'There are records above a thousand years old, of these parliaments, in the reigns of King Ina, Offa, Ethelbert, and the rest of the seven kings, during the heptarchy. The British kings also, who retained a

The Senate or Parliament House.

+ i. e. The voluntary acts or laws made by the representatives of the People.

great while some part of the isle unconquered, governed and made laws by a kind of parliamentary way; witness the famous laws of prince Howel, called Howel Dha (the good Prince Howel) whereof there are yet extant some Welch records. Parliaments were also used after the heptarchy, by King Kenulphus, Alphred, and others, witness that renowned parliament held at Grately, by King Athelstan.

Ed

The third conquest was by the Danes, and they governed also by such general assemblies (as they do to this day) witness that great and so much celebrated parliament, held by that mighty monarch Canutus, who was king of England, Denmark, Norway, and other regions, 150 years before the compiling of Magna Charta; and this the learned in the laws do hold to be one of the specialest, and most authentick pieces of antiquity we have extant. ward the Confessor made all his laws thus (and he was a great legislator) which the Norman conqueror did ratify and establish, and digested them into one intire methodical system, which, being violated by Rufus (who came to such a disastrous end as to be shot to death in lieu of a buck, for his sacrileges) were restored by Henry the First, and so they continued in force till King John, whose reign is renowned for first confirming Magna Charta, the foundation of our liberties ever since; which may be compared to divers outlandish grafts set upon our English stock, or to a posy of sundry fragrant flowers: for, the choicest of the British, Roman, Saxon, Danish, and Norman laws, being culled and picked out, and gathered, as it were, into one bundle; out of them the aforesaid Grand Charter was extracted: And the establishment of this great charter was the work of a parliament.

Nor are the laws of this island only, and the freedom of the subject, conserved by parliament; but all the best policed countries of Europe have the like. The Germans have their Diets, the Danes and Swedes their Rücks Dachs; the Spaniard calls his parliament Las Cortes; and the French have, or should have, at least, their Assembly of Three States, though it be grown now in a manner obsolete, because the authority thereof was, by accident, devolved to the king. And very remarkable it is how this happened; for when the English had taken such large footing in most parts of France, having advanced as as far as Orleans, and driven their then King Charles the Seventh, to Bourges in Berry, the Assembly of the Three States, in these pressures, being not able to meet after the usual manner, in full parliament; because the country was unpassable, the enemy having made such firm invasions up and down through the very bowels of the kingdom; that power, which formerly was inherent in the parliamentary assembly, of making laws, of assessing the subject with taxes, subsidiary levies, and other impositions, was transmitted to the king, during the war; which, continuing many years, that intrusted power, by length of time, grew, as it were, habitual in him, and could never after be re-assumed, and taken from him; so that, ever since, his edicts countervail acts of parliament: And that which made the business more feasible was, that the burthen fell most upon the commonalty (the clergy and nobility not feeling the weight of it) who were willing to see the peasant pulled

William the Second, son and succesor to the Conqueror.

down a little; because, not many years before, in that notable rebellion, called La Jaquerie de Beaurosin, which was suppressed by Charles the Wise, the common people put themselves boldly in arms against the nobility and gentry, to lessen their power. Add hereunto, as an advantage to the work, that the next succeeding king, Lewis the Eleventh, was a close, cunning prince, and could well tell how to play his game, and draw water to his own mill; for, amongst all the rest, he was said to be the first that put the Kings of France, hors de page, out of their minority, or from being pages any more, tho' thereby, he brought the poor peasants to be worse than lacquies.

With the fall, or, at least, the discountenance of that usual Parliamentary Assembly of the Three States, the liberty of the French nation utterly fell; the poor roturier and vine-yard man, with the rest of the yeomanry, being reduced ever since to such an abject asinine condition, that they serve but as sponges for the king to squeese when he list. Nevertheless, as that king hath an advantage hereby one way, to monarchise more absolutely, and never to want money, but to ballast his purse when he will: So there is another mighty inconvenience ariseth to him and his whole kingdom another way; for this illegal peeling of the poor peasant hath so dejected him, and cowed his native courage so much, by the sense of poverty (which brings along with it a narrowness of soul) that he is little useful for the war: Which puts the French king to make other nations mercenary to him, to fill up his infantry; insomuch, that the kingdom of France may be not unfitly compared to a body that hath all its blood drawn up intothe arms, breast, and back, and scarce any left from the girdle downwards, to cherish and bear up the lower parts, and keep them from starving.

All this seriously considered, there cannot be a more proper and pregnant example than this of our next neighbours, to prove how infinitely necessary the parliament is, to assert, to prop up, and preserve the public liberty and national rights of the people, with the incolumity and welfare of a country.

Nor doth the subject only reap benefit thus by parliament, but the prince, if it be well considered, hath equal advantage thereby; it rendereth him a king of free and able men, which is far more glorious than to be a king of slaves, beggars, and bankrupts; men, that by their freedom, and competency of wealth, are kept still in heart to do him service against any foreign force. And it is a true maxim in all states, that it is less danger and dishonour for the prince to be poor, than his people: Rich subjects can make their king rich, when they please; if he gain their hearts, he will quickly get their purses. Parliament increaseth love and good intelligence betwixt him and his people; it acquaints him with the reality of things, and with the true state and diseases of his kingdom; it brings him to the knowledge of his better sort ofs ubjects, and of their abilities, which he may employ accordingly upon all occasions; it provides for his royal issue, pays his debts, finds means to fill his coffers: And it is no ill observation, The parliamentary-monies (the great aid) have prospered best with the kings of Eng

+ Minors.

land; it exceedingly raiseth his repute abroad, and enableth him to keep his foes in fear, his subjects in awe, his neighbonrs and confederates in security; the three main things which go to aggrandise a prince, and render him glorious. In sum, it is the parliament that supports and bears up the honour of his crown, and settles his throne in safety, which is the chief end of all their consultations: For whosoever is entrusted to be a member of this high court, carrieth with him a double capacity; he sits there as a patriot, and as a subject: As he is the one, the country is his object, his duty being to vindicate the publick liberty, to make wholesome laws, to put his hand to the pump, and stop the leaks of the great vessel of the state; to pry into, and punish corruption and oppression: to improve and advance trade; to have the grievances of the place he serves for redressed, and cast about how to find something that may tend to the advantage of it.

But he must not forget that he sits there also as a subject, and according to that capacity, he must apply himself to do his sovereign's business, to provide not only for his publick, but his personal wants; to bear up the lustre and glory of his court; to consider what occasions of extraordinary expences he may have, by increase of royal issue, or maintenance of any of them abroad; to enable him to vindicate any affront or indignity, that might be offered to his person, crown, or dignity, by any foreign state or kingdom; to consult what may inlarge his honour, contentment, and pleasure. And as the French Tacitus (Comines) hath it, The English nation was used to be more forward and zealous in this particular than any other; according to that ancient eloquent speech of a great lawyer, Domus Regis vigilia defendit omnium, otium iltius labor omnium, deliciæ illius industria omnium, vacatio illius occupatio omnium, salus illius periculum omnium, honor illius objectum omnium. i. e. Every one should stand centinel, to defend the king's houses; his danger should be the safety of all, his pleasures the industry of all, his ease should be the labour of all, his honour the object of all.

Out of these premisses this conclusion may be easily deduced, that, The principal fountain, whence the king derives his happiness and safety, is his parliament: It is that great conduit-pipe which conveighs unto him his people's bounty and gratitude; the truest looking-glass, wherein he discerns their loves; now the subjects' love hath been always accounted the prime cittadel of a prince. In his parliament he appears as the sun in the meridian, in the altitude of his glory, in his highest state royal, as the law tells us.

Therefore whosoever is averse or disaffected to this sovereign lawmaking court, cannot have his heart well planted within him: He can be neither good subject, nor good patriot; and therefore unworthy to breathe the English air, or have any benefit, advantage, or protection from the laws.

[blocks in formation]

THE

MISCHIEFS AND UNREASONABLENESS

OF ENDEAVOURING TO DEPRIVE

HIS MAJESTY OF THE AFFECTIONS OF HIS SUBJECTS,

By misrepresenting him and his Ministers.

Cum hominum animi vanis timoribus & suspicionibus implentur, calumniæ & maledicta in Prin. cipes sine ullo veri falsive discrimine avide accipiuntur, avidé communicantur. Fam. Strada de bello Belg.

This Loyal Tract, containing the true sense of every good subject, was originally published to deter the subjects of Great Britain and Ireland, from fomenting that discontent against kingly government, which brought these nations into that horrid rebellion, that began in the year 1641, and deserves to be recorded, so long as monarchy sways these kingdoms; and always necessary to be read, so long as that best of governments is struck at by by designing men; or ignorantly traversed in the conversation of the causelessly discontented subject. have only taken the liberty to strike out some expressions that were temporary in order to render it the more general and useful at all times.

IT

[T is the common unhappiness of all states, that some persons every where are proud of being thought wise at suspecting, and of an extraordinary reach in foreseeing evils, which, perhaps, never come to pass. The vanity of appearing more acute and sagacious than their neighbours does so possess them, that they make it their business and employment, to discover or to invent approaching mischiefs. And, if we look into those histories which give us an account of the grand transactions and revolutions of kingdoms; which do not barely tell things as tales, and say, only such and such things happened, but do search into the real causes of, and acquaint us what occasioned them; We shall find, that this hnmour has frequently been of greatest consequence, and that none have contributed more to the unhappiness and destruction of a nation, than the over-politick and notable men; who, by shew of concern for the publick, and great insight into intrigues and cabals, have laboured to bring the government into suspicion, and to alienate the hearts of the people from their prince. But we need not appeal to foreign occurrences, or elder times. The miseries which these three kingdoms for several years groaned under, do sufficiently attest it; and they who understand any thing of England's troubles*, in the grand rebellion, are not ignorant that the grave men of fears and jealousies, who discovered what no man could ever find out since; and the seditious preachers, who endeavoured to gain the people's hearts by

• Vid. The view of the late troubles in England, p. 96. & alibi,

« ΠροηγούμενηΣυνέχεια »