Legal Vindication of the Liberties of England Against Illegal Taxes, Treatise
A Legal Vindication of the Liberties and Properties of all ENGLISH FREEMEN Againſt ILLEGAL TAXES: OR, REASONS Aſſigned By WILLIAM PRYNNE, &c.
BEing on the 7th. of this inſtant June, 1649. informed by the Aſſeſſors of the Pariſh of Swainſwicke, that I was aſſeſſed at 2 l. 5 s. for Three Moneths Contribution, by virtue of a (pretended) Act of the Commons aſſembled in Parliament, bearing date the ſeventh of April laſt, aſſeſſing the Kingdom at Ninety thouſand pounds Monthly, beginning from the 25 of March laſt, and continuing for Six moneths next enſuing, towards the maintenance of the Forces to be continued in England and Ireland, and the paying of ſuch as are thought fit to be disbanded, that ſo Free-quarter may be taken off; whereof 3075 l. 17 s. 1 d. ob. is monethly impoſed on the County, and 4 l. 5 s. 3 d. on the ſmall poor Pariſh where I live; and being ſince on the fifteenth of June required to pay in 2 l. 5 s. for my proportion; I returned the Collector this Anſwer, That I could neither in Conſcience, Law, nor Prudence in the leaſt meaſure, ſubmit to the voluntary payment of this illegal Tax, and unreaſonable Contribution, (after all my unrepaired loſſes and ſufferings for the publick Liberty) amounting to ſix times more than SHIP-MONEY, (the times conſidered) or any other illegal Tax of the late beheaded King, ſo much declaimed againſt in our three laſt Parliaments, by ſome of thoſe who impoſed this. And that I would rather ſubmit to the painfulleſt death and ſevereſt puniſhment the Impoſers or Exactors of it could inflict upon me by their arbitrary power (for legal they had none) than voluntarily pay, or not oppoſe it in my place and calling to the uttermoſt; upon the ſ…me, if not better reaſons, … I oppugned aSee my Humble Remonſtrance againſt Ship-money.Ship-money, Knighthood, and other unlawful Impoſitions of the late King and his Councell heretofore. And that they and all the world might bear witneſs, I did it not from meer obſtinacy or ſullenneſs, but out of ſolid real grounds of Conſcience, Law, Prudenoe, and publick affection to the weal and liberty of my native Country (now in danger of being enſl…ved under a new vaſſallage, more g…ievous than the worſt it ever yet ſuſtained under the late, or any other of our worſt Kings) I promiſed to draw up the Reaſons of this my reſuſal in writing, and to publiſh them, ſo ſoon as poſſible, to the Kingdome for my own Vindication, and the better Information and ſatisfaction of all ſuch as are any wayes concerned in the impoſing, collecting, levying or paying of this ſtrange kind of Contribution. In purſuance whereof, I immediately penned theſe inſuing Reaſons, againſt that Taxe in 1649. which I augmented with ſome new additions▪ againſt the hundred thouſand pound Tax each month impoſed on us, by our worſe then Egyptian Jan. 26. 1659.Tax-Maſters now; for thoſe very ſix enſuing months ſpace, they payed in long ſince, before they became due, by their forced Exactions and Diſtreſſes, againſt all rules of Juſtice, Law, Conſcience, and preſidents of former times; which I humbly ſubmit to the impartial Cenſure of all conſcientious and judicious Engliſhmen: deſiring either their ingenuous Refutation, if erroneous; or candid Approbation, if ſubſtantial and irrefragable, as my conſcience and judgement perſwade me they are, and that they will appear ſo to all impartial Peruſers, after full examination.
Firſt, By the fundamental Laws, and known Statutes of this Realm, No Tax, Tallage, Ayd, Impoſition, Contribution, Loan or Aſſeſſement whatſoever, may or ought to be impoſed or levied on the free men and people of this Realm of England, but by the WILL and COMMON ASSENT of the EARLS, BARONS, Knights, Burgeſſes, Commons, and WHOLE REALM in a free and full PARLIAMENT, by ACT OF PARLIAMENT: All Taxes, &c. not ſo impoſed, levyed (though for the common defence and profit of the Realm) being unjuſt, oppreſſive, inconſiſtent with the Liberty and Property of the Subject, Laws and Statutes of the Realm; as is undeniably evident by the expreſs Statutes of Magna Charta, cap. 29, 30. 25. E. 1. c. 5, 6. 34. E. 1. De Tallagio non concodendo, c. 1. 14 E. 3. Stat. 1. c. 21. Stat. 2. c. 1. 15. E. 3. Stat. 2. c. 1. Stat. 3. cap. 5. 21. E. 3. Rot. Parl. n. 16. 25. E. 3. c. 8. Rot. Parl. n. 15. 27. E. 3. Stat. 2. c. 2. 36. E. 3. Rot. Parl. n. 26. 38. E. 3. c. 2. & Rot. Parl. n. 40. 45. E. 3. Rot. Parl. n. 42. 51. E. 3. Rot. Parl. n. 25. 11 H. 4. Rot. Parl. n. 10. 1. R. 3. c. 2. The Petition of Right, and Reſolutions of both Houſes againſt Loans, 3. Caroli: The Votes and Acts againſt Ship-money, Knighthood, Tonnage and Poundage, and the Star-chamber this laſt Parliament, Ann. 16. & 17. Car. c. 8. 12. 14. 20. And fully argued and demonſtrated by Mr. William Hackwell in his Argument againſt Impoſitions, Judg Hutton and Judg Crook in their Arguments, and Mr. St. John in his Argument and Speech againſt Ship-money, with other Arguments and Diſcourſes of that ſubject: Sir Edward Cook in his 2 Inſtit. (publiſhed by Order of the Commons Houſe) pag. 59. 60▪ &c. 527, 528, 529, 532, 533, &c. with ſundry other Records and Law-books cited by thoſe great Rabbies of the Law and Patriots of the Peoples Liberties. But the preſent Tax of Ninety Thouſand pounds a MonethMonth, now exacted of me, An. 1649. and this of an Hundred thouſand pounds each monethmonth now demanded, was not thus impoſed. Therefore it ought not to be demanded of, or levied of me; and I ought in conſcience, law and prudence to withſtand it as unjuſt, oppreſſive, inconſiſtent with the Liberty and Property of the Subject, Laws and Statutes of the Realm; even by the Junctoes Knack of Oct. 11. 1659.
To make good the Aſſumption, which is onelyonly queſtionable.
Firſt, This Tax was not impoſed in, but out of Parliament, the late Parliament being actually diſſolved above two moneths before this pretended Act, by theſe Tax-impoſers taking away the King by a violent death, as is expreſly reſolved by the Parliament of 1 H. 4. Rot. Parl. N. 1. by the Parliament of 14 H. 4. and 1 H. 5. Rot. Parl. N. 26. Cook 4. Inſtitutes p. 46. and 4 E. 4. 44. bSee 1 E. … cap. 7. Cook 7. Report. 30, 31. Dyer 165. 4 Ed. 4. 43, 44, 1 E. 5. 1 Book Commiſſion. 10, 21.and I have largely and irrefragably proved: in my true and perfect Narrative, 1659. For the King being both the Head, beginning, end and foundation of the Parliament (as Modus tenendi Parliamentum: and Sir Edward Cooks 4 Inſtit. p. 3. reſolve) which was ſummoned and conſtituted onelyonly by his writ, now actually abated by his death: and the Parliament (as is evident by the clauſes of the ſeveral Writs of Summons to cCromptons Juriſdiction of Courts. fol. 1. Cook 4. Inſtit. c. 1.the Lords, and for the election of the Knights and Burgeſſes, and levying of their wages) being only PARLIAMENTUM NOSTRUM, the Kings Parliament that is dead, not his Heirs and Succeſſors; and the Lords and Commons being all ſummoned and authorized by it to come to OUR PARLIAMENT, there to be perſonally preſent, and confer with US (NOBISCUM, not Our Heirs and Succeſſors) of the weighty and urgent affairs that concerned (NOS) US and OUR KINGDOM of England; and Knights and Burgeſſes receiving their wages for, Nuper ad NOS ad PARLIAMENTƲM NOSTRUM veniendo, &c. quod ſommoneri FECINUS, ad tractandum ibidem ſuper diverſis & arduis Negotiis NOS & Statum REGNI NOSTRI t…ngentibus, as the tenor of the d5 E. 3. m. 6. part. 2. Dorſ. Clauſ. Regiſt. f. 192. 200.Writs for their wages determines. The King being dead, and his Writs and Authority by which they were ſummoned, with the ends for which they were called (to conferre with US, about US and OUR KINGDOMS affairs, &c. being thereby abſolutely determined, without any hopes of revival; the Parliament it ſelf muſt thereupon abſolutely be determined likewiſe (eſpecially to thoſe who have diſinherited HIS HEIRS and SUCCESSORS, and voted down our Monarchy it ſelf) and they with all other Members of Parliament, ceaſe to be any longer Members of it, being made onelyonly ſuch by the Kings abated Writ; even as all Judges, Juſtices of peace, and Sheriffs made only by the Kings Writs or Commiſſions, not by his Letters Patents, ceaſe to be, Judges, Juſtices, and Sheriffs by the Kings death, for this very reaſon, becauſe they are conſtituted Juſticiarios & Vicecomites NOSTROS, ad Pacem NOSTRAM, &c. cuſtodiendam; and he being dead, and his Writs and Commiſſions expired by his death, they can be Our Judges, Juſtices, and Sheriffs no longer, to preſerve OUR Peace, &c. (no more than a wife can be her deceaſed Husbands Wife, and bound to his obedience, from which ſhe was looſed to his death, Rom. 7. 2, 3.) And his Heirs and Succeſſors they cannot be, unleſſe he pleaſe to make them ſo by his new Writs or Commiſſions, as all our e4 Ed. 4. 44. 1 E. 5. 1. Brook Commiſſions. 19. 21. & Officer, 25. Dyer. 165. Cook. 7. Report, 30. 31. 1 E. 6. c. 7. Daltons Juſtice of Peace, c. 3. p. 13 Lambert. p. 71.Law-books and Judges have frequently reſolved upon this very reaſon, which equally extends to Members of Parliament, as to Judges, Juſtices and Sheriffs, as is agreed in 4 E. 4. f. 43, 44. and Brook, Office and Officer, 25, Therefore this Tax being clearly impoſed not in, but out of, and after the Parliament ended by the Kings decapitation, and that by ſuch who were then no lawfull Knights, Citizens, Burgeſſes, or Members of Parliament, but only private men, their Parliamentary Authority expiring with the King, it muſt needs be illegal, and contrary to all the forecited Statutes; as the Convocations and Clergies Tax and Benevolence granted after the Parliament diſſolved in the year 1640. was reſolved to be, by both Houſes of Parliament, and thoſe adjudged high Delinquents who had any hand in promoting it, as the Impeachments againſt them evidence, drawnup by ſome now acting.
2. Admit the late Parliament ſtill in being, yet the Houſe of Peers, Earls, and Barons of the Realm were no wayes privy nor conſenting to this Tax impoſed without, yea, againſt their conſents, in direct affront of their *See my Plea for the Lords and Houſe of Peers.moſt antient undubitable Parliamentary Right and Privileges, (theſe Taxmaſters having preſumed to vote down and null their very Houſe, by their new encroached tranſcendent power) as appears by the title and body of this pretended Act, entituled by them, An Act of THE COMMONS aſſembled in Parliament: Whereas the Houſe of Commons alone, though full and free, have no more lawfull Authority to impoſe any Tax upon the People, or make any Act of Parliament or binding Law without the Kings or Lords concurrence, than the Man in the Moon, or the Convocation, Anno 1640. after the Parliament diſſolved (as is evident by the expreſſe words of the fore-cited Acts, the Petition of Right it ſelf; the Acts for the Triennial Parliament; and againſt the proroguing or diſſolving this Parliament, 16 Car. c. 1, & 7. with all our printed Statutes, f14 R. 2. n. 15. 11 H 4. n. 30. 13 H. 4. n. 25.Parliament-Rolls, and g4 H. 7. 18. b. 7 H. 7. 27. Forteſcue, c. 18. f 20 Dyer, 92. B…ook Parliament, 76, 197. Cooks 4. Inſtitut. p. 25.Law-books: they neither having nor challenging the ſole Legiſlative power in any age; and being not ſo much as ſummoned to, nor conſtitutive M…mbers of our hSee the Freeholders grand Inqueſt. My Plea for the Lords.antient Parliaments, (which conſiſted of the King, Spiritual and Temporal Lords, without any Knights, Citizens or Burgeſſes, as all our Hiſtories and Records atteſt) till 49 H. 3. at ſooneſt; they having not ſo much as a Speaker or Commons Houſe, till after the beginning of King E. the third's reign, and ſeldom or never preſuming to make or tender any Bills or Acts to the King or Lords, but Petitions only to them, to redreſs their grievances and enact new Laws, till long after R. the ſeconds time, as our Parliament Rolls, and the printed Prologues to the Statutes of 1, 4, 5, 9, 10, 20, 23, 36, 37. and 50 Edw. 3. 1 Rich 3. 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 Hen. 4. 1, 2, 3, 4, 8 9 Hen. 5. 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, The 1, and 2, Part of my Regiſter of Parliamentary Writs, and exact Ab. idgement of the Records in …e Tower, my Hiſtorical Collection, part 1, 2. c. 3.9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 29, 28, 29. 39 Hen. 6. 1, 4, 7, 8, 12, 17. 22 Ed. 4. and 1 Rich. 3. evidence (which run all in this form, At the Parliament holden, &c. by THE ADVICE and ASSENT OF THE LORDS SPIRITUAL and TEMPORAL, and at THE SPECIAL INSTANCE and REQUEST OF THE COMMONS OF THE REALM, (BY THEIR PETITIONS put in the ſaid Parliament, as ſome Prologues have it.) Our Lord the King hath cauſed to be ordained, or ordained certain STATƲTES, &c.) Where the adviſing and aſſenting to Laws is appropriated to the Lords; the ordaining of them to the King; and nothing but the requesting of, and petitioning for them to the Commons, and that both from King and Lords, in whom the Legiſlative power principally, and before 49 H. 3. originally and ſolely reſided, as is manifeſt by the printed Prologue to the Statute of Merton, 20 Hen. 3. The Statute of Mortemain, 7 E. 1. 31 E. 1. De Aſportatis Religioſorum, the Statute of Sheriffs, 9 Ed. 2. and of the Templers, 17 Ed. 2. to cite no more. Therefore this Tax impoſed by the Commons alone without King or Lords, muſt needs be void, illegal, and no wayes obligatory to the Subjects.
3. Admit the whole Houſe of Commons in a full and free Parliament had power to impoſe a Tax, and make an Act of Parliament for levying of it without King or Lords; (which they never once did, or pretended to in any age) yet this Act and Tax can be no waies obliging, becauſe not made and impoſed by a full and free Houſe of Commons, but by an empty Houſe, packed, ſwayed, over-awed by the chief Officers of the Army, and their Confederates in the Houſe, who having preſumed by mere force, and See my Speech, Dec. 4. 1648. and a full Declation of the true state of the Caſe of the Secluded Members.armed power, againſt Law and without Preſident, to ſeclude the major part of the Houſe (at leaſt eight parts of ten) who by Law and Cuſtom are the Houſe it ſelf, from ſitting or voting with them, contrary to the Freedom and Privileges of Parliament; readmitting none but upon their own terms of renouncing their own forme, Ʋotes touching the Kings Conceſſions, and taking their new treaſonable Engagements, againſt the King, Kingſhip, and Houſe of Lords. An uſurpation not to be paralel'd in any age, deſtructive to the very being of Parliaments; i(i) Cooks 4. Inſtitutes p. 1. 5 R. 2. Stat. 2. c. 4.Where all Members of both Houſes are ex debito Juſtitiae, wi…h equal Freedom to meet and ſpeak their mind…: injurious to all thoſe Counties, Cities, Borough…, whoſe Knights, Citizens and Burgeſſes are ſecluded, and to the whole Kingdom; yea, contrary to all rules of reaſon, juſtice▪ policy, conſcience, and their own Agreement of the people, which inhibit the *Populi Minor pars, Populum non obigit. Grotius de Jure Belli. l. 2. c. 15. ſect. 3. Alexander ab Alexandro. Gen. dierum. l. 4. c. 11.far leſſer part of any Councel, Court or Committee, to overſway, ſeclude or fore-judg the major number of their Aſſeſſors, and fellow-members, over whom they can no ways pretend the leaſt juriſdiction; it being the high way to uſher Tyranny and confuſion into all Councels, and Realms, to their utter diſſolution; ſince the King alone without the Lords and Commons, or the Lords alone without the King or Commons, may by this new device make themſelves an abſolute Parliament to impoſe Taxes and enact Laws without the Commons, or any other forty or fifty Commoners meeting together without their companions, and ſecluding them by force, do the like, as well as this remnant of the Commons make themſelves a complete Parliament without the King, Lords, or Majority of their fellow-Members, if they can but now or hereafter raiſe an Army to back them in it, as the Army did thoſe ſitting 1648. and 1649. and thoſe ſitting in 1659 have done, ſecluding the majority of their old fellow-Members by meer armed Violence.
4. Suppoſe this Tax ſhould bind thoſe Counties, Cities, and Burronghs, whoſe Knights, Citizens and Burgeſſes ſate and conſented to it when impoſed, (though I dare ſwear much againſt the minds and wills of all or moſt of thoſe they repreſent; who by the (k) Armies▪new Doctrine, may juſtly question and revoke their (a) Declarat. Nov. 28. & 30. 1648.authority for this high breach of Truſt; the rather, becauſe the Knights and Burgeſſes aſſembled in the firſt Parliament of 13. E. 3. Rot. Parl. n. 8. did all refuſe to grant a great extraordinary Subſidie demanded of them (though not comparable to this) for the neceſſary defence of the Kingdome againſt foraign Enemies, till they had conferred with the Counties and Burroughs for which they ſerved, and gained their aſſents:) Yet there is no ſhadow of Reaſon, Law or Equity, it ſhould oblige any of the Secluded Members themſelves, whereof I am one; or thoſe Counties, Cities, Burroughs, whoſe Knights, Citizens and Burgeſſes have been ſecluded or ſcared thence by the Armies or ſitting Members fraud, force, violence, or illegal Votes for their ſeculſion; who abſolutely diſavow this Tax and Act as un-parliamentary, illegall, and never aſſented to by them in the leaſt degree; ſince the onelyonly l39. Ed. 3. 7. 4. H. 7. 10. Brook Parl. 26. 40. Cook 4. Inſtit. p. 1. 25, 26. 1 Jac. cap. 1.reaſon in Law, or equity, why Taxes or Acts of Parliament oblige any Member, County, Burrough or Subject, is, becauſe they are parties, and conſenting thereunto either in proper perſon, or by their choſen Repreſentatives in Parliament; returned and authorized by Indentures under their Seals, it being a recieved Maxime in all Laws, mClauſ. 23. E. 1. m. 24. dorſo.Quod tang it omnes, ab omnibus debet approbari. Upon which reaſon it is judged in our n49. E. 3. 18, 19. 21. H. 7. 4. Brook Cuſtoms 6. 32.Law-books, That By-Laws oblige only thoſe who are parties, and conſent unto them, but not ſtrangers, or ſuch who aſſented not thereto. And (which comes fully to the preſent caſe) in 7. H. 6. 35. 8. H. 6. 34. Brook Ancient Demeſne 20. & Patl. 17. 101. it is reſolved; That ancient Demeſne is a good plea in a Writ of Waſt, upon the Statutes of Waſt, becauſe thoſe in ancient Demeſne were not parties to the making of them, FOR THAT THEY HAD NO KNIGHTS NOR BURGESSES IN PARLIAMENT, nor contributed to their expences. And Judge Brook Parliament 101. hath this obſervable Note, It is moſt frequently found, that Wales and County palatines, WHICH CAME NOT TO THE PARLIAMENT (in former times, which now they do) SHALL NOT BE BOUND BY THE PARLIAMENT OF ENGLAND: for ancient Demeſne is a good Plea in an action of Waſt, and yet ancient Demeſne is not excepted; and it is enacted 2. Ed. 6. cap. 28. That Fines and Proclamations ſhall be in Cheſter, for the former Statutes did not extend to it: And it is enacted, That a Fine and Proclamation ſhall be in Lancaſter. 5. & 6. Ed. 6. c. 26. And in a Proclamation upon an e…igent is given by the Statute in Cheſter, and Wales, 1 E. 6. c. 20. And by another Act to Lancaſter. 5. & 6. E. 5. c. 26. And the Statute of Juſtices of Peace extented not to Wales, and the County palatine; and therefore an Act was made for Wales and Cheſter, 27. H. 8. c. 5. who had Knights and Burgeſſes appointed by that Parliament, for that and future Parliaments, by Act of Parliament, 27. Hen. 8. cap. 26. ſince which they have continued, their wages being to be levyed by the Statute of 35. H. 8. c. 11. Now, if Acts of Parliament bound not Wales and Counties Palatines, which had anciently no Knights nor Burgeſſes in Parliament to repreſent them, becauſe they neither perſonally nor repreſentatively were parties and conſenters to them; much leſſe then can or ought this heavy Tax, and illegal Act, 1649, or thoſe of 1659. to bind thoſe Knights, Citizens and Burgeſſes, or the Counties, Cities and Burroughs they repreſent, who were forcibly ſecluded, or driven away from the Parliament by the confederacy, practice, orders, commands, or connivance at leaſt, of thoſe now ſitting, who impoſed theſe Taxes, and paſſed theſe ſtrange Acts, as the recited Lawbooks, and the later Clauſes in all Writs for electing Knights and Burgeſſes reſolve, much leſſe to oblige Scotland & Ireland, who have *The 1. part of the Parliamentary writs p. 411, to 422. Cooks 4 Inſtit. 75, 76, 1 Iac. c. 1, 2. Iac c. 3, 4. 7 Iac. c. 1. 12 Car. c. 17.Parliaments of their own, and have, yea ought to have no Members ſitting for them in the Engliſh Parliaments, who ſeldom or never impoſed Taxes on Scotland or Ireland heretofore, whoſe taxes were only impoſed by their own Parliaments, as is evident by clauſ. 46 E. 3. m. 25. & clauſ. 47 E. 3. m. 3. My Plea for the Lords, p. 426, 427, 2 R. 2 f. 11, 12. Brook Parliament 98. 20 H. 6. f. 8. Fitz. Preſcription 7. and Brook Preſcription 4. They being not ſo much as a Parliament of England, much leſſe of Scotland & Ireland, (as they ſtile themſelves) and having no authority by their writs of Elections and Indentures, to treat or conſult of any buſineſſes, but only ſuch as touch and concern the Kingdom of England, not the Kingdoms of Scotland and Ireland, not mentioned in the Writs or Indentures of their Elections: Eſpecially, becauſe thoſe Taxes, are thus impoſed by them for the ſupport and continuance of thoſe Officers and that Army, who trayterouſly ſeiſed and ſecluded the Members from the Houſe, and yet detain ſome of them Priſoners, againſt all Law and Juſtice, and have oft ſecluded them ſince: and becauſe the ſecluded Members are the far major part (above ſix times as many as thoſe that ſate and ſhut them out by force) and would no waies have conſented to theſe illegal Taxes, or the undue manner of impoſing them, without the Lords concurrence, had they been preſent. And, I my ſelf, being both an unjuſtly impriſoned and ſecluded Member, and neither of the Knights of the County of Somerſet, where I live, preſent or conſenting to theſe Acts or Taxes, (both of them being forced thence by the Army, and ſitting Members, and one of them now dead, and the other excluded) I conceive neither my ſelf nor the Countie where I live, nor the Borough for which I ſerved, nor the people of theſe Kingdoms, in the leaſt meaſure bound by theſe Acts or Taxes, but clearly exempted from them, and obliged with all our might and power effectually to oppoſe them.
If any here object, That by the cuſtome of Parliament, forty Object.members onelyonly are ſufficient to make a Commons Houſe of Parliament, and there were at leaſt ſo many preſent when this Tax was impoſed: Therefore it is valid, obligatory both to the ſecluded Members and the Kingdome.
I anſwer: Firſt, That though regularly it be true, that forty members are ſufficient to make a Commons Houſe to begin Anſw.praiers, & buſineſſes of leſſer moment, in the beginning of the day, till the other Members come, and the Houſe be full; yet 40. were never in any Parliament reputed a competent number to grant Subſidies, Taxes, paſſe or read Bills, or debate or conclude matters of greateſt moment; which by the conſtant Rules, and uſage of Parliament, were never debated, concluded, paſſed, but in a free and ſull Houſe, when all or moſt of the Members were preſent, as the Parliament Rolls, Journals, Modus tenendi Parliamentum, Sir Edward Cooks 4 Inſtitutes, p. 1. 2. 26. 35. 36. Cromptons Juriſdiction of Courts, f. 1. &c. 39. E. 3. 7. Brook Parliament. 27. 1 Jac. c. 1. and the many Records I have cited to this purpoſe in my Levellers Ievelled, my Plea for the Lords, and Memento p. 10. the exact Abridgement of the Records in the Tower, p. 11. 13 14. 19. 31. 36. 43. 46. 50. 51. 66. 69. 73. 74. 78. 90. 92. 96. 105. 120. 144. 152, 154. 167. 169. 173. 182. 188. 193. 195. 202. 281. 286. 287. 290. 298. 308. 318. 318. 331. 335. 371. 373. 392. 426, 427. 428. 430. 439. 440. 450. 454. 555. 464. 465. 665. 750. abundantly prove beyond contradiction; for which cauſe the Members ought to be fined, and loſe their wages, if abſent without ſpecial Licence, as Modus tenendi Parliamentum, 5 R. 2. Par. 2. c. 4. 9. H. 8. c. 16. and A Collection of all Orders, &c. of the late Parliament, p. 224. 357. with the frequent ſummoning and fining abſent Members evidence.
Secondly, though forty Members onelyonly may peradventure make an Houſe in caſe of abſolute neceſſity, when the reſt through ſickneſs, and publick or private occaſions: are voluntarily or negligently abſent; and might freely repair thither to ſit or give their Votes if they pleaſed: yet forty Members never yet made a Commons Houſe by cuſtome of Parliament (there being never any ſuch caſe till now) when the reſt (being above four times their number) were forcibly ſecluded or driven thence by an Army raiſed to defend them, through the practice, connivance or command of thoſe forty or fifty ſitting, of purpoſe that they ſhould not over nor counter-vote them; much leſſe an Houſe to ſequeſter or expell the other Members, or impoſe any Tax upon them. Till they ſhew me ſuch a Law, Cuſtome or Preſident (not to be found in any age) all they pretend is nothing to purpoſe, or the preſent caſe.
3ly. The viſible horrid, armed force upon both Houſes of Parliament, ſuppreſſing and ſecluding the whole Houſe of Peers, aSee my Plea for the Lords and Houſe of Peers, and Hiſtorical Collection of the Great Councils and Parliaments, and Fundamental Rights, Laws, and Liberti… of all Engliſh Freemen.against their undoubted hereditary and most ancient right to ſit and vote in all Parliaments of England, ratified by the firſt Act made this Parliament, 16 Car. c. 1. and the Act for the continuance thereof, 17 Car. c. 7. by pretext whereof the Members now ſit; their forcible ſecluſion of the far greateſt part of the Houſe of Commons onelyonly for their Vote of Dec. 5. 1648. to ſettle the peace of the Kingdoms, after a long-laſting inteſtine war, upon moſt ſafe and honourable terms, by the Army raiſed for their defence to ſit and vote in ſafety; as it totally ſubverts all the rights, Priviledges, and Conſtitution of our Parliaments, ſo it utterly nalls all their Votes, Orders, Ordinances, Taxes, and Impoſitions whatſoever to all intents; as I ſhall evidence beyond contradiction.
1. By bPrinted by it ſelf, and in a Declaration of the Engagements and Remonſtrances, &c. of the General, and General Councill of Officers of the Army. London 1647 p. 107. 108.the Declaration of WILLIAM LENTHAL Eſquire, SPEAKER of the Honourable HOUSE OF COMMONS, Printed July 29. 16 7. by his direction then; and riſing up in Judgement gainſt him and all his ſitting Conventicles, ever ſince the forcible excluſion of the moſt of their fellow-Members, and the Lords, by their expreſſe order and confederacy.