JOHN PYM. ON THE SUBJECT OF GRIEVANCES IN THE REIGN OF CHARLES I. HOUSE OF COMMONS. APRIL 5, 1640.
After an interval of eleven years since the dissolution of the Third Parliament of Charles I., the Fourth or Short Parliament was opened by the King on the 3d of April, 1640. In his opening speech, Charles simply said: “My Lords and Gentlemen: There never was a king that had a more great and weighty cause to call his people together than myself: I will not trouble you with the particulars. I have informed my Lord Keeper, and command him to speak, and desire your attention.” After this short and ungracious declaration, the Lord Keeper proceeded to speak in a very lofty and absurd strain in regard to the Royal Prerogative, and ending with the admonition, “that his Majesty did not expect advice from them, much less that they should interfere in any office of mediation, which would not be grateful to him: but that they should, as soon as might be, give his Majesty a supply, and that he would give them time enough afterwards to represent grievances to him.”
Two days later, as soon as Parliament assembled, a number of petitions were presented, “complaining of ship-money projects and monopolies, the star-chamber and high-commission courts and other grievances.” Between the consideration of these petitions and deference to the King’s request to grant supplies at once, there was a hesitation; and it was of this sense of “divided duty” that Pym determined to avail himself. Clarendon says: “Whilst men gazed upon each other, looking who should begin (much the greater part having never before sat in Parliament) Mr. Pym, a man of good reputation, but much better known afterwards, who had been as long in these assemblies as any man then living, broke the ice, and in a set discourse of about two hours,” addressed the House.
Never Parliament had greater business to dispatch, nor more difficulties to encounter; therefore we have reason to take all advantages of order and address, and hereby we shall not only do our own work, but dispose and inable ourselves for the better satisfaction of his Majesty’s desire of supply. The grievances being removed, our affections will carry us with speed and cheerfulness, to give his Majesty that which may be sufficient both for his honor and support. Those that in the very first place shall endeavor to redress the grievances, will be found not to hinder, but to be the best furtherers of his Majesty’s service. He that takes away weights, doth as much advantage motion, as he that addeth wings. Divers pieces of this main work have been already propounded; his endeavor should be to present to the House a model of the whole. In the creation, God made the world according to that idea or form which was eternally preËxistent in the Divine mind. Moses was commanded to frame the tabernacle after the pattern showed him in the mount. Those actions are seldom well perfected in the execution, which are not first well moulded in the design and proposition.
He said he would labor to contract those manifold affairs both of the Church and State, which did so earnestly require the wisdom and faithfulness of this House, into a double method of grievances and cures. And because there wanted not some who pretended that these things, wherewith the commonwealth is now grieved, are much for the advantage of the King, and that the redress of them will be to his Majesty’s great disadvantage and loss, he doubted not but to make it appear, that in discovering the present great distempers and disorders, and procuring remedy for them, we should be no less serviceable to his Majesty, who hath summoned us to this great council than useful to those whom we do here represent. For the better effecting whereof, he propounded three main branches of his discourse. In the first, he would offer them the several heads of some principal grievances, under which the kingdom groaned. In the second, he undertook to prove that the disorders from whence those grievances issued, were as hurtful to the King as to the people. In the third, he would advise such a way of healing, and removing those grievances, as might be equally effectual to maintain the honor and greatness of the King, and to procure the prosperity and contentment of the people.
In the handling whereof he promised to use such expressions as might mitigate the sharpness and bitterness of those things whereof he was to speak, so far as his duty and faithfulness would allow. It is a great prerogative to the King, and a great honor attributed to him, in a maxim of our law, that he can do no wrong; he is the fountain of justice; and, if there be any injustice in the execution of his commands, the law casts it upon the ministers, and frees the King.
Activity, life, and vigor are conveyed into the sublunary creatures by the influence of heaven; but the malignity and distemper, the cause of so many epidemical diseases, do proceed from the noisome vapors of the earth, or some ill-affected qualities of the air, without any infection or alteration of those pure, celestial, and incorruptible bodies. In the like manner, he said, the authority, the power, and countenance of princes, may concur in the actions of evil men, without partaking in the injustice and obliquity of them. These matters whereof we complain, have been presented to his Majesty, either under the pretence of royal prerogatives, which he is bound to maintain, or of public good, which is the most honorable object of regal wisdom. But the covetous and ambitious designs of others have interposed betwixt his royal intentions and the happiness of his people, making those things pernicious and hurtful, which his Majesty apprehended as just and profitable.
He said, the things which he was to propound were of a various nature, many of them such as required a very tender and exquisite consideration. In handling of which, as he would be bold to use the liberty of the place and relation wherein he stood, so he would be very careful to express that modesty and humility which might be expected by those of whose actions he was to speak. And if his judgment or his tongue should slip into any particular mistake, he would not think it so great a shame to fail by his own weakness as he should esteem it an honor and advantage to be corrected by the wisdom of that House to which he submitted himself, with this protestation, that he desired no reformation as much as to reform himself.
The greatest liberty of the kingdom is religion; thereby we are freed from spiritual evils, and no impositions are so grievous as those that are laid upon the soul.
The next great liberty is justice, whereby we are preserved from injuries in our persons and estates; from this is derived into the commonwealth, peace, and order, and safety; and when this is interrupted, confusion and danger are ready to overwhelm all.
The third great liberty consists in the power and privilege of parliaments; for this is the fountain of law, the great council of the kingdom, the highest court; this is inabled by the legislative and conciliary power, to prevent evils to come; by the judiciary power, to suppress and remove evils present. If you consider these three great liberties in the order of dignity, this last is inferior to the other two, as means are inferior to the end; but, if you consider them in the order of necessity and use, this may justly claim the first place in our care, because the end cannot be obtained without the means: and if we do not preserve this, we cannot long hope to enjoy either of the others. Therefore being to speak of those grievances which lie upon the kingdom, he would observe this order.
1. To mention those which were against the privilege of parliaments. 2. Those which were prejudicial to the religion established in the kingdom. 3. Those which did interrupt the justice of the realm in the liberty of our persons and propriety of our estates.
The privileges of Parliament were not given for the ornament or advantage of those who are the members of Parliament.10 They have a real use and efficacy toward that which is the end of parliaments. We are free from suits that we may the more entirely addict ourselves to the public services; we have, therefore, liberty of speech, that our counsels may not be corrupted with fear, or our judgments perverted with self respects. Those three great faculties and functions of Parliament, the legislative, judiciary, and conciliary power,11 cannot be well exercised without such privileges as these. The wisdom of our laws, the faithfulness of our counsels, the righteousness of our judgments, can hardly be kept pure and untainted if they proceed from distracted and restrained minds.
It is a good rule of the moral philosopher,—Et non lÆdas mentem gubernatricem omnium actionum. These powers of Parliament are to the body politic as the rational faculties of the soul to a man; that which keeps all the parts of the commonwealth in frame and temper, ought to be most carefully preserved in that freedom, vigor, and activity, which belongs to itself. Our predecessors in this House have ever been most careful in the first place to settle and secure their privileges; and he hoped, that we, having had greater breaches made upon us than heretofore, would be no less tender of them, and forward in seeking reparation for that which is past, and prevention of the like for the time to come.
Then he propounded divers particular points wherein the privileges of Parliament had been broken. First, in restraining the members of the House from speaking. Secondly, in forbidding the Speaker to put any question.
These two were practiced the last day of the last Parliament (and, as was alleged, by his Majesty’s command); and both of them trench upon the very life and being of parliaments; for if such a restraining power as this should take root, and be admitted, it will be impossible for us to bring any resolution to perfection in such matters as shall displease those about the King.12
Thirdly, by imprisoning divers members of the House, for matters done in Parliament. Fourthly, by indictments, informations, and judgments in ordinary and inferior courts, for speeches and proceedings in parliaments. Fifthly, by the disgraceful order of the King’s bench, whereby some members of this House were enjoined to put in security of their good behaviour; and for refusal thereof, were continued in prison divers years, without any particular allegation against them. One of them was freed by death. Others were not dismissed till his Majesty had declared his intention to summon the present Parliament. And this he noted not only as a breach of privilege, but as a violation of the common justice of the kingdom. Sixthly, by the sudden and abrupt dissolution of parliaments, contrary to the law and custom.
Often hath it been declared in parliaments, that the Parliament should not be dissolved, till the petitions be answered. This (he said) was a great grievance because it doth prevent the redress of other grievances. It were a hard case that a private man should be put to death without being heard. As this representative body of the Commons receives a being by the summons, so it receives a civil death by the dissolution. Is it not a much more heavy doom by which we lose our being, to have this civil death inflicted on us in displeasure, and not to be allowed time and liberty to answer for ourselves? That we should not only die, but have this mark of infamy laid upon us? to be made intestabiles, disabled to make our wills, to dispose of our business, as this House hath always used to do before adjournments or dissolutions? Yet this hath often been our case! We have not been permitted to pour out our last sighs and groans into the bosom of our dear sovereign. The words of dying men are full of piercing affections; if we might be heard to speak, no doubt we should so fully express our love and faithfulness to our prince, as might take off the false suggestions and aspersions of others; at least we should in our humble supplications recommend some such things to him in the name of his people, as would make for his own honor, and the public good of his kingdom.
Thus he concluded the first sort of grievances, being such as were against the privilege of Parliament, and passed on to the next, concerning religion; all which he conveyed under these four heads. The first, was the great encouragement given to popery, of which he produced these particular evidences. 1. A suspension of all laws against papists, whereby they enjoy a free and almost public exercise of that religion. Those good statutes which were made for restraint of idolatry and superstition, are now a ground of security to them in the practice of both; being used to no other end but to get money into the King’s purse; which as it is clearly against the intentions of the law, so it is full of mischief to the kingdom. By this means a dangerous party is cherished and increased, who are ready to close with any opportunity of disturbing the peace and safety of the State. Yet he did not desire any new laws against popery, or any rigorous courses in the execution of those already in force; he was far from seeking the ruin of their persons or estates; only he wished they might be kept in such a condition as should restrain them from doing hurt.13 It may be objected, there are moderate and discreet men amongst them, men of estates, such as have an interest in the peace and prosperity of the kingdom as well as we. These (he said) were not to be considered according to their own disposition, but according to the nature of the body whereof they are parties. The planets have several and particular motions of their own, yet they are all rapt and transported into a contrary course by the superior orb which comprehends them all. The principles of popery are such as are incompatible with any other religion. There may be a suspension of violence for some by certain respects; but the ultimate end even of that moderation is, that they may with more advantage extirpate that which is opposite to them. Laws will not restrain them. Oaths will not. The Pope can dispense with both these, and where there is occasion, his command will move them to the disturbance of the realm—against their own private disposition—yea, against their own reason and judgement—to obey him; to whom they have (especially the Jesuitical party) absolutely and entirely obliged themselves, not only in spiritual matters, but in temporal, as they are in order ad spiritualia. Henry III. and Henry IV. of France were no Protestants themselves, yet were murthered because they tolerated Protestants. The King and the kingdom can have no security but in their weakness and disability to do hurt.
2. A second encouragement is, their admission into places of power and trust in the Commonwealth, whereby they get many dependents and adherents, not only of their own, but even of such as make profession to be Protestants.
3. A third, their freedom of resorting to London and the court, whereby they have opportunity, not only of communicating their counsels and designs, one to another, but of diving into his Majesty’s counsels, by the frequent access of those who are active men amongst them, to the tables and company of great men; and under subtle pretences and disguises they want not means of cherishing their own projects, and of endeavoring to mould and bias the public affairs to the great advantage of that party.
4. A fourth, that as they have a congregation of cardinals at Rome, to consider of the aptest ways and means of establishing the Pope’s authority and religion in England, so they have a nuncio here, to act and dispose that party to the execution of those counsels, and, by the assistance of such cunning and Jesuitical spirits as swarm in this town, to order and manage all actions and events, to the furtherance of that main end.14
The second grievance of religion, was from those manifold innovations lately introduced into several parts of the kingdom, all inclining to popery, and disposing and fitting men to entertain it. The particulars were these: 1. Divers of the chiefest points of religion in difference betwixt us and the papists have been publicly defended, in licensed books, in sermons, in university acts and disputations. 2. Divers popish ceremonies have been not only practised but countenanced, yea, little less than enjoined, as altars, images, crucifixes, bowings, and other gestures and observances, which put upon our churches a shape and face of popery. He compared this to the dry bones in Ezekiel. First, they came together; then the sinews and the flesh came upon them; after this the skin covered them; and then breath and life was put into them! So (he said) after these men had moulded us into an outward form and visage of popery, they would more boldly endeavor to breathe into us the spirit of life and popery. The third grievance was the countenancing and preferring those men who were most forward in setting up such innovations; the particulars were so well known that they needed not to be named.15
The fourth was, the discouragement of those who were known to be most conscionable and faithful professors of the truth. Some of the ways of effecting this he observed to be these: 1. The courses taken to enforce and enlarge those unhappy differences, for matters of small moment, which have been amongst ourselves, and to raise up new occasions of further division, whereby many have been induced to forsake the land, not seeing the end of those voluntary and human injunctions in things appertaining to God’s worship. Those who are indeed lovers of religion, and of the churches of God, would seek to make up those breaches, and to unite us more entirely against the common enemy. 2. The over rigid prosecution of those who are scrupulous in using some things enjoined, which are held by those who enjoin them, to be in themselves indifferent. It hath been ever the desire of this House, expressed in many parliaments in Queen Elizabeth’s time and since, that such might be tenderly used. It was one of our petitions delivered at Oxford to his Majesty that now is; but what little moderation it hath produced is not unknown to us all! Any other vice almost may be better endured in a minister than inconformity. 3. The unjust punishments and vexations of sundry persons for matters required without any warrant of law: as, for not reading the book concerning recreation on the Lord’s day16; for not removing the communion table to be set altarwise at the east end of the chancel; for not coming up to the rails to receive the sacrament; for preaching the Lord’s day in the afternoon; for catechising in any other words and manner than in the precise words of the short catechism in the common prayer-book.
The fifth and last grievance concerning religion, was the encroachment and abuse of ecclesiastical jurisdiction. The particulars mentioned were these: 1. Fining and imprisoning in cases not allowed by law. 2. The challenging their jurisdiction to be appropriate to their order, which they allege to be jure divino. 3. The contriving and publishing of new articles, upon which they force the churchwardens to take oaths, and to make inquiries and presentments, as if such articles had the force of canons; and this was an effect of great presumption and boldness, not only in the bishops, but in the archdeacons, officials, and chancellors, taking upon themselves a kind of synodal authority. The injunctions of this kind might, indeed, well partake in name with that part of the common law which is called the extravagants!
Having despatched these several points, he proceeded to the third kind of grievances, being such as are against the common justice of the realm, in the liberty of our persons, and propriety of our estates, of which he had many to propound: in doing whereof, he would rather observe the order of time, wherein they were acted, than of consequence; but when he should come to the cure, he should then persuade the House to begin with those which were of most importance, as being now in execution, and very much pressing and exhausting the commonwealth.
He began with the tonnage and poundage and other impositions not warranted by law; and because these burdens had long lain upon us, and the principles which produced them are the same from whence divers others are derived, he thought it necessary to premise a short narrative and relation of the grounds and proceedings of the power of imposing herein practised.17 It was a fundamental truth, essential to the constitution and government of this kingdom—an hereditary liberty and privilege of all the freeborn subjects of the land—that no tax, tallage, or other charge might be laid upon us, without common consent in Parliament. This was acknowledged by the Conquerro; ratified in that contract which he made with this nation, upon his admittance to the kingdom; declared and confirmed in the laws which he published. This hath never been denied by any of our kings—though broken and interrupted by some of them, especially by King John and Henry III. Then, again, it was confirmed by Mag. Chart., and other succeeding laws; yet not so well settled but that it was sometime attempted by the two succeeding Edwards, in whose times the subjects were very sensible of all the breaches made upon the common liberty, and, by the opportunity of frequent parliaments, pursued them with fresh complaints, and for the most part found redress, and procured the right of the subject to be fortified by new statutes. He observed that those kings, even in the acts whereby they did break the law, did really affirm the subject’s liberty, and disclaim that right of imposing which is now challenged: for they did usually procure the merchants’ consent to such taxes as were laid, thereby to put a color of justice upon their proceeding; and ordinarily they were limited to a short time, and then propounded to the ratification of the Parliament, where they were cancelled or confirmed, as the necessity and state of the kingdom did require. But for the most part such charges upon merchandise were taken by authority of Parliament, and granted for some short time, in a greater or lesser proportion, as was requisite for supply of the public occasions—six or twelve in the pound, for one, two or three years, as they saw cause to be employed for the defence of the sea: and it was acknowledged so clearly to be in the power of Parliament, that they have sometimes been granted to noblemen, and sometimes to merchants, to be disposed for that use. Afterward they were granted to the King for life, and so continued for divers descents, yet still as a gift and grant of the Commons.
Betwixt the time of Edward III. and Queen Mary, never prince (that he could remember) offered to demand any imposition but by grant in Parliament. Queen Mary laid a charge upon cloth, by the equity of the statute of tonnage and poundage, because the rate set upon wool was much more than upon cloth; and, there being little wool carried out of the kingdom unwrought, the Queen thought she had reason to lay on somewhat more; yet not full so much as brought them to an equality, but that still there continued a less charge upon wool wrought into cloth, than upon wool carried out unwrought; until King James’ time when upon Nicholson’s project, there was a further addition of charge, but still upon pretence of the statute, which is that we call the pretermitted custom.
In Queen Elizabeth’s time, it is true, one or two little impositions crept in, the general prosperity of her reign overshadowing small errors and innovations. One of these was upon currants, by occasion of the merchants’ complaints that the Venetians had laid a charge upon the English cloth, that so we might be even with them, and force them the sooner to take it off. But this being demanded by King James, was denied by one Bates, a merchant, and upon a suit in the exchequer, was adjudged for the King. Now the manner of that judgment was thus: There were then but three judges in that court, all differing from one another in the grounds of their sentences. The first was of opinion, the King might impose upon such commodities as were foreign and superfluous, as currants were, but not upon such as were native and to be transported, or necessary, and to be imported for the use of the kingdom. The second judge was of opinion, he might impose upon all foreign merchandise, whether superfluous or no, but not upon native. The third, that for as much as the King had the custody of the ports, and the guard of the seas, and that he might open and shut up the ports as he pleased, he had a prerogative to impose upon all merchandise, both exported and imported. Yet this single, distracted, and divided judgment, is the foundation of all the impositions now in practice; for, after this, King James laid new charges upon all commodities outward and inward, not limited to a certain time and occasion, but reserved to himself, his heirs and successors, forever,—the first impositions in fee-simple that were ever heard of in this kingdom. This judgment, and the right of imposing thereupon assumed, was questioned in septimo and duodecimo18 of that king, and was the cause of the breach of both those parliaments. In 18 and 21 Jacobi, indeed, it was not agitated by this House, but only that they might preserve the favor of the king, for the despatch of some other great businesses, upon which they were more especially attentive.19 But in the first of his present Majesty, it necessarily came to be remembered, upon the proposition on the King’s part, for renewing the bill of tonnage and poundage; yet so moderate was that Parliament, that they thought rather to confirm the impositions already set by a law to be made, than to abolish them by a judgment in Parliament; but that and divers ensuing parliaments have been unhappily broken, before that endeavor could be accomplished: only at the last meeting a remonstrance was made concerning the liberty of the subject in this point; and it hath always been expressed to be the meaning of the House, and so it was (as he said) his own meaning in the proposition now made, to settle and restore the right according to law, and not to diminish the king’s profit, but to establish it by a free grant in Parliament.
However, since the breach of the last Parliament, his majesty hath, by a new book of rates, very much increased the burden upon merchandise, and now tonnage and poundage, old and new impositions, are all taken by prerogative, without any grant in Parliament, or authority of law, as we conceive; from whence divers inconveniences and mischiefs are produced. 1. The danger of the precedent, that a judgment in one court, and in one case, is made binding to all the kingdom. 2. Men’s goods are seized, their legal suits are stopped, and justice denied to those that desire to take the benefit of the law. 3. The great sums of money received upon these impositions, intended for the guard of the seas, claimed and defended upon no ground but of public trust, for protection of merchants and defence of the ports, are dispersed to other uses, and a new tax raised for the same purposes. 4. These burdens are so excessive, that trade is thereby very much hindered, the commodities of our own growth extremely abased, and those imported much enhanced; all which lies not upon the merchant alone, but upon the generality of the subject; and by this means the stock of the kingdom is much diminished, our exportation being less profitable, and our importation more changeable. And if the wars and troubles in the neighbor parts had not brought almost the whole stream of trade into this kingdom, we should have found many more prejudical effects of these impositions, long before this time, than yet we have done. Especially they have been insupportable to the poor plantations, whither many of his Majesty’s subjects have been transported, in divers parts of the continent and islands of America, in furtherance of a design tending to the honor of the kingdom, and the enlargement of his Majesty’s dominions. The adventurers in this noble work have for the most part no other support but tobacco, upon which such a heavy rate is set, that the King receives twice as much as the true value of the commodity to the owner. 5. Whereas these great burdens have caused divers merchants to apply themselves to a way of traffic abroad by transporting goods from one country to another, without bringing them home into England. But now it hath been lately endeavored to set an imposition upon this trade, so that the King will have a duty even out of those commodities which never come within his dominions, to the great discouragement of such active and industrious men. The next general head of civil grievances, was enforcing men to compound for knighthood; which though it may seem past, because it is divers years since it was used, yet upon the same grounds the King may renew it, as often as he pleaseth, for the composition looks backward, and the offence continuing, is subject to a new fine. The state of that business he laid down thus: Heretofore, when the services due by tenure were taken in kind, it were fit there were some way of trial and approbation of those that were bound to such services. Therefore, it was ordained, that such as were to do knight’s services, after they came of age, and had possession of their lands, should be made knights; that is, publicly declared to be fit for that service:—divers ceremonies and solemnities were in use for this purpose; and if by the party’s neglect this was not done, he was punishable by fine; there being in those times an ordinary and open way to get knighthood, for those who were born to it. Now it is quite true, that although the use of this hath for divers ages been discontinued, yet there have passed very few kings under whom there hath not been a general summons, requiring those who had lands of such value as the law prescribes, to appear at the coronation, or some other great solemnity, and to be knighted, and yet nothing intended but the getting of some small fines. So this grievance is not altogether new in the kind; but it is new in the manner, and in the excess of it, and that in divers respects. 1. First, it hath been extended beyond all intention and color of law. Not only inn-holders, but likewise leaseholders, copyholders, merchants, and others; scarce any man free from it. 2. The fines have been immoderate, far beyond the proportion of former times.20 3. The proportion has been without any example, precedent, or rule of justice. For though those that were summoned did appear, yet distresses infinite were made out against them, and issues increased and multiplied, and no way open to discharge those issues, by plea or otherwise, but only by compounding with the commissioners at their own pleasure.
The third general head of civil grievances was, the great inundation of monopolies: whereby heavy burthens are laid, not only upon foreign, but also native commodities. These began in the soap patent. The principal undertakers in this were divers Popish recusants, men of estate and quality, such as in likelihood did not only aim at their private gain, but that by this open breach of law, the King and his people might be more fully divided, and the ways of Parliament men more thoroughly obstructed. Amongst the infinite inconveniences and mischiefs which this did produce, these few may be observed: 1. The impairing the goodness, and enhancing the price of most of the commodities and manufactures of the realm, yea, of those which are of most necessary and common use, as salt, soap, beer, coals, and infinite others. 2. That, under color of licenses, trades and manufactures are restrained to a few hands, and many of the subjects deprived of their ordinary way of livelihood. 3. That, upon such illegal grants, a great number of persons had been unjustly vexed by pursuivants, imprisonments, attendance upon the council table, forfeiture of goods, and many other ways.
The fourth head of civil grievances was that great and unparalleled grievance of the ship money, which, though it may seem to have more warrant of law than the rest, because there hath a judgment passed for it, yet in truth it is thereby aggravated, if it be considered that the judgment is founded upon the naked opinion of some judges without any written law, without any custom, or authority of law books, yea, without any one precedent for it.21 Many express laws, many declarations in parliaments, and the constant practice and judgment at all times being against it! Yea, in the very nature of it, it will be found to be disproportionable to the case of “necessity” which is pretended to be the ground of it! Necessity excludes all formalities and solemnities. It is no time then to make levies and taxes to build and prepare ships. Every man’s person, every man’s ships are to be employed for the resisting of an invading enemy. The right on the subject’s part was so clear, and the pretences against it so weak, that he thought no man would venture his reputation or conscience in the defence of that judgment, being so contrary to the grounds of the law, to the practice of former times, and so inconsistent in itself.
Amongst many inconveniences and obliquities of this grievance, he noted these: 1. That it extendeth to all persons, and to all times; it subjecteth our goods to distress, and our persons to imprisonment; and, the causes of it being secret and invisible, referred to his Majesty’s breast alone, the subject was left without possibility of exception and relief. 2. That there were no rules or limits for the proportion; so that no man knew what estate he had, or how to order his course or expenses. 3. That it was taken out of the subject’s purse by a writ, and brought into the King’s coffers by instructions from the lords of his most honorable privy council. Now, in the legal defence of it, the writ only did appear; of the instructions there was no notice taken, which yet in the real execution of it were most predominant. It carries the face of service in the writ, and of revenue in the instructions. Why, if this way had not been found to turn the ship into money, it would easily have appeared how incompatible this service is with the office of a sheriff, in the inland counties; and how incongruous and inconvenient for the inhabitants! The law in a body politic is like nature, which always prepareth and disposeth proper and fit instruments and organs for every natural operation. If the law had intended any such charge as this, there should have been certain rules, suitable means, and courses, for the levying and managing of it.
The fifth head was the enlargement of the forests beyond the bounds and perambulations22 appointed and established by act of Parliament, 27 and 28 Edward I.; and this is done upon the very reasons and exceptions which had been on the King’s part propounded, and by the Commons answered, in Parliament, not long after that establishment. It is not unknown to many in this House that those perambulations were the fruit and effect of that famous charter which is called “Charta de ForrestÂ,” whereby many tumults, troubles, and discontents had been taken away, and composed between the King and his subjects; and it is full of danger, that by reviving those old questions, we may fall into the like distempers. Hereby, however, no blame could fall upon that great lord, who is now justice in Eyre, and in whose name these things were acted; it could not be expected that he should take notice of the laws and customs of the realm; therefore he was careful to procure the assistance and direction of the judges; and if any thing were done against law, it was for them to answer, and not for him.
The particular irregularities and obliquities of this business were these:—1. The surreptitious procuring a verdict for the King; without giving notice to the country whereby they might be prepared to give in evidence for their own interest and indemnity, as was done in Essex. 2. Whereas the judges in the justice seat in Essex were consulted with about the entry of the former verdict, and delivered their opinion touching that alone, without meddling with the point of right; this opinion was after enforced in other counties as if it had been a judgment upon the matter, and the council for the county discountenanced in speaking, because it was said to be already adjudged. 3. The inheritance of divers of the subjects have been hereupon disturbed, after the quiet possession of three or four hundred years, and a way opened for the disturbance of many others. 4. Great sums of money have been drawn from such as have lands within these pretended bounds, and those who have forborne to make composition have been threatened with the execution of these forest laws. 5. The fifth was the selling of nuisances, or at least some such things as are supposed to be nuisances. The King, as father of the commonwealth, is to take care of the public commodities and advantages of his subjects, as rivers, highways, common sewers, and suchlike, and is to remove whatsoever is prejudicial to them; and for the trial of those there are legal and ordinary writs of ad quod damnum; but of late a new and extrajudicial way hath been taken, of declaring matters to be nuisances; and divers have thereupon been questioned, and if they would not compound, they have been fined; if they do compound, that which was first prosecuted as a common nuisance is taken into the King’s protection and allowed to stand; and having yielded the King money, no further care is taken whether it be good or bad for the commonwealth. By this a very great and public trust is either broken or abused. If the matter compounded for be truly a nuisance, then it is broken to the hurt of the people; if it be not a nuisance, then it is abused to the hurt of the party. The particulars mentioned were:—First, the commission for buildings in and about this town, which heretofore hath been presented by this House as a grievance in King James’ time, but now of late the execution hath been much more frequent and prejudicial than it was before. Secondly, commission for depopulation,23 which began some few years since, and is still in hot prosecution. By both these the subject is restrained from disposing of his own. Some have been commanded to demolish their houses; others have been forbidden to build; others, after great trouble and vexation, have been forced to redeem their peace with large sums, and they still remain, by law, as liable to a new question as before; for it is agreed by all that the King cannot license a common nuisance; and although indeed these are not such, yet it is a matter of very ill consequence that, under that name, they should be compounded for, and may in ill times hereafter be made a precedent for the Kings of this realm to claim a power of licensing such things as are nuisances indeed.24
The seventh great civil grievance hath been, the military charges laid upon the several counties of the kingdom; sometimes by warrant under his Majesty’s signature, sometimes by letters from the council table, and sometimes (such had been the boldness and presumption of some men), by the order of the Lord Lieutenants, or deputy-lieutenant alone. This is a growing evil; still multiplying and increasing from a few particulars to many, from small sums to great. It began first to be practised as a loan, for supply of coat and conduct money; and for this it hath some countenance from the use in Queen Elizabeth’s time, when the lords of the council did often desire the deputy-lieutenants to procure so much money to be laid out in the country as the service did require, with a promise to pay it again in London; for which purpose there was a constant warrant in the exchequer. This was the practice in her time, and in a great part of King James’. But the payments were then so certain, as it was little otherwise than taking up money upon bills of exchange. At this day they follow these precedents in the manner of the demand (for it is with a promise of a repayment), but not in the certainty and readiness of satisfaction.
The first particular brought into a tax (as he thought) was the muster master’s wages, at which many repined; but being for small sums, it began to be generally digested; yet, in the last Parliament, this House was sensible of it, and to avoid the danger of the precedent that the subjects should be forced to make any payments without consent in Parliament, they thought upon a bill that might be a rule to the lieutenants what to demand, and to the people what to pay. But the hopes of this bill were dashed in the dissolution of that Parliament. Now of late divers other particulars are growing into practise, which make the grievance much more heavy. Those mentioned were these: 1. Pressing men against their will, and forcing them which are rich or unwilling to serve, to find others in their place. 2. The provision of public magazines for powder, and other munition, spades and pickaxes. 3. The salary of divers officers besides the muster master. 4. The buying of cart-horses and carts, and hiring of carts for carriages.
The eighth head of civil grievances was the extrajudicial declarations of judges, whereby the subjects have been bound in matters of great importance without hearing of counsel or argument on their part, and are left without legal remedy, by writ of error or otherwise. He remembered the expression used by a former member of the House, of a “teeming parliament.” This, he said, was a teeming grievance; from hence have issued most of the great grievances now in being. The ship-money—the pretended nuisances already mentioned—and some others which have not yet been touched upon,—especially that concerning the proceedings of ecclesiastical courts.
The ninth general head was—that the authority and wisdom of the council table have been applied to the contriving and managing of several monopolies, and other great grievances. The institution of the council-table was much for the advantage and security of the subject, to avoid surreptitious and precipitate courts in the great affairs of the kingdom. But by law an oath should be taken by all those of the King’s council, in which, amongst other things it is expressed that they should for no cause forbear to do right to all the King’s people. If such an oath be not now taken, he wished it might be brought into use again.
It was the honor of that table, to be, as it were, incorporated with the King; his royal power and greatness did shine most conspicuously in their actions and in their counsels. We have heard of projectors and referees heretofore; and what opinion and relish they have found in this House is not unknown.25 But that any such thing should be acted by the council-table which might give strength and countenance to monopolies, as it hath not been used till now of late, so it cannot be apprehended without the just grief of the honest subject, and encouragement of those who are ill affected. He remembered that in tertio of this king, a noble gentleman, then a very worthy member of the Commons’ House, now a great lord and eminent counsellor of State, did in this place declare an opinion concerning that clause used to be inserted in patents of monopoly, whereby justices of peace are commanded to assist the patentees; and that he urged it to be a great dishonor to those gentlemen which are in commission to be so meanly employed—with how much more reason may we, in jealousy of the honor of the council-table, humbly desire that their precious time, their great abilities, designed to the public care and service of the kingdom, may not receive such a stain, such a diminution as to be employed in matters of so ill report, in the estimation of the law; of so ill effect in the apprehension of the people!
The tenth head of civil grievances was comprised in the high court of star chamber, which some think succeeded that which in the parliament rolls is called magnum concilium, and to which parliaments were wont so often to refer those important matters which they had no time to determine. But now this court, which in the late restoration or erection of it in Henry VII.’s time, was especially designed to restrain the oppression of great men, and to remove the obstructions and impediments of the law,—this, which is both a court of counsel and a court of justice—hath been made an instrument of erecting and defending monopolies and other grievances; to set a face of right upon those things which are unlawful in their own nature; a face of public good upon such as are pernicious in their use and execution. The soap-patent and divers other evidences thereof may be given, so well known as not to require a particular relation. And as if this were not enough, this court hath lately intermeddled with the ship money! divers sheriffs have been questioned for not levying and collecting such sums as their counties have been charged with; and if this beginning be not prevented, the star chamber will become a court of revenue, and it shall be made crime not to collect or pay such taxes as the State shall require!
The eleventh head of civil grievance was now come to. He said, he was gone very high, yet he must go a little higher. That great and most eminent power of the King, of making edicts and proclamations, which are said to be leges temporis, and by means of which our princes have used to encounter with such sudden and unexpected danger, as would not endure so much delay, as assembling the great council of the kingdom—this, which is one of the most glorious beams of majesty, most rigorous in commanding reverence and subjection, hath, to our unspeakable grief, been often exercised of late for the enjoining and maintaining sundry monopolies and other grants; exceeding burdensome and prejudicial to the people.
The twelfth next. Now, although he was come as high as he could upon earth, yet the presumption of evil men did lead him one step higher—even as high as heaven—as high as the throne of God! It was now (he said) grown common for ambitious and corrupt men of the clergy to abuse the truth of God and the bond of conscience; preaching down the laws and liberties of the kingdom; and pretending divine authority for an absolute power in the King, to do what he would with our persons and goods. This hath been so often published in sermons and printed books, that it is now the highway to preferment!
In the last parliament we had a sentence of an offence of this kind against one Manwaring, then a doctor, now a bishop; concerning whom (he said) he would say no more but this, that when he saw him at that bar, in the most humble and dejected posture that ever he observed, he thought he would not so soon have leaped into a bishop’s chair! But his success hath emboldened others; therefore (he said) this may well be noted as a double grievance, that such doctrine should be allowed, and that such men should be preferred; yea, as a root of grievances, whereby they endeavor to corrupt the King’s conscience, and, as much as in them lies, to deprive the people of that royal protection to which his Majesty is bound by the fundamental laws of the kingdom, and by his own personal oath.
The thirteenth head of civil grievences he would thus express: The long intermission of parliaments, contrary to the two statutes yet in force, whereby it is appointed there should be parliaments once a year, at the least; and most contrary to the public good of the kingdom; since, this being well remedied, it would generate remedies for all the rest.
Having gone through the several heads of grievances, he came to the second main branch, propounded in the beginning; that the disorders from whence these grievances issued were as hurtful to the King as to the people, of which he gave divers reasons.
1. The interruption of the sweet communion which ought to be betwixt the King and his people, in matters of grace and supply. They have need of him by his general pardon; to be secured from projectors and informers; to be freed from obsolete laws; from the subtle devices of such as seek to restrain the prerogative to their own private advantage, and the public hurt; and he hath need of them for counsel and support in great and extraordinary occasions. This mutual intercourse, if indeed sustained, would so weave the affections and interests of his subjects into his actions and designs that their wealth and their persons would be his; his own estate would be managed to most advantage; and public undertakings would be prosecuted at the charge and adventure of the subject. The victorious attempts in Queen Elizabeth’s time upon Portugal, Spain, and the Indies, were for the greatest part made upon the subjects’ purses, and not upon the Queen’s; though the honor and profit of the success did most accrue to her.
2. Those often breaches and discontentments betwixt the King and the people are very apt to diminish his reputation abroad, and disadvantage his treaties and alliances.
3. The apprehension of the favor and encouragement given to popery hath much weakened his Majesty’s party beyond the sea, and impaired that advantage which Queen Elizabeth and his royal father have heretofore made, of being heads of the Protestant union.
4. The innovations in religion and rigor of ecclesiastical courts have forced a great many of his Majesty’s subjects to forsake the land; whereby not only their persons and their posterity, but their wealth and their industry are lost to this kingdom, much to the reduction, also, of his Majesty’s customs and subsidies. And, amongst other inconveniences of such a sort, this was especially to be observed, that divers clothiers, driven out of the country, had set up the manufacture of cloth beyond the seas; whereby this State is like to suffer much by abatement of the price of wools, and by want of employment for the poor; both which likewise tend to his Majesty’s particular loss.
5. It puts the King upon improper ways of supply, which, being not warranted by law, are much more burdensome to the subject than advantageous to his Majesty. In France, not long since, upon a survey of the King’s revenue, it was found that two parts in three never came to the King’s purse, but were diverted to the profit of the officers or ministers of the crown, and it was thought a very good service and reformation to reduce two parts to the King, leaving still a third part to the instruments that were employed about getting it in. It may well be doubted that the King may have the like or worse success in England, which appears already in some particulars. The King, for instance, hath reserved upon the monopoly of wines thirty thousand pounds rent a year; the vintner pays forty shillings a ton, which comes to ninety thousand pounds; the price upon the subject by retail is increased two-pence a quart, which comes to eight pounds a ton, and for forty-five thousand tons brought in yearly, amounts to three hundred and sixty thousand pounds; which is three hundred and thirty thousand pounds loss to the kingdom, above the King’s rent! Other monopolies also, as that of soap, have been very chargeable to the kingdom and brought very little treasure into his Majesty’s coffers. Thus it is that the law provides for that revenue of the crown which is natural and proper, that it may be safely collected and brought to account; but this illegal revenue, being without any such provision, is left to hazard and much uncertainty, either not to be retained, or not duly accounted of.
6. It is apt to weaken the industry and courage of the subject; if they be left uncertain, whether they shall reap the benefit of their own pains and hazard. Those who are brought into the condition of slaves will easily grow to a slavish disposition, who, having nothing to lose, do commonly shew more boldness in disturbing than defending a kingdom.
7. These irregular courses do give opportunity to ill instruments, to insinuate themselves into the King’s service, for we cannot but observe, that if a man be officious in furthering their inordinate burdens of ship money, monopolies, and the like, it varnisheth over all other faults, and makes him fit both for employment and preferment; so that out of their offices, they are furnished for vast expenses, purchases, buildings; and the King loseth often more in desperate debts at their death, than he got by them all their lives. Whether this were not lately verified in a western man, much employed while he lived, he leaves to the knowledge of those who were acquainted with his course; and he doubted not but others might be found in the like case. The same course, again, has been pursued with those that are affected to popery, to profaneness, and to superstitious innovations in matters of religion. All kinds of spies and intelligencers, have means to be countenanced and trusted if they will be but zealous in these kind of services, which, how much it detracts from his Majesty, in honor, in profit, and prosperity of public affairs, lies open to every man’s apprehension. And from these reasons or some of them, he thought it proceeded, that through the whole course of the English story it might be observed, that those kings who had been most respectful of the laws, had been most eminent in greatness, in glory, and success, both at home and abroad; and that others, who thought to subsist by the violation of them, did often fall into a state of weakness, poverty, and infortunity.
8. The differences and discontents betwixt his Majesty and the people at home, have in all likelihood diverted his royal thoughts and counsels from those great opportunities which he might have, not only to weaken the House of Austria, and to restore the palatinate, but to gain himself a higher pitch of power and greatness than any of his ancestors. For it is not unknown how weak, how distracted, how discontented the Spanish colonies are in the West Indies. There are now in those parts in New England, Virginia, and the Caribbean Islands, and in the Bermudas, at least sixty thousand able persons of this nation, many of them well armed, and their bodies seasoned to that climate, which with a very small charge, might be set down in some advantageous parts of these pleasant, rich, and fruitful countries, and easily make his Majesty master of all that treasure, which not only foments the war, but is the great support of popery in all parts of Christendom.
9. And lastly, those courses are likely to produce such distempers in the State as may not be settled without great charge and loss; by which means more may be consumed in a few months than shall be gotten by such ways in many years.
Having thus passed through the two first general branches, he was now come to the third, wherein he was to set down the ways of healing and removing those grievances which consisted of two main branches: first, in declaring the law where it was doubtful; the second, in better provision for the execution of law, where it is clear. But (he said) because he had already spent much time, and begun to find some confusion in his memory,26 he would refer the particulars to another opportunity, and for the present only move that which was general to all, and which would give weight and advantage to all the particular ways of redress. That is, that we should speedily desire a conference with the lords, and acquaint them with the miserable condition wherein we find the Church and State; and as we have already resolved to join in a religious seeking of God, in a day of fast and humiliation, so to entreat them to concur with us in a parliamentary course of petitioning the King, as there should be occasion; and in searching out the causes and remedies of these many insupportable grievances under which we lie. That so, by the united wisdom and authority of both Houses, such courses may be taken as (through God’s blessing) may advance the honor and greatness of his Majesty, and restore and establish the peace and prosperity of the kingdom.
This, he said, we might undertake with comfort and hope of success; for though there be a darkness upon the land, a thick and palpable darkness, like that of Egypt, yet, as in that, the sun had not lost his light, nor the Egyptians their sight (the interruption was only in the medium), so with us, there is still (God be thanked) light in the sun—wisdom and justice in his Majesty—to dispel this darkness; and in us there remains a visual faculty, whereby we are enabled to apprehend, and moved to desire, light. And when we shall be blessed in the enjoying of it, we shall thereby be incited to return his Majesty such thanks as may make it shine more clearly in the world, to his own glory, and in the hearts of his people, to their joy and contentment.
At the conclusion of Pym’s speech, the King’s solicitor, Herbert, “with all imaginable address,” attempted to call off the attention of the members from the extraordinary impression it had made. But the singular moderation no less than the deadly force of Pym’s statements had created a calm but a settled determination. A committee was at once appointed to inquire into violations of privilege; and it was resolved to ask for a conference on grievances with the Lords. A conference was held, and the debate continued for two days—that of the second day continuing from eight in the morning till five in the afternoon. The King saw that grievances would have to be redressed before supplies would be granted, and, accordingly, at an early hour on the following morning, he dissolved Parliament.
The Revolution was now probably inevitable. The affection of the people and of the members of Parliament for the King was fast transformed into distrust, and finally into hostility. Macaulay in his essays on “Hampden” and “Hallam’s Constitutional History” has well shown the several steps in the process of transformation. The King was soon obliged to summon another Parliament; and when the new members came together in November of the same year, it was evident that compromise was no longer possible. The impeachment and execution of Strafford were soon followed by an attempt of the King to arrest the leading members of Parliament, and this attempt in turn was followed by the outbreak of war.
