Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	act_n	king_n	lord_n	2,770	5	3.9050	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A88233	A plea at large, for John Lilburn gentleman, now a prisoner in Newgate. Penned for his use and benefit, by a faithful and true well-wisher to the fundamental laws, liberties, and freedoms of the antient free people of England; and exposed to publick view, and the censure of the unbyassed and learned men in the laws of England, Aug. 6. 1653.	Faithful and true well-wisher to the fundamental laws, liberties, and freedoms of the antient free people of England.; Lilburne, John, 1614?-1657.	1653 (1653)	Wing L2158; Thomason E710_3; ESTC R207176	34,122	24

the third the usurper and by reason of the extraordinary many troubles of his reign and the ignorant Regal time in which he lived considered he had a thousand times more grounds to be arbitrary and discretionary in his proceedings with the people of England then the late decapitated Parliament had yet he summoned a free Parliament who sate peaceably and quietly without the force or purging of souldiers and after that several Juries at Assizes and Sessions by corruption and savour had refused to finde persons that were judicially proved guilty before them of breach of penal laws as in full and free Parliament by King Lords and Commons is avowedly declared an Act of Parliament recorded in the fourth part of Cooks Institutes fol. 40. 41. in the 11. of Hen. 7. chap. 3. was passed by King Lords and Commons in full and free Parliament to enable the Justices of Assize in open Sessions to be holden before them and the Justices of the Peace in each County in England upon information for the King before them to be made to have full power and authority by their discretion without tryals by Juries to hear and determine all offences and contempts committed against penal laws in all which arbitrary or discretional proceedings murther treason and felony was excepted out of their cognizance or jurisdiction as also all other offences whereby any person should lose life or member or lands goods or chattels to the party complaining By pretext of which Statute saith the Lord Cook in his last recited folio Empson and Dudley privy Councellors and Justices of Peace to Henry the seventh did commit upon the subject insufferable pressures and oppressions which yet at the highest was but the taking away some small part of the persons estates from them that they condemned And therefore this Statute was justly soon after the decease of Henry the seventh repealed at the next Parliament after his decease by the Statute of the 1 Hen. 8. cha 6. A good caveat saith he to Parliaments to leave all causes to be measured by the golden and streight met-wand of the law and not to the uncertaine and crooked cord of disrcetion for it is not almost credible to foresee saith he when any maxime or fundamental law of this realm is altered as elsewhere in the fourth part of Lord Cooks Reports hath been observed what dangerous inconveniences do follow which most expresly appeareth by this most unjust and strange Act of 11 H. 7. for hereby not only Empson and Dudley themselves but such Justices of Peace corrupt men as they caused to be authorized committed most grievous and heavy oppressions and exactions grinding the face of the poor subjects by penal laws be they never so obsolete or unfit for the time by information onely without any presentment or trial by Jury being the ancient birthright of the subject but to hear and determine the same by their discretion inflicting such penalty as the Statutes not repealed imposed these and other like actions and oppressions by or by the means of Empson and Dudley and their instruments brought infinite treasures to the Kings Coffers whereof the K●ng himself in the end with great grief and compunction repenced as in another place we have observed This Statute of 11. H. 7. We have recited and shewed the just inconveniences thereof to the end that the l●ke should never hereafter be attempted in any court of Parl●ament and that others might avoid the fearful end of those two time-servers Emp●on and Dudley Qui corum v●stigia insistant corum exitus per●o● rescan that is those that follow their footsteps may fear the same destruction that they had whose end in the third part of the Institutes fol. 208. and the fourth part fol. 198 199. may be seen was severally to be Indicted at common law whose Indictments is there to be read and convicted and executed as traitors for subvert●ng the fundamental laws and liberties of England viz. trials by Juries which the Conquest of the Rom●n● Saxons D●n●● or Normans could never blot out of the Kalender of English mens fundamental liberties but hath from time to time with the infinite hazards of their lives bloods been preserved as the choicest of their Jewels and as one of their chiefest fundamental rights of whom the said L. Cook in his exposition of the 29 Ch. of Magn● Charta in his 2 part Instit fol. 51. upon the words of lex terrae or the law of the land where he plentifully shews that no Englishman whatsoever ought for any Crime whatsoever in any Court whatsoever by any power or authority whatsoever to be tryed but by juries and due process of law as is before shewed expresly saith yet against the ancient fundamental las● in the face thereof I finde an Act of Parliament made saith he that as well justices of Assize as Justices of Peace without any finding or presen●ment by the Verdict of twelve men upon a bare information for the King before them made should have full power and authority by their discretions to hear and determine all offences and contempts committed or done by any person or persons against the forme ordinance and effect of any Statute made and not repeal●d c. by colour of which Act shaking this fundamental law it is not cred●ble what horrible oppressions and exaction to the undoing infinite numbers of people were committed by Sir Richard Empson knight and Edmund Dudley being Justices of the Peace throughout England upon this unjust and injurious Act as commonly in like cases ●t falleth out a new office was erected and they made masters of the Kings forfeitures But at the Parliament holden ●n the first yeer of Henry the eighth This Act of the 11. of H●nry the seventh is rejected and made void and repeater and the reason thereof is yeelded for that by force of the said act it was manifestly ●nown that many sinister and crafty feigned forged informations had been pursued aga●nst divers of the K●ngs subjects to their great damage and wrong●ul vexations and ill success hereo● and the fearful ends of the two oppressors should deter others from c●m●●tt●ng the l●ke and should admonish Parliaments that in stead of the ordinary and precious trial per legem terrae by the law of the land they bring not in absolute an partial trial by discretion And in the fourth part of his Institutes folio 37. he expresly saith That he findes an Attainder by Parliament of a subject viz. Thomas Cromwel then Earle of Essex of high treason who was committed to the Tower and thereby forth coming to be heard and yet was never called to answer in any of the Houses of Parliament Of the manner of which proceedings he thus saith Aus●●a 〈◊〉 si potest si non ut cunque silontiam legat That is let the Parl●aments crime be buried in oblivion if it be possible and if not nevertheless yet let it give place to silence for the present for saith he The

against the King for but to pull him out of his Throne slay him and divide his inheritance amongst him and his accomplices and then to set up his lust will and pleasure as the peoples standing Laws By which apparent and in the face of the ●un avowed practices of his he hath all over the Christian world brought more scorn and contempt upon the zealous profession of God and godliness and all the pretences of strugling for Liberty and Freedom then any one man that ever I read of ●n all the Histories of the world that ever my eyes were fixed upon yea and in the doing of the forementioned things hath given in the face of the sun the absolute and perfect lye to himself and all his many printed Declarations both as he is to be considered as a Parliament-man or as an Officer in Arms. And first consider him as a Parliament-man how many Oaths Covenants Protestations and Engagements hath he formerly taken to maintain the fundamental Laws and Liberties of the people of England and also after he had caused the Parliament to be purged over and over again and again and left none to sit there but those that then pleased his tooth and by their authority taken away the Kings life and altered the form of Government nominally into a Commonwealth or free State did not he and his said friends or Councellors immediately after that publish a solemn Declaration of Febr. 9. 1648. in these very words verbatim A Declaration of the Parliament of England for maintaining the Fundamental Laws of this Nation THe Parliament of England now assembled doth declare That they are fully resolved to maintain and shall and will uphold preserve and keep the fundamental Laws of this Nation for and concerning the preservation of the lives properties and liberties of the people with all things incident thereunto with the alterations touching Kings and House of Lords already resolved in this present Parliament for the good of the people and what shall be further necessary for the perfecting thereof and do require and expect that all Judges Justices Sheriffs and all Officers and ministers of Justice for the time being do administer justice and do proceed in their respective places and Offices accordingly which resolution with the reasons thereof shall be hereafter publ●shed in a larger Declaration touching the same And it is hereby ordered and appointed that this Declaration shall be forthwith proclaimed in Westminster-Hall and at the Old Exchange and the Judges in their respective Courts at Westminster and at the first sitting thereof are to cause this Declaration to be publikely read And the Sheriffs in their several Counties are to cause this Declaration to be likewise published Die Veneris 9 February 1648. Ordered by the Commons assembled in Parliament That this Declaration be forthwith printed and published and that the Members of this House do take care to disperse the said Declaration into the several Counties with all speed H. Scobel Cler. Parl. D. Com. London Printed by Edward Husbands Which said Declaration was backed also with a large pithy one the 17 of March 1648. which expresseth the grounds and reasons of their late proceedings and setling the present Government in way of a Free State Yea John Lilburn now prisoner at the bar for his further plea saith That by the Act of the late Parliament intituled An Act for the abolishing the Kingly Office in England and Ireland and the Dominions thereunto belonging it is there amongst other things enacted and declared that the Office of a King in this Nation shall not henceforth reside in or be exercised by any one single person And that no person whatsoever shall or may have or hold the office stile dignity power or authority of King of the said Dominions or any of them upon pain of high treason against the Parliament and People of England to all such said persons and to all their aiders assisters comforters or abettors Now whether or no that the said actions of laying Taxes and chusing the people Law makers be not the absolute exercising the office dignity power and authority of the greatest King that ever was in England the prisoner at the Bar submits it to the judgement of the learned Judges of the Law And in the last forementioned Act it is further declared and averred that by the abolishing of the Kingly Office a most happie way is made for this English Nation to return to its just and ancient rights of being governed by its own Representatives or National Meetings in Councel from time to time chosen and intrusted for that purpose by the people And further it is therefore there resolved and declared by the Commons assembled in Parliament That they will put a period to the sitting of this present Parliament and dissolve the same as soon as may possibly stand with the safety of the people that hath betrusted them with what is absolutely necessary for the preserving and upholding the Government now setled in the way of a Common-wealth And that they will carefully provide for the certain meeting chusing sitting of the next and future Representatives with such other circumstances of freedom in choice and equality in distribution of Members to be elected thereunto as shall most conduce to the lasting freedom and good of this Commonwealth And in several other Acts immediately made after the last forementioned Acts and particularly those two Acts of Parliament of the 14 of May and the 17 of June 1649. declaring what offences shall be judged treason it is thus expressed Whereas the Parliament hath abolished the Kingly Office in England and Ireland and in the dominions and territories thereunto belonging and hath resolved and declared that the people shall for the future be governed by its own Representatives or National Meetings in Councel chosen and intrusted by them for that purpose And the Prisoner at the Bar for further plea in the second place saith that his Declarations as a Souldier or Commander to this purpose are so full as more cannot be said and particularly that remarkable Declaration of the 14 of June 1647. printed in the Armies Book of Declar. p. 36. 37. c. in which 37. p. there he positively declares that the setling of the liberties and freedoms and peace of the Nation is the blessing of God then which of all worldly things nothing say they is more dear unto us or more precious in our thoughts we having hitherto thought all our present enjoments whether of live or livelihood or nearest relations a price but sufficient to the puchase of so rich a blessing that we and all the free-borne people of this Nation may sit downe in quiet under our Vines and under the glorious administration of justice and righteousness and in full possession of those fundamental rights and liberties without which we can have little hopes as to humane considerations to enjoy either any comforts of life or so much as life it self but at the

imagine that by the Parliament that is mentioned in the said Act of the 30 of January 1651. for banishing one Lieutenant-Colonel John Lilburn is in the least meant the late Parliament of the Commonwealth of England sitting at Westminster especially because it is not so therein exprest who had taken many Oaths and past abundance of Declarations and particularly that of the 9 of February 1648. inviolably to maintain the Fundamental Laws of the Land in reference to the Peoples lives liberties and properties with all things incident appertaining and belonging thereunto But that rather it was some ignorant sottish French Parliament sitting at Paris or elsewhere in France that understand nothing of the Laws Liberties and Freedoms of England or that it was the malignant Cavalier Parliament lately sitting at Oxford in the Kings Quarters there post-dating their Act and thereby endeavouring by the said Act to create such a president as in the consequence of it would destroy all the Laws Liberties and Properties of the free-born people of England and thereby absolutely set up the Kings will and prerogative above Law the bare endeavouring of which in the Earl of Strafford hath been long since adjudged high treason Or in the next place it the authors of the said monstrous and illegal Act of Banishment be neither the ignorant Parliament of Paris nor the Cavalier Parliament of Oxford Then of necessity in the third place it cannot in charity and reason but be judged that the said Act of Banishment was drawn up by Mr. Scobel the Parliaments Clerk Mr. Hill their Chayr-man and Mr. Prideaux their Attorney and Post-master-general when they were all riding post and so jumbled or shaken with fast riding that it was impossible for them to hold their pens to write right and true and when they had framed it then by some cunning artifice or inchantment of theirs they preferred it to the said Parliament who in charity and common reason must needs be judged to pass it when they were three quarters asleep against some silly natural fool called Lieutenant-Colonel John Lilburn that could not be imagined ever in his life to have read any thing of Law or Reason it being impossible in the least in reason to be conceived that the late Supreme Authority the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England sitting at Westminster being onely by their own Declarations but trusted to provide for the peoples weal but not in the least for their wo would ever in their right wits or not being three quarters asleep pass such an Act of Parliament against John Lilburn now prisoner at the Bar who hath much read the Law and very well understands the Fundamental Liberties of England and hath hazardously adventured his life a thousand cimes for the inviolable preserving of them because such an Act of Parliament as the foresaid Act of Parliament is in the first place an Act of Parliament against common right common equity and common reason and therefore is void and null in Law and ought not to be executed as appears by these following authorities viz. 1 part of Dr. Bonham's Case fol. 118. and the 8 of Edw. 3. fol. 3 30 33. F. Cessavit 32 27 H. G. Annuity 41. and 1 Eliz. Dyer 113. and 1 part Cook 's Institutes lib. 2. Chap. 11. Sect. 209. fol. 140. and 4 Edw. 4.12 and 12 Edw. 4.18 and 1 H. 7.12 13. and Plowd Com. fol. 369. and Judge Jenkins learned works in the Law printed for J. Giles 1648. but particularly by his Discourse of Long Parliaments p. 139 140. and see also Mr. W. Prynne's notable book of the 16 of June 1649. called A Legal Vindication of the Liberties of England against illegal Taxes p. 11 12 13 c. But especially see a book intituled The Legal Fundamental Liberties of England revived asserted and vindicated printed and reprinted in the yeer 1649 page 54 55 56 57. yea an Act of Parliament that a man shall be judge in his own case is a void Act in law as appears in Hubberts Case fol. 120. and by the 8 part of Cook 's Reports in Dr. Bonham's Case and by the present Armies own Book of Declarations p. 35 52 54 59 60 61 63 132 141 142 143 144. yea saith that learned Oracle of the Law of England Sir Edw. Cook in the 4 part of his Institutes fol. 330. Where Reason ceaseth there the Law ceaseth for seeing Reason is the very life and spirit of the Law it self the Law-giver is not to be esteemed to respect that which hath no reason although the generality of the words at the first sight or after the letter seem otherwise And saith the said learned Author in his first part Institutes fol. 140. All Customs and Prescriptions Acts of Parliament Laws and Judgements that be against Reason are void and null in themselves And saith the Armies Sollicitor-General John Cook in the late Kings Case stated p. 23. That by the law of England any Act or Agreement against the Laws of God and Nature is a meer nullity for as a man hath no hand in making the Laws of God and Nature no more hath he power to marre or alter them And he cites the Earl of Leicester's adjudged Case for a proof And in page 20 he also saith that all the Judges in England cannot make one Case to be Law that is not Reason no more then they can prove an hair to be white that is black which if they should so declare or adjudge it is a meer nullity for Law saith he must be Reason adjudged And therefore saith he page 8. That man or men that rules by lust and not by law is or are creatures that were never of Gods making nor of Gods approbation but his permission and though such men be said to be gods on earth 't is in no other sense then the devil is called the god of this world And excellent to this very purpose is that ancient Law-book called The Doctor and Student who in his second Chapter pag. 4. expresly sayth Against the law of Nature which he calls the Law of Reason Prescription Statute or Customs may not prevail and if any be brought in against it they be no Prescriptions Statutes nor Customs but things void and against justice And what this law of Nature or Reason is he excellently sheweth in the latter end of the fourth page and the beginning of the fifth and therefore in pag. 7. he expresty saith That to every good Law is required these properties viz. That it be honest right wise possible in it self and after the custom of the Country convenient for the place and time necessary profitable and also manifest that it be not captious by any dark sentence nor mixt with any private wealth but all made for the common good for saith he every mans law must be consonant to the Law of God otherwise they are not righteous nor obligatory All which Judgements or Cases in Law in the equitable and rational part of

Verbatim An Act Declaring what offences shall be adjudged Treason WHereas the Parliament hath abolished the the Kingly Office in England and Ireland and in the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging and hath resolved and declared that the people shall for the future be govern●d by its own Representatives or national meetings in councel chosen and intrusted by them for that purpose hath se●tled the Government in the way of a Commonwealth and free State without King or House of Lords Be it Enacted by this present Parliament and by the Authority of the same That if any person shall maliciously or advisedly publish by writing printing or openly declaring That the said Government is tyrannical usurped or unlawful or that the Commons in Parliament assembled are not the Supream Authority of this Nation or shall plot contrive or indeavor o● stir up or raise force against the present government o● for the subversion or alteration of the s●m● and shall declare the same by any o●●n de●d that then every such ofence shal be taken deemed and adjudged by the Authority of this Parliament to b● high treason And whereas the Keepers of the liberties of England and the councel of State construted and ●o be f●om time to time consti●ut●● by A●●uo●…y of Parliam●nt are to be under the said R●presentatives in Parliament ●n ●u●… for the ma●n●…ce of the said government with several powers and Authorities limited given and appo●nt●d unto th●m by the Parliament Be 〈◊〉 likewise Enacted by the authority aforesaid that ●f any person shall maliciously and advisedly ●o or indeavor the subversion of the said Keepers of the liberties of England or the Counc●l of State and the same shall declare by any op●n De●d o● shall move any person o● p●●sons fo● the do●ng ther●of or stir up the people to rise against them or eith●r of them the●… or ei●her of 〈◊〉 au●horities That then every sum off●nc● and off●nces shall be tak●n d●●med and a clored to be high treason And w●●as the Parliam●n● for their just and lawful def●nce hath raised levied the Army and fo●●es now under the command of Thomas Lord Fairfax and are a● present necessitated by reason of the manifold distractions with●n this commonwealth and invasions threatned from abroad ●o continue the same which under God must be the instrumental means of preserving the well-afflicted p●opl● of this Na●●on in peace and safe●y Be it further Enacted by the aut●o●i●y aforesaid that if any person ●o being an Officer Souldier o● Member of the Army shall ●o contrive o● indeavour to stir up any mutiny in the said Army or withdraw any Souldiers o● Officers from their obedience to their super●ou● Officers o● from the pres●nt Governm●nt as afo●●said o● shall procure invite and o● assist any fo●raigners or strangers to invade England o● Ireland or shall adhere ●o any forces raised by the enemies of the Parliamen● or Common wealth o● keepers of the Liberty of England Or if any person shall counterfeit the Great Seal of England for the time being used and appointed by authority of Parliament That th●n every ●uch offence and off●nces shall be taken deemed and declared by the authority of this Parliam●nt to be high-treason and every such person shall suffer pains of death and also forfeit un●o the Keepers of the Liber●y of England to and for the use of the Commonwealth all and singular his and their lands ten●m●n●s and hereditament goods and chattels as in c●s● of high-treason hath been used by the Laws and Statutes of ●●is land to be forfeit and lost Provided always that no persons shall be indicted and arraign●d for any of the off●nces mentioned in this Act unless such offenders shall be indicted or prosecuted for the same within one yeer after the offence committed Die Lunae 14 Maii 1649. Ordered by the Parliament That this Act be forthwith printed and published Hen. Scobel Cleric Parliamenti London Printed by Edw. Husband John Field Printers to the Parl. of England 1649 And the said John Lilburn now prisoner at the Bar for further Plea saith that for supposed violating those two last fore-mentioned Acts of Parliament and that but for supposed words and for the supposed comp●ling writing and caused to be printed Arguments founded and grounded upon the known and declared fundamental laws of England received principles of Reason and the Armies own pr●nted and publ●shed Declarations he the said John Lilburn now prisoner at the bar was arra●gned and ●ndicted as a Traytor for his lite at Guild-hall London in October 1649. and that principally by the inst●gation and means of his Excellencie the present Lord General Cromwel which Tryal was with that violence and fury that the said prisoner at the Bar was absolutely denyed the declared benefit of the known laws of England viz. the help of Counsel learned in the Law and a copie of his Charge and Indictment which were not denied but granted to the Lord Mocqu●● that grand ●●sh●●be and those Arch-trayt●rs as the yeare commonly called Scrasso●c Can●●●bury Hamilton and Cap●l c. which also was granted to the prisoner at Bar as his right by Law when he was pr●●●ner a● O●fo●● and a●●agned by judge Heart c. for his l●● as a traytor So that the said John Lilburn now prisoner at the bar considering the several penalties declared to be due to any person or persons whatsoever that by force or otherwise should but endeavour to dissolve the late Parliament or their Councel of State ●e cannot either in Reason or Law see or apprehend which way his Excellency the said Lord General Cromw●l and Major General Ha●son c. if they continue and persevere as they have begun to execute the said unjust and injurious Act of Parliament upon the said Jo●n Lilbu●n prisoner at the Bar which is one of the most wickedst and unjust that ever the Parliament in their lives made and of the highest and most notorious acts of their breach of trust that ever they committed as is before fully proved can ●n the least either before God or men acquit themselves of being guilty of the highest of treason both by the letter and equity of the two last fore-mentioned Laws lately made in part by themselves but principally by their instigation in forcibly dissolving the late Parliament against their own voluntary wills and consents Therefore John Lilburn the now prisoner at the bar for further plea saith That it is most just equitable and reasonable to indict arraign condemn and execute the foresaid declared Parliament Traytors Olive● Cromwel Esquire Captain General and Mr. Thomas Harison commonly called Major-General Harison before the prisoner at the bar be indicted arraigned condemned and executed for being a supposed Parliament felon especially considering their tran●gressions is a fact committed after the declaring printing and divulging of a visible and plain Law and a● the prisoner at the Bar's supposed crime is for a fact done before there was a Law in being as in searching into

Act of Parliament But as for the said Generals and the said Major-General Harisons dissolving the late Parliament by force against their own consents and thereby against several Acts of Parliament afore mentioned partly of their own making committing high-treason against the apparent letter of a known printed and declared Law before their fact committed out of which evil action as it is in it self simply considered though it be granted that that God that can and hath brought light out of darkness and order out of confusion and good out of evil may out of it by his wisdom power and omnipotencie bring abundance of good to this poor nation of England yet already it hath visibly produced this grand mischief and evil viz. to give the said General a colourable pretence of a Necessity of his own making and creating to assume unto himself all the Civil powers in the Nation into his own hands and thereby not onely to make slaves if he please of all his own private souldiers in subjecting them to Tryals for their lives by Military or arbitrary Discipline in times of peace when all the Courts of Justice for administring the Law are or ought to be open which is expresly against the Petition of Right and the declared end wherefore the Wars were engaged in against the late King but also of the free people of England that have fought as heartily and faithfully for the preservation of their Liberties and Freedoms as himself who have already thereby lost two of the chiefest of their fundamental rights and freedoms viz. First to have Taxes layd upon them by the General with the advice of his Military Officers all of whom at most are but the peoples hired and payd servants to kill the Weasels and Polecats that would destroy their Liberties which is not onely contrary to the express tenour of that most excellent Law as the late Parliament in their remarkable Declaration of March 17. 1648. calls it of the Petition of Right which expresly sayth That no Taxes Ayds or Contributions whatever shall by any person or persons or any Authority whatsoever be layd or levyrd upon the people but by common consent of their chosen Deputies or Trustees in Parliament ass●mbled for that end See also the Lord Cooks 4 part Institutes chap. High Court of Parliament fol. 14 34. and by the Statute made in the late Parliament in the 17 yeer being anno 1641 of the late King intituled An Act for declaring unlawful and void the late proceedings touching Ship money The Judgement of the Judges in that case is declared null and void and against the right of Proprieties although their judgements were grounded upon these plausible Questions viz. That when the good and safety of the Kingdom in general is concerned and the whole Kingdom in danger Whether the King might by writ under the Great Seal of England command all the Subjects of his Kingdom at their charge to provide and furnish such number of Ships with Men Victuals and Munition and for such a time as the King should think fit for the defence and safeguard of the kingdom from such peril and danger and Whether by Law the King might compel the doing thereof in case of refusal or ●●f●actari●ss And whether that the King who was then a far more legal Magistrate then the Lord General Cromwel now is were no● the sol● judge both of the danger and wi●●n and ●ow the same is to be prevented and avoided According to which grounds and reasons all the justices of the said Courts of K●ngs Bench and Common pleas and the said Barons of the Exchequer having been formerly con●ul●●d with by his Majesties command had set their hands to an extrajudicial Opinion expressed to the same purpose That he might and yet notwithstanding all this thus decreed and adjudged by all the judges all such Ship-writes and all proceedings thereupon are by King Lords and Commons in full legal and free Parliament declared that they were and are contrary and against the Laws and Statutes of this Realm and the Petition of Right made in the third yeer of the Reign of his Majesty that then was And it is there further declared and enacted by the Authority aforesaid That all and every the particulars prayed or desired in the said Petition of Right shall from henceforth be put in execution accordingly and shall be firmly and strictly holden and observed as in the same Petition they are prayed and expressed And that all the said Judgements and Proceedings about the said Ship money be vacated and cancelled One of the makers of which Law was the said Oliver Cromwel now Lord General and also one of the impeachers of the said Ship money-Judges of high-treason for arbitrary subverters of the free people of England's fundamental Laws Liberties and Proprieties Secondly the General with whom of his Officers by his will he is pleased to joyn with him hath not onely by their late forcible dissolving of the late Parliament assumed the whole Civil power of the Nation into his own hands by means of which already by his Declaration with the advice of his Office●s of the 9 of June 1653. he hath arbitrarily layd a Tax of Sixscore thousand pounds per month upon the free people of England by which all their proprieties are confounded and destroyed For by the same Rule that he lays Sixscore thousand pounds Tax a month upon the people he may when he pleaseth lay six Millions a month upon them and so ad infinitum and ingross into his own coffers and hands and his Officers not onely all the peoples treasure but also their whole lands and estates as Joseph did the slavish Egyptians unto Pharaoh Gen 47. but that which is worse he hath not onely there by created a president to destroy all their proprieties but his chusing the people Legislators or Law-makers though it 's possible the men may prove in their actions the justest men in the Nation and denying those that never forfeited their Liberties in their lives that inherent and natural right he hath created a president to destroy their Laws Liberties and Lives and absolutely subject them to his will and mercy which crimes put together are in the eye of the Law the highest Treason that ever I read any transgressor in the Nation charged with ever since it became a Politick Society or Nation and an act that the highest of three Tyrants or Conquerors either under the Romanes Saxons Danes or Normans durst never attempt to put in execution By means of which he hath given away the just and honest Cause betwixt the King and Parliament and done as much as in him hath to make all those murderers that have since the beginning of the late Civil war engaged in the Parliament-quarrel against the late King his actions as evidently as the ●un declaring it was not in the least for the securing of the people 's incroached upon Liberties and Freedoms that he and his accomplices took up Arms