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A25721 An appendix to the queries upon the 25th of Hen. VIII, Cap. 21 containing some further considerations in behalf of the late illegally ejected officers of the Royal Hospital of St. Thomas Southwark, chiefly grounded upon certain passages in the grant of King Edward VI to the mayor and commonalty of the city of London : wherein the royal perogative as to the visitation and regulation of that and other hospitals is vindicated and asserted : and the late regulations in the time of King Charles II are more particularly consider'd and defended. 1690 (1690) Wing A3576; ESTC R25889 16,253 17

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Southwark to the Mayor Commonalty and Citizens of London as that Incorporation and Union is circumstanc'd with a Reservation in the Grant it self founded upon an express Clause in a Parliamentary Act whereby he is impowered to visit redress and regulate from time to time what he shall find amiss in such Places as to His Princely Wisdom and Justice shall seem meet and as occasion and necessity shall require If any of the Observations that have been made from hence shall grate a little too hard upon some Men who may possibly find themselves concern'd in them they may thank themselves for putting us upon a Defence which could not be otherwise managed but upon such Principles as will destroy and evacuate their Authority in this House and turn the intended Expulsion upon themselves if the Law may be suffered to be the Rule between us and may be allow'd to decide the Controversie that is now depending however we are well satisfied whatever becomes of our particular Interests which cannot suffer alone but will more or less affect the Monarchy and the Church themselves that we have thus far defended the Prerogative which is the support of the People as well as of the Crown against those who under specious Pretences would destroy it and to shew our Satisfaction in what we have hitherto done we will pursue the same Design a little further It is therefore further to be noted that K. Edward is graciously pleased to tell us in His Royal Grant not only that he unites incorporates c. the Parsonage and Church of St. Thomas Southwark to the City of London but that he doth this by his Royal Authority as the Supreme Head of the Church of England and Ireland Now the Supremacy was a Right unalienable which he could not part with it being nothing else but a Right to govern all his Subjects of what nature order or quality soever and all Estates of Men within this Realm without any foreign Jurisdiction or Appeal but this was somewhat more particularly concerned in such Places as were exempt from Episcopal Visitation and were more immediately dependent upon the Bishop of Rome and the Care of these together with the Supremacy was more particularly devolved upon the King as a Trophy of his Victory over the See of Rome and a Token of his having shaken off that intolerable Yoak which neither he nor His Fathers were able to bear But the more particular Reasons why the Visitation of such Places was devolved upon the King were these that follow 1. The Regular Fraternities who owned no Subjection to the Bishop of the Diocese or the Archbishop of the Province wherein they were seated but paid their immediate Homage and in all Emergencies made their next Application and Appeal to the See of Rome it self would have disdain'd to come under any Episcopal Visitation from which they pretended so ancient an Exemption and an Exemption that had been and is still the cause of many and great Feuds and Animosities in the Church of Rome between the Seculars and them so that the Act of Parliament of the 25 H. 8. c. 21. being made at a time when though H. 8 had actually taken the Supremacy upon himself yet the Monasteries Abbies and others Religious Houses were still in being and enjoy'd their Possessions and Revenues as before it was thought a Matter that might occasion disturbance by the Number the Opulency and the Interest of both Parties contending with cach other if the Regulars had been subjected to an Authority which they would be sure not to own and which they mortally hated besides that the Opinion which the common People usually had of their Sanctity and their long Experience of their Hospitality and bounty to the Poor were things that would have heightned and animated the Disturbance by engaging a numerous Party on their side 2. Their being immediately subjected to the Visitation of the King as it was not so great a Diminution to the Honor and ancient Privilege of their respective Societies so it was the most powerful and by Consequence the most natural way that could be thought of to wean them from hankering after the See of Rome and to fright them into Obedience to the Government and Supremacy of the Church of England as it was vested and established in the Person of H. 8. tho' this were but the revival and Recognition of an ancient Right antecedent to any of the Popish Usurpations by the known Laws and Usages of this Realm And the Regulars not thinking themselves so safe in their dependence upon the King whose Interest was not so much concern'd in their Protection as they were formerly in their Subjection to the Pope to whose Greatness they seem to be absolutely necessary and for this Reason being jealous of their Prince and reflecting a Jealousie back upon themselves this might probably be one Reason at that time besides what Covetousness Ambition or the craving Necessities of the Publick might afford of their total and final Extirpation 3. All Publick Charities such as all these Houses were for the Maintenance of Religious Men and Women were naturally and rightfully vested in the King who is the Father and Protector of his Country and the proper Guardian of such Charities as these to see that they be not embezled or profusely squander'd instead of being imploy'd as was intended and meant by the Piety and Beneficence of the Founders of the same Now upon the Dissolution of Abbies c. which followed shortly after it must be confessed that two of the aforesaid Reasons why Places exempt should be under the King's Visitation did manifestly cease But then the Third was stronger than ever it was before for it it must be confess'd by all Protestants especially to be a greater Charity and of more publick Use to relieve the Poor to cure the Sick to heal the Maim'd and Wounded than to bestow the same Revenues merely to feed the Ignorance and Superstition of idle and useless Men and still the Letter of the Act of Parliament it self is for the King for it commits to him the Care of such Places as be or were exempt before the making of that Act and it cannot be denied but the Hospital of St. Thomas is such and upon that old Exemption its present and past ever since that time is unquestionably founded as this and other such Places being formerly free from Secular or Lay Jurisdiction and challenging an Exemption from the Civil Magistrate they still maintain their Privilege of Freedom from Arrests by virtue of that ancient Custom though the reason of that Custom with the Dissolution and Extinction of those Regular Societies that formerly inhabited those Places be antiquated and abolish'd However thus much is acknowledged by the Governors themselves that the Place is exempt nay it is not only acknowledged but insisted upon for they will not allow an Episcopal Visitation within the Walls of this House no not so much as in the Chappel it self
Bishop of Rome or such as he should delegate and appoint and thus much is certain from the nature of things themselves that wherever there is a rightful Power of Visitation there must also be a Power of Redress and Punishment and in some cases of Expulsion and Forfeiture themselves otherwise this power of Visitation were in vain It follows therefore unavoidably from both of these things taken together if the Power and Right of the Lord Mayor and Commonalty of the City of London over this Hospital and its Possessions be but as free and no more as no more is given them by this Grant of E. 6. as full whole and ample as that of any Master of the said Hospital or others formerly was and if the Pope's power in these as well as other matters being abolished is by Act of Parliament devolved upon the King that the King hath all that Power and Right of Visitation as to this particular Case over the Mayor and Commonalty of the City of London by a very plain Inference from the words of K. Edward's Grant that the Pope had formerly over the Master of this Hospital or others or rather indeed a much greater because the Pope's Power was in its nature foreign in its original and root usurped and was attended with many and great Inconveniences to the King and Kingdom whereas the King's Power is natural to gover●●●● Persons and Estates of Men within his Realm it flows from the very nature and essential Constitution of all Governments whatsoever and without it no Government can either be so strong or so lasting as it designs to be But not to insist upon Inferences though so plain so conclusive that nothing can be more there are these very words in the Grant of the said King Edward And We will and declare by these Presents that it shall be lawful for Vs Our Heirs and Successors from time to time as often as it shall seem fit and expedient to assign Our Commissioners to visit the said Hospital and House of the Poor and to do and execute all and singular such other things whatsoever as We Our Heirs and Successors shall there command to be done From which we may observe these four things First That this power reserved to the King was strictly and properly legal in it self being founded upon an express Provision in an Act of Parl. 25 H. 8. c. 21. Secondly That bating the Authority of the Act of Parliament this is a Reservation so reasonable and just that it cannot be denied to any private Donor to appoint other Visitors as there shall be occasion to visit the ordinary Feoffees entrusted by him and to see from time to time that they be diligent and faithful in the discharge of their Duty Thirdly That this is a plain and categorical Vindication of the Regulation made in this and other Houses in the time of K. Charles II. supposing that they have also this Clause of Reservation for then he was so far from straining the Prerogative and from having acted after an illegal arbitrary manner as some that are very illegal and arbitrary themselves will needs have him to have done that it is plain he had an Act of Parliament and a Royal Grant on his side and both of them implied such a Trust committed to him as it concern'd him in Conscience to look after Fourthly and lastly The Regulations made by that wise and good Prince in pursuance of this double Trust committed to him cannot be evacuated by the ordinary Trustees and much less by no power at all of which more shall be said in its due place for then this Reservation of K. Edward this power given by the Act of Parliament were both of them absurd monstrous ridiculous and vain and this concerns as well some that call themselves Governors as others that pretend to be Officers of this House In the third place K. Edward in the said Grant appropriates unites knits and incorporates to the Mayor Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London and their Successors c. the Parsonage and Church of St. Thomas Southwark From whence we may observe 1. Bating that the word Appropriation is a term particularly respecting Rectories or Parsonages as is here expressed that as to the true Propriety which the Mayor and Commonalty of the said City were by this Grant to have in either of them the Hospital and its Revenues and Demesns were as much knit united and incorporated to the said Mayor c. as the Parish Church or the Glebe Tithe Obventions Oblations c. thereunto belonging 2. That notwithstanding this knitting uniting and incorporating which are words expressive of the Union yet the King did still reserve to himself his Heirs and Successors as hath been seen an express Power of Visitation as often as it should seem fit and expedient in the same Grant so that he might lawfully have visited notwithstanding this Incorporation that is notwithstanding the Corporation to which it was annext should always remain a Body Politick or Corporate without any surrender seizure or avoidance of their Charter 3. From hence it appears that the Visitation of the Hospital and the avoidance of the Charter whether right or wrong are clearly and manifestly two distinct things that they have no necessary dependence upon or Connexion with each other and that a Visitation of the Hospital by the King is legal though the Charter be standing and in full force 4. From hence it further follows though the Charter be restored yet all those Regulations which were made by K. Charles II. by a Power derived not only from the Grant of K. Edward but from an Act of Parliament 25 H. 8. c. 21. are still binding and valid by Virtue of that Act the said Regulations as to the matter of them being supposed to be legal and that neither the Officers nor Governors that were then discarded can lawfully be restored for this were to suppose a Visitor superior to the Supreme nay that the delegated Power which is supposed to be visited for its Faults and Failures may correct and amend that Power to which it is by Law subjected it were to imply that a legal Act may be illegal and arbitrary at the same time for if it were legal why should it not be valid and what an Absurdity is it in this Case for Substitutes and vicarious Agents to correct their Principals of whom they hold and from whom all their Power and Authority is derived or would not this in its Consequence be to invert the nature and the order of Government and to bring all things into confusion if Inferiors shall at every turn correct and alter the Establishments of a Superior Power when they cannot help confessing them to be legal and when they are made to be so by the same Law of the Land by which every Man enjoys his Property and holds his Estate It remains therefore that neither the Governors nor Officers ejected by King Charles II. can