London hath anciently been commended for and summes it all up in Sir Edward Cooks words who cals it the Chamber of the King the Heart of the Common-wealth the Epitome of the Kingdome All this wee grant and blesse God for onely wee desire that this place which hee cals the heart of the Common-wealth may never bee sick at the heart of those diseases and distempers which such members thereof as himself strive to breed and to cherish in it But now hee comes to prove his Proofes to wit that they enjoy these their Priviledges de Jure as given and bestowed on them not usurped by them and those priviledges hee tels you are these two First To have the power to choose their own chiefe Governour and subordinate Officers among themselves Secondly To have also the power to make such Laws which are or shall bee for their own welfare and best accommodation For proofe of the first of these which is the Cities power in choosing their own chiefe Governour and subordinate Officers among themselves hee produceth many Charters granted in the time of Richard the first King John Edward the second and Henry the eighth as you may see in his book at large I must confesse it is a fine and easie thing to prove what no body denies onely let mee observe thus much from his proofes if the City can prove they have a power by Charter to choose their own chiefe Governour the Lord Major as I do not deny but they may yet ought they by that Charter and are bound when they doe choose to choose a Lord Major indeed and not a Sword-bearer in stead of a Lord Major I say they ought to choose themselves a Lord Major and therefore to grant him the power of a Lord Major to dispose of the Sword that is given him according to his best ability and understanding for the good of the City but not to choose him to bee no more then the City Sword-bearer to lay down his Sword in Common-Counsell when they list and not to take it up againe till they will give him leave as Mr. Bellamy would have it to bee although they should injoyn him to sit all day or all night hee being never so old weak and unable to sit or never so much tyred with impertinences and such frothy speeches as this is or though hee hath never so much necessary occasion to use the same Sword at the same time either in the Court of Aldermen the seat of Justice or else-where for the necessary good and safety of the City The next Priviledge of the City that hee goes about to prove is that they have also the power to make such Laws as shall bee for their own welfare and best accommodation And this hee proves by the Charter of Edward the third in the fifteenth year of his Reigne where indeed hee draws a knife to cut his own throat for I doe not know how hee could have pickt out any Charter which doth invest the Lord Major and Aldermen with a negative voyce and put the power of making Laws into their hands more then this Charter of Edward the third I will relate the Charter it self in Mr. Bellamies own words it runs thus Wee have granted further for us and our Heires and by this our present Charter confirmed to the Major and Aldermen of the City aforesaid That if any Customes in the said City hither to obtained and used bee in any part difficult or defective or any thing in the same newly happening where before there was no remedy ordained and have need of amending the same Major and Aldermen and their Successed with the assent of the Commonalty of the same City may adde 〈◊〉 ordaine a remedy meet faithfull and consonant to Reason for the common prâ—sâ— of the Citizens of the same City as oft and at such time as to them shall bee thought expedient Wee will consider in this Charter but two things First to whom the Charter itselfe is confirmed Secondly how the power of this Charter must bee used First to whom it is confirmed it speaks plainly that it is granted to the Lord Major and Aldermen of the City without so much as naming any interest that the Commons have in the grant of it Whence I conclude that the Lord Major and Aldermen of the City of London were thought fit by the same King that granted this Charter to bee intrusted with the absolute power of the Charter to use it for the Cities Good even as Counsell is given to the Head to use for the benefit of the whole body Secondly Wee are to observe how the power of this Charter which is the power of making Laws must bee used Read the words of the Charter and they tell you thus The Lord Major Aldermen and their Successors have a power thereby given them to make or mend what Laws they see necessary with the assent of the Commoners From whence it will necessarily follow that the Active power of making Laws nay of proposing Laws otherwise then by way of Counsell rests wholly in the hands of the Lord Major and Aldermen and no more power is left in the Commoners but to assent or to dissent from those Laws that shall seem good to bee made by the Lord Major and Aldermen and by their assent to ratifie or by their dissent to hinder them So that now where lies the Negative voyce If the Commoners in regard of the greatnesse of their number shall out-vote the Lord Major and Aldermen which at all times they easily may and thereupon undertake to make or mend a Law then is the very Charter it self absolutely and apparently broken For it doth not say wee have granted to the Commons that by the consent of the greater part of the Common-Councell nor yet by the consent of the Lord Major and Aldermen much lesse without their consent that they to wit the Commoners shall have power to make or mend a Law But it faith wee have granted to the Lord Major and Aldermen to make the Law by consent of the Commoners So that it must needs follow that the Lord Major and Aldermen must either use their power to the making of a Law or else let the Commons consent what they will though they have a power to consent they have no power by consenting to make a Law And I would faine know whether that Law can bee said truely to bee made by the Lord Major Aldermen and their Successors which is onely carryed by the Plurality of the voyces of the Commoners and thereupon made though contrary to the consent of the Lord Major and Aldermen as Mr. Bellamy would have them to bee and I would fain know whether the proper meaning of this Charter must not needs bee thus that the Lord Major and Aldermen who being chosen by the City are intrusted with the care and charge of the welfare of the same shall have therefore power to make or mend Laws for the Cities good onely
BELLAMIVS ENERVATVS OR A Full Answer to a Book Entitled A Plea for the Commonalty of London WHICH IS As the Authour Mr. Bellamy cals it A Vindication of their Rights which have been long withholden from them in the choyce of sundry City Officers AS ALSO A Iustification of the power of the Court of Common-Counsell in the making of Acts or By-Laws for the good and profit of the Citizens notwithstanding the negative voyces of the Lord Major and ALDERMEN Refuted by Irenaeus Lysimachus Non habenti auferetur Et habere quod videtur LONDON Printed by Richard Cotes 1645. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE the Lord Mayor of the City of London and to the Right Worshipfull the Aldermen his Brethren Right Honorable Right Worshipfull WHen at first I saw this empty Pamphlet Entitled A Plea for the Commonalty of London peep out of the Presse much like a Glow-worm proud of some counterfeit light which it pretended to have I imagined it the best way to let it alone that it might shame it self by shewing it self as indeed needing no other enemy to overthrow it but its own weaknesse But finding it since with more successe then desert to scatter a large spawn about the City by a second Impression and that this painted worm began to deceive too many dim-sighted Traveller I thought fit from the service I owe to truth and Peace and order which is a friend to them both to send abroad this seasonable light which though it bee but small is yet true and I hope cleare enough to discover the other to be no more then a silly worm The Honour I beare to this famous City and to the preservation of its Peace frō all seditious rents which some turbulent sick braines will be ever hatching in it causeth me at this time to present to your wisdoms two humble motions The first as touching this Pamphlet which I now take upon me to answer the second as touching the maintenance of that honour and power which God and the Kingdom have invested you with and particular hands cannot justly take from you As touching the Book I will not aggravate the spirit that it carries and that carries it along nor the mischief that such a brat of too rash a brain may breed if not prevented to your selves and this City What tumults uproares might in all likelihood follow such daring incouragements in a multitude prickt with desire of power and power of vindicating pretended priviledges I blesse God it hath yet taken no such effect Nor will I aggravate the Authours offence whom humbly submitting to your better judgements I conceive bound by Oath not thus desperately to have sent abroad without order from that Court whereof he is a Member so dangerous a spark as this is which though it seem little at the first if not timely quencht may quickly prove a great Incendiary Nor lastly wil I tell you what power lies in your hands to punish such an offender thus indevouring to disturb the Cities peace by disturbing the Cities Order and Government and thus I had almost said violating his Sacred Oath My Lord I am not a man of that spirit it was Caesars honour that he overcame more and more overcame by his clemency then his sword the last overcame but the bodies of men the other their mindes it will be your Lordships honour and the rest of your Brethren who are all ingaged in this Quarrell in respect of the Author of this Pamphlet to indevour as not to lose by him so if possible to gain him and if not to more wisedom to more obedience But in the mean time I remember how Alexander dealt with one of his Souldiers whom he heard railing at himself who was his Generall Though he might have punisht him at his pleasure yet he took only this revenge upon him He caused Proclamation to be made throughout his whole Army that such a Souldier had scandalously railed against Alexander And that therefore for the time to come he should have the liberty to say any thing what he listed were it good or bad no body at all regarding or taking notice of what was spoken by such a fellow as he You shall not need to make Proclamation what injury the Author hath done you by this Pamphlet who is as it were one of your Souldiers and you his General the Book it self sufficiently shews it and the Answer a little more then the Book Let me only commend unto you this Heroicall Resolution Neither to mind it for the present nor him for the future nor whatsoever he shall speak or write till you find him wiser and Let that be his punishment My second Motion which concerns your selves is this That you would seriously consider that the honor and power which is conferr'd upon you by Charter and Custome the ancienter of the two though it be in your hands to use is not in your power to give away nor will your famous City turn to be any other then a Monster of many Heads when its renowned Government which is now so fully established and so bravely digested into a fit Method and Order shall again be thrown into its old Chaos by confusedly thrusting it into the hands of the Multitude whom a great Emperour long agoe compared to fire and water that are good Servants but bad Masters My Lord I doe not any whit hereby charge or asperse those renowned Members of your own Body the Commoners that sit below you and without whom you your selves are able to do nothing to any purpose But as it is in the Naturall body so I would have it in this body Politique I would not be censured to derogate from the Hand or Foot because I do not grant them to be the Head I shall in this insuing Treatise give them all right that belongs to them indevouring only to withhold both you and them from usurpation In which Golden mean to preserve both them and you and this City from all factions and fractions which turbulent spirits may breed among you it was the only Argument mov'd me now to set pen to paper and is all that is desired or intended by him who is Your Lordships Worships and this Cities in all humble Service Ire Lyfim To the Reader Reader THou mayst for ought I know bee a Party ingaged on one side or other in this Quarrell and so unfit to bee a Judge thou mayst perhaps look upon this Book with a pleasing eye as wishing well to the Cause that it presumes to vindicate or thou mayst perhaps condemn it before thou hast perus'd it as choosing rather to have the Truth silenc'd then that it should speak what is not pleasing unto thee Or thou mayst be a third man a man unconcern'd on either part and so impartiall Which of these soever thou art let mee give thee this caution Let Truth bee the Mine thou dig'st for in it the Treasure thou seekest the mark at which thou aimest Read it without Prejudice and
judge it as thou find'st it I am not the City Advocate to plead their Rights rather their Champion to defend them from wrong I take not upon mee to argue their Cause but to answer Arguments already made against them Vnder that Notion consider mee compare mee and censure mee only shut not thy Eyes against any cleare light that shall appeare in mee since to bee wilfully ignorant ought to bee reckoned among sins of knowledge Farewell Bellamius Enervatus OR An Answer to a Plea for the Commonalty of LONDON And first to the Proem THe discontent that breeds in some kinde of spirits because they cannot doe what they would makes them next to doe they cannot tell what The occasion of this Mr. Bellamies speech first spoken since published to throw up all enclosures of Order in the City of London by shuffling the Cards and taking away all notes of distinction between the Head and Members thereof did not principally arise from any just claime that hee could make to the Priviledges which he pleades for but as himself confesseth hee was put upon this motion because hee had been crost by the Lord Major and Aldermen a little before in a former motion Hee tels you that upon the 16th of January last he made a motion that a certain obstruction in the Court of Common-Counsell might be removed which was caused by the Lord Majors using his Priviledge of taking up the Sword and so dissolving the Court for the present when hee saw good without their consents The redresse whereof hee tels you he prest with much earnestnesse and Prometheus-like stole fire from heaven to quicken this creature of his own making for he us'd the Arguments of the Lords and Commons in Parliament made to the King for the continuance of their sitting as long as they saw good in Parliament to the Lord Major for the continuance of his sitting as long as they saw good in Common-Counsell But this not taking such offect as hee hoped for was yet the Spur that prickt him forward upon another designe that since hee could not court them out of their Priviledges hee would labour to force them And * Read his own Proem at the latter end thereupon it was that he indevoured 1. By the Charters of the City 2. By Records witnessing their power in the practise of them 3. By Equity and Reason to extend the Commoners Rights a little further and since it could not bee yeelded that the Lord Major in Common-Counsell must sit still as long as they list they will now both make him sit when they list and which is worse Act what they list Throughout which passage give mee leave to make these Observations First what Equity there was in his first motion upon the sixteenth of January Secondly What were the Arguments that hee backt it with Thirdly What reason there was that upon the deniall of that first motion hee should now fall upon this For his first motion upon the sixteenth of Janary it first argues a great deale of weaknesse in the Lord Major that he doth not know when to sit still and when to rise for the Cities good unlesse Mr. Bellamy tell him Secondly it much asperseth the Lord Majors integrity that hee would not of himself sit as long to do the City or Kingdom service as Mr. Bellamy would have him Thirdly it wrests the Sword it self out of the Lord Majors hand it being given him to dispose according to Law in his own best judgement which notwithstanding must now during the time that a Common-Counsell will sit though it bee all day and all night and never so much occasion to use it in the City bee surrendred as it were into the hands of Mr. Bellamy till hee please that the Lord Major shall take it up againe As touching the Arguments brought by Mr. Bellamy to back this motion there are two things in them considerable 1. whos 's they are 2. what they are First Whose they are hee tels you they are the same which the Lords and Commons used to his Majesty for the continuance of this present Parliament all that is his in them is the Application to fit those Arguments which were made by them for the Kingdom to serve his turn for the City For Answer to which if I dare trust my memory I shall acquaint you with an old story of a certain Recorder of your own City who had a Malefactor indicted and convicted of murder before him the Malefactor was called Skillman the Recorder being somewhat facetious hearing such a name thus quibbled upon it Thy name saith hee to the Prisoner is Skillman take away S and it is Killman take away K and it is Illman thou hast an ill name which may half hang thee and an ill cause which will quite hang thee This sudden flash being favourably smiled upon by the Court a certain Magistrate of the Countrey took speciall notice of put it up in his Table-book and the next time hee sate upon the Bench made this use of it There was a malefactor brought before him and convicted for stealing a horse his name was Johnson Hee presently asks him his name the other answers his name was Johnson Johnson saith hee take away S and it is Killman take away K and it is Illman thou hast an ill name which may half hang thee and an ill cause which will quite hang thee If this were but a Fable the Morall is good I will make no other Application of it to Mr. Bellamy but thus to let him know that all Arguments will not serve at all turns nor is it any Plea for him that hee hath brought the Arguments of the Lords and Commons unlesse hee can make them as fit for himself as they made them for themselves and therefore we will look no further whose Arguments they are but wee will come in the next place to see what they are And here hee tels you the particulars which hee insisted upon were these three 1. the raising of Monies for the Kingdomes Cities occasions 2. The Repayment of those monies so raised by the Parliament Common-Counsell 3. The redresse of the grievances of the City Kingdome These three hee tels you the Common-Counsell cannot effect as they should doe without the power of continuing together till such time as these be throughly considered upon All which wee easily grant but would faine know how these Arguments back his Motion hee brings us Arguments to prove why the Common-Counsell should sit till the necessary businesse of the City bee effected and therefore makes a motion that they may sit as long as they themselves list whereby they doe not urge for a power to sit while the necessary businesse of the City is effected but while such trouble-Courts as himself shall please to tire out the Lord Major and Aldermen with as impertinent speeches as hee hath done here with one of almost an houre long to no purpose at all unlesse it bee to make divisions
Dare you deny that there wants either so much wisdome in the Lord Major and Aldermen that they know not when the Court is full of necessary businesse and so requires their stay or when the Court is burdened with Impertinent long-winded senselesse Arguments and is therefore fit to bee dissolved or adjourned Or will you tye the Lord Major and Aldermen though never so weary by reason of their great age and perhaps other bodily infirmities not to rise from Common-Counsell till you will give him leave unlesse you will doe this your Arguments may indeed make good that it is fit the Lord Major should see necessary businesse effected for the Cities good in convenient time but can never prove that hee must therefore sit as long as you would have him I come now to the last Observation which in the third place I must speak unto and that is this What reason Mr. Bellamy had that because this his first unreasonable motion took no effect hee should thereupon indevour to presse a second of farre worse consequence then the former Which was as I conceive just none at all that because my Lord Major denyed him this motion hee must therefore in the next presse for more Me thinks Mr. Bellamy it had been enough for you to have said My Lord Major was to blame that would not hearken to so wise a man and a motion so like himselfe nor throw the City Charters at your feet to bee mended he was an obstinate perverse untoward man to maintain his and the City Priviledges when Mr. Bellamy had mov'd to have them given away But for you upon the deny all of your first motion presently to fall upon a second farre more desperate it savours nothing in mine eye but a thirst of revenge that because my Lord Major would not give you his Sword to keep by you as long as you pleased you would therefore take it from him and cut out his tongue with it by denying him and his Brethren those negative voyces which is indeed their Right and the Cities Glory and because hee would not make your will Law you would finde out a Law to take away his will and force the head onely to act at the discretion of the members as appears by your claime to an absolute power which the Commoners themselves you say are invested with of making City Laws and choosing City Officers whether the Lord Major and Aldermen will or no if you bee more per poll then they the which you undertake in your Plea for the Commonalty of London fully to maintain and which I am now undertaking as fully as I can to Answer A FVLL ANSVVER TO THE Plea for the Commonalty of LONDON THis snarling Pamphlet Cerberus-like barks with three heads Hee tels you p. 2. that hee will for methods sake deliver what in this hee hath to speak under three heads and they are these First That this City by those favours and bounties which wee and our Predecessors have received from sundry royall Kings of England is now invested with many excellent immunities franchises and priviledges Secondly Who are the proper recipients of those favours or to whom the power of using and maintaining those favours and Priviledges granted to us by our royall Kings of England is committed Thirdly The Reasons or Arguments wherefore those persons unto whom this power is committed should carefully and conscionably maintain and use those priviledges with which they are intrusted In the first of these hee spends much time and words and hath hard travell in Records to prove what no body denies and is at last delivered of nothing but winde He speaks no more but what wee know and acknowledge and thankfully I hope imbrace as wee ought to do And truely I should not spend any time to examine this foundation there is so little in it that hee can build any thing upon onely I remember what is taught mee by the wisest of Kings * Prov. 26.5 for which cause I shall trace him step by step to shew what unjustly hee doth and what justly I may pick out of these priviledges Hee tels you for proofe of his first head Hee hath a large and pleasant field to walk in I grant it is a large and pleasant field enough if men could think it so that walk in it but it appears it is not large enough for him which makes him at this time throw up Inclosures and by intrenching upon the Rights of the Lord Major and Aldermen strive to make it larger but I shall desire him to remember Cursed is hee that removeth his Neighbours Land-mark And now hee complements out these Priviledges both with the Princes that have conferred them and the City that injoyes them not knowing saith hee whether more to magnifie the favour of the one or the happinesse of the other But here hee tels you * Men do not doe in a large field as they do in a curious garden having so large a field to walk in hee must doe men use to doe in a curious garden pluck here a flower and there an herbe which is an old cast simile threed bare in his great grand-Fathers dayes and when hee hath done the best hee can hee must leave many behinde him for want of time and skill which I confesse I much wonder at that want of time and skill should make him leave his gathering of flowers who in so bad a time and with so little skill hath notwithstanding ventured to binde up such a bundle of weeds as hee hath in this fardell And these flowers hee saith hee must leave behinde him for some more able hand to gather them I scarce beleeve hee thinks there is an abler hand in England then his own though hee would have you bear him witnesse here of a great deale of modesty that hee doth confesse it Hee tels you hee can no way east his eye but hee beholds many witnesses of the great Priviledges of this City as first that they may sit in the capacity of a Common-Counsell which is a great Priviledge I confesse but not big enough for him unlesse hee and his Brethren the Commoners alone may sit in the capacity of an absolute Court not at all regarding the presence of a Lord Major and Aldermen or at best placing them but for Cyphers there Hee acknowledgeth also the Sword that Emblem of Authority which is carryed before the Lord Major is another Argument to prove the power of the Lord Major and therein the power of the City but I must make bold here to put him in minde that if the power of the City subsist in the power of the Lord Major then to take away the power of a Negative voyce in Common-Counsell as also the power of taking up the Sword when hee shall see time from the Lord Major is even to take away the power of the City which by his own confession is placed in the head thereof the Lord Major Hee shews you next what
this must bee done with the Commons consent that is the Laws that are proposed by the Lord Major and Aldermen shall not passe without the consent of the major part of the Commonalty which in such cases are alwaies put for the whole And this is all the Priviledge the Commoners can glean out of this Charter I confesse I do not see that wee need any more to prove the negative voyces of the Lord Major and Aldermen that they do of right and necessity belong to them then this very Charter which First is granted to them alone without so much as naming the Commons and secondly placeth the power of making or mending a Law in them onely giving the Commoners no more power then is now granted them which is either to assent or dissent when a Law is proposed as I said before I conclude this first head in Mr. Bellamies own words When I seriously consider what Priviledges are thus granted to this City I know nothing wanting to them if they bee not wanting to themselves to make them happy that is if this power of making or mending Laws thus placed by Charter in the hands of those who are chosen by and intrusted with the care of the City bee still continued in its own proper place But if the Commoners will usurpe this power contrary to Charter into their owne hands and make their head a head of clouts if they then suffer at the present by having such Laws made as shall bee set up by faction not wisdome and if they suffer hereafter by the severity of future Princes which may perhaps deny them the lawfull use of those Charters which they have thus abused they may thank themselves and such instruments of their suffering as Mr. Bellamy is and I therefore pray God give you grace as Mr. Bellamy saith wisely and humbly to make use of them I come now to the second head or to the second thing handled which is this Who are the proper Recipients of those priviledges or to whom the power of using and maintaining those priviledges and favours granted to us by our Royall Kings of England is committed And in this Head hee tells you hee hath two things to speak to 1. To shew to whom these priviledges have been granted 2. To prove by whom these priviledges have been practised And here I must tell you this Argument deales like Hocus Pocus that swallows hurds and spits fire it repeats of the former Charters enough to choake it self but that it spits desperate conclusions from them Desperate conclusions I call them in two respects first because they are contradictory secondly because they are false First I say they are contradictory hee contradicteth himself in them hee tels you p. 9. in these words If you take a Survey of all the Charters granted to this City since the date of that grant of King John to this day which are very many they all run thus or to this effect To the Major Aldermen and Commonalty of the City of London or To the Major and Commonalty of the City of London and yet in the very same page nay the same clause of that sentence reciting the Charter of Edward the second in the twelfth of his Reigne hee tels you That that Charter leaves a certain power in making and amoving Sheriffes and some other City Officers wholly to the pleasure of the Commonalty without any reference to the Major and Aldermen So that you see how plainly hee contradicts himselfe hee tels you first That all Charters that ever were made run thus viz. To the Major Aldermen and Commonalty And yet hee recites a Charter in the very next words where hee labours to exclude both the Major and Aldermen In the next place I am to prove his Conclusions drawn from these Charters are false which I shall do by proving two things First That hee falsely interprets the Charters themselves Secondly Hee argues falsely from his owne Interpretations First Hee falsely interprets the Charters recited by himselfe as In that Charter of Edward the second which hee saith is made to the Commons onely without reference to the Major and Aldermen his Interpretation there is false for that very Charter cannot but have a reference as well to them as to the Commoners And that appeares by the words of the Charter which are these That the Major and Sheriffes may bee chosen by the Citizens of the said City as Mr. Bellamy relates the Charter in his Book p. 5. the latter end Now it cannot bee denyed but the Major and Aldermen are Citizens of the City of London and the principall of them as Mr. Bellamy confesseth if therefore the power of that Election bee granted in generall termes to the Citizens of London though the Lord Major and Aldermen bee not exprest in that Charter as there was no need they should yet they are necessarily included because they are Citizens and so that very Charter contrary to Mr. Bellamies opinion hath reference to the Major and Aldermen Secondly Hee argues falsely from his own interpretations for Mr. Bellamy from this Charter thus interpreted argues or rather concludes two things in the very next words First That it is cleare that in the City Priviledges the Commoners have an equall share with the Lord Major and Aldermen Secondly That if there bee any difference the advantage is to the Commons Let us see how these will follow If wee should take it for granted that in choosing some City Officers the Lord Major and Aldermen are by Charter excluded which notwithstanding is absolutely false and can never bee proved as I have already shewed yet if it were true a very little Logick will tell us Syllogizari non est ex particulari It is no good Argument that shall conclude that because the Commoners have a right to this Priviledge by Charter which is onely the choosing of the Major Sheriffes and some City Officers that therefore they have a right to all nor will it follow that because the Lord Major and Aldermen have not a negative voyee in the choosing of some City Officers but the Commons have a power in themselves to do it without them that therefore the Lord Major and Aldermen have no negative voyce in the making of Lawes when the Charter of Edward the third plainly gives it them I shall desire you to take a little notice what a grosse slur hee puts upon you here First Hee tels you that all the Charters run thus To the Major Aldermen and Commons Secondly Hee brings you a Charter cleane contrary in the next words which hee takes to bee made only to the Commons without reference to the Major and Aldermen Thirdly Hee grounds from that Charter and all the rest 1. An equality that is between the Major Aldermen and Commons 2. If there bee any difference the advantage is to the Commons First Hee saith the Commons have an equall share with the Lord Major and Aldermen in City Priviledges because all Charters
joyn them Secondly They have an advantage if there bee any difference because that one Charter of Edward the second is made saith hee onely to the Commons without any reference to the Major and Aldermen Both which I thus disprove first because all the Charters or any of them do not make them equall with the Lord Major and Aldermen secondly this Charter of Edward the second gives them no advantage First I say no Charter makes them equall which I prove two waies First Because the Charters cannot bee so understood as to make the Commoners equall with Lord Major and Aldermen Secondly The Charters themselves expresse the contrary First The Charters cannot bee understood of an equality for there is a great deale of difference in giving or granting things joyntly and granting or giving things equally Things may bee given joyntly to many receivers yet to one more to another lesse but if they bee given equally then the one hath as much share as the other For example in the naturall body strength is given to a Lyon and to every part of the Lyon joyntly for hee hath some strength in every part but yet strength in the Lyon is not given to every part of the Lyon equally because one part of him is stronger then another Againe that may bee said to bee given joyntly in the benefit whereof many things have a joynt interest and yet not a joynt exercise of the thing which is given them thus wisdome is given to man and to every part of man joyntly because every part of man receives benefit by it and yet the exercise of this wisdome is onely placed in the understanding to whom is committed the power and charge of benefitting all other parts of the body by that wisdome which is onely exercised by the understanding In both these respects Charters may bee made and Priviledges granted to the City joyntly and yet not equally Joyntly in the first sense that is the Priviledge of making Laws choosing Officers or the like may bee granted to the City joyntly yet the Lord Major and Aldermen may have a greater power in the making of Laws and choosing Officers then the Commoners Or else in the last sense These Priviledges may bee conferred upon the City joyntly and yet the acting power of them may bee committed onely to the Lord Major and Aldermen as in the two foregoing examples plainly appeares And that the power of making Laws which is the greater of the two City Privildges though it bee granted to the City joyntly yet it is not granted to the City equally the Charter of Edward the third which I explained before doth clearely prove and that beyond all contradiction or objection Thus you see the first thing is made good viz. that none of the Charters give the Commons an equall though a joynt share and power in City Priviledges with the Lord Major and Aldermen Secondly I shall shew you that the Charter of Edward the second which Mr. Bellamy saith hath reference to another of King John in point of difference gives the Commons no advantage And that appeares by the same Charters which doe conferre a power into the hands of the Citizens without any distinction Whence I thus Argue 1. The Lord Major and Aldermen are Citizens therefore they have an equall share in those Charters 2. They are the principall head of the City as Mr. Bellamy confesseth therefore if there bee any difference the advantage rather is to them And thus much for the first particular viz. to whom these City priviledges have been granted I come now to the second viz. By whom they have been practised Where Mr. Bellamy tels you they have been practised alwaies as by the Charter of Edward the third they were granted which must bee by the Lord Major and Aldermen with consent of the Commons and for my part I desire no more but that they may continue so still That in Laws propos'd in Common-councell to bee made the Lord Major and Aldermen may have the power of making according to that Charter and the Commons the power of assenting or dissenting and no more which is according to the same Charter And here Mr. Bellamy gives you many needlesse instances of things done by the joynt and concurrent power of the Lord Major Aldermen and Commons in Common-Councell all which wee know to bee true but must tell him thus much if hee would bring an instance for his own purpose to doe himself any good hee must shew us when and where any thing hath passed in Common-Councell which the Lord Major and Aldermen have refused to joyn with the Commons in For for such Acts to passe in Common-Councell which the Lord Major and Aldermen think fit to joyne with the Commons in this makes nothing against the negative voyces of the Lord Major and Aldermen but if hee can give us an instance of an Act in Common-Councell where a Law was made and established by the sole power of the Commoners which though it were protested against by the Lord Major and Aldermen yet the Commoners by their priviledge made it passe when hee shews us such an example hee saith something towards the taking away of the negative voyces of the Lord Major and Aldermen But in the beginning of p. 11. he undertakes to prove this also in these words That all the determinative binding and concluding power of the Court of Common-Councell is in the plurality of the votes of the Lord Major Aldermen and Commons joyntly By which word joyntly hee meanes equally or else wee doe not deny it And that the Lord Major and Aldermen have no more power of a negative voyce then as single persons which every member of that Court hath as fully as they if their judgements in the Debate sway them to the negative And that the Aldermen alone and by themselves cannot hold the negative against the Commons affirmative I must needs confesse Mr. Bellamy now speaks to the purpose if hee can but prove this as hee saith hee will hee shall have my consent to have his motion very speedily granted And here I commend him hee takes the choyce of three weapons to make this good and I am afraid all too short 1. Hee proves it by practise 2. By Argument 3. By Equity and Reason First By practise That it hath not been so which hee instanceth in a Case upon 17. of Feb. 1641. But as I told you the whole speech had three heads I must tell you this part of it wants a tayle this Example brought in by way of Argument hath no Conclusion But I shall first tell you what the Argument is secondly what the Conclusion must bee The Argument lies hid in the whole story which is this Feb. 17. 1641. A Petition was brought into the Court of Common-councell directed onely to the Lord Major and Aldermen and because it was not directed to the Lord Major Aldermen and Commons in Common-Councell assembled the Court refused to take any cognizance
in the Commons or else there is lesse integrity in the Lord Major and Aldermen to passe such Laws for the Cities good then there is in the Commons Till one or both of these bee prov'd I shall give this Objection no further Answer His second Argument is that by this meanes the City would fall into a remedilesse way of Ruine and hee instanceth in the case of Sir Richard Gurneys standing out against the just desires and commands of the Parliament I shall throw his own Instance at his head and beat him with his last weapon In the case of Sir Richard Gurney I would fain know how the City fell into a remedilesse way of ruine When it was found that Sir Richard Gurney was a man uncordiall and unfaithfull to the Parliaments Service was hee not presently apprehended removed and committed by Authority of the same Parliament and was not the City soon reduced from this remedilesse way of ruine and a faithfull and active Lord Major placed in his roome And doe you not think it would happen so again either in the Lord Major or Aldermen if they should not bee men of that integrity which is expected would the Parliament think you sit still and look on and provide the City no Remedy Away then for shame with such senselesse Arguments See his own book p. 16. l. 17. and let us heare no more of your sitting still and sighing with your fingers in your Eyes and cannot tell what you would have which are Arguments fitter for a childe to begge Plums with then a Common-Councell man Priviledges But next hee tels you what hee hath done all this while what hee hath fully and clearely proved both by Charters and by Practice I shall give it you in his own words They are these That the Lord Major Aldermen and Commons conjunctim and not either alone as separated or dis-junct from the other are the proper recipients of those Grants and Priviledges which our Royall Kings have in their bounty and favour invested this City with And hath hee rais'd all this dust spent all this time and matter to prove this I know no body that offers to deny it him for my part I have already granted and will not now recall that the proper Recipients of the City Priviledges are the Lord Major Aldermen and Commons conjunctim that is joyntly but not equally as the Lord Major and Aldermen may bee joyned with the Commons in one Commission and yet have a greater power then they by vertue of the same Commission or the Commons may have joynt Right with the Lord Major and Aldermen to the City Charters that is to the benefit that is received by them yet the power of acting and exercising those Charters may bee intrusted in the Lord Major and Aldermen as I have shewed before But here I must tell you what I may well feare lest Mr. Bellamy in this claim made to usurpe the Rights of the Lord Major and Aldermen doe not sin against knowledge My reason is because if you compare but two things what before hee said hee would prove and what here hee saith hee hath proved you will finde hee doth acknowledge a weaknesse in his own Arguments that they cannot make good what hee would have them For Example read p. 9. lin 24. and pag. 11. lin 1. of his book and in those hee tels you hee will make cleare First That the Commons have equall share with the Lord Major and Aldermen in City priviledges Secondly That if there bee any advantage it is to the Commons Thirdly That the Lord Major and Aldermen have no more negative voyce tâ—en the inferiour members of the Court. These things hee undertakes to prove and yet when hee hath brought all the Arguments hee can to prove them hee concludes his Arguments in the last line of the 16. and beginning of the 17. page by telling you that hee hath proved what First Hee doth not say hee hath proved That the Commons have an equall share with the Lord Major and Aldermen in City priviledges Secondly Hee doth not say there that hee hath proved any advantage to the Commons Thirdly Hee doth not say hee hath proved any thing at all to take away the Lord Major and Aldermens negative voyce All that hee saith hee hath proved is that the City priviledges belong to the Lord Major Aldermen and Commons joyntly which is no more then wee grant whence I conclude thus much That Mr. Bellamy at first would have proved those things which hee undertook to prove with all his heart but finding when hee had brought in all his Arguments they were too weak to prove what hee would have though hee said hee would prove them at first yet hee dares not say hee hath proved them at last but faith onely hee hath proved a joynt share that the Lord Major Aldermen and Commons have in City priviledges which for my part never was or shall bee denyed him But for all this though hee dares not say hee hath proved what hee undertook and if hee should say so no wise man would beleeve him yet hee layes as hard claim to the same Priviledges as if hee had proved all before him which makes mee feare hee sins against knowledge for to indevour by violence to gain what a man cannot make good his right unto is a plain sin of covetousnesse and against knowledge And now with a faire glozing conclusion having thus prepared a Pill hee tryes to make it work It is a Linsey-wolsey-conclusion and the last part spoyles the first In the first part hee tells your Lordship hee honours you with your Brethren hee acknowledgeth you to bee the Cities Head and that in eclipsing your Honour they wound themselves I would fain know if any man will beleeve this when First The honour hee gives you is to pull you downe from being so high as your own Rights and Charters have made you and to make your Lordships power in a Common-councell no more then the youngest and meanest Commoner who hath a voyce as well nay as good as your Lordship if your negative voyce bee once taken away Secondly Hee tels you hee acknowledgeth you under his Majesty to bee head of this City and yet the head must not have a negative voyce to whatsoever the members will have done Thirdly Hee tels you that if they should goe about to Eclipse your Honour they would wound themselves when how can hee goe more about to Eclipse your honour nay to destroy it then hee doth by leaving you in a Common-councell but the name of a Lord Major but making you a Commoner onely like himselfe When 1. you shall have no more power of the Sword when you have laid it down you shall not take it up till hee please 2. When you shall have no more power or voyce in Common-councell then the meanest Commoner that sits with you But wee are not yet come to the snake that lies hid in this grasse that appeares in
of Edward the third confirmes a power to the Common-councell of altering as well as making Laws and as any thing is made for the Cities good by power of Common-councell so upon good reason it may bee by the same power reverst but then it must bee done by power of Common-councell indeed which cannot bee meant of the Commons alone but of the Lord Major Aldermen and Commons joyntly And so I grant it that if the Lord Major Aldermen and Commons shall consent to reinvest you in that power which I confesse I doe not beleeve you ever had in the beginning though you confidently say so no doubt but then you may reassume it But if that power were heretofore as you conceive made over or given away by your forefathers upon solid reasons in their esteeme into the hands of the Lord Major and Aldermen then though you can shew it may bee better reasons why to reassume it then they had to give it away it is not in your power that is it is not in the power of the Commons of themselves to reassume it without the consent of the Lord Major and Aldermen who are now possest of it no more then it is in my power when I list without the consent of the possessor to enter upon any Land or meanes which my Father lawfully sold heretofore upon pretence that I can shew better reasons why I should keep it then my Father shewed why hee should sell it Thus you see you have made but one objection where you might have made many and but the least when you might have found farre greater and yet both your Answers will not serve to satisfie that First You tell us from the beginning it was not so which you never prove and therefore wee deny Secondly You tell us why If your Priviledges have been lost they ought to bee reassumed First If they were usurpt which wee say they were not Secondly If given away by consent which wee say without the consent of the Lord Major and Aldermen who are the now possessours of those Priviledges which you pretend to have lost you of your selves cannot reassume them And thus like Heroules I have cut off two of the heads of this Hydra the third follows which as it riseth I shall likewise labour to destroy And it is this The Reasons or Arguments why those persons unto whom this power is committed should carefully and conscionably maintain and use those Priviledges with which they are intrusted The Reasons hee gives for this are these two First From the dammage and losse which our Predecessors have suffered for mis-usage and non-usage of those Priviledges and Immunities which by the favour of former Princes have been bestowed on us In prosecuting whereof though hee cite the Charter of Edward the third the first of his Reigne to free the City from bearing the offences of particular ministers of Justice yet hee tels you If the Common-councell either not use or mis-use their Priviledges they may expect to smart for it as their Predecessours did and here hee instanceth in the fifteenth yeer of Edward the third What it cost the City for not fully using their free Customs and Liberties whence hee observes That it is not enough for us to use some of our Priviledges but wee must use them all My Lord I shall urge no more upon your Lordship and the rest of your Brethren in this place then that you would remember Mr. Bellamies observation which is That your Predecessors have smarted for not fully using their Priviledges and therefore it is not enough for you to use some of your Priviledges but you must use them all I say so too my Lord Mr. Bellamy and I in this are both of a mind it is not therefore enough for your Lordship to use the power of the Sword at home or abroad in the City onely which is but some of your Priviledge but you must use it in Common-councell too by reserving in your selfe the power of laying it by when you please and taking it up againe when you please whether with or without the Commons consent or else you doe not use all your Priviledge Nor is it enough for you to use your assenting and consenting voyces in Common-Councell onely as the Commons doe use them which is indeed all their Priviledge but onely some of yours but you must use your Negative voyce also in Common-councell when your judgement tels you it is for the Cities good or else you doe not use all your Priviledge Yet doe I not close with Mr. Bellamy in that Conclusion that hee draws from hence That because you are bound to use all your Priviledges therefore you must use more then all Nor doe I conclude that because you grant to the Commons the choyce of some Officers are you therefore bound to grant them the choyce of all as Mr. Bellamie would have you which is the same as this that because the Law grants mee an interest in some of the Land of the Kingdome it ought therefore to grant mee an Interest in all For I think as Mr. Bellamy thinks but something more Hee thinks it much better to use and keep what you have then to lose all so think I by your Negative voyces but then hee would have you to require more then all that I think is usurpation But the more to back this observation of his own well raised but ill managed that you must use not onely some but all your Priviledges hee tels you they are not wanting about the King that would bee glad to fill their Coffers with City coyn if they could pick a hole in its Coat And hee recites a Record of the sixteenth of Richard the second wherein the Major Aldermen and Sheriffes were deeply fined and the City Liberties seized by the King because they had abused City Priviledges My Lord I shall commend to your consideration a short view of the Record it selfe which is here cited by Mr. Bellamy as if it made much for his Argument when indeed nothing can make more against him The Record runs thus The King granted a Commission to inquire of all and singular errors defects and misprisions in the City of London for want of good government in the Major Sheriffes and Aldermen of the said City Herein I shall desire your Lordship to take notice of two things First from whom this Government was expected which was not from the Commons but from the Major Sheriffes and Aldermen so runs the Commission Secondly for whose fault did both they and the City suffer it was not for the fault of the Commons but for the fault of the Major Sheriffes and Aldermen My Lord if ever the like businesse come upon the stage againe that enquiry bee made into the Government of the City of London how it stands it will bee after the same manner The Commission will run thus to enquire what hath befaln for want of good Government in the Major Sheriffes and Aldermen not in
the Commons and how will you answer it by saying the fault is not ours for wee gave up the City Government into the hands of the Commons let them look to it wee gave them an absolute power of making Common-councels to sit as long as they pleased and of making what Laws they pleased by plurality of their own voyces without us or our consent Doe you think such an answer will serve your turn No my Lord it will bee replyed you were by your Charters invested in this Power You not the Commons were made the City Governours The Commission will not bee answered thus that Mr. Bellamy laid a claim to your Priviledges and therefore you let them goe but it will fall heavy upon you because you therefore let them goe and your punishment will bee just when you from whom good Government is expected give up all government out of your hands into the hands of the Commons at the motion of Mr. Bellamy Thus my Lord You see good reason why you should fit fast in the power which the mercy of God the favour of sundry Kings and your own Charters have seated you in and use not onely some but all your Priviledges so you doe not use more then all fince if ever enquiry bee made and a hole bee sought in the Cities coat it will bee no excuse for you that you at the request of Mr. Bellamy gave over your priviledges into the hands of the Commons it being your duty to use them and to use them fully your selfe to whose charge they are committed Mr. Bellamies second Argument is drawn from the obligation of a sacred Oath Where you finde him Common-placing about the distinctions antiquity authority and binding power of an Oath To which I leave him and come to make mine own observations out of what hee here saith And first let mee ask whether Mr. Bellamy himselfe have not in some sense or degree violated this sacred Oath by publishing without the consent of the Common-councell whereof hee is a member so desperate a clamor against the very ancient customes of the City as this to the disturbance of its peace Secondly Let mee tell your Lordship that you and your Brethren the Aldermen are tyed also by another Oath to maintaine the Priviledges not onely of the City in generall but your own Priviledges in particular and till it bee proved that a Negative voyce in Common-councell doth not belong to the Lord Major and Aldermen nor taking up the Sword in Common-councell and departing when hee sees good doth not belong to the Lord Major which I would bee loath to fast till either of them bee proved I must put you in minde of your last Oath that as you tender that you keep them still in your hands and maintain them Thirdly I must tell you that you violate the very Oath of a Free-man if you doe not so I shall give you that Oath as Mr. Bellamy layes it down It is this The Franchises and Customes of this City you shall maintain Now it is apparent that the Lord Major and Aldermens Negative voyce in making Laws their absolute power in choosing some City-Officers and the Lord Majors power to take up the Sword in Common-councell at his discretion and goe away These are all Customes of the City and have been so time out of minde and therefore I must put every Free-man of the City in minde to take heed lest thus indevouring to overthrow the City Charters and Customes as Mr. Bellamy doth hee violate his Oath which runs thus The Franchises and Customes of this City you shall maintaine Thus you see Mr. Bellamy hath now gone through all that hee proposed to himselfe and I have traced him Hee hopes he hath fully proved every particular and I hope I have fully disproved him in every particular And now as St. Paul said to Philemon in the behalf of Onesimus hee also speakes to you telling you Though hee might injoyne you to that which is convenient yet for Loves sake bee rather intreats you You are beholding to him if hee doe there intreat you where hee might injoyn you But by what Law might hee injoyn you by none that I know of unlesse it bee Club-law for all other Law is for you and I am something afraid lest his injunction should bee of that nature For you may remember hee tels you in his Epistle That bee deales like a forward and unexperiented Souldier who more hardy then wary loving his Countries Liberty adventures to begin the Onset to provoke and stirre up more grave and skilfull Commanders to follow on in hope of victory which simile though I may not construe in the worst sense and though I will charitably beleeve it means no more then to encourage others by like claime and more earnestnesse rather to word you out of your Priviledges then Sword you out yet I cannot assure you that the multitude will all take it in that sense Nor can I bee perswaded that when Mr. Bellamy hath raised but the tongues of a City in clamor that it will bee then in his power to hold their hands especially when hee gives them this encouragement that it is in their power to injoyn you But I hope God will preserve your Lordship and your Brethren in more safety and indue this City with more wisedome and peace and therefore I leave the matter of injoyning to see what it is that hee intreats for And that is For Love and Peace sake to joyn with them by your consent and assistance to settle all their Rights and Priviledges upon their own basis I confesse this is but a reasonable motion and so just that I am confident your Lordship together with your Brethren will not deny only you may please first to see it proved that they are not so already And this hee argues will much make for the Cities safety and for the service of the King and Parliament But I must answer the City will neither bee in a good condition themselves nor any way serviceable to the State by being all head but by being a well-composed body of Head and members And here hee saith hee could weep out his owne eyes and let out his own bowels if thereby hee could but penetrate into the breast of your Lordship and those worthy Aldermen your Brethren in this nick of time it seems hee is upon the spur and cannot stay to save a sinking City if not a dying Kingdome I Answer hee shall not need to doe any of this if hee will bee quiet Let him but hold his Tongue and it shall bee all ready done for him the City shall bee preserved from sinking from a Body into a monster by beeing all head and the dying kingdome will bee in a farre easier way to bee preserved when every member of the City in his proper sphere and not in another mans Office shall contribute helpe and influence into it And now hee puts you in minde what is the Enemies maxime
Divide impera divide and rule I grant it is their maxime but I conceive it is meant rather of such a Division as hee goes now about to make in the City by setting the Lord Major Aldermen and Commons together by the ears under pretence of Charters Priviledges and I know not what such a Division as this will make for the enemies advantage and not an orderly Division of the City into head and members Hee tels you that the God of unity the Charters of the City and constitution of the Court of Common-councell makes you one Still I answer it is one Body not one Head And now hee saith hee wants words to expresse his sorrow hee might have added as hee wants Arguments to make good his claime Hee tels you the Commons stand ready with stretcht out armes to embrace you and therefore you must afford them like mutuall embraces What 's meant by that The Commons stretch out their armes would have you rise from your seats of distinction and order and come and incorporate your selves into them and bee no greater or rather lower then they this hee meanes by their embraces and you on the other hand must doe so and that is his mutuall embraces And now hee Conjures you in the Apostles words If therefore there bee any consolation in Christ if any comfort of Love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any bowels and mercies in you What then that you would grant their just desires That is doe them Justice right or wrong secondly In love and peace to settle and estate them in their Rights and Dues and under that pretence settle and estate them in your Rights and Dues and lastly to bee of the same minde with them hee meanes to give away your own Rights and Priviledges because they would have it so and then Oh quam bonum jucundum Oh how good and pleasant a thing is it for Brethren thus to live together in unity And here hee brings a fresh supply of Arguments which hee hath all this while kept in reserve I must tell him it is high time to bring them out if not too late for his other are quite routed First That as you are the head and Governours of this City What of that you therefore ought to continue so and not misplace the Government committed to your charge in the hands of others Secondly As you are bound by severall sacred Oaths viz. You shall maintain the Customes of the City which you cannot doe by letting goe your Negative voyces Thirdly As you tender the welfare and Liberties of your posterity which bindes you not to give from them what you cannot give to them again that is the very life and glory of the City which is their Priviledges But hee forbeares and so will I and joyn issue with him in closing up all with the same City History upon Record which hee himself relates beseeching you to consider seriously of it and to make such application of it as wisdome it selfe shall dictate to you The Story is this In the yeere 1389. William Vennor Major and John Walcut and John Lony Sheriffes with the then Aldermen who all by name stand blemisht upon Record that for the errors defects and misprisions in their Government they were fined at 3000 marks and the City Liberties seised on by the King can you imagine that ever any water or Aqua fortis will wash and weare off this obloquy and reproach from them no nor the like obloquy and reproach or a greater from you when for a worse fault then mis-government I mean for not government at all but resigning your own power and trust into the hands of others it shall fall heavy upon you Consider on the other hand what the wisest of Kings will tell you that a good name is better then oyntment better then the daubing flatteries of Mr. Bellamy But suffer mee to give you notice that this good name will scarce belong or bee given to you If for your lasting fame but lasting shame it shall stand upon Record to after ages when wee are dead and gone That in Anno 1645. when the Right Honourable Thomas Atkin was Lord Major the Right Worshipfull William Gibbs and Richard Chambers were Sheriffes and that learned and able Lawyer and Patriot of his Countries Libertie John Glynn was Recorder and such and such worthy Knights and Gentlemen all which men will very hardly beleeve you to bee by such an action were Aldermen that then as Diogenes prophecyed of the world the City was turned upside down the head was laid lower then the feet The Antipodes of Government was placed in the Commoners and then by your assistance and consent London I say the Commonalty of London was not restored but invested not to their but with your for ever lost Liberties and Priviledges Consider what I say and the Lord give you understanding in all things FINIS 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉