to joyn issue upon to stand and fall by as I am by this challenging any to brand me with the least of injustice I ever did them being ready with my fortune to make good what I prosecute The thing I aim at is a right understanding between the free and unfree men of England a perfect love every one injoying their own and to be governed under our known and wholesome Laws as also an obedience thereunto and not by a hidden Prerogative alias Charters It being a wonder there dare be such presumption in this Corporation to exercise such insolencies which were the greatest obstructors of our Nations Liberties by garisoning that Town The Mayor Aldermen and Recorder with the Burgesses and others against the free-born of England which prohibited all Trade from the 9th day of January 1642. to the 14th of November 1644 in that Port which caused Coals to be four pound the Chaldron and Salt four pound the weigh the poor Inhabitants forced to flie the Country others to quarter all Armies upon free Quarter heavy Taxes to them all both English Scots and Garisons Plundered of all they had Land lying waste Coal-pits drowned Salt-works broken down Hay and Corn burnt Town pulled down mens wives carried away by the unsatiable Scots and abused All being occasioned by that Corporations disaffection And yet to tyrannize as is hereafter mentioned I appeal to God and the World Ralph Gardner Charter-Law with its Practice discovered CHAP. I. Newcastle upon Tynes Patron King John surnamed without land Raigned 17 Yeres and 7 monethes died â—9 daiâ— of october 121â— Was buried att Worcester in the 51. Yere of his age A KIng John who usurped the Crown of England was only for formalities sake sworn by a Bishop who being demanded the reason why he did so said that by the gift of Prophecy certified that at some time King John would take the Crown and Realm of England and bring all to ruin and confusion he pretending the King his Brother was dead in the time of his being absent beyond Sea being the first Author of Charters for gain and people like himself for lucre of gain sold their Birth-right to become Bodies Corporate and oppressors of the free-born people of England For before Charters were all the Free-holders of England were free to make Laws for the good of the Nation but Corporations being subordinate to such Laws as he by his Prerogative gave them being repugnant to the known fundamental Laws of England In the first year of his reign dreadful tempestuous weathers by rains that the grounds were so spoiled that whereas corn was sold for one shilling the Boule in King Henry the seconds daies then cost 13 shillings the Boule also an abundance of fish found dead upon the Land by the corruption of the waters no hay could be mowed and hale as big as hens eggs B He was an Usurper a Tyrant a bloody person a Murderer a perjured person a covetous person a demolisher of famous Towns with fire and a seller of Englands Supremacy to the Pope whose reign was oppressive and end shame For further satisfaction I refer you to his true History I shall onely give a brief of some passages in his reign He made a Law that all Jews that would not turn Christians should pay a certain great sum of money or be imprisoned and when they did turn they they should have their money again a young Merchant paid 60 l. to continue a Jew and after turned to be a Christian then he demanded his money from the King but he being unwilling to part with money demanded what reason he had to turn and sent for his Father and Mother to dis-swade him and to perswade him to change again to be a Jew C He gave command that all the Jews in England and Wales to be forthwith imprisoned men women and children by reason they turned so fast to be of his Religion and then seized on all their riches to satisfie his covetous disposition and such as would not confess where their money was pulled out their teeth and eies and then took the thirteenth part of all estates moveable to war against the Earls of Marsh who desired him to forbear but he would not for which they dispossessed him of all his Lands in France c. He having little love to his Wife Izabel the Queen was divorced pretending she was too near of Kâ—n to him and so took another D He murthered Duke Arthur Earl of Brittan his eldest Brothers Son being Heir to the Crown in the Castle of Roan in France and chased William de Branes out of England and caused his wife and children to be starved to death in Winsor Castle He dis-inherited many of the Nobility without Judgement of the Law and put to death Ramp Earl of Chester for reproving him for lying with his Brothers Wife and reproached others of his Nobles telling them how often he had defiled their beds and defloured their Daughters E He granted to the City of London their Charter and Letters Pattents to chuse their Mayor yeerly in the tenth year 1210 who governs well c. F He removed the Exchequer from London to Northampton and got a great Army to go against the King of Scots but the King of Scots met him and did him homage and gave him his two Daughters as pledges and Eleven thousand Scotch Marks and upon his return took homage of the Free-holders of England and sware them to his allegiance all above 11 years of age G He made oath to be obedient to the Pope of Rome by name Innocentius to Randolphe his Bâ—ll who went with his Nobles to Dover where he met with the said Popes Bull and there resigned the Crown with the Realm of England and Ireland into the Popes hand See his Oath in chap. 59. B Upon which the Bishops who he had banished returned to England by leave from the Pope King John met them and fell flat upon his face on the ground and asked them forgiveness melting bitterly into tears c. H He grants the very next year after his power was given to the Pope unto the Town of Newcastle upon Tyne Letters Pattents to be a Corporation and to hold the said Town in Fee-farm at the rent of 100 l. per annum as by the said recited Letters Pattents in the second Chapter more at large appears An. 1213. Surely this Charter is not good by Law c. I He was the cause of firing the chief Town in Northumberland called Morpeth and caused many more Towns in England and Wales to be burnt The Barons of England being armed demanded of him the Laws and Liberties granted by King Edward the Confessor vulgarly called St. Edward he desired respite till Easter and gave Sureties to perform them K He met with the Barons of England in Running Meadow between Winsor and Stains upon the 16 of June granted under his hand to them the Liberties of England without
times of distresse and necessity H And of what able Sea-men they shall think fit for Pilots I And have hereby liberty to buy or take in at any place of the said Port of River Bread and Beer and other necessaries for their own spending and victualling K And that all Goods and Provisions which come in by Sea for the use of the Salt-works Colleries and other buildings at or near the Shields may be delivered at the Shields course being taken for paying and satisfying all duties payable for the said goods and provisions L And all persons who are willing are hereby encouraged and have liberty to build ships and vessels on the said River for the encrease of Trade and Navigation M And that all this be done without any Fine Imprisonment Confiscation or other molestation of any person vessell or goods for or in reference to any of the Princes any Law Usage Practice Custome Priviledge Grant Charter or other pretence whatsoever to the contrary notwithstanding Provided alwayes N And it is hereby Enacted that no Ship or Vessell whatsoever that shall bring in any kind of Merchandize or Grain for the proper use of the Town of Newcastle usually coming to the said Town of Newcastle and places adjacent beyond shall deliver or land the same or any part thereof at any other place within the said Harbour or Port but at the said Town or as near to it as formerly have been accustomed O And to the end so useful a Commodity at that of Sea-Coal wherein the poor of this Commonwealth are so principally concerned may come cheaper to the Market and that Coal-owners may not be in a worse condition then the rest of the free people of this Nation Be it Enacted and Ordained That the said Coal-owners in the respective Counties adjacent to that River may and have hereby liberty to let Leases of their Coal-pits and to sell their Coals to whom they please as well to ships as else-where for benefit of the publick though they be not free of that Corporation of Newcastle due course being taken for securing paying and satisfying to the State all duties payable thereupon And be it further Enacted That North-Shields in the County of Northumberland be made a Market-Town two dayes in the week to be holden or Munday and Thursday for the relief of the Country the Garrison of Tynmouth Castle the great confluence of people and fleets of ships and that the Commissioners of the Great Seal be hereby Authorized to issue out such powers as are requisite and usually done to other Markets in the Commonwealth This is the Copy of what was to have passed after debate if the late Parliament had continued c. appointed to be drawn up by Order Having given a short Relation of the sad Events by Charters and acted by subjects I shall now trouble your eye and ear to her what Kings have done to these poor Northern people formerly Therefore now deliverance is expected c. leaving it to the judgement of the Reader to judge whether it be not time c. viz. The Danes laid claim to the Crown of England the Kings laid claim to the peoples Lives and Corporations to their estates what was free Judge what reason England hath to submit to those Illegal Charter-laws invented by a Prerogative whose usurpation was not to be owned as by the sequell appears King Harrold who assumed the Crown of England to himself lead an Army to battell in Sussex where William the Conqueror Bastard Earl of Normandy met him having the assistance of the Earl of Flanders by reason he was promised a good part of England if he Conquered it at which place King Harrold was killed and sixty seven thousand nine hundred seventy four English-men In the year 1060. at which time he consumed many Towns subduing where ever he came except Kent who contracted to hold their land in Gavel-kind all England else being over-come by this said Stranger c. When the Normans ruled England the Laws were in that Tongue but they being extinguished we find the benefit of our Laws in our own Tongue and doubts not but to be restored to our ancient right for so long as Monarchs were Rulers Monopolies were in force but now such power being thrown out of doors and being become a Civill free State under the Government of our own Free-born Chosen according to the Command of God as Deut. 17. 14 15. by which Monopolizers dare not assume to petition for a revival of such their Illegal grants being found to be the greatest of evills in a Commonwealth All Kings were sworn that Justice should neither be bought nor sold nor any hindred from it to ordain good Laws and withstand all Rapines and false Judgements Charters are no other than Commissions Impowring persons uncapable of the Laws to be Judges and Justices in every respective Corporation which Charter and Commission is sold and the members thereof are Judges in their own causes So Justice is both bought and sold besides breach of Oath neither can a Foreigner obtain any right if it be against the said Corporation so that it is right in these Judges judgement to do wrong I shall give you a short Relation of the Miseries the County of Northumberland hath tasted of to this day from William the Conqueror and what little need there is Newcastle should so Tyrannize over them c. WIlliam the Conqueror having killed many and destroyed the land and brought under his subjection the people caused such who did oppose his forces at Ely to have their legs and hands cut off and their eyes put out and then gave liberally to all his Norman race Earldoms Baronies Bishopricks Honours Mannors Dignities and Farms all being got by the sword Upon his Divisions c. the Earle of Flanders sent to know what part he should have for assisting him who sent him word nothing at all by reason all was but little enough for himself Then he gave to his Son Robert Cuming the Earldome of Northumberland who in possessing of it acted such cruelty with his Army which came against Malcolm King of the Scots The said Robert built the Castle called the Newcastle upon the River of Tyne in the County of Northumberland about which was built the Town called Newcastle the Town taking its name from the Newcastle and not the Castle from the Town the said Northumberland being so oppressed that they fell upon Robert Son to the Conqueror killed him and his whole Army Upon which William the Conqueror sent another Army who had command to kill both men women and children who did it and wasted the whole County that for nine yeers there was not any food to be got And such who had hid themselves in Coal-pits and other places were constrained to eat Dogs and Cats dead Horses and mens flesh and many of them starved to death all which nine years time not any ground tilled Northumberland being recruted and most shamefully abused by the
any difficulty and the whole Realm was sworn thereunto And soon after subtlely and privately sends to the Pope and other Nations for Armies to make void those Charters and Liberties granted to the Barons and to subdue England and promised them great rewards Forty thousand Souldiers that were to have Norfolk and Suffolk to conquer England for King John were all cast away on the Sea The Pope sends in great strength who landed at Dover and destroyed many Towns by fire and with the sword slew many thousands of people the Pope excommunicating the Barons particularly by their names great subversion and dissolution thereupon fell laying all Hedges and Ditches level tormenting the Barons with their wives c. L The Barons were necessitated to send for Lewis Son to the King of France for to come with an Army to joyn with them to conquer King John whose cruelties were intollerable which was done and King John overthrown and forced to flee towards Lin being poysoned by a Monk at Swinsted the reason he gave was that if he had lived half a year longer a half penny loaf would cost 20 s. he died and was buried at Worcester and King Henry the third Son to King John of nine years of age was crowned at Glocester c. M The reason of King John his granting Charters in England and making Corporations was for that he had but little land to raise great Rents from them and to assist him with strength by out-voting the Knights of M the Shires as is hereafter exprest For all Free-holders of England that had forty shillings a yeer met two times a yeer at Sessions Meadows neer Rockingham Castle in Northampton-shire and there made such Laws as the Nation was governed by and confirmed by the King N King John resolving to have Monies and Aid of men to go to Normandy to conquer them could not conveniently motion it by reason of the numerousnesse of the Free-holders but made a speech to them that he had contrived a very â—it and convenient way for the making Laws for the good of the whole Nation which was that by reason he conceived it a great trouble for all them to come so far for that purpose onely to make Laws that they would chuse two Knights of every Shire and County in England and Wales and give to them the full power of the Nation and then the said Knights to come and fit with him in Parliament at Westminster and also to allow them four shillings a day out of the County stock which more plainly appears in the Statute of 35. Hen. 8. Ch. 11. Knights to have 4 s. per diem and Burgesses 2 s. per diem O King John when he had got the hundred and four Knights in Parliament they having the full power of the Nation from the Free-holders immediately required from them great Subsidies and Armies to go for Normandy to recover such Lands as he had lost P The Knights answered they onely were intrusted to make Laws and not to taxe the Free-holders who had intrusted them and not to raise Armies and that by so doing they could not discharge the trust reposed in them Q The King finding his expectation frustrated having nothing doubted but to have wrought his design on so small a number Mastered his passion and not long after acquainted the Knights that he was sorry for the great burden which lay upon them for making Laws being for a publick and that they were too few in number and that he had found out a way how to ease them and bring in a great revenew to free the Nation from impositions R Which was that he resolved to Incorporate all the great Towns in England and Wales and depute Magistrates to govern as his Lieutenants and every Corporation should hold their Town in Fee-Farm from him and his heirs at a certain Rent some more others lesse according to the quality c. S Also that every Corporation should chuse two Burgesses to â—it and vote with them in Parliament they knowing the state of every County and the Burgesses of the Corporation by which means the Burgesses being more in number then the Knights might out-vote them and vote for him the Knights medled not therein at all but were out-voted by these Vassals and Tenants to the King they granting to him what ever he demanded or else must forfeit their Charters And he granted to them what ever they demanded c. T The Free-holders of England were represented in Parliament by their Knights in their Election And if the Burgesses were Free-holders then represented in the same Knights V But if the Burgesses were no Free-holders then no power in England to make Laws or to â—it in Parliament to out-vote the true Representative which are the Knights especially representing no body further then the will of the King who was onely to confirm Laws but not to make them King John had four considerations in making great Towns Corporations 1 To assume â— Prerogative 2 To raise vast sums of Mony 3 To divide the Nation 4 To enslave bodies Corporate by being his Vassals and Slaves Charters are no Laws and nothing is binding that is not lawful no Laws are made but by Parliament read Stat. 2. Edw. 3. 8. CHAP. II. Newcastles first Charter A KIng John by his Letters Pattents dated the day of in the fourteenth yeer of his Reign and in the Yeer of our Lord 1213. Granted Demised and Confirmed to the honest men of the Newcastle upon Tyne and to their Heirs his Town of Newcastle upon Tyne with all the Appurtenances to Fee-farm for one hundred pounds to be â—endred to the said King and his Heirs at his Exchequer to wit at the Feast of Eaâ—ter fifty pounds and at the Feast of St. Michael other fifty pounds saving to the said King the Rents Prizes and Assizes in the Port of the said Town Further he grants to them and confirmeth one hundred and ten shillings and six pence of Rent which they have by the gift of the said King in the said Town of Escheats to be divided and assigned to them who lost their Rents by occasion of a Ditch or Trench and of the new work made under the Castle towards the River or Water so that thereof they might have the more that lost the more and they that lost the lesse should have the lesse He also granted to them for him and his Heirs that in nothing they should be answerable to the Sheriffe nor to the Constable for those things which belong to them as the said Charter testifieth Wherefore he willeth and firmly commandeth that the said men and their Heirs may have and hold the same Town with its Appurtenances to Fee-farm for the said hundred pounds yeerly to be paid as is aforesaid well and in peace freely quietly and intirely with all Liberties and free Customes which they were wont to have in the time of King Henry the 2. Father of the said King
Bishop of Durham who killed Levisus was killed by them for which William the Conqueror sent down Odo with an Army who totally laid Northumberland to waste cut off the heads of all the people after they had dismembred them Little of Confession or Repentance was by King John as was by William the Conqueror for he upon his Arrest at the Suit of Death confessed he had committed many outrages and won England by the Sword and not by Inheritance and was heartily sorry for the wrongs he had done and required his body to be buried at Cain in Normandy when he was dead they would not affoard him a burial-place till such time as one of his relation was constrained to purchase so much ground but soon after they defaced his Tomb took up his bones and brake them and cast them away In the fifteenth year of King Richard the second the Scots burnt all the Towns of Northumberland and the North as far as York except Rippon who redeemed themselves with a sum of mony In the sixth year of King Edward the third 1332. a great Battel was fought between the English and the Scots near Barwick where was killed eight Earls fifteen hundred Horse and thirty five thousand Foot In the thirteenth year of King Edward the third 1339. An inundation of water surmounted the Wall of Newcastle and broke down six pearches in length and drowned one hundred and sixty persons neer the Wark Knowl In the year 1345. William Douglas lead into Northumberland above thirty thousand Scots and fired many Towns but was overcome by a stratagem with Bishop Ogle The next year 1346. King David King of the Scots entred Northumberland with a great Army and fought at Nevils-Crosse where he was overthrown himself taken prisoner by one Copland of Northumberland who had five hundred pound per Annum given to him and to his heirs for ever In King Richard the seconds dayes 1379. the Scots entred England and killed all men women and children in the North parts notwithstanding the plague was sorely amongst them 1383. The Scots entred England and lead all the people away prisoners that were in Northumberland and laid that County to waste 1384. They entred again and did the like 1389. The Scots again invaded England where a great battel was fought at Oâ—terborn in Northumberland where they were over-thrown and eleven hundred killed and thirty thousand put to flight who upon their flight killed men women and sucking babes and filled houses with people two hundred in a house and then shut the doors and fired the houses 1399. King Richard the second caused seventeen Counties to be indicted pretending they were all against him with the Duke of Glocester Arundel and Warwick and commanded them all to give it under their hands and seals that they were Traytors though indeed they never were And then he makes them pay some a thousand pound some more some lesse King Henry the fourth Great fights were between Doughlas and Piercy in the North. And in the years 1639. and 1643. and 1648. It being well known to all the misery they brought upon the North and heavy Impositions both upon the North and South parts as appears in the close of the Epistle to the Reader c. It is no small mercy that we now live so in peace here being none of those bloody times and our Ancestors would willingly have enjoyed this mercy and we hunger after blood which they wallowed in what bloody minded men are these I wish them in better minds and to be contented with that which in former times could not be obtained Many have admired the poverty of Northumberland as well they may for what with the bloody Tyrants the Scots on the North of that poor County and oppressive Corporation of Newcastle on the South thereof bounded in with the High-lands on the West and the Sea on the East that it can get nothing but stroaks and worried out of what they have and not being tollerated to make use of their own and cold blasts from the Sea but it would be otherwise if such Gentlemen might be re-imbursed for such sums of money as they would expend to vend Coals out of Hartly Blithe and Bedlington Rivers which be convenient places to vend them at after some charge which would be done by having either their money again or Custome free for some years to re-imburse them which would not onely make that poor County as rich as any is but reduce the excessive rates of Coals and Salt and bring in many thousands per Annum into the publick revenew c. enable the people to be serviceable and abundantly increase Trade and Navigation as also there being as good Coals as possibly can be burnt which now lyes c. and others not knowing their right is stript of it But if one thing they look after which is to examine some Records they may perceive what is their Rights and which was especially in a book lodged in the Exchequor made in the year 1080. it being called Domus Dei or Dooms day being a perfect Survey of all the Lands in England the Rent Value Quantity c. by which William the Conqueror taxed the whole Nation and it goeth by the name of the Role of Winton being ordered to be kept in Winchester and recites the Earldomes Hundreds Tythings Woods Parks and Farms in every Territory and Precinct with Plowlands Meadows Marshes Acres c. what Tenements and Tenants then the Corporation of Newcastle might be as glad to keep what is their own as they are to take from others c. CHAP. LVII THe reason of my Collecting these few Statutes is to shew how they are intrenched upon by an illegal Charter and pressing upon a remedy shal cite Poulton which is that seeing we have all received and allow it for truth that the ignorance of the Law doth excuse none of offence and also that the Law doth help the watchful and not the sloathful man Therefore it behoveth each person first to seek the knowledge of those Laws under which he doth live and whereby he is to receive benefit or to sustain peril and next with all industry to frame his obedience unto them or humbly to submit himself to the censure of them And though we find by experience that some men by the sluggishnesse of their natures others by the carelesnesse of their own welfares And a third sort wholly given over to pleasures and vanities do little respect to know and lesse to obey our criminal and capital Laws being things of great moment importance and therefore do oftentimes taste the smart of them and repent of their follies when it is too late Many there be that by reading desires to conceive them others for increase of their knowledge others in their actions to be directed by them therefore to content such as knoweth not as yet these heads that they may know what they condemn and do tend to the breach of the peace of
beseecheth her Grace to increase inrich inlarge and establish as much as in her lay their Authorities and Jurisdiction in Sea-businesses with larger Priviledges Exemptions Liberties and Immunities and those being called by various names to establish into a certain Body and reduce and create the Name of the Incorporation upon which Petition the Queen made the Town and Corporation of Newcastle a free Town in these words D That the Burgesses and Inhabitants of the said Town from henceforward for ever shal be one body Corporated or body Politick in substance Fact and name by name of a Mayor and Burgesses And that by that name they may have perpetual succession And persons able in Law capable to have purchase receive and possesse Lands Tenements Liberties Jurisdictions Franchises and Hereditaments of what kind nature or form soever they shall be to them and their Successors in Fee and perpetuity And to assign them over by the name aforesaid And by the same name to implead or sue and be sued answer or to be answered defend or be defended in any Court of Record E And to have a common Seal for their causes and businesses and to break and change the same at their pleasure F Likewise she confirms by the said Charter to the said Mayor and Burgesses and their Succesors that they onely of the said Town with its Members and Appurtenances and also that they may have all the same Customes Liberties Priviledges Franchises Immunities Exemptions Qâ—ittances and Jurisdictions how many and how much soever hath been granted by former Kings by what name or names soever or by what pretence they have or do enjoy or claim the same To have and to hold and to be holden of the said Queen in Fee-farm c. G Also grants by the said Charter unto the Mayor and Burgesses and their Successors full authority power and faculty of Mittigamus constituting ordaining making and establishing from time to time such Laws institute Judgements Ordinances and Constitutions according to their sound discretion being good wholesome and necessary for the publick good and weal and common profit and good rule of the said Town H The Mayor and Burgesses have power hereby to inflict punishments pains penalties and imprisonments of bodies and by Fines or Amerciaments may levy and have to them and their Successors without calumny or impeachment requiring all persons to yeeld obedience to such Laws c. Provided those Laws Ordinances Institutions and such like Customes be not repugnant to the Laws and Statutes of England I Also that the Grants which the said Town of Newcastle and the Circuits Precincts and Jurisdictions thereof to stand as well in breadth as length as well by land as by water as was accustomed before the memory of man as they were wont to extend themselves and in the River of Tyne from a place called Sparhawk in the Sea to Headwin streams seven miles above Newcastle-bridge And to pull down all walls hedges and blocks offensive c. K And further by the said Letters Pattents the Queen doth grant unto the said Mayor and Burgesses upon the surrender of the same Letters Pattents of the same High Admiral of England by death forfeiture surrender or other means to become void for ever And may have and hold within the said Town one Court of Admiralty of Record every Munday throughout the year In which Court the Mayor or Recorder to be one And to begin upon the vacancy of the said Office to hold by plaint in the same Court to be levied all and all manner of Pleas Suits Plaints and Demands For which Debts Contracts Covenants Trespasses and Deceits Matters and Offences whatsoever to the said Court of Admiralty belonging and to hold Court of Pleas according to the Laws and Customes of the said Court of Admiralty of England and other Legal wayes and means whereby the truth may the better be known with power of any temporall constraint or mulct or any other pain according to the Laws and Customes of the said late Queens Court of Admiralty of England to be compelled or to do and administer Judgement the order of Law being kept L And likewise she ordains Justices of the Peace to conserve the Peace in the said Town and Port for the putting in execution the Statutes and Ordinances made at Wstminster in the eighteenth yeer of King Edward the third concerning forestalling of Merchandizes upon the water or upon the Sea And the thirteenth of Edward the first the five and fortieth of Edward the third the thirteenth of Richard the second and seventh of Henry the fourth and Henry the sixth the four and thirtieth of Henry the eighth and the fifth and sixth of Edward the sixth Statutes at Westminster against Regrators Fore-stallers and Ingrocers to enquire after such offenders against the Laws and Statutes aforesaid to hear and determine such like Indictments and Punishments M That the Sergeant at Mace all Juries Pannels Inquisitions Attatchments Precepts Mandates Warrants Judgements Sentences Processes or other things whatsoever to do for the dispatching thereof N The Queen gives further power unto the Mayor to choose all Officers in the said Court whatsoever to remove and expell them as they shall see cause according to Law and Equity O That the Mayor Recorder and Aldermen three or more of them whereof the Mayor or Recorder to be one of them may have for every acknowledgement of al and singular such like Pleas Plaints Suits and Demands of Debts and other Sea-businesses and offences and also disseizing of all wrecks * at Sea or Port happening and of the death drowning and viewing of all dead bodies of what persons soever which in the said Town and Port howsoever slain or drowned or to be slain drowned or murthered or brought to death by any other means P Also the custody and conservation of the Statutes the wreck at Sea and of the Office of Coronors in the third and fourth year of King Edward the first and to punish Delinquents according to Law Q The Mayor of the same Town for ever hath hereby power to receive acknowledgements for any cause whatsoever in the Admiralty Court determinable and to record and enrole the said Recognizance to release cancel lessen and qualifie at their pleasure according to Law Also to demand execution according to the manner of the said High Court of the Admiralty of England R The said Queen doth give and grant by the said Letters Pattents unto the said Mayor and Burgesses and their Successors all and singular Fines Redemptions Issues Amerciaments Forfeitures Perquisites and profits whatsoever appearing happening coming assessed imposed or taxed or then after to be upon any by the aforesaid Court for their own proper use and behoof without any account to the said Queen or her Heirs to be levied so soon as ever it shall be adjudged by them without any unquietnesse
wholesome profitable c. according as they shall think good for the good Rule and Government of the Governor Stewards and Brethren of the said Fraternity and for Declaration by what means and Order they fo 151. and their Factors Servants and Apprentices in their Office and businesses concerning the said Fraternity they shall have carry and use c. And that the Governor Stewards and Brethren of that fraternity c. as often as they grant make ordain or establish such Laws Institutes inform fo 152. and they may impose such pains penalties punishments and imprisonments of body or by fines c. upon all Delinquents against such Laws S Institutes c. as to them shall be thought necessary and requisite and as to them shall be thought best for the observation of the said Laws Ordinances c. fo 153. and the said fines and amerciaments at their discretions they may levy have and retain to them and their Successors to the use of the Governor Stewards and Brethren aforesaid without calumny c. All which and singular Laws Ordinances c. the said late Queen willeth to be observed so that the said Laws Ordinances fo 154 c. be not repugnant to the Laws or Statutes of the Kingdom of England And further the Queen granteth to the said Governor Stewards and Brethren c. and to their Successors that for ever hereafter they and their Successors c. fo 155. may have and shall have full power from time to time at their pleasure to chuse name and ordain other inhabitants and Burgesses of the said Town c. to be and shall be Brethren of the said Fraternity c. who so elected nominated and sworn shall be named and be Brethren of that Fraternity Moreover fo 156. the said Queen grants licence power and authority to the said Governor Stewards and Brethren c. and to their Successors that they for the time being and their Successors and every of them for ever hereafter may and shall quietly and peaceably have hold use and enjoy all such Liberties Privileges c. fo 157. concerning the loading and unloading shipping or unshipping of Stone-coals Pit-coals * Grind-stones Rub-stones and Whetstones T And that they may for ever hereafter load and unload ship and unship in or out of any ships or vessels Pit-coals and Stones aforesaid within the said River and Port of Tyne in any place or places as to them shall be expedient fo 158. between the said Town of Newcastle c. and the aforesaid place in the aforesaid River called the Sparhawke so nigh to the said Town of Newcastle c. as conveniently may be done according to the true intention of these Letters Pattents as the men and Brethren of the said Fraternity at any time have used and accustomed notwithstanding the Statute of King Hen. 8. the 3. of Novemb in the 21. year of his reign and from thence adjourned to Westminster holden published 1559. Intituled An Act concerning Newcastle and the Port and c. to the same belonging or any other Act c. notwithstanding And the said Queen also willeth c. for that express mention c. Witness the Queen at Westminster the 22 of March in the 13 year of her reign fo 160. What a world of profits is given from the Crown which ought to maintain it and would have so filled the Coffers as that there had been little need of Sesments c. Having read some works of those late famous Expositors of the Law I drew two or three heads out as Observations for the knowledge of those who know them not written by way of explanation of our known Laws as being a Law used time out of mind or by prescription The Law of Nature is that which God infused into the heart of man for his preservation and direction and that the Law of England is grounded upon six principle Points the Law of Reason the Law of God divers Customs of this Land of divers principles and maxims divers particular customs and of divers Statutes made in Parliament The fundamentall Lawes of England are so excellent that they are the Birth-right and the most antient and best Inheritance that the free people of England have for by them they enjoy not onely their Inheritance and Goods in peace and quietness but their Lives and dear Country in peace and safety Cooks Preface to the sixth Replication and on Littleton l. 2. c. 12. sect 213. Sometime it is called Right sometime Common Right and sometimes Communis Justitia and it is the same Law which William the Conqueror found in England the Laws which he sware to observe were Bonae c. approbatae antiquae Regni legis Charter-Law being so repugnant to the above written and so destructive to the weal of the people that never any Writer ever writ of them nor ever any Parliament Enacted their publication knowing they were no other then Prerogative and dyes with the Donor And it is an infallible rule where no Law is published there cannot be any transgression or obedience required The Corporation of Newcastle hath but two Supporters to stand and fall by first Prescription secondly Custom As to Prescription a Quo Warrante will avoid that upon a legall tryal it being understood that Charters are void by reason of the change of Government if not yet by breach of Charter exceeding their power being nothing else then a fallacy And as to plead Custom they have no right nor never in possession of what they claim Customary Right is good Law but Custom without Right is but an old error and ought to be removed Drunkenness and Swearing is customary is it fit it should stand because of its custom Kings were before Corporations and could have better justified themselves for a continuance than Corporations by reason they might plead Hereditary or Electary Conquerors or Customary yet being found a grievance was taken and removed for their Arbitrary actings why then must their power stand that is no Law If it were justice to execute those two Judges Empson and Dudly for onely putting a Statute Law in execution not repealed which is above Charters being grievous to the people it were nothing more to execute Justice upon such who acts the same without any Law King John who was a Murderer yet commanded a murderer to be taken from the Altar and sent to the slaughter Here was Justice Why do not our just Judges send such like from the Charter to the slaughter If Strafford lost his life for acting oppressively by an Arbitrary power why not others for the same CHAP. XII King James his Charters and Orders Mars Puer Alecto Virgo VULPES LEO Nullus Iamâ—s king of England Scotland and Ireland â—â— A KIng James in the second year of his reign being humbly supplicated by the Mayor and Burgesses of Newcastle that he would be graciously pleased to confirm all their antient Grants and Charters and to give them
are not free of their Corporation pag. 20. 94. 92. 93. 95. 96. 97. 45. 78. 76. 75. 37. 190 162. D. And if this be not a Monopoly of as high a nature and producing as ill effects and those of as large extent as any that to the great content and satisfaction of the Nation hath bâ—en abolished let the * world judge A Welch Pedigree doth not descend by more steps and degrees than the propriety of their coals is varied while it is derived from the Owner of the Collery unto him that at last buyes the commodity to spend it as well Trades as others The Owners of Colleries must first sell the Coals to the Magistrates of Newcastle the Magistrates to the Masters of ships the Master of ships to the Woodmongers or Wharfingers and they to those that spend them Every change of the propriety adding to and enhancing the price of the Coals thus interchangeably bought and sold which course as it picks some money out of the purses of every man that buys Coals besides bad Coals being therby vented so it grinds the faces of the poor who in these latter years by reason mainly of this Monopolizing of them have found it as hard a matter to fortifie themselves against cold as against hunger p. 104. Whereas if the owners of every Collery had free liberty to sell p. 118. his Coals to ships immediately Tinmouth Haven would afford Two hundred thousand Chaldrons of Coals in the year more than now are vented which would reduce the late exorbitant excessive rates of Coals in the City of London p. 60. 75. to under twenty shillings a Chalder all the year Winter as well as Summer and bring into the common Treasury above Forty thousand pounds per annum p. 57. 94. 96. Some owners of Coal-pits will rather let their pits be fired like those at Benwell and consume than let their Coals to the Magistrates of Newcastle If the Coal-owners in each County from whence all Coals come should be as refractory to the Magistrates in denying their Coals as the Magistrates are to the Masters pag. 97. 93. 92. few or none would be brought to London or any Revenue raised Eighthly Forcing all ships up the River six miles amongst dangerous Sands Shelves and the bulks of sunk ships p. 69 70 71. 72 78 93 that so they may cast out their Ballast upon their Shoars and all for the greediness of receiving eight pence for every Tun of Ballast which hath occasioned the spoil and loss of many ships to the utter undoing of the Masters and Owners of the ships and the destruction of the lives of many poor Seaman and Mariners whose blood will be required at their hands who put them on those dangers in which they perished Besides their choaking up the most part of that River by forcing the Ballast up their Sandy hils near the said Town of Newcastle many thousand Tuns whereof is blown and washed down into that River pag. 78. They will neither preserve the River nor let Doctor Swinbourn Vice Admiral for the County of Durham doe it who hath fined some of the Magistrates hundreds of pounds for Damages c. Lastly Countenancing their Officers in their oppressions nay in their very murthers as in the case of Thomas Râ—tter with others who having forfeited their lives to Justice for killing Ann the wise of Thâ—mas Cliff of North-Shields was by their power and favor rescued from that death which they justly deserved p. 80. God would not suffer his Altar to be a Sanctuary to a wilful Murtherer neither would King John their Patron pag. 34. If a man come presumptuously upon his Neighbor to slay him thou shalt take him from mine Altar that he may die Exo. 21. 14. The Law of England dâ—fines what murther is pa. 165. Blood defileth the Land and the Land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein but by the blood of him that shed it Numb 35. 33. When therefore God shall make inquisition they that staid him that offered â—iolence to the blood of his Nâ—ighbor and should have gone to the pit Prov. 20. 17. will be found to communicate in this murder and involved in the same guilt with him that committed it but the good God be merciful to them that have not approved or consented to this wickedness For though our eyes did see this blood yet our hands did not shed it and therefore let every one that would wash his hands clean from that blood pray as God prescribed Be merciful O Lord unto thy people Israel whom thou hast redeemed and lay not innocent blood unto thy people Israels charge Deut. 21. 7 8. Thus have I given you a short view of the tyrannical oppressive practices of the Magistrates of Newcastle whose sin receives no smal aggravation from their Office and Calling in that they are Magistrates whom God hath furnished with Authority to that end that they might prevent and redress Injuries done by others and execute wrath upon evill doers Rom. 13. So that in their oppressions they sin against the very end of their Calling they transform the very Image of Gods Power and Justice which they sustain into the Image of Gods enemy Satan whom herein they resemble and become after a sort wickednesses in high places as the Devils are for amongst them as much as any where is that of Solomon verified I saw under the Sun the place of Judgement that wickedness was there and the place of righteousness that iniquity was there Eccles 3. 16. And although attempts hitherto and all indeavors for redress of these oppressive courses have proved abortive and fruitless No man compassionating the people with Saul so much as to aske What ayleth this people that they weep 1 Sam. 11. 5. No after many addresses Petitions Remonstrances and Sutes at Law being stifled by the instigation of corrupt persons then in power and obstructed by the mutability and changes we have too just reason to complain with Solomon Behold the tears of such as were oppressed and they had no comforters and on the sides of their Oppressors there was power but they the oppressed had no comforter Eccles 4. 1. Yet at this time we are not without good hopes but that the cries of the poor and the oppressed will enter into the ears and hearts of this present Power That they will be as a hiding place from the winde and a covert from the tempest as Rivers of waters in a dry place as the shadow of a great Rock in a weary Land Isa 32. 2. But if our hopes now fail us we must sit down and sigh-out that of Solomon If thou seest the oppression of the poor and violent perverting of Judgement and Justice in a Province marvail not at the matter for hee that is higher than the Highest regardeth and there he Higher than they Eccles 5. 8. THE TABLE A ATcheson Page 85 Arresting in others names Page 76 Arresting out of a Liberty Page 154 Arresting