A ROD FOR THE LAWYERS Who are hereby declared to be the grand Robbers Deceivers of the Nation Greedily devouring yearely many Millions of the Peoples Money To which is added A Word to the PARLIAMENT AND A Word to the ARMY By William Cole A LOVER of his COUNTREY Isa. 10.1 2. Wo unto them that decree unrighteous Decrees and that write grievousness that they have prescribed to turn aside the needy from judgement and to take away the right from the poor of my people that Widows may be their prey and that they may rob the fatherless Isa. 3.14 The spoil of the poor is in your houses LONDON Printed for Giles Calvert at the Black-spread-Eagle near the West end of Pauls 1659 Courteous Reader HAd not my Affections to my Countrey-men more engaged me then any particular Enmity I have against the Lawyers corrupt interest by any damage I have sustained by them I should have forborn publishing these ensuing Lines But if the very Heathens could say Non solum nobis nati sumus We are not onely born for our selves but that next to the Duty we owe to God we are bound every individual man to be a helpful member to his Countrey Why should I or any man keep silence whilst this pestiferous Generation of the Lawyers runs from City to Countrey seeking whom they may devour It is thy duty as well as mine to cry aloud for justice against them It is thy duty and every honest English mans in the Land to take care hereafter never to chuse any of that Generation to make Laws for us I say not to chuse them for Parliament-men Were not there too many of them now in this present Parliament I should hope and expect far better things then now I do but now God is pulling down the High and Mighty is discovering the wickedness of men in Power hath most miraculously slain the glory of Princes I can with confidence say Deus dabit his quoque finem I do not altogether despair but that before I dye I may see the Inns of Courts or Deus of Thieves converted into Hospitals which were a rare piece of Justice that so as they formerly have immured those that robbed the poor of houses so they may at last preserve the poor themselves A ROD FOR THE LAWYERS THat the end of all Laws and Magistracy ought principally to tend to the ease safety and well-being of the people governed I presume no rational man or men will deny And indeed therefore it 's the usual cry and saying both amongst the Masters of Oppression the Lawyers the ignorant people that know no better That the Laws of England as also the ways of executing them are the safest and best in the World and whosoever shall alter the said Laws or ways of executing them wil unavoidably introduce a mischief instead of a benefit But to those is answered That the major part of the Laws made in this Nation are founded on principles of tyranny fallacy and oppression for the profit and benefit of those that made them For know this that when William the Bastard-Duke of Normandy undertook to conquer this Nation he was not singly himself able to raise money or men enough to perform such a Design without the voluntary conjunction of most of the Nobles and Gentry that were his Subjects who sold and morgaged almost all the Lands and Estates they had in Normandy to furnish them out in that design Now therefore when the said William had conquered this Nation he was enforced to suffer those his Norman Peers to share with him in the benefit as they voluntarily did in the hazard From hence it came to pass that he the said Conqueror and his Nobles made a division of the Land amongst themselves and whosoever were Tenants to the said Conquerors held all their Lands for a long space in vassalage under them meerly at their will and mercy whereupon all laws were made in French it was accounted a base thing in England to be called an English man Then did these Conquerors make such Laws as suited best to keep the people in slavery and subjection as the English now use the Irish that they might have all the benefit they possibly could screw out of the people Hence came it to pass that all penal Laws were made for the benefit of the King the Lords of Manors and other great Officers who were the Kings creatures this was and still is the ground and reason why the life of man which assuredly by the Law of Reason is sufficient to answer any crime was not alone taken away upon conviction of Treason Murther or Felony but also the Estates of offendors were forfeited by Law to the King or Lord of the Mannor which hath been the cause that many an innocent hath suffered as Naboth who was destroyed by Ahab that so he might enjoy his Vineyard These Laws were not before the Conquest neither have been since the Conquest ever introduced in Kent which County submitted to the said Duke of Normandy reserving to themselves their Laws and Rights and therefore it is the saying in Kent The Father to the bow and the Son to the plough And surely in that County is as little robbing murthering c. as in other Counties and therefore there is not such necessity for that Law as some Sophisters pretend to keep the people in dread and awe Neither indeed do I think there is such an absolute necessity for the hanging men for theft but as heretofore in the Nation there may be another way found out more agreeable to the Laws of God reason for punishing of theft as selling to forreign Plantations or the like c. But if at last the Law to hang Thieves must continue I wish it may take hold of the great ones first lest we renew the practice once in Athens where they hanged none but little thieves the great thieves pronounced sentence Verbum sat sapienti I am more afraid of those that rob by power of a Law then those that sneakingly endeavour to take my purse on the high-way Now although it may be alledged and truly that is all for by reason it cannot be proved that there is some reason for the forfeiting the Estates aforesaid yet at least let the party damnified be the Injoyer or the wife and children of the person murthered But why there should come forfeitures on ships cast away driven up to full Sea-mark to lose the best cable and anchor men to be carried away into slaverie taken at sea the ship remaining with her lading firm and sound to be forfeited to the Lord Admiral for a Deodand to be forfeited to say if a horse drown his master the horse to be forfeited and this to be pleaded for or many such Lawes to be grounded on reason is so ridiculous that I think the first and grand deceiver of mankind cannot find sophistry enough to furnish the Lawyers with to plead for it But
some will say That although we were conquered et your Noble Ancestors by dint of Sword in the Barons VVars regained their freedome and inforced the King to condescend to that famous Law called Magna Charta For Answer know this That when the Nobles in those dayes found the King altogether inclined to his Minions and Flatterers and thereby made Laws to enslave the said Nobles as well as the Commons had been before they saw there was a necessity for them to stand up for their own Priviledges who being popular what by fear and love they engaged the Commons with them in War and took the King Prisoner forcing him to consent to all things that were necessary to preserve themselves from the Kings will but never in the least acted from any love to the poor Commons but what they were absolutely necessitated to neither freed the said Commons from the bondage they were in to themselves Now as all the laws of the land have been made by the King the great Lords Gentry and Lawyers when the lower House one third part whereof usually consisted of Lawyers had gratitified the King and upper House so also did the King gratifie the lower House both the Gentry and Lawyers and agreed to Laws for their Advantage for indeed is it not much for the advantage of the Gentry that seeing the Laws are so corrupt and chargeable they thereby can and indeed have done and in most parts do still keep the poor in such subjection that not only their own Tenants but other poor that live near them must run and go and work and obey them as they shall please to command them else they run the hazard of being undone And what advantage the charge and delay of Law suits is to the great Lawyers you may judge how have some Lawyers from being worth nothing but their Books come to purchase thousands yearly Lands as it is commonly called by the sins of the people this is the reason why Parliaments have not made the Nation free our pretending deliverers have been our dstroyers and indeed it was irrational to expect better things Who will expect Grapes from Thorns or Figs from Thistles Who will expect Ease from Oppression from Masters of Oppression the Lawyers if you will have clean streams flow from the Fountain you must be sure to cleanse the Fountain it self That the Lawyers have only sought their own advantage although to the total impoverishing the Nation consider this following I have often both in City and Country made as near an Inquiry as possibly I could in a general way what number of Lawyers there might be in England and Wales in all Offices as Judges Masters of Chancery Serjeants at Law Counsellours Atturnies Solicitors with the rest of the rabble and I cannot find by Calculation but that there are great and small Masters and servants by the best accompt I can estimate above thirty thousand Now consider at what high rates the very meanest of these liveth see but a very Country Hackney you will find he goeth clothed in a Gentile garb and all his Family he keeps company with the Gentry and yet usually quickly getteth an Estate over and above his expences which cannot possibly be lesse then one hundred and fifty pounds per annum Now if such Country Lawyers live at that rate bringing the Judges Masters of Rolls Counsellors Atturneys Registers Cum multis Aliis in the Common Law Chancery and Admiralty and you will find that this Mercenary generation one with another do not receive less yearly from the people in their Law-practice I say the number of thirty thousand then two hundred fifty pounds per annum each man What if some have but fifty then know some have thousands Surely I believe that Prideaux and Maynard wil not nor cannot deny it Now at this rate to say 250. pounds per annum to each Lawyer these thirty thousand receive seaven millions and a half of money yearly which is seventy five hundred thousand pounds and what a charge are the people at to attend their tedious vexatious trials Consider what it doth cost to ride and go from all Countreys and Towns to London to attend the terms it cannot be less then one Million of Money yearly and to what purpose observe Whosoever contends in Law against another either for Land Debt or Trespass must by the Law try his Title Debt or Damage by witness after it hath been never so long delayed by Sophistry quirks and quibbles of the Lawyers Now therefore it must be of necessity proved at the last Why is it not better to have it tried in the Neighbourhood while it is fresh green and new when the Witnesses are alive and in places wherein their lives and conversations are known then seven ten twenty or thirty years after the suit is commenced when Knights of the Post may be taken as Witnesses when the Lawyers shall baffle and confound Witness Jury by their impudent sophistry and prattle when things at great Courts and Assizes are passed over in hugger mugger for want of time to examine them there being more care taken to keep a precise hour for a Dinner then precisely and strictly to see the execution of Justice and true Judgement in behalf of the poor the fatherless and when either party sees he is like to have the worst by common Law then they have liberty to remove unto the Chancery where a suit commonly depends as long as a Buffe Coat will endure wearing especially if the Parties have as it s said good stomacks strong purses but when their purses grew empty their stomacks fail then when no more corn is like to be brought to the Lawyers mill it 's usual to ordain some men to hear end the business but alas then it s too late for then probably both parties or at least one of them are ruined utterly in prosecuting the suit want of his stock following of his calling What a folly is it that all bargains in trade commerce forrain domestick must unavoydably run into this channel to be debated by Lawyers that understand it as little as they have uprightness be tryed by Jurymen of which probably not one of the number hath the least knowledg in Merchandize What an injustice is it that al Wills must be proved at London at such a vain charg distance from the place vvhere the party deceased vvhere they usually cannot knovv the truth of things or little care vvhether they do or no so their sees be paid vvhere they often either take no security at all or if they do it may be it is such that is as good as nothing vvhere every Tapster or Chamberlain c. that pretends himself a Freeman is legal security Hovv many Fatherless Widovvs orphans are utterly ruined by this the scripture saith He is worse then an Infidel that provides not for his family to vvhat purpose is it in these times of
that the Overseers of the Parish were bound by oath and penalty forthwith to inform some members of the Court who had power upon first notice to appoint one or two able men to take care for the preservation of the goods of the party deceased That at a certain day all the moveables were to be sold to him that would give most with this reservation made that the Wife children executor or administrator might when the highest price were offered have liberty to take it at the same that when the goods were sold the true value were registred in the Court that no Executor should have any Administration granted without giving security to the Courts liking of two able men besides himself that in case the Executor neither could nor would give good security that then the Court should be the Executor and take care for the discharging the Debts providing for the Widow and Children That the Executor should yearly give an account how he did dispose and manage the Estate to the Court how he educated or bred up the Children c. That if the Court remained in possession of the Estate then that it might be lawful for the Widow Children or Friends to have redress by the Sessions-Court upon complaint and proof of injury That the Lands and Estates of all and each respective person in the Hundred were liable to make satisfaction for any Widows Fatherless or Orphans Estate that were put into the Courts hands This would make the people take care in the choice of their yearly Court called Judges or Juryes or the like Now if these Registers of Lands were kept if the Estates of the deceased were so to bee secured if all Debts were liable to be recovered in each respective Hundred this would prevent Law-Suits this would disable the cunning subtile people from finding out ways to cheat their Neighbours this would discover those that were contentious and troublesom on which people truly I think it were but just to inflict some badge of disgrace whereas in these days none are more encouraged by Lawyers Counsellors c. but those that are most contentious A Word to the PARLIAMENT Right Honourable I Do do not give this Title to flatter collogue with you but do really hope that your future actions designs will make you worthy of it Ye have now a great and weighty work to perform even the restoring to life the liberty security a dying inslaved destructed Nation whose utter ruine wil quickly ensue unles ye work whilst its day unles you make use of the present opportunity that God hath put into your hands It s not now time for ye to think of framing a Common-wealth-Government by any president or practises of Monarchichal laws formerly made by King or single persons which solely tended to preserve themselves and their posterities in their unlimited Oppressions Monarchy is an absolute Antagonist to a free State and so are all the Laws and Rules made by Monarchs The Hollanders when they resisted the Tyranny and Persecution of the Spanish King who had a farre more Legal Title to be their Soveraign then the late Norman Scottish Familie had to be the English Never consulted with the Lawes of their King to make Fundamentals for a Free State they Nobly and Resolvedly shook off all the Props of Tyranny as they had done the Tyrant himself And to their gallant Resolution God gave such a blessing that from a poor miserable people a distressed State They are now become Potent rich dreadful Ye are now involved in a labyrinth of debts contracted by the late Usurper not on necessity but on ambition The people of the Land are almost generally impoverished and indebted and yet we will unavoidably be inforced to raise great sums to pay the Arrears of the Army Fleet Now as ye are necessitated yet to continue some burthens on the people so also there is a like necessity in point of Justice and prudence for you to ease the people of others The Lawyers interest tends neither to the Honour safety nor benefit of the people nor your own in particular Who have been greater Enemies against the establishing a Free-State then that Generation Who have done and still do more discourage the Nation from a cordial compliance to this Government then they How often have they cryed up a necessity of the executing Law in the name of a single person alledging the Laws of England could not be managed any other way as their interest is engaged to Monarchy so let it fall with it let them be condemned out of their own mouths Nec lex est justior ulla quam necis artifices arte perire sua Must the people not onely pay for the charge of your Forces by Land and Sea but must they pay also Millions of Mony yearly to a mercenary corrupt useless generation of Men who are worse then the Egyptian Caterpillers for they devour not onely the green leaves but hundreds of poor Widows Fatherless and Orphans These are the insatiate Canibals whose Carkasses will never be full gorged with the spoil of the poor innocent until the worm gorgeth himself on theirs Those Gentlemen of the Long Robe that are amongst you I hope cannot say less then that there is great reason to ease the people herein What if they have heretofore thriven highly by the practise of Law Nunquam sera est ad bonos mores via Are they not thereby the better able to maintain their Port garb Is it not now time to think of their latter end to cease to do evil and learn to do well I hope the Proverb will not hold true in them the older the more covetous Now its time for them and the whole Parliament unanimously and vigorously to do good to vindicate their former almost shall I say deservedly lost honour and reputation and to secure their Estates to their posterities Ye have now the hearts and purses of a resolved honest partie that will not onely make addresses to you like the late addresses to the single Person but will stand and fall with you in all just things but if ye turn back from the streight way of Justice if ye seek to make your selves Families or Relations great by ruining or burthening your Country if ye make or maintain the Lawyers interest turn aside the needy from Judgements and rob the Widow and Fatherless then will ye be forsaken by God and all just men then will not your Mountains of Treasure nor numbers of Lordships nor fawning flattering Parasites any wayes help you nor deliver you Sed meliora spero A word to the Army SIRS YE have once more erected the words of Salus Populi and declared it ought to be Suprema Lex the Good old Cause is now cryed up If your words and hearts go together it is well it will be the peoples profit your honour and safety But if your zeal exceed not Iehu's it will signifie nothing the Nation