where before them These owed all their power to the Sword The Imperial Crown the Lex regia the whole bulk and body of the Civil Law were wholly and entirely their own proper creature and what more might be devised to make a Prince unlimited uncontrolable great and barbarous and render him a Cyclops or a Leviathan But the result was the Customs and Liberties of the Germans were far more ancient and more Sacred to them than any New Song that the Civilians could teach them Therefore all this long rattle of Imperial Prerogative onely alarm'd them and made them provide the better for their security And as their danger was the most threatning and arm'd with stronger Titles and pretensious than in other Nations so have they with more care sought their preservation And the Golden Bull with them was framed and had the same effect as Magna Charta with us which they strengthen and make supplements to by new Capitulations upon occasion according as the Emperors abuse their power or that tricks are devised by colour of the letter to elude the honest intention of that Fundamental Law and Constitution Thus we see it true in respect of Soveraignes as well as of Subjects That evil manners are the cause of good and wholesome Laws The French have no Golden Bull nor Magna Charta peradventure because no King of theirs had those pretentions of Conquest as the Normans here nor had that Imperial Title of the Sword and the Civil Laws as the Caesars to transport them beyond the bounds of Moderation and Reason Which put them upon other Measures and gave them opportunity step by step slily insensibly and surely to effect what more openly could never have succeeded ` As in the Fable the storm and violence of the Wind could not force away the Travellers Cloak from him but the Sun coming silently upon him dissolves him presently makes him unbutton and strips him of all Noise and bluster make the people the more obstinate and tenacious But things remote affect them not They never see consequences nor lay ought to heart that is not immediately present before their eyes If any thing now and then in the course of their Kings Reign happen'd that was shocking all was lookt upon as some personal and accidental slip only without foundation for continuance or without giving jealousie of being repeated to posterity About an hundred years after Magna Charta was establisht was that project of the Modern Parliament in France set on foot to render unnecessary the ancient Assembly of the States and consequently to alter the Government But the English Arms gave check to their wanton career and for a long time diverted them from pursuing that design or bringing it to any head However this new Assembly and Vice-Parliament was cultivated and improved daily They assumed all the Power they consulted and determined the weighty Affairs and in case the King offered any violence to the Laws they encounter'd and oppos'd his exorbitant courses they lay before him his Coronation-Oath and plyed him with Remonstrance upon Remonstrance till they brought him to Reason Neither War nor Alliance could be made nor could any his Edict or Command have effect till Ratified and Approved by them So that to the unwary multitude these serv'd the turn as well these were as effectual and sufficient and more ready and expeditious than the great old Parliament But afterwards came new-fashioned Kings to Reign who would not be overcome by Reasons or Remonstrances And yet then also was a formal complyance of this Parliament thought necessary and as an expedient when not satisfyed in Conscience that an Edict ought to be Ratifyed was introduced that clause Mandato Regis which imported that they did not ratifie such an Edict upon their own judgment but that they were over-ruled by the Kings particular command Afterwards again came the expresso Mandato and expressissimo Mandato Regis according as they passed it with a greater reluctancy and greater violence had been offered to their judgment But Henry the Fourth who had fought through all opposition into his Kingdom and had subdued to his will all that had fac'd him in the field grew impatient after so great Contrasts to find his resolutions crost and contested by tame Gownmen therefore to rid himself at once of all those verbal frays and formalities made a Law that thereafter the Kings Edicts should be Ratified and Emologated upon sight without more formal trifling and dispute Thus were those remains of Soveraign power that had surviv'd in this diminutive Parliament baffl'd and extinct without much labour But as they never possessed the vigor and spirit of the Ancient Assembly the people were never so stupid to trust or lay much stress on their valour and performance And therefore did more early show their resentment nor without a general convulsion and Civil War could bear the apprehension of a Court-design to lay aside the old Parliament It was the boast of Lewis the Eleventh on this occasion that he had Mis la Royauté hors du page He had so ordered matters that the Royal State should be no more a Pupil in him it came of age to dispose things and act of its own head and should not need to be tutor'd or be under a Guardian any longer This was a Prince of a particular humour and of singular endowments It was no wonder if he did not like the check of a Parliament he had before attempted by two or three Rebellions to free himself from the Authority of his King and Father The good old King Charles the Seventh weathered the open violence but fear of poyson overcame him insomuch â—hat he durst neither eat nor drink any thing but afâ—â—r five days fasting dyed And now Lewis being King his first work was to clear the Court from all who had serv'd his Father and pack off all the Princes of the Blood and ancient Nobility and to create a new set of Nobles and Courtiers for his purpose The people took the Alarm and clamour'd for a Parliament to regulate disorders and prevent the evils that threatned and hung over them A Parliament a Parliament was the cry and expectation throughout the Kingdom The Bishop of Paris and Clergy the Courts of Justice and the City the Three bodies of greatest consideration and gravity presented to him their several Remonstrances He dissembling being his Talent took all kindly and to break their discontents or divert them he took six persons out of each of their Companies to be of his ordinary Counsel in show onely for in effect he was still the same And amongst the prosligate rabble about the Court there wanted not in the mean time a sort of wretches who made an Hubbub and as formally declared their detestation and abhorrence of their practises that had importun'd the King with their Remonstrances and call'd it an unparallell'd violation of their duty Nay Philip de Comines tells us the Courtiers went so far they call'd it
A General Draught and Prospect OF GOVERNMENT IN EUROPE And Civil Policy SHEWING The Antiquity Power Decay OF PARLIAMENTS WITH Other Historical and Political Observations relating thereunto In a LETTER Dimidium plus toto Medium non deserit unquam Coeli Phoebus iter radiis tamen omnia lustrat Claud. London Printed for Tho. Benskin in Greens-Rents near Fleetbridge 1681. THE CONTENTS TOo narrow conceptions of Parliaments Civilians Instruments of servitude Common Lawyers how biassed My Lord Cook 's Etymologies Holy Scripture teaches not Politicks Caesar in the Gospel Europeans particularly love Liberty Arbitrary sway inconsistent with a civil people The Gospel disposes not to slavery Power not Titles makes a King Declining power casts the greatest shadow Modern French Parliament in Scarlet Robes The English without Pontificalibus jupiters Scepter what Pastors of a mâ—re excellent species than the flock King a Politick Creature Mixt Government ordinary in Europe In Asia and Africa Tyrannical Og the King of Bashan Land of Gyants Excellency of Kingly Government 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyclopses rul'd without Parliaments Tyrants ordinarily men of great Vertues Tarquin the proud left off the use of the Senate Authority of the Senate lost Emperors but tenants at will to the Army The Common Council in Gaul and Britain The German people and Laws transplanted The Government in Germany Pharamond What Names for the Common Council in England France and Germany Curia Hoss Reichs Versamblung Conventus Placitum Synodus Dyet Parliament Populus Principes often used for the same Assembly Hundreds Sheriffs Iuries Queen Edburga Germany the source of our people and Laws Charlemain governed by annual Parliaments What power they had in his time Succession referred to the Parliament The Elector Princes Fallacies of an Aristocracy The Golden Bull. Aristocracy when begun in the Church English Laws in danger Pretences of Conquest Magna Charta In Germany Title by the Sword Imperial Crown Lex Regia Civil Law The French insensibly enslaved The English Arms in France The project of a new sort of Parliament It some check upon the King The Clauses Mandato Regis expresso Mandato expressissimo mandato Regis Lewis the Eleventh his Character La Royauté hors du page Remonstrances for the Parliament Abhorrers The War called le bien publique Alexander Sforza his advice Finesse Franc-archers laid aside Adventuriers Soldiers Guard of Switzers establisht The Parliamentary changed into a Military Government Improbe factum Different times require different Laws Radamanthus his way of judging Kings most reserved when they had no bounds The Venetians How they dealt with their Princes What the ordinary policy in Germany The Emperor adorned with Titles The Jura Majestatis where Count Palatine Iudge when the Emperor is Impeacht The Legislation where Religion War and Peace Iurisdiction The Princes Furstenrecht Chamber at Spires Taxes Chief Magistrates Electors What they assume Flowers of the Imperial Crown Tarquinius Priseus his Artifice The Emperors of old time came to the States Maximilian The Regiment instituted Their Platform Charles the Fifth His new Model The Assembly of the Deputies They managed by Ferdinand the Second The Privy Council Expedients Reason of State The Iesuits like not a mixt Government Turken-stewer or Aid against the Turk Caesar and the Electors combine against the Diet. The Roman Decemviri The States wanting to themselves Differences about Religion The Protestants out-voted The German Dyet encumbred French in a manner defunct The former from Charles the Fifth This from Lewis the Eleventh The English Parliament still vigorous Legereté of the French The English steady Dance not after the French Politicks Magna Charta Petition of Right Annual Parliaments Uncertainty of Historians Records not accurate Forms fallacious Civilians breath a Forreign ayr Rules of common Law too short Divines no Statesmen Kingly Race may degenerate Sons of Hercules Tasso The Emperor Aurelian His account of Cabals Parliaments necessary Cyclopean presumption Hesiod's proverbial paradox Cyrus moderate Cambyses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Romulus torn in pieces Roman Civil Empire fell to Barbarians Charlemain Austrians influenced by Iesuits The French Court's Correspondence with Avignon Potestate absolutâ Mortified by the English Arms. Lewis the Eleventh Standing Army English generosity Conquest a compendious Title Gunpowder-Treason Pensioned Parliament Not subject to the mischiefs in France or Germany Division in Religion avoyded Poets and Divines regard not second Causes Jure Divino Latin Service a mark of Roman slavery Iudges durante beneplacito The Three States Stands Reich-stands Why so called Who they are The Three governing parts of the Common-wealth in Polybius The Three States of Sparta Of the Romans Of France The Clergy a mixt State with the Laiety The Three States of Germany according to Tacitus According to Hincmar in Charlemain's time Seniors who When Hereditary Proclamations to call the States Particular Writs when first used Imperial Cities Electors when a several State The Clergy never a distinct State in Germany The Emperour one of the States Charlemain a German Sacri Imperii Minister Tricks of State 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SIR SEE the effect of your commands The want of time of Books and assistance in this my retirement make me very uncapable of the undertaking But my obedience and performance with a Kid will I hope be accepted when I cannot sacrifice an hundred Bulls Without farther Ceremony or Introduction according to my apprehension when we enquire into the Authority and Nature of Parliaments our thoughts should be raised above all prejudice and particularities we should not conceive of them as of some Creature form'd and nourisht under this or that Constitution but have a Notion as large and general as is that of Government of Civil Society We must not be confin'd to the Writers of this or that Age or Countrey but consult the Universal reason and sense of humane kind where Civil Government has been exercised Much less is any particular profession or Faction of Writers to be the only Authors of Credit with us in this enquiry Our knowledge must be something digested and an impartial result from a consideration of all as well Times and Countries as Writers and Customs The Civilians with their Bartolus and Baldus are not to dictate to us on this occasion These were bred out of the corruption of the Roman liberty and were instruments of servitude from the beginning Their work was by hook and crook to rap and bring all under the Emperours power that was their study that their Province But they were always ignorant of the practises of better times and utter strangers to the just Rights of a Free-people their Rules and their Maxims were in effect no other than so many stripes so many marks and items of Slavery to the Subjects Then for the Municipal Lawyers of every Nation they also are educated under too narrow a dispensation to think justly in these matters The Letter is their sphere where they show their activity even sometimes to the perverting
and turning it against the reason and intentions of the Legislator Their small niceties and their subtleties and their inferences are too fine drawn to bear or support a matter of this weight and circumference Their Deductions and Argumentations must ever be taken with some grains of allowance the cause here requires other forms and considerations We are not to stick at the Letter but go to the foundation to the inside and essence of things By their acquaintance with the Customs and Laws they may aid and direct but not over-rule they may apply their Observations to strengthen the Fundamental Reason but are not to perplex and subvert the Form of Government My Lord Cook tells us Parliament is derived from Parler le ment i. e. from speaking the mind He might as honestly have taught us that firmament is firma mentis a farm for the mind or fundament the bottom of the mind My Lord Cook how sage soever otherwise in Parliament-house is no more Authority than Thomas Aquinas And take him from his ordinary Element his Reasons are many times as ridiculous as his Etymologies Then for the Holy Scripture the design of it is no more to teach us Politicks than to make us Philosophers Ahaz's Dial is no President for our time or measures nor may the Theocracy of the Iews authorize us to set up for King Jesus Our blessed Saviour did not distinguish whether Caesar demanded Tribute as Tribune and Servant of the people and whether the Roman Empire remained still Democratical as Caesar pretended or was Monarchical as in effect it prov'd The Holy Ghost neither alter'd the complexion nor refin'd the education but a shepherd notwithstanding the Oracles he delivered continued the same in other circumstances as if he never had been inspir'd In like manner where-ever Christ is Preached the Soul-saving Doctrine in no wise operates upon the policy or civil Constitutions but leaves those affairs to be influenc'd by the ordinary prudence and discretion Whether it be some particular generosity in our Nature that renders us impatient of slavery or whether the temperateness of the Climate inclines us to a moderation in our Government Or whether it may be some favourable aspect of the Planets as Ptolomy would perswade us that disposes Europe to the love of Liberty So far as any Record or History can inform us That Arbitrary and unlimited domination so familiar in the Eastern parts of the world amongst us did always shew uncouth and to be stared upon no less than their Elephants And indeed to us seem altogether inconsistent with a civil people And it can be no more the business of the Gospel to reconcile us to that yoak than it is to Emasculate our complexion and nature to change the temper of our Climate or to turn our Stars from their Course All power is from God and we are to be subject to the higher powers this all consent to this is Doctrine alike true in Holland as in France at Venice as at Constantinople But where this high power and Soveraignty rests in whom 't is lodged this is a point not so obvious Nor can the S. S. or holy Fathers any way help us in the discovery The Customs and particular Laws of every Nation are only capable to direct us in that scrutiny Obedience is as much a duty and Rebellion as black a sin where the people are King as where a single person has the Soveraign sway The Title of King Monarch or Emperour the Scepter the Crown the Royal Throne with all the Robes and pomps and badges of Soveraignty and the precedence before other Christian Kings have the shadow of Majesty but have none of the substance as Bodin truly observes The Caesars were never so absolute as when the Senate had the show and the name of all But afterwards when their power declin'd then did their shadows lengthen and the Titles swell beyond all sobriety and proportion The French Parliaments in their Scarlet Robes know none of that Soveraign power which their plain Ancestors so long had exercised in their grey jackets The Pontificalibus and Formality derogates from the antiquity and independency And our House of Commons may seem in a manner if I may so say to have committed some kind of Solecism in taking a Mace to be carryed before them but that their simplicity and plainness otherwise sufficiently demonstrates them the true sincere original fundamental common Councel constituted and form'd before Forms and Pageantries and Fopperies obtain'd in our English world For badge and ornament they had Iupiter's Scepter which Pluto interprets to be not a tipt Batoon or glittering engraven thing but the Laws and Legislative power Homer has taught the world to call Kings Pastors of the people We commit not the charge of our Cattle to any one of the Herd nor for our sheep do we choose one out of the flock to be their shepherd but set over them a more excellent sort of Animal some Man is appointed for the Neatherd and for the Shepherd to govern and take the charge of them Now since for the conduct and sway over men the world is not furnisht with any species more noble than Man Art supplies what wanted in Nature an artificial man is fram'd a politick creature a King that never dyes that can do no wrong that cannot be deceived whose Counsels and Determinations are the result of the joynt experience and wisdom of a whole Nation Now whether this artificial may be call'd a mixt sort of Government as the antients imagin'd Or that it be originally essentially and fundamentally a Democracy Monarchical in the administration as Bodin and our Modern Politicians seem to understand This certainly is the Government that always has obtain'd in Europe and that which all amidst their Commotions Distractions and Convulsions in some manner or other with more or less success and perfection have tended to as the center and onely place of rest If therefore the Jews had desired a King after the manner of the Europeans their importunity peradventure might not have been so provoking to the Almighty And we should have found another kind of Catalogue of their fair qualities than that delivered us by the Prophet For however their Asian or African Neighbours might have domineer'd it and bluster'd a calmer gale was always wont to breath amongst us in Europe And God be thankt we are many degrees Northern Latitude from Og the King of Bashan and the Lands of those other Gyants Amalekites and Philistines The first Writers amongst us had their imaginations so over-born with the excellency of Kingly Government that they fancied in Heaven Iupiter to be the King of the Gods And yet they thought the Common Councel so necessary and essential that Homer represents even Iupiter upon a great occasion calling his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Parliament of the Gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have heard Divines observe something of this kind as figured of God
Rebellion to mention a Parliament Nor was it strange such Cattle then should be sheltered about the Court when a Mounte bank was set up for Lord Chancellor Taylors and Barbars Iohan de Doyac Olivier le diable dit le Dain c. the prime Ministers of State This jarring and misunderstanding was followed by a Civil War which was call'd The publick good This produc'd a Parliament And this Parliament would no longer trust Lewis single with the Administration of Affairs but appointed him Thirty six Commissioners Curateurs to be his Assistants However Lewis's excellency lay in playing an after-game In the War he had sent to his Allie Alexander Sforza for aid who returned him answer that Men he had none to spare but would give advise which should be as effectual so the Italian advis'd him Always to agree with his Enemies upon any conditions then find the opportunity to cut their Throats According to this Bodin speaks of him Pacem inire coactus est sed eos omnes clam aut apertè paucis admodum exceptis necandos curavit fratrem quoque Carolum veneno This is the dexterity which Comines so much labours to gloss over and set a countenance upon these the belles Actions and the finesse which the Modern French so much celebrate at this day all is copyed from this Original Perjuries and Poysons were his ordinary Arms yet none so devout none so superstitious none made the like largesses to the Church But his Masses and Pilgrimages did always portend some strange horrid Murder about to be executed These were but personal Vices his eajoling the Citizens and affected Gallantry to their Wives was politick enough But what prov'd most effectual to his design of changing the Government and excluding Parliaments was his laying aside the Franc-Archers who hitherto had been the Train'd-bands and ordinary Militia of the Country In the War call'd the pulick good he found that those Franc-Archers being men of a setled Habitation and way of living took part with their Landlords and Neighbours against him therefore from thence-forward he slighted them and by beat of drum from Town to Town gathered and listed such as voluntarily offer'd themselves to his service These were then called Adventurers because they sought their adventure by the fortune of War as afterward when Charles the Eighth carryed them over the Alps they got the name of Souldiers from the Sold or pay they received upon that Expedition But as this Lewis could not trust the Militia so within a little time he began to think himself not safe amongst his Adventurers These yet were not remote enough from the interest of their Countrey and had some small sense of its oppression Thereupon for the more immediate guards of his person he takes into pension Four thousand Switzers And by that establishment seems to have compleated his design and alter'd the old Parliamentary into a Military Government And now it was not so hard a matter to borrow Money of the Citizens and otherwise make those Levies which no King before him ever attempted Thus it was that he brought the Royalty hors du page or rather according to the Paraphrase of their Historian Mezeray hors du sense du raisonne Though in Germany the condition of their Parliaments is not altogether so deplorable and desperate yet of later times there have not wanted lusty endeavours by force and by artifice to destroy them Right and wrong are ever the same but Times and Manners vary faces very much One while instead of all other penalty for a crime it was sufficient that the Law censur'd it with an improbè factum To say he that does so or so is to blame was more effectual and coercive in those Saturnian days than are Racks and Gibbets with us Radamanthus his way of administring Iustice in all causes between party and party was by putting them both to their Oaths and determining their right accordingly This says Plato was a proper and â—eady way in that age when every body was possessed with the fear of God But says he this would not do now in our times when some make it a question whether there be a God or no others make a doubt whether God regards what we do on earth most and the worst of men have a conceit that though there be a God yet they can pacifie him with their vile Adulations their Mummeries and their Masses so that they may still be as wicked as they please Therefore says he when mens opinions are chang'd the Laws also must be chang'd for otherwise if our Iudges now were to make Radamanthus their President we should all be over head and ears in Perjuries The like may be observ'd in relation to Sovereigns In old times at first there was onely a simple confidence betwixt them and their people And never were Kings so reserv'd as then when they had no bounds Afterwards the Misbehaviour of some Princes introduced that check of a Coronation-Oath And where that is the only check `t is an argument they had never yet been there tainted with the Atheism and infidelity which Plato mentions but had continually liv'd and rul'd with that simplicity and religious fear so memorable in those days when Minos and Radamanthus were King and Chief Justice of Crete Claude Seisselle reckons several refrains bridles that curb the French Kings But now when the old Parliament is obsolete this would be remarkt upon as a graceless unmannerly Metaphor in the refined language In the State of Venice at first their Prince was as absolute as any Barbarian till having strayed and given some instances of humane frailty new curbs and new tyes were devised for him But the Italian prov'd still too witty to be held by any The Venetians however would not be dallyed withal they would not suffer the Transgressour to rejoyce long in his extravagance but pursued him with exemplary punishment Sabellicus reckons to the number of Twelve that lost their Heads for slipping their bridles At the length when the Venetians found that neither the simple trust was sacred nor the Coronation-Oath inviolable nor the exemplary punishment effectual to contain their Prince within the bounds that were consistent with a Free people They concluded that the publick safety could not be sufficiently provided for and secured against their Prince till they stript him of all the reality and substance leaving him barely the Formalities and Trappings and empty shadow of Soveraignty Now to come to the Germans what ever shifts other people have been put to to maintain their Liberty they it should seem never trusted the Soveraignty out of their own hands So that whether it be a mixt or what other sort of Government you call it the great Affairs were always reserv'd to be determin'd in Parliament there was the Supreme power there was the Majesty Yet no people have been forwarder in adorning their Prince with all the Titles and expressions of greatness and an arbitrary uncontrolable power than
Imperatorial Discipline is to them for Scepter and Civil Policy The Germans An. 1441. were for excluding them from all Offices and places of trust Limnaeus l. 1. de jure publ Our common Lawyers are for comparing and measuring by their rule what is antecedent and above their rules and comparisons Christs Kingdom is not of this world nor ought the Divines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to meddle in this Political Province In the general notion Monarchy or Kingly Government is the most easie and the most excellent But corruption coming into the world neither the Sons of Iupiter nor the Sons of Hercules found perfection entayled upon them nor were exempt from their share of humane frailty Many says Tasso are servants by fortune who are naturally Princes some again though descended from an hundred Kings are yet born to be slaves and maugre all their high race of Royal Progenitors will be commanded and governed and managed by a Minion or a Mistress These are really and indeed slaves but are not judged such because the people who onely look on the outside judge of mens conditions as in Plays where he is call'd a King who clad in purple and glistering with Gold and Gems does personate Agamemnon if he does not represent him well he has the name of King nevertheless onely 't is said The King was out in his part or The King acted his part scurvily And Flavius Vopiscus in Aurel. Caes. tells us Aurelius Caesar dicebat Colligunt se quatuor aut quinque atque unum Concilium ad decipiendum Imperatorem capiunt dicunt quod probandum sit Imperator qui domi clausus est vera non novit cogitur hoc tantum scire quod illi loquuntur facit judices quos sieri non oportet amovet a republicâ quos debebat retinere quid multa ut Dioclesianus ipse dicebat Bonus cautus optimus venditur Imperator Aurelâ—us Caesar was wont to say Four or five get together about the Emperor all their consult is how to cheat him what they say is to be Law the Emperor who is shut up from other Counsel never knows the true state of things but is forced to understand just so much onely as they tell him he makes Iudges who the least of all should be turns out of Commission those who ought to be the quorum in a word according to Dioclesian's saying the Emperor so good so wary and so too too good is bought and sold before his face If then it be true that he who is of Royal Extraction clad in Purple and called a King is not always naturally such it was wisdom certainly most seasonable to find the means that might correct and as it were ensure Nature against the impotence and Tyranny of the Minion or Mistress which Tasso mentions And if the observation of Aurelius Caesar be just that Cabals are so pernicious and that four or five persons who get the Prince into their hands and possession shall abuse and cheat and betray him to his face in spite of all his goodness his caution and Royal Vertues if I say these things be true the necessity of Parliaments cannot be disputed Homer reckoned it barbarity in the degree remotest from all things of God and goodness and a Cyclopean presumption to rule without Parliaments Old Hesiod in his homely way gives an Aenigmatical reproof to those Kings that would be grasping all and be so absolute 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if he had said These fools know not how much more the half is than the whole and that a shoulder of Mutton with the love of the people is more worth than the ragoust and the hautgousts and all the French Kickshaws whatsoever Plato tells us that even in Asia they who performed any great Atchievements or enlarged the Empire were those as the grand Cyrus for example who slackened the Prerogative and admitted the people to a share in the Government But such as Cambyses who against all sense and reason stretcht and strutted upon the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lordly domination brought all again into confusion and ruine Amongst the Latins even the founder of the Roman name Romulus because he took upon himself an Arbitrary power to rule without the Senate they it is thought tore him to pieces insomuch that they left nothing of his body for a spectacle to the rabble as afterwards their Successors unluckily did who kill'd Caesar. The Imperial power that began with the Caesars was onely Magnum Latrocinium one huge horrid oppression Military Government Martial Law barbarous Nations Goths and Vandals over-ran and made havock of the old Civil Roman Empire In Britain Gaul and Germany all this while liberty and a participation in the Government was the common right and inheritance unalienable the Common Councel was the basis and hinge however the administration roul'd Afterwards when Germany gave us people it gave us a German and a free people About An. Dom. 800. Charlemain or Charles the Great united France and Germany under one Head and one Empire pire all Histories are full of his Reign and Actions he rul'd more solenni secundum morem in the old customary Parliamentary way every where The Nations round about submitted and took Laws from him and he submitted all again to the ordinatum the Ordinance of Parliament An annual Parliament was then reckoned the Custom and inviolable right of the people And thus the affairs of State proceeded and this Scheme of Government continued in Germany till the late unhappy divisions about Religion weakning and embroyling the States gave way to the Austrian ambition new projects and Jesuitical artifice so that the Assembly of the States at this day keeps on foot indeed but sick heavy and unweildy The French Court had much sooner learnt the terms de proprio Motu potestate absolutâ by their neighborhood and correspondence with the Pope at Avignon But so long as the English Arms kept them in mind of their Mortality it was no time for them to think of ruling without a Parliament But when Charles the Seventh had sent home the English Lewis the Eleventh with Olivier le diable his Barbars and his cut-throat devils thought no attempt too wicked for them He forsooth was hors du page he wanted not to be led he was past an Infant and a lowd outcry he made against the unmannerly clump-fisted bumpkin Parliament But when the bien publique or War for the publick good hindred him from bringing about his design openly and directly he compast it in effect by slighting the Militia and laying his project of a standing Army In England we have also heard of Minions and Mistresses and Cabals and have had unhappy Princes But the Laws and old Customs of the Land the generosity of the people and the Genius of the Nation have still prevailed and been too strong for all their practises and machinations When the Normans came to the Crown after some years of ease
Conventus populi generalis habetur Elsewhere Venit ad fontes fluvii cui Lippia nomen Conventum fieri Procerum jussit generalem Anno 775. Publicus in Paderbrunon Conventus habetur Most commonly it was called Placitum Compendii placitum generale habuit Aimoinus Rex Pipinus habuit placitum suum in Nivernis Regino An. 773 and An. 777. Tenuit placitum in loco qui dicitur Paderbrunnon Abbas Stadensis in Chr. An. 811 Imperator habito placito c. And the aforesaid Monk Anno 770. Conventum placiti generalis habere Cum ducibus se velle suis denunciat illic Regino calls it Synodus An. 770. Carolus habuit Synodum in Wormatiaâ 771. Habuit Synodum ad Valentinianos 772. Synodum habuit in Wormariâ 775. Habuit Synodum in villâ quae dicitur Duria 780. In Lippa Synodum tenuit Convenerant multi Episcopi Abbates Principes ad Imperialem Synodum Trithem Abb. Afterwards in Germany Diet was the name that generally prevailed as that of Parliament in France and England Now these Quotations and Authorities shew not only that by all this variety of Names were understood the same Common Councel but that the Principes Proceres Primores Duces Patres c. imported no more in truth nor signified other manner of Men than the very same with Populus And the same Assembly by one Writer barely called Populus or Conventus populi is by another stiled Conventus procerum Conventus principum c. which those terms secundam morem juxta morem more solenni ut solebat more fully demonstrate which seem to refer and send us back to Tacitus Consultant de majoribus omnes This I the rather note because I find Mr. Petty amongst many other his excellent Memorials observing the like in old Records of Parliament where those somewhere called Populus and Vulgus and the Commons are otherwhiles dignified with the gay additions of Noble Most Noble Most Illustrious Most Gracious Seigniors Monseigniours and Sires the Commons And likewise for that some unwary and superficial Readers from this root have propagated and improved many Errours of pernicious consequence to our ancient and Fundamental Policy and Government The French incorporating and growing one people with the former Inhabitants had a much easier Province they setled and pursued their Native Customs and Forms of Government nor met with that difficulty and opposition which in this Nation attended the English and Saxons These had a much harder game to play These could in no wise fix or find any sure footing without first clearing their way and driving the Britains up by themselves into a corner of the Land And after much tumbling and bustle we find them formed into a Heptarchy How regularly they mov'd as to Civil Affairs how closely they followed their Country-Customs or where they innovated and varied from their German Forms and Policy in those dark times is hard to be traced Some footsteps however appeared then which remained to posterity as the division of the Countrey into Hundreds after the German manner described by Tacitus Besides the other Royalties in the people as that of appointing Sheriffs and choosing Annual Magistrates the jurisdiction and power of life and death by our Juries c. And even before all came united under one Monarch we find the people interposing their Authority and for the miscarriages of Queen Edburga providing that thereafter No Queen shall sit by the King nor have the Title of Queen but be called only the Kings Wife Gens itaque occidentalium Saxonum Reginam juxta Regem sedere non patitur nec etiam Reginam appellari sed Regis conjugem permittit c. Asser. Menev. Mals But I shall not repeat what Cambden and Selden and our other Antiquaries have collected on this occasion but Germany being the source both of our people and Laws I choose rather petere fontes And thence it may be concluded how far we do stare super vias antiquas and continue firm upon the old bottom When the People and Senate of Rome had transferred all their right upon Charles the Great or Charlemain as the French call him and Germany was made the seat of the Western Empire one might think if there could be an opportunity of introducing a new form of Policy this was the time Yet Charles so victorious so august so great the like in no age before him or since ever known on this side the Alps notwithstanding all that power and fortune and the Imperial Crown that adorn'd him his Language was still the high German and his Government did still in the old Parliamentary way go on and prosper Therefore we find him every year with his Parliament Eginhardus who was his Son-in-law and Chancellour says of him Rex sic ad publicum populi sui conventum qui annuatim ob regni utilitatem celebrabatur ire sic domum redire solebat And Aimoynus l. 4. c. 74. Generalem Conventum quotannis habuit And to these Parliaments under God so far as humane reason may judge does Hincmar Archbishop of Rheims and Chancellour in those times ascribe his happy Reign Secunda divisio qua totius Regni status anteposito sicut semper omnipotentis Dei judicio quantum ad humanam rationem pertinebat conservari videbatur haec est consuetudo tunc temporis erat ut non saepius sed bis in Anno duo placita tenerentur unum quando ordinabatur status totius Regni ad anni vertentis spacium quod Ordinatum nullus eventus rerum nisi summa necessitas quae similiter toti Regno incumbebat mutabat in quo placito generalitas universorum majorum â—am Clericorum quam Laicorum conveniebat alterum cum Senioribus tantum praecipuis Consiliariis All this seems but a Paraphrase upon the passage afore-cited out of Tacitus as to the Form of Government The Princes and Seniors are for the matters of less weight the former here mentioned was the generale placitum which the Germans more particularly call Die jahrlicke versamblung the yearly Assembly Whose business he tells us was to order the state of the Kingdom He shows us likewise how binding these their Ordinances were and not to be contraven'd unless upon the utmost necessity not a suggested invisible Courtnecessity but quae toti regno incumbebat a necessity that lay upon the whole Kingdom In effect the Parliament Ordered and he Executed their Orders his Office was the Administration Amongst other particulars we find him in Parliament adjusting the matter of Succession as Eginhard and the Abbot of Staden An. 813. informs us of which the Monk of Paderborn An. 813. Vnde Duces ac Primores solenniter omnes Atque Magistratus ad Concilium generale vndique collegit Natoque suo Ludovico Cunctorum cum consilio jus omne regendi Tradidit Imperii Successoremque paterni Imposito designavit Diademate Regni And accordingly his Son Lodowic by general consent of Parliament did succeed him post mortem patris
they All the Acts and Laws run in his name and are called Caesars Laws and Caesars Constitutions Where the Emperor and the Empire are named he constantly has the precedence In the publick Ordinances and Recesses every thing from him are stiled Precepts and Commands from the States merely obedience and prayers though he cannot wag a finger without their consent They every where speak of and own in him a fulness of power vollncommenheit And this they give also to the King of the Romans at the same time to show the emptiness and vanity of it As both are call'd Heads of the Empire though the latter has no power at all during the Emperors life They and all the world salute him by the Title of Imperial Majesty And the German Style will not allow Majesty to any other Kings die Koniglicher Wurde not die Koniglicher Maht the Kings Worship not Majesty Yet after all Aeneas Sylvius says in Germ. c. 43. Imperatorem Regem Dominum vestrum esse fateamini precario tamen ille imperare videtur nulla ejus potestas est The shadow and flourish onely were in the Emperor but the jura Majestatis the vis imperii the essentials of Majesty were always reserv'd and exercis'd by the common Assembly as by the particulars may more plainly appear 1. One of the Rights of Soveraignty is to be above the Law and to give Laws to the people Neither of these Royalties belong to the Emperour he may be call'd to account for violating the Laws In the Golden Bull the Forms and Proceedings against him are stated ` T is there said to be the Custom and accordingly setl'd and agreed for Law that the Electors may Impeach the Emperor in the Assembly of the States and the Count Palatine of the Rhine as Chief Elector is to be the President or Judge For the Legislation or making Laws the Emperor proposes the States are free which Propositions they will proceed upon When an Act is to be passed the Electors have six Votes the Princes six the Cities two the Emperor has but one the last Vote Without a Majority he can do nothing They can Decree without him if he is absent The Ordinances are to be confirm'd by his Seal and Subscription but if the States persist he must of necessity comply Even Charles the Fifth in vain contested that point as may be seen in Sleidan I. 4. These Sanctions are regularly subscribed by Caesar and by some of the States for the Empire and are Enrolled at Mentz in the Chancery of the Empire The several Members of the States are sworn to be true to the Emperor and to the Empire and are said to be Subjects of the Emperor and of the Sacred Empire 2. In matters of Religion in all times the head of the State had the Supreme direction as it was said of Tiberius Deûm munere summum Pontificem summum hominem esse And the first Christian Princes before the Papal Tyranny usurpt upon them were always the chief Pontifs and receiv'd the Pontifical Habit from that Colledge But upon the Reformation in Germany Anno 1555. both the Emperor and Pope were excluded and their Pontifical Supremacy abrogated In the point of Religion the Emperor was not consider'd as the Chief and Head of the Empire but as a party for by joyning himself to the Roman Catholicks he made their cause and concern his own It was therefore agreed and concluded that the States onely should determine in matters of Religion and that with a tender hand in an amicable way onely 3. War and Peace are transacted in the name of the Emperor but in effect all is reserv'd to the States He must at the least have the consent of the Electors Yet any Prince of the Empire may levy Souldiers may make Leagues and associations without any bodies leave 4. For Jurisdiction and the last Appeal the Civilians say the Emperor is fons omnis Iurisdictionis but here it is far otherwise The Princes in causes touching their Life their Honour or their see always claim'd their Priviledge das fursten-recht they call it to be try'd by their Peers the Princes of the Empire The common Pleas were tryed by the Emperor and attended his motion till by the increase of Suits that Judicature was no longer Sufficient the Judges grew corrupt and many other inconveniencies appearing the States in their Assembly at Franckford An. 1489. ordered a place certain for the decision of those ordinary causes whereupon the Imperial Chamber at Spires was erected All the Process and Decrees of the Court ran in the Emperors name and are under his Seal and it is call'd Caesars Court. But it is also call'd the Court of the Empire The Emperor onely named the President by the States were the rest of the Judges appointed and the other Officers of the Court by the Elector of Mentz Arch-Chancellour of the Empire The States likewise execute the sentence They visit and reform the Court by their Commissioners and to these visitors are the Appeals not to the Emperor Yet some voluntary referenccs that were made to the Emperor and his Privy-Council and to their Arbitration gave them opportunity of late to usurp a Jurisdiction 5. Taxes are all Levyed in the Emperors Name but in truth nothing of that nature can be done without the Assembly of the States Nor is the Emperor trusted with the Money in his Exchequer the States keep it till it be employ'd they have their several Treasuries Sometimes the several Circles keep their respective Money sometimes a publick Treasury is agreed upon and one or more Pfenning-Meisters PennyMasters appointed Anno 1495. They ordered seven Treasurers one to be named by the Emperour and six by the States These swear to the States And if any be by special Oath or obligation bound to the Emperor or other particular State he is uncapable of that trust These are accountable to the States onely If the occasion for which the Tax was rais'd be taken away the Money cannot be diverted to other uses but by the consent of the States 6. The chief Magistrates are none of them made by the Emperor The Count Elector Palatine is Vicar or Protector of the Empire and has the charge of it in the Emperors absence The Three Ecclesiastical Electors who are chosen by their Chapters are of course the Arch-Chancellours of the Empire The States appoint the Reichs-Skak-Meister or Reichs-Psenning-Meister the Treasurer of the Empire Sometimes they leave the general to be nam'd by the Emperor and the ten Circles appoint their several Directors or Counsel for him For the other particulars as the inspection and care of Coyning Money the hearing and sending Ambassadours c. the Emperour has no great matter of advantage above the other States On a common account where the concern is general the States must be consulted and nothing can be done without their consent and approbation The Electors are in possession and exercise a particular Soveraignty in