To tell you my mind directly, for the killing I do not know that, but I think the Irish had a just cause for their war. Sher. Was there any assault made upon you? Had you not entered into a covenant? Had you not engaged by oath yourself to the king? Macg. For Jesus Christ sake, I beseech you to give me a little time to prepare myself. Sher. Have pity upon your own soul. Macg. For God's sake have pity upon me, and let me say my prayers. Sher. I say the like to you, in relation to your own soul; whether you think the massacre of so many thousand Protestants was a good act? For Jesus Christ's sake, have pity upon your own soul. Macg. Pray let me have a little time to say my prayers.-All this while his eye was mostly upon his papers, mumbling over something out of them to himself. Whereupon one of the sheriff's demanded those papers of him. He flung them down; they were taken up and given to the sheriff. They asked him farther, Whether they were not some agreement with the recusants here in England? Whereunto he answered, I take it upon my death, I do not know that any man knew of it; and after some other such-like talk, the sheriff bidding him prepare for death, he said, I do beseech all the Catholics that are here to pray for me. I beseech God to have mercy upon my soul.And so was executed. The ARGUMENT of WILLIAM PRYNN, of Lincoln's Inn, esq. Hil. 20 CAR. I. Banc. Regis, in the Case of the Lord CONNOR MACGUIRE, Baron of Ineskellin in Ireland, (the chief Contriver of the late Irish Rebellion and Massacre of the Protestant English) against whom he was assigned Counsel by both Houses of Parliament. This Argument was published by Prynn himself, in a Pamphlet having this Title: The Subjection of all Traitors, Rebels, as well Peers, as Commons in Ireland, to the Laws, Statutes and Trials by Juries, of good and lawful Men of England, in the King's-Bench, at Westminster, for Treasons perpetrated by them in Ireland, or any foreign Country out of the Realm of England. BEING An Argument at Law made in the Court of King's-Bench, Hil. 20 Caroli Regis, in the Case of Connor Macguire, an Irish Baron (a principal Contriver of the last Irish Rebellion): Fully proving, That Irish Peers, as well as Commons, may be lawfully tried in this Court in England, by the Statute of 35 H. 8. c. 2, for Treasons committed by them in Ireland, by a Middlesex Jury, and outed of a Trial by Irish Peers: Which was accordingly adjudged, and he thereupon tried, condemned, and executed as a Traitor. Wherein are comprised many other particulars and notable Records, relating to the Laws, Peers, Statutes and Affairs of Ireland, not obvious in our Law Books, and worthy public knowledge. By WM. PRYNN, esq. Numbers, xxxv. 31, 33. «Ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death, but he shall be surely put to death. So ye shall not pollute the land wherein you are; for 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." London: Printed by J. Leach, for the Author, 1658. VOL. IY. Immediately after the Title Page, followed a Preface or Dedication, which seems to merit insertion in this place. It illustrates the temper of its author, and the history of the time; and it furnishes an additional proof of Prynn's industry, learning, and sagacity: TO THE Ingenious Readers, especially Professors, Students of the Laws of England and Ireland, HAVING lately published a much enlarged edition of my plea for the lords and house of peers, wherein the undoubted antient birthright of all English lords and barons to sit, vote, and judge in all parliaments of England, and their trial by their peers, is irrefragably vindicated by histories and records in all ages, and larger discoveries made of the proceedings and judicature in our parliaments in cases as well of commoners, as peers, than in all former treatises whatsoever; I apprehended it neither unseasonable, nor unprofitable to publish this argument at law, concerning the trial of Irish peers for foreign treasons acted by them, made by me near 14 years past in the King's-bench court at Westminster, in the case of Connor Macguire an Irish baron, there indicted for high treason, in having a principal hand in the late bloody rebellion in Ireland; against whom I was, by special order, assigned counsel, among others, by the parliament then sitting; upon whose plea, and a demurrer thereunto, I first argued this new point in law, never forther an Irish peer, or commoner, committing merly disputed, adjudged in open court; Whetreason in Ireland, sent over from thence into England against his will, might be lawfully tried for it in the King's-bench at Westminster by a Middlesex jury, and outed of his trial by Irish peers, of his condition, by the statute of 35 H. 8, c. 2 After two soleman arguments at the bar, by myself, and serj. Rolls against, and Mr. Hales, and Mr. Twisden for the prisoner, and 2Y The reasons inducing me to publish this argument were: 1. The near affinity and cognation it hath with my plea for the lords. 2. The novelty, rarity of the subject and points debated in it, not formerly discussed at large in our law-books. 3. The generality and public concernment thereof, extending to all Irish subjects, whether peers or commons, and so worthy their knowledge, perusal, and of all public officers in Ireland, especially lawyers. Mr. Justice Bacon's argument on the bench, his | 243, Coke's 3 Inst. p. 52, 124, and accordingly plea was over-ruled, adjudged against him; it be- declared by the commons house in their Reing resolved, he might and ought to be tried only monstrance of the State of the Kingdom, (a) by a jury of Middlesex, not by his peers of Ire- 15 Dec. 1641, and by the whole parliament, land: Whereupon he pleading, Not Guilty, to his and most now in power, in the case of the lord indictment, was tried by a substantial jury, to Mount-Norris; whose trial and capital conwhom he took both his peremptory and legal demnation in a court martial in Ireland by challenges, which the court allowed him of martial law, in time of peace, without a lawright, and after a very fair and full trial was ful indictinent and trial by his peers, in a sumfound guilty by the jury, upon most pregnant mary way, by the earl of Strafford's power, then evidence; and then condemned, executed as a lord deputy of Ireland, was one of the princitraitor at Tyburn, as he well demerited. pal charges, (b) evidences against him, to make good his general impeachment of HighTreason, for which he was condemned and beheaded on Tower-hill for a traitor, by judg ment and act of parliament; Namely, That be had traitorously endeavoured to subvert the fondamental laws and government of the realm, and instead thereof to introduce an arbitrary and tyrannical government against law; though this lord was not executed or put to death by that sentence against him; Which if executed, had been wilful murder both in his judges and executioners, as sir Edward Coke resolves in his 3 Institutes, p. 52, 121, printed by the house of commons special order; and king Alfred long before him, who hanged up no fewer than 44 of his justices in one year as murderers, for condemning and executing some of his subjects, without a sworn jury of 12 men ; and others of them for offences not capital by the known laws, or without pregnant evidence: as Andrew Horn records in his Myrrour des Justices; ch. 5, p. 296, 297, 298; who thence infers; "Abusion est, de la commen ley, que justices et lour ministers que occient la gent per faux judgment, ne sont destruits al foer de autres homicides, que fit le 10y Alfred, que fist pendre 44 justices en un an, tant come homicides pur four faux judgments," which others guilty of the like crimes (especially since these antient and Straffords, Canterburies, with the Ship-money-judges, late precedents, impeachments, sentences, to the prejudice of the subject's lives, estates,) may do well to ruminate upon. 4. The prevention of mis-reports of this case and argument, in this age, wherein many arguments at law, and reports of cases have been lately published by injudicious hands, mistaking, mangling, or misreciting the reasons, records, law-books cited both at bar and bench, and sometimes the cases, judgments themselves; to the prejudice, seduction of young students of the law, and scandal of the law itself. 5. The importunity of some friends who formerly desired copies thereof from me, when I had no leisure to furnish them therewith, 6. The vindication, declaration both of the parliaments and King's-bench honourable, resplendent, equal, untainted justice against this arch-Irish-Traitor and rebel, and that in these particulars; 1st. In trying this notorious offender, guilty of the horridest, universallest treason and rebellion that ever brake forth in Ireland; and that in a time of open war both in Ireland and England, only by a legal indictment, and indiffe2dly, In assigning this arch-traitor such learnrent sworn jury of honest and lawful free-ed counsel as he desired, to advise and plead holders, according to the known laws and sta- for him in this case of high-treason in all mattutes of the realm; not in a court martial, or ters of law arising therein; which the parlia any other new-minted judicature, by an arbi- ment likewise allowed to Strafford and Cantertrary, summary, illegal or martial proceeding, bury, though impeached of high-treason: and without any lawful presentment, indictment or therefore cannot in point of justice (c) be trial by a sworn, impartial, able jury, resolved, denied to any other person or persons in like to be diametrically contrary to the funda- cases, if desired. mental laws, customs, great charters, statutes of the realm, and inherent liberty of the subject, especially in time of peace when all other courts of justice are open, and of very dangerous consequence, and thereupon especially prohibited, enacted against: as you may read at leisure in the statute of 5 R. 2, parl. 1,ch. 5, rot. parl. n. 57, 2 R. 2, rot. parl. n. 57, 1 H. 4, rot. parl. n. 44, 2 H. 4, rot. parl. n. 89. The votes of the house of commons and lords against it, May 7, 1628, the Petition of Right, 3 Caroli, Mr. Cambden's Annals of qu. Elizabeth, p. 212, j 3dly, In admitting him free liberty to put in a plea in writing to the manner of his trial, and to the Jurisdiction of the King's Bench itself (though the highest court of justice (d) in all England but the parliament, and having lawful conasance of all sorts of treasons whatsoever) and not peremptorily over-ruling, rejecting it (a) An exact Collection, p. 8. (4) See Strafford's Impeachment and Trial forthwith, and giving Judgment against him pro confesso, or as (e) standing mute, for not submitting to its jurisdiction, and a trial by an ordinary Middlesex jury, being a matter of law and right; but permitting, yea ordering bis plea upon a demurrer thereunto, to be pub-markable passages in our histories, and chiefest licly argued pro et contra at the bar by counsel, and then solemnly argued at the bench by the judge, before it was over-ruled, being a case of general concernment to satisfy him and all the world of the legality and justice of his trial. And then permitting him according to law, to plead not guilty, and put himself upon his trial by his country; not sentencing him to death for treason without any trial or good evidence produced to convict him. 4thly, In allowing him a free honourable trial upon an Indictment, first found upon oath by the grand jury, and then suffering him to take not only his particular challenges by the poll to every of the jurors returned, upon a voyre dire (not formerly heard of, yet allowed him, as reasonable, to take away all colour of partiality or non indifference in the jurors,) whereupon every jury-man was examined before he was sworn of the jury, Whether he had contributed or advanced any monies upon the propositions for Ireland, or was to have any share in the rebels lands in Ireland by act of parlament or otherwise? But likewise in permitting him to take his peremptory challenge to 35 of the 2 juries returned, without any particular cause alledged; which liberty our laws (f) allowing men in favorem vitæ, and because there may be private causes of just exceptions to them known to the prisoner, not fit to be revealed, or for which he wants present proof, and that in cases of high-treason as well as of felony, the court thought just and equal to allow the same to him, though a notorious Irish rebel. Wherefore it ought much more to be allowed to all English freemen less peccant, and not so notoriously guilty as this transcendant traitor; the debarring the party indicted of his lawful challenges, being to debar him of a principal matter concerning his trial, yea a means to take away his life without just cause or guilt; much more than a trial by such jurors, committees, commissioners, or other judges nominated by persons interested, or parties, without the denomination or direction of sworn officers of justice alone, against the course of the common law, as the statute of 11 H. 4, c. 9. and Coke's 3 Instit. p. 32, 33, resolve. In this argument the readers, especially Irish students of the law, may take notice; first, of some observable passages and records (g) touching the settling of the laws and great charter of England in Ireland, the endenization of Irish natives to make them capable of the laws and liberties of the English there; the statutes, peers of Ireland, and the trial of peers there for treasons, not obvious in other law-books; to which I at first intended to have added an appendix of the most rerecords in the Tower relating to the sovereigu jurisdiction of the kings and parliaments of England over Ireland, and to the parliaments, officers, government, and affairs thereof, not hitherto published, and unknown to most, of very necessary and excellent use. Which being over-large for an appendix, I must reserve for a particular treatise by themselves; or joined with some other records and histories relating unto Scotland, most worthy of public view, if God send health and opportunity to communicate them to posterity. Only I shall here insert one pertinent record to manifest, that the trying of Irish malefactors in England, the binding them to appear, the recording their defaults and giving judgment against them for not appearing here for murders, robberies, and felonies committed or acted by them in Ireland, is no novelty (having omitted it in my argument) it being in use in the ninth year of king John, as this patent manifests. Rex (h) M. filio Henrici, Justiciario Hiberniæ salutem. Mandamus vobis quod 'deduci faciatis secundum judicium Comitis Dublin Galfredum de Marisco et alios qui ' rectati sunt de incendio et roberia et morte homnum, et aliis rectis quæ pertienent ad 'Coronam nostram unde eis dies datus est coram nobis in Anglia a die saucti Michaelis 'ad 15 dies, ad quem non venerunt nec pro se ' responsales miserunt. et absentiam suam die 'illo Attornatis eis in defaltam. Et ipsos deduci ⚫ fuerat secundum judicium prædicti Comitis de 'vita et membris, et obsidibus, et vadiis, et plegiis, Teste meipso apud Theoukesbury, 12 'die Novembris.' 2dly. The readers may herein discern the treacheries, conspiracies, insurrections, rebellions of the native Irish, in all ages, since their submission to king Henry the 2d, A. D. 1171, and their swearing of fealty to him and his heirs, for ever as to their lawful kings and lords, recorded at large in our historians, (i) towards our kings and English nation, and their frequent endeavours utterly to cast off their dominion, and extirpate them out of Ireland, which is notably expressed in many of our records, as Claus. 5 E. 3, part 2. m. 12, dorso. Pat, 5 E. 3, pars 1. m. 25, Cl. 35 E. 3. m. 36, Claus. 36. E. 3. m. 42, dors. and Claus. 42 É. 3. m. o. and dors. 13, Whence Giraldus Cambrensis (who went along into Ireland with king Henry the 2d, and with his son John, when made king thereof by his father, who made the first (h) Rot. Pat. An. 9. Johan. Reg. m. 4. n. 46. (i) Hoveden, Anual. pars post. p. 527, 528. 529. Giraldus Cambrensis, Hybernia Expugnata, l. 1. and 2 Chron. Johan. Bromton, col. 1069, 1070, 1071. Mat. Westm, and Mat. Paris An. 1171, 1172, and others. longè fortius timenda est ars, quam Mars; pax quam fax; mel, quam fel; malitia, quam militia; proditio, quain expeditio; amicitia præfucata, quam inimicitia despicata.' (m). and fullest description of it, and its conquest, and of the manners, qualities of the Irish; of any of our Historians), gives this character of them and their deportment towards the English in that age; Præ omni alia gente prodi- 3dly. The readers may here in part discern, * tionibus semper insistunt ; fidem datam nemini by whom, and in what manner the laws of Engservant, fidei et sacramenti religionem quam land were first established in Ireland, and how sibi semper servari summopere volunt, aliis far, and to what persons there: to which I shall 'præstitam quotidie violare nec verecundantur, add this passage of Mat. Paris, (n) a. D. 1172, 'nec verentur: unde et cum cautelas omues ob- touching K. Henry the 2nd, his settling our 'servaveris et adhibueris, cum securitati et in-laws there. Rex Pater antequam ab Hybernia ⚫ demnitati tuæ tam sacramentis et obsidibus, quàm amicitiis firmiter junctis, et beneficiis multimodè collatis, modis omnibus invigelaveris, tunc primo timendum est tibi: quia tunc præcipuè ipsorum vigilat malitia,cum ex securitatis abundantia te tibi præsenserint non invigilare: Tum demum ad arcem nequitiæ, tum ad assueta 'fallaciæ telæ confugiunt, ut sumpta securitatis ⚫ occasione lædere valeant vel improvisum.' (k) He subjoins, Inter alia multa artis iniquæ • figmenta, hoc unum habent tanquam præcipuum argumentum :' (and O that too many English as well as Irish were not guilty of this transcendant treachery and hypocrisy!) rediret apud Lissemor Concilium congregavat, Ubi Leges Angliæ ab omnibus sunt gratanter acceptæ, et juratoria cautione præstita, con firmatæ. With that of Sylvester Giraldus, (o) who reciting the constitutions made at the council of Cassils in Ireland under this king Henry for the government of the church, and reformation of the manners of the Irish, there recorded at large, concludes thus. Itaque omnia divina ad instar sacrosanctæ Ecclesiæ Juxta quod Anglicana observat Ecclesia in omnibus partibus Hyberniæ amodo tractantur. Dig num etenim et justissimum est, ut sicut Dosubminium et regem ex Anglia, sortita est divinitus Hybernia, sic etiam exinde vivendi formam recipiant meliorem. Ipsi namque Regi mag debent, quicquid de bono pacis, et incremento Religionis hactenus est assecuta.' After which the Irish rebelling, and casting off the English laws, king John (p) a. D. 1211, arriving at Dublin with a great army; Occurrerunt ei ibidem plusquam viginti Reguli illius Regionis, qui omnes timore maximio perterriti, bomagium illi et fidelitatem fecerunt : Fecit quoque Rex, ibidem construere Leges et Consuetudines Anglicanas, ponens Vicecomites et alios Ministros qui populum regni illius juxta English pale, (7) and territories reduced into counties, and under the king's dominion) as Matthew Paris and others story. religionis et pacis obtentu ad sacrum aliquem locum conveniunt cum eo quem oppetere cupiunt: primo compaternatis fœdera jungunt:nifico tam Ecclesia quam Regnum Hybernie Deinde ter circa ecclesiam se invicem portant; 'postmodum ecclesiam intrantes coram altari reliquiis sanctorum, sacramentis multifarie præstitis, demum missæ celebratione, et orationibus sanctorum sacerdotum tanquam dis'pensatione quadam, indissolub.liter fæderantur. Ad ultimum vero ad majorem amicitiæ < confirmationem, et quasi negotii consumma' tionem sanguinem sponte ad hoc fusum,uterque alterius bibit. Hoc autem de ritu gentilium adhuc habent, qui sanguinem in firmandis fæderibus uti solent,' Ŭ quoties in ipso de-Leges Anglicanas judicarent,' (to wit, in the sponsationis hujus articulo a viris sanguinum et dolosis, tam dolose et inique funditur san*guis, ut alteruter penitus maneat exanguis! O quoties eadem hora et in continenti, vel sequitur, vel prævenit, vel etiam inaudito more sanguinolentum divortium ipsum interumpit ⚫ desponsationem! Adeo proditionis pestis hic invaluit et quasi radices pouit, adeo in naturam converti prævalet prava consuetudinis ⚫ longus abusus, adeo a convictu mores formantur, et qui tangit picem coninquinabitur ab ea, adeo mali vis magna est, quod etiam advenæ eodem vitio inquinati sunt.' He adds in another place, Ad resistendum Anglis, et antiquæ libertatis sub capitum discrimine jura tuendum, unanimi voto conspirant. Et ut hunc plenius affectum deducere possint ad 'effectum, vinctis undique fæderibus, de novo fiunt ex hinc amici qui antea fuerunt * inimici.' (1) All which we find verified of them in this last rebellion and massacre of the EngItsh, for which this prisoner was indicted and executed: so as we may well conclude of the Irish in his ensuing words. Nationis subdolæ (k) Typographia Hybernia, c. 20. 22. 24. 4thly, the readers and our whole nation may hereby and hercin discover, for their present and future information, the provident care and prudence of our English parliaments in all former ages, to secure the lives and inheritances of all English reemen and Irish subjects against all arbitrary, tyrannical power and proceedings whatsoever, even in cases of pretended or real treasons, and the highest capital offences, by providing and enacting from time to time, that not only all English freemen, but all other Irish or outlandish persons accused of any high treasons, misprisions or concealments of treasons committed by them either within or without the realm of England, should be impeached of, and arraigned for the same, only upon a (m) Hybernia Expog c.97. (n) Hist. Ang. Edit. Lond. 1640. p. 196. (o) Hybern. Expug. 1. 1. c. 34. (p) Mat. Paris Hist. Angl. p. 230. Hen. de Knyghton de Event. Angl. I. 2. c. 15. col. 2420. (9) Sir John Davis his Irish Reports, p. 37, 38. legal presentment or indictment first found against them by a jury of good and lawful men upon their oaths; and after that tried for the same by another legal jury of 12, honest and substantial indifferent freeholders upon their oaths, or by the lawful judgment of their peers, if English peers, and not forejudged of life or limb, nor outlawed, exiled, put to death, passed upon or any way destroyed, but only by the lawful judgment of their peers, according to the due course of the common law, and not otherwise, is the grand Charter of king John, the statute of Magna Charta, ch. 29, in 9 H. 3, 25 E. 1, c. 1, 28 E. 1, c. 1, 5 E. 3. c. 9, 20 E. 3, c. 2, 25 E. 3, c. 2. of treasons, 28 E. 3, c. 3, 42 E. 3, c. 3, 2 R. 2, rot. par. n. 57, 1 H. 4, rot. parl. n. 44, 2 H. 4, n. 60, 89, 2 H. 5, c. 6, 20 H. 6, c. 9, 22 H. 8, c. 9, 23 H. 8, c. 13, 26 H. 8, c. 13, 28 H. 8, c, 7, 10, 18, 31 H. 8, c. 8, 14, 32 H. 8, c. 4, 35, 33 H. 8, c. 12, 20, 21, 23, 35 H. 8, c. 2, 3, 1 E. 6, c. 12, 5 E. 6, c. 11, 1 Mar. c. 6, 1 & 2 Phil. & Mar. c. 10, 11, 1 Eliz. c. 1, 6, 5 El. c. 1, 13, El. c. 1, 14 El. c. 1, 18 El. c. 1, 23 El. c. 1, 27 El. c. 2. 3 Jac. c. 2, the Petition of Right 3 Caroli, with sundry other statutes enact, and all our law books (r) resolve: so that no man's life whatsoever can legally be hazarded or taken away for any real or pretended treason or capital crime, without a double jury, and the verdicts of 24 sworn good honest men at the least, or more, or by a Grand Jury, and 12 or more peers of the realm, if an English peer; and in case of Foreigners, by a jury of 6 English, and 6 of their own country-men, if so many may be found fit to be returned of a jury, to avoid partiality which seconded must be with the judgment of one or more sworn judges sitting on the tribunal of justice. Which treble bulwark and grand fondamental security of all English freemen's and others lives, inheritances, families, estates, against all unlawful conspiracies, practices, combinations, subornations of witnesses, machiavilian policies, and arbitrary tyrannical powers, proceedings whatsoever, especially in perilous treacherous times, if once undermined, subverted, or interrupted by arbitrary courts-martial, committees, or any other new erected tribunals, by what names or specious pretences whatsoever of public safety, danger, or necessity, what sad effects it would soon produce to the endangering, yea loss of the lives, inheritances, fortunes of the most innocent, best deserving persons, and real patriots of their country's laws and liberties, through the power, policy, confederacy, covetousness, ambition, revenge, malice, emulation, suspicion, tyranny, injustice, partiality, selfinterests of suborned, perjured witnesses, or despiteful, powerful prosecutors, accusers, and of unrighteous packed, partial pre-engaged judges, (admitting no legal pleas against their (r) Stamford's Pleas of the Crown, 1. 3, c. 1, to 8. Coke's 2 Instit. p. 48, to 53, 3 Instit. e. 1, 2. Brook, Fitzh. Statham, Ash, tit. Coron. Trial, Treason. · 6 exorbitant jurisdictions, no legal challenges to their persons, nor appeals from their unjust sentences, though capital, without any clear testimony to prove them guilty and worthy of death by our known laws) all lovers of their own families, friends, neighbours, liberties, lives, estates, or the public safety, may easily resolve, not only from sundry experiments and Histories (s) in former and late ages over tedious to recite; but by the memorable precedents of innocent Naboth recorded for this parpose in sacred writ, 1 Kings, 21, and of the Prophet Zechariah, 2 Chron. 24, 20, 21, 22, compared with that of Psal. 94, 20, 21, Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee which frameth mischief by a law? They gather themselves together against the soul, or life, of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood:" with Ezech. 22, 6, 9, 12, 27, and Isaiah 59, 6, 7. Behold the princes of Israel, every one were in thee to their power to shed blood. In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood. Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey. To shed blood and to destroy souls' (that is the lives of innocent men under a pretence of law (t) justice for pretended crimes, treasons) to get dishonest gain: their ways are ways of iniquity, the act of violence is in their hands; their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity: wasting and destruction are in their paths, there is no judgment, or justice, in their goings, they have made them crooked paths,' paralleled with Jer. 22. 17, But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression and violence to do it.'-Such monsters of injustice, rapine, oppression, violence, against all laws of God and man, do kings, princes, and great men degenerate into even ainong God's own people, when they break down the pales and fences of public laws and justice made for their subjects preservation, and let loose the reins to arbitrary government, and lawless proceedings, to shed their blood, or confiscate their estates, supplant and ruin their posterity in a seeming way of justice. The consideration of which sacred texts and precedents should both caution and engage all future English parliaments, the whole nation, and every individual member thereof, for ever to abandon and abominate such irregular judicatures and extravagant proceedings, and not to give the least countenance or encouragement thereunto, especially after this memorable precedent of the lord Maguire, and our many years late contest in parliament and bloody encounters in the field, to maintain the fundamental laws, privileges, and good customs (s) See Sir Walter Raleigh his preface to the History of the World, D. Beard's Theatre of God's Judgments on the 6th Commandinent. (t) See Lyra, Tostatus, Lavater, Polanos, Maldonat, Cornelius a Lapide, Junius, and others on these texts. |
