the faid Thomas Denton, &c. Answer before our Lord and Lady for the faid Contempt.

To this Edmund Plowden who was in the Information pleaded, that he was present in that Parliament in which it was alledg'd that he was abfent.

Sir Edward Cokes Obfervation upon this Matter was thus.

You may Obferve that the poor Commons, Members of Parliament in Diebus illis had no great Joy to continue in Parliament.

Sir Robert Filmer obferves, that the Parliament in Ancient Times were Maintain'd by the King, and Fed at his Table.

An Old Whig who pav'd the Way for the ill Notions which have prevail'd in this King. dom, in his Book call'd, Plato Redivivus, bas given but a very mean Account of an House of Commons Original; He fays most of the Members thought it an Honour to retain to Some Great Lord, and to wear his Blue Coat, and when they had made up their Lord's Train, and Waited upon him from his own Houfe to the Lord's House, and made a Lane for him to Enter, they departed to Sit in the Lower House of Parliament; fee Antidotum Britannicum, p. 77:

The Antiquity of the House of Peers is beyond difpute. The Saxon Kings in their Laws mention them by the Name of Sapientum & Magnatum Concilium. But as to

any

any real Authority, I cannot fee that they enjoy'd the leaft fhadow thereof; the Saxons came over with their Swords in their Hands, their Chief Commanders made themfelves Kings, and if they Conftituted Guardians and Confervators over themfelves, they were little better than Fools.

But however, we muft Date our Conftitution from William the Conquerour, from him we receiv'd our Laws and Model of Government, but he made the Kingdom a perfect Property, he gave it by Will to the Younger Son, and Excluded the Elder with. out any Intervention of the States, nor was his Title ever Question'd by the People, nor can any Inftance be given till very lately, of any popular Election, Ufurpers have thruft themselves into a Throne, but they have alwaies had the pretence of Hereditary Right, none ever card for a Title which they ow'd to the Election of a Multitude.

Tis the Unhappyness of Mankind, that ever fince the Creation of the World they have been led into Errour by not fetting a right Signification upon Words: They have not yet fettled an abfolute Agreement between Ideas and Words, which are, and ever will be, engag'd in an Eternal War. I believe Mankind wou'd not be a little Improv'd with a Treatife of that Nature, to fhew what confufion that Diffention has made amongst them.

For

For Example, the Word King has fet this Nation together by the Ears, from the very Time that the Word has been known within the Realm, because we have not adjusted our Idea with the Word, if we mean by King, one that has the Supream Power of the Nation, we Reduce a large Ocean of Difpute into a very narrow compafs, viz. Whether the Supream Power can be Refifted or no, if the Supream Power may be Refifted, confequently, any Inferiour Power may be Refifted in Society; and therefore, no Magiftrates are fecur'd from having their Brains regularly knock'd out by the People.

If the King is only a Branch of the Supream Power, we must find out the other Branches, and fet them all in a fair Light; are they the House of Lords or Commons, or both together? If fo, let any Man fhew me the Supream Power after the Diffolution of the Houfes. Let them fhew me one Mark of Superiour Power which the King does not then Enjoy, and I will shew twenty which they cou'd never pretend to..

But granting even this, the Question receives a new turn, Whether England is a Monarchy or not? Whether it is diftinguish'd by any fignal Criterion from the Commonwealth of Sparta.

How much we have the Advantage from Law and History I need not here fay.

Our Kings ever fhin'd with peculiar Prerogatives which manifeftly diftinguish'd them from the States of the Realm, and plac'd 'em in an higher Sphere; the Neighbouring Princes who fell under their Power, did Homage to them alone, without any mention of the States of the Realm, or the Parliament; particularly, Robert Count of Flanders, did Homage both for Life and Limb to Henry the 1ft, only with a Refervation to the Right of Lewis of France, to whom he was immediately Subject. The Words are, Robertus Comes Flandriæ fide & facramento affecuravit Regi Henrico Vitam fuam & Membra, & Membra quæ Corpori fuo pertinent & captionem Corporis fui. See Rymer's Fædera. Vol. 1. p. 1.

1

From this Confideration, Naturally arife thefe following Queftions; which may give Some light into the Dispute.

ift, If a Foreign Country falls under the Subjection of an English Power, to whom does the Property of that Country belong, to the King, or to the States, or to both? If it belongs to the King, as his intire Property, he cannot forfeit the fame for Male Adminiftration, to the Parliament of England, nor can their Acts bind Juch Subjects. We muft confider therefore, both Countries under different Allegiances; the one toaMonarch, and the other to a Commonwealth; for I can

call

tall England no better, if our Kings are not here the Supream Power.

But if they Forfeit to the Parliament with the King, the Reafon muft arife from hence, that the States, with the King, have an equal fhare in the War, as being ColleAively the Supream Power, in that Nation which Carries on the War, and all the Inftruments for purfuiug the fame, are procur'd by the States with the King. But then it muft appear by our publick Records, that the Parliament of England in Ancient Times were fo much Concern'd, either in procuring the Conquefts, or pretending a Right to them afterwards, they were kept and Transfer'd, according as the Exigence of the Times requir'd, without any Intervention of the States, all was perform'd by the King's fole Authority.

Laftly, If fuch Conquests fell to the States, without the King, he is no more concern'd than Scipio or an Aemilius, to act as a Servant to the Supream Power, and to put them in Poffeffion of his Conquefts. But I am very Confident, if the Cafe was fo, we should have found fome fhadow of this amongst the volu minous Collections of Mr. Rymer.

I Conclude therefore, that all fuch Conquefts belong intirely to the King, as his Property; which leads me on to the fecond Quere, Whether a King, upon Suppofition, that he forfeits his Regalities in England

upon