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Show [20 .1 [21] Lines ofRight and Wrongin this Cafe, asin fomé A Statute of the 25 Ed. 3, enafrs " that from others, is dfiicult ; and we have not the Prcfump. thenceforth no Perfon fhall be compelled to make tion to attempt it. But we humbly hope, that as we are perfonally and relatively, in our private and publicCapacitics, for ourfelves, for the whole any Loans to the King againl't his Will, becaufe {uch Loans were againfl: Reafon and the Franchife of the Land." Province, and for all Poflerity, fo deeply interefied in this important Subjeét, 7 it will not be deemed Arrogance to give lbme general Senti- ‘~The Petition of Rights in the 3d of Charles Ill, in which are cited the two foregoing ments upon it, elpecially as your Excellency's Statutes, Speech has made it abfolutelynneeeflary. and other good Laws and Statutes of the Realm, For this Purpof'e we {hall recur to thofe Records that contain the main Principles on which the Enghlh Confiitution is founded; and from them make fueh Extraé‘ts as are pertinent to the Subjeét. Magna Charta declares, " that no Aid {hall be impofed 1n the Kingdom, unlels by the Common Councd of the Kingdom, except to redeem declares that by thofe " Statutes, hisMajefty's Subjeéts inherited this Freedom, that they lhould not be compelled to contribute to any Tax, Tallage, Aid, or other like Charge, not fctt by common Confent of Parliament." And the Statute of the? I. of William 3d, for declaring the Rights and Liberties oFthe Subject and letling the Succcflion of theCrown declares, " [hat the levying of Money for or to the Ufe of theCrown. by Pretence of Prerogative without Grant of‘Par-t liament, for longerTime,or in any other Manner the King's Perfon, 8m". And that " all Cities, Boroughs, Towns and Ports (hall have their Lia than the fame is or lhall be granted, is illegal." homes and Free Cufi'oms; and {hall have the From thefe Authorities it appears an etlential Common Counetl of the Kingdom concerning the Afl‘efsnient of their Aids, excep: in the CalE s afotelaid." The Statute of the 34th of Edward I, de tai< lagt o non concedeudo, declares " that no Tail: lage or Aid {hould he laid or levied by the Kin g or his Heirs tn the Realm, without the GoedWill and Afllnnto the Arch Billiops, Bil hops, Earls Barons, Knights, Burgelllrs. and oth er the Free~ men of the Commonalty of this Realm." Part of the Englilh Conflitution, that no Tallagc or Aid or Tax lhall he laid or levied " without the Good Will and Afl‘ent of the Freemen of the Commonalty of the Realm." If this could be done without their Ailent, their Property would be in the highcll‘, Degree precarious: or rather they could not with Fitncfs be laid to have any .PTQperty at all. At bett they would be only the Holders of it for the we of the Crown ;aud the Crown be in F218: the real Proprietor. This would be Vailallage in the extreme ; from which the generous Nature of Eltglilhinen has burn id abhorrent, |
