Page:A Letter from a Person of Quality, to His Friend in the Country (1675).pdf/27

 possession according to Law, neither could any Order, or Commission of the King's, put a stop to the Sheriff, if he had done his duty in raising the whole force of that Count to put the Law in execution; neither can the Court, from whom that Order proceeds, (if they observe their oaths, and duty) put any stop to the execution of the Law in such a case, by any command or commission from the King whatsoever; Nay, all the Guards, and standing forces in England, cannot be secured by any Commission from being a direct Riot, and unlawful Assembly, unless in time of open War and Rebellion: And it is not out of the way to suppose, that if any King hereafter, shall contrary to the petition of Right, demand, and levie Money by Privy-Seal, or otherwise, and cause Souldiers to enter, and distrain for such like il­legall Taxes, that in such a case any Man may by Law defend his house against them; and yet this is of the same nature with the former, and against the words of the Declaration. These instances may seem somwhat rough, and not with the usual reverence towards the Crown, but they alleadged, they were to be excused, when all was concerned, And without speaking thus plain, it is refused to be understood; and, however happy we are now, either in the present Prince, or those we have in prospect, yet the suppositions are not extravagant, when we consider, Kings are but Men, and compassed with more temptations then others; And, as the Earl of Salisbury, who stood like a Rock of Nobility, and English Principles, excellently replyed to the Lord Keeper, who was pleased to term them remote Instances, that they would not hereafter prove so, when this Declaration had made the practise of them Justifiable.

These Arguments enforced the Lords for the Bill to a change of this part of the Declaration, so that they agreed the second, and thrid parts of it, should run thus; And I do abhorr that Trayterous position of taking Armes against by His Authority, against his Person, or against those, that are commissioned by Him according to Law, in time of Rebellion, or War, acting in pursuance of such Commission. Which mends the matter very little; for if they mean the King's Authority, and his lawful Commission, to be two things, and such as are capable of Opposition, then it is as dangerous to are the Liberties of the Nation, as when it run in the former words, and we only cheated by new Phrasing of it: But if they understand them to be one and the same thing, as really and truly they are, then we are only to abhorr the Treason of the position of taking Armes by the King's Authority against the King's Authority, because it is Non-sense, and Rh