[19]
said truly, that which my brother Heath (who now is dead) did say, Its the the duty of the Judges to be of Councel with the Prisoner, at the Bar before him, and to do that which they are sworn to do, and that you shall have; and accordingly you have received more favour then ever I heard, of a Prisoner that was accused of Treason in my life ever had. And as for the Commission, I must tell you, it is usual to have Commissions of Oyer and Terminer, and that even in Terme time for high offences, and such as tend to the destruction of the Nation, as Overburies did; and those that tend to Capital Treason, whereof you are now accused by a Grand-jury of London, that are Free-men of London, Citizens, able men, men of Religion, men of Estate, men of Conscience, men of quality, these are your accusers; who have found you upon their Oaths guilty of Treason, and cry out to us the Judges for justice against you; and it is they, not we that proceeds against you: And as for our Commission, it is according to the good old Laws of the Land, founded upon the Statute made in Edward the firsts time, called Westminster the second: That Statute Authorizeth Commissions, according to that Commission we sit by here this day; and Edward the first was a wise and a good Prince, and consented to the People, to let them have such Commissions as ours we sit by is, which the People had fought stoutly for, in the Barrons wars in his Fathers time, and also in his, for he himselfe was taken Prisoner at Lewes in the County of Sussex; and being a wise Prince, he knew that the love of the people was not more to be got then by wholsome and safe lawes; that every mans life, and every mans estate, and every mans liberty might be preserved by, and not be subject to any Arbitrary Will or Power, but that the sober and discreet and wise Lawes of the Kingdome, which our Ancestors won by their swords, might be their protectors; a speciall, one of which was this Statute of Westminster the second made in Edward the Firsts time; by vertue of which Statute is this Commission directed to the Justices of the one Bench and the other, and they be all here this day; but onely those that of necessity must attend at Westminster, onely to preserve the Terme. Nou you are come to answer to that Charge, which hath been the greatest opposition to the settlement of Government that can be, I mean, the settlement of the Supreme Authority of the Nation, in the Commons now assembled in Parliament, not newly erected but revived into the right place and hands, for it is the Law of England revived, that the Supreme Authority is in the[1] Commons assembled in the Parliament
- ↑ But by his favour never before practised nor used without both King and Lords, a president of which he is desired to shew and produce out of any of his Law Books.
