and what is more, the perpetuity of them to his foreign subjects? Good kings, after a long and chargeable war, were wont to tell the people, that they were sorry for the hardships the nation underwent by long wars and heavy taxes; and that now they would live upon their own revenues: But it is to be feared, if grants are made so large and so frequent, there would be nothing for the king or bis successors to call their own to live upon. He concluded thus: It is to be hoped your lordships will consider, that we had but one day's notice of this attendance, and must come therefore very much unprovided: Yet we doubt not, but that these hints and broken thoughts we have offered to your lordships, you will, by your great judgments, improve; whereby the ill consequences of this grant may truly be represented to his majesty. The Lord Godolphin, the first Commissioner of the Treasury, asked for satisfaction, Whether the earl of Leicester had not those lordships in grant to him in queen Elizabeth's time? Sir Robert Cotton answered, be believed he could give the best account in that case; that the earl of Leicester had but one of those lordships, and that was Denbigh: That he was so oppressive to the gentry of the country, that he occasioned them to take up arms, and to oppose him; for which, 3 or 4 of his, sir Robert Cotton's, relations were hanged; but that it ended not there, for the quarrel was kept still on foot, and the earl glad to be in peace, and to grant it back to the queen: since which time it had ever been in the crown. Whereupon the lord Godolphin said, They had offered many weighty reasons, which they should represent to his majesty. From the Treasury, the gentlemen of Wales attended the grant, to the Privy-Seal, where their reasons and complaints against it, were heard and received with all candour and goodness. Yet notwithstanding all this, the said grant being only superseded, but not recalled, sir Thomas Grosvenor, sir Richard Middleton, sir John Conway, sir Robert Cotton, sir William Williams, sir Roger Puleston, Edward Vaughan, Edward Brereto, and Robert Price, esqrs; addressed themselves by petition to the commons. Mr. Price's Speech against the Grant.] Upon this occasion, the same Mr. Price, a member of that house, made the following memorable Speech :* "Mr. Speaker, The Petition now presented unto you, in behalf of ourselves and countrymen, though subscribed by few hands, yet has the sense and approbation of thousands; who are not influenced by their own interest, but by *From the Somers' Tracts, col. 1, v. 3, p. 98; where it is intitled "Gloria Cambria: or the Speech of a bold Briton in parliament, against a Dutch prince of Wales." Robert Price esq. was made a Baron of the Exchequer in 1701, and in the reign of George 1, a Justice of the Common Pleas. He died at Kensington, Feb. 1,1732 aged 75, lamented by all. the honour they have for the crown, and the welfare of the British nation.-If I could conceive that the glory and grandeur of England was, or could be upheld by a poor, landless crown, and a miserable, necessitous people, I could then be easily persuaded to believe, that his majesty was well advised to grant away all the Revenues of the crown, and that his government thereby could be well secured, and his people best protected when they had nothing left them. I am sure this is not English, but foreign policy, advised by those who may revere the king, but hate us.-The kings of England always reigned best when they had the affections of their subjects; and of that they were secure, when the people were sensible, that the king was intirely in their interest, and loved the English soil, as well as the people's money. When kings had a landed interest coupled with their power, then it was most stable and durable; as is manifest by the ancient demesne-lands, and other large and royal revenues; the many and great tenures the people then held their estates under, which created then such an indissoluble union and dependence, that they supported each other: and it is ob servable, that the separation of the revenues from the crown, has been in all ages the occasion of rendering the English government precarious: and that it might not be so, your Petitioners with a dutiful deference to his majesty, do represent to you, the great council of the nation, this, theirs, and the people's case, for redress and remedy according to your wisdoms.-Give me patience and pardon, and I will set before you the true state of the fact upon the Petition, the manner of the Grant, and what is granted. The three great lordships, or hundreds of Denbigh, Bromfield, and Yale, in the county of Denbigh, for some centuries, have been the revenues of the kings of England and princes of Wales, to which lordships your Petitioners, and above 1500 freeholders more, are tenants, pay rents, suits of court, and other royal services. These lordships are 4 parts in five of the whole county, being the best and most plentiful part of the country, and 30 miles in extent.-The present rents to the crown, are but 1700l. per ann. besides heriots, reliefs, mises, wasts, estreats, perquisites of courts, and other contingent profits. There are also great wastes and profitable, of several thousands of acres, rich and valuable mines, besides other advantages a mighty favourite and great courtier might make out of this country.-Your Petitioners being casually informed last summer, that a Grant to the earl of Portland, of the lordships of Denbigh, Bromfield and Yale, was at the Treasury, in order to be passed, your Petitioners did oppose the said grant; and, upon considering the grant, they found not only the three lordships, hut also near 3,000l. per ann. of your petitioners and their countrymens ancient inheritances expressly granted. So that, if all that was comprized in the grant had passed, it had been a very noble, nay royal gift, worth at least 100,000. Nor was this grant made for any short time to this noble lord, being to him | Rents, excepted those within the principality of and his heirs for ever; and yet not much to Wales; which is a plain intimation, that the the advantage of the crown, having only a re- parliament thought them not alienable, or fitservation of 6s. 8d. a year to the king and his ting to be aliened, but rather to be preserved successors.-These facts were laid before the for the support of the prince of Wales. There Lords of the Treasury, by your Petitioners, who is a great duty lies upon the freeholders of 'cannot say, but they were well heard, well these lordships, upon the creation of a prince understood, and hope, truly represented; only of Wales; they pay the prince 800/. for Mises*, with this remark, that the docket signed by the which is such a duty, service, or tenure, that it Lords of the Treasury for the Grant, was dated is not to be severed from the prince of Wales; and carried to the privy-seal, a month before and how this tenure can be made reconcilable the Lords of the Treasury had ordered your to this noble lord's grant, will be a great diffiPetitioners to be heard at the Treasury against culty. If we are to pay these Mises to this the Grant. The next stage we had was to at- noble lord, upon this grant, then he is, or is tend that noble Grant froin the Treasury to the quasi a prince of Wales; for this duty was privy seal, where, I must confess, our reasons never paid to any other: but if it is to be paid and complaints were heard with all candour to the prince of Wales, and likewise to this and goodness, by that noble lord who had the noble lord, then we are doubly charged. But custody of the seal; and I believe sincerely, if it be to be paid to the prince of Wales, when has truly represented the whole affair; and he has no royalty left in that dominion, and not that is the reason, at present, that this Grant to be paid to this noble lord, who by this grant halts, I suppose, till the parliament rises, and is to have the whole lordships, it creates a rethen I doubt not but it will find legs and take pugnancy in the tenure of our estates.-But I its journey. Having made our applications in suppose this grant of the principality is a forethe proper place, to stop the said Grant, and runner of the honour too, and then I shall fancy that without success, it becomes a Grievance, we are returning to our original contract; for and we hope this honourable house will redress as story tells us, we were first brought to cnit. These lordships, for many ages, have been tertain a prince of Wales, by recommending the revenues of the kings of England, the sup-him to us as one that did not understand the port of several princes of Wales, have been settled upon them and their heirs, by sundry patents of the kings, and confirmed by several acts of parliament. This royal dominion, in most reigns, has been attacked by great and powerful favourites, but with little success; for in the 4th of queen Elizabeth, some parts of this revenue were granted to some of her creatures, but attended with so many law-suits and general disturbances, that the queen interposed and the freeholders gave large compositions for their peace, and the queen, by her charter, confirmed their estates. In the 4th year of king James 1 these lordships were settled upon prince Charles and his heirs, kings of England; but his servants were, as most courtiers are, willing to make use of their opportunities, and had gotten some grants of great part of these revenues, and proved so vexations and troublesome to the country, that the freeholders came to another composition, and gave 10,000l. for their peace, and for the settling of their estates, tenure and commons, which were confirmed by parliament, in the 3rd year of the reign of king Charles 1.--In the late reigns, however caluinniated, there were many and great applications made for grants of some members and parts of thefe lordships, which were always rejected, as too powerful a trust for a subject. If the parts were so, what shall the grant of the whole be? History and records tell us, that the grants of these fordships have been very fatal to either prince or patentees; the one either lost his crown, or the other his head. It is therefore dangerous meddling with such ominous bounties.-I must likewise observe to you, that the Long Parliament in ing Charles 2nd's reign, when they passed an act for the Fee-Farm English tongue, and our forefathers thence inferied, that he must be our countryman, and no foreigner, and one that understood the British language; how we were deceived therein, is palpable.-I suppose this lord doth not understand our language, nor is it to be supposed, that he will come amongst us to learn it, nor shall we be fond of learning his.-But since I have minded you of our Welsh Original Contract, which is of so long a standing, I would not have you forget another contract made not above seven or eight years since, which is the foundation of our present government; I mean the Bill of Rights and Liberties, and settling the succession of the crown, which is so much forgotten in discourse or practice, that I have not heard it named in parliament, but once the last parliament, and I find it as much forgotten in the adininistration. I would gladly know from those who are better versed in prerogative learning than myself, Whether his majesty can by the Bill of Rights, without the consent of parliament, alien, or give away the inheritance, or an absolute fee of the Crown Lands? If he can, I would likewise know to what purpose the crown was settled for life, with a remainder in succession, if a renant for life of the crown can grant away the revenue * Mises were certain tollages or tributes, paid at the creation of a prince of Wales. Thus, in the county Palatine of Chester, it was a certain tribute, paid by the inhabitants of that county, on the change of every owner of that earldom, for the enjoyment of their liberties. And they have there a Mise-book, in which every town and village is rated so much towards the Mise. not outdo them in trade and naval strength; that foreigners should have no more footing, or strength, or settlement in England, than was conducing to carry on the trade and commerce of the nation; and whenever princes entertained foreigners as their counsellors, or chief advisers, the people of England were restless and uneasy, till they were removed out of the king's councils, nay, out of the kingdom. And instances are many in History and ParliamentRolls, of what great men and foreigners (being favourites) were banished the land for procuring to themselves too large a proportion of the royal revenue, especially in time of war, and the people's necessities.-As for instance, in king Stephen's tune, who usurped the crown of England from Maud the empress, and her son, king Henry the 2d: William de Ipres, a Netherlander, was brought over, with great numbers of his countrymen to which William de Ipres that king de facto gave an earldom, and made him so great a confident that he was in all his councils, and obtained great grants, not only for himself, but also for his countrymen the Netherlanders, called then Flemings, who then swarmed so thick about that king's court, that Englishmen were scarce known or regarded; at which the people were so enraged, that they importuned king Henry 2nd, when he obtained the right of his crown, to seize on all which king Stephen had given the foreign favourite and his accomplices, and banished him, and his friends the Netherlanders, from his court and kingdom.-The like compliment was made by the people to king Richard 1st, for the removing and banishing of the duke of Saxony, his own nephew, and his sister's son, being a fo of the crown, and which is incident to the crown? Or can the king have a larger estate in the revenue than he has in the crown to which it belongs? Far be it from me to speak any thing in derogation of his majesty's honour and care of us!-It cannot be pretended, that he shall know our laws, (who is a stranger to us and we to him) no more than we know his counsellors, which I wish we did; I mean, those new advisers however, those of his counsellors or ministers, whom we do know, and those through whose hands the grant did pass, by advising the king to grant what by law he could not, are guilty of the highest violation of the laws and liberties of England, strike at the foundation of the succession, and tear up the Bill of Rights and Liberties by the roots: It was their province and duty to have acquainted the king with his power and interest, that the ancient revenue of the crown is sacred and unalienable in time of war and the people's necessities. By the old law, it was part of the Coronation Oath of the king's of England, not to aliene the ancient patrimony of the crown, without the consent of parliament: But as to those oaths of office, most kings have court-casuists about them, to inform that they have prerogative enough to dispense with them.-It has been the peculiar care of parliaments, in all ages, to keep an even balance betwixt king and people; and therefore, when the crown was too liberal in their bounties, the parliament usually resumed those grants, which was very frequent; for, from the reign of Henry the Srd of England, to the 6th year of Henry 8th, there was one or more bills of resumption in every one of those king's reigns, save one of them. In the time of Henry the 5th, there was an Act of Resump-reigner, and all his German friends. The same tion of all that was granted from the Prince of Wales in all that principality; and yet those acts were not looked upon by those kings (of whom some of them both good and great) any lessening or diminution to their prerogatives, it being considered, that kings have their failings as well as other men, being cloathed with frail nature, and are apt to yield to the importunities of their flatterers and favourites: Therefore it becomes necessary, that the great council of the nation should interpose for the interest of the king and people.-The Commons of England always entertained an honourable jealousy of their princes, when they perceived their expences at home or abroad, their gifts and boons to their favourites, to be too large and exorbitant; and have therefore, by their petitions and dutiful applications to the crown, advised the kings of England to retrench their expences, and not to aliene or give away the revenues of the crown, lest they should become burthensome to the people, and chargeable to the commonwealth, and that they would live upon their own revenue, et Talligis Populi. These were their just and frequent ways, in elder time, to repair the languishing estate of the crown. And as we are an island, and subject to invasion, so the parliaments of England were very watchful, that other countries should Address was made by the people to Henry 3rd, and others made denizens. Every parliament we find, endeavours for a general naturalization, and that warmly solicited from court. We see our good coin all gone, and our confederates openly coining base money, of Dutch alloy, for us. We see most places of power and profit given to foreigners; We see our confederates in conjunction with the Scots to ruin our English trade: We see the revenues of the crown daily given to one or other, who make sale of them, and transmit their estates elsewhere: We do not find any of them buy lands or estates amongst us: but what they can get from us they secure in their own country. How can we hope for happy days in England, when this great man, and the other (though naturalized) are in the English, and also in the Dutch councils? If those strangers, though now confederates, should be of different | interests, as most plainly they are in point of trade; to which interest is it to be supposed those great foreign counsellors and favourites would adhere: So that, I foresee, when we are reduced to extreme poverty, as now we are very near it, we are to be supplanted by our neighbours and become a colony to the Dutch. -I shall make no remarks on this great man, for his greatness makes us little, and will make the crown both poor and precarious; and when God shall please to send us a prince of Wales, he may have such a present of a crown made him, as a pope did to king John, who was surnamed Sansterre, and by his father Henry 2nd made lord of Ireland, which grant was confirmed by the pope, who sent him a crown of peacocks feathers, in derision of his power and the poverty of his revenue. I would have us to consider, we are Englishmen, and must, like good patriots, stand by our country, and not suffer it to become tributary to strangers: We have rejoiced, that we have beat out of this kingdom Popery and Slavery, and now do, with as great joy, entertain Socinianism and Poverty; and yet we see our properties daily given away, and our liberties must soon follow. Thus I have represented unto you the nature of this mighty Grant to this noble lord, the ill consequence that must attend the public, and more particularly this county, by the passing of it: the remedies that our forefathers took to cure this mischievous ill, were known.-I desire more 'redress than punishment. Therefore I shall neither move for an Impeachment against this noble lord, nor the banishment of him: but I shall beg that he may have no power over us, nor we any dependance upon him: therefore I shall conclude my motion, That an Address be made to his majesty, to stop the Grant that is passing to the earl of Portland, of the lordships of Denbigh, Bromfield, and Yale, and other lands in the principality of Wales; and that the same be not granted, but by consent of parliament." Address to the King thereon.] This stout and eloquent Speech made so great an impression, that Mr. Price's Motion was carried by an unanimous consent, and on January the 22d this Address was presented to the king by the Speaker, attended by the whole house. "May it please your most excellent majesty, We your majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the knights, citizens and burgesses in par liament assembled, humbly lay before your majesty, That whereas there is a Grant passing to William earl of Portland and his heirs, of the Manors of Denbigh, Bromfield, and Yale, and divers other lands in the principality of Wales, together with several estates of inheritance, enjoyed by many of your majesty's subjects, by virtue of ancient grants from the crown:-That the said Manors, with the large and extensive regalities, powers and jurisdictions to the same belonging, are of great concern to your majesty and the crown of this realm: and that the same have been usually annexed to the principality of Wales, and settled on the princes of Wales for their support: and that a great number of your majesty's subjects in those parts hold their estates by royal tenure, under great and valuable compositions, rents, royal payments, and services to the crown and princes of Wales, and have by such tenure great dependance on your majesty and the crown of England, and have enjoyed great privileges and advantages with their estates under such tenure.-We therefore most humbly beseech your majesty to put a stop to the passing this grant to the earl of Portland of the said manors and lands; and that the same may not be disposed from the crown but by consent of parliament. For that such grant is in diminution of the honour and interest of the crown, by placing in a subject such large and extensive royalties, powers and jurisdictions, which ought only to be in the crown, and will sever that dependance, which so great a number of your majesty's subjects in those parts have on your majesty and the crown, by reason of their tenure, and may be to their great oppression in those rights which they have purchased and hitherto enjoyed with their estates, and also an occasion of great vexation to many of your majesty's subjects, who have long had the absolute inheritance of several lands (comprehended in the said grant to the earl of Portland) by ancient grants from the crown." The King's Answer.] His majesty in Answer was pleased thus to express himself: "Gentlemen, I have a kindness for my lord Portland, which he has deserved of me by long and faithful services; but I should not have given him these lands, if I had imagined the house of commons could have been concerned; I will therefore recall the Grant,* and find some other way of shewing my favour to him." Which accordingly was done; and the May after the following Grant was made in recompence for the revenues of the principality of Wales, viz. of the manor of Grantham in the county of Lincoln; honour of Penreth in the county of Cumberland, manor of Dracklow and Rudneth in the county of Chester; manor of Terrington in the county of Norfolk, manors The King's Speech on the Discovery of the Assassination Plot.*] Feb. 24, 1695-6. The king came to the house of peers, and made the following Speech to both houses : My lords and gentlemen; I am come hither this day upon an extraordinary occasion, which might have proved fatal, if it had not been disappointed by the singular mercy and goodness of God; and may now, by the continuance of the same Providence, and our own prudent endeavours, be so improved, as to become a sufficient warning to us, to provide for our security against the pernicious practices and attempts of our enemies.-I have received several concurring informations of a design to assassinate me; and that our enemies at the same time are very forward, in their preparations for a sudden invasion of this kingdom; and have therefore thought it necessary to lose no time in acquainting my parliament with those things, in which the safety of the kingdom, and the public welfare, are so nearly concerned, that I assure myself nothing will be omitted on your part, which may be thought proper for our future security. -I have not been wanting to give the necessary orders for the Fleet, and I hope we have such a strength of ships, and in such readiness, of Partington, Bristol-Garth, Homsey, Thwing, Burnisley, and Leven in the county of York; all parcel of the ancient revenue of the crown of England; and of the manor of Pavensey in the county of Sussex, parcel of the duchy of Lancaster; and of all the lands, tenements, and hereditaments thereunto belonging, to have and to hold the same to the said earl and his heirs; as of his majesty's manor of East-Greenwich in the county of Kent, under the rent of 4l. 13s. 4d. payable at Lady-Day yearly. And such clauses, powers and provisos are inserted, as were directed by warrant under his inajesty's royal sign manual. There is likewise granted to the said earl of Portland, all the little remainder of the fee-farm-rents, worth to be sold, 21,000l. given of mere bounty, 23,000l. *To murder the king, between TurnhamGreen and Brentford, in a moorish bottom, where are a bridge and divers roads crossing one another. The 15th of February was the day appointed to act this royal tragedy; and the Conspirators having long kept two men at Kensington, to watch the king's going to hunt, which was commonly every Saturday, one of these Orderly Men (for so they called them) brought them word that the king did not go abroad that day. This disappointment was attended with the fears of a discovery, and thereupon Plouden, Kendrick, and Sherburn, the most timorous of all the Plotters, declined the action, and withdrew themselves; but sir George Barclay, sir Wm. Perkins, capt. Porter, and Mr. Goodman, concluding the design was not discovered, from their not being taken up by the government, they had another meeting, and there resolved to execute their bloody project, on Saturday the 21st of Feb. That fore as will be sufficient to disappoint the intentions of our enemics. I have also dispatched orders, for bringing home such a number of our troops, as may secure us from any attempt. Some of the Conspirators against my person are already in custody, and care is taken to apprehend so many of the rest as are discovered; and such other orders are given, as the present exigency of affairs does absolutely require at this time for the public safety.-My lords and gentlemen; Having now acquainted you with the danger which hath threatened us, I cannot doubt of your readiness and zeal, to do every thing which you shall judge proper for our common safety: and I persuade myself, we must be all sensible how necessary it is in our present circumstances, that all possible dispatch should be given to the business before you.” Address of both Houses thereon.] Upon this, the two houses immediately agreed to wait on the king that very evening at Kensington with their humble Address: viz. "We your majesty's most loyal and dutiful subjects, the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, having taken into our serious consideration what your majesty hath been pleased to communicate to us this day, think it our duty noon was spent in a tedious expectation of the news, that the king was gone abroad; but, instead of that account, Keys, one of their Orderly Men at Kensington, brought advice, that the guards were all come back in a foam, and that there was a muttering among the people, that a damnable Plot was discovered: this astonishing news alarmed and dispersed all the Conspirators, and drove them to shift for themselves by a speedy flight.-Nor were Keys's report, and their apprehensions, groundless; for the Plot, and every step of it, from time to time, had been discovered by Richard Fisher, and something of it by Mr. Grimes, to the earl of Portland. Fisher had his know ledge of it from Harrison the priest, who took him to be one of their party; and Grimes bad some dark hints from another; but both refusing to give his lordship the names of the Con spirators, little credit was given to their informations, till they were confirmed by other testimonies.-Mr. Pendergrass, who was wholly ignorant of the design till he was sent for to London, being struck with horror at the first proposal of it, even then took up a resolution to save his majesty's life; though, the better to manage his intended discovery, he seemed willing to engage in the hellish enterprize. This gentleman, on the 14th of Feb. at night, went to the earl of Portland, and being admitted to privacy with his lordship, though wholly a stranger, without further address, accosted bis lordship with this surprizing request: Pray, my lord, persuade the king to stay at home to-morrow; for, if he goes abroad to hunt, he will be murdered.' The same night, though late, he was introduced to his majesty, and discovered the whole Plot; and his whole deportment showing him to be a man of honour, |