His Majesties Declaration Defended by John Dryden
page 39 of 48 (81%)
page 39 of 48 (81%)
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difficult to protect him any longer; But the poor Malefactor sending his
Wife to tell him that if he did not save him he must be hanged to morrow, and that he must confess who set him on: His Master very civilly sent him this Message; _Prithee suffer thy self to be hanged this once to do me a Courtesie, and it shall be the better for thy Wife and Children._ 'But that which makes amends for all, says our Author, is the Kings resolution to have frequent Parliaments. Yet this, it seems, is no amends neither: for he says Parliaments are like Terms, if there be Ten in a Year, and all so short to near no Causes, they do no good.' I say on the other hand, If the Courts will resolve beforehand to have no Causes brought before them, but one which they know they cannot dispatch; let the Terms be never so long, they make them as insignificant as a Vacation. _The Kings Prerogative, when and where they should be call'd, and how long they should sit, is but subservient, as our Friend tells us, to the great design of Government; and must be accommodated to it, or we are either denyed or deluded of that Protection and Justice we are born to._ My Author is the happiest in one faculty, I ever knew. He is still advancing some new Position, which without proving, he slurs upon us for an Argument: though he knows, that Doctrines without proofs will edifie but little. That the Kings Prerogative is subservient, or in order to the ends of Government is granted him. But what strange kind of Argument is this, to prove that we are cheated of that Protection to which we are born. Our Kings have always been indued with the power of calling Parliaments, nominating the time, appointing of the Place, and |
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