THE HUMBLE PETITION OF The Commons of the City of LONDON IN Common Councel ASSEMBLED, To the Honorable, The Commons of England IN PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLED.
With a NARRATIVE of the Proceedings of the Court of COMMON-COƲNCEL: And the VOTE of the Houſe of Parliament, and their Anſwer thereupon.
Together with Colonel Titchborn's SPEECH, made in the Honorable Houſe of Commons at the delivery of the ſaid Petition and Narrative.
ORdered by the Commons aſſembled in Parliament, That this Petition and Narrative, and Anſwer of the Houſe thereunto, and Vote thereupon, be forthwith Printed and Publiſhed:
London, Printed by Peter Cole, at the Sign of the Printing-Preſs in Cornhil, at the Royal Exchange, Jan. 16. 1648.
THe Houſe being informed, That divers of the Common-councel of the city of London were at the door, they were called in, and Col: Titchburn, in the name of the Commons of the city of London made a ſhort preamble as followeth:
THe Commons of the city of London in Common-councel aſſembled, have appointed theſe Gentlemen, with my ſelf, to preſent their humble Petition to the Honorable Houſe this morning, I ſhall spend none of your precious time in any preparatory speech, hoping our Petition will speak for it ſelf, were it not that ſome part of the Title is abſent from this Petition, which doth uſually attend this Honorable Houſe in Petitions of this nature; nor ſhall I speak to the cauſe of ſuch an abſence, becauſe the Court it ſelf hath in a ſhort Narrative given this honorable Houſe ſome account thereof, which I have here, to preſent with this our Petition; onely this, give ſome account, why we could not in judgement and conſcience defer the preſenting this Petition:4 Firſt, Becauſe the matter of it, as we humbly conceive, containeth in ſubſtance that which many of us hath ventured our lives for, and all of us our eſtates in a meaſure beyond proportion. Secondly, In regard of the ſeaſon, we being ſenſible that our ſtaying hitherto might without a very favorable interpretation from this Honorable Houſe be accounted ſlowneſs in our duty, and if we had yet forborn, to have begot a jealouſie that we have loſt our firſt love: But give us leave to ſay, That we ſtand here with the ſame truth of heart, and publike Principles, which we firſt ingaged withal in this publike cauſe; onely herein we confeſs to differ, That the great experience which God hath given us in this Seven years time, hath begotten more light in us, by which we have a clear underſtanding of perſons and things, whereby we are advantaged, and the more reſolvedly fixed to live and dye in the maintaining of this publike cauſe with this Honorable Houſe.
This Petition speaks our Deſires, the Narrative our Grievance, both which we crave leave to preſent to this Honorable Houſe.
THat ſeriouſly weighing thoſe unſpeakable toils, difficulties, dangers, and temptations, in every kinde, wherewith you have been hotly aſſaulted for many years together, by the powerful influence whereof, many great pretenders to the publique intereſt have been wrought off from the ſame; And withal, conſidering that all theſe, notwithſtanding you have ſtood like a mighty Rock, firm and conſtant to your Truſt, and are now acting after ſuch a Rate as our dead hopes break forth with triumph from their Graves, We cannot but with inlarged hearts bleſs the God of Heaven for you, and (if it were poſsible) in the hearing of the whole world, proclaime6 our thankfulneſs to you for the ſame.
And apprehending, That the Non-Execution of Juſtice, the Intruſting of the Militia, and Navy in the hands of Neutraliſts, unfaithful, and diſ-affected Perſons; the great decay of Trade, the protecting of many mens Perſons and Eſtates from the due courſe of Law, and the unſettled condition of this Nation, are ſome of the great and principal Evils under which the hearts of thouſands of your friends (yea the whole Land) groan; We humbly pray,
1 That as you have begun to advance the Intereſt of unpartial Juſtice, ſo you would vigorouſly proceed in the Execution thereof upon all the Grand and Capital Authors, Contrivers of, and Actors in, the late Wars againſt the Parliament and Kingdom, from the higheſt to the loweſt; that the wrath of God may be appeaſed, good men ſatisfied, and evil men deterred from adventuring upon the like practiſes for the future.
2 That the Militia, Navy, and all Places of power, may be put in the hands of none7 but ſuch as by a conſtant and uniform tenour of their words and actions, have approved themſelves faithful unto you, and the juſt rights of the Nation.
3 That with all convenient ſpeed you would think upon ſome effectual courſe for the recovery, and increaſing of the almoſt loſt Trade and Manufacture of this City and Kingdom.
4 That no Priviledge whatſoever may exempt any from the juſt ſatisfaction of their due debts.
5 That having by your Votes of the 4th of this inſtant January, Declared, That the Commons of England in Parliament Aſſembled, have the Supream power of this Nation; you would (as far as you are able) endeavour the ſetling thereof upon foundations of Righteouſneſs and Peace; In the maintenance, and proſecution of which Votes, and of theſe our juſt and humble deſires, We are reſolved to ſtand by you to the uttermoſt of our power, againſt all oppoſition whatſoever.
A Common-councel being lawfully ſummoned to meet at eight of the clock in the morning, upon the day above written, We Commoners of the city of London, Members of the ſaid Court, in obedience to the ſaid ſummons, and for diſcharge of the Truſt repoſed in us, made our appearance at the uſual place of meeting for the ſaid Court about the time appointed: About eleven of the clock the Lord Major, accompanyed onely with two of the Aldermen, took the chair; We then deſiring the Lord Major, that the Acts of the laſt Court might be read according to the uſual courſe of the ſaid Court, and for the further confirmation of the ſaid Acts, could not obtain the ſame (though earneſtly deſired for above an hours ſpace; after which, ſome Members of the ſaid Court (being part of a Committee formerly choſen9 by the ſaid Court) tendered a Petition thereunto to be read and conſidered of; which Petition being the ſame now preſented to this Honorable Houſe, was drawn up by them in reference to an Order of the Court, and received the approbation of the major part of the quorum of that Committee; and though it was often and earneſtly preſt for a long time by the major part of the Court that it might be read, to receive the ſence of the Court, yet the Lord Major wholly refuſed to ſuffer the ſame, or that the queſtion ſhould be put whether it ſhould be read, yea or no: After the fruitleſs expence of many hours, another queſtion being drawn up, the major part of the Court required it to be put to be decided according to the Right and cuſtom of the court; and being denied therein, declared how unjuſt, and of what a deſtructive nature to the being of the Court, ſuch a denial would be; yet notwithſtanding the Lord Major with the two Aldermen departed, and left the Court ſitting, to the great grief, and general diſſatisfaction of the ſame. Being thus deprived10 of our ordinary aſsiſtance for our proceedings, we did then require and command the common-Sergeant and Town-clerk, Officers of the ſaid court, to ſtay in the court and put the queſtion; both which they contemptuouſly refuſed, and left the court ſitting likewiſe. Whereupon, in diſcharge of our Truſt, and in our tender care of the common good of the city and Kingdom, we did ſtay and remain a court, wherein was thrice read, debated and voted (Nemine contradicente) the Petition hereunto annexed, to be as this day preſented to this Honorable Houſe.
Having given this Honorable Houſe this brief, but true Narrative of part of our ſufferings for eight hours at leaſt, in the breach (as we conceive) of our undoubted Rights and Priviledges; and conceiving the like obſtructions would render our meetings in councel altogether fruitleſs; for publike benefit and ſervice for the future, We are forced to appeal to this Honorable Houſe, for ſuch conſiderations hereof, and directions herein, as may make the Commons of London,11 in Common councel aſſembled, uſeful to the ends for which they were choſen.
Which Petition and Narrative, after the Petitioners were with-drawn, were read, and were Intituled, The humble Petition of the Commons of the City of London in Common-Councel Aſſembled: A Narrative of the proceedings of the court of Common councel held in Guild hall London, the 13 of January, 1648. Humbly preſented by the Order of the ſaid Court, to the Honorable, the Commons of England Aſſembled in Parliament.
REſolved upon the queſtion by the Commons in Parliament aſſembled, That the Commons of England in Parliament aſſembled do Declare, That the Petition this day preſented to the Houſe, and Intituled, The humble Petition of the Commons of the City of London in Common councel aſſembled; together with a Narrative thereunto annexed, of the proceeding of the Court of Common councel held in Guild hall London, 13 January 1648.
And preſented by the Order of the ſaid Court, to12 this Houſe, may, and of Right, ought to be entered in the Books, and among the Acts of the Common Councel there.
The Petitioners being again called in, Mr. Speaker by command of this Houſe gave them this Anſwer, The Houſe hath read your Petition and Narrative, and commanded me to return you this Anſwer, as to the Common-Councel of the City of London, and ſo owned by this Houſe.
They take notice of the extraordinary good affections, long ſence, and often expreſſed by many particular perſons, if not by every Member of your preſent Body; eſpecially of that true & publike Principle, which carried you on to the framing of this Petition, and to your going through with it, notwithſtanding the oppoſition and withdrawing of your Major and Aldermen.
I am withal to tell you, That the Houſe doth fully approve of your Acting and Reſolving by your ſelves, as a Common Councel in caſe of abſence or diſſent in the Major, or Aldermen, or both together: and they do give you very hearty Thanks for your free and cheerful tender of your Aſſiſtance to this Houſe: And you may aſſure your ſelves, That the Service you offer here, ſhall always, by Gods grace, be made uſe of to the advantage of the Engliſh Nation, and therein of the City of London: In order whereunto, they have Reſolved to take the ſeveral Contents of your Petition, and of your Narrative, into ſerious and ſpeedy Conſideration; and have appointed a Committee for that purpoſe.
(EEBO-TCP ; phase 2, no. A86791)
Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 164876)
Images scanned from microfilm: (Thomason Tracts ; 83:E538[16])
Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford.
EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO.
EEBO-TCP aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the Text Encoding Initiative (http://www.tei-c.org).
The EEBO-TCP project was divided into two phases. The 25,363 texts created during Phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 January 2015. Anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source.
Users should be aware of the process of creating the TCP texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data.
Text selection was based on the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (NCBEL). If an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in NCBEL, then their works are eligible for inclusion. Selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. In general, first editions of a works in English were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably Latin and Welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so.
Image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor.
The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines.
Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements).
Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site.
This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. Searching, reading, printing, or downloading EEBO-TCP texts is reserved for the authorized users of these project partner institutions. Permission must be granted for subsequent distribution, in print or electronically, of this EEBO-TCP Phase II text, in whole or in part.