any burning in the hand, loss of inheritance, or corruption of blood, for the first offence. It extended the benefit of clergy to cases of bigamy, and it gave protection to persons arraigned for high treason, by enacting that no conviction should take place, unless the offender be accused by two witnesses, or should willingly, without violence, confess the same.1 The parliament granted to Edward the duties of tonnage and poundage for his life.2 In the second session of Edward's parliament, was passed the "Act for Uniformity of Service and Administration of the Sacraments throughout the Realm." Although repealed by Mary, it was revived by Elizabeth, and thus became again the law of the land. It appears from the preamble that "there had been divers forms of common prayer, those of Sarum, of York, of Bangor, and of Lincoln; and besides these, sundry forms and fashions had been used for morning prayer and evensong, in the holy communion, commonly called the Mass, and in the other sacraments of the Church; and although the king, with the advice of his uncle the Lord Protector, and others of his council, had desired to stay innovations or new rites, they had not had such good success as his highness desired. Whereupon his highness, being pleased to bear with the weakness and frailty of his subjects, and of his great clemency, had been not only content to abstain from punishment of offenders,-for that they did it of a good zeal,-but also to the intent a uniform, quiet, and godly order should be had, had appointed the Archbishop of Canterbury, and certain bishops and learned men, to draw and make one order, rite, and fashion of common and open prayer, which, by the aid of the Holy Ghost, with one uniform agreement, was concluded and delivered to his highness." The act therefore directed that all ministers, 1 1 Edward VI., cap. 12. It repealed the acts 5 Richard II., stat. 1, cap. 6; 2 Henry V., cap. 7; 25 Henry VIII., cap. 14; 34 & 35 Henry VIII., cap. 1. 2 1 Edward VI., cap. 13. 1518.] UNIFORMITY OF COMMON PRAYER. 199 in any cathedral, parish, or other ehurch, should, from the next feast of Pentecost, be bound to say and use all their common and open prayer in the order and form mentioned in the book, and no other. Penalties were imposed on those who refused to use, or who spoke in derogation of, the Book of Common Prayer. By a later act, of the same reign, all persons were required to resort to the parish church, on Sundays and holidays; and penalties were imposed on those who were willingly present when any other forms of worship but of common prayer were used.2 1 2 & 3 Edward VI., cap. 1, A.D. 1548. 200 CHAPTER XII. MARY. 1553-1558. Reigned 5 years. Principle of Government announced.-Restoration of the Roman Catholic Religion.-The Laws of Edward VI. repealed. MARY ascended the throne on the 6th of July, 1553. She opened her statute-book with an act to "Repeal and take away Treasons, Felonies, and cases of Præmunire." The principle of government which she announced (in the preamble) was, "that the state of a king standeth more assured by the love and favour of the subject towards their sovereign, than in the dread and fear of the laws made with rigorous pains and extreme punishment;"... and that "laws made without extreme punishment are more often obeyed than laws made with extreme punishment." She therefore repealed all offences made treason, but those declared in the statute of Edward III. In the face of these humane principles she has descended to posterity as "bloody Mary." 112 Being the first queen regnant of England since the Conquest, an act was passed to declare that "the royal power and dignities vest in a Queen the same as in a King." The parliament granted her the subsidy of tonnage and poundage for her life. She married Philip, King of Spain, and having given him the title of king, they together overthrew the Protestant religion, and all its adjuncts, by an act for repealing all articles and provisions made against the see apostolic of Rome, since the twentieth year of King Henry VIII., and for the establishment of all spiritual and ecclesiastical possessions and hereditaments conveyed to the laity. The preamble stated that, "since the twen11 Mary, c. 1. 2 1 Mary, sessio tertia, c. 1. 3 Idem, stat. 2, c. 17-18. 1554.] ROMAN RELIGION RESTORED. 201 tieth year of Henry VIII., much false and erroneous doctrine hath been taught, preached, and written, partly by divers the natural-born subjects of this realm, and partly brought in hither from sundry or other foreign countries, and hath been sown and spread abroad with the same." Thereupon the parliament supplicate their majesties that, by their grace's intercession and mean with the cardinal (Cardinal Pole), the pope's legate, it be exhibited to the pope that they declare themselves very sorry and repentant of the schism and disobedience against the see apostolic, and that they are ready to repeal all the laws against the supremacy of the see apostolic, that they may, as children repentant, be nursed into the bosom and unity of Christ's church. The statute then repeals all the acts passed in the reigns of Henry VIII. and Edward VI., against the supremacy of the see apostolic, since the time of the schism. It was not possible, however, to restore the church property that had been granted away, and it was provided that lands and goods of bishoprics, monasteries, and chantries dispersed since the schism, should so continue; and the statutes by which they were granted to the crown were confirmed.1 In this reign a change was made in the management of the military power of the country. A standing army was ever contrary to the laws and constitution of the kingdom, and it was not until the reign of Henry VII. that the kings of England had so much even as a guard about their persons. But although there was no standing force, there was, in the Saxon institutions, a provision for calling out the people, in time of need, as a national militia; and, after the Conquest, the king had it in his power to call out his military tenants to defend the kingdom. The reduction of the amount of military service by tenure,-which resulted from the commutation of personal service for a pecuniary compensation, in the reign of Henry II.,-seems at length to have become so considerable, as to render that force insufficient for the defence of the realm; and the frequency, if not the origin, of 1 1 & 2 Philip and Mary, cap. 8, a.d. 1554. commissions of array, of all the freemen in every county, has been supposed to be the consequence of that decrease.' By these commissions, the sheriffs, or justices of the peace, or special commissioners of array, were empowered to muster the people in the several counties; and a statute of Edward I. obliged every man, between fifteen and sixty, to provide himself with arms, according to the quantity of his lands and goods. The constables were empowered to see that the arms were provided, to report defaults to the justices, who were to present such defaults to the king in parliament. Sheriffs, and bailiffs of franchises, were to take good heed to follow the cry with the country, and to keep horses and armour so to do.2 These weapons were changed for those of modern use, by a statute of Philip and Mary; and, by another statute, penalties were imposed on those commanded to muster by the sovereign, or by any lieutenant authorized for the same; and absenting themselves without lawful excuse, and not bringing with them their best furniture, array, or armour.3 The lieutenant here referred to became the lord-lieutenant,-the chief military officer of the crown in each county.4 1 Peers' Report, div. 3, p. 79. Blackstone's Comment., book i. cap. 13. 2 Statute of Winchester, 13 Edward I., stat. 2, cap. 6, A.D. 1285. 3 4 & 5 Philip and Mary, cap. 2. Idem, cap. 3. 4 Mr. Hallam describes the functions of the lord-lieutenant as fol lows:-"He was usually a peer, or at least a gentleman of large estate in the county, whose office gave him the command of the militia, and rendered him the chief vicegerent of his sovereign, responsible for the main tenance of public order. This institution may be considered as a revival of the ancient local earldom; and it certainly took away from the sheriff a great part of the dignity and importance which he had acquired since the discontinuance of that office. Yet the lord-lieutenant has so peculiarly military an authority, that it does not in any degree curtail the civil power of the sheriff as the executive member of the law. In certain cases, such as a tumultuous obstruction of legal authority, each might be said to possess an equal power, the sheriff being still undoubtedly competent to call out the posse comitatús, in order to enforce obedience. Practically, however, in all serious circumstances, the lord-lieutenant has always been reckoned the efficient and responsible guardian of public tranquillity." (Constitutional Hist., vol. i. p. 544.) |