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<DATE>2014-10-28</DATE>
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<NAME>John Pas</NAME>
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<HEAD><HI>REASONS</HI> most humbly offer'd to the Right Honourable the <HI>Commons</HI> in <HI>Parliament</HI> A&s;&s;embled, against the Vote of this Hou&s;e of the <HI>17th</HI> of <HI>December</HI> last, whereby it is Ordered, That Leave be given to bring in a Bill for the quieting the Subject again&s;t all Pretences of Concealment what&s;oever.</HEAD>
<P N="1">I. COncealments from the Crown are various, as of Crown-lands, Debts ju&s;tly due and owing to the Crown, from Receivers of the Revenue, or from Sheriffs, and others who have not made up their Accounts, and payed in what is due thereupon; or from Trea&s;urers, and Receivers of the Exci&s;e, Cu|&s;toms, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> Or in Concealing the King's Stores, and many &s;uch like things, which (without doubt) are and have been unju&s;tly and wrongfully Detained, Concealed, and Smugled from the Crown, the which is an apparent Detriment to the Crown, as well as to the Subject.</P>
<P N="2">II. Now this Bill for quieting the Subject again&s;t all pretences of Concealment what&s;oever, &s;eems to &s;trike at the whole, and under the &s;pecious pretence of quieting the Subject, is nothing le&s;s than to wrong the Crown.</P>
<P N="3">III. With humble Submi&s;&s;ion, as to Land Concealed from the Crown, the Ca&s;e is thus, mo&s;t or all of the&s;e Lands, were in Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of the Crown, in the Reign of the late King <HI>Charles</HI> I. and mo&s;t or all of the Rents received thereupon, were (then) duly An&s;wered and Payed for the &s;ame, as by the Mini&s;terial Accounts, in his &s;aid Maje&s;ties Reign appears; but it &s;o happened, that the Civil Wars in <HI>England</HI> en&s;ued, and then the Rights of the Crown were totally Invaded, and at his late Maje&s;ty King <HI>Charles</HI> II. his Re&s;tauration, and Acce&s;&s;ion to the Crown, the&s;e Lands or mo&s;t of them, were then given in Charge to the re&s;pective Receivers, (among other the Revenue of the Crown) to Levy and Collect.</P>
<P N="4">IV. That about the 14th Year of the Reign of his &s;aid late Maje&s;ty King <HI>Charles</HI> II. when Sir <HI>Anthony A&s;hley Cooper</HI> was Pre&s;ident of the Council, and Chancellour of the Exchequer; a Petition was then Pre&s;ented to the (then) King in Council, by the (then) Auditors and Receivers of the &s;aid Revenue, &s;ugge&s;ting that the Receivers Accounts of the Land Revenue were very long, and that the <HI>Supers</HI> were very many, and that they were mo&s;t or all of them lo&s;t, and pa&s;t finding out, and were a needle&s;s burthen upon the Receivers Accounts; and praying that for &s;ome &s;uch Rea&s;ons, the&s;e Lands and Rents might for the future be &s;truck out of the Re|ceivers Accounts; it was Ordered accordingly, and the &s;ame Lands and Rents, were &s;upered in certain Books, in each re&s;pective Auditors Office, Entituled <HI>Liber' Arrerag',</HI> whereby from that time to this, the &s;ame have lain Dormant, and by that means are become Concealments: whereas had they been given in Charge to the Me&s;&s;engers to Levy and Collect, The &s;ame, or the greate&s;t part of them, might have been Recovered and Re|ceived, they being the &s;ame, and as equally the Right of the Crown, as the other Rents and E&s;tates pertain|ing to the Crown are, and all payable out of vi&s;ible Lands and E&s;tates, which cannot be removed but (perchance) by this long Delay and Neglect, not &s;o ea&s;ily found out as the others are, they being all E&s;tates either Grant|ed from the Crown, by long Lea&s;es; or under certain Fee-Farm, or other Rents, which is pre&s;umed, were not Sold away from the Crown, when the Fee-Farm Rents were Sold, for that they were &s;upered in the&s;e Books, long before the Sale of the Fee-Farm Rents; and indeed, the Fee-Farm Rents are the lea&s;t of the&s;e Concealments. This is Plain and Matter of Fact.</P>
<P>That by the Promoters of the Bill, their own &s;hewing there are Concealments; and if &s;o, why &s;hould not the Crown have its Right, as well as the Subjects theirs? and with mo&s;t humble Submi&s;&s;ion, it is humbly Conceived, that Crown Lands were ever intended for the Support of the Honour and Dignity of the Crown, as well as for Defraying the Charges of the Civil Li&s;t, as other Accidental and Contingent Charges. And to Dimini&s;h the Revenue, under the &s;pecious pretence of Quieting the Subject, with humble Submi&s;&s;ion is a pretty kind of Contrivance of the Promoters of this Bill, who may rea&s;onably be &s;uppo&s;ed, to have part of the&s;e Concealments in their Hands, and &s;o would quiet the Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion in their own Hands, by Wronging and Defrauding the Crown of its ju&s;t Right.</P>
<P N="5">V. That be&s;ides the&s;e Concealments, there are other Concealed E&s;tates, which of Right pertain to the Crown, as Direlict Lands, and Lands E&s;cheated and Forfeited to the Crown, by Attainder for high Trea&s;on, and other|wi&s;e; and with mo&s;t Humble Submi&s;&s;ion, their E&s;tates ought likewi&s;e to be In&s;pected into, &s;o that the Crown therein ought to have its Right; and then if the Crown had its Right herein, and the Receivers of the Land Revenue, Sheriffs and others, who have not made up their Accounts, and fully payed what is Due thereupon, and the Trea&s;urers, and Receivers of the Cu&s;toms, and Exci&s;e, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> likewi&s;e make up their Accounts, and fully pay what is Due thereupon, and the Concealments of his Maje&s;ties Stores, and the Debts due to the Crown, be Accounted for and payed, and the Revenue in General be In&s;pected into, then with mo&s;t humble Submi&s;&s;ion it is Conceived, the Crown would not want &s;o much Money as now it doth, to Support its Gran|dure, nor need the Subjects be &s;o grievou&s;ly Taxed as now they are.</P>
<P N="6">VI. That in the glorious and Memorable Reign of Queen <HI>Elizabeth,</HI> the Government was tormented and perplex|ed with Plottings, open Violences, and Rebellions, be&s;ides a formidable Inva&s;ion, from the &s;welling Greatne&s;s and Power of <HI>Spain;</HI> and yet She overcame them with the Charge of a few Sub&s;idies, Tenths, and Fifteenths upon the Subjects: but had the Revenues of the Crown in tho&s;e Days been Smugled and Concealed as now they are, which had its Original Beginning and Foundation from the late unhappy Civil Wars in <HI>England,</HI> upon the Mangling and Dividing the Crown Lands, into the Hands of Private Per&s;ons, as a Reward for their Rebellion, which hath never &s;ince been thorowly Examined, and lookt into, the Charge and Burthen of tho&s;e Times mu&s;t have been more Severe upon the Subject; and it is Natural to Mankind, to de&s;ire Pre&s;ervation, and Protection to them&s;elves, and their Religion, Liberty, and Property, with as little Charge as may be: And any Government is the mo&s;t Complacent, and Delightful to a People, wherein they are not overwhelmed with Taxes, and were the Smuglings and Concealments of the Crown Revenues, and the Fraudulent, and Secret Tru&s;ts of Lands, for Maintenance of Je&s;uits, Popi&s;h Prie&s;ts, and Romi&s;h Seminaries, and other Super|&s;titious U&s;es, which by the Laws of the Land are Forfeited to the Crown, In&s;pected into, the Crown would not only Flouri&s;h, and be Advanced to its Antient Gradure, and Dignity; but the Publick Debts of the Na|tion &s;oon payed, and in time &s;ome Duties laid upon the Subjects, to make good the Defects of the Revenues of the Crown, by &s;uch Concealments might be laid a&s;ide and Su&s;pended.</P>
<P>That the Subjects Complain of heavy Taxes, though extreamly Nece&s;&s;ary, in re&s;pect to the Charges of an Expen&s;ive War, which had the Crown its Due, that Burthen would in a great Mea&s;ure be taken off; be&s;ides all which, there are &s;everal other Abu&s;es of great Value, done to the Revenue of the Crown, by the Managers thereof; which if In&s;pected into, would manife&s;tly appear.</P>
<P>That the Taxes <HI>de Anno in Annum</HI> Rai&s;ed for Maintaining the War again&s;t <HI>France,</HI> were not properly a Gift to the Crown, but are laid out for Defraying the Charges of the War, and therefore that &s;hould be no Argu|ment whereby to take away or Dimini&s;h the&s;e Concealed E&s;tates, which are part of the Flower of the Crown.</P>
<P>Now upon the whole, it is mo&s;t humbly Propounded and Submitted, &s;ince the&s;e Concealments were &s;o lately in Charge, as in the Reign of King <HI>Charles</HI> II. That in&s;tead of Leave to be given, to bring in a Bill for Quieting the Subject, again&s;t all pretences of Concealment what&s;oever; That a Bill &s;hould be brought in, to In&s;pect the &s;aid Concealments, and all other Abu&s;es, and Wrongs done to the Crown, whereby its Right is any ways Dimini&s;hed or Le&s;&s;ened, and to Nominate Commi&s;&s;ioners to In&s;pect the &s;ame, and that the &s;aid Commi&s;&s;ioners have Power to &s;end for Books, Papers, and Writings, relating to the Di&s;covery thereof, and to Summon in, and Examine Per&s;ons before them, touching the &s;ame; and to give <HI>Premiums,</HI> and Incourage|ments, to &s;uch of his Maje&s;ties Subjects as &s;hall Di&s;cover the &s;ame, according to each Per&s;ons Re&s;pective Di&s;|covery: And to do this in a Parliamentary way, will take away all Clamours, and is but Common Right, done between the Subject and the Crown.</P>
<CLOSER><HI>All which is mo&s;t humbly Submitted,</HI> &amp;c.</CLOSER>
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