HAD not that Pamphlet termed it self to be put forth by Order , it was not possible to have believed , that ever a Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen of London should have understood themselves and the Law no better , than to have imposed upon the City such incoherent Things : and that , which highly argues it so is , that in one Part of the Pamphlet they who are said to be the Magistrates , and that ought by their Places to punish Offenders and Breakers of the Law , do most manifestly break it themselves , in calling the late Times to remembrance , by terming it a Rebellion , which the Act of Oblivion never did : ( Vid . 12. Car . 2. ) but on the contrary commands all the Actions of the late Times to be buried in utter Oblivion , with Penalties for any that presume to breake it , by reviving the Memory of it : And tho such Expressions would have well enough befitted Roger Lestrange , or Protestant Nat. Thomson , yet the Gravity of that Court for such Acts , may , as well as others , receive a Blemish , if not a Punishment , from that Law they have so little regarded . And therefore we must in Charity judge , that neither his Lordship nor the Court had any Hand in such a Thing , but take it to be , as it seems , only a Brat of the Scriblers Brain . As for the Town-Clark , whose Name is to it , we must also believe better Things of him , unless he were commanded by his Superiours to do it : however we shall not further dispute about it , but come to the Matter .

First , the Pamphlet saith in the first Page , That the Charters are to the Citizens to chuse their Sheriffs : ( very well , ) if so , what need we go any further ? doth the Lord Mayor or Court of Aldermen pretend any Power but what the Charters give them ? or can they or any other by a By Law abrige the Charters that give them Life and Motion ? Certainly it were the most preposterous Thing in the World to imagine that the Creature should destroy the Creator . Now if it should be granted , as this Pamphlet would have it , that the particular By-Laws or new Customs should alter the fundamental Charter , that gives them Life and Being , and which is time out of mind ; then the Creature is above the Creator . And yet the Pamphlet goes on , and tells us , That tho it be so by the Charters , yet by usage and particular By-Laws the Choice of Sheriffs have been restrained : ( Very well ! ) then By Laws are above the Charter , which must necessarily follow . But that this is a false Presumption , will appear two ways in the Charters granted , and which are confirmed by Act of Parliament , and so become Part of the Law of the Land . In that of Richard the second it is provided , that , notwithstanding any Misusage or Abusage , all their ancient Rights shall be continued to them : if so , then it follows , that altho it should be admitted , that by By-Laws and new Customs of 40 , 50 , or 100 Years standing , or more , being Misusage or Abusage , contrary to the Charter , can never hurt or prejudice the ancient Rights , when the City shall claim them , as they have done several Times , as the Pamphleteer in the next place shews himself , in the case of Chusing Sheriffs . But in the next place , that no by Law made by the Power of the Charter can overthrow the Charter it self , appears by the Charter that gives Power to make By-Laws : but all By-Laws saith the Charter , repugnant to , or which tend to abridge the Charter , that gives you Power , is ipso facto null and void .

If so , then the chusing of Sheriffs , or either of them , any other way than as the Charter directs , tho there be a By-law for the same , is utterly inconsistent with the Charter , and the Law of the Land : for the Charter hath prescribed , that the Citizens shall choose from amongst themselves , and not that the Lord Mayor should choose for them . And for that indeed the Barons of London , which were the Freemen , chose Sheriffs by the Name of Portrieves , long before a Mayor was in London , as may be seen by the ancient Records .

But that we may answer the whole , or what is worthy to be answer'd , we shall take notice of what follows .

The Pamphlet tells us , So it had been used for the Lord Mayor to nominate or choose a Person , &c. from the 21st Year of Edward the third , to 1641 , &c. except 4 or 5 Years between the Time of Edward the third and 1641. So then , by their own shewing , it was not always taken for granted : it seems neither 4 or 5 Years , by their own Confession , the Common Hall would not confirm the Mayor's Nomination , before the Year 41 , ( now so much harped at . ) Well , but what follows : From 41 , then the City would not confirm , but chose their own Sheriffs in Common Hall till 1663. This is still by their own shewing : From whence I observe , altho the Pamphleteer would turn the shame of the altering it at 1641 , to be occasioned by the Rebellion , as he calls it , but that is the greatest Fallacy in the World , for in 1641 , most of the Aldermen of London then took Part with the Parliament against the King ; and the then Mayor was , and many that followed afterwards , were such Enemies to the King's Party at that Time , that they continuing to drink to Persons to be Sheriffs , according to their Way , the Citizens then , in opposition to the Parliaments Party , renewed their antient Rights , and would not any more confirm the Mayor's Nomination ; and so it continued 3 Years after his Majestie's Restauration , by their own shewing too . Pag . 2. And all along to this Day the Pamphleteer , nor any one for him , can ever shew when ever it was stood upon by the Citizens , that ever any Man held Sheriff that was not chosen by the Citizens , if they opposed him : then the Pamphleteer tells us from 1663 , it continued , that the Citizens confirmed to this Time , except in the Year 1674 to 1680. So then should it be admitted that the former was done by the Rebels : yet there , from 1660 to 1674. Pag . 2. and from thence to 1680. here hath been no Rebellion , and yet by their own shewing the Citizens in this Time would not confirm .

But in the same second Page the Pamphlet tells us the Reason : Because the Lord Mayor hath nominated a Person to be one of the Sheriffs , do the Lord Mayor and Aldermen withdraw , &c. leaving the Commons to confirm him , and elect the other , &c. as they do upon the Choice of the Lord Mayor , &c. but at other Halls they do not withdraw , as at the Choice of Parliament-Men , &c.

To which I answer : first , If the Lord Mayor's Nomination be good , what need he either withdraw , or he care whether the City confirm him or not ; but that it is not good , appears , because in all Times and Ages the Precepts sent forth by the Mayors run to chuse Sheriffs , and not a Sheriff , or to confirm , until this Year of Experiments : but what he hath to answer , that did commit that bold Attempt and Rape upon the City Customs and Priviledge , contrary to his Oath , time may discover : And I doubt not but the Citizens will in due Time resent it . But let that alone . As to the other Part of confirming , after the Mayor is withdrawn , is a meer Fiction , for the Mayor ought not to be in the Common Hall whilst any Officer is chusing but Parliament-Men , and that is by Virtue as the Mayor and Aldermen are Freeholders of the County , as a Nobleman may give his Voice as a Freeholder for a Commoner to be chosen a Member of Parliament : but otherwise at no Election or Confirmation of City-Officers in Common Hall are the Mayor or Aldermen by ; nor can there be any Reason for it , because the Mayor and Aldermen are of the Upper-House , and ought no more to be with the Commoners in the Choice of their Officers , than the Commoners can do in the Choice of the Officers of their Court .

And as for what the Pamphlet says about the Records of the City in Ancient Times , it was never known more or otherwise either in ancient Times or late Days , by any of the Records , that ever the Mayor's pitching upon a Sheriff for the Year insuing , was any more than a Recommendation to the Hall of a Person fit : and the beginning of Drinking and Recommendation of the Mayor seems to be only upon this Consideration , that such Persons so nominated , might not pretend an Excuse of being out of Town , and keeping out of the Way , against the Day of Election came ; which appears by the Records of the City , ( made in the Time of Edward the third ) which say , That if any absented themselves to avoid the Office at the Day of Election , they should forfeit 100 l. and the Ceremony of Drinking arose from this , that fitted Persons being pitched upon , they might not have an Excuse to avoid the Burthen , having notice beforehand : but never was any one put upon the Citizens whether they would or not . And one other Reason , why this Drinking and Recommending was encouraged , because the City wanted Mony , and so they went a birding every Year , and got Fines of several Men that were pitched upon , rather than such , so marked out , would hazard their being chose at the Common Hall : for heretofore we used to chuse Sheriffs out of Spight , because they were rich , and not for love , and because of their Abilities to serve , and this Thing we would be at still .

In the next place the Pamphlet tells us very truly I believe , that in the fourth of Henry the fifth , an Act of common Council was made , that the Sheriffs ought to be freely and indifferently chosen by the more sufficient Citizens summoned to those Elections . ( Very well . ) Then I perceive what was said before of continuing the Custom of Nomination by the Mayor from Edward the third to 1641 , is a greater Mistake than they that put out the Paper were aware of : for it appears by this Act at this time , and that by their own By-Law , tho it was insignificant to support the Charter , for the Charter was able to stand alone of it self : yet here what was said before of the Custom continuing to 1641 is not so , for in Henry the fifth's Time , ( which was near an hundred Years after Edward the third ) this Law was made to confirm the Citizens Right , so passed by the making it , that it had otherwise been abused heretofore : but to blind this , which cuts the Throat of all the Pamphleteer said before , in the next place he tells us what was done in Richard the second 's Time , which was before Henry the fifth's . But he brings it in as if it were after this of Henry the fifth , to cut off , I suppose , the Force of this good Act of Common Council , just before recited : but if it had been after Henry the fifth , as it is not , it helps not the Business at all , for it faith , When the Commons have agreed upon a Person they shall present to be Sheriff , they shall present him to the Mayor and Aldermen : which is far from investing any Right in the Mayor to chuse him , or to meddle with the Choice , or to adjourn the Pole , as is this Year done . Certainly the Mayor and his Brethren would take it to be a Riot indeed if the Sheriffs or the Commoners should come into their Court , and adjourn them whether they would or no ; yet with as much Right may it be done , as the Mayor adjourned the Common Hall on Midsummer Day : which appears thus , besides what hath been said ; that is , The City of London is an ancient County , and the Sheriffwick is of Fee confirmed by Acts of Parliaments in Abundance ; the Sheriffs hold Courts by the same Power as the County Courts are held ; they have the posse Comitatis ; And as the Justices in each County have not to do with the County Court , otherwise than as Fellow-freeholders : nor can they either adjourn the Court , or command the Sheriff to adjourn ; no more hath my Lord Mayor to do with the Court ; For the Court once called , is to finish the Work of the County , and they who are the Freeholders in a legal way , have only Power to adjourn themselves with the Sheriffs , who are in the nature of Stewards , or Chief of the Court , to see fair play , and govern the Pole : and our Court of Common Hall is in nature of the Oyld Follke Moote . And all the Abettors of this Innovation cannot shew any such President as hath been acted this Year , in adjourning the Pole by the Mayor . And as for the Act of Common Council the Pamphlet mentions in the nineteenth Year of Henry the eighth , about the ancient Prerogative of the Mayor , and of the thirteenth of Queen Elizabeth , and the seventh of Charles the first ; It is not material if they had five times as many more , unless they can shew either an Act of Parliament , to confirm those Acts and Customes since their being made , or the same proved by the Charter , otherwise they are of no value , because they are both inconsistent , and directly opposite to the Charter it self , which saith , The Sheriffs shall be chosen by the Citizens , from amongst themselves ; nor can those pretended By-Acts , if any such there be , overthrow the Grants by Charter , confirmed by several Acts of Parliament , and used time out of mind . And further , if it should be allowed , that By-Laws could overthrow any part of the Charter , it might by the same Rule overthrow the whole , which would be a strange Assertion : And the Lord Mayor , nor any other Person , that stands up for such By-Laws , cannot-shew any Act of Parliament to confirm them , or the City-Charters , since Henry the Eighth's Time .

And for the Lord Mayor's Prerogative , mentioned in the Act of Common Council , in the 19th Year of Henry the Eighth , that can as little help the matter as any thing else : For unless his Lordship can shew a prior Right , which I take to be the true meaning of the word Prerogative , to chuse Sheriffs , and to adjourn County-Courts , or Foolk-Moots , further than all the Sheriffs of England have for their Power , I cannot imagine what his Prerogative , found out but in Henry the Eighth's Time , will do him good , to justify the Choice of a Sheriff , or to adjourn the Pole . And as for the usual Proclamation that begins the Common-Hall , which the Pamphlet tells us of , in declaring that they are summoned to confirm and chuse Sheriffs , I know not if it be so or not , nor is it material what a Crier saith ; our Right is upon Record , and literis scriptis manet . And besides , if such Proclamation be , it is contrary to the Precept that brings them thither to chuse , for that saith otherwise ; and the Prerogative of the Precept seems to be better grounded than the Prerogative of the Proclamation : But the Pamphleteer may know , that it is in the Power of the Foolk-Moote , or Common-Hall , to meet on the Day of Election , without any Precept at all . And as for the giving Bond , before the Common-Hall chuse them , to hold Sheriffs , seems incoherent to it self , if it hath been so ever since Queen Elizabeth's Time , which I believe cannot be proved , that scarce ever it was done before this Year ; but if that should be so , how that will any ways alter the Case , I cannot see . If Men will be so forward , to do a thing inconsistent with common Sence ; for all Men know , that no Man can be a Sheriff , till the Common-Hall do confirm him ; and why a Man should give Bond to hold Sheriff , before he is confirmed , I believe , was never coveted but by Mr. North , or our Gazetteer , who exerted his Prerogative , and named him Sheriff Elect , a long time before the Day of Election came .