The Kings of these realms enjoy several powers, wherein the laws have not interposed. So, they can make war and peace without the consent of Parliament--and this is a very great prerogative; but if the Parliament does not approve of the war, the King must bear the charge of it out of his own purse--and this is a great check on the crown. So, the King has a prerogative to coin money without consent of Parliament; but he cannot compel the subject to take that money, except it be sterling gold or silver, because herein he is limited by law. Some princes have, indeed, extended their prerogative farther than the law allowed them; wherein, however, the lawyers of succeeding ages, as fond as they are of precedents, have never dared to justify them. But, to say the truth, it is only of late times that prerogative has been fixed and ascertained; for, whoever reads the history of England will find, that some former Kings, and those none of the worst, have, upon several occasions, ventured to control the laws, with very little ceremony or scruple, even later than the days of Queen Elizabeth. In her reign, that pernicious counsel of sending base money hither, very narrowly failed of losing the kingdom--being complained of by the lord-deputy, the council, and the whole body of the English here; so that, soon after her death, it was recalled by her successor, and lawful money paid in exchange. Having thus given you some notion of what is meant by "the King's prerogative," as far as a tradesman can be thought capable of explaining it, I will only add the opinion of the great Lord Bacon: "That, as God governs the world by the settled laws of nature, which He has made, and never transcends those laws but upon high important occasions, so among earthly princes, those are the wisest and the best, who govern by the known laws of the country, and seldomest make use of their prerogative." Now here you may see, that the vile accusation of Wood and his accomplices, charging us with disputing the King's prerogative by refusing his brass, can have no place--because compelling the subject to take any coin which is not sterling, is no part of the King's prerogative, and I am very confident, if it were so, we should be the last of his people to dispute it; as well from that inviolable loyalty we have always paid to his Majesty, as from the treatment we might, in such a case, justly expect from some, who seem to think we have neither common sense nor common senses. But, God be thanked, the best of them are only our fellow-subjects, and not our masters. One great merit I am sure we have, which those of English birth can have no pretence to--that our ancestors reduced this kingdom to the obedience of England; for which we have been rewarded with a worse climate--the privilege of being governed by laws to which we do not consent--a ruined trade--a House of Peers without jurisdiction--almost an incapacity for all employments--and the dread of Wood's halfpence.