REASONS Humbly Offered against the BILL entitled, An ACT for Removing of Doubts and preventing of Controversies, CONCERNING ROYAL MINES, And that the KING may have the Preemption.  
THEIR Majesties Predecessors, Kings and Queens of England, have always been, by the ancient Laws of this Land, entitled to all Mines of Gold and Silver, in this Their Majesties Kingdom of England, as a known part of their Hereditary Revenue.  
As this inherent Right of the Kings of this Realm to Royal Mines, appears to have been one of the most ancient, so it remains one of the most indisputable Branches of the Prerogative; and the claim and enjoyment of it, by Sovereign Princes, hath always been undisturbed and uninterrupted in all Ages and in all Nations.  
This Branch of the Prerogative is no more valuable to their Majesties, than it is advantageous to the Kingdom. The Interest that accrues to Their Majesties, is doubled by the Benefit which arises from thence to the Kingdom: For this Revenue will not be in the nature of Customs only, where Commodities are only brought in, and the Money of the Nation never augmented by them, and often decreased in lieu of them. But the Riches of Their Majesties Kingdom will be increased, by Silver of Domestic Growth; Their Subjects will be employed, and paid; and Their Exchequer filled, without the least diminution of the currant Coin of the Nation. Whereas otherwise the Oar and Bullion in England will be Transported, and other Nations enriched with the intrinsic Wealth of this Kingdom.  
This Act wholly destroys the Prerogative in Royal Mines, and gives it nothing in lieu of it, but a seeming Right of Preemption, which is in its self, as restrained in the Act, wholly impracticable; and if practicable, is no Compensation.  
The Revenues of the King, which depend on many Branches of the Prerogative, have been so constantly maintained, and the People so concerned in the defence of them, in ease of themselves, that never any of them have been touched in former Reigns, without securing a sufficient equivalent to the Crown. And there are no other than false and unwarrantable Suggestions offered in the Preamble of this Bill, for the alteration of the known and ancient Law of this Nation now, and for diminishing the Hereditary Revenues of the Crown.  

The Preamble of the Act, recites That—  
Whereas by a Clause in one Act Parliament, made in the 1st. Year of their Majesties Reign; entitled, an Act to repeal the Statute, made in the 5. Year of K. Hen. IV. against the multiplying of Gold and Silver. It is amongst other things Enacted, that no Mine of tin, Copper, Iron or led, shall hereafter be adjudged reputed or taken to be a Royal Mine, although Gold or Silver may be extracted out of the same. But notwithstanding the good Provision by the said Statute, to prevent the discouraging Their Majesties good Subjects, who have Mines of Copper, tin, Iron or led in their Soils, from Digging and Opening the same. Many Doubts and Questions have risen upon the said Statute, whereby great Suits and Troubles have risen to many Owners and Proprietors of such Mines.   
Whereas in truth, there is no Provision made by that Act. No Doubts and Questions have risen concerning the same, nor any Suits and Troubles to many Owners and Proprietor● of Royal Mines thereby.  
First, The good Provision made by that Statute, doth not alter, change, or abridge the ancient Rights of their Majesties in Mines Royal, nor was intended to make any alteration in the Law, but to leave Royal Mines in the same state as they were before; so that Mines of Copper, tin, led or Iron, which before the making of that Act did belong to the Subject, should so continue, and should not be reputed Royal Mines; tho by the new and extraordinary Skill of extracting Gold and Silver, and the Art of Multiplication, which the Act made lawful to put in Practise, Gold and Silver might be drawn out in greater Quantities than before. And this is the plain sense of that Act, and so taken by the Court since, without any Doubt or Scruple concerning it.  
Secondly, No Proprietor, or pretended Proprietor hath been sued in England, on the account of Mines Royal, since the making of that Act, but Sir Carbery Price; In that Cause Two Verdicts have been obtained for Sir Carbery, upon the difference of the Testimony on both sides. For many unquestionable Refiners and others, Witnesses on behalf of the King, swore, that out of Oar, chosen and taken up by Sir Carbery's own Commissioners, Sealed and Delivered into Court by them, they, without any extraordinary Art or Mixture, by the ordinary method of Refining, did extract 40l. of Silver in value, per Tun proportionably and upwards; and some Essay-Masters( whose proper business is not Refining) swore, that they could not according to their Skill, extract above 3l. proportionably out of a Tun, of the same Oar. And this Proof being barely Negative, and depending on the pretended Skill of the said Say-Masters, was credited by the said Juries, against the positive Evidence of Refiners and others; and when it was offered, to have a trial made of the said Oar, taken up by Commissioners on both sides, by Refiners on both sides, in the presence of the Jury, or of Commissioners; Sir Carbery Price hath declined that plain Method of ascertaining the difference of the Evidence, and doth insist on his Privilege, as a Bar to the Action, and to the fair trial of the Matter in controversy, tho he hath once waved it in that very Action under his Hand and Seal; and since the said Trial, the former method of Trial of the Oar, taken up by Sir Carbery's Commissioners, hath been successfully attempted, and managed by indifferent Refiners, before Commissioners appointed by Their Majesties, to their full Satisfaction.  
It is Enacted, That all Proprietors of Mines in England, Ireland or Wales, wherein any Oar now is, or hereafter shall be found, may hold, enjoy and dig the said Mine, notwithstanding such Mine or Oar shall be claimed to be a Royal Mine.  
Hereby the ancient indisputable Right of the Crown, is wholly taken away, and lodged in the Lord of the Soil. And not only the King's Inheritance and future Interest in all Royal Mines is precluded, but the Act hath a retrospect, and divests Their Majesties, and the Purchasers under them, of several Mines already opened, and which they have for many Ages quietly enjoyed. For this Act breaks in, not only upon Their Majesties undoubted Prerogative, but upon the Property of several Persons that claim under the Crown for a valuable Consideration, and are now actually in Possession of several Royal Mines, which they have drained, and hitherto worked at vast expense: And Their Majesties will not only loose the reserved Rent, but the Lessee's themselves will be divested of the future Profits, which may, and ought lawfully to accrue to them, after their vast Labour and Charges.  
The Crown never did, nor will, deny the Proprietor a Lease of the Richest Mines in England, nor cannot refuse him a Third Share by the By-Laws of the Company, if he will submit to work it in this Nation, and to bring the Bullion to the Tower to be Coined. And the sole End of the Erection of the Company for Mines Royal; and their Care therein is, that the King may have a reasonable Rent out of the Mines, and that the Oar may not be Transported into other Nations, but worked in England, and the Bullion thereof Coined there. And Their Majesties never did deny, or refuse, the Proprietor of the Soil a reasonable Share. In the Royal Mine found out in Sir Carbery's Land, if he had not thought fit rather to join with certain Persons his Partners, and to allow them shares thereof, in opposition to His Majesty's clear and undoubted Title.  
Provided always, and be it Enacted and Declared, That Their Majesties, Their Heirs and Successors, and all claiming any Royal Mines under them, shall and may have the Oar of any such Mine, or Mines, in any part of the said Kingdom of England, or Ireland, or Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick upon Tweed,( other than Tin Oar, in the County of Devon, and cornwall,) paying to the Proprietors, or Owners, of the said Mine, or Mines, wherein such Oar is, or shall be found● within 15 Days after the said Oar is, or shall be raised, and laid upon the Baults of the said Mine or Mines, and before the same be removed from thence, the states following,( that is to say,) for all Oar wherein is Copper the rate of 16l. per Tun: And for all Oar wherein there is Tin the rate of 40 l. per Tun: And for all Oar wherein there is Iron after the rate of 40 l. per Tun: And for all Oar wherein there is led the rate of 9 l. per Tun, or otherwise. That it shall and may be Lawful, for the Owners, or Proprietors, of the said Mine or Mines, wherein such Oar is, are, or shall be found, to sell and dispose of the said Oar, to his, or their own uses, any Law, Statute, or Custom to the contrary notwithstanding.  

I. It is to be observed, that this proposed Compensation, being so restrained in time, is altogether Impracticable, in Places as far distant from London as Mines generally are.  
II. It is no Compensation if Practicable, because it makes the King pay for that which is his own, and that at double the price, than any other private Person can purchase it; and this is the only equivalent granted by the said Act to Their Majesties. That in respect of their ancient and undisputable Inheritance, they shall be privileged, if they make very sudden Payments, to buy that Oar for 9l . per Tun, which is ordinarily sold to Their Subjects for 4 l.   
Wherefore it is humbly prayed, That the said Bill may not Pass 〈◇〉 an ●ct.