motion for the repeal of that Statute. He pleaded
for a subsidy. The Queen wanted it urgently, having in vain raised money
by the sale of her own jewels, by loans, and by savings out of her purse
and apparel. He argued for its equal payment by every class. The burden
he acknowledged was not the same to all, as Bacon had contended, _dulcis
tractus pari jugo_. 'Call you this _par jugum_,' cried Ralegh, 'when a
poor man pays as much as a rich, and peradventure his estate is no
better than it is set at, while our estates are L3 or L4 in the Queen's
books, and it is not the hundredth part of our wealth?' But he knew all
must be taxed, in order that the necessary sums might be levied. In his
_Prerogative of Parliaments_ he mentions that he once moved an exemption
'by commandment of Queen Elizabeth, who desired much to spare the common
people.' On calculation, it was found that the exemption reduced the
subsidy to a trifle. He delivered a 'sharp speech' in his own defence,
in a debate against monopolies. The Crown in May, 1599, had arrogated a
right of preemption of tin in the Duchy of Cornwall, and had committed
the management of the business to the Warden of the Stannaries.
Deliverance of the miners from the oppression of the merchants was
alleged as the motive. The real object was popularly believed to be the
increase of Ralegh's emoluments. In Parliament he took the other ground.
Previously, whether tin were 17s. or 50s. a hundred, the workman, he
argued, had only 'two shillings a week, finding himself.' Since the
grant of his patent, every miner, be tin at what price soever, had 4s. a
week truly paid. Yet, if other patents were cancelled, he would, he
said, freely consent to the abrogation of his. A great and uncommon
silence is reported to have followed this speech. Other patentees in the
House were probably not inclined to be as self-denying. He supported a
proposal to prohibit the exportation of ordnance, notwithstanding the
rise, under the existing law, of the duty to L3000 a year. He said: 'I
am sure heretofore one ship of her Majesty's was able to beat ten
Spaniards; but now, by reason of our own ordnance, we are hardly matched
one to one.' He supported the continuance of the tax for the improvement
of Dover harbour. The amount was 1000 marks a year. Mr. Swale objected
that the port was never the better. Ralegh thought it one of the best
and most necessary harbours in England. The debate might have been held
in any of