Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	act_n	day_n	parliament_n	2,167	5	7.0501	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93827	The state of the Navy consider'd in relation to the victualling, particularly in the Straits, and the West Indies with some thoughts on the mismanagements of the Admiralty for several years past : and a proposal to prevent the like for the future / humbly offer'd to the honourable House of Commons by an English sailor.	English sailor.	1699 (1699)	Wing S5323; ESTC R42893	14,246	19

indeed the lessening of the Power of Parliaments has not a little been aim'd at by some within these few years who would have us believe the Business of the Commons is only to assemble one year in St. Stephen's Chappel to raise Mony for them to squander it away the next I wonder all this while they have not had the Impudence to attempt the raising of Mony without Act of Parliament that being as legal as the converting appropriated Funds to other uses than such as are specify'd in the Act. But the day of Judgment we hope is at hand when the Wisdom and supream Authority of the People shall avenge the Injuries done to the English Nation upon the Criminals To look forward is as much our Interest and no less the indispensible Duty of our Representatives in Parliament to take care of the safety of the Nation in the well management of the Fleet. His Majesty in his most Gracious Speech upon disbanding the Army lays the safety of the Nation before them as a Duty incumbent on them and since the Army is disbanded our main safety is our Shipping This Security supposed was I believe the chief reason of laying the Land Forces aside so that now the best Security we have left is our Shipping and a good and sufficient Security too under a good Management The Nation has already felt the Effects of the present Management and to let the Nation suffer any longer upon this Account may bring us under such ill Circumstances that will put it out of the Power of Parliaments to recover us from ruin The Admiralty has been in the hands of such Men too long already and 't is now more dangerous than ever to repose a Trust of so high a Nature of such great Consequence to the Nation in their hands we know very well what Party it was insisted so much upon the Necessity of a Land Force and to trust the Navy in such hands for the future as already it has been of ill Consequence so it may prove more dangerous they may so far embarass the Naval Affairs retard the Enterprizes of the Navy by ordering Squadrons and Cruizers in such Stations where they cannot be serviceable so that in a little time the Navy doing no service shall be thought altogether useless and this shall be made an Argument for the necessity of a Land Army I wish the Miscarriages of the Navy already have not been out of design for this Purpose If these Grievances continue the Commons may at last be forc'd to prevent such Mischiefs for the future by taking the Charge and Management of the Navy and dependant Offices into their own hands by appointing Commissioners of their own and this seems rational enough for those that are at the Charge to superintend the Management of the Affair nor is this a new thing and unprecedented 31 Hen. 6. Richard Earl of Salisbury John Earl of Shrewsbury John Earl of Worcester James Earl of Wiltshire and the Lord Sturton were appointed by Parliament to keep the Seas and the Tunnage and Poundage were appointed for defraying the Charge thereof 8 Hen. 4. The Merchants were empowered to name two Persons the one for the South the other for the North who by Commission had the like Power as other Admirals had So that you see the Charge of the Navy has been a Parliamentary Care in times less dangerous than now and those who are appointed Commissioners in this Affair will be more careful in the discharge of the Trust reposed in them nor will they have so many ways to slip their Necks out of the Collar as now Here will be no Privy Seal to imprest Money for unknown Services no passing of Accounts without Vouchers no abuse of Sailors in Wages or Provisions the Kingdom will be kept in a good Posture of Defence the Minds of the People will be easy when the Management of their Navy is in the hands of Commissioners of their own alike interested in the Good and Security of the Realm and our Enemies more terrified when the Business of the Navy is the Care of the whole Kingdom All which is submitted to the Wisdom of our Representatives in Parliament before whom the Case lies at this Juncture FINIS A Catalogue of Books written against a Standing Army and sold by A. Balwin AN Argument shewing that a Standing Army is inconsistent with a Free Government and absolutely destructive to the Constitution of the English Monarchy In 2 Parts Price 1 s. A Letter from the Author of the Argument against a Standing Army to the Author of the Ballancing Letter Price 3 d. Some Queries for the better understanding K. James's List of 18000 Irish Heroes published at the Savoy in answer to what had bin and what should be writ against a Standing Army Price 1 d. A Discourse concerning Government with relation to Militias Price 6 d. The Militia Reform'd or an easy Scheme of furnishing England with a constant Land Force capable to prevent or to subdue any Foreign Power and to maintain perpetual Quiet at home without endangering the Publick Liberty The 2d Edition Price 1 s. A short History of Standing Armies in England The 3d Edition Price 6 d. A Confutation of a late Pamphlet intituled A Letter ballancing the Necessity of keeping up a Land Force in times of Peace with the Dangers that may follow on it Part I. The 2d Edition Price 6 d. The Second Part being a Vindication of Magna Charta will be speedily publish'd A Letter to a Member of Parliament concerning Guards and Garisons Price 2 d. A 2d Letter concerning the four Regiments commonly called Mareeners Price 3 d. The Seaman's Opinion of a Standing Army in opposition to a Fleet at Sea as the best security of the Kingdom In a Letter to a Merchant written by a Sailor The 3d Edition Price 6 d. Some further Considerations concerning a Standing Army Pr. 3 d. The State of the Case or the Case of the State Price 1 d.

many old Women in Wapping that should have manag'd that Affair more for the Honour Glory and Advantage of the English Nation The Queen of Sheba when she gave her Visit to Solomon extol'd his Wisdom and his Servants our Solomon is indeed worthy of Honour who has been the Care of Heaven as these Nations have been his and the Queen of Sheba might justly have done him the same Honour could she have come hither yet I engage she would have left out the latter part of her Compliment and took little notice of the Sitting of his Servants in the Admiralty of their Virtue or Wisdom She takes no notice of Solomon's nor Hiram's Navy yet the Scripture tells us they were under the Conduct of Ship-Men that had knowledg of the Sea and in another place that part of their Loading was Apes and Peacocks but tells us no where that Apes or Peacocks had the Sovereign Command in Sea Affairs or that Land men were proper Persons to command Men of War It is a great Misfortune to a Prince to fall into the hands of Sycophants and Flatterers who magnifie their own deserts to the Ruin of the Nation get about him so close that his best Subjects can't see him and if he be unfairly dealt with they know nothing of it neither how to commiserate his Condition nor give him that Assistance as is necessary to his preservation such a Prince is perfectly hoodwink'd like a Hawk and those that hold him will not let him fly but at some profitable Quarry for their own Advantage they never suffer him to hear what others can say lest they should speak something to their own Prejudice And thus the Prince by adhering to and promoting the Interest of a few loses the Love of many which often proves fatal both to himself and People A Good Prince dispenses his Favours as the Sun does its Beams by a universal Reflection upon Plants of all sorts but the more generous Plants receive most of the kindly Influence of its Rays Mercy is a commendable thing in a Prince it may drop upon Criminals but Favours ought not to pour down upon them I would not destroy the whole Species of Vipers because they are part of the Creation and manifest the Wisdom of the great Former of all things but there is no necessity for me to foster them in my Bosom and expose my Body to their Poison If the Managers of the Admiralty deserve the Posts they occupy it is more than the People know and the Merchants of England will tell lamentable Stories to the contrary Some of them perhaps have deserv'd well of their Country however not in the Admiralty for a Person prefer'd to an Office he knows nothing of by his Ignorance in one day may do more disservice to his Country than all the former Services of his Life will amount to The wisest Men in England have employ'd their Brains to no purpose to unriddle the meaning of such Preferments the old Maxim of preferring Enemies and disobliging Friends has been exploded by all Men of Sense but the Court Party have now another Maxim that all Commonwealths Men are Enemies to Monarchy and not to be trusted and all Englishmen and Lovers of the Liberties of their Country they represent as such while the contrary get the best Places of Profit and Trust in the Kingdom Now I would fain know how this Government comes to be a Monarchy in their Sense and whether any Commonwealths-man in England can desire a Government more sutable to the common Good and conform to his own Principles if it be faithfully administr'd according to its Constitution For no Man of a Republican Principle can desire more than to have Kings accountable to the People for Male-Administration and by their forefaulting to make a Forfeiture of the Regal Dignity wherewith they are vested by which Forfeiture all the Right of Governing devolves again upon the People who of their own free Will and undoubted Right and Power proceed to a New Election and place one more Righteous than the former upon the Throne if they think fit upon which Foundation this Government is built So that Commonwealthsmen as the Courtiers call them must be the best Friends of this Government because they are for securing the Foundation of it and not for raising a Superstructure to make it top-heavy and tumble down Ill and corrupt Officers and Ministers are the greatest Enemies to Monarchy in the World for when the People see under all Kings ill Men in Offices the Wealth of the Nation profusely lavish'd and the Liberties of the People in continual danger they 'l conclude that Mismanagements are accidents inseparable from Monarchy that the Fault is not in the King but in the Office and let 'em change the Person never so often the thing will be the same and so begin to think of another form of Government There has been such an uninterrupted Progress of Mismanagements in our Naval Affairs through the Conduct of the Persons concerned in the Managery that nothing hitherto has been our preservation but the immediate hand of Providence The Walls of our Island are our Shipping those once broken down we are laid open to the violent Insults of any Enemy A little Retrospection now would do very well and not only so but we ought to look forward and find out ways and means to prevent the like for the future It is the Business of our Representatives in Parliament to enquire into things of this Nature they are the Guardians of our Liberties and are bound to redress the Grievances of the People by virtue of whose electing Power they have a Right to sit in the House of Commons and enact Laws They have no Power from the People they represent to make Laws destructive of their Property or diminishing of their Wealth upon groundless Occasions nor ought they to give Releases to such as have squander'd away the Wealth of the Kingdom and betray'd the Liberty of the Subject He that dos not prevent a Mischief when it lies in his power so to do is equally guilty with the hand that did it and equally accountable to God Almighty It is much more now the Business of Parliaments since there is no way else to bring Criminals to Justice and the greatest Justice that ever was done in Cases of this nature has been done by Parliaments of which I could give many Instances had I time or place Making publick Examples of such Criminals is not only a Debt we owe to publick Justice and the common good of the Realm but will be a Terror to all future Offenders in Cases of the like Nature for if such Abuses are tolerated too long they 'l become fashionable and a Man must turn a Rogue to get into an Emploiment 'T is well for the English Nation these Miscreants are not beyond the Reach of Parliament whose Authority and Prerogative if once lost we may bid an eternal Farewel to our Native Liberty and