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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A44956 An humble address from the people of England to their representatives in Parliament, for an Act against buying and selling of offices. 1689 (1689) Wing H3376; ESTC R213858 3,956 1

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AN HUMBLE ADDRESS From the PEOPLE of ENGLAND To their Representatives in PARLIAMENT For an Act against Buying and Selling of Offices Gentlemen THE great Trust and Confidence which we have Reposed in you will sufficiently convince all the World that we do not presume to make this Address upon the least distrust of your Prudence and Care over us which on the contrary we are so sensible of that we desire to make all due Acknowledgment for the same and in a more particular manner for the Establishment of the Government under our most Auspicious and Gracious Soveraigns King William and Queen Mary whose long and prosperous Reign over us is that great Blessing we daily Pray for as the only means next under the Divine Providence that can make us the most Happy and Flourishing People in the World. But considering the multitude and almost infinite Variety of Affairs both Foreign and Domestick that lie before you t is a wonder that you should think of so many things as you do and therefore least one amongst so many should happen to escape your present Thoughts which we conceive to be of more than ordinary Concern to us We Humbly take the Freedom at this time which we hope is Seasonable only to Recall it to your Memory and that is The Buying and Selling of Offices We do not take upon us to say there hath been any such thing but Humbly Submit to your determination of that Point as the Grand Inquisitors and Representatives of the Nation and shall only observe the Rational Consequences thereof and that in case any such thing hath been practised in former times That we may very probably date all our Miseries from the Commencement thereof For suppose it were possible in former Ages that a Judges Place could not be obtained without a Generous Acknowledgment of so Great a Favour What can be expected from such a Person who hath perhaps a numerous Family no Estate in the Country and is forced to borrow a great Sum at Interest to lay down upon such an Occasion Will not such a Man in all humane probability rather comply with the Times than see his Family utterly Ruin'd by loosing his Place and Mony too And then as to the Cases of Meum Tuum Will not he that thinks it Lawful to Give for a judicial Place think it also Lawful to take when he is in it And doth not our Lives and Fortunes our All depend upon their Integrity and Ability Who would wonder at the Case of the Ship-mony the Dispencing Power Excessive Bail Unlawful Fines Unusual Punishments Prosecution of the Bishops or the like in such a Case Either the Judges Acted according to their Judgment in these Cases or they did not if they did we have nothing to say to them but hope our Courts of Justice both in England and Wales will now be filled with more Able Men. If any of them did not Act according to their Judgments then we submit to your Opinions Whether this might not be the Secret and Original cause of their Complyance And if in this Case Why not in the other proceedings of the Ecclesiastical Court against that Reverend and Learned Prelate the Bishop of London The President and Fellows of Magdalen Colledge c. Since no Man can easily believe that a certain Bishop beyond Sea whose Life and Conversation was so publickly known to the World was meerly prefer'd for his Piety and Devotion And might not the Oppressions of the Poor by the Officers of the Chimny mony Excise c. and all other Abuses and Extortions from the Common people be publickly attributed to the same Cause In the Case of the late Army if any Officer purchased a Commission What could be expected but that he should make his Soldiers contribute to it And will not his Soldiers have it out in their Quarters Nay Might nor this First introduce Billiting the same Soldiers upon several Houses at one time and taking Mony from every House to the great Oppression of the Subjects And must not the Nation always suffer by these ways For a Soldier of Fortune a Man of Honor and Experience depends upon his known Courage and Merits and either hath no Mony to give or else scorns to Submit to such Mercinary Terms and when Merit gives place to Mony the Nation must be lost to any Enemy that will Invade us Thus at length when the grievous Oppressions of the Officers become intolerable and the People have no relief in the ordinary course of Justice for when the Inferior Officers can Accuse their Superiors they need not fear any Accusation themselves then are they forced in all Humble manner to Petition for a Parliament And what 's the consequence of this But Abhorences against Petitioning Advice for Quo Worrantoes Surrenders of Charters and Regulations of Corporations the freedom of Elections of Members to serve in Parliament are Violated the Members must be Closetted and all Men displaced and ruined that refuse to comply with their Terms the Judges have Instructions in their Charges to Preach up for Law the Kings Dispencing Power and the Country Gentlemen invited by his Neighbours and proud of his new Authority amongst them securely relies upon so great an Authority and so by a Chain of necessary consequences it seems to us that all our Miseries may be derived from this Secret and Invisible Grievance of Buying and Selling of Offices Wherefore for avoiding the Effusion of Christian Blood the Ruin and Destruction of Families which must follow First by the wicked Practices above mentioned for Men will be Men to the end of the World and afterwards in the Capital and other Punishment of the Authors of them Since our Religion teaches us Humility and Mercy and not severe Persecutions of one another Since the Fundamental and Original Cause of all our late Grievances may so much be attributed as you see to the want of such a Law by our former Representatives and we that have the advantage of their Actions and Laws must be the ●…ather perswaded to bear with the conseqences of their Omissions Therefore it is that we have thought fit with all due Reverence to acquaint yon That in regard we owe this happy Deliverence to the Providence of Almighty God who forgiveth us many Sins and delighteth not in the Destruction of an Offender but rather in his Repentance and in regard our Most Gracious Soveraign King William the Glorious Instrument thereof hath with so much Zeal and Compassion recommended to you a most general Act of Oblivion We shall like good Christians and good Subjects rather chuse your Mercy than your Severity rather chuse an Act of Prevention for the future than an Act of Attainder for what is past and that you may see we do so in earnest we Humbly Present you with an Act for that purpose The Substance and Form whereof is with all imaginable Duty and Defence submitted to your great Judgment and Discretion A Draught of an