Selected quad for the lemma: england_n
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A27455
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An argument shewing that 'tis impossible for the nation to be rid of the grievances occasion'd by the marshal of the King's-Bench, and warden of the Fleet, without an utter extirpation of their present offices with proposals for a new constitution of those offices by way of letter to a member of Parliament.
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J. B. (John Berisford)
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1699
(1699)
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Wing B1962; ESTC R5834
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20,197
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36
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would have been of excellent use in Diebus illis when the Sky was Serene and Clear and no Clouds Overshadow'd any part of the Office But now since the whole is cover'd with Mists and Obscure Intreagues the Scene is quite Alter'd the Judges are at a loss where to find the Profits or if they are found out by the Inrollment yet they must be Excused for they are Pre-ingaged and all Pre-ingagements must in Justice as well as Honour be Allow'd of And therefore tho' the former part of the Statute does positively Affirm That the Fees and Profits shall in the first place be Applied towards Satisfaction of the Prisoner's Debts yet the latter part does as positively Deny it For that Saves all the Rights Titles Interests and Securities of Johnson Boulter Norwood c. which they have in the said Offices or the Profits thereof And now Their Demands must be first Satisfied so that this Unfortunate Act of Parliament Commits a Violence on its self seems to be a Felo de se and by a Fatal Contradiction gives its own Heart a Mortal Wound And after all Suppose the Judges should Sequester the poor Remnant of the Profits if any such there be when all the Pre-ingagements are Discharg'd I would then ask this single Question by whom shall the Marshal or Warden who does Officiate be paid his Sallary for the poor Creature must have a Livelihood I doubt the Court will want their Officer unless they can suppose that one Skeleton may live upon another for by this time both the Office and Officer must be reduc'd to a mighty thin Contexture I have now done with this Famous Act of Parliament of which we were so big with Expectation and I 'm sorry it should be said at last Parturiunt Montes Having thus made the Way Clear and I hope given you Convincing Proofs Drawn from the Sacred Repositories of our Law that the present Foundation as well as Management of these Offices is Diametrically Opposite to the reason of the Common Law and wholly Inconsistent with the Noble Frame of the English Happy Constitution I come now to Offer my Humble PROPOSALS to the Parliament for a New and Regular Establishment of these Offices which in themselves I own are an Essential part of the Common Wealth I. That the present Officers of the King's-Bench and Fleet the Marshals and Wardens Superiour and Inferiour with all the Train of Rubbish which Attends 'em may be Dismiss'd their further Service and tho' these Miscreants have been such Unprofitable Servants to all Mankind but themselves and by their Crimes have undoubtedly Incurr'd a just Forfeiture of all their several Interests yet that even those who Purchased their Places for Valuable Considerations should be Reimburs'd their Purchase-Money tho' this is a Favour which they can't pretend a Title to and that which perhaps no other Power upon Earth but an English Parliament would Indulge II. That all Mortgages and other Securities and Incumbrances whatsoever which have been made really and bona fide upon Valuable Considerations may be Paid Off and Discharged with Principal and Interest which otherwise would have lain an Eternal Dead Weight on the Offices For to be sure the Marshal and Warden would have kept all Incumbrances still on Foot on purpose to Secure the Profits thereof from being touch'd So that until these Obstacles are Remov'd all Endeavours for an Effectual Relief must be Vain Fruitless and Insignificant And I am inform'd That the whole Charge that will be requisite upon this Occasion will not Amount to above Thirty or Forty Thousand Pounds a small Recompence for a National Benefit no more than some single Regiments of the Army are to have before they are Disbanded III. The Stage being Clear of these Vermin like Snails let 'em carry their Houses and Prisons with 'em for indeed they are not large enough to Contain a Tenth Part of the Prisoners which I take to be a strong Argument against the possibility of the present Prisons answering the Ends of the Law viz. Confinement c. And therefore as to the Foundation of this New Establishment in the first place I Propose the Builing of Two Large and Capacious Prisons which may be contrived to Contain Three or Four Thousand Men apiece and in each of these New Prisons a Work-House to be set apart which cannot but turn to a very good Account for not only our Manufactures might be thereby Improved by so great a Number of Hands but also abundance of Miserable Wretches who are in a starving Condition and forc'd to Beg thro' a Grate would find a Comfortable Subsistence And besides there would be this particular Advantage to the whole Nation That whereas now by the 43 Eliz. c. 2. the Justices of the Peace of every County and Corporation in England are yearly to Rate every Parish towards the Relief of the Poor Prisoners of the King's-Bench all this constant Charge and Expence which has been paid already for near a Hundred Years will be taken off which otherwise might continue upon us as a Rent-Charge to the End of the World so that the Nation will Discharge a Debt by this Means Indeed I have often wondred that there have been no Provisions hitherto made for the Setting poor Prisoners for Debt at Work and why they should be looked on as Useless and Rotten Members of the Common Wealth any more than poor Prisoners Committed to Gaol for Felony and other Misdemeanors for whom by the 19 Car. II. c. 4. the Justices of the Peace at their General Sessions are to Provide a Stock of such Materials as they think convenient and sit Persons to Oversee and Set them to Work Now for the Charge of these New Buildings it may be so Managed as not to cost the Nation a Farthing for I do not question but there are Five Hundred Persons in this Town who would gladly Undertake the Building of these Prisons on the Terms of being Reimbursed by part of the Profits which may Arise within the Walls either by Chamber-Rent or from the Prisoners Work or other Methods as shall be thought fit by Parliament IV. And in Order to Reduce the Number of the King's-Bench and Fleet Prisoners by preventing the Removal of Prisoners from the Countrey Prisons That no Habeas Corpus may be Allow'd unless it be upon some Affidavit made of the Fact by which it may appear to the Court or the Judge what the Nature of the Cause is for which he was Committed and if it appears to have been upon any Mesne Process or Execution for Debt Damages or Costs c. that either the Habeas Corpus may be Denied or if the Matter be doubtful by reason of Cross Affidavits that the Prisoners may be brought up and after Examination be Remanded as is usual in Criminal Cases And I can't see what Occasion there is of this Habeas Corpus when the Prisoner may be as well Charged by a Copy of the Declaration delivered to
him or the Turn-Key in the Country Prison V. That the Right of these Prisons may be Vested either in the Crown under such Limitations and Controul of Parliament as shall be thought proper And that every Year the Judges should present to the King the Names of Four Good and Substantial Persons in the same Manner as they Present the Sheriffs out of which the King may Chuse One to be the Marshal of the King's-Bench Prison and another to be Warden of the Fleet. Or since the old Right which flow'd from the Crown hath been Unfortunate and it may be thought by some a little Ominous to have the New one deriv'd from the same Fountain That then the Fee-Simple of these Offices may be Vested in the Mayor and Commonalty of the City of London as Superior Marshal and Warden and that their Sheriffs may be Deputy Marshal and Warden and may appoint the Keepers of the King's-Bench Prison and Fleet in the same Method as they do now the Keepers of their several Prisons within the City So the Mayor and Citizens of London have the Shrievalty of London in Fee and the Sheriffs of London are Guardians under them and Removable from Year to Year And in this Case the Sheriffs of London are Guardians of the Prisons and Gaols and the Mayor and Citizens are their Superiors and if the Sheriffs are not Solvent to Answer Escapes the Mayor and Citizens are responsible for them and this Appears in the 2 Instit 382. And I take this to be the best and most excellent Model as having so certain and undoubted a Fund to Answer all Escapes which can possibly happen And I am apt to believe That the greatest part of the Citizens who doubtless have suffered most by the Mismanagement of the present Officers would be very willing of a New Constitution upon this Bottom and would no more fear the Danger of Escapes than they do at present one of which does hardly happen in an Age out of any of the City Prisons VI. Since there must necessarily be a great Expence to the Marshal and Warden within the Prisons in Servants and other Conveniencies and also the Danger of Answering Escapes out of 'em I doubt there must be a Considerable Allowance sufficient to Encourage a Person of Worth and Substance to so great an Undertaking I presume it must be Two Thousand Pounds per Annum at least for each Officer But the particular Sum and the Methods of Raising it must be left to the Debates of Parliament VII That no Marshal or Warden shall hold his Place above One Year These Offices are of such Vast Importance to the Welfare of the Publick and the Trust Reposed in those Officers Hands is of such Inestimable Value it being no less than the Life of the Law it self that I think no Man can pretend to Conduct and Integrity enough to be Entrusted with such a Treasure for his Life There 's no one can say but in a long Series of Years as his External Goods are Subject to the Turns and Strokes of Fortune so the Constancy of his Mind may by continual Attacks at last be shaken But in a Years time there may be few Temptations Offered and who would Embrace 'em and draw upon himself and Family an Age of Trouble and Misfortune for a small Gain which cannot last above a Year VIII That if this Right be Invested in the Crown the King shall not Nominate any Person above the Degree of a Baronet to be Marshal or Warden and for the more effectual preventing of any pretences to any Priviledge of being Exempted from Actions c. no Marshal or Warden shall be capable of being Chosen a Member of Parliament Two such Trusts at the same time seem Incompatible at least they are too Weighty to be Managed by one and the same Person to the general Satisfaction Besides as it has been lately Observed by a Judicious and Learned Author All Wise Governments endeavour as much as possible to keep the Legislative and Executive parts Asunder that they may be a Check upon one another IX That Annually at Christmas or any other time certain Persons of known Honour and Integrity may be Commissionated under the Great Seal of England to Inspect the Management of these Offices and to Examine into all Abuses and Irregularities of the Marshal and Warden or any of their Inferiour Officers and to make their Report of the same at the next Sessions of Parliament if there be none then in being And it may be well worth the Consideration of our Legislators Whether a Triennial Visitation in this Nature throughout the Realm of all Temporal Officers and Ministers who are concern'd in the Administration of Justice and Execution of the Laws would not produce mighty Blessings and Advantages to the Publick We should not then hear such Grievous Complaints against the Corrupt Judgments in Inferiour Courts and the Abominable Extortions of their Officers Nor should our Ears be Pierced with the Sighs and Groans of a Thousand Poor Unhappy Wretches who Daily fall into the Clutches of the Little Petty-Fogging Solicitors and Bayliffs I shall Conclude with a Recital of part of that great Lawyer and Statesman Sir Nicholas Bacon's Speech which he made to both Houses of Parliament as appears in Sir Simon Dew's Journal 152. Now to the Execution of Laws made by you and the rest heretofore by others I am to remember you That those Labours Travel and Pains taken about the Laws are all in Vain and Labour Lost without the due Execution of them for a Law without Execution is but a Body without Life a Cause without an Effect a Countenance of a thing and indeed nothing Besides the making of Laws without Execution does very much harm for that breeds and brings forth Contempt of Laws and Law-makers and of all Magistrates which is the very Foundation of all Misgovernance of all Injuries and Injustice and of all Disorders and Unquietness in the Common-wealth Thus Sir I have Ventur'd thro' Untrodden Paths tho' 't is indeed matter of Astonishment to think That not one of all our Patriotical Lawyers should have Engag'd long since this great and terrible Leviathan who thus Disturbs our Peace and Cracks the Sinews of the Body Politick for 't is a true Observation That the Laws are the Sinews of Peace as Moneys are of War For my part all that I can hope for from this poor Attempt is That some Strong and Abler Pen may be Encouraged from these small Hints to undertake the Cause There can't be a Nobler Field to Exercise all the Faculties of the Mind and Body for Wit Judgment Manly Strength and Courage must all be Summoned to our Aid against this Great and Common Enemy to the whole People of England And after all I 'm afraid he 'll prove too hard for any particular Body of Men who dares wage War against so many Millions We must at last beg the Assistance of the Legislature and tho' even that at the first Onset may give a little Way and I doubt hath actually receiv'd a Foil Yet I hope t is but Antaeus-like to rise with greater Force and Vigour and to Correct this daring Insolence of Villany that could pretend to Grapple with Almighty Power for in respect of our Inferiour Orbe such is the Power of an English Parliament Sir I shall Sum up all with this short Addition by way of Corollary That 't is Visible to the whole World what Prodigious Things our Parliaments have done since the Happy Revolution They have fixed Matters of Religion upon a sure and lasting Foundation and to a Miracle Reconcil'd the Feuds and Animosities Rais'd upon that Score They have Retrench'd the Exorbitances of the Prerogative and Rivetted the Liberties of England by the Bill of Rights which as a Second Magna Charta deserves to be wrote with Characters of Gold Our Properties have likewise been taken Care of by several good Acts and in particular by that which Reforms the Coin They have Carry'd on a War and Procur'd a Peace to the Surprize and Admiration of Europe But after all these great and wonderful Performances unless we can Enjoy the Fruits of Peace by a due Administration and Execution of Justice they have not finish'd Half their Work for the Intestine Tumults and Commotions of a Distemper'd State are more Intollerable than a Foreign War Therefore I am clearly of Opinion That the Mischiefs and Distractions which Daily Arise from these Infernal Offices are not less Dangerous to our Constitution than a Standing Army and since your House is so Unanimous to Disband the One I can't but think that upon a serious and due Consideration they will be as Zealous to Dissipate and Confound the other And I hope this Parliament will have the Honour of so Great and Glorious a Reformation FINIS BOOKS Printed for Richard Standfast next Door to the Three-Tun-Tavern near Temple-Bar THE Debates at Large between the House of Lords and House of Commons at the free Conference held in the Painted-Chamber in the Session of the Convention Anno 1688. Relating to the Word Abdiâ—â—ted Adventures of Convent-Garden In imitation of Scarron's City Romance Love and a Bottel A New Comedy