Selected quad for the lemma: judgement_n
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A26755
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A dialogue between a modern courtier and an honest English gentleman to which is added the author's dedication to both Houses of Parliament, to whom he appeals for justice / by Samuel Baston.
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Baston, Samuel.
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1697
(1697)
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Wing B1056; ESTC R37087
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24,574
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43
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For the same Law will Whip them both C. Sir I could wish with all my Heart that things were better yet sure they cannot be so very bad as you say because there are in Office persons of different Opinions part Church-men and part Dissenters and no doubt it has been Wisdome so to do For they wou'd be forward and glad of an Opportunity to tell each others Faults to Weaken the Contrary party and Strengthen their own So that there 's Cause to believe they have hitherto been a perfect Checque upon each others Actions and therefore it do's not stand to reason there can be such a United Cabal as you speak off G. Why Sir this is only another Court Riddle much like the former which has also Confounded the Judgments of the people yet if a Man will but Consult Reason 't is Easily unfolded I believe there is at Court the Church-party and the Dissenting-party as they call themselves and I Confess the Argument that you bring from it seems something plausible though I can by no means allow it to be true The Philosophers say That one Experiment will knock a hundred Arguments in the head Then Certainly your Argument cannot stand For we have seen by long and Woful Experience that these partys have had no differences in the State for promoting the Honour of God the good of their Prince and Country and Suppressing Vice and Wickedness For these indeed wou'd have been glorious Quarrels But all their differences have been Independant of this only to promote Private Interest What though they seem to be at Variance one with another It has hitherto been found If any Man offers to do his Duty and Stand up for the Publick Good he finds no difference in them but they are all his Mortal Enemys Church and Dissenters all alike all stand firm for the Profitable Cause of Corruption to Betray their King and Ruin their Country This I say we have found by Experience and therefore all the Arguments in the VVorld will never Refute it VVhat though they pretend to diverse Opinions in Religion VVhat then Do not Harlots do the same Yes Certainly there are Church of England Harlots Dissenting Harlots Roman Catholick Harlots c. Though these pretend to different Religions yet they are all of one Trade and no doubt wou'd Unanimously agree in the Main that all Justices of Peace Constables Houses of Correction c. should be Suppress'd because by them their Trade is Obstructed So in like manner these Men notwithstanding any petty Differences Stand together in a body against Law and Justice because it tends to Mortify their Ambition and Lusts and to hinder their Profit But Sir I am afraid after all that you and I are Mistaken and that the Court do's not Consist so much of a Real Church of England and Dissenting-party as of a Predominant Atheistical Party for so indeed they appear to be by their Actions and it also agrees with our Saviours Rule That the Tree is known by its Fruit For 't is Certainly very foolish and Contradictory to say That a Corrupt and Wicked Man has any real Religion let him pretend to what he will so that these that Divide themselves into two divisions under the Masquerade of Church and Dissenters do plainly appear to be but one and the same party whose Moralls and Practice is such that they can truly be of no Religion or Church unless they be of the Synagogue of Satan C. Why Sir I know not what to say to it you have such an odd way of Arguing yet methinks 't is Strange the Nations Grievances shou'd arrive to so great a pitch as you say they are at with so little Opposition Why 't is in Effect Charging the whole Body of the People to be a Company of Sleepy Senceless Sotts and Fools that haveing Laws and Priviledges they did not make more Powerful and Formidable Complaints to the Parliament Therefore I must still tell you 't is very unintelligible to me to believe that Matters can be so bad as you say and the People so quiet Who so bravely like Englishmen Stood up for their Laws and Priviledges in the late Reign G. Certainly Sir the Peoples Patience ought not to be us'd as an Argument to Continue their Grievances I 'm sure that is an odd way of Arguing However I Wave it and for your Satisfaction shall give you some Reasons why they have hitherto been so quiet under their Burdens The Revolution you know was wrought by the General Consent of the People who for many Years past have had great and Just Apprehensions and fears of Popery and Slavery The War was also Engag'd in by our general Approbation so that having a King after our own Heart so generally Belov'd a known Protestant and Engag'd in a War that we so long wish'd for every Man then slept Secure thinking all things were safe because the Head was Sound and the Court likewise and all the vast Troops of their Dependants Cry'd up the same thing as indeed they had good Reason for Matter 's went well wish them So that the generallity of the People being Voyd of Mistrust never Troubled themselves about State Matters but minded their Private Affairs and with great Willingness paid the Taxes Whereas in the late Reign the King being a known Papist all the People in general were possest with Jealousy and even the very Cobler in his Stall wou'd Eagerly Enquire after News and thought himself Concern'd to know the Affairs of the Court So that the Actions of the State and the Peoples Knowledge of it went hand in hand For we see they were forewarn'd to make such provision as they did to disappoint their designs For then the King Acted openly with his Court but now the Court Acts privately without the King by hiding each others Crimes and the Peoples Grievances from him having had the great advantage of His Majesty's Absence about Six Months in every Year during the Course of this War And this I take to be a Principal reason why the generallity of the People have been so quiet from making any Publick complaints But then it may be further observ'd there 's a great Difference between the Grievances of the la 〈◊〉 e and those of this Regin The one was the Endeavouring to take away our Laws to bring in Papery which all the Nation were Enemies to Rich and Poor Good and Bad Vertuous and Vitious Saint and Sinner all were â—tiâ—â— Enemys to Popery Besides it would take away abundance of Estates of Abbey-lands which was so great and general an Allarm to the whole Nation but Especially to the Clergy That those Celebrated Simple Threadbare Doctrines of Passive-Obedience Non-Resistance c. were Instantly frighted out of the Kingdom and never heard of since Nay I dare Affirm the very Papists themselves tho 't was to Introduce their own Religion wou'd ha been very unwilling to part with any of these Estates But what are our Grievances now
tending to the honour of God and benefit of the King and State This Dialogue is call'd a seditious Libel Whereas it speaks for the Execution of the Law with as much Force as words can express Now where the Law is put in Execution there can be no Sedition but where the Laws and Constitutions of a Kingdom are invaded and perverted by the Arbitrary Power of Evil Ministers it is that which introduces Sedition and as Sedition is a dangerous Distemper in a Nation so the Impartial Execution of the Law is a Sovereign and Certain Cure And whereas it is call'd a scandalous Libel I answer that if 't is true 't is not scandalous and every Subject of England has an undoubted Priviledg to Complain of and discover Injuries done to the King and also lay open the Grievances of his People And if all the Subjects of England tho in never so high a Station are subject to the Law and answerable for their Actions which I hope is not in the least question'd then this Dialogue will not deserve these Characters nor the Author deserve to be Arraign'd as a Criminal for writing it while the real Criminals he writes of are protected For certainly the pure and undefiled Law of England does not provide any punishment for its Advocates 'T was a Noble saying of that Glorious Prince Edw. 3. of Famous Memory when he hang'd his Chief Justice Thorp of the Kings Bench for taking a Bribe of 100 l. That he being intrusted as the King's Deputy to administer Justice in that Court had as much as in him lay broken that solemn Oath that his Majesty made to his People at his Coronation If such strict Scrutinies shou'd be made in these Days which no doubt God Requires what a multitudewould there be found Guilty of this Chief Justice's Crime who continue to practice it without any regard to their Master's Safety Honour or Coronation-Oath or Safety of their Country nay so far are they from thinking it a Crime that a Learned Lawyer not long since as I was inform'd brought it as a mighty Objection to the Bill against buying and selling Offices That the Perquisites of his Employment came to about 3000 l. per an and pray'd a Clause in the Bill to secure it to him which shews how strong a desire he had still to be able to Expose the Rights and Liberties of the People to Sale to the highest Bidder So Religious a Regard had that Gentleman to his Master's Coronation-Oath Nevertheless such Corrupt Men as these who so openly oppose Justice do generally pretend to have a great Love for their Sovereign and how they 'll stand by him with their Lives and Fortunes and what not when alas their Love has no more reallity than the pretended Love of a Common Harlot For Certainly a Corrupt and Unfaithful Servant can no more Love his Master than an Adulterous Wife can Love her Husband It is not Improbable but this Dialogue may by a Tryal in the Kings Bench be made as 't is call'd A Seditious and Scandalous Libel against his Majesty and Government And so the Tables shall be turn'd and I shall be try'd as a Criminal for laying open the Nations Grievances to the Parliament and the Criminals acquited of the Crimes they are accus'd of without any Tryal at all It cannot be suppos'd that I shall have free Liberty in the Kings Bench Court to bring such Numbers of Witnesses as are necessary to prove the Matters of Fact contain'd in this Dialogue For the Court is ty'd to one single Ishue and therefore cannot Enquire into the bottom of Grievances in the State Besides it is rarely seen that any Man escapes the Censure of the Courts of Westminster who runs Counter to the Predominant Party at White-Hall let his Cause be ever so just Instances enough may be given of it in the late Reigns when the Courts of Justice have under pretence of Law been made perfect Slaughter-Houses to Punish Imprison Fine and take away the Lives of Divers Noble Patriots of their Countrey for doing that which we now call their Duty whose memories we Commemorate and the Judgments against them have been Revers'd in Parliament But Certainly it had been much more Honourable if it cou'd have been done to have sav'd their Lives by putting a stop to their Illegal Tryals than now to say we are sorry for their Deaths Therefore I most humbly appeal to this most August Assembly who in these Cases are ty'd to no single Isâ—ue but may throughly enquire and search into the Nations Grievances which my Designs has been only Loyally and Faithfully to lay open humbly Conceiving that if I produce Witnesses to prove the Matters of Fact Contain'd in this Dialogue That then it will not deserve the Title given it in the Warrant for my Commitment Viz. A Seditious and Scandalous Libel against His Majesty and Government Neither shall I deserve to be Arraign'd at the Kings Bench Bar as a Criminal the next Term where I am bound to appear by Recognizance of 500 l. after above three Months Imprisonment to the hazard of my Life And being thus ready and able to produce Witnesses to prove the said Matters of Fact Contain'd in this Dialogue to the great Advantage of the King and Government whenever your Honours shall please to Command I humbly Cast my self upon your Honours Justice and Protection that no such Prosecution may be made against me as is intended till I be first heard and have liberty to prove that what I have Written in this Dialogue is Truth and for the King and Kingdoms true Interest Peace and Safety and then I shall be willing to stand a Tryal at the Kings Bench Bar And submit to what Law my Adversaries can find to punish me for Writing this Dialogue I am With all Dutiful Respect Your Lordships and Honours Most Obedient Servant SAMVEL BASTON London the 16 th of March 169â— A DIALOGUE BETWEEN A Modern Courtier and an Honest English Gentleman Courtier DEAR Sir Your Humble Servant you are Welcome to Town Pray how long have you been arrived Gentleman Sir I came but last Night and thought my self oblig'd to pay my Respects to you in the first place I hope all your Noble Family is well C. I thank you Sir they are very well But pray how does your good Lady And how do Matters go in the Country G. Why we are all reasonable well in Health but out of Order every way else For the Taxes are so high Money so scarce Trade so dead c. That I Protest my Estate is so Cultivated 't will hardly maintain my Family C. Come Sir you are my Worthy Friend and therefore I would not have you find Fault with any thing for if you are willing I doubt not but you may soon have such an Employment that you will not feel the weight of the Taxes nay you may be a Great Gainer by the War and I would fain have you in the Government