Selected quad for the lemma: justice_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
justice_n	peace_n	power_n	session_n	3,270	5	10.2826	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A32827	A discourse about trade wherein the reduction of interest in money to 4 l. per centum, is recommended : methods for the employment and maintenance of the poor are proposed : several weighty points relating to companies of merchants, the act of navigation, naturalization of strangers, our woollen manufactures, the ballance of trade, and the nature of plantations, and their consequences in relation to the kingdom are seriously discussed : and some arguments for erecting a court of merchants for determining controversies, relating to maritime affairs, and for a law for transferrance of bills of debts, are humbly offered.	Child, Josiah, Sir, 1630-1699.; Culpeper, Thomas, Sir, 1578-1662. Small treatise against usury.	1690 (1690)	Wing C3853; ESTC R8738	119,342	350

what Nation much less what Parish they are of Question 3. The third Question If the defect be in our Laws how shall we find a remedy that may be rational and consistent This I confess is a hard and difficult question it is one of the Ardua Regni and may very well deserve the most deliberate consideration of our wisest Counsellors And if a whole Session of Parliament were employed on this singular concern I think it would be time spent as much to the glory of God and good of this Nation as in any thing that noble and worthy Patriots of their Country can be engaged in But seeing I have adventured thus far I shall humbly proceed to offer some general proposals that have a tendency towards the effecting this great Work which being seriously thought of and debated by wiser men may be capable of such melioration as may render them in a great measure effectual to the Kingdom in general although at present to prevent that common Objection that great Mutations are dangerous I shall only propose them to be experimented in these parts of the Kingdom which are the Vitals of our body politick which being once made sound the care of the rest will not be difficult Proposition 1. First then I propose That the City of London and Westminster Burrough of Southwark and all other places within the usual Lines of Communication described in the weekly Bills of Mortality may by Act of Parliament be associated into one Province or Line of Communication for relief of the Poor 2. That there be one Assembly of men and such as they shall from time to time appoint and deputise entrusted with the care for and treasure of all the Poor within the said Pale or Line of Communication 3. That the said Assembly be incorporated by Act of Parliament with perpetual Succession by the name of Fathers of the Poor or some other honourable and significant Title 4. That all Constables Church-wardens Overseers or other Officers in all Parishes within the said Line be subordinate and accomptable to the said Fathers of the Poor and their Deputies for and in all things relating to the Poor 5. That the said Fathers of the Poor may have liberty to assess and receive into their common Treasury for relief of their Poor so much Money from every Parish as they yearly paid to that purpose any of the three Years preceding this Constitution and to compel the Payment thereof but not of more 6. That the said Fathers of the Poor and their Deputies may have very large and sufficient power in all things relating to the Poor and particularly to have and receive the charitable benevolence of all Persons once every Lord's Day in every Parish-Church and in any other Meeting of Pious Christians and at any other time or times which they shall think fit 7. That the said Fathers of the Poor and such as they shall authorize may have power to purchase Lands erect and endow Work-houses Hospitals and Houses of Correction and to exercise all other Powers relating to the Poor that any number of Iustices of the Peace now may do in their quarter-Quarter-Sessions or otherwise 8. That the said Fathers of the Poor may have Power to send such Poor beyond the Seas as they shall think fit into his Majesties Plantations taking Security for their comfortable Maintenance during their Service and for their freedom afterwards 9. That the said Fathers of the Poor may have Power to erect petty Bancks and Lumbards for the benefit of the Poor if they shall find it convenient and also to receive the one half of what is paid at all the Doors of Play-Houses and have the Patent for Farthings and to do whatever else his Majesty and the Parliament shall think fit to recommend to them or leave to their discretion 10. That the Treasure that shall be collected for this purpose be accounted sacred and that it be Felony to misapply conceal lend or convert it to any other use or purpose whatsoever 11. That there be no Oaths or other Tests imposed upon the said Fathers of the Poor at their admission to bar our Nonconformists amongst whom there will be found some excellent Instruments for this good Work and such as will constantly attend it for if they be kept out the People will be cold in their Charity and in their hopes of the success 12. That the said Fathers of the Poor may constantly wear some honourable Meddal such as the King and Parliament shall devise besides the green Staff which is now used in London to such like purpose but upon extraordinary dayes only to denote their Authority and Office at all times and in all places after the manner of the Habits in Spain or rather as have all the Familiars of the Inquisition in most Romish Countries with admirable effect though to a wicked purpose the consequence whereof will be that the said Fathers of the Poor being numerous 〈◊〉 disperst by their Habitations and Business into most parts of their Province will readily see any neglects of Officers and as easily redress them the Meddal which they wear about them being a sufficient Warrant to command Obedience from all Parish Officers where-ever they come although their Persons be not known there 13. That the said Fathers of the Poor may have liberty to admit into their Society and all Powers and Priviledges equal with them any Persons that are willing to serve God their King and Country in this pious and publick Work the Persons desiring to be so admitted paying at their admission 100 l. or more into the Poors Treasury as a demonstration of the Sincerity of their Intentions to labour in and cultivate this most Religious Vineyard This I only offer because the number of the said Fathers of the Poor hereafter mentioned may be thought rather too few then too many 14. That the said Fathers of the Poor besides the Authority now exercised by Iustices of the Peace may have some less limitted Powers given them in relation to the punishment of their own and Parish Officers by pecuniary mul●ts for the Poors benefit in case of neglect and otherwise as his Majesty and the Parliament shall think fit 15. That the said Fathers of the Poor may have freedom to set the Poor on work about whatsoever Manufacture they think fit with a Non obstante to all Patents that have been or shall be granted to any private Person or Persons for the sole Manufacture of any Commodity the want of which priviledge I have been told was a prejudice to the Work-house at Clerkenwell in their late design of setting their poor Children about making of Hangings 16. That all Vacancies by reason of death of any of the said Fathers of the ●oor be perpetually supplied by election of the Survivors Quest. 4. The fourth Question is who shall be the Persons entrusted with so great a Work and such excess of Power This is a Question likewise of some difficulty and

Answer to the aforesaid Question wherein want of Charity is assigned for another cause why the Poor are now so much neglected I think it is a scandalous ungrounded Accusation of our Contemporaries except in relation to Building of Churches which I confess this Generation is not so prophense to as former have been for most that I converss with are not so much troubled to part with their Money as how to place it that it may do good and not hurt to the Kingdom For if they give to the Beggars in the Streets or at their Doors they fear they may do hurt by encouraging that Lazy Unprofitable kind of Life and if they give more then their Proportions in their respective Parishes that they say is but giving to the Rich for the Poor are not set on Work thereby nor have the more given them but only their Rich Neighbours pay the less And for what was given in Churches to the visited Poor and to such as were impoverished by the Fire we have heard of so many and great Abuses of that kind of Charity that most Men are under sad discouragements in relation thereunto I write not this to divert any Man from Works of Charity of any kind He that gives to any in Want does well but he that gives to Employ and Educate the Poor so as to render them useful to the Kingdom in my judgment does better And here by the way not to leave Men at a loss how to dispose of what God shall incline their Hearts to give for the Benefit of the Poor I think it not Impertinent to propose the Hospitals of this City and Poor Labouring People that have many Children and make a hard shift to sustain them by their Industery whereof there are multitudes in the out Parts of this City as the best Objects of Charity at present But to return to my purpose viz. to prove that the want of Charity likewise that is now and always hath been in relation to the Poor proceeds from a defect in our Laws Ask any Charitable minded Man as he goes along the Streets of London viewing the Poor viz. Boyes Girles Men and Women of all Ages and many in good Health c. why he and others do not take care for the setting those poor Creatures to Work Will he not readily answer that he wisheth heartily it could be done though it cost him a great part of his Estate but he is but one Man and can do nothing towards it giving them Money as hath b●en said being but to bring ●hem into a liking and continuance in that way The second Question then is Question 2. Wherein lies the defect of our present Laws relati●g to the Poor I answer that there may be many but I shall here take notice of one only which I think to be Fundamental and which until altered the Poor in England can never be well Provided for or Employed and that when the said fundamental Error is well amended it is almost impossible they should lack either Work or Maintenance The said radical Error I esteem to be the leaving it to the care of every Parish to Maintain their own Poor only upon which follows the shifting off sending or whiping back the poor Wan●erers to the Place of their Birth or la●t Abode the practice whereof I have seen many years in London to signifie as much as ever it will which is just nothing of good to the Kingdom in general or the Poor thereof though it be sometimes by accident to some of them a Punishment without effect I say without effect because it reforms not the Party nor desposeth the minds of others to Obedience which are the true ends of all Punishment As for instance a poor idle Person that will not Work or that no Body will Employ in the Country comes up to London to set up the Trade of Begging such a person probably may Begg up and down the Streets seven years it may be seven and twenty before any Body asketh why she doth so and if at length she hath the ill hap in some Parish to meet with a more vigilant Beadle then one of twenty of them are all he does is but to lead her the length of five or six Houses into another Parish and then concludes as his Masters the Parishioners do that he hath done the part of a most diligent Officer But suppose he should yet go further to the end of his Line which is the end of the Law and the perfect Execution of his Office that is suppose he should carry this poor wretch to a Iustice of the Peace and he should order the Delinquent to be Whipt and sent from Parish to Parish to the place of her Birth or last Abode which not one Iustice of twenty through pitty or other cause will do even this is a great charge upon the Country and yet the business of the Nation it self wholly undone ● for no sooner doth the Delinquent arrive at the place assigned but for Shame or Idleness she presently deserts it and wanders dir●ctly back or some other way hoping for better Fortune whilst the Parish to which she is sent knowing her a Lazy and perhaps a worse qualited person is as willing to be rid of her as she is to be gone from thence If it be here retorted upon me that by my own confession much of this mischief happens by the non or ill Execution of the Laws I say better Execution then you have seen you must not expect and there was never a good Law made that was not well executed the fault of the Law causing a failure of execution i● being natural to all Men to use the remedy next at hand and rest satisfied with shifting the Evil from their own Doors which in regard they can so easily do by threatning or thrusting a poor Body out of the verge of their own Parish it is unreasonable and vain to hop● that ever it will be otherwise For the Laws against Inmates and empowering the Parishioners to take Security before they suffer any poor Person to Inhabit amongst them it may be they were prudent constitutions at the times they were made and before England was a place of Trade and may be so still in some Countries but I am sure in Cities and great Towns of Trade they are altogether improper and contrary to the practice of other Cities and Trading Towns abroad The Riches of a City as of a Nation consisting in the multitude of Inhabitants and if so you must allow Inmates or have a City of Cottages And if a right course be taken for the Sustentation of the Poor and setting them on Work you need invent no Stratagems to keep them out but rather to bring them in For the resort of Poor to a City or Nation well managed is in effect the confl●x of Riches to that City or Nation and therefore the subtil Dutch receive and relieve or employ all that come to them not enquiring

the more in regard of our present Differences in Religion but I shall answer it as well as I can In general I say They must be such as the People must have ample satisfaction in or else the whole Design will be lost For i● the universality of the People be not satisfied with the Persons they will never part with their Money but if they be well satisfied therein they will be miraculously charitable Quest. 5. This begets a fifth Question viz. What sort of men the people will be most satisfied in I answer I think in none so well as such only as a common Hall of the Livery-men of London shall make choice of it being evident by the experience of many Ages that the several Corporations in London are the best Administrators of what is left to charitable Vses that have ever been in this Kingdom which is manifest in the regular just and prudent management of the Hospitals of London and was wisely observed by Doctor Colle● Dean of St Paul's that prudent Ecclesiastick when he left the Government of that School and other great Revenues assigned by him for charitable Uses unto the disposition of the Mercers Company Object But here it may be objected That Country-Gentlemen who have power in places of their Residences and pay out of their large Estates considerable sums towards the Maintenance of their Poor within the afore-limited Precincts may be justly offended if they likewise have not a share in the distribution of what shall be raised to that purpose Answ. I answer the force of this objection may be much taken off if the City be obliged to choose but a certain number out of the City as suppose seventy for London ten out of Southwark for that Burrough twenty for Westminster this would best satisfie the People I think do the work But if it be thought too much for the City to have the choice of any more then their own seventy the Iustices of Peace in their quarter-Quarter-Sessions may nominate and appoint their own number of Persons to assist for their respective Jurisdictions and so to supply the vacancy in case of Death c. But all must be conjunctive but one Body politick or the work will never be done Quest. 6. The sixth Question is What will be the advantage to the Kingdom in general and to the Poor in particular that will accrue by such a Society of men more than is enjoyed by the Laws at present I answer Innumerable and unspeakable are the Benefits to this Kingdom that will arise from the Consultations and Debates of such a wise and honest Council who being men so elected as aforesaid will certainly conscionably study and labour to discharge their trust in this service of God their King and Country 1st The Poor of what quality soever as soon as they are met with will be immediately relieved or set on work where they are found without hurrying them from place to place and torturing their Bodies to no purpose 2. Charitable-minded-men will know certainly where to dispose of their Charity so as it may be employed to right purposes 3. House-keepers will be freed from the intolerable incumbrance of Beggars at their Doors 4. The Plantations will be regularly supplied with Servants and those that are sen● thither well provided for 5. The said Assembly will doubtless appoint some of their own Members to visit and relieve such as are sick as often as there shall be occasion together with poor labouring Families both in City and Suburbs 6. Poor Children will be instructed in Learning and Arts and thereby rendred serviceable to their Country and many other worthy Acts done for publick good by the joynt delibaration of so many prudent and pious men assisted with such a Power and Purse more then can be fore-seen or expressed by a private Person Quest. 7. The seventh Question may be What shall all the Poor of these Cities and Countries being very numerous be employed about This question will be answer'd best by the said Assembly themselves when they have met and consulted together who cannot be presumed defficient of Invention to set all the Poor on work especially since they may easily have admirable Presidents from the practice of Holland in this particular and have already very good ones of their own in the orders of their Hospitals of Christ-Church and Bridewell in London the Girles may he employed in mending the Clothes of of the Aged in Spinning Carding and other linnen Manufacture● and many in Sowing Linnen for the Exchange on any House-keepers that will put out Linnen to the Matrons that have the Government of them The Boys in picking Okam making Pi●s rasping Wood making Hangings or any other Manufacture of any kind which whether it turns to present profit or not is not much material the great Business of the Nation being first but to keep the Poor from Begging and Starving and enuring such as are able to Labour and Discipline that they may be hereafter useful Members to the Kingdom But to conclude I say the wisest Man living solitarily cannot propose or imagine such excellent ways and methods as will be invented by the united Wisdom of so grave an Assembly The sitting of the said Assembly I humbly conceive ought to be De die in diem the Quorum not more then thirteen whether they shall Yearly Monthly or Weekly choose a President how they shall distribute themselves into the several quarters of the Communication what Treasurers and other Officers to employ and where and how many will best be determined by themselves and that without difficulty because many that will probably be Members of the said Assembly have already had large experience of the Government of the Hospitals of London The manner of Election of the said Fathers of the Poor I humbly suppose cannot possibly be better contrived then after the same way which the East-India-Company choose their Committee which will prevent the Confusion Irregularity and Incertitude that may attend the Election of Voices or holding up of Hands especially because the persons to be elected at one time will be very many the said manner proposed is every Elector viz. every Livery-Man to bring to Guild-Hall at the appointed day for Elections a List of the whole number of Persons such as he thinks fit that are to be Elected and deliver the same openly unto such Persons as the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Common-Council-Men shall appoint to make the Scrutiney which Persons so entrusted with the said Scrutiney seven or ten days after as shall be thought fit at another common Hall may declare who are the Persons Elected by the Majority of Votes If it be here objected to the whole purpose of this Treatise that this work may as well be done in distinct Parishes if all Parishes were obliged to Build Work-Houses and Employ their Poor therein as Dorchester and some others have done with good success I answer that such attempts have been made in many places