Selected quad for the lemma: peace_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
peace_n	justice_n	quarter_n	session_n	5,031	5	10.5854	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50763	A method concerning the relief and employment of the poor humbly offer'd to the consideration of the king and both Houses of Parliament / taken out of Sir Josiah Child's writings ; with somewhat added which the late renowned judge Sir Mathew Hale, writ in his book intituled, A discourse touching provision for the poor.	Child, Josiah, Sir, 1630-1699.; Hale, Matthew, Sir, 1609-1676. Discourse touching provision for the poor.	1699 (1699)	Wing M1941; ESTC R385	10,758	24

to the Care of every Parish to maintain their own Poor only upon which follows the shifting off sending or whiping back the poor Wanderers to the place of their Birth or last Abode the Practice whereof I have seen many Years in London to signify 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 so●● of them a Punishment without effect I say without effect because it reforms not the Party nor disposeth 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 Parishoners 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 Justice 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 Justice of twenty through Pity 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 assign'd but for Shame or Idleness she presently deserts it and wanders directly 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 qualified 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 ●on 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 it 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 hope 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 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 There sort of Poor to a City or Nation well managed is in effect the conflux of Riches to that City or Nation and therefore the subtil Dutch receive and relieve or employ all that come to them not enquiring what Nation much less what Parish they are of Question 3. 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 may very well deserve the most deliberat 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 a COMMITTEE 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. That the City of London and Westminster Burrough of Southwark and all other places within the usual Lines of Communication described within 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 accomptable to the said Fathers of the Poor and their Deputies for 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 Sunday in every Parish-Church and in any other place 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 Justices of the Peace now may do in their 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 Maintainance during their Service and for their freedom afterwards 9. That the said Fathers of the Poor may have Power to erect petty Banks 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 if they be continued 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 Fellony 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 Fathers of the Poor at their Admission to bar out 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 Medal 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 days 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 Familars of the Inquisition in most Romish Countries with admirable effect tho to a wicked purpose the consequence whereof will be that the said Fathers of the Poor being Numerous and 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 Medal which they wear about them being a sufficient Warrant to command Obedience from all Parish Officers wherever 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 100l 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 than too many 14. That the said Fathers of the Poor besides the Authority now exercised by Justices of the Peace may have some less limited Powers given them in relation to the Punishment of their own and Parish Officers by pecuniary mulcts 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 the 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 Poor be perpetually supplyed by Election of the Survivors Quest. 4. 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 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 if 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 Qest. 5. 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 ebaritable Uses 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-Collet Dean of St. Pauls 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 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 aforelimited Precincts may be justly Offended if they likewise have not a share in the distribution of what shall be raised to that purpose Answ. 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 and I think do the Work But if it be thought too much for the City to have the choice of any more than their own seventy the Justices of the 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. 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 Consultatons and Debates of such a wife 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 1. The Poor of what quality soever as soon as they are met with will be immediatly 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 Door 4. The Plantations will be regularly supplyed with Servants and those that are sent