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Untitled Article
arid his exclusive love of the English hierarchy * The Revolution of 1688 , which Mr . Evelyn lived to witness , but which he evidently knew not how to
approve entirely , freed his mind ( himself , perhaps , unconscious of it ) from the restrictions which the old system of government had laid upon it ; and in a letter "To my Lord Godolpliin , one of the Lords Justices , and first
Commissioner of tlie Treasury , " dated June 6 , I 696 , he appears in the character of a Reforriter , in which character he anticipates some of the great public questions which , after the lapse of a century and a quarter , still agitate the public mind . He first touches upon the circulating medium of the
country , and complains of the wicked practices of those that have ruined the public credit by debasing , in various unrighteous ways , the current coin of the realm . He next proposes , for preserving the flourishing state of this mercantile nation , a Council of Trade : to this Council he advises that
the care of the manufactures of the kingdom should be committed , " with stock for employment of y poore ; by which might be moderated that unreasonable statute for their relief , ( as now in force , ) occasioning more idle persons , who charge the publiq
without all remedy , than otherwise there would be , insufferably burdening the parities , by being made to earne their bread honestly , who now eate it in idleness * and take it out of the mouthes of the tritely indigent , much inferior in number , and worthy objects of charity . ***
He adds , that to this assembly should be referred all proposals of new inventions , which should be encouraged , and not reproached < c as projeetures , or turning } unsuccessful proposer to ridicule , by a barbarity without example * no where count enancd but in this
nation . * He points out further as an ' * exhauster and waster of y publiq treasure , the progresse and increase of buildings aoout this already monstrous eithj , ^ and recommends that the Norway trade , supported by building " , should be discouraged in favour of the trade with ottr own
plantations . He then proceeds in the following passages to suggest reforfns i ? i the Commons' House of Parliament , in courts of taw and in the criminal code .
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" Truely , my IA , I cannot but wonder , and even stand amaz'd , thai Parliaments should have sate , from time to time , so many hundred yeares .
and value their constitution to that degree , as the most sovraine remedy for the redresse of publiq grievances ; whilst the greatest still remaine unreform'd and untaken away . Witnesse the confus ed , debauched , and riotous
manner of electing members qualified to become the representatives of a nation , w legislative power to dispose of the fate of kingdomes ; which should and would be . compos ed of worthy persons , of known integritie and ability in their respective
countries , and still would serve them generously , and as t | ieir ancestors have don , but are not able to fling away a son or daughter ' s portion to bribe the votes of a drunken multitude , more resembling a Pagan Bacchanalia , than an assembly of Christians and sober
men , met upon the most solemn occasion that can concerne a people , and stand in competition with some rich scritener ^ brewer , banker , or one in some gainfull office , whose face or name , perhaps , they never saw or knew before . How , my Ld . must this sound abroad / With
what dishonour and shame at home ! " To this add the disproportion of the buroughs capable of electing members , by which tlie major part of the whole kingdom are frequently outvoted , be the cause never so unjust , if it eon * cerne a part ?/ intrest .
" w ill ever those swarmes of locusts , lawyers and attorneys , who fill so many seats , vote for a publiq Register , by which men may be secur ed of their titles and possessions , and an infinity of suits and frauds prevented ?
" Im m oderate fees , tedious and ruinous delays , and tossings from court to court before an easy cause , which might be determin ed by honest gentlemen and understanding neighbours , can come to any final issue , may be number ed amongst the most vexatious oppressions thnt call aloud for redresse .
" The want of bodys ( slaves ) for publiq and laborious works , to which maTiy sorts of animals might be usefully condemn ed , and some reform ed , instead , of sending thc . ni to the gallows , deserves to be consider ^ . " These , and . the like , are the great e desiderata , ( as well as the reformation
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630 Mr . Etelyn a Reformer ' .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1819, page 230, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1771/page/18/
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