their books or goods, in order to bring their creditors to any
composition; or shall not apply to this office as aforesaid, shall
be guilty of felony, and upon conviction of the same shall suffer as
a felon, without benefit of clergy.

And if any such person shall take sanctuary either in the Mint,
Friars, or other pretended privilege place, or shall convey thither
any of their goods as aforesaid, to secure them from their
creditors, upon complaint thereof made to any of His Majesty's
Justices of the Peace, they shall immediately grant warrants to the
constable, &c., to search for the said persons and goods, who shall
be aided and assisted by the trained bands, if need be, without any
charge to the creditors, to search for, and discover the said
persons and goods; and whoever were aiding in the carrying in the
said goods, or whoever knowingly received either the goods or the
person, should be also guilty of felony.

For as the indigent debtor is a branch of the commonwealth which
deserves its care, so the wilful bankrupt is one of the worst sort
of thieves. And it seems a little unequal that a poor fellow who
for mere want steals from his neighbour some trifle shall be sent
out of the kingdom, and sometimes out of the world, while a sort of
people who defy justice, and violently resist the law, shall be
suffered to carry men's estates away before their faces, and no
officers to be found who dare execute the law upon them.

Any man would be concerned to hear with what scandal and reproach
foreigners do speak of the impotence of our constitution in this
point; that in a civilised Government, as ours is, the strangest
contempt of authority is shown that can be instanced in the world.