XI
THIS Country is now reduced to a Situation really Degrading and Deplorable, through the strange Obstinacy and weak Prejudices of the King, who is determined, even at the risk of his own SAFETY, the Preservation of the Kingdom, and contrary to the united voice of his People, to encourage and protect an abandoned set of Men in the DESTRUCTION of that Constitution, he was Sworn to SUPPORT and DEFEND.
History fatally informs us, that the English have been driven to extremes, by Causes of less Moment than those, which have shaken this Kingdom during the present Reign.
Since the last stupendous Revolution, it has been generally believed, that the nature of our Constitution, became clearly ascertained, and fixt on Firmer and more lasting Principles, than it had known before that glorious Æra; at least the obtaining these Ends, as well as redressing Grievances, are acknowledged to be the Motives to the transactions of those Times.1 For had the exorbitant Power of the Crown been left unlimitted
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and unsettled, as before that event, and the Liberties and Privileges of the Subjects of England, in the same undecided State; it would have been only to change the Name of Masters, and not the Nature of their Sovereignty. And, if instead of removing the Causes of our Sufferings, and fixing our Rights and Liberties, we then gave to a House of Commons, an unlimited Power to dispose of the last according to their Inclination; it was only changing the Possessors of Arbitrary Power, by granting to a PROSTITUTED set of Representitives what was denied the King; and thus this illustrious Action of the Revolution, must appear to be the result of Faction, and aversion to one Interest, or unwarrantable Zeal for another. In what Manner can a Nation be more settled in its Freedom, by transferring ARBITRARY POWER from one Part of the Constitution to another.
It cannot be denied, but that the Laws, which were then enacted to establish upon a Foundation not to be again Shaken, the Freedom of the English Nation, and the Liberties of the People ought to be considered, as Unalterable, the very Basis and Boundary of the King’s Prerogative, and the Rights of Englishmen, something in the Government like the Center in the Earth, the fixt Point, round which all Things move and to which they tend.
Those Acts which were made at the Revolution, relative to the Constitution, such as the BILL of RIGHTS, and afterwards in Consequence of it THE ACT OF SETTLEMENT,2 which may be justly deemed the compact
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between the House of Hanover and the People of England, and which was preserved Inviolate, till broken by the unhallowed Hands of the Present SOVEREIGN and his Ministers; are undoubtedly of a Nature more SACRED than those which established a Turnpike Road.
Those Acts founded on our former Rights in MAGNA CHARTA, ought to be considered as the essential Authority by which the House of Commons exists, than Laws which a Parliament may Abrogate, through pure Inclination to indulge a King, or his Ministers, to make them Despotic, and the People Miserable; for it must appear strangely absurd in a Constitution, that the Representatives of the People who form a third Part of it, should be Authorised by them to destroy their Liberties, and thereby exclude them from the Rights which they possess in the Government of the Kingdom? Besides, it is contrary to the very Idea of a free State, that a People should have given a Power of sacrificing their Privileges, to Men chosen the Guardians of them.
Something must exist in a FREE STATE, which no Part of it can be authorised to alter or destroy, otherwise the Idea of a Constitution cannot Subsist; for unless we allow the Freeholders and Electors of GREAT BRITAIN to be superior to a House of Commons, we grant to them an ABSOLUTE POWER, a Power inconsistent with the Notion of a FREE PEOPLE, and destructive of the Principles of a MIXED GOVERNMENT.
Should it be acknowledged, that, though the Commons have exercised a power of annihilating many Privileges and Rights, belonging to the People, and, that they possess no legal Title to it; then all Laws subversive of Magna Charta, the Bill of Rights, act of Settlement, and spirit of the Constitution, are an excess of their Authority, and a Violation of their Trust; for which the present INFAMOUS PARLIAMENT, ought not only to be dissolved, but every MEMBER who visibly engaged in the Destruction of the Peoples Rights, should suffer DEATH, together with those Hellish MINISTERS who formed a design of enslaving the People; and it must be equally Just, as well as Necessary, to call to a strict Account the FIRST MAGISTRATE, who could be base enough to encourage the Destruction of our LIBERTIES and a SUBVERSION
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of the noblest Constitution in the World; as an Example to future Kings and Ministers.
If any Ministerial Hireling should assert that our Representatives after the Hour of Election, are no longer answerable for their Conduct, and are legally invested with Authority to Destory our Rights and Liberties at their Pleasure; then, what did King James do more than this by his Prerogative? and of what Advantage has the Revolution proved to us, if Subverting the Constitution be legally placed in the Hands of the Representatives? in what Sense does the Idea of a Free State, or the Liberty of the PEOPLE exist, when it depends upon nothing more permanent or established, than the vague, rapacious, or interested inclination of a Majority of FIVE HUNDRED and FIFTY EIGHT MEN, open to the insidious Attacks of a WEAK, or DESIGNING PRINCE, and his MINISTERS? surely it will be granted, that whether King, or Minister, who by undue influence should prevail in passing Laws subversive of the Statutes before mentioned, must be deemed an Offender against the most sacred of all Human Enjoyments, Liberty and the Constitution of his Country, and equally Criminal with JAMES THE SECOND and his Ministers.
The whole presumptive Title a Parliament can pretend to have of disposing of our RIGHTS and PREVILEGES can be but PREROGATIVE, which in many instances has been illegally carried beyond the Limits of Liberty and the Constitution. It is therefore necessary we should recur to the Spirit of the Constitution with the strictest Rigour and Perseverance.
The only Reason that can be given, why our Forefathers in the ancient Fundamental Statutes of the Realm, have delivered nothing verbally explicit on this Head; of limiting the Power of their Representatives, derives its Origin from the same Cause that the ROMANS had no Laws against Parricide: they never conceived that the thought of BETRAYING or SELLING a PEOPLES LIBERTIES, any more than MURDERING a FATHER could enter the Human Heart: they never imagined that the Representative could ever possess an Interest distinct from that of his Constituent, or that pecuniary Advantage could outweigh the Public good in his Breast: they did not foresee, that MINISTERS might
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have Occasion to OPPRESS US, for the Gratification of a WEAK or WICKED PRINCE; or that ENGLISHMEN no longer animated by the Soul of Public Prosperity, might Degenerate into granting OPPRESSIVE TAXES, till the NATION would be brought within ONE STEP of RUIN: Or that Laws essential to the Establishment of Freedom and Security of the State, could be made to burst at the Mandate of a Minister, by the Breach of a Majority of Five Hundred and Fifty Eight Men.
When the Representatives of the People Act contrary to the very Elements of the Constitution, betray and give up the RIGHTS, PRIVILEGES, and LIBERTIES of the PEOPLE, though nothing in the Fundamental Statutes literally prohibit so ignominious a Behaviour; the very Nature of their Station, the innate sense of Right, and Original Spirit of Government, directly contradict all possibility of their having Title for such proceedings; and whenever it is done, it is an unjust and wanton Exertion of Power, and not of Authority: add to this dreadful and heinous Crime the indignant and humiliating Consideration, that our Equals whom we chuse to save,
