Selected quad for the lemma: act_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A23597
|
England's great interest in the choice of this new Parliament dedicated to all her free-holders and electors.
|
Penn, William, 1644-1718.
|
1679
(1679)
|
Wing P1278A; ESTC R222717
|
7,049
|
4
|
you agree to be made Insomuch as No man according to the ancient Laws of this Realm can be adjudg'd in matter either of Life Liberty or Estate but it must be by the Judgment of his Peers that is Twelve men of the Neighbourhood commonly called a JURY though this hath been infringed by two Acts made in the late long Parliament one against the Quakers in Particular and the other against Dissenters in General called An Act against seditious Conventicles where persons are adjudged Offenders and punishable without a Jury which 't is hoped this ensuing Parliament will think fit in their Wisdoms to repeal though with less Severity then one of the same Nature as to punishing men without Juries was by Henry the Eighth who for executing of it hang'd Empson and Dudly Consider with your selves that there is nothing more your Interest then for you to understand your Right in the Government and to be constantly Jealous over it for your Well-being depends upon its Preservation In all Ages there have been Ill Men and we to be sure are not without them now such as being conscious to themselves of ill things and dare not stand a Parliament would put a Final Dissolution upon the very Constitution it self to be safe that so we might never see another But this being a Task too hard to compass their next Expedient is To make them for their Turn by directing and governing the Elections and herein they are very Artificial too often Succesful which indeed is worse for us then if we had none For thus the Constitution of Parliaments may be destroy'd by Parliament and we who by Law are Free may hereby come to be made Slaves by Law If then you are Free and resolve to be so if you have any regard to God's providence in giving you a claim to so excellent a Constitution if you would not void your own Rights nor lay a Foundation of Vassallage to your unborn Followers the poor Posterity of your Loyns for whom God and Nature and the Constitution of the Government have made you Trustees then seriously weigh these following Particulars I. In your present Election Receive no man's Gift or Bribe to chuse him but be assured that he will be false to you that basely tempts you to be false to your Country your self and your Children How can you hope to see God with peace that turn Mercenaries in a matter on which depends the Well-being of an whole Kingdom for present future times since at a pinch One good Man gains a Vote saves a Kingdom and what does any County or Burgess-Town in England know but all may depend upon their making a good Choice But then to sell the Providence of God and the dear-bought purchase of your painful Ancestors for a little Money that after you have got it you know not how little a while you may be suffered to keep it is the mark of a Wretched Mind Truly such ought not to have the power of a Free-man that would so abuse his own and hazard other mens Freedom by it he deserves to be cast over Board that would Sink the Vessel and thereby drown the Company embark't with him Honest Gentlemen will think they give enough for the Choice that pay their Electors in a constant painful and chargeable Attendance but Such as give Money to be chosen would get Money by being chosen they design not to serve you but themselves of you and then fare you well As you will answer it to Almighty God I entreat you to shew your Abhorrence of this Infamous Practice It renders the very Constitution contemptible that any should say I can be chosen if I will spend Money or give them Drink enough and this is said not without reason Elections that ought to be serious things and gravely and reasonably perform'd being generally made the occasions of more Rudeness and Drunkenness then any of the Wild May-games in use among us Thus by making men Law-breakers they are it seems made fit to chuse Law-makers their Choice being the purchase of Excess But must we alwayes owe our Parliaments to Rioting and Drunkenness and must men be made Vncapable of all Choice before they chuse their Legislators I would know of any of you all if in a difference about a private property an Horse or a Cow or any other thing you would be as easie indifferent and careless in chusing your Arbitrators Certainly you would not with what reason then can you be unconcern'd in the Qualifications of men upon whose fitness and Integrity depends all you and your Posterity may enjoy Which leads me to the other Particulars II. Chuse no Man that has been a Reputed Pensioner 't is not only against your Interest but it is disgraceful to you and the Parliament you chuse The Representative of a Nation ought to consist of the most Wise Sober and Valiant of the People not Men of mean Spirits or sordid Passions that would sell the Interest of the People that chuse them to advance their own or be at the Beck of some great Man in hopes of a Lift to a good Employ pray beware of these You need not be streightned the Country is wide and the Gentry numerous III. By no means chuse a Man that is an Officer at Court or whose Employment is durante beneplacito that is at Will and Pleasure nor is this any Reflection upon the King who being one Part of the Government should leave the other free and without any the least Awe or Influence to bar or hinder its proceedings Besides an Officer is under a Temptation to be byast and to say true an Office in a Parliament man is but a softer and safer word for a Pension the Pretence it has above the other is the danger of it IV. In the next place Chuse no Indigent Persons for those may be under a temptation of abusing their Trust to gain their own ends for such do not Prefer you which should be the end of their Choice but Raise themselves by you V. Have a care of Ambitious men and non-Residents such as live about Town and not with their Estates who seek honours and preferments above and little or never embetter the Country with their Expences or Hospitality for they intend themselves and not the Advantage of the Country VI. Chuse no Prodigal or Voluptuous Persons for besides that they are not Regular enough to be Law-makers they are commonly Idle and though they may wish well to your Interest yet they will lose it rather then their Pleasures they will scarcely give their Attendance they must not be relied on So that such Persons are only to be preferred before those that are Sober to do mischief whose debauchery is of the mind Men of Injust Mercinary and sinister Principles who the soberer they be to themselves the worse they are to you VII Review the Members of the last Parliaments and their Inclinations and Votes as near as you can learn
ENGLAND'S Great Interest IN THE CHOICE OF THIS New Parliament Dedicated to all her FREE-HOLDERS and ELECTORS SInce it hath pleased God and the King to begin to revive and restore to us our Ancient Right of Frequent Parliaments it will greatly concern us as to our present Interest and therein the future Happiness of our Posterity to act at this time with all the Wisdom Caution and Integrity we can For besides that 't is our own Business and that if by a neglect of this singular Opportunity we desert our selves and forsake our own Mercies we must expect to be Left of God and good Men too It may be there has never happened not only in the memory of the living but in the Records of the dead so odd and so strange a Conjuncture as this we are under It is made up of so many unusual and important Circumstances all affecting us to the very Heart that whether we regard the long sitting of the late Parliament or its abrupt and most unexpected Dissolution or the Prorogation of the last and its surprising Dissolution or the strong Jealousies of the People and that universal agitation that is now upon the spirit of the Nation and the Reasons and Motives thereof so far as we can reach them there seems never to have been a time wherein this Kingdom ought to show it self more serious and diligent in the business of its own safety To be plain with you All is at Stake and therefore I must tell you That the Work of this Parliament is First To pursue the Discovery and Punishment of the Plot for that has been the old Snake in the Grass the Trojan Horse with an Army in the Belly of it Secondly To remove and bring to Justice those Evil Counsellors and Corrupt and Arbitrary Ministers of State that have been so Industrious to give the King Wrong Measures to turn Things out of their Antient and Legal Channel of Administration and Alienate his Affections from his People Thirdly To Detect and Punish the Pensioners of the former Parliament in the Face of the Kingdom This Breach of Trust being Treason against the Fundamental constitution of our Government Fourthly To secure to us the Execution of our Antient Laws by New ones and among the rest such as relate to Frequent Parliaments the only true Check upon Arbitrary Ministers and therefore feared â—ated and opposed by them Fifthly That we be secur'd from Popery and Slavery and that Protestant-Dissenters be eased Sixthly That in case this be done the King be released from his burdensom Debts to the Nation and eas'd in the business of his Revenue And let me be free with you if you intend to save poor England You must take this General Measure viz. To guide and fix your Choice upon Men that you have reason to believe are Well Affected Able and Bold to serve the Country in these Respects The Words of the Writ at least the Import of them are To chuse Wise Men fearing God and hating Covetousness and what to do says the same Writ To Advice the King of the Weighty Matters of the Kingdom Let us not then play the Fools or Knaves to Neglect or Betray the Common Interest of our Country by a Base Election Let neither Fear Flattery nor Gain Byass us We must not make our Publick Choice the Recompence of Private Favours from our Neighbours they must excuse us for that the Weight of the Matter will very well bear it This is our Inheritance all depends upon it Men don't use to lend their Wives or give their Children to satisfie Personal Kindnesses nor must we make a Swop of our Birth-right and that of our Posterities too for a Mess of Pottage a Feast or a Drinking-bout there can be no Proportion here and therefore none must take it Ill that we use our Freedom about that which in its Constitution is the Great Bull-wark of all our Antient English Liberties Truly our not Considering what it is to chuse a Parliament and how much all is upon the Hazard in it may at last Loose us fatally by our own Choice For I must needs tell you If we Miscarry it will be our own Fault we have no Body else to blame For such is the Happiness of our Constitution That we cannot well be destroy'd but by our selves and what Man in his Wits would Sacrifice his Throat to his own hands We the Commons of England are a great part of the Fundamental Government of it and Three Rights are so peculiar and inherent to us that if we will not throw them away for Fear or Favour for Meat and Drink or those other little present profits that Ill Men offer to tempt us with they cannot be altered or abrogated And this I was willing to give you a brief hint of that you may know what Sort of Creatures you are and what your Power is lest through Ignorance of your own Strength and Authority you turn Slaves to the Humors of those that properly and truly are but your Servants and ought to be used so The First of these three Fundamentals is Property that is Right and Title to your own Lives Liberties and Estates in this every man is a sort of little Soveraign to himself No man has power over his Person to Imprison of Hurt it or over his Estate to Invade or Usurp it only your own Transgression of the Laws and those of your own making too lays you open to Loss which is but the Punishment due for your Offences and this but in Proportion to the Fault committed So that the Power of England is a Legal Power which truly merits the Name of Government that which is not Legal is a Tyranny and not properly a Government Now the Law is Umpire between King Lords and Commons and the Right and Property is One in kind through all Degrees and Qualities in the Kingdom Mark that The Second Fundamental that is your Birth-right and Inheritance is Legislation or the Power of making Laws No Law can be made or abrogated in England without you Before Henry the Third's Time your Ancestors the Free-men of England met in their own Persons but their Numbers much encreasing the Vastness of them and the Confusion that must needs attend them making such Assemblies not practicable for Business this way of Representatives was first pitch't upon as an Expedient both to Maintain the Commons Right and to avoid the Confusion of those mighty Numbers So that now as well as then No Law can be made no Money levied nor not a Penny legally demanded even to defray the Charges of the Government without your own Consent then which tell me what can be freer or what more secure to any People Your Third Great Fundamental Right and Priviledge is Executive and holds proportion with the other two in order to compleat both your Freedom Security that is Your share in the Judicatory Power in the Execution and Application of those Laws that