Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A35809
|
Reasons for His Majesties passing the bill of exclusion in a letter to a friend.
|
Devonshire, William Cavendish, Duke of, 1640-1707.
|
1681
(1681)
|
Wing D1233; ESTC R253
|
6,671
|
10
|
REASONS FOR His Majesties Passing THE BILL OF EXCLUSION IN A LETTER To a FRIEND LONDON Printed for J-W and sold by Langly Curtis 1681. REASONS for His Majesties Passing The BILL of EXCLUSION I Am not ignorant that you have lately heard Reports to my disadvantage concerning some matters relating to the Publick and though I flatter my self much more I confess from your Partiality to me than any Merit I can pretend to that you do not think the worse of me for them yet because one cannot be too sure of what one values so highly as I do your Esteem I take the liberty to give you some account of my Thoughts of the present posture of Affairs that if I am not so happy as to continue still in the good opinion you have formerly had of my firmness to the Publick Interest I may learn at least in what particular you conceive I have varied from it Which last though perhaps less welcome than the first will yet be own'd as a very great mark of your Friendship since I assure my self you have too much Charity for me to impute my Errours in this kinde to any worse cause than want of Understanding I must confess I have had no great Veneration of late for some Men who though extreme zealous in appearance for things of Publick Concern and particularly for the Bill for Excluding the Duke of York from the Succession to the Crown have yet taken such Methods for the obtaining that Bill as with respect to their Popularity look't to me as if they had rather wish'd it should be denied than granted I mean a sort of men that pass with the Vulgar for very publick Spirits yet are no otherwise for the Publick Good than as they think it may conduce to their own private Designs If matters be not dispos'd for them to leap into a great Place or to be restor'd to some Office they have formerly enjoy'd and in which they have discovered Principles far different from what they now profess if every one they have a prejudice to be not immediately removed or perhaps if they fancy themselves the most likely to head the Rabble should things fall into confusion they will be sure with great appearance of Zeal to press things of less moment and which they think will be denied lest any thing that really tends to Settlement should be granted and they are for the most part gainers by this for their Vehemence which proceeds from dark and hidden causes seldom fails of being mistaken by the Vulgar for a true and hearty Love of their Country I believe His Majesty will finde these men harder I am sure less necessary to be satisfied than the Nation And therefore I hope you will not wonder if I who care not much for a great Office if the Bill of Exclusion do pass or to be popular with the Rabble if it do not cannot heartily concur with all that seems to be aimed at by that sort of people I suppose you have heard which way I have declar'd my Opinion concerning that Bill when I thought it to any purpose But give me leave with as little reflection upon the Causes of the breach of the last Parliament as the subject will permit to tell you what in my poor judgment may most conduce to the passing it in the Parliament which is to meet at Oxford I cannot imagine how popular Speeches in either House or angry Votes that are not always backt with the strongest Reason much less the Pamphlets that fly about in the Intervals of Parliament can signifie much to the obtaining this Bill for to what purpose are Arguments to the People to prove the necessity of that which they are so fully convinc'd of already I should rather think it worthy the Wisdom of the next Parliament to consider what Argumens are most likely to prevail with the King himself in this matter and instead of such Addresses as carry the least shew of Menace in them which cannot but be offensive since to suppose a King capable of Fear is the worst Complement can be made him instead of angry Votes which may alienate the Hearts of the people yet farther from His Majesty and make him more averse from granting their reasonable Desires and consequently from consenting to this Bill to lay before him such Reasons for it as may convince him that it is his own particular Interest to pass it I do not mention the House of Lords being too well assur'd of the Loyalty of that Noble Assembly to doubt of their passing any thing for which His Majesty shews the least Inclination Taking it then for granted that this Bill only sticks with His Majesty no Arguments are of moment to obtain it but such as ought to be of weight with Him and those I conceive to be of this Nature One Objection must first be removed for since Kings of all Men living ought to have the greatest regard to Justice we must not suppose that His Majesty can ever consent to this Bill till he be satisfyed of the Justice of it I shall therefore endeavour to prove not onely that it is just but agreeable to the very intention and design of Government It seems to me to be an undeniable Position that Government is intended for the safety and protection of those that are Govern'd and that where the Supreme power is lodg'd in a single Person he is Invested with that power not for his own greatness or pleasure but for the good of the People The Tyrannies in Aristotles time and those that continue to this day in the Eastern parts must certainly have degenerated from a better kind of Government by some accident or other since what people can be suppos'd to have been so void of sense and so servilely inclin'd as to give up their Lives and Liberties to the unbounded disposal of one man without imposing the least condition upon him For admit according to Mr. Hobbes that Monarchical Government is form'd by an Agreement of a Society of Men to devolve all their power and interest upon one Man and to make him Judge of all Differences that shall arise among them 't is plain that this can be for no other end than the Security and protection of those that enter into such a Contract otherwise you must suppose them Mad-men voluntarily to strip themselves of all means of Defence against the fury and violence of one of their number rather than continue in a state of War where at the worst they are as free to Rob as they are subject to be Rob'd 'T is hard therefore to conceive that Absolute Monarchy could ever have been constituted by consent of any Society of Men besides that we see those that live under them would be glad to shake off their Yoke if they could but 't is probable they may have been rais'd by the Ambition and Valour of some Prince or Succession of Princes or by the peoples supineness in suffering themselves to be