Selected quad for the lemma: order_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
order_n	house_n	parliament_n	vote_n	2,126	5	10.2910	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59477	Some observations concerning the regulating of elections for Parliament, found among the Earl of Shaftsbury's papers after his death, and now recommended to the consideration of this present Parliament.	Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of, 1621-1683.	1689 (1689)	Wing S2899; ESTC R13575	7,648	20

these poor Rural Animals as to obtain an Election from them though to the ruin and overthrow of their own Laws and Liberties The choosing of such Men to serve in Parliament might probably be obviated by an Act Prohibiting the Expence of any Mony by Treats or otherwise in order to be Elected it being only to these indirect Methods that such persons usually owe their success But when all is done it will be found difficult though with the greatest Art to bring an old irregular Structure into a convenient Uniformity otherwise than by razing it to the Ground and erecting a new Pile by some better contrived design For although all the defects and irregularities in the Election of Members for Parliament before-mentioned should be removed and altered yet there still remains something in the very Constitution of this part of our Government which is not so agreeable to a curious thought A True and Perfect Model to build by is what I dare not pretend to give yet that which follows may afford some hints and Assistance to a better Fancy and Judgment In respect then that every individual Person in the Nation has a Natural Right to Vote in this Great Council but this being impracticable they are forced to do it by proxy that is by devolving this Right upon certain Common Representatives indifferently chosen for certain Select Numbers and Communities of Men in which the whole Body of the People is or ought to be comprehended And whereas every Pater-Familias or House-Keeper is a Natural Prince and is invested with an Absolute Power over his Family and has by necessary Consequence the Votes of all his Family Man Woman and Child included in his Let then the Sheriffs Precepts be directed to every Parish within his County which the next Sunday following the Receipt thereof may be publickly Read after the Forenoon Sermon in Church Thereby giving notice to all the House keepers in the Parish to meet at a convenient place and certain hour the day following in order to choose an Elector for the County Let also the Church-Wardens of each Parish prepare a List of eight or ten of the most eminent Persons for Wealth Gravity and Wisdom in their Parish this List to be brought the next day to the place of Election to this purpose that every House-keeper do by a dot with a Pen adjoined to the person's name whom he enclines to Elect declare his Choice and that by the plurality of dots the Elector be returned by the Church-wardens to the Sheriff This done in each Parish let the Sheriff prepare a List in the same manner of the names of all the Gentry in the County who are each worth in Lands and moveables at least 10000 l. all Debts paid and not under forty years of Age which being in readiness let all the Representatives of Parishes chosen as aforesaid repair to the County Town the very next day after the Parish Election is over and there proceed to Elect out of the Sheriffs List seven nine or eleven Members to serve in Parliament or so many as upon a just Dividend shall be thought expedient to compleat the Number of Members which are to Act in this great Council Before the Electors proceed to choose for the County it might probably be convenient to Administer an Oath to this purpose That their Vote is no way pre-engaged and that they will choose without Favour or Affection such Members as in their Conscience they do believe most fit to serve in Parliament And that to the Members Elected upon their admission to the House this Oath together with the others in use be Administred viz. That they are worth 10000 l. all their Debts paid and that directly or indirectly they did not expend any Mony or Gratuity whatsoever in order to their Election and that they neither have nor will receive any Gratuity whatsoever upon the account of their Vote in Parliament but that they will in all Matters that shall come before them act uprightly according to their Conscience and Vnderstanding without any private Design Favour or Affection to any That to prevent the inconveniences of Fear and Favour in Electing the Method be such that none may know on whom the Electors Votes were conferred and it may be thus performed Suppose a Room with two opposite Doors and a Table in the middle on which the List shall be spread All the Electors being at one Door let them go in one by one each Writing down his dots and going out of the Room at the other Door before another comes in or if this may prove tedious it is only placing more Tables in the Room with every one a List on it and so many may then be admitted in at once as there are Lists which will make greater dispatch and yet no discovery in that every List is upon a separate Table To prevent also all fraud and indirect practice it will be convenient that the Officers concerned in the Elections both in Parishes and in the County be upon their Oaths It is also fit that a limitted allowance be made for the expence of the day which is to be in Parishes at the Parish Charge and in the County Town at the Charge of the County If any Controversie arise about Elections either in the Parishes or Counties which in this Method can scarcely be supposed it may be decided by the Votes of the remaining Persons upon the List who pretend to no Election If several Persons happen to have an equal number of Votes it shall be determin'd by Lott If any Person from any part of England shall send his Name to any particular County to be inserted in their List as a Person qualified to serve in Parliament it may be done but none to stand Candidate in more than one List at a time lest he should be chosen in both Counties and to occasion the trouble of a new Election That the same List of Candidates shall continue till the dissolution of the Parliament if it fits not above three Years and upon the intermedial death or removal of any of the Members for the County then he who had the next Majority of Votes upon the List to succeed in his place without further trouble or charge of Election By this Method the Parliament will be a perfect Representative of the whole Body of the People and also of every numerical Person in the Kingdom Here can be no partial and consequently prejudicial Acts made by separate Interests and Factions None will sit in this Great Council but Men of Gravity Wisdom Integrity and Substance No pensionary Members no unfair Elections no foul Returns no Petitioners kept in Attendance till a Dissolution no Quo Warrantos to destroy the natural fundamental Rights of the People no room for Corruption Bribery and Debauchery either in the Electors or the Members elected no Patrimonies wasted in the Extravagancies of an Election No Bankrupts shrowding themselves under the shelter of a Parliamentary Privilege No unruly Rabbles Tumults Factions and Disorders in Election amongst the Commonalty No Heats and Animosities amongst the Gentry often caused by their violent Competitions But all will be managed with that evenness Justice and Temper that nothing can more effectually conduce to the securing of our Liberties and Properties the Grandieur of our Government and the Honor of our Nation than such an Establishment FINIS An Advertisement THere is lately Published by Randal Taylor the Proceedings of the present Parliament justified by the Opinion of the most Judicious and Learned Hugo Grotious with Considerations thereupon Written for the satisfaction of some of the Reverend Clergy and others who seem to labour under some Scruples concerning the Original Right of Kings their Abdication of Empire and the Peoples inseparable Right of Resistance Deposing and of Disposing and Settling of the Succession to the Crown (a) Pryns Register of Parliament Writs 1. Part f. 238. b. (b) Hob. Rep. f. 14. (c) Journal of the Commons House (d) 5. R. 2. c. 4. 1. H. 5. c. 1. 23. H. 6. c. 15. (e) 27. H. 8. c. 26. 34. H. 8. c. 13. 35. H. 8. c. 11.