REASONS FOR A New Parliament; Delivered in the LORDS HOUSE, Novemb. 20th, 1675.  
With SEVERAL Other ARGUMENTS FOR DISSOLVING This Parliament AND CALLING Frequent and NEW PARLIAMENTS  
Printed in the Year, 1676.   

REASONS FOR A New Parliament, &c.  
THAT according to the Constitution of the Government, and the ancient Laws and Statutes of this Realm, there should be frequent Parliaments; and that the ancient practise of this Nation hath been accordingly.  
That, Besides the Right of the People by the Common Law, There are two Statutes now in force ( viz.) 4th. Edw. 3.10. And the 36th. Edw. 3 14. The Substance of which are; That for the Maintenance of the Rights of the Kingdom, and for Remedy of Mischiefs and Grievances that daly happen, A Parliament shall be held every Year once, or more oftener if need be.  
And these laws are to be understood of a NEW Parliament, every Year, and not of calling the Old; as is most manifest by the practise not onely of all the Ages before, but of some hundreds of yea●s after these laws were made; Prorogations or long Adjournments being things never h●ard of until latter years. And it is most unreasonable that any particular number of Men, should for more then One year, much more for Fifteen yeares together engross so great a Trust of the People as to be their Representative in the House of Commons; and that all other the Gent●y and Members of Corporations of the same degree and quality with them, sh uld be excluded: Neither is it agreeable to the nature of a Representative to be continued for so long a time, so that those that choose them, are not allowed frequent oppertunities of changing the hands in which they are forced to put so great a Trust, the mutual correspondence and interest of those who choose, and are Chosen, admitting of great variation in length of time.  
How many may there be in future Parliaments, if continued as long as this, that may be Protestants when they are Chosen, and yet may come in so many years justly to be suspected to have Changed their religion. Nay, how many are there in this present Parlaiment who were chosen by the People, when they were of the very same Interest with them, but in length of time are become Officers in the Court, and about the Revenves? And therefore they themselves cannot say, that they are equally free to Act for those that choose them, as they were before, nor are they of the same Interest as when they were Chosen, for now they gain and have advantage by the Peoples Payments; and if they should say they are the same men they were, we can call their fellow Members that have set with the●, to witness whether the Prove●b be not true, Honores mutant Mores? Whether ●hey have t●e same Opinions, and the same Freedom they had before? Nay, may it not be said without offence, that even in this House of Commons there are not a few, who when they were Chosen were looked upon as men of Estates, and are either since grown, or discovered to be of that indigent condition as they are much ●tter to receive the public Maintenance than give the public Money?  
The Representatives of the Freeholders, Citizens, or principal Burroughs and Corporations of England, by the Old Law, were to be New Chosen once a Year; so that they perfectly g●ve the sense of those that choose them, and were the same thing as if those we●e present that choose them, they so newly coming from them, and so quickly returning to give an account of their Fidelity, under the penalty of shane, and no further Trust.  
The House of Commons thus Yearly New Chosen, affords the sense, the Mind, the Information, the Complaint, the Grievances, the Desires of All the People for whom they serve, through the whole Nation; and the People are thereby secure, no Law can be made or Moneys given, but what themselves, though at home, fully consent and agree to.  
But on the contrary, the l●ng continuance of any such as are entrusted for others, especially of such as have so great a Power ove● t●e Purse of the Nation, makes them liable to be Corrupted, and won from the public Interest, and necessary produces Cabals and Parties, and the Carrying on of Private Interests, and Court Factions, rather than the public Good, or the ●rue Interest of the King or Kingdom: And takes away the great Security the Nation hath: That if it should happen, that the Spiritual Lords, because of their sole dependence on the Crown, the Popish Lords being under the pressure of so severe Laws, together with the Court Lords, a●d Great Officers should in any future Parliament make up a great number of the House of Lords, and should pass things very prejudicial to the public, yet all should prove ineffectual, and the Nation remain Safe in a House or Commons, Lately Chosen, that have not had time to learn new Sentiments, or put off their Old Principles at a good Market.  
Moreover it is from the Long Continuance of Parliaments that Gentlemen ar● content to spend such great Sums of Money to be Chosen, as Fifte●n hundred, or Two thousand Pounds; whenas in former times, when Parliaments were short and frequent, the Members constantly received their Wages both of their Countys, Citys and Burroughs. Besides all these, the very privilege of the Members, and those they Protect in a Parliament of fifteen years duration, is a Pressure that the Nation cannot well support itself under; So many hundred Suits of Law stopped, so vast Sums of Money withheld from the Right Owners, so great quantity of Land unjustly Possessed; and in many Cases, the length of time securing the Possession, and creating a ●itle. But in Parliaments Annually Chosen, such as did oppress or injure others, could not expect a second ●ears Choice  
How can this present House of Commons be the True Representative of those ●hey Serve for, since the People and they are of Different Minds? and if they wer● to Choose again, they would Choose other Men of their own Sentiments; And it must be confessed, Whatever is not Natural is by Force, and must be maintained by Force. A Standing Parliament and a Sanding Army are like those Twins that have their Lower Parts United, and are Divided only above the Navel, they are Born together, and cannot long Out-live each other.  
To conclude this Debate, The Continuance of This present Parliament any Longer, is Unpracticable; the unhappy Breaches fallen out betwixt the Two Houses, is as unlikely to be Repaired by This, as they are to be Renewed by a New Parliament.  
These are not the Conceptions of any Private Man's Brain, But the Sense and judgement of the far greater part of the Temporal Lords, who by virtue of their Peerage, are a Great Part of the Government, and are to be Conservators of the Rights of the Kingdom.  
And it is to to be Noted, That upon the Great Question, Whether or no, the House of Lords should Petition his Majesty to Dissolve this present Parliament, and Call a New One? There were Forty One Temporal Lords with six Proxies for the Address, and there was not above five Lords and sixteen Proxies against it, except the Bishops and such Lords as ●old Offices and Places, or receive pensions from the King. And, Whether those Lords who are contented w●th their own Estates, and do not seek to Enlarge them by Court Offices, Or the Bishops and those o●her Lords, that have their immediate dependence upon the Crown, Are likeliest to give the Best and most Impartial Advice, for the Good, Safety and Prosperity of the King and Kingdom,? L●t all Rational Men Judge. Neither was this the Sense of these Lords only, but the known Judgement and Desire of that Pa●t of the House of Commons, who( like Worthy Patriots) have stood for the RIGHTS of their Country, in despite of all Temptation or Opposition whatever,  
And to his Eternal Honour, Sir H G. did not only express his own dislike of the long sitting of this Parliament, but al o did lay in his Countrys Claim to their Right of having Parliaments Annually Chosen, openly Declaring in the House of Commons, That it was as much the Right of the People of England, to have frequent and New Parliaments, as to have any at a I And that a Standing Parliament and a Standing Army were a like dangerous to England.  
These unanswerable Reasons being o●fered in Both Houses of Parliament, was certa●nly that which first ga●e the People courage freely to Discourse and Examine this Great M●tte●. But no sooner did they consider thereof, but they were forced to close with it as an undeniable Truth, and the only One thing Necessary. And now almost every Corner of England is full of Dis ourse and Desire of, and Prayer f●r a New Parliament, as the only probable means to preserve the Kings Person, and the Protestant Religion from the Designs of the Papist, and to Restore the almost lost Trade, Riches, Honour a●d Strength of this Kingdom.  
And although these Reasons offered by so many Great and Worthy Patriots are wholly unanswerable, Yet the Loss of Trade, D●●tr●ss, Poverty, ruin, Contempt and Dishonour, that every day comes more and more upon this Kingdom, hath furnished the People w●th Arg●ments of another kind, and which seem to have great wait in them. They say, That without a New Parliament Trade is lost, and consequ●ntly the Navigation, and with it, both h● Riches and strength of England, and the Trade of this kingdom hath daily im●aired fo● 13. or 14. Years together, under the Conduct of this Parliament, and that lo●s of a great part of it doth a●ise from some Acts of this Parliament. As for instan●e, the lo s of the Irish, Scotch, and Norway Trad●, hath been occasioned by some Acts of this Parliament, and c●n never be regained without the Repeal of those Acts, and that this Parliament is not so likely to Repeal their own Acts as a New Parliament is.  
And further th● People say, It is the Design of the Papist( in order to the bringing in of theiy Arbitrary Religion and Government) to Impoverish this Kingdom and ruin the Trade by Burning the City, Towns, Bu●roughs, and Trading Corpora●ions thereof; ●nd tha● ex●ept there be some speedy and effectual Course taken to bring the mi●chief these wicked Men have designed against our Religion and Nation, upon their own He●ds, it will very much endanger the whole: And they cannot so well expect that this should be done by This Parliament, as by a New Parliament, Because there was so very much proved before This Pa●liament, concerning the [ firing of London] and yet so little done in it And they do conce●ve, That if the very Bottom of that Hellish Plot had been Sev●rely looked into, and All Persons whatever concerned therein brought unto Condign Punishment, th●se later Fires had been wholly prevented, And they further say, That although this present Parliament( to their Eternal Honour) have greatly expressed their dislike of the Popish Religion, yet notwithstanding it hath for several years very much increased in this Kingdom; And his Royal Highness, who is the presumptive Heir to the Crown did mary one of that Religion, and thereby cause a great number of Priests and jesuits to come over, and remain here; And, to the amazement of the whole Nation, He hath since Left the Communion of the Church of England, And the Papists in most parts of England are mor● than ordinarily Armed( who by Law ought to have no arms at all) and are grown to that Insolency, that they every day pervert his Majesties Subjects, and Print Books in utter defiance of the Established Religion. They have lately Printed their Mas Book in English, with their Crafty Annotations upon it; and, as they say, Permissu Superiorum. So that except there be a New Parliament, speedily Called to unravel all their Policies and in time take care to preserve the Protestant Religion, to us and our Posterity, they seem to think themselves secure of all when ever the King Dies, And therefore the people desire a New Parliament to prevent that Deluge of Popery, which hitherto hath come every day more and more upon us, notwithstanding all the endeavours of this Parl. to the contrary.  
And further, Because this Parliament cannot meet till the 14 February, and a New One may meet in 40 Dayes, and this a matter of so great import, that there is not one Moment of Time to be lost; For all the Safety or Our Religion depends wholly upon the Kings Life, and how uncertain the Life of any King, or Prince, or Person whatsoever is, whose Death would advantage the Popish Interest, the Experience of all Ages shows us.  
Moreover the People say, There seems an absolute Necessity of a New Parliament, because this Parliam by the ill Advice of some Persons hath been Prorogued for more than a year, whereas by the Laws and very Constitutions of this King●om( as is already said) There ought to be a Parliament every Year. And therefore it is the Opinion of many, very Learned in the Law, That this Parliament being Prorogued beyond a year, is naturally Dissolved, and ceases to be any longer a Parliament, and that the People of England owe no Obligation to any Laws they shall make, nor are to be H●ld by them: Nay, That the Parliament Men themselves may be Impleaded and Arraigned, and stand Responsible for any Act that they shall do, as those that have Usurped the exercise of the Leislative Power of England, when their Authority for their Legislation ceased. And how pernicious this may prove, even to his Majesty as well as the People, especially if his Majesties Necessities shall Call for a Supply, may easily be imagined: For few will pay it without a Distress, and who will Distrain. when the Authority that Orders the Distress is Defect ve? If you bring it to an Issue, the Juries will not think themselves obliged to ruin thtir Neighbours and themselves, for the sake of a Parliament that by corrupt and illegal ways. Impose themselves upon them.  
Besides all this, the People say, That if we are without a Parliament till February, the whole Kingdom is in danger to be Lost to the French. And this is an Argument of which every M●n is sensible, for although some Men are so fool●sh as to be content to part with their Religion, and others with their Liberty, yet none are so vilely wretched as to be content to have their Religion, Liberty, and Estate too, wholly swallowed up by a French Conquest: And yet this is too like to be the Case, except a Parliament be Called before February, which is the soonest time this Parliament can meet as a Parliament. In former time the English did not think themselves safe except they were stronger at Sea than any other their Neighbours. And so careful was Queen Elizabeth, to prevent the French from growing strong at Sea, as she would not suffer them to build any Men of War at all; Judging nothing could secure England from a second French Conquest, if once France were powerful at Sea; But our Modern Policy hath been so quiter contrary, hat we have stood still while the French King is like to be Master of Sicily and Flanders, a●d is already so powerful as he thinks himself Master at Sea, as appears by the unparallelled Injuries the French offer every day to our English Merchants, and that oftentimes in his Majesties own Ports; The French having in time of Peace taken and carried into France, n●ar 300 E●glish Merchant Ships, and condemned many of them, and so long detein● the rest, putting them to so great charge as hath been an intolerable loss to our Merchants, and dishonour to the Nation. The French King hath now 167 Ships of War, and is now building 40 more against n●xt Summer, while the Navy of poor England is in so Poor, Rotten Ruinous, and Despicable a Condition, as cannot be name without d●shonour to the Na ion. So tha● the French seem to want nothing but lei●ure to make themselves Master of all England. And should the French King either make a Peace, or prove Victorious, it is much to be fe●●ed, it would be too late for a Parliament to save us.  
This being the Case, we will Appeal to all Men that have any Love to God the Protestant Religion, their King or Country, the Laws, Liberties, Estate, Honour or Safety of ENGLAND; Whether it be not the indispens●ble Duty of every English Man, from the greatest Peer ●o the meanest Commoner,( by Petition, or any other lawful means whatsoever) to endeavour to move his Majesty immediately to Call a New Parliament? And, Whether it be possible to imagine that any English Man can oppose this, except such, whose sottish negligence never gives them leave to examine any thing aright; or such whose Pensions from France or Rome have wholly blinded their Understandings; or such who mind nothing so much as heaping up Vast Estates and Honours to themselves and their Relations though Purchased with the ruin of their Country; Or such, whose already Extrajudicial practices, make them Dread the very thought of a NEW PARLIAMENT?