CONSIDERATIONS on the Nature of Parliaments, and our present Elections.  
IT is amazing that a People so zealous for their Liberties, s●ould neglect the natural, safe, and certain way of securing them, when they have often had recourse to the most violent Remedies, and have run the utmost hazards to secure their Property. This is the only Country in Europe that enjoys ●ny freedom under a King, and it mortifies any thinking Man when he considers in how many successive Reigns our Constitution has been aimed at, how precatiously we hold it now, and how often the opportunities of a secure Establishment have been trifled away, when ob●in'd by the boldest Attempts that were ●ade successful by an apparent P●ovi●ence.  
As the Restoration of K. Charles II. ●o the last Revolution was the work ●f the People of England: nothing could ●ve brought it about in so miraculous a manner, but the weight of the whole Nation in opposition to the Conspirators against our Constitution. And if the succeeding Parliaments( which are called the Representatives of the Nation) have not established by proper Laws those Liberties, and that Government for which the People drew their Swords, it must be concluded, those Assemblies did not truly represent that People.  
Whether they have done so ought well to be considered; and if they have not, to find where the fault lay, were a useful discovery: and it is highly necessary that the Boroughs of England should be well apprized of the present circumstances of Affairs, and of the sentiments of Mankind at this time; that by a proper and discreet choice they may secure at once the Happiness of their Country, and their own Reputation, which are both in danger.  
The opinion of the universal Corruption of this Age cannot be concealed; it is made evident by those that Elect, by those that are Elected; buying Elections, and selling of Votes are Consequences. And if this should appear to be the present Case, such a House of Commons cannot pass for a Representative of the People, but a Representative of a few dissolute, mercenary Persons, possessed of Voices in the Boroughs, of England. The consequences of such Thoughts they will do well to consider: which must induce all true English-men( at a proper time) to seek other methods of being better represented.  
When I speak of a natural, safe and certain way of preserving the Liberties of England, I mean the securing a free, uningag'd House of Commons, consisting of the Rich, Honest and Able Men of the Kingdom. When the balance of the Government went out of the hands of the Nobility and the Church-men, if a sufficient Provision had been made for this, now happy had we been, and what Mischiefs and Dangers had been prevented to this Nation? From Henry the 7th to ●his time our Annals had contained the Names of Princes on the Throne fit to have been the Predecessors to our glorious King: but true it is, he must have lost his Title of Deliverer, as we had saved the P●●ce of our Redemption; for our Const●tution would have preserved us from those Dangers and Violences from which he came to free us, and we had not had a whole Generation conspiring for a hundred years together( tho in different ways) against our established Government, when sworn to support it. If our new Barrier had been well fortified, and if our Representative of the People had been contrived to answer in dead to the Name, all our Kings had been Q. Elizabeths. But our Elections in inconsiderable Boroughs, and our Members being qualified to serve two Masters, were such mistakes in our Fundamentals, that as they have produced our past Misfortunes, they must produce the like under bad Princes, or evil projecting Ministers.  
A House of Commons chosen truly by the People, incapable of Pension, and Place; and the King and Kingdom had been incapable of Misfortune: they had been out of the reach of all human Power, and, with due submission, above Fate; since such a Government would have made us the proper Objects of Divine Protection, and not only have secured our Greatness and Glory, but our Religion and Morals too, which I fear are all going together.  
In such Circumstances we should have had no cause to fear the Scotish cunning of K. James I. No King of Scotland could have made a Scotch Parliament of such an English Assembly. Such a Monster as Buckingham, and upon so monstrous a foot of favour, could never have grown to such an exorbitant size under such a Constitution: he had soon been prevented in the apparent prostitution of our Wealth, in his apparent neglect of the Honor and Interest of the Kingdom, in his apparent and treacherous dealings with the French, and the public Enemies: his Iniquities had never been screen'd by a Party; in a word, he had not fallen a Victim to a private Hand.  
Under such a Government his pious Son had pursued the like measures in vain: his French Wife, his scandalous favourites, his unlaudable Bishops, his own insolent and unconstant Temper could never have brought him to the Block: all the Blood  shed to no purpose in those Wars had been saved; he could never have lost his Life, nor his Kingdoms; he would only have lost his Title of Martyr.  
Under so just a balance of Power, as the Sons would have avoided the ill Consequences of their Father's Fate, so would they probably have avoided all the French Infection which they received in Body and Mind: They had not received( Sons of the Protestant Martyr) the French Religion, and above all Contagions a French Inclination, the most fatal Poison that could enter the Blood of an English King. Such a Government would soon have discovered the Protestant Mask K. Charles II. only pulled off at his death. Such a Parliamentary Constitution would not have suffered the avowed and open apostasy of the next Heir; the Bill of Exclusion had then past, and had prevented the setting up, the pulling down the late King with such hazard and expense to this Nation. Such an Establishment would have prevented that late damnable invented Project o● corrupting Parliaments( which I must mention in this place, because it began a● this time) that cursed Project, which defeats all our hopes, which poisons us in our mothers milk, which murders us by the hands of our Parents, which infect● the only Cordial that can preserve ou● Being, which makes us accessary to ou● own Fate, betrayed by those we choose to represent us, made slaves by our Protectors, and given up by those elected t● defend our Liberties,( but of this, and the terrible Consequences I shall take farther notice.) Such a Constitution would have prevented that Inundation of Pro●aneness, lewdness, and Immorality, in●roduc'd by K. Charles II. and his Athe●ical Wits, to fit the Nation for the intended Yoke of Popery and Slavery. To that end was all Learning and Virtue ex●loded in his Reign, scorn of Religion, ●ontempt of a public Spirit, derision of ●etters; and a pretending Wit above rule, ●earning, or Scruples, being the sure and ●nly recommendations to his favour, and ●ublic employments. No Government ●t must leave Mankind, as the Deity does ●is Creatures, in a state of free-will, and herefore in an exercise perhaps of pri●at vices, or concealed villainies: but in ●ch a true English Establishment we had ●ever seen a rampant Erench Whore, o●enly governing our Councils; we had ●t seen an English King( well under●anding Seafaring matters) an open In●ructor to his Brother of France in the ●ysteries of Navigation, Building and ●rade. And to evince, as I go along, the ●terest of King and People equally to ●bsist in a steady, good, and incorrupti●e Administration, the Elder Brother ●d never died an unnatural death in such ● well regulated Protestant State, as ●ould not have admitted of a bigoted, ●adstrong, Popish Successor. But let us ●ave this artful King, tricked in his ●ricks, outwitted by such a Brother, plot●d against by his Son, unpitied by his ●bjects, tho making way for such a Suc●ssor, abandoned at last by his Bishops, ●d with nothing to save him from a fu●re Account, but Extreme Unction from and Priests of the Whore of Babylon.  
And now to the last, and in my opinion and best of the wicked Reigns; for the ●oject of a Standing Army under a Po●sh King did but hasten our Deliverance, ● did the Expedient of an Heir under a ●elly of Clouts. The Son must really be ●t, and the Army must be Protestant, I do not say really so, for the Name will do But I shall say less of the living Prince, because of his Misfortunes. He lives, and without a Crown, which is Punishment great enough for Follies having the excuse of Conscience, and Mistake. Yet I can hardly contain when I remember he is the cause, that all Mankind have been getting our Wealth, while our own recompense is, that we have got rid of himself. However I forgive him all the rest, but having left behind that worst of Evils, a pretence to a Protestant Army, in a good Reign, and in times of Peace: and I will only lay to the charge of his Brother of blessed memory, all the Mischiefs arising from corrupted Parliaments.  
Now to this great point, and our most pressing Danger, and the present and future Remedies of them. I have hitherto been showing what Violences, what Infamies, what Follies, an uncorrupted Parliamentary Constitution would have prevented; which evinces sufficiently what we have to expect in future times, if a secure Settlement be not obtained under a good King against the notorious increase of Corruption in our Age. It is now come to such a height, that it may almost be said, A wise Prince must comply with it: for as in a weak and low condition, the Physician must not apply the proper Remedy till the Patient has strength to bear it; so in our low and corrupted State, when Patriots must be hired to serve their Country, when Whigs go resty without Pension or Place, and begin with untimely barking against the Government in War, to conclude with prostitute bawling for it after a Peace; I say, when this is our case, till effectual Laws have recovered our Constitution, it must be confessed, our Princes have an excuse for practising the base arts of Corruption, especially in times of eminent danger, which allow of no delays. This makes it plain that amongst Men, Lawgivers must only seek for coercive Honesty; and Legislators remembering that most necessary part of the most perfect Prayer, led us not into Temtation, should have that principally in view for King and People, that neither be lead into it. No Emperor but envies the least bide upon the wing: but since Flying is impossible, the great Vicegerents of God upon Earth are content to walk upon two Legs with common Porters; and either Kings must drop from Heaven, and then let them be Jure divino, or Mankind must be Slaves, unless they provide such happy and irresistible Laws as may restrain the love of Power, as well in Kings, as in Statesmen. I will only desire the example may be given me, of the best of Kings succeeding a bad one, who ever made it his choice to give up any Authority or Acquisition, tho obtained by his Predecessor by means he would not have practised himself. Since then the Evils of bad Princes are permanent, and the good Establishments of just ones often overthrown by those that are Arbitrary, what Methods for the good of Mankind and Society, but to find Chains strong enough to bind a Tyrant, which can only be made here in England, when a good King with upright Ministers beat the Anvil, and uncorrupted Parliaments find Fire and Materials?  
The highest Compliment I can make this King is to say, This is the time for so glorious a Work, and we have great reason to expect his utmost assistance: For in truth, Deliverance and Reformation are his very Title. There is this unanswerable Argument to prove it must be now or never: Some Infections must be checked in time, or Remedies will come too late; and I am sure we must flux now, or never expect to see a sound Nose on the face of the Government. Such a precarious Peace as we have obtained is hardly a Blessing: but because it sets Parliaments at liberty to settle our shattered State, let no time be lost then, when we are so unsecure of its lasting. But as I would willingly give some hints that may be serviceable at all times in the great Cause of Liberty, so I shall take notice, and that only from Observations of the last Reigns, what are the most dangerous Symptoms threatening a People with loss of Liberty: and when most of those Circumstances concur at once( any one of which does threaten ruin) then I need not say a Government is most in danger, and that the speediest and strongest Antidotes should be provided against the influence of so many malignant Constellations joined together.  
To begin then with what the Reign of K. James the 1st will afford us: The most dangerous Circumstance that could attend a Nation was a reasonable obligation to set upon the Throne a Prince born and bread up in another Country, who must retain a foreign Heart, who must be partial to the people, to the Customs of his native Land; who must therefore be unacquainted with the Men, Manners, Privileges, and I awes of those Territories he is newly come to govern. This Partiality is natural, and for that reason justifiable: and therefore as it seldom happens but that Princes transplant themselves to a richer Soil( as was the case o● K. James) so the Wealth of the mor● opulent Nation must always be prostituted to raise and supply the favourite of the poorer; and 'tis all can be expected, that they be not raised by hasty an● unmerited Favours: besides, it is almos● impossible but the Interests of the Tw● Nations or People must interfere, if h● retains the Jurisdiction of both, as thi● Scotch Prince did. How perplexed must the best of Kings be in his divided thoughts ●d inclinations? and where, and to ●hom must Nature and Education incline ●m? It may happen, as in this case, ●at the unforced Constitution of one ●ountry allowed a greater Power, and ●eater Prerogatives than was consistent ●ith the Laws of the other. How shall and spirit of a Prince brook the refusal ● that in one place, which he was used ● the submission to elsewhere? How ●n he easily change a Bent created per●ps by Nature, and confirmed by Cu●om? In one Country required to head ●rmies, in another obliged to encourage ●eets: In one Country Troops are the ●pport of Mens Property, in the other ●ey must prove the ruin of their Liber●es; this distinction Princes cannot ea●y make. Religion too, the great guide ●f Mens Actions, or at least their pre●nce, differs almost in all Countries, ●en where it agrees in name: and we ●ow by bloody experience how little and Protestant Religion of the Scots did ●gree with our Episcopacy. Innumera●e are the Mischiefs arising from such a ●ircumstance; but I confine myself on● to what were the apparent dangers in and case before us.  
Another dangerous Symptom appear●g in the Reign of K. Charles the 1st ●as this, That all his arbitrary Designs ●ere carried on, and disguised under the ●ask of the most precise Piety. Such ●pious Projects as arose from Insolence ●nd Pride, that were carried on by ●each of Faith, that tended to the effusi● of the best Blood in the Nation, were ●lways transacted in Forms, with Fast●g and Prayers. As his watery was ●aintain'd by his Judges, so were all his ●ther Expedients to enslave the Nation ●reach'd for by his Church, and laboured ●or by his Bishops.  
Another threatening Circumstance was the advantage with which K. Charles the 2d came to the Throne. The Nation was then intoxicated with Joy: and he made as ill use of that opportunity, as Noah's Daughters did of their Father's Drunkenness; as they went in to him, so he got in to his People, and with all sly Arts and Corruption began the fatal( well-improv'd) Project of bribing Parliaments. And that none might have a scruple of Conscience against this highest of Crimes, betraying their Country, Religion in his time was the jest of his favourites: but for himself, he had a different one ready for every Nation, and sort of People he had to do with; a Papist in France, a Presbyterian in Scotland, a Churchman in England, a Quaker with pen, an Atheist with Hallifax. A most dextrous practise this in all Princes that pursue it, who thus easily impose on good people willing to be deceived.  
Another certain warning of ensuing mischief( the very Porpoise before the Storm) is a Standing Army; which tho it proved unsuccessful in K. James's time, yet it immediately preceded his intentions of subverting all our Laws, Human and Divine. He thought his Project as infallible as his Pope, when so many of his Troops were Papists and foreigners; being secure too of Ships from abroad to transport more Strangers when wanted. But all this was spoiled with one word, Popery. Heaven had in store an Antidote against a Popish Army, pray God preserve us at all times from a Protestant one.  
Now having recapitulated all these Circumstances of approaching ruin, which we so narrowly escaped in the foregoing Reigns, what would become of us if these difficulties should bear upon us( as in a Hurricane) all at once? Whenever they do, well may the Nation fear their impending Fate. Yet after all I say, a free uncorrupted Parliament would soon dispel these Clouds. Under such a Government as I have mentioned, K. James the 1st had been compelled to have made use of English Councils in governing an English Nation: he had been obliged to have provided for his Scots favourites out of his Scotch Revenue: he had no doubt been supplied with the money of England, but forced to have laid it out for the Honor and Interests of that People. Suppose the Nation prepossessed for him as they were for K. Charles the 2d, relieved from long Wars, from Confusion, from Cromwels and Usurpers; such a Parliament would not then have sat still in idle rejoicing, but wisely have prevented the Causes of future mourning: nay, give him the Standing Army of the unfortunate Prince of his name( let it be a Protestant one too) yet such an Assembly with their steady Wisdom and vigour would have rescued their Country from all these dangers. All I can allow, but the Circumstances of K. Charles's corrupted Parliament: for the Incorruption of that is my only Remedy to all other Evils; when that falls out with the rest, there is nothing left but for honest men to show the Nation the Precipice upon which they stand: And much may be expected from so brave a People, when waked out of their Lethargy, and well apprized of their danger. I shall conclude this part with the Questions of K. James the 1st upon his accession to the Throne, Do I make the Bishops? Do I make the Judges? If to this he might have added, Do I make the House of Commons? To such fatal Interrogatories the Answer is too plain.  
Having treated( and with a Freedom an Englishman may well take) of the Circumstances of the last Reigns, I come to a Subject with more difficulty to be handled. What the People and Parliament have to do at present may well be gathered from the foregoing Considerations, yet I must say something of the Revolution, and what has happened since, were it only to acknowledge the Obligations we owe to our present King. The Oppressions and Dangers from which he relieved us were so grievous, and the Advantages we might have procured ourselves by his coming were so great, that we owe him the utmost Gratitude, not to be overpaid by any thing but by such a confidence in his Virtue, as( forgetful of Times past and to come) should make us neglect the Opportunity he has given us of securing to ourselves, the never being so much obliged to any other. This were the worst requital we could make him, to let it be possible by our negligence, that any person should ever rival him in his glorious Title of Deliverer.  
Our present King has now the same Game he has all his Life been successfully pursuing abroad, and the same business he has been bread up to in other Countries; but he has now other Tools to work with, a divided and corrupted People. His Declaration assures us, he came to secure our Constitution, so as no ill Prince, no evil Ministers should be able to violate it for the future. I shall not now repeat what he has done in person towards all this; it were unnecessary Flattery to repeat Actions done in the face of the Sun: but my business at present is to consider what has been deficient; and, as I proposed at first, to give some hints where the fault lies, and how it came about that we have been exposed to such hazards, and are yet unsecure; and this to the end the Scene of his great Life may be perfected, and his Promises made good to us, in an Establishment secured against future Attemts.  
I must confess I cannot wholly acquit the Convention, and other following Parliaments. I doubt all the unnecessary hazards to which we have been exposed, all our unsuccesful Undertakings, all the misgiven and misspent Treasure, all that is deficient, or left undone to the completing our Security, must in a great measure be laid to their charge. It is well known, many in Pamphlets, more ● Discourse, accuse them both of weak●ess and corruption: But they should consider that such a War was what ne●er came afore into the hands of a parliament; the dangers and difficulties suc●eeding and increasing from year to year, ●ere enough to amaze and distracted the greatest Assembly. I shall be far from ●assing so hard a judgement upon them; ●y only wish is, if they have done well, ●at they may never do otherwise; if ●ey have committed errors, the like may ●ever happen. My Ambition is their ●lory; only out of zeal to their Honor, ● shall take notice of some Complaints ●ade by others; and from myself take and liberty to say, that this ensuing Par●ment made free by a happy Peace, ●ust make the Nation so for ever, or for ●er lose their Reputation.  
This is the Time in which Parliaments ●ould exert themselves for the Nations ●appiness, and their own famed. All ●ankind have observed, this is the second ●volution unimprov'd by Parliaments the same Age; the one as ineffectual the good of England in the hands of ●triots, Whigs and Dissenters, as the ●er was in the hands of Cavaliers and ●urchmen: Which makes Men apt to ●clude, the fault lies in that part of our ●nstitution on which we most rely. And ● common reason given by all why Par●ents have mismanag'd, is, that they ● so managed themselves: They do not ●y suppose them subjected to the power ●ings, to the influence of great Men, ●he arts of old and crafty Statesmen, but accuse them now of being lead by beardless Politicians, by upstart Prentices in business, neither supported by Fortune, Dignities or Experience, and only buoyed up by projecting Insolence. If this were the case, to what are we reduced? This is not Phaeton unfortunately conducting the Horses of the Sun, but a Carrier driving Pack-horses, and Beasts of Burden, which jog on their appointed Stages for their pensions.  
The proposed limits of a Sheet, and not the Subject, confine me; and therefore I shall repeat but one Objection made to the Wisdom of our National Assemblies, which is, that the Members of a Convention freely chosen, brought together at this Revolution, and miraculously delivered from the highest Oppressions, should admit of the old Underminers of our Liberties for the new managers of Reformation: and this I may say as to their Integrity, who would have admitted of such Corrupters, but to be corrupted?  
It may very well be said to the justification of some; When there was no Government, no Ministers, no money, no privy Purse, who could influence? It must be confessed( and here is the fatal Error) if there was Corruption, it was from within: Nay it is plain, they must bribe themselves, and only with hopes and expectations; they were qualified by the Constitution to have places, every Fool was well qualified in his own thoughts, and every Knave betrayed his Trust and his Country to make himself worthy.  
Men have not only altered in our times, but Parties have changed their principles and practices: if so, what cautions can be great enough in such an Age? I come therefore to those considerations, what wise and honest Men should do in this critical juncture. I shall propose preventing physic, safe, were there no present Disease, were there no Corruption in our Land, were all upright from the Lord to the Commoner: Yet I doubt the Golden Age would not succeed, were all wise as Solomon, and after God's own heart as David; we know the follies committed by the one, the impieties by the other; let no Man depend too much upon himself, let no Government depend upon Men. Presumption is the highest Sin, and Prevention the highest Wisdom.  
I doubt not but some will think, and more will say, I have writ a tedious Preface to a very short Treatise; that without so much repetition, without enumerating so many Diseases, and times of Infection, I might sooner have given my short Receipt, which is this; Good People of England, elect those to represent you this Parliament, who most probably will secure your being truly represented for ever: in other words, Those who have Virtue enough to incapacitate themselves from any Service but that of their Country, while they take that Trust upon them.  
Now towards making such a Choice, my Instructions shall be as short as my Advice; choose Rich Men. For you may know who are Rich, and cannot know who are Honest: One you think honest may take money, but one that is rich does not want it. Let no Character of Party recommend or prejudice: Poor Whigs, poor Tories, want equally Places, and will act alike to get and keep 'em; bu● be sure if they want money much, they have not much Ambition. Therefore avoid the younger Sons of Lords, who ful● of Pride, with empty pockets, will endeavour, at the Nations cost, to become rich Commoners. It is needless to advice against those whose Actions have discovered them in foregoing Parliaments those worst of Villains, who began like Patriots, to conclude like Parasites.  
Thus I conclude, like a Quack, undertaking my Remedy shall cure all Distempers, whether they lye in the Heart o● the Brain. No matter what sort of Me● conspire, whether the bold Projects( flaming like Comets in the Sky) threate● multitudes, or whether the softer Methods( like Mines under ground) wor● hidden mischief. Such a National A●●●mbly, under the Qualifications I hav● mentioned, would repel the Bashaw, an● defeat the Courtier, and prove strong ●nough to secure us from the most dangerous Designs, those dressed up with Zea● and disguised by Improbability. Such ● Parliament would secure us from Relig●ous lewdness, Protestant Arbitrarines● and Parliamentary Slavery.  
THE END.