Object of her Majefty's Favour and Encouragement. This, Sir, is the Pafs we are brought to, and this is the Freedom of Speech you are pleased to ask för at the Opening of this Seffion, and which of Right belongs to every Member of this House. I remember the Time, when fuch Reftraints as thefe would not have been fuffered or endured, but we are under arbitrary minifterial Power; and if ever there was an Inftance of it, it is in this that is now before us: But' how great foever the Difcouragements are to Freedom of Speech, I think myfelf obliged, as an English Gentleman, who never will comply with an arbi-trary Miniftry; as a Member of this Houfe, who has been always zealous to fupport the Conftitution of Parliaments; as a Neighbour to this Borough in the Cafe now before us; to speak my Mind with that Warmth I used to do, when the Liberties of my Country, or any Part of it seem to be touched. For though the Injury may be felt by one fingie Man, or one fingle Society of Men; yet the Terror, the Concern, and the Confequence of it, reaches unto all. We have had a Fact this Day of dangerous Tendency laid before us, of a new Charter forced upon an ancient Corporation, at the fingle Inftance of a noble Lord, without a Surrender of the old, contrary to Law, to Reason, and the Rights of the Members thereof; which they refused to accept, as being inconfiftent with their former Charter of King James I. and, as they conceived, void in itself; fince it is impoffible for two Charters, any more than two Grants, or two Leafes, to have a Being at the fame Time. Ever fince the Revolution, every thing has been tranfacted in this Corporation purfuant to the Charter of James I. the Right of the Bailiff and Burgeffes affirmed by Judgment in the Queen's-Bench, until this new Corporation was erected by this unprecedented* Charter, which the old was fo far from confenting fhould pafs, that they oppofed it, by entering Caveats in all the Offices, and by fhewing that it was contrary to her Majesty's Intention expreffed in the Warrant.

Thus, Mr. Speaker, have you feen the Prerogative inlarged and extended far-· ther, I will be bold to fay, than it was in the unhappy Reign before the Revõlution. Every Gentleman remembers how highly Things of this Nature were refented in King James's Time, when Court Arts were ufed to wheedle and terrify Boroughs into a Surrender of their Charters, and when they found that Method would not do, they endeavoured to take them away under Colour of legal Procefs, by bringing Quo Warranto's against them: This was then thought! dangerous to the Conftitution; and very well it might, for the People of England could expect no other Fruit from fuch a Proceeding, but that this Houfe would be filled with Men of the Army, with Men of defperate and broken Fortunes, with Penfioners, with Vaffals of the Court, with Slaves of the Ministry, and with all thofe fervile fort of Gentlemen that can give with one Hand to receive with the other, and thereby betray thofe they reprefent to arbitrary Power: But this Inftance now before us is more new and dangerous, than taking away Charters by Surrender or Que Warranto's; thofe Methods made fome Noife, alarm'd the free People of England, and you fee what became of it. But this is a quicker, a more filent Method of doing it, which, like white Powder, deftroys the Liberty of the People, and fubverts the Conftitution of this House without Noife or Notice. I beg, Gentlemen, you would confider all the Circumstances

with

with which this Charter was attended, and I am fure you can't reflect upon them without Grief. Firft, as to the Time, you have heard, Sir, how the great Seal of England was affixed to this Charter upon the Twenty-fecond of April, 1708, the very fame Day there was an Order made in Council to iffue out Writs for calling this Parliament; in this critical Juncture was this Corporation erected, I will not fcruple faying, to ferve the arbitrary Defigns of thofe who are afraid of a free Election, who are afraid of a free and, uninfluenced Parliament: Such a Parliament would fcorn to flatter great Men, would inquire into Mifcarriages, and punish fuch as are faulty; would call thofe Minifters to Account who fhould prevail with the QUEEN to turn Men of Ability and Confideration out of Place and Employment, for acting upon Principles of Honour and Confcience, and doing their Duty in this Houle. Another evil Confequence with which this Charter is attendel, is, that fo many new Electors and a new returning Officer are created by it, to the Infringement of the Liberty of the Subject, and making all Elections, in a manner, depend upon the Will of the Prince. 1 hope, Gentlemen, you will feriously confider this Matter, that you will lay afide all Thoughts of Party in this Caufe; for if it be in the Power of the Crown to diffolve old Corporations and erect new, in fo exorbitant a Manner, we may bid adieu to Liberty and Property, and to all that has coft us fo much Blood and Treasure to maintain and defend; there will be no Difference then between a Parliament of Great-Britain and a Parliament of Paris.

I hope, once more, Gentlemen, you will feriously confider how much the Honour and Justice of this House are concerned in the Determination of the Case now before you: The Eyes of the People have been for fome time opened; they will obferve, they will judge of our Votings in this Cafe, and do expect from us, as we have put a Stop to unjuft and exorbitant Power abroad, that we should neither fuffer nor endure it at home.

The THOUGHTS of an HONEST TORY, upon the prefent Proceedings of that PARTY: In a Letter to a Friend in Town. 1710.

Y

OU know, my Friend, that I take a great deal of Pleasure in communicating my Thoughts to you, efpecially when they are fuch as lie heavy upon my Mind. I cannot forbear giving myself this Relief, and you are always fo kind as to esteem it the Part of Friendship to bear with me in it. I need not tell you, that my Sentiments in Matters relating both to Church and State have been ever conformable to your own. The fame Fears, the fame Hopes, the fame Joys, the fame Sorrows, have been hitherto entertained by us both. But I know not how it is; I cannot by any Means enter into the Mea fures of your laft Letter, nor by any Means receive that Satisfaction from fome Appearances, which you feem to have received. Whether it be that your clofer Converfation with fome Perfons of refined Politicks in Town hath a little alter'd

your Soul from that Regard to Right and Just, which feem'd once inflexibly to poffefs it; or that the Quiet and Compofure of my Country Seat gives me more Leifure and Inclination to melancholly Reflections; or what the Reason is, I am not able to fay.

The Day is our own, you tell me; we are just now coming into Play again. The Credit of the Ministry is gone: The Reputation of the Whigs funk to nothing: There are those who have fatisfied her Majefty, that we are her true Friends; that the House of Commons must be diffolved; a total Alteration made; and the like. How this would once have rejoiced my Heart, I need not tell you. But I confefs, a Walk or two in my Garden, and a Thought or two upon the Matter, hath made me at prefent entertain but too melancholly Apprehenfions concerning this Piece of News. If you will give me Leave to fpeak my Mind freely, as I used to do, I will own to you that I am quite fick at the Review of the Methods our Friends have used to gain this happy Profpect,. and at the Confequences which at this Time prefent themselves to my Thoughts. Honour obtain'd by dishonourable Means muft end in Dishonour: And Honour obtain'd by fhaking the publick Happiness is only a more vifible Difgrace. These are my Maxims which recur perpetually to my Mind at this Time.

A little Patience might have made way for our Friends, without that Load of Infamy which muft now stick to our Caufe, till it hath eaten into it, and confumed it. You and others, I find, fondly imagine, that the late Trial, and our Management upon it, have laid the Foundation of our Reign. But I fear, my Friend, that when the whole Matter comes to be fedately confider'd, both the Trial, our Management, and the Man who was the Occafion of all, will hang, like a Millstone about the Neck of our Caufe, till it is funk lower than ever it hath yet been. I know feveral confiderate Perfons in our Parts, who were a little wavering before, now entirely confirm'd that the Tories care not if the Affairs of Europe be entirely confounded, fo their perfonal Ends be answered; and that no Methods are too bad for them to encourage and make ufe of. And between Friends, a little more of the like Management cannot but alienate myself from a Cause which I have hitherto been heartily engaged in. You know, that though I am for the Church, I am for Religion too; and though I join with the Tories, yet I took Oaths with a fincere Defign of being faithful to them; and therefore you will not wonder, if I look with Grief upon fome Proceedings.

What Defence fhall we make for raising a Mob, upon the foremention'd Occafion, Wherever we could? It cannot be palliated, it cannot be denied. To eaft it now upon the other Party, is only adding to the Wickedness: And to do it, as fome of our Friends do, even whilft themselves are boafting of having the Mob against the Whigs, is too grofs and bare-faced a Contradiction. I have, to my Grief, heard feveral glorying in it and I am myself Witnefs, that no Care was on our Side taken to fupprefs it; but a great deal to hinder the Punishment of any who were concerned in it. If ever there can be fuch a Thing as Rebellion againft Queen, Lords, and Commons; this may justly be fo accounted. And this is our Glory, which ought to be our Skame! What fhall we fay to the infults made upon the Sentence pafs'd, by Bonfires, Illuminations, riotous Assemblies, encouraged, or connived at amongst us univerfally? When it is afked, are these

the

the Men who are crying out upon others as the Promoters of Rebellion? Are these the Paffrue, the Submiffive Difciples of the Cross? What shall be answered to the Adverfaries? You know what my Opinion hath always been of the other Side ; but I must own, that my Reading will not furnish me with a Parallel, nor can I fay that they have ever, upon fo flight an Occasion (a Man judicially call'd to Account) fhewn fo turbulent and feditious a Spirit. And put the Cafe that at this Time they had been as ready to return Injuries, as others to offer them, and as defirous of fomenting Disturbances, as we have ufually thought them; what must have been the Event, but fomething terrible and bloody? Something which I cannot, without Horror, think of? But it seems our Methods, which I used to think open, honeft, and generous, muft now be wholly alter'd. Nothing is bad, fo it be for a good End: Nothing to be balk'd that can ferve a Purpose. Nor hath our great Management ftopt at these Tumults, and Infults upon the whole Legislature, by which we have fhewn our Valour to our Conftitution. If all the Profelytes we have gain'd, and all the ignorant Men and Women we have fpirited up for us, on this Occafion, by Lyes and Calumnies, by perfonal undeferved Praises and undeferved Abuses, were taken away, I fear the Remainder would be very inconfiderable. The Man, who is now, it feems, made our Champion, we both agree, is not more hated by one Side, than he is heartily defpifed by the other. For my own Part, I have heard fuch a Character of him, that I never defire to have to do with him. Our Friends, indeed, pay him, as they would do a Fidler, that plays the Tune that is call'd for, and helps forward a Country-Dance; and they seem inwardly to value him as much as they do fuch a one. You know in the House of Commons they did not think fit to fay one Word in his Behalf, or in the Behalf of his Sermon. In the House of Lords, it was pleaded by them, that the Sermon was incoberent Nonfenfe, and he that could preach it, little better than mad; and this was thought the beft that it was proper to fay for him. All the World knows, he was not to be trufted with the Management of his own Caufe, or with any Thing but the speaking fuch Words as were put into his Mouth. And yet to this Man we muft wifely tack our Fortunes. The Church of England, nay, the whole Church of Chrift, Christianity itself must be made dependent upon his Fate. His Pictures, his Caufe, must be made our Tools. Who would not envy us fuch honourable Inftruments? He is now, I hear, in his Progrefs, propagating bis Gospel, making his Triumphant Entries into our Cities, receiving the obfequious Homage of adoring Crowds, and difpenfing his Bleffings amongst them. I fuppofe, quickly we shall have a Map of our Apostle's Travels, as there are of the others; and Propofals for setting. up his Statues in all Market-Places, and his Picture in all Parish-Churches. Hath be not a Friend left in the World to recall him, for his own Sake? Or, hath not our Party one left to ftop his Career, before he grows too ridiculous, even to be a Tool any longer? And is all our Argument, and Reafon, dwindled into this? Have we nothing to fay for ourselves but by fuch a Mouth, and fuch a prevailing Figure? In my Confcience, I think it a Seafon for us to mourn, instead of rejoicing, if this be fo. The Man himself will fink us in Time.

And then, what fhall we fay of that numerous Train of Lyes and Calumnies, which our Agents, with Applause, scatter abroad through the whole Country 3

especially

efpecially a News-writer, J. Dr, whom, however fome may think of him, I cannot but esteem the greatest Infamy belonging to our Party. Juftice is due to all Men. You may remember what a barefaced Lye he told us about Dr. Weft's Sermon on the 30th of January: What Reprefentations he hath made of Matters fince, which we knew to be otherwife; and jufl now (what toucheth my Temper as tenderly as any Thing) he hath been infulting Mi. Dolben's Death, to make God's Hand in a particular Manner upon him; and confidently attributed that to him, which I fince know, from thofe who attended him on his Death-bed, to be a notorious Falfbood. Numberlefs are the Luftances of this.Nature: So many of late, that I have had a Sufpicion thete fix Months, that the Whigs give him a Penfion to ruin us, under Pretence of ferving us, by his fcandalous Lyes and Calumnies.

Our Addreffes, I own, make as deep an Impreffion of Melancholly upon my Mind. Shall 1, becaufe I differ from Men in other Things, prefently go and reprefent to her Majefty, and infinuare that they are Republicans, whom I know in my Confcience to be otherwife; that they are not Churchmen, whom I know to be fo; or that they have Defigns, which I cannot prove ever to have entered into their Heads? And fhall I fo far forget myself, as to declare that Right to be the best Right, which I myself have abjured for the future? All the Pofts and Offices, in all the Kingdoms of this World, are not worthy of one fuch Inftance of Foul-play. I cannot forbear doing Juftice to all, and acting the Part of a generous Enemy, as well as an honeft Man. I afk'd one great Man, who brought me an Addrefs to fign, whether he could name one fingle Perfon of any Remark among the Whigs, who defires our prefent Conftitution may be changed into a Republick; whether as great Friends as any we have had not openly own'd Paffive Obedience to be a limited Duty; whether that which we ourselves own to be true, fhould be made Matter of Reproach to others; whether our Cause could not be better fupported without Lyes and Calumnies, and the like. I found he could name no fuch Republican; and as for the Doctrine of Non-refiftance, he frankly own'd between Friends, that he believed all were of a Mind about it, and that none would practise it in Cafes of Extremity. He added, that by Hereditary Right he for his Part meant no more than Hereditary Right according to that Act which excludes Papifts, and confequently deftroys Hereditary Right; but that these Terms would ferve as well as any in the World to break another Intereft, and to keep up a Diftinction where there was no Difference. I could not forbear anfwering him, that I detefted Popish Principles, and detefted Republican Principles: But at this Time found my Deteftation to rife highest against those falfe Friends, who were now bringing an indelible Difgrace upon a good Caufe, by Jefuitical and Diabolical Methods. He feem'd to pity my Honefty, and fo took Leave. As foon as he was gone, good God! thought I, to what a Height shall we come at laft, and where will fuch Proceedings end? Our Caufe may be carried indeed for the present by fuch Methods: But what Caufe can long fubfift by them? If we could not hold it, when we came regularly, and by the voluntary Favour of our Princefs, into the Pofts and Trufts of the Nation; how fhall we be able to hold it, when we come to them under a Burthen of fuch Infamy and Dishonour, as will one Day or other appear in due Light, to the Generality of the Nation?

And,