The claims of the people of England.

The CLAIMS of the People of ENGLAND.

IN the beginning of the preſent century, (anno 1701, 12 W. III.) a ſenſible and loyal Writer drew up a ſmall Tract of political information, which he intitled — THE CLAIMS OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND eſſayed in a Letter from the Country. But, before the Tract was printed, the Author had the ſatisfaction to hear, that the Claims, he had aſſerted, were in many reſpects eſtabliſhed by a new Act of the Parliament then ſitting; which ſeaſonable attention to the People's Rights he moſt gratefully acknowledged in a Poſtſcript to his Letter.

The Act of Settlement, by virtue of which the preſent Royal Family ſucceeded to the Crown of theſe Realms, was the Statute, which then ſo happily (in the opinion of that Writer) ſecured THE CLAIMS OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND.

It is intitled, An Act for the farther Limitation of the Crown, and better ſecuring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject; — and accordingly contains eight very excellent Articles of Limitation, agreeable to the Claims of the People of England; which, it ſeems, were enacted, with the unanimous Concurrence of both Houſes of Parliament, for the expreſs purpoſe of ſecuring our Religion, Laws, and Liberties.

One of theſe Articles ordained—"That" —all matters and things relating to the well governing of this Kingdom, which are properly cognizable in the Privy Council by the Laws and Cuſtoms of this Realm, ſhall be tranſacted there, and all Reſolutions taken thereupon ſhall be ſigned by ſuch of the Privy Council as ſhall adviſe and conſent to the ſame. This excellent proviſion would effectually prevent any ſecret Council, or Faction, from becoming efficient without Reſponſibility.

And by another of theſe Articles it was ordained — That no perſon, who has an Office, or Place of profit, under the King, or receives a Penſion from the Crown, ſhall be capable of ſerving as a Member of the Houſe of Commons. It might perhaps have been objected at that time, as well as at preſent, that ſuch a total excluſion of Placemen would withdraw from Parliament the Council and Aſſiſtance of many worthy Men in Office, (or that ought to be in Office,) whoſe parliamentary Abilities are the moſt diſtinguiſhed and eminent in the Kingdom. Yet there is and obvious anſwer to this objection, viz. That it is very eaſy for a free Parliament (if in their wiſdom they ſhall think it proper) to permit the great Officers of State, or even their Secretaries or firſt Clerks to have ſeats in Parliament, and, as Members, not only to declare their opinions, but alſo, for the better information of the Houſe, even to debate and reply upon all queſtions relating to public affairs; which might be allowed without any dangerous effect, provided they are duly reſtrained from the ſingle privilege of VOTING. The Nation by this means may have ample benefit in the exerciſe of their great and ſhining abilities, without riſque of undue influence, which cannot juſtly be attributed to mere argument, as that has no other weight or effect than what is fairly due to its merit; and any unreaſonable length of ſpeech, whenever it is uſed with an apparent intention to procraſtinate and obſtruct the intention of the Majority, may be duly reſtrained at the pleaſure of the Houſe. But otherwiſe, (i. e. without ſome due reſtriction, and, more eſpecially, without an abſolute excluſion from the power of voting,) a TREASURY BENCH, or any other BENCH OF PLACEMEN, in the Houſe of Commons, is a manifeſt ABOMINATION, utterly repugnant to all juſt Ideas of a free uninfluenced Parliament, and conſequently is highly derogatory to the honour of that Houſe!

But, as the Parliament was at that time inveſted with the dangerous unconſtitutional power of a triennial duration without Reelection, it was impoſſible that the Elected (who thereby acquired a temporary independency of the Electors, and, of courſe, too many of them, a ſeparate intereſt of their own) could long continue real Repreſentatives of the People's Claims; and, conſequently, theſe two moſt excellent proviſions againſt undue influence were unhappily repealed, a very few years afterwards, in the 4th year of Queen Anne (c. 8.) Which amply proves, that the moſt ſalutary proviſions for the Claims of the people cannot be ſecurely eſtabliſhed under triennial or ſeptennial Parliaments; and, of courſe, that the antient uſage of ſeſſional ELECTIONS is a Claim, of all others the moſt eſſentially neceſſary for our welfare.

Since the fatal repeal above mentioned, the prevalence of undue influence hath ſo rapidly and enormouſly increaſed, that the ever-loyal Citizens of London thought it their duty, in the year 1770, to bear teſtimony againſt it; and accordingly they aſſerted, in a public declaration to the King himſelf, that "the" (then) Houſe of Commons did NOT repreſent the people. Repreſentatives of the People are eſſential to the making of Laws, and there is a Time when it is morally demonſtrable that Men ceaſe to be Repreſentatives. That Time is now arrived. THE PRESENT HOUSE OF COMMONS DO NOT REPRESENT THE PEOPLE. —Addreſs of the Mayor, Aldermen, &c. of the City of London, 1770.

Subſequent Facts have demonſtrated the abſolute neceſſity we are now under to claim and promote an unequivocal abolition of all undue Influence in Parliament.

Meaſures, the moſt unrighteous, as well as the moſt ruinous that could have been deviſed, have been adopted and carried on under a pretended ſanction of parliamentary Authority, This muſt of courſe be underſtood to refer (if you pleaſe) only to former Parliaments that began the Miſchief, whoſe pretended Sanction had more of the Name than the Reality of parliamentary Authority, if a real Repreſentation of the Commons be at all eſſential to conſtitute a true legal Parliament.

The Repreſentatives are choſen by a very ſmall Proportion of the People, and even that ſmall Proportion of People is ſo monſtrouſly unequal in their power of delegation, that the ſmall Number of 5723 Borough Voters elect 254 Repreſentatives, which is very near half the Number of Repreſentatives that are due to ſix Millions of People, and more than half, or a Majority, of the Numbers that are ever known to attend at any one Time. The INJUSTICE of ſuch an enormous Diſproportion in the Repreſentation of the whole People cannot be parallelled by any other groſs Abſurdity, except THE INIQUITY of rendering that diſproportionate Repreſentation ſtill more contemptible and nugatory by SEPTENNIAL or (what were nearly as pernicious) TRIENNIAL, inſtead of the ancient conſtitutional Uſage of SESSIONAL, ELECTIONS.

which have involved both King and People (whoſe true intereſts are inſeparable) in the moſt alarming difficulties: and the oſtenſible Agents in the miſchief have obſtinately perſevered to the utmoſt extenſion of ability, until public Diſaſters, and a happy preventive incapacity of their own, (their Heads and Funds being equally exhauſted of council and reſource,) have compelled them to make a temporary retreat; though the numerous Corps of Placemen, Penſioners, Contractors, &c. occaſionally procured them a ſhameful Majority almoſt to the laſt!

Hence it is evident that the Corruption of Parliament is the real ſource of all our national calamities and grievances, which cannot therefore be relieved by a mere change of Miniſtry.

The Minority in Parliament hath once before, in the memory of moſt men, become the Majority; and the worthy Oppoſers of bad meaſures were indulged with a temporary adminiſtration of public Affairs, until the ſecret efficient Cabinet could recover from the ſurpriſe and diſmay of their former defeat in Parliament, and, by a renewed exertion of their undue influence, were able to ſhackle the new Adminiſtration with the rueful alternative, either to abandon their newly-acquired dignities, or elſe to adopt ſuch meaſures as muſt effectually deprive them of the people's confidence; after which they were contemptuouſly compelled (one by one, or as it might beſt ſuit the purpoſes of the reigning ſyſtem of undue influence) to yield up their places for the emolument of the more pliant creatures of the ſecret faction.

It would be madneſs for Engliſhmen, after ſuch galling experience, to neglect their juſt and indiſpenſible Claim to ſome immediate and effectual precaution againſt ſimilar deluſions. To truſt another new Adminiſtration, without inſiſting at the ſame time on a conſtitutional limitation of power, by a free uninfluenced Repreſentation of the Commons, may be dangerous to our very exiſtence as an independent Kingdom!

The reduced circumſtances of the Nation cannot admit the riſque of another ſuch credulous experiment!

It is therefore become abſolutely neceſſary, for the ſecurity both of King and People, (which includes the true intereſt of all parties,) that the juſt "Claims of the People" be ſatisfied in an immediate Reſtoration of the antient legal and reſponſible Government, by a Revival of the two repealed Articles of the Act of Settlement, above recited, and by a Revival alſo of that moſt excellent Statute for SESSIONAL PARLIAMENTS, paſſed in the 4th of K. Ed. III. c. 14. declaring, "that a Parliament" (meaning a newly-elected Parliament, as the writs of thoſe times inconteſtably demonſtrate) ſhall be holden every year once, and more often if need be. But this indiſpenſible Right and Claim of the People (for the Act itſelf is no more than an authentic Declaration, or Acknowledgement, of an antient Right) cannot have complete effect without totally repealing an Act of the 8th year of K. Hen. VI. (cap. vii.) which, on falſe pretences, (whereby it is rendered unworthy the title and dignity of a Statute,) diſfranchiſed at once by far the greateſt part of the Engliſh Nation, by robbing them of their BIRTHRIGHT,In the Act of Settlement, by virtue of which the preſent King ſits on the Throne, it is declared, that the Laws of England are the Birthright of the people thereof: and, according to an antient Maxim of the Common Law, this our Birthright in the Laws is to be eſteemed our moſt valuable inheritance, ſuperior to every other Denomination of PROPERTY. Major Haereditas unicuique venit a jure et legibus quam a parentibus. Lord Coke ſays it — is the beſt Birthright the ſubject hath; for thereby his Goods, Lands, Wife, Children, his Body, Life, Honour and Eſtimation, are protected from injury and wrong: and then he cites the maxim— "Major Haereditas, &c. 2 Inſt. p. 56. An Act of Parliament, therefore, which ſets up an inferior and mere pecuniary property as the object of repreſentation, not only in preference, but to the total excluſion of that ſuperior property, or perſonal Right, which ought to be eſteemed the moſt valuable inheritance, or BEST BIRTHRIGHT the ſubject hath, &c. is ſuch a malum in ſo, ſuch an iniquitous contempt and infringement of Common Right, againſt Reaſon and Juſtice, and againſt the expreſs declaration of a fundamental principle of the Engliſh Conſtitution, 〈◊〉 cannot fail to render the Act null and void in itſelf, if the People will but unite in maintaining this juſt and legal plea againſt it; for which they have ample authority. See Doctor and Student, c. 10. wherein it is declared, that Statutes cannot exiſt againſt REASON or the LAW DIVINE,— nec contra RATIONEM, nec contra LEGEM divinam exiſtant: for the execrable iniquity abovementioned is ſurely againſt both; and therefore as theſe two Laws (the Law of Reaſon and the Law of God) cannot abate or turn aſide, — Hae duae Leges declinari non poſſunt, (ib. c. 17.) it is manifeſt that the unjuſt Act is utterly unworthy to be named a Statute, and muſt needs be void, Plowden has reported a variety of caſes, wherein Acts of Parliament were eſteemed void in Law through the want of truth in the recitals. See pages 398 to 400. (Sharp's Declaration, p. 237.) Which legal diſqualification is obvious in the preamble to the Act in queſtion. as it cannot otherwiſe be eſteemed than a mere corruption, (or corruptela,) according to the expreſs direction of the ſame approved Author in his 2d ch. — viz. — Againſt this Law, (i. e. the Law of Reaſon,) preſcription, STATUTE, nor cuſtom, may not prevail; and, if any be brought in againſt it, they be not preſcriptions, STATUTES, nor Cuſtoms, but CORRUPTIONS, (CORRUPTELAE,) things VOID and againſt Juſtice. — Doct. et Stud. Eng. ed. 1668, p. 5. the ineſtimable Right of voting for Repreſentatives in Parliament, without which they cannot properly be eſteemed Freemen, becauſe the Laws, their BIRTHRIGHT and moſt valuable Property, may be changed, ſuſpended, or entirely withdrawn from them, without their conſent; whereas, in antient times, they enjoyed not only the privilege of voting, in plen Countie, (i. e. the full County-court or Parliament of each County,) for the Knights of the Shire, but frequently alſo for the Citizens and Burgeſſes, elected in their reſpective Counties; whereby the Equality of Repreſentation was then preſerved; and may again be happily reſtored by ſome ſuch equitable mode of transferring the repreſentation of depopulated or notoriouſly venal Boroughs to the Deciſion of their reſpective County courts. Which method of equaliſing Repreſentation deſerves preference to all others, becauſe it is not liable to the odious charge of innovation, but, on the contrary, is authenticated by long-continued uſage and legal Precedents of ancient times: and the ſame may be ſaid of all the other changes already recommended in this Addreſs.

By theſe approved and tried means, the juſt claims of the people may be amply, as well as eaſily, eſtabliſhed; and the happy effects of ſuch a perfect Reformation would be ſecurity and ſupport to any virtuous Adminiſtration: for it would prevent their juſt meaſures from being impeded and clogged by the ſecret machinations of any private Cabal, or Cabinet Faction, that might otherwiſe be efficient without Reſponſibility; and it would alſo exclude the intereſted oppoſition of needy unprincipled perſons, who at preſent can introduce themſelves into P—l—m—t (if they can but find credit for the purchaſe-money) merely for the purpoſes of private intereſt! a Trade as diſhonourable to themſelves as it is baneful to the Nation; for the Repreſentation of many Boroughs is now commonly eſteemed a mere pecuniary property, and, as ſuch, has in many inſtances been either notoriouſly bought and ſold; or elſe is holden at the abſolute diſpoſal of ſingle Individuals, (Peers and other overgrown Landholders,) for the dangerous purpoſe of enhancing their own perſonal conſequence! An "undue Influence" this (in whatſoever hands it is lodged) that is moſt deteſtably diſgraceful to the Nation as well as fundamentally derogatory to the validity of every legiſlative Reſolution! and, what is ſtill more alarming, will completely ruin the Kingdom, if the conſtitutional Remedies here propoſed are not ſpeedily adopted.

London, March 23, 1782. A LOYAL ENGLISHMAN.