THE annual Election of your Repreſentatives drawing nigh, and the Importance of a good Election, being greater than is generally imagin'd, (nothing leſs than the civil Salvation of the People depending upon the ſame) has induced me, together with the Requeſt of many of your Friends, to lay before you, the Neceſſity of uſing the greateſt Care in your ſeveral Elections, not only from the great Danger of a bad One at all Times, but alſo from the preſent Circumſtances of the Province.

In order to comply with this their Requeſt, and to ſet before you the Danger you and your Posterity are brought into by a bad Election; I have publiſh'd this Letter, in which I have made uſe of ſome Helps from Cato's Letters, which were wrote upon the glorious Cauſe of Liberty, and have been juſtly regarded by all wiſe Men of every Party; and therefore, what is done here in Imitation of thoſe valuable Letters, cannot be judged to be factious, or againſt the Intereſt of the Publick.

But, however ſome may receive this, I am ſure, every true Lover of his Country, (who has Honeſty and Wiſdom enough to refuſe any Bribe offered him as an Equivalent for the leaſt Priviledge of his Country) will approve of it, and govern himſelf accordingly in voting.

Gentlemen,

You are born to Liberty, as you are Engliſh Men, and as you are Deſcendents of the firſt worthy Setlers of this Country, who purchaſed their and your Liberties, at the moſt invaluable Price of their Blood and Treaſure; it is therefore your Intereſt, and your Duty to Poſterity, to preſerve them entire, without ſuffering the leaſt Breach to be made on them.

The Conſtitution, which you live under, is an Epitome of a mixed Monarchy, where your Governors have every Right to protect and defend you; none to injure or oppreſs you. You have a large Share in the Legiſlature; you have the ſole Power over your Purſes: But it depends upon yourſelves alone, to make theſe Rights of your's, theſe noble Priviledges of Uſe to you. And in order to make this plain to you, I ſhall recount ſome of the Priviledges you enjoy by your Charter, and ſhew what a Part you have in the Government; as the End of it is, and ought to be, wholly for your Advantage.

The Charter ordains, that you ſhall have a General Aſſembly, convened, held and kept, every laſt Wedneſday in May, which ſhall conſiſt of the Governor and Council for the Time being, and of ſuch Freeholders, as ſhall be elected and deputed from time to time, by the major Part of the Freeholders, and other Inhabitants qualified to vote in that Choice, preſent at ſuch Election. This General Aſſembly, at their firſt Meeting, proceed to elect twenty eight Councellors; after which Election, they proceed to make what Laws may be neceſſary for the publick Good, to raiſe what Moneys may be neceſſary to ſupport the Government, in defending and protecting you this is the ſole Priviledge of your Repreſentatives. To levy and aſſeſs reaſonable Taxes and Aſſeſſments upon your Poles and Eſtates, is another Priviledge of your Repreſentatives. The General Aſſembly have the Right of diſpoſing of the waſte Lands. The Conſent of your Repreſentatives is abſolutely neceſſary in all Acts of Government, and many of them muſt originate in the Houſe, eſpecially thoſe material Articles of ſupplying the Treaſury and taxing the People.

By this you may ſee the great Share you have in the Government, having at leaſt two Branches of the Ligiſlature (who have all the Moneys and other Advantages in their Power) which are appointed by your Election. Your Repreſentatives (who are immediately of your Appointment) are the Truſtees of your Liberties, who, if they give up, or are inclined to give up any the leaſt of them, you have it in your Power, the next Year, to chooſe more faithful Men in their Room; and ſuch Repreſentatives will chooſe ſuch Councellors, and then all will be well. For not only good Care will be taken, that no Laws but ſuch as are for your Good and Welfare ſhall be enacted; but alſo, that none be truſted with the Execution of them, except thoſe who have Competent Underſtanding and Integrity. Such a General Aſſembly (which depends upon your Election of Repreſentatives) will be very tender of the leaſt Priviledge, and will keep a proper Guard upon encroaching Prerogative. They will be able properly to diſtinguiſh between the invaluable Priviledges granted by Charter, and the Inſtructions given to a Governour, and will know they have no Buſineſs with Inſtructions (except from the People) and that any Compliance with an Inſtruction which is contrary to the Charter, is a traiterous giving up the Liberties of their Country, and an Abuſe upon his Majeſty. For although it be one of the wiſe and prudent Maxims of the Engliſh Government, 'That no Blame or Wrong be imputed to the King'; it is alſo another, 'That no Wrong be done to the People'. They will know, that the only Rule of their Government ought to be your Good, and that they are inviolably obliged to keep a watchful Eye upon your Charter, as their Directory, and to ſee that no Infraction be made on it. That being your Conſtitution, from ſuch a Behaviour in your Legiſlature, you may naturally expect, his Majeſty's Council (who conſtitute the middle Branch) will, in giving their Conſent to the Appointment of civil Officers, be actuated by the ſame good Principles, they were, as a Branch of the Legiſlature; and conſequently, they will not conſent to the Appointment of an unqualified Perſon to an executive Office in the Government, nor to the Removal of any Judge, unleſs he has been guilty of Malefeazance in his Office. It was (Gentlemen,) one of the material Bleſſings obtained at the happy Revolution, that the Tenour of the Judges Commiſſions in England, ſhould be altered, from during Pleaſure, to, ſo long as they behave well. The Crown having the Power of creating and removing Judges at Pleaſure, was found by fatal Experience, to be one of the greateſt Misfortunes the Nation laboured under; the Law being always expounded in Favour of the Crown, from whence aroſe the Doctrines of diſpenſing Power, the Forfeitures of Charters, and many other ſlaviſh ones, deſtructive of Liberty, which produced the Nation's Delivery from Slavery by King William of immortal Memory; who reſtored to our Forefathers their Priviledges, that they loſt in the common Calamity of thoſe Times, which ſo much endeared that glorious Deliverer to thoſe Worthies, that there was not then, as there ſcare is now, a Jacobite to be found in the whole Province; ſo that we can vie with any of his Majeſty's Subjects for Loyalty.

You have here ſeen ſome ſmall Sketch of your happy Conſtitution by the Charter, which confirms to you all the Priviledges of Engliſh Men; and as a Reward for your Anceſtors great Merit in ſetling this Country, adds many others, giving you a larger in the Government, than the People in England have. The Improvement of which depends upon you wholly; for to preſerve your Liberties, they muſt be kept up in their whole Strength. And to this End▪ it lies upon you to chooſe for your Repreſentatives, Men that will be really ſuch; Men that you can't ſuppoſe will be ignorant or careleſs of your Intereſts; or what is much worſe, that will act quite contrary to them.

For Names (Gentlemen,) will not defend you, when the Thing ſignified by them is gone. The Emperors of Rome were as abſolute with the Shew of a Senate, and the Appearance of the People's chooſing their Praetors, Tribunes, and other Officers of the Common Wealth, as the Eaſtern Monarchs are now, without theſe ſeeming Checks, and this Shew of Liberty; and in ſome Reſpects, they were more ſecure; as the Infamy of their Tyranny was ſhared by thoſe Aſſemblies, the Advantages were all their own, and the Condition of the People was rather worſe for theſe mock Magiſtrates, and pretended Repreſentatives; who, under the Colour and Title of the Protectors of the People, were, at the People's Expence, the real Helpers and Partakers of the Iniquity of the Tyrant. The Kings of France have Parliaments, but Parliaments which dare not diſpute their Royal Pleaſure; and the poor People would not fare one Jot the better, if theſe Parliaments were bribed not to diſpute it.

This wretched Caſe, Gentlemen, will be yours, and the wretched Caſe of your Poſterity, if ever an ambitious or deſigning Governour ſhall, hereafter be able to corrupt or awe your Repreſentatives. And whatever wicked Bargains are then made, will be made at your Expence, and you muſt pay the terrible Reckoning at laſt. It requires therefore your beſt Tho'ts, and moſt vigorous Reſolutions, to preſerve your Conſtitution entire in all its Parts, without ſuffering any one Part to prevail ſo far over the other, as to reduce it in Effect, tho' not in Name, to a ſimple Form of Government, which is always Tyranny. It will be immaterial to you, whether this is brought about by Confederacy, or by Force; by Knaves, or Fools; whatever be the villainous Means, Violence, Oppreſſion, and every Rank of Evil will be the End. Wherefore, with an honeſt and generous Deſign of ſaving your Country, you ought to chooſe Repreſentatives, whoſe Intereſts are at preſent the ſame with your own, and likely to continue the ſame. Repreſentatives, who are not already pre-engaged, nor, from their Circumſtances, Profeſſion, Offices, and Manner of Life, are likely to be engaged in a contrary Intereſt. He will prove but a ſorry Advocate, who takes Fees from your Adverſary; and as indifferent a Plenipotentiary, who receivs a Penſion from the Prince, whom, he is commiſſioned to treat with▪ Nor can there be any Security in the Fidelity of One, who can find it more his Intereſt to betray you, than to ſerve you faithfully. Vertue and Vice will be but ill ballanced, when Profits and Honours are thrown into the wrong Scale. A great Protestant Peer of France, having changed his Religion, in Compliance with his Maſter Henry the 4th of France, who had changed too, was ſoon after asked by that Monarch publickly, which of the two Religions he thought the beſt? The Protestant, Sir, undoubtedly, ſaid the Peer, by your own royal Confeſſion, ſince in Exchange for it, your Majesty has given me Popery and a Marſhal's Staff to Boot. Where Boot is given, there is always a tacit Confeſſion that the Exchange is unequal without it. Chooſe not therefore ſuch, who are likely to truck away your Liberties, for an Equivalent to themſelves.

It is the Right and Duty of the Electors, to examine into the Conduct, and to know the Opinions and Intentions of thoſe, who offer themſelves to their Choice. And (if they have ſerved before) the beſt Way to form a Judgment of their preſent Views and Deſigns, is to ſurvey their paſt Behaviour, when in Office. How can any of you be truly repreſented, when you know not the Sentiments of thoſe who repreſent you? It is ſtill your happy Lott, that you have frequent Means and Opportunities to reſent effectually the Corruption of thoſe, who have baſely betray'd their ſacred Truſt, and ſlighted with an inſolent Scorn and Contempt, your prudent Inſtructions, given for the Preſervation of your Liberties; admit no ſuch Man to be ſo much as a Candidate again, nor indeed any Man to be a Candidate, until he has declared in the moſt explicit and ſolemn Manner, his moſt hearty Regard for your invaluable Liberties, and his fixt Reſolution to preſerve the ſame, and withſtand any Attempts to deſtroy them.

This, Gentlemen, is your Time, — which if you ſuffer to be loſt, may be forever loſt. Chooſe not therefore thoſe, who would bribe you, with getting you made diſtinct Pariſhes and Praecincts, or with obtaining any other ſeparate Advantage for you, becauſe, you may depend upon it, the Purchaſe of this Favour for you, muſt coſt you very dear, for they muſt give a Quid for your Quo. And if, in order to get this Favour for you, and to eſtabliſh his Intereſt with you, your Repreſentative ſhould, by his Vote, (which is probable) gain a Compliance with an Inſtruction diametrically oppoſite to the Charter, or do any other Damage to the Publick; upon duly ſtating the Accompt, you'l find yourſelves upon the Ballance great Loſers, having ſuffered more in the publick Loſs, than you have gained by your private Advantage. And Hiſtory furniſhes us with numberleſs Examples of the greateſt and heavieſt Misfortunes falling upon thoſe and their Families, who have given up the Liberties of their Country, in order to gain a private Advantage, that being very inſecure under an arbitrary Adminiſtration.

Chooſe not thoſe, who are in Confederacy with the Diſpoſers of civil and military Honours, by which Means, ſome have been able to carry almoſt all their Points in the Houſe, a few Years paſt. For you may depend upon it, they can't act as free Agents; and what the Conſequence of that in a few Years will be, you may judge from what has already happen'd to you. By this, you find Laws enacted without this eſſential Clauſe in them, viz. Any Law, Uſage, or Cuſtom to the contrary notwithſtanding; which is a repealing Clauſe: But this is left out, becauſe, the Governour has an Inſtruction to conſent to no repealing Act whatever; which is depriving you of one of your beſt Privileges, being nothing leſs, than taking from the General Aſſembly the whole legiſlative Power granted them by the royal Charter; for it ever will be a fundamental Maxim in Politicks, —That the ſame Power which can enact, can either alter or abrogate: —According to which, If our General Aſſembly have no Power to repeal, they never had a Power to enact; from whence it will neceſſarily follow, That our whole Body of Laws are ipſo facto, null and void. This mean Compliance with Inſtructions, is the Root and Foundation of all your heavy Sufferings, and may yet produce worſe and more heavy; whereas an honeſt Non-compliance with an Inſtruction, which infringes upon your Liberties, will be a conſiderable Security to them, by being never troubled with it again, unleſs now and then by Way of Scarecrow, as you have been with the Inſtruction for fixing the Salary.

You are Freemen, and Men of Reaſon and Spirit; awaken your Spirit, exert your Reaſon, and aſſert your Freedom. You have a Right to Petition the General Aſſembly, to propoſe your Thoughts and Grievances to them, to be heard and relieved when you ſuffer any.

Chooſe not the Gentlemen of the Militia; for altho' it may be objected, That they are not ſo dependant, as the Gentlemen of the Army in England, becauſe they receive no Pay; yet remember their Duty, together with thoſe Darlings, their military Honour and Power, depend upon obeying the Word of Command, as well as the Officers of the regular Troops. And it is well known, That Power and Honour have a greater Influence upon moſt Men than Money. Becauſe, Coveteouſneſs is a Vice, that even the Miſer himſelf would have the World believe he deſpiſes; whereas, Power and Honour are allowed to be admired by all. Your military Officers have conſiderable Power lodged in their Hands, more in ſome Reſpects, than is proper and convenient for your Intereſt, to entruſt many of them with. And this has been conſiderably augmented by the new Law paſſed by the laſt General Court, for raiſing the military Fines, threefold.

Chooſe not thoſe Officers who depend upon Fees, becauſe, as you now have two Sorts of Money paſſing, and the Bills of the old Tenor, extant, are to be called in by the Year 1741, and no other Money is to be paſſing (unleſs the next General Aſſembly take Care of you) except that of the new Tenor: You may depend upon it, the Officers will endeavour that no new Regulation ſhall be made of their Fees to prevent your being oppreſſed, but that they ſhall remain upon the preſent Eſtabliſhment. So that a Place now worth in Fees 500 l. per Annum, will then be worth more than 1500 l. per Annum. A very fine Advance upon your growing Poverty.

If a Motion ſhould be made and obtained, in the Courts of this Province, That all Bills of Coſt ſhould be taxed, to be paid in Bills of the new Tenor, it muſt conſiderably encreaſe your Law Charges, eſpecially when you compute the Coſts of the many ſmall Actions brought before Justices, for Debts not exceeding Forty Shillings, and for the unpardonable Crime of not Training, for which terrible Fault, I knew a Man pay Thirteen Shillings new Tenor, the Juſtices Fees, which added to two Fines ſued for, made in the whole Twenty Three Shillings new Tenor, and ſo amounted to Three Pounds Nine Shillings, Bills of the old Tenor. By this you ſee what you are coming to, unleſs you prevent this growing Oppreſſion by uſing proper Care in the enſuing Election of Repreſentatives. I am not inſenſible, That almoſt all the Officers, civil and military, will exert themſelves in the enſuing Election, in favour of themſelves and their Brethren; and will tell you, they are ſenſible how prejudicial the new Tenor Bills are, and that they carry a Sting in their Tail, but that, that ſhall be prevented by a new Regulation of Fees; yet regard them not in this Affair, becauſe your All is at Stake; (altho' in their reſpective Offices, when they behave well, as many of them, to their Honour, do, treat them with all due Deference and Reſpect) but tell them plainly, you fear your good Nature and Credulity in ſending them and their Friends, your Repreſentatives, has brought all your Misfortunes upon you; and that therefore you think it high Time, for the ſakes of their Families, as well as your own, to alter your Elections, and to chooſe ſome of thoſe uncourtly People, who have always kept up that excellent Preſervative of Liberty-Jealouſy; and that you have already ſuffered too much by gilded Pills, to take any more of them; and that you can have no Manner of Reliance upon this their Promiſe, leaſt a Law for regulating Fees, ſhould meet with the ſame Fate, which the Bill did, that, Anno 1734, paſſed the Houſe of Repreſentatives, for reſtraining the Clerk of the Naval Office, taking exorbitant Fees. Tell them further, That this Inſtance convinces you, That you are to hope for no Relief from ſuch Gentlemen; for if a Law would not paſs to check the Exactions of ſuch an obnoxious Officer, who obtained that very profitable Poſt in a diſagreable Manner, and ſtands, us be ever has done, upon very ill Terms with many great Men here. It can't be reaſonably thought, that they, when they get into Power, will do more againſt themſelves, their Friends, and the Governour's Friends, than they did againſt a Man, whom they would have gladly curtailed in his Fees, but that they feared it would have been made uſe of as a Precedent, to have prevented their, & their Friends intended Oppreſſion▪ This glaring Inſtance muſt always ſtare them in the Face, and give them the Lie, when they pretend to ſay they are for any other new Regulation of Fees, than what ſhall be in favour of the Officers. No! Gentlemen, Tell them Intereſt will not lie, and you are not to be deceived; and that upon this Maxim you will act in your enſuing Election. Tell them you are not quite ſo blind, as not to ſee, That as your Trade decays, the Number of Candidates for every Vacancy will daily encreaſe, which muſt give Prerogative a conſiderable Advantage over Liberty. Tell them, all the additional Profit raiſed by this new Money muſt come from you, and ſo add double Weight in the Scale of Prerogative (which is heavy enough already) againſt Liberty; and that this ought to make you conſider, what large Strides Prerogative will be daily making towards abſolute and deſpotick Power, when it is ſo conſiderably augmented, and the Supports of Liberty ſo much enfeebled.

Gentlemen, It highly imports you to conſider what you are about, and whether you will bring Life or Death upon us. Oh! Take Care of yourſelves, and of us all: We are all in your Hands, and ſo at preſent are your Repreſentatives. But very quickly the Scene will be ſhifted, both you and we ſhall be in their's.

Chooſe therefore honeſt Freemen, who when they have been your Repreſentatives, have followed your Inſtructions, taken Care of your Privileges, and have ſhowed themſelves firmly attached to the beſt Intereſts of their Country, and have been as tender of your Liberties, religious and civil, as of the Apple of their Eyes.

Chooſe Men of good moral Characters, who have always in their Dealings in Meum et Tuum acted honeſtly; for it is a great Hazard, whether he who would cheat his Neighbour of Twenty Pounds, will not fell his Country for Judas's Price.

Chooſe ſuch as have always ſhewn themſelves, and are likely to continue, your faſt Friends; who have oppoſed every unjuſt Exaction of your civil Officers, and have almoſt ſtood alone for your Sakes, in the Proſecution of ſuch Officers for that Offence.

Chooſe ſuch as are moſt likely to relieve you from ſuch Burthens, under which we all ſadly groan, and under which we muſt certainly ſink, never to riſe again, if we are not relieved.