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 ſea⯑ſonable attention to the People's Rights he moſt gratefully acknowledged in a Poſt⯑ſcript 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 ſe⯑curing the Rights and Liberties of the Subject;’ — and accordingly contains [4]eight very excellent Articles of Limitation, agreeable to ‘the Claims of the People of England;’ which, it ſeems, were en⯑acted, ‘with the unanimous Concurrence of both Houſes of Parliament,’ for the ex⯑preſs 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 Coun⯑cil by the Laws and Cuſtoms of this Realm, ſhall be tranſacted there, and all Reſolu⯑tions taken thereupon ſhall be ſigned by ſuch of the Privy Council as ſhall adviſe and conſent to the ſame.’ ^‖

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.’ ^*

[5]But, as the Parliament was at that time inveſted with the dangerous unconſtitutio⯑nal power of a triennial duration without Re⯑election, it was impoſſible that the Elected (who thereby acquired a temporary indepen⯑dency of the Electors, and, of courſe, too ma⯑ny 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of the People's Claims; and, conſequently, theſe two moſt excellent proviſions againſt undue influence were unhappily repealed, a very [6]few years afterwards, in the 4th year of Queen Anne (c. 8.)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 Par⯑liaments; 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 teſti⯑mony againſt it; and accordingly they aſſert⯑ed, in a public declaration to the King him⯑ſelf, that "the" (then) ‘Houſe of Commons did NOT repreſent the people.’ ^†

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 de⯑viſed, [7]have been adopted and carried on under a pretended ſanction of parliamentary Authority, ^§ which have involved both King and People (whoſe true intereſts are inſeparable) in the moſt alarming difficul⯑ties: and the oſtenſible Agents in the miſ⯑chief have obſtinately perſevered to the ut⯑moſt extenſion of ability, until public Di⯑ſaſters, 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 nu⯑merous [8]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, be⯑come the Majority; and the worthy Op⯑poſers of bad meaſures were indulged with a temporary adminiſtration of public Affairs, until the ſecret efficient Cabinet could reco⯑ver 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 Adminiſtra⯑tion with the rueful alternative, either to abandon their newly-acquired dignities, or elſe to adopt ſuch meaſures as muſt effec⯑tually deprive them of the people's confi⯑dence; after which they were contemp⯑tuouſly 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.

[9]It would be madneſs for Engliſhmen, af⯑ter ſuch galling experience, to neglect their juſt and indiſpenſible Claim to ſome imme⯑diate and effectual precaution againſt ſimilar deluſions. To truſt another new Adminiſ⯑tration, 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 Na⯑tion cannot admit the riſque of another ſuch credulous experiment!

It is therefore become abſolutely neceſ⯑ſary, for the ſecurity both of King and Peo⯑ple, (which includes the true intereſt of all parties,) that the juſt "Claims of the Peo⯑ple" be ſatisfied in an immediate Reſtora⯑tion of the antient legal and reſponſible Go⯑vernment, 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 PARLIA⯑MENTS, 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 demon⯑ſtrate) ‘ſhall be holden every year once, and more often if need be.’ But this indiſpen⯑ſible [10] Right and Claim of the People (for the Act itſelf is no more than an authentic De⯑claration, 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 unwor⯑thy the title and dignity of a Statute,) diſ⯑franchiſed at once by far the greateſt part of the Engliſh Nation, by robbing them of their BIRTHRIGHT,^‡ the ineſtimable Right [11]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 with⯑drawn 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 Parlia⯑ment of each County,) for the Knights of the Shire, but frequently alſo for the Citi⯑zens [12]and Burgeſſes, elected in their reſpec⯑tive Counties; whereby the Equality of Repreſentation was then preſerved; and may again be happily reſtored by ſome ſuch equitable mode of transferring the repreſen⯑tation of depopulated or notoriouſly venal Bo⯑roughs 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 ef⯑fects of ſuch a perfect Reformation would be ſecurity and ſupport to any virtuous Ad⯑miniſtration: 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 op⯑poſition of needy unprincipled perſons, who at preſent can introduce themſelves into P—l—m—t (if they can but find credit for [13]the purchaſe-money) merely for the pur⯑poſes 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 ab⯑ſolute 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 Re⯑medies here propoſed are not ſpeedily a⯑dopted.