the way they chalked out for me and waving the common received opinion I likewise speculatively pry into the very Constitution and Frame of Parliaments thereby to shew the impossibility of altering the Succession But to clear all Objections as far as possible I say That the supposition of the Parliaments representing the People is a fiction of Law well devised by the Wisdom of our Ancestors for quieting and appeasing the minds of all particular men who could not have a stronger Motive of Submission or of not believing themselves injured then their being accounted parties and privy to all Acts of Parliament But this fiction of Law cannot reach the Actual Legislators as such since they cannot be supposed to wrong themselves though they might those by whom commissioned The Parliament then when it alters or repeals Laws lops off the exuberancies and excrescencies which by the design or heedlesness of the Managers grow up in the Government curbs the Pride A varice and encroachments of great Persons bounds and limits reciprocally the Princes Prerogative and Subjects Liberty and in fine lends its healing hand towards the removing any thing that is dangerous or noxious to the Body Politick as first constituted then I say it may well enough for its greater Strength and Authority be allowed the Representative of the whole Body of the People But if instead of applying fit remedies for its preservation and continuance they should go about to annihilate or dissolve it which must inevitably be attended with violent concussions and universal calamities it cannot as I said before be accounted their Representative because the consequence of such an Act must immediately influence every individual Member of the Society and 't is but reason that the common concernment of the ruine or happiness of all should be left not by fiction of Law but in reality to be weighed by their own Judgment For if as some would have it the Power of Dominion was originally in the People and by them transferred on one few or many of themselves 't is evident that as every one was actually aiding by his choice and agreement in erecting such a Dominion so it 's necessary he should by the same means concur to its change and destruction If it should be said that our Government was first established not by the Votes of Individuals but by Representatives in the Nature of Parliaments as now constituted I Answer that it could not be because of the inequality of the choice which is certain was not in the beginning for until the 8th year of Henry the 6th as is plain by the Statute then made the Electors of Knights of the Shire were not under a necessity of having forty Shillings per annum to expend or if it was let our Adversaries prove when and where it first began if they cannot but confidently and positively affirm it was so and we as confidently and positively deny it then 't is evident we being in possession that the advantage will be of our side for in equali jure melior est conditio possidentis 4. Having thus far endeavour'd to prove that the Parliament is not the Representative of the People I further say That allowing them to be so yet 't is certain they assemble not of themselves but by the King 's Writ which sets forth the occasion of their being call'd viz. to advise and consult c. Dâ—arduis urgentibus negotiis Regni of the great and pressing Affairs of the Kingdom Now the Kingdom being Hereditary at the time of issuing forth the Writ and they summoned to appear and give their advice concerning the good Estate and Defence of it as such 't is plain they cannot change alter or destroy it no more then a Physician sent for to remove the Pains and Oppressions of Sickness can lawfully stab or poyson his Patient who through rage or folly may yield his assent to his own destruction 'T is ridiculous and foolish to think that even the very Country would not with high Indignation resent such an attempt since they know full well that the Election of Members to constitute the Body Politick of a Parliament was never intended to destroy the Head and most essential part of it I mean the Hereditary Kingship which abstractedly from this or that man who may give an ill President and therefore is not intrusted with an absolute disposal of it is the very Life and Soul of the Government and without which it must infallibly crumble into pieces 5. We all know that a Body Politick which is the Work and Creature of Man has many resemblances with the Body Natural which is the Creature of God for as this aims always at its ease happiness and long preceptions of the pleasures of this Life and consequently dreads and abhors Death or Dissolution which puts an end to all so the other is constant and unwearied in the pursuit of the like ends to that degree that by its very constitution and essential form we attribute to it a kind of Immortality whence comes the known Maxim received into our Laws That the King never dies that is that Kingship not the Persons to whom it is inherent or annexed for this or that time is beyond the reach of Fate and Time that puts and end to all things This then being so we cannot rationally conclude that our present Sovereign has Will or Power to destroy himself that is Hereditary Kingship which made him what he is and is as essential to the Politick Capacity he is in as Supreme Governour as the rational Soul is to his natural Capacity as man To say or judge otherwise would be no less then to put him to break all the sacred ties of Love which bind him so strongly to himself and suppose him capable to be in some measure his own Executioner and a Felo de se of Monarchy then which there can be no greater Indignity offered to the Majesty of a Prince whom we all know to be Just Merciful and Generous to others and who therefore must so much the more signally practice those Vertues towards himself by how much self-respect exceeds that due to another 6. And lastly 'T is evident by several Statutes that all Knights ' of the Shires and their Electors are to be Inhabitants and Residents in the respective Counties the day of the Writ and that likewise the Citizens and Burgesses are to be men resident dwelling and free in the Cities and Boroughs for which they are to be chosen And right reason teaches us that none ought by sinister and unjust means to 〈◊〉 into Authority if therefore any one be previously disabled ahd uncapable to exercise Power by a positive Law or openly by deceits calumnies or corruption thrust himself into the Seat of Justice 't is certain all his Proceedings and Sanctions do carry a nullity and insufficiency in themselves and affect none besides the Maker who by endeavouring to exercise a Legislative Power against Law and Reason
Captain Thorogood His Opinion of the Point of SUCCESSION To a Brother of the Blade in SCOTLAND Dear Jack AS I covet nothing so much as to see the Exorbitant Power of France reduc'd to its ancient bounds so I am sensible no Nation upon Earth can stop the rapid Course of their Victories but Ours whose Valour still fills their hearts with no less fear then their late Successes have done with ambition But I confess the consideration of Ourpresent unhappy differences makes me dread losing the opportunity of rescuing enslaved Christendom from their Tyrany and Our own Glory from the stains of Infamy contracted bâ—â—he over-long repose of our Arms. This fear I look upon to be well-grounded since no less a thing is said to be in agitation then a change in the very Fundamentals of our Government which like a distemper that seizes the noble Parts must after the long struglings and conflicts of the contending parties extremely weaken if not absolutely destroy it as is evident by the no less impious then doleful examples of all Ages And if that should once happen which God in his Mercy prevent who would be able to resist the mighty Force of France or what could England which alone if united is capable to prevent it expect but with the rest of Europe and upon harder conditions then any other Nation be swallow'd up in the Universal Monarchy To prevent which since nothing can more effectually contribute then a firm and lasting Union among Our selves which is morally impossible to be attained if once the ancient and fundamental form of Government under which this Nation has to its Immortal Renown and its Enemies Terror flourished so many Generations be now abolised I thought fit in a Soldierly manner and en Cavalier to shew you that the just exclusion of His Royal Highness from the Imperial Crown of this Realm in case the King should die without Issue is absolutely impossible and this I do on no other account but because I believe it may do my Country good whose Interest as well as Glory it will be to have a Prince of Martial Spirit Reign over Us by whose Valour Our almost withered Lawrels may once more be planted in French-ground moisten'd and made fat with the Bloud of our implacable Enemies and nourish'd and rear'd up to that Strength and Vigour they formerly enjoyed by the Courage and Conduct of our Ancestors You know it is the common Theme of the Town-Scriblers than Monarchy is a meer Humane Institution alterable in Part or in the Whole as often as the Governour and Governed shall think it necessary for their common Safety That the King for the time being is the Supreme Governour and the whole Aggregate of People the Governed That these being not otherwise easily to be assembled are some personally and the rest by their Representatives in Parliament That whatever Law or Sanction the King with the advice and consent of his People so conven'd does Enact binds the whole Nation and that consequently it is in their Power to exclude His R. H. the Succession or which is the same thing to turn the Hereditary Monarchy into an Elective This Position how injurious soever to a Successor is more dangerous to a Prince Regnant who if weak easie or inconsiderate may through hope or fear be prevail'd upon to yield to his own dethroning and exchange his actual Royalty for an Annuity or yearly Pension whereas the other loses only a possibility of a Crown with this further advantage That most Men will think him worthy of wearing it because not the want of Courage and Magnanimity but of Interest and Power creates his Misfortune Whatever then shall be said to shew the impracticableness of this Position here in England is as much intended to secure the Possession of His most Sacred Majesty or any other that shall lawfully fill the Throne as the possibility which His R. H. now has or any other Heir Apparent may have in after Ages It is indeed a Royal Cause and as such to be maintain'd by the Swords and Pens of all good Subjects of which number I profess my self to be one and in evidence of my Loyalty say 1. That since England is de facto a Hereditary Kingdom and every King for the time being with the help of his Parliaments entrusted with the Government of it as such it follows that as he cannot alien or subject it to another Crown or Person because the alienation of a Kingdom is so far from being comprehended in the Government of it by him to whom first committed and his Heirs that it is directly repugnant and inconsistent with it so he cannot alter the course and order of Succession which is a kind of alienation because it transfers the Title to one who without such an Act would have none and consequently any Monarch attempting the Destruction of the very Form and Essence of such a Government may be thought rather to frustrate in some measure part of the Trust reposed in him and stray from his Duty then vitiate his Successors Title to the Kingdom 2. If both Houses of Parliament should be allowed to have a share in the Government in a co-ordinate manner with the King then the King and they having the Supreme Power of Governing a Hereditary Monarchy committed to their Charge and nothing else have no authority to alter or destroy it because a Power to support and maintain a Government and change and dissolve it is absolutely inconsistent with it self 3. This great trust was reposed in them either by God or Man if by God then 't is certain it cannot warrantably be alter'd without his possitive command infallibly known as such If by Man we are under the disability until his express Will and Pleasure be made known to us in a plain evident and indisputable way God has not yet revealed us his Will or Desire to change our Government nor are we to look for such extraordinary Injunctions at this time when the light of the Gospel has sufficiently cleared all the Errors and Doubts that might hinder our Duty And it is an act of equal Folly and Impiety to attempt an Innovation upon the supposition of being able to know certainly and unquestionably the Will of Man since that knowledge will to any that seriously considers the Constitution of this Kingdom appear absolutely impossible For if by Man we understand as we must the whole Complex of the People or the Governed we cannot possibly be satisfied of their being after a full and mature deliberation desirous of a Change because we have or at least will use no other way of knowing their minds but by their Representatives in Parliament and these whom we commonly call Representatives are either not so at all or if they be do not derive their Power from a third part of the Nation and consequently cannot impart a knowledge to us which they themselves never had or execute an Authority which was never given 'em
makes his violation of them so much the more manifest This often happens in choosing of Parliament-men in our days when those that live in the North are chosen for the South and men that never saw the Cities or Boroughs before the time of Election made their Representatives with this further addition of disability that they gain Votes by Bribes Treats and many unlawful Artifices as by loading their Competitors with the most odious calumny of being Courtiers Pensioners Papists Atheists and what not though they know them to have more love for their Country and their Religion then themselves I know nothing that can more effectually frustrate the Decrees and Resolves of Law-makers then this and therefore leave it to impartial and indifferent men to judge whether such a practice if it should intervene would not exclude any Society of Men from excluding another from his Right Upon the whole matter then the present Monarchy is so founded that neither the King nor the Parliament can possibly alter the true and essential form of it and consequently his R. H. cannot be barr'd his Right of Reigning over us if he survive his Brother whose Life he values beyond the Crowns and Kingdoms he can leave him whom God long preserve in Peace and Plenty and the unfeigned affection of his People As for the Examples which are alledged to evince the contrary and urged so confidently by the Gentleman that is the Author of the Word without Doors they do not at all scare me for the Question is not whether de facto but whether without violation of Justice and the Principles of right Reason our Monarchy may be changed For no man ever doubted but Power Rebellion and Faction with the concurrence of timorous and easie Princes did often turn things into Tragical Confusions and unhinge the whole frame of Governments but far be it from us to ground the lawfulness of our Actions upon so weak a Topick as that of Example since we know that no Crime can be perpetrated no Usurpation introduced no Violation offer'd even to Heaven it self but will be all warrantable if their being subsequent to a like practice of former Ages frees them from Guilt Rebellion is as ancient as the Creation it first divided the Court of Heaven and deprived Lucifer and his Accomplices of their Glory and then threw Man out of the Garden of Eden and the state of Innocence into a rough tract of the Earth and yet rougher anguishes and perplexities of Sin An obedience to God's Command to encrease and multiply was not long paid when of the few Inhabitants of the World one and he the most harmless too fell a Sacrifice to his Brothers envy and makers affection Idolatry the Jews only excepted was the common Worship of Mankind and whatever Species of Christianity was first planted in this Island 't is certain that Popery not many Years since was the legal and known Religion universally embrac'd by the People yet God forbid we should now pretend Rebellion Murder Idolatry and Popery to be all lawful because we find ancient times memorable for such impicties 'T is no plea in Divinity to alledge the prescription which sin has gain'd upon us as an excuse The alterations successively made in the Jewish Commonwealth are nothing pertinent to the matter for whose proof they were brought for they were either by a previous command or subsequent approbation of God manifested to his Prophets introduced and continued for their respective portions of time and when we have such visible dispensations of the divine Will imparted to us we will then be as active in our Obedience and Submission to God as the Authors of such Pamphlets are in their Malice and Disloyalty to their King but till then we hope no man will expect that because God who is the Sovereign Author of all Governments and knows the ways and methods that are most suitable to their happiness has often changed the form he prescribed to the Jews Therefore we Men that are possessed with Interest Passion and Ambition may do the like upon Motives no ways certain or evident His Example of Don Sancho who by the approbation of the three Estates took the Crown which was the right of his Nephews is no less impertinent to his purpose for he himself allows in the 4th page of his Pamphlet that in Spain the next Heir cannot succeed but by the approbation of the Nobility Bishops and States of the Realm If so is not that Kingdom in a manner Elective and what parity is there between it and ours where the next Heir is actual King without the Ceremonies of Coronation or the consent choice or agreement of any He is yet more unfortunate in the Case of Hugo Capetus who by the choice as he says of the States of France invaded the Throne to the prejudice of Charles Duke of Lorrain the next Heir For whereas his Position was in the beginning That any Government was alterable or ammendable by the mutual consent of the Governours and Governed he now very learnedly proves this by saying that the States alone did exclude Charles of Lorrain which surely are not tho absolute Governours at least without the lawful King at the head of 'em in any Hereditary Government in the World If they be an actual Prince may be depos'd with as much Justice as an Heir can be excluded the Succession and so for ought we know his R. H. being once removed out of their way the next attempt will be against His Majesty His Story of William Rufus and his Brother Henrie's successively enjoying the Crown is to as little purpose as his Foreign Examples for as it is certain that neither of them had any right whilst Robert Duke of Normandy was living so their being admitted Kings by the consent of the Realm that is I suppose of a Parliament gave them no Title at all by this Gentleman's supposition who says that in such Cases the Will of the Governours and Governed must concur The same Answer serves to defeat the pretended Legality of all his other examples and therefore I leave him to bemoan his Ignorance or plead Drunkenness for his Discourse was delivered in a Tavern as an excuse of his impertinencies And I hope none of us will be so Unchristian or Impolitick as to think that because by the Treasons and Conspiracies of ambitious disloyal and designing Persons the Crown was now and then transferred from one Family to another we now must do the like when the occasions of such innovations are perfectly taken away not only by the conjunction of the White and Red Roses but likewise by the meeting of the Bloud Royal of the three Kingdoms in the Person of our present Monarch To attempt this were to bring all the evils upon the People to which the unsteddy course of Humane Affairs can possibly subject them For where a gap is once opened to Ambition and snatchings one from another the most bloudy Commotions imaginable succeed
at home he forwarded as much as possibly he could an Alliance which Monsieur Rohux a French Gentleman propos'd to His Majesty for the Securing of Foreign Protestants And it had in all probability come to a very happy Issue had not Monsieur Rovigny Leiger Embassador from France at this Court prevented it by corrupting one Monsieur de Verax That after the Insurrection in the Vivarets fled hither and rid some time in the Guards who through Necessity or Frailty made Sale of the whole Secret and with It of the Safety of his Friend and the Protestant Religion in France for Two Hundred Pistols Upon notice of which Treachery Monsieur Rohux retired into Switzerland where being Seiz'd by a Party of French Horse he was convey'd to the Bastile and after some times Imprisonment broken upon the Wheel at the place of Execution VII It was against his Will that the first and last Dutch Wars were commenced yet the resolution being taken by those whose Will is a Law in sheathing or unsheathing the Sword of the Subjects he valiantly and for the Glory of the English Nation in the First with many Thousands of their Souldiers and Seamen sunk a great part of their Fleet blew up their Admiral and with him the very Reputation of their Naval Power thought before Invincible and by Sacking of Scheveling made proud Amsterdam tremble for which great Services as England shall ever be indebted so the Parliament then sitting was pleas'd to vote him 100000 l. as a small acknowledgement of his Merit and their Affections and London and all other Places entertain'd him with Acclamations of Joy Thus you see the vicissitude of Humane Affairs and how Fortune which then opened the Hearts and Cities of the Kingdom for his Reception now shuts them and all the Avenues to the Crown against him which may serve as an Example to Perkin Warbeck who never did any thing to recommend him besides the effect of Chance his being a Protstant how little reason he has to rely upon the Affections of a Multitude that so easily forgets the real worth of their Darling Prince Nor did he less deserve the hatred of his Enemy and love of his Country in the last War in which though with the many notable Disadvantages of the Wind and Tyde being at Anchor when set upon and the succeeding Mist he yet behav'd himself with that Gallantry as made De Ruiter own us to be Invincible and more than men and particularly that His R. H. exceeded all the Admirals in Christendom as much by his Bravery as he did by his Birth having in the heat of the Engagement when Re-fitting would lose the Benefit of his Orders and Action changed Ships oftener than Great Generals at Land have done their Horses VIII It was this Zealous Prince for the Honour and Safety of England that advised the forming of the Triple League which was the wisest Conjunction and most for the Glory of the King's Reign and the Preservation of His Dominions that ever he entred into And this he did not only to curb France whose Power he saw was already over-grown but to save all the weaker Parts of Christendom from the Attempts of the stronger For he knew that while that League continued firm the King of Sweden and the States of Holland would have construed all Designs upon us in England as done against those of the same Interest with themselves and in favour of whose Security they had entred into that Alliance IX He was so great a Stranger to the breaking of the Triple League and seizing the Dutch Smyrna Fleet that Sir Edward Sprag who was known to be his Creature was not thought fit to be entrusted with the Secret which occasion'd the Miscarriage of the Design and the Eternal Glory of his Highness X. He hath not only mantained Correspondence with Foreign Princes by His Majesties approbation for securing the well-fare of the Nation but likewise endeavour'd to draw them into an Alliance with us to oppose the French particularly or any other Foreign Enemy that by Counsel or Action would endeavour the overthrow of our Legal Government And besides many evidences of this which are needless to mention at present the secret Counsel which by His Majesties Consent he gave to our several Ambassadors abroad and are yet to be seen together with the many Letters he wrote to the same purpose do uncontrollably demonstrate it XI It was He that when the late Expedition into Flanders was thought really Designed against the French put all his Equipage into a readiness and vow'd to retrieve the Reputation of England by Death or Conquest But a Great Man then at the Helm now for his many Villanies confin'd to the Hold thought fit by his Advice to make a Mock-General for a Mock-Army not daring to put such a great Indignity upon any that had Sense to understand or Courage to revenge it which occasion'd that Imposition of Peace under which all the States of Christendom do more or less feel the heavy pressures of the French Insolence whereas had not that Mercenary Lord put a stop to the Parliaments Proceedings and the Duke's Resolutions Europe had in a few years been restored to its Tranquility XII He was so far from consenting to or co-operating in any part of the Popish Plot that Oats and Bedlow the two Poles on which the whole Frame of it has its motion and circumgyration did solemnly clear him as appears by their several Depositions and the Journals of both Houses of Parliament XIII It was the Duke who when Father Bedingfield brought him the Treasonable Letters concerning the PLOT immediately shew'd them to the King that so the Conspirators and their Papers might be seiz'd and the Truth sifted to the Bottom XIV It is he who this Summer at Windsor facilitated the Treaty of Alliance made between This and The Crown of Spain for the Common Security of both Nations against all Enemies whatsoever and to the unspeakable Advantage of our Merchants in that Country and all other parts of the Spanish Dominions XV. The incredible Expences of the Crown having drain'd His Majesties Exchequer to that degree that he wanted Money for defraying the Vast Charges of Maintaining and Defending Tangier his R. H. rather then so Imporrant a Place for the Trade of the Streights should fall into the hands of the Moors and perhaps by them be deliver'd up to worse Enemies generously disburs'd a very considerable Sum of Money for its Preservation and by that Action shewed how sollicitous he is about the Well-fare of England even at the very time when it contrives his Destruction which is an infallible Evidence of his being in his Nature and Principles very averse from Animosity and Revenge To which his Enemies have reported him so addicted that in the opinion of many he is accounted irreconcilable whereas he is so much of a contrary temper that as he equals Caesar in his Greatness of Mind and firmness of Resolution so he out-does him in the particular Character of Remembring all things but Injuries Christianity has made him so unalterable in this Point that as Thousands of Examples do manifest his Sincerity in it so his common and constant saying viz. that as he never forgets good turns so he can easily forgive bad ones is an invincible proof of his Inclination He needs no Cicero to plead the Cause of the Guilty or heap upon him extravagant Praises for his Mercy to his Enemies in Distress His own Genius leads him to the practice of that Gallantry without the Intercession or Flattery of others Marcus Marcellus was not with more readiness and affection received into Caesars Favours than all Adversaries may be into his upon quitting those Crimes for which he is now Vogu'd inexorable And were it his Fortune to have the full knowledge of this particular Virtue spread as far as the Effects have reach'd I am confident it would be impossible for the Malice of a few to impose upon others so as to make them continue their violent Actions against him and think that their Security which is really their Hazard instead of Repenting to go on to greater Ills upon so groundless and malicious a supposition Lastly as he believes that none deserves to have Obedience paid to him when a King that is Unruly and Refractory to his Princes Command when a Subject so he is submissive to His Majesties Pleasure even beyond the Prescript of Law having now the third time with the manifest hazard of his Person besides the difficulties and inconveniencies of travelling quitted his Native Country upon the first notice of his Commands Thus you see what a Prince England is weary of and that as a weak and diseas'd Stomack nauseates even the best Restorative so our Nation in the Confusions and Distractions the fear of losing its Liberty has put it into dreads none so much as him who of all men living if a King would be the most able and willing to Defend them But I hope Scotland understands his Merit and its own Interest better and will secure him that Ancient Throne whose Splendor is much abated since that Kingdom is by the Absence of their Kings in a manner become a Province if he fills it once with an exclusion from ours it will soon regain its first Lustre and your name will be as glorious as ours will be detestable to Posterity But however as I would not have the happy Union of the two Kingdoms dissolv'd so I hope that either our Repentance will recal him or that Alexander like his own victorious Sword will in time cut this Gordian Knot of the Succession and Establish him in his Right To which as I doubt not but you will be assisting so you need not question the help of all Loyal men here and particularly of Jan. 3. 1679. Your Humble Servant B. T.