<!DOCTYPE ETS PUBLIC "-//UMDLPS//DTD EEBOPROOF 2.0//EN">
<ETS>
<TEMPHEAD>
<REVDESCR>
<CHANGE>
<DATE>2013-12-09</DATE>
<RESPSTMT>
<NAME>Mona Logarbo</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
</RESPSTMT>
<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B131012.pdcc. Bound-with. Split off from A83907.</ITEM>
</CHANGE>
</REVDESCR>
</TEMPHEAD>
<EEBO>
<IDG S="marc" R="UM" ID="A97903">
<STC T="W">L1638</STC>
<STC T="W">L1343</STC>
<STC T="B">R36349</STC>
<BIBNO T="umi">99890211</BIBNO>
<VID>171360</VID>
</IDG>
<TEXT LANG="eng">
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="letter">
<HEAD>A Letter to a FRIEND, <HI>Advi&s;ing in this extraordinary Juncture, how to free the Nation from SLAVERY for ever.</HI></HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>SIR,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>I Doubt not but the Wi&s;dom of the Nation will take the mo&s;t effectual way to &s;ecure our <HI>Re|ligion,</HI> our <HI>Liberties</HI> and <HI>Property.</HI> However, being a Lover of all the&s;e, I can't forbear com|municating my Thoughts unto you with an a&s;&s;urance you'l con&s;ider them.</P>
<P>God hath done great things for us, and yet the greate&s;t thing is not yet done; There are many difficulties in the way, and many more will be thrown into it <HI>Slavery</HI> is mo&s;t to be dreaded at this time: What is done mu&s;t be <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="2 words"> guard again&s;t it. How to do it is the principal bu&s;ine&s;s of the great Men in the next <HI>Convention.</HI> To know where we are is the fir&s;t &s;tep to be taken. Is the Government di&s;&s;olved, or only under &s;ome Di&s;orders? If the later, Are the Di&s;orders &s;uch as mu&s;t be laid to the charge of the King, or to his Mini&s;ters, or both? If to the King, Are they &s;ufficient to depo&s;e him? If that be done, Are we more &s;ecure from <HI>Slavery</HI> than now? Will there be more than a change of Per&s;ons in the <HI>Throne;</HI> A Child for a Father, a Pro|te&s;tant for a Papi&s;t? And in a few years the Succe&s;&s;ion may fall to the Queen of <HI>Spain,</HI> or Dut|che&s;s of <HI>Savoy,</HI> both Roman Catholicks, and we in as great, or greater danger of <HI>Popery</HI> and <HI>Slavery</HI> than we were the other day; the Con&s;titution remains he &s;ame, the <HI>Jura Maje&s;tatis,</HI> viz. the <HI>Militia;</HI> the Power to make War or Peace; the choo&s;ing Judges, Sheriffs, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> &s;till in the Per&s;on of the King; or if only by one Parliament re&s;tored to the People, another Parliament may give them the King again. <HI>Leges Po&s;teriores priores abrogant.</HI> And who can tell what Conte&s;ts there may be about the Right of the Crown. The depo&s;ed Prince is alive, and his Right by Sword will be di&s;puted, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>If the Government be di&s;&s;olved, the power devolves on the People; no one can claim the Crown; the Royal Family is as it were extinct; the People may &s;et up what Government they plea&s;e, either the <HI>Old or New.</HI> A Monarchy ab&s;olute, or limited; or <HI>Democracy</HI> or <HI>Ari&s;tocracy.</HI> If a <HI>Monar|chy</HI> limited, &s;uppo&s;ing it mo&s;tly &s;uited to the temper of the <HI>Engli&s;h,</HI> they may chu&s;e what Fami|ly they plea&s;e to &s;it in the Throne: They may &s;ettle it on the <HI>Prince&s;s of Orange, Prince&s;s Ann,</HI> the <HI>Prince of Orange,</HI> and for want of I&s;&s;ue, on whom el&s;e they think meet. The&s;e hold not by vertue of an <HI>old right,</HI> but by rea&s;on of the Peoples placing it on 'em, and the <HI>Monarchy</HI> may be thus <HI>de Novo</HI> made it Hereditary, and the <HI>King and Prince of Wales</HI> gone, having lo&s;t their Right by the Di&s;&s;olution of the <HI>Government.</HI> The <HI>Jura Maje&s;tatis,</HI> the <HI>Militia,</HI> the <HI>power of War and Peace,</HI> or <HI>the Power of the Sword,</HI> with the Power of making Judges, Sheriffs, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> may be lodged where now the Power of Legi&s;lation is, <HI>viz.</HI> in King, Lords, and Commons, which will nece&s;&s;itate fre|quent <HI>Parliaments,</HI> and make it impo&s;&s;ible for the Monarch to en&s;lave us. There are but two ways by which <HI>&s;lavery</HI> can be brought on us, <HI>viz. Force,</HI> or <HI>Inju&s;tice.</HI> The <HI>Militia,</HI> or power of the &s;word being in the People, we are &s;ecured from the mi&s;chief of <HI>Force.</HI> The Power of mak|ing Judges and all the Mini&s;ters of Ju&s;tice being al&s;o in the People, they cannot be ruin'd by Inju&s;tice.</P>
<PB N="2" REF="2">
<P> But we mu&s;t do no Evil, that Good may come of it. Is our Government di&s;&s;olved, o<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"> is it not? If there be a Di&s;&s;olution, Is it of the Con&s;titution, or only of the Form of Admini&s;trati|on? I confe&s;s my &s;elf not State&s;man enough to be acquainted with the Finene&s;s of Politicks, but am apt to run the old Road, and plea&s;e my &s;elf with an old di&s;tinction, All Power is <HI>Original|ly;</HI> or <HI>Fundamentally</HI> in the People <HI>Formally</HI> in the <HI>Parliament,</HI> which is one Corporation made up of three <HI>Con&s;tituent E&s;&s;entiating</HI> Parts, King, Lords and Commons, &s;o it was with us in <HI>England</HI> When this Corporation is broken, when any one E&s;&s;entiating Part is lo&s;t or gone, there is a Di&s;&s;olution of the Corporation. The <HI>Formal</HI> &s;eat of <HI>Power,</HI> and that <HI>Power</HI> devolves on the Peo|ple. When it's impo&s;&s;ible to have a Parliament, the Power returns to them with whom it was originally. Is it po&s;&s;ible to have a Parliament? It's not po&s;&s;ible. The Government therefore is di&s;&s;olv'd.</P>
<P>If what is e&s;&s;ential to our Con&s;titution be invaded or Ravi&s;hed from us, the Con&s;titution is broken. I will in&s;tance in two things e&s;&s;ential to the Con&s;titution, That the People choo&s;e thei<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"> own <HI>Repre&s;entatives.</HI> And that their <HI>Repre&s;entatives</HI> have &s;uch an intere&s;t in the <HI>Legi&s;lation,</HI> that n<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"> Laws be made, or Abrogated <HI>without their Con&s;ent.</HI> The de&s;troying <HI>one</HI> or <HI>both</HI> of the&s;e, &s;ubverts the Government: The Prince's a&s;&s;uming to him&s;elf the Power of electing Parliament Men, or his texerci&s;ing the <HI>Legi&s;tative power,</HI> though under the Name of the <HI>Di&s;pen&s;ing power,</HI> is a de&s;troying tho&s;e Rights of the People that are e&s;&s;ential to our Con&s;titution, and a di&s;&s;olving it.</P>
<P>The Government being di&s;&s;olved, <HI>What mu&s;t the People do?</HI> Care mu&s;t be taken that the Go|vernment to be erected be &s;uch as will perfectly &s;ecure us from <HI>&s;lavery;</HI> and be a fence inviolable to the <HI>Liberty and Property</HI> of the People: And the Rights of Maje&s;ty mu&s;t be therefore lodged with the <HI>Parliament;</HI> this will be grateful to the People. The way of doing it mu&s;t be <HI>Great, Awful,</HI> and <HI>Augu&s;t,</HI> that none may be able to quarrel it. A National Convention made up of the <HI>Re|pre&s;entatives</HI> of the Community: That the Convention may be truly National, and repre&s;ent the Community, it mu&s;t be larger than a Hou&s;e of Commons ordinarly is. It's this Conven|tion that &s;ets up what kind of Government they plea&s;e. If they'l have a Parliament made up of King, Lords and Commons, it's &s;ufficient that this Convention is &s;o plea&s;ed. The Power of this Convention mu&s;t be ab&s;olute and uncontrolable, accountable to none but GOD. It gives Laws to Kings, yea to the whole Parliament, and &s;ets bounds unto it; it &s;hall go &s;o far, and no farther. No Act of Parliament can be &s;trong enough to move the Foundation laid by this Convention. The Convention therefore <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 span"> has more Power than a <HI>Parliament,</HI> and is it's <HI>Creator,</HI> it mu&s;t have a larger Body. What think you therefore if the fir&s;t thing done by the approaching Convention be the increa&s;ing their Number. What if they double it? Whether by ordering every Market-Town to &s;end up their Repre&s;entatives, Or every Hundred, Wapen|take, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> or by &s;ome other way, according to the proportion of People, and publick pay|ments, as the Wi&s;e Men of this Convention &s;hall judge mo&s;t practicable, that it may be the <HI>Grand Council</HI> of the Nation. I have unburdened my &s;elf, and am</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Your humble Servant,</SIGNED> <DATELINE><DATE>Jan. 5. 1688.</DATE></DATELINE></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="colophon">
<P><HI>London,</HI> Printed for <HI>Abel Roper,</HI> at the <HI>Bell</HI> in <HI>Fleet-&s;treet,</HI> 1689.</P>
</DIV1>
</BACK>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
