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<DATE>2014-06-19</DATE>
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<NAME>John Pas</NAME>
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<DIV1 TYPE="letter">
<PB N="1" REF="1">
<HEAD>A LETTER to a Friend, advi&s;ing in this extraordinary Juncture, how to free the Nation from SLAVERY for ever.</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>Religion,</HI> our <HI>Liberties</HI> and <HI>Property.</HI> However, being a Lover of all the&s;e, I can't forbear communicating my Thoughts unto you with an a&s;&s;urance you'll 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 chiefly to 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 Prote&s;tant for a Pa|pi&s;t? And in a few years the Succe&s;&s;ion may fall to the Queen of <HI>Spain,</HI> or Dutche&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 the &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 Peo|ple, another Parliament may give them the King again. <HI>Leges Po&s;teriores priores abro|gant.</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 Go|vernment they plea&s;e, either the old or a new. A Monarchy ab&s;olute, or limited; or an Ari&s;tocracy or Democracy. If a Monarchy limited, &s;uppo&s;ing it mo&s;tly &s;uited to the temper of the Engli&s;h, they may choo&s;e what Family 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 old right, but by rea&s;on of the people's placing it upon 'em, and the Monarchy may be thus <HI>De Novo</HI> made Hereditary, and the <HI>King</HI> and <HI>Prince of Wales</HI> gone, having lo&s;t their Right by the Di&s;&s;olution of the Government. The <HI>Jura Maje&s;tatis,</HI> the <HI>Militia,</HI> the Power of War and Peace, or the Power of the Sword, 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 frequent <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>Slavery</HI> can be brought on us, <HI>viz. Force,</HI> or <HI>Inju&s;tice.</HI> The <HI>Militia,</HI> or Power of the Sword being in the People, we are &s;ecured from the mi&s;chief of <HI>Force.</HI> The Power of making 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>
<P>But we mu&s;t do no Evil, that Good may come of it. Is our Government di&s;&s;olved, or 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;tration? 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>Originally,</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 i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> broken, when any one E&s;&s;entiating Part is lo&s;t or gone, there is a Di&s;&s;olution of the Cor+poration. The <HI>Formal</HI> Seat of <HI>Power,</HI> and that <HI>Power</HI> devolves on the People. Whe<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">redge;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">
<PB N="2" REF="2">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 <HI>Parliament?</HI> 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;titu|tion 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 their own <HI>Repre&s;entatives.</HI> And that their <HI>Repre&s;entatives</HI> have &s;uch an In|tere&s;t in the <HI>Legi&s;lation,</HI> that no Laws be made or abrogated without their Con&s;ent. The de&s;troying one or both of the&s;e, &s;ubverts the Foundation of our Government: The Prince's a&s;&s;uming to him&s;elf the Power of electing Parliament-Men, or his exerci&s;ing the <HI>Legi&s;lative</HI> Power, though under the name of the Di&s;pen&s;ing Power, 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, what mu&s;t the People do? Care mu&s;t be taken that the Government to be erected be &s;uch as will perfectly &s;ecure us from <HI>Slavery;</HI> and be a Fence inviolable to the <HI>Liberty</HI> and <HI>Property</HI> of the People: And the Rights of Ma|je&s;ty mu&s;t be therefore lodged with the <HI>Parliament;</HI> this will be grateful to the Peo|ple. 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>Repre&s;entatives</HI> of the Commu|nity: 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 ordinarily is. It's this Convention 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 Pow|er of this Convention mu&s;t be ab&s;olute and uncontroulable, 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 as it has more Pow|er 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, Wapentake, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> or by &s;ome other way, ac|cording to the proportion of People, and public payments, 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 Nati|on I have unburdened my &s;elf, and am</P>
<CLOSER><DATELINE><DATE><HI>Jan.</HI> 5. 1688.</DATE></DATELINE>
<SIGNED>Your humble Servant.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
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<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>
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