The legal means of political reformation: proposed in two small tracts, viz. The first on "Equitable representation," and the legal means of obtaining it. The second on "Annual parliaments, the ancient and most salutary right of the people.".

Table of contents

- [titlepage]

- THE LEGAL MEANS OF POLITICAL REFORMATION.

- EXTRACTS FROM Mr. PRYNNE'S Brevia Parliamentaria Rediviva, Printed in 1662, and dedicated to King CHARLES II. WITH SOME Occasional Remarks concerning the Necessity, as well as the Means, of promoting a more equal Representation of the Com mons in Parliament.

- [titlepage]

- REMARKS, &c.

- ANNUAL PARLIAMENTS, The ANCIENT and MOST SALUTARY RIGHT OF THE COMMONS of GREAT-BRITAIN.

- [titlepage]

- PREFACE TO THE READER.

THE LEGAL MEANS OF POLITICAL REFORMATION, Proposed in two small Tracts, viz.

THE FIRST On "Equitable Representation," and the legal Means of obtaining it.

THE SECOND On "Annual Parliaments, the ancient and most salutary "RIGHT of the People."

THE THIRD EDITION.

THE LEGAL MEANS OF POLITICAL REFORMATION.

NEVER were the baneful effects of undue influence more sensibly felt, or more generally acknowledged, than at present.

The legal means of curbing this dangerous evil are proposed in two little tracts presented with this paper. The one points out a legal mode of obtaining a more equal representation of the Commons. The other demonstrates the ancient popular right of holding new-elected Parliaments ‘ every year once, and more often if need be. ’ And the sum of both, jointly considered, may be included in the following short proposition: — that a more equal representation of the Commons in annual Parliaments (i. e. ELECTED ‘every year once, and more often if need be’) is not only an ANCIENT, but even an INDISPENSABLE, right of the people. That this ancient constitution is indispensable the many fatal effects of deviating from it have rendered sufficiently obvious; and therefore no remedy can be more efficacious, and constitutionally natural, than a revival of that primitive and fundamental right, according to the rule of Law, that, ‘ as often as any thing is doubtful or CORRUPTED, we should RECUR to first principles. ’ [*] And we have no reason to expect that the petition and resolutions of the truly respectable and loyal County of York, (though highly worthy of being adopted by the other counties,) or indeed any other true principles of Reformation, will be admitted and rendered effectual by the Legislature, until the several counties themselves shall re-assume this their ancient and constitutional right of being more equally represented in new annual Parliaments.

Notes

*
Loft's Elements of Law, No 8.
↵

Equitable Representation NECESSARY TO THE Establishment of LAW, PEACE, and GOOD GOVERNMENT: SHEWN IN SOME Extracts from Mr. PRYNNE'S Brevia Parliamentaria Rediviva, (Printed in 1662, and dedicated to K. Charles II.)

RELATIVE TO Examples of joint Elections for Knights, Citizens, and Burgesses, for whole Counties, by the same Electors, at one Time and Place.

WITH SOME OCCASIONAL REMARKS thereupon, Concerning the Necessity as well as the Means of reforming the enormous Inequality of Representatives which the Borough-Voters enjoy to the Prejudice of the Counties and great Cities.

LONDON: PRINTED IN THE YEAR M.DCCLXXX.

EXTRACTS FROM Mr. PRYNNE'S Brevia Parliamentaria Rediviva, Printed in 1662, and dedicated to King CHARLES II. WITH SOME Occasional Remarks concerning the Necessity, as well as the Means, of promoting a more equal Representation of the Commons in Parliament.

MR. PRYNNE informs us, in p. 175, ‘that in sundry counties the elections of knights, citizens, and burgesses, were antiently made all together, in the county-court of the shire, on the same day, and all retorned together in and by one indenture, between the sheriffs and their electors; which I shall exemplifie,’ (says he,) ‘by these ensuing presidents, instead of sundry others, which I shall remember or recite in the ensuing sections, in due place.’

"I shall begin," (says Mr. Prynne,) ‘with the indenture for Cumberland and Karlisle, anno 2 Hen. V.’ And he cites the form of the indenture at length, but it is not here copied, because the example is not so full to the point as some others, in pages 176, 177, and 178: Viz.

KENT. Anno 12 Hen. IV. Indent. pro militibus Kanciae.

Haec indentura facta apud Cantuar. die lunae prox ante festum apostolorum Simonis et Jude, prox sequent. post recept. brevis domini regis huic indent. consut. Inter Johem Darrell, vic. com. praed. et Robtum Clifford, Valentinum Baret," (and ten more,) qui ad elegend. Milites et cives ad parliament. domini regis tenend. apud Westm. in chrast. animarum prox futur. praemuniti fuerunt, pretextu ejusdem brevis domini regis in hac parte eidem vic. directi assensu totius com. illius, eligerunt Reginaldum Pympe et Willum Notebem, Milit. pro communitate com. praedict. Willum Hikham et Willum Rose, Cives pro communitate civitatis Cantuar. Roger Langford et Johem Everard, Cives pro communitate civitatis Roffs. In cujus rei testimonium tam praefatus vicecom. quam praefati Robtus, Valentinus, &c. sigilla sua alternatim apposuerunt die et anno supradictis.

[*]

‘The like indenture, for Kent, I find’ (says Mr. Prynne) ‘in 2 H. V. — Haec indentura facta apud Rouchestre," &c. reciting it at length; after which he remarks as follows: "In these two indentures and others, the knights of Kent and citizens of Canterbury and Rochester were all elected and retorned together in the county-court by the same electors and indentures. ’

"To these I shall add" (says Mr. Prynne) "this indenture of the sheriff "of Wiltes, anno 1 Hen. V.

[*] Haec indentura facta apud Wylton IN PLENO COM. WILTES TENTO die Martis proximo ante festum Matthei apostoli anno regni regis Henrici Quinti post conquestum primo inter Eliam de la Mire vic. com. praedict. ex parte una, et Thomam Bonham, Willum Daungens,
(and twenty-four more,) ‘ex altera parte testatur, quod praedict. Thomas Bonham, et omnes alii superius nominati ad diem et locum supradict, existentes et per praedictum vic. virtute brevis domini regis eidem vic. direct. et huic indenturae consut. singulariter examinati, eligerunt Willum Molyns, chlr. et Walterum Hungerford, MILITES pro communitate COM. PRAED. et similiter eligerunt Waltum Shirle et Johm Beckot, CIVES pro communitate CIVITATIS NOVAE SARUM, Johem Valeys seniorem, et Jobem Harleston, BURGENSES pro communitate BURGI de WILLTON, Thomam Covintre, et Robtum Smyth, burgenses pro communitate BURGI DE DEVISES, Johem Charleton et Johem Randolph, burgenses pro communitate BURGI DE MALMESBURY, Thomam Hatheway et Willum Alclyff, BURGENSES pro communitate BURGI DE MARLEBURGH, Robtum Salman et Robtum Ronde, BURGENSES pro communitate BURGI DE CALNE, Robtum Lany et Willum Chesterton, BURGENSES pro communitate BURGI VETERIS SARUM in com. praedicto, ad omnia et singula juxta tenorem brevis praedict. in parliamento dicti domini regis apud LEICESTRE, ultimo die Aprilis prox. futur. assignat. simul cum aliis communicand. tractand. faciend. similiter et terminand. prout praedictum breve exigit et requirit. In cujus rei testimonium,’ &c.

"There is the like indenture" (says Mr. Prynne) ‘for Wiltshire, where the knights, citizens, and burgesses, are joyntly elected and retorned together. An. 2 Hen. V.’

REMARKS, &c.

THE circumstances of those antient times are so totally different, in many respects, from the present times, that it is difficult to determine whether any such joint elections of knights, citizens, and burgesses, (by the united equal suffrages of all the electors together, of every degree, in each county,) can now be made; and, of course, it is doubtful whether such a measure is even adviseable. Many laws have since been enacted respecting elections, all of which must first be well weighed and considered; for, if any thing therein is incompatible with the necessary alterations, it must be repealed by the same authority which ordained it; because ‘ non est recedendum a forma per statutum prescripta; ’ and, again, ‘ nil temere novandum est. ’

Yet, as the injustice and fatal consequences of the present enormous inequality of representation in favour of petty venal boroughs (to the disadvantage of the counties and great cities) is notorious and undeniable, some prudent remedy is surely become necessary, and ought to be most earnestly sought after by all lovers of peace and good government.

The ruinous effects of a long continued parliamentary corruption, and of its baneful companion, national reprobacy, (which is the sure harbinger of public misfortune and approaching slavery,) have made such hasty advances of late, that many people begin to be alarmed, and to talk seriously concerning the necessity of endeavouring to obtain. ‘ a more equal representation of the commons in annual parliaments, as the true legal means of restoring public credit, and of saving the state.’ Such a disposition, towards parliamentary reformation, I have perceived in several places, amongst people who have not the least connexion with each other, so that it seems to be the most natural and obvious conclusion of common sense upon the present alarming state of public affairs; and will, probably, (if matters should grow worse,) become more and more general, till the measure be irresistibly demanded by the voice of the people; in which case, all those persons, who have been most concerned in the management of the public treasury, must expect to undergo a severe scrutiny! Or, if any sudden invasion of our natural enemies should be really intended, (which there is but too much reason to suspect,) the people, it is to be feared, as soon as they are informed of the public danger, will be so transported with sudden indignation against particular persons, whose measures may seem to have contributed to the national weakness, that they will not easily be restrained from violent and inconsiderate acts of personal resentment! And it is not at all probable that the people will be thoroughly or sufficiently united to act against the common enemy, until they have taken such steps as they may think effectual to insure a reformation of government, (in case their endeavours against the common enemy should prove successful,) and to prevent the like calamities in future.

Those state-ministers, therefore, who shall have sufficient courage to give up, in time, all reliance on undue parliamentary influence, and shall prove that their regard for good and legal government is sincere, by promoting some legal means of restoring to the electors of counties and great cities their due proportion of representation and consequence in the great national assembly, those ministers, I say, howsoever their former measures may have been disliked, will, by such a proof of their sincerity in reformation, insure to themselves the public esteem and confidence: for there is a general disposition in Englishmen to overlook all differences of opinion in politics, and to forget all party animosities against those persons, who, by a change of conduct, give proofs of a future regard for popular and constitutional rights. And the almost certain advantages to the crown, by adopting and promoting such a measure, will be the recovery of a great and extensive empire; [*] for no ground of accommodation will be so effectual and certain as such "a proof of sincerity" in the sovereign, that he desires to rule his subjects at home according to the strictest rule of legal and constitutional principles, and is willing to drop all measures or designs which cannot obtain the uninfluenced assent of his great national council: and the king's ministers are never answerable for measures, howsoever unsuccessful, after the same have obtained the sanction of a free and uninfluenced parliament. By such righteousness as this the throne shall be established: whereas an obstinate perseverance and continuance in the contrary mode of administration will, of course, occasion what is vainly called a state-necessity for advancing still farther in violent and unpopular measures; which, like the case of Richard II. [*] must inevitably end in destruction! No reformation, however, can be safely made respecting a more equal representation of the commons, until the mode of doing it hath been first adopted and approved by the majority of the ELECTORS themselves in each county; but, when their consent is once obtained, the ostensible proposers and promoters of the measure will be amply secured from all blame, in case the alteration should not prove effectual; and, on the other hand, they will certainly enjoy the principal credit of the amendment, in case the measure should be found to answer the desirable purpose.

The king might safely signify (in a speech to his parliament or by proclamation) his earnest desire to be more accurately informed of the sentiments of his people; and that he therefore wishes to promote, by legal and constitutional means, a more equal representation of all persons who are at present entitled to vote for knights, citizens, and burgesses, in parliament, that elections may be made in an equitable and just proportion to the NUMBERS of those who vote for each denomination, without lessening the total number of representatives sent up at present from each county; and he might refer the consideration of the most just and unexceptionable means of doing this to the very persons whose rights are concerned, by authorising his sheriffs to summon grand-juries, in their respective counties, to consider and propose the most equitable mode of sending the present number of knights, citizens, and burgesses, for each county, in an equal proportion to the whole number of electors; and afterwards to submit the result of their consultation to a general-court or assembly of all the electors, in each county, for their assent or amendment; or to a chosen committee, appointed by a majority of all the said electors that shall think fit to attend the assembly, agreeably to the first example in the indenture for the county of Kent, wherein the twelve persons named in the indenture, are said to have chosen (eligerunt) the two knights for the county, and four citizens for Canterbury and Rochester: for it is manifest that the twelve persons named acted only in trust, as a committee for the electors of the whole county; because the election is expressly declared to have been made ‘ASSENSU TOTIUS COMITATUS ILLIUS.’ [*] And, in the other example for the county of Wilts, wherein only twenty-six persons, named in the indenture, are said to have chosen sixteen representatives (viz.two knights, two citizens, and twelve burgesses) in one joint election; yet we must not consider the said twenty-six persons as the only electors, but rather as an acting committee, empowered by the whole body of electors in that county; for, though the words "assensu totius comitatus illius" are omitted, yet the beginning of the indenture expressly informs us that it was made "in pleno com. Wiltes tento, [*]" &c. And, likewise, it is not improbable that the said twenty-six electors (who are expressly named in the indenture with the sheriff, but "exaltera parte") were considered as the manucaptors or sureties for the appearance of the elected; which will account for their making the indenture with the sheriff; for no manucaptors are mentioned as such in these indentures, though the appointment and express mention of manucaptors were generally esteemed a necessary precaution in those ancient times, of which more shall be said hereafter.

The most obvious means of reformation are either to divide each county into so many equal districts as may most conveniently be represented by 2, 3, or 4, deputies, so as to include the whole number now sent from each county; or else to choose the whole number of knights, citizens, and burgesses, by the joint suffrages of all the electors together, at the county-court, agreeably to the ancient examples already cited. By these regulations, indeed, the borough-voters might complain that they would be injured by losing a large proportion of their borough Representation; that is, they would certainly lose that unreasonable proportion of representation which is injurious to the rights and freedom of their neighbours; but they would be so far from losing any just and equitable right, really due to themselves, that they would actually gain thereby a right of voting for all the knights and citizens, as well as for all the other deputed burgesses, of their respective counties; to which, at present, (as mere burgesses of one borough,) they have no pretence. The experience also of late years has shewn that it is become necessary to enforce the ancient laws, which ordain that both the electors and the elected shall be ‘ in eodem comitatu commorantes et residentes. ’ (3) And also to renew the ancient custom of obliging the persons elected to find sureties (or manucaptors before-mentioned) for their appearance AND CONSTANT ATTENDANCE, (constant attendance being sometimes expressly required by the writs, (4)) in order to prevent such shameful and unmeaning secessions from public business as have lately been made by the gentlemen in opposition to ministry as well as by many who profess to be the ministers friends. A parliament so far reformed (viz. by having an equal representation of all the electors in each county) might be well qualified to consider of some farther regulations to render the representation of the counties themselves more equal and proportionate, with respect to each other, according to the number of inhabitants. For, in ancient times, ALL MEN, in each county, that were free, howsoever poor, enjoyed a share in the legislature; which may be clearly proved by the very act of parliament
(5)
which unjustly deprived them of that right!

The nation has severely felt the bad effects of that unjust innovation: witness the present iniquitous practices at contested elections and the helpless and endless manner of adjusting them, besides the ruinous expence of influencing a majority when chosen, (which, at present, is considered as a measure of state necessity,) and compare these modern corruptions with the happy manner of conducting elections, in general, for near two hundred years before that period, as related by Prynne, in his Brev. Parl. Rediv. p. 137.— ‘Sundry persons of eminency, quality, parts, and wisedom,’ (says he,) ‘in most counties were elected knights of the shire, by the unanimous consent of the gentry, freeholders, AND PEOPLE, not only twice or thrice, but 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, times or more, after another, to serve in parliaments, without any emulation, polling, feasting, or canvassing, for voyces; or future complaints, contests about their elections, polls, undue or double retorns, which, of late times, have disturbed the counties peace, and interrupted the parliaments proceedings: there being not above two or three cases of elections questioned or complained of from 49 Hen. III. till 22 Edw. IV. for ought (that) appears by the retornes or parliament rolls, and not so much as one double retorn or indenture wherewith all the LATE bundles ’ (Prynne wrote in the reign of king Charles II. and the corruption hath notoriously increased since that time) ‘ of writs are stored, and the House of Commons and late Committees of privileges pestered, perplexed, to the great retarding of the more weighty publick affairs of the king and kingdom.’ Let it also be remembered, that, by the before-mentioned unhappy deprivation of the common people's rights, the king has lost the advantage of the proper legal balance against the dangerous power of rich and ambitious men, and overgrown landholders; the fatal want of which has lately been most notoriously demonstrated in the unhappy ruined kingdom of Poland; for, as the authority of a king is amply sufficient to defend the common people from the oppression of the rich and great, by a due exertion of the laws, provided the common people be allowed a due share in the legislature; so the latter, in return, and for their own sakes, will always be ready to exert their legislative authority, as well as their strength and power in a free militia, (6) to maintain the king and the laws, which (by their union with the crown) they will always be able to do whenever the aristocratical power requires any just limitation.

THE END.

Notes

*

Kent. In the 12th Year of Henry IV. Indent for the Knights of Kent.

This indenture made at Canterbury, on Monday the next before the feast of the apostles Simon and Jude, next following after the receipt of the brief" [or writ] "of the Lord the King, annexed to this indenture. Between John Darrell, sheriff of the said county, and Robert Clifford, Valentine Baret, John Broke, James Dingley, Thomas Lane, William Lans," (and six more,) "who to choose Knights and citizens for the parliament of the lord the king, to be holden at Westminster on the morrow of All Souls, that next shall be, were impowered, by virtue of the brief" [or writ] "of the same lord the king, in this behalf, addressed to the same sheriff, BY THE ASSENT OF ALL THAT COUNTY, have chosen Reginald Pympe and Wm Notebem, knights for the community" [or commonalty] "of the aforesaid county; Wm Hickham and Wm Rose, citizens, for the community" [or commonalty] "of the city of Canterbury; Roger Langford and John Everard, citizens, for the community" [or commonalty] "of the city of Rochester. In witness whereof, as well the aforesaid sheriff as the aforesaid Robert, Valentine, &c. have alternately affixed their seals the day and year above-mentioned.

↵

*

This indenture made at Wylton IN FULL COUNTY
[court] ‘of Wilts, holden on Tuesday the next before the feast of Matthew the apostle, in the first year of the reign of king Henry V. after the conquest, between Elias de la Mire, sheriff of the aforesaid county, on the one part, and Thomas Bonham, Wm Daungens,’ [and twenty four more,]

of the other part, witnesseth, that the aforesaid Thomas Bonham and all the above-named,

[persons,] ‘present on the day and at the place abovementioned, and by the aforesaid sheriff, by virtue of the brief’ [or writ]
of the lord the king to the same sheriff addressed, and to this indenture annexed, singly examined, have chosen Wm Molyns, knight, and Walter Hungerford, Knights for the community
[or commonalty]
of the aforesaid county; and likewise have chosen Walter Shirle and John Beckot, citizens for the community
[or commonalty]
of the city of New Sarum; John Valeys senior and John Harleston, Burgesses for the community
[or commonalty]
of the borough of Wilton; Thomas Coventry and Robert Smyth, Burgesses for the community
[or commonalty]
of the borough of Devises; John Charleton and John Randolph, Burgesses for the community
[or commonalty]
of the borough of Malmesbury; Thomas Hatheway and Wm Acliff, Burgesses for the community
[or commonalty]
of the borough of Marlborough; Robert Salman and Robert Ronde, Burgesses for the community
[or commonalty]
of the borough of Calne; Robert Lany and Wm Chesterton, Burgesses for the community
[or commonalty]
of the borough of Old Sarum, in the aforesaid county; to all and every,
[thing,]
according to the tenor of the aforesaid brief, in the parliament of the said lord the king, at Leicester appointed to be, on the last day of April next, together with others, to confer, treat, act, and likewise conclude, according as the aforesaid brief exacts and requires. In witness whereof, &c.

↵

*
Memorandum. These Remarks were written in March, 1777. The author had previously informed a nobleman in administration, that the Americans were inclined to a re-union, even under the crown, on constitutional principles, provided his majesty's ministers could give a proof of their sincerity in treating, by adopting some legal means of political reformation at home, and that the proper constitutional terms, consistent with the natural rights of British subjects, would certainly be accepted, if tendered within two or three months; but that no terms short of independency would or could be accepted after the expiration of six months from that time. The desire of pointing out such a plan of reformation, as might be suitable to the proposed reunion, occasioned these remarks.
↵

*

But the king was not satisfied with these repeated declarations: he thought his power and dignity very precarious, while it depended on the authority of parliament. He dreaded the popular party, and the effects of opposition and resistance, which he had so lately experienced; and could not bear the restraint, which these apprehensions laid him under. His whole views therefore were from this time directed to one end; to set himself above all opposition and resistance: first, by making peace and gaining firm alliance abroad, and then, by establishing an uncontrollable power at home. In consequence of this design, he entered with more earnestness upon a treaty of peace with France, &c.
See the learned bishop Lowth's Life of William of Wykeham, p. 232. King Richard's obstinate perseverance in such erroneous and dangerous notions produced those very evils of which he was most afraid, viz. the loss of his crown, his liberty, and his life; for the Machiavelian policy of his ministers, in promoting parliamentary corruption and in maintaining a standing army of Cheshire time-servers, served only to precipitate the monarch's destruction, and to hasten the revolution.

↵

*
"By the assent of the whole county."
↵

*
"In plain shire" (or full county, meaning a full county-court) "of Wilts, holden," &c.
↵

(3).
"In the same county dwelling and resident." [*]
Quod milites Com. infra regnum nostrum Angl. eligend. adveniend. in parl. ex tunc tenend. eligantur in quolibet Com. per homines in eodem Com. commorantes et residentes, &c.—Et quod illi, qui eligendi fuerint, sint similiter in eisdem Com. commorantes et residentes, &c.
Extract from the copy of a writ, in p. 133 of Prynne's second part of a brief Register, &c. of parl. writs. See also an act of parliament to the same purpose, which is still in force, viz. 1 Henry V. chap. 1.

↵

*

That the knights of the Shires within our kingdom of England, to be chosen to come to the parliaments from henceforth to be holden, should be chosen in every county by men dwelling and residing in the same County, &c. And that they, who are to be chosen, be likewise dwelling and residing in the same Counties,
&c.

↵

(4).
[*]
Rex Vic. Kanc. salutem. — Quia super quibusdam arduis et urgentibus negotiis, &c. parliamentum nostrum apud Westm. die, &c. — tenere ordinavimus, &c. Tibi praecipimus firmiter injungentes, quod de Com. praedicto duos Milites gladiis cinctos, &c. et de qualibet civitate ejusdem com. duos Cives, et de quolibet burg. duos Burgenses, de melioribus et validioribus et discretioribus Militibus, Civibus et Burgensibus Comitat. Civitatum et Burgorum praedictorum eligi, et eos usque Westm. die, &c. — venire facias ibidem, et tunc durante parliamento praedicto CONTINUE MORATUROS,
&c. Prynne's 2d part of a brief Register, &c. p. 105. — ‘The usual old formes’ (says Prynne elsewhere)

being to retorn on the back of the Writ or a Cedule, nomina Militum, Manucaptores I. S. militis, Man. N. F. Militis, or alterius militis; or that two persons were elected milites, or duos milites, (naming both their Christian and sirnames,) of the county of B. and that such and such were their manucaptors, they having for the most part two, four, some six, manucaptors apiece, that they should appear at the day and place appointed in the writ; some few of them now and then refused to find manucaptors, whereupon their goods and cattle were destreined, to cause them to appear in parliament at the time and place prescribed by the writs,

&c. (Prynne's Brevia parliamentaria rediviva, p. 137.) So that men of known abilities and integrity (howsoever fond of their own ease and private amusements) might then be compelled to serve their country in parliament, though their electors were also compelled to pay them wages; and perhaps the renewal of both these antient usages would contribute much to the national welfare, that useful talents of private gentlemen might neither be unemployed nor unrewarded.
↵

*

The King to the Sheriff of Kent, greeting. — Forasmuch as on certain difficult and urgent affairs, &c. we have appointed our parliament to be holden at Westminster on the day, &c. — We command you, strictly enjoining, that you cause to be chosen of the aforesaid County two Knights, gift with swords, &c. and of every city of the same county two Citizens, and of every borough two Burgesses, of the best, and most able, and most discreet, Knights, Citizens, and Burgesses, of the County, Cities, and Boroughs, aforesaid, and cause them to come to Westminster on the day, &c. there and then, during the aforesaid parliament, CONTINUALLY TO REMAIN,
&c.

↵

(5).
— 8 Henry VI. cap. vii. Whereby the right of voting was limited
to those who have land or tenement to the value of fourty shillings by the year at the least, &c.
The preamble of this act, however, sufficiently proves the fact, that all the common people thought themselves entitled to vote at elections for knights of shires.

Whereas the elections of knights of shires to come to the parliaments of our lord the king, in many counties of the realm of England, have now of late been made by very great, outrageous [*] and excessive number of people dwelling within the same counties, &c. of the which most part was of people of small substance and of no value, [†] whereof every of them pretended a voice equivalent, as to such elections to be made with the most worthy knights and esquires dwelling within the same counties, whereby manslaughter, riots, batteries, and divisions among the gentlemen and other people of the same counties, shall very likely rise and be, unless convenient and due remedy be provided, &c.

But the inconveniences here alledged (for which the iniquitous remedy of depriving the common people of their right of voting at county elections was provided) deserve to be no otherwise esteemed than as so many mere imaginary pretences to excuse the injustice of the act: for, if any such manslaughter, riots, batteries, &c. had ever been really occasioned by the former popular elections, the framers of this act would not have failed to cite the examples; for they could not say that any such mischiefs had ever happened (before that time) but only that they
shall very likely rise and be — unless convenient and due remedy be provided;
whereas, since their iniquitous remedy hath taken place, all these baneful circumstances do notoriously attend it, though the framers of the act could not cite a single example of such mischief before that unhappy alteration. — It is therefore high time to repeal that act.
↵

*
It is very easy to give hard epithets, without proofs of their propriety and truth.
↵

†
The value of our Christian brethren before God, both in church and state, is inestimable! For, all Christians, that are not convicted of crimes, ought surely to be equally esteemed the adopted brethren of Christ, and members of that everlasting building, the church of God, whereby they are entitled to judge, not only of things in the present world, but also in that which is to come! For, if they shall hereafter have authority even to "JUDGE ANGELS," how much more things that pertain to this life? (1 Cor. vi. 3) For herein consists that NATURAL EQUALITY OF ALL CHRISTIANS, which some political writers aff
•
ct to deny.

↵

(6).
Memorandum. A militia cannot be free, if the individuals of it are compelled, under the terrors of martial law, to be withdrawn from their families, their ordinary callings, and even from their counties, for six months, or more, without return; for, by these means, they are withdrawn also from their civil capacity in the state, and are apt to become mere soldiers, or mercenaries: for, when a man loses his trade, or ordinary occupation, together with his family and local connexions, on which his maintenance depends, he may justly be said to lose his civil capacity; because he is thereby rendered dependent on his military sold, or pay, like the common soldiers of all standing armies; and, therefore, whenever the public defence requires the national militia to form an army in the field, the service ought to be supplied by a regular military roster, or rotation, circulating monthly, in due and equal proportions, throughout all the counties: by which means no man would be so long withdrawn from his home as to be injured either in his family or occupation, and yet the most distant parts of the kingdom would be defended, by the returning disciplined troops; and military vigour would be circulated by the roster (like the blood of life) throughout the whole body of the nation, which would give it (under God) such internal strength as must render all attempts of foreign invaders fatal only to themselves.
↵

ANNUAL PARLIAMENTS, The ANCIENT and MOST SALUTARY RIGHT Of the COMMONS of GREAT-BRITAIN.

Being an Extract from SHARP'S ‘ Declaration of the People's natural Right to a Share in the Legislature, ’ printed in 1774, P. 157 to 170.

WHEREIN IS SHEWN, That the Statutes of 4 Edw. III. c. 14. and 36 Edw. III. c. 10. which ordain, ‘ that a Parliament shall be holden every Year one, &c. ’ must necessarily be understood to mean,—A NEW ELECTION OF REPRESENTATIVES, ‘ every Year once, and more often if need be. ’

LONDON: PRINTED IN THE YEAR M.DCC.LXXX.

PREFACE TO THE READER.

THE editor earnestly recommends the subject of the following pages to the consideration of the public, because he conceives that the restoration of Elections, ‘every year once, and more often, if need be,’ (and those in a more equal proportion of deputation according to the number of Electors in each county,) is the only measure that can be safely adopted, for a solid and firm basis of that political reformation, which, at present, is almost universally acknowledged to be necessary, as well for the security of the people, as the dignity and safety of the crown. The unhappy effects of modern deviations from that fundamental rule do clearly demonstrate, that it was not only an ancient right of the Commons, but even an indispensable right, without which peace and good government cannot be maintained.

‘ Mos retinendus est fidelissimae vetustatis. Quae praeter consuetudinem et morem majorum fiunt, neque placent, neque recta videntur. ’ 4 Coke, 78.

‘As often as any thing is doubtful or corrupted, we should recur to first principles. ’

Loft's Elements of Law, No 8.

ANNUAL PARLIAMENTS, The ANCIENT and MOST SALUTARY RIGHT OF THE COMMONS of GREAT-BRITAIN.

—THE authority of the nominal Legislature in 1650 was entirely illegal, as well as that in 1653, both of them having been set up and maintained by the same unconstitutional arbitrary power; and both of them totally void of the indispensable Representation of the people: for though the wretched remains of the Long-Parliament in 1650 (being about 80 Representatives or Members, instead of 513 that had been elected at the beginning of that Parliament) were indeed chosen by a small part of the people of England, yet the legal Representation, even of that small part, was out of date and void, from the length of time that the said Representation had continued without Re-election, which was about ten years; whereas it is well known that the due effect, or virtue, of popular Representation, was formerly supposed to be incapable (like some annual fruits) of being so long preserved in useful purity, without a seasonable renewal, from time to time; so that our more prudent Ancestors (imitating nature) required also an annual renewal of their parliamentary Representation, as being necessary for the maintenance of public virtue.

Sir Edw. Coke, in his 4th Inst. p. 9, speaking of "the matters of parliament," informs us of the reasons usually expressed in the writs for calling a new Parliament, as ‘pro quibusdam arduis urgentibus negotiis, nos statum, et defensionem regni nostri Angliae, et Ecclesiae Anglicanae concernentibus quoddam parliamentum nostrum, &c. teneri ordinavimus,’ &c. And he adds, in the next paragraph, ‘Now, for as much’ (says he) ‘as divers Laws and Statutes have been enacted and provided for these ends aforesaid, and that divers mischiefs in particular, and that divers mischiefs in particular, and divers grievances in general, concerning the honour and safety of the King, the State, and Defence of the Kingdome, and of the Church of England, might be prevented, an excellent Law was made, anno 36 Edw. III. c. 10. which, being applied to the said Writs of Parliament, doth, in a few and effectual words, set down the true subject of a Parliament in these words: For the maintenance of the said articles, and statutes, and redress of divers mischiefs and grievances, which daily happen, A PARLIAMENT SHALL BE HOLDEN EVERY YEAR, as another time was ordained by a statute.’ Which Statute, here referred to, was made in the 4th year of the same reign, cap. 14. ‘Item, it is accorded, that a Parliament shall be holden EVERY YEAR ONCE, and more often if need be. ’ But Sir William Blackstone supposes that the King never was ‘obliged, by these Statutes, to call a new Parliament every year; but only to permit a Parliament to sit annually for the redress of grievances, and dispatch of business, if need be. ’ (1 Com. c. 2, p. 153.)

It is too true, indeed, that our Kings, in general, did not think themselves "obliged, by these Statutes," (as they ought in conscience to have been, for the safety of their souls,) ‘to call a new Parliament every year: ’ nay, it is certain that many of them would never have called a Parliament at all, had they not been "obliged" by necessity and the circumstances of the times. But by what authority could a representative in one Parliament take his seat in the next annual Parliament, without re-election, before any laws were made for lengthening the duration of Parliaments? And besides, if the King did ‘ only permit a Parliament to sit annually,’ &c. by what authority could the Parliament be convened at all, under such a circumstance, seeing that a mere permission to sit excludes the idea of a prorogation from year to year? However, the learned commentator himself very justly observes, in a preceding page, (150,) concerning "the manner and time of assembling," that the ‘Parliament is regularly to be summoned by the King's Writ, or Letter, issued out of Chancery.’ And it is well known that these Writs are not addressed to the knights, citizens, and burgesses, elected for any former Parliament, but to the Sheriffs alone, to cause Knights, Citizens, &c. to be elected; for, when the said Acts were made, such an absurdity in politics had never been conceived in England, as that of trusting the Representation of the people, for a term of years, (as at present,) to the persons elected! On the contrary, when the business of each Session was finished, the Parliament, of course, was at an end; and therefore Lord Coke did not speak in vain, when he mentioned "the excellent Law" (viz. the Act for annual Parliaments) ‘ being applied to the said Writs of Parliament, ’ &c. before recited.

A man of so much good sense, learning, and judgement, as Sir William Blackstone is master of, must be well aware of the pernicious effects of investing the Representatives of the people with a legislative power, beyond the constitutional term of A SINGLE SESSION, without Re-election; and therefore I cannot but be surprized at the unguarded manner in which he has expressed himself in his Comment on the two excellent Statutes of Edward III. for annual Parliaments; viz. that the King is not, ‘or ever was, obliged by these Statutes to call a new Parliament every year,’ &c. He has caused the word new to be printed in Italics, as if he meant thereby to insinuate, that the Legislatures of those early times were not unacquainted with our modern idea of conferring on the popular Representation a kind of continued senatorial dignity, without Re-election, for several years together; whereas he certainly must have known that this corrupt modern practice has produced a new order of men amongst us, a most dangerous increase of aristocratical power, which was entirely unknown to our Ancestors in the glorious reign of Edward III. If he could shew that there ever was a Parliament, in those times, that was not a NEW Parliament, his Comment might be justified! But it is notorious that Writs were issued to the Sheriffs, for new Elections, almost every year during that whole reign: The Writs, for the most part, are still preserved with the Returns upon them. In the catalogue of Election-Writs, which Prynne has given in his Brevia Parliamentaria Rediviva, p. 4 to 6, there is an account of Writs issued for new Elections in every year of that King's reign, between his 34th (when the last Act for annual Parliaments was made) and his 50th year, except 3, viz. the 40th, 41st, and 48th, years; in which years the Records of Summons to the Prelates and Lords of Parliament are also wanting, as appears by Sir William Dugdale's ‘perfect Copy of Summons to Parliament of the Nobility,’ &c.

And yet this affords no absolute proof that Parliaments were not holden in those very years for which the Writs are wanting; because the bundles of Writs for the said years may have been lost or mislaid. The only wonder is, that more have not been lost, when we consider the very little care that had been taken of them; for Prynne found many of these Writs dispersed among a vast miscellaneous heap of other records on various subjects, (as he himself relates in his Epistle-Dedicatory to King Charles II. of his Brevia Parliamentaria Rediviva,) calling the said heap a ‘ confused Chaos, under corrding putrifying cobwebs, dust, and filth, in the darkest corner of Caesar's Chapel in the White Tower, as mere useless Reliques not worthy to be calendred, ’ &c. And, in page 103 of that same work, he speaks of 117 Bundles of Writs, whereof 97 had only been then lately discovered, filed, and bundled, by himself: ‘But many of these 117 Bundles’ (says he) ‘are not compleat, above half or three parts of the Writs being either rotted, consumed, maymed, torn, or utterly lost, through carelessness, wet, cankers, or other casualties; and some of them have not above two, three, or four Writs, and one or two but one Writ and Retorn remaining.’

But that there were really Writs for Parliaments, even in those three years, which appear to be wanting, at least in two of them, is very certain; because it was in the 40th year of this reign, as Sir Edward Coke informs us, (4 Inst. p. 13,) that the Pope demanded homage for the kingdoms of England and Ireland, and the arrears of revenue granted by King John to Pope Innocent III. ‘whereupon the King, in the same year, calleth his Court of Parliament, ’ [*] &c. as Sir Edward Coke proves from the Parliament-Rolls of that year, No 8, remarking, at the same time, that the Act then made was "never yet printed." See the margin, 4th Inst. p. 13.

And it appears that a Parliament was held also in the 48th year of this reign, because supplies were in that year granted to the King by Parliament, as related by Sir Richard Baker, in his Chronicle, p. 173, viz. ‘ in his eight and fortieth year, IN A PARLIAMENT, is granted him a 10th of the Clergy, and a 15th of the Laity.’ So that there is but one year, out of so many, in which we cannot trace the meeting of the annual Parliaments: And annual Writs for new Elections were regularly issued for the first 18 years of the following reign, (as appears by Prynne's ‘2d part of a brief Register and Survey of the several kinds and forms of parliamentary Writs,’ pages 116 and 117,) till Richard II. (that wretched perjured monarch) had rendered himself absolute. [*]

After considering these unquestionable evidences of the issuing Writs annualy for new Elections, it will be difficult to comprehend the meaning of Sir William Blackstone's Comment on the said two Acts for annual Parliaments: ‘Not that he (the King) is, or ever was, obliged by these Statutes to call a new Parliament every year; but only to permit a Parliament to sit annually for the redress of grievances and dispatch of business, if need be. — These last words’ (says he) ‘are so loose and vague, that such of our monarchs, as were inclined to govern without Parliaments, neglected the convoking them, sometimes for a considerable period, under pretence that there was no need of them, ’ &c.

But "these last words" are not ‘ so loose and vague ’ as either to justify his own explanation of the said Statues, (viz. not ‘to call a new Parliament every year, but only to permit a Parliament to sit,’ &c.) or to excuse, in the least degree, the criminal neglects of those depraved monarchs who were inclined to govern without them: for the words, "if need be," cannot, according to the most obvious sense of the Act wherein they are found, be applied to the main purpose of the Act, (the holding annual Parliaments,) but merely to the remaining part of the sentence, viz. ‘ and more often: ’ that is, ‘and more often, if need be.’ The Order, ‘ that a Parliament shall be holden EVERY YEAR ONCE,’ is absolute; and the discretionary power, expressed in the words ‘ if need be, ’ relates apparently to the calling Parliaments "more often:" for, if the said discretionary words, "if need be," could, with any propriety, be applied to the whole sentence, the Act itself would have been nugatory; which could never be the intention of the Legislature: but the true meaning and sense of the Legislature is very clearly proved by the histories of those times: for it is manifest, not only that new Representatives were elected every year (with only one exception) for a considerable number of years after the last of the said Acts was made, (which confirms the main purpose of the Acts, viz. the holding annual Parliaments,) but it is also manifest, that Parliaments were frequently holden "more often" than once a year; [*] which amply confirms also what I have before said, concerning the meaning of the discretionary power, expressed in the said Act, by the words "if need be."

These very frequent Elections (sometimes two, three, and four, times IN ONE YEAR) sufficiently prove that the power, delegated by the people to their Representatives, continued no longer in force than during the Session of the particular Parliament to which they were summoned; which being ‘ once determined, ’ (says Prynne, ist part of Brief Register, &c. of Parl. Writs, p. 334.) ‘ they presently ceased to be Knights, Citizens, Burgesses, Barons, in any succeeding Parliaments or Councils, unless newly elected and retorned to serve in them, by the King's NEW Writs, as our Law-Books ’ (referring to 4 Ed. IV. f. 44. Brook, Officer, 25.34 Hen. VIII. c. 24.) "and experience resolve," &c. And therefore Judge Blackstone's insinuation, against the calling of a new Parliament, has no real foundation: for, if it was the intention of the Legislature, in the two Acts abovementioned, that the King should ever summon any Parliament at all, they must necessarily be understood to mean a new Parliament on all occasions; i. e. not only that the regular Parliaments, which they ordained ‘ to be holden every year once, ’ should be new Parliaments, but also those that should be summoned upon any extraordinary unforeseen occasions; which is sufficiently expressed in the 1st of the said Acts, by the words, ‘ and more often, if need be. ’ The meaning of the Act is unquestionably proved by the actual issuing of writs, to the Sheriffs, for electing Knights, Citizens, &c. for two, three, and sometimes four, new Parliaments, in one year, as mentioned above: And if any person should object, that such very frequent Elections must be attended with insuperable difficulties and inconveniences, we may quote the experience of all ancient times, as affording ample and sufficient proofs to the contrary; ‘there being not above two or three cases of elections questioned, or complained of, from 49 Hen. III. till 22 Edw IV.’ (that is, more than 200 years,) ‘for ought that appears by the Retornes or Parliament-Rolls, and NOT SO MUCH AS ONE DOUBLE RETORNE or INDENTURE, wherewith all the late Bundles, or Writs, are stored, and the House of Commons, and late Committees of Privileges pestered, perplexed, to the great retarding of the more weighty public affairs of the King and Kingdom.’ Prynne, Brevia Parl. Rediv. p. 137. This enormous evil, the retardment of business, by undue Returns, will not (I may venture, without the spirit of prophecy, to assert) be remedied by the new Regulation for that purpose. The Commons were never (in ancient times of Freedom) esteemed the proper Judges of their own Elections, but the King alone, that is, in his limited judicial capacity, by his Justices and his sworn Juries, in the Courts of Common-Law. If my countrymen will seriously consider all these points, they must be convinced that the only sure method of healing the alarming distempers of our political Constitution [*] is to restore to the people their ancient and just Right to elect a new Parliament, ‘ every year once, and more often if need be. ’

No Parliament could have any right to deprive the people of this inestimable Law, unless the Representatives had expressly consulted their respective constituents upon it; as the alteration was of too much moment to be intrusted to the discretion of any Representatives or Deputies whatsoever, being infinitely more important than ‘ any new device, moved on the King's behalf, in Parliament, for his aid, or the like; ’ for the most essential and fundamental Right of the whole body of the Commons (I mean the Principals, not the Deputies or Agents) was materially injured by the fatal change, and the people's power of controul, for the general good of the kingdom, was thereby apparently diminished! so that, if it is the duty of Representatives (even in "any new device" of mere ‘ aid, or the like ’) to consult their Constituents, how much more, upon the proposal of so material an alteration in the Constitution, ought they to have answered, that, ‘ in this new device, they DARE NOT AGREE WITHOUT CONFERENCE WITH THEIR COUNTRIES!’ These are the words of Lord Coke, who mentions them as the proper answer, [*] ‘ when any new device is moved, ’ &c. and he adds, ‘whereby it appeareth’ (says he) ‘that SUCH CONFERENCE is warrantable by th law and custome of Parliament, ’ 4th Inst. p. 14; so that no Representative can be justified (according to ‘ the Law and Custome of Parliament ’) who refuses to receive the Instructions of his Constituents, notwithstanding that several very sensible, worthy, and (I believe) sincerely patriotic, gentlemen have lately declared themselves to be of a contrary opinion; but, when they peruse the several authorities which I have cited, concerning the absolute necessity of a very frequent appeal to the sense of the whole body of the people, I trust, in their candour and love of truth, that they will alter their sentiments.

THE END.

Notes

*
In this Parliament it was unanimously agreed, by the Prelates, Dukes, Counts, Barons, and Commons, ("et la Commun," and again, "et Communes,")
that the said King John, nor no other, could put himself, nor his Realm, nor his People, in such Subjection, without their Assent ('sans assent de eux'); and, if it was done, it was done without their Assent,
(that is, without the Assent of the Common; for the Assent of the Barons was expressed in the Charter,)

and contrary to his Oath at his Coronation,

p. 14. Whereupon Lord Coke remarks, in the margin, that
no King can put himself, nor his Realm, nor his People, in such Subjection, without Assent of the Lords and Commons in Parliament,
&c.
↵

*
His arbitrary proceedings very soon afterwards occasioned his own Loss of Power, and total Fjectment from the Throne; so that, notwithstanding his boasted Firmness in executing his favourite measures, he was at last reduced to the most abject acknowledgements of his own unworthiness to reign.
↵

*
Writs were issued for electing 3 new Parliaments in the 6th year of Edw. III. 2 in his 11th year, 3 in his 12th year, and even 4 in his 14th year; and there appear to have been 2 new Parliaments in the 7th of Rich. II. See Prynne's Brevia Parliamentaria Rediviva, p. 5 & 6.
↵

*
Viz. the enormous national Debt; the numerous Pensions; the secret parliamentary Insluence; a standing Army of near 100 Battalions of Foot, besides Cavalry, in time of Peace! [this was first printed in 1774] &c. &c. &c. which must render the Estates and Property of individuals precarious and insecure, or finally EAT THEM UP with growing burthens, if these fatal symptoms of the most dangerous political consumption are not speedily checked and thrown off, by the wholesome prescriptions of a free and equal Representation of THE PEOPLE annually elected.
↵

*
See also the answer of the Commons in 13 Edw. III. (as reported in Sir Robert Cotton's Abridgement of the Records, &c. p. 17.) almost in the same words.
↵

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The legal means of political reformation: proposed in two small tracts, viz. The first on "Equitable representation," and the legal means of obtaining it. The second on "Annual parliaments, the ancient and most salutary right of the people.".

Sharp, Granville, 1735-1813.

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1106024273

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— The legal means of political reformation: proposed in two small tracts, viz. The first on "Equitable representation," and the legal means of obtaining it. The second on "Annual parliaments, the ancient and most salutary right of the people."., Sharp, Granville, 1735-1813.. The third edition.. 59,[1]p. ; 8⁰. [London,. 1780?]. [Anonymous. By Granville Sharp.] [Each tract has a separate titlepage, but pagination and register are continuous.] [Reproduction of original from the British Library.] [English Short Title Catalog, ESTCT171480.] [Electronic data. Farmington Hills, Mich. : Thomson Gale, 2003. Page image (PNG). Digitized image of the microfilm version produced in Woodbridge, CT by Research Publications, 1982-2002 (later known as Primary Source Microfilm, an imprint of the Gale Group).]

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