OCR Text |
Show ( 18 ) Iit)ment; not ruin'd by Popery o~·afordgn Po111er; but by one execrable Parliament in thr:ee Sdlions. Had the poor People feen -their Reprifentati.'IJt~ entirely devoted to the Courtr P!Irtyilrand ma-~ing a Sacrifice of their Country to ;theh:_-'Jln~ vatc Revenge and lntereft; t~ey wo.uld:: cer· t ainly have exerted tiJat Autbor1ty, Which they had fo often made.ufe of, in defence ofr ·themfelves and their Poll:erity, againft lmi Parlia. 111ent of Traitors. But the People were. entirely manag'd by. the Clergy, ~ho CaJol':d Acaunl nf them fometimes w~th pre~ty Stones of their Sweden Prince and fometlmes With the Pleafure of p. 9c, 9l· being' reveng'd on the old Miniftry? i11 ~hich Particular they were moll: grony n~p.os -d up. on. For tho the calling thofe old !'hmll:ers to account who might have been gmlty <if fame Faults 'was very juft as well as popular; and t he se'afon proper, when the Kingdom was at Peace with their Enemies Abroad, and no Danger to be apprehended from the Popifh Pretender, or any other foreign P?wer; yet the Proceedings of the ParUament were fo "Partial, that 'twas eafy to be perceiv'd, that 'twas Perfons and not Crimes they aim'd at: A Method which often produces new Minijler~, but feldom better. And what could be more abfurd, than that all the while they pretended to he doing Jufiice to their Country, the Baron molt notoriom Traitor to it, the new chief 1M a, l' lemin~. nager of tile Treafllry, was the Head aod1"Di-J " rector of all their Proceedi ngs, who was 1111-n der a neceffity of ruining the Conftitution"as well as the Old Miniflers, to fecure himfelf a- ' gainft wliat he had · great reafon to apprehend, whenever the People )hould come ro ' · the ir ( 29 ) their Senfes again? Belides, this Parliament did not deferve the name of a Parliament · for there w·ere fo many Officers in the L~wer Haufe, ' that it look'd ·more like a CourtMartiul, that was to pafs Sentence upon the Liberties of their Country, as we find they did, thim like a Houft of Commons, that were to defend them, whi_ch we lind they did · not. · And more than fhis~ there were fuch indirea and djlhonell: Methods made ufe of in procuring Soldiers and other Creatures abandon'd to the Court, to be chofen, that, properly fpeaking, they were no more a true Parliament, than a rebeUious Mob that !hould meet together by the InJtigatio~ of the Cter- $)', to pull down Religiom Houfes, which they did not think fit 'to indulge, could be juftly ftil'd a Central Council. However, the Peo-ple Wer.e Ib infatuated by the Couri and Cler-gy, · that they fat 'frill, and quietly fuffer'd fucb a Parliament to gi:ve up to the Court all that makes this painful Life eafy to rational Men~ . lbeir Liberty; a Bleffing . which even · d~mb Beafts' by Nature enjoy : Libcrtatem Tacit. etsam hl!4ti5 animaliblls natura datam, Tacit. Hill:. But 'tis grievous to fee, even at this rime what numbers of Creatures there are wh'i} are more fenfiefs than Brutes that are furious to 1rqmple thi5 ineftimable Je;el under their Eeif, and .are· 't:eady to turn again, and rend •all thofe' t?dt ~1d 'P,referv: it from their filthy pal/u - tlons. Wha,t a Jugh value did the brave old. . Roman~ _place upon this th~ir great ell: Trea~ fure, L:berty ! . They were not content in being flOifefs d of It tbemfelves alone but at their own Charge, •1 thci~ o111n L11bou1' ~nd Haz..ard, they |