THE
Free-Holders Plea
AGAINST STOCK-JOBBING ELECTIONS OF Parliament Men.
LONDON:
Printed in the Year 1701.
THE
Free-Holders Plea
AGAINST STOCK-JOBBING Elections of PARLIAMENT Men.
OF all the Nations in the World, we may say, without Detracting from the Character of our Native Country, that
England
has, for some Ages past, been the most Distracted with Divisions and Parties among themselves.
Union, and Charity, the one relating to our Civil, the other to Religious Concerns, are Stangers in the Land; and whether we speak of difference in Opinions, or differences in Interest, we must own that we are the most Divided, Quarrelsome Nation under the Sun.
Poland
is the only Nation of
Europe
which can pretend to Match us in this Ill-natur'd Quality, and yet all things examin'd
Poland
cannot come near us.
'Twas a true Character given of us, by the Wisest Princess that ever Govern'd us, Queen
Elizabeth,
that the
English
were harder to be Govern'd in time of Peace than War.
What Experience our present Governors have had of this Old Maxim in the short Peace we have had, we leave to every Man's Observation.
Not to enter into the History of the Divisions, and Civil Disturbances in the Nations Peace, which is too fresh in our Memories; and cannot be review'd without sensible Regret by any Man, who Loves his Country, or has the least regard to its Prosperity or Reputation.
Yet we cannot but express our sense of the Encrease, and more than ordinary progress of this wrangling Temper, on the present Affairs of the Publick; and with what Fatal success it Invades us in the most Minute, and most tender Parts; with what subtilty it spreads its contagious Qualities into the Vitals of the State, and from thence descends into the less Noble Parts, the Trade of the Nation.
Religion and the State have felt the plague of Contention, eating out the very Entrails of the Nation, and with a sort of alternate Motion, have equally come under its Malignant Effects, for almost Four entire Centuries of Years, and as if it was not enough to hurt us in those two Essentials of our Peace, behold the Plague is broke out in our Trade, which is the third, and next the other two, the Supreme Article of the Kingdoms Prosperity.
Wherefore we the Yeomandry, and poor Free-holders of
England,
having, God knows, no Hand in the Differences, tho' we have a deep share in the Damages, do take the freedom to make our just Remarks upon the Causes, which, as we apprehend, have conduc'd too much to the present unhappy Divisions of the Nation; and which, if some care be not taken to prevent it, may compleat the Ruin of us all.
The Wisdom of late Parliaments have Establish'd two great Rivals in Trade, the Old, and the New
East India
Companies.
We do not pretend to Arraign the Justice of those
Wonderful and Unintelligible Assemblies,
if they were in being, we dare not, and, since they are not in being, 'tis not very Honourable, you'll say, to speak ill of the Dead.
But thus far, we hope, without offence, we may be allow'd to give our Opinions in this particular Affair, that tho' separately and distinctly, every part of the proceedings of those Parliaments, might be literally and positively Just, and Right, we mean as to the
East India
Companies.
Yet when they are Conjunctively, and in the General put together, and reflected on, they seem to be clouded both as to the publick Interest; and as to the Honour of the proceedings, with dark Enigma's of State, and Inexplicable Paradoxes, too hard for us to understand, such as these.
1. That during the Being of one Company, and before the Extent of their Charter, and Privileges were Expir'd, we mean the 3 years allow'd them for bringing Home their Effects, there should be Erected a New Company, with power of immediate Trade.
Had the New Company not commenc'd their Trade, till the time of the Old was expir'd, or near it, there might have been a Succession of Companies, not two Rival Companies in Being together.
2. That the manner of the Trading by the New Company should be so Order'd, as that the Old Company by Subscribing shou'd enable themselves to Trade separately, as a Company still; and that with so Capital a Stock, as always to share the Trade with the New Company; and so at the same time two contraries be upheld by the same Authority.
Had the New Company been so Establish'd, that at the Expiration of the Old, it shou'd have had a Commanding Superiority, by which no other Men cou'd have Traded, but under them, by Permission at the same time, leaving all Men at liberty to come in and Trade with them, there had been then no Rivals in the Trade, which will, no question, as they now stand, soon reduce the Trade to very low Terms.
3. That after this New Company was Establish'd, and the Mony paid in, to the Use of the Government,
which some say was the thing which first mov'd the Conception of a New Company, and which, if the Old Company wou'd have procur'd, they had never been Broke nor the New one Born.
That after this New Company was Erected, the Stock advanc'd, and the Mony to the Government pay'd they shou'd prohibit by Act of Parliament Two Thirds of their Trade, and so Starve the Child they had Begotten.
If the Trade was ruinous to the English Manufactures, and the Interest of the Nation it shou'd have been foreseen, before Gentlemen had payd their Mony, or else it shou'd not have been Examin'd afterwards.
4. That after all this they shou'd grant a New Charter to the Old Company, by Virtue of which they have both Power and Time to Trade, to the prejudice of the New, even to their Hearts Content.
We say nothing of those particulars but thus, that really we do not understand the consistency of them with themselves, they stand to us as Arcana's of Policy, too high to be medled with.
Nor shou'd we trouble our Heads about them, but leave both Companies to confound one another, as we believe they will; but that we find so great a part of the Nation concern'd in their Quarrel, as gives us cause to Observe, that the Issue of them seems to threaten the Nation with something Fatal.
For the Power of these two Rivals is so great, and their Interest in the Kingdom so popular and High, that Matters of higher Moment than Trade seem to depend upon them, while all the proceedings of their Members, both in the City, and in the late Parliament, in both which their Parties have been numerous, are, and have been guided according to their Interest in their respective Companies.
The Grand Work which the whole Nation is now Intent upon, is chusing their Representatives in Parliament, Chusing Men to Meet, and advise with the King about the most Important Affairs of the Kingdom.
And while all Men ought to be fixing their Eyes upon such Men as are best Qualified to Sit in that Place of Honour, and to Examine who are fittest to be Intrusted with the Religion and Peace of
England,
and perhaps of all
Europe.
Here we are plagu'd with the Impertinence of two
East India
Companies, as if the Interest of either Company were to be Nam'd in the Day with the
Protestant Religion and the publick Peace,
or as if they, who are fit to be Representatives of the People in the great Matters of Peace and War, Leagues, and Alliances of Neighbours, Succession of Crowns, and Protection of the Protestant Religion, should not be capable of deciding the petty Controversy in Trade between two Rivial Companies.
The Grand Question ask'd now, when your Vote is requir'd for a Parliament Man, is not as it ought to be, Is he a Man of Sense, of Religion, of Honesty and Estate?
But, What Company is he for, the New, or the Old?
If Mr.
A. M.
set up as a Candidate in a Neighbouring Borough, Who set him up? 'Tis known he is no Inhabitant there, nor ever was, has no Free-hold, or Copy-hold, or Lease-hold Estate there, nor is not known there, and of himself possibly was not acquainted with 20 People there.
But enquire what Company he is for; and then see if all the rest of that Company were not found running over the Water, to make their Interest with their Friends for his Election.
And the Time would fail us, and the Paper too, to give you a List of the Shop-keepers, Merchants, and Pedlers, and the Stock-Jobbers, who, with their Hir'd Liveries, in Coaches, and Six Horses, who, God knows, never had Coach or Livery of their own, are come down into the Countreys, being detach'd from
London,
by either Company to get themselves chosen Parliament-Men, by those Boroughs, who are easie to be Impos'd upon, and who, like well-meaning Men, that know nothing of the Matter, Choose them upon the Recommendation of the Pountry Gentlemen that have Interest in the Towns, which Country Gentlemen are prevail'd upon to quit their own pretensions, to advance theirs; but by what Arguments we cannot pretend to Determine.
We have formerly been told that spending Mony upon the Inhabitants of Towns, was a pernicious practice; and no doubt it was, and an Act of Parliament has been wisely made to prevent it.
What any Man cou'd propose to himself by spending 2000 (nay, 11000 pound was spent at the Town of
Winchelsea
) to be chosen to Sit in a House, where there is not one Farthing to be gotten honestly, was a Mystery every one did not understand.
But here is a New way of getting Mony: For if a Country Gentleman has so much Interest in a Town, that he can be chosen a Member of Parliament, if he will decline it, here is a sort of Folks they call
Stock-Jobbers,
help him to a 1000 G
s for his Interest.
This is Parliament-Jobbing, and a New Trade, which as we thought it the Duty of
English
Free-holders thus to Expose, we hope an
English
Parliament will think it their Duty to prevent.
For as this Stock-Jobbing in its own Nature, is only a new Invented sort of
Deceptio Visus,
a
Legerde-main
in Trade; so mix'd with Trick and Cheat, that twou'd puzzle a good
Logician
to make it out by
Syllogism:
So nothing can be more Fatal in
England
to our present Constitution; and which in time may be so to our Liberty and Religion, than to have the Interests of Elections Jobb'd upon Exchange for Mony, and Transfer'd like
East India
Stock, to those who bid most.
By this Method, the Country Gentlemen may sit at Home; and only Corresponding with the Brokers at
Jonathan
's and
Garraway's,
as the Prizes Rise or Fall, they may dispose of their Interests in the Towns they can Govern, at as good a rate as they can.
The Citizens, or such who have their several Companies and Interest to Serve, will Ease themselves of the Expence of Travelling, with the fine borrow'd Equipages before mention'd; and only go to Market in Exchange Alley, and Buy an Election, as the Stock-Jobber and they shall agree, which Election shall be manag'd by the Country Gentleman, who is to have his Bargain, no Purchase, no Pay, and is to go thro' with it, or else he gets none of the Mony.
Elections of Parliament-Men are in a hopeful way; and Parliaments themselves, are in a hopeful way by this concise Method of Practice, to come unde the absolute Management of a few Hands, and no doubt things will go on accordingly.
Banks and Stocks may be lay'd up, and employ'd in a short time, for the purchasing the Interest of Gentlemen, and our Gentry being willing to get a Penny in
an Honest way,
as we say, will but too often sell their Interests and their Country too, especially such Gentlemen, whose Estates are reduc'd to an occasion for it.
The truth of it is, 'tis a Paradox, a Riddle, that we Country-men cannot understand, nor never cou'd, what makes our Gentlemen so fond of being Parliament Men, we do not very well understand what the Business is at the Parliament. Only we find we are swingingly Tax'd; and they tell us 'tis done by the Parliament; but we never understood they had any of the Mony themselves, we always thought the Mony was for the King, tho' they had the Giving of it, then we see in the King's
Proclamation
for Calling a Parliament, that it was to Advise with them, about Affairs of the Highest Importance to the Kingdom. Now we cannot see they can get any thing by coming together to be Advis'd with, and our Knights of the Shire tell us they get nothing by it. And here lies the Difficulty, we can never reconcile their spending so much Money to be Chosen, going up 200 Miles to
London,
and spending six Months sometimes there in attending the House, and all for nothing; we have often been thinking there must be something else in the case, and we are afraid there is.
Nor did ever any thing explain this Riddle so much, as the struggling of these two Companies to make Members of Parliament; for the meaning to us seems thus:
That they suppose which Company so ever gets most Friends in the House, will be most likely to be farther Establish'd, to the Ruin of the other, and therefore they make such a stir to get Friends there.
Whence first it must be suppos'd that the Matter shall not stand or fall by true Merrit, and that Company be supprest that deserves it; for if so, it might be probable they wou'd both be supprest; for we apprehend they are both destructive to our
English
Trade in general and Manufactures in particular.
But 2. It must be suppos'd that Friendship, and Number of Voices only will decide the Controversy.
And in order to this the Stock-Jobbers, who care not a Farthing which Side gets the better, but makes a Prey of them both, have set up this new Trade of Jobbing for Elections: And that the way of their proceeding may be a little plainer understood, We desire you to read the Copy of a Letter come down last Post, to a worthy Gentleman in our Country, from a Friend of his plying in or near
Exchange-Ally,
concerning this Matter.
SIR,
THE Elections for a New Parliament being began almost ever where, I doubt not but the Time is fixt at your Town of
I know you have the Absolute Power of the Inhabitants there, and can put in whom you please; and finding by your last you purpose to Decline it you Self, I am to inform you, that a very honest Gentleman of my Acquaintance, being an Eminent Merchant here, wou'd think himself very much Oblig'd, if you wou'd Use your Interest in his behalf, upon your Grant whereof I have an Order to Preent you with a Thousand Guinea's to buy my Lady Pins.
He is ready to come down at your first Summons, in a very good Equipage; Pray dispatch your Mind per the Bearer, to
Your humble Servant,
To the Honourable Sir
A, B, C, D,
Bar.
Postscript.
IF Sir
E, F, G, H,
will dispose of his Interest in the Town of
I can help him to very good Terms.
Now tho' the worthy Gentleman to whom this Proposal was made, rejected it with Disdain, yet the Attempt is made very plain in the case.
And we are inform'd, that the Number of Members come down into the Counties, on such accounts, are incredible.
Wherefore we think it very needful to publish our Resentments at such a practice, and to protest against it in this our Honest Plea, as an indirect, wicked and pernicious Practice, and which may be of very ill consequence to the Nation, on these following Accounts,
1. A hundred, or an hundred and fifty such Members in the House, wou'd make a Dead Weight, as it us'd to be call'd, to carry any Vote they are For, or Against, either in the Negative or Affirmative, as they shall agree, and if so, it will be almost in their Power to dispose of our Estates, Persons, Liberties and Religion, as they think fit.
2. If it be true, as is very rational to suppose, that they who will Buy will Sell; or if it be true, which seems still more rational, that they who have Bought must Sell, must make a
Penny
of it, or else they lose their
Purchase,
and some their Fortunes, which they expected to raise by these mercenary Elections; then the Influence such a Number of Members, gotten into the House by the method We are speaking of, will be capable of selling our Trade, our Religion, our Peace, our Effects, our King, our Crown, and every thing that is Valluable, or Dear to the Nation.
If Stock-jobbing of Elections be the first step, in all probability Stock-jobbing of Votes will be be the second; for he that will give a Thousand pounds, or more, only for a power to Vote, expects to get something by Voting, or gives away his Money for nothing.
What shall we say then, if a League of Confederacy shou'd be made between our Parliament-Sollicitors, and our Stock-jobbing-brokers, two sort of People equally mercenary and deceitful.
We desire to know, whether 'twould not be more fatal to
England
than the Union of
France
and
Spain,
which all
Europe
seems to be so much disturb'd at.
In vain do We the Free-Holders of
England
strive to Chuse Men of all the Six Characters, mention'd by a late Author, in order to have a Parliament every way Quallified for the Important Affairs, his Majesty has mentioned in his Proclamation.
In vain shall those Gentlemen We chose sit, and Vote in the House, if such a Generation as We hear of are let into the House, by the help of their Money at the Boroughs and Towns, for the Citizens and Burgesses out-run the Knigths in Number above Three for One.
We think 'tis no small Misfortune to the
English
Constitution, that so great a Number of Members Chosen by the Corporations of
England,
and, according to our weak Opinions, it seems not equal, That all the Free-holders of a County shou'd be represented only by two Men, and the Towns in the same County be represented by above Forty, as it is in
Cornwall,
and near the like in other Counties.
Again in some of these Corporations, where the right of Voting is in the Mayor and Jurats; in some the Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Councel; in others the Mayor, Aldermen, and Capital Burgesses; in others the Bayliff and Jurats, and the like, the right of Voting is reduc'd to so few, and those so Mean and Mercenary, that they are easily prevail'd with, to chuse such as they know not, but are recommended by others.
And, which is worse, some Towns whose Charters remain, tho' the Towns themselves seem to be Dead, are so mean and contemptible, that nothing remains of them but a Despicable Village, with the Ruins of what they have been.
We think it wou'd be but reasonable, that the Charters and Priviledges of Towns, shou'd die with the Towns; and that whereas when they were Popolous and Rich, they were Represented in Parliament, because they were so; when they are Depopulated and Desolate, there can be no need of any Person to represent them, what can the Members, who have serv'd for the Town of
Winchelsea
answer, if they were ask'd, who they Represent, they must Answer they Represent the Ruins and Vaults, the remain of a good Old Town, now lying in Heaps; as for the Inhabitants, they are not to be Nam'd among the List of the most despicable Endships, or Village in the County.
Branber
in
Sussex,
Old
Sarum, Stockbridge, Gatton, Quinburro,
and multitudes of Towns the like, who send up Gentlemen to represent Beggars, and have had more Mony spent at some of their Elections, than all the Land in the Parishes wou'd be worth, if Sold at a Hundred Years Purchase.
While on the other Hand, a great many good Towns in
England,
being of more modern Rise in the World, are not permitted to chuse at all, and the City of
London
it self, tho' some say it bears a proportion to Six parts of the Kingdom, sends but Four Members of it self; and but Eight in the whole Circumference.
This Inequality, we humbly conceive opens the Door to the fraudulent practices, which have all along been made use of in Elections, Buying of Voices, giving Freedoms in Corporations, to People Living out of Corporations, on purpose to make Votes, debauching the Electors, makeing whole Towns Drunk, and Feasting them to Excess for a Month, sometimes two, or more, in order to engage their Voices.
These things were so Notorious, and withal so Ruinous to the Gentry themselves, of whom several Men of plentiful Estates have been miserably Beggar'd and undone, that the Parliament wisely took notice of it, and have prohibited the practice.
But as if the Devil ow'd the Nation a Grudge, and was rummaging his Invention to find it out; here is a new project found out, to succeed the other, which is Ten Fold more the Child of Hell than that.
Elections were obtain'd by those Clandestine Vicious ways, only to sit in the House in General; but here the design seems to be form'd before-hand, what they wou'd be chosen for, and the measures concerted, nay we have heard that it may be known already, and Wagers have been layd in, or near
Exchange Alley,
which Company has most Friends in the ensuing Parliament, and how many of the Members of each Company stand fairest to be chosen.
Those Gentlemen who have Intelligence, suitable to such nice Calculations, are equally capable of Jobbing the whole Nation; and as is already noted, having gotten the way of Buying and Selling, that is jobbing Elections, will soon influence such Persons to Act, as the Mony they are able to bid shall direct.
'Twou'd be but a melancholly Thought, to reflect that the matter of our Succession, shou'd come to be debated before a Parliament, that had a Governing number of such Members, who cou'd imagine but that the settlement of our Crown wou'd attend the highest bidder, and our future Liberty, Religion, and all that's dear to us, be Mortgag'd to the Bribes of Forreigners.
The
French
King need not keep great Armies on Foot, Build Ships, and Strengthen himself at Sea to Ruin us, if the great Affairs of the Kingdom concerted in Parliament shou'd come to be prepar'd, manag'd, and byass'd at
Garraway
's and
Jonathan
's Coffee-house, and expos'd to Sale by a parcel of Stock-Jobbers.
And how shall it be otherwise, they that can make Members, will always Govern Members; Creation supposes a Right of disposing, the Gentlemen who Buy are Oblig'd to stand in good Terms with the Broker, least they shou'd find a better Chapman, and leave him in the lurch the next Election, so that by the Nature of the thing, they are always subject to this Mercenary, Scandalous thing, call'd a Broker, and he keeps them under his Girdle, if he bids them Vote for, or against, they do it, the mischiefs are endles and innumerable that may at tend it.
To all Men whose Eyes are to be open'd with Reason and Argument, it shou'd be enough to fill them with abhorrence, to think that the Scandalous Mechanick Upstart Mistery of Job-brokeing should grow upon the Nation; that ever the
English
Nation shou'd suffer themselves to be Impos'd upon by the New invented ways of a few Needy Mercinaries, who can turn all Trade into a Lottery, and make the
Exchange
a Gaming Table: A thing, which like the Imaginary Coins of Foreign Nations, have no reality in themselves; but are plac'd as things which stand to be Calculated, and Reduc'd into Value, a Trade made up of Sharp and Trick, and manag'd with Impudence and Banter.
That Six or Eight Men shall Combine together, and by pretended Buying or Selling among themselves, raise or sink the Stock of the
E. India
Company, to what extravagant pitch of Price they will, so to wheedle others sometimes to Buy, sometimes to Sell, as their occasions require; and with so little regard to Intrinsick Value, or the circumstances of the Company, that when the Company has a loss, Stock shall Rise; when a great Sale, or a Rich Ship arriv'd, it shall Fall: Sometimes run the Stock down to 35
l.
other times up to a 150
l.
and by this Method Buy and Sell so much, that 'tis thought there are few of the Noted Stock-jobbers, but what have bought and sold more Stock than both the Companies possess.
Thus let them Jobb, Trick, and Cheat one another; and let them be bubbl'd by them that know no better; but for God's sake, Gentlemen, do not let the Important Affairs of the State come under their wicked clutches.
Don't let them prepare our Acts of Parliament, and then Chuse Members to Vote for them. If Fate and
Popish
Confederacies, and Union of
Popish
Powers abroad threaten us: Let us alone to struggle with them, and have Fair Law, and Honourable Conditions for it; but to be Bought and Sold, to have our Elections of Members, and our Laws, Liberties and Estates Stock-jobb'd away, is intollerable.
Some, and not a few, of our Stock-jobbing Brokers, are
French
Men, a little Correspondence between the
French Court,
and
Jonathan
's
Coffee-house,
with a Currency of
Louis D'ors,
will make strange alterations here, if this method of Buying and Jobbing Elections shou'd go on.
The Parliament of
England,
is the Governing Council; their Breath is our Law, and on their Breath under the Direction of God's Providence, we all depend, the greatest Nicety that is possible should be us'd in chusing Men of untainted Principles, and unquestion'd Wisdom, to compose a Body so Eminent in their Power and Influence.
But to attempt to fill the House with Mechanicks, Trades-men, Stock-jobbers, and Men neither of Sense nor Honesty, is tricking at the Root, and undermining the Nation's Felicity at once; and 'tis a wonder the impudence of this attempt has not made them Stink in the Nostrils of the whole Nation.
How can the King be encourag'd to place that confidence in his People, which he mentions in the late
Proclamation,
by which People, his Majesty understands, the true Representative Body Assembled in Parliament, if instead of a true Representative, the House is fill'd with Elections Clandestinly procur'd by Tricks and Shams impos'd upon the People.
How can the King depend upon his Parliament, to carry him thro' any thing he shall undertake by their advice, if mercenary Men fill the House, whose Suffrages shall be guided by the Bribes and private procurations of his, and the Nations Enemies?
How shall the Protestant Religion be Espous'd, and Defended, which wise Men say is in great Danger?
How shall Trade be Encourag'd, and Protected, and the Niceties of it Dsputed and Defended?
How shall Reformation of Manners, which is so much wanted, and which the King has so often Recommended, be promoted?
Are Stock-jobbers, Agents of Regiments, Taylors, and
East India
Companies, Qualifi'd for these Works; or will any sort of Men, who Purchase Elections with Mony, to bring to pass private Interests and Parties, Espouse these General Cases on which the Welfare of the Nation depends.
Tell a Stock-jobber of the Union of
France
and
Spain;
of the
Muscovites
breaking the Peace; of the Difference between the
Danes,
and the Duke of
Holstein,
Tell him of a good Barrier in
Flanders
against the
French,
or of Assisting the
Emperor
on the
Rhine,
(talk Gospel to a Kettle Drum) 'tis all Excentrick and Foreign to him: But talk of the Great
Mogul,
and the Pirates of
Madagascar;
of Fort St.
George,
and St.
Helena,
there you'll hit him, and he turns States-man presently.
It was a Famous Stock-Jobber; and one who is very likely to be a Parliament Man, who when some body was talking lately of the Election of the New
Pope;
and having heard the particulars very attentively, brought out this very grave Question at the end ont. Well! says he, I am glad 'tis over, and don't you think that
Stock
will rise upon't.
A Learned Question upon the Case, truly; upon which, pray give us leave to ask another;
And is't not pity,
But such a one should Represent the City?
You
Londoners
may make them Sheriffs, Aldermen, and Deputies, and Common-Councel Men, and welcome; you know them, and they can hurt no body but themselves.
But when you come to talk of Parliament Men, Gentlemen, pray consider, 'tis the whole Nation lies at Stake, a Man may set his own House on Fire, and welcome, provided it stands by it self, and neither hurts nor endangers no bodies else, and the Law has nothing to say to him; but if it stands in a Town, or a City, he deserves to be Hang'd, for he may burn out, and undo his Neighbours.
Nor are you chusing Men to sit in Parliament, as Persons to Act for you only whom they Represent; but they are Representatives in a double capacity, separately consider'd, every Member Represents the People who chuse him, and all together Represent the whole Nation. Their right to sit is separately Devolv'd; but their right in Act, is conjunctively Inherent, every Man Represents the whole, and Acts for the whole, tho' he is sent but from part.
The Fate of
Bristol,
or
New Castle,
may be decided by a Member of
London,
or
Canterbury,
whose Vote on an equality of Voices carries it which way he pleases.
Therefore
London
cannot say to
Bristol,
or
New-Castle,
What have you to do with our Election? or they to
London,
What have you to do with ours; why one bad Member may ruin a City, a Town, or Family, a Person, or perhaps all together; and if any Town, or City, or Burrough, or private Person, is pleas'd to give a Friendly Admonition or Caution to another, especially if they seem to be proceeding against their own, or the Nation's Interest, they ought to accept the Hint, and reflect upon what they are doing with Honesty, and reform it.
Upon this, we hope it shall be justified, that we have ventur'd to lay open the Villanous practices of some People to corrupt and procure Elections, in order to get Members into the ensuing Parliament, who shall serve a Turn, and a Party, without considering whether they are Men qualified for the other great Affairs, which are to be consider'd there, and which His Majesty has assur'd us, are of the highest Importance to the Kingdom.
FINIS.