A CIRCULAR LETTER TO THE SEVERAL PETITIONING COUNTIES, CITIES, AND TOWNS, Addressed to their respective
general Meetings,
against the late Proposition for a
triennial Election
of REPRESENTATIVES, By GRANVILLE SHARP.
SECOND EDITION.
To the Gentlemen, Clergy, Freeholders, and other Inhabitants, of the
GENTLEMEN,
THE last general meeting of the County of York having adopted a proposition
to shorten the duration of parliament to a term not exceeding three years,
the worthy gentlemen of your own committee may probably have been induced, by the laudable desire of preserving
unanimity
with that respectable county, to recommend the same proposition for your adoption. Be pleased, therefore, previously to consider, whether it is probable that a majority of the freeholders,
&c.
of the Yorkshire meeting did really mean to prefer
triennial elections
to the ancient legal usage and constitution of
annual parliaments,
or whether they may not rather have been induced to postpone the open declaration of their
loyal
attachment to that ancient
law
for frequent parliaments,
(viz. every year once, and more often if need be,)
merely through a desire to preserve the
unanimity
of their
own meeting,
by yielding a little, for the present, to the prejudices of a few particular gentlemen among them, (persons, indeed, of great worth and esteem, in many respects, and whose sentiments in general deserve the utmost attention and regard, but) who unhappily, in this point, are apt to conceive, that
annual
elections, and
more often if need be,
would be attended with some inconveniences to
themselves.
You have undoubtedly, in your own county, also, several worthy gentlemen of fortune, to whom great respect is due from
the people,
on account of their known independence, and steady opposition to bad measures in general, who nevertheless, perhaps, may entertain
the same erroneous conceptions of frequent elections;
and therefore you can, by your own feelings, (I mean your respect and esteem for such worthy men,) more easily judge of
the effect
which the same kind of laudable influence must necessarily have caused in the Yorkshire meeting; which is the best reason, I believe, that can be assigned for their having adopted that
unconstitutional
measure.
You are therefore most earnestly requested to consider the following plain propositions.
I. That, though great deference and respect be certainly due to such worthy and independent gentlemen as I have described, yet your condescension to them ought to have some
due limitation.
II. That the bounds of the
ancient parliamentary constitution
of the kingdom ought surely to mark out
the utmost extent
of your compliance with the worthy part of the
aristocratical interest.
III. That if, on the contrary, your endeavours to preserve UNANIMITY should carry you
beyond these legal bounds,
you will really injure those very gentlemen whom you wish to oblige, as well as the whole
aristocratical interest
(the crown, the lords, the country gentlemen in general); because there is but
one true common interest,
which
the fundamental laws of the constitution alone can preserve.
Consider also,
IV. That
unanimity
is as
baneful
in a bad measure as it is
salutary
in a good one: and,
V. That, if any
compliance
in proceedings is to be made at all
for the sake of unanimity,
it ought certainly to be made where a
compliance is most due;
viz. to the
constitutional resolutions
of a select body of intelligent gentlemen,
deputed to a national conference,
by freely-elected committees from a very considerable proportion of the counties and most populous cities and towns in England;—to resolutions, which were
unanimously
agreed upon by the said
deputies;
and, therefore,
"a compliance, for the sake of unanimity,"
was most justly due to
them;
and, the more especially, as it appears that they formed their conclusions by the fundamental laws and usages of the constitution.
The deputies, in their memorial, declare, that
shortening the duration of the sitting of parliament can only be done,
CONSISTENTLY WITH THE CONSTITUTION,
or with the best policy in any enlarged view,
BY SHORTENING IT TO THE PERIOD OF A YEAR.
And this they farther explain in the words of the old statutes,
viz.
that a parliament should be holden
ONCE
every year, and
MORE OFTEN
if need be;
from whence it is manifest, that
the longest duration, consistent with the constitution, is the period of one single session,
even though two or more such sessions should be necessary in
one
or
the same
year.
The striking, similarity also of
this deputation,
in many respects, to an ancient example of a
national deputation
from all the counties, cited, on this occasion, by lord Carysfort,
See page 15 of his lordship's very judicious and
loyal
letter to the committee of the county of Huntingdon.
from Hoveden, adds great weight to the resolutions in question, as well as to the importance of that
unanimity
with which they were formed.
VI. That the members of the late deputation have
unanimously
declared, in their memorial, that
annual parliaments
are the
ancient constitution
of this kingdom, and the
birthright of Englishmen;
and, in the three last paragraphs of their
memorial,
which are highly worthy your most careful attention, have not only proved that the old
laws,
requiring
a parliament to be holden every year once, and more often if need be,
meant a
new
parliament
every year, &c.
(by the instances of writs issued
two or three times in the same year, for new elections,
) but they also prove, from the experience of former ages, that these
very frequent elections
were
not
attended with any such inconveniences, as the advocates for long parliaments commonly pretend, but, on the contrary, recommend them,
"as consistent with the greatest peace," &c.
—
The fact is, (say the deputies from the several petitioning counties,
&c.
) during the whole of that reign, (king Edw. III.) and for the first eighteen years of the following one, writs were annually issued, and, in some instances, two or three times in the same year, for new elections, till Richard II. made himself absolute. And various were the occasions, in those times, when the commons gave for answer, to any new propositions of magnitude, that THEY DARED NOT AGREE WITHOUT CONFERENCE WITH THEIR COUNTRIES. At what period then was it, that the consent of the people was asked and obtained to so momentous a proposal as that of divesting them of their expected controul over their representatives? in fact, of changing the terms on which the delegation had passed from their hands? ANNUAL PARLIAMENTS are, therefore, the ANCIENT CONSTITUTION of England, and the BIRTHRIGHT of Englishmen.
Nor are they less beneficial in policy than unalienable in right. In the language of ancient times, before the prejudices of habit had thrown false colours over names and things,
they were ever described as consistent with the greatest peace, and most peaceably conducted.
And, in parliamentary records, for more than two hundred years together, from 49 Hen. III. till 22 Edw. IV. we find not so much as
one
double return, nor more than two or three instances of elections questioned on any ground;— a circumstance surely most inviting, when put in contrast with that multitude of perplexing enquiries which, of late years, hath consumed so much time in committees, to the great hindrance of the national business. The plain reason is founded not in the time, but in the nature, of the thing; the duration of the seat was not an object for a violent contest. This will also dispel the objection arising from the probability of tumult and expensiveness; to remove which it will farther contribute not a little, if we would give attention to what passes now among those large bodies of electors, who annually choose their corporate officers. But the argument against corruption surmounts every thing else. Nothing can give so much assurance of defeating it as this limitation. A seat for three years might induce a man's attention to a bribe. He that sits but for one is very unlikely to experience such an offer, or will certainly reject it, if he would not wish to put all his future expectations to an imminent risque.
When once the constitution of parliament is improved in these leading points, every thing else, that may appear to have its share in reformation, must be subordinate in its class, and must follow in its time. And, the more effectually to insure these, we entreat you, neither at the next or any future election, to engage your support to any candidate, before you are satisfied that he will give his assistance, in parliament, to the establishment of so much of these reforms as may not then be accomplished.
And, therefore, you are desired to consider,
VII. That the Yorkshire proposition for shortening
the duration of parliaments to a term, not exceeding three years,
is totally different from the
shortening of duration,
explained and recommended by the said deputies, as
the ancient constitution of the kingdom, and the birthright of Englishmen;
and, what is worse, has been adopted without the least mention of that
birthright
in any saving clause, to assert and preserve your just claim to it for a
future
time: whereby it is manifest, that the promoters of this
triennial
scheme have really been
the first offenders
against that desirable
unanimity,
which the conference of deputies was intended to effect; and, therefore, the cry of
"necessary unanimity,"
by which alone that
unconstitutional
proposition is at present recommended, deserves not the least attention. What! would you be
unanimous
against the ancient legal parliamentary constitution of the kingdom, which the
triennial
scheme is manifestly calculated to supplant? You ought never to forget,
VIII. That the people have already been betrayed by a
triennial
parliament! That the
representatives
of the people, in a
triennial
parliament, usurped the legislative authority of their constituents for a longer time than it was delegated; and treacherously presumed,
without consulting their countries,
to prolong the duration of parliaments to the present unreasonable term of
seven
years; whereby by they established the basis of that detestable system of corruption which has been the true source of all your present grievances! And, therefore, be pleased to consider, —
IX. That
triennial
parliaments, as well as
septennial,
are manifestly dangerous to the state, and so grossly inconsistent with the ancient legal parliamentary constitution of this kingdom, that the most essential
laws
and
usages,
by which that constitution is declared and known, are really
suspended
by them. You cannot, therefore, without notorious
disloyalty,
(in the strictest sense of the word,) adopt the proposition for
triennial
parliaments: so that you have a most ample excuse for not concurring with a few particular gentlemen, (whom you would otherwise wish to oblige,)
viz.
that your
compliance
with them, in this matter would exceed the
constitutional
bounds of condescension, (mentioned in the three first propositions,) and would really tend to subvert the people's just right
to more frequent elections.
— Because it is manifest, —
X. That the
concession
of a popular right, made by the people themselves in their collective capacity, at their several county-meetings, is infinitely more binding upon them (to exclude any future claim to the ceded right) than the same
concession
would be, if made merely by their
representatives
in parliament, without the instruction or concurrence of the people. And, therefore, you ought to be particularly thankful, —
XI. That the people themselves, the great body of constituents, have never yet, by any such
concession,
betrayed that valuable
birthright,
(as the deputies call it,) the ancient
law
for
annual
parliaments. It has too often been
suspended
indeed; sometimes through the
disloyalty
of kings, and lastly even by the
disloyalty
of parliament itself, (of which the tyrannical
triennial
and
septennial
acts are lamentable instances); yet, as the
suspension
of it has never been promoted by the requisition or instruction of the people at large, their right to it remains intire. The presumption and treachery of their representatives, in consenting to the
triennial
and
septennial
acts, cannot injure their just title to it; because, in both these instances, the representatives presumed to act contrary to an established rule of parliament, by adopting a
new device,
(which even affected a fundamental law of the kingdom,)
without consulting their countries,
which the constitution absolutely requires in such an important case; so that even that unwarrantable presumption of the representatives (in neglecting to consult the people) is the very circumstance which still preserves that fundamental and essential law
as a part of the constitution,
and as a just right of the people, which they are entitled to demand and resume whenever they shall be pleased to instruct their representatives for that purpose; and to charge all persons with
disloyalty,
and even
treason to the constitution,
who shall dare to oppose them! But if, on the contrary, the
people themselves, in their several county-courts,
or
assemblies,
should be so inconsiderate, or so depraved, as to consent indiscriminately to the proposition for a
triennial
election, without a saving clause to assert their
birthright
and reserve their title to more frequent elections, (which the Yorkshire meeting has unwarily done,) know, for a certainty,—
XII. That, in such an unhappy inattention to their own rights, (which, I pray to God, they may never be cursed with,) they would
betray
the constitution of the kingdom! — they would betray a fundamental
law
of their ancestors; which would mark their character with an eternal stain of
disloyalty!
And as they may, perhaps, never have again so favourable an opportunity, as the present, of recovering their ancient birthright of
annual elections,
it would probably be lost, irretrievably lost, for ever! Your new triennial representatives (in such a case) would most likely behave as former triennial representatives have heretofore done, —
betray and enslave you by another septennial system of corruption!
And (what is worse) you yourselves would
most justly deserve it!
But I hope better things of you; and I trust also that you will excuse the severity of my expressions in this address, as being prompted merely by an ardent zeal for your prosperity.
Old Jewry,
April 11, 1780.
Granville Sharp.