of the Minister, and be applied to deceive the Prince as well as to opprefs the People, if ever a corrupt Minifter fhould have the Difpofition of Places and the Distribution of Penfions, Gratuities, and Rewards; he may create fuch an Influence as fhall effectually deprive the Prince of the great Advantage of knowing the true Senfe of his People; and a House of Parliament being prevailed upon to approve fuch Measures as the whole Nation dislikes, fo may be confirmed in the Pursuit of them, and for the Sake of an unworthy Servant, lofe the Affections of his People, whilft he imagines that he both deferves and poffeffes them. In the next Place, if ever this improper Influence should obtain a certain Degree of Strength, these terrible Confequences must inevitably flow from it, That the worst Propofals for the Publick will be the most likely to fucceed, and that the weakest Minifters will be the best supported; the Reafon whereof we take to be extremely plain, fince this improper Influence may be directed to any Purpofe whatsoever, and will always be most exerted where it is most wanted, that is, in the Support of ill Measures and weak Ministers.

7thly, Because we agree, that as National or other Circumstances have expofed the Crown to any new Danger, the Security of Fidelity and Allegiance given by the Oaths of the Subjects to the Crown has been increased from Time to Time; and we therefore think, that, by a Parity of Reafon, fome greater Security than was formerly exacted should be now given to the Nation, by their Representatives, for a faithful Discharge of the Trust reposed in them; because this Truft, which is the fame as it was in every other Refpect, is come to be much greater than it was, in Respect to those heavy Taxes, which have been for many Years paft, and which, as we fear, must be for all fucVOL. II. ceeding

F

ceeding Times annually laid by Parliament on the People, as well as to thofe immense Debts which have been contracted, and which we apprehend to have annually increased upon the Nation: The Service of the House of Commons was formerly a real Service, therefore often declined and always paid for by the People; it is now no longer paid for by the People, and fo far from being declined, that it has been courted and sought after at great Expence. How far thefe Confiderations, together with that of the vaft Increase of the Civil-Lift Revenue, and of the Debts contracted on it in former Reigns, deferve to enforce the Reasons for exacting some new and ftronger Engagements from the Members of the House of Commons to those whom they are chofen to reprefent, is, we think, fufficiently obvious.

8thly, Altho' it must be allow'd, that the multiplying of Oaths, without great and evident Reafons, ought to be avoided, yet an Oath being the most folemn Engagement which Men can be laid under, we judge it, on that very Account, the more proper to be impofed upon this important Occafion; nor will the Probability of its being broke through by the Iniquity of Mankind be an Argument of greater Force against this Bill, than against any other Law made for preventing any other Crime whatsoever.

Then the Queftion was put, whether the said Bill fhall be rejected?

It was refolved in the Affirmative.

Diffentient'

ft, Because the evident Intention of this Bill was only to make a further Advance towards gaining that good End which the Legislature hitherto has, we fear, too weakly endeavoured to compass, the Prevention of Corruption, which, it must be owned, is an Evil of fo mifchievous a Nature, fo apt to spread and grow epidemical, that a wife and virtuous People will apply the most timely and effectual Remedies that can be devised for the Cure of it, fince a Nation once infected muft foon get the Better of fo contagious a Diftemper, or it will foon get the Better of the Nation.

2dly, Because we can hardly frame in our own Minds a more reasonable Method than the Sanction of fuch an Oath of Purgation as was to have been taken by all the Members of the House of Commons, if this Bill had paffed into a Law, to preferve that Part of the Legislature pure and free from that Kind of Bribery, which feem's, from the Nature of it, to be the most pernicious, a fecret and unavowed Penfion; or what, however different in Name, would, we fear, be too much the fame in Effect, an Office in Truft, or a clandeftine Gratuity.

3dly, Because the Act of Parliament which paffed laft Year, tho' it contains fome excellent Provifions against Bribery and Corruption, and ought, in our Opinion, ever to be held facred, inviolable, and a fundamental Part of our yet free Conftitution, wanted ftill fomething, as we judge, to make it more complete, by establishing an Oath for the Elected as well as the Electors; which being done by this Bill, we cannot but look upon it to have been a seasonable and neceffary Addition to those F 2 Laws

Laws already enacted for the fame Purpose, in order to guard us more ftrongly against the powerful and malignant Influence of wicked, aspiring, and defpotic Ministers, who can invent no Artifices fo likely to fubvert the Liberties of the People, as by corrupting those who are chofen to defend them.

4thly, Because, we apprehend, the House of Commons may think themselves unkindly treated by us for rejecting a Bill fent from them of great Confequence, by which they defigned only to fecure their own Honour and the Nation's Liberties, and that concerned only their own Members, without allowing it even the ufual Forms of a Commitment; and the reft of our Fellow-Subjects. will, we fear, hardly be charitable enough to think that one House of Parliament could be perfectly unbiaffed, when it refused so proper an Expedient to make, in a great Measure, the other fo.

Berkshire, Litchfield,
Strafford, Ker,

Plimouth,

Beaufort,

Montjoy,

Aylesford, Sunderland,

Warrington,

Bruce, Bristol,

Gower,

Mafham, Craven,

Bathurst,

Maynard, Huntingdon,

Boyle,

Coventry, Abingdon,

Hereford,

Oxford and Mortimer,

Thanet,

Die Luna 23° Martii, 1729.

Hodie za vice leta eft Billa, entitled, An Act for punishing Mutiny and Desertion, and for the better Payment of the Army and their Quarters.

The Question was put, whether this Bill fhall pass?

It was refolv'd in the Affirmative.

Diffentient'

Be

Because we think, that fo large a Number as is proposed to be kept up in this Kingdom for this Year, by this Bill, is not neceffary for our Safety, as far as we can judge from the present Conjuncture of Affairs; and that a standing Army in Time of Peace must be always burthenfome to the People and dangerous to their Liberties, for Reafons often given by feveral Lords, and remaining upon the Journals of this Houfe, to which we choose to refer, rather than repeat them, in order to prove a Propofition that we think almoft manifest in itself, or at least may easily be maintained by Arguments undeniably convincing, and fo obvious, in our Opinion, that they must occur upon the leaft Reflection to every Englishman who loves his Country and his Freedom.

Montjoy,
Strafford,

Abingdon,

Beaufort.

Die Veneris 170 Aprilis, 1730.

The Order of the Day for taking into Confideration the State of the Nation being read,

It was moved to refolve, That the maintaining of Twelve Thousand Heffians in the Pay of Great Britain, for the Year 1730, is burthenfome and unneceffary.

Contents 21

After Debate, the Question was

Not Cont. 80 put thereon? And

It was refolved in the Negatiye.

Diffentient'

ft, Becaue, we think, the maintaining Foreign Troops in our Pay, where we have no Territory, and not only when we have no War, but immediately after a Peace concluded with one of the moft confiderable Powers in Europe, whilst we are in Alliance with Holland, and are in strict Friendhip with France, the moft confiderable Power of all, is a Policy, that before this Inftance of it can

F 3

not