[9]

SIR,

I

Have not the Happiness to be in the leaft known to you, but have, with all England, Obligations to you for the Greatness of Mind which you exerted in refufing, not long ago, to be made a Peer of this Realm in an hafty and furreptitious Manner: It was not fo much as pretended, that the dozen of Nobles were then introduced for any other Purpose, but to gain a Queftion of the higheft Importance, no less than a Question of Peace and War. Were the Point obtained by it never fo much conducive to our Good, the Novelty, if not obviated for the future, cannot but tend to the apparent Danger of the Queen and all her Subje&s. It is from a Report that there are another half dozen to be made within few Days, that I am engaged to give you this Trouble.

You, Sir, who are adorned with more than Title, a Superiority to it, from the Refufal of it when you thought it inconfiftent with Honour, are the propereft Man to be addreffed, when I confider the Danger of making occafi. onal Lords, and lay before the World this fatal Novelty, as it affects the Queen's most Excellent Majefty, the Houfe of Peers, and the whole People of England.

Honour is the Confcience of doing juft and laudable Actions, independent of the Succefs of thofe Actions. God is the Fountain of this Honour, and animates and supports all who are actuated by it; he is an inexhaustible Foun B S taill

tain, and cannot be impaired by his Creations. But if it be not Prophane to mention, fo near after his Omnipotence, any Diftinétions we give one another here, I would proceed to fay that it is not fo with Sovereigns upon Earth, whom we phrase Fountains of Honour. They, alas! are themfelves diminished in Proportion to what they grant out of themselves. An unguarded and lavish Hand, in Grants of this Kind, would very foon make the Honour, flowing from a Prince, of no Value and Confideration tothofe on whom it is bestowed, and take away any Power of giving more from the Giver. To come immediately to the Point; I affert, that the numerous Creation of Peers is the greatest Wound that can be given to the Prerogative. A Peer and his Heirs are Checks in the Legislature to the Queen and her Heirs; that Part of the Legiflature which is in the Queen, is apparently diminished by fo much as the gives out of it, from her own into other Families. This is equally destructive with relation to the Merit of the Perfons on whom Honour is conferred; if they happen to be Men who are barely unblamable, without Talents or high Qualifications, they do but crowd that illuftrious Affembly, and like all other Crowds, they are ferviceable and hurtful but just as they are infpired by those who have Skill to lead them. Thus the Crown is no way fure of their Concurrence any farther than by Promife of their first Vote; and they may ever after turn Patriots on the fide of the People, to the conftant Interruption of Affairs; for it generally hap pens that those who are confcious of an Inability to promote Bufinefs, give themselves a Fi

gure,

gure, and fancy they are confiderable, from the Power of retarding it. Thus much as to what regards the Queen's moft Excellent Majefty:

As to the House of Peers, It is visible to any thing above a natural Fool, that the Power of each Lord is fo much lefs confiderable as it is repeated in other Perfons; but the great Hardfhip to that Great and Awful Body, whofe Privileges have so often been a Safety and Protection to the Rights of us below them, I fay the great Hardship to thefe noble Patriots is, that when they are prepared with the moft ftri& Honour and Integrity to do their Duty in relation to their Prince and Country, all their Determinations may be avoided by a Sett of People brought in the Moment before they come to a Question. This has been done once, as I am credibly informed, in fo frank a way, that there have been above fix at a time brought into that Place, without any further Preamble than, This Gentleman's Name is fo, do not call him Mr. from this time forward, but My Lord, for he is now one of you: Sit clofe there, let the Gentleman fit down; I beg Pardon, make way for his Lordship.

Now when we come to confider the Introduction of Occafional Lords with Regard to the People, what can be more plain, than that it is doing all that is neceffary to take from them both Liberty and Property at once. If there were nothing in being a Lord, but the Advantage of being received with more Diftin&ion and Ceremony, let it be given to any who are delighted with it; they may be well pleased, and we not hurt: But the Cafe is much other. wife; for from the very Moment a Man has

a Patent, and is introduc'd into the House of Peers, (tho' he was the Day before notoriously ignorant in our Laws) Men appeal to him from the Decree of all the Judges. Befides this, the Lords are perpetual Legislators, and have an hand in the repealing as well as making Laws; by which means the whole Constitution may be fubverted by this one Innovation. And it is plain, that the Prince who fhould place fo entire a Confidence in his Ministry, as to give Peerage upon their Recommendation, would enable them by that Power in the Legiflature, joined to the Execution of the Regal Authority as Minifters, to give that Prince and Nation to the next Potentate who fhould be powerful enough to receive and maintain fo vaft a Prefent.

However well difpofed Mens Minds may be, there are fome things which are not to be committed to their Wills.

The whole Conftitution is in Danger, ifthis Matter is not prevented by fome future Law; and I think I have in my Head a fufficient Expedient, that can no way impair the Prerogative of the Crown, the Power of the Peers, or the Liberty of the People; and that is, that a Bill be brought in to difable any Peer to Vote in any Cafe, till three Years after the Date of his Patent.

You fee, Noble Sir, that without giving the Matter the leaft Aggravation, I have shown that if this Avenue to the Houfe of Lords is not fhut, that Houfe must be blown up by it as effectually as it might have been by the combuftible Matter laid under it an Age ago by Guido Fanx.

He

He that brings the Torch into the Room to fire it in the midst of the Company, differs from him who undermines it only in Point of Modesty.

It is amazing that fuch Care fhould be taken to prohibit an Occafional Conformift from being a Constable, and no Body takes it in his Head to prevent an Occafional Lord from being a Judge, nay, Legiflator. I am very willing that a Good and Honourable Peace may expiate this Step, which was made in the Eye of the World without the least Deference to a Good and Gracious Sovereign, to an Illuftrious Nobility, to a Learned and Knowing Gen. try, to a Great and Valiant People: I fay, let even this Step be forgiven for a Good Peace; but let not that Peace receive its Sanction from the Repetition of it. If Men cannot carry on the Business of the Nation without fuch Helps, they may as well in plain Terms tell us they cannot maintain the Constitution, but they will alter it to one which they can. But how is this received with fo much Indifference? Why, Men qualified for Power dire& Mankind by confulting their Intereft and managing their Af. fections; but Pretenders to Adminiftration indulge the Paffions of the Multitude at the Expence of their real Intereft and Advantage. It is by this latter Method all the Anarchical Proceedings, which have of late distracted this un. happy Nation, have been tolerated. When the Minds of Men are prejudiced, wonderful Effects may be wrought against CommonSenfe. One weak Step, in trying a Fool for what he faid in a Pulpit, with all the Pomp that could be used to take down a more dangerous