Page:Trenchard Tracts 074-124.djvu/4

if I ſhould ſay they have not been better executed ſince they were in ſome Hands, than when in fewer: and I muſt confeſs, I ſee no Reaſon why they may not be made twice as many, and ſo ad infinitum, unleſs the Number be aſcertain'd by Parliament; and what Danger this may be to our Conſtitution, I think of with Horror. For if in Ages to come they ſhould be all given to Parliament Men, what will become of our ſo much boaſted Liberty? What ſhall be done when the Criminal becomes the Judge, and the Malefactors are left to try themſelves? We may be ſure their common Danger will unite them, and they will all ſtand by one another. I do not ſpeak this by Gueſs; for I have read of a Country where there was a conſstand Series of Miſmanagement for many Years together, and yet no Body was puniſh'd: And even in our own Country I believe, ſome Men now alive can remember the Time, when if the King had but twenty more Places in his Diſ-
poſal, or diſpoſed of thoſe he had to the beſt Advantage, the Liberty of England had been at an End. I would not be underſtood quite to exclude Parliament men from having Places; for a Man may ſerve his Country in two Capaci-
ties: but I would not have it to be a Qualification for a Place, becauſe a poor Borough thinks a Man fit to repreſent them, that therefore he muſt be a Stateſman, a Law-
yer, a Soldier, an Admiral, and what not? If this Me-
thod ſhould be taken in a future Reign, the People muſt not expect to ſee Men of Ability or Integrity in any Places, while they hold them by no other Tenure than the Diſſer-
vice they do their Country in the Houſe of Commons, and are ſure to be turned out upon every prevalent Faction on the other Side. They muſt then never expect to ſee the Houſe of Commons act vigorouſly for the Intereſt either of King or People; but ſome will ſervilely comply with the Court to keep their Places, others will oppoſe it as unreaſonably to get them: And thoſe Gentlemen whoſe Deſigns are for their Country's Intereſt, will grow weary of the beſt Form of Government in the World, thinking by Miſtake the Fault is in our Conſtitution. I have heard of a Country, where the Diſputes about Offices to the Value of thirty thouſand Pounds per Annum, have made ſix Millieus ineffectual; what by ſome Mens proſtitue Compliance, and others open-
ly clogging the Wheels, it has caus'd Want and Neceſſity