I Doubt not but the Wisdom of the Nation will take the most effectual way to secure our Religion , our Liberties and Property . However , being a Lover of all these , I can't forbear communicating my Thoughts unto you with an assurance you 'll consider them .

God hath done great things for us , and yet the greatest thing is not yet done ; There are many difficulties in the way , and many more will be thrown into it . Slavery is most to be dreaded at this time : What is done must be chiefly to guard against it . How to do it is the principal business of the great Men in the next Convention . To know where we are is the first step to be taken . Is the Government dissolved , or only under some Disorders ? If the later , Are the Disorders such as must be laid to the charge of the King , or to his Ministers , or both ? If to the King , Are they sufficient to depose him ? If that be done , Are we more secure from Slavery than now ? Will there be more than a change of Persons in the Throne ? A Child for a Father , a Protestant for a Papist ? And in a few years the Succession may fall to the Queen of Spain , or Dutchess of Savoy , both Roman Catholicks , and we in as great , or greater danger of Popery and Slavery than we were the other day ; the Constitution remains the same , the Jura Majestatis , viz. the Militia ; the Power to make War or Peace ; the choosing Judges , Sheriffs , &c. still in the Person of the King ; or if only by one Parliament restored to the People , another Parliament may give them the King again . Leges Posteriores priores abrogant . And who can tell what Contests there may be about the Right of the Crown . The deposed Prince is alive , and his Right by Sword will be disputed , &c.

If the Government be dissolved , the Power devolves on the People ; no one can claim the Crown ; the Royal Family is as it were extinct ; the People may set up what Government they please , either the old or a new . A Monarchy absolute , or limited ; or an Aristocracy or Democracy . If a Monarchy limited , supposing it mostly suited to the temper of the English , they may choose what Family they please to sit in the Throne : They may settle it on the Princess of Orange , Princess Ann , the Prince of Orange , and for want of Issue , on whom else they think meet . These hold not by vertue of an old right , but by reason of the people's placing it upon 'em , and the Monarchy may be thus De Novo made Hereditary , and the King and Prince of Wales gone , having lost their Right by the Dissolution of the Government . The Jura Majestatis , the Militia , the Power of War and Peace , or the Power of the Sword , with the Power of making Judges , Sheriffs , &c. may be lodged where now the Power of Legislation is , viz. in King , Lords , and Commons , which will necessitate frequent Parliaments , and make it impossible for the Monarch to enslave us . There are but two ways by which Slavery can be brought on us , viz. Force , or Injustice . The Militia , or Power of the Sword being in the People , we are secured from the mischief of Force . The Power of making Judges and all the Ministers of Justice being also in the People , they cannot be ruin'd by Injustice .

But we must do no Evil , that Good may come of it . Is our Government dissolved , or is it not ? If there be a Dissolution , Is it of the Constitution , or only of the Form of Administration ? I confess my self not Statesman enough to be acquainted with the Fineness of Politicks , but am apt to run the old Road , and please my self with an old distinction , All Power is Originally , or Fundamentally in the People Formally in the Parliament , which is one Corporation made up of three Constituent Essentiating Parts King , Lords and Commons , so it was with us in England . When this Corporation i● broken , when any one Essentiating Part is lost or gone , there is a Dissolution of the Corporation . The Formal Seat of Power , and that Power devolves on the People . Whe●redge ; it 's impossible to have a Parliament , the Power returns to them with whom it was originally . Is it possible to have a Parliament ? It 's not possible . The Government therefore is dissolv'd .

If what is essential to our Constitution be invaded or ravished from us , the Constitution is broken . I will instance in two things essential to the Constitution . That the People choose their own Representatives . And that their Representatives have such an Interest in the Legislation , that no Laws be made or abrogated without their Consent . The destroying one or both of these , subverts the Foundation of our Government : The Prince's assuming to himself the Power of electing Parliament-Men , or his exercising the Legislative Power , though under the name of the Dispensing Power , is a destroying those Rights of the People that are essential to our Constitution , and a dissolving it .

The Government being dissolved , what must the People do ? Care must be taken that the Government to be erected be such as will perfectly secure us from Slavery ; and be a Fence inviolable to the Liberty and Property of the People : And the Rights of Majesty must be therefore lodged with the Parliament ; this will be grateful to the People . The way of doing it must be Great , Awful , and August , that none may be able to quarrel it . A National Convention made up of the Representatives of the Community : That the Convention may be truly National , and represent the Community , it must be larger than a House of Commons ordinarily is . It 's this Convention that sets up what kind of Government they please . If they 'l have a Parliament made up of King , Lords and Commons , it 's sufficient that this Convention is so pleased . The Power of this Convention must be absolute and uncontroulable , accountable to none but God . It gives Laws to Kings , yea to the whole Parliament , and sets bounds unto it ; it shall go so far , and no farther . No Act of Parliament can be strong enough to move the Foundation laid by this Convention . The Convention therefore as it has more Power than a Parliament , and is it 's Creator , it must have a larger Body . What think you therefore if the first thing done by the approaching Convention be the increasing their Number . What if they double it ? Whether by ordering every Market-Town to send up their Representatives , Or every Hundred , Wapentake , &c. or by some other way , according to the proportion of People , and public payments , as the Wise Men of this Convention shall judge most practicable , that it may be the Grand Council of the Nation I have unburdened my self , and am