THE sudden and unexpected dissolution of the last ruinous Parliament gave a just and general alarm to the whole na­tion; and we may search in vain the voluminous pages of Grecian, Roman, or English history, to find such another plan of premeditated villany for destroying, at one grand stroke of royal and mi­nisterial policy, all the rights of a free people. Lord North, engendered in the womb of hell, raised by the fostering hand of infernal spirits, and possessing principles that have eclipsed all the glo­ries of his satanic parents, had the effrontery to de­clare, in the face of the House of Commons and the world, but a few days before the recess of the late Parliament, that they should meet again early in October for the despatch of business. When he uttered this falsehood, it was suspected by many, and he well knew it had been determined, that they should be dissolved, although the precise time was [Page 10]not fixed. On the 16th day of September, 1774, a notice was published in the Gazette for the last Parliament to meet on the 15th of November; eleven days had not elapsed before a proclama­tion appeared for its dissolution, and the calling a new Parliament. Who can guard against decep­tion, artifice and villany, when stamped with royal authority? The very thought of an honest House of Commons struck terror into the guilty soul of Lord North, the diabolical minion of royal fa­vour, and instrument of royal vengeance; nay, even the King (virtuous as he is) had his fears; and in order to secure their own creatures and de­pendents, or, in other words, to have the old Par­liament new revived, and smuggle a majority of venal abandoned miscreants (who would deny their God, or sell their souls for money) into the present House of Commons, [...]ord North sent let­ters to all his friends that they might be prepared, and it was known in the most distant parts of Eng­land, and even the time of the election fixed in se­veral boroughs in Cornwall some days before the Parliament was dissolved. This is a truth which Lord North, with all his consummate impudence, cannot deny.

The ministerial hacks were immediately set to work to fabricate lies (and publish them in the news papers) to delude and deceive the electors; that little or no opposition might be made to the tools of government. One report said the dissolu­tion of Parliament was owing to some disagreeable advices from America, and that our virtuous King, with his still more virtuous ministers, intended to adopt some conciliating measures with respect to the colonies, and that it would betray a weakness [Page 11]in the King to let the same Parliament meet again, to repeal those acts which they had but a few months before passed. Another report, equally true, asserted it was on account of intelligence re­ceived from the north of a very alarming nature; and a third, that it was occasioned by a difference between the French and English ministry, which rendered such a step necessary, as there was great reason to believe we should soon be involved in a war, and that it would be exceedingly improper to have the nation put in a ferment, by a general elec­tion, at so critical a time as that, and when the as­sistance of Parliament would be particularly want­ed. A fourth report was, that Lord Chatham and his friends would be immediately taken into favour, and that there was to be an entire change in the ministry. By these low artifices and mini­sterial lies, the people of England were lulled into a state of supineness, and even made to lend a helping hand to complete their own ruin.

The subsequent part of this paper shall unravel the diabolical scheme. Lord North saw a powerful opposition forming in every part of England; he was fearful of associations; he dreaded a solemn league and covenant, which he was certain the people would have entered into for the preserva­tion of their rights and liberties before next May, the time when the Parliament would have been dis­solved of course; he trembled for the event; con­scious of his own villany, and that his head had been long forfeited to the justice of his country, he determined to take the electors by surprise, to put them off their guard, and rob them of time; that no opposition might be made to his creatures, and the people be prevented from fixing upon men [Page 12]of honest independent principles, to whom they might with safety delegate the important, the sa­cred trust of representation.

Lord North communicated his fears to the King, painted the daring rebellious spirit of the Ameri­cans, and told him, that the people here were as disloyal and disaffected, and that hints had been thrown out in the public prints, of plans forming in different parts of England, for keeping out of the new Parliament most of his friends; and unless prevented, by some well concerted scheme, there was but too much reason to believe, from the spirit of the people, that they would succeed; an event, says this traitor, much feared and greatly dreaded by every well wisher to your person and govern­ment: Should it ever take place, as there is a country party, or a majority of mock patriots in the House of Commons, who are enemies to all or­der and government, you must be reduced to a most degrading situation indeed; your present friends will then be unable to give you any assist­ance; and instead of the power being in your hands, it will then be in the hands of the people; and you will be under the disgraceful necessity of giving your assent to the repeal of every act which has been lately passed for the purpose of raising a revenue, and enforcing a due obedience to your au­thority: In short, you will be a King without power, and subject to the controul of a few de­magogues for liberty, the dregs of mankind, and a common rabble, who will always support them; nay, it may even endanger the security of your throne, for what will not a hot headed Parliament do, with whom the voice of the people can have any weight? The plan for reducing the Americans, [Page 13]and making them dependent on your will, must be crushed; they will triumph in the victory obtained over the just power of Parliament and your prero­gative; your faithful servants will be compelled to leave you, and you will be without a real friend to advise with. If your Majesty can get a majority of your friends rechosen in the new Par­liament, you will be able to raise what money you please with their assistance; you will then be able to keep your present Ministers, and preserve them from the resentment (which has been incurred by serving of you) of an enraged rabble, who are made to believe, through the licentiousness of the press, that they labour under a load of accumulated grievances; you will then be able to trample un­der foot, faction, sedition, and rebellion through­out your dominions, and to carry every thing be­fore you, agreeable to your royal pleasure; with the power of Parliament, and your Majesty's firm­ness and perseverance, you may bring England and America into a proper state of subjection to your will. To accomplish this it will be necessary to prorogue the Parliament to some future day, then to meet, and immediately after call a council and dissolve them; in the mean time your friends may be made acquainted with this determination, and be prepared for the election before any oppo­sition can possibly be made, or the people know any thing of the matter.

The King, firmly resolved on the people's ruin, caressed his villanous minion, admired the plan formed for our destruction; and, drunk with pre­rogative, sucked in the baneful advice and pur­sued it.

Thus the present Parliament was smuggled, and thus, in a most shameful, unprecedented, artful, and [Page 14]sudden manner, was the last House of Commons dissolved by the King, to answer his own and his minister's wicked, tyrannical, and bloody designs against the people and constitution of this king­dom. Such an instance, of an infamous exertion of the royal prerogative, and under the like cir­cumstances, is not to be found in the history of England; such an injury and insult was never be­fore offered to a free people, and never ought to be forgiven. It was a piece of Hanoverian trea­chery, baseness, and ingratitude, which has far ex­ceeded all the artful villany and low cunning of the discarded Stuarts. His Majesty (heaven pro­tect so much goodness) out of a tenderness to the constitution, could not make so bad a use of his prerogative, five years back, as to dissolve the same Parliament, when their iniquitous proceedings, and their violations of justice, had roused the indigna­tion of the people, and he was requested to do it by upwards of eighty thousand freeholders (signed) and the general voice of the whole nation; but in 1774 he got the better of that tenderness, and, to answer his own purposes, could exert the royal pre­rogative (which he had absolutely refused to his subjects, in the haughty terms of a despot) with no other view, but to overturn the constitution of the British empire in England and America, and destroy or enslave the people.

His Majesty, his minions, and instruments of slaughter, are now safe in robbing the people of their property, by shameful and iniquitous taxes in time of peace; safe in their subversion of the Protestant religion; safe and successful in their cruel plan for starving the honest and industrious inhabitants, and destroying the trade of the town [Page 15]of Boston in America, and the commerce of Eng­land; safe so far in their attempt to destroy the lives, rights, liberties, and privileges of millions; I say they are safe, in all these violations of, and depredations on, our national security, and natural rights, because we are tame.