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 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 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 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, 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 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 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.