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and an Army at Command was the ſole Law; when Cato and Cicero were in Danger of being torn to Pieces in the Streets; when to be honeſt was to be proſcribed; what Courſe could good Men take over-pour’d by Numbers, and deſpairing of the Common-wealth, but to retire to Athens, or ſome remote Corner to lament in Silence, and to ſeek for Comfort in the Study of Philoſophy, ’till the Madneſs was over, and a more auſpicious Seaſon invited to a Deliverance by a new Struggle?
We have lived to ſee our antient Conſtitution in a manner diſſolved, and the most important Articles of our new Contract, upon ſettling the Proteſtant Succeſſion, Evaded, Suſpended,or ſet aſide; the Wealth and Strength of the Kingdom exhauſted in Foreign Quarrels, and for Foreign Acquiſitions; the very Nation it ſelf Sold to make Purchaſes abroad and to enrich Strangers.
We have lived to ſee the firſt Honours of Peerage beſtowed to dignifie Proſtitution, the Freedom of the People, the moſt ineſtimable Article of their Freedom, the Freedom of Elections, betrayed by their own Repreſentatives, ſo that the moſt precious Part of our Liberty may be juſtly ſaid to have been ſtabbed by its own Guard.
