arbitrary authority, former parliaments have judged the diſputes about elections, it is not neceſſary to relate. The claim of a candidate, and the right of electors are ſaid ſcarcely to have been, even in appearance, referred to conſcience; but to have been decided by party, by paſſion, by prejudice, or by frolic. To have friends in the borough was of little uſe to him, who wanted friends in the houſe; a pretence was eaſily found to evade a majority, and the ſeat was at laſt his, that was choſen not by his electors, but his fellow-ſenators.
Thus the nation was inſulted with a mock election, and the parliament was filled with ſpurious repreſentatives; one of the moſt important claims, that of a right to ſit in the ſupreme council of the kingdom, was debated in jeſt, and no man could be confident of ſucceſs from the juſtice of his cauſe.
