The magistrates nominate all the colonels and downwards. The senate all
upwards. During war, the general nominates the colonel and downwards,
and his commission is good for a twelvemonth; but after that, it must
be confirmed by the magistrates of the county to which the regiment
belongs. The magistrates may break any officer in the county regiment,
and the senate may do the same to any officer in the service. If the
magistrates do not think proper to confirm the general’s choice, they
may nominate another officer in the place of him they reject.
All crimes are tried within the county by the magistrates and a jury;
but the senate can stop any trial, and bring it before themselves.
Any county may indict any man before the senate for any crime.
The protector, the two secretaries, the council of state, with any
five more that the senate appoints on extraordinary emergencies, are
possessed of dictatorial power for six months.
The protector may pardon any person condemned by the inferior courts.
In time of war, no officer of the army that is in the field can have
any civil office in the commonwealth.
The capital, which we shall call London, may be allowed four
members in the senate. It may therefore be divided into four
counties. The representatives of each of these choose one senator
and ten magistrates. There are therefore in the city four
senators, forty-four magistrates, and four hundred representatives.
The magistrates have the same authority as in the counties. The
representatives also have the same authority; but they never meet in
one general court. They give their votes in their particular county or
division of hundreds.
When they enact any city-law, the greatest number of counties or
divisions determines the matter; and where these are equal, the
magistrates have the casting vote.
The magistrates choose the mayor, sheriff, recorder, and other officers
of the city.
In the commonwealth, no representative, magistrate, or senator, as
such, has any salary. The protector, secretaries, councils, and
ambassadors have salaries.
The first year in every century is set apart to correct all
inequalities which time may have produced in the representative. This
must be done by the legislature.
The following political aphorisms may explain the reason of these
orders.
The lower sort of people and small proprietors are good enough judges
of one not very distant from them in rank or habitation, and therefore,
in their parochial meetings, will probably choose the best, or nearly
the best representative; but they are wholly unfit for county-meetings
and for electing into the higher offices of the republic. Their
ignorance gives the grandees an opportunity of deceiving them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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