UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 AT LOS ANGELES
 
 >^ Jt-^ 7"*-^ * 
 
 / -4=- 
 
 PRESENT STATE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION, 
 
 HISTORICALLY ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 S*rvettir aJ imnm 
 
 is ab iucxpto prcctsstrit, et sibi cor.stet. 
 
 MOR. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PHINTED JOK LOX6MAN,HURSt, RF.ES AKD OKME, 
 PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
 ST 
 
 . 
 
 1807.
 
 I. Blacfcarfer, Prfnter, Took's-Cwm, Cfcanetry-t*"*-
 
 -J-/V 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 PRESENT STATE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 iA 
 
 oc 
 
 CO 
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 
 
 AMONG the numerous blessings which 
 <g these islands possess, and which Old Eng- 
 ~~ land in a more particular manner may call 
 ** her own, none is a more frequent subject of 
 ^exaltation, than our glorious political con- 
 stitution. Here every Englishman is con- 
 fident that he stands upon a basis that can- 
 not be shaken. Should he find himself 
 obliged to relinquish to some foreign rival 
 the preference of climate or soil : should 
 ^ Italy carry away the palm of pre-eminence 
 5 in the fine arts : should France success- 
 ^ fully contest the honour of superior inge- 
 
 B
 
 2 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 nuity and invention j or Germany be allow- 
 ed to contend for greater philosophical pro- 
 fundity, still it is supposed, that in laws and 
 government we have no rival in Europe ; 
 nor much to apprehend when placed in the 
 scales with our descendants in the Trans- 
 atlantic hemisphere. As in the govern- 
 ments of our neighbours on the Continent 
 there is little now to be found that can 
 really be called free, or that furnishes any 
 permanent security for the independence of 
 the citizen ; so it is supposed, in England 
 at least, that whatever is valuable, in the 
 constitution of America, has been borrowed 
 from the political institutions of this coun- 
 try ; and that wherever there is a deviation, 
 there is no less a falling off from the immor- 
 tal archetype. 
 
 It is by no means my wish to damp this 
 ardent affection for the constitution of Bri- 
 tain. Long may every British bosom glow 
 with the love, nay with the preference of 
 the soil, the productions, the arts and lite- 
 rature, as well as the laws and government, 
 of these happy islands ! Patriotism, one of
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION". 
 
 . , . " . i 
 
 the most virtuous affections of the human 
 heart, is cherished by such a preference, and 
 without it must necessarily become languid 
 and inert. The man that ceases to prefer 
 the institutions of his- own country to those 
 of any other - t or that feels no peculiar af- 
 fection for his own laws and his own go- 
 vernment, is ripe for revolution, and will 
 not scruple to wade through all its convulsive 
 horrors, in order to obtain that melioration 
 of his circumstances for which he feels an 
 ardent desire. 
 
 Nature has kindly guarded against this 
 dangerous and excessive love of innovation 
 by imbuing the human mind with a wonder- 
 ful attachment to the peculiar clime which 
 gave it birth. Nothing at first sight appears 
 more astonishing to the philosophical eye, 
 than the partiality with which the savage 
 views his native wilderness, and the fond- 
 ness with which he returns to it, after having 
 been initiated into the pleasures and refine- 
 ments of polished society. Many of the na- 
 tives of newly discovered countries have been 
 brought to Europe, and have been made ac 
 B 2
 
 4 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 quainted with all the conveniences and lux- 
 uries which European arts and commerce 
 have produced ; but none of them has ever 
 shewn the least reluctance to renounce them 
 all, and to return to the hardships and pri- 
 vations of their native wilds. So predomi- 
 nant is the love of country over the love of 
 ease ! So powerful is that happy partiality 
 by which the native of one region is enabled 
 to view with indifference the boasted supe- 
 riority possessed by the inhabitant of a more 
 favoured clime ; and to rest contented with 
 that portion of felicity which Providence 
 has allotted him, and which he considers as 
 permanently attached to his native soil. 
 
 Nescio qua natale solum dulcectine captos 
 Ducit, et itnmemores non sinit esse sui. 
 
 OVID. Epist. ex Pont. 1. I. Ep. ". 
 
 But it is important to distinguish between 
 that preference which arises from the natu- 
 ral prejudices of the human heart ; and that 
 which is founded upon the investigations of 
 reason. If the object of our affections be 
 not only lovely in our own eyes, but have
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 5 
 
 merits also which are admitted by all the 
 world, it will become doubly endeared to us, 
 by exciting not only our attachment, but 
 our esteem. We shall prize it much more 
 highly, when we are aware that our predi- 
 lection cannot be called a fond partiality, 
 but that it is a reasonable preference. Such, 
 I trust, is the predilection felt by Britons for 
 4he constitution of their country. Their 
 love for that constitution is, I hope, founded 
 rather upon its intrinsic excellence, than 
 upon the circumstance of its being British ; 
 and it shall be by no means my endeavour 
 to diminish that love, but to point out upon 
 what basis it properly rests. If a lover 
 should value his mistress for qualities which 
 she does not possess 3 if he should prize her 
 for her wit, while her chief merit consists 
 in her good humour, his attachment is in 
 great danger of being overset by some un- 
 toward accident, and can hardly be expect- 
 ed to be permanent. 
 
 Fortunately, the good qualities of the 
 British constitution have not been kept in a 
 mysterious concealment ; they have been
 
 6 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 narrowly scrutinized ; and have formed the 
 theme of more than one elaborate treatise. 
 The British constitution has been analysed 
 historically, philosophically, and politically ; 
 and its praises have been sounded forth, not 
 only by those who have the good fortune to 
 live under its shelter, but by those who 
 can scarcely be suspected of any undue par- 
 tiality in its favour. It has received the pa- 
 negyric not only of Blackstone and Selden, 
 but also of Montesquieu and Helvetius - y and 
 the rivalry between France and England has 
 not prevented enlightened Frenchmen from 
 giving the due tribute of encomium to what 
 is excellent in English laws and English 
 government. 
 
 It may therefore be thought, that the es- 
 timate of the British Constitution might 
 now be pretty accurately formed ; and that 
 there can be no occasion for any new lucu- 
 brations concerning its peculiar excellencies 
 or defects. But let it be observed that the 
 British Constitution has been progressive; 
 that it has advanced from very small be- 
 ginnings to its present state of maturity and
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION 7 
 
 vigour; that in its first form it was rude and 
 imperfect, and has owed its improvements 
 to the succession of ages, and to those ca- 
 sualties which the accidental chain of events 
 produces, and which the efforts of enter- 
 prising individuals direct to a favorable is- 
 sue. Its principles, therefore, have not, 
 till of late years been, for any long period, 
 the same ; the spirit of its institutions has 
 been continually varying, and has always 
 taken a tincture from the spirit of the times. 
 It lias in a great measure suited itself to the 
 peculiar attachments, wishes, and pursuits 
 of every succeeding age ; so that those re- 
 gulations which were considered as well 
 adapted to a rude and warlike people, have 
 been made to give way to a policy better fit- 
 ted to a period of refinement ; and the in- 
 stitutions of barbarism have been gradually 
 mellowed into a legislation suited to a high 
 advancement in arts, commerce, and litera* 
 ture. 
 
 It is~therefore an interesting inquiry to as- 
 certain the state of the British constitution 
 at any particular period of its history ; and
 
 8 PRESENT STATE OF THF. 
 
 if there be any thing peculiar to. its present 
 state, surely it is highly important that the 
 peculiarity should be pointed out. It is, 
 indeed the common doctrine, that at the 
 memorable period of the Revolution, the 
 British Constitution was finally matured ; 
 and has since continued in the enjoyment of 
 that vigour which it then attained. It was 
 then, we are told, that the various hetero- 
 geneous principles of which it is composed 
 were accurately balanced and defined ; and 
 its peculiar limits assigned to each. Then 
 were the just boundaries set to the royal 
 prerogative ; then was the hereditary right 
 of kings set upon its proper basis ; and 
 then too were the rights of the people avow- 
 ed and ascertained. Then was that happy 
 compound of democracy, aristocracy, and 
 monarchy finally adjusted, which ancient 
 politicians had declared to be the perfection of 
 political wisdom, but which was rather ar- 
 dently to be desired, than expected ever to 
 take place *. 
 
 * " Cunctas nationes," says Tacitus, " out Reges 
 out Primorcs out Populus rexcrunt, dilecta ex his tt
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 9 
 
 I am ready to grant that it is to the period 
 of the Revolution that we are to look for 
 the British Constitution as it now stands 
 in theory. In the declaration of rights, and 
 the various parliamentary provisions of that 
 period we find the great written code of our 
 political law, and the regulations by which 
 our legislators and executive magistrates 
 ought principally to be governed. But it is 
 allowed that there is a considerable difference 
 between the British Constitution, as it stands 
 in theory, and as it stands in practice. The 
 House of Commons does not now exactly 
 represent the poorer orders of the people, 
 nor is it greatly subordinate in dignity and 
 rank to the House of Peers. The king does 
 not contend with his parliament concerning 
 the extent of his royal prerogative ; and 
 avowedly exercises but a small part of that 
 which the law has conferred upon him. He 
 may, by law, if he pleases, refuse his as- 
 sent to any act of parliament j but this has 
 
 consociata reipitblica forma lauflari fatilius qitam 
 eve jure, ant si evtniatj non diuturna esse 
 Ann. I.
 
 10 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 not been done since the days of King Wil- 
 liam, and it is now found that influence is a 
 more convenient engine than prerogative 
 for directing the decisions of our legislators. 
 The king now exercises his legislative au- 
 thority, not in the form of a royal veto, or 
 soit fait comme il est desire *; but through 
 the channel of his ministers, in both 
 Houses of Parliament, a mode, which 
 though it is not recognised in the theory of 
 our Constitution, is sufficiently known, and 
 even plainly avowed in practice. 
 
 This diversity between the theory and 
 present practice of the British Constitution, 
 has been noticed by several eminent writers. 
 Judge Blackstone informed us many years 
 ago, that " The stern commands of pre- 
 rogative have yielded to the milder voice of 
 influence : the slavish and exploded doctrine 
 of non-resistance, has given way to a mili- 
 tary establishment by law ; and to the disuse 
 of parliaments has succeeded a parliamen- 
 tary trust of an immense perpetual reve- 
 
 " * 
 
 * The words in which the royal assent is given 
 to an ct of parliament.
 
 BRITISB CONSTITUTION. 11 
 
 nue." He very plainly insinuates that the 
 power of the crown was in danger of ex- 
 tending beyond its just boundaries, in conse- 
 quence of the immense increase of patro- 
 nage, which the multiplication of tax- 
 gatherers, stamp-commissioners, loan-con- 
 tractors, and other appendages of our national 
 debt have generated; not to speak of the 
 power conferred by a numerous standing 
 army, and the influence arising from the 
 appointment of all the valuable offices in 
 the kingdom, civil, military, and ecclesi- 
 astical. 
 
 "When," says this able lawyer, "by 
 the free operation of the sinking fund, our 
 national debts shall be lessened, when the 
 posture of foreign affairs, and the universal 
 introduction of a well planned and national 
 militia will suffer our formidable army to be 
 thinned and regulated j and, when (incon- 
 sequence of all) our taxes shall be gradually 
 reduced ; this adventitious power of the 
 crown will slowly and imperceptibly dimi- 
 nish, as it slowly and imperceptibly arose; 
 but till that shall happen, it will be our
 
 12 PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 especial duty, as good subjects, and good 
 Englishmen, to reverence the crown, and 
 yet guard against corrupt and servile influ- 
 ence from those who are intrusted with its 
 authority ; to be loyal, yet free ; obedient, 
 and yet independent." (Comm. b. i. c. 8.) 
 Had the preservation of our liberties de- 
 pended upon the events here indicated, they 
 would at present be, indeed, in a desperate 
 condition. When Blackstone wrote, our 
 national debt did not exceed one hundred 
 and forty millions ; and our army, even on 
 the war establishment, did not amount to 
 sixty thousand men. At present we have 
 tripled the national debt, and increased our 
 regular army in fully the same proportion. 
 Our navy has been augmented in at least an 
 equal degree, and a new source of military 
 patronage has arisen to the crown in the ap- 
 pointment of officers of volunteers. If 
 then the patriotism of Blackstone was 
 alarmed by the national debt and military 
 force of his time, what would he have felt 
 on contemplating the burthens of the pre- 
 sent period ? It was voted many years ago,
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 13 
 
 by the House of Commons, " That the in- 
 fluence of the crown has increased, was in- 
 creasing, and ought to be diminished ; yet, 
 according to this detail, it has ever since 
 continued rapidly to increase, and of its 
 augmentation, we can at present see no 
 end. 
 
 Are we then to conclude the balance of 
 power, the so much boasted excellence of 
 the British Constitution no longer exists ? 
 That the influence of the crown has by its 
 gradual extension, irreparably encroached 
 upon the independence of the people, and 
 that absolute monarchy will prove, as was 
 predicted by Mr. Hume, the euthanasia, 
 or gentle death of our political freedom ? 
 I am inclined to argue a better fate to our 
 liberties and laws. I cannot help enter- 
 taining the pleasing hopes, that there is a 
 vigour and energy in the fabric of our go- 
 vernment, which will provide a remedy 
 against the growing symptoms of decay; 
 that though the body politic, is like every 
 thing human, liable to injury and disorder, 
 it has within itself a principle, which pro-
 
 14 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 vides a cure for its most dangerous diseases ; 
 and will, when it seems in most hazard of 
 distraction, restore it to the full enjoyment 
 of health and strength. 
 
 What this renovating principle is, it is the 
 professed object of the present inquiry to 
 ascertain. It is my earnest wish to point 
 out to my fellow citizens upon what basis 
 their political freedom actually rests , to 
 shew that there is a bulwark in our con- 
 stitution, which is sufficient to resist the 
 encroachments of prerogative and influence 
 on the one hand, and of wild innovation 
 and anarchy on the other; and to rouse 
 them as far as I am able, to the maintenance 
 of this important safeguard of our indepen- " 
 dence, and the defence of this barrier against 
 the destruction of what has so long been 
 endeared to the heart of every Briton. 
 
 Let us know wherein the value of the 
 British Constitution consists. Let us prize 
 it for its real, and not for its supposed 
 merits. Let us talk guardedly of the nice 
 combination of monarchy, aristocracy, and 
 democracy in our legislature, of the con-
 
 BELTISH CONSTITUTION. 15 
 
 troul of the Commons over the revenue, 
 and the absolute independence of the judi- 
 cial power ; in short of that complex sys- 
 tem of checks and preventives, which is so 
 beautiful in theory, but which is so imper- 
 fectly felt in practice. Let us rather en- 
 deavour to ascertain in what the true prac- 
 tical safeguard of our independence con- 
 sists, lesti we should share the fate of Gul- 
 liver in his endeavour to impress the em- 
 peror of Brobdingnag, with the excellence 
 of the laws and institutions of his native 
 country. His gigantic majesty, after having 
 closely questioned the British mariner, was 
 pleased to say, " My little friend Grildrig, 
 you have made a most admirable panegyric 
 upon your country; but by what I have 
 gathered from your own relation, and the 
 answers I have with much pains wringed 
 and extorted from you, I cannot but con- 
 clude the bulk of your natives to be the 
 most pernicious race of little odious vermin 
 that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the 
 surface of the earth."
 
 16 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 In order to give a satisfactory answer to 
 the question, which forms the subject of 
 this inquiry, viz. " What is the present 
 practical state of the British Constitution ?" 
 It will be necessary to examine, first, how 
 the British Constitution stands at present in 
 theory? and secondly, how does the theory 
 differ from the present practice ? In ex- 
 amining both those points, I shall be guided 
 chiefly by the light of history; and shall 
 endeavour concisely to trace the succes- 
 sive steps by which our Constitution was 
 moulded into its present shape; and the 
 changes which the exigencies of succeed- 
 ing ages have introduced both into its 
 forms, and into its spirit. If in the course 
 of this sketch, I shall sometimes have oc- 
 casion to traverse beaten ground ; I trust 
 I shall be pardoned for comprising the dif- 
 fusive labours of others into a compass 
 which will make them accessible even to the 
 most cursory reader.
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 17 
 
 PART I. 
 
 Antiquarians usually ascend as high as the 
 Saxon conquest for the introduction into our 
 island of the first rudiments of that political 
 system which now renders us the envy of 
 the world. They wish to trace in the woods 
 of Germany, from which the Saxons emi- 
 grated, the embrio of political liberty, and 
 the rude sketch of that freedom of suffrage 
 and representative legislature, which is cha- 
 racteristic of our constitution. They refer 
 to Tacitus for a proof that the ancient Ger- 
 mans possessed a high spirit of indepen- 
 dence, and that they were accustomed to be 
 governed, not by the absolute will of a 
 monarch, but by the decisions of a public 
 assembly of the people, where every citizen 
 had a right to give his suffrage, and where 
 the prince was possessed of no undue con- 
 troul *. But the love of system and na- 
 
 * The judicious Montesquieu has adopted this 
 hypothesis, " Si fon vent lire, F admirable ouvrage 
 C
 
 itf F**EN*T STATE OF THE 
 
 tional partiality, have in this instance some- 
 what biassed the decisions of political inqui- 
 rers. The ancient Germans were doubtless 
 a bold and independent race, and paid a very 
 limited obedience to their chieftains and mo- 
 narchs , but nearly the same thing may be 
 said of every barbarous or half civilized 1 
 tribe. The savages of North America arc 
 at present nearly in the same condition with 
 the ancient Germans, as described by Ta- 
 citus. They consist of various detached 
 tribes of warriors and huntsmen, highly 
 jealous of their personal independence, and 
 paying a very limited obedience to their re- 
 spective chiefs. They have public assem- 
 blies of the elders, and experienced war- 
 riors, in which all matters of general con- 
 cern are deliberately canvassed, and which 
 can alone decide in all important questions 
 that relate to the common good. The love 
 of personal freedom is natural to man in the 
 
 til Tariff sar les mccitri des Germains, says he, " on 
 vcrra que c'est (feux que / jlng/ois ont tire fidtc de 
 ieur gourernement publique, It btau systtme a et& 
 r dttne /fa 0tV J (L'Ciprit des Loix, 1. xi. c. 6.)
 
 BlUTlSH-CONSTlTUTiOir, 1$ 
 
 early stages of society j but it is not to such a 
 period that we can rationally look for a well 
 digested political system, or laws judiciously 
 calculated to preserve the rights of the 
 people, and controul the power of the 
 rulers. 
 
 Even admitting the excellence of certain 
 institutions of the Germans, we can scarcely 
 suppose that thesp were imported into 
 England by the Saxon invaders. The 
 Saxons were the most fierce and barbarous 
 of all the German tribes* Scattered over 
 the peninsula of Jutland, and along the 
 neighbouring shores of the Baltick Sea, they 
 were completely out of the reach of that 
 civilization and improvement which every 
 where attended the progress of the Roman 
 arms. By their maritime situation, their 
 attention was early directed to navigation, 
 and they were accustomed to undertake pi- 
 ratical expeditions to several distant coun- 
 tries. Their conduct to the aborigines of 
 Britain strongly marks the fierceness and 
 treachery of their character. Invited into 
 England as the allies and protectors pf the 
 
 C 2
 
 20 PRESENT STATE O* THt 
 
 defenceless inhabitants agsynst their more 
 warlike neighbours in the north, they 
 scrupled not to seize upon a country which 
 they had undertaken to defend, and to turn 
 their arms against a people with whom they 
 had contracted a strict alliance. 
 
 It was not however, till after a violent 
 itruggle, that the Saxons were able to obtain 
 a permanent footing in the territories of Bri- 
 tain. No less than a hundred and seventy 
 years elapsed from their first invasion to the 
 establishment of the Saxon Heptarchy, 
 during which many battles were fought 
 with various success. It cannot be sup- 
 posed that a dominion thus painfully and 
 unjustly obtained, would be very mildly ex- 
 ercised, or that equitable government and 
 just laws would be characteristic of the 
 early period of the Saxon sway. Indeed, 
 if we were to credit some ancient annalists, 
 the severity of the Saxons towards the con- 
 quered Britons exceeded the msual measure 
 of savage fury. They Would have us to be- 
 -lieve, that the whole of the miserable na- 
 tives suffered either death or captivity, or
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 21 
 
 were driven from their country into the 
 mountains of Wales, or the wilds of Armo- 
 rica in France; but this picture of the suf- 
 ferings of the Britons is doubtless much ex- 
 aggerated ; and there is still sufficient evi- 
 dence to prove that the greater part of the 
 natives of Britain were permitted to remain 
 in their paternal fields by their fierce con- 
 querors ; and that the Saxons shewed some 
 respect to the ancient customs and constitu- 
 tions of the country in which they estab- 
 lished themselves. It even appears that 
 they permitted the Christian religion to be 
 exercised in many parts of the conquered 
 territory; although they did not abandon 
 their own Pagan superstitions, till after they 
 had been a considerable time in possession 
 of their conquest. 
 
 During the same century in which the 
 Saxons began the conquest of England, the 
 other provinces of the Western Empire were 
 invaded by a multitude of rude nations from 
 the Northern and Eastern parts of the con- 
 tinent. A remarkable similarity of man- 
 ners and customs prevailed among all these
 
 3 PRESENT STATE OT THE 
 
 barbarous tribes, and a no less remtrkable 
 resemblance was discernible in the govern- 
 ments which they severally established in 
 the provinces that submitted to their arms. 
 These governments were formed upon the 
 model of the system known by the name of 
 feudal ; a system which differs very mate- 
 rially in its characteristic features from all 
 the political contrivances of which we read 
 either in ancient or modern history. 
 
 The great outlines of the feudal system, 
 are thus briefly delineated by an eloquent 
 historian. " The army which atchieved 
 the conquest of a Roman province was not 
 composed of soldiers, who could be com- 
 pelled to serve, but of such as voluntarily 
 followed the standard of their general. 
 These conquered not for their leader, but 
 for themselves ; and being free in their own 
 country, renounced not their liberty when 
 they acquired new settlements. They did 
 not exterminate the ancient inhabitants of 
 the countries which they subdued, but seiz- 
 ing the greater part of their lands, they took 
 their persons under protection. The diffi-
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 0$ 
 
 culty of maintaining a new conquest, .a,s 
 well as the danger of being attacked by 
 new invaders, rendering it necessary to be 
 always in a posture of defence, the form of 
 government which they established was 
 altogether military, and nearly resembled 
 that to which they had been accustomed in 
 their native country. Their general still 
 continuing to be the head of the colony, part 
 of the conquered lands were allotted to him; 
 the remainder, under the name of benejicia 
 or fiefs, was divided among his principal 
 officers. As the common safety required 
 that these officers should, upon all occasions, 
 be ready to appear in arms for the commpn 
 defence, and should continue obedient to 
 their general, they bound themselves to take 
 the field when called to serve him, with a 
 number of men in proportion to the extent 
 of their territory. These great officers 
 again parcelled out their lands among their 
 followers, and annexed the same condition 
 to the grant. A feudal kingdom was pro- 
 perly the encampment of a great army ; 
 military ideas predominated, military su,b-
 
 24 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 ordination was established, and the posses- 
 sion of land was the pay which soldiers re- 
 ceived for their personal service." (Ro- 
 bertson's Hist, of Scotland, b. i.) 
 
 The feudal governments though nomi- 
 nally monarchies, were in reality in their 
 own original constitution almost pure aris- 
 tocracies. The nobles, though acknow- 
 ledging the superiority of the monarch, paid 
 him but a very imperfect obedience. In 
 their own domains, they were possessed of 
 little less than absolute power 3 they could 
 summon their vassals to arms at their plea- 
 sure j they could assume the judgment seat, 
 and condemn or acquit them of whatever 
 crimes were laid to their charge, and they 
 could exact from them pecuniary aids, and 
 every species of personal service. They were 
 indeed themselves considered as the vassals 
 of the monarch, and were bound to make 
 certain contributions to his revenue, and to 
 appear in arms with their followers in order 
 to fight in defence of his rights. But their 
 power often enabled them, and their rebel- 
 lious dispositions prompted them, to contend
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 25 
 
 in the field with their king, instead of sup- 
 porting his cause ; and the monarch some- 
 times found it more difficult to adjust the 
 differences between rival barons, and to 
 quell the hostilities which their contests ex- 
 cited in his dominions, than to check the 
 encroachments of a foreign foe. 
 
 It would appear that during the heptarchy, 
 and even for some time after, the Saxon con- 
 quests were all united under one monarch ; 
 the proprietors of land, or thanes, were very 
 numerous ; and that much of the land was 
 held by the tenure called allodial, which 
 conferred an absolute power of disposal on the 
 proprietor, and exempted him from almost 
 all feudal services, except the defence of 
 the realm against foreign invaders. But be- 
 fore the Norman Conquest the number of 
 allodial proprietors was greatly diminished, 
 and some of the thanes had acquired great 
 accession of power and influence ; in conse- 
 quence of which the government of the 
 country was become strictly feudal. 
 
 Since, according to the apt similitude of 
 Robertson, a feudal government was pro-
 
 26 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 perly the encampment of a great army ; so 
 we may distinctly trace the influence of mi- 
 litary forms, throughout its various insti- 
 tutions. As an army was divided and sub- 
 divided, almost without end, and had vari- 
 ous officers, subordinate to each other in 
 rank, appointed to command its different 
 parts ; so in a feudal government, the peo- 
 ple were distributed into a variety of greater 
 and lesser divisions ; and superintendents of 
 various dignity, and possessed of various au- 
 thority, were stationed over them. Hence, 
 the celebrated division of the subjects of the 
 Saxon monarchs,into tythings, hundreds, and 
 shires, or counties, which many historians 
 have ascribed to Alfred ; but which in fact 
 seems to have been coeval with the feudal 
 system, and was only rendered more perfect 
 and complete by that celebrated legislator. 
 
 A ty thing, was a collection of ten fami- 
 lies, or rather of a village or small district, 
 comprehending nearly that number. Over 
 it there presided a head, or leader, called 
 the tything-man, decennarius, or head-bo- 
 rough, who had the power of convening
 
 BRITISil CONSTITUTION. Q7 
 
 his ward upon any emergency, and of de- 
 liberating with them concerning every thing 
 that respected their common welfare. He 
 was in some measure responsible for their 
 good conduct, and possessed the authority 
 of their judge and arbiter in time of peace, 
 and of their leader in time of war. Upon 
 a similar principle, ten of these villages, or 
 tythings, were associated into a district, 
 called a hundred) and which had an extent, 
 corresponding to that of a modern parish. 
 Over this district presided an officer called 
 an hundreder or centcnarius, endowed with 
 powers analogous to those of the*head-bo- 
 rough. A convenient combination of hun- 
 dreds, formed a larger district, correspond- 
 ing to the modern shire or county* over 
 which presided the hcretoch or alder-man, 
 from whom has proceeded the modern Earl; 
 and the powers of the alder- man over his 
 shire, were entirely analogous to those of 
 the centenarius over his hundred, and of the 
 head-borough over his tything. 
 
 In the early ages of the Saxon Monarchy, 
 these officers were undoubtedly possessed of
 
 28 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 every species of authority, military as well as 
 civil ; but in the progress of things, it was 
 probably found more convenient to separate 
 the military from the civil power. In this 
 stage of the system, the name of heretoch 
 was given to the person, possessed of the 
 chief military authority in the shire ; and 
 he that possessed the chief civil power was 
 called the alder-man. As the modern she- 
 riff is evidently the legitimate descendant of 
 the ancient alder-man, so it is the opinion of 
 Mr. Millar, that the high-constable of a 
 parish, is the modern representative of the 
 hundreder, contemplated in his civil capa- 
 city ; while the petty -const able of a village, 
 may be considered as standing in the same 
 relation with respect to the tything-man. 
 (Historical View of the English Govern- 
 ment, b. i. c. 6.) 
 
 Upon the same principle which associated 
 the inhabitants of subordinate districts into 
 deliberative bodies, the people belonging to 
 the whole kingdom were brought together 
 in one general assembly, summoned by the 
 king, the great military leader, and chief
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 29 
 
 magistrate of the community. This na- 
 tional council received the appellation of the 
 mickle-mote or wittenagemote ; that is to 
 say the great meeting of the wiles or wise 
 men of the nation. During the continu- 
 ance of the heptarchy, each separate king- 
 dom had its wittenagemote : out of which 
 was probably formed that great national 
 council, whose authority extended over the 
 whole kingdom, after the different princi- 
 palities were united under one monarch. 
 
 In the Saxon wittenagemote politicians have 
 been solicitous to trace the original model 
 of the British parliament; and many of them 
 would have us to believe that its members 
 consisted not only of the greater and lesser 
 thanes, or feudal and allodial proprietors of 
 land, but of delegates chosen to represent 
 the poorer orders of the people and the 
 burgesses and artizans who inhabited the 
 towns. The most careful investigation of 
 ancient records, has not been able to pro- 
 duce a single proof in support of this hypo- 
 thesis. On the contrary, there is the most 
 satisfactory evidence from such an investi-
 
 50 PRESENT SfATE O* THB 
 
 gation, that it was the proprietors of land 
 alone, together with certain dignitaries of 
 the church, who were entitled to a seat in 
 this great assembly*. There is, however, 
 great uncertainty with respect to the quan- 
 tity of land which was sufficient to qualify 
 for this high privilege. According to Mil- 
 lar, the possession of a single hide or plough- 
 gate of land, was, in the early ages of the 
 Saxon government, sufficient for this pur- 
 pose. According to others, no less than 
 forty hides were requisite, a supposition, 
 which is countenanced by a curious passage 
 in the ancient register of Ely, of which, 
 much account has been made by our poli- 
 tical antiquarians. 
 
 " The most curious passage on this sub- 
 ject," says Mr. Turner in his last volume 
 of the history of the Anglo-Saxons, " is 
 
 * It appears however, by a law of King Athel- 
 stan, that considerable encouragement was given. to 
 commerce even in this early period of our history. 
 By this law it is enacted, that any merchant, who 
 has, upon his own account, made three trading 
 voyages to a foreign country, shall thenceforward 
 enjoy all the privileges of a thane.
 
 EBITTS-H CONSTITUTION. 31 
 
 that which attests that without the pos- 
 session of a certain quantity of landed pro- 
 perty,' the dignity of sitting in the witte- 
 n-agernote could not be enjoyed, not even 
 though the person was noble already. An 
 abbot of Ely had a brother, who was court- 
 ing the daughter of a great man, but the 
 lady refused him, because, although noble, 
 he had not the lordship of forty hides, and 
 therefore could not be numbered among the 
 ppoceres or witena. To enable him to gra- 
 tify his love, and her ambition, the abbot 
 conveyed to him certain lands belonging to 
 his monastery. The nuptials took place, 
 and the fraud was, forborne time undisco- 
 vered." 
 
 Mr. Millar is inclined to think, that by 
 the proceres were meant, not every person 
 entitled to sit in the witenagemote, but only- 
 the proprietors of great estates, who were, 
 no doubt, the most likely to give a regular 
 attendance in the supreme council. At any 
 rate, he is of opinion, that there is no evi- 
 dence of this qualification having been ne- 
 cessary for a seat in the witenagemote in the
 
 32 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 earlier ages of the Saxon government, as the 
 passage relates only to what was established 
 in the reign of Edward the Confessor*. 
 
 With respect to the functions and privi* 
 leges of the Saxon witenagemote, we have 
 sufficient evidence, that they were very con- 
 siderable and important, though not very 
 accurately defined. The witenagemote was 
 the great council, with which the king was 
 bound to consult in all important emer- 
 gencies, and in which were debated, all 
 questions relative to the public concerns of 
 the nation, as well as those which respected 
 the execution of justice, and the peculiar 
 rights of individuals. It took a share, not 
 only in the legislative authority, but also in 
 the judicial and executive functions of the 
 state. It provided for the defence of the 
 
 * The passage as quoted by Millar runs as fol- 
 lows : Habuit enim (speaking of the Abbot of Ely) 
 fratrem Gudmundum vocabulo, cui Jiliam precpoten- 
 tis riri in matrimoniam conjungi paravtrat. Sed quo- 
 niam ille quadraginta hidarum terra dominium mini" 
 me obtineret licet nobilis csset, inter proceres tune - 
 merari non potuit : eum puella repudiawt." (Hist. 
 Eliensis, 1. ii. c. 40)
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 33 
 
 kingdom, directed the public military ope- 
 rations, corrected the abuses of administra- 
 tion, controuled the exercise of the royal 
 prerogative, and regulated the concerns of 
 the church. 
 
 To decide concerning military operations, 
 was probably the primary object of calling 
 together this assembly ; and hence its regu- 
 lar sittings were, according to ancient cus- 
 tom, held twice in the years first in the 
 spring, immediately after seed-time, to re- 
 solve upon new military expeditions ; and 
 again in the autumn, before the harvest com- 
 menced, in order to divide the plunder. It 
 is remarkable, that the same seasons were 
 observed, for the meetings of the national 
 council, in the other kingdoms of Europe. 
 We are informed, that in France, the ver- 
 nal meetings were originally in the begin- 
 ning of March, but they were afterwards 
 transferred to the first of May; from greater 
 attention, as it should seem to the concerns 
 of agriculture *. 
 
 * In the latter period of the Saxon monarchy, we 
 find that the stated meetings of the when age mote.
 
 34 PRESENT STATE OF, THE 
 
 Thus it is plain, that along with their 
 other powers, the witenagemote claimed 
 the high prerogative of deciding concerning 
 peace and war, which, in the ruder periods 
 of our history, was one of the most impor- 
 tant power in the state. Of its authority, 
 to call the sovereign to account for the 
 abuses of his administration, a very remark- 
 able instance occurs in the reign of Sege- 
 bert, king of the West Saxons. This mo- 
 narch, on account of his tyrannical conduct, 
 after he had treated with contempt the re- 
 monstances of his people, was, by a general 
 assembly of the nation, expelled from his 
 throne and kingdom, and another prince of 
 the royal blood elected in his place, A. D. 
 
 Too*. 
 
 The government of England, therefore, 
 during the Saxon period, was in a great mea- 
 sure aristocratical. The constitutional au- 
 thority of the king was inconsiderable ; and 
 
 increased to three, and took place at Christmas, 
 Raster, and Whitsuntide. 
 .* Saxon Chronicle.
 
 BRITISH* CONSTITUTION. 35 
 
 his power was derived rather from his in- 
 fluence and weight in the great national as- 
 sembly, than from the exercise of any high 
 prerogatives, witK which the law had vested 
 him. Another powerful check upon the 
 controul of the Saxon monarchs, arose from 
 the authority which the church had ob- 
 tained, and the privilege which many of its 
 members claimed of directing, not only the 
 consciences, but the political administration 
 of all who exercised civil authority. But 
 this was a peculiarity which belonged to 
 the age, and not to the country ; and which 
 was equally felt at that period, and for ,.a 
 long time after, through all the kingdoms 
 of Europe. It was the greatest difficulty 
 with which some of the ablest English mo- 
 narchs, after the Norman conquest, had to 
 contend ; and which embittered the repose 
 of some of the most deserving among them. 
 The great event of the Norman conquest 
 was the occasion of many important changes 
 in the constitution of England. In conse- 
 quehce of the issue of a single battle, new 
 laws and customs, new rulers, and a new 
 P 2
 
 $6 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 language were introduced into the country. 
 Trie establishment of the Saxons, which was 
 the result of a warfare of a century and a 
 half, scarcely occasioned a more complete 
 subversion of the ancient institutions of the 
 land, than arose from the easy victory ob- 
 tained by William the Norman, at Hastings. 
 It is in vain to deny, as has been attempted 
 by some of our antiquarians, that William 
 considered England as a conquered country, 
 and was determined to treat it accordingly. 
 They would have us to believe that the 
 Norman conquest means nothing more than 
 the accession of a new family to the throne. 
 But we are not to look to the feudal import 
 of the term conquest, for an elucidation of 
 this point, but to the less ambiguous evi- 
 dence to be drawn from the events, which 
 afterwards took place in England*. If we 
 find the new ruler dispossessing the ancient 
 
 * Conque*tus ij quod d parentibus non accepium, 
 xd labore, pTctio vel parsimonia compar&tum posside- 
 mus. Ilinc Guliel. I. conquestor dicitur gin Ang- 
 lian conqmwvity i.e. acquisivit, purchased; non quod 
 *udfgit. (Spejjn. Gloss, r. conquestusj
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 37 
 
 ' 
 
 proprietors of their estates, and conferring 
 them upon his own. favourites and followers ; 
 if we find him subverting the ancient forms 
 of justice, and substituting in their place, the 
 usages and laws of his own country ; if we 
 find him looking with a jealous eye upon the 
 conduct of the native inhabitants, and ex- 
 acting contributions from them, with mili- 
 tary rigor ; we cannot hesitate to pronounce 
 that such a ruler considered himself as a 
 conqueror, and was disposed to exercise his 
 power, with more of severity than mild- 
 ness. 
 
 During the reign of William the Con- 
 queror, the feudal system was rendered 
 much more strict and arbitrary in England 
 than it had been under the sway of the 
 Anglo-Saxons. William not only embraced 
 every opportunity of dispossessing the an- 
 cient thanes, and conferring their estates 
 upon his own followers ; but appropriated 
 to his own use the possessions of many of 
 those barons who had opposed him in the 
 field, together with a gre^f share of the 
 
 301032
 
 v . ."* c- . ; J 7 : r t '. o 5 v. > ii r. 
 
 38 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 property of the church*. He thus be- 
 came possessed of much greater power and 
 authority, than had belonged to any of the 
 Saxon race of kings ; and he exercised over 
 all the landed proprietors of the kingdom 
 the full privileges of a feudal superior which 
 had been but partially claimed by his pre- 
 decessors. 
 
 In the Saxon period, particularly in its 
 earlier stage, allodial, or free proprietors 
 had been common ; but after the Norman 
 conquest, they were no longer to be found. 
 The barons were all considered as the im- 
 mediate vassals of the crown, and were held 
 liable in all the services and pecuniary aids 
 which were exacted by the feudal system in 
 its strictest form ; while they, in their turn, 
 exercised the same arbitrary authority over 
 their immediate dependents. In addition to 
 this a new claim of feudal superiority was 
 
 * It is asserted both by William of Malmsbury 
 and Henry of Huntingdon, that about the end of 
 William's reign, no Englishman was either a bishop, 
 abbot, or earl, in England.
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 39 
 
 set forth by the monarch, which was con- 
 sidered as the most despotic of all his pro- 
 ceedings, and which afterwards excited the 
 greatest discontent in the nation : this was 
 the asserted right to all the game in the 
 kingdom, whether upon the royal domains, 
 or upon the estate of a subject. The Nor- 
 man monarchs were passionately fond of the 
 chace, and consequently exercised this new 
 privilege in a very arbitrary and oppressive 
 manner. Large tracts of land, in various 
 parts of the kingdom, were laid waste, in 
 order to be converted into forests for hunt- 
 ing ; houses and villages were demolished, 
 and their inhabitants were expelled to make 
 way for the beasts of the chace - y and new 
 and arbitrary penalties were inflicted upon 
 such as made free with the king's game, or 
 encroached in any manner upon his forests. 
 
 A considerable change also was produced 
 by the Norman conquest, in the adminis- 
 tration of justice, and in the constitution of 
 the great national council, or legislative as- 
 sembly. During the Anglo-Saxon period, 
 the witenagemote was possessed of very
 
 . 
 
 high, though rather indefinite privileges. 
 After the accession of William, the mem- 
 bers of this council were much more under 
 the controul of the sovereign; they con- 
 sisted entirely of the immediate vassals of 
 the crown ; and of men who had been 
 raised to power and wealth by the free-will 
 of their monarch. It was not therefore to. 
 be supposed that the measures of the king 
 would meet with much opposition in such 
 an assembly ; or that any new restraints 
 would be put upon the royal prerogative by 
 its decisions. 
 
 It was the policy of William to establish 
 in England, not only the Norman autho- 
 rity, but to introduce the Norman manners, 
 the Norman laws, and even the Norman 
 language. Upon this principle, the supreme 
 national council received the name of Par- 
 liament, from its supposed resemblance to 
 an assembly then known by that appellation 
 in France. The parliament, like the ancient 
 witenagemotc had regular stated meetings,and 
 might be occasionally convened by the mo- 
 narch, when he wanted its counsel or assis-
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 41 
 
 tance. Its powers were left nearly as unde- 
 fined as they had been before the Norman 
 conquest, except in one remarkable instance, 
 viz. the power of declaring peace and war. 
 This important privilege was now distinctly 
 claimed as a branch of the royal preroga- 
 tive ; and has ever since continued in the 
 undisputed possession of the monarch. It 
 would indeed have been an absurdity that 
 the feudal chief should consult with his im- 
 mediate vassals, upon this subject, as they 
 were by their tenures bound to attend him in 
 the field of battle whenever he chose to call 
 upon them. 
 
 Here we observe the first distinct boun- 
 dary drawn between the legislative and exe- 
 cutive authority in the British Constitution. 
 Before this period there was no precise re- 
 cognition of any separate and individual 
 power vested in the monarch, when unsup- 
 ported by his national council. But now the 
 claim of the monarch to a certain privilege 
 was asserted, while the council was left 
 in possession of various other powers ; and 
 from this period we may date that limita-
 
 4 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 tion of prerogative, and precision of legiti- 
 mate authority, which constitute one of the 
 great excellencies of our constitution. 
 
 The legislative and judicial authority 
 were still left to the parliament, in conjunc- 
 tion with the king ; and this assembly was 
 likewise possessed of the important privilege 
 of levying taxes ; although for a long time 
 this privilege was of little value, on account 
 of the very ample revenue which the An- 
 glo-Norman kings had appropriated to them- 
 selves. It was a considerable time also be- 
 fore much advantage was derived by the 
 parliament from the legislative authority of 
 which they were left in possession ; and 
 during the reign of William I. and his im- 
 mediate successors, the parliament can 
 scarcely be considered in any other light, 
 than as the supreme court of justice in the 
 kingdom . This too was almost the only power 
 possessed by the parliament of France, which 
 was not like the parliament of England, 
 the legitimate successor of the great na- 
 tional council, and never was possessed of 
 the same extensive privileges. When Hugh
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 43 
 
 Capet usurped the French monarchy, which 
 was ready to drop from the feeble hands of the 
 Carlovingian race of kings ; he was unwil- 
 ling to trust his claims to the discussion of the 
 barons, or great national assembly of France ; 
 he therefore dispensed with the attendance of 
 this council, and took upon himself the ad- 
 ministration of all public affairs ; an exam- 
 ple which was very generally followed by 
 his successors : so that it formed an eventful 
 aera of the French history, when the exi- 
 gencies of the times obliged the monarch to 
 summon to his aid the States General of the 
 nation. 
 
 According to the system of jurispru- 
 dence which prevailed in England imme- 
 diately after the Norman conquest, every 
 baron might decide causes in his own do- 
 mains, assisted by an assemblage of his 
 vassals, -which formed his baronial court; 
 or the sheriff might act as judge for a whole 
 county, assisted in like manner by a certain 
 number of assessors. From these subordi- 
 nate jurisdictions an appeal lay in all cases 
 to the high court of parliament; and as
 
 44 PRESENT STATE Of THE 
 
 .T: i/ 1 : j \ i r\- ' v > K :-T r I ... 
 
 justice could seldom be obtained from the 
 decisions of the inferior tribunals, the ap- 
 peals to parliament became very numerous. 
 This multiplication of business rendered 
 the members of that assembly less disposed 
 to a regular attendance -, and hence arose a 
 permanent tribunal, for the sole purpose of 
 administering justice, and composed of a 
 definite number of those persons who were 
 entitled to sit in the greater assembly. 
 
 This court consisted chiefly of the great 
 officers of the crown, among whom was 
 the constable, the marshal, the chamber- 
 lain, and the chancellor, as well as the chief 
 justiciary, who had originally been the high 
 steward, and to whom the principal ma- 
 nagement of the court soon devolved. From 
 the place in which it was commonly held, 
 this court received the appellation of the 
 Aula Regis; and in its constitution and 
 origin it corresponded exactly with the 
 Cour du Roy, which, after the accession 
 of Hugh Capet, was gradually formed out 
 of the antient French parliament, and with 
 the Aulic council, which, after the time of
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 45 
 
 Otho the Great, arose, in like manner out 
 of the diet of the German empire. Irt 
 Scotland we meet with a court of the same 
 nature, and there is reason to believe that, 
 in every European kingdom of considerable 
 extent, the progress of the feudal system 
 gave rise to a similar institution. 
 
 The king himself presided in the Aula 
 Regis whenever he thought proper: but 
 the ordinary president of this court was the 
 lord high steward, or chief justiciary, who 
 in rank and authority had risen to be the 
 second person in the kingdom, and to whom 
 the king, when absent from parliament, 
 had likewise delegated the right of presid- 
 ing in that assembly. 
 
 About the same time another court arose, 
 which was intended to assist the king in 
 the exercise both of his judicial and exe- 
 cutive authority. This was the Privy 
 Council, which consisted nearly of the same 
 persons that were usually called to officiate 
 in the Aula Regis, or of such barons as 
 enjoyed the particular favour and confi- 
 dence of the king. The proceedings of
 
 46 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 this court, which was entirely under the 
 controul of the monarch, were necessarily 
 very arbitrary and fluctuating. It was from 
 it, that in aftertimes proceeded that juris- 
 diction, which, under the name of the star- 
 chamber, was so obnoxious to public odium 
 in the reign of Charles I. 
 
 From this sketch of the state of the 
 English constitution, after the Norman 
 conquest, it is evident that at that period 
 the independence of the people was little 
 respected ; and that the government was of 
 an arbitrary and oppressive character. As 
 the Anglo-Saxon period of our history may 
 be denominated a feudal aristocracy, so the 
 Anglo-Norman period is best characterized 
 by calling it a feudal monarchy : since by 
 its regulations the power of the king was 
 greatly strengthened, while the peculiar 
 institutions of the feudal system were car- 
 ried into their full effect. 
 
 Neither the character of William I. nor 
 of his successor William Rufus, was suited 
 to render an arbitrary government popular ; 
 and, during the reign of the latter monarch
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 4? 
 
 , TTTT; \o 5 */* "* "*^ 
 
 in particular, complaints were frequent of 
 the oppression of the people, and of the in- 
 juries which they suffered from the rigorous 
 enforcement of the forest-laws. While 
 such were the dispositions of the nation, it 
 is not to be supposed that any favourable 
 opportunity would be omitted of obtaining 
 a redress of grievances. Such opportunities 
 were afterwards found in the disputed suc- 
 cession to the crown; and the doubtful 
 right of many of the reigning monarchs ; 
 together with the imbecility and unpopu- 
 larity of some of their characters. From the 
 accession of Rufus to that of Henry VIII. 
 a great proportion of the English monarchs 
 might fairly be considered as usurpers j and 
 were therefore disposed to purchase the 
 good will of their subjects, by various im- 
 portant concessions ; while others, by the 
 pusillanimity of their conduct, afforded the 
 fairest opportunity of setting limits to the 
 royal prerogative, and of securing new pri- 
 vileges to the people. The tyrannical dis- 
 position of the first Anglo-Norman kings 
 was another cause of the vigorous claims of
 
 48 PRESENT STATE O? THE 
 
 right so early asserted by the people of Bri- 
 tain. Had the yoke been less burthensome, 
 it would have been more patiently born ; 
 but it galled so severely, that the most stre- 
 nuous efforts were instantly exerted to shake 
 it bff. To these peculiarities in the Anglo- 
 Norman period of our history, we, doubt- 
 less, in part, owe that important struggle 
 for liberty, which characterises the British 
 annals ; and which was at length crowned 
 with the most fortunate issue. Something 
 of this also is probably due to the genius of 
 the British people, who, amid the greatest 
 vicissitudes of fortune, and in spite of the 
 most formidable obstacles, have never, dur- 
 ing the lapse of centuries, entirely lost sight 
 of the great object of establishing a free 
 and equal government. 
 
 The accession of Henry I. the successor 
 of Rufus, affords the first example of a de- 
 mand of privileges made by the subjects, 
 and formally ratified by the monarch. That 
 politic prince, having seized the throne in 
 direct violation of the right of his elder 
 brother Robert, was willing to secure the
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 4$ 
 
 attachment of his barons, by granting, at 
 the beginning of his reign, a public charter, 
 in which several concessions were made, 
 and immunities were conferred. One of 
 the most important of these concessions, 
 was the remitting the feudal incident of 
 wardship, by which the king became the 
 guardian of his vassals in their minority, 
 and obtained possession of their estates dur- 
 ing that period. The rest of the provisions 
 of the charter were a clause respecting the 
 privileges of the church; and another, in 
 which the king binds himself to adhere to 
 the laws of Edward the Confessor, with 
 such amendments as William I. with ad- 
 vice of his barons, had introduced. (See 
 Blackstone). 
 
 This charter is of less importance on ac- 
 count of the peculiar immunities it confers, 
 than on account of the precedent which it 
 established of rights formally demanded by 
 the subject, and ratified by the monarch; 
 and df an obligation entered into by the 
 king, to govern his people, not by his ah-* 
 solute authority, but by the law of the
 
 50 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 land, as already recognized. The barons 
 seem to have been fully sensible of the 
 value of the example thus set, as copies of 
 this charter were sent to all the counties of 
 England, and deposited in the principal 
 monasteries, in order to preserve the me- 
 mory of so important a transaction. 
 
 But it was in the reign of King John 
 that the most memorable event of this kind 
 took place ; and that a permanent founda- 
 tion was laid for the noble fabric of British 
 independence. The contempt into which 
 this monarch fell by his abject submission 
 to the Roman pontiff; and the indignation 
 which was excited by his tyranny and op- 
 pression, as well as by his unjust usurpation 
 of the crown, and murder of his nephew, 
 the rightful heir; produced at length a 
 formidable combination of his barons against 
 him, who demanded a redress of grievances, 
 and the restoration of their ancient laws. 
 They appeared in arms to enforce their 
 claim, and the king being deserted by all 
 his adherents, was at length compelled to 
 submit. A meeting took place at Runne-
 
 bRITISH CONSTITUTION* 51 
 
 a large meadow* between Windsor 
 and Staines, where the barons presented the 
 articles of agreement upon which they in- 
 sisted ; and the king gave an explicit con- 
 sent to their demands*. These articles 
 reduced into writing, were ratified by the 
 royal seal, and constituted that important 
 document which has ever since been known 
 by the name of the Magna Charta, or great 
 charter of our liberties. 
 
 This charter, which John in vain en- 
 deavoured afterwards to render abortive, 
 was formally ratified on the accession of 
 his son Henry III. at the same time that it 
 was extended and improved. Another deed 
 also was added to it, called the Charta de 
 
 * The scene of this memorable event has been 
 immortalised in the strains of our national poets. 
 
 " Hail Runnymead ! 
 
 Illustrious field! Like Marathon renowned! 
 Or Salainis. where freedom on the hosts 
 
 <!i 
 
 Of Persia, from her radiant sword shook fear 
 And dire discomfiture! Even now I tread 
 Where Albion's ancient barons won the pledge 
 
 Of independence." 
 
 E 2
 
 Foresta, or charter of the forest, by which 
 the obnoxious parts of the forest laws were 
 repealed, and private property was pro- 
 tected from the encroachments of the royal 
 chace.' These two charters were repeatedly 
 confirmed during succeeding reigns, and 
 were always guarded with the most watch- 
 ful care by the subjects of Britain.' 
 
 The great charter of King John made va- 
 rious provisions to secure the more equitable 
 administration of the feudal incidents of 
 aids, wardships, reliefs, marriages, &c. 
 which it is not necessary here to specify. 
 It did not wholly overlook the privileges 
 of the trading part of the community \ as 
 it declared, that no aid should be imposed 
 upon the city of London, without the con- 
 sent of the national council -, and that the 
 liberties and immunities of this, and of all 
 the other cities and boroughs of the king- 
 dom, should be maintained. But its most 
 important provision was that which related 
 to the administration of justice. It con- 
 tained various judicious regulations for pre- 
 venting the negligence, and restraining the
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 53 
 
 corruption of judges ; and in particular it en- 
 acted that no freeman should be fined or im- 
 prisoned, unless by the law of the land, or the 
 judgment of his peers. (See Blackstone.) 
 
 In this last provision, we have a distinct 
 recognition of that celebrated characteristic 
 of British jurisprudence, the trial by jury. 
 It is highly probable that this mode of ju- 
 dicial proceeding was coeval with feudal 
 institutions; according to which, all law- 
 suits concerning the free-men or vassals of 
 a barony, were determined by the pares 
 curia; 'the baron, or judge, taking little 
 more upon him than to regulate the form 
 of proceeding, and declare the verdict of his 
 assessors. This origin of the office of ju- 
 rymen, appears better founded than that 
 assigned by certain authors, who assert that 
 they were originally nothing more than 
 compurgators called by a defendant to 
 swear that they believed him innocent of 
 the crimes with which he was charged. 
 Blackstone has produced many authorities 
 to prove that it was the practice of all 
 those nations that adopted the feudal sys-
 
 54 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 tern to try causes by tribunals consisting of 
 the peers, or equals of the litigant parties $ 
 and in particular that this privilege is ex- 
 pressly conceded by the Emperor Conrad, 
 nearly in the very terms in which it is 
 couched in Magna Charta, though it was 
 granted two "hundred years before, (ComnV. 
 b. iii. c. 23.)* 
 
 But although the trial by jury had pro* 
 bably been practised in the judicial proceed- 
 ings of the Anglo-Saxons ; it seems to have 
 gone into disuse after the Norman conquest, 
 when judicial combat, the trial by ordeal, and 
 various other barbarous modes of legal decision 
 were introduced -f*. It was therefore of the 
 
 * " Nemo beneficium suwn perdat nisi secundum 
 consuetudincm antecessornm nostrorum et per judiciut/t 
 parium suorum." (Leg. Longob. 1. iii. t. 8. 1. 4.) By 
 Magna Charta it is enjoined that no freeman shall 
 be hurt either in his person or property : nisi per 
 legal? jiidiciwn parittin suorum vet per legem terra;. 
 
 f There is a general law in the reign of Henry II. 
 by which either party in a law-suit was allowed to 
 decline the customary mode of trial by single com- 
 bat, and to demand that his cause should be deter* 
 mined by an assize or jury of twelve persons,.
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 55 
 
 greatest consequence to obtain a formal 
 avowal of the expediency ajid justice of this 
 mode of trial, and to incorporate it formally 
 with the acknowledged law of the land. It 
 is remarkable that while in England the 
 trial by jury was thus permanently establish- 
 ed; it has been allowed in almost every 
 other country of Europe to fall into disuse. 
 The cause of this may be sought in the 
 fondness which the English have discover- 
 ed in every period of their history, for the 
 maintenance of their ancient laws and usages. 
 While the Roman law was voluntarily 
 adopted by almost all the modern European 
 states ; it was uniformly rejected by the 
 subjects of England, who on various occa- 
 sions declared their determination to be go- 
 verned by their own laws alone, which 
 they found best adapted to their wants and 
 inclinations * 
 
 * A remakable instance of this occurred in the 
 reign of Richard II. ; when the nobility in parlia- 
 ment declared, " That the realm of England hath 
 never been unto this hour, neither (by the consent of 
 our lord the king, and the lords of parliament,) shall 
 it ever be ruled or governed by the civil law."
 
 56 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 The great transactions which we have 
 just been recording, are equally peculiar to 
 to the History of England. In the other 
 kingdoms of Europe, the royal prerogative 
 was allowed to extend itself with little op- 
 position, till at last it became too powerful 
 to be successfully resisted. The only in- 
 stance which we meet with in the French 
 history of a successful combination of the 
 nobles against the kingly power, and of a 
 charter of liberties reluctantly extorted from 
 the monarch, was in the reign of King 
 John, who was placed in great difficulties, 
 in consequence of the invasion of his king- 
 dom by the English. Having assembled 
 his States-General in 1355, he was obliged 
 by the importunities of his nobles to grant a 
 charter which irrevocably established the 
 right of those assemblies, and which bears 
 a considerable resemblance to the Magna 
 Charta of England. An account of this 
 deed is given by Boulainvilliers, in his his- 
 tory of the ancient parliaments of France, 
 to whom we owe the curious information,
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 57 
 
 that it had been buried in oblivion for some 
 hundred years, insomuch that no public in-* 
 strument of it remained, except one copy 
 preserved in the king's library. The Eng- 
 lish set a juster value upon the concessions 
 which they obtained from their monarchs. 
 
 Nearly about the same time that the 
 great charter was ratified by the kings 
 of England. Alterations took place in 
 the constitution of the national assem- 
 bly, which were not less important, 
 nor productive of less durable effects 
 upon the independence and liberties of 
 the people. These were the introduction 
 of the representatives of counties and bo- 
 roughs into parliament, and the division of 
 that assembly into two houses. It is much' 
 to be regretted, that our historical informa- 
 tion concerning these remarkable events is 
 very defective ; and that we are unable to 
 fix with any precision the exact period at 
 which they were accomplished. This is in 
 part owing to the loss of the ancient records 
 of parliament, after the Norman Conquest ; 
 and in part to the gradual manner in which
 
 58 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 these great changes were brought about j in 
 consequence of which they did not attract 
 the attention of contemporary historians, 
 and have therefore been left to the laborious, 
 and often fruitless researches of antiqua- 
 rians. 
 
 The first introduction of representatives 
 of counties may be traced as far back as the 
 reign of King John. A writ was issued by 
 that monarch to the sheriff of Oxfordshire, 
 to return four knights for that county *. In 
 the reign of Edward I. such representatives 
 were common, and. in the eleventh year of 
 that monarch, four knights were summoned 
 for each county -f-. The causes of this in- 
 novation in the constitution of parliament 
 may be traced with more certainty than its 
 precise date. 
 
 During the reign of William the Con- 
 queror the vassals of the crown, who, to- 
 gether with the dignitaries of the church, 
 had the sole right of sitting in parliament, 
 were not very numerous. It has been ren-. 
 
 * Carte's History. 
 
 f Brady's History of Enghiud.
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 59 x 
 
 dered probable, that they did not exceed 
 600 ; and as they were so few in number, 
 we may reasonably suppose that they were 
 all possessed of great power and wealth. In 
 the course of the succeeding reigns, many 
 circumstances contributed to diminish and 
 subdivide their possessions, These were the 
 contests among the barons themselves ; the 
 passion for crusades, by which many of them 
 were led to sell their estates in order to fit 
 themselves for taking up the cross ; the ad- 
 vancement of arts and manufactures, by 
 which the lower order were enabled to ac- 
 quire landed property; and the desire of the 
 English monarchs to humble the power 
 of their proud vassals, by dividing their ter- 
 ritory among a number of smaller proprie- 
 tors. By this policy the British kings were 
 Jed to encourage devises, and every other 
 method by which landed possessions might 
 be distributed among a number of persons ; 
 while the great land-holders, in order to 
 counteract this diminution of their influ- 
 ence, had recourse to the invention of en~
 
 60 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 ib', by which their property might be 
 preserved from any future alienation. 
 
 From a combination of these causes the 
 smaller barons, or landholders, were greatly 
 increased in number during the reigns of 
 of John, Henry III. and Edward I. ; and 
 it became the policy of those and succeeding 
 monarchs, to encourage the attendance of 
 these proprietors in parliament, in order to 
 place them in the scale against their more 
 powerful and refractory vassals. But the 
 lesser proprietors were by no means solici- 
 tous of appearing in the great national as- 
 sembly, which could not be done without 
 inconvenient expence, and a painful compa- 
 rison between themselves and their more 
 splendid rivals. Hence arose the expedient 
 of electing representatives, who should be 
 authorised to act for a certain number of the 
 inferior landholders entitled to sit in parlia- 
 ment, whose expences should be defrayed 
 at the common charge of the district. The 
 number of these representatives was at first 
 precarious, and varied according to the
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. Gl 
 
 emergency. On different occas'ons we meet 
 with four representatives, or knights of the 
 shire, called from each county ; but they 
 were gradually reduced to two, the smallest 
 number capable of consulting together for 
 the interest of their constituents, . t T>"i 
 
 The origin of the knights of the shire is 
 greatly illustrated by the history of the 
 Scottish parliament, which, in many impor- 
 tant particulars, was modelled upon that of 
 England. James I. of Scotland was long 
 kept in confinement by king Henry IV. of 
 England -, and being a prince of learning and 
 discernment, upon his return to his own 
 kingdom, he wished to introduce many of 
 the institutions of his more polished neigh- 
 bours. It appears from two acts passed in 
 his reign, that he had first endeavoured to 
 enforce the attendance of all his small ba- 
 rons in parliament; and upon finding this 
 impracticable, he resorted to the expedient 
 of introducing representatives. By statute 
 1427, c. 102. it is enacted, " That the 
 small barons and free tenants need not come 
 to parliaments, provided that at the head
 
 62 FRESKNT STATE OP 
 
 court of every sheriffdom, two or more 
 wise men be chosen, according to the ex- 
 tent of the shire, who shall have power to 
 hear, treat, and finally to determine all 
 causes laid hefore parliament, and to chuse a 
 iptaktr, who shall propone all and sundry 
 needs and causes pertaining to the commons 
 in parliament." 
 
 The same changes in the state of the na- 
 tion, which contributed to the rise of the 
 knights of shires, introduced likewise the 
 burgesses into parliament. When trade and 
 manufactures began to take firm root in 
 Europe, the societies which carried them 
 on were desirous of securing the protection 
 of the king of the country, or the feudal 
 superior upon whom they depended. Hence 
 the origin of bodies corporate, or perma- 
 nent assemblages of men, to which were 
 granted certain privileges and immunities, 
 upon consideration of their paying certain 
 dues to their legal superior ; and in this 
 manner boroughs and corporations rose out 
 of the feudal system, nearly at the same 
 period, all over Europe.
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION 1)3 
 
 When the towns under the immediate 
 protection of the king had been incorpo- 
 rated, they were exalted into the rank of 
 crown vassals ; and therefore according to 
 the general system of feudal policy, they 
 were entitled to a voice in the national 
 council ; more especially when extraordi- 
 nary aids were demanded from them, for the 
 exigencies of the state. But it was impos- 
 sible that all the members of every royal 
 borough should assemble in order to deli- 
 berate upon the business of the nation ; and 
 hence arose the expedient of electing com- 
 missioners or representatives, to take upon 
 them the duty of the burgesses in the great 
 national council. It is probable that this 
 took place about the same time that knights 
 of the shire first took their seats in the le- 
 gislative assembly : but it is impossible to 
 fix the precise date of either. Sir Henry 
 Spelman declares, that from the most care- 
 ful examination, he could find no traces of 
 the representatives of boroughs in parlia- 
 ment, before the latter part of the reign of 
 Henry III. (Gloss, v. Parliam'.) Their
 
 64 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 number was at first unsettled, like that of 
 the knights of the shire ; but the policy of 
 Edward I. led him to give permanency to 
 both these branches of the legislature. In 
 the 23d year of his reign directions were 
 given to summon regularly the knights of 
 the shire, together with the burgesses, of 
 which, after the example of the former, 
 two were generally sent by each borough ; 
 and such has continued to be the practice 
 to the present day. 
 
 The qualifications of those who were en- 
 titled to sit as representatives of counties or 
 boroughs in parliament, as well as of their 
 electors, probably continued for some time 
 unsettled. The knights of the shire, and 
 their electors, were at first only the imme- 
 diate vassals, or tenants in capite of the 
 crown ; but by degrees the vassals of the 
 barons, or rear-vassals, as they were called, 
 having acquired considerable property and 
 influence, were admitted to the privilege of 
 assisting in the nomination of knights of 
 the shire. And it was finally enacted by 
 statute 8 Henry VI. c. 7. that the knights
 
 BRITISH COXSTITUTtOtf. 65 
 
 of the shire shall be chosen by persons re- 
 siding within the same county, and possessed 
 of lands or tenements, of which the yearly 
 rent, free from all charges, amounts to forty 
 shillings. In Scotland, from the first in- 
 troduction of county representatives to the 
 present day, no person who does not hold 
 his lands immediately of the crown, has 
 ever been permitted to vote in a county 
 election. 
 
 The qualifications of borough elector^ 
 vary according to the particular constitution 
 of the corporation to which they belong, 
 and are different in England and in Scot- 
 land. Those of the representatives, both of 
 counties and boroughs were not finally fixed 
 till the reign of Queen Anne, when it was 
 enacted, that knights of the shire must 
 have a free estate of 600/. per annum, and 
 that the representatives of boroughs must 
 have at least 300/. a-year. It would not 
 have been inconsistent with the spirit of the 
 constitution, if an alteration had at the same 
 time taken place in the qualification of coun- 
 ty electors, as forty shillings a-year was in 
 
 F
 
 66 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 the days of Henry VI, nearly as considera- 
 ble a revenue as forty pounds is at the pre- 
 sent day. 
 
 The representatives of boroughs were in- 
 troduced into the national assemblies of the 
 other kingdoms of Europe nearly about the 
 same time as they found their way into the 
 English parliament ; and owed their ad- 
 vancement to similar causes. We find them 
 in the states-general of France, the cortes 
 of Spain, and the diets of Germany and 
 Poland -j all of which consisted of three 
 orders, or dignities, the clergy, the nobility, 
 and the burgesses : but in none of them do 
 we find representatives of the inferior land- 
 holders, or an order of members corres-* 
 ponding to the knights of the shire. This 
 was an institution almost peculiar to the 
 parliament of England ; for it was adopted 
 rather nominally than really by the ancient 
 parliament of Scotland. It certainly had 
 very important effects in promoting the in- 
 dependent spirit of the English legislature ; 
 and perhaps contributed more than any 
 thing else to its division into two chambers,
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION* 6'7 
 
 or houses ; a change which did not take 
 place in the other national councils of Eu- 
 rope $ but to which is due, in a great mea- 
 sure, the popular chamber of the British 
 constitution. 
 
 The particular date of this important 
 change cannot be assigned with exact pre- 
 cision, any more than those of the other 
 innovations of which we have been treat- 
 ing : but its causes may be pretty distinctly 
 traced. In the ancient parliament of Eng- 
 land there were two distinct orders, the ec- 
 clesiastics and the nobility, whose personal 
 interests were very generally at variance with 
 each other. In the management of na- 
 tional business, therefore, these two orders 
 usually had separate conferences among 
 themselves , and when they afterwards came 
 to a joint meeting, they were accustomed, 
 instead of voting promiscuously, to deliver, 
 upon the part of each, the result of their 
 previous deliberations. When the burgesses 
 were admitted into the national assembly, 
 they were by their situation and character 
 still more distinguished from the ecclesiasti- 
 F 2
 
 68 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 cal and lay barons, than those were from 
 each other. They acted, not in their own 
 name, but in the name of those communi- 
 ties by whom they had been appointed, and 
 to whom they were accountable : at the 
 the same time that the chief object in re- 
 quiring their attendance, was to obtain their 
 consent to such peculiar aids, or taxes, as 
 were demanded from their constituents. 
 
 It was necessary, therefore, that they 
 should consult among themselves, in matters 
 relating to their peculiar interest ; and that 
 they should possess a separate voice in the 
 national assembly. Whether these different 
 
 
 
 classes of men should be convened in the 
 same, or in different places, depended, in 
 all probability, upon accident, and upon the 
 number of their members, which, at the 
 times of their meeting, might render it 
 more or less difficult to procure them accom- 
 modation. While the representatives of 
 boroughs were few in number, they doubt- 
 less sat in the same house with the crown 
 vassals; but when they became numerous, 
 . and were joined by the knights of the shire,
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 6$ 
 
 they naturally sought a chamber of their 
 own. At the end of the reign of Edward I. 
 upwards of one hundred and thirty bo- 
 roughs are said to have sent representatives 
 to parliament, although at the beginning of 
 the same reign no more than twenty exer- 
 cised that privilege. (See Carte's Hist.) 
 
 The knights of the shire, no doubt, at 
 first took their seats with the crown Vas- 
 sals, or in what is now called the House of 
 Lords. But as they were more connected 
 by station and interest, with the burgesses, 
 they soon coalesced with that order ; and at 
 a very early period we find the landed gen- 
 try, chosen to represent the boroughs, as 
 well as the counties in parliament, It is 
 from this coalition we may date the great 
 authority acquired by the English House of 
 Commons. The members of that house 
 now represented a portion of the landed, as 
 well as the mercantile interest of the nation ; 
 and the part of the community by which 
 they were chosen, has from that period to 
 the present day been continually increasing 
 in weight and respectability ; in consequence
 
 70 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 of which a corresponding accession of au- 
 thority has gradually accrued to this branch 
 of the British legislature. 
 
 As the knights of the shire, as well as 
 the representatives of boroughs, were only 
 possessed of a delegated authority, and cir- 
 Qumscribed in their deliberations by the in- 
 structions of their constituents, they could 
 not, like the barons and ecclesiastics, act 
 in their legislative capacity, according to 
 their own direction ; but were confined sim- 
 ply to the proposal or rejection of certain 
 measures. This peculiarity in the situation 
 both of the knights and burgesses, was 
 the great cause of their coalescing ; and 
 of their deliberating in a separate cham- 
 ber of their own. It was also productive of 
 other very important effects : and in parti- 
 cular of that highly valuable privilege, now 
 so tenaciously preserved by the house of 
 commons, that all money bills, or proposals 
 for new taxes, must originate in that house, 
 and cannot be modified, but only simply ad- 
 mitted or rejected by the other house. 
 
 One principle reason of summoning the
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 7-1 
 
 \ i r 
 
 commons, and particularly the burgesses to 
 parliament, was to obtain ao aid, or ex- 
 traordinary supply for the particular exigen- 
 cies of the king. Each borough seems to 
 have instructed its representatives with re- 
 spect to the amount which it was willing to 
 contribute ; either at the time of their 
 election, or during the meeting of parliament, 
 when any new emergency occurred. The 
 deputies of the counties, being likewise re- 
 presentatives, came naturally to be limited, 
 in the same manner as the burgesses, by the 
 instructions of their constituents. The 
 house of commons therefore could have no 
 debate on the subject of taxation ; nor could 
 it answer any purpose, that a particular tax 
 should first- become the subject of delibera- 
 tion among the peers ; since no other point 
 could be conceded by the commons, but 
 whether the intended supply was, or was not 
 agreeable to their instruction^. Hence from 
 the peculiar circumstances of the case arose 
 to the commons the very important controul 
 over the revenue, above mentioned. 
 
 At the same time devolved upon the
 
 72 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 house of peers the high privilege which 
 they have evej since possessed of being the 
 supreme and ultimate judicial tribunal in 
 the kingdom. Judicial power was always a 
 branch of the authority of parliament; but 
 this power could not with any propriety be 
 exercised by delegates ; and those too 
 chosen by the inferior order of the commu- 
 nity, and bound by the instructions which 
 they received from their constituents. It 
 therefore devolved upon those members of 
 parliament who sat in their own right, 
 whose rank exempted them from the sus- 
 picion of undue influence, and whose deci- 
 sions were unbiassed by the controul of any 
 other authority. At the same time that the 
 judicial power thus devolved upon the house 
 of peers, the sole right of impeaching, pub- 
 lic offenders, pr state delinquents, was left to 
 the house of commons. For it would have 
 been absurd that the same assembly should 
 assume the inconsistent characters of accuser 
 and tribunal, party and judge. 
 
 The purpose which the English mo- 
 narchs had in view, by summoning the
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 73 
 
 commons to parliament, was at first, as 
 already observed, nothing more than to 
 obtain a pecuniary contribution, or subsidy, 
 from their constituents : hence, for a con- 
 siderable time, little notice was taken of 
 them in the capacity of legislators. When, 
 they did obtain a redress of grievances, it 
 was in the character of petitioners to the 
 king ; ^nd it was for the purpose of com* 
 municating their requests to the monarch, 
 that they elected a president, whom they 
 called their speaker. The old acts of par- 
 liament of this period, are all stated to be 
 granted " at the request of the com- 
 monalty of the realm, by advice and con- 
 sent of the lords j" or ' by the petition of 
 the commons made before the king and his 
 council in parliament, by the assent of the 
 prelates, earls, barons, and other great men 
 assembled at the said parliament." 
 
 From this mode of conducting bills for 
 a new law, was derived the custom, that 
 they should all take their origin in parlia- 
 ment ; and that the king should merely 
 admit or reject them, when they were laid
 
 74 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 before him; but should neither propose 
 alterations, nor offer new laws for the con- 
 sideration of his parliament. Such was the 
 origin of that important principle in the 
 British constitutioe, that the legislative au- 
 thority of the king is confined to a mere 
 admission or rejection of an act of parlia- 
 ment. Such too was the origin of a maxim 
 which is now considered as one of the 
 principal securities of parliamentary inde- 
 pendence ; viz. that the king shall take no 
 notice of any bill depending in parliament, 
 and shall express neither approbation nor 
 dislike, till it has passed both houses, and 
 be communicated to him according to the 
 forms of the constitution. In the case of 
 money-bills, however, an opposite course is 
 adopted : for as these are introduced on be- 
 half of the crown, they cannot be taken up 
 but upon the -ground of a request or solici- 
 tation of the king to parliament. 
 
 Thus, in the course of a few reigns, and 
 by a concurrence of fortunate circumstances, 
 a permanent foundation was laid for the in- 
 dependence of parliament, and for that
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 75 
 
 happy combination of interests in the legis- 
 lature, which peculiarly characterises the 
 British constitution. The English mo- 
 narchs themselves greatly contributed to 
 these effects, by supporting the commons 
 in their increasing claims, and by encou- 
 raging their advances towards power and 
 influence ; because they were thus best 
 enabled to curb the ambition of their re- 
 fractory barons, and to increase their own 
 weight and authority. In fact, during the 
 period that the house of commons thus gra- 
 dually acquired its constitutional privileges, 
 the authority of the king made proportional 
 advances. It was found s the interest of 
 both parties to coalesce, in order to reduce 
 the enormous power which the barons had 
 acquired; and to accomplish this, they 
 each willingly made concessions in favour 
 of the other. A similar policy took place 
 about the same time, in most of the king- 
 doms of Europe ; in which the monarchs 
 generally courted the favour of the lower 
 ranks, in order to break the power of the 
 feudal aristocracy. But the final result
 
 76 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 very different in those kingdoms, and in 
 England. In the continental kingdoms, 
 absolute monarchy was, after a time, very 
 generally established. But in England, 
 though the power of the crown was for a 
 while considerably augmented ; yet the 
 privileges which the national assembly had 
 acquired, were such as enabled it at a future 
 crisis to make a successful struggle for in- 
 dependence, and to confine within the strict 
 limits of law, the royal power and prero- 
 gative, which at that time threatened to 
 subvert the liberties of the people. The 
 monarchs of the continent, after having 
 given birth to the privileges of the lower 
 orders, with the unnatural appetite of the 
 fabled Saturn, swallowed up their own off- 
 spring : but in England the new production 
 was of greater vigour, and was able success- 
 fully to contend for a permanent existence, 
 when the hostility of the parent was di- 
 .rected against it. 
 
 The reign of Edward I. was no less me- 
 morable for the permanent authority which 
 the house of commons then principally ob-
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 7? 
 
 tained, thair for the -alterations introduced 
 into the courts of justice, by that monarch, 
 who has been distinguished by the honour- 
 able appellation of the English Justinian. 
 Previous to this period all causes of great 
 importance were decided in the A ula Regis, 
 or court of the grand justiciary, which ac- 
 companied the king wherever he went ', and 
 was supposed to be greatly under the royal 
 controul. To remedy the inconveniencies 
 attendant upon an ambulatory court, and to 
 provide for the great increase of causes, which 
 arose from the improvement of the country 
 in commerce and in arts, Edward abolished 
 the Auia Regis, and established in its place 
 three permanent courts at Westminster -, the 
 Court of King' Bench, to take cognizance 
 of crimes; the Court of Common Pleas, to 
 determine civil causes ; and the Court of Ex- 
 chequer, to decide in matters of revenue. 
 The judges of these courts not only heard 
 and decided all causes brought before them 
 at Westminster, but they obtained an am- 
 bulatory jurisdiction through the different 
 counties of England, of which they, at
 
 73 PRESENT STATE OP THE 
 
 itated periods, made a circuit, for the pur- 
 pose of administering justice. 
 
 Analogous arrangements were about the 
 same time made in the tribunals of the dif- 
 ferent kingdoms of Europe. By an ordi- 
 nance in the reign of Philip the Fair, the 
 Cour du Roy of France was divided into 
 two branches, called parliaments *, one of 
 which was fixed at Paris, and another at 
 Thoulouse. More courts of the same na- 
 ture were afterwards added in the different 
 districts ; and the multiplication of business 
 occasioned a subdivision of each court into 
 separate, chambers. In Scotland the Aula 
 Regis was broken into the different courts 
 of the session, the exchequer, and thejws- 
 ticiary, corresponding to the national dis- 
 tinction of civil, fiscal, and criminal causes. 
 But it was not till the reign of the Emperor 
 Maximilian, that a stationary-court was 
 formed in Germany, which was called the 
 imperial chamber. It had powers similar 
 to those of the aulic council, but did not, as 
 in other countries, supercedc the more an- 
 cient and ambulatory court. In England
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 79 
 
 all the three courts of law have, in process 
 of time, been allowed to assume the cogni- 
 zance of civil suits, which are become by 
 far the most numerous class ; an arrange- 
 ment which is productive of an useful emu- 
 lation among the members of the different 
 tribunals, and greatly accelerates the dis- 
 patch of business. 
 
 In England also, there is another tribunal 
 of a very peculiar nature, which soon after 
 this period acquired a permanent form, 
 namely, the Court of Chancery. The chan- 
 cellor was originally the secretary of the 
 king, who being the custodiary of the 
 signet, or great seal, was also called the 
 lord- keeper ; and whose province it was to 
 issue writs, and all important deeds that 
 required the royal sanction. As the king 
 possessed a controul over the decisions of 
 the courts of law, and could by his royal 
 authority correct what was erroneous or de- 
 ficient in their decisions, so this regulating 
 power was naturally exercised through the 
 channel of his secretary, who thus became
 
 &0 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 Vested with a kind of dispensing authority, 
 or privilege of controling the decisions of 
 the courts of law by the principles of equity. 
 It was in the reign of Richard the Second, 
 that the chancellor first pronounced sen- 
 tence, of his own proper authority, without 
 a mandate from the king. Since that pe- 
 riod, the causes which come under his cog- 
 nizance, have been vastly extended : but 
 although he is still said to judge by the 
 rules of equity, he is known to be bound 
 by the established practice and precedents 
 of his own court. 
 
 By the establishment of the permanent 
 courts of law in England, the judicial au- 
 thority was in a great measure detached 
 from the royal prerogative ; an arrangement 
 of the greatest importance for the security 
 pf liberty. " The laws," says Montes- 
 quieu, " are the eyes of the prince ; and 
 by them he discovers what he could not 
 see without them. Does he wish to per- 
 form the office of the tribunals ? He labours 
 not for himself, but for those who seduce
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 81 
 
 him to his own ruin." * It is the opinion 
 of this great politician that nothing can be 
 more oppressive to the people, than the 
 union of the judicial and executive authori- 
 ty in one person, or in one body of men. 
 In the kingdoms of Europe he observes, 
 though the monarch often arrogates to him- 
 self both the legislative and executive power, 
 yet he is content to leave the management 
 of the tribunals of justice to his subjects; 
 and hence his sway is not oppressive. But 
 in Turkey, where all the three functions are 
 exercised by the Sultan, there reigns a fright- 
 ful despotism ; and in the republics of Italy, 
 where all these powers are vested in the same 
 body of men, there is less of real liberty than 
 in the monarchies of Europe.-)- 
 
 It is rather amusing, however, as Mr. 
 Millar remarks, to discover, " that this im- 
 
 * Les Loix sont lc$ yeux du prince ; il voit par 
 dies ce, qu' il tie pourroit pas voir sans dies. Veut-il 
 faire la fonclion des tribunaux ? il travaille non plus 
 pour lui, mats pour ses seducteurs contre lui." (L'Es- 
 prit des Loix, 1. vi. c. 5. 
 
 f- L'Esprit des Loix, 1. xi. c. 6,
 
 82 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 portant regulation was neither introduced 
 into the English government from any fore- 
 sight of its beneficial consequences, nor ex- 
 torted from the monarch by any party that 
 were jealous of his power j but was merely 
 the suggestion of indolence j and was adopt- 
 ed by the king, in common with other feu- 
 dal superiors, to relieve them from a degree 
 of labour and attention which they did not 
 chuse to bestow *." But in this as in other 
 cases, where established usage had sanc- 
 tioned a beneficial practice, the English 
 shewed themselves extremely solicitous of 
 preserving it when introduced ; and were 
 ever after ve/y jealous of that independence 
 of their tribunals, which had arisen from 
 the voluntary concessions of their monarch. 
 If chance threw a jewel in their way, they 
 had sufficient penetration to appreciate its 
 value ; and sufficient prudence to guard 
 against its future loss. 
 
 Blackstone informs us, that in a trial by 
 impeachment before the house of lords, 
 
 * Historical View; of the English Government^ 
 b. i. c. 12.
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 83' 
 
 King James I. was inclined to take his seat, 
 as presses of the court, and to give his 
 voice. But being informed by the judges, 
 that this was contrary to tile constitutional 
 usage of England ; and that he sat there 
 Only as a spectator* he did not think proper 
 to enforce this claim. The independence of 
 the English courts of law, however, was 
 not rendered complete till the abolition of 
 the star-chamber in the reign of Charles I. 
 and the permanent appointment of the 
 judges for life, instead of during the plea- 
 sure of the monarchj which was an ar- 
 rangement of a much more modern date. 
 
 Having dwelt thus amply upon the his- 
 tory of the British constitution during its 
 earlier stages ; and traced the rise of those 
 constitutional privileges of which the va- 
 rious branches of the legislature, the exe- 
 cutive magistrate, and the tribunals of jus- 
 tice, have become lawfully possessed ; I 
 shall mention very briefly, the changes 
 which our constitution underwent from the 
 reign of the House of Plantagenet, to the 
 great sera of the Revolution. These changed 
 o 2
 
 84- PRESENT STATE OF THfc 
 
 indeed are scarcely less important than 
 those upon which I have bestowed a more 
 minute attention ; but they are so well 
 known to all the readers of English history, 
 that to dwell long upon them, in a work 
 like the present, would be superfluous and 
 absurd. 
 
 During the long and bloody struggles 
 between the Houses of York and Lan- 
 caster, for the succession to the crown, it 
 was the sword, rather than the constitu- 
 tion, or the laws, that ruled in England. 
 In this disastrous contest the power both 
 of the barons and the commonalty, was 
 weakened and divided ; and when the 
 House of Tudor obtained possession of the 
 throne, a more arbitrary system of go- 
 vernment was introduced, than had been 
 tolerated since the days of the Anglo- 
 Norman princes. Such was certainly the 
 character of the reigns of Henry VII. and 
 VIII. of Mary, and even of Elizabeth ; 
 although, in the case of the latter princess, 
 the principles of arbitrary sway were so 
 tempered with wisdom and justice, as ta
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 86 
 
 be rendered entirely palatable to the peo- 
 ple. Henry VII., a politic and crafty 
 prince, was the author of a device, by 
 which entails might be legally defeated ; 
 a measure which had a considerable in- 
 fluence in weakening the power of his 
 barons, by more effectually providing for 
 the diffusion of their property into many 
 channels. But the most distinguished 
 event of this period was the introduction 
 of the reformed, or protestant religion into 
 England ; which began in the reign of 
 Henry VIII. and was finally accomplished 
 in that of Elizabeth. By this important 
 event, the spirit of independence and of 
 free inquiry was fostered among the peo- 
 ple ; at the same time that some valuable 
 additions were made to the prerogative of 
 the monarch ; who, from that period, was 
 considered as the head of the national 
 church, and as the lawful patron of all its 
 
 greater benefices.* 
 
 . > 
 
 * In consequence of this event, the Court of High 
 Commission was instituted., in order to judge of icli-
 
 86 PRESENT STATE OF TUB 
 
 When the House of Stewart succeeclec) 
 to the English as well as the Scottish 
 throne, a love of liberty had bepome very 
 prevalent among the better irjformed inhar 
 bitants. of England. The general diffusioiv 
 of letters, the improvement of commerce 
 and the arts, and the establishment of a 
 rationa} system of religion, all contributed 
 to encourage and propagate this spirit, 
 The prerogative of the monarch was, therer 
 fore, looked upon with a jealous eye, more 
 especially as the family that had succeeded 
 to the throne was suspected of principles 
 unfriendly both to the liberties and religion 
 of the nation : its exercise was strictly 
 watched, and no favourable opportunity 
 was neglected of defining its boundaries 
 more accurately than had yet been done ; 
 
 gious controversies, and take cognizance of all mat- 
 ters concerning orthodoxy, and the modes and 
 forms of public worship. This court was appointed 
 hy Elizabeth, with the consent of parliament ; but 
 its decisions were so arbitrary, and so much under 
 court influence that its abolition was insisted on, 
 along with that of the Star-chamber, during th$ 
 struggle for liberty in the reign of Charles I.
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 87 
 
 or of applying a legal restraint upon any 
 of its privileges that might be considered 
 as hostile to the public safety. 
 
 The pacific reign of James I. encouraged 
 and strengthened this growing spirit of 
 independence. It is in times of peace 
 that men have leisure to examine grievances, 
 and are not deterred from applying the 
 strongest remedies to remove them. No 
 open hostilities, however, between the king 
 and the people took place during this 
 reign; and the utmost length that the 
 House of Commons proceeded in ascer- 
 taining their own privileges, and defining 
 the extent of the prerogative, was the pre- 
 senting some spirited remonstrances and 
 projects, in which the high pretensions of 
 the monarch were disclaimed, and the un- 
 alienable rights of the people distinctly 
 asserted. 
 
 Charles I. had the misfortune to mount 
 the throne at the moment when the mine, 
 which had thus been preparing against the 
 excessive power of the king was ready to 
 burst. The very first parliament which he
 
 8S PRESENT STATE OF TH 
 
 summoned, gave evidence of what he 
 might expect, by the scantiness of the 
 supplies which they voted, and the alacrity 
 with which they set about the reformation 
 of abuses, A very important change had 
 now taken place in the nature of the pub- 
 lic revenue, and the sources from which it 
 proceeded. The royal domains, from ali- 
 enation or improper management, were 
 altogether inadequate to support the dig- 
 nity or supply the necessities of the crown ; 
 and little was added to the public revenue 
 by the permanent duties which the king 
 had a right to levy. The military system 
 also which had arisen in Europe, according 
 to which a permanent army of mercena- 
 ries had taken place of the temporary 
 levies of feudal vassals, greatly increased 
 the demands of the monarch for supplies 
 from his people. The English house of 
 commons seem to have been fully aware 
 of the weight Avhich they derived from this 
 state of things; and equally determined to 
 employ the controul which they had ob- 
 tained over the national supplies, as an en-
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 89 
 
 gine for procuring the reform which they 
 so ardently desired. 
 
 Charles finding, by repeated experience, 
 that his parliament was resolved not to 
 grant him the necessary supplies, without 
 obtaining, in return, concessions which he 
 -was by no means disposed to make ; en- 
 deavoured to support his revenue by other 
 expedients than a vote of the representa- 
 tives of the people. He could, perhaps, 
 quote uninterrupted usage, and the rights 
 of a feudal superior, for the methods to 
 which he resorted ; such as the claim of 
 purveyance, the duties of ship-money, of 
 tonnage, and poundage, &c. but the tem- 
 per of the nation was so decidedly hostile 
 to this method of exaction, so many diffi- 
 culties were thrown in its way, and it ren- 
 dered the king and his advisers so odious 
 to the people, that he found himself, with 
 whatever reluctance, obliged again to re- 
 sort to parliament, after a lapse of many 
 years. To obtain a supply from this as- 
 sembly he found himself, at length, com-
 
 fK> PJtESEXT STATE OF THE 
 
 pelled to acquiesce in their demands ; and 
 the ratification of the Petition of Right 
 was the consequence of bringing them to- 
 gether. Finding them rise still higher in 
 their pretensions, he was again induced to 
 dismiss them, with the resolution of calling 
 them no more ; but, an attack from an 
 unforeseen quarter, obliged him to alter his- 
 determination. The attempt to introduce 
 innovations in the religious worship of the 
 cotmtry,completed the measure of Charles's 
 calamities. The Scots took arms in de- 
 fence of presbyte nanism : the parliament, 
 which the king assembled in this emer- 
 gency, proceeded to open hostilities against 
 him; and, after a desolating contest, in 
 which much blood was spilt, succeeded in 
 expelling him from the throne. A daring 
 adventurer, whom these troublesome times 
 had raised into notice, assumed to himself 
 the reins of Government at the same time 
 that he brought the unfortunate Charles to 
 the block: he was powerful enough to 
 overthrow both the established religion. 
 
 o
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 91 
 
 ;and civil constitution of his country ; and 
 ito erect in their stead a military despotism, 
 jjnder the title of a republic. 
 
 The despotic sway of Cromwell speedily 
 brought the .people of England to their 
 senses, and excited the most ardent desire 
 for the restitution of the ancient govern-? 
 ment and religion, and the re-establish- 
 ment of the ancient race of kings upon 
 the throne. Soon after the death of the 
 usurper, this memorable event was brought 
 about with wonderful unanimity, and with- 
 put any convulsion or bloodshed. So 
 anxious was the nation to restore the 
 ancient order of things that they made 
 no stipulations with their new monarch; 
 but admitted him to the full exercise of all 
 the privileges and prerogatives which rer 
 mained to the crown, when the unfortunate 
 civil war had broken out. Several impor- 
 tant regulations, however, had then been 
 made : the obnoxious jurisdictions of the 
 star-chamber, and high commission had 
 been abolished; restrictions had been laid 
 pn the oppressive and unconstitutional
 
 f)2 PRESENT STATE OF THL" 
 
 modes of levying supplies; and it had been 
 enacted that the king should summon his 
 parliament, for the dispatch of business, at 
 least once in three years. 
 
 Charles II. though of more affable ancl 
 popular manners, was not less despotic and 
 arbitrary in his principles than his father; 
 and was much less restrained by considera- 
 tions of justice or morality from attacking 
 the liberties of his people. In fact, during 
 his reign, many dangerous encroachments 
 were made on the independence of the 
 legislative and judicial authorities ; and the 
 king was enabled, on some occasions, to 
 dispense with the assitance of parliament, 
 in replenishing his exhausted coffers, by 
 the dishonourable and unpatriotic expe- 
 dient of receiving a pension from France. 
 But even during this reign, the British 
 Constitution received some important im- 
 provements. It was then that the great 
 bulwark of personal liberty, the Habeas 
 Corpus Act, received the sanction of par- 
 liament: and then v/ere feudal tenures, 
 with all their troublesome appurtenance's
 
 BRITISH CONST1TI TION. .0,3 
 
 of reliefs, waVdships, marriage fines, &c. &c. 
 finally abolished. This 'great reform in 
 jbe landed . system of the country was 
 not extended to Scotland till the reigu of 
 George II. 
 
 The predilection of all the princes of 
 the House of Stewart for the. doctrines of 
 popery was strongly suspected by the na- 
 tion; but, in- the case of James II., the 
 successor of Charles, it was openly avowed : 
 and though this monarch, previously tQ 
 bis mounting the throne, had solemnly 
 pledged himself to support the established 
 religion of the country; it soon became 
 manifest that it was his wish to encourage 
 
 o 
 
 his own faith, at the expence of that which 
 was sanctioned by the laws of the land. 
 By this unjustifiable conduct, and by the 
 arbitrary proceedings to which it gave rise, 
 all parties in the nation, except the ca- 
 tholics, were combined against the king ; 
 and the stadtholder of Holland, who had 
 married the protestant daughter of James, 
 was invited by the leading men in Eng- 
 land to assume the reins of government.
 
 94 PRESENT STATE OP THE: 
 
 The monarch, finding himself deserted by 
 his subjects, and alarmed for his personal 
 safety, secretly left the kingdom, and took 
 refuge in France. He was declared by 
 Parliament to have abdicated the throne: 
 and the stadtholder, in conjunction with 
 his wife, was appointed to rule in his 
 stead. 
 
 In this manner was accomplished the 
 memorable event of the the Revolution, 
 A. D. 1689- The contest between privi- 
 lege and prerogative, which had agitated 
 the kingdom for nearly a century, was, at 
 length, happily terminated : and the rights 
 both of the monarch and of the people 
 were accurately defined ; and placed upori 
 the substantial basis of the written law of 
 the land. A formal instrument was drawri 
 up, and sanctioned by both houses of 
 parliament, called the Act of Settlement y 
 by which the succession to the throne 
 was limited to the protestant descendents 
 of the ancient race of kings; and the 
 
 O ' 
 
 protestant religion was declared to be for 
 ever after, the established faith of the
 
 BRITISH CON3T1TUTIOK. 9$ 
 
 country. To this deed was annexed a 
 Declaration of Rights, in which all the 
 points that had been of late years disputed 
 between the king and the people, were 
 finally adjusted ; and the powers' of the 
 royal prerogative were more strictly de- 
 fined, than in any former period of the 
 English government. 
 
 The aera of the Revolution is likewise 
 remarkable for establishing that great bul- 
 wark of British independence, the Liberty 
 of the Press. Previously to this period, 
 nothing could be printed in England, any 
 more than in other countries, without a 
 royal licence. While the court of star- 
 chamber subsisted, the freedom of printing 
 was effectually restrained by its means. 
 On the suppression of that tribunal in 
 1641, the long parliament, after their rup- 
 ture with the king, assumed the same 
 authority with regard to licensing books; 
 and this authority was continued during 
 all the period of the republic and pro-: 
 tectorship. Soon after the restoration, an 
 act was passed, reviving the republican
 
 $6 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 ordinances on this subject ; but in the year 
 1694, all restraints upon the press were 
 taken off; and full liberty was given to the 
 people to print and publish whatever they 
 thought proper. 
 
 Rar temporum felicitate, ubi sentire quae veils, ct 
 quee sentias dicere licet. Tacitus. 
 
 The value of this great concession can- 
 not be too highly appreciated ; and it has 
 contributed, perhaps, more powerfully than 
 any other characteristic of the British Con- 
 stitution, to give permanency to that in- 
 dependence of thought, and freedom of 
 action, which it is the great object of our 
 laws to secure. This is a check which may 
 occasionally operate upon every authority 
 of the state. It may restrain the ambi^ 
 tious demagogue, as well as the arbitrary 
 minister; it will discountenance sedition, 
 as well as tyranny. Even the Monarch 
 on the throne is not exempted from the 
 salutary controul of this all- governing en- 
 gine; for riches, rank, and power, cannot 
 compensate for the loss of public esteem;
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 97 
 
 and the fear of public censure will deter 
 from offences which cannot be reached by 
 any other tribunal. Like the sword of 
 justice suspended by a single hair over 
 the head of an offender, the dread of pub- 
 lie reproach is continually before the eyes 
 of men in power, and operates, in spite of 
 themselves, as a check upon their selfish 
 passions and .corrupt propensities. 
 
 It is, indeed, to the freedom of the 
 press, and the general diffusion of liberal 
 sentiments of government throughout the 
 nation, that, in my opinion, is chiefly due 
 the security of the people, in the Pre- 
 sent State of the British Constitution. 
 I trust not to the complicated system of 
 checks and preventives, which is introduced 
 among our constituted authorities for the 
 preservation of our independence. They 
 are beautiful in theory ; but too easily 
 eluded in practice. They require that all 
 men in authority should have enough of 
 public spirit to endeavour to do their 
 duty; while experience has shewn that 
 men in authority are peculiarly liable to 
 
 H
 
 9$. PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 ><* ' v * * " 
 
 be corrupted. But while there prevails 
 throughout the nation a just sense of our 
 genuine rights ; while there is wisdom 
 enough to appreciate the value of inde- 
 pendence, and spirit to assert the claim 
 before the tribunal of the public; though 
 fqr a time we may be successfully op- 
 pressed, we . cannot be long without ob- 
 taining redress. The voice of a majority 
 of the British nation cannot be resisted 
 with safety : it has already brought many 
 corrupt ministers to the scaffold ; it has 
 compelled the repeal of oppressive laws; 
 it has even reached the sanctuary of the 
 throne; and proved more powerful than 
 the will of the highest; recognized authority 
 in the state. 
 
 To prove that to this great safeguard we 
 are chiefly indebted for our independence, 
 in the Present State of the British Consti- 
 tution, is the object which I propose to 
 myself in the second part of this work. 
 In my endeavour to establish so important 
 a truth, I shall, as in the preceding part, 
 be chiefly guided by the light of history ;
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 59 
 
 and shall examine successively the practice 
 of our constitution, at the most remarkable 
 epochs of the British annals from the 
 revolution to the present time. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 DURING that long and eventful period 
 of our history, of which a very brief sketch 
 has been attempted in the preceding pages, 
 we have seen the spirit of independence, and 
 the love of liberty breaking through the 
 gloom of a barbarous age, like the cheering 
 rays of a morning sun, gradually dispel- 
 ling the mists and clouds by which its 
 brightness was obscured ; and at length 
 attaining to the full glory of meridian splen- 
 dor ; and diffusing a steady and exhila- 
 rating influence on all around. The love of 
 liberty among Britons, was not, as it has 
 lately shewn itself in a neighbouring na- 
 tion, a sudden and violent ebullition of 
 patriotism ; which, like the transient glare 
 of a meteor, only renders the returning 
 H 2
 
 100 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 darkness more horrible : it was a steady 
 predilection founded upon principle, and so 
 deeply rooted as to withstand, for a series 
 of ages, the most powerful opposition ; 
 while, at the same time, it was so wisely 
 tempered as to carry innovation no farther 
 than was absolutely necessary to give secu- 
 rity to the state. 
 
 The patriots who conducted the great 
 work of the revolution had wisdom enough 
 to shew the rock upon which the popular 
 leaders, in the days of Charles I. had split. 
 They knew the fatal effects which had 
 arisen from indulging in a wild spirit of 
 reform : and from subverting every an- 
 cient establishment, under the pretence of 
 rectifying abuses, and restoring indepen- 
 dence. They, therefore, left the great 
 work of the constitution, in every essential 
 part, the same as they found it ; they were 
 contented merely with lopping off redun- 
 dancies, and with giving to the foundations 
 of the structure that stability which, in 
 some respects, they seemed to want. That 
 they acted wisely may now be considered
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 101 
 
 as proved by the test of experience ; for 
 though more than a century has elapsed 
 since the revolution was accomplished, 
 scarcely any thing has been added to the 
 labours of the reformers of that period ; 
 and our constitutional code has been al- 
 lowed to stand the same as it came from 
 their hands in every essential part. I shall, 
 therefore, in a very few words, sketch the 
 the great outlines of the British Constitu* 
 tion as it was matured at this remarkable 
 period. 
 
 In the British Constitution the legislative 
 authority belongs to Parliament, which con^ 
 sists of three parts, or estates ; the King, 
 Lords, and Commons. The House of 
 Lords comprehends the temporal peers of 
 England, denominated dukes, marquisses, 
 earls, viscounts, .and barons ; and the 
 spiritual peers who consist of two archbi- 
 shops, and twenty-four bishops. To these, 
 since the Unions with Scotland and Ire- 
 land, are added sixteen delegates from the 
 peerage of the former kingdom, and thirty- 
 two from the latter. The House of Com-
 
 102 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 mons consists of the deputies of the coun* 
 ties and boroughs of England, and of the 
 two universities, amounting in all to 513 
 members ; to whom, since the U nions, are 
 added 45 from Scotland, and 100 from 
 Ireland. The members of both houses 
 are exempted from arrests, except in cases 
 of criminal conduct : the Chancellor pre- 
 sides in the House of Lords ; the Speaker 
 in the House of Commons. 
 
 The king has the power of convoking, 
 proroguing, and dissolving parliament, 
 which, at present, does not expire of itself 
 in less than seven years. His legislative 
 authority is limited to a negative on the 
 propositions, or bills of parliament. Each 
 house has a similar negative on the decrees 
 of the other ; and may, moreover, propose 
 to alter or amend them ; except in the case 
 of grants of money, which must take their 
 rise in the house of commons, and cannot 
 be altered, though they may be rejected 
 by the lords. Each house also is the 
 sole judge of its own forms and and privi- 
 leges; of the qualifications of its members;
 
 BRITISH CONSTJTTUTldW'. 303 
 
 and of their conduct during debate: all 
 other public questions | may originate hir 
 differently in either branch t>f the legisla- 
 ture. 
 
 The judicial power is entrusted to tlie 
 various courts of justice throughout the 
 kingdom: but an ultimate appeal in all 
 civil cases, may be made to the house of 
 lords. At this tribunal also, the king's 
 ministers, and all public offenders are 
 impeachable by the house of commons. 
 
 The executive authority is entirely 
 lodged with the king. He is the public 
 prosecutor of all crimes, and is entrusted 
 with the power of pardoning, and of sus- 
 pending, the execution of sentences, He 
 is the superintendant of commerce, and 
 has the power of regulating weights and 
 measures, and of coining money. He is 
 the head of the church, and names tHe 
 archbishops and bishops. He is the foun- 
 tain of all honour, arid disposes of all 
 titles, dignities, and offices of the state. 
 He is commander in chief of all the sea 
 and land forces, and can alone equip fleets,
 
 104 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 ' 'V 
 
 levy armies, anjl appoint their officers. 
 He has the sole power of declaring peace 
 or war, of making treaties, and of sending 
 and receiving ambassadors. He is above 
 the reach of all tribunals, and cannot, in 
 hh> royal capacity, be accused of doing 
 wrong. 
 
 The following are the constitutional 
 checks upon the abuse of these high pri- 
 vileges. The king, though he may pardon 
 criminals, cannot prevent the prosecution 
 of crimes; and he has no controul in civil 
 cases; nor where an offence is punished 
 .by pecuniary compensation. Though he 
 issues the coin, he cannot alter its standard 
 value. Although he is head of the church, 
 he cannot alter the established religion, 
 .nor frame ecclesiastical regulations. 
 Though he can declare war, he cannot 
 pay his forces without a parliamentary 
 grant, which is never continued for more 
 than a year at a time. Though, in his 
 royal capacity, he can do no wrong, yet 
 his ministers are responsible for every 
 measure of his government; and may be
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 105 
 
 subjected to the severest punishment by 
 the mode of impeachment. 
 
 There is, however, one branch of the 
 royal prerogative, against which no ac- 
 knowledged check has yet been provided ; 
 and it is a source of authority, which, 1 
 believe, at the present day, is more highly 
 prized by the adherents of the crown than 
 all the rest. This is the patronage zchich 
 the king enjoys over the principal offices of 
 trust and emolument in the kingdom : a 
 patronage which, in consequence of the 
 growth of our national debt, and the ex- 
 tension of our- military force, " has in- 
 creased, and is increasing." What secu- 
 rity have we, I demand, that offices of 
 power and profit will be bestowed upon 
 the virtuous and patriotic, rather than 
 upon the selfish and servile? Have pen- 
 sions and places never been employed by 
 a minister as the surest means of procuring 
 popularity; and of securing a legislative 
 sanction to measures which were intended 
 rather to aggrandize himself than to promote 
 the interests of the country ? Has the ma-
 
 106 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 jorityof our legislators never been won, by 
 the potent argument of self-interest, to 
 support the servants of the crown in their 
 attacks upon the independence of the peo- 
 ple? and has sach a majority never been 
 known to adhere with a mean servility to 
 
 tf 
 
 all the measures of those who were in 
 office, even where those measures were of the 
 most contradictory and inconsistent ten- 
 dency ? 
 
 Against this defect of patriotism, and 
 propensity to corruptness in our parliamen- 
 tary representatives, I own I know of no 
 adequate safeguard, if it be not found in 
 the appeal to the public mind, which a free 
 press so readily furnishes. The repetition 
 of such offences may be prevented by 
 heaping upon them the odium and dis- 
 grace which they so truly merit. If we 
 cannot expose these state delinquents to 
 public insult in the pillory or the stocks, 
 we can, at any rate, hold them up to scorn 
 in the records of the times : we may thus 
 convince them that they are unable to sin 
 with absolute impunity; and that when
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 107 
 
 they barter their independence for prefer- 
 ment, they must along with it give up 
 their good name. With those who are 
 not altogether abandoned, a chastisement 
 of this kind will not be without its weight; 
 for few there are who will not think the 
 total loss of reputation too dearly pur- 
 chased by any preferment which the state 
 can bestow. As the most determined li- 
 bertine may be restrained from excess by 
 the fear of disease, so the most corrupt 
 statesman may be kept in the line of his 
 duty by the dread of infamy. 
 
 With a view to prove that this .check 
 against corruptness has-fiist a merely ideal 
 existence, but that its beneficial influence 
 has been already experienced at the pe- 
 riods when our constitution was in greatest 
 danger of being undermined by the bane- 
 ful effects of ministerial preponderancy, 
 I shall proceed to my proposed survey of 
 the remarkable epochs of our constitu- 
 tional history, from the revolution to the 
 present time.
 
 108 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 It seems to have been the intention of 
 William, when he mounted the English 
 throne, conscientiously to discharge the 
 important trust which had devolved upon 
 
 him. Possessed of an active and vigorous 
 
 o 
 
 mind ; and accustomed to enter personally 
 into the details of government, and to en- 
 counter the fatigues and dangers of war, 
 he was not disposed to entrust too much 
 to the wisdom and fidelity of ministers ; 
 or to be contented with the mere pa- 
 geantry and parade of monarchy. He 
 wished to understand the constitution of 
 the country, which he had undertaken to 
 
 */ 
 
 govern ; and betrayed no tokens of any 
 undue desire to overturn its restrictions, or 
 to extend unwarrantably the powers of 
 which it gave him the lawful possession. 
 
 At the same time William was suffi- 
 ciently tenacious of his own rights ; and 
 the reserve of his manner probably induced 
 the belief that his principles were more ar- 
 bitrary than they really were. It was 
 with great reluctance that he gave his con- 
 sent to the removal of all restraints upon
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 109 
 
 the liberty of the press, which took place 
 about five years after his accession to the 
 throne* ' The king, and his ministers/' 
 says Mr. Hume, " seeing no where, in any 
 government, during present or past ages, 
 any example of such unlimited freedom, 
 doubted much of its salutary effects, and 
 probably thought that no books or writings 
 would ever so much improve the general 
 understanding of men, as to render it safe 
 to entrust them with an indulgence so 
 easily abused." 
 
 In another instance, William adhered 
 still more steadily to what he thought ex- 
 pedient ; but was at length obliged to 
 acquiesce in the wishes of his people. A 
 bill was passed, both by the lords and 
 commons, in which it was proposed to limit 
 the natural duration of parliaments to three 
 years; and to hold at least one session 
 annually. When this bill was presented to 
 the king, he thought proper to reject it by 
 his royal veto. The measure, however, was 
 greatly relished by the nation ; and, in a 
 succeeding parliament, was again brought
 
 110 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 forward somewhat altered in form. His 
 majesty did not think it expedient to persist 
 in his refusal ; and the proposition was ac- 
 cordingly passed into a law. * 
 
 This 1 consider as a striking example 
 of the controul which the general sense of 
 our fellow citizens possesses over the de- 
 cisions of those in authority : a controul 
 which cannot fail to be highly beneficial, 
 so long as liberal sentiments of policy con- 
 tinue to be diffused through a great part 
 
 * The commons secured the royal concurrence to 
 this act, when proposed the second time, by cou- 
 pling it with a money bill. By an old statute in 
 the reigu of Edward III. it was enacted that, " for 
 redress of divers mischiefs, and grievances which 
 daily happen, a parliament shall be holden every 
 year, or oftener if need be." But in every reign 
 previous to the revolution, many years were allowed 
 to elapse without summoning a parliament; and we 
 have seen that in the reign of Charles I. it was es- 
 teemed of importance by the people to secure that 
 parliament should sit once, at least, in three years. 
 Before this period also, the sessions of parliament 
 were very short; and it depended on the pleasure 
 of the monarch when a new election should be 
 made.
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. Ill 
 
 of the nation; and while we constantly 
 keep in remembrance the value of the 
 birthright of independence which we owe 
 to the arduous struggles of our forefathers 
 for free and equitable laws. It is remark- 
 able that since the days of king William 
 the royal veto has nevf r been resorted to 
 in opposition to the voice of both houses 
 of parliament ; so that from this period we 
 may date the origin of the system of for- 
 warding the views of the crown by influ- 
 ence rather than prerogative. 
 
 During the reign of William, the party 
 distinctions of Whig and Tory greatly di- 
 vided and agitated the nation. Thewhigs 
 w r ere the staunch adherents of the princi- 
 ples of the revolution, and the enthusiastic 
 admirers of liberty and independence. 
 The tories were inclined to support the 
 royal prerogative, even at the expence of 
 the rights of the people ; they maintained 
 that the rights of kings were divine and 
 indefeasible; and could not be resisted; 
 without a species of sacrilege. Among this^ 
 sect lurked many Jacobites, or secret, ad-
 
 112 PRESLNT STATE OF THE 
 
 herents of the exiled familj of Stewart; 
 while among the whigs there were some 
 who were strongly suspected of republican 
 principles. It was natural to expect that 
 the whigs would enjoy the greatest share of 
 AVilliam's confidence, as he had been 
 placed upon the throne principally by their 
 means. 
 
 In the reign of Queen Anne, the strug- 
 gle Between the whigs and tories raged 
 with increased violence. That princess 
 mounted the throne at a moment when all 
 Europe was about to take arms, in conse- 
 quence of the accession of a French prince 
 to the crown of Spain. Finding the war 
 popular in England, she was induced to 
 give it her support ; and to employ in her 
 service Godolphin and Maryborough, the 
 avowed leaders of the whigs, although she 
 was known to have a decided partiality for 
 the principles of the tories. The ascen- 
 dancy which Sarah, duchess of Marlbo- 
 rough, had a'cquired over the mind of the 
 queen, greatly contributed to keep her 
 steady in this resolution.
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION 118 
 
 Under the conduct of so able a statesman 
 and consummate a general, the contest with 
 France was carried on with great success j 
 and the arms of the allies obtained a series 
 of victories of a splendor almost unparal- 
 lelled in the annals of Europe. For several 
 years the influence of the whigs, headed 
 by Godolphin and Maryborough, was com- 
 pletely predominant in the English councils; 
 and the war, notwithstanding the great ex- 
 pence with which it was attended, conti* 
 nued to be popular with the bulk of the na- 
 tion. But nothing is more fluctuating than 
 the favour of the people. A long series of 
 victories deprived success of the charms of 
 novelty j and the surrender of a town, or 
 the destruction of an army, ceased to excite 
 any emotions of joy. The people began to 
 think of the enormous debt which they had 
 contracted in order to support the war ; and 
 to enquire what solid benefit they were to 
 reap from such a waste of blood and trea- 
 sure. While the evil was manifest, the be- 
 nefit was by no means so apparent ; and the 
 popular tide soon began to run against a con-
 
 114 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 test, which at first stood foremost in the 
 favour of the people. 
 
 It was then that the hopes of the tories 
 began to revive ; and that they renewed their 
 exertions to obtain possession of the reins of 
 government. A new female favourite of the 
 queen, Mrs. Masham, happened to be in 
 their interest j and in the person of Mr. 
 Secretary Harley, afterwards Earl of Ox- 
 ford, they possessed a leader well qualified 
 by activity, and the arts of intrigue, to 
 accomplish the elevation of his adherents at 
 the expence of their rivals. The whigs them- 
 selves contributed to their downfall, by 
 their imprudent and intemperate zeal against 
 an insignificant opponent, whom they ought 
 to have consigned to contempt and oblivion. 
 This opponent was the famous Dr. Henry 
 Sacheverell, an avowed partizan of the 
 tory and high-church party. On the 5th 
 of November, 1?09> the anniversary of the 
 gunpowder-plot, this divine delivered a ser- 
 mon before the mayor and aldermen of Lon- 
 don, in which a most vehement attack wa s 
 made upon the principles and conduct of the
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 1}$ 
 
 Vvhlgs* They were accused of a design 
 of subverting the government, and the 
 established church, and of introducing re* 
 publicanism and presbyterian discipline in 
 their stead. The sermon was afterwards 
 published, with additions still more virulent 
 and inflammatory than itself, and such was 
 the curiosity which it excited, that forty 
 thousand copies are said to have been circu- 
 lated in a few weeks. 
 
 The whigs wefe highly incensed at this 
 treatment, and particularly Goddphin, who 
 was personally attacked in the sermon. 
 The offence not being punishable by com-' 
 mon law, it was resolved to proceed by the 
 method of impeachment. Sacheverell was 
 taken into custody, and articles were exhi- 
 bited against him by the commons at the 
 bar of the house of lords. From that 
 moment the popularity of the whig admi- 
 nistration was at an end. The compassion 
 of the people was roused for Sacheverell, 
 whom they considered as the victim of 
 power, and a martyr in the cause of church 
 and state. When he was conducted to
 
 116 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 Westminster-hall for examination, crowds 
 of the populace attended, offering up prayers 
 for his safety. The whigs became alarmed 
 at the popular clamour. Sacheverell was 
 indeed found guilty, but his sentence 
 amounted only to a suspension from preach- 
 ing for three years ; and the triumph of the 
 tories was as complete as if he had been 
 honorably acquitted. 
 
 The trial of Sacheverell was almost imme- 
 diately followed by a change of ministry -, and 
 by the assembling of a new house of commons, 
 in which the tory interest completely predo- 
 minated. Harley, and his friend St. John, 
 afterwards Lord Bolingbroke, were placed 
 at the head of affairs ; and, of all the whig 
 leaders, the Duke of Marlborough alone 
 was left in possession of his appointments. 
 His popularity was at that time too high to 
 allow of his dismissal; and while the war 
 continued it was found impossible to dis- 
 pense with his services. The new minis- 
 try were extremely desirous that a war 
 which owed its success and its popularity to 
 the Whigs, and which was no longer re-
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 117 
 
 lished by the people, should be brought to 
 a close. Negociations were immediately 
 opened for that purpose ; but the influence 
 of Marlborough was still so great, as to 
 procure a vote of the house of lords, con- 
 demning the plan of pacification : a very 
 strong measure was now adopted by the 
 ministry ; twelve new peers were created in 
 one day to secure a majority in the house of 
 lords j the Duke of Marlborough was de- 
 prived of all his employments, and the ne- 
 gociations were carried on by the concur- 
 rence of both houses of parliament, till at 
 length they terminated in the memorable 
 treaty of Utrecht. 
 
 The influence of public opinion in pro- 
 moting these great transactions, and in coun- 
 teracting the views of those who were in 
 power, is so apparent, that I shall not 
 waste time in pointing it out. It was no 
 less manifest in the important event, which 
 immediately took place upon the death of 
 Queen Anne ; the accession of the House of 
 Hanover to the British throne, A. D. 1714. 
 A considerable party in the kingdom, and a
 
 118 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 decided majority of the tory ministry then 
 in power, were desirous of giving the crown 
 to the son of James II. known by the name 
 of the Pretender. But the voice of the na- 
 tion was resolute against this measure, and 
 completely decided upon fulfilling the Act of 
 Settlement. Encouraged by this support, 
 some of the leading whigs voluntarily came 
 forward and obtained without any opposi- 
 tion, that George elector of Hanover should 
 be proclaimed king of Great Britain, as soon 
 as Queen Anne had expired. 
 
 The arrival of George I. in England, im- 
 mediately deprived the tories of their power, 
 and replaced it in the hands of the whigs, 
 with whom it may be said to have almost 
 entirely remained ever since that period. 
 In consequence of this, the distinctions of 
 whig and tory exist now only in name. 
 The advocates for passive obedience, and 
 the divine right of kings, soon dwindled 
 into an inconsiderable junto ; and the whigs, 
 when they found themselves firmly seated 
 at the helm of affairs, speedily lost sight of 
 their republican maxims, and were sufli-
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. lip 
 
 ciently disposed to support the interests of 
 the crown, even at the expence of the in- 
 dependence of the people. The leading 
 parties in the kingdom were now the court 
 and the country factions, or the adherents 
 of administration, and its opponents. What- 
 ever the one supported, the other resisted, 
 and the struggle between them was evi- 
 dently for power and preferment, rather 
 than for any precise system of national 
 
 policy. 
 * 
 
 The most important constitutional ar- 
 rangement which took place during the 
 reign of George I. was the septennial bill; 
 by which the natural duration of parlia- 
 ment was prolonged to its present period of 
 seven years. 
 
 About the beginning of this reign the 
 celebrated Sir Robert Walpole acquired th 
 chief direction of public measures, which 
 he continued to enjoy for a longer time, 
 than has fallen to the lot of most of our 
 prime ministers. This statesman was well 
 acquainted with the interests of his country, 
 which he justly conceived to be better pro*
 
 120 FKESNT STATE OF THE 
 
 moted by pacific measures than by the most 
 successful war. His long administration 
 was a period of almost uninterrupted peace; 
 but it was a period of corruption, venality, 
 and a lamentable defect of public spirit. 
 
 The expensive continental wars which 
 had begun in the reign of King William, 
 and had been so vigorously prosecuted during 
 the reign of Queen Anne, had brought 
 upon the nation a load of permanent and 
 funded debt, and a great income of taxes 
 in order to discharge the interest of this 
 capita], and to meet the increasing exigen^ 
 cies of the state. The charge of collecting 
 and managing this immense public revenue 
 devolved entirely upon government, and by 
 giving rise to a multiplicity of new officers, 
 created by, and removable at, the royal plea- 
 sure, threw much additional weight into 
 the scale of ministerial influence ; opportu- 
 nities were continually occurring, not only 
 of bestowing profitable employments ; but 
 of conferring obligations of a more indi- 
 rect kind, by giving a preference in loans, 
 contracts, and other money transactions.
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 121 
 
 
 
 No minister ever understood the value of 
 these expedients for securing power better 
 than Sir Robert Walpole. It was his 
 maxim, that every man had his price ; and 
 and that those who were too squeamish to 
 take an acknowledged bribe, could at any 
 rate be won by favors of a certain kind. 
 
 . Omnis enim res, 
 
 Virtus, fama, decus, divina, humanoque, pulchris 
 Divitiis parent. HOR. 
 
 The money voted by parliament was now 
 without scruple employed to corrupt its 
 members ; the wealth of the treasury was 
 let loose to purchase the suffrages of the 
 people at elections. Thus the fountain of 
 liberty was poisoned at its very source ; and 
 a canker was insinuated at the root of the 
 tree, which threatened to wither its fairest 
 blossoms, and lay all its beauties prostrate 
 in the dust. 
 
 This was an invasion of our liberties, 
 which had not been foreseen by the patriots 
 of the revolution. No check had been de- 
 vised for this undue extension of ministerial
 
 12 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 influence : and indeed it is not easy to say 
 what legal remedy might prove sufficient to 
 cure so dangerous a disorder. Laws cannot 
 render men virtuous, independent, and dis- 
 interested. They may indeed inflict penal- 
 ties on venality and corruption ; they may 
 punish and disfranchise the man who takes 
 or who offers a bribe ; but so many expe- 
 dients may be found to cloak this detestable 
 practice with the appearance of honesty, 
 and to elude the proofs which law must re- 
 quire to establish the crime, that little can 
 be hoped from all the denunciations of 
 judges and juries against a system which so 
 many interests conspire to encourage. The 
 sense of shame is one barrier against the 
 overwhelming force of this destroyer of 
 our independence. The love of reputation 
 may still be more powerful with many of 
 our statesmen than the love of gold; and 
 corruption, though not amenable to the 
 law, may still be restrained, by being held 
 up to public reprobation, and branded by 
 the nation at large with the infamy it justly 
 deserves. A frovvard chill may be ren-
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 
 
 dered obedient by wholesome correction; 
 and a venal statesman, though he cannot 
 be rendered virtuous, may be kept from 
 betraying his country by the dread of 
 reproach. 
 
 The voice " of the country, though too 
 long disregarded, was at length successful 
 in putting an end to the venal administra- 
 tion of Sir Robert Walpole. In the, year 
 1742, this able, though unprincipled states- 
 man, finding he could no longer secure a 
 respectable majority in the house of com* 
 jnons, resigned all his employments ; and 
 the most distinguished leaders of the oppo- 
 sition, with Mr. Pulteney at their head, were 
 entrusted with the management of public 
 affairs. These had long been distinguished 
 by, the name of patriots ; and it was ex- 
 pected by the people, that under their ad- 
 ministration abuses would be reformed, and 
 a liberal system of policy carried into effect. 
 A number of motions to this purport was 
 accordingly made in both houses of parlia- 
 ment ; but^wh&t was the astonishment of 
 the nation jto,|hid these motions violently
 
 124 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 opposed and quashed by the very men who 
 had lately maintained the principles upon 
 which they were founded, and by whose 
 former speeches they had been chiefly 
 suggested? 
 
 A ministry who were guilty of so shame- 
 ful a dereliction of principle could never se- 
 cure the confidence of the people. Their 
 conduct was arraigned by all parties, and their 
 credit speedily vanished into nothing. In two 
 years after their elevation, they were aban- 
 doned by the crown, incompliance with the 
 wishes of the nation ; and a new ministry 
 was formed upon the liberal principle of 
 uniting men of all parties, and all interests, 
 in the service of the state. At the head of 
 this administration, which was called the 
 broad bottom, were Mr. Pelham, and his 
 brother the Duke of Newcastle. The va- 
 tiety of interests which it included for a 
 long time lulled the voice of opposition; 
 but the measures which it pursued were 
 distinguished neither for ability nor libe- 
 rality, and a series of national -disasters soon 
 completely deprived it of tfoe public con- 
 fidence.
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 125 
 
 England was now engaged in a war more 
 extensive in its operations, and more impor- 
 tant in its object, that had before called 
 forth the resources of the nation. The 
 arms of France were directed against her 
 power, not only by continental campaigns 
 and expeditions against her sugar islands, 
 but by an organized system of attack upon, 
 her extensive colonies, both in America and 
 the East Indies. In resisting this compli- 
 cated warfare, the British arms had ac- 
 quired no glory ; and the nation became 
 dispirited and alarmed by repeated defeat 
 and disaster. Fears were entertained for 
 the safety of the island itself, which was 
 threatened with a French invasion j when, 
 to complete the national disgrace, the pro- 
 posal of arming a militia was rejected, and 
 the defence of the British coasts was en- 
 trusted to a legion of German mercenaries, 
 called over for that purpose. 
 
 The ministry could not withstand the 
 odium of so many political blunders. Their 
 leaders were dismissed with disgrace from 
 his majesty's councils \ and the immortal 
 William Pitt, afterwards Earl of Chatham,
 
 19O PRESENT STATE OF THfc 
 
 at that time the most popular man in the 
 kingdom, and deservedly considered as the 
 first of patriots, was placed at the helm of 
 affairs. The immediate effect of this 
 change of councils, was the dismissal of 
 the foreign troops ; and the enactment of a 
 law for establishing a national militia, as 
 the only constitutional defence of British 
 freedom. 
 
 It was in 1756, that Mr. Pitt accepted 
 the office of Secretary of State. Faithful to 
 the patriotic principles to which he owed 
 his elevation, he soon after steadily opposed 
 a proposition of the king's, to send over a 
 body of British troops for the protection of 
 Hanover. In consequence of this opposi- 
 tion he was obliged to resign his employ- 
 ment; but new disasters continuing to 
 overwhelm the British arms, he was, 
 in the year 1757, once more called 
 to the cabinet, in compliance with the 
 unanimous wish of the nation. Can any 
 thing demonstrate more clearly the in-, 
 fluence of public opinion in directing the 
 government of our country ? If there be a 
 power which is vested undisputably in the
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 127 
 
 crown, and of which there is no constitu- 
 tional limitation or controul, it is the choice 
 of ministers. Yet in this instance we be- 
 hold a man with no other claims to royal 
 favour, than that of popularity and reputed 
 patriotism, elevated to the first rank in ad- 
 ministration by the suffrage of his fellow 
 citizens ; and, although dismissed on ac- 
 count of his uncourtly opposition to a fa- 
 vorite measure of the king's, yet reinstated 
 in all his power, because he alone possessed 
 the virtue and abilities, which the nation 
 then demanded in the conductors of public 
 affairs. 
 
 Let the lesson sink deep into the minds 
 of those who endeavour by intrigue and chi- 
 cane to dispossess of the royal favour those 
 faithful servants in whom the public places 
 confidence. Let them remember that the 
 voice of the nation must at length prevail. 
 That although they may succeed in gaining 
 for a time, the royal ear ; and in driving 
 from the cabinet those rivals whose virtues 
 and talents have excited their hostility ; yet 
 in the end defeat and disgrace assuredly await
 
 128 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 them : and the love of the people will, in a 
 free country, effectually support the patriotic 
 servants of the public against the aspersions 
 of calumny and the machinations of in- 
 trigue. The torrent that is dammed up by a 
 feeble barrier, cannot long be restrained 
 from pursuing its natural course; and while 
 it bursts through, it not unfrequently de- 
 stroys the impotent obstacles by which it 
 was opposed. 
 
 The elevation of Mr. Pitt, though the 
 most signal, is not the only example, of 
 ministers called to office by the voice of 
 the people. The preceding details afford 
 several instances of this ; and the events 
 of the present reign might supply us with 
 more than one example. To the transac- 
 tions of that reign, so far as they are con- 
 nected with the present inquiry, I now pro- 
 ceed with all that deference and respect 
 which is due from a loyal subject, to the 
 most virtuous and beneficent of kings. 
 
 At the accession of George III to the 
 British throne, the glory of the nation had 
 attained its utmost elevation. Under the
 
 I \ 
 
 BUITISH CONSTITUTION. 
 
 auspices of Mr. Pitt success had crowned 
 our martial enterprizes in the remotest parts 
 of the globe. The fame of our arms re- 
 sounded from the banks of the Ganges, to 
 the cataracts of St. Lawrence : the power of 
 France was effectually broken both in India 
 and America j and her fleets and armies were 
 defeated and destroyed wherever they ven- 
 tured to encounter the British thunder. It 
 was at this crisis that France endeavoured to 
 prop her drooping strength by an alliance 
 with Spain - y and secret measures were 
 taken by the French and Spanish courts for 
 concluding a family compact, by which it 
 was proposed that they should treat as a 
 common enemy, every power that made an 
 attack either upon the one or the other. 
 
 The secrecy with which this transaction 
 was conducted did not elude the vigilance of 
 Mr. Pitt : and with that vigour which cha- 
 racterised all his measures, he determined to 
 strike the first blow j and not to wait supine- 
 ly till it suited the Spaniards to make open 
 declarations of hostility against his country. 
 He proposed in council to intercept and cap- 
 
 K
 
 130 PRESENT STATE Of THE 
 
 ture the Spanish plate fleet which was then 
 at sea j a.nd which if it arrived safe in port, 
 would supply our treacherous ally with the 
 means to which she looked for furnishing 
 support to our declared and most inveterate 
 enemy. This bold proposition did not meet 
 with the sanction of his brethren in the ca- 
 binet ; who condemned it as an unjustifiable 
 Aggression on a power with which we were 
 then in the relations of peace and amity. 
 Mr. Pitt, unshaken in his conviction of the 
 hostile intentions of Spain, and unable to 
 carry into effect the measures which he con- 
 sidered as necessary for the national safety ^ 
 determined to resign his office. " I was 
 called to the administration of public affairs," 
 said this high spirited statesman, " by the 
 voice of the people ; to them I have always 
 considered myself as accountable for my con- 
 duct : I cannot, therefore, remain in a situa- 
 tion which makes me responsible for mea- 
 sures I am no longer permitted to guide." 
 
 It is believed that Mr. Pitt expected to 
 
 be requested by .his majesty to relinquish 
 
 *his resolution of retiring from the adminis-
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTIQIf. 
 
 tration. But no such request was made j 
 and in this instance neither the expectations 
 of Mr. Pitt, nor the' general wishes of the 
 nation were complied with. Royal favour 
 it was understood had now begun to flow 
 into new channels ; and an opportunity of 
 conferring power upon the persons then 
 foremost in that favour, could not therefore 
 be displeasing. The largest share of royal 
 esteem was supposed to be bestowed upon 
 the earl of Bute, a Scottish nobleman, who 
 had been much about the person of the king 
 before his accession to the throne, and had 
 in part the charge of forming and enlighten- 
 ing the mind of his prince. This nobleman, 
 however, did not immediately assume the 
 charge of the state. The seals of office 
 which Mr. Pitt resigned were given to the 
 Earl of Egremont, and no other change of 
 importance at that time took place in the 
 administration. 
 
 The predictions of Mr. Pitt were speedily 
 Xerified j and a war with Spain almost im- 
 mediately ensued on his retiring from office, 
 jvhich took place in 1761 . This war against 
 K 2
 
 132 PRESEICT STATE OF THE 
 
 the combined forces of the Bourbons wag 
 prosecuted with great vigour and success 
 during the ensuing year; after which it was 
 very suddenly and unexpectedly terminated 
 by a rather inglorious peace. The Earl of 
 Bute had now assumed the chief direction of 
 affairs, in consequence of the resignation of 
 the Du'ke of Newcastle, whose influence at 
 court had entirely declined. The ranks of 
 opposition were greatly strengthened by the 
 accession not only of Lord Chatham's friends, 
 but of those in the Newcastle interest j and 
 the new- minister found it impossible to ob- 
 tain that cordial support and liberal supplies 
 which were indispensible for carrying on the 
 war. The House of Bourbon was thus saved 
 from the ruin which seamed to impend over 
 it ; and the peace of Paris was hastily con- 
 cluded in the beginning of the year 1?63. 
 
 There are few transactions which more 
 powerfully shake the popularity of a minis- 
 ter than the conclusion of a peace. The 
 terms which are obtained almost always fall 
 short of the expectations of the people ; ajid 
 if the war has been successful, they will
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. I3S 
 
 scarcely be satisfied with any concessions 
 that the enemy can make. The popularity 
 of Lord Bute had never been strong enough 
 to oppose an effectual resistance to so rude 
 a shock. He was considered by the people, 
 as the chief cause of the resignation of 
 Mr. Pitt ; he was moreover a Stewart, a 
 Scotchman, and a reputed Tory; and he 
 was neither allowed to possess the abilities 
 nor the patriotism, which the high office he 
 had assumed imperiously demanded. 
 
 Whether influenced by the authority of 
 public opinion, or wearied of a charge which 
 he found so troublesome to manage, Lord 
 Bute almost immediately withdrew himself 
 from administration after the ratification of 
 the treaty of peace. But although some 
 new statesmen were introduced into office, 
 and joined with Lord Egremont, in the 
 ostensible management of affairs, it was the 
 prevailing opinion of the people, that Lord 
 Bute was still the principal director of the 
 machine of government ; and the odium of 
 unpopular measures chiefly fell upon him as 
 the secret prompter by whom they were de*-
 
 134- PRESENT STATE Of THE 
 
 vised. This opinion continued to prevail 
 during the successive changes of adminis- 
 tration which took place for many years 
 after the resignation of Lord Bute ; and 
 whether Lord Egremont, the Duke of Graf- 
 ton, or Lord North, sat at the helm of af- 
 fairs, still it was believed by the nation that 
 Lord Bute, was the state pilot by whom the 
 vessel was conducted. 
 
 If this be the case his lordship had to an- 
 swer for a greater number of political blun- 
 ders, and a more absurd, harassing, and un- 
 popular system of policy, than was perhaps 
 ever carried into effect by any English mi- 
 nister of state. But let us not be so uncan- 
 did as to impute to one man the errors and 
 public calamities of this eventful period : 
 sufficient will remain to answer for, when 
 they are distributed among all their ostensi- 
 ble advisers ; for of all the asras of our his- 
 tory, none is more replete with reproach and 
 dishonour to those who enjoyed power, 
 than the interval between the peace of Pa- 
 ns, and the termination of the American 
 war in 1783.
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 185 
 
 The unpopularity of those who had driven 
 Lord Chatham from the helm of affairs al- 
 most immediately began to shew itself in a 
 variety of ways, aad particularly through the 
 channel of the press. One of the most 
 formidable of the literary opponents of the 
 new ministry was the noted Mr. Wilkes, 
 member of parliament for Aylesbury, who 
 became the idol of the people, on account 
 of his undaunted opposition to the arbitrary 
 measures of government, and his strenuous 
 defence of popular rights. The absurd con- 
 duct of the ministry tended as much as any 
 thing to exalt the reputation of Mr. Wilkes, 
 and to give his proceedings an importance, 
 which neither his abilities nor his principles 
 entitled them to procure. 
 
 The publication of the 45th number of 
 the North Briton was the signal of attack 
 upon this champion of the people. In this 
 paper the abuse against the Scots, the mi- 
 nistry, and the king, was so excessive as to 
 be deemed actionable. A warrant was 
 therefore granted, for apprehending the au- 
 thor, publishers, &c. of this treasonable
 
 136 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 performance, but Mr. Wilkes's name was 
 not mentioned, as it had not been affixed 
 to the publication. Mr. Wilkes denied the 
 authority of the warrant, as far as he was 
 concerned, because his name was not ex- 
 pressed ; and applied for his liberation by 
 writ of habeas corpus; but he was never- 
 theless committed to the tower by order of 
 the secretary of state. When brought to 
 his trial at Westminster-hall, it was declared 
 by Lord Chief Justice Pratt, and the 
 other judges, that the warrant of a secre- 
 tary of state was in no respect superior to a 
 common justice of peace ; and that Mr. 
 Wilkes had been illegally committed, and 
 his privilege as a member of parliament in- 
 fringed. The ministry now had recourse 
 to their adherents in parliament; they pro- 
 cured a vote of the house of commons, de- 
 claring that the North Briton was a false, 
 scandalous, and seditious libel; and the 45th 
 number was condemned to be burnt by the 
 hands of the common hangman. 
 
 By this ill judged proceeding the confi- 
 dence of the people was withdrawn, not
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 137 
 
 Only from the ministry, but from their own 
 parliamentary representatives. The mob 
 effectually resisted the execution of the 
 sentence of the house of commons ; the 
 sheriff, the peace officers, and executioner, 
 weie insulted, pelted, and finally driven off 
 the field ; and the half-burnt North-Briton 
 was snatched from the flames, and carried 
 in triumphal procession through the streets 
 
 of the city. 
 
 J 
 
 It would be inconsistent with the limits 
 of this work to enter into a minute detail 
 of the contest between the ministry, sup- 
 ported by the house of commons, and Mr. 
 Wilkes, supported by a great majority of the 
 people of London ; and the particulars are 
 too well known to render such a detail at 
 all requisite. Suffice it to say, that Mr. 
 Wilkes was in the end completely trium- 
 phant; and that, though expelled the house 
 of commons, prosecuted for scandal, trea- 
 son, and blasphemy, and outlawed for not 
 appearing to defend himself; he was so 
 steadily supported by the people, that the 
 thunders of the executive fell upon him
 
 13S PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 without effect. When he returned from 
 the continent in 1?68, to offer himself a 
 candidate for a seat in the new parliament, 
 his outlawry was reversed ; and for all his 
 
 4 
 
 offences he was only imprisoned for twelve 
 months, and sentenced to pay a fine of 
 1000/. Being more than ever idolized hy 
 the people, he was repeatedly chosen mem- 
 ber for Middlesex, and as repeatedly rejected 
 by the house of commons : he was also 
 made an alderman of London, and a liberal 
 subscription was raised to pay his debts. 
 
 One instance of Mr. Wilkes's public con- 
 duct deserves particular notice, as it mate- 
 rially contributed to establish the liberty of 
 the press in one very important article the 
 regular accounts of the parliamentary de- 
 bates. The ministry smarted so much by 
 the ephemeral publications of the times, 
 that they were desirous of restraining their 
 licentiousness by every expedient in their 
 power. Whenever any liberty was taken in 
 the newspapers with the members of either 
 house of parliament, it had become custo- 
 mary to complain of a breach of privilege j
 
 BRITISH COKSTITUTION. f39 
 
 tfre offending printers were summoned to the 
 bar, and not only reproved, but severely 
 fined. In the year 1771, some imperfect 
 accounts of the parliamentary proceedings 
 were printed in the newspapers. The 
 ipeaker of the house of commons, Colonel 
 George Onslow complained of them a 
 breaches of privilege. The printers were 
 ordered to attend the house ; but several of 
 them proved refractory, and resisted the 
 summons. Two of these, who were appre- 
 hended in consequence of a reward offered 
 by parliament^ being carried before the sit- 
 ting alderman, Mr. Wilkes, were imme- 
 diately discharged, as having been seized in 
 direct violation of their chartered rights as 
 citizens of London. A third offender, J. 
 Miller, the printer of the London Evening 
 Post, was ordered to be taken into custody 
 by the Serjeant at arms of the house of 
 tommons. When the messenger came, and 
 insisted upon taking the printer away, a, 
 tonstable was sent for, as had been pre- 
 viously concerted with Mr. Wilkes 5 and by 
 this officer of the peace bbth parties werfe
 
 140 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 conveyed to the mansion-house, before the 
 lord mayor and aldermen Wilkes and OliV 
 ver. The messenger was found guilty of 
 assault and false imprisonment, and was with 
 difficulty allowed to find bail. The house 
 of commons were so enraged by this attack 
 upon their authority, that, having sum- 
 moned the lord mayor and alderman Oliver 
 to give an account of their conduct ; and 
 receiving no satisfactory apology t they sent 
 them prisoners to the tower. Mr. Wilkes 
 having declined obeying their summons, 
 because they had not styled him a member 
 of parliament, they were afraid to meddle 
 farther with him ; and got rid of him by 
 the miserable expedient of citing him to at* 
 tend at their bar on the 8th of April, at the 
 same time that they adjourned the house to 
 the 9th. 
 
 This absurd and ineffectual exertion of 
 privilege served to complete the disgrace 
 into which the house of commons had 
 fallen with the people. The imprisoned 
 mayor and alderman were honoured with 
 innumerable addresses and deputations, ap-'
 
 'CONSTITUTION. 
 
 proving of their conduct in the most flat- 
 tering terms; while the conduct of par* 
 liament was reprobated by the public in 
 very strong language. The sense of the 
 nation was indeed so plainly expressed, and 
 $b evidently decided upon maintaining the 
 liberty of the press, that ministers thought 
 it prudent to drop the contest ; and front 
 that period to the present, the debates and 
 proceedings of parliament have been con- 
 stantly and regularly printed in all the daily 
 newspapers. 
 
 No concession could have been of more 
 value to a free people, jealous of the encroach- 
 ments which those in authority are disposed 
 to make upon their independence. The 
 proceedings of their parliamentary represen- 
 tatives being thus freely laid open to public 
 discussion, are subjected to a certain con- 
 trol from public opinion. The hope of 
 concealment is a strong motive to mean or 
 selfish conduct -, and many deeds are perpe- 
 trated in darkness, which would be aban- 
 doned in the full light of open day. But 
 every action, every word of a member of
 
 PRESENT STATE OF TH1 
 
 parliament, is now recorded for the in for- 
 matioa of the people, and is at once brought 
 [before the impartial tribunal of public opi-r 
 <\ion. Where any sej>se of shame remains, 
 |thi$ mut fwoye a powerful .check on the 
 propensities of our legislators. dU 
 oblige many /of jhem to retain the 
 semblance of patriotism j And not avowedly 
 ftp abandon those principles by which they 
 had gained the favour and support of their 
 independent .constituents. Of the .value 
 which is attached by the people to this spe- 
 cies of political information, we may form 
 some estimate, by the jate prodigious in* 
 crease of daily newspapers, which derive 
 one of their principal .attractions from tfce 
 faithful report of parliamentary debates; and 
 which have been multiplied to an astonishing 
 degree, since the important period in ques- 
 tion. 
 
 A more daring and fatal attack was at the, 
 same time levelled by ministry against the 
 liberty of the press, through the channel. of 
 the courts of justice. In Lord Mansfield 
 they found a more accommodating head of
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 143 
 
 the law, than they had met with in Mr. 
 Justice Pratt ; and the great abilities of 
 that able jurist were but too often prosti- 
 tuted to serve the occasional purposes of 
 party intrigue. It was he who first promul- 
 gated the monstrous doctrine that truth it* 
 self may be, a libel-, and it was he whoen- 
 deavoured to wrest from the hands of jurors 
 the privilege of judging of the criminality 
 of libellous publications ; and who wished 
 to limit their province to the decision of the 
 mere facts of writing, printing, or publish- 
 ing. By this usurpation of illegal authority 
 he was able to pass heavy sentences upon 
 many persons who would have either escaped 
 altogether, or escaped with a very light pe- 
 nalty, by the verdict of their peers. 
 
 The absurdity and illegality of this pro- 
 ceeding is forcibly pointed out, in the fol- 
 lowing passage of Junius's celebrated letter 
 to Lord Mansfield : " When you invade 
 the province of the jury in matter of libel, 
 you in effect attack the liberty of the press, 
 and with a single stroke wound two of your 
 greatest enemies. In other criminal prose-
 
 144 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 cutions, the malice of the design is confess- 
 edly as much the subject of consideration to 
 a jury, as the certainty of the fact. If a 
 different doctrine prevails in the case of li- 
 bels, why should it not extend to all crimi- 
 nal cases ? Why not to capital offences ? I 
 see no reason, and I dare say that you will 
 agree with me that there is no good one, 
 why the life of the subject should be better 
 protected against you than his liberty or 
 property. Why should you enjoy the full 
 -power of pillory, fine, and imprisonment, 
 and not be indulged with runi>in or trans- 
 
 C.* <J *J 
 
 portation ? With your lordship's fertile 
 genius and merciful disposition, I can con- 
 ceive such an exercise of the power you 
 have, as could hardly be aggravated by that 
 which you have not " 
 
 The foundation upon which Lord Mans- 
 field grounded his claim of determining the 
 guilt of a libellous publication, was that 
 much disputed principle of English juris- 
 prudence, that while the jury determines 
 the fact ', tl:e law must be lejt to the judge 
 This is a principle upon which judges and
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. J45 
 
 ', : ? ? P 7 
 
 juries have long held different opinions ; and 
 Lord Mansfield was obliged to employ some 
 management to procure ithe assent of his juries 
 to tjie doctrine respecting libels. According 
 to the testirnpny of Junius, contained in th 
 s^me letter, he told the jury in Baldwin's case, 
 jthat (t if after all, they would take upon 
 
 f IT *)P f ' <**") 0-^T T*~ f f* IT t D 
 
 themselves to determine the lavy, they might 
 $0 }t : but they must be very sure that they 
 Determined according to law ; for it touched 
 their consciences, and they ac;ted at their 
 peril." This dispute, in s^o far at least as it 
 concerns libels, is at length happily termi- 
 nated, by an act of the legislature \n 179$, 
 \vhich decides that in all cases of libel, the 
 jury should try the guilt of the writing, as 
 we^l as the mere fact of publication. 
 
 In the management of public affairs the 
 administration of this eventful period were 
 not mpre fortunate than in the regulation of 
 the internal economy of the kingdom. Ac- 
 tuated by the desire of increasing the reve- 
 nue of the state, upon which such heavy 
 demands had been made by a long protract- 
 
 L
 
 146* PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 ed warfare ; they were induced to attempt 
 the difficult political expedient of levying 
 contributions from the colonies in North 
 America. Should we grant the justice of 
 demanding aid to the revenue from those 
 distant settlements, whose interestsjiad beeri 
 a principal cause of the war in which the 
 mother country had been engaged ; still it 
 must be allowed that the manner in which 
 ministry advanced their claim, and the expe- 
 dients by which they endeavoured to enforce 
 it, were in the highest degree impolitic and 
 unjust. , No conciliatory measures were 
 adopted : no respect was paid to the feelings 
 or prejudices of the colonists. Taxes were 
 imposed with the high sounding pretensions 
 of despotic power; and when they were 
 either eluded or positively rejected by the colo- 
 nists, the most arbitrary expedients were em- 
 ployed to compel them to submission. They 
 were subjected to martial law; they were 
 denied the privilege of a trial in their own 
 country, and by their own laws ; their cities 
 were disfranchised of their privileges ; arid 
 their legislatures were rendered incapable of
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTIONS 147 
 
 discharging the functions to which tliey had 
 been chosen by the free suffrages of the 
 pebpki 
 
 The consequences of this absurd and op- 
 pressive system of policy were foreseen by 
 the more enlightened portion of the inha- 
 bitants of Great Britain } and were plainly 
 pointed out to the ministry, though without 
 effect. It was upon this memorable occa-, 
 sion that the illustrious Lord Chatham 
 again came forward to public life, after a 
 long and honourable retirement. But 
 the vigour of his mind, the charms of his 
 eloquence, and the fervour of his patriotism 
 were all exerted in vain. The ministry, 
 with that infatuation which had ever cha- 
 racterized their measures, lent a deaf ear to 
 his animated remonstrances, and rejected 
 with disdain the plans of conciliation which 
 his wisdom and love of his country sug- 
 gested. At length, in spite of the admo- 
 nitions of the most enlightened and pa- 
 triotic part of the legislature, in direct op- 
 position to the prayers of all the great 
 trading cities in the kingdom, they resolved 
 
 L 2
 
 148 PRESENT STATE Ofr THE 
 
 to adopt the desperate expedient of obliging 
 the refractory Americans to acquiesce in 
 their measures by force of arms. By this 
 tyrannical- conduct the minds of the colo- 
 nists were completely alienated from the 
 mother country. They soon assumed to 
 themselves the title of an independent re- 
 public ; and after a disastrous and disgrace- 
 ful contest of eight years, Great Britain was 
 obliged to conclude a peace with them upon 
 their own terms, and formally to acknow- 
 ledge and ratify their independence, in 
 1783. 
 
 During the greatest part of this uftfortu- 
 nate struggle, the British ministry were able 
 to procure the assent of a majority of the 
 legislature to all their measures ; and im- 
 mense sums of money were voted by the 
 house of commons, to be wasted in defray- 
 ing the charges of military and naval expe- 
 ditions, planned withou-t wisdom and exe- 
 cuted without ability. At length, however 
 the eyes of the whole nation were opened. 
 The house of commons found it impossible 
 any longer to turn a deaf ear to the remon-
 
 BU1TISH CONSTITUTION. 149 
 
 strances and petitions which poured upon 
 them from every quarter. Converts were 
 at length made even in the government 
 party by the eloquent and patriotic oppo- 
 nents of the American war ; and the mi- 
 nistry could no longer be protected from the 
 execrations which their misconduct had 
 drawn upon them from every rank of the 
 people. 
 
 An immense number of petitions from all 
 parts of the nation against the ruinous mea- 
 sures which had been so long persevered in, 
 were appointed for consideration on the 6th 
 of April, 1780. They were ushered in by 
 an eloquent speech from Mr, Dunning, in 
 which the many fruitless attempts that had 
 been made to introduce reformation and eco- 
 nomy into the measures of government were 
 set forth. These, he said, had been de- 
 feated by the undue preponderance which 
 royal influence had acquired through the 
 artifices and intrigues of ministers ; he 
 therefore, concluded by moving, as a resolu- 
 tion of the house of commons, " That the 
 influence of the crown had increased, was
 
 J50 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 
 
 increasing, and ought to be diminished.'-* 
 To the utter confusion of ministry this reso-r 
 lution was carried, after a long and violent 
 debate ; and it stands on the records of 
 parliament as a lasting testimony of the base 
 arts which have been resorted to by an un r 
 principled administration to keep possession 
 of that temporary authority which they 
 owed not to the affections of the people. 
 
 But the discomfiture of administration 
 was not yet complete. Although the me- 
 morable resolution of the 6th of April wa,s 
 followed up by others of a similar tendency, 
 and which were likewise carried by a ma- 
 jority of the commons, the ministers dj4 
 not retire from their post ; anql were able, 
 by various expedients, to bring back a cer- 
 tain portion of their adherents to their dis- 
 honoured standard. The alarming riots 
 which about this tjme took place in Lon- 
 don, and other great towns, excited by trje 
 senseless outcry against the restoration pf 
 popery, completely ingrpssed the public at- 
 tention ; and served for a time to suspend 
 the ardour of the ministerial opponents.
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION". 15J 
 
 But the storm which had been lulled for 
 a time, broke .at length upon their heads 
 with redoubled fury. A new parliament 
 was summoned in the year 17.81, in which 
 the measures of administration were sup- 
 ported by a very slender, and daily decreas- 
 ing majority. At length Lord North, after 
 having repeatedly withstood the disgrace of 
 being left in a minority of the representa- 
 tives of the people, gave notice, in order to 
 prevent a vote of censure that was preparing 
 against him, that he was about to resign 
 his office. Early in t^e year 1782 he and 
 his colleagues withdrew from the direction of 
 public affairs ; and the event was hailed by 
 the nation with all the exultation which 
 could have been produced by the most 
 glorious victory. 
 
 Let us fervently implore that pur country 
 may escape N .the calamity of being again en- 
 trusted, for any length of time, to the 
 guidance of so weak, unpopular, and un- 
 principled an administration. So long a se- 
 fies of disasters, so inglorious an aera, can
 
 152 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 scarcely be pointed out in our annals, From 
 the first establishment of the Saxon inva- 
 ders to the present hour. At the dismissal 
 of Lord Chatham from office in 1?63, we 
 behold the British empire in the full zenith 
 of its power, and the British character in 
 the meridian of its glory. Scarcely have 
 the reins of government been seized by his 
 unworthy successors, than the honour of the 
 British name is tarnished ; faction rears her 
 hydra head ; the authority of the legislature 
 sinks into contempt , the strong hand of 
 power is employed, but employed in vain, 
 to quell the murmurs of the people ; the 
 hitherto unsullied fountains of justice are 
 corrupted, to advance the purposes of those 
 in authority ; and the privileges of the exe- 
 cutive are abused, in support of an arbi^ 
 trary administration. At length a civil war 
 breaks out ; the resources of the state are 
 exhausted in carrying on a ruinous contest 
 with a part of its own subjects ; the hitherto 
 victorious arms of the kingdom are covered 
 with defeat and disaster , and the contest
 
 CONSTITUTION. 
 
 terminates in the dismemberment of the em- 
 pire, and the too long delayed disgrace of 
 the ministry. 
 
 It manifestly follows, from this simple 
 statement of facts, that the greatest cala- 
 mity which can befal our country, is to be 
 placed under the guidance of a weak and 
 corrupt administration. Under the baleful 
 influence of an impolitic and unprincipled 
 set of ministers, the fairest productions of 
 this soil of liberty are blasted. The patrio- 
 tism of our legislators is lulled asleep -, thfc 
 independence of our elections is shaken by 
 bribery ; an undue controul pervades even 
 the courts of justice ; and every department 
 of the constitution suffers under the de- 
 gasing effects of corruption. Like a gan- 
 grene at the heart, this destructive poison 
 palsies the vigour of every member of the 
 body politic, and renders the whole an 
 inert and useless mass. The voice of the 
 people alone remains to administer a remedy 
 for so fatal a disease. This, though it may 
 long be contemned, will at length prevail. 
 Ministerial intrigues have fortunately been
 
 154 PRESENT ST4-TE OF THE 
 
 found impotent, when directed against tho 
 the freedom of British speech, or the 1U 
 cence of the British press. Britons are fully 
 aware that this now constitutes the palla- 
 dium of their liberties j and that while there 
 is a liberality of sentiment generally diffused 
 through the nation, the measures of those 
 in power must in the end be made to adapt 
 themselves to public opinion. 
 
 This privilege has become the more truly 
 valuable, because the acknowledged consti- 
 tutional check upon the corruptness of mi- 
 nistry has been altogether abandoned. No 
 ministers have been impeached for miscon- 
 duct since the beginning of the reign of 
 George I. ; and the bad success of the pro- 
 secution which was then instituted against 
 the advisers of the treaty of Utrecht, seems 
 jto have set this watchful dragon of the con- 
 stitution finally asleep. One cause of this 
 is to be sought in the sanction which all 
 public measures must now receive, either 
 directly or indirectly, from parliament. The 
 minister can now do little without a vote of 
 the house of commons j and it is not to be
 
 pxpected that the same, qr even a succeed^ 
 ing parliament, would voluntarily affix a 
 stigma upon measures in which parliament 
 itself had so remarkable a share. There is 
 the' greater reason that the people should 
 cherish the privilege which they enjoy, of 
 arraigning the measures of all in power, 
 before that high, and generally most impar- 
 tial tribunal, the public. 
 
 The political events, and the changes of 
 administration which have taken place since 
 the removal of Lord North from office, are 
 so completely in the recollection of the 
 public- that I shall dismiss them with a 
 very lew observations. Among the minis- 
 ters who then came into power, the princi- 
 pal leaders of the opposition, who possessed 
 the confidence of the people, formed a con- 
 spicuojiis part. Among these, Lord Shel- 
 burne, Mr. Fox, Mr. Burke, and Mr. 
 Dunning were the most remarkable. The 
 work of pacification was immediately be- 
 gan ; but befpre it had made great progress, 
 the bond of union among ministers w\is de- 
 troyed f by the death of the marquis of
 
 156 PRESENT STATE OF THZ 
 
 Rockingham : and Lord Shelbume was left 
 to complete the treaty of peace with Ame- 
 rica, and the other belligerent powers. 
 When deserted by Mr. Fox, Mr. Burke, 
 and others of his colleagues, he found means 
 to attach to his interest Mr. William Pitt, 
 second son of the illustrious Lord Chatham ; 
 who became the leading man in administra- 
 tion, when the unpopularity of the articles 
 of peace obliged Lord Shelburne to retire. 
 
 Of the long and arduous administration 
 of this celebrated statesman I shall not at- 
 tempt to give a character. For many years 
 he was undoubtedly the minister of tfye peo- 
 ple 5 and his country derived important be- 
 nefits from the arrangement which he in- 
 troduced into its disordered finances, and 
 the dignity with which he maintained its 
 rights against foreign assailants. If all his 
 public measures were not characterised by 
 wisdom or prudence, and if he too rashly 
 plunged the nation into the most perilous war 
 in which it has ever been ^engaged ; his errors 
 may be palliated by the arduous and unusual 
 character of the times in which -he lived*
 
 BfclTISH CONSTITUTION. 157 
 
 Less apology can be made for his lavish pro- 
 fusion of public money j and the indiffer- 
 ence with which he saw the burthens of 
 the people accumulated to an intolerable 
 magnitude. 
 
 The short administration of Lord Sid- 
 mouth was characterised by the amiable wish 
 of conciliating the public mind ; and the 
 transient peace which it was his fortune to 
 conclude with the imperious ruler of France, 
 seems to have been prompted by the patrio- 
 tic desire of alleviating the burthens of the 
 nation. When no longer able to maintain 
 the popularity with which his administration 
 commenced, this unambitious statesman re- 
 signed, without a struggle, the reins of go- 
 vernment into the hands from hwich he had 
 so lately received them. 
 
 No circumstance in the public life of Mr. 
 Pitt is so mysterious, or so little calculated 
 to add to his glory, as his second coming 
 into office. It is impossible to resist the in- 
 ference, that the love of power had more 
 share in prompting this resolution, and in 
 suggesting the expedients by which it was
 
 PRESENT STATE or THE 
 
 carried into effect, than the love of 
 country. But his political career was soort 
 to be drawn to a close ; and he was doomed 
 to resign his office, with his life, at a period 
 when his favorite measure of a continental 
 coalition was involved in the most unlocked 
 for disasters^ Let us tread lightly over his 
 ashes ! let us reverence the political and the 
 personal virtues of the son of Chatham ! 
 and let us not wonder, that ih times of the 
 most difficult complexion, his measures 
 were rarely crowned with their anticipated 
 siccess.- 
 
 On the death of Mr. Pitt, his colleagues 
 in office, from an avowed consciousness of 
 inability, voluntarily withdrew from the helm 
 of affairs j and an administration, including 
 the leading men of all other parties in the 
 kingdom was immediately formed. One of 
 the most illustrious ornaments of this admi- 
 nistration, Mr. Fox, was doomed in less 
 than a year to share the* fate of his great 
 political opponent : and thus was the coun- 
 try almost at once deprived of the talents of 
 two of its most distinguished statesmen.-*-
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 159 
 
 Notwithstanding the irreparable loss which 
 the new administration had thus sustained, 
 its measures were conducted with undimi- 
 nished vigour -, arid a variety of the most 
 salutary and beneficial regulations had 
 secured it the confidence of the country, 
 when it was fated to experience a most sud- 
 den and unexpected overthrow. The affec- 
 tions of his majesty were suddenly alienated 
 from his servants j and although the obnox- 
 ious measure which had produced this alie- 
 nation was relinquished, a good understand- 
 ing could not be restored without conces- 
 sions which the ministry deemed incompa- 
 tible with their duty to the country. They 
 were therefore dismissed from his majesty's 
 councils, and their political opponents were 
 entrusted with the management of public 
 affairs. 
 
 I shall not enter into the controversy 
 which this great political revolution has ex- 
 cited, farther than to state, that the advo- 
 cates of the new ministry take an unfair 
 advantage, when they attribute the dismissal 
 of their opponents to their obstinate adhe-
 
 160 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 ? V J !; 
 
 rence to the measure of catholic emancipa- 
 tion. That measure was at once abandoned 
 when it was found to be completely repug- 
 nant to the royal will : and toe refusal of 
 an obligation to renounce for ever all mea- 
 sures of a similar tendency w<$ the sole os- 
 tensible cause of the removaj of the late ad- 
 ministration. If the conduct of that admi- 
 nistration was acceptable to the great body 
 of the people, and if the measures which 
 they pursued were fitted to promote the 
 public good, the nation will indeed have 
 cause to regret that they were dismissed 
 from power for refusing to grant what they 
 considered as an unconstitutional pledge; 
 and that the executive authority has been 
 entrusted to set of men, who so lately 
 shrunk from the charge with conscious 
 impotence. 
 
 To what are we to ascribe this sudden al- 
 teration in the estimate which the new mi- 
 nisters have formed of their own abilities ? 
 Has their political experience been so much 
 improved since the death of Mr. Pitt, that 
 they now feel themselves competent tpdis-
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. l6l 
 
 charge of duties which were then too 
 weighty for their powers ? or do they not 
 rather think that their errors may escape 
 with greater impunity, since that watchful 
 guardian of the constitution, whose vigi- 
 lance was peculiarly directed against the po- 
 litical crimes of the party to which they 
 belong, has been called away by the irre- 
 sistable mandates of fate ? Certainly no 
 event is so adequate as the death of Mr, 
 Fox to explain the confidence which the 
 present ministers avow in their ability to 
 direct the nation; and there is much 
 internal probability in the doctrine, that 
 from the moment when the country 
 sustained that irreparable loss a plan was 
 concerted among those who are now in 
 power, to exclude from his majesty's 
 councils a set of men, whose talents and 
 patriotism could not save them from the 
 hostility and reproach of their political 
 opponents. 
 
 To screen themselves, however, from this 
 obnoxious imputation, they have propagated 
 
 M
 
 162 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 the monstrous doctrine that the king alone 
 is responsible for the dismissal of the late 
 administration. That it was a measure 
 which flowed solely from the royal sug- 
 gestion, and of which no adviser is to be 
 found. Are we then to relinquish that in- 
 valuable maxim of our constitution, that 
 the King can do no wrong? Are the af- 
 fections of the subject to be alienated from 
 the crown, and his allegiance shaken, in 
 order that ministers may be saved from a 
 disagreeable scrutiny ; or are we not ra- 
 ther to hold fast by that canon of our in- 
 
 / 
 
 dependence, which asserts that for every 
 public measure there is a responsible ad- 
 viser ; and that the minister who comes 
 into power, in consequence of a resolution 
 expressed by his royal master, becomes 
 immediately answerable for all the conse- 
 ' quences of that resolution? If this posi- 
 tion be relinquished, it necessarily follows, 
 as recently remarked by an eloquent and 
 patriotic statesman, that " the people may 
 be without redress, or the sovereign with-
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 163 
 
 out security:- by the constitution both are 
 impossible/' * 
 
 But it will not be denied by the most 
 partial advocates of the present ministers 
 that they alone are responsible for the most 
 ungracious stretch of prerogative that has 
 taken place since theaera of the Revolution. 
 I mean the dissolution of the late parlia- 
 ment. To what public purpose can this 
 be assigned but a subserviency to the con- 
 venience of those who are now in office? 
 In order that they may have leisure and 
 opportunity to organize a troop of obse- 
 quious adherents, and to obtain that in- 
 fluence in the legislature which they found 
 they did not possess, the country must be 
 thrown prematurely into the ferment of a 
 general election. A parliament, which had 
 not completed its first session, and which 
 yet had secured the public confidence by a 
 series, of measures gf unprecedented wis- 
 dom and patriotism, must be doomed to 
 
 * See Mr. Whiibread's Address to the Electors of 
 Bedford. 
 
 M 2
 
 164 PRESENT STATE OF THE" 
 
 instantaneous dissolution. The proposal 
 for the better education of the poor, the 
 reform of Scottish jurisprudence, the in- 
 quiry into the peculations and abuses of 
 office, must all be allowed to stand still, 
 or must be crushed in their infancy, in 
 order that ministers may find the means of 
 securing a majority of the commons to 
 sanction whatever measures they may here- 
 after think proper to propose. Is then the 
 privilege of a legislator of so little value 
 that it may thus be sported with by the 
 breath of those who bask in the sunshine 
 of power? Are we so jealous of our pro- 
 perty, and can we thus allow our most 
 valuable franchises to be forcibly wrested 
 from us ? Surely ministry know that a 
 seat in the house of commons is not often 
 obtained without much trouble and consi- 
 der ble expence, and that it is little better 
 than robbery thus violently to deprive a 
 man of that of which he possessed himself 
 under the belief of public good faith, and 
 an adherence to the common practices of 
 the constitution.
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 165 
 
 I disclaim all hostility against the pre- 
 sent ministers : but I cannot approve of 
 the expedients by which they have come 
 into office ; and I must unequivoeably 
 condemn this first and most extraordinary 
 exertion of their authority, the dissolution 
 of parliament. If their future measures 
 are to be of a similar complexion ; if they 
 are to sacrifice to their own private con- 
 venience the wishes and interests of the 
 people ; if they are to crush opposition by 
 the strong hand of power ; if they are to 
 discourage reform ; and check all inquiry 
 into abuses ; then, indeed, shall we have 
 occasion to deprecate the a?ra of their ele- 
 vation. Then shall we have just cause of 
 alarm for the safety of our rights ; then 
 may we safely declare that the principles 
 of the constitution are attacked, and that 
 the republic is in danger. 
 
 But let us augur a better fate to our 
 country ! Let us hope that his Majesty's 
 counsellors will find it most expedient to 
 pursue those measures by which our na- 
 tional prosperity may be truly prompted ;
 
 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 and that they will not spurn at the im- 
 provement of our laws, or the reformation 
 of abuses, merely because they have been 
 projected by their political opponents. Or 
 if their patriotism prove insufficient to 
 counteract their selfishness; if corruption 
 and oppression are again to rear their gor- 
 gon forms ; let us hope that our legislators 
 will cover themselves with the armour of 
 integrity, and oppose an effectual resist- 
 ance to this fatal and petrifying influence. 
 Let us hope that our gracious monarch 
 will lend a willing ear to the solicitations 
 of his faithful and affectionate people ; that 
 'he will yield to the fervent wishes of a 
 loyal and united nation; and dismiss from 
 his councils a set of men -who have for- 
 feited the public confidence, and tampered 
 with the affections of a generous and indul- 
 gent master. 
 
 Let not the history of the first years of 
 the present reign be speedily forgotten. 
 Let it be remembered that if the confi- 
 dence of the king be reposed in unworthy 
 objects, the interests of the people are sa-
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION* 16Y 
 
 crificed, and their affections forfeited. By 
 supporting a weak or flagitious administra- 
 tion, the nation may be precipitated from 
 the zenith of glory to the extreme of de- 
 gradation and shame; by dismissing a mi- 
 nister when declared incompetent by the 
 voice of his fellow citizens, the nation may 
 be saved, and has already been repeatedly 
 snatched from impending ruin. There is 
 no error into which an amiable monarch is 
 more liable to fall than an undue attach- 
 ment to those who have procured his per- 
 sonal favour. The fickleness of which the 
 great are often accused cannot certainly 
 be praised; but there is a steadfastness in 
 those who have power which may be infi- 
 nitely more dangerous. The inflexible 
 majesty of the oak is an object of our ad- 
 miration ; but it often exposes its branches 
 to be shattered in the storm. If we ex- 
 amine the history of our country we shall 
 find that attachment to favouritism has 
 proved the ruin of more than one accom- 
 plished prince. It precipitated to an un- 
 timely end the second Edward and the
 
 168 PltESEXT STAtE OF THE 
 
 second Richard ; it deprived the first 
 James of all his popularity ; and it was one 
 of the chief causes of the dethronement and 
 murder of his son the unfortunate Charles. 
 It is indeed, peculiarly galling to an inde- 
 pendent and high minded people, to be 
 subject to the sway of an upstart minion. 
 In the hands of such a phantom of power, 
 legitimate authority itself is reluctantly 
 obeyed, and assumes the ungainly aspect of 
 usurpation and oppression. The tyranny 
 of a Henry VIII. or even of a Mary, was 
 more cheerfully borne than the unprinci- 
 pled encroachments of a Buckingham, or 
 the religious austerity of a Laud. When 
 the stream of royal favour is diffused 
 through a mean channel, it becomes con- 
 taminated and debased ; and when the 
 flame of royal displeasure is transmitted 
 through an impure medium, it is magnified 
 and distorted into an insufferable glare. 
 
 The love of his people is to a British 
 monarch at dnce a soirrce of pleasure and 
 of power. Secure in the affections of the 
 nation, up exertion of his authority will
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 
 
 be questioned; deprived of this support 
 the slightest stretch of prerogative becomes 
 intolerable. " Happy that nation," exclaims 
 Helvetius, " of which Gourville was able 
 to say, their king, when he is the man of 
 his people, is the greatest king in the 
 world : does he wish to be more ? he be- 
 comes nothing*"* This saying of .Gour- 
 ville was repeated by Sir William Temple 
 to Charles II. The monarch was at first 
 offended ; but, suddenly recovering him- 
 self he pressed the hand of Temple, and 
 said : "Gourville is right; and I will strive 
 to be the man of my people." Let us re- 
 joice that we, at present, possess a monarch 
 who, on manifold occasions, has proved, 
 that the welfare of his people is the object 
 nearest to his heart ; and let us trust that 
 the love which our King bears to his 
 
 * Heureuse la nation de qui Gourville a pu 
 dire: "son roi lorsqu' il est 1'homme de~~son peu- 
 ple, est le phis grand roi du monde : veut-il etre 
 plus? il n'est rien." 
 
 (De 1'homme, sect. 6. ch. 16.)
 
 170 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 faithful subjects will guard him against the 
 machinations of self-interested statesmen, 
 and enable him to penetrate through the 
 veil which court intrigue may too often 
 endeavour to cast before his eyes.
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 171 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 THE liberty and independence which are 
 secured to Britons by their political con- 
 stitution are an inheritance which they 
 owe to the persevering fortitude, the wis- 
 dom, and the enterprise of their ancestors. 
 British freedom is not the production of a 
 day ; it is not a possession which has 
 dropt from the clouds ; but it is a property 
 which has been won by much labour and 
 many struggles ; and of which the value 
 has been proved and established by the 
 test of long experience. It has been the 
 genius of the British nation to resist every 
 tyrannical and oppressive act of their 
 rulers ; and to secure, as occasions occur- 
 red, their highly prized independence from 
 the encroachments of power, by the posi- 
 tive restraints of law. Hence at length 
 arose an admirable system of political re- 
 gulations, by which the power of all the
 
 (72 PRESENT STATE OF TUB 
 
 constituted authorities of the state were 
 strictly defined ; and their tendency to in- 
 fringe the liberties of the people was guard- 
 ed against by a series of appropriate 
 checks. 
 
 Previous to the establishment of the 
 British Constitution there is no example 
 in the history of mankind of a govern- 
 ment of which it was the aim to diffuse 
 the enjoyment of liberty through a mul- 
 titude of people, spread over a wide ex- 
 tent of territory. In the ancient republics 
 of Greece and Rome, political freedom, 
 so far as it was secured by positive laws, 
 was enjoyed only by the inhabitants of a 
 single city, and in the remaining territory 
 of the state, the most oppressive slavery 
 was generally enforced. Those states of 
 modern Italy which were called republics, 
 were of very inconsiderable extent ; and 
 bestowed very unequal privileges upon their 
 citizens. The same was true of the Swiss 
 Cantons ; and of the U nited Provinces of 
 the Netherlands ; for notwithstanding the 
 confederacy by which these were connect-
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 173 
 
 
 
 ed, every particular province, and even 
 every considerable town, was governed by 
 regulations peculiar to iteelf. But it 13 
 the object of the constitution of Great 
 Britain to diffuse liberty and -equal rights 
 throughout the whole mass of the British 
 people. It avows o distinction between 
 the inhabitants of the capital and those 
 of the provinces ; but extends its protec- 
 tion and its privileges to the nearest and 
 the most remote, the richest and the poor- 
 est, the greatest and the humblest, in a 
 just and equitable proportion. 
 
 From this arises .oe great security of 
 British independence. The people at large 
 .are sensible of the privileges which they 
 enjoy, and jealous of their infringement. 
 The watch-word of liberty has been echoed 
 in their ears from the very moment of 
 their birth. They know that at its sound 
 their ancestors were .accustomed to rally ; 
 and to contend with unconquerable zeal for 
 the security of that which they held more 
 dear than life itself. The British people, 
 therefore., are disposed by na-ture to keep
 
 174- PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 a jealous eye on the conduct of those in 
 power ; and are ever ready to inquire into 
 the abuse of public trust, and the direlec- 
 tion of public duty. The general diffusion 
 of liberal information throughout the mass 
 of the British nation, affords the best secu- 
 rity that this powerful check will beusefully 
 exercised. In no country is there to be 
 found so large a proportion of liberal and 
 enlightened citizens, as in Britain. No 
 where else do we find so independent, and 
 well-informed a set of landed proprietors, 
 no where else is there so wealthy and 
 public-spirited a mercantile body ; and no 
 where else are the farmers, labourers, and 
 mechanics on so respectable a footing. 
 This is the solid basis on which the py- 
 ramid of our government rests. This is 
 the rich and fertile soil in which the roots 
 of the tree of freedom are so firmly fixed, 
 that we may confide in its withstanding the 
 rudest shocks, 
 
 The liberality of public sentiment which 
 is characteristic of Britain, is promoted 
 and secured by the unrestrained freedom
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 175 
 
 of speech and writing which British sub- 
 jects enjoy. In this happy country the 
 press is open to all ; and no public censor 
 can interpose his negative on any appeal 
 which an individual may think fit to make 
 to his fellow citizens. He may indeed be 
 called to account for what he has publish- 
 ed ; and if found guilty of treason, blas- 
 phemy, sedition, or calumny, is liable to be 
 severely punished. But this sentence can- 
 not be passed upon him without the ver- 
 dict of his peers ; and is only a salutary- 
 check which every government ought to 
 set upon absolute licentiousness. It is ah-* 
 surd then to ask, as has been done by De- 
 lolme and others, by what positive law is 
 the liberty of the British press secured ? 
 The liberty of the press evidently consists 
 in this, that there is no examination of 
 
 f 
 
 writings previous to their being published ; 
 and that by the law of the land the public 
 is constituted the only judge and censor 
 of all writings directed to itself. 
 
 The practical benefit of our unrestrain- 
 ed press is evinced in the prodigious mass
 
 1/6 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 of periodical information "which almost 
 daily issues from it. To enumerate the 
 newspapers, magazines, reviews, literary 
 journals, and other ephemeral publication* 
 which are now brought before the British 
 public would be a laborious and a tedious 
 task. The effect of these in diffusing in- 
 formation through the great body of the 
 people is beyond calculation. Their num- 
 ber proves that their circulation is im- 
 inense ;, and their price adapts them to the 
 finances of almost every cla^s of the peo- 
 ple. It cannot indeed be said of a great 
 ^proportion of these periodical productions, 
 that they are calculated to give a profound 
 and accurate notion of the subjects on 
 which they treat ; but they all tend to 
 keep alive a spirit of inquiry and free dis- 
 cussion : they accustom the people to ex- 
 ,eax)ise their understanding, and to hear 
 public men and public measures freely ex- 
 amined and criticised. The encourage- 
 ment which some of our newspapers now 
 receive, is sufficient to enable them to 
 ke the most liberal provision for obtain-
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 177 
 
 ing accurate information ; and it must have 
 surprised every one who paid attention to 
 the reports which were circulated at the 
 time of the late change of ministry, to 
 
 O / ' 
 
 find that the statements in the public prints 
 exactly corresponded with the explanations 
 which were afterwards officially communi- 
 cated to the legislature. On that memo- 
 rable occasion we found the members both 
 of the old and the new cabinet, solicitous to 
 make a favourable impression on the public 
 mind, through the channel of the journals of 
 the day ; and adopting the extraordinary 
 resolution of communicating to the nation 
 through such a channel, the minutes even 
 of the privy council. \Vhatever we may 
 think of the wisdom or expediency of this 
 measure, it serves at any rate to establish 
 the high- respect which ministers pay to 
 public opinion ; and the benefits which the 
 people of Britain derive from a free 
 press. 
 
 This liberality and independence of public 
 opinion, thus freely expressed, I conceive to 
 operate as a powerful check against the abuse
 
 178 PRESENT STATE OF THE 
 
 of certain privilegeswhich the British consti- 
 tution recognizes, and for which it has pro- 
 vided no effectual legal controul. Of these 
 the most dangerous is the influence which the 
 ministers of the crown now possess over the 
 different branches of the legislature, in con- 
 sequence of their extensive patronage and 
 command of public money. Against the un- 
 due exercise of this influence there at present 
 exists no adequate constitutional check ; for 
 the impeachment of ministers, like the royal 
 veto, has become a dead letter of the consti- 
 tution. Could we obtain that parliamentary 
 reform which has been so often projected, by 
 which the burghs, emphatically called rotten, 
 would be deprived of a franchise which they 
 so shamefully abuse ; and the members of 
 the house of commons would become in reali- 
 ty what at present many of them are but in 
 name, the representatives of the people :- 
 could we at the same time procure some 
 limitation of. the power which the crown pos- 
 sesses of increasing the number of the peers 
 at pleasure ; and of pronouncing an inslan- 
 faneous sentence of dissolution on paiiia-
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 379 
 
 ment ; then we might hope that our le^ 
 gislators would spurn at the overtures of 
 ministerial favour ; that they would employ 
 their talents in advancing the welfare of 
 their country; and be more flattered by 
 obtaining the applause of the people, than 
 the smiles of the court. 
 
 But constituted as things are at present, 
 it becomes the public to be no less vigilant 
 of the conduct of their legislators, than 
 watchful of the excesses of the executive 
 authority. If arbitrary measures are 
 adopted by government, it is no alleviation 
 to the people that they receive the sanction 
 of a house of commons ; and since the 
 system of influence has been carried into 
 effect we ought to be as jealous of the 
 privileges of the legislature, as of the pre- 
 rogative of the crown. A system of ty- 
 ranny, concealed by the cloak of constitu- 
 tional law, is more dangerous, because less 
 suspected than an avowed despotism. The 
 assassin who stabs you in the dark is not 
 less formidable than the bravo who attempts 
 your "life in open day. It becomes the
 
 180 PRESENT StATfc OF THE 
 
 people to take care, that while the forms of 
 liberty remain, its essence does not entirely 
 evaporate ; and that the constitution does 
 not sink into a mere caput mortuumi a 
 vapid mass of dregs, from which the 
 animating spirit has been allowed to 
 escape. 
 
 If the people are vigilant, and scruple 
 not to claim those rights with which the 
 
 o 
 
 constitution has invested them, a prudent 
 minister will b3 cautious how he pushes to 
 extremity the prerogatives which yet re- 
 main without dispute to the crown. He 
 will recollect that excessive stretches of pre- 
 rogative have in this country been invaria- 
 bly followed by the enactment of consti- 
 tutional checks to remedy the grievance; 
 and he will be careful of rousing that re~ 
 listless ardour of the British people, which, 
 in former times, produced the Magna 
 Chart a, the Petition of Right, and the 
 Act of Settlement. If prerogative and 
 privilege be exercised with moderation, 
 they will be allowed to pass unquestioned: 
 but if they become oppressive, the desire to
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 181 
 
 restrict them will .assuredly be excited. 
 While a wen can be kept kept down by 
 palliatives, its inconvenience is little felt ; 
 but if it becomes unweildy, recourse must 
 be had to the incision- knife, or searing- 
 iron. 
 
 Let every inhabitant of Britain recol- 
 lect, that, as far as his abilities enable him, 
 he is Constituted by birthright a guardian 
 of British independence, and an assertor 
 of the integrity of the British Constitu- 
 tion. Our laws and liberty have been 
 earned by the people, and by the people 
 they must be defended. If the people are 
 true to themselves, no minister will dare 
 to attack their privileges ; but if they be- 
 come supine, and callous to the encroach- 
 ments of those who are possessed of power, 
 the cause of liberty is lost, and the bar- 
 riers of the constitution are overthrown. 
 
 Let us then be vigilant in detecting, and 
 zealous in bringing to shame the base ma- 
 chinations of the enemies of our inde- 
 pendence ; and -let us not lose that repu- 
 tation which the arduous struggles of ages 
 
 oo o
 
 182 FUESEXT STATE, &C. 
 
 have acquired to our nation. Let us shew 
 that we still are what a iiberal Frenchman 
 pronounced us to be in the last century, a 
 people happy above all nations in the be- 
 nefits flowing from our religion, our com- 
 merce, and our liberty. " C'est le peuple 
 da monde" says the philosophical Montes- 
 quieu, speaking of the English nation^ " qui 
 a le mleux sen se prevaloir & la fois de 
 ccs trois grandes choses, la religion, le 
 commerce, fy la liberte." 
 
 THE END, 
 
 Bla^ktitt, Printer, Took'* Out, Chancery LUM. 
 
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