The Sun.
London, England, 1803-07-19 00:00:00

THE

eions mode of
.acquiring possession of parts of the
public prOperty as may be necessary for the public
safety in case of an emergency; and the Bill con.
rained other provisions, providing a summary mode
for indeMnifying. those persons who,may suffer in
their property by this measure, either in defence of
the Country preparatory to an Invasion, or in con-
sequence of an aetual Invasion. The first part of
the measure ht had to propose partook of the nature
and followed the provisions, in many respeCts, some
being nearly the same as that which was passed in
the last War, in the year 1798. It appeared to
His Majesty's Ministers that the late Bill for the
defence of the Cotintly did not go far enough. It
was defeCtive in one material point, namely, in not
distinCtly enabling,. His Majesty to avail himself of
his ancient and undoubted prerogative of command.
ing the military service of all his liege subjects,
and to call upon them to bear arms in case of lava.,
sion by a foreign enemy. The Bill to
.which,
had alluded went no further, than to give to His
Majesty in account of the population of site Conn.:
try, with a view ultitnately to the °Nett pointetat
in the Bill, and likewise to take other measures
with' respect to property as he had deictibed.. Now,
what he had stated, that, it was the ancient and on,
doubted prerogative of the Crown of this Realm .to
command the military service of its subjects to bear
arms, was its, clear, that he apprehended he need not
labour much to prove it. It was laid
,down by the
best authoritie', and it never had been disputed by
any, that it was the ancient .and undoubted right of
the Crown of England to command the military-ser-
vice of its Subjects against the Invasioaof a foreign
enemy. This was 'a point so plain,. that he did
not apprehend any Gentleman irethat House would
dist use. it ; on the contrary, every Gentleman in
the H,,use, he believed, would readily agree' to it ;
but altiviugh this be indisputable in his opinion, yet
it would be helmet, perhaps, to state very shortly
the general principles of the law upon this subject,
as it was to be found in the books, , and to refer to
one or two precedents to be found on the Rolls Of.
Parliament, which would put the point beyond all
doubt, if it was possible that any doubt could he
entertained. [Here he quoted a passage from
Blackstone on the subject of the Royal Prerogative,
'by which every liege subject is compelled to give
military service to the Crown, and to take. up arms
at the command of the Crown, in Case of Invasion.]
In this manner. Were the general principles of the
Constitution of England 'laid down by Blackstone,
who was an indispotableauthority upon this point ;
but he ShOuld recr shortly to one or two authori-
ties whence this &thine was 'taken, and which ren.
tiered it quite indisputable. The first of Fatw. 111.
Statute 2, cap. 5, Which enacted, '' It is thelCing's
will that no man be compelled to go out of the.
ibire but when ner,-.H•. trvittircrb, and t4t4.it
shall'be done as in time pastk for the defence of the
Realm." Certainly this must be taken to be, at
that time, a parliamentary recognition of the law.
So again it. was to be found' in the fifth of Henry
IV. Upon a Petition of the Commons, it appeared
that the form of army' was to -be I.ttled in Parlia.
tnent, and the proceeding upon (his Petition hail the
effect to all inteitts and purposes of an aCt. of Parlia.
ment. This would be' found in the Rolls of Parlia-
ment of the fifth of Henry IV. No. 24-5, upon the
stdjeCt of :dray,

[fare he read the entry upon the Roll, by which it op-
pears, amongst other *limp to the like etteti, " That all
those who are able or hotly and fit lor arming, and who have
means of thi:ir own, to arni themselves, every one
actviciiii,; to his state and faculty, and to be disposed 01 by
'the Clown, and to march them to the Coast of the Sett, and
other places, wherein to destroy our enemy 1101 - time 16
time, as danger, shalt approach.' •

This he conceived to lies complete 'Parliamentary:
recognition of the ancient prerogative of the Crown,
and which be conceived to be the Law of this Land
at this day, it, every reaped whatever. This then
being the Law of the Realm, it 'alight be asked,
Why is it tiecessary.to call the attention of Parlia-
ment :to any Parliamentary measure to enforce that
which was already law? To this the answer waa
easy acid short. It was because the process by
which that prerogative of .the Crown, and the duty
of the subjea, to be enforced by the common law,
was too tedious for the present purpose, for it pro.
vided that the. Ratty whose service was required.
should he summoned for that purpose, and for, dis. '
obedience might be fined and imprisoned ; 'that was
the course winch was to' be taken by the law as it
now stands. Every one could easily see that this:
-would not suit our preient purpose, for the case to
which he referred was the case 61 aaual Invasion
of this Realm, and that was in fa& threatened. It
was therefore on chat principle necessary, with a
view to the 'eflicacioua and prompt exercise of the
prerogative of the Crown, so indisputably possessed
by the Crown for the Public safety, to adopt ionic.
thing less circuitous, and mote decisive and effec-
tual for immediate.purposes; it was with that view
.that he proposed to,bring forward the present mea.,
sure. It was unnecessary, at.; he apprehended, for
him to argue at length the necessity of such a' urea-
sore ; however, he should take a short view of it.
In the
_first place, the situation in which this
Country stands, was perfealy well knoWn to
every one in that House, indeed to every body
in the Country. It was well known that the
Enemy with whom we had now to 'Contend was
an Enemy the most insolent that ever this Criuntry
bad to contend with, and certainty riot the least
powerful, tied now not only menacing us with lova.
sion, but., was making aaual,preparations for that
purpose; who had avowed.an intention not only of
contaminating the, shores of this Country with his
foOtsteps, but aflually meditated the subjugation of
the Country. The force we had by Sea alai Land
was undoubtedly very formidable, but when we
considered that the Enemy was at-this time pos. I
aes:ied of a very considerable power on the Conti:.