The Sun.
London, England, 1820-03-17 00:00:00

Ri:_ifirs AND PitiviLEGEs.

JOUN IJE7//„ 1:1Q.

LETITE.vii

iii,NcsTJons—Y,tir E!cctioni are now nearly
You have already-given the go-by to some
of the self-esteemed !rites or wise wen of the last

frbet.

Wittrirrigemo,v; and trtr±4t that by the time you

read this epistle, you +Ail Iltive a few others
to the right about, iosteaci diem to

disgrace the !most august Legislative A setilbly

that the world has ever yet produced. Neither
Greree nor Itonie, in their best days of liberty,
were able to show any iiiiug ctintil to tt British
Parliament. In Greece and whett.er Aris-

tocracy or Dcmocricy, wheTlier Oligarchy or
Au3rcliy (And there never was a me-
dium), still were thq Pcopie the dAyes of a par y.
But in a British so nicely hdlAnccd

are all the Ipn,•ers, and all ine interests, that no

ooe can pteilutnittate over !he others n•ithott' being

instantly checked ; thus btingin:4 all exuberant
povLer within bounds, ye. still adding strength to

the Constitution of the NAioo.

In short, the whole di•play of ltlective Fran-
cottpled as it i. with het editary claims to
I.,,gislative jurisdiction, mark+ most strongly the
supeniority of the present times, as to personal
liberty and constitutional influence, over those to
which we have art ived in our investiotion of your
Right's and Privileges, Jon NNY, at.the period of
the much-vaunted assemblage of the People, when
BazTAIN was divided jut° seven Saxon Kingdoms,
but none of them equal, in population and in
opulence, to a middle-sized County of the pre-
sent day. Yet I wish not to despise the institu-
tions of your Saxon Ancestors, many of whose
allodial tenures and customs- are interwoven in our
present social system, but tinged with feudal pe-
culiarities, not only from the Norman Invasion,
but also from the voluntary introduction of the
Friuli! System, which took place trs early as the
year -600 ; and with w hich came in the establish-

went of the Court of Lliaoce►y, by ETHELBERT,
King of Kent, ►Le first Christian King or Chick-

tai u, ii 60:).

Iliac Court, JOHNNY, is a safe Guardian of
your nights, your Privileges, and your Property;
and, !hal Property was then beginning to accu-
mulate in Britain, is evident from the fact, that in
694 the City of Lou►ion paid a sum in silver to
King of Wessex, equal to 90,000/. of our
present money.

There was one very wholesome right, my wor-
thy old Eriend, which your ancestors exercised at
that period, and which I shduld be happy to see
nor., in more general practise—every man then
brewed his own beer ; for there were no ale-houses
until 736, and no Brewers' 'Druggists for many
years afterwards ! At least I find no mention of
them in the early lists of the Lords Mayors of Lon-
dolt ; and the consequence was, that nobody was
forced-to take physic, except when their state of
health qatittired it.
IVllether ale-houses were then, as at present,
the seats of political discussion, it is now difficult
to ascertain. The Old Times are not so old as that
day ; and as for the Chronicle—why the ale then
was -strong, and the Pint, you know, talks only,
about " chronicling small beer," as vapid as its
politics. But if the ale-houses were filled with
Patriots, great must have been the speeehifica-
tions at the Crown and Anchor, and the London
Tavern, when F.:GBERT, seventy years after they
were established, also established the Union of the

Heptarchy into one Empire:
The melancholy truth must, however, be ac-
;know!edged, at least in regard to City politics,
when that important event took placf., that as
there were no Brewers' Druggists, so were
there no Ginspinners, Nay, as neither shirts,
nor even dandy-collars were then in fashion,
I ant also afraid that there were no litten-
irapers to regulate the public opinion, to take
the precise limhs of a political arrangement
by their own short measures, or to snip off
half a quarter and nail from whatever exceeded
the limits of their'own understanding. In short,
JOHNNY, I am afraid that your ancestors were de-
prived of one of your greatest pleasures, the plea-
sure of being told that you are ruined at the very
moment when you are growing richer, and living
better than ever you did in your life before, al-
though circumstances, for the moment, call upon
you to assist a tew of your very numerous family
with the necessaries of life, until your old cus-
tomers shall have recovered from the robberies
committed upon them by the Corsican Macheath.
In spite, however, of ale-house-politicians, the
Union under h;c e. 11 Is did take plare ; and from
that tooment did OLD ENuLAND begin to hold on
her head, and to maintain her Rights and Privi-
leges as a Kingdom amongst the Nations of
Europe ! -
From that erg you &hall, next weak, hones(
JoHN, start on a treih excursion with

Yours,

IGNOTUS.