The Sun.
London, England, 1820-05-12 00:00:00

POW6Rs of 1 HE CROWN.

ro JOHN llt LL, ESQ.

oNrST JOHN--You bare commenced a Par

ikonenTary Session, in which yoo and 1, two
plan toneat fellows, sta.,d a chance of being a
p,..z2leti n 0,,, and then by all the ingenuity
'of Ail •the Talents; unless we etrleavour to extti-

nor,dves frotm the net of sophistry, by a
accurate investigation of the principles which
fn s be:(l,-lit out tvio. a high hand, as the trump
'cards of kr.o4Vludge.
What with finessing Kings, bragging itlleens,

end 'iolding op Knaves, some folks in.ty expect to
get the odd trick ; but you and 1, .IM-INNY,Ist

jrari throngi, their trumps, force !heir honours,

end repiqoe •lietn before they c 41% coont oNE ! In

rlAin tenni, tre mils! ex,irnine their Hymned wilt-

; trherefore, dropping from time to time,
our current correspondence on your RIGHTS And
PRIVILEGES, 'se shall look into tut ers, en pas-

sane, and, it we can't get «•ist r, most endeavour to

he a li;rle merrier, which will pet !t ips answer our
purpose just as well Now, JOHNNY, you know
that Ministers, Or Government, tyive but three
modes for governing• the nation—by Reason, Pre•

ana Force—of course, those veho oppose
Alit-nn can only do vo by one Of these modes. nen,

as to the firlt, if Opposition had any chance upon
that score, their exertions would be needless ; for
the good people of England would themselves
have toosed out Minister's long ago, instead of

permitting the nation to he governed upon one
set of principles, and nearly by the same men for
upwards of (bitty years. As to the last of the
three modes, rear ion in that line might lead to
a worse lie ; and Opoositioo might be finally sus-
pewted in their Inncti.ms, and tied op from fur-
ther exertions after their last kirk at Ministers—
bot that is a k,ottv point, although a little in the
Oidinary way—we shall, therefore, come to the
sztitid:e mode, AI hiCh by a little juggling, can be

sn.de to answer some purpose. For insranre,
utiOre is neeessAry to chuse a pih-

et—, he notice nf a motion, anti then to mAke

a cprech, nhich, though ne,:ativeti within tlonr%,

iv suite to Intike some impression ‘vithout ; since

the generality of newspaper readers afrer wed.
int; through three columns of an-opening speech,
ttili scarcely take the trouble of readinz the an•

saver, but content themselves with turning to the
divi,inn, and then charge the whole of the Majo-
rity as time-servers, because they were not per-
so:4ded by bearing that speech which-those wise
politicians have alone condescended to read.
Rot the par iculir point to which I would now
call your attention is on the principle of some int-
rot as regards the power of the Crown and
the Rights of the People ; because it 114 s lately
been arcned as if the prerogatives of the Crown
absolutely originated in Parhantent, or rather in
the [louse of Commons, a supposition in direct
opposition to historical fact, because we know
that the Crown possessed the now contested pre-
rogatives long before there was a House of Com-
mons in exivence, and. of course, anterior to any
'hitt_ like a Parliament as now constituted. In fact,
JOHNNY, 0,,r Parliament consists now of Three Es-
tatvs, the Et own, Nets, and the Representatives
of the Commons of Britain; -each with their le-
spectiee powers and preroga:ives ; but to judge
from some reasooing that h:s cone forth, it sterns,
at first 5i,,2111, as it some folks wished to take away
the powers of th, Crown and give them
to Parli ruPnt, an" then to give the power of
the A 1101 e Pailiame,it to the floose of Commons,
us WAS done in the days of OLIVER CRObIWELL
and the long Parliament, when the ElOuse of
L ds was voted useless, and the power of the
Crown was seized by a gang of hypocritical De-
tnaL 0, nes.

Far he it front me to accuse any individual of
really holding such an intention at preiient, but if
principles are advanced, or objections urged that
aught lead to tinch inferences, we may canvas
the principle without inculpating the individual.
Le' us. however, come to another point ; when
on the que,tion of the power of the Crown in re-
gard to Gibraltar, the CHANCELLOR of the Ex-
CiletitlEtt is stated to have said, ,and I copy from
the' Times, " With respect to the right of the
Crean to a revenue raised in Gibraltar, he appre-
Iten.l,d that oti a clear principle of the Law of
Nations, the rights which were before vested in
the Crown of Spain, were, by conquest, trans-
ferred to the Sovereign of Great Britain."—To
which a Learned Civilian is stated to have replied,
that " the rights_of the inhabitants had not been
treated with that regard and respect which, in
justice, should have been extended to them"—
" that he could oot agree in the Chancellor's in-
terpretation of the Law of Nations"—'' that he
could not conceive any priuciple of the Law of
Nations which- bore out the assertion that the
poser vested in an absolute Prince became, in
case .of conquest, equally vested in a King whose
,power tint absolut e." —"'l'lle Law of Nations
only related to the regulation of certain connexions
bettveen different Nations, and could not decide
what power should be. exercised by a State over
any .territory it conquered."

Such is the recorded tact—we leave it as matter
of history, and presimie not to meddle farther
with the privilege of Karliament, but although
these new principles, or rather this denial of old
(met:, 'looks vet y plausible, yet if they are not con-
fumed by daily practice, then the whole of the
reasoilint4, of which they form the basis, must
fall to rite grotto:!- Let us proceed, however, to
see bow far the Chancellor is borne out by ab-
solute uskting political theory and practice. In