The Statesman.
London, England, 1815-11-18 00:00:00

ARGUMENTS

1,) cHOW THAT THlti CIOXIIR LAWS ARE CONTRA-
-10 'DM BIRCH-RIO= PRIVILSOLS OF
..NtiLISHMEN.

et the Game Laws are contrary to the mnrality
I,; .he Faglish Constitution, as well as to the express
s;,...latioas of the Common Law, which is the inhe-
-1k....re of every Englishman, appears clear from the
fog:sting :—First, As to the vitality of the Giusti-
or, it consists in its MORAL CART, as 31 ill be
stiaren hereafter from authority ; and indeed this
,consistent with sense and reason. This morality
woos. conspicuous in the design and temperament
et the CUSHION LAW, which breathes a divine and
philanthropic spirit; but the Game Laws, on the
imerary, betray an unjust, oppressive, and &revi-
ew: s!;ii it. The two systems are hostile therefore in
tt,imsition and character: feudal pride engendered
e onp, the other spicing from celestial benignity.—
.a.ry man knows that ALFRED Was the founder of
k„ .rich Law,• and that he has obtained in cense.
race the name of Janis Angliceni Condilar Mag-
ma; ;RV few people know the materials of which
he compounded this precious Code; few people are
"are that it was from the Mosaic and Christian in-
matinees that lie gathered his ave. and benevolent
precepts. Ile who lovos equal-handed justice must
venerate the Les Salionis of Moses; and he who
;,bcpsirs any of the milk of human kindness must
'Tally venerate the philanthropic precepts of the
glee Teacher of Christianity. These divine
beieg both infused into our ancient Common
hart, the who are is enemies must be equally the
enemies of justice and human& . -Such are the men
who hair .ervicted the Game Laws. By At FaRD'S
means the Ten Commandments were once part of the
Common law; and " why they should not be so
now," says Mr. FORTESCUE ALAND, 44 would be
very difficult to give a good reason for."—Akrexo
hol no ambitious, no selfish passions to gratify ; his
sole ohject was the good of men; but the Game
Lass sacrifice the private property of the industrious
rJltirator, to maintain destructive animals for the cruel
p%.asures and luxury of a few individuals ; and as
t. ^O. animals devour what would otherwise afford a
abuielant supply to the necessities of man,
v...y are contrary to humanity, as well as justice.
/rive Ell'S laws commanded that all men should have
visa! justice, and he adds, there shall not be one law
for tie rich, and another for the poor. Judica sem-
per jadnin Judieium, 'segue Judas gliud jut diviti
alhat Leon Alfred, upadifil kin:, p. 32.)
W 0311 we find this equality of right in the
Cite Lass, which command that one man shall kill
and enjoy the game that another man feeds ?—ls not
this espressly what ALFRED forbids, namely, that
tle-re shall be one law for the rich, and another for
'the poor ? The Mosaic Law extended humanity even
In brutes ; they were not to labour on the seventh
dal, our was the ox to be muzzled whilst he trod
oat the corn ; but the chief glory of the Hebrew le-
gislator consists in reducing the bitter lot of slavery
I. a mild mate. very similar to that of servitude with
a.. This ALFRED copied also; but the noble
‘II siva was frustrated by the barbarity of the
f .4141 ages. Ile ordered also charity to be shown
-to the poor, and hospitality to strangers. He
t. pied likewise the Christian lawgiver in the
. 3t or peace and good will to all men ; and
A- 'ivy of ifoing to others as we would that they
Sh:'‘l do to us. In short, if the Christian and
b. • dispensations sprang from a divine source,
..1 m,,51 we admit, that the Common Law, which is
the both-right of very Briton, is divine also; and he
rnmpares the pure morality of that law, which
we proudly call our untloulsted inheritance, with the
'esibarity and injustice of the Game Laws, must
have the heart of a savage, if he can approve the en-
croachments which have been made by the latter
teem the former. It is well known to all persons
Varersant with our ancient laws, that in Saxon
t.m s Pvery man had a right to kill the game on his
rest, estate ; indeed, without such a right, it is a ri-
dam!eus thing to call those possessions real pra-
t:trig : an estate on which another person, or per-
inns. can feed animals for their own purposes, is nu
(-gate at all. This right in our Sault' ancestors,
is even admitted by Bt.ackaroNE, Com/nen/my,
B. iv. c. 33. s. IL—WILLIAM the Norman changed

tenure from allOdial to feudal, which, at the first,
w,1!; very mild. Thiv same IVILLiam the Norman
rbd, as CANUTE the Dane had done before him, he
swore to maintain the Common Law of England,
Which was Saxon ; and the fact is, that Iv; mail can
lw King of England without taking that oath.—
NeTertheres‘ the owl-, hath not been kept ; for had it
been kept, then would every landowner in Eagland
mill be the solo proprietor of the game on his estate,
•a% by the express laws of the Saxons he was di-
..Aired to he. _ _

Wir.r.rivm florus was the first breaker of this oath.
`He pretended that all the game in the kingdom was
the sol-e propprty of the King, and none but the
King, or those whom he pleased to give that privi.
to, had any right to kill theta. Although tisk pre-
- • I,ace set up by ItcFCS, and first established by means
of pijo.rv, injustice, and the violation of private
property, was afterwards counteracted by the Char-
ter of the Forest, which revived Salon principles,
and gave the people a real property its their land,
yet.the same wicked design was afterwards revived
by the. Game Laws, which do actually proceed upon
the very principles of the tyrannic Runts, whose
name is loaded with execration in every histery.—
It is •very strange, but it is nevertheless true, that
many persons join in this general execration against
the Norman, and yet support the Game Laws, which
produce the same effect ascribed to the tyranny of
that Prince by the Poet :
" lu vain ktoa seas,qo sweird the teeming grain.
Soft showers diwili'd, and Mins grew warm in vain;
The Wahl with tears his frustrate labour )ields.
And Tarnibleil ,ties amidst his ripek'd fields."
It should be soled., that the Charter of the Forest,'
by which the right of property on Saxon principles.
was secured against the predatory privileges assumed
by Rufus, was intended to be as sacred and irrevo-
cattle as the great Charter itself. On this point I
shall give • quotation from the Treatise of Mr.
Falai:scut ALAMO, prefiaed to the excellent work.
of his ancestor, tile great Chancellor FORTERCVE,
its be rpiga of Ehiprigy VII. on Absolute and limited
Mosarchy: he says, "The stream of the laws of
.
UPWARD the Coofesoor • flolking from n Saxon fowl-