The Statesman.
London, England, 1812-06-04 00:00:00

THE STATESMAN.

surely he most have been conscious that it was, as
Bellingham remarked, 66 al his own personal risk
that he set himself above the laie."-.-44 Parliament is
the Conservative of the Rights and Liberties of the
Subject, and the corrective of injustice and oppres- I
sion, which, by equal right, is distributed to all,
and every man bath that benefit and protection that
is due to him. One of the fundamental ends of Par-
liament was for redress of grievances, and easing
the oppressions of the People. The Court of Par-
liament was the sanctuary whither the distressed sub-
jeCt, in his exigence, fled for shelter, and always
found it ;—into the sacred bosom of Parliament it
was, that they poured out their sighs and groans
with' constant success. The right of the Crown of
'England and the Law of the said Realm is such,
that, upon the mischiefs and damages which happen
to the Realm, the .King ought and is bound by his
oath (Stat. Pros. 23, Edw. III.) with the accord of
his People in Parliament, thereof to make remedy,"
; B.c.—Lex Pathan/en/aria, p. 49, 73, and 85.
Mr. Locke says, " Wherever Law ends, Tyranny
begins," if the taw be transgressed to another 's
: harm. And whosoever in autority, exceeds the
poser given him by the law, and makes use of the
force he has under his command to compass that up-
on the subject which the Law allows net, ceases in
that to be a magistrate, and, acting without autho-
rity, may be opposed as any other man who by force
invades the right of another."—Locke on Gpvern-
meta, Book 2, Chap. xviii. Sect. 202.—•;—T0 a great
part of this quotation, Sir, I canuot help sub-
scribing; perhaps Mr. Bellingham subscribed to
the whole of it.—For my part, I must acknowledge,
that, where Law ends, Tyranny begins. 7-1 acknow-
ledge, too, that tyranny ought to be resisted,—nay,
it is a duty that we owe to ourselves and our poste-
rity to resist it :—but, as to the most proper mode of
resistance, that, in my humble opinion, must depend
upon circumstances.-1 need say no mere:—the
same resistance that in 1685 was punished as high
treason on the persons of the Duke of Monmouth
and many others, was) in 1688, only three years af-
i terwards, considered as a glorious Revolution.—
One circumstance I cannot refrain from noticing be-
fore I conclude this letter. The Rouse of Com-
mons have expressed their loud abhorrence and de-
testation of the act of Mr. Bellingham, which they
have called an atrocious act, and this vote has passed
unanimously; but was it not an atrocious act in Mr.
Perceval likewise to shut the door of justice against
the cther ? Was it no atrocious, act to break the
King's Oath, to set himself above the law, and dis-
solve the social compact ? Was it nothing to put a
free-born Briton out of the benefit and protection of
that Constitution which was his birth-right ? To eject
him out of the pate of society, and reduce I.:ni to a
state of nature ?—liad the House no abh nrence or
detestation of so foul a crime as this? It should seem'
that all these matters, so important to the welfare
and prosperity of the country, were lost in the
contemplation of the private virtues of the de-
parted Minister. !levy nation ! to be so vir-
tuously represented!—" into the sacred bosom" of
suc'i R Parliament shall our foreign merchants, ex-
posed to cruelty and extortion on the Coutieent,
pour forth 'heir complaihts ! They will he heard,
no doubt, as Bellingham was. To tbis sanctuar
should' our starving manufacturers fly for redress,
their " sighs and groans" will rare up some one
animated by the spirit of the departed Windham,
who, with relentless scowl, will exclaim, " perish
our commerce !" and.all the disciples of Pitt and
' Percent would nod applause! • •
Alas! is it not too apparvit • that this is but the
.
consummate,n of a system long since planned and
determined upon ? The ruin and destruction that
now 04compasses our once fortunate island, was
foreseen, invited, and i 'yoked. 66 Perish our com-
merce," was the cry near twenty years ago.—Well!
the impious in i....atioa is now accomplished ! The
enemies of Eng'anti's prosperity has? had their wish;
but is their own particular object attained ? Is the
reign of corruption more securely established ?
No ; the very means used to prolong its existence,
will ensure its catastrophe.—lt will fall, no doubt,
but, alas! h 'w many thousands of innocent victims
will this accursed principle drag with it to de-
strOction ! lan, lac.
TIMoruY TRUEMAN.
Racklaghaumhire, Mny 23.

LAW INTR LIMENCE.
COURT OF RINGS BENCH, Jong S.
DUE OBSERVANCE OF VIE LORD' DAY.

THE RING V. BRIT.

This was an application for having a conviction
under the Statute Of Charles If. made for the more
due Observance of the Lord's Day,--quashed.
Mr. COMMON SERJEANT appeared against the con-
viction, which stated, on the information of a person
named George Mitchell, that Joseph Best, of the
parish of St. Luke's, grocer, being a person above
the age of 14 years, had on a certain occasion, to wit,
on the sth of April last, exercised his worldly busi-
ness, labour, or work, on the Sabbath Day, the
same not being a work of necessity. The Inform-
tion bore that as the luformant was passing the door
of the Defendant on the Sabbath Day in question, he
saw him, the said Joseph Best, behind his counter,
serving a girl with an article which he wrapped up in
paper, and for which the said girl returned him pay.
meat in copper. The Informer saw the Defendant
take the money, upon which the girl went away.—
The conviction then went on to state, that the De-
fendant was thereupon convicted in the penalty of
U.—two-thirds to the poor of the parish, and one-
! third to the Informer.

Lord ELLENUOROUGII.-44 I do not see it here
stated what is the worldly calling of the Defendant.
He is called a grocer, but no more. Neither is it
stated what article it was which he wrapped up in
paper ; nor that he sold it. ft does not appear upon
the conviction that he acted in any way of his or-
dinary business or dealing. For any thing that ap..
pears in this conviction, non liquet, it was not the
Form of Prayer proper to be used at Divine Service,-
which the Defendant handed to the girl wrapped up
in paper, and that the copper was given in return for
it.—Who sustains this conviction

Mr. Commom SERJEA That weight falls on
my Learned Friend, Mr. Garrow."
Mr. GARROW.—" It does indeed, my Lords, by
devolution, fall to me, not to argue, but to support
this conviction, and I said last night, to my Client,
it was a labour I should not be able to discharge.—
There i, indeed, nothing in this conviction except
uncertainty."
lord ELLENIIOROUGH. - " It certainly is an
unsupportable conviction.—Let it, therefore, be
quashed."