The Statesman.
London, England, 1818-05-01 00:00:00

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bod , bet by •reprothetelf:oz." —(1. 171.)
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42
the aiork of generations for our ancestors to.
elivreseivee:bad disk ithateedt, Iddllit***ollfttla
!illy, which sie.vreet eiiiVi.'
.oW*tilltitdogili
eztir
not to be looked spout - . ilelotri
oscluneitts oh iied-Crelliaq idead46oidil dot that
prergetithi sti''ireinslllll4l444id -110414441144
gibers in the fait centevieodtmennaed twmaiinalm
but os in general, 'or isindoet ftiorrosolos,..
THAT ANCIENT . , tTriTlOO, .i4o‘ii
oil; Sizon forefathers. thin otiosity
partly by the policy, sad pertly by the fetal of the
N o men." -41. 420.) : ' •
Surely, my Lord, any one wise- has redone! • Witte
Eneish Only, led the English Constautlen,
must feet no common dialog et an Edinburgh Re-
viewer, haranguing shoot 66 As first origin of our
PRESENT political constitution, in the reign of
Edward 1. ;" and in utter contempt of all principles
the science of government which ere the very seer
that Constitution, threstfog remised fur esplaiss-
Ing that Constinstiou, :tie mom practice of thee*
'ho, during the feudal tyninuy nod kettles's,' bed
unjustly monopolized Parliamentary power'
And must not ibis disgust be the greater,- wheivise
who excites it assumes the garb of a friend of /rattles:el,
ly, is so very much of 64 a Rammer," (124) as to
lament the coarse lately pursued by other Re-
inners ;" while " the course pursued" 'by himself,
, precisely that of the deadly enemies of our rights
,end liberties, and consequent opposers of that Reform
our Representation as well as in the duration of
Parliaments, by which alone they can be recovered?
Ilis course 1 say, is the same as theirs; for have
they ought else but history end precedents, and Acts
if Parliament in 110101111 of principle, of right and
lostice, to quote for all they do ? and have they not,
for • long course of years, incessantly insulted our
,nderstenclings by gabbling about our " PRESENT"
Constitution ; as well as by every insidious ma-
nceovre, labouring to mate us believe, that we have
mere cozen, changeable Constitution, which has
[ready had a variety of shapes, and may have as
'any more es Parliament pleases.
As your Lordship does me the honour to intimate
,tat you have perused some at least, of my 46 Pon.
ice{ Works," you may possibly have noted that
lore than twenty years ago, in 66 an Appeal, civil
And military, on the English Constitution," I corn-
bated the insidious doctrine of a " presentConstitu-
don," as appears un the face of the very Gist page
of that work ; and in the course of my. essay, took
to small pains to ihow the strange and monstrous
error of Blackstone, who, lawyer like, muzzling
lie understanding with history, precedents, and Acts
of defective Parliaments, absurdly tidabitted - that
'larliainetst had po. er, not only to " alter the esti'.
blished religion of the land, bet to chance and create
ifresh even the Constitution of the ksugdomo. mid of
'liniments themselves."
Were it possible indeed that such could be the sa-
linity of Perliament, then might Popeijr.Or an.
ifll,or even Druidism,with its human sacri Nftheeibuonee
more 66 the established religion of the land."—But
such are the contemptible notions which get into the,
lumber-stuffed cranium of • lawyer, when sy!!
he has sucked in the orthodoxy of despoilitik
:onverting the pure, unworldly religion of Jesus;-
into a mischievous State engine; violating the sacred
itercoorse beta een man and his mister, by a tyran.
nice' dictation, savouring of rank impiety.
Nay, in these three short lines of Blackstone,
le have a palpable impossibility, the very gain-
Imams of absurdity ! When be ascribed to Par-
eamont an attribute unknown to the Deity, that
of being at once cause and effect, creator and crea-
ture, why he stotrd short of gravely telling as, it
could likewise annihilate time and space, it that
would make the Boroaghmougers happy.

Since the iutrodection of this macula...-_
settle of a "present Constitution," l have Soiy often
"triton to explode the false doctrine, as deadly to li-
berty ;, by reasottiogs which none, so far as I know,
lava answered, or as I believe can answer.
To this end, I have many times proved by defini.
lion *bat the • Eli/fish Constitution is; in what a
oast' compass it lies; how easy to be uodasstood;
and how totally distinct it is from taw'.
'ibis definition was first given in 17971 in the Ap-
peal above: mentioned; after in 1812,in an Appeal to
the Nation : and not to enamerate other insteriteS
lately again, in my Address to the Chisessirl W
Waster, on the 23d of Match, published in as
Black Dwarf snd.the
.Sr..sre,sm.4N.
The definition is given in five concise propositionit
embracing all that is necessary to the eud in view, or
which ought to be itstrodaced for describing the nab
tare, extent, or object, of what, in the modern Sc.
ceptance of the word, is meant by Constitution.
it thus extricates the enderstanding from the la•
byrinth of confusion, in which it 'Bay have been
wildered by reading Blackstone, mho this w'ites,—:.
that Constitution or frame of Government, that
system of laws;" (I. 126.) rts if I Ccinstitntion aed
a eyehole of laws were one and the same thing, whits
io feet they are essentially different.
It was also. intended as a criterion, or standard,
for-bringing, to a Missal test all those ignorant,
10r, pesplesing, or wicked, delineations of the
Shrive,
• which.lao many orators and writers
hive, wish an lucrodilltibroriety, been phased to call
that of Begland. • -
Whitt a hatch. pet of a Constitution, what a
chaos of disoordanselersosts, *bat en ocean of *jar•
ring atoms wophinuld have for our political guidance,
did the English Constitution consist of the ten itiog..
send Acts is one *store Book., added to the tens of
theseaadtwf diet* ante decisions ii our Lew Books 1
With seell'a notion ins Iterierrer!s skull, bow could
we haw* boon surprised, is they've 1817,-had be even
talked of fa the first "'filen of our present political
Coilltileakisilit the. reign of 'George 111. ;" seeing
that hit alefete se have beets blessed with thrice as
tinny Statutes as in 311 precedirl teigrs put together;

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