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

FillE STATESALk.g.

Itaint and containing the substance of our present these Game Laws have been sanctioned by Repre-
!laws and liberties, sometimes running freely, some- sentatives, who had no power In distrottichise their
times weakly, and sometimes stopped in its course ; Constituents !--Uy Lords, desirous of extending
but at last breaking thrnugh all obetructions, bath their own innnoritil right, at the expenca of the
mixed aria incorporated itself with the GREAT f veomattry of England, our bell 'rapport ited.elf
CHARTER OF OUR ENGLISH LIBERTIES, *Kings, who would have done better, had they paid
whose true source the Saran Laws are, and are still more regard to their Coronetion doh, that solemn
in being, and still the FOUNTAIN of the Common compact, %Mot binds both Prince slid People!
Low •' therefore it was a aety jolt •
observation of i Can any MO deny that the COtORIIIIi Law of Eriglanti
Lord COKE, Who says, that Magna Charts was but I is an heir loom attached to the whole empire, end of
a Confirmation or Restitution of the Common Law which neither King, Lords, nor Commons can toli
of England ; and when he says that an Act of Par- I posterity ? if this is not to be denied, Oleo IS it
liftmen/ made against Magna (ludo is vni (N. B. I clear that something more than the mere solic-
it was the same against the Cearter of the Forest), he tion of the Three Estates is tieresaary to obtain
is not to he understood of every part of it, hot drily l our respert for an Art of Parlianieet.—An
of the MORAL PART of it, nhirh is as immota- Act of Pediment, Whig Cie act of the whole
We as stature itself, for no Act of Parliament ran isaiinni if it is contrary to the rights nrld
alter the nature of rhinge, and make " virtue vice, of the too , the patriot, instead of respecting such
and vice virtue."-13. xxix. a law, /eight tai expose it, that its repeal or amend.
So far this writer, whose authority as well as that • ment may C.ereby be procured. It has been shown, ,
of Sir EDWARD COKE is clearly again,t the Game front great authority, that there are souse things j
Laws, as being an innovation upon that Common which an ACt of Parliament cannot do :—it cannot
Law which is an Englishman's hit th-right. Parlie- change the nature of things,—it cannot convert vice ,
meats were instituted to preserve the people's fran- . into virtue,—it cannot, because it ought uot, subvert
chines : for this express purpose they receives dele- nod destroy the motraLITY or THE ENGLISH CONsTY.•
gated trust from the people themselves—and not only • TuTiom. Such Acts we have seen, ought to ha held
a trust but wages ; at least, this was the case at the null and void.—Why so ? Because the morality of
time the major part of the Game Laws were made.— the Constitution is the. vital part thereof—it resem-
How horrible then was the treachery of the men who bles the immortal soul in man—it is that which our
made those same Game Laos? They received the ancestors intended should LIVE FOR EVER—it is
money of their Constituents, and by may of grateful that they had in view, when they exclaimed ESP()
return disfranchised them. By what authority did PERPETUA.
they do this ? Surely the people never delegated to ,; • smyr:
eary informs us that many Act. of Parliament
them any peter for such a purpose ; and without have been set up, and have afterwards perished for
the people they had tin power whatever ! ! Can this want of this vital principle—constitutionality. The
flagrant perversion of a sacred trust reduce a validauthority on which LMrsoo and DUDLEY acted, was
act? Is not -such an act contrary to the moral part of an unconstitutional Act of Parliament, and they
the Constitution, %Welt, as we have just seen from were executed for carrying it into practice. An Act
high authority, is paramount, and beyond the power of Parliament was passed in the reign. of HENRY
of any Act of •Parliament to infringe or subvert?— VIII. to give that King's Proclamations the force of
If the Common Law is our birth-right, then must that law, yet this Act did not convert such Tyranny lute
law be immutable and irrevocable ; and to guard and legitimate Government. here are practical proofs
nurintain it, is a duty we owe to ourselves, our coati- that,an Act of Parliament cannot convert vice into
try, and our posterity. It was "P"" this foundation virtue.—Some people imagine, that an long ns we
that the Common Law wets etophatically called by our have a King, a House of Lords, and a House of
ancestors FOLK-RIGHT. Commons, we possess the essentials of the Constito.
It is with the same view that the preamble to the tion. It is iso'slich tiling: that consists in the mo.
Bill of Rights calls the law of England " the in- • ral part of our Government, and not in the forms
heritance of the people thereof." Now we have seen thereof. So was it at Rome, once famed for her
that by this law of inheritance, this YOLK emu; freedom ; she had her Senate, her Consuls, &c.
every landowner had a right to kill the game on his &v %lieu her moral government was gone, and sbe
own land, and no man was bound to feed any atiiml.l
for another man's profit or recreation. Sir F. groaned under the most disgraceful slavery.
--trurAu° If- the Reader of this Paper should also have been
Core says, not only that the law Is nor i" • the reader of the Reedit, g Mercury, he will disco.
heritance," but also says, that it is " our best in- I ver that most of the argument. here adduce 4 have
heritance;" because, without it, says he," no other been mentioned •in a letter printed in that Paper,
inheritance would be safe." We now discover the • under the signature of Jorte JOHNSON. Seymour..
truth of this remark. The Game Laws have shown court, Bucks. Mr. J. was not desirous of obtruding
us that his Lordship spoke oil good grounds ; for his real name unnecessarily on the public notice;
those Game Laws, by subverting our inheritance in but the Rending Editor having suppressed several
the Common Litw, have left not only our property
parts of a letter sent him with flee initials only, give
but our persons insecure. The first property is the ing as a reason for It that he did " not choose to be
production of the soil, that is evidently insecure, respOnsible for the opinions and political doctrines of
being subject to devastation by wild animals which others," and that the real name ought to have as;.
the unqualified cultivator cannot kill, though be finds companied the article sent for insertion, that Gene
them in the very act of destroying his property.—. tleman conceived it incumbent on him to show what
And then as to the safety of our persons; it wet e the nature of his opinions. He does not expect
is at an end if a game-keeper can lawfully shoot they will meet with every man's approbation; but it.
any unqualified man he may suspect of an in. is sufficient for him to know that they are closely
tention to destroy the game, and thus we see this united with the cause of t religioo, humility, and
sage remark of Sir EDWARD COKE has been verified justice, and that whilst he adheres to them he will be
. by the operation and effect of the Game Laws.-- sure to reap the sweet reward of self-congratulation.
The great Chancellor FORTESCIIR comes in confirms.
tint, of Sir Erman° Corm He tells us in his book I Seymour-court, Nev. 13, 1915.
Dc Lautlibus Legum Anglia', that the King is in-
vested with a power. flowing from the people, for
the purpose of guarding their laws, their persons,
and their properties; and then hit adds, that " a
King of England cannot govern by any other power
than this." So then it appears that Englishmen are
only to be governed by a power derived from thein-
selves ; this is the only legitimate power in this
island. This is the Constitutional power, that we
ought to prize at home and allow to others—the Po.
trains popalo ejilaya, as this great Chancellor, who
wrote a book, De Landibus Legam Anglia!, that is,
for the express purpose of giving due praise to Eng-
lish Law, bath defined it. And be further tells us,
n hat is the end and intention of this delegated
power, which, indeed, may be called the only true
Divine right : he says, that it is to guard our laws,
our persons, and our properties—ad Tutelar,' tegis
subditorum ejus, et cornea, corporum, et bonorum.
Here we see that the true legitimate power in this
country is a tutelary power, whereas the power
assumed by the Came Laws is a predatory power, if
riot u homicidal one: it is a power that exposes
our property to repine; a power that pretends to
have o right over our very lives if we molest, or
cause to he molested, those privileged criminals that
ravage and lay waste our property. Let the unqua-
lified cultivator speak out : if he takes any measures
whatever to destroy the game that are destroying
iiim, nay, if he is only suspected of such a design,
by some miscreant of agave-keeper, he may, it
should seem, be shut with impunity. Is this the
7'atelary law by which we are to be governed, and
which is declared to be the birth-right of an English
matt ? No; it is not that just, that merciful, that
Divine law, which ALFRED eatfaCtEti from the Bible,
but one as opposite to it, as lleaveu and Hell are to
lone another.

Friday, an Inquest was held at the sign of the
George, St. John-street, Clerkenwell, on the body
of Matthew Winter Holder, a watchmaker, 25
years of age, who was found dead between one and
two o'clock on Thursday morning, lying on the
cellar flap of Mr. Talker's, a cheesemonger in the
same street, by John Chesterman, superintendent of
the watch ; he Is on his face, with his coat stripped
a and thrown over him, with a severe bruise on his
face, and his nose bloody. Mr. Chesterman had the
body removed to the George public-house,and had his
temples fomented with brandy, and sent for Mr.
Bartlett, surgeon to the Finsbury Dispensary, who
same insmodieteiy, bet the deceased was dead. On
further enquiry, it was learned that about an hour
previous to the body heing found by Mr. Chester-
man, the deceased was discovered by a man who was
returning home from a benefit club, lying on his
face, which was covered with blond, and he in a
dyiug state. This man very humanely went to the
two seat watchmen, and brought them to the place,
and showed them the deplorable state of the unfor-
tunate man, and requested their aid in carrying him
to the watch-house ; the watchmen positively refused
to take him to the watch.house, saying it was con-
trary to their orders to take him there, and that they
dare not do it. The humane passenger finding the
watchmen would give him no assistance, took the
dyiag men and 441itmpted to carry him on his hack
to some public- ,in doing which the deceased's
coat came off, and this man could net put it on
again, end at the desire of the watchmen he laid
down the deceased again, covered him over with his
Gout, and left him.—The Jury were much divided in
'insect to the verdict they were to return. Some
were of opinioii, from the blood and marks on his
face, that he had been knocked down by some per-
son ; others were of opinion that it was caused by a
fall, and that lie died through excessive drinking;
and others that he died through the culpable negli-
gence of the watchmen. Mr. Chesterman cleared the
watchmen, by stating that they had positive instruc-
tions from the Committee to take no such persous to
the watch-house. The Jury, however, under the
direction of the Coroner, returued a verdict—Died
ty the Visitation of God.

Here then we arrive at a certain 'conclusion, that
these Game Laws are directly contrary to the funda-
mental principles of oor Government. And let us
enquire what lost the STUARTS the Crown, what put
it on the head of the GWELFS, but a desire to govern
by a power of this kind, a power incompatible with
the fundamental principles of our free Government.
Let the patriot make his choice, which he loves best,
the barbarous Games Laws, or those fundamental
principles of our free Government which were pre-
served by the Revolution of 1688! Let the Royal
Family choose which they love best, the savage
Game Laws, or the principles that acquired them a
glorious Crown ! Let the moral man choose which',
he loves best, the crdel, oppressive, Anti-Christian
Game Laws, or the morality of that divine Constitu-
tion, which the great ALFRED extracted from the
morality of the Bible!
Perhaps some silly, superficial person will think
it enough that titpse Game Laws have received thn
sanction of king, Lords, and Commons ; and
what (hen ? Has nothing unjust, nothing unconsti-
tutional) been ever done under that suction? les,