The Statesman.
London, England, 1810-04-03 00:00:00

,TESMAN.

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THE ST

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them met in the trappings of :Royalty," after
they have assented its prerogatives ; but it Surely
never can be a charge of crime apinit Sir F. BUR,
DETT, that after they have invested themselves
with the authority, he has given them the " CIS.
etinte ;" nor that when they have seized the sub-
stance,. ho should have followed them with the
shadow.
After, then, this merely impartial construction
of the expressions of Sir F. BURDETT, let Ds now
turn to the illustrious. Earl of CHATHAM. Let
us hear what he said anirmaintaiteed.; let us read
his doctrine and his expressions, uttered under the
same roof, and we shall then find, whether your
worthy Representative is beyond GOOD precedent,
unmeasured and turbulent, or whether the age
has become timid and temporizing ; whether we
have not stepped back from the spirit of our fore.
fathers, -whilst he has stood still.—lfere then fol-
low the words of the illustrious Lord CHATHAM,
and I call upon these who have servilely bowed
for so many years to the authority of his son—in
particular, we may call upon the present Minis.
ters, who. are but the mutilated hands and feet,
. the Angers and toes of his political figure, to defer
10 them with veneration.
Mr. PiTT'll Speech on WILNEs's este of• Privi.
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I legep763, , in the House of Commons :-.
" Ths dignity the honour of Parliament, bad been called
illims Niliatortiond protect the purity:of his Majftty's cha-
racters: ibis they had done, by a strong and decisive con-
demnathe:of the libel, which his Majesty had submitted to
the colielimmtioartf the House. But having done this, It was
.neither finosistetit with the homer and sofa, of Parliament,
nor with the rights and interests of the people, to go use step
farther. The rod belonged le the Courts below."
'Again, in the House of Peers, ott a motion for
the Add-ress, Lord CHATHAM says— ,
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" In sly judgment, my Lords, and I speak it !mildly, it
were better for the people to perish in ; glorious contentloo
for their rights, than In purchase a ;lavish tranquillity at the
expertee of a single iota.'
And further, in the same debate, in reply to
.Lord Mansfield :
" The constitution of this country has beetrupptdx itismied
in fact; and L have heard, with horror and agnagse. ot,that
very invasion defended upon principle. What hi tibia myste-
rious power undefined by lass , unknowii to Ste subject, a iiich
we must not approach withiatt awe, nor speak of ahout
reverence, which no man may tinesties, and to which afl mere
must submit? M. Livils, I thought the slavish doctrine of
pas.ive obedience had long since been exploded : and. when
tow Kings were obliged to codes+ that their title to the crown
said the rule of their government, had no other foundation
Shall the known laws of the land, I never expected to hear a
divine right. or a divine infallibility, attributed toany other
,branch of the legislature. My Lords, I beg to be under-
mid. no man respeeo the Hoew of Commons mote than I
LLor would contend more strenuously than I would. to pre-
them their just ar4 legal authority. Within the
hum& prescribed by the constitution, that authority is ne-
ueslary to the well-ben; of the people: beyond that line
*pry exertion of power is arbitrary, is illegal; it threatens
I/foam to the people, and destruction to the State. Power
ebillemt right is the mast oft taus and detestable object that can
b• diked to the human imagination: it is 1101 only pernicious'
to Sheer who are subject to it, Init tends to its own destruc-
tion. It is what my Noble Friend (Lord Lyttleton) has
truly described it, Res detestaiilis et Cadgers. My Lords, I
acknowledge the tust power, and reverence the constitution
of the House of Loinnions. his for their own sakes,that I
wouht prevent their assuming a 'po wet which the Constitution
has denied them, lest, by grasping at an authority they navel
no right to, they should-forfert that which they legairy lina•
stn. My Lords, I affirm that they have hetraYed their co*'
stituesits, and violated the Constitution. Under pretence of
declaring the law, they have made a law, and united in the
ns dune persd the office of legislator and of judge."
The same Patriot addy,

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"-The Noble Lard assures us, that he. knows not in what
code the. law of Parliament is to be foetal; that the House
of Cominow. when they act as
,judges. have no law to di-
rect them but their own wialoin ; that their decision is law ;
and if tney determine arong, the ..mbiect has no ap al bet
to Heaves. What to mmy Lords, ere nil the af-
c4
forts or our antwnore--gare all those glariote ' by
which they meant to secure to themselves, and to I t to
their posterity a known law, a certain rule of firing; re-
duced-to this cenclusive, that instead of the arbitrary power
of a King,• we must submit to the arbitrary power of a House
of Commons? If this be true, what benefit do tye derive
from the etchenge ? Tyranny, my Lora', is detestable. in
every shape, but in none so formidable as where it is assumed
end exercised by a number of tyrants. But, my Lords, this
is nut the fact, this is not the Constitutit,s ; we have a tow of
Pasliament, we Amu a code, hi which every honest man
may end it. We have Magna Charts, we have the Stetute
Book, and skill!! of Rights."
He adds, .
si That when the People choose their representatives, they ,
never mean to convey to them a power of invading their
rights, or trampling upon the liberties of these whom they
represent. What security would they have fur their right;,
if once they admitted that a Court of Judicature might de-
!ermine every question that came before it, not b!, any lumpy
positive law. bat by the vague, indeterminate, arbitrary rule,
of whit the Noble Lord is pleased to call the ;Vinton of Ms
Court r .
" My Lords, the Constitution is not a vague or loose ex-
premien ; we all know what it is; that the first principle of
it is, that the subject shall not be goverued by the sieltieeiain
of one man, or body of asen (km than the whole Legislature)
bat by certain Laws. to which he has virtually given his can-
oeist. which are open to him to examine, and not beyond his
ability to undentaad.
" TUE CONSTITUTtOtt AT THIS aostgee STANDS VlO-
- tient tkat wound he healed, until the grievance be
redeemed, it is in vain to recommot; union to Parliament, in
tail to promote concord among the people. If we, mead se-
riatuly in unite the nation within itself, we must convince
them that their cornplaiuts are regarded, and that their in-
quiriesshalt he endeened. On that foundation I would talte.l
I the Woe is Ilicammending peace and harmony to the people.
Oa any either, I woad never wish to see them united 'pia.. i
If sheirettch Id the Constitution he effectually repaired. tht
will of themselves return to a state of tranquillity.
OAT DISCORD PREVAIL eon EVER. I ittlqW to
behalf point this doetrioe and this language will appear di-
-I eft* Bet I feel the principles of au Englishman, and I
steer them trishaw sppsebenelou or reserve. The crisis is in-
dew gianslig :-..50 ouch the tore does It resptiretepewdros-
ed tin part of Government. If the Mines ser-
vitor:4i it a asestiostional question to be decided
r* hig to the forms, and on the principles of the
ateidletioa, ft mail then be decided in some other illenner ;
I and rather thats it should be given up,. rather than the nation
should surrender their birth-right to a despotic Minister, I
hope, my Lords, oltt as I am, I shalt see the question brought
to hate, and fairly tried between the Peppte and the Aietuta-
On the Duke of Rtzuwoun's Motion for re-
scinding the Resolution of the House respecting
the Middlesex Elc:ction, this' Nobleman warmly
defended the Magistrates in the discharge of their
duty ; he said, that • ,

" The House, in committing them to prison without hear-
ing their defence upon the•point of privilege, bad been guilty
of a grms and palpable act of tyrsin that they bad beard
the prostfteted Electors of Shorvisain defence of an agree-
ment Open a borough by auction, and bad refused to hear
the Lord Mayor of London in defence of the laws of Eng-
land ; that their expunging, by. force' the entry of a recur=
Meow, Was the stet of a 'snob. trot ara, Parliament that
their debug to aussine a power of stripphsg all prosecutions
by, heir veer, struck at once at the *hole spite 9f.lbe
laud"
nit Lordship concluded by saying, •
" That there remised bet one possible remedy for thb
disorders with laihicti the Government of this couatry was
enivensilly infected ; that to save the name and lestitutioirof
Parliament from contempt, this House of Cosonsnas Must bi
'dissolved."
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After having perused these passages, Gentlemen,
yon will come better prepaceti to judge, whether
lite expressions of Sir F. llonortv art: not even
feeble compared with the language of the Earl of
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1411.aist est, tied Whether they merit yotir ettitade
or your reprobation. •
To say that the one represents words spoktftattd ,
the other is a letters is making a distinction withoet
a difference; for Lord CHATHAM'S speeches were
duly printed and published ; nor was their legality
ever questioned. There are also nearly c.ontem-
porary with these speeches, addresses from the
City of London, and from other places, and pe-
titions even to the Kure, couched in language
, more vehement than that which I have transcribed
from Lord CHATHAM. On reading these on the
one hand, and in referring to the delicately fasd.
dious political taste of the day on the other, one
cannot avoid haviog the sort of feeling of self.
abasement which one may suppose any dwindled
race of mankind to have, when they dig up the
ancient skeletons of former men on their own
ground, and find them to have been eight or nine
feet high. One hasty reflection more only at part.
ing. If the gentlemen of the House of Cqminons
shush' resolve that they possess, and will exercise,
the PRIVILEGE which we CODlCiidGgiliiiiit, With what
enforced importance is the question of Parliamen-
tary Reform struck home to 'every bosom, since
our liberties will then depend, nut upon the laws,
but upon the pleasure of individuals, chosen py
us, or sent fur us, to represent our grievances;
for tittering which, or
.questioning, uncourtly
terms, any thing that we shall think such, we may
be sent by these vcry,satine gentlemen, our advo-
ciAes and protectors, to Newgitef!!
I am, Gentlemen,
With truth and respect, yones,
J. C. WORTHINGTON.
7, Little Ryder-street, St. James's,
March :sti. 1.1110-