The Massachusetts spy. [volume] (Boston [Mass.]) 1770-1772, 1771-09-19

Let al ire Vfs7Vt Ebea ANN ar, 0e ny
congfiy's,
TIy Gods and hafDs,- then if y'a fall,
Zen fail a martyr. WoLsEY.
SsrssaefsastssSseN my Ian | deicanted lite
esoSessEl5 60 on the nature of minlitera
SsgaE l!l9 inRruaions truR what
EGR 9N then faid was efficient to
Sa7cssSsR ihow, that they ale ofvery
vSDQ1O620 dangerous tendency, and
ought carefully and Immediately TO be at
tended to. fhzll now come TO the conf
Iteration of thoGe heads there laid down to
iu1ify my opinion of them. In the 6rR place,
10 proceed regularly, mean to ihow that
the law, and. that alone, is the rule by which
the actions Of the monarch as well as the
peaiant, arc to be weiated. ] am fenEble
theie ale doctrines, that never can fun the
air IF Turkey or OF China. I hefe poor
people have long Gnce lott every lentlmens
which cnobes human nature, ard raGk in
the fcae Of exiftence, but little above the
BEATS that PERTH. But we live in cline,
where liberty, civil and religious, is inter
woven with the fundamentals of the coniti-
tuition in cline where the tive feels the
force Of theie principles in bis breaif, and is
determined to preferve them at all hazards.
A .-ceal,l- - =. rules Of fIla co:aitnfioa,
the law, and not the mandates of a i..iniher,
is ever coniidered as the meafure of action.
I mean in the examination Of his point 10
look into the fentiments of fome great men,
l.. 81 ,0ituFf,,, a,A falf tha,,1
ielyes infpired by it. An Englifh lawyer,
who lived about the beginning Of this century,
Ipeaking on this fuEjee fays, " The con
iftution Of the Engifh governments nc ar
buary tyranny like the Tutkifh Grand
Seignior's, but an exceently mixed monar
chy. Here the law is the bsnG and r7eofare OF
every mans duty, each man having fixed
fundamental right born with him, as to fee
dom of Perlon, and property of etia'e "
Euglifh Liberties, p. II. OF the fame OPT
ron is the learned Forteicue, who was Chief
Tuilce to Harry the Sixth, The King,
days he,) cannot alter or change the law at
plca(ure. For why, he governeth his people
by power, not only royal, but alfo polite
If his power were only regal, he might
charge bis f,bjees with tallage, sc. withou
their content - and fuch the civil laws pur
por, when they cry, 9aed Priaeipi piotmt,
ltgi5 ba6et Vigwem. Bat the power OF a King
diEereth whole government is polite. Here
the fobjea frankly and freely enjoys his own
goods, being gavtrnea BY G.cb rules and ioa0'
a. be bimJgf dcjf,es." De laaaiths Angkts
brau. cap. 9. If what this great man lays i
admitted as Law, will il not clearly follow,
Gist iuftfuaions are wholly illegal! They
ere meafures the contribution knows nothing
OF. Il is in faa putting aide law and ancient
uhge, to make way for this new nonlter.
Let Us now run over Fouecue Iiule, and
fee how ftrangely this mode Of go'ernmen'
differs from what he has there laid down
WIN any one pretend TO fay, that in follow
ing nniiferal inttru9ions in the nnanneI
the governor does, the laws are not altered
or ebanssd In the whole Gods or body O
the Enghlh laws, where fhall we find pre-
cedent Of fuch doctrines as thefe infffuetion!
mean to carry into execution. The neaiu"
our Governor is ordered to infif on, of free
ing psft Of the people from taxes, is d.
reaIy againit the contribution, and Lore
Coke tells US, even an act of parliamen
zgainft the contribution is void. How nucl
mote 70, when II is only enforced astesab!'