Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1809-06-30
Dlrg,nta Nrgus.
RIG II VI o N ID.
FRID W, JuxE 80 1909.
SNECCH or THE )LTrICAL STU
Al ION OF THE BRi fish EMPIRE.


and progress We: and in the successive i'm
ornve'nsnt Of the u,1"rstan linz, the know
! ledge o. their rights has been one Of the
litest disc weries Of mankinh Yet ,p.-
cu'at'on I'm government as we'll as in every
"ther science is widely liTerent from prac-
tical policy. Montesuuieu anil De'lone,
wrote panegyricks on the British coasti.u-
ton either because they had STA lie il only
~ b 'ts. AMI not in the practices of those
who governed: or perhaps having con,ras.
ted 1t with the despptiSm which in their
DAYS overspre ,d the w,rld, they consider
ed It as the 6est among the many dai 60
vernmen's that then existed.
The bal1nce of the different dep,rt-
ments OF e ,vernnent the trial by Jury,
the freedom of the press. and religious to :
leration. were subjects upon which thew
exhausted their ingenuity. These how. :
ever, we either understand better in this
country, or have At leist prtctic lily car
| RED to greater degree of perfection.
lhe balance of the legislative, execu-
tive and judicial Departments. have ut all
times anorded an ample field to the decla.
| nation OF lawyers on the security of per.
s,nal freedom throughout the British en-
Pire: asst as a similar balance has been a
| perpetual theme in.the mouths of states
men as the only stay to the independent
sovereignty of nations. But in the one case
! as well as in the other, their reasonings
| have been entirely Elusive.
| In speculative policy it is so hard to
combine the different existing principles
that give force and momentum TO the
wheels of government that any abstract
conclusions we may draw are continually
liable to error. Therefore that species of
polite al reasoning is the best which APP
Plies Interences fron past events /; and
from similarly existing causes, will CON-
J lecture siiuilar results.
/ We recur t. the volume of English his
tory and ask where that balance is tn be
1 found Not under the princes of the house
Of Steulrt; they created ooroughs. pack
ed parliaments and imposed taxes with ab.
solute authority: and they found both
judges and juries to give the sanction OF a
court OF justice TO the mandates of tyrant.
They found both judges and juries to sacri.
hce vlcti $ To their vengeance and to COM
nit murders under the forms of law Was
it better under George or II? Under
the former does not the history of the
state trials of the rebellion in Scotia I'd !;
and under the latter, do not the trials
which have occurred since TIE French re-
voution, demonstrate the fallacy of the
assertion II we not the principles of
law been explained as thy never had
been before, or juries bribed or packed OF
men hostile 10 principles of the accused
or witnesses snborned, put in requsi-ion
and lodged at the seat of government
Have not Judges known frem whom they
were to expect promotion for themseIye,
OF for their friends Are not the sher,ffs
appointed by the crown, and have they
proved unnindful of those to whom they
owed their places.
| na tr,a 4, -. 20
ciple of justic. not derived from the opini-
on of the majority of Judges under the civil
law, it is that there is greater difficulty
ct condo nnation and chance of escape for
the criminal from the unanimity which is
required. In civil Cases or even in Criminal
prosecutions where the passions or Caprice
or the monarch are not Sufficiently inhuen-
ced with the desire of vengeance, there il
a chance of escape left, to the innocent:
tin alarms OF civil commotions, when the
! jury are instructed, that the times call for
examples to the rigour of the laws then sus-
Dicion is considered as sufficient evidence
OF guilt: And woe betide the man whose
sole dependence is in his innocence
! Has the parliament been conducted bet
ter Under the princes of the house OF
Steuart, the parliaments of England assum .
ed the semblance of freedom. Under thetwo
house, the parliaments indeed, shew.
ed themselves restivc, but it was not
in resisting civil, it was in resisting religi
Gus oppression. The monarchs of that time
were strangers to the Corruption of modern
days; they attempted not to deceive but to
crush the people by force, and bind them
in letters of iron two we're deposed, and
though the rest escaped, they were all in
danger: bus the princes of the house o.
| Hanover were more munihcient; they ap-
pied to the avarIce osthe human heart; they
gilded the chains of slavery, and there
were people found to put them on and wear
them for the fashion.
The two Charles & the last James ere.
ated borrougns 10 pack parliaments even
then at their first formation, the English
representation was not as oppressive as il i,
at present. The principles of monarchca
government are held to be interchangeable be
cause to tyrrany, change is always alar
ming add sometimes fatal. The Eng.
lish constitution there fore possesses no re
. cuperative powers; hence, towns VIII ich
have dwIndled into villages send one or two
representatives TO parliament, & village,
, which have Increased to the population of CT
ties, are left unrepresented. rhe frs, is TIA,
+ case OF Old Sarum the second Of the town o
Manchester the first with three house,