Year: 1860

i"hniS"i So'oihuiche upOu hiss PihSiPioS
the rights of man, not as derived from


acts of Parliament or sanction of kings,
but from God. What had been done was


not the rule by which the Virginian but
the Englishman worked. And yet there
is but little doubt had Somers lived in


Virginia in. l776 he would have been JEFF
ferson, and if at the accession of William
and Mary, Jefferson had lived in England
he would have been Somers.


l have been compelled thus briefly TO
alude to English history that Martin
Lambert might have the benefit of all tho
extenuating circumstances connected with
that history, and connecting him with it,
in order to make out n justification for
himself in submitting rs a subject to his
liege, George III. He, the indepen-
dent, noble, and intelligent man, ,voluntari-
ly bowed his head to receive tho yoke
and obey the commands of king that
was dead to shame, lost to decency, and
entirely incapable of a conception even Of
manhood and honor-a king moro con-
temptible than any Stuart that ever sat
upon the throne. Martin knew the
character of his sovereign; he knew tho
character of many of his servants. Some
of them were even then before him pay
ing court to The Duchess-and they oc-
cupied high places, Peer and Bishop
the first fool and the last a hypocrite
the chosen friends of his gracious maj
esty, because her grace the Duchess
commanded them; and this was not all
that Martin saw and knew of wickedness
in the English government. He saw
rank and title in all the departments Of
State showing aside intelligence and merit,
and the rule for Judging of the capacity
of aspirants for Office was the length Of
their pedigree or tho length of time that
pedigree could be traced-he saw church
professedly for the inculcation of christian
principles and promotion Of gospel truths
joined with corrupt government, and
partaking largely of its corruption, and
sharing in its iniquitous and shameful
practices-he saw that tenth of his
own slender income and that of his fellow
citizens went to support that church
which was in his time rotten and corrupt
that portion of his own earnings went
to keep the very Bishop that was there
before him in his insignia of Office tread
ing his priesthood and manhood in the
miro Of pollution-he saw debt hang
ing over his country, increasing as each
year rolled on, and then so enormous that
it was grinding to the earth the tax pay
crs, without hope of its ever being ex-
tinouished- saw that out of the millions
inhabiting the British Empire there were
but 10000 landhoders, and the privil-
eyes extended to them enabled them al
ways TO control the nation and perpetuate
burdens that the great mass were sweat
ing and groaning undcr-he saw the
hard earned and scanty pittance of fam
ishing and degraded peasantry filched
from them by the rude hands of officials
-he saw all the vices of the English
Government, the burdens royalty impos-
cd, the rottcnness sitting in high places
and lording it over the land, the venality
and insolence of Peers to those above and
below them, the prostitution of Bishops
and debascment Of the church, the evic-
ton Of tenants and tax ridden people,
the submission aud ignorance Of the
masses and the trickery and insolenco of
power--he, Martin Lambert, saw this,
felt it, yielded obedience aud was ready
with his life to uphold the crown and con-
stitution upon which the whole rested.
Was he rightl l wish TO state the case
fairly against him that his justification
may be complete. If Martin Lambert
had seen only these evils, and connected
with them there had been nothing OF
good-nay, if the good had not greatly
overbalanced the evil, if inseparably con-
nected with all these deviish abuses there
had not been the defences of human right,
then there could have been for him no
plea, no excuse. But he knew how late.
ly il was that progress, even in England,
had set its heel upon most Of the old feu-
dal customs and tyrannies, and by sure
but gradual advancement placed all the
citizens of his country upon level before