whole Families, with the antient Conftitution of this Country?-The contrary is most evident; no Man was to forfeit, even in his own Perfon, for the worst of Treafons ;-for it is a manifeft Abfurdity, to fuppofe, that the Law fhould prefcribe a Confifcation of the Traitor's Eftate, and yet leave it in his Option, whether he would fine to redeem his Life.-Out of what was he to raise that Fine, if his Eftate was to be wholly forfeited to the Crown? Land, are derived from our Saxon E But, as nothing explains the Nature of the Law, better than the Practice of the Law, I muft take the Liberty to ftrengthen what I have faid by one Precedent, which I chufe to urge, rather than a Multitude of others, because it occurs in the very laft Period of the Saxon Government, and a very few Years before the Norman Conqueft. Earl Goodwin murdered Alfred, Brother of King Edward the Confeffor.-This, as think my Lord Cooke obferves was then Treason, and fo continued till the 25th of Edward the IIId, which limited Treafons in this, and many other Cafes.-Now, Sir, let us fee how he was punished for it: He was tried, with great Formality, in the Wittenagemot, or Saxon Parliament; he was found guilty.-The Judgment pronounced against him was only this, That he should go, in an humble Manner, to the King, to beg his Pardon for having killed his Brother, and to pay him twelve Handfuls of Gold.--How then would a Saxon Parliament have endured a Propofition, fuch as that we this Day deliberate upon ? It is now very proper to enquire, how these unhappy Principles of Government first got Footing in the World, and then, how they made their Way into the System of this Conftitution.- Our Laws are all, either of Saxon, or Roman Origin.What the Saxon were, we have already feen that the Roman knew nothing Sir, after the Ruin of the Roman Empire, thefe Roman Inftitutions flept, nay, were even loft, for fome Ages. It was not till about the Time of the Conqueft of England that they were recovered, or revived. As the A Gothick Princes encreased in Power, and confequently in Ambition, and the Defire of more Power,-it was to avail themselves of these Leges Majeftatis, that they first infenfibly introduced the Roman, or civil Law, and endeavoured to make it a Part nothing like this Cruelty in the early Ages of that Commonwealth, . we likewife know. Read the Laws of the twelve Tables, (and that Government had ftood above 300 Years before they were collected) you can difcover no Trace of this Severity in them. In the Purity of that Government they were Strangers to this favage Policy;-but it crept in with Tyranny.The Interdictio Aquae & Ignis, mentioned by the Hon. Gentleman, was Banifhment, or, as fome pretend, capital Punishment; B and this was, as the Hon. Gentleman obferves, a Punishment for Treafon.--But it was not till the Reign of Tiberius, that Confifcation of the Goods, or, as they termed it in the Words of the Law, A Deprivation of the Right of making a C Will, was added to the Penalties of that Law.--From that Time forward, thus enforced, it continued the Roman Law.—But you see how it firft obtained. It first became the Law of Rome, when the Subjects of Rome aimed, in every Act, to ac- D complish, as far as in them lay, every Wish of their most abandoned Emperors.--One of them wifhed that the People of Rome had but one Head, that he might take it off at one Blow. The broken, fubdued, and corrupted People, went as far E as they could in their fervile Adulation; they fubmitted every Neck, as well of the Innocent as of the Guilty, to his capricious Will.-When the Emperors had attained this Power, it can never be forgotten how they ufed it.-After this Power of Confifcation, and the Ruin of Families were once decreed,-Treafon altered its Face and Nature: It was Treafon to be induftrious, it was Treafon to be parfimonious, it was Treafon to enjoy Property;-it was Eftates, not Men, that afterwards re- G belled; and fo, in Length of Time, it moft certainly will be hereafter in this Country, fhould this fatal Claufe paffed into a Law. F of their refpective Conftitutions. The best Writers and the most incontestable Authorities, pofitively give this Reafon for its Revival in thefe States, and the Intention was, by fome Nations, fo plainly underfood, that I remember, at one Period, in Spain, when Spain retained its antient Gothick Freedom, it was, for this Reafon alone, made Death to read or ftudy the civil Law.--The civil Law never yet entirely prevailed in this Country:-But this, the worst Part of it, though we know not ex actly how or when, was artfully woven, about the fame Time, into the Laws of England, and we long groaned under its Oppreffion.-Tho it met with Interruptions and Reftraint from the Statute de Donis, in the Reign of Edward the IId, and other Laws, it was revived again. about the Time of Henry the VIIth, and Henry the VIIlth.-And, as the fame Caufes will ever produce the fame Effects,-Numbers of our greatest Families had been ruined by it. It grew worse and worse, and, in fome Reigns before the Revolution, the Evil encreased upon us; till, in the Reigns of Charles the IId, and King James, no Man could live in Security from this Power, and from the Race of Informers always bred and nourished by it, wherever it has. prevailed; and there can be no Doubt, but for the Revolution, which followed foon after, this Nation had, by this Time, felt the fame Miferies from A B It is true, that at the Revolution, this Nation did not immediately regulate this Grievance; they made fome Conditions, and a Declaration of their Rights :-But it is no Argument, because they did not redress this Evil at that Time, that it was no Evil. As much as I value what we gained at that Time, neither I nor any Man will fay, that we gained all we wanted.—The Truth is this: The Revolution was brought about fo fuddenly, and in fuch a Manner, that it is rather a Wonder that we gained what we did, than that we gained no more.The Prince of Orange was, in Effect, our King the Moment that he landed,-back'd with a great Army, fupported by Men, C who having called him in, could not quarrel with him without ruining themselves. It was too late to make Terms with a Prince, who was already poffeffed of the regal Power, and who plainly fhewed, that tho' he defired to be ruled by Law, he fill intended, that the Law fhould not bear much harder upon the Crown, during his Reign, than it had done in former Times.--But the be prejudiced as to his Fines and Forfeitures, was then refcinded and repealed.--This, and other diftinguishing Privileges, in refpect of Treafon, particularly in regard to Dower, they enjoyed, when the Union took Place between the two Kingdoms. When the Treaty for this Union first commenced, in the 5th of the Queen,-the Scotch were too wife to part with fo great a Privilege. It was abfurd that the two Nations fhould be govern'd, after the Union, by different Laws, in a Point of this Importance; yet it was difficult, in the immediate Reign, to prevail upon the Princefs on the Throne to part with fuch a Power: The Act of Union therefore pafs'd, leaving the Point of Trials for Treafon undetermined, which Point was then underflood to be intended to be adjusted afterwards. Accordingly, not long after, the Parliament was requested, from the Throne, to take the Matter under their Confideration. An Accident then Dhappen'd, which, I hope, will never happen again, tho' it was fortunate to us in this Inftance ;-the Princess on the Throne had no Heir, fhe was, therefore, the more eafily preScotch, who had fuffered, if poffible, vailed upon to yield this Privilege worse than we,-were more atten- to all her Subjects, after her own tive to the Redress of this Grievance. E Time. The People of England glad-Procul a Jove, they had more Time ly feized the Opportunity to obtain and Opportunity to parly with their fo happy a Provifion, tho' in Revernew Sovereign, and a Law to repeal fion:-The Scotch generously conthis cruel Prerogative, was a princi- fented to a Compromife, that they pal Condition of their Submiffion to might fecure the Liberty of that Nathat Prince. They had already ob- tion, of which they were then betained fome Security, in the first coming a Part; they confented temParliament of King James the IId, porarily to give up their undoubted in 1685, by a Law that enabled Right to fome of the most valuable them to entail their Eftates, with a Articles of their Privilege, particuClaufe however, that it should not larly with regard to Dower, and prejudice the Crown, as to Fines or Lands held on Courtefy by the HufConfifcations, for the Punishment of band, that we might eternally enjoy Crimes. At the Revolution, they G this Privilege, in future, and in comacquired a great Addition to it; for mon with them :-- Every Scotfman, the aforefaid Claufe, whereby it was and every Whig in this Houfe, exdeclared, that his Majesty should not cepting a few, for private Reasons, F voted Sir, God knows my Heart, and I am much deceived if any Man upon Earth ever yet doubted my Affection to this Family. Every Gentleman in this Houfe can bear me Witness, that ever fince I have fat here, I have done my utmost to preserve it even from the moft remote Danger, and fo am I determined to do as long as I live. This very Zeal, however it may be taken, or I mistaken, is one of my greatest Motives for the Part I take this Day. voted for that Law. Thus it was main Argument of the other Hon. obtained. This is the true Hiftory Gentleman, with regard to the Secuof this Matter.-The Origin of the rity of the Crown:-That the Crown former Practice you fee was Ty- fhould be made as fecure to this Faranny ;-the Effects of it in that A mily, as it ever was to any other;— Country, where it firft prevailed, and that without the Repeal of this and in this Country, after it was Privilege, the Crown will not be as adopted here, have been Tyranny; fecure as formerly. -I think, therefore, I am now justified in afferting, that it is contrary to the ancient Conftitution, contrary to the modern Conftitution of this B Country,-contrary to the Union, (as I look upon it to be one of the Conditions by which Scotland stands united with us)-contrary to the Revolution, at least with regard to one Part of these Dominions, for the Scotch had made thefe Terms at the C Revolution;-and I think I may go farther ftill, but I fhall fpeak modeftly upon that Head; I fubmit it to the Houfe, how far it is contrary to the very Settlement of the prefent Royal Family upon the Throne.Many Gentlemen now fitting in this House, remember the unhappy Prejudices of many of the People, with regard to this Family, before they came to the Crown. They remember, that the Establishment of this Family depended upon a Queftion, which was providentially carried, tho' but by one Vote.-Now let Gentlemen candidly confider, whether more than the Person who gave that fingle Vote, may not, with Reason, be fuppofed to have conquer'd thofe Prejudices, from the Expectation of the future Acquifition of this great Pri- F vilege under the Houfe of Hanover. If fo, I fhould, at leaft, fpeak justly, fhould I fay, that the prefent Family owe their Poffeffion of the Crown to this Privilege. I then leave it to the Breaft of every Gentleman in this Houfe to determine, for I fhall not enter into a Difpute of Words, how far this is, or is not, a Condition of the Settlement of the Crown in the Houfe of Hanover. D E I cannot hear this Argument without the utmoft Indignation.-The Crown, in the prefent Royal Line, cannot be safe without the Repeal of this Privilege! What is this but, in other Words, to fay, that fuch is the Title, fuch is the Government of this Family, that they cannot be fecured but by Laws of Cruelty, Laws not founded upon the Principles of natural Juftice, and by the Power of ruining the Innocent with the Guilty? Such a Portrait of this Government ftrikes with Horrors, and not with that juft Affection and Concern, which, I am fure, is due to and for this Go vernment. His Majefty has ever made the Law of this Land the Rule of all his Actions. Our Conftitution, infinitely improved by the Terms and Conditions of the Settlement of his Royal Houfe in thefe Kingdoms, is a Security to him, and to his Family as long as it fhall laft, fuch as no Gother Family upon this Throne ever enjoyed before. While that Conftitution ftands, while thofe Acquifitions remain entire, which we obtained by his Acceflion, and which we know mult perish with his FaMr. Legge. I now beg Leave to speak to the mily B mily; he is ftronger, he is firmer in I feared it not from the active Difhis Seat than any of his Predecef- affection of the Friends of the Perfors; but confider well to what he fon fupported by France: It is equally owes this Strength and Safety. It is idle to fay, there are few in his Into this Confideration only that he tereft, and equally idle to say, their owes it, a Confideration operating Numbers are fo great as to enable in his Favour, more than a thousand A them to bring about any Revolution penal Laws to increase his Power or in his Favour.-The Danger lay in Prerogative. this, by all that I then obferved, not I have been nourished from my in the Spirit of the Enemies, but in Childhood in the ftricteft Attach- the Coldness, Indolence, Cowardice, ment to him. I have been confirmed or Caution of the Friends of this in it fince, and it is due from me Government.-It was not from those by many Confiderations, both of who would have joined the Pretenpublick and private Gratitude: But der, but from a Difpofition very notake away this, and fome others of torious in a great Part of Mankind, thofe Privileges, by which this Go- that they would run no Risk for the vernment is fo gloriously diftinguifh- Affiftance of any Prince on Earth.ed in this laft Era, where is the Thus, Sir, had the French Army Man that will not become indiffe- landed, this Kingdom had been fought rent? What Man will care by what C for by fix or feven thousand Men, at Family we are governed, or by moft, against twice their Number.— whom the Sceptre of thefe King- The Fate of England depended upon doms fhall be borne? -Whatever one Battle.--England might have Gentlemen may think, when they been loft, as it has been formerly atrempt Things of this Nature, and loft, by the Event of one Battle.though I dare fay that they mean it This I thought a dreadful Circumwell, yet I am fully convinced, that D ftance.-If this be true, as undoubthe who confents to repeal this, one edly it is, let us apply it to the preof the greatest Acquifitions made by fent Queftion:--If the Danger of this Nation fince the Revolution, the Prince upon the Throne confits gives his Confent rafhly to cheat the in the Fears of his Subjects to fupCrown of its strongest Defence, and port him, what are you doing by to fubftitute the Shadow of a vain this Claufe? You ruin his Interest, and cruel Prerogative in the Place of under the Notion of ftrengthening its moft folid Guard. his Hands.Every additional Penalty for Treafon, is a farther Difcouragement to thofe who would venture otherwife in his Defence. Men, upon fach an Event, will confider what may be the Confequence. They are fenfible, if they should be worsted, that the Laws provided againft their Enemies, would then carry their Edge upon themfelves,and that they should themselves become the Traitors. This Reflection would, undoubtedly, reftrain the Zeal of many; and thus the Crown would certainly lofe more by the Appiehenfions of its Friends, than it could poffibly gain by the Terrors, which E I must confider this Point of Security a little farther.- We have lately feen an Attempt to invade this Kingdom, with a View to dethrone his Majefty. I have weigh'd every Circumftance of this infolent At- F tempt with the utmoft Impartiality. The Judgment I have made upon it I believe is juft.-I differ in this, as I do in most of their Opinions upon Our publick Affairs, from thofe Gentlemen with whom I vote this Day. They thought there was no Caule for Apprehenfion;-I think there was great Caufe for it:-But whence did I ground thofe Apprehenfions?-Sir, 1745 G |