LETTER XLV. TO THE Printer of the Public Advertiser. SIR, May 1, 1771. THEY who object to detached parts of Junius's last letter, either do not mean him fairly, or have not considered the general scope and course of his argument. There are degrees in all the private vices; why not in public prostitution? The influence of the Crown naturally makes a septennial Parliament dependent. Does it follow, that every House of Commons will plunge at once into the lowest depths of prostitution? Junius supposes, that the present House of Commons, in going such enormous lengths, have been imprudent to themselves, as well as wicked to the public; that their example is not within the reach of emulation; and that, in the first session after the next election, some popular measures may probably be adopted. He does not expect that a dissolution of Parliament will destroy corruption, but that, at least, it will be a check and terror to their successors, who will have seen, that, in flagrant cases, their constituents can and will interpose with effect. After all, Sir, will you not endeavour to remove or alleviate the most dangerous symptoms, because you cannot eradicate the disease? Will you not punish treason or parricide, because the sight of a gibbet does not prevent highway robberies? When the main argument of Junius is admitted is admitted to be unanswerable, I think it would become the minor critic, who hunts for blemishes, to be a little more distrustful of his own sagacity. The other objection is hardly worth an answer. When Junius observes, that Kings are ready enough to follow such advice, he does not mean to insinuate, that, if the ad vice of Parliament were good, the King would be so ready to follow it. PHILO JUNIUS. LETTER XLVI. ADDRESSED TO The Printer of the Public Advertiser. SIR, May 22, 1771. VERY early in the debate upon the decision of the Middlesex election, it was well observed, by Junius, that the House of Commons had not only exceeded their boasted precedent of the expulsion, and subsequent incapacitation, of Mr. Walpole, but that they had not even adhered to it strictly, as far as it went. After convicting Mr. Dyson of giving a false quotation from the journals, and having explained the purpose which that contemptible fraud was intended to answer, he proceeds to state the vote itself by which Mr. Walpole's supposed incapacity was declared, viz. "Resolved, That ""Robert Walpole, Esq. having been this Ses"sion of Parliament committed a Prisoner to "the Tower, and expelled this House, for a "high Breach of Trust in the Execution of his "Office, and notorious Corruption when Secre "tary at War, was and is incapable of being "elected a Member to serve in this present "Parliament." And then observes, that, from the terms of the vote, we have no right to annex the incapacitation to the expulsion only; for that, as the proposition stands, it must arise equally from the expulsion and the commitment to the Tower. I believe, Sir, no man, who knows any thing of dialectics, or who understands English, will dispute the truth and fairness of this construction. But Junius has a great authority to support him; which, to speak with the Duke of Grafton, I accidentally met with this morning in the course of my reading. It contains an admonition, which cannot be repeated too often. Lord Sommers, in his excellent Tract upon the Rights of the People, after reciting the votes of the convention of the 28th of January, 1689, viz. "That King James II. "having endeavoured to subvert The Consti"tution of this Kingdom, by breaking the ori"ginal Contract between King and People; and "by the advice of Jesuits, and other wicked "Persons, having violated the fundamental "Laws, and having withdrawn himself out of "this Kingdom, hath abdicated the Govern"ment," &c. makes this observation upon it: "The word abdicated relates to all the clauses "aforegoing, as well as to his deserting the "kingdom, or else they would have been wholly "in vain." And, that there might be no pretence for confining the abdication merely to the withdrawing, Lord Sommers farther observes, That King James, by refusing to govern us according to that Law by which he held the Crown, did implicitly renounce his Title to it. If Junius's construction of the vote against Mr. Walpole be now admitted, and, indeed, I cannot comprehend how it can honestly be disputed, the advocates of the House of Commons must either give up their precedent entirely, or be reduced to the necessity of maintaining one of the grossest absurdities imaginable, viz. "That a commitment to the Tower is a constituent part of, and contributes half at least to, "the incapacitation of the person who suffers 66 66 it." I need not make you any excuse for endea vouring to keep alive the attention of the public, to the decision of the Middlesex election. The more I consider it, the more I am convinced, that, as a fact, it is, indeed, highly injurious to the rights of the people; but that, as a prece dent, it is one of the most dangerous that ever was established against those who are to come after us. Yet I am so far a moderate man, that 1 verily believe the majority of the House of Commons, when they passed this dangerous vote, neither understood the question, or knew the consequence of what they were doing. Their motives were rather despicable, than cri minal in the extreme. One effect they certainly did not foresee. They are now reduced to such a situation, that, if a Member of the present House of Commons were to conduct himself ever so improperly, and, in reality, deserve to be sent back to his constituents with a mark of disgrace, they would not dare to expel him; because they know that the people, in order to try again the great question of right, or to thwart an odious House of Commons, would probably overlook his immediate unworthiness, and re turn the same person to Parliament. But, in time, the precedent will gain strength. A future House of Commons, will have no such apprehensions, consequently will not scruple to follow a precedent which they did not establish. The miser himself seldom lives to enjoy the fruit of his extortion; but his heir succeeds to him of course, and takes possession without censure. No man expects him to make restitution, and, no matter for his title, he lives quietly upon the estate. › PIILO JUNIUS. LETTER XLVII. TO THE Printer of the Public Advertiser. SIR, I CONFESS my partiality to Junius, and feel a considerable pleasure in being able to communicate any thing to the public in support of his opinions. The doctrine laid down in his last letter, concerning the power of the House of Commons to commit for contempt, is not so new as it appeared to many people; who, dazzled with the name of privilege, had never suffered themselves to examine the question fairly. In the course of my reading this morning, I met with the following passage in the Journals of the House of Commons, (Vol. i. p. 603.) Upon occasion of a jurisdiction unlawfully assumed by the House in the year 1621, Mr. Attorney. General Noye gave his opinion as follows: "No doubt but, in some cases, this House may "give judgment; in matters of returns, and "concerning members of our House, or falling "out in our view in Parliament; but, for foreign "matters, knoweth not how we can judge it; "knoweth not that we have been used to give "judgment in any case, but those before men❝tioned." Sir Edward Coke, upon the same subject, says, (page 604,) "No question but this is a House of "record, and that it hath power of judicature "in some cases; have power to judge of returns "and members of our House. One, no member, "offending out of the parliament, when he came "hither, and justified it, was censured for it." Now, Sir, if you will compare the opinion of these great sages of the law with Junius's doc. |