laws of the land, it was not wonderful, that they should treat the private regulations of their own assembly with equal disregard. The speaker, being young in office, began with pretended ignorance, and ended with deciding for the ministry. We were not surprised at the decision; but he hesitated and blushed at his own baseness, and every man was astonished*. The interest of the public was vigorously supported in the House of Lords. Their right to defend the constitution against an encroachment of the other estates, and the necessity of exerting it at this period, was urged to them with every argument that could be supposed to influence the heart, or the understanding. But it soon. appeared, that they had already taken their part, and were determined to support the House of Commons, not only at the expence of truth and decency, but even by a surrender of their own most important rights. Instead of performing that duty which the constitution expected from them, in return for the dignity and independence of their station, in return for the hereditary share it has given them in the legislature, the majority of them made common cause with the other House in oppressing the people, and established another doctrine as false in itself, and if possible more pernicious to the constitution, than that on which the Middlesex elec contrary to law and truth, or of refusals to acknowledge law and truth when proposed to them, are innumerable. *When it was a measure of government to destroy Mr. Wilkes, and when for this purpose it was necessary to run down privilege, Sir Fletcher Norton, with his usual prostituted effrontery, assured the House of Commons, that he should regard one of their votes no more than a resolution of so many drunken porters. This is the very lawyer, whom Ben Jonson describes in the following lines:"Gives forked counsel; takes provoking gold, On either hand, and puts it up. So wise, so grave, of so perplex'd a tongue, tion was determined. By resolving," that they had no right to impeach a judgment of the House of Commons in any case whatsoever where that House has a competent jurisdiction," they, in effect, gave up that constitutional check and reciprocal controul of one branch of the legislature over the other, which is perhaps the greatest and most important object provided for by the division of the whole legislative power into three estates: and now, let the judicial decisions of the House of Commons be ever so extravagant, let their declarations of the law be ever so flagrantly false, arbitrary, and oppressive to the subject, the House of Lords have imposed a slavish silence upon themselves; they cannot interpose, they cannot protect the subject, they cannot defend the laws of their country. A concession so extraordinary in itself, so contradictory to the principles of their own constitution, cannot but alarm the most unsuspecting mind. We may well conclude, that the Lords would hardly have yielded so much to the other House, without the certainty of a compensation, which can only be made to them at the expence of the people *. The arbitrary power they have assumed of imposing fines, and committing during pleasure, will now be exercised in its full extent. The House of Commons are too much in their debt to question, or interrupt, their proceedings. The crown too, we may be well assured, will lose nothing in this new distribution of power. After declaring, that to petition for a dissolution of parliament is irreconcileable with the principles of the constitution, his majesty has reason to expect, that some extraordinary compliment will be returned to the royal prerogative. The The man who resists and overcomes this iniquitous power, assumed by the Lords, must be supported by the whole people. We have the laws on our side, and want nothing but an intrepid leader. When such a man stands forth, let the nation look to it. It is not his cause, but our own. three branches of the legislature seem to treat their se☛ parate rights and interests as the Roman triumvirs did their friends. They reciprocally sacrifice them to the animosities of each other, and establish a detestable union among themselves, upon the ruin of the laws and liberty of the commonwealth. Through the whole proceedings of the House of Commons in this session, there is an apparent, a palpable consciousness of guilt, which has prevented their daring to assert their own dignity, where it has been immediately and grossly attacked. In the course of Doctor Musgrave's examination, he said every thing that can be conceived mortifying to individuals, or offensive to the House. They voted his information frivolous; but they were awed by his firmness and integrity, and sunk under it*. The terms in which the sale of a patent to Mr. Hine were communicated to the public, naturally called for a parliamentary enquiry. The integrity of the House of Commons was directly impeached; but they had not courage to move in their own vindication, because the inquiry would have been fatal to Colonel Burgoyne and the Duke of Grafton. When Sir George Saville branded them with the name of traitors to their constituents; when the Lord Mayor, the Sheriffs, and Mr. Trecothick, expressly avowed and maintained every part of the city remonstrance; why did they tamely submit to be insulted? Why did they not immediately expel those refractory members? Conscious of the motives on which they had acted, they prudently preferred infamy to danger, and were better prepared to meet the contempt, than to rouse the indignation, of the The examination of this firm, honest man, is printed for Almon. The reader will find it a most curious and a most interesting tract. Doctor Musgrave, with no other support but truth and his own firmness, resisted and overcame the whole House of Commons. whole people. Had they expelled those five members, the consequences of the new doctrine of incapacitation, would have come immediately home to every man. The truth of it would then have been fairly tried, without any reference to Mr. Wilkes's private character, or the dignity of the House, or the obstinacy of one particular county. These topics, I know, have had their weight with men, who, affecting a character of moderation, in reality consult nothing but their own immediate ease; who are weak enough to acquiesce under a flagrant violation of the laws, when it does not directly touch themselves; and care not what injustice is practised upon a man, whose moral character they piously think themselves obliged to condemn. In any other circumstances, the House of Commons must have forfeited all credit and dignity, if, after such gross provocation, they had permitted those five gentlemen to sit any longer among them. We should then have seen and felt the operation of a precedent, which is represented to be perfectly barren and harmless. But there is a set of men in this country, whose understandings measure the violation of law by the magnitude of the instance, not by the important consequences which flow directly from the principle; and the minister, I presume, did not think it safe to quicken their apprehensions too soon. Had Mr. Hampden reasoned and acted like the moderate men of these days, instead of hazarding his whole fortune in a law-suit with the crown, he would have quietly paid ⚫ the twenty shillings demanded of him; the Stuart family would probably have continued upon the throne; and at this moment the imposition of ship-money would have been an acknowledged prerogative of the crown. . What then has been the business of the session, after Voting the supplies, and confirming the determination of the Middlesex election? The extraordinary prorogation of the Irish parliament, and the just discontents of that kingdom, have been passed by without notice. Neither the general situation of our colonies, nor that particular distress which forced the inhabitants of Boston to take up arms in their defence, have been thought worthy of a moment's consideration. In the repeal of those acts which were most offensive to America, the parliament have done every thing but remove the offence. They have relinquished the revenue, but judiciously taken care to preserve the contention. It is not pretended, that the continuation of the tea-duty is to produce any direct benefit whatsoever to the mothercountry. What is it then but an odious, unprofitable exertion of a speculative right, and fixing a badge of slavery upon the Americans, without service to their masters? But it has pleased God to give us a ministry and a parliament, who are neither to be persuaded by argument, nor instructed by experience. Lord North, I presume, will not claim an extraordinary merit from any thing he has done this year in the improvement, or application, of the revenue. A great operation, directed to an important object, though it. should fail of success, marks the genius, and elevates the character of a minister. A poor contracted understanding deals in little schemes, which dishonour him if they fail, and do him no credit when they succeed. Lord North had fortunately the means in his possession of reducing all the four per cents at once. The failure of his first enterprize in finance, is not half so disgraceful to his reputation as a minister, as the enterprize itself is injurious to the public. Instead of striking one decisive blow, which would have cleared the market at once, upon terms proportioned to the price of the four per |