fore them but directly in point. It is the fame thing fometimes with cafes of defcent where property is to be determined and depends upon legitimacy; the courts will then determine legitimacy, which however belongs not to them but to the fpcritual court; and it is true that in fuch cafes likewife the courts of Westminster-hall determine by very different rules from the fpiritual courts. But the prefent cafe differs much from those which the courts will determine; because it does not come incidentally before us but is brought directly and is the very point in queftion: and to determine it we must fuperfede the fenence of a House of Commons, when it is a fentence, and commitment in execution, Another objection has been made which likewife holds out to us, if pursued in all its poffible cafes, fome very dreadful confequences: and that is the abufes which may be made by jurifdictions from which there is no appeal, and for which abufas there is no rcmedy. But this is unavoidable; and it is better to leave fome courts to the obligation of their oaths: we may fafely, nay we must deA pend upon the difcretion of fome courts. man not long ago was fentenced to ftand in the pillory by this court of Common Pleas for a contempt. Some may think this very hard to be done without a trial and without a jury: but it is neceffary. Suppofe the courts fhould abufe their juridiction; there can be no remedy for this: it would be a public grievance; and redrefs must be fought from the legiflaThe laws can never be a prohibition to the houfe of parliament, becaufe by law there is nothing fuperior to them. Suppose they too, as well as the courts of law, should abule the powers which the conftitution has given them; there is no redrefs, it would be a public grievance: the conftitution has provided checks to prevent its happening: it must be left at large; it was wife to leave it at large; fome perfons, fome courts must be trued with difcretionary powers; and though it.is poffible it is in the bighoft degree improbable that fuch abufis fhould ever happen: and the very fuppofal is afwered by Hawkins As for the cafe in the plate cited at the bar. mentioned of the Chancery committing for crimes, that is a different thing, because the Chancery has no criminal juritdiction, but if it commits for contempts the perfons will not be difcharged by any other court. Many authorities and arguments may be drawn from the reign of Charles; but they admit of a very fhort aniwer, they were times of conteft. At prefent when the Houfe of Commons commits for contempt, it is very unneceffary to state what is the particular breach of privilege: it would be a fufficient return to ftate breach of privilege generally. This doctrine is fortified by the opinion of all the judges. See Shaftesbury's cafe: and I never heard this decifion complained of till 1704, though tuse. the were times of heat, the judges could Mr. Juftice Gould. Much ftrefs has been laid upon an objection, that the warrant of the speaker is not conformable to the order of the houfe; and yet no fuch thing appears upon the return, as has been pretended: the order fays, that the Lord Mayor fhall be taken into the custody or the feajeant or his deputy; it does not fay By the ferjeant or his deputy. This court cannot know the nature of the power and proceedings of the Houfe of Commons: it is founded on a different law: the lex et confuetudo porliamenti is known to parliament-men only Trewynyard, Dyer 59, 60-When matters of privilege come incidentally before the court, it is obliged to determine them to prevent a failure of justice. It is true this court did in the inftance alluded to by the counsel at bar deter mine upon the privilege of parliament in the cafe of a libel; but then that privilege was promulged and known; it existed in records and in law books, and was allowed by parliament itself; but even in this cafe we now know that we were mistaken; for the Houfe of Commons have determined that privilege does not extend to matters of libel. The cates produced refpecting the high commiffion court &c. are not to the prefent purpofe; because thofe courts had not a legal authority. The refolution of the Houfe of Commons is an adjudication; and every court muft judge of its own contempts. Mr. Juftice Blackflone. The prefent cafe is of great importance because the liberty of the fubject is materially concerned.. Here is a member of the House of Commons committed in execution by his own house: that houfc houfe is fupreme in its own privileges, and over its own members. All courts, by which I mean to include the two houfes of parliament and the courts of Westminsterhall, can have no controul in matters of contempt. The fole adjudication of contempts and the punishment of them in any manner belongs exclufively and without interfering to each court. Infinite confufion and diforder would follow if courts could by writ of Habeas Corpus examine and determine the contempts of others. It is a confidence which may with perfect fafety and security be repofed in the judges and the houfer. The legiflature fince the revolution (fee 9, 10, William, Cap. 15.) have created many new contempts. The objections which are brought of abufive confequences prove too much, becaufe they are applicable to all courts of dernier refort:& ab abufu ad ufum non valet confequentia is a maxim of law as well as of logic. General convenience must always outweigh partial inconvenience; even fuppofing, which in my confcience I am far from fuppofing, that in the prefent cafe the houfe has abufed its powerr I know and am fure that the House of Commons are both able and well inclined to do justice. How prepofterous is the prefent murmur and complaint the House of Commons have this power only in common with all the courts of Weftminster-hall: and if any perfons may fafely be trufted with this power, they must furely be the Commons, who are chofen by the people for their privileges and powers are the privileges and powers of the people. There is great fallacy in my brother Glynn's whole argument, when he makes the queftion to be, whether the house have acted according to their rights or not. Can any good man think of involving the judges in a conteft with either houfe of parliament or with one another; and yet this manner of putting the queftion would produce fuch a conteft. The Houfe of Commons is the only judge of its own proceedings: Holt differed with the other judges in this point; but we must be governed by the eleven and not by the one. It is a right inherent in all fupreme courts: the House of Commons have always exercifed it. Little nice objections of particular words and forms and ceremonies of execution are not to be regarded in the acts of the Houfe of Commons; it is our duty to prefume the orders of that house and their execution according to law. I therefore concur entirely with my Lord Chief Justice. Mr. Justice Nares. I fhall ever entertain a moft anxious concern for whatever regards the liberty of the fubject: I have not the vanity to think I can add any thing to the weight of the arguments ufed by my Lord Chief Juftice and my brothers: I have attended with the utmost industry to every case and argument that has ever been produced on this fubject; and moft heartily and readily concur with my Lord Chief Juftice." An IMPARTIAL REVIEW of NEW PUBLICATIONS. ARTICLE I. THE Brighthelmftone Directory, Guide for that Place. Ts. Taylor. We took no notice of this little production when it first appeared but fince we have before us a new edition with a frontispiece, and the whole more correct than the former, we are induced to take fome notice of it for the benefit of our readers, as it gives an account of a fea bathing place nearer to the metropolis than any other, being reckoned no more than 57 miles fouth from London: the fuperior strength of the the fea water on this coaft has caufed Brighthelmstone to be frequented by the gentry and others. The directory of which we are fpeaking is no puerile performance, it is concife and written with perfpicuity; there are in it two momentos of ancient hiftory I do not remember to have met with before, and a correct account of the roads, stages, waggons, poft and packet boats which make it more Valuable to thofe whom pleasure or convenience may call to this place. The fcription as there fet down of the general ite of the town and country round, is fo exactly and pleafingly defcribed, that I fhall give it in the author's words. "The town is built on a hill of an easy afcent, rifing from the fouth eaft. It is defended from the north winds by hills, which form a kind of theatre round it. The foil is chalky and extremely fertile, the grafs growing on thefe downs is remarkably fine and fweet, which being mixed with various aromatic herbs gives a most delicious flavour to the mutton fed on them. Here is neither fwamp or marfh, and as no river is nearer than Shoreham, the air must confequently be very pure: the ground foon becomes dry after wet weather, fo that on the heavieft falis of rain the exercife of walking or riding may be immediately used without the leaft inconve nience. * A warmer latitude, and open to the fea breeze, which fets into the bay at S. W. croffing a tract of accan. Thefe confiderations added to the erection of these baths is an undertaking which must prove beneficial to the faculty in general, as it will be a means of applying falt water in various shapes and in its utmost power. Ff2 The The country is every where open and delightfully variegated with a mixture of hill and dale, the hills, though fteep in many places, are all of them covered with the most agreeable verdure, and command most pleafing profpects." In a part of this directory baths are mentioned to be erected for hot and fea vapour bathing, which is an object too material to país over. Thefe baths were erected under the immediate direction of Dr. Awfiter: it feem they were promifed to the public laft year, but owing to fome unforeseen delays, chiefly to the weather, they could not be got ready. They were not compleated till late in the feafon; but this, though a disappoint ment, I look upon advantageous to the works, as they have had time to fettle and dry. II. The Hiftory of England, from the Acceffien of James the First, to the Elevation of the Heuje of Hanover. By Catherine Macaulay, vol. 5. 4to. Dilly. The republican principles of Mrs. Macaulay are fo well known, that it is scarcely neceflary to tell the reader, he is no friend to the prefent constitution. The volume before us contains the whole period from the execution of Charles the first to the restoration. Cromwell is the particular object of her horror; fheembraces every opportunity of painting him in the blackest colours; and, on the other hand, omits no occafion of extolling the merits of the parliament which overturned the monarchy. Notwithstanding thefe prejudices, however Mrs. Macaulay is happy in her defcription of characters,and the following of Cromwell, if we except its exaggeration, will, doubtless be acceptable to our readers, "The domestic adminiftration of the ufurper was a greater oppofition to the liberty of his country, than his foreign transactions to her fecurity and intereft as a fate. The medels or rules of his government were of his own making; and though he changed them according to his pleasure or conveniency, he never abided by the directions of any. He ruled entirely by the fword, burthened the people with the maintenance of an army of thirty thoufand men, and more grofly violated their right to legislation by their reprefentatives than had any other tyrant who had gone before him. The power he delegated to his major-generals fuperfeded the established laws of the country. He threatened the judges, and difmified them from their office, when they refufed to become the inftruments of his arbitrary will; imprifoned lawyers for pleading in a legal manner the caufe of their clients, packed juries; cluded the redrets of Habeas Corpus and kept John Lilbourn in confinement after an acquittance by the verdict of a jury. In the point of religious liberty,, the ufurper, as it ferved his purpofes, encouraged and oppreffed all the different fectaries, not excepting the Papifts; and if he was liberal to men of learning, it was with a view to make use of their talents for his own peculiar advantage. Some face of decency in his court, and continuance of that familiarity to his inferiors by which he had effected his ambitious purpofes, were abfolutely neceffary to the prefervation of his power; but so far was he from preferving, or even affecting, that fimplicity of appearance particularly ufe ful in a fupreme governor, that, when only in the character of general of the army of the commonwealth, he lived in a kind of regal ftate at Whitehall, By his parliamentary intereft, he prevented the fale of the royal palaces, with a view to poffefs them when he had compaffed his intended ufurpation; and that he never appeared in public without an oftentatious parade and pomp, and lived in high state and magnificence, is confirmed by authentic records, with the teftimony of all parties. On the diffolution of the republican government, there were five hundred thousand pounds in the public treafury; the value of feven hundred thousand pounds in the magazines; the army was three or four months pay in advance; the maritime power was fufficiently ftrong to enable England to give law to all nations; and the trade of the country in fo flourishing a condition that nine hundred thousand a year had been refused for the cuftoms and excite. On the death of the ufurper, notwithstanding the money he had arbitrairly levied on the people, the aid offorded him by a convention of his own nomi❤ nation which he termed a parliament, the vaft fums he had raifed by decimating the cavaliers, the fums paid by the Dutch, the Portuguese, and the duke of Tuscany, with the treasure he at different times had taken from the Spaniards, the ftate was left in debt, the army in arrear, and the fleet in decay, To these national evils was added the lofs of a great part of the Spanish trade, with the foundation of that greatness in the French monarchy which is to this day formidable to the liberty of England. Such were the fruits of a government carried on on the principles of public good, and of that economy preferved by the parliament; and fuch the mifchiet to fociety, when the Juls of an individual are to be fupplied from the public flock, and the general good of the community facrificed to particular intereft. The aggrandizement of the French monarchy, to which Cromwell fo affentially contributed, was no lefs fatal to the intereft of the reformed, which he affected to protect, than oppofite to the welfare and fecurity of England. To fum up the villany of his conduct in a few lines-he deprived his country of a full and cqual fyftem of liberty, at the very inftant of fruition; ftopped the courfe of her power, in the midft of her victories; impeded the progrefs of reformation, by deftroying her government, and limiting the bounds of her empire; and, by a fatal concurrence of circumflances, was enabled to obftruct more good and occafion more evil than has been the lot of any other individual. It is faid that Cromwell was exemplary in the relative duties of a fon, a husband, and father; and the whole of his private conduct has been allowed by all parties to have been decent, though his mirth often degenerated into buffoonery, and the pleasures of his table bordered on licentiousness. If, as a citizen and magiftrate, his character has been attacked by a few of the judicious, there are none who doubt the almoft-fupernatural abilities of a man who from a private station, could attain to the fummit of fplendor and power. The accidental occurrences of life, to frequently favorable to fools and madmen, are never taken into the account of great fortune. Fairfax, though his understanding is allowed by all parties to have been weak, had he poffeffed a heart as corrupt as Cromwell's might have taken the advantage his military command gave him to tyrannize over a people unfettled in their government, ignorant of their true happiness, and divided both in their political and religious opinions. Fairfax without abilities to be of eminent fervice to his country, was too honeft to do it a real injury. The felfifh Cromwell let no opportunity flip to turn to his particular advantage the victories gained on the fide of liberty, and establish a perfonal intereft on the ruins of the public caufe. That he was active, eager, and acute, that he was a mafter in all the powers of grimace and the arts of hypocrify, is obvious in every part of his conduct, but these qualities are no proof of extraordinary abilities; they are to be met with daily in common life, and never fail of fuccels equal to their opportunities. The fagacity and judgement of Cromwell, in that point where his peculiar intereft was immediately concerned, will appear very deficient, if we confider the facrifice he made of thofe durable bleffings which must have attended bis perfon and pofterity from acting an honeft part, in the establishing the commonwealth on a juft and permanent bafis, and the obvious danger of thofe evils he incurred, for the temporary gratification of reigning a few years at the expence of honour, confcience, and repofe. Cromwell, both by the male and female line, was defcended from families of good antiquity; and though it does not appear he was a proficient in any of the learned fciences, yet his father, notwithstanding his circumstances were narrow, was not fparing in the article of education. An elevated fenfe of religion, which took place in his mind after a licentious and prodigal courfe, recommended him to the reformers of the age, and was the cause of his promotion to a feat in parliament; and the grimace of godli nefs, when the reality was extinguished by the fumes of ambition, with his fignal military talents, at length lifted him to the throne of empire. Notwithstanding that perfection in the fcience of war to which he attained, he was upwards of forty when he commenced foldier; a circumftance not to be forgotten, as it is the only splendid part of his character. He ufurped the government five years; died at the age of fifty nine; married Elizabeth the daughter of Sir James Bouchier; and had iffue two fons and four daughters. His eldeft daughter was first married to Ireton, afterwards to Fleetwood; the fecond to John Claypole Efq; of Northamptonshire; the third to the lord-viscount Falconbridge; and the fourth to Henry Rich, grandfon of the earl of Warwick.” III. The Memoirs of Great-Britain, and Ireland, from the Diffolution of the laft Par liament of Charles II. until the Sea Battle of La Hogue. By Sir John Dalrymple. Strachan. To fay that this is a very entertaining per formance, is not fufficient, it is a very inftructive one; and for the juftice of our obfervation we refer the reader to an extract which he will find in an earlier part of the present number. IV. An Introduction to the Hiftory of GreatBritain, and Ireland, By James Macpherson, Efq; 4to. 10s. 6d. Becket. The early periods of every national hiftory are in general fo confus'd that we have fre quent occafion to complain of the writers who endeavour to develope them; the present work, however, is an exception to the general rule, and 'tis but juftice to say that the ingenious author has executed a very difficult Task, in a manner very honourable to his reputation. V. The Shipwreck and Adventures of Monfieur Pierre Viaude, a Native of Bour, deaux, and Captain of a Ship. Translated from the French, By Mrs. Griffith. 8vo. Davies. Perhaps fince the first invention of letters, there never was a picture of fabulous diftrefs, which excedeed the tale of mifery related in this heart-rending narrative, which is unqueftionably authentick, and an extract from which will be found in page 194 of this month's Magazine. VI. Poems by the Rev. Mr. Cawthorne, late Mofter of Tunbridge School. 4to. 5s. Woodfall. The Author of thefe poems is no more; but we think his reputation cannot die, tilf every trace of liberality and genius are annikilated in this country. VII. A Refutation of a Pamphlet, entitled: Thoughts on the late Tranfactions respecting Falkland's Inlands. 8vo. 1s. Evans. This pamphlet is dedicated to Dr. Samuel Johníon the Author of the " Thoughts;" but all we can fay is, that the refuter fhews more courage than judgement in the choice of his antagonist. VIII VIII. Sermons to Young Men, by William Dodd, L. L. D. 10s. 6d. bound. Knox., Dr. Dodd's Reputation as a divine is firmly eftablished ;. it is barely, therefore, neceffary for us to fay that the fermons with which he has now obliged the world, do equal honour to his head and his heart; and form a very proper companion to the celebrated difcourfes addreffed to the fofter fex by a diffenting clergyman of the first character. IX. The British Moralift, &c. 2 vols. 5s. Robinfon. A no contemptible selection of tales, fables, vifions, and allegories from Johnson, Hawkefworth and other polite writers. X. The Love of Money: A Satire. 25. Evans. We have two fears refpecting this performance: our first is that its existence springs from the very paffion which it cenfures; and the fecond is that the poverty of the execution will entirely difappoint the expectations of the .author. XI. The Trial of Farmer Carter's Dog,Porter, for Murder. Is. Lowndes. A fatire on the game laws, with fome ftrokes at the practice of country magiftrates. XII. Cricket: an beroic Poem. By James Love, Comedian. 4to. Is. Davies. Mr. Love has long experienced the public favour in his theatrical capacity, and in his literary; we dare fay that more than the admirers of the amufement he celebrates will think him entitled to approbation. XII. Reflexions upon the prefent Dispute besweep the House of Commons and the Magifarates of London. 8vo. 1s. Bladon. As fo much is faid on this important bufinefs not only in the Political Debates, but in other parts of the prefent Magazine, we fhall only fay of this writer, that he reasons very tollerably on the unpopular fice of the question. XIV. Letters from Clara; or the Effufions of the Heart. 2 vols. 12mo. Wilkie, The heart from which these effufions, pro ceed is not only good, but the understanding to which it is allied is very refpectable. XV. An Efay on the Theory of Money. Syo. 2s. 6d. Almon.. An interefting fubject difcuffed by a fenfible writer. XVI. Harriet: or the Innocent Adultreft. 2 vols. 12mo. Baldwin. The author of this novel, who writes upon a well known Intrigue in the great world, with much fhrewdnefs obferves, that though there was cause enough for the husband to be jealous, there was not proof enough to juftify the jury in a verdict of adultery against the wife. This is the fundamental principle of his work, which is written in a very agreeable ftile,and exhibits in a celebrated Countess who affifted the fair delinquent through the courie of the amour, a knowledge of character faperior to the generality of novellifts. XVII. Incontestable Proofs of curing the Gout and other chronic Disorders (deemed incurable) by mild and efficacious Medicines ofiginally discovered and chronically prepared by Henry Flower, Gent. An empiric modeftly endeavouring to cftablish a great opinion of his own Noftrums. XVIII. A Differtation on the Gout and all chronical Disorders, jointly confidered as proceeding from the fame Čaufes. By William Cadogan. M: D. 8vo. 1s. 6d. Dodfley. This publication differs widely from the foregoing 'tis the equal offspring of judgement and benevolence, in which the caufes of chronic diforders are defcribed, and their only cures afferted to be exercife, temperance, and peace of mind. XIX. The Palinode: or the Triumphs of Virtue and Love, By Mr. Treyffac de Vergy. 2 vols. 5s. Woodfall. Mr. De Vergy does not want talents fo much as decency: this, however, is one of his leaft exceptionable novels; and we, therefore, congratulate him in his dawn of reformation. |