The Crisis. Группа авторов

Son, Judge in his room, he sat My Lord upon his Fathers Skin; which probably put him in mind of his own: And Perrin will make the application for your Lordship, and if he is not ashamed, remind your Lordship, of the Fate of the two time serving Judges, EPSOM and DUDLEY, who were hanged in the Reign of Henry the 7th—of this Transaction, one of the greatest Lawyers and most upright Judges this Nation ever was blest with, makes this remarkable Epiphonema.

      “Qui eorum vestigus insistunt, eorum Exitus prehorres cant.⁴

      “Those that dare tread in their Steps, let them dread, or expect, the same dismal end.”

      In my next I shall lay before the Public some farther traits of your Lordships public and private Life, for be assured I will never drop my Attention to you, while you continue to hold the Seals.

       The Public are desired to observe, the cunning of that most artful, as well as most wicked of Men, LORD MANSFIELD. His Lordship first planned the affirming the Decree, made by his Chan cellor in the above-Cause, in order to reak his private Vengeance on

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      THICKNESS, and then, in a Matter in which he was totally indifferent about the Issue, he affects to correct Lords L.D. SPENCER,⁵ and DENBIGH, for Interferring in nice points of Law.—This repremand, was taken in good Part,—the two Lords were instantly convinced of their Error. They made proper and public Acknowledgement, of their ignorance in the Tythe Cause; but Lord Denbighs Villainy in the former Cause, is to pass unnoticed.

      JUNIUS.

      On the 3d. Day of April, will be Published, (Price 1s. 6d.)

      The Prophecy of RUIN, a Poem.

      Printed and published for the Authors, by T. W. SHAW, in Fleet-Street, opposite Anderton’s Coffee House, where Letters to the Publisher will be thankfully received.

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      THE

      CRISIS

NUMBER XI	To be continued Weekly.
SATURDAY, APRIL 1, 1775	[Price Two-pence Half-penny.

      THIS Country is now reduced to a Situation really Degrading and Deplorable, through the strange Obstinacy and weak Prejudices of the King, who is determined, even at the risk of his own SAFETY, the Preservation of the Kingdom, and contrary to the united voice of his People, to encourage and protect an abandoned set of Men in the DESTRUCTION of that Constitution, he was Sworn to SUPPORT and DEFEND.

      History fatally informs us, that the English have been driven to extremes, by Causes of less Moment than those, which have shaken this Kingdom during the present Reign.

      Since the last stupendous Revolution, it has been generally believed, that the nature of our Constitution, became clearly ascertained, and fixt on Firmer and more lasting Principles, than it had known before that glorious Æra; at least the obtaining these Ends, as well as redressing Grievances, are acknowledged to be the Motives to the transactions of those Times.¹ For had the exorbitant Power of the Crown been left unlimitted

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      and unsettled, as before that event, and the Liberties and Privileges of the Subjects of England, in the same undecided State; it would have been only to change the Name of Masters, and not the Nature of their Sovereignty. And, if instead of removing the Causes of our Sufferings, and fixing our Rights and Liberties, we then gave to a House of Commons, an unlimited Power to dispose of the last according to their Inclination; it was only changing the Possessors of Arbitrary Power, by granting to a PROSTITUTED set of Representitives what was denied the King; and thus this illustrious Action of the Revolution, must appear to be the result of Faction, and aversion to one Interest, or unwarrantable Zeal for another. In what Manner can a Nation be more settled in its Freedom, by transferring ARBITRARY POWER from one Part of the Constitution to another.

      It cannot be denied, but that the Laws, which were then enacted to establish upon a Foundation not to be again Shaken, the Freedom of the English Nation, and the Liberties of the People ought to be considered, as Unalterable, the very Basis and Boundary of the King’s Prerogative, and the Rights of Englishmen, something in the Government like the Center in the Earth, the fixt Point, round which all Things move and to which they tend.

      Those Acts which were made at the Revolution, relative to the Constitution, such as the BILL of RIGHTS, and afterwards in Consequence of it THE ACT OF SETTLEMENT,² which may be justly deemed the compact

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      between the House of Hanover and the People of England, and which was preserved Inviolate, till broken by the unhallowed Hands of the Present SOVEREIGN and his Ministers; are undoubtedly of a Nature more SACRED than those which established a Turnpike Road.

      Those Acts founded on our former Rights in MAGNA CHARTA, ought to be considered as the essential Authority by which the House of Commons exists, than Laws which a Parliament may Abrogate, through pure Inclination to indulge a King, or his Ministers, to make them Despotic, and the People Miserable; for it must appear strangely absurd in a Constitution, that the Representatives of the People who form a third Part of it, should be Authorised by them to destroy their Liberties, and thereby exclude them from the Rights which they possess in the Government of the Kingdom? Besides, it is contrary to the very Idea of a free State, that a People should have given a Power of sacrificing their Privileges, to Men chosen the Guardians of them.

      Something must exist in a FREE STATE, which no Part of it can be authorised to alter or destroy, otherwise the Idea of a Constitution cannot Subsist; for unless we allow the Freeholders and Electors of GREAT BRITAIN to be superior to a House of Commons, we grant to them an ABSOLUTE POWER, a Power inconsistent with the Notion of a FREE PEOPLE, and destructive of the Principles of a MIXED GOVERNMENT.

      Should it be acknowledged, that, though the Commons have exercised a power of annihilating many Privileges and Rights, belonging to the People, and, that they possess no legal Title to it; then all Laws subversive of Magna Charta, the Bill of Rights, act of Settlement, and spirit of the Constitution, are an excess of their Authority, and a Violation of their Trust; for which the present INFAMOUS PARLIAMENT, ought not only to be dissolved, but every MEMBER who visibly engaged in the Destruction of the Peoples Rights, should suffer DEATH, together with those Hellish MINISTERS who formed a design of enslaving the People; and it must be equally Just, as well as Necessary, to call to a strict Account the FIRST MAGISTRATE, who could be base enough to encourage the Destruction of our LIBERTIES and a SUBVERSION

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      of the noblest Constitution in the World; as an Example to future Kings and Ministers.

      If any Ministerial Hireling should assert that our Representatives after the Hour of Election, are no longer answerable for their Conduct, and are legally invested with Authority to Destory our Rights and Liberties at their Pleasure; then, what did King James do more than this by his Prerogative? and of what Advantage has the Revolution proved to us, if Subverting the Constitution be legally placed in the Hands of the Representatives? in what Sense does the Idea of a Free State, or the Liberty of the PEOPLE exist, when it depends upon nothing more permanent or established, than the vague, rapacious, or interested inclination of a Majority of FIVE HUNDRED and FIFTY EIGHT MEN, open to the insidious Attacks of a WEAK, or DESIGNING PRINCE, and his MINISTERS? surely it will be granted, that whether King, or Minister, who by undue influence should prevail in passing Laws subversive of the Statutes before mentioned, must be deemed an Offender against the most sacred of all Human Enjoyments, Liberty and the Constitution of his Country, and equally Criminal with JAMES THE SECOND and his Ministers.

      The whole presumptive Title a Parliament can pretend