minority (when he was crowned King of France at Paris) a law was enacted confining elective franchize to perfons poffeffed of a freehold worth 40s. per annum.

Ir establishes our right to very frequent elections of Parliament for they were held twice in every year down to 1400. The good old custom of frequent Parliaments, was declared by statute 4. Ed. III. which expressly fays, that they "fhall be holden once every year and more often if need be." And by Statute 36 of fame reign; which declares that they "shall be holden every year.”

HERE then, our right, even by the written law of the land, and by ftill more ancient usage, to a very extended elective franchize, and to very frequent Parliaments, is fully proved. They are as noble foundations of a representative government, as any which modern times can boast of.

MAGNA CHARTA. In 1215, we find fome of its parts in the great Charter of King John; which was only a ratifica

"WHEREAS the elections of knights of fhires, to come to "the Parliament of our Lord the King, in many counties of "the realm of England, have now of late been made by very great outrages, and exceffive numbers of people, "dwelling within the fame counties of the realm of England, "of the which most part was of people of small substance, "and of no value, whereof every of them pretended a voice "equivalent, as to fuch electors to be made, with the most "worthy Knights and Efquires dwelling within the fame "counties; whereby manslaughter, riots, batteries, and di"vifions, among the gentlemen and other people of the fame "counties, fhall very likely rife and be, unless convenient "and due remedy be provided in this behalf. Our Lord the "King, &c. &c."

A SECOND act paffed, 10th Henry VI. requiring that the freehold (to ufe its own words) fhould "lie within the fame county where any fuch choofers will meddle of any such "elections."

tion of principles in actual operation feveral centuries before that æra. This charter, in order to prevent arbitrary imprisonment, establishes the principle, that the meanest subject can only be brought to trial, when lawful evidence is given against him. [MAG. CH. Article 47]. That his trial must be by jury [Art. 48.] It abolishes "exceffive fines," and alfo pledges the Crown not to “fell, deny, or defer right and juftice" to any man. It also requires that the Prelates, Earls and great Barons, shall be summoned to the great Council (afterwards called the Parliament) each by a particular writ : and the leffer Barons, by a general fummons of the Sheriff. This charter was deemed fo valuable a portion of the conftitution, that our ancestors took care to have it confirmed thirty times; that important part of it which secures perfonal liberty has been corroborated by fix different statutes; and all its effential articles were granted to Ireland, in like manner, by Henry III.

EVEN in the few articles which I have now felected, we trace valuable traits of a conftitution.

We find it alfo in the PETITION OF RIGHTS, in the reign of Charles I. which renewed and extended THE GREAT CHARTER. Among other matters, it prevents the Crown from obliging the people to grant loans independently of Parliament; it prevents imprisonment without previous cause shewn; it prevents condemnation to death by Crown Commiffioners, without trial by the laws and statutes of the realm. So far as this law went, it restored certain parts of the constitution which had been infringed by the monarch.

WE find it in the HABEAS CORPUS ACT of Charles II. which obliges a jailor to produce in court the body of his prisoner, and fhew caufe for his detainder.-By it no man can be recommitted for the fame offence; which last (Hume fays) was a provision for liberty, that had not place in any other government; and those which since that æra have enjoyed it, borrowed it from that conftitution which we are now exploring in fome of its principal parts.

We find it in the BILL OF RIGHTS, which informs us among other matters THAT neither laws, nor the execution of them,

can be suspended by regal authority.-The Star-Chamber, is by it illegal-levying money for, or to the use of the Crown, without grant of Parliament, is illegal-right of the subject to petition the King, declared law; and all commitments or profecutions for exercifing that right, contrary to it. Aftanding army in peace, without consent of Parliament, illegal. Right of Proteftant fubjects to carry arms, afferted. Election of Members of Parliament ought to be free. Freedom of speech and debate in Parliament, not impeachable; nor to be queftioned in any court or place out of the fame. Exceffive bail not to be required; nor exceffive fines impofed; nor cruel, nor unusual punishments inflicted. Jurors to be duly impannelled (not packed); and Juries on charges of high treason, to confift of freeholders. And for "redrefs of all grievances, Parliaments to be held frequently.”

THE great Whig Commoner, WM. PITT, (not indeed the prefeut gentleman of that name,) mentions one of the principles of our conftitution, in the following admirable manner." It is a maxim of our law, that every Englishman's"houfe is his caftle. Not that it is furtounded with walls "and battlements: it may be a ftraw-built fhed. Every "wind of Heaven, may whistle round it ;—all the elements

of nature, may enter in :-but the King cannot; the King "dare not."--Respecting MAUNA CHARTA, it is a rule that infringements of that charter fhould not have the force of law. Among other principles, are thefe; that jurors should be of the vicinage and not compofed of men living at a distance. That the duties of the King, to his people, and the allegiance of the people to their King, are reciprocal — That the people may RESIST a Monarch, who enendeavours to fubvert the religion, laws, and liberties of his fubjects; and that although "to declare war, is the preroga-, tive of the King; to grant or withhold the means of carrying it on, is the privilege of the people, through their reprefentatives."

I HAVE attempted to enumerate fome, among thousands, of the WRITTEN proofs of the exifience of a conftitution; and of our right to the enjoyment of one, on certain known and fixed principles. But even charters and conftitutional ftatutes, are only teftimonics of IMMEMORIAL RIGHTS and

PRIVILEGES; and whatever infringes on them fhould be nugatory and void. Countries long deprived of such blessings, that cannot plead the argument drawn from prescription, naturally fly to parchment declarations, as means of arresting them in their flight. But the claims of Britons and Irishmen, are not only founded on the nature of man, but have been preferved by a living and active principle, which neither the revolution of time, nor the encroachments of regal power, have been able to obliterate from their memories, nor extinguish in their breasts.

THE several rights mentioned in this paper, have been occafionally circumfcribed; but none of them have been extinguished. The encroachments on the Conftitution have proceeded, at one time, from the defpotic influence of the Monarch, as in the reign of James II.-at another, from the tyrannical or avaricious temper of the people themselves.An inftance of the last kind, we had in the American war. The English, by aiming at unreasonable power, and iniquitous revenue, involved themselves in an immenfe debt; and in order to pay the intereft of it, they have been obliged to give up a fhare of their liberty, by fubmitting to Excife laws, (which render an Englifliman's houfe no longer his castle) and to other unconstitutional acts; just as an extravagant individual feels his freedom abridged by his imprudence. Thefe violations of the Constitution, it has generally been the care, and is always the duty of the people to watch with a jealous eye. It is of fuch abuses that all true patriots complain, and feek redrefs. To the removal of them, they study to direct the attention of the people; knowing from reason, hiftory, and daily experience, that when thus purified, the British Conftitution would answer the purposes of good government better, not only than any other that has ever been tried, but than any that has ever been imagined. This is the unanimous fentiment of the patriotic Irishmen, who, on former trying occafions were fignalized by their abilities and their virtues. The people have every reason to rely upon the wisdom and the patriotism of fuch men, and no reason to suspect them of desertion. But there are men, whom the people thould TRY before they TRUST. They should place their confidence in the patriots

whom I have described, rather than in those persons whom I am going to mention. There are perfons who endeavour, in their speeches and actions, to drive things by precipitate and premature violence, to a greater extremity than any one thought of before them; who seem to pay little regard to peace and good order; but speak familiarly of bloodshed and devastation; who laugh at a government that has stood the teft of ages, and fecured the domestic comfort,the internalquiet, and the perfonal liberty of the people, as well as extended the power and supported the dignity of the country abroad, better than any other that has ever been heard of. Thefe men trusting to, and infulting your ignorance, throw out certain crude and fantastical ideas, which, instead of being juftified by experience, are nothing more than guess-work and conjecture. Among these, is that abfurd notion, and notable difcovery, that the English have no Constitution.Now we know, that till lately, the English were the only people that knew what a Constitution meant; that in a political fenfe even the very word was peculiar to their language, and borrowed from it, by those who lately had no fuch term, becaufe they had no fuch idea!—that THEY therefore knew beft what it meant ; and if others wifhed to exprefs a different meaning, they should have invented a different word. Such men as these are no more worthy of your confidence, than braggadocios, bullies, or IMPOSTORS of any other class.

REGULATE the PRACTICE of our government by its PRINCIPLES; give us Parliaments FREQUENTLY CHOSEN, and REALLY RETURNED by the great body of THE PEOPLE, and we shall enjoy all that the wife and good have looked for, or that can ever be found, in FREE GOVERNMENT.

ADDITIONAL NOTES.

SIR John Thompson, afterwards Lord Haverfham, in his memoirs of the Earl of Anglesea, informs us, that, "from "the Ift of Edward III. (1327) to the 14th Henry IV. (1412) "in the space of 85 years, there are extant 72 original writs "for the fummons of Parliament; fo that allowing 40 days