they fould in the mean time be able to find any new kind of labour to put them to, The revenue, too, muft proportionably fuffer by the want of the export duties payable on the goods fent to the colonies, and the import duties payable on the goods we receive from foreign countries, in return for what the colonies fend them; which duties, inconfiderable as the firft may be, cannot but amount to a great deal more, than thofe to raife which a ftop was now unhappily put to them.

This laft is the most favourable idea that could poffibly be formed of these measures. It is, therefore, very furprising, how a 'miniftry compofed of perfons, one of whom had fo long, and with fuch applaufe, prefided at the board of trade and plantations, and another at that of the treafury, fhould well come to think of them. It is ftill more furprifing, that thefe measures fhould meet with the approbation of a British privy council and parliament. But that, after almoft the worst idea that could be well formed of them, had been in a great degree realifed, another measure, the bare propofal of which had given fo much more offence, fhould be approved even with oppofition, inftead of the first being repealed, if not ftigmatized, argues fuch want of reflection, as can fcarcely be parallelled in the public councils of any country.

Sir Robert Walpole is faid to have had much clearer and jufter notions concerning the means of making the British colonies pay the mother country for their defence, and even contribute to her opulence. A scheme for taxing them having been mentioned to him during the war with Spain, which broke out in the year 1739, he fmiled and faid, "I will leave that for fome of my fucceffors, who may have more courage than I have, and be lefs a friend to commerce than I am. It has been a maxim with me, during my adminiftration, to encourage the trade of the American colonies in the utmoft latitude, (nay it has been neceffary to pafs over fome irregu larities in their trade with Europe) for by encouraging them to an extenfive growing foreign commerce, if they gain 500,0col. I am convinced that in two years afterwards full 250,000l of their gains will be in his Majefty's exchequer, by the labour and product of this kingdom; as immenfe quantities of every kind of our manufactures go thither; and as they increase in their foreign American trade, more of our produce will be wanted. This is taxing them more agreeably both to their own conftitution, and to ours."

As to the legality of thefe laws, if we may be allowed the expreffion, we thall poftpone the confideration of it to the following chapters, in which it will arife of itfelf out of the fubject.

CHAP.

T

HOUGH the miniftry could not fee the glaring inexpediency of thefe laws, they could, it feems, forefee the oppofition that was likely to be made to meafures of the fame kind. The fpeech made from the Jan. 10th, throne at the opening of the next feffion, 1765. though it recommend ed the effablishing of fuch regulations as might beft connect and trengthen every part of his Majefty's dominions, for their mutual benefit and fupport, it mentioned no amendment in any former regulations relating to that fubject; but, on the contrary, a reliance on the. firmnefs and wifdom of parliament in promoting the proper refpect and obedience due to the laws, and the legislative authority of Great Britain; the bringing of which into queftion had been much better avoided, fince fuch a debate could have no iffue, but what must be highly prejudicial to the mother country, efpecially after an unquestioned exercife of fuch authority. Decided in the affirmative, it must tend to alienate the affections of the colonies; in the negative, to increase their prefumption; and left undecided, breed in them a complication of both thefe evils.

But before another blow could

29th of Jan.

be ftruck at the colonies, another was levelled at the miniftry. The original queftion concerning the le. gality of general warrants, for apprehending and feizing the 1765. authors, printers, and publishers of feditious libels, together with their papers, was revived without any qualification, as to the former practice of fecretaries of state, and acquiefcence of the court of king's bench, or rather of the parties fuing in that court for the benefit of the babeas corpus a&t, in the legality of fuch warrants. But, happily for the nation, befides the two parties, one of which feemed determined to fupport the miniftry at any rate, and the other, at any rate, to pull them down, there ftill exifted a third, if it may be called a party, who, wifely confidering, that the ordinary courts of juftice, if they had ever been remifs in affairs of this nature, were now fo much the contrary, as by no means to require any refolution of a houfe of commons to quicken them, got the original motion fo amended in the preceding feffion, as to occafion debates, that ended in the difmiffion of it; and now, improving upon themfelves, had it altered to a fo much more indigestible form, as rendered it, in fome fort, neceifary

Deceffary to put the previous queftion, whether it should at all be debated; and, when that question came to be put, had weight enough to make it pafs in the negative. The previous question, in which the amendment, or rather alteration, is included, ftood as follows:

"That, in the particular cafe of libels, it is proper and neceffary to fix, by a vote of the house only, what ought to be deemed the law, in refpect to general warrants; and, for that purpose, at a time when the determination of the legality of fuch warrants, in the inftance of a most feditious and TREASONABLE libel, is actually depending before the courts at law, for the houfe to declare that a general warrant, for apprehending the authors, printers, or publishers, of a libel, together with their papers, is not warranted by law, and is an high violation of the liberty of the fubject."

The decifion, however, of this 'important queftion was not carried without a very long and warın debate concerning the nature of trea fon; the illegality of general warrants in any cafe; the actual pendency, before the ordinary courts of justice, of a cafe fimilar to that upon which it was propofed the houfe fhould now pronounce; aud, in fine, the propriety of the houfe's pronouncing, when it had itself allowed the exiftence of that circumftance; and as it was impoflible, that it fhould hold out fo long upon the arguments which before fupported it, and the difference in the alteration was alone fufficient to give room to new ones, many new ones were made ufe of. For, as there was no law,

totidem verbis, to determine any of thefe points, recourfe was had to the fpirit of the conftitution. Parliamentary refolutions were brought against parliamentary refolutions; judicial decrees againft judicial decrees; opinions of able lawyers againft the opinions of others equally able; parities against parities; and all of them, refolutions, decrees, opinions, paritics, one promifcuoufly against another. The principal arguments made ufe of on this occafion both within and without doors were as follows:

It was urged, that, in the reign of king Charles the Second, when, if the laws themfelves were not fo favourable to the real dignity of the monarch, the minitters of them must be allowed to have been more liable to lean towards his interefts, and in an affair, in which the monarch's caufe was made a common caufe with that of both houfes of parliament, the earl of Briftol having exhibited a charge of treafon against the earl of Clarendon, and alledged, that the faid earl of Clarendon had endeavoured to alienate the affections of his Majefty's fubjects by venting opprobrious fcandals against his Majefty's perfon, and that he had traduced both houfes of parliament; and the judges being ordered to give their opinion whether this be treafon or no, they unanimously agreed, that, if the matters alledged in the charge were admitted to be true, although alledged to be taiterously done, yet there was no treafon in it; that, independent of this argument, and only allowing that feditionínefs, nay treasonable nefs, is often but mere matter of opinion, and murder a matter of

fa&t,

fact, yet no coroner, till within a few years, even after the finding of a murder by the joint opinion of twelve difinterested perfons, a much more refpectable tribunal than any two minifters of ftate, was ever known to iffue a general warrant for apprehending the unknown perpetrators of it; that, if the legiflature thought, that fuch libels, as minifters might think proper to confider as feditious and, treasonable, required equal reftraint, they would certainly have provided for it; that to prove it was not through any inattention (not that any inattention in the making of laws can excufe any negle& in the miniftration of them) of the legislature, fuch provifion was omitted, at the pafting of an & at the time of the revolution for fufpending the babeas corp act, by granting the kig a power to fecure and detain fuch perfons as his Majefty might fufpect were confpiring againft his perfon, every fach warrant for detaining and apprehend ing any fufpected perfon, was to be figned by fix members of the privy council, and to be, besides, registered in the council books, in order to make fuch members anfwerable for every warrant they figned.

That, if fince that time, in order to prevent the growth of a moft alarming evil, the great number of rogues and vagabonds, it has been thought proper by the legislature, to direct and authorize general privy fearches for fuch pets of fociety, yet no perfon fufpected of being either can be committed, if he can procure a refponfible houfekeeper to give fecurity for his future appearance; or be detained above fix days, if committed on

fufpicion of felony, unless some accuation is, in the mean time, brought against him.

That, if general warrants defcribing the offence, do not give officars in general a right to feize the innocent, they throw in the way of metfengers, who are to be fo well paid for taking care of the offender's perfon, a temptation to enquire into the character and life of all perfons, and thus tend in fome fhape, to convert theic fubordinate minifters of juftice into fo many fpies and informers; that fuch an enquiry, even when conducted in the difcreeteft manner, might injure the most virtuous in their reputation and fortune.

That, if a general warrant for feizing the authors, printers, and publishers of a libel, feditious and treafonable in the eye of a minifter, was liable to fo many objections, one for feizing their papers was still more fo; tince papers, though of ten dearer to a man than his heart's blood, and equally clofe, have neither eyes nor ears to perceive the injury done to them, nor tongue to complain of it, and of course, may be treated in a degree highly injurious to the owners, before they can get into the hands of a minifter? and that, though a minifter may have lefs temptation to fatiate avarice by the garbling of fuch papers, he may have what is a great deal worse, a much stronger to glut his revenge, by combining or disjoining them, fo as to make of them engines capable of working the deftruction of the most innocent perfons.

That even a particular warrant to feize feditious papers alone, with. out mentioning the titles of them, may prove highly detrimental,

fince in that cafe all a man's papers muft be indifcriminately examined, and fuch examination may bring things to light, which it may not concern the public to know, and which yet it may prove highly detrimental to the owner to have made public; that of this there had happened a moft flagrant inftance in the cafe of one of thefe perfons, the apprehenfion of whoni and of his papers had originally given rife to this debate; fome letters of his, no way relative to the public, having tranfpired foon after the execution of the warrant against him and his papers.

That, great as the mifchiefs might be, with which general warrants for feizing the perfons and papers of thofe guilty of writing feditious, and even treasonable libels, must be attended to in dividuals, thofe attending general warrants against the printers and publifhers of fuch libels, unless thefe libels carry fomething feditious or treafonable in the very title, or they have been legally declared fuch, muft be ftill greater to the public, fince in that cafe printers and publishers, to be fafe, must read every thing that goes through their hands; and of courfe would print and publifh very little; the confequence of which muft be a fuppreffion of the prefs; an evil more prejudicial to the public than almost any abufe of it can be; that fuch printers and publishers cannot be confidered in as bad a light as tale-bearers, fince it is impoffible for a man to tell a thing without knowing what it is he tells, whereas no printer or publifher can be fuppofed to know what every thing is that he prints or publishes;

and notwithstanding, by the law of fome of our wifeft Saxon monarchs, the tale-bearer was to be' kept in prifon, only till he gave up his author, for that a printer or publisher of an offenfive paper ought not to be feized and detained till he gave up the writer, was not in the leaft pretended by them.

That the cafes, if any, in which it might be proper to endeavour to fecure, by a general warrant, the perfons, and by almoft any warrant, the papers of thofe concerned in the writing, printing, and publishing of feditious, and what a minifter might think proper to ftyle treafonable libels, were fo few, that they might be jufly ranked amorgft thote very uncommon events, against which the legiflature has not thought proper to make any provifion; becaufe he providing against all fuch uncommon events would fwell the law to an intolerable degree; that, befides, it was almoft impoffible to imagine any cafe in which every evil, with which fuch practices could be attended, might not be feafonably enough remedied, and even prevented by the prefentment of a grand jury; or, at worft, an information in the court of king's bench.

Such were the arguments now urged against minifters too freely attributing treafon to libels, and their granting general warrants for feizing the perfons and papers of the authors, printers, and publifhers of feditious libels, and even fuch libels, as they might think proper to deem treafonable; and in both refpects they must be allowed to have great weight, confidering how much more the fcale prepon

derates