by name, who had been a fergeant in the army, a man of found judgement and great intrepidity of mind, as well as ftrength of body, undertook to be the ambaffador of his fuffering countrymen. Without money to pay for his paffage, he, with great difficulty, was permitted to work for it to London. He found out the directors of the Company,explained his bufinefs with distinctnefs,-laid open many fcenes of villany, that had been practiced upon these perfons, and adduced fuch evidence of the facts, as could not be withstood. These were reprefented to the Minifter, who, in the most hearty manner, concurred in the views of the Company. A perfon of refpectable rank, Lieutenant Clarkfon, brother to the Reverend Mr Clarkson who has fo confpicuously distinguished himself in this bufinefs, was difpatched with letters of fevere reprimand to the governors of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, for their pait conduct, in refpect to thefe negroes, and orders to concur with Mr Clarkson, and his faithful affiftant Peters, in fearching out these perfons, and in rescuing them from the hands of their oppreffors. About three hundred of thefe were found, and fent to the coaft of Africa, where they are, no doubt, arrived before this time. May their latter days be crowned with peace! It is painful to record tranfactions fo unfavourable, on one part, to the caufe of humanity; but truth ought ever to guide the pen of justice, and refpect to nations or to perfons, fhould ever influence it. Too many particulars were ftated, refpecting thefe tranfactions, to leave the fmalleft doubt of the facts being, in general, as here repre fented. The farther views of the Society respecting these articles will be given in a fubfequent number. The reader is requested to advert to a small inaccuracy in the above account. The vendition of territory, mentioned in p. 274 as having happened before the charter was obtained, only took place after the Company had been fully established by law. A fort of vendition of a fmall territory, had been made by a King Tom to the agents of Mr Hanway, the ven dition made to the Company, was a much more folemn and public tranfaction. THE BE E, OR LITERARY WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER, FOR SATURDAY, December 31, 1791. Hiftorical Difquifitions on the British Conftitution. [Continued from p. 171. and Concluded.] IN The Manner of enacting Laws. It has been formerly obferved, that under the reign of the first princes of the Norman line, the principal bufinefs for which parliaments were ufually called, was to grant fupplies to the king, and that the prevailing idea was, that each divifion of the people was a di ftinct clafs by itself. The nobility and clergy at first, Vol. VI. Sf and afterwards the clergy, lords, knights, and bur geffes, and that each of these granted, for their own order only, fuch fubfidy as they thought proper. An idea, fomewhat of the fame kind, feemed to prevail with respect to legiflation, after the parliament began to have fome notion of its powers, as a legislative affembly; and it was long before they got a glimpse of that lucid order which now prevails in regard to the enacting of laws. Thofe who have not turned their attention to this subject, but who have formed their notions of parliamentary conduct from the established mode of procedure, at prefent, will find fome difficulty in believing it poffible that they could ever have proceeded in fuch a loose and inaccurate manner, as they certainly did, in a matter of so much confequence. In the days of the conqueror, and his fon William, royal edicts, as in other kingdoms in Europe, conftituted the bulk of the political regulations in force. The weak title that Henry I. and fome of his fucceffors, had to the crown of England, induced them to court popularity, fo as to make any petitions that parliament offered for redrefs of grievances to be listened to. The king was, at that time, supposed to have the power of making laws, but the people were thus encouraged to petition for a redrefs of grievances, and, as it were, to advise which fort of laws he ought to make. It thus came to be cuftomary for those who were called upon to grant fupplies, to prefent, at the fame time, their humble fupplications that the king would redrefs fuch grievances as oppreffed them. Thefe petitions, Judge Hale remarks, were granted, or refused *. Thofe petitions that were granted * An inftance of fuch refufal occurs, anno 1377, when the whole states in parliament petitioned, that no burdens be henceforth laid on the people, but by confent of parliament, refufed. Parl. Hift. vol. 1. p. 328. were afterwards put into the form of ftatutes, by the judges and other members of the king's council, inferted in the ftatute book, and tranfmitted to the fheriffs for promulgation (b). We have feen above, that fo regardlefs were the commons of their privileges, as legiflators, and fo diffident of their abilities, in this capacity, that they repeatedly declined to offer any advice, unless they were aflifted with fome bishops, or lords. As a farther inftance of the ideas they entertained on this head, par-. ticularly respecting the burdenfome nature of giving attendance in parliament, it is worthy of notice that, anno 1258, twelve men were chofen, by the whole realm, to attend parliament, and to transact the public bufinefs. This was done "to fpare the coft, or charges to the community (c)"; and in the year 1398 the commons prefented a petition to the king, in the houfe of lords, purporting that whereas, they had before them divers petitions, as well for fpecial perfons and others, not read and anfwered, and alfo many other matters, and things that had been moved in presence of the king, which, for fhortnefs of time, could not be determined, that it would pleafe his majesty to commit full power to certain lords, and others, to examine, anfwer, and difpatch the petitions, matters, and things above faid, and all dependencies thereon (d)." So little were they attentive, in thofe days, to the forms of legiflation now ufed, that the parliament of Westminster, 18 Edward 1, on the first day of June, confifted of prelates, earls, barons, and other nobles. On the 14th the king fent letters, defiring the fheriffs to cause two or three of the most difcreet knights to be chofen, and fent to parliament, three weeks after midfummer; but no burgeffes(e).— Whilft these elections were making, the parliament con (b) Hale's Hift. сар. L. P. 14. (c) Parl. Hift. vol. 1. P. 63. (d) ib. vol. 1. p. 492. (e) Brady Int. p. 129. tinued fitting; and the ftatutes of Westminster were then enacted. So little, indeed, did they then know the importance of the legislative power, that anno 1371, a fmall committee, named by the king, alter at pleasure an act of parliament (f). I am afraid that thefe difquifitions will prove little interesting to many of my readers; yet it ought not to be deemed incurious to trace the progrefs of human ideas in a matter of fo much importance as that which now engages our attention. I fhall only, however, venture briefly to fpecify a few mifcellaneous. circumftances refpecting parliaments before I put a final close to this differtation. Mifcellaneous Remarks. Errors arifing from permanent Names to varying Objects. ft, It cannot be too often repeated, that many mistakes arise from annexing ideas to words that they now bear, when we look back to distant periods, when they were first used with a very different fignification, The word parliament, for example, wherever it occurs, feems, to a hafty obferver, always to denote an affembly, confifting of the fame constituent members, and fubjected to the like regulations as our parliament is at prefent: but nothing can be more erroneous than this mode of judging. At the period when affemblies of this nature began, a parliament probably was a tumultuary meeting of all the free men in the state, which was fubjected to no rules but fuch as the circumftances, at the time, fuggefted. This word afterwards denoted a meeting of the great feudatories of the crown, or tenants in capite. At a future period, the prelates came to bear a great fway in the nation; and thefe, together with the larger barons, and the king, conftituted a parliament. (f) Parl. Hift. vol. 1. p. 308. |