ciples, such the general plan, of our system of government: a system, beautiful and admirable in theory, beyond all the ideal forms that political wisdom hath ever conceived; useful and salutary in practice, beyond all the real examples that civil history can furnish.

The first and most envious excellence of our civil constitution appears in the due distribution of the legislative power among the several orders of the community, and the large share of it into which the people are admitted. The greatest and most important privilege that any people can possibly enjoy, is to be governed by laws framed by their own advice or consent. Now, as the people in their collective body are not, by reason of their multitude, capable of discussing affairs; of consulting and debating in an orderly manner, and of forming well-weighed resolutions; all this can be no otherwise managed, than by representation : and the act of representatives, freely chosen by themselves, is justly esteemed their own act. If abuses in this part are complained of, let it be considered from whence the abuse originally springs. There can be no stronger proof of the true liberty of any people, than that they cannot be deprived of any part of their liberty, or of the benefits of it, but by their own fault. Freedom in its very nature is liable to abuse; and national freedom, in which consists civil dignity, is like the freewill of man, which is the foundation of all moral worth; they are both precious talents committed by Almighty God to our care, and we are accountable for the management of them to our

country, to our own conscience, and to God: to bind them up by any necessary restraint from abuse, would be in effect to annul and to destroy them. It must be allowed then, that the people of this nation do enjoy, as fully as in the nature of things they are capable of enjoying, and as far as they have the will and the virtue to enjoy it, the great advantage of being governed by laws of their own framing, or to which they give their free assent. And this great privilege alone manifestly includes in it the security of life, of freedom, of property, of every thing that is valuable or dear

to man.

As the legislative power, which requires much. counsel and mature deliberation, is very properly placed in the hands of many, and those of different ranks, that the interests of all may be consulted; so is the executive power, which requires immediate action, with equal propriety committed to one. The administration of government resides in the sovereign; who of all earthly monarchs approaches nearest in the nature of his government to the great Governor of the universe; who governs by fixed and stated laws; whose power is exercised in aiding, protecting, relieving; in justice, in mercy, in goodness; but is incapable of being employed in injury and wrong. As the whole government is distributed by commission to ministers and officers, and every part is to be executed by them agreeably to known rules, and in subservience to the laws; these become responsible for mal-administration, and are accountable to the representatives of the people, and to the supreme

judicature of the kingdom. Thus is the dignity of the sovereign consulted, and the welfare of the people most effectually secured. The prince has the honour of being the minister of God for good to his people; of ruling subjects, not slaves; of governing by law, not by arbitrary will and caprice and the people are happy in obeying a legal monarch, not a tyrant; in security from oppression under the protection of their own laws; in a power of doing whatever the laws permit, and of not being compelled to do what the laws do not command; in which the very nature of true and perfect civil liberty consists.

There remains another principal part of civil power, the power of judicature: which in our excellent constitution is so justly tempered, so properly disposed, and placed in such safe and faithful hands, that there never existed any nation, whose happiness in this respect was so wisely consulted, or so effectually secured. It is the great and singular privilege of every subject of this happy state to be judged by his own equals: by those, who from a similitude of situation, of circumstances, of interests, and even of sensations, are most likely to give judgment with justice, with candour, with equity, with mildness and tenderness; as friends, ather than judges; as an assembly of brethren, ather than a tribunal of inquisitors. Appointed in such manner, as to leave as little room as possible for fraud, malice, or prejudice; consisting of such number, as that their unanimous consent mimply a clear and certain investigation of wath, so far liable to the refusal of the party,

whose life or property is in question, that those, who are not refused, may justly be esteemed of his own choice. The venerable magistrate who pronounces sentence, though distinguished by the name of judge, bears in reality a character superior to the ordinary import of that name: that of a being abstracted from all external regards; without affection or partiality, without passion or prejudice it is law herself, uttering her decrees with a human voice, who absolves without favour, and punishes without resentment. It was one of the first cares of our gracious Sovereign to support the dignity, and secure the independency, of this venerable character, even from the possible influence of the Sovereign power itself: not induced to it by any late experience or present apprehension of inconvenience; but prompted by a just and delicate sentiment of what is right; by a jealous solicitude for the safety and welfare of his people. The benefit of the laws is open to all; and justice is easily accessible, even to the remotest parts of the kingdom, by these her annual solemnities. But as the views of law are universal, and not particular; and while she fixes her eye upon general good, she cannot see every possible circumstance that may divert or obstruct her design; whoever thinks himself distressed or injured in his property by the rigid rule of law, incapable in its nature of plying to the peculiar exigence of his case, to him access is open to the seat of equity, and to the supreme judicature of the nation : where reason mitigates the severity of law; or rather, seizes her true spirit, and fulfils her real

intention. In criminal causes, the party accused maintains the freedom of his person, except in offences of the most enormous nature, by giving caution for his appearance; he demands a speedy hearing, and is not oppressed by the delay of justice, often more grievous than the extreme rigour of it: that his life, fortunes, or reputation, may not be unjustly exposed, on rash suspicion, or through malicious intent, the grounds of accusation are submitted to the judgment of a previous inquest, composed of persons of superior condition and authority: if brought to answer for himself, he has all the advantages of a fair and candid trial, of a free and open defence; and even of advice and assistance, if requisite, in the management of it. And the unhappy convict, lying under the severe sentence of the judge, in whom compassion would be a weakness, and lenity a crime, may still direct his hopes and his addresses to the throne; where mercy is seated together with majesty, and is ever ready to extend her grace to every proper object that can offer itself.

Such in its principal parts is our excellent form of government; in which the general good of the whole, and the welfare of every part of the community, is more effectually provided for, than it appears to have been in any other nation, in any age, or in any part of the world. In the present state of things, what we call perfect is only so in a comparative, not an absolute sense that is the most perfect form of government, which has the fewest faults, and is subject to the least inconveniences; and whatever exceptions may justly