recommend him to that protection abroad, which he has forfeited at home; and plead his defence in a country where Liberty, banished from most other corners of the globe, feems at length to have fixed her refidence." As to the merit of the tranflation, we refer our Readers to what has been faid in the preceding article. Political Difquifitions proper for public Confideration, in the prefent State of Affairs. In a Letter to a noble Duke. 8vo. Is. 6d. Kearfly. F the prefent run of temporary pamphlets, here and there one may be worth the reading; and the tract before us feems to be of that number: but, in saying this, let it not be understood as tho' we purposed to mark it with the stamp of excellence. We do not think it entitled to be fo highly diftinguifhed from the generality of productions of the fame class: nevertheless, the Author has faid fome things which deferve to be confidered by thofe who would form a juft judgment of what our prefent contending Parties have to offer on each fide of the debate. This Difquifitor is an Anti-Butean; a term much preferable to Whig or Tory, becaufe it means fomething. He fets out, like most of his brother Patriots, with a folemn profeffion of his "inviolate regard to truth," his ftrict attention to the voice of reafon;" and all the rest of that fort, for which we must give him the ufual credit. He begins, however, a little unluckily, with prefuppofing a circumftance which fhould rather have been proved; and then he might have proceeded on fure grounds; whereas, on the contrary, many of his Readers will poffibly queftion the fact he takes for granted, when he talks of " that. univerfal gloom which over-cafts the joy of every thinking and unprejudiced man in thefe kingdoms, in this time of apparent triumph and happiness." We believe there are many thinking perfons in these kingdoms, men as little fubject to prejudice as their neighbours, who are yet very little affected by this univerfal gloom, and who, perhaps, would never have known that any fuch cloud is at this time hanging over us, had not our Author told them of it.. However, let us grant him, his gloom, provided it be not fo thick, and palpably obfcure, as to prevent our discovering whence it arifes. But we need not be long groping in the dark its our Author's torch will light us to its fource prefently. He He has traced it out plainly enough. Here it is: "They [i. e. the thinking, unprejudiced, gloomy people] apprehend, "that the office of a Prime Minifter is inconfiftent with the principles of this conftitution." May be fo; but how came this never to make us fo univerfally gloomy before the prefent critical juncture? This reminds us of the jolly old Toper, who being told by his Phyfician, that Port wine was down-right poifon to his conftitution: I am forry to hear it, Doctor, faid he, for if that be the cafe, I have actually been poisoning myself for thefe FOURSCORE YEARS paft! But our Author has farther difcovered, "that the manner in which that office is executed, AT THIS TIME, is alfo inconfistent with the principles of good policy, and the effential interests of these kingdoms." This, indeed, is coming to the point at once. If, in truth, fuch apprehenfions as thefe are raised in the minds of every thinking unprejudiced perfon in these kingdoms, it is enough to render us as gloomy as the Frenchman defcribes the English to be in the month of November, though, perhaps, not fufficient to drive us to despair, and make us hang or drown ourselves. Light, however, as fome people may make of the two foregoing pofitions, our Author's main endeavour, throughout the greatest part of his pamphlet, is to fupport and establish them: in doing which he produces many threwd arguments; and is, on the whole, by no means one of Lord Bute's moft contemptible adverfaries. Like fome enterprizing Warriors, he does not want abilities, but he wants conduct to preferve and improve the advantages he fometimes gains over the enemy: who, on the other hand, with a fmall degree of vigilance, may oftenfurprize him in his very camp. His great error is, the being too confident of his numbers; an error which has occafioned the overthrow of many a renowned Commander. He infifts much on the univerfality of the oppofition (in the minds of the people at leaft) to Lord B---'s Miniftry; which is much the fame thing with the gloom above-mentioned: and he fcruples not to give it as "a moft inconteftible TRUTH; that if the fentiments of every Englishman alive, [the dead not being allowed to vote upon this occafion] who is not evidently influenced by motives of private intereft, were to be taken this day, ninety and nine in every hundred would be found to defire the difmiffion of the prefent Minifter." But fome incredulous perfons may be apt to enquire into the grounds of this eftimate, and to afk the Author, by what rule his calculation has been formed? He muft certainly have had fome very extraordinary means of coming at the knowlege of an inconfeftible truth, fo difficult to be . afcertained! afcertained! He is quite exact, we fee; juft one in an hundred; neither more nor lefs, among the impartial LIVING Englifhmen, are content that Lord B-fhould keep his place. Yet ftill, while we are thus in the dark as to the means by which our Author made this inconteftible difcovery of the people's fentiments, there will be Sceptics; there will be Infidels: this is an unbelieving age; and, therefore, our Author had better produce his data, his authorities, and fatisfy his fcrupulous Read ers at once. But, notwithstanding our hafty Difquifitor is apt, now and then, to let his imagination out-ftrip his judgment, there are, as we have intimated, good things in his pamphlet. Let the Reader who is diflatisfied with his first forty-feven pages, attend to the remaining eighteen, and he will find in them fome obfervations worth his notice: they do not, indeed, contain entirely new matter, as the Lawyers fay, but they are fraught with matter which ought to be more attended to than it hath been. "To the univerfal voice of the people, fays he, the Advocates for the Minifter oppofe, the determination of their reprefentative Body, by which, according to their way of reafoning, the people is fo abfolutely concluded, that it is a violation of the conftitution for them to attempt interfering perfonally, by offering their opinion, in any matters relating to the Government; and, therefore, as the conduct of the Minifter has been approved of by that Reprefentative, it is not neceffary for him to pay any refpect to the fentiments of the people themfelves, which conftitutionally have no just weight, nor are entitled to any regard. "In order to make a juft eftimate of the force of this argument, it will be neceffary, my Lord; to trace the constitution, from its fift principles, to its prefent form. "In difquifitions of this nature, freedom is indifpenfibly neceffary to the clucidation of truth! the principles of religion are examined by divine command, to confirm faith. "In the confufion of times of continual war, when kingdoms were the reward of conquefts, it was the policy of the conquering powers to divide their acquifitions among their military Chiefs, to keep the natives in fubjection, and have their own forces always collected, and ready for any fudden occafions, which forces confifted of the Followers of thofe Chiefs, whom they armed and brought into the field, at their own expence; for war was not then a particular trade, but every subject was a foldier, going from the plough to battle, and returning again, when it was over, to the very few arts of such an unfettled ftate. "Thele, "Thèle, and fome personal services to their Kings, were the titles by which the Chiefs held their lands, and comprized the greatest part of their duty of fubjection. "Under thefe Chiefs the lands were again fubdivided between their own foldiers, and officers of inferior rank, and the natives; but on very different terms. "The former held them of the Chiefs, by fervices of a fimilar nature to those which the Chiefs paid to the Kings, and were free from every other kind of fubjection to them; the lat ter, on the contrary, were in a ftate little differing from flavery, tilling the ground for their Mafters, and following them to the wars, for a bare maintenance, which was all that was allowed to themfelves, without any right to acquire private property, or poffibility of recovering liberty, but by the exprefs confent, and actual concurrence of their Chiefs, except in fome extraordinary cafes; and defcending from generation to generation with the lands as part of the inheritance. These Chiefs were called Lords, and the others Villeins. "In the rude original of the British conftitution, thefe Lords had an hereditary thare in the Government, in right of their lands, and made an Estate, which has fince been improved into the prefent Peerage. "The great influence which fuch unlimited authority over the people gave to the Lords, often produced the most dangerous confequences, by enabling them to refift indifcriminately the authority of their Sovereigns, as views of private interest or ambition urged them. "To remedy this, Reafon fuggefted it to the governing Powers, to reftore the People to the rights of nature, and give them a fhare in that Government of which they were the strength; that they might form a proper balace to the Lords. "To obviate the inconveniencies which muft inevitably attend the people's exercifing this fhare in the Government, in their collective body, it was inftituted, that they fhould elect a certain number from among themselves, to represent the Whole, -and whofe determination fhould be conclufive upon them, "That this reprefentative Body fhould anfwer the intent of its inftitution, it was indifpenfibly neceffary that it fhould confift only of fuch perfons as were free from the authority of the Lords. "As the moft effectual provifion to fecure this freedom of the Reprefentatives, it was appointed that they should be elected only by thofe who were themfelves free alfo; as it could not be fuppofed that free men fhould ever entruft their moft facred "Thefe free men, who at firft confifted almost solely of the foldiers and inferior officers of the Conquerors, to whom lands had been granted under the Lords, as has been obferved before, were now in a courfe of years confiderably increased in number; many of the natives having recovered their Freedom on various occafions; but ftill this number was greatly inferior to that of those who were not free. "As property alone could give that Independency which was evidently the reafon for limiting the Right of Election to free men; and as all property then confifted in lands, that right was annexed to a certain amount of fuch property, as in thofe times was efteemed fufficient to fupport the Poffeffor in the neceffary degree of Independency; and to certain Qualifications which were esteemed equivalent to fuch property. "In confequence of these institutions, no man was admitted to join in electing a Reprefentative for a County, who did not hold lands in that county, to that amount, by a right, which was not determinable at the will of another, or at any known time; nor for a Burrough, who did not either hold fuch lands within the precincts of that burrough, or was acknowleged to enjoy his Freedom in it, by an authentic record; which latter privilege was given to burroughs (or towns) to encourage peoples living together, for the advancement of induftry and trade; and it was not to be fuppofed, that this acknowlegement would be given to any, who had not a vifible probability of living in a ftate of independency. The former of these were called Free Holders; the latter fimply Free Men. "These wife precautions had the defired effect; and the Reprefentative of the people foon arofe to that great importance in the State, which their ftrength naturally entitled them to. "But as the wifdom of man is not capable of making any provifions which fhall invariably comprehend all the various changes, wrought by time, it cannot be imputed to want of refpect to the conftitution, to enquire whether thefe precautions were fufficient to produce the fame effects at prefent, when the circumftances, on which they were principally formed, are fo effentially altered. "The improvements of industry, in more fettled times, the acquifitions of Commerce, and the difcoveries made in the purfuit of it, have introduced a new kind of property, unknown to |