frequently in society; he appeared to me deeply engaged with affairs in which he was connected with other persons, whom he kept at a distance, or invited near to him, as he would attach them to him more closely. Above all, when in company with the members of the Directory, he was fearful of exhibiting the air of a General under the orders of his Government; and he employed by turns, among these superiors, dignity or familiarity in his deportment. But he wanted the true character of either. He is a man who can only be natural in command. Some persons have believed that Bonaparte possessed profound knowledge on all subjects, because in this as in all other things he has employed his charlatanism. But as he has read but little throughout his life; he knows little beyond what he has gathered from conversation. It is possible he may tell you something on a particular subject, very detailed and very learned, if the preceding evening any one should have given him the information. But the moment after, you will discover he is ignorant of what all educated men have known from their infancy.

"His conversation with the Mufti in the Pyramid of Cheops should have delighted the Parisians, because it united the two things which are most captivating to them, a certain kind of grandeur mingled with ridicule. The French are very willing to be excited, and to laugh at what moves them. Charlatanism is their delight; and they willingly contribute to cheat themselves, provided they are allowed, while conducting themselves as dupes, to show by some witticisms that they are not altogether so."

Speaking of his conduct on his return from Egypt, in expelling the Directory, she says:

"He appeared at the bar of the Council of Ancients, and would have imposed on them by addressing them with warmth and dignity. But he is ignorant how to express himself in elevated language. It is only in familiar conversation that his keen and decided talent appears to advantage; besides which, having no true enthusiasm on any subject, he is only eloquent in attack; and nothing is so difficult to him as to restrain himself in assuming an appearance of respect, which is necessary to convince an assembly. He attempted to say to the Council of Ancients, I am the God of War and of Fortune; follow me!' but he only embarrassed himself with these pompous phrases, when he would have preferred to say, You are all wretches, and I will have you shot if you do not obey me.

"The 19th Brumaire he arrived in the Council of Five Hundred, with his arms crossed, a gloomy air, and followed by two stout grenadiers, to protect his little person. The deputies who were termed jacobins, set up an uproar on his entering the hall. Luckily for him, his brother Lucien happened to be then presi

dent. He rang his bell to no purpose to procure silence. The cries of Traitor,' and Usurper,' resounded from all quarters; and one of the deputies, the countryman of Bonaparte, (Arena, a Corsican) approached the General, and seized him forcibly by the collar of his coat. It has been supposed, though without foundation, that he had a poniard to kill him. His action, however, alarmed Bonaparte, and he said to the grenadiers by his side, laying his hand on the shoulder of one of them, 'Take me from this place!' The grenadier drew him from amidst the deputies who surrounded him, and carried him from the hall into the open air, and no sooner was he there than his powers were restored. He mounted his horse the same instant, and riding through the ranks of his grenadiers, he quickly determined them to obey his wishes. In this emergency, as well as others, it has been remarked that Bonaparte was capable of dismay when in presence of a danger, not of a warlike nature; and many persons have thus absurdly concluded that he is deficient in courage. But truly there is no denying his bravery. But as his courage is not of a generous nature, it follows that he will not expose himself, but for a useful object. He would be very sorry to be killed in a repulse, because it is his ambition to be uniformly successful; and he would also be displeased with death, because it is revolting to his imagination. But he will not hesitate to hazard his life, when, according to his view of the thing, the object is worth the risk of the game, if I may so express myself."

POPULAR LAW.

No. VIII.

PRÆMUNIRE is a term often met with in discussions upon judicial questions; and as it is but little understood, it will be well to explain very briefly its meaning and import; though proceedings in this branch of our jurisprudence are so rare, that had we omitted to notice it at all, we might have stood excused, professing as we do to make our treatise compendious, practical, and popular.

This, then, is an arbitrary term to express a peculiar kind of offence against the King and Government, and is derived from the words of the writ preparatory to the prosecution of such offence, "pramunire facias. that is, Cause to be forewarned A. B. that he appear before us to answer the contempt wherewith he stands charged; the particular nature of which is previously set forth in the writ. This, too, like the peculiarity in the adminis

tration of justice, which formed the principal subject of our last Number, arose from the struggles of Popery to maintain an ascendancy over the nation, in its temporal concerns, when it was the established religion of the people.

The best researches into the history of the British Church, have discovered that it was originally free from the domination of the See of Rome; but when the pagan Saxons had driven the Christians into a corner of the island, and they themselves were converted by the Monk Augustin, and other missionaries from the court of Rome, it was not to be wondered at, that with many of the papal ceremonies some portion of papal supremacy should be established. However, it was not till the Norman conquest, that the dependence of the Christian church of Great Britain upon the sovereign pontiff was fully established. The penetrating genius of William I. saw, in submitting the religion of his newly-acquired subjects to the authority of the pope, the means of establishing more firmly his own government, as it afforded him a pretence for thrusting out the spiritual leaders of a free people, and placing his Norman prelates in their situations, who were much better fitted to teach the lessons of submission and slavery. It is not intended here to trace the power of the Pope in this country, from its first encroachments till it reached the point of absolute despotism; and King John became a mere tenant of the crown, having surrendered his regalities to the holy father's legate or deputy, and taken them back again at a rent of one thousand marks per annum ;—it is our present business to show in what way the offence under consideration arose, and the way in which it has become almost obsolete among us.

Edward I. (determined to shake off the galling yoke of popish domination), would not suffer his bishops to attend the ecclesiastical councils held at Rome, or other parts abroad, till they had sworn not to receive the papal benediction. He treated all papal bulls and processes with indifference and contempt-seized the temporalities of the clergy, who, under pretence of an order from Rome, refused to pay a tax imposed by Parliament; and one of his subjects having obtained a bull of excommunication against another, he ordered him to be executed as a traitor according to the ancient law; and lastly, in the 35th year of his reign was passed the first statute against papal provisions, being the foundation of the subsequent statutes of pramunire,-ranked as an offence against the King, because every encouragement of the papal power was a diminution of the authority of the crown.

In succeeding reigns laws were passed enacting that the court of Rome shall not present or collate to any bishopric or living in England, and that whoever disturbs any patron in the presentation to a living, by virtue of a papal provision, such provisor shall pay

fine and ransom to the King, at his will, and be imprisoned; and the same punishment is denounced against those who cite the King or any of his subjects, to answer in the court of Rome. Still further statutes were added, for the more completely eradicating the influence of the Pope in this country, and in the writ for the execution of them were the words already quoted, pramunire facias, from which it will be obvious that supporting the papal power was the offence designated by the name of pramunire; but the act of Parliament, which is called by way of distinction the statute of pramunire, was passed in the reign of Richard II., and is very comprehensive in its enactments. Thus it appears, that the original meaning of the offence is the introducing a foreign power and authority into the land, by paying that obedience to papal process both in civil and ecclesiastical affairs, which belongs solely and exclusively to the King and Government of the realm; and the punishment is, that the offender shall be put out of the King's protection, his lands and goods be forfeited, and his person be seized to answer to the King and Council in such manner as shall be adjudged; even to imprisonment during life.

At a subsequent period of our history, the penalties inflicted for the purpose of suppressing the power of the Pope were extended to other offences of a like nature, and eventually to some of a heinous character, though bearing no relation to the crimes against which the punishment was originally directed. Thus, to molest the possessors of abbey-lands, granted by Parliament to Henry VIII. and Edward VI., is a præmunire; to act as a broker or agent in usurious contracts; to assert maliciously and advisedly, by speaking or writing, that both or either House of Parliament can make laws without the consent of the King; to send unlawfully any subject of the realm a prisoner beyond the seas; to practise as counsellor, attorney, or hold any office in the courts, without taking the oaths of supremacy and allegiance, and subscribing the declaration against popery; to assist knowingly and wilfully, or be present at the solemnization of any forbidden marriage of the descendants of the King, who are, by the statute of George III., prohibited from marrying without the consent of the Crown;-all these offences come within the statutes of pramunire.

A vulgar notion still prevails, that a man who is outlawed, as it is called, that is, put out of the protection of the law for his crimes, or for his flight from justice, may be put to death by any one who pleases, without incurring the guilt of murder. It is a fact that such a principle was at one time recognized by the judicature with respect to persons labouring under the infamy of a præmunire, on the ground" that he was the King's enemy, and

any man might kill the King's enemy." But the position is unsound; for it is not lawful to kill even an enemy, except in the heat of battle, or for necessary self-defence; and to obviate such savage notions, the statute of Elizabeth provides, that it shall not be lawful to kill any person attainted in a pramunire, any exposition of the law to the contrary notwithstanding. But still such delinquent is entirely despoiled of his civil rights, and can have no remedy for any grievance which he, as an individual, may suffer.

It will readily be perceived why the law of pramunire has become almost a dead letter upon the statute-book. As it was invented for the purpose of protecting the government and constitution against the machinations of popery, when the Roman Catholic faith was the religion of the State, now that religion has been banished from the Throne and the Church by the Reformation, there is nothing to apprehend from its influence in temporal concerns, especially as the public mind is too much enlightened to retain the dark, and, at one time, dangerous secular dogmas of Catholicism. Even among those who still hold papistical opinions, there is a prevailing conviction, that their duty, as subjects and citizens, must be regulated by the laws of the land, not influenced by the authority to which they bow in spiritual affairs they feel that the Government which protects them, and dispenses the blessings of security and equal justice, alike to them as to others whose religion rejects all foreign supremacy, is entitled to their allegiance; and the temptations to the crime which brought with it the penalties of a pramunire have ceased to operate. Prosecutions, therefore, under this head, are now unheardof in our courts; the last instance upon the books being in the reign of Charles II., when certain persons were proceeded against, under these statutes, for refusing to take the oath of allegiance.

There is another species of offence against the King and Government, entitled" misprisions and contempts," a short explanation of which will close this part of our subject. The term misprision is derived from the French mepris,—a slight, neglect, or contempt; and offences under this head are generally understood to be all such delinquencies as are of less magnitude than capital. In every treason and felony, it is held, a misprision is contained; which seems perfectly rational, as the violator of the laws, necessarily commits a contempt of the King's authority.

This class of offences is divided into two kinds; negative, which consists in the concealment of something which ought to be made known; and positive, which consists in the commission of something which is forbidden, or ought not to be done.

Of the first kind we may enumerate,—the bare concealment of treason, without the individual being an assenting party thereto.