to her favours, as it endeavours to extend her empire, and carries with it, to every part of its dominions, the blessings of industry and equality. Fenced in on every side with a wide and deep ditch, the sea,—guarded with strong out-works, its ships of war,-and defended by the courage of her seamen, she preserves that mysterious essence, that sacred fire so difficult to be kindled, and which, if it were once extinguished, would, per540 haps, never be lighted again. When the world shall have been again laid waste by conquerors, she will still continue to show mankind, not only the principle that ought to unite them, but, what is of no less importance, the form under which they ought to be united. And the philosopher, when he considers the constant fate of civil societies amongst men, and observes the numerous and powerful causes which seem, as it were, unavoidably to conduct them all to a state of incurable political slavery, takes comfort in seeing that Liberty has at length disclosed her secret to mankind, and secured an asylum to herself.

APPENDIX.

No. I.

3 & 4 WILL. IV. CAP. XXVII.

An Act for the Limitation of Actions and Suits relating to Real Property, and for simplifying the Remedies for trying the Rights thereto. [24th July, 1833.]

BE it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal and Commons in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, That the words and expressions hereinafter mentioned, which in their ordinary signification have a more confined or a different meaning, shall, in this act, except where the nature of the provision or the context of the act shall exclude such construction, be interpreted as follows: (that is to say,) the word "land" shall extend to manors, messuages, and all other corporeal hereditaments whatsoever, and also to tithes (other than tithes belonging to a spiritual or eleemosynary corporation sole), and also to any share, estate, or interest in them or any of them, whether the same shall be a freehold or chattel interest, and whether freehold or copyhold, or held according to any other tenure; and the word "rent" shall extend to all heriots, and to all services and suits for which a distress may be made, and to all annuities and periodical sums of money charged upon or payable out of any land (except moduses or compositions belonging to a spiritual or eleemosynary corporation sole); and the person through whom another person is said to claim, shall mean any person by, through, or under, or by the act of whom, the person so claiming became entitled to the estate or interest claimed, as heir, issue in tail, tenant by the curtesy of England, tenant in dower, successor, special or general occupant, executor, administrator, legatee, husband, assignee, appointee, devisee, or otherwise, and also any person who was entitled to an estate or interest to which the person so claiming, or some person through whom he claims, became entitled as lord by escheat; and the word "person" shall extend to a body politic, corporate, or collegiate, and to a class of creditors or other persons, as well as an individual; and every word importing the singular number only, shall extend and be applied to several persons or things as well as one person or thing; and every word importing the masculine gender only, shall extend and be applied to a female as well as a male.

their assistance, it is most likely that their endeavours in the pursuit of such laudable objects would prove successful. But if, on the contrary, the king, as we have supposed, stood in no need of their assistance, and moreover knew that he should never want it, it is impossible to 516 think that he would then suffer himself to remain a tame

spectator of their proceedings. The impeachments thus brought by them would immediately prove the signal of their dismissal; and the king would make haste, by dissolving them, both to revenge what would then be called the insolence of the Commons, and to secure his ministers.

But even these are vain suppositions; the evil would reach much farther; and we may be assured that, if ever the crown should be in a condition to govern without the assistance of the representatives of the people, it would dismiss them for ever, and thus rid itself of an assembly which, continuing to be a clog on its power, would no longer be of any service to it. This Charles the First attempted to do when he found his parliaments refractory; and the Kings of France, in former times, really did, with respect to the general estates of that kingdom.

And indeed, if we consider the extent of the prerogative of the King of England, and especially the circumstance of his completely uniting in himself all the executive and active powers of the state, we shall find that it is no exaggeration to say that he has power sufficient to be as arbitrary as the Kings of France were of old, 517 were it not for the right of taxation, which, in England, is possessed by the people.

But here a most important observation is to be made; and I entreat the reader's attention to the subject. This

right of granting subsidies to the crown can only be effectual when it is exercised by one assembly alone. When several distinct assemblies have it equally in their power to supply the wants of the prince, the case becomes totally altered. The competition which so easily takes place between those different bodies, and even the bare consciousness which each entertains of its inability to obstruct the measures of the sovereign, render it impossible for them to make any effectual constitutional use of their privilege.

That the crown in England should, on a sudden, ren- 521 der itself independent of the Commons for its supplies,that is, should on a sudden successfully assume to itself a right to lay taxes on the subject, by its own authority,— is not certainly an event likely to take place, nor indeed is it one that should, at the present time, raise any kind of political apprehension. But it is not equally impracticable that the right of the representatives of the people might become invalidated, by being divided in 522 the manner that has been just described.

Such a division of the right of the people might be effected in various ways. National calamities, for instance, unfortunate foreign wars attended with loss of public credit, might suggest methods for raising the necessary supplies, different from those which have hitherto been used. Dividing the kingdom into a certain number of parts, which should severally vote subsidies to the crown, or even distinct assessments to be made by the different counties into which England is now divided, might, in the circumstances we suppose, be looked upon as advisable expedients; and these, being once introduced, might be continued.

Another division of the right of the people, much

H H

more likely to take place than those just mentioned, might be such as might arise from acquisitions of foreign dominions, the inhabitants of which should in time claim and obtain a right to treat directly with the crown, and grant supplies to it, without the interference of the British legislature.

Should any colonies acquire the right we mention,— had, for instance, the American colonies acquired it, 523 as they claimed it,-it is not to be doubted that the consequences which have resulted from a division like that in most of the kingdoms of Europe, would also have taken place in the British dominions, and that the spirit of competition, above described, would in time have manifested itself between the different colonies. This desire of ingratiating themselves with the crown, by means of the privilege of granting supplies to it, was even openly confessed by an agent of the American provinces (a), when, on his being examined by the House of Commons, in the year 1766, he said, “the granting aids to the crown is the only means the Americans have of recommending themselves to their sovereign." And the events that afterwards took place in America, render it evident that the colonies would not have scrupled going any lengths to obtain favourable conditions at the expense of Britain and the British legislature.

(a) Dr. Franklin.