I must add, fays he, in further explanation of my conduct, that, far from foftening the features of fuch a principle, and thereby removing any part of the popular odium or natural terrors attending it, I fhould be forry that any thing framed in contradi&ion to the fpirit of our conflitution, did not inftantly produce, in fact, the groffeft of the evils with which it was pregnant in its nature. It is by lying dormant a long time, or being at firft very rarely exercifed, that arbitrary power fleals upon a people.-This is plain, open, and explicit; it is impoffible to mittake the Author's meaning or his views, but we leave our Readers to their own reflections upon them.

He proceeds to tell us that the American war is productive of many mischiefs, of a kind which diftinguishes it from all others; that our policy is not only deranged, and our empire diftracted, but our laws and our legiflative fpirit in danger of being totally perverted by it; that we have made war on our Colonies, not by arms only, but by laws; that every step we have taken in this business has been made by trampling on fome maxim of justice, or fome capital principle of wife government ;-with many other obfervations to the fame effect.

We shall conclude with obferving, though we do it with regret, that Mr. Burke's zeal in a caufe, which we are perfuaded he thinks a good one, has, in this Letter, carried him too far beyond the bounds of moderation. There are many paffages in it, which, we are confident, will be condemned by every candid and difpaffionate friend to America. We highly refpect the Letter writer's abilities, and have no doubt of his integrity, but we fee, with concern, too many proofs of intemperate heat, in his Letter, and too many inftances of grofs abufe: we admire his genius, but are forry to fee it fo often employed merely in fpinning fophifms. A more reftrained ufe of his talents, on this occafion, would have done himself greater honour, and his caufe more fervice. His arguments, indeed, lofe much of their weight by the manner in which they are enforced; it fhews neither the dignity of the fenator, nor the liberality of the polite and elegant scholar.

R. Art. 12. An Answer to the Letter of Edmund Burke, Efq; one of the Representatives of the City of Bristol, to the Sheriffs of that City. 8vo. I s. 6d. Cadell.

This Anfwer is addressed to Mr. Burke in the form of a letter, and contains many things which deferve his serious attention, and which, in our opinion, render a reply neceffary.

After a fhort ironical introduction, the Anfwerer tells us, that Mr. Burke's letter feems to be made a vehicle for all the ill language which has ever been uttered concerning the American war, as well as about the two laft acts; and then he goes on to observe, that when Mr. Burke calls forth all the powers of glowing metaphor, all the force of brilliant ftile and harmonious periods, to reprobate the act for the partial fufpenfion of the Habeas Corpus, and to confign the framers of it to political infamy, he chooses to forget the confant customary conduct in all times of public confufion and imminent danger. In all fuch times, we are told, parliament has always ftrengthened the hands of the crown. When the state is in

danger,

danger, parliament has always authorized the magiftrate, and always muft authorize him, by a temporary fufpenfion of the Habeas Corpus act, to imprison suspected perfons, without giving (the very words of Blackstone's Commentaries) any reason for so doing. It is the dent operam confules, ne quid detrimenti capiat refpublica; it is the fenatus confultum ultimæ neceffitatis. In these moments of extreme emergency, the nation parts with its liberty for a while, in order to preferve it for ever.

The Anfwerer refers the Letter-writer to former acts of this kind, paffed in former troubles, and in former rebellions, (W. & M.-G. I. & G. II.) nine, he thinks, in all, and asks him, whether they do not, all of them, enable administration to confine, as long as it fhall think proper (within the duration of the act) thofe whom the act defcribes; whether they do not, all of them, allow the bare fufpicion of the crown, to put fuch and fuch perfons out of the law; whether they do not, all of them, convey, if poffible, fuller powers than the act in question. He affirms, that they all do these things, and reminds Mr. Burke of a cafe, which he might have heard mentioned in the House, upon the third reading of the bill, had he thought proper to attend to the gradual growth of an infant motion into a manly law; it is the cafe of Sir William Wyndham, who was denied the benefit of the Habeas Corpus, though committed upon bare fufpicion. After folemn argument, the judges were unanimously of opinion, that he should be remanded to the Tower, and that the ground of commitment was good.

Mr. Burke contends that the Americans ought not, according to the natural distinction of things, and order of crimes, to be called, or treated as, pirates. His Anfwerer tranfcribes for his perufal a claufe from one of the acts of that honourable House, of which Mr. Burke is a member, which clearly brings all perfons acting under the authority of the Congrefs, within the defcription of pirates; and which inflicts upon them the punishment of pirates.

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"And be it further enacted, &c. (11 W. III. c. vii.) that if any "of his Majefty's natural-born fubjects, or denizens of this kingdom, fhall commit any piracy, or robbery, or any act of hoftility, against others his Majefty's fubjects upon the fea, under co"lour of any commiffion from any foreign prince or ftate, or pre"tence of any authority from any person whatsoever, fuch offender "and offenders, &c. fhall be deemed, adjudged, and taken to be "pirates, felons, and robbers; and they, &c. being duly con"victed thereof, &c. fhall have and suffer such pains of death, &c. as pirates, &c. ought to fuffer."- Our Author afks Mr. Burke, if he finds upon the Journals of the Houfe, any patriotic motion to leave out the word pirates, in this act, and to infert the word rebels.

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In 1745, when Mr. Burke will allow that there was fomething like a rebellion, our Author obferves that the legislature was at the trouble of paffing an act, particularly, folely, and on purpose, to make it lawful to try, and to punish, as pirates, perfons guilty of high treafon.

Our Author confiders particularly what Mr. Burke has advanced concerning what he calls the conftruction of an act of Henry the Eighth, for the trial in this kingdom of treafons committed out of

the

the realm, and obferves, that what is now called a new and unconftitutional interpretation of the act, is, in fact, only, an application and revival of it.

6

Unluckily, fays our Anfwerer, this conftruction, for which, in your fpeech of April 1774, the harfheft words you had were revival and application; this interpretation (if you must have doing any thing pursuant to a statute, enforcing a ftatute, to be an interpretation of it) is not their interpretation, is not even new, much lefs unconfțitutional. Let us fee what claim it has to the blame of novelty; either the good luck of my fearches, or the bad luck of Mr. Burke's most confident affertions, fupplies me even with more inftances, in which this law has been applied in all its strictness, than the nature of the offence which it was made to punish, would lead us to imagine. It has been, Sir, applied in all its ftrictness, whenever occafions have offered, which muft neceffarily have happened but seldom.

• Before the Revolution, and when difputes between the proprietors and people of Carolina had excited almost what Mr. Burke's delicacy would term an unnatural contention, but what I fhould be rude enough to call a rebellion.-Was this act carried into execution then, and was Culpepper fent hither, and tried upon this act ?—Yes.

After the Revolution, in the year 1710, were the ringleaders of an unnatural contention in Antigua, wherein the governor was murdered, brought hither by this act, tried upon this act; many of them convicted upon this act, executed upon this act ?—Yes.

⚫ But if the interpretation be not new, at least it is unconftitutional; if fo, ten to one, but during two hundred years and more, we shall hear fomething of it in hiftory. Mr. Burke is not the inventor of patriotifm; nor has he a patent for it. Vixére fortes ante Agamemnona multi. Perhaps in fome of the changes, revolutions, and reformations, which more than two centuries and a quarter has produced in our conftitution, the poison of this act has been discovered by fome ftate phyfician or other.

Did the framers of the Petition of Rights take notice of it? No. Did the framers of the Bill of Rights? No. Did those who eftablished the fucceffion in the House of Hanover think it neceffary, or make any attempt to diveft the crown of this unconftitutional power, to alter the provifion of this unconftitutional act? No. Does any page of any book afford any inftance of any defire to repeal it? No.'

Mr. Burke expreffes much concern that American crimes are not left to American juftice, and tells us, that to bring an American rebel for trial to England, is to condemn him unheard. His Anfwerer fays, that, to have him to be tried in America, would be to acquit him without a trial.

Much more is faid, in this Anfwer, concerning the partial fufpenfion of the Habeas Corpus act, but we must refer our Readers to the Author himself, who is an able and an acute writer, and one who is far from flattering the miniftry. He cenfures, with great severity, that timid fyftem, that trembling exertion of authority, to which, he fays, we are indebted for the prefent rebellion. We have threatened, he tells us, when we should have acted. Great Britain ftretched forth the irrefolute arm of her power, and drew it back. America

4

The

merica faw this, and before that unwieldy arm was again ftretched forth to ftrike, fhe had put herfelf into a pofture of defence. hand of the parent has thrunk from the unwelcome office. 'Tis the fault of our humanity; but it is also the fault of our politics, and no trifling one. A minifter thould be a bold man; a man who would have been a fuccessful rebel, if his virtues did not make him a patriot. The body-politic alfo has its furgeon; and he too must throw afide the amiable weaknesses of human nature. His hand, his eye, must be ever firm and refolute. His patient may, perhaps, think him cruel, unfeeling; and, if refolution and firmness be cruelty, and want of feeling, well is it for his patient that he deferves the cenfure. Sir, I affirm, that fuch a man as I defcribe, would have made a deeper incifion in our liberty-would have hazarded fomething (if indeed it would have been hazarding any thing) to fave fo precious a limb; perhaps, to fave the body. Sir, fuch a man would not have trufted to a partial remedy; he would have had recourfe to a total fufpenfion of the Habeas Corpus act at once'-with a good deal more to the fame purpose.

We fhall conclude with obferving, that our Author appears to be well acquainted with Mr. Burke's writings, and is extremely happy in applying paffages from them to the letter which he anfiers. R Art. 13. An Addrefs to Edmund Burke, Efq; on his late Letter relative to the Affairs of America. By Edmund Topham, Cornet of his Majefty's fecond Troop of Horfe Guards. 4to. IS. 6d. Bew.

8vo.

This Addrefs, Mr. Topham tells us, is the production of an hafty hour, and is defigned to prevent the poifon of Mr. Burke's opinions from infecting the middle rank of the people in this kings dom. It feems a well-intended performance, but contains nothing that is new, or that renders a particular account of it neceffary. Art. 14. The Parliamentary Register; or, Hiftory of the Proceedings and Debates of the Houfe of Commons; containing an Account of the most interefting Speeches and Motions; accurate Copies of the most remarkable Letters and Papers; of the material Evidence, Petitions, &c. laid before and offered to the House, &c. &c. 5 Vols. For the Years 1774, 1775, and 1776. Almon. This Regifler is a periodical work, which has met with a confiderable degree of public approbation, and is ftill continued with fuccefs. We never, perhaps, had a production of the kind fɔ authentic. It is not to be confidered as the mere refult of literary industry, and the reveries of the Attic ftory. Many fenatorial Gentlemen are known to have communicated accounts of what paffes in the Houft, with the prudential view of taking due care of what may appear in the prints and, hence, we credit the Editors of this compilement for fomething more than a bookfeller's pretence, when they make their acknowledgments for "the very great and kind affiftance they have received."-What advantages may not the prefent and future periods of our national history receive from the accumulation of fuch valuable materials!

R.

Art.

Art. 15. The Remembrancer; or, Impartial Repofitory of public Events. For the Years 1775 and 1776. 8vo. 4 Vols. Al

mon.

This is likewife a periodical collection, founded on the following idea:-To select from all the papers of intelligence the beft account of every material public event; to print it in 8vo. and at the end of each volume to give a copious index to the whole.-When an ingenious pen furnishes the Public with important obfervations on the principal transactions of the times, which are ufually denominated Letters to the Printer, these alfo are, deemed proper objects of the Editor's choice; but the most confiderable materials are fuch as bear reference to our prefent national conteft with America. To these particular respect has been paid; and of thefe we have here a very copious felection,-fuch as, to repeat an obfervation made in the preceding Article, muft afford excellent documents for the hiftorian of the prefent times: an advantage which the hiftorical writers, before the invention of printing, could neither enjoy, nor even imagine. And hence it is, that their works are tranfmitted to us, chiefly recommended by their mere ornaments-the beauties of their style and language; but with irremediable deficiencies, with refpect to matters of information, on all the great points, on which the welfare of mankind depends, and in the knowledge of which, fucceeding generations are principally interested.

Art. 16. A Letter to the Rev. Dr. Cooper, on the Origin of Civil Government; in Anfwer to his Sermon preached before the Univerfity of Oxford, on the Day appointed for a General Faft. 8vo. I s. Almon.

A poignant antidote to the poifon contained in Dr. C.'s highflying, Tory fermon. The Author is rather too acrimonious in his language; but it is difficult for a party-writer of any fpirit, with ftrong feelings, and a warm attachment, to reftrain the fervour of his zeal, We approve, however, the principles on which this defender of liberty enters the lifts with a perfon of Dr. C.'s abilities; and the reasons which he has affigned for encountering this formidable champion of defpotifm, will, no doubt, be fatisfactory to the active and vigilant friends of freedom.

Art. 17. The Revolution Vindicated, and Conftitutional Liberty Afferted. In Anfwer to the Rev. Dr. Watfon's Acceffion Sermon, preached before the University of Cambridge, on October 25, 1776. By the Author of "Strictures on Dr. Watson's Sermon." 8vo. 1 s. White, &c. 1777.

What, in the name of Common-fenfe! are the Tories aiming at, by new vamping the ftale defpicable jargon of Sibthorpe, Manwaring, and Sacheverel? If they have nothing better to oppofe to "the Priestleys and Prices," they will afford thefe writers all the triumph they can wish for, and cover themselves with deserved fhame and difgrace! In the polemical ftyle, the wretched fervile fophiftry with which our understanding is infulted, in this publication, has been so often refuted, and is fo truly contemptible, that to bestow

• See Review for January, p. 76. Rev. June, 1777.

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fresh