1822.] 
order, telling her Majesty. that he was 
desirous to ascertain the truth of the 
signature. The Queen expressed great 
surprise at the sight of it, and thanked 
him most heartily for coming to her, 
assuring him that it never was her in- 
tention to deat so with her sister; and 
said farther, that, as she was not safe 
where she then was, she would take 
care to remove her, which was done 
accordingly. After Elizabeth came 
to the throne, she did not forget this 
service, but rewarded Mr. Bridges 
and his family. 
SAXON POLICY. 
The Saxons ordained the quantity 
of land for each man’s lot; which was 
six acres for wheat, six for barley, six 
for oats, six for hay, six for pasture, 
six for dwelling-house, barn-yard, and 
garden; in all thirty-six. The West 
Saxons introduced Trial by Jury, and 
also Grand Juries. 
TRIAL BY SINGLE COMBAT. 
The judicial combat was not abro- 
gated in England till within these two 
years, and till then could only be said 
to be obsolete. In nations emerging 
from barbarism, it might moderate the 
licence of private war, and prevent 
arbitrary revenge ; it was also less ab- 
surd than the trial by the ordeal, boil- 
ing water, and the cross: it might 
Serve as a test of personal courage, and 
might sometimes check a malicious 
prosecutor ; but it also, at times, armed 
the strong against the weak, a bravo 
or ruffian accustomed to blood against 
a weak and timid man, and was justly 
stigmatised# by Glanville, and repro- 
bated by Fleta. 
COPY OF A LETTER FROM THOMAS JEF- 
FERSON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED 
STATES OF AMERICA, TO THE EARL OF 
BUCHAN. 
Washington ; July 10, 1804. 
My Lord, 
I received, through the hands of Mr. 
Lenox, on his return to the United 
States, the valuable volume you were 
so good as to send me on the life and 
writings of Fletcher of Saltoun. ‘I'he 
political principles of that patriot were 
worthy the purest periods of the Bri- 
tish constitution. They are those 
which were in vigour at the epoch of 
the British emigration to America. 
Our ancestors brought them here, and 
they needed little strengthening to 
make us what we are; but, in the 
weakened condition of English whig- 
fism at this day, it requires more firm- 
Stephensiana, No. XI. iad 
ness to publish and» advocate them, 
than it then did to act on them. This 
merit is peculiarly your lordship’s, 
and no. one honours it more than 
myself; admitting, at the same time, 
the right of a nation to change its po- 
litical principles and constitution at 
will, and the impropriety of any bat its 
own citizens censuring that change. 
1 expect your lordship has been disap- 
pointed, as Lacknowledge Lhave been, 
in the issue of the convulsions on the 
other side the channel. This has cer- 
tainly lessened the interest which the 
Philanthropist warmly felt in those 
struggles. Without befriending hu- 
man liberty, a gigantic force has risen 
up which seems to threaten the world, 
but it hangs on the thread of opinion, 
which may break from one day to 
another. I feel real anxiety on the 
conflict in which your nation is again 
engaged ; and biess the Almighty 
Being, who, in gathering together the 
waters under the heavens in one place, 
divided the dry lands of your hemis- 
phere from the dry lands of ours, aud 
said “here at least be there peace.” 
I hope that peace and amity with all 
nations will long be the charter of our 
land; and that its prosperity, under 
this charter, will re-act on the mind of 
Europe, and profit her by the exam- 
ple. My hope of preserving peace for 
our country is not founded on the 
Quaker principle of non-resistance un- 
der every wrong, but in the belief that 
a just and friendly conduct on our 
part will procure justice and friendship 
from others; and that, in the existing 
contest, each of the combatants will 
find an interest in our friendship. I 
cannot say we shall be unconcerned 
spectators of the combat. We feel for 
human sufferings, and we wish the 
goodof all. We shall look on, there- 
fore, with the sensations which these 
dispositions, and the events of the war 
will produce. 
I feel a pride in the justice which 
your lordship’s sentiments render to the 
character of my illustrious countryman 
Washington; the moderation of his 
desires, and the strength of his judg- 
ment, enabled him to calculate cor- 
rectly, that the road to that glory 
which never dies, is to use power for 
the support of the laws and liberties of 
our country, not for their destruction ; 
and his glory will accordingly survive 
the wreck of every thing now, living. 
Accept, my lord, the tribute of 
esteem 
