144 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1794 



of all our fellow-Eubitcts to the dis- 

 cretion of the servants of the crown, 

 on no better ground than that of a 

 catalogue of oft'cnces which have 

 been long- notorious to the whole 

 kingdom. 



2. Because even the proof that 

 some individuals entertain those des- 

 perate designs which have been 

 ascribed to them would not, in our 

 opinion, form any justification of 

 the present measure. From the re- 

 volution to the complete defeat of 

 the pretensions of the house of 

 Stuart the wisdom of our ancestors 

 did not deem the existence of a zea- 

 lous, powerful, and indefatigable, 

 Jacobite party a sufficient reason, 

 without overt acts of rebellion, or 

 actual existing conspiracy, for sub- 

 jccti.rg the personal liberty of the 

 V hole kingdom to th-" will of mini- 

 sters. LCiserable, indeed, and pre- 

 carious is our condition, if, at the 

 plersure of a handful ef visionaries 

 and incendiaries (characters which 

 every age pioduces and disguises, 

 which 'he agents of eveiy govern- 

 ment may assume) our liberties are 

 to be laid under a legal interdict, 

 and ministers are to be vested with 

 an arbitrary power over the persons 

 of all the freemen of this realm. 



3. Because, even if the danger 

 bad been as real and imminent as is 

 pretended, it might have been pro- 

 vided against by measures far less 

 odious than that of depriving the 

 subject of thofce rights of personal 

 security v.hich distinguishes the 

 British constitution t)eyond any 

 other free governni-nt ancient or 

 modern, and changing it (ov the 

 time from a government of law to a 

 government of wi'l. One expedi- 

 ent, conip:'rc lively more moderate, 

 is obvlousj namely, to put the law 



respecting bail for misdemeanors 

 which affect the statefor a limited 

 time on the same footing with bail 

 in cases of treason. 



4. Because this bill appears (o us 

 uncT a stii! more melarichclv and 

 alaiming aspect, when ve combine 

 it with declarations whicli have 

 been made bv con>-iderable persons 

 during the dependence of this bill. 

 Even this, the utmost extremity to 

 which our ancestors were ever 

 driven, by the ur^'ssure of ihe great- 

 est danger, is but the i^relude to 

 a .system of measures (if possible) 

 siili more violent and arbitrary. 

 These menaces too forcibly illus- 

 trated by some past measures, in our 

 opinion of a rigour equally impolitic 

 and odious, fill us with the most 

 melancholy apprehensions that de- 

 signs are.enteitained by a progres- 

 sive series of encroachments, to an- 

 nihilate all the rights of Y.nglish- 

 men, and to extinguish all the free 

 principles of the British constitn- 

 tion. 



5. Because the precipitation with 

 which this bill has been hurried 

 through the house is both indecent 

 in itself, and directly repugnant to 

 two standing orders of this house, 

 one of the 28th of June, 1715, and 

 the other of the 2Sth April, l6gg, 

 standing orders, which insure to 

 this house the advantages of mature 

 deliberation, and to the subject the 

 invaluable privi ege of petitioning 

 against measures which, like thi; 

 present, are subversive of his fun- 

 damental rights. 



Albemarle. 



f>EDF0Rn. 



LAUDKROAtE. 



DiRBY. 



His 



