- HISTORY. OF EUROPE, 
Ferring the opinion of a grandjury, 
to the verdict of a jury ona legal 
trial. No case of treason having 
arisen since the late trials, there 
was no ground for the suspending- 
a&t, which, previously ‘to them, 
had rested on that pretext of a 
conspiracy, by which they were 
occasioned, 
In order to prove that a con- 
Spiracy might be real, and yet no 
proofs of it be produced, the soli. 
citor.general alleged the well- 
known case of captain Porteous, 
during the reign of George II. 
not one of the agents in which was 
ever discovered, though the trans- 
ation itself happened in the midst 
of a large and populous city. Inthe 
same manner, though proofs had not 
been yet brought home to the pre- 
sent conspirators, yet the reality of 
there being such in the kingdom, 
was strongly in the persuasion of a 
majority of the legislature, which, 
of itself, was a valid reason for con- 
tinuing the aét of suspension, 
- The authenticity of the proofs, 
adduced to ascertain the existence 
of a conspiracy, was insisted upon, 
in a long and laborious argument, 
by Mr. Hardinge, who was replicd 
to, in one no less elaborate, by 
Mr. Erskine, who objeéted to the 
intricacy and obscurity of his reason- 
ing. A conspiracy, he allowed, 
might exist, and the conspirators not 
be known or convitted; but this 
was not the casein agitation. The 
conspiracy, now in question, was 
Specifically to assemble a conven- 
tion, independently of government : 
papers of various kinds had been 
brought forward to substantiate it; 
the authors of which were ascertain. 
ed: but had these papers been trea- 
sonable ,how could their aurhors have 
avoided conviétion? these papers, 
© Vor, XXXVITI. 
[161 
therefore contained no treason, and 
the acquittal of their authors proved 
that they were not engaged ina 
treasonable conspiracy. This pre- 
tence, of course, fell to the ground, 
and could not, consequently, war. 
rant the continuance of the suspen- 
sion act. A traitorous spirit was at- 
tributed to these papers, and a de~ 
sign to dégrade and vilify the na- 
tional representation ; but to com- 
plain of the misconduét of par. 
liamentary men was not treason. 
The best answer to the complaints 
of the public would be to listen ta 
them, and correét those errors and 
flaws in their condu& that had 
givenoccasion fordiscontent. **Was 
ita time, said Mr. Erskine, to treat 
the people wath severity, and repeal 
their most essential privileges, when 
the very existence of government 
depended on their affections ?’” 
Ministers ought, he added, to take 
warning trom what had happened 
in the low countries ; the people 
there had loudly demanded the 
restitution of their ancient rights 
and immunities, as the people in 
England now did a reform in par- 
liament; but they were treated 
with megleé& and scorn by the Au- 
strian government, What, in the 
issue, was the result of this contempt 
and haughtiness? as soon as the 
French carried their vi€torious arms 
into that country, the power of 
Austria fell before them: the people 
flocked to their standard, and pre. 
ferred submission to a foreign con- 
queror, to the slavish subjection re. 
quired of them by a family descend. 
ed from their ancient sovereigns, 
Lhe history of Holland spoke the 
sume language; and that of Ame. 
rica held up a precedent of which 
a British ministry ought, on the pre. 
sent occasion, to be earnestly re. 
[M] minded, 
