344 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1810. 



lordships that the recognizance 

 might be respited till the next 

 term. 



The affidavit of John Stanton, 

 of the Strand, surgeon, was read ; 

 stating that he had attended Mr. 

 Finnerty yesterday and this morn- 

 ing, when he laboured under a 

 very severe fever, and that if he 

 left his chamber his life would be 

 endangered. 



Mr. Attorney-General. — *' My 

 lord, I leave this entirely to the 

 discretion of the court." 



Lord EUenborous'h. — " Then 

 we must respite the recognizance ; 

 itisswornthat hecannotbebrought 

 up now without peril of his life.'' 



Mr. Curtvood. — " Your lord- 

 ships respite the recognizance to 

 next term r" 



Lord Ellenborough. — " If the 

 Attorney-General wished it, we 

 would give you only a rule to 

 show cause why it should not be 

 respited : if not, take your rule. 

 Mr. Attorney-General, would you 

 wish that they should take only a 

 rule to show cause ?" 



Mr. AUorney-General.^-*' No, 

 my lord, I think not ; in short I 

 wouldnot interpose any difficulty." 



Lord Ellenborough. — "Then let 

 the recognizance be respited." 



3. Liberty of the Subject. — Papers, 

 Sj-c. relative to the affair (if Sir 

 Francis Burdett. 



SIR F. BURnETT's LETTER TO HIS CONSTI- 

 TUENTS. 



" No freeman shall be taken, or im- 

 prisoned, or be disseized of his freehold, 

 or liberties, or free customs, or be out- 

 lawed, or exiled, or any otherwise de- 

 stroj'ed , nor will we pass upon him, nor 

 condemn him, but by lawful judgment 

 of his peers, or by the /ajc of the land. 

 We will sell to no man, we will not deny 



or defer to any man, either justice or 

 right."— il/«g«a Cliarta, chap.xxxix. 



«' Gentlemen,--The House of 

 Commons having passed a vote 

 which amounts to a declaration, 

 that an order of theirs is to be of 

 more weight than Magna Charta 

 and the laws of the land, I think 

 it my duty to lay my sentiments 

 thereon before my constituents, 

 whose characters as freemen, and 

 even whose personal safety, de- 

 pend in so great a degree upon 

 the decision of this question — a 

 question of no less importance 

 than this : Whether our liberty be 

 still to be secured by the laws of 

 our forefathers, or be to lie at the 

 absolute mercy of a part of our 

 fellow-subjects collected together 

 by means which it is not neces- 

 sary for me to describe. 



'* In order to give this subject 

 all the attention to which it is en- 

 titled, and to avoid the danger to 

 be apprehended from partial views 

 and personal feeling, it will be 

 advisable to argue the question 

 on its own merits, putting the in- 

 dividual (however we may de- 

 plore his present sufferings) out 

 of view ; though, at the same 

 time, every man ought to consider 

 the case his own ; because, should 

 the principle upon which the gen- 

 tlemen of the House of Commons 

 have thought proper to act in 

 this instance be once admitted, it 

 is impossible for any one to con- 

 jecture how soon he himself may 

 be summoned from his dwelling, 

 and be hurried, without trial, and 

 v/ithout oath made against him, 

 from the bosom of his family into 

 the clutches of a jailor. It is 

 therefore now the time to resist 

 the doctrine upon which Mr. Jones 

 has been sent to Newgate ; or 

 it is high time to cease all pre- 



