GIBBON. 279 



of which he lost, except a pittance granted by the authors 

 of the violent proceedings that confiscated the estates of 

 the directors; one of the most flagrant acts of injustice, 

 and ex post facto legislation, of which history affords any 

 record. All were compelled to disclose their property ; 

 exorbitant security for their appearance was exacted; 

 they were restrained from making any mortgage or 

 transfer or exchange. They prayed to be heard against 

 the bill; this prayer was refused; three-and-thirty per- 

 sons were condemned, absent and unheard; the pittance 

 allotted to each was made the subject of unfeeling jest ; 

 motions to give one a pound, another a shilling, were 

 made; the most absurd tales were told, and eagerly 

 believed, resting on no kind of proof, and on these the 

 votes of the House of Commons were passed. The out- 

 rages of despots in barbarous countries and dark ages 

 seldom can go beyond this parliamentary proceeding of 

 a popular legislature in a civilized community and an 

 enlightened age, the country of Locke, Newton, Somers, 

 and while yet their immortal names shed a lustre on the 

 eighteenth century of the Christian era. Nor is it pos- 

 sible to contemplate this legislative enormity without re- 

 flecting on the infirm title of the very lawgivers who per- 

 petrated it. The act was one passed in 1 720 by the first 

 septennial Parliament during the four years which it had 

 added to its lawful existence, having been chosen in 1715 

 for only three years, and extended its existence to 

 seven. It is a creditable thing to the historian that, 

 believing the Protestant succession to have been saved 

 (as it certainly was) by that measure, he always gave his 

 vote against its repeal. Nor was the spirit of the people 

 more inclined to justice than that of their unchoseu 



