272 
American war, it was afferted by the.ad- 
vocates of that war, that the fates of 
America were virtually reprefented in 
the Parliament of Great Britain, and 
that therefore this country poffeffed the 
right to tax them. It was never con- 
tended at that period, that the right of 
taxation exified without fome kind of 
reprefentation.—A different doétrine is 
~now fetup and maintained. 
The executive authority, which is 
vefted in the king, and which is regu- 
Jated and controlled by law, is the re- 
dult of the creative powers by which the 
laws which govern the emp're are fram- 
ed, of courfe, that authority 1s fecondery, 
and inferior to the legiflature. The 
power of framing and eftablifhing laws 
for the proteétion of perfons and pro- 
perty, forthe punifhment of vice, for the 
adminifiration of juftice, and for the de- 
fence of the empire, and which lay the 
foundation of the executive authority, 
vefts with the king, lords, and commons, 
who jointly poffefs the powers of legifla- 
tion. The king, it is true, poffefles, by 
his prerogative, the power of making 
war; but he is effectually centrolled, in 
carrying into efteét the exercife of that 
power by the commons, as they pofiefs 
the means of {upporting it. 
Has the king, tn his legiflative eapaci- 
ty, put his fingle veto on any law that 
has been prefented to him for the royal 
affent, within the laft century? Have 
the lords ever interfered for the like pe- 
riod with effeét, in the exclufive right of 
- the commons, to frame and introduce 
bills for the fupport of the exigencies of » 
the fiate, which includes provifion for 
the regal authority, for the army and 
navy, the funded debt, fubfdies to fo- 
re'gn princes, and the whole fyfiem of 
taxation? On what principle have the 
commens claimed and exercifed this pri- 
vilege or right for many ages, and which 
1s the main {pring of all government ? 
Can human invention affign any other 
reafon than that of reprefextation ? 
The people eleét the commons to par- 
liament as their reprefentatives, and they 
fit in parliament to tranfact the bufinefs 
of government, in behalf of the nation. 
f this dces not prove toa demonftration 
thar reprefentation is a vital principle in 
the Erglifh conftitution, furely it 1s im- 
poffible to prove the exiftence of any felf- 
evident truth, or axiom. 
~The {upporters of a contrary opinion 
have afferred, that, at an early period 
fupfeqnent to the conqueft, the knights 
Origin of the Right to Reprefentation. 
fod, 
cf the fhire were eleéted by thofe per- 
fons only who held their lands under the 
crown i” capite—whence it is inferred, 
I fuppofe, that, at that period, they were 
virtually the reprefentatives ef the 
crown, and not of the people: the fal- 
lacy of this reafoning, as applied to the 
principles of the conftitution, is eafily 
proved, 
England, at the conqueft, became, in a 
meafure, a conquered country ; many of 
the eftates of the nability, who, at that 
time poffeffed nearly-the whole of the 
landed preperty, were, in confequence 
of their oppofition to the exifting go- 
vernment, forfeited. Thefe lands were 
afterwards granted by the crown to dif 
ferent perfons, and under different te- 
nures; and as the feudal fyftem pre- 
vailed throughout Eufope, it became ne= 
ceflary, in this country, to eftablifh a 
military government for the common de- 
fence, which explains the nature and 
origin of the tenures which then pre- 
vailed in refpeét to the landed property 
—and, in confequence of the difputes. 
which prevailed between the houfes of 
York and Lancafter refpeéting the 
crown, it willbe found that nearly the 
whole of the nobility were, at different 
periods, under attainders. In proof of 
which it appears, by the pariiamentary 
records, that frequently not more than 
fifteen or twenty. peers were fummoned 
to parliament. ’ 
The cflates fo forfeited and granted 
to others, were afterwards held under 
the crown i# frodo in capite, by knight's 
fervice, and fubjeét to the feudal fervices. 
And, in proof of this, it will, I beleve, 
be found, on examining the title deeds, 
tobe nearly the whole of the |:nded pro- 
perty. ‘That it is held mediately or im- 
mediately of the king, as of the manors 
of Hampton-eourt, or Eaft Grunwick.— 
To affert, that becaufe the laws of the 
country invefted forfeited eflates in the 
crown, with a power of granting them to 
others under different tenures, therefore 
the future proprietors of fuch eftates are 
to be confidered as its vaffals, is an out~ 
rage on the principles of the conftitu- 
tion. 
Thefe feudal tenures were afterward 
abolifhed by at of parliament, and the 
rights of the people, which were, in a 
great meafure loft by the conqueft, were 
gradually reftored, and the exorbitant 
power of the nobility, under whom the 
lands were held by military fervice, was 
refirained and curtailed. As the ng 
ee om 
