 God, by the signal Punishment which he inflicted, for this Breach on
the natural Rights of his People,
evinced to the World how dear they are in the Eye of ETERNAL JUSTICE.
How deplorable then, my
Harry,
is the
Suppression
of these Rights, now nearly
universal
throughout the Earth. But when People, from their Infancy, and from Generation to Generation, have been habituated to Bondage, Oppression, and Submission; without any Tradition or Memorial delivered down to them, of a happier or more equitable Manner of Life; they are accustomed to look on themselves, their Possessions, and their Progeny, as the rightful Property of their Rulers, to be disposed of at Pleasure; and they no more regret the want of a LIBERTY, that they never knew, than the Blind-Born regret the want of THE LIGHT OF THE SUN.
Before I give You this Paper that I have in my Hand, this Epitome or Picture in Miniature of the incomparable Beauties of the
Britanic
Constitution, it may be requisite to premise a few Matters.
Travellers, when they survey a grand
Egyptian
Pyramid, are apt to enquire by whom the stupendous Pile was erected, and how long it hath stood the Assaults of Time? But, when nothing of this can be developed, Imagination runs back through Antiquity, without Bounds; and thence contemplates an Object, with peculiar Veneration, that appears as it were to have had no Beginning.
Such a Structure is the Constitution of
Great-Britain.
No Records discover when it had a Commencement; neither can any Annals specify the Time at which it was not.
William
the
Norman,
above seven hundred Years ago, on his entering into the ORIGINAL CONTRACT with the People, engaged to govern them according to the
bonae et approbatae antiquae Regni Leges,
the good well approved and
ancient
Laws of the Kingdom, this Constitution was therefore ancient, even in
ancient Times.
More than eighteen hundred Years are now elapsed since
Julius Caesar,
in the sixth Book of his Commentaries, bore Testimony as well to the Antiquity as Excellency of the System of the Laws of
Britain.
He tells us that the venerable Order of the
Druids,
who then administered Justice throughout
Gaul,
derived their System of Government from
Britain;
and that it was customary for Those, who were desirous of being versed in the said ancient Institutions, to go over to
Britain
for that Purpose.
Caesar
seems to recommend, while he specifies, one of the Laws that was then peculiar to the Constitution of
Britain.
He tells You that, if a Woman was suspected of the Death of her Husband, she was questioned
