OCR Text |
Show [ 26 ] [ 27 ] Crown of Great-Britain, and detached only proper and conf'titutional Legifla- can be ef'teemed a competent Legi/laZz/re to judge of the. other's Rig/m, without the highef't injuf'tice and iniquity; which is before demonfirated by fome of the firf't maxims or principles of Rezzjbiz. ture for each province rg/peflive/y; (24.) And yet, howfoever dil‘tinc‘t theie feve- becaufe the Repreflizz‘afim of t/Je People, ral parts or provinces may feem, 1n pomt in every part of the Britifh Empire, is of fitnation, as well as in the exercife of a feparate legiflative power for each, (which conflitutional Right they have (as Ireland is) from this ifland, ought to be and have been ef'ceemed, from the firf't ef'cablifhment of our colonies, the abfolutely neceITary to confiitute an ef- _fee71m/ Legzflezfure, according to the fun- fiitution; for none of them, jipezrezte/y, enjoyed beyond the memory of. man,) they are neverthelefs firmly united by C311 the circle of the Britith Diadem, fo as to damental principles of the Englifh Con- (24) Every eflablifhment in the American Colonies has been {ettled by our medium as nearly as poflible to the conflitutional form of government in the Mother-Country; and, as the advantages of this mode have been proved by the experience of more than a century; (fee an argument, jul't publilhed, in defence of the exclufive Right, claimed by the Colonies , to tax themfelves, p. 36, 39, 44.) it is very dangerous (now that the colonies begin to be filled with people) to vary the ancient and approved Form of the Conflitntion. " Per/ru/o/iem (fl re: no'vn: et irzrfllam: fur/1(" eere." Co. Lit. 379. And, " Clauihlazinconfueta‘ " {emper inducunt fufpicionem." 3 Co. 81. And again, " (Lute pra‘tcr confuetudinem et morem major-um " fiunt ncque placent, ncquc reé‘ta videntnr ." 4 Co. y'o‘. And laflly, " Whatlbever is againlt the Rule of " Lew i: inconvenient." Co. Lit. p. 379. form one "nix/Z Empire, which will never be divided, if the fafe and honeft policy be adopted, of maintaining the Briti/b sz/iiz‘m‘iw: inviolate, in all parts of the Empire: for it is a fyftem {o natured, fo beneficial, and f0 engaging, to the generality of mankind, that by the fame means we might hold the Empire off/2e IVorid, were the laws of natural Equrty, Juflice, and Liberty, to be firiétly obferved, E 2 i |