Four tracts, on political and commercial subjects

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156 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL " of the faid Plantations, in fuch Cafe the Proof " fhall lie upon the Owner or Claimer; and " the Claimer {hall be reputed to be the Impor. " ter or Owner thereof." Now here it is obvious to every Reader, that the Sufpicions which the Parliament had for- merly conceived of the Partiality of drama" Courts, and Airzerz'mn Juries in Trials at Law with the Motheerountry, were f0 far from being abated by Length of Time, that they were grown higher than ever; becaufe it ap~ pears by this very Act, that the Power of the Officer or Informer was greatly enlarged, having the Option now granted him of three dif- ferent Countries for profecuting the Ofi'ence; whereas in the former of Charles 11. made 16 Years before, he had only two. Moreover it was this Time further ordained, that the 07m proéandi lhould tell on the Defendant, and alfo that no * EH‘oin, Protection, or f Wager of Law {hould be allowed him. BUT above all, and in order to prevent, if potiible, every Sort of Chicane for the future, and to fruPtI-ate all Attempts of the Colonies, SUBJECTS. ,57 either to throw OH~ or evade the Power and jurifdiétion of the Mother Country,--~It was at §9, " further enaéted and declared by the Au"thority aforefaid, that all Laws, B)‘C~Laws, "Ufages, or Cuf'toms, at [/2275 Time, or which "hereafter {hall be in Practice, or endeavoured, " or pretended to be in Force or Praétice, in any " of the faid Plantations, which are in (my w/fl " repugnant to the beforementioned Laws, OI" any of them, f0 far as they do relate to the " laid Plantations, or any of'them, or which are "anyways repugnant to this prelent Act, on " TO ANY OTHER LAW HEREAFTER TO BE MADE "IN THIS KINGDOM, f0 far as fuch Law {hall "relate to, and mention the {aid Plantations, "are ILLEGAL, NULL, AND VOID TO ALL IN"TENTS AND PURPOSES WHATSOEVER." WORDS could hardly be deviled to exprefs the Sentiments of the Eng/M1 Legiflature, more fully and firongly, than thefe have done: And if ever a Body of uninfpired Men were endowed with a Spirit of Divination, or of foreleeing, and alfo of providing againlt untoward future 4* A" Elm" fignifies, in Law, a Pretence or Excufe. Events, as far as human Prudence could extend, theKing, Lords, and Commons ofthe Him I 696, were the very Men. For they evidently fore~ ism, that a Time was approaching, when the 1- A Wager at Law, is a Power granted to the Defen- Provincial Afremblies would dilpute the Right dant [0 fwear, together with other Col/lpwgatan, that he owes nothing to the Plaintifl: in the Manner {et forth-"Ic is eafy to fee what ufe would have been made of fucha Power, had it been allowed. Of flmerz'eem Sovereignty with the great and either general Council of the Briti/fz Empire: And ' therefore it ll l 7 l" 1!!" "