OCR Text |
Show ‘ Vlmllllllllllllk " m‘m _ ‘ ,ti :, PLEAS AND ARGUMENTS. 39 lonifts, who are all the Difciples of Mr. LOCK, Rights of Human Nature, which they fuppofe to be ulz'eemlzle and z'udefeuflble. Former Laws and * Precedents carry little or no Conviétion to People, who argue after this Manner: And therefore they are feldom or never mentioned by the flmerimm: For all thefe, they well know, would +fure1y make againl't them. THE firit Thing obfervable in this Contro- And as to any Claims to be derived from regal Charters, verfy is, that there is no common Prin< Ciple to refit upon, no common Medium to ap. _ . . ' ' peal to. The Colonxfts realon prmcrpally from what they apprehend meg/2t originally to be the * Dr. PRIESTLY, the celebrated Champion of the Ame- ricam, exprefsly excepts againfl our having Recourfe to any Cafe,--to wha in future fhall, o'r mui't be2-5 And the Mother Country from what actually was,-to what {till ought to be. Or in other fuch Topics as thefe. His Words are curious: " Lawyers, \Vords, the Parent-State grounds her prefent Traét on Political Liberty, Page 26.]-Lawyers therefore Claim of Authority and jurifdietion over the are no proper Judges of the Law and Confiitution of the Colonies !-To what a Pafs are Times now come! 1* In Cram/2's Book of Rates, Edit. 1757, there are enu- " fays he, who are governed by Rule: and Prom/eats, are " very apt to fall into Miflakes in determining what 13 ‘ rig/y: and lawfulin Cafes, which are, in their own Na" ture, prior to any fixt Law or Precedent."-[See his Colonies on Faéts and Precedents, and on what was actually the State of Things at the firl't Settlement of thefe Colonies, and during the whole Courle of their Growth and Progrefs ever fince,- adding withal, that in every State or Commonwealth antient Or modern, legal Proteftion neceflhrily infers the Duty of. legal Obedience, and that there mult be in every Government a dernier Reibrt, and a Neplus ultra! l'ower. pf ruling , - On the other Hand, the .C0‘ lomllss merated, under the Article Plantation: in the Index, from Page 539 to Page 557, no lefs than Ninety Clauflm or Ex- tracts from Aéts of Parliament, for governing and con- trouling the fubordinate Legillatures of the Colonies, For regulating their Police, and rcllraining their Trade; alfo for dilpenfing with the Trials by Juries 1n contraband Caufts, and for appointing other Modes of Trial}--and laitly for laying on Duties and Taxes of various Kinds. Moreover it is obfervable, that every one of, the .At‘ts there mentioned, was prior to the preient Reign. And had Mr. Crourb's Subject have led him to it, he might have mentioned twice as many more. they "VH‘ILAA! T/ze refiefiz've Pleas of the Parent State, and (f t/ze Colonies examined, and compared toget/Ier: A71?! 1/]? Impofliéi/z'z‘y of their making any mutual Coueeflz'om, coufg/z'eut/y wit/z t/zez'r reflefi‘i‘ue Claims; proved and demoiflmz‘ed. have Recourfe to what they call immutable Trutfi5,---the abftraét Reafonings, and eternal Fitnefles of Things,---and in fhort to fuch 'V s E C T I o N in. .;v ~54"? it"‘v"bu a, "Wimmv" 1+- 2»su~«t:r we :mmaefi" .‘ ‘» 38 PLEAS AND ARGUMENTS. |