of merchant vefiels against pirates,) the commanders or feamen wounded, and the widows of fuch feamen as are flain, in any engagement with a pirate, fhall be entitled to a bounty, to be divided among them, not exceeding one fiftieth part of the value of the cargo on board, and fuch wounded feamen fhall be enti tled to the penfion of Greenwich Hospital; which no other feamen are, except only fuch as have ferved in a fhip of war. And if the commander fhall behave cowardly, by not defending the fhip, if the carries guns or arms, or fhall discharge the mariners from fighting, fo that the fhip falls into the hands of pirates, fuch commander fhall forfeit all his wages, and fuffer fix months imprisonment; laftly by ftatute 18 Geo. II. c. 30. any natural born fubject, or denizen, who in the time of war shall comit hoftilities at sea against any of his fellow fubjects, or shall aflist an enemy on that element, is liable to be tried and convicted as a pirate.

QUARANTINE. The derivation of this word refers it to the term of forty days, which was prefcribed in law for other purpofes as well as that of keeping perfons who might be infected with the plague apart from the fociety. Many regulations had been made by ancient ftatutes for preferving the public health from the ill effects which might have arifen, if those who arrived from places where that dreadful malady prevails, had been fuffered without precaution to mingle with fociety; but thefe being found contradictory and infufficient, an act was paffed in 1800, repealing all former ftatutes, and forming a new code on the fubject. By this it is enacted, that all veffels, perfons, and merchandizes, coming into any place in Great Britain, or the ifles of Guernfey, Jerfey, Alderney, Sark, or Man, from any place whence his majesty may judge the plague may be brought, fhall perform quarantine in fuch manner as' his majefty, by his order in council, and notified by proclamation, or published in the London Gazette, fhall direct; and until fuch vessel, perfon, and merchandize, fhall have performed quarantine, no perfon or goods fhall come or be brought on fhore unless licensed by his majesty. And the commander of every veffel liable to quarantine, who fhall meet with any other veffel at fea, or within four leagues of the coast of Great Britain, or the faid ifles, fhall hoist a signal to denote that his veffel is liable to quarantine; and on failure thereof, fuch commander or perfon having charge of fuch veffel fhall forfeit 2001. The penalty on mafters of veffels not liable to perform quarantine hoifting fuch fignals is 50l.; and pilots conducting veffels liable to quarantine into places not appointed, forfeit 100%. For the purpose of afcertaining whether any fufpected veffel has on board perfons liable to perform quarantine or not, the principal

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principal officer of the cuftoms, or perfon authorised to fee quarantine duly performed, fhall go off to fuch veffel, and at a convenient diftance from the fame, demand of the commander, or perfon having charge thereof, to give an answer in writing or otherwife, and upon oath or not, as he fhall be required, to all fuch questions as fhall be put unto him in purfuance of any order of council; and upon refufal the mafter, &c. fhall forfeit 2001. for every fuch offence. If the veffel is liable to perform quarantine, the officers of any fhips of war, or forts, or garrifons, or other officers whom it may concern, fhall upon notice, compel fuch veffel to go to the appointed place; and the master of every fuch veffel, coming from any place vifited with the plague, or having any infected perfon on board, and concealing the fame, fhall be guilty of felony without benefit of clergy. The mafter is alfo obliged under a penalty of 500l. to deliver to the chief officer appointed to fee quarantine performed, certain documents, and a schedule of his cargo, and if he afterward fail to produce any of the articles fpecified, he forfeits not more than 500/ nor less than 100l. And if the mafter of any vessel liable to perform quarantine fhall himself quit, or knowingly permit any feaman or paffenger to quit fuch veffel before fuch quarantine fhall be performed, unlefs by a proper licence, or shall not, within a convenient time after notice, caufe fuch veffel and lading to be conveyed into the place appointed to perform quarantine, he fhall forfeit 5col; and if any perfon fhall fo quit fuch fhip contrary to the true meaning of this act, any person whatfoever, by any neceflary force, may compel fuch perfon to return on board, who fhall be imprisoned for fix months, and fhall alfo forfeit 200l. Veffels having performed quarantine in foreign parts, are not to land goods liable to infection, without directions from the privy council, under penalty of 200l. And all perfons liable to perform quarantine fhall be subject to the orders of the officers authorized to direct the performance thereof, who may inforce obedience thereto, and in cafe of neceffity call in others to affift, who are required to aflift accordingly; and may compel all perfons liable to perform quarantine to repair, and to convey all goods comprized in any order made as aforefaid, to the lazaret, or place appointed in that behalf; and if any perfon fhall neglect to duly repair to the place fo appointed, or fhall efcape therefrom, he fhall be deemed guilty of felony without benefit of clergy. And if any officer of the customs, or other perfon employed concerning quarantine fhall be guilty of any wilful breach or neglect of duty, he shall forfeit his office, and alfo 100/.; and if he fhall defert from his duty, or knowingly permit any perfon, veffel, or goods to depart or be conveyed out of the lazaret, ship, or place appointed, unless

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by an order of council, or fhall give a falfe certificate, he fhall be guilty of felony without benefit of clergy; and if any fuch officer fhall wilfully damage any goods performing quarantine under his direction, he fhall be liable to treble damages and cofts of fuit. And if any found perfon fhall enter any lazaret, he fhall perform quarantine; and if he fhall return from thence (unless duly licensed), or fhall efcape, or attempt to efcape, he thall be guilty of felony without benefit of clergy. After the quarantine has been duly performed, and certified, the veffel is under no further constraint.

PREROGATIVE. The king as generaliffimo of the whole kingdom has the fole power of raifing and regulating armies, as well as fleets. This prerogative indeed was difputed and claimed, contrary to all reafon and precedent, by the long parliament of Charles I. but, on the restoration of his fon, was folemnly declared by the ftatute 13 Chas. II. c. 6. to be in the king alone: for that the fole fupreme government and command of the militia within all his majesty's realm and dominions, and of all forces by fea and land, and of all forces and places of ftrength, ever was and is the undoubted right of his majefty, and his royal predeceffors, kings and queens of England; and that both or either house of parliament cannot, nor ought to, pretend to the fame. This ftatute, it is obvious to obferve, extends not only to fleets and armies, but alfo to forts, and other places of strength, within the realm; the fole prerogative as well of erecting, as manning and governing of which, belongs to the king in his capacity of general of the kingdom: and all lands were formerly fubject to a tax, for building caftles, wherever the king thought proper. This was one of the three things, from contributing to the performance of which no hands were exempted; and therefore called by our Saxon ancestors the trinoda neceffitas: fc. pontis reparatio, arcis conftructio, et expeditio contra hoftem. And this they were called upon to do so often, that, as Sir Edward Coke from M. Paris affures us, there were in the time of Henry II. 1115 caftles fubfifting in England. The inconveniences of which, when granted out to private fubjects, the lordly barons of thofe times, were feverely felt by the whole kingdom; for as William of Newburgh remarks in the reign of king Stephen, "erant in Anglia quodammodo tot reges vel potius tyranni, quot "domini caftellorum;" but it was felt by none more fenfibly than by the two fucceeding princes, John and Henry III. And therefore the greatest part of them being demolished in the

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barons' wars, the kings of after times have been very cautious of fuffering them to be rebuilt in a fortified manner: and Sir Edward Coke lays it down, that no fubject can build a castle, or house of strength embattled, without the licence of the king; because of the danger which might enfue, if every man at his pleasure might do it. In this precaution indeed the public liberty is most materially interested; a nation familiarifed to the fight of military strong holds, and unused to travel, but under the regulations of garrifon towns, is fubdued without power to ftruggle: that which a lord can do is not forbidden to the king; and it is faid to have been among the compendious hints which a fubtle courtier gave to an English monarch, for the complete eftablishment of tyranny, that he should make all the roads in the kingdom pafs through or begin and end at garrifon towns. On the other hand, that fafety against foreign irruption, or local violence may not be precarious, the ftatute called the bill of rights has provided that all the fubjects of the realm may have arms for their defence suitable to their condition and degree, and fuch as are allowed by law.

GENERAL PROGRESS OF THE ARMY. In a land of liberty it is extremely dangerous to make a diftinct order of the profeffion of arms. In abfolute monarchies it is neceflary for the fafety of the prince, and arifes from the main principle of their conftitution, which is that of governing by fear: but in free ftates, the profeflion of a foldier, and taken fingly merely as a profeflion, is juftly an object of jealoufy. In thefe no man fhould take up arms, but with a view to defend his country and its laws: he puts not off the citizen when he enters the camp; but it is because he is a citizen, and would wish to continue fo, that he makes himself for a while a foldier. The laws, therefore, and conftitution of thefe kingdoms, know no fuch ftate as that of a perpetual standing foldier, bred up to no other profeffion than that of war: and it was not till the reign of Henry VII. that the kings of England had fo much as a guard about their perfons, and then the eftablishment confifted only of fifty yeoinen of the guards, whom the king appointed in 1486.

In the time of our Saxon ancestors, as appears from Edward the Confeffor's laws, the military force of this kingdom was in the hands of the dukes or heretochs, who were conftituted through every province and county; being taken out of the principal nobility, and fuch as were most remarkable for being wife, loyal, and valiant. Their duty was to lead and regulate the English armies, with a very unlimited power, as to them fhould feem fitting, for the honour of the crown, and welfare of the realm. And because of this great power they were elected by the people in their full affembly, or folkmote. This large

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fhare of power, thus conferred by the people, though intended to preferve the liberty of the fubject, was perhaps unreafonably detrimental to the prerogative of the crown: and accordingly we find a very ill ufe made of it by Edric duke of Mercia, in the reign of king Edmund Ironfide; who, by his office of duke or heretoch, was entitled to a large command in the king's army, and by his repeated treacheries at last transferred the crown to Canute the Dane.

It feems univerfally agreed by all hiftorians that king Alfred first fettled a national militia in this kingdom, and by his prudent difcipline made all the fubjects of his dominion foldiers: but we are unfortunately left in the dark as to the particulars of this his fo celebrated regulation; though, from what was laft obferved, the dukes feem to have been left in poffeffion of too large and independent a power: which enabled duke Harold on the death of Edward the Confeffor, though a stranger to the royal blood, to mount the throne in prejudice of Edgar Atheling, the rightful heir.

On the Norman conqueft, the feudal law was introduced in all its rigour, the whole of which is built on a military plan; all the lands in the kingdom were divided into what were called knight's fees, in number 60,215; and for every knight's fee, a knight or foldier, miles, was bound to attend the king in his wars, for forty days in a year; in which space of time, before war was reduced to a fcience, the campaign was generally finished, and a kingdom either conquered or victorious. By thefe means the king had, without any expence, an army of fixty thousand men, always ready at his command. This perfonal fervice in procefs of time degenerated into pecuniary commutations or aids, and the last traces of the military part of the feudal fyftem were abolished at the restoration, by ftatute 12 Chas. II. c. 24.

In the mean time the kingdom was not left wholly without defence in cafe of domeftic infurrections, or the prospect of foreign invafion. Befides thofe who by their military tenures were bound to perform forty days fervice in the field, firft the affize of arms, enacted 27 Hen. II. and afterwards the statute of Winchester, under Edward I. obliged every man, according to his eftate and degree, to provide a determinate quantity of fuch arms as were then in ufe, in order to keep the peace; and conftables were appointed in all hundreds by the latter ftatute, to fee that fuch arms were provided. Thefe weapons were changed by the statute 4 and 5 Ph. and Mary, c. 2. into others of more modern fervice; but both this and the former provifions were repealed in the reign of James I. While these continued in force, it was ufual from time to time,

for