ed her to flip afide her veil: fhe did fo; and, upon the fight of her beauty, the judges, who were juft giving fentence againft her immediately altered their de cree. Thus you fee, that the noife of your conquefts forfeveral years together, could not stop the mouth of one bluftering orator; and yet, that the charms of a pretty woman could, in an inftant, corrupt the feverity of the whole Areopagus. Alexander.] Well, Phrine, make the moft of that name-fake of your's that you have called in to your affiftance; for I am much mistaken, if the character of Alexander fuffer by fuch a comparison. Shall the conqueror— Phrine.] I know what you are going to fayof Greece, Perfia, India, &c. All these make a fine fhew: but then let me take from you what you have no right to, and diftribute fairly to your officers, your common foldiers, and to fortune herself, a proper fhare of the glory, and you will find your laurels deferve to be cropt. Now a handfome woman owes her conquefts entirely to herself: nobody comes in for a fhare with her; the merit is all her own. O, it is fineft thing in the world to be a fine woman! Alexander.] Yes! you gave abundant proofs that you thought fo: but, tell me pray, were your exceffes compatible with the character of a fine woman? one; Phrine.] I make lying a matter of confcience, Sir, and therefore I fay "No."-but if I overdid the character of a fine woman, did not you burlesque that of a great man-Let us then hake hands. You and I, it must be owned, made too many conquefts: if I had only been concerned in two or three intrigues, I had been accounted an amiable woman, and perhaps a modeft but how fhould modefty get money enough to build city walls And then, as to your part, had you only conquered Greece, and half a dozen little Iflands, or perhaps a fmall fpot in the leffer Afia, there had been fome reafon and confcience in this: but to lead men roving up and down, with out knowing whither; to fight and take towns, and not know why; to be always in a hurry of action about nobody knows what-it is this that has offended the men of fober fenfe. Alexander.] Let the men of fober fenfe, fay what they pleafe; I am fure, that if I had been as fober in the ufe of my valour and fortune, as they could with me, I had never been fo much talked of. Phrine.] Nor I, if I had made fo fober an ufe of my beauty: for in fhort when one only defigns to make a noise in the world, we do not find that the moft refpectable characters are the most proper for the purpose. The Proceedings in the British Parliament relative to the three Acts against the Town and People of Bofton in America. (Concluded from p. 317 of our laft.) L Monday, March 28. ORD NORTH faid, that he meant now to open the plan of the bill, which he proposed to bring in, to regulate the government of Malfachufets bay; and as it might very well be understood by Gentlemen in that Houfe, from the papers that then lay before them, that an executive power was wanting in that country, and that it was highly neceffary to ftrengthen the Magiftracy of it; that the force of the civil power confifted in the poffe comitatus; and when it is confidered, that the poffe are the very people who have committed all these riots, little obedience to the prefervation of the peace is to be expected from them. There appears to be a total defect in the conftitutional power throughout. If the democratic part fhew that contempt of obedience to the laws, how is the Governor to execute any authority vefted in him? If he wants any Magiftrate to act, whom he knows will be willing to execute the laws, he has not the power of appointing one, nor of the removing one that will not act; the Council have alone that power, whofe dependence is on the democratic part of the conftitution. It appears that the Civil Magiftrate has been, for a feries of years, uniformly inactive; there is fomething radically wrong in that conftitution, in which no Magiftrate, for fuch a number of years, has ever done his duty in fuch a manner as to force obedience to the laws. If the Governor iffued a proclamation, there was hardly found a Magiftrate to obey him; the Governor, of his own authority, can do nothing; he cannot act, or give out any order without feven of the Council confenting the authority of that Government is in 1 fo forlorn a fituation, that no Governor can act; and, where there is fuch a want of civil authority, can it be fuppofed that the Military, be they ever fo numerous, can be of the leaft fervice For I fhall always confider that a Military power, acting under the authority and controul of a Civil Magifirate, is part of the conftitution; but the Military alone ought not, and cannot act without the controul of the Civil Magiftrate. How was it poffible for the Military to maintain good government, when they were not called upon by the Civil Authority? I propofe in this bill, to take the executive power from the hands of the democratic part of government; I would propofe, that the Governor fhould act as a Juftice of the Peace, and that he fhould have the power to appoint the Officers throughout the whole civil authority, such as the Sheriffs, Provost, Marshal, &c. (the Chief Juftice and Judges of the Supreme Court excepted.) I would have them only removable by his Majefty under his fign manual, and upon good representation made here. Every Gentleman will naturally fee the impropriety of fuch irregular affemblies, or town-meetings, which are now held in Bofton; I would have them brought under fome regulation, and would not fuffer them to be held without the confent of the Governor, unless upon the annual election of certain Officers, which it is their province to chufe. Their juries are improperly chofen; I think a degree of regulation highly neceffary; I am always ready and open to hear those matters difcuffed, and inclined to alter my opinion when I hear better reafons for adopting any other mode of putting the Civil Magiftracy of that country upon a good footing; but, until the executive power is free, it can not act; our regulations here are of no import, if you have nobody in that country to give them force. Some im mediate, as well as permanent remedy, must be adopted. I therefore propofe the prefent bill, which I apprehend will effectually purge that conftitution of all its crudities, and give a degree of frength and fpirit to the Civil Magiftracy, and to the executive power. I therefore move you, Sir, that leave be given to bring in a bill for the better regulating the government of the province of Maffachufets Bay. Leave was given to bring in the bill, for the better regulating the government of the province of Maffachusets Bay, without any opposition. Friday, April 15] Lord North prefented to the Houfe the letters which he had received from America, which were referred to the Committee upon American papers; after which he prefented the bill, to regulate the Civil Government of the Province of Maffachusets Bay; the breviat of which was read, containing the propofitions which, in moving for the bill, he had mentioned as the ground of it, with this addition and alteration, that the nomination of the Council fhould be by the Crown.' Governor Pownal rofe to inform the Houfe of the mode in which juries were chofen in America. He gave an account in what manner the Council were chofen heretofore; that they were elected by the whole Legislature (and not as had been mistakenly represented) by the people at large; that the felect men were a kind of Aldermen, much the fame as thofe in corporations in England; that about forty were chofen in each town, after which the remaining ones were generally appointed as perfons proper to ferve upon juries, from which perfons five or fix people were taken, as occafion required; that the Grand Juries were ftruck off from capital men, who were appointed for that purpose. He faid great inconvenience would arife from the town-meetings not being held without the confent of the Governor; that all business of a municipal nature was done at a town-meeting; that thefe towns were, in many places, 300 miles from the capital, and that bufinefs muft ftand ftill in many inftances, in thefe towns, till the Governor's confent could be obtained. After the American papers were read, Lord North arofe, and faid he meant now to propofe a third bill, which he hoped would effectually fecure the province of Maffachufets Bay from future disturbances: The bill that he meant to propose, was, to give every man a fair and impartial trial; that the juries of that country, it was true, were not eftablished after the manner in which our juries here are, and therefore were not fo 1774. fo likely to give each offender that impartial trial which by the laws of this country he ought to be intitled to; for, if it thall be found in that country, that a man is not likely to meet with a fair and impartial trial, the Governor will be impowered to send him to any of the other colonies, where the fame kind of fpirit has not prevailed; but, if it shall be thought that he cannot have fuch fair and impartial trial in any of the colonies, in that cafe he is to be sent to Great Britain to be tried before the Court of King's Bench, the expences of which trial were to be drawn for on the customs in England. I have no more, Sir, fays his Lordinip, to add, but with permiffion will make the motion, 'That the Chairman be directed to move the House, that leave be given to bring in a bill for the impartial adminiftration of justice, in the cafes of perfons queftioned for any acts done by them in the execution of the laws, or for the fuppreffing of riots and tumults in the province of Maffachufets Bay, in New England. Col. Barre. I rife with great unwillingness to oppofe this meature in its very infancy, before its features are well formed, or to claim that attention which this House seems to beftow with fo much reluctance on any arguments in behalf of America. It is proposed to ftigmatize a whole people as perfecutors of innocence, and men incapable of doing justice; yet you have not a fingle fact on which to ground that imputation. I expected the noble Lord would have fupported this motion by producing inftances of the Officers of Government in America having been profecuted with unremitting vengeance by the violence and injuftice of American juries. But he has not produced one fuch inftance; and I will tell you more, Sir, he cannot produce one. The inftances which have happened are directly in the teeth of his propofition. Captain Preston and the foldiers, who fhed the blood of the people, were fairly tried, and fully acquitted. It was an American Jury, a New-England Jury, a Boston Jury, which tried and acquitted them. Captain Preston has, under his hand, publicly declared, that the inhabitants of the very town in which their fellow-citizens had been facrificed were his advocates and defenders. When a Commiffioner of the Customs, aided Let us confider, Sir, the precedents which are offered to warrant this proceeding.-The fufpenfion of the Habeas Corpus act in 1745-the making smugglers triable in Middlesex, and the Scotch rebels in England. Sir, the firit was done upon the moft prefling neceffity, flagrante bello, with a dangerous rebellion in the very heart of the kingdom; the fecond, you well know, was warranted by the most evident facts; Armed bodies of fmugglers marched publicly without prefentment or moleftation from the people of the county of Suffex; who, even to their Magiftrates were notoriously connected with them. They murdered the Officers of the Revenue, engaged your troops, and openly violated the laws. Experience convinced you, that the juries of that, and of the counties fimilarly circumftanced, would never find fuch criminals guilty; and upon the conviction of this neceffity you paffed the act. The fame neceffity juftified the trying Scotch rebels in England. Rebellion had reared its dangerous ftandard in Scotland, and the principles of it had fo univerfally tainted that people, that it was manifeftly in vain to expect juftice from them against their countrymen. But, in America, not a fingle act of rebellion has been committed. Let the Crown Law Officers declare, if they can, that there is upon your table a fingle evidence of treafon or rebellion in America. They know, Sir, there is not one, and yet we are proceeding as if there were a thoufand, Having thus proved, Sir, that the propofed bill is without precedent to fupport, and without facts to warrant it : let us now view the confequence it is likely to produce. A foldier feels himself fo much much above the rest of mankind, that the ftri&t hand of the civil power is neceffary to controul the haughtiness of difpofition which fuch fuperiority infpires. You know, Sir, what conftant care is taken in this country to remind the military that they are under the restraints of the civil power. In America their fuperiority is felt ftill greater. Remove the check of the law, as this bill intends, and what infolence, what outrage may you not expect; Every paffion that is pernicious to fociety will be let loofe upon a people unaccustomed to licentioufnefs and intemperance. On the one hand will be a people who have been long complaining of oppreffion, and fee in the foldiery thofe who are to enforce it upon them; on the other, an army ftudioufly prepoffeffed with the idea of that people being rebellious, unawed by the apprehenfion of civil controul, and actuated by that arbitrary sprit which prevails even among the beft of troops. In this fituation the prudent Officer will find it impoffible to restrain his foldiers, or prevent that provocation which will Touse the tameft people to refiftance. The inevitable confequence, will be, that you will produce the rebellion you pretend to obviate. When I ftand up as an advocate for America, I feel myfelf the firmeft friend of this country. We ftand upon the commerce of America. Alienate your colonies, and you will fubvert the foundation of your riches and your strength. Let the banners of rebellion be once spread in America, and you are an undone people. You are urging this defperate, this deftructive iffue. You are urging: it with such violence, and by measures tending fo manifeftly to that fatal point, that, but that a state of madness only, could infpire fuch an intention, it would appear to be your deliberate purpose. In affenting to your late bill, I refifted the violence of America at the hazard of my popularity there. I now refift your phrenzy at the fame rifque here. You have changed your ground. You are becoming the aggreffors, and offering the laft of human outrages to the people of America, by fubjecting them, in effect, to military execution. know the vast fuperiority of your difciplined troops over the provincials; but beware how you fupply the want of dif. I cipline by defperation. Instead of fending them the olive branch, you have sent the naked fword. By the olive branch, I mean a repeal of all the late laws, fruitlefs to you, and oppreffive to them. Aik their aid in a conftitutional manner, and they will give it to the utmost of their ability. They never yet refufed it, when properly required. Your journals bear the recorded acknowledgments of the zeal with which they have contributed to the general neceffities of the State. What madness is it that prompts you to attempt obtaining that by force, which you may more certainly procure by requifition? They may be flattered into any thing, but they are too much like yourselves to be driven. Have fome indulgence for your own likeness; refpect their sturdy English virtue; retract your odious exertions of authority; and remember that ———— the first step towards making them contribute to your wants is to reconcile them to your Government. Mr. Dowdeswell, Capt. Phipps, and other Members spoke upon the bill, when the queftion was put, and leave was given to bring it in without a divificn. April 21 Ld. North prefented the Bill for the impartial administration of jultice in his Majesty's province of Maffachufetsbay in New-England; and a motion being made that the faid Bill be read a fecond time. Mr. Sawbridge rofe, and obferved, that the Bill breathed nothing but a fpirit of depotifm throughout; that it was but a part of that tyrannic fyftem which accompanied the whole of our conduct towards the Americans; that they deferved every act of injustice Administration had hitherto devised to inflict on them, if they were fuch creatures, fuch mean, abject wretches, fuch tame, willing faves, to fubmit to the prefent Bill; that the propofed mode of trial was the moft extraordinary that was ever heard of; for who were the perfons who could be prevailed on to come to England to give evidence of a fact which was committed at Bofton? and fure, to force them to make fuch a voyage, would be cruelty in the extreme. Lord North totally denied any fuch intention as that imputed to him by the Honourable Gentleman who spoke before him; and faid, nothing was further from 1774. from his thoughts or intentions; that the propofed Bill was meant as no other than a temporary one, to be folely dependent in its operation on the eventual conduct of the Bostonians, and that he had no defire to carry the Bill, if they did not think it a good measure. Mr. Byng faid, that whatever profeffions of candour were thrown out, he fhould trust to them with great caution; that for his part, these attacks made abroad, feemed to be intended to prepare men's minds for meafures of a fimilar nature to be enforced at home; and that the conduct and complexion of the public measures in general wore the appearance of a fyftematic design of enflaving the people, as well in Great Britain as the Colonies. Lord Beauchamp faid, that without fome fuch law as the prefent, the foldiery would be rendered entirely ufelefs, and their fituation must be terrible indeed! If they refused to perform their duty, or obey their fuperiors, on one hand, or executed them on the other, they would be, in all probability, equally liable to futter. Is there a man, faid he, from one end of the American continent to the other, who does not deny that we have a right to tax them? Suppofe, then, in enforcing a taxation law, lives fhould be loft, and the culprits fhould be brought to trial, what would be the confequence, but that every juror impannelled on fuch an occafion, deeming the act illegal, would find the fuppofed offender guilty of murder? The question being put, it paffed in the affirmative without a divifion. April 22.] Orders were given to clear the gallery; and to enforce them the more expeditiously, the Serjeant at Arms attended himself. At four o'clock the order for the fecond reading of the Bill for the regulating the government of Maffachufets Bay came on, which produced a warm debate that continued till almost fever o'clock; and a motion being made for committing the faid Bill, it paffed in the affirmative, without a divifion. April 25.] The order of the day for the fecond reading of the Bill for the more impartial administration of justice in the province of Maffachufets, in NewEngland, being read, Mr. Dowdefwell rofe, and condemned the Bill in the July, 1774, ftrongeft and moft fpirited terms. He faid, it was a mode of procedure unknown to the conftitution or annals of this country, to fìrip any body of men of their chartered rights without trial, or indeed without examination; it was, in fact, punishing unheard, upon evidence ex parte, and by an ex poft facto Law. He infifted, that before they were ftripped of a single franchise, much more of their corporate or political capacity, their delinquency fhould be proved, or the offences which were fuppofed to imply it, confeffed, or the principles which led to it publicly avowed and afferted; that the prefent Bill was no lefs than punifuing a fuppofed crime, without evidence on one fide, or confeffion on the other; and that for his part, upon any principle of juftice or precedent, he could not poffibly fee in what manner the Houfe could proceed to pass judgment, without first hearing the party in their own defence. Mr. Dyfon denied that Parliament were confined by the rules laid down by the Honourable Gentleman who spoke before him. He contended that there was nothing new in the prefent mode of proceeding; and that if precedents were to direct us on the present occafion, the Hiftory of Parliament was full of them. Mr. Sawbridge faid, he fhould continue to the laft to fet his face against the Bill; that it was one of the most tyrannic measures that could poffibly be devifed; that it was difficult to decide which of the three Bills was the worft; but the present seemed rather to deferve the first place; the title of the Bill was the very reverfe of what it pretended; for inftead of the word impartial, it fhould be partial; and that the only confolation he had, was that the pernicious and and deftructive defigns of the prefent miniftry would moft affuredly be counteracted by their folly. Colonel Birre faid a few words, and was, as ufual, extremely pointed, fevere, rational, and convincing; hat the queftion being repeatedly called for, though the debate did not continue above three quarters of an hour, the Bill was committed without a divifion. April 26.] The Houfe went into Committee on the Bill for regulating the Government of Maffachufet Bay i North America. The Bill underwent D d d |