Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

the whole, by purchasing a large annuity, which, together with the remainder of his fortune, would have placed him equally above want and

meanness.

But this society, originally intended for general purposes, was at length narrowed, by the arts of a few interested persons, into a committee, for the exclusive benefit of a single individual. Mr. Horne, although he had taken an active part to promote the success and relieve the distresses of Mr. Wilkes, was of course indignant at the idea. In addition to this, at that very moment, he had two favourite plans in view, connected with each other and with the common cause; both of which he wished to be powerfully supported by the influence, the reputation, and the treasury of the Bill of Rights. One of these respected a point of law inti mately connected with the liberty of the subject; the other had for its object the freedom of the press, and the right of the constituents to become acquainted with the deliberations of their representatives on public affairs. Of these two questions, he wished to agitate the former immediately.

A printer, of the name of Bingley, had been prosecuted for publishing a letter, from Mr. Wilkes, reflecting on the administration and

the courts of justice. On this occasion, the evidence being too defective for conviction, lord Mansfield adopted a novel, and, as it finally proved, an illegal mode of proceeding, never before practised since the abolition of the star chamber: for, in express defiance of that noble principle of English jurisprudence, which wisely and humanely precludes a party from criminating himself, this great man, had been induced from his hatred to libels, by which his own character was now almost daily assailed, to examine this person, and, if possible, extract a confession of guilt from his own mouth. He accordingly made a rule of court, for this express purpose, and appointed a day to answer certain questions, on failure of which, he was to be committed for contempt.

The doctrine of conviction, by means of interrogatories, here alluded to, is familiar to the imperial law, in which, the intervention of a jury, that noble bulwark of gothic liberty, is unknown, an arbitrary power of decision being placed in the breast of a single man. This mode of proceeding was at length adopted in the ecclesiastical courts of this country, and continued for ages, until it was enacted by statute*, that it shall not be lawful for any bishop or ecclesi

13 Car. II, c. 12.

astical judge, to tender, or administer to any person whatsoever, any oath, whereby he may be compelled to confess, accuse, or purge himself of any criminal matter, by which he might be liable to punishment. Our municipal tribunals, indeed, never once entertained the idea of obliging a man to disclose his own guilt; but the learned judge, just alluded to, chose to consider this particular case, as a flagrant contempt of court, on which occasion, an attachment usually issues, and the party must either stand committed, or put in bail, in order to answer upon oath to such interrogatories as shall be administered to him, for the better information of the judges presiding.

Such was precisely the case of Bingley, and a man less resolute would have sunk under the pressure of authority. Even he, perhaps, might either have been terrified, or persuaded to yield, but for the subject of this memoir, who held out the prospect of fame and of advantage; and, at length, succeeded in giving the appearance of a public, and even a national cause, to what at first had been a mere act of self defence, on the part of an obscure mechanic. The vicar of New Brentford rejoiced at an opportunity of once more entering the lists with this eminent judge; and, by long study and painful research,

[graphic]

had endeavoured to qualify himself for the arduous contest. After tracing the stream of our laws to their fountain-head, and drinking at the source, he conceived that they had been rendered obscure and sophisticated in their descent. He had long viewed the conduct of the earl of Mansfield with a suspicious eye, and, on comparing his doctrines with those of lord Coke and the celebrated men of former times, he thought he had discovered certain assumptions of power, neither justified by the text nor the practice of our ancient institutions. He rejoiced, therefore, at the happy occasion, now presented by fortune, to vindicate the principles of our municipal code, and, if possible, to humble a nobleman, whom he was pleased afterward to compare, not only to the Tresylians, the Keylings, and the Scroggs, but even to the Jefferies of former days.

Nor was he on this occasion wholly disappointed. Having called on the object of prosecution, he communicated his opinion of the injustice committed in respect to him, and found means to inspire this man with a stubborn determination to resist. Proud of the protection and encouragement he now received, fully convinced that he was correct in point of law, and holding himself forth as a martyr for liberty,

at a time when all such were sure of support, this printer, hardly serious at first, and who might at any time have been liberated on a slight acknowledgment, now evinced all the courage of a hero. Flaming with zeal, he not only braved the rigours of a long confinement, but actually found means to take a voluntary oath, before a magistrate, in which he swore, sooner to perish in a jail than violate the freedom of his native country, by answering to interrogatories, unless put to the torture:" a resolution from which he never once swerved.

66

This person was now in the third year of his imprisonment, and the vicar of New Brentford, who had occasionally supplied his necessities, determined to obtain a large subscription for, and thus fully indemnify him, for the losses he had sustained. Several opulent and respectable men had come forward on this occasion, and advanced sums to a considerable amount; but the name and influence of the “Bill of Rights” was still wanting. This, however, was supposed to follow of course; and no doubt, indeed, could have been entertained of it, but for the interposition of that very person, for whose writings the printer had already experienced a long and unprecedented confinement, and who now affected to think, and to declare, that the society

« ZurückWeiter »