and these people will feel your importance, will be afraid of you, will court you.'

I hope also you are above being milled by mean felfifh views. Be affured those men, whom you alone make great, though they may now and then throw you, or fome of your family, a crumb, yet they will keep all the fubftantial difh es to themselves: Even their menials and dependents will be served before you. Inquire, therefore, and confider the merits of this question, and ask lawyers whom you can truft, what is the law concerning it. At prefent I only mean to roufe your attention to this matter, as being of the last importance to yourselves and to your country.

I conclude this epiftle, which fhall not be the laft, if you like my correfpondence, with putting you in mind what the good people of Ireland did, when they were likely to be ruined with nominal money, as we are just now with nominal voters. A mean fellow, one William Wood, a hardware-man, by misreprefentation, got a patent for filling their country with base copper-coin, But that wife people entered into general refolutions not to receive his money; and by means of these resolutions, firmly adhered to, they got the better of this hardwareman and his patent, and all the great men that supported him.

. In like manner, here are certain manufacturers of ware, of a more mischievous nature still. By a certain hocus pocus of conveyances and reconveyances, they make freeholders, whofe whole eftate confifts in the liferent of a fuperiori. ty, yielding a trifling yearly rent, fixpence, perhaps, or lefs; and fometimes they make them by wadfets of fuch fuperiorities, just as cuftomers are pleased to order them; and there are as many papers, parchments, and ceremonies, in the conftitution of fuch a fhadow of a freeho'd, as if it were a real and substantial land-eftate. Thefe are produced to a Michaelmas meeting, read over by clerks, and examined by lawyers and other men of bufinefs, with the greatest gravity, and with strict attention to the writing, registration, and other points of form, without the smallest attention to the fubftance; and, if they are declared to be all right in point of execution, no wrong orthography in the names of the lands, nor any fractional error in the calculation of the valued rent, the spell is complete,

Mr Freeholder is made, and is entered upon your rolls, and may vote for, or be elected, a member of parliament in fpite of your teeth.

Now, Gentlemen, notwithstanding fuch an efquire be thus coined and ftamped, and has received his charter-currency, like one of Wood's copper halfpence, if you will follow my advice, I think I can fet you upon a method to check the progrefs, and spoil the market, of this deteftable manufacture, until you fhall obtain an act of parliament for having it altogether fuppreffed, our conftitution reftored, and our election-laws put upon a more liberal and independent footing.

I ftop for the prefent, till you ponder a little what I have faid, and till the fcoffers have their laugh. But if I can perfuade you, Gentlemen, to be grave, and ferious, and firm, it will be no jest in the end. - I have the honour to be, my dear Friends and Brethren, your devoted friend, An OLD FREEHOLDER.

I

LETTER II.

Gentlemen,

Muft delay fulfilling the promife with which I concluded my laft. I find I am charged with addreffing myself to your paffions, rather than to your underftandings; and it is faid I spoke without book, when I told you it was our ancient conftitution,

Firft, That Freeholders fhould have a substantial property in their freeholds.

2dly, That they thould not have a number of votes in proportion to their property. And,

3dly, That qualifications could not be made upon the eftates of noblemen.

If they who thus accufe me will please to allow our ftatute-book to be a book, I fhall foon convince you that I am above attempting to mislead you; and that their arguments are as vifionary as their qualifications.

The parliament, the King's great council, was originally compofed of three Eftates, the Prelates, the Noblemen, and the Freeholders. Some are of opinion, that the Burgeffes made a feparate Estate, or at least that they were affumed into the great council, to advise in matters relative to themselves. But independent of the Burgeffes, who are now claffed with the Commons, and ferve to take in the moneyed property, by act 52d of the 3d parliament of James I. in 1425, “the

three

three Eftates above mentioned were appointed to give presence in the King's parliament and general council in proper perfon, and not by a procurator."

This perfonal attendance having been found burdenfome to freeholders of small fortune, reprefentation was first introduced by act 101. of the 7th parliament of the fare King: "And the Freeholders were appointed of ilk fheriffdom to fend, chofen at the head court of the theriffdom, twa or mare wife men, to be called Commiffaries of the Shires; and that by these Commiffaries there fall be chofen ane wife man and expert, called the Common Speaker of the Parliament; the whilks Commiffaries and Speaker fall have coftage of them that awe compearance in Parliament, in proportion to their rents." But the other two Eftates, the Prelates and Noblemen, were to be fummoned to parliament by the King's special precept. This act feems not to have been immediately carried into execution; for in the fucceeding reign of James II. by the 71ft act of his 14th parliament, in 1457, it is appointed, "That na freeholder, under the fum of twenty pounds, be conftrained to come to the parliament or general council, unless he be a Baron, or be specially of the King's command. ment warned."-And by another act, the 78th of the 6th parliament of James IV. in 1503, it is ftatute, "That na Baron, freeholder, nor vaffal, whilk are within a hundred merks of the new extent, fhall be compelled to come perfonally to the parliament, unlefs our Sovereign Lord write fpecially for them."

By the 33d act of the 11th parliament of James the VI. in 1587, it was "ftatuted and ordained, That there fall be na confufion of perfons of the three Eflates: That is to fay, na perfon fall take upon him the function, office, or place, of all the three Eftates, or of twa of them; but fall only occupy the place of that felf eftate wherein he commonly profeffes himself to live, and whereof he takes his file."

By act 114. of the fame parliament, the reprefentation-act of James I. in 1427 was revived, and made more complete, by appointing "the King's freeholders to chufe twa wife men of their namber, refident indwellers in the fhire, of gude rent and well efteemed, as commiffioners of the thire; and that all freeholders of the King, under the degree of Piclates and Lords of Parliament, be

warned by proclamation to be prefent at chufing of the said commiffioners, and nane to have vote in their election, but fik as has a forty-fhilling land in free tenantry, and has their actual dwelling and refidence within the fame fhire; and that all freeholders be taxed for the expences of the commiffioners."

Again: After the fuppreffion of Popery and Prelacy, the vaffals of Prelates coming to hold of the Crown, it was thought reasonable they should be admitted to the privilege of freeholders; and therefore, by the 35th act of the 1ft parliament of Charles II. in 1661, "it was ftatuted, That besides all heritors who hold a forty-fhilling land of the King in capite, that alfo all heritors, liferenters, and wadfetters, holding of the King, and others who held their lands formerly of the Bishops and Abbots, and now hold of the King, and whofe yearly rent doth amount to ten chalders of victual, or one thousand pound, (all feu-duties being deducted), fhall be, and are capable to vote in the election of commiffioners of parliaments, and to be elected commiffioners of parliaments; excepting always from this act all Noblemen and their vaffals." Then the act goes on to modify five pounds Scots of daily allowance to every commiffioner, burdening therewith the whole freeholders, heritors, and liferenters, according to the proportion of their lands and rents, excepting Noblemen and their vassals.

Afterwards cometh act 21. of the 4th parliament of Charles II. in 1681, ordaining, That none shall have vote in the election of commiffioners for fhires or ftewartries, but those who, at the time, fhall be publicly infeft in property or fuperiority, and in poffeflion of forty-fhilling land of old extent, holding of the King or Prince, diftinct from the feuduties in feu lands; or, where the faid old extent appears not, fhall be infeft in lands liable in public burden for his Majefty's fupplies, for four hundred pounds of valued rent, whether kirk-lands now holden of the King, or other lands holding feu, ward, or blench of his Majefty, as King or Prince of Scotland."

Then the act goes on to regulate the qualifications of apprifers, proper wad fetters, apparent heirs, liferenters, hufbands for their wives, or for the courte fy; and the manner of making up the rolls, and of proceeding at elections. These are our ancient laws; and, in

my judgement, they firmly establish that my three propofitions above fet forth were not without book. This will probably appear to yourselves; but I fhall fay a word or two in my next, by way of remark upon these statutes.-I have the honour to be, &c. AN OLD FREEHOLDER.

Take the liberty now to offer fome few observations upon the ftatutes mentioned in my laft, as applicable to the propofitions which I maintain.

Firft, it is plain, that thefe laws in tend every freeholder to have an estate. He was excufed from perfonal attend. ance when that eftate was but fmall. No provifion is made for excufing freeholders who had nominal or fictitious eftates. Freeholders of that kind did not exist in former times. Our forefathers were too high fpirited to admit of fuch partners. They were all men of property. Free holders were excused from perfonal at tendance, if their eftates were under zo l. Scots; and afterwards, if they were un der 100 merks of the new extent; a vaJuation by which the cafualties due to the fuperior were afcertained, as the old extent was a valuation by which the pu. blic taxes were to be laid on. Each of thefe extents might at firft be nearly equal to the real rent; but they were far under it at the times I am speaking of.

After representation was introduced, the qualification of electors by the act of 1661, formerly mentioned, is declared to be a forty-fhilling land, holding of the King's Majefty in capite; or, in cafe it was upon lands which held of the King, in place of the fuppreffed Prelates, thefe new freeholders were to have a yearly free rent, after deduction of the feu-duties, of 1000l. Scots, or 831. 6 s. 8d. Sterling.

The reason, in the last of these cafes, for afcertaining the qualification by the real rent, was, becaufe church-lands had no old extent. There had never been a valuation of thefe lands in that manner. The tax was levied upon the lands of churchmen, according to a tax-roll peculiar to themfelves. And it is very plain to me, that 831. 6 s. 8 d. at that time, muft have been confidered as the average real rent of a forty-fhilling land of old extent.

This act, and all the preceding acts, clearly intend, that the freeholders were to have a beneficial intereft in the lands;

and this is founded on good fenfe and found policy.

Sir William Blackftone, a learned and conftitutional man, as well as a great lawyer, says, "The true reafon of requiring any qualification with regard to property in voters, is to exclude fuch perfons as are in fo mean a fituation, that they are efteemed to have no will of their own. If these perfons had votes, they would be tempted to difpofe of them under fome undue influence or other. This would give a great and artful, or a wealthy man, a larger fhare in elections than is confiftent with general liberty. If it were probable that every man would give his vote freely, and without influ ence of any kind, then, upon the true theory and genuine principles of liberty, every member of the community, bow. ever poor, fhould have a vote in electing their delegates, to whofe charge is committed the difpofal of his property, his liberty, and his life. But fince that can hardly be expected in perfons of indigent fortunes, or fuch as are under the imme. diate dominion of others, all popular ftates have been obliged to establish certain qualifications, whereby fome, who are fufpected to have no will of their own, are excluded from voting, in order to fet other individuals, whofe will may be fuppofed independent, more thoroughly upon a level with each other."

He adds, in another place, "That this freehold matt be forty fhillings an nual value; becaufe that fum would, in the time of Henry VI. with proper induftry, furnish all the neceffaries of life, and render the freeholder, if he pleafed, an independent man. For Bishop Fleetwood, in his Chronicon Pretiofum, written at the beginning of the prefent century, has fully proved forty fhillings in the reign of Henry VI. to have been equal to 11. per annum in the reign of Queen Anne; and as the value of money is pretty confiderably lower fince the Bihop wrote, I think we may fairly conclude, from this and other circumstances, that what was equivalent to 121. in his days, is equivalent to 201. at prefent."

This is the property-qualification of electors in England. The qualification of the elected is much higher. There, every knight of a shire must have a clear eftate of 600l. per annum, and every citizen and burgefs to the value of 3001. per annum. All this refts upon the principle of independency.

With us, in Scotland, the qualification of electors and of the elected is the very fame. Our ancestors, it would feem, in 1661, faw no reafon for making any difference; and thought 831. 6 s. 8 d. a high enough qualification in land, even for their commiffioners to parlia

ment.

Such being the principle of our law in 1661, that all electors of commiffioners to parliament fhould have a real property to a certain amount, I could never bring myself to think, that the act of 1681 did truly intend totally to alter our law in this refpect, and to give a right of voting to a naked fuperior, who had no intereft in the land in the way of rent; for a blench, or fmall duty, is not to be called a beneficial intereft; and the cafaalties are but cafualties, and may be taxed to a trifle. I am the more confirmed in this opinion, from confidering the words of that act, which exprefs no fuch intention, and intimates,that the freeholder must be infeft in property or fupe. riority, and in poffeffion. What fignified his being in poffeffion, if the rent he poffeffed was not worth the collecting? I believe the truth is, that, in 1681, many of the greatest properties belonging to the val. fals of fubjects fuperior were held ward, where the emoluments of a bare fuperiority were both certain and fubftantial; and there were but few superiors of blench holdings who had not other great pro. perty eftates in the fame counties; fo that no evil confequences were forefeen to flow from fuperiority-qualifications: Nevertheless, upon thefe unfortunate words, property or fuperiority, which were continued in our after election-laws, has been grafted the whole doctrine of nominal qualifications, which lawyers have improved into thofe liferents and wadfets of fuperiority, and have split and multiplied in fuch a manner, that our ancient conftitution is quite overthrown, and the grievance has now become insupportable.

My next propofition was, That no freeholder, however great his property, fhould have more votes than one.

As the contrary propofition is the affirmative, I might call upon the nomi. nals and their abettors to prove it. I never heard of fuch a thing being main tained to be a principle of our conftitution, directly or indirectly, till the device was fallen upon of fplitting fuperiorities into these two-penny liferents.

But,

Gentlemen, I shall submit to your plain fenfe and understandings, whether the round-about way taken to create thefe freeholds, at fo much expence, and introducing fuch perplexity into our landrights, is not itself a demonftration that they durft not fhew a plain face, but were under the neceffity of coming under a mark.

I thall not, however, shelter myself under the defence of not being obliged to prove a negative: I afk, What was the meaning of the act in the 12th of Queen Anne, cap. 6. for obliging all electors to take an oath, declaring, that the eftate upon which the freeholder claims to vote is not in truft? Is not the reafon for introducing that oath affigned in the act itself, that it was to prevent this very abufe? When a new device was found out for evading the intendment of that act, by creating nominal and fictitious rights, which were 'not trufts, i. e. not qualified by written declarations of truft, for they were not worth putting under truft, the legiflature, to correct that evil, by the act of the 7th George II. appointed a new oath to be taken, declaring that the title was not nominal and fictitions. Cafuifts, indeed, have fince found out a method of evading that oath alfo. They have difcovered, that a penny is as really a penny, as a pound is a pound, or as a thousand pounds are a thousand pounds; and that a title-deed is not fictitious, if it be truly fubfcribed by the granter, and executed in due form.

In logic and metaphyfics, of which ĺ do not profefs myself a judge, these propofitions may be what are called trueifins, and many very honeft men have been perfuaded to take them in that light; but other men, equally honeft, taking them up in common fenfe, and in the plain underftanding of mankind, cannot help thinking they are fophifms; and it cannot be dif puted, that they are the evasions of the intendment of thefe ftatutes, which were exprefsly levelled against the multiplication of votes upon one and the fame eftate. This is all I undertook to prove, namely, that they were disagreeable to our conftitution; and I have proved it, if it is admitted that our conflitution is to be learned from our statute-book.

I fhall go a little farther in my next letter.I have the honour to be, &c. An OLD FREEHOLDER. [To be continued.]

Mr Hardy.

Friday, Jan. 17. came on the trial of Daniel Magennis, M. D. for the murder of Mr John Hardy, hofier and hatter, in Newgate-ftreet. Mr Fielding was counsel for the profecution. In his animadverfions on the nature of the cafe, he forgot not that the prisoner was a gentleman, and that, in his then wretched fituation, it would ill become any man, who had the feelings of a gentleman, to infult his misfortune, or aggravate, by unkind or harth expreffions, the diftrefs of his mind; inftead, therefore, of calling him the prifoner, he called him all along the unfortunate gentleman at the bar: He nevertheless omitted nothing that could tend to the conviction of the Doctor, if it fhould appear in evidence that he ought to be convicted; but, at the fame time, he implored and befought the jury to diveft themfelves of prejudice, and not fuffer themselves to be influenced in their verdict by any thing but the evidence. After having ftated the particulars of the cafe, he called the witnesses. Mary Ducrow was the firft witnefs examined. This young woman was fervant to Mr Hardy at the time he was killed.—She faid, that Mr Magennis came home at about half after five o'clock in the evening of the 28th of September; that the lighted him up ftairs to his apartment, the back room on the second floor: that the returned down ftairs to a little back parlour, where her mafter, her miftefs, and herself, were drinking tea, when the Doctor came home; that the had not been long there, when fome water fell upon the sky light, through which this little parlour ufually received light; and that the water had come from the Doctor's window. Her mafter, upon this, immediately took the candle in his hand, and went up ftairs to reprove (as he faid) the prifoner for having thrown the water from his chamber-pot on the sky-light; the witnefs heard fome words pafs between them, but could not diftinguish them plainly; her mafter was returning down fairs, when the prifoner faid he was a thief, and had robbed him; upon which the deceased turned back, and, going up stairs again, faid, "Do you call me a thief? I will take you before a juftice of peace to-morrow.' Immediately after this, the witnefs heard the candlestick

She ran up, with another girl who was in the house, and found her mafter lying

upon the landing-place, a flight or two of stairs lower down than the prifoner's apartment: She asked him what was the matter, but received no answer; and the body having been carried into the kitchen, she perceived that it bled; and Mrs Hardy having opened his waistcoat, and tore open his thirt, a wound was found under his left breaft, from which the blood poured very faft; and her mafter, fetching a deep figh, expired.-She faid, that while fhe was attending thus upon her master, he heard the prisoner cry out, Murder! and fay, that a man was murdered.-Meff. Sylvefter and Erfkine were counsel for the prifoner. On her cross-examination, the fervant said, that fhe did not hear the prifoner come down ftairs from his apartment; but repeated that her mafter went up a fecond time to him: She could not recollect whereabouts the candle and candlestick lay when they were found.

Adey Lancashire, fervant to a lodger in the houfe of the deceafed, was the next witnefs called; and the corroborated all that had been faid by Mary Ducrow, except in two circumstances; one was, that the did not understand, when Dr Magennis cried out murder, he had faid that a man was murdered, but that he himself was in danger of being murdered by the deceased. The other circumftance was, that when Mr Hardy went up the fecond time to the Doctor's door, on being called a thief, she heard a noise. Judge Willes (who was the trying judge) afked her, if noife was the word the made ufe of when he was giving her evidence before the coroner. His Lordfhip faid, that on that occafion fhe had depofed, that he had heard a bustle; (the judge had her depofition before him in writing); the girl said, she believed fhe might have ufed the word bustle. The judge afked her, if the understood by the word bustle, a struggle; she replied, that there might have been a ftruggle.

The furgeon who opened the body of the deceased, appeared, and proved, that the knife with which the wound had been given, having paffed through the right ventricle of the heart, had occafioned Mr Hardy's death. He said, that the prisoner having been brought down ftairs, while he (the furgeon) was in

specting