tion, who impute want of public ſpirit to the late parliament; an aſſembly of men, whom, notwithstanding ſome fluctuation of counſel, and ſome weakneſs of agency, the nation muſt always remember with gratitude, ſince it is indebted to them for a very ample conceſſion in the reſignation of protections, and a wife and honeſt attempt to improve the conſtitution, in the new judicature inſtituted for the trial of elections.
The right of protection, which might be neceſſary when it was firſt claimed, and was very conſiſtent with that liberality of immunities in which the feudal conſtitution delighted, was by its nature liable to abuſe, and had in reality been ſometimes miſapplied, to the evaſion of the law and the defeat of juſtice. The evil was perhaps not adequate to the clamour; nor is it very certain, that the poſſible good of this privilege was not more than equal to the poſſible evil. It is however plain, that whe-
