ſhort of perfection, and can only be loſt or deſtroyed by the folly or demerits of it’s owner: the legiſlature, and of courſe the laws of England, being peculiarly adapted to the preſervation of this ineſtimable bleſſing even in the meaneſt ſubject. Very different from the modern conſtitutions of other ſtates, on the continent of Europe, and from the genius of the imperial law; which in general are calculated to veſt an arbitrary and deſpotic power of controlling the actions of the ſubject in the prince, or in a few grandees. And this ſpirit of liberty is ſo deeply implanted in our conſtitution, and rooted even in our very ſoil, that a ſlave or a negro, the moment he lands in England, falls under the protection of the laws, and ſo far becomes a freeman[1]; though the maſter’s right to his ſervice may probably ſtill continue.
The abſolute rights of every Engliſhman (which, taken in a political and extenſive ſenſe, are uſually called their liberties) as they are founded on nature and reaſon, ſo they are coeval with our form of government; though ſubject at times to fluctuate and change: their eſtabliſhment (excellent as it is) being ſtill human. At ſome times we have ſeen them depreſſed by overbearing and tyrannical princes; at others ſo luxuriant as even to tend to anarchy, a worſe ſtate than tyranny itſelf, as any government is better than none at all. But the vigour of our free conſtitution has always delivered the nation from theſe embaraſſments, and, as ſoon as the convulſions conſequent on the ſtruggle have been over, the ballance of our rights and liberties has ſettled to it’s proper level; and their fundamental articles have been from time to time aſſerted in parliament, as often as they were thought to be in danger.
First, by the great charter of liberties, which was obtained, ſword in hand, from king John; and afterwards, with ſome alterations, confirmed in parliament by king Henry the third, his ſon. Which charter contained very few new grants; but, as ſir Edward Coke[2] obſerves, was for the moſt part declaratory of the
- ↑ Salk. 666. See ch. 14.
- ↑ 2 Inſt. proem.
principal