: 327 was fo grievoufly clipped and counterfeit and is not her Majefty's authority as facred as her coin? and hath not that been moft fcandaloufly clipped and mangled, and often counterfeited too? It is another grievous complaint of the Whigs, that their late friends, and the whole party are treated with abundance of feverity in print, and in particular by the Examiner. They think it hard, that when they are wholly deprived of power, hated by the people, and out of all hope of re-establishing themfelves, their infirmities fhould. be fo often difplayed in order to render them yet more odious to mankind. This is what they employ their writers to set forth in their papers of the week; and it is humorous enough to obferve one page taken up in railing at the Examiner, for his invectives against a discarded ministry, and the other fide filled with the falfeft and vilest abuses against those who are now in the highest power and credit with their fovereign, and whofe least breath would fcatter them into filence and obfcurity. However, al though I have indeed often wondered to fee fo much licentiousness taken and connived at, and am fure it would not be fuffered in any other country of Christendom; yet I never once invoked the affiftance of the gaol or pillory, which, upon the least provocation, was the ufual style during their tyranny. There hath not paffed a week thefe twenty years without fome malicious paper fcattered in eEvery coffeehoufe by the emiffaries of that party, whether it were down or up. I believe they will not pretend to object the fame thing to us: nor do I remember any constant weekly paper with reflections on the late ministry or jun to. They have many weak defenceless parts; they have not been used to a regular attack, and therefore it is that they are so ill able to endure one, when it comes to be their turn. So that they complain more of a few months truths from us, than we did of all their lies and malice for twice as many years. I cannot forbear obferving upon this occafion, that those worthy authors I am speaking of, feem to me not fairly to represent the fentiments of their party; who in difputing with us do generally give up feveral of the late miniftry, and freely own many of their failings. They confefs the monstrous monftrous debt upon the navy to have been caufed by moft fcandalous mifmanagement; they allow the infolence of fome, and the avarice of others, to have been infupportable: but these gentlemen are most liberal of their praifes to those perfons, and upon those very articles, where their wifeft friends give up the point. They gravely tell us, that fuch a one was the most faithful fervant that ever any prince had; another, the most dutiful; a third, the moft generous; a fourth, of the greatest integrity: fo that I look upon these champions rather as retained by a cabal than a party; which I defire the reasonable men among them would please to confider, N° 38. Thursday, April 26. 1711. Indignum eft in ea civitate, quæ legibus continetur, difcedi a legibus. I Have been often confidering how it comes to pafs, that the dexterity of mankind in evil fhould always outgrow not only the prudence and caution of private perfons, but the continual expedients of the wifeft laws contrived to prevent it. I cannot imagine a knave to poffefs a greater share of natural wit or genius, than an honest man. I have known very notable fharpers at play, who, upon all occafions, were as great dunces as human shape can well allow; and I believe the fame might be observed among the other knots of thieves and pickpockets about this town. The propofition however is certainly true, and to be confirmed by an hundred inftances. A fcrivener, an attorney, a stockjobber, and many other retailers of fraud, fhall not only be able to over-reach others much wifer than themselves, but find out new inventions to elude the force of any law made against them. I fuppofe the reafon of this may be, that as the aggreffor is faid to have generally the advantage of the defender, fo the makers of the law, which is to defend our rights, have ufually not fo fo much industry or vigour as thofe whofe intereft leads them to attack it Besides, it rarely happens that men are rewarded by the public for their juftice and virtue; neither do those who act upon fuch principles, expect any recompenfe until the next world: whereas fraud, where it fucceeds, gives prefent pay; and this is allowed the greatest fpur imaginable both to labour and invention. When a law is made to ftop fome growing evil, the wits of those whose interest it is to break it with fecrecy or impunity, are immediately at work; and even among those who pretend to fairer characters, many would gladly find means to avoid what they would not be thought to violate. They defire to reap the advantage if poflible without the fhame, or at least without the danger. This art is what I take that dexterous race of men, fprung up foon after the revolution, to have ftudied with greater application ever fince, and to have arrived at great perfection in. According to the doctrine of fome Romish cafuifts, they have found out quam prope ad peccatum fine peccato poffint accedere; they can tell how to go within an inch of an impeachment, and yet come back untouched. They know what degree of corruption will juft forfeit an employment, and whether the bribe you receive be fufficient to fet you right, and put fomething in your pocket befides: how much to a penny you may fafely cheat the Queen, whether forty, fifty, or fixty per cent. according to the station you are in, and the difpofitions of the perfons in office below and above you. They have computed the price you may fecurely take or give for a place, or what part of the falary you ought to referve. They can difcreetly distribute five hundred pounds in a fmall borough, without any danger from the ftatutes against bribing elections. They can manage a bargain for an office by a third, fourth, or fifth hand; fo that you shall not know whom to accuse. They can win a thoufand guineas at play in fpite of the dice, and fend away the lofer fatisfied. They can pafs the most exorbitant accounts, overpay the creditor with half his demands, and fink the rest. It would be endless to relate, or rather indeed impoffible to discover the feveral arts which curious men have found out to enrich themselves by defrauding the public in VOL. II. defiance Ee N° 38. defiance of the law. The military men, both by fea and land, have equally cultivated this most useful science: neither hath it been altogether neglected by the other fex; of which, on the contrary, I could produce an instance that would make ours blush to be fo far outdone Befides, to confefs the truth, our laws themselves are extremely defective in many articles, which I take to be one ill effect of our beft poffeffion, liberty. Some years ago the ambassador of a great prince * was arrested, and outrages committed on his perfon in our streets, without any poffibility of redress from Westminster-hall, or the prerogative of the fovereign; and the legiflature was forced to provide a remedy against the like evils in time to come. A commiffioner of the ftamped paper was lately difcovered to have notoriously cheated the public of great fums for many years, by counterfeiting the ftamps, which the law hath made capital: but the aggravation of his crime proved to be the cause that faved his life; and that additional heightening circumstance of betraying his truft was found to be a legal defence. I am affured, that the notorious cheat of the brewers at Portsmouth, detected about two months ago in parliament, cannot, by any law now in force, be punished in any degree equal to the guilt and infamy of it. Nay, what is almoft incredible, had Guifcard furvived his deteftable attempt upon Mr Harley's perfon, all the inflaming circumstances of the fact would not have fufficed, in the opinion of many lawyers, to have punished him with death; and the public must have lain under this dilemma, either to condemn him by a law ex poft facto, (which would have been of dangerous confequence, and from an ignominious precedent), or undergo the mortification to fee the greatest villain upon earth escape unpunished, to the infinite triumph and delight of Popery and faction. But even this is not to be wondered at, when we confider, that of all the infolences offered to the Queen fince the act of indemnity, (at least that ever came to my ears), I can hardly inftance above two or three, which by the letter of the law could amount to high treafon. * Peter the Great, Czar of Mufcovy. Hawkes. From From these defects in our laws, and the want of fome difcretionary power, fafely lodged, to exert upon emergen cies, as well as from the great acquirements of able men to elude the penalties of thofe laws they break, it is no wonder that the injuries done to the public are so seldom redreffed. But befides, no individual fuffers by any wrong he doth to the commonwealth; in proportion to the advantage he gains by doing it. There are feven or eight millions, who contribute to the lofs, while the whole gain is funk among a few. The damage suffered by the public is not fo immediately or heavily felt by particular perfons; and the zeal of profecutions is apt to drop and be lost among numbers. But imagine a fet of politicians for many years at the head of affairs, the game vifibly their own, and, by confe quence, acting with great fecurity; may not these be fometimes tempted to forget their caution by length of time, by excefs of avarice and ambition, by the infolence or violence of their nature, or perhaps by a mere contempt for their adverfaries? May not fuch motives as these put them often upon actions directly against the law, fuch as no evasions can be found for, and which will lay them fully open to the vengeance of a prevailing intereft, whenever they are out of power? It is anfwered in the affirmative. And here we cannot refufe the late miniftry their due praises; who, foreseeing a ftorm, provided for their own fafety by two admirable expedients, by which, with great prudence, they have efcaped the punishments due to pernicious counfels and corrupt management. The first was to procure, under pretences hardly fpecious, a gene ral act of indemnity, which cuts off all impeachments. The fecond was yet more refined: suppose, for inftance, acounfel is to be purfued, which is neceffary to carry on the dangerous defigns of a prevailing party, to preferve them in power, to gratify the unmeafurable appetites of a few leaders civil and military, although by hazarding the ruin of the whole nation; this counfel, defperate in itself, unprecedented in its nature, they procure a majority to form into an addrefs, which makes it look like the fense of the nation. Under that shelter they carry on the work, and lie fecure against after reckonings, |