partisans of the commons, which secure
English liberty, are not become obsolete, appears hence, that the
English have ever been free, and have ever been governed by law and a
limited constitution. Privileges in particular, which are founded on
the Great Charter, must always remain in force, because derived from
a source of never-failing authority, regarded in all ages as the most
sacred contract between king and people. Such attention was paid to this
charter by our generous ancestors, that they got the confirmation of it
reiterated thirty several times; and even secured it by a rule which,
though vulgarly received, seems in the execution impracticable. They
have established it as a maxim "That even a statute which should be
enacted in contradiction to any article of that charter, cannot have
force or validity." But with regard to that important article which
secures personal liberty, so far from attempting at any time any legal
infringement of it, they have corroborated it by six statutes, and put
it out of all doubt and controversy. If in practice it has often been
violated, abuses can never come in the place of rules; nor can any
rights or legal powers be derived from injury and injustice. But the
title of the subject to personal liberty not only is founded on ancient,
and, therefore, the most sacred laws; it is confirmed by the whole
analogy of the government and constitution. A free monarchy in which
every individual is a slave, is a glaring contradiction: and it is
requisite, where the laws assign privileges to the different orders of
the state, that it likewise secure the independence of the members.
If any difference could be made in this particular, it were better to
abandon even life or property to the arbitrary will of the prince; nor
would such immediate danger ensue, from that concession, to the laws
and to the privileges of the people. To bereave of his life a man not
condemned by any legal trial, is so egregious an exercise of tyranny,
that it must at once shock the natural humanity of princes, and convey
an alarm throughout the whole commonwealth. To confiscate a man's
fortune, besides its being a most atrocious act of violence, exposes the
monarch so much to the imputation of avarice and rapacity, that it will
seldom be attempted in any civilized government. But confinement, though
a less striking, is no less severe a punishment; nor is there any spirit
so erect and independent, as not to be broken by th