whole will be, that this institution, as it exists with us at
present, cannot possibly be affected to any great extent by the proposed
alteration in our system of government.

The friends and adversaries of the plan of the convention, if they agree
in nothing else, concur at least in the value they set upon the trial
by jury; or if there is any difference between them it consists in this:
the former regard it as a valuable safeguard to liberty; the latter
represent it as the very palladium of free government. For my own
part, the more the operation of the institution has fallen under my
observation, the more reason I have discovered for holding it in high
estimation; and it would be altogether superfluous to examine to
what extent it deserves to be esteemed useful or essential in a
representative republic, or how much more merit it may be entitled to,
as a defense against the oppressions of an hereditary monarch, than as
a barrier to the tyranny of popular magistrates in a popular government.
Discussions of this kind would be more curious than beneficial, as all
are satisfied of the utility of the institution, and of its friendly
aspect to liberty. But I must acknowledge that I cannot readily discern
the inseparable connection between the existence of liberty, and the
trial by jury in civil cases. Arbitrary impeachments, arbitrary methods
of prosecuting pretended offenses, and arbitrary punishments upon
arbitrary convictions, have ever appeared to me to be the great
engines of judicial despotism; and these have all relation to criminal
proceedings. The trial by jury in criminal cases, aided by the habeas
corpus act, seems therefore to be alone concerned in the question. And
both of these are provided for, in the most ample manner, in the plan of
the convention.

It has been observed, that trial by jury is a safeguard against an
oppressive exercise of the power of taxation. This observation deserves
to be canvassed.

It is evident that it can have no influence upon the legislature, in
regard to the amount of taxes to be laid, to the objects upon which they
are to be imposed, or to the rule by which they are to be apportioned.
If it can have any influence, therefore, it must be upon the mode of
collection, and the conduct of the officers intrusted with the execution
of the revenue laws.

As to the mode of collection in this State, under our own Constitution,
the trial by jury is in most cases out of use. The taxes ar