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be sanctioned by the wisest and most indulgent system of laws ; but it should be the constant aim of every human authority to ascertain by cautious experiments how few restrictions are necessary for the support of order
and obedience , and by what liberal extensions of rights and privileges , affection and confidence in the great body of the people may be best created and preserved . Indeed > if I were now considering how I might best illustrate our own inestimable
constitution , I should say that in one short , sentence , I had faithfully described its principles and pointed to the cause of its being preserved and reverenced throughout the world , whilst principalities and powers , strangers to 9 or neglecting the grand secret of conservation , have been
convulsed and overthrown . — No man better understood the powers of this great * political talisman than Fox 3 and , it is both curious and beautiful to observe , with what stubborn constancy he for ever rejected the harsh instrumentality of power , when opposed to the surer effects of liberal trust , of mildness and conciliation .
No man , for example , was more deeply acquainted with the spirit , and even the practice of our laws , nor sought less to undermine the constitutional authority of the Judges ; but , he thought for a long season they were undermining it themselves , by
usurping the functions of the Jury incases of libel . —On that principle , he proposed his celebrated Act of Parliament , which put an end , in a moment and for ever , to all conflicts between the two parts of our tribunals , always intended to form one har monious whole ; bringing back the
co untry to repose with confidence in J « e wisdom and learning of the M > urts , and securing to the people toeir unquestionable privilege , of an ^ so phisticated Trial by Jury in this as other offences . —Before the Libel ^ t , when nothing was left to Juries ^ tt he mere fact of publication , whilst i aey Were nevertheless called upon to Prono unce judgments involving the ^ termi n ation of ^^ it freque ntly s quired but little skill or eloquence , the ^ the mos t de fencelcss libeler : ^ ottence was generally kept in the tk . SkhhhI , an < j a stand niade upon with ^** ** of ^ kirig condemnation ia <** t examination ; but when the
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functions of the Jury were , by this wholesome statute , restored to them , I can speak from my own long experience , that the task became justly most difficult , or rather hopeless 5
juries considering the cases brought before them , with the greatest good sense and reflection , consulting their own understandings , as they ought to do , upon the nature of the accusation , and the intentions of the accused , but
receiving at the same time the learned assistance of the Judges , free from all that jealousy of their own independence , which , until it was secured by law , had frequently entangled their
consciences , and perverted their judgments . In this instance , therefore , by following the ruling principle of Ms mind , Mr . Fox conferred the highest benefit upon public authority , as well
as upon popular privileges—in doing so , he looked to no standard of his own , but to the genuine principles and precedents of British law , which in this deeply important instance , had been overshadowed and misunder"stood .
No man was also a greater friend to our ecclesiastical establishments , but he thought that an undue support of the Church became the parent of dissent , when restraints of any kind were imposed upon Dissenters of any description—on that ground , as well as upon the right of universal freedom in religious opinions , he was the
advocate of Catholic Emancipation , and for the repeal of the Test Act . Here , again , Mr . Fox ' s ruling principle deserves the utmost consideration . If the Church of England were vulnerable in her doctrines , or in her
discipline , maintaining her ascendancy , like the Romish Church , by the ignorance and darkness of her adherents , her security might , in some measure , depend upon the penal
discouragement of dissent ; but , when I reflect upon the unexampled wisdom of her original reformers , in all that they abolished , as well as in all that they preserved : when I consider the
manifest foundations of her faith upon the sacred authorities of Scripture ; the simplicity and beauty of her Liturgy , assimilated by time as well as by its own intrinsic excellence , to the feelings of the English people - I , when advert to the general learning and morals of her ministers , and their useful ness throu ghout the country , 1 doubt
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Lord Erskine ' s Character of Mr . Fox , as an Orator and Statesman * 383
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1815, page 333, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1761/page/5/
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