ployed in sleep, and the refreshment of his body in diet and exercise ; another in the dispatch of business; a third in study and devotion. Clocks were then unknown, and Alfred therefore regulated his time by burning tapers of an equal length. To his care for preserving these tapers from the effect of the wind, we owe the invention of lanterns. His private studies were directed for the benefit of his people, in the translation of many valuable works from the Latin into the British tongue.

This great prince was fully sensible that the happiness of a state is best preserved by diffusing Christian Knowledge amongst the people. He therefore re-built or restored all the religious edifices that had been destroyed or injured by the invaders; and encouraged wise and pious instructors by every liberality. As a proof of his zeal for Christianity, as well as his adventurous spirit, in those days when there was little intercourse between nations, it is related, that by means of a correspondence, in which he engaged with a patriarch of Jerusalem, having heard of a set of Christians who lived in great poverty on the South Eastern coast of Asia, he dispatched an active priest with sumptuous gifts for the benefit of this distant colony;-his agent returned with tokens of their gratitude.

The following account of the Civil Institutions for which his country was indebted to Alfred the Great, is abridged from a description in Hume's History of England:

That he might render the execution of justice strict and regular, he divided all England into counties; these counties he subdivided into hundreds; and the hundreds into tithings. Every householder was answerable for the behaviour of his family and slaves, and even of his guests, if they lived above three days in his house. Ten neighbour, ing householders were formed into one corporation, who, under the name of a tithing, were answerable for each other's conduct, and over whom one person, called a tithingman, was appointed to preside. Every man was punished as an outlaw who did not register himself in some tithing. And no man could change his habitation, without a warrant or certificate from the tithing to which he formerly belonged.

When any person in any tithing was guilty of a crime, the tithingman was summoned to answer for him: and if he were not willing to be surety for his appearance, and his clearing himself, the criminal was committed to prison, and there detained till his trial. If he fled, either before or after finding sureties, the tithing and tithingman became liable to inquiry, and were exposed to the penalties of law. By this institution every man was obliged for his own interest to keep a watchful eye over the conduct of his neighbours; and was in a manner surety for the behaviour of those who were placed under the division to which he belonged.

Such a regular distribution of the people, with such a strict confinement in their habitations, may not be necessary in times when men are more inured to obedience and justice; and it might perhaps be regarded as destructive of liberty and commerce in a polished state; but it was well calculated to reduce that fierce and licentious people

under the salutary restraint of law and government. But Alfred took care to temper these rigours by other institutions favourable to the freedom of the citizens; and nothing could be more popular and liberal than his plan for the administration of justice. The tithingman Summoned together his whole tithing to assist him in deciding any lesser difference which occurred among the members of this small community. In affairs of greater moment, the cause was brought before the hundred, which consisted of a hundred families of freemen,and which was regularly assembled once in four weeks for the deciding of causes. Their method of decision deserves to be noted, as being the origin of juries; an institution, admirable in itself, and the best calculated for the preservation of liberty, and the administration of justice, that ever was devised by the wit of man. Twelve freeholders were chosen ; who, having sworn, together with the hundreder, or presiding magistrate of that division, to administer impartial justice, proceeded to the examination of that cause which was submitted to their jurisdiction. And besides these monthly meetings of the hundred, there was an annual meeting, appointed for a more general inspection of the police of the district.

The next superior court to that of thehundred was the county-court, I which met twice a year, after Michaelmas and Easter, and consisted of the freeholders of the county, who possessed an equal vote in the decision of causes. The bishop presided in this court, together with the alderman; and the proper object of the court was the receiving of appeals from the hundreds and tithings, and the deciding of such controversies as arose between men of different hundreds. Formerly, the alderman possessed both the civil and military authority; but Alfred, sensible that this conjunction of powers rendered the nobility dangerous and independent, appointed also a sheriff in each county, who enjoyed an equal authority with the former in the judicial function. His office also impowered him to guard the rights of the crown in the county, and to levy the fines imposed; which in that age formed no contemptible part of the public revenue.

There lay an appeal, in default of justice, from all these courts to the king himself in council; and as the people, sensible of the equity and great talents of Alfred, placed their chief confidence in him, he was soon overwhelmed with appeals from all parts of England. He was indefatigable in the dispatch of these causes; but finding that his time must be entirely engrossed by this branch of duty, he resolved to obviate the inconvenience, by correcting the ignorance or corruption of the inferior magistrates, from which it arose.

The better to guide the magistrates in the administration of justice, Alfred framed a body of laws; which, though now lost, served long as a basis of English jurisprudence, and is generally deemed the origin of what is denominated the COMMON LAW. He appointed regular meetings of the states of England twice a year in London ; a city which he himself had repaired and beautified, and which he thus rendered the capital of the kingdom. The similarity of these institutions to the customs of the ancient Germans, to the practice of the

other northern conquerors, and to some ancient laws which prevailed in England, prevents us from regarding Alfred as the sole author of this plan of Government; and leads us rather to think, that like a wise man, he contented himself with reforming, extending, and executing the institutions which he found previously established. But, on the whole, such success attended his legislation, that every thing bore suddenly a new face in England : Robberies and iniquities of all kinds were repressed by the punishment or reformation of the criminals: And so exact was the general police, that Alfred, it is said, hung up, by way of bravado, golden bracelets near the highways; and no man dared to touch them. Yet, amidst these rigours of justice, this great prince preserved the most sacred regard to the liberty of his people; and it is a memorable sentiment preserved in his will, that it was just the English should for ever remain as free as their own thoughts.

This great monarch died in the year 901, after a glorious reign of twenty-nine years and a half; leaving a reputation which will never decay while there is an English heart to feel, or tongue to speak, his

worth.

EDITOR.-K.

OF THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION.

From Paley's Moral and Political Philosophy.

He

[William Paley was born at Peterborough in the year 1743. His father was a clergyman. He was educated at Cambridge. He was himself a minister of the Church of England, and discharged his duties in the most exemplary manner, obtained considerable preferment in his profession. His writings have gained him a high reputation. His four great works are-The Elements of Moral and Political Philosophy;-a Vindication of the Genuineness of St. Paul's Epistles;-the Evidences of Christianity; and Natural Theology. He is remarkable for the strength and plainness of his manner. He died in 1805.]

THE Government of England, which has been sometimes called a mixed government, sometimes a limited monarchy, is formed by a combination of the three regular species of government;* the monarchy, residing in the King; the aristocracy, in the House of Lords; and the republic, being represented by the House of Commons. The perfection intended by such a scheme of government is, to unite the advantages of the several simple forms, and to exclude the incon veniences.

The British constitution provides,

1st, For the interest of its subjects, 2ndly, For its own preservation.

* I. Despotism, or absolute MONARCHY, where the legislature is in a single person.

II. AN ARISTOCRACY, where the legislature is in a select assembly, the members of which either fill up, by election, the vacancies in their own body, or succeed to their places in it by inheritance, property, tenure of certain lands, or in respect of some personal right or qualification.

III. A REPUBLIC, or democracy, where the people at large, either collectively or by representation, constitute the legislature.

The contrivances for the first of these purposes are the following:In order to promote the establishment of salutary public laws, every citizen of the state is capable of becoming a member of the senate; and every senator possesses the right of propounding to the deliberation of the legislature whatever law he pleases.

Every district of the empire enjoys the privilege of choosing representatives, informed of the interests and circumstances and desires of their constituents, and entitled by their situation to communicate that information to the national council. The meanest subject has some one whom he can call upon to bring forward his complaints and requests to public attention.

By annexing the right of voting for members of the House of Commons to different qualifications in different places, each order and profession of men in the community become virtually represented; that is, men of all orders and professions, statesmen, courtiers, country gentlemen, lawyers, merchants, manufacturers, soldiers, sailors, interested in the prosperity, and experienced in the occupation of their respective professions, obtain seats in parliament.

The elections, at the same time, are so connected with the influence of landed property as to afford a certainty that a considerable number of men of great estates will be returned to parliament; and are also so modified, that men the most eminent and successful in their tive professions are the most likely, by their riches, or the weight of their stations, to prevail in these competitions.

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The number, fortune, and quality of the members; the variety of interests and characters amongst them; above all, the temporary duration of their power, and the change of men which every new election produces, are so many securities to the public, as well against the subjection of their judgments to any external dictation, as against the formation of a junto in their own body, sufficiently powerful to govern their decisions.

The representatives are so intermixed with the constituents, and the constituents with the rest of the people, that they cannot, without a partiality too flagrant to be endured, impose any burthen upon the subject, in which they do not share themselves; nor scarcely can they adopt an advantageous regulation, in which their own interests will not participate of the advantage.

The proceedings and debates of parliament, and the parliamentary conduct of each representative, are known by the people at large.

The representative is so far dependent upon the constituent, and political importance upon public favour, that a member of parliament canno more effectually recommend himself to eminence and advancement in the state, than by contriving and patronizing laws of public utility.

When intelligence of the condition, wants, and occasions of the people, is thus collected from every quarter, when such a variety of invention, and so many understandings, are set at work upon the subject, it may be presumed, that the most eligible expedient, remedy or improvement, will occur to some one or other; and when a wise

counsel, or beneficial regulation is once suggested, it may be expected, from the disposition of an assembly so constituted as the British House of Commons is, that it cannot fail of receiving the approbation of a majority.

To prevent those destructive contentions for the supreme power, which are sure to take place where the members of the state do not live under an acknowledged head, and a known rule of succession; to preserve the people in tranquillity at home, by a speedy and vigorous execution of the laws; to protect their interest abroad, by strength and energy in military operations, by those advantages of decision, secrecy, and dispatch, which belong to the resolutions of monarchical counsels ;-for these purposes, the constitution has.committed the executive government to the administration and limited authority of an hereditary King.

In the defence of the empire; in the maintenance of its power, dignity, and privileges, with foreign nations; in the advancement of its trade by treaties and conventions; and in the providing for the general administration of municipal justice, by a proper choice and appointment of magistrates, the inclination of the king and of the people usually coincides; in this part, therefore, of the regal office, the constitution entrusts the prerogative with ample powers.

The dangers principally to be apprehended from regal government relate to the two articles taxation and punishment. In every form of government from which the people are excluded, it is the interest of the governors to get as much, and of the governed to give as little as they can; the power also of punishment, in the hands of an arbitrary prince, oftentimes becomes an engine of extortion, jealousy, and revenge. Wisely, therefore, hath the British constitution guarded the safety of the people, in these two points, by the most studious precautions.

Upon that of taxation, every law which, by the remotest construction, may be deemed to levy money upon the property of the subject, must originate, that is, must first be proposed and assented to, in the House of Commons: by which regulation, accompanying the weight which that assembly possesses in all its functions, the levying.of taxes is almost exclusively reserved to the popular part of the constitution, who, it is presumed, will not tax themselves, nor their fellow subjects, without being first convinced of the necessity of the aids which they grant.

The application also of the public supplies is watched with the same circumspection as the assessment. Many taxes are annual the produce of others is mortgaged, or appropriated to specific services; the expenditure of all of them is accounted for in the House of Commons; and computations of the charge of the purpose for which they are wanted, are previously submitted to the same tribunal. In the infliction of punishment, the power of the crown, and of the magistrate appointed by the crown, is confined by the most precise limitations; the guilt of the offender must be pronounced by twelve men of his own order, indifferently chosen out of the county where the offence was committed: the punishment, or the limits to