The punishment of these crimes is, for the first offence, six months' imprisonment; and for any subsequent conviction, to abjure the dominions of the Commonwealth; and, in case of return, to suffer death as a felon. The only qualification of the severity is, that the party shall be indicted within six months of his having committed the alleged offence:* a provision which serves well to show the still prevailing sense of equity and fairness which presided over what would seem the harshest measures of these statesmen. Their acts of toleration in matters of religion were at the same time accompanied with a declared resolution, adopted from one of the army petitions, that, while they were favourable to liberty of conscience, they did not desire that the least indulgence should be shown to licentiousness or profaneness; and, accordingly, a bill was brought in, in the beginning of 1651, and shortly after passed into a law, for the suppression of incest, adultery, and fornication. The punishment of the two former, an exception being made of the case of a woman whose husband should have been three years absent (adultery in this act is understood to relate to woman in the state of marriage), was ordered to be death; and the punishment of fornication was three months' imprisonment. Every keeper of a brothel was also made liable, for the first offence, to be whipped and branded, and for the second, to suffer death as a felon.t When these acts were passed, however, Vane and Marten both predicted, in opposition to them, that the severity of the punishment would defeat the purpose of the law: a prediction confirmed so fully, that, in consequence of Marten's continued agitation of the subject, the severities were afterward relaxed. And be it not forgotten, in this detail, that measures of law reform, to a very large and various extent, were in deliberation at the period of Cromwell's act of tyranny. They had passed, on the 8th of November, 1651, a memorable measure, which was understood to be only the forerunner of several others, that the books of law already written and in force should be translated into English; that all law-books in future should be written in English; and that all law proceedings should be conducted in the English language. What would have followed in, furtherance of their great design on this • Godwin's Commonwealth, vol. iii., p. 507, 508. + Godwin, vol. iii., p. 506. See Journals of May 10, November 22, 1651. locke, p. 460. Lingard's History, vol. xi., p. 175. White The exact terms of the resolution were, "That all report books of the resolution of judges, and other books of the law of England, shall be translated into the English tongue; and all writs, processes, and returns thereof, pleadings, rules, orders, indictments, injunctions, certifi cates, patents, and all acts, deeds, and proceedings whatsoever, shall be only in the English tongue, in the ordinary usual hand, and not in court hand." On this question (which, before it was carried, provoked a "very long and smart debate" in which debate, we are likewise told, many "spoke in derogation and dishonour of law," and the necessity of its reform, Whitelocke delivered a speech on the origin and character of the English laws, vindicating their Saxon birth from the reproach of having been imposed upon the land by William the Norman, which, for its singularly argumentative character and wonderful minuteness of research, must always be considered a stupendous monument of antiquarian and legal learning. He concluded thus-the entire speech may be found in his own memorials, p. 460-465: But, Mr. Speaker, if I have been tedious, I humbly ask your pardon; L head (frequently declared, in emphatic phrase), to make the law more simple, and, by means of a better promulgation, to abridge its powers of ensnaring the people who were called on to obey it, was checked by their forcible dispersion, to be again resumed, indeed, as we shall see, by the next assemblage of men who sat in their House, but only to be again arrested by a second dispersion of legislators, who refused to be made the direct tools of tyranny. Finally, it becomes us to speak of the strictly administrative genius of these statesmen, dispersed by Cromwell and his muskets as idle and incapable! unclean birds, that had, by insolent success, been unfairly perched upon Fortune's top! slugs, that preyed upon the vitals of the Commonwealth! / History, even as history is commonly written, has not dared to dispute that, during the whole period of their supremacy, they upheld with unceasing dignity and spirit the national honour. They made the arms of England the terror of the world abroad, as they had made the engines of their government the terror of enemies at home; and it was from them, and from them alone, that Cromwell inherited the respect and awe of the whole Continent of Europe. They had declared that they would not rest till they had vindicated and asserted the ancient right of their country to the sov in vindication of their own native laws, unto which I held and have the more hopes to obtain it from so many worthy English gentlemen, when that which I have said was chiefly myself the more obliged by the duty of iny profession; and I account it an honour to me to be a lawyer. As to the debate and matter of the act now before you, I have delivered no opinion against it; nor do I think it reasonable that the generality of the people of England should, by an implicit faith, depend upon the knowledge of others in that which concerns them most of all. It was the Romish policy to keep them in ignorance of matters pertaining to their soul's health; let them not be in ignorance of matters pertaining to their bodies, estates, and all their worldly comfort. It is which may best be understood by those whose lives and not unreasonable that the law should be in that language fortunes are subject to it, and are to be governed by it. Moses read all the laws openly before the people in their mother tongue. God directed him to write it, and to expound it to the people in their own native language, that what concerned their lives, hiberties, and estates might be made known unto them in the most perspicuous way. The laws of the Eastern nations were in their proper tongue; Latin; in France, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and the laws at Constantinople were in Greek; at Rome, in other nations, their laws are published in their native idiom. For our own country, there is no man that can read the Saxon character but may find the laws of your ancestors yet extant in the English tongue. Duke William himself commanded the laws to be proclaimed in English, that none might pretend ignorance of them. It was the judgment of the Parliament, 36 Edward III., that pleadings should be in English; and in the reigns of those kings, when our statutes were enrolled in French and English, yet then the sheriffs in their several counties were to proclaim them in English. I shall conclude with a complaint of what I have met with abroad from some military persons; nothing but scoffs and invectives against our law, and threats to take it away; but the law is above the reach of those weapons, which, at one time or another, will return upon those that use them. Solid arguments, strong reasons, and authori ties, are more fit for confutation of any error, and satisfaction of different judgments. When the emperor took a bishop in complete armour in a battle, he sent the armour to the pope with this word, Haccine sunt vestes filii tui? so may I say to those gentlemen abroad as to their railings, taunts, and threats against the law, Haccine sunt argumenta horum antinomianorum? They will be found of no force, but recoiling arms. Nor is it ingenuous or prudent for Englishmen to deprave their birthright-the laws of their own country. But to return to the matter in debate: I can find neither strangeness, nor foresee great inconvenience, by passing this act; and therefore, if the House shall think fit to have the question put for the passing of it I am ready to give my affirmative." 1 teir ervice net of the greatest genius, in WI RUDEnts of the state, that, since ter ay ave e princed by cur nation; 18 ARIEL vit easing, terature and ber renaret, on assuming pow 200 "CH" "Wand mether write to other states, ST TREE wars but in the tongue which "moz tal uncres, and ittest to re be sumeet of fature history. VEL 1 de service of England, the men of Witon, even in that =T te protest of her iving children; they ŽALISSENĚ JEDINÉS De bym on the pubCOLIN € 15 + siver Salmasios:" they PER CA in weary to the CommonDET SVE Bm De means of entertainTELE EISHA 1n her arrival in Eng2. Ta 4 veciing irst at his own table, La 1 te volle hire, the vas of emiE CILJETS VON inngit with them the rep MIDI RSM ir 1 earing * They show. 4. I je DOES THE respect for whatever 3 extimate vect: they enrich€ 28 Ntes mu laving voted a resolaCUK SE Tacne of thes, they placed ves - 1 rummendable footing **eries o be zergy of the state. Cer 4 ESTE CAMI, were at an early period exit was not toll Ontor Jumans of theses abrished a ettei ter ins and possesses spen se de Cammon westh A second ordieste me in a Dewaer 1849, entered "the are RTRES 3 de ceases in the issning MVIL I DE PUIS LIni menses of passages, inCDs ventos, persons, portions of NOCIDA DI TERages, as have been or shall be DE and have otherwise if the maintenance of masters, to such To whom the said rents and ase sem er stail be ordered or sesigned by the a musters, for augmentation of a mas rásing in my church ar chapel in EngThis was the last enactment on the pressed a fhe Sannenwealth. We serve, how233 Apri, 1649, as art was passed to about 1 jeans and chapters, cans, prebenda, d and otles, of or belonging to any cathe Twice durch er chapel within England or The put forth in the preamble to this bi cunt uae of necessity-nor, indeed, a ples when all the circumstances are cor i senously weighed," says exactin moteem) a busing a preseat supply of mumey for the 457 458 Commonwealth, and finding that ther co ut 30 saactory to lenders, nor sufficest Amita a sim as will be necessary for the The punishment of these crimes is, for the first offence, six months' imprisonment; and for any subsequent conviction, to abjure the dominions of the Commonwealth; and, in case of return, to suffer death as a felon. The only qualification of the severity is, that the party shall be indicted within six months of his having committed the alleged offence:* a provision which serves well to show the still prevailing sense of equity and fairness which presided over what would seem the harshest measures of these statesmen. Their acts of toleration in matters of religion were at the same time accompanied with a declared resolution, adopted from one of the army petitions, that, while they were favourable to liberty of conscience, they did not desire that the least indulgence should be shown to licentiousness or profaneness; and, accordingly, a bill was brought in, in the beginning of 1651, and shortly after passed into a law, for the suppression of incest, adultery, and fornication. The punishment of the two former, an exception being made of the case of a woman whose husband should have been three years absent (adultery in this act is understood to relate to woman in the state of marriage), was ordered to be death; and the punishment of fornication was three months' imprisonment. Every keeper of a brothel was also made liable, for the first offence, to be whipped and branded, and for the second, to suffer death as a felon.t When these acts were passed, however, Vane and Marten both predicted, in opposition to them, that the severity of the punishment would defeat the purpose of the law: a prediction confirmed so fully, that, in consequence of Marten's continued agitation of the subject, the severities were afterward relaxed. And be it not forgotten, in this detail, that measures of law reform, to a very large and various extent, were in deliberation at the period of Cromwell's act of tyranny. They had passed, on the 8th of November, 1651, a memorable measure, which was understood to be only the forerunner of several others, that the books of law already written and in force should be translated into English ; that all law-books in future should be written in English; and that all law proceedings should be conducted in the English language.| What would have followed in, furtherance of their great design on this Godwin's Commonwealth, vol. iii., p. 507, 508. + Godwin, vol. iii., p. 506. See Journals of May 10, November 22, 1651. Whitelocke, p. 460. Lingard's History, vol. xi., p. 175. The exact terms of the resolution were, "That all report books of the resolution of judges, and other books of the law of England, shall be translated into the English tongue; and all writs, processes, and returns thereof, pleadings, rules, orders, indictments, injunctions, certificates, patents, and all acts, deeds, and proceedings whatsoever, shall be only in the English tongue, in the ordinary usual hand, and not in court hand." On this question (which, before it was carried, provoked a "very long and smart debate ;" in which debate, we are likewise told, many "spoke in derogation and dishonour of law," and the necessity of its reform, Whitelocke delivered a speech on the origin and character of the English laws, vindicating their Saxon birth from the reproach of having been imposed upon the land by William the Norman, which, for its singularly argumentative character and wonderful minuteness of research, must always be considered a stupendous monument of antiquarian and legal learning. He concluded thus-the entire speech may be found in his own memorials, p. 460-465: "But, Mr. Speaker, if I have been tedious, I humbly ask your pardon; L head (frequently declared, in emphatic phrase), to make the law more simple, and, by means of a better promulgation, to abridge its powers of ensnaring the people who were called on to obey it, was checked by their forcible dispersion, to be again resumed, indeed, as we shall see, by the next assemblage of men who sat in their House, but only to be again arrested by a second dispersion of legislators, who refused to be made the direct tools of tyranny. Finally, it becomes us to speak of the strictly administrative genius of these statesmen, dispersed by Cromwell and his muskets as idle and incapable! unclean birds, that had, by insolent success, been unfairly perched upon Fortune's top! slugs, that preyed upon the vitals of the Commonwealth! / History, even as history is commonly written, has not dared to dispute that, during the whole period of their supremacy, they upheld with unceasing dignity and spirit the national honour. They made the arms of England the terror of the world abroad, as they had made the engines of their government the terror of enemies at home; and it was from them, and from them alone, that Cromwell inherited the respect and awe of the whole Continent of Europe. They had declared that they would not rest till they had vindicated and asserted the ancient right of their country to the sovand have the more hopes to obtain it from so many worthy English gentlemen, when that which I have said was chiefly in vindication of their own native laws, unto which I held myself the more obliged by the duty of iny profession; and account it an honour to me to be a lawyer. As to the debate and matter of the act now before you, I have delivered no opinion against it; nor do I think it reasonable that the generality of the people of England should, by an implicit faith, depend upon the knowledge of others in that which concerns them most of all. It was the Romish policy to keep them in ignorance of matters pertaining to their soul's health; let them not be in ignorance of matters pertaining to their bodies, estates, and all their worldly comfort. It is not unreasonable that the law should be in that language which may best be understood by those whose lives and fortunes are subject to it, and are to be governed by it. Moses read all the laws openly before the people in their mother tongue. God directed him to write it, and to expound it to the people in their own native language, that what concerned their lives, liberties, and estates might be made known unto them in the most perspicuous way. The laws of the Eastern nations were in their proper tongue; Latin; in France, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and the laws at Constantinople were in Greek; at Rome, in other nations, their laws are published in their native idiom. For our own country, there is no man that can read the Saxon character but may find the laws of your ancestors yet extant in the English tongue. Duke William himself commanded the laws to be proclaimed in English, that none might pretend ignorance of them. It was the judgment of the Parliament, 36 Edward III., that pleadings should be in English; and in the reigns of those kings, when our statutes were enrolled in French and English, yet then the sheriffs in their several counties were to proclaim them in English. I shall conclude with a complaint of what I have met with abroad from some military persons; nothing but scoffs and invectives against our law, and threats to take it away; but the law is above the reach of those weapons, which, at one time or another, will return upon those that use them. Solid arguments, strong reasons, and authori ties, are more fit for confutation of any error, and satisfaction of different judgments. When the emperor took a bishop in complete armour in a battle, he sent the armour to the pope with this word, Haccine sunt vestes filii tui? so may I say to those gentlemen abroad as to their railings, taunts, and threats against the law, Haccine sunt argumenta horum antinomianorum? They will be found of no force, but recoiling arms. Nor is it ingenuous or prudent for Englishmen to deprave their birthright-the laws of their own country. But to return to the matter in debate: I can find neither strangeness, nor foresee great inconvenience, by passing this act; and therefore, if the House shall think fit to have the question put for the vassing of it I am ready to give my affirmative."` |