Page:A Declaration of the People's Natural Right to a Share in the Legislature (1775) (IA declarationofpeo00shar).djvu/14

 “necessity” (beforementioned) “of maintaining the propriety of the example,” cited in my Declaration, arises not from any obstinate partiality to my own assertion, (which I confess was, at first, too hastily and unadvisedly made,) but from a firm persuasion, after a most cautious enquiry Into the real state of the controversy, that the advocates for the Liberties of Ireland have Truth and Reason their side, which, (I hope) the second Part, now added to my Declaration, will sufficiently testify.

It is necessary also for me to guard against: another objection, which might perhaps hereafter have been started against the following Declaration.

I have quoted therein a maxim of the English Constitution, as a principle of natural equity, which had previously been denied that rank by one of the most eminent civilians of his time; and therefore, to avoid the influence of so great an authority against my Argument, I think it prudent, in this Preface, to examine the grounds of his objections, that my Readers may have sufficient evidence before them to distinguish where the truth lies; for it is certainly necessarily for me