Page:A History and Defence of Magna Charta.djvu/38

xxxii and indefinite diſcretionary power; to prevent which is the ſole aim of all our laws, and was the ſole cauſe of all thoſe diſturbances and revolutions, which formerly diſtracted this unhappy country; for our anceſtors, by their own fatal experiences, well knew, that in a ſtate, where diſcretion begins, law, liberty, and ſafety end. Under the pretence of this diſcretion, or, as it was formerly, and has been lately called—law of ſtate—we have ſeen:

“ ſubjects, and even a member of of the britiſh legiſlature, arreſted by virtue of a general warrant, iſſued by a ſecretary of ſtate, contrary to the law of the land:

“ houſes rifled and plundered, their papers ſeized, and uſed as evidence upon trial:

“ bodies committed to cloſe impriſonment:

“ Habeas Corpus eluded:

“ by jury diſcountenanced, and the firſt law-officer of the crown publicly inſinuating that juries are not to be truſted: “