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misters, astonished at this alteration, and at a loss BOOK how to decide, sent, together with a considerable supply of arms and ammunition, a private 1768. message to general Paoli, desiring full information respecting the defence he was able to make, and how long he deemed that Corsica would be competent to resist the force employed on this service. General Paoli, instead of ingenuously acknowledging that the island must fall, without immediate and powerful succours from England, affirmed that it could not be reduced in less than eighteen months; erroneously imagining, perhaps, that to magnify the strength and resources of his country, might be the most effectual means of inducing England to take a decided part in her favor: but while the English ministers were hesitating and deliberating, the French arms made a rapid and alarming progress; and Paoli, discerning no symptoms of vigor in the English councils, thought proper to make a seasonable retreat, leaving his unfortunate country to its hard and unmerited fate. He was, however, well received by the court of London on his subsequent arrival in England, and an ample pension was settled upon him, in reward of his heroism, or, according to the malicious construction of some, as the guarantee of his silence.

Parliament was convened early in the present year, 1768; but nothing peculiarly interesting or

BOOK important occurred in the course of the session, XIV. with the single exception of a bill introduced and 1768. patronized by the opposition, under the denomiNullum nation of the nullum tempus bill, for quieting

tempus bill.

the possessions of the subject, and securing them from all obsolete and vexatious claims, with a particular view to the claims of the crown, against which it was held to be a maxim of law that no prescription could be pleaded. This bill originated in an incident of an extraordinary nature. The Portland family had, in consequence of a grant from king William, possessed for seventy years the honor of Penrith and its appurtenances, situated in the county of Cumberland. The forest of Inglewood, and the manor and castle of Carlisle, being considered as parts of this grant, were quietly enjoyed by the family for several descents, under the same tenure, though not particularly specified. Sir James Lowther, the son-in-law of lord Bute, being apprized of this omission, made a clandestine application to the crown for a lease of the premises in question; and the surveyor-general of the crown lands, though no lawyer, nor acting on the opinion of any lawyer, took upon him to decide, that these estates were still vested in the crown. Orders were therefore issued for a new grant to sir James Lowther, in which the soccage of Carlisle was rated at 501. per annum,

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and the forest of Inglewood at 14s. 4d.; though BOOK in reality of immense value, and commanding an extensive election influence. When the board 1768. of treasury met, after a long adjournment, the duke of Portland presented to the lords a memorial, in which he prayed to be heard by their lordships in defence of his title. He. was informed that no step would be adopted to his prejudice, till an impartial investigation had taken place. But whilst the duke's agents and solicitors were employed in a laborious search into ancient and mouldered monuments, surveys, and court-rolls, his grace was informed that the grant was actually completed; and, notwithstanding the caveat entered in the court of exchequer, the chancellor, lord North, affixed the seal, in pursuance of a positive order from the lords of the treasury.

When this most extraordinary business came under parliamentary discussion, the advocates of the court maintained, "that the premises in question were no part of the honor of Penrith, and that the resumption was therefore justifiable; that the family of Portland was sufficiently paid for any services which it might have rendered the nation; and after enjoying for the space of seventy years an estate to which it had no right, it was said they might now be contented to resign it into the hands of the true owner." The opposition in

SA

BOOK dignantly replied, "that the revival of the obsoXIV. lete and dormant prerogative of resumption, in 1768. the face of a long and uninterrupted prescrip

tion, was in the highest degree detestable and alarming; that resumptions had been practised only by the worst or most arbitrary of our princes, and even by them with caution, as sensible of the general abhorrence which every act of that kind must excite. The maxim on which they were founded, was asserted to be the disgrace of the prerogative, and the scandal of the law; and it could scarcely have been imagined, that the most enlightened ages would revive a practice which the darkest times had held in detestation. All the lands of the kingdom have been at different times in the hands of the sovereign, and a large proportion of them, from the loss of authentic deeds, may be liable to similar claims ; and thus the subject may be harassed and ruined by frivolous and vexatious suits, whenever he becomes obnoxious to an arbitrary ministry. To ground a proceeding of this nature upon the mere report of the surveyor-general of the crown, unsupported by any authority of law, was reprobated as a mockery and insult, amounting to an evident abandonment of every principle of equity and justice. When our kings had little other fixed revenue than what arose from their demesne lands, resumptions might be more

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easily deemed pardonable; but when a vast per- воока manent revenue was settled by parliament on the crown, the plea of necessity is wholly pre- 1768. cluded; not to mention that the reserved rent was too contemptible a consideration to be supposed in the remotest degree to have influenced the resumption. This act is evidently a continu ation of that vile and pernicious system, which had its origin at the commencement of the present reign; a system, one of whose favorite objects it has been to affront and disgrace those families who were most strenuous in effecting the Revolution, and in securing the throne to the house of Hanover." The ministers of the crown contented themselves with alleging, that farther time was necessary for the full investigation of this bill, and a motion was made for the postponement of it till the ensuing session. This was carried by a majority of twenty voices only; and not to resume the subject, it may be here remarked, that the nullum tempus bill passed subsequently into a law; and thus the oppression of an individual, agreeably to the happy genius of the English constitution, became the means of extending and securing the rights and liberties of the community at large.

When this great cause was subsequently argued before the barons of the exchequer, the late grant was judged invalid, as contrary to the

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