Edmund Richards (so often named in this work, as being concerned in the
murder of Galley and Chater, and also in forcing Richard Glover to go
with him and the rest of the gang to break open Poole custom-house) is
taken, and in safe custody in Winchester gaol, so there is no doubt but
he will meet with a just reward for all his cruel and enormous crimes,
at the next assizes for the county of Sussex, to which county gaol he
will be removed by Habeas Corpus.
DIRECTIONS FOR PLACING THE PLATES.
PAGE
Galley and Chater on one horse, and the Smugglers
whipping them to face title
Galley and Chater falling off the horse at Woodash, to face 13
Burying of Galley „ 18
Chater cut across the face by Tapner, in Old Mills’s
Turf-house „ 24
Chater hanging in the Well in Lady Holt Park „ 27
Richard Hawkins whipped to death „ 150
The Smugglers breaking open Poole Custom-house „ 193
A SERMON
PREACHED
IN THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF CHICHESTER,
AT A SPECIAL ASSIZE HELD THERE, JANUARY 16, 1748–9,
BY WILLIAM ASHBURNHAM, A.M.,
DEAN OF CHICHESTER.
JOB xxix., 14, 15, 16.
“I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a
robe and a diadem.
“I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame.
“I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I
searched out.”
That Job was a person of great eminence both for his birth and
station, that he had the supreme rule and government, or was at least
a principal magistrate of the place he dwelt in, appears plainly from
this chapter, whence the text is taken. “When I came in presence,”
says he, “the young men saw me, and hid themselves, and the aged arose
and stood up; the princes refrained talking, and the nobles held their
peace; I sat as chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, and all men
gave attention to my words, and kept silence at my counsel.”
But whatever was the particular state of this illustrious person,
whether he was invested with the supreme power itself or acted only
by commission under it, this is certain, that the integrity of his
conduct is a pattern worthy the imitation, and was recorded doubtless
that it might be imitated by those who should in after ages be honoured
with the like employment, and fill the same high office as himself.
“I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe
and a diadem”, expressing the great love he had to justice, and the
pleasure he took in exercising judgment; that what a robe and a diadem
was usually to other men, that the doing justice and judgment was to
him; the great object of his whole desire, the thing he principally
placed his glory and delight in. For that we are thus to understand the
metaphor in the text is plain from a like expression made use of by
the royal prophet, who, speaking of the wicked, says, that he “clothed
himself with cursing like a garment”; which expression in the verse
immediately succeeding he explains, by telling us that his “delight
was in cursing”. So that what we are here to understand of Job is,
that his greatest satisfaction and delight was to administer justice
righteously; that his sense of true honor was not that which reflected
from these external marks of dignity and state, but which sprang from
those virtues of which those were but the outward signs--He put on
righteousness as a garment, and clothed himself with judgment as with a
robe and a diadem.
The things, then, which naturally offer themselves to our consideration
from the words before us, are these three:--
First. The duties which this great example represents to us and which
more immediately belong to magistrates, and those who are invested
with public authority.
Secondly. How great a blessing every good magistrate must be to the
state and community whereunto he belongs. And
Thirdly. The personal respect and reverence with which he ought to be
treated upon that account.
The first then of those duties to which we are led by this great
example, is that of doing justice and judgment with zeal and
cheerfulness. Now justice is a virtue that not only in the common
consideration of it is, as every other virtue is, honorable in itself,
and much to be desired for its own sake; but it is a virtue so
peculiarly necessary for human society, that it is scarce conceivable
how any society can subsist without it; for the want of justice, if it
destroys not the very foundations of society, at least it deprives us
of all the advantages of it, and renders such political establishments
at best but useless and undesirable things. A state of solitude would
give more comfort and security than such a state, where the just claims
of society are defeated by cruel and unrighteous men, and oppressions
permitted with impunity; but where justice is, there the diligent and
industrious prosper and the innocent dwell safely. And therefore the
great Creator of mankind, who made them for a social life, has stamped
upon their hearts this most necessary of all social virtues, and
made it the indispensable law of their natures, that they should do
to others as they would have others do to them. And was this law but
universally and duly kept, it could not fail to promote the happiness,
by its tendency to preserve the order of the world; it bindeth up every
hand from doing violence, and every heart from forging deceit; and
guards the common safety of mankind with the strict command, that we
“render to all their due, custom to whom custom, honor to whom honor,
fear to whom fear.”
Nor let us be so deceived as to think that our own private interest
is not equally concerned herein with that of the public: for the good
of particular persons can in no society be distinguished from the
general good, but is always and unavoidably included in it. So that
if we wilfully connive at, if we suffer or neglect to correct abuses
in the public, we do what in us lies to lessen our own security, and
insensibly promote the ruin of our private interest and prosperity.
So much reason have we to esteem and to endeavour to secure the
practice of this best of virtues, if we respect only the thing
itself and the benefits thence resulting to ourselves, either singly
considered or in society. But it is by the righteous and impartial
exercise hereof that God also is most effectually glorified by us: for
then only we can in any sense be said to promote the glory when we
strive to imitate the excellencies of God; and justice being one of the
principal of those moral excellencies which He has propounded to us
as a pattern for our imitation, we do then in an eminent manner give
Him the honor due unto His name when we study to be like Him in this
perfection of His nature: when they particularly, who are His ministers
for this very thing, that is, for the execution of justice, endeavour
to resemble Him whose ministers they are, in being just even as He is
just.
Another instance which Job here gives us of his own integrity, and
wherein he has set us an example that we should follow his steps,
is his forwardness to give relief and assistance to the injured and
oppressed. “I was eyes unto the blind, and feet was I to the lame: I
was a father to the poor, and the cause which I knew not I searched
out.” Every man, according to his place and power, is both in justice
and charity obliged to use his best endeavours, and to lay hold on
all opportunities, by all lawful means, of helping them to right that
suffer wrong: of protecting the innocent from injuries, and securing
them from the oppressions of “bloodthirsty and deceitful men.” It is
our duty every one to exert the utmost of his strength to deliver the
oppressed, and it is extremely criminal to be “weary or faint in our
minds” for fear of the oppressors, or “forbear to deliver those who are
ready to be slain.” That we may see more clearly then the necessity of
this duty, and be animated to a cheerful and conscientious performance
of it, there are various reasons that deserve our attention, but those
which more especially demand it, and which, if we have any sense of
religion left, will have their influence upon us, are the command and
example of God Himself.
And first, we have God’s positive and express command for this purpose.
It is the general and fundamental law of our religion, the ground and
basis of all moral virtues, that “thou shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself.” And how can we more effectually fulfil this second great
commandment of the law, than by employing the power God has put into
our hands, of whatever kind it be, for our neighbour’s good; for
securing his person from violence, and his property from fraud and
rapine?
But, besides the command of God, we have His example also for the
performance of this duty. This the Holy Psalmist has clearly set
before us, to the end that we may be followers of Him herein, as dear
children. “Now for the comfortless trouble’s sake of the needy, and
because of the deep sighing of the poor, I will up, saith the Lord, and
will help everyone from him that swelleth against him, and will set
them at rest.” And if the great God of heaven and earth, He who “hath
His dwelling so high,” does yet “humble Himself to behold the simple
that lie in dust,” and to “lift up the poor out of the mire;” it can be
no disparagement sure to the greatest, to give attention to the welfare
of their brethren, and to hearken to the complaints of their fellow
subjects; who by the influence of their high examples, and the weight
of their authorities, are doing God and their country service; and of
whom in gratitude we therefore needs must own that they have justly
merited the public thanks for the care and pains they have been taking
for the public good.
The laws of God have made this duty of universal extent; all mankind
are concerned in it; but they who are the governors of society, and are
to act with the authority of magistrates for the support of it, are
more especially obliged to this duty, to be followers of God herein;
because it has pleased Him to set a peculiar mark of honour upon them,
in that He has called them by His Own name, “I have said,” says He, by
the mouth of the royal prophet, “that ye are Gods, and that ye are all
the children of the Most High.” And He said it doubtless to instruct
them in their duty, and shew them the necessity they are under of
imitating His conduct, Whose name they bear.
These magnificent characters, as they declare the source from whence
all their power is derived, so do they imply the purposes for which
it ought to be employed. Nothing less could be intended by such
honorable appellations, than to point out the obligation they are
under to provide for the prosperity of the world, and to endeavour,
in compliance with the will of God, and the design of their own
appointment, to render the situation of all persons as secure and
comfortable as possible; that they may enjoy unmolested the fruits
of their own industry, and “lead peaceable and quiet lives, in all
godliness and honesty”. This is the original end of government itself,
and therefore ought to be the principal aim of those who are any way
concerned in the administration of it. Whatever share they possess of
the public authority was given them to employ for the public good. And
when they thus fulfil the duties of their station, by an impartial
and wise discharge of the high trust that is reposed in them; when
with holy Job they can truly say, “I have put on righteousness, and it
clothed me: my judgment is as a robe and a diadem”; then are they in
the best and noblest sense the “ministers of God, and children of the
Most High”; they do honor to their character, and are a public blessing
to the community whereunto they belong.
This was the second thing I proposed to consider; and it is a thing
that ought frequently and seriously to be considered, though it is so
evident that it needs not to be proved. It ought, I say, as evident as
it is, frequently to be considered, and sometimes to be inculcated upon
us; because the blessings that are constant and familiar, and those
which therefore we enjoy the most, such is our ingratitude, we are apt
to think of and value least. And of this kind is the blessing of a
well-established government; we who have the happiness of being under
it, and reap the fruits of a regular administration of wisely enacted
laws, can but with difficulty conceive how miserable the condition of
mankind would be, were there no such laws to keep them within bounds,
and are therefore generally less sensible than we ought to be, of the
many great advantages resulting from them. But that we may form in some
sort an idea of the wretched effects of such a want of government, the
behaviour of some dissolute and abandoned persons which we have lately
seen, and that too in a country where they could not but have acted
under some awe of civil justice, may serve as a kind of specimen, to
teach us what savage creatures they would be without it; what havock
and devastation they would make upon the earth were they set wholly
free from the restraint of laws, and left to follow the imaginations of
their own evil hearts without hindrance or control.
And would we but sometimes consider what manifold inconvenience all
societies must feel, where there is either no government at all, or,
which is next to none, an ill-established or an ill-administered one;
the consideration would certainly be useful, to give us a proper sense
and relish of the blessings we ourselves enjoy under one of the best
regulated governments in the world: a government adorned with all the
advantages which human frailty will allow us to expect, and which the
very meanest of its subjects enjoy in common with those who are in
the highest stations. We are all in our proportion partakers of these
benefits, and therefore all have reason to thank God, the bountiful
Giver of them, and to pay with due submission what I proposed as the
_Last_ thing to be considered, a proper regard and reverence to
those by whom, as the instruments of His goodness, He confers these
benefits upon us. Nature itself instructs us that they who discharge
the difficult functions of a state with wisdom and integrity, should
be highly esteemed and honored for their work’s sake. Which natural
instruction of undepraved reason we also find among the positive
precepts of revealed religion; for by the same authority that forbids
us to speak evil of the rulers of the people, we are enjoined likewise
to give honor to whom honor is due. This common and easy tribute then,
which all men are capable of paying, they have a natural and just right
to demand of all; a right founded upon the principles of reason, and
ratified by religion: and therefore to defraud them of any part of so
approved a claim is to transgress the bounds both of decency and duty.
There is nothing in the world is more generally agreed in than the
necessity of government to obtain the ends of society. It was the
desire of mutual preservation and defence, of protection against wrong
and robbery, and the secure possession of their private properties,
that was the first inducement to mankind to unite themselves together
in distinct societies; that they might sit every man in quietness
under their own vine, and enjoy safely the fruits of their own labour.
But these, as all other blessings and benefits, are the gifts of God;
and governors are the ministers appointed by Him, through whom He
derives those blessings and benefits to the world; so that the peace
and prosperity of nations is owing principally, under God, to the wise
care and conduct of their rulers, and the prudent administration of
government therein. Without this, all those intolerable mischiefs must
ensue, which men’s unrestrained appetites and passions would produce,
and which unavoidably break the bands, and are the sure destruction of
all societies.
It is not to be expected that all the individuals of any community
should universally agree as to the exact bounds and extent of civil
power, any more than it is, that all the different communities
throughout the world should pursue the same system, and frame their
governments upon the same plan: but without a due regard and reverence
paid to those persons who are entrusted with the management of public
affairs, and a dutiful submission to their legal authority, the best
contrived constitutions in the world could not answer the ends of their
establishment, nor could any of the purposes of life be effectually
served by them. But farther,
Every high place of trust and power has its burdens, as well as honors,
that are inseparable from it; and the magistrate of justice, from
the very nature of his office, must have his share: he cannot in the
course of things but incur great enmity and provoke all the outrage and
resentment of evil doers, if he be resolute in performing faithfully
the duty of his station, and endeavouring, as that duty obliges him,
“to break the jaws of the wicked, and pluck the spoil out of his
teeth”. One would think then that a sense of gratitude should inspire
every generous mind with an esteem and reverence for those who bear the
weight of so important an employment as the administration of public
justice, and the execution of the laws of a kingdom. And it appears
indeed to have been the wisdom of all nations to treat their characters
with the most particular regard. For from hence, it is probable, arose
the practice, now in universal use, of appropriating to magistrates
external marks of splendour and distinction; that by the distance
naturally created in the minds of the people by the outward ensigns of
dignity annexed to their office, the reverence due to their persons
might be properly preserved, and their authority thereby maintained
and upheld. But lest this should fail of its effect, and the principle
of gratitude not have force sufficient to secure the practice of
this duty, the Holy Scriptures have bound it upon us by all possible
obligations.
There are no duties that our blessed Saviour in the institution
of His laws had a greater regard to, than those which arise from
civil society, and tend to make us useful members of the community
to which we belong. Accordingly as He laid the best foundation for
such a general practice of truth and justice as, if duly followed,
would secure effectually the properties of private persons; so He was
particularly careful to save the rights of princes, and recommended
in the strongest terms that obedience which is due to those whom
the laws have appointed rulers in every nation. And although, when
the Jews maliciously accused Him of treason against the state, and
impeached Him before Pilate as an enemy to Cæsar for declaring Himself
a King, He does not deny that He was a King, because, as He tells,
it was “for this end He was born, that He might bear witness to this
truth;” yet to shew that He had no evil designs against the person of
Cæsar, nor any intention of interfering either with his, or any human
government whatsoever, He expressly asserts that “My kingdom is not
of this world.” And again, that the rulers of the world might have no
reasonable grounds of prejudice, no enmity against Him or His religion,
through any apprehension of danger from them to their respective
governments, He enjoins it as an indispensable duty upon all His
followers, to “render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s,” as well
as “unto God the things that are God’s.” They, indeed, who are invested
with the supreme authority, and act as God’s immediate vicegerents in
the world, are the persons in respect of whom this injunction was
particularly given, but it may very fairly be extended likewise, under
due restrictions, to all that are commissioned under it and have any
share of the authority delegated to them.
Such then is the doctrine of the Christian religion, as taught by the
Great Author and Founder of it, Jesus Christ Himself. And His apostles,
who followed Him in the uniform practice of all those virtues by which
societies subsist, have both by their precept and example taught us
the same thing. St. Paul in his epistle to the Romans, speaking of a
Christian’s duty to the civil magistrate, commands that “every soul
be subject to the higher powers”; and deduces our obligation to this
duty from these two considerations: first, that it is the will of
God--for “there is no power”, he tells us, “but of God”. The powers in
being are ordained of Him: it must therefore, as he then concludes,
be the indispensable duty of all subjects to obey; because if they
resist, they “resist the ordinance of God”. The other consideration
is taken from the general design of government, which shews it to be
our interest, as well as duty, to be obedient subjects; that “he is
the minister of God to us for good”; and that therefore in regard to
ourselves we should submit to his authority, “not only from wrath, but
also for conscience sake”; as being truly sensible of the advantages of
government, that it is the ordinance of God, for the good of mankind.
As an explication of this duty of subjection to the higher powers,
and to teach us the extent of our obedience to it, St. Peter requires
our submission, not only to the supreme magistrate himself, but also
to all, in their degree and proportion, who are invested with public
authority. “Submit yourselves”, says he, “to every ordinance of man
for the Lord’s sake, whether it be to the king as supreme, or unto
governors, as unto them that are sent by Him for the punishment of evil
doers, and for the praise of them that do well”.
Now these scriptures, as they instruct us in our behaviour towards
the persons of magistrates, so do they teach us likewise the great
expediency and usefulness of magistracy itself, and shew us the grounds
and reasons of its institution. They inform us that magistrates were
appointed to be the guardians of the public quiet, and had the sword of
justice put into their hands for this very purpose, “to execute wrath
upon him that doeth evil”. And it is a melancholy truth, which I can
only publish and lament, that never was the vigilance and courage of
the civil magistrate more necessary than in these evil days into which
we are fallen; when to say nothing of the private vices that abound
amongst us, an almost general licentiousness is practised throughout
the kingdom, against both the common reason and the common interest of
mankind, and in defiance of all authority, whether sacred or civil.
This is the unavoidable consequence of that contempt of religion which
is so prevalent in this degenerate age. Men have been so accustoming
themselves to look with scorn upon everything relating to it, that
scarce any appearance of the reverence due to the Supreme Being is
preserved amongst us. They deride the very notion of a wise and good
God, that made and governs all things, and in consequence treat the
duty of attending upon His worship as at best but a matter of great
indifference whether it be observed or not. How much the influence
and example of some of high rank and condition in the world have
contributed to the propagation of these pernicious notions, will
best be left to their consideration, in whose power it is to stop it;
but however that may be, this everybody sees: that the contemptuous
impiety has got to a prodigious height, and has overspread, in an
uncommon manner, all sorts of people. And when this is the case, when
the subjects of any kingdom have thrown off all regard to God, so as
to be kept no longer within the bounds of duty by the fear of Divine
justice, what is there left that can procure their obedience to earthly
rulers, or hinder them from “walking every one in the evil imaginations
of their own hearts”, from doing evil, and that continually? Take away
religion, and the obligation which it lays upon us to obedience, and
all human authority must fall to the ground. This is so apparently
true, that it has been the constant practice of the wisest politicians
in all ages, to use their utmost endeavours to preserve religion, as
judging it to be the only thing that could preserve them. And their
judgment was well grounded; for when once religion has lost its
influence upon the minds of men, and they are come to “have no fear of
God before their eyes”, what can prevent them, upon this supposition,
from endeavouring to get loose from the restraints of government, and,
whenever they can do it safely, throwing off their allegiance to those
whom they have no mind should be rulers over them?