"There are two things which you should attend to, which require no proof. The first is that the British Constitution is the _best in the world_!" "Is not every man _secure in his life, liberty, and property? Is not happiness in the power of every man?_ 'Does not every man sit safely under his own vine and fig-tree' and none shall make him afraid?" "The other circumstance ... is the state of the country during last winter. _There was a spirit of sedition and revolt going abroad._" "I leave it for you to judge whether it was perfectly innocent or not in Mr. Muir ... to go about ... among _the lower classes of the people ... inducing them to believe that a reform was absolutely necessary, to preserve their safety and their liberty_, which, had it not been for him, they never would have suspected to have been in danger." "He ran a parallel between the French and English Constitutions, and _talked of their respective taxes_ ... and gave a preference to the French." "He has brought many witnesses to prove his general good behavior, and his recommending peaceable measures, and petitioning to Parliament." "Mr. Muir might have known that _no attention could be paid to such a rabble, what right had they to representation_? He could have told them the _Parliament would never listen to their petition_! How could they think of it? A government in any country should be just like a corporation; and in this country it is _made up of the landed interest, which alone has a right to be represented_." Gentlemen, you might think this speech was made by the "Castle Garden Committee," or at the Boston "Union Meeting" in 1850, but it comes from the year 1793. Of course the jury found him guilty: the judges sentenced him to _transportation for fourteen years_! Lord Swinton quoted from the Roman law, that the punishment for sedition was _crucifixion_, or exposure _to be torn to pieces by wild beasts_, or transportation. "We have chosen the _mildest of these punishments_." This sentence was executed with great cruelty. But Mr. Pitt, then in the high places of power, declared these punishments were dictated by a "sound discretion."[137] [Footnote 137: 23 St. Tr. 117; 30 Parl. Hist. 1486, for Adams' Speech in Commons.]