exact position of a talookdar. Now the Corporation farms, and has
from time out of mind farmed, the revenue arising from these various
sources. The sovereign is the seignior of the City, and therefore
entitled in the first instance to all customs, duties, revenues, and
imposts levied within its precincts. But on various grounds, and by
various means,--such as petition, purchase, composition, and
extraordinary services--the citizens of London have at various times
obtained the remission or enjoyment of these different sources of
income. The metage dues are therefore as much their property as an
hereditary estate is that of its acknowledged proprietor. Their title
to these dues is of considerably longer standing than that of his
Grace the Duke of Bedford to Woburn Abbey, and those of so many lay
impropriators of church property. If royal charters and Acts of
Parliament are of no greater value than waste paper, there is of
course nothing more to be said on the subject. There is nothing,
then, to oppose as a barrier to any act of spoliation. Blackstone,
indeed, says that Parliament is omnipotent to bind or to loose, and
competent to annul charters and to repeal its own statutes. It is
certainly no new thing for Parliament to stultify itself, but it is
also certain that the Legislature will better consult its reputation
by occasionally repressing its eagerness to cancel the proceedings of
its predecessors, and by abstaining from too frequent indulgence in
acts of confiscation.

The coal duties, however, demand a fuller consideration than any other
department of City finance. The first charter of Richard II. confirmed
to the Corporation of London "the custody" of the persons and property
of all orphans. According to ancient custom, the citizens could
dispose by will of only one-third of their personal estate, the
remaining two-thirds being paid into the Court of Orphans in trust for