The Connecticut courant and Hartford weekly intelligencer — Hartford, Conn., 1775-08-14 00:00:00, page 1

Tae C RISI S. [No. X.]
LETTER 11.
T thekfot Honorable LORD AI'S LEY, Lord
Chancellor yEN GL AN D.
My LORD, ' March 6, 1775.
Y SHALL begin this letter to your Lordship with
J an < u.zod of a letter I addieffed some time since
to Lord Mansfield, because I know how exactly your
Lorch's capacity is fitted to think jull as he
To him observed ;---to your Lordship I repeat it ;--
"That in matters of private property we lec die
fame bias and inclination to depart from the decision
of your preJeceffors, which you certainly ought to
receive, as evidence of common law; inflead of thole
certain positive rules, by which the judgment of a
court of law fhou!d invariably be determined, you
have fondly introduced your own unsettled notions
of equity and fubftantialjuftice. Decisions given up
on such principles, do not alarm the public 10 much
as they ought, because the confluence and tendency
of each particular indance is not observed, or regard
ed." But the day is now come ray Lord, the public
have taken the alarm ; yourLordlhip's lawless decree,
in the court of Chancery,in the cause ofThicknefs and
Liege, and the manner in which it was corruptly af
firmed, in the Hlufe of Lords, has shook the king
dom to its very basis. 1 ill tnat fatal day, my Lord,
the supreme tribunal of this country stood un impea
ched and un polluted, as to matters of private proper
ty ; but that was a day in which a deed was done, that
even Lord Mansfield durst not become a partisan.
That day, my Lord, was not only a grievous day to
the appellant but will prove a fatal blow " Britain.
When the sou. Hons ofjuftice are so corrupted,
that the firft law office b s he kingdom ffiall dare to
stand forth, in the highest court ofjudicature, know
ing that he has afliftantjudges, determined to Support
him in reading letters containing the opinions of men
not judges in that court, in order to affirm a decree
unsupported by argument, and in direct contradi&ion
to a former and recent judgment of that house, the
day cannot be very remote, when thenation, thelaws,
and the violators of them will all be involved in one
common rum.
Your Lordship is now brought to a greater Trib
unal than even the House of Lords,
The 'Tribunal of the PUBLIC.
You stand charged my Lord, at that awful bar,
with setting at defiance those laws you were so Shame
fully appointed to support, in order to affirm a wick
ed decree, without law to sustain it, or an argument
to give even a colour to fhide it. You did it, my
Lord, by the abidance of that Buckhorfe Bully Lord
Denbigh, who affaffiaated juttice, amd ftifled every
idea of honour and humanity;; till he had driven
every honest man, but Lord Camden, out of the
House! He, it is true, was not to be menaced from
his duty by the groffett language, nor frightened
from his pole by the fouleft fiend who ever appeared
in human form.
Arc you not afraid, my Lord, to lie down in your
bed, knowing, for you do know it, that you have fa
crificed a whole family to your vanity, and thereby
ruined a gentleman, who has eight children ; the
eldest of whom is next heir to a feat in that house
you have so openly dishonoured, by plundering his
father, and family, of their legal property.
I have seen, my Lord, a copy of this gentleman's
letter, written to his eldest son, now at Gibralter, the
day after he was facrificed at the altar cf ministerial
justice.
In that pathetic letter, my Lord, the highly inju
red, and deeply affli^cd father, 'after informing his
son with the foul doings of your Lordfnip, and your
wicked coadj utorsy adds,
And now, my dear son, let me call upon you, as.
your affectionate father, and as your faithful friend
(for bc/adhred I am both) never to enter the House
of Lords, without calling your eyes about you, and
faying, in this house in y father was defrauded of ten
thousand ,ounds ; and if ever you should be called
to fit in judgment there, never take your feat in it,
without looking up to heaven,and calling upon God,
Containing the Freiheft ADVICES,
MONDAY, Aug ust 14, 1775,
CONNECTICUT
AND
WEEKLY
WILLIAM DE GREY.
In a former paper (No. VII.) I gave your Lord
fhipa copy of Sir William De Grey's firft prevari
cating letter to the appellant, Thickness. On that
letter I made but one comment. Ou this 1 shall,
at pefent, make only one other. Either Sir William
De Grey (I will not blot my paper with calling
him a Chief Juftice)cannot support Lord Mansfield's
Coto of Sir IVilliam De Grefs Letter to Philip Thick
tiefs, Eff;
SI R,
TA M very sorry that you press me so much to
{ speak more explicitly upon the fubjectof your
letter. Ido not think that I can, with propriety,
give an answer to the question your are pleased to alk
me. I am Sir, your molt obedient
Feb 21, 1775. humble Servant,
The week and feebleefforts of Lord Camden were
overpowered by your Lofdlhip's great abilities, and
nobly sustained by Lord Denbigh, and your other
auxiliary troops.
That Sir William De Grey's detention has pro
duced in him both shame and fear, is very obvious,
for he never fufpeded you would so openly publish
his secret inftru&ions, as his letter to the appellant.
Thicknefs,will clearly evince; and! m„a;f;},„
to fay if I can prevail upon yourLordfit"; 'Lit'ch<%
what the world thinks,& to underhand wh*ai I fey,you
will be equally afliamed ; though I confefs not equal
ly criminal with Sir William De Grey, I -fay not e
qually criminal, my Lord, for God forbid I should
think the crimes of so contemptible a wretch as
your Lordship are equal to those of a man as capable
of tercuring at once the laws, and involving them,
and a whole family, in one common ruin, as even
Lord Mansfield himfelf.
in a short prayer, to cm ble you upon every occafi m
to divest yourfelfof party zeal, all perfonai pq^e,
all private rcfentmtut, . and so to enlighten ,our
mind, and direfl your heart, that in all you lay or
do, it may be conformable to thaf godlike pecept
of doing as you would be,done by. If you do not
this ; then, to God, I offer up this my fervent pray
er, that you may never have any voice where justice
ought to be adminiftred."
Can your Lordship sustain thetofrid reflection of
the deed you have done? Of that BLACK. DAY's
WORK! Cam the soothing gentle manners of that
flattering low born * Perrin, or the smiles of your
obsequious Register, divert you from feeling the
mod pungent remorse ? Or do they, by .telling you,
how much they approve your decree, make your
pliant mind easy ? My Lord, I know they tell you
so ; but I will tell you, my Lord, that they durst
not fay so to any lawyer.
There is but one opinion among them, and that
is (you shall hear it, my Lord, while Junius can hold
a pen, and you the seals) that Lord Mansfield sing
led your Lordship out as a vain, weak, and wicked
wretch to support the fame falfe, and unsettled doc
trines in the Court of Chancery, which he has so
long, and so Ihamefully pra&ifed in the .Court of
King's-Bench ; and which he has address enough' to
give fan&ion to, even without appearing in person,
to appeals in the House of Lords.
When Lord Camden, with great gentlencfs of
manners, which ever accompanies solid sense, and
unshaken integrity, told yourLordfhip, that no man's
opinion, however high has station, or however great
his abilities, if not a judge in that court, could be
produced or read, left i. mould influence any of the
Lords in their judgments ; you had the boldness to
stand fortu, and calling down your hat, with which
you ought to have hid your face, you persisted in
reading Sir William De Grey's letter, because your
bully Lord Denbigh, said he would read another to
the fame purpose, if he had it.
Sir William De Grey's letter was then read by
your Lordship ! His opinion, it feerns, coincided
with the Duke of Chandois's, Lord Denbigh's, and
the two Scotch Lords, who fat for Lord Mansfield.
By these worthy Peers, my Lord, and two silent
Bishops, your Lordship's (I mean Sir William De
Grey's) decree was affirmed without a division.
TH E
* He is the Jon (fan oldcloaths man.
unmeaning jirgon about Lbflantive gifts, or he has ;
received further orders*.
I dial! conclude this letter to your Lordship, byl
observing that theic are Bill a few people difnofid'
to think layoutably of you, and to impute the blade '
part of this tianfo&ion to Sir William De Grey ;
because they confcls the weakness ofyour head, and
lament as a national misfortune, that a man of foch
contemptible abilities, as you: Lordffiip,and at luch
a time too, inould oilgtacc tne British nation, in
holding the kigheft law department in it, without
talents to acquit yourlelt with common decency, &
ven in the lowest ; but feme men are Bill willing
to hope you are honest.
Now, my Lord, for their fake, and for your own
allo, either aniwer the following question fairly and
openly, or for ever decline holding out lights to daz
zle the world with falle marks of your virtue and in
tegrity. .Would the felling a living to Dr. Dodd,
or his buying it of you, have been half so criminal
as what you arc now charged with ?
Did not your late dfeeafed brother Mr. Benja
min Bathurlt, keep his money, when he had any, at
Messrs. Hoare's in Fleet-Street? And did he not
frequently over draw upon that very refpedable
houle ? My Lord, he did, you know he did; and
did not you his executor, when you fettled the af
fairs, and pQlfeffed his property, refufe to allow the
house a sum of money your necessitous brother had
oyer drawn upon it, under the fhameful, fhameful,
did! fay! under the infamous pretence, that they
could not recover it, (he time being lapsed!
If this be true, my Lord, and Has you know are
obstinate things, the world will then be as fully fi
tisfied about t. c reEhtude of your heart, as they have
always been about the extent of your genius. They
will then be of one mind, its to your Lordship, what
ever they think of JUNIUS.
I never yet knew a man perfectly sober, taking
pains to convince every man he met, that he was so ;
but a drunken man is always anting the part of a so
ber one; when you rung the alarm about Dr.Dodd,
I violently fufpeded you, and soberly set you down
for the man all the world will now believe you be.
And I therefore must repeat, what I said before, the
nation will no longer bear with you ; your Lordffiip
cannot, after such foul proceedings, hold the great
ftal.
[NUMBER
e 6 U RAN T,
HARTFORD"
Intelligencer.
Cambyfes, King of Perlin, finding that his Chief
JiifticeSifamnes,had pronounced an unjull sentence,
cauied him to be execued and flayed, and with his
Ikin covered the cerumen feat ofjuftice ; then confti
cuted Otanes, his son, Judge in his room. lie fat
my Lord, upon his father's ftin, which probably
put him in mind of his own: And Perrin will make
the application for your Lordship ; and if he be not a
shamed, remind your Lordffiip of the fate of the two
time serving Judges,EmpfoH and Dudley, who were
hanged in the rtignofHepry the feyenth. Of this
tianfadion one of the greatest Lawyers, and most
upright Judge this nation was ever bleft with, mak s
this remarkable EpiphonNna.
" Jfi corum 'veftigus infiflunt, corum exitus brehorres
caW.---Thofe that dare tread in their steps let them
dread or exped the fame dismal end."
• In my next 1 Ihall lay before the public feme far
ther traits cf yourLoidibip's ptiblicand private life,
for be assured 1 will never drop my attention to you
while you continue to hold the seals.
*§* The public are desired to observe the cunning
of that meft artful, as well as mod wicked of men,
Lord Mansfield. His Lordship firft planned the af
firming the decree, made by his Chancellor in the
above cause, in order to reakhis private vengeance on
Thickness, ; and th-n, in a matter in which he was
totally indifferent about the issue, he affects to correct
Lord L---Defpencer, and Denbigh, for interfering
in nice points of law. This reprimand was taken in
good part, the two Lords were instantly convinced
of their error. They made proper and public ac
knowledgment of their ignorance in the tythe cause,
but Lord Denbigh's villainy, in the former cause, is
to pass unnoticed. JUNIUS.
{To be Continued)
th FOREIGN and DOMESTIC.