is because they are too vulgar and notorious. But the inattention or indifference of the nation has continued too long. You are roused at last to a fenfe of your danger.-The remedy. will foon be in your power. If Junius lives, You shall often be reminded of it. If, when the opportunity presents itself, You neglect to do your duty to yourselves and to pofterity,— to God and to your country, I fhall have one confolation left, in common with the meaneft and basest of mankind.-Civil liberty may ftill laft the life of JUNIUS. LETTER S. LETTER I. TO THE RT. HONOURABLE LORD MANSFIELD. MY LORD, Nov. 14, 1770. THE appearance of this letter will attract the curiofity of the public, and command even your lordship's attention. I am confiderably in your debt, and fhall endeavour, once for all, to balance the account. Accept of this addrefs, my lord, as a prologue to more important fcenes, in which you will probably be called upon to act or fuffer. You will not queftion my veracity, when I af fure you that it has not been owing to any particular respect for your perfon that I have abstained from you fo long. Befides the diftrefs and danger with which the prefs is threatened, when your lordship is party, and the party is to be judge, I confefs I have been deterred by the difficulty of the task. Our language has no term of reproach, VOL. II. B the the mind has no idea of deteftation, which has not already been happily applied to you, and exhaufted.-Ample juftice has been done by abler pens than mine to the feperate merits of your life and character. Let it be my humble office to collect the scattered fweets, till their united virtue tortures the fenfe. Permit me to begin with paying a just tribute to Scotch fincerity, wherever I find it. I own I ám not apt to confide in the profeffions of gentlemen of that country, and when they fmile, I feel an involuntary emotion to guard myself againft mischief. With this general opinion of an ancient nation, I always thought it much to your lordfhip's honour, that, in your earlier days, you were but little infected with the prudence of your country. You had fome original attachments, which you took every proper opportunity to acknowledge. The liberal fpirit of youth prevailed over your native difcretion. Your zeal in the caufe of an unhappy prince was expreffed with the fincerity of wine, and fome of the folemnities of religion. This I conceive, is the most amiable point of view, in which your character has appeared. * *This man was always a rank Jacobite. Lord Ravenfworth produced the most fatisfactory Evidence of his hav in frequently drank the Pretender's health upon his knees. peared. Like an honeft man, you took that part in politics, which might have been expected, from your birth, education, country and connexions. There was fomething generous in your attachment to the banished houfe of Stuart. We lament the mistakes of a good man, and do not begin to deteft him until he affects to renounce his principles. Why did you not adhere to that loyalty you once profeffed? why did you not follow the example of your worthy brother ? with him, you might have shared in the honour of the Pretender's confidence with him, you might have preserved the integrity of your character, and England, I think, might have fpared you without regret.-Your friends will fay, perhaps, that altho' you deserted the fortune of your liege lord, you have adhered firmly to the principles which drove his father from the throne ;-that without openly supporting the perfon, you have done effential fervice to the caufe, and confoled yourself for the lofs of a favourite family by reviving and establishing the maxims of their goThis is the way, in which a Scotchman's understanding corrects the error of his heart. -My lord, I acknowledge the truth of the de vernment. * Confidential Secretary to the late. Pretender. This circumstance confirmed the friendship between the brethers. - your fence, and can trace it through all your conduct. I fee, through your whole life, one uniform plan to enlarge the power of the crown, at the expence of the liberty of the fubject. To this object, your thoughts, words and actions have been conftantly directed. In contempt or ignorance of the common law of England, you have made it ftudy to introduce into the court, where you prefide, maxims of jurisprudence unknown to Englishmen. The Roman code, the law of nations, and the opinion of foreign civilians, are your perpetual theme; but who ever heard you mention Magna Charta or the Bill of Rights with approbation or refpect? By fuch treacherous arts, the noble fimplicity and free spirit of our Saxon laws were first corrupted. The Norman conqueft was not compleat, until Norman lawyers had introduced their laws, and reduced flavery to a fyftem. This one leading principle directs your interpretation of the laws, and accounts for your treatment of juries. It is not in political queftions only (for there the courtier might be forgiven) but let the cause be what it may, your understanding is equally on the rack, either to contract the power of the jury, or to mislead their judgment. For the truth of this affertion, I appeal to the doctrine you delivered in lord Grofvenor's caufe. An action for criminal converfation |