the Chancellor carried round Westminster-Hall in Bacchalian Triumph, the Train, Mace, and Purse, borne by three drunken Trolls picked out of a Brandy-shop at Temple-Bar.
My Lord, Men’s Minds are formed by what they have been accustomed to. Those who remember the polished Manners, and elegant Arguments, of former Chancellors, are shocked at your Lordship’s Brutal Decision: SIC VOLO, SIC JUBEO.7—My Lord, I do not use these Expressions as merely similar to your Lordship’s. I do aver, that since your Lordship has had the Custody of the Great Seal, I have heard you decide a Question at Law, argued by an eminent Council, in these very Words—I AM OF A DIFFERENT OPINION—I heard your Lordship decide in these Words—I HEARD THAT VERY DECISION REVERSED AS ERRONEOUS.
My Lord, your Lordship’s Conduct is become too glaringly despicable.—When the Great Seal had been taken from LORD CAMDEN, for daring to speak his Sentiments in Parliament; and the ever-to-be-lamented YORKE8 had, by a virtuous Death, atoned too severely for the Weakness of an unguarded Moment, (for who can withstand the Persuasion of Kings, when they become Suitors?) the Gap was to be stopped—it was necessary that
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the Office of Chancellor should be filled;—your Lordship was pitched upon, by Lord Mansfield, as a Man who, being too weak to form Opinions of his own, would pay implicit Obedience of His Dictates, and, in the Character of the Great Law Officer, AVOW Legal Opinions, his Patron might be unwilling to risque.—This was the Ground on which your Lordship was made Chancellor;—The Nation saw it, and lamented, that an Office, of such infinite Importance, should be disposed of from such Motives, and to such a Man.—For, my Lord, do you think the World ever considered you as a Lawyer?—Those who had attended Westminster-Hall knew, that your Abilities as a Man, and your Knowledge as a Lawyer, were below Contempt.—They knew, that in the Character of an Advocate, you had never got 200 L. a Year in all the Courts of Westminster taken together:—They were astonished, when you were made a Judge;—but they were exasperated, when you were made Chancellor?—In the Discharge of the Duty of that Office, they saw that your Decisions were ever unsupported by Argument; from hence they were led to suspect, that your Decrees were made by Others.—My Lord, they suspected this: But they did not know it, till your Lordship, in the Debate of this Day, put the Matter beyond a Doubt:—You will say, perhaps, a Chancellor may ask the Assistance of those, whose Judgment he esteems.—True, my Lord; but then let him call on them in the Character of Assessors—that they may hear the Arguments of Counsel—that they may be answerable for the Doctrines they lay down—and, that the Suitor may know, by whose Opinion his Property is bound.
My Lord this is your Character; drawn with more Truth, than by those Sycophants, who tell you that you are greater a Chancellor than Hardwick, Talbot or Camden!—No Man ever doubted about your Head;—the Conduct of this Day has fixed Men’s Opinions of your Heart.—My Lord, it was a foul Proceeding.
It was a Black Day’s Work; Justice seemed in Eclipse:
The Suiter had seen with Grief, in what weak Hands the Great Seal was entrusted: but when he saw, that if your Ignorance led you to decide erroneously, a PACK’D HOUSE of PEERS might be brought together to sacrifice his Property to your Vanity, he was struck with Horror.—My
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Lord, the Nation will not bear it,—and after the Scene of this Day, your Lordship cannot hold the GREAT SEAL.
JUNIUS.9
P.S. When the Decree was affirmed, there was not above five or six Lords in the House, besides Lords Camden and the present Chancellor.—Lord PAULET (to his Honour be it recorded) moved to have the Judges called in. This Motion was over-ruled, and he retired.—It was the Duke of Chandois, Lord Denbigh, Lord Cathcart, and Lord Galloway,10 who took upon themselves to decide a nice Question of Law, which ought to have been argued with Wisdom and Discretion, but which was debated with Passion, and decided by Party-Zeal.—In short, what raised the Chancellor, ruined the Suitor,—THE TIMES.
Note, When the House of Lords were met, to hear the Cause, a Message was sent to Lord Mansfield by the Chancellor, to know if he would attend,—but, the Chancellor very well knew, he would not attend:—He knew, that
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Lord Mansfield could not resist the Arguments of Lord Camden; and that he must concur with him in reversing the Decree:—Lord Mansfield therefore stayed in Westminster-Hall, to decide the Property of twenty-five Pounds, and neglected his Duty to attend, where Ten Thousand Pounds were at Stake, as well as the Honour of the Nation:—He well knew the honest Zeal of Lords Cathcart and Galloway, the Villainy of Lord Denbigh, and the Folly of the cajoled Duke of Chandois:11—He knew that they would attend, constantly, to take Notes, in Order to form a Determination, they went into the House prepared for;—namely, To affirm the Decree,—and do for Lord Mansfield what he durst not do himself.
Lord Mansfield’s personal Dislike to the Suitor has long been well known.—When he appeared at the Bar of the King’s Bench to receive Judgment for libelling Lord Orwell,12—Lord Mansfield jumped from the Seat of Justice, and with Fury in his Eyes, and an Agitation of Body consonant thereto,—exclaimed Commit him! Commit him!—an Indecency of Behaviour which astonished the whole Court.
“Sir,—I am entirely a Stranger to what has been passing in the House of Lords, upon the Subject of your Letter, not knowing till a Day or two ago, that there was any Cause depending there in which you were interested; and then, only in casual Conversation.”
I am, Sir, &c.
WILLIAM DE GREY.
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On this Letter I will make but one Comment:—Either Sir William De Grey’s Answer to the Appellant contains an Untruth, or your Lordship has practised on the House of Peers an Imposition of the Blackest Dye.
Printed and published for the Authors, by T. W. SHAW, in Fleet-Street, opposite Anderton’s Coffee House, and by his appointment the Corner of Little Turnstile, Holborn, where Letters to the Publisher will be thankfully received.
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THE
CRISIS
| NUMBER VIII | To be continued Weekly. |
| SATURDAY, MARCH 11, 1775 | [Price Two-pence Half-penny. |
To the Lords Suffolk, Pomfret, Radnor, Apsley, and Sandwich.
How Glorious the Æra, thrice happy th’ Day,
When Private Int’rest to Public gives way,
When Bribes cannot tempt your Lordships to sell,
Th’
