of all these black, and deadly Crimes, and yet you Screen and Protect them; the Conclusions to be drawn from thence are obvious, and you, like Charles, may Live to see Your Favourites FALL.
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To the People of ENGLAND and AMERICA.
On the 31st of March will be published, Price 1s 6d. in Quarto, on a fine Paper and new Type,
The Prophecy of RUIN, a Poem.
Ense velut Stricto, quoties Lucilius ardens
Infremuit, rubet Auditor cui frigida Mens est,
Criminibus, tacita sudant Praecordia Culpa.
JUVENAL.
Sharp as a Sword Lucilius drew his Pen,
And struck with panic Terror guilty Men,
At his just Strokes the harden’d Wretch would start,
Feel the cold Sweat, and tremble at the Heart.
Printed and published for the Authors, by T. W. SHAW, in Fleet Street, opposite Anderton’s Coffee House, where Letters to the Publisher will be thankfully received.
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THE
CRISIS
| NUMBER X | To be continued Weekly. |
| SATURDAY, MARCH 25, 1775 | [Price Two-pence Half-penny. |
LETTER II.
To the Right Honourable LORD APSLEY, Lord Chancellor of England.
My LORD,
March 6, 1775.
I SHALL begin this letter to your Lordship, with an extract of a Letter, I addressed some Time since, to Lord Mansfield, because I knew how exactly your Lordship’s capacity is fitted, to think just as he thinks.
To him observed;—to your Lordship I repeat it.—
“That in matters of private Property, we see the same byass and Inclination, to depart from the decision of your Predecessors, which you certainly ought to receive, as evidence of Common Law: Instead of those certain positive Rules, by which the Judgement of a Court of Law, should invariably be determined; you have fondly introduced, your own unsettled notions, of equity, and substantial Justice. Decisions given upon such Principles, do not alarm the Public, so much as they ought; because the Consequence, and tendency of EACH PARTICULAR INSTANCE, is not observed, or regarded.” But the Day is now come my Lord;—the Public
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have taken the Alarm;—your Lordships lawless Decision, in the court of Chancery, in the Cause of THICKNESS and LIEGE, and the Mannner in which it was corruptly Affirmed in the House of Lords, has shook the Kingdom to its very Basis.—Till that fatal Day my Lord, the supreme Tribunal of this Country, stood un-impeached and un-polluted, as to Matters of Private Property: 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 only a grievous Day, to the Appellant: but it will prove a fatal Blow to BRITAIN.
When the Foundations of Justice, are so corrupted, that the first Law Officer in the Kingdom, shall dare to stand forth, in the highest Court of Judicature, knowing that he has assistant Judges, 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 contradiction to a former and recent Judgment of that House; the Day cannot be very remote, when the Nation, the Laws and the Violators of them, will all be involved in one COMMON RUIN.
You Lordship is now brought to a greater TRIBUNAL, 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 shamefully appointed to support, in order to confirm a wicked Decree, without Law to sustain it, or an Argument to give even a Colour to shade it. You did it my Lord, by the assistance, of that BUCKHORE BULLY, Lord Denbigh, who assassinated Justice, and stifled every Idea of Honor, or 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 grossest Language: nor frightened from his Post, by the foulest Fiend who ever appeared in human form.
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Are you not afraid, my Lord, to lie down in your Bed, knowing—for you do know it; that you have sacrificed a whole Family to your Vanity, and thereby ruined a Gentleman, who has eight Children; the Eldest of whom, is next Heir, to a Seat 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 Gentlemans Letter, written to his Eldest Son, now at Giberalter, the Day after he was sacrificed at the Altar of Ministerial Justice.
In that pathetic Letter, my Lord, the highly injured, and deeply afflicted Father, after informing his Son with the foul doings of your Lordship, and your wicked Coadjutors,—adds;
“And now my dear Son, let me call upon you, as your affectionate Father, and as your faithful Friend, (for be assured I am both) never to enter the House of Lords, without casting your Eyes about you, and saying; IN THIS HOUSE MY FATHER WAS DEFRAUDED OF TEN THOUSAND POUNDS: and if ever you should be called to sit in Judgement there, never take your Seat in it, without looking up to Heaven, and calling upon GOD, in a short Prayer; to enable you upon every Occasion, to divest yourself of all Party-Zeal; all personal Pique; all private Resentment; and so to enlighten your Mind, and direct your Heart, that in all you say, or do, it may be conformable to that Godlike precept, OF DOING, AS YOU WOULD BE DONE BY.—If you do not this; then, to GOD, I offer up this, my fervent Prayer.—That you may never have any Voice where Justice ought to be Administered.”
Can your Lordship sustain the horrid Reflection, of the Deed you have done? (OF THAT Black Day’s Work!) Can the SOOTHING GENTLE MANNERS of that flattering low born† Perrin, or the Smiles of your obsequious Register, divert you from feeling the most 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 say so, to any LAWYER.
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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 singled your Lordship out, as a vain, weak, and wicked Wretch; to support the same false, and unsettled Doctrines in the Court of Chancery, which he has so long, and so shamefully practised, in the Court of King’s Bench; and which he has Address enough to give sanction to, even without appearing in Person, to Appeals in the House of Lords.
When Lord Camden, with that gentleness of Manners, which ever accompanies solid Sense, and unshaken Integrity; told your Lordship, that no Mans Opinion, however high his Station, or however great
