ion. No, my friends, our forefathers, though not alarmed at leffer grievances, faced death through infinite embarraffments, and were happy in fecuring this fundamental vital privilege on which all others depend. They bore many burdens, fubmitted to many impofitions, and forgave many injuries; but when their ambitious fervants were daring enough to ftrike at this darling inheritance, they made them feel their hotteft vengeance. The miniftry have lately ftruck at this great principle, by fixing Col. Luttrell in the House of Commons; they have affumed a power over the people who made them they act openly at the head of their placemen, dependents, and a ftanding army. They have erected their ftandard, in direct oppofition to the friends of liberty. Will one honeft man be found in their camp? You would oppofe a foreign invafion of your enemies, with all your natural fire and bravery: you would, in this cafe execrate the thought of inactivity; neutrality would be dreadfully criminal. Why, foreigners would but take away your liberties: your own countrymen (oh monftrous ingratitude!) mean to do no lefs. It is therefore an infult to your understandings and your honour, to fuppofe you will not immediately, to a man, unite in defence of your freedom. JUNIUS AMERICANUS. THIS letter is written with the spirit of a Junius, though the epithet Americanus has little reference to this fubject. It is adapted to keep the whole matter of the petitions in view. Number III. GAZETTE E R. Friday, November 17, 1769. No. 12,703 HERE is at prefent a very clamorous complaint against the corrupt influence of the Miniftry in the houfe of Commons, and imputations of a like nature have uniformly fubfifted from the day of the Revolution to this hour. The difference between the reasonablenefs of this complaining, and that which existed in the administration of Sir Robert Walpole, is not a little remarkable. In his miniftry the complainants neither were nor had been, either corruptors or corrupted; thofe of the prefent time have been both. In their afcent to power, they were confcientiously corrupted, by poft and penfion,. to labour at the oar, and tug the minifterial dung-boat against the wind and tide of the public difapprobation In the zenith of their power they purchased, by pecuniary corruption, a fresh gang to labour at the fame flavifh occupation, in which they had drudged, and now they are tumbled from their height, and no longer in a fituation to profecute their old practices, they affumed the unmerited name of patriots, and are rancorously declaiming againft that very influence which they exercited, and on which they depended for ftability; and all the invectives which they now fo virulently pronounce against the prefent miniftry, by placing the names of thofe male-contents, in the room of thofe against whom they inveigh, the trueft picture of themselves, and the jufteft fatire on their own tranfactions, will be perfectly exhibited. B 3 If If a nation can be feduced by fuch manifest delufion, and tempted by fuch ftale hypocrify, to believe the ground on which thefe declaimers would urge them to advance, is both folid and fecure, it is a manifeftation that they have lefs understanding than a troop of elephants. The quadrupeds are deceived by the apparent firmnefs of the foil, and the leaves which are feat tered on that artificial covering, to make it yet more natural, and thus they are caught in that pit which is prepared for their deftruction; but the petitioning dupes of thefe infidious agitators, precipitate themfelves into a ditch which ftands open to receive them, and though they break their limbs in the fall, they are ftill fufficiently foolish to believe they fhall find fafety at the bottom. It is no fmall inftance of the power of face, for men to complain of and condemn the very means of mischief, by which they themselves grew great, and preferved their power; and they muft poffefs an inexpreffible contempt for the judgment of mankind, in prefuming to offer fuch incredible tales as thofe of their being Patriots, even to the grofs credulity of the populace. Yet fuch is the averfion, which the diffolute, the neceffitous, the infidious, and the rabble, have from lawful power, and a juft administration of government, that reports, the most improbable, against minifters, are believed as truths of facred writ, when things, the moft deferving to be credited, against the oppofition, are unattended with the leaft degree of conviction. If a man be flain, perhaps by means not exactly correfponding with the laws, on the account of one fingle circumftance, in the quelling of a tu multuous mob, affembled, apparently, to tree a notorious criminal from the hands of justice and a prifon, and actually affaulting a magiftrate in the dif charge of his duty, what an exclamation is there uttered on the lofs of a deferving fon, the deplorable state of an unhappy and inconfolable father, the infraction of the laws, and the commiffion of murder! A monument is erected for the memory of this man, who certainly by his life, and by the manner of his being killed, was entitled to no merit; an Epitaph is inscribed, printed, and difperfed, in order to inflame the multitude against the Miniftry, and with this view alone they have lamented the deplorable fate of an Inn-keeper's fon, as if he had been the fole hero on which the hopes of England were founded, and the lofs irreparable to the nation. At the fame time, when the lawless riot of a rapacious mob was defpoiling their fellow-citizens of their lawful property, and obliging the honeft and induftrious to contribute, by their labour, to the fupport of fuch attrocious villains; when they were in arms, incapable of being fuppreffed by the civil magiftrate, and threatened death to all who oppofed them; when the military was called to protect the violated, and a foldier killed in discharge of his duty, and the protection of his fellow-fubjects, the flaying that man paffed by almost unnoticed, unpitied, and unlamented. No charge of violating the laws, in the public papers, by these ruffians, no tomb-ftone, infcription or clamour on this account, all was passed in filence, as if the perfon murdered had been the very person who flew Allen, or as one who had not been flain in the fervice of his country, and the prefervation of the public tranquillity. I do not mention thefe tranfactions as an approbation of the putting any man to death by means not ftrictly justifiable by law, but to prove that the inftammatory proceedings, in the former inftance, were not the effects of fenfibility for the lives of their fellow-fubjects, but the refult of malevolence and of mischief, in men who have been as little reluctant to the fa crificing crificing their fellow-fubjects on occafions not lefs condeninable, and who are as ready to repeat those which are fimilar, as they were to commit the former. We hear and read, perpetually, the declamations of the ignorant and de figning, against the dangers, to which the liberties of England are exposed, by the existence of a standing army. We experience the horrors and the depredations of a fet of banditti, and we feel the advantages of a military force in fubduing them, and yet the difcontented malevolents exclaim against that very power which protects them, and by which their properties are preferved. Sheriffs march manfully into Spitalfields, to quell a riot already fubdued; and remain fhamefully inactive, whilft the most daring infult is offered to the freedom of their fellow-citizens, their property invaded, and their fafety risked by the impudence of a rabble, because it is the birth-day of a profligate, and a blafphemer, now confined in prison for his crimes. A mob at Brentford is a most daring attack on the freedom of electing members of parliament, and another at St. James's, against thofe loyal fubjects who were equally entitled to the freedom of addreffing their fovereign, and even against the dignity of the Palace, in which their King refides, is a meritorious act. From innumerable inftances I am perfuaded, that the prefent antipathy to ftanding armies, fprings entirely from the confcioufnefs of thofe malig nants, that the military force will protect their Sovereign againft the rebel lious intentions which the former have conceived: and in fome future papers I will prove, that the liberties of England have been encreased by the eftablishment of a regular corps of national troops, and cannot be preferved without it. THE above appeared in the Gazetteer, November 17th. without any fignature, and is an elaborate comprehenfive difplay of the matters in debate at the prefent crifis, calculated to recommend the adminiftration fide of the question. Number IV. MIDDLESEX JOURNAL. No. 101. Thursday, November 23, 1769. To all the Freeholders of England and Scotland who have not yet Petitioned. Gentlemen, A FELLOW countryman cannot at this critical time help calling upon you to be attentive to your great and important concerns; every thing that is dear to you, and to your children, is now at stake; your liberties, your properties; nay, and even your lives may be all hazarded and loft, if you do not at this time roufe yourselves in their defence, and in a dutiful application to the throne, befeech his Majefty's gracious interpofition in your behalf,and in behalf of all that is dear to you here. Suffer not yourselves to be awed by an infamous and corrupt my, nor to be delu ded by the fallacious fpeeches of any of their tools, or of weak who B 4 men, have have not sense to fee their danger, but exert yourselves now like men, and by fhewing that the people of this country will not be flaves, preferve your dear-bought privileges, and fecure that freedom to your children by good and proper laws. The Houfe of Cns have invaded the moft tender of your rights, and have perfifted in fupporting it: there is no re drefs for you, but in the King's diffolving fuch a c- t affembly, who have fhewn themselves ready to do whatever a wicked m-~ y may dictate to them. They have exceeded their powers in that arbitrary act of feating L-11 as member for Middlefex. Could they do that, the people would immediately become infignificant flaves; but hear what a very learned judge [Jenkins] fays, in page 149 of his works, printed at London in 1648, when the Houfe of Commons was in the height of it's power. "The electing of a member, who hath fitten, is against the law; for they 66 cannot remove a man out of the house unduly returned, much lefs a man "returned duly." 66 2 H. IV. "By thefe laws it appears, that if any undue return "be made, the perfon returned is to continue a member, 1 H. V. c. I. 8 H. VI. c. 7 "the fheriff's punishment is 2001. one to the King, "another to the party that is duly elected, imprison23 H. VI. c. 15. «ment for a year without bail or mainprize; and that "person who is unduly returned, fhall ferve at his own charge, and have no benefit at the end of the parliament by the writ de folutione feodorum "militum, civium et burgenfium parliament. And the trial of the falfity "of the return is to be before the juftices of the affizes in the proper county, "or by action of debt in any court of record. This condemns the com"mittee for undue elections, which hath been practifed but of late times; "for befides thefe laws, it is a maxim in the common law. An aver "ment is not receivable againft the return of the fheriff, for his return " is upon oath, which oath is to be credited in that fuit wherein the return ❝ is made. "The faid ftatutes condemn and make those members no members, which "were not refiant in the county and boroughs for which they were elected, 66 at the time of the tefte of the writ of the fummons of the parliament, and any abufive practice of late times to the contrary is against the law, and "ought not to be allowed." 66 3 Edw. VI. 20. 5 Edw. VI. 14. I could add much more from the fame author, but this is fufficient. A. B. C. Mr. A. B. C. has taken commendable pains upon this fubject, and what is here offered will appear very fufficient to perfons who allow the force of obfolete ftatutes. Though the modern precedents were opposed thereto on a late occafion. Number Number. V. PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Friday, November 17, 1769. No. 109,35. T HERE cannot be a greater proof of the patriotic principles of the prefent oppofition than thofe difinterested meafures which they pursue. They have petitioned the king for a Diffolution of Parliament, though fome of them have Seats which they bought, and others Seats which they fold. It is easy to fee how both thefe forts of gentlemen will be hurt, fhould his majefty pursue their public-fpirited advice. The former cannot be rechofen without a confiderable expence; and it may be that the perfons who brought them into parliament this feffion, may be diffatisfied with their conduct, and refuse to elect them again. The latter will be obliged, if they have either honour or confcience, to refund the money which they received for their boroughs; and as they are now regenerated, and become patriots, they cannot for fhame think of felling them again, fhould there be a new parliament; but will look out for fome patriotic friend, Mr. Horne for inftance, or Samuel Vaughan, Efq. and bring him into parliament gratis. I love to fpeak, fo as to be understood, and therefore beg leave to explain my meaning. It is notorious that the boroughs of Gatton in Surrey, and Old Sarum in Cornwall, were fold publicly at the market-crofs; and I call in particular upon my good friend Mr. Thomas Pitt to tell me whether he did not receive feven thousand pounds for bringing in the two members for the latter of these boroughs. Now let me afk the faid gentleman, who has been fo forward in promoting the Cornwall Petition, whether he means to refund the money, should the prefent parliament be diffolved? It is manifeft that it was paid for a feven years feat; and if by his means the feffion fhould be put an end to in two years, he cannot confcientiously as an honeft man keep the money that was given him. This would be as bad as granting an annuity for a number of years, and then prevailing upon an apothecary to poifon the annuitant. An action which these patriotic gentlemen would fooner die than be guilty of. No! they will certainly return the money that was paid them; and as the boroughs are manifeftly the rotten part of our conftitution, I make no doubt but they will petition his majefty to extirpate them. Such a step as this would be truly patriotic- it would recommend them to the love and efteem of their fellow-fubjects, and could not fail to ftop the mouths of all thofe Minifterial Hirelings, who are perpetually infinuating that they petition the king to diffolve the prefent parliament, for no one earthly reafon, but that they may be able to fet their boroughs again to fale, and grow rich by a moft pernicious and profligate kind of merchandize. I am, SIR, Your moft humble fervant, OLD SLYBOOTS. THE fignature is proper enough to the manner of the author, though feveral of his affertions are flatly contradicted by another writer. Number |