the whole of the proceedings at Nisi Prius, as well the evidence that had been given as his own charge to the jury. This proceeding would have been very proper had a motion been made of either side for a new trial, because either a verdict given contrary to evidence, or an improper charge by the judge at Nisi Prius, is held to be a sufficient ground for granting a new trial; but when a motion is made in arrest of judgment, or for establishing the verdict, by entering it up according to the legal import of the words, it must be on the ground of something appearing on the record; and the court, in considering whether the verdict shall be established or not, are so confined to the record that they cannot take notice of anything that does not appear on the face of it; to make use of the legal phrase, they cannot travel out of the record. Lord Mansfield did travel out of the record. I affirm therefore with Lord Chatham, that his conduct was irregular, extrajudicial, and unprecedented; and I am sure there is not a lawyer in England that will contradict me. His real motive for doing what he knew to be wrong was, that he might have an opportunity of telling the public extrajudicially, that the other three judges agreed with him in the doctrine laid down in his charge. When you have read this paper, I am sure you will join with me in opinion, that to support an uniform system of falsehood, requires greater parts than even those of Lord Mansfield. PHALARIS. LETTER LXXXIII. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. SIR, December 24, 1770. WITHOUT attempting to account for all the political changes which have happened since his Majesty's auspicious accession to the throne, it requires but little sagacity to observe that the general principle from which they have arisen is uniform and consistent with itself. A prince of the house of Brunswick searches for the consolation and endearments of private sociality and friendship in the loyal hearts of jacobites, Tories, and Scotchmen: a devout prince, whose sincere unaffected piety would have done honour even to Charles the First, intrusts the public government of his affairs to Grafton, North, Halifax, and Sandwich. The first choice naturally led to the second. The private convivial hours of Jonathan Wild were happily unbent in the company of the lower adepts in pilfering and petty larceny. In public he resumed his state, and never appeared without an attendant knot of highwaymen and assassins. I congratulate this country upon the return of the Earl of Sandwich to a station in which he has heretofore given complete satisfaction to his royal master*. It is the more pleasing because it was unexpected. A gracious and a truly religious prince had often declared that this was the only man in his dominions whom he never would suffer to enter the cabinet. He was tender of the morals of his ministers, and the Bedfords had delicacy enough to acquiesce in the truth of the objection. I feel for his Majesty's distress. To what a melancholy condition must he be reduced, when he is forced to apply to the Earl of Sandwich as the last resource, the only prop remaining to stop the fall of government? Lord Weymouth, it seems, retires perfectly satisfied, and determined to support men and measures as vigorously as if he had continued in employment. Good-humoured creature! What a pity it is that he cannot submit to the drudgery of receiving seven thousand pounds a year! The King presses him to accept of some other post, where there is neither labour nor responsibility; anything, in short, provided he will not fling the public mortification upon his royal master of quitting his service at so critical a conjuncture. Still he resists; still he refuses; but though he quits all connection with ministers and their practices, it is impossible to interrupt his complacency and good-humour. By this nobleman's retreat the nation has made some capital acquisitions. To say nothing of my Lord Sandwich, what do you think of the amiable Mr. Bamber Gascoyne, and that well-educated, gen * The office of Foreign Minister, vacant by the removal of the Earl of Rochford to the Home Department, and which, before its occupation by the bitter, had been held for two or three years by Lord Viscount Weymouth. teel young broker, Mr. Chamier*? The first is to thunder in the senate; the second, in quality of secretary, is to direct the most secret and important manoeuvres of government. Well done, my Lord Sandwich! Your company, I'll be sworn, will be no reproach to you. But was there no employment to be found for Tommy Bradshaw's sister as well as his brother-in-law? She too understands the disposal of places; at least his fraternal affection has given her the credit of it. Give me leave, Mr. Woodfall, to ask you a serious question. How long do you think it possible for this management to last? How long is this great country to be governed by a boot and a petticoat?-by the infamous tools of a Scotch exile, and her Royal Highness the Princess Dowager of Wales?-by North, Ellis, Barrington, Jenkinson, Hillsborough, Jerry Dyson, and Sandwich? I will answer you with precision. It will last until there is a general insurrection of the English nation, or until the house of Bourbon have collected their strength and strike you to the heart. DOMITIAN. P.S. Tell the Duke of Grafton, that if he should dare to entertain the most distant thought of the Admiralty, the whole affair of Hine's patent shall be revived and published, with an accumulation of evidence. He at least shall be kept under. His Ciceronian eloquence shall not save him. 18 PHALARIS presents his compliments to Sir preparing for the press a faithful account of Mr. Justice's amours with the Lady Williams; and, as he wishes not to give *Chamier was afterwards appointed chief secretary to Lord Barrington, through the interest of Mr. Bradshaw and his master, the Duke of Grafton, at that time again in administration, as Lord Privy Seal. See Private Let ters, Nos. 52 and 56. + See Miscellaneous Letters, Nus. 71, ante, 299, and 74, p. 305. a plain narrative too much the air of a romance, would be very glad to be furnished with any material facts which Mr. Justice may think proper to have inserted; but in order not to give Mr. Justice any unnecessary trouble, Phalaris thinks it proper to apprise him of those circumstances, in which he (Phalaris) is already particularly instructed, viz., how Mr. Justice was distressed for want of practice; how he was impatient at trying a long cause in a hot day at Hereford; how he made a declaration at a public dinner, confirmed by execrations, that he would marry the devil with money, rather than practise the law without it; how he was introduced to Lady Williams; how, upon sufficient deliberation, he preferred her ladyship to the devil; how he explained his tender passion; how, with a gallant impatience, he hastened the marriage ceremony before he saw the writings of her estate; how he stepped into a hackney coach, one fine morning, in a suit of white cloth lined with green velvet; how he had a levee of visitors at his gate the day after his auspicious nuptials; how Lady Williams complained next morning; how she retired to her country seat near Hereford; how Mr. Justice pursued her in company with a certain strong lady with a strait waistcoat; how both parties, with great cordiality, signed articles of separation; and how Mr. Justice retired to Ireland, without taking leave of his friends. Phalaris hopes Mr. Justice will have no objection to the following motto: Felices ter, et amplius, Quos irrupta tenet copula. LETTER LXXXV. For the Public Advertiser. INTELLIGENCE EXTRAORDINARY. January 9, 1771. SIR Edward Hawke resigned this morning. The Earl of Sandwich is to succeed to the Admiralty. His Majesty, who judges of men by their moral characters, has discovered at last that this nobleman is as well qualified for one post as another. 米米米米米米米 His religion would do honour to a mitre. If he were Archbishop of Canterbury, the Princess Dowager of Wales could not do better than make him her father confessor. In the spirit of primitive Christianity, they might confess to one another. Who is to be secretary of state is not yet known, for we all agree that Lord Suffolk has too much sense and spirit to prostitute his virgin character in such a St. James's. When a beautiful woman yields to temptation, let her consult her pride, though she forgets her virtue. To be corrupted by such a maquereau as Whately would turn the appetite of Moll Flanders. This poor man, with the talents of an attorney, sets up for an ambassador, and with the agility of Colonel Bodens, undertakes to be a courier. Indeed, Tom! as you have betrayed yourself too soon. Mr. Grenville, your friend, your patron, your benefactor, who raised you from a depth compared to which even Bradshaw's family stands on an eminence, was hardly cold in his grave when you solicited the office of go-between to Lord North. You could not, in my eyes, be more contemptible, though you were convicted (as I dare say you might be) of having constantly betrayed him in his lifetime. Since I know your employment, be assured I shall watch you attentively. Every journey you undertake, every message you carry, shall be immediately laid before the public. The event of your ingenious management will be this-that Lord North, finding you cannot serve him, will give you nothing. From the other party, you have just as much detestation to expect as can be united with the profoundest contempt. Tom Whately, take care of yourself! + LETTER LXXXVI. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. SIR, January 11, 1771. YOUR correspondent W. is equally unfortunate in his attack upon Junius and his defence of Lord Mansfield. Junius does not enter into the particular merits of the Grosvenor cause, See Miscellaneous Letters, Nos. 96, post, p. 368, and 97, p. 379. |