morrow a rank nuisance or non-entity. In short, he must be ready and accommodating with his vote, his lie, his oath, if neceffary; and then it matters not how deftitute he is of every other qualification.

The perfecution, exercifed upon the friends, dependents, and relations of the duke of Newcastle, affords us a moft glaring proof, how far the malice and mean-fpirited refentment of the clan will carry them. These modern Syllas have exceeded, in profcription, their great pattern and original; they have extended their revenge, with inhumanity that is unprecedented, beyond the grave: even fome, who owed their fole fupport to the benevolence and generofity of the late Mr. Pelham, were turned adrift and left to ftarve, without fo much as the pretence of an offence. The brothers, coufins, and relations of the worthieft patriots, who were too brave and honeft to kneel down to the invaders, faw creatures of more pliant ftuff put daily in poffeffion of their places, without impeachment of their conduct, or any intimation previous to their removal. The northern politicians thus have built their edifice of tyranny by force and terror, as the Jews did of old their temple, fword

in band.

The nation (who can wonder at it?) took the alarm, and manifested an abhorrence of such odious violences; nor will the ferment, raised by them, fubfide, till the fame difpofition fhall appear to right the injuries of Englishmen, that operated with fuch cordial energy to the relief of the beloved Scotchman.

The late difmiffion of lieutenant-general Conway, with the fimilar fate of other worthy-officers before, revives the memory of past indignities, and has renewed the general confternation. The gentlemen, particularly of the army, afk one another with furprize, of what offence he has been guilty? when,

and

and before what court martial he was tried? they fuffer for their brother officer's misfortune; they are not without apprehenfions for themselves; and they feel not a little for the honour of their profeffion. It is not yet declared authentically, of what omiffion or commiffion, as an officer, he is accused. The character he bears, moft amiable and unexceptionable in all refpects, inclines them to believe he must have been maliciously mifreprefented, as was the recent cafe of general Monckton.

It is, as I have fhewn, the plan pursued by the dictator of the north, and his devoted vaffals, to turn out every perfon, great and finall, who will not take their covenant, and yield to their imperious edicts. The gracious fyftem of these honest freebooters, is abfolute fubmiffion, or the bow-ftring.

When lofs of rank and office is the certain confequence of not approving all the measures of the minister, the approbation of them in the lump, will be fufpected to proceed from fear alone of his difpleasure. But fear, the ufual prop of tyrants, is too weak a ftaff for power to lean upon for any time with confidence and with fecurity.

HONESTUS.

Written on the fame occafion.

T has been the ftale and hackneyed artifice of

Iminifters, (efpecially of bad ones) in part times,

and we must not wonder therefore if it should be practised in the prefent, to call their own measures the measures of the king, and to load their royal mafter with their perfonal guilt. Indeed if any of them proved fuccefsful, they were forward enough to arrogate the whole merit to themselves. Whenever they were queftioned and became unpopular, thefe undertakers of affairs and farmers of majestic authority,

authority, retired moft daftardly behind the fevenfold fhield of the prerogative, and by that paltry ftratagem endeavoured to remove the weight from their own fhoulders. In the first inftance, they could make their boast, that they were the immediate and confummate advisers; but in the last, the cant word generally was, that they were ferry for it, the king would have it fo; or (as the more categorical anfwerer of the Budget chufes to exprefs it, by what authority he beft can tell) the king would think and act for himself. Thus weaving their own intereft and that of their fovereign together, to make them appear one common cause, they drew him into their quarrels, as the priests do God Almighty into theirs, and by placing his refpectable perfon before you, attempted to make themselves fafe, not caring how much they exposed bim. They did the king's bufinefs, as they called it; and if any man ventured to blame their manner of conducting it, they cried out with one mouth, that the king was wounded through their fides; and all, who liked not their proceedings, were profcribed as enemies to him and to the government.

Thefe pofitions being laid down, that their own measures were the king's, and that any oppofition to them was an oppofition to the king himself, the notable conclufion, which refulted from thefe premifes, was, to advise the king to let the heavy axe of power fall down upon the necks of thofe, who fhould have the prefumption to oppose him, or rather them,

But ever fince the happy fucceffion of the house of Hanover, this unconftitutional doctrine of paffive obedience to the measures of the temporary minifter, has been exploded; as indeed it ought to be, with the utmost contempt, in a free country; fince it is abfolutely deftructive of the very fundamentals of all liberty.

In the two laft aufpicious reigns, the patriots of those times infifted always, that the measures recommended to the crown by the then ministers, were to be regarded only as the measures of the administration; nor would they ever allow, that an oppofition to the fervant, who was refponfible to the nation for his conduct, ought to be confidered as a disrespect or infult to the mafter.

It was under the fanction of this declaration that the very fervants of the king's fon (many of whom are now placed in ftations of the greatest trust, in recompence for their diftinguished patriotifm) oppofed the minifter for twenty years together; which they, we muft fuppofe, would not have done, if they had thought fuch oppofition could be justly deemed an infult to the king himself. And we must do this juftice to the minifters whom they fo fteadily oppofed, that they difdained to to Sneak fneak behind the throne for fbelter; but manfully confeffed themselves accountable to the tribunal of the public for all the acts of government they had advised. Let it not be forgotten neither, that every session, efpecially for the last fourteen years, produced in parliament, examples of placemen, in the highest offices, oppofing ftrenuously each others fentiments. The minifter of those days meant honeftly; he therefore scourged not his opponents, with an iron rod, but, as the hiftorian, Tacitus, obferves, the Romans did, in times of liberty, verba verbis ultus eft, he fcorned to have recourse to force and violence, that ratio ultima regum, or more properly, the last and defperate resource of tottering adminiftration.

I fhall conclude with a paffage or two out of the celebrated monfieur Balzac, which were formerly quoted upon the fame fubject by the Craftsman.

• What therefore fhall we fay to those infolent favourites of fortune, who, with flying colours, attack the authority of the laws, and of common juftice; who bring to the government of the state, "a premeditated defign to destroy it?

What shall we fay to thofe infupportable fervants who revenge their own little quarrels with the arms and weapons of their mafter; who declare all perfons, who will not become their tools and prostitutes, to be enemies to his majesty; who, by a cruel, bloody, and most detestable peace, throw the people into defpair, and endeavour to precipitate them into rebellion for their own prefervation.

On granting a patent of precedence to a great lawyer.

A

N honourable perfon having lately kiffed his majesty's hand on his having a patent of precedence at the bar, it may not be unacceptable to fome of your readers, to enquire into the nature of this office, its use in the commonwealth, the relation it has to the crown, and how it came into the conftitution, and what degree of honour it confers upon the patentee.

It is well known, that the kings of this country, have always been attended by a military guard for the fafety and protection of their perfon; and by a civil guard of lawyers, for the fecurity of their property. The latter were called the king's council learned in the law; and, until the reign of the Stuarts, confifted of a very fmall corps, made up of four of the ferjeants, the attorney and folicitor general. The ancient kings of this country were contented with this fmall and reverend guard, which in thofe times was thought fufficient to defend the king, and occasionally to annoy his fubjects.

When