I am so clearly satisfied that Lord Mansfield has done an act not warranted by law, and that the inclosed argument is not to be answered (besides that I find the lawyers concur with me), that I am inclined to expect he may himself acknowledge it as an oversight, and endeavour to whittle it away to nothing. For this possible event, I would wish your Lordship and the Duke of Richmond to be prepared to take down his words, and thereupon to move for committing him to the Tower. I hope that proper steps will also be taken in the House of Commons. If he makes no confession of his guilt, but attempts to defend himself by any legal argument, I then submit it to your Lordship, whether it might not be proper to put the following questions to the judges. In fact, they answer themselves; but it will embarrass the ministry, and ruin the character which Mansfield pretends to, if the House should put a direct negative upon the motion.

1o. "Whether, according to the true meaning and intendment of the Laws of England, relative to bail for criminal offences, a person positively charged with felony, -taken in flagranti delicto,—with the mainœuvre, and not making any defence, nor offering any evidence to induce a doubt whether he be guilty or innocent, is bailable or not bailable?

2o." Whether the power, exercised by the

judges of the Court of King's Bench, of bailing for offences, not bailable by a justice of

peace,

be an absolute power, of mere will and pleasure in the judge, or a discretionary power, regulated and governed, in the application of it, by the true meaning and intendment of the law relative to bail?"

Lord Mansfield's constant endeavour to misin. terpret the laws of England is a sufficient general ground of impeachment. The specific instances may be taken from his doctrine concerning libels,— the Grosvenor cause; - his pleading Mr. De Grey's defence upon the bench, when he said, idem fecerunt alii, et multi et boni; - his suffering an affidavit to be read, in the King against Blair, tending to inflame the court against the defendant when he was brought up to receive sentence; his direction to the jury, in the cause of Ansell, by which he admitted parol evidence against a written agreement, and in consequence of which the Court of Common Pleas granted a new trial; and, lastly, his partial and wicked motives for bailing Eyre. (')

(1) A copy of Eyre's commitment accompanied this letter, which it appears had been obtained from Wilkes; to whom Junius, on the 6th of November thus wrote: "I entreat you to procure for me copies of the informations against Eyre before the Lord Mayor. I presume they were taken in writing. If not, I beg you will favour me with the most exact account of the substance of them, and any observations of your own that you think material. If I am right in my facts, I answer for my law, and mean to attack Lord Mansfield as soon as possible." To which, on the same day, Wilkes replies, "I do not delay a moment giving you the information you wish. I enclose a copy of Eyre's commitment. Nothing else in this business has been reduced to writing," &c. &c. On the 9th, Junius acknowledges the receipt of the document: 'I am much obliged to

-

There are some material circumstances relative to this last, which I thought it right to reserve for your Lordship alone.

It will appear by the evidence of the gaoler and the city solicitor's clerk, that Lord Mansfield refused to hear the return read, and at first ordered Eyre to be bound only in 200l. with two sureties, until his clerk, Mr. Platt, proposed 300l. with three sureties. Mr. King, clerk to the city solicitor, was never asked for his consent, nor did he ever give any. From these facts, I conclude, either that he bailed, without knowing the cause of commitment; or, which is highly probable, that he knew it extrajudicially from the Scotchmen, and was ashamed to have the return read.

I will not presume to trouble your Lordship with any assurances, however sincere, of my respect and esteem for your character, and admiration of your abilities. Retired and unknown, I live in the shade, and have only a speculative ambition. In the warmth of my imagination, I sometimes conceive, that, when Junius exerts his utmost faculties in the service of his country, he approaches in theory to that exalted character, which Lord Chatham alone fills up, and uniformly supports in action.

JUNIUS. (')

you for your information about Eyre. The facts are as I understood them; and, with the blessing of God, I will pull Mansfield to the ground." Junius, vol. i. p. 329.

(1) In the last number of the Edinburgh Review (Oct. 1839), there appears the following passage, which has some bearing on the preceding note: "When, in 1817, Mr. Brougham stated his strong opinion, in the House of Commons, on Wilkes's cha

LORD LYTTELTON TO THE EARL OF CHATHAM.

MY DEAR LORD,

Hill Street, February 20, 1772.

I GIVE you a thousand thanks for your very kind felicitations on the return of my son, who appears

racter, and the shame that his popularity brought on the people of England for a time, Mr. Wilberforce expressed his thanks to him and confirmed his statements: Mr. Canning, however, observed, that Wilkes was by no means a singular instance of demagogues not being respectable, and added,

'He's Knight o' th' shire, and represents them all ;'

which is an exaggerated view certainly. Sir Philip Francis, the morning after, remonstrated strongly, in company of other friends, with Mr. Brougham, upon his saying any thing in disparagement of a man run down by the Court: he regarded the offence as greatly aggravated by the praise which had been given to Lord Mansfield, against whom he inveighed bitterly. This tone, so precisely that of Junius upon both subjects, was much remarked at the time." To the point of identity here instanced, may be added the following:-On the 10th of January, 1772, Junius announced, in the Public Advertiser, that Mr. D'Oyley had resigned his post of under secretary at war; and that, till a proper person belonging to the junto could be spared, Mr. Bradshaw was to be stationed in the war office. On the 12th, Mr. Calcraft wrote to Almon,-" If you put in paragraphs, put that Mr. Francis is appointed deputy secretary at war. It will tease the worthy Secretary, and oblige me:" and again, on the 18th," I knew Francis was not deputy, but wished him to be so, and to cram the newspapers with paragraphs, that he was so; for he is very deserving." On the 25th, Junius informs Woodfall, that "the Barrington has just ap

pointed Chamier, a French broker, his deputy, for no reason but his relationship to Bradshaw." On the 20th of March, Mr. Francis was removed from his situation in the war office: and, on the same day, Mr. Calcraft added a codicil to his will, bequeathing him the sum of one thousand pounds, and an annuity of two hundred and fifty pounds for life to Mrs. Francis.

On

to be returned, not only to me, but to a rational way of thinking and a dutiful conduct, in which, if he perseveres, it will gild with some joy the evening of my life. I most sincerely rejoice that your Lordship's is brightened with so many fair stars as I saw shining round you when I was at Burton Pynsent; a place, which, in such company, I do not wonder you love at all seasons of the year. Your late fit of the gout will, I hope, secure to you a long continuance of good health, and make you as strong at your plough as Cincinnatus, or Curius, ever was at his, till your country calls you from it to be its dictator.

I am charmed with your Verses, which I have

the 23d of March, Junius, under the signature of "Veteran," says, "I desire you will inform the public, that the worthy Lord Barrington, not contented with having driven Mr. D'Oyley out of the war office, has at last contrived to expel Mr. Francis.” In May, Junius dropped all correspondence, public and private, with Woodfall, until January, 1773. In May, Mr. Francis left England, on a continental tour; from which he returned early in January, 1773; on the 19th of which month appeared the last private letter of Junius to Woodfall. Mr. Francis was shortly after appointed a member of the supreme council in Bengal, with a salary of ten thousand a year; and, in the spring of 1774, sailed for India. In Sir Philip Francis's copy of Belsham's History of Great Britain, vol. v. p. 298., sold at Evans's in February, 1838, there appears the following manuscript note :"I wrote this speech for Lord Mansfield, as well as all those of Lord Chatham on the Middlesex Election. P. F." By reference to Vol. II. p. 420. of the present work, it will be seen, that Junius reported the same speeches. As the handwriting of Sir Philip Francis has, since the appearance of "Junius Identified," become an object of curiosity, in comparison with that of the upright, disguised hand of Junius, fac-similes of both, as connected with the Correspondence of Lord Chatham, are given in this volume.