the affiftance of able and faithful counfellors none being suffered to continue in that poft, or at least to perform the functions of it, but fuch as are ready to echo the fentiments of the favourite. If any were to differ with him, it would only produce perpetual jars and diffention, and expofe their opinions, however juft and well founded, to contempt and rejection, as the favourite's must always prevail. It converts the will of the prince into a mere copy of the favourite's inclinations. • The ascendant is fo ftrong, that the prince does • not know his own mind; he loses his own thoughts among the impreffions he is continually receiving from the favourite; and the better the difpofitions of the prince are, the evil is the greater, ' because he will be the more diffident of his ' own judgment, though the beft of the two, and entirely furrendered to that on which he has fo ftrong an reliance. FAVOURITISM monopolizes the favours of the crown to the favourite, • his connections, dependents, and adherents, whose receiving must be a very ftrong prefumption of 'their not deferving them. It expofes to the effects ' of the favourite's refentment, all those who have the fpirit to refift and oppofe him, and all their friends, from the highest to the lowest. The power of the crown is debafed and perverted to be the inftrument of this refentment, in a manner ⚫ inconfiftent with the honour of majefty, and dan? gerous to the peace and quiet of government. Every one is turned out of place in office who will "not bow to the fhrine of the favourite, that his refentment may be gratified, and his fycophants 'provided for. Favouritifm is the natural parent of envy and jealoufy in the leading men of a country; and their difinclinations and averfions must ' neceffarily spread through all orders, and to the ' remoteft corner of the kingdom; the least effect

' to

to be expected from which, is an univerfal mur'mur and difcontent. It obfcures the luftre of the 'crown, and diminishes the royal dignity by setting up an idol, the falfe worship of which withdraws 'the veneration and respect due to the fovereign. 'It raifes a competitor for that honour and duty 'that ought to be facred to the perfon of majefty. 'For the favourite, the bafe, the fervile, and com'pliant, will pay their adulation, while those who 'will not renounce their own dignity, retire from court, finding they cannot ftand there upon that 'footing, which their rank and character, their loyalty and love of the king, entitle them to maintain. "FAVOURITISM unkings the fovereign, and, in 'reality, places a fubject, more than probably one ' of the unworthieft, upon the throne, into whose hand all the fubftantial power of the crown is put, ⚫ and nothing but the fhadow and trappings of royalty left to attend the fcepter. The prince who is ruled by a favourite, is in chains of his own making; and the fervitude is deftru&tive of its own ' relief, as it excludes those who might be able to 'knock the fetters off. FAVOURITISM gives the king a mafter instead of a fervant; it makes the 'creature of his own power independent of himfelf; and raises a minion to an inglorious preeminence, which tends to put him above the 'laws, and beyond the reach of the juftice of his country, to offend against which his fituation encourages him, being the moft powerful protection against their effects. There never was a favourite 'who did not injure his country; and the vile friends he is able to make for himself, by the fole difpo'fition of the royal favours, will adhere to him while his power continues; and, for their own fakes, try to fupport him against the cries of the people,while the injudicious friendship of the mif• guided prince endeavours to cover him from the VOL. I. Q ' vengeance

of an offended nation. This must provengeance duce convulfions in the state, and, if the king'dom is devoted to fuch a fatal ftroke, may unWho hinge the very frame of the government. 'can fay what may not be the confequence of favouritijm deeply rooted, and obftinately main'tained? There are none fo bad, but examples of them are to be found in the hiftory of England, which proves the above picture not to be imaginary or overstretched. FAVOURITES have done 'more mischief than the greatest and best services of the most able and faithful minifters could repair, or the moft zealous endeavours of the honeftest patriots prevent.'

.

A. O.

Lord chief justice Pratt, and the common council of the city of London, vindicated from fome abuse thrown upon them in the ministerial pamphlets.

HEN an undiftinguishing warrant was iffued

W for feizing the authors, printers, and publish

ers, without caution, limitation, or reftraint, and this unprecedented order not founded on any informa tion on oath, but on meer vague fufpicions; when by this means, more than twenty innocent perfons were deprived of their liberty, and from which no person was secure: when these injured people, in juftice to themselves, and for the better fecurity of our liberty in the future, fought redrefs by legal and decent methods, it was then that the chief juftice of the common pleas, by his impartiality, candor, and ability, by his faithfully doing his duty to the KING and the SUBJECTS, gained the high opinion and esteem of all good men and friends to liberty. The common council, to fhew their zeal in fo CONSTITUTIONAL a caufe, and their approbation of the upright, and able conduct of fo

excellent

excellent a judge, gave him their freedom and defired his picture might be added to thofe worthy judges that ornament their Guild-hall. Can this be deemed faction? Can it be called a bad action to applaud merit? Or is there a man in the world, fo mean, fo bafe, as to think himself injured by the just applaufe given to another?

The public and private character of the chief juftice of the common pleas, will equally stand the teft; his zeal and affection for the illuftrious house of Hanover, and the principles of the revolution, have NEVER been called IN QUESTION. If it was proved, that in point of privilege, he was wrong (and the better opinion feems to be he was right) yet, I fay, if it was otherwife, he had the unanimous concurrence of his three very learned brothers, and of course, is not perfonally culpable; and if four out of twelve had declared, and two more were known to be of the fame opinion, it will fufficiently juftify the determination. At the trials of the meffengers for falfe imprisonment of the journeymen printers, he ufed his utmost endeavour to prevent exorbitant damages; and, it is certain, if he had not, they would have been much greater. In private life his character ftands unimpeached, even by the malevolence of this period. In private friendship, and that nobleft of human virtues, gratitude, it is confeffedly above the generality of mankind; for he fo far facrificed his private intereft, as to refuse the most lucrative office in his profeffion when offered him, in preference to his friend and patron. His ability and integrity, when an advocate, are only equalled by his juftice, candor, and legal knowledge, when in the high, and exalted ftation of a chief juftice. For the amiablenefs of his behaviour, as a judge and a gentleman, I appeal to every circuit he has gone, and to every person that has done bufinefs under him.

Q 2

This

This is the able and amiable officer of the ftate, who at prefent engages the attention of the malevolent, of the tools of power, of thofe infamous wretched prostitutes, who look, talk, and pretend to think, as their pay-mafters direct them; who abuse the virtuous, and applaud the infamous, as their private interest dictate.

An anecdote much to the honour of the church. HE moft contemptible of the human species, are temporizers; wretches, who look, speak, and act, in strict conformity to the times; are rigid christians, when well paid for it, and will deny their God for reward whigs or tories; revolutionists or jacobites; turning like the well poised weathercock, with the leaft gale of preferment; and whofe prevailing principle, is fubfervience to office. But if, among these mifcreants, there is a fuperiority of infamy, it is to thofe ecclefiaftics, who prostitute the pulpit to the private views and intrigues of a weak and wicked ministry. It is those ecclefiaftics, who instead of teaching their audience their duty to God and man, make their discourses the vehicles of the bafeft of ftate doctrines, and the channel of abuse of thofe difinterested patriots, who prefer the real interest of their king and country to their own private emolument.

A few Sundays ago, I accidentally walked into one of the first places of worship in this metropolis, expecting to be inftructed in my duty, but, to my great furprife, found that the prefent party feuds had excluded chriftianity, and the whole attention of the preacher was employed in invalidating the merit of the oppofition by abufing an oppreffed man, condemning him UNHEARD, and infinuating, that his crimes entailed infamy on the whole party. He divided his difcourfe into three parts; the firft against