The Letters of Junius

Front Cover
J. W. Lovell, 1880 - English letters
 

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Page 141 - On the 17th, it was resolved, that John Wilkes, Esq. having been in this session of parliament expelled the House, was, and is, incapable of being elected a member to serve in this present parliament.
Page 200 - King can do no wrong, is admitted without reluctance. We separate the amiable, good-natured prince from the folly and treachery of his servants, and the private virtues of the man from the vices of his government. Were it not for this just distinction, I know not whether your Majesty's condition, or that of the English nation, would deserve most to be lamented. I would prepare your mind for a favorable reception of truth, by removing every painful, offensive idea of personal reproach.
Page 200 - ... you received in your youth, and to form the most sanguine hopes from the natural benevolence of your disposition*. We are far from thinking you capable of a direct, deliberate purpose to invade those original rights of your subjects on which all their civil and political liberties depend. Had it been possible for us to entertain a suspicion so...
Page 97 - ... interests. A more experienced minister would not have hazarded a direct invasion of the first principles of the Constitution, before he had made some progress in subduing the spirit of the people. With such a cause as yours, my Lord, it is not sufficient that you have the court at your devotion, unless you can find means to corrupt or intimidate the jury. The collective body of the people form that jury, and from their decision there is but one appeal.
Page 50 - Instead of those certain positive rules by which the judgment of a court of law should invariably be determined, you have fondly introduced your own unsettled notions of equity and substantial justice. Decisions given upon such principles do not alarm the public so much as they ought, because the consequence and tendency of each particular instance is not observed or regarded. In the mean time, the practice gains ground ; the Court of...
Page 138 - We owe it to our ancestors to preserve entire those rights, which they have delivered to our care : we owe it to our posterity, not to suffer their dearest inheritance to be destroyed.
Page 199 - ... any of the said justices or barons, or some justice or justices of the peace, for such matters or offences for the which by the law the prisoner is not bailable.
Page 28 - It is not the disorder, but the physician; — it is not a casual concurrence of calamitous circumstances, it is the pernicious hand of government, which alone can make a whole people desperate. Without much political sagacity, or any extraordinary depth of observation...
Page 80 - ... It is not that you do wrong by design, but that you should never do right by mistake. It is not that your indolence and your activity have been equally misapplied, but that the first uniform principle, or if I may call it the genius of your life, should have carried you through every possible change and contradiction of conduct, without the momentary imputation or colour of a virtue ; and that the wildest spirit of inconsistency should never once have betrayed you into a wise or honourable action.
Page vi - Let it be impressed upon your minds, let it be instilled into your children, that the liberty of the press is the palladium of all the civil, political, and religious rights of an Englishman...

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