active 1771-1808 Robert Holloway - A Letter to John Wilkes, Esq; Sheriff of London and Middlesex

Transcribed from the 1771 S. Bladon edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org

Sheriff of LONDON and
MIDDLESEX;

IN WHICH

The EXTORTION and OPPRESSION
of Sheriffs Officers , with many
other alarming Abuses , are ex
emplified and detected ; and a
Remedy proposed :

The infamous Practice of Attornies
CLEARLY POINTED OUT ;

And many other real Grievances which
the Common People have long groaned
under without Relief .

ILLUSTRATED WITH

CONSIDERATIONS ON THE POLICY
and Advantage of Arrests in
general , &c. &c.

By ROBERT HOLLOWAY, Gent.
Of Grays-Inn .

LONDON:
Printed for S. Bladon , in Pater-noster Row.
M DCC LXXI.

A Dedication seems as necessary to a publication as legitimacy to a child; but as I have no blown-up fool to flatter, no private end to answer, no itch to become an author, thirst for praise, nor dread of censure, I shall therefore commit the annexed sheets to your protection; in the course of which the reader will find my pen a most faithful amanuensis to truth. And if so weak a monitor contributes but a mite to general utility, the end is fulfilled; if no, the intention is equally laudable. I have sowed the seeds of reformation; it is you must manure the land, and give the increase. The task is undertook at infinite peril; an accumulation of enemies enemies is the certain consequence, whilst a creation of friends amounts not to a glimmering hope. To raise a party or private emolument, I have quitted the turnpike-road, and omitted every thing necessary for the purpose; viz. libelling the most respectable characters in the nation, and giving scurrility and falshood a preference to truth.

It may be said with more envy than justice, that the subject matter is but the consequence of a private quarrel between the author and ONE of the parties alluded to. Such squibs of malice, and other obstacles of the like nature, I am well aware of, and am provided with proper artillery to combat all such opposition. It is therefore necessary to declare, that I took chambers in Grays-Inn with a settled purpose of detecting the numerous and enormous abuses and cruelties contained in the following treatise.

How I came to fail in the undertaking, my Letter to the Citizens of London fully explains.

The seizing my furniture, books, papers, and every thing I was possessed of, under Pretence of debt, and the more flagrant Pretence of Execution , together with the dispossessing me of my habitation, will neither serve to prevent the subscribing myself of Grays-Inn, or continuing there, if a Grain of Justice or Equity is to be found in a Ton of Law .

I am,

With some degree of faithfulness,
The publics devoted servant,
Rob. Holloway .

The originals from whence these copies are most exactly drawn, being WHOLE LENGTH pieces, in a Letter to the Citizens of London , the publication has been SUPPRESSED on account of their monstrous Mien . Notwithstanding the Dignity and Gracefulness of their personages, I shall make bold to exhibit them to that part of the public who have curiosity enough to know the Names , Figure , and Character of the most illustrious Scoundrels this century has produced.

*** The publisher of this Letter will give a direction to the author

ROB. HOLLOWAY.

SIR,

There is an innate satisfaction in human nature that will ever manifest itself when occasion presents the tribute of praise to our actions, and a generous mind feels an equal degree of pleasure in paying that tribute in the coin of truth; but the ambiguity of your actions renders their construction so doubtful, there is much hazard in giving or denying them approbation. Whilst the boisterous malevolence of your enemies load you with vices foreign to your heart, the fanatic adulation of your zealots as fervently extol you for virtues WE know not of. Opinions diametrically opposite in general are but hyperboles created and cherished by the violence of party, and at best leave an hypothesis too intricate to draw any conclusion of real principles or motives from. It is therefore not altogether unpardonable if a writer should err in the portrait of a character so equivocal. In two things however the people of all degrees, interest, and principles seem to concur; namely, that the advantage derived from your conduct has heretofore been merely accidental, and that if your integrity could keep pace with your abilities, this nation might justly boast an ornament unknown to others; whether either or both these conjectures bear the testimony of truth your own heart can best determine; nevertheless it is indisputably evident that we have not witnessed one premeditated or intentional benefit, independent of your own personal and private interest, flowing from a course of eight years patriotism; how far your endeavours may have fell short of your assiduity and inclination in the pursuit of any public good, I will not contest. The multitude have long been taught to consider you as an oracle pregnant with miracles eventually as their different imaginations represented them; as yet those sanguine expectations are totally unanswered: it is therefore absolutely necessary to do something either to SERVE or DECEIVE , no matter which. Credulity is the characteristic of Englishmen, who as greedily swallow the deception as the service. They have entertained a most sovereign respect for the hacknied and prostituted word Liberty , without a comprehension of any property or meaning peculiar to that admirable substantive more than the bare found; to evince this truth we need only look back and view the innumerable stabs given to the vitals of Liberty in those very moments they meant to celebrate her triumph over Tyranny. The seizure of your person and papers with a general warrant furnished us with one instance of ministerial oppression, or rather ministerial ignorance; to remedy which we have seen the misguided advocates of Liberty committing every species of violence without any warrant at all, spurning the authority of magistrates, and attempting a total subversion of that order and government so absolutely necessary to Genuine Liberty , the certain effects of a bigoted enthusiasm. Liberty in itself is the balm of life to an Englishman; but, like physic prescribed for our health, if treated with judgment, preserves the frame; if not, turns to poison and destroys it.Our excellent constitution has rendered this inestimable jewel the birth-right and inheritance of the meanest subject, not in proportion to our other enjoyments, but in such equal lots, that the peasant shares with the prince. The thing itself is the same in king or subject, the difference only subsists in the mode of obtaining and using it. A due reverence to the laws of the land on which Liberty is founded, and a proper respect to the ministers acting judicially under lawful authority, is the most eligible method of preserving our privileges, whilst an impartial distribution and faithful interpretation of those laws will most assuredly prove a sufficient bulwark against all infringements or attacks of tyranny. Nor need we have any apprehensions for contrary events, but from a spirit of sedition amongst ourselves. When anarchy supersedes order and subordination, when the laws become trampled on and violated, when right and wrong have lost their distinction, and justice and injustice are melted down into the same mass, Liberty will perish in the confused chaos, and we shall inevitably become slaves unpitied, inasmuch that we have voluntarily sapped the foundation of freedom, and forged the chains of our own bondage.