opportunity of tendering amends or satisfaction to the party, and it was argued, that secretaries of state must be considered as justices of the peace, and messengers as constables; and therefore no notice having been given in the present case, nor any action brought against the secretary of state, this action could not be supported.

But this objection was overruled, for two reasons, by the chief justice; first, because the statute nowhere mentions secretaries of state, or messengers, nor are they within the purview or intent, more than within the letter of the act; and it is perhaps but a fiction in law to consider them as justices of the peace: secondly, supposing them to be justices of the peace, and the messengers to be constables, yet the latter could not be brought within this act, because they had no warrant for doing what they did; for the warrant was to apprehend the printers and publishers of the North Briton, No. 45, whereas they did not take up those people, but innocent men, who had never any concern with that paper, and therefore they were not entitled to the protection or sanction of the warrant, which expressly directed them to do what they did not.

The second point laboured by the attorney and solicitor general was, that there was a probable cause for apprehending these people, which was sufficient to justify the messengers, if considered as constables. The first answer to this is, that in actions of false imprisonment, probable cause is no

justification it is so in seizures of run goods, to prevent officers of the revenue from being liable to costs; but this is by particular and express act of parliament, which can be extended only to the cases mentioned in that act. But how did the probable cause come out upon evidence? Thus,Mr. Carrington, the messenger, told three other messengers, who executed the warrant, that he had been told by a gentleman, who had been told by another gentleman, that Leach's people printed the paper in question. This was all the probable cause they could show; which had not the least shadow of probability in it.

Mr. Attorney-General opened the defence, with a long panegyric on the King's personal virtues ; his love of liberty; the dreadful tendency of all the papers called North Britons; the good and great effects of the union; the personal bravery and qualities of the Scots in general, and the terrible consequences of reviving national prejudices and distinctions, &c. &c. &c. A very good speech upon the whole, if addressed to the King himself, but a very injudicious one to a jury of citizens of

London.

Mr. Wilkes was present, and after the trial was followed out of Guildhall with loud acclamations; and, on the other hand, Mr. Solicitor-General had one continued hiss from the court into his chariot. The chief justice had warm work of it, yet he must sit till all the fourteen causes are tried. Had the verdict been for small damages,

probably the rest of the actions had been soon determined; but for fear of the like damages, by other juries, the counsel for the crown must now fight every cause through, or it may happen that all the secret service money left may not be sufficient to pay the damages found in all the causes.

The bill of exceptions filled two large skins of parchment, and had been settled before the trial began; so they could not trust the chief justice, it was very plain, and guessed at what his opinion would be.

It is a method of practice allowed in the law, but I never recollect its being once done since I was in business. It is arraigning the judgment of the judge, and a very ill compliment to him; and in these cases now depending I am persuaded will do their cause no good with the juries who are to try them, or with the public.

You will be pleased to observe, that the exceptions taken to the chief justice's determination on the questions of law are the more provoking and ungracious, as the objections made by the King's counsel did not at all affect or go to the merits, and tended only to nonsuit the plaintiff, for want of conformity to the mode prescribed by the act of parliament for bringing his action; so that all that was intended was to put off the trial and weary the plaintiff out by expense and delay. As these plaintiffs were not the printers of No. 45, North Briton, if the warrant they were imprisoned by was ever so legal, still it would be false im

prisonment, and therefore yesterday little was said touching the validity or legality of the secretary of state's warrants; but it is universally adjudged to be bad, and not to be supported. I am, Sir,

Your most faithful and obedient servant,

T. NUTHALL.

WILLIAM BECKFORD, ESQ. TO MR. PITT. (1)

Soho Square, four of the clock.

[August 25, 1763.]

THE Lord Mayor presents his best respects to Mr. Pitt; begs leave to send him the enclosed note;

(1) The ministry, which had always been considered extremely weak, was, on the 20th of August, rendered still more so by the sudden death of the Earl of Egremont, secretary of state for the southern department. Upon which event, Lord Bute, being convinced that the cabinet could not hold together, became anxious to form an administration, under the auspices of Mr. Pitt; and, for this purpose, commissioned Sir Harry Erskine to obtain for him an interview with him, through the medium of Mr. Beckford, then Lord Mayor of London. The particular incidents which led to this extraordinary negotiation, are thus detailed in a letter from a Mr. Erskine to Mr. Mitchell: "The convention between Lord Bute and Mr. Pitt was long carrying on with the utmost secrecy, under the mediation of Lord Shelburne, a young nobleman who is said to be possessed of great abilities, and to have studied the system of ministerial craft with great assiduity, under that able master Mr. Fox. The ministry, suspicious of some such transaction; jealous of the influence Lord Bute still retained over the King; and alarmed at the spirit of discontent which the opposition had spread through

and will wait on him, at seven of the clock precisely, and make a report of a late conversation.

[Enclosure.]

THE EARL OF BUTE TO WILLIAM BECKFORD, ESQ.

Thursday morning [August 25, 1763].

LORD BUTE presents his compliments to my Lord Mayor, and, on reconsideration, thinks that it will be more convenient for all parties to call on Mr. Pitt at his own house; and as he shall attend him in his frock, equally private, he therefore proposes to be at Mr. Pitt's door this evening, about eight, if he hears nothing to the contrary. (1)

the nation, were in the mean time busily employed in forming a private plan for their own support, by which they hoped to regain the confidence of the people, and give weight and consistency to their administration. Threats of a general resignation were the means to be employed for carrying their plan into execution but Lord Egremont's death disconcerted all their measures, and hastened the conclusion of the treaty between Lord Bute and Mr. Pitt." Mitchell MSS.

(1) The Earl of Hardwicke, in a letter to his son, Lord Royston, written on Sunday the 4th of September, gives the following authentic and interesting account of this interview: -"I have heard the whole from the Duke of Newcastle, and on Friday morning de source from Mr. Pitt. It is as strange as it is long; for I believe it is the most extraordinary transaction that ever happened in any court in Europe, even in times as extraordinary as the present. It began, as to the substance, by a messsage from my Lord Bute to Mr. Pitt at Hayes, through my Lord Mayor, to give him the meeting privately at some third place. This his lordship (Lord Bute) afterwards altered by a note from himself, saying, that as he loved to do things openly,