In the course of a debate which took place in the House of Lords, on
Thursday, the 22d of May, 1794, on the Treason and Sedition Bills,
Lord Thurlow took occasion to mention "a pamphlet which his Lordship
said was published by one Debrett, of Piccadilly, and which had that
day been put into his hands, reflecting highly upon the Judges and
many members of that House. This pamphlet was, he said, scandalous
and indecent, and such as he thought ought not to pass unnoticed. He
considered the vilifying and misrepresenting the conduct of judges
and magistrates, intrusted with the administration of justice and
the laws of the country, to be a crime of a very heinous nature, and
most destructive in its consequences, because it tended to lower
them in the opinion of those who ought to feel a proper reverence
and respect for their high and important stations; and that, when it
was stated to the ignorant or the wicked that their judges and
magistrates were ignorant and corrupt, it tended to lessen their
respect for and obedience to the laws themselves, by teaching them
to think ill of those who administered them." On the next day Mr.
Burke called the attention of the House of Commons to this matter,
in a speech to the following effect.
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