that sort, or worse. "Of all tyrannies, sir," he said, "the worst
is that which exercises its vengeance under the guise of judicial
proceedings, and especially if a jury make part of the means by which
its base purposes are effected. The man who is flung into prison, or
sent to the scaffold, at the nod of an avowed despotism, has at least
the consolation to know that his sufferings bring down upon that
despotism the execration of mankind; but he who is entrapped
and entangled in the meshes of a crafty and corrupt system of
jurisprudence; who is pursued imperceptibly by a law with leaden
feet and iron jaws; who is not put upon his trial till the ear of the
public has been poisoned, and its heart steeled against him,--falls,
at last, without being cheered with a hope of seeing his tyrants
execrated even by the warmest of his friends. In their principle, the
ancient and settled laws of England are excellent; but of late years,
so many injurious and fatal alterations in the law have taken place,
that any man who ventures to meddle with public affairs, and to oppose
persons in power, is sure and certain, sooner or later, to suffer in
some way or other.

"Sir, the punishment which the malice of my enemies has procured to be
inflicted on me is not, in my mind, worth a moment's reflection. The
judge supposed, apparently, that the sentence of the pillory would
disgrace and mortify me. I can assure him, and I now solemnly assure
this House, my constituents, and my country, that I would rather stand
in my own name, in the pillory, every day of my life, under such a
sentence, than I would sit upon the bench in the name and with the
real character of Lord Ellenborough for one single hour.

"Something has been said, sir, in this House, as I have heard, about
an application for a mitigation of my sentence, in a certain quarter,