his independency; whereby he is aliened from them, and become a
fitter instrument in the hands of the ministry to carry into
effect their destructive plans. They are irritated to the highest
degree, and despair of any constitutional remedy against the
oppressions of a corrupt officer, while the governor, BE HE WHO
HE MAY, is thus dependent on ministers of state. They have ever
since the trial of Preston and his soldiers been murmuring at the
conduct of the superior court, and the partiality which many say
is so clearly discovered in causes between revenue officers and
the government, abettors, and other subjects. Indeed, the house
of representatives two or three years ago passed a resolution
that such conduct in several instances had been observed, as
appears in their printed journals. To give you some idea of what
the temper of that court has been, a lawyer1 of great eminence in
the province, and a member of the house of representatives, was
thrown over the bar a few days ago, because he explained in a
public newspaper the sentiments he had advanced in the house when
he had been misrepresented; and a young lawyer of great genius in
this town, who had passd the regular course of study, (which is
more than can be said of the chief-justice) has been and is still
refused by the governor, only because he mentioned the name of
Hutchinson with freedom, and that not in court, but in a Boston
town-meeting some years before. And to show you from whence this
influence springs, I must inform you that not long ago the
governor, the lieutenant-governor, and three of the judges, which
make a majority of the bench, were nearly related; and even now
the governor has a brother there, and is brother-in-law to the
chief-justice. Such combinations are justly formidable, and the
people view them with a jealous eye. They clearly see through a
system formed for their destruction. That the parliament of