--TO WILLIAM RUTLEDGE, February 2, 1788
TO WILLIAM RUTLEDGE.
Paris, February 2, 1788.
Dear Sir,
I should have sooner answered your favor of January the 2nd, but that we
have expected for some time, to see you here. I beg you not to think of
the trifle I furnished you with, nor to propose to return it, till you
shall have that sum more than you know what to do with. And on every
other occasion of difficulty, I hope you will make use of me freely.
I presume you will now remain at London, to see the trial of Hastings.
Without suffering yourself to be imposed on by the pomp in which it
will be enveloped, I would recommend to you to consider and decide for
yourself these questions. If his offence is to be decided by the law of
the land, why is he not tried in that court in which his fellow citizens
are tried, that is, the King's Bench? If he is cited before another
court, that he may be judged, not according to the law of the land, but
by the discretion of his judges, is he not disfranchised of his most
precious right, the benefit of the laws of his country, in common
with his fellow citizens? I think you will find, in investigating this
subject, that every solid argument is against the extraordinary court,
and that every one in its favor is specious only.
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