Page:The plot discovered; or, An address to the people, against ministerial treason (IA plotdiscoveredor00cole).pdf/39

 to destroy first the liberty of the Press, secondly, the freedom of speech: in short, to scare away the people from the exercise of all right of political interference. As sufficient evidence of the first, we refer to the well-known case of Page, who in the reign of Elizabeth had his right hand barbarously cut off for having written against a marriage alliance of the Queen with the Duke of Anjou: and as proof of the second, we shall quote a passage from historical essays oh the English constitution, describing the conduct of the pensioned parliament of Charles the Second, from whose reign the placemen of George the Third adduce most apposite precedents: "As the people had in both cases lost the exercise of their annual power of election, with that they had lost the remedy for all their grievances. And under this mode of things may be observed all the marks of tyranny that can be found under the despotic government of one man. The laws were no longer any protection to the innocent. Judgment and justice were directed by court-policy: severity and cruelty took the place of mercy and moderation: slitting of noses, cutting of ears, whipping, pillorying, branding, fining, imprisoning, hanging, and