LETTER LVIII.
ADDRESSED TO THE LIVERY OF LONDON.
30. Sept. 1771.
- GENTLEMEN,
IF you alone were concerned in the event of the present election of a chief magistrate of the metropolis, it would be the highest presumption in a stranger to attempt to influence your choice, or even to offer you his opinion. But the situation of public affairs has annexed an extraordinary importance to your resolutions. You cannot in the choice of your magistrate, determine for yourselves only. You are going to determine upon a point, in which every member of the community is interested. I will not scruple to say that the very being of that law, of that right, of that constitution, for which we have been so long contending, is now at stake. They who would ensnare your judgment tell you, it is a common, ordinary case, and to be decided by ordinary precedent and practice. They artfully conclude, from moderate peaceable times, to times
