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Untitled Article
to remedy by such an unusual violation of an established rule and practice ? From the precpgnition , so much complained of , no harm had resulted to the individual immediately concerned , or to the College of Glasgow * From the evidence which it had
furnished , the former , had been cleared from all crime or criminal intention ; and the University consequently could suffer no stain on its reputation , no loss of its interests , from an inquiry which had terminated so honourably ; but , on the contrary , both that individual and the University had been thus saved from the mischievous
consequences of insinuations and surmises to their prejudice , secretly circulating among the public , and never met by any accurate and regular investigation . By these arguments , it was conceived , that the demands of the
Faculty in a Court of Law would be opposed on the part of the . Lord Advocate ; and though to many of their number , and no doubt to many others also , it may appear that these arguments admit of easy answer , and that they furnish no just or equiiabJe bar
to their claim , yet it was generally believed by the members that they would be found effectual against them ; and that therefore , they presented strong and sufficient reasons for declining to engage in legal proceedings . It is hoped , that in entertaining this
persuasion , and in thus acting upon it , the Faculty of the College of Glasgow wiirnot be regarded as chargeable with throwing upon the Courts and the Judges of their country any libellous or unbecoming imputations . This persuasion they were led to entertain from the usual and well-known
practice of these Courts ; from the total absence of all cases relating to political offences , that couJd warrant a different belief ; and particularly from the entire confidence which the Lord Advocate seemed to entertain
of his absolute seounty against all compulsion by legal authority— -a confidence which \ s not ambiguously indicated in the conclusion of his letter of the £ 6 th April , addressed to me , and inserted in your former paper . I consider it , however , as
incumbent on me to add on this subject , that to a majority of the meeting on the 2 nd , ( the meeting whose proceedings 1 am endeavouring to explain ) , it ap-
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peared , that though it would be hith ly rash and inexpedient to enter fm mediately into a process against th Law Officers , yet it would be proi * , that the College should take the opin ion of able Counsel , whether such a measure would be attended with anv chance of success . But as many , *
of those who were of this opinion had very weak expectation of receiving from such consultation any satisfactory encouragement as to the final result ; and as the minority , on the other hand , strongly expressed their apprehensions that even this sten
• _ i t i At rv » i t * ... i might have the effect of involving the College in a tedious , expensive and fruitless litigation , it was , with my entire concurrence , abandoned even by those gentlemen by whom it was proposed or supported .
I have now , Sir , finished all that seems to me essential in the statement which you have permitted me to communicate , through your paper , to the public . The facts of the case have been given in your former paper , on the authority of documents which cannot be questioned ; and , on this occasion , I have stated those
considerations which weighed with the Faculty , and with myself , in the purpose which has been adopted ; and which , perhaps , some will consider as not fully vindicated , even by the
considerations and reasons which I have stated ; I mean the purpose of the College to relinquish all attempts of obtaining redress , by application either to government , to parliament , or to the courts of law , to leave the
amount of their wrongs to be estimated by the judgment of a liberal and intelligent public ; and to look for that recompense only , which consists in continuing to be regarded with general approbation and confidence , and in finding the enemies of their reputation and tranquillity , known or unknown , branded with universal
hatred and contempt . Perhaps the wisest and fairest plan I could follow , would be to leave the public to form their judgment from the statements I have already made , unaccompanied with any remarks or
comments from me . It is not my 1 'j * tention to trespass upon your indulgence , by any such additions at present \ what has been contained in this and in your former paper , I intend to print immediately in the form of a
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470 Proceedings against Professor Mylne + pn , the Charge of Sedition
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1815, page 470, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1763/page/6/
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