identify the Magistrate that committed him, and there I caused the
police officer, Limbrick, to be placed at the bar, for robbing the boy
of his books and money at the time he was apprehended. The inquiry ended
in the said police officer returning the boy his books and money, and
confessing that he was ordered to attend the posting of the said bills,
and to protect them from being pulled down after they were posted. The
bills were printed at the office of the Hue and Cry, near Temple-bar,
and an agent of the Government paid the bill-sticker a large sum for the
posting of them in the night. Finding that I could get no redress for
the boy at the Police Office, I took him into the Court of King's Bench,
and appealed to the Judges. But Lord Ellenborough could do nothing
for him. By the stir which I made, however, the case got into all the
papers, and the conduct of the Government was completely exposed. I
then caused a petition from Dugood to be presented to the House by Lord
Folkestone, and another petition of my own, by Lord Cochrane. The Under
Secretary of State, Mr. Hiley Addington, promised that the conduct of
the Police Magistrate should be inquired into; but ultimately it
was ascertained that Lord Sidmouth had no power to interfere. The
Magistrate, Mr. Sellon, who had committed the boy, was not a Police
Magistrate, but a Magistrate of the county of Middlesex; therefore his
Lordship could not interfere, and the boy must, forsooth, proceed _at
law_ against the Magistrate. I shall here insert the petitions that were
presented to the House, which will place this transaction in a clear
point of view before my readers, and will show them to what meanness the
Government submitted, in order to injure my character with the public,
and to destroy the influence which they discovered that I had over the
people. This transaction will speak for itself without any further
comment of mine. "To the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, in Parliament assembled.