McMahon only; and at and previous to the filing of the bill they sailed in Sir William the same boat together; when Sir William McMahon, was admits pleased to express from the Bench that "The murder is out, and fraud and conspiracy.. all the allegations of that poor man sitting there (meaning me) against us and our officers are true." In March 1834, when I received a counterpart of the trust-deed from the trustees, Mr. Robinson, my solicitor, called on me the following day, and said Mal-prac"The trustees have sent you a copy of the trust-deed: I have honourable made out a case which you will send to Mr. Litton with two Irish guineas for his opinion." I did so; Mr. Litton gave his opinion in my favour, but afterwards came into Court and pleaded against his own opinion. tice of an barrister. and In 1850, after judgment was given in the House of Lords, in Lords Truro my favour, the respondents petitioned the House for a re-hearing. Brougham's Lord Truro, then Lord Chancellor, and Lord Brougham, stated decision "The House could re-hear the case only by a special Act of re-hearing. Parliament made for that purpose." against a fluence to Irish In 1850, in the month of November, Thomas Houghton White, Legal inson of James White, and solicitor to the Trustees, stated to me keep up the that they had influence enough with the Court and the profession Inquisition. to keep me in litigation for sixteen years longer, and that I should never get any redress. doings of relative. A charge cf In 1852, when Sirs Edward Sugden and Francis Blackburn The came into power as Chancellors of England and Ireland, the Sir Edward trustees as respondents presented a second petition to the House Sugden's for a re-hearing, and which petition was got up by the brother of Sir Edward Sugden's son-in-law, which the House had power to grant only by special Act of Parliament, and which petition was heard in the House of Lords, and judgment given high treaon the 5th of April, 1853, reversing the judgment of the House son against of 1850, without re-hearing the cause. That when Lord Cranworth, Cranworth gave judgment in this case on the 5th of April, 1853, the constihe stated "that admitting the decree of 1835 to be wrong, which he was willing to admit it was wrong, and he knew it was wrong; but if we give judgment in Tommey's favour there will be twenty families ruined." In 1844, when Sir Edward Sugden ruled the demurrers against me in the Court of Chancery in Ireland, he stated from the Bench that he might have come to a wrong conclusion, from the evidence before him, as to the decree of 1835, and the only way to reverse that decree was by a re-hearing, or an appeal to the House of Lords. I persevered, and succeeded in appealing Lord for setting tution at naught. against the decree of 1835, reversing all the proceedings taken against me in the Court below, using Lord Brougham's own words when the appeal was heard in 1853-" Stop, stop, Romilly, for God's sake stop! (meaning Sir John Romilly, my counsel,) I have heard enough of this case to satisfy me there was something wrong in the Court below-I mean a miscarriage." In giving Irish Chan- judgment his words were-"We are bound to give this poor man all the justice we can: had he applied to us sooner, we would have stopped the sale of his property." Lord cery Mis carriage. worth liable for by violating Such is a plain brief statement of the facts, so far as I can relate them in so short a space, I have carefully avoided exaggeration, I have understated my own hard case; I appeal to the sense of truth and justice, that actuates all honourable Lord Cran- Englishmen, for help against the cruel injustice that has been inflicted upon me. I am nearly seventy years of age-I am forced into deep distress-my wife died fifteen years ago of a broken heart, caused by this frightful iniquity. Had not this foul injustice been perpetrated upon me I should now have been worth property to the amount of £150,000. But-alas, for the weakness of helpless poverty!-my oppressors are strong, I am weak-my oppressors are rich, I am poor. I have spent my life, from my youth upwards, either in the service of my country, or in the pursuits of industry, labour or business, to win bread for my family, and support for the hour of my need The Legal in age. Ah! it is hard to be thus robbed under the colour of the law; for, using Mr. Charles Pickering's (solicitor of Dublin) words-"Money will get the lawyers; they have esprit du corps, and where a suitor has been victimised, if he finds fault with one of the fraternity, they will combine against him, from the highest Immorality judge down to the Old Bailey hack." A further proof of this is of judges. given in the fact, that after the House of Lords had given judgment in my favour in 1850, reversing all the proceedings against me, and; so far as a judicial sentence from the highest tribunal in the kingdom could do, reinstating me in the position that I was, by daring malpractices on the part of lawyers, deprived of. When Sir Edward Sugden, the lawyer, was raised to the Upper House, the judgment given by the House in 1850 in my favour was reversed, and for a third time the cup of hope was dashed from my lips by the hand of fraud; again miserable pain surprised me, grief and horror enthralled me once more; yet I felt profession easily bought. That not all the horrid lies of law or rhyme, Can blazon evil deeds or consecrate a crime. fraud prac of Chan cery, &c. It may be stated that I was too late to appeal against the decree of 1835; but the House granted me that liberty, and I never exceeded the order of the House, therefore that judgment is binding at the present hour by the law of the land, if not, it is a mere farce to call the House of Lords a Court of Appeal. The The gross gross fraud that was practised on me in the Court below, no tised by the honest man can for a moment sanction, using my Lord North's Irish Court words when he was on the bench, "Will time ever purge fraud?" never while I sit here, every delay adds to the injustice and multiplies the oppression, and no wrong is without a remedy. It is necessary to state that the Court of Chancery had not acquired jurisdiction over my property, nor could have interfered, had I been defended by a truthful advocate, or had my case been heard before a just judge; for the judge being a correct lawyer, would have been aware that the Court of Chancery had no right to break up a sealed contract between parties, unless there had been fraud in the execution thereof; then indeed it would have been the province of a Court of Equity to have interfered, and Sir Edward Sugden expressed himself, at the rising of the Court on the second day of the hearing of the cause, to that effect. Had there been any violation of the contract by either party, the remedy would have been by action for breach of covenant, but the trustees well knew no breach had been committed on my part, and that it would not be so easy to tamper with twelve men in a jury-box, as it would be with the officers of the Irish Court of Chancery; they therefore chose the latter course. Had I the means to bring this great wrong fully before the public, I know I should do good service to the cause of truth and honesty -all that has been done against me has been done likewise against many other innocent people, to the injury of the good, and for the advantage of the base-for instance, when Mr. Bartholomew Taaff, one of the creditors under the trust-deed, was asked by Mr. Rogers, of Charlemont-house, why he allowed Tommey to be turned out, he replied "that he was given to understand that he would gain by the proceedings;" so that my well-meaning creditors were duped to their own loss, as well as myself brought to ruin by the knavery of lawyers. Victoria The substantial facts have been placed before Her Majesty A petition Queen Victoria, in the form of a petition, which has been to Queen treated with contumely, and a caution made to me at Bow treated Street Police Court, not to write again to her. Should these details be read by any lady, I beg most respectfully, but Χ with contumely. Widows and orphans plundered by fraudu lent cormo rants of Courts of Law. Malpractices Legal plunderers of orphans. cunning of Villanous equity lawyers. Patriot noblemen earnestly to remind her that it is a gentlewoman's question-my wife went to an untimely grave, with the knowledge that her life's labour was reft from all that she had near and dear to her upon earth. How many a lady has tried to provide a support for those dependant upon her care, and the fruits of her careful kindness has been plucked, I ought to say plundered, from her offspring by the fraudulent practice of the cormorants that practise in the courts of law. Many a pang has been added to the suffering soul in its parting agony, owing to the "glorious uncertainty of the law," or in other words, the malpractices of lawyers are so well known, that no lady can feel secure that her providence for those she loves may not be frustrated. Many a wailing prayer has been put up to heaven by plundered orphans, after the will of the dead has been negatived by the villanous cunning of the equity Lawyers. While I have the breath of life within me, although I am on the downward passage in sorrow to the grave, I will not cease to appeal to woman's sympathy and to man's indignation, for help against the giant evil embodied in the Court of Chancery. Noblemen of England, (I do not mean law lords,) estated of England. gentlemen of England, to you I appeal: shall this mockery of justice, this court of iniquity, flourish on the ruin of its victims? Records of It is your cause as much as it can be mine. The records of the Chancery contain the Chancery Court contain the history of many a family's downdownfall of fall; but, alas! for the sufferers, when their legal destruction many families. has been completed, the victims mourn in silence, and the world hears no more of their grievous wrong. Make help, then, to put down this dragon: its strength to do evil is caused by your submission to its power. Were you, noblemen and gentlemen of England, to come forward and take your right position as leaders of the Commons for the public safety, against this internal enemy, the enormity would soon follow its prototypes, the Star Chamber and the Inquisition; it would become a page and the of history, and the thanks and blessings of your released Inquisition. country, from the people of all ranks in society, of all ages and Star conditions in life, from the then unplundered orphan, from the widow whose substance would then be secure, alike from the aged man who then would enjoy the happy security of his labours, his property, his liberty. Those thanks and blessings would be your rich reward. Think not that a tame submission on your part to this merciless Juggernaut, will enable your Juggernaut families to escape its crushing power; for how many of the Court of Chancery a merciless noblest, and what should have been the wealthiest in the land, have learned too late, that they should Trust not for Justice to the Courts, For there Law Lord both buys and sells; In native force, and native right The only hope of Justice dwells. The legal force, and legal fraud, Will take your lands, however broad. Therefore I appeal to you for aid against the oppression that, after plundering me of my all, is making a mockery of me in my age, and sending me destitute to the grave. I remain, Gentlemen, London, 21st April, 1856. HENRY TOMMEY, Senior. THE WAY THE PUBLIC MONEY GOES ON PLACE- ation in lieu of present unjust taxes, &c. THE object of our dealing with this subject is of a twofold nature,-1st to effect, by the pressure of enlightened public opinion, the most rigid economy in every department of government expenditure; and, 2ndly, to substitute for the present cumbrous, wasteful, and most injurious taxes upon commodities, a simple and equitable system of DIRECT TAXATION. In Direct taxthe advocacy of both these objects, our leading conviction is the indisputable fact that nations, like individuals, in their fiscal cumbrous arrangements, must, if they would prosper, adhere to the principles of justice, economy, and prudence; and cannot grossly violate them all without bringing upon themselves precisely the same consequences as those which affect individuals. The tendency of all history is to substantiate and confirm this conviction. No nation, in ancient or modern times, has fallen The fall of from greatness into decay and decrepitude, whose decline and nations fall may not be most directly traced to extravagance and luxury on the part of both rulers and people. Rome conquered the world whilst its great men and its population were simple in their manners and economical in their habits; Rome fell when corruption and extravagance pervaded all classes, and an emperor lavished the revenue of a province on a single banquet. In private life, a man may be as rich as Croesus, but if he caused through extravagance and luxury. |