316 LETTER TO 



excited, as surely it must, by any opposition 

 whatever to this proposal, to what height will 

 it be carried, when you learn the ground of that 

 which was actually made ? Could your Lordship 

 have even imagined, that a by-law of the college 

 of Physicians, which, by the declaration of their 

 counsel in the Court of King's Bench, had been 

 framed in 1778, with the best legal advice this 

 country could afford, for the express purpose of 

 removing the blame which had been thrown 

 upon them by Lord Mansfield ; that a by-law, 

 which, if before forgotten, had been recalled to 

 their recollection in 1789, by an application 

 under it from Dr. Sims ; that a by-law, to whose 

 existence they had twice sworn before your 

 Lordship, once in April 1796, and again in 

 January 1797; that a by-law, upon which they 

 had rested their chief defence in a recent trial 

 before the Court of King's Bench ; that a by- 

 law, to the beneficial operation of which Dr. 

 Stanger had, in the course of that trial, been 

 advised by one of the judges upon the Bench 

 to trust implicitly, instead of applying to the 

 court for a mandamus ; and, lastly, that a by- 

 law, which your Lordship had expressly said 

 bound them to examine every person who ap- 

 plied under it, should in September 1797, be 

 declared a dormant by-law, the propriety of 

 who'se revival formed a question of very great 



