“An action was brought, in the court of Common Pleas, in 1773, by Mr. Anthony Fabrigas, a native of Minorca, against General Mostyn, the governor of the island. The facts proved at the trial were, that Governor Mostyn had arrested the plaintiff, imprisoned him, and transported him to Spain, without any form of trial, on the ground that the plaintiff had presented to him a petition for redress of grievances, in a manner which he deemed improper. Mr. Justice Gould left it to the jury to say, whether the plaintiff’s behavior was such as to afford a just conclusion that he was about to stir up sedition and mutiny in the garrison, or whether he meant no more than earnestly to press his suit and obtain a redress of grievances. If they thought the latter, the plaintiff was entitled to recover in the action. The jury gave a verdict for the plaintiff _with_ £3,000 _damages_. In the following term, an application was made for a new trial, which was refused by the whole court. “The following remarks of the counsel for Governor Mostyn, on this trial, contain a plain and _naïve_ statement of the doctrine, _that a dependency is to be governed, not for its own interest, but for that of the dominant state_. ‘Gentlemen of the jury,’ said the counsel, ‘it will be time for me now to take notice of another circumstance, notorious to all the gentlemen who have been settled in the island, that the natives of Minorca are but ill-affected to the English, and to the English government. It is not much to be wondered at. They are the descendants of Spaniards; and they consider Spain as the country to which they ought naturally to belong: it is not at all to be wondered at that they are indisposed to the English, whom they consider as their conquerors.—Of all the Minorquins in the island, the plaintiff perhaps stands singularly and eminently the most seditious, turbulent, and dissatisfied subject to the crown of Great Britain that is to be found in Minorca. Gentlemen, _he is, or chooses to be called, the patriot of Minorca_. Now patriotism is a very pretty thing among ourselves, and we owe much to it: we owe our liberties to it; but we should have but little to value, and we should have but little of what we now enjoy, were it not for our trade. _And for the sake of our trade, it is not fit that we should encourage patriotism in Minorca_; for it is there destructive of our trade, and there is an end to our trade in the Mediterranean, if it goes there. But _here it is very well_; for the body of the people in this country will have it: they have demanded it,—and in consequence of their demands, they have enjoyed liberties which they will transmit to their posterity,—and it is not in the power of this government to deprive them of it. But they will take care of all our conquests abroad. If that spirit prevailed in Minorca, the