Much injustice is frequently occasioned in such manner; but after a perusal of our narrative, we think we may fairly challenge the production of any instance in which so much pecuniary injury has been sustained, accompanied by so much outrage to the feelings of a respectable, unoffending, and highly meritorious individual;—upon one, who, during a long and active life, in public and private, has conducted himself in the most exemplary manner; against whose reputation no one has ever dared to point the finger of reproach, and who having gained a considerable fortune by his own unaided exertions, the most persevering industry, and the most scrupulous integrity in his dealings, had an undoubted right to expect the protection of his interests by persons who were acting as trustees for the nation; instead of being insulted, and entrapped into legal difficulties by their agents, and plundered of a large sum of money, without the slightest pretence for, or justice in, such an outrageous attack upon the sacred right of private property. And when, in addition to this, the reader shall reflect, that these occurrences took place within a very few miles of the metropolis, and were directed against an individual well-known and highly respected, both in his own neighbourhood and the metropolis itself, the scene of his prosperous exertions for so many years, the astonishment will be proportionately encreased; for if the rapacity and insolence of the servants of a public board can be audaciously exhibited towards an individual so situated in life, what misery and ruin may they not have entailed upon the poor and defenceless, who are prostrate at the feet of such oppressors. Mr. Elsee, to whom our narrative relates, has fortunately escaped the _total ruin_, with which he was unblushingly threatened—but the sacrifices which he has been compelled to make, might have _broken the hearts_, and _exhausted the means_, of hundreds who would have thought themselves possessed of a competency for the wants of a respectable subsistence. {8} With these requisite preliminary observations, we shall proceed with our narrative, premising also, that these pages are written in illustration and support of _memorials to both the houses of parliament_, as well as to the commissioners of woods and forests, for such redress as Mr. Elsee has yet a just right to expect will be afforded to him, if the honest attention of the principals in the latter office can be drawn to the subject; for the agents of government can have no true or lasting interest in the injury of any one of his majesty’s subjects; and the liberal principles lately adopted by some of the most influential of his majesty’s advisers, encourage a hope that their liberality may be extended to the actual administration of impartial justice, and not be confined to empty parliamentary professions.