Note 34 — CHAP. VI.
Reading edition
An Affidavit, made not very long since in one of the superior Courts of Justice, illustrates this observation in a very striking degree. It is in these words—"That it is almost impossible to convict persons keeping Gaming-Houses before the Magistrates, by reason of the enormous wealth generally applied to the corruption of unwilling evidence brought forward to support the charge—That on an information exhibited against one of the Partners of a Gaming-House, he got himself discharged by deterring some of the witnesses from appearing, and by the perjury of another partner who was examined as a witness, and for which he then stood indicted—That divers of these Gaming-Houses were kept by practising attornies, who, by threatening indictments for pretended Conspiracies, and other infamous means, have deterred persons from prosecuting them."