Steele, then one of the patentees, addressed the public upon the subject.

He had lived in friendship with the duke; he owed his seat in Parliament to the duke's influence.

He commenced with saying: "The injury which I have received, great as it is, has nothing in it so painful as that it comes from whence it does.

When I complained of it in a private letter to the Chamberlain, he was pleased to send his secretary to me with a message to forbid me writing, speaking, corresponding, or applying to him in any manner whatsoever.

Since he has been pleased to send an English gentleman a banishment from his person and counsels in a style thus royal, I doubt not but that the reader will justify me in the method I take to explain this matter to the town." Steele could obtain no redress, however.