 As Lord Mayor (and therefore chief magistrate for the City), one of his first acts was to refuse to enforce Admiralty warrants to press gang Londoners into the Royal Navy, and he ordered constables to be positioned "at all avenues" of the City to prevent the seizure of men.Crosby engaged in a famous battle with the House of Commons over publishing Parliamentary debates.In 1771 he had brought before him a printer who dared publish reports of Parliamentary proceedings.