lished. And as this rule was translated in the state of the church, people always thought fit to follow it.

Shall I be the first bishop in this church condemned upon conjecture, on fictitious names and obscure passages in letters, instead of two or three witnesses?

Will not others endeavour to make the same precedent, and desire the same influence of it to succeeding ages, and even concur in such an act, in order to render me incapable of using or exercising any power or authority, &c.? Is this good divinity, or good policy?

As to the justice of the legislature, in some respects it hath a greater power than the sovereign legislature of the universe; for he can do nothing unjust. But though there are no limits to be set to a parliament, yet they are generally thought to restrain themselves, to guide their proceedings in criminal cases, according to the known law.

The parliament may order a criminal to be tortured; who can say they cannot? but they never did, nor never will, I hope, because torture, though used in other countries, is not known here.

Is it not torturing to inflict pains and penalties on persons not suspected of guilt, nor plainly proved guilty? It is not much unlike it. The parliament may, if they please, as well upon a bill of perpetual imprisonment, as upon a bill of perpetual exile, reserve to the crown a power to determine the one as well as the other. They have so enacted it in the one case, but they have not enacted it in the other. The law knows nothing of such absolute perpetual imprisonments.

The law may, in like manner, condemn a man on a charge of accumulated and constructive treason. They did so in the case of the great lord Strafford, and that by accumulated and constructive proof of such treason; that is, by such proofs so well interpreted, as plainly to communicate light and strength to each other, and so to have all the force, without the formality of evidence. Was such proof ever admitted by any one to deprive his fel

low subject of his fortune, of his estate, his friends, and country, and send him in his old age without language or hope, with employment to get the necessaries of life, to starve? I say again, God forbid.

My ruin is not of that moment to any number of men, to make it worth their while to violate, or even seem to violate the constitution, in any degree, which they ought to preserve against any attempts whatsoever.

But where once such extraordinary steps as these are taken, and we depart from the fixed rules and forms of justice, and try untrodden paths, no man knows where this shall stop.

Though I am worthy of no regard, though whatsoever is done to me may, for that reason, be looked upon to be just, yet your lordships will have some regard to your own lasting interest, and that of posterity.

This is a proceeding with which the constitution is not acquainted, which, under the pretence of supporting it, will at last effectually destroy it.

For God's sake, lay aside these extraordinary proceedings; set not up these new and dangerous precedents; I, for my part, will voluntarily and chearfully go into perpetual banishment, and please myself that I am, in some measure, the occasion of putting a stop to such precedents, and doing some good to my country, and will live, wherever I am, praying for its prosperity; and in the words of father Paul to the state of Venice, say, esto perpetua: It is not my departing from it I am concerned for; let me depart, and let my country be fixed upon the immoveable foundation of law and justice, and stand for ever.

I have, my lords, taken up much of your lordships' time; yet I must beg your attention a little longer.

Some part of my charge hath been disproved by direct and full evidence, particularly that of writing the letters of the 20th of April, or that I knew who wrote them, which I utterly deny that I ever did or as yet do know. Other parts of the charge there are, which are not ca

pable of such disproof, nor indeed require it; there I rest. But, my lords, there is a way allowed of vindicating myself; it is generally negative; that is, by protesting and declaring my innocence to your lordships, in the most deliberate, serious, and solemn manner: and appealing to God, the searcher of hearts as to the truth of what I say, as I do in what follows: I am charged in the report with directing a correspondence to Mr. Kelly; but I solemnly deny that I ever, directly, or indirectly saw a single line of any of their letters until I met with them in print: nor was the contents of any of them communicated to me. I do, in the next place, deny that I was ever privy to any memorial to be drawn up to be delivered to the regent. Nor was I ever acquainted with any attempt to be made on the king's going to Hanover, or at the time of the election. Nor did I hear the least. rumour of the plot to take place after the breaking up of the camp, until some time after Mr Layer's commitment. I do with the same solemnity declare, that I never collected, remitted, received, or asked any money of any man, to facilitate these designs; nor was I ever acquainted with, or had any remittances whatsoever from, any of those persons. I never drew up any declaration, minutes, or paper, in the name of the pretender, as is expressly charged upon me. And that I never knew of any commission issued, preparation of arms, officers, or soldiers, or the methods taken to procure any, in order to raise an insurrection in these kingdoms. All this I declare to be true, and will so declare to the last gasp of my breath.

And I am sure, the farther your lordships examine into this affair, the more you will be convinced of my innocency. These contain all the capital articles of which I am accused, in the report of the house of commons.

Had the charge been as fully proved as ascertained, it. had been vain to make protestations of my innocence, though never so solemn.

But as the charge is only supported by the slightest probabilities, and which cannot be disproved in any instance, without proving a negative; allow the solemn asseverations of a man in behalf of his own innocence to have their due weight; and I ask no more, than that they may have as much influence with your lordships as they

have truth.

If on any account there shall still be thought by your lordships to be any seeming strength in the proofs against me: If by your lordships' judgments, springing from unknown motives, I shall be thought to be guilty: If for any reasons, or necessity of state, of the wisdom and justice of which I am no competent judge; your lordships shall proceed to pass this bill against me: God's will be done: Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return; and whether he gives or takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.

ALLEN (afterwards LORD) BATHURST,

(The Son of Sir Benjamin Bathurst,)

In 1705 he was

Was born in 1684, and educated at Oxford. chosen member for Cirencester in Gloucestershire. He joined the tory party, and was one of the opposers of Walpole's administration. He was created a peer in 1711. He died in 1775, aged 91. He lived on terms of the greatest intimacy with Swift, Pope, and other literary men. He was one of the ablest speakers of the house of lords; and I think, that at the time when most of his speeches were made, the house of lords contained more excellent speakers, and divided the palm of eloquence more equally with the house of commons, than at any other period. One reason why it is morally impossible that the house of peers I should ever be able to rival the house of commons in the display of splendid talents, is, that all questions of importance are first debated on in the house of commons. Even if the members of the upper house had any thing of their own to say, the words are fairly taken out of their mouths.

Lord Bathurst's Speech in defence of the Bishop of Rochester.

WHO took notice of the ungracious distinctions that. were fixed on the members of that assembly, who differed in opinion from those who happened to have the majority that for his part, as he had nothing in view but truth and justice, the good of his country, the honour of that house, and the discharge of his own conscience, he would freely speak his thoughts, notwithstanding all discouragements: that he would not complain of the sinister arts that had been used of late to render some persons obnoxious, and under pretence of their being so, to open their letters about their minutest domestic affairs; for these small grievances he could easily bear; but when he saw things go so far, as to condemn a person of the highest dignity in the church, in such an unprecedented manner, and without any legal evidence, he thought it his duty to oppose a proceeding so unjust and unwarrantable in itself, and so dangerous and dismal in its consequences. To this purpose he begged leave to tell their lordships a story he had from several officers of undoubted credit, that served in Flanders in the late war. "A Frenchman, it seems, had invented a machine, which would not only kill more men at once than any yet in use, but also disable for ever any man that should be wounded by it. Big with hopes of a reward, he applied to one of the ministers, who laid his project before the late French king; but that monarch, considering that so destructive an engine might soon be turned against his own men, did not think proper to encourage it; whereupon the inventor came over to England, and offered his services to some of our generals, who likewise rejected the proposal with indignation." The use and application of this story, added his lordship, is very obvious: for if this way of proceeding be admitted, it will certainly prove a very dangerous engine; no man's life, liberty, or property,