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CONCLUSION OF THE EARL OF STAFFORD'S DEFENCE OF HIMSELF BEFORE THE HOUSE OF LORDS. 1641.

MY LORDS,

It is hard to be questioned upon a law which cannot be shown. Where hath this fire lain hid so many hundred years, without smoke to discover it, till it thus burst forth to consume me and my children?

That punishment should precede promulgation of a law, to be punished by a law subsequent to the fact, is extreme hard. What man can be safe if this be admitted?

My lords, it is hard in another respect, that there should be no token set by which we should know this offence; no admonition by which we should avoid it. If the man pass the Thames in a boat, and split himself upon an anchor, and no buoy be floating to discover it, he who owneth the anchor shall make satisfaction; but if a buoy be set there, every man passeth upon his own peril. Now, where is the mark, where is the token upon this crime, to declare it to be high treason?

My lords, be pleased to give that regard to the peerage of England, as never to expose yourselves to such moot points, such constructive interpretations of law: if there must be a trial of wits, let the subject matter be of somewhat else than the lives and honours of peers.

It will be wisdom for yourselves, for your posterity, and for the whole kingdom, to cast into the fire these bloody and mysterious volumes of constructive and arbitrary treason, as the primitive christians did their books of curious arts, and be.

take yourselves to the plain letter of the law and statute, that telleth us what is, and what is not treason, without being ambitious to be more learned in the art of killing than our forefathers.

It is now full two hundred and forty years since any man was touched for this alleged crime, to this height, before myself. Let us not awaken these sleeping lions to our destruction, by taking up a few musty records that have lain by the walls so many ages, forgotten or neglected.

May your lordships please not to add this to my other misfortunes; let not a precedent be derived from me so disadvantageous as this will be, in its consequence, to the whole kingdom. Do not, through me, wound the interest of the commonwealth; and howsoever these gentlemen say, they speak for the commonwealth; yet, in this particular, I indeed speak for it, and show the inconvenience and mischiefs that will fall upon it; for, as it is said in the statute of 1 Henry IV. no one will know what to do or say, for fear of such penalties.

Do not put, my lords, such difficulties upon ministers of state, that men of wisdom, of honour, and of fortune, may not with cheerfulness and safety be employed for the public. If you weigh and measure them by grains and scruples, the public affairs of the kingdom will lie waste; no man will meddle with them, who hath any thing to lose.

My lords, I have troubled you longer than I should have done, were it not for the interest of those dear pledges a saint in heaven hath left me.

[At this word he stopped awhile, letting fall some tears to her memory; then he went on]—

What I forfeit myself is nothing; but that my indiscretion should extend to my posterity, woundeth me to the very soul!

You will pardon my infirmity. Something I should have added, but am not able; therefore let it pass.

Now, my lords, for myself, I have been, by the blessing of Almighty God, taught, that the affiictions of this present life are not to be compared to the eternal weight of glory which shall be revealed hereafter.

And so, my lords, even so with all tranquillity of mind, I freely submit myself to your judgment, and whether that judgment be of life or death, te Deum laudamus.

SPEECH OF THE EARL OF CAERNARVON ON THE IMPEACHMENT OF LORD DANBY*. 1678.

MY LORDS,

I UNDERSTAND but little of Latin, but a good deal of English, and not a little of the English

*The following account has been given of this speech: Among the speakers on the impeachment of lord Danby was the earl of Caernarvon, who is said never to have spoken before; but having been heated with wine, and rallied by the duke of Buckingham on his never speaking, he said he would speak that very afternoon, and this having produced some wager between them, he went into the house with a resolution to speak on any subject that should offer itself. He accordingly stood up and delivered this speech, which being pronounced with a remarkable humour and tone, the duke of Buckingham cried out, "The man is inspired, and claret has done the business"."

history; from which I have learned the mischiefs of such kind of prosecutions as these, and the ill fate of the prosecutors. I could bring many instances, and those very ancient; but, my lords, I shall go no further back than the latter end of queen Elizabeth's reign: at which time the earl of Essex was run down by sir Walter Rawleigh. My lord Bacon, he ran down sir Walter Rawleigh; and your lordships know what became of my lord Bacon. The duke of Buckingham, he ran down my lord Bacon; and your lordships know what happened to the duke of Buckingham. Sir Thomas Wentworth, afterwards earl of Strafford, ran down the duke of Buckingham; and you all know what became of him. Sir Henry Vane, he ran down the earl of Strafford; and your lordships know what became of sir Henry Vane. Chancellor Hyde, he ran down sir Henry Vane; and your lordships know what became of the chancellor. Sir Thomas Osborn, now earl of Danby, ran down chancellor Hyde; but what will become of the earl of Danby, your lordships best can tell. But let me see that man that dare run the earl of Danby down, and we shall soon see what will become of him.

SPEECH OF SIR FRANCIS WINNINGTON ON THE PENSION BILL, 1680.

MR. SPEAKER,

SIR, the last house of commons, being sensible how narrowly this nation escaped being ruined by a sort of monsters, called pensioners, which sat

in the late long parliament, had entered into a consideration how to prevent the like from coming into future parliaments; and in order thereto, resolved, that they would severely chastise some of those that had been guilty, and make the best laws they could to prevent the like for the future; and for that purpose a committee was appointed, of which Mr. serjeant Gregory, now judge Gregory, was chairman, by which many papers relating to that affair came to his hands. Sir, I think it a business of so great importance, that it never ought to be forgotten, nor the prosecution of it deferred. I have often heard that England can never be destroyed but by itself: to have such parliaments was the most likely way that ever yet was invented. I remember a great lawyer said in this house, when it was debated in the last parliament, that it was treason; and he gave many learned arguments to make it out. Whether it be so or no, I will not now offer to debate ; but I think, that for those that are the legislators of the nation to take bribes to undermine the laws and government of this nation, that they ought to be chastised as traitors. It was my fortune to sit here a little while in the long parliament. I did observe that all those that had pensions, and most of those that had offices, voted all of a side, as they were directed by some great officer, as exactly as if their business in this house had been to preserve their pensions and offices, and not to make laws for the good of them that sent them here. How such persons could any way be useful for the support of the government, by preserving a fair understanding between the king

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