THE IMPEACHED LORDS ACQUITTED.

Meanwhile the king, going to the house of peers, gave the royal assent to the bill of succession. In his speech he expressed his warm acknowledgments for their repeated assurances of supporting him in such alliances as should be most proper for the preservation of the liberty of Europe, and for the security of England and the states-general. He observed that the season of the year was advanced; that the posture of affairs absolutely required his presence abroad; and he recommended despatch of the public business, especially of those matters which were of the greatest importance. The commons thanked him in an address for having approved of their proceedings: they declared they would support him in such alliances as he should think fit to make in conjunction with the emperor and the states-general, for the peace of Europe, and reducing the exorbitant power of France. They then resumed their dispute with the upper house. In the free conference, lord Haversham happened to tax the commons with partiality, in impeaching some lords and screening others who were equally guilty of the same misdemeanors. Sir Christopher Musgrave and the managers for the commons immediately withdrew; this unguarded sally being reported to the house, they immediately resolved, That John lord Haversham had uttered most scandalous reproaches and false expressions, highly reflecting upon the honour and justice of the house of commons, tending to a breach in the good correspondence between the two houses, and to the interruption of the public justice of the nation; that the said lord Haversham should be charged before the lords for the said words; that the lords should be desired to proceed in justice against him, and to inflict upon him such punishment as so high an offence against the commons did deserve. The commons had now found a pretence to justify their delay; and declared they would not renew the conference until they should have received satisfaction. Lord Haversham offered to submit to a trial; but insisted on their first proving the words which he was said to have spoken. When this declaration was imparted to the commons, they said the lords ought to have censured him in a summary way, and still refused to renew the conference. The lords, on the other hand, came to a resolution, That there should not be a committee of both houses concerning the trial of the impeached lords. Then they resolved, That lord Somers should be tried at Westminster-hall on Tuesday the seventeenth day of June, and signified this resolution to the lower house; reminding them, at the same time, of the articles against the earl of Portland. The commons refused to appear, alleging they were the only judges, and that the evidence was not yet prepared. They sent up the reasons of their nonappearance to the house of lords, where they were supported by the new ministry and all the malcontents, and produced very warm debates. The majority carried their point piecemeal by dint of different votes, against which very severe protests were entered. On the day appointed for the trial, they sent a message to the commons that they were going to Westminster-hall. The other impeached lords asked leave, and were permitted to withdraw. The articles of impeachment against lord Somers, and his answers, being read in Westminster-hall, and the commons not appearing to prosecute, the lords adjourned to their own house, where they debated concerning the question that was to be put. This being settled, they returned to Westminster-hall; and the question being put, “That John lord Somers be acquitted of the articles of impeachment against him, exhibited by the house of commons, and all things therein contained; and, That the impeachment be dismissed,” it was carried by a majority of thirty-five. The commons, exasperated at these proceedings, resolved, That the lords had refused justice to the commons; that they had endeavoured to overturn the right of impeachment lodged in the commons by the ancient constitution of the kingdom; that all the ill consequences which might attend the delay of the supplies given for the preservation of the public peace, and the maintenance of the balance of Europe, would be owing to those who, to procure an indemnity for their own crimes, had used their utmost endeavours to make a breach between the two houses. The lords sent a message to the commons, giving them to understand that they had acquitted lord Somers and dismissed the impeachment, as nobody had appeared to support the articles; and that they had appointed next Monday for the trial of the earl of Orford. They resolved, That unless the charge against lord Haversham should be prosecuted by the commons before the end of the session, the lords would adjudge him innocent; that the resolutions of the commons on their late votes, contained most unjust reflections on the honour and justice of the peers; that they were contrived to cover their affected and unreasonable delays in prosecuting the impeached lords; that they manifestly tended to the destruction of the judicature of the lords; to the rendering trials on impeachments impracticable for the future, and to the subverting the constitution of the English government; that therefore, whatever ill consequence might arise from the so long deferring the supplies for this year’s service, wore to be attributed to the fatal counsel of the putting off the meeting of a parliament so long, and to the unnecessary delays of the house of commons. On the twenty-third day of June, the articles of impeachment against Edward earl of Orford were read in Westminster-hall; but the house of commons having previously ordered that none of the members should appear at this pretended trial, those articles were not supported, so that his lordship was acquitted and the impeachment dismissed. Next day the impeachments against the duke of Leeds, which had lain seven years neglected, together with those against the earl of Portland and lord Halifax as well as the charge against lord Haversham, were dismissed for want of prosecution. Each house ordered a narrative of these proceedings to be published; and their mutual animosity had proceeded to such a degree of rancour as seemed to preclude all possibility of reconciliation. The commons, in the whole course of this transaction, had certainly acted from motives of faction and revenge; for nothing could be more unjust, frivolous, and partial, than the charge exhibited in the articles of impeachment, their anticipating address to the king, and their affected delay in the prosecution. Their conduct on this occasion was so flagrant as to attract the notice of the common people, and inspire the generality of the nation with disgust. This the whigs did not fail to augment by the arts of calumny, and, in particular, by insinuating that the court of Versailles had found means to engage the majority of the commons in its interest.