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some of them executed, and their estates both real and personal become forfeited by their attainders, and as yet continue under those forfeitures.

4. "We have not been informed of any particular public services which this person hath performed to his majesty or this nation, since his commission of the many high and danger ous treasons before-mentioned, and in case he has done any, they must be of such a nature as ought, in our opinions, to be rewarded in ano ther manner than is provided by this Bill, and for which, we think, the crown is otherwise sufficiently enabled; and the sincerity of his having quitted the interest of the Pretender may, in our opinions, be justly suspected, he never having, as appears to us, throughout the progress of this Bill in both Houses, once signified his sorrow for the treasons he had committed; and if he had really abandoned that interest, his private intelligences or services, with regard to the interest or councils of the Pretender, cannot reasonably be supposed, in our opinions, to be of great value.

5. "We think that no assurances which this person hath given, nor any services he can have performed since his commission of the treasons aforesaid, or any farther obligations he can enter into, can be a sufficient security to his majesty, or the kingdom, against his future insincerity, which may happen, he having already so often violated the most solemn assurances and obligations, and in defiance of them having openly attempted the dethroning of his majesty, and the destruction of the liberties of his country.

6. "We think the services he may have performed, if any, ought not to be rewarded either in the degree or the manner provided by this Bill, it having been found by experience, in cases of like nature, that the strongest assurances have afterwards proved deceitful; for which reason we conceive it to be unwise and dangerous to give such rewards as cannot be recalled, though the assurances should be broke; and we believe it to be the known policy and universal practice of wise governments to keep the persons, claiming merit from such services as the late lord Bolingbroke can possibly have performed since the commissions of his treasons, dependent on the government for the continuance of those rewards.

7. "The pardon of the late lord Bolingbroke, under the Great Seal, having been communicated to the House, and under considera

tion on the debate of this Bill, we think, that this Bill ought not to pass, because it may hereafter be construed, in some degree, to confirm or countenance that pardon; and we are of opinion, that that pardon, though it may be legal as to the treasons committed by him since bis attainder, yet so far as it may be construed, if that should be, to pardon or affect the act of attainder of the late lord Bolingbroke, or the impeachment of the Commons, on which that act is founded, it is a most dangerous violation of the ancient rights and freedom of the kingdom, and will defeat the whole use and effect of the impeachments by the Commons; which is, as we think, the chief institution, arising even from the constitution itself, for the preservation of the government, and for the attaining parliamentary justice; and tends, as we conceive, to render the rights and judicature of this House, on impeachments and bills of attainder, vain and useless; all which ancient rights of both Houses, and of the subjects of this nation, were saved to them by the Revolution, and were intended, as we conceive, to have been for ever preserved to them in their full extent, by the act passed in the reign of the late king William, of ever glorious memory, by which the crown of these realms is limited and settled on his present majesty and his issue, and in which act it stands declared, that no pardon under the Great Seal shall be pleadable to an impeachment of the Commons.

8. "We are of opinion, that the power of dispensing mercy is an ancient inherent right of the crown of these realms, and the exercise of it of great benefit to the people, when it is wisely and properly applied; but it being incumbent on us, in the vote we give for or against passing this Bill, to judge between the late lord Bolingbroke, and to consider the right and title he appears to us to have to the benefits of this Bill, and the concern, which, on the other side, the honour, interest and safety of the king and his royal family, and the whole kingdom, have, in our opinion, from the consequences of it, we think we cannot be justified in our own thoughts, with regard to the latter, or to our posterity, if we should consent that this Bill should pass.-(Signed) Bristol, Coventry, Onslow, Clinton, Lechmere."

On the 31st of May, the Bill received the Royal Assent, but Bolingbroke never recovered his Peerage.

453. Proceedings on an Impeachment and Act of Attainder, for
High Treason, against JAMES Duke of ORMOND: 1 & 2
GEORGE I. A. D. 1715.*

ON the 21st of June, 1715, the House of
Commons resolved to impeach James duke of
Ormond for High-Treason, and other High
Crimes and Misdemeanors, and referred it to the
Committee of Secrecy,† to draw up Articles of
Impeachment and prepare evidence against

him.

Aug. 5. Mr. Walpole, from the Committee of Secrecy, acquainting the House, that the committee had, in obedience to the commands of the House, prepared Articles of Impeachment of High-Treason, and other High Crimes and Misdemeanors, against James duke of Ormond; which they had directed him to report to the House; which he read in his place, and afterwards delivered in at the clerk's table: Where they were once read throughout; and are as follows; viz.

ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT

OF HIGH
TREASON, AND OTHER HIGH CRIMES
AND MISDEMEANORS, AGAINST JAMES
DUKE OF ORMOND.

ARTICLE I.

did, during the said war, falsely, maliciously, wickedly, and traitorously, aid, help, assist and adhere to, the said French king, against her said late majesty; and, in execution of his said aiding, helping, assisting, and adhering, maliciously, falsely, and traitorously, contrary to the duty of his allegiance, and the laws and day of May, 1712, send private intelligence and statutes of this realm, did, on or about the 20th to her said late majesty, and general of the information to marshal Villars, then an enemy French king's army against her majesty and her allies, of a march the army of her said majesty and of her allies was then going to make, and of the design of the said army in making that march.

ARTICLE II.

"That whereas, in or about the month of May, 1712, a traitorous design was carried on between Henry St. John esquire, then one of her said late majesty's principal secretaries of ministers of France, to defeat the just expecta. state, and other evil-disposed persons, and the tions of the great advantages over the common enemy her majesty and the nation had then of the confederate forces in the Netherlands; reason to hope for, from the great superiority

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"That whereas James duke of Ormond, in or about the month of April, 1712, being ap-to obtain which, very large sums of money had pointed general of the forces in the Netherlands of her late majesty queen Anne, with erders to prosecute the war against France with all possible vigour, in conjunction with her said majesty's allies; and having, by her said majesty's directions, and in her name, given her said allies the most solemn assurances to that purpose, was thereupon admitted into the councils, and made privy to the most secret designs, of the generals of the confederate army against the common enemy, and of the measures they thought the most proper to carry on the war with success: and whereas, in the said year 1712, the said war was carried on between her said late majesty queen Anne and the said French king; and during all the said year the war did continue, and for all that time the said French king and his subjects were enemies of her late majesty, he the said James duke of Ormond, then general of her majesty's army, and a subject of her majesty, not considering the duty of his allegiance, but having with drawn his true and due obedience from her said late majesty, and affection from his country,

See in this same year the Cases of lord
Bolingbroke, lord Strafford, and lord Oxford.
† See the Report of this Committee in the
Parliamentary History, as referred to in lord
Oxford's Case.

been cheerfully contributed by parliament: and to that end the said Henry St. John had given secret assurances to the French ministers, That her majesty's general in the Netherlands, though under the most solemn engagements to act vigorously in concert with had also engaged the said dyke of Ormond to the allies, should not act against France;' and concur in the said wicked purpose; which evil practices of the said Henry St. John and others, when they were first suspected, giving the greatest alarm to the ministers of the allies, the parliament, and to the whole kingdom, and being thereupon openly disavowed and denied by all the conspirators in the most public manner; he the said James duke of Ormond, in order to disguise and conceal from her said late majesty and the whole kingdom the said traitorous designs, then carrying on by the said Henry St. John and other false traitors to her majesty and their country, in aid and comfort of the French king, then in open war with, and an enemy of her said majesty, did, by his letter of the 25th of May, 1712, to the said Henry St. state, called his public letter, because prepared John, then her majesty's principal secretary of jesty and her council, wickedly, falsely and and intended to be read before her said matreacherously, abuse and impose upon her said late majesty and her council, by affirming and

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for High Treason. declaring therein, That, if he found an op'portunity to bring the enemy to a battle, he 'should not decline it;' although, by a private letter writ by the said James duke of Ormond, of the same date, and to the said Henry St. John, designed to be read by the said Henry St. John and the said conspirators only, he the said James duke of Ormond, did on the contrary, wickedly promise and engage, That 'he would not attack or molest the French 'army, or engage in any siege against France.'

ARTICLE III.

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of the States General, to raise the siege of Quesnoy, a French town then besieged by them; and did then further, traitorously and wickedly, refuse to act any longer against France; and then also, traitorously and wickedly, told the said generals of the said confederate forces, and the said States' deputies, That he could no longer cover the siege of Quesnoy; but was obliged, by his instructions, to march off with the queen's troops, ' and those in her majesty's pay;' Whereas in truth, and the Commons expressly charge, that he the said James duke of Ormond did "That he the said James duke of Ormond, traitorously and wickedly make the said dein or about the month of June, 1712, being at claration, and refused to act against France, in that time general of her majesty's forces against manifest contradiction not only to his said oriFrance, and a subject of her said majesty, not ginal orders, but also of the said letter to him of considering the duty of his allegiance, but the 7th of June from the said Henry St. John; having altogether withdrawn the cordial love since none of the articles demanded by her maand due obedience which every faithful subject jesty for a cessation of arms, and expressed in owed to her said majesty, and devoting himself the said letter to be the conditions without to the service of France, and designing to give which no cessation of arms was to be made, aid and comfort to the French king and his had been complied with by France. And, in subjects, then in open war with, and enemies to further execution of his said traitorous designs, her said late majesty, in violation of the many he the said James duke of Ormond, by a letter treaties of alliance between Great Britain and to the said marshal Villars on the 25th of June several other princes and states, for carrying aforesaid, did traitorously and wickedly send on the war against France, and of the said late intelligence to the said marshal Villars of the queen's instructions to him, on or about the 7th before-mentioned passages between him the of April, 1712, under the sign manual; in pur- said James duke of Ormond, and the generals suance thereof, and of the solemn declarations of the confederate army and the States depuhe bad but lately before, by her said majesty's ties, and how his propositions were received by command, and in her name, made to the pen-them; and also of the disposition he observed sionary of Holland and the generals of the con- in the foreign troops to adhere to the said confefederate army, to push on the war with all pos- derates, in case of a separation by the troops of sible vigour; and also in open and manifest Great Britain. violation of the last orders sent to him in a letter from the said Henry St. John, on or about the 7th of June, 1713, whereby he the said James duke of Ormond was directed, To make 'no cessation of arms with the French, unless 'the articles demanded by her majesty, and 'expressly mentioned and set down in the said 'letter, as the conditions for the said cessation, 'should be complied with by France;' and whereby he the said James duke of Ormond was likewise further expressly directed and told, That in case the conditions therein mentioned were not complied with by France, that then he was entirely free from restraint, and at liberty to take all reasonable measures in his 'power, for annoying the enemy, and at full liberty of acting against France;' did, on or about the 25th of June, aforesaid, falsely, maliciously, wickedly, and traitorously, aid, help, assist, and adhere to the French king against ber said late majesty, and then in open war with her majesty; and, in execution of his said aiding, helping, assisting, and adhering, and in pursuance of a wicked promise he had secretly made the same day to marshal Villars, general of the French army, to that purpose, maliciously, falsely, and traitorously, contrary to the duty of his allegiance and the laws and statutes of this realm, did advise, and endea-having received a letter, dated on or about the vour to persuade, the generals of the confe- 14th of July, 1712, from the said marshal Vilderate army against France, and the deputies lars the French general, desiring To be inST VOL. XV.

ARTICLE IV:

"That he the said James duke of Ormond did not only wickedly and falsely affirm to the generals of the confederate army and the States' deputies, That_bis said refusal to act any longer against France, and to cover the siege of Quesnoy, was in pursuance of instructions he had received for that purpose;' but also, to induce the said generals of the confederate army and the States' deputies to comply with his proposal to them to abandon the said siege; be the said James duke of Ormond did wickedly represent their compliance therein as the most effectual way to induce her said late majesty to take care of the said confederates' interest at the peace; whereby he the said James duke of Ormond did, in effect, threaten her said majesty's good friends and allies, That, 'unless they would dishonourably abandon an enterprise undertaken by common consent, ' and thereby save a strong fortress and a numerous garrison of the enemy, they were not 'to expect that her majesty would take care of their interests at the general peace.'

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ARTICLE V.

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"That he the said James duke of Ormond

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:

Proceedings against the Duke of Ormond. [1012

formed what troops remained with the confederate army, or what troops and generals 'marched off from them with him the said duke and declaring at the same time, that ⚫the reason of that inquiry was in order to fall ⚫ upon and attack the said confederate army;' he the said James duke of Ormond, on or about the 16th day of July 1712, did traitorously, and wickedly, contrary to the duty of a true and faithful subject, and contrary to his allegiance and the laws and statutes of this realm, aid, help, assist, and adhere to, the said French king and his subjects, against her said late majesty, and then in open war with, and enemies to, her said late majesty; and, in execution of his said aiding, helping, assisting, and adhering, he the said James duke of Ormond on or about the said 16th day of July, 1712, did traitorously send secret intelligence to the said marshal Villars, the general of the French army, of the number of the troops that had left the said confederate army, and also of the march the said confederate army had that morning made.

ARTICLE VI.

of themselves, and of all the Commons of Great Britain, impeach the said James duke of Ormond of High Treason, and other High Crimes and Misdemeanors in the said Articles contained: And the said Commons, by protestation, saving to themselves the liberty of exhibiting, at any time hereafter, any other accusations or impeachments against the said to the Answers which the said James duke of James duke of Ormond; and also of replying Ormond shall make to the premises, or any of them, or to any impeachment or accusation that shall be by them exhibited, according to the course and proceedings of parliament; do pray, that the said James duke of Ormond be put to answer all and every the premises; and that such proceedings, examinations, trials, and judgments may be, upon them, and every of them, had and used, as shall be agreeable to law and justice: And they do further pray and demand, that the said James duke of Or mond may be sequestered from parliament, and forthwith committed to safe custody."

August 10.

diligent search and enquiry had been made The Lords acquainted the Commons that after the duke of Ormond, but that he was not to be found, whereupon the Commons ordered in a Bill to summon bim to render him self to justice by a day therein to be limited, or in default thereof, to attaint him of High Treason.

"And whereas he the said James duke of Ormond had received advice that the States General, in or about the month of October, 1712, had formed a design to surprise and take the towns of Nieuport and Furnes, or one of them, then in the possession of the French king: that he the said James duke of Ormond, intending to strengthen the hands of the common enemy, by defeating the said enter-tary Stanhope presented such Bill, which on On the next day, August 11th, Mr. Secreprize, did, on or about the 21st day of October, that day was read a first time: On the morrow 1712, in a letter to the said Henry St. John, a second time: On the next day was com then viscount Bolingbroke, wickedly and basely mitted. On Monday the 15th, the Report was suggest to and advise her said late majesty to received, and on Tuesday the 16th the Bill was send secret intelligence of, and to betray, the read a third time; passed by a majority of 94 said counsels and designs of her good and faith- against 22, and sent to the Lords. ful allies the States General, to the French king, then in the war with, and an enemy to, her majesty; and did further wickedly and shamefully suggest the means of putting the said treachery in execution, by giving private intelligence of the design to the said marshal

Villars.

"All which Crimes and Misdemeanours were committed and done by him the said James duke of Ormond, against our late sovereign lady the queen, her crown and dignity, the peace and interest of this kingdom, and in breach of the several trusts reposed in him the said duke: and he the said James duke of Ormond was general of her majesty's forces in the Netherlands, and one of her privy council, during the time that all and every the crimes before set forth were done and committed."

To which the House agreed; and on the next day, the House agreed to the following additional clause:

By the Lords, it was on that same day read a first time; on the 18th a second time.

mond was presented to the House, praying (in On this day a Petition of the duchess of Or consideration of the duke's being beyond sea, and of the difficulty and uncertainty of apprising him of the provisions of the Bill) that beyond the day fixed by the Bill, viz, the 10th the time for his surrender should be enlarged of September. The Petition was ordered to lie on the table; and the Bill was forthwith committed, reported, read a third time, and passed.*

Geo. Bristol; and "For the reasons given
Against this Bill protested, without reasons,

well, Ireton, and Pride was read a first and second time on the day of its presentation; upon The Bill for attainting Bradshaw, Crom"For which matters and things, the knights, heretofore read their act for the trial of the the suggestion of Prynn, "because the traitors citizens, and burgesses, of the House of Com-king twice together." See 4 Hatsell's Premons, in parliament assembled, do, in the name cedents, p. 221, note.

This Bill, with that against Bolingbroke, received the royal assent on August 20th.

against the Bill, intituled, An Act for the Attainder of Henry viscount Bolingbroke of High Treason; unless he shall render himself to justice by a day certain, therein mentioned.→ Scarsdale, Willoughby de Broke, Compton, Foley, Geo. Bath and Well. (Hooper), Fr. Roffen. (Atterbury) Fran. Cestriens. (Gastrell) Strafford, Abingdon, Bathurst, Ashburnham, Weston, Masham, Lansdowne, Clarendon."

The rest of Ormond's life was passed abroad in adherence to the Pretender.

There is a curious anecdote of an interview between Ormond and Oxford, presently before the flight of the former.

454. Proceedings on an Impeachment of THOMAS Earl of STRAFFORD, for High Crimes and Misdemeanors: 1 & 2 GEORGE I

A. D. 1715.*

ON the 22nd of June, 1715, the House of Commons resolved to impeach Thomas earl of Strafford of High Crimes and Misdemeanors, and referred it to the Committee of Secrecy + to draw up Articles of Impeachment, and prepare evidence against him.

August 31, 1715. Mr. Walpole, from the Committee of Secrecy, acquainted the House, that the Committee had, in obedience to the commands of the House, prepared Articles of Impeachment of High Crimes and Misdemea nors against Thomas earl of Strafford; and he read the same in his place, and afterwards delivered them in at the clerk's table; where they were read, and are as follow:

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CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS, AGAINST THOMAS EARL OF STRAFFORD. "Whereas his late majesty king William the third, of ever glorious memory, out of his great wisdom and tender regard for his own kingdoms and the Protestant Succession, and to vindicate the honour of the crown and nation, then affronted by France, in proclaiming the Pretender king of Great Britain, after the French king had but lately before acknowledged his majesty's title to the same, as well as from a just concern for the preservation of the liberties of Europe, against the growing power of France, which was then become more formidable from the duke of Anjou's having taken possession of the entire Spanish monarchy, did, upon the advice and request of both Houses of Parliament, in or about the month of September, 1701, enter into, make, and conclude, a treaty with Leopold emperor of Germany, and the States General of the United Provinces; wherein a strict conjunc

See in this same year, the Cases of lord Bolingbroke, the duke of Ormond, and lord Oxford.

† See the Report of this Committee in the Parliamentary History as referred to in lord Oxford's Case.

tion and alliance amongst themselves being thought necessary for repelling the greatness of the common danger, it was, amongst other things, agreed, That there should be and continue, between the said confederates, a constant, perpetual, and inviolable friendship and correspondence; and that each party should be obliged to promote the advantages of the other, and prevent all inconveniences and dangers that might happen to them, as far as lay in their power: that the said allies, desiring nothing more earnestly than the peace and general quiet of all Europe, had adjudged, that blishment thereof, than the procuring an equinothing could be more effectual for the esta table and reasonable satisfaction to his imperial majesty for his pretensions to the Spanish succession; and that the king of Great Britain and the States General might obtain a particular and sufficient security for their kingdoms, provinces, and dominions, and for the navigation and commerce of their subjects: that it should not be permitted to either party, when the war is once begun, to treat of peace with the enemy, unless jointly and by a communication of councils; and no peace should be made, unless an equitable and reasonable satisfaction for his imperial majesty, and a par ticular security for the kingdoms, provinces, dominions, navigation, and commerce, of his majesty of Great Britain and the States General, be first obtained; and unless care be taken, by fitting security, that the kingdoms of France and Spain shall never come and be united under the same government, nor that one and the same person shall be king of both kingdoms. And whereas his said late majesty king William and the States General, seriously considering that France was then become so formidable, from the accession of Spain to the duke of Anjou, that, in the opinion of all the world, Europe was in danger of losing her liberty, and undergoing the heavy yoke of universal monarchy; and that the surest means of effecting that design were, to divide the king of Great Britain from the States General, for which purpose all imaginable efforts would be made; they therefore thought it ne

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