time to get his own pardon and save his money. When I was prisoner, he came to my house, and spoke with my servant, and said how sorry he was that I should be brought in danger upon this account of the plot, and there he, in the presence of God, with hands uplifted to Heaven, swore he did not believe in any plot, that it was a sham. He would have got my plate and other goods into his possession, and desired my man to place them there for safety. The next news was a warrant against my Lord Russell and me. He now again affirmed his belief in my innocence; that if I had known anything, I should have told it.

My Lord, I think it very material, that a whimsical imagination of a conspiracy, should not pass for a real conspiracy of the death of the King. Will you, my Lord, indict a man for treason, for scraps of paper found in his house, relating to an ancient paper, intended as innocently as anything in the world, and piece and patch this to my Lord Howard's discourse, to make this a contrivance to kill the King?

Here is a huge complication of crimes laid to my charge. These papers have no manner of coherence or dependence, upon any design. What man can be safe if the King's counsel may make such whimsical, groundless constructions?

The Solicitor-General then summed up the case.

The jury then withdrew, and in about half an hour's time brought in the verdict of Guilty.

He was beheaded on Tower Hill.

CHAPTER XVIII.

TRIAL OF DOCTOR HENRY SACHEVERELL, FOR. HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS, BEFORE THE HOUSE OF PEERS, IN WESTMINSTER HALL, IN THE MONTHS OF FEBRUARY AND MARCH, 1709-10.

A

COMPLAINT was made in the House of Commons on the 13th of December, 1709, of two printed sermons: the one entitled, "The Communication of Sin," preached at the Assizes at Derby, the 15th of August, 1709; and the other entitled, "The Perils of False Brethren, both in Church and State," preached before the Lord Mayor and Citizens, at the Cathedral of St. Paul's, on the 5th of November, 1709, by Henry Sacheverell, D.D., and several paragraphs thereof being read, it was resolved:

That the said sermons were malicious, scandalous, and seditious libels, highly reflecting on her Majesty and her Government, on the late happy revolution, and the Protestant succession, and both Houses of Parliament; tending to alienate the affections of her Majesty's good subjects, and to create jealousies and divisions amongst them.

The Doctor, being ordered to attend the House next day, was called and examined if he owned those sermons, which he did, and then withdrew: when a question being proposed, that Dr. Henry Sacheverell be impeached of high crimes and misdemeanors, it was thought proper to call him again first, and demand if he had anything to offer to the House in his excuse. The Doctor said:

Mr. Speaker:-I am very sorry I am fallen under the

displeasure of this House: I did not imagine any expressions in my sermons were liable to such a censure as you have passed upon them. If you had been pleased to have favored me so far as to have heard me before you passed it, I hope I should have explained myself so as to have prevented it.

After which, the Doctor was ordered to withdraw; and it was resolved to impeach him of high crimes and misdemeanors; and Mr. Dolben accordingly carried up the impeachment to the Lords, acquainting them, that the Commons would, in due time, exhibit articles against him.

And the Doctor with his bookseller, Mr. Henry Clements, were taken into custody of the Serjeant-at-Arms; and though the Doctor petitioned the Commons to be admitted to bail, they refused it: 79 ayes, 114 noes.

There were great debates in the House on bailing the Doctor; some were of opinion they had no power to take bail; others insisted they had a discretionary power; while a third party said, if they had it in their power, the Doctor did not deserve so much indulgence; others said, in favor of liberty, if they could, they ought to admit him to bail; and that they could bail a prisoner they argued, from the equity and unreasonableness of the thing, that those that could commit, might bail him; and produced two precedents, viz.: The case of Mr. Seymour, and that of the smugglers, impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors; in one of which, the persons impeached and committed by the House of Commons were admitted to bail; in the other, the Commons, upon their petition, consented to bail them; and they had been bailed, but the sureties made objections to the condition of their bonds, and would not submit to it. Besides, it was urged, that this case was in itself bailable; and so agreed by all gentlemen; and that the Doctor's

hardship might be the greater, because it was probable, if the Commons did not bail him, he must lie in custody, when bailable by law, till after the recess of Parliament; for the articles not being exhibited to the Lords against him, it was thought the Lords would not take him out of the custody of the Commons, and commit him upon a general charge; and till they committed him, they could not bail him; this was his case; for, upon application to the Lords, they refused to commit him, till the Commons had exhibited their articles. The Lords said, the Commons might never exhibit any, and they would not do so unreasonable a thing, as to commit any one on a general charge; and so he lay a prisoner, by the commitment of the House of Commons, in a case bailable by law (and for which there were precedents of the Commons admitting to bail), from December the 14th to January the 12th.

Mr. Dolben carried up the articles to the Lords on the 12th of January, and the Serjeant-at-Arms, at the same time, delivered the Doctor to the Deputy Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod; and the Doctor petitioning the House of Peers to be admitted to bail, and that he might have counsel assigned him; and a copy of the articles; their Lordships granted all his requests; and on the 25th of January, Dr. Sacheverell attended the House of Lords, and delivered in his answer to the articles of impeachment against him; which their Lordships having communicated to the Commons, they sent up their reply on the 3d of February: and the next day the Lords sent a message to the Commons, acquainting them that they had appointed the Thursday following, for the trial of Dr. Sacheverell, at the Bar of the House: but the Commons resolving afterwards, that they would be present at the trial as a committee of the whole House, and acquainting their Lordships with it, and desiring convenient ac

commodations might be made for them; the House of Peers ordered the Lords, with white staves, to move her Majesty to give orders for preparing a place in Westminster Hall for the trial; and her Majesty thereupon gave orders for preparing a court in Westminster Hall; which taking up some time, the Lords put off the trial till Monday, the 27th of February.

The Commons thereupon appointed the gentlemen, who had been of the committee for drawing up articles against the doctor, to be their managers at the trial, viz. : Sir John Holland, Comptroller of her Majesty's household, Mr. Secretary Boyle, Mr. Smith, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir James Montague, Attorney-General, Robert Eyre, Esq., Solicitor-General, Robert Walpole, Esq., Treasurer of the Navy, Sir Joseph Jekyll, Mr. Lechmere, Mr. Dolben, Sir Thomas Parker, Sir Peter King, Recorder of the city of London, Sir John Hawles, the Lord William Paulet, the Lord Coningsby, Mr. Spencer Cowper, Mr. Thompson, Lieutenant-General Stanhope, Lieutenant-General Mordaunt, Mr. Compton, and Sir David Dalrymple.

On Monday, the 27th of February, being the day appointed for the trial, the lords came down from their House about noon, to the court erected in Westminster Hall; and the Commons having taken the places provided for them, the sergeant-at-arms made proclamation for the doctor to appear and save his bail; whereupon he came to the bar and kneeled; his counsel, Sir Simon Harcourt, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Phipps, Mr. Dee, and Dr. Henchman, standing near him.

The Lord-Chancellor Cowper then commanded the doctor to rise; and proclamation being made for the prosecutors to appear and make good their charge, the lord-chancellor acquainted the doctor that it was unnecessary to give him any directions for his defence, the