Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

STATE

O F

Great-Britain.

VOLUME X.

CONTAINING

The Months of JULY, AUGUST, SEPTEMBER,
OCTOBER, NOVEMBER, and DECEMBER.
MDCCXV.

By Mr. A. BOY E R.

LONDON: Printed for JOHN BAKER, and
T. WARNER at the Black-Boy in Pater-Nofter
Row, 1716.

22863.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

N° Thursday the 7th of
July, Mr. Walpole, from

the Committee of Secrecy, Vol. X.
acquainted the Houfe,

That the Committee

had, in Obedience to

the Commands of the Houfe, prepared Articles of Impeachment for High Treafon and other High Crimes and Misdemeanors, Q3 ⚫ against

July 7.

against Rob.E.of Oxford, and E. Mortimer ; and that theCommittee had commanded him, at the fame time, to acquaint the Houfe, that they fhould, in a fhort Time, have further Articles to lay be'fore the House against the said Earl; and that the Committee had directed him to report the Articles (already prepared) to the House:' And he read them in his Articles of Im- Place, and afterwards deliver'd the fame in peachment 4 at the Table, where they were, once read. gainst the E.of Oxford, laid After this it was moved by a Tory Membefore the ber, that the further Confideration of the Commons. faid Articles be adjourn'd to that Day Sevennight; but it was carry'd without dividing, and order'd, That the faid Report be read a fecond time the next Day. Accordingly, on the 8th of July, the First Ten of the Articles of Impeachment against Robert, Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer, were read a 2d time; and upon the Queftion severally put thereupon (with Amendments to fome of them) there was Debate about a long Debate from Two till Eight in the Evening, when they were agreed to, by a Majority of 280 Voices, against 125. Then a Motion being made and the Queftion put, That the further Confideration of the faid Report be adjourn'd till, the next Morning, the fame was carry'd in the Negative, by 247 Votes against 139. Hereupon the Eleventh Article was read a fecond time, and amended by the House, and, after Candles had been brought in, there arofe a great Debate, upon the Que ftion, Whether the faid Article was High Treafon ? Sir Robert Raymond, formerly Sollicitor-General,

them.

July 8.

Sollicitor-General, William Bromley, Efq; Sir William Wyndham, the Auditors Harley and Foley, Mr. Ward, and Mr. Hungerford (who had already spoke in favour of the Earl of Oxford) maintain'd the Negative: And were ftrongly fupported by Sir Jofeph Jekyll, one of the Committee of Secrecy. The Latter faid, among other things, That it was ever his Principle to do Juftice to every Body, from the Highest to the Loweft, being perfuaded, 'That it was the Duty of an honeft Man never to act by a Spirit of Party. That ' he hoped he might pretend to have some Knowledge of the Laws of the Kingdom; and as, in the Committee of Secrecy, he had taken the Liberty to differ from his Colleagues, he would not fcruple to declare now to the whole House, that, in his Judgment, the Charge in "Question did not amount to High Treafon. Most of the other Members of the Committee of Secrecy were offended at this Speech, which both revealed and cenfured their Proceedings: And thereupon Mr. Walpole anfwer'd, with fome Warmth, That there were both in and out of the Committee of Secrecy feveral Perfons, who did not, in the leaft, yield to the Mem'ber that spoke laft, in point of Honefty; and who, without derogating from his Merit, were fuperior to him in the Knowledge of the Laws; but who, at the fame time, were fatisfied that the Charge specified in the Eleventh Article amounted to Treafon.' Mr. Walpole was back'd by General Stanhope, the Lord

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

Coningsby,

« AnteriorContinua »