Die Sabbati 220 Maii, 1725.

Report being made from the Committee of the whole Houfe, on the Bill for enabling Henry St. John, late Viscount Bolingbroke, and his Heirs Male, notwithstanding his Attainder, to enjoy feveral Eftates, according to fuch Interefts as are limited in a certain Indenture, and other Afsurances therein mentioned, and for other Purposes. That the Committee had made fome Progress in the Bill.

The Queftion was put whether the House shall be put into a ComContents 46 mittee again upon the faid Bill on Monday next at Ten o'Clock in the

Not Cont. 22

Forenoon?

It was refolv'd in the Affirmative.

Diffentient

ift, Because we apprehend it to be inconfiftent with the Honour and Dignity, which in all Cafe's fhould be observed in the Proceedings of this House, to make a Refolution, efpecially upon Debate, to put the House into a Committee on this Bill, at the fame Instant or Moment of Time on which, by an Order of the Twenty-first Instant, it was refolved, that the House would further proceed on the Impeachment of the Earl of Macclesfield; and it does not appear to us, that any Precedent is to be found on the Journals of this House, to warrant this Refolution in that Respect.

2dly, We conceive, that this Refolution may draw on a Debate or Doubt in the House, touching the Preference to be given by the House to the further Progrefs on this Bill, or to the further Proceeding on the faid Impeachment; which Debate, if any fuch should happen, we think, may be attended with ill Confequences; the Matter of the faid Impeachment fo preffing and neceffary, in our Opinions, to the publick Juftice of the Nation,

being compared with this Bill, which contains, as we think, extraordinary and undeserved Bounty and Reward to a Perfon impeached by the Commons, and as yet attainted for Treafons which tended to the Overthrow of the Proteftant Succeffion to the Crown of thefe Realms, and placing the Pretender on the Throne.

Warrington,

Coventry,

Lechmere.

Die Lune 24° Maii, 1725.

Hodie 3a vice leta eft Billa, entitled, An A&t for enabling Henry St. John, late Viscount Bolingbroke, and the Male Heirs of his Body, notwithstanding his Attainder, to take and enjoy feveral Manors, Lands, and Hereditaments in the Counties of Wilts, Surry, and Middlefex, according to fuch Eftates and Interefts as to him or them are limited thereof by the Quinquepartite Indenture, and other Affurances therein mentioned, and for limiting the fame, in Default of Iffue- Male of the Body of the faid late Viscount Bolingbroke, to the other Sons of Henry Viscount St. John fucceffively in Tail-Male, and for other Purposes therein expreffed.

Contents 75

The Question was put, whether Not Cont. 25 this Bill shall pass?

It was refolved in the Affirmative. Diffentient'

ift, Because the Purport and Intention of this Bill is to repeal feveral Acts of Parliament paffed fince his Majesty's Accellion, whereby all the Estate and Intereft of the late Lord Bolingbroke, in the Hands mentioned in this Bill, being forfeited to the Crown for High-Treason, were vefted in Trustees, and still remain appropriated to the Ufe and Benefit of the Publick, the Value of which Lands amount, as we believe, to feveral Thousand Pounds per Annum: we therefore think it unjust to all the Subjects of this Kingdom, who have borne

many

many heavy Taxes, occafioned, as we believe, in great Measure, by the Treafons committed, and the Rebellion which was encouraged by this Perfon, to take from the Publick the Benefit of his Forfeiture.

2dly, It appears from the Articles of Impeachment exhibited by the Commons against the late Lord Bolingbroke, whereon he now ftands attainted by Act of Parliament, that he food charged with the Commiffion of feveral Treafons of the moft flagrant and dangerous Nature, committed by him whilft he was Secretary of State to her late Majefty Queen Anne, for traiterously betraying her most fecret Councils to the King of France, then at War and in Enmity with her Majefty, and with other Treafons tending to destroy the Ballance of Europe, and to raise the then exorbitant Power of the French King, who not long before had publickly acknowledged the Pretender to be the lawful and rightful King of thefe Realms.

3dly, The Treasons wherewith he was charged, we conceive, were fully confeffed by his Flight from the Justice of Parliament; but his Guilt was afterwards, as we think, indisputably demonstrated by the new Treasons he openly and avowedly committed against his present Majefty; it being notorious, and it having been declared to the Houfe on the Debate of this Bill, that he did, foon after his Flight, enter publickly into the Councils and Services of the Pretender, who was then fomenting and carrying on a Rebellion within these Kingdoms for the dethroning his Majefty, into which Rebellion many of his Majefty's Subjects, as well Peers as Commoners, were drawn, as we believe, by the Example or Influence of the late Lord Bolingbroke, and for which Reafon many Peers and Commoners have fince been attainted, and fome of them executed, and their Estates, both real and perfonal,

become

become forfeited by their Attainders, and as yet continue under thofe Forfeitures,

4thly, We have not been informed of any particular publick Services which this Perfon hath performed to his Majefty, or this Nation, fince his Commiffion of the many high and dangerous Treafons beforementioned, and, in cafe he has done any, they must be of fuch a Nature as ought, in our Opinions, to be rewarded in another Manner than is provided by this Bill, and for which, we think, the Crown is otherwife fufficiently enabled, and the Sincerity of his having quitted the Intereft of the Pretender may, in our Opinions, be justly fufpected, he never having, as appears to us, throughout the Progress of this Bill in both Houfes, once fignified 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 Intereft or Councils of the Pretender, can't reafonably be fuppofed, in our Opinions, to be of great Value.

5thly, We think that no Affurances which this Perfon hath given, nor any Services he can have performed fince his Commiffion of the Treafons aforefaid, or any further Obligations he can enter into, can be a fufficient Security to his Majesty or the Kingdom against his future Infincerity, which may happen, he having already fo often violated the most folemn Affurances and Obligations, and, in Defiance of them, having openly attempted the dethroning of his Majefty, and the Deftruction of the Liberties of his Country.

6thly, 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 Cafes of like Nature, that the strongest Affurances have afterwards proved deceitful; for which Reason we conVOL. II.

C

ceive

ceive it to be unwife and dangerous to give fuch Rewards as can't be recalled, though the Affurances fhould be broke; and we believe it to be the known Policy and univerfal Practice of wife Governments to keep the Perfons (claiming Merit from fuch Services as the late Lord Bolingbroke can poffibly have performed fince the Commiffions of his Treasons) dependent on the Government for the Continuance of thofe Rewards.

7thly, The Pardon of the late Lord Bolingbroke, under the Great Seal, having been communicated to the Houfe, and under Confideration on the Debate of this Bill, we think that this Bill ought not to pafs, because it may hereafter be construed, in fome Degree, to confirm or countenance that Pardon and we are of Opinion, that that Pardon, though it may be legal as to the Treafons committed by him fince his Attainder, yet fo far as it may be conftrued (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 moft dangerous Violation of the ancient Rights and Freedom of the Kingdom, and will defeat the whole Ufe and Effect of Impeachments by the Commons; which is, as we think, the chief Institution, arifing even from the Conftitution itself, for the Preferv ation of the Government, and for the attaining parliamentary Juftice; and tends, as we conceive, to render the Rights and Judicature of this Houfe, on Impeachments and Bills of Attainder, vain and ufelefs; all which ancient Rights of both Houses, and of the Subjects of this Nation, were faved to them by the Revolution, and were intended, as we conceive, to have been for ever preferved to them * in their full Extent, by the A&t paffed in the Reign of the late King William, of ever glorious Memory, by which the Crown of thefe Realms is li