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A71289 A compendious view of the late tumults & troubles in this kingdom by way of annals for seven years viz, from the beginning of the 30th to the end of the 36th year of the reign of His Late Majesty King Charles II of blessed memory / by J.W. Esq. Wright, James, 1643-1713. 1685 (1685) Wing W3692; ESTC R5955 83,596 239

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which the Religion may be preserved and the Monarchy not destroy'd that therefore they would provide for Religion and Government together with regard to one another because they support one another and that they would make the known Establisht Laws of the Land the Rules and Measures of all their Votes because He is resolved they shall be His. After this Speech the Commons return'd to their House and Chose for their Speaker William Williams Esq who had managed that Office in the last Parliament Who being the next Day presented made a Speech to the King and claim'd by humble Address as his Words were The Antient Rights of the Commons Nothing of extraordinary note passed till Saturday the 26th of March on which Day it was that the House of Commons were informed that the Lords had refused to proceed upon the Impeachment of the Commons against Edward Fitz-Harris for High Treason but had directed that he should be proceeded against at the Common Law Hereupon they Vote That this refusal of the Lords to proceed in Parliament upon such Impeachment is a Denial of Justice and a Violation of the Constitutions of Parliaments an Obstruction to the further Discovery of the Popish Plot and of great Danger to His Majesties Person and the Protestant Religion And further they resolve That for any inferior Court to proceed against Edward Fitz-Harris or any other Person lying under an Impeachment in Parliament for the same Crimes for which he or they stand Impeached is an high breach of the Priviledge of Parliament On the Monday following the Bill against the Duke of York was Read the first time and Order'd a second Reading When on a suddain the King sends for the Commons up to the House of Lords and tells them That He perceived heats betwixt the Lords and them and therefore He had Order'd the Chancellor to Dissolve the present Parliament which he accordingly did immediately The same Day the King left Oxford and came to Windsor that Night the next Morning by Eight a Clock to Whitehall Not long after this His Majesty was pleas'd to Publish in Print a Declaration to all his Loving Subjects in which He set forth the Reasons which induced Him to Dissolve His two last Parliaments His reasonable desires which He had proposed to 'em with their unwarrantable proceedings in return declaring however that He is not yet out of Love with Parliaments but that He will frequently advise with them as His great Council which He hopes ere long to find in a better Temper much to this purpose were the Contents of that Declaration which by His Majesties Order in Council was appointed to be Read in all Churches and Chappels About the same time all the Factious News call'd Domestick Intelligence and Weekly Printed for Francis Smith Ben. Harris and Langly Curtis were by Order of Council as reported put down and silenced And the abovemention'd Francis Smith a Notorious Libel Printer was Committed to Newgate In Easter Term this year Sir Francis Pemberton became Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench in the Room of Sir William Scroggs who had obtain'd a Writ of Ease Great Expectation there was to see what the Court would do in the Case of Edward Fitz-Harris and some Hesitation the Grand-Jury of Middlesex of which one Mr. Godfrey Brother and Heir to the late Sir Edmundbury Godfrey was the Foreman made to receive the Bill of Indictment against him in regard he had been Impeacht by the House of Commons till they were inform'd and satisfied by the Court that all the Judges of England had the Day before met and resolved upon that question Nemine Contrad cente that they might lawfully proceed in the Tryal notwithstanding the aforemention'd Votes of the House of Commons after this the said Jury found the Bill and Fitz-Harris was Arraign'd at the Bar on the last Day of April he was thrice bid to hold up his Hand insisting upon the Impeachment in Parliament but at last he held up his Hand and heard his Indictment Read which was for High Treason exprest in a certain Writing call'd The True Englishman full of most horrid Expressions against the King as if he were a Conspirator in the Plot and exciting the Nation to rise as one Man against him c. To which Indictment he put into Court a Dilatory Plea against the Jurisdiction alledging that he being Impeacht by the Commons in Parliament he cannot be Tryed here but this Plea not being under Councils Hand was refused to be received however the Court gave him time to consider whether he would stand by such a Plea in regard it might be fatal unto him in case it should be over-Ruled and assign'd him for Council Sir Francis Winnington Mr. Williams Mr. Pollexfen and Mr. Wallop as he desired to argue the said Point of Judicature next Wednesday if he persisted in such Plea On the said Wednesday being the 4th of May the Prisoner was again brought to the Bar attended with His Council at which time the Kings Attorney Sir Robert Sawyer enter'd a Demurrer to the Prisoners Plea and insisted chiefly on the manifest defect of form in regard the Plea run that the said Fitz-Harris was Impeacht at the late Parliament at Oxford de Alta proditione but does not say of what sort or manner of Treason nor sets forth the Impeachment at large which a Plea ought to do when it is to the Jurisdiction After this the Council of the Prisoner joyn'd in Demurrer but upon their earnest motion tho' opposed by the Attorney General time was given them to next Saturday Morning to maintain the said Plea by Argument if they can At which time it was argued largely by Williams Winnington Wallop and Pollexfen for the Prisoner and by the Attorney General the Sollicitor Serjeant Jeoffreys and Sir Francis Withens for the King the Kings Council and also the Court declaring that they medled not at all with the Priviledge of the House of Commons or Jurisdiction of the Lords in Parliament which was not in the Point tho in truth the Council for the Prisoner would fain have put that upon 'em but only as to the form of the Plea After all the debate which lasted from 8 till after 12 that Day the Lord Chief Justice declar'd that the Court would take a convenient time to consider before they gave their Judgment On the Wednesday following being the 11th of May the Prisoner being again brought to the Bar by the Lieutenant of the Tower my Lord Chief Justice in the Name of the whole Court gave Judgment and declar'd That he and his Brothers had Consider'd of the Plea that they had also consulted with others of the Judges and that himself Justice Jones and Justice Raymond were of opinion that the Plea was insufficient Dolbin doubting the Plea was therefore over ruled and the Prisoner ordered to Plead over and accordingly he pleaded not Guilty and alledging that a material Evidence on his part was now in
His Purse That He would not have them meddle with the Succession of the Crown in the Right Line but proceed in the Discovery of the Plot and to the Tryals of the Lords c. After this the Chancellor making no set Speech the Commons return'd to their own House and unanimously chose for their Speaker Mr. Williams of Grays-Inn Recorder of Chester One of the first things the House of Commons did was to Purge their own House of certain Members Sir Robert Can a Burgess for Bristol for having said there is no Plot but a Presbyterian Plot Sir Francis Withins head Steward of Westminster and one of the Burgesses for the same for having Declar'd himself abhorrent to the late Tumultous Petitions for the Parliaments sitting The first of these was expell'd the House and Committed to the Tower the other only expell'd But both Order'd to receive their Censure on their Knees And several other Members were declar'd Guilty of the last mention'd Offence On the 30th of October the King Publisht a Proclamation promising His Pardon to all that within two Months shall come in and make any further Discovery of the Plot. And this was done upon an Address of Parliament In the mean time the Commons not satisfied in punishing their own Members who had appear'd against Petitioning for the Parliaments fitting they take notice of others who were without their Walls and among the rest Sir George Jeffreys becomes the Object of their Displeasure who being Recorder of London the Kings Serjeant at Law and Chief Justice of Chester is for the pretended Crime above specified on the 13th of November Voted a Betrayer of the Rights of the Subject and an Address Order'd to be made to His Majesty to remove him from all Publick Offices At the same time it was Order'd that a Committee enquire into all such Persons as have been advising or promoting the late Proclamation stiled a Proclamation against Tumultuous Petitioning But about the same time a matter of much greater concern was thus mannaged On the 11th of November was past in the House of Commons a Bill entituled An Act for securing the Protestant Religion by disabling James Duke of York to Inherit the Imperial Crown of England and Ireland and the Territories thereunto belonging Which Bill was on the 15th carryed up to the Lords House by my Lord Russel attended by almost all the Commons who gave a Hum at the Delivery They being departed it was read once and being put to the Vote whether it should be read a second time it was carryed in the Affirmative by two Voices On the second reading it was debated till 11 a Clock at night the King being present all the while and then thrown out of the House by a Majority of about 30 Votes in which Majority were all the Bishops then present which were 14. Several other matters were transacted in Parliament of great moment but in regard the Daily Votes and transactions of the House of Commons was by Order of that House daily made publick in Print I refer the Reader for Particulars to what has been publisht and in these Papers take notice only of some of the most material Passages Among which it may be observed that Mr. Seymour the late Speaker and for whose Election the Commons in the late short Parliament did very much stickle was now ordered to be Impeacht and thò not at the same time yet not long after Impeachments were Voted and drawn up against Sir Francis North Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas Sir William Scroggs Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench Sir Thomas Jones second Justice of the said Court and Sir Richard Weston Puisny Baron of the Exchequer for several pretended Misdemeanors In the mean time William Lord Viscount Stafford one of the 5 Popish Lords in the Tower was brought to his Tryal on an Impeachment of High Treason The Tryal began in Westminster Hall on Tuesday the 30th of November being the next day after the Term ended Which Impeachment and Evidence upon the same was managed by a Committee of the Commons The Tryal lasted for a Whole Week and The Evidence against him were Oates Turberville and Dugdale Of the Lords who sate upon the Tryal the Lord Chancellor being Lord High Steward 31 pronounced him not Guilty and 55 Guilty And accordingly Judgment was pronounced against him on Wednesday the 7th of December But his Execution was respited till Wednesday the 29th of December on which day he was Beheaded on Tower-Hill protesting with his last breath his Innocency as to those Crimes of which he stood Condemn'd It is observable that Bethel and Cornish being then Sheriffs of London and having received the Kings Writ for the Execution of the said Viscount Stafford by severing his Head from his Body according to the constant Course in such Cases had notwithstanding the Confidence to demur upon it whether he ought to be Beheaded or according to the Common Judgment hang'd and quartered and for this they apply'd themselves to the two Houses of Parliament To which the most Honourable House of Lords Answered roundly That the Kings Writ ought to be obey'd But the Commons by way of Concession viz. That they were Content that the said Lord be Executed by severing his Head from his Body only During these Transactions a Comet with a most Prodigious Stream of light appear'd in the West the Star from which the Blaze proceeded was but small and when first discover'd appeared not much above the Horizon but every night afterwards it appear'd higher and higher in the beginning of the Night and consequently setting later and later its Lustre and magnitude also decaying I am neither able nor willing to make any Remarques on the Nature of these Meteors Or to say how far such noxious Exhalations may incline Mankind to Mischief And least of all will I pretend to Interpret whether this Finger of the Almighty is thus seen in the Heavens to Point out Good or Bad Events All that I design is innocently to observe and Remember the Naked Matters of Fact as they happen without disguize or Comment Two things more very observable happen'd before Christmass One was An Address of the House of Commons presented to His Majesty on the 21st of December in answer to His Speech of the 15th wherein he demanded once more Supplies of Mony for the defence of Tangier The effect of the said Address was to deny in as modest Terms as could be all Supplies of Mony for that purpose unless His Majesty would be pleas'd to pass a Bill to Seclude the Duke of York from Inheriting to the Crown and to enable the Protestants of this Nation to Associate themselves for the security of the Protestant Religion the Defence of the King and Kingdoms The other was a most Remarkable Speech Spoke in the House of Lords by the Earl of Shaftesbury the King being then present at least wise so pretended and Printed which being full of Audacious and