The Defence of Francis, Late Lord Bishop of Rochester

Angebote / Angebote:

Excerpt from The Defence of Francis, Late Lord Bishop of Rochester: At the Bar of the House of Lords, on Thursday the 9th, and Saturday the 11th of May, 1723, Against the Bill Then Depending for Inflicting Pains and Penalties on Him May it please your Lordships, I Am of Counsel for this Reverend Prelate, and however unnecessary I know Apologies to be before your Lordships, who are always ready to hear what he youngest and most unexperienced Person has to offer, yet it becomes me to say something for my first Appearance at your Lordship's Bar, in a Matter of the last Consequence, and it was the Desire of this Reverend Prelate, rather to make his Defence by suck weak Hands as mine, as if he was persuaded, that his Cause needed not the Assistance of Art or Experience, in order to move the Passions, or to impose upon the Reason of his Hearers, which he knows to be but an impotent Help to Persuasion, in comparison of Truth and Innocency. He appears before those, who (he hopes) will regard plain Facts and positive Law, and Truth, notwithstanding ail the Disadvantages of an unskilful Pleader, will, he hopes, at last prevail. For my own part, since your Lordships have assign'd me for his Counsel, I shall be under no Apprehensions of Danger or Displeasure in performing my Duty to him, in humbly offering every thing I think necessary for his just Defence, and I will not doubt, but I shall be fully and favourably heard. And tho' it is his Lordship's Misfortune to be already pre-judg'd in another Place, and to be condemn'd without Doors, by some few vulgar misled Apprehensions, yet he hopes better Things of you, my Lords: He does not doubt, but that your Lordships, who in Matters of less Importance proceed with Calmness, Justice and Prudence, will be careful not to deviate from those Measures, in a Matter which demands the greatest Caution and Deliberation: For it is the Cafe, the Reputation, the Liberty, the Fortune, and (I was going to say) the Life of a most Learned Prelate, because some Circumstances of this Bill are so cruel and extreme, that it is little better than if it had affected Life itself. Everyone that is a Friend to this Bill, must avow, that it is not to be offer'd without an evident and cogent Necessity. But, I hope, my Lords, (tho' the Grounds and Suggestions of it were true, and duly proved) yet chat there is no such Necessity. In order to discover whether there be any such Necessity or not, I shall confider the End proposed by this Bill, and then weigh the Means whereby 'tis hoped to attain that End, and whether this Bill be a Means necessary or convenient to attain it. The End, I hope, is the Security of the Government, and the Execution of Justice, and it ought to be pursued by all regular and lawful Means, and therefore, before I speak particularly to the Crimes supposed in this Bill, or the Proofs which have been offer'd to make them out, I shall beg Leave to say something as to the Manner and Method of this Proceeding. Not that I shall presume to question your Lordships Power in such Cafe: But, as on the one hand, we must admit your Lordships may, and have in some Cafes exerted your Legislative Capacity, in declaring that a Crime which was not so before, or by inflicting particular or extraordinary Punishment on common and ordinary Crimes. Yet, on the other hand, till that is done, I hope I am at Liberty freely to represent the Conveniency, the Injustice, and the Imprudence of making such a Declaration, or of passing such a Law, in the Cafe now before you. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com