196

HISTORY OR ENGLAND.

chap.

VJ1I.

1688 .

proof as might reasonably satisfy a jury of the fact of thepublication.

Publication in Middlesex was then proved. But was thepaper thus published a false, malicious, and seditious libel?Hitherto the matter in dispute had been whether a fact whicheverybody well knew to be true could be proved accordingto technical rules of evidence; but now the contest becameone of deeper interest. It was necessary to inquire into thelimits of prerogative and liberty, into the right of the King todispense with statutes, into the right of the subject to petitionfor the redress of grievances. During three hours the counselfor the petitioners argued with great force in defence of thefundamental principles of the constitution, and proved fromthe journals of the House of Commons that the Bishops hadaffirmed no more than the truth when they represented to theKing that the dispensing power which he claimed had beenrepeatedly declared illegal by Parliament. Somers rose last.He spoke little more than five minutes; but every' word wasfull of weighty matter; and when he sate down his reputationas an orator and a constitutional lawyer was established. Hewent through the expressions which were used in the informa-tion to describe the offence imputed to the Bishops, andshowed that every word, whether adjective or substantive,was altogether inappropriate. The offence imputed was afalse, a malicious, a seditious libel. False the paper wasnot; for every fact which it set forth had been proved fromthe journals of Parliament to be true. Malicious the paperwas not; for the defendants had not sought an occasion ofstrife, but had been placed by the government in such a situa-tion that they must either oppose themselves to the royal will,or violate the most sacred obligations of conscience andhonour. Seditious the paper was not; for it had not beenscattered by the writers among the rabble, but deliveredprivately into the hands of the King alone: and a libel it wasnot, but a decent petition such as, by the laws of England,nay, by the laws of imperial Rome, by the laws of all civilisedstates, a subject who thinks himself aggrieved may withpropriety present to the sovereign.