CHAP. Motion of Information from Judges. Lord Keeper desires to House of Commons. posed to suspend the debate on ship money till there should be more leisure to discuss a subject of such importance. Thereupon Hyde, still of the popular party, rose, and urged that delay would make future examination of no purpose; and therefore proposed immediately, that while the House was sitting, a small committee might be appointed, who, dividing themselves into the number of two and two, might visit all the Judges, and ask them apart, in the name of the House, what messages the Lord Finch, when he was Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, had brought to them from the King in the business of ship money, and whether he had not solicited them to give judgment for the King in that case? This motion was generally approved of by the House, and carried without a division. A committee of eight persons was accordingly appointed forthwith to meet the Judges, who were then expected to be found at their chambers in Serjeants' Inn. Justice Crooke, and some other members of the learned body, being surprised with the questions, and pressed earnestly to make clear and categorical answers, ingenuously acknowledged that the Chief Justice Finch, whilst the matter was pending, earnestly solicited them to give their judgment for the King, and often used his Majesty's name to them, as if he expected that compliance from them. Hyde, the chairman of the committee, having presented a report stating these particulars, the House was forthwith be heard in about to vote the impeachment, when a member rose, and said that the Lord Keeper, to whom he had the honour of being nearly related, having heard that certain charges were brought against him in the Commons' House of Parliament, entertaining a consciousness of his own innocence, and feeling the highest respect for the House, of which he had once been Speaker, desired, ere they proceeded farther, to be heard before them in his own vindication. Leave given to him by Lords. Leave was immediately given that he should be heard, and it was requested that he should attend at the sitting of the House at eight o'clock the following morning. This message being carried to him while he was on the woolsack in the LXIV. other House, he moved that he should have leave to go to CHAP. the House of Commons to clear himself of certain charges brought against him there,―to which the Lords unanimously consented. parties with re Finch. spect to The following day was looked forward to with great ex- Plans of pectation. Finch's accusers intended that, as soon as he opposite should be heard, the vote for impeachment should be carried, that the impeachment should instantly be sent up to the Lords, and that they should demand his immediate commitment to the Tower,-so that he might be safe with Strafford and Laud, and might not have an opportunity of following the example of Secretary Windebank, who, on a charge being originated against him, had fled to the Continent. His friends, on the contrary, were sanguine in the expectation that he might make a favourable impression on the House, so that, with the secret countenance he expected from some of the leaders, the impeachment might be negatived; and, at any rate, they were resolved that he should have "a run for it." 1640. The Lord the House Next morning, the House having met at eight, as soon as Dec. 21. prayers were over, a chair was set for the Lord Keeper to make use of if he pleased, and a stool to lay the purse upon, Keeper in a little within the bar, on the left hand, as you enter. He of Compresented himself in his robes, carrying the purse in his own mons. hand; and having bowed to the Speaker, he laid it on the chair. He would not sit down himself, nor put on his hat, though he was moved to do it by the Speaker, but spoke all the while bare-headed and standing, the Serjeant-at-Arms attending the House continuing by him with the mace on his shoulder. Lord Finch appears to have gained more applause on this His speech. occasion than he had ever before done. Whitelock, who says, "it was a sad sight to see a person of his greatness, parts, and favour, to appear in such a posture before such an assembly to plead for his life and fortune,”-declares that, "the apology was elegant and ingenious, and delivered with an excellent grace and gesture, and that many were exceedingly taken with his eloquence and carriage," and Rigby, the thus began, "Mr. Speaker, though my judgment prompts me to sit still and be silent, yet the duty I owe to my King, my country, and my conscience, moves me to stand up and exhort you to be firm and inflexible. Had not this siren so sweet a tongue, surely he could never have effected so much mischief to this kingdom. You know, Sir, optimorum putrefactio pessima, the best things putrified become the worst, and as it is in the natural so in the body politic.' Yet such as it has come down to us, it by no means merits these encomiums, and it must either be very imperfectly reported, or he must have had the full measure of favour at all times shown in the House of Commons, to any one vindicating himself with tolerable address from a personal accusation. He begins well by trying to insinuate himself into the good graces of his audience:-"Mr. Speaker, I do first present my most humble thanks to this honourable assembly for this favour vouchsafed me, in granting me admittance to their presence, and do humbly beseech them to believe it is no desire to preserve myself or my fortune, but to deserve your good opinions that hath drawn me hither. I do profess in the presence of Him who knoweth all hearts, that I had rather go from door to door, and crave Da obolum Belisario, with the favourable censure of this assembly, than live and enjoy all honour and fortune under your displeasure." He then goes on to justify his religion, "which was well known to be pure Protestanism by all the members of the Society of Gray's Inn, where he lived thirty years." He declares that the two places of Puisne Judge and Chief Justice of the Common Pleas were conferred upon him when he was far from the thoughts of the one and from the ambition of the other. He asserts that while he was Speaker he served the House with candour, never doing ill office to any. He excuses his refusal to put the question from the chair by the King's express command, and desires each of his hearers to consider how he would have comported himself between the displeasure of a gracious master and the ill opinion of this honourable assembly. He then goes to ship money, on which he makes a still lamer excuse, asserting that it was a mere accidental coincidence 2 Parl. Hist 692. LXIV. that he was made Chief Justice four days before the writs CHAP. issued; that the Lord Keeper Coventry had made an improper use of the extrajudicial opinion upon the legality of the tax which the King had required to be kept secret; that he never used the least promise of preferment or reward to any of them; that his judgment in Mr. Hampden's case might be erroneous, but was conscientious; and that he had always maintained that ship money could only be lawfully levied when the kingdom was in danger,—suppressing his doctrine, that the King was the sole judge of the danger. He last of all justified himself from the charge of violating the Charta de Foresta by enlarging the boundaries of the royal forests, and concluded by submitting all that he had done to the goodness and justice of the House. to House of Lords. "What then, Speech of Rigby for impeach ment. As soon as he concluded he withdrew to the Upper House He returns that had been waiting for his return. Rigby's speech was short and pithy: Mr. Speaker, is to be done? You have been told, and we all know it,- Ense recidendum est, the sword of justice must strike, ne pars sincera trahatur. Not the tongue, but the heart and actions are to be regarded; for doth not our Saviour say it, Shew me thy faith by thy works, O man? Now, Mr. Speaker, hath not this kingdom seen-seen said Inay, felt and smarted under the cruelty of this man's justice? - so malicious as to record it in every Court of Westminster, as if he had not been contented with the enslaving of us all unless he entailed our bondage to all posterity. Why should I believe words now, cum factum videam? Shall we be so weak men as when we have been injured and abused, to be gained again with fair words and compliments? or, like little children, when we have been whipt and beaten, be pleased again with sweetmeats? Oh, no! There be some birds that in the summer of parliament will sing sweetly, who in the winter of persecution will for their prey ravenously fly at our goods-nay, seize upon our persons. It is objected that in judgment we should think of mercy, and, Be ye merciful as your Heavenly Father is merciful. Now, God Almighty grant that we may be so, and that our hearts may LXIV. CHAP. point, Mr. Speaker. I have heard of crudelis misericordia; and I am sure the Spirit of God saith, Be not pitiful in judgment, nay, it saith, Be not pitiful of the poor in judgment. If not of the poor, then, à latiori, not of the rich; there's the emphasis. We see by the set and solemn appointments of our Courts, what provision the wisdom of our ancestors hath made for the preservation, honour, and esteem of justice. Witness our frequent terms, sessions, and assizes; and in what pomp and state the Judges in their circuits, by the sheriffs, knights, and justices, and all the country, are attended,―ofttimes for the hanging of a poor thief for the stealing of a hog or a sheep-nay, in some cases, for the stealing of a penny. And now shall not some of them be hanged that have robbed us of all our property, and would have made us all indeed poor Belisarius's-to have begged for halfpence when they would not have left us one penny that we could have called our own? Let us therefore set the deplorable state of Great Britain before our eyes, and consider how our most gracious Sovereign hath been abused, and both his Majesty and all his subjects injured by these wicked instruments, and let us not be so merciful to them that are become merciless to the whole kingdom. Fiat justitia." Motion for impeach ment. Scheme to further his escape. The question was then put, "that John Lord Finch, Baron of Fordwich, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England, shall be accused by this House of high treason and other misdemeanours, in the name of this House and all the Commons of England, and that the Lords be desired to sequester him from parliament, and that he be committed." This was received with such loud and general cheers that there was no longer the slightest hope of effectually resisting it, and the only object of Finch's friends was to keep up the debate till past mid-day when the Lords would have adjourned, so that the impeachment could not be carried up till the following day, and that instead of being at once transferred from his place in parliament to the Tower, as Strafford and Laud had been, he might in the meanwhile consult his safety by flight. They therefore, without venturing directly to combat the motion, wasted the time by raising disputes about order, and delayed the putting of the question by |