A Short ACCOUNT Or STATE of Mr. Sheridans CASE Before the Late House of Commons In a LETTER to J. T. LONDON Printed for J. Hindmarsh at the Bull in Cornhill A short Account or State of Mr. Sheridan's Case before the late House of Commons in a Letter to J. T. SIR SOME Years since I sent you a long Letter under the Title of J. L. relating to an affair wherein Mr. S. was deeply concerned this gave you so much satisfaction that I have thence sufficient encouragement to venture another especially considering his vindication is much more necessary in the present instance and that you are still his Friend and the person to whom of all Men living he is perhaps the best known Under that Character you were mention'd in the Copy of a Letter carri'd among other of his Papers to the House of Commons writ in his favour to a great Minister by the late E. of Or. for whom living and for whose memory both your Gr. and he had and ever must have a just value and veneration You will find you may still own this Gentleman without blushing and to shew you were not deceiv'd in the opinion of his Integrity I have taken the pains for your sake as well as for his whose Friend I own my self to gather up and convey to you the History and occasion that has made him as publickly known in this as he was before in another Kingdom I promise you an impartial Relation and by it you will see that Envy and Malice where with he has been long assaulted have to little purpose spit their Venom You are not to learn the cause of his coming for England in June 1677. nor knowing his temper to wonder that haviâ—â— receiv'd some favours from his R. H. gratitude oblig'd him to an acknowledgment and honour and generosity to make and avow it in the time of that great Prince's adversity whom he found by the unsteddy course of Humane affairs and the craft and malice of designing Men fallen from being the Peoples greatest Favourite into their highest Displeasure Soon after when the D. in obedience to his Royal Brother's commands went into a temporary Exile which however otherwise uneasie was chearfully undergone by him who al-always resign'd his own to the will of his Prince Your Friend having little to hinder laid hold of that opportunity follow'd him to Bruxels and there spending most of the time he was abroad express'd his Obligations and Duty in the best manner he was able This and his openly owning himself devoted to his R. H's interest while consistent with Loyalty gave occasion to his Adversaries whom envy had encreas'd to vent their Spleen and endeavour to sully his Reputation of all things to him most dear by many false Insinuations and indeed Diabolical Inventions hoping thereby to disable him from rivalling them in any future pretension He is not ignorant of the Authors nor the train who the better to compass their honest Design hatch'd by one that Mole-like works under ground and he thinks in the dark they resolv'd at once his ruine by rendring him odious to the Publick to the Country to the King and to the Court and therefore he was no sooner brought before the House of Commons than he was represented to his Soveraign as one that had spoken ill of His Majesty and to the wonder of himself and others this was first whisper'd to and after suggested by a great Lord to whom Mr. S. owns himself oblig'd for several favours and in particular for a very kind recommendatory Letter some Years since to Mr. Secretary Coven But that which makes his surprize the greater is his not being able to find on his part any cause for the change of this Noble-man's greatly valu'd good opinion of which he hop'd â—â—mself still possest because certain he never disoblig'd his Lordship and defies any Man to make out that in word or action he ever spake or did irreverently or disloyally of the King whose Service you know no man has more zealously promoted nor less ineffectually according to his Station and Power However in the height of his-misfortune when to all he did not appear guiltless he had the happiness to have a Gentleman of Honour and Quality who by the recommendation of our deceas'd and never to be forgotten noble Friend several Years ago took him into his particular favour and acquaintance publickly to assert his Integrity his Service and his Loyalty An Act of Friendship he is bound by all the ties of Gratitude ever to remember and acknowledge few Men in this Age having the courage or the honesty to own any Man in adversity or to defend innocence when endeavour'd to be run down by faction nâ—ise and tumult The ground of this Discourse in publick at the King's Dinner was the Copy of a Letter found among Mr. S's Papers which plainly appears to have come from another but not to him to whom had it been directed he could not be therefore criminal it being in no Man's Power to prevent any Post-Letter And yet give me leave to say that ingenuity and good nature may easily and very naturally make a candid interpretation of this Paper wherein what ever Injury was contain'd they are mostly if not only guilty who since the seizing Mr. S's Writings have sent Copies of it to all the Coffe-houses of London But to give you the Story from the beginning you are to understand that the first week the Parliament met Mr. S. was told by a Person of Honour that he was design'd to be brought into Trouble This was overheard from several among whom were some Members then looking on at Mrs. C. standing in the Pillory whereupon he was advis'd to withdraw Receiving the same account from many others and yet confident in his Innocence he resolv'd not to stir Every day he was alarm'd afresh and told of great enquiries made after his Actions and himself censur'd for a Papist a Coleman and a Jesuit At length one Peter Norris makes complaint of his being Imprison'd at Daver by Mr. Secretary Jenkin's order Mr. Secretary said as I am inform'd what he did was not unknown to the King and Council Upon this occasion Mr. S. was nam'd and a Committee appointed to examin the matter Mr. S. appears and acknowledges he had given a description of Peter Norris to Mr. Secretary about the latter end of May last and acquainted him that he was told this Man knew as much of the bottom of the Plot as any in England and was gone into France to fetch over a Priest suppos'd equally knowing 'T is not necessary to entertain you withal the questions very forreign to this matter by some of the Committee put to Mr. S. 't is enough to tell you that he truly though perhaps not satisfactorily answer'd all attended their pleasures a whole week was thrice before them once with Dr. D. from whom as News he publickly had the story and after the Description as the Dr.
a manner as neither Felon nor Traytor not only Accus'd but Convicted cou'd suffer a closer Confinement And here Mr. Speaker I intreat your leave to ask Pardon if at the Committee my Behaviour has offended any of the Members of this Honourable House and to say whatever heat I express'd was the effect of Passion to which I was mov'd by hearing several of them in publick as at Locketts and other Eating and Coffe-Houses had call'd me Papist and a second Coleman with other Aspersions I cou'd not bear without Resentment To this was added my being commanded a Messenger for Dr. D. an Office beneath me and wherein I could not expect to be sucoesful not knowing whether he wou'd appear without Compulsion I hope it will not be accounted an unexpiable Crime for a Gentleman of more Years and Discretion than I can pretend to to shew himself disturb'd at a conceiv'd Indignity or Affront and in hopes it may not be accounted so hainous I do once more with all due Submission beg Pardon There is one thing more I cannot without trouble touch upon the Reflections the Written Votes very different from the Printed bring upon my Reputation In those 't is said it appears that I have succeeded Mr. Coleman than which there never was a more groundless false or malicious invention And also that I question'd your Authority and said your Proceedings look'd like the late Rebellion However Sir William Roberts came to make the Report my words were to Sir John Morton in another Room and to him I appeal whether they were not thus Upon his advising that I shou'd fare the better if I freely shew'd my Papers I told him I wou'd not hide one nor dispute their Power though I had heard others did and that the Seizing Closets and Writings was not only Illegal but look'd upon as one of the Causes of the last Rebellion thereupon he wish'd I had not said the Words I reply'd I ment no harm by those Objections and notwithstanding my mentioning them they shou'd find in me a readiness to obey and an intire submission and added if they were offensive I unsaid them and ask'd his Pardon as I now humbly do from the whole House if I am thought herein to have offended And to do Sir John Justice he was pleas'd to promise he wou'd take no notice of the Discourse unless commanded to whom with the rest of the Committee I refer myself whether of my own accord I was not going along with them when I met your Messenger If I had been guilty of any Crime I had not only Warning but Threats and Advices to fly many days some Weeks before when I was told by Letters from unknown hands and by several persons of Honour and Quality that I was design'd to be brought into trouble I need not in this place say for what reason And here I cannot by the way but take notice of a Report made by Justice Warcâ—p at this Bar and spread at Coffe-Houses that he shou'd have Search'd Mr. Sheridans Lodgings and there found only a parcel of Popish Books whereas he never was in mine but at Mr. Brunetly's House an Italian Merchant whose Books chose must have been and therefore I hope this was some Clarks rather than his mistake And now Once no Man can be plac'd beyond the reach of Malice and the Devices of the Wicked and that I happen to be brought hither as a suppos'd Criminal I am extreamly pleas'd I have the good fortune to meet with so wise and equil Judges as compose this August and Honourable Assembly where I am so far from sears that I do not doubt but upon an exact Scrutiny and an Impartial Examination my having been so infinitely and so wrongfully expos'd to the publick will be so far from gratifying my Adversaries unjust defires that they will not only be deseated but my self greatly advantag'd and therefore I leave my Cause at the Footstool of your Justice and willingly submit to your Pleasure and Determinations praying no other favour than what I am sure you wou'd grant without asking your full Consideration of the whole Matter your speedy Condemnation or Acquittal as I shall be found Guilty or Innocent The next Day after his Speech Mr. Sheridan was freed from his Close Restraint and his Confinement made more Tolerable by the Liberty of Conversing with whom he pleas'd A Committee was appointed to examine whether the Paper found loose in his Chamber were of his Own or Nephew's Writing though sor it as a Breach of Priviledge the Lâ—st had been Committed Five Days before Where by the way it may seem odd That Copying a Letter without Divulging it because therein a Member of the House was reflected on shou'd be a Crime deserving so severe a Treatment as the Commitment of a Young Gentleman of the Temple who Though he own'd it his Hand and declar'd he Transcrib'd it for his own Use as a thing Pleasing and Witty in the Stile and Composition was yet notwithstanding commanded in their Presence to Write Three or Four Lines which he did with that Speed that they cou'd not but be satisfy'd he did not Counterfeit Some Malicious Persons will have it that his Crime was his Relation to Mr. Sheridan At this Committee both the Uncle and the Nephew were treated first Civilly and after Roughly enough the One threatned with the Pillory c. the Other with an intended Report to the House of his being a very dangerous Person To which he reply'd That he was sorry such an Opinion was taken up without any Ground that he cou'd not prevent their Pleasure only desir'd They would do as they would be done unto and consider that he was as true a Protestant as any in the Church of England and as Honest a Man as any in the Kingdom that he Defy'd the disproving of either of those Two Truths and if such Men were Dangerous none were otherwise but Fools and Knaves But what-ever was the Cause 't is observable that this Report was never made tho' the Committee Sate Thursday the Sixteenth of December After this he was often told by several Persons That they heard his Name wou'd be inserted amongst the Papists in the design'd Bill of Banishment An Artifice too weak to srighten one of less Courage who cou'd not but be assur'd so unreasonable a Clause was unlikely to pass the whole House of Commons or if it shou'd it wou'd not the King and Lords the Great Conservers of Justice and the Supreme Tribunal of England Having stood Committed Eifteen Dayes at great and excessive Charges and after all Inquiries and Searches nothing Criminal being found against him he was by some Friends as well Members as others together with his Cosin that they might not seem Stubborn prevail'd upon to Petition for their Releasement but to no purpose some angry Members opposing the Reading of their Petitions I am consident this cou'd not be the Sense because not agreeable to the Justice tho'
Franchise or Free-hold unless he be duly brought in to answer and fore-judged of the same by the Course of the Law. And 28 Edw. 3. c. 3. it is Ordain'd That no Man of what Estate or Condition soever he be shall be put out of his Lands and Tenements nor taken nor imprisoned nor dis-inherited without being brought in to Answer by due Process of Law. 42. Edw. 3.6.3 't is Decreed That no Man be put to Answer without Presentment before Justices or Matter of Record or by due Process and Writ Original according to the Old Law of the Land And if any thing be done to the contrary it shall be void in Law and holden for error Likewise in the Petition of Right 3 Car. 1. c. 1. 't is Complain'd of by the Commons as a great Grievance of the Subject That against the Tenor of the said Statutes and other the good Laws and Statutes of this Realm to that end Provided divers of His Majesties Subjects have been Imprisoned Without any Cause shewed and when for their Deliverance they were brought before Justices by His Majesties * Which by the by were not then Denied though the Laws were not half so full and express as the late Statute Writs of Habeas Corpus there to undergo and receive as the Court should Order and their Keepers Commanded to Certify the Cause of their Detainer no Cause was Certified but that they were Detained by His Majesties Special Command And 37 Edw. 3. c. 18. 't is Enacted That though it be Ordained in the Great Charter that no Man â—e Taken nor Imprisoned nor put out of his Free hold without Process of the Law nevertheless divers People make false Suggestions to the King himself as well for Malice as otherwise where the King is often Grieved and divers of the Realm put in Damage against the Term of the same Charter Wherefore it is Ordained That all they who make such Suggestions shall be sent with the same Suggestions before the Chancellor Treasurer and his Grand Council and that they find there Surety to pursue their Suggestions and incur the same Pain that the others should have had if Attainted in case that his Suggestion be found Evil. Or as it is alter'd in the following Parliament 38 Ed. 3. c. 9. It is Assented that if he that maketh the Complaint cannot prove his intent against the Defendant he shall be Commanded to Prison there to abide till he hath made gree to the Party of his Damages and of the Slander that he hath Suffer'd by such Occasion and after shall make Fine and Ransom to the King. In the Statute 16 Car. 1. c. 10. 't is Declared That the Reasons for putting down the Star-Chamber-Court was not only founded on their Proceeding contrary to former Statutes but that it was also an intollerable Burden to the Subject that the Remedies for all Causes might be had in the ordinary Courts of Justice and that it was the means for introducing Arbitrary Government I say then if the same things are Exercis'd and the Causes remain any where else they are equally to be Discountenanc'd and Explode'd by King and Parliament and all Free-born Subjects And if the King's Officers or Ministers from the Highest to the Lowest do any Illegal Act though by the King 's express Command they themselves become Criminal it cannot be suppos'd that any Officer of any Court whatever or Power inferior to His Majesties can have a greater Latitude but that whoever Executes any unlawful Command to the Prejudice of his Fellow Subject must be Answerable to the Party agriev'd and lyable to make him Satisfaction notwithstanding any Illegal Warrant whatsoever He that Considers the great Charge of One Pound Six Shillings and Eight Pence per Diem Fees to the Serjeant and his Messenger besides Diet and Lodging at Pleasure will believe no Man ought to Suffer under that Punishment but upon good Grounds and in conformity to former Laws without the Accusers giving Security for Prosecution and answering Damages if the Party prove himself Injur'd 'T is known Maxim in our Laws that Carcer it ad custodiendes non ad puniendes homines before Tryal or Conviction which was so far from being Mr. Sheridan's Case that he was Committed During Pleasure to a Chargeable Confinement without Cause Alledg'd or any Information upon Oath which is very Remarkable if we consider Noris's Case which was Voted by the same House that restrain'd Mr. Sheridan in this manner Illegal and Arbitrary because there was neither information upon Oath nor Crime Specifi'd and sure no Man can conclude the Commons may do that against a Subject which the King cannot without some Statute giving the one that Power which is Deny'd by all to the other But as the King can do no Wrong though his Officers may so I am content to admit if they Challenge the same Priviledge that the House of Commons may be always in the Right provided they allow that in the Execution of their Injunctions some of their Members and Ministers may â—â—t though the whole Body may be exempt yet thâ—se do run the hazard of being call'd to an Account I am certain 't was in order to Vindicate the Right of the Subject as well as to retrieve his own Liberty and free himself from Charge Mr. Sheridan attempted the Habeas Corpus a Motion that no doubt offended some though not the disinteressed part of the Nation nothing tending more to the advantage of the People and the opposition of Arbitrary Power at least equally to be contended against in the Commons as in the King by every free born Subject who if necessity makes him a Slave and he have the Liberty to chuse ought and must preser one Master to many And tho it was three several days debated in the House and that some were of opinion the Act was not design'd in favour of any by them Committed the contrary was so plain from the Words that it was never brought to a Vote And I am inform'd that one of the most Eminent and Deservedly Leading men of the House a Manager of my Lord Staffords Tryal Mr. P. advis'd their proceeding according to Law in a Case where the Right of the Subject was so Nicely concern'd and which was indeed or might be every English-man's in which present and future Ages were equally interessed and in which a Vote not having at all the force of a Law nor the exposition of a Statute might not only Reflect but make them Odious to all the World An advice which all the People in the Kingdom ought to acknowledge with Gratitude nothing being more certainly the true Interest of the Nation than to keep all things within their proper Bounds and Channels the King to continue to Both Houses of Parliament what the Lords have by Fundamental Constitutions alwaies enjoy'd and the Commons by their constantly renew'd Petitions have receiv'd from the Kings Favour their accustomed Right and Priviledges and neither Lords nor Commons
to Entrench upon or offer violation to any of their Soveraigns Prerogatives which as the great Coke sayes are as much the Peoples Safety as the Kings Honour And indeed it were highly preposterous that the King who is the Fountain Spring and Head of Law and Justice should be concluded by this act and the Commons should not who are the Lowest part in the Legislative Power and who have no manner of pretence to Judicature nor by Original Right even their own Members as is consonant to Reason being all equal and as such having no more Power over one another than Hartford-shire has over Essex or Oxford over Cambridge agreeable to that known Maxim in our own and the Laws of all Nations Paribus in pares non datur potestas It plainly appears that the Punishments of breach of Priviledge against any of the Commons was order'd upon their applications by the King or Lords and never any by themselves inflicted before the latter end of King Henry the Eighth's Reign when the case of Ferrers because extraordinary was referr'd to 'um by the Lords as you will see in Cromptâ—n's Jurisdiction of Courts And at this day 't is certain the Commons can force none into the custody of their Serjeant but in the case of Refractory Persons are under a necessity of begging the Kings assistance as is plain not only from Mr. Stowel's refulal to go along with their Messenger but likewise from their printed Votes of the 8th of this instant January concerning Sir John Lloyd c. However since concession or continued usage have given them Power over their own Members or over others guilty of Breach of Priviledge let them in Gods name enjoy it still but let them not Vote any thing they please a Breach of Priviledge since they are known and no other than what they ask at the beginning of every Parliament from the King's Grace and are recorded as first beg'd in Henry the Eighth's days by Sir Thomus Moor then Speaker To act otherwise is to set up an Arbitrary Power never to be endur'd by any English Man unless the most despicable of Cowards and Betrayers of his Country-Liberties For as the Commons are the Representatives of the Nation so they are chosen to defend not invade their own when out of that station as well as the Peoples Priviledges While this Process was on foot Mr. Sheridan had many Addresses and Advices to Petition a second time which he not only refus'd before at the Serjeants instance but after also at that of others and that you may be fully satisfi'd of this Truth read the following Letter on this occasion to one of the Members Sir R. C. SIR HAving been inform'd first by the Serjeant of Your House and after by my old Acquaintance Mr. Fermin of your Favour towards me I cannot without Ingratitude but return you my hearty and humble Acknowledgment for so great an Obligation But having formerly petition'd with great deference and respect to the Honourable House of Commons otherwise against my own judgment and reason and that not being read having no new matter to offer I will not give you the trouble of a second I am apt to think when any Cause is examin'd it will be found amongst the hardest Dr. D. a confest Papist and Author of the Story being discharged without Fees or Petition in two days and I a known Protestant kept Prisoner twenty five tho both committed for one and the same Cause or rather no Cause none being mention'd in the Warrant and for eight of those days kept closer than a Felon or a Traytor Had my first been dislik'd for matter of form I might have preferr'd another which now I think wou'd not be proper Besides my own sufferings my Cosen likewise taken into Custody for Copying a Paper containing no Criminal tho Reflective matter as a Breach of Priviledge because 〈◊〉 Member mention'd and yet four days after a Committee appointed to examine whether or no it was his Writing I hope Sir when these things and the Reflections unjustly thrown upon me are fully consider'd I shall have my liberty for which I will own my self oblig'd to you and on all occasions study to approve any self what I really am SIR Your most humble and very much oblig'd Servant T. S. I have industriously avoided in this Narrative the overtures I have heard were made Mr. S. because not to be mention'd without Reflection on one side or too much Honour on his T is enough that he resisted all manner of Temptations that cou'd betray or discover a Propension to dishonesty or cowardize and that as he had spoken and given it under his hand so he wou'd make his Actions justifie his words that he wou'd by all possible means promote the good and service of his King and Country without making Shipwrack of a good Conscience and that Reputation which though clouded for the present he neither cou'd nor wou'd forfeit I will add no more than to English what a wise French man in such an occasion has Recorded Si vous jegez surles apparences vous seriz souvent trompet Ce qui paeroist n'est presque jamais la verite If you wiâ— not be deceiv'd judge not according to Appearance but judge Righteous judgment He that has liv'd any time in the World ought in passing his Censure upon others to consider whether he himself has never been traduc'd or heard groundless stories if he have not he has had extraordinary good fortune if he have he ought to be very slow in giving credit to Reports which are sometimes rais'd upon very little and ofter without any grounds This has been notoriously Mr. S's Case no man was ever more loudly clamour'd against nor more without cause as appears in that after al scrutinies he is found Innocent insomuch that one may well say Here has been not onely a Great Cry and a Little but no Wool abundance oâ— Smoak without any Fire Though his envious Adversaries will have it that his Cunning only protected him I do not doubt but you will believe the contrary knowing from many years intimate Acquaintance no man is more free and open has less of craft or sebtilty and considering his ten pennone has more cause to study to preserve from danger the simplicity oâ— the Dove by the Wisdome of the Serpent A Caution if ever useful aâ— this time more particulary necessarly Through his Sides 't is well known a very great Person was shot at who perhaps will be found Invulnerable Dog Bark at the Moon in vain Some Spots there may be in that Great and Glorious Body but â—oâ— such as can render it useless or in significant to any man of Sence or Reason Conclude then of all men by your own experience and not upon the Relation of either Friends or Enemles the first are not more Partial then the last malicious I should play the Fool extreamly if I give you Advice who of all the World has the least need of any and therefore not having design'd this to you without begging your Pardon I will take the Liberty without further Apology abruptly to Subscribe my self what I truly am My Lord 〈◊〉 Your Grace's with all imaginable Respect and Sincerity L. C. London January the 20â—â— 1680 / 1. FINIS