And when, in the case of impeachments, the Commons
have sometimes, at conferences between the Houses, attempted to
interpose in matters preparatory to the trial, the general answer hath
been, "This is a point of judicature upon which the Lords will not
confer; they impose silence upon themselves,"--or to that effect. I need
not here cite instances; every man who hath consulted the Journals of
either House hath met with many of them.
I will now cite a few cases, applicable, in my opinion, to the present
question. And I shall confine myself to such as have happened since the
Restoration; because, in questions of this kind, modern cases, settled
with deliberation, and upon a view of former precedents, give more light
and satisfaction than the deepest search into antiquity can afford; and
also because the prerogatives of the Crown, the privileges of
Parliament, and the rights of the subject in general appear to me to
have been more studied and better understood at and for some years
before that period than in former ages.
In the case of the Earl of Danby and the Popish lords then under
impeachments, the Lords,[84] on the 6th of May, 1679, appointed time and
place for hearing the Earl of Danby, by his council, upon the validity
of his plea of pardon, and for the trials of the other lords, and voted
an address to his Majesty, praying that he would be pleased to appoint
an High Steward for those purposes.
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