If
this were true, and your Lordships were to admit the amount as a rule
and estimate by which the aggregate of his loss could be ascertained,
the application of the rule of three to the sum and time given would
bring out an enormous expenditure in the long period which has elapsed
since the commencement of the trial,--so enormous, that, if this
monstrous load of oppression has been laid upon him by the delay of the
Commons, I believe no man living can stand up in our justification. But,
my Lords, I am to tell your Lordships some facts, into which we trust
_you_, will inquire: for this business is not in our hands, nor can we
lay it as a charge before you. Your own Journals have recorded the
document, in which the prisoner complains bitterly of the House of
Commons, and indeed of the whole judicature of the country,--a complaint
which your Lordships will do well to examine.
When we first came to a knowledge of this petition, which was not till
some time after it was presented, I happened to have conversation with a
noble lord,--I know not whether he be in his place in the House or not,
but I think I am not irregular in mentioning his name. When I mention
Lord Suffolk, I name a peer whom honor, justice, veracity, and every
virtue that distinguishes the man and the peer would claim for their
own.
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