, I must own that the
balance seems to me to be exactly poised. In the Life of James (1702),
the motion is represented as a court motion. This account is confirmed
by a remarkable passage in the Stuart Papers, which was corrected by the
Pretender himself. (Clarke's Life of James the Second, ii. 55.) On the
other hand, Reresby, who was present, and Barillon, who ought to have
been well informed, represent the motion as an opposition motion. The
Harleian and Lansdowne manuscripts differ in the single word on which
the whole depends. Unfortunately Bramston was not at the House that day.
James Van Leeuwen mentions the motion and the division, but does not
add a word which can throw the smallest light on the state of parties.
I must own myself unable to draw with confidence any inference from the
names of the tellers, Sir Joseph Williamson and Sir Francis Russell for
the majority, and Lord Ancram and Sir Henry Goodricke for the minority.
I should have thought Lord Ancram likely to go with the court, and Sir
Henry Goodricke likely to go with the opposition.]

[Footnote 24: Commons' Journals, Nov. 16. 1685 Harl. MS. 7187.; Lans.
MS. 235.]

[Footnote 25: Commons' Journals, Nov. 17, 18. 1685.]

[Footnote 26: Commons' Journals, Nov. 18. 1685; Harl. MS. 7187.; Lans.
MS. 253.; Burnet, i. 667.]

[Footnote 27: Lonsdale's Memoirs. Burnet tells us (i. 667.) that a sharp
debate about elections took place in the House of Commons after Coke's
committal. It must therefore have been on the 19th of November; for Coke
was committed late on the 18th, and the Parliament was prorogued on the
20th. Burnet's narrative is confirmed by the Journals, from which it
appears that several elections were under discussion on the 19th.]

[Footnote 28: Burnet, i. 560.; Funeral Sermon of the Duke of Devonshire,
preached by Kennet, 1708; Travels of Cosmo III. in England.]

[Footnote 29: Bramston's Memoirs. Burnet is incorrect both as to the
time when the remark was made and as to the person who made it. In
Halifax's Letter to a Dissenter will be found a remarkable allusion to
this discussion.]

[Footnote 30: Wood, Ath. Ox.; Gooch's Funeral Sermon on Bishop Compton.]

[Footnote 31: Teonge's Diary.]

[Footnote 32: Barillon has given the best account of this debate. I
will extract his report of Mordaunt's speech. "Milord Mordaunt, quoique
jeune, parla avec eloquence et force. Il dit que la question n'etoit
pas reduite, comme la Chambre des Communes le p