to the house of peers,
tending to interrupt the good correspondence between the two houses, to
create an ill opinion in her majesty of the house of peers, of dangerous
consequence to the liberties of the people, the constitution of
the kingdom, and privileges of parliament. They presented a long
remonstrance to the queen, justifying their own conduct, explaining the
steps they had taken, recriminating upon the commons, and expressing the
most fervent zeal, duty, and affection to her majesty. In her answer to
this representation, which was drawn up with elegance, propriety, and
precision, she professed her sorrow for the misunderstanding which had
happened between the two houses of parliament, and thanked them for
the concern they had expressed for the rights of the crown and the
prerogative; which she should never exert so willingly as for the good
of her subjects, and the protection of their liberties.

Among other persons seized on the coast of Sussex on their landing from
France, was one Boucher, who had been aidecamp to the duke of Berwick.
This man, when examined, denied all knowledge of any conspiracy: he
said, that being weary of living so long abroad, and having made some
unsuccessful attempts to obtain a pass, he had chosen rather to cast
himself on the queen's mercy than to remain longer in exile from
his native country. He was tried and condemned for high treason, yet
continued to declare himself ignorant of the plot. He proved that in
the war of Ireland, as well as in Flanders, he had treated the English
prisoners with great humanity. The lords desisted from the prosecution;
he obtained a reprieve, and died in Newgate. On the twenty-ninth day
of January, the earl of Nottingham told the house that the queen
had commanded him to lay before them the papers containing all the
particulars hitherto discovered of the conspiracy in Scotland; but that
there was one circumstance which could not yet bo properly communicated
without running the risk of preventing a discovery of greater
importance. They forthwith drew up and presented an address, desiring
that all the papers might be immediately submitted to their inspection.
The queen said she did not expect to be pressed in this manner
immediately after the declaration she had made; but in a few days the
earl of Nottingham delivered the papers, sealed, to the house, and all
the lords were summoned to attend on the eighth day of February, that
they might be opened and p