s; that all he had ever received from it
did not exceed four hundred pounds, which, if he was bound to repay,
a common action would lie against him; but every man was not to be
impeached who did not discharge his debts at the very day of payment. He
observed, that as his grant in the forest of Deane extended to weedings
only, it could occasion no waste of timber nor prejudice to the navy;
that the auditor's place was held by another person, until he obtained
the king's leave to withdraw from the treasury; that he never saw the
first treaty of partition, nor was his advice asked upon the subject;
that he had never heard of the second but once before it was concluded;
and then he spoke his sentiments freely on the subject. This answer,
like the others, would have been neglected by the commons, whose aim was
now to evade the trials, had not the lords pressed them by messages to
expedite the articles. They even appointed a day for Orford's trial,
and signified their resolution to the commons. These desired that a
committee of both houses should be named for settling preliminaries, one
of which was, That the lord to be tried should not sit as a peer; and
the other imported, That those lords impeached for the same matter
should not vote in the trial of each other. They likewise desired that
lord Somers should be first tried. The lords made no objection to this
last demand; but they rejected the proposal of a committee consisting of
both houses, alleging that the commons were parties, and had no title
to sit in equality with the judges, or to settle matters relating to
the trial; that this was a demand contrary to the principles of law and
rules of justice, and never practised in any court or nation. The lords,
indeed, had yielded to this expedient in the popish plot, because it was
a case of treason, in which the king's life and safety of the kingdom
were concerned, while the people were jealous of the court, and the
whole nation was in a ferment; but at present the times were quiet, and
the charge amounted to nothing more than misdemeanors; therefore the
lords could not assent to such a proposal as was derogatory from their
jurisdiction. Neither would they agree to the preliminaries; but on the
twelfth day of June resolved, That no peer impeached for high crimes
and misdemeanors should, upon his trial, be without the bar; and that no
peer impeached could be precluded from voting on any occasion except
in his own trial. Divers