he afferts the lenity of the government, in the mildness of the punishment to be inflicted on the bishop: "The nature of the punishment, (fays Mr. Wearg) has been much talked of in the course of these proceedings, and great lamentations made upon it; but furely without any reafon ; for I may venture to affirm, this is the mildest punishment that ever was inflicted for fuch an offence. His life is not touched; his liberty nor property affected; he is only expelled the fociety whofe government he difapproves, and has endeavoured to fubvert; and deprived of the public employment, which the government had intrufted him with: the enjoyment of his life, his private estate, and his liberty under any other government that may be more agreeable, is allowed him. This is fcarce to be called a punishment, being nothing more than what was abfolutely necessary for the public fecurity."

On Wednesday the bill was read the third time, and the question being put, whether it should país, a very long and warm debate ensued. It was opened by earl Powlet, who fpeaking to the nature of this bill, fhewed the danger of fuch an extraordinary proceeding, and urged, that the fwerving from the fixed rules of evidence, and confequently from justice, must inevitably be attended with the most fatal confequences to our excellent conftitution. Dr. Willis, bishop of Salisbury, in answer to that, alledged, that as extraordinary difeafes require extraordinary remedies; fo in cafes of extreme danger and necessity, when the very being of the state lies at ftake, if the common law cannot reach offenders, the legislature ought to exert itfelf. He was replied to by Dr. Gaftrell, bishop of Chester, who owned, that extraordinary proceedings may indeed be recurred to upon extraordinary occafions, and when they are evidently necessary for the prefervation of the ftate; but that was very far from the prefent cafe, fince the confpiracy, in which the bishop of Rochefter was charged to have had a share, had been difcovered and disappointed long before. The duke of Wharton, in a long fpeech, fummed up the whole evidence, which had been produced against the bifhop of Rochester, and endeavoured to fhew the infufficiency of it to prove the charge; concluding, that let the confequences be what they would, he would

not have fuch a hellish ftain fully the lufture and glory of that illuftrious house, as to condemn a man without the leaft evidence. He was strongly supported by lord Bathurst, who, in the first place, took notice of the ungracious diftinctions that were fixed upon the members of that noble and illuftrious affembly, who differed in opinion from those who happenedto have the majority. That, for his own part, as hẹ had nothing in view but truth and justice, the good of his country, the honour of that house, and the discharging of his own confcience, he would freely speak his thoughts, notwithstanding all difcouragements: that he would not complain of the finifter arts that had been used of late to render fome perfons obnoxious; and, under pretence of their being fo, to open their letters about their minuteft domestic affairs. For thefe fmall grievances he could easily bear, but when he saw things go fo far, as to condemn a person of the highest dignity in the church, in such an unprecedented manner, and without any legal evidence, he thought it his duty to oppofe a proceeding fo unjust and unwarrantable in itfelf, and fo dangerous and difmal in its confequences. To this purpose he begged leave to tell their lordships a ftory he had from several officers of undoubted credit, who had ferved in Flanders in the late war. A Frenchman, it seems, had invented a machine, which would not only kill more men at once than any yet in ufe, but also disable for ever any man who should be wounded by it. Big with hopes of a great reward, he applied himself to one of the ministers, who laid the project before Lewis XIV. but that monarch considering that so deftructive an engine might foon be turned againî his own men, did not think pro. per to encourage it: whereupon the inventor came over to England, and offered his fervice to fome of our generals, who likewife rejected the propofal with indignation. The ufe and application of this ftory (continued lord Bathurst) is very obvious; for if this way of proceeding be admitted, it will certainly prove a very dangerous engine. No man's life, liberty, or property, will be fafe: "And if thofe who were in the adminiftration fome years ago, and who had as great a share in the affections of the people, as any that came after them, had made ufe of fuch a

political

political machine, fome of thofe noble perfons, who now appeared fo zealous promoters of this bill, would not have been in a capacity to ferve bis majesty at this time." He added, that, if such extraordinary proceedings went on, he faw nothing remaining for him and others to do, but to retire to their country houfes; and there, if poffible, quietly enjoy their eftates within their own families, fince the leaft correfpondence, the leaft intercepted letter, might be made criminal. To this purpofe be quoted a passage out of cardinal Retz's memoirs, relating to that wicked politician, cardinal Mazarin, who boasted, that if he had but two lines of any man's writing, with a few circumstances attefted by witnesses, he could cut off his head when he pleased. Turning to the bench of bishops, who had in general been unfavourable to Dr. Atterbury, he faid, he could hardly account for the inveterate hatred and malice fome perfons bore the learned and ingenious bishop of Rochester, unless it was, that they were intoxicated with the infatuation of fome wild Indians, who fondly believe they inherit not only the fpoils, but even the abilities of any great enemy they kill. The earl of Strafford fpoke on the fame fide, as did alfo the lord Trevor, who among many very strong and spirited arguments against the bill, feverely animadverted, on confinements upon fufpicion, which had been the bishop's cafe. He faid, he took them to be nothing more than will and pleasure. Confequently, fince the habeas corpus act was at prefent fufpended, they were under the will and pleasure of the minifters. That, as nothing fhould ever deter him from doing what he thought his duty; fo, confonant to that principle, he had all along, and ftill oppofed, thefe extraordinary proceedings, which by depriving the fubject of the benefit of the law (the habeas corpus) tended to lodge fuch exorbitant power in the hands of individuals.

On the other hand, the earl of Seafield endeavoured to fhew that the evidence which had been produced before them, being fufficient to convince any reafonable man, that there had been a detestable confpiracy, and that the bishop of Rochefter had a fhare in it, was likewife fufficient to justify this extraordinary proceeding against him; efpecially, fince they

inflicted on him fo light a punishment, confidering the heinoufnefs of the crime. The duke of Argyle pursued the fame argument; ran through and endeavoured to confute the most effential parts of the bishop's defence; and exaggerated his crime, by which he had debased his holy function and character, and acted contrary to the most folemn repeated oaths he had taken. Had the evidence been as clear against the bishop as it was doubtful, this remark of his Grace would have been used with greater propriety. The lord Gower fpoke afterwards against the bill; but what surprised moft people, the lord Lechmere, who had on feveral occafions expreffed his dislike of thefe extraordinary proceedings, declared it as his opinion, that there was fufficient evidence to support the charge. He was anfwered by earl Cowper, in a long speech, importing in fubftance, that the strongest argument which had been urged for this bill was neceffity; but that, for his part, he faw no neceffity that could juftify fo unprecedented, and fo dangerous a proceeding. That, as already had been fuggefted, the confpiracy had above twelve months before been happily difcovered, and the effects of it confequently prevented. That, befides the intrinfic weight and strength of the government, by numerous offices and employments, civil and military, and the wealth and intereft of the well affected to his majesty's perfon, and the prefent happy establishment; the hands of thofe of the helm had ftill been fortified by the fufpenfion of the habeas corpus act, and the additional troops; fo that, in his opinion, there could be no danger to the government, if Plunket and Kelly were not prifoners for life, nor the bishop of Rochefter fent into banishment. That, on the contrary, if that prelate's talents and genius lay in contriving and carrying on state intrigues, he thought him lefs dangerous at home than abroad that the other reafons alledged to fupport this extraordinary proceeding had no more weight in them than the first: that the known rules of evidence, as laid down at first, and established by the law of the land, were the birth-right of every fubject of this nation, and ought to be constantly obferved, not only in the inferior courts of judicature, but also in both houfes of parliament, till altered by

:

in fome measure, the feverity of the fentence, the bishop's daughter, Mrs. Morice, was permitted to attend her father in his travels; and his fon-in-law, Mr. Morice, by virtue of the king's fign manual, had leave to correfpond with him. On the 18th of June, 1723, this eminent prelate, having the day before taken leave of his friends, who, from the time of paffing the bill against him, to the day of his departure, had free accefs to him in the Tower, embarked on board the Aldborough man of war, and landed the Friday following at Calais. The first thing he heard of, was, that the lord Bolingbroke, having obtained his pardon, was just arrived there in his way to England: upon which the bishop merrily faid: "Then I am exchanged." From Calais he went to Bruffels; and afterwards to Paris, where he refided till bis death; foftening the rigours of his exile by study, and converfation with learned men; and by a constant epiftolary correfpondence with the most eminent scholars, particularly with M. Thiriot, an ingenious French gentleman, for whom he had a great esteem, and who has obliged the public with fome of the bishop's original letters, which are chiefly criticisms on feveral French authors *. About a year before his death, he publish ed a vindication of himself, bishop Smalridge, and Dr. Aldrich, from a charge brought against them by Oldmixon, of having altered and interpolated the copy of lord Clarendon's history of the civil wars. This he proved to be a most infolent attack, and without the least foundation. And as to the part which Oldmixon particularly pointed out to have been altered by them (which was the application of what was faid of Cinna to the character of Hampden) this hath been again refuted by the Rev. Dr. Birch, fecretary to the royal fociety, who hath declared that he faw this very paffage in lord Clarendon's own hand writing, in the original manuscript, which was fubmitted

to his infpection, on purpofe that he might publish to the world (being a man of unblemished character, and well known in the republic of letters) the fcandalous falfity of Oldmixon's affertion, that not the leaft foundation for any doubts or furmifes might remain. And this he hath effectually done.

On the 15th day of February, 1731, bishop Atterbury departed this life, at Paris. His body was brought over to England, and interred the 12th of May following, in Westminster-Abbey. His funeral was performed in a very private manner, attended only by his fon-in-law, Mr. Morice, and his two chaplains, Dr. Savage and Dr. Moore. Upon the urn, which contained his bowels, was infcribed, In bac urna depofiti funt cineres Francifci Atterburi, Epifcopi Roffenfis.

Bishop Atterbury's fermons are extant in four volumes in octavo: thofe contained in the two first were published by himself, and dedicated to his great patron Sir Jonathan Trelawny, bishop of Winchefter; thofe in the two laft were published after his death, by Dr. Thomas Moore, his lordship's chaplain. These were all the bishop would ever fuffer to be committed to the public infpection; and therefore all the reft were, according to his orders, burnt by his fon-in-law and executor. His epiftolatory correfpondence with Mr. Pope, is extant in the collection of that poet's letters. Among many which paffed between the bishop and that gentleman, for whom he had the highest friendfhip and efteem, is the following, dated from the Tower, April 10th 1723, about a month before his trial came on.

"Dear Sir,

"I thank you for all the inftances of your friendship, both before and fince my misfortunes. A little time will compleat them, and feparate you and me for ever. But in what part of the world foever I am, I will live mindful of your fincere kindnefs to me; and will please myself with

June, 1761,

the