Volume 2 — EARL OF ORFORD, &c, IMPEACHED.

Lord Somers, understanding that he was accused in the house of commons of having consented to the partition treaty, desired that he might be admitted and heard in his own defence. His request being granted, he told the house that when he received the king’s letter concerning the partition treaty, with an order to send over the necessary powers in the most secret manner, he thought it would have been taking too much upon him to put a stop to a treaty of such consequence when the life of the king of Spain was so precarious; for, had the king died before the treaty was finished, and he been blamed for delaying the necessary powers, he could not have justified his own conduct, since the king’s letter was really a warrant; that, nevertheless, he had written a letter to his majesty objecting to several particulars in the treaty, and proposing other articles which he thought were for the interest of his country; that he thought himself bound to put the great seal to the treaty when it was concluded; that, as a privy counsellor, he had offered his best advice, and as chancellor, executed his office according to his duty. After he had withdrawn, his justification gave rise to a long debate which ended in a resolution, carried by a majority of seven voices, That John lord Somers, by advising his majesty to conclude the treaty of partition, whereby large territories of the Spanish monarchy were to be delivered up to France, was guilty of a high crime and misdemeanor. Votes to the same effect were passed against Edward earl of Orford, and Charles lord Halifax; and all three were impeached at the bar of the upper house. But the commons knowing that those impeachments would produce nothing in the house of lords, where the opposite interest predominated, they resolved to proceed against the accused noblemen in a more expeditious and effectual way of branding their reputation. They voted and presented an address, to the king, desiring he would remove them from his councils and presence for ever, as advisers of a treaty so pernicious to the trade and welfare of England. They concluded by repeating their assurance that they would always stand by and support his majesty to the utmost of their power, against all his enemies both at home and abroad. The king, in his answer, artfully overlooked the first part of the remonstrance. He thanked them for their repeated assurances; and told them he would employ none in his service but such as should be thought most likely to improve that mutual trust and confidence between him and his people, which was so necessary at that conjuncture, both for their own security and the preservation of their allies.