would in time be laid before them." But the plot itself feems to have been discovered while yet in embryo, and it is probable that no regular project of invafion or infur rection had been digested or matured; nor have the circumstances explanatory either of its nature or extent ever been clearly developed. Various perfons, however, of high diftinction, amongst whom were the duke of Norfolk and the lords Orrery, North and Grey, were apprehended on a very ftrong prefumption of their concurrence in this confpiracy. Pains and penalties were inflicted by act of parliament on several of the confpirators. But one only fuffered capital punishment-Christopher Layer, a barrifter of the Temple, convicted of high treafon in enlifting men for the pretender. He was repeatedly reprieved, and much endeavor was used to procure from him a full confeffion; but he persisted in a resolute refufal, Beyond comparison, however, the trial which attracted most of the public attention was that of the celebrated Atterbury bifhop of Rochefter, who was found to be a party in this confpiracy, or at leaft confidentially privy to it and he was, by a bill which paffed both houses by great majorities, deprived of his epifcopal dignity, and sentenced to perpetual banishment. Mr. Yonge, the mover of the bill, declared this prelate to be a difgrace and difhonor to a church confpicuous for loyalty; that his holy function and elevated ftation, with the folemn oaths he had taken, were the most unpardonable aggravations of his crime; and he concluded with applying to him the denunciation authorized by warrant of holy writ "Let his habitation be defolate, and let no man dwell therein, and his bishopric let another take." The declaration of the pretender, framed for the occafion, and dated from Lucca, was by both houfes voted to be a falfe, infolent, and traitorous libel, and ordered to be burnt at the Royal Exchange. In this declaration the pretender, with fingular modefty and all the appearance of gravity, propofed, propofed, that if king George would relinquish to him the throne of Great Britain, he would in return consent to his retaining the title of king in his native dominions, and would invite all other states to confirm it: and he likewise most graciously engaged to leave to king George his fucceffion to the British dominions fecure, whenever, in due course, his natural right should take place. An address was presented to the throne by the two houses, expreffing their "aftonishment at the extravagant prefumption of this declaration, and repeating their affurances to support his majefty against the impotent efforts of an attainted fugitive, bred up in the maxims of tyranny and fuperftition," The proofs in fupport of the charge against the bishop of Rochester being somewhat deficient in legal precision, though fufficiently clear to induce an intire conviction of his guilt, much clamor was excited by the bill of banishment paffed by the commons against him though, had not a spirit of lenity pervaded the proceedings of government on this occafion, he would fcarcely have escaped a bill of attainder. When it came under the difcuffion of the lords, the duke of Wharton, in a speech of uncommon ability, expofed what he ftyled the weakness, infufficiency, and contradiction of the evidence against the bishop; and added, that fuch proceedings, like the ftone of Sifyphus, frequently rolled back on those who were the chief promoters of them. Lord Cowper, now in oppofition to the court, enlarged much on the danger and injustice of fwerving from the fixed rules of evidence. He affirmed, "that the penalties inflicted by this bill were either much greater or much less than the bishop deserved; that whatever might be the nature or extent of the accufation, the law of the land and the established forms of judicial procedure ought to be strictly adhered to, not only in the courts below, but in the high 'court of parliament itself; that every Englishman had a right to a trial by law; that this was in a more especial manner the privilege of a peer of the realm. And the political neceflity which was alleged in vindication of this measure he did not believe to exift; the government was, fufficiently fecured by the powers vefted in the crown in confequence of the fufpenfion of the Habeas-Corpus Act, and the additional troops raised for its defence." And lord Bathurst, in the course of an eloquent speech on the fame fide, turning to the bench of bishops, farcaftically remarked, "that he could not account for the inveterate hatred and malice fome perfons bore the learned and ingenious bishop of Rochefter, unless they were intoxicated with the infatuation of certain tribes of favage Indians, who believed they inhe rited not only the fpoils but even the abilities of any great enemy whom they killed in battle." Notwithstanding the reafonings of lord Cowper, it seems erroneous and unfafe to deny the general pofition, that the deviations from the eftablished forms of judicial procedure in extraordinary cafes are justifiable, and even neceffary, where the public fafety is concerned-provided that the executive justice of the ftate depart not from that fubftantial justice which is founded in the nature of things. So entirely opposite were now the politics of France from those which had prevailed in the late reign, that upon this occafion the regent offered twenty battalions of veteran troops to the king of Great Britain, in order to defend his perfon and government against the attempts of that family which Louis XIV. had employed the whole force of his kingdom to protect and reftore-but this offer it was judged prudent to decline. That the vengeful and merciless spirit by which the whigs had been actuated when first restored to power, was now, notwithstanding the pretended rigor of the late proceedings, moft fenfibly abated, the reverfal at this period of the Act of Attainder paffed againft lord Bolingbroke is a decifive proof. The bishop of Rochefter, on his arrival at Calais, hearing that lord Bolingbroke was waiting there for for a paffage, exclaimed, with an emotion from which much was inferred, "Then we are exchanged." This nobleman, however, though reftored to his honors and paternal eftate, was still excluded from a feat in the house of peers, through the inflexible oppofition of the minifter, who clearly discerned and dreaded the confequences which might eventually refult from the irresistible force of his eloquence and talents, when exerted in that grand field of action. Fired with ambition to refume his former ftation in public life, and a philosopher only through neceffity, he cherished a fixed and mortal refentment against fir Robert Walpole; and regardless of his recent obligations, in a fhort time joined with eagerness that oppofition to his administration, fo celebrated for the ability of its members, and which began now to affume a regular and systematic form. The chagrin of lord Bolingbroke was undoubtedly enhanced by seeing his former coadjutors in office, lord Oxford and lord Harcourt, in full poffeffion of those high privileges which he vainly and inceffantly pined to regain. The latter of these noblemen was even received into an high degree of favor at court; which, it is faid, occafioning fome fevere reflections from the paffionate lips of Atterbury, lord Harcourt was provoked to retaliate, by declaring that on the queen's death the bishop came to him and lord Bolingbroke, and faid, nothing remained but immediately to proclaim king JAMES-offering, if they would give him a guard, to put on his lawn fleeves, and head the proceffion. Early * This celebrated prelate, his learned friend Dr. Smalridge, on presenting him, A. D. 1710, to the upper house of convocation, as the prolocutor, moft elegantly styles, "Vir in nullo literarum genere hofpes, in plerifque artibus et ftudiis diu et feliciter exercitatus-in mazime perfectis literarum difciplinis perfectiffimus." His eloquence and learning, none, indeed, have prefumed to difpute; and his public character has all that dignity which arifes from firmnefs and confiftency. Of the violence and virulence of his temper Early in the present session, a bill which occupied much of the attention of parliament, and was kept long depending temper he gave early proofs in his reply to the famous treatife of Dr. WAKE, * On the authority of christian princes, and the rights, powers, and privileges of convocations:" " Were," fays he, " all that Dr. Wake affirms ftrictly true and justifiable; yet whether laboring the point fo heartily as he does, and fhewing himself to be so willing to prove the church to have no rights and privileges, be a very decent part in a clergyman, I leave his friends to confider. But when all a man advances is not only ill defigned, bur ill founded, and his principles are as falfe as they are scandalous, there are no names and cenfures too bad to be bestowed on fuch writers and their writings." One cannot sufficiently admire the effrontery of the infinuation, that whether the AUTHORITY claimed by the church be well or ill-founded, it is at all events incumbent on the clergy, as fuch, to defend and support it. For this performance an honorary degree was conferred upon Atterbury by the university of Oxford. But in animadverting upon it, bishop Burnet happily remarks," that the applaufe with which it was received, when the temper and spirit with which it is written are confidered, forms a much ftronger argument against the expediency of a convocation, than any he brings or can bring in favor of it." And Dr. Wake himself declared," that fuch a spirit of wrath and uncharitableness pervaded the whole book, as he had hardly ever met with before; though, to do no injustice to his adversary, he admits that Dr. Atterbury has done all that a man of parts and zeal could do, to defend the cause he had espoused. One thing only was wanting: He had not` TRUTH on his fide-his work is a MERE ROMANCE." In 1703, when the principles of whiggifm began to predominate, Hooper, dean of Canterbury, a man distinguished by the steadiness of his attachment to then, was, by an unexpected and unsolicited nomination, raised to the bishopric of St. Asaph, "with a view," as Dr. Atterbury tells his friend Trelawney bishop of Exeter, as he fuppofes, to take the lead in the adminiftration of ecclefiaftical affairs in which cafe," fays he, "I am fure to be oppreffed and kept under, as much as if archbishop Tillotson were alive and at the helma very ill return for making that Scuffle which fet him at the head of the lower clergy." But furely this was a ground of obligation, on which few perfons would have thought of founding a claim of gratitude. In June 1713, the tories being now triumphant, Dr. Atterbury was advanced to the bishopric of Rochester. His fanguine hopes of attaining to the primacy were however quickly blasted, by the death of the queen; and at the accelfion of king George I. he engaged, with all the fervor of party rage and disappointed ambition, in the most violent measures of the oppofition; and was at length inftigated by paffion and revenge, to embark in a wild and ill-conducted confpiracy, which terminated in his ruin. He died at Paris, February 1732. 66 : |