obstruct the measures of the government, he for some time expostulated
with him; and being provoked by his contumelious representations of the
state of affairs, he could no longer restrain the ardour of his loyalty,
but thought it proper to remove from the world a man so much inclined to
spread sedition among the people; and that, therefore, finding the place
convenient, he suddenly rushed upon him and cut his throat.

Thus, my lords, might the murderer represent his case, perhaps, without
any possibility of a legal confutation; thus might the most atrocious
villanies escape censure, by the assistance of impudence and cunning.

A bill like this, my lords, is nothing less than a proscription; the
head of a citizen is apparently set to sale, and evidence is hired, by
which the innocent and the guilty may be destroyed with equal facility.

It is apparent, my lords, that they by whom this bill is proposed, act
upon the supposition that the noble person mentioned in it, is guilty of
all those crimes of which he is suspected; a supposition, my lords,
which it is unjust to make, and to which neither reason, nor the laws of
our country, will give countenance or support.

I, my lords, will much more equitably suppose him innocent; I will
suppose that he has, throughout all the years of his administration,
steadily prosecuted the best ends, by the best means; that if he has
sometimes been mistaken or disappointed, it has been neither by his
negligence nor ignorance, but by false intelligence, or accidents not to
be foreseen; and that he has never either sacrificed his country to
private interest, or procured, by any illegal methods, the assistance
and support of the legislature; and I will ask your lordships, whether,
if this character be just, the bill ought to be passed, and doubt not