The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-04-21 00:00:00

Pyrn, and the great men who then consulted together fur the pub-
lic welfare. I believe in their consciences judged otherwise. They
understood the character of the King, and of oil the parties con-
cerned with him, better than we can pretend to do. They foresaw
the probability of a civil war. They foresaw, which was more than
this, the VaTiOUN schemes that would be formed for dispersing the
Parliament by face of arms ; and they knew that StraMied would
prove the moat inventive and audncinus undertaker for this nefa.
I numb purpose. Whatever engagements Charles had entered into.
!•• of removing Strafford from his presence and councils for ewer,"'
he would Gave considered these as annulled the moment the sword
was dream. The Prince, who contemplated the bringing the army 1
to Ivrenwe the Parliament beam it had sat two months, and who
negotiated afterwards to bring over an army of Irish Catholics,
suelt as were the Irish Catholics of thme days to settle the din.'
fences between himself and his people, rertarMy would not have
scrupled the employing of Stratford. What would have been the
variation in the mule, we have no mesas of knowing. There was
undoubtedly no man in the service of the King, who foe talents or
energy could enter into the slightest competition with Straiten].
Hampden and Pyni, and their allies, judged they did wisely, and
acted like tree patriots, by removing this obstacle before the con.
_
tuition began. _ _
. . .

.1 proviso was inserted in the act of attainder of the ease of
Strafford, that no judges or ether magistrates ahould adjudge any
thing to be treason, in any ether manner than they would have
adjudged if this net had never been made." This has been used
es an argument to prove that the prosecutors of Strafford were
C 00201,111% of the injustiee they commuted. It proves nositeh thing.
It rather serves re illustrate the clearness of their conceptions, and
the equability of their tappet. Undoubtedly the prosecutors of
Strafford were firmly averse to this proceeding being drawn into
a precedent. Undoubtedly they were strongly persuaded that in
all ordinary eases the letter of the law should be observed, and no
alas be condemned unless that were against him.
For myself, I entertain an almost invincible abhorrence to the
taking away the life of man, after a set form, and in awl blood,
in any case whatever. The very circumstance that you have the
man in your power, and that he stands detineelem before you to
be disposed of at your discretion, is the strongest of all pmauaaives
that you shoold give hint his life. To fetter a man's limbs, and in
that condition to shed his blood like the bests who serve us foe
food, is n thought to which, at firm sight, se are astonished the
human heart can ever he reeoncikd. The strongest case that can
be made in its favour, is where, as in this business of Strafford, the
public rause, and the faroarable issue of that cause, seem to de-
mand it.

Now it is clear, in every stage of the argument, that the
attainder of Straffbrd was without any shadow of justifica-
tion. Strafford was executetl, not because he bad violated
any law prospective or even retrospective, but because it
was foreseen that he world have been a dangerous enemy
to the Parliament in the field ; and Mr. Godwin maintains
that they " acted like true patriots by removing this obsta-
cle before the contention began." To what lengths might
not this doctrine be carried ! Is it then enough to justify
" the taking away the life of a man after a set form and in
cool blood" because the " favourable issue of a cause may
seem to demand it ?" In other words, shall a man suffer
dt ath for an atrocious offence of which coufeasedly he is
not guilty, because it is probable that, if he live, he may
become a formidable antagonist in the field ?
The best commentary on the injustice of the attainder of
the Earl of Strafford, is the account Mr. Godwin gives of
the death of Archbishop Laud.
Unfortunately the same mode of proceeding was exactly copied
out in the process against Laud. His trial commenced on the 12th
of March, 1644 t and a variety of errors were committal by the
inadvertence of his prosecutors. At this period Prvnne took the
impeachment under his special direction. At length, after an in-
terval of more than seven months, the proceeding by impeachment
was pertained to promise no effectual conclusion; the trial was
laid aside; and a bill of attainder brought in. That the pa.
rallel to the prosecution against Strafford might be rnore complete, a
message was brought to the House of Lords from the Commons by
Strode, during the progress of the Bill, to desire the Lords to ex-
pedite the attainder ; it being to execute justice upon a person who
was a notorious delinquent, that had endeavoured the subversion of
all our laws ; and the eyes of the country and the city being upon
the business, the expothuon of it would prevent the demanding of
justice by multitudes.
At length the Lords voted that the defendant was guilty of all
the facts charged in the bill, but started a doubt whether they
amounted to treason. A conference was therefore held between the
two Houses, in which Sergeant Wilde and others undertook to
satisfy the Lords as to the point of law ; and two days after the
ordinance received their final sanction. The same clause was in-
serted in this attainder as in that of Strafford, " That no Judge or
Judges shall interpret any act or thing to be treason, is other man.
nee than they should or ought to have done, if this ordinance had
been made.' In fine, on the sixth day after passing the attainder,
this infirm old man wL.s led out to his execution, with the spirit
and feeling of a martyr, and the beams of the sun, as we are told,
shining upon his serene and benign countenance.
IVe confess we bad hardly expected to have found in
these days, and in Mr. Godwin, an advocate of bills of
attainder, a course of proceeding in all cases essentially un-
just, and always fraught with conselucnces deeply perni-
cious to the cause of humanity and justice.