the eleventh volume, it is reserved wholly for additional matter; the design being, that one part of it shall be occupied with a continuation of Trials to the present time; and that the other part shall consist of such materials, as shall seem best calculated to supply any omissions in the former part of the Collection. II. In the present Edition, the Preface to the First Edition, which was afterwards omitted, will be restored; together with that to the Case of Ship-money; and the Preface to the Second Edition, as it was re-printed with the name of Mr. Emlyn to it in the third, will be continued, as will also the Prefaces to the supplemental volumes. The history of a publication is best preserved by inserting all the Prefaces in their due order of time; though they are often omitted in modern editions of books, much to the dissatisfaction of nice and accurate readers. III. The two Alphabetical Tables to this Edition, the one of the Persons tried, of the times and places of their Trial, and of their crimes and punishments, and the other of the matter in general, will extend to all the eleven volumes. This will render a search for any thing in the present Edition less tedious and troublesome, than it is in the Second and Third Editions and their supplemental volumes; to which, in consequence of their being published at different times, there are not less than three distinct sets of tables instead of one.

From this view of the Plan, on which it is determined to conduct the present Edition, it is evident, that it must have very considerable advantages over the_best of the former editions. It will be much less chargeable in the purchase; and yet equally commodious in the form, more various and valuable in the contents.

It only remains for the author of this Preface to add a few lines concerning himself, lest he should be deemed further responsible than he means to be. The undertakers of the Edition requested his assistance in suggesting a plan for the conduct of the Work, and in furnishing a Preface. With this request he hath chearfully complied in the best manner he was able; and the result of his endeavours, he readily submits to the correction of the candid reader. But as to the superintendance, revision, and correction of the Work in the printing, they are unavoidably devolved upon others; the writer of this Preface having avocations, which would not leave him at liberty for such a laborious office, even though he was inclined to undertake it. However, the same desire of promoting an important and useful publication, which induced him to give his aid in its first commencement, will secure to the undertakers his advice in its progress and conclusion.

Inner-Temple, October 5, 1775.

FRANCIS HARGRAVE.

MR. HARGRAVE'S PREFACE

TO THE ELEVENTH (OR SUPPLEMENTAL) VOLUME OF THE FOURTH EDITION OF THE STATE TRIALS: PRINTED IN THE YEAR 1781.

My Preface prefixed to the first Volume of this edition of the STATE-TRIALS pro

mised, that the present volume should consist wholly of Trials not contained in any former edition; and I was understood to be the person, who would point out what were the materials proper to be adopted. In conformity to this engagement, I used considerable diligence to discover what Trials were omitted in the period of the former editions, and what Trials of importance have occurred since. But the result of my pursuit for new matter proved very inadequate to my expectation; the industry of former collectors having scarce left any deficiencies, which I could supply without too far passing the line I had prescribed to myself of merely selecting additional Trials. Yet the few, which I have gleaned, may suffice to convince the Reader, that I have not been sparing of research.

In the course of my enquiries for new Trials, I resorted to the British Museum, in hopes, that the immense Collection of Manuscripts in that repository of learning and science would supply me with some new materials of importance; and I was particularly encouraged in this expectation by the promising Titles of various Articles in the Catalogue of Harleian Manuscripts. But I was wholly disappointed; for on examination, the few Trials I met with proved, either too meagre and insignificant to be made use of, or nothing more than mere transcripts from some of our old printed Chronicles. And here I take great pleasure in bearing testimony of the exemplary conduct of those Gentlemen, who by their offices have the superintendance of the Manuscripts and printed Books in the British Museum. Though I have had frequent occasion to give several of those gentlemen much trouble; yet I have ever found them uniformly studious to render the access to the valuable Collections entrusted to them easy and agreeable. I have also had the full opportunity of noticing, that their deportment and attentions to others are of the same obliging kind. honourable a discharge of their duty well entitles them to some rewards beyond the small emoluments of their respective offices; and I heartily wish, that they may in future attract a greater share of patronage from the great, than they have hitherto experienced.

So

There is one very striking and capital defect in the former Editions of this Collection; I mean, in the article of Parliamentary Trials, under which head may be included, not only Trials on Impeachments, but Proceedings on Bills of Attainder, and on Bills inflicting Pains and Penalties. In the ten volumes, which constitute the Work as it was before the present Edition, there are not, as I calculate, thirty articles which fall under such a description. Yet from a very imperfect list, which I formed on a slight examination of the Rolls of Parliament, and various other books of Parliamentary information, I found, that many more than a hundred such Trials might be extracted. It was my wish to have supplied this omission; more especially as by so doing, infinite light would be thrown on a subject most interesting to all Lawyers and Politicians; namely, the Criminal Judicature of Parliament. But such a vast undertaking would not only have far exceeded the limits of my engagements to the Proprietors of this Edition of State Trials, but would also have swelled the present Collection greatly beyond the terms of the Proposals to the Subscribers.

Before each Trial in this volume, I have given notice to the Reader whence it is extracted, with such other explanations, as were necessary to enable the forming a judgment on the authority of the Trial. It would have been of no small advantage to the readers, if the Collectors of the former Volumes had been equally explanatory. My introductory Note to some of the Trials in this volume is extended into an illustration of the subject of the Trial; and occasionally I have interspersed similar Notes elsewhere. The fullest annotations of this kind are those prefixed to the Case of Impositions, the Case of the Postnati, the Bankers Case, and the respective Cases of Mr. Whitlock and Mr. Oliver St. John. These and the other Notes I commit to the candid construction of the Reader, with an assurance, that I have endeavoured to form and express my opinions with the utmost impartiality and moderation; and that I shall even think myself obliged by a good-humoured correction of any errors into which I may have fallen.

In the Trials and Cases in this volume, the Reader will find an ample discussion of various great constitutional questions. The Case of Impositions furnishes a profusion of learning on the point so long controverted, Whether the king could by preroga tive impose Duties at the ports.' In the course, too, of the Arguments on that head, the learned Reader will be pleased to see some important Remarks on the King's Power of laying Embargoes. Some persons, justly of high authority in the present times, have been inclined to restrict the exercise of this power to time of war. But I confess, that I do not see, why the Prerogative should be thus limited. The safety of the state, which is the ground of entrusting the king with the power of laying Embargoes, may require an exercise of it in times both of war and peace; and on the eve of a war it is obviously as necessary as in a war itself. Also, from what I remember having formerly read on the subject, I have little doubt, but that the Precedents and Authorities, whenever they shall be well collected, will be found greatly to preponderate against the distinction I have stated. That profound parliamentary lawyer, Mr. Hakewill, when he was arguing in the House of Commons against the claimed prerogative of Impositions at the ports, candidly admitted the prerogative of Embargoes to the full extent of its principle, and consequently, as I conceive, without restricting its exercise to times of war. Yet he well knew, that the power of shutting up the Ports was one great branch of the argument for the power of taxing at the ports; and also, that the power of laying Embargoes had been often exercised under special acts of parliament. Nor did Mr. St. John, in his Argument against ShipMoney, scruple to admit the power of laying Embargoes, and that it was exerciseable, not merely in times of war, but generally in times of imminent danger, whether arising from war, from dearth, or from any other cause. Perhaps some readers may wonder, that I should be thus unreserved in contending for the prerogative of Embargoes. But I refer such to my Note before the Case of Impositions. They will there find a short but connected view of the various means practised to establish in the crown a power of taxing out of parliament from the Accession of James the first to the Restoration; and I presume to hope, that on a consideration of the freedom, with which I have in that Note animadverted on such unconstitutional attempts, I shall be sufficiently guarded against any suspicion of the least wish to extend the royal prerogative beyond its due limits.-The Irish Case of Pramunire must be interesting to every person, who wishes to be informed, in a summary and accurate way, how the Church of Rome gradually encroached on the king's ecclesiastical jurisdiction; and how at length the English church and kingdom were compleatly exonerated from the expence, tyranny, and disgrace of foreign usurpation. My Note at the end of that Case is intended to assist the inquiries of such as may be curious to pursue the subject more in detail.-In the Case of the Postnati, the doctrine of Allegiance to the crown is enlarged upon, with a surprizing variety of learning and historical information; tending to explain the relation between England and the countries which at any time before the Accession of the first James had been dependant upon England, or connected with it by being under the dominion of the same prince. To render this great political Case more intelligible, I have prefixed a fuller account of its origin, and all the proceedings in it, than is commonly to be met with; to which I have added a reference to almost every book of consequence likely to supply the

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least further information about the case. The Case of Mr. Oliver St. John for writing against Benevolences, deserves attention on account of its connection with the Case of Ship Money and the Case of Impositions. In my Note on Mr. St. John's Case, I have pointed out this connection; and I have therein risqued some remarks on the subject of Benevolences to the crown; with a view to shew, how far they have been condemned and are clearly unlawful.-In the Case of the Bankers, some curious subjects are discussed; more especially the general power of the Crown to alienate its Revenues before the restraining statute of queen Anne: whether some particular Revenues, on account of their special nature, were not privileged and exempt from the Crown's general power of alienating; and whether the Barons of the Exchequer could compel the Lord Treasurer to issue money for payment of the King's Debts, or, in other words, whether the Receipt of the Exchequer is under the controul of the Barons. The most remarkable of the arguments in this famous Case, or, at least, of those which have reached the present times, is lord Somers. It not only unfolds the constitution of the Exchequer with great minuteness; but in other respects is most excellent, having a scope and compass, which will ever render it of infinite value to the profession of the law. So anxious, indeed, was his lordship to sustain his opinion by the most authentic materials, that the Records referred to and stated in his Argument are said to have cost him several hundred pounds. My Note on this Case, explains how it arose, the progress of it, and how the Claims of the Bankers and their Creditors were finally adjusted by act of parliament, with some other particulars, which I thought might be conducive to a thorough understanding of the case, and of the points decided by it. In respect to the remainder of the Cases in this Volume, most of them relate to very interesting subjects; amongst which the chief are, the effect of Matrimonial Sentences of the Ecclesiastical courts, the extent of the Privilege of Parliament, the question of General Warrants, the question on the Seizure of Papers, the powers claimed by Secretaries of State and Privy Counsellors, the question on the Slavery of Negroes in England, and the power of pressing Mariners. However, some of the early cases I have introduced do, I confess, require an apology; being certainly too loose and imperfect in the statement to deserve the name of Trials. My inducement to insert them was, that I wished to give the reader some proof, how very extensive I was in my enquiries and researches for new matter, to supply the omissions of former collectors; and I do hope, that the Notes which precede short these Accounts of Trials, will be received as a full testimony of my industry in that respect. Thus much may suffice to apprise the Reader what he is to expect from the contents of the present Volume.

I

In my Preface to the first Volume of this Edition of STATE TRIALS, I thought, that I had sufficiently explained myself to guard against any responsibility beyond what really belongs to me. But from the manner of placing my name in the title to the Collection, which I now think might have been less ambiguous, a very erroneous notion has prevailed, as to the extent of my very limited share in the undertaking. therefore deem it proper to be more explicit on this head; and with that view, I here take the opportunity of declaring, that the only parts of the Work for which I am in any respect accountable, exclusive of the present preface, are the preface with my name in the first volume; and the selection of the Trials and Cases for this Volume, with such annotations as I have given in the course of it, particularly those before the several Trials. As to the Trials in the ten preceding Volumes, they were printed literally from the last of the former Editions; nor did I see so much as one sheet of those Volumes before it was printed and published, except only the sheet containing my Preface and the Title to the first volume. I am equally free from responsibility for the Alphabetical and Chronological Tables of all the Trials in this Collection, and for the General Index of Matter; all of which are placed at the end of this Volume. These Tables and Index were prepared by another gentleman. The Chronological Table of the Trials is quite a new accession to the Work; there being no such Table to the former Editions; though the utility of it is apparent, as it in great measure obviates the disadvantage from the disorderly arrangement of many of the Trials in point of time. This disorder was a necessary consequence of continuing the first six Volumes of the Work by Supplemental volumes. The merit of lessening this inconvenience belongs wholly to the framer of the Tables and Index to this edition; that is,

both the proposal of such an improvement and the execution of it originated from him. All that I can pretend to say further concerning the Tables and Index is, that the latter has been executed at a much greater expence than would have been incurred, if I had not made it a particular request to the proprietors of the edition to be liberal in their allowance for so useful and laborious a part of the undertaking; and further, that I have every reason to believe, that the gentleman who compiled the General Index of Matter, has been extremely diligent in endeavouring to render it acceptable.

Brompton-Row, Knightsbridge, Aug. 30, 1781.

FRANCIS HARGRAVE.