1681.] brought in a Bill into the
House of Lords yesterday, under the name of a Bill for the Honour
and Privilege of the House, and Mercy to my Lord Clarendon:
which, he told me, he opposed, saying that he was a man accused
of treason by the House of Commons, and mercy was not proper for
him, having not been tried yet, and so no mercy needful for him.
However, the Duke of Buckingham and others did desire that the
Bill, might be read; and it was for banishing my Lord Clarendon
from all his Majesty's dominions, and that it should be treason
to have him found in any of them: the thing is only a thing of
vanity, and to insult over him. By and by home with Sir J.
Minnes, who tells me that my Lord Clarendon did go away in a
Custom-house boat, and is now at Callis: and, I confess, nothing
seems to hang more heavy than his leaving of this unfortunate
paper behind him, that hath angered both Houses, and hath, I
think, reconciled them in that which otherwise would have broke
them in pieces: so that I do hence, and from Sir W. Coventry's
late example and doctrine to me, learn that on these sorts of
occasions there is nothing like silence; it being seldom any
wrong to a man to say nothing, but for the most part it is to say
any thing.
Pages:
1331
1332
1333
1334
1335
1336
1337
1338
1339
1340
1341
1342
1343
1344
1345
1346
1347
1348
1349
1350
1351
1352
1353
1354
1355