442 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1810. 



solution of the parliament held 

 at Oxford, an information was 

 broughtbythe attorney-general, in 

 theKing's-bench, inTrin.term, 36 

 Car. II. for a misdemeanour, for 

 having printed the information 

 againstThomasDangerfield, which 

 lie had ordered to be printed when 

 he was Speaker, by order of the 

 House. Judgment passed agfj'nst 

 him on this informaiion, in the se- 

 cond yearof king James theSecond. 

 This proceeding the convention 

 parliament deemed so great a 

 grievance and so high an infringe- 

 ment of the rights of parliament, 

 that it appears to your committee 

 to be the principal if not the sole 

 object of the first part of the eighth 

 head of the means used by king 

 James to subvert the laws and lib- 

 erties of this kingdom, as set forth 

 in the declaration of the two 

 Houses; which will appear evident 

 from the account given in the 

 Journal, 8th of February, 1688, of 

 theformingofthatdeclaration, the 

 eighth head of which was at first 

 conceived in ihesewords-.videlicet, 

 • By causing informations to be 

 brought and prosecuted in the 

 Court of King's-bench, for mat- 

 ters and causes cognizable only in 

 parliament, and by divers other ille- 

 gal and arbitrary courses.' " 



11th of February, 1688.—" To 

 this article the lords disagreed ; 

 and gave for a reason, because 

 they do not fully apprehend what 

 is meant by it, nor what instances 

 there have been of it ; which 

 therefore they desire may be 

 explained, if the House should 

 think fit to insist further on it." 



12th of February, 1688.— "The 

 House disagree ,vith the lords in 

 their amendment of leaving out the 



eighth article. But in respect to 

 the liberty given by the lords in 

 explaining that matter, Resolved, 

 ' That the words do stand in this 

 manner ; By prosecutions in the 

 Court of King's-bench for matters 

 and causes cognizable only in par- 

 liament, and by divers other arbi- 

 trary and illegal courses.' By 

 which amendmentyour committee 

 observes, that the House adapted 

 the article more correctly to the 

 case they had in view ; for the in- 

 formation was filed in king Charles 

 the Second's time ; but the prose- 

 cution was carried on, and judg- 

 ment obtained, in the second year 

 of king James." 



"That themeaning of the House 

 should be made moreevidentto the 

 lords, the House ordered, 'That 

 sir William Williams be added to 

 the managers of the conference;' 

 and sir William Williams the same 

 day reports the conference with the 

 lords; and, ' That their lordships 

 had adopted the article in the 

 words as amended by the Com- 

 mons.' And corresponding to this 

 article of grievance is the assertion 

 of the right of ihe subject, in the 

 ninth article of thedeclaratorypart 

 ofthe bill of rights; viz. That the 

 freedom of debates or proceedings 

 in parliament might not be im- 

 peached or questioned in any 

 court or place out of parliament." 



•' To which may be added, the 

 latter part of the sixth resolution 

 of the exception to be made in the 

 bill of indemnity. Journal vol. x. 

 page 146, wherein after reciting 

 the surrender of charters, and the 

 violating of rights and freedoms of 

 elections, &c. it proceeds in these 

 words : ' And the questioning the 

 proceedings of parliament out of 



