70 RECORDS OF OLD TIMES 



of the highest hnportance, her Majesty thinks it 

 necessary to weigh and consider very carefully what 

 may be proper for her to do in a thing of so great 

 concern. 



On March 2 the Sergeant-at-Arms reported to 

 the House of Commons that he had taken 

 Montague, but that he had produced a protection 

 from the House of Lords ; that he had nearly taken 

 Letchmore, but that he had tied his sheets together, 

 and had slipped out at a back window two pair 

 high ; and he had also taken Harris, but the other 

 three. Page, Denton,, and Lee, were not to be 

 found. A conference was then held by the two 

 Houses, and after long arguments the House of 

 Commons resolved ' That the proceedings of the 

 House, in relation to the Aylesbury men, are in 

 maintenance of the ancient and undoubted rights 

 and privileges of the Commons of England.' On 

 April I the Ashby case was brought by a Writ of 

 Error before the House of Lords, and Sir Thomas 

 Trevor, Lord Chief Justice of Common Pleas, 

 delivered judgment, by which he overruled the 

 decision of the Court of King's Bench, and gave 

 judgment for Ashby. In December following, 

 Oviatt, Patey, and others petitioned the House of 

 Lords to remove them from the gaol at Newgate. 

 In February 1705 the House of Lords had passed no 

 less than six resolutions ' condemning the conduct 

 of the House of Commons, as being an obstruction 

 to justice, and contrary to " Magna Charta " ' ; 

 and the House of Commons passed resolutions 



