sent place, being a man timid and scrupulous, both in parliament and other business, and one, in a word, that was made fit for the late Lord Treasurer's seat, which was to do little with much formality and protestation; whereas the new Solicitor, going more roundly to work, and being of a quicker and more earnest temper, and more effectual in that he dealeth in, is like to recover that strength to the King's prerogative which it hath had in times past, and which is due unto it. And for that purpose there must be brought to be Solicitor some man of courage and speech, and a grounded lawyer; which done, his Majesty will speedily find a marvellous change in his business. For it is not to purpose for the Judges to stand well disposed, except the King's counsel, which is the active and moving part, put the Judges well to it; for in a weapon, what is a back without an edge?

"Thirdly, the King shall continue and add reputation to the Attorney's and Solicitor's place by this orderly advancement of them; which two places are the champions' places for his rights and prerogative, and, being stripped of their expectations and successions to great place, will wax vile, and then his Majesty's prerogative goeth down the wind. Besides this remove of my Lord Coke to a place of less profit, though it be with his will, yet will be thought abroad a kind of discipline to him for opposing himself in the King's causes, the example whereof will contain others in more awe." d

This plan was immediately adopted: Hobart, the AttorneyGeneral, became Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, 1613. and Bacon Attorney-General.

Oct. 27,

Soon after, the new Chief Justice of the King's Bench, meeting the new Attorney-General, said to him, "Mr. Attorney, this is all your doing: it is you that has made this stir." Mr. Attorney answered, "Ah, my Lord, your Lordship all this while hath grown in breadth; you must needs now grow in height, or else you would be a monster." The rivalry between them, as we shall see, went on with fresh animosity. Bacon might now be considered the principal political adviser of the Crown. Salisbury was dead; Carr, from A.D. 1614. a raw Scotch lad to whom James taught the rudiments of the Latin tongue, had become Earl of Somerset, Lord Chamberlain, the King's prime favourite, the dispenser of patronage, and a person universally courted and flattered; but so contemptible was his understanding, and such was his incapacity for business, that in affairs of state James was obliged to resort to other councillors. Bacon, though not by any means disdaining to avail himself of the protection of a favourite, (as he had shown in the time of Essex, and as he

d Works, vi. 71. * Lord Bacon's Apophthegms, or Jest Book. Works, vol. ii. 421.

A.D. 1614.

MADE ATTORNEY-GENERAL.

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speedily again showed on the rise of Villiers,) had never much connection with Somerset,--perhaps from not being able to make himself appreciated by such a simpleton, or perhaps from foreseeing that the royal fancy for him must be fleeting. The Attorney-General was in direct communication with the King, and for a considerable time had great influence in his councils. His first advice was constitutional and wise,-to discontinue the irregular expedients which had been resorted to for some years for raising money, and to ask for a supply from a new parliament. But he overrated the influence he should have in the House of Commons, and he was not sufficiently aware of the growing national discontent.

Being re-elected since his last appointment, he was about to take his seat, when a Mr. Duncombe raised the question"Whether the Attorney-General might be elected, in respect there was no precedent that such an officer of the Crown could be chosen member of that House?" Bacon's friends answered, that Sir Henry Hobart had been allowed to sit while Attorney-General; but so much do opinions on such subjects vary from age to age, that the House then agreed that this case did not apply, as he was a member of the House when he was made Attorney-General, and therefore could not be unseated.

Sir Roger Owen argued that no Attorney-General was ever chosen, nor anciently any Privy Councillor, nor any that took livery of the King. He relied on the authority of Sir Thomas More, who, after he had been Speaker and Chancellor, said,"that the eye of a King's courtier can endure no colours but one, the King's livery hindering their sight." He compared those holding office at the King's pleasure to "a cloud gilded by the rays of the sun, and to brass coin which the King's stamp makes current." Sir John Saville moved "that those Privy Councillors who had got seats might stay for that time, but Mr. Attorney should not serve in that House."

After a committee to search for precedents, it was resolved that "Mr. Attorney-General Bacon remain in the House for this parliament, but never any Attorney-General to serve in the Lower House in future." The right of the Attorney-General to sit as a member of the House of Commons has not since been seriously questioned. As he is summoned according to immemorial usage to advise the House of Lords, and ought to return his writ and to take his place on the woolsack, it is

f 1 Parl. Hist. 1159.

easy to conceive that conflicting duties might be cast upon him; but his attendance on the Lords is dispensed with, except in Peerage cases, and it has been found much more convenient that he should be allowed to act as law adviser to the House of Commons, which might otherwise be inops concilii.

Mr. Attorney made his first and only speech in this parlia ment to press for supplies. He began by observing, "that since they had been pleased to retain him there, he owed them the best offices he could, and if they had dismissed him his wishes would have been still with them." He then most elaborately pointed out the King's wants and the necessity for supplying them, ridiculing the notion that had gone abroad that a confederacy had been formed to control the free will of the House, and again bringing out his favourite and unlucky quotation,-" Dulcis tractus pari jugo."

But a majority were much more inclined to inquire into monopolies and other grievances, and parliament was abruptly dissolved.

After the effort he had made to obtain supplies by constitutional means, Bacon seems to have thought that all expedients by which the Exchequer might be filled were justifiable.

The most productive of these was the demanding of "Benevolences." Letters were written to the sheriffs of

A.D. 1615. counties and the magistrates of corporations, calling on the King's loving subjects to contribute to his necessities. The contributions were supposed to be voluntary, but were in reality compulsory, for all who refused were denounced and treated as disloyal. Oliver St. John having written a letter to the Mayor of Marlborough, representing that this "Benevolence was contrary to law, and that the magistrates ought not to assist in collecting it, the Attorney-General prosecuted him in the Star Chamber for a libel. In his speech he strenuously defended this mode of raising money; and, for the reason that "it is fit to burn incense where ill odours have been cast," he delivered an elaborate panegyric on the government of King James, whom he described as a constant protector of the liberties, laws, and customs of the kingdom, maintaining religion not only with sceptre and sword, but by his pen. The defendant was sentenced to pay a fine of 5000l., to be imprisoned during the King's pleasure, and to make a written submission. Bacon's indiscriminate admirers contend that he is exempt from all blame in this proceeding, because

A.D. 1615. BENEVOLENCES-PROSECUTION OF PEACHAM.

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the Judges declared that the levying of "Benevolences" was not contrary to any statute, and Lord Chancellor Ellesmere solemnly expressed a wish that passing sentence on Mr. St. John might be "his last act of judicial duty;" but there could not be a doubt that raising Benevolences" was in substance levying an aid without authority of parliament, and that the person was morally responsible for the misconduct of the Judges who put them in a position where they must either pervert the law or forfeit their offices."

The blame here imputable to Bacon, however, was light indeed compared with what he incurred in a case which soon followed. Fine and imprisonment having no effect in quelling the rising murmurs of the people, it was resolved to make a more dreadful example, and Peacham, a clergyman of Somersetshire, between sixty and seventy years of age, was selected for the victim. On breaking into his study, a sermon was there found which he had never preached, nor intended to preach, nor shown to any human being, but which contained some passages encouraging the people to resist tyranny. He was immediately arrested, and a resolution was taken to prosecute him for high treason. But Mr. Attorney, who is alone responsible for this atrocious proceeding, anticipated considerable difficulties both in law and fact before the poor old parson could be subjected to a cruel and ignominious death. He therefore first began by tampering with the Judges of the King's Bench, to fix them by an extra-judicial opinion. His plan was to assail them separately, and therefore he skilfully called in his subordinates, assigning Justice Dodderidge to the Solicitor-General, Justice Crook to Serjeant Montague, and Justice Houghton to Serjeant Crew,-and directing these emissaries that "they should not in any case make any doubt to the Judges,—as if they mistrusted they would not deliver any opinion apart, but should speak resolutely to them." The Chief Justice he reserved for his own management,"not being wholly without hope," says he, "that my Lord Coke himself, when I have in some dark manner put him in doubt that he shall be left alone, will not continue singular." The puisnes were pliant. The Chief at first affirmed, that "such auricular taking of opinions was not according to the custom of this realm;" but at last yielded to Bacon's remonstrance, that "though Judges might make a suit to be spared for their opinion till they had spoken with their brethren, if

8 2 St. Tr. 899.

the King upon his own princely judgment, for reason of estate, should think fit to have it otherwise, there was no declining-nay, that it touched on a violation of their oath, which was, to counsel the King whether it were jointly or separately."

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Still, without some further evidence, a mere sermon found in a study seemed rather a slender overt act to be submitted to a jury of compassing the King's death. To supply the deficiency, it was resolved to subject Peacham to the rack. Interrogatories were prepared to draw a confession from him of his object and of his accomplices in writing the sermon, and upon these interrogatories he was examined before torture, between torture, and after torture." These are the words of Bacon; and I relate with horror that he was himself present at scenes equalling everything that we have read or can imagine of the Inquisition at Venice. The tone in which he describes some of them to the King, though he tries to talk bravely, shows that he was ashamed of the work in which he was engaged, and that he inwardly condemned what some of his admirers now defend :

"It may please your Excellent Majesty.

"It grieveth me exceedingly that your Majesty should be so much troubled with this matter of Peacham, whose raging devil seemeth to be turned into a dumb devil. But although we are driven to make our way through questions, which I wish were otherwise, yet I hope well the end will be good. But then every man must put his helping hand;i for else I must say to your Majesty in this and the like cases, as St. Paul said to the centurion, when some of the mariners had an eye to the cock-boat, Except these stay in the ship, ye cannot be safe. I find in my Lords great and worthy care of the business: and for my part, I hold my opinion, and am strengthened in it by some records that I have found. God preserve your Majesty !"

It is quite clear that several present had expressed an opinion against going further, and that Bacon himself had not much confidence in his "Records." He still persisted, however, for the King had become very earnest about it,--and thus he writes to his Majesty (after describing Peacham's refusal to answer certain points),—"I hold it fit that myself and my fellows go to the Tower, and so I purpose to examine him upon these points and some others. I think also, it were not

h Letters to King. Works, vol. v. 338, 343.

i Does this mean to stretch the rack, like Lord Chancellor Wriothesley?