OCR Text |
Show ) 68 ATROCIO"CS JUDGES. [A. D. H69. • of the Crown TaYern, in Cheapsicle, and, like him, employ himself in selling sack. 1\Ir. J u ~ tice Billing, however, ruleJ- "That upon the ju ~t con tru ction of the stn.tute of trea-son"', \Yhich wa only declaratory of the conunon law, therr, was no ncce ity, in supporting uch a charge, to prove a dPsio- n to take away the natural life of the king; that any thing showing a di~po~ition to touch his royal ·tate and <lignity was sufli('ient; an<l that the won] ~ prov ·d were ]ucon is tent with that rc\crcncc for the hereditary descent of the crown which wns due from every sul>jcct under the oath oC allegiance; therefore, if the jury l>elicYccl the witncs., ul>on t which there coul<l l>c no doubt, a ... the prisoner did not venture to J eny the treasonalJlc language which he had u. etl, they were bound to fiud him guilty." A verdict of guilty was accordi11gly 1' )turned and the poor publican was han ged drawn, an<l quartered.* l\Ir. Ju tice Billino- i, said to luwe rnade the criminrtl law 0 thus bend to the wi he of the king and th~ n1inisters in other cases, tl1e particulars of which haYe not been tran .. n1ittcd to u. ; and he became a special favorite at court, all his form er extravagances about cashiering king:=; and electing other~ in their stead being forgotten, in con::;it1eration of the zeal he <Ji ~played since hi COD\'Cl'Sion to the t1octrine f '· uirine right." Therefore, when the chief justice hall allowed Sir Thomas Cooke to escnpe the penalties of trea ·on, nCter his forfeitures had been looked to with eagerness on aecounL of the great • Some of our American advocate of construcliv r. trC'asons haYC laid down the law mnch in the s;tmc spirit.- Ed. A. D. 1-!70.] TIIO:'IfAS BTLLIXG. wealth he had accumnlate(l, there was a general Cl'J j 11 the palace at \V c. tn1inster that he ought not to be perrnittcd ]ono-er to n1i lea<l jurie , and tlw.t 1\Ir. fT Lrtice Billing, of such approved loyalty and firn1n e.::', .~hould be appoillled to succeed him, rather than the attorney or ~olicitor general, who, getting on the l>ench, 1n ight, like l1im, follow popular courses. Accon1ingly a supersedeas to Sir J ohn J\Iarkhan1 wns made out im1ncd.iat ']y after the trial of Rex ,~. Cookr, and the an1e day a writ pas ·eel the great -eal, whereby '"the king's tru ·ty and well-beloved Sir Thoma. Dilling, I~night, \Va., assigned as chief ju ticc to hol£1 pleas before the 1- ing himself.'' The very next tern1 c~une on the trinl or Sir Thoma.· Burdett. 'This descenclant of one of the con1panion.· of "\Villiam the Conqueror, and a nee. tor of the late Sir Fnmci ~ Durdet t ' lived at Arrow, in \\T arwickshir , where he had large po~ses-sion~. IIe hall been a Yorki:;t, l>nt somehow was out of favor at court; ancl the king, making a progress in tho~e pal'ts, had rather wantonly entered his park, an(l hunted and killed a white l>uck, of which he \\'US p •(·u1iarly fond. \Vhen the fiery knight, who had been fron1 hOJne, heanl of this affair, which he construell into a premeclitated i1L ult, he cxrlaimecl, "I wish that the buck, horns and all were in the helly of the man who ad vised tlle king to kill lt;" or, as som r eported, ,, were in the king's own belly." rrhe opportunity wa. thought fhvorable for being r eycng •d on an obnoxiou. person. Accordingly he was arrested, brouo-ht to LonJon ant1 tried at b ' the ICing's Bench l>nr on a charge of ire[tson, for having com-pa sed and itnagincd. the death and destruction of "our lord the k1' noo·· " The prisoner proved, by most respectable witnesses, that |