III. That the said lord M. in March 1664, by letters and otherwise, made sundry uncivil addresses to the daughter of the said William Tayleur; which she rejecting, and threatening to make the said viscount's lady acquainted with them, the said viscount swore, by a most dreadful oath and imprecation, he would persecute ber and her family to all eternity.

IV. That on the 23d of Nov. 1665, by order of the said viscount Mordaunt, the said Wm. Tayleur was forcibly and illegally dispossessed, by soldiers, of certain rooms in the Timberyard belonging to the said Castle, without the walls thereof, claimed by the said Wm. Tayleur as belonging to his offices of pay-master and surveyor of the said Castle.

V. That a warrant, obtained from his majesty by untrue suggestions and misinformations, dated Nov. 30, 1665, but not produced till some months after, upon a Pluries Habeas Corpus, for the restraining of the said Win. Tayleur from going out of the said Castle, was directed to the said lord M. who, by virtue of bis own warrant, not mentioning the said Warrant of his majesty, about the 9th of Dec. following, caused the said Mr. Tayleur to be again forcibly and illegally apprehended and taken into custody, in the said borough of Windsor, without the precincts of the said Castle, by one Rd. Voyle, then marshal of the said Castle, assisted with a file of musketeers, who, by command from the said lord M. carried him prisoner into the said Castle, and there continued and illegally detained him prisoner, during the space of 20 weeks, and 5 thereof a close prisoner, not admitting him to go to church though he desired it; and, locking him up every night, refused to take bail for him, when offered, soon after his imprisonment, whereas his majesty's Warrant was only to restrain him within the Castle; at which time Henry Marten, a traitor, one of the late regicides, then a prisoner there, had liberty to go abroad out of the said Castle without a keeper. VI. That the said lord M. during the said Wm. Tayleur's imprisonment, illegally refused to return and obey an Habeas Corpus brought by the said Mr. Tayleur for his enlargement; and being afterwards served with an Habeas Corpus by Simondson, servant to the said Mr. Tayleur, for his enlargement, the said lord M. in high contempt of his majesty's authority and laws of this realm, gave the said servant reproachful language, calling him' rogue' for delivering the said writ; and saying, that was all the answer he would give to it,' directly refusing to obey the same: and continued the said Mr. Tayleur divers weeks after a prisoner till set at liberty upon a Pluries Habeas Corpus, by his majesty's Court of King's Bench.

VII. That the said Mr. Tayleur, soon after his enlargement, hearing and fearing that he should be again illegally imprisoned by the said lord M. did hereupon make application to his lordship, by his friends, for a reconciliation; who answered them, he would never be reconciled to him;' and threatened to imprison

him again; and then, if he brought another Habeas Corpus, he would imprison him again and again, and keep him prisoner as long as he lived, and likewise turu him out of all his employments and offices, and dispose of them to others as he pleased;' by reason of which threats and menaces, the said Mr. Tayleur was enforced to desert his wife, family, and employments, at the said borough of Windsor, and to obscure himself elsewhere, till this present session of parliament, to prevent future illegal imprisonments by the said viscount. -All and every of which proceedings are contrary to the Great Charter, and other laws and statutes of this realm, and the rights and liberties of all the Commons and Freemen of England; and of dangerous consequence and example, if unredressed. And the said commons by protestation, saving to themselves the liberty of exhibiting at any time hereafter any other Accusation or Impeachment against the said viscount, and also of replying to the Answer to the said Articles, or any of them, or of offering proof of the premises, or any other Impeachment or Accusations that shall be exhibited by them, as the case shall (according to the course of parliaments) require, do pray, That the said viscount M. may be called to answer the said several Crimes and Misdemeanors, and receive such condign punishment as the same shall deserve; and that such further proceedings may be upon every of them had and used against him as is agreeable to law and justice."

Lord Mordaunt's Answer to the said Articles.] Jan. 17. The lord Mordaunt gave the house humble thanks, for giving him so long time to advise for the putting in his Answer to the Impeachment of the house of commons against him; and, in obedience to their lordships command, now presented his Answer in writing, with a desire that the same may be communicated to the House of Commons. Then the said Answer was read as followeth :

The Humble ANSWER of John lord visc. Mordaunt, constable of his majesty's Castle and Honour of Windsor, to certain ARTICLES of IMPEACHMENT, exhibited against him by the Commons assembled in Parliament, for several High Crimes · and Misdemeanors supposed to be committed by him.

"The lord visc. Mordaunt, not being conscious to himself of any malice or purpose of evil to any man alive, nor having had other displeasure against Wm. Tayleur, in the said Articles named, than what arose from his insolent and provoking deportment towards his majesty, in disobeying his warrants and his lordship in the execution of his office (under whose immediate government he is by the offices he holds in Windsor Castle), and from the variety of complaints which have been reiterated to his ldp. by the country against him for his oppression in those offices, and from the manifest abuses by him committed, in

mispending the revenue of the said Castle, and defrauding the artificers, as also clandestinely and fraudulently endeavouring to pass Accompts without controul, which matters are now depending in the courts below at Westminster Hall, accounts it a singular unhappiness, that so worthy a body as the hon. house of commons, for whom his ldp, hath ever had so great respect, should think themselves concerned in that one man's person to accuse him, in their names, and in the names of all the commons of England: and he did well hope that it being offered to that hon. house on his behalf, that he would (with leave from your lordships) be ready to answer Mr. Tayleur in any action at law, and wave his privilege, they would have spared themselves and your lordships the trouble of this examination, and him the misfortune of being accused by them: therefore, praying your lordships that no informality in this his Answer, nor any mistaken word or expression, may be construed to his disadvantage, and saving to himself all privileges and rights belonging to him as a peer of this realm, and all advantages of exceptions to the insufficiency and informality of the said Impeachment, humbly answers,

To the 1st Article, Which concerns the dispossession of Wm. Tayleur of certain rooms in Windsor Castle, the said lord visc. M. answereth, That he was very ignorant of those faithful services Mr. T. had done to the late king of ever-blessed memory, or of any sufferings upon the account of his loyalty to him; which had he known, they would have obliged him to a due consideration of him; and doth affirm he is yet as great a stranger to his merits, as he was at that time to his person; and heartily wishes his obedience and integrity to his maj. that now reigns could have justified that character of him: but, to satisfy your Jordships how ill he deserved from his maj, and the lord M. in the matters of this Article, saith, That, in the year 1660, when his maj. was pleased, on his grace and favour, to confer upon him that important trust of Constable and Governor of the Castle of Windsor, he found Mr. T. in possession of that house which belongs to the Chancellor of the Garter; that, the first installation being presently to be solemnized, his maj. was pleased, by his immediate warrant of the 24th Feb. 1660, to command, that within 20 days the possession of that house, in habitable condition, should be delivered to the Chancellor of the Garter; with which Warrant Mr. T. being acquainted, and having perused it, positively refused to remove upon that warrant; but he was advised by the lord M. to consider better of it: how ever, he afterwards returned the same answer, with somewhat more stubbornness; and his wife being importuned by his ldp, to persuade her husband to yield obedience, she said, she would acquaint her husband with it: all those fair ways being essayed, and finding no obe dience, rather than suffer his majesty's commands to be disputed by his servant, and con

tumaciously disobeyed in his own house, his Idp. found it necessary, in observance to the said Warrant, to command a serjeant of the garrison, with some few soldiers, to remove bis goods and family, yet with all civility imaginable; which they punctually observed, and assisted them in carrying out their goods. As to the affrightment of the child out of its wits, his Idp. cannot think the sight of soldiers in Windsor Castle should have such effect, the child having been seen playing and well after that time of removal, and, as his ldp. is informed, was sick of the worms, and this affrightment never spoken of till this occasion.-The dispossession was indeed by soldiers; the king's commands not being otherwise to be executed there, no sheriff or other civil officer being permitted to come into the king's house and garrison, by order of the place: and these were the only causes of this dispossession, and not any concernment in his election to parliament, which is most evident, in that he did stand for burgess, wherein the election was free, and was elected by the commonalty of the town ; but his election afterwards was avoided by the house of commons. As to the seizing Mr. T. by soldiers out of the precincts of the Castle, and carrying him into the Castle, without warrant or any lawful cause, his Idp. saith, That the time of his securing was 3 weeks before his election; and that the place where Mr. T. was apprehended, was within the jurisdiction of the Castle (as he taketh it), for that the courts were there held by the said Wm. T. as clerk to the Constable of the Castle, who, being a counsellor at law, would not have kept courts there as his lordship's deputy, if the same had been out of the Jurisdiction of the said Castle. And his Idp. saith, That he being informed and assured that the said Mr. T. was not a prisoner for debt; and the said Mr. T. having insolently disobeyed his majesty's commands concerning his own house, and spoken several scandalous and opprobrious words against his Idp. and his family, his Idp. did command an officer and some few soldiers to carry him to the guard, where he was detained some few hours, and after set at liberty; and his Idp. denies that any bail was tendered to him for his enlargement: and his ldp, being constable and governor of the said Castle (it being then a garrison for the king), and believing that it might be a great encouragement to others to disobey commands, if this insolence were not taken notice of and punished; these were the true causes of his being sent for; and hopes it will not be imputed to him as done arbitrarily, or in contempt of the law, to which he hath always shewn ready obedience, and hath asserted its authority in the worst of times, with the hazard of his life.

To the 2nd Article, he saith, That, as Constable of the said Castle, his ldp, claims to have the disposition of several of those offices in possession of Wm. T. by colour of his patent: but denies any contemptuous words spoken of the king's Great Seal, or otherwise

than to the effect and purpose to vacate his patent, which his Idp. was informed by his Counsel to be void in law.

To the 3rd Article, flis ldp. denies any uncivil addresses to Wm. T.'s daughter, or of any threats of ruin to her family.

To the 4th, he saith, That there were several rooms in the Timber Yard in the possession of the said Wm. T. all which (except such as he claimed to belong to him as surveyor of the said Castle) did belong to several artificers, to some by patent, and to others by constant usage and enjoyment; and that, by his majesty's order under his majesty's privy signet of the 28th Feb. 1664, the rooms belonging to the artificers of the said Castle are commanded to be restored to them; and, that his idp. might be sure to do no man injury, he desired several gentlemen of the neighbourhood, who had been well acquainted with the offices and usage of the said Castle (whereof the said Wm. T. was one), to make enquiry, and certify concerning the said rooms; which all of them (except Mr. T.) accordingly returned, That the Rooms possessed by the said Wm. T. belonged to divers artificers;' whereof Mr. T. having notice left at his house, his wife and family there refused to deliver possession according to his majesty's commands, but instead thereof returned reviling language; and at this time when he was removed from the said rooms, the said Wm. T. was suspended from the place of Receiver by an order of his maj. and council, and Mr. Dudley Rouse placed in the said office, the said rooms claimed to belong to the said office were delivered to the said person that was placed in the said office, and the rest to the artificers to whom they belonged; but the rooms as surveyor are still in his possession, without any disturbance.

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To the 5th Article, he saith, That the suggestions in his majesty's Warrant of the 30th Nov. 1665, for restraining Wm. T. from going out of the said Castle, are true; and that he was taken by the marshal and brought into the Castle without any soldiers, and during his restraint there he was not a close prisoner by his lordship's directions as by his lordship's warrant will appear; neither did he at any time refuse bail for him, for none was tendered. And as for Henry Marten's liberty, his lordship saith, it was not done with his privity or consent; but saith, he hath since enquired thereinto, and finds the fact to be, that the lord Lovelace, being lord lieut. of the county, coming to Windsor, sent to the officer, to desire leave for Henry Marten (his brother-in-law) to dine with him, who accordingly gave him leave, and sent the marshal with him, who brought him back again.

To the 6th, he saith, That the first Habeas Corpus was returnable immediate, and was delivered in his lordship's absence, he being then attending his maj. at Oxford, and did not know of the same till after the return thereof. The 2nd Habeas Corpus was not delivered to his idp. till Saturday afternoon at Windsor, and VOL. IV.

the term ended on Monday following; so as, by reason of the shortness of the time, he could not make return thereof; and his Idp. doth deny that he called the person that delivered the said writ, rogue ;' or used any reviling or reproachful language against him for the Delivery of the said writ; and upon the Pluries Habeas Corpus, his Idp. made a return thereof in due time, and the court of king's bench saw cause to hold him bound by recognizance to appear the last day of the term, to answer any information that should be exhibited against him for the matters in the Warrant.

To the 7th he saith, That he knows not what Mr. T. might hear concerning his future imprisonment, nor what his guilt might make bim apprehend; but that his lordship had not the least thought of it himself. He assured a noble peer of this house, who writ to him on Mr. T.'s behalf, that he would not imprison him; neither was he afterwards imprisoned by his Idp. or did any warrant or command from his Idp. issue to that purpose. And as to the allegation, that he hath been enforced to leave his wife and family, it is surely a great mistake; for he oftentimes since kept courts publicly at Windsor, without interruption, or cause of fear.-Having thus most plainly expressed to your lordships the truth of his proceedings, he humbly subiuits the same to your lordships judgment."

The said Answer was communicated to the commons, hut it does not appear from the Journals that they made any replication thereto.

Disagreement between the two Houses.] Soon after this Impeachment, a difference ensued between the lords and commons, concerning a Poll-Bill, and the Bill for taking the Public Accounts; the former were for doing it by commission from the king, and not by Bill, as was proposed by the commons. The consequence of which was, that the latter in some heat resolved, "That this proceeding of the lords in going by Petition to the king for a Commission for taking the Public Accounts, while there was a bill sent up by this house, and depending before them, for taking the Accounts another way, is unparliamentary, and of dangerous consequence." A few days after, they likewise declared, "That, according to the right and ́ settled course of parliament upon Bills, neither a bill, nor any part thereof is to be communicated to his majesty by either house, until the whole be agreed unto by both houses." As to the Poll-Bill, the lords in a free Conference insisted, among other things, upon adding some names to the commissioners. To which the commons disagreed; but without the least asserting their peculiar rights as to Money-Bills : they only gave this reason for their non-compliance, "That it hath been observed, that in all Acts of Subsidies and of Poll-Money, the greater the number of commissioners, the less money hath been raised; for many commissioners incumber one another, and rather pros 2 A