in the matter in question appeared to us to be a clear, distinct case,—­to be a great offence,—­an offence charged upon the record, admitted upon the record, and never by us abandoned.  As to his defence having been abandoned, we refer your Lordships to the last petition laid by him upon your table, (that libellous petition, which we speak of as a libel upon the House of Commons,) and which has no validity but as it asserts a matter of fact from the petitioner; and there you will find that he has declared explicitly, that, for the accommodation and ease of this business, and for its expedition, he did abandon his defence at a certain period.

Lord Chancellor. A charge consisting of a variety of articles in their nature (however connected with each other in their subject, but in their nature) distinct and specific, if only certain articles are pressed in the charge, to those articles only can a defence be applied; and all the other articles, that are not made matter of charge originally, have never, in the course of any proceeding whatever, been taken up originally in reply.

Mr. Burke. With great respect to your Lordship’s judgment, we conceive that the objection taken from our not having at a certain period argued or observed upon the prisoner’s answer to the articles not insisted upon is not conclusive; inasmuch as the record still stands, and as our charge still stands.  It was never abandoned; and the defendant might have made a justification to it, if he had thought fit:  he never did think fit so to do.  If your Lordships think that we ought not to argue upon it here in our reply, because we did not argue upon it before,—­well and good; but we have argued and do argue in our reply many things to which he never gave any answer at all.  I shall beg leave, if your Lordships please, to retire with my fellow Managers for a moment, to consult whether we shall press this point or not.  We shall not detain your Lordships many minutes.

    (The Managers withdrew:  in a few minutes the Managers
    returned, again into the Hall.)

Mr. Burke. My Lords, the Managers have consulted among themselves upon this business; they first referred to your printed proceedings, in order to see the particular circumstance on which the observation of your Lordship is founded; we find it thus stated:—­“Then the Managers for the Commons informed the Lords, that, saving to themselves their undoubted rights and privileges, the Commons were content to rest their charge here.”  We rested our charge there, not because we meant to efface any precedent matter of the charge which had been made by us, and of which the facts had been admitted by the defendant, but, simply saving our rights and privileges, that is, to resume, (and to make new matter, if we thought fit,) the Commons were content to rest the charge there.

I have further to remark to your Lordships,