THE 
 
 
 Buckingham’s 
 
 SPEECH 
 
 In a late 
 
 CONFERENCE- 
 
 j LONDON, 
 
 Printed for M. I, 1668, 
 
 i 
 
The DUKE of 
 
 BUCKINGHAMS 
 
 SPEECH 
 
 Gentlemen oft he Houfe ofCommons. 
 
 H Am Commanded by the Houfe of Peeres, 
 to open to You the Matter of this 
 Conference; WhichisaTaskel could 
 with their Lordfhips had been pleafed to 
 lay upon any Bodyelfe, both for their 
 own fakes and mine: having obferved , 
 in that little experience I have made in the World, 
 there can be nothing of greater difficulty, Then to 
 Unite Men in their Opinions, whofe Interefts feeme 
 to difagree. 
 
 This, Gentlemen, Ifearisatprefent our Cafe ; but 
 yet I hope, when we have a little better conlidered 
 ■ • At 'of 
 
( 2 ) 
 
 of It, we {lull finde, that a greater Inlet eft dot:, -•,= 
 ligeusatftiistiffle, rather to joyn in the Prefermion 
 ofbothourPriviledges, then to (Her about the viola¬ 
 tion of either. 
 
 We acknowledge it is our Intereft to defend the 
 Right of the Commons; for, (hould we fuffer them to 
 be oppreft, it would not he long before it might come 
 to be our own cafe: And I humbly conceive,it will al- 
 fo appear to be the Intereft of the Commons, to up¬ 
 hold the Priviledge of the Lords; thatfo we may be 
 in a Condition toftand by and fupport them. 
 
 All that their Lordfhips defire of you upon this oc- 
 cafion,, is, That you will proceed with them as ufual- 
 ly Friends do, when they are in Difpute one with 
 another; That you will not be impatient of hearing Ar¬ 
 guments urged again# your Opinions, but Examine the 
 Weight of what is faid, and then impartially confider 
 which of us two, are likelieft to be in the wrong. 
 
 If we are- in the wrong, we and our PredcceiTors 
 have been fo for thefe many hundred of years: and not 
 only our PredecelTors-, but yours too; This being the 
 firft time that ever an Appeal was made in point of Ju¬ 
 dicature, from the Lords Houfe to the Houfe of Com¬ 
 mons. Nay, thofevery Commons which turn’d the 
 . Lords otjt of this Houfe, though they took from them 
 many other of their Privileges, yet left them the con- 
 ftant praftife of this till the very laft day of their Sit¬ 
 ting : And this will be made appear by feveral Prefi- 
 . dents thefe Noble Lords will lay before you, much Let¬ 
 ter then lean pretend to doe. 
 
 Since this bufinefs has been in Agitation , their 
 Lordihips have been a little more curious than ordinary, 
 
 • to Informe themfelves of the true nature of thefe Mat¬ 
 ters now in Queftion before Us; which I (hall endea¬ 
 vour 
 
C3) 
 
 -/ourt., jixpiaiu to you, as far as myfmail Abilhty, 
 and my averfion to hard words will give me leave. lor 
 howfoever the Law, to make it a Myftery and a Trade, 
 maybe wrapt up in Termes of Art, yet it is founded 
 in reafon, and is obvious to Common Sence. 
 
 The power of Judicature does naturally defcend, and 
 notafcend; That is no inferiour Court can have any 
 power, which is not derived to it from fome. power a- 
 bove it. 
 
 The King is by the Lawes ofjhis Land, Supreme 
 Judge,in allCaufes Eccleiiaftical and Civil. And fo there 
 is no Court, High or Low, can Aid, but in fubordination 
 to Him: and though they do not all IfTue out their 
 writs in the Kings Name, yet they can IfTue out none 
 •butby vertue of fome Power they have received from: 
 him. 
 
 Now every particular Court has fuch particular- 
 power as the King has given it and for that reafon has 
 its bounds: But, the Higheft Court in which the King 
 can poffibly Sit, that is, His Supreme Court of Lords 
 in Parliament, has in it all his Judicial Power, and 
 confequently no bounds: I mean no bounds of Juris¬ 
 diction ; for the higheft Court is to Govern according 
 to the Lawes, as well as thsLoweft. 
 
 1 fuppofe none will make a queftion , but that every 
 Man, and every Caufe, is to be tried according to 
 Magna, Chart a', That is, by Peers, or according to the 
 laws of the Land. AndhethatisTryedby the Eccle- 
 iiafticalCourts, the Court-of Admiralty, or the High 
 Court of Lords in Parliament, is Tryed as much bv 
 the Lawes of the Land, as he that is Tryed by the 
 Kings Bench, or Comm on-Pleas. 
 
 When thefe Inferior Courts happ n to wrangle among 
 themfelvcs, which they mult often do ,-by reafon of 
 their 
 
their being bound up to particular Caufes, and their 
 having all equally and earneftlyadefiretotryallCau- 
 •fes thcmfelves, then the Supreme Court is forced to 
 ■hear their Complaints, becaufe there is no other way 
 of deciding them. And this under favour, is an Ori¬ 
 ginal Caufeof Courts, though not of men. 
 
 Now thefe Original Caufes of Courts, muft alio of 
 neceffity induce Men, for faving of Charges, and dif- 
 patch fake, to bring their Caufes Originally before the 
 Supreame Court. But then the Court is not obliged 
 to receive them ; but proceeds by Rules of Prudence, 
 in either retaining, or difmiffing them as they think 
 hr. 
 
 This is under favour, thefumm of all that your Pre¬ 
 cedents can Ihew us; which is nothing but what We 
 praftice every day:. That is, that very often, becaufe 
 we would not be moleftedwith hearing too many par¬ 
 ticular Caufes, we referr them back to other Courts. 
 And all the Argument you can poffibly draw from 
 hence, will not in any kind lefien our Power, but on¬ 
 ly Ihew an unwillingnefs we have, to trouble ourfelvcs 
 often with matters of this Nature. 
 
 Nor will this appear ftrange, if you conlider the con-1 
 ftitution of our Houfe;. it being made up, partly of fuch 
 whofe Employments will not give them leifure to attend 
 the hearing of Private Caufes; and entirely of thole 
 that can receive no profit by it, 
 
 And the truth is, the Difpute.at prefent isnotbe- 
 tween the Houfe of Lords, and the Houfe of Com¬ 
 mons, but between us and Weftminfter-Hall For as! 
 we delire to have few or no Caufes brought before us, 
 becaufe we get nothing by them; fo they defire to 
 have all Caufes brought before them, for a reafon a 
 little of the contrary nature. ‘ 
 
For this very reafoii, it is their bufinefs to invent new' 
 wayes of drawing Caufes to their Courts, which ought 
 not to be pleaded there. As for example, this very Caufe 
 of Skinn,er that is now before us, ( And Ido notlpealf 
 this by Roate, for t have'the Opinion of a Reverend 
 Judge in the Cafe, who informed' us of it the othdt 
 day intheHoufe. ) They have no way of bringing this 
 Caufe into Weftminfter-Hall, but by this form; the 
 reafon and fence of which I leave to you to Judge 
 of 
 
 The Form is this, that in ftead offpeaking aswc 
 ordinary Men do, that have no Al t, That Mr. Skinner 
 , loft a Ship in the Eatt 'Indies : to bring this into their 
 Courts, they muft fay, That Mr. Skinner loft a Ship 
 
 ■ in the Ezjl Indies, in the Parilh of Ipngton , in the Coun- 
 t tv of Middlefex. 
 
 : Now fome of us Lords, that did notunderftand the 
 | refinenefs of this {tile, began to examine what the rea- 
 jfon of this fhould be; and fo we found, that lincethey 
 j ought not by right to try fuch Caufes, they are re- 
 
 ■ folved to make bold not only with our Priviledges, but 
 thcvery Senceand Language of the wholeNation. 
 
 This I thought fit to mention, only to let you fee, that 
 ' this whole Caufe, as well as many others, could not be 
 tryed properly in any place but at our Barr; Except Mr. 
 Skinner would have taken a fancy, to try the Right of 
 Jurisdifticns between Weftminfter-Hail and the Court 
 of Admirallity, inftead of feeking Relief for the Inju- 
 ries he had received in the place only whereitwasto 
 be given him. 
 
 One thing I hear is much infifted upon, which is, the 
 Tryal without Juries; to which I could Anfwer, That 
 fuch Tryals are allowed of, i-n the Chancery and other 
 Courts: And, that when there is occafionfor them, we 
 make 
 
co . ! 
 
 make uie of Juries too, both by chrechug them in tH 
 Kings-Bench , and having them brought: up to o't 
 Barr. " ! 
 
 ■ But I (hall oneiy crave leave to put you in min. j 
 That if you do not allow us in fome Cries , to try Me| 
 without Juries, you will then abiolutely take away tl 
 ufe of Impeachments; which I humbly conceive yo 
 will not think proper tp have done at. this time. 
 
 F INIS,