passions excited which are unknown to well
constituted tribunals, but from which no great popular assembly divided
into parties ever was or ever will be free. The rhetoric of one orator
called forth loud cries of "Hear him." Another was coughed and scraped
down. A third spoke against time in order that his friends who were
supping might come in to divide. [761] If the life of the most worthless
man could be sported with thus, was the life of the most virtuous man
secure?

The opponents of the bill did not, indeed, venture to say that there
could be no public danger sufficient to justify an Act of Attainder.
They admitted that there might be cases in which the general rule must
bend to an overpowering necessity. But was this such a case? Even if it
were granted, for the sake of argument, that Strafford and Monmouth were
justly attainted, was Fenwick, like Strafford, a great minister who had
long ruled England north of Trent, and all Ireland, with absolute power,
who was high in the royal favour, and whose capacity, eloquence and
resolution made him an object of dread even in his fall? Or was Fenwick,
like Monmouth, a pretender to the Crown and the idol of the common
people? Were all the finest youths of three counties crowding to enlist
under his banners? What was he but a subordinate plotter? He had indeed
once had good employments; but he had long lost them. He had once had
a good estate; but he had wasted it. Eminent abilities and weight of
character he had never had. He was, no doubt, connected by marriage
with a very noble family; but that family did not share his political
prejudices. What importance, then, had he, except that importance which
his persecutors were most unwisely giving him by breaking through all
the fences which guard the lives of Englishmen in order to destroy him?
Even if he were set at liberty, what could he do but haunt Jacobite
coffeehouses, squeeze oranges, and drink the health of King James and
the Prince of Wales? If, however, the government, supported by the Lords
and the Commons, by the fleet and the army, by a militia one hundred and
sixty thousand strong, and by the half million of men who had signed the
Association, did really apprehend danger from this poor ruined baronet,
the benefit of the Habeas Corpus Act might be withheld from him. He
might be kept within four walls as long as there was the least chance of
his doing mischief. It could hardly be contended that he was an enemy so