qual contest; yet such were
the capacity, genius presence of mind, displayed by this magnanimous
statesman, that, while argument, and reason, and law had any place, he
obtained an undisputed victory. And *he perished at last, overwhelmed,
and still unsubdued, by the open violence of his fierce and unrelenting
antagonists.

The articles of impeachment against Strafford are twenty-eight in
number; and regard his conduct, as president of the council of York,
as deputy or lieutenant of Ireland, and as counsellor or commander in
England. But though four months were employed by the managers in framing
the accusation, and all Strafford's answers were extemporary, it appears
from comparison, not only that he was free from the crime of treason,
of which there is not the least appearance, but that his conduct, making
allowance for human infirmities, exposed to such severe scrutiny, was
innocent, and even laudable.

The powers of the northern council, while he was president, had been
extended by the king's instructions beyond what formerly had been
practised: but that court being at first instituted by a stretch
of royal prerogative, it had been usual for the prince to vary his
instructions; and the largest authority committed to it was altogether
as legal as the most moderate and most limited. Nor was it reasonable
to conclude, that Strafford had used any art to procure those extensive
powers; since he never once sat as president, or exercised one act
of jurisdiction, after he was invested with the authority so much
complained of.[*]

In the government of Ireland, his administration had been equally
promotive of his master's interest, and that of the subjects committed
to his care. A large debt he had paid off: he had left a considerable
sum in the exchequer: the revenue, which never before answered the
charges of government, was now raised to be equal to them.[**] A
small standing army, formerly kept in no order, was augmented, and was
governed by exact discipline; and a great force was there raised and
paid for the support of the king's authority against the Scottish
covenanters.

* Bush. vol. iv, p. 145.

** Bush. vol. v. p. 120, 247. Warwick, p. 115.

Industry and all the arts of peace were introduced among that rude
people; the shipping of the kingdom augmented a hundred fold;[*] the
customs tripled upon the same rates: the exports double in value to
the imports; manufactures, particularly that of linen, in