Page:American Historical Review, Volume 12.djvu/764

 754 R- G. Usher defence of " his honour ", and see that no argument took place over his prerogative : Hobart, the attorney-general, was ordered to argue against Fuller in support of the High Commission and to prevent any dispute as to its legality or illegality. On Tuesday, November 24, 1607, the warden of the Fleet Prison brought Fuller to the bar of the King's Bench as the habeas corpus required.' The court room was thronged with an interested audi- ence, for the case had by this time attained a certain amount of notoriety. When the warden had presented the warrant for Fuller's commitment and when the document had been read. Fuller declared that he wished to except to it, " both in matter and forme ". In the first place he had not spoken the words with which it charged him ; secondly, if he had, he had uttered them merely " by way of argu- ment " for his client, a fact which he thought ought to be taken into account, and of which he found no mention in the return. It seemed essential to him, he said, that the return should state the truth and that it should do so in proper form. He therefore excepted to it as insufficient. Hobart. the attorney-general, argued on the other hand, that the King's Bench had no authority to examine the facts of the case in order to determine whether or not they justified any action at all, for that court had recognized in its own consultation that it had no right to try the substance of the charge against Fuller, and therefore no jurisdiction to decide whether or not the facts of the case supported the warrant. If the warrant alleged a good prima facie cause of imprisonment and had been made out in due form, it was sufficient in law, he declared, to keep Fuller in the Fleet. Unless it showed on its face that the Commission had procecled against him in a manner forbidden by the consultation, the judges must declare it valid. He then compared the return with the con- sultation and showed beyond doubt that the two agreed. With this argument, which was in truth good law, the judges were satisfied and remanded Fuller to prison. In their opinions, they added, wrote Salisbury to James, " larg profeshions how much it became them in duty to eschew any blemishe to such a commission", and made in fact no scruple of declaring that they believed he had uttered all the words charged against him, and that he ought to be punished for such an offence. Fuller was completely defeated, but he was not yet overwhelmed. He said that he had been without counsel to de- fend him and begged for a new hearing where he might be privileged ' Hatfield MSS.. 124. ff- i37 b, 138 a. Salisbury t the King. Holograph draft, corrected. This was the repor t sent off that evei ling to James, who was outside London, hunting.