The Solicitor spoke at great length and with great acrimony, and was often interrupted by the clamours and hisses of the audience.

He went so far as to lay it down that no subject or body of subjects, except the Houses of Parliament, had a right to petition the King.

The galleries were furious; and the Chief justice himself stood aghast at the effrontery of this venal turncoat.
At length Wright proceeded to sum up the evidence.

His language showed that the awe in which he stood of the government was tempered by the awe with which the audience, so numerous, so splendid, and so strongly excited, had impressed him.

He said that he would give no opinion on the question of the dispensing power, that it was not necessary for him to do so, that he could not agree with much of the Solicitor's speech, that it was the right of the subject to petition, but that the particular petition before the Court was improperly worded, and was, in the contemplation of law, a libel.