Had the prelates escaped on account of some technical defect in the case for the crown, had they escaped because they had not written the petition in Middlesex, or because it was impossible to prove, according to the strict rules of law, that they had delivered to the King the paper for which they were called in question, the prerogative would have suffered no shock.

Happily for the country, the fact of publication had been fully established.

The counsel for the defence had therefore been forced to attack the dispensing power.
They had attacked it with great learning, eloquence, and boldness.
The advocates of the government had been by universal acknowledgment overmatched in the contest.

Not a single judge had ventured to declare that the Declaration of Indulgence was legal.

One Judge had in the strongest terms pronounced it illegal.