Against this assumption of arbitrary power the Commons protest; and they hope that you will now redeem what you must feel to be an error.

Your Lordships intimate a suspicion that Oates is mad.

That a man is mad may be a very good reason for not punishing him at all.

But how it can be a reason for inflicting on him a punishment which would be illegal even if he were sane, the Commons do not comprehend.

Your Lordships think that you should not be justified in calling a verdict corrupt which has not been legally proved to be so.