On the very next day Nottingham appealed to the Lords.  He told his story with all the skill of a practised orator, and with all the authority which belongs to unblemished integrity.  He then laid on the table a great mass of papers, which he requested the House to read and consider.  The Peers seem to have examined the papers seriously and diligently.  The result of the examination was by no means favourable to Russell.  Yet it was thought unjust to condemn him unheard; and it was difficult to devise any way in which their Lordships could hear him.  At last it was resolved to send the papers down to the Commons with a message which imported that, in the opinion of the Upper House, there was a case against the Admiral which he ought to be called upon to answer.  With the papers was sent an abstract of the contents.351

The message was not very respectfully received.  Russell had, at that moment, a popularity which he little deserved, but which will not surprise us when we remember that the public knew nothing of his treasons, and knew that he was the only living Englishman who had won a great battle.  The abstract of the papers was read by the clerk.  Russell then spoke with great applause; and his friends pressed for an immediate decision.  Sir Christopher Musgrave very justly observed that it was impossible to pronounce judgment on such a pile of despatches without perusing them; but this objection was overruled.  The Whigs regarded the accused member as one of themselves; many of the Tories were dazzled by the splendour of his recent victory; and neither Whigs nor Tories were disposed to show any deference for the authority of the Peers.  The House, without reading the papers, passed an unanimous resolution expressing warm approbation of Russell’s whole conduct.  The temper of the assembly was such that some ardent Whigs thought that they might now venture to propose a vote of censure on Nottingham by name.  But the attempt failed.  “I am ready,” said Lowther,—­and he doubtless expressed what many felt,—­“I am ready to support any motion that may do honour to the Admiral; but I cannot join in an attack on the Secretary of State.  For, to my knowledge, their Majesties have no more zealous, laborious or faithful servant than my Lord Nottingham.”  Finch exerted all his mellifluous eloquence in defence of his brother, and contrived, without directly opposing himself to the prevailing sentiment, to insinuate that Russell’s conduct had not been faultless.  The vote of censure on Nottingham was not pressed.  The vote which pronounced Russell’s conduct to have been deserving of all praise was communicated to the Lords; and the papers which they had sent down were very unceremoniously returned.352 The Lords, much offended, demanded a free conference.  It was granted; and the managers of the two Houses met in the Painted Chamber.  Rochester, in the name of his brethren, expressed a wish to be informed of the grounds on which the Admiral had been declared faultless.  To this appeal the gentlemen who stood on the other side of the table answered only that they had not been authorised to give any explanation, but that they would report to those who had sent them what had been said.353