He had obtained exorbitant grants for himself.  He had defended the exorbitant grants obtained by others.  He had not, indeed, been able, in the late debates, to raise his own voice against the just demands of the nation.  But it might well be suspected that he had in secret prompted the ungracious answer of the King and encouraged the pertinacious resistance of the Lords.  Sir John Levison Gower, a noisy and acrimonious Tory, called for impeachment.  But Musgrave, an abler and more experienced politician, saw that, if the imputations which the opposition had been in the habit of throwing on the Chancellor were exhibited with the precision of a legal charge, their futility would excite universal derision, and thought it more expedient to move that the House should, without assigning any reason, request the King to remove Lord Somers from His Majesty’s counsels and presence for ever.  Cowper defended his persecuted friend with great eloquence and effect; and he was warmly supported by many members who had been zealous for the resumption of the Irish grants.  Only a hundred and six members went into the lobby with Musgrave; a hundred and sixty-seven voted against him.  Such a division, in such a House of Commons, and on such a day, is sufficient evidence of the respect which the great qualities of Somers had extorted even from his political enemies.

The clerk then went on with the list.  The Lord President and the Lord Privy Seal, who were well known to have stood up strongly for the privileges of the Lords, were reviled by some angry members; but no motion was made against either.  And soon the Tories became uneasy in their turn; for the name of the Duke of Leeds was read.  He was one of themselves.  They were very unwilling to put a stigma on him.  Yet how could they, just after declaiming against the Chancellor for accepting a very moderate and well earned provision, undertake the defence of a statesman who had, out of grants, pardons and bribes, accumulated a princely fortune?  There was actually on the table evidence that His Grace was receiving from the bounty of the Crown more than thrice as much as had been bestowed on Somers; and nobody could doubt that His Grace’s secret gains had very far exceeded those of which there was evidence on the table.  It was accordingly moved that the House, which had indeed been sitting massy hours, should adjourn.  The motion was lost; but neither party was disposed to move that the consideration of the list should be resumed.  It was however resolved, without a division, that an address should be presented to the King, requesting that no person not a native of his dominions, Prince George excepted, might be admitted to the Privy Council either of England or of Ireland.  The evening was now far spent.  The candles had been some time lighted; and the House rose.  So ended one of the most anxious, turbulent, and variously eventful days in the long Parliamentary History of England.