He was taxed with possessing a grant in Ireland, without paying the produce of it according to the law lately enacted concerning those grants; with enjoying another grant out of the forest of Deane, to the waste of the timber and the prejudice of the navy; with having held places that were incompatible, by being at the same time commissioner of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer; and with having advised the two treaties of partition.

He answered, that his grant in Ireland was of debts and sums of money, and within the act concerning confiscated estates; that all he had ever received from it did not exceed four hundred pounds, which, if he was bound to repay, a common action would lie against him; but every man was not to be impeached who did not discharge his debts at the very day of payment.

He observed, that as his grant in the forest of Deane extended to weedings only, it could occasion no waste of timber nor prejudice to the navy; that the auditor's place was held by another person, until he obtained the king's leave to withdraw from the treasury; that he never saw the first treaty of partition, nor was his advice asked upon the subject; that he had never heard of the second but once before it was concluded; and then he spoke his sentiments freely on the subject.

This answer, like the others, would have been neglected by the commons, whose aim was now to evade the trials, had not the lords pressed them by messages to expedite the articles.

They even appointed a day for Orford's trial, and signified their resolution to the commons.