It did not follow, because the Lancashire gentlemen had been found, and very properly found, not guilty of treason, that the Secretary of State or the Solicitor of the Treasury had been guilty of unfairness or even of rashness.

The House, by one hundred and nineteen votes to one hundred and two resolved that Aaron Smith and the witnesses on both sides should be ordered to attend.

Several days were passed in examination and crossexamination; and sometimes the sittings extended far into the night.

It soon became clear that the prosecution had not been lightly instituted, and that some of the persons who had been acquitted had been concerned in treasonable schemes.

The Tories would now have been content with a drawn battle; but the Whigs were not disposed to forego their advantage.