ſilent upon it, previous to the reign of queen Anne; when an embaſſador from Peter the great, czar of Muſcovy, was actually arreſted and taken out of his coach in London[1], for a debt of fifty pounds, which he had there contracted. Inſtead of applying to be diſcharged upon his privilege, he gave bail to the action, and the next day complained to the queen. The perſons who were concerned in the arreſt were examined before the privy council (of which the lord chief juſtice Holt was at the ſame time ſworn a member[2]) and ſeventeen were committed to priſon[3]: moſt of whom were proſecuted by information in the court of queen’s bench, at the ſuit of the attorney general[4], and at their trial before the lord chief juſtice were convicted of the facts by the jury[5]; reſerving the queſtion of law, how far thoſe facts were criminal, to be afterwards argued before the judges; which queſtion was never determined. In the mean time the czar reſented this affront very highly, and demanded that the ſheriff of Middleſex and all others concerned in the arreſt ſhould be puniſhed with inſtant death[6]. But the queen (to the amazement of that deſpotic court) directed her ſecretary to inform him, “that ſhe could inflict no puniſhment upon any, the meaneſt, of her ſubjects unleſs warranted by the law of the land, and therefore was perſuaded that he would not inſiſt upon impoſſibilities[7].” To ſatisfy however the clamours of the foreign miniſters (who made it a common cauſe) as well as to appeaſe the wrath of Peter, a bill was brought into parliament[8], and afterwards paſſed into a law[9], to prevent and to puniſh ſuch outrageous inſolence for the future. And with a copy of this act, elegantly engroſſed and illuminated, accompanied by a letter from the queen, an embaſſador extraordinary[10] was commiſſioned to appear at Moſcow[11], who declared, “that though her majeſty could not in-
- ↑ 21 July 1708. Boyer’s annals of queen Anne.
- ↑ 25 July 1708. Ibid.
- ↑ 25, 29 Jul. 1708. Ibid.
- ↑ 23 Oct. 1708. Ibid.
- ↑ 14 Feb. 1708. Ibid.
- ↑ 17 Sept. 1708. Ibid.
- ↑ 11 Jan. 1708. Ibid. Mod. Un. Hiſt. xxxv. 454.
- ↑ Com. Journ. 1708.
- ↑ 21 Apr. 1709. Boyer, ibid.
- ↑ Mr Whitworth.
- ↑ 8 Jan. 1709. Boyer, ibid.
