A PRECEDENT FOR LORD DURHAM.
TO Tilt F.DITOR Or Tilt SPECTATOR.
SIR—People have been puzzled to find a precedent for Lord Dr errast's Ordinances; but a case very similar to that of Wor.raen NELSON occurred during the period of the Commouwealth. It was the remarkable one of Lir. . BOURNE. By an act of the Long Parliament, in 1651, this man was banished for life, after an examination by a Committee of the Ilouse, for a libel on Hess:cum ; and the punishment of death was held over him, if he returned to this country. He did return, and was put on his trial. Al AYNARD, one of his couusel, au acute lawyer, recommended him to demand his Oyer, or a specifica- tion under the Great Seal of the statute on which he was tried, the judgment of banishment which had been given against him, and a declaration of the crime or crimes on which the judgment was founded. lie:e the Court was at a stand. There was no individual record of the judgment, or of the accusation which had led to the judgment. LI LBOU RN E was tiled, however, and ACQU ITTEDp in de- fiance of the act of l'arliament. You will find all about this, one of the most olii,etionab'e acts of the Long Parliament, in the third volume of Gonwrer's Ilistoiy of the Commonwealth. M. [Even this precedent, in a constitutional point of view, would not be recog- nized ; for the act of banishment watt passed by the Commons alone, after tbe
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