The Commons had impeached the Viceroy of Ireland for high treason because he had attempted to overthrow the fundamental laws of England and to introduce arbitrary government. On January 30 they laid before the Upper House the grounds of the impeachment in twenty-eight articles[228]. When Strafford read the articles he took courage. He wrote to his wife that there was not a capital offence in any one of them: he hoped that these storm clouds would soon disperse, and that they should live to spend calm days together. It is an indication of his opinion, that he sought and obtained the King’s leave [A.D. 1641] to mention in his defence the deliberations which had taken place in the Privy Council, in spite of the oath which he had sworn to observe secrecy. The commencement of the proceedings before the Lords in Westminster Hall was delayed till March 22. Then the Lords took their seats in their proper order of precedence on the platform which had been erected on the floor of the Hall. The members of the Lower House sat on each side on benches rising in the form of an amphitheatre. Spectators’ galleries had been erected, especially one for the King and Queen, who appeared there with their attendants. At 9 a.m. Strafford entered. The manly expression of his countenance was heightened by the marks of illness under which he was suffering: his whole bearing breathed confidence in his cause, gravity, and dignity. The proceedings of the next few days related especially to Irish affairs. Not without a certain emotion Strafford replied to the accusations made by the Irish Parliament, which were given in evidence against him, that he thought to have earned the thanks of the nation. Among other charges was one of having taken the sum of £24,000 from the Irish treasury: he pointed out that he had been authorised by the King to spend Irish money to the amount of £40,000, and repeated with emphasis that he was an honourable man. Among the heaviest accusations was one of having kept a sentence of death suspended over a great Irish noble, Lord Mountnorris. Strafford was able to show that the sentence was pronounced without his participation, under the existing martial law, and at his prayer had remained unexecuted: he had wished merely to show the power of the State to the refractory. Many of the things laid to his charge the Privy Council had ordered, some the King had expressly dictated. He was accused of having desired to attach as much authority to the resolutions of the Irish Privy Council as to the acts of the Parliament there: he replied that a greater authority had always been allowed to the Privy Council in Ireland than in England, and that among a nation so little civilised it must be so. His defence, which was based on the distinction between the circumstances of England and Ireland, had in general more [A.D. 1641] truth than the prosecution, which treated Irish events in the same way as if they had happened in England. It was not