1689. BOOK 1. legality and authority of it were called in ques-· tion by Dr. Sprat, who had himself been one of the members of the criminal and tyrannical court established by the late king James-thus proving himself one of that odious and pharisaical fraternity who can strainat a gnat and swallow a camel. And though he was informed that the commissioners pretended to no authority, but were met merely to consult upon such matters as it might be necessary to arrange and prepare for the consideration of the convocation, he retired in high disgust, attended by Mew, Jane, and Aldrich. The commissioners nevertheless proceeded in the business of their commission, and digested a plan of reform, nearly resembling that contained in the bill of comprehension. But on the ensuing meeting of the convocation, it immediately appeared that the court or moderate party would be left in a minority, by the choice of Dr. Jane as prolocutor, in opposition to Dr. Tillotson. When presented for approbation to the bishop of London, who officiated as præses of the convocation during the suspension of Sancroft, the prolocutor, in an eloquent Latin speech, delivered it as the sense of the lower house, that such was the transcendent excellence of the liturgy established by law in England, above those of all other Christian churches, that it needed no amendment; and he concluded in their name with the famous declaration of the barons of England at the parliament of Merton, " Nolumus leges Angliæ mutari." A prorogation forthwith took place, in the vain hope of mollifying these flaming furious spirits; and at their second meeting (Dec. 4, 1689) the earl of Nottingham delivered to them a message from the king, couched in the softest terms, and exhorting them "calmly and impartially to attend to the propositions which were to be laid before them, and which would assuredly tend to the honor, peace, and advantage of the protestant religion in general, and particularly of the church of England, which was so eminent a part of the Reformation." After much contention and difficulty, the lower house of convocation acceded to an address proposed by the bishops, "thanking his majesty for his gracious message, and expressing their fidelity and allegiance to his person;" at the same time resolving not to enter into any debates respecting alterations. The court therefore, now perceiving its hopes and designs entirely frustrated, determined to put a period to the setting of the convocation: and the only effect produced by this beneficent but perhaps injudicious effort of the executive government, was, to excite a factious and senseless clamor against the monarch, as inimical to the interests of the church. The session of parliament, which was protracted to the unusual period of BOOK L 1699. BOOK I. seven months, had been previously terminated on. 1689. the 20th of August 189. Ia the course of it, the attainder of lord Russel, whose execution is styled in the act a murder, and that of Algernon Sydney, a name which may vic with the most celebrated of antiquity, were reversed, and their memories consecrated to everlasting fame, amid the sacred effusions of national grief and admi Affairs of Scotland. ration. The convention of estates in Scotland, summoned by letter as in England, met at Edinburgh on the 14th of March 1689; and the duke of Hamilton, a nobleman in the interest of the prince of Orange, now king of England, was chosen president by a great majority, in opposition to the marquis of Athol, supported by the lords Balcarras, Dundee, and other partisans of the late king James. And different expresses arriving nearly at the same time with letters from the rival monarchs to the convention, a vchement debate ensued which should be first opened. The question was at length decided in favor of king. William; whose letter was then read, recommending to the convention, in very conciliatory and judicious terms, " to enter upon such consultations as were best calculated to settle the public welfare upon sure and lasting foundations, and exhorting them to lay aside all animosities and factions which might impede so good a work; and expressing an earnest wish for the accomplishment of an union of the two kingdoms, as the most effectual means of securing the happiness and prosperity of both nations, living in the same island, having the same language, and the same common interest of religion and liberty." A committee was immediately appointed to draw up a respectful answer to this letter; and it being suggested that the letter of king James, now about to be read, might contain some authoritative clause to dissolve the assembly or annul their proccedings, a previous and unanimous resolution passed, "that the convention was a free and lawful meeting of the estates; and that they would continue undissolved until they had settled and secured the protestant religion, the government, laws, and liberties of the kingdom.” The letter of James was then opened, and found to contain a furious and virulent declamation against the authors and abettors of what he styles "the blackest of usurpations, and the most unjust as well as unnatural of all attempts;" and warning the convention "to avoid, by a loyalty suitable to the many professions they had made, the infamy and disgrace they must bring upon themselves in this world, and the condemnation due to the rebellious in the next." Not intimidated, but on the contrary inflamed and exasperated, by these reproaches and threats, they BOOK L 1689. BOOK I. ordered Crane the messenger to be taken into 1689. custody, and after some time dismissed him with a pass instead of an answer. From various confidential letters addressed by the earl of Melfort to different persons, intercepted by government, it was sufficiently evident what sort of policy would have been adopted by James had he been restored to the throne. "You will ask me," says this favorite minister of the abdicated monarch to lord Dundee, "without question, how we intend to pay our army? But never fear that, as long as there are rebels' estates." And again to lord Balcarras: "The estates of the rebels will recompense us. Experience has taught our illustrious master that there are a good number of people that must be made Gibeonites, because they are good for nothing else." But a still more dePerfidy of cisive proof of the baseness of lord Melfort's disMelfort. position appeared in a letter to lord Dundee, accompanying a royal declaration of indemnity and toleration from king James. Knowing the animosity of Dundee against the sectaries, Melfort, in order to soften this obnoxious measure, informed him, "that, notwithstanding the seeming promises of indulgence and indemnity in the declaration, he had so worded them, that king James might break through them when he pleased." This gross duplicity lord Balcarras himself mentious, in his interesting account of Scot the Earl of |
