BOOK I. land, and abandoning the government to the queen, 1690. and that the marquis of Carmarthen and the earl - tion neral Lud low. of Shrewsbury, by the force of their eloquence, dissuaded him from carrying this design into exc cution* While the parliament was yet sitting, the Proclama- famous general Ludlow, a member of the high against Ge- court of justice which passed a too justly merited sentence, though by a very questionable authority, on king Charles I., unexpectedly made his appearance in England, with a view of being employed in Ireland, where he had formerly served with great reputation. Being excepted in the act of indemnity passed at the Restoration, he had retired to Vevay in Switzerland, where he had resided many years under the generous protection * It is, indeed, not improbable that in the first emotions of his vexation and resentment, the king, who was subject to occasional gusts of passion, might throw out violent and menacing expressions in the presence of these noblemen; but he was too much accustomed to struggle with difficulties, and possessed too much fortitude of mind to think seriously of executing such a project. Wearied and provoked no doubt at the "ingratitude of base mankind," he once told the duke of Hamilton, as lord Balcarras informs us, "that he wished he were a thousand miles from England, and had never been king of it." On another occasion he declared to the marquis of Halifax, “that all the difference he knew between the two parties was, that the tories would cut his throat in the morning, and the whigs in the afternoon." These, however, were the indiscreet and angry effusions of the moment. The king knew well the permanent dislike which the tories in general harboured against his person and government, and that zealous attachment to both which characterized the great body of the whigs. 1690. of the lords of the council of Berne. His pater- BOOK I. nal seat and estate, at Maiden Bradley in Wilts, was held under a grant of the crown by sir Edward Seymour, a member of the house of commons, and a distinguished leader of the tory party, who took the first opportunity of representing to the house “how highly it reflected on the honor of the nation, that one of the regicides of that blessed sovereign, whose death was regarded by the church of England as a martyrdom, should not only be suffered to live unmolested in this country, but also entertained with hopes of preferment." Upon this the commons voted an address to the king, to issue his royal proclamation for the apprehending general Ludlow, which the king complied with, but not till Ludlow was safely arrived in Holland, whence he returned to his former residence at Vevay; where he wrote his celebrated Memoirs, which no unprejudiced person can read without being impressed with a high idea of his courage, constancy, patriotism, and probity. The dissolution of the convention parliament was a severe blow to the whigs, who had given mortal offence by the late corporation bill to great numbers of individuals, who, though moderate in principle, had been more or less involved. in the proceedings of the late reigns. On the return of the writs, it appeared that a great majority BOOK L 1690. the new Parlia ment. of tories were elected. The king's displeasure at the whigs appeared by the dismission of the lords Monmouth and Delamere from the treasury, of which sir John Lowther, created earl of Lonsdale, was appointed first commissioner, Mr. Hampden Meeting of acting as chancellor of the exchequer. The complexion of the new parliament at once appeared by their choice of sir John Trevor as speaker, who had occupied the same office in the only parliament held in the late reign. In his speech, the king, after repeating the former declaration of his intention to prosecute the war in Ireland in person, urged upon them the settlement of the revenue, and informed them, that having often unavailingly recommended a general indemnity to the last parliament, he now proposed sending them an act of grace, with such exceptions only as might be sufficient to shew his great dislike of their crimes, He made mention of an union between England and Scotland, as an event which would be productive of great benefit to both nations; and the parliament of Scotland having nominated commissioners for that purpose, he wished that commissioners might be nominated by the English parliament to treat with them, Though the tory interest predominated in the new parliament, the whigs retained sufficient influence to prevent the revenue being settled for life but a sort of compromise took place between 1690. Parties. the parties, and it was agreed that the hereditary BOOK I. excise should be granted for life, and the customs for four years from Christmas 1690; with which the king appeared tolerably well satisfied. The first great trial of strength between the two parties Conflict of was occasioned by a bill introduced by the whigs into the house of lords, recognising their majesties as the rightful and lawful sovereigns of these realms, and declaring all the acts of the last parliament to be good and valid. This reduced the tories to an unpleasant dilemma. The words "rightful and lawful" were strongly objected against, and by the too easy consent of the house dropped as superfluous*. It would perhaps have been wise not to have added to the causes of irritation by offering * Nevertheless bishop Burnet, with his usual and characteristic inaccuracy, affirms "that these words passed with little contradiction." The History of this prelate is in fact a sort of loose and confused political diary, written apparently from vague memorandums and imperfect recollection, though in many parts highly interesting and entertaining. Sir John Reresby informs us, "that the earl of Danby declared to him, that as to the terms rightful and lawful, they were mere nonsense-for that, had the prince of Wales been made king, he could never have been deemed our lawful sovereign while his father lived. His lordship condemned, nevertheless, the bishops for their squeamishness about taking the oaths; expressing his concurrence with lord Nottingham, that as his highness was here, and we must owe our protection to him as king de facto, he thought it just and legal to swear allegiance to him." Such, were the heads of the present administration, gotiation. BOOK I. these obnoxious words: but the rejection of them 1690. when offered was peculiarly unfortunate. The disaffected clergy, who endeavoured to establish the distinction of a king de jure and a king de facto, boasted, with some appearance of reason, that they were fully justified in this distinctionAct of Ne- for even the parliament itself would not venture to declare the king a rightful and lawful sovereign. As to the latter clause, the tories would only consent to enact, that the laws passed in the last parliament should be good for the time to come— absolutely refusing to declare them valid for that which was past. After a vehement debate the bill was committed: but the declaratory clause was lost on the report by six voices; which gave rise to one of the most able and decisive protests recorded on the journals of the house of peers; at the conclusion of which the protesting lords thus express themselves: "If the last was no parliament, and their acts no law, the nation is engaged in a war without the consent of parliament, the old oaths of supremacy and allegiance remain in force, and the nation forced under color of law to swear fidelity to king William. The peers and commons now assembled are under a perpetual di-ability; and the nation is involved in endless doubts and confusions, without any legal settlement, or possibility to arrive at it, unless a parliament be summoned by king James's writ, and |
