1689. benefices; though by far the greater number sub- BOOK 1. mitted to the oaths enjoined, but with such limitations and mental reservations as redounded very little to the honor of their integrity. The recusant prelates* were at first suspended from their episcopal functions, and it was not till after an interval of above a year that the vacant sees were filled with men of more liberal principles; the new metropolitan, Dr. Tillotson, in particular, sustaining a very high character for moderation, wisdom, candor, and probity. The deprived archbishop Sancroft retired to a small paternal estate in Norfolk, cultivating, as we are told, his garden with his own hands, and enjoying in peace and privacy the splendid sacrifices he had made at the shrine of rectitude and conscience. the Non The faction of the non-jurors, and many who Cabals of had taken the oaths to the government, were jurors. quickly discovered, by intercepted letters, to be engaged in secret practices against it. The earl of Arran, sir Robert Hamilton, and others, were *The non-juring bishops were Sancroft, of Canterbury; Turner, of Ely; Lake, of Chichester; Ken, of Bath and Wells; White, of Peterborough; Lloyd, of Norwich; Thomas, of Worcester; and Frampton, of Gloucester. The five first of these were of the number of the seven bishops sent to the Tower by king James, for refusing to promulgate the declaration of indulgence: thus a second time, and within a very short interval, sacrificing, though in an ignoble and unworthy cause, their interest to their sincerity and integrity. BOOK 1. committed to the Tower; and a bill passed both 1689. houses houses suspending the habeas corpus act, for the first time since that famous law, the bulwark of the English constitution and of the personal liberty of Englishmen, was enacted. A spirit of mutiny also at this period broke out in the army; and the royal Scotch regiment of horse and that of Dumbarton, having declared for king James, began their march from South Britain to Scotland, but were pursued by general Ginckel, and compelled to surrender at discretion. This incident gave rise to a bill, now become annual, for punishing mutiny and desertion, forming in its present state a complete military code, under the sanction of which the formidable standing army of Britain is disciplined and governed. Civil List settled. The revenue of the crown settled upon the late king James for life was declared by the house of commons to be expired, in contemptuous disregard of the allegations of the courtiers, who pretended that the revenue had devolved to the present king with the crown, as, during the life of king James at least, inseparably annexed to it. By a very just and wise regulation, the house established a distinction between the ordinary and extraordinary expenditure of the nation; settling, by a provisional act, the sum of 600,000l. upon the crown, to defray the necessary demands of the civil government, under the appellation of the civil list; and leaving all the remaining supplies to be voted upon estimate, and appropriated to specific services, stated by ministers, and approved by the parliament. This was a political novelty, at which the king was not perfectly pleased; particularly as the civil list itself was granted, by a caution too rigidly scrupulous, for so short a term as one year only: and the bold and innovating spirit of the whigs excited in this and other instances some degree of umbrage, not to say resentment, in the breast of the king *. BOOK 1. 1689. With a view to extend his popularity, the monarch signified, in a message to the commons, his readiness to acquiesce in any regulations they should think proper to adopt for the suppression of hearth-money, which he understood to be a Hearth grievous imposition on the subject; and this abolished. tax was in the sequel abolished, in order to erect a lasting monument of his majesty's goodness," to use the words of the act, "in every * The king declared, "that without a settled revenue a king was but a pageant:" And upon another occasion he said to bishop Burnet," that he understood the good of a commonwealth as well as of a kingly government, and IT WAS NOT EASY TO DETERMINE WHICH WAS BEST; but he was sure the worst of all governments was that of a king without treasure and without power." The late king of Prussia was more deeply tainted with this political heresy than king William; for he declared himself to Dr. Zimmermann, TO REPUBLICS." EXTREMELY PARTIAL Money dwelling-house of the kingdom." But the pro ́spect of this monument, according to the observaBlackstone. tion of the celebrated Commentator of the Laws of England, was extremely darkened by the substitution, in a few years afterwards, of a heavy duty on windows, as an equivalent to that on hearths: and which is perhaps little less odious or vexatious. In consequence also of the king's recommendation, the house of commons voted the sum of 600,000l. as a compensation to the States General for the expense incurred by them in fitting out the fleet which wafted the prince of Orange to the British shore. Another very important measure brought forward in the course of the present session, though not carried into full effect till the succeeding one, was the conversion of the declaration of rights presented to the king by the two houses of convention, immediately previous to the offer of the crown, into that memorably law so frequently referred to, and so justly celebrated, under the appellation of the BILL OF RIGHTS *. A clause of a very interest Bill of *The declaratory clauses of this famous bill are as follow:The lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, &c. as their ancestors in like cases have usually done, for the vindicating their ancient rights and privileges, declare That the pretended power of suspending laws, or the execution of laws by regal authority, without consent of parliament, is illegal. ing import was inserted in this bill, disabling papists from the succession to the crown-to which the lords added, or such as should marry papists That the pretended power of dispensing with laws, or the execution of laws by regal authority, as it hath been assumed and exercised of late, is illegal. That the commission for erecting the late court of commissioners for ecclesiastical causes, and all other commissions and courts of the like nature, are illegal and pernicious. That the levying money to or for the use of the crown, by pretence of prerogative, without grant of parliament, for longer time or in any other manner than the same is or shall be granted, is illegal. That it is the right of the subject to petition the king and all commitments and prosecutions for such petitioning are illegal. That the raising and keeping a standing army within the kingdom in time of peace, unless it be by consent of parlia-· ment, is against law. That the subjects, being protestants, may have arms for their defence, suitable to their condition, and as allowed by law. That the election of members of parliament ought to be free. That the freedom of speech or debates and proceedings in parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of parliament. That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. That jurors ought to be duly impannelled and returned, and jurors which pass upon men in trials for high treason ought to be freeholders. That all grants and promises of fines and forfeitures of particular persons before conviction are illegal and void. VOL. I. K And BOOK I. 1689. |