The Speaker. Not long since, in the last session of parliament, you kept a good table; of whom had you the money to maintain it? Wiseman. My Tenants gave me my money to keep my Table. I had no money from sir Stephen Fox, nor Mr. Bertie, nor by his order; nor from Mr. Chifinch, nor by his order. [This he spoke rudely and surlily. The Speaker asking him, Whether he had no Money for keeping a Table but from his tenants?' in a very preremptory manner he answered, No.' -He withdrew. Sir Tho. Lee. This answer of Wiseman, and the manner of it, is not usual. If you allow this to any may at the bar, to give what he is asked in writing, you will lose your authority, and make an ill example for the future. If once you be put off with writing Answers to your questions at the bar, he will have counsel. You must tell him, He contemns the commons of England, if he makes no Answers to the questions you ask him." Wiseman again at the Bar. Wiseman. I received no money from sir Stephen Fox, and I know nothing of secret service' received by the king's order. Give me time, and I will tell you the exact sums I received. The Speaker. In this you are disproved by Fox, and if you will run the hazard of the displeasure of the house, you must expect what will follow. Wiseman. I have told you, I remember not to have received 400l. per ann. from Fox. I cannot remember other sums. I persist in it. none by the king's order. So far as I am able, on the sudden, I will give you an account. When the Excise was let by lord Clifford, it was for 500,000l. per ann. Some friends put me upon it to farm the Excise. We gave 20,000l. per annum more, and 70,000l. advance money, for which service the king directed I should receive some money, but I remember not the particulars; there was but one contract. I acted by another party. I cannot tell whom. I do now remember the man, it was alderman Ford. I know not whether I re The Speaker. Did you receive any money from Mr. Bertie? The Speaker. The house is not satisfied that you shall give your Answer in writing.ceived 7, 8, or 900l. They require a direct Answer from you to what questions they shall ask you; I ask you, what annuity or pension you have received upon your account from the Excise, or any other person, for your particular use? Wiseman stood mute some time, and then answered, I have not received any money from Mr. Bertie this year and a half. I had Wiseman. If I might have ever so much, I no order for continuance of my Pension out of cannot tell you. I ask but a reasonable thing, the excise. That which the king gave me was to give my Answer in writing, and I will jus- annual, but I received it in a gross sum. I tify it by witnesses, and authentic testimony. sold the annual pension the king gave me for But to a thing I am not prepared to answer, 7, 8, or 9001. The pension was not granted my reputation will be lost without reparation. me for life, but till the king declared otherwise. I say not, I will not answer, but I will make a The assignment of the pension was made to the reasonable Answer, like a reasonable man. commissioners, or fariners; I believe it was To the Speaker's Questions.-Answ. I re-assigned to major Huntington, Mr. Dawson, member no sum whatsoever. I have received and sir John James.' This he spoke drawningMoney from the Excise, by a letter from Mr.ly, and withdrew. The further consideration Bertie. The last sum I received was five or of the Report was adjourned to the 27th. six years ago. I cannot remember how much any of the sums were. The Speaker. Did not you receive money in the name of a knight, or for one Mr. Knight? Answ. I received none of the king's money, for any other person, I aver it. I appointed nobody to do it. I never gave any money to pay bills for housekeeping, I stand upon it. He withdrew. Sir Stephen For. I did say Wiseman received 400l. per ann. from me, till Michaelmas 1675, and I did so at the committee. I said I could give no answer to Knight, but Wiseman could, and for him 400l. per ann. was paid, and three other persons more. I charge not Wiseman with receiving this always, but some of it to him I never failed to pay. Wiseman again at the bar. The Speaker. You have had time given you to consider the questions proposed. The house does expect a more direct Answer. This does so nearly concern you, that they expect you provided to give an answer, and therefore have sent for you down again, before they give their judgment. The Hubeus Corpus Act passed.] May 26. Sir Robert Clayton was just giving an account of members who had Pensions out of the excise, upon consideration of their farms, when the black rod knocked at the door, and commanded the house to attend the king in the house of lords, where his majesty passed the Habeas Corpus Bill. * * "The great, essential, and inestimable service done to the people of England, by this parliament, was in perfecting the Habeas Corpus Bill; which had been so long in agitation, and by which many wholsome provisions were made, to preserve the liberty of the subject from the invasions of the prerogative. Abuse of power, and the prevention of such abuses for the future, are the causes assigned in the preamble of the Bill for the enacting clauses it is composed of: The most material of which are, 1. To oblige all sheriffs, gaolers, ministers, or others, when served with a writ of Habeas Corpus, to obey it, within 3 days after the said service, by carrying up the body of the person therein named to the court, or judge, by whom The Parliament dissolved.] After passing the said Bill, his majesty made this short speech to both houses: "My lords and gentlemen; I was in great hopes that this session would have produced great good to the kingdom, and that it would have gone on unanimously for the good thereof, But to my great grief, I see there are such differences between the two houses, that I am afraid very ill effects will come of them. I know but one way of remedy for the present, assuring you, that, in the mean time, I shall show my sincerity with the same zeal I met you here. Therefore, my lord chancellor, I command you to do as I ordered you." PRINCIPAL OCCURRENCES AFTER THE DISSO LUTION STATE OF THE MINISTRY---MEAL-TUB PLOT-WHгG AND TORY. "The general affection," says Mr. Hume, "borne the king, appeared signally about this time. He fell sick at Windsor; and had two or three fits of a fever, so violent as made his life be thought in danger. A general conster nation seized all ranks of men, increased by the apprehensions entertained of his successor. In the present disposition of men's minds, the king's death, to use an expression of sir William Temple, was regarded as the end of the world. The mal-contents, it was feared, would proceed to extremities, and immediately kindle a His lordship accordingly prorogued the civil war in the kingdom. Either their entire parliament to the 14th of August. But before success, or entire failure, or even the balance that day, it was dissolved by proclamation *. and contest of parties, seemed all of them events equally fatal. The king's chief counthe said writ was granted; and before him to sellors therefore, Essex, Halifax, and Sundercertify the true causes of his detainer and im- land, who stood on bad terms with Shaftesbury prisonment, on the penalty of 1007. for the and the popular party, advised him to send first offence, and 2007, and to be made incapa-secretly for the duke, that, in case of any ble of holding his office, for the second: As sinister accident, that prince might be ready to also, under the like penalties, to grant the pri- assert his right against the opposition which he soner a true copy of the warrant of commitwas likely to meet with. When the duke ment and detainer, within six hours after de-arrived, he found his brother out of danger; mand. 2. To provide that no person shall be re-committed, for the same offence, after being enlarged by order of court, on the penalty of 5001. Also, 3. That if any judge, either in term-time, or vacation, refused any prisoner their Habeas Corpus, upon application, he should forfeit 5007. to the said prisoner. And 4. That no subject of this realm should be any longer liable to illegal imprisonments, in prisons beyond the seas.--Ferguson in his' Growth of Popery,' with some bitterness, affirms, that this Bill met with great opposition from the lords; that it gave rise to several conferences between the two houses; and that, though it was far short of what it ought to have been, it was almost a miracle that their lordships suf- fered it to pass at all: And so much of truth there is in these assertions, that the committees of the two houses met several times upon it, without coming to any agreement; insomuch that the completing of the Bill was put off to the last hour of the sessions; and, even then, the commons were glad to admit of the lords' Amendments, that they might have the merit, and their fellow-subjects the benefit, of so useful a law." Ralph. 6 * Shortly after the Dissolution a singular pamphlet made its appearance, intitled, An Appeal from the Country to the City, for the preservation of his majesty's Person, Liberty, Property, and the Protestant Religion.' For a copy of it see Appendix No. IX. "The impeachment of the five popish lords in the Tower, with that of the earl of Danby, was carried on with vigour. The power of this minister, and his credit with the king, rendered him extremely obnoxious to the popular leaders; and the commons hoped that, if he were pushed to extremity, he would be obliged, in order to justify his own conduct, to and it was agreed to conceal the invitation which he had received. (2d Sept.) His journey, however, was attended with important consequences. He prevailed on the king to disgrace Monmouth, whose projects were now known and avowed; to deprive him of his command in the army; and to send him beyond sea. He himself returned to Brussels; but made a short stay in that place. He obtained leave to retire to Scotland, under pretence still of quieting the apprehensions of the English nation; but in reality with a view of securing that kingdom in his interests. Though Essex and Halifax had concurred in the resolution of inviting over the duke, they soon found that they had not obtained bis confidence, and that even the king, while he made use of their service, had no sincere regard for their persons. Essex in disgust resigned the treasury: Halifax retired to his country'seat: Temple, despairing of any accommodation among such enraged parties, withdrew almost entirely to his books and his gardens. The king, who changed ministers as well as measures with great indifference, bestowed at this time the chief confidence on Hyde, Sunderland, and Godolphin. Hyde succeeded Essex in the treasury. All the king's ministers, as well as himself, were extremely averse to the meeting of the new parliament, which they expected to find as refractory as any of the preceding. The clections had gone mostly in favour of the lay open the whole intrigue of the French alliance, which they suspected to contain a se cret of the most dangerous nature. The king, on his part, apprehensive of the same conse quences, and desirous to protect his minister, who was become criminal merely by obeying orders, employed his whole interest to support country party. The terrors of the plot had still a mighty influence over the populace; and the apprehensions of the duke's bigoted principles and arbitrary character weighed with men of sense and reflection. The king therefore resolved to prorogue the parliament, that he might try, whether time might allay those humours, which, by every other expedient, he had in vain attempted to mollify. In this measure he did not expect the concurrence of his council. He knew that those popular leaders, whom he had admitted, would zealously oppose a resolution, which disconcerted all their schemes; and that the royalists would not dare, by supporting it, to expose themselves to the vengeance of the parliament, when it should be assembled. These reasons obliged him to take this step entirely of himself; and he only declared his resolution in council. It is remarkable, that, though the king had made profession never to embrace any measure without the advice of these counsellors, he had often broken that resolution, and had been necessitated, in affairs of the greatest consequence, to control their opinion. Many of them in disgust threw up about this time; particularly lord Russel, the most popular man in the nation, as well from the mildness and integrity of his character, as from his zealous attachment to the religion and liberties of his country. Though carried into some excesses, his intentions were ever esteemed upright; and being heir to the greatest fortune in the kingdom, as well as void of ambition, men believed that nothing but the last necessity could ever engage him to embrace any desperate measures. Shaftesbury, who was, in most particulars, of an opposite character, was removed by the king from the office of president of the council; and the earl of Radnor, a man who possessed whimsical talents and splenetic virtues, was substituted in his place. It was the the validity of that pardon which had been pardon was merely a preliminary; and that, granted him. The lords appointed a day for neither by the canon law nor the practice of the examination of the question, and agreed to parliament, were they ever obliged, in capital hear council on both sides: But the commons cases, to withdraw till the very commencement would not submit their pretensions to the dis- of the trial itself. If their absence was consicussion of argument and inquiry. They voted, dered as a privilege, which was its real origin, it that whoever should presume, without their depended on their own choice, how far they leave, to maintain before the house of peers the would insist upon it. If regarded as a diminuvalidity of Danby's pardon, should be account- tion of their right of peerage, such unfavoured a betrayer of the liberties of the English able customs ought never to be extended commons. And they made a demand, that beyond the very circumstance established by the bishops, whom they knew to be devoted to them; and all arguments from a pretended the court, should be removed, not only when parity of reason, were in that case of little or the trial of the earl should commence, but also no authority. The house of lords were so when the validity of his pardon should be dis- much influenced by these reasons, that they cussed. The bishops before the reformation admitted the bishops' right to vote, when the had always enjoyed a seat in parliament: but validity_of_the_pardon should be examined. so far were they anciently from regarding that The commons insisted still on their withdrawdignity as a privilege, that they affected rather ing; and thus a quarrel being commenced beto form a separate order in the state, indepen- tween the two houses, the king, who expected dent of the civil magistrate, and accountable nothing but fresh instances of violence from only to the pope and to their own order. By this parliament, began to entertain thoughts of the constitutions, however, of Clarendon, en-laying hold of so favourable a pretence, and of acted during the reign of Henry ii. they were finishing the session by a prorogation. While obliged to give their presence in parliament; in this disposition, he was alarmed with sudden but as the canon law prohibited them from as- intelligence, that the house of commons was sisting in capital trials, they were allowed in preparing a remonstrance, in order to inflame such cases the privilege of absenting them- the nation still farther upon the favourite toselves. A practice, which was at first volun- pics of the plot and of popery (27th May). He tary, became afterwards a rule; and on the hastened, therefore, to execute his intention, earl of Strafford's trial, the bishops, who would even without consulting his new council, by gladly have attended, and who were no longer whose advice he had promised to regulate his bound by the canon law, were yet obliged to whole conduct. And thus were disappointed withdraw. It had been usual for them to en- all the projects of the malcontents, who were ter a protest, asserting their right to sit; and extremely enraged at this vigorous measure of this protest, being considered as a mere form, the king's. Shaftesbury publicly threatened was always admitted and disregarded. But that he would have the head of whoever had here was started a new question of no small advised it. The parliament was soon after importance. The commons, who were now en- dissolved without advice of council; and writs abled, by the violence of the people and the were issued for a new parliament (10th July). necessities of the crown, to make new acquisi- The king was willing to try every means which tions of powers and privileges, insisted that the gave a prospect of more compliance in his subbishops had no more title to vote in the ques-jects; and in case of failure, the blame, he tion of the earl's pardon than in the impeach- hoped, would lie on those whose obstinacy ment itself. The bishops asserted that the forced him to extremities." Hume, favour and countenance of the parliament, tents in the last reign had attacked the crown: which had chiefly encouraged the rumour of and though the manner of subscribing and deplots; but the nation had gotten so much into livering petitions was now somewhat regulated that vein of credulity, and every necessitous by act of parliament, the thing itself still revillain was so much incited by the success of mained; and was an admirable expedient for Oates and Bedloe, that, even during the proro- iufesting the court, for spreading discontent, gation, the people were not allowed to remain and for uniting the nation in any popular clain tranquillity. There was one Dangerfield, a mour. As the king found no law, by which fellow who had been burned in the hand for he could punish those importunate, and, as he crimes, transported, whipped, pilloried four deemed them, undutiful solicitations, he was times, fined for cheats, out-lawed for felony, obliged to encounter them by popular appliconvicted of coining, and exposed to all the cations of a contrary tendency. Wherever public infamy which the laws could inflict on the church and court party prevailed, addresses the basest and most shameful enormities. were framed, containing expressions of the The credulity of the people, and the humour highest regard to his majesty, the most entire of the times, enabled even this man to become acquiescence in his wisdom, the most dutiful a person of consequence. He was the author submission to his prerogative, and the deepest of a new incident, called the Meal-tub Plot, abhorrence of those who endeavoured to enfrom the place where some papers, relating to croach upon it, by prescribing to him any time it, were found. The bottom of this affair it for assembling the parliament. Thus the nais difficult, and not very material, to discover. tion came to be distinguished into Petitioners It only appears, that Dangerfield, under pre- and Abhorrers. Factions indeed were at this tence of betraying the conspiracies of the time extremely animated against each other. presbyterians, had been countenanced by some The very names, by which each party denocatholics of condition, and had even been ad- minated its autagonist, discover the virulence mitted to the duke's presence and the king's: and rancour which prevailed. For besides and that, under pretence of revealing new po- petitioner and abhorrer, appellations which pish plots, he had obtained access to Shaftes- were soon forgotten, this year is remarkable bury, and some of the popular leaders. Which for being the epoch of the well-known epithets side he intended to cheat, is uncertain; or of Whig and Tory, by which, and sometimes whether he did not rather mean to cheat both: without any material difference, this island but he soon found that the belief of the nation has been so long divided. The court party rewas more open to a popish than a presbyterian proached their antagonists with their affinity plot; and he resolved to strike in with the to the fanatical conventiclers in Scotland, who prevailing humour. Though no weight could were known by the name of Whigs: the counbe laid on his testimony, great clamour was try party found a resemblance between the raised; as if the court, by way of retaliation, courtiers and the popish banditti in Ireland, to had intended to load the presbyterians with whom the appellation of Tory was affixed. the guilt of a false conspiracy. It must be And after this manner, these foolish terms of confessed that the present period, by the pre-reproach came into public and general use; valence and suspicion of such mean and igno- and even at present seem not nearer their ble arts on all sides, throws a great stain on end than when they were first invented.- As the British annals. One of the most innocent the kingdom was regularly and openly divided artifices practised by party men at this time, into two zealous parties, it was not diffiwas the additional ceremony, pomp and ex-cult for the king to know, that the majority pence, with which a pope-burning was cele- of the new house of commons was engaged in brated in London: (17th Nov.) The specta-interests opposite to the court: but that he cle served to entertain, amuse, and inflame, the populace. The duke of Monmouth likewise came over without leave, and mado a triumphant procession through many parts of the kingdom, extremely caressed and admired | by the people. All these arts seemed requisite to support the general prejudices, during List of the House of Commons.] October 7, the long interval of parliament. Great endea 1679. The New Parliament met, but was vours were also used to obtain the king's con- prorogued to the 17th, and then was adjournsent for the meeting of that assembly. (1680.) ed to the 30th. At last, after seven more Seventeen peers presented a petition to this prorogations, they met for the dispatch of bupurpose. Many of the corporations imitatedsiness on the 21st of Oct. 1680. The follow the example. Notwithstanding several marks ing is a List of the Members of the House of of displeasure, and even a menacing procla- Commons: mation from the king, petitions came from all parts, earnestly insisting on a session of parfiament. The danger of popery, and the terrors of the plot, were never forgotten in any of these addresses. Tumultuous petitioning was one of the chief artifices by which the malcon- Sir John Stonehouse, VOL. IV. 4 E might leave no expedient untried, which could A LIST OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, IN Agmondesham, Sir Roger Hill, Sir William Drake. St. Albans, John Corrance. Aldborough, (Yorkshire) Allerton, North, William Garraway, Sir Richard Ingolsby, Sir John Holman. Barnstaple, Sir William Basset, Bedwin, Bishops Castle, Sir William Bastard, Boroughbridge, Sir Thomas Meleverer, Charles Bodvile Roberts, Boston, Sir Anthony Irby, Brackley, Sir Robert Henley, Sir Robert Cann, Sir Thomas Whitmore, Sir George Hungerford, Cambridge Town, Cardigan County, Caermarthen County, Caermarthen Town, Caernarvon County, Cacrnarvon Town, James Hoste. Sir Thomas Grosvenor. Sir Edward Hungerford. Sir Thomas Stringer, Cockermouth, Sir Richard Graham, Colchester, Sir Walter Clarges, Sir Thomas Middleton. Derby Town, Devizes, Sir Giles Hungerford, Devonshire, Sir William Courtney, Dorchester, Dover, Thomas Papillon. Maurice Blockland, Sir Philip Shippon, Essex, John Lemot Honeywood, Eye, George Walch. Flintshire, Flint Town, John Trefry, Sir Nicholas Carew, Sir Philip Parker, |