the said words: That the lords should be desired to proceed in justice against him, and to inflict upon him such punishment as so high an offence against the commons did deserve. The commons had now found a pretence to justify their delay; and declared they would not renew the conference until they should have received satisfaction. Lord Haversham offered to submit to a trial; but insisted on their first proving the words which he was said to have spoken. When this declaration was imparted to the commons, they said, the lords ought to have censured him in a summary way, and still refused to renew the conference. The lords, on the other hand, came to a resolution, that there should not be a committee of both houses concerning the trial of the impeached lords. Then they resolved, that lord Somers should be tried at Westminster hall on Tuesday the seventeenth day of June, and signified this resolution to the lower house; reminding them, at the same time, of the articles against the earl of Portland. The commons refused to appear, alleging, they were the only judges, and that the evidence was not yet prepared. They the reasons of their nonappearance to the house of lords, where they were supported by the new ministry and all the malcontents, and produced very warm debates. The majority carried their point piecemeal, by dint of different votes, against which very severe protests were entered. On the day appointed for the trial, they sent a message to the commons, that they were going to Westminster hall. The other impeached lords asked leave, and were permitted to withdraw. The articles of impeachment against lord Somers, and his answers, being read in Westminster hall, and the commons not appearing to prosecute, the lords adjourned to their own house, where they debated concerning the question that was to be put. This being settled, they returned to Westminster hall; and the question being put, That John lord Somers be acquitted of the articles of 'impeachment against him, exhibited by the house of commons, and all things therein contained; and, that the im"peachment be dismissed," it was carried by a majority of thirty-five. The commons, exasperated at these proceedings, resolved, that the lords had refused justice to the commons: That they had endeavoured to overturn the right

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of impeachment lodged in the commons by the ancient constitution of the kingdom: That all the ill consequences. which might attend the delay of the supplies given for the preservation of the public peace, and the maintenance of the balance of Europe, would be owing to those who, to procure an indemnity for their own crimes, had used their utmost endeavours to make a breach between the two houses. The lords sent a message to the commons, giving them to understand, that they had acquitted lord Somers, and dismissed the impeachment, as nobody had appeared to support the articles; and that they had appointed next Monday for the trial of the earl of Orford. They resolved, that unless the charge against lord Haversham should be prosecuted by the commons before the end of the session, the lords would adjudge him innocent: That the resolutions of the commons on their late votes contained most unjust reflections on the honour and justice of the peers: That they were contrived to cover their affected and unreasonable delays in prosecuting the impeached lords: That they manifestly tended to the destruction of the judicature of the lords; to the rendering trials on impeachments impracticable for the future, and to the subverting the constitution of the English government; That, therefore, whatever ill consequence might arise from the so long deferring the supplies for this year's service, were to be attributed to the fatal counsel of putting off the meeting of a parliament so long, and to the unnecessary delays of the house of commons. On the twenty-third day of June, the articles of impeachment against Edward earl of Orford were read in Westminster hall; but the house of commons having previously ordered that none of the members should appear at this pretended trial, those articles were not supported; so that his lordship was acquitted, and the impeachment dismissed. Next day, the impeachments against the duke of Leeds, which had lain seven years neglected, together with those. against the earl of Portland and lord Halifax, as well as the charge against lord Haversham, were dismissed for want of prosecution. Each house ordered a narrative of these proceedings to be published; and their mutual animosity had proceeded to such a degree of rancour, as seemed to preclude all possibility of reconciliation. The commons, in

the whole course of this transaction, had certainly acted from motives of faction and revenge: for nothing could be more unjust, frivolous, and partial, than the charge exhibited in the articles of impeachment, their anticipating address to the king, and their affected delay in the prosecutions. Their conduct on this occasion was so flagrant as to attract the notice of the common people, and inspire the generality of the nation with disgust. This the whigs did not fail to augment by the arts of calumny, and in particular, by insinuating that the court of Versailles had found means to engage the majority of the commons in its interest.

§ LIV. This faction had, since the beginning of this session, employed their emissaries in exciting a popular aversion to the tory ministers and members, and succeeded so well in their endeavours, that they formed a scheme of obtaining petitions from different counties and corporations, that should induce the commons to alter their conduct, on the supposition that it was contrary to the sense of the nation. In execution of this scheme, a petition signed by the deputy lieutenants, above twenty justices of the peace, the grand jury and freeholders of the county of Kent, had been presented to the house of commons on the eighteenth day of May, by five gentlemen of fortune and distinction. The purport of this remonstrance was to recommend union among themselves and confidence in his majesty whose great actions for the nation could never be forgotten without the blackest ingratitude: to beg they would have regard to the voice of the people: that their religion and safety might be effectually provided for; that their loyal addresses might be turned into bills of supply; and that his most sacred majesty might be enabled powerfully to assist his allies before it should be too late. The house was so incensed at the petulance of the petition, that they voted it scandalous, insolent, and seditious; and ordered the gentlemen who had presented it to be taken into custody. They were afterwards committed to the Gatehouse, where they remained till the prorogation of parliament: but they had no reason to repine at their imprisonment, which recommended them to the notice and esteem of the public. They were visited and caressed by the chiefs of the whig interest, and considered as martyrs to the liber

ties of the people. Their confinement gave rise to a very extraordinary paper, entitled, "A memorial from the "gentlemen, freeholders, and inhabitants, of the coun"ties of, in behalf of themselves, and many thou"sands of the good people of England." It was signed Legion, and sent to the speaker in a letter, commanding him, in the name of two hundred thousand Englishmen, to deliver it to the house of commons. In this strange

expostulation, the house was charged with illegal and unwarrantable practices, in fifteen particulars; a new claim of right was ranged under seven heads; and the commons were admonished to act according to their duty, as specified in this memorial, on pain of incurring the resentment of an injured nation. It was concluded in these words: "For Englishmen are no more to be slaves to parliaments "than to kings-our name is Legion, and we are many." The commons were equally provoked and intimidated by this libel, which was the production of one Daniel de Foe, a scurrilous party writer, in very little estimation. They would not, however deign to take notice of it in the house: but a complaint being made of endeavours to raise tumults and seditions, a committee was appointed to draw up an address to his majesty, informing him of those seditious endeavours, and beseeching him to provide for the public peace and security.

§ LV. The house, however, perceiving plainly that they had incurred the odium of the nation, which began to clamour for a war with France, and dreading the popular resentment, thought fit to change their measures with respect to this object, and present the address we have already mentioned, in which they promised to support him in the alliances he should contract with the emperor and other states, in order to bridle the exorbitant power of France. They likewise proceeded in earnest, upon the supply, and voted funds for raising about two millions seven hundred thousand pounds to defray the expense of the ensuing year. They voted thirty thousand seamen, and resolved that ten thousand troops should be transported from Ireland to Holland, as the auxiliaries stipulated in the treaty of 1677 with the states general. The funds were constituted of a land tax, certain duties on merchandise, VOL. I..

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and a weekly deduction from the excise, so as to bring down the civil list to six hundred thousand pounds; as the duke of Gloucester was dead, and James's queen refused her allowance. They passed a bill for taking away all privileges of parliament in legal prosecutions, during the intermediate prorogations; their last struggle with the lords was concerning a bill for appointing commissioners to examine and state the public accounts. The persons nominated for this purpose were extremely obnoxious to the majority of the peers, as violent partisans of the tory faction when the bill, therefore, was sent up to the lords, they made some amendments, which the commons rejected. The former animosity between the two houses began to revive, when the king interrupted their disputes, by putting an end to the session, on the twenty-fourth day of June, after having thanked the parliament for their zeal in the public service, and exhorted them to a discharge of their duties in their several counties. He was, no doubt, extremely pleased with such an issue of a session that had begun with a very inauspicious aspect. His health daily

declined; but he concealed the decay of his constitution, that his allies might not be discouraged from engaging in a confederacy of which he was deemed the head and chief support. He conferred the command of the ten thousand troops destined for Holland upon the earl of Marlborough, and appointed him at the same time his plenipotentiary to the states general: a choice that evinced his discernment and discretion; for that nobleman surpassed all his contemporaries, both as a general and a politician. He was cool, penetrating, intrepid, and persevering, plausible, insinuating, artful, and dissembling.

6 LVI. A regency being established, the king embarked for Holland in the beginning of July. On his arrival at the Hague he assisted at an assembly of the states general, whom he harangued in very affectionate terms, and was answered with great cordiality: then he made a progress round the frontiers, to examine the state of the garrisons; and gave such orders and directions as he judged necessary for the defence of the country, Meanwhile, the French minister, d'Avaux, being recalled from the Hague, delivered a letter to the states