sion to the crown; and now a considerable number of the most violent tories in the city were admitted into the commission by the interest and address of the bishop of London, the marquis of Caermarthen, and the earl of Nottingham. To gratify that party, the earls of Monmouth and Warrington were dismissed from their employments: nay, when the parliament met on the twentieth day of March, the commons chose for their speaker sir John Trevor, a violent partisan of that faction, who had been created master of the rolls by the late king. He was a bold, artful man, and undertook to procure a majority to be at the devotion of the court, provided he should be supplied with the necessary sums for the purposes of corruption. William, finding there was no other way of maintaining his administration in peace, thought proper to countenance the practice of purchasing votes, and appointed Trevor first commissioner of the great seal. In his speech to the new parliament, he gave them to understand, that he still persisted in his resolution of going in person to Ireland. He desired they would make a settlement of the revenue, or establish it for the present, as a fund of credit, upon which the necessary sums for the service of the government might be immediately advanced: he signified his intention of sending to them an act of grace, with a few exceptions, that he might manifest his readiness to extend his protection to all his subjects, and leave no colour of excuse for raising disturbances in his absence, as he knew how busy some illaffected men were in their endeavours to alter the established government; he recommended an union with Scotland, the parliament of which had appointed commissioners for that purpose: he told them he should leave the administration in the hands of the queen, and desired they would prepare an act to confirm her authority: he exhorted them to despatch the business for which they were assembled, to avoid debates, and expressed his hope that they should soon meet again, to finish what might be now left imperfect.

XXIII. The commons, in compliance with his request, voted a supply of twelve hundred thousand pounds, one million of that sum to be raised by a clause of credit in the revenue bills; but he could not prevail upon them to settle

e Burnet. Belcarres. Kennet. Tindal. Ralph.

the revenue for life. They granted, however, the hereditary excise for that term, but the customs for four years only. They considered this short term as the best security the kingdom could have for frequent parliaments; though this precaution was not at all agreeable to their sovereign. A poll bill was likewise passed; other supplies were granted, and both parties seemed to court his majesty, by advancing money on those funds of credit. The whigs, however, had another battery in reserve. They produced, in the upper house, a bill for recognising their majesties as the rightful and lawful sovereigns of these realms, and for declaring all the acts of the last parliament to be good and valid. The tories were now reduced to a very perplexed situation. They could not oppose the bill without hazarding the interest they had so lately acquired, nor assent to it without solemnly renouncing their former arguments, and distinctions. They made no great objections to the first part, and even proposed to enact, That those should be deemed good laws for the time to come; but they refused to declare them valid for that which was past. After a long debate, the bill was committed; yet the whigs lost their majority on the report; nevertheless, the bill was recovered, and passed with some alteration in the words; in consequence of a nervous, spirited protest, signed Bolton, Macclesfield, Stamford, Newport, Bedford, Herbert, Suffolk, Monmouth, Delamere, and Oxford. The whole interest of the court was thrown into the scale with this bill, before it would preponderate against the tories, the chiefs of whom, with the earl of Nottingham at their head, protested in their turn. The same party in the house of commons were determined upon a vigorous opposition; and in the mean time some trifling objections were made, that it might be committed for amendment; but their design was prematurely discovered by one of their faction, who chanced to question the legality of their convention, as it was not summoned by the king's writ. This insinuation was answered by Somers, the solicitor general, who observed, that if it was not a legal parliament, they who were then met, and who had taken the oaths enacted by that parliament, were guilty of high treason: the laws repealed by it were still in force it was their duty, therefore, to return to king James; and all concerned in collecting and paying the money

levied by the acts of that parliament were highly criminal. The tories were so struck with these arguments, that the bill passed without further opposition, and immediately received the royal assent. Thus the settlement was confirmed by those very people who had so loudly exclaimed against it as illegal: but the whigs, with all their management, would not have gained their point, had not the court been interested in the dispute.

§ XXIV. There was another violent contest between the two parties, on the import of a bill requiring all subjects in office to abjure king James, on pain of imprisonment. Though the clergy were at first exempted from this test, the main body of the tories opposed it with great vehemence; while the whigs, under countenance of the ministry, supported it with equal vigour. It produced long and violent debates; and the two factions seemed pretty equally balanced. At length, the tories represented to the king, that a great deal of precious time would be lost in fruitless altercation; that those who declared against the bill would grow sullen and intractable, so as to oppose every other motion that might be made for the king's service that, in case of its being carried, his majesty must fall again into the hands of the whigs, who would renew their former practices against the prerogative; and many individuals, who were now either well affected to him, or at least neutral, would become jacobites from resentment. These suggestions had such weight with king William, that he sent an intimation to the commons, desiring they would drop the debate, and proceed to matters that were more pressing... The whigs in general were disgusted at this interposition; and the earl of Shrewsbury, who interested himself warmly in behalf of the bill, resented it so deeply, that he insisted on resigning his office of secretary of state. The king, who revered his talents and integrity, employed Dr. Tillotson and others, who were supposed to have credit with the earl, to dissuade him from quitting his employment: but he continued deaf to all their remonstrances, and would not even comply with the request of his majesty, who pressed him to keep the seals until he should return from Ireland. Long debates were likewise managed in the house of lords, upon the bill of abjuration,

or rather an oath of special fidelity to William, in opposition to James. The tories professed themselves willing to enter into a negative engagement against the late king and his adherents: but they opposed the oath of abjuration with all their might; and the house was so equally divided that neither side was willing to hazard a decision: so that all the fruit of their debates was a prolongation of the

session.

§ XXV. An act was prepared for investing the queen with the administration during the king's absence: another for reversing the judgment on a quo warranto against the city of London, and restoring it to its ancient rights and privileges; and at length, the bill of indemnity so cordially recommended by the king passed both houses.d On the twenty-first day of May, the king closed the session with a short speech, in which he thanked them for the supplies they had granted; and recommended to them a punctual discharge of their duties in their respective counties, that the peace of the nation might not be interrupted in his absence. The houses were adjourned to the seventh day of July; when the parliament was prorogued and adjourned successively. As a further security for the peace of the kingdom, the deputy lieutenants were authorized to raise the militia in case of necessity. All papists were prohibited to stir above five miles from their respective places of abode a proclamation was published for apprehending certain disaffected persons: sir John Cochran and Ferguson were actually arrested, on suspicion of treasonable practices. On the fourth day of June the king set out for Ireland, attended by prince George of Denmark, the duke of Ormond, the earls of Oxford, Scarborough, Manchester, and many other persons of distinction; on the fourteenth day of the month he landed at Carrickfergus, from whence he immediately proceeded to Belfast, where he was met by

d The following persons were excepted from the benefit of this act. William, marquis of Powis; Theophilus, earl of Huntingdon; Robert, earl of Sunderland; John, earl of Melfort; Roger, carl of Castlemain; Nathaniel, lord bishop of Durham; Thomas, lord bishop of St. David's; Henry, lord Dover; ford Thomas Howard; sir Edward Hales, sir Francis Withers, sir Edward Lutwych, sir Thomas Jenner, sir Nicholas Butler, sir William Herbert, sir Richard Holloway, sir Richard Heath, sir Roger L'Estrange, William Molineux, Thomas Tyndesly, colonel Townly, colonel Lundy, Robert Brent, Edward Morgan, Philip Burton, Richard Graham, Edward Petre, Obadiah Walker, Matthew Crone, and George Lord Jefferies, deceased.

the duke of Schomberg, the prince of Wirtemberg, major general Kirke, and other officers. By this time colonel Wolsey, at the head of a thousand men, had defeated a strong detachment of the enemy near Belturbat: Sir John Lanier had taken Bedloe castle; and that of Charlemont, a strong post of great importance, together with Balingargy, near Cavan, had been reduced. King William having reposed himself for two or three days at Belfast, visited the duke's headquarters at Lisburne: then advancing to Hillsborough, published an order against pressing horses, and committing violence on the country people. When some of his general officers proposed cautious measures, he declared he did not come to Ireland to let the grass grow under his feet. He ordered the army to encamp and be reviewed at Loughbrilland, where he found it amount to six and thirty thousand effective men well appointed. Then he marched to Dundalk; and afterwards advanced to Ardee, which the enemy had just abandoned.

§ XXVI. King James trusted so much to the disputes in the English parliament, that he did not believe his sonin-law would be able to quit that kingdom; and William had been six days in Ireland, before he received intimation of his arrival. This was no sooner known, than he left Dublin under the guard of the militia commanded by Luttrel, and with a reinforcement of six thousand infantry, which he had lately received from France, joined the rest of his forces, which now almost equalled William's army in number, exclusive of about fifteen thousand men who remained in different garrisons. He occupied a very advantageous post on the bank of the Boyne, and, contrary to the advice of his general officers, resolved to stand battle. They proposed to strengthen their garrisons, and retire to the Shannon, to wait the effect of the operations at sea. Lewis had promised to equip a powerful armament against the English fleet, and send over a great number of small frigates to destroy William's transports, as soon as their convoy should be returned to England. The execution of this scheme was not at all difficult, and must have proved fatal to the English army; for their stores and ammunition were still on board; the ships sailed along the coast as the troops advanced in their march; and there