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sure to meet with such treatment, as would discourage even the boldest from so dangerous, however splendid, an enterprise.

Note 6 P, p. 714.

then ended his sermon.

One of the soldiers had a

such distinctions. After the death of Charles II. of Spain, king William's ambassadors gave the duke of Anjou the title of king of Spain: yet at that very time king William was secretly forming alliances to dethrone him and soon after he refused him that title, and insisted (as he had reason) that he had not acknowledged his right. Yet king William justly passes The following instance of extravagance is given by for a very sincere prince; and this transaction is not Walker, in his History of Independency, Part II. regarded as any objection to his character in that par- p. 152. About this time there came six soldiers into ticular. In all the negociations at the peace of Ryswic, the parish church of Walton-upon-Thames, near twithe French ambassadors always addressed king Wil-light: Mr. Faucet, the preacher there, not having till liam as king of England; yet it was made an express lantern in his hand, and a candle burning in it, and article of the treaty, that the French king should acknowledge him as such. Such a palpable difference is in the other hand four candles not lighted He dethere between giving a title to a prince, and positively sired the parishioners to stay a while, saying he had a recognising his right to it. I may add, that Charles, message from God unto them, and thereupon offered when he inserted that protestation in the council-books him leave so to do, or to stay in the church, he went to go into the pulpit. But the people refusing to give before his council, surely thought he had reason to justify his conduct. There were too many men of into the churchyard, and there told them that he had a vision, wherein he had received a command from honour in that company to avow a palpable cheat. To which we may subjoin, that if men were as much dis- God to deliver his will unto them, which he was to deposed to judge of this prince's actions with candour liver, and they to receive upon pain of damnation; as severity, this precaution of entering a protest in his consisting of five lights. (1.) "That the sabbath was council-books might rather pass for a proof of scrupu- nial. And here (quoth he) I should put out the first abolished as unnecessary, Jewish, and merely ceremolous honour; lest he should afterwards be reproached light, but the wind is so high I cannot kindle it. (2.) with breach of his word, when he should think proper That tithes are abolished as Jewish and ceremonial, a again to declare the assembly at Westminster no parliament. (5.) The denying of his commission to Gla- great burden to the saints of God, and a discouragemorgan is another instance which has been cited. This ment of industry and tillage. And here I should put matter has been already treated in a note to chap. lviii. lished as antichristian, and of no longer use, now out my second light, &c. (3.) That ministers are aboThat transaction was entirely innocent. Even if the Christ himself descends into the hearts of his saints, king had given a commission to Glamorgan to conclude and his spirit enlighteneth them with revelations and that treaty, and had ratified it, will any reasonable man in our age think it strange, that, in order to save his inspirations. And here I should put out my third own life, his crown, his family, his friends, and his light, &c. (4.) Magistrates are abolished as useless, party, he should make a treaty with papists, and grant hath erected the kingdom of the saints upon earth. now that Christ himself is in purity amongst us, and them very large concessions for their religion? (6.) There is another of the king's intercepted letters to the Besides, they are tyrants and oppressors of the liberty of queen commonly mentioned; where it is pretended, he human inventions. And here I should put out my fourth the saints, and tie them to laws and ordinances, mere talked of raising and then destroying Cromwell: but that story stands on no manner of foundation, as we light, &c. (5.) Then putting his hand into his pocket, have observed in a preceding note to this chapter. In and pulling out a little Bible, he showed it open to the a word, the parliament, after the commencement of people, saying, Here is a book you have in great vetheir violences, and still more, after beginning the neration, consisting of two parts, the Old and New Tescivil war, had reason for their scruples and jealou-taments: I must tell you it is abolished; it containeth sies, founded on the very nature of their situation, and on the general propensity of the human mind; not on any fault of the king's character; who was candid, sincere, upright, as much as any man whom we meet with in history. Perhaps, it would be difficult to find another character so unexceptionable in this

particular.

As to the other circumstances of Charles's character, chiefly exclaimed against, namely, his arbitrary principles in government, one may venture to assert, that the greatest enemies of this prince will not find, in the long line of his predecessors, from the conquest to his time, any one king, except perhaps his father, whose administration was not more arbitrary and less legal, or whose conduct could have been recommended to him by the popular party themselves, as a model, in this particular, for his government. Nor is it sufficient to say, that example and precedent can never authorize vices : : examples and precedents, uniform and ancient, can surely fix the nature of any constitution, and the limits of any form of government. There is indeed no other principle by which those landmarks or boundaries can be settled.

What a paradox in human affairs, that Henry VIII. should have been almost adored in his lifetime, and his memory be respected; while Charles I. should, by the same people, at no greater distance than a century, have been led to a public and ignominious execution, and his name be ever after pursued by falsehood and by obloquy! Even at present, an historian who, prompted by his courageous generosity, should venture, though from the most authentic and undisputed facts, to vindicate the fame of that prince, would be

beggarly rudiments, milk for babes; but now Christ is his spirit to his saints than this can afford, I am comin glory amongst us, and imparts a further measure of manded to burn it before your face. Then putting out the candle he said, And here my fifth light is extinthat time, that it was unworthy of a Christian man to guished." It became a pretty common doctrine at pay rent to his fellow-creatures: and landlords were

obliged to use all the penalties of law against their tenants, whose conscience was scrupulous.

Note 6Q, p. 723.

When the earl of Derby was alive, he had been summoned by Ireton to surrender the Isle of Man ; and he returned this spirited and memorable answer: "I received your letter with indignation, and with scorn return you this answer; that I cannot but wonder whence you should gather any hopes that I should prove, like you, treacherous to my sovereign; since you cannot be ignorant of my former actions in his late majesty's service, from which principles of loyalty I am no whit departed. I scorn your proffers; I disdain your favour; I abhor your treason; and am so far from delivering up this island to your advantage, that I shall keep it to the utmost of my power to your destruction. Take this for your final answer, and forbear any further solicitations; for if you trouble me with any more messages of this nature, I will burn the paper and hang up the bearer. This is the immutable reso lution, and shall be the undoubted practice of him, who accounts it his chiefest glory to be his majesty's most loyal and obedient subject.

"DERBY."

Note 6R, p. 723.

Note 6 U, p. 774.

The articles were, that he had advised the king to govern by military power without parliaments, that he had affirmed the king to be a papist or popishly affected, that he had received great sums of money for procuring the Canary patent and other illegal patents; that he had advised and procured divers of his ma mote lands and garrisons, thereby to prevent their having the benefit of the law; that he had procured the customs to be farmed at under-rates; that he had received great sums from the Vintners' Company, for allowing them to enhance the price of wines; that he had in a short time gained a greater estate than could have been supposed to arise from the profits of his office; that he had introduced an arbitrary government into his majesty's plantations; that he had rejected a proposal for the preservation of Nevis and St. Christopher's, which was the occasion of great losses in those parts; that when he was in his majesty's service beyond sea, he held a correspondence with Cromwell and his accomplices; that he advised the sale of Dunkirk; that he had unduly altered letters-patent under the king's seal; that he had unduly decided causes in council, which should have been brought before chancery; that he had issued quo warrantos against corporations with an intention of squeezing money from them; that he had taken money for passing the bill of settlement in Ireland; that he betrayed the nation in all foreign treaties; and that he was the principal adviser of di

It had been a usual policy of the presbyterian ecclesiastics to settle a chaplain in the great families, who acted as a spy upon his master, and gave them intelligence of the most private transactions and discourses of the family. A signal instance of priestly tyranny, and the subjection of the nobility! They even obliged the servants to give intelligence against their masters.jesty's subjects to be imprisoned against law, in reWhitlocke, p. 502. The same author, p.412, tells the following story. The synod meeting at Perth, and citing the ministers and people, who had expressed a dislike of their heavenly government, the men being out of the way, their wives resolved to answer for them. And, on the day of appearance, a hundred and twenty women, with good clubs in their hands, came and besieged the church, where the reverend ministers sat. They sent one of their number to treat with the females, and he threatening excommunication, they basted him for his labour, kept him prisoner, and sent a party of sixty, who routed the rest of the clergy, bruised their bodies sorely, took all their baggage and twelve horses. One of the ministers, after a mile's running, taking all creatures for his foes, meeting with a soldier, fell on his knees, who knowing nothing of the matter, asked the black-coat what he meant! The female conquerors, having laid hold on the synod clerk, beat him till he forswore his office. Thirteen ministers rallied about four miles from the place, and voted that this village should never more have a synod in it, but be accursed; and that though in the years 1638 and 39, the godly women were cried up for ston-viding the fleet in June, 1666. ing the bishops, yet now the whole sex should be esteemed wicked.

Note 6 S, p. 736.

About this time an accident had almost robbed the protector of his life, and saved his enemies the trouble of all their machinations. Having got six fine Friesland coach-horses as a present from the count of denburgh, he undertook for his amusement to drive them about Hyde-park; his secretary, Thurloe, being in the coach. The horses were startled and ran away: he was unable to command them or keep the box. He fell upon the pole, was dragged upon the ground for some time; a pistol which he carried in his pocket went off; and by that singular good fortune which ever attended him, he was taken up without any considerable hurt or bruise.

Note 6 T, p. 750.

Note 6 X, p. 781.

The abstract of the Report of the Brook-house committee (so that committee was called) was first published by Mr. Ralph, vol. i. p. 177, from Lord Halifax's collections, to which I refer. If we peruse their apoOl-logy, which we find in the subsequent page of the same author, we shall find that they acted with some malignity towards the king. They would take notice of no services performed before the 1st of September, 1664, But all the king's preparations preceded that date, and, as chancellor Clarendon told the parliament, amounted to eight hundred thousand pounds; and the computation is very probable. This sum, therefore, must be added. The committee likewise charged seven hundred thousand pounds to the king on account of the winter and summer guards, saved during two years and ten months that the war lasted. But this seems iniquitous. For though that was an unusual burden on the revenue, which was then saved; would not the diminution of the customs, during the war, be an equivalent to it? Besides, near three hundred and forty thousand pounds are charged for prize money, which perhaps the king thought he ought not to account for. These sums exceed the million and a half.

After Monk's declaration for a free parliament on the 11th of February, he could mean nothing but the king's restoration yet it was long before he would open himself even to the king. This declaration was within eight days after his arrival in London. Had he ever intended to have set up for himself, he would not surely have so soon abandoned a project so inviting: he would have taken some steps, which would have betrayed it. It could only have been some disappointment, some frustrated attempt, which could have made him renounce the road of private ambition. But there is not the least symptom of such intentions. The story told of sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, by Mr. Locke, has not any appearance of truth. See Lord Lansdowne's Vindication, and Philip's Continuation of Baker. I shall add to what those authors have advanced, that cardinal Mazarine wished for the king's restoration; though he would not have ventured much to have procured it.

Note 6 Y, p.783.

Gourville has said in his Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 14, 67, that Charles was never sincere in the triple alliance; and that having entertained a violent animosity against De Wit, he endeavoured by this artifice to detach him from the French alliance, with a view of afterwards finding an opportunity to satiate his vengeance upon him. This account, though very little honourable to the king's memory, seems probable from the events, as well as from the authority of the author.

END OF VOLUME 1.

LIFE OF SMOLLETT.

Ir is rather a remarkable fact, that although there are few men who have contributed so much to the standard literature of England as the subject of these pages, yet of his life and history so little is generally known, notwithstanding he lived in a comparatively recent period, and has left us such plentiful materials wherewith to compose his biography. Our space will not permit any lengthened memoir, still it shall be as correct and concise as possible.

Tobias Smollett was born in the year 1721, and had the good fortune to open his eyes for the first time in one of the most romantic districts of Scotland, the Vale of Leven, situated between Dumbarton and Balloch, about three miles from Loch Lomond, and in the immediate neighbourhood of the fortresses of Cardross and Dumbarton, which had respectively given shelter to the two heroes of Scottish history, Robert Bruce and Wallace. Of Smollett's boyhood no anecdotes are handed down to us; but we are told that even at school he showed his love of ridicule and satire, by writing squibs against several of his companions. After passing some time at the school of Mr. John Lowe, at Dumbarton, he was removed to the University of Glasgow, and then declared his intention of devoting himself to the study of medicine; and it appears, by the college records, that he did so with more than the average amount of skill and industry; he therefore commenced his apprenticeship under the most favourable circumstances.

He was articled to Mr. John Gordon, a man of eminence in the surgical profession, and of considerable practice. Smollett's opinion of him in Humphrey Clinker testifies the high esteem in which he was held: he makes Bramble there say, "I was introduced to Mr. Gordon, a patriot of a truly noble spirit. Had he lived in ancient times, he would have been honoured with a statue at the public expense." During Smollett's apprenticeship to Mr. Gordon, he became celebrated among his friends as a keen satirist; and it was not only in satire that he exercised his talents, for before he was eighteen he had written the tragedy of The Regicide, founded upon the facts connected with the assassination of King James the First, in a convent near Perth. Soon after this, however, it was his misfortune to lose his grandfather, Sir James Smollett, who had been a most liberal friend and protector to him after the death of his father, who was Sir James's youngest son, but who had offended his family by marrying a lady without fortune. This loss was rendered doubly severe by Sir James having neglected to provide for him or his mother by any bequest; and thus being left without any means of support, he resolved, immediately the term of his apprenticeship was expired, to set out for London, and endeavour there to gain that independence of which he felt his talents worthy. All the wealth he possessed, on his arrival in London, was a plentiful supply of letters of introduction, and his tragedy of The Regicide, on the merits of which he rested his chief hopes of success. But all his efforts to bring it on the stage proved abortive; and he was finally compelled to seek some more substantial means of support than literature appeared then to offer him. Fortunately he had not much difficulty in obtaining the appointment of surgeon's mate on board a man-of-war, one of the fleet destined for the expedition to Carthagena; and we find that in 1741 he proceeded thither. The despotic control to which he was subject on board did not at all suit his temperament; and after a short period, being quite disgusted with his office, he resigned it, and took up his abode in Jamaica, where he resided until 1746, when he returned to England. During his residence there he formed an attachment to a Miss Lascelles, a lady of considerable personal attractions,

and the expectant heiress of some thousands of pounds. His unsettled situation prevented their immediate union, and it was to prepare for his marriage that he entered seriously, on his return to England, on his profession as a physician. But in this career he made little progress, owing, in all probability, to his endeavours after success in the literary world. Instead of requesting the aid of his friends to procure him a little practice, he employed all the interest he could claim to forward his measures with the manager of Drury Lane for the bringing out of The Regicide; and the poet was far more conspicuous than the physician in the eyes of his friends. This was rendered still further the case, by the publication, almost immediately after his return, of the little satire Advice, which was followed in the succeeding year by another, entitled Reproof. Previous to the publication of this last, he had produced the opera Alceste, which was to have been performed at Covent Garden; but before it could appear he had quarrelled with the manager, and directed against him in the Reproof some of the bitterest lines his pen could produce. This very imprudent step not only injured his character as a professional man, but also raised up for him numerous enemies in the very circles which it would have been his best policy to have carefully cultivated.

Notwithstanding all these disappointments, he married Miss Lascelles; and prudent as this step appeared, it turned out the very reverse. Miss Lascelles had the expectation of a fortune of three thousand pounds; and with this money our author had hoped to pursue his career under more favourable auspices; but, to his chagrin, he found that the right was disputed, and the expenses of the legal aid he was obliged to procure only added to his already serious embarrassments. Still his active and lively spirit was by no means subdued; and under the pressure of these difficulties, he set to work in quite a different sphere of literature, and in 1748 produced his first work of fiction, the novel of Roderic Random. Although Fielding was then enjoying the utmost popularity, Smollett threatened to divide with him the admiration of the public; and, notwithstanding the styles of the two novelists are so dissimilar, Lady Mary Wortley Montague ascribed Roderic Random, on its first appearance without a name, to Fielding; and in a letter to her daughter, the Countess of Bute, after praising it, she adds," I cannot think Ferdinand Fathom wrote by the same hand: it is every way so much below it." Still Lady Mary's mistake was not general, and the author had the pleasure of seeing his work crowned with complete success. It brought him both reputation and money, though far more of the former than the latter; and it gave him a degree of confidence in the patronage of the public.

But here again Smollett's unhappy fondness for his first love, the tragedy of The Regicide, interfered with his otherwise rising reputation. He, in place of committing it to the flames, as a boyish effort, condescended to solicit the public for a subscription to enable him to put it in print, and to bring it on the stage. The pains he took about this luckless tragedy forms one of the most amusing chapters in Smollett's life, and adds another to the many instances on record of the inability of an author to judge of the merits of his own productions. At last he was persuaded to reconsider its merits, and to new model the plan, which was imperfect and undigested before, and mould it into a regular tragedy, confined within the unities of the drama. It appears most inconsistent to find Smollett acknowledging this himself, after having for years regularly abused, in unmeasured terms, both managers and

patrons, for their want of taste in not risking the expense of bringing it before the public. Finally, after many disappointments, Smollet gave up the idea of seeing it ever on the stage, and vented his ill-humour in a vituperative address, which was only laughed at, and also by various remarks in Roderic Random, under the character of Mr. Melopoyn.

In the summer of the year following the publication of The Regicide, he made an excursion to Paris, and there became acquainted with many of the persons whom he afterwards described in Peregrine Pickle, which was published in 1751, with triumphant success, in spite of the numerous instances in which he gave way to personal resentment, by caricaturing many of the most estimable men of his day, and by the prostitution of his pen in inserting the Memoirs of a Lady of Quality. About this period he formed the idea of raising himself in his profession, and issued a work entitled An Essay on the External Use of Water, &c.; but although this added to his reputation as a man of science, it did not at all improve his practice: and he soon after took a house at Chelsea, and resolved on devoting himself entirely to the pursuits of literature, for which he was perhaps better qualified than any man of the age: his versatility of talents, and his experience of the world enabled him at once to seize on almost any subject, and treat it either humorously, sarcastically, or seriously in addition to this his genius was most inventive, and his imagination vigorous. Still his works are by no means equal. The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom, which he wrote at this time, was treated by the public with the contempt it merited; and the only wonder is, that the author of Roderic Random could have ever penned anything so disgusting and profligate as many of the scenes he there describes.

In the spring of 1755 Smollett published his translation of Don Quixote, which met with a very favourable reception from the public, partly from the fact that previously to commencing it, he had obtained a large subscription from his friends and the patrons of literature in general. After the completion of this work he determined on seeking a temporary relief from his incessant and laborious occupations; and he employed a brief holiday in visiting his mother, whom he had not seen since he left Scotland in 1741. She was then residing with her married daughter, Mrs. Telfer, at Scotston, in Peebleshire; and Smollett, anxious to increase the pleasure of their meeting, contrived a little surprise, by desiring his sister to say that he was a gentleman lately arrived from the West Indies, where he had known her son. For some time he kept an expression of gravity foreign to his nature, and succeeded in imposing upon his mother; but the instant he relaxed, and was unable to refrain from a smile, she flung her arms around him, exclaiming, in a tone of passionate joy and tenderness, "Ah! my son ! my son! I have found you at last!" She afterwards told him, that if he had continued to gloom, he might longer have escaped detection; but that his "old roguish smile betrayed him at once."

On his return to London he accepted the office of editor of The Critical Review, a periodical intended to

support the Tories against The Monthly Review, which had been commenced some years before, and by this step he was exposed to constant annoyances, arising from his intemperate and unguarded abuse of those he deemed his enemies. No serious consequences, however, arose from any of these attacks, until the year 1759, when he was prosecuted by Admiral Knowles, in consequence of an article in The Critical Review, casting aspersions on his character as a naval officer, for which Smollett was condemned to pay a fine of one hundred pounds, and be imprisoned for three months in the King's Bench. A short time previously to this he had published his History of England, which he prepared in the short space of fourteen months, and which will ever remain the most popular monument of his fame. Its elegance of style and accuracy of facts recommend it to all as a worthy continuation of Hume's masterly work, with which it is very universally associated. During his imprisonment he commenced Sir Launcelot Greaves; and in it detailed the history of his fellow-prisoner, the much to be pitied Theodore, King of Corsica. Unfortunately Smollett originally published it in detached portions for The British Magazine, which appeared monthly; and it is owing to this that the novel is so unconnected in style, and that the incidents narrated are of so capricious a character.

To

But in the year of 1763, while busily employed in his literary avocations, a heavy domestic calamity befell him -the loss of his only daughter, an amiable girl of fifteen, which tended to hasten the termination of his career. seek relief from the melancholy that now depressed his spirits, added to a complication of rheumatic disorders, he set out on a tour over the continent, and during three years visited different parts of France, Germany, and Italy. On his return he proceeded to Scotland, where he had again the happiness of seeing his mother, who was still alive. His journey having much improved his health, he resumed his old occupations; but after a time, being again attacked, he had no hopes of recovery except in a change of atmosphere. He proceeded to Leghorn with his wife, and in a village named Monte Novo, near that city, took up his abode. For some time he appeared to improve in health, and enjoyed sufficient ease to compose what many deem his best work, Humphrey Clinker, which appeared in 1771, and was attacked rather severely by the critics of the day. But in the October of the same year Smollett closed a career, from the celebrity of which their petty criticisms cannot detract any splendour.

His death happened in the fifty-first year of his age; yet from his personal appearance he might have been expected to enjoy a long and vigorous state of health. According to all accounts he was remarkably handsome, and his temper, although at times violent, was open and generous. The occasional coarseness of his style is to be lamented; but these were the faults of the age, and not of the man. Still, in spite of this great drawback, the fact that his works are even in the present day read and admired is in itself a proof of their great merits. In conclusion, it must be admitted that in variety of detail, and liveliness of description, he has never yet been equalled by any writer of his class.

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THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND,

BY TOBIAS SMOLLETT, M.D.

CHAPTER 1.

WILLIAM AND MARY.

State of the Nation immediately after the Revolution--Account of the new
Ministry-The Convention converted into a Parliament-Mutiny in the

Is chosen President--Letters to the Convention from King William and the Crown vacant, and pass an Act of settlement in favour of William and William, who receives it on the conditions they propose--Enumeration of

of Hamilton King's Commissioner--Prelacy abolished in that Kingdom

though he was created jure humano: and that, though the change proceeded from a republican spirit, the settlement was built upon tory maxims; for the execution of his government continued still independent of his Army-The Coronation, and abolition of Hearth-money-The Commons commission, while his own person remained sacred and vote a Sum of Money to indemnify the Dutch-William's Efforts in Favour inviolable. The prince of Orange had been invited to of the DissentersAct for a Toleration-Violent disputes about the Bill for a Comprehension-The Commons address the King to summon a Con- England by a coalition of parties, united by a common vocation of the Clergy-Settlement of the Revenue--The King takes Umbrage at the Proceedings of the Whig-party-Heats and Animosities sense of danger; but this tie was no sooner broken than about the Bill of Indemnity recommended by the King--Birth of the Duke of Gloucester-Affairs of the Continent-War declared against France- they flew asunder and each resumed its original bias. Proceedings in the Convention of Scotland, of which the Duke of Hamilton Their mutual jealousy and rancour revived, and was King James They recognise the authority of King William They vote heated by dispute into intemperate zeal and enthusiasm. Mary-They appoint Commissioners to make a Tender of the Crown to Those who at first acted from principles of patriotism their Grievances The Convention is declared a Parliament, and the Duke were insensibly warmed into partizans; and king WilThe Scots dissatisfied with the King's Conduct-Violent disputes in the liam soon found himself at the head of a faction. As Scotch Parliament which is adjourned-A Remonstrance presented to he had been bred a Calvinist, and always expressed the King--The Castle of Edinburgh besieged and taken--The Troops of King William defeated at Killycrankie-King James cordially received by an abhorrence of spiritual persecution, the presbyterthe French King--Tyrconnel temporizes with King William-James arrives in Ireland Issues five Proclamations at Dublin-Siege of London-ians, and other protestant dissenters, considered him derry--The Inhabitants defend themselves with surprising Courage and Perseverance Cruelty of Rosene, the French General-The Place is re- as their peculiar protector, and entered into his interests with the most zealous fervour and assiduity. For the same reasons the friends of the church became jealous of his proceedings, and employed all their influence, first in opposing his elevation to the throne, and afterwards in thwarting his measures. Their party was espoused by all the friends of the lineal succession; by the Roman catholics; by those who were personally attached to the late king; and by such as were disgusted by the conduct and personal deportment of William since his arrival in England. They observed, That,

lieved by Kirke-The Inniskilliners defeat and take General Maccarty. Meeting of the Irish Parliament--They repeal the Act of SettlementPass an Act of Attainder against Absentees--James coins base Money.

The Protestants of Ireland cruelly oppressed Their Churches are seized by the Catholics, and they are forbid to assemble on pain of Death

Admiral Herbert worsted by the French Fleet in an Engagement near Bantry-bay-Divers Sentences and Attainders reversed in Parliament-

Inquiry into the Cause of Miscarriages in Ireland-Bills passed in this

Session of Parliament.

STATE OF THE NATION IMMEDIATELY

AFTER THE REVOLUTION.

HE constitution of England had now assumed

1689. The constitutie of he maxim of hereditary in- contrary to his declaration, he had plainly aspired to

the crown; and treated his father-in-law with insolence and rigour; that his army contained a number of foreign papists, almost equal to that of the English Roman catholics whom James had employed; that the reports so industriously circulated about the birth of the prince of Wales, the treaty with France for enslaving England, and the murder of the earl of Essex-reports countenanced by the prince of Orange-now appeared to be without foundation; that the Dutch troops remained in London, while the English forces were distributed in

be kept about his person, and the latter sent to Ireland; that the two houses out of complaisance to William, had denied their late sovereign the justice of being heard in his own defence; and that the Dutch had lately interfered with the trade of London, which was already sensibly diminished. These were the sources of discontent, swelled up by the resentment of some noblemen and other individuals, disappointed in their hopes of profit and preferment.

defeisible right was at length renounced by a free parliament. The power of the crown was acknowledged to flow from no other fountain than that of a contract with the people. Allegiance and protection were declared reciprocal ties depending upon each other. The representatives of the nation made a regular claim of rights in behalf of their constituents; and William III. ascended the throne in consequence of an express capitulation with the people. Yet, on this occasion, the zeal of the parliament towards their deliverer seems to have overshot their attachment to their own liberty and privi-remote quarters; that the prince declared the first should leges: or at least they neglected the fairest opportunity that ever occurred, to retrench those prerogatives of the crown to which they imputed all the late and former calamities of the kingdom. Their new monarch retained the old regal power over parliaments in its full extent. He was left at liberty to convoke, adjourn, prorogue, and dissolve them at his pleasure. He was enabled to influence elections, and oppress corporations. He possessed the right of choosing his own council; of nominating all the great officers of the state, and-of the household, of the army, the navy, and the church. He reserved the absolute command of the militia: so that he remained master of all the instruments and engines William began his reign with a proclamation, for of corruption and violence, without any other restraint confirming all protestants in the offices which they exthan his own moderation, and prudent regard to the joyed on the first day of December; then he chose the claim of rights, and principle of resistance on which the members of his council, who were generally staunch to revolution was founded. In a word, the settlement was finished with some precipitation, before the plan had been properly digested and matured; and this will be the case in every establishment formed upon a sudden emergency in the face of opposition. It was observed, that the king, who was made by the people, had it in his power to rule without them; to govern jure divino VOL. II.

ACCOUNT OF THE NEW MINISTRY.

his interest, except the archbishop of Canterbury and the earl of Nottingham, [See note A, at the end of this Vol.] and these were admitted in complaisance to the church-party, which it was not thought adviseable to provoke. Nottingham and Shrewsbury were appointed secretaries of state; the privy-seal was bestowed upon the marquis of Halifax; the earl of Dauby was created

B

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