THE

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

BOOK I.

CHAPTER I.

§ I. State of the nation immediately after the Revolution. § II. Account of the new Ministry. § III. The Convention converted into a Parliament. § IV. Mutiny in the army. § V. The Coronation, and abolition of hearth money. § VI. The Commons vote a sum of money to indemnify the Dutch. § VII. William's efforts in favour of the Dissenters. § VIII. Act for a toleration.

IX. Violent disputes about the bill for a comprehension. X. The Commons address the King to summon a convocation of the clergy. XI. Settlement of the revenue. S XII. The King takes umbrage at the proceedings of the Whig party. § XIII. Heats and animosities about the bill of indemnity recommended by the King. § XIV. Birth of the Duke of Gloucester. § XV. Affairs of the continent. § XVI. War declared against France. § XVII. Proceedings in the Convention of Scotland, of which the Duke of Hamilton is chosen president. § XVIII. Letters to the Convention from King William and King James. § XIX. They recognise the authority of King William. § XX. They vote the crown vacant, and pass an act of Settlement in favour of William and Mary. § XXI. They appoint commissioners to make a tender of the crown to William, who receives it on the conditions they propose. § XXII. Enumeration of their grievances. The Convention is declared a Parliament, and the Duke of Hamilton King's commissioner. § XXIII. VOL. I.

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Prelacy abolished in that kingdom. The Scots dissatisfied with the King's conduct. § XXIV. Violent disputes in the Scottish Parliament. § XXV. Which is adjourned. A remonstrance presented to the King. § XXVI. The castle of Edinburgh besieged and taken. § XXVII. The troops of King William defeated at Killycrankie. § XXVIII. King James cordially received by the French King. § XXIX. Tyrconnel temporizes with King William. § XXX. James arrives in Ireland. § XXXI, Issues five proclamations at Dublin. § XXXII, Siege of Londonderry. § XXXIII. The inhabitants defend themselves with surprising courage and perseverance. § XXXIV. Cruelty of Rosene, the French general. § XXXV. The Place is relieved by Kirke. § XXXVI. The Inniskilliners defeat and take General Maccarty. XXXVII. Meeting of the Irish Parlia§ XXXVIII. They repeal the act of settlement. $ XXXIX. Pass an act of attainder against absentees. XL. James coins base money. The Protestants of Ireland cruelly oppressed. § XLI. Their churches are seized by the Catholics, and they are forbid to assemble on pain of death. § XLII. Admiral Herbert worsted by the French fleet, in an engagement near Bantry bay.

ment.

XLIII. Divers sentences, and attainders reversed in parliament. § XLIV. Inquiry into the cause of miscarriages in Ireland. § XLV. Bills passed in this session of parliament.

§ I. THE constitution of England had now assumed a new aspect. The maxim of hereditary, indefeasible 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 privileges: 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 of corruption and violence, without any other restraint than his own moderation, and prudent regard to the claim of rights, and principle of resistance, on which the 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, 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 commission, while his own person remained sacred and inviolable. The prince of Orange had been invited to England by a coalition of parties, united by a common sense of danger: but this tie was no sooner broken than they flew asunder, and each resumed its original bias. Their mutual jealousy and rancour revived, and was heated by dispute into intemperate zeal and enthusiasm. Those who at first acted from principles of patriotism were insensibly warmed into partisans; and king William soon found himself at the head of a faction. As he had been bred a calvinist, and always expressed an abhorrence of spiritual persecution, the presbyterians, and other protestant dissenters, considered him 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 proceed

ings, 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, contrary to his declaration, he had plainly aspired to the crown; and treated his father-inlaw 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 remote quarters: That the prince declared the first should 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.

II. William began his reign with a proclamation,a for confirming all protestants in the offices which they enjoyed on the first day of December: then he chose the members of his council, who were generally staunch to his interest, except the archbishop of Canterbury and the earl of Nottingham, and these were admitted in complaisance to the church party, which it was not thought advisable to provoke. Nottingham and Shrewsbury were appointed

a Somers's Collection. Reresby. Burnet. b The council consisted of the prince of Denmark, the archbishop of Canterbury, the duke of Norfolk, the marquises of Halifax and Winchester, the earls of Danby, Lindsey, Devonshire, Dorset, Middlesex, Oxford, Shrewsbury, Bedford, Bath, Macclesfield, and Nottingham; the viscounts Fauconberg, Mordaunt, Newport Lumley; the lords Wharton, Montagu, Delamere, Churchill; Mr. Bentinck, Mr. Sidney, sir Robert Howard, sir Henry Capel, Mr. Powle, Mr. Russel, Mr. Hambden, and Mr. Boscawen.

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secretaries of state: the privy seal was bestowed upon the marquis of Halifax: the earl of Danby was created president of the council. These two noblemen enjoyed a good share of the king's confidence, and Nottingham was considerable, as head of the church party: but the chief favourite was Bentinck, first commoner on the list of privy counsellors, as well as groom of the stole and privy purse. D'Auverquerque was made master of the horse, Zuylestein of the robes, and Schomberg of the ordnance: the treasury, admiralty, and chancery were put in commission; twelve able judges were chosen ; and the diocese of Salisbury being vacated by the death of Dr. Ward, the king, of his own free motion, filled it with Burnet, who had been a zealous stickler for his interest; and, in a particular manner, instrumental in effecting the revolution. Sancroft, archbishop of Canterbury, refused to consecrate this ecclesiastic, though the reasons of his refusal are not specified; but, being afraid of incurring the penalties of a premunire, he granted a commission to the bishop of London, and three other suffragans, to perform that ceremony. Burnet was a prelate of some parts, and great industry; moderate in his notions of church discipline, inquisitive, meddling, vain, and credulous. In consequence of having incurred the displeasure of the late king, he had retired to the continent, and fixed his residence in Holland, where he was naturalized, and attached himself to the interest of the prince of Orange, who consulted him about the affairs of England. He assisted in drawing up the prince's manifesto, and wrote some other papers and pamphlets in defence of his design. He was demanded of the States, by the English ambassador, as a British fugitive, outlawed by king James, and excepted in the act of indemnity: nevertheless, he came over with William, in quality of his chaplain; and, by his intrigues, contributed in some measure to the success of that expedition. The principal individuals that composed this ministry have been characterized in the history of the preceding reigns. We have had occasion to mention the fine talents, the vivacity, the flexibility of Halifax; the plausibility, the

e Sir John Holt was appointed lord chief justice of the king's bench, and sir Henry Pollexfen of the common pleas; the earl of Devonshire was made lord steward of the household, and the earl of Dorset lord chamberlain.-Ralph.