THE KING’S LAST SPEECH TO BOTH HOUSES.
Never did the two parties proceed with such heat and violence against each other, as in their endeavours to influence the new elections. The whigs, however, obtained the victory, as they included the monied-interest, which will always prevail among the borough electors. Corruption was now reduced into an open and avowed commerce; and, had not the people been so universally venal and profligate that no sense of shame remained, the victors must have blushed for their success. Though the majority thus obtained was staunch to the measures of the court, the choice of speaker fell upon Mr. Harley, contrary to the inclination of the king, who favoured sir Thomas Lyttleton; but his majesty’s speech was received with universal applause. It was so much admired by the well-wishers to the revolution, that they printed it with decorations in the English, Dutch, and French languages. It appeared as a piece of furniture in all their houses, and as the king’s last legacy to his own and all protestant people. In this celebrated harangue, he expatiated upon the indignity offered to the nation by the French king’s acknowledging the pretended prince of Wales; he explained the dangers to which it was exposed by his placing his grandson on the throne of Spain; he gave them to understand he had concluded several alliances according to the encouragement given him by both houses of parliament, which alliances should be laid before them, together with other treaties still depending. He observed, that the eyes of all Europe were upon this parliament; and all matters at a stand until their resolution should be known: therefore no time ought to be lost. He told them they had yet an opportunity to secure for themselves and their posterity the quiet enjoyment of their religion and liberties, if they were not wanting to themselves, but would exert the ancient vigour of the English nation; but he declared his opinion was that should they neglect this occasion, they had no reason to hope for another. He said it would be necessary to maintain a great strength at sea, and a force on land proportionable to that of their allies. He pressed the commons to support the public credit, which could not be preserved without keeping sacred that maxim, That they shall never be losers who trust to the parliamentary security. He declared that he never asked aids from his people without regret; that what he desired was for their own safety and honour at such a critical time; and that the whole should be appropriated to the purposes for which it was intended. He expressed his willingness that the accounts should be yearly submitted to the inspection of parliament. He again recommended despatch, together with good bills for employing the poor, encouraging trade, and suppressing vice. He expressed his hope that they were come together determined to avoid disputes and differences, and to act with a hearty concurrence for promoting the common cause. He said he should think it as great a blessing as could befal England, if they were as much inclined to lay aside those unhappy fatal animosities which divided and weakened them, as he was disposed to make all his subjects safe and easy, even as to the highest offences committed against his person. He conjured them to disappoint the hopes of their enemies by their unanimity. As he had always shown, and always would show, how desirous he was to be the common father of all his people, he desired they would lay aside parties and divisions, so as that no distinction should be heard of amongst them, but of those who were friends to the protestant religion and present establishment, and of those who wished for a popish prince and a French government. He concluded by affirming, that if they in good earnest desired to see England hold the balance of Europe, and be indeed at the head of the protestant interest, it would appear by their improving the present opportunity, The lords immediately drew up a warm and affectionate address, in which they expressed their resentment of the proceedings of the French king in owning the pretended prince of Wales for king of England. They assured his majesty they would assist him to the utmost of their power against all his enemies: and when it should please God to deprive them of his majesty’s protection, they would vigorously assist and defend against the pretended prince of Wales, and all other pretenders whatsoever, every person and persons who had right to succeed to the crown of England by virtue of the acts of parliament for establishing and limiting the succession. On the fifth day of January. an address to the same effect was presented by the commons, and both met with a very gracious reception from his majesty. The lords, as a further proof of their zeal, having taken into consideration the dangers that threatened Europe, from the accession of the duke of Anjou to the crown of Spain, drew up another address explaining their sense of that danger; stigmatizing the French king as a violator of treaties; declaring their opinion that his majesty, his subjects, and allies, could never be safe and secure until the house of Austria should be restored to their rights, and the invader of the Spanish monarchy brought to reason; and assuring his majesty that no time should be lost, nor any thing wanting on their parts, which might answer the reasonable expectations of their friends abroad; not doubting but to support the reputation of the English name, when engaged under so great a prince, in the glorious cause of maintaining the liberty of Europe.
The king, in order to awake the confidence of the commons, ordered Mr. secretary Vernon to lay before them copies of the treaties and conventions he had lately concluded, which were so well approved that the house unanimously voted the supply. By another vote they authorized the exchequer to borrow six hundred thousand pounds at six per cent, for the service of the fleet, and fifty thousand pounds for the subsistence of guards and garrisons. They deliberated upon the state of the navy, with the debt due upon it, and examined an estimate of what would be necessary for extraordinary repairs. They called for an account of that part of the national debt for which no provision had been made. The ordered the speaker to write to the trustees for the forfeited estates in Ireland, to attend the house with a full detail of their proceedings in the execution of that act of parliament. On the ninth day of January, they unanimously resolved, That leave be given to bring in a bill for securing his majesty’s person, and the succession of the crown in the protestant line, for extinguishing the hopes of the pretended prince of Wales, and all other pretenders, and their open and secret abettors. They resolved to address his majesty that he would insert an article in all his treaties of alliance, importing, That no peace should be made with France until his majesty and the nation have reparation for the great indignity offered by the French king, in owning and declaring the pretended prince of Wales king of England, Scotland, and Ireland. They agreed to maintain forty thousand men for the sea service, and a like number by land, to act in conjunction with the forces of the allies, according to the proportions settled by the contracting powers. The supplies were raised by an imposition of four shillings in the pound upon lands, annuities, pensions, and stipends, and on the profits arising from the different professions; by a tax of two and one-half per cent, on all stock in trade and money at interest; of five shillings in the pound on all salaries, fees, and perquisites; a capitation tax of four shillings; an imposition of one per cent, on all shares in the capital stock of any corporation or company which should be bought, sold, or bargained for; a duty of sixpence per bushel on malt, and a farther duty on mum, cyder, and perry.
THE BILL OF ABJURATION PASSED.
The commons seemed to vie with the lords in their zeal for the government. They brought in a bill for attainting the pretended prince of Wales, which being sent up to the other house, passed with an additional clause of attainder against the queen, who acted as regent for the pretender. This however was not carried without great opposition in the house of lords. When the bill was sent back to the commons, they excepted to the amendment as irregular. They observed that attainders by bill constituted the most rigorous part of the law; and that the stretching of it ought to be avoided. They proposed that the queen should be attainted by a separate bill. The lords assented to the proposal; and the bill against the pretended prince of Wales passed. The lords passed another for attainting the queen; however it was neglected in the house of commons. But the longest and warmest debates of this session were produced by a bill, which the lords brought in, for abjuring the pretended prince of Wales, and swearing to the king by the title of rightful and lawful king, and his heirs, according to the act of settlement. It was proposed that this oath should be voluntary, tendered to all persons, and their subscription or refusal recorded without any other penalty. This article was violently opposed by the earl of Nottingham, and the other lords of the tory interest. They observed, that the government was first settled with another oath, which was like an original contract; so that there was no occasion for a new imposition; that oaths relating to men’s opinions had been always considered as severe impositions; and that a voluntary oath was in its own nature unlawful. During these disputes, another bill of abjuration was brought into the house of commons by sir Charles Hedges, that should be obligatory on all persons who enjoyed employments in church or state; it likewise included an obligation to maintain the government in king, lords, and commons, and to maintain the church of England, together with the toleration for dissenters. Warm debates arose upon the question, Whether the oath should be imposed or voluntary; and at length it was carried for imposition by the majority of one voice. They agreed to insert an additional clause, declaring it equally penal to compass or imagine the death of her royal highness the princess Anne of Denmark, as it was to compass or imagine the death of the king’s eldest son and heir. In the house of peers this bill was strenuously opposed by the tories; and when, after long debates, it passed on the twenty-fourth day of February, ten lords entered a protest against it, as an unnecessary and severe imposition.
The whole nation now seemed to join in the cry for a war with France. Party heats began to abate; the factions in the city of London were in a great measure moderated by the union of the two companies trading to the East Indies, which found their mutual interest required a coalition. The tories in the house of commons having concurred so heartily with the inclinations of the people, resolved, as far it lay in their power, to justify the conduct of their party in the preceding parliament. They complained of some petitions and addresses which had reflected upon the proceedings of the last house of commons, and particularly of the Kentish petition. The majority, however, determined that it was the undoubted right of the people of England to petition or address the king for the calling, sitting, or dissolving of parliaments, and for the redressing of grievances; and that every subject under any accusation, either by impeachment or otherwise, had a right to be brought to a speedy trial. A complaint being likewise made that the lords had denied the commons justice in the matter of the late impeachments, a furious debate ensued; and it was carried by a very small majority that justice had not been denied. In some points, however, they succeeded: in the case of a controverted election at Maidstone, between Thomas Blisse and Thomas Culpepper, the house resolved, That the latter had been not only guilty of corrupt, scandalous, and indirect practices, in endeavouring to procure himself to be elected a burgess, but likewise being one of the instruments in promoting and presenting the scandalous, insolent, and seditious petition, commonly called the Kentish petition, to the last house of commons, was guilty of promoting a scandalous, villainous, and groundless reflection upon that house, by aspersing the members with receiving French money, or being in the interest of France; for which offence he was ordered to be committed to Newgate, and to be prosecuted by his majesty’s attorney-general. They also resolved, That to assert that the house of commons is not the only representative of the commons of England, tends to the subversion of the rights and privileges of the house of commons, and the fundamental constitution of the government of this kingdom; that to assert that the house of commons have no power of commitment, but of their own members, tends to the subversion of the constitution of the house of commons; that to print or publish any books or libels reflecting upon the proceedings of the house of commons, or any member thereof, for or relating to his service therein, is a high violation of the rights and privileges of the house of commons. Notwithstanding these transactions, they did not neglect the vigorous prosecution of the war. They addressed his majesty to interpose with his allies that they might increase their quotas of land forces, to be put on board the fleet in proportion to the numbers his majesty should embark. When they had settled the sums appropriated to the several uses of the war, they presented a second address desiring he would provide for the half-pay officers in the first place, in the recruits and levies to be made. The king assured them it was always his intention to provide for those officers. He went to the house of peers and gave the royal assent to an act appointing commissioners to take, examine, and determine the debts due to the army, navy, and the transport service; and also to take an account of prizes taken during the war.
AFFAIRS OF IRELAND.
The affairs of Ireland were not a little embarrassed by the conduct of the trustees appointed to take cognizance of the forfeited estates. Their office was extremely odious to the people as well as to the court, and their deportment was arbitrary and imperious. Several individuals of that kingdom, provoked by the insolence of the trustees on one hand, and encouraged by the countenance of the courtiers on the other, endeavoured by a circular letter to spirit up the grand jury of Ireland against the act of resumption: petitions were presented to the king, couched in very strong terms, affirming that it was injurious to the protestant interest, and had been obtained by gross misinformations. The king having communicated these addresses to the house, they were immediately voted scandalous, false, and groundless; and the commons resolved, That notwithstanding the complaints and clamours against the trustees, it did not appear to the house but those complaints were groundless; nevertheless they afterwards received several petitions imploring relief against the said act; and they ordered that the petitioners should be relieved accordingly. Proposals were delivered in for incorporating such as should purchase the said forfeitures, on certain terms therein specified, according to the rent-roll, when verified and made good to the purchasers; but whereas in this rent-roll the value of the estates had been estimated at something more than seven hundred and sixteen thousand pounds, those who undertook to make the purchase affirmed they were not worth five hundred thousand pounds; and thus the affair remained in suspense.
THE KING RECOMMENDS AN UNION.
With respect to Scotland, the clamours of that kingdom had not yet subsided. When the bill of abjuration passed in the house of peers, the earl of Nottingham had declared that although he differed in opinion from the majority in many particulars relating to that bill, yet he was a friend to the design of it; and in order to secure a protestant succession, he thought an union of the whole island was absolutely necessary. He therefore moved for an address to the king that he would dissolve the parliament of Scotland now sitting, as the legality of it might be called in question, on account of its having been originally a convention; and that a new parliament should be summoned that they might treat about an union of the two kingdoms. The king had this affair so much to heart, that even when he was disabled from going to the parliament in person, he sent a letter to the commons expressing an eager desire that a treaty for this purpose might be set on foot, and earnestly recommending this affair to the consideration of the house; but as a new parliament in Scotland could not be called without a great risk, while the nation was in such a ferment, the project was postponed to a more favourable opportunity.
HE FALLS FROM HIS HORSE.
Before the king’s return from Holland, he had concerted with his allies the operations of the ensuing campaign. He had engaged in a negotiation with the prince of Hesse D’Armstadt, who assured him that if he would besiege and take Cadiz, the admiral of Castile, and divers other grandees of Spain, would declare for the house of Austria. The allies had also determined upon the siege of Keyserswaert, which the elector of Cologn had delivered into the hands of the French; the elector of Hanover had resolved to disarm the princes of Wolfenbuttle; the king of the Romans, and prince Louis of Baden, undertook to invest Landau; and the emperor promised to send a powerful reinforcement to prince Eugene in Italy; but William did not live to see these schemes put in execution. His constitution was by this time almost exhausted, though he endeavoured to conceal the effects of his malady, and to repair his health by exercise. On the twenty-first day of February, in riding to Hampton-court from Kensington, his horse fell under him, and he himself was thrown upon the ground with such violence as produced a fracture in his collar-bone. His attendants conveyed him to the palace of Hampton-court, where the fracture was reduced by Ronjat, his sergeant-surgeon. In the evening he returned to Kensington in his coach, and the two ends of the fractured bone having been disunited by the jolting of the carriage, were replaced under the inspection of Bidloo, his physician. He seemed to be in a fair way of recovering till the first day of March, when his knee appeared to be inflamed, with great pain and weakness. Next day he granted a commission under the great seal to several peers, for passing the bills to which both houses of parliament had agreed; namely, the act of attainder against the pretended prince of Wales, and another in favour of the quakers, enacting, That their solemn affirmation and declaration should be accepted instead of an oath in the usual form.
WILLIAM, 1688-1701.
HIS DEATH AND CHARACTER.
On the fourth day of March the king was so well recovered of his lameness that he took several turns in the gallery at Kensington; but sitting down on a couch where he fell asleep, he was seized with a shivering, which terminated in a fever and diarrhoea. He was attended by sir Thomas Millington, sir Richard Black-more, sir Theodore Colledon, Dr. Bidloo, and other eminent physicians; but their prescriptions proved ineffectual. On the sixth he granted another commission for passing the bill for the malt tax, and the act of abjuration; and being so weak that he could not write his name, he, in presence of the lord-keeper and the clerks of parliament, applied a stamp prepared for the purpose. The earl of Albemarle arriving from Holland, conferred with him in private on the posture of affairs abroad; but he received his informations with great coldness, and said, “Je tire vers ma fin—I approach the end of my life.” In the evening he thanked Dr. Bidloo for his care and tenderness, saying, “I know that you and the other learned physicians have done all that your art can do for my relief; but, finding all means ineffectual, I submit.” He received spiritual consolation from archbishop Tennison, and Burnet bishop of Salisbury; on Sunday morning the sacrament was administered to him. The lords of the privy-council and divers noblemen attended in the adjoining apartments, and to some of them who were admitted he spoke a little. He thanked lord Auverquerque for his long and faithful services; he delivered to lord Albemarle the keys of his closet and scrutoire, telling him he knew what to do with them. He inquired for the earl of Portland; but being speechless before that nobleman arrived, he grasped his hand and laid it to his heart, with marks of the most tender affection. On the eighth day of March he expired, in the fifty-second year of his age, after having reigned thirteen years. The lords Lexington and Scarborough, who were in waiting, no sooner perceived that the king was dead, than they ordered Ronjat to untie from his left arm a black ribbon, to which was affixed a ring containing some hair of the late queen Mary. The body being opened and embalmed, lay in state for some time at Kensington; and on the twelfth day of April was deposited in a vault of Henry’s chapel in Westminster-abbey. In the beginning of May, a will which he had intrusted with Monsieur Schuylemberg was opened at the Hague. In this he had declared his cousin prince Frison of Nassau, stadtholder of Friesland, his sole and universal heir, and appointed the states-general his executors. By a codicil annexed, he had bequeathed the lordship of Breevert, and a legacy of two hundred thousand guilders, to the earl of Albemarle.
William III. was in his person of the middle stature, a thin body, a delicate constitution, subject to an asthma and continual cough from his infancy. He had an aquiline nose, sparkling eyes, a large forehead, and a grave solemn aspect. He was very sparing of speech; his conversation was dry, and his manner disgusting, except in battle, when his deportment was free, spirited, and animating. In courage, fortitude, and equanimity, he rivalled the most eminent warriors of antiquity; and his natural sagacity made amends for the defects in his education, which had not been properly superintended. He was religious, temperate, generally just and sincere, a stranger to violent transports of passion, and might have passed for one of the best princes of the age in which he lived, had he never ascended the throne of Great Britain. But the distinguishing criterion of his character was ambition. To this he sacrificed the punctilios of honour and decorum, in deposing his own father-in-law and uncle; and this he gratified at the expense of the nation that raised him to sovereign authority. He aspired to the honour of acting as umpire in all the contests of Europe; and the second object of his attention was the prosperity of that country to which he owed his birth and extraction. Whether he really thought the interests of the continent and Great Britain were inseparable, or sought only to drag England into the confederacy as a convenient ally, certain it is he involved these kingdoms in foreign connexions which in all probability will be productive of their ruin. In order to establish this favourite point, he scrupled not to employ all the engines of corruption by which the morals of the nation were totally debauched. He procured a parliamentary sanction for a standing army, which now seems to be interwoven in the constitution. He introduced the pernicious practice of borrowing upon remote funds; an expedient that necessarily hatched a brood of usurers, brokers, contractors, and stock-jobbers, to prey upon the vitals of their country. He entailed upon the nation a growing debt, and a system of politics big with misery, despair, and destruction. To sum up his character in a few words—William was a fatalist in religion, indefatigable in war, enterprising in politics, dead to all the warm and generous emotions of the human heart, a cold relation, an indifferent husband, a disagreeable man, an ungracious prince, and an imperious sovereign.
NOTES:
001 (return)
[ Note A, p. 1. 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, Montague, Delamere,
Churchill; Mr. Bentinck, Mr. Sidney, sir Robert Howard, sir Henry Capel,
Mr. Powle, Mr. Russel, Mr. Hambden, and Mr. Boseawen.]
002 (return)
[ Note B, p. 2. This
expedient was attended with an insurmountable absurdity. If the majority
of the convention could not grant a legal sanction to the establishment
they had made, they could never invest the prince of Orange with a just
right to ascend the throne; for they could not give what they had no right
to bestow; and if he ascended the throne without a just title, he could
have no right to sanctify that assembly to which he owed his elevation.
When the people are obliged, by tyranny or other accidents, to have
recourse to the first principles of society, namely, their own
preservation, in electing a new sovereign, it will deserve consideration,
whether that choice is to be effected by the majority of a parliament
which has been dissolved, indeed by any parliament whatsoever, or by the
body of the nation assembled in communities, corporations, by tribes or
centuries, to signify their assent or dissent with respect to the person
proposed as their sovereign. This kind of election might be attended with
great inconvenience and difficulty, but these cannot possibly be avoided
when the constitution is dissolved by setting aside the lineal succession
to the throne. The constitution of England is founded on a parliament
consisting of kings, lords, and commons; but when there is no longer a
king, the parliament is defective, and the constitution impaired: the
members of the lower house are the representatives of the people,
expressly chosen to maintain the constitution in church and state, and
sworn to support the rights of the crown, as well as the liberties of the
nation; but though they are elected to maintain, they have no power to
alter, the constitution. When the king forfeits the allegiance of his
subjects, and it becomes necessary to dethrone him, the power of so doing
cannot possibly reside in the representatives who are chosen, under
certain limitations, for the purposes of a legislature which no longer
exists; their power is of course at an end, and they are reduced to a
level with other individuals that constitute the community. The right of
altering the constitution, therefore, or of deviating from the established
practice of inheritance in regard to the succession of the crown, is
inherent in the body of the people; and every individual has an equal
right to his share in the general determination, whether his opinion be
signified viva voce, or by a representative whom he appoints and
instructs for that purpose. It may be suggested, that the prince of Orange
was raised to the throne without any convulsion, or any such difficulties
and inconveniencies as we have affirmed to be the necessary consequences
of a measure of that nature. To this remark we answer, that, since the
Revolution, these kingdoms have been divided and harassed by violent and
implacable factions, that eagerly seek the destruction of each other: that
they have been exposed to plots, conspiracies, insurrections, civil wars,
and successive rebellions, which have not been defeated and quelled
without vast effusion of blood, infinite mischief, calamity, and expense
to the nation: that they are still subjected to all those alarms and
dangers which are engendered by a disputed title to the throne, and the
efforts of an artful pretenders that they are necessarily wedded to the
affairs of the continent, and their interest sacrificed to foreign
connexions, from which they can never be disengaged. Perhaps all these
calamities might have been prevented by the interposition of the prince of
Orange. King James, without forfeiting the crown, might have been laid
under such restrictions that it would not have been in his power to
tyrannize over his subjects, either in spirituals or temporals. The power
of the militia might have been vested in the two houses of parliament, as
well as the nomination of persons to fill the great offices of the church
and state, and superintend the economy of the administration in the
application of the public money; a law might have passed for annual
parliaments, and the king might have been deprived of his power to
convoke, adjourn, prorogue, and dissolve them at his pleasure. Had these
measures been taken, the king must have been absolutely disabled from
employing either force or corruption in the prosecution of arbitrary
designs, and the people must have been fairly represented in a rotation of
parliaments, whose power and influence would have been but of one year’s
duration.]
003 (return)
[ Note C, p. 3. The new
form of the coronation-oath consisted in the following questions and
answers:—“Will you solemnly promise and swear to govern the people
of this kingdom of England, and the dominions thereto belonging, according
to the statutes in parliament agreed on, and the laws and customs of the
same?”—“I solemnly promise so to do.”
“Will you, to the
utmost of your power, cause law and justice in mercy to be executed in all
your judgments?” “I will.” “Will You, to the utmost of your power,
maintain the laws of God, the true profession of the Gospel, and the
Protestant reformed religion as by law established; and will you preserve
unto the bishops and clergy of this realm, and to the churches committed
to their charge, all such rights and privileges as by law do or shall
appertain unto them or any of them?”—“All this I promise to do.”
Then the king or queen, laying his or her hand upon the
Gospels, shall say, “The things which I have here before promised, I will
perform and keep. So help me God.”]
008 (return)
[ Note D, p. 8. The lords
of the articles, by the gradual usurpation of the crown, actually
constituted a grievance intolerable in a free nation. The king empowered
the commissioner to choose eight bishops, whom he authorized to nominate
eight noblemen: these together choose eight barons and eight burgesses;
and this whole number, in conjunction with the officers of state as
supernumeraries, constituted the lords of the articles. This committee
possessed the sole exclusive right and liberty of bringing in motions,
making overtures for redressing wrongs, and proposing means and expedients
for the relief and benefit of the subjects.—Proceedings of the
Scots Parliament vindicated.]
010 (return)
[ Note E, p. 10. James in
this expedition was attended by the duke of Berwick, and by his brother
Mr. Fitzjames, grand prior, the duke of Powis, the earls of Dover,
Melfort, Abercorn, and Seaforth; the lords Henry and Thomas Howard, the
lords Drummond, Dungan, Trendrauglit, Buchan, Hunsdon, and Brittas; the
bishops of Chester and Galway; the late lord chief justice Herbert; the
marquis d’Estrades, M. de Rosene, mareschal decamp; Mamoe, Pusignan, and
Lori, lieutenant-general; Prontee, engineer-general; the marquis
d’Albeville, sir John Sparrow, sir Roger Strictland, sir William Jennings,
sir Henry Bond, sir Charles Carney, sir Edward Vaudrey, sir Charles
Murray, sir Robert Parker, sir Alphonso Maiolo, sir Samuel Foxon, and sir
William Wallis; by the colonels Porter, Sarsfield, Anthony and John
Hamilton, Simon and Henry Luttrel, Ramsay, Dorrington, Sutherland,
Clifford, Parker, Parcel, Cannon, and Fielding, with about two-and-twenty
other officers of inferior rank.]
016 (return)
[ F, p. 16. The
franchises were privileges of asylum, annexed not only to the ambassadors
at Rome, but even to the whole district in which any ambassador chanced to
live. This privilege was become a terrible nuisance, inasmuch as it
afforded protection to the most atrocious criminals, who filled the city
with rapine and murder. Innocent XI. resolving to remove this evil,
published a bull, abolishing the franchises; and almost all the catholic
powers of Europe acquiesced in what he had done, upon being duly informed
of the grievance. Louis XIV. however, from a spirit of pride and
insolence, refused to part with anything that looked like a prerogative of
his crown. He said the king of France was not the imitator, but a pattern
and example for other princes. He rejected with disdain the mild
representations of the pope; he sent the marquis de Lavarden as his
ambassador to Rome, with a formidable train, to insult Innocent even in
his own city. That nobleman swaggered through the streets of Rome like a
bravo, taking all opportunities to affront the pope, who excommunicated
him in revenge. On the other hand, the parliament of Paris appealed from
the pope’s bull to a future council. Louis caused the pope’s nuncio to be
put under arrest, took possession of Avignon, which belonged to the see of
Rome, and set the holy father at defiance.]
021 (return)
[G, p. 21. The following
persons were exempted from the benefit of this act:—William, marquis
of Powis; Theophilus, earl of Huntingdon; Robert, earl of Sunderland;
John, earl of Melfort; Roger, earl of Castlemain; Nathaniel, lord bishop
of Durham; Thomas, lord bishop of Saint David’s; Henry, lord Dover; lord
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
Tynde-sly, colonel Townley, colonel Lundy, Robert Brent, Edward Morgan,
Philip Burton, Richard Graham, Edward Petre, Obadiah Walker, Matthew
Crone, and George lord Jeffries, deceased.]
035 (return)
[ H, p. 35. In the course
of this session, Dr. Welwood, a Scottish physician, was taken into
custody, and reprimanded at the bar of the house of commons, for having
reflected upon that house in a weekly paper, entitled Mercurius
Reformatus; but, as it was written in defence of the government, the
king appointed him one of his physicians in ordinary. At this period,
Charles Montague, afterwards earl of Halifax, distinguished himself in the
house of commons by his fine talents and eloquence. The privy seal was
committed to the earl of Pembroke; lord viscount Sidney was created
lord-lieutenant of Ireland; sir John Somers appointed attorney-general;
and the see of Lincoln, vacant by the death of Barlow, conferred upon Dr.
Thomas Tennison, who had been recommended to the king as a divine
remarkable for his piety and moderation.]
046 (return)
[ I, p. 46. The other
laws made in this session were those that follow:—An act for
preventing suits against such as had acted for their majesties’ service in
defense of this kingdom. An act for raising the militia in the year 1693.
An act for authorizing the judges to empower such persons, other than
common attorneys and solicitors, as they should think fit, to take special
bail, except in London, Westminster, and ten miles round. An act to
encourage the apprehending of highwaymen. An act for preventing
clandestine marriages. An act for the regaining, encouraging, and settling
the Greenland trade. An act to prevent malicious informations in the court
of King’s Bench, and for the more easy reversal of outlawries in that
court. An Act for the better discovery of judgments in the courts of law.
An Act for delivering declarations to prisoners for debt. An act for
regulating proceedings in the Crown Office. An act for the more easy
discovery and conviction of such as should destroy the game of this
kingdom, And an act for continuing the acts for prohibiting all trade and
commerce with France, and for the encouragement of privateers.]
053 (return)
[ K, p. 53. Besides the
bills already mentioned, the parliament in this session passed an act for
taking and stating the public accounts—another to encourage
ship-building—a third for the better disciplining the navy—the
usual militia act—and an act enabling his majesty to make grants and
leases in the duchy of Cornwall. One was also passed for renewing a clause
in an old statute, limiting the number of justices of the peace in the
principality of Wales. The duke of Norfolk brought an action in the court
of King’s Bench against Mr. Germaine, for criminal conversation with his
duchess. The cause was tried, and the jury brought in their verdict for
one hundred marks, and costs of suit, in favour of the plaintiff.
Before the king embarked, he gratified a good number of his friends with
promotions. Lord Charles Butler, brother to the duke of Ormond, was
created lord Butler, of Weston in England, and earl of Arran in Ireland.
The earl of Shrewsbury was honoured with the title of duke. The earl of
Mulgrave, being reconciled to the court measures, was gratified with a
pension of three thousand pounds, and the title of marquis of Normanby.
Henry Herbert was ennobled by the title of baron Herbert, of Cherbury. The
earls of Bedford, Devonshire, and Clare, were promoted to the rank of
dukes. The marquis of Caermarthen was made duke of Leeds; lord viscount
Sidney, created earl of Romney; and viscount Newport, earl of Bedford.
Russel was advanced to the head of the admiralty board. Sir George Rooke
and sir John Houblon were appointed joint-commissioners in the room of
Killegrew and Délavai. Charles Montague was made chancellor of the
exchequer; and sir William Trumbal and John Smith commisioners of the
treasury, in the room of sir Edward Seymour and Mr. Hambden.]
056 (return)
[ L, p. 56. Her obsequies
were performed with great magnificence. The body was attended from
Whitehall to Westminster Abbey by all the judges, sergeants at law, the
lord-mayor and aldermen of the city of London, and both houses of
parliament; and the funeral sermon was preached by Dr. Tennison,
archbishop of Canterbury. Dr. Kenn, the deprived bishop of Bath and Wells,
reproached him in a letter, for not having called upon her majesty on her
death-bed to repent of the share she had in the Revolution. This was
answered by another pamphlet. One of the Jacobite clergy insulted the
queen’s memory, by preaching on the following text: “Go now, see this
cursed woman, and bury her, for she is a king’s daughter.” On the other
hand, the lord-mayor, aldermen, and common council of London came to a
resolution to erect her statue, with that of the king, in the Royal
Exchange.]
058 (return)
[ M, p. 58. In the course
of this session, the lords inquired into the particulars of the
Mediterranean expedition, and presented an address to the king, declaring,
that the fleet in those seas had conduced to the honour and advantage of
the nation. On the other hand, the commons, in an address, besought his
majesty to take care that the kingdom might be put on an equal footing and
proportion with the allies, in defraying the expense of the war.
The coin of the kingdom being greatly diminished and adulterated, the
earls of Rochester and Nottingham expatiated upon this national evil in
the house of lords: an act was passed, containing severe penalties against
clippers; but this produced no good effect. The value of money sunk in the
exchange to such a degree, that a guinea was reckoned adequate to thirty
shillings; and this public disgrace lowered the credit of the funds and of
the government. The nation was alarmed by the circulation of fictitious
wealth, instead of gold and silver, such as bank bills, exchequer tallies,
and government securities. The malcontents took this opportunity to
exclaim against the bank, and even attempted to shake the credit of it in
parliament; but their endeavours proved abortive—the monied interest
preponderated in both houses.]
059 (return)
[ N, p. 58. The regency
was composed of the archbishop of Canterbury; Somers, lord-keeper of the
great seal; the earl of Pembroke, lord-privy-seal; the duke of Devonshire,
lord-steward of the household; the duke of Shrewsbury, secretary of state;
the earl of Dorset, lord-chamberlain; and the lord Godolphin, first
commissioner of the treasury. Sir John Trenchard dying, his place of
secretary was filled by sir William Trumbal, an eminent civilian, learned,
diligent, and virtuous, who had been envoy at Paris and Constantinople.
William Nassau de Zulycrstein, son of the king’s natural uncle, was
created baron of Enfield, viscount Tunbridge, and earl of Rochibrd. Ford,
lord Grey of Werke, was made viscount Glendale, and earl of Tankerville.
The month of April of this year was distinguished by the death of the
famous George Saville, marquis of Halifax, who had survived, in a good
measure, his talents and reputation.]
067 (return)
[ Note 0, p. 67. The
commons resolved, That a fund, redeemable by parliament, be settled in a
national land bank, to be raised by new subscriptions; That no person be
concerned in both banks at the same time; That the duties upon coals,
culm, and tonnage of ships be taken off, from the seventeenth day of
March; That the sum of two millions five hundred and sixty-four thousand
pounds be raised on this perpetual fund, redeemable by parliament; That
the new bank should be restrained from lending money but upon land
securities, or to the government in the exchequer; That for making up the
fund of interest for the capital stock, certain duties upon glass wares,
stone and earthen bottles, granted before to the king for a term of years,
be continued to his majesty, his heirs, and successors; That a further
duty be laid upon stone and earthen ware, and another upon tobacco-pipes.
This bank was to lend out five hundred thousand pounds a-year upon land
securities, at three pounds ten shillings per cent, per annum, and to
cease and determine, unless the subscription should be full, by the first
day of August next ensuing.
The most remarkable laws enacted in
this session were these:—An act for voiding all the elections of
parliament men, at which the elected had been at any expense in meat,
drink, or money, to procure votes.
Another against unlawful and
double returns. A third, for the more easy recovery of small tithes. A
fourth, to prevent marriages without license or banns. A fifth, for
enabling the inhabitants of Wales to dispose of all their personal estates
as they should think fit: this law was in bar of a custom that had
prevailed in that country—the widows and younger children claimed a
share of the effects, called their reasonable part, although the effects
had been otherwise disposed of by will or deed. The parliament likewise
passed an act for preventing the exportation of wool, and encouraging the
importation thereof from Ireland. An act for encouraging the linen
manufactures of Ireland. An act for regulating juries. An act for
encouraging the Greenland trade. An act of indulgence to the quakers, that
their solemn affirmation should be accepted instead of an oath. And an act
for continuing certain other acts that were near expiring. Another bill
passed for the better regulating elections for members of parliament; but
the royal assent was denied. The question was put in the house of commons,
That whosoever advised his majesty not to give his assent to that bill was
an enemy to his country; but it was rejected by a great majority.]
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