The

or admission of principles which were equally new to the people, bold, and wise. Up to a certain point all parties seemed to agree (the papists were too inconsiderable to merit the name of a party); but the Tories and high churchmen soon hung back, and left the danger and the honour of settling the problem to the Whigs, who proceeded, not by the stated rules of the English government and laws, but by the general rights of mankind, looking not so much to Magna Charta as to the original compact between the governors and the governed conceived to be involved in the idea of a political society; the notion of which had hitherto been considered as a republican chimera, though it had been entertained by the wisest and best of the Commonwealth men. Prince of Orange, who had taken up his residence, not at Whitehall, but at St. James's,† seemed to leave the nation to settle the business in their own way, most scrupulously avoiding any assumption of right and any symptom of eagerness. On the 25th of December the lords spiritual and temporal to the number of about ninety, who had taken their places in the House of Lords, requested William to take upon him the administration of affairs and the disposal of the public revenue, and to issue writs for a Convention" to meet on the 22nd of January; and on the following day an assembly of such persons as had sat in parliament in the reign of Charles II., to the number of about a hundred and fifty, together

with the aldermen of London' and fifty of the common council, having met at St. James's pursuant to the expressed desire of the prince, immediately proceeded to the Commons' House, and there, after some debate, agreed upon an address similar to that of the Lords. The prince dispatched circular letters, accordingly, to the several counties, universities, cities, and boroughs; and in the mean time the country, the fleet, and all that remained of James's army, submitted quietly to his authority. In Ireland it was very different; but in Scotland men were as prompt in their obedience as in England.* Under the dextrous management of the Duke of Hamilton, Sir Patrick Hume, Sir John Dalrymple, and other Whig leaders, about thirty Scottish peers, and eighty commoners, intrusted William to take upon him the administration of Scotland until the convention of the estates to be summoned by him should be assembled. But the Earl of Arran, the eldest son of the Duke of Hamilton, expressed himself very boldly for the recall of the fugitive king; the Duke of Gordon, a Catholic, held the castle of Edinburgh for James; and apprehensions were entertained of the furious loyalty of Graham of Claverhouse, who had lately been created by King James II. Viscount Dundee.

A. D. 1689.-On the appointed day-the 22nd of January-the English convention, or parliament, as it was afterwards declared to be, assembled in the Houses of Parliament, and proceeded vigorously to their important business. The Marquess of Halifax was elected to the presidency in the Lords, and Mr. Poole, one of the patriots of Charles II.'s parliaments who had taken bribes from France, was chosen Speaker in the Commons. A letter from William was read in both Houses. His highness told them that he had endeavoured to the utmost of his power to perform what had been desired of him, in order to the maintenance of the public peace and safety; that it now rested with themselves to lay the foundations of a firm security for their religion, their laws, and their liberties; that he did not doubt

Subsequently, however, two Scottish regiments in England revolted because William ordered them to serve in Holland and took the command of them from Lord Dumbarton, who was their old commander, but a determined Jacobite. General Ginckel overtook these Scots as they were marching from the coast of Suffolk towards the borders with drums beating and colours flying, and very easily put down the mutiny. William pardoned all the mutineers, officers

as well as men.

that, by such a full and free representation of the nation as was now met, all the ends of the declaration which he had put forth on landing might be peaceably attained; " and since it had pleased God hitherto to bless his good intentions with so great success, he trusted in him, that he would complete his own work, by sending a spirit of peace and union to influence their counsels, so that no interruption might be given to a happy and lasting settlement." William next alluded to the dangerous condition of the Protestants in Ireland, and then passed on to the affairs of Holland and the Continent, which he had still more at heart. He told them that the present state of things abroad obliged him to warn them that, next to the danger of unseasonable divisions among themselves, nothing could be so fatal as too great delays in their consultations; that the States of Holland, by whom he had been enabled to rescue this nation, might suddenly want the troops which he had brought over, as the old and powerful enemy of both countries (Louis XIV.) had declared war against the States. And he further intimated, that as England was already bound by treaty to help the Dutch in such exigencies, so he felt confident that the cheerful concurrence of the Dutch in preserving this kingdom, with so much hazard to themselves, would meet with all the returns of friendship from Protestants and Englishmen whenever their own condition should require assistance.*

In the Commons, Poole, the Speaker, embraced all the prince's views with a most ardent zeal, and carried some of them much farther than William had done, artfully striking a key-note to which he knew the old national feeling, and pride, and prejudice would respond. He reminded his hearers of the dangerous state England was still in, and of the fatal consequences that must follow any disagreement; he spoke vehemently of the papists in Ireland, and of the loss England might sustain by the disseverment of that kingdom; and lastly, he dwelt upon the growth of the exorbitant power of the king of France, and the vast designs of that turbulent and aspiring monarch, the persecutor of the Protestant religion everywhere, and the sworn enemy of England,† exciting the House to put the nation in such a warlike attitude as might not only secure it from any affront, but also enable it to subdue France a second time, or at least to recover the provinces of Normandy and Aquitain, which were the indisputable inheritance of the kings of England. This speech threw the House into a sort of transport; the old walls rang with warlike shouts, and everything was agreed to that William or his party desired. Nor was the Upper House either cold or In a very full meeting, from which scarcely any were absent even among the bishops, except Sancroft, the primate, they appointed a day

critical.

Ralph-Roger Coke.-Narcissus Luttrell, Diary.

Louis had already avowed his intention of reinstating James by force of arms, and his fleet and privateers had already begun to make prizes of all the English shipping that fell in their way.

of public thanksgiving to Almighty God for having made his highness the glorious instrument of the great deliverance of the kingdom from popery and arbitrary power; and they joined the Commons in an address of thanks to the prince, to whom, "next under God," this happy deliverance was owing. The Lords and Commons in a united body presented the address, which, besides thanks and enthusiastic expressions of gratitude, contained the following important clause, designed to give a constitutional and fully legal sanction to the authority the prince had been exercising. ever since the flight of his uncle and father-inlaw, the miserable James:-" And we do most humbly desire your highness to take upon you the administration of public affairs, and the disposal of the public revenue, for the preservation of our religion, rights, laws, liberties, and properties, and of the peace of the nation; and that your highness will take into your particular care the present state of Ireland, and endeavour, by the most speedy and effectual means, to prevent the dangers threatening that kingdom." The phlegmatic William delayed giving any answer till the next day, and then he coldly and laconically said, "My lords and gentlemen, I am glad that what I have done hath pleased you; and since you desire me to continue the administration of affairs, I am willing to accept it." He added, however, and with more warmth, "I must recommend to you the consideration of affairs abroad, which makes it fit for you to expedite your business, not only for making a settlement at home on a good foundation, but for the safety of Europe." The two Houses then adjourned to the 28th, on which day the Commons, having re-assembled, resolved themselves into a committee of the whole House to take into consideration the state of the nation. Mr. Hampden was in the chair. Dolben, son of the late Archbishop of York, "was the bold man who first broke the ice, and made a long speech tending to prove that the king's deserting his kingdom without appointing any person to administer the government, amounted, in reason and judgment of law, to a demise." This opinion was taken up and defended by several other members; and Sir Robert Howard went a step farther, and not only asserted that the throne was vacant, but also undertook to prove, that the whole reign of his late majesty was one continued breach of the original contract between the king and people. "I have heard," said Howard, that the king has his crown by divine right; but we, the people, have a divine right too.' The Tories, including Sir Edward Seymour, who had been one of the first to join the Prince of Orange, made a vain effort to procure an adjournment; and the committee, after a stormy debate of many hours, voted the resolution-"That King James II., having endeavoured to subvert the constitution by breaking the original contract between king and people, and, by the advice of Jesuits and other wicked persons,

having violated the fundamental laws, and with drawn himself out of the kingdom, has abdicated the government, and that the throne is thereby become vacant." Mr. Hampden was ordered to carry up this resolution to the Lords, and to request their concurrence. On the morrow the Commons, still in committee, voted, "That it hath been found, by experience, to be inconsistent with the safety and welfare of this Protestant kingdom to be governed by a popish prince"-a principle which was certainly held by the vast majority of the people of England and Scotland. The Whigs, in their anxiety to settle the Protestant William upon the throne, were too much disposed to overlook the restrictions proper to be put

upon his power; and the Tories, in their eagerness to keep the question open, stood forward in the new light of champions for the liberties of the people. The lawyers engaged seemed to desire nothing, to care for nothing but the instant filling of the vacant throne. When Mr. Hampden carried the resolution to the Upper House, their lordships, also going into committee, subjected it to a long and critical examination, being evidently averse to any acknowledgment of the divine right of the people to judge and choose their chief magistrate. Lord Clarendon, uncle to the Princess of Orange, led the opposition, and proposed that the fugitive king should be nominally left on the throne, and a Protestant regent appointed during his life.* It was argued on the other side by Halifax, Danby,❘ and other lords, that, having begun the work of revolution, it was necessary to complete it; that while the appointing a regent and expelling the king was almost as extreme a measure as choosing a new king, a regency would be insufficient and dangerous; that, by this proposition of a regent, there would be two kings at the same time-one with the title, and another with the powerone, a Protestant at home, another, a Papist abroad; that the law of England had settled the point of the subject's security in obeying a king in possession or de facto by the statute of Henry VII., so every man knew he would be safe under a king, and would act with zeal and courage, but all such as should act under a prince-regent, created by a convention, would find themselves without the necessary forms of law to support them; that all that would be done would be thought null and void in law; that if the oaths to King James were held to be still binding, the subjects were bound by them to maintain, not merely his title to the crown or to the name of king, but also all his prerogative and power; that it would be absurd to continue a government in his name, and to take oaths to him, when all power was taken out of his hands; that a mixed, confused, and unnatural sort of government must result from the establishment of any such regency; that if it

"Some," says Burnet, "intended to bring King James back; and went into this as the most probable way for laying the nation asleep, and for overcoming the present aversion that all people had to him. That being once done, they reckoned it would be no hard thing, with the help of some time, to compass the other."

should be carried on in King James's name, but in other hands, the body of the nation would still consider James as the person that was truly their sovereign, and if any should plot or act for him, they could not be proceeded against for high treason, as conspiring against the king's person or government, since it would be visible that they were only designing to preserve his person, and to restore him to his government. These and other weighty reasons prevailed, and the project of a regency was rejected, but only by a majority of two-fifty-one to forty-nine. On the 30th of January the Lords resolved, by a majority of fiftyfive to forty-six, that there was an original contract between the king and people, by which theoretical position they got rid of the doctrine of divine right; and after this they voted that the original contract had been broken by James. On the next day, however, they voted an amendment in the clause of the resolution in which the Commons averred that James had abdicated, substituting the word deserted; and they next struck out the important clause, that the throne was thereby vacant, by a majority of fifty-five to forty-one. This, it is said, was owing to the party and the exertions of Danby, who maintained that the crown had devolved upon William's wife, who would have been heiress to it but for her infant half-brother. A motion was made for an inquiry into the birth of the pretended Prince of Wales. It was rejected; but it seems to have been tacitly understood by both sides that that child was to be presumed spurious;* and, without that deeprooted belief in the minds of the people, this revolution would certainly not have been so easy of accomplishment.

While these debates were in progress a London populace were shouting for King William or Queen Mary, and expressing a most eager and alarming anxiety for an immediate settlement of the great question. On the 1st of February the Lords sent down their amendments to the Commons, taking care, however, on the same day to concur unanimously with the Commons' vote, which declared popery to be inconsistent with the English constitution and excluded for ever all Roman Catholics from the throne. They also ordered that the anniversary of James's accession should no longer be observed. As far as James was concerned this seemed decisive; but still the suspicion was not removed that a large portion of the Tory peers were intent upon bringing back that unfit king. The Commons rejected the amendments of the Lords; and this led to a conference between committees of the two Houses. After long arguments about the propriety of substituting the word deserted for abdicated, and upholding the hereditary character of the succession, which would allow of no vacancy, the Lords withdrew to debate among themselves, This, at least," says Mr. Hallam, "was a necessary suppo sition for the Tories, who sought in the idle rumours of the time an excuse for abandoning his right. As to the Whigs, though they were active in discrediting the unfortunate boy's legitimacy, their own broad principle of changing the line of succession rendered it, in point of argument, a superfluous inquiry."-Const. Hist.