no judge, under fevere penalties, was to refufe to any prifoner his writ of habeas corpus; by which the gaoler was to produce in court the body of the prifoner, whence the writ had its name, and to certify the caufe of his detainer and imprifonment. If the gaol lie within twenty miles of the judge, the writ must be obeyed in three days, and fo proportionably for greater diftances. Every prifoner must be indicted the first term of his commitment, and brought to trial the fubfequent term. And no man after being enlarged by court, can be re-committed for the fame offence.

The Meal-Tub Plot, as it was called, foon followed the former. One Dangerfield, more infamous, if poffible, than Oates and Bedloe, a wretch who had been fet in the pillory, fcourged, branded, and tranfported for felony and coining, hatched a plot, in conjunction with a midwife, whofe name was Cellier, a Roman Catholic, of abandoned character. Dangerfield began by declaring, that there was a defign on foot to fet up a new form of government, and remove the king and the royal family. He communicated this intelligence to the king and the duke of York, who fupplied him with money, and countenanced his difcovery. He hid fome feditious papers in the lodgings of one Colonel Manfel; and then brought the customhoufe officers to his apartment, to fearch for fmuggled merchandife. The papers were found, and the council, baving examined the affair, concluded they were forged by Dangerfield. They ordered all the places he frequented to be fearched; and, in the houfe of Cellier, the whole fcheme of the confpiracy was difcovered upon paper, concealed in a meal tub, from whence the plot had its name. Dangerfield being committed to Newgate, made an ample confeffion of the forgery, which, though probably entirely of his own contrivance, he afcribed to the earl of Caftlemain, the countess of Powis, and the five lords in the Tower. He faid, that the design was to fuborn witneffes to prove a charge of Sodomy and perjury upon Oates, to affaffinate the earl of Shaftesbury, to accufe the dukes of Monmouth and Buckingham, the earls of Effex, Hallifax, and others, of having been concerned in the confpiracy against the king and his brother. Upon L 6 this

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this information, the earl of Caftlemain and the countefs of Powis were fent to the Tower, and the king himself was fufpected of encouraging this impofture.

The chief point which the prefent houfe of commons laboured to obtain, was the Exclufion Bill, which, though the former houfe had voted, was never paffed into a law, Shaftesbury and many confiderable men of the party had rendered themselves fo obnoxious to the duke of York, that they could find fafety in no measure but his ruin. Monmouth's friends hoped that the exclufion of James would make room for their own patron. The duke of York's profeffed bigotry to the catholic fuperftition influenced numbers; and his tyrannies, which were practifed without control, while he continued in Scotland, rendered his name odious to thoufands. In a week, therefore, after the commencement of the feffion, a motion was made for bringing in a bill, for excluding him from the fucceffion to the throne, and a committee was appointed for that purpofe. The debates were carried on with great violence on both fides. The king was prefent during the whole debate; and had the pleasure of feeing the bill thrown out by a very great majority.

Each party had now for fome time reviled and ridiculed each other in pamphlets and libels; and this practice, at laft, was attended with an incident that deferves notice. One Fitzharris, an Irish Papist, dependent on the duchefs of Portfmouth, one of the king's miftreffes, used to fupply her with these occafional publications. But he was refolved to add to their number by his own endeavours; and he employed one Everhard, a Scotfman, to write a libel against the king and the duke of York. The Scot was actually a fpy for the oppofite party; and fuppofing this a trick to entrap him, he difcovered the whole to Sir William Waller, an eminent juftice of peace; and to convince him of the truth of this information, pofted him and two other perfons, privately, where they heard the whole conference between Fitzharris and himfelf. The libel compofed between them was replete with the utmoft rancour and fcurrility. Waller carried the intel ligence to the king, and obtained a warrant for committing Fitzharris, who happened at that very time to have a copy

a copy of the libel in his pocket. Seeing himself in the hands of a party, from which he expected no mercy, he refolved to fide with them, and throw the odium of the libel on the court, who, he faid, were willing to draw up a libel which fhould be imputed to the Exclufioners, and thus render them hateful to the people. He enhanced his fervices with the country part by a new popish plot, ftill more tremendous than any of the foregoing. He brought in the duke of York as a principal accomplice in this plot, and as a contriver in the murder of Sir Edmondsbury Godfrey.

The king imprifoned Fitzharris; the commons avowed his caufe. They voted that he fhould be impeached by themselves, to fcreen him from the ordinary forms of juftice; the lords rejected the impeachment; the commons afferted their right; a commotion was likely to enfue; and the king, to break off the conteft, went to the houfe, and diffolved the parliament, with a fixed refolution never to call another.

This vigorous meafure was a blow that the parliament had never expected; and nothing but the neceffity of the times could have juftified the king's manner of proceed ing. From that moment, which ended the parliamen tary commotions, Charles feemed to rule with defpotic power, and he was refolved to leave the fucceffion to his brother, but clogged with all the faults and misfortunes of his own administration. His temper, which had always been eafy and merciful, now became arbi trary, and even cruel; he entertained spies and informers round the throne, and imprisoned all fuch as he thought moft daring in their defigns.

He refolved to humble the prefbyterians; these were divefted of their employments and their places, and their offices given to fuch as held with the court, and approved the doctrine of non-refiftance. The clergy bgan to tef tify their zeal and their principles by their writings and their fermons ; but though among thefe the partifans of the king were the most numerous, thofe of the oppofite factions were the moft enterprifing. The king openly efpoufed the cause of the former; and thus placing him felf at the head of a faction, he deprived the city of London,

London, which had long headed the popular party, of their charter. It was not till after an abject fubmiffion that he reftored it to them, having previously fubjected the election of their magistrates to his immediate authority.

Terrors alfo were not wanting to confirm his new fpe. cies of monarchy. Fitzharris was brought to a trial be.. fore a jury, and condemned and executed. The whole gang of fpies, witneffes, informers, and fuborners, which had long been encouraged; and fupported by the leading patriots, finding now that the king was entirely mafter, turned fhort upon their ancient drivers, and offered their evidence against those who had firft put them in motion. The king's minifters, with a horrid fatisfaction, gave them countenance and encouragement; fo that foon the fame cruelties, and the fame injuftice, were practised against prefbyterian fchemes, that had been employed against catholic treasons.

The first perfon that fell under the difpleafure of the miniftry, was one Stephen College, a London joiner, who had become fo noted for his zeal against popery, that he went by the name of the Proteftant Joiner. He had attended the city members to Oxford, armed with sword and piftol; he had fometimes been heard to speak irreverently of the king, and was now prefented by the grand jury of London as guilty of fedition. A jury at Oxford, after half an hour's deliberation, brought him in guilty, and the fpectators teftified their inhuman pleafure with a fhout of applaufe. He bore his fate with unshaken fortitude; and at the place of execution denied the crime for which he had been condemned.

The power of the crown became at this time A. D. irrefiftible, the city of London having been de1683. prived of their charter, which was restored only upon terms of fubmillion; and the giving up the nomination of their own magistrates was fo mortifying a eircumstance, that all the other corporations in England foon began to fear the fame treatment, and were fuccef. fively induced to furrender their charters' into the hands of the king. Confiderable fums were exacted for reftor. ing these charters; and all the offices of power and pro

it were left at the difpofal of the crown. Refistance now, however justifiable, could not be fafe; and all pru dent men faw no other expedient, but peaceably fubmitting to the prefent grievances. But there was a party in England that ftill cherished their former ideas of freedom, and were refolved to hazard every danger in its defence.

The duke of Monmouth, the king's natural fon by Mrs. Waters, engaged the earl of Macclesfield, lord Brandon, Sir Gilbert Gerrard, and other gentlemen in Cheshire in his caufe. Lord Ruffel fixed a correfpondence with Sir William Courtney, Sir Francis Rowles, and Sir Francis Drake, who promised to raise the Weft. Shaftesbury, with one Fergufon, an independent clergy man, and a reftlefs plotter, managed the city, upon which the confederates chiefly relied. It was now that this turbulent man found his fchemes most likely to take effect.

After the disappointment and destruction of an hundred plots, he at laft began to be fure of this. But this fcheme like all the former was difappointed. The caution of lord Ruffel, who induced the duke of Monmouth to put off the enterprise, faved the kingdom from the horrors of a civil war; while Shaftesbury was fo ftruck with the fenfe of his impending danger, that he left his houfe, and, lurking about the city, attempted, but in vain, to-drive the Londoners into open infurrection. At laft, enraged at the numberlefs cautions and delays which clogged and defeated his projects, he threatened to begin with his friends alone. However, after a long ftruggle between fear and rage, he abandoned all hopes of fuccefs, and fed out of the kingdom to Amfterdam, where he ended his turbulent life foon after, without being pitied by his friends or feared by his enemies.

The lofs of Shaft fbury, though ir retarded the views of the confpirators, did not fupprefs them. A council of fix was erected, confifting of Monmouth, Ruffel, Effex, Howard, Algernon Sydney, and John Hampden, grandfon to the great man of that name.

Such, together with the duke of Argyle, were the leaders of this confpiracy. But there was alfo a set of fubordinate confpirators, who frequently met together,

and