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"ascertain the different views in which the differ"ent parties in this country have seen, and perhaps ever will see, the prerogatives of the "Crown. The Whigs, who consider them as

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a trust for the people, a doctrine which the "Tories themselves, when pushed in argument, "will sometimes admit,-naturally think it their duty rather to change the manager of the "trust, than to impair the subject of it; while others, who consider them as the right or pro

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perty of the King, will as naturally act as they "would do in the case of any other property,

"and consent to the loss or annihilation of

any

part of it, for the purpose of preserving the "remainder to him whom they style the rightful 66 owner. If the people be the sovereign, and "the King the delegate, it is better to change "the bailiff, than to injure the farm; but if the

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King be the proprietor, it is better the farm. "should be impaired, nay, part of it destroyed, "than that the whole should pass over to an " usurper."

A doctrine, entirely similar in its scope and purport to the opinion here given by Mr. Fox, is laid down by Lord Russell, in the paper which he delivered to the sheriffs on the scaffold: "As to the limitations that were proposed," he there says, "if they were sincerely offered, and had passed into a law, the Duke then should have

been excluded from the power of a King, and the government quite altered, and little more than the name of a King left; so I could not see either sin or fault in the one, when all the people were willing to admit the other; but thought it better to have a King with his prerogative, and the nation easy and safe under him, than á King without it, which would breed perpetual jealousies and a continual struggle."

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CHAP. XII.

DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE COMMONS.

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ADDRESS TO THE

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DOUBTS

THRONE. - TRIAL OF LORD STAFFORD.
STARTED BY THE SHERIFFS RESPECTING HIS EXECU-
TION.-BILL OF ASSOCIATION MOVED BY LORD CAVEN-
DISH. THE KING ASKS FOR SUPPLIES. ANSWER
OF THE COMMONS.- - ENQUIRY
OF THE JUDGES.- IMPEACHMENT AGAINST CHIEF-JUS-
TICE SCROGGS.— DISPUTES BETWEEN THE KING AND
THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, ON THE SUBJECT OF THE
EXCLUSION BILL. PROROGATION AND DISSOLUTION.-

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INTO THE CONDUCT

ELECTIONS.

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THE loss of the Exclusion Bill occasioned, as might have been expected, great indignation in the Commons. Lord Russell is said to have exclaimed, with a violence unusual to his nature, If my own father had been one of the sixty-four, I should have voted him an enemy to the King and kingdom."* Every one acquainted with him knew that he was the last man in the country capable of acting with such barbarous patriotism.

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The resentment of the Commons appeared in a signal manner on a debate upon the King's message, asking supplies for the support of Tangier. Sir William Jones, after some observ

• Oldmixon.

ations on the use that had been made of Tangier, as a nursery for Popish soldiers, broadly argued, that it would be imprudent in the House to grant any money to the Crown, till they should be satisfied that it would not be employed to the destruction of the Protestant religion. He was supported by Lord Russell, who declared that whenever the King should free the House from the danger of a Popish successor, and remove from his Council and places of trust all those that were for the Duke's interest, he should be ready to give all he had in the world; but, till then, a vote of money would only have the effect of destroying themselves with their own hands.

Lord Russell was followed by Sir William Temple, now for the first time a member, who observed, that the debate had become one on the state of the nation, and that by the vote of that day it would be discovered whether the Commons intended to support the alliances made by the Crown. He urged the importance of Tangier, and the small expense it would occasion, but he pressed the House to this grant more forcibly in consideration of the low state of the Protestant interest abroad. He entreated the Parliament to come to an agreement with the King.

Notwithstanding this speech, an address was ordered to be drawn up, humbly representing

the dangerous state and condition of the kingdom, in answer to His Majesty's message. The address now presented was in effect a long remonstrance, or abstract of all the grievances of the subject, the whole of which were attributed to the design carrying on to introduce Popery. It ended with declar.g, that if such designs should succeed, the Commons freed themselves by this protest from the guilt of the blood and devastation which were likely to ensue.

But the Commons were not satisfied with stopping the supplies, and delaying the business of the country: they resolved to proceed against those who had been the most forward in opposing the Bill of Exclusion. As no special crime could be urged against Lord Halifax, they voted an address to the King, to remove him from his presence and councils, on the ground of the Earl's having advised the late prorogations. Lord Russell, and Sir William Jones, who had formerly been friends of Lord Halifax, were silent on this question.* The King, in his answer, said that he did not think the reasons given in the address sufficient to induce him to remove the Earl of Halifax. "But whenever the "House," he added, "shall, in a due and regular

* Burnet.

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