without which, the other banishments | from the interruption of this payment, would give them little satisfaction." that the measure was in itself unobjec§ 753. This attempt which had been tionable; but the manner in which it made to exclude him from the throne, was done, by proclamation, without any had not only confirmed him in all these appearance of deference to law, afforded opinions, but had made him the enemy no very favourable prognostic of his of the Protestant cause; while the per- future conduct. The parliament, howtinacity with which the Roman Catholics ever, as soon as it met, settled this upon supported his arbitrary measures, was him, and with it a larger revenue for life as much due to the severity of the penal than had ever been possessed by any laws, and the intolerance of Protestants, previous monarch, amounting to two as to the principles entertained by the millions per annum : at the same time members of that communion. Protest- an attempt was made, that the grant ants first drove out the Roman Catholics might be accompanied by a petition for from the pale of civil liberty, and then putting the laws in force against dissentwondered that they were ready to sup- ers, as had been the case during the port arbitrary power, which could alone late reign; but this was resisted in the relieve them. While the bill of exclu-commons. The early policy of the king sion was in agitation, a very powerful party appeared adverse to the succession of James; but the latter years of Charles II., wherein the duke had entirely governed the country, had so altered the outward expression of opinion, that the alarms of the kingdom were displayed in the looks of the people, while their acclamations welcomed the new monarch. In his first speech, "he expressed' his good opinion of the church of England, as a friend to monarchy. Therefore he said he would defend and maintain the church, and would preserve the government in church and state, as it was established by law." These words were much repeated, and the common phrase was, "We have now the word of a king, and a word never yet broken." Some of the addresses, however, which were presented at this period, contained expressions which ought not to have been misunderstood; while others renewed their assurances of fidelity and obedience in such terms as, gratifying the wishes of the king, tended to delude him, and to influence the formation of his plans; for he expected that the high church party would comply with his desires, and allow him to proceed on his arbitrary principles. $754. James began his reign by levying those duties on tonnage and poundage which had ceased to be due upon the death of his predecessor; so great an inconvenience would have arisen was founded upon the hope that he might balance the high church party against the dissenters, and ultimately bring them to his own persuasion. This, however, was a method of proceeding from which nothing but the blindness of James could have expected success; and perhaps the victory which he obtained over the duke of Monmouth in the west, and the earl of Argyle in Scotland, contributed to blind him, while it opened the eyes of his subjects; for the cruelties then exercised exceed belief. To say nothing of those who suffered for their rebellion, and who had no right to expect mercy, there are among others two instances of old ladies who were executed for concealing fugitives. They both denied any knowledge of the guilt of those whom they protected; but whether this were true or no, Lady Lisle was beheaded, and Mrs. Gaunt burnt, for doing that which many a friend of the best government might readily commit; and which the feelings of the majority of the king. dom would certainly pardon. It may be sometimes necessary to punish such an act, but no power on earth can prevent mankind from secretly applauding the action; and every government is unwise which uses severity contrary to the better feelings of mankind. § 755. James is occasionally exculpated by throwing the blame on Jeffreys, yet James rewarded Jeffreys by immediately making him chancellor; and he who could see his own nephew, when Three hundred and thirty were executed, and eight hundred and fifty-five transported. Hallam, ii. 412. he had determined to execute him; who could allow the duke of Monmouth to come into his presence, and yet behead him; can little expect that he shall be freed from the charge of cruelty by transferring it on his ministers. The vindictive spirit with which severity was carried on, and the insecurity which every one must have felt, from the manifest injustice of several legal proceedings, particularly that against Cornish, could not fail to alienate the minds of the generality of his subjects, till the rapid strides made towards the introduction of popery roused the friends of freedom and religion. Indeed, James never concealed his preference for his own church, or left any room to hope that he would govern constitutionally, whenever he had obtained the means of doing otherwise. He went to mass publicly on the first Sunday after his accession; in his address to his parliament in Scotland, he declared his determination to uphold the royal power in its greatest lustre; and in his speech to the two Houses after the defeat of Monmouth, professed his intention of keeping up a standing army, and retaining certain of his officers, though disqualified on account of their not having taken the test. Now, though an honest man will not disguise his religious opinions, though an honest king will try to uphold the just rights of the crown, yet it is difficult not to be somewhat skeptical about the religious zeal of an individual who, at the age of fifty, could not be prevailed on by the entreaties of his wife, or his confessors, to resign his mistress; and who, after a solemn promise frequently repeated, of maintaining the government as established by law, seemed so far from 1 Oates was probably justly convicted of perjury, but the sentence that he should be whipped publicly twice, that he should be imprisoned during the rest of his life, and stand in the pillory four times during each year, was excessively cruel. Dangerfield's sentence was most unjust. His narrative of the Meal-tub plot, whether true or false, was ordered to be printed by the House of Com mons; and to fine Williams, the speaker, for licensing the book, was unjustifiable. Mr. Cornish suffered for the Rye-house plot on every inadequate evidence. See Kennet, iii. 442. 2 Kennet, iii. 439. 3 When I urged him how such a course of life did agree with the zeal he showed in his religion; he answered, 'Must a man be o no religion, unless he is a saint?'" Burnet's Own Time, ii. 28. having a wish to keep it, that he turned out four of his judges because they would not profess their readiness to comply with the desires of the court. 6756. James had been at first disposed to conduct himself on friendly terms with the church of England; but he soon discovered that the steps which he adopted alarmed the members of that communion; whose ministers became forward in asserting the doctrines of the Reformation, and warning their hearers against the dangers of popery. In order then to check these proceedings, and to intimidate those who were carrying them on, the king sent a letter to the bishops, prohibiting the clergy from preaching on controversial subjects, and threatening, in case of any opposition to his wishes, that he would exact the tenths and first-fruits to their full value. This letter, while it reminded every one of a similar step taken in the beginning of the reign of Mary, called forth the energies of those who were most able to advocate the cause, and roused them to stand forward in defence of the doctrines of the church. It became, therefore, obvious that, unless the king could depress the church, there was no hope of his being able to succeed in the establishment of his own religious tenets, or of arbitrary power, and he commenced Kennet, iii. 451. 5 Echard, ii. 1077. There may be a question as to the right possessed by the crown to do this; the words of the Act are, "And be it ordained and enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the said yearly rent and pension shall be taxed, rated, levied, proceyved, and paid to the king's use, his heirs and successors, in manner and form hereafter to be declared by this act; that is to say, That the chancellor of England for the time being shall have power and authority to direct unto every diocese in this realm and in Wales, several commissions in the king's name under his great seal, as well to the archbishop or bishop of every such diocese as to every such other parson or parsons as the king's highness shall name and appoint, commanding and authorizing the said commissioners, so to be named in every such commission, or iii. of them at the least, to examine, search, or inquire, by all the ways and means that they can by their discretions," &c. &c. Where the words seem to carry the right, though it might be doubted whether this were the intention of the bill. This law was abrogated by Philip and Mary, but re-established by Elizabeth. 7 Among the persons who managed and directed this controversial warfare were Tillotson, Stilling. fleet, Tennison, Patric, Sherlock, Aldrich, Atterbury, Wake, Henry Wharton, Prideaux, Bull, and Sharp. See Burnet's Own Time, iii. 99, D'Oyly's Sancroft, i. 220. Gibson published 3 vols. fol., of these pieces. his operations by setting up a court well of popery, and James, who esteemed calculated to execute his plans. In this conduct as a personal insult towards April, 1686, he issued a commission for himself, directed Compton to suspend ecclesiastical affairs, a step totally illegal. him. The bishop expressed his readiThe act passed in 1641, for the purpose ness to comply with any lawful comof destroying the Court of High Com- mand, but declared that he had no aumission, did in fact take away the whole thority to do so, except by a legal process coercive power exercised by the Eccle- in an ecclesiastical court; and in the siastical Courts; when, therefore, after mean season persuaded Sharp to make the Restoration, some papists and dis- all due submission to the king, and to senters denied the authority of the avoid preaching, till the affair were bishops over them, a new act1 was settled. But as this would not satisfy passed, repealing such part of the act his majesty, Compton was brought of Charles I. as pertained to bishops' (Sept. 6) before the Court of Ecclesiascourts, but still disannulling the right of tical Commission, and suspended from appointing an ecclesiastical commission, executing his office as a bishop. and abrogating the canons of 1640. § 757. The commission now issued is printed in Kennet; it confers very ample powers for visiting and reforming all ecclesiastical abuses, for which purpose the presence of the lord chancellor (Jeffreys) and of two other commissioners was required. It directs them also to inspect and correct the statutes of any schools or colleges, in either of the universities, and, if necessary, to make new rules for their government; but this could not be done, unless four commissioners were joined to the chancellor. Such a court, against which no exemptions might be pleaded, laid every species of academical or ecclesiastical property at the mercy of the crown. The commissioners were, Sancroft, archbishop of Canterbury, Crew, bishop of Durham, Sprat, of Rochester, Lord Rochester, Lord Sunderland, and Sir Edward Herbert. Of these, Sancroft refused to take any part in their proceedings, and Cartwright, a creature of the court, was substituted in his place. The first act of this illegal tribunal was directed against Compton, bishop of London, a man well suited for the struggle, of a noble family, and undoubted loyalty, who proved himself ready to defend the rights of his sovereign, or of his fellow-subjects, by the sword, carnal, as well as spiritual. Sharp, afterwards archbishop of York, then rector of St. Giles, had attacked some of the errors $758. These measures were grounded upon the idea that the king, as supreme head of the church, might make ecclesiastical law, as well as execute it; and the next step in which James was engaged, assumed almost the same power with regard to the law of the land; for when he found that his expectations from the high church party were disappointed, he betook himself to the dissenters, and tried, by favouring them, to establish a force which should be sufficient to curb those whom he now deemed his enemies. On April 4, 1687, he issued a declarations for liberty of conscience, whereby he suspended all the penal laws against those who differed from the church of England, and virtually repealed them. At the same time, he allowed all those who were unwilling to conform to the rites of the church, to assemble for purposes of public worship, dispensed with the necessity of taking any oaths, before entering on office, and stated his determi nation to employ such persons as had been faithful in their duty, and of whose service he did not choose to be deprived. The law of the land, as it stands at the present moment, differs so little from what James wished to establish, that on the part of those who rejoice in our present liberty of conscience, no objection can be justly raised against this measure, except that which arises from the nature of the authority assumed in the publication of such a document. Laws are annihilated, if the king by one sweeping clause may dispense with them. The power of pardoning, mer 6 Kennet, iii. 463. cifully lodged in the crown, is totally have been to establish his own authordifferent from that which was now ity and to introduce his own religious claimed. There the king forgives, be- opinions, two ideas almost inseparably cause some circumstances render par- connected in his mind. In this attempt don the truest justice, and happy is the to bias the judgments of his people, government which is strong enough there was nothing which a weak man frequently to exercise this power; but might not have esteemed justifiable; to forgive an act when committed, and but when we look at his conduct with to license the commission of it, are steps respect to the judges, it is impossible to of a totally different nature. James acquit him of absolute dishonesty. The never pretended to exercise this power question of the legality of the dispensing so as to affect the property of his sub-power was brought to trial in the case jects, but when the power is admitted, of Sir Edward Hales; but, as a previous who can set limits to the use of it? Who can guaranty that no private property shall be injured by it? In the case of Magdalen college, of which mention will hereafter be made, James' argues justly, that "it was ridiculous to dispute the king's power in dispensing with the local statutes of a college, which had been so frequently practised in former reigns; after it had been decided in his majesty's favour that he might dispense with certain standing laws of the land." The admission of this right in the crown would, in this case, have deprived an honest man of his prospects in life, and might have rendered the situation of all the members of a large college very uncomfortable, by robbing them of their right to appoint their own head, a privilege as dear as any other species of property; nor should it be forgotten, that when an individual is wrongly appointed to any place of honour or emolument, some proper person is prevented from obtaining the preferment. § 759. Kennet says, that the assumption of this power might have been overlooked, if the king had not endeavoured to form a parliament for the purpose of repealing the penal laws. The attempt was made in a very unconstitutional manner through private communications, generally denominated closetings; and many undue steps were taken to influence men in their decisions. Though the legal repeal of all penal laws would probably have been a measure productive of the greatest good to England, had it been effected from the very first, yet unfortunately we can hardly attribute any such enlarged views to James, whose sole object seems to That is, such laws as impose any pains or penalties on account of religion. step, the judges were sounded concerning their several opinions, "and such as were not clear to judge as the court did direct, were turned out." Sir Edward accepted a place which required him to take the test, and his own coachman sued him in the penalty of five hundred pounds for not doing so; in bar of which, the dispensing power of the king was pleaded, and allowed. The twelve judges on this occasion decided the matter, as far as a court which had not the confidence of the country could decide it, and there were so many persons indirectly interested in the admission of the power, that it is almost wonderful that the decision was not received with greater satisfaction. § 760. The sufferings of the dissenters had been so great, that no government, worthy of the name, could have long allowed them to be inflicted. The quakers, in their petition to the king and parliament, declared that above fifteen hundred of their brethren had been of late in prison, of whom 1383 now remained there; and that of these more than two hundred were women. That since 1660, above three hundred and fifty had died in jail; that many others had lost their lives from ill treatment which they had experienced while under confinement; and that numberless injuries had been done to their property. The writer of the preface to Delaune's Plea for the Nonconformists says, that he was one of eight thousand Protestant dissenters who had been punished in jail during the reign of Charles II. Oldmixon says that Jeremy White had collected a list of sixty thousand persons who had suffered for religion, between 4 Burnet, iii. 91. the Restoration and Revolution. These | tholic persuasion. Upon the death of accounts may be, and probably are, Fell, in 1686, the crown had appointed much exaggerated; but after treatment Massey," a Roman Catholic, to the which at all approached to this descrip- deanery of Christ Church; and in 1687, tion or extent, it is only wonderful that when a vacancy occurred in the headthe dissenters were as friendly to the ship of Magdalen college, the king sent church as they were. The court had a mandatory letter, enjoining the fellows tried to render the breach between the to elect Farmer, a man of bad character, two parties as wide as possible, by and a Roman Catholic. The fellows issuing a commission to examine into petitioned that the crown would either the proceedings which had been un- grant them a free election, or that the justly carried on against them; (for in king would recommend such a person many cases they had bought off further as might be serviceable to his majesty, prosecutions against themselves, by and to his college: but in the mean making presents to those who were time, before any answer was received, connected with the ecclesiastical courts;) they, complying with the directions of but the general moderation of the dis- their statutes as to the time of election, senters at this moment prevented any proceeded to choose Hough, and aftersuch effect from being produced, since wards refused to admit Samuel Parker, they were convinced that the sole ob- bishop of Oxford, who was recomject of the apparent kindness of the mended to them by the court. In conking was to employ them in throwing sequence of this disobedience, his madown the constitution. His arbitrary jesty cited the fellows before him, durconduct, indeed, which was always ing his visit to Oxford, and upon their exercised more or less in favour of the continued refusal to obey his commands, Roman Catholics, prevented any one they were brought before a committee from mistaking the plans which he had of the ecclesiastical commission, sent to in view. the university for the purpose of punishing them, and ultimately Hough and twenty-five fellows quitted their academical preferments, protesting against the illegality of the whole proceeding. Parker enjoyed his preferment only two years, and at his death, Bonaventure Giffard, vicar apostolic from the see of Rome, was installed as president. § 761. James directed his first open attack against the universities; for he foresaw, that if he could have succeeded in contaminating the sources from whence many of the higher feelings which pervade a country derive their origin, the task of perverting the minds of the rest of the community would have become comparatively easy. Oxford was but ill prepared to resist the attempt. Anthony Wood, in his own life, describes the place as given up to idleness, and containing few scholars, who generally spent their time in coffee and ale-houses. He adds, that colleges were deserted, for fear the gownsmen should be turned out of their rooms to provide lodgings for the members, in case a parliament should be assembled there. That whigs were afraid to send their sons to a seminary, when there was danger lest they should be perverted to tory principles, or converted to popery. For after the accession of James, Obadiah Walker, head of University college, and five or six more, declared themselves of the Roman Ca |