CHAPTER 1085. 66 66 66 66 revenue are great and burthensome; that the debts "of the King my brother, to his servants and family, are such as deserve compassion; that the rebellion in "Scotland, without putting more weight upon it than "it really deserves, must oblige me to a considerable expense extraordinary; I am sure, such considera❝tions will move you to give me an aid to provide for "those things, wherein the security, the ease, and the "happiness of my government are so much concern"ed. But above all, I must recommend to you the care of the Navy, the strength and glory of this "nation; that you will put it into such a condition, as may make us considered and respected abroad. "I cannot express my concern, upon this occasion, more suitable to my own thoughts of it, than by "assuring you, I have a true English heart, as jea"lous of the honour of the nation as you can be; " and I please myself with the hopes, that, by God's blessing, and your assistance, I may carry the reputation of it yet higher in the world, than ever it "has been in the time of any of my ancestors; and as "I will not call upon you for supplies, but when they 66 66 66 66 are of publick use and advantage; so I promise you, "that what you give me upon such occasions, shall be "managed with good husbandry, and I will take care, "it shall be employed to the uses for which I ask "them." upon CHAPTER II. 1685. by historians. Rapin, Hume, and Ralph observe this speech, that neither the generosity of the Commons' grant, nor the confidence they expressed upon religious mat- Misrepresented ters, could extort a kind word in favour of their religion. But this observation, whether meant as a reproach to him for his want of gracious feeling to a generous Parliament, or as an oblique compliment to his sincerity, has no force in it. His Majesty's speech was spoken immediately upon passing the bills which the Speaker presented, and he could not therefore take notice of the Speaker's words, unless he had spoken extempore; for the custom is not, nor I believe ever was, for the Speaker to give, beforehand, copics of addresses of this nature. James would not certainly have scrupled to repeat the assurances which he had so lately made in favour of the Protestant religion, as he did not scruple to talk of his true English heart, honour of the nation, &c. at a time when he was engaged with France; but the speech was prepared for an answer to a money bill, not for a question of the Protestant religion and church, and the false professions in it are adapted to what was supposed to be the only subject of it. ford's attainder The only matter in which the King's views were Reversal of Stafin any degree thwarted, was the reversal of Lord rejected. Stafford's attainder, which, having passed the House II. 1683. CHAPTER of Lords, not without opposition, was lost in the House of Commons; a strong proof that the Popish plot was still the subject upon which the opposers of the Court had most credit with the publick. Mr. Hume, notwithstanding his just indignation at the condemnation of Stafford, and his general inclination to approve of royal politicks, most unaccountably justifies the Commons in their rejection of this bill, upon the principle of its being impolitick at that time to grant so full a justification of the Catholicks, and to throw so foul an imputation upon the Protestants. Surely if there be one moral duty that is binding upon men in all times, places, and circumstances, and from which no supposed views of policy can excuse them, it is that of granting a full justification to the innocent; and such Mr. Hume considers the Catholicks, and especially Lord Stafford, to have been. The only rational way of accounting for this solitary instance of non-compliance on the part of the Commons, is either to suppose that they still believed in the reality of the Popish plot, and Stafford's guilt, or that the church party, which was uppermost, had such an antipathy to Popery, as indeed to every sect, whose tenets differed from theirs, that they deemed every thing lawful against its professors. Parliament adjourned. On the 2d of July, parliament was adjourned for the purpose of enabling the principal gentlemen to be present in their respective counties, at a time when their services and influence might be so necessary to government. It is said that the House of Commons consisted of members so devoted to James, that he declared there was not forty in it, whom he would not himself have named. But although this may have been true, and though from the new-modelling of the corporations, and the interference of the court in elections, this Parliament, as far as regards the manner of its being chosen, was by no means a fair representative of the legal electors of England, yet there is reason to think that it afforded a tolerably correct sample of the disposition of the nation, and especially of the church party, which was then uppermost. CHAPTER II. 1685. church party. The general character of the party at this time Character of the appears to have been a high notion of the King's constitutional power, to which was superadded, a kind of religious abhorrence of all resistance to the Monarch, not only in cases where such resistance was directed against the lawful prerogative, but even in opposition to encroachments, which the Monarch might make beyond the extended limits which they assigned to his prerogative. But these tenets, and still more, the principle of conduct naturally resulting from them, were confined to the civil, as contradistinguished from the ecclesiastical, polity of the country. In church II. 1685. CHAPTER matters, they neither acknowledged any very high authority in the Crown, nor were they willing to submit to any royal encroachment on that side; and a steady attachment to the church of England, with a proportionable aversion to all dissenters from it, whether Catholick or Protestant, was almost universally prevalent among them. A due consideration of these distinct features in the character of a party so powerful in Charles's and James's time, and even when it was lowest, (that is, during the reigns of the two first Princes of the House of Brunswick,) by no means inconsiderable, is exceedingly necessary to the right understanding of English History. It affords a clue to many passages otherwise unintelligible. For want of a proper attention to this circumstance, some historians have considered the conduct of the Tories in promoting the Revolution, as an instance of great inconsistency. Some have supposed, contrary to the clearest evidence, that their notions of passive obedience, even in civil matters, were limited, and that their support of the government of Charles and James, was founded upon a belief, that those Princes would never abuse their prerogative for the purpose of introducing arbitrary sway. But this hypothesis is contrary to the evidence both of their declaration and their conduct. Obedience without reserve, an abhorrence of all resistance, as contrary to the tenets of their religion, are the principles which they pro |