1686. CHAP. to great and general reproach. Men deemed a dis LXX. pensing to be in effect the same with a repealing power; and they could not conceive that less authority was necessary to repeal than to enact any statute. If one penal law was dispensed with, any other might undergo the same fate: And by what principle could even the laws which define property be afterwards secured from violation? The test act had ever been conceived the great barrier of the established religion under a popish successor: As such, it had been insisted on by the parliament; as such, granted by the King; as such, during the debates with regard to the exclusion, recommended by the chancellor. By what magic, what chicane of law, is it now annihilated, and rendered of no validity? These questions were every where asked; and men, straitened by precedents and decisions of great authority, were reduced either to question the antiquity of this prerogative itself, or to assert that even the practice of near five centuries could not bestow on it sufficient authority". It was not considered, that the present difficulty or seeming absurdity had. proceeded from late innovations introduced into the government. Ever since the beginning of this century, the parliament had, with a laudable zeal, been acquiring powers and establishing principles favourable to law and liberty; The authority of the crown had been limited in many important particulars: And penal statutes were often calculated to secure the constitution against the attempts of ministers, as well as to preserve a general peace, and repress crimes and immoralities. prerogative, however, derived from very ancient, and almost uniform practice, the dispensing power, still remained, or was supposed to remain, with the crown; sufficient in an instant to overturn this whole fabric, and to throw down all fences of the h Sir Robert Atkins, p.21. A constitution. 1686. constitution. If this prerogative, which carries on CHAP. the face of it such strong symptoms of an absolute LXX. authority in the Prince, had yet, in ancient times, subsisted with some degree of liberty in the subject; this fact only proves, that scarcely any human government, much less one erected in rude and barbarous times, is entirely consistent and uniform in all its parts. But to expect that the dispensing power could, in any degree, be rendered compatible with those accurate and regular limitations, which had of late been established, and which the people were determined to maintain, was a vain hope; and though men knew not upon what principles they could deny that prerogative, they saw that, if they would preserve their laws and constitution, there was an absolute necessity for denying, at least for abolishing it. The revolution alone, which soon succeeded, happily put an end to all these disputes: By means of it a inore uniform edifice was at last erected: The monstrous inconsistence, so visible between the ancient Gothic parts of the fabric and the recent plans of liberty, was fully corrected: And to their mutual felicity, King and people were finally taught to know their proper boundaries'. i It is remarkable, that the convention, summoned by the Prince of Orange, did not, even when they had the making of their own terms in the declaration of rights, venture to condemn the dispens ing power in general, which had been uniformly exercised by the former Kings of England. They only condemned it so far, as it had been assumed and exercised of late, without being able to tell wherein the difference lay. But in the bill of rights which passed about a twelvemonth after, the parliament took care to secure themselves more effectually against a branch of prerogative incompatible with all legal liberty and limitations; and they excluded, in positive terms, all dispensing power in the crown. Yet even then the house of lords rejected that clause of the bill, which condemned the exercise of this power in former Kings, and obliged the commons to rest content with abolishing it for the future. There needs no other proof of the irregular nature of the old English government than the existence of such a prerogative, always exercised and never questioned, till the acquisition of real liberty discovered, at last, the danger of it. See the Journals. WHATEVER СНАР. 1686. WHATEVER topics lawyers might find to defend LXX. James's dispensing power, the nation thought it dangerous, if not fatal to liberty, and his resolution of exercising it may on that account be esteemed no less alarming, than if the power had been founded on the most recent and most flagrant usurpation. It was not likely, that an authority, which had been assumed, through so many obstacles, would in his hands lie long idle and unemployed. Four catholic lords were brought into the privy-council, Powis, Arundel, Bellasis, and Dover. Halifax, finding that, notwithstanding his past merits, he possessed no real credit or authority, became refractory in his opposition; and his office of privy seal was given to Arundel. The King was open as well as zealous, in the desire of making converts; and men plainly saw, that the only way to acquire his affection and confidence was by a sacrifice of their religion. Sunderland, some time after, scrupled not to gain favour at this price. Rochester, the treasurer, though the King's brother-in-law, yet, because he refused to give this instance of complaisance, was turned out of his office. The treasury was put in commission, and Bellasis was placed at the head of it. All the courtiers were disgusted, even such as had little regard to religion. The dishonour, as well as distrust, attending renegades, made most men resolve, at all hazards, to adhere to their an cient faith. State of IN Scotland James's zeal for proselytism was Scotland. more successful. The Earls of Murray, Perth, and Melfort, were brought over to the court religion, and the two latter noblemen made use of a very courtly reason for their conversion: They pretended, that the papers found in the late King's cabinet had opened their eyes, and had convinced them of the preference due to the Catholic religion. Queensberry, who shewed not the same compliance, fell into 1686. Into total disgrace, notwithstanding his former ser- CHAP. vices, and the important sacrifices which he had LXX. made to the measures of the court. These merits could not even ensure him of safety against the vengeance to which he stood exposed. His rival, Perth, who had been ready to sink under his superior interest, now acquired the ascendant; and all the complaints exhibited against him were totally obliterated. His faith, according to a saying of Halifax, had made him whole. BUT it was in Ireland chiefly, that the mask was State of wholly taken off, and that the King thought himself Ireland. at liberty to proceed to the full extent of his zeal and his violence. The Duke of Ormond was recalled; and though the Primate and Lord Granard, two protestants, still possessed the authority of justices, the whole power was lodged in the hands of Talbot, the general, soon after created Earl of Tyrconnel; a man who, from the blindness of his prejudices and fury of his temper, was transported with the most immeasurable ardour for the catholic cause. After the suppression of Monmouth's rebellion, orders were given by Tyrconnel to disarm all the protestants, on pretence of securing the public peace, and keeping their arms in a few magazines for the use of the militia. Next, the army was new-modelled; and a great number of officers were dismissed, because it was pretended that they or their fathers had served under Cromwel and the republic. The injustice was not confined to them. Near three hundred officers more were afterwards broken, though many of them had purchased their commissions: About four or five thousand private soldiers, because they were protestants, were dismissed; and being stripped even of their regimentals, were turned out to starve in the streets. While these violences were carrying on, Clarendon, who had been named Lord Lieutenant, came over; but he soon found, that, as he had refused to give the King CHAP. King the desired pledge of fidelity by changing his LXX. religion, he possessed no credit or authority. 1686. He was even a kind of prisoner in the hands of Tyrcon- the ancient massacres was apprehended; and great ALL judicious persons of the catholic communion were disgusted with these violent measures, and could easily foresee the consequences. But James was entirely governed by the rash counsels of the Queen and of his confessor, Father Peters, a jesuit, whom he soon after created a privy-counsellor, He thought too, that, as he was now in the decline of life, it was necessary for him, by hasty steps, to carry his designs into execution; lest the succession of the Princess of Orange should over. turn all his projects. In vain did Arundel, Powis, and Bellasis, remonstrate, and suggest more mode. rate and cautious measures. These men had seen and felt, during the prosecution of the popish plot, the extreme antipathy which the nation bore to their religion; and though some subsequent incidents had seemingly allayed that spirit, they knew that the settled habits of the people were still the same, and that the smallest incident was sufficient |