which he could usefully or honorably take. If the estates offered him the crown for life, he would accept it. If not, he should, without repining, return to his native country. He concluded by saying that he thought it reasonable that the Lady Anne and her posterity should be preferred in the succession to any children whom he might have by any other wife than the Lady Mary.*

The meeting broke up; and what the prince had said was in a few hours known all over London. That he must be king was now clear. The only question was whether he should hold the regal dignity alone or conjointly with the princess. Halifax and a few other politicians, who saw in a strong light the danger of dividing the supreme executive authority, thought it desirable that, during William's life, Mary should be only queen consort and a subject. But this arrangement, though much might doubtless be said for it in argument, shocked the general feeling even of those Englishmen who were most attached to the prince. His wife had given an unprecedented proof of conjugal submission and affection, and the very least return that could be made to her would be to bestow on her the dignity of queen regnant. William Herbert, one of the most zealous of the prince's adherents, was so much exasperated that he sprang out of the bed to which he was confined by gout, and vehemently declared that he never would have drawn a sword in his highness's cause if he had foreseen that so shameful an arrangement would be made. No person took the matter up so eagerly as BurHis blood boiled at the wrong done to his kind patroness. He went straight to William, expostulated vehemently, and begged to be permitted to resign the chaplainship. "While I am your highness's servant," said

net.

Burnet, i., 820. Burnet says that he has not related the events of this stirring time in chronological order, I have therefore been forced to arrange them by guess; but I think that I can scarcely be wrong in supposing that the letter of the Princess of Orange to Danby arrived, and that the prince's explanation of his views was given, between Thursday, the 31st of January, and Wednesday, the 6th of February.

the brave and honest divine, "it would be unseemly in me to oppose any plan which may have your countenance. I therefore desire to be set free, that I may fight the princess's battle with every faculty that God has given me." "I think, doctor," said William, with characteristic coolness, "that you had better stay where you are. It will surely be time for you to quit me when I do something of which you disapprove." In a few hours the scheme which had excited Burnet's resentment was entirely given up, and all those who considered James as no longer king were agreed as to the way in which the throne must be filled. William and Mary must be king and queen. The heads of both must appear together on the coin; writs must run in the names of both; both must enjoy all the personal dignities and immunities of royalty; but the administration, which could not be safely divided, must belong to William alone.*

And now the time arrived for the free conference between the houses. The managers for the Lords, in their robes, took their seats along one side of the table in the Painted Chamber; but the crowd of members of the House of Commons on the other side was so great that the gentlemen who were to argue the question in vain tried to get through. It was not without much difficulty and long delay that the sergeant-at-arms was able to clear a passage.†

At length the discussion began. A full report of the speeches on both sides has come down to us. There are few students of history who have not taken up that report with eager curiosity and laid it down with disappointment. The question between the houses was argued on both sides as a question of law. The objections which the Lords made to the resolution of the Commons were verbal and technical, and were met by verbal and technical answers. Somers vindicated the use of the word abdication by quotations from Grotius and Brissonius, Spigelius and Bartolus. When he was challenged to show any authority

* Mulgrave's Account of the Revolution; Burnet, i., 818.

+ Commons' Journals, Feb. 6, 1688.

The

for the proposition that England could be without a sovereign, he produced the Parliament roll of the year 1399, in which it was expressly set forth that the kingly office was vacant during the interval between the resignation of Richard the Second and the enthroning of Henry the Fourth. The lords replied by producing the Parliament roll of the first year of Edward the Fourth, from which it appeared that the record of 1399 had been solemnly annulled. They therefore maintained that the precedent on which Somers relied was no longer valid. Treby then came to Somers's assistance, and brought forth the Parliament roll of the first year of Henry the Seventh, which repealed the act of Edward the Fourth, and consequently restored the validity of the record of 1399. After a colloquy of several hours the disputants separated.* Lords assembled in their own house. It was well understood that they were about to yield, and that the conference had been a mere form. The friends of Mary had found that, by setting her up as her husband's rival, they had deeply displeased her. Some of the peers who had formerly voted for a regency had determined to absent themselves or to support the resolution of the Lower House. Their opinion, they said, was unchanged; but any government was better than no government, and the country could not bear a prolongation of this agony of suspense. Even Nottingham, who, in the Painted Chamber, had taken the lead against the Commons, declared that, though his own conscience would not suffer him to give way, he was glad that the consciences of other men were less squeamish. Several lords who had not yet voted in the Convention had been induced to attend; Lord Lexington, who had just hurried over from the Continent; the Earl of Lincoln, who was half mad; the Earl of Carlisle, who limped in on crutches; and the Bishop of Durham, who had been in hiding and had intended to fly beyond sea, but had received an intimation that, if he would vote for * See the Lords' and Commons' Journals of Feb. 6, 1688, and the Report of the Conference.

the settling of the government, his conduct in the Ecclesiastical Commission should not be remembered against him. Danby, desirous to heal the schism which he had caused, exhorted the House, in a speech distinguished by even more than his usual ability, not to persevere in a contest which might be fatal to the state. He was strenuously supported by Halifax. The spirit of the opposite party was quelled. When the question was put whether King James had abdicated the government, only three lords said Not Content. On the question whether the throne was vacant, a division was demanded. The Contents were sixty-two, the Not Contents forty-seven. It was immediately proposed and carried, without a division, that the Prince and Princess of Orange should be declared King and Queen of England.*

Nottingham then moved that the wording of the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy should be altered in such a way that they might be conscientiously taken by persons who, like himself, disapproved of what the Convention had done, and yet fully purposed to be loyal and dutiful subjects of the new sovereigns. To this proposition no objection was made. Indeed, there can be little doubt that there was an understanding on the subject between the Whig leaders and those Tory lords whose votes had turned the scale on the last division. The new oaths were sent down to the Commons, together with the resolution that the prince and princess should be declared king and queen.†

It was now known to whom the crown would be given. On what conditions it should be given still remained to be decided. The Commons had appointed a committee to consider what steps it might be advisable to take, in order to secure law and liberty against the aggressions of future sovereigns, and the committee had made a report.‡

* Lords' Journals, Feb. 6, 1688; Clarendon's Diary; Burnet, i., 822, and Dartmouth's note; Citters, Feb. I have followed Clarendon as to the numbers. Some writers make the majority smaller and some larger. + Lords' Journals, Feb. 6, 7, 1688; Clarendon's Diary.

Commons' Journals, Jan. 29, Feb. 2, 1683.

This report recommended, first, that those great principles of the Constitution which had been violated by the dethroned king should be solemnly asserted, and, secondly, that many new laws should be enacted for the purpose of curbing the prerogative, and of purifying the administration of justice. Many of the suggestions of the committee were excellent; but it was utterly impossible that the houses could, in a month, or even in a year, deal properly with matters so numerous, so various, and so important. It was proposed, among other things, that the militia should be remodeled; that the power which the sovereign possessed of proroguing and dissolving Parliaments should be restricted; that the duration of Parliaments should be limited; that the royal pardon should no longer be pleadable to a parliamentary impeachment; that toleration should be granted to Protestant Dissenters; that the crime of high treason should be more precisely defined; that trials for high treason should be conducted in a manner more favorable to innocence; that the judges should hold their places for life; that the mode of appointing sheriffs should be altered; that juries should be nominated in such a way as might exclude partiality and corruption; that the practice of filing criminal information in the King's Bench should be abolished; that the Court of Chancery should be reformed; that the fees of public functionaries should be regulated; that the law of Quo Warranto should be amended. It was evident that cautious and deliberate legislation on these subjects must be the work of more than one laborious session, and it was equally evident that hasty and crude legislation on subjects so grave could not but produce new grievances, worse than those which it might remove. If the committee meant to give a list of the reforms which ought to be accomplished before the throne was filled, the list was absurdly long. If, on the other hand, the committee meant to give a list of all the reforms which the Legislature would do well to make in proper season, the list was strangely imperfect. Indeed, as soon as the report had been read, member after mem