In this extremity, the bishops and peers who were in town, being the only remaining authority of the state (for the privy-council, composed of the king's creatures, was totally disregarded,) thought proper to assemble, and to interpose for the preservation of the community. They chose the marquis of Halifax speaker: they gave directions to the mayor and aldermen for keeping the peace of the city: they issued orders, which were readily obeyed, to the fleet, the army, and all the garrisons and they made applications to the prince of Orange, whose enterprise they highly applauded, and whose success they joyfully congratulated. The prince, on his part, was not wanting to the tide of success which flowed in upon him, nor backward in assuming that authority which the present exigency had put into his hands. Besides the general popularity attending his cause, a new incident made his approach to London still more grateful. In the present trepidation of the people, a rumour arose, either from chance or design, that the disbanded Irish had taken arms, and had commenced an universal massacre of the protestants. This ridiculous belief was spread all over the kingdom in one day; and begat everywhere the deepest consternation. The alarm-bells were rung; the beacons fired; men fancied that they saw at a distance the smoke of the burning cities, and heard the groans of those who were slaughtered in their neighbourhood. It is surprising, that the catholics did not all perish, in the rage which naturally succeeds to such popular panics. KING SEIZED AT FEVERSHAM. While every one, from principle, interest, or animosity, turned his back on the unhappy king, who had abandoned his own cause, the unwelcome news arrived, that he had been seized by the populace at Feversham, as he was making his escape in disguise; that he had been much abused till he was known; but that the gentry had then interposed and protected him, though they still refused to consent to his escape. This intelligence throw all parties into confusion. The prince sent Zuylestein with orders, that the king should approach no nearer than Rochester; but the message came too late. He was already arrived in London, where the populace, moved by compassion for his unhappy fate, and actuated by their own levity, had received him with shouts and acclamations. During the king's abode at Whitehall, little attention was paid to him by the nobility or any persons of distinction. They had, all of them, been previously disgusted on account of his blind partiality to the catholies; and they knew that they were now become criminal in his eyes, by their late public applications to the prince of Orange. He himself showed not any symptoms of spirit, nor discovered any intention of resuming the reins of government, which he had once thrown aside. His authority was now plainly expired; and as he had exercised his power, while possessed of it, with very precipitate and haughty counsels, he relinquished it by a despair equally precipitate and pusillanimous. sided, and to displace the English: and Halifax, Shrewsbury, and Delamere, brought a message from the prince, which they delivered to the king in bed after midnight, ordering him to leave his palace next morning, and to depart for Ham, a seat of the duchess of Lauderdale's. He desired permission, which was easily granted, of retiring to Rochester, a town near the sea-coast. It was perceived, that the artifice had taken effect; and that the king, terrified with this harsh treatment, had renewed his former resolution of leaving the kingdom. SECOND ESCAPE. December 23. He lingered, however, some days at Rochester, under the protection of a Dutch guard, and seemed desirous of an invitation still to keep possession of the throne. He was undoubtedly sensible, that, as he had at first trusted too much to his people's loyalty, and, in confidence of their submission, had offered the greatest violence to their principles and prejudices; so had he, at last, on finding his disappointment, gone too far in the other extreme, and had hastily supposed them destitute of all sense of duty or allegiance. But observing that the church, the nobility, the city, the country, all concurred in neglecting him, and leaving him to his own counsels, he submitted to his melancholy fate; and being urged by earnest letters from the queen, be privately embarked on board a frigate which waited for him; and he arrived safely at Ambleteuse in Picardy, whence he hastened to St. Germains. Louis received him with the highest generosity, sympathy, and regard; a conduct which, more than his most signal victories, contributes to the honour of that great monarch. KING'S CHARACTER. Thus ended the reign of a prince, whom, if we con sider his personal character rather than his public conduct, we may safely pronounce more unfortunate than criminal. He had many of those qualities which form a good citizen; even some of those which, had they not been swallowed up in bigotry and arbitrary principles, serve to compose a good sovereign. In domestic life his conduct was irreproachable, and is entitled to our approbation. Severe, but open in his enmities, steady in his counsels, diligent in his schemes, brave in his enterprises, faithful, sincere, and honourable in his dealings with all men: such was the character with which the duke of York mounted the throne of England. In that high station, his frugality of public money was remarkable, his industry exemplary, his application to naval affairs successful, his encouragement of trade judicious, his jealousy of national honour laudable: what then was wanting to make him an excellent sovereign? A due regard and affection to the religion and constitution of his country. Had he been possessed of this essential quality, even his middling talents, aided by so many virtues, would have rendered his reign honourable and happy. When it was wanting, every excellency which he possessed became dangerous and pernicious to his kingdoms. Nothing remained for the now ruling powers but to The sincerity of this prince (a virtue on which he deliberate how they should dispose of his person. Be- highly valued himself) has been much questioned in sides that the prince may justly be supposed to have those reiterated promises which he had made of prepossessed more generosity than to think of offering serving the liberties and religion of the nation. It violence to an unhappy monarch, so nearly related to must be confessed, that his reign was almost one conhim, he knew that nothing would so effectually pro- tinued invasion of both; yet it is known, that to his mote his own views as the king's retiring into France, a last breath, he persisted in asserting, that he never country at all times obnoxious to the English. It was meant to subvert the laws, or procure more than a toledetermined, therefore, to push him into that measure, ration and an equality of privileges to his catholic subwhich, of himself, he seemed sufficiently inclined to em- jects. This question can only affect the personal chabrace. The king having sent lord Feversham on a racter of the king, not our judgment of his public concivil message to the prince, desiring a conference for an duct. Though by a stretch of candour we should accommodation in order to the public settlement, that admit of his sincerity in these professions, the people nobleman was put in arrest, under pretence of his com- were equally justifiable in their resistance of him. So ing without a passport: the Dutch guards were ordered lofty was the idea which he had entertained of his legal to take possession of Whitehall, where James then re-authority, that it left his subjects little or no right to liberty, but what was dependent on his sovereign will and pleasure. And such was his zeal for proselytism, that whatever he might at first have intended, he plainly stopped not at toleration and equality: he confined all power, encouragement, and favour to the catholics: converts from interest would soon have multiplied upon him: if not the greater, at least the better part of the people, he would have flattered himself, was brought over to his religion: and he would in a little time have thought it just, as well as pious, to bestow on them all the public establishments. Rigours and persecutions against heretics would speedily have followed; and thus liberty and the protestant religion would in the issue have been totally subverted; though we should not suppose that James, in the commencement of his reign, had formally fixed a plan for that purpose. And, on the whole, allowing this king to have possessed good qualities and good intentions, his conduct serves only, on that very account, as a stronger proof, how dangerous it is to allow any prince, infected | with the catholic superstition, to wear the crown of these kingdoms. After this manner, the courage and abilities of the prince of Orange, seconded by surprising fortune, had effected the deliverance of this island; and with very little effusion of blood (for only one officer of the Dutch army and a few private soldiers fell in an accidental skirmish) had dethroned a great prince, supported by a formidable fleet and numerous army. Still the more difficult task remained, and what perhaps the prince regarded as not the least important, the obtaining for himself that crown, which had fallen from the head of his father-in-law. Some lawyers, entangled in the subtleties and forms of their profession, could think of no expedient, but that the prince should claim the crown by right of conquest; should immediately assume the title of sovereign; and should call a parliament, which, being thus legally summoned by a king in possession, could ratify whatever had been transacted before they assembled. But this measure, being destructive of the principles of liberty, the only principles on which his future throne could be established, was prudently rejected by the prince, who, finding himself possessed of the good-will of the nation, resolved to leave them entirely to their own guidance and direction. The peers and bishops, to the number of near ninety, made an address, desiring him to summon a convention by circular letters; to assume, in the mean time, the management of public affairs; and to concert measures for the security of Ireland. At the same time, they refused reading a letter, which the king had left, in order to apologize for his late desertion, by the violence which had been put upon him. This step was a sufficient indication of their intentions with regard to that unhappy monarch. CONVENTION SUMMONED. The prince seemed still unwilling to act upon an authority, which might be deemed so imperfect: he was desirous of obtaining a more express declaration of the public consent. A judicious expedient was fallen on for that purpose. All the members, who had sitten in the house of commons during any parliament of Charles II. (the only parliaments whose election was regarded as free) were invited to meet ; and to them were added the mayor, aldermen, and fifty of the common-council. This was regarded as the most proper representative of the people that could be summoned during the present emergence. They unanimously voted the same address with the lords: and the prince, being thus supported by all the legal authority which could possibly be obtained in this critical juncture, wrote circular letters to the counties and corporations of England; and his orders were universally complied with. A profound tranquillity prevailed throughout the kingdom; and the prince's administration was submitted to, as if he had succeeded in the most regular manner to the vacant | throne. The fleet received his orders: the army, with out murmur or opposition, allowed him to new-model them: and the city supplied him with a loan of two hundred thousand pounds. SETTLEMENT OF SCOTLAND. January 7, 1689. The conduct of the prince, with regard to Scotland, was founded on the same prudent and moderate maxims. Finding that there were many Scotchmen of rank at that time in London, he summoned them together, laid before them his intentions, and asked their advice in the present emergency. This assembly, consisting of thirty noblemen and about fourscore gentlemen, chose duke Hamilton president; a man who, being of a temporising character, was determined to pay court to the present authority. His eldest son, the earl of Arran, professed an adherence to king James; a usual policy in Scotland, where the father and son, during civil commotions, were often observed to take opposite sides, in order to secure, in all events, the family from attainder. Arran proposed to invite back the king upon conditions; but as he was vehemently opposed in this motion by sir Patric Hume, and seconded by nobody, the assembly made an offer to the prince of the present administration, which he willingly accepted. To anticipate a little in our narration, a convention, by circular letters from the prince, was summoned at Edinburgh on the twenty-second of March; where it was soon visible, that the interest of the malcontents would entirely prevail. The more zealous royalists, regarding this assembly as illegal, had forborne to appear at elections; and the other part were returned for most places. The revolution was not, in Scotland, as in England, effected by a coalition of whig and tory: the former party alone had overpowered the government, and were too much enraged by the past injuries which they had suffered, to admit of any composition with their former masters. As soon as the purpose of the convention was discovered, the earl of Balcarras and viscount Dundee, leaders of the tories, withdrew from Edinburgh; and the convention having passed a bold and decisive vote, that king James, by his mal-administration and his abuse of power, had forfeited all title to the crown, they made a tender of the royal dignity to the prince and princess of Orange. ENGLISH CONVENTION MEETS. January 22. It was The English convention was assembled; and it immediately appeared, that the house of commons, both from the prevailing humour of the people, and from the influence of present authority, were mostly chosen from among the whig party. After thanks were unanimously given by both houses to the prince of Orange, for the deliverance which he had brought them, a less decisive vote than that of the Scottish convention was in a few days passed by a great majority of the commons, and sent up to the peers for their concurrence. contained in these words: "That king James II., having endeavoured to subvert the constitution of the kingdom, by breaking the original contract between king and people; and having, by the advice of jesuits and other wicked persons, violated the fundamental laws, and withdrawn himself out of the kingdom, has abdicated the government, and that the throne is thereby vacant." This vote, when carried to the upper house, met with great opposition; of which it is here necessary for us to explain the causes. The tories and the high-church party, finding themselves at once menaced with a subversion of the laws and of their religion, had zealously promoted the national revolt, and had on this occasion departed from those principles of non-resistance, of which, while the king favoured them, they had formerly made such loud professions. Their present apprehensions had prevailed over their political tenets; and the unfortunate cession: that allowing the young prince to be the legitimate heir, he had been carried abroad; he would be educated in principles destructive of the constitution and established religion; and he would probably leave a son, liable to the same insuperable objection: that if the whole line were cut off by law, the people would in time forget or neglect their claim; an advantage which could not be hoped for, while the adminiswere still acknowledged to possess the legal title: and that a nation thus perpetually governed by regents or protectors, approached much nearer to a republic than one subject to monarchs, whose hereditary regular succession, as well as present authority, was fixed and appointed by the people. James, who had too much trusted to those general declarations, which never will be reduced to practice, found in the issue, that both parties were secretly united against him. But no sooner was the danger past, and the general fears somewhat allayed, than party prejudices resumed, in some degree, their former authority; and the tories were abashed at that victory, which their antagonists, during the late transactions, had obtained over them. They were inclined, there-tration was conducted in their name, and while they fore, to steer a middle course; and, though generally determined to oppose the king's return, they resolved not to consent to dethroning him, or altering the line of succession. A regent with kingly power was the expedient which they proposed; and a late instance in Portugal seemed to give some authority and precedent to that plan of government. In favour of this scheme the tories urged, that, by the uniform tenor of the English laws, the title to the crown was ever regarded as sacred, and could, on no account, and by no mal-administration, be forfeited by the sovereign: that to dethrone a king and to elect his successor, was a practice quite unknown to the constitution, and had a tendency to render kingly power entirely dependent and precarious: that where the sovereign, from his tender years, from lunacy, or from other natural infirmity, was incapacitated to hold the reins of government, both the laws and former practice agreed in appointing a regent, who, during the interval, was invested with the whole power of the administration that the inveterate and dangerous prejudices of king James had rendered him as unfit to sway the English sceptre, as if he had fallen into lunacy; and it was therefore natural for the people to have recourse to the same remedy: that the election of one king was a precedent for the election of another; and the government, by that means, would either degenerate into a republic, or, what was worse, into a seditious monarchy: that the case was still more dangerous, if there remained a prince, who claimed the crown by right of succession, and disputed, on so plausible a ground, the title of the present sovereign: that though the doctrine of non-resistance might not, in every possible circumstance, be absolutely true, yet was the belief of it very expedient; and to establish a government, which should have the contrary principle for its basis, was to lay a foundation for perpetual revolutions and convulsions: that the appointment of a regent was indeed exposed to many inconveniences; but so long as the line of succession was preserved entire, there was still a prospect of putting an end, some time or other, to the public disorders: and that scarcely an instance occurred in history, especially in the English history, where a disputed title had not, in the issue, been attended with much greater ills, that all those which the people had sought to shun, by departing from the lineal successor. The leaders of the whig party, on the other hand, asserted, that, if there were any ill in the precedent, that ill would result as much from establishing a regent, as from dethroning one king, and appointing his successor; nor would the one expedient, if wantonly and rashly embraced by the people, be less the source of public convulsions than the other: that if the laws gave no express permission to dethrone the sovereign, neither did they authorize resisting his authority, or separating the power from the title: that a regent was unknown, except where the king, by reason of his tender age or his infirmities, was incapable of a will; and in that case, his will was supposed to be involved in that of the regent: that it would be the height of absurdity to try a man for acting upon a commission received from a prince, whom we ourselves acknowledge to be the lawful sovereign; and no jury would decide so contrary both to law and common sense, as to condemn such a pretended criminal: that even the prospect of being delivered from this monstrous inconvenience was, in the present situation of affairs, more distant than that of putting an end to a disputed suc This question was agitated with great zeal by the opposite parties in the house of peers. The chief speakers among the tories were, Clarendon, Rochester, and Nottingham; among the whigs, Halifax and Danby. The question was carried for a king by two voices only, fifty-one against forty-nine. All the prelates, except two, the bishops of London and Bristol, voted for a regent. The primate, a disinterested but pusillanimous man, kept at a distance, both from the prince's court and from parliament. The house of peers proceeded next to examine piecemeal the vote sent up to them by the commons. They debated, "Whether there were an original contract between king and people?" and the affirmative was carried by fifty-three against forty-six; a proof that the tories were already losing ground. The next question was, "Whether king James had broken that original contract?" and, after a slight opposition, the affirmative prevailed. The lords proceeded to take into consideration the word abdicated; and it was carried that deserted was more proper. The concluding question was, "Whether king James, having broken the original contract and deserted the government, the throne was thereby vacant?" This question was debated with more heat and contention than any of the former; and upon a division, the tories prevailed by eleven voices, and it was carried to omit the last article, with regard to the vacancy of the throne. The vote was sent back to the commons with these amendments. The earl of Danby had entertained the project of bestowing the crown solely upon the princess of Orange, and of admitting her as hereditary legal successor to king James; passing by the infant prince, as illegitimate or supposititious. His change of party in the last question gave the tories so considerable a majority in the number of voices. FREE CONFERENCES BETWIXT THE HOUSES. The commons still insisted on their own vote, and sent up reasons why the lords should depart from their amendments. The lords were not convinced; and it was necessary to have a free conference, in order to settle this controversy. Never surely was national debate more important, or managed by more able speakers; yet is one surprised to find the topics insisted on by both sides so frivolous; more resembling the verbal disputes of the schools, than the solid rea sonings of statesmen and legislators. In public transactions of such consequence, the true motives which produce any measure are seldom avowed. The whigs, now the ruling party, having united with the tories, in order to bring about the Revolution, had so much deference for their new allies as not to insist that the crown should be declared forfeited, on account of the king's mal-administration: such a declaration, they thought, would imply too express a censure of the old tory principles, and too open a preference of their own. They agreed, therefore, to confound together the king's abusing his power, and his withdrawing from the kingdom; and they called the whole an abdication; as if he had given a virtual, though not a verbal consent to de throning himself. The tories took advantage of this obvious impropriety, which had been occasioned merely by the complaisance or prudence of the whigs; and they insisted upon the word desertion, as more significant and intelligible. It was retorted on them, that however that expression might be justly applied to the king's withdrawing himself, it could not, with any propricty, be extended to his violation of the fundamental laws. And thus both parties, while they warped their principles from regard to their antagonists, and from prudential considerations, lost the praise of consistence and uniformity. even in the common course of administration. The The managers for the lords next insisted, that even allowing the king's abuse of power to be equivalent to an abdication, or, in other words, to a civil death, it could operate no otherwise than his voluntary resignation, or his natural death; and could only make way for the next successor. It was a maxim of English law, that the throne was never vacant; but instantly, upon the demise of one king, was filled with his legal heir, who was entitled to all the authority of his predecessor. And however young or unfit for government the successor, however unfortunate in his situation, though he were even a captive in the hands of public enemies; yet no just reason, they thought, could be assigned why, without any default of his own, he should lose a crown, to which, by birth, he was fully entitled. The managers for the commons might have opposed this reasoning by many specions, and even solid arguments. They might have said, that the great security for allegiance being merely opinion, any scheme of settlement should be adopted, in which it was most probable the people would acquiesce and persevere that though, upon the natural death of a king, whose administration had been agreeable to the laws, many and great inconveniences would be endured, rather than exclude his lineal successor, yet the case was not the same, when the people had been obliged, by their revolt, to dethrone a prince whose illegal measures had, in every circumstance, violated the constitution: that, in these extraordinary revolutions, the government reverted, in some degree, to its first principles, and the community acquired a right of providing for the public interests by expedients which, on other occasions, might be deemed violent and irregular: that the recent use of one extraordinary remedy reconciled the people to the practice of another, and more familiarised their minds to such licences, than if the government had run on in its usual tenor: and that king James, having carried abroad his son, as well as withdrawn himself, had given such just provocation to the kingdom, had voluntarily involved it in such difficulties, that the interests of his family were justly sacrificed to the public settlement and tranquillity. Though these topics seemed reasonable, they were en-princess herself, who, as she possessed many virtues, tirely forborne by the whig managers; both because they implied an acknowledgment of the infaut prince's legitimacy, which it was agreed to keep in obscurity, and because they contained too express a condemnation of tory principles. They were content to maintain the vote of the commons by shifts and evasions; and both sides parted at last without coming to any agreement. But it was impossible for the public to remain long in the present situation. The perseverance, therefore, of the lower house obliged the lords to comply; and, by the desertion of some peers to the whig party, the vote of the commons, without any alteration, passed by a majority of fifteen in the upper house, and received the sanction of every part of the legislature which then subsisted. These views of the prince were seconded by the was a most obsequious wife to a husband, who, in the judgment of the generality of her sex, would have appeared so little attractive and amiable. All considerations were neglected, when they came in competition with what she deened her duty to the prince. When Danby and others of her partisans wrote her an account of their schemes and proceedings, she expressed great displeasure; and even transmitted their letters to her husband, as a sacrifice to conjugal fidelity. The princess Anne also concurred in the same plan for the public settlement; and being promised an ample revenue, was content to be postponed in the succession to the crown. And as the title of her infant brother was, in the present establishment, entirely neglected, she might, on the whole, deem herself, in point of interest, a gainer by this Revolution. SETTLEMENT OF THE CROWN. It happens unluckily for those who maintain an original contract between the magistrate and people, that great revolutions of government, and new settlements of civil constitutions, are commonly conducted The chief parties, therefore, being agreed, the conwith such violence, tumult, and disorder, that the pub-vention passed a bill, in which they settled the crown lic voice can scarcely ever be heard; and the opinions on the prince and princess of Orange, the sole admi of the citizens are at that time less attended to than nistration to remain in the prince; the princess of Denmark to succeed after the death of the prince and princess of Orange; her posterity after those of the princess, but before those of the prince by any other wife. The convention annexed to this settlement of the crown a declaration of rights, where all the points|cessary to the conducting of public business; yet these which had, of late years, been disputed between the king and people were finally determined; and the powers of royal prerogative were more narrowly circumscribed and more exactly defined, than in any former period of the English government. MANNERS, ARTS, AND SCIENCES. : such hazardous enterprises. He felt that public affair had reached a situation at which they could not pos sibly remain without some further innovation. Fre quent parliaments were become almost absolutely neassemblies were still, in the judgment of the royalists, much inferior in dignity to the sovereign, whom they seemed better calculated to counsel than control. The crown still possessed considerable power of opposing parliaments; and had not as yet acquired the means of influencing them. Hence a continual jealousy be. tween these parts of the legislature: hence the inclination mutually to take advantage of each other's necessities: hence the impossibility, under which the king lay, of finding ministers, who could at once be Thus have we seen, through the whole course of serviceable and faithful to him. If he followed his four reigns, a continual struggle maintained between own choice in appointing his servants, without regard the crown and the people; privilege and prerogative to their parliamentary interest, a refractory session were ever at variance and both parties, beside the was instantly to be expected: if he chose them from present object of dispute, had many latent claims, among the leaders of popular assemblies, they either which, on a favourable occasion, they produced against lost their influence with the people, by adhering to the their adversaries. Governments too steady and unicrown, or they betrayed the crown, in order to form, as they are seldom free, so are they, in the preserve their influence. Neither Hambden, whom judgment of some, attended with another sensible in-Charles I. was willing to gain at any price; nor convenience: they abate the active powers of men; Shaftesbury, whom Charles II., after the popish plot, depress courage, invention, and genius; and produce attempted to engage in his counsels, would renounce an universal lethargy in the people. Though this their popularity for the precarious, and, as they esopinion may be just, the fluctuation and coutest, it teemed it, deceitful favour of the prince. The root must be allowed, of the English government were, of their authority they still thought to lie in the during these reigns, much too violent both for the re- parliament; and as the power of that assembly pose and safety of the people. Foreign affairs, at that was not yet uncontrollable, they still resolved to time, were either entirely neglected, or managed to augment it, though at the expense of the royal preropernicious purposes: and in the domestic adminis-gatives. tration there was felt a continued fever, either secret or manifest; sometimes the most furious convulsions and disorders. The Revolution forms a new epoch in the constitution; and was probably attended with consequences more advantageous to the people, than barely freeing them from an exceptionable administration. By deciding many important questions in favour of liberty, and still more by that great precedent of deposing one king, and establishing a new family, it gave such an ascendant to popular principles, as has put the nature of the English constitution beyond all controversy. And it may justly be affirmed, without any danger of exaggeration, that we, in this island, have ever since enjoyed, if not the best system of government, at least the most entire system of liberty, that ever was known amongst mankind. To decry with such violence, as is affected by some, the whole line of Stuart; to maintain, that their administration was one continued encroachment on the incontestable rights of the people; is not giving due honour to that great event, which not only puts a period to their hereditary succession, but made a new settlement of the whole constitution. The inconveniencies suffered by the people under the two first reigns of that family (for in the main they were fortunate) proceeded in a great measure from the unavoidable situation of affairs; and scarcely anything could have prevented those events, but such vigour of genius in the sovereign, attended with such good fortune, as might have enabled him entirely to overpower the liberties of his people. While the parliaments, in those reigns, were taking advantage of the necessities of the prince, and attempting every session to abolish, or circumscribe, or define, some prerogative of the crown, and innovate in the usual tenor of government; what could be expected, but that the prince would exert himself in defending, against such inveterate enemies, an authority which, during the most regular course of the former English government, had been exercised without dispute or controversy? And though Charles II, in 1672, may with reason be deemed the aggressor, nor is it possible to justify his conduct; yet were there some motives, surely, which could engage a prince so soft and indolent, and at the same time so judicious, to attempt It is no wonder that these events have long, by the representations of faction, been extremely clouded and obscured. No man has yet arisen, who has paid an entire regard to truth, and has dared to expose her, without covering or disguise, to the eyes of the prejudiced public. Even that party amongst us, which boasts of the highest regard to liberty, has not pos sessed sufficient liberty of thought in this particular, nor has been able to decide impartially of their own merit, compared with that of their antagonists. More noble perhaps in their ends, and highly beneficial to mankind, they must also be allowed to have often been less justifiable in the means, and in many of their enterprises to have paid more regard to political than to moral considerations. Obliged to court the favour of the populace, they found it necessary to comply with their rage and folly; and have even, on many occasions, by propagating calumnies, and by promoting violence, served to infatuate, as well as corrupt that people, to whom they made a tender of liberty and justice. Charles I. was a tyrant, a papist, and a contriver of the Irish massacre: the church of England was relapsing fast into idolatry: puritanism was the only true religion, and the covenant the favourite object of heavenly regard. Through these delusions, the party proceeded, and, what may seem wonderful, still to the increase of law and 1berty; till they reached the imposture of the popish plot, a fiction which exceeds the ordinary bounds of vulgar credulity. But however singular these events may appear, there is really nothing altogether new in any period of modern history and it is remarkable, that tribunitian arts, though sometimes useful in a free constitution, have usually been such as men of probity and honour could not bring themselves either to practise or approve. The other faction, which, since the Revolution, has been obliged to cultivate popularity, sometimes found it necessary to employ like artifices. : The whig party for a course of near seventy years, has, almost without interruption, enjoyed the whole authority of government; and no honours or offices could be obtained but by their countenance and protection. But this event, which, in some particulars, has been advantageous to the state, has proved do |