SENTENCE OF THE COURT-MARTIAL.
EARL FERRERS APPREHENDED.
TRIED BY THE HOUSE OF PEERS.
EARL FERRERS EXECUTED.
ASSASSINATION OF MR. MATTHEWS.
NEW BRIDGE BEGUN AT BLACKFRIARS.
REMARKABLE ADVENTURE OF FIVE IRISHMEN.
THE RAMILLIES MAN OF WAR WRECKED.
TREATY WITH THE CHEROKEES. HOSTILITIES RECOMMENCED.
FATE OF THE GARRISON AT FORT LOUDOUN.
BRITISH INTEREST ESTABLISHED ON THE OHIO.
THE FRENCH UNDERTAKE THE SIEGE OF QUEBEC.
QUEBEC BESIEGED.
THE ENEMIES SHIPPING DESTROYED.
GENERAL AMHERST REDUCES THE FRENCH FORT AT THE ISLE ROYALE.
FRENCH SHIPS DESTROYED, &c.
DEMOLITION OF LOUISBOURG.
INSURRECTION IN JAMAICA.
ACTION AT SEA OFF HISPANIOLA.
GALLANT BEHAVIOUR OF CAPTAINS O’BRIEN AND TAYLOR.
TRANSACTIONS IN THE EAST-INDIES.
ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE BAY OF QUIBERON.
ASTRONOMERS SENT TO THE EAST INDIES.
EARTHQUAKES IN SYRIA.
AFFAIRS OF PORTUGAL.
PATRIOTIC SCHEMES OF THE KING OF DENMARK.
MEMORIAL PRESENTED TO THE STATES-GENERAL.
STATE OF THE POWERS AT WAR.
DEATH OF THE LANDGRAVE OF HESSE-CASSEL.
OFFERS MADE BY THE NEUTRAL POWERS, &c.
SKIRMISHES IN WESTPHALIA.
SITUATION OF THE FRENCH ARMIES.
EXPLOIT OF COLONEL LUCKNER.
THE HEREDITARY PRINCE OF BRUNSWICK DEFEATED.
VICTORY OBTAINED BY THE ALLIES.
THE HEREDITARY PRINCE MARCHES TO THE LOWER RHINE.
ADVANTAGES GAINED by M. DE STAINVILLE.
THE ALLIES AND FRENCH GO INTO WINTER QUARTERS.
CHAPTER XX.
EXPLOIT OF THE SWEDES IN POMERANIA.
SKIRMISHES BETWEEN THE PRUSSIANS AND
POSITION OF THE ARMIES IN SAXONY AND SILESIA.
GEN. LAUDOHN DEFEATS GEN. FOUQUET, AND REDUCES GLATZ.
THE KING OF PRUSSIA MAKES AN UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT UPON DRESDEN.
ACTION BETWEEN GENEEAL HULSEN AND THE IMPERIAL ARMY IN SAXONY.
SITUATION OF THE KING OF PRUSSIA.
THE RUSSIANS AND AUSTRIANS POSSESS THEMSELVES OF BERLIN.
KING OF PRUSSIA DEFEATS THE AUSTRIANS AT TORGAU.
DIETS of POLAND AND SWEDEN ASSEMBLED.
INTIMATION GIVEN TO THE STATES OF WESTPHALIA BY THE KING OF PRUSSIA.
THE KING OF POLAND’S REMONSTRANCE.
REDUCTION OF PONDICHERRY.
PART OF THE BRITISH SQUADRON WRECKED IN A STORM.
DEATH and CHARACTER of KING GEORGE II.
RECAPITULATION OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS OF HIS REIGN.
ACCOUNT OF THE COMMERCE OF GREAT BRITAIN.
STATE OF RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY.
FANATICISM.
METAPHYSICS AND MEDICINE.
MECHANICS.
GENIUS.
MUSIC.
PAINTING AND SCULPTURE.
NOTES
Illustrations
Frontispiece: Marleborough
Titlepage: Execution of Dudley
Map of India
Map of United States
Map of Scotland
Map of the Baltic
Dover
Battle of La Hogue
William III.
Map of Central America and West Indies
Map of the East Indian Islands
Map of Ireland
Map of the Eastern Hemisphere
Portrait of Queen Anne
Map of England and Wales
Map of Europe
Map of Australia
Map of British Colonies in North America
George I.
Culloden Moor
Bombay
Calcutta: the Esplanade
Portsmouth Harbour
Portrait of William Pitt
Death of General Wolfe
Forces and Fleets of Great Britain
ENLARGE
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ENLARGE
map6th (106K)
ENLARGE
Map of Scotland
ENLARGE
Map8.jpg Map of the Baltic
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State of the Nation immediately after the Revolution..... Account of the new Ministry..... The Convention converted into a Parliament..... Mutiny in the Army..... The Coronation, and abolition of Hearth-money..... The Commons vote a Sum of Money to indemnify the Dutch..... William’s Efforts in Favour of the Dissenters..... Act for a Toleration..... Violent disputes about the Bill for a Comprehension..... The Commons address the King to summon a Convocation of the Clergy..... Settlement of the Revenue..... The King takes Umbrage at the Proceedings of the Whig-party..... Heats and Animosities about the Bill of Indemnity recommended by the King..... Birth of the Duke of Gloucester..... Affairs of the Continent..... War declared against France..... Proceedings in the Convention of Scotland, of which the Duke of Hamilton is chosen President..... Letters to the Convention from King William and King James..... They recognise the authority of King William..... They vote the Crown vacant, and pass an Act of settlement in favour of William and Mary..... They appoint Commissioners to make a Tender of the Crown to William, who receives it on the conditions they propose..... Enumeration of their Grievances..... The Convention is declared a Parliament, and the Duke of Hamilton King’s Commissioner..... Prelacy abolished in that Kingdom..... The Scots dissatisfied with the King’s Conduct..... Violent disputes in the Scotch Parliament..... which is adjourned..... A Remonstrance presented to the King—The Castle of Edinburgh besieged and taken-The Troops of King William defeated at Killycrankie..... King James cordially received by the French King..... Tyrconnel temporizes with King William..... James arrives in Ireland..... Issues five Proclamations at Dublin..... Siege of Londonderry..... The Inhabitants defend themselves with surprising Courage and Perseverance..... Cruelty of Rosene, the French General..... The Place is relieved by Kirke..... The Inniskilliners defeat and take General Maccarty..... Meeting of the Irish Parliament..... They repeal the Act of Settlement..... Pass an Act of Attainder against Absentees..... James coins base Money..... The Protestants of Ireland cruelly oppressed..... Their Churches are seized by the Catholics, and they are forbid to assemble on pain of Death..... Admiral Herbert worsted by the French Fleet in an Engagement near Ban-try- bay..... Divers Sentences and Attainders reversed in Parliament..... Inquiry into the Cause of Miscarriages in Ireland..... Bills passed in this Session of Parliament.
1689
The constitution of England had now assumed a new aspect. The maxim of hereditary indefeisible right was at length renounced by a free parliament. The power of the crown was acknowledged to flow from no other fountain than that of a contract with the people. Allegiance and protection were declared reciprocal ties depending upon each other. The representatives of the nation made a regular claim of rights in behalf of their constituents; and William III. ascended the throne in consequence of an express capitulation with the people. Yet, on this occasion, the zeal of the parliament towards their deliverer seems to have overshot their attachment to their own liberty and privileges: or at least they neglected the fairest opportunity that ever occurred, to retrench those prerogatives of the crown to which they imputed all the late and former calamities of the kingdom. Their new monarch retained the old regal power over parliaments in its full extent. He was left at liberty to convoke, adjourn, prorogue, and dissolve them at his pleasure. He was enabled to influence elections, and oppress corporations. He possessed the right of choosing his own council; of nominating all the great officers of the state, and of the household, of the army, the navy, and the church. He reserved the absolute command of the militia: so that lie remained master of all the instruments and engines of corruption and violence, without any other restraint than his own moderation, and prudent regard to the claim of rights, and principle of resistance on which the revolution was founded. In a word, the settlement was finished with some precipitation, before the plan had been properly digested and matured; and this will be the case in every establishment formed upon a sudden emergency in the face of opposition. It was observed, that the king, who was made by the people, had it in his power to rule without them; to governjure divinothough he was createdjure humano: and that, though the change proceeded from a republican spirit, the settlement was built upon tory maxims; for the execution of his government continued still independent of his commission, while his own person remained sacred and inviolable. The prince of Orange had been invited to England by a coalition of parties, united by a common sense of danger; but this tie was no sooner broken than they flew asunder and each resumed its original bias. Their mutual jealousy and rancour revived, and was heated by dispute into intemperate zeal and enthusiasm. Those who at first acted from principles of patriotism were insensibly warmed into partizans; and king William soon found himself at the head of a faction. As he had been bred, a Calvinist, and always expressed an abhorrence of spiritual persecution, the presbyter-ians, and other protestant dissenters, considered him as their peculiar protector, and entered into his interests with the most zealous fervour and assiduity. For the same reasons the friends of the church became jealous of his proceedings, and employed all their influence, first in opposing his elevation to the throne, and afterwards in thwarting his measures. Their party was espoused by all the friends of the lineal succession; by the Roman catholics; by those who were personally attached to the late king; and by such as were disgusted by the conduct and personal deportment of William since his arrival in England. They observed, That, contrary to his declaration, he had plainly aspired to the crown; and treated his father-in-law with insolence and rigour; that his army contained a number of foreign papists, almost equal to that of the English Roman catholics whom James had employed; that the reports so industriously circulated about the birth of the prince of Wales, the treaty with France for enslaving England, and the murder of the earl of Essex-reports countenanced by the prince of Orange-now appeared to be without foundation; that the Dutch troops remained in London, while the English forces were distributed in remote quarters; that the prince declared the first should be kept about his person, and the latter sent to Ireland; that the two houses out of complaisance to William, had denied their late sovereign the justice of being heard in his own defence; and that the Dutch had lately interfered with the trade of London, which was already sensibly diminished. These were the sources of discontent, swelled up by the resentment of some noblemen and other individuals, disappointed in their hopes of profit and preferment.
William began his reign with a proclamation, for confirming all protestants in the offices which they enjoyed on the first day of December; then he chose the members of his council, who were generally staunch to his interest, except the archbishop of Canterbury and the earl of Nottingham, and these were admitted in complaisance to the church-party, which it was not thought adviseable to provoke.001[See note A, at the end of this Vol.]Nottingham and Shrewsbury were appointed secretaries of state; the privy-seal was bestowed upon the marquis of Halifax; the earl of Danby was created president of the council. These two noblemen enjoyed a good share of the king’s confidence, and Nottingham was considerable as head of the church-party: but the chief favourite was Bentinck, first commoner on the list of privy-counsellors, as well as groom of the stole and privy purse. D’Averquerque was made master of the horse, Zuylestein of the robes, and Sehomberg of the ordnance: the treasury, admiralty, and chancery were put in commission; twelve able judges were chosen;* and the diocese of Salisbury being vacated by the death of Dr. Ward, the king of his own free motion filled it with Burnet, who had been a zealous stickler for his interest; and in a particular manner instrumental in effecting the revolution. Sancroft, archbishop of Canterbury, refused to consecrate this ecclesiastic, though the reasons of his refusal are not specified; but, being afraid of incurring the penalties of a premunire, he granted a commission to the bishop of London, and three other suffragans, to perform that ceremony. Burnet was a prelate of some parts, and great industry; moderate in his notions of church discipline, inquisitive, meddling, vain, and credulous. In consequence of having incurred the displeasure of the late king, he had retired to the continent and fixed his residence in Holland, where he was naturalized, and attached himself to the interest of the prince of Orange, who consulted him about the affairs of England. He assisted in drawing up the prince’s manifesto, and wrote some other papers and pamphlets in defence of his design. He was demanded of the States by the English ambassador as a British fugitive, outlawed by king James, and excepted in the act of indemnity. Nevertheless, he came over with William in quality of his chaplain; and, by his intrigues, contributed in some measure to the success of that expedition. The principal individuals that composed this ministry have been characterized in the history of the preceding reigns. We have had occasion to mention the fine talents, the vivacity, the flexibility of Halifax; the plausibility, the enterprising genius, the obstinacy of Danby; the pompous eloquence, the warmth, and ostentation of Nottingham; the probity and popularity of Shrewsbury. Godolphin, now brought into the treasury, was modest, silent, sagacious, and upright. Mordaunt, appointed first commissioner of that board, and afterwards created earl of Monmouth, was open, generous, and a republican in his principles. Delamere, chancellor of the exchequer, promoted in the sequel to the rank of earl of Warrington, was close and mercenary. Obsequiousness, fidelity, and attachment to his master, composed the character of Bentinck, whom the king raised to the dignity of earl of Portland. The English favourite, Sidney, was a man of wit and pleasure, possessed of the most engaging talents for conversation and private friendship, but rendered unfit for public business by indolence and inattention. He was ennobled, and afterwards created earl of Romney; a title which he enjoyed with several successive posts of profit and importance. The stream of honour and preferment ran strong in favour of the whigs, and this appearance of partiality confirmed the suspicion and resentment of the opposite party.
* Sir John Holt was appointed lord chief justice of the king’s bench, and Sir Henry Pollexfen of the common pleas: the earl of Devonshire was made lord steward of the household, and the earl of Dorset lord chamberlain.—Ralph.
WILLIAM AND MARY, 1688—1701.
The first resolution taken in the new council was to convert the convention into a parliament, that the new settlement might be strengthened by a legal sanction, which was now supposed to be wanting, as the assembly had not been convoked by the king’s writ of summons. The experiment of a new election was deemed too hazardous; therefore the council determined that the king should, by virtue of his own authority, change the convention into a parliament, by going to the house of peers with the usual state of a sovereign, and pronouncing a speech from the throne to both houses. This expedient was accordingly practised.002[See note B, at the end of this Vol.]He assured them he should never take any step that would diminish the good opinion they had conceived of his integrity. He told them that Holland was in such a situation as required their immediate attention and assistance; that the posture of affairs at home likewise demanded their serious consideration; that a good settlement was necessary, not only for the establishment of domestic peace, but also for the support of the protestant interest abroad: that the affairs of Ireland were too critically situated to admit the least delay in their deliberations; he therefore begged they would be speedy and effectual in concerting such measures as should be judged indispensably necessary for the welfare of the nation. The commons returning to their house, immediately passed a vote of thanks to his majesty, and made an order that his speech should be taken into consideration. After the throne had been declared vacant by a small majority of the peers, those who opposed that measure had gradually withdrawn themselves from the house, so that very few remained but such as were devoted to the new monarch. These therefore brought in a bill for preventing all disputes concerning the present parliament. In the meantime, Mr. Hambden, in the lower house, put the question, Whether a king elected by the lords spiritual and temporal, and the commons assembled at Westminster, coming to and consulting with the said lords and commons, did not make as complete a parliament and legislative power and authority as if the said king should cause new elections to be made by writ? Many members affirmed that the king’s writ was as necessary as his presence to the being of a legal parliament, and as the convention was defective in this particular, it could not be vested with a parliamentary authority by any management whatsoever. The whigs replied, That the essence of a parliament consisted in the meeting and co-operation of the king, lords, and commons; and that it was not material whether they were convoked by writ or by letter: they proved this assertion by examples deduced from the history of England: they observed that a new election would be attended with great trouble, expense, and loss of time; and that such delay might prove fatal to the protestant interest in Ireland, as well as to the allies on the continent. In the midst of this debate the bill was brought down from the lords, and being read, a committee was appointed to make some amendments. These were no sooner made than the commons sent it back to the upper house, and it immediately received the royal assent. By this act the lords and commons assembled at Westminster were declared the two houses of parliament to all intents and purposes: it likewise ordained, That the present act, and all other acts to which the royal assent should be given before the next prorogation, should be understood and adjudged in law to begin on the thirteenth day of February: that the members, instead of the old oaths of allegiance and supremacy, should take the new oath incorporated in this act under the ancient penalty; and that the present parliament should be dissolved in the usual manner. Immediately after this transaction a warm debate arose in the house of commons about the revenue, which the courtiers alleged had devolved with the crown upon William, at least during the life of James, for which term the greater part of it had been granted. The members in the opposition affirmed that these grants were vacated with the throne; and at length it was voted, That the revenue had expired. Then a motion was made, That a revenue should be settled on the king and queen; and the house resolved it should be taken into consideration. While they deliberated on this affair they received a message from his majesty, importing that the late king had set sail from Brest with an armament to invade Ireland. They forthwith resolved to assist his majesty with their lives and fortunes; they voted a temporary aid of four hundred and twenty thousand pounds, to be levied by monthly assessments, and both houses waited on the king to signify this resolution. But this unanimity did not take place till several lords spiritual as well as temporal had, rather than take the oaths, absented themselves from parliament. The nonjuring prelates were Sancroft, archbishop of Canterbury; Turner, bishop of Ely; Lake, of Chichester; Ken, of Bath and Wells; White, of Peterborough; Lloyd, of Norwich; Thomas, of Worcester; and Frampton, of Gloucester. The temporal peers who refused the oath were the duke of Newcastle; the earls of Clarendon, Litchfield, Exeter, Yarmouth, and Stafford; the lords Griffin and Stawel. Five of the bishops withdrew themselves from the house at one time; but before they retired one of the number moved for a bill of toleration, and another of comprehension, by which moderate dissenters might be reconciled to the church, and admitted into ecclesiastical benefices. Such bills were actually prepared and presented by the earl of Nottingham, who received the thanks of the house for the pains he had taken. From this period the party averse to the government of William were distinguished by the appellation of Nonjurors. They rejected the notion of a kingde facto, as well as all other distinctions and limitations; and declared for the absolute power and divine hereditary indefeisible right of sovereigns.
WILLIAM AND MARY, 1688—1701.
This faction had already begun to practise against the new government. The king having received some intimation of their designs from intercepted letters, ordered the earl of Arran, sir Robert Hamilton, and some other gentlemen of the Scottish nation, to be apprehended and sent prisoners to the Tower. Then he informed the two houses of the step he had taken, and even craved their advice with regard to his conduct in such a delicate affair which had compelled him to trespass upon the law of England. The lords thanked him for the care he took of their liberties, and desired he would secure all disturbers of the peace: but the commons empowered him by a bill to dispense with thehabeas-corpusact till the seventeenth day of April next ensuing. This was a stretch of confidence in the crown which had not been made in favour of the late king, even while Argyle and Monmouth were in open rebellion. A spirit of discontent had by this time diffused itself through the army, and become so formidable to the court, that the king resolved to retain the Dutch troops in England and send over to Holland in their room such regiments as were most tinctured with disaffection. Of these the Scottish regiment of Dumbarton, commanded by mareschal Schomberg, mutinied on its march to Ipswich, seized the military chest, disarmed the officers who opposed their design, declared for king James, and with four pieces of cannon began their march for Scotland. William, being informed of this revolt, ordered general Ginckel to pursue them with three regiments of Dutch dragoons, and the mutineers surrendered at discretion. As the delinquents were natives of Scotland, which had not yet submitted in form to the new government, the king did not think proper to punish them as rebels, but ordered them to proceed for Holland according to his first intention. Though this attempt proved abortive, it made a strong impression upon the ministry, who were divided among themselves and wavered in their principles. However, they used this opportunity to bring in a bill for punishing mutiny and desertion, which in a little time passed both houses and received the royal assent.
The coronation oath003[See note C, at the end of this Vol.]being altered and explained, that ceremony was performed on the eleventh day of April, the bishop of London officiating, at the king’s desire, in the room of the metropolitan, who was a malcontent; and next day the commons in a body waited on the king and queen at Whitehall, with an address of congratulation. William, with a view to conciliate the affections of his new subjects, and check the progress of clamour and discontent, signified in a solemn message to the house of commons, his readiness to acquiesce in any measure they should think proper to take for a new regulation or total suppression of the hearth-money, which he understood was a grievous imposition on his subjects; and this tax was afterwards abolished. He was gratified with an address of thanks, couched in the warmest expressions of duty, gratitude, and affection, declaring they would take such measures in support of his crown, as would convince the world that he reigned in the hearts of his people.
He had, in his answer to their former address, assured them of his constant regard to the rights and prosperity of the nation: he had explained the exhausted state of the Dutch; expatiated upon the zeal of that republic for the interests of Britain, as well as the maintenance of the protestant religion; and expressed his hope that the English parliament would not only repay the sums they had expended in his expedition, but likewise further support them to the utmost of their ability against the common enemies of their liberties and religion. He had observed that a considerable army and fleet would be necessary for the reduction of Ireland and the protection of Britain, and he desired they would settle the revenue in such a manner that it might be collected without difficulty and dispute. The sum total of the money expended by the states-general in William’s expedition amounted to seven millions of guilders, and the commons granted six hundred thousand pounds for the discharge of this debt, incurred for the preservation of their rights and religion. They voted funds for raising and maintaining an army of two-and-twenty thousand men, as well as for equipping a numerous fleet: but they provided for no more than half a year’s subsistence of the troops, hoping the reduction of Ireland might be finished in that term; and this instance of frugality the king considered as a mark of their diffidence of his administration. The whigs were resolved to supply him gradually, that he might be the more dependent upon their zeal and attachment; but he was not at all pleased with their precaution.
William was naturally biassed to Calvinism, and averse to persecution. Whatever promises he had made, and whatever sentiments of respect he had entertained for the church of England, he seemed now in a great measure alienated from it by the opposition he had met with from its members, particularly from the bishops who had thwarted his measures. By absenting themselves from parliament, and refusing the oath, they had plainly disowned his title and renounced his government. He therefore resolved to mortify the church, and gratify his own friends at the same time, by removing the obstacles affixed to nonconformity, that all protestant dissenters should be rendered capable of enjoying and exercising civil employments. When he gave his assent to the bill for suspending thehabeas-corpusact, he recommended the establishment of a new oath in lieu of those of allegiance and supremacy: he expressed his hope that they would leave room for the admission of all his protestant subjects who should be found qualified for the service; he said, such a conjunction would unite them the more firmly among themselves, and strengthen them against their common adversaries. In consequence of this hint, a clause was inserted in the bill for abrogating the old and appointing the new oaths, by which the sacramental test was declared unnecessary in rendering any person capable of enjoying any office or employment. It was, however, rejected by a great majority in the house of lords. Another clause for the same purpose, though in different terms, was proposed by the king’s direction, and met with the same fate, though in both cases several noblemen entered a protest against the resolution of the house. These fruitless efforts in favour of dissenters augmented the prejudice of the churchmen against king William, who would have willingly compromised the difference by excusing the clergy from the oaths, provided the dissenters might be exempted from the sacramental test: but this was deemed the chief bulwark of the church, and therefore the proposal was rejected. The church party in the house of lords moved, That instead of inserting a clause obliging the clergy to take the oaths, the king should be empowered to tender them; and, in case of their refusal, they should incur the penalty, because deprivation, or the apprehensions of it, might make them desperate and excite them to form designs against the government. This argument had no weight with the commons, who thought it was indispensably necessary to exact the oaths of the clergy, as their example influenced the kingdom in general, and the youth of the nation were formed under their instructions. After a long and warm debate, all the mitigation that could be obtained was a clause empowering the king to indulge any twelve clergymen, deprived by virtue of this act, with a third part of their benefices during pleasure. Thus the ancient oaths of allegiance and supremacy were abrogated: the declaration of non-resistance in the act of uniformity was repealed: the new oath of allegiance was reduced to its primitive simplicity, and the coronation-oath rendered more explicit. The clergy were enjoined to take the new oaths before the first day of August, on pain of being suspended from their office for six months, and of entire deprivation, in case they should not take them before the expiration of this term. They generally complied, though with such reservations and distinctions as were not much for the honour of their sincerity.
The king, though baffled in his design against the sacramental test, resolved to indulge the dissenters with a toleration; and a bill for this purpose being prepared by the earl of Nottingham, was, after some debate, passed into a law, under the title of an act for exempting their majesties’ protestant subjects, dissenting from the church of England, from the penalties of certain laws. It enacted, That none of the penal laws should be construed to extend to those dissenters who should take the oaths to the present government, and subscribe the declaration of the thirtieth year of the reign of Charles II. provided that they should hold no private assemblies or conventicles with the doors shut; that nothing should be construed to exempt them from the payment of tithes or other parochial duties: that, in case of being chosen into the office of constable, churchwarden, overseer, &c. and of scrupling to take the oaths annexed to such offices, they should be allowed to execute the employment by deputy: that the preachers and teachers in congregations of dissenting protestants who should take the oaths, subscribe the declaration, together with all the articles of religion, except the thirty-fourth and the two succeeding articles, and part of the twentieth, should be exempted from the penalties decreed against non-conformists, as well as from serving upon juries, or acting in parish offices: yet all justices of the peace were empowered to require such dissenters to subscribe the declaration and take the oaths; and, in case of refusal, to commit them to prison without bail or mainprize. The same indulgence was extended to anabaptists, and even to quakers, on their solemn promise before God to be faithful to the king and queen, and their assenting by profession and asseveration to those articles which the others ratified upon oath: they were likewise required to profess their belief in the Trinity and the Holy Scriptures. Even the papists felt the benign influence of William’s moderation in spiritual matters: he rejected the proposal of some zealots, who exhorted him to enact severe laws against popish recusants. Such a measure, he observed, would alienate all the papists of Europe from the interests of England, and might produce a new Catholic league which would render the war a religious quarrel; besides, he would not pretend to screen the protestants of Germany and Hungary, while he himself should persecute the Catholics of England. He therefore resolved to treat them with lenity; and though they were not comprehended in the act, they enjoyed the benefit of the toleration.
WILLIAM AND MARY, 1688—1701.