The History of England, from the Accession of James the Second - Volume 1 by Thomas Babington Macaulay (diy ebook reader .txt) π
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the Whigs in the days
of the plot, merely because the Whigs were predominant, and which
had changed with the change of fortune. James justly regarded
these renegades as the most serviceable tools that he could
employ. It was not from the stouthearted Cavaliers, who had been
true to him in his adversity, that he could expect abject and
unscrupulous obedience in his prosperity. The men who, impelled,
not by zeal for liberty or for religion, but merely by selfish
cupidity and selfish fear, had assisted to oppress him when he
was weak, were the very men who, impelled by the same cupidity
and the same fear, would assist him to oppress his people now
that he was strong.302 Though vindictive, he was not
indiscriminately vindictive. Not a single instance can be
mentioned in which he showed a generous compassion to those who
had opposed him honestly and on public grounds. But he frequently
spared and promoted those whom some vile motive had induced to
injure him. For that meanness which marked them out as fit
implements of tyranny was so precious in his estimation that he
regarded it with some indulgence even when it was exhibited at
his own expense.
The King's wishes were communicated through several channels to
the Tory members of the Lower House. The majority was easily
persuaded to forego all thoughts of a penal law against the
Exclusionists, and to consent that His Majesty should have the
revenue for life. But about the Test Act and the Habeas Corpus
Act the emissaries of the Court could obtain no satisfactory
assurances.303
On the nineteenth of May the session was opened. The benches of
the Commons presented a singular spectacle. That great party,
which, in the last three Parliaments, had been predominant, had
now dwindled to a pitiable minority, and was indeed little more
than a fifteenth part of the House. Of the five hundred and
thirteen knights and burgesses only a hundred and thirty-five had
ever sate in that place before. It is evident that a body of men
so raw and inexperienced must have been, in some important
qualities, far below the average of our representative
assemblies.304
The management of the House was confided by James to two peers of
the kingdom of Scotland. One of them, Charles Middleton, Earl of
Middleton, after holding high office at Edinburgh, had, shortly
before the death of the late King, been sworn of the English
Privy Council, and appointed one of the Secretaries of State.
With him was joined Richard Graham, Viscount Preston, who had
long held the post of Envoy at Versailles.
The first business of the Commons was to elect a Speaker. Who
should be the man, was a question which had been much debated in
the cabinet. Guildford had recommended Sir Thomas Meres, who,
like himself, ranked among the Trimmers. Jeffreys, who missed no
opportunity of crossing the Lord Keeper, had pressed the claims
of Sir John Trevor. Trevor had been bred half a pettifogger and
half a gambler, had brought to political life sentiments and
principles worthy of both his callings, had become a parasite of
the Chief Justice, and could, on occasion, imitate, not
unsuccessfully, the vituperative style of his patron. The minion
of Jeffreys was, as might have been expected, preferred by James,
was proposed by Middleton, and was chosen without opposition.305
Thus far all went smoothly. But an adversary of no common prowess
was watching his time. This was Edward Seymour of Berry Pomeroy
Castle, member for the city of Exeter. Seymour's birth put him on
a level with the noblest subjects in Europe. He was the right
heir male of the body of that Duke of Somerset who had been
brother-in-law of King Henry the Eighth, and Protector of the
realm of England. In the limitation of the dukedom of Somerset,
the elder Son of the Protector had been postponed to the younger
son. From the younger son the Dukes of Somerset were descended.
From the elder son was descended the family which dwelt at Berry
Pomeroy. Seymour's fortune was large, and his influence in the
West of England extensive. Nor was the importance derived from
descent and wealth the only importance which belonged to him. He
was one of the most skilful debaters and men of business in the
kingdom. He had sate many years in the House of Commons, had
studied all its rules and usages, and thoroughly understood its
peculiar temper. He had been elected speaker in the late reign
under circumstances which made that distinction peculiarly
honourable. During several generations none but lawyers had been
called to the chair; and he was the first country gentleman whose
abilities and acquirements had enabled him to break that long
prescription. He had subsequently held high political office, and
had sate in the Cabinet. But his haughty and unaccommodating
temper had given so much disgust that he had been forced to
retire. He was a Tory and a Churchman: he had strenuously opposed
the Exclusion Bill: he had been persecuted by the Whigs in the
day of their prosperity; and he could therefore safely venture to
hold language for which any person suspected of republicanism
would have been sent to the Tower. He had long been at the head
of a strong parliamentary connection, which was called the
Western Alliance, and which included many gentlemen of
Devonshire, Somersetshire, and Cornwall.306
In every House of Commons, a member who unites eloquence,
knowledge, and habits of business, to opulence and illustrious
descent, must be highly considered. But in a House of Commons
from which many of the most eminent orators and parliamentary
tacticians of the age were excluded, and which was crowded with
people who had never heard a debate, the influence of such a man
was peculiarly formidable. Weight of moral character was indeed
wanting to Edward Seymour. He was licentious, profane, corrupt,
too proud to behave with common politeness, yet not too proud to
pocket illicit gain. But he was so useful an ally, and so
mischievous an enemy that he was frequently courted even by those
who most detested him.307
He was now in bad humour with the government. His interest had
been weakened in some places by the remodelling of the western
boroughs: his pride had been wounded by the elevation of Trevor
to the chair; and he took an early opportunity of revenging
himself.
On the twenty-second of May the Commons were summoned to the bar
of the Lords; and the King, seated on his throne, made a speech
to both Houses. He declared himself resolved to maintain the
established government in Church and State. But he weakened the
effect of this declaration by addressing an extraordinary
admonition to the Commons. He was apprehensive, he said, that
they might be inclined to dole out money to him from time to
time, in the hope that they should thus force him to call them
frequently together. But he must warn them that he was not to be
so dealt with, and that, if they wished him to meet them often
they must use him well. As it was evident that without money the
government could not be carried on, these expressions plainly
implied that, if they did not give him as much money as he
wished, he would take it. Strange to say, this harangue was
received with loud cheers by the Tory gentlemen at the bar. Such
acclamations were then usual. It has now been, during many years,
the grave and decorous usage of Parliaments to hear, in
respectful silence, all expressions, acceptable or unacceptable,
which are uttered from the throne.308
It was then the custom that, after the King had concisely
explained his reasons for calling Parliament together, the
minister who held the Great Seal should, at more length, explain
to the Houses the state of public affairs. Guildford, in
imitation of his predecessors, Clarendon, Bridgeman, Shaftesbury,
and Nottingham, had prepared an elaborate oration, but found, to
his great mortification, that his services were not wanted.309
As soon as the Commons had returned to their own chamber, it was
proposed that they should resolve themselves into a Committee,
for the purpose of settling a revenue on the King.
Then Seymour stood up. How he stood, looking like what he was,
the chief of a dissolute and high spirited gentry, with the
artificial ringlets clustering in fashionable profusion round his
shoulders, and a mingled expression of voluptuousness and disdain
in his eye and on his lip, the likenesses of him which still
remain enable us to imagine. It was not, the haughty Cavalier
said, his wish that the Parliament should withhold from the crown
the means of carrying on the government. But was there indeed a
Parliament? Were there not on the benches many men who had, as
all the world knew, no right to sit there, many men whose
elections were tainted by corruption, many men forced by
intimidation on reluctant voters, and many men returned by
corporations which had no legal existence? Had not constituent
bodies been remodelled, in defiance of royal charters and of
immemorial prescription? Had not returning officers been
everywhere the unscrupulous agents of the Court? Seeing that the
very principle of representation had been thus systematically
attacked, he knew not how to call the throng of gentlemen which
he saw around him by the honourable name of a House of Commons.
Yet never was there a time when it more concerned the public weal
that the character of Parliament should stand high. Great dangers
impended over the ecclesiastical and civil constitution of the
realm. It was matter of vulgar notoriety, it was matter which
required no proof, that the Test Act, the rampart of religion,
and the Habeas Corpus Act, the rampart of liberty, were marked
out for destruction. "Before we proceed to legislate on questions
so momentous, let us at least ascertain whether we really are a
legislature. Let our first proceeding be to enquire into the
manner in which the elections have been conducted. And let us
look to it that the enquiry be impartial. For, if the nation
shall find that no redress is to be obtained by peaceful methods,
we may perhaps ere long suffer the justice which we refuse to
do." He concluded by moving that, before any supply was granted,
the House would take into consideration petitions against
returns, and that no member whose right to sit was disputed
should be allowed to vote.
Not a cheer was heard. Not a member ventured to second the
motion. Indeed, Seymour had said much that no other man could
have said with impunity. The proposition fell to the ground, and
was not even entered on the journals. But a mighty effect had
been produced. Barillon informed his master that many who had not
dared to applaud that remarkable speech
of the plot, merely because the Whigs were predominant, and which
had changed with the change of fortune. James justly regarded
these renegades as the most serviceable tools that he could
employ. It was not from the stouthearted Cavaliers, who had been
true to him in his adversity, that he could expect abject and
unscrupulous obedience in his prosperity. The men who, impelled,
not by zeal for liberty or for religion, but merely by selfish
cupidity and selfish fear, had assisted to oppress him when he
was weak, were the very men who, impelled by the same cupidity
and the same fear, would assist him to oppress his people now
that he was strong.302 Though vindictive, he was not
indiscriminately vindictive. Not a single instance can be
mentioned in which he showed a generous compassion to those who
had opposed him honestly and on public grounds. But he frequently
spared and promoted those whom some vile motive had induced to
injure him. For that meanness which marked them out as fit
implements of tyranny was so precious in his estimation that he
regarded it with some indulgence even when it was exhibited at
his own expense.
The King's wishes were communicated through several channels to
the Tory members of the Lower House. The majority was easily
persuaded to forego all thoughts of a penal law against the
Exclusionists, and to consent that His Majesty should have the
revenue for life. But about the Test Act and the Habeas Corpus
Act the emissaries of the Court could obtain no satisfactory
assurances.303
On the nineteenth of May the session was opened. The benches of
the Commons presented a singular spectacle. That great party,
which, in the last three Parliaments, had been predominant, had
now dwindled to a pitiable minority, and was indeed little more
than a fifteenth part of the House. Of the five hundred and
thirteen knights and burgesses only a hundred and thirty-five had
ever sate in that place before. It is evident that a body of men
so raw and inexperienced must have been, in some important
qualities, far below the average of our representative
assemblies.304
The management of the House was confided by James to two peers of
the kingdom of Scotland. One of them, Charles Middleton, Earl of
Middleton, after holding high office at Edinburgh, had, shortly
before the death of the late King, been sworn of the English
Privy Council, and appointed one of the Secretaries of State.
With him was joined Richard Graham, Viscount Preston, who had
long held the post of Envoy at Versailles.
The first business of the Commons was to elect a Speaker. Who
should be the man, was a question which had been much debated in
the cabinet. Guildford had recommended Sir Thomas Meres, who,
like himself, ranked among the Trimmers. Jeffreys, who missed no
opportunity of crossing the Lord Keeper, had pressed the claims
of Sir John Trevor. Trevor had been bred half a pettifogger and
half a gambler, had brought to political life sentiments and
principles worthy of both his callings, had become a parasite of
the Chief Justice, and could, on occasion, imitate, not
unsuccessfully, the vituperative style of his patron. The minion
of Jeffreys was, as might have been expected, preferred by James,
was proposed by Middleton, and was chosen without opposition.305
Thus far all went smoothly. But an adversary of no common prowess
was watching his time. This was Edward Seymour of Berry Pomeroy
Castle, member for the city of Exeter. Seymour's birth put him on
a level with the noblest subjects in Europe. He was the right
heir male of the body of that Duke of Somerset who had been
brother-in-law of King Henry the Eighth, and Protector of the
realm of England. In the limitation of the dukedom of Somerset,
the elder Son of the Protector had been postponed to the younger
son. From the younger son the Dukes of Somerset were descended.
From the elder son was descended the family which dwelt at Berry
Pomeroy. Seymour's fortune was large, and his influence in the
West of England extensive. Nor was the importance derived from
descent and wealth the only importance which belonged to him. He
was one of the most skilful debaters and men of business in the
kingdom. He had sate many years in the House of Commons, had
studied all its rules and usages, and thoroughly understood its
peculiar temper. He had been elected speaker in the late reign
under circumstances which made that distinction peculiarly
honourable. During several generations none but lawyers had been
called to the chair; and he was the first country gentleman whose
abilities and acquirements had enabled him to break that long
prescription. He had subsequently held high political office, and
had sate in the Cabinet. But his haughty and unaccommodating
temper had given so much disgust that he had been forced to
retire. He was a Tory and a Churchman: he had strenuously opposed
the Exclusion Bill: he had been persecuted by the Whigs in the
day of their prosperity; and he could therefore safely venture to
hold language for which any person suspected of republicanism
would have been sent to the Tower. He had long been at the head
of a strong parliamentary connection, which was called the
Western Alliance, and which included many gentlemen of
Devonshire, Somersetshire, and Cornwall.306
In every House of Commons, a member who unites eloquence,
knowledge, and habits of business, to opulence and illustrious
descent, must be highly considered. But in a House of Commons
from which many of the most eminent orators and parliamentary
tacticians of the age were excluded, and which was crowded with
people who had never heard a debate, the influence of such a man
was peculiarly formidable. Weight of moral character was indeed
wanting to Edward Seymour. He was licentious, profane, corrupt,
too proud to behave with common politeness, yet not too proud to
pocket illicit gain. But he was so useful an ally, and so
mischievous an enemy that he was frequently courted even by those
who most detested him.307
He was now in bad humour with the government. His interest had
been weakened in some places by the remodelling of the western
boroughs: his pride had been wounded by the elevation of Trevor
to the chair; and he took an early opportunity of revenging
himself.
On the twenty-second of May the Commons were summoned to the bar
of the Lords; and the King, seated on his throne, made a speech
to both Houses. He declared himself resolved to maintain the
established government in Church and State. But he weakened the
effect of this declaration by addressing an extraordinary
admonition to the Commons. He was apprehensive, he said, that
they might be inclined to dole out money to him from time to
time, in the hope that they should thus force him to call them
frequently together. But he must warn them that he was not to be
so dealt with, and that, if they wished him to meet them often
they must use him well. As it was evident that without money the
government could not be carried on, these expressions plainly
implied that, if they did not give him as much money as he
wished, he would take it. Strange to say, this harangue was
received with loud cheers by the Tory gentlemen at the bar. Such
acclamations were then usual. It has now been, during many years,
the grave and decorous usage of Parliaments to hear, in
respectful silence, all expressions, acceptable or unacceptable,
which are uttered from the throne.308
It was then the custom that, after the King had concisely
explained his reasons for calling Parliament together, the
minister who held the Great Seal should, at more length, explain
to the Houses the state of public affairs. Guildford, in
imitation of his predecessors, Clarendon, Bridgeman, Shaftesbury,
and Nottingham, had prepared an elaborate oration, but found, to
his great mortification, that his services were not wanted.309
As soon as the Commons had returned to their own chamber, it was
proposed that they should resolve themselves into a Committee,
for the purpose of settling a revenue on the King.
Then Seymour stood up. How he stood, looking like what he was,
the chief of a dissolute and high spirited gentry, with the
artificial ringlets clustering in fashionable profusion round his
shoulders, and a mingled expression of voluptuousness and disdain
in his eye and on his lip, the likenesses of him which still
remain enable us to imagine. It was not, the haughty Cavalier
said, his wish that the Parliament should withhold from the crown
the means of carrying on the government. But was there indeed a
Parliament? Were there not on the benches many men who had, as
all the world knew, no right to sit there, many men whose
elections were tainted by corruption, many men forced by
intimidation on reluctant voters, and many men returned by
corporations which had no legal existence? Had not constituent
bodies been remodelled, in defiance of royal charters and of
immemorial prescription? Had not returning officers been
everywhere the unscrupulous agents of the Court? Seeing that the
very principle of representation had been thus systematically
attacked, he knew not how to call the throng of gentlemen which
he saw around him by the honourable name of a House of Commons.
Yet never was there a time when it more concerned the public weal
that the character of Parliament should stand high. Great dangers
impended over the ecclesiastical and civil constitution of the
realm. It was matter of vulgar notoriety, it was matter which
required no proof, that the Test Act, the rampart of religion,
and the Habeas Corpus Act, the rampart of liberty, were marked
out for destruction. "Before we proceed to legislate on questions
so momentous, let us at least ascertain whether we really are a
legislature. Let our first proceeding be to enquire into the
manner in which the elections have been conducted. And let us
look to it that the enquiry be impartial. For, if the nation
shall find that no redress is to be obtained by peaceful methods,
we may perhaps ere long suffer the justice which we refuse to
do." He concluded by moving that, before any supply was granted,
the House would take into consideration petitions against
returns, and that no member whose right to sit was disputed
should be allowed to vote.
Not a cheer was heard. Not a member ventured to second the
motion. Indeed, Seymour had said much that no other man could
have said with impunity. The proposition fell to the ground, and
was not even entered on the journals. But a mighty effect had
been produced. Barillon informed his master that many who had not
dared to applaud that remarkable speech
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