1662-3.

Bill for that purpose.

A. D. privy seal) on the 22nd of February, brought in a bill concerning the king's power in ecclesiastical affairs; in which was a clause, "to enable the king to dispense, by letters patent under the great seal, with the act of uniformity, or the penalties in the said law imposed; or any other laws and statutes requiring oaths and subscriptions:" and the attorney-general was ordered to bring in a list of all those acts and oaths to which the said enacting clause related.

Upon reading this list, it was found that a greater latitude would be given in favour of the papists than was intended; and, therefore, the following general words, "or any other laws and statutes requiring oaths and subscriptions," were immediately ordered to be omitted. As, when these words were struck out, the bill could give relief to none but protestant dissenters, and would only invest the crown with a legal power of remitting penalties, (an amiable branch of the prerogative! from which the subject could have nothing to apprehend,) it was supported by the Earl of Manchester, (lord chamberlain,) Lord Ashley, and several other lords. The Earl of

*Lords' Journals.

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Opposed by

by Lord

Clarendon was detained from the house, at that time, by illness; but on the 13th of March he appeared there, and warmly opposed the bill, Lord Clawhich Lord Ashley with as much vigour sup- Supported ported. Lord Ashley took notice of the fatal Ashley. consequences of the act of uniformity: that by it great numbers of ministers were reduced to beggary; that many protestants were running into other countries, to the prejudice of trade and the dishonour of the kingdom: that the reformers in King Edward the Sixth's reign had acted in a different manner; for they had, like wise and good men, contrived the doctrine and discipline of the church so as to enlarge the terms of community; that they had set open the doors, and, by gentle means, persuaded and invited all they could into the church, thinking that the enlargement of their body would redound to the honour of their religion. Lord Ashley, however, and the other advocates for the bill, could not prevail. It was dropped in silence; which was The bill dropped. chiefly owing to a resolution of the house of commons, "that it should be presented to his majesty, as the humble advice of that house, that no indulgence be granted to the dissenters

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Lord Clarendon's narrow

politics.

from the act of uniformity." At the same time, the king was attended by the speaker and the whole house, with an address to recall his declaration of indulgence, and with reasons why the dissenters ought not to insist upon his declaration from Breda, or claim any right from that to an indulgence.

The commons were under the influence of Lord Clarendon, who carried his notions both of the prerogative of the crown and the power of the church to a great height. By several laws which he promoted, he advanced the former to an unconstitutional extent; but by injudicious endeavours to extend the latter, he considerably weakened the protestant interest. By his measures those distinctions were preserved which have been ever since so prejudicial to the nation, and which the welfare of the public made necessary to be removed. The Restoration gave the king a proper opportunity of uniting the people both in religion and politics; and the contending parties would have settled into temper, if an equal conduct had been maintained towards them by the crown. This would certainly have been right in point of prudence; and by the declaration from Breda, it was become as obligatory as it was just. But a

narrow, ill-judged policy prevailed: every step was taken that could divide, inflame, and weaken the people; and the interests of the prince and his subjects were considered as two different and opposite objects.

Lord Clarendon's apprehensions of danger from the dissenters rendered him an advocate for all the penal laws against them, and thus (notwithstanding his being himself a protestant) he opened the door for popery, by causing such a wide breach among the protestants: for the king (though it was not then known) intended to favour the papists, and to shelter them under the indulgence which the severity of penal laws might sometimes make necessary to be granted to nonconformists.

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an enemy to

Lord Ashley was an enemy to every degree Ld. Ashley of persecution; and thought that the distressing persecution. of the dissenters was an error in politics, as well as in humanity. He acted, therefore, upon these points, in a different manner from Lord Clarendon; and this opposition in their conduct and principles kept them always at variance.

Clarendon and Ashley were not men who could long act together with cordial feeling: they not only differed in their views of the measures dis

Lord Cla

rendon and

Lord Ashley jealous

of each

other.

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Close con

nexion be

Southampton and

Ld. Ashley.

cussed in the council chamber, but each had, in addition, private causes to distrust the other. Lord Clarendon was jealous of Lord Ashley's friendship with Lord Southampton, and thought that he had influenced the latter in his conduct concerning the penal laws against the nonconformists: Lord Ashley, on the other hand, had likewise entertained some jealousy of Lord Clarendon upon account of his daughter's marriage with the Duke of York, whose sentiments upon the subject of religion were now becoming pretty generally suspected, and whose strong ideas as to government had never been concealed.

As, both by alliance and a conformity of sentitween Lord ments, there was the closest friendship between Lord Southampton and Lord Ashley, they, in almost all parliamentary transactions, concurred in the same measures; and though they held employments of such profit and distinction, did not think themselves under a necessity of supporting all the designs of the court, but often acted in opposition to them.

Lord Southampton, who was one of the most distinguished men of the age for his probity and public spirit, had been made lord treasurer at the Restoration. Lord Ashley, at the same time,