158

BRUTALITY OF JEFFREYS.

Ch. 14 the most summary vengeance inflicted on the rebels, and Jeffreys, with tiger ferocity, was ready to execute his will.

A. D. 1685.

Nothing is more memorable than the "bloody assize" which he held in those counties through which Monmouth had passed. Nothing could exceed the cruelty and brutality of the judge. "Show me," said he, "a Presbyterian, and I will show thee a lying knave. Presbyterianism has all manner of villany in it. There is not one of those lying, snivelling, canting Presbyterians, but, one way or another, has had a hand Cruel- in the rebellion." He sentenced nearly all who were accused ties of to be hanged or burned; and the excess of his barbarities Jeffreys. called forth pity and indignation even from devoted loyalists. It was his boast, that he had hanged more traitors than all his predecessors since the Conquest. On a single circuit, three hundred and fifty were executed; some of whom were people of great worth, and many innocent. Those whom he spared from an ignominious death were sentenced to the most cruel punishments-to the lash or the pillory, to imprisonment in the foulest jails, to mutilation, to banishment, and to heavy fines.

Remo

Catho

bilities.

The power of James was now, to all appearance, consolidated; he therefore began, without disguise, to advance the two great objects which were dearest to his heart-the restoration of the Roman Catholic religion, and the attainment of despotic power.

To accomplish these ends, he determined to elevate Caval of tholics to the highest offices of the State, in defiance alike lic di: a- of the laws and of the wishes of the nation. He accordingly gave them commissions in the army; made them his confidential advisers; introduced Jesuits into London; received a Papal nuncio, and offered the livings of the Church to needy adventurers.

By means of the dispensing power, a prerogative he had inherited, but which had never been strictly defined, he granted to the whole Roman Catholic body a dispensation from all the statutes which imposed penalties and tests.

A

QUARREL WITH THE UNIVERSITIES,

159

prero

general indulgence was proclaimed, and the courts of law were Ch. 14 compelled to acknowledge that the right of dispensing had A. D. not been infringed. Four Catholic noblemen were then ad- 1686. mitted as privy counsellors, and some clergymen, converted to Romanism, were permitted to hold their livings. James now made no secret of his intentions to restore the Catholic religion, and systematically labored to destroy the Established Church. In order to effect this, he created a tribunal, which did not materially differ from the celebrated High Commission Court of Elizabeth. This court, not content with depriving numerous clergymen of their spiritual functions, because they would not betray their own church, proceeded to sit in judg- Abuse ment on the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge,―institu- of the tions which had always befriended the Stuart Kings in their gative. crimes and misfortunes. James was infatuated enough to quarrel with these great bodies, because they would not sanction measures intended to overturn a church which it was their duty and interest to uphold. The King had commanded Cambridge to bestow the degree of master of arts on a Benedictine monk, which was against the laws of the University and of Parliament. The University refused to act against the law, in consequence of which, the senate was summoned to the Court of High Commission, and the vicechancellor was deprived of his office and emoluments. James now insisted on placing a Roman Catholic in the presidential chair of Magdalen College, one of the richest in the University of Oxford. The fellows refused to elect the royal nominee, and chose John Hough instead.

the

sities.

The King, enraged at the opposition he received from the Opposi University, resolved to visit it. On his arrival, he summoned tion of the fellows of Magdalen College, and commanded them to Univer.. obey him in the matter of a president. They still held out, and the King, mortified and enraged, quitted Oxford to resort to bolder measures. A special commission was instituted. Hough was forcibly ejected, and the Bishop of Oxford installed. The fellows were expelled from the University by a

M

160

TYRANNY AND INFATUATION OF JAMES.

Ch. 14 royal edict, and pronounced incapable of ever holding any church preferment.

A. D. 1687.

to the

All these severities were blunders. The nation was indignant; the clergy alienated; and the aristocracy inflamed to defiance.

Insults The King, nevertheless, for a time prevailed against all nation. opposition; and, now that the fellows of Magdalen College were expelled, he turned it into a Popish seminary, admitted in one day twelve Roman Catholics as fellows, and appointed a Roman Catholic bishop to preside over them. This last insult was felt to the extremity of the kingdom; and bitter resentment everywhere took the place of former loyalty. James was now regarded, even by his old friends, as a tyrant, and as a man doomed to destruction. Nothing, indeed, short of infatuation, could have led him to seek the ruin of a church which the other Stuart Kings had always regarded as the surest and firmest pillar of the throne.

Corruption of

Parlia ment.

But James resolved to persevere. The sanction of Parliament was now felt to be necessary to the success of his schemes; but the sanction of a free parliament it was impossible to obtain. He resolved, therefore, to bring together, by corruption and intimidation, by violent exertions of prerogative, by fraudulent distortions of law, an assembly which should call itself a parliament, and be willing to register any edict he proposed. Accordingly, every placeman, from the highest to the lowest, was made to understand that he must support the throne or lose his office. A committee of seven privy counsellors sat at Whitehall for the purpose of regulating the municipal corporations. Father Petre was made a privy counsellor. Committees, after the model of the one at Whitehall, were established in all parts of the realm. The Lord-Lieutenants received written orders to go down to their respective counties, and superintend the work of corruption and fraud. Half of them refused to perform the ignominious work, and were immediately dismissed from their posts. Nor could those who consented to conform to the wishes and

PROSECUTION OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS.

161

orders of the King make any progress in their work, on Ch. 14 account of the general opposition of the gentry. The country A. D. squires, as a body, stood out in fierce resistance. They re- 1688. fused to send up any man to parliament who would vote away the liberties and interests of the nation. The justices Opposiand deputy-lieutenants, on their part, declared that they the would sustain, at all hazards, the Protestant religion.

This scheme having failed, it was next resolved to take away the power of the municipal corporations. The boroughs were required to surrender their charters. But a great majority firmly refused to part with their privileges. Prosecuted and intimidated, they still held out. Oxford, by a vote of eighty to two, determined to defend its franchises. Other towns did the same. Meanwhile, all the public departments were subjected to a strict inquisition; and all who would not support the policy of the King were turned out of office.

tion of

gentry.

ration

From motives as impossible to fathom, as difficult to Declaaccount for, James now, by an order in Council of the 4th of of InMay, 1688, directed that the Declaration of Indulgence, an dulunconstitutional act, should be read publicly from all the gence. pulpits in the kingdom. The London clergy, the most respectable and influential in the realm, made up their minds to disregard the order, and the bishops sustained them in their refusal. The archbishop and six bishops accordingly signed a petition to the King, which embodied the views of the London clergy. It was presented by the prelates in a body, at the palace. James chose to consider this act as treasonable and libellous, but it was generally and enthusiastically approved by the nation.

Seven

Nothing could exceed the vexation of the King, when he The found that not only the clergy had disobeyed his orders, but Bishops that the Seven Bishops were sustained by the people. He immediately resolved to prosecute the bishops for a libel. They were accordingly tried at the Court of the King's Bench. The most eminent lawyers in the realm were employed as their counsel, and all the arts of tyranny were resorted to in

162

A. D.

CRITICAL CONDITION OF JAMES.

Ch. 14 vain by the servile judges. The jury rendered a verdict of acquittal, and never, within the memory of man, were such 1688. shouts and tears of joy poured forth by a people. Even the soldiers, whom the King had ordered to Hounslow Heath to overawe London, partook of the enthusiasm and triumph. All classes united in expressions of joy that the tyrant was baffled.

sistance

It was now obvious, to men of all parties, and all ranks, that James meditated the complete subversion of English liberty. The fundamental laws of the kingdom had been Organ- systematically violated. The power of dispensing with acts ized re- of parliament had been strained to the utmost. The courts of justice had been filled with unscrupulous judges; Roman Catholics had been elevated to places of dignity in the Established Church. An infamous and tyrannical Court of High Commission had been created. Persons, who could not legally set foot in England, had been placed at the head of colleges, and had taken their seats at the royal council board. Lord lieutenants of counties had been dismissed for refusing to obey illegal commands; the franchises of almost every borough had been invaded; an army of Irish Catholics, whom the nation abhorred, had been brought over to England; even the sacred right of petition was disregarded; and a free Parliament was prevented from assembling.

Leading

rators.

Under such circumstances, and in view of these unquestioned facts, a great conspiracy was set on foot to dethrone the King and to overturn the hateful dynasty.

court.

Among the conspirators were the Earls of Devonshire, conspi- Shrewsbury, and Danby; Compton, the Bishop of London; and many others, who had been insolently treated by the The designs of the party were communicated to the Prince of Orange by Edward Russell and Henry Sydney, brothers of the two great political martyrs who had been executed in the last reign. The Prince immediately agreed to invade England with a well-appointed army.

On William of Orange, doubtless the greatest statesman and warrior of his age, the eyes of the English nation had long