occasions to exercise their talents against the court; and besides insisting on the exclusion, they proceeded to bring in other bills of an alarming nature. The king, seeing no hopes of restoring the commons to a better temper, came to the resolution of proroguing them; but the house having got intelligence of his design a short time before it was put in execution, in the most tumultuous manner passed some extraordinary resolutions, which were indirectly subversive of the throne.

Soon after this session was closed, Charles summoned a new parliament, and, in order to prevent those tumults, which attended their assembling at Westminster, from the vicinity of a populous city, he directed them to meet him at Oxford. Against this, Monmouth and fifteen peers protested, on the ground that the two houses would be there exposed to the swords of the papists and their adherents. These insinuations inflamed the people still more; the leaders came to parliament, attended not only by their servants, but by numerous retainers; and the assembly at Oxford resembled more a Polish diet than an English parliament.

The commous consisted nearly of the same members, and fell instantly into the same measures, the impeachment of Danby, the inquiry into the popish plot, and the bill of exclusion. So violent were they on this last article, that no expedient, however plausible, could be hearkened to. One of the king's ministers proposed, that the duke should be banished five hundred miles from England, and on the king's demise, the next heir should be constituted regent with regal power; yet even this expedient, which would have left the duke of York only the bare title of king, failed to satisfy the house. Charles, seeing no probability of a better temper in the commons, without sacrificing his brother, dissolved the parliament; and resolved to depend on economy and retrenchment for alleviating the necessities under which he laboured.

A. D.

As the king no longer dreaded the clamours of the country party, he permitted the duke of York to pay him a visit. The duke chose to take his passage by sea; and the ship in which he embarked struck on a sand-bank, and was lost; but he escaped, with a few of his party, in the barge. It is said, that while

1682.

many persons of rank and quality were drowning, and, among the rest, Hyde, his brother-in-law, the duke was very clamorous to save the dogs and the priests.

Through the influence of the crown, two sheriffs, North and Rich, were chosen in the city, on account of their devotion to the court; but as the contest might be renewed every year, a project was formed to make the king master at once, not only of the city, but of all the corporations in England. A writ of quo warranto* was issued against the city, which, it was pretended, had forfeited all its privileges, on account of some irregularities in its proceedings several years before; and though the cause of the city was ably defended against the attorney and solicitor generals, the judges decided against it. After sentence had been pronounced, the citizens petitioned the king, who agreed to restore them their charter, but obliged them to submit to the following regulations: That no mayor, sheriff, recorder, common-sergeant, town-clerk, or coroner, should be admitted to the exercise of his office without his majesty's approbation: that if the king disapproved twice of the mayor or sheriffs elected, he may, by commission, appoint those magistrates: that the mayor and court of alderman may, with his majesty's leave, displace any magistrate and that no alderman, in case of a vacancy, shall be elected without the consent of the court of aldermen, who, if they disapprove twice of the choice, may fill the vacancy.

All the corporations in England, from this precedent, saw how ineffectual it would be to contend with the court, and, therefore, most of them were induced to surrender their charters into the king's hands. Considerable A. D. sums were exacted for restoring the charters; and 1683. all offices of power or profit, by the restrictions

introduced, were now left at the disposal of the crown. The conduct of Charles in these proceeding was a most violent infraction of personal and national liberty, and sufficiently proves the arbitrary and tyrannical principles by which he governed. Every friend to liberty must allow, that the nation, whose constitution had been thus violated, was justified in employing expedients for reco

*That is, an inquiry into the validity of its charter.,

vering the security of which it had been so unjustly deprived.

There was a party, who, even before this last iniquitous proceeding, which laid the whole constitution at the mercy of the king, meditated plans of resistance to the measures of the court. The duke of Monmouth, lord Russel, and lord Gray, solicited, not only the capital, but the nobility and gentry of several counties, to rise in arms, and oppose the succession of the duke. The whole train was ready to take fire; but was prevented by the caution of lord Russel, who, in opposition to Shaftesbury, the prime mover, induced Monmouth to delay the enterprise. Shaftesbury, enraged at this delay, abandoned all hopes of success, and withdrew to Holland, where he died soon after, little regretted by his friends, or noticed by his

enemies.

At last, a regular project of insurrection was formed. The council consisted of Monmouth, Russel, Essex, How ard, Algernon Sidney, and John Hampden, grandson to the great parliamentary leader. These men entered into an agreement with Argyle and the Scottish malcontents, who engaged to bring the covenanters into the field. The conspirators, however, differed widely in their views. Sid ney and Essex were for a republic; Monmouth entertained hopes of obtaining the crown for himself; and Russel and Hampden were attached to the ancient constitution, and wished only a redress of grievances, and the exclusion of the duke of York. Howard, who was a man of no principle, was ready to espouse any party, to which his interest might lead him. But, discordant as they seemed, in their characters and views, they were all united in a common hatred of the heir-apparent.

While these schemes were concerting among the leaders, an inferior order of conspirators held frequent meetings, and carried on projects quite unknown to Monmouth, and the cabal of six; and the only persons of this confederacy, who had access to the leaders of the party, were Ferguson, and colonel Rumsey, an old republican officer. These persons indulged in the most criminal discourse; and proposed to assassinate Charles at a farm called the Ryehouse, which lay on the road to Newmarket, whither the king commonly went once a-year; but the house in which

his majesty lived there happening to take fire, obliged him to leave that place, sooner than he intended, and thus the execution of the design was prevented.

Among the conspirators was one Keiling, who, being under a criminal prosecution, in order to obtain a pardon, betrayed his associates to secretary Jenkins. Search being made after the conspirators, colonel Rumsey, and West, a lawyer, finding the perils to which they were exposed, surrendered themselves, and turned evidence. Rumsey made known the meetings of the leaders; and orders were issued for arresting the great men engaged in the conspiracy. Monmouth absconded; Russel was sent to the Tower; Gray was arrested, but escaped; and Howard, a profligate man, being taken, in hopes of pardon and reward, revealed the whole plot. Essex, Sidney, and Hampden, were immediately apprehended; and some of the inferior conspirators being convicted, paid the forfeit of their lives.

The condemnation of these criminals was preparatory to the trial of lord Russel, a nobleman illustrious for his virtues, and highly popular, against whom Rumsey, Shephard, and Howard, appeared. It was proved, that an insurrection had been resolved on, and the surprisal of the king's guards taken into consideration by the prisoner; but still, with regard to law, there remained an important difficulty. By an act passed soon after the restoration, to consult on a rebellion, during Charles's lifetime, was declared treason; but it was required, that the prosecution should be commenced within six months after the crime had been committed. The facts sworn to by Rumsey and Shephard were beyond the six months required by law; and to the other circumstances, Howard was the only evidence, whereas by the statute of Edward III., the crime of treason must be proved by two witnesses.

Russel perceived this irregularity, and desired to have the point argued by counsel; but the chief-justice told him, that this favour could not be granted, unless he previously confessed the facts; and the artificial confounding of the two species of treason was the principal, though not the only hardship, of which this unfortunate nobleman had reason to complain on his trial. His veracity would not allow him to deny the conspiracy for an insurrection ;

but he solemnly protested, that he had never entertained any design against the life of the king. After a short deliberation, the jury brought him in guilty.

Applications were made to the king for a pardon; and even money, to a very considerable amount, was offered to the duchess of Portsmouth by the earl of Bedford, father to Russel; but Charles was inexorable.

Lady Russel, daughter and heir of the earl of Southampton, a woman of the most exalted merit, threw herself at the king's feet, and pleaded with many tears the services of her father as an atonement for the error of her husband. Finding her supplications ineffectual, she summoned up all the fortitude of her soul, and even endeavoured, by her example, to strengthen the resolution of her unfortunate lord. With a tender and decent composure, they took leave of each other on the day of his execution. "The bitterness of death is now past," said he, as he turned from her. To the last, he maintained the same dignified composure, the same good-humoured equanimity for which he had been always distinguished. He was the most popular among his own party, and admired for his virtues even by the opposite faction; and his melancholy fate united every heart, sensible of humanity, in a tender compassion for him.

Algernon Sidney, the apostle of liberty, was next brought to trial. This gallant person, son to the earl of Leicester, had been deeply implicated in the civil wars; but he opposed the usurpation of Cromwell with zeal and courage; and, after the restoration, he chose voluntary banishment, rather than submit to a government and family which he abhorred. At length, he returned to England, and applied for the king's pardon, which he obtained.

Howard was again the only witness against Sidney; but, as the law required two, a strange expedient was adopted to supply the deficiency. In searching the prisoner's closets, some discourses on government were found, in which he maintained principles, favourable indeed to liberty, but such as the most dutiful subjects have been known to embrace, and which, even if they had been published, could not have infringed any positive law. These papers, however were said to be equivalent to a second witness; and the violent and inhuman judge