their proceedings; he refused to obey the serjeant at arms who was sent to apprehend him; he stood upon his defence, and said he knew no law by which they pretended to commit him. The house, finding it equally dangerous to proceed or to recede, got off by an evasion. They inserted in their votes, that Stawell was indisposed; and a month's time was allowed him for his recovery. It is happy for the nation, that, should the commons at any time overleap the bounds of their authority, and order men capriciously to be committed to prison, there is no power, in case of resistance, that can compel the prisoner to submit to their decrees.

But the chief point which the commons laboured to obtain, was the Exclusion Bill, which, though the former house had voted it, was never passed into a law. Shaftesbury, and many considerable men of the party, had rendered themselves so obnoxious to the duke of York, that they could find safety in no measure but his ruin. Monmouth's friends hoped that the exclusion of James would make room for their own patron. The catholic bigotry of the duke of York influenced numbers; and his tyrannies, which were practised without control while he continued in Scotland, rendered his name odious to thousands. In a week, therefore, after the commencement of the session, a motion was made for bringing in an exclusion bill, and a committee was appointed for that purpose. The debates were carried on with great violence on both sides; the bill was defended by lord Russel, sir William Jones, sir Francis Winnington, sir Henry Capel, sir William Pulteney, colonel Titus, Treby, Hampden, and Montague. It was opposed by sir Leoline Jenkins, secretary of state; sir John Ernley, chancellor of the exchequer; by Hyde, Seymour, and Temple. The bill passed by a great majority in the house of commons, but was opposed in the house of

peers with better success. Shaftesbury, Sunderland, and Essex argued for it. Halifax chiefly conducted the arguments against it. The king was present during the whole debate, and had the pleasure of seeing the bill thrown out by a great majority. All the bishops, except three, voted against it; for they were of opinion that the church of England was in much greater danger from the prevalence of presbyterianism than of popery.

The commons were extremely mortified and enraged at the rejection of their favourite bill; and, to show how strongly they resented the indulgence that was shown to popery, they passed a bill for easing the protestant dissenters, and for repealing such acts as tended to their persecution. They proceeded to bring in bills, which, though contributing to secure the liberty of the subject, yet probably at that period were only calculated to excite them to insurrection. They had thoughts of renewing the triennial act; of continuing the judges in their offices during good behaviour; of ordering an association for the defence of his majesty's person, and the security of the protestant religion. They voted that till the exclusion bill should be enacted, they could not, consistently with the trust reposed in them, grant the king any supply; and, to prevent his taking other methods to get money, they voted, that whoever should advance money upon any branches of the king's revenue, should be responsible to parliament for his conduct. The king, finding that there were no hopes of extorting either money or obedience from the commons, A. D. came to a resolution of once more dissolving the 1681. parliament. His usher of the black-rod accordingly came to dissolve them, while they were voting that the dissenters should be encouraged, and the papists had burned the city of London.

The parliament thus dissolved, it was considered as

a doubt, whether the king would ever call another: however, the desire he had of being supplied with money surmounted his fears from every violence a parliament might offer. But it had always been supposed that the neighbourhood of London, at once both potent and factious, was an improper place for assembling a parliament that would be steadfast in the king's interests; he therefore resolved at once to punish the Londoners, by showing his suspicions of their loyalty, and to reward the inhabitants of Oxford by bringing down his parliament to that city. Accordingly a parliament was ordered to assemble at Oxford; and measures were taken on both sides to engage the partisans to be strenuous in their resolutions. In this, as in the late parliament, the country party predominated: the parliamentary leaders came to that city, attended not only by their servants, but with numerous bands of their retainers. The four London members were followed by great multitudes wearing ribands, in which were woven these words, "No popery! No slavery!" The king was not behind them in the number and formidable appearance of his guards; so that the parliament rather bore the appearance of a military congress than of a civil assembly. This parliament trod exactly in the steps of the for

mer.

The commons, having chosen the same speaker who had filled the chair in the last parliament, ordered the votes to be printed every day, that the public might be acquainted with the subject of their deliberations. The bill for exclusion was more fiercely urged than ever. Ernley, one of the king's ministers, proposed that the duke should be banished, during life, five hundred miles from England; and that, upon the king's death, the next heir should be constituted regent, with regal power. Yet even this expedient, which left the duke the bare title of king, could not obtain the attention of

the house. Nothing but a total exclusion could satisfy them.

Each party had now for some time reviled and ridiculed each other in pamphlets and libels; and this prac tice, at last, was attended with an incident that deserves notice. One Fitzharris, an Irish papist, dependent on the duchess of Portsmouth, one of the king's mistresses, used to supply her with these occasional publications. But he was resolved to add to their number, by his own endeavours; and employed one Everard, a Scotchman, to write a libel against the king and the duke of York. The Scot was actually a spy for the opposite party; and, supposing this a trick to entrap him, he discovered the whole to sir William Waller, an eminent justice of peace; and, to convince him of the truth of his information, posted him and two other persons privately, where they heard the whole conference between Fitzharris and himself. The libel, composed between them, was replete with rancour and scurrility. Waller carried the intelligence to the king, and obtained a warrant for committing Fitzharris, who happened at that very time to have a copy of the libel in his pocket. Seeing him self in the hands of a party from which he expected no mercy, he resolved to side with them, and throw the odium of the libel upon the court, who, he said, were willing to draw up a libel which should be imputed to the exclusionists, and thus render them hateful to the people. He enhanced his services with the country party by a new popish plot, still more tremendous than any of the foregoing. He brought in the duke of York as a principal accomplice in this plot, and as a contriver in the murder of sir Edmondbury Godfrey.

The king imprisoned Fitzharris; the commons avowed his cause. They voted that he should be impeached by themselves, to screen him from the ordinary forms of

justice; the lords rejected the impeachment; the commons asserted their right; a commotion was likely to ensue; and the king, to break off the contest, went to the house and dissolved the parliament, with a fixed resolution never to call another.

This vigorous measure was a blow that the parliament did not expect; and nothing but the necessity of the times could have justified the king's manner of proceeding. From that moment, which ended the parliamentary commotions, Charles seemed to rule with despotic power; and he was resolved to leave the succession to his brother, but clogged with all the faults and misfortunes of his own administration. His temper, which had always been easy and merciful, now became arbitrary, and even cruel; he entertained spies and informers round the throne, and imprisoned all such as he thought most daring in their designs.

He resolved to humble the presbyterians: these were divested of their employments and their places, and their offices given to such as held with the court, and approved the doctrine of non-resistance. The clergy began to testify their zeal and their principles by their writings and their sermons; but, though among these the partisans of the king were the most numerous, those of the opposite faction were the most enterprising. The king openly espoused the cause of the former; and thus placing himself at the head of a faction, he deprived the city of London, which had long headed the popular party, of their charter. It was not till after an abject submission that he restored it to them, having previously subjected the election of their magistrates to his immediate authority.

Terrors also were not wanting to confirm this new species of monarchy. Fitzharris was brought to his trial before a jury, and condemned and executed. The