der the crown uneafy to his majefty. That he owed fo against Geo. I. 1716. Gèo. I. The duke of Shrewsbury spoke with fome vehemence 1716. against the bill; after which the lord Parker inlarged on the conftitution with relation to the calling, election, fitting, and prolonging of parliaments. He was followed by the of the third eftate of this realm.' But what was moft taken notice of in his lordship's fpeech, was, that, in order to fhew the danger of inlarging the preroga. tive, he inftanced, in the precedent of king Henry VIII,who perfuaded his parliament to give him the abbey-lands, under pretence, that they would bear part of his expences, which would ease them of taxes, and improve trade; but that, foon after, he demanded and obtained great fubfidies, and made use of those lands to inflave the nation. The duke of Argyle anfwered, among other particulars: That he could by no means agree with the noble lord that fpoke laft, either as to the beginning or end of the rebelliou. That' it had been fuggefted, that the king had been received with the general acclamations of his people; but that it was certain, and has fince manifeftly appeared. that, whatever arts were ufed by the last miniftry to blind and deceive the people, defigns had been laid to bring in the pretender, long before the king's happy acceffion to the throne. That the difappointment of thefe defigns was intirely owing to Providence; for, had the confpirators thrown off the mask fooner, and improved the ferment their emiffaries had raised in the nation, at the election of the laft parliament, it is very probable their wicked fchemes for fetting afide the Proteftant fucceffion had taken place. That he wondered therefore, that his lordship could be puzzled to find out the cause of the prefent difaffection, for, it was plain, it proceed from the falfe reprefentations of things. and perfons, that were induftriously spread abroad, both before and fince his majesty's coming in.' As to what has been fuggefted, that the rebellion was at an end, his grace obferved, That the rebels had only fhifted their head-quarters from Perth to Paris, or St. Germain's; but that their emiffaries were still as bufy and infolent as ever in Great Britain, and wanted only an opportunity to renew the rebellion, and favour an invafion. As to what had been hinted, that this bill would rivet the Jacobites in their opinion, he faid,That was no good argument against it, for he had feen fome perfons shift fides often, and change their opinions, and be very zealous for both." The earl of Nottingham, taking this reflection to himself, readily owned, That he was for fome time against the Abjuration Oath, because he thought a multiplicity of oaths, would make the nation unfafe; but that, as foon as he was convinced of the neceflity of that oath, he readily came into it.' The duke of Argyle thereupon food up, and faid, He was forry that noble lord took to himself what he faid only in general.' Jord lord chancellor Cowper, who refumed all the arguments that Geo. I. had been urged in the debate; rectified fome miftakes as to 1716. the constitution and nature of the parliaments; gave a clear account of the triennial act; and vindicated the king and the government, as to the prefent difaffection; appealing to the lords and commons, Whether the leaft provocation had been given either by his majefty or his minifters?' and afferting, That, if there was any fault on the king's fide, it was too much lenity; and that the only crime that could be charged on his minifters, was their zeal and vigilance in defence of his majesty's perfon and government." The earl of Aylesford having anfwered part of the lord chancellor's fpeech, the bishop of London faid, That, when he came to the house, he knew not which way he fhould give his vote, and hoped to be guided and determined by what fhould be offered on both fides on this important fubject: But now he owned he was confounded between dangers and inconveniencies on one fide, and deftruction on the other.' The earl of Anglesea spoke next with great vehemence against the bill; and the duke of Bucks clofed the debate with faying, That he was for the bill, but did not think it feasonable. At laft, the queftion, That the bill be committed,' being put, it was carried in the affirmative by ninetyfix voices against fixty-one. But thirty lords entered their protests (d). (d) They were as follow: Diffentient. I. Because, we conceive, that frequent and new parliaments are required by the fundamental conftitution of the kingdom, and the practice thereof, for many ages (which manifeftly appears by our records) is a fufficient evidence and proof of this conftitution. II. Because it is agreed, that the house of commons must be chofen by the people; and, when fo chofen, they are truly the reprefentatives of the people, which they cannot be fo properly faid to be, when continued for a longer time than that, Two for which they were chofen; III. Because the reasons given 1. For, as to the argument, that this will encourage the princes and states of Europe to enter 14 enter into alliances with us, we Nor is it reasonable to ima- But, on the other hand, they may be deterred from entering into measures with us, when they fhall be informed by the preamble of this bill, that the Popish faction is fo dangerous, as that it may be deftructive to the peace and fecurity of the government; and may apprehend, from this bill, that the government is fo weak, as to want fo extraordinary a provifion for its fafety; which feems to imply, that the gentlemen of Britain are not to be trufted or relied upon; and that the good affections of the people are restrained to fo fmall a number, as that, of which the prefent houfe of commons confifts. z. We conceive, this bill is fo far from preventing expences and corruptions, that it will rather increase them, for the felves be 3. We conceive, that what- for selves for and against it; and, among others, a bishop, who Geo. I. had not yet fpoken on the fubject, faid, If this bill was ne- 1716. ver fo good in itself, it was very unfeasonable, because very unpopular, and altogether useless, the rebellion being crushed, and the power of France not to be feared; now especially, when we have a glorious standing army, and a miniftry, that knows how effectually to engage the affections of the people." The committee having gone through the bill, and ordered the blank before the word Years to be filled up with the word Seven, the question was put, Whether the fame fhould be reported, in order to be ingroffed, which was carried by feventy-four voices against thirty-nine. The next day the bill was reported, and, without dividing, ordered to be engroffed; and, being read the third time, on the 18th of April, there arofe a debate, which lafted about two hours. Near half of that time was taken up by the earl of Nottingham, who, among other things, by a long historical detail, endeavoured to fhew, That counfels for enlarging the prerogative were ever pernicious to the crown.' To this the duke of Argyle anfwered, That, not being fo well read in hiftory as that noble lord, he would confine himself to what had happened in his own time; and that he had obferved, that his lordfhip had, by turns, oppofed all that had been offered, either for the interest of the crown, or the liberties of the people; of which he might eafily produce feveral instances: adding, <That he did not much wonder there appeared already fo much joy among a certain party over a repenting finner." |