CHAP.

VI.

:

had fled in confusion before Monmouth's scythemen, would
have faced the household troops of Lewis.
But these argu-
ments had little effect on Cavaliers who still remembered with
bitterness the stern rule of the Protector. The general feeling
was forcibly expressed by the first of the Tory country gen-
tlemen of England, Edward Seymour. He admitted that the
militia was not in a satisfactory state, but maintained that it
might be remodelled. The remodelling might require money;
but, for his own part, he would rather give a million to keep
up a force from which he had nothing to fear, than half a
million to keep up a force of which he must ever be afraid.
Let the trainbands be disciplined; let the navy be strength-
ened; and the country would be secure. A standing army
was at best a mere drain on the public resources. The
soldier was withdrawn from all useful labour. He produced
nothing he consumed the fruits of the industry of other
men; and he domineered over those by whom he was sup-
ported. But the nation was now threatened, not only with a
standing army, but with a Popish standing army, with a
standing army officered by men who might be very amiable
and honourable, but who were on principle enemies to the
constitution of the realm. Sir William Twisden, member for
the county of Kent, spoke on the same side with great keen-
ness and loud applause. Sir Richard Temple, one of the few
Whigs who had a seat in that Parliament, dexterously accom-
modating his speech to the temper of his audience, reminded
the House that a standing army had been found, by experience,
to be as dangerous to the just authority of princes as to the
liberty of nations. Sir John Maynard, the most learned law-
yer of his time, took part in the debate. He was now more
than eighty years old, and could well remember the political
contests of the reign of James the First. He had sate in the
Long Parliament, and had taken part with the Roundheads,
but had always been for lenient counsels, and had laboured
to bring about a general reconciliation. His abilities, which
age had not impaired, and his professional knowledge, which
had long overawed all Westminster Hall, commanded the ear
of the House of Commons. He, too, declared himself against
the augmentation of the regular forces.

After much debate it was resolved that a supply should be granted to the Crown; but it was also resolved that a bill should be brought in for making the militia more efficient. This last resolution was tantamount to a declaration against

the standing army.

The King was greatly displeased; and it was whispered that, if things went on thus, the session would not be of long duration.*

The language

On the morrow the contention was renewed. of the country party was perceptibly bolder and sharper than on the preceding day. That paragraph of the King's speech which related to supply preceded the paragraph which related to the test. On this ground Middleton proposed that the paragraph relating to supply should be first considered in committee. The opposition moved the previous question. They contended that the reasonable and constitutional practice was to grant no money till grievances had been redressed, and that there would be an end of this practice if the House thought itself bound servilely to follow the order in which matters were mentioned by the King from the throne.

The division was taken on the question whether Middleton's motion should be put. The Noes were ordered by the Speaker to go forth into the lobby. They resented this much, and complained loudly of his servility and partiality: for they conceived that, according to the intricate and subtle rule which was then in force, and which, in our time, was superseded by a more rational and convenient practice, they were entitled to keep their seats; and it was held by all the parliamentary tacticians of that age that the party which stayed in the House had an advantage over the party which went out; for the accommodation on the benches was then so deficient that no person who had been fortunate enough to get a good seat was willing to lose it. Nevertheless, to the dismay of the ministers, many persons on whose votes the Court had absolutely depended were seen moving towards the door. Among them was Charles Fox, Paymaster of the Forces, and son of Sir Stephen Fox, Clerk of the Green Cloth. The Paymaster had been induced by his friends to absent himself during part

16

20

* Commons' Journals, Nov. 12. 1685; Van Leeuwen, Nov. 13.; Barillon, Nov. 18.; Sir John Bramston's Memoirs. The best report of the debates of the Commons in November 1685, is one of which the history is somewhat curious. There are two manuscript copies of it in the British Museum, Harl. 7187.; Lans. 253. In these copies the names of the speakers are given at length. The author of the Life of James published in 1702 transcribed this report, but gave only the initials of the speakers. The editors of

Chandler's Debates and of the Parlia-
mentary History guessed from these
initials at the names, and sometimes
guessed wrong. They ascribe to Waller
a very remarkable speech, which will
hereafter be mentioned, and which was
really made by Windham, member for
Salisbury. It was with some concern
that I found myself forced to give up
the belief that the last words uttered in
public by Waller were so honourable to
him.

CHAP.
VI.

CHAP.
VI.

Defeat of

ment.

of the discussion. But his anxiety had become insupportable. He came down to the Speaker's chamber, heard part of the debate, withdrew, and, after hesitating for an hour or two between conscience and five thousand pounds a year, took a manly resolution and rushed into the House just in time to vote. Two officers of the army, Colonel John Darcy, son of the Lord Conyers, and Captain James Kendall, withdrew to the lobby. Middleton went down to the bar and expostulated warmly with them. He particularly addressed himself to Kendall, a needy retainer of the Court, who had, in obedience to the royal mandate, been sent to Parliament by a packed corporation in Cornwall, and who had recently obtained a grant of a hundred head of rebels sentenced to transportation. "Sir," said Middleton, "have not you a troop of horse in His Majesty's service ?" "Yes, my Lord,” answered Kendall: "but my elder brother is just dead, and has left me seven hundred a year."

When the tellers had done their office it appeared that the Ayes were one hundred and eighty-two, and the Noes one hundred and eighty-three. In that House of Commons which had been brought together by the unscrupulous use of chicanery, of corruption, and of violence, in that House of. Commons of which James had said that more than eleven twelfths of the members were such as he would himself have nominated, the Court had sustained a defeat on a vital question.*

In consequence of this vote the expressions which the King had used respecting the test were taken into consideration. It was resolved, after much discussion, that an address should be presented to him, reminding him that he could not legally continue to employ officers who refused to qualify, and pressing him to give such directions as might quiet the apprehensions and jealousies of his people.†

A motion was then made that the Lords should be requested to join in the address. Whether this motion was honestly made by the opposition, in the hope that the concurrence of the peers would add weight to the remonstrance, or artfully made by the courtiers, in the hope that a breach be

16

* Commons' Journals, Nov. 13. 1685; Bramston's Memoirs; Reresby's Memoirs; Barillon, Nov. 18.; Van Leeuwen, Nov. 1. Memoirs of Sir Stephen Fox, 1717; The Case of the Church of Eng

land fairly stated; Burnet, i. 666. and Speaker Onslow's note.

+ Commons' Journals, Nov. 13. 1685; Harl. MS. 7187.; Lansdowne MS, 253.

tween the Houses might be the consequence, it is now impossible to discover. The proposition was rejected.*

The House then resolved itself into a committee, for the purpose of considering the amount of supply to be granted. The King wanted fourteen hundred thousand pounds: but the ministers saw that it would be vain to ask for so large a sum. The Chancellor of the Exchequer mentioned twelve hundred thousand pounds. The chiefs of the opposition replied that to vote for such a grant would be to vote for the permanence of the present military establishment: they were disposed to give only so much as might suffice to keep the regular troops on foot till the militia could be remodelled; and they therefore proposed four hundred thousand pounds. The courtiers exclaimed against this motion as unworthy of the House and disrespectful to the King: but they were manfully encountered. One of the Western members, John Windham, who sate for Salisbury, especially distinguished himself. He had always, he said, looked with dread and aversion on standing armies; and recent experience had strengthened those feelings. He then ventured to touch on a theme which had hitherto been studiously avoided. He described the desolation of the Western counties. The people, he said, were weary of the oppression of the troops, weary of free quarters, of depredations, of still fouler crimes which the law called felonies, but for which, when perpetrated by this class of felons, no redress could be obtained. The King's servants had indeed told the House that excellent rules had been laid down for the government of the army; but none could venture to say that these rules had been observed. What, then, was the inevitable inference? Did not the contrast between the paternal injunctions issued from the throne and the insupportable tyranny of the soldiers prove that the

*The conflict of testimony on this subject is most extraordinary; and, after long consideration, I must own that the balance seems to me to be exactly poised. In the Life of James (1702), the motion is represented as a court motion. This account is confirmed by a remarkable passage in the Stuart Papers, which was corrected by the Pretender himself. (Life of James the Second, ii. 55.) On the other hand, Reresby, who was present, and Barillon, who ought to have been well informed, represent the motion as an opposition motion. The Harleian and Lansdowne manuscripts differ in the

single word on which the whole depends.
Unfortunately Bramston was not at the
House that day. James Van Leeuwen
mentions the motion and the division,
but does not add a word which can throw
the smallest light on the state of parties.
I must own myself unable to draw with
confidence any inference from the names
of the tellers, Sir Joseph Williamson and
Sir Francis Russell for the majority,
and Lord Ancram and Sir Henry Good-
ricke for the minority. I should have
thought Lord Ancram likely to go with
the court, and Sir Henry Goodricke
likely to go with the opposition.

CHAP.

VI.

CHAP.

VI.

Second de

feat of the

government.

the Com

mons.

army was even now too strong for the prince as well as for the people? The Commons might surely, with perfect consistency, while they reposed entire confidence in the intentions of His Majesty, refuse to make any addition to a force which it was clear that His Majesty could not manage.

The motion that the sum to be granted should not exceed four hundred thousand pounds, was lost by twelve votes. This victory of the ministers was little better than a defeat. The leaders of the country party, nothing disheartened, retreated a little, made another stand, and proposed the sum of seven hundred thousand pounds. The committee divided again, and the courtiers were beaten by two hundred and twelve votes to one hundred and seventy.*

The King On the following day the Commons went in procession to reprimands Whitehall with their address on the subject of the test. The King received them on his throne. The address was drawn up in respectful and affectionate language; for the great majority of those who had voted for it were zealously and even superstitiously loyal, and had readily agreed to insert some complimentary phrases, and to omit every word which the courtiers thought offensive. The answer of James was a cold and sullen reprimand. He declared himself greatly displeased and amazed that the Commons should have profited so little by the admonition which he had given them. "But," said he, "however you may proceed on your part, I will be very steady in all the promises which I have made to you.”+

Coke com

the Commons for

The Commons reassembled in their chamber, discontented, yet somewhat overawed. To most of them the King was still an object of filial reverence. Three more years filled with bitter injuries, and with not less bitter insults, were scarcely sufficient to dissolve the ties which bound the Cavalier gentry to the throne.

The Speaker repeated the substance of the King's reply. There was, for some time, a solemn stillness: then the order of the day was read in regular course; and the House went into committee on the bill for remodelling the militia.

In a few hours, however, the spirit of the opposition revived. mitted by When, at the close of the day, the Speaker resumed the chair, Wharton, the boldest and most active of the Whigs, proposed disrespect that a time should be appointed for taking His Majesty's answer into consideration. John Coke, member for Derby,

to the

King.

* Commons' Journals, Nov. 16. 1685; Harl. MS. 7187.; Lansdowne MS. 235.

+ Commons' Journals, Nov. 17, 18.

1685.