MILLAR’S HISTORICAL VIEW OF THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT. 
net asin a regular parliament. This meet- 
ing assembling at a time when the whole 
nation was in a ferment, and when the peo- 
le, having arms in their hands, were capa- 
Je of making an effectual opposition, Its 
determinations, which passed, not only 
without censure, but with strong marks of 
public approbation and satisfaction, must be 
considered as the voice of the community at 
large, delivered with as much formality, and 
in a manner as unexceptionable as the nature 
of things would permit. In this convention 
the main articles of the revolution-settle- 
ment were adjusted; though to remove, as 
far as possible, every appearance of objection, 
they were afterwards confirmed by the sanc- 
tion of a regular parliament. 
«< That the king, who had shewn such a 
determined resolution to overturn the reli- 
jon and government of the kingdom, and 
that his son, then an infant, who, it was 
foreseen, would be educated in the same, 
principles, and until he should arrive at the 
age of manhood, would be under the direc- 
-tion, of his father, and of his father’s coun- 
sellors; that those two persons, whatever 
might be the reverence paid to their title, 
Should be excluded from the throne, was, in 
the present state of the nation, rendered in- 
dispensibly necessary In the convention, 
however, this point was not settled without 
much hesitation am! controversy. The 
two great parties who, since the reign of 
Charles the First, in a great measure divided 
the kingdom, had shewn themselves almost 
equally disposed to resist the arbitrary mea- 
sures of James for introducing the popish re- 
ligion. But thou xb a great part of the tories 
had, from the terror of popery, joined in the 
application to the prince of Orange, that he 
would assist them wiin a foreign army, to 
procure the redress of grievances ; no sooner 
were they delivered from their immediate ap- 
prehensions, than they seemed to repent of 
their boldness, relapsed into their old politi- 
cal principles, and resumed their former doc- 
trines of passive obedience. They at least 
carried those doctrines so far as to maintain, 
that the people had no right, upon any abuse 
of the regal power, or upon any pretence 
whatever, to punish the sovereign, or de- 
_prive him of the sovereignty; and that eyen 
supposing the king to have resigned or aban- 
doned his royal dignity, the throne could 
not upon that account, be rendered vacant, 
but must immediately be filled by the prince 
of Wales, to whom, upon the death of his 
father, the crown must be instantly trans- 
ferred. According to this view, it was con- 
tended, that, in the present emergency, the 
administration should be committed toa 
regency ; either in the name of James, if he 
was to be considered merely as absent ; or in 
the name of his son, if the father had actu- 
ally abandoned the sovereignty. 
«« The whigs, though they: entertained 
_more liberal notions of government, were 
unwilling te fall out with their present con- 
Ann. Rev. Vor. II, 
6 
257 
federates; and endeavoured by a temporising 
system, to ayoid unnecessary disputes upon 
abstract political questions, and to render 
the new settlement, as much as possible, 
unanimons and permanent. 
‘< Tt is a matter of curiosity to observe the 
public debates on this important oceasion ; 
in which the natural spirit and feelings of 
men, made up fir the narrowness of their 
philosophical prine ples; and in whieh a 
feigned and ridicvlous pretence was employ- 
ed to justify a measure which they did not 
scruple to execute. They supposed thet, 
by leaving the kingdom, James had abdi- 
cated the government; instead of boldly 
asserting that, by his gross misbehaviour, 
he had forfeited his right to the crown. That 
James made his escape rather than comply 
with the desires of his people, or assemble a 
parliament to deliberate upon the redress of 
rievances; was the real state of the fact.— 
But that he meant by this to yield up, or 
relinquish his authority, there certainly was 
no ground to imagine. His flight was the 
effect of his obstinacy and his fear; and was 
calculated to procure the protection of a fo- 
reign power, by whose aid he entertained 
the prospect of being soon reinstated in his 
dominion. We cannot help pitying the 
most enlightened friends’ of liberty, when 
we see them reduced, on that occasion, to 
the necessity of softenivg the retreat of 
James, and his attempt to overturn the go- 
vernment, by regarding them as a virtual re- 
nunciation of his trust, or voluntary abdica- 
tion of his crown; instead of holding them 
up in their true colours, of crimes, deserv- 
ing the highest punishment, and for which 
the welfure of society required, that he 
should at least be deprived of his office. 
«© In Scotland, where a majority of the 
people were presbyterians, and felt an utter 
abhorrence, not only of popery, but of that 
episcopal hierarchy to which they had been 
forcibly subjected, and where the reforma- 
tion, as J formerly took notice, had diffused 
among all ranks, a more literary and inquir- 
ing spirit than was known in England; ti. 
convention, whieh was likewise called by 
the prince of O.ange for the same purpose 
as in the latter country, discovered, or at 
least uttered, without any subterfuge, more 
manly and liberal sentiments. ‘ The estates 
of the kingdom found and declared, that 
James VIT. had invaded the fundamental 
laws of this kingdom, and altered it from a, 
legal and limited monarchy, to an arbitrary 
despotic power; and had governed the same 
to ae subversion of the protestant religion, 
and violation of the laws and liberties of the 
nation, inverting all the ends of govern- 
ment; whereby he had forfeited the crown, 
and the throne was become vacant.’ 
** But though the language employed by 
the leaders in the Englith convention, was 
accommodated to the narrow prejudices of 
the times, their measures were dictated by 
sound and liberal policy. Setting aside the 
