BRITAIN. 



605 





the gi-MtMt star* in the glorious work of slavery, 

 by to the king for the pn ent, and to the 



!*'" duke 'ft T Sim, absolute, unlimited obed- 



I'll,- whole history of the rest of Charles's reign, 

 exhibits an uninterrupted series of attacks on the 

 lives, liberties, and properties of his subjects. The 

 character of the government appeared first, and with 

 cotUiu!. the most hideous features, in Scotland. 



the Duke of York had been permitted to go, after 

 a temporary exile from Britain; and here he exerted, 

 during his administration of that kingdom, a tyranny, 

 if possible, more frightful than that of Lauderdale. 

 The wretched remains of the fugitive Covenanters, 

 now known by the, name of Cameronian?, from the 

 name of one of their clerical leaders, having publicly 

 abjured allegiance to government, their executions 

 were conducted, wherever they were found, with 

 every circumstance of torture and cruelty. The in- 

 nocent were artfully involved in the sacrifice. Avail- 

 ing itself of the frantic and fanatical delusion which 

 the cruelties of government had created, the privy 

 council intermixed its tortures with the most ensna- 

 ring questions : Was Sharpe's death murder > Was 

 the rising at Bothwell's bridge rebellion > Is Charles 

 a rightful king, or a tyrant ? The victims of rage 

 and suspicion, too sincere, or by torture made un- 

 able to prevaricate, were dismissed from their tor- 

 mentors to the justiciary court, and from thence to 

 the scaffold. James himself assisted, it is certain, at 

 one of those tortures, from choice, when Spreul was 

 exposed to the question, and endured it twice almost 

 without intermission. 



ilofthe The most illustrious object of this tyranny, in 

 I of Scotland, was the Earl of Argyle, (son to the no- 

 bleman already executed in Charles's reign), a man 

 whose only fault seems to have been submission to 

 the oppressive system under which his country had 

 hitherto groaned, although that very submission 

 sprung from a love of peace, rather than an appro- 

 bation of its enormities. When a contradictory test 

 of loyalty was prescribed by the Scottish parliament, 

 Argyle accepted the test as a privy counsellor, with 

 an explanation, that lie took it as far as it was con- 

 sistent with itself and the Protestant faith. For this 

 explanation, he was brought to trial, and, by the 

 most infamous perversion of the most innocent words, 

 a charge of treason was made out against him. Nairn, 

 a superannuated judge, who was brought at midnight 

 to make a majority on the relevancy of the indictment, 

 fell asleep while the proceedings- were read, and 

 was wakened to give his vote. A jury of Argyle's 

 personal enemies brought him in guilty. Argyle 

 escaped from prison, but sentence of attainder was 

 passed against him. After the fall of the exclusion- 

 ists, and the dismission of parliament, the Duke was 

 recalled to England, but Scotland enjoyed no relief 

 from the change of administration. 



The Tories endeavoured to signalize their victory 

 tried by s ' m 'l ar judicial enormities in England. Shaftes- 

 high bury was brought to trial for high treason, and the 

 ason. king himself condescended to solicit and to suborn 

 witnesses against him. As far as swearing would 

 go, the treason was made out by infamous witnesses. 



Britain. 



A London grand jury, liowevcr, acquitted Shaftes- 

 bury, and a shout of joy was given by the specta- 

 tors in court when the verdict was announced. Col- yui 

 ledge, an obscure sharer in the pretended conspiracy, 

 tried at Oxford, where opposite principles pre- 

 vailed. His notes of defence were taken from him 

 on the way to trial, an,d he was condemned and ex- 

 ecuted by a jury predetermined on his murder. The 

 populace, too, shouted at this verdict, for joy that 

 a Wiiig was to be put to death, as those of London 

 had rejoiced at Shiftesbury's acquittal. To give an 

 account, as Mr Fox has observed, of all the oppres- Oppression* 

 sion of this period, would be to enumerate every ar- ' Jiagland. 

 rest, every trial, every sentence, that took place be- 

 tw'.'cn the crown and the subjects. Pilkington, Colt) 

 and Gates, were fined each L.I 00,000 for speaking 

 disrespectfully of the Duke of York. Sir Patience 

 Ward, formerly mayor, who gave evidence for Pil- 

 kington, was sued for perjury, and condemned to the 

 pillory j a sentence intended to deter all witnesses 

 from appearing in favour of those who were prose- 

 cuted by the court. 



That the subjugation of the people might be com- p rocee d- 

 plete, measures of a more general nature were a- ings rc- 

 dopted. By the law of England, the validity of ipecting 

 charters of corporations might be inquired into by a the settin S 

 writ of Quo Warranto. The profligate judge Jef- J*^" of 

 freys suggested to the king, that most of them 

 might be annulled by such an inquiry. First the 168S. 

 charter of London, and then those of almost all the 

 other corporations in England, were either forfeited, 

 or extorted from their proprietors. By this direct 

 outrage on the rights of subjects, a way was opened 

 to have the choice of magistrates, of juries, and of 

 members of parliament, subjected to the- will of the 

 crown. It is needless to mention on what frivolous 

 grounds these actions were maintained and sanctioned 

 by the corrupt judgments of the king's.bench.- The 

 most trifling deviations from the terms of ancient 

 charters, the most insignificant offences against ob- 

 solete laws, were made the pretences for forfeiting 

 charters. The charter of St Ives was attacked, be- 

 cause the borough had four constables instead of 

 three, and three serjeants-at-mace instead of two. 

 One of the complaints against Oxford was, that the 

 fair was held in one place instead of another. 



While the Duke of York in Scotland, and the AasooJa 

 King in England, were proceeding to the last ag- tion of 

 gression on the constitution, a band of friends had patriot:. 

 associated to consult what means were left, or what 

 others might be devised, for delivering their coun- 

 try from the dreadful servitude into which it had fal- 

 len. The leaders of this secret association were 

 Monmouth, Shaftesbury, Russel, Essex, Algernon, 

 Sidney, and Hambden, the grandson of the great 

 patriot. As the evidence against this party was gi- 

 ven by the basest of its partizans, when, from hopes 

 of pardon they were led to mix falsehood with truth, 

 the designs of the association must still be consider- 

 ed as doubtful. That they meant to levy war against 

 the king, may be suspected, but is by no means cer- 

 tain. * That which is certain in this affair, is, that , 

 they had committed no overt act of treason, : 



Fox's Introductory Chapter to the Reign of James II. p 46. 



