how hard it is that so disproportionate a burthen should fall СНАР. upon them even to their utter ruin." LXXXVII. to dissolve Nothing was done in the Lords; but the Chancellor's A.D. 1673. associates were very active in the Commons, and at a supper Resolution on the 3d of November, at the Duchess of Portsmouth's, parliament. when the King was a good deal excited by wine, it was resolved that, to put an end to their machinations, parliament should instantly be dissolved. On cooler reflection, next morning, Charles mitigated his resolution to a prorogation, and, sending for Shaftesbury, asked him if he had brought his parliamentary robes? This led to an explanation, in which Shaftesbury, according to his own account, warned the King against the measures into which "the Popish faction " were hurrying him. Retiring from the closet, he sent a servant for his robes, and on his way to Westminster met a friend to whom he related this conversation.† mons. 1763. The King was in the House of Lords almost as soon as the Nov. 4. Chancellor, and the Black Rod was sent to summon the Com- Parliament An effort was made to keep him out till certain fac- prorogued. tious resolutions might be carried; but before the motion could be seconded, "that the Duke of Lauderdale was a grievance," he had thrice knocked, and the door was thrown open to him. When the Commons came to the bar of the House of Lords, the King ordered the Lord Chancellor to prorogue the two Houses in his name till the 7th of January. Shaftesbury obeyed, and was virtually out of office. Time and place fixed for taking the Great Seal from It was now thought that he could not be more dangerous in any position than in his present, and the Duke of York extracted a royal promise that he should be immediately dismissed. The morning of Sunday, the 9th of November, before Shafteschapel at Whitehall, was fixed for the transfer of the Great bury. Seal to Sir Heneage Finch, the Attorney General, who had been summoned then and there to receive it. We have a very amusing account of Shaftesbury's last appearance as Chancellor. As soon as he arrived at Court, he retired with the King into the closet, while the prevailing party waited in triumph to see him return without the purse. The first CHAP. LXXXVII. A.D. 1673. His fare well inter view with Charles. Alarm of of the courtiers. Great Seal taken from Shaftesbury and delivered to Sir HENEAGE salutation being over, he said, "Sir, I know you intend to give the Seals to the Attorney General, but I am sure your Majesty never designed to dismiss me with contempt." The King, always good-humoured, replied, "Cods-fish, my Lord, I will not do it with any circumstance as may look like an affront." Then, sir," said the Earl, "I desire your Majesty will permit me to carry the Seals before you to Chapel, and send for them afterwards to my own house." To this his Majesty readily assenting, Shaftesbury entertained him with news and diverting stories till the very minute he was to go to the chapel, purposely to amuse the courtiers and his successor, who, he knew, were upon the rack for fear he should prevail upon the King to change his mind. The King and the Chancellor still holding the purse, came out of the closet talking together and smiling, and marched together to chapel, without an opportunity being given for the King to say a word to any of them. They were all in great consternation; and some ran immediately to tell the Duke of York all their measures were broken, and others declared themselves to be inconsolable. The Attorney General nearly fainted away.* At the conclusion of the service Shaftesbury carried the Great Seal home with him to Exeter House, and in the afternoon it was fetched from him by Mr. Secretary Coventry, who said, "I desired to be excused from this office; but, being your relation and friend, they put it as an affront upon me." Shaftesbury gave up the Seal with an air of great He buckles cheerfulness, exclaiming "It is only laying down my gown, and putting on my sword!" This emblem of hostility he actually ordered to be brought to him by his servant, and he immediately buckled it on. FINCH as on his sword. The same evening Sir HENEAGE FINCH's fears were all dissipated by his receiving the Great Seal from the King, with the title of Lord Keeper. Echard. † Crown Off. Min. 1673. CHAPTER LXXXVIII. CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF LORD SHAFTESBURY TILL THE LXXXVIII. 1673. The Ex WHILE the ceremony of delivering the Great Seal to Sir CHAP. Heneage Finch, as Lord Keeper, was going on in the palace at Whitehall, Exeter House was crowded with Dec. 19. the leading men of the country party, and Shaftesbury was by acclamation installed as their chief. He found the chancellor name of patriot all-atoning,--and the disgraced minister who at the head had been the adviser of the most arbitrary measures, proclaiming himself the adversary of the Court, was hailed as the champion of the liberties of the people. of the op position. Dec. 20. His in trigues in Next morning, accompanied by some of the young nobility, he went to the Royal Exchange, where all the great merchants and bankers then daily congregated,-entered into the City. familiar conversation with them, and feelingly deplored to them the depression of trade, and the miseries of the nation, arising from profligate measures, which he had in vain done his utmost to resist, till at last he had been dismissed for his integrity and boldness. They gathered round him with enthusiasm as a persecuted philanthropist, and vowed to live and die in his cause. But it was religion that gave him the great power which from this time he wielded. He was regarded as Becomes the saviour of the nation from Popery, and, though among his champion private friends it was doubtful whether or not he believed in revelation, theologians were found to proclaim him from the pulpit as the saviour of the true faith, and to foretell that his fame, like that of the woman mentioned in the gospel, should live throughout all future generations.* of the Pro testant faith. His fac tious con During the short session of parliament, in the spring of A. D. 1674. 1674, he carried addresses for a public fast " to implore the protection of the Almighty for the preservation of Church and State against the undermining practices of popish recu * Parker, 206. 271. Macph. Pap. i. 69. Life of James, i. 488. duct in par liament. CHAP. LXXXVIII. A. D, 1675. He is out bid by Danby. The Test Bill proposed to es sive obe the pro posal of in the law. sants; ""for the removal from office of all counsellors popishly affected, or otherwise obnoxious or dangerous ;" and specifically "for the dismissal of the Dukes of Lauderdale and Buckingham." He next attempted the impeachment of Arlington, but here he was baffled; and he likewise failed in the attempts which he made to exclude the Duke of York from sitting in the House of Lords, as his Royal Highness submitted to abjure the temporal power of the Pope, and a bill for a more stringent test to be taken by all the ministers of both Houses was lost. The parliamentary reports of this period are so defective, that there are but scanty remains of his speeches in the House of Lords during the remainder of his life. In the following session his party in the Lords was strengthened by the Duke of Buckingham, who, having quarrelled with Charles, now joined in raising the cry of "No Popery." But Danby imitated the arts of his opponents, and greatly mitigated the Protestants by marrying the Princess Mary, in spite of her father's remonstrances, to the Prince of Orange, and issuing a proclamation against popish recusants. Though these measures were denounced as artifices of the "popish party," the impeachment which had been moved against the minister was dropped. The Court, to pursue its success, introduced a bill into the Lords, which was either to expel Shaftesbury from the tablish pas- House of Lords, or to degrade him. This was entitled “ An dience, and Act to prevent the Dangers which may arise from Persons disto prevent affected to the Government," and required, from all persons in office, and all members of parliament, a declaration in any change favour of passive obedience, with an oath "never to endeavour the alteration of the government in church or state." It had very nearly become the law of the land, and utterly extinguished our free constitution. Its defeat we owe entirely to Shaftesbury's unexampled energy and boundless resources. Unfortunately we can by no means laud the purity of his motives, but we are exceedingly beholden to his exertions; and this much I think I may fairly say for him, Constitu tion saved by Shaftes bury. that although he would not scruple for his private ends to abet the most arbitrary principles and the most profligate measures, yet he seems to have acted more heartily and joyously in a good cause when his ambition called upon him. to support it. СНАР. LXXXVIII. sition to the Test On this occasion, heading a small party in the Lords, and His oppowith a decided majority against him in the Commons, — by his skilful management he defeated the Court and saved the Bill, country. Not until after five days' debate would he suffer the bill to be read a second time, and, in a protest circulated throughout the nation, he asserted that "it struck at that freedom of debating and voting which is necessary for those who have the power to alter and make laws, and that the bill obliged every man to abjure all endeavours to improve the government of the church, without regard to any thing that Christian compassion, or the necessity of affairs might at any time require." The Lords resolved, "that the reasons given in the said protest did reflect upon the honour of the House, and were of dangerous consequence;" but this only produced a more violent protest from Shaftesbury against the resolution. He kept the bill twelve days in the committee, -the House sitting from an early hour in the morning till eight in the evening, and sometimes till midnight. The Government proposed, as an amendment, that the oath should be, "not to endeavour to alter the Protestant religion, or the government either of church or state." He asked "where are the boundaries, or how much is meant by the Protestant religion?" The Lord Keeper Finch, his successor, exclaimed, "Tell Shaftes it not in Gath, nor publish it in the streets of Ascalon, that a bury's contest with Peer of so great parts and eminence as my noble and learned the Lord friend, a member of the Church of England, and the cham- Keeper. pion of the reformation, should confess that he does not know what is meant by the Protestant religion." Several Bishops followed, explaining that the Protestant religion is comprehended in the thirty-nine articles, the liturgy, the catechism, the homilies, and the canons of the Church of England. From the few preserved fragments of Shaftesbury's |