BOOK IV. estates in land to take the oaths of allegiance and

1700.

supremacy and the test when they attained to the age of eighteen; and till the oaths were taken in conformity to the act, the estate was from that period to devolve to the next of kin that was a protestant. The party who moved this bill presumed that the whigs, conformably to their general maxims of indulgence and toleration, would not fail to oppose it with vigor, and thereby expose themselves to popular obloquy. But self-preservation was now their primary object; and, abandoning all consistency of principle, they applauded and patronised the bill with all the madness of party rage-each faction striving which should exceed the other in devising new clauses of iniquity and barbarity. Under these circumstances it rapidly passed the house of commons, and from the operation of the same motives it proceeded with equal facility through that of the lords. With a blindness of intellect which would excite our pity, were not pity lost and absorbed in indignation, bishop Burnet informs us, "that he was for this bill, notwithstanding his principles for toleration, and against all persecution for conscience sake. He had always thought, that if a government found any sect in religion incompatible with its quiet and safety, it might, and sometimes ought, to send away all of that sect with as little hardship as pos

1700.

gible;" a principle of policy which would furnish BOOK IV.. just as valid a pretence for the expulsion of the Moriscoes from Spain, or the Huguenots from France, as of the papists from England. It is grievous to relate that this infamous bill, which a more enlightened legislature has with generous unanimity repealed, passed with national approbation; though its malignity was happily in a very great degree counteracted by the 'superior wisdom and beneficence of the exccutive power.

Affairs.

Another subject of chagrin and vexation to East-India the whigs in the present session was the conduct of the house of commons relative to the affairs of India. Although the house would not venture on a measure so dangerous as the revocation of the charter granted by the last parliament to the new company, their competitors of the old establishment were encouraged anew to represent their case to the legislature, and to petition for an act to prolong their existence as a company to the end of the term of twenty-one years specified in their present charter. The new company published a counter-representation, expressed in very bitter language; but their invectives and reproaches were fatal to their arguments. Passion is a more active principle than reason; and such an opposition only contributed, by exciting disgust and resentment, to facilitate the passing

1700.

BOOK IV. of the bill. Mr. Montague, their great patron,. was no longer lord of the ascendant; his eloquence had lost its efficacy; and this remarkable bill, which established in fact two East India companies, finally received the sanction of the house of lords and the assent of the king.

It was a favorite object of the court to obtain a vote of approbation from parliament for the measures taken to gratify the commercial jealousy of the English nation in opposition to the Scottish settlement of Darien. Even in this they could not succeed. For, though the house of lords were prevailed upon, not without difficulty, and on a close division of thirty-two to twentysix peers, to resolve," that the settlement of Darien was inconsistent with the good of the plantation trade of this kingdom," and to ground an address to the king thereupon, the commons obstinately refused to concur: for they knew that. the project was hopeless; and they would take. off no part of the odium, necessarily incurred upon the occasion, from the king*. But a

"The managers," says bishop Burnet, * resolved to do nothing that should take any part of the blame and general discontent that soured the Scottish nation off from the king. It was given out to raise the national distrust yet higher; that the opposition the king gave to the Scotch colony flowed. neither from a regard to the interests of England nor to the treaties with Spain, but from a care of the Dutch, who, from

pamphlet being published, entitled "An En- BOOK IV. quiry into the Miscarriage of the Scottish Set- 1700. tlement at Darien," reflecting upon the honour of the king and of the two houses of parliament, it was voted to be a false, scandalous, and traitorous libel, and ordered to be burnt by the common hangman. The king received the address of the lords very graciously. He assured them that he should always have a very great regard for their opinion-that he would never be wanting by all proper means to promote the advantage and good of the trade of England-at the same time he expressed a great concern and tenderness for his kingdom of Scotland, and a desire to advance their interest and prosperity. And he embraced anew the opportunity of in- Bill to treat culcating very earnestly the propriety and ne- an Union. cessity of an union of the two kingdoms, in order to contribute effectually to the security and happiness of both. In consequence of this recommendation, the lords did actually prepare and send down a bill to the commons, appointing certain commissioners of the realm of England to treat with commissioners of Scotland for the weal of both kingdoms. But the commons, being in no better disposition to

Curaçoa drove a coasting trade among the Spanish plantations with great advantage."

concerning

BOOK IV. Comply with this measure than with the former, could not be prevailed upon to prosecute or approve it*.

1700.

Report reJative to

Irish For

feitures.

But the point on which the party in opposi tion to the court laid the most stress, and which the nation seemed to be most concerned in, was the result of the enquiry made by the parliamentary commissioners into the Irish forfeitures, with a view to a general resumption, Of these commissioners, seven in number, four were disposed to put every circumstance to the torture, in order to inflame the report, and three were inclined to soften and conciliate; or, as the industrious and diligent historian Ralph expresses it, "three were for the court, under the pretence of candor and moderation." In consequence of this difference of sentiment, the report of the commissioners was signed by the four anti-courtiers only. This remarkable report stated, that the number of persons outlawed on account of the late rebellion in Ireland amounted to 3921-that the lands belonging to the forfeited estates contained 1,650,792 acres that some of these lands had been restored to the old proprietors by virtue of the articles of Limerick and Galway-by reversal of outlawries and royal pardons, obtained, chiefly by those who had abused his majesty's

* Ralph, vol. ii. p. 849.