If the king could place little confidence even in his Roman Catholic sheriffs, still less could he rely on the Puritans. Since the publication of the Declaration several months had elapsed, months crowded with important events, months of unintermitted controversy. Discussion had opened the eyes of many Dissenters; but the acts of the government, and especially the severity with which Magdalene College had been treated, had done more than even the pen of Halifax to alarm and to unite all classes of Protestants. Most of these sectaries who had been induced to express gratitude for the Indulgence were now ashamed of their error, and were desirous of making atonement by casting in their lot with the great body of their countrymen. The consequence of this change in the feeling of the Nonconformists was, that the government found almost as great difficulty in the towns as in the counties. When the regulators began their work, they had taken it for granted that every Dissenter who had been induced to express gratitude for the Indulgence would be favorable to the king's policy. They were therefore confident that they should be able to fill all the municipal offices in the kingdom with stanch friends. In the new charters a power had been reserved to the crown of dismissing magistrates at pleasure. This power was now exercised without limit. It was by no means equally clear that James had the power of appointing new magistrates; but, whether it belonged to him or not, he determined to assume it. Every where, from the Tweed to the Land's End, Tory func tionaries were ejected, and the vacant places were led with Presbyterians, Independents, and Baptists. In the new charter of the city of London the crown had reserved the power of displacing the masters, wardens, and assistants of all the com disappointed. The Popish gentry that live at their houses in the country are much different from those that live here in town. Several of them have refused to be sheriffs or deputy lieutenants." Dec. 8, 1687. Ronquillo says the same. "Algunos Catolicos que fueron nombrados por sherifes se han excusado." Jan. 1, 1688. He some months later assured his court that the Catholic country gentlemen would willingly consent to a compromise of which the terms should be that the penal laws should be abolished and the test retained. "Estoy informado," he says, que los Catolicos de las provincias no lo reprueban, pues no pretendiendo oficios, y siendo solo algunos de la Corte los provechosos, les parece que mejoran su estado, quedando seguros ellos y sus descendientes en la religion, en la qui etud, y en la seguridad de sus haciendas." 66 July 23 Aug. 2' 1688. panies. Accordingly more than eight hundred citizens of the first consideration, all of them members of that party which had opposed the Exclusion Bill, were turned out of office by a single edict. In a short time appeared a supplement to this long list.* But scarcely had the new office bearers been sworn in when it was discovered that they were as unmanageable as their predecessors. At Newcastle on Tyne the regu lators appointed a Roman Catholic mayor and Puritan alderman. No doubt was entertained that the municipal body, thus remodelled, would vote an address promising to support the king's measures. The address, however, was negatived. The mayor went up to London in a fury, and told the king that the Dissenters were all knaves and rebels, and that in the whole corporation the government could not reckon on more than four votes. At Reading twenty-four Tory aldermen were dismissed. Twenty-four new aldermen were appointed. Twenty-three of these immediately declared against the Indulgence, and were dismissed in their turn. In the course of a few days the borough of Yarmouth was governed by three different sets of magistrates, all equally hostile to the court.S These are mere examples of what was passing all over the kingdom. The Dutch ambassador informed the States that at many towns the public functionaries had, within one month, been changed twice, and even thrice, and yet changed in vain.|| From the records of the Privy Council it appears that the number of regulations, as they were called, exceeded two hundred. The regulators indeed found that, in not a few places, the change had been for the worse. The discontented Tories, even while murmuring against the king's policy, had constantly expressed respect for his person and his office, and had disclaimed all thoughts of resistance. Very different was the language of some of the new members of corporations. It was said that old soldiers of the Commonwealth, who, to their own astonishment and that of the public, had been made alder * Privy Council Book, Sept. 25, 1687; Feb. 21, 1687. + Records of the Corporation, quoted in Brand's History of Newcastle; Johnstone, Feb. 21, 1687. ‡ Johnstone, Feb. 21, 168ğ. § Citters, Feb. 1, 1688. Ibid. May, 1688. In the margin of the Privy Council Book may be observed the words "Second regulation," and "Third regulation," when a corpe ration had been remodelled more than once. men, gave the agents of the court very distinctly to understand that blood should flow before Popery and arbitrary power were established in England.* The regulators found that little or nothing had been gained by what had as yet been done. There was one way, and one way only, in which they could hope to effect their object. The charters of the boroughs must be resumed; and other charters must be granted confining the elective franchise to very small constituent bodies appointed by the sovereign.t But how was this plan to be carried into effect? In a few of the new charters, indeed, a right of revocation had been reserved to the crown; but the rest James could get into his hands only by voluntary surrender on the part of corporations, or by judgment of the King's Bench. Few corporations were now disposed to surrender their charters voluntarily; and such judgments as would suit the purposes of the government were hardly to be expected even from such a slave as Wright. The writs of Quo Warranto which had been brought a few years before for the purpose of crushing the Whig party had been condemned by every impartial man. Yet those writs had at least the semblance of justice; for they were brought against ancient municipal bodies; and there were few ancient municipal bodies in which some abuse, sufficient to afford a pretext for a penal proceeding, had not grown up in the course of ages. But the corporations now to be attacked were still in the innocence of infancy. The oldest among them had not completed its fifth year. It was impossible that many of them should have committed offences meriting disfranchisement. The judges themselves were uneasy. They represented that what they were required to do was in direct opposition to the plainest principles of law and justice; but all remonstrance was vain. The boroughs were commanded to surrender their charters. Few complied; and the course which the king took with those few did not encourage others to trust him. In several towns the right of voting was taken away from the commonalty, and given to a very small number of persons, who were required to bind themselves by oath to support the candidates recommended by the government. At Tewkesbury, for example, the franchise was confined to thirteen persons. Yet even this number was too large. Hatred and fear had spread so widely through the community that it was scarcely + Ibid. Feb. 21, 1688. * Johnstone, May 23, 1688. possible to bring together, in any town, by any process of packing, thirteen men on whom the court could absolutely depend. It was rumored that the majority of the new constituent body of Tewkesbury was animated by the same sentiment which was general throughout the nation, and would, when the decisive day should arrive, send true Protestants to parliament. The regulators in great wrath threatened to reduce the number of electors to three.* Meanwhile the great majority of the boroughs firmly refused to give up their privileges. Barnstaple, Winchester, and Buckingham, distinguished themselves by the boldness of their opposition. At Oxford the proposition that the city should resign its franchises to the king was negatived by eighty votes to two. The Temple and Westminster Hall were in a ferment with the sudden rush of business from all corners of the kingdom. Every lawyer in high practice was overwhelmed with the briefs from corporations. Ordinary litigants complained that their business was neglected. It was evident that a considerable time must elapse before judgment could be given in so great a number of important cases. Tyranny could ill brook this delay. Nothing was omitted which could terrify the refractory boroughs into submission. At Buckingham some of the municipal officers had spoken of Jeffreys in language which was not laudatory. They were prosecuted, and were given to understand that no mercy should be shown to them unless they would ransom themselves by surrendering their charter. At Winchester still more violent measures were adopted. A large body of troops was marched into the town for the sole purpose of burdening and harassing the inhabitants. The town continued resolute; and the public voice loudly accused the king of imitating the worst crimes of his brother of France. The dragoonades, it was said, had begun. There was indeed reason for alarm. It had occurred to James that he could not more effectually break the spirit of an obstinate town than by quartering soldiers on the inhabitants. He must have known that this practice had sixty years before excited formidable discontents, and had been solemnly pronounced illegal by the Petition of Right, a statute scarcely less venerated by Englishmen than the Great Charter. But he hoped to obtain from the courts of law a declaration that even the Petition of Righ could not eontrol the prerogative. He actually consulted Wright on this subject:* but the result of the consultation remained secret; and in a very few weeks the aspect of affairs became such that a fear stronger than even the fear of the royal displeasure began to impose some restraint even on a man so servile as the chief justice. While the lords lieutenants were questioning the justices of the peace, while the regulators were remodelling the boroughs, all the public departments were subjected to a strict inquisition. The palace was first purified. Every battered old Cavalier who, in return for blood and lands lost in the royal cause, had obtained some small place under the keeper of the wardrobe or the master of the hariers, was called upon to choose between the king and the church. The commissioners of customs and excise were ordered to attend his majesty at the Treasury. There he demanded from them a promise to support his policy, and directed them to require a similar promise from all their subordinates.† One custom-house officer notified his submission to the royal will in a way which excited both merriment and compassion. "I have," he said, "fourteen reasons for obeying his majesty's commands, a wife and thirteen young children." Such reasons were indeed cogent; yet there were not a few instances in which, even against such reasons, religious and patriotic feelings prevailed. There is reason to believe that the government at this time seriously meditated a blow which would have reduced many thousands of families to beggary, and would have disturbed the whole social system of every part of the country. No wine, beer, or coffee, could then be sold without a license. It was rumored that every person holding such a license would shortly be required to enter into the same engagements which had been imposed on public functionaries, or to relinquish his trade. It seems probable that, if such a step had been taken, the houses of entertainment and of public resort all over the kingdom would have been at once shut up by hundreds. What effect such an interference with the comfort of all ranks would have produced must be left to conjecture. The resentment *Citters, May 18, 1688. † Citters, April 6, 1688; Treasury Letter Book, March 14, 1687; Ronquillo, April 18. Citters, May 18, 1688. § Ibid. |