Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 4.djvu/150

136 The king was disposed to refuse to pass the bill even if the lords did; but when the commons left the bill in the hands of the lords, and that house was warned on all sides that they would have to pass the bill or the consequences might be fatal, he gave way, though with undisguised resentment. The commons were proceeding with a fresh resolution for an address to his majesty, praying that not any foreigner, except prince George of Denmark, should be admitted to his majesty's council in England or Ireland, the resolution being aimed at Portland, Albemarle, and Galway, when the king sent a private message to the peers, desiring them to pass the resumption bill, and on the 11th of April he went down to the house and gave it the royal assent. He then ordered the earl of Bridgewater to prorogue the parliament in the absence of Somers, who was ill, and it was accordingly prorogued to the 23rd of May without any speech.

William vented his chagrin at this just chastisement of the parliament in writing to Ruvigny. "You may judge," he says, "what vexation all these extraordinary proceedings give me; and I assure you, your being deprived of what I gave you with so much pleasure is not the least of my griefs. There have been so many intrigues this last session, that without having been on the spot and well informed of everything, it cannot be conceived. I never had more occasion than at present for persons of your capacity and fidelity. I hope I shall yet find opportunities to give you marks of my esteem and friendship." Had William laid the matter before parliament when the acts of the leaders in the Irish war were fresh, he would readily have procured grants for them in proportion to their services; but no government ought to have passed over these wholesale alienations of hundreds of thousands of acres to individuals, and one of these individuals having only discharged the office of king's mistress.

During this session representations were made by the commons to the king that many men of small fortunes were in the commission of the peace who were very likely to prostitute justice for gain, and prayed that men of inadequate means should neither be put into the commission of the peace, nor such as were in it be kept there, but their places be supplied by gentlemen of fortune and standing, not so much exposed to bribery or undue influences. This had a most fair aspect, and probably had considerable truth in it; but the real gist of the recommendation was to get rid of Somers, who had discharged many disaffected magistrates. William, however, cheerfully agreed with the commons, and promised to issue orders accordingly, which for a moment considerably improved the temper of the house. They proceeded, however, to pass one of the most extraordinary bills which had issued from parliament since James I.'s reign. Complaints were made that in Lancashire the papists were very insolent and mischievous. A committee of inquiry was appointed, and on its report a bill was passed for the more effectual dealing with popish refugees. This bill decreed that no person born after the 25th of the next March being a papist should be capable of inheriting any estate or title of honour in England or Wales, nor of purchasing or holding any lands, tenements, or hereditaments either in his own name or of any other person in trust for him. Fortunately for the catholics, this bill, though passed by both lords and king, was so loosely worded that it became nearly a dead letter.

The old East India Company now also took advantage of their powerful enemy Montague being out of office to renew their claims for authority to trade and exercise all their functions during the remainder of their charter; and though the new company opposed it, they carried their object, and thus there were now two chartered East India Companies. They made use of the affair of captain Kydd again to damage Somers. They called for and examined all the docmnenta connected with his commission, his majesty's warrant for a grant of prizes taken from the pirates to Bellamont, Montague, Shrewsbury, and the rest, and the orders of the lords of the treasury to the governor of New York to send over the property seized in Kydd's ship. They desired that Kydd, who was on the way home for trial, should be reserved till next session, in order to investigate more completely the depths of the case; Bellamont being commanded to send over all the papers connected with it there.

The people of Scotland still remained in a state of intense agitation regarding the treatment of their Darien scheme. They issued a detailed statement of their grievances, which they freely ascribed to the king's conduct. This pamphlet was condemned by the English house of commons to be burnt by the common hangman, as a false and traitorous libel. They prayed his majesty to issue an order for the discovery and apprehension of the author, printer, and publisher, which the king complied with. But the Scots, nothing daunted, sent up lord Basil Hamilton to present a memorial regarding some, of the adventurers who were detained prisoners at Carthagena. They requested lord Seafield, the Scottish secretary of state, to introduce him, but Seafield replied that his majesty could not receive lord Basil Hamilton because he had not acknowledged his government, but that he was willing to receive their memorial through other hands. At the same time an official note was addressed to the privy council of Scotland, stating that, though the king could not receive lord Basil Hamilton, he would demand of the Spanish government the release of the prisoners at Carthagena. But this did not satisfy the council of the Darien company. They were anxious to force the subject fully on the attention of the king, and they addressed a second letter to lord Seafield, expressing their regret at the king's refusal to see their deputy, lord Basil Hamilton, who had done nothing contrary to the duty of a loyal subject, so far as they knew, and who was perfectly informed on all that they were desirous to have explained. Lord Hamilton had the impudence, notwithstanding the plain declaration of William, to present himself at court with the memorial, and attempt to put it into the king's hand as he went from his apartment to the council-chamber. The king gave him a stern repulse. But as the Darien company continued undauntedly to press their wrongs on the government, the ministers referred the case to parliament. The house of lords introduced and carried by a small majority a motion that the Darien colony was inconsistent with the plantation trade of England, and it addressed the king, approving of his orders sent to the governors of the West Indian and American colonies regarding it. They declared that, if persisted in, it would produce far greater miseries and loss to those engaged in the scheme than it had done already, and would prove mischievous to the trade and quiet of the