Page:Public School History of England and Canada (1892).djvu/123

 it had passed the famous “Habeas Corpus Act.” This act, next in importance to Magna Charta, prevents people from being arrested without a proper warrant, and compels gaolers to show on what authority a person is detained in prison. Prisoners must be brought to trial within a reasonable time, and if their offences are bailable, they must be allowed their freedom.

Parliament met again in 1679, more determined than ever to exclude James from the throne. An Exclusion Bill was passed in the Commons, but thrown out of the House of Lords through the influence of Lord Halifax. Shaftesbury had made the great mistake of selecting the Duke of Monmouth, a natural son of Charles, as the kine's successor. Monmouth was popular, but honest people thought it a shameful thing to exclude from the throne, Mary, Princess of Orange, for an illegitimate son of the king. Then began a great struggle, in which for the first time Charles stood firm against his Parliament. He refused to abandon James, although it looked, at times, as if there would be another civil war.

Men now divided into two great parties; one in favor of the exclusion of James, and the other opposed to it. The first became known as “Whigs” and the second as “Tories.” Whig means whey or sour milk, and was a name given to some rebels in Ayrshire in Scotland. Tory means a bog-robber, and was the name applied to some outlaws in Ireland. These names, at first given in hatred and contempt, for a long time were used to denote the two great political parties in England; the one supposed to favour the People, the other the Crown. At last, Charles called a Parliament at Oxford, in 1681, and many of the Whigs went to it armed. This created alarm, and people began to ask if there was to be another civil war. Charles offered to make the Princess of Orange regent after his death, and this seemed so reasonable that many went over to the side of Charles and James. He now dissolved Parliament, and it met no more in his reign.

12. Rye-House Plot.—From this time onward Charles did much as he pleased. Shaftesbury was charged with treason, but the Grand Jury of Middlesex would not bring in a bill against him. Then Charles took away the charter of London, and appointed the Lord Mayor and sheriffs himself. Shaftesbury knew that the king's sheriffs would pack the jury against him, and he fled from