daughter and heiress of the good carl of Southampton, threw herself at the king's feet, and pleaded with many tears the merits and loyalty of her father as an atonement for those errors, into which honest, however mistaken, principles had seduced her husband. But finding all applications vain, she collected courage, and not only fortified herself against the fatal blow, but endeavoured by her example to strengthen the resolution of her unfortunate lord. With a tender and decent composure they took leave of each other on the day of his execution. "The bitterness of death is now past," said he, when he turned from her. The scaffold was erected in Lincoln's Inn Fields. Without the least change of countenance, he laid his head on the block, and at two strokes it was severed from his body (July 21, 1683). On the day that lord Russell was tried, Essex was found in the Tower with his throat cut. The coroner's jury brought in a verdict of self-murder. Essex was subject to fits of deep melancholy; yet the murder was unscrupulously ascribed to the king and the duke, who happened that morning to pay a visit to the Tower. Algernon Sidney was next brought to his trial. This gallant person, son of the earl of Leicester, was in principle a republican, and had entered deeply into the war against the late king. He had been named on the high court of justice which tried and condemned that monarch, but he thought not proper to take his seat among the judges, and had opposed Cromwell's usurpation with zeal and courage. After the Restoration he went into voluntary banishment; but in 1677, having obtained the king's pardon, he returned to England. When the factions arising from the popish plot began to run high, Sidney, full of those ideas of liberty which he had imbibed from the great examples of antiquity, joined the popular party; but his temper was sullen and morose, his conduct deficient in practical good sense, and his fame tarnished by acceptance of bribes from the French king. The only witness who deposed against Sidney was lord Howard; but as the law required two witnesses, the deficiency was supplied by producing some of his papers, in which he maintained the lawfulness of resisting tyrants, and the preference of liberty to the government of a single person. Sir George Jeffreys, who had been created lord chief justice (September 23), presided at the trial, and the jury was easily prevailed on to give a verdict against Sidney. His execution followed a few days after (December 7); but he had too much greatness of mind to deny those conspiracies with Monmouth and Russell in which he had been an accomplice. He rather gloried that he now suffered "for that good old cause in which he had been engaged," as he said, "from his earliest youth." Howard was also the sole evidence against Hampden. He was convicted only of misdemeanour, but the fine imposed upon him was no less than 40,0007. § 13. Some other memorable causes were tried about this time. Oates, convicted of having called the duke a popish traitor, was condemned in damages to the amount of 100,000l. (June 18, 1684). Sir Samuel Barnardiston was fined 10,000l. because, in some private letters, which had been intercepted, he had reflected on the government, asserting that the plot for which Russell and Sidney were condemned was a sham (February 14). Monmouth had absconded on the first discovery of the conspiracy; but Halifax, having discovered his retreat, prevailed on him to write two letters to the king full of the tenderest and most submissive expressions. The king's fondness revived; he permitted Monmouth to come to court on condition of his making a confession of his offences. He obtained his pardon in due form; but finding that by taking this step he was entirely disgraced with his party, he instructed his emissaries to deny that he had ever made any such confession as that which was imputed to him, asserting it was an imposture of the court. Provoked at this conduct, the king banished Monmouth from his presence, and afterwards ordered him to quit the kingdom. § 14. The duke of York now exercised great influence. Through his mediation Danby and the popish lords who had so long been confined in the Tower were admitted to bail-a measure just in itself, but deemed a great encroachment on the privileges of parliament. The duke, who had been specially exempted from the Test Act, was restored to the office of high-admiral. But James's hasty counsels gave the king uneasiness. He was one day overheard to say, "Brother, I am too old to go again on my travels; you may if you choose it." On the 2nd February, 1685, the king was seized with a sudden fit, which resembled an apoplexy; and though he recovered from it by bleeding, he languished only a few days, and expired on the 6th, in the 55th year of his age and the 25th of his reign. He was so happy in a good constitution of body, and had ever been so remarkably careful of his health, that his death struck as great a surprise into his subjects as if he had been cut off in the flower of his youth. At the solicitation of the duke of York, he received the rites of the Romish church in his last illness. In society, Charles II. was the most amiable and engaging of men. This, indeed, is the most shining part of his character; and he seems to have been sensible of it, for he was fond of dropping the formality of state, and of relapsing every moment into the companion. In his Yet he relations with the other sex he was loose and iminoral. was a friendly brother, an indulgent father, and a good-natured master. As a sovereign his character was dangerous to his people, and dishonourable to himself. Negligent of the true interests of the nation, he was sparing only of its blood. It was remarked to Charles that he never said a foolish thing, nor ever did a wise one; which he admitted, observing that his words were his own, but his actions were his ministers'.* His favourite son, the duke of Monmouth, by Lucy Walters, was beheaded in the following reign, and left no issue. By the duchess of Cleveland (Barbara Villiers) he had three sons, the duke of Southampton, the duke of Grafton (ancestor of the present duke), and the duke of Northumberland. The duke of Richmond (the ancestor of the present duke) was his son by the duchess of Portsmouth (Louise de Querouaille); and the duke of St. Albans (also the ancestor of the present duke) was his son by Eleanor Gwynn. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. HABEAS CORPUS ACT. 31 CAR. II. c. 2 (A.D. 1679). This celebrated statute did not introduce any new principle, but only confirmed and rendered more available a remedy which had long existed. "The writ of Habeas Corpus, requiring a return of the body imprisoned and the cause of his detention, and hence anciently called corpus cum causâ, was in familiar use between subject and subject in the reign of Henry VI. Its use by a subject against the crown has not been traced during the time of the Plantagenet dynasty; the earliest precedents known being of the date of Henry VII." (See Amos, The English Constitution in the Reign of Charles II., p. 171, and the authorities there quoted.) The privilege of Habeas Corpus was twice solemnly confirmed in the reign of Charles I., first by the Petition of Right (1628), and secondly by the statute abolishing the Star Chamber and other arbitrary courts (1640), which contained a clause that any person imprisoned by orders of the abolished courts, or by command or warrant of the king or any of his council, should be entitled to a writ of Habeas Corpus from the courts of King's Bench or Common Pleas, without delay upon any pretence whatsoever. But as Charles II. and his ministers still found means to evade these enactments, the celebrated statute was passed in 1679, known as the Habeas Corpus Act. Its principal author was lord Shaftesbury, and it was for many years called "Lord Shaftesbury's Act." It enacts : "1. That on complaint and request in writing by or on behalf of any person committed and charged with any crime (unless committed for treason or felony expressed in the warrant; or as accessory or on suspicion of being accessory before the fact to any petit treason or felony; or upon suspicion of such petit treason or felony plainly expressed in the warrant; or unless he is convicted or charged in execution by legal process), the lord chancellor, or any of the judges in vacation, upon viewing a copy of the warrant or affidavit that a copy is denied, shall (unless the party has neglected for two terms to apply to any court for his enlargement) award a habeas corpus for such prisoner, returnable immediately before himself or any other of the judges; and upon the return made shall discharge the party, if bailable, upon giving security to appear and answer to the accusation in the proper court of judicature. 2. That such writs shall be indorsed as granted in pursuance of this act, and signed by the per3. That the writ son awarding them. shall be returned and the prisoner brought up within a limited time according to the distance, not exceeding in any case twenty days. 4. That officers and keepers neglecting to make due returns, or not delivering to the prisoner or his agent within six hours after demand a copy of the warrant of commitment, or shifting the custody of the prisoner from one to another without sufficient reason or authority (specified in the act), shall for the first offence forfeit 100l., and for the second offence 2001., to the party grieved, and be disabled to hold his office. 5. That no person once delivered by habeas corpus shall be recommitted for the same offence, on penalty of 500l. 6. That every person committed for treason or felony shall, if he requires it, the first week of the next term, or the first day of the next session of oyer and terminer, be indicted in that term or session, or else admitted to bail, unless the king's witnesses cannot be produced at that time; and if acquitted, or not indicted and tried in the second term or session, he shall be discharged from his imprisonment for such imputed offence; but that no person, after the assizes shall be open for the county in which he is detained, shall be removed by habeas corpus till after the assizes are ended, but shall be left to the justice of the judges of assize. 7. That any such prisoner may move for and obtain his habeas corpus as well out of the Chancery or Exchequer as out of the King's Bench or Common Pleas; and the lord chancellor or judges denying the same on sight of the warrant or oath that the same is refused, forfeits severally to the party grieved the sum of 500l. 8. That this writ of habeas corpus shall run into the counties palatine, cinque ports, and other privileged places and the islands of Jersey and Guernsey. 9. That no inhabitant of England (except persons contracting or convicts praying to be transported, or having committed some capital offence in the place to which they are sent) shall be sent prisoner to Scotland, Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey, or any places beyond the seas within or without the king's dominions, on pain that the party committing, his advisers, aiders, and assistants, shall forfeit to the party aggrieved a sum not less than 500l., to be recovered with treble costs; shall be disabled to bear any office of trust or profit; shall incur the penalties of præmunire; and shall be incapable of the king's pardon." The Habeas Corpus Act was confined to criminal cases, but by the 56 Geo. III. c. 100, it was extended not only to cases of illegal restraint by subject on subject, but also to those in which the crown has an interest, as in instances of impressment or smuggling.-See Kerr's Blackstone. iii. 137; Amos, p, 201. Obverse of medal of James II. and Mary of Modena. IACOBVS. II. ET. MARIA. D. G. MAG. BRI. FRAN. ET. HIB. REX. ET. REGINA. Busts of king and queen to right. CHAPTER XXVI. JAMES II., b. A.D. 1633; r. 1685-1688; ob. 1701. §1. Accession of James. Ilis arbitrary proceedings. Conviction and punishment of Titus Oates. § 2. Invasion and execution of Argyle. Monmouth's invasion, defeat, and execution. § 3. Cruelties of Kirke and Jeffreys. § 4. A parliament. Popish measures. § 5. Court of High Commission revived. Sentence against the bishop of London. Penal laws suspended. Embassy to Rome. § 6. The king's violent proceedings with corporations. Affair of Magdalen college. Imprisonment and trial of the seven bishops. § 7. Birth of the prince of Wales. Conduct of the prince of Orange. § 8. Coalition of parties in his favour. The king retracts his measures. § 9. The prince of Orange lands at Torbay. The king deserted by the army and by his family. § 10. The king's flight. His character. § 11. Convention summoned. Debates. Settlement of the crown. § 12. Review of the Stuart dynasty. Principles of government. § 13. Foreign affairs. § 14. Internal state of England. 15. Revenue. Army and navy. § 16. Colonies and commerce. § 17. Manners, literature, art, etc. § 1. THE first act of James's reign was to summon the privy council, where, after some praises bestowed on the memory of his predecessor, "I shall make it my endeavour," he said, "to preserve the government, both in church and state, as it is now by law established." But the first exercise of his authority seemed little in harmony with these professions. Before parliament could be as |
