1701; The house of commons, having now obtained BOOK IV. the real purpose for which the impeachments were brought forward, appeared in no haste to proceed with the trials, but applied their attention to the providing supplies, which were granted with great liberality, and to the other necessary business of the session. The house, in a grand committee, taking into consideration the state of the civil list, and the savings made by the non-payment of the 50,000. per annum allotted as a dower to James's queen; of 20,000l. per annum fallen in by the recent death of the duke of Glocester, with other reductions, came to a resolution to apply 100,000l. per annum of the royal revenue to the current service. On the report, this resolution was combated by the whole strength of the whig party; but it was at length, to the great chagrin of the court, carried by 214 to 169 voices. tlement. In consequence of the clause in the king's Act of Setspeech recommending a farther provision for the succession of the crown in the protestant line, the house, to the confusion of the Jacobites, with great unanimity resolved: "1st, That it is abso- lutely necessary a farther declaration and limitation be made of the succession to the crown. 2dly, That farther provision be first made for the security of the rights and liberties of the peopleand LASTLY, That the princess Sophia, duches BOOK IV. dowager of Hanover, be declared the next in 1701. succession to the crown of England." A bill -- was immediately introduced in conformity to these resolutions; and a great variety of constitutional limitations and restrictions imposed upon the future inheritors of the crown of which the chief were," that no foreigner, although he be naturalized or made denizen, shall be capable of enjoying any office or trust civil or military; or of holding any grant of lands from the crown; that the nation be not obliged to engage in any war for the defence of any dominions or territories not belonging to the crown of England; that all things properly cognizable in the privy council by the laws and customs of this realm shall be transacted there, and all resolutions taken thereupon shall be signed by such of the privy council as shall advise and consent to the same; that no person hereafter possessing the crown of England shall go out of the realm without consent of parliament; that no person holding an office under the king, or receiving a pension from the crown, shall be capable of sitting in the house of commons; that all future possessors of the crown shall join in communion with the church of England; that no pardon be pleadable in bar of an impeachment; and that the judges' commissions be made quamdiu se bene gesserint.” 1701. These limitations do honor to the tories, whose BOOK IV. interest it was at this time to keep on fair terms with the court, and who could not but be sensible that some of them must appear to reflect on the conduct of the reigning sovereign. Having gone so far-perhaps in some points farther than a pure patriotism would have dictated-they still stopped short of the goal of political rectitude. For the interest of the nation evidently required, that a foreign prince inheriting the crown of England should at the moment of his accession relinquish his foreign territories— or, if that sacrifice were deemed too great, the crown thus declined ought to devolve to the next in succession. The famous Toland, in a political treatise published at the commencement of this session, forcibly contends for the reasonableness of establishing at this critical-juncture whatever terms the interest of the nation demanded. Being," as he says, "to elect a successor, the nation might be allowed the same liberty which the Spaniards took in bestowing their crown; to choose out of the house of Hanover, or that of Brandenburg, which of the sons they pleasedand recommends it to be well weighed, whether we ought to make any of those princes kings of England, without obliging them at the same time to renounce their foreign dominions."—" For,” says he, "if our crown should fall upon either of 1701. BOOK IV. those families, they will fall under mighty temptations to enlarge their dominions beyond sea, in order to make the communication betwixt their old and new dominions more speedy and easy. This the family of Hanover may attempt, by falling down upon the Elbe and Weser, and swallowing up Hamburg, Bremen, Verden, &c.All these things, how remote and chimerical soever they may seem at present, ought to be considered.-If the prince upon whom we devolve our crown does not think it worth his while to grant us such security, I am of opinion that it will not be worth our while to court such a go vernor." The act of settlement, with its attendant limitations, passed with national applause. It had nevertheless to encounter an opposition of a sin gular nature, originating in a very remote quarProtest of ter. Anue of Orleans, duchess of 'Savoy, of of Savoy. the blood-royal of England by Henrietta her the Duchess mother, youngest daughter of Charles I., was beyond all question, according to the law of hereditary succession, heiress of the crown of England, on the exclusion of James and his immediate descendants. The ambassador of Savoy, by order of this princess, delivered a paper to the speaker of the house of commons, in which she declares, that she gladly embraces the occasion which offers, to display to the people af 1701. England the pride she takes in the right she de- BOOK IV. rives from her descent, to that august throne."After stating her incontestable pretensions, she concludes with protesting against every deliberation and decision which shall be contrary thereto. The conduct of the duke of Savoy had been such, that the chagrin discovered on this occasion by the court of Turin excited rather pleasure than sympathy-and the PROTEST itself was deemed too insignificant for notice. The earl of Macclesfield was deputed by the king to carry the joyful intelligence, with the insignia of the order of the garter for the elector, to the court of Herenhausen; where he was received with the highest marks of distinction, and rewarded with very rich and splendid presents. putes be twoHouses, Several weeks having elapsed without any pro- Angry Disgress made in the business of the impeachment, tween the the lords thought proper by message to remind the commons, that articles had not yet been exhibited against the peers impeached. This was by no means a welcome hint-but they replied, that articles were preparing; and in a short time they were actually presented at the bar of the lords. The accused peers in a very few days made their answer. On the 21st of May (1701) another message came from the lords, pressing the commons to give in their replication, and proceed to trial; and representing the hardships of delay |