THE COMMISSIONER IS ABANDONED BY THE CAVALIERS.
The cavaliers thinking themselves betrayed by the duke of Queensberry, who had assented to these acts, first expostulated with him on his breach of promise, and then renounced his interest, resolving to separate themselves from the court, and jointly pursue such measures as might be for the interest of their party. But of all the bills that were produced in the course of this remarkable session, that which produced the most violent altercation was the act of security, calculated to abridge the prerogative of the crown, limit the successor, and throw a vast additional power into the hands of the parliament. It was considered paragraph by paragraph; many additions and alterations were proposed, and some adopted; inflammatory speeches were uttered; bitter sarcasms retorted from party to party; and different votes passed on different clauses. At length, in spite of the most obstinate opposition from the ministry and the cavaliers, it was passed by a majority of fifty-nine voices. The commissioner was importuned to give it the royal assent; but declined answering their entreaties till the tenth day of September. Then he made a speech in parliament, giving them to understand that he had received the queen’s pleasure, and was empowered to give the royal assent to all the acts voted in this session, except the act for the security of the kingdom. A motion was made to solicit the royal assent in an address to her majesty; but the question being put, it was carried in the negative by a small majority. On the sixth day of the same month, the earl of Marchmont had produced a bill to settle the succession on the house of Hanover. At first the import of it was not known; but when the clerk in reading it mentioned the princess Sophia, the whole house was kindled into a flame. Some proposed that the overture should be burned; others moved that the earl might be sent prisoner to the castle; and a general dissatisfaction appeared in the whole assembly. Not that the majority in parliament were averse to the succession in the house of Hanover; but they resolved to avoid a nomination without stipulating conditions; and they had already provided, in the act of security, that it should be high treason to own any person as king or queen after her majesty’s decease, until he or she should take the coronation oath, and accept the terms of the claim of right, and such conditions as should be settled in this or any ensuing parliament.