In his opening speech William informed the Parliament that the death of the Duke of Gloucester had rendered it necessary that they should take into consideration the succession to the Crown after him and the Princess Anne, who had now no heir; for the happiness of the nation and the security of the Protestant religion made it the subject of the highest moment. The subject of next importance, and scarcely inferior, he said, was the death of the late King of Spain, and the succession arranged by his will, which had made so great an alteration in affairs abroad as demanded their most serious consideration for the interests and safety of England, and the preservation of the peace of Europe and of the Protestant religion. That these great topics might have due consideration, he had desired that they should receive it in a new Parliament. He next referred to the necessity for making a proper provision for the current expenditure, and for the reduction of the debt, and recommended them to put the fleet into effective condition.

The Electress Sophia of Hanover, the next in succession to Anne, was the daughter of Frederick the Prince Palatine, and Elizabeth Queen of Bohemia, therefore granddaughter of James I. No sooner did Sophia hear of the death of the Duke of Gloucester than she took with her her daughter, the Electress of Brandenburg, and made a visit to William at Loo. She had a twofold object, to obtain his promise of favouring her succession to the crown of England, and his acknowledgment of Brandenburg as a kingdom under the name of Prussia, a favour which the Emperor, as we have seen, had already conceded. William seems to have assured the Electress of his intention to support both her claim to the English crown, and that of her daughter to the title of Queen of Prussia, and immediately left for England.

THE ROYAL PALACE OF WHITEHALL FROM THE THAMES, IN THE BEGINNING OF THE 17TH CENTURY.

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At the same time, the Court of St. Germains was on the alert to get the Prince of Wales accepted, and the English Jacobites sent Mr. F. Graham, a brother of the late Lord Preston, to James, to make certain proposals regarding the succession of the Prince of Wales. It was proposed that he should be sent to England and there educated in Protestantism; but this condition James was certain not to agree to, and accordingly the whole scheme fell to the ground. It is said that the Princess Anne was favourable to the prince's succession could he have been brought up a Protestant; but his parents declared that they would rather see him dead.

The Tories, who were averse from a Continental war, appear to have held a large meeting, to propose an address to his Majesty, praying him to acknowledge the new King of Spain; and had they done this, they would probably have found the king ready to listen to them, for the States were urging him to do the same thing. But though the proposition was warmly advocated, Mr. Monckton, happening to say that if they carried this motion, the next he supposed would be to recommend the acknowledgment of the Prince of Wales, the idea appeared to startle the meeting, and the matter was dropped. But the Whig party was still inclined to war. They had been the advocates and supporters of the former one; they knew that William was strongly disposed to it, and that to support him was the way to regain his favour. Besides, Marlborough was anxious to distinguish himself at the head of an army; in that respect he was at one with the Whigs, and had their support. The Whigs saw the fast-failing health of William, and looked towards the Princess Anne with whom the Marlboroughs were everything. A strong spirit of war, therefore, manifested itself in the Commons, in spite of the inclinations of Ministers. Secretary Vernon, writing to the Earl of Manchester at Paris, told him that so great a spirit had rarely been seen in the House of Commons for supporting the interests of England and Holland; and this was fully borne out by a unanimous vote of the House on the 24th of February, declaring that it would stand by the king, and support him in all such measures as went to maintain the independence of England, the security of the Protestant religion, and the peace of Europe. The question, however, of the best mode of maintaining peace, whether by conceding the French claims on Spain, or arming to resist them, was warmly debated by the different factions. William was agreeably surprised at the tone of the House, and on the 17th he informed them of his satisfaction at their assurances, which he took to be important for the honour and safety of England. He then handed to them the pressing memorial of the States-General to him, to acknowledge the Duke of Anjou as the king of Spain. They had themselves agreed to do this, in terror lest the French should march over their defenceless frontiers; yet they told William that they would do nothing without his consent and approbation. They counted, however, fully on this, and painted earnestly the dangers to which they were exposed by any opposition to France, and called on him to supply the English aid secured to them by treaty. But they did not seem inclined to vote supplies for the purpose.

Parliament now entered on the great deliberation of the Session, the appointment of the successor to the crown after the Princess of Denmark. It was a subject which the king had recommended from the throne at the commencement of the Session, and which the failing health of William and the prospect of agitations all over Europe warned them not to defer. This important business, however, was set about in an extraordinary manner. Roger Coke says a Whig member meant to bring in a Bill to fix the succession on the House of Brunswick, but that the Tories, becoming aware of it, set Sir John Bowles, one of their own party, to bring one in. This Bowles was a half-crazy man, and in the end became altogether insane; and the Bill being put into his hands looked as though the Tories meant to cast contempt upon it. The Bill was sent into Committee, and Bowles was put in the chair; but whenever the discussion was brought in the members hastened out of the House, and the matter seemed to hang for several weeks as though no one would proceed with it under the present management. But at length Harley took it up in earnest, and remarked that there were some very necessary preliminary questions to be settled before they proceeded to vote the different clauses of the Bill; that the nation had been in too great haste when it settled the Government on the previous occasion, and had consequently overlooked many securities to the liberties of the nation which might have been obtained; that now they were under no immediate pressure, and it would be inexcusable to fall into the same error. Before, therefore, they proceeded to nominate the person who should succeed, they ought to settle the conditions under which he and his descendants should succeed. This advice was taken, much to the surprise of William, who found the Tories, now in the ascendant, endeavouring to curtail the royal prerogative, and by every one of their restrictions casting a decided censure upon him. The public, likewise, were so much puzzled by this conduct that they suspected that the motion of Harley was intended to defeat the Brunswick succession altogether. But the terms on which William and Mary had been admitted to the throne were the work of the Whigs, and the Tories could not let slip this opportunity of showing how negligent they had been of the rights of the nation.

Accordingly, after great discussions carried on for about three months, the following resolutions were agreed to and embodied in the Bill:—"That whoever should hereafter come to the possession of this Crown shall join in communion with the Church of England as by law established; that in case the Crown and dignity of this realm shall hereafter come to any person not being a native of this kingdom of England, this nation be not obliged to engage in any war for the defence of any dominions or territories which do not belong to the Crown of England without the consent of Parliament; that no person who shall hereafter come to the possession of the Crown shall go out of the dominions of England, Scotland, or Ireland without consent of Parliament; that from and after the time that further limitations by this Act shall take effect, all matters and things relating to the well-governing of this kingdom, which are properly cognisable in the Privy Council by the laws and customs of the 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 after the limitations shall take effect, no person born out of the kingdom of England, Scotland, or Ireland, or the dominions thereunto belonging, although he be naturalised and made a denizen, except such as are born of English parents, shall be capable to be of the Privy Council, or a member of either House of Parliament, or to enjoy any office or place of trust, either civil or military, or to have any grant of lands, tenements, or hereditaments from the Crown to himself, or to any other in trust for him; that no person who has an office or place of profit under the King, or receives a pension from the Crown, shall be capable of serving as a member of the House of Commons; that after the limitation shall take effect, judges' commissions shall be made quamdiu se bene gesserint,[A] and their salaries ascertained and established, but, upon the address of both Houses of Parliament, it may be lawful to remove them; that no pardon under the Great Seal of England be pleadable to an impeachment by the Commons in Parliament." Having settled these preliminaries, the Bill provided that the Princess Sophia, Duchess Dowager of Hanover, be declared the next in succession to the Crown of England in the Protestant line after his Majesty and the Princess Anne, and the heirs of their bodies respectively; and that the further limitation of the Crown be to the said Princess Sophia and the heirs of her body, being Protestants.