[143] Parl. Hist. v. 26. The former address on the king's first quitting London, signed by the peers and bishops, who met at Guildhall, Dec. 11, did not, in express terms, desire the Prince of Orange to assume the government, or to call a parliament, though it evidently tended to that result, censuring the king and extolling the prince's conduct. Id. 19. It was signed by the archbishop, his last public act. Burnet has exposed himself to the lash of Ralph by stating this address of Dec. 11 incorrectly.
[144] Commons' Journals; Parl. Hist.
[145] Somerville and several other writers have not accurately stated the question; and suppose the Lords to have debated whether the throne, on the hypothesis of its vacancy, should be filled by a king or a regent. Such a mode of putting the question would have been absurd. I observe that M. Mazure has been deceived by these authorities.
[146] Parl. Hist. 61. The chief speakers on this side were old Sir Thomas Clarges, brother-in-law of General Monk, who had been distinguished as an opponent of administration under Charles and James, and Mr. Finch, brother of Lord Nottingham, who had been solicitor-general to Charles, but was removed in the late reign.
[147] James is called "the late king" in a resolution of the Lords on Feb. 2.
[148] 13 Car. II. c. i.; 17 Car. II. c. ii.
[149] This was carried by sixty-two to forty-seven, according to Lord Clarendon; several of the tories going over, and others who had been hitherto absent coming down to vote. Forty peers protested, including twelve bishops, out of seventeen present. Trelawney, who had voted against the regency, was one of them; but not Compton, Lloyd of St. Asaph, Crewe, Sprat, or Hall; the three former, I believe, being in the majority. Lloyd had been absent when the vote passed against a regency, out of unwillingness to disagree with the majority of his brethren; but he was entirely of Burnet's mind. The votes of the bishops are not accurately stated in most books; which has induced me to mention them here. Lords' Journals, Feb. 6.
[150] It had been resolved, Jan. 29, that before the committee proceed to fill the throne now vacant, they will proceed to secure our religion, laws, and liberties.
[151] See Burnet's remarkable conversation with Bentinck, wherein the former warmly opposed the settlement of the crown on the Prince of Orange alone, as Halifax had suggested. But nothing in it is more remarkable than that the bishop does not perceive that this was virtually done; for it would be difficult to prove that Mary's royalty differed at all from that of a queen consort, except in having her name in the style. She was exactly in the same predicament as Philip had been during his marriage with Mary I. Her admirable temper made her acquiesce in this exclusion from power, which the sterner character of her husband demanded; and with respect to the conduct of the convention, it must be observed that the nation owed her no particular debt of gratitude, nor had she any better claim than her sister to fill a throne by election, which had been declared vacant. In fact, there was no middle course between what was done, and following the precedent of Philip, as to which Bentinck said, he fancied the Prince would not like to be his wife's gentleman usher; for a divided sovereignty was a monstrous and impracticable expedient in theory, however the submissive disposition of the queen might have prevented its mischiefs. Burnet seems to have had a puzzled view of this; for he says afterwards, "it seemed to be a double-bottomed monarchy, where there were two joint sovereigns; but those who know the queen's temper and principles had no apprehensions of divided counsels, or of a distracted government." Vol. ii. 2. The convention had not trusted to the queen's temper and principles. It required a distinct act of parliament (2 W. and M. c. 6) to enable her to exercise the regal power during the king's absence from England.
[152] Parl. Hist. v. 54.