174
niSTOUT OE ENGLAND.
CHAP.
XV.
1689 .
Violenceof theWhigs.
every land is a fatherland*; and the epitaph on the tomb stillattests the feelings with which the stern old Puritan to the lastregarded the people of Ireland and the House of Stuart.
Tories and Whigs had concurred, or had affected to concur,in paying honour to Walker and in putting a brand on Ludlow.But the feud between the two parties was more hitter than ever.The King had entertained a hope that, during the recess, theanimosities which had in the preceding session prevented anAct of Indemnity from passing would have been mitigated.On the day on which the Houses reassembled, he had pressedthem earnestly to put an end to the fear and discord whichcould never cease to exist, while great numbers held their pro-perty and their liberty, and not a few even then- lives, by anuncertain tenure. His exhortation proved of no effect. Octo-ber, November, December passed away; and nothing wasdone. An Indemnity Bill indeed had been brought in, andread once; but it had ever since lain neglected on the table ofthe House.** Vindictive as had been the mood in which theWhigs had left Westminster, the mood in which they returnedwas more vindictive still. Smarting from old sufferings, drunkwith recent prosperity, burning with implacable resentment,confident of irresistible strength, they were not less rash andheadstrong than in the days of the Exclusion Bill. Sixteenhundred and eighty was come again. Again all compro-mise was rejected. Again the voices of the wisest and mostupright friends of liberty were drowned by the clamour ofhotheaded and designing agitators. Again moderation -wasdespised as cowardice, or execrated as treachery. All thelessons taught by a cruel experience w r ere forgotten. The very
* u Omne solum forli patria, quia patris.” See Addison’s Travels. ItIs a remarkable circumstance that Addison, though a Whig, speaks of Lud-low in language which would better have become a Tory, and sneers at thoinscription as cant.
** Commons’ Journals, Nov. 1. 7. 1689.