WILLIAM THE THIRD.

83

on both sides were indefatigably repeated. Presbyterian,.Papist, Tool of Holland, Pensioner of Prance, were theappellations interchanged between the contending fac-tions. The Whig cry was that the Tory members of thelast two Parliaments had, from a malignant desire tomortify the King, left the kingdom exposed to dangerand insult, had unconstitutionally encroached both onthe legislature and on the judicial functions of the Houseof Lords, had turned the House of Commons into a newStar Chamber, had used as instruments of capricioustyranny those privileges which ought never to be em-ployed but in defence of freedom, had persecuted, withoutregard to law, to natural justice, or to decorum, thegreat Commander who had saved the state at La Hogue,the great Financier who had restored the currency andreestablished public credit, the great Judge whom allpersons not blinded by prejudice acknowledged to be, invirtue, in prudence, in learning and eloquence, the firstof living English jurists and statesmen. The Tories an-swered that they had been only too moderate, only toomerciful; that they had used the Speaker’s warrant andthe power of tacking only too sparingly; and that, ifthey ever again had a majority, the three Whig leaderswho now imagined themselves secure should be impeached,not for high misdemeanours, but for high treason. It soonappeared that these threats were not likely to be veryspeedily executed. Four Whig and four Tory candidatescontested the City of London. The show of hands was

6 *

CHAP.

XXV.

1701 .