HISTORY OF ENGLAND,

CHAP.

II.

Proroga-tion ofthe Par-liament.

to all tlie most momentous events of his time. Every impor-tant movement and rebound of the public mind took him bysurprise; and the world, unable to understand how so clevera man could be blind to what was clearly discerned by the po-liticians of the coffee houses, sometimes attributed to deepdesign what were in truth mere blunders.

It was only in private conference that his eminent abilitiesdisplayed themselves. In the royal closet, or in a very smallcircle, he exercised great influence. But at the Council boardhe was taciturn; and in the House of Lords he never openedhis lips.

The four confidential advisers of the crown soon foundthat their position was embarrassing and invidious. The othermembers of the Council murmured at a distinction incon-sistent with the King’s promises; and some of them, withShaftesbury at their head, again betook themselves to strenu-ous opposition in Parliament. The agitation, which hadbeen suspended by the late changes,, speedily became moreviolent than ever. It was in vain that Charles offered to grantto the Commons any security for the Protestant religionwhich they could devise, provided only that they would nottouch the order of succession. They .would hear of no com-promise. They would have the Exclusion Bill and nothingbut the Exclusion Bill. The King, therefore, a few weeksafter he had publicly promised to take no step without theadvice of his new Council, went down to the House of Lordswithout mentioning his intention in Council, ‘and proroguedthe Parliament.

The day of that prorogation, the twenty-sixth of May1879, is a great era in our history. For on that day theHabeas Corpus Act received the royal assent. From the timeof the Great Charter, the substantive law respecting the per-sonal liberty of Englishmen had been nearly the same as atpresent: but it had been inefficacious for want of a stringent