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HISTORY OF ENGLAND,

ciiap. Popery: but, when men reviewed the whole history of the plot,— : — they felt that their Protestant zeal had hurried them into follyand crime, and could scarcely believe that they had been in-duced by nursery tales to clamour for the blood of fellow sub-jects and fellow Christians. The most loyal, indeed, could notdeny that the administration of Charles had often been highlyblamable. But men who had not the full information which wepossess touching his dealings with France, and who were dis-gusted by the violence of the Whigs, enumerated the largeconcessions which, during the last few years, he had made tohis Parliaments, and the still larger concessions which he haddeclared himself willing to make. He had consented to thelaws which excluded Roman Catholics from the House ofLords, from the Privy Council, and from all civil and militaryoffices. He had passed the Habeas Corpus Act. If securitiesyet stronger had not been provided against the dangers towhich the constitution and the Church might be exposed undera Roman Catholic sovereign, the fault lay, not with Charleswho had invited the Parliament to propose such securities, butwith those Whigs who had refused to hear of any substitute forthe Exclusion Bill. One thing only had the King denied to hispeople. He had refused to take away his brother’s birthright.And was there not good reason to believe that this refusal wasprompted by laudable feelings? What selfish motive couldfaction itself impute to the royal mind? The Exclusion Billdid not curtail the reigning King’s prerogatives, or diminishhis income. Indeed, by passing it, he might easily have ob-tained an ample addition to his own revenue. And what was itto him who ruled after him? Nay, if he had personal predi-lections, they were known to be rather in favour of the Duke ofMonmouth than of the Duke of York. The most natural ex-planation of the King’s conduct therefore seemed to be that,careless as was his temper, and loose as were his morals, hehad, on this occasion, acted from a sense of duty and honour.