UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND.

261

execution was the beginning of a new judicial massacre, cnxp.

not less atrocious than that in which he had himself borne-

a share.

The government, emboldened by this first victory, nowaimed a blow at an enemy of a very different class. It wasresolved that Shaftesbury should be brought to trial for hislife. Evidence was collected which, it was thought, wouldsupport a charge of treason. But the facts which it was ne-cessary to prove were alleged to have been committed inLondon. The Sheriffs of London, chosen by the citizens,were zealous lVhigs. They named a Whig grand jury, whichthrew out the bill. This defeat, far from discouraging thosewho advised the King, suggested to them a new and daringscheme. Since the charter of the capital was in their way, charterthat charter must be annulled. It was pretended, therefore, Ciiycon-that the City of London had by some irregularities forfeited nscatel1 'its municipal privileges ; and proceedings were institutedagainst the corporation in the Court of King’s Bench. At thesame time those laws which had, soon after the Restoration,been enacted against Nonconformists, and which had re-mained dormant during the ascendency of the Whigs, wereenforced all over the kingdom with extreme rigour.

Yet the spirit of the Whigs was not subdued. Though in whigevil plight, they were still a numerous and powerful party;'™/. 1 ”'*and, as they mustered strong in the large towns, and especiallyin the capital, they made a noise and a show more than pro-portioned to their real force. Animated by the recollectionof past triumphs, and by the sense of present oppression, theyoverrated both their strength and their wrongs. It was not intheir power to make out that clear and overwhelming casewhich can alone justify so violent a remedy as resistance toan established government. Whatever they might suspect,they could not prove that their sovereign had entered into atreaty with France against the religion and liberties of Eng-