28G

nlSTOEY OF BSTGLAKD.

chap, list, the Convention, with great practical prudence, butinde-- fiance of notorious facts and of unanswerable arguments, placed

in the Claim of Right. Nobody could deny that prelacy wasestablished by Act of Parliament. The power exercised by theBishops might be pernicious, unseriptural, antichristian: butillegal it certainly was not; and to pronounce it illegal was tooutrage common sense. The Whig leaders however were muchmore desirous to get rid of episcopacy than to prove themselvesconsummate publicists and logicians. If they made the aboli-tion of episcopacy an article of the contract by 'which Williamwas to hold the crown, they attained their end, though doubt-less in a manner open to much criticism. If, on the other hand,they contented themselves with resolving that episcopacy wasa noxious institution which at some future time the legislaturewould do well to abolish, they might find that their resolution,though unobjectionable in form, was barren of consequences.They knew that AA'illiam by no means sympathized with theirdislike of Bishops, and that, even had he been much morezealous for the Calvinistic model than he was, the relation inwhich he stood to the Anglican Church would make it difficultand dangerous for him to declare himself hostile to a funda-mental part of the constitution of that Church. If he shouldbecome King of Scotland without being fettered by any pledgeon this subject, it might well be apprehended that he wouldhesitate about passing an Act which would be regarded withabhorrence by a large body of bis subjects in the south of theisland. It w r as therefore most desirable that the questionshould be settled while the throne v’as still vacant. In thisopinion many politicians concurred, who had no dislike torochets and mitres, but who wished that William might havea quiet and prosperous reign. The Scottish people, — so thesemen reasoned, — hated episcopacy. The English loved it.To leave AVilliam any voice in the matter w’as to put him under