238

HISTOBY OF ENGLAND.

The Ha-beas Cor-pus Act.

£ HA p . Jt seemed, indeed, that it would not be easy for him to1685. demand more than the Commons were disposed to give.H f do la ° S AIread y ey had abundantly proved that they were desirousmestic to maintain his prerogatives unimpaired, and that they weremenu 11 by no means extreme to mark his encroachments on the rightsof the people. Indeed, eleven twelfths of the members wereeither dependents of the court, or zealous Cavaliers from thecountry. There were few things which such an assemblycould pertinaciously refuse to the Sovereign; and, happilyfor the nation, those few things were the very things on whichJames had set his heart.

One of his objects was to obtain a repeal of the HabeasCorpus Act, which he hated, as it was natural that a tyrantshould hate the most stringent curb that ever legislationimposed on tyranny. This feeling remained deeply fixed inhis mind to the last, and appears in the instructions which hedrew up, in exile, for the guidance of his son.* But theHabeas Corpus Act, though passed during the ascendencyof the Whigs, was not more dear to the Whigs than to theTories. It is indeed not wonderful that this great law shouldbe highly prized by all Englishmen without distinction ofparty: for it is a law which, not by circuitous, but by directoperation, adds to the security and happiness of every in-habitant of the realm.**

James had yet another design, odious to the party whichhad set him on the throne and which had upheld him there.He wished to form a great standing army. He had takenadvantage of the late insurrection to make large additions tothe military force which his brother had left. The bodies nowdesignated as the first six regiments of dragoon guards, the

The

standing

army.

* Instructions headed, “For my son the Prince of Wales, 1692 ,” inthe Stuart Papers.

** “The Habeas Corpussaid Johnson, the most bigoted of Tories,to Boswell, “is the single advantage which our government has over thatof other countries.”