THE INTERREGNUM.

433

His blood boiled at the wrong done to bis kind patroness, chap.He expostulated vehemently with Bentinck, and begged to be —loisipermitted to resign the chaplainship. “While I am HisHighness’s servant,” said the brave and honest divine, “itwould be unseemly in me to oppose any plan which may havehis countenance. I therefore desire to be set free, that I mayfight the Princess’s battle with every faculty that God hasgiven me.” Bentinck prevailed on Burnet to defer an opendeclaration of hostilities till William’s resolution should bedistinctly known. In a few hours the scheme which hadexcited so much resentment was entirely given up; and allthose who considered James as no longer King were agreed asto the way in which the throne must be filled. William andMary must be King and Queen. The heads of both mustappear together on the coin: writs must run in the names ofboth: both must enjoy all the personal dignities and immu-nities of royalty: but the administration, which could not besafely divided, must belong to William alone. *

And now the time arrived for the free conference between f e h r ' n '™'the Houses. The managers for the Lords, in their robes, J > ' e tweontook their seats along one side of the table in the Painted Houses.Chamber: but the crowd of members of the House of Com-mons on the other side was so great that the gentlemen whowere to argue the question in vain tried to get through. Itwas not without much difficulty and long delay that the Ser-jeant at Arms was able to clear a passage.**

At length the discussion began. A full report of thespeeches on both sides has come down to us. There are fewstudents of history who have not taken up that report witheager curiosity and laid it down with disappointment. Thequestion between the Houses was argued on both sides as aquestion of law. The objections which the Lords made tothe resolution of the Commons were verbal and technical, andwere met by verbal and technical answers. Somers vindi-

* Miilgrave’s Account of the Revolution. In the first three editions,

I told this story incorrectly. The fault was chiefly my own, but partlyBurnet's, by whose careless use of the pronoun, he , I was misled.

Burnet, i. 818.

** Commons’ Journals, Feb. 6 . 168 |.

Macaulayj History. III.

28