To preserve connection, we have added the following Summary of
the remaining part of King Charles's Reign.
[This was the last Parliament called by Charles II; though
in a Declaration which he published for satisfying his people, after reckoning up all the hard things that had been done in
the three last Parliaments, and setting forth their undutiful behaviour to himself in many instances; in conclusion, he assured
them, "That nothing should ever alter his affection to the
Protestant Religion as established by Law, nor his love to Parliaments: For he would still have frequent Parliaments."
Sir Francis Pemberton having succeeded Scroggs as Chief Justice,
Fitzharris's Tryal came on in Easter Term. His Impeachment
in Parliament was over-ruled, the Lords having thrown it out,
and the proof was so full, that he was condemned. Upon this,
seeing there was no hope, he charged Lord Howard with being
the Author of the Libel, who was immediately sent to the Tower,
and lay there till Michaclmas Term, and then was discharged by
the Habeas Corpus Act; Fitzharris's Wife and Maid, who
were the two Witnesses against him, being so evidently forsworn, that the Attorney-General withdrew the Bill. Fitzharris
was executed, and soon after College, a Joiner, was charged, Dugdale, Turberville, and others, with being concerned in a Protestant Plot to kill the King at Oxford. The Grand Jury at London refused to find the Bill. Upon which he was carried to
Oxford, and there was tried, condemned, and executed, denying
to the last all that was sworn against him. In like manner,
the Earl of Shaftcsbury, upon the evidence of the Irish Witnesses, being sent to the Tower, the Grand Jury, to the great
chagrin of the Court, rejected the Bill. A few days after,
Turberville, being seized with the small-pox, persisted in his last
moments in avowing the truth of all that he had sworn both
against Lord Shaftesbury and Lord Stafford; so that the last
words of dying men being opposed to the last words of those
that suffered, must leave the impartial ever in the dark.
In Scotland, in 1682, the Earl of Argyle, for refusing to take
the Tests there enacted, without his own explanation, which
he did not scruple unguardedly to avow, was immediately
committed to Edinburgh Castle, tried, and condemned, and had
he not made his escape, would probably have suffered. The
Duke of York was now permitted to return to Court, and
seemed to have overcome all difficulties. And to remove all
fears of future Parliaments, the Cities and Boroughs of England
were prevailed on to surrender their Charters, and take new
ones, modeled as the Court thought fit. The Earl of Sunderland, who had been disgraced after the Exclusion-Parliament,
was restored, and Lord Conway was made the other Secretary.
And on the Death of Lord Nottingham, the Seals were given to
Lord Chief Justice North, who was created Lord Guilsord. The
City of London refusing to surrender its Charter, Judgment
was given against it in the King's Bench.
The year 1683 will long be remembered for the fatal Catastrophe of Lord Russel and Algernoon Sidney. That a Rising
was intended; and that Lord Russel was present when it was
discoursed of, cannot be denied; but that he was guilty of the
Treason alleged, of conspiring the King's Death, or could
have been condemned but by a packed Jury and corrupt Judges,
is equally undeniable. In sact, the Bill of Exclusion was his
Death-warrant. He was beheaded in Lincoln's-Inn-Fields in
July. And the Earl of Essex, for the same Conspiracy being
sent to the Tower, was found in his room with his throat cut
the very morning of his friend's tryal (fn. 1) . Colonel Sidney was
tried next, and upon the single evidence of Lord Howard, added
to an unfinished manuscript of his own writing, found in his
closet, he also, by an unheard of stretch of Law, was condemned
and executed. Need it be added, that he was one of the first
that had moved for the Exclusion? Soon after this, the Duke
of Monmouth (who had made his escape) upon his confession
was pardoned, but upon his recantation was again disgraced.
Mr Hampden, on Lord Howard's evidence, was fined in the sum
of 40,000l. (Feb. 6.) and Holloway, by the hopes of a pardon
being induced to confess, and Sir Thomas Armstrong, being seized
in Holland (though the time of his coming in was not elapsed)
were both executed. The Earl of Danly and the Popish Lords
were bailed, and Oates being prosecuted at the Duke's suit
for Scandalum Magnatum was fined 100,000l. To conclude,
on February 6, 1684-5, King Charles died, confirming on his
death-bed that attachment to Popery of which he was suspected
during his life.