and
contended that from the moment of his abdication the sovereignty vested
in his daughter Mary. It was in vain that the eloquence of Halifax
backed the Whig peers in struggling for the resolution of the Commons as
it stood. The plan of a Regency was lost by a single vote, and Danby's
scheme was adopted by a large majority.

[Sidenote: Declaration of Rights.]

But both the Tory courses found a sudden obstacle in William. He
declined to be Regent. He had no mind, he said to Danby, to be his
wife's gentleman-usher. Mary on the other hand refused to accept the
crown save in conjunction with her husband. The two declarations put an
end to the question, and it was settled that William and Mary should be
acknowledged as joint sovereigns but that the actual administration
should rest with William alone. It had been agreed throughout however
that before the throne was filled up the constitutional liberties of the
subject must be secured. A Parliamentary Committee in which the most
active member was John Somers, a young lawyer who had distinguished
himself in the trial of the Bishops and who was destined to play a great
part in later history, drew up a Declaration of Rights which after some
alterations was adopted by the two Houses. The Declaration recited the
misgovernment of James, his abdication, and the resolve of the Lords
and Commons to assert the ancient rights and liberties of English
subjects. It condemned as illegal his establishment of an ecclesiastical
commission, and his raising of an army without Parliamentary sanction.
It denied the right of any king to suspend or dispense with laws, as
they had been suspended or dispensed with of late, or to exact money
save by consent of Parliament. It asserted for the subject a right to
petition, to a free choice of representatives in Parliament, and to a
pure and merciful administration of justice. It declared the right of
both Houses to liberty of debate. It demanded securities for the free
exercise of their religion by all Protestants, and bound the new
sovereign to maintain the Protestant religion as well as the laws and
liberties of the nation. "We do claim and insist on the premises," ran
the Declaration, "as our undoubted rights and liberties; encouraged by
the Declaration of his Highness the Prince, we have confidence that he
will perfect the deliverance he has begun and will preserve our rights
against all further injury." It ended by declaring the Prince and
Prince