he head of that small body known
by the denomination of "trimmers." This conduct, which is more natural
to men of integrity than of ambition, could not, however, procure him
the former character; and he was always, with reason, regarded as
an intriguer rather than a patriot. Sunderland, who had promoted the
exclusion bill, and who had been displaced on that account, was again,
with the duke's consent, brought into the administration. The extreme
duplicity, at least variableness, of this man's conduct, through the
whole course of his life, made it be suspected, that it was by the
king's direction he had mixed with the country party. Hyde, created earl
of Rochester, was first commissioner of the treasury, and was entirely
in the duke's interests.

The king himself was obliged to act as the head of a party; a
disagreeable situation for a prince, and always the source of much
injustice and oppression. He knew how obnoxious the dissenters were to
the church; and he resolved, contrary to the maxims of toleration, which
he had hitherto supported in England, to gratify his friends by the
persecution of his enemies. The laws against conventicles were now
rigorously executed; an expedient which, the king knew, would diminish
neither the numbers nor influence of the nonconformists; and which is
therefore to be deemed more the result of passion than of policy.
Scarcely any persecution serves the intended purpose but such as amounts
to a total extermination.

Though the king's authority made everyday great advances, it still met
with considerable obstacles, chiefly from the city, which was entirely
in the hands of the malecontents. The juries, in particular, named by
the sheriffs, were not likely to be impartial judges between the crown
and the people; and after the experiments already made in the case of
Shaftesbury, and that of College, treason, it was apprehended, might
there be committed with impunity. There could not, therefore, be a more
important service to the court than to put affairs upon a different
footing. Sir John Moore, the mayor, was gained by Secretary Jenkins,
and encouraged to insist upon the customary privilege of his office, of
naming one of the sheriffs. Accordingly, when the time of election came,
he drank to North, a Levant merchant, who accepted of that expensive
office. The country party said, that, being lately returned from Turkey,
he was, on account of his recent experience, better qualified to serve
t