d by the acts of
that parliament were highly criminal. The tories were so struck with
these arguments that the bill passed without further opposition, and
immediately received the royal assent. Thus the settlement was confirmed
by those very people who had so loudly exclaimed against it as illegal;
but the whigs, with all their management, would not have gained their
point had not the court been interested in the dispute.

{WILLIAM AND MARY, 1688--1701.}

ANOTHER VIOLENT CONTEST.

There was another violent contest between the two parties, on the import
of a bill requiring all subjects in office to abjure king James on pain
of imprisonment. Though the clergy were at first exempted from this
test, the main body of the tories opposed it with great vehemence; while
the whigs, under countenance of the ministry, supported it with equal
vigour. It produced long and violent debates; and the two factions
seemed pretty equally balanced. At length the tories represented to
the king that a great deal of precious time would be lost in fruitless
altercation; that those who declared against the bill would grow sullen
and intractable, so as to oppose every other motion that might be made
for the king's service; that, in case of its being carried, his majesty
must fall again into the hands of the whigs, who would renew their
former practices against the prerogative; and many individuals, who
were now either well affected to him, or at least neutral, would become
Jacobites from resentment. These suggestions had such weight with king
William, that he sent an intimation to the commons, desiring they would
drop the debate and proceed to matters that were more pressing. The
whigs in general were disgusted at this interposition; and the earl of
Shrewsbury, who had interested himself warmly in behalf of the bill,
resented it so deeply that he insisted on resigning his office of
secretary of state. The king, who revered his talents and integrity,
employed Dr. Tillotson and others, who were supposed to have credit with
the earl, to dissuade him from quitting his employment; but he continued
deaf to all their remonstrances, and would not even comply with the
request of his majesty, who pressed him to keep the seals until he
should return from Ireland. Long debates were likewise managed in the
house of lords upon the bill of abjuration, or rather an oath of special
fidelity to William, in opposition to James. The tories professed
themselves