JAMES II rtf

etcgree, to its first principles, and the communityacquired a right of providing for the public in-terest by expedients , which, on other occasions,might be deemed violent and irregular. That therecent use of one extraordinary remedy reconciledthe people to the practice of another, and morefamiliarized their minds to such licences, than ifthe government had run on in its usual tenor.And that king James, having carried abroad hisson, as well as withdrawn himself, had givensuch just provocation to the kingdom, had volun-tarily involved it in such difficulties, that theinterests of his family were justly sacrificed to thepublic settlement and tranquillity. Though thesetopics seem reasonable, they were entirely for-born by the whig managers; both because theyimplied an acknowledgment of the infant prince’slegitimacy , which it was agreed to keep inobscurity, and because they contained too expressa condemnation of tory principles. They werecontent to maintain the vote of the commons byshifts and evasions ; and both sides parted at lastwithout coming to any agreement.

But it was impossible for the public to remainlong in the present situation. The perseverance,therefore , of the lower house obliged the lordsto comply ; and by the desertion of some peersto the whig-party, the vote of the commons,without any alteration , passed by a majority offifteen in the upper house , and received thesanction of every part of the legislature, whichthen subsisted.

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I. XXI,