clearest proof that she is the instrument in God's hand to the English nation. She outnumbers all the Dissenting brethren, she possesses by far the greatest share in the wealth and the learning of the country; of all Communions she is the most liberal, the most comprehensive; above all things, she is the friend of the poor, such as, if the decrees for disestablishment and disendowment went forth, could never be replaced. Englishmen know what the Church has done for them in the past. Will they barter their birthright for a mess of pottage? throw away a certainty for an idea? It is well to learn a lesson from the sad experience of our forefathers in the eighteenth century; to learn into what a depth of degradation not only the Church but the State also may fall, when the Church is silenced and rendered powerless. What happened once may happen again, if ever the influence of the Church is lowered and weakened by the State.

CHAPTER II.

THE SILENCING OF CONVOCATION.

EORGE I. was crowned in Westminster Abbey

GE

on October 20, 1714; in the following January Parliament was dissolved; and when the new Parliament met on March 17, there was found to be a large preponderance of Whig members. The King in his speech thanked his faithful and loving subjects for the zeal they had shewn in defence of the Protestant succession, and he declared that the established constitution in Church and State should be the rule of his government, and the happiness and prosperity of his people the chief care of his life.

Although the King manifested strong prepossessions for the Whigs, the Tories did not give way. without a struggle. Religion was mixed up with the political disputes. The cry of "the Church in danger" was revived; the party-cry was "Down with the Whigs; Sacheverell for ever." In several towns the meeting-houses of the Dissenters were destroyed, and the health of King James openly drunk in the streets".

The Tories, however, did not have it all on their side; the 'Freeholder," No. 411, states that all the churches in London

The impeachment by the Whig government of the former ministers only added fuel to the flames. Lords Oxford, Bolingbroke, and Ormond were accused of high treason. Bolingbroke and Ormond fled to France, but Oxford stood his ground; they were all three impeached, and bills of attainder were passed against Bolingbroke and Ormond. Oxford was sent to the Tower, where he was kept a prisoner for two years; in 1717 he was brought to trial and acquitted. Bolingbroke for a time openly joined the Pretender, but soon gave up his cause as hopeless, and was allowed to return to England in 1723. Ormond died abroad in 1745.

Troubles also arose from another quarter. The Jacobites considered that the time was favourable for an insurrection and invasion of the country, and there were risings in favour of the Pretender both in Scotland and England. But the Pretender lacked the courage and energy that was required; the rebellion was easily suppressed, and Jacobitism discouraged. These risings were followed by an important change in the law. The national discontent still continued, and the ministry, fearing the results of a fresh election, devised a plan for establishing their own administration the Triennial Act was repealed, and a Bill passed for allowing the same Parliament to continue for seven years, by which the then existing Parlia

were kept shut, and that if a Clergyman appeared in the streets, ten to one he was knocked down.

ment was enabled to continue in power till 1722. Under such circumstances the Septennial Act which is still in force was passed in 1716.

The King received several addresses of congratulation on the suppression of the rebellion and on his return from Hanover. One was from the Dissenting ministers, another from the University of Cambridge; but Oxford was not so lavish of her compliments. A spirit far from loyal to the Hanoverian succession prevailed in that University. The Duke of Ormond had been their Chancellor, and his brother, Lord Arran, was chosen in his place; whilst the conduct of the undergraduates was so opposed to the new government, that it was thought necessary to send a military force to Oxford to keep them in subjection. So when it was proposed at a meeting of the Vice-Chancellor and Heads of Colleges to vote an address to the King, Dr. Smalridge, Bishop of Bristol, observed that the rebellion had been long suppressed; that there would be no end to addresses if one was to be presented to the King every time he returned from his German dominions; and that any favour the University might have received was more than counterbalanced by a whole regiment being quartered on them. At Cambridge a similar feeling had at first manifested itself. On the night of King George's birthday in 1715, an anti-Hanoverian feeling manifested itself amongst the undergraduates, at which Dr. Sherlock, the Vice-Chancellor,

was accused at conniving. But Mr. Waterland, who succeeded him as Vice-Chancellor, and who was a stedfast supporter of the Hanoverian succession, managed to allay these animosities. On the day after Dr. Waterland's election (November 5, 1715), Dr. Bentley, the Master of Trinity, preached a celebrated sermon against Popery at St. Mary's; and the government was pacified, and by way of marking its approval Dr. Waterland was made a Royal Chaplain, and the King made to the University a present of the noble library which he had purchased from the late Bishop More of Ely, containing more than 30,000 volumes.

The different conduct of the two Universities, and the different treatment they received, gave rise to the following squibs. The first is by an Oxford man :— "King George, observing with judicious eyes The state of both his Universities,

To Oxford sent a troop of horse; and why?
That learned body wanted loyalty.

To Cambridge books he sent, as well discerning
How much that loyal body wanted learning."

The rejoinder, which was scarcely so happy, was from the pen of Sir William Browne, a Cambridge mand:

b Van Mildert's Life of Waterland, p. 13.

e Waterland was, at any rate at first, one of the few friends of Bentley. In 1717 the latter was elected Regius Professor of Divinity, because Waterland, who was generally thought to be the fittest person, refused to stand against him.-Biog. Britannia, article "Waterland."

d Founder of the Prizes for Odes and Epigrams.