ed at his
lenity, the agents of the fallen government, as soon as they found
themselves safe, instead of acknowledging their obligations to him,
reproached him in insulting language with the mercy which he had
extended to them. His Act of Grace, they said, had completely refuted
his Declaration. Was it possible to believe that, if there had been any
truth in the charges which he had brought against the late government,
he would have granted impunity to the guilty? It was now acknowledged
by himself, under his own hand, that the stories by which he and his
friends had deluded the nation and driven away the royal family were
mere calumnies devised to serve a turn. The turn had been served; and
the accusations by which he had inflamed the public mind to madness were
coolly withdrawn, [618] But none of these things moved him. He had done
well. He had risked his popularity with men who had been his warmest
admirers, in order to give repose and security to men by whom his name
was never mentioned without a curse. Nor had he conferred a less benefit
on those whom he had disappointed of their revenge than on those whom he
had protected. If he had saved one faction from a proscription, he
had saved the other from the reaction which such a proscription would
inevitably have produced. If his people did not justly appreciate his
policy, so much the worse for them. He had discharged his duty by them.
He feared no obloquy; and he wanted no thanks.

On the twentieth of May the Act of Grace was passed. The King then
informed the Houses that his visit to Ireland could no longer be
delayed, that he had therefore determined to prorogue them, and that,
unless some unexpected emergency made their advice and assistance
necessary to him, he should not call them again from their homes till
the next winter. "Then," he said, "I hope, by the blessing of God, we
shall have a happy meeting."

The Parliament had passed an Act providing that, whenever he should
go out of England, it should be lawful for Mary to administer the
government of the kingdom in his name and her own. It was added that he
should nevertheless, during his absence, retain all his authority. Some
objections were made to this arrangement. Here, it was said, were
two supreme Powers in one State. A public functionary might receive
diametrically opposite orders from the King and the Queen, and might not
know which to obey. The objection was, beyond all doubt, speculatively
just; bu