ubject, and then came to the conclusion that acts
of attainder are altogether unjustifiable. [370]

The Parliament gave other proofs of loyalty in this hour of peril.
The Commons authorised the King to raise an extraordinary sum of four
hundred thousand pounds for his present necessities, and that he
might have no difficulty in finding the money, proceeded to devise new
imposts. The scheme of taxing houses lately built in the capital was
revived and strenuously supported by the country gentlemen. It was
resolved not only that such houses should be taxed, but that a bill
should be brought in prohibiting the laying of any new foundations
within the bills of mortality. The resolution, however, was not carried
into effect. Powerful men who had land in the suburbs and who hoped to
see new streets and squares rise on their estates, exerted all their
influence against the project. It was found that to adjust the details
would be a work of time; and the King's wants were so pressing that he
thought it necessary to quicken the movements of the House by a gentle
exhortation to speed. The plan of taxing buildings was therefore
relinquished; and new duties were imposed for a term of five years on
foreign silks, linens, and spirits. [371]

The Tories of the Lower House proceeded to introduce what they called
a bill for the preservation of the King's person and government.
They proposed that it should be high treason to say that Monmouth was
legitimate, to utter any words tending to bring the person or government
of the sovereign into hatred or contempt, or to make any motion
in Parliament for changing the order of succession. Some of these
provisions excited general disgust and alarm. The Whigs, few and weak
as they were, attempted to rally, and found themselves reinforced by a
considerable number of moderate and sensible Cavaliers. Words, it was
said, may easily be misunderstood by a dull man. They may be easily
misconstrued by a knave. What was spoken metaphorically may be
apprehended literally. What was spoken ludicrously may be apprehended
seriously. A particle, a tense, a mood, an emphasis, may make the whole
difference between guilt and innocence. The Saviour of mankind himself,
in whose blameless life malice could find no acts to impeach, had been
called in question for words spoken. False witnesses had suppressed
a syllable which would have made it clear that those words were
figurative, and had thus furnished the Sanhedrim