nd the tories
obtained the victory. The king seemed gradually falling into the arms of
this party. They complained of their having been totally excluded from
the lieutenancy of London at the king's accession to the crown; and
now a considerable number of the most violent tories in the city were
admitted into the commission by the interest and address of the bishop
of London, the marquis of Carmarthen, and the earl of Nottingham. To
gratify that party, the earls of Monmouth and Warrington were dismissed
from their employments; nay, when the parliament met on the twentieth
day of March, the commons chose for their speaker sir John Trevor, a
violent partisan of that faction, who had been created master of the
rolls by the late king. He was a bold artful man, and undertook to
procure a majority to be at the devotion of the court, provided
he should be supplied with the necessary sums for the purposes of
corruption. William, finding there was no other way of maintaining his
administration in peace, thought proper to countenance the practice of
purchasing votes, and appointed Trevor first commissioner of the great
seal. In his speech to the new parliament, he gave them to understand
that he still persisted in his resolution of going in person to Ireland.
He desired they would make a settlement of the revenue, or establish it
for the present as a fund of credit, upon which the necessary sums for
the service of government might be immediately advanced; he signified
his intention of sending to them an act of grace, with a few exceptions,
that he might manifest his readiness to extend his protection to all his
subjects, and leave no colour of excuse for raising disturbances in
his absence, as he knew how busy some ill-affected men were in their
endeavours to alter the established government; he recommended an union
with Scotland, the parliament of which had appointed commissioners for
that purpose; he told them he should leave the administration in the
hands of the queen, and desired they would prepare an act to confirm her
authority; he exhorted them to dispatch the business for which they were
assembled, to avoid debates, and expressed his hope that they should
soon meet again to finish what might be now left imperfect.

BILL FOR RECOGNISING THEIR MAJESTIES.

The commons, in compliance with his request, voted a supply of twelve
hundred thousand pounds, one million of that sum to be raised by a
clause of credit in the rev