d these preliminaries, they
resolved, that the princess Sophia, duchess dowager of Hanover,
be declared the next in succession to the crown of England, in the
protestant line, after his majesty, and the princess, and the heirs of
their bodies respectively; and, that the further limitation of the
crown be to the said princess Sophia and the heirs of her body, being
protestants. A bill being formed on these resolutions, was sent up to
the house of lords, where it met with some opposition from the marquis
of Normanby; a protest was likewise entered against it by the earls
of Huntingdon and Plymouth, and the lords Guilford and Jeffries.
Nevertheless it passed without amendments, and on the twelfth day of
June received the royal assent: the king was extremely mortified at the
preliminary limitations, which he considered as an open insult on
his own conduct and administration; not but that they were necessary
precautions, naturally suggested by the experience of those evils to
which the nation had been already exposed, in consequence of raising
a foreign prince to the throne of England. As the tories lay under
the imputation of favouring the late king's interest, they exerted
themselves zealously on this occasion to wipe off the aspersion, and
insinuate themselves into the confidence of the people; hoping that in
the sequel they should be able to restrain the nation from engaging too
deep in the affairs of the continent, without incurring the charge of
disaffection to the present king and government. The act of settlement
being passed, the earl of Macclesfield was sent to notify the
transaction to the electress Sophia, who likewise received from his
hands the order of the garter.

The act of succession gave umbrage to all the popish princes, who were
more nearly related to the crown than this lady, whom the parliament had
preferred to all others. The duchess of Savoy, grand-daughter to king
Charles I. by her mother, ordered her ambassador, count Maffei, to make
a protestation to the parliament of England, in her name, against all
resolutions and decisions contrary to her title, as sole daughter to the
princess Henrietta, next in succession to the crown of England, after
king William and the princess Anne of Denmark. Two copies of this
protest, Maffei sent in letters to the lord keeper and the speaker of
the lower house, by two of his gentlemen, and a public notary to attest
the delivery; but no notice was taken of the declara