purposes, were constantly around him, and sent up hourly reports to court. Jeffreys, who was now chief justice of Chester, and himself addicted to much low company, buffoonery, and drunkenness off the bench, and the wildestand most insulting conduct upon it, seized the opportunity of some slight disturbances which occurred during Monmouth's stay there, to win favour with the duke of York, by taking into custody and punishing some of his followers. At Stafford Monmouth had engaged to dine in the public streets with the whole population; but as he was walking towards the appointed place, a king's messenger appeared and arrested him on a charge of "passing through the kingdom with multitudes of riotous people, to the disturbance of the peace and the terror of the king's subjects." Shaftesbury was not there, or he might have been advised to throw himself on the protection of the assembled people, and their rebellion which he stirred up a few years later might have occurred then, for Shaftesbury was now advising all the leaders of his party to rise; but Monmouth surrendered without resistance, and was conveyed to the capital, where he was admitted to bail himself in a bond of ten thousand pounds, and his sureties, Russell, Grey, &c., in two thousand pounds each. The king, with that affection which he always showed for this vain and foolish young man, appeared satisfied with having cut short his mock-heroic progress.
But though the British Absalom for the present escaped thus easily, the war of royalty and reassured toryism on the long triumphant whigs was beginning in earnest. Shaftesbury, since his discharge from the Tower, had seen with terror the rapid rise of the tory influence, the vindictive addresses from every part of the country against him, and the undisguised cry of passive obedience. The circumstances scorned not only to irritate his temper, but to have destroyed the cool steadiness of his judgment. He felt assured that it would not be long before he would be singled out for royal vengeance; and he busied himself with his subordinate agents in planning schemes for raising the country. These agents and associates were Walcot, formerly an officer under the commonwealth in the Irish army; Rumsey, another military adventurer, who had been in the war in Portugal; Ferguson, a Scotch minister, who deemed both the king and the duke apostates and tyrants, to be got rid of by almost any means; and West, a lawyer. These men had their agents and associates of the like views, and they assured Shaftesbury that they could raise the city at any time.
But the tug of war was actually beginning betwixt the court and the city, and the prospect was so little flattering to the city, that Halifax said there would soon be hanging, and Shaftesbury even thought of attempting a reconciliation with the duke. He made an overture, to which James replied, that though lord Shaftesbury had been the most bitter of his enemies, all his offences should be forgotten whenever he became a dutiful subject of his majesty. But second thoughts did not encourage Shaftesbury to trust to the smooth speech of the man who never forgot or forgave.
So long as the whigs were in the ascendant, their sheriffs could secure juries to condemn their opponents and save their friends. Charles and James determined, whilst the tory feeling ran so high, to force the government of the city from the whigs, and to hold the power in their own hands. Sir John Moore, the then lord mayor, was brought over to their interest, and they availed themselves of an old but disused custom to get sheriff nominated to their own minds. This custom was, at the Bridge House feast, for the lord mayor to send the loving cup to the person whom he nominated as one of the sheriffs; and on midsummer day the livery accepted this nominee as a matter of course, and elected the other sheriff themselves. This custom had been abandoned since the commencement of the commonwealth, and more in accordance with the free spirit of the times, the sheriffs had been elected in the common hall. On this occasion the lord mayor, at the suggestion of the court, sent the cup to Dudley North, a brother of North the chief justice, and a man of notoriously tory principles. The whigs of the corporation instantly took the alarm, and prepared to prevent the obvious design. On midsummer day both factions appeared in strong force in the hall. The whigs declared the nomination of North illegal; the crown lawyers, on the contrary, asserted the nomination by the lord mayor was an ancient and indefeasible right. A poll was demanded; the court party supported North and Rich, the latter as much a stickler for prerogative as the former; the whigs named Papillon and Dubois, who instantly were returned by a vast majority. But the lord mayor insisted on the right of his man, and adjourned the hall. The sheriffs Pilkington and Shute denied his right to adjourn on such an occasion. A fierce dispute arose, which lasted for several months. There were breaches of the peace and prosecutions. Finally, on the 28th of September, the different candidates came up to be sworn, but the lord mayor would only take the oaths of North and Rich, and the same afternoon, the old sheriffs giving up the contest, surrendered to them the custody of gaols and prisons. The contest was renewed at the election of the lord mayor: the city returned Gould, but the tory party nominated Pritchard, and by a scrutiny managed to place their man in office. This the government had a complete triumph in the city; and they pursued their advantage. A prosecution was commenced against Pilkington, one of the late sheriffs, who in his vexation unguardedly said, "The duke of York fired the city at the burning of London, and now ho is coming to cut our throats." Damages were laid at one hundred thousand pounds, and awarded by a jury at Hertford. Pilkington, whose sentence amounted to imprisonment for life, and Shute, his late colleague. Sir Patience Ward, Cornel, Ford, lord Grey, and others were tried, Ward for perjury, the rest for riot and assault on the lord mayor, and convicted. In all these proceedings Mr. Serjeant Jeffreys was an active instrument to promote the government objects.
But these triumphs were only temporary. The court determined to establish a permanent power over the city. It therefore proceeded by quo warranto to deprive the city of its franchise. The case was tried before Sir Edward Sanders and the other judges of the King's Bench. The attorney-general pleaded that the city had perpetrated two illegal acts—they had imposed an arbitary tax on merchandise brought into the public market, and had accused
