500
77/6' Green Bag.
had obtained, in an arbitrary manner. He placed its magistrates on the same footing as those of other boroughs, by appointing them himself, as he did elsewhere. This disfran chised the aldermen from being justices of the peace, whilst some discretion was given the wardmotes in the election of aldermen. The city appealed to the court of King's Bench to decide whether the king had the power to seize the corporate rights. This was just what Charles wished. The judges were all his appointees, and he held them in com plete subjection. The court decided that the king had done right, and gave judgment "that the franchise should be seized into the king's hands, but the entry thereof respited until the king's pleasure was known in it." The city was powerless, for it had been a consenting party to the change, and many were the murmurs heard in the coffee houses and taverns, as well as in the Council Chamber. When the first threat of an invasion of the Prince of Orange was heard in the city, the citizens rejoiced, and bonfires were lighted, church bells rung, and a general holiday pro claimed. King James II became alarmed and hastened to appease the city by sending back the abrogated charter and restoring to the city all the rights previously possessed. In the second year of William and Mary the city made terms with the new monarchs
by which the loyalty of the city was assured, and in return an act of Parliament was passed declaring that all that had been done by the King's Bench in upholding the legality of the action of Charles II was illegal and arbitrary, and everything done in consequence was de clared void. The victory of the city was a great one, and no monarch since has at tempted to infringe the rights granted by the ancient charter. The citizens had fought nobly, not only for their own rights, but for the independence of the cities generally. When in recent years the Parliament called into existence a new government for the en tire district called London, placing all local affairs in the hands of a County Council, the city was powerful enough to compel Parlia ment to leave it out of the Council jurisdiction. And, more recently, when a Royal Com mission was appointed to prepare a plan for the unification of London, with the city as its center, the Commission had to admit that only the entire force of Parliament and the crown could compel the city to submit to the recommendations made to the crown by the commissioners. While there is much that savors of a by gone age in the government of the City of London, the world is deeply indebted to its sturdy citizens for the fight maintained through several centuries against the arbi trary rule of a king.
