The house of peers plainly saw, that, allowing all the charges of the
commons to be true, Danby's crimes fell not under the statute of Edward
III; and though the words treason and traitorously had been carefully
inserted in several articles, this appellation could not change the
nature of things, or subject him to the penalties annexed to that crime.
They refused, therefore, to commit Danby upon this irregular charge:
the commons insisted on their demand; and a great contest was likely to
arise, when the king, who had already seen sufficient instances of
the ill humor of the parliament, thought proper to prorogue them. This
prorogation was soon after followed by a dissolution; a desperate remedy
in the present disposition of the nation. But the disease, it must be
owned, the king had reason to esteem desperate. The utmost rage had been
discovered by the commons, on account of the Popish plot; and their
fury began already to point against the royal family, if not against
the throne itself. The duke had been struck at in several motions: the
treasurer had been impeached: all supply had been refused, except on the
most disagreeable conditions: fears, jealousies, and antipathies were
every day multiplying in parliament; and though the people were strongly
infected with the same prejudices, the king hoped, that, by dissolving
the present cabals, a set of men might be chosen, more moderate in their
pursuits, and less tainted with the virulence of faction.
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