The British nation a history / by George MWrong . eir natural lead-ers held aloof as a whole, and at Sedgemoor, near Bridge-water, on July G, his force was cut to pieces. Xine days later he paid on the scaffoldthe last penalty of his trea-son. Judge Jeffreys, instructed,as he afterward claimed, byJames, went down to the rebeldistrict and held what is knownas the Bloody Assize. He wasa man of intemperate habitsand unbridled speech, and someof the trials were travesties ofjustice. Jeffreys sent to tliescaffold two or three hundredpersons, and granted to cour-tiers some eight hundred othersto be
The British nation a history / by George MWrong . eir natural lead-ers held aloof as a whole, and at Sedgemoor, near Bridge-water, on July G, his force was cut to pieces. Xine days later he paid on the scaffoldthe last penalty of his trea-son. Judge Jeffreys, instructed,as he afterward claimed, byJames, went down to the rebeldistrict and held what is knownas the Bloody Assize. He wasa man of intemperate habitsand unbridled speech, and someof the trials were travesties ofjustice. Jeffreys sent to tliescaffold two or three hundredpersons, and granted to cour-tiers some eight hundred othersto be sold for the new owners profit as slave labourersin the colonies. The severity of Jeffreys was pleasing toJames, who rewarded him witli tlie high prize of theLord Chancellorship^. Parliament gave whole-hearted support to James inresisting Monmouth, and he now thought that, in all cir-cumstances, the nation would support the kingly poweras the safeguard of order. He was strong and energeticphysically, and, though profligate, was sober; he did not. George, Baron Jeffreys (1648-1689). THE RESTORATION AND THE REVOLUTION 421 gamble, and possessed industry and resolution. Therewere indeed some attractive qualities in this last of theStuart kings. He was a tender father; heattempts to re- ^^^ always true to his friends, and his servantsestablish Roman loved him. But he was blindly obstinate andat 0 cism, without tact. He began by levying taxes ille-gally. Then, in defiance of the Test Act, he appointedRoman Catholics to the Privy Council and to posts in thearmy. When his only Parliamentmet for its second and last ses-sion and protested against thesebreaches of the law, he angrilydismissed it, in ^N^ovember, 1685,and henceforth ruled without brought over Roman Catho-lic regiments from Ireland, andformed a camp on HounslowHeath; nothing disturbed theEnglish more than this menaceof the Irish, whom they lookedupon as savages. He disarmedthe Protestants in Ireland, dismissed the Prot
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