. Mediæval and modern history . red witnesses, became the un-fortunate victims of the delusionand fraud. 445. The Habeas Corpus Act(i679). The year following the Popish Plot Parliament passedthe celebrated Habeas Corpus statute was intended to rendermore effectual the ancient and _ „ TT .r valued writ of habeas corpus, which Fig. 79. Charles II. (After ? the painting by S/r Peter Lely) ^^s designed to protect the personal liberty of Englishmen, but whichthe kings courts and sheriffs were rendering well-nigh uselessthrough their evasions and shifts. The law, which is based onarticles o
. Mediæval and modern history . red witnesses, became the un-fortunate victims of the delusionand fraud. 445. The Habeas Corpus Act(i679). The year following the Popish Plot Parliament passedthe celebrated Habeas Corpus statute was intended to rendermore effectual the ancient and _ „ TT .r valued writ of habeas corpus, which Fig. 79. Charles II. (After ? the painting by S/r Peter Lely) ^^s designed to protect the personal liberty of Englishmen, but whichthe kings courts and sheriffs were rendering well-nigh uselessthrough their evasions and shifts. The law, which is based onarticles of Magna Carta, is so carefully and ingeniously drawn thatit is almost impossible for its provisions to be evaded in any gives every person almost absolute security against illegal deten-tion in prison, and is the strongest safeguard against the attemptsof a despotic ruler upon the liberty of those who may have in-curred his displeasure. It has been the model of all laws of likeimport throughout the Anglo-Saxon §446] JAMES ACCESSION 393 Reign of James the Second (1685-1688) 446. James Accession; his Despotic Course. Charles wasfollowed by his brother James, whose rule was destined to beshort and troubled/ Like all the other Stuarts, James held exaltednotions of the divine right of kings to rule as they please, and atonce set about carrying out these ideas in a most reckless man-ner. Notwithstanding he had given solemn assurances that hewould uphold the Anglican Church, he straightway set about thereestablishment of the Roman Catholic worship. He arbitrarilyprorogued and dissolved Parliament. The High CommissionCourt of Elizabeth, which had been abolished by Parliament,he practically restored in a new tribunal presided over by theinfamous Jeffreys. The despotic course of the king raised up enemies on allsides. No party or sect, save the most zealous Catholics, stood byhim. The Tory gentry were in favor of royalty indeed, but notof tyranny. Thinking to make frie
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