petition was presented to the Commons.  But the Whig leaders were on their guard; the attendance was full; and a motion for reading the Orders of the Day was carried by a hundred and fifty-two to a hundred and seven.782 In truth, neither branch of the legislature could, without condemning itself, request William to spare Fenwick’s life.  Jurymen, who have, in the discharge of a painful duty, pronounced a culprit guilty, may, with perfect consistency, recommend him to the favourable consideration of the Crown.  But the Houses ought not to have passed the Bill of Attainder unless they were convinced, not merely that Sir John had committed high treason, but also that he could not, without serious danger to the Commonwealth, be suffered to live.  He could not be at once a proper object of such a bill and a proper object of the royal mercy.

On the twenty-eighth of January the execution took place.  In compliment to the noble families with which Fenwick was connected, orders were given that the ceremonial should be in all respects the same as when a peer of the realm suffers death.  A scaffold was erected on Tower Hill and hung with black.  The prisoner was brought from Newgate in the coach of his kinsman the Earl of Carlisle, which was surrounded by a troop of the Life Guards.  Though the day was cold and stormy, the crowd of spectators was immense; but there was no disturbance, and no sign that the multitude sympathized with the criminal.  He behaved with a firmness which had not been expected from him.  He ascended the scaffold with steady steps, and bowed courteously to the persons who were assembled on it, but spoke to none, except White, the deprived Bishop of Peterborough.  White prayed with him during about half an hour.  In the prayer the King was commended to the Divine protection; but no name which could give offence was pronounced.  Fenwick then delivered a sealed paper to the Sheriffs, took leave of the Bishop, knelt down, laid his neck on the block, and exclaimed, “Lord Jesus, receive my soul.”  His head was severed from his body at a single blow.  His remains were placed in a rich coffin, and buried that night, by torchlight, under the pavement of Saint Martin’s Church.  No person has, since that day, suffered death in England by Act of Attainder.783

Meanwhile an important question, about which public feeling was much excited, had been under discussion.  As soon as the Parliament met, a Bill for Regulating Elections, differing little in substance from the bill which the King had refused to pass in the preceding session, was brought into the House of Commons, was eagerly welcomed by the country gentlemen, and was pushed through every stage.  On the report it was moved that five thousand pounds in personal estate should be a sufficient qualification for the representative of a city or borough.  But this amendment was rejected.  On the third reading a rider was added, which permitted a merchant possessed of five thousand