anti-revolutioners

Updated: May 17, 2025

The majority of the country party were friends to the revolution, and sought only redress of the grievances which the nation had sustained in the late reign. The anti-revolutioners considered the accession and government of king William as an extraordinary event, which they were willing to forget, believing that all parties were safe under the shelter of her majesty's general indemnity.

T. (Tobias) Smollett - The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. : Continued from the Reign of William and Mary to the Death of George II.

A new parliament having been summoned, the earl of Seafield employed his influence so successfully, that a great number of anti-revolutioners were returned as members.

T. (Tobias) Smollett - The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. : Continued from the Reign of William and Mary to the Death of George II.

The country party of malcontents, which took its rise from the disappointments of the Darien settlement, acted under the auspices of the duke of Hamilton and marquis of Tweedale; and the earl of Hume appeared as chief of the anti-revolutioners. The different parties who now united, pursued the most opposite ends.

T. (Tobias) Smollett - The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. : Continued from the Reign of William and Mary to the Death of George II.

The commissioner now found himself reduced to a very disagreeable alternative. There was a necessity for relinquishing all hope of a supply, or abandoning the anti-revolutioners, to whom he was connected by promises of concurrence.

T. (Tobias) Smollett - The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. : Continued from the Reign of William and Mary to the Death of George II.

They formed an accession to the strength of the anti-revolutioners and episcopalians, who now hoped to out-number the presbyterians, and outweigh their interest. But this confederacy was composed of dissonant parts, from which no harmony could be expected. The presbyterians and revolutioners were headed by the duke of Argyle.

T. (Tobias) Smollett - The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. : Continued from the Reign of William and Mary to the Death of George II.

The queen had, by several adjournments, deferred the meeting almost three months after the king's decease; and therefore the anti-revolutioners affirmed that it was dissolved. The duke of Hamilton was at the head of this party which clamoured loudly for a new parliament.

T. (Tobias) Smollett - The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. : Continued from the Reign of William and Mary to the Death of George II.

It was immediately received; and at the second reading, the queen's advocate offered an additional clause, denouncing the penalties of treason against any person who should question her majesty's right and title to the crown, or her exercise of the government, from her actual entry to the same. This, after a long and warm debate, was carried by the concurrence of the anti-revolutioners.

T. (Tobias) Smollett - The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. : Continued from the Reign of William and Mary to the Death of George II.

Her majesty's hereditary right was deduced from Edward the Confessor, and as heir of his pretended sanctity and virtue, she was persuaded to touch persons afflicted with the king's evil, according to the office inserted in the Liturgy for this occasion. The change of the ministry in Scotland seemed favourable to the episcopalians and anti-revolutioners of that kingdom.

T. (Tobias) Smollett - The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. : Continued from the Reign of William and Mary to the Death of George II.