For some time the excitement rose very high. On the day when two
Jesuits were executed, one of the Catholic envoys writes that nothing
else could have saved the lives of all the Catholics in London. Taking
advantage of the state of public feeling, Shaftesbury proposed that
James should be excluded from the succession for his religion. The
crown was to go to the next heir, the Princess of Orange. This was
thrown out by the Lords. Meantime the second Test Act expelled the
Catholic peers from the House of Lords. James withdrew from the
council, from the palace, and at last from the kingdom.

The second Exclusion Bill was founded, not on his religion, but on his
politics, that is, his treasonable connection with the King of France.
The opponents of exclusion proposed limitation of the royal power, in
a manner such as that which has since prevailed. Charles preferred
this amendment to the Constitution rather than an Act which enabled
parliament to regulate the succession. William of Orange vigorously
opposed it, as the same restraints might be retained when his wife
came to the throne. Halifax, who defeated the Exclusion Bill and
defended the Limitation Bill, assured the prince that it would never
be applied, as James had no chance whatever of succeeding his brother.
His only purpose in proposing his Bill was to preserve the succession,
according to law, from parliamentary control.

In order to obtain evidence that should ruin James's prospects, it was
resolved now to put the Catholic peers on their trial. Stafford came
first. He had not been in the secret of the fatal Treaty. But the
plans this time were cleverly laid. Although Lord Stafford was
entirely innocent, Count Thun, the Austrian envoy, was profoundly
impressed by the weight of the case against him and the weakness of
the defence. He was beheaded amid shrieks of execration and