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WILLIAM SACHEVERELL (1638-1691)

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Originally appearing in Volume V23, Page 972 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WILLIAM See also:SACHEVERELL (1638-1691)  , See also:English statesman, son of See also:Henry See also:Sacheverell, a See also:country See also:gentleman, was See also:born in 1638 . His See also:family had held a See also:good position in See also:Derbyshire and See also:Nottinghamshire since the 12th See also:century, the name appearing as Sent Cheveroll in the See also:roll of See also:Battle See also:Abbey, and See also:William inherited large estates from his See also:father . He was admitted at See also:Gray's See also:Inn in 1667, and in 167o he was elected member of See also:parliament for Derbyshire . He immediately gained a prominent position in the party hostile to the See also:Court, and before he had been six months in the See also:House of See also:Commons he proposed a See also:resolution that all " popish recusants " should be removed from military commands; the See also:motion, enlarged so as to include See also:civil employment, was carried without a See also:division on the 28th of See also:February 1672-1673 . This resolution was the forerunner of the Test See also:Act, in the preparation of which Sacheverell took an active See also:part, and which caused the break up of the See also:cabal . He now took part in nearly every debate in the House of Commons, being recognized as one of the, most able of the leaders of the opposition or country party . He strongly opposed the See also:king's policy of affiance with See also:France, advocating a See also:league with the Dutch instead, and the refusal of supplies until the demands of the Commons should be complied with . Sacheverell took especial See also:interest in the See also:state of the See also:navy and spoke in many debates on this question . In 1677 he carried an address to the king calling upon him to conclude an See also:alliance with the See also:United Provinces against See also:Louis XIV., and when the See also:Speaker adjourned the House by See also:Charles's See also:order Sacheverell made an eloquent protest, asserting the right of the House itself to decide the question of its See also:adjournment . When parliament met See also:early in 1678 assurances were received from Charles II. that he had arranged the See also:treaties demanded by the Commons; but Sacheverell boldly questioned the king's good faith, and warned the Commons that they were being deceived . When the See also:secret treaty with France became known, thus confirming Sacheverell's insight, the latter called for the disbandment of the forces and advocated the refusal of further supplies for military purposes; and in See also:June 1678 he resolutely opposed See also:Lord See also:Danby's proposal to See also:grant £300,000 per annum to Charles II. for See also:life . Barillon mentions Sacheverell among the Whig leaders who accepted bribes from Louis XIV., but the See also:evidence against him is not conclusive .

When See also:

Titus See also:Oates began his pretended revelations in 167.8 Sacheverell was among those who most firmly believed in the existence of a Popish See also:plot . He was one of the most active investigators of the affair, and one of the managers of the See also:impeachment of the five See also:Catholic peers . He also acted for a See also:time as chairman of the secret See also:committee of the Commons, and See also:drew up the See also:report on the examination of the Jesuit Coleman, secretary to the duchess of See also:York . He was a member of the committee for drafting the articles of impeachment against Danby in 1678, and was appointed one of the managers of the Commons; and in 1679, when the impeachment, interrupted by the See also:dissolution of parliament, was resumed in the new parliament, he spoke strongly against the validity of Danby's plea of See also:pardon by the king . The allegations made in Sacheverell's report on the examination of Coleman prompted the country party to demand' the exclusion of See also:James, See also:duke of York, from the See also:succession to the See also:throne, the first See also:suggestion of the famous Exclusion See also:Bill being made by Sacheverell on the 4th of See also:November 1678 in a debate—" the greatest that ever was in Parliament," as it was pronounced by contemporaries—raised by Lord See also:Russell with the See also:object of removing the duke from the King's See also:Council . He vigorously promoted the bill in the House of Commons and opposed granting supplies till it should pass . When Charles offered an alternative See also:scheme (1679) for limiting the See also:powers of a Catholic See also:sovereign, Sacheverell made a See also:great speech in which he pointed out the insufficiency of the king's terms for securing the object desired by the Whigs . In the conflict between the Petitioners and the See also:Abhorrers he supported the former, and on the 27th of See also:October 168o brought forward a motion asserting the right of petitioning the king to summon parliament, and proposed the impeachment of See also:Chief See also:Justice See also:North as the author of the See also:proclamation against tumultuous petitioning . Sacheverell was one of the managers on behalf of the Commons at the trial of Lord See also:Stafford in- See also:West-See also:minster See also:Hall; but took no further part in public affairs till after the elections of See also:March 1681, when he was returned unopposed for Derbyshire . He was prosecuted for See also:riot in connexion with the surrender of the See also:charter .of See also:Nottingham in 1682, being tried before Chief Justice See also:Jeffreys, who fined him 500 marks . At the See also:general See also:election following the See also:death of Charles II. in 1685 Sacheverell lost his seat, and for the next four years he lived in retirement on his estates . In the See also:convention parliament summoned by the See also:prince of See also:Orange, in which he sat for Heytes See also:bury, he spoke in favour of a See also:radical resettlement of the constitution, and served on a committee, of which See also:Somers was chairman, for See also:drawing up a new constitution in the See also:form of the See also:Declaration of Right; and he was one of the representatives of' the Commons In their See also:conference with fhe peers on the question of declaring the throne vacant .

William III. appointed Sacheverell a lord of the See also:

admiralty, but he resigned the See also:office after a few months . He procured the omission of Lord Jeffreys's name, from the Act of See also:Indemnity . In 1690 he moved a famous See also:amendment to the See also:Corporation Bill, proposing the addition of a clause-the purport of which was misrepresented by See also:Macaulay—for disqualifying for office for seven years municipal functionaries who in 'See also:defiance of the See also:majority of their colleagues had surrendered their charters to the See also:Crown . A celebrated debate on this question took See also:place in the House of Commons in See also:January 169o; but the evident intention of the Whigs to perpetuate their own ascendancy by tampering with the See also:franchise contributed largely to the Tory reaction which resulted in the defeat of the Whigs in the elections. of that See also:year . Sacheverell was elected member for Nottingham-See also:shire; but he died on the 9th of October 1691, before taking his seat . In the See also:judgment of Speaker See also:Onslow, Sacheverell was the "ablest parliament See also:man " of the reign of Charles II . He was one of the earliest of English See also:parliamentary orators; his speeches greatly impressed his contemporaries, and in a later See also:generation, as Macaulay observes, they were " a favourite theme of old men who lived to see the conflicts of- See also:Walpole and Pulteney." Though his fame has become dimmed in comparison with that of See also:Shaftesbury, Russell and See also:Sidney, he was not less conspicuous in the parliamentary proceedings of Charles II.'s reign, and he See also:left a more permanent See also:mark than any of them on the constitutional changes of the See also:period . Sacheverell was twice .married . His first wife was See also:Mary, daughter of William See also:Staunton of Staunton; and his 'second was Jane, daughter of See also:Sir See also:John See also:Newton . His eldest son See also:Robert represented the See also:borough of Nottingham in six parliaments and died in 1714 . The family became See also:extinct in 1724 .

End of Article: WILLIAM SACHEVERELL (1638-1691)
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