The original ‘Bill of Rights’ was a Williamite attempt to replace James II’s Declaration of Indulgence – but whereas James’s Declaration, promulgated by royal prerogative, promised real toleration and a vision of religious co-existence ahead of its time, William of Orange’s Bill of Rights enshrined the parochial English conception of ‘liberty’ that would come to dominate the 18th century: the ‘liberty’ that prolonged the slave trade, enabled the exploitation of the industrial revolution, and denied religious freedom to Catholics until 1829. For any piece of legislation to consciously echo the 1689 Bill of Rights would represent a highly selective reading of history, but one which the present coalition government seems to promote. Eurosceptic Tories and Nigel Farage’s UKIP are the true heirs of the unprincipled Whigs who made the Revolution and Hanoverian successi0n possible. It is an embarrassing fact of English and Scottish history for the politicians of the present day that Stuart foreign policy consistently treated Britain as part of Europe: hence why the success of James I and VI’s foreign policy, or indeed Charles II’s, is usually skipped over in favour of the short-sighted isolationism of Elizabeth I’s so-called ‘golden age’. Yet Stuart policy endured for a lot longer than Elizabeth’s.
Posted on: Sat, 04 Oct 2014 11:31:52 +0000
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