Then the commons voted the number of men required for the navy; but they were so ashamed of that for the army, that they thought it necessary to act in such a manner as should imply that they still retained some regard for their country.

They called for all the treaties subsisting between the king and his allies; they examined the different proportions of the troops furnished by the respective powers; they considered the intended augmentations, and fixed the establishment of the year at four-score and three thousand, one hundred, and twenty-one men, including officers.

For the maintenance of these they allotted the sum of two millions, five hundred and thirty thousand, five hundred and nine pounds.

They granted two millions for the navy, and about five hundred thousand pounds, to make good the deficiencies of the annuity and poll bills; so that the supplies for the year amounted to about five millions and a half, raised by a land-tax of four shillings in the pound, by two more lives in the annuities, a further excise on beer, a new duty on salt, and a lottery.
Though the malcontents in parliament could not withstand this torrent of profusion, they endeavoured to distress the court interest, by reviving the popular bills of the preceding session; such as that for regulating trials in cases of high treason, the other for the more frequent calling and meeting of parliaments, and that concerning free and impartial proceedings in parliament.

The first was neglected in the house of lords; the second was rejected; the third was passed by the commons, on the supposition that it would be defeated in the other house.