[36] In the Lower House four hundred members were sworn in on the second of March; and among them was Seymour.

The spirit of the Jacobites was broken by his defection; and the minority with very few exceptions followed his example.

[37] Before the day fixed for the taking of the oaths, the Commons had begun to discuss a momentous question which admitted of no delay.

During the interregnum, William had, as provisional chief of the administration, collected the taxes and applied them to the public service; nor could the propriety of this course be questioned by any person who approved of the Revolution.

But the Revolution was now over: the vacancy of the throne had been supplied: the Houses were sitting: the law was in full force; and it became necessary immediately to decide to what revenue the Government was entitled.
Nobody denied that all the lands and hereditaments of the Crown had passed with the Crown to the new Sovereigns.