The 2nd Parliament of King William III and Queen Mary II was summoned by

William III of England William III (William Henry; ; 4 November 16508 March 1702), also widely known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic f ...

and Mary II of England on 6 February 1690 and assembled on 20 March 1690. The new Parliament was more or less equally divided along party lines, with 243 Whig and 241 Tory members, plus 28 others. Sir John Trevor was installed as Speaker of the House of Commons. The ministry, however, was not formed on party lines but drawn from both parties, albeit dominated by Tories. Its nominal head was the

Lord Treasurer The post of Lord High Treasurer or Lord Treasurer was an English government position and has been a British government position since the Acts of Union of 1707. A holder of the post would be the third-highest-ranked Great Officer of State i ...

, Marquess of Carmarthen. In the second session a number of innovative measures were approved to deal with the question of raising the large amounts of short-term money required to finance the wars in Ireland and the Low Countries. These introduced the practice of

deficit financing Television deficit financing is the practice of a network or channel paying the studio that creates a show a license fee in exchange for the right to air the show, and in which the license fee is less than the cost of the show. A major broadcast ne ...

and an institutionalized National Debt. By 1694, towards the end of the Parliament, the Whig party, led by the

First Whig Junto The First Whig Junto controlled the government of England from 1694 to 1699 and was the first part of the Whig Junto, a cabal of people who controlled the most important political decisions.Compare junta which has fallen into use only for militar ...

, were in the ascendancy and dominating the government. The 1693–94 session concerned itself with the raising of huge amounts of money to support the war effort. A financial crisis was averted when the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, Charles Montagu introduced the successful

Million Lottery The Million Lottery or Million Adventure was the first English state lottery and was launched by the government in 1694. Purpose The brainchild of speculator and Master of the Royal Mint Thomas Neale, the lottery was created in order to raise mo ...

and established the Bank of England. The 6th and last session of the Parliament began in November 1694. After the death of Queen Mary in December the Tories were again resurgent and highly critical of the cost and conduct of the war with France. But accusations of corruption against certain leading Tories resulted in the replacement of the Speaker by Paul Foley and the impeachment of Lord Carmarthen, now the Duke of Leeds. The scandals obliged the King to dissolve the Parliament on 11 October 1695.

Notable Acts of the Parliament

* Crown and Parliament Recognition Act 1689 * Admiralty Act 1690 * Correspondence with Enemies Act 1691 *

Poor Relief Act 1691 The Poor Relief Act 1691 ( 3 Will. & Mar. c. 11) was an Act of the Parliament of England. The whole Act was repealed by section 245(1) of, and Schedule 11 to, the Poor Law Act 1927. Sections 1 to 4 (which are sections 2 to 5 in Ruffhead's Ed ...

Royal Mines Act 1693 The Royal Mines Act 1693 ( 5 Will. & Mar. c. 6) is an Act of the Parliament of England. This Act was partly in force in Great Britain at the end of 2010.The Chronological Table of the Statutes, 1235 - 2010. The Stationery Office. 2011. . Part I ...

House of Commons (Disqualification) Act 1693 The House of Commons (Disqualification) Act 1693 ( 5 & 6 Will. & Mar. c 7)This is how it was cited in the Statute Law Revision Act 1948. It is cited as 5 Will. & Mar. c. 7 in the Electoral Act 1963. was an Act of the Parliament of England. The ...

Bank of England Act 1694 The Bank of England Act 1694 (5 & 6 Will & Mar c 20), sometimes referred to as the Tonnage Act 1694, is an Act of the Parliament of England. It is one of the Bank of England Acts 1694 to 1892.The Short Titles Act 1896, section 2(1) and Schedu ...

Meeting of Parliament Act 1694 The Meeting of Parliament Act 1694 (6 & 7 Will & Mary c 2), also known as the Triennial Act 1694, is an Act of the Parliament of England. This Act is Chapter II Rot. Parl. pt. 1. nu. 2. The act currently requires that Parliament hold a session a ...

(or Triennial Act 1694) *

Profane Swearing Act 1694 The Profane Swearing Act 1694 ( 6 & 7 Will. & Mar. c. 11) was an Act of the Parliament of England The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parli ...

References

* 1690 establishments in England 1690 in politics The Restoration {{England-hist-stub

Notable Acts of the Parliament

See also

References