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

Mary II of England Mary II (30 April 166228 December 1694) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England, List of Scottish monarchs, Scotland, and Monarchy of Ireland, Ireland, co-reigning with her husband, William III of England, William III & II, from 1689 unt ...

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,

Marquess of Carmarthen Duke of Leeds was a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1694 for the prominent statesman Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds, Thomas Osborne, 1st Marquess of Carmarthen, who had been one of the Immortal Seven in the Glorious Revolu ...

. 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 and an institutionalized

National Debt A country's gross government debt (also called public debt, or sovereign debt) is the financial liabilities of the government sector. Changes in government debt over time reflect primarily borrowing due to past government deficits. A deficit oc ...

. By 1694, towards the end of the Parliament, the Whig party, led by the First Whig Junto, 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 The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...

, Charles Montagu introduced the successful Million Lottery and established the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...

. 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 The Admiralty Act 1690 ( 2 Will. & Mar. Sess. 2. c. 2) was an Act of the Parliament of England. The whole Act was repealed by article 2(2) of, and Part II of Schedule 1 to, the Defence (Transfer of Functions) (No. 1) Order 1964 (SI 1964/488). ...

* Correspondence with Enemies Act 1691 * Poor Relief Act 1691 * Royal Mines Act 1693 * House of Commons (Disqualification) Act 1693 * Bank of England Act 1694 * Meeting of Parliament Act 1694 (or Triennial Act 1694) * Profane Swearing Act 1694

References

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

Notable Acts of the Parliament

See also

References