13 February 1689, the Bill of Rights of William III and Mary II

335 years ago today, 13 February, was when the 1689 Bill of Rights came before the new King William III and Queen Mary II, two months ahead of their formal Coronation. It was a huge statement on their part, overturning many aspects of the previous monarch's oppression of the people.

There were 13 'grievances' of the reign of the previous King James II, and 13 subsequent 'clauses' to address those grievances. From our perspective, it's not a perfect list. From their perspective it was enough. Among these rights was one which I mentioned in a recent post here and which came up in conversation with some friends last week:

Right to petition.
That it is the Right of the Subjects to petition the King and all Commitments and Prosecutions for such Petitioning are Illegall.

Thanks to that Bill of Rights, subjects were given the right to complain about the state, to the state, and it was against the law for them be prosecuted for such complaints. The previous King James II had his opponents rounded up and slaughtered in public (see another recent post here about the 'Bloody Assizes' in south west England).

In our era, should that principle be applied to this recent news story? If I only approve of free speech for those I agree with, then I don't approve of free speech.

I don't read much Troubles era material, as I am fortunate enough to not have had direct experience of those dark years, even though many of my friends tragically did. However, a while ago I was recommended Owen Dudley Edwards's 1970 book Sins of Our Fathers: Background to Crisis in Northern Ireland, which I have dipped in to. There is a fascinating section in which he quotes William Johnston MP of Ballykilbeg on 'freedom of assembly':

"Protestantism does not consist in doing injustice to our Roman Catholic fellow-countrymen. ...  I stand for justice for the Protestants and for the removal of injustice from the Roman Catholics of Ireland". (1868)

"The man who calls himself a Protestant and attacks a peaceable Roman Catholic procession is doing as much as lies in him to destroy the liberties of his fellow Protestants". (1869)

Check out William Johnston's Wikipedia here – he went to prison for freedom of assembly, and was an early campaigner for women's 'suffrage' to get the vote.

King William III and Queen Mary II set the template for America – their 1688-91 Declaration, Revolution, Bill of Rights, and War against the previous King, would all be echoed in 1776-1783 across the Atlantic in the 13 Colonies.

What does liberty look like today?