He was kept in honourable imprisonment till those garrisons were restored. [Sidenote: William's triumphant return. Oct. 10.] [Sidenote: New Whig Parliament. Nov. 22.] It was thus no longer as a beaten and unfortunate, though skilful general, that William returned to England. The Triennial Bill having come into operation, the present Parliament would have come to a natural conclusion the following year. It had on the whole acted so much in favour of William and the Whigs, that William, could he have prolonged it, would probably have been willing to do so. But he wisely judged that it would be better to call his new Parliament while still popular from his successes, than to wait the chances of the future year. The event proved that he was right. A brilliant triumphant progress through England was followed by the return of a Parliament with an immense majority favourable to the war and to the Whig interests. Four Whigs were returned for London. Westminster followed the example of the neighbouring city, and so great was the enthusiasm that even the great Tory leader Seymour, whose interest in Devonshire was believed to render his return for Exeter sure, was defeated in that town. The Parliament thus assembled had very important work before it, and, acting in unison with the King, his ministry, and the whole country, carried it through to a noble conclusion. [Sidenote: Re-establishment of the currency.] This important work was the re-establishment of the currency. The English coin had originally been of hammered metal, it was constantly liable to inequality in weight, and being left with raw edges, easily clipped. In Charles II.'s reign this defect had been partially cured by the use of machinery, and words had been printed round the edges of the coin; but as the bad hammered coinage was allowed to be current side by side with the new milled coinage, the better coinage had either been hoarded or had left the country, as invariably happens, when some part of the coinage of the country is of less intrinsic value than the rest. Consequently the evil became worse. Coin was more constantly clipped, and as it wore out was more easily counterfeited. Its defects at length became so obvious that shopkeepers refused to take it except by weight; thus causing heavy suffering to the lower orders, who generally received their wages by tale, and had to pay by weight, and every little transaction became the occasion of a dispute. So far had the evil gone, that when trials were made in different parts of the country, the coinage had proved on an average to be little more than half its proper weight. A re-issue of coin became absolutely necessary. The arrangements fell into the hands of Somers and Montague, of John Locke the philosopher, and Isaac Newton the mathematician. In devising their plan two great questions met them. By whom should the expense be borne? How could the inconvenience of the short supply of coin which must