12. =The Meeting of the First Short Parliament. 1679.=--When the elections to a new Parliament--the first of three short Parliaments--were completed, Charles found that, with the exception of at most thirty members, the opposition had gained every seat. Bowing to the storm, he sent his brother to Brussels, and expressed his readiness to place himself at the head of the Protestants of the Continent. When, however, Parliament met, on March 6, =1679=, it was found that both Houses were more anxious about the fate of Protestantism at home than about that of Protestants abroad. The Commons renewed the impeachment of Danby, upon which Danby produced a free pardon from the king. The Lords decided that a pardon could not be pleaded in bar of an impeachment, but, in the end, proceedings against Danby were dropped on his being deprived of office and committed to the Tower. By the advice of Sir William Temple, Charles tried a new experiment in government. A new Privy Council was appointed of thirty members, fifteen being ministers of the Crown and fifteen influential lords and commoners, by the advice of which the king was always to be guided. Shaftesbury was appointed President of this Council, but it was soon found to be too large a body to manage affairs which required secrecy, and a small committee was therefore formed out of it for the consideration of all important business. 13. =The Exclusion Bill and the Habeas Corpus Act. 1679.=--Charles, now that he experienced the strength of the opposition, was prepared to give way on every point except one--the maintenance of his brother's right of succession, which the new House of Commons was prepared to attack. He accordingly offered to place the strongest restrictions upon the power of a Catholic king. To the House of Commons, on the other hand, all restrictions appeared insufficient. The members believed seriously that no law would be able to bind a 'Popish' king. They thought that if he was determined--and it was taken for granted that he would be determined--to overthrow the Protestant religion, he would be able to do so. Lord Russell, the eldest son of the Duke of Bedford--the chief leader of Shaftesbury's party in the House of Commons--was not in the habit of using exaggerated language. Yet even he declared that, if James became king, his subjects must make up their mind to become 'Papists' or to be burnt. An Exclusion Bill was brought in, excluding the Duke of York from the throne. It was read twice, but not passed, as Charles first prorogued, and then, on May 27, dissolved Parliament. The only Act of importance produced in this Parliament was the _Habeas Corpus Act_, which finally put an end to sundry methods by which the Crown had evaded the rule requiring the issue of writs of _Habeas Corpus_, by which prisoners secured their right to be tried or liberated.