That evening, the Queen sent two of her Chaplains to the Archbishop of Canterbury to beg his blessing; and, by a suspicious combination of two errands, desired them to attend the service in Lambeth Chapel, and notice whether prayers were offered for the Sovereigns. The Chaplain being alarmed, asked His Grace what should be done: he replied, “I have no new instructions to give.” The Chaplain interpreted this as entrusting him with a discretionary power, and, wishing to keep the Primate out of difficulty, prayed for the King and Queen who had just been proclaimed. The act provoked Sancroft, who sent for the Chaplain, and commanded him either to desist from such petitions, or to cease from officiating in Lambeth; for so long as King James lived, no other person could be Sovereign of England. Sancroft’s conviction that a Regency was the right thing seems to have deepened, when in the opinion of everybody else it passed utterly out of the question; for the Primate had a temper which increased in obstinacy in proportion as the object pursued became unattainable. [Sidenote: CHARACTER OF THE REVOLUTION.] [Sidenote: 1689.] The appointment of officers of State immediately followed the accession to the throne. The reader will bear in mind what has been said in former volumes respecting the mode of administering affairs in the Stuart reigns. No Ministry, in our sense of the term, existed then, men of different political opinions being employed as functionaries of Government. This usage survived the Revolution; and William surrounded himself with Whigs and Tories. Reserving to himself the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he appointed as President of the Council the Earl of Danby, although that nobleman differed from him in many opinions. Danby had countenanced encroachments by the Royal prerogatives; he had even maintained the doctrine of passive obedience. That doctrine he was now, through the necessities of the times, forced to abandon, and by serving under a Monarch whose throne rested on the Declaration of Rights, he virtually repudiated his earlier opinions. He had also persecuted Dissenters--a policy now professedly abandoned. Yet there remained in Lord Danby a strong attachment to high ecclesiastical views, and he was zealous for the old connection between Church and Crown as the best method of preserving both. Halifax, described as the Trimmer,[109] had become more of a Liberal, and to him was entrusted the Privy Seal and the Speakership of the Upper House. The Earl of Nottingham--another deserter from the Tory ranks--professed that although his principles did not allow him to take part in making William King, they bound him, now that the deed was done, to pay His Majesty a more strict obedience than he could expect from those who had made him Sovereign. He accepted the office of a Secretary of State--an act which, like that of Danby, served to give weight to the new administration in the eyes of Tories and High Churchmen.