An incident occurred about this time which greatly helped the Tories
(S479) in their schemes. Dr. Sacheverell, a violent Tory and High
Churchman (S507), began preaching a series of vehement sermons in
London condemning the Whig policy which called for the reopening of
the war. He also endeavored to revive the exploding theory of the
Divine Right of Kings (S419, 429), and declared that no tyranny on the
part of a sovereign could by any possibility justify a subject in
resisting the royal will. The Whig leaders brought the preacher to
trial for alleged treasonable utterances (1710). He was suspended
from his office for three years, and his book of sermons was publicly
burned by the common hangman.
This created intense popular excitement; Sacheverell was regarded as a
political martyr by all who wished the war ended. A reaction against
the Government set in; the Whigs (S479) were driven from power, and
the Tories passed two very harsh laws[2] against Dissenters (S472),
though they were repealed a few years later. The Duchess of
Marlborough had to leave her apartments in the palace of St. James,
and in her spite broke down marble mantels and tore off the locks from
doors. Mrs. Masham's friends, the Tories (S479), or peace party, who
had now triumphed, prepared to put a complete end to the fighting.
[2] These were the Occasional Conformity Act and the Schism Act
(S518).